Noirscape

Have I already told you about my first venture into the Dream Realm? No? Then why don’t I regale you.

Those very first days, I don’t remember my dreams. No wonder, even; Unless a dream is lucid enough and/or it touches a topic not easily forgotten, I don’t generally remember them vividly enough.

What kind of dreams do I remember? Well, there was that one about the land of the Fae, and where the dead go, but I kind of thought you were interested in this particular one?

Exactly. So why don’t I just go on with the story?

I could tell the dream was lucid. There was the particular feel I’d mentioned, and this was the one time I felt it again.

The dream itself seemed nothing special, or even anything particularly vivid, unless you count the fact I was wearing no ring there. All I had was the Jack Noir face, which naturally raised no concerns. I was dreaming, wasn’t I? What was I supposed to do, panic over not being human? It was a dream, mate. I just took it as normal and, frankly, I was a bit curious as to where this dream would go.

That curiousity was answered as soon as Luna showed up. She’s a dream-walker, isn’t she? I figured she must’ve become curious. No matter how many cats it may have killed, curiousity is a great power.

She was surprised at seeing me in this form, but for some reason she wasn’t hostile. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t seen me in nothing but the Bec Noir guise? It’s not like I had introduced myself in that particular meeting anyway.

Now that I knew I was in the Dream Realm, if only only dream-wise, I offered to set an ambiance. She told me I was welcome, as long as I was able to figure it out. So I found a music player somewhere and did so.

No, I can’t do so here. No dreams and all that.

Luna wasn’t expecting my sudden display. She told me she had only met a few ponies who were capable of such displays in dreams. Realizing that, as a pony, she likely wasn’t even aware of the existence of human electronics, I pointed out I wasn’t a pony and that her subjects likely don’t have access to such technology.

As expected, she latched onto the word “technology” and wanted to know who, exactly, I was. But I sensed an opportunity. I knew that she was rather hostile towards my demonic self, but I also saw that she was willing to be civil towards my deam self.

Dreamself... no. Sorry, I was distracted by my own thoughts. Er...

Right. I told her I had once been a human, but had found myself transported to this planet wholly alien to my own. A world that just seemed not to make sense, and a realm operating by completely different rules. As predicted, the exiled princess symphatized. She promised to look me up again, and left, most likely to report to her sister about a stranded being that had most likely been abducted by Discord.

Surely you must see where this is going, my friend? I planned to build up her trust in the form of Jack, and if she ever stumbled upon me dreaming of myself as Bec, I’d either act ignorant and hope she didn’t have means of detecting dream signatures. And if she did, I’d act as if I was afraid of becoming Bec and liking it.

I did like it, but she didn’t know that, did she? I had devised a plan most devious. A plan that, if ever a success, would ensure both the continuity of the timeline, and pave a way for me to take over if the timelina had already been hopelessly corrupt. I mean, what’s the point in having future knowledge if the future you have knowledge of is, in fact, gone?

What was the plan? Surely even you can figure it out. But if you just want to hear it from the jack’s mouth, sure! I would build up her trust as Jack. It’s not like she knew what a human looked like, did she? In the meanwhile, I would increase the severity and viciousness of my villainous acts as Bec. And then finally, at the precisely right moment, I would reveal myself as both of them.

No, it wouldn’t have been that stupid! I have it all thought out. Friendship is Magic, and it connects to the Elements of Harmony the same way. The opposite of friendship? Betrayal. I figured that it would be so extreme she would be hard-pressed to trust anyone ater that. She’d see traitors everywhere, and when traitors would begin to crop up, she’d lose hope. She’d take on the mantle of Nightmare Moon as predicted.

Yes, I did say I had it thought out. However on the other paw; if the timeline had turned out to be corrupted, with my future knowledge no longer being useful, it would ensure that I would be able to slip into command easily. All it would take was another simple betrayal.

Shame that despite everything, it didn’t work. But that’s a story for later, hmm? I still have much to tell.

We did start meeting after that, and I kept going forth with phase one of the plan. I always managed to wiggle out from in-person meetings, though; I may have made it seem so that Discord was holding me captive. Shame I didn’t have much time to discuss it with Discord himself; he always seemed to be busy with something or other.

Oh hey, food’s here.

...tell me they’re kidding.

Wonderful. I need meat for cheese’s sake. What even IS that stuff?
Never mind, I didn’t want to know that. Why was I expecting anthing different?

I’ll tell you later what happened when I initiated Phase Two.