//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Team Awesome Short Stories: Dream's Reality // by Caustizer //------------------------------// Dream tastes dirt. It isn't normal dirt either but a mix of charcoal, soil, and plant ashes that is completely unfamiliar to her senses. As Dream lies on the ground in the middle of the crater of her own making, she opens her eyes. Another strange sensation courses through her body – pain. She can't help but think it is the kind of aching that generally results from falling thousands of metres and crashing into the ground. Realizing that her mouth is full of grit, she rises to her hoofs and does the natural motion of spitting it out. It takes a few tries, but even then the taste doesn't go away fully. Shaking the dirt off her coat briefly, the Princess of Dreams turns her attention to her surroundings. If the sensation of pain is strange to Dream, the others that reach her now are almost completely foreign. The first thing she notices is the choir of scents that flows through her nose. Things she has never smelt before such as the wind, grass, trees, and flowers dance through her nostrils like long lost friends. She can't help but smile. The next thing she notices is the scenery – entirely different from anything she has ever seen in the Palace of Creation. The sun has almost advanced over the horizon to welcome the new day, and its bathing light illuminates everything in a golden hue. Strange sounds such as birds tweeting, bees buzzing, and crickets chirping complete the euphoric scene. Mother must have saved her best work for this place. Dream suddenly comes to her senses. She remembers everything from touching the orb and being sucked inside, to cascading towards the earth uncontrollably. She remembers Luna falling with her, equally at the insertion spell's mercy. Frantically, the Princess of Dreams looks around to find what has become of her sister. Thankfully she doesn't have to go far and soon comes upon her twin's crater a dozen metres away. "Luna," she whispers, "…are you alright?" Luna is lying prone in the centre of a pit of blackened burning, though she is only slightly dirty like her sister. She doesn't answer. Dream hops into the crater and does the first thing that comes to her mind – to check and see if Luna is breathing. Getting up this close it is clear that she is not only breathing, but appears to be asleep. "Hmm, it figures," comments Dream with a bit of sarcasm. Sleep isn't a requirement of their existence, but mother had always insisted they get it to remain healthy and happy. Now it has gotten to the point where they are addicted to rest and work it into their usual routine. Admittedly Dream is a bit tired, but the excitement of this new world is making it easy to suppress. For a moment Dream considers waking her sister up, but decides better of it after remembering that she has already done so once tonight. Might as well let Luna rest, it isn't like she is in any danger… if there are other creatures here the impact probably scared them off. Quietly suppressing Nightmare (who again tried to make her interfere with Luna's dreams), she decides to explore this amazing place a little bit more. After all, there is so much more to see then just where they made their abrupt landing. Invoking her mighty powers, the Princess of Dreams fades into a cloud of dark mist and swoops away into the morning. … Dream flies smoothly and gracefully through the air, travelling with speed that only the fastest of pegasi could ever hope to achieve. Moving about as a misty cloud has its advantages, and it allows her to seep into any place she pleases quickly and without fear of attracting unwanted attention (most of the time). At first she uses it to observe the local fauna… birds rising from their nests and fish swimming in the shallow pools… but soon other more intelligent forms of life attract her interest. The first such place the Princess of Dreams comes across is a village in the sky, a flotilla of cloud-based homes just floating in the air. The architecture is worthy of her admiration alone, but the beings that live there are all the more extraordinary. Flying ponies… just like her! Upon closer inspection though it becomes apparent that there is one big difference – they possess no horns. Ponies surviving without magic? The prospect intrigues her. "What a strange cloud," one of the pegasi remarks with curiosity. She is beige with light scarlet hair. "Indeed," adds another pegasi, a helmeted Sky Guard male patrolling in the area, "one of you young ones aught to WRANGLE IT BACK INTO PLACE." The last part was an unhidden hint towards the nearby pegasi sitting around in the clouds. Young pegasi are naturally fiery creatures, eager to be given the chance to prove themselves. Hence it isn't uncommon for them to undertake challenges on a whim just to be seen as worthy of joining the Sky Guard, the highest honour they can achieve. In this particular case, one was all too willing to oblige. "This sounds like a job for… Magenta Dash!" In a sudden whoosh of air, a light purple pegasus shoots through a nearby cloud and halts mid-air in front of the Sky Guard. She offers him a simple salute. "Ah Dash," chides the guard as if he knows what's going to happen next, "…it's all yours kid." At that point Dream, who had been looking elseware, clues in that the nearby ponies are talking about her. "Fast as the wind," remarks Magenta, as if reciting her own tale, "and quick as a flash… here comes Magenta Dash!" Dash bolts forward and grabs at the star-filled cloud, finding it strangely insubstantial… her hooves go right through it. "…huh?" Dream flinches with alarm and in a single moment of panic whips away as fast as possible. Dash looks surprised, but her expression soon changes into one of determination. "Oh no you don't, you won't get away from M.D. that easily!" Not wasting another moment the pegasus takes off after the rogue cloud. The chase amongst the spires of Cloudsville lasts several minutes as the Princess of Dreams slips in between towers, zips in and out of private rooms, and knocks apart several cloud sculptures. The whole time Dash remains hot on her hooves, pushing aside and or smashing said obstacles without care. Dash's determination is matched only by her raw speed, and amazingly the pegasus soon begins to gain on her. The chase carries on down into the forest below, encouraging the Princess to get creative. In desperation Dream casts a spell on two trees in their path. As she zips through the gap between them they come alive, springing up a wall of vines. Dash cries out and tries to stop, but she is going too fast. In a single moment the stringy wall ensnares her, wrapping the young pegasus up like a fly in a spider web. "Rats," swears Magenta with a swing of one of her wrapped hooves. In a breath of wind, Dream is gone. … That was too close. Dream halts once she is sure that that pesky pegasus is off her trail. Resuming her original form, the princess stops to catch her breath. Despite being in her cloud form previously, it did take physical effort to move and clearly she isn't in proper shape… too much sitting around and reading books instead of exercising. Finally getting some time to think, she wonders what really happened back there… since when did ponies just attack clouds? Did they know who she was and act out of xenophobia, or was it just a simple misunderstanding? The princess of dreams licks her lips, noting an unusual dryness that she hadn't experienced before. Shifting her gaze to the left, she notices a pool of water. The surface shines from the morning sunlight and deeper below it appears clear and appetising. Trotting over to the edge, she looks down at the image of herself with curiosity. Could it be that she is… thirsty? Emotions such as hunger and thirst had admittedly occurred to her before but this feels different… like she actually needs to drink to survive. Giving in to the instinct, Dream leans over and starts lapping up the cool water. After a minute or so of drinking her magical senses start to tingle. A massive build-up of power is occurring, and it is happening nearby. Abandoning the watering hole Dream wipes away some excess moisture from her chin and takes flight once more in the embrace of her void cloud. Escaping the grasp of the forest lands, Dream makes it up into the open air once more. Dipping rapidly over and under the tops of the trees she comes upon something that can be best described as a castle. The structure rises from the forest like a pillar of civilization in a vast wasteland, and its battlements glow with dozens of smaller power sources contributing to one large and world changing spell. Getting closer, Dream discovers that those sources are in fact ponies. There are tons of them, and they are all locked in what appears to be a magical trance. At their head is a single lead figure standing upon the tallest tower. A little bit of prodding with her magical senses reveals that he is the focus of the massive spell, channelling all the power of the others into a single overriding purpose. "More power, I need more power my kin," demands Lord Magnus Nightstar through a look of intense concentration. His servants obey to the best of their ability, pushing as hard as they can. "You heard my husband," calls out an equally noble looking female unicorn who is also contributing to the spell, "we must raise the sun and call upon the day, or else calamity will befall us. The House of Nightstar has never failed in its duties before, and it will not start today!" As the ritual continues, Dream weaves throughout the castle grounds taking in as much as she can about the house and its inhabitants. She observes that they possess horns, but not wings. First winged ponies without magic, and now magic using ponies without wings? Why would mother make so many such creatures and deny them half of their birthright? Is it possible that having both wings and a horn is a rare gift? The more time she spent in this world the more questions she came up with as opposed to answers. The sun slowly and grindingly halts its rise in the sky three quarters up the horizon and begins to slide back. "NO," cries Lord Nightstar, "In the name of my fathers I won't let it fail." The old unicorn is trying his absolute best, and judging by the sweat running down his face he is exceeding his physical limit. Watching him suffer, Dream can't help but take pity upon him. These ponies were working towards noble ends – trying to raise the sun to fuel the day – so she decides to lend them some assistance. Rematerializing on the top of the second tallest tower in the castle and out of the sight of all the unicorns, Dream locks onto the spell focus on the lord's horn and contributes a small portion of her own power. She had seen Celestia do this every morning with barely a second effort, so it couldn't be that hard. A dark line of power slips into Lord Nightstar's horn, and he opens his eyes wide in surprise and shock. How did…what is happening? It felt like no kind of power he had ever sensed before. Without realizing it, he raises the sun so commandingly that his subjects start giving up one by one as their contributions are dwarfed by the single massive power flux. Their eyes turn to their lord, who is now shaking uncontrollably. Bathed in the light of the fully risen morning sun, Magnus Nightstar ceases the incantation and a sparkling nova of residual lightning lingers about him. Sensing he is in distress, Lady Nightstar rushes to his side. "My love, are you of good health?" she asks with alarm. Magnus turns to her slowly. "No." With a thud the Lord of Castle Nightstar collapses to the ground, his noble pennant clanging against the hard stone. "HELP!" screams Lady Nightstar with fright, "Get him an Apothecary… NOW!" Shocked by the sudden turn of events, a pair of nearby unicorn servants rush to find a doctor for their fallen lord. Another moment and the castle grounds are a cauldron of shouting and calls to action. Dream doesn't wait to see what the outcome is. Having learned from lingering too long amongst the pegasi, she makes haste to flee the scene. As she skirts the battlements above the clamour, it thankfully appears that nopony has noticed her passage. It was a stupid idea for her to do what she just did. These ponies are completely unlike her or her siblings, and despite their similarities in body they are clearly immiscible to her power. Part of her felt guilty for contributing to the injuries of that noble unicorn, but the more practical part knew that it was self inflicted. Mother had always taught them never to attempt any spell that is beyond their abilities, for it could result in injuries both temporary and permanent. That 'Lord Nightstar' could learn something from that lesson. Besides, Dream has more important matters to think about. This new world raises so many questions and provides so little answers it excites her. Just from the small sample of it she had experienced so far she knew it was by far Mother's most stunningly beautiful creation and her best work. Her and Luna needed to explore it in more detail… and she knew just the way to make it happen. … The Princess of Dreams pondered over everything she had seen almost obsessedly throughout the journey back to the impact crater. When she arrives she notices that her twin sister had finally arisen and was laying on her belly on a nearby flat rock. Luna doesn't look too amused. "Where have you been?" pushes the princess of the moon in anger. "Flying," answers Dream matter-of-factly, but the amused grin on her face speaks of other feelings entirely. "I hope you're happy sister," fumes Luna as she crosses her front hooves, "'oh what harm can it possibly do us' you said. 'you've had nothing but bad feelings since we came in here' you said. Well look at what's happened now!" "Okay," admits Dream with a hint of regret, "maybe it was a little bit of a rough ride, but you've got to take a look at this place… it's absolutely amazing." "Humph," grumbles Luna as she sticks her nose in the air, "I'm not going anywhere. When Mother gets here I'm telling her this is all your fault." "Fine," parries Dream, "you can stay here, but I'm going to meet my new pony friends just beyond the hill without you." Luna's ears perk up. "…what are you talking about?" Sensing the balance of power has shifted in her direction Dream mills about casually and turns her back on her twin sister. Her cape billows behind the princess of dreams majestically as she comes back around. There is a sly grin on her face. "Nothing," answers Dream absently, "just a little get together with the local ponies celebrating our arrival." Noticing the look on her sister's face, Luna's expression changes from one of curiosity to accusation. "You're lying." Dream looks annoyed at being found out. "Alright, but if we are going to blend in until Mother gets here then we need to change our appearance slightly." "Why?" questions Luna. "…because if we don't these ponies will attack us. Here, let's try this." Dream draws upon her power and steps towards her twin sister. "Oh no, don't even think about it," declares Luna as she backs away defensively, "you know what Mother said about casting spells on each other." "Grr, fine then you take care of yourself," challenges Dream with frustration, "I'll conceal my wings so I blend in with the unicorns, and I would recommend you do the same. I don't want to be stuck without horns if our magic goes awry." Luna nods slightly with agreement. "Okay then you go first," the moon princess insists. Closing her eyes, Dream concentrates on the task she wants to complete. She has to conceal her wings without erasing or damaging them. Channelling power through her horn, something amazing and unexpected occurs: Power flows into her majestic cloak and instantly it phases out of existance, taking her wings with it. Luna gasps with surprise. "See… nothing to it," remarks Dream casually, though internally she feels a sharp pang of fear. "Does it… hurt?" asks Luna with concern. Suddenly the void cape phases back into existence and parts into halves, revealing that Dream has chosen to raise her wings to prepare for flight. "Impressive," states Dream as she realizes the cape's mechanism, "I think these shawls Mother made for us are more then just for decoration… they can help us disguise our true form!" Satisfied she isn't about to have her wings clipped, Luna closes her eyes and attempts the same thing. Just as it did with Dream, her brilliant cape fades out of existence taking her wings with it. "Wow you're right sister," admits Luna with a hint of wonder. Dream nods with approval, before turning away and heading into the woods. "Well, are you coming with me sis?" she asks over her shoulder. Luna seriously thinks about it for a second, but then her usual stubbornness resumes. "You can go on Dream, I'm perfectly happy with waiting here until Mother comes and finds us." "Suit yourself," replies the princess of dreams, before striking off back towards the castle she had visited in the distance on foot to maintain her disguise. Luna can't shake the feeling it is going to be a long time before they see each other again.