Beyond the Veil of Sleep

by Starscribe

Chapter 6

Mira made her slow way through the city of the dead, eyes glancing periodically up towards the sky. Any moment Kallisto might emerge from the clouds, descending on her in a flurry of blades and unstoppable attacks.

She knew one fact above all others—if she got caught here, it would not be a conflict she could win. Her master had spent decades in this place, maybe longer. It was hard to say how that worked in a realm without time.

When Mira finally stepped out into the misty gloom, she saw nothing gliding overhead. No wings disturbed the air, no hooves sounded on the pavement. Does she think I flew away? Or maybe she just gave up... Either way, Mira would take advantage. If she could reach the guild and gather necessary supplies before Kallisto thought to check there, she might stand a chance.

"How does time work in the Dreamlands?" she asked, glancing back at the kitten resting on her shoulders. "When Kallisto talks about coming here, she sometimes goes on and on about the years she spent going someplace, or learning from mysterious monks in the mountains, or whatever."

The kitten stirred, claws digging painfully into her back. But all it did was groan and roll over a few seconds later, falling back to silence.

Mira didn't rouse it—besides, maybe talking while she was out in the open wasn't a good idea. She couldn't glide around with the cat on her back, so she had to take her steps nice and slow, so her hooves would make as little sound as possible. Where she could, she walked on the dirt planters and over wilting grass, instead of clopping on pavement.

She wasn't attacked all the way to the building she was looking for. Strangely, the explorer's guild was set apart from much of the city. Instead of blending into the structures all around it, the skyline was clear for long enough that it had an uninterrupted view of the sky. One side of the building was dominated with a huge round structure, with an elongated, reflective metal cylinder emerging from within.

She turned to ask Kallisto what it was for, but there was nopony there. Of course, that pony wanted her dead.

Not dead. She wants me back in Equestria. She doesn't think I can do this. I won't die if she kills me here.

But that was small comfort now. Mira could still see Kallisto flying just behind her, wielding a crossbow and baring her fangs. One shot would probably be enough to send her back to the waking world... but she'd missed.

Nightmare Moon must be protecting me. Maybe she knows how important my mission is. Any religious reverence to the “traitor” princess was banned now, of course. The Solar Army would execute ponies who taught such beliefs, and merely beat anypony who prayed to her.

But those ponies wouldn't find her here.

Mira slowed as she approached the front gates, struck by the strangeness of it. The building had sheets of... glass? Both doors were made of it, thick plates larger than anything she'd seen even in drawings of fine palaces. Perfectly rectangular, and somehow strong enough to be set with bits of metal along the edges.

Even stranger, they seemed to see her, sliding out of the way with a gentle hum. Pleasantly cool air drifted out from inside, lifting her mane just a little.

That was finally enough for the cat to stir, twitching once before standing up on her back. "Where's this? Leaving the city?"

"Soon." Mira strode inside. The interior was well-lit, like the halls and stairwells of the strange building. Like the crystal lamps used in unicorn buildings, though these were set into the ceiling above her. They also produced a pleasant moonlight glow, instead of the harsh sunlight that unicorns seemed to prefer.

It was like nowhere she'd ever seen. The floor was polished white stone, with strange maps and diagrams blending into one another. Maps, maybe? Maps of worlds stacked upon worlds, ascending up and down in an infinite series. Yet there was also a great globe, rotating slowly in a large fountain.

She approached, ignoring the protests of the cat on her back. She didn't seem to like the cold air, but that was her loss. It was nice to take a break from the jungle humidity, at least for a little while.

"Equus," she whispered, resting one hoof briefly on the map. The sphere wasn't hollow, as she'd guessed, but weighed so much that it ignored her resistance completely. "I wonder if the sun princess has a map this good. It's so detailed."

She had to walk in a slow circle as the ball rotated, until she finally found her jungle home. A tiny glowing dot near a particular river, and the jagged lines of a mountain range.

Finally the cat seemed to grow frustrated with her, and hopped off her back to the ground beside her. "This is not getting us further from the cold and fog, bat. Are you lost?"

Do you even listen to a word I tell you? Mira turned her back on her and trudged away, up towards a distant staircase.

Such wonders could be built here in this realm of dreams—the stairs were made of glass, apparently unsupported. They ascended up into the vaulted space overhead, which was dimmer than the rest of the room.

She made her way up, mouth falling open as she realized why the room overhead was dark. It wasn't that there weren't any magic lights. It was that the sky itself had been condensed, filling the vaulted ceilings. Clouds of nebulous blackness glittered with stars, faintly shimmering from within.

"Like they trapped the sky..." she whispered, reaching towards them with one hoof. The clouds retreated from her touch, fading away before she actually made contact, and returning when she pulled back. "What is this?"

"Who cares?" the cat asked. "Pony, you should listen to cats. We know things... and right now, I know that this town doesn't feel right. It's not a place we want to be. We should go."

Mira did turn to watch, trying to judge the animal's feline expression. She hadn't been around many cats in her life, but she did smell like she was actually worried. More than just the cold and darkness, then?

"We're looking for a map, then we can leave." Mira hurried up the stairs, into a landing of heavy shelves and racks. Most were empty, but Mira recognized some of this. Camping gear, rolls of packed supplies, and more of those little cylinders with metal tops.

She selected a set of saddlebags from one rack, shrugging them on. Instantly they were nicer than anything she'd ever owned. Sturdy material, with a faintly fleshy smell to it. But it was strong, soft when she tightened the strap, but without feeling like it was going to tear.

She started knocking things off the shelf with her wing. Most of it she understood, but she grabbed a few of the little things too, strange metal instruments that probably made sense for dream explorers, even if she didn't understand them yet.

"Aren't you a dreamer?" asked the cat, trailing along beside her on one of the shelves. She'd picked one right at head level, and glared down into the saddlebags. "Bringing things is such a waste. You can make what we need. We need to leave!"

"If I knew how to do that, it would probably be a great idea. But I don't. Can you?"

The cat tilted its head to the side. "Cats don't need to make things, we find them. Ponies are the ones who need all this... things."

Mira finished loading up her saddlebags—not so much because she was confident in her choice as the weight was beginning to push her down. She would already be slower in the air with this much. Any more, and she wouldn't be able to fly at all.

She turned down a steep bend, and suddenly they were walking past the faces of bats in a long line. Stern, judgmental faces, the way Kallisto had once looked at young ponies who came to the monastery begging for “magic powers” to use against the solar army. Bats with names printed in thick gold letters under them, like Ivy and Jackie.

"Sorry I'm stealing from you," Mira whispered. "I just want to steal one more thing. I need a map to the moon..."

She rounded the corner, and stopped dead in her tracks. Had they been listening?

She stared into a library room, expanding outward in all directions. So far, in fact, that it didn't seem like it could even fit through the door. How was there enough room?

Vast wooden shelves rose dozens of feet to the air, each one overflowing with books. They came in every variety—folded codicies of parchment, dense scrolls, and fabric-bound tomes. They scattered outward along the floor in places, piling high on a few study tables.

A few chairs were knocked over too, and pools of melted candle wax had stained the fine blue carpet in places.

They left in a hurry. Mira ignored her feline companion, reading the headings on the floor. The books here were separated by topic, she could use that.

"Cartography means maps, right?" She didn't wait for confirmation, trotting off that way. As she walked, she passed "Thaumic Studies", where it looked like a minor hurricane had blown in just before her. Dozens of books were ripped off the shelves, scattered and spread on the floor like somepony had been trying to read them in a hurry.

Read them, not bring them along. Why?

"Who cares?" the cat asked again. "I'm beginning to think you don't care about getting killed in here. You know there's ways they can hurt you, even if you're dreaming. There are things that can make you crazy. There are things that can trap you forever, feeding on you till you die. You need to be smart if you wanna live."

Mira reached Cartography, and found it different than the other parts she'd passed so far. Instead of shelves, this section had little boxes along the walls, each one with no more than four scrolls inside. Some were protected in thick tubes covered in straps, but most were just rolled, waiting to be read.

"I just need to find a map to the moon," she said. "That's the only thing I need."

"You want a map to... what?" The cat perched on a nearby table, looking up at her in confusion. "You really are crazy, pony. The moon is above us. No one goes there!"

"Nightmare Moon was banished there," she said. "That means there's a way. If even the day princess can send people there, it must be somewhere bats can get to. This is where we came from."

The cat meowed disapprovingly, but couldn't stop her. Mira hovered up into the air, scanning the shelves. She could make no sense of the little tags labeling each cubby—they were just a few numbers, not very helpful. But a map all the way to the moon needed to be important somehow, right?

Then Mira heard it—something grinding and scratching in the distance, metal bending and glass breaking. It began quiet, but soon rose to a terrible roar. She was flying now, but she could see the shelves shake slightly.

The cat squealed in terror, clambering up towards her in a few bounds and leaping onto her back. She landed on the saddlebags now, and Mira didn't feel her claws anymore.

"See what I mean? I tell you things, but you don't listen! Too big, too slow, too dumb..."

Another metallic grinding interrupted her, louder and closer than the last.

Those are buildings falling down, she realized. The library did have windows, and Mira hovered up to one, staring out. This city was huge, but she could still see the source of the noise.

Far in the distance, near the edge of the city, the gigantic towers were beginning to collapse. Great plumes of smoke rose as they fell, billowing outward in all directions and concealing whatever was doing this.

It won't stop, she realized. The whole city is crumbling, and I'm right in the center.

Comments

[Those Kids In The Corner]

I wonder what this means for Kallisto, who doesn't know where the other bats went and can't exactly return to the land of the living.

[redmar]

That's not good. This is likely connected too the reason everypony left the city.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Bats with names printed in thick gold letters under them, like Ivy and Jackie.

Oh dear. I suspected with the automatic sliding doors, but time really has gone all bendy, hasn't it?

How was there enough room?

Space is less of a surprise. Wrong kind of question, Mira.

Ah. And without dreamers, the city is making way for something new. Mira's going to need to either get out or learn how to reinforce a structure very quickly.

[harts fire]

The whole city is crumbling, and I'm right in the center
the dream is braking down

a awesome chapter.