Heads in the Cloud

by PresentPerfect

Chapter 4: The Marevelous Mind-Melder

Heads in the Cloud
by Present Perfect

Chapter 4: The Marevelous Mind-Melder

It was like swimming through river rapids, but Twilight had no way to breathe. Her lack of body was so disorienting, she couldn't stabilize her thoughts. It seemed as though she would be torn apart and lost among the swirling voices in the mists, and she didn't even possess the state of mind to realize this.

The ability to form coherent thought was rent from her by the torrent of pain. She could not concentrate on what the barrage of information was doing to her. The Cloud was all-encompassing, threatening to subsume her. It could have been minutes, or it could have been centuries she was flung through the misty void. She had no way of knowing.

Twilight, are you okay?

The echoing words cut through the turmoil like a knife. Twilight clawed at them, scrabbling to focus her thoughts around them.

Twilight, you're screaming! Please, if there is anything I can do to help, just tell me!

Rarity. Those were Rarity's words. She wasn't really here. Her true self was in the physical realm, in the hospital, beside Rainbow Dash's bed. And her name was Twilight Sparkle. She was an alicorn, a Princess of Equestria, a friend on a mission to save another friend.

Affirming and solidifying her sense of self, she at last stilled the tumult and became whole within the Cloud. The swirling voices subsided into a low rumble. The cutie marks veered off into the distance.

Twilight, please, answer m--

I'm fine now, Rarity. It was... quite a shock getting here, to say the least.

There was a lengthy pause, during which Twilight looked around. The same clear blue and white wisps floated on as far as she could see, never wavering. Cutie marks mingled and swirled in the background. Bringing a hoof to her forehead, she mimed wiping sweat away, only to find her senses of "hoof" and "head" passed through each other. She tried to hold up her hoof but found nothing to even see, let alone interact with. The laws of this place were going to require some getting used to.

Oh, thank goodness. We were all so worried. Don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything, dear.

Thanks, Rarity. I couldn't have done it without you. Thinking for a second, Twilight added, There seems to be a bit of a delay in the telepathy spell. I hadn't anticipated that, but hopefully it won't become an issue.

Looking around the area, Twilight was hit by two thoughts. First, she had no idea where to proceed from here. With all those cutie marks out there, finding a single, specific one was going to be like looking for a particular grain of sand on a beach. Second, it was going to take some time to get used to the idea she was not, in fact, looking anywhere. It was merely awareness of her surroundings her mind parsed as visual.

"Time to get started, I guess."

All the more reason for us to keep each other apprised of our situations, I should think.

Twilight smiled.

I'll keep you updated, Rarity.

With no better idea what to do, Twilight set off for one of the cutie marks. She couldn't walk, of course, but the very thought of wanting to move closer to one caused her to change position relative to where she had been. Not that she could figure out how she knew that, with nothing to define her position by. Unfortunately, it seemed the more she moved, the more the swirling cutie marks eluded her. It was apparent she was traveling, but they remained fixed.

Frustration mounting, Twilight tried to take stock of her situation. Her consciousness was currently within a construct of mental energy. Interaction with the information it contained was theoretically possible; otherwise, her coming here would have been for naught. The question was: how? She was here; she needed to be there.

And then she was there.

Twilight blinked, looking over the heart-cluster cutie mark before her, mouth wide.

"Oh."

With no suggestion of what to do forthcoming, she reached out and touched it with her nonexistent forehoof.

The space beneath it expanded to show a scene, like peering into a house through a high window. Below was a stage, a single spotlight shining on it. An earth pony, whose white coat and pink hair Twilight found familiar, stood on tiptoe, forelegs raised over her head. She was clad in a sheer pink leotard and tutu. As music began to play and the pony moved with it, Twilight confirmed that lingering sense of recognition.

"Lieutenant Sundance?"

The pony ballerina looked up at her and winked.

Twilight recoiled from the image. The stage room faded, and was replaced with the scene of a pegasus stallion and an earth pony mare in a hospital room. The mare lay in a bed, wrapped in sheets, smiling at a tiny white foal in her arms.

"Sundance," she said softly. "Her name is Sundance."

Twilight willed herself to withdraw once more, and the cutie mark reappeared in the air before her.

"Okay. Secrets, wishes, hidden desires. Also birthdays, in the most literal sense. Right."

To her left was a cutie mark that looked like a star opal. Steeling herself, she touched it and concentrated on finding out who it belonged to. She was rewarded with a scene of a dim cave, in which lay a single bat pony mare with a tiny foal beside her. Her breathing was labored, and the foal cried as she licked it clean.

"Thou shalt be my strong Moonstone," she said, her voice weak and sandpapery. "Thou shalt accomplish great things for our people."

Curious, Twilight held onto the image, willing it forward in time. A young bat pony stallion with the same star opal cutie mark sat before a desk, writing with a quill. She changed it again and saw a fully grown stallion sitting beneath a night sky. The wind ruffled the tassel of the mortar on his head as he gazed up at the moon. The Mare in the Moon was absent.

"I wish thou ruled in thy sister's stead," he murmured.

Twilight let go, again feeling like she'd walked in on a private moment.

"But that was from Equestria's past," she murmured. "That means..."

Rationally, she already knew the Cloud contained everything ever thought by ponykind. But now, having seen a private moment of a pony from ancient history, the reality of where she was and what she had access to dawned on her.

"I can find out virtually anything!"

She reached out and touched the image of a crossed hammer and saw. A unicorn mare stood at the bedside of an earth pony mare holding a unicorn foal.

"We agreed we were naming him Mayonnaise," the unicorn groused.

The earth pony, her gaze never leaving the child, smiled and said, "Yes, but something tells me Toolbox is a far more fitting name."

The unicorn groaned and slapped herself in the forehead. "Mare, I swear..."

Twilight shook her head. There were so many cutie marks, so much to learn and discover! And so many of these ponies likely had died long before she was born. It wouldn't hurt to peek into their lives and fantasies, right? All that information was just sitting there, going to waste, but she had the ability to find it, catalogue it, and even use it!

"Just think... if I found the cutie mark of Star Swirl the Bearded..."

She reached for a series of concentric red rings before a thought not her own popped into her head.

Twilight, are you there? Have you made any progress?

Twilight shook her head. What was she doing? All this information was overwhelming!

Sorry, Rarity, I got a little sidetracked. I don't know how long it will take me to locate her, but I at least know what to do when I find Rainbow Dash's consciousness.

Or did she? Only Sundance had seemed aware of her intrusion so far, and even then, it wasn't like Twilight was directly interfering in any of the scenes. She likely couldn't with the ponies who had passed.

Her first thought was to simply picture Rainbow Dash's cutie mark in her mind. When nothing came of that, she made great leaps through the lines of cutie marks, as if teleporting, looking for any sign of the rainbow lightning bolt. But while she thought she saw one that looked like Rarity's -- and had to actively fight back the urge to snoop into her friend's personal life -- it quickly became obvious there was no rhyme or reason to the layout of this place, no organization by shape, color, tribe, or anything at all Twilight could use as a method to get closer to Dash.

Letting out a groan of frustration, she stopped and tried to rub her forehead.

"Okay, Twilight, think. So far, the only thing I've done is see a couple of ponies who aren't related in any way, one of whom I just so happened to know in passing."

That last bit was odd. Why would the first cutie mark she ran into belong to a pony she was familiar with? It seemed improbably convenient.

She tried closing her eyes; despite lacking both eyes and eyelids, the light dimmed. The cutie marks swirled around her once more, though with less chaos than when she had first entered the Cloud. It was feasible, entirely feasible, that she could see every cutie mark here, given enough time.

Time, however, was of the essence.

I'm going to try something. Wish me luck.

The temptations of this place were too strong; Twilight doubted her willpower in the face of them. She concentrated on all the things that made Rainbow Dash unique. Her wings, her speed, her coloration; her name; her love of Daring Do books; that she had been disappointed when Cloudsdale didn't get the Equestrian Games. The way she grinned when she was winning a race; the way she had nearly cried after dropping her mug of cider.

Gradually, Twilight became aware of a bright spot among the swirling cutie marks. She zeroed in on it, opening her eyes, forcing the swarm away from her. There, in the center of the area, was the single lightning bolt with rainbow stripes. With a thought, she was before it. She pressed her hoof to it.

Good luck, Twilight!

A rainbow-maned pegasus stallion wept in a hard chair in a blank hallway made of clouds. Another pegasus, a mare dressed in a doctor's coat, spoke softly to him, stroking his back. A nurse, also a pegasus, approached with a small bundle, which she offered to the stallion. After a moment's hesitation, he took it and brought it into his lap. Drawing back the blanket, he uncovered a tiny shock of mane matching his own.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," he choked through the tears. "I'm so, so sorry..."

No, Twilight thought, holding back tears of her own, I need to see her today. Now!

The scene dissolved into a library, warmly lit and cozy. Twilight gasped. It was her library, the basement of the Books and Branches Library Tirek had destroyed. There were some discrepancies, but the general layout was the same. She even recognized some of the color patterns the book spines made on the shelves.

In the center, where the table with the wooden pony bust should have been, was a simple end table beside a rocking chair. In the rocking chair, wearing spectacles and a woolen sweater, mane held back in a ponytail, sat Rainbow Dash.

She looked up, smiling, and the scene became somehow more real. Twilight could feel the wood beneath her hooves, and the warmth of a fire crackling somewhere.

"Hiya, Twilight," Rainbow said, as if she'd been expecting her.

"Rainbow Dash? Is that really you?"

Rainbow nodded. "Who else would it be?" She turned back to the book she'd been reading. "Pull up a seat, and we can read together."

Need to see whom, darling? Do you need any help?

Oh. Sorry, Rarity, I didn't realize I'd been thinking aloud. Tell the girls it worked, and I found her. Though... this isn't exactly what I'd anticipated.

She'd anticipated a stadium full of adoring fans. She'd anticipated Wonderbolts, or the Iron Pony Competition, or even a retread of the Mare-Do-Well incident with Rainbow coming out on top. Anything but this. Her arguably most athletic friend, fast-flying, hard-napping, ever-own-horn-blowing Rainbow Dash's secret desire was reading?

The explanation hit Twilight like a centaur to the face.

Rainbow was the most athletic of her friends. She was a fast flyer and all those other things. And because of all that, she had a reputation to maintain. Rainbow talked about it often enough, after all. Keeping up a "cool" façade was a full-time job. Reading in a rocking chair would blow all kinds of holes in that mask if anypony caught her. Twilight herself had opened Rainbow up to the joys of reading, and it would be a simple pleasure Rainbow would have little opportunity to partake in, being as concerned with how she appeared to others as she was.

She stepped toward Dash's chair -- and, she noted, the Daring Do novel in Rainbow's hooves was the one part of this scenario playing out as she expected -- and placed her hoof on Dash's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Rainbow looked up at her, frowning. "Sorry for what?"

Shaking her head, Twilight cleared her throat.

"Nevermind. Rainbow, I need to make sure this is really you."

Rainbow shrugged. "Who else would I be, Twilight? C'mon, relax, have a seat. You're making me nervous."

"Tell me something only Rainbow Dash would know." Twilight grimaced. "Tell me what happened to your mother."

"My mom? Why would you..." Rainbow slumped in her chair. "She... she died right after I was born. I never knew her. My dad used to tell me stories about her." Her shoulders shook. The library grew less solid.

"There were a lot of times I hated her for dying and leaving him alone. I was such a rotten kid, and he tried so hard..."

"Stop," Twilight said quietly, hugging Dash. "I'm sorry, Rainbow. I had to be sure."

She knelt down, looking Rainbow in the eye. "Rainbow, you're trapped in a fantasy realm called the Cloud. Out in the real world, your body's in the hospital, completely unresponsive, and everypony's worried sick. I came here to try and get you back to the rest of us."

"A fantasy?" Rainbow sniffed and wiped her face. "You mean this isn't real?"

"It's..." Twilight frowned. "It's like a dream. Someplace you really want to be. And because I brought up a sad memory..."

She motioned to the library, which was now nothing but a patch of wooden floor around the rocking chair.

Rainbow took a deep breath, shaking her head. "So it's just a dream." She laughed weakly. "And here I read the whole Daring Do series twice. Even the books that hadn't been written yet."

"I'm sorry I shattered your dream like that." Twilight sighed. "But everypony's waiting for you."

"It's okay, Twilight." Rainbow Dash removed her glasses and pulled the tie out of her mane. "You're right. If something happened to me, then I need to go with you back to our friends."

She shrugged off her sweater and stood. "So... how do we do that?"

"Uh..." Twilight blinked a few times. "Honestly, I have no idea. Everything that's happened here so far I've had to figure out the hard way, but..."

"But unfortunately, you're too simple-minded to come up with a solution!"

Laughter echoed through the space where the library had been. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked every which way, seeing nothing.

"I know that voice," Twilight growled.

Above them, where nothing had been, an image appeared. First, a pair of yellow eyes faded into view. Other features appeared one by one: a feline smile, whiskers, a pair of pointed ears.

"Catrina!" Rainbow Dash shouted, lowering her body into a defensive stance.

Twilight was horrorstruck. "How did you get in here? That shouldn't be possible!"

Catrina's head laughed. "Too bad for you, it is!"

Twilight! Rarity's voice cut into Twilight's thoughts. The Royal Guard are here! They say Catrina's cast some sort of spell. She's still in prison, but something is definitely going on.

Twilight grimaced.

Thanks for telling me!

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

Sorry, I sort of forgot I was publishing chapters every day! c.c Caught up now.

[djthomp]

Woah, we just got an explanation for the name cutie mark similarity problem, didn't we. If every pony is connected to the Cloud and the Cloud has no sense of time, it'd be pretty easy for the cutie mark symbol and the future "secret desires" to leak back into the literal birthday.

The earth pony, her gaze never leaving the child, smiled and said, "Yes, but something tells me Toolbox is a far more fitting name."

Hah! I swear that I wrote the first paragraph up there before I read the bit I just quoted.

Ack, unexpected childbirth tragedy!

[Prof Holly Oats]

Books and Branches, huh? I've never heard that name before, though it was apparently used a few months before I joined the fandom. I like it

[WhiteLight45]

There seems to be a bit of a delay in the telepathy spell. I hadn't anticipated that, but hopefully it won't become an issue.

Hmm, do I detect Chekohvs gun?

[PaulAsaran]

it quickly became obvious there was no rhyme or reason to the layout of this place, no organization by shape, color, tribe, or anything at all Twilight could use as a method to get closer to Dash.

You'd think they'd keep their files more organized. Get it together, Hasbro.

Wait, why am I expecting organization from a toy company?

Books and Branches Library

Don't you mean the Golden Oaks Library? Pretty sure that's the official name of it.

It seems to me that Rainbow is far to accepting of this entire situation:

"Hey, you're in a fantasy world and your real body's in a coma."

"Oh, that's cool. Let's go back, huh?"

Where's the surprise, the doubt, the desire for evidence, the horror upon realization? I get that Rainbow's straightforward, but I think you've strained credibility here.

[Leave a Whisper]

oooh! intrigue

[Zenith Sparkle]

I'm pretty sure the name is Golden Oaks, not Books and Branches, but cool name nonetheless.

I'm so confused. Catrina couldn't know about the Cloud unless a very smart PONY told her. So who is the traitor?

Unless....Catrina IS the Cloud!

Or...ponykind is just an experiment created by the felines, and Catrina wants to start from scratch! I'm crazy...