The Apple Of Her Dreams

by Plonq

The Nexus of Dreams

Author's Note:

And then things get a little weird.

It took Applejack's eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness on the other side of the portal, but once they did, she let out an involuntary gasp. The two ponies stood on what looked like a large, stone plateau nestled under more stars than the earth pony had ever seen in her life. As the mare's vision became more attuned, she started to make out dim, milky swirls in amongst the stars, and faintly glowing clouds that varied in hue from pink to blue. Strange, colourful auroras danced around the edges of her vision, quickly fading out whenever she tried to view them directly.

The pony could see the silhouette of buttes and spires against the sky, and far off in the distance she saw a dark stone ramp spiraling lazily up to a large, floating island of rock. The stars visible under the stone path made it uncomfortably apparent that nothing supported it. Applejack felt her stomach lurch when she realized that they were likely standing on a similar island to the one floating in the void overhead, and she was suddenly glad that they were not visibly near an edge.

What had made the breath catch in the mare's throat, though, were thousands of glowing squares slowly drifting hither and fro, just over the surface of the ground. To Applejack, they looked like windows with nebulous, glowing auras for frames. She could see the flicker of movement in most of them. A distant, hushed cacophony of sounds from the glowing portals was all that broke what would otherwise have been an oppressive silence in that strange landscape.

"What is this place?" said Applejack in a reverent whisper. She turned to the princess when she spoke, and her jaw dropped. The tall alicorn's body was wrapped in a soft, pale blue aura that made her stand out from the starry background. On the other hoof, though her mane and tail blew in an imaginary wind, Applejack could not tell where they ended and the starry sky began. The earth pony pointed at the glowing princess, but whatever question she'd been contemplating vanished from her tongue when she saw that she was wrapped in her own faint orange glow.

"This," said Luna, sweeping her right hoof in a large arc, "is The Nexus of Dreams." She leaned closer to the gaping orange mare and used her left hoof to gently push the other pony's mouth closed. "Or, as I call it back in Canterlot," she added with a mischievous gleam in her eye, "my office. Don't mind the auras - you will get used to them."

Applejack took a few, tentative steps forward, turning her head left and right as she tried to take in her ethereal surroundings. "Is this where dreams come from?"

Luna shook her head. "It is not the source of dreams. The Nexus of Dreams is The Dream. Everything here is part of The Dream - including us." At the other pony's blank stare, the princess scrunched up the side of her face in thought and then spoke slowly as if she were simplifying the explanation as much as possible. "It is the embodiment of every dream that is, was, or ... shall be."

Applejack's eyes went even wider. "Yer blowin' mah mind, princess," she said. "Are ya sayin' that you can find dreams here that ain't happened yet?"

"I might - in theory," said Luna, laughing lightly, "if I had another couple of thousand more years to study The Nexus. I fear the future is revealed to me at the same speed as it is to other ponies for now, Applejack."

The orange pony looked around herself again before a seed of realization sprouted deep in her gut. "Wait, all them floatin' squares are other ponies' dreams," she said. Before Luna could answer her, Applejack trotted over to a green-bordered one that was floating by at her height. As she neared it, she could begin to resolve sounds emanating from the portal. She heard the distinct shriek and laugher of a filly and colt, and as she peered into the portal she saw the latter chasing the former around the yard with a water-spewing garden hose.

"Wait..." called Luna, raising a hoof pointlessly as the other mare dashed past her toward a blue-glowing portal.

"Hey, it's Rainbow Dash," said Applejack excitedly as she peered into the portal. "And there's ... what in the hay is Twilight wearin'...?"

Luna brushed the portal away with a quick blush and an imperious wave of her hoof. "It is impolite to pry into the dreams of others without cause," she said primly. She gave a flick of her head to direct Applejack away, but the other pony hesitated.

"Ah was just wondering if all them colours mean something," said Applejack.

Luna gave a curt nod. "They do," she said. "The red dreams are nightmares. I think you know what the blue ones are. Green frames are happy dreams." She swept another hoof in an arc encompassing most of the nearby frames. "I am pleased to see that most of them are in shades of green. A princess can learn a lot about the state of the kingdom from the colour of its dreams."

"Ah bet," said Applejack. She leaned slightly to her left and squinted past the tall princess. "What's that white square back there? How come it ain't one of the colours like the other ones?"

Luna winked and cracked an inscrutable, lopsided grin. "There is one way to find out," she said cryptically as she stepped to the side and indicated toward the portal with another quick motion of her head.

Applejack cast an askance look at the princess as she took the royal's hint and cantered past her toward the white square. The mare wondered if she would live long enough to understand the workings of this enigmatic princess. Had the princess not just scolded her for looking into dreams before tacitly inviting her to do exactly that? The moment that the orange pony peered into the white portal, she understood.

Inside the white portal stood a glowing, orange pony with a yellow mane and hat, standing on a stone plane and peering into a white portal in which stood a glowing, orange pony with a yellow mane and hat, standing on a stone plane... She turned excitedly back toward the princess.

"Hey, that's me!"

"Hey, that's me!"

"Hey, that's me!"

The echoes faded quickly, but it still startled Applejack. She pushed back her hat and whirled back toward the portal.

"What the hay?"

"What the hay?"

"What the hay?"

Luna tapped Applejack on the shoulder, and when the mare turned, the princess held up a hoof to her lips. "We should move away from here," she whispered.

"...from here."

"...from here."

Once they had walked a few dozen paces from the white portal, Applejack dared to speak again in a hushed voice. "Was there somethin' wrong with that one?"

"No," said Luna with a shrug. "But the echoes were very distracting." Applejack snorted at that, but she walked in silence beside the princess for many minutes, taking in the sights as they went. After some time, it became apparent that the seemingly random gaps between the boulders and small buttes on the jagged island were actually part of a road ... of sorts. They stopped as they rounded the edge of a particularly large boulder, and Applejack spied something tiny and blue glowing in the distance.

Princess Luna frowned slightly as she looked between her companion and the small blob of light in the distance. The tall princess finally sighed. "Applejack," she said, "might I ask a small favour of you?"

"Ah suppose," said the orange pony aloofly. "Mah slate's pretty full right now, Princess, but ah might be able to fit ya in for somethin' quick."

Luna's mouth turned up into a wan grin that did not quite make it to her eyes. "You are not the only pony with me in The Nexus this night," she said. She pointed toward the soft glow in the distance. "Little Thunder Wing is alone here, and I think he would appreciate a friendly pony to talk with for a short time. I must take my leave to attend to some important tasks."

"Aw, the poor little guy's all alone?" said Applejack, holding a hoof over her heart. "Of course Ah'll go an' keep him company," she said. The princess surprised the orange mare with a respectful, spread-wing bow of thanks before launching herself into the dark sky.

It only took the earth pony a minute to canter over to the distant glow, which slowly resolved itself into a little blue pegasus colt as she neared.

The colt obviously saw her approaching because he was sitting motionless, eyes locked on her while he held a forgotten, oversized toy block between his hooves. As Applejack drew nearer, she saw he was building a ring around himself, taking blocks from a loose pile of them scattered around outside his little wall.

"Hi," she said, stopping just outside of the colt's construction.

"You're not Princess Luna," said Thunder Wing. Now that she could see him up close, Applejack noted that the colt was a slightly lighter shade of blue than Rainbow Dash, with a tawny mane.

The mare doffed her hat and knelt politely on one leg. "Applejack, at yer service," she said. "The princess had some things to do and asked me to come and keep ya company for a bit."

"Hello Applejack," said Thunder Wing in a very somber tone. He put his brick on one of the lower parts of his wall, frowned at it critically and then bumped it a couple of inches to the left. "Are you dreaming too?"

"Ah suppose I am," said Applejack after a moment of thought. She had not really considered that earlier, but based on what Luna had said, it made sense.

"Will you help me build my wall?"

"Of course ah will," said Applejack. "Just tell me what ya need and ah'll get it for ya."

They worked together for a few minutes, with their only exchanges being about bricks.

"This one?"

"No, that one."

"Ya mean this one?"

"No, that that one."

Applejack helped the colt to complete two full rings on his wall before she paused and leaned an elbow on a medium-sized block. As she interacted with the colt, she was struck by his very serious demeanour. The mare was also a little puzzled by his single-mindedness about building a wall. "This is a mighty fine fort yer buildin'," she said, "but it looks like ya ain't leavin' yourself a door to get out," she said amicably.

The colt looked left and right around himself and then shrugged. "Naw," he said in the same, dull monotone he'd been using since she arrived. "I don't want anything getting in or out. It's my fortress of sol... uh, not letting anything in or out."

"Fortress of solitude," offered the mare.

"Yeah, that," said the colt, nodding solemnly. "Could you please pass me the block you're leaning on, miss?"

Applejack picked up the block and lifted it over the wall to the colt. "So, little pardner, are ya buildin' a wall to protect all them fillies from you, or to keep somepony out?"

Thunder Wing did not answer at first. He gave the block that the other pony had given him a long, critical look before he set it down beside himself and began rearranging some of the pieces already in the wall. "I'm keeping bad stuff out," he said finally.

"What kinda bad stuff?" asked the mare as she sensed a new opening in their conversation. As his fortress grew taller, the colt's armour seemed to be lowering. "It must be pretty big an' bad if ya need to build such a tall wall."

"The bad stuff that makes me sick," said Thunder Wing in the same matter-of-fact tone. "The thing that makes it hurt to breathe, and makes my tummy sore and pukey all the time, and makes it so that I'm too weak to go out and play and just want to sleep all the time."

"Oh!" said Applejack, clasping her hooves to her muzzle in horror, "ya poor little feller!"

"It's okay," said the colt. "It doesn't hurt when I'm asleep, and I sleep all the time now. I was having really scary dreams, but Princess Luna brought me here and I don't have them now." The young pony cocked his head and held a hoof up to his ear. "I think the wall needs to be higher," he said calmly. "I can still hear my folks crying."

If one had been listening very closely, they might have heard the audible sound of the mare's heart breaking. Though she was not one to shed tears, Applejack's voice sounded unusually thick when she spoke again.

"Thunder Wing," she croaked, "can Ah give ya a hug?"

The colt appeared to weigh the request. "Okay," he finally replied the same, flat sober tone. He put down the block he'd been cradling and reared up on his hind legs, holding his front legs up over his head.

Applejack reached over the block barricade for the colt, but in spite of her best efforts, she managed to dislodge a couple of the blocks with his rear hooves as she lifted him over the wall. If Thunder Wing was bothered by the unintentional act of vandalism, he showed no reaction to it.

"Ya poor thing," said Applejack softly as she hugged the little colt tight to her chest and gently rocked him back and forth.

"I hope this helps you to feel better," said the tiny pony. "You're really nice, and I hate to see you sad."

"This helps ... a bit," said Applejack as she clung to him tightly. The mare heard a soft scuff of hoof on stone from behind and turned quickly, still clutching the colt. Luna stood a few paces away, quietly watching the interaction of the other two ponies.

"I have returned," announced the princess needlessly. "I did not want to interrupt this moment, but time is growing short, and I need for Thunder Wing to accompany me now."

"Luna." Rather than releasing the colt, Applejack clutched him a little tighter and half-turned protectively from the tall princess. "He needs our help. There must be something we can do for him."

The alicorn shook her head and maintained a neutral expression. "I'm sorry Applejack, but everypony who can help him has done everything within their abilities. He is beyond the power of any pony to help him now."

"It's okay, Miss Applejack," said the colt. His voice was slightly muffled as the talked through the larger pony's chest fur. "I'm not afraid to go with Princess Luna."

"It's not okay," said Applejack, giving him a squeeze. "There must be something we can still do."

"Applejack," said Luna sternly. "His time in this dream is over. It is time for him to move on to the next dream."

"I don't like the sound of that," said the orange pony darkly. "What exactly are ya sayin', Princess?"

Luna tilted her head slightly, and her expression turned a little cooler. Her eyes bored into the other mare, and when she spoke it was in a slightly clipped, disapproving tone. "Applejack, you are one of the smartest ponies I have met. You know exactly what I am saying."

"He's so young," protested Applejack. "It ain't fair."

"It's okay," said Thunder Wing again. "You can put me down now. I'm ready to go. I'm not afraid."

The orange mare gave a long sigh and squeezed the colt a final time before she reluctantly lowered him to the ground. He shook out his mane, flexed his wings and then turned to address the dark mare.

"I am ready to go now, Princess," he said calmly.

"You can call me Luna," said the alicorn.

"I am ready to go now, Princess Luna."

Luna sighed. "Just Luna," she amended.

The colt looked perplexed for a moment and then shrugged. "I am ready to go now Princess Just Luna."

The princess blinked, and then in spite of herself, the corner of her mouth turned up into a grin. Even Applejack felt the workings of a tiny smile forming on her own muzzle.

The colt took a couple of steps toward the princess and then stopped, looking quickly back at Applejack. "Can my new friend come too?"

Luna looked at the orange mare, and then shook her head at the colt. "No, Thunder Wing, I am afraid she cannot go where you are going."

"Can't she come with us part way?" insisted the young pony. "She can come with us until the part where I have to go on alone."

One side of the princess's face turned down into a frown, and she bit her lip with indecision as she considered the request. She glanced up at Applejack and then shrugged in defeat. "Very well, she can come with us until you have to go ahead on your own."

As Luna turned to leave, Applejack moved up to walk in stride with her while Thunder Wing pranced along between the two adults. They walked without speaking for a bit until the colt broke the silence.

"Princess Just Luna..." he began, but Applejack stopped him with a quick poke in his ribs.

"She meant that ya can just call her Luna," she said in a loud whisper.

"Oh!" said Thunder Wing. "Luna, what's this next dream going to be like?"

"I do not know," said the princess, "but it is said to be a place free of hurt and sorrow."

"Will I still be sick there?"

"No," said Luna. She glanced down at the little colt. "There is no sickness in the next dream."

The colt seemed to consider this, and he went silent again for a bit. "Will there be ice cream?"

"Yes," said Luna. Applejack glanced over at the princess because she was certain she'd heard the other pony's voice break slightly, but the other mare's expression remained neutral. "I am sure there will be ice cream," said the alicorn. She turned left abruptly and led them down a tight path that Applejack would not have noticed if Luna had not taken it.

The path was not long, but it wound tightly through the rocks and under a few oddly-carved stone arches. They were the first unnatural stonework that Applejack had seen since she had arrived in The Nexus, and she wished that she could have spent some time examining them. Shortly, they arrived in a small clearing, a few steps from a low stairwell that led to an odd doorway.

Luna stretched out a wing and gently pressed it to Applejack's chest, stopping the other mare in her tracks. "We go no farther," she said. The three of them stood in silence for a few moments. Luna simply stared blankly ahead, but Applejack and Thunder Wing both took in the odd sight. A finely-hewn staircase rose up seven steps to a small platform, in the middle of which was a free-standing arch. The arch was lined with fine tracery and pictographic runes that meant nothing to Applejack. Light radiated from its centre, and the interior churned with a swirl of iridescent clouds.

Thunder Wing squared his shoulders. "I guess this is it," he said. He turned and bowed to the princess. "Thank you, Luna."

"You are welcome, Thunder Wing," said the princess with a polite dip of her head.

The colt turned to Applejack. "It was really nice to meet you," he said. He reached up and let Applejack give him a final embrace. As soon as she pulled him close, he tilted his head up and whispered, "I think Princess Luna needs a hug too. She seems really sad."

"Ah bet," said Applejack with a soft, dry chuckle.

As soon as the mare released him, the colt bounded off to the stairs and stopped at the bottom of them. He turned back again. "Princess," he said, "before I leave, can I wake up once more to say goodbye to my folks?"

"You already said goodbye," said Luna, "it is your parents who still have to say goodbye to you, Thunder Wing." Applejack almost missed it when the princess cast a quick glance at her before she addressed the colt again. "They will learn how to say goodbye ... in time."

"Will I see them again?"

"Yes," said Luna.

Satisfied, the young pony turned and slowly picked his way up the stairs, one step at a time, stopping to marvel at them with each pace. When he finally reached the platform at the top, he turned to face the two mares again. Applejack was sure that he was going to ask another question, but the colt simply raised his right hoof in a big, exaggerated wave and then loped through the portal.

And just like that, he was gone.

"Princess Luna," said Applejack slowly. She looked over at the princess who was staring impassively at the empty portal. "Will Ah be goin' through that portal too?"

"Yes," said Luna softly. She turned and met the orange mare's gaze. "Eventually all of us will, Applejack, but now is not your time. Not today."

Without warning, the princess's eyes flared as bright as the sun. Applejack let out a yelp of surprise and threw up her leg to protect her eyes from the glare. She blinked and peeked around the edge of her leg to find herself looking into the mid-morning sun that found a crack in her drapes.

Three things occurred to Applejack at that moment: the dream was over, she was in her own bed, and she had slept in very, very late.

Comments

[Vaguely Demented]

That was a kick to the feels.