Pandemic: Starting Over

by Halira

Chapter 79: Questions in Dreams

It took a while to question all the ponies. I wasn't sure how much information I gained from my efforts. The story was always the same. They were at home, and they woke up in a cell. Some of them claim to have been struck; some had already been asleep. Those that had been struck reported they had heard barking before everything went black. Most were taken by themselves, and two groups had been taken as a pair.

The teenaged colt, an earth pony with dark khaki fur and a short mane, named Wallace— he wouldn't give any other name, so I was unsure if that was his first name, middle name, or his last name— was fairly closed-mouthed. He wasn't a Blessingist, Harmonist, Shimmerist, or Lunite, and he wasn't discussing what powers he had that had put him on the government's radar. He said he had been sleeping and woke up in the cell and had refused to say where he had been sleeping before his abduction. He had a generally bad attitude, and I wondered why he had even agreed to meet me in a dream if he was going to be so difficult.

Malcomb and Silvia had been taken not long after we left the house, at least from what they described. We had spent the whole day out with them terrified in a dark cell. It was a horrible feeling, knowing that.

Eventually, there was nothing left I could think to ask, and the prisoners dispersed. However, they weren't returning to normal dreams. They were getting to talk to friends and family that were worrying about them. This was part of Ghadab's service. It wasn't a huge comfort for anyone, but it was something. At least their families got to know they were still alive, and while they knew that, there was still hope.

I was returned to my wife's temple, looking at her sit on her throne. I was again put off by how different she was. My Tonya would never put herself on a throne. There was also the term Ghadab called her, sycophant. That term implied that her aid to others and insistence on being a servant were not wholly genuine and were a means to an end. My wife had an agenda, and I had no idea what it was.

She gave me a sad look. "I trouble you, don't I?"

I shook my head. "No, you're fine."

The butt of her staff hit the ground, and she frowned. "You can't lie to me, Sunset. I don't even need to read your mind to know you're fibbing. Speak up, ask the question that is on your mind."

I licked my lips. "What is your agenda, Arbiter?"

Her head tilted slightly. "You didn't call me Tonya that time."

"Tonya didn't have agendas," I replied in a low voice.

"Fair enough," she said coolly as she leaned back into her throne. "My motives aren't insidious. I simply want to make the world a better place, maybe not perfect, but better. I have a long-term plan for this, one that will take longer than you will likely live. It will involve many baby steps to get there, nudging things to go the ways I want them to go. Most live short lives, too short to keep at their work and see it through, but I have at least a little more time than most. It might not matter; if we don't defeat the Devourers, there is no future for me to help make better. I work towards it anyway. You have to always believe there's a tomorrow, even if someday tomorrow never comes. It helps keep me sane and caring."

I looked down at the floor. "You sound like me before everything went to shit. Long-term plans to make the world a better place."

"I suppose," she agreed. "I should note, you were very effective at what you did for as far as it went. I have the wisdom of countless dead civilizations, so I might be a slightly better guiding hand. I have no aspirations towards governing. I want to make better leaders, help leaders make better choices, and try to tear down the walls that divide people. I don't want to see the world tear itself apart. I want the old cycles of hatred to come to an end. I don't think that is much different than the desires of any other decent person out there. I have a position where I might make more of a difference. What is power if you don't use it to try to make things better? I could cry about the life that I lost, but that doesn't help anyone. I'm a Dreamwarden, and I intend to make use of that to give others a better life."

"And all the others are on board with your grand plans?" I asked.

She gave a frustrated snort. "The others think like night ponies, concerned only with protecting and enforcing the rules. They do little things based on their interests and backgrounds, little services, but they think too small. The only one that has any interest in helping guide the world is Phobia, and she is only concerned with guiding it to combat the Devourers. Don't get me wrong, that's the most pressing issue, but I like to think beyond that. I can only get so much support from their generation and shall hope the next generation of Dreamwardens see things more my way."

"And what is your way?" I asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

She gestured around us. "The dream. Imagine it, Sunset. Everyone a dreamwalker. Everyone in the world able to talk to one another with no language barriers. Everyone able to see each other's hopes and dreams and know them as people and not just faces and names. The internet was supposed to do this, but it failed because it made everyone anonymous. There shall be no people hiding behind fake personas here."

"A little idealistic, I think," I said as I considered. "Your system might work for a while, thanks to the Dreamwardens monitoring it, but at some point, all the current Dreamwardens, even you, will be replaced by new, living Dreamwardens. Living Dreamwardens don't have the power of the undead ones. There is no way they would keep up with moderating it all."

"Then we just have to make sure there is always one of us that is dead," Arbiter replied. "Someone will need to take one for the team in each generation, to do what needs to be done. It's far better that one person gets sacrificed to the eternal dream every few centuries than let chaos ensue."

"Is your wife boring you with talks of her big ambitions?" Yinyu cut in as she swam through the pillars. "She'd work us all to death… again if she had her way." Yinyu swam between Tonya and myself. "Anyway, she's wasting time, and you're being an idiot. It would be best if you were asking us a different question. One you should have asked us last night."

I blinked in confusion. "What should I have asked last night?"

Yinyu groaned. "Are you going to make me spell it out for you? Fine, I'll go as far as I can go. I'll give you a hint, and you figure out the right questions to ask. Please remember the rules and not ask us questions you know we aren't allowed to answer."

Our surroundings shifted, and we were now out in the ruined chapel building on the manor grounds. The red mass of agitated thaumic energy I saw yesterday was swirling right where it had been before.

Okay, they had information about this. Of course they did; they were Dreamwardens. What were the right questions?

"I'm assuming that's how the perpetrators are getting to and from places. What is it?" I asked.

"Can't tell you. Try a different question," Yinyu replied.

I hate Dreamwarden rules, but there had to be some loophole. Otherwise, Yinyu wouldn't be doing this. Asking who was making it was definitely out according to their rules.

"Without telling me what, do you know what causes that phenomenon?" I asked as I tried again.

Yinyu smiled. "A little better. Yes, yes, we do. You'll still need to ask more careful questions."

Okay, where were the loopholes in getting information? "The dead have no secrets. Have any dead mages cast anything that produced a similar result?"

"Yes," Yinyu replied. "I can't tell you what it is still, in this case. Think carefully on your questions."

Why did they have to be so complicated? No wonder no one used the Dreamwardens as a resource.

I sat silently, staring at the patch of red, and trying to think of how to get around the rule and find the loophole. It felt like minutes were passing, but time was a funny thing in the dream realm. Yinyu and my wife sat in silence, waiting on me. This thing was unfamiliar to Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, two of the best mages there were. I knew I had never seen anything like it. Yet, it had a history.

"How long ago did the last mage who died and had at some point cast something that left this effect last live?" I asked.

Yinyu smiled. "One-thousand and thirty years ago."

There were no mages on Earth at that time, and there may not have been any in our universe. That meant it was Equestria, and there were only two beings that had been alive that long over there. Beings that may be familiar with old magics that Twilight Sparkle was not, and one of whom the Dreamwardens shared memories with. But if neither of the Dreamwardens before me could answer, that must mean the one who cast it is still alive, so it would violate their rules to tell me directly because it was something they learned within the dream realm. So I couldn't just contact my daughter; I had to go to the source, Luna.

I knew what I needed. I needed to word my request carefully still.

I faced the two Dreamwardens. "Can you get a message to Luna? I need to see her, in the waking world, urgently. Make sure she knows I need her face-to-face when I'm awake. A dream won't work."

Yinyu giggled. "What do you know. You are smart. We will get an agent to send a message as soon as possible."

Hopefully, my teacher would arrive quickly and give me a much needed lesson.

Author's Note:

Lots of little details in a short chapter that are worth paying attention to.

Comments

[Gargon94]

That last bit there makes me feel like Luna has been to Earth at some point in the past. When and for what reason? We don't know yet, but we will find out in future chapters.

[KeePony]

We do know Starswirl the bearded did. Also he taught Luna and Celestia.

[badninja]

Why do I think the bearded one is going to behind this? I hope someone gives him a swift kick to his rear for this.