Lucid Dreaming

by WriterWings

Chapter 6

“Simulated life?”

“Yes, Miss Maple, simulated life. A revolutionary invention, in my opinion.”

“But… what for? How does that help in the war against King Sombra?”

The two ponies stood in the secluded laboratory on Floor 17, Dr. Hawk waiting patiently as Honey Maple took it all in. On both sides of them, steel tanks filled with pink, sticky gunk lined the walls, each one connected to a tangled network of rubber pipes that led up, up and up into the ceiling. The stinging stench of agar jelly and hoof sanitiser hung in the air, the atmosphere humid and moist yet chillingly cold at the same time.

Suddenly, Honey let out a shriek of horror.

“AGH! There’s a pony in there!” She screamed, almost jumping out of her skin. Sure enough, in one of the tanks, there was a pink-coated pegasus mare, her eyes closed in a peaceful sleep as she floated in the calm tranquility of the tank.

“Ah, yes,” Dr. Hawk nodded at the petrified intern. “That is one of our volunteer test subjects. She has been in there for quite some time now, perhaps a few months.”

“She’s… alive, right?” Honey asked cautiously.

“Yes, of course. The solution in the tanks contain all the necessary nutrients required for her to live perfectly healthily. As you can see,” he paused to point at a flickering green light at the base of the tank. “She is in pristine condition.”

“So, she’s just asleep?”

“Technically. What she’s experiencing right now is what we call a Lucid Dream,” Dr. Hawk explained. “All part of our simulated life experiment. Her body is here with us, but the ‘life’ she is living is all programmed to suit her through that —” again, he paused to point at a computer in the middle of the lab. “— computer.”

“But why? Why would she want to live a completely simulated life?”

“Well, in her mind right now, she doesn’t know it’s simulated. But look around us. We’re living in a decaying wasteland — nothing like the Equestria we had all those moons ago. Did you know —” he lowered his voice to a loud whisper — “We used to have trees. Trees!”

Honey Maple gasped. “Really?! I’ve never seen a tree before. What do they look like?”

“Oh, they were beautiful,” Dr. Hawk replied dreamily. “The lush, emerald leaves that would turn a magnificent shade of red in the autumn, the way they would rustle in the cool, fresh breeze… sometimes, colts and fillies could even build little treehouses to play in. Some even provided fruit for food — apples, oranges, peaches… oh, trees were lovely.” He glanced at Honey, whose eyes were sparkling with wonder and imagination.

Good, the conditioning is working. She’ll be in one of the tanks by dinnertime.

“Oh, but of course, I’ve only seen pictures,” he added. “Wouldn’t it be just marvellous if we could all live in the Equestria from before the war? That’s what I’ve programmed the simulation to be like, and this pony decided she wanted to live in a place like that. No hunger, no war…” — he cringed internally as he added the next part — “just the wonderful magic of friendship!”

“Wow,” Honey Maple marvelled, clapping her hooves. “That does sound pretty great.”

“How about you? Would you like to be a volunteer test —”

A sound from the tank interrupted him. The pegasus inside seemed to have begun screaming, though her cries were muffled by the liquid around her. Her entire body was twisting and squirming, her face completely convulsed in excruciating pain, her wing muscles contorting with sharp pulsing spasms. Just beneath her, the green light had changed to red.

“W-wha-what’s happening?” Honey cried out.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Dr. Hawk replied, his facial expression calm and collected. “She’s just having her daily electrocution.”

“Electrocution?!”

“Yes. The test subjects will usually awake from the simulation about once a day, so this process will keep the Lucid Dream intact for the next day.”

“B-bu-but…” Honey gaped at the mare in the tank, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead. “She’s in pain!”

“Well, yes, but don’t worry, the electrocution only lasts about fifteen minutes.”

Behind them, two more ponies started their muffled screaming too, their lights also turning red.

“We need to do something!”

“And wake them up from their simulations? Surely not.”

“I… I have to… how do I turn it off?!” She reached for a lever, much to Dr. Hawk’s dismay.

“No! Don’t touch —”

CLANK. Honey yanked the lever in a panic, Dr. Hawk watching in horror as the liquid began to drain from the tanks, the machines whirring to life.

Ugh, of course! That’s what I get for telling the intern about the electrocution process… and the conditioning was going so well, too!

“All right, that’s it!” Dr. Hawk bellowed in anger, yanking the lever back in position and shoving Honey to the floor. The whirring immediately came to a halt, the tanks starting to fill up with pink liquid again. “I can’t believe I actually thought I could trust you with this project. We could have made a better Equestria!”

“Y-you’re a monster!!!” Honey screamed back, pulling herself off the lab floor, but the doctor just pushed her back down again. “I will report this to Princess Celestia!”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Dr. Hawk smiled, his eyes glinting evilly. “Besides, why would she care? I’ve always done my research for King Sombra. Oh, did I forget to mention that to you during your interview? That’s too bad, then.”

And with one swift motion, he grabbed Honey by the collar of her lab coat and hurled her into a vacant tank. Slamming the door shut to lock her in, he chuckled wickedly as he watched the terror-stricken intern attempt to claw at the glass barriers with her hooves, her voice cracking from screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Oh, there’s no use for all that noise. You’re trapped, remember? But then again, the anaesthetic pumping through all these pipes will put an end to that soon.”

He made his way to the middle of the lab.

“Now, you’re going to be of much more use to me than any of the other test subjects,” Dr. Hawk declared, typing furiously at his computer. “What was always missing from my simulation was a touch of genuineness, a dash of sincerity. And you…” He finished typing, punching the ‘ENTER’ key with a flourish. “You will serve as that part of the simulation.”

He grinned, looking back at the tank, where Honey Maple was now unconscious, slumped against the glass limply as the pink gunk began to pour into the tank from above.

Oh, everything is going just as I had planned after all. How perfect is this?

Now all we just have to do is collect the new Lucid Dreamer. I’m sure he will love to meet his new wife.

---

Night Ember was still standing out in the snow, feeling pretty foolish.

Maybe I should reconsider shooting my way in. Honestly, that’s pretty much the only plan I can think of.

He loaded his pistol, aimed it at the metal dome and prepared himself to start firing.

“Why, hello there!”

“Gyah!” Night Ember jumped, whirling around to reveal an old, grey-haired unicorn pony in a black lab coat. “Who in Equestria are you?”

“Oh, sorry, did I startle you? I do tend to have that effect on most ponies, I’m afraid,” the unicorn added. “My name is Dr. Obsidian Hawk. And oh — you’re from Celestia’s army, I see!”

“Yes,” Night replied, his eyebrows furrowing into a frown. “And you’re the head of this research facility.”

Dr. Hawk chuckled. “Well, I don’t like to brag… but yes, that’s me!” He stomped on a patch of snow with his hind legs, causing the ground to shake and reveal a hidden trapdoor, which slid open right in front of Night Ember. “Do come in, it’s positively freezing outside!”

“Huh? You’re just letting me in?” Night cocked his head to one side in suspicion. “Aren’t you all on Sombra’s side?”

“Oh, don’t be such a scaredy-pony. Come on in! We have cookies.”