Looking Glass

by Hiver

Chapter 66

The sunlight filtered in through the darkness bubble from outside, shining in through the open balcony.

It was really warm today, even for a bat. The humidity was somewhere at the same level as the bottom of a lake.

I felt really sleepy, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about what-ifs. What if everything gone wrong, what if one of us had been sucked into the void. What if the entire town had. What if, what if, what if.

I should have asked more questions. I should have…

…But how could I have? I didn’t understand what they did or how it worked. I looked straight at the math and while I did recognize a deteriorating series, I didn’t put it together.

“Sparks?” I asked softly, “You awake?”

“Mmmm?” she mumbled quietly against my chest.

Luna was deep asleep already to my right, Sunset curled up a bit to the side beneath an enchanted cooling blanket to help stop her from turning into a liquid.

Normally it was fine, but extra warm days like this she found it hard to sleep, especially cuddled by somepony with wings.

The only pieces poking out from the cooling blanket was horn and tail.

“Midnight went back and forth in her fight with Starlight,” I said quietly not to disturb Luna or Sunny, “Why didn’t this… recurrence principle happen then?”

Sparks yawned softly and cuddled closer sleepily, “Not the same thing. That was timetravel, not world travel.”

“...There is a difference?”

“Is complicated,” she mumbled and shifted to nuzzled in beneath my chin, “go sleep.”

I held her closer with a small sigh, shifting back a bit and Luna shifted in her sleep, her wing draping across us.

Closing my eyes, I cast a quick sleep spell over both of us. If not, I knew we’d both be awake for a good while longer and we still needed to get up early tonight.

Opening my eyes again, I saw the dream realm stretch out in all directions.

Luna was nowhere in sight, but easy to locate.

I stared at Midnight's dream portal. It was a blank silvery with small dark ripples going through it. She was talking with Luna.

I considered joining for a second before I turned away. It was better to let Luna handle it, I may lose my temper again and that would just be counter productive at this point.

So what to do?

A twitch of my hoof floated Sunsets and Twilight dreams up to me. Both were smooth, calm blue and silver.

Good.

Tempest?

Tempest’s was a bit stormy so I calmed it down with a touch of my horn before sending it off to its normal spot.

Looking around, I considered things for a long moment before I reached out for the dream sphere.

I looked at it, it was the way I left it, a shimmering ball the size of a dream portal. Moving around it, I then touched my horn to it, stepping through.

The night was dark all around, soft wind blew through the tall trees around the clearing, the three large moons in the sky leaving the silvery grass covering the clearing in a shimmering silver light.

A clear stream glittered across the middle of the clearing, cool and clean.

The night was comfortably warm and the stars shimmered above.

No animals. No insects. I had not added anything like them yet. Not sure I would ever add insects and if I did, it would be none of the annoying ones.

Maybe bumblebees. Bumblebees were cute. And butterflies. Maybe crickets, I like the chirping. Oh, fireflies.

They were pretty.

Bees! Honey was awesome.

But right now it was nothing but the sound of the wind and shifting trees in the night. I let out a soft sigh, slowly letting my breath out as I sank down onto the soft and slightly cool grass, the slight dew of the grass comfortably chilling without being cold.

This… bubble. This world…

I just needed to add some animals and it would be a nice place away from everything, somewhere to relax once dream patrols were done.

Somewhere I could get away from everything. At least when asleep.

Just the right climate, no need for shelter, no need for civilization. Somewhere without… responsibility. Somewhere I could just get away from pressures.

Just fly or hunt for fruit or… even just lay in the soft grass, looking at the stars.

The only things I was missing were the ponies I loved. I could show it to Luna, but Sunset, Twilight or… or Celestia…

Or…

Or maybe there was a way? Maybe it was possible. It was only dangerous for them if it wasn’t their dream. Was it possible to link their dreams into this one?

Something to think about for later. When it’s finished.

But It wasn’t done to show yet anyway, I needed to do more world building first.

Comments

[shadow wolf1573]

Nice

[GlitchyFox]

Blank page creates the equivlet of a dream online server

[DJ_Arashi_Rora]

Damn, I binged all the chapters in a few hours... This was a nice cool down chapter though.

[Warrior Kitten]

That could be rather unhealthy, having an escape like that. Depends on how much he uses it and how long he stays as well as what he does with it.

[origami]

I would like to see Page visit Skitter in her dreams once. He did it with Chrysalis a while back. Would be kind of neat to see him do it again.

[Hariester]

With some hesitation he actually did add Celestia to list of his loved ones. Or is it just coincidence and he were about to add also all Nocturnis and Canterlot Hive? Anyway, I'm eagerly wait for Page*Celestia interactions, preferably more intimate ones.
So, making relaxation and conversation server in dreamrealm and connecting it to users is one thing, he should somehow make usable interface that would allow participants to actually choose this connection instead of experiencing normal dreams or forcibly being yanked to hub each time.

[IRrebel]

Thanks for chapter!
Have a good day!

[windy_prance]

...MEANWHILE IN JUNGLE PYRAMID...

Statue:

Discord: ...knowing Hiver, its probably not gonna happe--

Statue: The Tantabus. That one-off creature is getting foreshadowing instead of ME!

Discord: Page won't punish himself with nightmares. Thats way out of character for him.

Statue: No but he can create one as a badly planned way to link dreams instead. The tantabus will probably take Page's orders too literal; never letting Page and his herd ever LEAVE the dream.

Discord: Oh...OH. That's good. HIVER! Feel free to steal this idea!

Statue: NO! Stop it! Focus on introducing ME!

[SmokeTheFilter]

Seeing Page play with world building gives me this idea.
The interesting thing would be ro learn that his current existence is nothing more than what he did the FIRST time around wanting to escape. The statue was truely Page at the pinnacle of his power. Now here he is after starting over learning and doing much the same thing as before, creating a new world to escape to creating yet another multiverse world. As for the statue. Perhaps it's present in every world he makes as an anchor point back to the original him like mountain climbing rope lines. Perhaps this isn't the second or even third tome he's created a world. Maybe much more. Only ever remembering he was human each time as it's his very core.

[FanficReader920]

Just the right climate, no need for shelter, no need for civilization. Somewhere without… responsibility. Somewhere I could just get away from pressures.

Just fly or hunt for fruit or… even just lay in the soft grass, looking at the stars.

The only things I was missing were the ponies I loved. I could show it to Luna, but Sunset, Twilight or… or Celestia…

Or…

Or maybe there was a way? Maybe it was possible. It was only dangerous for them if it wasn’t their dream. Was it possible to link their dreams into this one?

“That’s how it starts. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness, that turns good men cruel.”
- Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons)

After last chapter, it’s clear that this new arc is centered around Page’s Fall and the origin behind that statue.

This is going to be Revenge of the Sith-style tough to read.

[Fireeaters]

Christopher Page and the Hundred Acre Wood

[midnight arrow]

great chapter

[Eternal Samson]

No animals. No insects. I had not added anything like them yet. Not sure I would ever add insects and if I did, it would be none of the annoying ones.

Amen

[Ghost Alvasa]

DON'T DO IT PAGE!_!

[Theresa]

11384849
Yeah but thinking about the details of things isn't a twilight thing. Miss even though we know very little about dragons we are going get it to leave instead of napping. She didn't even think about trying figure out what the alicorn spell did before before she used magic to get the problem of what it did solved. Her answer to the parasites was magic and nothing else and her answer to Applejack bat problem was magic. The fact is she isn't very responsible or good with empathy and unfortunately until now nobody has ever called her out. Page if he had known of the dangers involved would have but he still learning about magic and how to run a government so realizing that twilight was being foolish wasn't something he was capable of at the time. She needs to start taking more time to think about her actions and how they affect the world around her.

[The Great Scribbly One]

Oh dear, I don't foresee this becoming an issue at all. Definitely not.

11388706
I do believe it was mentioned a while back that Page avoids Changeling dreams because they're too alien.

Non-localisation grammar jackboot:

floated Sunsets and Twilight dreams up to me.

floated Sunset and Twilight's dreams up to me.

[Black--Soul]

Working 12 hour shift is hell... Didn't get to comment before next update

[Guardiansentry]

11388782
Wait I just thought about it what if that statue is past page and he put himself in stone to preserve the timeline