//------------------------------// // Luna on a Cold Throne(REVISED) // Story: Pony Dreams // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// Chapter Three Canterlot Castle: Royal Court *** “The tide of the war turned beginning with the Battle of Volstag, or the First Day of Endless Feathers as it is known among dragon scholars. The battle happened roughly eighteen months after the open conflict between the griffin and dragon nations started, at Volstag Aerie. Located just a day’s flight from the then northern most border of Equestia, the mountaintop aerie was the ancestral home of the Golden Plume griffin clan and held as a location sacred to the griffin progenitor god. It came under attack by a small advance force of perhaps three to five dragon mercenaries*, and was kept under siege for perhaps a week. While the occupants outnumbered the dragon force by a factor of ten; the far superior physical might of the attackers still retained them the upper hand. The Golden Plume would have been lost if a secret messenger had not breached the draconic blockade and reached the farther north communities of Black Talon, Clear Roar, Sharp Beak, and Cloud Pride. Once these usually dis-separate clans were made aware of the siege, they coalesced for the first time in their history and came rushing to the aid of Volstag Aerie. The resulting griffin army outnumbered the dragon force three hundred to one. The battle itself lasted only a day, but spawned dozens of war heroes for the griffin side. Not the least of which was Jnord of the Golden Plume, who would later take the throne as the first Griffin Emperor**. (*Due to the oral history traditions of both specie, and the passing of the event into legend, exact figures are unknown. Researchers have received many wildly differentiating tales over the years, but these are the most commonly agreed upon points.) (**Please reference chapter forty seven for more information on the reign of Emperor Jnord and his betrayal by…)” *** The bottom edge of the nearly full Moon wasn’t even over the horizon by the time Luna’s first yawn found her. The first lead the way for what felt like a parade, each yawn making her eyelids feel heavier as their frequency increased. She already finished off the half dozen doughnuts from the kitchen and read more than a few boring as hay chapters of her Equestrian Military History book. This tome was a collection of documents originally transcribed during the Dragon-Griffin wars, which started in earnest about twenty years after her banishment. While Luna found the subject thrilling initially, the book failed to truly engage her mind. The authors reduced the exciting bits down to analytical facts and detailed lists of engagements as well as troop composition for both sides. Luna wanted action and was not finding it in her current reading. She wanted to pull out one of the comics she’d hidden under the Throne, for just such an occasion. It was still too early in the Night for that however. It would be hours before she would take her lunch, and still more hours awaited her until dawn and her sister’s arrival for their next shared meal. It was Celestia’s suggestion, the first Night Luna returned to hold Court, that she could use the quiet to catch up on things. Luna’s knowledge of the modern world was still spotty at best, even given more than a year’s worth of study. She often reflected that current social mannerisms and speech patterns would have been the better topics to start on, rather than history and political policy. It was her own fault really. After being reunited with her sister by the Elements of Harmony, Luna insisted on returning to her Princess-ly duties as soon as possible. She wanted to rule as Celestia did, with wisdom and experience. However, that required far more knowledge of dry historical events and parables than she ever suspected. History, it would seem, is just not my subject, Luna thought glumly as she looked at the open pages without reading a word, but here I am again, stubbornly filling my head with the stuff. I should just toss it and find a book on etiquette or a dictionary of modern slang terms! Then I could talk with somepony and try it out! But who would I talk to? Everypony here just be a useless ‘yes’ pony to me, if they didn’t just stammer and trip over themselves. Not to mention the embarrassment it would cause me. Luna shivered as she imagined Celestia’s expression if she caused some social gaffe. Her sister wouldn’t be the right pony to practice with either. Luna frowned as her options dwindled. Even when you are a Goddess, life can be unfair. How can I have no pony to talk to? Luna closed the tome with a loud clap, diamond dog-earing the page to keep her place. The sound made the other ponies in the Court jump a little. As she usually dreaded, Night Court was empty and boring. The ponies of the Nightguard were the only ones as bright eyed as the Night Princess. The holdovers from the day shift went about their final paperwork mechanically with a tired, glazed expression on each of their faces. At least they were not asleep. Her bailiff, whom she had learned was named ‘Corky,’ of all things, was dozing at his desk, almost snoring. The papers there were curling back and forth with each wheezy intake of breath. One of his rear legs twitched slightly as he entered a deeper state of sleep. Lucky bast– Luna started as the idea hit her. Wait a minute... I could go dream hopping! That would be interesting at least. Perhaps I could find somepony to have a meaningful conversation with! So what if Tia doesn’t think I should? It’s my power. I’ll use it as I wish. Besides, no pony is getting hurt by it. An even more inner voice warned her that those sounded dangerously like ‘famous last words.’ But then again, she hadn’t actually said anything out loud. No pony would even know. To the other ponies in the room it would look as if she was just staring blankly off into space. Luna took a sip of her water and adjusted her seating. The magic surged as she thought about it, though her horn did not glow with its usual aura. This magic was as easy and simple as breathing, so it was hardly any effort at all. As patron Goddess of the Night, some powers just came to her. Until she was actively in a dream, it was a purely passive ability. It reached out invisible spider web-like tendrils attracted to dreaming minds. Each mind contacted would feel nothing as it was probed for the right conditions that allowed the shared experience. If the dreamer was thinking of Luna herself, the tendril strengthened the bond, and the Princess could then take over her dream self. Doing so was easy enough, hardly more taxing than merely searching. Should she find multiple dreamers thinking of her, she could invade only one dreamscape at a time. However, switching between them was a simple task for Luna. The net of dream-probing threads spread out from Luna’s horn, heedless of physical obstructions, almost hungry for the dreams of ponies. Luna watched them shimmer in the Moonlight, swaying in the same unfelt breeze that blew through her mane. They found Corky first, passing him over. His dreams were not of Luna, but about himself as a wine taster. More sleeping minds were discovered as they spread: a few in this wing, several dozen throughout the castle, including her sister, though none dreamed of her. More still appeared on castle grounds and in the greater Canterlot area. Among those, the first potential candidates with the right set of conditions began to appear. Luna leisurely scanned each sleeping pony at the speed of thought, carefully considering each candidate in the blink of an eye. Over here one pony dreamed of Luna as Nightmare Moon bringing eternal night. Over there, another dreamed of her plotting Celestia’s downfall. There were others with similar unhappy themes. She did not care for those. Most nightmares were tough enough to deal with when asleep. Active conscious interaction with such terrors was another matter entirely, and one Luna would not soon repeat. She suppressed a shudder. That was one of her top five most unpleasant experiences. It had been a mistake, but she had just wanted to help. It nearly broke her and the dreamer too. The imagination was nearly impossible to reign in while in the dreamscape, even by two Goddesses. More dreaming minds passed before Luna’s inner eye, examined and rejected. Dreams numbering beyond counting appeared before her consciousness as the tendrils of magic spread. Communities all across Equestria dozed in the gentle Moon light Dozens in each of these small thorpes dreamed of her. It was quite flattering, actually. Luna felt her heart swell as the unintended well-wishing of hundreds of Equestrian citizens flooded her mind. If only I had tried this earlier! So many pleasant dreams; it’s a shame they all look boring. Come on, there has to be somepony out there with a good dream going on. Luna shook her head. The dream-probing tendrils hit Ponyville within a minute of her first activating her power. And among all the dreaming minds she touched so far, one stood out like a blazing beacon. It burst at the seams with magical might, tinted with friendship and softened by limitless innocent curiosity. Wow, even her aura is purple. I wonder if that’s just Twilight or the fact that she’s the Element of Magic? Luna thought to herself as the mare’s dreams were probed. Huh... she’s actually dreaming about me? Oh, this I gotta see! Luna affixed more of the tendrils to the sleeping unicorn and focused her will, almost to the point of invading the dream. She wanted a clear view of what was going on in Twilight’s mind. It didn’t feel like a nightmare, so that was positive. In the Canterlot Throne Room, Luna closed her physical eyes, a bored expression on her face. In her mind she discarded the previous dream connections she’d made and zeroed in on her target’s mind. At first it was very dark, then blindingly bright. As the images resolved, Luna noted off-hoof that Ms. Sparkle dreamed in color. Quite vibrantly so, in fact. All the physical senses, physics, proportions and distances were all accounted for and seemed to be waking-world equivalent. Just what I’d expect from this unicorn, given the way Celestia has described her and our encounter Nightmare Night. She’s mindful, methodical, and grounded… yet whimsical at times. The dream space appeared before her as a giant sphere of swirling colors hanging in an empty void. It was eerie how similar it looked to the view of the planet seen from her Moon. Luna wondered if it was her subconscious mind that created that imagery or if that was just as things are. As the only pony capable of viewing the dreams of others, she lacked another mind to trade notes with about such curiosities. Luna held back her thoughts so as not to disturb the dream forming in what she imagined as ‘in front’ of herself. Without entering the dream directly, she’d have a very limited view from the perspective of the dream version of herself. She could only see and hear what her dream self could with no direct control over it. The dreamer still controlled that Luna like a puppet until she pushed past the outer edges into the dreamscape. But at least it would give her a basic understanding of what was going on. She appeared to be inside some wooden structure descending on a narrow, slightly curved staircase. Her dream-self was following Twilight Sparkle down it towards a simple door with a brass handle. She could hear Twilight speaking to her, though at this stage the sound was muffled, and her speech was difficult to make out. She was talking about showing something to Luna, something about a series of experiments of some sort. Yes, finally somepony to talk to! And this will be a good way to further get to know Twilight. We are very similar in demeanor and our closeness to Tia. Magically, at least, she’s the next closest pony to myself. There isn’t any reason we can’t become even more fast friends! And I get to avoid more embarrassing awkwardness! Yay! Luna chuckled to herself and, with a final push of magical energy, merged with her dream self. The now merged versions of Luna nodded as Twilight finished her sentence. *** Twilight Sparkle’s Dreamscape *** “....and that’s why I asked for your aid, Princess Luna! I think that these experiments will help us move forward in magical development by far bigger leaps and bounds than ever before. And with the help of an alicorn, the breakthrough is well within our grasps!” Dream-Twilight giggled and opened the plain doorway in front of the two mares. The door opened to reveal Twilight’s basement laboratory, putting them just below her home at the Ponyville Library. While Luna had never been to this part of the building, she had been to the Library before and felt confident she could manipulate the dream space subtly enough for the young scholar not to notice should the need arise. Not that she planned on changing much really. She was here for the conversation after all. Luna followed Twilight in, noting how she could feel the wood grain under her hooves. Dreams were as real as the waking world to Luna. But it took amazing amounts of detail to make it seem anything like reality. And Twilight Sparkle’s mind certainly lived up to ‘amazing’. Moments after she entered the lab, the door clicked closed and the light changed minutely toward a pinkish haze. In the middle of the room was the freakish machine Twilight used to try analyzing Pinkie Pie’s ludicrous ‘Pinkie Sense.’ Luna heard about that event from her sister through many bouts of laughter after that report came in. Its pony restraint system seemed... upgraded somehow. And as she looked around, it dawned on her that the tools and devices on the walls were not the kind one would normally use in scientific experiments. Considering the size of some of them made Luna re-evaluate Twilight’s grasp of real world proportions. They also made her blush fiercely. Especially since Twilight seemed to favor the same brand as the one Luna had hidden in her room back at the castle.