Conception

- Letter to Alica: Section 3-

...You are such an amazing pony. You know that, right? When you found Aven, and when he found you, you helped bring us all back together, which seemed nearly impossible to all of us…

Chapter 5: The New Finding

Underneath a billion moons, there stood the sky-blue unicorn, Alica, looking over a vast, crumbling world. Drop-offs led into an endless abyss of darkness. It was once Ponyville, but now what it was all just a mess of chaos equivalent to the power of Discord.

The ground was shattered.

Waterfalls fell where rivers cut off.

A dim haze crept its way over the landscape for miles in all directions.

Alica simply stared at it as if it were her fault. A deep dwindling shame built up inside of her as she looked down with tears forming in her eyes. Behind her, a very deep, low voice spoke to her. “Leave the beaver be. His belly speaks for himself.”

As Alica turned around, she saw a large intimidating chicken within a chicken costume. She closed her eyes, nodded, and looked down at her hooves.

She was wearing a chicken costume too.

Beneath her, the ground started to crumble, and with it, Alica started to fall as the large chicken flew away and into the dark, dusky sky.

Alica fell deeper.

Deeper.

And deeper.

But then, in her last attempts at grabbing something to stop her fall, she woke up panting straight up in her bed.

~     ~     ~

It was only just a dream… She thought to herself.

“Woah…” Alica couldn’t stop panting as she sat up in her bed in amazement of the dream. She then jumped up as she realized that it was a good moment to use her dream journal for this. After writing down everything, she reread it and giggled at how ridiculous it sounded. It wasn’t just confusing, but it made absolutely zero sense.

She looked beside her as she finished writing, and there she saw the book on superstition hidden under one of the many pillows. It was evident that she must have fallen asleep while she was reading the first few chapters.

“What a dream…” She sighed and picked up the book, finding where she had left off.

It had stopped at the point where it was finishing up giving essential basics. The next chapter that lied ahead was where it started to actually discuss some interesting topics.

The first was of predictions of the future, where many ponies had glimpses of events yet-to-come. From Alica’s view, she knew in her heart that this was no coincidence. What she found fascinating, though, was that it showed the possible explanation that all ponies were connected to the universe through dreams and dream-states in the mind.

More than ever then, she knew she was loving this book the most out of all the three.

The next topic was of abandonment of reality, where some ponies had a view of the universe as if it weren’t the real reality. Many had resorted to suicide, and others had simply dedicated all their time to sleeping. Some ponies couldn't help but have shame and loneliness, no matter what they do to try to move on from what they may have experienced.

Before Alica could feel depressed, though, she came onto the next topic. It was the creation of reality, where ponies had found a way to live in two worlds. This was different from the previous topic because the other was about forgetting one reality and jumping into another. This idea, instead, included accounts of ponies who had learned to live a joyous life of peace and serenity.

Alica started to lose track of time as her mind had completely focused on the book and the accounts of ponies who had found peace.

She stopped at this very topic in a daydream.

She was with Vinyl inside a building on the side of a cliff, overlooking a large span of land in a valley leading towards what appeared to be an ocean. Although, then the colors dissipated from the corners of her vision soon-after, and she lied in her bed full of pillows, alone. She rolled over, sighing, and tried her hardest again not to feel depressed once again.

It didn’t work, and in a few seconds she felt the urge to cry.

There was no crying, however, for it was like a part of her wasn’t allowing such an action just yet. She rolled back onto her back and stared at the ceiling. A wave of emotions flooded through every vein in her body, and with it, gave shivers down each passing nerve. Suddenly, she locked her eyes shut, and she tightly tensed up and tried to imagine that moment with Vinyl again. Vague colors started to pass by, and so very vaguely, she was there again. She tried to imagine the table and the window. She tried to imagine she had her hooves touching the firm, solid surface of this table. She tried to imagine experiencing everything.

She was so close, yet so far.

She imagined closing her eyes in the dream, and in a very desperate attempt, she opened them back up, trying to imagine herself looking at the world with her and Vinyl.

She was only left with the ceiling.

Trickling down her cheeks, she felt the soft sensation of tears flowing down in all directions onto the soft bedding. This was the real reality, and it seemed that there was no escaping it.

=     =     =

Hours later, Alica went down to the club only to find that they were closing down while they were doing some major remodeling. She was assured that she would continue to be paid because of the very short notice.

Alica thought that perhaps it was for the better for her, for she still felt forlorn from the morning. Morning had tried to cheer her up as usual, but to no avail, she couldn’t lift her spirits. Even when Vinyl went to say hi, Alica couldn’t help but blush and say that she was sorry and needed to get some reading done.

Back at home, she dropped onto her bed and started to think about what exactly she was going to do. She sighed, and looked to the book beside her. It was almost like she didn’t want to read it anymore. Then, though, in the corner of her eye, she started to focus on her little music box atop of the dresser. She suddenly felt something completely different, and felt the urge to wind it up.

So she did so, and she listened.

With the last note, something clicked inside her as faithful feelings came back up. Somehow, she could feel like this wasn’t the end of her story; there was so much more to come, and she could feel it. She had a purpose, and now was the time to continue.

With simple levitation magic, she picked up the book and opened it to where she had left off; the next chapter awaited.

It was Star Swirl the Bearded’s secrets. Alica jumped up in surprise, for according to the book, there were suspicions that this wizard had kept a few spells hidden. For reasons unknown, he didn’t want others to even find out about it. It was nearly like he wiped it from the face of history.

The proof: A letter to Discord.

It had been scavenged after the fall of Discord and the disappearance of Star Swirl.

Dear Discord,

Honest conciliation is impossible with dishonest promises. You take an empty throne, Discord. I do not know if thou hold any other lies beneath your grip, so therefore your word has but no meaning and you will thus face consequences. Thus more, I state that with new arcana I have mastered in private, darkness I see is embedded in thy very being. The royal sisters have a means to stop you, and will ensure peace for all the land; thou shalt not interfere with the harmony of Equestria any longer. You have one day to reply and accept a minimal punishment.

With sincerity, your old acquaintance,

Star Swirl the Bearded

The letter in response read as followed.

Dear old, loony Star Swirl~

I have always loved hearing your rambles. They humor me, but right now you have no clue just how much you are making me roll on the floor laughing. It’s simply priceless; you have no idea what my dreams really are! Really, it is quite a funny idea that you are just barely finding out about this *arcana and say that you’ve mastered it. If you truly know me, then you must know that I've indulged myself in fantasies far before you would ever guess. Manipulating the universe is my specialty, and same goes for dreams. I find it even more hilarious that you are forced to keep so much of this secret, as well. You tell me that I lied, but here you are with your own little hidden discoveries that you fear others will shoot you down for. Oh boo hoo! Nopony will ever believe the great Star Swirl the Bearded! Sure, maybe you’ve had the help of Luna and got her support, but most of it is still beyond the public's knowledge.*

Here, I will put it simply -- you are but a tiny worm in the wide ocean of my chaos.

You have one night to have dear Luna and Celestia back down, or I will easily turn your world upside-down in a snap. Also, who’s to say I haven’t already? Your control is merely an illusion, and as is your attempts to figure me out.

Your old friend,

Discord

As she continued reading, she found the history following the time of the letters was vague and forgotten; although, it was certainly known that Star Swirl had mysteriously disappeared around that time and the following decade. Alica sat back in her bed and overlooked what she had just read. She was absolutely astounded by this new information.

A third time she read it, and then she decided what she needed to do next.

“Time to do some friendly interrogation,” Alica said positively as she got up.

=     =     =

For a whole hour, Alica sat in the nearest restaurant to her house that sold hayburgers, waiting for Discord to arrive. She had written a letter and put it into the mailing system in hopes to ‘hang out,’ but really, she was a mare on a mission. No matter how wrong it felt to interrogate Discord, nothing would stop her from dreaming.

Right as Alica was about to think he wasn’t even coming, in slithered the draconequus. Many ponies stared and walked out for the fact it was Discord. Nothing particularly ‘normal’ happened when he was around, after all.

“Oh, phew… For a second I thought you didn’t get the letter.” Alica sighed as Discord sat in the seat across from her.

“I got the letter, it just took a while for the mail pony to find his way through my sub-dimension.” He sat back in the seat and chuckled. “It’s probably going to be a regular thing."

Alica didn’t know what to say further about that, so instead she changed the subject. “So… Anything interesting happen lately for you?”

“Huehuehue, there was a crazy thing with cutie marks happening yesterday with Twilight and her friends. Some crazy mare had it coming to her… Very powerful magic, I have to say, but friendship beat her. I was eating popcorn the entire time, quite a show!”

“Huh?” Alica scratched her head with her hoof.

“So what about you, my fine little pony?”

“Uh... “ Alica thought for a moment on how to respond. “Well… I heard a few things about you in a book…”

“Hm… so what did it say about me? I’m in a lot of books. I’m famous around these parts.”

“It was talking about… a… well… Do you know Star Swirl the Bearded?”

Discord froze at the mention of the name.

“I can’t say I do. Why do you ask?” Discord asked politely.

“Well… it’s just that when I was reading my dreaming book, it said that you and him were writing letters to one-another?”

A dark haze surrounded Discord as his voice lowered. “Which letters?” He continued trying to sound clueless.

Shivers raced down Alica’s spine at the sound of his tone. She derped out for a second, but then went to her bag to find the book. She turned to the page with the letters and showed Discord the proof.

Discord looked it over and over again as he just stood there silently. Alica waited for any kind of response, and mentally prepared herself for the worst.

“HAHA!” He leaned back in his seat. Slightly, his eye twitched. “Why in Equestria do you show me this bogus? You shouldn’t believe books like these. They fuel rumors.”

“I… I’m just trying to get into lucid dreaming, that’s all. From speculation, the book says that there must be arcana about dreaming that was involved…” There was a short pause as Alica looked down.

Discord finally broke. “There’s no hiding it, is there?” He got up suddenly. “If you want me to say it, then I’ll just say it. The password is ‘Conception.’” With that said, Discord teleported away.

Alica stared at where Discord once was.

“...huh? ... Did I miss something?” Alica asked herself as she sat alone.

=     =     =

Alica paced around her room.

What does it mean, what does it mean?! She thought furiously to herself, I’m so close… I’m so, SO close! Was there some sort of hint he gave? She tried to recall something, but failed to find anything useful.

“Hey, Alica, are you in there? I’ve been worried, I keep hearing you walking around. There’s going to be a party soon, hosted by Pinkie Pie. Maybe that could take some things off your mind?” Morning’s voice asked behind the door.

A light twinkled inside Alica at the mention of Pinkie. Twilight had said how she had a thing with Pinkie senses, so perhaps there was something that she might find if she went to the party.

“Okay, sure!” Alica felt a sudden rush of excitement.

“Okay, we will leave in ten minutes. It is getting a tad bit windy outside, so try to wear something warm. The party is outdoors.”

“Okie!” Alica beamed as she scavenged to find something in her dresser-chest. After finding her faithful, old, slightly wrinkly and purple scarf, she didn’t hesitate to hurry by the front door to wait for her sister.

=     =     =

There was a bright haze high in the sky as Alica looked around the party for Pinkie. The party was placed on a small grass hill in a park just next to ponyville. Without any luck, she sighed and went to plan B, which was actually about the party itself. Before, while Morning and Alica walked down to the park, Morning told her that Pinkie was hosting it for a new pony that came into town. What Morning didn’t say, though, was his name. This made everything a tad bit difficult for Alica to find him when she couldn’t even find Pinkie, to say to the least.

So, Alica decided to start asking around.

After asking a few ponies and getting nothing but bleak answers, she finally came across a light-brown stallion with a gray mane.

“Who, you mean me?” He responded, confused.

Alica blushed in embarrassment as she realized that she must have found him. “Oh! Sorry, I had no idea who you were- or- I mean… sorry…”

He chuckled. “Don’t you worry about it… I don’t even know myself anyway…”

“Wait, what?” Alica asked.

“Well… I know my first name is something like Aven, and my last name is something like Heistmare, but I don’t remember a single thing since waking up in the forest.” He scratched his mane with a hoof. “It feels so awfully strange to try and remember… Anyway, what is your name, might I ask?”

"Um... my name is Alica. I... but wait, you are being serious? Is there anything else that you know?"

“Well, I have had random visions...”

Alica’s jaw dropped. “Whah…”

“I know, ponies have been calling me crazy. I’m some delusional stallion who woke up not even knowing himself. Just don’t rub it in. Too much has happened in the past few days…”

“No! no, no, I'd like to say that I have visions too! Not only that, but weird thing are happening… like a brown pony in a tie telling me that ‘something big’ is coming,” Alica blurted out.

“Oh! You’ve met him? He was the pony that found me in the forest. But… hold on a second, you have visions? Are they about wizards and beards?”

“I can’t believe this!” Alica did a quick reality check, then continued talking. “I haven’t had too many about him, but I’ve had a lot with Discord and my parents! What was it about the wizard that you saw? It must have been Star Swirl, I am trying to figure something out about him.” Maybe she didn’t have to find Pinkie after all, she thought.

“Heh, you know, this is where ponies don’t believe me, but there should be a location with some kind of hidden passcode system.”

Alica could feel her heart beating faster and faster in excitement as everything started to connect together.

“Where?”

“Um… I don’t know why you are so overly-interested in it, but it is under the east bridge in ponyville. You have to say some sort of word, but I don’t know what it could be, the vision didn’t say-”

Already, Alica was running in the direction of the bridge. “Gotta-go-thankyou!”

Pinkie trotted up happily beside Aven a few seconds later as he watched Alica run. “I was looking for you everywhere! So how are you liking the party, Heisty? I hope it’s going super duper!”

“Thankyou Pinkie, but I have a feeling that I need to follow Alica.” With that said, he ran off after her. “Oh! And the party was splendid!” He added, calling back before continuing to run off.

“Okie Dokie Lokie! Have fun! We should totally have another party just like this one!” Pinkie waved goodbye to him as she shouted in glee. Just then, her Pinkie senses triggered her entire body to start shivering from the tip of her tail to the top of her head.

“WOAH! That one was a DOOZY! If only I could tell Alie, she would be super duper excited!” Pinkie stated to nopony in particular as she started to bounce away towards the candy table, humming to herself happily.

=     =     =

Running faster.

Running faster.

Faster, faster, faster…

“Alica! Alica, wait!” Alica was finally in sight by the river under the bridge. The rock formation on the underside of the bridge started to twist in on itself to form a tunnel leading deeper into the ground.

Faster and faster, Aven ran to catch up. He nearly stumbled for a second, but arrived just in time as the passage was closing.

Once squeezing inside, the light behind him stopped shining. After his eyes adjusted, he could see a faint, dim light ahead in the twisting, cave-like tunnel. One large step after another down the tunnel, he finally took his last turn around a corner and found the source of the light.

He was in a luminescent rotunda of rocks and gems, and into the walls there were hallways of dusty books with cobwebs spiraling in any possible direction. In the center of the rotunda stood an even more luminescent area with a platform. Upon it, Alica stood, looking up at something. Aven followed her gaze, and then realized what it was.

It was a large, abstract, white orb.

As he leaned closer, the orb seemed to shrink and form a large aura. As he leaned backwards, the orb seemed to grow and the aura shrank with it. The two continued to stare up at it silently.

When Alica finally looked down, she turned around and jumped when she saw Aven. “Ah!”

“Ah!” He was startled out of his trance, but then remembered where he was. “Oh… sorry, I should have told you I was here.”

After realizing who it was, Alica relaxed as she wrapped her scarf snugly around herself. “Oh, my bad… I probably shouldn’t have run off like that...”

There was a silence for a minute, but then she looked back up at the orb. “I don’t know what to think…”

“...Me neither… what do you say it could be?”

She paused for a second, attempting to figure it out. “I… I guess we can check the books. I can tell you everything while we are looking...”

=     =     =

“-So because of that Discord you mentioned, you realized the connection? Wow… this is uncanny,” Aven awed in wonder as he thought over Alica’s explanation for running off.

“Pretty much,” Alica stated as she continued to browse through the shelf for anything interesting. “It was like a gut feeling or something…”

“Wait, what was that password again?” He asked.

“Conception, and no, I don’t know what it means...” Alica continued searching.

“Huh, I don’t know why, but it sounds awfully familiar…”

Alica paused for a minute. “Wait… I think I glanced over a book over here that had that word!” Alica hurried over a few steps to the left to find it. “Yes! ‘Conception Experiment Journal’ was what it was called! ...But it doesn’t have an author. Weird…”

“Oh, still, let’s open it up!” He stated.

After finding a table with a few chairs, the two ponies sat down to read it together.

What does it mean to dream? What meaning might there be in such a question? I have done my research, and here I shall put down on paper all of my findings thus far.

There is another world out there. I have explored it with Princess Luna, and we both found the potential with it. She proposed the idea that it could be possible to go into other pony’s dreams, and with both of our magic combined, we found it was indeed possible. First we started to experiment distances, then later with other ponies.

We found that distance doesn’t matter, nor the pony.

We refined this skill until we could access nearly everypony’s dreams. It takes a set practice, but there are infinite possibilities once it is mastered. Even with how old I am, and how long I have worked on it, I still cannot master it. Therefore, I’ve come up with a theoretical solution.

Conception.

By this definition, finding conception means to conceive the universal ‘key’ idea used to unlock every door in our mind. In other words, we must find a state of mind where we can grow to our full potential. I know that this is the last thing I must research.

Why I choose to research this? Well, for some particular reason, I feel a personal emptiness inside. For scientific reasons, I say that this is a curiosity for the sake of the universe, but I suppose it is also for the sake of myself. Nevertheless, I hope that conception can help create a theory of the entire universe and even beyond…

As it continued beyond the first few pages, there were charts upon charts of data and statistics dealing with dreams. Alica and Aven browsed through it.

“It’s… it’s possible. It’s really possible,” Alica said in astonishment as she continued to look at all of the data.

“Well… that, or the author was bored and made everything up,” Even said, stating the possible flip-side.

“No! Look, he actually has instructions for a spell!” Alica squealed in delight. “Oh my gosh! I need to show Twilight this! And it also said that Luna could go into dreams! It was mentioned with Discord's note, too, now that I remember. I thought it was just stories fillies were making up…”

Alica stopped for a second, realizing what she could do. “Wait… Luna goes into dreams… If Luna goes into dreams, then I might be able to ask her my questions in my dreams!”

While Alica danced happily around the table, Aven sat there with a blank face, not knowing how to react.

“Yay!” Alica grabbed his hooves and bounced around in circles with him, who tried to speak but couldn’t think of the words or questions. Alica continued rejoicing. “Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes!”

Aven looked like he was about to throw up with all of the forced twirling.

Finally, they stopped, and Alica blushed. “Heheh… um… Sorry, this was just my life-long dream, that’s all…” She pawed at the ground, looking down.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m not really enthusiastic, but that’s because I don’t remember how to be…. excited, I guess. I still don’t know who I am or what my goals are, remember?” He replied.

“Hm…” Alica thought for a bit. “Well, then I’ll show you! I might not know who you are either, but maybe that can be a goal when we go into dreams?”

He smiled warmly. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”

Just then, Alica realized something. “Wait…”

“What?”

“I… I just realized who else would want to help! I can’t believe I almost forgot, oh my gosh!”

“Really? Who?” He asked.

“Vinyl!”

=     =     =

Taking the book with them and out of the cave, the two ponies sat in the park where the party once was. It had been a few hours since Aven ran off with Alica, but still, one pony hadn’t left.

Pinkie Pie.

“-And then I was like ‘OATMEAL? Are you CRAZY?!'”

Aven sighed. “You told me this joke three times already…”

“But it’s a good one! Don’t you think it’s funny Alica?”

Alica sat on the far end of the blanket on the grass with her purple scarf keeping her warm from the small breeze. She didn’t seem to hear Pinkie.

Pinkie simply scooted over next to her as she noticed her trance-like state. “Hello? Equestria to Alica?”

Alica shook her head as she got out of her trance. “Heheh… I was kind of lost in thought. Sorry…”

“Oooo! What were you thinking about? Tell me, tell me, tell me!”

“Well… It was... “ Alica blushed. “It was about Vinyl Scratch.”

“Oh! Oh! She’s so awesome! She says I’m super good at parties! I help her set up sometimes with her DJ things!” Pinkie bounced up and down in excitement of the memories that came up.

“Yeah… She is awesome… I hope she got the letter asking if she could meet us here,” Alica said, looking down.

“Ah… Cheer up! I’m sure she got the letter!”

“Wait, who is that walking towards us?” Aven interjected.

Alica lifted her head immediately. “Vinyl?!” She looked around, but only to find a purple alicorn carrying nearly a hundred books with her levitation magic. “Oh… it’s just Twilight… Oh! Wait.” Alica started to call out to her, “hi Twilight!”

Very faintly, they could hear her call ‘hi’ back to them.

Pinkie Pie bounced up higher than ever. “Woohoo! It’s another party! Should I get some cake? Oh! OH! No, one second!” Behind a nearby tree, she pulled out a strangely large cannon on wheels. She shot it up into the air, and out of utter confusion, Alica and Aven stared up at the confetti that floated down upon them.

Aven's mouth hung wide open. “...What the hay Pinkie?”

“Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie continued shouting desperately. “We’re having another party! The DJ’s coming and everything!”

“Um…” Alica started, “Pinkie, actually-”

Cutting off Alica, Twilight teleported next to them. “What? So I brought all these books for nothing? Alica, you said tha-”

Pinkie interjected, “OH! Let’s make it a book party! I’ll make a book fort and we can have a little book war! It's like a pillow war! I’ll go like ‘PEW PEW’ with the books and you will go like ‘she’s too literate! Retreat!’”

Twilight looked over to Pinkie and shook her head, smiling. “Oh Pinkie… You had too much sugar again, didn’t you?”

“Oh come on! I only ate half of a dessert bar this time, not a whole one!”

Twilight put her attention back to Alica. “So, you said you found a book? You also said in the letter that there was a hidden library? Where is it?”

Um… I was going to wait until Vinyl comes first before I explain everything,” Alica said.

“Wait, the DJ? Pinkie wasn’t kidding, I guess… anyway, why Vinyl?” Twilight asked as she finally set down her books.

“Well… she told me she wanted to go into lucid dreaming really badly, so I told her I’d tell her if I found anything.”

“Really? Huh, I guess even successful DJs need to dream too…”

“Oh, oh, oh, OH! I can see her, I can see her!” Pinkie shouted at the top of her lungs, “hi Scratchy!”

In the distance, the DJ was seen walking towards them. “What did I tell you about calling me that, Pinkie?!” She shouted, barely audible in the distance.

Alica waved over to Vinyl.

Once in teleporting distance, she appeared in front of everypony, wearing her usual glasses.”

“Hey guys, what’s up? ” She asked.

“We’re having a book party! What about you?” Pinkie shouted.

“Just finished another track with Octavia. So, what’s goin’ on over here? Did Alica and Twilight actually crack the spell to dream?

Twilight went to respond, “Alica was just about to explain what she found. Right, Alica?”

Alica jumped out of her little dreamy trance after seeing Vinyl again. “Oh! Yeah, so basically I was reading the books Twilight gave me when I came across something pretty interesting…”

As Vinyl sat down with everypony, Alica continued explaining how she came to figure out how Discord had some history with Star Swirl the Bearded that involved dreams. She said how she met up with Discord, went to the party, and eventually got to the point where she and Aven found the cave.

Once Alica finished, Twilight had her jaw dropped wide open. “Star Swirl the Bearded’s secret library… Oh my gosh, you found it! The legends were true all along!”

“Wait, you knew about it?” Alica asked with surprise.

“From what I’ve read, I’ve heard of it but never knew if it was real or not… but you found it! Where is it again?”

“Under the bridge over the river. I’ll show you,” Alica stated joyfully.

“Wait, so what’s in there?” Vinyl asked.

“Books, silly!” Pinkie answered.

“I’m curious too, what is in there?” Twilight asked.

“Books!”

“Pinkie…” Vinyl muttered under her breath, mildly irritated.

Alica answered, “um… well, it was mostly books. Aven and I found this one which was really interesting. Aven, is it okay if I see it for a second, please?”

Aven looked up. While everypony was talking, he had been browsing through the pages. He simply nodded and passed it over to Alica.

“Ahem, so, I guess while we are walking there, I can tell you about it if it’s ok,” Alica said.

“Oh! Wait! I’ll bring the food and blankies! We can have like a little library slumber party!” Pinkie bursted in happiness.

After picking up everything, including the confetti bits, everypony followed Alica and Aven as they made their way to the bridge. Pinkie disappeared for a minute or two, but came back on top of the bridge, waiting for them. On her back was an abnormally large backpack.

“Pinkie! The cave is under the bridge, not over… wait, how did you know where it was?” Twilight called out.

“Okie Dokie Lokie! Oh, and Pinkie Senses told me it was here!”

Twilight shrugged and looked back to Alica, who she had been talking to before they saw Pinkie. “So, as you were saying, all you need is somepony skilled enough to perform the spell? Is it really as simple as that?”

Pinkie trotted down to them with the backpack swaying back and forth as Alica confirmed with Twilight, “yes… or at least that’s what the book says.”

“Star Swirl was the best wizard ever known to ponykind. If he says it works, then it works,” Twilight said as a matter of fact.

Aven cut in, “but how do we know it’s Star Twirl? The book has no author written down.

“It is pronounced ‘Star Swirl,’ not ‘Twirl.’ Besides, I bet he had his reasons for not putting his name on it.”

“Can we get going already?” Vinyl asked. “Wasn’t there some sort of password or something?”

Alica bounced up. “Oh, yeah! Okay, okay. Ahem-” She faced towards the wall. “-Conception.”

Twilight watched in awe as the structure shifted quietly to form a tunnel leading down into the ground.

“Sweet!” Vinyl exclaimed.

=     =     =

Inside, everypony stared in awe of the grand library, but mostly at the large orb that rested in the center of the large rotunda.

“Wh-... What is it?” Twilight asked in astonishment.

"We don't know... Aven and I just found it when we walked in," Alica replied.

“Oh! Fly up to it, Twilight!” Pinkie said to her.

Twilight didn’t hesitate. In fact, she was already preparing to take flight before Pinkie suggested to do so.

As she flew closer, it wasn’t like she was making any distance at all. She kept getting smaller, smaller, and smaller, from the view seen by Alica and the others. To Twilight, when she looked back, she saw everything getting more and more distant and distorted. Eventually, Twilight started to turn around, seeing that she was making practically no progress. After a minute more of flying, she came back panting.

“This is… This is amazing!” After taking a second to breathe, Twilight continued. “Okay, so we have two choices. We can either investigate this mysterious, white, wormhole-like orb, or we can get to work on that dream spell. ...wait, or we can read all of these books and soak up as much information as possible! There is so much to do!”

“Let’s dream,” Alica said in a rather confident voice.

“Same here,” Vinyl agreed.

“Oh! Oh! I always wanted to be in other pony’s dreams! Don’t forget me!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight then asked, “so, what about you, Aven?”

“I don’t mind whatever we do. I’ll just go with the flow…” He replied simply.

“Woo!” Pinkie shouted. “Okay, I’ll go first! Wish me luck everypony!” With that said, she pulled out a pillow and collapsed to the ground, attempting to fall asleep. Her snores were observably fake.

“...Well, I guess you all can find something to do while I read? When I understand it and when I’m ready, we will make a plan as a group,” Twilight said.

“Okie. Here’s the book,” Alica said as she passed it over to her.

“Okay then, give me about thirty minutes and I’ll be ready,” Twilight said as she immediately started looking through it.

“Wait, how can you read that fast?” The DJ interjected. “I mean, what the hay…”

“Practice?” Twilight shrugged as she continued to read through the first chapter. She started to read as she walked to one of the tables down a quiet hall. "Alica is a good reader too. I believe it was practice that helped her."

Aven moaned. “Wow I’m tired. If you don’t mind me, I’ll be joining Pinkie,” he said with another moan and groan, finding a soft pillow to rest on.

With Vinyl and Alica left alone, Vinyl decided to ask, “so should we find a place to talk then? I don’t really want to sleep yet…”

Alica bounced up excitedly. “Of course!”

=     =     =

“Hahahah! What kind of a dream is THAT supposed to be? Chicken costume on a chicken, and then what was it about a beaver that he said? This is hysterical!” Vinyl sat laughing her head off after hearing Alica tell her the dream she had that Morning. Alica simply sat giggling.

“it was pretty random…” Alica agreed. “I mean, for a nightmare, it wasn’t really that bad when I look back to it. It was actually pretty funny I guess, heheh…”

After Vinyl caught her breath, she added, “well, I wish I had dreams like that. It would make life much more interesting, for sure…”

Alica looked at her, confused. “But… Isn’t it interesting already since your a DJ?”

Vinyl took off her glasses and looked down. “You know… well, there is a saying for DJs. Sometimes when you play music for other ponies, you forget to play music for yourself…”

Why… why is she telling me this? I know I love her… but… I just don’t know why she would love ME Alica thought to herself as she rested her head on the table. Don’t come to conclusions, Alica. For all I know, she’s just telling me her thoughts. That’s all… She started to internally fluster in confusion. She might already have a special somepony, anyway… Ugh! I'm thinking too much!

“I’m… I’m sorry you have to see me like this, Alica,” she said, breaking Alica’s train of thoughts.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I just… just have a lot on my mind,” Alica replied with her head still down on the desk.

“Heh, me too…” Vinyl looked up to Alica. “Okay, how about this. I want to show you something when we get into the dream. Nopony else has seen it before...”

Alica looked up, trying not to blush. “Wait… me?”

Vinyl chuckled sarcastically. “Nah, I’m talking to the books. Who else would I be talking to, bruh?”

Alica giggled slightly with the way she said ‘bro,’ but then continued. “Um… I feel really honored, but… but why me? I still don’t even know why you cared to keep talking to me when we first bumped into each other… or not to mention carrying me home! Or... or even being friends… um, wait, we are friends, right?”

“Heh, yeah, of course we’re friends. At first I just bumped into you, and because you looked like you were a fan, I didn’t want to be rude, ya know. Also, I said I wanted to talk more to get to know ya, so I didn’t want you fired. That was the reason I carried you home. Again, you are a light pony… But, that other day when you mentioned dreams, that was where I felt… well… something. You’ll understand when we get in the dream. It’s complicated…” Vinyl replied.

“Um… Okay,” Alica said, although still confused even with the clarification.

It then came to mind to Alica, I should do a reality check…

Alica looked down to her hooves and expected for them to distort like if she were dreaming. When nothing happened, she squealed very quietly.

“Heh, so I’m guessing you’re excited?”

“Hehe, yup. Just did a reality check, and I’m not dreaming!” Alica beaming in happiness.

“Ah…. ok. Wait, you just look down at your hooves to do reality checks? Isn’t supposed to be more than that? It seems like there should be... whatever, what do I know?” Vinyl said, throwing her hooves up in the air.

“Uh… well…” Alica looked around and did the full routine of what a reality check is, including checking upon memory and the environment. “Heh, okay, sometimes I comes to conclusions too early… but I did a full reality check just now and we aren’t dreaming!”

Vinyl chuckled. “Okay.”

“Hey, Alica! Vinyl! I finished the needed research early. We should be ready now that I know how to induce shared dreaming!” Twilight called out to them.

Vinyl put on her glasses and smiled to Alica. She then called back to Twilight, “awesome! We’ll be right over in a bit.”

Alica could feel butterflies racing around in her stomach. She just couldn’t believe what was happening.

-     -     -

And so, we have the start of a bold adventure. Five ponies; a large, unexplored library; a mountain of Pinkie’s chocolates and pillows; and a vast world of dreams all await.

The story has just begun.