Dreams 2
I rested my back against an apple tree near the edge of the farm as the sun beat down from above. It was time for a break, as we’d been bucking apples since the sun came up and it seemed like they were growing faster than we could knock them down and the work was exhausting. I even had to use my wings to fly around from field to field to help carry filled buckets to the barn.
I grabbed an apple I’d stuffed into my mane earlier and took a bite, savoring the citrus-y sweet flavor that came from it. “Huh…must be a new kind of apple we’re growing.” I inspected the red fruit for a moment, before shrugging and taking another bite. I didn’t have too much time to worry about it, we had more work to get done today. I could always ask AJ about it later, seeing as we were family and all.
Big Mac was still busy off in the distance, plowing a field of clouds while Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were dancing in front of the barn singing something about rainbow jam. Everything seemed as it should be. But something kept nagging me, something wasn’t quite right. Not with the world I was in, but something about me. I scratched my ear with a finger before… “Wait…finger?”
I looked down at my hooves as I stood against the tree, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just my plain, old, everyday hooves stared back at me. Now I was sure something wasn’t right. I felt anxious, something was watching me from somewhere I couldn’t see. I looked around but the orchard had grown too thick and too dark to spot anything. I needed to fly above the treetops, I needed to see the way back to Sweet Apple Acres, back home. With a single flap of my wings I soared into the sky and surveyed my surroundings.
The mountains looked familiar here, but not something I had seen in a while. I could almost remember walking through here once, but I couldn’t have…right? I grew up in a city and moved to a small town to work at an apple orchard, I’d never been in a place like this before. I think?
Several hundred feet below me, a path ran through the trees, near the mountain’s edge, illuminated by the light of a full moon. “Maybe if I follow that path, I can get back home.” I thought as I flew along. It wasn’t long before I saw something glitter in the woods beneath me, like a fire. My head hurt as I looked at it, and something nearby caused the air to quake like a stone being thrown into a…”Oh no, not again!”
I was closer to the ground now, and something was running through the trees, panting and shouting as they dodged around blindly in the dark. I tried to chase them down, but they kept getting further away, no matter how hard I flew. In the distance I saw a cliff, the strange two legged creature making straight for it. I screamed out for it to stop, but it lept off into the abyss below…
I was looking into the darkness below the cliff now, into a lake of rippling waves. Whatever it was that jumped fell into the water and disappeared beneath the surface. I sat there and chewed on my hoof, waiting for the creature to surface, but the waters calmed and below them sat more trees and weathered stones in a valley below. I heard something behind me, hoofsteps walking closer and ragged breathing. The air turned cold and I could see my breath rising into the air, along with another stream of steam from over my withers. Whoever it was said something I didn't understand, but it made my blood turn to ice.
I had to see what it was…I was compelled to look, even though I wanted nothing more than to wake up in my plaid bed. I took a deep breath, and the voice spoke again. Masculine, familiar. I turned to see what it was…
I was looking into a mirror, back in my room at Sweet Apple Acres. I could smell oatmeal downstairs and Apple Bloom was getting ready to head off to school. I looked terrified though, breaking into a cold sweat as I brushed my mane. I hear AJ shout her morning call for breakfast, and spared a glance towards the open door to watch as her little sister darted down the stairs.
“What…was that a dream?”
My eyes were streaming with tears now. That was me talking, but I didn’t say those words. They came from the mirror. I turned to see something that looked like me crawling out of the mirror, but it wasn’t me. It had the body of a pony, but its wings were strange fleshy tan arms with clawed fingers at the ends, my long autumn orange hair was matted with short brown spots that fell out as it struggled through the portal. It looked at my lower body and examined every inch of me as I sat, unable to will my body to move.
I closed my eyes and wished for it to be gone. I wanted to wake up. I wanted out of this nightmare, but I opened my eyes to see some strange, alien face with one large teal green eye faceted into its human side and one small hazel placed upon its pony side. My mouth worked furiously to scream, to say something to drive it away. Only a whimpering question came forth.
“W-What are you?”
It looked at me with a sickening grin, half of its mouth filled with pony teeth, the other a mixture of predatory fangs and crushing molars. It replied in one word, with two familiar voices.
“You.”
Princess Luna opened her eyes, gazing at the full moon rising above Equestria as she presided over the peaceful dreams of her subjects. All save for one soul, who since their arrival has evaded a truly restful night. She threw her mind back to the dream she had just witnessed, one fueled by confusion and fear, and her heart went out to the entity that dreamt it.
Ponies often had nightmares similar to this one. Mostly young fillies and colts who are unsure of who they are or what they will grow up to be. Sometimes, older ponies will second guess their callings, leading to chaos in their hearts. It has always been her job to aid those in need of guidance in the astral plane, the realm of dreams. She had spent countless years of her life keeping her subjects true to themselves. How should the entity be any different?
It struggled just as much as any pony with such thoughts of loss, confusion, self-doubt, embarrassment, and a diminished sense of identity and self-worth. Why should it have to suffer as it does, so totally isolated within this world so unfamiliar to it? Should it not deserve the same treatment that she provides to the rest of her subjects?
Princess Luna sighs aloud, throwing her gaze across the land towards Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres. She and her sister had both agreed upon allowing the entity to exist under the careful eye of Celestia’s student and the Element Bearers while taking no direct action to aid or interfere in its daily life. But as the entity cried out in despair, trapped within its own mind, she couldn’t help but feel pity for its plight. “We have already interfered once, surely once more wouldn’t hurt.”
“No! Stay away!” I cried, tears streaming down my face as the thing that was both me and not me reached its grotesque hand-wing towards my face.
“You. I. We. Not us, but thee. Not thee, but me. But neither, you see. For we should not be. Don’t you agree?” It cackled in twisted whispered words and rhymes as it caressed my face, licking its lips in anxious glee.
“No! I’m not a monster! I’m ME!”
“Me? You. We. What are you? What is me? Together, you see, a monster we be. For you are me, and I am thee.” Its face inched closer to mine, ticking violently from side to side like a broken metronome keeping in time with its horrid poem.
“Shut up!” I scream into the mirror as the creature continues to crawl through and threatens to devour me, its twin-mouthed maw opening ever wider.
“I. You. Me. Together we shall be. Once you’re in me, your true self, you’ll see.”
“ENOUGH!”
Pale moon beams cascaded through the window of the farmhouse, illuminating the room around the creature and I. The creature squelched and screamed as the light seared its two-fold flesh, driving it back into the mirror from whence it came. Whispers through the mirror faded into nothingness. “You. Me. Again, you’ll see…”
The mirror rippled as though the surface were turbulent waters until it calmed and softened, revealing only me and a full moon in the window. I shuddered as I sat, wrapping my wings around myself as I huddled alone in the room.
“Why do you dream of such things?” A familiar voice spoke. Its words were calm and strong, but curious.
I simply stared dumbly into the mirror, unable to form words in any coherent manner. My entire body trembled in shock and my mind, unwilling to process anything else, sat empty. The new voice was quiet for what felt like hours before it spoke once again. “You are safe now, little one. We have met once before, though not in the waking world.”
“My friend.” I said incoherently, still reeling from the nightmare.
The voice laughed warmly, “We suppose, in a sense. Tell me, what bothers you so much that you would dream of such monsters? We assume that such creatures do not exist in your realm.”
I slowly shook my head in response.
“We see. The bi-pedal creature from before?” The voice asked.
I nodded.
“And that creature, was you?”
“I-Yes…it was. So much has happened since…” I trailed off as a window opened up on the other side of the room, revealing my first few moments in this world, the fall into the Everfree. I winced as I saw what my mind had trouble remembering, appearing in thin air as I fell to the ground hitting a tree branch with my face along the way.
“We see. And praytell, what led you to us here?” The voice asked again.
Almost immediately, another window opened up revealing the last few moments I had back on Earth. I watched as Seth leapt into the darkness and fell through a portal that tore open as I fell towards the rocks below. “How is that happening?” I asked as the window shut.
“In the realm of dreams, memories flow freely. One must merely recall a past experience and it is played for all to see.” The voice explained.
“So…you know what I am. That I’m not a pony?”
“It matters not what you are, only who.”
“What is that supposed to-”
“Who are you?” The voice said, this time in a more demanding tone.
“I…I don’t know anymore. I was someone else on Earth, but now I’m somepony else. I don’t know who the real me is. The more I gain here, the less like me I feel.” I said, struggling to make sense of what I was even saying.
“Who do you see reflected in the mirror?” The voice asked.
I turned to look into the mirror once again, and to my horror the creature had reappeared. I recoiled in shock, but it sat still, like an image on a screen. “I see a monster.”
“A creature that is both yourself, and not. Both sides, representing a part of you that you yourself do not understand.” The voice explained.
“But I’m not a horse! I’m human! Or at least I was, and now I’m neither.”
“So you are nothing?” The voice asked, “If that were so, you would have no reflection.”
“Ok. I’m not nothing. I’m something. But what am I? And who are you?” I asked, becoming frustrated with the word games being played in my mind.
“You must decide who you are. We cannot tell you, nor can we make that decision for you.”
“But I don’t-”
“How do you believe others, your friends, see you?” The voice asked, pointedly.
“My friends? I don’t…” I stopped to look into the mirror once more, and a beautiful, normal looking mare with a side-tail and a sad smile looked back at me. “...have friends…”
“The mirror says otherwise.”
“But, that’s not-”
“You?” The voice sighed and took on a softer tone. “You, who arrived in a world so strange to you. You, who instead of running away from it, chose to fight. You, who could have chosen to hide from those who wished to help, but instead welcomed them. You, who offered of your own free will to aid another whom you do not know. Selfless, caring, kind, courageous. That isn’t you?”
The image in the mirror split in two, one half showing Zinnia, the other showing the human I used to be, both with the same smile.
“What you look like on the outside isn’t what’s important, little one. It is who you are inside that matters.”
Both images faded from view in the mirror revealing just me, Zinnia, and another pony behind me. She was tall, much taller than even Big Mac, with fur as dark as night and a mane that flowed in some non-existent wind with stars that glittered and flowed through it like a cosmic river. She had both wings and a horn, though both were much larger than any other representative of Equestria. I stared in awe at her reflection, and she looked at me with calm, almost loving eyes.
“Who…are you?” I asked, turning around to see nothing but the pale disc floating in the sky, casting a tranquil light across the dreamscape.
“You may not ask for much, Zinnia, but if you feel lost once again, all you must do is ask for the moon.”
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That was very good. I can't wait to see Z is going to do some more training with Rainbow Dash, I bet she's going to have her to do some wing-ups to boost her strength in order to fly full time and maybe just maybe I'll get to see her to fly very fast, too. (Squeal excitedly) that'll be awesome! You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Excellent chapter, though unless I missed something, shouldn't this be Dreams II, not 3?
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Ahh... oops?
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Are you a mind reader?
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Just guessing that's all.
thanks for the chapter! It seemed to me that this is a pretty (in its own way) cute chapter, but I think that the next one will be even cuter ;)
That was awesome! I loved the threatening rhyme you gave the amalgam. Very fitting, and, for me at least, familiar. I can't remember if I had heard it somewhere, or if I came up with it at some point. Either way, it really highlights the duality of man.
I'm sad I'm caught up, but excited to see the next chapter!
It was a short chapter, but hey! I wonder if a great friendship will be born between Princess Luna and Zinnia, or something more than friendship, she said that because this part of the chapter Dream 1 made me think about it.
that makes me think, will zinnia have any love interest in the future?, good chapter it will be a pleasure to read the next one, greetings and until next time
P/D: Sorry if I'm late in commenting on this chapter, because I wasn't inspired
Dreams II has already been used at the end of Letters I.
Edit: it's now been swapped with extras.
Put a page break in between these two paragraphs.
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Thank you!
Oh! Yeah, that would help make it easier to read wouldn't it.
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Thank you for pointing out the error! I've gone back and fixed a lot of things as I've been re-reading, trying to gain some new inspiration. Without keen-eyed readers like you, I'm sure I'd miss so many errors to the detriment of the story. You're awesome!
Luna best princess