``` Report: [NAME REDACTED], Civilian Location: Cruise Ship “Stardust Princess”, North Atlantic Ocean. Local time: 1715 hours Status report: So nervous. About to make the biggest decision of my life. I can’t believe my life is finally turning.

```

Looking out at the setting sun, my mind ran through the potential implications of what I was about to do. I looked down at the small black box in my hand. Just a few more minutes. It would be perfectly timed. I even had a speech prepared. Although my heart fluttered with nervous energy, the cool, fresh ocean air filled my lungs, calming me. It was almost as if the earth itself was telling me everything was going to be fine. This was a turning point in my life, one way or another.

Normally, there would have been no way a broke university student like myself would have been able to afford tickets on a luxury cruise liner, much less a second ticket for a plus-1, but the cruise company had been at the centre of some kind of scandal. I couldn’t remember what it was about, I just remember seeing the company name in news-feeds. To try and get some good press they had been giving tickets to the families of dying kids, cancer patients, disabled people and so on, as well running competitions to get people talking about the possibility of getting a free vacation. I had seen an ad for the company and one of these competitions during the commercial-break of one of my favourite animated TV shows. I normally didn’t bother with things like this as the chances of winning were astronomically small, but for whatever reason, I decided to enter on a whim so I fired up my POS laptop and went to the website. Entering did require sharing the website on social media but that didn’t matter to me as almost no one followed me there aside from my mother and girlfriend.

A month later, I had gotten what at first looked to be a typical junk email, but turned out to be fully legit, informing me that I’d actually WON! Two tickets on a VIP cruise starting in Miami, culminating in King’s Wharf port, and stopping at several islands around the Bahamas along the way.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime! All I had to pay for was travel costs to the east coast of the US and some spending-money for the vacation itself, but that wasn’t too bad as I had a little cash saved up.

A high-pitched beeping pulled me from my thoughts. Silencing the alarm on my watch, I took a deep breath in.

“Okay, Dude. It’s now or never. Let’s fucking do this.”

Turning on my heel, I made my way below decks, a spring in my step.

As I walked down the hall to our room, I felt my heart flutter a bit but my feet moved forward with conviction. My body knew what needed to be done even if my anxious and overthinking mind didn’t. I stopped outside the thick wooden door. Room 6-12. I raised my knuckle to the wood.

*CRASH!*

The entire ship shuddered with a loud boom that almost threw me clean to the floor. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I also heard a wave of screams coming from many of the people in the other rooms. But nothing from my own room. Picking myself up, panic ran through my mind as I wondered if she was ok. I frantically searched through my pockets, before pulling out my key-card and tapping it against the receiver. A low beep and a red light raised my heartrate further. I used the card again. Another beep and red light.

“COME ON COME ON!” Tapping again, the green light appeared and a high-pitched tone sounded. The lock disengaged. I flung the door open. To simultaneous my relief and terror, I was greeted by nothing but an empty room and some smashed glass from the fallen bedside lamp. If she wasn’t here, where was she?

*CRASH!*

This time I was sent flat on my face. Adrenaline surged through me as the instinct to fight or flee overtook my being. My love was smart. The captain hadn’t sounded the alarm yet, but we both knew it would take time to assess the damage. I wasn’t going to wait around for that. Neither would she. The lifeboats were on deck 4. I would meet her there.

Before I could even register that I’d made my decision, I found myself on deck 4.

The sound of yelling and the stewards trying to calm everyone down faded to a dull noise as my desire to mind my love overtook everything. But then another sound registered in my mind. A trickling; like someone had left a tap slightly open. I looked down. There was a small rivulet of water flowing across the floor. Another explosion.

This time I was thrown across the room. Stunned, the sound of massive metal girders bending and straining echoed through my mind over the screaming. Heart now racing, I stood, only to realise something was off. The world was askew. I was almost walking on what should have been the wall. The siren wailed and red emergency lighting bathed the ship. On instinct, I took out my phone. No service.

“Of course not, you fucking retard!” I scalded myself; we were in the middle of the fucking Atlantic Ocean after all!

I called out her name, my voice getting completely lost in the crowd. I called again. And again. I didn’t even notice the pain from the gash on my forehead or the blood running down my face. More metal groaning, like the ship itself was screaming in pain. Suddenly I was hit with a torrent of water, like getting hit square on with a riot cannon. The metal twisted around me. Collapsing inward. Most of the other people in the room were clinging to something or another at the top of the tilted room; I was not so lucky. I had been thrown to the bottom. More walls caved in, speeding up the water flow into the room. The freezing water burned my flesh. The metal around me buckled and bent. The ship was transforming into a death-trap around me. If I didn’t move fast, it would be my coffin. The frigid evening water was up to my chest. My vison locked onto another passenger across from me, desperately pulling at a thick, steel, bulkhead door. Given the angle of the ship and the location of the door, there was a good chance it was below the waterline.

“NOOO!” I cried out. But it was too late.

The door flung open as a flood of water burst into the room with torrential force. The screams were muffled as I suddenly realised the water was up to my head. With one final breath, my head was dipped below the water. I didn’t know where I had been thrown by the flood when the door opened. I was confused. Disorientated. And the shapeshifting structure of the ship didn’t help.

I was a strong swimmer, but I knew with my soaring heartrate, I had realistically 30 seconds, maybe a minute before I had to surface. I had to find air, FAST! My blurry vison locked onto another open door that connected to a stairwell heading down into the ship. Wherever I was, the other exits had either closed or where unreachable. The only way forward was down. I pushed off the wall behind me hard and launched myself toward the door. It was only even visible thanks to the waterproof emergency lighting. I swam down the narrow stairwell, the feeling of enclosure baring down on me as I did. I felt like a was in a flooded metal box. Sealed in. No way out. Saving energy and precious oxygen by pulling myself on the handrail, I eventually reached the bottom. To my relief, the door there was open too. The floating tables I had to swim past indicated this was once some kind of restaurant or bar. My chest was starting to ache however. I was running out of time. My frantic mind looked for an exit. Nothing immediately stuck out. There had to be other way out. THERE HAD TO BE! Part of the floor had caved in and there wasn’t any sign of a trapped air pocket. Then, the floating furniture and booze bottles allied to reveal a huge gash in the ship’s hull in the below deck. That was it! It would mean diving even deeper but I had no choice. I charged through the floor like a torpedo and headed right for the opening. My chest was beginning to scream. I needed oxygen. The hull was fractured and huge, razor sharp shards covered my escape. But like wiggling through the teeth of some colossal, city-destroying dragon, I slipped through.

I was outside! I was free from the damaged and disintegrated ship. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a dull pain in my side tried to distract me from the ultimate goal of breathing again. Luckily, I had no concept of physical pain. The adrenaline was too powerful. The screaming voice telling me to breathe, too loud. I looked up and saw the fire above me; the blurry, orange lights of late sunset. With horror and dread, I suddenly realised how deep I’d swam. One final surge of adrenaline shocked me to action. Probably the last burst of energy my oxygen-starved body had to give. I swam. I swam as fast as my failing limbs were able to propel me. I could feel the weakness in them. Muscles clamping up. Strength vanishing. The light above me seemed so far away. Yet still I swam. Closer. But so slow. Every second felt like an hour. A day. A year. The light drew closer, but dimmer. Darkness was closing in on me. Colour fading. Light fading. Consciousness fading. Everything, fading.

Cold stung my face and my lungs instinctively inhaled like a hurricane. I gasped, gagged and choked, the agony in my chest just barely enough to keep me awake. Then my brain caught up with my body. I was out! I had surfaced! Oh sweet, precious air! It filled my lungs like nectar! Even as the need to gasp began to gradually weaken, I consciously continued to inhale deeply. I could almost feel the disappointed scowl of Death circling below me like a shark. Colour and consciousness returned to me. Life itself was flooding back into me.

I looked upon the sinking ship, towering above me, having almost forgotten it existed. As feeling returned to my limbs and my eyes focused, I started to notice something was wrong. The ship wasn’t just stuck; it was creaking and shifting slightly, like it was straining against some ancient leviathan sea monster holding it in place from the depths below. The engines roared, and I could see one of the propellers spinning halfway out of the water, splashing furiously with little work actually being achieved. Suddenly, the beast let out a colossal roar of failing metal, and another gigantic gash appeared in the side. The ship was literally being snapped in two like a cheep plastic model in the hands of a destructive toddler. The water around me began to swirl and writhe. The sea around the ship started to spin. My body was being pulled in toward the doomed vessel as a whirlpool of biblical power and size formed around the ship.

I started kicking and stroking as hard as I could, swimming in the opposite direction. Relentlessly the water pulled at me, dragging me further and further back. I felt the pull change direction. No longer was the current just dragging me in, but now it was pulling me down. Panic surged through me and a massive dose of adrenaline once again kicked my limbs into overdrive.

For a single glorious moment, I started to beat the current. I was gaining inches a second but I was moving! But the pull was relentless. Without mercy. It only grew stronger with each passing second. Down and down I was dragged. I was just treading water now, my limb pumping furiously to keep my mouth just barely above the water.

My limbs began to burn. I knew I couldn’t keep this up for much longer. Soon my muscles would simply fail, and I would slip below the surface, back into Death’s dark, icy embrace. I inhaled as hard as I could, filling my lungs to almost bursting. With one final kick, I finally slipped below the water.

The ocean dragged me down with frightening speed and power. It was like something had hold of my leg and was dragging me down, like a demon from the vilest pits of hell had a tentacle around ankle and would never let go until my soul was released. I looked up and saw the light fading as the surface accelerated away from me. Down and down. Deeper and deeper. I felt the weight of the water crushing me. Every inch of my skin felt like it was being compressed and torn. Every single pore simultaneously drilled into. And my lungs. Oh, how they screamed. My racing heart was burning through oxygen like a forest fire burns dry wood. I was dead. I knew it. The thought occurred to me of simply exhaling and letting the lack of air do the rest. But no! I would go out fighting God-dammit! I would cling to life with every fibre of my being until the very end. I would make sure I got every last second of my time on this earth before the infinite void of nothingness claimed me forever.

I looked down into the abyss. Nothing but darkness. Deeper and deeper. The darkness was closing in on me now, and not just because of the depth. My lungs shrieked in agony. They begged to breathe. Weakness started to spread throughout my body. The muscles keeping my throat closed failed. I saw was a single bubble escape and race up to the surface. Just before my vision failed completely, a light penetrated the darkness. Like the soft light from the brightest blue moon, it banished the foul darkness around it. A light! Perhaps a rescue diver?

A blueish shape began to materialise in the gloom. The light emanated from a pointed object; a horn, attached to a quadrupedal figure. I watched as the familiar, almost mother-like smile of a mare graced my vision. She smiled at me warmly before lifting her head high, her horn glowing more brightly as she cast a spell. A bubble began to form around the tip of her horn. Rapidly, it grew. Larger and larger. Never popping or splitting, only growing. The skin folded around me and sweet, sweet air flooded into my starved lungs as I fell inside. I gasped, gagged, and panted. It was the second time I’d nearly drowned in less than two minutes. My throat, nose and chest all burned as I coughed up water, convulsing on the bubble’s floor. My tired eyes flickered open from my place flat on my back. As they focused, a familiar face looked back at me with loving, sapphire eyes. Right there, standing over me, was Princess Luna!

Gradually, my strength returned and I picked myself up. The floor rippled around my feet like water as I stood and my eyes struggled to adjust to the bright light of her horn.

“Over the centuries I have travelled far through the Dreamscape. I have seen horrors and pleasures few can imagine. But it is rare I find a dream so vivid. So… real.” Her melodic voice soothed my panicking mind and shaking body. It took me a few moments to catch up to what she had said.

“So… I’m… I’m dreaming?” I almost whispered. She nodded.

“A ‘nightmare’ as modern ponies call it.” That seemed to cause her noticeable discomfort. “Dreams have a tendency to not resemble reality. The Dreamscape is its own space that plays by its own rules. Impossibilities for the Real, are trivial for the Dreamscape. However, this scene closely mimics reality. Am I right there is a reason for this?” I nodded.

“It’s not just a nightmare.” I said, causing her face to twitch again subtly. “It’s a memory. It’s how I got here.” Luna looked upon me with an almost motherly sympathy.

“No wonder you do not wish to speak of it. There are few terrors more scarring than drowning.” She stepped forward and hugged me; something I was not ready for. I stiffened at first but soon relaxed as her soft, warm fur pressed into my skin, soothing me.

“Princess?” I asked. She pulled away and waited to hear what I had to say. “I… Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I… I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, but this nightmare has been plaguing me for months. Why couldn’t you save me before?” I was afraid I’d offended her but instead of being mad, she looked disappointed, even, sad. “Princess? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”

“No!” She spoke firmly. There was a flicker of the fire that lay under her motherly persona. It sent a shiver down my spine. No wonder ponies a thousand years ago were so afraid of her when that fire was let loose. “It is I who should be sorry. The truth is, your dreams have been on my radar for quite some time but… well it seems your kind, or you at least, have a resistance to magic. In the Dreamscape there was…” She hesitated, searching for the best word to use. “An anomaly. The space where your dreams should be was... blurry, as if not quite there. I suspected it might be your dreamworld, but all my efforts to penetrate your mind were met with resistance, as if your brain had some kind of natural defence against such intrusion.” She explained. I suddenly felt guilty. “It is only now that I have been able to break past your defences, and manipulate your dreams. But even now, my influence is limited.” My throat felt tight.

“I… I don’t know what to say. I had heard stories about how you assisted ponies during nightmares but… well… when that never happened to me, I assumed that either you couldn’t enter my dreams, since I wasn’t from this world or…” I trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence. The truth was the thought had occurred to me that maybe she had been able to help me but perhaps didn’t care. It was a fringe thought, almost always immediately dismissed by my more logical side, but it still popped up occasionally; depression was an ugly thing. “Thank you, Princess. Thank you.”

“You are quite welcome, Human.” She smiled warmly. “But I get the sense that you are still holding something back. Please, I assure you, anything you say to me will go no further.” I sighed heavily. As hard as I tried to not show my pain to others, it seemed I couldn’t compete with the hundreds, upon hundreds of years of experience she possessed; I bet she was unbeatable at poker!

“That obvious, huh?” I asked. I pointed below the see-through floor. The was a noticeable current some distance away, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere instead just stopping and disappearing suddenly like on ancient invisible whale was sucking up all the water it could. “I just remember getting dragged down toward that point. Next thing I remember is waking up chained to some hospital bed somewhere that wasn’t a hospital, and surrounded by alien equine faces.” Luna’s face turned to an ‘oh’ of realisation.

“A… A Rift Door… Of course.” She spoke softly. I looked confused.

“A Rift Door? What’s that?” I asked.

“I’m not sure what your people would call it, or even if you would have ever discovered such things. But it is a kind of ‘tear’ in the fabric of reality. A bridge between one place and another.” I searched my brain for something from my world resembling that description.

“You mean like… a Wormhole?” Luna immediately looked confused.

“I don’t see what this conversation has to do with burrowing invertebrates.”

“No-no, no.” I quickly corrected. “I think that’s what we would‘ve called it. A wormhole. But they were only theoretical; we never actually detected one.” I looked upward at the wreckage of the ship, still being dragged down by the same portal. No wonder it couldn’t move!

“Well I guess that explains why the ship got torn apart. The whole thing was just a cosmic accident.” I sighed again. “Thank you, Luna. It actually feels good to tell someon-somepony about this.” She stepped forward and placed her head over me again in a hug and this time I gladly embraced her back.

“And yet, you work so hard on not letting ponies get close to you.” My heart stopped; I was afraid she’d bring that up.

“I’m better off alone.” I simply said.

“Oh, is that so? And how is that working out for you?”

“Fine. I’m fine.” I stubbornly said. But then I felt her hoof on my chin. She gently tilted up my head to gaze into her sapphire eyes.

“Isolation will only brig you despair, no matter how much you think otherwise.” She spoke firmly. I wasn’t so sure; as far as I was concerned, it was relationships that had brought be despair, pain and anguish, not isolation. Over the years, everyone I loved had either left, died, or was now far away they might as well be dead. I would never see another member of my species again. The last of my kind. I hadn’t thought about it too hard, but my instinct was that it simply was not worth the pain. I knew she knew this, and I knew she did not approve.

“I don’t know, Luna.” I defended.

“My subject, I know only too well the pain of isolation. You must not be afraid to open yourself up to ponies.” My eyes looked away. “Please, promise me you will at least try.” I looked back at her, my fear and uncertainty clear in my eyes. I wanted to say no; but a voice reminded me of just how old Luna was. She was so, so much more experienced than me, and I wasn’t arrogant enough to pretend otherwise. Maybe, just maybe, what she was saying was worth listening to.

“I… I will try.” I spoke hesitantly. I didn’t want to promise anything, but I could at least try. She seemed satisfied with that.

“Thank you, Human.” I looked around the bubble at the surrounding water and wreckage.

“So, what now?” I asked. She looked despondent, as if she was carrying a great burden. She grimaced slightly, as if in pain.

“You must wake. And I’m sorry, I truly am, but there is only one way to do that.” I didn’t like her tone; it sent a shiver of fear down my spine.

“And what’s that?”

Suddenly, her the light from her horn flickered and the bubble caved in from the top down, flooding the inside with a tidal wave of freezing water.

“LUNA, NO! I-” Was all I could manage before I was thrown underwater once more. I quickly orientated myself to see the blurry equine silhouette of Luna fading into the water, the light of her horn fading with her. I tried to call out but all that come out was a torrent of muffled bubbles. Suddenly, with dread, I realised just how deep I was. With a wave of adrenaline, I shot for the surface as fast as I could. So far. And, getting further away? As fast as I pumped my limbs, the light above me seemed to be fading. I was being pulled down. Further. Deeper. Colder. Below me, the hungry portal sucked at the water like an ancient black hole, its hunger never able to be sated. It wanted me. Precious oxygen raced from my body as fast as the hole in the now sunken ship. My lungs started to burn. My limbs started to grow weak. My chest spasmed, desperate for air. Still I swam. Still I was dragged down. The very depth of hell itself were calling me down. Like some pitiful rodent being carried off by a bird of prey, I was just along for the ride. The harder I struggled, the faster my air dissipated. Darkness began to creep in. My world grew smaller. The walls closed in. Weaker and weaker. My flailing limbs grew feeble and uncoordinated.

My eyes grew heavy. As they closed, the last of my air bubbled from my mouth, and the darkness claimed me.

Author's Note

Finally done :D Sorry for the delay but a LOT has been happening in my life lately, everything from health problems, to family issues, to starting my Twitch channel and to planning my trip to BronyCon2019! Next one should be out a lot quicker, though. I think I got all the errors but let me know if you find any more.

So in this chapter, we get some context as to why Anon is struggling and how he came to Equestria. Bonus points if you noticed where wormhole opened up! Hope you enjoy. Rate, comment and share if you feel like it deserves it! :)
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