Chapter 66: Dreaming Discussion
Spike wasn't sure how long he drifted. The impact of the Heartsong he'd 'composed' was rather extreme, probably a sign that he was overreaching his grasp. He lost all sense of time and every perception of the outside world, save for things within an inch of his scales. His MP had dropped down to the very bottom of the meter and refused to rise, while his HP and Stamina constantly drained in slow, steady drips. In return? His perception of time on the inside was stretched out.
He'd had dreams, and he was sure many ponies had, where it felt like he experienced entire days or weeks in what ended up being hours. This was starting to step into that same territory by using the power of Cantus and his meditation combined, along with other processes he didn't understand just yet. And since it was so close to a proper dream-state, he had a feeling that eventually-
A potentially unwanted intrusion has been detected. Permit mental projection?
Spike nodded, or thought about the idea of nodding: That was apparently close enough.
"...I shall admit that it was uncertain if thine idea would work."
He didn't have to open his eyes... He wasn't even sure if he could without ruining the effect? He could perceive Luna's presence, but he couldn't actually see her, or himself. It would be kind of weird to treat it like an issue of Mystic School Train and just picture them both inside of his... insides. It seemed like Luna could tell that he was hesitating: He wouldn't be surprised if she said she ran into a lot of dreams this weird or even moreso.
"Shall we persist on voice alone, or carve out a space to stretch our legs in, as it were?"
"Second one sounds a lot better. Emphasis on sounds, though: I'm not sure how to even start."
Without words, she directed him into the process. Her magic reached out and began to make subtle adjustments to their environment. But she wasn't actually changing anything, more like... Suggesting. She made those motions and he followed suit, like a martial arts student copying the instructor's movements. Through visualization and willpower a space took shape inside of his self-image, coexisting safely with its surroundings. It was a simple cave-like hollow, dark and nearly featureless.
"Splendid work! Now you must simply visualize another version of yourself: And do not be worried, outside of true Dreaming it is quite common to make mistakes in this portion. I will still know it is you, of course."
He probably wouldn't have been able to perfectly visualize himself before he acquired his skills, that much was true. But he had spent a huge chunk of the last two days in Omphaloskepsis, viewing himself from the inside out. On top of that his Eidetic Memory worked perfectly well on mirrors, so even with all of his recent physical changes? Spike brought a perfect copy of his mental self-image into being with no effort or hesitation.
Within the cave he could see and move and act as if it were a fully real space, even though it was only a mental projection. 'Above', or so it felt, his body continued to run on autopilot and maintain the Heartsong and trance. So now he really was dreaming, or as close as he could force himself. This would be very interesting to experiment with later...
Before he could follow that avenue much further, Princess Luna materialized in his newly-carved-out dreamspace cave. She was as regal and stark as ever, dark blues and night black standing out cleanly against the distant dim-red cavern in his mind. Her regalia made no sound as she stepped forward and gave him a look from top to toe.
"Very close, for a first time. The changes in height and proportion are totally normal, I assure thee."
He blinked and looked himself over, before realizing the problem.
"Oh! Nope, this is all a hundred percent accurate: I had a growth spurt the other day!"
Spike didn't even get to explain the details, or the real big news, before Luna swept him up into a hug with her wings and hooves alike. He returned it, laughing a little at just how... well. If any pony knew how often he'd dreamed of growing up? It was definitely her.
"Truly a joyous occasion! I see now why we were called here this evening."
"Haha, no that's... That is a much weirder thing than just some height. But they are connected!"
A part of him had definitely leaned towards waiting to reveal all of this, get Luna and Celestia and Cadance all together first. Not to mention Shining and the rest of the family! But they were all busy ponies and Canterlot was far away. Even assuming they could open up a space in their schedules soon? It would be a lot to ask for a roundtable meeting with them all without something more substantial to discuss. Twilight could justify a big meeting for her reveal with the girls because they were going to get together anyways, just like every weekend.
Instead Spike decided that the best route was to explain the underpinnings and details first, saving the nitty-gritty of his Story Arc for the face-to-face meeting. Which meant that here in the Dreaming, he took the chance to explain his newfound nature as The Gamer to Princess Luna.
If it had been Celestia here in her stead, he was positive she'd have stayed quiet the entire time, only interjecting as needed to move things along or provide an extremely specific reply. Luna was much more vigorous and involved, cutting him off frequently and asking a barrage of questions, some of which he had never contemplated himself. By the time he got to the end of it all, she was looking at him with a peculiar expression and slowly pacing in a very small circuit.
"A game engine personified, powers tailored to the user and defined through the medium of modern entertainment. 'Twere I a more superstitious mare I would question my acquisition of that very hobby over the last year... But no, these are clearly distinct events."
"Yeah, it seems like the ability has a lot of power but I really doubt it's... what would Twilight call it, retrocausal? It didn't reach back in time and change things. At least, if it did? Then we would have bigger problems."
That got a wide smile from her, and she gave him another embrace: This one with her wings alone, her chin dipped down around his shoulder.
"I am so terribly proud, Spike: Although I have spent time with you less often than I would like in these years, you have played no small part in my rescue and rehabilitation both. And now this... It is a fitting power, and exactly the kind of glory you deserve after being short-shrifted so long."
He teared up a little at that, momentarily: The feeling faded strangely fast, probably due to the nature of their not-quite-dreaming state.
"Thanks, Luna. Coming from you that means a lot... I have some other things to talk about, but maybe we should save them for later? I don't want to keep you from your duties."
Now it was Luna's turn to correct him, giggling and looking off into the distance.
"You need not concern yourself with that: Thanks to your friend Rarity, I have acquired assistance in that regard this last year."
Spike wasn't sure what she meant by that, although thinking back to the last time he'd seen Luna...
"Oh! Does it have something to do with the Tantabus incident?"
"Indeed! The creature was originally a part of mine own magic, after all: Turning it to a new purpose was not a difficult task. Working together we can take more time with each individual dream... Or I can take a break from the work, if need be."
"Well, I'll have to thank it next time I see it! It'll be a nice change of pace from when it was a huge monster threatening to destroy Ponyville."
His alicorn aunt raised an eyebrow at that.
"Art thou really one to speak on such a matter?"
"...Takes one to know one?"
They both lost themselves in a giggle-fit at that, until eventually Luna stood tall again.
"Ah! Speaking of the village, I should say: I plan to visit soon!"
"Really?"
"Yes, truthfully! As I said in my letter, I had been hoping to make time to come and thank the Elements and yourself for all you have done, once again. Although I did have another reason..."
Spike didn't have to put too much thought into figuring that part out.
"You probably wanted to visit the new Arcade, right? Like, not just for games, but I know that the couple who own it are Night Guards."
"Astute observation again. Yes, the Ammo couple are among my favorite scions, although no blood of mine flows in them."
He considered bringing up the Benediction, given how she was nearly saying it outright... But that was still probably best saved for a later time.
"Did you know they were coming out here?"
"Know? They were assigned here by my hoof! Well, to an extent. I knew they wished to spend some of their bits, branch out into new skills, and relocate their work closer to family. Given that Ponyville is home to their precious niece and a newly-available estate for investment... Well, suffice to say that Sister and I have been seeking ways to assign more agents of the Diarchy to Ponyville regardless."
He thought back over the four years that he'd lived here. Specifically he thought about the near-monthly disasters, mishaps, insanity and 'Just Ponyville Things' they dealt with.
"Good plan. Extremely, highly appreciated good plan."
Luna accepted the praise demurely, as she always did: The few times he'd come back and seen her and Celestia ruling over their Courts, neither of them made a big deal out of thanks or gratitude. It was a reflex that stayed steady even among family and friends.
"Thank you, Spike."
"And thank you, for coming to visit me like this: It means a lot that you'd make the time, even if you do have somepony... somespell? Somespirit? Something helping share the workload."
"Hah! It was no loss to spend this time, as it seems this dream is proceeding with unusual slowness... Perhaps due to one of your aforementioned abilities?"
"Got it in one shot, Princess: It's taking a lot out of me, but I'm trying to experiment as much as possible. Multitasking seems to be one of my new strong suits."
"As if 'twere not before: I have seen the labors to which you strive for Twilight Sparkle's sake."
Even if she didn't see him and Twilight too often... Yeah, that tracks.
"What can I say: Nopony in the Sparkle household likes to sit still. No dragon, either!"
Luna reached out to ruffle his spines before turning and walking noiselessly across the dream.
"See that it stays that way dear Spike. In our findings? Power attracts attention in many ways."
That gave him something to chew on as he drifted back into the meditative trance, letting his mentally-imagined space dissolve... And then bringing it back together again, along with the visualization of himself. That had been an interesting new trick she'd shown him, so maybe with enough repetition he'd work it into a new skill! Sure her last message had probably been meant as a warning, but if so... His power would attract attention anyway, why not go for broke?
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Nice keep up the good work, great chapter.
you know, now I'm getting even more confused about the time-line and where/when this is happening, season-wise.
The first couple of chapters made me think this is happening some time in the first season. But now I'm not sure. Twilight is still a unicorn, I think.. But 4 years?
Unless you're going by "one season = one year" principle, or have you own headcanon about the timeline...
Going for broke in my day involved explosions, or blood, and screaming lots of screaming.
10462233
It's been fairly explicitly stated in the author's blog posts. With potential fuzziness deliberately left for stuff like this.
...Wait a minute, why are we assuming a coherent canon timeline? I should know better...
Very intresting advancement in dungeon creation methods, especially with Luna giving such guidance to start the detailed method tha can be massively built on. Anything that has been seen and itneracted with can be created in mind space, can Spike then move that mind form into Inventory, using the creation of the Tantabus, so that he can then remove the item from Inventory into real space, either by standard action, or by the powering application of messaging fire magic?
How many times can he mentally copy structures, with capability limitations within his mind state,a nd what happens if he copies himself, identically or other forms, and then uses coooperative competative interactions between such duplicate self thought forms?
Has Twilight not found the Time spell yet and demonstrate Causal loop stability, but Spike can then discover from his dplication interactions that there are many ways you can often reach an answer, and so possibly with causality, letting him use the alternative realms of the comics to thought walk through variations, what ifs, fanfics effectively?
Trying to imagine the real world in detail in the mind state is extremely difficult, but what if Spike within his mind state, states that he can remember everything he has seen exactly, and using his thought self within his mind state, where he can scale without destroying the tree, he considers using its minds state to try and think about the realm outside in as much detail as his current stats can allow?
Has Spike got warnings or game notifications automatically operational like with the Mana Confusion the first time, where if he hits the Recursion within the Mind State, he finds out about the Bed Rest event on total point collapse?
Spike looks like he's doing a Coldsteel The Hedgeheg[sic] pose on the cover art
I agree Spike. Many will be curious when, not if, they find out. And some of those who are curious will likely be very powerful individuals. It can't hurt in this case to do what you can to be prepared.
Hmm... Would the Benedictions that Luna and Celestia give count as separate character sheets for Spike that he can switch between, or would they be permanent Passive Effects?
10462233
It is expressed in the fic itself, to whatever degree it matters: Twilight is a unicorn, Discord is a known factor and re-imprisoned from that season finale, but Shining and Cadence's wedding was not anytime recently. All of these come up multiple times, along with other factors, to paint a clear picture.
It has also been clearly stated above and beyond what's necessary, both in the major FAQ (which has been linked directly from the story itself before) as well as in the comments. For those who ignored it: The FAQ. Ctrl+F for THE TIMELINE to find, well, exactly that.
10462474
In no particular order: He can't hit recursion, he'd get a warning if he could, he can't materialize dreamstuff (not with his current skillset anyways), and as for dungeon creation... Mmmmh, time will tell if this is a solution to that problem.
10462486
I was looking for something that evoked a sort of cocksure self-assured mood, so when I got the cover made I went through some IRL pose references and eventually settled on this one. I like the stance, something about it really works for me.
10462832
The Benedictions would likely be either major Passives, Titles (with the fairly uncommon trait of stacking with his selected Title), or a third kind of thing we haven't seen yet.
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Thanks, it's roughly as I thought. Sorry, I rarely read the author notes, and almost never read the blogs, so that's why I missed it.
... Moondog?
I wish I could give a like to each individual chapter to show my ongoing love of this story.
Question marks in these sentences should be commas.
10463038
Alright, guess I’ll wait to see how those power ups work out.
10463342
It's a legitimate method of elocution, if a little odd to see three times in a single chapter without an actual connection between them.
10464948
That's not a rule of grammar I've ever heard of. In what way does it make sense to have a question mark in the middle of a sentence that isn't even a question?
10465328
It's a rhetorical question without giving people the chance to be a smartass.
Power attracts power... Or at least that is the version of the phrase I always preferred. If you are big and flashy with what you can do, the powers that be will notice.
Interesting chapter! Nice to see Princess Luna showing up.
10465368
A rhetorical question is still a question. Those sentences aren't questions at all.
Kinda sad they use Titels when they are in private...
But they will be equals soon enough it seems
10465616
Look, the fact of the matter is that I've heard this construction enough in actual speech that I don't care whether it's technically proper grammar or not. And that goes double for wherever that downvote came from (it was there when I got here, previous comments make me suspect the actual author).
10465708
10465616
It's a construct that's used commonly in both narration and speech, Herald is correct.
Correct on both counts, since those are also my downvotes: I don't like or respect people who come around with patently false "corrections" in the comments. Just a fair warning, as I don't intend to take any comment-moderating action at this time. If you think something is wrong to the degree that you feel compelled to correct it? Hit me on Twitter or PM me or something, rather than make a fuss where you can embarrass yourself.
Chrysalis will be displeased to find out Equestria is heavy defended next time...
https://www.deviantart.com/4as/art/The-pet-of-deception-801097466
Spike the glorious defender of Equus incoming