The rest of the day went pretty quickly for me, having given up on resisting the love potion. Spoon seemed pretty angry when Mismatch explained the situation to her, trying to glare a hole into the queen’s head the rest of the day. Chrysalis was by my side as we all went back to the castle, being led into a large room underneath the place, the sight of a deeply dug ocean of stone greeting us.
She had some more changelings drain my love some more, lasting for a few hours. In my lovestruck state, I was perfectly fine being cuddled up next to Chrysalis as they filled the place, actually falling asleep during the process…..
In the dream realm.
“Hey, kid, wake up. We’re almost there.”
I slowly opened my eyes, meeting a familiar face. “Isaac?”
“The Ishimura is going to be in view in a few minutes. I thought you wanted to be awake see it.” He smiled, walking back to his seat.
I looked around the ship I was in, having a bad feeling about the situation. It wasn't long until the ship lurched and the front window cleared, showing an even more familiar ship hanging above the planet behind it. By this point, I finally realized what I was dreaming of.
“Dakota? Are thou alright?” Luna’s voice suddenly came from my left, causing me to jump. Looking in her direction, my jaw dropped at what I saw. In her place was a tall, blue haired woman. She was wearing a modified, star themed, EVA suit.
“Luna?” I blinked, awestruck at what I was seeing.
“Oh! Thou like what she sees?” She smiled coyly, causing me to blush and forget what was to come. “This dream was more powerful than usual and, ehm…… We may have gotten stuck in here.” She winced. “It even changed our form to match it….”
“It changed more than you think.” I pointed out. “You're speaking perfect English.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “Then this is a very bad nightmare….” She nervously stared out the window. “Do thou know what this place is?”
I shuddered. “One of the few things that truly terrify me…. Can't you just get us out of here? Please?”
“Do not be worried, Dakota. You have us to protect you.” She said confidently, warping Senbonzakura into her hands. “This should be more than enough to take any nightmarish monstrosities to their grave.”
“You still have that?”
She glared at me. “My scythe won't change back.”
It took a few minutes for the ship to dock with the Ishimura, Luna and I working on our game plan for getting out of here. There was no preparing her for the blind dash through the hallways, Slashers coming out of any vent we saw. Isaac and his crew were separated from us during the mayhem
It wasn't long until we found a safe spot, inside one of the restrooms nearby. Luna was sitting on the sink, breathing heavily as she nursed the long gash on her arm, courtesy of her attempt to behead one monster.
“So…. What do you think?” I drawled out, keeping an eye on the door.
“Thou…. Thou really need to see a therapist.”
“C’mon it's not that bad.”
At that moment, a loud screech echoed throughout the ship. Luna looked unamused, tensing a little when she heard the noise.
“I'll take that back….”
“Sigh…. Are thou alright?” She suddenly asked, looking up at the ceiling. “In the waking world, I mean.”
“Oh, that?” I laughed. “It's not as bad as you think.”
Luna gave me a suspicious glare. “Thou were kidnapped.” She deadpanned.
“Eh… They kinda want to be secret.” I sheepishly smiled. “They haven't hurt me, if that's what worries you. I'll be back home in a week, I think.”
Luna snorted, her arm still dripping a little. “We are sending out most of the royal guard out to search for thou.”
“Y-You don't need to do that!” I yelled, surprised that she would do that for a person she hadn't met in person. “I, er, kinda…. like them?” I hesitantly added, wincing under her suspicious stare.
“Thou has feelings for them? The situation is as we feared….” Luna muttered to herself.
“How about we get outta here, I will explain then.” I spoke up, getting to my feet. “Just pass me the sword, I know how to use it better than you.”
“And leave us defenceless?”
“You are an alicorn princess with powers over dreams. I think you can handle the common monsters in this place.”
“Thou has made the point.” She growled out, sounding like she wanted to keep it to herself. I couldn't say I blame her, it is a cool sword.
“Hey, don't be like that.” I elbowed her shoulder, smiling a little. “You'll get it back when I wake up.”
We both wandered through the ship with only a few encounters with some slashers, Senbonzakura turning them into mush with a quick cloud of pink. Luna was skeptical of my plan to steal a shuttle and just ride the dream out until it ends.
“Are thou sure it'll work? Those sorts of things don't usually work as planned.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. With my luck, we'll walk into a room full of regenerators.” I laugh as we pass the door leading into the medical ward. “I can barely remember the layout of this place.”
“Were thou here before?”
“Nah, I just know the story.” I shrug. “Maybe I'll tell you sometime. It's a good horror story.”
“We would like that.” She smiled thankfully. “We love the good tale of terror every now and then.”
“Screeee~!” Something screeched nearby, some maniacal laughter following after.
“Perfect. Crazy doctor man is done making his monster.” I sarcastically quipped, my heart rate picking up. “Let’s go, before he finds us.”
“We couldn't agree more.” Luna agreed, sparing a concerned glance at me. “You're shaking….”
“I'm fine!” I snapped, opening a door and turning a leaper into a new stain on the wall. “We need to get out of here before that thing he made is released! I don't know if this will kill it, and I intend on not finding out!” I held up the sword, breathing heavily.
A few minutes pass in silence, I sigh and look back at Luna. “Sorry, it's just…. I am absolutely terrified of the monster we just heard.”
“More than that undead thing in the other dream?”
“Yes, more than Nemesis.”
She put a comforting hand on my shoulder, looking like she was going to kill anything in our pash as she took the sword from my shaking hands. “We will handle anything that will dare try to hurt our precious early dreamer.”
I was still shaking as she wrapped her arms around me in a hug, crying a little in fear. “I-I don't wanna be here…. Why couldn't I just dream of something nice, like friggin’ Naruto….. I’ll even take Batman.”
“Thou shouldn't worry. We will personally ensure thou has pleasant dreams, thou has our oath as the princess of the moon.”
“Thanks….” I sniffle and leave her embrace, feeling a little better. “Alright, let's get that arm patched up. I think there should be some health packs nearby.”
We split up and searched the room we were in, the large room past the waiting room near the hallway to the tram. I did remember something as I dug around, it was being held in a tank nearby, freaking me out even more. I did find the little blue bottle thing that was a med pack. I popped the cap of the bottle and found a small syringe.
“Huh, kinda what I expected.” I mumbled in thought, turning to Luna and calling her over. “Here, hold still.” I told her, getting her to take a seat on a gurney and hold out her wounded arm. It slipped under the pale skin around the gash like it was nothing, the blue liquid closing it up like some kind of healing spell you’d see in an anime.
“What is this?” Luna asked, moving her arm experimentally. “Healing magic in liquid form? This would be useful for any emergency.”
I shrug, chucking the empty bottle over my shoulder. “Nah, I have no idea what's in these.” I suddenly had a thought. “How does this dream thing even work for you?”
Luna smiled and explained for me. “This is one of the responsibilities we have as the princess of the night. We are supposed to prevent our ponies from having any nightmares. Before thou asks, thou are considered one of our ponies.” She winked, making me blush a little. “Thou are our friend.”
“N-Nice to know.” I stuttered, before looking away from the beautiful woman in front of me. “C’mon, we gotta get outta here.”
Luna laughed at my reaction, getting up and readying the sword. “Thou are adorable when you react like that.”
I could feel my face turn red as I gave her an embarrassed glare. “S-Stop messing with me!” I yelled.
Luna smiled playfully, before her eyes widened in surprise and traveled down to look at something on my leg. I blinked and looked down, before gulping loudly and looking back at her.
“Well, I can't survive in every nightmare, can I?” Those were my last words before I was dragged away by the tentacle wrapped around my leg, screaming in terror as I entered the hole in the wall it came from, Luna chasing after me and yelling my name.
I was still alive as I was dumped into another room, the whole place smelling of rotten meat and despair. There were half eaten corpses scattered about, most of which were what I was sitting on as I stared in terror at the only other thing that was alive in the room. It was flapping its leathery wings as it drilled its spike thing into the skull of a dead crew member, the body twitching wildly as it was converted into a necromorph.
There was a sudden noise I heard, briefly realizing that it was me, screaming. It stopped what it was doing, poking an antenna like thing in my direction and detaching itself, flying over to me in a flash and grabbing me and pinning me down.
“Aaaaahhhhhhh!” I screamed as I felt my head split open……
Real world.
I awoke with a start, blindly grabbing the closest thing I could find. My hand wrapped around some weird ‘handle’ thing, my eyes not focused enough to see what I was holding onto. It twitched in my hands, a melodious groan sounding from next to my head.
Blinking wildly, I traced a finger around the thing and found that it was circular, the voice groaned again and the thing moved away. Frowning as my eyes adjusted, I finally could see what I was messing with, one of the holes in Chrysalis’s forelegs.
I took a peek at her face, my own heating up in embarrassment, silently hoping that I haven't woke her up. I held my breath as she shuffled a little and wrapped her legs around me, smiling slightly as her face turned green.
A door squeaked open and the sound of small hooves slowly moving against the floor echoed softly around the room. I couldn't really move to see who it was from my position.
“Dakota?” I heard Spoon whisper. “Are you awake?”
“Yeah. Bad dream….” I respond, unconsciously snuggling closer to Chrysalis. “What wrong?”
“I couldn't sleep.” She sighed and climbed into the bed, laying down next to me. Spoon was quiet for a while, staring at me with unsure eyes, almost like she wanted to ask me something. “D-Do you l-l-like her? Chrysalis, I mean.”
“I do. I think she is….” I struggle for the word, seeing Spoom turn teary eyed made something in me flinch. “...Cute. You are too.”
Her face turned red as she turned away from me, embarrassed. “Well, I don't like her.”
“Why? She nice.”
Spoon huffed, glaring a little. “She kidnapped you and got you to drink something similar to a love potion.”
“It accident.” I defended the queen, my tail snaking out and wrapping around Spoon’s hoof. “She not hurt me while I here. I say yes to help her to feed her… family.”
“Was that before the potion?”
“Yes. I...I think she cute be-before the drink.” I smile at the memory, squeezing her hoof a little. I shook my head a little, some new warm feeling in my chest surprising me. “Uh, I li-like you too….” The words forced their way out of my mouth, my head spinning at the feeling.
She blinked in surprise, blushing brightly. “Are you sure you are still affected by the drink?”
“I…. I no know.” I frown.
“I think I have an idea.”
We both were surprised when Chrysalis spoke, the queen smiling as she opened her eyes to see our stunned faces. She giggled a little and kept her legs wrapped around me, causing Spoon to deadpan at her.
“You were awake the whole time, weren't you?” She accused, pointing a hoof at her. “You little…. bug!”
Chrysalis glared at Spoon and growled a little, her wings fluttering a little in agitation. “I am not a bug!”
“Hey!” I yelled, not wanting the two to fight.
They both sighed, not wanting to fight in front of me, before Chrysalis informed Spoon. “Calling my kind bugs is the worst thing you can say….” She growled out, making Spoon gulp in fear, no doubt making her think ‘what have I done!?’ and ‘I'm gonna die!’ in the same moment.
“...but.” Chrysalis deflated, looking a little depressed. “I suppose we do look like the things, don't we?” She was quiet for a moment, before releasing me and hopping off the bed, smiling widely. “Here’s why we are called changelings!”
A sudden burst of green flame blinded Spoon and I for a moment, the queen disappearing in the center of the blaze. A small grey hoof took a step out of the fire, a filly climbing out as the fire died down. Spoon and I gasped in surprise at what we saw.
It was another Spoon!
She was smiling smugly as she hopped back into the bed, taking her spot on my left. The original Spoon was dumbfounded at the sight, mouth wide open in shock as she stared at her clone.
“Do you like this?” The clone asked, wrapping her hooves around my midsection.
“What? How?!” Spoon sputtered.
“It’s my kind's ability to be able to assume the form of anypony…. Or gryphon, in my sister’s case.” The Spoon clone smiled, before opening her mouth and taking a sip of my love, causing my skin to tingle a little. “Delicious.”
Spoon shivered and cleared her throat. “C-Can you go back to your normal self? Please?”
Chrysalis smiled mischievously and gave me a peck on the cheek, my face heating up at the contact. “What? Do you have a problem with this?” She asked, snaking her long snake like tongue against my ear.
“It’s weird…. And creepy!” Spoon yelled at her. "It's like seeing an evil version of me!"
"Okay, fine.” Chrysalis laughed, changing back with another display of green fire. “Now, let's get back to the topic of the love potion.” She immediately went back to business. “Most of the time, as cheesy as this sounds, true love can seep through the effects of the potion. That sort of thing always wears down the potion faster.”
Spoon frowned and took a seat on the bed to my right, slowly putting a hoof on my hand and looking into my eyes. “She likes you now…”
I blinked, confused at what was happening.
Chrysalis stared at the hoof for a moment. “Considering her reactions from earlier, I'd say that she likes both of us.”
Spoon's face immediately went red. “A-A-A herd!”
“Okay, I wasn't taught that one.” I thought to myself, raising an eyebrow. “What word mean? A he...hearf?” I ask out loud, struggling with the word. Spoon didn't even reply, her whole head turning red from embarrassment.
“A herd, Dakota, a herd.” Chrysalis repeated to me, making sure I knew how to pronounce it. “It means more than two ponies in love with each other.”
“Oh…. Ohhhhh!” I blinked in realization, before fainting. "The anime harem route is a thing here! Best! Day! Ever!"