Dream Valley

by Eh

In which Clayton gets a lesson on self-determination

***

I contemplated the circumstances as I descended downwards. I've come to a huge city with skyscrapers, blue skies, airships, clouds, pegasi, giant statue, big lake of water, all of that stuff. All of this thirty klicks underground.

So many things ran through my head at this moment. How did they did all this? How many people live here? Is it some kind of utopia or dystopia? Is Sunset Shimmer all that she appears to be? Who is Sunset Shimmer? What do these people even eat? Maybe they just found a really big cave. Perhaps it's about a couple of hundred to a few thousand people. Maybe there's some kind of dark secret beyond that bright landscape. Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is actually a benevolent ruler of ponies along the lines of Princess Celestia. All kinds of questions and all kinds of theories.

This would definitely be a good time for some apple brandy.

As I descended deeper into this darkness, a light came in from a tall ornately decorated window. I could still see the city, shining gloriously in the distance. I descended past huge turning gears and pistons, silhouetted by the light of what I assumed to be an artificial sun of some kind. How did they manage that? An sun underneath the earth, a ridiculous and yet according to my own eyes a completely plausible thing. Then I descended past large plates with words cut into them, made visible by the glowing sunlight shining through.

WHY DO YOU DESERVE TO BE PART OF THIS HERD,

IF YOU WOULD NOT STAND FOR YOURSELF?

YOU HAVE BEEN LED TO THIS LAND OF SALVATION,

WHERE DESTINY IS NOT DEFINED BY STAMP OR PROPHECY.

IT IS DEFINED BY YOU.

I have to say, if there's one thing I can gather from all this it's that these people are really self-determinant.

The pod then rumbled to a halt, and the door opened wide. Immediately, the smell of moss and other stinks assaulted my nose. I stepped out into a large chamber of stone and clay, and before me was a brightly colored stained glass window of Sunset Shimmer. Unlike the image presented earlier to me, this Sunset had wings and was proportioned like any other alicorn. She was facing me, smiling warmly as she would towards any other traveler to these parts. Behind her, I could see the etchings of a city, and the four great columns which held the ceiling above it. Below this window was a stone sign saying:

PRINCESS SUNSET SHIMMER
WELCOMES YOU TO HER HERD

Someone had a god complex.

I digress, I needed to find that girl and snarking off wasn't going to help me do it. There were entrances on either side of this window. Both were giving off an odd amount of light, and while I couldn't see what was in there from my point of view, I didn't think much of it. I decided going right, it didn't seem to make much difference to me. I'm sure people go left because it doesn't make much difference either. I recall the story of one fellow in the Royal Guard who consistently always guarded a door by the right side. It was not because there was anything particularly advantageous to it, it just felt right to him. No pun intended.

And indeed, there wasn't anything interesting about this hall, went on for several meters and the only thing of note was the intricately carved smooth stonework and a weird buzzing noise. Sunset Shimmer must have hired some really mean stonemasons for this kind of stuff. Indeed, at the end of the hall, I see this hallway ends up getting joined with the other one. Now, I stood with two hallways at my back and at my front were stairs descending down into a tunnel. I could see murals painted on the walls of this tunnel, but I couldn't focus down on what they looked like because that darn buzzing was getting louder.

"Is it someone new?"

I jumped forward, stopping just short of the staircase. When I turned behind me, I saw what had taken me by surprise.

"Wha-..." was all I could make from it. It was an interesting, floating, contraption. It was no bigger than your average pegasus and unlike a pegasus it didn't appear to be using wings to fly. Instead, on either side of it were paddlewheels that spun rapidly and buzzed like a wasp. There was a tail with a spinning rotor enclosed in a circle. The body appeared to be shaped like the shell of a turtle, and it was painted yellow with a red stripe leading down the center. On the front was its "head" so to speak, where a single lightbulb of an eye glowed yellow.

It spoke mechanically but in a very friendly demeanor. "I am a Pinkerton Industries Cyclogyro Sentry Bot! I have been programmed specifically to welcome pilgrims to Princess Sunset Shimmer's land, Dream Valley." The Sentry Bot zoomed in close, and I stepped back. This thing obviously didn't know what personal space was. "I must say though, this is very interesting. We have not had any newcomers in over twenty years!"

I said, "Well, I'm just visiting." That was technically true. It probably was a bad idea to get on this buzzing pile of scrap's bad side, and I'm sure lying to him would've done it.

"Well, visitors get the same treatment regardless!" A jet of green steam came out of the Sentry Bot's top like water out of a whale's blowhole. "I will guide you through the history of the founding of Dream Valley! It is Founding Day after all! The most sacred of our holidays!" It flew past me and down into that tunnel and it called out to me, "Come along now, Pilgrim! You are embarking on an incredible journey into a world of self-determination!"

I sighed, might as well play along. I began following the Sentry Bot down the stairs and into the tunnel. I could now clearly see what these murals were all about, even with the paint having chipped away from what I assume to be low maintenance. They were a visual history of Dream Valley.

The first painting was a match, glowing in a sea of blackness, with a scroll above it being burnt by it. The scroll was labelled "Destiny" and was very dry and forlorn looking. The Sentry Bot began, "You see, Pilgrim, it all began with an idea, as all great and extraordinary things do! It was that simple spark that grew into a great fire of inspiration! Princess Sunset Shimmer had this idea, why follow the stamp on your flank at all? What free will does one possess if one has to follow it? Does that not make one a slave to destiny?"

The next painting was a pair of hoofcuffs, the chain between being broken in a fire, and off to the right a bright light led to the next painting. The Sentry Bot continued. "And so, our Princess burned the stamps from her flanks and forever freed herself from the slavery of so-called destiny!" I cringed. I heard cutie marks were supposed to be permanent, but burning them off? That was the most insane thing ever, and I had to remind myself that I was in what was practically an entire city thirty klicks underground that somehow had an artificial sky and sun.

The last painting was Sunset Shimmer, an alicorn with wings spread to their full glory, pointing out to the shining city of Dream Valley in the distance. With her was a congregation of ponies, griffons, diamond dogs, minotaurs, and mules. All of them looked humbled to be in her presence. "With her freedom from the slavery of destiny, our Princess decided that she would also provide a place of refuge for those seeking salvation from the evils of prophecy! Thus, she chose to build the self-sustaining city of Dream Valley to hide her herd away from the preying eyes of the Princess of the surface above and from the slavery of destiny and prophecy!

"The four great columns which hold the ceiling up above our city are the major triumphs of this city: knowledge, courage, harmony, and friendship! She has brought here to Dream Valley the finest examples of sentience on the planet, from scientists to artists to entrepreneurs. And here in Dream Valley, nothing defines your fate. There is no fate but what you make! Be ye pony, griffon, minotaur, mule, zebra, or dog, it is all on you!"

All this talk of self-determination was killing me. I honestly hated being lectured on things that didn't concern me. What concerned me now was finding that girl, not all this talk of fate. I sighed. "Yeah, I got it the first time, self-determination. I just need to access the city."

"And so you shall, Pilgrim!" The Sentry Bot jetted a cloud of steam from its top again and flew down further to the end of the tunnel. "But you must face the mirror and look inside yourself!"

I'd break a hundred mirrors barehooved if it got me into the city.

I stepped down the stairs. The Sentry Bot hovered next to a sign above the entrance to the next area. He read it out in full with as much as enthusiasm as an automaton could.

LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF
YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH
AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

When I stepped off the stairs, I felt the cool touch of water. The water was still, and felt so pure that I probably could have lapped it into my mouth. I continued on.

I had entered a long hallway. The walls were shining, reflective mirrors. The ceiling was blacked out. The Sentry Bot flew past me and to the end of the hallway, where it was obscured by a bright light. That just left me, and the millions of my reflections in these mirrors alone. I continued onward. It felt like the hall of mirrors at a carnival or something.

So this is what that thing meant by facing the mirror. A literal hallway of mirrors with which you had to look at yourself. Even the water that sloshed around me reflected me. I looked at the mirror to my left. I saw a stallion. He had an unkempt brown coat, a scruffy darker brown mane and tail, green eyes, a metal band around his right forehoof, and a satchel on his back. On his flanks were the stylization of a clay brick wall. This stallion was a gambling addict, one who had gotten himself so deep in debt that he found himself beneath the surface to pay it back. He was a raging alcoholic, and the instant you smelled him he would reek of booze. He was a former member of the Royal Guard, and for a good reason as well. I could tell from that look in that look in his eyes as well, this stallion was also a complete and utter coward who'd leave a baby in a fire to save his own skin.

This stallion was me.

Well, now that I know the truth, let's get on with it. Yeah, you'd think that by looking at myself in a mirror I'd feel uncomfortable at my appearance. That there'd be something hidden inside myself that I never knew or that maybe I'm more than just some gambling drunk. But the truth was, I just didn't care anymore. When I look into a mirror, all I see is me, and nothing else. I continued towards the end of the hall, as did the infinite number of myself in the mirrors who went in the same direction.

The light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel eventually dimmed as I got closer. I had entered a rotunda. A giant dome of iron and glass was above me, and the rays of artificial daylight gleamed through and made the water sparkle in the light. However, I most concerned with where to go. Across the rotunda was another tunnel where I could make out at the end of it grass and dirt. That was the way out. I immediately trotted over for it, but the Sentry Bot flew into my way and stopped me.

"Come on, let me through," I said to it. The Sentry Bot continued hovering in front of me. I rolled my eyes and pressed onward, but again the Sentry Bot got in my way.

"Ah, I can't let you through. Not with those stamps on your flank, Pilgrim."

"Listen, I'm not here to stay."

"If one wishes to enter the city, they must be cleansed of the slavery above!"

I sighed deeply. I just wanted to get into the city, get that girl, and be shut of all this. "Fine, do what you have to do," I said to it.

As if on cue, from the bottom of the Sentry Bot came two little mechanical arms. I wouldn't have given it much thought had those arms not fired ropes that binded my legs together and prevented me from moving. In my surprise, I fell over onto my side and into the water, yelling incoherently. I could only imagine what it was going to do next. It hovered over me as I struggled against the ropes.

"Do not struggle, Pilgrim! Consider this a blessing, a new start, a pathway to redemption!" One of the Sentry Bot's arms immediately folded into a point, which glowed yellow at the tip. Without regard to my own consent, it plunged it into my cutie mark.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I screamed so loud I could hear my own echoes through the rotunda. The needle point felt like it was searing through my every vein like a fire in a forest. I buckled and kicked against it, but the ropes were holding me down. The heat of the needle hissed like a snake in a desert. My flanks felt like they were going to incinerate to ashes, and eventually my legs stopped moving because I just lost all feeling them. Then, I felt the needle forcefully eject from my flank. I groaned in pain, trying to fight back tears in my eyes.

Then he turned me over. I couldn't fight it this time. Again, the needle plunged into my other flank and again that hot fiery pain shot into my muscles. I could feel blackness overcoming me, the sheer pain was tiring me out. I couldn't scream anymore, I couldn't even move anymore.

I just blacked out right there.

***

It sounded like someone was about to kick my darn door down. Knocking and banging on the door did whoever was outside no good. This office may have been built by the lowest common denominator by darn if it could hold back a robber. The events of last night still eluded me. I couldn't even remember why they were here.

"Who's there!?" I called out to them.

"Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt!"

Ugh. This again. "I'm not gonna do it!"

"We had a deal, Clayton! Open the door right now!"

Deal my hoof. I stood up from my chair and walked to the door. "I told you, go away!" I opened the door, and the bright morning sunlight blinded me.