Between the Sun and the Moon

by Psychic Smith

Chapter 13

CHAPTER‌ ‌X‌III

Will waved a hand through the air as the void changed from a beautiful blue sky to a near-perfect recreation of the milky way galaxy. Closing his eyes, he swore he could hear the sounds of the wind over open ocean, the creaking of wood of an old schooner, and with a sniff, he smelt the wonderful smell of ocean seawater.

Opening his eyes, the ship was there, lolling gently on the small waves of a calm sea with no land on the horizon. Standing on the deck of the ship, Will didn’t realize how much he missed this feeling. The calm isolation of a boat underneath a sea of stars. He had only ever lived this once before, and he was able to relive it in the form of a dream.

He remembered the incident with Luna, he remembered the crystal tree, and he remembered… something. Something calling to him. Something that promised that everything would be alright.

It was his only solace when all signs pointed to him laying on his deathbed.

Now here he was, still dreaming. If he was dead, Will surely wouldn’t be able to imagine these dreamscapes he’d been entertaining himself with.

For the most part, Will had been recreating old memories. His house, his neighborhood, the trail where he used to take Buddy for a walk. He tried creating people around him, but they always looked like silent ghosts. They looked like the people or animals they were supposed to be, but it was like watching a black and white silent movie while in the movie himself.

Placing a hand on his chest, Will looked back up at the starry sky, dark aside from the purple cloud-like band of stars that reached high above him. Will felt something within him. Something new pulsing with a gentle warmth. It was like having a second heartbeat. Was he a timelord now?

Ooh. The inside of a TARDIS… now that’s a dreamscape idea.

Will was broken out of his stupor as the moon seemed to shimmer above him, a single ball of light descending onto the deck, solidifying into a familiar shape.

“Princess Luna, I take it this means I’m not dead,” Will chuckled. At first, he blamed Luna for being in a coma for the second time in a month. After ruminating on it, Will realized it was most likely an accident.

“Indeed, thou art still among the living,” Luna said in her usual regal tone. Taking in her surroundings, she nodded in approval of the dreamscape laid out before her. “Quite impressive, thou have nearly mastered the art of manipulating dreams.”

“It doesn’t feel like I’ve done anything differently,” Will shrugged. “Somehow I am just able to do all this now.”

“This is all quite fascinating. We have never seen such a seafaring vessel. And this sky, quite creative.”

“Yeah… I miss these night skies. I’ve only been able to see Earth’s stars like this once on a ship kinda like this one. We call it a schooner.”

Luna was taken aback by that for a moment. “Thine night skies look like this?” She paused for a moment, taking in the sight fully. “We are jealous. Whoever creates thine stars must be quite the artist.”

“Make our stars? What do you mean?”

Luna cocked an eyebrow. “Is there no ruler that creates the night sky? No one to raise Earth's moon?”

Will shook his head. “As I’ve said, no magic on Earth, sadly. Where I come from, the sun and the moon move on their own.” Will waved his hand and a model of the solar system appeared before him. Luna approached, curiosity in her eyes. “They orbit each other going thousands of miles an hour, the gravity of each planet and moon held in orbit by their gravity.” As Will spoke, the model began to move. Luna looked on with rapt attention.

“Pray tell, which one of these spheres is thine Earth?” Luna asked. Will reached into the model, pulling out a blue, green, and white planet from the model, causing it to grow. The clouds on the surface cleared, becoming a globe as the rest of the model faded.

“So this is where thou came from?”

“As I remember it anyway.”

“Truly Fascinating...”

Will took the globe, spinning it around until he placed a finger on a green landmass. “There are over a hundred countries, er- kingdoms on Earth.” As he touched it, black lines outlined the United States. “This is the one I lived in.” Making the sphere larger, lines began spiderwebbing in front of Luna’s eyes. “And the United States is split up into 50 individual states. I live in this one,” Will said, pointing to a small triangle shaped territory on the northeastern coast.

Luna looked at William curiously. He was an impressive dreamer when she had first met him, but Luna didn’t remember him being this good. He was even maintaining the surrounding environment, which William hadn’t been able to do before. It was then she felt it.

Her own magic was such a familiar feeling to Luna that she hadn’t immediately noticed the nearly identical magical aura radiating off of William even in the dreamscape. Suddenly, it all made sense as she put the pieces together.

“William,” Luna began, hesitantly, hoping she wouldn’t say the wrong thing. “We believe that we must inform thee of your current… state.”

Returning his full attention to the alicorn princess, Will was getting nervous. “I’m not dying, am I?”

“No… Quite the opposite actually. Thy recovery has been surprisingly rapid. Thy leg is fully healed now as well.”

“Now that I find hard to believe.”

“Normally, we would agree. But now? Now thou has absorbed a quite large amount of magic. My magic.”

“Forgive me, Princess, but I don’t fully understand.”

Luna chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment thinking. Will found her face to be incredibly adorable, only suppressing any urge to ‘daww’ upon realizing the adorable pony was the ruler of a kingdom.

“Perhaps it would be best if we show thee.” Lighting her horn, an archway appeared in the dreamscape, a shimmering white light emanating from the empty space rippled like water. “Come now, follow close. We’re not certain that this will work, but it should if we are correct in our assumptions.” With that, Luna strode into the archway, disappearing within the rippling light.

Will grumbled to himself. “The last time I listened to you, I ended up in the second coma of my life… At least in a dream, I can’t die… Eh, fuck it.” As he touched the rippling white light of the dream gate, Will was sucked through. It was dark for only a moment, before he felt his feet hit solid ground. Luna stood before him, smiling knowingly, but what he was surrounded by took his breath away.

Surrounding the two dreamers, thousands upon thousands of orbs of light floated in the astral space. Upon closer inspection, Will saw that each light was like a window. Inside of one, he saw a filly playing with a large white bear, in wheat fields that were made of what looked like red licorice. Another showed a mare, Will recognized as one of the castle guards, was resting by a fire, a ghostly representation of a stallion laid next to her, holding the mare in his arms.

“Luna… What is this place?”

Luna chuckled at the human’s look of total awe and wonderment. “Congratulations, young William. Thou hast become the second creature to acquire the ability to dreamwalker.”

“Wait… I’m a what?”

“A dreamwalker, William. One of many things if the rest of our suspicions are correct.” Luna gestured to the world around them. “This is the dreamscape in its entirety. What thou sees when you dream is only a window into a small portion of the larger place. Each light is another pony’s dream. Normally, the common pony cannot see this place, for it requires too much magic and effort to reach this plane. However, if a pony is a lucid dreamer like ourselves, and have the proper magic, they can come here and enter any dream they wish. With enough practice, one dreamwalker can even alter the dreams of the pony he or she visits.”

“Like you did when we first met…”

“Precisely.”

“Wow,” Will said as he watched Luna flap her wings, lifting herself into the air. But, with that one flap, she seemed to float there in mid-air in a similar fashion to every depiction of a spacewalk in movies.

“Now, we believe there is someone who would benefit from knowing that thou art indeed alright.”

Will kicked off of the ground, joining Luna in the air. “Nick? How will we find his dream among all of these others?”

“Simply will the dream to come to thee,” Luna explained. “As a dreamwalker, thou has a more direct connection to the dreamscape. Thine influence can bend the world of dreams to your will.”

“Princess, how is all of this possible? I understand that I now have a piece of your magic in me now, but what will that mean.”

Luna hesitated for a moment. “We don’t truly know the full extent of what will happen to thee,” Luna said solemnly. Should she tell him everything? “With our alicorn magic integrating with thine body, any number of possibilities could become reality. Thou may continue to inherit my abilities, may live hundreds of lifetimes, or it is possible that none of those possible outcomes may come to fruition. Only time will tell.”

Will’s brow furrowed “Huh. It seems like there is a ‘but’ to go along with all of this.”

Luna cringed internally. If she said nothing, she would raise more suspicion, but there was a chance of William being able to see through a lie she could spin. Celestia was always much better at that.

“If we tell thee, thou must not lose thyself to your emotions. Remember, in the dreamscape, thine emotions are amplified and affect the dreamscape around you.”

“You know, the last thing a guy wants to hear when he is suspecting the worst is ‘hey, you’re not going to like what I have to say, but you can’t get mad.”’ Will’s were met with a flat stare from Luna. With a sigh, he prepared himself mentally with a few calming breaths. “Alright, hit me with the truth.”

Even with Will’s promise, Luna wasn’t sure if his words would hold water. “Well, thine body now has the facilities to store and create magic. As time passes, thou might find that thine body will become more reliant on the magic within it. For ponies, magic is about as vital as blood. Do thee see where this may become a problem?” Gaining only a shake of Will’s head, Luna sighed. “Thou said it thyself. Earth is a world without magic. If our magic filled the void in your body in such a rapid manner, imagine what will happen when thou returns home which is itself a magical void.”

Will blinked, breathing deep. Even while dreaming, he felt his heart tighten in his chest. With a long exhale, he closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, he could still feel the presence of all the dreams around him, but everything felt so much colder. And even with the princess right in front of him, Will felt so very alone.

He shoved those feelings aside for the moment, calling out to Nick in his mind. When Will reopened his eyes, he saw a dream floating there. Through the light, he saw Nick’s dream as a pony in military uniform was being stripped of her rank while Nick himself watched. Reaching out, Will paused the scene and dove inside.

Nick was looking around the courtyard. He had been watching all of his hard work come to fruition, and he was about to enjoy watching Sergeant Ironwood’s career crumble around her, all to his own design.

Hey, he’s not a supervillain if she deserves it, right?

Will stepped into the dream, fading in as he materialized. “Wow, somebody must’ve really pissed you off for you to be dreaming about something like this.”

“Huh? Dream? Wait a second, Will? How did you get here?”

“Luna showed me a few things,” Will said with a forced smile. One Nick saw through immediately, but he didn’t push the issue.

“So… we’re sharing a dream now?”

“More like I am paying a visit to yours. Would you mind if I made this a bit more comfortable?”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about, but sure.”

With Nick’s permission, Will waved a hand. He knew the physical gesture wasn’t required since Luna never needed to do it. But making the physical motion helped Will visualize what he wanted. Soon the courtyard was replaced with an enclosed room with bookshelves lining the walls. Some tables appeared, and some wooden chairs around them. A coffee bar came into being along one wall. In one corner, two familiar club chairs appeared with a table and chessboard separating them.

“Woah, trippy,” Nick commented. “Looks just like back home.” He took a seat in one of the club chairs. This was a coffee shop and book store where Nick and Will would frequent. They liked to play a game of chess and talk while sipping strong coffee and warm hot chocolate respectively.

“Just wanted to let you know I’m alive, you know? You have a lot of time to think while in a coma, and not all of those thoughts are… healthy.” Will took his seat, holding his head in his hands.

“Well, I can’t say that you’re alone in that. Celestia tried keeping you a secret from me. Hell, I still have no idea where your body is.” Nick placed a comforting hand on Will’s shoulder. “I was furious with her, but she told me a few things. But it is good to know that you’re still alive and kicking.”

Will chuckled, but the sigh made all traces of a smile disappear. Lowering a hand, Will looked to Nick.

“Hey, question.”

“Shoot.”

“...What if we don’t get to go home…” Will felt his chest tighten as the words left his mouth like he hadn’t felt the weight of their meanings until they left his mouth.

Nick froze. This was dangerous territory. He could see the tears beginning to form in Will’s eyes. “Luna told you, didn’t she. Celestia did warn me about the possibility. Especially with you.”

“Yeah, she did.” Will choked on his words for a moment. “I already miss them. My mom, my dad, Vincent, Jeremy… I want to go back home so badly it hurts.” Tears began rolling down Will’s cheeks. “I miss the house. I miss the small downtown shops. The bike rides... the neighborhood. The trees. The grass. Everything we had… gone.”

“Hey… Will, take a breath. Even if we don’t go home, Luna saved your life. Isn’t that worth something?”

Will’s shoulders slumped. “I’m not sure if it’s even worth it. Living with the pain of wanting something I can’t have. Something I’ve lost… I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Hey! Don’t you dare go there.” Nick’s sharp words caused Will to jerk, meeting his friend’s eyes. “Your life is worth more than that. Sure it’ll suck for a while, but where is that optimistic Will I know?”

Will turned away. Nick kept talking, and he knew Will was still listening.

“C'mon, pick that chin up. I know you! Even if we can’t go home, we can make a new home here.”

“But how can we do that if we are never able to leave the castle? We’ve been kept like caged animals. The only ponies I have really interacted with are Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Clover, and Mending. They’ve been kind so far, but I know not all ponies will accept us.” Nick’s mind immediately went to Ironwood, but Will continued. “We’re not like them. To them, we are outsiders. We are dangerous! In this world, we are aliens.”

Nick stood up, moving in front of Will so that the two friends had no choice but to look into each other’s eyes. Nick reached a hand down to Will.

“Well then, why don’t we prove them wrong?” Nick smiled. “Besides, remember what you told me when we took a drive to Manchester? When we were talking about what we wanted to do most in life, and what we wanted to leave behind.’

Will paused for a moment, a small smile appearing on his lips. “Heh, I forget the exact words, but I think it was something like: ‘I wanna make people smile, whether it was through my artwork or my music.’” Will took Nick’s hand and used it to stand. “Even so, nowadays I think I’m mainly known for sleeping for weeks at a time

Nick shook his head as he laughed. “I know you don’t believe it, but you do have a knack for brightening other people’s days.”

“And here I thought my talent was being weird,” Will chuckled.

“Well, normal is boring.”

“Here here!” Will shouted, raising his fist like he was toasting with a tankard.

In a corner of the dreamscape, Luna watched and listened. She knew that Will hadn’t seen her. After the first time, she knew to make sure she wasn’t seen by Will.

She had heard every word, and her heart ached for Will. A scarred, emotional wound opening at the reveals of such loss. Her eyes held no pity, but instead shimmered in a distraught empathy. Looking to Will, she felt a connection with the strange human apart from the magic he now shared with her.

‘William,’ Luna thought to herself. ‘I understand your pain. I will not allow you to suffer as I did.’

Now, with this new insight, Luna realized how similar the human was to herself. He too had lost all he loved and thrust into unfamiliar lands with no understanding of how this new environment functions. And, like Celestia was to Luna, Nick was acting as William’s emotional anchor.

Luna left the dream, waiting for William to leave as well. Plans began forming in her mind as she waited.

Comments

[Blackdust]

This chapter, man... talking about heartstrings...

[HIEfan]

“You know, the last thing a guy wants to hear when he is suspecting the worst is ‘hey, you’re not going to like what I have to say, but you can’t get mad.”’

I loved that line.

[Marmo]

yes yes yes yes! let the ship sail!