Dream's End

by zaleacon

Intermission - Explanation

It was a surprisingly short walk back to the beginning of the labyrinth. Although Twilight had at first feared that some monstrous beast would attack them on the way out, the trek had gone almost without any trouble.

Almost.

So, yeah, Dawn said, somehow still talking even as they neared the exit, like I was saying, it took me for-freaking-ever to set up all these damn bookshelves. Had to graph the whole thing out in advance too. Let me tell you, it sucked.

“Fascinating,” Luna deadpanned. She rubbed one of her temples with a hoof. “Are we almost done?”

The story or the labyrinith?

“Whichever one makes you shut up first,” Luna muttered. She sneezed, rubbed her nose, and glowered at the shelves around her and Twilight.

Almost there, Princess Lunatic. Just, uh… Yeah, take a left up ahead.

“And how long will it be after that?” Twilight asked.

That should be good, actually. After that, it’s just a straight shot up the steps and outta your strange, strange head, Twilight.

Luna seemed to perk up a little at the knowledge. Twilight presumed that it was simply due to her wanting to be free from Dawn, not that she entirely blamed Luna. Dawn was quickly driving the two mad.

As they walked, Twilight opened the large spell book and started to read from the prologue, just to get her mind off the thing living inside her skull. “Let’s see…” she murmured aloud. “’Magic is one of the main components of life…’ Yeah, that’s true… ‘Every living being has the power…’ Uh… ‘The spells located in this book are the most powerful elemental abilities gathered over two-thousand years of searching…’” She paused and blinked. “Two-thousand years,” she whispered in reverence.

The book’s earliest spells went all the way back to before Luna had turned into Nightmare Moon, before Discord had ravaged Equestria, before Sombra had overtaken the Crystal Empire, and before Equestria had even come into being.

Either that, or that was just what her dream wanted her to think. Of course, Twilight could not be certain whether the spells actually existed – in fact, she did not know if they were even logical or bound by the common laws of magic. Studying them could be revolutionary, provided that the spells did not already exist in the waking world.

Twilight’s mind spun with possibilities. If they did not already exist, did that mean that she had created several brand-new magic spells? And if they functioned properly, what did that say about the gap between the real world and the dream world?

She looked down at the book tentatively. Absolutely, she thought to herself, I am absolutely giving this to Luna when we get out of here.

Dawn’s voice echoed, Having fun there, are we?

Twilight let out a sudden gasp of shock. “Wh… Dawn, how the heck did you–?!”

In your head, remember? Dawn giggled. By the way, I just wanted to let you know we’re almost there.

Twilight flushed. How long had she been obsessing over that book? “Uh… R-right. Thank you.”

Don’t mention it. Just doing the best I can to annoy you two.

“You’re doing a good job so far…” Twilight muttered.

Aw, thanks, Twilight! I’m glad I can count on you.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. “’Apathetic,’ indeed.”

She blinked and looked around before realizing that Dawn had been telling the truth. She and Luna were back in the “lobby” of the massive labyrinth, back at the bottom of the stairs near the entrance. Had she really been so engrossed in her book that she had missed the entire ending leg of the journey? Well, it would not be the first time.

Luna glanced over to her and pointed up the staircase. “After we climb up those stairs, we simply have to exit out that door. I’ll explain everything I know about this dream once we’re out.”

The two began to walk up the large, sturdy stairway towards the room Twilight had begun her little journey inside. It was strange, really, knowing that much – that the exit had been there all along, but Twilight supposed that Dawn must have enchanted her to be unable to open it. It made sense, at any rate.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Luna nodded towards the large, lavender door. “There,” she said. “That’s the door I entered your dream through – from the other side, I should say. Hopefully, this side should no longer be sealed…” She stepped over to it and fiddled with the knob for a second. “Ah, let’s see… Here we go…”

With a slow, deep click, the door began to open towards Luna. She pulled it open all the way, and Twilight could see what appeared to be a swirling vortex of black, red, and white just on the other side of the doorframe.

“A portal?” Twilight asked. She stepped towards it and tentatively pressed a hoof to it, watching in awe as it went straight through the vortex. “Huh… That’s interesting…”

You think I can squeeze through, too? Dawn asked. I mean, I don’t wanna get vaporized or anything…

Luna waved a hoof. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine. It’s still a dream passed here, so technically…” She paused, suddenly looking very annoyed. “Wait a second… Twilight, your Disparity’s staying here, right?”

Twilight looked away. “Um…”

“You didn’t…” Luna’s eye had started to visibly twitch.

Oh, yeah! It turns out I’m coming along, too! Dawn giggled. So, uh… you’d better get used to me, Luna, ‘cause I’m not going away anytime soon!

“What?! But, I…” Luna sputtered, seemingly at a loss for words. “Twilight,” she muttered. “Twilight! Disparity! Did you not hear what I said about twenty times already?!” She pointed an accusatory hoof at Twilight’s head. “They kill creatures, Twilight! They shatter their hosts’ minds for fun!”

Aw, but I don’t do that! Why, I’m just about the nicest Disparity you’ll ever meet!

Luna’s mouth twitched, and she opened it as though to say something before slowly shutting it. “That reflects on your species about as well as light reflects off dirt,” she finally muttered.

Wow, thanks, Luna! Dawn said mockingly. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me!

“Shut it,” Luna growled, before letting out a sigh. “Twilight, can you not just leave her behind? That creature is far too dangerous to just take along and pray that she’ll do no harm.”

Twilight thought about this for a moment. “But if I leave her here, won’t she be in the perfect position to mess up my head when I’m not around?”

“Precisely,” Luna said. “And that is why I – no, we – shall ensure she never gets the chance.” Her horn began to glow that threatening black again. “Taking her along or leaving her be are both dangerous… but not if we destroy her, first.”

Uh… D-do I get a say in this?

“Certainly. I would never deny a creature its last words.”

Twilight sighed. “Luna…” Was she going to have to play mediator? At the rate things were escalating, it looked as though she was.

“Do not start this again, Twilight,” Luna warned. “I told you before, and I’ll say it until my throat’s raw: Disparities are dangerous. Do you understand that? They aren’t safe. You can’t trust them.” She grit her teeth. “The instant you give them an opening, they will tear you apart. I’ve seen it occur dozens of times before.”

She slammed her hoof against the floor angrily. “Nearly all of them are hedonistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic. What makes Dawn any different?”

“I-I don’t know…” Twilight admitted. “But I can’t just let you kill her when she’s done nothing wrong! Well… I mean, nothing wrong yet…”

“And there’s the key word. She has done nothing wrong ‘yet.’” Luna turned her gaze to the massive door again. “But how do we know it will stay that way? How do we know she won’t attempt to destroy any of the others’ psyches?” She shook her head. “I… I do not wish to take that risk.”

If it makes you feel any better, Dawn said, I’m pretty weak compared to the others. All things considered, I can manage a knockout spell or some telekinesis, but nothing groundbreaking. She yawned. When that guy came along – the one in charge of this place, I mean –, he told me he could give me power, but I didn’t take it. Sounded like too much work, really.

Luna grimaced. “So what you’re saying is that you did not accept power… just because it sounded like too much work?” She sighed and shook her head. “And how can we trust that you are not lying?”

If it keeps you from going on a Disparity-killing rampage, then hey, I’ll just stay here in Twilight’s head. And, she added, I can help you pick out Disparities from other mental projections, too.

“I suppose it takes one to know one…” Twilight said, before shaking her head. “But if you can do something like that, it’d probably help us out a lot. Especially if my friends really are trapped in their dreams…” She gave Luna a pleading look.

Luna paused for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Fine,” she muttered. “You can come along with us, Disparity. But I’ll be keeping a close watch on you.” Her horn flared up again. “Harm Twilight – or, for that matter, any of us – in any way, and I promise you that you can get plenty of rest.”

Do you have to practice those one-liners, or do they just come naturally? Dawn quipped. ’Cause that’d be a pretty freaking nice ability to have.

“And you immediately go right back to being irritating…” Luna muttered. She shook her head. “Twilight, I think we’ve wasted enough time with this pointless conversation.” She stepped over to the swirling portal in the door. “Come with me. As I said, I’ll explain everything I can soon enough.”

Without another word, Luna stepped through the vortex and vanished from sight. Twilight simply stared after her for a second, thinking about what had just occurred. She looked down at the cover of the magic book again, tucked it under her leg, and began walking towards the portal.

As she entered it, Twilight felt the world around her simply fade away. Red, black, and white lines swirled around her as the silent library vanished from sight and was replaced with somewhere else entirely.

Twilight let out an audible gasp at the sight of the new area. In a complete contrast to the closed and claustrophobic corridors of the library, this new place was a large series of flat plains floating in an endless abyss.

Twilight counted a total of twelve circles, including her own, with a tall door standing on each. Each door was a different color, seeming to represent the creature trapped within, with symbols covering its surface to reaffirm that idea. She recognized most of them immediately – a blue door with rainbow markings across its frame and a lightning bolt pattern on the top and a white door with pink markings across its sides and a large sun at the top spoke for themselves.

She stepped down the large staircase that connected her circle to the ovular platform sitting in the center, from which the other doors branched off. As she looked around, however, Twilight found doors that she did not recognize.

Her friends’ were pretty self-explanatory, but two doors stood out from the rest. One was a large black door with no decorations or markings, and the other was an absolutely massive golden door that dwarfed the others in terms of size, which stood opposite the black door. But while even Discord’s door was recognizable by its chaotic design, Twilight did not know either who could possibly live within either of the strange doors.

Her hooves tapped down on the white, marble-like substance of the center platform, where Luna stood facing the golden door. “I’m sure you already know what these are,” she said, gesturing to the doors around them. “Six of these doors belong to the Elements of Harmony, two of these doors belong to my sister and I, one of these doors belongs to Discord, and the other door belongs to your dragon, Spike.”

Twilight froze. Spike? What was he doing in this strange, horrific place? Surely, Luna was joking? But sure enough, she saw his door sitting between hers and Rarity’s.

Before Twilight could suffer a panic attack over realizing that a child was likely being forced to fight against his inner demons, however, Luna brought her back to reality. Reality? No, that was not it.

“The other two, however…” Luna gestured to the black door and the gold door. “Those are the two that I do not quite recognize.” She shook her head. “This is a mindscape more complicated than any I’ve ever seen. Never before have so many minds become tangled in such a way.”

“How did this happen?” Twilight asked, looking around. She was dumbstruck. Certainly, she had heard about mindscapes before, but she had never truly seen one. And given it was filled with the minds and souls of her closest friends… “How the heck did this happen?!”

Luna met her gaze. “That is exactly what I have been wondering,” she said, before looking back at the surrounding doors. “My memories are… stunted, I’m afraid. I remember that I went to meet with Celestia – she had an important matter to discuss, she said –, but… my memories stop as soon as I enter the throne room.”

“What?” Twilight stepped back. “So your memories stop, too?”

“’Too’?” Luna asked. “I see… My fears have been confirmed, then. Whoever is responsible for our current predicament somehow removed our memories of that meeting.”

“Either that, or we just fell asleep as soon as we entered the room,” Twilight murmured. She paused, remembering something important. “Dawn? Are you there?”

Eh? came Dawn’s voice. Sorry. I was sleeping. Did you need something?

Twilight shoo her head. “No, sorry. I just needed to make sure you didn’t get vaporized or anything.”

Cool. In that case, I’m going back to sleep…

Luna sighed. “It’s going to be annoying having to deal with her, but I suppose I must.” She turned towards Celestia’s door. “Now, Twilight, there’s something you need to know.”

“What’s that?”

“Every door in this room is unlocked.” Luna paused. “All of them except for four, that is. The black door, the gold door, Discord’s door, and… Celestia’s door. Besides them, however, the other eight are all completely open.”

“Six,” Twilight said. “Not counting yours and mine, I mean.”

It made sense that whoever was responsible would lock Celestia’s and Discord’s doors. After all, they were clearly the two most dangerous creatures in the area, and if anypony were to enter their dreams and get them out, the mastermind would likely be defeated with relative ease.

Or… was there another reason?

Twilight shook her head. “So what do we do now? Just… go into the open doors?”

Luna nodded. “Yes,” she said. “That is how I was able to save you, at least. And that is how I was helped to deal with my own Disparity.” She paused at Twilight’s confused expression. “Ah, yes. I believe somepony helped me to escape my dream, but I never saw them for myself. That is how I was able to get this.”

She gestured to her mane, where Twilight saw a black, crescent-shaped clip. “My Disparity dropped this after I bested her,” she said. “It’s what let me use those dark magic spells I casted back in your dream. It appears that all Disparities are guarding something like this.”

“Like this book,” Twilight said, holding out Last.

Luna nodded. “Exactly. Now, Twilight, where do we go from here? I will let you select the next door, given that you know these creatures better than I.”

Twilight looked around the large, open expanse again. Fluttershy would be an obvious choice – after all, Twilight knew she would be terrified by whatever lurked in her dreams. Not to mention that Twilight was worried about how she would be taking such a dangerous place as her own dreams, or what sort of thing her Disparity would show up as.

But at the same time, Twilight knew Fluttershy could hold her own if she had to. She had seen her fight before, and she was definitely strong enough to deal with anything in her way.

No, the one she was most worried about was not Fluttershy at all. “Spike,” Twilight said, gesturing to the purple-and-green door. “I-I can’t just leave him stuck in there.”

Even if he was about a teenager in pony years, Spike was still a baby as far as dragons were concerned. More importantly, however, was that Twilight worried what his Disparity would take the form of. She was positive that it would be based on something he feared, obsessed over, or – worse – both.

But more importantly than even that, she cared for him too much to just let him be stuck there for so long. Spike had been one of her only friends for years, and he had been the only one who was constantly there. Fluttershy and the others could wait; they were strong enough to fend off their demons. Spike was not.

Luna saw Twilight’s expression and nodded. “Very well,” she said. “We should get going as soon as we can. Are you ready?”

“I’m ready whenever you are. Dawn?”

Ugh… Yeah, I’m ready. I’ll probably just sleep the whole time, but whatever. Adventure and all that crap. She paused. Oh, wait! There’s something you should probably know before you go hopping off into the little guy’s head.

Twilight glanced up. “What’s that?”

You wanna wake somepony up, then it’s gotta be their Disparity that does it. Remember when I said ‘you’re dreaming, Twilight’? That’s what the Disparities have to say, basically. Otherwise, they’re just gonna keep dreaming until this whole thing ends and they wake up. She stopped for a moment. Then it’s all just gonna feel like a normal dream. They’ll probably forget about it, too.

Luna nodded. “Yes. My Disparity said a similar thing before I destroyed her.”

Yeah, so just make sure you do that, okay? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna get some sleep. I’m pretty damn tired right now. Dawn let out a yawn before she went silent.

Twilight looked over at Luna. “Okay, so we enter Spike’s dream, find his Disparity, make it wake him up, and we get him out of there.”

“That sounds about right,” Luna said. “However, we must also make sure to dispose of his Disparity.”

“Only if it attacks us,” Twilight warned. “I don’t want to have to hurt it if we don’t have to.” She turned around and began walking towards the portal into Spike’s dream.

“Only if it attacks us, huh…?” Twilight heard Luna murmur. “If only you knew how likely that is…”

Twilight chose to ignore her and instead looked at the door before she entered it. It was actually very pretty, all things considered. The frame of the door was green like Spike’s spines and had a fire-based pattern to it, while the main part was purple. At the top of the door, there was another fire pattern that hung over it in an arch.

She reached forward slowly with her right leg, keeping Last tucked under her left in case she needed it, and pulled the door open. Once again, the red, black, and white vortex swirled before her eyes.

Twilight stared at it for a second, unable to move her eyes away. She gulped, but steeled herself after reminding herself why she was going in, and stepped into the swirling portal that lead into Spike’s dream.

So three of the prisoners have escaped their dreams. How irritating. But it matters not – so long as the princess and the songbird remain in their cages, they can do nothing.

My purpose shall be fulfilled.