Fragments of Memories
By Starwin
Chapter 18 – Remembered In Dreams
Pinkie simply wouldn’t take the hint that running as fast as she could in one direction wouldn’t lead her to an exit. Discord sat and watched as the pink pony galloped into the distance, screaming at the top of her lungs. Gradually, her voice faded away as she vanished from sight. There was a long moment of silence before the screaming returned from the opposite direction, along with Pinkie, still galloping as hard as she could.
“I don’t think that is going to work, no matter how many times you try it,” said Discord as Pinkie zoomed past him again. She skidded to a halt.
“Well at least I’m trying something! You’re just sitting there! Aren’t you even going to try helping us get out of here?” demanded Pinkie.
“Help?” asked Discord in surprise. “Since when have I ever been helpful?”
“You must have helped some pony at some point in your life,” said Pinkie.
Discord furled his brow as he tried to recall a point in his life where he hadn’t made things more difficult. As he thought, images spun into existence around him. Each image was comprised of flittering dots, but Pinkie could easily make them out. They were memories, deeds long past.
Pinkie frowned as she watched. Mostly the projected thoughts consisted of mischief or random acts of randomness. Mixing up ponies. Changing things around. Turning an entire town pokadot — although, admittedly, she liked that one. There didn’t seem to be a single act of helpfulness anywhere in there.
“Okay,” said Pinkie. “So, maybe you’ve never been helpful before. But now would be a really great time to start!”
“I guess I could give it a try. What exactly does it entail?” asked Discord excitedly, leaning up from his invisible resting spot.
“Finding a way out of here so that we can rescue everypony!” answered Pinkie.
“Oh,” said Discord with a tone of disappointment. He lay back down, looking away from Pinkie, completely disinterested. “Sounds like too much work. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just lie back and listen as you run hither and thither through the unconscious.”
“You haven’t had many friends, have you,” said Pinkie softly. Discord stirred abruptly from his laid back position.
“What? Of course I have! I’ve had loads of friends,” said Discord defensively.
“Then how come I didn’t see any of them in those memories,” asked Pinkie as she poked at a stray thought that Discord hadn’t managed to tuck away.
The memory showed him sitting all alone in the center of a completely empty town. For some reason – most likely Discord – all the buildings had been turned into various fruits. The memory of himself looked extremely lonely.
Discord waved the image away with a paw. The memory dissolved as the little dots scattered into the empty white void like butterflies.
“Well, I just wasn’t thinking about them that’s all,” said Discord. “Let’s see, there was that time I met… no… I turned him into a spotted owl. Oh, how about that group… no, no, I rearranged all their colors… they really didn’t seem to like that.”
Pinkie just shook her head in a disapproving sort of way.
“Fine, I guess none of those really count as ‘making’ friends,” said Discord, his face falling. “So I’ve never really had any friends before. So what. I’ve been fine on my own!” He lay back down, floating in the air. “No pony to pester me about having tea with them. No pony to share my jokes with. No pony to listen to my problems…”
“I’ll be you’re friend,” offered Pinkie. Discord looked at her with wide surprised eyes, as if she had just offered to go get him the moon.
“You? Why would you want to be my friend?” asked Discord.
“Because you don’t have any,” said Pinkie. “And it’s always better to have at least one friend than none.”
“You don’t really want to be my friend,” said Discord with a disbelieving tone. “You’re just trying to trick me into helping you.”
“Friends don’t trick each other,” said Pinkie seriously. “Unless it’s a fun trick and everyone likes the surprise at the end!”
“Is this a fun trick?” asked Discord. Pinkie shook her head before extending out a hoof.
“Nope, this is for real,” answered Pinkie. “I’m happy to call you my friend. And when we get out of here, I’ll even throw you a new friend party.”
“I… I don’t know what to say…” said Discord. “I’m not sure what to do… should I turn you into something? Maybe the color blue?”
“Nope,” said Pinkie with a little bounce. “You don’t have to do anything. But if you want to help me figure out how to find the rest of my friends, I’m sure they would want to be your friends too.”
“Really?” asked Discord. The prospect of going from zero to many friends was very enticing. “Alright, I’ll help. As long as I get to pick the flavor of the cake for the party. Spoilers, it’s going to be strawberry peanut butter.”
Spike didn’t want to let Twilight go. Not having her had been the worst thing to happen to him in… well… ever! He wasn’t just her assistant, or he friend. She was his family, the only one he’d ever had.
Since the day he had been born she had looked after him, taken care of him. Not like a pet, which so many other ponies at the School for Gifted Unicorns had implied, but like a little brother. And Twilight had always thought that way about him too.
But when she had merged with Dash, she had slipped away. Spike hardly recognized her, hardly knew her. She didn’t look at him the same, she didn’t treat him the same. He wasn’t her assistant, he was her pet.
Spike hugged her leg tighter. He didn’t want to let go of this memory of her, of how she used to be. He looked up at the faceless Twilight standing over him and she stared blankly back.
“But you aren’t real,” whispered Spike. She didn’t answer. “You’re just a dream. Just something I want that I can’t have." He let go of not-Twilight and took a step back, bumping into somepony else.
It was another not-Twilight, staring facelessly down at him. He staggered away, colliding into another not-Twilight and still another. Every direction, all around him, were not-Twilights, all looking at him, all expecting him to embrace them.
“What’s wrong Spike,” asked all the not-Twilight’s at once. “Isn’t this what you want? Don’t you want to hold on to us forever?”
“No,” said Spike shaking his head. “I want Twilight back. But none of you are Twilight. None of you are real.”
Spike turned to run, but more not-Twilight’s blocked his path. He dove under their legs, sliding along the floor as they sped by above him. He continued to slide faster and faster such that the passing Twilight legs became nothing but purple blurs.
“Spike? Spike. Spike!” said each of the not-Twilight’s, slightly out of sync with each other as he slid past them. “Don’t you want to stay with us forever. Don’t you care about us?”
Spike closed his eyes, trying to block them out. But, even with his eyes closed he could still see them. Now their voices were even louder.
No! This isn’t what I want! thought Spike. I want to find Twilight, I want to help her! I have to save her!
The floor suddenly dropped out from under him, and Spike began to fall. The not-Twilights stood high above, watching as he plummeted down into the abyss. Faint voices called after him, but none of the false ponies followed.
Gradually, they grew dim, becoming the stars of the darkened night sky overhead. And still he fell, watching the glinting points of light as he went. He couldn’t help but feel sad about leaving them behind… but it was better this way.
With a thud, he crashed into an enormous mound of something soft. He felt around him and found that he had landed on some kind of giant pile of dresses. He recognized the style.
“Rarity,” whispered Spike. Carefully, he crawled over to the edge of the mound, looking down its sheer side. Far below, Rarity was hard at work, rapidly fashioning a never ending line of dresses, each sown into the previous one.
Spike felt oddly aware of his surroundings. It was as if he could suddenly tell that things weren’t quite right. It was like… he was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming!
“Yes!” cried a nearby glowing dress. Spike reached out a claw and picked it up. The dress changed, shifted and shrunk, becoming a tiny golden figurine of a pony. It moved and spoke just like a real pony, although it was made of plastic. “Spike, can you hear me?”
“…Yes?” answered Spike hesitantly. Something about this tiny golden pony stirred something within him.
“Thank Celestia,” said the golden pony with a sigh. “I’ve been trying to contact the others, but they don’t realize they are lost in their dreams. Spike, you have to help them. You have to get them free so that you can stop Discord.”
“Uh… How exactly?” asked Spike.
“You have to get them to understand that this isn’t real,” explained the golden pony. “You need to make them see that this is a dream. That they might be part of it, but are separate from it.”
“Can’t you tell them?” asked Spike. The tiny figurine shook its head.
“They can’t see me,” said the gold pony. “Not like you can. To them, I am just outside noise incorporated into their dreams. But you. You somehow managed to jump dreams. Right now you are in Rarity and Dash’s shared dream. You have to make them understand that this is just a fantasy.”
“I guess I could try,” said Spike with a nod. He lifted the tiny golden pony and placed it on his shoulder. Then he began the long climb down the pile of dresses.
It felt like it took forever. Yet, sometimes, it felt like it hadn’t taken any time at all. When he looked down, all he could see were clouds and the world far below him. Other times, Rarity seemed to be just within his reach.
“We aren’t getting closer,” said Spike as he continued down. He looked again, seeing that the problem appeared to be that Rarity was adding dresses to the bottom of the pile as fast as he could descend.
“The distance is in your mind,” said the golden pony. “You just have to realize that you are only as far away from her as you want to be.”
“So, I just have to want to be closer,” asked Spike, blushing slightly. The golden pony shrugged. “Closer to Rarity? I think… I think I can manage wanting that.” Spike closed his eyes and imagined himself standing beside the pony of his dreams — who was currently lost in her own nightmares.
When he opened his eyes again he found that it had worked! Sort of… He was indeed much closer to Rarity, except, instead of moving to her, she had come to him. Rarity was floating out in the air in front of him, still working away at her dresses and completely oblivious to her current impossible situation.
That isn’t right, thought Spike. She shouldn’t be floating in the air like that. The moment he thought it, Rarity began to fall. She let out a scream of distress as she plummeted towards the ground.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Spike leapt from the pile of dresses and soared down after her.
“Spike!” cried Rarity, extending out a hoof towards him.
“Don’t worry! I’ve got you!” shouted Spike, reaching for her with his tiny clawed hand. No, that wasn’t good enough, not for Rarity!
Spike felt his small body grow much, much, larger. He felt his muscles bulge with new found strength. Great leathery dragon wings sprouted from his back.
Rarity let out a gasp of surprise.
With one powerful flap of his wings he swooped in and caught her. The two of them soared across the sky, as the distant sun blazed on the orange horizon.
“Oh, Spike,” whispered Rarity. Her eyes were sparkling with tears. “You came to save me!”
“Yes I did, my lady,” said Spike, his voice deep and reassuring.
“Ah-hem, and Dash, and Twilight,” reminded the golden pony.
The orange sunset suddenly shattered. Pieces of the sky rained down like bits of broken glass to reveal the normal blue sky behind it. Spike felt his body deflate back to its normal size.
With a thump, they landed in what appeared to be some kind of amphitheater. There were other ponies around them and the soft murmurs of the crowd. Spike thought he also heard some kind of music playing in the distance.
Spike hadn’t let go of Rarity, but he was no longer able to pick her up in his big strong arms.
“You just had to ruin the mood,” grumbled Spike at the golden figure on his shoulder.
“Sorry, but you can fantasize later,” apologized the miniature pony. “You still need to wake her up, before she loses herself in dreams once more.”
“How do I do that exactly,” asked Spike.
“Try pinching her,” suggested the golden pony, although, its voice was oddly different. Spike glanced at the pony on his shoulder and saw that a second head had sprouted out of its neck. “Ouch, hey.”
“No, don’t do that,” corrected the first head. “Sorry, some ponies don’t know when to keep their mouths shut.”
“It was just a suggestion,” replied the second head. “I thought we were all supposed to be helping.”
“We are helping,” chimed in a third voice. A third head grew from between the other two.
“Whoa, whoa, guys, come on,” said Spike. “You’re making my brain hurt.”
“You should ask if Rarity can see us,” suggested the golden pony’s third head.
“Us?” asked Spike in confusion.
“Just ask her,” said a fourth voice. Thankfully, no new head accompanied this voice.
“Uh, Rarity,” said Spike, tugging at the mare standing next to him. She glanced down at Spike with a raised eyebrow of curiosity.
“Yes, what is it, Spiky-wiky,” said Rarity.
“She calls you Spiky-wiky?” blurted out a fifth voice, complete with matching head.
“Spike… what is that… thing?” asked Rarity poking at the multi-headed golden pony on his shoulder. She blinked as she touched the golden pony and its many heads popped back into being just one. Rarity shook her head vigorously. “Spike? Where, where are we?”
“Rarity… are you… you again?” asked Spike.
“I’ve always been me, darling,” answered Rarity. “But I was having the most terrible dream where I made Dash the most ugly blue… EEEEEKKKK!” Rarity let out a shriek of horror as she pointed to something out in front of them.
At first, Spike thought it might be Discord, come to attack them. However, as he saw what Rarity was pointing at, he relaxed. It was only Dash, doing some kind of… tap dance? She was wearing a very shiny blue outfit.
“Oh no! Oh no!” cried Rarity. “I really did make it! Oh, it’s so awful! Don’t look! Doonnn’t looo-oook!”
“Rarity!” shouted Spike. “Calm down. It isn’t real. This is all just a dream… maybe a nightmare… That doesn’t matter. We have to get to Dash, and wake her up.”
“But that outfit!” moaned Rarity. “It clashes with her mane so badly! How could I have dreamt of anything like that?”
“We can worry about the outfit after we get to Dash!” exclaimed Spike. He gave Rarity an indignant tug and pulled her forward.
They moved up to the stage, where Dash was just ending her previous set. She finished the tap with a knee-slide across the stage. The crowd broke into thunderous applause and roses flew into the air from all directions.
Dash stayed there, back legs tucked under her, front legs spread wide to the crowd, smiling in triumph and enjoying every moment of all the attention she was getting.
“I didn’t know Dash secretly liked to dance,” whispered Rarity. Spike shrugged.
Dash looked down as Spike and Rarity approached her stage. She smiled broadly at them.
“Hey guys! You made it just in time!” exclaimed Dash, slightly out of breath. “You get to see the best part, the part where I win!”
“Uh, yeah,” said Spike. “The thing is, we have to get you to the next… uh, contest, yeah.”
“Alright, another competition!” cried Dash. “I’m totally pumped for that! What is it? Fastest racer? Best flyer? Super-awesome-pony-of-all-time?”
“Yeah, sure, that last one,” said Spike.
“Alright! I’ve always wanted to win that!” said Dash. She hopped off the stage, but the moment her hooves touched the ground beside Spike, the audience began to boo.
“Encore!” shouted a pony in the crowd. “More! We want more!”
“Look guys!” said Dash calmly to the ravenous crowd. “I’ve got lots of places to be, and other things to win so you’ll just have to…”
SPLAT.
A tomato exploded against the stage only a hoof or so from Dash.
“Hey!” shouted Dash. But she hardly had a moment to be angry before she had to duck. A rotten apple soared past overhead. “What is with these guys!”
“Uh, I think we might have bigger problems than bad fruit,” said Rarity, tugging at Dash to get her attention.
The shadow crowd was no longer individual ponies. They had merged into one massive shapeless blob of darkness, all except for their eyes. Glowing red dots were spread across the mass, looking at the ponies with terrible intent.
“MOARRRRRRRR!” roared the monster greedily.
“I think it's time to go,” said Spike, taking a step back and bumping into the stage wall.
“You think?” replied Dash sarcastically.
“But the outfit is so horrid!” cried Rarity.
“Nah, it’s not that bad,” said Pinkie. Spike, Rarity and Dash all turned to look as one. There, in the middle of the stage, was Pinkie Pie. She had come up through a trap door in the floor. White light was flooding out of it.
“Pinkie!” exclaimed Spike.
“That’s my name silly!” giggled Pinkie. “Can I interest any of you in a quick exit? Stage down?”
“Yes!” cried Spike. He took hold of both Dash and Rarity, pulling them up onto the stage and hurrying as fast as he could towards Pinkie.
The monstrous crowd bellowed angrily behind them. It moved like shadows, spreading out along the floor, walls and ceiling. Spike could feel it closing in around him.
The darkness reached out for them. Spike leapt towards the door but they were still too far away. They would never make it.
And then, if possible, things got worse.
Emerging from behind Pinkie, rising out of the trap door like some kind of hideous snake, was Discord. He reached out for Spike with his mismatched arms.
There was nothing Spike could do. The shadows were at his heels. Discord blocked the way forward. They had lost. It was over. What would happen to Twilight? What would happen to all of them?
“Boy this is one tough crowd,” said Discord as he took hold of Spike. “Maybe I should give you a hand!” Discord pulled back and both his arms popped off. “Oops, that’s one too many hands, and a little too much arm.”
A new arm sprouted out of his head and took hold of Spike as well. Then, with a tug, he pulled them all through the trapdoor in the stage and into the blinding white light beyond.
Spike landed on something that felt like the ground, but wasn’t. He turned quickly to see the shadows reaching out, trying to come through the trapdoor – that was now oddly on its side, like a regular door.
Pinkie pulled it shut with a snap. The door became fuzzy before spreading out into millions of tiny flittering dots that drifted away like sparkly leaves in the wind.
“Pinkie!” exclaimed Spike. “You’re alright!” He hopped up before rushing over to hug her. A moment later, another set of arms wrapped around them. Discord’s arms, still detached from his body were also embracing them.
Spike struggled free and yanked the creepy limbs off before tossing them to the ground. He stood protectively between Pinkie and Discord.
Quickly the arms crawled back to the God of Chaos. As the disconnected limbs reached him, one of them leapt up off the floor. It reattached itself to his body before picking up the other arm and snapping it back into place, with an audible click. In dreams or reality, Discord seemed just as strange as ever.
“Alright Discord!” shouted Spike. “We’ve come to stop you!”
“Oh, this again,” said Discord with a dismissive wave. “I thought we were past all that. I just saved all of you! Can’t you show a little gratitude?”
“You saved us from a dream,” pointed out Spike.
“From a nightmare, Spike,” added Dash with a slight shiver. “And what am I wearing?”
“Darling, you're back!” cried Rarity giving Dash a great big hug with one hoof, and ripping off the horrible outfit with the other. “You remembered Spike’s name! Do you… do you remember who I am? Do you know my name?”
“Of course I do, Rarity,” said Dash with a nod. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you were forgetting everypony,” said Pinkie. Dash put a hoof against her head.
“I don’t remember that,” said Dash. “Everything that’s happened over the past couple of days isn’t so clear. The last thing I sort of remember was this really bad dream about being forced to dance, over and over and over… And you were there,” she pointed to Rarity.
“Yes, I know,” said Rarity. “And I deeply apologize for making you such a terrible outfit. I promise, when we get out of here, I’ll come up with something much better.”
“Uh, where exactly is here anyhow?” asked Spike. “Do you know… hey, where did it go?” Spike had tried to ask the golden pony that had been on his shoulder, however, it had vanished.
“Where did what go?” asked Pinkie. “Did you lose something? I bet’cha we can find it!”
“No, I… Pinkie… where are we?” asked Spike again. “And what is Discord doing here?”
“Welcome to the unconscious!” cried Discord, throwing his arms into the air, but thankfully not literally this time. “And as I’ve already said, I rescued you.”
“Yeah, well, if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t even be in this mess to begin with,” said Spike. He glared at the mismatched monster standing in front of them.
“I just wanted to have a little fun!” retorted Discord. “None of you, except Pinkie, seem to have any sense of humor in the slightest. And besides, it’s not my fault. I haven’t hardly done anything. I couldn’t even wiggle my tail around, let alone perform simple magic in this body. Dash must have broken it.”
“I did not!” exclaimed Dash indignantly. “And you get out of here! Right now!”
“As much as I would like to, I can’t,” answered Discord.
“I bet I can make you,” growled Dash as she moved menacingly towards him. Discord held up his hands in surrender as he backed off. Pinkie hurried in-between them.
“Discord’s right,” said Pinkie. “Whatever trapped you in your bad dreams is controlling you right now!”
“Wait… something is controlling me?” said Dash. “Like, walking my body around and doing stuff like they’re me?”
“Yeah… I guess maybe we should have started with that,” said Spike. Dash looked a little pale.
“So… so who is controlling my body right now?” asked Dash. She looked like she didn’t really want to hear the answer. “And what… what are they doing with it?”
“Well,” said Rarity, looking to the others for guidance before she continued on. “We thought it was Discord that was, uh-hem, mucking about in your mind, as it were. But apparently, that isn’t the case. I’m not sure who, or what, has taken hold of you, but we came here to put and end to it.
“As to what they are doing,” began Rarity, she looked towards Spike or Pinkie to help out.
“They are trying to steal the Element of Magic,” chimed in Discord.
“How do you know that?” asked Spike accusatorily.
“I was there, right when she was trying to steal it,” said Discord. “Right before she shoved me down here into limbo, as it were.”
“Twi… Twilight was trying to steal the Element of Magic back?” asked Dash in confusion.
“Twilight?” laughed Discord. “Oh, no, no, no. My sister is the one that’s taken over your body and is trying to steal the Element of Magic. Did I forget to mention that she’s the mind that’s taken over your body?”
“Yes!” cried Spike, Rarity, Pinkie and Dash all together.
“Oh, well, I can’t be expected to remember every little detail,” said Discord with a shrug. Lightning fast, Dash rushed up into the air and grabbed Discord roughly by his horns. She yanked him forward so that their faces were only a breath apart.
“What else did you ‘forget’ to tell us,” growled Dash.
“Well, I haven’t told you about the river that I put loop-de-loops in,” said Discord. “Or the mountain that I made light as a feather…”
“About me!” demanded Dash. “What else haven’t you told us about ME and what your sister is doing to ME!”
“And Twilight,” interjected Spike pointedly.
“Alright,” said Dash rolling her eyes. “What is she doing to US?”
“Oh, you mean like how my sister, Harmony, is planning to use the Element of Magic to fuse for a third time so that she can get rid of you and Twilight and make herself perfect?” recounted Discord. Dash let go and drifted away slightly, her face frozen in shock and horror. “I think that’s really the only thing I haven’t mentioned yet.”
“She is going to WHAT?” cried Rarity. “She can’t possibly… No pony would ever even consider…”
“Well, my sister isn’t a pony, is she,” laughed Discord. “She’s my other half – literally. She’s bent on fixing things, making them perfect and exact. If you ask me she has a little bit of OCD.”
“What… what’s going to happen to me?” asked Dash quietly. Rarity moved forward and put a hoof around Dash.
“Nothing, darling,” comforted Rarity. “We’ll find a way to fix this. Together, I know we can stop her.”
“Well, I imagine that if she succeeds, all of us, will cease to be,” explained Discord absently. Rarity shot daggers at him as Pinkie tried to wave him off from saying anymore. “What? She asked. I thought you wanted me to tell you everything! Ponies are so confusing sometimes.”
“We still have a chance,” said Spike. “Luna brought us in here. Maybe she has already found Harmony…”
“I believe she prefers the name Rainbow Sparkle,” interjected Discord helpfully.
“…I’m not calling her that,” continued Spike. “And she is confronting her right now.” Spike looked pensive for a minute. “We need to get to Twilight. Maybe with all of us, we can find a way to help Luna stop Harmony.”
“Oh, you need to find Twilight?” said Discord. “Well why didn’t you just say so!” He put both his hands to his mouth and blew a very loud, very painful whistle.
“Ah, why did you…” began Spike. But he found himself speechless as billions of tiny glittering dots began to rain down from above, forming an image of Twilight. And in the middle of the enormous image, glowing with radiant purplish light, was a door that Spike knew would lead to the real Twilight.