A/N: Hello, everyone! This would be my second story that I've published online. My first one, Night of the Hoof Eating Socks, didn't seem to go down to well. In honesty, it was a rather rushed story that I wasn't initially planning on publishing online. Some friends encouraged me to do so, however. This story is much more planned out, and was intended to go to the internet. If you like it, please rate it accordingly so that other's don't skip over it for its lack of stars. If you don't like it, please post your reason in the comments. I would love to get feedback, as it is how writers such as I survive in the harsh lands of the internet. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it!
Sweet Dreams are Made of This_______________________________
Wake-Up Call_________________________
Author woke up before his alarm clock again, 9:00 AM. Usually, he woke up at 9:30. It’s been the second day now. Not to mention his 12 hours of sleep. This was unhealthy, according to his psychology teacher. And he had the same dream as yesterday as well. Well, not the same exact dream. In this dream, he wore a fedora and glasses, which is normal for him. But other than that, he was naked. But that was normal for a pony. Of course, Author wasn’t REALLY a pony. But his dream seemed so real. He looked at his hands. They weren’t hooves. That was good. He half-expected to wake up still being a pony. He rolled out of bed, despite being wide awake. The shock of waking from that dream took a bit of energy from him. Of course, he could never tell his friends. Who knows how they would react to him watching “My Little Pony?” It was probably just on his mind since he was watching it recently. Of course, there was one po--- er, PERSON, he knew that he could trust with the secret, his fellow brony Joey. He quickly made himself breakfast and ate it and hurried toward the door and stopped with his hand just above the door knob as he realized that Joey wouldn’t be awake for another hour or so. After all, it WAS the weekend, and everyone was sleeping in. Everyone except Author, who couldn’t help but wake up when he did.
He decided to look in the mirror. He had fallen asleep in his fedora and glasses somehow. He had tried to make it a ritual to take them off. Like the dream, it was the second time this had happened. He then looked at his medium length brown hair, which was disheveled due to sleep. He looked in the mirror sideways, finding that his figure was unsurprisingly thin, even though he ate a lot. He stared closely at his own face with his dark brown eyes and couldn’t help but smirk when he saw that some facial hair had started growing in. He still wore his school uniform, a collared shirt and a pair of shorts, which he wore yesterday.
A few hours passed before he went to leave again. As soon as he went up to leave, he heard a ping from his laptop. Joey had started IMing him, apparently awake now. Author, like always, left his computer on overnight. Deciding he would be more comfortable disclosing his dream via internet rather than in person, he went on and told him about this strange and realistic dream of his. After a few moments nothing, the IM finally read “Joey is typing.” This message showed for another few moments before a message from Joey himself popped up.
“That really isn’t that weird of a dream, considering you’ve recently gotten into MLP. And you’re probably just used to waking up around that time for school by now. It shouldn’t really be anything to worry about.” Joey typed.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m just looking too much into this.” Author typed back, laughing to himself a bit for over analyzing the situation as he had a tendency to do. “So, anyway, I finally bought Minecraft. I can play online now.”
“Cool, you should join my server.”
For the rest of the day, Author and Joey played Minecraft. Author went to sleep at exactly 9:00 PM.
Author woke up before his alarm clock again, 9:00 AM. Usually, he woke up at 9:30. It’s been the second day now. Not to mention his 12 hours of sleep. This was unhealthy, according to his fillie-ology teacher. And he had the same dream as yesterday as well. Well, not the same exact dream. In this dream, he wore a fedora and glasses, which is normal for him. But along with that, he wore CLOTHES. But that was normal for a human. Of course, Author wasn’t REALLY a human. But his dream seemed so real. He looked at his hooves. They weren’t hands. That was good. He half-expected to wake up still being a human. He trotted out of bed, despite being wide awake. The shock of waking from that dream took a bit of energy from him. Of course, he could never tell his friends. Who knows how they would react to him reading those silly stories about humans. It was probably just on his mind since he began reading them recently. Of course, there was one per--- er, PONY, he knew that he could trust with the secret, his fellow reader Cherry. He quickly made himself breakfast and ate it and hurried toward the door and stopped with his hoof just above the door knob as he realized that Joey wouldn’t be awake for another hour or so. After all, it WAS the weekend, and everypony was sleeping in. Everypony except Author, who couldn’t help but wake up when he did.
While waiting, he realized that his fedora was crushed and torn due to the rolling that occurred in his sleep. He had fallen asleep with it on again, which wouldn’t really be surprising if you knew Author. He sighed as he realized he would have to make his way to Carousal Boutique in order to have his hat repaired, a feat that was barely feasible considering his lack of assertiveness. But he would do anything for his fedora. ANYTHING.
He quickly trotted towards the door before realizing he never put his glasses back on. He went to the side of his bed where he ALWAYS put his glasses before going to bed. Except they weren’t there this time. He frantically looked around his house before reaching a mirror, finding the glasses on his face. He sighed in relief. He looked at himself in the mirror. His mane and tail were disheveled due to his sleeping. He turned sideways, seeing that he was unsurprisingly skinny even though he ate a lot. Author took note of the pencil that was his cutie mark. He had thought the colors looked good against his light brown fur. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind: He slept with his glasses on! He’s NEVER done that. Except for yesterday, when he’d had that one dream…
Shrugging it off as a mere coincidence, he trotted over to Carousel Boutique. Normally, a colt like Author would have to disguise this visit, but everypony in Ponyville already knew about his unique fascination of all things fedora. He knocked on the door which was, quite unsurprisingly, answered by a white unicorn pony with a purple mane, whose cutie mark consisted of three blue emeralds.
“Well, hello again, Author!” the white unicorn started. “My, what ever happened to your fedora? I thought you took better care of it than that!” she tisked.
“Hey, Rarity. I accidentally fell asleep while wearing it… My glasses, too…” Author replied.
Rarity looked at the glasses. “Why, I can tell! They are ever-so-slightly bent out of shape! How could you even think about sleeping with them on.” she said in a jokingly scolding voice.
Author blushed slightly, never really being good with talking to girls, especially when they joked around. “Well… I’m not really sure. I mean, I just fell asleep. I never got a chance to really put everything away.” He contemplated whether or not to tell Rarity about his dream. He decided it should wait for Cherry. Rarity doesn’t seem like the kind of pony to read about humans. “Anyway… I kind of need to have them fixed. How many bits would it cost?”
Rarity put a hoof on her own chest and looked up, closing her eyes, as she said “Oh, Author. Don’t worry about that. You’re one of my most faithful customers! I can let the payment slide just once.” It was true. Author went there every day to buy a new fedora.
“Right. Of course. Thank you.” Author replied. “When should I come back to pick them up?”
“Oh, they should be done first thing tomorrow.”
“Right. Again, thank you.” Author headed back home. It was already dark. Apparently, looking for his glasses took longer than he thought it did. He went to bed and struggled to go to sleep. Suddenly, his clock ticked to nine, and just as suddenly, Author fell asleep.
Meeting People and Ponies
Sweet Dreams are Made of This_______________________________
Meeting People and Ponies________________________________-
Author awoke again. His face had a bunch of red square imprints on it; he had fallen asleep on his keyboard. He looked at the screen of the laptop to find that Joey had left him a few messages, all of which asking where he was. Author had left Minecraft open and his laptop was burning hot. He needed to remember to shut his laptop down before going to sleep next time. It was Sunday, the day other people would normally be going to church. Author was an atheist, though, and didn’t go to church. Most of his friends did, however, and he had to wait to talk to them. He needed to talk about his dream again. He DID have one atheist friend, Alex. However, Author had no idea how he would react to it. He decided to go for broke and talk to him.
Author went on his laptop to find that he wasn’t on for once. It was a long walk to Alex’s house, and having a permit, he couldn’t drive without being accompanied by an adult. Author hadn’t had contact with his parents since he ran away. Author shook his head, realizing he had been thinking about his parents again. He grabbed a bottle of water and started walking to Alex’s house. He had barely left his property when he ran into a girl from his neighborhood. Or, if you want to get the details right, she ran into him. She always took a jog Sunday mornings. She went to church later on in the day; at least, that’s what Author assumed. She spoke first.
“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going…”
The force of the impact had knocked Author over. He looked up at the woman who ran into him. She had red hair, but it wasn’t a natural red. Her face was pale and devoid of makeup. She wore a white t-shirt and pink track pants. “Oh, it’s no problem… Uh…” He forgot her name! How could he have forgotten her name? Was it Winter? No, Autumn. No! Summer! That was it. “Summer...”
She held her hand down, offering to help him up. He thought about it, but before he had come to a conclusion he was standing, her hand wrapped around his. “Oh, uh… Thanks…” he managed to sputter.
“Oh, no. It was my fault you were knocked down in the first place.” She smiled as she said this.
About a million thoughts were flashing through Author’s head right now. He opened his mouth, and it appeared that his thoughts were racing to the exit. One of them was faster than the rest by a long shot. “Would you like to see a movie with me?” STUPID! Author blushed as he thought this. Why was it that this was the first thought to come out?
“Oh, a movie? Well… I guess I don’t have anything to do next weekend. Sure, why not.”
Author couldn’t believe what just happened. Was this a date? Did he have a girlfriend? What was he doing before that brought him outside? Something to do with dreams… Was this the girl of his dreams? Was she merely a new friend? He didn’t know what to do. “O-OK… I’ll see you… Next weekend…”
“Sounds good.” It was a date! He couldn’t believe this. He was usually a shut-in and awkward around girls, but now he finally asked one out. “By the way… You can let go of my hand now.” Author looked down. He was still holding her hand. Blushing, he quickly let go. His eyes darted around, trying to think of something to say. He could only think of four.
“S… See you next weekend…” Didn’t he already say that? He couldn’t think clearly.
“Yes… Like I said a few seconds ago, sounds good. Bye.”
“Until then…”
After that last exchange, Summer jogged away. Why was he out here again? His dream! He was going to meet with Alex because he wasn’t online. Author started walking the opposite direction Summer jogged. They had different destinations. They had both rounded their respective corners when Author noticed the position of the sun. Or rather, the lack of a position of the sun. Time had apparently passed quickly while talking with Summer. He checked his watch. It was 8:57 PM. It was getting late. Author casually continued walking until he suddenly realized…
“8:57? CRAP!” he quickly turned around and looked at his watch again, stumbling over himself. It had taken him two minutes to realize what was about to happen. Suddenly, his watch beeped, showing that a new hour had started. He collapsed on the middle of the sidewalk, asleep.
Author woke up, his heart racing. He was no longer on the sidewalk. Well, he was never on the sidewalk to begin with. He got out of bed and stretched his hooves. These dreams were getting very specific… Dr. Whooves would probably know what was going on. He trotted out the door to look for him. He usually hung out at the market. That’s where he would look. When he arrived, the first place he noticed was the shop set up for Sweet Apple Acres. They had a freshly baked pie set out. Author LOVED pie. He ignored it, figuring that finding Dr. Whooves was more important. Until his stomach growled. It shouldn’t take TOO long to get some pie, would it? He trotted to the counter and was greeted by an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail, tied back with red ribbons. She wore a tan Stetson.
“Hey there, sugarcube!” she stated.
“Hey Applejack… How much is a slice of that pie?” Author’s mouth was watering, and he licked his lips as he stared at the pie.
“You and your pahs. Welp, I reckon that since ya’ll love them pahs so much, you kin have this’n for no charge at all.”
“Oh, no… I couldn’t… I mean, Granny Smith’s hip… I have to pay… some… thing…” Author saw Dr. Whooves out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll be right back. I need to talk to somepony.” He trotted towards him.
“Don’ worry. We’ll keep the pah fresh fer yah!” Applejack said before Author left.
He had gotten to Dr. Whooves now. “Doctor! You’re good with all that… Timey… Wimey… Stuff… right?”
“Why, yes. I do believe I am. Tell me, something is on your mind, yes? Something strange is going on. You don’t know what it is. Or, you do know what it is, but you can’t quite put your hoof on it. The TARDIS has been going crazy lately, her scanners have been picking up a lot of spatial residue around Ponyville, but mostly where you live. Tell me, have you been having any strange dreams? Of course you have, that’s why you came to see me! But that doesn’t really explain it, does it?” Dr. Whooves seemed to spit out words faster than anypony in all of Equestria. “Why DID you come to see me?”
Author was taken aback for a bit. But he knew Dr. Whooves always did this. “Well, like you said. I came to you because I’ve been having weird dreams.”
Dr. Whooves seemed unsatisfied with that answer. “No, that’s not what I meant. I meant how did you know that I would know what your strange dreams were about?”
Author thought this question was a bit obvious for Dr. Whooves. “Well, you’re a Timelord, aren’t you?”
“See! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You don’t ask what the TARDIS is, don’t wonder how I knew you were having the dreams, and you somehow knew I was a Timelord.” Dr. Whooves paused to let this sink in. “We’ve never met before.”
Author blinked. “But… How…”
“It’s your dreams. Whatever is causing them, whatever they’re about; something in those dreams knows about me. And that thing’s memories are seeping through to you. Now, I wish I could help you, but that spatial residue I was telling you about earlier is interfering with all of my… Stuff. But, I can say this. Somehow, somepony from here or the other dimension has broken the barrier between dimensions, and they’ve done it through you. I have no way of knowing who did it, but whoever it was is surely up to no good. Now, I need to work on fixing the TARDIS. I’m sure Ms. Sparkle has some books on the subject if you wish to know more.” With that, Dr. Whooves walked toward the Everfree Forest, where he hid his TARDIS from the citizens of Ponyville.
At least now Author had a lead. An alternate universe. He’s read about those before… He decided to go to the library tomorrow. He didn’t want to fall asleep in the middle of nowhere like the human in his dream did. It was a good thing, too. By the time he had gotten to his bed, it was almost nine. As soon as the hour turned, he fell asleep.
Sweet Dreams are Made of This_______________________________
Time for School_______________________________________--
Author woke up. It was Monday, a school day. All he could think about was alternate dimensions. He looked around and realized that he wasn’t in his bed, or even his bedroom. He thought back to the day before and remembered that he had fallen asleep on the sidewalk. He quickly got up and ran home, hoping no one had seen him. He changed into his school uniform and ate breakfast. He thought about the alternate dimensions again. About the person or pony who’s up to no good. He grabbed his backpack and wallet as he walked toward the door to go to his bus stop. Another thing crossed his mind. Summer… He had a date with her next weekend. How is he going to explain when he goes to sleep in the middle of the movie and won’t wake up? His bus arrived early today. He was picked up as soon as he got to the bus stop. The bus stopped at the next stop. This is the stop where Joey was picked up. He walked on the bus and sat in the seat across from Author.
“Hey, I haven’t talked to you since Saturday. What happened?” Joey asked.
Author didn’t know what to tell his friend. Should he say that these dreams were really him viewing an alternate dimension? No, he would never believe that… Would he? He could tell him about how he met Summer. But he wouldn’t believe that, either… It seemed that no matter what Author could have said, Joey would have thought him to be crazy…
“Are you still having those dreams? You know, it could be an alternate dimension.”
Author sat completely still. How could he have come to that conclusion if he only told him a day ago? “Wh--- Huh?”
“Ha! Could you imagine if it really WAS an alternate dimension? I’m sure that it would take much more than falling asleep to contact a different dimension.”
“Yes, right… Of course.” Author smiled nervously. Yep, he would definitely think he’s crazy. Author looked out the window and saw the school. He’s really been losing track of time lately… The bus doors opened and everyone poured out. School didn’t start for a few minutes, so Author and Joey went to their usual spot. Their friend, Ditzy, quickly joined them… After running into a few things.
“Hey guys! I can’t believe it’s been a whole weekend since we last talked!” She had long blond hair and very thick glasses that made her eyes look slightly off-center. She wore a gray jacket, like she always wore. Printed on the back of the jacket were two large feathers. “So, what did you guys bring for lunch today?”
“Well, I have a classic PB&J. How about you, Author?”
Lunch! Author forgot about lunch! He was busy thinking about the dreams, and he forgot to pack it. He didn’t even bring his wallet! “Oh… Uh… I kind of… Forgot about lunch…”
“WHAT??? You forgot lunch? Don’t worry! I packed TWO muffins today!” she reached into her purse and took out an empty muffin wrapper with a few crumbs in it. “Oo- oops… Guess I kinda got hungry…”
Author stared at the empty wrapper before smiling slightly. “It’s OK… I can go a day without lunch.” As soon as he said this, his stomach rumbled. The two friends at the table stared at him. “See? My stomach agrees!” The three friends laughed as the bell rang. They all had different classes for the first and second hour; Joey took marine science which was taught by Dr. Franklin, Author took programming by Mrs. Wheeler, and Ditzy took a postal delivery class. That may sound like a strange class, but this school provided teaching on a variety of subjects.
“Oh! I almost forgot! Ms. Jehoosavitz asked me to deliver these to you!” she took out three envelopes, giving one to Author and one to Joey. The one she kept looked like it had already been opened. “See you guys at lunch!” she turned and ran to her first class, tripping over her shoelaces, getting back up and running again a split second later.
“Oh, Ditzy… Y’know, she kind of reminds me of that background pony, Derpy…” Joey stated.
Author thought about this. “You’re right… She even has the same official name. Must just be a...” Suddenly, Author thought about his dreams. Could Ditzy have used the pony Author to get to the human world? No, that’s impossible! Author knew Ditzy his whole life!
“I think the word you’re looking for is… Coincidence.”
“Right, of course. A coincidence…” Author stared blankly into the sky. The realization that he was going to be late to class shocked him out of his stupor. “Shoot! Gotta get to class! Talk to you later!” With this he ran, not tripping on his shoelaces despite them being untied. It seemed like Author NEVER tripped.
“Bye!” Joey yelled toward Author as he himself started running to his own class.
Classes for the trio passed as normal. Joey completed all of his work fast as he was already an expert on the subject matter. Author messed around in Photoshop, having already mastered the subject matter in his class. And Ditzy… Well, no one really knows what they do at the postal delivery class…
After their classes, the trio stayed true to their promise and met up at lunch. Although admittedly it wasn’t very hard, for they met at lunch every day. Ditzy was the first one to speak, and she did so with excitement. “So, did you guys open the letters?”
Author and Joey exchanged glances. “Uh… Well, you see…” Author started.
“Well, we haven’t really had the time to look at them…” Joey finished.
Ditzy stared at both of them. At the same time. “Well, why don’t you guys open the letters now?”
And that’s exactly what they did.
Dear Author,
It has come to my attention that an invasive force of an unknown number is attempting to retrieve the artifacts that this school hides. As is known by all of those involved, you are somehow connected to these artifacts and have devoted a fair amount of time in trying to discover what they were. It is because of this that I am asking you and your closest friends to help defend it. I send this to you in a written form due to its inherent secrecy. We will discuss this with you and your friends tomorrow.
Always yours,
Principal Sparkle
Joey looked at Author. Obviously, Joey’s letter mentioned Author knowing something that he didn’t. Author sighed.
“I bet you want to know, don’t you?”
Ditzy and Joey stared at him and nodded.
“Fine, I guess it couldn’t hurt…” He paused to build a sense of suspense.
“I wasn’t always going to be accepted into this school. In fact, I had nothing going for me. No clubs or extracurricular activities… I was basically off the radar. Until one day when I was on a vacation, and I found something… Something that if in the wrong hands could alter the fate of the universe.
At first, I thought nothing of it. It was just some chasm. Although the scenery was strange. Green trees with brown leaves, strange behavior in the animals… Stuff that wasn’t normal. And I tripped. I fell into the chasm, but something cushioned my fall. Which is weird because the only things at the bottom were a bunch of rocks.
And that’s when I saw them. Six strange gems. They glowed with my proximity, as if trying to reach out to me. I could see them, what they were. We now call them the Elements of Discord. There was hate, greed, dishonesty, abandonment, meanness and finally, the most dangerous, chaos. I wasn’t the first to find this, however. The school had already found it and noticed a strange reaction when I was in its proximity. And so now I’m part of the school. Not much else to tell, really.”
Author’s two friends looked on in intrigue as his story drew to a close. “You’re making this up, aren’t you?” Joey had asked.
“You saw the letter for yourself.” Ditzy retorted.
“Speaking of which…” Author started. “How DO you read?”
She scoffed. “What, you think because my eyes are like this I can’t see right? I’m not blind! I can just see twenty times more than anyone else! Or maybe a hundred! Frankly, sir, I am shocked and appalled.” She crossed her arms, closed her eyes and looked away. After a while, she opened one eye and looked at Author and started laughing. “You really thought I was mad, didn’t you?”
“I hate it when you do that! It makes me feel bad…”
Joey was laughing along with Ditzy, when she said “Aw, does someone need a hug?”
She held Author in a friendly embrace.
"Diiiiitzzzzyyyyyyy, stooooooopppppp!" Author said, feigning agitation.
The three friends laughed. They enjoyed the rest of their lunch- and the school day- without any further surprises.
Eventually, they all made it home, and Author fell asleep again at exactly nine.
Author woke up. He had another dream. This one was pleasant, unlike the others he had had that were full of a feeling of dread and suspense. This dream was about friendship. Of course, now Author knew it wasn't REALLY a dream. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about it, too. Like somepony he knew was in the other dimension... Ditzy! But could one of his closest friends really be the scourge that threatened to destroy both worlds?
Author shrugged off this idea. After all, she was his closest friend.
He remembered his plan to go to the library. He put on his saddlebag and quickly set off to his destination.
When he arrived, he knocked on the door. Spike answered.
"Oh, hey Author! Come here for the new book in the Human Series?"
"Oh, no way! That's out today!?" Author spurted enthusiastically. "Er, uh... I mean, while that holds my interest, I'm here for something else. Something a little more... Sciency."
"Oh, I got ya'. You want some alone time with Twilight, don't you?" Spike asked, nudging Author's leg with his elbow.
"What are you... OH! Oh, no no no no! I'm here for a BOOK! About theoretical physics! Not... Uh... Twilight..."
"Did somepony mention my name?" Twilight asked as she walked to the door frame.
"Yeah, it was Author. He's looking for some book on theoretical physics." Spike said, ignoring his own previous comment.
"Yes, right. Specifically about alternate dimensions." Author thought a bit. "And... Perhaps a book about the elements of harmony as well."
"Of course! Spike, go grab the books 'Alternate Dimensions for Snips' and 'The Elements of Harmony' please."
"Right away, Twilight!" Spike replied with a salute.
When Spike was gone, Twilight spoke up again.
"Oh, by the way, the new book in the Human Series is in. Here you go." She levitated a copy to Author, who sat dumbstruck. The only other being who knew that Author read the Human Series was Spike, but he made him Pinkie Pie Swear not to tell anypony.
"How did you...?"
"To be honest... I... Kind of read them, too... And you seemed like the kind of pony that reads them. That and Spike logs whenever somepony buys a book."
"Right... Of course... Aheh... So, uh... How much do I owe you?"
"You don't owe me anything. You supply a lot of the fiction books here in the library, it's the least I can do."
"Oh, uh... Thanks."
Spike soon returned with the books in hand.
"Well, here they are!" Spike stated as Twilight levitated the books into Author's saddlebags.
"Thanks a lot, guys! You don't know how much this means to me!" Author yelled as he galloped away from the library. Or how much it means to all of Equestria... Author thought.
When he got home, he opened the first book, 'Alternate Dimensions for Snips.' It read:
Hello, inquisitive reader! This book will tell you all you need to know about something the unicorns who study theoretical physics call alternate dimensions. Although the occurrence of these have not been confirmed, there is much evidence supporting them. Some believe that these alternate universes are a stark contrast to our own, while others believe that these universes are exactly the same, albeit with minor differences. Some even believe that it is possible to traverse between these dimensions.
There is also another very popular theory that has to do with another subject in theoretical physics, the elements of harmony. If what is believed about these alternate universes is true that means that if the elements of harmony, believed to be a creative force fueled by friendship, may exist in another universe as the elements of discord, fueled purely by chaos.
Although many ponies doubt the existence of either alternate universes, the elements of harmony, or the alternate elements of harmony, there are still a handful of ponies who dedicate their lives to finding the answer to these questions.
NOTE: This book is not really meant to be read by Snips.
What Author read intrigued him. He remembered something about the elements of discord or something like that in his dreams. He looked at his clock. Almost time for bed. This time, he actually felt tired before the turn of the hour kidnapped his consciousness and brought him into a slumber.
