Chapter 46: Vesper
There were lots of things Vesper could do while docked in a friendly town of ponies. The temptation to go out into the world to meet them was almost irresistible, matched by only one thing: her exhaustion.
Getting the Bright Hawk away from discovery by griffon pirates was no simple task, no more than staying up the long hours necessary to make sure it happened. So however much she wanted to go down into the little pony town and see the creatures it contained, her need for rest took precedence.
So it was that Vesper found her way to the Dreamlands once again. She descended the steps, passed through the gate, and soon was back in slumbering lands unknown. She could easily have drifted there, waiting for Princess Luna to discover her. But waiting for others to decide her fate had never really worked well for her.
Besides, Vesper didn't think anypony else would be rescuing her from Equestria. If she left, it would be because she found a way out, and chose to use it.
Tonight, she was in a strange place—a library, like so many others. But this one had books that were each a single sheet of glass, that revealed their contents only when fitted into special projectors. She searched with some eagerness, though at first she did not know where she was and what she might be looking for.
Eventually she came to a sign, carved into the same glass as the many books. Some things she knew without knowing where that information came from. But other things she could only guess at.
Letters and symbols blurred together before her eyes in simple, untempered chaos. Every time she looked, the sign said something else. I wish you would make sense. She wished it with all her might, just as she had wished for air when ascending far above the heights that she could breathe.
It was the same process—the same magic. Letters settled into place 'Akilineq Archive of Remembrance: General Section'
Vesper lifted into the air, feeling at the glass plate with one wing. The letters here were straight and short, each one like a bone carved by thin fingers. Yet she could still read them.
"I'd ask you what you were doing here," said Pale Light, his voice already one shade into annoyed. "But I know you won't tell me."
There was another bat at her feet, looking up. She waved, then settled down beside him. She landed without tripping over herself this time, or spraying bits of trash and debris from the library around them.
She had clarified the words of a single sign, but that didn't mean the rest of the place was in good shape. Shelves had fallen over completely, their glass contents shattered. Others were vanished in something thick and white, that flooded whole floors of this strange library.
A glow shone in through the windows, more than enough for bat eyes to see everything she could possibly want. One of the advantages of her strange new body.
"That's the opposite how this works," she said. "You're the one who goes from place to place, searching for something you won't describe, never telling me what it is so I can help you find it. All I do is ask so that I can be more useful. Or in rare cases, make myself so annoying you have no choice but to tell me the truth."
He chuckled, but avoided her gaze. "One day, maybe. How's your practice on that side going? I would usually assume that things are going well if I haven't seen someone in a long time. But tracking time between worlds is tricky."
And you're changing the subject already. It wasn't that Vesper didn't already suspect it. But this was as good as confirmation. Her friend was actively hiding things from her. Yet not everything. "Your advice saved my life," she said. "I summoned some air when I needed it to breathe. What else can I bring from the world of dreams?"
He turned, apparently satisfied that his distraction had worked. Suddenly he was feigning disinterest again, looking away from her. "Almost anything that would appear in a dream. Objects are the easiest—easier the less magic they take, or the less complex they are to visualize. Places are a little harder. Whole houses or mansions from the Dreamlands can be brought into the world for a short time."
He trailed off as they approached a hallway, flooded with snow. "Hardest of all, people. To dream of life, and find that life made real. These are fleeting, and last for moments compared to the other kinds of dreams. But they can be the most powerful."
"People," she repeated. Not ponies. "People can be... you can't make people. That's one of the two things that only a god can do—creating people, and bringing the dead back to life. Entries one and two on deific resume. Every other domain has been taken by technology... or magic."
He shrugged. "Then every sleeper is a god unto their own dreams. The Dreamlands are populated by uncounted billions, many shaped by dreamers. Those dreamed by many take form, substance, coherence here in the dreaming. Others are crafted specifically by powerful dreamers, creations with a purpose. Our princess of dreams has made nightmares to torment the wicked, and urge them to repentance. She has made soldiers to patrol dreams for evil intruders. She has made messengers and scholars and many other things, by her will. Powerful dreamers could do likewise."
If Vesper was a permanent resident of this world, she would probably want to learn everything she could, just say whatever she could to get the creature talking and keep him that way. But for now, what mattered most to her was practicality. She needed reasons.
And if I made anyone, I would be their god. I can't claim to have all their answers when I don't even have any for myself. She would just have to be careful never to use that particular power.
"What about something else. You said I could learn to cross worlds without a Worldgate, didn't you? Through sleepers?"
He nodded. "What matters is the strength of your connection to the one who sleeps. Your sympathy, it is called. Children are the strongest, your mate is the next, then your siblings and parents. Lastly, your friends, extending in a web that fades into eternity. The weaker the connection, the harder it will be to use the bond."
She slumped to the floor, right in front of an empty hallway. As she did, harsh white lights came on, illuminating more shelves of flat glass books. Could she read them, the same way she read the sign? "That sounds like a completely useless power, then. Nobody has friends in multiple worlds. You could never discover new horizons that way either, only return to places you've already been."
He shrugged. "And you're saying that wouldn't be a useful ability? Supposing you had friends in many worlds, you could travel freely between them. More importantly, don't you have connections in that other world—the one you're so eager to return to? Who cares if the power could discover anything new. It could bring you home."
You want me to take the bait. Yet you've only told me about it now. "I'm... cautiously optimistic," she said. "I would feel a little better if it wasn't for a disaster I just went through last night, one I'm afraid will repeat itself as soon as I use this power. I found a Worldgate that led to my world without changing me back into a human being. There's no point in going back there if I don't get my old self back. That's... kinda part of the appeal."
Pale Light circled around her once, before resting one wing on her shoulder. "Are you certain you care about that? Before that, remember where you are. This is the dreaming, where words are given substance. Lie here at your peril."
She didn't shove him off. Whatever else could be said about him, she had approached Pale Light, over weeks. This was no careful scheme to gradually catch and trap her. "So maybe I don't care much. Maybe I'm equally happy this way, or with my memories. I want to be standing at the threshold with a choice. I want to make it, without anyone pressuring me."
Pale Light laughed. "If you get it, let me know. You will the first creature in existence to tell reality what to do."
She shrugged. "I don't mind being the first. Now how can I practice summoning things? I'm really not interested in summoning people. But if I could bring a gun in a pinch, that would be fantastic. Just tell me what to do."
He did. They continued together for what felt like days, though it couldn't have been that long. Time was always like that in the Dreamlands, a strange blur that never quite made sense no matter how she looked at the clock.
But eventually she did wake up, to the scraping of ship against the ground, and a sudden lurch forward. They were airborne again, suddenly enough that she nearly toppled out of her narrow bunk.
Vesper groaned, shaking away the delirium of sleep. It was nearly nightfall outside, with only a few last wisps of daylight left. A perfectly comfortable time to be waking up. Too bad the others wouldn't let her sleep in more often.
She followed her nose to the helm, where Blake was directing their ascent. She probably could've guessed that from the inexpert takeoff, though she wouldn't say as much. "Hey! Learn anything fun in the pony city?"
He glanced to the side, but curiously Galena wasn't there. Unusual for the bird not to be around with more of a hand in navigation. Maybe this was the next stage in Blake's training. "A few things. There's no way out here, we're stuck with the Worldgates. But we did get some useful info for the one in Canterlot, so that's something. It's... less known than some. They didn't even think it was down there. But the old story about why they stopped digging doesn't check out with me. Greedy unicorns ran out of gemstones? Good moral lesson, not so much good economics. Otherwise they'd be filling the nearby mountains with holes too, looking for more. They didn't."
He tapped something wedged into the instruments—a thick-covered book? Strange how much of Vesper's life seemed to turn on what knowledge was hidden inside. She flipped through the pages, revealing old maps, pictures of pony miners, and cart layouts.
"Doesn't seem like this is the kind of place they'd want us poking around," she said, slipping it back into the shelter he'd found in the instrument panel. "No government back home would leave somewhere like that open."
"None does here either," he said, keeping both hooves on the wheel. "But they do guided tours. We'll go down with one of those and slip away. You, me, and any more talent we think we need."
"The whole team, obviously," Vesper said, without thinking. "That's how we do things, right? We go together into places people don't want us. We take good pictures, and we put them up online."
He nodded absently. "Sure. Maybe I can talk Galena into staying behind for the next one. Leaving the ship while we were out in the middle of nowhere was one thing. But we'll be in Equestria's capital city. Even if there's no fear of pirate attacks, we could still just have someone steal the damn ship. Assuming Canterlot is half as bad as DC..."
"Ponies? I'm not sure they're capable... of making a city like that." She took a few steps away from him, leaning over the railing. Certainly she wasn't posed any particular way—she was just looking down at Ponyville fading below them, trying to take in the sights she hadn't got to examine in person.
"Oh, here." She reached to one side, then tossed something to him. "Think you dropped this earlier."
Blake caught it in one hoof, then stared down in disbelief. "Shit, where did you get this?" He turned it over in one hoof. A perfect recreation of Captain Jack Sparrow's cap, complete down to the little metal beads and the cracked leather.
"Same place as the last time. Only now I'm pretty sure I can do it on command. Or... hoping I can? Let's both hope I can." She snatched it out of his hooves with her wings, then lifted briefly into the air to settle it onto his head. "Perfect, just like that. Our brave captain is ready to sail us into battle."
"How about sail us to a safe port that wants to let us visit," he said. "The Bright Hawk isn't really rated for battles.
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Practice makes perfect, it seems. One baby step at a time, and you'll get the good stuff sooner or later (interpret that as you will
).
Either Janet's assumption that using too much magic permanently contaminates them to the point where they can never go back is correct, or it's not.
Sooner or later, they're all going to find out whether her guess was right. Perhaps too late for Vesper to make that choice when she gets the opportunity to decide--Vesper will learn the decision has already been made.
Vesper's powers is so damn powerful... Damn, that has potential.
If fate gives you godlike powers, you might as well get good at using it. Vesper shouldn't have much trouble at all with that.
There will be a point where they will return to her. I wonder what Luna can give them.
If that's the sort of power a dreamer could potentially have then existence could simply be a dream. Everything embedded in the Dreamlands. One can go further and say since the dreams themselves could dream it's possible a nested universe could form. Vesper could easily be the next link in the chain at this rate.
Certainly a princess in all but name. If Discord doesn't know you yet, he will soon.
Practice makes perfect.
This is actually a good time to see Luna. At the very least confirm her existence and maybe get some answers and help. The possibility of making your journey in the caverns more legal is also a plus.
Not yet, but with little miss armory over here...
I really wonder if we're ever going to learn what Pale Light is looking for in the dreamworld. Vesper really doesn't seem worried about the consequences of overuse of her magic but that's hardly new. Blake's asessment is right since we know there are gemstones let in the old mines makes youw onder why the worldgate made them stop or maybe it's because of a guardian beast like the one in the catacombs of Paris.
this reminds me of a book, "waking in dreamland".
i think it's by Jody Lynn Nye.
Something, something, Venser's Diffusion.
And so the question becomes when, not if.
Hmm. That is an interesting point. Of course, when they exhausted those mines, it's possible Celestia put her hoof down on the matter of opening up more.
Heh. Don't let the locals hear you about that. Especially not the diarchs.
In any case, this should get very interesting indeed. I can only imagine what the other bats will make of Vesper.
10906643
Well, honestly there's a lot of possible reasonable explanations for why the mountains around Canterlot aren't full of gem mines. Perhaps they did explore for new prospects and just didn't find any. Maybe Canterlot is basically by itself and there aren't any mountains nearby (that's what the official map makes it look like, anyway). Possibly when the mines shut down the market conditions didn't justify opening up a bunch of new mines anyway. Conceivably without a large labor pool next door, any other mines wouldn't be competitive. That's just what I could think of in a few minutes...
10906643 Sometimes, the gods of our dreams are strange indeed.
10906494
It's too powerful. It's literally Reality Warping MORE POWERFUL than even anything DISCORD could ever do. Cause even Discord is confined by his powers being Chaotic and dispelled easily by Harmony. But Dream to Reality power is so fundamentally strong, it would be the 'Same' power as the Comic version of the Scarlet Witch, when she went crazy with insanity and her perspective of what was real and what was a dream was so obscured, that she whispered 'No More Mutants', and wiped out nearly Mutants across the ENTIRE DC Multiverse, because she lost touch with reality for a little about a day or two.
You could bring the dead back to life, change someone fundamentally, create a new person, create a clone with the same powers as you or even one with more powerful powers than you. Heck, you could dream into reality that YOU have more powers and control. The Author isn't putting any kinda limit, it's literally only limited my imagination, and thus in the hands of the right people, could destroy all realities that ever exist.
It's far, far too powerful. She is literally now a Deus Ex Machina, she solves all problems. She can LITERALLY Dream up a Working, Functional Worldgate at any time now, to go to any destination, and set it to bring them back as humans. She is effectively able to solve the 'story' right now, right this very second, but just isn't imaginitive to try and do so and instead just makes a hat for her boyfriend, cause she is so simple minded.
10906949
This does slightly ignore the part about more complicated or powerful things being harder to do. If I remember correctly in previous chapters it was also explained that you need a fundamental understanding of how the thing you want to make works, which greatly limits what you can do without academic study (image trying to make a living being without working organs?). Vesper's abilities certainly have unlimited potential and could be turned into a deus ex machina, but we do still have soft limits in place to slow in down. Assuming that the writing doesn't make a 180 turn I doubt we will see anything of incredible magnitude without a time skip.
10906984
So your saying, for say the hat, she knew exactly the materials used, the exact makeup, the exact dimensions of every single piece attached to the hat, along with every single stat, number, and dimension of an 02 Tank, down to the exact atoms inside, in the exact ratio, Not estiments or guesses but the EXACT number of atoms, down to how to make and shape the plastic, and so on?
The requirements, don't match up with the ability. It seems more like the more you can picture it into reality, it doesn't matter if you know how it works or not, you make it work through the power of dreams. Cause realistically, not even a Diver would know the exact dimensions, compensitions, and how to make a diving suit and giving tank and all the setup for it. And yet this guy, who's life is just wandering around into caves and dangerous places, knows exactly how to make a Hat, STITCH FOR EXACT STITCH, and how to make, operate, and the insides and atom balancing for o2, under stressed out condititons, with the only thoughts being to live, and now 'what' is needed to live.
10907093
Whoa mate, I said a fundamental understanding, not all encompassing knowledge of the universe and how it works. I am not expecting or asking for Vesper to be able rattle off the atomic makeup of something or memorize the exact dimensions of a specific tank, that would be ridiculous. If that were the case no one would be able to make anything. I was just referencing the fact that we were previously told you had to understand something to make it. An O2 tank and a hat are a lot simpler to understand and therefore make than a person or interdimensional portal. I was just saying that there are inbuilt limitations. Soft limitations so they can be overcome, but they do exist.
10907169
Just to clarify any confusion, a fundamental understanding of something means that you have a basic level of knowledge that you can then build upon. Its why a lot of beginner courses in any topic are referred to as fundamentals. A beginner programmer for example doesn't know how the backend of code works, he just understands how to use commands and create structure in a basic way.
10907169
That's a problem tho. 'Understand' under who's definition of understanding? Take a Hat. Do you just have to be able to picture the Hat and Details? How does the 'magic' know if you know enough about the hat? Do you just need 1 detail right? can 1 detail be wrong? Can you change the color or does it have to be exact since you have to 'understand' that specific item?
See my issue here? Does she have to just know how the hat looks? Cause using that basic very broad Logic, she has unlimited powers and WOULD be able to make Worldgates based just on knowing the look and the function, even without understanding the deeper knowledge of it like with the 02 Tanks and multiple masks and outputs. I mean think about it. She literally popped it out into reality, while out of her mind, not thinking straight, literally losing brain function from lack of o2, and popped it out, under that situation, with no deep understanding of the item more than you or I.
And if she requires deep understanding, knowing every stitch, and able to build and make the items by hand, and know how they function and work, it brings into question where she got such knowledge to be able to make those items, and makes the power much more limiting and restrictive, to the point people would probably only ever be able to bring in stuff that they themselves know how to build and carve, and HAVE built and carved first before being able to do so.
It seems like the Author just gave her a very vague Deus Ex power, that's limits and ability change based on how much the Author fucks up writing and needs a plothole to get out of the corner he writes himself into.
That sounds like a power that Nightmare Moon would have done unpleasant things with.
They are going to get in so much trouble.
10907169
It's worth remembering Vesper isn't the usual oneiromancer. While not experienced, she is unnaturally talented and past milestones years before she was expected to.
Given it's potential though, I suppose it'll be important for Dream magic to be explained further. Right now, it seems to be a derivative, variant, or rival of chaos magic and I don't know if that was intended.
Drink up me 'earties, yo ho
will be
Captain Blake.