Duplicity

by Bullet25

Chapter Eight: Boredom and Dreams

Well, it’s been about a day now, and I’m still in this jail cell. Twilight tried writing to their leader, Princess Celestia, but she hasn’t heard back yet. I don’t think that is a good sign. I wonder what the punishment for being a changeling is. On second thought, I don’t think I want to know.

Anyway, back to where I left off. The next day, that dragon, Spike, made breakfast for everyone, and after a discussion on what to do next, we agreed that the best possibility of me getting back home would be for me to learn enough magic to redo what Lyra did. Twilight said it should be easy, since this body already knows how to do the magic–I just need to get my mind to do it.

Haha, she really doesn’t know me and my interesting relationship with learning. You know the saying “Ds get Degrees.” It wasn’t that bad, but I never got higher than a B-, and those were in music classes. She also said that I need to rest for the next day or so and try to calm my mind. We also agreed that whenever I was out, Bon Bon should be with me.

After that, we went back to Bon Bon and Lyra’s apartment. They live on the second floor of a candy shop. Bon Bon owns the shop, and my god, the entire walls are just lined with different candies. It looked like something out of Willy Wonka. In that shop, I think I’ve seen every possible candy that could ever be created. Apparently, this other shop in town, Sugarcube Corner, has been trying for two years to buy this shop out, but Bon Bon says she won’t sell it though.

She also let me in on a little secret. The candies on the top shelves, aren’t even there. It’s an illusion her father made for her. It makes the empty jars look full, and tricks ponies into thinking she has more stock than she does. All of her jars have magic locks on them too, so nopony can even open them. She only unlocks the full jars on the bottom shelves. I asked how she unlocks the jars without being a unicorn. Lyra always did it for her. Thankfully, Lyra left a spell crystal with the unlocking and locking spells in it for when she is out for a concert.

Other than that, the rest of the day was uneventful. Bon Bon opened her shop. I stayed upstairs. Stared at the wall for a while. Stared at the ceiling for a while. Stared at the other wall. Bon Bon closed the shop briefly at lunch. It must be this body, but that daisy sandwich tasted really good. Stared at the first wall again. I think you get the idea. I miss television. I tried to read a book from, but I found out that Equestrian writing differs quite a bit from English.

Unlike the bottom, the top floor of this building was quite bland. Grayish-blue, grayish-blue, and more grayish-blue. All of the walls are grayish-blue. I thought one of the walls there might be bluish-gray, but after staring at it for a good hour and a half, I concluded it was, in fact, grayish-blue. I found it odd that instead of chairs, four dull green couches were positioned around a coffee table.

The stairs led into the living room on. A kitchen was connected to the living room. I found it funny how small everything was, but it made sense, since these ponies were three and a half–maybe four feet tops—tall. There were also four stove tops and ovens, which I assumed were for making candy. After the kitchen was the bedroom, and it still had the same grayish-blue paint. Other than that, it looked like a normal bedroom with the exception of the much shorter bed.

~~~~~

“What are you doing? And why are you upside down?” I heard neither the door opening nor did Bon Bon coming up the stairs. How could a horse be so quiet?

“I’mh Srying tho thoth mif kung tho mif eif ash th gafat soulth helth.”

“Put your tongue back in your mouth and try that again.”

“I’m trying to touch my tongue to my eye, and the gravity should help.” I righted myself.

“Why are you doing that?” Bon Bon asked while facepalming. Hoofpalming? Do hooves have palms?

“When I’m bored, one of the things I always try is to touch my tongue to my nose. Turns out that’s a little too easy now.” I demonstrated several times. “So, I wondered what would be harder to do? Oh I know, try and touch my eye! So, here I am.”

“Couldn’t you have–I don’t know–read a book or played the lyre?”

“Tried that, can’t read your writing, and I have no idea how to play that instrument. Even if I did, hooves, remember?” With each answer, I mentally held up a finger to her.

“Right, well anyway, I came up here to tell you that I’m done for the day, but I’ll be back in a half hour-ish, so you don't go wondering where I am. I need to go tell one of Lyra’s bandmates that she came down with a bad cold, then I’m going to get some food for us.”

“What if I’m here too long? Won’t her bandmates start to worry if I always have a cold?”

“Then you better start learning the lyre.” And with that, Bon Bon waved and left again, leaving me to my grayish-blue prison.

I flipped back over. “Yourth gothing dowth eif!”

~~~~

I must have fallen asleep while trying to assault my eye, as I was pushed to the floor and woken up by an annoyed mare. There was also a good amount of drool down my face. “You have a week to either swap back or learn the lyre.” Bon Bon threw a towel on my face, which I used to wipe off the drool.

There was a bag on the table with a recognizable logo. Even if I couldn’t read the writing, I could still recognize it as the glorious logo of Burger King! Finally, real food! “Sweet, Burger King. I love their hamburgers. Wait, you actually eat hamburgers here?”

Bon Bon looked at me with a raised eyebrow while pulling out the sandwiches. “What? No, they’re hayburgers. We aren’t
gryphons. You’d have to go to one of the gryphon or minotaur cities to get some kind of meat. Maybe a few places in pony cities that get frequented by them have meat, but not Ponyville. Do you normally eat meat?”

“Yeah,” I said while prodding the hayburger in front of me with my hoof.

“To each their own, I guess.” Bon Bon must have noticed me poking the burger. “It’s not going to bite. If you’re wondering, it’s a mix of hay, tofu, and seasonings. It might not be as good as a homemade meal, but after working for ten hours straight, I’m not cooking, and I don’t think you’d be able to.”

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly.

“Don’t be. If anypony should be, it’s Lyra,” she said while taking a bite from the burger. The rest of the meal went in silence.

~~~~

Once again, trying to sleep wasn't going very well. I guess I was exhausted from everything the night before, but my mind was racing with everything that had happened the past two days. And being in a different body didn’t help. I tossed and turned so much that at some point in the night, Bon Bon went to sleep on one of the couches. When I finally fell asleep, my dream wasn’t much better.

“How in the hell did I get here?” I asked myself. Looking at the surroundings, it seemed I’d woken up in a forest. “Okay, I’m human again. That’s a start at least.” Getting up and taking a better look around, all I can see is forest. I must be deep inside the forest, and even worse, the sun is setting. “Okay, think. How did I get here? The sun is setting, so I need to find a town quickly. Which way? Which way? Think, dammit!” Screaming in the forest might not have been the best decision. A bush rustled about thirty feet to my right, and I heard a growl.

“Left it is.” I slowly back up when I see teeth coming out of the bush. “Running it is then.” I’d never realized just how fast I could run until I was running for my life. Looking back may not have been my best choice, since I saw just how close the creature was. What started as a good thirty-foot lead was down to no more than ten. “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” I spot a tree about twenty feet straight ahead in the path. “Oh god, please let this work.”

When I was close enough to the tree, I pushed off it to turn right and keep most of my speed. A second later, I heard a thump.

“Success.” From where I stood, the only thing I could see was that it had aquamarine fur and golden eyes. “What in the hell? Well, I’m not waiting to find out what that thing is.” Unfortunately, it didn’t want to give up the chase. With a howl, it got back up, and the chase was back on.

Thankfully, it wasn’t able to keep up as well this time. I couldn’t tell whether it was injured or just being cautions, but I was just glad to be keeping my distance. “Shit, I’m running out of daylight. Can’t this thing give up already?” I tried my tree trick twice more, but the creature had enough time to react and missed the trees both times. “Think, I need something new. Ho–fuck!” I should have been paying attention. I missed the dip in the ground and stumbled forward.

When my vision stopped, spinning I was greeted by a snout of razor sharp teeth and hot breath on my face. I slowly backed up until I felt tree bark against my back. “L-Lyra?” I asked hesitantly.

The creature just growled back. I should have known that it wasn’t her. Other than the color of fur and eyes, it shared no other
features with Lyra. It was definitely a wolf of some sort.

The creature leapt at me, claws out and ready for the meal it had chased for the better part of an hour.

I braced myself for the feeling of claws and teeth ripping me to shreds. Nothing. Was it that fast I felt nothing?

I slowly opened my eyes. The beast was frozen in midair only a few inches away. “What. In. The. Fuck?”

I poked its nose, and it turned to mist which was the same color as its fur, and flowed to the ground. The forest followed suit, turning to mist too.

“I've done my share of drugs and all, but this is insane. Somebody needs to explain this shit to me, right now.”

“Shh, my child. All is well.” A voice came from the darkness surrounding me.

“Who’s there? What’s going on? Show yourself.” How were they even hiding? It was definitely getting dark, but it was nowhere near pitch black.

“Who I am is not of importance. You are in a dream,” the voice replied. “And I am not hiding. I have yet to take form.” A tall woman appeared in front of me. Her deep-blue hair flowed behind her as if in some wind I couldn’t feel. It sparkled as if there were a million tiny stars in it. Her eyes were a beautiful aqua-green, and she wore a dark-blue dress with a crescent moon embroidered in the center. On her feet she wore elegant glass slippers, which also seemed to shine with tiny stars.

“Great, you can read my mind. Are you my subconscious?”

“I already said that who I am is not of importance.” She began to walk around me. “I felt your presence last night, but you had no dreams for me to make contact. What I would like to know is why you are in our realm?”

“I–I don’t know what you mean. Isn’t this my dream? Doesn’t that mean you’re in my realm?”

“You misunderstand. How are you in Equestria? You are not of this world. Yet at the same time, you are.”

“Wonderful. Not only do I swap bodies with some talking pony, but I get chased in a dream by some wolf thing, and now my subconscious is fucking with me.” I sighed. “Why don’t you tell me how I’m in Equestria, because I have no fucking clue.”

“Trust me, child, if I knew, I would not be appearing to you this night. You say you swapped bodies with somepony from this realm?” I nodded. “I do not sense the presence of anypony else within yours.”

“Holy shit. Do I really need to explain–to myself–what happened?”

“Since you seem to be stuck on the idea that I am your own subconscious, I will indulge you and tell you who I am. I, my child, am Princess Luna. Goddess of the night and all things under it, including dreams.”

I facepalmed. “Nope, fucking done. Hello and goodbye.” I started walking away, although I couldn’t know where I was headed, but anywhere else would be better. “I’m out. Door. Door appear. Create Door. Abraca-door-bra.”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to make a door so I can leave this place. If it is a dream, then I should be able to do that.” I looked back at the supposed Princess. “If you really are a goddess of the night and dreams, you should know that.”

She sighed. “You are not able to do so right now. I currently have control of this dream.” She waved her arm, and a door grew from the ground. “If you tell me who you are and why you are here, I will allow you to leave this dream and go back into the realm of sleep.”

I walked up to the door and tried turning the handle. “Of course it’s locked. Fine, I’m Lauren Hammons, I’m from Earth, and a talking horse named Lyra did something that made us swap bodies. Now will you let me leave, so I can get some kind of sleep? Twilight is going to try to teach me some magic tomorrow, so I can try and get back home.”

“Twilight knows about this too?”

“Is my subconscious really this dumb? Of course she knows.”

“Well, this is interesting indeed. I am going to have to consult my sister on this matter.”

“You do that, figment of my imagination,” I replied while opening the door and walking through.

Comments

[IKilledTheDevil]

I'm looking forward to Lauren's IRL meeting with Luna!

[Sir Top Hat]

Lolzzz! So much Lolzzz. I was so exited for a new chapter! More more more!!!!

[the other sans]

I asked how she unlocks the jars, not being unicorn
With each number I mentally head up a finger to her
I came up here to tell you I’m done for the day but I’ll be back in a half hour-ish. So you didn’t go wondering where I am
Bonbon threw a towel on my face which I used to wipe off the droll

1. Not being a unicorn. Though some prefer An unicorn, it just doesn't sit right with me. Oh well.
2. Held.
3. So don't you go wondering where I am.
4. Drool. I can imagine Twilight drolling on and on about the subject of magic next chapter though

Lauren is taking this unbelievable well. That and her mind can really stand vasts amounts of boredom it seems. Hours upon hours with staring at walls.

I can't even last one

[Daiosharune]

Oh boy, this is going to get interesting rather quickly, I fear!

[Dementia20]

MOAR¡¡¡¡(stupid tablet) PLZ

[PiMan]

Are you still working on this at all?

[Bullet25]

4936516 I have not forgotten about Duplicity. Unfortunately I am NOT going to post any chapter of this story without my main(and only) proofread going through it first. He hasn't had a working computer for over six months now, so there is no way he can do any proofreading for me. I have the basics of the rest of the story laid out so once he gets his computer there will be more.

[PiMan]

4936545
That's fine. I only asked because I noticed you'd put up another fic, so I had guessed you had taken a few months off from writing and had just gotten back into it.
I'm fine waiting as long as necessary, as this fic is worth it. (And I have plenty of other fics I've been waiting longer for that aren't as good as this)

[Bullet25]

4936569

I'm fine waiting as long as necessary, as this fic is worth it.

Thank you. Unfortunately EQD doesn't think so.
The summer at work is always hectic for me so I did take a bit of a break anyway. As for the other fic, I wrote that in my downtime and decided to post it even though it hasn't been properly proofread.

[dracone]

When's the next update?

[FallenLaughter]

well read this in one go in ... when did i post that last comment? anyways, great story so far. like the concept and the ideas so far and I'm looking forward to more. well, i guess that means on to the waiting train for me. yay~

[Emperor]

Lauren, Lauren, Lauren. You're getting a little bit better, but even with all the magic you can't really believe Luna actually exists and is real? Boy, you're in for a shock later