Little Lyra and You

Chapter Six: Waking Up

You open your eyes to an unobstructed view of the clear blue sky. The air is filled with the smell of honeysuckle plants and pine sap. You sit up without feeling the slightest bit of pain anywhere on your body. You distinctly remember the car crash and the pain you had felt just before you blacked out.

You press your hand against your ribs where you were sure they had been broken, expecting the searing pain to rush through your body; but instead, nothing. You stop pressing your hands against your abdomen to look at your body as a whole. Your shredded clothes had disappeared and you were now wearing a thin, white t-shirt that had almost no weight to it so it felt like you weren’t even wearing a shirt at all. Along with that you had a pair of white jeans and sneakers to match.

“Okay, that’s strange.” You say. You voice sounds different somehow when you speak. Like it has more echo to it, but there’s nothing for it to echo off of. Suddenly, a shimmering white light appeared in front of you that steadily grew in intensity. It soon became so bright that you have to look away until it subsides. As the light dims you risk a look back and rather than the light, there is a woman.

She was taller than you by just a few inches with long, light brown hair and sharp grey eyes. Her skin was fair without a single blemish or wrinkle. Overall, she was gorgeous. “Rise boy.” She said. Her voice was soft but commanding all the same. You do as you’re told and get to your feet. She looks you up and down and before nodding to herself. “I see I have chosen wisely.” She said.

“Chosen what wisely?” You ask. “And where the hell am I? And where’s Lyra?” You ask all at once.

“Lyra is safe, I can assure you of that. As for where we are, this is called the dream fields.” She said stepping aside and motioning with her hand to the expanse of rolling hills in the distance. “Here is where dreams reside.” She said. She snapped her fingers and the sky suddenly went dark and the sun was replaced by the moon and the stars lit up, but these weren’t the stars you had seen before. These were spirals and smudges of cloud and dust in the sky rather than just the points of light. “I prefer galaxies over those boring stars. Much more structure than just burning balls of gas.” She said noting the look on his face and giggling slightly with amusement.

“That doesn’t really answer my question.” You say.

“This is where dreams take place. Where the world is able to be molded to suit the dreams of those inhabiting it.”

“So this is all a dream?” You ask her.

“Nope, this is reality. Or at least my reality that I built.” She said.

“So then where are all the other people? There must be somebody else out in the world dreaming.”

“Only a select few have the blessing of coming here to the dream fields. Only people like you.”

“Like me?” You ask.

“Yes, like you. You humans that have experienced a connection with a pony.” She said.

“So, there are more people out there with ponies than just me?”

“Well of course there are.” She said waving her hand. A disk of light appeared behind her and began projecting an image like a television. It showed a dark brown stallion resting his back against a tree filled with apples and an orange mare resting her head on his shoulder.

“But neither of them are human.” You say pointing to the two images in the light.

“Yes, but the stallion once was. But he was given the choice.” The woman said.

“The choice?” You ask.

“You see, every so often one of my subjects yearns for adventure, for excitement. So, I go into your world and find a suitable guardian for my subjects, like yourself. And I send them over for a short amount of time. But your world isn’t kind to ponies. Whenever they go, something bad always happens it seems. So, in that pony’s last days I offer their guardian a choice. Sometimes, the guardian manages to save the pony like in Joe’s case. But some aren’t so lucky.” She explained.

“If they always end up getting hurt, then why do you send them?” You ask, staring at the shimmering image.

“Because everypony needs a bit of adventure, but it’s not just for them. Sometimes the guardians need it to.” She said.

“I don’t understand.” You say taking a step back.

“Those terrible thoughts you had just days before Lyra came into your life. The terrible things you thought of doing to yourself. That’s what I’m talking about.” She said. you take another step back from the woman. How could she know these things. Things you had almost forgotten about yourself.

“W-who are you and why am I here?”

“My name is Princess Luna, the princess of the night and the fields of dreams, and I am here to offer you the choice.” She said, her voice taking on an ethereal quality.

“Y-you mean Lyra-”

“Her days are nearing an end, she has earned a place in the field of dreams with me when she dies.” She said.

“A-and the choice.” you say, tears welling up in your eyes at the thought of Lyra leaving you.

“I can give you life again, put you back in your wretched world for the rest of your life to be with Lyra for the last days of her life.” She said. A shimmering white light appeared next to her that turned into another television display like thing that showed you lying on a bed with your shirt peeled away and your arm wrapped tightly in gauze. But your skin was deathly pale and there wasn’t the normal rise and fall of your chest.

And suddenly it hit you, you weren’t dreaming or had been strangely teleported, you were dead. The car crash and the injuries you had received had killed you. Where your body was right now didn’t worry you as much as where Lyra was. You remembered putting her in your breast pocket when you had gotten out of your car, but you didn’t have a shirt on in the picture and she wasn’t lying on your chest like she normally did when you two slept.

“Or you can stay with me in the dream fields until she joins us. You can shape your own realities. Play with physics, build your own world with your own people until she comes to join us and the others that have accumulated here over the years. And then after she joins us, you can spend the rest of eternity with her.” She said.

You stand there in shock for a moment, not knowing what to say, what to do. You had never considered something like this.

“Not good enough yet, how about this. I can make you a pony in the dream fields. I can let you an Lyra be more than just companions. You can finally talk to her, be with her. All you have to do is stay with me.” She said. She said extending her hand.

You look from the portal to Luna and then back to the portal. Weighing the options in your mind. They were both very good deals. In one you got to live again, but not with Lyra for very long. But in the other, you can wait for her here, and then live with her forever. And not just the way you had in the past but truly with her. What to choose, what to choose.