//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Drifting 
// Story: Luna's Dreamscape Journey 
// by ugugg93 
//------------------------------//

	All night, Luna had been having fun flying through the skies above Ponyville and the surrounding areas. The wind buffeting against her face and the chill of the night air sending mild shivers through her body, she laughed and smiled throughout the entire flight. Sure, there were times that this gleeful flight took a turn for the worse—the time she had spent in a blind fury coming to mind—but for the most part, the gentle flapping of her wings calmed her mind and body. In fact, if there was anything that she was certain of, it was that if she ever needed to put a smile on her face, a jump into the sky would fix that quickly.

Of course, that made the fact that she was currently walking along the cobblestone road in the center of town that much more interesting.

When Luna had first jumped out of the window just a few minutes ago, she hadn't realized how much going into both Pinkie's and Gummy's dreams had taken out of her. She found out quickly enough as she failed to gain any altitude, and instead of displaying the power that her wings contained within them, she fell much more like a stone falling to earth. Upon standing on her hooves she realized not only how tired she was, but how dizzy the twin ordeals had made her—the mare barely able to stand on her hooves as she stumbled along. Hoping it was only a temporary thing, she had even tried to take off a few minutes later, only to fail once again.

It was okay though, for while she enjoyed flying far more than walking around, especially when it came to longer distances, she felt alright regardless. It was nice to give her wings a rest after all she had put them through that night, as well as stretch her legs. The refreshing feel of her slipper-adorned hooves against the hard cobblestones relaxed her muscles, and almost lulled Luna into a walking sleep. Of course, relaxing her body only invited Luna's mind to wander back to the dream she had just left.

Talking to herself, Luna whispered, “Just what were those things that Pinkie was talking to? They weren't monkeys, that's for sure. Maybe some sort of alien creature that she imagined? Though they did speak Equestrian fairly well, and appeared to have way too may similarities to creatures on this planet to be extraterrestrial. Maybe they were like domestic apes, not unlike a cow or pig? Does... does that even make sense? Does any of this really matter?”

Luna sighed. “No... no it doesn't.”

However, what did matter—at least to Luna—was the last little tidbit of detail that was in Pinkie Pie's dream concerning a certain student of her sister. Before Luna was banished to the moon, Celestia and she had had many servants and students in various ranges of intimacy looking up to them. Further, every few years, there was some servant or guard that was found to have romantic thoughts towards one of the two immortal sisters. Sure, Luna was no loon, and realized that almost every single one of her guards and servants had imagined her in... lustful ways at some point, but these were not the ones she was thinking about. No, it was the ones that actually thought they had a chance to be in a close, romantic relationship with them.

Every time, Luna had done her best to let these sorry souls down gently, with some needing a much harsher drop than others. For all she knew, Celestia had done the same. The reason wasn't really because of anything noble like their longevity or any sort of insane selective nature, but merely because they wanted “the right pony.” Sadly, Luna never found this pony—she was too busy trying not to lose her mind on the moon.

Luna couldn't help but to wonder, if Twilight had come around in that time, if Celestia would've taken the mare up on the offer. Of course, this was even assuming that Pinkie's dream had any merit to it, but assuming it did, it was a very awkward situation that her sister was in. Like before, this wasn't because of their immortality, but simply because... well... alicorns lose anything resembling a libido after they hit the half millennium mark.

She couldn't help but to chuckle. “Though, the look on my dear sister's face at such an admission would make it worth it.” Just after she said this though, her look darkened to that of a near scowl. “Even if she is undeserving of all of the love.”

Luna stopped and shook her head. “No, that is not true. Not true at all. Even I can see that she loves nearly everypony that she interacts with, including myself.” She sighed, and lowered her head almost all the way to the ground. “Besides, it is not like I even try anymore...”

Sighing once more, Luna quickly looked to her left, and noticed that there was a single doorway to a residence waiting for her. It was a simple house—just slightly smaller than Lyra's and Bon Bon's residence—and while there were various signs that it was beginning to show its age, it seemed well kept enough. Looking to all sides of her, it appeared that the neighborhood that she had wandered into was nothing but a large series of three different cookie-cutter models of houses. What set this one out above all the others? Nothing really—just dumb luck that she ended up here.

Looking at the house in front of her, she couldn't help but to shrug as she began to walk up to the front door. “Eh, might as well fix my mood.”

With that she ignited her horn, and shifted into the very familiar mist that she had grown accustom to. Not bothering to try and find any open windows, Luna just whisked herself forward, and under the door in front of her. She easily seeped through the crack under the front door, and after making sure that she had enough space, reformed her body. Checking herself to make sure that she wasn't going to knock anything off of any shelves, she turned to her right, and began to look for the resident.

Such a search was a short one, for immediately, Luna found her target. Further, not only did she find her target, but she also nearly woke her up with the snorting laugh she let out accidentally. On the couch in the main living room, the mare was sleeping with her face buried in a cushion, forelegs sprawled out on either side, flank up in the air, and a set of letter-carrying saddlebags strapped to her barrel. From the sounds that were coming from the mare, it sounded like the gray pegasus was snoring in her sleep, though it was mostly muffled by the seat cushion her face was smashed into.

Luna could barely hold back her laughter as she whispered to herself. “I heard of overworked, but this is something else.”

After a few more seconds to get the silent laughter out of her system, Luna was left with a soft smile on her face. Suddenly, an idea sprung to her mind, and with a smile on her face, she softly lit her horn with her magic. She wrapped the blonde-maned mare in her magical grasp, and with a slight movement of her head, she lifted the mare up and off of the couch. She did this painfully slowly, to the point that she was sure that it would take all night to perform the task that she had set herself. Yet, considering the risk of waking the pegasus if she tried to move faster, it was time she was willing to spend.

Luna turned her head to the side, and with gentle steps the entire time, she carefully began to go up the steps to the second floor. All the while, she levitated the pegasus behind her in the air carefully so that she didn't bump her precious cargo into the ceiling. Several times, Luna could've sworn that she was going to accidentally wake up the pegasus by the way the mare would suddenly snort and wiggle around, but every single time would go back to hanging limply in the air.

Finally, after several minutes of painfully slow walking, Luna finally opened the door to the bedroom, and made her way inside. Once both were inside the door, the princess brought the pegasus in front of her, and after using a little bit more of her magic, began to unbuckle the straps to the saddlebags. That task carried out, she carefully took the saddlebags, and draped them over the armchair that was off in the corner of the room. Untucking the sheets, Luna was finally able to place the mare into the bed—using a final wisp of magic to cover her with the sheets. 

Allowing the sleepy pegasus to get comfortable, Luna waited as she rolled around in the bed a little. The entire time she watched, Luna kept the small smile on her face. Finally, the mare got herself comfortable, and after she settled down for what seemed like the last time, Luna bent down, and touched her horn to the mare's forehead.





Luna's dream-form began to appear over the ground in what looked like a jungle of some kind, though it was hard to say considering the static that was still in her eyes. Shifting the frequency more, details of the flora began to emerge. For the most part, Luna was unable to identify the trees and other low lying plants under her—she wasn't very familiar with jungle environments. Still, there were a few things that she could identify, like the palm trees to her left and right, as well as various species of palmetto bushes forming a tangled mass of plants.

By the time Luna had formed, the scent of a salty ocean filled her being. The tropical environment and the salty breeze made her believe that she was floating near the coast of a tropical rainforest—most likely a tropical island if the obvious was to be anticipated. However, the fact that Luna had no idea where the dreamer was was a new one. Sure, in the dream Zecora produced, she was unsure where the dreamer was, but that was only because the zebra was behind a curtain. Now? The pegasus had nowhere to hide.

Turning around to further search the ground, Luna gasped as she saw a small spear speeding right toward her. Before she had time to even blink in response, the deadly weapon passed right through her center—harmlessly as if she wasn't even there—and zipped onward to its target.

A hard sound entered Luna's ears coming from behind her, but that didn't matter to her right now. Right now, all that mattered was how fast and heavy her breathing was, as well as her currently nonexistant heart that was probably hammering against her chest. Only once before had Luna experienced a situation so close to death. Granted that even if the spear had pierced right through her chest, she would've only suffered a moderately painful wound, but it still would've been unpleasant.

Slowly, Luna began to calm down, and she began to become much more aware of her surroundings. Following the path behind her where the spear had gone, she eventually spotted that it had hit a tree behind her. However, she realized that while every other tree in the jungle appeared to be fairly homogenous with the others, this one was unique. However, as much as she wracked her mind and no matter how familiar the fruit that it appeared to be bearing looked, she couldn't identify the tree.

An excited voice from behind her breaking her out of her daze, Luna listened as it cheered, “Good job, Derpy! You got the mango monster!”

Derpy? Strange name for a pony.

The potentially insultingly named pony flew up towards the tree—her eyes not quite lining up properly—and inspected her work. Indeed, the spear hit the tree in the center of the trunk. Derpy pumped a forehoof once more in the air, then grabbed onto the spear with her mouth. With a mighty pull, she yanked the weapon out of the tree. Satisfied with the condition it was still in, she swiftly put it in one of the two long satchels that she was carrying on her side. It was haphazardly staying into the bag yes, but it was staying in nonetheless.

Wait, how did she throw the spear?

Her question remaining unanswered until the end of time, Luna watched as Derpy went around and plucked the mangoes out of the tree. Each one she picked she put into one of the two bags that were hanging off of her shoulders. Dozens of fruit were picked from it, until after just a minute, the entire tree was bare except for the very undeveloped green fruit. Now with two full bags full of fruit, Derpy turned away, and flew back in the opposite direction as the tree itself.

Not willing to lose the dreamer this early into their shared adventure, Luna followed the mare for her entire flight. Not even a minute passed before Luna found herself approaching a bright and sandy beach. It was curious on how much the terrain had changed since she was next to the mango tree. If she had to guess, she would suspect that it was the dream distorting distances or something. She wasn't sure, but she was sure that right now, that wasn't important.

What was important was the object that Derpy had flown herself to. Sitting on the sand, just above the high tide mark, was a fairly large wooden and twine raft. About four meters long and three meters wide, Luna suspected that it must have taken a while to build. That wasn't even including the fact that in the center of it, a four meter tall mast was placed, with a flag at the top and a straw colored sail rolled up tightly against it. The raft was filled with a wide range of assorted fruits, vegetables, and dozens upon dozens of coconuts that appeared to have been filled with fresh water.

Wait... is that sail made out of... hair?

Once again ignoring the question, Derpy scratched her straw colored mane as she continued to load up the several sacks of fruit that she had just picked. Once that was done, she pulled herself back, and smiled at her job well done.

“There! That should last me until I make it home!” she said as she looked up at the mast itself. “Don't you agree, Muffin?”

Confused, Luna looked up at the raft that Derpy had apparently almost finished with, and spied the most curious speaking companion. Unsure how she missed it the first time, Luna saw that tacked halfway up the mast itself, was a plastic bag that she had mistaken for a flag the first time. She rose herself up to the top of the mast to get a better look of what was printed on it. Despite everything inside her that tried to resist, as soon as she saw what was printed on the plastic bag, she groaned to herself.

Muffin Mania Bakery? Really?

“And... done!” Derpy yelled to Muffin again. With a beaming smile on her face, Derpy took the rope that she had been working with after getting the food situated, and tied it off onto one of the raft's logs. Derpy did a quick once over of the entire raft to make sure that everything was ready for her to send it into the ocean. The inspection didn't last that long—probably because she was  able to look at two parts of the raft at once—and before Luna knew it, Derpy was picking up the raft.

Instead of following Luna's expectations of dragging the raft to the ocean, Derpy lifted the entire raft up onto her forehoofs. Balancing the thing over her head, she flew high into the sky, and began to fly both herself and the raft over the torrential surf that would've surely been an issue with trying to get off the island. Instead of stopping at where the waves were just started to crest—the line where the raft would no longer have the most trouble—Derpy continued on with her cargo, and flew on and on.

However, the pegasus' strength had to give out at some point. That point was right around the time that the island behind the two disappeared over the horizon. With nothing but water on all sides of them, Derpy began her slow descent down with her raft still hoisted above her head. How the mare's forelegs didn't give out was a mystery to Luna, but she wasn't even going to bother to try and question it. The descent was a long one, but eventually, the raft crashed into the waves in front of it, and began to drift along.

Wings exhausted, Derpy finally glided over to the raft, and fell onto the raft. Chest heaving to get precious air to her lungs, she collapsed onto her little bit of sanctuary. “Whew... that... that was hard!”

Even if you could just rest on clouds.

Regardless, Derpy was content with resting on her tiny island in the middle of the massive ocean. That was all that happened for the next several minutes. Sure, every so often the mare would take a drink from one of her coconuts or eat part of a fruit, but that was about it. Lazily drifting along, the mare was content to just relax, letting a hoof soak in the water, and humming to herself mindlessly. For Derpy, it must have been relaxing. Luna just wished that something would finally happen.

As if the world itself heard her thoughts, the moment that the thought crossed her mind, the world around her dimmed. Just moments before, the sky was spotted with a cloud or two here and there. Now though, sky was blackened with monstrous storm clouds that wanted nothing else but to swallow up the tiny raft below. In response to the brewing storm, the sea began to churn up, newly formed massive waves cresting on every side of her.

Derpy, now freaking out for a truly legitimate reason, cried out, “Oh no... oh no... even I know what's going wrong!”

Suddenly, the waves—once randomly churning around in all directions with no rhyme or reason—began to move in a much more organized fashion. In fact, they were all heading to Luna's right, bringing the raft along for the ride. Faster and faster the waves moved, until they were pushing the raft at a fairly swift pace now. Luna took a look around to try and figure out what was going on, and she quickly got her answer right in front of her.

Derpy screamed. “Whirlpool!!”

As if the whirlpool wasn't enough to warrant panic, many dark shapes began to form around the raft itself. While many looked the same, there were four different kinds—all impossible to make out to Luna. However, as each crested, Derpy was able to identify each, and scream out each.

“Evil Whales!!”

“Bwahahaha!”

“Temperamental Sharks!!”

“Keep it down! I tire of your yelling already!”

“Rude British Turtles!”

“Cease this tomfoolery immediately or so help me I'll come up there and stop it myself!”

“Foul Tasting Jellyfish!”

“...”

After a few seconds of not getting a response, Derpy—whose wings were whipping violently in the wind as she gripped the mast—looked up at the bag above her. With the wind almost drowning her out entirely, she yelled, “Muffin! What are we going to do!?”

I personally suspect you shall perish.

Obviously, the bag never replied, but Derpy was acting like she was listening for a long while. Silently—with the exception of the violent winds, thrashing ocean, and yelling animals all around her—Derpy sat there as she stared at the flapping plastic bag. It was almost a full two or three minutes of time that the pegasus sat there. In fact, it was long enough for Luna to think that she had died or something.

Suddenly, Derpy recoiled back in fright, and yelled, “What!? No! You can't! I... I won't let you!”

“...”

“I don't care what happens! You're my best friend! I need you! I... I love you!”

Ew.

“...”

“No! Please Muffin. No!”

With that, the plastic bag ripped itself off of the top of the mast. With the wind ripping around them all, the bag soared across the sky, and made its way far off into the distance. Curiously enough though, just as soon as it was almost out of sight, it appeared to make a u-turn, and flew its way back to the raft. Closer it got, until it was just about to fly over the raft itself. However, instead of flying onto the raft, it turned right, and landed in the water next to a school of jellyfish.

Apparently, the sudden arrival of the new “jellyfish” of their group not only took the school by surprise, but it also enraptured the creatures. Apparently now treating Muffin as their new leader, headmaster, principal, or whatever else such a thing would be called, they followed its every drifting move. Those movements took the bag and school closer to the sea turtles, who were still milling around the raft itself.

Seeing their natural prey pass right in front of their noses, the strange talking turtles wasted no time in inspecting the curious creatures. Even if they were apparently on the same side, the sea turtles' instincts began to kick in, and with murderous intent, they began to speed towards the creatures. Seven turtles came in from all directions, and with a bite from each, attacked the jellyfish.

Instantly, they all spat out the jellyfish, and with a wail, complained. “I say! This tastes absolutely rotten! Why, I haven't had jellyfish so offensive since that disaster of a luncheon in Prance! The jellyfish—and everything else there—was positively criminal! I have eaten many a revolting dish in my time—I even enjoy sea squirts of all things—and I can say, without fear of hyperbole or deceit, that this jellyfish is among the worst of foods I have ever had the displeasure of consuming! I mean, how difficult is it to be a fair tasting—”

“Oh would you shut up already!” one of the sharks yelled out. “You're giving me a freakin' headache!”

“My word!” a turtle said as he swam up to the carnivorous beast. “ Why, I have never been so insulted in all my life you... you prat!”

“Prat!? What does that even mean!? That doesn't make any sense!”

“Ah, but it would make perfect sense, my dear fool. That is of course, if you had a brain.”

“Would you just shut up!”

"Oh, go boil your head!"

“Why you little—”

“Oh would you all shut the hell up!” the whales finally yelled in response. Quickly, they moved from their position of orbiting the raft to surrounding all of the other creatures. “Seriously, you fools are going to ruin our diabolical plans!”

“What? Bloody wanker, I'll rough you up!”

“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!”

“...”

All at once, the four species of animals began to attack one another in a furious frenzy. The whales used their massive girth to smack around the other animals, while they used their mouths when they could to deliver the finishing blows. The sharks—while lacking the size of the whales—had a jaw that was especially deadly, and were able to take down the whales and turtles with only a few bites. The turtles, while lacking any suitable strong offense, had the most amazing defense there was, and their shells might have well have been invincible. Even the jellyfish—so woefully weak compared to anything else around them—were fighting with their tentacles.

While Luna suspected that the whales would win this one by a tsunami, it appeared that the rest of the animals had suspected this as well, and had unofficially joined forces to take down the greatest enemy. It was an interesting spectacle to watch to say the least, for if the ocean was turbulent before, the tumbling, rolling, and jumping of animals made it that much worse. Even though none of the animals—with the exception of a few jellyfish—appeared to have fallen in the four way battle, it was furious nonetheless.

However, what none of them realized was that as they were fighting, they were slowly drifting towards the center of the whirlpool. It wasn't until one of the sharks screamed at being sucked into the vortex that any of them knew what was going on. As soon as they did, every single creature did its best to get out. Alas, it was too late, and with a wail from them all, the whirlpool swallowed every single one of them up.

Stinkenden would be proud.

However, instead of completely swallowing them all up, the massive cluster of creatures clogged the “drain” of the whirlpool. Because of this, the whirlpool collapsed onto itself, sending a massive wave careening towards the center of it all. With a thunderous crash, the waves smashed into each other, and sent a truly massive amount of water flying into the air. The massive geyser was enough to blast salty water into the clouds above. The clouds—suddenly finding a massive amount of water attacking them—either exploded from the force, or were shot away from above.

Slowly the last remnants of the maelstrom of disasters began to fade, and the sun began to shine through. The rain continued to fall onto the mare standing on the raft, yet it was no longer the blistering cold rain from the storm, but the salty seawater that had been shot in the air just a moment ago. As this happened, the crashing waves from before calmed so much so, that while the ocean never really became the glassy consistency that lakes sometimes became, it was very calm compared to normal.

Off into the distance, Luna spotted what was obviously a large boat, and it appeared to be heading straight towards her. Derpy saw it too, but she did not attempt to wave it down. Instead, she looked onto where the whirlpool used to be, and after sitting down, brought a foreleg up in salute.

Calmly, the cross-eyed mare whispered, “Muffin... you were the greatest hero that Equestria has ever known...”





With a near violent yank, Luna pulled herself out of the dream. More than a little bit confused at what she saw, she looked down at the gray mare below her as the mare slept peacefully. Derpy smiled slightly, and with a small shifting of her body, she once again brought her flank up in the air, as well as her face into the pillow below.

With a sigh, Luna shook her head. “Alright, that was the strangest dream I have seen so far.”

Unable to figure out what else she could say, think, or even do, Princess Luna simply turned, and made her way out of the bedroom door. Not pausing for anything, she quickly made her way down the series of wooden steps. Finally, with a small glow of her horn, she shifted herself back into a mist, and zipped her way under the door, and out of the house for good.