I am the King of Slumberland; Little Nemo

by Flutters Is Shy

Interlude- Forest Search

Luna scuffed at the ground, inwardly fuming. She was outwardly fuming as well, but none of her guards were especially keen on highlighting that fact.

"It makes no sense!" she complained for the third time this morning, breathing over her head trackers shoulder. Said tracker would have uttered a complaint of her own, save for the grace that in her irritation Princess Luna had dropped her rote of speaking with the 'ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE. She wasn't about to raise a fuss and remind her to adopt it once more..."This is the third time we've been back this way! Are you certain we are following the correct tracks?"

"Yes, my princess," Rough Brush reiterated for the third time in recent moments, "The trail is clear, the foals tracks stick out in the forest worse than Prince Blueblood would. As for its meandering route... well you do have us tracking a foal, Princess. There is little chance that they know how to properly navigate these woods..."

"Then why have we not caught up?" Luna demanded, a huff of irritation passing her lips. "You said the tracks were fresh, did you not?"

"Yes Princess, but we can only move so quickly without risking that we ourselves lose track of the foals passage..."

Luna groaned in frustration, her wings fidgeting tensely. If only the tracks had were going in an obvious direction. She could simply fly above the canopy and head off in a straight line. But no, the tracks backtracked, meandered off in odd directions, and pretty much did anything besides going in a straight line. So she was forced to blithely follow after her tracker, a pegasus enlisted in the royal guard.

Upon bringing her concerns to her sister, Celestia had suggested trying to track whomever had raided the secluded grove. It was understandably not unfindable, for she and her sister had found the cave centuries previously. Verily, all one had to do was simply tromp into the cave, Celestia really should have put up some warding in her absence. Bringing Rough Brush to the underground grove had prompted a discovery all of its own.

The memorial had only been disturbed recently. A day or two at the most!

More surprising than that, was the fact that the lid had been moved... from the inside.

Luna was initially ecstatic. Had her sons' eternal sleep simply been that of the Nightmares' influence? Would she finally be able to share her joy at the raising of the moon with her own brood? The little kings death truly was a tragedy, but if he had given his life to save her son? Luna knew she would fondly remember the little kings sacrifice ever eternally.

"Princess," Rough Bush called out, drawing Luna's attention. "Look."

Luna looked onward, and found a strange sight before her. A cragodile corpse, freshly picked clean of its meat. All that was left were its blood stained bones, which stuck upwards towards the sky in a futile attempt to mark it.

"This is..." Luna muttered, taking in the scene. It looked like... A magic surge. The cragodile had obviously tried to attack the foal -Luna felt a perverse trill of pleasure rush through her at the knowledge that the cragodile had perished, if it had killed her foal... she never would have let the dumb creature die. It would have lived in eternal torment-, leading to the foal... overcharging an unfocused levitation spell. It had grabbed the cragodile, thrusting it away with such force its spine had snapped on contact with the tree it now lay against.

"The foal escaped," Rough Brush stated, "But I'm afraid this is as far as we're going to get, my princess."

"What foalishness passes thine lips?" Luna snarled, standing over the belligerent tracker, "We hath the trail in our sights, what impudence do you speak these words with?"

Rough Brush sniffed, even though the princess had fallen back into the olde dialect, at least she wasn't blasting her backward with the royal Canterlot voice. She didn't deign to say anything for a moment, simply pointing upwards towards the sky.

"You forget, princess. This is the Everfree forest."

Lunas' eyes grew wide in panic, peering at the obscured sky above them. Her eyes saw, but she refused to acknowledge the shapes coalescing above them. "No. No, no no no no! The rain... We..." she stuttered, her gaze frantically tracking back and forth from the sky back to Rough Brush.

"There's nothing we can do, princess," Rough Brush admitted, shaking her head in defeat. "The forest knows we're here, and I'd wager it also knows what we're trying to do. Those rain clouds look heavy, this is probably going to be strong storm," she stated, a few quicker raindrops escaping from the cloud overhead to patter in the forest around them.

"I can't... I wont just abandon him, not when I'm this close," Luna uttered, fixing Rough Brush with a pleading glance.

"We're going to lose the trail in mere minutes, princess. The best thing we could do now... we should check the town closest to here. Its very likely he managed to exit the forest, seeing as his tracks have been heading in a nearly straight line for Ponyville for the past hour or so..."

Luna nodded, hoping beyond hope. The bearers lived in Ponyville, perhaps they would assist in her search?

Author's Note:

Short mini pseudo-chapter. Finished it really quick, before I finish up my latest chapter of 'The Gamer'

...
...
...

Go read my other stuff? Maybe? I'll try and have another chapter for you guys before too long.

Lexiebommel10 asks; Question nemo what's your favorite dessert?

I haven't consumed food in centuries. I've tried it within dreams previously, but the tastes are just... off. They taste just wrong enough that I have not wanted to eat anything in recent years. That being said... I'm not 100% sure, it's been a long time, but I distinctly remember liking a type of cookie. I think it was a cookie, anyway. It was... graham crackers... with marshmallow between them? Covered in a chocolate coating, I think. I can't for the life of me remember what they were called...

mastermenthe asks: Question for Nemo: surely you have empathetically experienced hunger when you entered the nightmares of a starving person, did you just not remember? There is a lot of bodily experiences that get translated 1:1 into deep dream activities, I had figured you would be a lot more jack-of-all-trades through borrowing those experiences.

The waking world... everything is just so much more vibrant than I remember. Just that much different... I remember what hunger feels like though, why do you ask? Its not like I need to eat, after all...

deeed22 asks: Question for Nemo: Has their ever been a dream that was too absurd even for Slumberland?

Not that I can recall, no. The dreamscape is fluid in nature, and can be permutated to a frightening degree.

BigBosAlmighty asks; BigBosAlmighty asks;

Dear Little Nemo,

Do you have any wet dreams? You know, the ones with water and such?

Yes, there is a water park that is most times left intact. It used to be right next to the 'clown emporium'... ponies started realizing a lot of them were scared of clowns. So a slight bit of renovation was in order.

I didn't expect that one to get an answer. Damn, now how do I top that?

Hmmm...oh! I know!

Dear Little Nemo,

What was the most bat-guano crazy dream you've ever had/encountered, not necessarily dangerous(in the traditional sense) but the kind that's so off the wall even a nightmare would dare touch?

... I can't say. I literally can't. I promised Surprise I'd never circulate even rumors of that dream ever again. Sorry... but that topic is out of bounds.

Azarias asks: Holy shit, now you're just spoiling me! Can I have more chapters less than a year from now? :V

Uhh... yeah. Sure.

Comments

[Flutters Is Shy]

Sorry about that little hiccup. Copied everything over to a new chapter page. So some people may be reading a page that no longer exists.

[Foxwing]

Well look like the forest played a switcheroo. Will have to see what will happen

[zooba]

The Gamer is a fun story as well. There's something about a dungeon crawler/swords and sorcery version of Equestria that is pretty interesting.

[Hard Cider]

6973349
Are your still doing the letter to Nemo in the comments?

[Flutters Is Shy]

6973455
Questions for him to answer, you mean? Yes, of course!~

[Hard Cider]

Dear Little King Nemo,

How do you feel to be amongst those of the living and waking world? Surely, you can see the new opportunities given to you, despite your . . . eh, misgivings of the troubles that has recently plagued you? Little King, mayhaps you should indulge in the gifts of the waking world, such as a freshly baked loaf of bread or, the warm feeling one might receive in their bosom when giving and recieving a hug. Me thinks thou would prefer a bath and hair cut
',:-] ?

[moomoo]

Dear Little King Nemo

The words to the chant go as such

Jazama... Pajama, Pajama... Jazama! Shimera Kazam! Kimera Kaz Imperatazam!Paja-Pajap Shazama! Shazama! Pajamas! Pajamas! Pajama. Pajama

That is,,, If the author lets you see it. Have a wonderful day!

[deeed22]

Question for Nemo: Have you met any lucid dreamers during your reign?

[zooba]

So quick question, in what manner is Nemo a displaced? I'm not sure if he was reborn as Luna's son, merged with her son after he was put to sleep or is just possessing her son's body.

[Flutters Is Shy]

6974338
His mind was inserted into the body of the embryo growing inside Luna. When it was birthed, the body simply didn't wake up. It took around fifty to a hundred years for Nemo to finally figure out how to traverse the dream realm, or even 'see it'.

[Gale Singer]

Question for Nemo;
Regarding your favorite dessert... D'you want some more??

[Trithtale]

I have a question for Nemo:

What is the kinkiest thing, that you have seen in the dream realm?

[mastermenthe]

6974372
I appreciate the explanation!

[Flutters Is Shy]

6983678
Like so many Displaced before him, yeah. Of course most Displaced receive a better body than that of a foal, even with the obvious 'advantages' he has...

That being said, In the dreamscape he still views himself as 'human', as flimsy as that view is. He has to keep reforming his ego to keep his form, however.

[KiaraGate]

Dear Nemo,
Have you ever encountered a changling's dream?

[CDR]

Poke, poke, poke. This better not be dead. The interconnected'ness of it compared to other Displaced stories is awesome. I don't want to see this one die.

[Flutters Is Shy]

6997234
What the... I JUST uploaded three chapters last week...

Why would you think it was dead from that short of a period?

Don't worry, the next chapter shouldn't take TOO long before it gets published. Just be well aware that I have a few other stories I devote my time to as well.

[CDR]

6997262
Because this story of yours has pinged my interest rather aggressively. And like a changling feeds on love, I feed on story.

AND I HUNGER FOR MORE

[LordMentat]

Rawr! More Nemo chapters are required!

[Flutters Is Shy]

6998592
6997407

There, finished a chapter. But now you have to wait until tomorrow for me to put the finishing touches on it.

EDIT

Woke up, am sick. Theres no way I'm driving to the library today. New chapter delayed until tuesday.

[NotShadowLotus488]

7000680 I ate dis story in four hours with breaks, WE REQUIRE MOAR SUSTENANCE

[Flutters Is Shy]

7002397
As stated in the comment you replied to, I won't be able to publish the chapter until tuesday (the next day the library is open.).

With my ps3 (the only thing I currently have that allows me to connect to the internet.) it has a text box limit. I can get anywhere from 180 to 210 words in each box, and I only have access to 2 boxes per chapter page. So I have to get on an actual computer, and piece it all together into one chapter.

[the dragonborn spartan]

smores!!!!!!!!!

[SkylordF]

7500689 i have never had one... seriously

[Falx_of_Lume]

Wait, i was thinking he was heading pretty steadily towards Appaloosa in order to reach it last chapter. If he was meandering around till the cragodiles, how the heck is Ponyville still the closest town till that point, when he ended up in Appaloosa in the end?

[Flutters Is Shy]

8686114
Never underestimate Magic. Especially when it's muddling the trail and subtly poking it's charges' towards a specific goal...