On the Horizon's edge

Upon waking, I immediately noticed several things were wrong. I was missing my earbuds, I was not in the same bed that I fell asleep in, my eyes were covered, my throat felt like sandpaper, and worse of all I felt like I had been thrown down a flight of stairs.

As I shifted in the bed, I noticed that there were tubes around my head that ran to my nose as well as an IV drip in my left arm. Attempting to speak I found that the most that I was able to produce were week groans. As I began to stir and moan, a voice sounded. A voice that held the power of a Queen.

“Be still, you were in a bit of an accident with the heating device in your home.”

Heating device? Did this woman not know what a space heater was? I began to shift in the bed.

“I must ask that you remain still, you suffered a few injuries as you were pulled from home. The most major issue was the amount of smoke inhalation that you suffered from. However, you also have a few cracked ribs as well as a bit of a burn to your face. It damaged your eyes slightly, luckily we were able to treat you quickly enough that it shouldn’t leave any permanent scarring. The fire spread quickly through the home. It could have been much worse.”

I didn’t like the sound of what I was hearing, I knew that I had always been a bit of a packrat; and to add to that, I knew that my room was a bit of a fire trap.

As the voice continued, I could almost hear the wince “The fire spread quite quickly. Right up to the point of the … well, the explosion.”

Bl...blast?! What do you mean that there wa……… Oh god. The propane tank next to the forge. That thing was 1000 gallons. And I just had it filled two months ago. I was apprehensive to hear the answer. I knew what it would be. But I had the tiniest sliver of hope that it would still be there.

“I am afraid that all that remains is a crater. The blast was quite large. I fear that there was nothing that could be salvaged from the wreckage.”

The shock of that overpowered any other sense at that point in time. My entire life had been in that home. I grew up there as a Child, I learned my blacksmithing trade at the forge from my grandfather. Both he and my Grandmother were buried on that land. Now though, now everything, my home, my business, everything was gone.

“I understand that you may need some time to process this. Please, if you need anything there is a call cord to your left, as well as a glass of water on the table to your right. The small device that you had with you is sitting next to the water. If you need anything at all. Please call me back.”

After hearing her leave the room with a strange staccato sound that came in sets of four for some reason, I lifted my hands to the bandages on my eyes. I held my palms to my eyes to let the tears flow, not caring for the pain that I was causing myself by pressing on the damage. My livelihood, my home, every possession I had ever owned, was just gone. I could feel myself sinking down into the depths of my mind, deep into the darkest parts hidden behind doors of steel. As I sunk down a faint but familiar voice spoke out. Not a voice of comfort, no, this was a voice of haterade, of pain, of madness. “You know if you were to say, let me take control forever, you would never have to feel this pain again. Surrender to me and let me take this life for you. Lose yourself to your sorrow, let it consume you and give me control.” The last words had been almost too quiet to hear. Growling back at the small voice only I could hear I responded with pent-up distaste, talking to myself within my mind ‘Fuck off. Nothing would ever make me sink so low as to give you full control. I would rather kill myself.’ The voice responded “Fine be that way; you have always been too weak. I will find a way out, whether you let me out of not.” the voice when quite in my mind.

As I shifted in the beds, I noticed something else that had changed. The constant weight of the anklet that had been with me for just over three years now was gone. Pulling back the blanket I took note of a few things. I was currently lying across what felt to be three beds pushed together, and the tracker anklet was gone.

Once I had discovered this, I moved to the pull myself out of bed, while attempting to do this I found that the beds were far closer to the floor than I had expected them to be. As I moved to sit up entirely, my head began to swim, the pain in my ribs and head almost left me on the floor. As the feeling washed over me, I fell back, leaving me stranded in the bed. As the feeling passed, I realized that it was no good trying to get out of the bed. Reaching over, I felt for the cord on my left to determine where it was just in case I needed it. Leaning over to the table to the right I grasped the glass of water, bringing it to my lips, I drained it in moments, blessing the warm liquid as it ran down my throat. Upon finishing it, I felt out for my phone. Finding it, I began to run my fingers over its surface, checking for any damage. Finding none, I realized that my earbuds were sitting next to the phone.

Picking it up, I plugged the earbuds in and put them in my ears. Not being able to see anything I relied on my phone's functions to start music by pressing the play button on the earbuds. The first song that came up was one of my favorites. It was a song of calming, Clair de Lune, the piece that inspired me to take up the piano. Letting it play I fell back into a deep sleep. Losing myself to the world, making the shock of my home being taken from me seep into nothingness as I fell into the void of dreams.

Having been asleep, I missed the door opening.

“Um. Pardon me. I’m not disturbing you am I?”

Coming back to the world of the living at the sudden sound, I snapped my head to the source of the voice. I realized that this was a poor decision however as I felt as if I was going to be sick, having moved my head too quickly.

With concern in her voice “Oh dear, you really should be moving your head that quickly just yet. I can’t imagine that it feels all that good right now.”

I nodded and spoke to the voice for the first time with a dry and cracked voice “y..you would be right about that.”

“You poor dear, let me get you another drink. I imagine that you are quite thirsty.”

I nodded my head in response. I heard a tinkling, almost as if it were a wind chime. It’s calming sound filled the air.

“The glass is full on the table next to you.”

Taking a drink, I felt the cooling effects of the water wash away the dryness my throat. Speaking again “thank you. I have been feeling quite tired and weak. How long have I been here?”

“You have been unconscious for two days now. Luckily you woke up before a feeding tube was required.”

Grimacing at the thought of that “Yes that is good news. I don’t imagine that It would go over well to wake up with something like that down my throat. If I may ask, when do you feel like I would be able to take my bandages off my eyes? I am curious to see the Nurse that has been caring for me.” I could just imagine her. With a voice like that she must have the face of an angel.

“You should be okay to have the bandages removed today actually. However…”

I grew nervous at her hesitation. “Is there something wrong with them. I mean it’s not like I’m blind now is it.” I started with almost a frantic manner.

“Oh no, nothing like that. However, well. I need for you to swear to me that you are going to keep a level head when I remove the bandages.”

Shrugging “I will try my best. I just want to see again.”

I could hear her sigh “well then stay still as I unwind the bandages” The same tingling that I had heard before returned. I felt my head being moved forward away from the pillow, but I was unable to feel anyone’s hands moving my head. It was almost as if there was some invisible force moving my head for me.

As I felt the layers of bandage unwind, I began to see the light filter through them. During this, I realized that my eyes were going to be sensitive once the bandages came off. Taking this into account I opened my eyes slowly to allow them to adjust to the light in the room. Looking down at my lap to avoid having the light blind me. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I lifted my head.

As I looked up something that I had never expected to see looked at me. A small horse with a coat colored such a dark blue that it almost appeared black was staring at me. I looked at it with shock, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

“So… How are you feeling?”

My jaw dropped, the dark blue horse had just spoken to me. It had just used English and had just talked to me. I felt my heart rate increase. The sound of the heart monitor began to speed up, showing physical proof of my shock.

“What the fuck! What the fuck!What the fuck! What the Fuck! What the fuck!!!”

The heart rate monitor was screaming as I began to freak out. I shifted in my bed, falling to the ground, the pain being pushed to the back of my mind as adrenaline poured into my system. I kicked to push myself as far away from it as I could.

“Now stop that right this instant. You are going to hurt yourself again!.”

It was at this point that I lost consciousness again.

My mind drifted through the void of my mind. It was here that I heard someone calling out to me. Turning my head, I looked for the source of the voice. Standing close to me was the visage of a beautiful woman. Her skin was pale enough to almost glow, her hair was a midnight blue that seemed to sparkle.

“Who...who are you? Where am I?”

She looked at me with a touch of annoyance. “Who I am; is Princess Luna, and as to where we are. We are in your dreamscape. You passed out after, as you call it, freaked the fuck out.”

I was confused at first, however, what had just transpired came back to me. The Voice was the same “you mean, this is just a dream? I was just dreaming back there?”

Giving me a cold stare “No, it was in fact not a dream. However, this currently is, but do not take it for being fantasy, It is genuine. The dream realm is my domain. I chose this form to help make this situation a little less strenuous on your mind. Your reaction before was rather over the top.”

Looking at her with disbelief, I retorted, fully believing that there was no way that this could be real. “You are expecting me to believe that you are some kind of talking horse?!”

With a barely contained fury in her eyes she shifted back to her previous form “No I expect you to believe that I am an Alicorn Princess. And I would ask that you not use such a rude tone with me. I did save your life after all. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to bring you to this world!”

I responded “What do you mean different world? And why did you bring me here, to begin with?”

Somehow she managed to show a blush through her dark blue coat. “I figured that you would enjoy a fresh start. You had mentioned that you were unhappy with your lot in life, particularly with the strange device that was on your ankle.”

At this comment, I locked eyes with her “What do you mean that I mentioned this. I have never met you before in my life. When could I have told you that?”

“Well...technically you are correct, we have never met before in life. However, we have spent a considerable amount of time together in the dream world.”

“You expect me to believe that you know me from the dre….” I stalled out at this as my mind had just made a connection as to why her voice sounded so familiar. “The woman from my dreams, that was you… So what you think you are telling me is that we somehow met in my dreams, and through that connection, you decided, at the first opportunity, that you were going to whisk me away from all my troubles and bring me to a magical land of rainbows and Alicorns.”

She smiled at me “Why yes, I am glad that you are able to understand.”

I shot back a look “then how do you expect me to believe any of this? How can I know that I haven’t just gone crazy and that this isn’t just happening in my head?”

She frowned “I guess there is no way that I can prove to you that this is actually going on. I would just ask that you put some faith in me. However, why would you automatically assume that you have gone crazy?”

I scoffed “you tell me, you’re the one that has been sifting through my brain at night.”

She looked almost offended “I would never invade your mind like that, I walk dreams. However, if I am invited, I will delve deeper into the minds of my subjects. But only if they ask me to. But I digress, what is it that you expect me to know about you?”

There was evident confusion in my voice. “So you mean to tell me that you have no idea what I am talking about. That you let me into this new world without really knowing what it was that you brought here?”

“I am not sure to what you are referencing with that statement.” she responded.

I dropped my eyes, I figured that I owed her some form of explanation “I...well I have mental problems. Rather severe mental issues. I have what is called multiple personality disorder, although if you want to get technical, you can call it Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. And well….he isn’t a very good person. I have actually been able to talk to him during my dreams face to face, but most of the time he is just a voice at the back of my mind.”

“I see. Would it be okay if I were to meet this other you then? I would like to know who it is that I brought into my world..”

“If you really want to meet him I guess. Just please try to not be too horribly offended by what may or may not come out of his mouth. He is a rather...vulgar individual. I have him locked in the back of my mind. I would not suggest it, however, if you must address him by name, use Void.

Moving through the dreamscape, I approached the door that keeps him at bay. As we neared the steel door, I took notice that it was not the same in appearance as it had been in the past. Before the door had always appeared pitted and rusted, but now it shone with a high polish. Any hint of the old door had been removed. However, all of this paled in comparison to the largest changed. Set into the metal of the door were lines of Nordic runes that shone with a radiance of their own.

Upon seeing it, my reaction was one of shock “okay that is not normal. The door has never looked like that before, and I have no idea where the glowing runes came from.” leaning forward I looked to see if I could figure out where they had come from, or even what they were. As I got closer I noticed something familiar about them, an idea struck. I reached down to the beads in my beard to compare them to the ones in the door. As I examined them, I noticed that they were the same.

“the runes on the door match the runes on the beads that I wear in my beard, Why would they be the same?”

Princess Luna looked closely at the door “this appears to be Centaur magic. I have not seen something like this in almost three thousand years.”

At this comment, my head spun to look at her, in almost complete disbelief “What do you mean three thousand years. There is no way that you are anywhere close to that old.”

Looking back at me she replied coyly “I think you for the compliment, but I am in fact just over five thousand. Although I can’t say for certain how old I truly am, I stopped counting centuries ago, as did my older sister.”

I shook this new information off, having completely forgotten her comment about Centaur magic. I didn’t have the mental fortitude to comprehend this information, so I just continued to the door. Placing my hand on it, the door swung in on well-oiled hinges to expose the horror within.

Standing before us covered in golden chains stood a carbon copy of myself, the major differences were in his face. Personally, I had a pair of bright blue eyes; I have had them called ice blue, Void, however, did not have visible color in his eyes. They were black, as for the whites of his eyes; they were a dark shade of blood red. As we approached, more of the subtle differences became apparent.

His clothes were filthy, his hair matted and was his beard. It showed evidence of a mixture of blood and vomit caked into it. The smell of unwashed body was overpowering.

Pointing at him “as you requested, meet Void. My very much hated other half. The darkness of my soul, he is the one responsible for me wearing that anklet for the last three years, and unfortunately, he is the reason that I am still alive as well.” the last words fell from my mouth with bile and disgust.

Luna looked rather shocked at the sight of the beast in his prison. “What do you mean by that? How could this… this thing is responsible for you having to wear that strange device, and how did it save your life?”

“I really don’t like talking about it. However if you really need to know, I will tell you, Just not here. I really don’t like having to spend much time on that thing.”

As we made to move from the room, a guttural voice sounded behind us “DID YOU BRING ME A SNACK. MMMM I BET THIS PRISSY PONY WOULD TASTE GREAT WITH SOME STEAK SAUCE. THINK I MAY JUST HAVE TO WORK THE MEAT OVER TO TENDERIZE IT FIRST THOUGH. A FEW HOURS OF FUCKING SHOULD DO WELL, DON’T YOU THINK.”

I stopped dead in my track, horrified that it had spoken while she was present. I quickly moved to make amends as we rushed from the room. “Princess Luna I am so sorry. I..I tried to warn you that coming in here was a bad idea. I just didn’t want you to have to…” I was unable to finish my thought as I felt the touch of the tip of her wing press against my lips.

“Shhh. There is no need to apologize. You did, in fact, warn me what that beast was like.”
She shook her head as she continued “Granted it is not every day that one hears something like that being said about them, or about them for that matter.”

I blushed at her comment, hating the fact that even though it was him that had said such vulgarities, I was still the one that he had come from. I felt a measure of guilt for having even the darkest part of my mind. That it could have even conceived something like that. I moved to change the topic “So...um you said that the runes on the door where Centaur magic? I have no idea where that would have come from For me at least, they are just old Norse runes. I have not idea why there are glowing right now though. They have never done that before.”

At these words, she turned to me. “Here at least, Centaur runes will always glow if they are charged. It is an ancient branch of magic, Quite a bit more subtle than Unicorn magic. It tends to imbue strength in whatever they are carved into. What form of power is given is based on what runes are used. Nopony has bothered with it for a very long time as far as I know. Most apparently prefer the Wiz bang kind of magic now a day.”

Thinking about what I had just learned, I realized something. “Wait, the runes that are on the door, they are the same ones that are on the beads that I have in my beard They actually have power here? Runes carved and charged by humans have power here?”

Nodding she confirmed my suspicions “Yes, it would appear that they are of the same branch of magic. Centaur magic is not something that is internal, such as a unicorn’s magic. It is the magic of this world; of Equis itself. It is not something that everyone can do. To use it, one needs to have a connection to the ground beneath you, to nature.”

“So you are telling me that it’s Druid magic.”

Shock crossed her features “how do you know what their order was called? You have never been to this world before.”

I chuckled as I responded. “Very right, however, it would appear that there are quite a few similarities between our worlds. We had a few orders of Druids in my world as well. Although the ones with real power were just legends and myths. There is nothing of real magic there. It’s all just a bunch of stories.”

She smiled warmly “Well I can assure you that magic is genuine here. Going by how were are managing to have a good conversation right now. Would you be amenable to continuing our conversation in the waking world?”

I blushed slightly and nodded.

She smiled up at me and responded only “then AWAKEN.”

My mind came to consciousness back in the hospital room with the Princess standing before me. Her mane wafting lazily behind her, ethereal and full of stars. “Well then now that you are feeling a bit more hospitable and open to this world and her denizens. Did you have any questions for me?”

I sat here pondering for a moment “I guess I have one. Why me? Why out of everyone on my planet, out of the billions of people, why did you choose to save me? There is no way that I have any kind of grand importance in the larger scheme of things.”

I noticed the slight darkening of her cheeks as she replied “Well I saved you because I felt that we are friends. At least I hope that we could call each other friends.”

“I guess I can understand that you would choose to save a friend, but why did you decide to delve into my dreams?” I was thoroughly confused. For what reason could this being, this Alicorn; someone of high power going by her title, why did she choose to look into my dreams. Why did she decide to form a bond with someone like me?

She stood still; it seemed that she was trying to come up with a good explanation.

My mind came to consciousness back in the hospital room with the Princess standing before me. Her mane wafting lazily behind her; filled with the stars of the night. “Well then, now that you are feeling a bit more hospitable. Did you have any more questions for me?”

I sat there pondering for a moment “I guess that I have one. Why me? Why out of everyone on my planet, out of the billions of people, why did you choose to save me?”

She replied with a barely noticeable tinge to her cheeks “Well… I saved you because I feel that we are friends… at least I hope that we could call each other friends.”

Nodding “I guess I can understand that. It would make sense that you would do something like this for a friend. But I suppose that leads me to my next question. What drove you to look at my dreams? Forgive me if it sounds like I am putting myself down, but… What was it about my dreams that drew you in?” as I waited for her response I was trying to wrap my head around the idea that there was anything about me that could attract someone as powerful as her, to my simple dreams. What was it that caused her to build this bond with me. As we sat there in silence, I contemplated her reason for wanting to get to know me.

As the seconds ticked by, my memories began to stir as I remembered little tidbits of dreams from the past, bits, and pieces of conversations. The bonds of friendship slowly being built.

“I feel as if I am unable to give you a proper answer, I am unsure as to what caused me to peek into your dreams in the first place. I was drawn to them, but what caused me to stay; well. It was the way that you saw things in your dreams. The way that you interacted with the other constructs that exist in your mind. Throughout my observations, you kept a kind demeanor, I think I truly began to feel a kinship with you.”

Smiling I looked at her. “Well regardless of the reason, I still owe you my life. More than that you have given me a chance at a new one. So again, thank you for saving me.”

Her reply radiated warmth “It was my pleasure to help you, my friend. But this brings me to a bit of an awkward point. While I am quite alright with your name… well as you have observed with my name, we have a rather different way of naming each other. I feel as if it would be in your interest if you were to think about choosing a new name, now that you are here. An Equestrian name.”

At this, I was understandably taken aback. However, upon reflection, I relented that it was likely a good idea. It would be a similar situation to when the original immigrants came to the US. “I guess I can see where you coming from with that. What kind of names do you have here, what is considered normal?”

Smiling at me, she responded “Well there seems to be a bit more flexibility when it comes to Equestrian names. There have been many different names throughout history. I once had a good friend named Starswirl the Bearded, My sister’s one-time pupil; now an Equestrian princess goes by the name Twilight Sparkle. Other names such as Gumdrops, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Moon Dream, they are all quite common. The sky's the limit. Names here tend to do with one's unique talent though. Most parents tend to have a name dream when they are about ready to have a foal. If you think about it, perhaps you can expand your horizons?”

As she finished, something that she said sparked something within me. “ Horizon?” I muttered. “Everything here is new to me, it really is a chance to build a new life and expand my horizons.” bringing my hand up to my beard I began to stroke it out of habit. As I did this, it seemed to hit me out of the blue, as if it was something that should have been obvious “New Horizon. Yes, that sounds right, Call me New Horizon, although if you prefer Princess Luna, please call me Horizon for short.”

She beamed down at me as I lay prone on the bed. “That is a lovely name, New Horizon. A fitting name for your new life.”

“That was the idea, I have a real chance at a new life here. Something peaceful, thank you, Princess. I only hope that I don't squander your gift.”

“Oh my new friend, please call me Luna, Titles are such an annoyance. I share your hope. I would have you blossom here.”