//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: Consequences // by Hiver //------------------------------// “You know, if you actually reproduced in a normal manner rather than from magic and the fears of ponies I would be tempted to practice some catch and release with you. Because this kind of bad luck really should be encouraged in the predator population,” I commented as I watched the Night Terror before me shifting into scary form after scary form trying to feed off us, “I mean seriously. Out of all the dreams you could have, you pick the one shared by the Princess of the Night and the only other pony she taught how to do this.” Shaking my head I lashed out with the beam of will and the psychic dream predator dissolved into a shower of sparks and I pulled them in, grounding the magic into my own. Huh, that was a weak one. Must have been pretty new. Feeling Luna's wing settle over my back I looked up at her, finding that she looked thoughtful. “What?” I asked as I raised a eyebrow. Luna smiled and shook her head, “Just wondering if being able to hunt these things satisfies some sort of primal need from when you were human.” I tilted my head and then shrugged, “Maybe? Never hunted before, but I suppose on a instinctual level it's possible. This isn't really the right way though, humans were not originally ambush predators. Too slow and no natural weapons. We only really started to do that when we discovered spears I think.” My Princess frowned, “...So how did you catch food before you discovered tools? Scavenging?” “That too.” I agreed, “If the kill was new at least, humans were never that good with rotten food. But no, humans were persistence hunters.” “Persistence hunters?” Nodding and shifted reality around us with a thought and suddenly we were on the grasslands of Africa, a herd of gazelles grazing a bit away from us, “Persistence hunting. We didn't try to catch our prey. We were way too slow and couldn't kill it fast enough to stop it from hurting us.” A human walked out from beneath one of the trees, starting towards the group of gazelles at a smooth slow jog. The herd bolted. He just kept following, angling towards one of the smaller animals. I shifted the environment and sped up time so we could follow without moving and still see the entire hunt today, “Humans are great long distance runners. We would pick a prey, alone or in a group, and then just follow it.” The gazelle slowed down to rest, panting for air before another sound startled it and it looked up before starting to run again as its pursuer started to get closer. “We would simply follow the prey until it was too exhausted to move or died of heatstroke,.” I explained as the small deer like animal finally collapsed. When the human showed up again, it struggled onto it's hooves and ran for it once more. Next time it collapsed it didn't get up again. I ended the image before the human was able to get to work finishing it off, leaving us instead back on the field of battle where Luna had been spending the dream teaching me how to direct forces around the field of battle. Luna shivered slightly and then shook her head, “...Such a terrifying way to hunt.” “It's what we could do back then.” I shrugged and nuzzled at her neck, “Sorry.” She smiled slightly and nosed, “Nothing to be sorry about. I suppose it's just the idea of fighting a foe that just kept coming, you run and when you could run no longer it would just show up again. Couldn't be stopped. It's a really scary idea.” “Dundun dundun.” I said and grinned, “I think I know what to write next.” “Don't you dare! There is enough nightmares in Equestria without your stories adding to it!” “I'd put a warning label on it! Besides, it has a happy ending and it's more of a action than horror thing,” I protested before I sighed, “It's a good story and I don't think Equestria has an equivalent! They should not be deprived of the greatness that is The Terminator!” Then again, without the music and Ahnold, would it be as good? I think so, the basic story idea of a time traveling golem to stop kill the mother of the resistance leader against the golem rebellion was still a classic one. Can even use the same title. I didn't care about the money anymore. Right now I just wanted Equestria to have these stories. Fuck, if I could I would import the originals! But right now, the best I could do would be to take the basic concept and write my own stories with it. “Speaking of which.” Luna said and nosed, “I liked your latest book. The reviews were good too, not as high as your latest Jedi book, but still good.” “Mmm. Have a signing in a couple of days,” I sighed, “Honestly, it's nice to meet fans but it's such a horn ache after the thousand times you sign your name.” Luna snorted, “Tell me about it. Signing documents gets like that after a while.” “So what did you like about it?” I asked and leaned against her side, “Sorry for not getting you a pre print version by the way, but it's easier to read in a actual book rather than lose pages.” “It is,” Luna agreed before she kissed my cheek, “I forgive you... this time,” she teased before she hmmed, “I liked the action and the main character. I suspect the intelligence service will find a upswing in recruits for a while.” “It's not very realistic.” “Not really,” she agreed, “But neither are most novels written about a member of the guard. It's not all heroic victories or catching the eye of one of the Princesses,” she teased with a grin, “But mostly, I liked the main character. She was fun, brave and intelligent.” “Thank you, I based her on somepony I know.” I said with a smirk as I eyed her. “Is that so?” she almost purred and then stepped back to shift to match the description of the earth pony in the book, Shimmering Diamond. Oh my. “Buuut...” she continued with a grin, “I think it's time you wake up.” “Oh that's just mean.” Luna winked and started to collapse the dream which would wake me up. Narrowing my eyes at her, I put my own power against hers, keeping my dream solid. That caused her to smile playfully, “If you can resist for ten minutes, we can negotiate,” she teased, “Maybe that scene... you know the one on the ship?” I just ground my teeth at the effort, the steadily building pressure, shifting my hooves as she slowly put more and more energy into it. It was my dream, it gave me a homefield advantage. A big one. But she had literally thousands of years of experience and a vastly larger amount of power to pull on. I struggled to keep the dream solid around us as the seconds slowly ticked by. She didn't even look like she was working hard and despite my best work, her power was like holding back the ocean. Luna wasn't even bothering trying to beat me with skill, she was just slowly applying more and more pressure until I couldn't keep it steady. The dream started to shrink around us as I reduced the size to give me less to focus on. “You have become a lot better, My Page,” Luna said softly, “You have a talent for dream magic.” “G-guess it comes from dreaming up stories.” I managed to answer, slowly diverting a small amount of power for a second task, using what I absorbed from the Night Terror. “There is a strong link there, yes,” Luna agreed. I snorted, the dream soon pressing in on us, the edge of the mists just meters away as I struggled to keep it solid. “Good Morning, My Page,” Luna said with a smile, “Wakey wakey.” “Wake Wakey.” I answered and stopped resisting, diverting the rest of my magic into the 'ground' beneath me, forming a flat disk of silver before I winked as the dream collapsed, “Catch me if you can.” I teased and dropped out into the space between dreams. With me out of the dream, it would be her dream, not mine. Which meant that the dream collapsing would wake HER up! A second later she dove through after me, clearly able to catch the dream collapse in time. The chase was on!