Alpinisms

Dreams are interesting things. It says something about the intricacies of a sleeping mind that ones’ dreaming world can be possessed of nearly the same depth and diversity as the world they wake to. In some ways, for some ponies, dreams can prove to be better teachers than real life at times.

That’s how it’s often been for Sunset Shimmer. She remembers phases of her life by the dreams that accompanied her through those times. When she was young, just a little schoolfilly, she would dream of resplendent wings of fire. Her entire body was wreathed in a blazing corona and from her horn shone a beam that beat back even the deepest darkness. Those dreams changed as she did.

She was older now, bitter and wise in the use of power to further her own goals. Her dreams were dark, just bordering on the edge of nightmare most nights. They only got darker as she became more withdrawn. They only became lonelier as she eschewed friendship in the pursuit of more grandiose magics.

Her first dreams in the human world were just as confusing as the rest of the experience. They were like some grisly portmanteau of very different universes, jostling for a position in the limelight of her subconscious. There were times where she would lurch awake, hit with a terrible homesickness that was swiftly overtaken with indignation at her situation. That was a pretty awful way to wake up, by any account. Slowly her dreams settled down and became mundane, simple repetitions of tasks she had performed earlier that day or week.

Curiously enough, there was no trauma to be found in sleep as she crossed that threshold yet again, stepping back into the fresh-but-familiar form of a unicorn pony. Rather every dream she had left her feeling full of purpose and determination. Perhaps it was due to the changes she had undergone as a human, perhaps it was thanks to the “dangerous magic” that Twilight had summoned her here for. She didn’t particularly care. She welcomed the change from the norm with an open heart.

~~~

So it was that this dream made her feel very similar to many dreams she had already had. Initially, at least. She was walking through a meadow, a nameless place of soft greenery and warm sun. There was a lake in the distance and trees much closer, offering her to opportunity to seek shelter when the suns heat inevitably grew to be too much for her. There was a distinct feeling of peace in the air. It sort of permeated everything she saw and seemed to flow in and out of the world as if it was breath through a healthy lung. She enjoyed this scene for quite some time, basking in the warm glow from her dream-sun without a care in the world. In time she grew tired of the stillness that surrounded her and the dream responded accordingly.

She was pulled now into a dimly lit hallway. There were mirrors lining the walls for as far as she could see and above her head faint candles cast a warm light. As she walked through the hallway she saw a great many things in the mirrors. Each was her but radically different in some way, be it charming or truly terrifying. There were some things she saw that shook her to the core but her hooves were compelled onwards. She would always leave those images behind and something altogether more pleasant would sweep in to fill the void in her mind. She saw herself bedecked in a bridesmaids dress, in a general's’ fitted suit, or crowned with some gleaming tiara.

She began to call into question what each of these images meant. Did they have some greater purpose in being here? What was her mind trying to tell her? Are they portents of possible futures? Is this some sort of gallery of nightmares and daydreams, all laid out for her combined viewing fortune and displeasure? The dream answered her quickly. It never seemed to miss a beat.

She found herself confronted with a door and that door lead to a room and in that room was the biggest mirror she had ever seen. It dwarfed even Canterlot castle in height and length, seemingly stretching out into infinity. For now she suspended her disbelief regarding improbably-sized mirrors and focused on the image contained within it. She moved closer, believing herself perhaps mistaken but proven incorrect. It really was empty. There was nothing there. Nothing for her to see. Where was she?

~~~

You see now, don’t you?

There came a voice. Not a physical one of course. No words had been spoken since dreaming claimed her and that would continue to be the case until she awoke. It was a voice nonetheless and it spoke softly, in a cadence not unlike her own. Something about it seemed more raw, more primal, more pure than what she knew her voice to be. It sat heavy in her mind for long enough to get caught in thinking about just the way that voice spoke, rather than the question it spoke to her. A reply came from her dry lips.

“What is there to see?”

Nothing but your true self now. You have already laid eyes on every possible version of yourself, every physical manifestation of the twists and turns of fate. All that remains now is to see you as the world does. As you know yourself to be.

Then her dream struck her down.

~~~

She had dreamt of death, of her own and that of others, countless times. This felt more complete, more total than anything else. Her heart was torn apart instantly and as if this wasn’t enough the rest of her soon followed suit. She was unmade entirely and cast back into the nebulous nothing, the ethereal unbeing that preceded her creation. There was no concept of time or space or self like this so to say it ended quickly or slowly would be an impossible statement to make. All that can be said for certain is that it ended and Sunset found herself reborn in a hauntingly familiar image.

She was before the mirror yet again, its edges still spanning out into eternity. She could tell there was an image now but it was difficult to see, her eyes were blinded by some brilliant light. As she focused on the faint outline of a figure in the mirror it became readily apparent to her what she was seeing. It was her.

Not as she normally was, no. She was engulfed in flames that poured from her skin and lapped around her frame. She was held aloft on a pillar of fire and the soft beat of two new appendages jutting from her back. She was no pegasus, no unicorn. She was a princess. Through and through. Princess of what? What had she done? Was this dream just a dream or something bigger, something that marked her for a future she wasn’t aware of? As the questions came rushing in so did the dark and within moments Sunset was awake and trembling.

There was no forgetting what she had been shown in that dream. There was no denying the truth of the matter. She would have to speak to Twilight about this.