“So where do we go from now? Where do we begin?” Twilight said as she
looked around, seeing only the seemingly endless ‘ocean’ of grass.
“We begin with a short lesson, to teach you the basics of this world.
As you probably already know, nothing in here is what you would call
‘real’, it is all within ponies’ minds. Thus, theoretically, almost anything
can happen at any time, and we can meet almost any pony or other
creature - living or dead. Basically, anything anypony anywhere can
possibly dream of, can appear in this world at any time and place.
So you need to be very careful when you are here, and most of the time
you should stay close to me unless I specifically say otherwise.”
Twilight and Applejack nodded.
“I was wonderin’...” Applejack said, “What about physical damage
and such? I saw a horror movie once, where the ponies got killed or hurt
inside their dreams, and it happened in real life too. So I was wonderin’,
is there any truth to that?”
“Well, normally I would say ‘no’, but in your case... I am actually not sure.
I do know you can get hurt here. And, logically speaking, since you are
teleported here in your physical form, I would assume any wounds
you get here will also remain when we teleport back. After all,
it IS technically just a teleport spell.”
“So we probably CAN get hurt. Which means, we should be careful.”
Applejack said. Twilight nodded in agreement.
“Yes, that does indeed sound logic.” She said, and then Luna added,
“That being said, do not completely trust in ALL logic here.
As I said, we are in a dream world. Which means the normal laws of
physics and gravity does not necessarily apply, or work the same way.”
“Like, for example what?” Applejack asked.
“For example, Twilight may not be able to fully use her magic in here.
Her magic is regular Alicorn and Unicorn magic. My magic is
infused with dream magic, which is a different kind.”
“How many kinds are there, anyway?” Applejack interrupted.
Twilight raised her hoof and began talking before Luna could react.
“First, there is two main categories. There is the ‘Dormant Magic’,
which can be found in every pony species. It’s the energy that allows
us to pick stuff up with our hoofs. Pegasi has another form as well,
which allows them to interact physically with clouds, and fly despite
their wing-to-bodymass ratio being far from aerodynamic.”
Applejack was about to stop her, but she continued.
“Then, there’s ‘Active Magic’, Unicorn and Alicorn magic.
Basically we have the same magic as everypony else, but our
horns allow us to channel and focus it into spells.
We also have a higher amount than Earth and Pega ponies.
THEN, we come to sub-categories!”
Again, Applejack tried to interrupt but failed.
“First, the most common is Unicorn of course. And then there’s
Black and White, and also Grey. Black is dark spells, curses, and offensive
spells. White is healing magic and protective spells, like shields.
Grey is common magic, such as levitation, Glowing horn, low-level
heat and freeze spells - stronger levels qualify as black - and such things.
Then, we have Alicorn White and Alicorn Black, which is basically just
stronger forms of those two. And then we have Chaos Magic,
which has no colour assigned. That’s what Discord uses by the way.
And, Dream Magic, which is the same as the normal Uni-and-Alicorn
magics, but it works inside the dream realm, where other magic doesn’t.”
The third time, Applejack simply shoved her hoof in Twilights mouth
to effectively block her speech.
“TWILIGHT!”
Twilight fell silent and looked at Applejack confused.
“As much as I appreciate the lesson, would you be quiet for a second
and listen to ME now?”
Twilight nodded, still with Applejacks hoof in her mouth.
“Look.” Applejack said, and pointed behind Twilight.
She turned her head around and looked.
Far away in the distance, the could see the outline of what seemed to be
houses of various sizes and shapes.
“Luna? Is that.. Ponyville?” Twilight said, when she recognized some
of the shapes and their layout.
“In a manner of speaking. Ponies often have dreams that take place in
or near their homes. Since we came from Ponyville, we are still technically
in Ponyvilles ‘location’. Thus, most of the dreams we will see is from
Ponyville citizens. Including yourselves.”
“You mean we might walk into my or Twilights dreams?” Applejack said.
“Yes, and nightmares too. But unlike last night, this time you will
be fully aware that it is not real, so even if things get scary, try to keep
that in mind.” Luna said.
“Now, We must find the tower.”
“About that...” Twilight said. “How do the towers look?”
“They differ slightly from time to time, but usually they are black
or dark in colour, and quite tall. At least 15 floors, sometimes more.
Sometimes spiky or crooked. Very hard to miss once we get within
seeing distance.”
“Should we go into ‘ponyville’ and ask ponies there?” Applejack asked.
“We can try, but it is not guaranteed to work. It is worth a try though.”
Luna responded and started walking toward the town.
The walk felt shorter than it had looked, and they soon arrived at the
edge of town. They started looking around, but they could not see or
hear anypony, or any animals. No sounds at all. It was like a ghost town.
“Okay, this is a bit creepy.” Applejack said as she looked around.
“An empty version of Ponyville.. Maybe someponys nightmare has
to do with abandonment, or ghost towns?”
“It is very possible.” Luna nodded. “But keep in mind, dreams and
nightmares often get mixed here. And also, not everything is from
the same ponys mind. For example, the town itself can be from one
dream, but the fact that it is empty can be from some other dream.
The stones has gathered dreams and nightmare from a thousand
years’ worth of sleeping ponies. There are countless possibilities.
Almost anything can happen, like I said earlier.”
“It’s still creepy to see Ponyville like this.” Applejack said.
“True.”
Twilight looked around a bit as they walked through the empty street.
Suddenly Applejacks ears peaked up. “I hear something!”
Twilight looked at her with a questioning expression.
“Over there.” Applejack said in a lower voice, pointing toward a few bushes.
Twilight looked at them, and there was indeed a rustling sound
coming from them. Perhaps someone - or something - was hiding under it?
They approached carefully. Suddenly something jumped out and landed
on Applejacks head. It was a small white bunny.
“Oh. It’s Angel!” Twilight said. “Fluttershy’s pet bunny.”
Angel pulled out a clock and looked at it. He got a very stressed,
almost panicked look on his face and ran away, disappearing into
a whole in the ground. As he ran, he made a noise that almost sounded like
“Late, late, late, late!!!”.
“Did he just speak...?” Applejack said in a puzzled tone.
“Remember, Dreamworld.” Twilight reminded her.
“Oh.. Right.. but still, I wasn’t expecting to hear that bunny talk.
Just imagine if Fluttershy heard... Oh wait, that part was probably
actually from her dream. Nevermind.”
“Or maybe Angel himself has dreams like that? Who knows what goes
on inside his head?” Twilight said, half-jokingly.
“Well anyway, seems like the town is empty.” Applejack said.
“Maybe we should move on? Should we check over at my place?”
“We might as well.” Twilight said. “I mean, there might be something
or somepony there. Luna?”
Luna simply nodded silently and started walking in the wrong direction.
“Uhm.. Excuse me, Princess...” Twilight said.
“What?” Luna asked.
“Sweet Apple Acres is that way.” Applejack said, waving her hoof
in the opposite direction from where Luna was headed.
“...Oh. My bad. I have only been in Ponyville a couple of times,
I do not quite remember its layout yet.”
They all started walking, almost trotting in the direction of the Acres.
As they came closer, they saw pillars of smoke rising from where
the apple orchards should have been, but the lands were barren and dead.
No trees remained, only smoking holes in the ground.
Where the house and barn used to be was now a deep crater.
“Okay...” Applejack said. “...What the buck?”