Princess Celestia was no stranger to lucid dreaming. She had long since mastered the art of regaining her self-awareness, in the dream world--something that she's long-since declared completely worth the effort, of a few years of trial-and-error. Pleasantries galore, every time her head met a pillow, knowing that for an indefinite amount of time, she would experience a change from the mundane life of a ruler. In the dream world, she could be anything--which, understandably, was invaluable to a pony such as herself.
Although, in her centuries' worth of dreams, this was new. This was definitely new. This simple black-maned, white-pelted pony in front of her, stuck out from most any other ponies she's dreamed of.
She stared at him. Considering the fact that a mere figment of her mind would manage to be able to uphold such a civil conversation for so long, this particular pony in her dream was undoubtedly the most interesting, thus far. The only one to ever be able to have personality, and reach out to her. Princess Celestia thought nothing of it, sitting down, at a coffee table to discuss whatever they might talk about. She was impressed, to say the least, at the ease in which he so smoothly glided from one topic to another. From magic, to history, to philosophy, and the beyond. She was delighted--such a bright mind was so hard to come across, in the waking world, and even if she were to merely 'wish' for someone to talk to, in her lucid dreams, he or she always came out choppy, for some reason. But both his casual tone, and the way he seemed genuinely happy to talk with her, was something she found only in fellow princesses--or on occasion, an exceptionally cheeky pony.
But she rose, in the midst of a debate between either celery goes good with ranch or not, for it was time to wake. Raising the sun was her duty, after all, regardless of how sweet a dream might be, her subjects came first. She nodded to the pony, who had looked at her curiously when she cut the conversation short.
"Duty calls?" He asked, looking down to fiddle with a twig, looking incredibly depressed, as opposed to his lighthearted smile a few moments ago.
"Indeed." Celestia replied, turning to begin feeling the beckon from the waking world, pulling her towards it...But it was curiously stopped, when the pony once again spoke.
"I'll disappear when you wake up, won't I?"
Celestia hesitated. "Pardon?"
"You're dreaming. I'm in the dream. I'm a phantom, created by the dream. So...I'm rather scared of what happens, to me when you wake up."
Celestia furrowed her brow. "You're self-aware?"
"Yes. And, I realize you probably think that I'm just sprouting nonsense, but please. Don't make me disappear." He took a step forward. "The entire conversation, I knew you'd leave. I tried to keep you here, as long as I could, and..."
"I must--"
"I know, I know, no-one can stay asleep forever." He interrupted, "and I know that I'm being selfish, but, just please. For a few more minutes." He bowed his head.
"...I cannot." Celestia continued, even though she noticed the visible stiffen the pony made, "but perhaps I know someone who might be able to help."
The pony looked up in confusion, as Celestia raised her horn. A few spirals of light twisted around her horn, before they connected, shooting a star into the sky. It traveled a few hundred meters, before a portal opened up, which it was swallowed by.
The two waited, in silence, before a similar portal opened at their side. Out stepped a new figure, one most everyone in Equestria would recognize, Princess of the Night, Luna. She looked at Celestia with a nod, before turning to look at the other.
"A phantom, that's aware of his place in this illusion. That is what you are, yes?" She asked, after a few minutes of observing him.
He hesitated. "...Yes. Who are you?" He asked tentatively.
The navy alicorn studied him. "Someone who can help you. Will you accept my assistance?"
The phantom gulped, and bowed. "Yes, please," he murmured.
Luna nodded. "Sister, you may leave now--he will accompany me, for the remainder of the night."
The taller alicorn nodded, closing her eyes. The phantom flinched, as the world seemed to melt before his eyes, as if a plug had been pulled, leaving everything else to wash down a drain. Yet, he didn't go with the rest of the world, leaving him and Princess Luna standing in an infinitely long corridor. Doors, of every variation, were stacked up on either side, and as the phantom observed, began to disappear, one by one.
The phantom wondered what to say, as the two sat in silence, watching the doors. He broke the ice, "so, are those other dreams--?"
"Yes."
"And they're ending--?"
"Yes."
He frowned, feeling annoyed, but decided against asking her to refrain from interrupting him. He decided to ask a simple, but impactful question, "what's gonna happen to me?"
"You will stay here."
He blinked, and looked around. "Well...I don't think that solves my problem. Who's dream is this?"
"No-one's." She replied simply, her horn glowing, to engulf a door in a blue aura for just a moment. "This is...A connection, between every dream in Equestria."
"What, like the source? An outlet?" He blinked, catching on fast. "That every dream is plugged into? And all those doors are other dreams?"
"You talk too much."
"You talk too little."
Luna didn't reply, turning her head back towards the corridor.
He pouted. "Well, honestly, I'm going to get bored real fast here. There's not even a flower to look at. Imagine that."
"You'd do well, to hold your tongue." She said, turning to glare at him from the corner of her eye. "I will tend to you, as soon as my duties here are finished."
"'Tend' to me? Oh goodie, and here I was thinking--..." He broke off, swallowing the rest of his sentence, when he received yet another piercing glare.
Luna turned back, satisfied, and watched the corridor in silence. The phantom decided not to break it.
~~~
The doors were locked, and didn't rattle upon being knocked on. A few ponies--sleeping in, likely--were still in the dream-realm, so Luna simply sealed them with an additional spell. After double-checking every door, she looked over at the phantom. "...Now, what to do with you..." She mused, to herself, "mercy seems like a likely option...But I would rather him not have the potential to damage the dream-realm..."
He cleared his throat. "S'cuse me, but I wouldn't know the first thing about causing damage to a dream. Well, unless pinching myself works."
She studied his expression. "Are you malicious?"
"Well, I like to think my sass is deadly."
"Do you house any abilities?"
"I can change my form, provided the dreamer allows me, but don't worry about that, I like plain old pony me."
"And if given the chance, would you try to transcend into the waking world?"
"And potentially have reality reject my very existence? No thanks, I prefer to not take chances."
Luna closed her eyes. "...Then you may stay here."
He blinked in return. "Here? In this realm? Well, it's better then poofing unexpectedly..."
Luna shook her head. "You misunderstand. From here on, you may traverse dreams as you please. My only rules are that you are not to cause nightmares, nor are you to influence dreamers. Is that clear?"
"Crystal."
"I must return to the waking world myself. And one more thing...If you are to traverse this corridor, for quite some time, you will come across a different door. Bigger, and more elaborate then the others...Never. Open it."
He saluted lazily. "Wouldn't dream of it. Hehe. See what I did there?"
For the first time since he met her, Luna made a grim smile. "That I did...And to answer your first question, you may address me as Princess Luna." She nodded to him, "what is your name, in return?"
He blinked, and stroked his chin. "Dunno," he replied, after a moment. "I'll get back to you on that."
She nodded once more, turning to spread her wings. "Then until next time, phantom." She said, beginning to fly directly up, out from the hallway, and out from the dream-realm.
He watched her leave. "...Phantom...I like the sound of that." He muttered to himself, laying down to ponder himself.
Phantom deduced that Luna wasn't coming back anytime soon.
After three solid hours of waiting, he decided to stand up, and trot about the hallway, looking at the doors of the late-sleepers. Knocking on a few, to produce the door rattling, in response, was a good way to pass a hearty two minutes. But everything loses it's luster, and with Phantom, things became predictable all the much more easily.
He opened a door, at one point, but closed it immediately. This story was rated E, after all--maybe in the sequel.
He decided to open a more childish door, one that had hoof-paintings on the surface. Trotting in, to look about a rather vibrant environment, some subconscious informant telling him that he was in Ponyville. The sun shined brighter, the grass was greener, and the flowers bloomed with more colors then they should've. This confirmed it--he was in a filly's dream.
He took a single step, before a giant monster--a six-armed humanoid beetle....Thing--flew past him, crashing into the area.
Check that. Colt's dream.
He decided to follow it, spreading his wings--which he didn't even knew he had--and flew closer to where the hero of the dream would do battle with the monster, and sat on top of one of the hay-covered roofs, nestling in. Conjuring a box of popcorn, and a pair of 3-D shades, to watch. But he blinked, when a small filly flew into the air--her donned silver armor sparkling, with a flowing purple cape, complete with a sword and shield--and shouted a challenge to the beast.
Check that. Filly's dream--and he made a mental note to remember that genders were only a physical thing.
Needless to say, he started to munch on the popcorn with more intensity.
It was a rather intense battle, to say the least. The filly, propelled by her innermost desires for glory, bounced between the twirling of the monster's blades, scoring blows up and down it's body, while Phantom conjured a foam sword, and mimicked her actions, in a mocking manner, from where he sat. Even when the monster would score a blow, she wouldn't be knocked very far--immediately finding herself back in the battle.
Phantom found himself cheering, mentally, for the filly to win, and it didn't take very long at all before she managed to fell the beast, a final stroke of her blade sending it crashing into the area beyond the town limits, probably causing a fissure upon impact. Phantom clapped, before holding up a card with a 10 on it. "Bravo, kiddo, bravo!"
The filly turned, and noticed the onlooker, beaming upon hearing his praise. Bouncing over to him, happily waving. "Thanks! I thought everypony had evacuated, though...?"
"I came back, to see if you needed help." He improvised, rustling her hair. "Looks like you had it, though."
She beamed brighter, if that were possible, sitting on the roof. "But...I don't think I've ever seen you around Ponyville, before."
"Eh. I moved in, about--" he looked to his left, at a floating clock, that conveniently appeared. "--Three minutes and fifty seconds ago."
"Oh!" She flushed, and looked over the town. "Well, everypony should be coming back soon. The monster is gone!" She pointed, and to Phantom's expectations, the monster where it fell was literally gone--leaving an imprint of it's body where it was.
Phantom nodded. "D'you think you can..." He hesitated, feeling an ominous pull over the dream. A deep sense of vertigo, washing over him, and the last thing he saw, before the dream spun into the hallway, was the filly seeming to wake up. He felt a soaring feeling or terror, before he found himself in the cold white world. He made an annoyed expression.
"...Eh, I can't blame her for not giving me a heads-up." He muttered, sitting up, to look at the childish door disappear from the hallway.
The next three doors he entered were just as eventful as the first. A dream about traveling in deep space, a dream about using a robot suit to fight, a dream about exploring a cave...Every time, he spectated, from a distance. It made for good entertainment, he won't lie, there was never a dull moment. But even so, he felt vaguely dissatisfied. Was the rest of his life to be spent simply watching from the sidelines, occasionally talking with them, and hoping that it gives him a giggle?
He chastised himself, laying on the ground, to look directly up, where Luna disappeared. It was only day one, thinking about the future would be pointless, until it was set in stone. So much could change, when the princess gets back--who knows, he might even attain a soul. But regardless, he knew he was just being paranoid, at the moment. Getting up, to look around, at the remaining doors. There was the first door he looked in--he wouldn't make that mistake twice...A few others, near ground-level, that rattled with every passing moment...And then there was always the door Luna told him not to go to.
But she didn't say anything about merely examining it, did she?
He stretched, and started to trot about merrily, down the corridor. The longer he walked, the less doors he saw--and even in his original spot, there weren't very many doors. It being daylight hours, and all. But eventually, after an ungodly amount of walking, he found it. A giant door, larger then anything he'd seen before--it even dwarfed the beetle-monster he had seen in that filly's dream. Gold and silver vines as thick as houses stretched over it, overlapping, interlocking, across the bronze surface. There were two giant brass knobs, each especially tangled by the metallic undergrowth, sitting near the bottom--although, each knob was still larger then Phantom could've possibly hoped to move, so actually opening this door would be quite the feat.
It was at this moment, basking in the absolute glory of this ancient, legendary door, did he wonder in hindsight, why he walked here instead of flying.
He spent some time, there, looking over the door, and counting the vines. Turns out, there were more silver then gold--seventy-three silver, forty-two gold, although, the gold vines were vastly longer and tangled more with the others, then the silver. The door itself had carvings on it--and it looked like an evolution process. From the top, left-hand corner, there was depictions of what looked like an Earth Pony...But it was struggling to lift even a simple bag. As Phantom followed this trail, of evolution, it showed ponies as they eventually grew horns...Wings...Became powerful...It showed how they began to discriminate, against eachother, and split into three Tribes, the Tribes discovering fire, blacksmiths, arts and crafts--it went on, and on, showing how they eventually united. The Alicorns, appearing. Equestria, flourishing. He couldn't stop, he kept on with the story--fascinated, upon closer inspection, how even Griffons and Dragons are told on this giant door. And realizing, with a shock, that after hours of crawling along the door's topmost vine...
This was only the top-most story, of the door.
This door must have the evolutionary history, and every major event--and possibly even every small event--of every species in the entire world carved on it's surface.
He knew, suddenly, how he wanted to spend his time. Not in other's dreams, but merely examining this door, learning everything it had to offer. Going back to learning the exact history, of the Dragons, as he flew about a few meters above the Pony's story-line on the door.
~~~
When Luna descended, from the sky of the corridor, landing on the ground, she immediately cast her will out, stretching along the corridor, 'looking', searching for Phantom. Feeling her heartbeat hesitate, once she located him, just outside the...
She stretched her wings, and began to fly towards Phantom, cutting through the air, leaving an odd 'zyumm' sound as she went. Locating the pony, within seconds, walking on an overgrown vine on the door as if it were a pathway, reading the pictures as he went along. Luna mentally sighed in relief, stopping at the door's entrance, and looking up at him. "Enjoying yourself?" She asked, with an air of approval.
He didn't miss a beat, "immensely." He replied, looking down at her, with a condescending smile. "Have you looked through the story for the Manticores? Marvelous tale, magnificent how they came about."
"I'm sure it is." Luna replied, flying level with him, hovering, before landing on the vine he was on. "Though, in the future, I would prefer if you didn't approach this door, without my supervision."
"But wouldn't that mean you don't get to do your job, and watch over dreams, if it's spent watching me?"
Luna made a soft smirk, and turned to face the distant doors, miles away. Her horn glowed, her wings stretched, and moments later, they all came hurling towards the two, slowing down before they would begin to smash into eachother. Fitting next to eachother, as if they were puzzle-pieces, neatly stacked on one another, not a single space left unfilled between them. Phantom cocked his head.
"...I've been meaning to do that, anyways." She said, flying down to sit in front of the vine-entangled door, looking straight ahead. "Continue your activities, as you were."
"..." Phantom flew down, beside her. "I will, but, firstly, I must ask: what does my future hold?"
"I am a Princess of the Night, not a future-telling gypsy."
He frowned, pulling an annoyed expression. Gee, it didn't feel good to be sassed...What a hypocrite. "Allow me to rephrase. Do you have a plan, for my being?"
"I've already done my part, and tethered you in this place, to keep you from dispersing. The rest, I'm afraid, is up to you."
"And they have to be within your laws. Yeah, neato." He frowned, and sat down. "But what does that leave me, in terms of paths to go in life?"
"As I said before, that's up to you."
"You understand why that's an unfair thing to say to me, right? It's not up to me. It's up to whoever's created me, or in this case, you. Because you hold more power over me, then reality does. Am I wrong?"
Luna closed her eyes, sighing ever so slightly. "...You have much growing to do."
"A dream doesn't grow. Or mature."
"I do not tolerate lying."
Phantom opened his mouth to argue, but just like before, an ice-melting glare made him think better of it. Luna went back to watching over the dreams. He decided to go back onto the vines, and continue reading the picture-story.
He wondered if he was lying, walking along the path.
And if so, how he would go about maturing.