Conception

Chapter 6: Into the Dream

“Okay, so first off, I will only be able to put two ponies into a dream-state at a time. No more than that for now,” Twilight explained once everypony was listening. “Secondly, I don’t know how long I will be able to keep the spell active. This magic is actually really simple to use, but the amount of energy needed is unpredictable. Although, I know that it is safe because the spider I tested it on didn’t explode.”

“Um… Wait, why would… why would the spider explode? Is it that much of a risk?!” Alica panicked for a second before Twilight stopped her.

“No. At first I thought I might have confused the technique with… well… a different spell. Don’t worry about it.”

“Um, okay…” Alica responded hesitantly, yet still excited in the back of her mind.

“Oh, and one last thing, one pony will be the subject and the other will be the dreamer. The way this works is that the subject will fall asleep like normal, and then while she is in a dream-state, the dreamer will go into the dream with the help of the spell. If there is enough lucidity for each, the two should be able to control the dream with ease.

“Okay, now if there aren’t any questions, who wants to be the subject?” Twilight inquired after finishing the explanation.

Vinyl spoke up. “I’ll take one for the team, and because it’s my mind, I choose Alica as the dreamer.”

“But I wanted to be the dreamer!” Pinkie Pie whined.

Twilight interjected, “no, Pinkie, we need somepony experienced to be the dreamer. The dreamer is the one under the spell and also who has the most control over the dream. Alica is our best bet. Besides, I can’t imagine how hard it would be to keep the spell going with your energy. You would probably wake everypony up in a heartbeat.”

Pinkie sighed and accepted her fate. “Okie Dokie. I’ll just be munching on some crackers.” With that said, she pounced on her backpack and searched though on her hunt for crackers.

“Wait, you brought crackers? Can I have some?” Aven asked.

“Yup! It’s got to be somewhere behind all the chocolates… YES!” Pinkie called out as she threw a crinkled bag.

“Wha… what is this?” He asked as he reached inside only to find a powdery substance.

“Crackers, silly! They KINDA maybe got squished when I stuffed them inside,” she said as she poured a bag into her mouth.

“...uh… thanks, I guess.” With a dissatisfied and pouty face, he started to eat what was left of it.

“Um… anyway, can we get started?” Alica asked.

“Of course! I guess now that everypony agrees with the plan,” Twilight said as she then looked over to Vinyl. “Whenever you fall asleep, we’ll be ready.”

=     =     =

After Vinyl made herself comfortable in a pile of pillows and dozed off, all that was left to do was wait.

Alica walked silently over to Twilight, who was sitting reading over the book again. “Um, Twilight… when will we know she’s in REM sleep?”

Twilight whispered back, answering, “it’s not about being in the REM stage, I can take care of that with the spell. What matters is just getting her Alpha brain waves to calm down close enough to Theta waves. We didn’t have anything to seduce her, so to use the spell it will take about 25 more minutes at most.”

Just then, she walked silently up to the sleeping DJ and put her horn over her, performing an observation spell. After a second of her horn glowing purple with magic, she walked back up to Alica. “Actually, we only have ten 10 minutes. She is a really heavy sleeper…”

Over the passing time, Alica lied in the pile of pillows with everypony.

I still can’t believe we’re doing this… Alica thought to herself. After all this time, I finally have this chance! Just a few more minutes… a few more minutes and I’ll dream like never before. Alica sighed in bliss as she did another reality check with her hooves. She looked up at them as she twisted and observed them. She then checked her memory and the large underground, library rotunda. Nope, not a dream.

When the time came, Twilight silently notified Alica to come to a certain spot in the pillows next to Vinyl. She followed the directions, but first got a few chocolates. Chocolate helps lucid dreaming. That, or at least Alica liked to believe in such.

Alica was in position. “Just close your eyes when you’re ready,” Twilight whispered.

She took a deep breath, and then she closed her eyes with hopes of opening them to a brand new world.

=     =     =

Underwater, there was a city of gold.

Deep down, a pony sank deeper.

And deeper.

A dreamer swam towards her, scooped her up to save her, and rose up and out of the water and of the subconscious mind.

Vinyl started coughing from the water trapped in her lungs as the dreamer finally found a lone island with nothing but sand and a lone, flat rock. After she was able to catch her breath, Vinyl looked around cluelessly, shivering.

“Are you okay, Vinyl?” She asked worriedly.

She looked around to try to find the source of the voice, and then immediately calmed down once she saw who it was. “Oh, hi Alica. Yeah, I’m doing fine. What about you?”

Alica answered with a bright smile, “the best I’ve ever been!”

Vinyl tilted her head. “Huh? Did something cool happen? What I miss?”:

“Wait… You’re not being sarcastic, are you?” Alica asked, befuzzled.

“What? Why would I be?”

"Oh! You don’t remember, do you…” Alica realized.

“Okay, you’re driving me nuts! What the hay is it?”

“We are in a dream, Vinyl,” Alica said, trying to get her to see.

It was silent for a moment, but then Vinyl bursted out laughing. “You’ve got to be jossing me! What kind of joke is that?”

“It’s not a joke,” Alica answered calmly. “Don’t you remember what we were doing in the underground library?”

“Easy! We were… uh, we were…” Vinyl took a minute to think, but then grew wide-eyed as she realized the truth. “Oh my gosh, we really are…”

Alica smiled in joy. “I couldn’t believe it at first either, and it’s still hard to believe, but we really are dreaming…” Alica couldn’t help but squeal in excitement. “This is so real!”

Vinyl smiled. “Okay, let’s get off this dang island then.”

Alica stopped bouncing in joy for a second. “Oh… wait, where should we go?”

“Look behind you,” Vinyl said with a smirk.

As Alica turned around, she noticed a lone door on top of the flat rock. She perked her ears happily as she realized Vinyl’s plan.

“After you,” Vinyl stated.

Alica hurried up onto the rock and opened the door with her magic. What she saw made her stare in awe and wonderment.

Something's familiar about this place…

As Vinyl poked her head through alongside Alica, she sighed in relief. “Wow, I’m so glad it worked!”

Alica shook her head, coming to from her trance. “Oh, heheh, yeah.”

Through the door, they overlooked a large valley filled with lively forests and hills of bright green grass. Alongside the edges of the valley, vertical cliffs of stone, dirt, and dry vines created an endless bowl as far as the eye could see.

There was no sun. Up above there were billions of colorfully vivid, bright stars magnified by the planet’s atmosphere. At that moment, it was as bright as morning-time, and in correspondence, nature gave off that morning smell and vibe to the large expanse of land. It was cool, fresh, and moist in the air, and so very perfectly it fit along nicely with the sound of birds chirping melodic melodies. In the far right distance, there was a tall mansion dug into the side of a large cliff. Directly to the far left, an ocean was seen panning out into the horizon.

Not only was Alica stunned by how vivid everything was, but so was Vinyl. They stood at the entrance taking in its beauty before they continued out.

“So, what do you think of it?” Vinyl asked as they finally proceeded. She closed the door behind them as they walked.

Alica continued staring. “It’s… It’s beautiful, Vinyl.” She looked down and started to form tears of joy. After wiping her face with her hoof, she looked back up and smiled.

“Yeah, what you see here is my fantasy world.” Vinyl was also on the verge of tears. “Finally…”

“Wait, what?” Alica asked in surprise. “I’m confused, I thought you said you never had a lucid dream before.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that at all. I… uh, well… music wasn’t really the first art I’ve done.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go inside to sit down.” Before Alica could ask any more questions, Vinyl opened back up the door to reveal a room with a quaint coffee table and two adjacent chairs next to a large glass window. The walls were a dark tan color with light decor lining the edges. As Alica stepped out onto the soft, gray carpet, she sat on the chair to the right.

Why is this place so familiar? Alica thought once more to herself as she gazed out the window. It appeared that they were high up in the mansion that they had seen at the end of the valley, for she could see nearly everything from the wide ocean to the tops of the large cliffs of rock. Over these cliffs, it plateaued to massive, dark-gray deserts panning out onto the horizon in all view-able directions.

Vinyl sat across from Alica. “I’m just gonna be blunt and say something. Equestria can be bucked-up.”

Alica looked over to her. “Wait, huh?”

“You heard it here first, Equestria can be pretty messed up. Not that it is, but it can be.” Vinyl sighed. “That’s why I wanted to escape so long ago…”

“...Oh…” Alica realized where Vinyl was going. “So… you have these feelings too?”

“Heh, pretty much… I liked to imagine that there was some sort of world out there…” Vinyl’s ears perked. “Wait, you said ‘you too?’ What was it like for you?”

“Well, you see… you know how I said I was never normal?” Alica started to have a vivid recall of her memories in the back of her mind. There were many fillies and colts around her.

“The other kids… they… they wouldn’t stop teasing me. They got to the point where they had me on the floor and they were calling me crazy. I tried being optimistic, but they just tried to put me down… and I broke down many times.” Alica heard laughter in the back of her mind as she could see the faces of the fillies and colts surrounding her. She was shaking uncontrollably with her hooves over her head.

“I don’t know if I told you this, but I have visions-” Just then, something struck Alica. It was the vision of Vinyl and her at a table. The vision that Alica had back when she was reading Twilight’s book. The vision in which Alica longed to have be real so badly. The vision where Vinyl and Alica were together in their own world.

This world. With this very table.

Alica tensed up suddenly, and then pulled her hooves over her head.

“I… I see now…” Alica said, starting to break down.

Vinyl looked at her worriedly. “What is it Alica? What do you see?”

“I- I- I’m sorry-” Alica got up suddenly and rushed out the door.

“What?! No! Alica!” Vinyl cried out as she got up and out of her seat. She tried to follow Alica. “Where are you going?! What is it?”

She can never know, she can never know… Alica kept thinking to herself as she ran with tears starting to stream down her face.

“Alica?! Please! Just say something!”

I can’t, no, no no no... Alica ran faster until she remembered something. She was in a dream; it is a fact that in dreams, anything and everything is possible. With that in mind, she turned around a corner to take the opportunity to vanish.

Vinyl turned around the corner only to find herself looking around in confusion.

“A- Alica?”

=     =     =

Eternal darkness endured in ubiquitical existence...

Alone, Alica sat huddled in darkness. She didn’t even care to imagine anything in specific after putting herself in an isolated realm of the dream. She simply whimpered as she let every dark feeling flood in.

A dark voice echoed around her, vibrating into her very being. “Oh why so sad little filly?”

“I… I… I don’t know.” Alica shook as she curled up and lied on the dark, invisible floor.

“Of course you don’t. Pathetic,” it called out as it chuckled. “I’ve been waiting to meet you, my fair mare. I’ve waited so long…”

Alica broke down more and more. “This is all just a very bad dream…”

“Hah, correct you are.” It started to soothe its voice down as it continued. “You don’t need to feel this pain anymore. Just sink deeper…” As Alica continued shaking, it took a second to pause dramatically. “Sink until you don’t feel anything. Come to me...”

Alica, still tense, stuttered. “I- I- I….”

Suddenly, a voice of a mare cried out over the darkness. “BE GONE!”

With that, the darkness surrounding Alica started to fade, and all that was left was a dim haze covering the entirety of expanse in the area. The mare walked up to Alica. “Don’t listen to it, Alica.” She sat down next to her and talked to her sweetly. “Tell me, what’s on your mind?”

“I… I just want to be alone…” She said back with her head still down.

“But is that really what you want to do? You’re finally in the dream, right? Come on, why are you so sad?”

“I guess… I guess I’m just scared…” Alica thought for a moment. “I’m scared that Vinyl will think I’m making things up. It would be like telling her that we were destined to be together… that’s just wrong, she would think I’m using her or something! And what if she already has a special somepony! It’s like my visions are playing cruel tricks on me...”

“Well, you are in her dream. She trusts you more than anypony else, and she will believe you’re a good pony. Fate has its reasons for doing what it does,” the mare said back.

“But… How? Why?”

"Think about it this way: why not?”

Alica stopped on this idea for a second. “Why… not?”

“Why not. It does not good to worry about something that does no good to worry about. Also, I can bet you that she is worried sick about you. You may think that she is your hero, but right now you are the one who is the hero to her. You got her into the dream.” There was a ‘swoosh’ sound as the voice continued. “-look up.”

Alica lifted her head from her hooves to see a transparent screen showing Vinyl sitting alone in the room that they were once in. Alica’s chair was still lopsided, but that wasn’t what caught her attention most.

It was Vinyl.

She looked more than just lonely; she looked absolutely burdened, on the verge of breaking into tears, and everything else a DJ should never look to be. At that moment, Alica had a huge change in perspective as she forgot her own reason for feeling depressed.

She remembered that dreams are meant to be happy, and she also realized that she needed to change the tides for both herself and Vinyl. She looked back to the mare and responded.

“Thankyou.”

She found that she was looking into the eyes of The Wanderer. She looked back to Alica with an encouraging and hopeful smile. The Wanderer nodded and added, “there are a few things I’ve got to update you with, but it’s not important right now. Right now, I must say one thing. Go to her. She needs you more than you know.”

Not much more was needed to say as Alica ran out of a materialized door. The light-pink pony continued to look to her as she continued to hold her hopeful smile.

=     =     =

What did I do wrong… Was it something I said? Vinyl sat at the table, alone, thinking to herself. I wasn’t rude or anything, but… was it a memory that made her run off? No, she mentioned visions, didn’t she… Vinyl sighed. It’s all my fault, isn’t it…

“Vinyl?” Called out Alica.

Immediately, Vinyl popped her eyes open in surprise and looked to find her at the door. “Alica! What happened? I tried looking everywhere, but I couldn’t find you.”

“That’s okay, it was my bad… You don’t need to worry about me, I was just stressed,” Alica said as she walked into the room.

“No, you were more than 'just stressed!' It was my fault, how ca-“ Before Vinyl could finish, Alica hugged.

“A-… Alica?” Vinyl asked, confused and baffled.

“I just… just have my own problems. I didn’t mean to make you stressed because of it,” Alica said.

“But, Alica,” Vinyl pushed away, continuing. “The thing is, you need to know something about me. I know what it feels to feel… well… to feel what you feel.”

“Wait… whah….” Alica couldn’t form any words to say.

“Look, here’s my story…” The DJ started.

“When I was a filly, I was thinking of what I wanted to do with my life. My parents didn’t inspire me to do anything. They just sort of did their own thing and left me on my own… Sometimes I think they didn’t care about me, but I didn’t really care to tell them what I felt and such.

“I decided that one night I wanted to do something. To be something. At home and in class, I would daydream my own fantasy world where my life actually meant something. The thing that I did most was draw, and the more I drew, the more I wanted to call the world real. My parents weren’t interested in my drawings as much as I wanted them, so I started presenting them to class.

“'Cause I went a little overboard with it all, I got a bit of attention. It so happened that it was bullies who thought it funny to tease me about being wacky and stuff.”

Vinyl looked down gloomily. “I wish I could buck them up now, but one day, they took my sketchbook in the back of the school and held me down as they forced me to watch them rip up each page one by one. That night, I was empty. My whole world was destroyed.”

She looked back up after stopping at the grim memories. “The next day, my Dad told me there was gonna be a rock performance by some older students. Nerds, to paint a better picture, but I kinda respect them now that I grew up.... and I am one myself.... AHEM! Anyway, I wasn’t into music like my dad was, but I had nothing better to do, so I went anyway.

“I don’t remember what the song was about, but it gave me a powerful feeling! It was that sort of feeling I felt when I drew, so I was hooked. The best thing was, the melody was stuck in my head after the show, and I also got my cutie mark.” Vinyl lifted her rump to show off her cutie mark, which was two eighth notes put together. She chuckled. “You might think it would have to do something with beats, but really, I fall in love with melodies.”

She continued as she got back in her seat. “My dad showed me everything he could with his vinyl set -- 'cause he works with vinyls -- and sooner did ya know, I found something new to drive my spirit. I wanted to make other ponies feel that feeling I felt, so I decided to be a DJ. Since then, I imagined bringing my world out through music. I’m guessing it worked… but at least I’m able to share it with you completely -- My dream.”

Alica responded after she took in everything Vinyl said. “That is… I’m so sorry, I can see why you say you understand what I feel...” Alica tried to smile. “But, feelings can be good, too, like in your story.”

Vinyl smiled back. “For sure.”

A pink head popped in through the door. “Hello? You two ponies done?”

Vinyl jumped, startled. “What?! Who in the hay are you?”

Alica waved to the pink pony, then informed Vinyl, “she is my projection, The Wanderer.”

“Wait… Projection?” Vinyl asked.

The Wanderer came in through the door while answering to Vinyl, “well, it’s complicated you see…”

Vinyl laughed. “hah! So this is an imaginary friend? I didn’t know you were into that, Alica.”

Alica blushed. “Well, it’s… complicated…”

Before Alica could explain more, The Wanderer changed the subject. “It’s good enough for me. I’m your imaginary friend now, Alica. Anyway, so, there are some things I need to tell you two. You probably don’t remember…”

Vinyl tilted her head. “Wait a minute, remember what?”

The Wanderer responded, “exactly.” As she materialized an additional chair for her to join in at the table, she continued. “Okay, okay, so how do I put this…”

She thought for a moment, closing her eyes, then popped them wide open and lifted a hoof as she started.

“Aha! Okay, when you two went into the dream, there was something that was activated by the spell. The dream was a nightmare, pretty much. You see, the thing activated was hidden deep in the dreamscape for some time. I won’t be specific, so you are gonna have to trust me, okay? We don’t have much time.”

“Wait, what? What was it that was activated?” Alica asked.

The Wanderer turned to her. “It was the voice you heard back there in the darkness, Alica.”

Alica’s eyes went wide with fear as she heard this new information. It… it was actually something real? Oh no… no, no, no… she thought. Vinyl looked over to Alica and then over to The Wanderer as she stood clueless of what was going on.

“Was there something I missed?” Vinyl asked, still looking between the two.

“Yes, but there isn’t any time to explain. I can only explain a few things and then we are going to have to make up a plan,” The Wanderer explained, continuing. “So basically, in the nightmare, you guys were cornered. He put you two into a coma, sadly… I contacted Pinkie, though, and she is watching you two in a cave up above.”

A billion questions raced through Alica’s mind. “Wait, what do you mean by… up above?” She held her head with her hooves, trying to understand.

“Oh, yeah, I should probably say that you two are in a dream.”

Vinyl face-hoofed. “Well of course we’re in a dream... We know that!”

The Wanderer laughed as she realized she should be specific. “No, I mean that you are dreaming in the dream. Pinkie is watching you guys though, don’t worry. ”

Alica’s mind twisted in every possible shape and form. Shivers then ran down her spine as she realized what she meant. “Wait… A dream… in a dream? Is that even possible?” She pulled her ears down with her hooves, trying to understand still.

Vinyl folded her hooves. “That can’t be possible… This is just a dream ya know, I can't trust what you say.”

“You’d be surprised! Hehe, oh you’d be surprised! With a powerful alicorn like Twilight performing the spell, it is definitely possible. We need to get moving, though, cause with every passing second, the darkness grows stronger. If you don’t believe me, then you two might be stuck in this dream until the end of time. Do you want to risk it?”

Vinyl stared at The Wanderer as she attempted to take in this new information.

“Okay, what should we do now?” Alica asked. “As much as I’d like to be stuck in a dream forever, I still have Equestria waiting for me. Twilight would feel so bad…”

The Wanderer smiled. “Exactly. I’m glad you understand, Alica…” She then closed her eyes and silently started thinking. She then suddenly opened them and spoke. “I have an idea. It’s gonna be risky, but we need to try it. I can set up a block for the darkness for maybe an hour down here. It will only take a minute or so to do what I need to do.”

Vinyl’s mouth hung open as she could think of no other questions. “Just... what the hay?”

“Time moves exponentially slower as you go deeper and deeper into dreams. Hopefully you have something to do while you wait,” the Wanderer continued. With that said, she closed her eyes and evaporated up into the air. All that was left was her empty chair.

Vinyl’s mouth continued to hang open. She eventually shook her head with a hoof brought to her face. “Please tell me that this didn’t happen… this is all a freaking dream.”

Alica shrugged. “Well, a dream in a dream…”

Vinyl sighed. “Uuugh… I’m thinking I want to take the risk and just not believe that mare. Eh, whatever, dreams are crazy anyway, I’ll play along.” She then smiled. “Hey, Alica, how about I give you a little tour while we wait?”

Alica beamed brightly as she jumped up and out of her chair. “Yes please!”

=     =     =

“Wow, this really is big…” Alica said in astonishment.

Vinyl laughed. “Just wait until you see the other 99 floors! Most of them are empty cause I ran out of ideas of what to fill them with.”

“Oh! How about a huge movie screen that we can play our memories on? Hehe, or maybe just make up random things on with our imagination,” Alica said excitedly.

“Oh my gosh, that’s genius! Haha, if we’re gonna be stuck here, we’ll be able to fill up the floors in no time. Heck, we’d be able to make our own city, then the world! There’s no limit!” Vinyl closed her eyes and smiled as she visualized the idea.

“Well, The Wanderer was going to get Pinkie to help with some kind of plan, so we still have hope to… not be stuck,” Alica said.

“Well, yeah. In reality that isn't an option... but you have got to admit, it wouldn’t be that bad being stuck down here with just the two of us... Even if we leave one thing or another up above, it's a good enough excuse to say that the darkness trapped us.”

“Uh…” Alica paused as she tried not to blush. “I guess you’re right…”

Vinyl hoofed Alica’s shoulder. “Come on, you guess?”

Alica stuttered a bit. “W-well, you see… um…”

“Haha! Bro, you can’t hide that blush.”

What the heck! Alica thought in her head as she started stammering, “Uh, n-no it’s not what you think!” What am I saying, it probably is what she thinks…

The elevator opened as the Wanderer started to walk in. Behind her, there was another pink mare.

“Alica! I’ve never seen you blush so much! Did I miss something?” Pinkie Pie bounced out of the elevator as she saw Alica’s moment of flustering.

“Please stop…” she said as she looked down to cover her red-hot face with her forehoof.

Vinyl chuckled. This didn’t help Alica one bit.

The Wanderer decided to change the subject after trying to hold in a giggle. “Okay, I need to tell everypony the plan; we’re still running out of time.”

“Fine by me,” Vinyl shrugged. She had a billion questions she still needed to ask, but she decided it could wait for later.

“Ok, follow me,” The Wanderer said.

They followed her down the elevator and around a few corners until they came into an empty, plain room.

“I want you two to lie down on the bed.”

I’M DONE. I’m done I’m done I’m done… Alica blushed even brighter, but then shook her head. No, wait, The Wanderer probably isn’t implying what I thought she was… Gosh dang it, silly Alica, why did I have to think that, she thought to herself as she tried to cool down. At least luckily Vinyl didn’t make any jokes…

Awkwardly, Alica lied next to Vinyl. “Uh… so… like this? I’m confused, what are we doing?”

“Dreaming,” The Wanderer replied.

Vinyl and Alica exchanged glances. They were both wide-eyed as they tried to take in what was just said. Vinyl looked back at The Wanderer. “We’re doing… what?!” Vinyl couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine, I won’t question it. We’re going deeper. Why the buck not…”

Alica looked dumbfounded. “How is this going to help us out?”

“No time. I’ll explain deeper down. We’ll have twenty times the time.” She looked to Pinkie. “You ready?”

“Yup!” Pinkie Pie said, rubbing her hooves together as she went to pick up a large mechanical device with two wires connected to hoof-bands. She wrapped the bands around both Alica’s and Vinyl’s hooves, and then she pushed a button on the device.

All was black and silent as they sank deeper. Another entire world awaited, once again.