Perchance to Dream

by David Silver

34 - Night Stalker

Several days later, I was awoken with a start as something fuzzy and altogether bizarre felt like it was just... emerging from my forehead. I'm not afraid to admit that I gave quite the yelp at the time.

Kevin was roused instantly and the room was bathed in light as he slapped a hand down on the light switch, revealing... a horse. A specific horse. Starlight was in our room.

She looked between us a moment before she settled on Kevin. "There you are. My student, I've learned how to visit you!"

Kevin blinked blearily. "Uh... Hey, a pleasure to meet you, but I'm Kevin and I'm pretty sure you're looking for Linda." He pointed over towards me.

I shook my head slowly. "How did you... do that? I had just gone to sleep."

Kevin yawned at that. "Just? It's been a few hours."

"Which is exactly the right time." Starlight nodded. "You seemed to enter a state that puts you between worlds. I presumed that was when you got true sleep, but it also made you a perfect bridge between worlds. Who needs mirror portals with you around, my..." She squinted a little bit. "I thought the tales of you being a human mare were a joke between you and Twilight."

I let out a strained laugh. "Afraid not. I've been that way since birth." I pulled the blanket up as I sat up properly. "How do you plan to get back? You can't stay here."

"And why not?" She raised a brow at me. "I want to see your world. It sounds beyond interesting." Her eyes traveled to the lamp. "Electricity. So, I hear your people rely on it the same that ours might use magic? Show me some electrical magic!"

Kevin put his feet on the ground. "Before we get into that, can I...?" He reached with a hand.

Starlight looked perplexed. "Can you what?"

"Can I pet you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Buy a mare dinner first. Straight to petting..." She turned to me. "Is he your mate?"

I quirked a half smile. "No, a friend. He didn't mean anything sexual by that. To remind, there's all of one intelligent species on this planet, so when we see pretty inhuman things, the urge is to pet and stroke, not to flirt."

Starlight raised a brow all the higher. "Well I am intelligent, so you'll have to earn that privilege."

Kevin only laughed, not seeming too put out by the rejection. "That's the answer I'd expect from a house cat that could talk. Well, welcome, Starlight."

Starlight blinked, then focused on me. "Did you tell him about me?"

I held up my hands. "I wouldn't dare. I'm not a gossip. However, things are different here. He knows you. He knows your past."

"Like that time you used to control an entire town through brainwashing cult leadership."

Starlight went red, her composure shattered into pieces. "Y-you know about that?!"

"And your coltf--" Magic sparkled around his mouth, silencing him.

Starlight was breathing heavily and forcing a smile. "That's... quite enough. You've proven your ability. Now tell me how."

So we decided to give Starlight several answers at once. We set up his phone so we could all watch it as the episode that introduced Starlight to Twilight, and to us, the audience, began to play.

Starlight shrank a bit as she watched. "Was I really... that mean? Ugh... Looking back on your past can be less than... pretty. I was so loud..."

I tried to give some comfort. "If your current self sees your past self that poorly, that means you've grown up quite a bit since then. You should be proud. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone has things in their past they're less than proud of."

Kevin was far more curious. "So... you're a big time spellcaster, right?"

Starlight's ears went up. "Of course." A confident smile returned to her face. "Are you impressed? I'm new to humans, but I think I can tell. Your electric magic is something else, but you've never been witness to true unicorn magic." Her horn began to glow softly. "Was there something you wanted to see?"

Kevin looked surprised as he grabbed a shirt and slipped it on. "You sound more like Trixie right about now."

Starlight's glow went out. "You know her too? Do you know everypony?!" Her eyes darted to the inactive phone. "I suppose with that device, you do... She is a dear friend. I suppose I shouldn't be too shocked that I picked up a few of her mannerisms along the way. A little showmareship."

I let out a thunderous yawn. "Look, it's, uh..." It wasn't exactly nice to see her, not in the human world. "It's late."

Starlight glanced around. "Curious, that. Our worlds are not nearly as close as the ones bridged with the mirror portal. They stay in sync, while yours does not."

That was all very fascinating, but... "Can you go home?"

"No." She saw my alarmed face. "Not until you go back to sleep, of course. You are my portal." She thrust a hoof at me. "A very small one, I should add, though that's not your fault."

Kevin shook his head. "How are you going to... go into her while she's asleep without waking her up?"

That was a point. "You coming out is what woke me up." I put a hand to my head. "A pony escaping my head is not a subtle event. Is one going back in any less of a violation?"

Starlight frowned with obvious thought a moment before she lifted her shoulders. "Perhaps there are flaws to my plan."

Kevin burst into laughter. "I think it's a bit more serious than that. You're stranded in an alien world."

"Hey, Twilight managed it once without totally freaking out. I'll do the same." Starlight puffed herself up.

I had to point out the differences, "Twilight was a human at the time, not a colorful pony. She was a kid hiding out in highschool. She also had a friend with her."

Starlight pointed at me. "And you're not a friend now, my student?"

I smiled a little. "Yes, you are. We'll both try to help, of course, but we need to get some things straight."

Kevin raised a finger. "Starting with the fact that you cannot be seen."

Starlight faded from view, her voice speaking from the air, "Will this suffice?"

Kevin clapped his hands together. "Just like with the changelings!"

Starlight blinked back into existence. "Does that thing show... intimate moments? You've seen far too much of my past!"

I waved a hand quickly. "Nothing like that. Those shows are meant for, uh, human foals to watch, so anything that would be considered alarming to them is mostly left out."

Starlight nodded. "Ah, curious. Why would my adventures be considered a foal's tale?" She blinked. "Right, only intelligent species, nevermind."

Kevin slowly laid back down. "Well, we have to get some sleep. Stay here, Starlight. You'll be coming with us for now."

The light was extinguished and we settled down, and I got lots of sleep, is what I would like to say, but would be a lie.

Just as I nodded off, I felt something brushing against me and snapped away to find Starlight kissing my forehead. She squeaked and fell back onto her haunches. "Blast it!" she cursed as vilely as a pony might.

I was grumpy and tired, mostly tired. I grabbed her as she squawked and pulled her into a hug. With the blankets snug around us, I tried to go back to sleep.

I found myself in stone and let out a quiet breath. Starlight had let me go to sleep properly. Renewed and ready, I shook free of the stone to find a worried-looking Twilight staring at me.

"Have you seen Starlight?"

I blinked at her, surprised. "You know?"

Twilight let out a little sigh. "Don't tell her, but I've gotten in the habit of checking once in a while through her notes. I found her spell, to hop through your dreaming state to reach your world, and now she isn't here. Did it work?"

Well, so much for that being a mystery... "I'm holding her, back in the human world."

Twilight sagged. "I'm glad she's safe... but she shouldn't be there!"

"I'm aware of that." I looked back over myself and returned the gaze to her. "We'll take care of her as well as we can, but she can't get back."

"Can't, or won't?" She raised a suspicious brow at me.

"Can't." I raised a hoof to point at my head. "She comes and goes through my forehead. Coming she woke me up. She can't go back since it would wake me up before she got moving."

Twilight winced faintly. "I can't imagine that was a subtle sensation. Are you alright?"

I nodded at that and started to walk. "I am, thanks. She didn't cause any harm other than waking me up. We'll have to figure out a different way to get her back here, where she belongs." The clip-clop of my hooves was soothing in a way, and I kept walking to hear them. "Is there anything we can do from here?"

Twilight fell in behind me. "I'll have to fully decipher her spell and then get to finding an answer. We may end up making that mirror portal after all, just to get her back."

That brought up something. "About that, if she's already a pony and takes a mirror portal to Equestria, what happens?"

Twilight shrugged. "Hay if I know, but we may end up finding out. Hopefully nothing, since she's already in an ideal form for Equestrian living. Worst case, we end up with a human Starlight... Who can't do magic... and would have a meltdown." Twilight clopped her own forehead with a hoof. "I'm going to hope that doesn't happen."

My pony belly made a loud reminder that it liked being fed as much as my human one and I veered towards the kitchen. Spike was already there. "Hey True! I'll toss on some more for ya." He was making pancakes and started making more without any prompting.

I smiled at it and nodded to Spike. "You're a real treasure, Spike."

Spike grinned with obvious pride as he worked. I wasn't sure if he was told often enough how amazing of a person to have around he was.

I turned to Twilight. "We can't do anything about it now."

"You can't," she agreed. "But I can. I'll get on deciphering the exact workings of that spell. For now... well, enjoy yourself. You'll have to deal with this when you return to your world. Please, keep her safe." She winked out of sight with a few sparkles.

Spike rolled his eyes. "I get the idea she isn't going to eat most of hers."

"Probably not," I agreed stepping up to see Spike preparing breakfast. There was a small bowl of strawberries, so I stole one, willing it to my mouth, only to have a wooden spoon suddenly strike me across the snout.

Spike was glaring at me and snatched the strawberry back. "It'll be ready soon, True."

"Sorry." I settled to watch him prepare breakfast. "Huh, you're good at this."

"Hmm?"

"Cooking. Have you been cooking a while?"

"Oh, sure." He gave a thumbs up. "For years. Twilight's pretty awful at it. She'll study right through meals if you let her, so there I am, making sure she gets refueled." He slid a perfectly golden pancake onto a pile. "Speaking of which, I'll take hers to her. You can start now if you want." He moved to gather up three plates all at once.

I didn't see any good reason to let him do that. "I'll take mine." I willed one to lift away carefully and soon had it securely in grip as Spike dashed away with his own and Twilight's.

I settled at the table and got to enjoying what Spike had made, syrup and strawberries included. Mmm. It was just as tasty as it looked and soothed the hunger within me.

Author's Note:

Starlight... I think this counts as a typo.

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Comments

[Skalula7]

Well that's interesting.

[Alzrius]

So...is Linda's last name Kolchak?

[Booster Spice]

Starlight, the stories of Zeus are supposed to be stories, not instruction manuals. No matter how much Celestia looks like a swan.

So, Starlight, an intensely powerful non Earth magic user, is heading for one of the highest concentrations of advanced delicate tech on the planet. At the very least, being invisible is going to give seismic mismatches, never mind if she has or hasnt remembered thermal infrared, and the less said about UWB phase discrimination radar the better. Phase shifts as the WiFi signal bends around a cloaked object can give 200% signal variations.

Of course, what would be real fun is if the size and closeseness of the mirror portal, is in the ringing detection range of LIGO. Because they cant triangulate since the signal is extremely likely to be far too weak to be picked up by others on the planet.

I hope Kev doesnt forget to tell Starlight all about human mating practises, just so she knows when not to interupt.

[David Silver]

7942562 Obscure reference.

[Lt Rainbow Slash]

...Starlight you fucking idiot

[Daremo]

alarming too them - alarming to them
hooves were soothing - hooves was soothing
to let him to do that - to let him to do that
what spike had made - what Spike had made

---

To take a hint from today's chapter, I enjoy reading your stories, and you're very good at what you do.

This is quite the interesting twist, and I have a great fondness for fish out fo water stories. I only hope that Starlight can be kept safe from all of the rougher and more depressing aspects of our the human world.

[tsaukpaetra]

Yes, we have a pony on Earth! Now let's see them treat this like adults!
Starlight came out of her forehead, that's very telling on the influence the link should be having on her. Also, why did it have to be through basically a horn job? Starlight, you sure you're keeping this relationship purely platonic?
Keep going! ;)

[Warrior Kitten]

Oh, this is the first ever time skip, isn't it? That, or I'm oblivious.

My favourite thing for authors to do when ponies meet human females is to have the ponies be confused, looking at their breasts and ask, "Are you pregnant?"

[Warrior Kitten]

7942606
Most of that flew over my head :D

[Booster Spice]

7944541

Sorry about that. Im on medication, so I keep hallucinating that I know what Im talking about.

[David Silver]

7944180 Double the fish! Double the spilled water! I even spotted a free typo.

[RadicalDishonesty]

Have they been on the road for more days?

Where we're they coming to California from, exactly?

[Sylica telca]

I was just wondering about that same situation with starlight going through the portal and coming out as a human

[wlam]

Why the hell doesn't it occur to Linda to actually be angry about this, come to think of it? Just like she said, it is a hell of a violation, and neither a friend or a teacher would just use you like that without even asking. What is wrong with Starlight?

[Patchwork Dreams]

Quick, break out the topical numbing anesthetics! That'll stop her from waking up!