Adventures in Equestria.

I eventually cried myself to sleep. This though didn’t grant me any peace. I knew soon Luna would return and this time with vengeance in mind. The breach still loomed guarded by the few skeletons that survived the last assault, however, beyond I couldn’t feel my raiding party. I could feel them alive but I couldn’t command them. Something wasn’t letting me connect.

Regardless, I set myself to continuing the defense of my mind. In the air, I crafted nets and webs of bombs denying the airspace to Luna. On the surface landmines and gun emplacements sat idle, with towering walls beyond with extra firepower. I set TRPs, (target reference points), along the front and fallback lines. I waited for what could have been minutes or hours, it was impossible to know in dreams.

Growing worried I reached out in my mind to my warriors from the night before. I could feel that they still lived as much as a skeleton could but I couldn’t move them. Something was baring me. So instead I summoned a new team of skeletons dubbing them Sioux Two. The team of 4 were armed with a combination of weapons, SAWs, snipers, a flame thrower, and each at their hips carried a sword or axe. Their mission was simple, recon the enemy. Guiding them to the breach they saluted me and pushed through the veil into the beyond. It was reminiscent of teams in StarGate moving through the Iris.

As they materialized on the other side I could see through their eyes an empty void like last time with doors and portals leading to other creatures’ minds. Standing sentinel above was Luna. She looked like a hawk waiting for the next meal. Sioux Two at the sight of this fanned out and took up positions readying for the assault. Luna turned her gaze on them but remained where she was. Not wanting to repeat the events of the day with Sol I simply had them wait. There we sat in gridlock, neither willing to engage the other.

Sitting in this was better than battle but it only felt like the prelude to the assault. Using one of my skeletons I pushed him forward. However as he arose from his prone position Luna bellowed, “Do not move trespasser, my patience is already thin with thee.”

Again english. Sweet beautiful english. I was scared of Luna yes but I could communicate with someone. Someone could finally hear me. Speaking through one of the skeletons I stated through tears of relief, “You can speak to me?’ Yes, I was crying. I couldn’t help it, the fact I could talk to someone was beautiful. Communication with another person even with my antagonizer was better than nothing.

“Yes you fool I can speak to thee, but remain silent if thou want to live”

My tears turned to laughter at this. I couldn’t help but laugh, I’m sure it sounded terrible from the skeletons. Raspy and undead but I was losing it. I finally had a method to talk to someone and all they wanted was silence. The sheer irony of the situation. My laughter only angered Luna though.

She spat at me, ”Silence before I strike thee down, I would have long before this if Celestia had not asked me not to.”

I had her talking and even if she was mad someone had told her not to fight me. This was spectacular. So I tried to continue the conversation by asking, “Who is Celestia?”

“My sister, the Co-Ruler of Equestria and the one thee bit”, Luna retorted the anger on her face only growing. With this, I did shut up. Why would Sol the one I had tried to kill during the day not want Luna to attack? I was so lost. I didn’t want to fight, don't get me wrong but I was lost. So I sat there, well my skeletons did inside my mind I paced back and forth. Thinking through all that I knew. I had occupied an old castle, I had saved Apple but that was viewed as more a kidnapping… ponynapping. Then Luna the dream demon had attacked me in Edoras. Since then I had been stuck in a cell, eventually, Luna broke into my mind. I fought her back, by attacking others' dreams. These raids provoked Sol I’m sure of it but why had my attack on her physical person, not provoke a further response. I was lost, where was the escalation of violence?

It was with this that I began to feel my original raiding party awaken. Damn, I need to name them too. If I have Sioux Two, I’ll call them Apache One. Yes, I will continue to call raiding parties and recon elements Native American tribes. They kicked our ass more than once and deserve credit where it is due. Beyond the point, I felt Apache One move. They were scattered through the dream realm though. If I moved them would that draw Luna’s attention? What would I do with them regardless? Why would I provoke an attack? I have a cease-fire for the moment. I’ll hold them there then. No sense in revealing them.

Now how to move negotiations forward. Luna is clearly a warmonger and Sol is clearly no pushover but has a cooler head to at least not outright annihilate me. I was clearly in no state to negotiate either, I had power only to terrorize people in their dreams. In the real world, I had nothing. So my only bargaining chip was to stop the terror attacks. Oh God, I’m turning into the IRA. I’m not even Catholic.

Who can I get to negotiate for me? Who do I know? Well, I know Apple but she was a filly, young, and clearly protected by the 6 original horses. Apple was my only contact though and she knows I’m not a bad guy. I saved her after all. I know I can find her here somewhere gazing around with the sockets of my minions at the doors. I shouldn’t call them minions, they are skeletons and I’m not an evil mastermind. How to find Apple though. Each door was marked with symbols, what do the symbols mean though.

I had to figure out this organizational system. I’ll figure out what is inside each one and compare it to its mark. Easy… Just time-consuming. Pulling out binocs from S2 (Sioux two), I gazed for the door that I knew held a member from A1 (Apache One). Finding the door with the optic I spied three butterflies. Alright, the door has three butterflies, so find the butterflies in the dream then, straight forward.

It is not straight forward. I will say it again, it is not straight forward. Try moving a looming 6-foot skeleton with SAW around quietly in an open field with a yellow pony and animals frolicking and drinking tea in peace. This poor chap only had his optic on the SAW too. He wasn’t meant to do recon. I made A1 to kill shit not be stealthy.

Taking a break from focusing on the member of A1 I concentrated on S2 watching Luna. Well, they should have been watching Luna but where was she? She wasn’t on her perch, clearly, she wasn’t attacking me either. I didn’t hear sirens and S2 was alive. Quickly I had S2 spread out and look for Luna. Where was she?

Down a corridor, there was a door open. Did she go into someone's dream? That must be it but why? Why go into someone's dream. It doesn’t matter really. This was a chance to spread out more soldiers in more dreams and move between dreams to figure this shit out.

As I spread out S2 I heard an alarm to go off. I panicked and ran S2 back to their position and assumed their prior stance. Luna flew out of the door just as the last S2 laid down. Gazing around she looked at S2 and approached. She drew so close I could feel the beating of the wings on the back of S2. Landing right on top of one of the skeletons and crushing it beneath her she stated, “Don’t try any tricks, I am the guardian of the night and this is my domain”.

Rising to the air once more she flew to her perch resuming her constant vigil. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t going to answer that I was and if I answered I wasn’t I’m sure she would think I was lying. Regardless, for the rest of the night, I continued to try and figure out what the system was. This time though I took more precautions and tried to be even more stealthy about the recon in these ponies dreams. I want to note as well, ponies’ dreams are weird. There is no violence really, no chaotic night terrors, just peace and quiet. It is actually a little terrifying that everything was peaceful. Sadly, I didn’t figure out anything though beyond the marks on the door. I was at a loss for more information.

As the hours ticked by I began to awaken back to my empty cell.