What The Night Remembers

by TCSNxs

Interlude Two: Revelator Of The Night

What The Night Remembers
By: TCSNxs

Interlude Two
Revelator Of The Night

The blackness shattered. It took her a moment to focus past the initial blur, but the first thing Applejack noticed was the surreal and intense colors saturating of her vision. She tried to blink a few times but found no response forthcoming from her eyelids. She took a second to ponder the meaning of that before realizing then she was looking down at her body as if she were a mere spectator.

The farmer saw Luna's horn glowing with those little sparks drifting lazily downward in defiance of gravity. Her own body was suspended in a silver aura, her barrel expanding and contracting in a slow, rhythmic fashion. Applejack wanted to look around, but found no mechanism she understood to change the view. Where she expected the muscles of her neck to respond to the commands firing from her brain, there was simply no physical response. The farmer realized she was floating without any corporeal sensation.

She vaguely knew dreams had this quality, but it was something different as well. Where the colors were as vivid as any picture, the forms and shapes about her scope of vision had a bit of a blurry quality. She watched as the Lunar Regent looked up with that casual, amused smile and eyes still aglow in silver. Applejack wanted nothing more than to move in any direction at the moment. She willed herself forward in order to change the disconcerting perspective, but she wasn't budging. She felt more like a focal point of somepony's vision than anything resembling her normal point of view. Applejack could at least think, so she set her mind to take stock of the situation. Perhaps she could find some sort way out of it. Unless she were a ghost? What had that crazy mare done now?

"You've wondered, so you shall see," Applejack heard Luna's voice echo in her mind.

Applejack wanted to say or yell something to the Lunar Regent, but she realized things required vocal cords. She briefly wondered if the Lunar Regent had lost her mind while Luna's horn glowed more intensely as those sparks fell with a bit of an increased speed.

Suddenly, Applejack's vision began to spin as if she were in the midst of a silver and black vortex. The farmer wanted to call out in panic and tried, hoping somepony would hear her. Though no sounds were forthcoming, her instinct was in full control during the moments of terror. She still had a sense of wholeness, if such things meant anything anymore.

But as quickly as the tornado began, she found herself within some physical form. She knew intrinsically that it wasn't her body though. She felt heavier and stronger. There was sensations beyond her experience, as she felt muscles connecting about her shoulders she wasn't aware of before and currents of energy that was foreign. She finally managed a glance down and seeing a hoof outlined in dark cyan fur. A wisp of a blue with twinkles of white moved over her field of vision. The panic and confusion remained as Applejack was still trying to piece everything together. Before she could completely fight through the confusion, she began to feel something tug at the top of her head and at the very edges of her conscious. There was mental suggestions, physical coercion and tugs at that odd energy she felt.

"Open yourself to it, fair Applejack," she heard Luna's voice again. Or was it her voice now? The farm mare wasn't sure.

Applejack's faculties were racing to process what she was experiencing. Even through that, she somehow caught on to Luna's meaning. She fell within herself then, focusing almost exclusively on the feeling in her crown. Gradually, as a flower blooming, she felt the tingling pull spread across the top of her head. The edge of her vision took on a silvery glow as she felt something tugging, subtle but demanding. From somewhere in that focus, streams of energy grew outward from the crown of her head. She looked up, seeing several translucent silver lines etch themselves skyward from that single point atop her head. She didn't know what they were called, but she knew their purpose as they moved towards the space beyond the sky.

"Follow them," Luna instructed coolly.

Applejack wasn't too sure how to comply with Luna's request on a thinking level. On simple instinct though, she willed herself along those lines as if she were walking a path in a forest. Where she had no motion only moments ago, there finally was compliance with her will. Her vision seemingly split as her mind's eye kicked into full gear. She lost focus on the space in front of her, while her need to journey up the lines grabbed at her. She felt a physical sensation of separation as her body sought to keep hold of her...spirit? Applejack tried to push herself up and out, but for all her effort, the body would not let her go. Applejack felt herself approaching emotional exhaustion. There was sadness in it and it was crushing.

"Will yourself," Luna whispered urgently, "All your spirit, all your will, all your desire. Everything you've got. Use it now!"

Applejack fought through those emotions and poured everything into the effort, wanting to seek the destination of those lines. She strained against the grasping holds on her spirit. The farmer pushed hard for many moments. Finally, she felt her mind's eye rending the bonds of her physical coil. She gave one last gigantic effort and finally broke free.

"Nicely done," Luna spoke. Applejack could have swore she heard the Lunar Regent's coy smile.

Her vision had no tangible quality to it as she simply followed the lines skyward towards some destination. As startling as the break was, the journey became more intense as she left the ground. She saw everything, from the ground receding to the sky coming closer. She could see the full breadth of the horizon all around her as she continued. Applejack bathed herself in the experience. It seemed so foreign but so natural at once, as if she were bucking trees on farm in Prance. It wasn't her world, but the motions were second nature.

"There are worse special talents," Applejack heard Luna remark.

Gradually, she passed through the clouds to the very edges of space. She wondered for a second if she would suffocate, but she somehow knew that didn't need breath. Though she had no such concept of acceleration as there was nothing tangible to measure it against, saw the moon itself approaching, growing greater in size as the seconds passed. Where she remembered various shades, shapes and shadows on its surface though, she found it to be a spinning globe of pure silver energy. There was no measure of hot or cold or texture, it was simple there as if a pure sphere of silvery light. Applejack paused for a second. Suddenly, the farmer felt apprehension as she paused to consider her experience.

"Touch it, fair Applejack," Luna cooed, "It will not harm you."

Applejack tried to reach out and touch it, but she had no limbs. She paused again and thought. Could she push herself into the silvery globe? Applejack attempted to steel herself, but she began to wonder if she finally slipped the bonds of sanity.

"Don't think," Luna urged her, "Just do it."

Applejack finally steeled herself fully against that sense of apprehension. She moved along the last distance of the tendrils of silver before coming into point blank proximity with the whirling globe. Applejack knew she still felt some caution, but she tried to set it aside. She continued the push forward until there was contact, as she understood it. Initially, there was some resistance against her...melding? It quickly gave way as she continued. As she pushed through the perimeter, there was again darkness and a moist warmth to her sensations. There was also a protective feeling that welled about her, akin to a mother protecting her foal. Oddly, she began to think of her own mother then. Though she had long since passed, those memories were unwillingly brought to the forefront of her mind. Dozens of images began to flood her thoughts, each with their own variety of emotions. Applejack thought her faculties would overload. Though such things weren't easy against the flood of happiness, anger, sadness, guilt and everything in between, she managed to push through it. Eventually, she found peace within the womb-like hold of the celestial body.

"Couldn't have done better myself," Luna smiled, "Now ask if it's ready to travel."

Applejack wanted to talk, but again realized again that no vocal cords were present to vocalize her wishes. Instead, she put her thoughts out there, asking the bundle of celestial energy to move. At first, the energy wouldn't respond. It simply welcomed her and wrapped her within its folds, seemingly content to do so forever The farmer thought she could lose herself within the confines of that space, so welcoming was that embrace. So comforting...

"You have to be firm," Luna seemingly chuckled, "It often does require prodding."

Applejack snapped her focus back to the task. She tried again to will the sphere to move, but didn't feel any response. She put in her mind an image of the moon, as she once knew it, moving across the sky. Still nothing. She brought forth concepts of travel and balance. There was simple inertia in reply. She put her desire out there again, almost pleading for it to move. Still, the ball of energy seemed still. Applejack felt her frustration building. As much as she was enjoying the experience, she felt as if she were being mocked. Gradually, the anger within her built to a near explosion as she envisioned one command:MOVE!

After a moment, she felt the expanse of energy accede to her will and begin its trek. Somehow and in so many ways, that pleased the farm mare.

"Well done, my friend," Luna's voice seemed soft and joyful, "Tis time to come home."

Quickly, Applejack's perspective shifted from out of the silver sphere and back along those silvery lines. There was no violence in it; just a simple adjustment. For some reason, she was saddened by it. It was like an old friend that had to depart or whenever she thought about the last days of her mother. That feeling tore a great emotional hole in the heart of the farm mare and left as profound an ache as anything she knew. If the farmer could shed tears at the moment, she would have.

"Do not worry, fair Applejack. You shall see her again," Luna spoke softly, "Besides, I think it likes you."

The farm mare wanted to take solace in the words. But in being taken from the dark comfort of that womb, she was fighting through a renewed mixture of pure emotion. Joy, sadness, and fear each competed within her while she descended back towards the earth. Finally, a feeling of the purest exhaustion overwhelmed her as the silver sphere seemed to become what her memory recalled. The familiar shapes and shades of her moon returned. She knew the ground, the sky and her logical thought processes. She felt the cold hard ground against her hooves and heard the silent babble of the stream. Her vision slowly came into a dazed focus as the blurry quality of sleeping eyes clouded her vision. She felt the warmness of feathers against her form and relished in it like a warm quilt. The silvery glow about the circular center of the garden died away.

"Now you understand," were the last words her memory held as she succumbed to sleep again.

Comments

[Y1]

Well, that was interesting.

[TheAlmightySage]

Very good.

[TCSNxs]

1712149>>1712240 I aim to please.

[Midnight herald]

I loved this bit. Applejack vs. Moon was fascinating, and the minute details you put in were great insights into your ideas on Alicorn magic. Nice one.

[Majk]

Mmmm i loved this chapter, it had such an awesome unreal feel to it.

[Azarias]

I'm finally getting around to reading this story, but I have to ask a question; is this chapter supposed to be italiciced all the way through?