• Published 7th Dec 2012
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Luna's Dreamscape Journey - ugugg93



A boring night at the castle turns into an adventure Luna will never forget.

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Chapter 6: Plunder

Drifting along in her mist-form, Luna carefully shifted back into an alicorn while in midair. As soon as she did so, she extended her wings, and even though her weight instantly pulled at the muscles, she was able to catch herself with the feathered appendages with little difficulty. Forced to glide for the first few seconds to stabilize herself, she eventually flapped her wings with more and more energy before zooming off into the night sky. However, unlike the last few times she flew through the air, instead of lazily gliding over the quaint settlement below, she now had the urge to do something... more.

And more is what she did. With several strong strokes of her wings, she began to do a multitude of simple tricks in the sky—everything from flips to spins. Luna gleefully shifted her wings, and after banking to the right, entered a loose corkscrew as she slowly descended from the sky. Each of her tricks was simple—even the most amateur of pegasi could pull off these simple feats—but it was still enough to send the sheltered princess into muted giggling fits.

Eventually though, she leveled her flight off, and allowed herself to think about not just the last dream, but all of the dreams she had visited so far. Even though she had observed much in many of the dreams, the most notable aspect of most of them was the love that was shared between the dreamer and another. Love that flowed through not just their conscious lives, but also their dreams.

What Lyra had for Bon Bon was easily the closest one could get to “true love,” and the unicorn even showed it in her dreams. Lyra was sweet and loving to her mate, and even though they weren't overtly showing of it constantly, they had an understanding that transcended simple words. Rainbow Dash, while still a romantic love, showed it in a much different way. Instead of the constant love and admiration that Lyra showed, Rainbow's crush was much more intense, but came in short bursts of passion. As for Scootaloo, what that filly showed was a deep seated feeling of platonic love for Rainbow Dash—even if they didn't appear to be siblings. While it was so very different to the previous two—thankfully not including the romantic aspect—it was just as strong. Big Mac showed this as well, even if Luna wasn't able to see it in action for more than a few brief seconds.

Zecora... well... that dream was too weird to really quantify or catalog in any way.

Yet, what was the real difference between them? Yes, Luna could tell what each was, what their characteristics were, and how each was treated in each case. However, there was a vast difference between being able to say how it felt, and knowing how it felt. She had never experienced the love that Lyra or Rainbow Dash had felt for the respective recipients of their affection, and she doubted she would ever feel that way for anypony ever now. What Scootaloo showed towards Rainbow however, she could and should have been feeling every night of her life with Celestia. Sadly, here they were, a thousand and two winters after she had been banished to the cold solitude of the moon, and not once had Celestia ever displayed regret for her actions.

Like countless times before, she tried to shake off the budding anger, but whether because she was too late to try and stifle it or because it had built up too much pressure within her over time, she couldn't stop it from forcing her into a blind fury. How dare Celestia punish her so terribly. Sure, she did terrible, monstrous things, but a thousand years of lonely solitude with nothing but her thoughts to count away the days!? Not even Discord, the most powerful and vile being to ever threaten all of Equestria, was subjected to such a punishment. Sure, he was trapped in stone for longer than she the moon, but he was in stasis the entire time, and so was never actually aware of time passing. She had been forced to wait each and every second as if she was living on the earth, every moment chipping away at her sanity.

So many things Luna had lost in those thousand years. Her hopes. Her dreams. Her self respect. Every single shred of dignity that she had was forever ripped away from her by her older sister. Then, to top it off, the high and mighty Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Eternal Sun and immortal monarch of the great nation of Equestria, threw Luna under the rug by way of the Lunar Court after her return to the world. If it wasn't for the fact that she had checked for herself a few times, Luna would've suspected that her sister was watching every night for the first excuse to throw her back to the moon. How would Celestia feel if she was thrown into the sun for a thousand years, and forced to live with mind shattering loneliness as Luna ruled over all of Equestria on her own as—

She shook her head as she quickly realized the path her mind was going down. Closing her eyes, she remained lost in her thoughts. Even in the worst of times, she knew that she would never go down the path of trying to usurp her sister. Not again. Never again. Further, there was no way she would ever do something as terrible as banish her sister to the sun for a millennium. No. Even if her sister went rampant like she did, there were so many better options—so many better choices—than to do that. Even if Celestia had chosen the worst one imaginable for her, she was so much better than that. This was the path she had chosen to walk, and she would prove to everypony that she was the better of the two in any way possible. Reopening her eyes, she knew that this path, while not desirable in the slightest, was hers, and she would press onward with all of her spirit.

Of course, right now, that path was taking her into the side of a building—the alicorn rapidly falling from the sky due to not paying attention.

Eyes now wide in shock, Luna quickly did her best to veer away from the imposing brick wall. Unfortunately, at her current speed, she wasn't able to turn fast enough to evade the building and avoid the collision. This was even after she attempted to brake as hard as she could to stop her flight. However, she was able to redirect herself towards a small open window in front of her. Quickly lighting her horn, Luna cast the first spell that came to mind.

Shifting into a mist, she burst through the conveniently placed window, and with all the force of a stiff breeze, blew into the room and ricocheted harmlessly against the back wall.

In an instant, she shifted back into her normal form, and quickly found herself shakily gasping for breath as a few pieces of paper flew through the air. For a second there, the threat of a quick and painful ending to her night of fun seemed all but certain, and all because she couldn't stifle her negative feelings towards her sister for just a few minutes. Sure, due to her near immortality, there was no chance of her dying from the impact. Of course, near immortality didn't mean invincible.

A soft sigh from across the darkened room stopped her breathing. As slowly as she possibly could, she shifted her head towards where the noise emanated from. The room was dark, but not dark enough for Luna to not be able to see who—or what—had made that noise. Her eyes now fully raised from the ground, she looked into the small bed that was placed against the corner of the room, and at the pony that lay within it.

As soon as her eyes fell on the pony, her face lit up. Taking a hushed step forward, she whispered, “It's the pirate colt that said I was his favorite...”

Indeed, the spotted colt lay in the bed as he slept, allowing his dreams to take his mind on the most amazing of adventures. Slowly, Luna continued to close the distance between herself and the small child on the bed in front of her. Even on the hard wooden floor, she was surprised by how quietly she was able to cross the small room. Finally, she got to the colt's bedside, and with a sigh of her own, she watched the child sleep.

Softly, the spotted colt muttered to himself in his sleep. “I want... more speed...”

“More speed?” Luna whispered to herself with a smile. “Just what do you mean by that, my young subject?”

Slowly, Luna dipped her head down, ignited her magic, and touched the colt's forehead with the tip of her horn.


He shoved a stallion, and with a surprising amount of force behind his voice, the small colt yelled, “I want more speed! Give me more speed!”

Regaining his balance, the stallion saluted. “Aye aye, Captain!” Quickly, the stallion galloped his way to the wheel, and shouted into a small speaker, “Captain says he wants more speed!”

As she floated in the air, Luna was finally able to get her bearings, and took a second to inspect her surroundings. With a gasp, she realized that her surroundings were rather... unique when compared to the other places the dreams had taken her—including Zecora's cage stage thing. The first notable thing was that she appeared to be on some kind of airship, with the massive rigid structure above her keeping the entire ship aloft being the first clue on that front. Everything she looked at, from the deck of the carriage to the actual rigid structure itself, was made of a somewhat coppery-colored metal. All around, dozens of stallions and mares were running around, making sure that the airship was kept in tip-top shape.

As for how far up they were flying, Luna wasn't sure, for the cloud cover below was much too thick to see through.

A loud explosion drew her attention to the right, and into the sky. Luna gasped at the scene before her. At least twenty of those metal bird devices from Rainbow Dash's dream—granted these seemed smaller and much more nimble—were turning and spinning in some kind of areal dance just off the starboard side of the airship. Every few seconds, one of the machines would light up in the front, and send curiously bright lights at the space in front of it. Usually when this happened, the lights would barely miss another machine in front of the first. However, every so often, the stream of bright lights would impact the machine in front, light it in an explosive fire, causing it to fall from the sky.

Beyond the bow of the ship, another airship was flying far off in the distance. For now, it still appeared smaller than a single bit would look on her hoof, but that was slowly changing. The airship that Luna was on was apparently much faster than the one in front, leading her to believe that this chase would end in only a few minutes.

Suddenly, there was a lurching forward of the airship under her as it gained even more speed. As this happened, Luna saw the dreamer smile to himself as he watched the progress of everything around him. He was curiously garbed in blue shirt with a white collar and white cuffs. Just below where the shirt cut off around his barrel, a green belt wrapped around him. Finally, a red bandana was tied around his head, and a small black eye patch was over his right eye with a skull emblazoned on it.

Strange. That is not a pony skull. Looks more... ape-like. What animal is it from?

Her question remaining unanswered, the small colt grinned wider. “Yes... yes...”

Just then, a mare ran up the stairs to the poop deck, and galloped her way to the dreamer. Stopping in front of him, she said, “Captain Pipsqueak, it'll be thirty seconds until puncturing cannons are within range!”

“No,” Pipsqueak instantly said. Turning his head towards the mare, he continued, “I want that ship intact.”

The first mate scrunched her brows slightly together in confusion. “But Captain, if we don't engage now, they'll be within range to use their own cannons against us.”

Pipsqueak stood himself up, and began to make his way towards the front of the poop deck. As soon as he was at the railing, he stood himself up on his hind legs using the railing as support, and pointed forward and up. “Gain altitude, and get above them. Use the blind spot above their rigid structure to hide from the incoming fire. Only drop down on them when we are right on top of them.”

The mare saluted to Captain Pipsqueak. “Aye aye, Captain!”

Immediately, the first mate began to bark orders to the crew around her. As soon as they realized what to do, the various stallions and mares began to work on ropes and chains to redirect the trajectory of the ship. A few seconds passed before the airship began to slowly ascend higher and higher into the sky. Their speed cut slightly, the ship continued to climb, until with another barking of orders from the first mate, the crew once again began to furiously work the mechanisms that made the ship tick. More quickly than before, the bow began to lower itself back towards the horizon once again—the leading airship now a fair distance below them.

Despite the serious nature of the dream, Luna couldn't help but to chuckle lightly to herself. The scene before her was just that ridiculous. The small colt—apparently named Pipsqueak—who was no more than six winters old, was giving orders to the crew of what looked like a fairly advanced flying machine. Not only that, but if Luna's instincts were to be believed, then about half of those other, smaller flying machines off to the right were also under his command.

It was pretty interesting, but still slightly ridiculous.

As if they responded to her thoughts, a small group of those flying machines broke away from the main fight, and began to make an approach on the airship that she was hovering over. Many more followed these in an apparent attempt to intercept them and protect the airship. However, their efforts were for naught, for three were able to get within range, and fire their bright light weapons.

Luna was rudely informed that these “light weapons” were not lights at all, but instead a stream of hundreds upon thousands of bullets. She was informed by way of these bullets impacting all along the deck and side of the airship. Hundreds of holes appeared in the hull of the ship as the crew did their best to dodge the hellfire. Many were successful in this endeavor, while two or three weren't so lucky.

Suddenly, an explosion from somewhere on the ship rocked through the superstructure, sending many—including Captain Pipsqueak—stumbling to the deck. As the crew got back on their hooves, the three flying machines flew across the stern of the ship, and off to the right with the friendly flying machines closely following. The enemy machines didn't last much longer after their attack, for shortly afterward, they were picked off by the friendly machines. The enemy now nothing but a trio of fireballs falling to earth, the friendly machines rejoined the dogfight off in the distance.

Below Luna, Pipsqueak finally got to his hooves, and with anger in his voice, yelled, “Damage report!”

There was a slight amount of chaos on the deck as dozens of crewponies returned to their posts, and made sure that their speed and altitude were in check. A few ponies moved to positions left empty by the fallen, while others made sure to check on the damage left by the strafing run. All things considered, the airship was surprisingly easy to operate with minimal hooves. However, while impressive, that really wasn't important right now.

What was important was the stallion that was quickly making his way up the stairs to the top of the poop deck. He quickly made his way to Pipsqueak. “Captain Pipsqueak. We have severe damage to port propeller three!”

The small colt took a few steps forward, putting the stallion behind him as he did so. “Then get some ponies out there and fix it!”

“I already had some pegasi take a look, Captain,” the engineer said, “but they tell me that while they were able to prevent further damage, there's nothing that they can do about propeller until we set set 'er down. However, even with losing the propeller, I think I can get our other engines working faster, so our overall speed will only be reduced by ten percent.”

While Luna was off to the side of the small captain, she was still able to see a smile grow across Pipsqueak's face. Softly, he muttered to himself, “Ten percent still leaves enough to catch you, you foolish filly.”

The engineer stallion's report delivered, he quickly made his way off of the deck, and back below into the bowels of the ship itself. Off the bow of the airship, the ship that they were chasing was now much closer than it was before. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that they were above the other airship, Luna would've guessed that they would've rammed at any moment. However, given their higher altitude, within a few more minutes they were situated directly above the enemy airship's rigid structure.

Pipsqueak yelled, to the pony at the helm, “Drop down next to them! Now!”

Just as he finished saying that, the helmsman spun the wheel quickly to the right and pulled on a lever. The airship quickly lurched down and to the right, hastily moving into position beside the other airship. From this close, Luna could see every little detail of the airship off of their port—the metal sheets making the rigid structure, the cannons pointing in her direction, even the crew of the ship.

The royal guard crew.

Royal guard? If we are fighting royal guard, that means we are—

“All batteries!” Pipsqueak yelled as he jumped onto the side railing of his airship, standing on only his rear hooves. Drawing his sword, he yelled through clenched teeth, “Fire!!”

Right then, all Tartarus broke loose. On Pipsqueak's side, several cannons unleashed a furious barrage against the airship next to them, almost all of them impacting the side. In addition to these cannons, several multi-barreled smaller “cannons” began to fire onto the deck of the opposing airship with a truly terrifying rate of fire. The royal guards on the other airship quickly organized themselves, and upon reaching their weaponry, began to unleash a furious blaze of fire just as intense in return. Whatever peace and tranquility that the world immediately surrounding her had was quickly extinguished by a hail of bullets barely missing her form.

The entire time, Pipsqueak stood on his hind legs on the side railing closest to the airship. With bullets spraying everywhere around him and shards of metal and wood splintering on the deck behind him, he laughed maniacally.

He didn't stay there for long, the colt eventually hopping off of the railing, and galloping his way towards the forecastle of the ship. Luna—having no idea what the heck he was planning on doing—quickly darted her way through the storm of bullets, and followed the spotted child. Once again, Luna was thankful that she could not be harmed inside a dreamer's dream, for while she was sure that she was not hit by any of the bullets, she would rather not take any chances.

Upon her reaching the forecastle, Luna quickly saw two dozen mares and stallions, including Pipsqueak, grabbing onto a knotted rope with the crook of their elbows. The other end of the rope rose high into the sky, eventually tied off at the very bottom of the rigid structure above.

Without warning, Pipsqueak yelled, “Attack!”

The rest of the ponies that were with him yelled in battle-crazed fury, and with a running leap, the large group jumped off off the side of the railing, and swung their way towards the opposing ship. Luna followed these boarders as they approached the airship next to them. A few were cut down by small hoof-cannons—the hit ponies letting go of the rope and falling between the airships. However, even with the feeble attempt to stop the boarding, almost every single attacker made it to the enemy ship, and once they had their hooves on the deck, they drew swords, and charged.

Several of the royal guards drew swords of their own, and quickly charged on the boarding party. Another second, and the two sides began to engage each other in deadly swordplay. Initially, both sides showed equal skill at arms—both Pipsqueak's ponies and Royal ponies going down in somewhat equal members—but the equal nature of the fight quickly turned. Royal ponies began to go down in greater numbers, were being pushed off of their forecastle, and onto the deck itself. Further, more of Pipsqueak's crew were swinging themselves onto the enemy deck, swelling his crew's numbers even more.

As for Pipsqueak himself, he was fighting like a mad pony as he tangled with three royal guards at once. Even if it was just a dream, his skill with a blade was incredibly impressive. Instead of attempting to block any of the blows that were thrown against him, he would dodge and parry every attack. The colt hopped from the stairs to the railing, then on top of one of the royal guard's head, then back to the stairs again. Every time, he would get a small cut in one of the guards, making their swings that much more chaotic and wild. Furious at him, one of the royal guards swung his sword as hard as he could.

Pipsqueak parried, spun away, then stabbed him. Quickly after that, Pipsqueak used his momentum to spin again, striking both of the other royal guards.

All three hit the deck at the same time.

The crew made short work of the remaining guards shortly after that, for a few minutes later, the enemy crew had been cut down to the last pony. Jubilant cheers rang out all across the two airships as Pipsqueak's crew celebrated their victory. In the middle of these cheers, gangplanks—equipped with railings and everything—were extended across the side of Pipsqueak's ship, connecting the two ships with each other. Those bridges secured, more of the colt's crew came aboard, and the entire crew began the process of grabbing anything worth more than a few bits, and carrying it off to their own ship.

Pipsqueak on the other hoof, was slowly making his way to the captain's cabin of the airship they had just boarded. Sheathing his weapon, he quickly made sure that his mane and tail were situated, his coat was free of any debris, and his shirt was presentable enough. Finally, he pulled a hat seemingly out of nowhere, and placed the three pointed headpiece upon his head. Satisfied with the way he looked, he took a deep breath, opened the cabin door, and made his way inside.

The room itself was fairly extravagantly decorated, especially for a ship—airship or not. The walls were a much more welcoming oak wood, as opposed to the copper-colored metal that the rest of the ship was covered in. Light was brought in by eight windows—two on each of the left and right walls, as well as four on the rear wall—as well as by way of several wall sconces that held candles. The floor was mostly covered by a large rug, depicting some sort of event in Equestrian history, though Luna wasn't sure what event it was. That was probably because she barely took notice of any of these details after the first second.

The pony sitting at the desk in the room was much more interesting.

Princess Luna.

This is... weird...

Captain Pipsqueak walked halfway to the desk Other Luna was sitting at, and after taking his hat off of his head, he gave a deep bow. “It is an honor to be in your presence, your Highness.”

Other Luna, a frown on her face, quickly rose to her hooves, moved around the desk, and heavily walked to where Pipsqueak was bowing. As soon as she got to where he was standing, he rose, and presented a genuinely pleasant smile to her. Scowling in anger, Other Luna rose a forehoof, and slapped the colt.

As he stumbled back slightly from the hit—his hat flying out of his hoof—Other Luna scowled further. “You attack my ship, kill my guards, take all of my jewels, and then you have the nerve to greet me like that? You disgust me.”

Wiping his mouth for a second, Captain Pipsqueak turned back toward Other Luna, and smiled. “Please, my most favorite Princess, don't tell me that you weren't even the least bit flattered that I searched for months just to find you.”

Other Luna, while still maintaining a scowl, showed a slight bit of surprise at this. “For... for me?”

Oh please... please no...

Pipsqueak stepped closer. “All for you, your Highness.”

Other Luna let her scowl drop completely, allowing a touched smile to finally show on her face in earnest. She took a few steps forward herself as she said, “Would some flowers have been too difficult?”

No... no...

Pipsqueak kept walking. “I like to think that this is slightly more memorable of an... experience than simple flowers.”

Other Luna continued to walk as well. “If you are going for that, then let us make it even more memorable.”

No no no no no no no no no no no no!!

Captain Pipsqueak stopped walking—the small young colt mere centimeters away from the much larger alicorn now. “Oh, and how would you suggest we do that, my favorite Princess?”

Other Luna bent down, and with her muzzle just a hair-width distance away from Pipsqueak's, she whispered, “Simple. By giving the victorious captain his booty.”

Those words finished, the two locked lips. Passion flowed through each of them as the fire within each was fueled. More and more force was put into the kiss as each sought to—


Princess Luna yanked her head away from Pipsqueak's head, and with a horrified look on her face, stared at the small colt under the sheets. Just... how... why... what had just happened? The pirate stuff was interesting sure—exciting even—but then the end. The end. Oh sweet moon and stars the end! Other Luna—a several thousand year old alicorn—kissing Pipsqueak—a child no more than five winters old. It made Luna... it made Luna...

Luna put a hoof to her muzzle. “I think I am going to vomit.”

Running towards the window, she quickly jumped out, spread her wings, and flew into the sky in nauseated sickness.

Author's Note:

I regret nothing.