//------------------------------// // Dream Encounter // Story: The Cool Brazilian Wind // by Lazy_ //------------------------------// A heavy breath was exhaled from a pair of lungs that had sat stagnant for a little over a week, and a consciousness floated back to reality. The grey pegasus slowly realised he was awake and signals began to race back and fourth between previously dormant neurons in his brain. As his senses kicked back into gear he could hear muffled sounds and sensed himself under a thick cover that seemed to be keeping him warm. He wanted immediately to shuffle in his comfy resting place and dig further into the soft surface he lay on. But he found that his muscles were far too tired. Too tired to ache, too tired even comply with his desire however much he tried to will them to. But just as his awareness started it was ending. He could feel himself slipping away, back into the nothingness of sleep that felt so inviting and homely at that time. "-Just five more minutes...-" He thought lazily to himself, before he fell away into the land of dreams. Sam opened his eyes and he was greeted by a dark sight. A field was opened out before him and black colourless leaves blew about in the wind. Hills slowly rose out in-front of him and a windmill with slowly spinning blades sat on the top of the furthest crest, it's wooden architecture appearing almost strange against the norm of concrete, brick and sheet metal he was used to seeing. The high pitch whistle of the rushing air met his ears and tickled the light coating of fur that grew from the skin there. "-Huh? I don't remember being hairy, well, not hairy enough to have it on my ears, anyway.-" He joked lightly to himself as he rolled over onto his... front? He frowned as he finished rolling over onto his belly and as he used what he thought were his arms to push himself up, he looked down to see he didn't have any arms. Instead, two stubs extended from his grey chest and met the floor with a pair of strange hooves. He cocked his head and narrowed a single eye at the sight before him. "Now this is a strange dream, not sure I've ever had this one before." He said aloud as he pushed up with his new forelegs and left his rear dragging far behind him in a rather un-comfortable position; He felt like his abdomen was pinned to the ground with a weight on his spine to push it downward and into the floor. Sam looked back with his longer neck and found that his rear was now that of something like a cross between a cat and a horse, and he was completely covered in grey fur, as well as having a pair of wings attached to his body just behind his shoulders, interestingly enough. He pointed his splayed out hind legs forward and shuffled his forelegs backward to reach a more comfortable sitting position that resembled that of a dog. He looked around his new body and noticed other weird details. Such as the size of his now giant eyes and the tattoo that adorned his 'hips'; An image that was a red katana, matching his own, spinning in the wing and leaving a bright haze in it's wake. The wind was represented by swirling clouds of barely visible 'gas' that curled and twisted due to the movement of the sword. He gave a slight chuckle and carefully pulled himself to a stand on all four of his hooves. "Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with trying something new!" He said optimistically as he stood, only just managing to maintain his balance. "Okay. First things first, lets see if I can walk." He started with his left hoof, placing it forward in a good sized step his balance shifted suddenly and he lurched sideways. He hopped to the side to stop himself from falling but in the process he misjudged just how much leverage he could get from his four legs and the moment created pulled him to the ground. He hit the cold hard dirt with a loud thud, and he groaned in a mixture of frustration and pain as his head started to hurt. "Why is this so hard?" He pondered while rubbing his temples using his surprisingly soft hooves. As he rolled back onto his belly again, a voice rung out against the quiet. "Having trouble walking are we?" An playful voice said from somewhere behind him. He couldn't see his reflection, but he would have laughed at the tiny size his pupils shrunk to at that moment. He inhaled sharply and somehow managed to jump to all four hooves without falling over. He then slowly and systematically rotated his body to turn around 180 degrees to face the direction of the voice. In the shadows stood another creature just like him except it had several features that were distinguishable from his form. First off, this one was much larger than he, and it sported a darker blue coat. Somehow it's hair... mane blew on the breeze like it weighed nothing at all. It was a two tone blue and purple, and was filled with stars and constellations that shone beautifully against the dark colours of her coat and mane. On it's head was a dangerous looking horn as well as a pair of wings similar to his, albeit larger of course, to grow according to the proportions of the rest of the body. It looked back at him with sapphire eyes that pierced his very being and last but not least, the amused grin that it wore loud and proud on it's face. He was about to enter a defensive stance when he realised that he had no clue how to work this body properly and as a result, could not make any attempt to defend himself if this winged unicorn thing came at him aggressively. So he sort of just stood there looking awkward as the creature looked at him questioningly. He had only known about her existence for half a dozen seconds and already he decided that he didn't like the way she looked at him. "You could say that." He replied humorously and the creature cocked it's head at him. He was about to give a question back when she stopped him. "Now that's an accent I've never heard before. Though I guess t'would make sense in a being from so far away." She answered her own question with a logical answer that ironically, only brought up more questions in Sam's head. As for the creature, he guessed by it's feminine features and voice that it was female. "'Far away', huh? I've been to many places, but there are a lot more I haven't been. So you might have to spell it out a bit." He said sarcastically, still standing there looking nervous. The corner of her lip pulled up a little and she took a few steps forward before stopping a few feet away from him. "Right now we're in your dreams-" "You don't say." He interrupted her. "I'm not sure what this thing I am now is, but it's a tad strange to me so I'd love to wake up as soon as possible." When he stopped, she looked at him with a blank expression. "Are you finished?" She said in a serious tone. Sam chuckled and nodded along. "Good. As I was saying, we're inside your dreams right now, but I can assure you that the form you find yourself in now is the body you're actually inside in the real world. So if somehow you have changed bodies due to some effect we are yet to uncover, then you might want to get used to using it post haste." Sam stopped and stared with narrowed eyes when he heard the bit about his real body. "Woah, hold up there a second. Are you seriously saying this is what I actually look like?" He asked her sternly and she nodded. Sam didn't take her answer as truth immediately, he wanted to dig a little further. "And you say that like you know me, and as far as i'm concerned I've never seen you before. How do I know you're telling the truth?" She sighed before continuing. "You don't. But my words are all you have to believe beyond your confusion. So believe me when I say that you are a Pony, and you are currently lying unconscious in a hospital bed inside the Canterlot Royal Infirmary. However you must be coming out of comatose now, as the brain is usually far too inactive for dream-walking during a coma." "Coma? You mean I've been in a coma for- wait, how long have I been like this?" He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "7 days, as far as I know." The blue pony answered him. "And I'm a what now? A pony? That's what this is!?" He was now beginning to sound a little angry at his current situation. "And who the hell are you anyway, who are you to tell me all of this and expect me to believe it?" "Calm yourself, I assure you I mean no offense to you as I am just stating the facts for your knowledge. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of the land of Equestria along with my elder sister." She said with a small bow as she put a hoof to her chest. When she finished Sam tried to make out words and form a sentence but the only thing that filled both his mouth and his brain was a collection of jumbled noises and discordant thoughts that whirled around in his mind, never becoming anything more developed than that. On the outside, his body was just staring at the floor with a huge frown. He stayed like this for a few moments, and then he tried to speak but only got so far as inhaling the air for the sentence. A few more moments later and the princess walked forward and stretched her hoof out to try and rest it on his shoulder. However the movement caught Sam's attention and he perked up his head and saw the hoof coming to touch him. He met it with his own and batted it away. He stared at her, lost for words as she gave him a concerned look. "No!" He shouted while pointing at her with the still raised hoof. "I'm not going to get myself to believe this crap, this is totally ridiculous and you know it!" Luna looked slightly offended and frowned at him as he started to backpedal. His raised hoof fell back to the floor as he shuffled back, slowly getting further and further away while never taking his eyes off' her once. "Very well." Luna concluded. "If you will not believe my words then maybe you will believe your eyes. When you awake you will see for sure just what and where you are. And just so you know, we have your armour and sword safely locked away from prying eyes so you don't need to fret about that. However I recommend that you at least get used to using this new body as you may not have the required motor skills to-" She stopped as she saw Sam trip over his own hooves, as if right on cue. His 'ankles' clattered together and he fell onto his rump before his poorly established sense of balance caused him to start toppling over sideways. As he began to fall over, Luna acted and lit up her horn's magic to grab hold of the stallion mid fall. He came to a sudden halt with his face scrunched up, expecting an impact. She picked him up and placed him on his hooves before letting him go as he gawked at her in both amazement and fear. "What the hell was that?" He said as he pointed at her horn. "That was magic, though I suppose I will explain that to you later, you seem to be in a bit of shock right now." Sam was about to argue, when he realised that he really was in no mood to start discussing 'magic' with a winged unicorn. "I-I guess you're right... Okay, I'll practice with this body, just for you. But I won't need it when I wake up." He said it like he knew. Luna nodded and smiled mischievously before letting out a short spurt of laughter. "You will need it more than you know. Goodbye, for now..." She left the sentence open for Sam to fill like a 'Please sign here' form. "Jet-Stream Sam, but you can just call me Sam if you want. It's shorter." Luna nodded and then finished her sentence. "Goodbye Sam. I will see you again soon." Then, to the grey pegasus' amazement, Luna spread her wings and took off into the night sky, heading toward the moon and creating a brilliant silhouette against the bright white light of the huge natural satellite. A few seconds later she disappeared in a flash of blue and he was once again left to his own devices. He sat there for a second wondering about what had just happened, and he came to a single question he would later come to answer. "-Am I dead?-"