Lucidity

by Indulgence

Alone

‘So now you tell me, what is it like?’ Luna asked, closing the wooden portal behind her as she followed the Princess of Friendship back out of the stratospheric dream world in which they had been spectators.

Twilight meanwhile strode into the corridor, her back to the other alicorn and mind in turmoil. What it had been like, in no uncertain terms, had been a sensory overload. She had felt everything, from the caress of the breeze and plants to the shockwaves of the twinned blasts, but deeper than that she had been strapped to a rollercoaster of emotions which were not hers to sense. There had been intense pride, followed by determined resolve and then unsure embarrassment which had become passionate affections. In each case however her feelings had neither been her own nor had she had any right to them. Now she felt like a thief combined with the uncomfortableness of having seen too much, being a witness to another pony’s secret thoughts, not to mention the fact that one of her best friends was the subject of these. ‘It was incredibly invasive, not unpleasant in of itself, but like I’d hijacked her thoughts. How can you do it?’ she continued, failing to hide the degree of accusation which had slipped into her voice. ‘I mean, it lays bare anypony’s inner most thoughts. You’ve only shown me one and I already feel guilty for what I’ve seen.’

Luna just sighed in response, although not disappointedly, and nodded. She stepped back into her previous pacing down the corridor, magic pulsing through her horn as she scanned the space, and bid her fellow alicorn to follow. ‘It would seem that you’ve not been spared any element of my power. You are quite right in your appraisal though, it is a highly intrusive sensation, but I’m equally subject to the guilt that you feel.’

‘So why do it then?’

‘Watching over dreams is a heavy responsibility, though I don’t count looking into happy ones like the one you just saw as part of that, rather that’s more of a guilty pleasure, providing a small reprieve from the… darker things that I have to deal with here. Although it should also be noted that I haven’t indulged like that in quite a while, as now I tend to end the night in your dreams as well you know. You’re my safe haven.’ The Princess of the Night cracked a small smile, but before she could continue Twilight broke in.

‘Hold on a sec, when I go to sleep you always seem to be right there waiting for me, so how does that work?’

‘Oh, apologies I should’ve clarified that. Time doesn’t work the same way here. What feels like hours or days in a dream can in reality be mere seconds or the reverse can be possible, meanwhile here in the nexus of the Dreamspace things seem to be timeless’ Luna roughly explained. ‘I can’t really elaborate further on the intricacies of it as they don’t seem to be entirely fixed.’

Twilight continued to walk at her marefriend’s side listening intently, her inquisitiveness helping in part to dampen her disconcertion at treading a path through an infinite space, which now had additionally been revealed to not obey the laws of linear time. Her train of thought now changed tracks on considering the other alicorn’s earlier reserved words, switching to concern. ‘Luna, what did you mean by “darker things”?’

‘Like I already said, watching over everypony’s dreams is my responsibility’ the dark alicorn began, considering carefully her words before she spoke them, ‘just as Tia runs the court during the day. Between us we divide and conquer, if you’ll pardon the term, to try to take care of everypony. Whereas she is the public face which settles public problems, my domain is more in the private sphere. On the one hoof this covers small things, like in Scootaloo and the rest of the Crusaders' case their apprehensions about finding their purposes for example. On the other hoof though this is also about those ponies on the edges or fringes, who’ve maybe slipped through the net, which I know sounds horrible and authoritarian but that’s not what I mean by it. I’ve heard it described like me and Tia are parents to Equestria, which personally I hate as I’ve been a decidedly absentee mother, but that’s kind of what I mean. It’s therefore more that I try to be always there to listen, help or advise anypony who needs it, to be a private ear or voice that they can trust.’

‘But what about what you just showed me?’ Twilight interrupted again.

Luna raised a single eyebrow as she continued. ‘I doubt that you being privy to what you just saw is a breach in that trust. You’re just as much their princess as I am and you lack my past as your shadow. Also it’s hardly like she’s the first filly to have a meaningless crush on her mentor' she jibbed with a grin, rising to a low giggle at the pink embarrassed hue it raised on the purple alicorn at her side. Her mood however re-darkened as she returned to the subject at hoof. ‘What I mean by darker things is that I’ve therefore seen a great many at their worst, or in their lowest places. I wouldn’t shun this duty, nor would I wish it upon anypony else, for it is draining to say the least. This is also not to mention the fact that I’m not the only one that dwells here…’ A flare sparked from the tip of Luna’s horn, causing her to abruptly halt mid speech.

‘What do you mean?’ Twilight questioned, but already Luna was making for a tall arched doorway with a determined look on her face, making an answer unlikely.

‘I’m sorry Twilight, I promise I’ll explain everything to you, but right now I have to see to something’ Luna apologised, turning and drawing the shorter alicorn into another hug as she spoke. ‘I’m sorry to leave you like this, but please either wait here or if you find your door wait there and I’ll find you.’

‘How?’

The Princess of the Night merely tapped her own horn and then the other princess’ in reply, lightly laying a kiss on the purple alicorn’s cheek as she departed from her.

---

An aura of pale purple magic briefly flared before fizzling to nothing. Twilight was now alone as she wandered the single great hallway. So far her attempts at blindly replicating Luna’s senses had all ended in failure, leaving her none the wiser of what lay behind any of the portals she passed or where her own was, the concept of whose existence was weird to say the least. The result of this was considerable annoyance, both in her student self and on a higher level. She knew it was foalish to wish for instantaneous mastery, particularly seen as there was no evidence that her new powers would be anything more than fleeting, but none the less she desired it, not for wants of pride but rather those of guilt. Right now she felt like she had failed, not thinking twice about Luna’s nocturnal duties other than her own indulgence in them, meanwhile her partner had soldiered on alone. If she could in any small way lift a part of the burden off of her marefriend she knew she had to try to.

She focused once more, calling magic back into her horn, feeling the rapid pulse of energy as it flowed through her and closed her eyes, trying to simply feel her way without any other sensory distraction. When her vision reopened she was before a doorway, rustic in style but painted starkly plain white. Nothing else called out to her to reveal anything more. ‘Well, here goes nothing.’ In defiance of what she had been told, fuelled by a potent cocktail of love, intrigue and a need to do something, Twilight let her telekinesis pull on the door’s handle and she stepped through into the unknown.