Perchance to Dream

by David Silver

33 - Tired

I quickly learned a valuable lesson. Sleep patterns were important, and if I was on a trip where that was less than likely, I would be well-advised to avoid stressing myself in pony world.

That day I kept nodding off, slipping between worlds like a drunken ice-skater and feeling about as graceful. I finally sank into a real sleep after breakfast was sleepily nibbled at and we were back in the van. Kevin, bless his soul, didn't complain about my lack of helpfulness and I sank into a dreamless coma.

Allowed to rest, I was in neither world. I was asleep, truly asleep. The sleep of the dead with no dreams to bother it.

At least until I felt cool stone and knew I had woken up in the pony world. I heard a soft bell chime. It wasn't nearly as fun having that thing there. I smirked a little as I got to breaking free of the stone shell in time for Twilight to come trotting in. "Good morning, True. Your friend said you'd be along any minute."

I froze a moment. "W-what?"

Twilight tilted her head. "I came to visit and he was operating the vehicle and said you were sleeping. I could see you doing so, but you were still a statue. I asked about that and--"

I applied my right forehoof to my face. I hadn't told Twilight specifically not to speak about it... so she had.

"Did I say something wrong?" Twilight looked innocent and clueless.

"In the future," I said with a wry smile. "Let's keep these things quiet. I hadn't told him about... this." I waved around the room.

"Oh!" She colored quickly. "I thought he was... I mean we were talking..."

"It's not your fault," I assured her with a little sigh. "I'm not angry at you, but I bet I'm in for an interesting conversation later." A thought occurred to me. "You could talk to him if you wanted, right?"

"You're physically present, so yes. I have nothing of his to focus on, but you were sleeping just beside him." Twilight tilted her head. "Did you need to?"

"Need to, no, but..." I looked back over myself. He was going to find out everything, if he hadn't already asked a thousand questions. "We should go ahead and clear the air, so to speak."

Twilight gestured to follow and got to trotting. She led the way to a room with a big bowl of water in it. "Here we are. Now..." Her horn began to glow and an image of Kevin appeared, driving along quietly.

He started a bit. "Oh, hey Twilight!" He looked quite happy to see her, but that turned to puzzlement as I stepped into view. "Who's your friend?"

"It's me," I said. The odd part is that I could see... me... the sleeping human me, and I even heard her mutter the words in a slur under her breath. "Linda, or True Shot, as I'm known here."

Kevin glanced across at my sleeping form and back at me. "You've officially... made this day about as strange as it could be. Are you as manly as your voice suggests?"

A fierce blush overtook my cheeks. "Yes."

"So when do I get a turn?"

Twilight tilted her head. "We're still not certain how or why Linda, or True Shot, does what they do. It's deeply fascinating, but I'm afraid I could make no assurances that we could replicate the phenomenon."

"But you're looking into it?"

Twilight's ears went up. "If you're willing to be a test subject, that would be very helpful! Perhaps we could get a pony to swap places with you, though I'm afraid what will happen if two living subjects are used."

That sounded like trouble... "We shouldn't be too fast."

"Wait, Linda's pony is dead?"

"For centuries," agreed Twilight. "It's allowed her to be in full control. We're unsure what caused it."

"She's a zombie?" He hiked a brow.

I scowled at the pond. "I'm not a zombie! Actually, I'm more like a gargoyle. When I'm asleep here, I'm a statue."

"Bad ass," complimented Kevin as he steered. "Going to refuel the van. Want me to wake you up for lunch, or too busy having fun as pony cupid?"

Had Twilight told him about that?! "Cupid?!"

He shrugged a bit. "Your arrows have hearts on them. It's adorable."

Oh god, another person to spew the word adorable. I laughed at it all. "You haven't seen nearly enough of this world. Everything is cute."

Twilight perked an ear. "Huh? There are many terrible and vicious things, but we try to keep them out of everypony's way."

"I want to see more." He raised his brows together. "So... hung like a horse huh?"

The blush came rushing back even as I narrowed my eyes a little. "Now that's none of your business."

"I presume that's a yes."

Twilight glanced between us. "I'm not familiar with that turn of phrase. Can you explain it?"

I pointed at her while looking to Kevin. "Well, you made this mess, go on. Explain it."

It was his turn to color and look awkward. "I have to go gas the van." He slipped out of view hurriedly.

Twilight shook her head slowly then turned to me. "You clearly know its meaning. Kindly?"

Oh, great... "Well, you see..."

By the time Kevin got back, Twilight was a cherry color in her cheeks. Her fur did nothing to hide it.

Kevin buckled in and got back to driving. "You told her, didn't you?"

I snorted like the horse I was. "Thanks..."

Twilight shivered and snapped free of her funk. "Your people have an... odd view of equines. Though I suppose that shouldn't be too surprising, given your world's lack of diversity. Only one intelligent species? It must be so lonely."

Kevin shrugged as he drove. I nodded instead. "Maybe a little, but we have plenty of ourselves to deal with. We have pets, if we want."

Twilight shrugged in a noncomittal way. "I used to have a pet... Do you?" She glanced between Kevin and me.

"Not me," reported Kevin as he pulled onto a highway. "I've considered a cat a few times, but never went for it."

I stuck out my tongue a little. "Nor I. Hey, Kevin. I just wanted to, uh... come clean."

He was quiet a moment. "You know, it was getting a bit... odd."

"Odd?"

Kevin nodded. "You said the oddest things in your sleep. I listened last night, uh, to some of it. Hell, it's almost a relief that you just have dreams of being a magical pony prince."

I fluffed up a little at that. "This isn't a dream!"

"Yeah?" He reached over and flicked my ear.

I woke with a start. Twilight was suddenly sitting next to a pony statue. She sighed softly. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, Linda."

"W-wait!" I sat up and composed myself. "I had meant to tell you, Starlight--"

"Taught you your first spell." Twilight smiled brightly. "She couldn't stop telling me about it. She's so proud of you, and herself for teaching you. You've made her very happy."

Kevin glanced aside at me. "You can do magic? That's pretty... does it work here?"

Twilight blinked. "I would be very surprised." She thrust a hoof at me. "As a human, she lacks a horn to channel magic through. To my knowledge, humans also lack the required organs for collecting and storing that energy."

I considered that a hot moment. "But has a human tried?"

Twilight gave a bit of a wry smirk at that. "When I first became a human, I tried to open doors just as I walked, pow, face first into glass."

Kevin snorted softly. "I remember that."

That caught Twilight's attention. "You saw that?!" Her cheeks started to color again. "That wasn't my proudest moment..."

"You did fine." He waved it off with one hand. "I'm pretty sure I'd be walking around like a drunk toddler for a lot longer if I were suddenly a pony. You adapted pretty quick, all things considered."

"T-thank you." Twilight dipped her head. "It's quite strange to think my adventures are known in other realities like that." She smiled a little as she sighed. "I suppose it's really true. We're all stars of our own stories."

Kevin waved the idea off. "My life isn't that interesting."

But mine... "Huh..." I wiggled a few fingers out the window, in case there was some unseen camera out there. At least I could amuse the watchers with some fourth-wall nodding. "I can only hope I make for an interesting story."

"I dare say you do." Twilight nodded. "I should get back to work, and set you--" She tapped the statue. "--back on your pedestal. Talk to you both later." She faded away.

Kevin drove quietly for a few minutes before he rolled his shoulders. "So... when were you going to tell me about this?"

Great... "After we settled in and I felt safe to do that? Look, it's like I said before, let's avoid the cliche bad endings, alright?"

"Yeah... So, do you care if I try to, you know... If Twilight can set it up, I want to try. That sounds epic."

Ultimately, I didn't, but... "Don't harass her. She is a princess and I try not to monopolize her time. She'll work on it though. She's curious, and she isn't the one to ignore curiosity."

"I can only talk to her when she calls us, so she's pretty safe." He pulled off the highway. "Time to grab some lunch, which you're awake for."

"Thanks to you."

"Yup." He parked the van carefully, bloated thing that it was. "Now you get to eat. No need for thanks."

I rolled my eyes at his humor and hopped free of the van. That nap had really helped and I felt less like mildly warmed roadkill. We got some vittles and saw the sights before we were back on the road. Horse things to the side, the trip was progressing smoothly. I just wanted it to finish that way.

Author's Note:

He knows! A typo that couldn't well be avoided.

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Comments

[Fresnor]

And knowing is half the battle.

[Emtu]

for Twilight to come trotting it

in

When I fist became a human,

first

[Booster Spice]

Went for vittals, but fortunately no longer felt like half warmed roadkill?

Well, looks like Ground Squirrel is off the menu then.

Very intresting, a third state of being has been observed. Looks like it might be time for Last Tango In Dimentionality.

[David Silver]

7935170 Fixed!

[tsaukpaetra]

So complete mental exhaustion causes both sides to fail? Interesting, makes for a new theory on how this is working...
Linda is in the right with not blurting everything out right off the bat, and Kevin better not give her any grief over it. Still, he was the one creeper-watching her just because she sleep-talked!
Keep going! ;)

[Valhuir]

7935706 Kinda hard NOT to watch the person in the passenger seat when they're talking in their sleep. Not exactly anywhere you or they can go when you're on the road.

[Daremo]

non-comittal - noncommittal

Kevin and I - Kevin and me

---

Thankfully, there were still a couple of typos left, so no going to bed hungry tonight.

Quiet times, but those are the perfect conditions for studying and we've all learned something new today.

Although Princess Twilight Sparkle has also learned that perhaps there is such a thing as too much information.

---

By the time Kevin got back, Twilight was a cherry color in her cheeks.

After the conversation they just had, it's likely best not to mention things like 'cherries', yes?

"Yeah?" He reached over and flicked my ear.

Linda/True should feel fortunate that Kevin's mature enough to resist the urge for a wet willie wake-up call.

[Warrior Kitten]

Yeah, I figured.

Couldn't Linda technically use magic as a human? She's controlling both bodies, it's just one's dormant while the other is active. With this in mind, could she not access True Shot's magic as Linda? Or is it completely cut off due to the body's dormant "Statue" state.

[Warrior Kitten]

7935991
Not referring to them being in the vehicle. They camped at times, meaning they slept separately.

[David Silver]

7937137 Even if that worked, wouldn't the magic come out at True Shot's horn, in Equestria?

[Warrior Kitten]

7937519
Yeah, that's what I'm saying! It would come from True Shot's body, but since the mind is focusing on a specific object, the offset won't matter!
Because how the telekinesis seems to work is it's not position based but focus based. Meaning all Linda has to do is focus in the exact same way she does as True Shot and it'll work!

Considering Twilight's magic can reach, True's magic should too!

[Sylica telca]

Haha your life Linda is an excellent story.

[Blazing Shadow]

I may be misinterpreting the story but I'm beginning to see Kevin as the irresponsible brony character that ruins everything as he tries to become the Gary Stu

[Ephedianroyalty]

I like the idea of them accidentally bringing him to their world the same way Linda does. Although making it work would kinda ruin the whole thing a little bit. What if there’s some reason it does work that they never figure out, like it only works with ponies who were content with their life, but still have more use, like the original True Shot? And they only find one more of them by accident or something, or Discord decides it's something that shouldn’t be more, because then it gets to be usual, and no longer is rare and slightly chaotic or something? Actually, that’d be interesting.