Your eyes shot open, sensation flooding back to you. Your throat was on fire. You couldn’t feel your legs. Your chest felt like it was being crushed. You had an enormous headache. As soon as you’d start to experience one feeling, another was ready to jump out and add to your pain. Out of the corner of your eye you saw movement, a streak of teal drawing closer to you. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t assess the threat in your periphery, you could only wait.

“Hello,” a warm voice said, “Welcome back to the land of the living, you’ve had quite a journey over these past few days.”

You tried to say something, but at the moment there was something blocking your words. You tried to cough, you couldn’t. You tried to breathe, something fought you. You reached for your throat, your hands didn’t move.

“Don’t worry, John. You’re in the hospital. You were in a car accident. You’re partially paralyzed and you’ve been intubated. Just relax and let the machine help you breathe.”

Who the fuck is John? You once again tried to get control of your hands, managing to coax your fingers into moving slightly but not able to get any other response. You had lost complete and utter control, not even your own body was your domain in this moment. How the fuck could you relax when everything was wrong.

“John, from our records here you’ve been in a coma for the last 19 days. It seems like this week’s looking up though.”

You’d have to challenge that statement. Your week, either in this world or the one you actually occupied, was definitively not good. And now that you were getting used to having fell from the sky into a foreign world, it was all over, there was no going back. Everything you had experienced, the ponies, Em, love, it was all fake. It was all a fever dream, but it felt so real. She felt so real, you felt so real for once in your life.

“I’m going to go page the doctor for an evaluation. We’ll see if we can start weaning you off that tube,” the nurse hummed with a practiced fake smile. As she left to seek out the doctor, you finally came to the realization that you were alone, again.

You took stock of what she said, and the story that bears. You had been in a car accident, and afterwards you slipped into a coma. That part makes some sense. But during your coma, evidently, you realized, your brain teleported you to an entirely different world. You didn’t want to consider the absurdity of it all, but your mind kept coming back to it.

And then there was that name! She kept calling you John! That’s not your name! Your name is Anon! But wait, is it? What is your name? You glanced down at the band on your wrist, squinting to make it out as best you could.

DOE, JOHN A
SEX M. DOB UNK. TYPE A-
ADM 14102011-1830
PID 034298417
TRAUMA, MULTIPLE

You thought back on some of the things that happened. Your quickly developing relationship with Em, that you could never get back. Of course it made sense that the only thing you could have fallen in love with that quickly was a figment of your imagination.

“Alright, sweetie. I’m back. The doctor will be in shortly, but in the meantime is there a relative, heir, or next of kin we can reach out to?”

You tried to shake your head. Even if there was someone that would have been here for you, you didn’t want that now. Not after…

Time to concentrate on something else. You could hear some brief conversation in the hall, maybe that could hold some of your focus.

“Thanks Wendy,” someone passing by your room called out to someone else, ”Oh, Jackie wanted me to tell you that there’s some Caesar salad left over from the luncheon if you wanted to take some home.”

Nope. This was not distracting you. Fuck, how did magical talking horse world seem so realistic for nearly three weeks. You’d had long dreams before, but you could almost always tell they were dreams well before you woke up.

“Sweetie, I don’t think the doctor will be all that much longer,” your nurse called out as she leftyour room.

This was all so fucking surreal. The real world didn’t feel real to you, everything seemed like it was scripted, just limping along until the next planned event. You wanted to forget all of this.

No. No you didn’t. You didn’t want to forget Em. You didn’t want to forget anything about her. You could never forget about her. You could never go back. The time you had together was but a dot on either of your lives, and it wasn’t even real. You’d fallen in love with a tiny horse within the span of a week within your coma dream. Maybe pretending this was real might be a likely indicator of your ongoing mental health. Man, that crash must have really messed you up. There was just to much to think about. You tried to focus on something, anything. Even when you thought you’d be able to relax by staring at the ceiling, even then the errant thought or something Em said hit you like a ton of bricks.

“John,” a different, but familiar voice called out.

You continued staring at the ceiling.

“John, wake up,” the voice called.

What the fuck did it want, surely it could tell you were already awake.

“John, look at me,” she commanded, hoofsteps coming closer to you.

Hoofsteps?

…

Hoofsteps?

You craned your neck to look at the source of the sound. Right there in front of you stood Luna. Right here in the real world, even out of your coma you still couldn’t escape magical talking horse land. Fuck.

“Why do you keep calling me John?” you ask, realizing that you were somehow talking even with a breathing tube still in your throat.

“That is the name you’ve been given, in this plane at least.”

“Where am I?” you ask frantically, “What is this?”

“This,” Luna answers, “has no name. You are clinging between two realms right now, a foothold in each one. However, the vast majority of your consciousness is straddling that divide, occupying the void between our worlds.”

This did not calm you at all.

“Luna, Are you trying to tell me I’m dying?”

“No, Anon. What we mean to tell you that even we do not know where you are right now.”

“Then how are you here? How are you real?”

“We have been given the power to waltz along the tapestry of the dreamscape. It was a great curiosity that your dreams are similarly accessible.”

“This is a dream? This isn’t real?” you try to rationalize, “Then why did I wake up? Why am I in a hospital? What’s going on?”

“As we said, your soul is in transit between two worlds. There are elements of each that are real to you in this moment. But simultaneously, nothing in this realm is real.”

“How do I get back?”

“Back?” she asked, “To your realm? We cannot assist you with that.”

“No,” you correct, “To yours.”

“After all that you have done you would willingly come back to Equestria?”

“I can’t leave now. I need to make sure Em is safe?”

“Ah, yes,” she paused, her expression turning, “Em, the traitor in our midst. She who has perverted your sense of love for her own devices. She who fucked Sister in disguise, my how we shall never let her live that down.”

“You’re all wrong!” you scream, “Everything you think you know about Changelings is wrong!”

“That is a bold claim. How then, in only a few days, have you managed to discover an entirely new side to a species that has solely antagonized other creatures since the dawn of time?”

“I gave her a chance,” you started, “I’m still giving her a chance. She’s trying to love and I think she can.”

“Good,” Luna said, smiling at you.

“Good? What do you mean good? Weren’t you just calling her irredeemable?”

“We had long since given up hope that Changelings could bear anything but ill will. However you have brought new evidence to light.”

“What do you mean?”

“A seed,” she answered, “The kind that grows.”

You did a double take at that, or rather, you would have had you not had limited mobility at the moment. There was no way for her to hear those words.

“Yes. We are more observant than many realize. You did not think that we would be the princess of the night without a gift for espionage, did you?”

“When did you know?” you asked, trying to figure out where you slipped up.

“Truth be told it was a surprise to find out. We were monitoring you as you explored Canterlot, but what we heard, who we heard as you spoke with Atlas… That exceeded our expectations greatly.”

“Why didn’t you… We fucked after that!”

“Yes. While we enjoyed much the pleasure you gave us, this was as well an eye opening experience.”

“You mean about how Atlas… and Celestia?”

“No, although that has revealed some things of our sister that we already knew. Primarily that in matters of the heart she sees not that which is right in front of her,” Luna sighed, “But what we discovered that was a new revelation regarded only you and Metamora.”

“How do you know her-”

“Was that not the name you called her when you told her you loved her? Of course, that reminds us of the irregularity we uncovered. When a creature’s love is held captive by a Changeling, they bear not the ability to show affection to another. You obviously do not exhibit this symptom, so we were forced to decide between two possibilities.”

“Which are?”

“Either you do not love Metamora,” she began, “Or your love must be of your own volition.”

“You know which one it is. I know which one it is.”

“Yes, we do now. It is this which gives us hope. A Changeling satisfied on love that is given, not that which must be taken. A creature willing to love that which cannot yet love back. A seed planted that promises abundant fruit.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell anyone?”

“We bear no duty to report that which we’ve found. Nor would Celestia understand what promise our findings hold. But nonetheless, your actions today have undone any secrecy we afforded you both. We cannot defend or protect from that which lies ahead.“

“I-I… would you have done anything differently?” you ask, a pang of guilt striking you.

“We would have done many things differently, but that is why you stand a chance where none have before. You will not hear from us an admonishment for your actions on this day.”

“How is she?”

“Celestia?” Luna asked, “She bears wounds to her pride that outstrip any physical pain you inflicted today. While her guards only required outward medical attention, her battle is fought inwardly.”

“No, that’s not who-”

”Ah, yes. You will find that out shortly. There is still a role you have to play in this, and we can see beyond the black and white that plagues our sister’s viewpoint.”

“Wait- I’m going back?”

“You never left. This was a dream within a dream. You may not remember this, but should you,” Luna paused, “you must know that this is what awaits you in the end. You are real in your realm and we are real within our own, however outside that we must be only a figment to each other, a passing curiosity, never a fixture.”

“You mean…” Did she? That it was all fake after all? No, she meant something more.

“It is time for you to wake up, Anon.”

And then there was nothing again.

Author's Note

Seriously. Who thought it was ending here?

I mean like come on. Giving up now would be like jumping out of a roller coaster right as it got to the top of a hill. ...Silly reader, you know I'd never let you do that, not when I can keep you strapped in and force you to take this wild ride with me.

Some of the more astute among you might realize that this is the glitch chapter spot. Yep. It sure fuckin' is. Y'all motherfuckers gots a secret to find. Except this week, you're gonna need to have solved last week's challenge in order to figure it out. I've got a blog post - Wake Up - Something's Been Bugging Me - with a guide to finding the answers, just like i did the week before. But even with all the answers it's still gonna take you some work.

Good luck, reader mine.

EDIT: If you think you have it figured out, please keep it to yourself. I can't honor the Extra Chapter Challenge if someone spoils the solution.

11/24/18: The Extra Chapter Challenge for this week has ended. Please see the next chapter, Home, for the next challenge. Can't figure it out and want to know how to solve it? Check out the blog post Wake Up - Bug Bounty.