//------------------------------// // Dreams and Travel // Story: Original Complication // by Seeking Dusk //------------------------------// Sleep was hard in coming. But I decided it was the best course of action, even if it was still day. I wanted to get to Chicago before circumstances trapped us all, and was just preparing for the worse case scenarios. But based on the times Jason emailed me, I still had a few hours to burn before we would need to leave to make it to Detroit in time to meet up with him. But that was still a long drive, longer than I would normally subject myself to, and I did not want to be falling asleep on the road. Worry still lingered at the corners of my thoughts, especially for Sam. With an air of frustration, I rolled over, pulling the covers tight over my head to block out all traces of light, considering, not for the first time, the validity of taking a bit of sleeping aid. Kicked out of his house. Legitimately kicked out. What if we didn’t make it to Chicago before this thing progressed too far? Oh Hell... every brony and fan on the continent would be heading there! Just the ones in Chicago alone would, no, I already booked a room near the center they said they got. Roy and Jason better pay me back for some of the cash I’m- no damn it Trevor, that’s callous. No, not callous, selfish. Actually, both. Worry about the money if we get this all sorted out. When. Not if. Optimism. The GPS is ready to go, Mordecai is gassed up, you’ve got a bag packed, your alarm set. Should I be referring to myself in second person or first person? Not important, just sleep already! Yelling at myself didn’t instantly push me into slumberland, but it at least started squashing out the thoughts that were running rampant. And in time I did drift off into a half dozing state. ---------- The grass and leaves crunched slightly under my bare feet. True to its name, the Shade Forest didn’t have much in terms of open canopy that would let the moonlight trickle through, but I’d trekked this path enough times that it was almost muscle memory to weave past the tangling roots of that one tree and to hop over the depression a thick mat of grass and leaves always concealed. The soft glow of the fungus and mushrooms clinging to the trunks in a few places added to the ambient light too, even if it was slightly spooky. The air had enough of a nip to it that I had to pull my jacket close, muttering at the foolishness of choosing to take a walk through the Shade Forest this time of year without boots or a scarf. It’s not like I had anypony to prove anything to. Aside from the idiots back at the academy, and I’d already proved better than them with… What the hay was I thinking about? I shook my head slowly as the dream slipped into semi-lucid territory, enough that I realized I was dreaming, but not enough to either take control or even know what was going on. I just kept on walking down the familiar path, ducking under the hanging branches of a thorn bush and scrabbling up a less traveled path complaining to myself some more until I reached a secluded retreat. It wasn’t very big, a small clearing where the trees finally surrounded, mostly because the soil layer was too shallow to afford them much anchorage after the Wild Weather from a few decades before carved the slice out. The moss that claimed the imperfection on the hillside made it a perfect spot for laying back and relaxing. So that’s exactly what I did; collapsing to the soft loaming earth and closing my eyes, letting the moonlight trickling through the cloud cover work it’s soothing magic. At least until he showed up. He didn’t make any efforts to hide his approach, and might actually have been going out of his way to make his approach known. The least I could do was acknowledge somepony, or something, trying that hard. With a reluctant sigh, I rolled over to see who it was. This place was supposed to be somewhat unknown. I could count the number of ponies that knew about it on one…. What? I hated dreams sometimes. So apparently somepo- someone was coming and wow, glowing eyes? No kidding. A pair of yellow eyes glowed in the treeline, steadily approaching with a crush of plant life and snapping of branches. Slowly, a vague outline formed at it neared the light, a quadruped shape resolving itself. The grey unicorn stepped into the clearing, looking slightly peeved, snorting as he examined me as he approached. Twenty steps out. Nineteen. Eighteen… I pushed myself to a sitting pushing, casually crossing my legs beneath me, a degree of flexibility I normally didn’t have. Dreams. That aside, I eyed the unicorn, and mutual recognition spark in our eyes. Now, I don’t know how or where he would know me from, but I knew him intimately. The scar that ran down his jaw line and to part of his neck. The golden eyes, the reflective glow faded now that he was in the light, but slitted like a felines or bat ponies, something that had set him apart when he was young. The streak of the same in his silver mane and tail. The silver feather, the tip like a quill, one side resembling a sharpened blade, over a spiral that rested on his flank. Of course I knew him. I created him, after all. Twelve steps. Eleven. Ten… I could tell he was studying me in return, his expression unreadable as his eyes darted from one thing to another. Soon, we were in arms reach or each other; the pony and the human, the creation and his creator. The tension was thick. “So…” I drawled. “Yep,” he responded. I rolled my eyes. Fine then. “Nice night for a stroll.” “I suppose,” he said with a slight shrug. “Silver Edged Stroke,” I mused. I motioned at the scar. “Timberwolves?” “First deployment in the Everfree. Phantasms don’t work so well on them and I thought it would be clever to save magic by not using a shadow,” my creation commented without much attachment to the topic. He tilted his head back slightly, giving me a slight sneer that let one of his fang peek out slightly. “Long time ago. But I suppose you already know that.” “I suppose I do,” I said, trying to be nonchalant. Fangs on a pony really were disconcerting. And it made me think of the carnivorous feral unicorns from the Half-Blood Chronicles. That they were called alicorns only confused matters. “Got to say… never expected to meet you. Much less in a place like this,” Silver commented. “Yeah… It could use a few things…. Chairs… maybe a table…” I said, waving a hand around the spartan natural setting. “Nice view though.” He snorted with a little laugh and sat on his haunches. “Not exactly what I expected, you are.” “Oh?” I was curious about what somepony I made thought of me. “Not dashing enough for you?” “Oh, I knew you would have to be some kind of a flankhole,” Silver said, snorting again. “With what you did.” “Oh the bluntness… it hurts,” I muttered. “You didn’t have to go through it. Your mother didn’t either,” Silver said, a hint of a snarl in his voice. Suddenly, I recalled the fact that I was beside a trained unicorn, one whom seemed to be harbouring a bit of a dislike for me. He snorted and waved his hoof to encompass the area. “But to do this?” “Um… do what? Because aside from meeting you in what I’m pretty sure is the secret retreat you and Star found, I don’t really have much of an idea what’s going on. Honestly, I’m a surprised I’m not freaking out right about now,” I admitted. I would often envision one on one sessions with my characters which building them, but this? This was a totally different continent from those. “The light? The void? This pseudospace?” Silver demanded, getting irate, leaping to his hooves and turning on me. “Hold up,” I backed away, waving my hands. “Pseudospace? Void?” “You… don’t...?” Silver faltered. “Dear Luna… this is priceless!” he swore angrily. “I just fell asleep and ended up walking in the forest,” I shrugged. “Barefooted, I might add.” “Well this is just perfect,” Silver cursed. He reared up and turned away from me before launching a bolt of magic into the tree line. “Horseapples!” “Hey, hey! Calm down!” I said, reaching out to him. He recoiled from my touch and I sighed. “Don’t get so worked up. We can… figure this out?” Now I was blowing air out of my flank. He glared at me, but scowled, the glow of his horn dying. “Fine.” I slumped back down and gazed up at the cloud covered sky. “Now that that’s over…” “You know… there was something I said I’d do if I ever met the guy pulling the strings,” Silver remarked. “Oh? What’s that-” I started, turning to look at him, just in time for him to deck me in the face with a left hook. ---------- “THE BUCK?” I swore, jolting awake. My hand shot to my face, searching for a broken jaw, but finding nothing, thankfully. “Okay… that was all a dream… good… good…” I kept touching my face, seeing if anywhere was sore or stiff. There was a faint phantom pain, but nothing serious. It didn’t stop me from breathing heavily though. That was a seriously weird dream. Of course, with everything that was happening, what was I to expect? Sunshine and roses? An all you could eat fried chicken buffet? Someone was pounding on my door, so I needed to get up anyway. With a grumble, I shuffled to the edge of the bed and swung my legs down, hooves landing on the carpet. My eyes widened, probably literally, considering the previous change, as I looked down. There weren’t feet at the ends of my legs. Rather; a pair of matching grey shapes, the lower segment hard and firm, above it covered with grey fur that vanished into my jeans. Carefully, my breaths coming heavily, I tapped the left one on the floor. The sound was muffled, but it was that of two solid forms impacting, and the sensation was distinctly muted. I tapped the left one with the right, and was rewarded with a sharper clop of hardened keratin against keratin. I had hooves for feet. “To tartarus with waiting. We’re leaving now.” ---------- Anatomy be damned, this made no sense. I tried to wiggle my toes, but that only served to twitch the hooves. I tried to roll my ankle, which moved a good portion of my lower leg. This was happening too quickly. It was only about six hours since this all started. I did some mental projections. Crossing the border would be the biggest issue. I could get there in under five hours, hopefully before things got too noticeable and caused issues. It would mean being a bit heavy footed on the pedal, but it was doable. Could I even drive with these? No time to waste on that. Muttering curses to myself, I carefully planted my new hooves on the floor and pushed myself upright. Walking on hooves was a challenge. Imagine walking on the tips of your toes with your ankle being far higher than it had any business being, without the feeling of strained joints or muscles behind it. I teetered uncertainly; trying to find my new center of balance. It took three attempts before I stopped falling back on my rump. “Having a tail might make this balance thing better,” I hissed, trying for my first step, trusting my bodies’ warnings and guidance. “Then again, a tail might be a sign of things going too far…” I laughed at myself. As if hooves weren’t. “TREVOR! Open up!” It was Roy’s voice. “Give me a minute!” I yelled back. One step, two step… Like a toddler I made my way over to my dresser. From there, I depended on the wall for support as I tried to fall into the rhythm of walking. “If the horn grew in and these were cloven, I’d be one interesting looking demon… Or a satyr.” “Trevor! Where are you?” Roy called again. He rang the doorbell and knocked a few more times. “Keep it up and I leave you out there!” I threatened. I was getting the hang of it by the time I made it to the door, hooves clacking on the linoleum all the way, an arm extended to the wall for support anyway. Hopefully I wasn’t damaging anything. Roy burst in as soon as the door opened harried in expression and bearing, a large fall coat on. Brenda was behind him, following at a more sedate pace, though looking concerned. I glared at them both, inwardly panicking. Why the hay is Brenda here? It’s been a couple hours. You’re telling me Roy couldn’t keep his mouth shut for a couple hours? She doesn’t seem to have anything going on with her, so she’s not affected. How’m I supposed to keep her from noticing the hooves? “Explain,” I said simply, holding out a hand to Brenda. “And hello.” “Hey Trev,” Brenda smirked. “Roy told me what’s going on…” “Of course he did,” I deadpanned. “Trevor! Something else happened!” Roy cut in. He struggled with his coat for a while before managing to get it off, and spread his large leathery wings. “I… well then…” I managed as words failed me. I shook my head to clear it. “Yep. Totally time to get moving. Let me get my bag.” “What happened to your legs?” Roy yelped when the cloppitty clack of my hooves finally drew attention to them. Brenda let out a mostly restrained scream. “Same thing as my wings, right?” I didn’t bother to respond, ducking back into my room. I did another quick check of my bag to make sure I had everything I needed. Passport, wallet, hotel (well, motel) reservations, sunglasses (which I had thought would be all I needed to keep a good cover), GPS and more. He got back to find Brenda and Roy having a back and further, the wings on the latter flaring slightly. “You can’t tell me not to,” Brenda said with the tone of one who knows they have the upper hand. “I just did!” Roy said, tossing his hands out, his wings mimicking and hitting the wall, making him wince before he recovered. “Besides, you don’t have anything!” “Why did you think I have my gym bag? Passport and clothes and the works. Face it, Roy-boy; I’m coming,” Brenda stated. “Coming where?” I asked, though it was too easy to infer the answer. “Chicago with you guys,” Brenda said. “And don’t think I’m taking no for an answer.” “Two questions first,” I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder. “Why?” “Friends of mine in trouble. Serious and unnatural trouble, the kind you need help with and I’d regret not helping out later. You’re taking me with you.” Brenda jabbed a finger in my chest in tune with the words of her last sentence. Sounded passionate to me, and not in the ‘I can sell them for profit later!’ way. So I was tad paranoia, sue me. She still had fire in her eyes as she folded her arms. “What’s the second question?” I grinned at her. “Your driver’s licence still valid?” ---------- The tone of Mordecai’s engine shifted as my hoof pressed heavier on the pedal, my hand tightening on the wheel, the odometer inching past the one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour zone as the mazda hurdled down the 401. Brenda glanced over at me, though I missed her look, my perception focused on road ahead of me, my mind focused on the other two. I couldn’t get a hold of Jason. Logic said it was likely just because his phone was off and he was about to get on the plane, but I couldn’t help but worry. Turning into a pony was one thing. They were fuzzy and cute. Changelings on the other hand were gross. Okay, maybe not gross, and they could be pretty cute too, but they were rather bug like, and that wasn’t even considering the creepy factor the holes in their legs added. If that started happening on the plane… I got voicemail when I called Sam. I got yelled at when I called his home phone and told never to call back since she didn’t have a son. I might have yelled back a bit. A little. Okay, a lot. It turned out that some of the vocabulary from the dream still stuck around in my head. And I- Silver Stroke could be rather creative with my insults. The odometer inched past one thirty and cars I pasted shrank rapidly in the rear view. “Trevor, don’t you think you’re going a little too fast?” Roy asked. He had called shot gun. I kicked him to the back after his wings wacked me in the face as he was trying to buckle in. So he was holed up in the middle of the bench, shifting his wings awkwardly ever so often as he tried to find a good position for them. “Maybe driving with hooves wasn’t such a good idea.” “I’ve got this,” I said, glancing in the mirror before darting into the passing lane with more sharpness than needed, Brenda grabbing the hand rest beside me. Okay, what was the brony population like? Maybe they wouldn’t be the only ones changing, so they wouldn’t get too much flak where ever they were. Okay… at worse Jason would be put in quarantine… they were getting a bit more jittery with the ebola thing spreading… I had no clue were Sam would be. Last I heard he said he’d be making plans to get to Chicago. He never told me what they were. Why the buck didn’t he tell me? The odometer crept past one forty. I inhaled slowly. He didn’t need to tell me, that’s why. Just that he was going. Crap. Okay, just because I didn’t know where he was didn’t mean anything. There were probably hundreds of others changing too, so it didn’t mean he was in trouble. Would voice actors and animators of the show be affected? Would de Lancie turn into Discord? Now there was a thought… “Trevor, let me drive,” Brenda’s voice cut into my thoughts. “No, I’m cool,” I said. Okay, Silver Stroke hit me in the face (hard, I swear my jaw is still sore) when I met him, saying something about me messing with his life, and a flash dragging him into whatever that dreamscape was. As if turning into a pony wasn’t complicated enough. My hoof pressed a little harder and the needle jumped. “Maybe later.” “No, pull over and let’s switch,” Brenda said slowly. I grunted and shot her a quick glare. “Brenda, I said I’m cool.” “Cool?” Brenda yelped as I jumped into the slow lane to weave around a honda that was crawling in the passing lane for some retarded reason. “This is not cool!” “Would you two stop backseat driving!” I yelled, turning up the radio. Brenda turned it back down. “Seriously, Trev, you need to calm down!” Brenda said. “You’re probably going to kill people if you drive like this!” “What the hay are you talking about? I am calm!” I shot back in what was obviously not a calm manner. “No you aren’t,” Roy said from the backseat. “You’re pushing one sixty right now! Slow down!” “What? No I’m-” I voice trailed off as I finally looked at the odometer and its speeding ticket bait figures. I immediately eased off the gas and let Mordecai coast down to more sane speeds. I hadn’t even realized. Which was somewhat… distressing. “I don’t think trying to get yourself a ticket is going to help you,” Brenda commented, surprisingly calm considering the speeds I was hitting. “Um… Brenda, I’ve got a lot on my mind. You mind driving for a while?” Okay, that was a lesson in paying attention when driving. “Please and thank you,” Brenda said, shaking her head slowly. We switched drivers. Brenda kept Mordecai going at a much more sensible one hundred and twenty one with the cruise. Fast enough that we were still booking it, but not so fast that we would attract unwanted attention from the highway police. On the other hoof, I’d chewed through a good number of kilometers before they finally convinced me to turn over the wheel. In the front passenger seat now, I called Sam again. “Hello? Trevor?” “SAM!” I yelled. “Where are you? Are you okay? Did anything else happen? I’ve was trying to reach you!” “You got Sam?” Roy asked. “Don’t yell in my ears like that, shit,” Sam complained. “Sam that other guy you mentioned, right?” Brenda inquired. Roy confirmed it for her and I mostly tuned them out. “Look, did you get any further changes?” I asked him again. “Um… my hair turned blue,” he said softly after a moment. “So I have gills and a blue mane, with scales on my neck and I think some on legs.” I closed my eyes and sighed with relief. Okay, just hair. Easy enough to handle. “Okay, that’s good.” “Good? Something happened to you?” Sam asked. “Put him on speaker,” Roy insisted. “Shush, not this time,” I said, waving Roy away. “Come on, Trevor!” Roy insisted. “Why you telling me to shush?” Sam asked. “I can ask you questions if I want.” “Sorry, that wasn’t at you,” I said to him. “Roy got his wings and I got myself a pair of hooved feet.” “Aw man, that’s awesome! All I got was the stupid hair colour,” Sam complained. “Sure… awesome,” I mumbled. I considered asking him if it was awesome like his mom kicking him out to put things into perspective, but I wasn’t that low. I put him on speaker. “Look, we’re still a quarter day or so out from Chicago. Where are you?” “Union station,” Sam replied promptly. “Where’s that?” I asked, combing my memory. “What’s union station?” Roy asked. “That’s Chicago,” Brenda answered for me. I snapped my fingers as my memory supplied the rest. It was the huge and iconic train terminal in the city. “You’re in Chicago already?” I was surprised. I know he wasn’t far from the city, but still, I hadn’t expected him to literally jump on the next train. “I… didn’t have any reason to hang around Milwaukee at the time,” he said slowly. “Slept part of the way down. Dreamed about Sea Bubble, actually, so it calmed me down a little.” “Okay, I get you.” Now I really didn’t want to push about his mom being a flankhole. One the other hand, he had a dream about his OC too? I glanced back at Roy and wondered if he had one. “How ‘bout I give you the reservation details for the place I booked, Sam? You can check in for us and let them know the rest of the group is coming in a few hours.” “You made reservations?” Brenda mused. “Efficient.” “In a hotel? Cool,” Sam cooed. “I don’t have to pay, do I?” “Hay if I know,” I shrugged, though he wouldn’t see it. “Shit... Cool anyway,” Sam sighed. “Text or email me the stuff. I’ll let you know when I get it. How long till you reach?” “Around ten or eleven,” I responded, checking the GPS’s projections. My speed stint had shaved off some of the time from the journey. “Well, assuming we don’t have any issues picking up Jace.” “Okay, that sounds good,” Sam said after a moment. “If anything, we’ll call, so keep your phone close,” I warned. “No problem. Talk to you later,” he said before the call disconnected. I sighed and put my phone aside, leaning my head on the window. Roy poked me in the shoulder. “What’s union station?” This was going to be a long drive.