Consciously Sleeping
The royal, royal-blue alicorn trotted through Canterlot Castle at a pace I could barely match. The noise from her regal slippers loudly declared her presence and drowned out any noise my hooves might have made. Princess Luna had said we'd be conducting the spell in her observatory, but had failed to mention how many stairs the trip involved. I still had not mastered the art of traversing stairs, but normally they only gave me the smallest amount of trouble. With my broken leg, though, my progress was painfully slow, and Luna huffed impatiently.
Since she was a little more than half-again as tall, she had to look down to make eye contact. "Time is of the essence, Sterling Gears. We must make haste."
"I'm going as fast as I can, you know. Not my fault ponies haven't invented elevators yet."
"I had forgotten about your leg, my apologies." A rich sapphire glow enveloped me and floated me up the stairs. It felt like I was weightless, but at the same time gravity was still trying to pull me down. The whole experience was nauseating, to be honest, and it probably wouldn’t ever be a popular method of travel.
Staggering back and forth when she set me down on level ground, I thanked her and asked, "What was that thing Celestia mentioned about words and bits?"
Luna snorted and her wings rustled. "She grew exasperated with my slow progress in learning this age's manner of speech, so she decided it would be fun to fine me every time I slipped back into the old ways. What I have seen of fun says differently. Unfortunately, her method is surprisingly effective, so I must stick with it."
"What does she even do with those bits?"
"What else? Cake." Her laugh sounded less restrained than her sister's, as if she were less concerned about maintaining the reserved-princess appearance. Not that Celestia's laugh sounded fake, Luna just had a laugh that truly felt like one.
Of course it was true Princess Celestia had a love affair with cake. How could I have expected anything different? "I'm sorry you've been contending with my memories for the last few days." My ears flattened into their all-too-familiar position.
"Worry not. It gives me an excuse to get away from that stuffy throne room, although I do wish we could have had these two crises at separate times. As much as it pains me to say it, even Nightmare Moon—" Luna grimaced like she’d just licked a soggy ashtray "—would have let the stars shine."
"I can't wait to see them. I haven't had the chance to see an undisturbed night yet. My first night here was spent hiding from an Everfree Storm."
She was calm as I spoke to her and listened like she was trying to wring every possible meaning out of each word. Luna's personality should have been quiet and cold, but she had turned out to be more approachable and less intimidating than her sister. If Princess Celestia played the role of a mother, Luna would be the favorite aunt, who spoils her nieces and nephews every time they visit. "You're much different than I expected."
She chuckled as she lifted me up another spiraling staircase. "You expected me to be more like my sister?"
Shrugging while you're immobilized is understandably difficult. "Kind of, I guess." I winced as my ears popped from the climb.
"Tia can be such a… bore at times, but that's just who she is. She's Equestria's heart, warm and steadily beating to provide life to our subjects. But this heart is monotonous. Yes, there is a beat, but it is the same beat throughout the ages, and it needs a soul to make it truly worth hearing."
"I take it you're that soul?" I was going to be upset if I stumbled upon a poetry beat and found Luna there.
"I'd like to think so. Ah, here we are." We arrived at a landing just large enough to contain a plain door flanked by two ponies in deep purple armor accented with gleaming silver. Charcoal coats and black tails showed where the plate didn't cover, and two large membranous wings laid folded at their sides.
"Princess Luna." They saluted in greeting, the rustle of chain accompanying their deep voices. Slitted eyes looked us over, warily lingering on me.
She nodded and spoke authoritatively. "At ease. Sterling Gears will be joining me tonight. Make certain none interrupt us." They nodded curtly, and the one on the left pushed the door open, which creaked as it swung inward.
My expectation of the observatory was a mostly empty room with a mammoth telescope tilted towards the night sky. The telescope was correct, but the room was anything but empty. Three towering bookcases dwarfing even the largest of Twilight's stood against the wall of the circular room. Numerous desks were buried underneath parchment, quills, and half-empty bottles of ink. A giant lattice reminiscent of a wine rack held countless scrolls, most of which were yellowed with age. Or coffee. How could the princess of the night not appreciate caffeine? Crammed into what little space remained, a chalkboard that hadn't been cleaned in years displayed complex equations with unfamiliar symbols and many intricate patterns with tiny notes next to them.
Luna shut the door and hovered across the room to a clearing ringed with piles of books and scrolls. She stared at it intensively, muttering to herself while her brow furrowed in thought. She proudly smirked and pointed beneath her. "Everything seems to be in order. Take a position in the center of the runic circle, please."
Paper brushed against my legs like crisp autumn leaves as I worked toward the clearing and the circle, my motions stirring up ancient dust. Just how long had they been sitting there? Twilight’s library had a bookish smell, but the scent here was less like old paper and more like knowledge.
How many of the scrolls were in a long-dead language only Luna remembered? “Do you have any idea why I became a mare?”
“I’m afraid not. It’s an interesting conundrum, to say the least. I’ve been told there’s nothing biologically out of place. Your body doesn’t act like it has been forced into an unfamiliar shape. There might be something pertinent to your situation written in the Archives, or perhaps Twilight Sparkle will have an idea. Remedying it should be a simple matter once all this is taken care of, but I doubt it’d be possible to restore you to the proper species.”
“Don’t bother. I just want to know why.”
“Ah, I see. Well, that’s your choice.” Luna had no idea how many brownie points that’d earned her. “If there’s nothing else, please get in the circle.”
The diagram looked like a spell matrix, with complex clusters of lines that appeared utterly random unless you knew what you were looking for. It was drawn directly onto the stone floor with chalk, and a couple chunks of the fragile rock were scattered to the sides. Everything was contained within the circle, even the runes of power lining its edge and the six equidistant crystals sparkling in the torchlight.
A section of the design caught my eye. "I think you could get more out of this if you connected these three lines."
She tilted her head and regarded my advice. "It seems you are correct. I'll admit, I'm surprised, even with what I've been told about your penchant for spellcrafting. How did you know?"
"With the first pattern I designed, I made ten of them. This just reminded me of a difference that made it work better—I got lucky that it actually did something here." Shrugging again, I sat in the center of the circle. "Why do you need this circle anyway? I thought all it took for spells was a matrix."
"In most cases yes, but for magic such as this there is too much energy to control without a focus. Are you almost finished with the questions? I don't mean to be terse, but we are in a hurry." Even though she sounded impatient, I could still see an amused grin.
"My bad. Just one last thing—what will the spell actually do?" The cold stone under my rump was getting hard to ignore.
Luna hesitated while glancing back to her chalkboard. "Well… I can't really say. Such a spell has never been needed before, but in theory it should render you physically unconscious and pull nearly your entire consciousness to the dream realm—far more than what usually arrives. What will remain unaffected is the minimum amount required to keep the nightmare stable enough for us to interact with."
"I see. Well, not really, but I get the idea. I get to be a sleepy guinea pig." My goggles settled into their appropriate place over my eyes. "Upload me to the network, Luna."
She looked at me curiously and opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it. One last time she checked her notes, calculations, and runic circle. Luna cracked her neck and shook her various limbs like she was getting ready to run a marathon, then took position and closed her eyes.
The room hummed with energy as she braced herself and gathered power, which coalesced around her spiraled horn more intensely than any spellcasting I had seen. Air and light screeched as they deformed, unnaturally pulled towards the dark azure singularity that was Luna's horn. My fur stood on end and tried to jump straight off my skin as the circle flickered to life, glowing a brighter color than her usual aura.
The energy forced Luna's head down, but she stood strongly as her hooves dug into the cracking floor. The magic in the air was palpable, flowing around me like a raging stream and roaring furiously into my ears. Arcane fire blazed around me as the circle ignited, power bleeding up from the lines. The distortion steadily increased, and I found myself concerned she was about to rip reality a new one. That was my job.
With a grunt and a pained cry, Luna forced her head back up and opened the floodgates. While the atmosphere had screamed earlier, it now wailed like a banshee as a brilliant beam roared forth and combined with the circle's energy to engulf me in a radiant pillar. Magic seared through my nerves and veins, causing pain in ways I didn't know were possible. I wanted to scream but nothing obeyed.
Suddenly, it was over, and I could see Luna sweating and panting. A line of singed clutter had been violently forced aside, creating a clear path from me to her. The world turned sideways, and I felt the slightest twinge of exhaustion and pain as I hit the ground. My eyes closed, and I felt myself fall asleep, separating from my body to drift in the darkness. At first, the abyss brought back memories of the Void, but I calmed when I noticed how different it felt.
I was still a pony, but my leg was completely healed. If it was just a matter of thought, this place could have just as easily made me human again. Even though it would have been nice to walk on two legs one last time, the experience would have only seeded regret and longing. Not to mention bipedalism might have taken a little getting used to after the last few days.
Small shapes slowly came into view, multiplying exponentially like watching stars appear as night fell. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of pinpricks of light and color drifted in a prismatic spiral galaxy that radiated hopes and dreams as well as phobias and miseries. Breathlessly, I watched as they gently swirled and bobbed like multi-hued fireflies.
"Beautiful, is it not?" Luna gracefully strolled into my vision, walking on some unseen floor. "I have long waited to show this to others, but even my best work fails to capture even a fraction of it."
"That was awesome!" I couldn’t help but squeal and bounce around her. "You were all 'imma firin mah lazer' and then—just wow! Since you're here talking to me, I guess it worked and I'm not just a pile of smoking ash on your floor."
She chuckled and guided me with a wing. "You're a strange, but amusing, pony. No ash, but you were smoking a bit. I didn't singe any more of your mane though—all the damage there is strictly your doing. I hope the experience wasn't too unsettling."
"Nothing I couldn't handle, but I'd recommend presenting a disclaimer before you do it on anypony else. Are these dreams?" We were in the dreamscape—what else could they be?
"Indeed. Each one of these is a dreaming being—ponies, dragons, diamond dogs, zebras, and so many others. I'd take you in for a closer look, but their secrets should remain as such. Not to mention the risk of waking them. It's a difficult task when I'm alone, but with one such as you..." She led me away from the dreams and their wondrous light—towards a blurry speck in the distance.
"Pfft, I'm completely inconspicuous. Why are my memories all the way out here? And are they nightmares or memories? I'm still not entirely clear on everything even after Celestia and Twilight tried to explain it."
"Both. They're entwined with one another." The blurry speck turned into a cloudy pustule that pulsed waves of anguish. With the fury of a tsunami, they crashed against a barrier that briefly shimmered into view with each attack. "When you dream of past events, you are still dreaming, but it is far less malleable."
"I remember them mentioning you couldn't fiddle with it. Have you been in there at all?"
She nodded, sighing at both the memory and the task ahead. "I have tried to fix it myself, but it was too overwhelming. Here, emotions are stronger than magic, and this disease will not be cured until you make your peace. Are you ready?"
The sickly orb was an infection, and seeing it so close reminded me why it was there. “Why did this happen? I needed to leave. You said you’ve seen in there, you know I couldn’t stay!”
“Calm yourself!” It wasn’t Canterlock, but the blast of sound still ruffled my mane. “You must stay calm, lest its bindings erode even quicker.”
It had reacted to my outburst, the contents churning more furiously than before. “What can I even do? We haven’t even gone inside and I’ve almost screwed us over.”
Luna bit her lip as she looked between me and the nightmare. She nodded and was soon sitting next to me, looking down with a caring smile. “You are right, I have seen through your eyes. I have seen your fears, but I have also seen your determination. They could not stop you before—with me at your side, why would now be any different?” Standing, she motioned for me to do the same. “Rise, Sterling Gears. We have an arduous task ahead of us. Are you ready to begin?”
"Of course. Come, Luna—adventure awaits!" The barrier proved to be more resilient than expected and bounced me back toward Luna.
Rolling her eyes, Luna muttered, "A little too eager." She surrounded me with a small shield and after prodding it with a hoof, nodded in satisfaction. "Now you'll actually be able to get through the barrier without breaking it. I have no control over where we begin, or even which memory, so be prepared."
"Shouldn't be that big of a deal. It can't hurt me that much, right?" There was a twinge in my gut. Of course Murphy’s Law applied here too.
"There might be a tiny side effect to you having this much consciousness." Luna’s cheeks turned purple. "It's going to be a bit more tangible than you'd expect."
With a groan, I slapped a hoof to my forehead. "Of course it is. Do we have to worry about the virus?"
"Maybe?" Another sheepish smile. "I would not risk an injury."
"Let's get going before you tell me I have to keep my speed above fifty miles per hour." Wait, she wouldn’t understand that. "It's a movie reference." She still looked confused but pushed onward anyway.
The shield gently parted around us like we’d entered a giant soap bubble. Much like its larger relative, the shield around me solidified with each wave of anguish, and bands of blue rolled around me with each impact. The murky edge of the memory proved resistant to entry, and I felt like I was pushing against a wall of spongy clay.
"Hmm. I hadn't thought of this. I'll still be able to get in, but it'll take a bit more effort to have you follow." She quietly observed while stroking her chin. "Maybe I could—no, no that wouldn't work."
While she tried to figure something out, I pushed. It was slow progress, but I might have been able to get through in a week or two. "Give me a push."
"Are you sure? If the shield breaks, you will suffocate."
"If it breaks, just push harder and try to get me through. We don't really have many options unless you want to use loads of time trying to find a better idea." If she didn’t come up with something soon, I’d start worrying again. The indent I’d made in the membrane filled in seconds. "Hopefully it'll be easy once we break the edge."
The shield lurched forward barely making more of a dent than my efforts. "Come on, I'm not made of glass." I bounced off the front of the barrier as it slammed into the wall again, immersing itself about halfway. "Going to have to use a battering ram instead of just kicking the door down. Give it all you've got!" I rocketed to the front as it made contact, crumbling against the front of the shield like a pre-scrambled egg. I rolled to the back of the small sphere as it continued pushing forward at a high speed.
There was nothing to see but the barrier as the milky beige covering pressed in, and I realized just how little space there actually was. The shield was constantly alight as it strained against the wall. A sound like ice being crushed alerted me to little cracks spiderwebbing from the bow of my little orb.
"Just how thick is this damn thing? I should be out the other side by now!" Bracing myself against the cracks wouldn’t do much, but I had to try. I just needed to go a little further. Luna must have felt it weaken because energy surged into the crumbling barrier.
Thin lines covered the entire sphere, creating an ominous mosaic, and I couldn't hear my own panicked breathing over the crackling sound of doom. Suddenly, all resistance disappeared, allowing for a brief moment of confusion before hitting another wall, and the magic shield shattered. Tiny shards evaporated into the air with a twinkling chime.
"Are you well?" Luna asked as she appeared at my side. When my head stopped spinning, I gladly accepted the hoof she’d been offering.
The murky clay substance was nowhere to be found. We were in a small bedroom, the dust in the air highlighted by the lonely ray of light shining through a broken window with bland curtains. A full-sized bed with white sheets and pillows nestled in the corner, kept company by a nightstand with an alarm clock whose numbers were a blur as they changed. The grooves in the checkered brown and red carpeting marked where a dresser once stood before it was placed against the door as a barricade. A second, unblocked door was slightly ajar, but I couldn't see more than the grimy tiled floor of a bathroom. Post-apocalyptic wind rattled the window, its howling only part of the gruesome symphony I never wanted to defile my ears again.
Sinking into old habits, I gently tapped on the bathroom door—any zombies still in possession of their vocal cords would have let loose their signature moan at even the slightest hint of prey. Thankfully the bathroom was vacant. I tested the lights and water only to find that neither worked. If the electricity was off, why did the alarm clock work? Right, the excuse here is “because dreams” instead of “because magic.”
Luna patiently watched me examine the room for security threats and nodded when I gave the all clear. "Do you know where we are?"
"A motel room, but I've holed up in a lot of those so I can't pinpoint an exact one." Even so, something about it was familiar.
"At least we are alone."
"I'll say. Not like there's any supplies around here—it’s a complete crapshoot to find supplies."
With her face screwed up in concentration, Luna attempted something with no noticeable effect. "Curses." She panted as she wiped the sweat from her face. "It seems your memory of a world without magic greatly limits my powers." A relieved smile played across her snout as the alarm clock floated into the air. "At least I still have the basics at my disposal."
I stared at her dumbly, my hopes dwindling without the full power of a near-demigod on my side. "But you're Princess Luna. Shouldn't you have enough power to just shrug it off."
"I'm lucky I have as much as I do." The alicorn scowled, staring out the window at the desolate cityscape before her. "If it weren't for being present in that… television show—I think it was called—the two of us would be faring worse. Ponies wouldn't even exist in your memories."
The dream stuff was too weird, even with magic involved. "I'd hoped I wouldn't have to try to explain that one. You learned it just by looking around?"
A door slammed open down the hall, and rapid footsteps came up to the entrance to our room. I warily glanced at Luna, who, to my surprise, smirked.
Rapidly pounding on the door, a familiar voice called out, "Luna, open up if you're in there!" A loud thump echoed as he kicked the door, and he swore when it only served to injure his foot. "Luna, they're right on my ass!" Sure enough, demoralizing moans slowly crept down the hall.
"I may have made an ally last night." The dresser groaned with age as we pulled it away from the door—she used her magic while I pulled with my hooves—just enough to allow our visitor to enter. "Door is clear!"
The doorknob twisted and Dave stumbled through the narrow gap, ramming his shoulder against the furniture with a cringe-worthy thunk. He hissed through gritted teeth. "Close it! Close it!" The moans grew ever closer, and I could hear the shuffling as they dragged their diseased limbs toward us.
With the barricade back in place, we had a moment to catch our breath before the dull pounding began. The door was thick, and it'd be a long time before they'd break it down, if their attention even lasted that long. Hotel walls were more-or-less soundproof, so if we refrained from shouting or singing karaoke, they would forget about us and move on.
Dave slumped onto the bed and massaged his shoulder, wearing a larger hole into his frayed tweed jacket. "Hey, kid. Nice of you to join us. Next time though, give me some warning that you're going to stir up a shitstorm."
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GOD THE CLIFF HANGERS AAAAAAH!!!!
2971422
I promise I'll be nice next chapter...probably.
EDIT: After rereading it, I realized a less cliffhangery ending would work better, so as much as I like to mess with you guys, I added a few more lines that would go better here than at the beginning of the next chapter.
2971898 ...please more cliffhangars...
2978635
We'll see :P
2978647 I love ze cliffvankers. Zey are quvite vundervul.
2978660
Personally, my favorite was the one back in chapter 6.
2978665 I quite like that one too. But I think this became one of my favorites the third chapter in...I'll be looking forward to more, so keep up the good work!
....OH...You did read in a Russian/german accent right? ....POETRY LINK!!!
2978674
Definitely German.
2978680 ...Try a combo next time....ADDITIONAL POETRY!!!
2978750
For me, accents are like streams: bad things happen when you cross them. I have been checking your site on occasion, not that I know anything about poetry, but please try to tone down the advertising a bit. There's probably a rule somewhere that'll get you in trouble if a higher-up finds it.
2980299 YES...Mam? Sir?
2980401
Lab
2981049 ... ... ... Brain.exe processing blatant dodging... Brain.exe is resisting due to firewall ... Virus Protection down. Brain.exe has been systemized.
YES...Lab?
2981080
Now you've got it.
2981116 But, But....Yes, Lab....*trudges off sullenly*
2987831
I'm glad you noticed! I was trying to kick my writing up a notch.
Meh, doesn't roll of the tongue as well as Lucid Dreaming.
What is the point of stars when they are fake anyway? There is not way they are real if Celestia can move the sun, while Luna can move each star, implying that the sun isn't a star. The night sky is just a pretty picture without true meaning behind it in Equestria. The true beauty of the stars is what they are, not how they look. That's just a bonus.
Also, Luna is acting like we blot out the stars on purpose, when it is just an unintentional side effect of human activity. Activity ponies would be doing if they didn't have magic and progressed our way. Guaranteed. So easy to judge others when you have the luxury of a nigh infinite and clear power source, such as magic. Also, most of the reason we can't see the stars over big cities is light pollution, so I guarantee big pony cities that use their magic lights get it to some extent.
Bashing humanity is the one thing that actually pisses me off in these stories, because if ponies had our bodies, lack of magic, and world, but same minds, they would do the same thing.
6324206 Actually, she's referring to whatever's going on with the creatures running around in the darkness, since it's somehow preventing the night sky from being visible.
I just wanted to call out this wonderful bit of description.
SSSOOOOO...is Sterling in his human form, or her pony form ? So, that's where Dave has been all this time. Dave must have contacted Luna to offer his help in this crisis. I knew that Celestia, and Luna felt that something was ahoof.
I wonder if Dave was an actual human that Sterling knew, at one time ?
Nooooooo I need the straight harem