Starting from the background.

Most guides to the lucid dreams recommend to recall the dream before you open your eyes - so it will remain in your memory and the experience wouldn't be lost. That's a really good habit to have. And that day it had saved my life.

Complete recollection of a dream takes several minutes, helps to get fully awake, and, overall, is a good way to make peace with the fact you need to wake up at all. The last part is necessary for any "owl" person working "lark" hours, like me. Also, it helps not to leave your bed before you look at what's around. Normally that last part would be irrelevant. After all, it's not like someone sleeping on the floor can fall from it. Normally I can't be woken up by the sun, there is no way it can get to the part of the room where my sleeping place is.

Normally I don't wake up chewing a cloud. Not that I mind, that's the second thing that saved my life that day (and clouds do taste way better than pillows). Still, that was rather new to me.

The third thing that was responsible for my well being was what met my eye when I decided to release the cloud and rub my eyes to confirm, that the cloud was not a dream leftover, but a real thing. It was a rather painful decision, you can check it with anyone who managed to get a hoof in the eye. Yes, a hoof. Dark red, to be precise. At the end of what supposed be my arm just last evening. That made me pretty certain that this was just another dream - and one of the more weird ones. You know, the ones where you suddenly sprout extra arms, wings or, like in this case, hooves. Like the library before it was unpleasantly detailed and realistic. Not every dream bothers itself not only to provide you with some alien appendage, but to detail every single hair in the snow-white fur, covering it, with light cracks on the surface of the hoof it ends with, and with well-worn horseshoe to complete the illusion.

Well, even in a dream there are not much point to lie around looking at the hooves, so after confirming that I'll have to manage this one without the fingers, I had lifted my head from the soft white substance of a cloud and looked around. Now, I must confess, there is one thing that normally scares me enough to lose all sense and do something very stupid. I'm very afraid of heights. Looking more than two meters down send chills down my spine, and a roof of the second floor is a place I can spend an eternity at, unable to force myself to move.

This cloud was what looked about a hundred meters off the ground, above a dense forest. The only thing, that stopped me from panicking and falling off was that I had confirmed it as a dream, and in a dream heights don't scare me. At least, not that much. So, instead of dangerous panic, all I felt was a mild adrenaline rush. And a loud "bang!", that came from behind. Turning my head, I've discovered, that the hooves was not the last part of this dream. Wings was, apparently, also a part of the deal. It seemed like looking down was enough to involuntary spread them, so now the long white feathers trembled lightly in the breeze, ready to take me anywhere I might want to go, at least, if I'll manage to learn how to operate them before the unavoidable wake up call.

Oh, the joy of the dream flight, where you know exactly how to move around! How I long for you! Why, why had you deserted me in my time of need? Not that it was that much of a surprise - after the library and waking from one dream right into the other, but in was unpleasant anyway. After all, all I had in my disposal was a little patch of cloud I was on, and to get anywhere I had to fly, or, at least, fall, the latter being out of the question due to this weird dream making the pain actually painful. And the wings, predictably, ignored all my attempts to move them, though, at least, I managed to feel the tension in the muscles, that held them spread.

"It would really help if you'll stop freaking out about the height, you know," said the voice, that was previously talking to me in the library. "I never ever heard that you can put a pegasus in a wing lock with the fear of heights."

Quick glance around confirmed, that I was still quite alone on the cloud. Well, disembodied voices is a pretty common thing in the dreams. Some even make sense from time to time. Best not to ask them who they are, though, they tend to disappear on that.

"Pegasus as in a winged horse from the Greek mythos?"

"More like the winged ponies in that show you got that book from, but yes, I think, I can see some similarities," The Voice agreed.

"And in this dream I just happen to be one of those?" it was pretty obvious, of course, with this body's flexible neck I was able to have a pretty good look, but it never hurts to confirm.

"A dream?" The Voice asked, apparently, surprised. "Oh. Well, yes, you can say that... Actually, a dream, right. Yes, that's exactly what it is. You are a pegasus in a dream. Now, considering..."

"Great. I knew that watching it before going to bed was a bad idea. Now I get to spend some time dreaming myself as a character I don't even remember from it. Wasn't the white one in there a unicorn or something like that?"

"You mean you remember only one white pony from there?" now The Voice sounded hurt.

"There was also that princess, I guess, but she had a sun tattoo on her butt, and that's a book with a lock on mine," I pointed the obvious.

"You sure you don't recall m... anypony else?"

"There was probably some at the background, but who ever looks there? It's not like they'll place someone important in the back for an entire episode. Why it's suddenly so important now, anyway?"

"It's classified. Er... I mean, you'll probably understand later. Now, isn't it a good time to leave this cloud?"

That sounded like a nice idea, and I decided to overlook that "classified" remark. All that talking apparently calmed me enough for my body to overcome the wing lock, as the wings relaxed themselves from the spread position and, finally, decided to stop ignoring me. With a little trial and error I managed to find how to flap them properly, and was able to move myself and the cloud closer to the treetops. The Voice had no objections to this safe approach, and even gave some useful tips on how to properly angle the wings to control my descent. In a short time the cloud reached the upper branches of the dense forest, then touched a top of a tall pine.

And then, dissipated.

On a positive side, now I can tell, that a pegasi are pretty light for their size and surprisingly sturdy for their mass. A fall through a tree doesn't kill or cripple them, just brings them pain. A lot of it.

On a negative side, they are capable to feel pain in places unimaginable to humans. A fall through the crown of the large pine hurt in all of those places, and all the others. A dream that allows it's dreamer to be in that much pain and not to wake up from it, should be outlawed.

Actually, is it even possible? Is it possible to lose your consciousness while asleep?

"That's unexpected," The Voice greeted me when I opened my eyes again. I was in the library, and not far away from me was standing a white pegasus pony with blue mane and tail, wearing a set of gilded armor. The Voice, apparently, was his.

"And you are...?" my frustration from the fall was compensated by the fact, that this dream was kind enough to give me my body back and take away the pain, so I was able to remain quite calm.

"Strictly Classified," the pegasus replied, looking at the books with visible interest.

"What's so classified in your name?" I think, my irritation on this one was justified.

"Nothing. It's just like that. Part of a long and proud family tradition."

"Wait, that IS your name?" Talk about weird parents. I wonder, what's an acceptable short form of this one.

"Yes, weren't you listening?" good, I'm not the only one unhappy here. "Before you ask, my father's name is Big Secret, his father's is Completely Confidential, and the one, who had started it all, was the one and only Hush The Mute. If you want to joke about it, think again, I had enough of it in training. You may address me as Strict, if you want a shorter variant."

"Don't worry, I've met enough people sensitive about their names," I replied, a bit startled by the outburst. "I'm more concerned about the weirdness of this dream anyway."

"This isn't a dream, you just lost consciousness from the fall," Strict replied, examining one of the larger books. "But it is a good chance to fill you in on a situation without the risk of your panic killing us both."

"Can you do that? Can you be knocked out in a dream?" I asked, already expecting the answer to be less than pleasant.

"I don't know. We might have to try it some other time to find out. Right now it is not important."

"So... that wasn't a dream?" now I was just delaying the inevitable revelation.

"As far, as I know, it wasn't."

Treetops, slowly passing by beneath. A hundred meters of clean air. A cloud dissolving under me, plunging me  into the branches. Not a dream. Muscles are getting tense, sweat is getting cold. Shelves around are moving closer, leaning onto each other. I slowly lay on the floor and curl into a ball. Vast expanse of a forest below is filling my sight. Time stops.

I don't know, how long I was dead to the world, but everything passes and fear is no exception. After an eternity, full of cold and unforgiving void, color returned to the world, and I had slowly unrolled into a sitting position, leaning on a nearby bookshelf. I'll have to do something about it, it's embarrassing to just lose it like that.

"Better?" the voice of Strict was, for a change, filled with genuine concern. He was sitting nearby, with a book in his hooves. My freakout was, apparently, a long one, he was halfway through a pretty thick tome.

"Not really. But I can at least move now. You should probably run, I will try to strangle you if you won't."

"Why would you do something stupid like that?" Strict raised an eyebrow and turned the page with his wing.

"You were lying to me! You nearly killed me! You need a better reason?"

"Imagine, what have had happened, If you knew, that it wasn't a dream up there," he calmly answered, making no attempt to run. I tried to imagine. I had to fight a very strong urge to curl back and die.

"Why was I up there anyway? And why I was suddenly a pegasus?" nice move, brain, if something makes you cringe in fear, let's talk about it some more.

"Now, that's a good question. You was up there because yesterday it was a place where I went to sleep. Based on what I was able to get from you memories," he pointed a hoof to the book he was reading, "you fell victim to something you have seen in the news."

"But there was no reports of that anywhere nearby! And it was supposedly affecting fans of the show! I've seen only two series of it, I'm not a fan!"

"Look, it's not like it was my doing, ok?" snapped Strict, slamming the book closed. "Imagine my feelings, when about three days ago I woke up in some weird room made for some weird creatures I never heard of, in a world so insane that I thought Discord is back and made everything and everyone crazy! And nopony around, who can at least understand me! You are the first person in three days I can speak to!"

"I think it wasn't very fun," I admitted, losing the last bits of anger. "That leaves one question open - where was I all this time?"

"You were asleep. Right here, on this very spot. Every night I dream about this place, and every night you are here, sleeping. I thought it was something linked with the transformation, but then I've got a hoof on some of your recent memories, and it appears, that it was just you being tired and an extremely heavy sleeper. Now that you are awake, you are the one in control of the body."

"So... three days ago I was transformed into you while asleep, but was so tired, that I just slept through that, letting you run around scaring people for three days, then I awoke and suddenly I'm in control and you are just an annoying voice in my head and an armored pony in my dreams. Had I missed anything?"

"Except for the annoying part, that's pretty much it," confirmed the white nightmare. "And I'm afraid, but we'll have to talk about it a little later, it looks like you are regaining consciousness."

As he said it, the library around me dissolved into a gray mist, and I slowly opened my eyes. Right in front of my face I had seen a biggest and meanest looking bear I've ever seen, sniffing me with interest.

Please, make it a dream!