Live Your Dreams

by Ditherer the Fussbudget

Hypnogogia

Luna

You have spent many nights with Anonymous now, though he may never know it, and his affections are... touching. As a camarilla in the second degree, he is allowed to advise you on any matter that does not involve the taking of life, but he has yet to make any suggestions. He knows you, and your work, but seems only out to spend time with you. Not even lust seems to drive him, howevermuch lewdity you’ve found in his undercurrents.

No, whatever might be said about him, there is no insincerity in him. Especially not in his eyes.

You’ve grown guilty, in the last dreams, as you’ve spent more and more time with him. Guilty at the moment of realization, when part of him knows he’s having a dream with you in it. The dream itself, the wider structure of Anon, seems to tingle at your arrival, but he never remembers.

You feel more and more that you need to tell him, even if his awareness will be fleeting. And, you admit to yourself, your curiosity has not abated since the first time you considered his dreamscape.

You’re walking along a dirt road with him along some sort of plain, dotted with orchards and husbandry-grounds, when you turn to him. “Anonymous... you are in the middle of a dream right now. This world and these events are not real.”

Realization flickers in his eyes at that.

”What? Wh- really?” He starts looking around, almost spinning on the spot.

The scenery distorts, plains becoming mountains that stretch like beaten dough into the air and shimmering into different colors. There’s a great rushing in the air to match it, and you’re sure you’ve reached a breaking point.

Anon

You’re dreaming, you’re dreaming!

And Luna’s here!

She was even kind enough to point out that you were dreaming, so she’s a pretty considerate version. Okay okay, focus. Focus! Where are you?

You don’t remember whatever you were doing earlier, but there’s too much going on here. The dream’s trying to buck you off, and you don’t want to wake up now. Who knows when you’ll have a chance like this again?

If your mind’s inventing Lunas to tell you you’re dreaming, it’s got your best interests at heart, so you wave your arms as magically as you can, and the world recollapses into a street.

Suburbs, midday. This is the street you grew up on, although someone played Yahtzee with the houses and the road fades away into a mirage at either end of the row. Luna’s still there, and you’re glad for a moment that you didn’t lose her. She looks a little dumbfounded at her new surroundings, though.

You wonder what the real Luna would think of you dreaming her likeness. It can’t be that uncommon, you’re sure.

”Anonymous... how did you do that?”

“Do what?”

She glances around, waving a fetlock idly at the scenery.

“Oh, the change? Well, since I know I’m dreaming, I’m going to make the most of it. So I wanted someplace to think. Thanks for that, by the way.”

She looks seriously surprised about that.

“What?”

”That... shouldn’t be possible.”

Luna

Anonymous is confused. He seems almost concerned for you.

“I thought your kind had no inborn magic.”

He shrugs. ”You thought right. We don’t.”

“Then... then you couldn’t have done this. Everypony has a piece of dream magic inside themselves that gives them some control, but such a sudden shift is unthinkable for a first try, no matter how great the potential.”

He grins. ”Heh. I can do better than that!”

With a wave of the hand, you’re both floating upwards. Then, as quickly as he cancelled it, he reinstates gravity. Another wave and three houses sprout chicken legs and run off into the distance. Overhead the sky strobes through a rainbow of ugly colors. The chaos of it all is terrifying.

This is a level of control you had to exert yourself to achieve, in your first decades of work. He’s cackling as he rises into the air, the ground sprouting pumpkins that get up and start tangoing.

“Anonymous!” He doesn’t seem to notice you any more.

The houses are melting. Everything’s melting. You know from experience that the dream is fading, and he’s going to forget what’s happening in a moment. With not inconsiderable effort, you activate your own magic and raise its volume over his.

“ANONYMOUS!”

Everything resets, and he’s back on the ground with you.

”Wh-, how-...” Something clicks. ”Is it really you?”

“It is.”

He scrambles to improve the decor, the buildings coated in gold, gemstones and distant images of you. The sun explodes overhead, dissipating into a thousand shreds of light, and then the moon swings into the crown of the sky.

Your constellations are almost perfectly represented. It warms your heart, to see such tribute.

Anon

Fuck that’s the real Luna, you should’ve known, shouldn’t act like such an idiot in front of your princess. She’d barely seen you for weeks now while you worked in the wings, and this was the impression you wanted to leave her with?!

You try to improve the suburbs as quickly as possible, but you’re just making them worse so you give up. She’s looking at the sky when you turn back to her, hands behind your back.

”S-sorry, I had no idea, I though you were- not that I couldn’t-”

She shakes her head. “There is no need to apologize, camarilla. The Court merely wished to examine your dreaming ability. You have exceeded our expectations.” She smiles, walks close and leans in closer. Her voice is soft.

Is she going to kiss you, fuck, what if your mouth turns into a squid or the world explodes or something? Dreams have too many fucking variables for this sort of thing, fuck dreams.

”If you learned to control your talents, you could perhaps spend some time in our company on our rounds through the dreams of our other subjects.” Hot damn.

Then she kisses you: a peck. The most memorable peck of your life.

Then she turns and departs into the night, disappearing among the stars.

Moondancer

You’re Moondancer, student of the Lunar Court. The student of the Lunar Court, more precisely. It’s not a very big court, given its nature; most of the members are either so long-lived they joined before the Nightmare Moon incident or wild-eyed fledgling acolytes. Moving up in the ranks is a little difficult, but there’s a lot of room for expansion.

A few years ago one of your friends became Celestia’s big student. She left, and you never really saw her again. There’s a kind of symmetry to following her example, you think. You’ve certainly learned a lot about magic, and your Princess doesn’t tell you to clean up, so you’re happy.

But part of the job is hosting whenever Anonymous has to crash at the house your ruler-goddess is paying rent for, and he’s been here for three weeks now. You met the guy during an interest-binge on exotic creatures, and you got along alright. But there’s something just... goofy about him.

Like right now. He’s sleeping on your couch, which is half his size. His legs are bent up so his feet rest at the top, and his face is buried into the cushioning away from the rest of the room. There’s a pillow between the rest of his body and the couch, and it’s not one of yours.

He murmurs in his sleep, but nothing you can make out. Wherever he was living in Ponyville, they don’t seem to have missed him.

You were originally helping him out because you wanted to see what would happen, but it seems almost like... well, like Luna really does want him to keep it up. You have no idea why, but if you had to guess, you’d say she just has a thing for dreamers.

But his shoulder’s on your pizza box, and there were, like, probably some leftover cheese and toppings inside you could scrape into an omelette. Your daily half-hour for eating is running out, and you’re fresh out of spaghetti, and you skipped yesterday to finish cramming on pony-donkey trade relations. You swear, there’s got to be a little in there.

If you just pry it out... an inch at a time…

”AGH, YES PRINCESS!” He jerks awake, his body attempting to jump to its feet. Instead he topples and crashes on his knees to the floor, bouncing pieces of looseleaf and errant receipts into the air.

Still clutching the pillow, he rubs his eyes with it and then snaps his gaze to you. ”Oh, Moondancer. Good thing you’re here. I need you to teach me dream magic.”

You sigh. “Of course you do.”