On the Line

by TheBigBob


All Just a Game

Nova called out to Luna from outside the container. “What in Equestria were you thinking?!”
Luna squinted and blinked her eyes until they regained focus. After a moment of struggling, she was able to look out of the container at Nova, who was peering over the edge. Nova looked like she was about to explode.
“When I told you to get rid of the parasprite, I didn't think you would wreck the lab in the process! Do you have any idea how much money this is going to take to fix?”
A fictional lab was the last thing Luna was concerned about. She ignored Nova's lecture and examined her injuries instead. Her legs were stunned, but they didn't feel seriously damaged. On the other hoof, her wings were sprained. It took a huge effort to move them at all. Thinking back to the instant of the crash, Luna realized that the clash of her hooves against the metal felt far too real. It was as if she wasn't in a dream at all.
But Luna had to be. She remembered laying on her rug, floating over to Manehatten, and entering Novella's dream for the third time in two days. Not to mention, if this were real, why would Novella be mixing chemicals in a lab with her sister? Luna was in a dream, currently playing the role of a princess losing control of her magic. She may have been in another pony's dream, but it felt like a nightmare of her own.
Before doing anything else, Luna decided to test her dream magic to make sure it was still working right. As she lay down, she pressed her hoof against the side of the container. Cold, solid metal. Luna stared at her hoof and focused on pushing it through. Her hoof disappeared through the metal as if it wasn't even there. She pulled her hoof back and saw that there was no hole in the metal. Luna could still break the dream's rules, but it was considerably harder than it should have been.
Was this a result of her dream spell going wrong? Celestia had warned Luna not to wear herself out. Whatever the case, Luna didn't know how long Novella could hold out. Luna could rest once the filly was safe. Fortunately, Nova's attitude toward her sister provided a key to figuring out the source of Novella's trauma. But before Luna could further help the filly, she would have to escape the container.
“Stand back!” Nova shouted from the outside the container.
Luna tried scooting away from the sound of the mare's voice with what little strength she had, but there was not much room to move. Luna watched as a red line with sparks shooting out of it slowly moved down the container, followed by a second one spaced a few feet away. When the two lines were completed, the container was pulled away, revealing Nova wearing a welder's mask with a still-warm blowtorch at her hooves.
Nova pulled the mask up and sighed, glaring at Luna. “I thought you were supposed to be some all-powerful princess whose job it is to protect Equestria. Yet here I am, saving you instead.” Nova shook her head. “No wonder the kingdom gets attacked so often.”
“I'm not all powerful,” Luna mumbled as she crawled out of the wreckage. “You try being a princess and see how well it goes.” Her patience for Nova was wearing thin.
Nova rolled her eyes. “Oh, it must be so pitiful. All those ponies pampering you day after day, and you're cursed with magic capable of raising the moon? I can only imagine.”
A voice cried out from the other end of the room. “Leave her alone!”
The two of them turned to see Novella walking toward them. Evidently, the filly felt well enough to walk down the stairs on her own.
“Luna just saved me from a bad fall!” Novella yelled. “I'd trust her with my life long before I relied on you for anything!”
“Well what'll happen next time, when she's not around?” Nova asked. She turned to look at Luna. “I bet you can't even stand, let alone walk.”
“Don't give me that,” Luna said, gritting her teeth. With a groan, she adjusted her feet and steadied her balance until she was safely up on all fours. Luna looked over at Novella and smiled. “Give me just a moment, child. I'll be okay.”
“See?!” Novella said excitedly to her sister. “I bet Luna can handle anything!”
As Nova rolled her eyes, Luna wondered what was next in store for them. She would be able to walk, but she doubted she would be able to save Novella again if the filly was in danger. With dreams that morph as rapidly as hers, it likely wouldn't be long before they found themselves in another tight spot.
“Fun's over.” Nova dragged a garbage container over to the spot where Luna landed and began filling it with wreckage. “I have a lot of cleaning up to do, and the longer you stick around, the more likely you are to to screw it all up.”
Novella opened her mouth as if she was about to yell at her sister, but instead just muttered, “Fine.” She turned and started walking toward the stairs out of the lab. “Luna, let's go.”
Luna figured by the filly's silence that she would prefer to leave the lab to dealing with Nova any longer. Luna agreed, and mustered up the strength to walk over to the stairs.
Novella trotted up the stairs with ease, but was forced to watch helplessly as Luna struggled to move up them. Luna's limbs felt stiff and still stung from her fall, making each step as difficult as scaling a mountain. Novella moved next to Luna and tried to provide physical support, but the filly was too small to help Luna with her balance. After several minutes of walking up, Luna collapsed on the top floor, exhausted.
“Luna!” Novella cried out, kneeling by the princess's side. “Are you okay?!”
“Don't... don't worry about me.” Luna took a deep breath and stood back on her feet. Now that she was on level ground again, she would be okay to walk. “Just keep moving forward, okay? I'll follow you.”
A smile appeared on Novella's face, but Luna didn't find it very convincing. Up until now, Luna had been watching out for the filly, but because of Luna's injury, the tables had been turned. The filly remained quiet and walked toward the door, watching behind her to make sure Luna was following. The last time Luna tried opening the door, it had been locked tight due to the restrictions of the dream. This time, however, Novella didn't have the same problem as the princess. As she held the door open for Luna, a bright light shined through the door. Luna squinted as she exited the lab, unable to see what lied beyond the door.
As Luna stepped through, she felt a wave of fresh air run over her, which felt much nicer than the stagnant air in the lab. Luna smiled and took a deep breath, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight. Her hooves made clopping noises as they stepped onto a solid cobblestone path. After a few moments, Luna could identify tall, brightly colored buildings on the sides of the street. Many of the buildings had shops on the first floor, with signs hanging in the windows advertising clothing and accessories that had long since gone out of style. The streets seemed unusually quiet, but other than that the town seemed like a picturesque society. However, one end of the road was fenced off due to the fact that there was no ground – the entire city was floating in the sky.
Luna walked over to the fence and watched white, fluffy clouds float beneath the world Novella and her had just entered. Sky cities were not uncommon in Equestria, since they provided pegasi a place to live without taking up space on land, but it had been a while since Luna had visited one for herself. Because of the difficulties involved in making a city float, they were considered a masterful showcase of craftsmareship and engineering. Luna would have loved to fly out and see the city for herself, but unfortunately her wings were still not up to the task. That, and this was another fictional city within the filly's dream. It was likely such a place should not exist at all.
Novella called out to her. “Come on, we have to get going.”
Luna looked back toward the door that had brought the two of them to this place, but it had vanished into thin air. Instead, Novella stood by herself, tapping her hoof against the ground in impatience.
“We don't have time to dawdle,” Novella said. “It's not safe here.”
Luna frowned. “Not safe? Why, what's wrong?”
Novella sighed. “You'll find out soon enough.” The filly started down the other end of the street, waving a hoof for Luna. “Come on, follow me. We need to find an airship so we can get down to the ground.”
Luna scoffed at the idea but followed Novella anyway. An airship wouldn't bring them to safety; this was just another instance of Novella's subconscious taking control. So once again, Luna had to figure out the significance of this world.
The two ponies walked through the streets of the city in silence. The old-fashioned society was nice to look at, but the lack of any other ponies in the streets made Luna uneasy. Perhaps Novella was right when she said they should get moving. Luna imagined it wouldn't be long before they ran into trouble.
Was that why Novella brought them here? To look for a fight? The idea seemed absurd to Luna, considering that the filly was so sweet and helpful, as troubled as she was. However, only minutes ago the filly looked helpless as Luna struggled to climb the steps in the lab. Her wings were useless and her legs barely let her walk. If anything, Luna was a liability. Is that why Novella brought them to a potentially dangerous area? To try and show that she could protect Luna?
The two ponies arrived in a circular garden in the city. As they walked through the path to the center of the garden Luna could not help but be impressed by the floral arranged. Healthy, colorful flowers of all shapes and sizes lined the sides of the street.
“These ponies are pitiful, aren't they?” Novella said.
Luna walked toward the center of the garden, where she saw what the filly was referring to. A large stone statue of the Changeling Queen Chrysalis, a ruthless figure who nearly succeeded in overthrowing Equestria, stood high and mighty within the beautiful garden. Chrysalis' pony-like figure starkly contrasted her bug-like wings, twisted horn, and limbs filled with holes. Luna's fears were confirmed. No matter how beautiful the city looked, any ponies who would worship a figure like Chrysalis were not to be trusted.
“Quick gawking, Luna!” Novella stomped a hoof on the ground as she stood in front of one of the exits. “The longer we stay here, the more likely somepony will find us!”
“Oh!” Luna exclaimed, and walked toward Novella. The filly rolled her eyes and moved down the path.
Novella strode down the path to the city with urgency, stopping only to look back at Luna to make sure she could keep up. The filly was no longer acting like the quiet, nervous pony Luna had met only a day before. She was insistent and impatient, almost to the point of being rude. Luna had no idea whether Novella was merely emulating her sister or trying to be strong for Luna. The way the filly took charge and commanded her around made Luna feel like a supporting character in somepony else's story.
After a few minutes of walking down another empty street, Novella raised a hoof in the air.
“Stop.”
Luna quietly stood next to Novella and looked forward. The road up ahead opened up into a large area where they spotted pegasi of all ages running booths and playing games at some sort of festival. The ponies all looked friendly and playful, laughing and yelling as they played musical instruments and tossing balls at carnival games. It reminded Luna of the festival in Doggieville, but she knew that these ponies were not as friendly as they appeared.
“What do we do now?” Luna whispered.
Novella grimaced. “I don't think we have any options. We'll have to try and just blend into the crowd.”
Luna stared at her. “Are you crazy? They're all pegasi! The two of us will stand out like crazy!”
Novella gave Luna a sour look. “Do you have any other ideas?”
Luna frowned. “Well, no, but...”
Novella closed her eyes and sighed. “Look, we'll just try not to attract any attention, alright? I doubt they'll try anything with so many kids around.” The filly gave Luna a confident grin. “Besides, I think we can handle ourselves. Don't you?”
Luna didn't know what to think of Novella's attitude. On one hoof, she wanted to stop the filly from getting into any more trouble. On the other, delving into this dream deeper would give her a greater understanding of Novella's subconscious. With her recent injuries, Luna didn't know whether or not she could handle being attacked in the dream world at this point, but there was no point in idling around. Luna nodded, and the two of them walked out into the open.
At first, it seemed like everything was going smoothly. As Luna and Novella walked through the crowd, most of the pegasi were too busy having fun to notice them. Luna wondered how an alicorn like herself avoided standing out, but it was best to not question dream world logic. As Luna looked around, she briefly made eye contact with a young, brown-haired colt off to the side. The colt stared back at her with wide eyes, but did not say anything. Luna shrugged off the encounter and continued walking forward along with Novella.
“I think the festival ends down there,” the filly whispered, pointing at a tall, golden gate beside one of the buildings.
Luna nodded in agreement. However, as the two of them walked toward the gate, Luna heard murmurs coming from all around them. The music had slowed down, and rather than playing games with each other, the fillies and colts merely looked at Novella and Luna with fear in their eyes.
“Let's pick up the pace,” Novella said, less concerned about being quiet.
Novella and Luna worked themselves up to a light trot, but before they could reach the gate, two black-haired stallions wearing old-fashioned police pony outfits stood in their way.
“We think the two of you might be lost,” one of them said unflinchingly.
“Oh no, we're fine,” Luna told them. “We were just passing through.” Luna braced herself, expecting to be attacked at any second.
“Come with us,” the other stallion commanded. “We don't want anypony to get hurt.”
“Don't give me that!” Novella yelled, glaring at the two police ponies. “This is the only warning you're getting! Let us through!”
The police pony in front of her scoffed and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, filly. Why don't you just come along and-”
With a swift motion, Novella grabbed a baseball bat laying beside her and swung it into the stallion's back as hard as she could. The pony fell over in an instant, but before the other one could react, Novella leaped on his back and wrapped her front legs around his throat.
“Luna, run for it!” she yelled.
The princess nodded and galloped toward the gate with as much strength as she could muster. Luna still felt weary from her fall, but the adrenaline rush helped get her moving. As she ran toward the edge of the festival, she couldn't help but notice the chaos erupting around her. Ponies old and young gasped at the sight of the police pony lying on the ground with an ugly bruise, not to mention a filly taking on a pony twice her size. Luna wasn't sure she would have believed it if she didn't see it for herself. Dream or not, she never thought Novella would resort to violence. As she neared the gate, Luna used her magic to open the bolted lock. It wasn't the same as merely willing the gate out of existence, but it would do for now.
“Novella, come on!” she yelled back as the gate opened up.
The filly hopped off the police pony and sped toward Luna as fast as she could. Once Novella had caught up, Luna and her ran down the road, wherever it led.
After running down several streets, making turns, and knocking over a stand full of candy apples, Novella spotted an alleyway off of the road. “Quick, in here!”
The two of them darted into the alley and hid behind a dumpster. Luna peeked out from behind it and looked at the road they came from. Luna didn't see any ponies pass by the alley, so she thought the two of them might have a moment to catch their breath. Now that Luna knew they were safe, the weariness in her legs caught up to her. “Hold on,” she told Novella as she lied down. “I need a moment.”
“Don't make it too long,” the filly said, opening the lid of the dumpster.
“I'll manage.” Luna raised an eyebrow at the filly's behavior. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for food,” Novella responded, surveying the contents.
“In a dumpster?”
Novella stuck her head in to take a closer look. “I doubt they'll let us have any food if we ask, and I need to keep my energy up somehow.” The filly took her head out and shook her head. “Nothing edible in this one.”
Luna knew that the filly was likely just acting out a role she had seen in a story, but the princess couldn't imagine what kind of hero scavenged food and solved problems with violence. Bludgeoning that pegasus with a baseball bat was probably the right choice given the circumstances, but why would Novella even dream up such a scenario? Just like the zombie dream, the level of violence felt far too grotesque for a sweet little filly like Novella. No wonder she felt so distant from her parents; they paid no attention at all to what she was exposed to.
Novella walked past Luna toward the other end of the alley. “Let's go,” Novella said, picking up a discarded crowbar. “If we stick around, I don't know how long it'll take before they find us.”
Luna nodded. She knew she should have been worrying about the filly's mental state, but since Luna's dream magic was going haywire, she could be in danger as well. It would be best to stick by Novella's side. Unfortunately, the longer Luna stayed in the dream, the weaker her magic would become. It could be wise to get some rest, but she didn't know how long the filly had left to live. Luna was learning more about Novella every moment, but how long until she figured out the secret to convincing her to live?
As Luna followed the filly toward the airship, she couldn't help but notice that the environment seemed to be leading them in a certain direction. Boxes were stacked on top of each other blocking potential exits, and a fair amount of the roads were gated off, with endless sky on the other side in place of ground. It was as if the two of them were being railroaded along. There was no way the local population could have devised a trap so quickly, and it was an odd coincidence that the path to the airship was also the only direction they could travel. If the dream was just another one of Novella's stories, then it would make a certain degree of sense; stories are linear by nature, and it wouldn't be a good story if the two of them got lost exploring the town. Still, Luna felt a sense of dread knowing that her fate was out of her hooves.
After wandering around what seemed like endless alleyways through the city, Luna and Novella found themselves in an alley opposite the shipping facility. The building was tall and wide, which it would have to be in order to house both the airship and materials for transport. Unfortunately, news of the attack at the carnival had spread throughout the city, and a couple of police pegasi were patrolling the streets. Two guards, but no civilians.
“Alright, here's what we'll do,” Novella said, keeping a close eye on the police. “When the one on the right turns his back, we'll sneak out and take them both out simultaneously. Got it?”
“What?!” Luna looked at her as if she had gone mad. “Take them out? You mean kill them?”
Novella turned to the princess and looked as if she had asked if the sky was blue. “Of course we kill them. How else are we going to get past?”
Luna knew that these ponies were fictional, but she couldn't help but be appalled at Novella's disregard for life. “Can't we just sneak past them? My wings are feeling a little better – I might be able to just fly us over there.”
“We'll be spotted,” Novella told her. She looked back at the guards and shook her head. “Nevermind. I think I can do this by myself. Wait right here.”
“Novella!” Luna called out.
The princess watched as Novella crept up on the right police pony, who was readjusting his hat. In the blink of an eye, Novella had lept on the pony's back and wrapped her front legs around his mouth, muffling his attempts to alert his partner. The pony struggled, but Novella held on, using her bottom legs to choke his neck, cutting off his air supply. Within moments, the pony lacked the energy to fend her off anymore, eventually falling onto the ground.
Luna didn't know what to think. The young filly had just strangled a pony in broad daylight with no hesitation at all. Before Luna could dwell any further, Novella grabbed the police pony's baton, then crept over to the other pony. She lept on this one as well, but this time pressed the baton against his neck instead of using her legs. Just like his friend, he stumbled to the ground as he gasped his last breath.
“We're okay now, Luna!” Novella called out. “Let's get inside!”
The filly ran forward, toward the warehouse, but Luna couldn't do anything but sit there with her mouth open. In the last dream, Novella seemed weak and helpless as her sister commanded her, but in this world, she was playing the role of the oppressor.
“Luna, are you coming?”
“Oh!” Luna shook her head to snap out of her thoughts. “I'm on my way.”
The princess trotted forward toward the warehouse, but took a look at one of the dead police ponies as she moved. The pony wasn't breathing, and Luna saw the fresh strangle marks around his neck. It's possible that Novella still felt like the one being oppressed – after all, the entire city was after them for seemingly no reason. But the way Novella strangled them with minimal effort made it seem like she was the one in control.
When Luna finally caught up to Novella at the entrance to the warehouse where the airship was, the filly was peering inside the door.
“I've spotted five stallions in there, but there could be more,” she told Luna. “We're gonna have to take down all of them if we want to steal the airship.”
“Is that really necessary?” Luna pleaded. “Those are lives you're taking.”
“They're evil,” Novella told her. “It doesn't matter if they live or die. As long as we escape, nothing else matters.”
“But...”
Luna felt like Novella was just rationalizing her actions. The filly was correct in that these ponies were likely evil, but that didn't mean killing them. Even though this was all a dream, Luna still cringed when she saw her strangle those two police ponies to death. Luna knew that those deaths weren't real, but did Novella?
“If you don't want to kill anypony, then just stay out of the way.” Novella pushed the door open just enough to walk through. “Stay behind me, and I'll do all of the work.”
Novella snuck into the building, with Luna following her. The princess was much taller and had longer hair than the filly, so Luna uncomfortably crawled behind crates as Novella peeked over them and led the way. From the few glances Luna saw, the warehouse was filled with shelves full of crates and boxes. Rolls of bubble wrap could be found laying on the floor next to unwrapped goods. A few forklifts could be seen around the area. On the other side of the building, Luna could just make out a large door where goods could be transported onto the airship. However, the hard metal floor made a clopping noise whenever one of them took a step, so they had to tread as carefully as they could. It wasn't long before they came across one of the workers at the facility stacking some boxes onto one of the forklifts. This stallion was much larger than the police ponies outside.
Luna whispered to Novella. “He's too big. I don't think you'll be able to strangle him.”
Novella nodded. “You're right.”
Luna gave a small, relieved sigh. At the very least, Novella wouldn't be strangling this pony. However, she then noticed the filly grab a box cutter off of one of the shelves.
“What are you doing?” Luna asked her.
“Improvising.”
Before Luna could say anything else, Novella had moved forward and jumped on the back of the stallion. The filly covered his mouth with one hoof and jammed the box cutter into his neck with the other. The stallion cried out, but the sound of his screams were muffled. Novella jammed the box cutter into him over and over, until he was nothing more than a bloody mess on the floor.
The filly turned toward Luna. “I knew this wouldn't be hard,” she said with a satisfied grin on her face.
Luna's jaw dropped. Novella had just killed somepony with a box cutter... and enjoyed it. The attack wasn't done out of desperation or self-defense. She had killed the pony in cold blood under a flimsy justification of needing to do so in order to escape. But instead of treating death with the weight it deserved, she looked as if it was nothing more than a goal she had accomplished.
Luna stared at the filly, wide-eyed. “You're psychotic.”
Novella's grin fell. “What?”
Luna stepped forward, growing furious. “You don't care about the lives of other ponies. You took pleasure in taking that pony's life! It's nothing but a game to you!”
Novella stood as tall as she could to stand up to Luna. “You don't understand me at all! Of course I take things like life and death seriously!”
“Oh do you?” Luna asked, rolling her eyes. “It all doesn't matter to you. Everything is just an escape from your family!”
Their conversation had grown louder to the point of attracting the other work ponies in the room. However, neither Luna nor Novella paid them any attention.
“What do you know?” the filly yelled at her. “You're just like all the other ponies who treated me like I was crazy! You jumped to conclusions and didn't even bother to try understanding!”
“What's there to understand?” Luna stomped her hoof. “You can't handle the real world, so you just immerse yourself in these stories! You're so obsessed that you can't even tell the difference between reality and fiction!”
As Luna spoke, a stallion carefully trotted up behind Novella, ready to swing a crowbar at her.
Tears streamed down Novella's face. “Of course I know the difference! This isn't real life!”
The stallion standing behind Novella froze. A moment later and he would have bashed Novella in the skull. Instead, he stood there, not moving.
Novella's legs wobbled as she cried. “Do you think I'm an idiot?!” she yelled. “I abhor violence! I think taking anypony's life is terrible! I can't believe you're making judgments about me based on some dumb story!”
Luna instantly felt terrible, but couldn't help but feel that things were about to get much, much worse. “So... you knew all along?”
Novella wiped her eye. “I can't fly. What would I be doing in a sky city? Why would there be a society full of pegasi who want to capture outsiders? What would a princess like you be doing with me?”
Luna bit her lip. Novella's eyes opened wide.
“This isn't real. I'm dreaming.”