Ch. 7 Dreams and Legends
[Medulla’s POV]
I knew Lulu would come for a visit in my sleep, so I tried to make sure that I was in my mental ‘playground’ instead of a memory. But for some reason my subconscious mind decided that wasn’t going to happen right away. As I stood in the middle of Twilight’s basement and drifted into sleep I found myself floating over a forest clearing.
Which memory is it this time? Almost if to answer my question, I saw the the princesses and five royal guards flew towards the clearing as the old me aimlessly floated through it while eating a berry he just found. Well it makes sense that one event I truly regret is the memory I view from above and out of body. This was the first time I met the sisters.
“Halt, creature!” The guards yelled.
The other me stopped dead in his tracks. Looking up, “I was wondering when the locals would finally greet me, instead of running at the mere sight of me.” He could sense the fear coming from them but was trying to lighten the situation before it got out of hand.
They were dressed for battle, the princesses gazes like steel. Celestia spoke first, her tone colder than I expected,“Creature, for driving an entire village to madness, and disturbing the peace you will be brought to trial.”
“Listen, I have no idea what you’re talking about… well okay, the ‘disturbing the peace’ thing I get, but what village?” He made sure there was concern on his face, this body didn’t express emotion very well.
“BEAST!!” Luna yelled, leveling her weapon at the old me, “You know what village! I could sense your presence in the minds of all those that lived there, YOU DID NOT EVEN SPARE THE FOALS!!”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about. You need to calm down! This will only get worse if you keep yelling a-”
He never finished that thought, because Luna was enraged, “WAS THAT A THREAT?! GUARDS SEIZE THAT MONSTER!!!”
Too fast for them to react, he raised his hands and the seven ponies floated off the ground unable to move at all. The old me dug through their minds with surgeon-like precision to find what they feared most. For the guards he found what fear they held in common, while he found the fears the princesses wouldn’t even admit to themselves. It was only a few seconds before he spoke to them, the voice he use about half an octave deeper. He also pushed subconscious thoughts on the them to make sure that they might actually believe what he said, “Yes, you nameless guards, your precious princesses don’t care for you, they see you as fodder to throw at a problem until it stops. Ooooh Tia, I do feel sorry for you. Those ponies you see as your children, will not grow to love and respect you as a mother, but learn to fear and revere you as a god because of your ageless nature… And pooor Lulu, those ponies mock your night. They dread dusk and hope for nothing but dawn as they sleep. Don’t come looking for me again.” With that he threw them around like ragdolls until they lost consciousness.
For some reason during his diatribe, my vision blurred and my face became hot and wet. I wanted to scream for that him to stop but I knew it would do no good. It was awhile before I felt the hoof on my shoulder. “Oh, hey Lulu,” I turned around smiling weakly, rubbing the tears from my eyes so I could see, “When did you come in?” The surroundings faded and I realized I was shorter than usual. I conjured a table and chairs.
[Cadence’s Apartment 3rd person POV]
It was just past midnight and Shining Armor was sitting in Cadence’s living room, he didn’t have his own house or apartment. Even after he was promoted, he stayed in the barracks. “Why should he be treated any different than the ponies under his command?” He always thought. Cadence had similar thoughts, regarding living in the castle.
“Shiny, you coming to bed?” Cadence asked, some worry in her voice. He hadn’t been acting the same since his forced administrative leave.
He tried to give her a reassuring smile, “I’ll be up in a bit, I just called over a friend to chat.”
“That’s good,” at least he was reaching out now, “8-bit, or Gaffer?” She still thought he should talk this out with her.
“Nope, Stone Sentinel.” Shining said grimly.
“That hard-flank? Shiny, you know whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can talk to me.” Cadence said with concern.
“I know I just need to… confirm a few thing. Then I can talk to you about it I promise.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, he made Celestia and Luna swear that not even Cadence would know what had happened for him to get the suspension.
“Alright, we can talk about this in the morning.” She knew not to push too much, he’d come around eventually.
Shining was about to grab a drink when he heard a knock. He went to the door, and said just loud enough to be heard from the other side, “Password?”
There was a moment of silence, then a gruff voice shouted, “Celestia damn it, soldier! This isn’t some foalish game of Oubliettes & Ogres, and you never told me about a damnable password!”
That was him, alright, Shining thought , “Come on in, sir!” Shining stood at attention after opening the door.
A grey earth pony with dark brown eyes and mane, walked in, he was a good head and a half taller than Shining. His cutie mark was a stone tower. Sentinel looked straight at him, “You don’t have to call me that any more, son. I’m retired.”
“As you say, sir.” Shining still revered the stallion too much to call him anything else.
Sentinel just smirked, remembering when Shining was just a recruit, “You’ll never be able to see me as anything other than a legend, will you?”
“No, sir.” Shining said, still standing still as a statue.
“Maybe this will help,” He raised a hoof, and slapped Shining in the back of the head.
Shining was no longer standing at attention, but he was smiling a bit wider, “Not really, sir.”
“So what was it you wanted to talk about that you had to be so secret?” Sentinel took a seat, as Shining went to grab some drinks for them.
“Well,” Shining said as he poured the drinks and carried them over all without magic. “When you first joined the royal guard, did you start having dreams with some creature that would train you?”
“Damn kid, I can’t believe it took you this long to ask. I’m going to assume you never hear the legend of “the Voice in the Night”. It’s been around for longer than the Canterlot Royal Guard. You never did pay attention to gossip or lore that much, unless it was in your nerdy games.” He sighed taking a sip.
“I was too focused, sir.”
“And that helped you get where you’re at as fast as you did, but sometimes you focus on something too hard you miss the point. The gist of the legend is that any pony who rises through the ranks faster than normal, has been trained by The Voice in the Night. It enters their dreams and spars with them each night, taking a different form each time. The only constant is it’s voice.” Shining just sat there quietly, Sentinel continued, “But we both know that legend is real, almost every captain of the guard has been trained by it, with a few rare exceptions.”
“So it wasn’t lying.” Shining muttered.
“Son, what the hay are you talking about.”
“The reason I’m on unpaid leave is because I let it free.” Shining said somberly.
“Let what out, as far as I’m aware The Voice was a spirit, how else would it last so long and be real.”
“It wasn’t a spirit sir, it was a monster sealed away in stone, it called itself Medulla.” Shining looked down.
“Look here you dense foal. That Medulla may have been a monster once but has spent the last thousand some odd years training the best members of the military Equestria has ever seen. And how am I aware of this news and you're not? I actively avoid newspapers, for crying out loud! He surrendered himself, and is now in Ponyville being studied by and under the watch of the Elements.”
“WHAT?” Shining shouted accidentally.
“Wha-!!” then a loud thud and moan came from upstairs.
“Sorry! Caddi!” he yelled, then blushed a bit.
“You should go see Celestia tomorrow. Find out what’s going on and get yourself back in action.” Sentinel said, chuckling a bit as he finished his drink.
Shining sighed, “Thanks, sir. I really needed this?”
Sentinel headed for the door. “And you should never doubt your judgement, son, it’s the reason I gave such a glowing recommendation for you to take the captain position when I retired.”
“Thank you, sir,” Shining said as he walked up the stairs.
Cadence was standing in the bedroom doorway, her mane was pressed flat against half of her face and a strand was in her mouth, she also had a bruise on her left eye from where she hit the floor and didn’t look happy. Shining smiled sheepishly, “... Um, I’m heading to bed now.”
“You know I love you, and that will always be true, but you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.” Cadence said trying to hold back how upset she was, as she passed him a pillow and blanket.
“I’m sorry, and I love you too.” he said as he walked back down the stairs.
“I’ll make breakfast in the morning, Shiny.” she said as she closed the door softly.
[Medulla’s POV]
"I still do not understand; How can you regret that event so much as to disassociate yourself?" Luna said sipping the dream tea.
"Why do you only slip into archaic language when upset?"
"Well... It is very ingrained, but Tia took many steps to ensure I learn to speak as modernly as possible."
"So not quite the same reason. The way I grew to look at our first meeting as my greatest failure. I let my anger and fear act first. And because of this failure, I see myself as responsible for everything you did as Nightmare Moon." Medulla sighed looking at his undrunk tea, seeing his reflection as Gold from gen 2.
"How can you think that? You did not take my will." Luna interjected.
Medulla rubbed his temples, "Words have more power than most realise. Because they are how most beings communicate, what others say to and about us affects how we view them and ourselves. Thought on the other hand- hoof, has even greater power, just most can't see it. Hive Minds and telepaths know just how much damage a thought conveyed can do."
Luna frowned, "But that fear was already there, you did not create it."
"True, but it was so deep and small, you might have gone your whole life never having to deal with it. I forced it to the surface. I made you confront at a very bad time in your life. I gave you the push you needed." I still couldn't look her in the face.
"You did the same for Tia, and she did not fall." Luna stated very confused.
"That's just it. When faced with adversity or your greatest fear, you may as well flip a coin to see what will happen. Half will rise above and conquer their fears or break the cycles, the other half will sucum to fear and repeat the cycles." My fingers clamped tightly to table.
"You cannot blame yourself for another’s actions, that only leads to further shame and regret." Luna declared.
I shook my head, "I understand why you'd say that, but if you could see the chain of thoughts that lead to your fall, you'd see that first link was forged by me."
"You cannot continue to hold on to this regret. It happened, and neither of us can change it now."
"I know, but the only way I can do that is to tell myself that the me that did this isn't me anymore, he died not long after that encounter. When I realised what I'm capable of and the responsibilities I had to take." I finally drank some of the tea.
"Tell me, what do you do to pass the time imprisoned? I made sculptures out of moon rocks and meteorites."
I shrugged, "I personally trained the guards and military recruits with the greatest potential in their dreams."
"Really? I should hope you did not harm their minds."
"No, I made sure to not directly alter their cognition, just spar and teach tactics, just ask the last few captains of the guard, most of the current Wonderbolts, and Flame Razor." I chuckled a little.
"I feel odd about asking this, but why are you in the form of that 'Gold' individual from that card?"
"In my dreams, I take whatever form best suits my state of mind as the dream starts. I wasn't in control of me, so I took a shape that I see as not me. If that makes any sense."
Luna smiled slightly, "We should have more discussions like this, when I talk to Tia about dreams and ponies minds, her eyes glaze over."
"It helps that my only form of communication is through the mind. Would you like to know why I wanted to stay with Twilight?"
"Beside that you wanted to make Tia see you as more trustworthy by volunteering an alternative to another form of imprisonment."
"Yes. Twilight is one of the strongest minds to have ever grace Canterlot; beside myself, you, and Tia. As she and Shining Armor grew up, I couldn't help but watch as much of their lives unfolded., I tried to block it out for a while, but eventually I just stopped. It was more interesting that waiting till someone fell asleep to spar. Overtime I saw them both as family, as my younger siblings. Even though they never knew me until a few days ago, I watched over them. I made sure those who hurt them received a fitting punishment. Usually, it was bedwetting." I laughed at that.
“Is that why you surrendered at Surehoof Springs?”
“Lulu, I surrendered a long time ago. When you imprisoned my in stone, I had decided to stop running and fighting. You were chasing me relentlessly for over 100 years! It was just easier to stop. Of course the main problem is because I was force to be inactive for so long, things have been leaking into this world. And it’s only getting more frequent.”
“Those other beasts? Are there any more of you here?” Luna ask a little worried.
“Yes and yes. But some of them are good. A few were here long before I ever arrived. But the ones that have been coming recently have had help. Does the name Team Cascade mean anything to you?”
“It was a cult that claimed to have received a message from three otherworldly servants of a great horse god. They were violent and intolerant. They supposedly believed that this world belonged to their god, and he would come one day to cleanse the world with fire and rebuild a paradise for his faithful. Where did you hear that name? I thought we had ended them when they tried to rebel and make a theocracy.” Luna shuddered at the memory.
“Well I found the name in the mind of the first creature I defeated, though it seems there was some disgust connected to the name.” I barely hid the concern in my voice.
“I will ask Tia about them, and let her know what I’ve learned, unless you object to my telling her any of this… Then I will tell her only that.” Luna said somewhat mockingly.
“I need no secrets. Go ahead.” I said waving as she dissolved, removing herself from my mind.
“I think it about 3am now, so might as well get up and do something.” I said to myself wrenching myself from sleep.
[Cadence’s Apartment Morning]
Shining woke to the smell of pancakes cooking. He couldn’t hate Cadence’s pancakes, she literally made them with love. He flopped off the couch, shaking his head to wake up more. When he looked to the kitchen he saw Cadence cooking breakfast, I really need to try and be better for her, ‘cause there’s no way I can deserve her, he thought.
As he walked over to the table, he asked, “Anything I can help with?”
“No, it’s almost done.” Cadence replied, her voice was a song to him.
“You know, I’m sorry for yelling and startling you last night.”
“I know, but if that were the only reason for me sending you to the couch then I’d be a very petty filly-friend. I’ll help you figure out the reason; Is it possible that I overheard most of your conversation with Stone?” Cadence said warmly while still watching the cooking food.
“Was it me keeping secrets?” Shining asked.
“Closer, some secrets are fine, but what were you doing because of that secret?” Cadence could almost hear the gears turning in his head.
“... I was shutting you out, and beating myself up…” he said as he looked straight down at his currently empty plate, not wanting to look anywhere else.
A few seconds later, a heart shaped pancake was placed on his plate, and Cadence levitated his face up to look at her, “If this relationship is keep working, we can’t build walls between each other. We’re stronger together than will ever be apart, and there’s nothing that we can handle alone that wouldn’t be done better together.”
“Sometimes I feel like you’re too good for me.” Shining said, nuzzling her.
“I feel that way sometimes too, but then I remember that we don’t need to deserve each other. We just need to love each other.” She said after kissing him.
The two ponies then had breakfast reminiscing about their past, and wondering about their future.
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... I now have to wonder. if he got Discorded, would that effectivly turn him into a Shadow Pokemon?
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Good chapter! Really enjoyed it!
I found a hole.
Anyway, good chapter! I want to know what happened in Transylmaneia. Will be looking to see more of this.
5876212 Thank you, I have no idea how that was missed. Stuff happens
5876236
Welcome.
Stuff is always happening.
:)
5968061 Thanks, I always wondered what the difference between those two words was, I just assumed stuff that I shouldn't.
Interesting.
To much Shining and Cadance for my taste, at least like that, i think i actually only doesn´t like Shining that much, i think i started to like Cadance again.
Well nice chapter.
"We don't need to deserve each other, we just need to love each other."
That, sir, was incredibly profound. Two thumbs up and then some.