A Vivid Dreamer – Ch8
Mares in Space
Luna walked up to the window to peer out; all she could see were stars. Looking down she could see the radiant white ship plating, along the edge Luna could make out the glowing smear that was a nebula. “Where are We this time?” As Luna pondered this as she heard the hiss of a door, fearing a re-imagining of the dreamers nightmare she spun around horn aglow. She quickly settled at what she saw.
“Oh? Admiral Luna I wasn’t expecting you to be on the observation deck.” Before Luna stood a biped; alive and unmarred by the parasites she witnessed the night before. The creature was just barely tall enough to match Luna’s eyes; it quickly snapped its legs together and brought one of its arms up in a quick salute. It had been far too long since she was addressed by a military title; peace was scarce after the original defeat of discord. And seeing the military action directed towards her, her mouth went off before her mind could register.
“At ease.” The creature immediately relaxed; spreading its legs. Luna could see the curve of its hips and chest through the fatigues, but the feminine voice sealed it; this was a female of the species. The female seeing Luna eying her decided to speak up and break the silence.
“I’m off-duty at the moment; I always come to this lounge to read a good book.”
Luna took this moment to observer the rest of the room that she currently occupied; there were couches, lamps and even what Luna assumed was a bar in the far corner. She decided to ask the next important question, “Where are We?”
There was a glimpse of confuse on the biped’s face before it shifted to a look of realisation. “We are aboard the Mother ship Celestia, we are currently holding position in front of an asteroid field collecting resources before we make the next jump to hyperspace. The disorientation should fade in a day or two. I know what cryo-sleep can do to someone’s sense of time.”
Luna was perplexed that this creature, while military was not hostile. And that once again she was somehow incorporated into the dream itself, looking over her body confirmed this. Luna’s regalia was gone, in its place she was wearing what approximated to officer fatigues; with gold bars on each shoulder and collar, as well as a few pins on her chest. Looking back at the biped Luna spoke again, “I’ll leave you to your reading.” The biped gave a quick salute before stepping out of the way, giving Luna access the hall way behind her. Okay so We are part of this dream, it is not like the nightmare and everything is calm; perhaps We could use this to our advantage, Luna thought as she light her horn again in an attempt to locate the dreamer.
Sensing his location she determined that if she was on a ship, the dreamer was located near the bow. While sensing she noted that once again, like the first time, this dream was huge but was now filled with projections. Walking down the hallway she ran into two of them as they worked in front of an opened panel, Luna was surprised to see that one of them was a unicorn pony. They both got up to get her a quick salute before returning to the opened panel as she passed. Luna pondered the cooperation between the species, if this dreamer was peaceful what then was the nightmare about. Recalling the horror that it was, Luna remembered the projection of Shining mentioning humans, ‘are these the humans of myth?’ Luna’s train of thought derailed as she arrived at a set of branching paths; she didn’t know how to reach the bow.
Luna was just about to use the deductive reasoning of ‘Eeny Meeny’ to pick a hallway when a familiar voice sounded from above. “Resources collected, okay everypony prepare for hyperspace.”
“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna looked up to trying to find the lavender unicorn, all she found was a speaker mounted on the ceiling.
“Oh? Luna, you’re awake? Did you enjoy your nap?” Twilight sounded a little chipper than Luna was accustomed to; perhaps it was the speaker her disembodied voice originated from.
“Where are you Twilight?”
“Me? I am currently hooked up to the Mother ship's central maneframe, I help regulate the ship’s major systems and assist in the hyperspace calculations. We wouldn’t want to drop out inside a sun now do we? Anyway I’m sure the disorientation will fade soon, if need be I can direct you to the nearest infirmary.” There is was again, the dream was making excuses for Luna’s lack of knowledge. While she could use this to her advantage she couldn’t draw too much attention to herself.
“Actually Twilight We could use your assistance.”
“Let me guess you want the millionth digit of Pi? It’s four… or was it nine? Hold on, let me start again. Three point one --”
“No Twilight, We are looking for somepony, or more accurately someone.”
“You’re looking for the Captain aren’t you? He is on the bridge currently.” Luna stood in silence for just a moment.
“And that is where ex—“
“Oh! Hold one let me light a path for you. If you need anything else don’t hesitate to ask” Just as Twilight finished, amber lights began flashing along the edges of one of the hallways.
“Thank you Twilight,” Luna said as she the proceeded down the illuminated hallway. She would occasionally pass by a ‘human’ or pony and they would give her a quick salute before moving on. It was strange to Luna, not only was she being respected by creatures she had never seen before, but the act itself seemed right. Luna, just like her sister despised their ponies constantly bowing before them. For Celestia it felt like her ponies believed themselves below her, but for Luna it put the pony bowing in a position of vulnerability; a quick salute gave a sign of respect but you could remain at attention.
The flashing lights led Luna to a small lift, after a short trip they opened up to reveal a massive storage hanger. There were rows upon rows of stacked storage containers while pegasi could be seen skirting the tops of the stacks, Luna just spectated the room below her as she walked across illuminated catwalks until something caught her eye. Down below in one of the isles was a bipedal machine painted yellow and black walking around with one of the containers gripped in its arms. Clearly visible within the machine was a grey coated, blonde maned pegasus mare; the machine was clearly imitating the mares actions within her protective dome. When the grey mare saw Luna watching her she gave quick salute accidentally clubbing herself in the forehead, unfortunately the machine decided to follow through with this action; clubbing the dome the mare was seated in. With the sudden change in balance the machine began to backpedal; colliding with the stack of containers behind it. The first stack collided with the second and then the third, continuing to domino. Luna could only cringe at the noise as the display unfolded before her, when the noise finally died down Luna could hear the faint voice of the mare call out “I’m okay!” relieved that no one was hurt Luna followed the catwalk to another lift.
Luna continued to follow the flashing lights till they lead to a larger door with a sign reading ‘Command Center’. Luna steeled herself before crossing the threshold.
“Admiral on deck!” someone shouted from her right, the effect was immediate. Every ‘human’ and pony in the room stood at attention, turned to Luna and snapped a salute. Again before it could register Luna fell into forgotten traditions.
“At ease.” Everyone on the bridge visibly relaxed and returned to their duties, giving Luna a chance to view the bridge in its entirety. On the far wall were massive screens portraying a starry filled sky, below these screens were four alcoves lowered into the floor. Smaller alcoves lined the circumference of the room and there raised in the center, surrounded by smaller screens, was a rather large chair. Each station was manned by either a ‘human’ or a pony, but more importantly the chair in the center was manned by what Luna assumed was the captain, and her magic tagged as the dreamer.
The ‘human’ that stood before Luna was just about the same height, its eyes level with the base of her horn. She noted that it was a male of its species, the only hair it had was on top of its head; cropped short, black, but still curling. Where its skin was exposed she could tell its colour was a slight tan similar to that of toasted bread, and resting on its nose was a set of square shaped, thinly framed glasses. He was wearing an officer’s uniform similarly decorated to Luna’s own. She walked up to the captain and when she was close enough she asked, “Who are you?”
The captain blinked, “I am Captain Ryan Rosenberg, I have been charged with the command of the Mother ship Celestia on its journey to colonise new worlds. Are you feeling alright admiral? Should I walk you to an infirmary?” Luna had to play it careful, she did not want him to realise that she was not part of the dream lest she miss her chance.
“No, We shall be fine. We are just… disorientated.” She lied through her teeth, but it wasn’t a lie if it was based on truth, was it? Luna was defiantly a little confused with the environments and level of magic and technology his dreams had shown her.
“If you are sure. May I ask what brings you to my bridge?”
“We came to witness how you function, when in command,” another half-truth.
“Very well then.” He then turned to regard one of the screens that surrounded the captain’s chair. With his back to her Luna charged her horn, ready to begin extracting his memories. Unfortunately Ryan caught the glow reflecting of the inside of his glasses. He turned around to face Luna. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing… nothing at all.” The glow around her horn winked out as his eyes focused on it. What he did next caused Luna to raise an eye brow, Ryan pulled out a bit; an Equestrian bit but with a hole cut through it. Filling this hole, with a jeweler’s setting, was a tiny ruby; looking through the bit would tint everything on the other side in red. And then he flicked it, as it spun through the air he reached out to grab it, then slapped it against the back of his other hand. He regarded the result for a moment before turning back to Luna; she was still confused at the whole display. His eyes narrowed as stared Luna with intense focus, Luna’s muscles tensed preparing for a fight. After a moment his face took on a stoic expression before asking a question.
“You’re the real Luna aren’t you?” She was taken aback by Ryan’s sudden revelation, but more so was the fact that the dream was still stable. This surprised Luna, for whenever a pony was to become aware of their dream it would fall apart; unable to keep itself going. It was how Luna would wake her ponies from terrifying nightmares. But here was Ryan, the odd creature in equestrian; acutely aware he was dreaming, but nothing happened. Luna decided to press her advantage.
“Yes We are, and We would like to know what you are doing in Equestria. As well as what those monsters were that plagued you the night before. You terrified Our sister greatly, she cried herself to sleep.” As Luna’s voice began to raise, the look on Ryan’s face shifted from stoic to fearful.
“Oh… ah… shit,” Ryan immediately vaulted over the rear of the captain’s chair and bolted for the door yelling, “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.” Before he could get through the door, Luna dropped from the raised platform and grabbed him with her magic. Teleporting to his side she threw him into the wall and using a voice just a few decibels short of the Royal Canterlot Voice began to question him.
“Who are you? Why have you come here? What were those things in your nightmare?” Luna was so focused on the ‘human’ she had in her grasp she couldn’t her one of the officers calling out behind her.
“Somepony get security, the admirals gone rampant!”
Ryan’s face was filled with the look of shock and his eyes held fear, “Look… I’m sorry you saw that. I had a tough day at work, the bellows jammed and my hammer broke in two places. I didn’t know anybody would be watching; I completely forgot about you.” Luna was perplexed by the response; this ‘human’ was apologizing to her for having a nightmare as well as forgetting her? She had never seen this creature before in her life, but before she could question him again four rather large stallions burst through the door. In an instant they pony piled the princess before producing a pointed peripheral, Luna’s body was suddenly wracked with electricity. Her muscles seized, her eyes clamped shut, her jaw locked and she couldn’t breathe. Just as suddenly as the feeling came, it left. Luna opened her eyes with a gasp of fresh air; she saw her moon again in the sky as she was seated on her balcony. She released an exasperated scream.
“WE WERE SO CLOSE!”