//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Cookies Are Eternal // Story: Keys of My Destiny // by RageLokiCat //------------------------------// Slowly, I saw the world around me come into focus. it was like the whole world was covered in fog, and slowly the fog was fading, reveling the world it hid. I was expecting to be back in my burning human home, seeing some variation of my parents' death, but this was a very different place. As best I could recall, this was the clearing where I first fell into this world. I looked down, and saw that I was in my pony form, an orange body with a spiky mane and tail. After a few seconds, I realized I was able to form coherent and rational thoughts, which doesn't often happen when I dream; I usually only have lucid dreams when I'm sick. I didn't have long to consider the implications, however, because across the clearing from me a cloud of purple smoke had begun to gather. I stared in awe as the smoke quickly thickened and then formed into the shape of a tall, regal alicorn. Suddenly, the smoke hardened into an actual form, and in front of me stood a purple mare with a lighter purple mane and tail that was flowing on some invisible current. I stood in shock for a few seconds, before she broke the silence. "Hello, young one. My name is Princess Luna. I co-rule this land with my sister, as well as I control the moon and all things night. That is why, as I am sure you're currently wondering, I am in your dream. I am sorry for the intrusion, but my sister requested I find out more about you after your less-then-regular arrival, and we have much better chance of not being interrupted this way, assuming nopony wakes you." I stared at her, taking everything in for a few seconds before nodding. A thought then came to my mind, and I spoke up angrily. "If you can enter dreams, then why didn't you last night? I wasn't exactly having the best time, I think you could have figured that out!" I was pretty sure yelling at royalty was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. I swear, it she says something like 'it was necessary for you to experience' I will literally strangle her, dream or not. I thought as I glared at her. "I am again deeply sorry, but last night your mind was blocked from my reach, and there was nothing I could do. I could not even see into your dream last night, I presume because of the emotional turbulence." She said quietly, looking genuinely sad about what had happened. I immediately felt bad and apologized for my outburst. "I'm sorry, that wasn't justified. I'm just a little emotionally temperamental right now." I said, hanging my head in shame. Then, another thought occurred to me, and I looked at her suspiciously. "Wait... If you couldn't see into my dream, how do you know what happened?" I asked. "Simply stated, I observed. You were angry about an emotional experience you were forced to live last night, you are still emotional right now, and dreams, nightmares in particular, are almost always made of images you have seen at some time, which means whatever you saw almost certainly actually happened to you, especially because random nightmares don't linger in the mind for that long." She said calmly. Again, I responded in shame. "I should really stop questioning you. I am sorry." I said quietly, looking away. "Do not apologize for speaking from your heart in this time of hardship. You had every reason to believe that I could have helped you, given what you knew. However, let's put that behind us and focus on the more pressing issues." She said, smiling again. I looked at her in concern. "Sure, but I'm afraid I don't understand, what pressing issues? Have I done something wrong?" I said, smiling uncertainly back. "Nothing specifically; at least, not that we know of yet. My sister and I, however, have a duty to protect this land, and your arrival was beyond anything we have ever seen. We need to make sure that nothing bad will happen because of it. That is why I have to ask that you tell me everything you can about what happened." Luna said, looking more somber and serious now. I carefully considered her story for a few moments before I began mine. "I came, as far as I can tell, from another world. Maybe from another dimension entirely. On my world, the dominant species are called humans. We walk on just our back two legs, straight up, and we didn't have any hair on our bodies." I thought about how terrible a description that was, until I remembered that I was actually dreaming and could probably show Luna. I closed my eyes and imagined myself back in my human form. Much like what I saw when Luna first arrived, I felt my form changing and shifting. When I opened my eyes again, I was tall enough to look Luna in the eyes. I looked down at my body, and my face immediately went bright red as I realized that I had failed to consider clothing, and was completely naked. I quickly spun around and faced away from Princess Luna, closing my eyes and trying to focus on some sort of clothing, despite my embarrassment. "Why do you turn? You... Humans are a little strange, I'll grant that, but I see no reason to hide your form so readily." She said from behind me. I ignored her, focusing on not being naked. A few seconds later, I felt a layer of clothing surround me, and I opened my eyes to see a simple white shirt and blue pants. I let out a sigh of relief, and turned to face Princess Luna again. She gave me a look of amusement, and I glowered at her. "First, that never happened. Second, humans never go around naked; to be unclothed around another is considered extremely intimate by most, and I guess old habits die hard. I hadn't actually even thought about the fact the ponies are always naked..." I said, trailing off. It didn't bother me nearly as much as I expected it would, likely because every other pony was simply so confident in their way of life that it didn't seem out of place. My attention snapped back to the princess when I heard her laugh, and I looked at her in shock. "I'm nearly two thousand years old and a dreamwalker. Do not fret, I've seen my fair share of intimate things, and they do not bother me. I will not mention this to any living soul, if you so wish." She said, trying to hide a grin. "That'd be great, thanks." I responded. She shook her head and took a deep breath before looking back at me seriously. "Anyway, you should get on with your story. The night is waning, and I imagine there is still much to tell." She said. I nodded in response, collecting my words before continuing my story. "This is what we looked like. We didn't have wings, and more importantly, we had no magic at all. We didn't have anywhere near the scientific abilities to make a portal to this world, so it can't have started with us. Right before I lost consciousness and was sent here, I was about to be murdered by a human who had broken into our house. That's where the massive gash in my side came from." I paused again as I realized I had been talking very quickly, and I didn't want to confuse Luna any more then necessary. The mention of the attack brought a flood of emotions back, and I began to remember the details about my parents' deaths. Not wanting to show weakness in from of Princess Luna, I quickly suppressed the emotions, and was shocked to find that they simply went away. While can't it always be that easy? I wondered sadly. "Because it is our emotions that shape our characters; without them, we wouldn't be any more alive then a tree or a flower. We must all push through times of hardship; for if we don't know sadness, how can we truly know joy?" I heard the princess's voice, and turned my focus to her in shock, realizing she was responding directly to my thoughts. "Don't tell me you can read my mind too. That would be too much." I said, staring at her with worry, bordering on fear. She began to shake her head, then paused. "This entire world is a part of your mind. Your conscious thoughts echo about it like the wind or the rain, hearing what you think is as simple as knowing what to listen for. But I have no access to your memories, nor can I understand complex thoughts that are fashioned like memories; images, sounds, tastes, smells, these things are all barred from me. All I can hear are simple sentences; have no fear." She said. I nodded slowly, suspicious, but willing to believe her. "Right... I don't remember actually coming here, I just woke up in a scorched and battered clearing in the forest some days ago. However, the filly who found me, I think her name was..." I trailed off, I never was very good with names. Focusing on what she had looked like, I searched my mind, and suddenly her name appeared. "Right, her name was Applebloom. She said I fell out of a giant hole in the sky. The problem is, I was conscious for only a few minutes, and that's all I know. Since then I've been, as I'm sure you are aware, in my hospital room." Princess Luna didn't respond, she simply stood quietly, deep in thought. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she spoke again. "Thank you for your help. That wasn't as much as I had hoped, but I will relay all important information along to my sister, and together we will do our best to unravel these mysteries. One more thing before I leave though; I'm afraid I never caught your name." She said, looking at me brightly. "Uhm... Name? My name is..." I trailed off. I knew my human name, but from all I had heard of this world so far, it would never fit. I thought for a few more seconds, being careful not to form complete thoughts that would give away my lie. Realizing she would be waiting, and the longer I took the less likely she was to believe me, I quickly made up a name that felt good and that I would not mind being called for the foreseeable future. "My name is Blazing Star, known by my friends as Blaze." I lied, hoping she wouldn't question it. I wondered why I was so desperate to hide my real name, but I couldn't dwell on it. "An interesting name, but it suits you well. Thank you for your time, Blazing Star. The night is ending, and soon our paths must part. I feel that I will see you again though." With that, she began to fade. In a few moments, far less time than she had taken to arrive in the first place, she was gone. I looked around, wondering what happened next, until the entire world around me began to fade as well. I assumed that meant I would be waking up soon, and as I slipped away from an active consciousness, I wondered what the new day would bring. I woke up to bright, warm sunlight streaming in the window. I groaned as I realized that despite sleeping all night, I was still tired. It turns out that even if the body is still, an active mind can still wear you out. I thought, sighing. Outside, birds were singing happily, and I couldn't help but smile, even despite the pain, both physical and emotional, that I was feeling. Considering how close to death I was only a few days ago, I actually felt pretty good. I lay in my bed, savoring the warm morning sunlight for a few minutes before carefully sitting up. I let out a large yawn and stretched, glancing over at the small table next to my bed. I looked over in surprise when I saw that somepony had set of a vase with flowers, as well as a plate of cookies. I thought about what happened last time I tried reaching out that far, laughing to myself about it and shaking my head. That was the closest to a girl that I wasn't related to I had ever gotten. This time, however, I was determined to reach those cookies, and Fluttershy wasn't here to help, so that left me on my own. I carefully reached over, until, after a painstakingly long time, I reached the plate. I carefully grabbed it, counter balancing with my opposite leg to keep from crashing again, before tipping back over into a sitting position. Greatly satisfied with my work, I began to munch on the cookies. They were a sort of sandwich cookie, with a sweet apple layer in the middle. I had gotten through about half the plate when I heard a very quiet knock on the door. Smiling, already knowing who it was, I called out. "Come on in, Fluttershy!" I said, before beginning to munch on the next cookie. Except for the sandwich Fluttershy had gotten me, I hadn't eaten in at least 80 hours, and now that I was feeling better I was incredibly hungry. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door open and Fluttershy walk in. I looked up see her walk over with a plate and a muffin. For a moment, I was disappointed that I would have a reason to stop eating the cookies, but that part of my brain was heavily overruled by the rest of me that didn't care what food it was eating, so long as there was lots of it. She walked over and put it down on the table, and it was then that I decided to speak. "Part of me knows I should be polite and say something like: 'Oh, you shouldn't have!', but honestly I couldn't have asked for a better thing to wake up to. Thanks!" I wasn't sure if I would still come across as rude, but I hoped she would understand. She smiled at me and responded in her usual, quiet way. "Oh, it's fine. I know you haven't had a chance to eat much recently, and I hoped you would be feeling well enough this morning for breakfast. And I'm glad you are. Although, I hope you still have room after those cookies." She said, looking down at the mostly empty plate on my lap. I grinned in response as I finished off another cookie. "Ya... Sorry about my... Condition when you woke me up yesterday. I can explain most of that, as well as more about myself now, if you'd like. It's the least I can do for all the time you've spent on me recently." I said, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment. She looked at me carefully, maybe trying to judge whether my cheerful attitude was just an act to cover my feelings, and then responded carefully. "I... I would be happy to listen anything you want to tell me, but... Don't feel you have to say anything, I don't want to pry." She said, looking away for a moment, like she didn't want to admit she was curious. "Well, in that case, you might want to grab a seat, I imagine this could take a while." I said, not really sure how to respond to such a non-committal answer. "Do you mind if I continue to eat while I'm sharing my story? I know its not proper, or polite, but..." I said as I slowly went to reach for the plate. Fluttershy responded with a smile, as though she had expected as much, and said it was fine. She pulled the spare chair closer to the bed and sat down. I grabbed the muffin plate, slid the remainder of the cookies off my old plate off onto the edge of my new one, and stacked the plates on my lap. I then began my tale. "I'm not too sure where to start. Actually, before I start, would you please promise not to tell anypony this stuff unless I say it's OK? Others knowing wouldn't, say, hurt me, but I'm not sure I'm totally comfortable with my history being common knowledge just yet." I said, knowing that she clearly wasn't the type to gossip about such things, but taking a cautionary path none-the-less. "Oh! Of course! I... I wouldn't ever even consider sharing such personal information without permission." She said, actually sounding kind of hurt. "I'm sorry, I wasn't accusing you, I was just asking. Where I'm from, privacy seemed to have lost its value, and I wouldn't trust others with personal information. I do trust you though." I said apologetically, hoping she wasn't actually hurt, that would not be a good way to begin the day. "Oh, ok... Well, I'm sorry too. I certainly can't say I represent a majority of the population, but I like to think that here you can trust nearly anypony to be considerate." She said, back to her usual shy self. "I'm glad to hear that. So, where should I start? I guess the most important thing is, I'm not native to this world, maybe not even this universe. My home, a planet called earth, was pretty similar to this one biologically, as well as geologically. I wasn't a pony there, I was something totally different looking. It's hard to explain, but my kind, called humans, were much taller then ponies. We didn't have hair on our bodies, only on our heads, sort of like a pony mane. We only stood on our back legs, and instead of hooves, we had highly developed groups of digits called hands, which we could use to manipulate small things." I paused then, trying to comprehend what I was trying to describe. "I think this takes the cake for weirdest story I've ever told. I never realized what it would be like trying to describe a human to somepony who has never seen one." I said with a laugh. Fluttershy giggled, and I looked over at her with a smile. "That's OK, I've had to describe all kinds of strange creatures before, I know how you feel." She said warmly. I nodded, and continued. "Hopefully that's a good enough description, maybe I can draw one later as a better example. We had evolved to the point where we lived in great huge cities, and there were billions and billions of us. Sometimes though, humans didn't get along all that well. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure humans were ever nice to each other... Anyway, some of them stole from others, and some of them actually killed for fun." I shuddered at the thought, and looked over at Fluttershy, expecting to see a look of horror on her face. To my surprise though, she just had a look of understanding. "There are times when I think that maybe the world is becoming a nicer place, but then I read the news, and I see foals bullied in the streets, beaten half to death, and I just wonder if this is really the perfect world Princess Celestia assures us it is..." She said solemnly, trailing off. "Exactly. Every day, you hear about these terrible things, you can't help but think, at least it happened to somepony else, and my family is still safe. The problem is, we're all somepony else to somepony else, and terrible things can happen to us." I hesitated at this point, feeling the sadness well up inside again. I was determined to finish my story though, and I continued. "Three nights ago, in the human world, I woke up to sounds in my house. I awoke my parents, and together we tried to go see what was going on. We found out that at least two humans had broken into our house. They had weapons, and it was clear that could kill us at any moment. We knew we had to sneak out of our house. However, on the last step, something went wrong with our plan, and..." I felt tears began to stream down my face again, but this time I didn't turn away, but instead continued my story. "And... My father was killed. He had insisted he go last, because he cared for my mother and I and wanted us to be safe first. But it cost him his life." I was startled to feel a hoof on mine, and I looked over to see Fluttershy, who at this point was also tearing up. I managed a tiny smile before continuing again. "My mother and I were pretty much safe, we could have made it out of the house with our lives. But my mother couldn't leave her husband to die alone, and she sealed her fate by jumping out of hiding to join him. I remember her screaming, and the worst part was, suddenly the screams stopped, and I knew she had been killed too. My brain sort of snapped then, and I tried to turn and run. But I tripped over something, and by the time I had turned around again, the man was there in the doorway, with his weapon pointed at me. I thought it was the end. I thought I was going to die. But somehow, I got sent here. I had been shot all right, that's where the massive gash in my side came from. But I was alive. A filly named Applebloom found me bleeding to death in the woods, and she helped make sure I got to safety. Since then, I've been here, under yours and this hospital's excellent care." I finished with a small smile at Fluttershy, and she tried to smile back before responding haltingly. "I... I'm so sorry for you. I... I had no... Idea. I'm so sorry..." She then did something that amazed me, and she hugged me and began sobbing into my shoulder. This had never happened to me before, nor had I ever felt in necessary to do to someone else. Still, I hugged her back, as well as the pain in my side would allow. After a few minutes, she let go of me and sat back down. Trying to appear like the strong one, I smiled at her and asked if she was feeling better. She laughed a little, and smiled at me before nodding. "You're one to talk." She said defensively, but still smiling. I grinned, wiping the tears out of my eyes. "So ya, that's my story. Also, I remember my name now. Well, my human name was Joseph, but I didn't think that would fit in this world, so I've decided to call myself Blazing Star, or just Blaze. I'm not sure why, I just felt that it was the right name for some reason. Not really sure..." I trailed off, thinking to myself. "I... I think it sounds nice... Blaze... Can I call you Blaze? I mean... I don't really know you very well..." She said quietly, looking at me. "You know me better then anyone else in this world, I think that qualifies. And, I mean... If we're friends... Then it's fine too..." I said, trailing off in embarrassment and looking away. She blushed a little, then looked down at her hooves as she replied. "Oh... I was hoping we could be friends, so... I guess that works out... Thank you, Blaze." She said, still looking down at her hooves. "For what? I mean, you're welcome, but..." I was slightly confused, as I wasn't sure I had actually done anything. "For... For accepting me as a friend. Some ponies don't really like me, or they think I'm weird, because... Because I'm so shy..." "That's terrible! I can't believe they would do such a thing! Of course I'll be your friend Fluttershy." I said, maybe with a little too much conviction, because I appeared to startle Fluttershy. After she settled back down though, she smiled happily. "Thank you. Um... Is there anything you would like me to get? I see you must have been pretty hungry, you did eat the entire muffin and all those cookies..." She giggled a little and nodded towards the now empty plate on my lap. I looked down, and was dismayed to discover that the cookies were, indeed, gone. "I think I'm good on food for now, but do you happen to know how long it'll be before I can get out of this bed? I'm sorta getting tired of sleeping all the time..." "Oh, um, I could, uh, go find the doctor for you and ask. If you'd like..." "If it's not too much trouble, that's be great." I replied, looking at her hopefully. "Of course it's not! I'll be right back." She said, getting up from her chair and trotting happily over to the door. The last I saw of her was her tail disappearing around the door, before I heard the door click closed and the faint sound of her trotting away. Man, I'm lucky that she didn't freak out when I said I wanted to be friends. That could have gone very badly... As I settled down to wait, I day-dreamed about finally being out of bed and of the adventures I would have in this world.