Drawing a Blank.

The rest of the day went on without much in terms of excitement. The only things happening after the party was just some light conversation, and eating a nice dinner. And so day three of Drew's stay in the crystal castle came to a close, and the sun once again gave way to the night. Sitting up in his room, jotting the day's events down in his journal, Drew's thoughts couldn't help but wander back to two of the day's events in particular.

The first, the party itself. It was truly one of the highlights of the few day's worth of memories. It was reassuring to know that he had been welcomed into this with open arms...hooves? Drew didn't know what the pony equivalent to that phrase. Regardless it was reassuring to know that, while different, he wasn't necessarily an outcast in this strange land...even if he did get a few wide eyed stares.

The second was his talk with Twilight just before the party. The lavender colored Alicorn had been nothing but kind to him during his stay in her home, and her words had been a constant source of reassurance in this strange time in his life. After all, she was the Princess of Friendship. It was likely her job to outreach a hand...err, hoof in friendship to everyone she met. While Drew still didn't fully grasp the Princess of Friendship concept, he had assumed that her kindness was a byproduct of her title. He knew that wasn't the case, but he had assumed that her title was a factor in all of this. But something about today was...different.

Drew couldn't quite place a finger on it. Something about how she had talked to him just before the party, something about how she looked at him that was...different then their other talks. He had put himself on a dark train of thought, and she helped knock him off of it. For the first time in his short stay in Ponyville he felt like there was a connection. A deeper connection. Not just her trying to help him find his memories and get home, but actual friendship. Maybe he was just finally opening up? Or maybe the two were growing closer? Drew couldn't tell what the exact answer was, and frankly he didn't care, even now as he wrote about it in an attempt to figure it out. It was just nice to have someone looking out for him in this...vulnerable point in his life. So he would leave it at that. He was actually making friends with these ponies, that's all that he should care about.

But even if he had continued to ponder, he was too tired to keep his focus for much longer. Finding the strength to finish up the day's journal entry, the human took his body's not so subtle hint and crawled into his bed, eyes already closed. His conscious thought soon following as he drifted off into the world of dreams.

Just as sleep had easily come, so to had the return to the waking world. And while Drew would have liked to sleep just awhile longer, he was also excited about the prospects of the new day.

'Maybe I could get a tour of the town today, that'd be kind of fun.' He thinks, nestling further into his resting place. It seemed more pillowy then it had the past several nights, though he hadn't put much thought into how his bed felt, it might have always been that soft. 'I'm sure somebody wouldn't mind doing it. I'm going to be here for awhile anyway, I may as well get the to know the place...but a few more minuets won't hurt.'

That train of thought was interrupted by a chilling breeze-- wait a minuet. Chilling breeze? While Drew wasn't sure if his bed had gotten softer or not, he was 100% certain that the window in his room was CLOSED when he went to sleep. Opening his eyes, Drew was instantly greeted to the sight of the ground-- hundreds of miles away from him.

Screaming for only a split second and throwing his arms over his face, the sight had convinced Drew that he was plummeting to the ground at terminal velocity...except he wasn't. It took him a second to realize that he wasn't moving...and he wasn't looking down. He was lying on his back, and it felt like he was looking up. Not sure what to make of the situation, he slowly opens his eyes and stands up. Looking down...or was he looking up? Regardless, he could now see that he was a riding on a large cloud lazily drifting through the night sky. That explains why it was so soft.

"Hello?" Drew shouts out into the night air. Despite every one of his senses besides sight telling him he was standing right-side-up, his eyes and his brain were telling him that he was dangling upside-down from a cloud hundreds of miles above the ground. Needless to say, he was a bit panicked, and very confused. "Can anyone hear me? Does anybody know how I got here?!"

Then, there was a giggle. It was soft yet powerful, not intimidating yet with an air of authority in it. It sounded like it had come from beneath him...or was it above him?...It sounded like it came from the other side of the cloud, that's what Drew pieced together. Looking around frantically, Drew called out again, hoping this mystery individual would be able to help him. Then out of the corner of his eye, there was a blur of dark blue, almost perfectly blending into the night sky, shooting towards the sky/ground from one edge of the cloud. Looking over to where he saw the blur, Drew was greeted to the sight of a Pony standing there on the cloud with him. But something about her seemed different.

She bore both a horn and wings, signifying her status as an Alicorn. Her coat was a dark blue color, much different from any of the other ponies Drew had seen in his short time in Equestria. Her mane and tail flowed magically, almost ethereal in appearance, both were a slightly glowing depiction of the night sky. Her form was decorated with black and silver regalia, and her teal colored eyes, while not bearing any ill intent, pierced threw Drew's soul like a harpoon. The unfamiliar Alicorn giggled again, walking closer to the human. By this point, Drew could see that she was also taller then the other ponies he had come to know. She was the first pony he had met that he didn't have to look down to in order to look them in the eye, they were roughly the same height. In fact, if you're counting her horn, she'd be taller then he was.

"You certainly are a strange creature indeed," the mysterious mare comments, pacing around the human. "...Your name was Drew, correct?"

"...That's what I've been going by these days," Drew answers, not taking his eyes off of the Alicorn as she inspects him. Her slow walk around him had reviled her Cutie Mark to him, a crescent moon. He was doing his best to hide the fear in his voice as he answered, but even a child could tell that he was frightened. Who wouldn't be? Waking up in the middle of the sky with a mysterious pony that you have never seen before, you'd be a bit on edge to.

'Did she bring me here?' Drew asks himself while continuing to eye the Alicorn, who in turn eyed him back with an enigmatic smile on her face. 'She's an Alicorn like Twilight...maybe this was the friend she wrote to the other day? If she is, why'd she put me in the sky?'

"So you actually can speak!" The Alicorn continued in a bright almost childlike tone. She lets another small giggle echo around them. Her grin fades a bit as she realizes what she had just said. "...That came out wrong."

'If she wanted to hurt me, she could just undo whatever magic was keeping me up here, Drew thought. Maybe she just wants to talk?' The Alicorn's pacing suddenly stopped, as her bright expression furrowed a bit more. It didn't take her long to ask Drew what was bothering him so much.

"...Who exactly are you?" Drew managed to ask. "...And why are we in the sky?"

"Ah, forgive me! How rude, I had entirely forgotten to introduce Ourself!" Her entire demeanor changed in that very moment, as if she were embarrassed or was forgetting something. "I am Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

'So she's a princess like Twilight...probably should have guessed that from the whole Alicorn thing.'

"Deepest apologies for contacting you in this manor. I am usually asleep during the day, and teleportation between Canterlot and Ponyville takes up far to much magical energy to be used lightly," Princess Luna continues. "I hope you can forgive the intrusion."

'Canterlot. I think I've heard Twilight use that word once or twice. She's defiantly that 'friend' she wrote that letter to....didn't Twilight say that her name was 'Celestia' though?'

"So...what exactly is this 'method' you're using to contact me?" Drew asks, taking a hesitant step backwards away from the Alicorn. She might not have wanted to hurt him, but the situation was still more then a little uncomfortable. "...And forgive my own rudeness, but why are we in the sky?"

Luna could only giggle again at the human's response. "We aren't in the sky, Drew. I am still in Canterlot, and you are still safe and sound, sleeping in your bed." Okay. Now Drew was really confused. How could he be in his bed, asleep, if he was here: in the sky, wide awake, talking to this possibly crazy Alicorn. The look on his face doing more then enough to signal to the Alicorn that he was a bit concerned.

"I can see you have some questions you would like to have answered," the Ruler of the Night continued. "You see, as my title may imply, my dominion is over all aspects of the night. And one of the duties I hold is to act as the guardian of the dream world. I have the ability to pass in and out of the dream world as I please." The Alicorn takes a step backwards from the human, seemingly in an attempt to help ease his worry. "And I have elected to use this power to meet you, and I would like to apologize again for any distress this situation has caused you, Drew. Twas not my intent."

Drew was clearly having a difficult time understanding what "guardian of the dream world" meant, but at least he had gotten an explanation at all. It seemed a little far fetched to him, but he couldn't find a reason to see this as a lie. If Equestria needed a Princess of Friendship, maybe it also needed a Princess of Dreams. Continuing to think it over, the human suddenly smiled brightly as a brilliant idea popped into his head.

"So I'm dreaming right now. Right?" He asks, pointing to the upside down world around them. "All of this is just a dream.

The dark colored Alicorn's expression changed back into a gentle smile. "Indeed. Still safe and sound in Twilight's castle. Sawing logs, I believe the phrase is."

"And if you're here, that means you're in my head, right?"

Her slime dropped a bit at that question, curious as to where he was going with this. "...Yes, if we were to be technical. We are currently standing within the realm constructed by your dreams."

The human's smile grew brighter as he suddenly approached the Alicorn, almost screaming in joy as he got uncomfortably close to the Princess. "That means you can help me get my memory back! Right?!"

Surprised by the human's sudden approach, Luna quickly leapt back. It took her a moment to even register what he had just asked of her. "...Oh yes, Our dear sister did mention your amnesia when she told spoke of Twilight's letter...it is possible, but I would rather--"

At this moment in time, Drew was to ecstatic to listen to the rest of the Alicorn's answer. What started out as a scenario from a horror book had suddenly turned into his ticket to reclaiming his memories. Letting out an ecstatic "woo-hoo," the human began to prematurely celebrate. Unfortunately his excited dancing, while amusing to the Ruler of the Night, had inadvertently caused the cloud they were standing on to pop like a bubble. And while Luna was able to avoid the nasty after effects due to her winged nature, Drew was not as lucky. And so he fell skyward. He still wasn't sure how up and down worked in this world, but he knew he was falling. And given that the ground was getting further away with each passing moment, he let out a rather loud scream as he realized that he would be falling for quite some time.

Drew's scream continued to echo on loudly as he shot up to a sitting position. Frantically looking around, he finds that he was back in his room at the crystal castle. Quickly shooting out of his bed and rushing to the window, he sees that it is still the middle of the night.

"...How real was that?" He asks out loud looking towards the night sky. Part of him was saying that it was just a weird dream, likely induced by all the cake and other sweets he had ingested earlier at the party. But at the same time, something about that dream felt so real. Drew's contemplation was cut short as an arcane flash filled the room, the chamber becoming illuminated by a magical glow.

"Drew?! What's wrong?! I heard screaming!" Twilight shouts, looking around like a crazed animal. It looked as if she was only half conscious, as evident by her slightly slurred tone. Though she was surprised to see the human looking out the window seemingly so calm, but that thought died when she laid eyes on his now equally crazed expression as he turned to look at her.

"Is Princess Luna a real pony, and can she really go into other people's dreams?!" Drew suddenly shouts with wide eyes. Caught off guard by the question, Twilight's mood shifts from panicked to confused.

"...Of course Princess Luna is real. She's the one who raises the moon every night...did she come visit--" the question was cut short as the human bolted from one side of the room to another, placing both hands on either side of her face and pulling the magic user uncomfortably close.

"I need you to knock me out. I need to get back to sleep. Right now," the human commands, his pupils heavily constricted. "I don't care how, but I need to be unconscious NOW."

Not knowing what was going on, and quite surprised by her friend's manic behavior, Twilight shoots a bolt of energy from her horn without much thought due to her half asleep status. She was at least able to focus enough to make sure it was a sleep spell she fired into the human's face at point blank range and not, say for example, a disintegration spell.

Letting go of the Alicorn's face and stumbling backwards with a groan, Drew could feel his consciousness fading once again. "Thank...you..." he manages to say in a slurred tone. With his last act of wakefulness, the human allowed himself to fall over backwards onto his bed. The moment he touches down on the mattress, he is out like a light. Once again depatred from the waking world.

"What...just happened?" Twilight merely stands in the center of the room for a moment or two, staring at the now peacefully sleeping human before her. By this point she had begun to fully wake up, and was becoming aware of what had just happened. It was at that moment the door to Drew's room was swung open, another light spell adding to Twilight's own as Spike and Starlight barged in. The young dragon could be seen wearing a blue sleeping cap and wielding a rolled up newspaper as a weapon.

"What's with all the screaming?" Starlight asks, half asleep and half panicked. Her partly blurred vision catches sight of her Alicorn friend, and the Human who seemed to be practicing very poor sleeping posture. "...Twilight? What just happened in here?"

"I haven't the slightest idea..." the lavender Alicorn responds, unable to take her eyes off of Drew. "...But I don't think we should let him eat leftover cake right before bed again..."

With another loud gasp, Drew found himself once again in a strange environment. Unlike the previous dream, he was on a small island of stone and sand surrounded by a body of seemingly endless, and motionless, water. Said water was very clearly reflecting the countless stars in the sky and a rather large full moon, but if one were to look up the sky would be entirely devoid of these two features. It was simply a dark blue void. Other then Drew, the only thing on the island was a small tree, that had somehow managed to sprout through solid stone.

"Luna! Are you still here?!" Drew shouts with hands cupped around his mouth to make his voice carry further. "I'm sorry about that! Can you still help me?!"

"You do not need to shout, I am standing right here." The Ruler of the Night states back, walking out from behind the tree. "How did you manage to get back to sleep so quickly?"

"I had Twilight shoot me in the face!" Drew says in a tone that implied that was an entirely normal statement. "So...you can still help me get my memories back, right?"

"I said it was possible, but I never said that I would do such a thing," Luna explains, walking towards the one-track-minded Drew. "Dreams and memories, while connected in numerous ways, are two completely separate constructs. Using one to affect the others could have adverse effects on your mind."

"Oh...I guess I missed that part before..." Drew's hopeful expression faded into a dark grimace, shoulders slumping down. He looks back up to the Alicorn with a half grin. "...How adverse would these effects be?" The question gave the Ruler of the Night a moment of pause. This was not a comfortable subject for her, clearly.

"...You do not wish to know, trust me."

"Oh come on, how bad could it possibly be?" Drew could tell that his insistence was starting to get on the Alicorn's nerves, but he wasn't planing on letting up. "You said you could do it! What's the big deal?!"

"Have you ever experienced the feeling of being unmade?"

"...Maybe? No idea, really. I can't remember a thing from before three days ago," the human explains, crossing his arms in an upset matter. In his mind, he had every right to be upset. First she tells him that she COULD do it, and then turns around and tells him that she wouldn't? She could have at least just said no, instead of getting his hopes up like that. "I hate to be rude, but I don't see why you can't help me."

"You do not wish to know, trust--"

"You're right, I don't wish to know why, I wish to get my memory back!" Drew suddenly interrupts, taking a step closer and waging his finger in the air aggressively. "You said that you could do it! If you aren't going to, I at LEAST want an expla--"

"Enough," Luna suddenly commands, her voice and way of speaking changing entirely in that instant. She wasn't trying to meet and greet anymore, she was clearly exercising her authority as Guardian of the Dream world and her authority as a Princess of Equestria. The air around them seemed to grow thicker and darker. The Alicorn's eyes begin to grow with an eerie white light, as the sky begins to grow thick with dark storm clouds. As the clouds roll in, the reflection of the night sky changes, the stars blinking out one by one, and the moon being replaced by a ring of light akin to a solar eclipse. "You would be wise to trust Us on this matter.

"To try and alter the state of your memories through the dream world could utterly destroy your mind. Destroy you." She walks closer to the human, her intense gaze locking into his own. Even if he wanted to he wasn't unable to look away, and he couldn't tell if Luna was forcing this reaction from him or if just her change in demeanor just commanded this level of respect. Whatever it was, it was working.

By this point, her voice had also taken on a sinister echo to it, and it was no longer being heard from just her mouth. It sounded as if her voice was coming from everywhere. The Ruler of the night begins to walk forward. With every step, the landscape of the dream world begins to blacken and crack. Thunder suddenly claps, and a heavy torrent of rain begins to drench the two. Or rather, it drenched Drew. Luna was not touched by a single drop, as if the rain itself was afraid to touch her.

Drew was rendered speechless by this display of power. He couldn't scream, he couldn't respond, all he could do was slowly back away as the mare continued her approach. It was at this moment that Drew was able to peace together what was happening, she was the guardian of the dream world. And it was more then apparent that what she was doing. The moment the realization entered Drew's mind, another crash of thunder echoes out through the realm, this time accompanied by a bright flash of lightning.

"You would lose everything. Your conscious mind, your memories both new and old, and even your sense of self. In every definition of the word, you would be erased," Luna continues, halting her approach as Drew steps into the water. "This fear you are feeling now? It is but a fraction of the fear, and pain, you would experience. So We suggest you stop pressing the matter. Are. We. Clear?"

"C-c-c-crystal!" Drew manages to stammer out, tripping and falling into the water. Expecting to land with a splash, the human was surprised to find that he was quite dry. In fact, as his behind touched down, the nightmare around him was replaced by an entirely new environment, a realm composed entirly of a calming blue light.

In an instant, Luna's air of authority had receded back into her previously mischievous nature from when she had first interacted with Drew, signaled by a small laugh from the darker colored Alicorn. Her eyes had ceased glowing, and her voice had also returned to normal. "We are sorry you had to see that, but you would not stop pressing the issue. Are you alright?" Drew couldn't answer, still dumbfounded by what had just happened.

"...What...was that?" He manages to ask, not sure if he should still be afraid or not.

"...It was meant to be a warning. We are sorry that We could not be of assistance in your quest for your memories, but We do not wish to be responsible for your untimely demise," Luna explains, her voice had sorrow in it, as if she was ashamed she had done that. Yet despite her voice returning to normal, she was still referring to herself in the third person. "But in Our defense, you refused to stop pushing the issue. So we pushed back. We hope you can forgive us for our...extreme measures. We might have gotten a little carried away." As the Alicorn explained the circumstances, Drew could feel the terror within him fading away. Likely Luna's doing, she had easily instilled terror upon him, it made sense she could take it away just as easily.

"...Extreme is a bit of an understatement." Despite the fear being drained away, he still vividly remembered what he had seen in that moment of light.

"If it is any consolation, We shall not be doing that in the future. But We do not expect forgiveness for what We had just put you through."

"...I was kind of asking for it...and I was being a jerk about it," Drew mutters as he picks himself back up. "...I'd say we're even?"

"...I would say that is fair."

"That's good, " a sigh of relief escaped Drew's throat as he allowed his posture to slump slightly. "...And at the risk of setting you off again; if you didn't come here to help with my memories, then why did you decide to pay me a visit?" Contrary to Drew's expectation, the Alicorn's ears and expression perked up at the question. She now wears a similar smile to the one she had when Drew had first met her.

"We came to you this night to get to know Equestria's newest resident better," the dark colored Alicorn explains as her horn glows with a magical aura. Two chairs, a table, a pot of tea with matching cups and a fully set up chess board suddenly materializing out of thin air. "We assume you know how to play?" She asks, taking a spot in one of the seats.

"...I guess can learn?"