//------------------------------// // Dreams of the Cat and the Moon // Story: "Can You Stand On Your Head?" // by SCP Pinkamena //------------------------------// Night had befallen Equestria and Princess Celestia had lowered the Sun to let her sister Luna raise the Moon. As Luna rose the Moon, she felt dreams coming from many different ponies. The teal unicorn with the harp cutie mark dreamed of world like no other, Celestia's Faithful Student was dreaming about how would life be if they switched places, but one dream caught her off guard. In the Canterlot Gardens outside the castle, she even saw Discord in his stone prison dream. She giggled when she saw him dream in a world full of cotton candy clouds and rivers of strawberry milk. She check on Scootaloo to see if she was still having nightmares. Thankfully no, but her dream was still filled of many strange things, like scary backgrounds and mind boggling sounds. She looked at her Moon, remembering things from before her... accident, but at the same time she remembered how it felt to be embedded with impossible power. She hated it. Luna sighed and kept looking at dreams, never interfering unless it was necessary. As she came to one dream, again catching off guard, she looked into the dreams of a cat. This cat reeked with power, but never bothered to use it unless he needed it. "What are you?" she asked herself. As she wandered into the cats dreams she stopped and looked around to see very weird and strange birds. She saw birds that were shaped as umbrellas, shovels, buckets and many more things. She looked on in his dream and finally stopped at the many signs. They said, 'This way' and 'That way'. 'Up' or 'Down' and 'Side to Side'. She even read two signs that said: 'East to Queast' and 'South to Snouth' As she examined these signs she heard a voice of a girl. "Why you're a cat!" Her voice said. "A Cheshire Cat," A high but friendly voice correct. Luna had seen many things before, but this was completely new. A human girl in this cats' dreams? But how? After watching the conversation she heard the girl again. "I don't want to go around running to mad people," She said in a sweet voice. "Oh, you can't help that! Most everyone's here," He said as his voice starting laugh and grew dimmer and dimmer. The girl grumbled to herself to quietly so that only she could here herself. Luna watched as the background grew dark until nothing was left but her. "Maybe he has woken up?" She asked herself. "Now why would you think that?" His voice echoed in the dark dream world. She stiffen, only for a second before calming down. In his dreams, he towered over her, with a smile that would even split a Jack-O-Lantern. As he stared down at her, he noticed the crown on top her head. "Well, I had no idea there was another royal in Wonderland..." He said mostly to himself. He shrunk down to size and did a curt bow before resting in a tree that popped in the darkness. Luna was amazed by how much energy leaked and flowed of this cat. But that's when it hit her as well. It was a cat. Luna, in all her thousands of years of life, has never seen a cat with this much power. (Again, she cannot claim nor deny.) How was one cat so powerful? This 'Cheshire Cat' could probably topple over Celestia, herself, and- "No!" She thought to herself. No matter how innocent he may be, or how they used to be childhood friends, she would not say his name again. See him and speaking about him were two different things in her eyes. As the she shook of her thoughts, she drew her attention back to the tree. "Tell me cat, what is your reason here?" She asked with the slightest bit of authority. He noticed this but he played dumb. "Why, I was just strolling around when I saw a sign, a sign that said 'Everfree'," He said drawing a gasp from Luna. "There, I saw monsters like never I've seen before," He continued. "But honestly, I would say that they aren't really as strong as they think," He said confusing Luna. "Why would you think so?" She ask curiously. "When it comes to the Bandesnach..." He said as a large image of cat-like creature came from the darkness and where its belly should be, is net and the end of its tail was large claw, Luna suspected, that was used to grab something and store it. "...they don't stand a chance," he said as the image dissipated. Another image came up and this was a winged creature, who had both teeth and beak. It looked as if it would tare anything that looked at it to shreds. "This lovely little canary, is the Jubjub Bird," He said as it as took to the skies of the black realm. It was like staring up at fire work that hasn't went off. As it landed it began it to call. Jub-Jub. Jub-Jub. The bird called. The bird, like the Bandersnatch, dissipated into the dark. As he walked next to Luna, he had a small sad frown on his face. "And finally, the Jaberwocky..." Though she couldn't see it, she could feel it. The Jabberwocky stared at them with piercing red eyes. ready to strike at any moment. She could barely make out the outline it made, and it was big. The wings grew to atleast three and half cottages in Ponyville, its head was the shape of Spikes when he was a rampaging Greed-Dragon, but the tail was the most frightening part. The tail was thick from the base and thinned to the end, on the end however, was a club like bone. The black realm conjured up cottages and showed how small they were compared to the Jaberwocky. With one swing, the cottages were nothing but splinters in seconds. Luna watched as this monster destroyed the homes, almost forgetting it was a dream. She stared as the red eyes dissipated and finally she looked back at him with a sad frown still on his face. "That was the reason... everything in Cheshire burned. The reason why I am the last of my kind," He said with a small tear. That tear hit the dark realm and and it burst to flames, different creatures going around. "DESTROY THEM!! MAKE SURE NONE SURVIVE!!!" A deep raspy voice filled the air and when Luna turned to see, despite the fact it was still an outline, it was the Jaberwocky. Blue flames came out of its mouth burning all in its way. By the time the smoke cleared, everything was ash. The occupants that were once there, gone. The only one left standing was a small pink and purple kitten who had yellow eyes... ---- The Sun shone over Ponyville, filling the small village with warm rays of spring. While every pony was out as happy as could be, one cat found himself shedding a tear for the one who shared his dreams... He could still hear the screams... "Mommy! Daddy!" He shuddered at the sound... and wept for the lost...