You glide through an ethereal sky over a vast sea of consciousness, for you are Luna, Princes of the night and walker of dreams. Doors float on the surface of the ever-moving gentle wakes. Many have been visited on occasions that you have sensed deep turmoil plaguing somepony. You intend to visit many more eventually, if only to check on the wellbeing of your beloved equestrians. Tonight, however, if the report from Princess Twilight strikes true, there will be a new and unfamiliar door somewhere, for something new has appeared in Ponyville.

You find one door distant from the others. All doors in the dreamscape are unique to the mind at which they represent, but this one seems particularly alien to you. In lieu of a simple knob, there is a metal bar going across the door at shoulder height, with “PUSH” in print above it. Two metal plates sit in slots mounted on the outside of the door. One plate read “STATUS: DEEP/REM SLEEP” while the other read “LUCID: FALSE.”

Upon entering through the doorway, you find yourself in a large square atrium. Yellow-white ceramic tiles are uniform across the floor. The texture of painted brick constitutes the vertical walls of the atrium, as well as the arched semi-circle corridors that branch from either side of the atrium. A large desk spans the length of the far side of the room. The far wall just beyond holds three sections. Either side seems to be a shadow puppet screen, with the middle section being a corkboard riddled with footnotes, lists, and diagrams. All is lit by large rectangular lights embedded in a vaulted ceiling and centered down the corridors. A bipedal being is behind the desk, storing files and scribbling on a clipboard, using apposable digits in lieu of magic or their mouth. It wears a white and sky blue striped collared button-down shirt. Brain shaped buttons held together red and royal blue sides of the shirt. It wears a head of hair, but is furless on the face, neck, ears, and arms. You approach the being, looking into it's eyes.

“Greetings stranger. Please forgive our intrusion upon thy mindscape, but we received word of confusion and an unfamiliar being in our land. We are Princess Luna, wielder of the moon and walker of dreams. Might I have Thy name?”

The being holds a hand towards the right corridor. Another iteration of the being, this one clad in operatic clothing halts, excitedly claiming.

“Hark! An Old English speaker!”

“It’s early modern English and you’ve forgotten most of the vocabulary due to nonuse. You’ll just embarrass us.” The desk being interrupted.

“Yeah, that’s fair.” A third being materializes and pats the second being on the back, guiding it back to wherever it came from. Alone once more, the first being addressed you.

“Please forgive the outburst. Human minds require a fair bit of managing. My name is unavailable at the moment, regrettably, but I welcome you to my Asylum.

“Asylum? Dost thou protest to be insane? And what is this news of thy name?”

“It is merely a way that I sometimes picture the organization here. All memories and emotions are iterations or parts of me that get sorted from here in triage. None are permanently locked away, such would be unhealthy, but there are over twenty years of me collected in here, and no life is purely sunshine and rainbows. As for my name, I seem to be cursed. No vocalizations leave my mouth no matter how I try. I tried to wright it out in dirt, but the writing burst into flames before I could finish. Also, in the waking world, every word that I try to speak comes out backwards unless I try to speak the word backwards, which you can imagine takes some effort. I had to expand the urgent matters wing just for arriving in this world today.” In the corner of your eye, you notice abstract shapes fade in and out of the right shadow screen.

“Ye claim to be from another world? How has this come to be?”

“I’m not sure myself. One moment, I’m chopping wood in rocky hill country, and the next I’m between a wood and a field. And Then suddenly a pink pony comes up to me, nearly shoots me with my own gun, and sets my axe on fire! I apologize for my outburst. Today’s happenings have been quite unusual.”

The shapes appear and disappear on the right screen at a more rapid pace in the right screen now. The human takes a moment to breathe, and the shapes fade away entirely. The air gets colder. Almost... uncomfortably so.

“Though she is certainly energetic in her mirth, Pinky Pie is not usually such an aggressive pony. We shall see to it that the details of thy interaction are properly addressed in the waking world. Canst thou show me thy world? It’s sun, moon, and stars?”

The right screen still in your periphery, you see a serene faced moon circling a planet, and both circling a proud faced sun. The human gestures to the left screen. Before you is a diagram with more detail than you expected. Multiple planets with vector and trajectory markings for elliptical orbits circling a sun. Four small planets orbit the closest with the third having a single moon orbiting it and the only one with a human silhouette above it. They are separated by a debris field from the outer bodies. Your magic scrying the word “asteroid belt” from the depths of this mind. The five outer bodies, most with multiple moons, some with rings, a massive gas giant, a tiny body with an ellipse incongruent to the others, and even a planet with its’ poles perpendicular to the others. Most shocking were the stars. By the heavens, Orion and Pisces were much closer together, with Cetus of all constellations directly between them. They were all misshapen and deformed. Your magic still probed for more information. These stars drift on their own, without the aid of any magic whatsoever. No indication of magic maintaining this human world terrestrial or otherwise. The concept of a world belonging to a sole species of creature strikes it as peculiar. Humans are the only ones with proper speech or civilization. What feral world can thrive in such chaos?

“Exactly how alien is this to you?”

An iteration materializes before you. The human must have noticed your perturbation. You walk to the center of the room, and by the glow of your horn, you conjure an image of Equus, your beautiful moon, and your sister’s radiant sun circling the lone planet in tandem, and your stars in a sphere as large as the room allowed. Another iteration materialized, taking in the imagery.

“Geocentric, and in such immaculate detail…” the Human cooed in awe. The desk human now approaching the two new ones and writing vigorously on their clipboard. when it reached the other two, it handed the written notes to a third one, patting it into their hands, then they walk down the left corridor.

“What of the sentient beings of this world? The loud-fast-pink one did not have wings or a horn like you do. Can you please show me the domains of this world?”

Your horn glows once more. Figurines of you and your sister guide the sun and moon. Equestria’s borders appear on the continent. Figurines of the four alicorn princesses sitting on thrones with a figurine of a Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Pony before them. Further completing the globe, a Yack appears in the snowy regions of the north, a Dragon in the south, a Buffalo in the west, a griffon on an isthmus on the eastern coast, and Horses and Zebras in their respective countries across the eastern sea.

“Am I really in a fantasy world?”

“Am I insane?”

Two more materialize, speaking simultaneously in a panicked fashion. Both screens pulsing rapidly with shapes. The desk human places a hand on their shoulders.

“Urgent matters wing, the both of you. Chain yourselves to a desk and examine everything. If you’re unsure of anything, call up epistemology from the logic wing. We will figure this out together and seek help accordingly. Now breathe.” The three of them took a deep breath and relaxed. The screens went dormant once more. There is that coldness once more. Each of the two splits into two more and one from each pair went down either corridor.

“One more thing troubles me. Something from today…” The desk human mutters to themselves as they retrieve a manila folder from where you saw them place it earlier. Flipping through papers and glancing back at the globe and figurines.

“The ponies that are aiding me do not match any of these figures. This will be difficult to picture without the server farm and VR room. Uh, let’s see… Two were a little less than Pinkie Pie sized, and there was one about…” The human glances at you. “a head shorter than you.” Three slim ponyquins slowly appear before you. Their forms taking more defined shape and color as the details are slowly listed out.

“They all had black chitinous skin… with transparent wings… Green eyes… and horns with holes in them.”

You hold your tongue if only for a moment, if only to confirm the threat is truly in Ponyville.

“Thou art in the presence of changelings? YE WILL REVEAL THY LOCATION IMMEDIATELY!” You take charge with your royal Canterlot voice. You have not yet determined this human to be a threat, but you must make haste to prevent another siege the likes of which that Canterlot had suffered. You will protect your ponies. The human’s face is now contorted. Clearly taken a back by your sudden outburst.

“SPEAK, HUMAN”

“What is this? Racism? Are furred ponies your True Aryan race? Even if I remembered the path I took, what would you do? Hold me here and send your secret police in the shade of night to make them disappear in their sleep? God blessed, now you’ve riled up the Angst and Torment wings! This will certainly be fun.”

Both screens are now flashing rapidly. No shapes, just all black and all white. No, wait, black and red. Heavy sensations of pain and sorrow start to fill you the more that you look at them. You look away, only to see more screens on every wall. These flashing with image after image in red and black, memories and emotions are running so wildly that your innate magic is filling you with comprehension. Starvation. Sickness. Fear. Anger. Addiction. Escapism. Greed. Incredulity. Perversion. Unrelenting agony. For every concept that forms, a wave of hundreds of images fill you. Beggars that you frequently pass going progressively emaciated on the streets. Friends and loved ones falling ill to incurable deteriorations. Children whos’ lives are forever led by malice and wickedness since birth. A myriad of beliefs and desperations leading to hatred deep enough to cause millions to molest each other in warfare and even violence within home communities and family units. Tools developed to keep people alive, and tools designed to kill them faster, slower, and with increasing depravity. Slave camps. Ghettos. A world on fire. A world bathed in blood. A world where the ones in power and profiteers thrive on the whipped backs and trampled bodies of people who can barely obtain food for their children if at all.

The human stands in the center of the room, taking deep breaths. His hands flat and facing palms down slowly inching down with every exhale. Iron bars slide down on the entrances to both corridors, industrial fans are mounted on the upper half. You understand these things with large motors and wide blades to be powerful and loud, but as they blow chilling air at forceful speeds down the corridors, they emit nothing but silence. The lights start to dim now, and you finally realize what troubles you. The coldness. The darkness. The deafening silence. The maddening years you spent stranded on the moon, unable to even scream or beg for help for a thousand years. You run for the door, your scream unheard and unending.

* * * * *

Princess Luna becomes aware that she is still screaming. Her sister, Princess Celestia now has her in her hooves. She seems to have been calling out to the princess of the night in her terrified slumber.

“Sister! Sister! Luna!”

Now aware that she has escaped the dreamscape, Luna manages to cease her screaming. The two sisters embrace each other, Celestia running a hoof through Luna’s mane and wiping her tears. Solar and lunar guards circle the bed where none were as she started her venture into the dreamscape. Solar unicorns have light spells conjured. Lunar unicorns are maintaining a large joined shield. Earth ponies and Pegasi are in defensive positions with spear and talloned horseshoes ready. With a sense of safety returned, the alarm of the situation returned to Luna. The princesses now held each other in their hooves

“Sister, a being from a chaotic world has arrived in Equestria! We must go to Ponyville before he unleashes ruin and death that this world has never seen!”

“Describe to me this foe, sister. What danger does he pose?”

“Bipedal, mostly hairless ape that wears clothing. Molestation of violence, hate, and war are commonplace. They have a word: Megadeath. It means one-million-deaths, Celestia, and he is with the changelings. His first day in Equus, and he is already met and aligned directly with Queen Chrysalis.”

“Rose Quill, prepare a letter for princess twilight, alerting her to ready her castle for three companies of solar and three companies of lunar guards, then wright to princess cadence to remain on standby. Confirm sighting of Queen Chrysalis in Ponyville. Claxon, have squads one, three, and five of each guard ready to move at our command.” A unicorn sat down beside the bed, levitating scrolls, and an ink quill from her saddlebag, and immediately began writing. Two unicorns drop their anti-teleport spell. One teleports away, and the other resumes their duty.

“Gather yourself sister. When you are ready, we will go to Ponyville and handle this danger together.” In her sister’s arms, Luna focuses on gaining the ability to stand. Unspeaking, and unflinching, the remaining guards maintained their protective stance for as long as they were required.

Author's Note

No one ever just stops to ask about peculiar behavior.