Imagination

Imaginations

Chapter 1

Moonsinger

As so many times before, I sat in the kitchen of the house I shared with my father and grandfather, brooding over one of my stories. This time however, was different. I had no idea of how to make it end in a manner that would please my readers. I had everything planned out, yet the end I had already written did not fit in with the events I had squeezed into the story... A problem I had never had before, since I never had an audience before.

After a while I decided to call it a day, and sleep over it. My father only had an amused smile for my attempts at writing, and wasn't much of a help either. In the end I powered down my laptop, went upstairs with it and placed it on my desk. The very idea of a writers block had never been a problem before. I refused to let it beat me... Yet it just had. So instead of wracking my brain I went to bed...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I found myself in a dense forest. The trees were twisted and looked wrong. On more then one occasion did I think that they were looking at me. It may sound cowardly, but I have never been very brave.

I began to run. The trees seemed to part for me as I passed, but a nagging sensation crept up in my mind. A sensation of utter fear. It was as if something was hunting me. Something that I couldn't see in the darkness of the night. That the canopy of the trees blocked out most of the full moons light didn't help one bit.

A howl rang through the night. A sound that reminded me that I was unarmed, not very brave and alone, not to mention probably tasty. To my horror, my years of smoking and my overweight caught up with me. A stitch in my side made me realize that I would not be able to go on for much longer.

I had to hide. Hide... somewhere! Maybe I could climb up one of the trees? No that was definitely out of the question. I had done it many times in my youth, but that had been long before the many little accidents, that had practically bound me to a bed for months. Not to mention long before I had started to smoke...

My fear heightened my senses. Something that was more distracting then helpful at that moment. I could hear something behind me. Something with more then two legs by the sound of it. Adding that to the howl earlier, I deduced that it had to be some kind of wolf or feral dog. Sad thing was that I had a mortal fear of both, which only made my heart hammer even harder in my chest.

Stumbling, I came upon a small clearing in the forest. The moonlight illuminated the field of white flowers before me, and for a moment I completely forgot why I had been running in the first place. Sweat was running down my face, my throat felt dry and my heart was pounding in my chest so hard, that it felt as if someone was hitting me with a sledgehammer from the inside.

Then it was on me... A four legged creature pounced on me from behind, knocking me flat on my face. It's claws dug deep into my right shoulder, drawing blood. My white Twilight Sparkle T-Shirt became stained red, and I felt it's foul breath on my neck. I knew that I was done for, but I couldn't help myself. I didn't want to become a midnight snack for whatever creature this was. There were so many things that I still wanted to do in my life. For one thing, I still had that story to finish... Breathing in as deep as my smoke damaged lungs would allow, I screamed into the night. I knew that there was virtually no chance that anyone would come to help me, but I had to try.

“HELP! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME! FOR THE LOVE OF LUNA!”, I screamed, tears of pain, embarrassment and fear flowing down my face. Why I had called out the name of the imaginary Princess of the night? I had absolutely no idea. It just felt like the right thing to do.

Suddenly, a shadow flashed over me. I couldn't see what it was, since my face was still half buried in the dirt, but it knocked the predator right off of me. Instantly I scrambled forwards on all fours, before looking back. Whoever had helped me, might need my help and while I might not be very brave, I wouldn't let another die for me. What I saw, lying on my back, bleeding from my shoulder, and utterly exhausted, was too much for me at that moment.

A light brown horse was fighting a huge wolf that was.... made of wood? It's eyes glowed in a light green as it snapped at the horse, trying to take it's head off. The horse on it's part darted from side to side, evading each attack with what seemed like practiced ease. From time to time it brought down it's hooves on the predators head, whenever there was no opportunity for it to counter the attack fast enough. What baffled me even more however... were the horn and the wings this horse possessed, in combination with a crescent moon on it's flank.

Her horn flashed and a stream of silvery energy seemed to emanate from her horn, hitting the wolf-thingy head on. It gave a small whimper, then finally fled back into the forest. The Pony (Yes I realized it was not a horse at that point), rustled her feathers and turned towards me, a scowl on her face. Her green eyes locked onto my brown ones, rooting me to the spot.

As she stood in front of me, her beautiful silhouette illuminated by the moonlight, she tilted her head curiously. I felt a little dizzy as I lost more and more of my blood, but I just couldn't bring myself to look away. I knew this Pony... She was the reason why I had such a problem with the story I was writing. Her life or death would decide everything, and I knew that I had to kill her off in my story, but I had grown too attached to her to just do that.

“What are you?”, she finally asked in that raspy voice that I had only imagined so far. To my eternal shame, I fainted right then and there.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As I woke up again, I lay in a bed. Definitely not my bed though. It was way too small for my 184 centimeters, and I was pretty sure that my bed didn't groan that much when I moved around. I felt bandages that were wrapped around my right shoulder and upper body. The air smelled strange, but nothing I was not used to. Having grown up on a farm, I new the smell of hay and animal sweat only too well.

“Finally awake, are you?”, came that same raspy voice from my right. As I turned my head, I was prepared for the worst.

I had somehow ended up in the alternative universe I had created for my story. But... how was that even possible? Not to mention that I had absolutely no desire to be here right now. If this world was anything like the one I had created, then these Ponies were at war with the Changelings right about now, and I had no intention to participate in that. (Even if it would have made for a pretty cool dream. The pain in my shoulder however had me convinced that it wasn't one.)

I carefully reached out a hand to touch her, just to make sure that I hadn't gone crazy. She didn't shrink back, but she wasn't comfortable with it either. That much I could see on her face. (Don't ask me how I was able to interpret a Ponies expression, I just could somehow.)  Her coat was soft and wonderful, like freshly weaved silk. I could feel her strong muscles twitch under her coat as I brushed against it.

“Moonsinger, adopted daughter of Princess Luna. Became an Alicorn out of necessity. Special talent: Controlling the very light of the moon to stomp everything in her vicinity. Talent is activated through instinctual singing.”, I rattled down some of the notes I had on her. That made her face darken a bit.

“How do you know that? Only mother knows what my special talent is, and she would never tell anypony!”, she growled, stepping out of my reach. “And what in the name of the moon are you? I have never seen a creature like you, not even in Everfree!”

I sighed. It may sound crazy on so many levels, and I still didn't know how I had ended up here, but I had written her. I had created her, and I knew that she would see through any lie I would throw at her. Being honest was my best bet. She listened quietly as I explained everything to her. How I was the author of a story, in which she was playing a major role. I told her that I had wracked my brains about all the events that I wanted in the story, and how to write them. I even told her outright what she had thought and felt when she had become an Alicorn.

For a long, awkward, while there was only silence in the room. Finally she broke it with a downcast look on her face.

“I don't know why, but there is something about you, that tells me you are telling the truth. Still it's hard to believe that I am supposed to be a product of your imagination.... I mean... I feel, think and... and I decide for myself... You telling me that I am not real... just doesn't seem right, but at the same time I know that it is.”, she said barely above a whisper.

“Yeah...It's crazy. I have thought so much about you recently, and now look at you. Here you are, having saved my life and you are so beautiful. Just as I imagined you...”, I laughed, but then I remembered why I had been thinking about her so much. Something on my face must have shown my concern, since she suddenly put a hoof on my shoulder.

“Why? Why did you think so hard about me? I may not be the best when it comes to magic, but I can see that something is troubling you.”

“I... I don't want to talk about it... I have really grown close to your character and... DAMNIT! I'm deciding to kill you off or not... It's needed for the conclusion of the story, but I don't want to! You were a character I wrote for this one purpose! To die at the end! To give Luna the strength to cast her doubts aside and kill Chrysalis! But I can't... I just can't... Especially now that I have actually met you!”, I all but screamed at her, jumping out of bed.

Moonsinger took it all in silently, only her shivering wings showing any sign of her discomfort.

“I don't want to die.”, she said in a small voice that shook me to the core. As I turned to look at her, I saw tears running down her face, but there was also a little smile there.

“But if I have to... If I have to die in order to give mother the strength to end all this... then I guess I will have to.”, she added, looking out of the small window of the room. There was no hesitation in her words, no false bravado. She really wanted to do anything to help Luna through this.

“But I....”, I began, only for her to turn her face towards me with a glare that would have silenced much braver men.

“No buts. You created me for this one purpose. You said it yourself. I'm not happy about it, but if what you say is true then this is my destiny. If that is what's needed to win this war, then I will happily throw myself into battle. Mother is hurting way too much. She may not show it, but I know that she is torn inside. So many of us have already died, and it's your fault! Don't sully their legacy by changing the end now. Don't make their sacrifices meaningless!”, she shouted at me, standing up and knocking me to the ground with a foreleg. She now stood above me, one foreleg on my chest and her muzzle only inches from my face.

“Don't... Please... Moonsinger I....”, I stammered, but she just shook her head.

“Finish our tale, and do not change my role in it. That is all I ask of you. You owe your life to me. Pay me back by granting me this little wish.”

With a heavy heart I nodded, prompting her to smile. She plucked one of her feathers out of her left wing, and placed it on my open right hand.

“And don't forget about me, will you?”, she said as the world around me blurred out of existence. A moment later I sat upright in my own bed, sweating profusely. At first I thought it had all been a dream, but then I looked down on my right hand. In it I was holding a light brown feather. My injuries were gone, but this one feather convinced me...

With tears in my eyes I stood up, turned on my laptop and began to type..... Two hours later I had written the finale of my story, including Moonsingers death scene... I felt as if she was whispering into my ear when I saved the file.

“Thank you.”