Ponylaris
or
Pony Dreams
Into the North window of my room glows the Pole Star with uncanny light. It blinks maniacally through the black abyss. In the Autumn time, when it's pale light drapes over the yellow-leaved trees and the dull, brown roof-tops of the neighborhood, Cassiopea descends, destined to disappear beneath the Great Lake; and Coma Berenices rises up from behind the tall Eastern Mountains. All the lights in the sky perform their intrinsic dance of movement across the blackness. Yet, the cold Pole Star, ever watchful, spins in the same damnable spot it has for eons, casting it's light into my North window, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey. I sit by my window, watching it stare endlessly back at me. Sometimes, when it is cloudy, I can sleep.
Well do I remember the night of the great Aurora, when over the neighborhood played the shocking coruscations of the daemon light. After the beam came clouds, and then I slept.
In was under the dull light of a full moon that I first saw the town. Still and somnolent did it lie, in a green valley between a dark forest and a mighty mountain with a magnificent castle on its slopes. Of strange shapes were the houses. All the features were grossly exaggerated and painted in light hearted hues. Many seemed constructed in such a way as to convey what matter of business was conducted inside. The air was warm and stirred not. And overhead, glowed that watching Pole Star. Long did I watch the town; until the life bringing sun suddenly rose, casting it's heat upon the cluster of buildings. Then there was stirring in the town. The inhabitants emerged from their dwelling and walked the green streets, conversing merrily with one another. They were not men but beasts, strange yet oddly familiar. They reminded me of horses but much smaller, and their coats, manes, and tails were oddly tinted in a varied array of bright colors. Though they were beasts, they conversed and went about their business as if they were men. I watched the small horse-like creatures in amazement until the sun suddenly dipped below the horizon and was replaced by the jealous moon, and the colorful beasts hid themselves away in their houses again.
When I awaked, I was not as I had been. Upon my memory was graven the image of the town, and within my soul had arisen another and vaguer recollection, of whose nature I was not then certain. Thereafter, on cloudy nights when I could not sleep, I saw the town often; sometimes in the heat of summer; other times, blanketed in the whiteness of snow. I observed that the beasts that dwelt in the town were varied in physiology. Most had no apparent strangeness save their color and speech; but some, which had spiral horns protruding from their foreheads, could perform powerful feats of great magic; others, with mighty feathered wings on their backs, could fly into the sky and wondrously control the weather itself. And on the nights when the winged horse-people kept the skies clear, the Pole Star leered as never before.
I began to wonder what my part would be in that town in the green valley between a dark forest and a mighty mountain, amongst these wonderfully happy creatures. At first I was content to remain some omnipotent presence, carelessly observing the interactions of these house-creatures as they gayly went about their lives. I now desired to define my relation to them, and to perform wonderful acts along side the colorful folk. I said to myself, "This is no dream, for by what means can I prove the greater reality of that other life in the house in the neighborhood by the Great Lake and Eastern Mountains, where the Pole Star peeps into my North window each night?"
One day, as I listened to a discourse in front of the town hall, I felt a change occur. I perceived that I at last had a bodily form. I too was one of the colorful pony-folk, at home in the town of Ponyville, which lies North of the Everfree Forest and South of magnificent Canterlot, capital of the green land of Equestria. It was my friend Twilight that spoke, and it was a speech that pleased soul, for she spoke as a true leader amongst ponies. For the past few weeks there had been a dramatic increase in the number of Diamond Dogs, large canine creatures that stand on two legs, living in the Everfree. These villainous beasts know nothing of the peace and friendship the pony-folk enjoy. All they care for is greed and increasing their own power and wealth. With their heighten numbers they could effortlessly raid and plunder own little town.
Twilight, my friend, is in charge of the defense of all of Equestria, and in her lies the hope of the future. At this time she spoke of the dangers that faced the town and exhorted he ponies of Ponyville to defend their traditions of friendship. She reminded them of the settlers of Equestria that fled the Pony Homelands and defeated the accursed Windigos with the magic of friendship. After much hard work a mighty country was formed in the wilderness. And she reminded them that, when that country was in bondage, the Princess Sisters rose up and banished Discord, restoring order and happiness to Equestria. Of all these things she reminded them, giving them courage and the hope in the power within each pony. Her plan was to confront the Diamond Dogs upon their advancement and deny them entrance from the forest into the green valley where Ponyville lies. My eyes were the keenest of all the ponies in Ponyville, despite the long hours I gave each day to the study of the manuscripts of Starswirl the Bearded and the wisdom of the Princess Sisters. So my friend rewarded me with that duty that was second to nothing in importance. To the edge of the Everfree Forest she sent me, to serve as the eyes of the town. Should the Diamond Dogs emerge and move on the town I was to fly and gather the towns folk in order to block their movements.
Alone I stood, as a sentinel, on the edge of the darkness of the forest. My brain was sore dazed with excitement and fatigue, for I had not slept in many days; yet was my purpose firm, for I loved my native land of Equestria, and the beautiful town of Ponyville, which lies North of the Everfree Forest and South of magnificent Canterlot.
But, as I stood in the silence, I saw the jealous moon, pale and sinister, shinning through the thick vapors of the forest. And through the blackness of the night glittered the cold Pole Star, fluttering as if alive, and leering like a fiend and tempter. Methought its spirit whispered evil counsel, soothing me to traitorous somnolence with a damnable rhythmical promise which it repeated over and over:
Slumber, watcher, till the spheres.
Six and twenty thousand years
Have revolv'd, and I return
To the spot where now I burn.
Other stars anon shall rise
To the axis of the skies;
Stars that soothe and stars that bless
With a sweet forgetfulness:
Only when my round is o'er
Shall the past disturb thy door.
Vainly did I struggle against my drowsiness, seeking to connect these strange verses to some teaching I had read in the manuscripts of Starswirl the Bearded. My head drooped down to the wet grass, and when I looked up it was in a dream, with the Pole Star grinning at me through a window from over the horrible trees and rooftops of a dream neighborhood. And I am still dreaming. In my shame and despair I sometimes scream frantically, begging the dream-creatures to waken me ere the Diamond Dogs shall emerge and plunder my beautiful town; but these creatures are daemons, for they laugh at me and tell me I'm not dreaming. They mock me whilst I sleep, and whilst the tow-legged dog fiends mass in numbers and creep toward us. I have failed in my duties and betrayed the beautiful town of Ponyville; I have proven false to Twilight, my friend. But still these shadows of my dream deride me. They say that there is no Ponyville, which lies North of the Everfree Forest and South of magnificent Canterlot, capital of Equestria. They say that the colorful pony-folk exist only in my nocturnal imaginings.
And as I writhe in my guilty agony, frantic to save the town whose peril every moment grows, and vainly striving to shake off this unnatural dream of a house in a neighborhood by the Great Lake and Eastern Mountains, the Pole Star, evil and monstrous, leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey.
