“Why did I even dream of Luna?”
It was the question at the front of my mind. I just couldn’t quite decide why. It ticked and racked at some deep parts of my brain, and I just couldn’t quite brush it off like that. I needed to know why?
So I paced on the beach, muttering to myself about the strange encounter.
“She just pops out of nowhere to accuse me of something, calls me a... a what exactly?”
Of course, it’d be easier to remember if I had actually listened to what she had been saying. I might have been distracted. Come on, come on, brain; work for your bread for once!
My gaze went upward to the weirdly colored sky. There wasn’t even a trace of the power she had called forth a few minutes ago. It was all gone, like the rest of her. It was to the point where I was starting to doubt the memory of the event. It would be just like my brain to spazz out and make me believe that had happened. Luna, appearing out of nowhere in my dream to come and defend her subjects? Right. Sure… well… maybe. Protecting those under her crown, that’s what it had been about. She was the shield against nightmares. But why would she have attacked me?
One ear twitching, I looked at the black stump below my eyes. That muzzle of mine was black as the darkest night. On the opposite side, a few rogue strands of red inched at the tip of my snout. My horn still felt heavy on my forehead, the weight of my wings were camped against my sides…
“DAMN IT!”
I knew it! Turning myself into a walking cliché was just asking for a disaster and attacks on my person by every pony with actual taste. And they had! Okay, mildly, with restrained disgust rather than outright accusations, but nopony could actually stand to look at my colors in broad daylight. Curse me and my clever self-deprecating subconscious. That was why Luna went ahead and attacked me like a nightmare monster!
I paused. A thought had occurred to me in the middle of my rant. A silly, stupid and childish though.
Putting a hoof to my chin, I looked down at the beach. “Like, her actual duties?”
Luna protects the citizens from their own dreams. She goes on to protect them and impart wisdom as to the nature of their fears. It would be what the actual Princess Luna would do, in the event that I was really in somepony’s dream. Of course, I wasn’t part of a pony’s dream, but if that had been the case, maybe it would have been…
Similar?
Identical?
Wouldn’t that mean…?
“…No way,” I said, waving a hoof dismissively at my own childishness.
This was all just a lucid dream of mine. It wasn’t actually real. I would do well to keep that in mind, lest I lose control even more badly than how it had gone so far. No one needed to have a couple of monsters chase them or be the subject of a princess’ wrath.
Even if it had been kind of cool-looking… I mused, remembering how the heavens had darkened at her command. I could do that too if I wanted to! Just, I hadn’t had the chance to do so before! The important thing was that we all knew I could have, and that it would have been pretty damn cool to face Evil in an alicorn tag-team with Luna.
A good natured chuckle rose in my throat. “Getting way too into this, William.”
Grinning, I turned to face away from the horizon, into the Equestrian mainland and spread my wings.
~~
The first one to notice the twinkling star in the distant dawn was Old Mayor Mane on his way to his office. He had thought it only a trick of light, a reflection or perhaps a particularly bright star leftover of the night that had ended mostly peacefully. By the time he had reached the small plaza, a frown deepened his wrinkles as he wondered if, perhaps, the star hadn’t grown in size.
Not far away, a mare with her foals stopped her trot, her ears flicking as she caught noise of a faint whistling in the air. She turned around, puzzled, and a few of her neighbors did so as well, the curious sound growing more distinct.
“Look!” screamed a filly.
But most ponies did not have the time to. A violent explosion of sand blasted the plaza, throwing some passerby off their hooves in the shockwave and hiding its source within a cloud of dust. Screams rose, and panicked ponies started to gallop away.
Few stayed, their whole bodies slowed down and hesitant. They gazed at the unknown, iris shrunken, images of monsters floating in their heads. When the dust settled down completely however, the ponies had to fight a recoil not of fear but shame. They first stared in uneasy silence, before somepony uttered the first words and sparked a wave of frantic whispers and shouts.
“It’s the princess…”
“Princess!”
“It’s Princess Luna!”
“She has come to help!”
“Celestia’s sister is in town!”
The alicorn’s brows furrowed together at those latest words, her eyes seeking their speaker without success. The small crowd that had gathered was moving in a flurry of ponies toward her, all of them showing proper reverence. The rest seemed to be galloping across the main street to spread the news of her arrival.
A small smile curled her lips upward. She could take care of that.
“GREETING, OUR SUBJECTS! WE HAVE COME TO PUT AN END TO THE ENDLESS SLEEP PLAGUING SOME OF YOUR BRETHRENS. GUIDE US TO THEM!”
Her subjects stared at her, at the tip of her horseshoe she had impetuously pointed toward the sky during her grand declaration. They blinked and wondered, but not one to push through the ranks and acquiesce to her request.
Her nostrils flared subtly, and she looked over the onlookers. “Well?”
Finally, the ponies parted aside to let one of their own come through. He was fair, she thought, perhaps thin for a stallion, but with a sizeable horn that dipped almost to the sand as he bowed.
“Princess…” the unicorn said, looking up hesitantly. “Please, help me. My sister slept through all of yesterday. She won’t wake up no matter what I tried…”
She tried to keep her expression as regal as ever, for the situation was dire. Still, the small victory had almost sufficed to make the corners of her lips curl upward. She had not been mistaken.
“Show her to me.”
He was eager to do so. He turned on his hooves almost instantly, almost too quickly to show proper deference toward his princess. In this situation, however, Luna could hardly blame him.
His steps were fast and hers, wide. It was a matter of minutes for them to trot throughout the small coastal town until they had arrived to an unremarkable hut near the town’s sole restaurant. There, he parted open the front door and nearly galloped through their small and heavy living room. Luna followed with a little more caution, taking care not to knock over any of the furniture with her mane or tail.
“There she is,” he said, the fear letting a hint of hope shine through. “She’s all yours. J-just help her, your Majesty.”
Luna took the first step in, and was struck by the scent of stuffiness, by the staleness of the room. It reminded her of old spells that could put objects into stasis and protect them from time. A similar sentiment came to her at the sight of the room. Nothing was out of place, but a certain stillness had already started to take hold here.
The only thing that was not immobile was the stallion’s sister. Her chest moved up and down, in a slow rhythm that should be reassuring. She seemed so incredibly peaceful, but more striking than that was the air of familiarity that made Luna hesitate in her steps. There was a certain quality to the sleeping mare’s magical aura. It was not that it felt unique, rather than it having been known to her hours earlier.
Her eyes paled, glazed over with a faint light, as she looked at the form of her unconscious subject. Radiance came from the shape of mare laid in front of her, of a truly splendid shade of white. A long time ago, both her sister and she had been brought to tears from such a sight. A long time ago…
Today, in this very place however, what she saw made her tail lash in a flurry of stars. Another light circled the mare, a strange, dim light, of a nature Other than what she knew inhabited the mortal world. Threads of that corruption were diving into that purity, feeding the rest of the construct into a slowly tightening net. A few tendrils leaned away from the body, some inches away from the bedroom’s window…
“P-Princess?” came the timid question of a stallion.
Blinking, Luna stopped looking and glanced to her sides, where her subject had called for her. His ears were flat on his skull, and his tail flicked nervously. He gulped down when the full force of her attention bore down on him.
With a mental sigh, she forced herself to calm down and swallow the burning need inside. “I know of your sister’s current condition. It angered me, but there is no reason to believe she cannot be saved.”
His words came quickly, and, to her satisfaction, without the slightest hint of hesitation. “What can I do to help?”
“For now?” she glanced at the opened door. “Make sure none of your neighbors bother me while I work. If any of them report to a case similar to your sister’s, allow them to wait in your home until I have completed my spell. Tis a delicate working I will attempt.”
The stallion spared a look to his sleeping sister, before nodding and solemnly placing a hoof to his chest. “I swear you will not hear a thing from anypony until you’ve finished.”
Luna nodded as she sat by the bedside, waiting for him to leave. It did not take long; he scrambled back to another room, closing the door with a soft creaking. Afterward, she could tell little of his presence. True to his words, the house had fallen into complete silence, with the sole exception of the muffled noises coming from outside. With a deep breath, she focused her power to the tip of her horn.
Light descended from it to grasp at the tendrils. There was a brief moment of resistance, but a single burst of magic blasted apart the obstacle. From that point on, she worked her way into the bewitchment. She dove further and further past the defenses, past the creature’s hunger, past the veil of fear being nurtured, and deep within the very core of her subject.
And for a long time, the Princess’ body remained as immobile as the sleeping mare, with only the light of her horn to hint at her consciousness.
The sun had risen well past the horizon when, at long last, Princess Luna, Warden of the Ethereal Realm, looked up and smirked. “Let us see what you will do next, insolent creature.”
~~
My thoughts had drifted away from the Luna incident, and even the quaint town I had left behind, by the time I had reached the level of the clouds. From that vintage point, the world below only looked like the playground of a child or a game. Life was barely more than moving colored dots, and each had its task, as insane or convoluted as they might be. It made me smirk. I was above that.
In passing, I rained unholy judgment upon a threatening lobster running after somepony on the ground. It was good target practice for the doubtlessly epic quests I would finally get to start. Who wouldn’t want a black and red alicorn that could snipe a lobster’s head off from a miles’ distance?
Granted, those weren’t credentials that one heard often, but all the more reason. They could boast to having a truly unique companion. Plus, I could fly! Loop-the-loops and barrel rolls were but the tamest of all tricks I could do. I was lord of the skies and physics was as good as my personal bitch!
Something though… something felt missing. Not that this wasn’t an amazing experience, in fact, it was everything I thought it would be. And, honestly, that was precisely what was wrong. There was strong wind over my whole body, the sight was incredible and the weightlessness tasted of complete freedom of mind, will and physics.
But I couldn’t help think it was fake. These feelings only had any strength when I remembered them. They were as good as gone the second I stopped thinking of them. My mind couldn’t truly recreate something I had never done.
“The sky’s the limit,” I whispered, the irony not lost on me.
And cursed some more when I saw a giant obstacle right in front of me.
I came to a stop, pulling back and flapping my wings harder, but that was forgetting the strength of an alicorn-slash-cliché and the shockwave sent me flying backward. I uselessly batted my legs in midair, a lifetime of reflexes taking over. Now on my back, I realized how hard it was to flap my wings in reverse without looking.
Of all the times for gravity to start working again, it had to be at its most ironic!
“ENOUGH!”
The fall stopped brutally, and floating with most of my muscles paralyzed, I twisted my body to be back in position. At least, I wasn’t in danger of falling anytime soon.
Letting out a long sigh, I turned to the thing that had been the cause of my discomfort.
A wall of black stretched across the horizon, over the land and the sea, as far as my eye could see. It was no mere construction, nothing build by the effort of men – or ponies in this case. I felt like an explorer that had suddenly discovered why all maps ended. That was the nothingness I was staring at.
“That wasn’t here before…”
I would like to think that I would remember the largest structure I had ever seen in my life, even if this was merely a dream. Granted, this last fact gave me a good enough explanation. Still, there was something weird about that thing. From up close, I couldn’t tell apart what served as the material. It was a purely uniform and smooth surface that made me think of a skyscraper, just… without the support beams.
It reflected nothing.
Pure black.
A true void, more so than even the greatness of space. There was absolutely nothing beyond that. I knew it. Everything about this was just nothingness. It likely could never exist outside of this realm… It was… so strange… almost… enticing…
What the…?
I flinched, pulling back my hoof to my barrel, only just now realizing it had been outstretched toward the wall. Underneath, the beats of my heart had quickened.
“I’d better look somewhere else.” I turned, sending a glance to my right. “There’s probably something more… something. There’s got to be something somewhere else.”
With a few unsteady flaps of my wings, I flew away from this place without looking back.
~~
Midday had yet to come, but news of her presence had been so spoken that quite literally everypony in town was aware of it. Petitioners were waiting by the dozens right outside the town’s . Amongst them, there were even a few griffons and thestrals, to her surprise. She dearly hoped that they hadn’t all come for the same problem. It might make her prey dangerously powerful.
Frowning, Luna glared hard at the stubborn mare still sleeping peacefully. Her net had been thrown, but the fish wasn’t biting. Yet. She had to tell herself that. Patience would bear more results than rash actions.
This one was the anchor. That much was a certainty to her. If she could ensure that she woke up, the dreamon would be left without a hold in the material world and would be forced back to the Ether. Any other enthralled would be saved in one fell swoop.
Her horn glowed bright, she knelt. Her magic surrounded the mare on the bed once more, strengthening the hold and cutting off any excessive corruption trying to reach out.
Unbeknownst to Luna however, a solitary strand of light had slithered outside the room, cut from its source by the use of her power. By all means, in all likelihood, the rogue fragment should have faded away on its own harmlessly.
Yet, while the princess had worked on her task, a young pony had been trotting by, eyes to the ground, ears flat, and with a detestable weight on his little chest. Tears brimming in the corner of his eyes, he did not notice nor feel the latching cold circling his left hind leg.
~~
The wall stretched on for dozens of miles. From one side of the horizon to another, all with a slight curve that, after hours of wasted flying, I had realized meant it was a circle. Height was a lost cause as well. My sole attempt at space exploration had ended with a pointless near crash against a ceiling blacker than ink.
The worst part was the stealth. I hadn’t been dreaming when I thought it had come out of nowhere, it did. The wall remained invisible until I came close enough, then sprung up like a trap.
“Oh come on! Now you’re just being obnoxious, brain!” I had shouted when a particularly vicious crash had been only narrowing averted. “If you want me to die, just rain hellfire from the sky and unleash the Apocalypse!”
What my brain didn’t know was that I would fit right in, what’s with my own hellish motif.
Yet, no apocalypse could be detected by my magical might, only more dangerous crustaceans running after ponies on the beach. It was an infestation at this point. Oh well, I considered it practice for the seafood brochettes I was planning for tomorrow. The rice and the seasoning were both ready. All that was missing was the main piece.
The image made my mouth water.
Wow, this was starting to suck so bad I needed to fantasize about my next dinner. William, get a lucid dream grip, please.
Both my front legs slapped my cheeks, painlessly, and I shook my head some more. “Right, epic stuff, epic stuff,” I repeated, looking over the landscape and its desperate lack of wars and dragon fights. “Where can I actually find epic stuff?”
There, in the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a settlement of sort. The blocks and the dots moving in-between had to be a town and–
A blink.
My hooves were on solid ground. The buzzing noise of everyday conversation rang to my ears. There was even a faint smell of salt and fish in the air.
I blinked some more, trying to process it.
“Prince Sir Doom!”
A young colt not yet old enough for a cutie mark pulled at my wing quickly, making a vicious attempt to get my attention, and I would have been hard-pressed not to give it. Now, where could the fun be at?
“Hey, kiddo,” I greeted absentmindedly. “What’s up?”
“Whales!”
I paused and looked down at the colt. His eyes were clear and his smile, filled to the brim with wonder. They were also focused not on my form, but on something higher up, which was what made it click for me.
With a sigh, I twisted my neck and turned to glance at the sky. My theory proved correct, as I was treated to the sight of a dozens of whales’ rainbow underbellies. A melodic sound rose in the air, with long and haunting note that reached to the very depths of my heart. It asked a question of me: a strange question, blurred by a veil on my senses, but I felt it stretching a phantom hand toward me.
The majestic giants threw their shadows over the town for a minute at most. I could have sworn it. But even after their disappearances over the horizon, most dream inhabitants needed more time to return to their activity, least of all me.
H-huh… At least it was pretty, I thought, shaking my head.
“So, you wanted something, kid?” I asked the colt still dreamily staring after the flying beasts.
My voice did not seem to register, though I couldn’t blame the little guy. That had been a neat sight even for me. It had been vastly more interesting and exotic than a bunch of familiar-looking houses of with palm tree leaves roofs and…
Wait…
A horrible realization dawned on me, and I grabbed a random passerby’s shoulder. “Say, this wouldn’t happen to be–”
“Welcome to Horseshoe Bay!” shouted a hundred ponies.
“…Damn it.”