Author's Note

That took longer than expected. Shout outs to Shadowwolf

Pining Eternal.

Chapter 5.
Pining Eternal.

In sacred and ancient places like this it was so easy to feel small and inconsequential to the world. The stone surrounding and the paintings upon the wall glared down on the weak and the young, reminding them of their insignificance. One's tiny life, a thing that was their all and their very being, was just the blink of an eye to ancient walls and vaulted ceilings. Equestria was full of these stalwart and olden worlds hidden from gaze, turning halls and twisting caverns lit by ancient gems unwelcoming to all but the immortal and the highly educated.

Being both and striding through the castle she had spent much of her long life building, Celestia was less than intimidated by it all. She saw the impenetrable walls, imposing architecture and secretive passageways the same way she had since the day they were erected. Like a child grown into an adult, there was no way this place could hide its charm and secrets from her. Even wards within the castle that were purposely built to be intimidating did nothing to halt her cool and casual step.

Mumblings from the castle staff had made their way to her, concerns over some pony entering the forbidden archives and making strange noises throughout the day. Two guards blocked the entrance to the place, the rest guarded by powerful wards crafted in redundant layers to stop any unwelcome intruder. But still, ponies chattered amongst themselves and worked up quite an air of concern. It was her duty then to see to it and assure them that it was nothing to fear. For if the wards weren't broken, the guards not slain and the occurrence repeating every night, it could only mean one thing.

Pushing her way through the final layer of protective magic, Celestia passed through both an ethereal and physical doorway into the chamber itself. She breathed a sigh of relief as the tendrils of magicka let go of her soul, allowing her to relax and act in flesh and blood. There certainly was someone in here hidden among the piles of artifacts and tomes. Stacks and shelves high as the ceiling made for a maze of a place, the orderly chaos so rarely seen and explored that the massive alicorn found it difficult to navigate. She didn't want for light, the gems above beaming soft white energy all around to assure no intruder could hide themselves in shadow. Mumbling music danced between the stacks and reverberated off the stone in loud echoes hitting the ear crisp as words spoken mere inches from it.

Human music. A distinctly alien thing Celestia had almost entirely forgotten. Her suspicions were all but confirmed then, leading her to the newest entrance into this sacred library.

"Well, well. You're up early, Sister." She chirped softly so as not to surprise her sitting and concentrating sister. Luna's ears perked up from her intense research, listening in whilst the majority of her mind remained focused on her "work." She was hunched over a motley desk brought in from one of the castle's abundant rooms, its smooth mahagony surface covered with almost every article from your arrival so many years ago. Everything that had been put here remained in remarkable condition, as the chamber was sealed, climate controlled and consistently monitored at all hours of the day. Your few records played just as cleanly as they did when they arrived from the factory. Your phone glistened with perfect cleanliness just as it had when the scribes had wiped it clean of prints. And your textbooks hadn't aged a minute since you last saw them, their pages still flat and neat and snow-white.

Luna examined them all quite deeply, her eyes hovering mere inches above the page of another book she had pilfered from your store of forbidden knowledge.

"Hm." Was all she said to her intruding sister, refusing to be distracted from what fascinated her so. Celestia leaned in closer to get a better look at her material, her pretty pink eyes brightening at the sight of engineering text and spinning vinyl.

"Oh, how lovely! You've finally decided to give it all a read!" She said with glee, nuzzling her sister's cheek just to irritate her. Luna batted at the alabaster pest with a wing, her stern concentration sharpened by the unusual noise pouring out of her portable record player and the strange material she read.

"We imagined it was high time that we gave it all a chance. Let us be so that we may study in peace." Luna chided with an amusing seriousness. Just like her old self, disappearing into material with an obsessive compulsion that would bury her completely. Celestia thought it nothing short of adorable to see the ancient Luna shine through in her sister again, thus she could not help but exploit the fun she was given.

"I seem to recall you being the one who banned it all, though?" The Princess said with a creeping and playful tone, earning her yet another dark scowl.

"I remember it gave you quite a spook when you first saw it!" Thoroughly pulled from her work and forced to face the reality of the situation, Luna sighed and snapped the heavy tome shut. The airy clap of pages coming together let her eyes wander back to her stores of caffeine rich coffee and piles upon piles of notes hogging the corner of her workspace.

“A mistake I shant make again, rest assured.” She grumbled, sipping her sweet and girly latte with a heavy set of eyes on her back. Celestia came close enough to leech warmth into her sister, a wry and knowing grin cracking her marble-colored muzzle.

“That might explain the pregnancy campaign some… yes. Yes I think it does!” Luna fought to keep her drink down in that moment, a bursting indignance fighting from within her throat. She swallowed hard and slapped a hoof onto the desk, nearly shattering it with her divine strength.

“SISTER. IF YOU PLEASE?” She hollered with an obvious insecurity poisoning her voice.

Celestia, finding her weak point, exploited it as any politician of her seniority would.

"And here I stand, thinking you had forsaken all stallion-kind! Luna, I am simply overjoyed to hear of your newest interest!" Celestia embraced her agitated and grumbling sister in a hug of feathers and playful teasing, watching as the dauntless researcher levitated photos of your home world into view. Any and all images that were on your phone had been painstakingly photographed and catalogued, those revealing things beyond pony comprehension sealed away here. That was the fate that awaited many of your things, as their contents were simply far too shocking or dangerous for Equestria have.

Despite the abundance of horrible magic, dark corruption and ancient evils, the Princesses still felt the need to restrict certain parts of your human lineage from the wider public. Things like folk music records, pictures of architecture and engineering techniques lifted from your college text books passed through the scribes and aided Equestria with vast stores of new and novel knowledge. The music industry exploded overnight when your records were released, the royalty deals alone seeing you through tougher times in your younger days.

But stories of war, death machines, and twisted acts of violence were sealed away. Luna herself, when first combing over your items, could not contain her shock at the sheer intensity of what she saw. Tanks, planes, battlefields strewn with the bloated dead for miles in every direction. Your graphic book of history's greatest wars earned you quite an unfitting reputation in the eyes of the royalty, at least for a time.

Magazine-fed twenty-millimeter autocannons. Steel cased aerial incendiary bombs. Armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot tank shells. Handheld rocket propelled grenades. These implements of destruction, of beautiful machining and intricate mechanisms were described, depicted and demonstrated in some of your books. The pictures of burned out vehicles, fellow humans torn to shreds and efficient factories filled Luna with the deepest fear she had seen in centuries. If ponies were to harness just a fraction of human potential for industrial death from your material, Nightmare Moon and Umbra would seem like holy saviors in comparison to the Armageddon that would fall upon her land.

That being said, it had been almost a decade since she had gone through it all. Dismissing it rather early into her research, the Princess had missed details and explanations and histories. All she could see and remember was the violence. The effort and concentration put into making others suffer. It sickened her just to imagine a tiniest bit of that guile in you, as your engineering interests could've built bombs and bullets just as easily as a bridge. Reading in-depth the forbidden texts however, with a backdrop of ear-splitting death metal, she tried her very best to gain some manner of perspective. There was depth to your world, to your heritage. She might've tried to bury it before, tried to cover achievements with the muddy sins of humanity. But curiosity overwhelmed all and brought her here.

"You put sentiments on me that do not belong." Luna mumbled to herself, fighting the temptation to turn and look her irritating sister in the eye. She grit her teeth and fought that creeping feel in the back of her neck, the candy-colored glower of her sibling sharp as needles and hot as fire.

"Luuuuuna... c'mon." The Solar Princess squealed in an uncharacteristically giddy manner, forsaking her normally metered and political voice.

"Tell me, tell me. Have you-"

"Sister."

"-fallen for... Anoymous?" Bouncing eyebrows drew targeted fire from Luna's seething gaze, though the flashes of embarrassment dulled the heat of her expression. Celestia stood smugly and with ears perked, just about restraining herself from biting her lip and giggling in victory. Luna wanted to spit something just as biting right back at her, she wanted to burn the hottest alicorn in retribution for not only disturbing her work and accusing her of such ridiculous things. Breathing deep and recollecting herself, the Night Princess calmed the racing thoughts rushing through her.

"We might have... developed a passing interest in him." The monarch whispered to no one in particular, never taking her seafoam eyes from her equal.

"This is quite an unexpected move for you, Luna. But not an unwelcomed one!" Celestia seized her sister in a hug, squeezing their chests together with a warm hum echoing in her chest.

"'tis only a fleeting interest brought on by that humiliating show at his ceremony!" The blueberry princess corrected, her voice straining with haste.

"Dear Luna. You know I will always support your romantic endeavors. Even if I don't understand, you know I would never judge you!" Celestia said with a tone mixed between mockery and genuine concern. Pulling away from the alabaster Princess and sipping her coffee with a pout, Luna knew these words to be entirely true. In all her long life, through every one of her marriages, Celestia had never breathed a word of unwarranted judgement. Never ever had they been cruel to one another of their choices, for neither would ever desire the same done unto themselves. Getting proverbially caught, however, was still quite upsetting on some level.

"It is hardly a romantic interest." She retorted weakly, as if her lips themselves didn't even believe it.

"His ideal has clouded our mind since that rude little display of his. We cannot possibly piece together what would drive a stallion to do such a thing." Celestia cocked her head in curiosity, never letting her genuine grin fall.

"His 'ideal?'" The Princess repeated, prompting Luna to dig through her material once again and turn her music down.

"We hath scoured his belongings for a clue revealing the purpose of his devotion. His heirlooms and portraits and memories, We held some hope that perhaps his history would hold the key." Celestia only then faltered in her giddiness, the smile gracing her muzzle twisting with some hints of confusion.

"How do you mean, Luna? Is love for his wife not explanation enough?" Her darker sister rolled her eyes, peering deep into photos of you in casual wear, your family and places you had been.

"Pfft. Hardly. The love of a stallion's heart would never permit him to debase himself in such a way. Something so feeble and malnourished would surely have died in him long ago." Pursing her lips and watching her sibling fidget, Celestia mulled over carefully what to say next.

"Luna... you know that not every stallion is like that? Yes?" Luna stiffened for a moment, staring off into space before robotically returning to her search.

"We know that not. Evidence stands in stark contrast." Celestia deflated at such a firm and cold statement, her hopes for a happy and involved Luna dashing against the sharp rocks of reality. Why she had to dislike stallions and think them so cruel for so long was a mystery to the mare. After all her long life, after all the husbands they had taken, Luna still believed the lot of them to be mindless and shallow bastards unworthy of her attention. She had sworn long ago- even before Nightmare Moon ever made herself known- that she would never love another stallion. Only rule them.

"But you think Anon is different in some way?" Lingering over a photo taken by your family of you and some manner of dog at a riverside, Luna huffed before she said her response.

"With so few opportunities to converse with him, We must extrapolate from his actions. His efforts confuse Us. His drive befuddles Us. He is a herding stallion, but for so long resisted the urge to take another mare. He is tall and strong and brutish. But does not hunt mares like the weakest of our kind. He could take what he wants whenever. But he doth not." She held the notion in her mind, lips trembling and her hoof dumbly pawing at her drink whilst she stared at your collection of photos.

"In the past he coveted things and achievements. One may see his admiration of machines and metals, yet so few portraits of family or ancestors. An eager and ambitious colt. He cast aside what he knew to strike his own fortune. Then, he was a stallion in the truest sense of the word." As she spoke, Luna became faster and faster and faster, much to Celestia's concern. By the time she had gone through pictures of simple machines, engines and tools, she came to a stop at a picture of a woman, one dressed fashionably and sporting gorgeous red hair.

"He saves images of what is important to him. We see things he has done. Things he wants to do. Things he holds in high regard. Human mares as well, though not near as many as We should have suspected. A typical stallion by any measure. So now We must ponder what point in time turned his soul about? What focused him to a higher purpose of unquestioned dedication to a family?" Celestia stepped closer as Luna grunted in frustration, her magic grabbing another record from the stack and examining its cover closely.

"His music is so angry. Horrible voices growling and screaming and gurgling. We cannot imagine what species of beast would desire this sound, yet We cannot stop listening. It transports Us, Sister. It takes Us to realms We've felt before, yet had no words for."

"I prefer his... calmer music, personally." Celestia added, the paintings of shredded bodies, twisted monsters and gothic settings denoting exactly what kind of music they tried to keep away from the populace. Luna had assumed most of it to be magical chanting and incantations before, given the rather disturbing and harsh tone of the sound.

"But I fail to see what exactly has you so confused, Luna. Anon has been here for so long, you don't think he would've matured into who he is?"

"Positively not." Luna huffed, placing a new disc on her turn-table and shaking her head.

"Stallions only grow more ambitions as they age. Anonymous ought to be expanding his herd, making business dealings and acting like an insufferable duke... yet he doth not." Staring again, she lost herself in the gentle crackle of the rotating vinyl coming to life.

"We... in some sense we admire this. Anonymous has transformed himself from a wild little colt into an upstanding citizen with restraint and pride."

"I always believed his wife to be the key, dear Sister."

"Mares embolden stallions. We know as well as thee that a herd grows the ego." Sighing and rolling her eyes, Celestia had to admit defeat then and there. She knew her sister wouldn't budge on the issue with such a hard head and set expectations. She could never see males beyond their stereotypical faults, the foggy sins of those before clouding her judgement and subjecting her to this game of looking for the obvious.

"Do you expect to find something?" Celestia asked as one last grab at a floating and misty goal.

"We hope to ascertain his motivation. Perhaps before his time here, he tasted true love and strives to rekindle it. It could be his loss of his belongings and family cultivated something like honor in him... We will see." Luna turned back to her work and hunched like a mad woman to bring her eyes close as they could to the messy nest of papers. Letting her sister simply sigh and step away.

"Luna, perhaps it's best to ask him personally on such things. Anonymous would surely never be so callous as to turn down your company." Luna grunted once again, sucking at her coffee cup for the last drops of energy within.

"We are trying."

~~Later on...~~

Another day in the plant. Another dollar in the bank. Another knot in your spine. You grunted and leaned forward on your bucket, sitting within the belly of a rumbling and filthy machine. A headlamp illuminated the off-kilter and jammed rollers of the unit, every bit of rubber and padding burnt off and ripped to pieces. It was a nightmarish jam, one that would take hours to clear and a forklift to disassemble. You knew this just from looking at it- just from the smoky smell alone.

"It's fucked?" You protégé asked, her cigarette inexplicably lit in the machine and illuminating her young face with a dull orange glow.

"Fucked." You replied, poking an oil can with a screw driver in defeat. Dinky rolled off her bucket-seat and popped open the nearby hatch, letting light stream in and bathe you both in the stinging glow of fluorescent lamps. Supervisor Umbra stood waiting for you, staring with expectant and sharp eyes beneath her white hardhat. Instantly, you were infuriated to see the mare and her stupid clipboard.

"Hey! I'm trying my best!" You barked instantly at her judgmental glower, the unmoving and cold expression on her snout burning deep into your heart. It was such a chore to please her, for she always demanded more and more from you. Any opportunity to ask the impossible, Supervisor Umbra would take just to aggravate you. And now here she was again, clean as a whistle and standing above your grease-soaked form like a god preparing to smite a lesser being.

"The fuck do you want from me?! It's impossible! It's fucking impossible!" You snapped again, frustrated throwing your tool at the machine to teach it a lesson. Refusing to budge still, your screwdriver simply bounced off and made a racket within the enclosed space. Staring down at you in that unfeeling, uncaring and far-off manner she always did, Supervisor Umbra merely sneered at your display. Marking something on her clipboard, it was clear to you then and there that yelling was no way to success. If it were up to her, you'd be down here for the rest of the shift until you fixed every last little piece of rusted metal and worn plastic in this thing. Glaring through her crimson eyes, she was joined on the side by CEO Derpy, the owner of this company and by extent, portions of your ass. They both judged you from above, clean and untouchable titans of industry that held total control over your tiny life. Twitching in your upper lip and sighing through the fetid, musty air tainted with oil and grease and dust, you had to relent. For the sake of your own sanity and the overwhelming pressure on your spine, you broke under them and addressed the issue you could never fix on your own.

Going through the motions was nothing short of mechanical and stiff, panels popping off and bolts coming loose to reveal the insides of the machine you had fixed so many times. The insides were dark and soaking wet with green sludge, a constricting stomach of sheet steel and sound-dampening foam hopelessly sullied by years of constant use. You knew it well, well enough to judge that it was far beyond your capacity. But deep down, you knew that your opinion wasn't going to be considered. Checking the oil pool at the bottom of the transmission, something rather unusual caught your eye. Shining your headlamp inside and scanning over the sickly surface of unmoving additives and rust-inhibitors, it almost looked as if something was alive in there. A duo of little lumps paddling here and there in lazy and unfocused motions, the massive gears just inches away from them unconcerned and ignored. Squinting in confusion, you leaned in closer to try and spy just what on Earth such a strange pair of shapes could be. Broken components? Ruptured bladders? You wracked your brain to figure it out.

That is until one reared up and hissed at you. An extraordinarily horse-like face on a spider's body, fangs and all shoved into a screechy maw with ruby eyes to meet yours. It made you jump, for the constricting space amplified the noise until the tiny voice nearly split your eardrums.

"GHK! What in the hell?!" You gasped, scooting back when the dripping and twitching arhtopods crawled out of their secluded hide. Brown and white with a healthy layer of green machine oil slathered across their hairy carapices, you didn't need to look at them long to know that the tangerine-sized bugs weren't friendly. They noisely scuddled right toward you, hissing and yelping as they latched on and sank tiny claws into your flesh.

"WHUAGH! GUH- AUGH! Damn it!" Immediately, panic set in. Falling to the hard concrete below and rolling about to try and crush your attackers, all three mares above simply stared in stupid stillness. Your maintenaince apprentice Dinky did nothing, her cigarette burning away bit by bit as you were torn apart by these strange monsters.

"Fucker! Get off me! HEY- AUGH! UNG!" Kicking and knocking around bruised joints and knocked your skull against rusted bolts, each move failing to dislodge the fast-moving and snarling little demons. They scuttled under your jumper, cut through your hair and sank their dagger fangs wherever they would fit. Stabbing pain rocketed throughout your body, each crawling creature mercilessly shredding you apart whilst your only help stared in silence.

"RRRGH! Get- OFF! Shit- PIECE OF SHIT!!!" You hollered, fighting one that had grabbed hold of your face and ravenously ripped at your lips. Just when you thought it was through, the exact moment you knew one would hit something vital and take you out, a gush of oil from the machine blasted the three of you into the wall. A rush of steaming hot and viscous fluid submerged you in a realm of darkness and infinite space, all weight and pain and sensation suddenly evaporating with your eight-legged attackers. Trying to catch a breath of relief, you quickly found that you couldn't. At first you assumed that the reflex failed due to a lack of air, but it quickly became apparent that you were now without lungs. White speckles in your vision sharpened and twinkled until they were stars, their far away illumination shining against a dissolving body. Your clothes, skin, flesh and bone melted away and spiraled into the void you were now one with.

No sensation, no perception, no idea of who or what you were. Seperated from yourself, pulled from existance and guided to this place, you beheld the truest and most basic form of experience. Were you falling, flying, drifting, swimming? There was no way to tell. In this place, this world beyond worlds, you were suddenly nothing and everything all at once. Just a consciousness alone searching for matter to inhabit. An unbelievable calm washed over you, rinsing away the intense terror and anger of before. This must've been what dying felt like, you disregarded the vague memory your body and let the universe take its place.

For a time- somewhere between a few seconds and millenia- you floated aimlessly through the vacuum and waited. Nothingess began to collapse around you, blobs of color and shape and texture growing into walls, a floor and a ceiling. Light from the stars concentrated above you, shining down on a rapidly growing physical form that your simple mind could handle and process. The feel of being, of living and breathing, soon came back to you with a familiar smack. You reformed in a strange and dark room, decorated pads of light above and below where you stood with a small mote around you. The moment your feet touched the ground, you were whole again. Alive and confused and blinking the gunge out of your eyes.

You sucked breath into your new lungs, filling the emptiness inside with the musty and cool scent of a cave long buried. Dampness settled on your shoulders, drawing your attention down toward your new and confusing wardrobe.

Green pants, big boots an a white vest. To your eyes it was kitchy and silly looking, but you didn't dare strip in a place unfamiliar as this.

"What the..." You started with a step forward, a small jump putting you over the moat and down the path forward. A light in the ceiling beamed with a heavenly aura, its slight hum of energy drawing you close. Stepping out of the darkness and into its embrace, you were drawn off the ground and tossed upwards into the blistering heat of a tropical sun. Just barely landing on your feet and catching your weight, the world spun around in a confusing vortex for several moments whilst your senses adjusted to the unusual eviorment.

"Oh, Anonymous! Finally, I have you." A sweet and feminine voice called to you, one you didn't often hear. Blinking and wiping the strain from your face, the green and bright world around you crystalized into something shockingly familiar. A babbling brook, lush grash, white boulders and ancient structures of stone. The sun beamed bright in a cloudless sky above, soaking everything in a sharp and wet heat. Dinosaurs lay about around you, some wandering here and there as if they had nothing better to do than stand and stare off into space. Every creature was some form of large reptile, say for the blue and black mare standing perky and proper before you.

"Art thou alright? Are all thine faculties in working order?" Luna stepped forward and prepared her wings to catch your drifting and swooning form the moment you threatened to fall. Holding your head to help medicate your pounding mind, you sucked down humid breaths of this strange and familiar air.

"Where- wha... who am I?" You gasped, the alicorn smirking to herself and patting your head with a wing.

"Calm your mind, Anonymous. You are safe here. 'Tis only a memory." The Princess' words were oddly soothing and warm in your ears, bringing sense back to your thoughts quick enough for you to rationalize what you were seeing.

"What is this place?" You gasped, stepping past her to examine your unusual and exotic surroundings closer.

"Somewhere comfortable. For ye, at least." She answered by your side, standing unusually close. You hadn't been this near Princess Luna in years, a note you mentally took and stuffed into the back of your thoughts.

"Does it please thine eyes? We have found it quite beautiful ourselves." Luna chirped as you approached a plant clutching a glimmering crystal between a trio of leaves. It was all so unusual and strange, but clear in your mind and reasonable in some backwards manner.

"Oooooh crap my head... This is so weird, man." You blubbered beneath the burning sunlight, covering your eyes and dumbly walking about the place. It was so unreal to feel the padding of grass below your feet, the weight of a sweat breaking out beneath your clothing and the piercing eyes of the Princess on your back. This realm wasn't real, but was so close that it might as well have been. You couldn't discern this sensation from your waking world, nothing here gave any indication that it couldn't be entirely real and reasonable to your waking mind.

"Cautious, Anonymous. We require thine focus." Luna approached and draped a wing about your shoulder, bringing herself oddly close and holding your body (Whatever that meant here) steady as she could.

"Focus your thoughts. Be calm. Why don't ye regail us about this place you feel so safe within?" Her words soothed your racing mind and applied a healing salve to your thoughts, letting you drift back down to a more sensible state. Your hands drifted down from your face and rested on the indigo plummage of her wings, the rustling feathers and silky fur twitching somewhat at the contact. Focusing your blurry vision onto the scenery, your mind ran it through the chunky and inefficient process of a sleeping man's thoughts. It cranked and crackled like Derpy's would under intense thought, things and feelings and faces flowing slowly back to your conscious mind.

"I... yeah. I remember this." You huffed unsurely, touching the ancient walls of stacked stone caked with moss. It was warm and wet under your fingers, the tropical sun heating the dampness created by a long and cool night.

"Was it real, Anonymous? Is this what portions of thine world were like?" Luna asked inches away from your ear, her ethereal form so close you could feel the energy it gave off.

"No... I mean... yes? There were some places like this. But this isn't real." You shuttered at the ultra-realistic bugs skittering over your fingers, straining eyes slowly wandering back to the landscape and drinking in the beautiful green of it all. A dinosaur sauntered by you both, its beige hide begging to be touched and examined.

"A dream need only be real as you remember it, Dear Human." Luna corrected as your fingers dragged over the rough scales and patches of vulnerable flesh on this living creature.

"This... this is fictional, I mean. I remember it like it was real, but it was just a story." You huffed, trying to put it into words she would understand. Ponies had no concept of human media, let alone something as complex and far-off as this.

"I used to come here when I was young. It was a game I liked to play." She could see your jaw gnashing with some difficulty to get the words out, a pained expression crossing over her plush and fuzzy cheeks.

"Did you come in troubled times? Havth We picked a painful time?" You shook your head, though neither of those questions had answers you could remember.

"No, no. It's just... weird to actually be here." Some semblence of sense began to percolate through your skull and leech into your mind, letting you move more freely and think more clearly. Luna followed your side as you walked stiffly and with little purpose toward a shadowed cavern in the mountainside.

"How did you even know about this place? I don't think I ever told you."

"It rested at the back of your mind. The moment We found purchase in thine thoughts, it called out to be remembered." Shaking your head and progressing through familiar caverns you had long banished from memory, you were surprised to find yourself moving naturally. Though this realm was yours and entirely under your control, the skills with which to manipulate it still drifted beyond your grasp. It conformed to you and your desires, letting your little walk end wherever you so pleased. Subconsciously or otherwise.

"Where art thou going, Dear Anonymous? Is something calling for ye?" Luna questioned, her wings flaring and her horn glowing in readiness.

"I don't know. I'm just trying to get my bearings, I guess." You grumbled, trees and ferns building in the tunnel before it opened into another constricting set of ruins long neglected. The cool colored stone soothed your burning eyes, gentle colors and mossy softness easing you into a relaxed and somewhat steady state of mind.

"Jeez... this is so trippy." You gasped, turning to face your royal guest.

"Why'd you bring me here? I didn't know you could even get in here... whatever 'here' means right now."

"T'was not an easy process. A difficult quarry you are, Dear Human." She answered, a content and warm smile beginning to grow across her muzzle.

"We have been attempting to breech the divide between thine waking and sleeping mind for some time, now. But you are so tightly closed to Us." She sighed and let her magic flash for a moment, a way opening quickly nearby to reveal a lush, warm and sandy beech. Oozing music guided you closer, hooks pulling invisibly at your body and forcing you to submit.

"Is that why I haven't been able to sleep?"

"Most likely. We apologize for the disruptive nature of our arrival. But we had no other option than to forcibly eject thee from your dream." Trotting along the ultra-relaxing and soft bedding of the sea meeting the land, you and Luna both fell in the shade of a palm tree. Carved temples of the God's faces watched from nearby, hanging high as if even the crude rock loomed in the heavens and protected you. Wooden tressels and rough structures swayed in the crystal blue waters, the inviting ocean lapping at the shore in an eternal rythm.

"Fascinating as it t'was to observe, your nightmares lock thee into quite an unreceptive state. We had to force ye out and suspend your mind in a place We could retrieve it from." You stared off into the inifite plane of water stretching out from the land, lost in her words and trying to push it all through. Then again, you had a sneaking suspiscion that even if you knew what exactly the Princess was talking about, it was simply too advanced for you to properly comprehend.

"'Fascinating,' huh?" You interjected, slowly and carefully beginning to bask in the imaginary sun on the imaginary beach. Concealing a blush behind her mane, the Mistress of Dreams held a bashful and uncharactaristically girly smile away from you.

"Yey... it is hard to comprehend your dreams. But they enchant Us so." She chirped quietly, the waves nearly drowning out the lovely and smooth tone of her voice.

"They are always so hectic. Your world is enveloped in this beautifully ordered and measured maddness. Hardly a beginning, never a satisfactory end. The middle of the things, the very most wild of things are always washing over you in an unbroken stream. Yet you are in total control? The human mind expresses itself without reason or restraint, as if dumping all its anxieties and subconscious fears onto you all at once."

"Isn't that how everybody dreams?" You quipped, wondering if you could fall asleep within a dream whilst bathing in such a peaceful scene.

"Hardly, Dear Anonymous. We ponies dream linearly. We go places that concern us, that help us to learn and grow. There is reason and logic to our thoughts. That is why I am so easily able to enter them. You, on the other hoof..." She giggled to herself, covering her smirking snout with a sandy hoof.

"What's so funny?"

"Forgive us. Please, we mean no offense. But thou art such an odd case for Us! It is thrilling in the utmost sense to probe you!" She chattered, though her choice of words failed to make you smile as much.

"At some point we had assumed ye were rejecting Us. Perhaps ye knew of Our presence and sought to press Us out with insane images and wild fantasies? But nay! 'Tis the simple reality of your thoughts! It is spectacularly queer!" You rolled your eyes in response, so deep in strange territory that a Princess giggling about your dreams hardly concerned you anymore.

"Well... you got me now. What is it you wanted to talk about?" Luna's expression sharpened at the question, her giggly mirth melting away into a more scholarly and focused excitement. She tempered her childish glee into an adult interest, though the gentle tremble in her lips still refused to lay still. Lips you just now happened to notice were incredibly plump and full and feminine.

"We simply wished to explain some things. And perhaps have some things explained in turn." Standing in the warm sand, Luna gestured toward a boat you had yet seen pull up to the shore. A simple and rough little dinghy painted a brilliant green waited in the surf and bobbed gently with the waves beating against its flat stern. a perfectly sized craft for a casual row across calm waters. Taking her que without question, you and her climbed in and started out of the natural harbor the unusual beach rested in. Thankfully, you weren't straining at all the move through the sloshing and crystalline waters. In Luna's influence, your dream world refused the more painful and strenuous aspects of reality. Thus, she and you could discuss things whilst you paddled along with the oars and she sat basking in the sunlight.

"You could always write me a letter. Or just come down to Ponyville." You said, the gentle volume of your voice reverberating off the sheer wall of craggy rocks and cliffs nearby. Keeping close to the land, Luna guided you along a steep incline with her wings stretched out to bask.

"We attempted this at one point. But We must assume they either never arrived, or thine mare hath seen to their destruction."

"Ah. Makes sense." You grumbled, thinking just how readily Umbra would destroy a letter from royalty she didn't like. Any and all attempts to make a rule about burning letters like that was overlooked by the Queen, for she would jealously guard you from anything other than bills and decrees of law. Just thinking of the dark mare's face, her gorgeous locks of flowing mane, her soft body and sinister voice filled your chest with a securing warmth. Especially in this place, a world built in your mind, the sensation and memory of Umbra quickly actualized itself in the land's side as a carved, rough statue of her. Luna cocked an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of such an idol, but she immediately understood its presence.

"Try to stay focused, Dear Human. Any distractions and your mind might fall back into the clutches of a dream." Her words just about got to their target, though they failed to demolish the earthen statue dedicated to your devotion. Grinning somewhat and continuing along this mountainous surface, the dark Princess drew your gaze upwards toward an unusual pair of human figures. Both of them peered over the cliff's face, staring down at the water and you two alike with intrepidation and hesitation rife in their expressions.

"Who're they?" You candidly asked with your eyes cast up to the heavens.

"They are you. So far as we can determine." Your boat came to a seemingly impossible stop in the calm and clear sea, waiting for the show to begin like an audience comfortably sat before a stage.

"Wait... that's me?"

"Indeed. We have reconstructed a dream you once had under Our watchful eye." You focused harder, finding that the young face reflecting back at you stood before the shape of your father, though he was some years younger than you remember him. It struck strange and powerful chords in your heart, like a startling image calling out with a family member's voice.

"You associate it something quite formative, though We cannot determine exactly what. We hoped you could illuminate why this memory is so important." You watched on in a mixture of shock, horror and fascination as the scene unfolded. Every word was heard clearly, as if it were spoken right to you. You vision floated to the figure representing you, the scenario's context and setting flooding back to your heart surely as a river flooding a valley. Your father, one you had grown with and one who had held you on the very day you were born, stood before you in the peak of health. He was just as spry and active as you always knew him to be in your childhood, albeit with some exaggerated features. That bulbous belly was gone, replaced with firm and flat abdominal muscles shimmering beneath the skin. His rough chest hair and bristling happy trail disappeared, instead replaced by a far more palatable dusting of dark fuzz. Most distressing however, was the mangled and foggy mess he had for a face. Had it truly been so long that you couldn't even recall what he looked like? In the few seconds of time you had to think clearly, you tried your hardest to travel back and see his expression. The shape of his jaw, the contours of his brow, the color of his eyes. Nothing came to you, leaving him with an obscured and unrecognizable appearance that refused to be understood.

"C'mooooon, boy! It's not that high!"

Carefully peering over the slate edge of the cliff, you confirmed that your father was indeed a liar. The height spiraled uncontrollably upwards, springing high above the water until all you could see was the dull green of the river below. Splashing waves and the sweet white foam of breaking water was invisible, though that might've been a combination of the distance and the relative calm in the water. The sight instantly struck your heart with a bolt of fear, forcing you back toward the forest behind so your feet could find the firmest ground.

"Whoa... whoa, whoa, whoa." You whined, tiny hands quaking in trepidation just at the idea of tossing yourself over the edge. Your brave, unyielding and all-knowing father gave you a mocking snicker, his smug expression burning at your young heart.

"See? Not bad at all! You'll hit the water in under a second, I bet you." Dad was always so brash and daring in his actions, nothing like you. The shy, reserved and cautious nature beaten into you by school and teachers pulled you back toward the forest, away from the potential danger there.

"Dad, I can't. I'm not gonna." You argued, the twisting fog surrounding his face contorting into something that resembled a cocked eye brow.

"What're you scared of? You afraid you're gonna fall and break your leg?" He asked, offering you a burly, strong and heavy hand. Locking your eyes on that familiar lump of callouses and rough fingers, it struck you just how much detail you could recreate in it.

"The water will catch you. You'll be fine, Anon! C'mon, there's nothing to it!" His hand crept closer to you, offering safety and security. He was so much taller than you, so much braver and masculine. It ate you up to deny him, to refuse him an opportunity to bond with him. He worked so hard, that much you knew. Somewhere in the back of your mind, there was that creeping sensation of not seeing him again for a long time. This was an opportunity, one you would definitely kick yourself for squandering. Wordlessly chiding yourself for even thinking of being such a coward, your tiny and shaking hand grasped onto his and approached the edge again.

Somehow, the water was even further below than it was some seconds prior.

"You're gonna scare yourself to death just staring, boy." He tugged you back to your senses, making your eyes jump back to his. A smear took their place, a comforting and old smear that plucked tense strings in your heart.

"Don't think. Just jump. Really jump! Jump like you mean it and you'll be alright!" The air in your lungs became so heavy. Your heart filled with crushing blood that dragged you closer and closer to the ground. Why was it suddenly so cold out here? The summer sun waned in its effects and refused to warm your skin, all the goosebumps pulling the hairs on your neck straight up.

"You ready?" He asked with a step back, just enough to get a slight run in before the leap. You shook your head vehemnently, totally unprepared for this insane moment.

"Ready? READY?! GO! GO, GO, GO!" He hollered in your ear, rocketing you forward with a crazy and stomping sprint. The wind screamed past your ears and took your locks of young hair with it, a freezing chill scorching your boiling fear.

"JUMP!" The simple command sent you aloft. A little spring upwards and you were flying through the summer air, blindly casting yourself into divine mercy and letting physics control your helpless body. Perhaps driven by a tiny pride, perhaps inexperience, maybe sheer idiocy, you hardly even noticed the lack of earth beneath your feet when the arch lost its upward momentum and cast you down. Sucking down a terrified breath, your gracful jump devolved into a straight plummet down into the abyss below, one that seemed to last a lifetime and a split-second simultaneously. Flailing wildly with a shut mouth, the cold water below swallowed you up and dissipated all speed in an instant. You cut deep into the murkiness below, much deeper than you'd ever been before. All the furious breath bulging your lungs out forced you right back up, making you bob and gasp and whine in the surf far below.

"Heheheheheh... WHOOOO!" Your father cheered from above, his muddy face peeking over the edge.

"I'll be damned, Anon! You're a wild little thing!"

"DAAAAD!" You called back indignantly, your cheeks reddening when you discovered his lack of intention.

"I'll be just a sec, crazy man! Ain't no way in hell I'm jumping down there like that!" Jostling around in the waters, your heart slowly warmed as he climbed down the sharp slope of mud and roots. Rocking back and forth from your own buoyancy, the organic and gentle motions eased the terrific stiffness in your muscles. Slowly, the experience unravelled and explained itself to you. The frightening unknown unveiled a phenomenon of excitement for you to deconstruct and examine. You could never see it in the air, kicking and squealing in fear. But now, on the other side, the value of it all settled in. Watching your Dad stand on the shore with his arm outstretched, a bizarre excitement to do it all again swelled in your belly and pressed you toward him.

"Dont you worry. I've got you, boy."

Those words kicked you in the teeth and shook reality back into place. Blinking as the boat below rocked and jiggled in the surf, Luna sat there smiling and folding her arms against her chest.

"We see now..." She said simply, her wings unfurling further in the sunlight as if they too were very pleased with themselves.

"Do you?" You asked cautiously, taking note that the figures and cliffside were gone. Now, nothing but sheer stone walls stood in their stead.

"We feel your context, your expression. Seeing it from your eyes, you have explained whilst your painted for Us." Breathing deeply in the wake of such a revealing moment, you continued to row wordlessly. Some parts of you were totally unsure how to feel with Luna watching all this. Your deepest personal experiences- at least the ones that survived your transfer to this world- laid out bare and examined thoroughly by ancient eyes. It felt strange, it felt prying and uncomfortable. But simultaneously, it felt relieving to share stories that would die with you. Stories and memories that would never be told again and might never hit the ears of another living thing.

Sailing languidly on the sea, listening to the waves slap against ancient rocks and watching Princess stare off into the realm of your mind, you couldn’t help but quietly wonder to yourself in the relative quiet. She hummed with a smile as strange remnants of your less reasonable dreams floated by like some demented theater. You beheld memories scattered and broken apart such that they couldn’t be mended by you or her. Twisted forms of places you had been, people you had met and things you had done were kept here on display for the brightest of Equestria’s minds to examine and try to decipher. Even if it was an ultimately fruitless task that would yield nothing of interest. Staring the blue Princess down, examining her intricate details and strange poise, you were only compelled to speak when her sea-foam eyes jumped back to you and sparkled with a shocking beauty. Luna had the most enthralling curiosity about her, a child’s energy submerged beneath the composure of an adult.

“Something troubles you, dear human.” She chirped, her voice ringing off the rocks. You looked away to try and avoid her piercing stare, sighing contently as you continued to effortlessly row.

“Just thinking to myself.” You dismissed your equine compatriot refusing to hear such nonsense.

“Now is not the time to be cheeky, Anonymous. We shan’t pass judgement.” There was a strange and genuine quality to Luna’s words here. Something so unlike the way she carried herself in the waking world, where politics and powerful issues weighed heavily on her soul. In this world there was no need for stance or prim and proper behavior. This place she controlled, she shared with you, allowed her proverbial hair down. You heard Luna’s true voice and it shocked you just as much as Umbra’s. So soft and cool and mellow, a singer’s instrument tasked with explaining things to your unworthy ears.

“I just… I always wondered what your deal was. Now I really can’t put a word to it.” Cocking her head to the side in curiosity, the azure Princess seemed confused.

“Our ‘deal?’ Whatever could you mean, fair Anonymous?”

“When I first got here, you never wanted to talk. You always seemed so distant and cold. Like you didn’t want anything to do with me. And I always accepted that. I thought- hey- she’s busy. Leave her alone, man. Poor woman’s got plenty enough to worry about without you barging in.” Luna blushed and held her head low in a suppressed shame, the past care she had shown for you indeed rather “limited” when put into the most generous of terms.

“Right up until I last saw you in Canterlot, I thought you didn’t like me. I don’t know if I offended you or if I was just… too ugly or something. But now you’re here. Now we’re talking like old friends and we’re watching my dreams.” Luna sighed and pulled her wings in somewhat, as if trying to shield herself from this line of questioning. In her heart she knew you were totally right. And even in this realm of her own making, she could feel you rising above her with a righteous frustration.

“And thou now wish to know what has changed?” You swirled the words in your mouth before replying, shrugging and gripping your oars tightly.

“I mean, has something changed?” Luna grunted and wiggled on her seat, visibly trying to figure out just how to put her feelings into words. DIpping into her vast well of political knowledge and technique, she crafted words that would say just how she felt without ever revealing the truth of her sentiments. Just enough to wet your palette and throw you off the trail.

“We sought to find something that interests Us. It lies within ye, as we have seen thine manuscripts and musical discs and actions.” It was your turn to stare in confusion, silence pressing her forward.

“What is it, what it looks like and how exactly We might find it? We are not sure. All that is clear to Us is that… thou art different. Different from a stallion, not just in flesh and bone. But in thine alien heart and beautiful-... erh… ‘unique’ soul.” You watched her face bend and contort into uncomfortable and awkward poses, the boat grinding to a halt against an unforeseen shore. The stop jostled your mind just enough to take your eyes from hers, the Princess making quick use of this escape route.

“Come, come. There’s yet more dream to explore. And We’ve yet more questions to be answered!” Luna made her way onto the grassy knoll without pause and only the slightest magic aura pulling at your shirt collar, the force irritating enough to make you chase after. Stepping out of the boat and finding a cold wind blast across you, it was quite a shocking change from the moist and heavy air of the sea. You huffed and trot to catch up with her, though you quickly found that you sincerely regretted doing so.

You remembered this place just like the rest, but there was nothing revealing or warm about it. Just like the icy spikes digging into your bare face, a grey and blocky building shoved cold memories deep into your heart and forced you to come to a stop. Luna waited by your side as you stared at the imposing menace of a structure, its mundane and dirty appearance belying the deep and swirling tremors inside it.

“Whaaaat…” You hummed, fingers clenching as Luna’s wing wrapped about your back. She reasoned that it was to keep the sharp wind off you, but in the same silent rationalization she also enjoyed the warmth of your body against her plumage. Standing and staring at his dower and dark place, you twitched when a familiar lorry pulled up along the road, its rumbling engine accenting squeaking brakes you had yet to replace. Aside from laziness, the reason for your slow action soon became rather apparent.

“We feel such… sadness here, Anonymous. You consider this dream a terrible turning point. But we cannot figure out why.” Luna’s words passed through a veil of confusion and fatigue as you watched yourself come out of the jailhouse, both wrists still reddened and bruised from tight cuffs holding you in bondage. Your mother, so stalwart and dedicated, led you out with a hand grasping your adult arm like it was nothing more than the crook of a child’s limb. Your heart stopped at the sight of her, the exhausted, limp and crooked posture of a woman drained of her energy and goodwill. Her flowing hair that always smelled sweetly of girly perfumes and product and her shining skin made supple and healthy with cocoa butter. Had it not been for the mask of obscuring sludge covering her face, you could’ve remembered the makeup she wore for her work at the office every day, delicately applied accents and blushes hiding age and weariness expertly.

Luna felt your face twist into a painful scowl, like hatred and fear bundled together into a shotgun blast of negativity. A sinking heart drove her to focus her mind, pressing you back into the fold of this dream you once had so many times in years before. Your body fell back into those cheap and show-off clothes with a silent thump, letting your skin soak in the bitter cold of mid-winter. The heated seat beneath you provided some comfort to the vast joylessness of such a place at such a time, a far-cry from the jail cell you had shared with a dozen other men. The weekend was behind you now, a court date set and a warm bed waiting for you at home. You couldn’t help but be bitter still, however. Grinding your teeth and watching the grey expanses of dead forest roll by on the highway, all there was in your heart was anger and frustration and humiliation.

You could feel your Mother’s eyes on the back of your head, as you refused to look at her. Even after getting arrested like that and beaten within an inch of your life, Mom still came to get you. After all those horrible things you said to her, all the flimsy promises of finding your own way and settling your own scores, she still took off work to come and pull you out. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t sensible. You scorned the idea alone, as you would’ve surely let yourself rot in that cell had it been you called to drop everything and help a hopeless slob like you.

Self loathing boiled higher and higher in your chest, rising to your eyeballs as you sat there silently and warmed your fingers against your ribs. Why did things have to be this way? Why couldn’t anything work out for you? School, jobs and now life as a hard-boiled man on his own. You weren’t cut out for anything, you didn’t fit any mold you found. It was a hopeless pursuit, a ticking clock signaling the brutal truth of the matter.

You were lost. Lost beyond what your tiny and young mind could comprehend.

Shuddering and squeezing at the bony cage just beneath your ragged, sticky shirt, a scent caught your nose. Saturated fats, high-fructose corn syrup, industrial soybean oil. Your eyes flicked down to the crumpled little paper bag hiding in the backseat, a gift from the divine above hidden in plain sight. Your breath hitched and your stomach snarled for a taste of that most delectable fast food, your very favorite dish. It was still warm too, the smell of it hot and sweaty with unhealthy wisps of delight tickling your senses and prompting a sideways look towards your mother.

How could she be so loving? So thoughtful and considerate? Especially for a scumbag like you? It wasn’t right, it wasn’t justified. You deserved to be in jail, deserved to be with the misbehaving boys that- just like you- couldn’t get themselves under control. It was wrong for your sweet and hardworking mother to pamper you like this.

There was only one way you could properly take it. Your heavy and sunken heart looked up at the shining sign of rare forgiveness blinding its unworthy eyes, cowering in fear of such genuine and unconditional love. Your breath hitched and your hands shook at the notion, grabbing hold of this makeshift lunch and tearing into it. A whole weekend of prison food and sickening smells left you starving for this homely goodness, a wash of emotions cutting through the mud caking your heart as your Mother grinned knowingly, as if she could see the future and know for sure she had won.

Luna smiled to herself as your silent emotions revealed just what changed, the precipice that had been toppled over. The ancient mare drank in the man you decided to be from that day forward, a strength fostered through failure and revived by a Mother’s unending affection. It warmed her heart to see a portion of your contemporary devotion ran in your blood, yet it crushed the Princess to think how close it had come to destruction when you came here. Her faltering thoughts dissipated the illusion of your family sedan and left you both standing in an open field, roads and power lines and drifting flurries melting away as you sucked for breath and pulled at the cheesy leather clothing still hanging on your frame.

“Strange… We never thought ye one of villainy and crime, Dear Anonymous.” You dusted off the old clothes wrapped about you, cringing at the memory of your unironic usage of such edgy apparel.

“Bah… I was a girly punk.” You admitted proudly, pulling off the pre-ripped coat and letting your mind manifest something more rugged and simple.

“Couldn’t steal, couldn’t fight. I just wanted to break things and make a fuss.” Luna tasted the sourness in your tone, watching as you stared down at her. She felt positively tiny in front of you, the two feet of height difference notwithstanding.

“Thou were seeking something. But whatever could it have been?” You shrugged and looked about you, the biting cold still whipping across the grey grass below with howls and whistles of hostility.

“I was young. I was pissed. You do things you regret when you get like that.” Luna failed to hide her bashful smile at such sentiment, casting her sea-foam eyes to the ground.

“‘Tis true…”

“Now then… you mind if I ask you something?” The divine ruler perked up at the idea, her magic pressing away this cold and unforgiving place in favor of a formless and easily manipulated white void.

“By all means, treasured human.”

“This might be kinda rude of me but… I gotta know.” You said with a nervous smirk.

“I’ve heard ehm… ‘rumors’ that you… you maybe…” Luna cocked her head to the side with a pout, her ears standing on end as that familiar concern hit her once more.

“Rumors that We perhaps… dally in unusual delights? Perhaps with… mares of certain persuasion?” You snickered at the dated verbiage, pocketing both your hands and grasping them into tight fists.

“Just a little scuttlebutt that I heard at the mill. Always wondered if it was true.” Luna blushed deeply and felt her wings twitch, fighting the urge to let such a lurid conversation stiffen them.

“Sorry if ain’t cool to ask-”

“Nay, nay! ‘Tis very much alright, Anonymous. It is a fair exchange since We’ve been given the privilege to explore thine dreams with such clarity.” She paused for a moment to pout once more, her tone grinding to a more serious note.

“And the truth of the matter spoken from thine lips ought to clear the more treacherous tabloids about Us, We shouldn’t wonder.”

“So?” You said with a bit of a sly grin, watching as the Princess centered herself and formed a new scene about the both of you. She cleared her throat and held her eyes closed until the world solidified and rumbled to life, a surrounding shroud of leaves and wooden beams and a night sky surging to life with a warm breeze moaning by. Vines surged up and over your head, crisscrossing over roofs of woven wicker to support their fat burdens of succulent fruit. A sweet warmth welled in your heart, a booming rise of flood waters moving up from your ribs to your mind in a sudden gullywash of sensation. Weightlessness nearly lifted your boots right off the ground and sent you spiraling back, Luna’s positive recollections of this place suddenly taking hold in you as well.

“There is truth to these harmful rumors, yes. At a time, We indeed cast aside that half of Our species. We forsook them for the pleasures of mares, that familiar shape We considered more pure and righteous.” Luna pulled you alongside her through this ethereal and whimpering vineyard, the gentle breeze carrying on it the earthy stink of fresh loam, wet topsoil and manure.

“We coveted an idol sewn from bitterness and conceit. For a time… perhaps a very long time, ‘tis true that We took only wives.” She trot between the berry bushes rising high above your head with the ease and skill of a farmer that had placed them all by hand. She knew these organic and dusty halls like the back of her hoof, leading you with ease and never stopping to check her place. The stars above flickered through the dense brush, a rapid nightfall shrouding all in a mellow and gentle darkness. Nothing like the blinding and hostile black of a real night, but a purple haze of a dreamy and secluded state somewhere between the night and the first blinks of twilight.

To your left and right between the stalks of rising bushes, you saw the beautiful and assorted mares Luna had taken in her life. Royal consorts, half-princesses, duchesses and fair ladies of far-off lands. Dressed in regal and flowing garments of the centuries past, it was clear that this was all business buried long ago. Each one was adorned with gorgeous jewelry, sparkling gems and diamonds and flares of cut stone that marked their regal statuses. All different shapes and sizes, but a definite trend of mares with strong chests and wide behinds. Luna held them all in high regard, as you felt a booming pride and affection in your heart whenever their crystal-like eyes met yours. Like looking Derpy’s eyes when you held her close at night, or meeting Umbra’s hazy glare after making fierce love in the wintertime.

“Make no mistake. We held these mares close to Our heart. Each one… a moment in time made beautiful and true by their very presence. Every wife I took was a precious soul, beautiful and sweet and fulfilling. ‘Tis true. We lusted for and loved mares over any stallion who walked this realm.” You were so close to her that bodies melted into one another, breaking apart and reforming into one being. You were falling into her perspective, feeling as she felt and remembering that moment she crafted here.

A divine revelry, a strange and intense pride and love for this instance in time came over you. You were so excited, so driven and happy. Running through this tilled dirt and finding a clearing in the fields, you were overcome with positive emotion sharper and fuller than you’d ever experienced in your life.

“But ‘twas a time long ago when we cherished traditional desires. We were a mare of mares then, a princess in waiting with a heart unburdened by cynicism. We loved unconditionally.” She stopped just at the edge of this farmland, hidden behind the hanging leaves of grape vines and the wooden supports holding them aloft. Staring out through the tiny gaps between shrouded green, Luna spotted a pair of stallions hauling great wooden carts. Stallions of brown coats and burgundy manes pulled these great loads of profit into their ragged and makeshift barn, the wood still somewhat fresh as if it had been built only a week prior. Her gaze focused on the smaller of the two, rather than the delicious and fruitful cargo he dragged behind him.

A strapping young lad, full of tight muscle and young energy. His mane was chopped short to avoid getting in his eyes as he worked, his hooves were capped with metal plates to protect them from painful rocks hidden in the dirt. Luna couldn’t help but stare at his pert and powerful rump. A strong young stallion worked hard all his life and soaked to the bone with the scent of earthly labor. Aside from the stern and unwavering grimace of stoic frustration, he looked just like his father. A name floated through your thoughts when you saw the unique and crisp outline of his face, the masculine cut to his jaw and the flashes of his eyes catching the moonlight.

“Persimmon Pearch.” It repeated again and again like a mantra, each time more dedicated and alive than the last. Luna repeated it to herself like a song, watching with her lips curled into a tight grin as his father stepped away. He stood there, staring toward the vineyard with yearning clear in his face. The young man couldn’t see Luna, that much was clear from his wandering and twitchy gaze. Sparkling jade pupils danced from place to place along the wall of foliage, searching and prying for a lurking figure.

“There was a time… so very long ago. We had tasted the fantastic love spoken of only in childish literature and meaningless stories.” A piercing whistle cut through the air and made Persimmon’s ears perk, a whistle directed right to him from pursed and girly lips.

“Father introduced Us to the family whom manufactured his favored wine. A blessed land he graced with Our presence. And in turn, they blessed Us with the vision of a gorgeous, passionate lover.” Persimmon came closer to Luna, following her rhythmic whistling with a growing smile.

“He was so beautiful. His was a purity unmatched in the world. Simple, strong, quiet. We knew from the moment our eyes met that he was Ours.” Whistling again and again, calling for him, Luna only made herself known when she could see the whites of his eyes. She poked out of the brush and met his gaze, neither speaking in the intense flurry of silent emotion.

“He feared Us, truly. He was but a farmer, We a goddess given flesh and ruling over his very life. But he could not fight destiny. When We chose him, there was nothing a soul in Equestria could do to pull us apart.” Like magnets in space, the ponies drew closer and closer until the warmth of their breaths tickled each other’s chins. Persimmon smelled powerfully of dirt and sweat, an unwashed commoner before Luna’s delicious and pure scent of rain in a pine forest.

“When We drew near, when We summoned him, Persimmon came. He lived to serve Us. And We lived to shower him with love.” They touched snouts for but the briefest moment, a flash in the pan that blinded both with overwhelming affection. It became clear to you then and there that this must’ve been far before the time of the Equestria you knew. Luna stood straight and steady, yet wasn’t tall as a normal stallion. She was so very young, reverted to a state of innocence several thousand years in the past. Your heart and hers skipped beats at this instantaneous contact, prompting you to take off back into the vineyard giggling like a wild child.

“Oh min Luna? Wherefore hath she gone? I chase, I run for ye! Find you, for I must!” He hollered in a language you otherwise wouldn’t understand, yet to Luna’s ears it was clear as the Queen’s English. Old Equestrian rang out off the tall stalks of grape vines and the rough beams around her, twisting turns and sudden jukes through the dense and synthetic forests hiding her away from her playful soulmate.

“For me, sing! Oh Persimmon, pursue Us without tiring! Blustering gales and lifted tails! Find your Love, and she shall give your gifts harkened from above!” Luna sang back in a whistle of musical tones and calls, her voice squeaky and sharp in the night. Slowing her manic pace down to a slow walk, she let her voice and her scent lead her Lover deeper into the darkness. She wafted her aroma about with fluttering wings and a wagging tail, casting her ethereal presence about for the sensitive stallion’s senses to find.

“Why is it that I must be tormented by thee? A common lout I am, lice in the great fabric of Equestria! But in glory of you, selected me you have! I give chase, but unworthy I am to do! Give unto this silly boy forgiveness! He is hopeless!” The strange grammar and pace of this foreign language was somehow natural and clear to you in this moment of withheld excitement, hoof beats drawing closer and closer with the increasing volume of his voice. Luna’s hooves trot in place as Persimmon slowly discovered her, a puppy dog’s insane glee bursting in her young and needy chest.

“Unworthy of shame! Unworthy of that name! Find and seize this glory uncommon, fair Persimmon!” And so he did, pursuing her dauntlessly through the vines and the flattened dirt that lay below a blinding moon. Bright moonlight bathed the world with a subtle and dull glow, stealing away contrasting colors in exchange for the robust purity of black and white. Luna cowered with anticipation in her little hiding spot, clearly angsty to be found. She felt him approach, his excited and young soul like a tiny flame before an eternal sun. So innocent and unique, weak and barely grasping to the fabric of true reality, as she perceived it with her higher form of being. But nonetheless precious.

The first thing she saw were his eyes, like diamonds glittering with devious intent and always refracting the most beautiful color of light. She laughed, as did you. She called his name, so did you. She fell to his whims and became a mare then and there, in fields of a vineyard under the summer moon. As quickly as the joy- the overwhelming joy- hit you, it was gone. Back down into the slurried memories of times past where it belonged. Luna opened your eyes to bleak place, devoid of warmth and mischief.

“Luna…” You hushed, looking about this simple room of stone and royal furniture. Adorned with the banners of a nation long-since past and decorated sparsely, this place felt more like a prison than a bedroom. Bars on the tiny window slits increased the crushing sensation of isolation and entrapment, no matter what the four-post bed and luxurious quilts sitting there begged to say.

“An immortal life is one of extremes, dear human. To feel the greatest, most incredible passions that would sustain a mortal for their tiny life.” The very same Luna from before came through a large oaken door with sullen eyes and a drained expression about her, as if the life had been trickling away for years now. Where was her smile? Where was her youthful blush? Hardly an exuberance for her newfound womanhood either, just a dower and stoic frown as chambermaids surrounded her and helps to peel off her burdensome dress.

“Happiness unparalleled, given for nothing… taken just as easily.” She whispered in your ear as you watched the lifeless form of Luna undress, her posture and form and elegance scanned endlessly by hard eyes in the doorway.

“Father married my Sister and I to dukes of lesser kingdoms to bring them into the fold of Equestria. My… ‘affair’ with Persimmon however, made me a tainted mare in the eyes of my suitors.” You could feel the judgement drilling into the Princess. Painful and icy daggers digging deep into her back, clawing away at her flesh until the nerves felt nothing. Just the cold weight of reality hinged on an old stallion’s face.

“Do you know what it’s like? To feel love… then for it to melt away?” Luna hummed wistfully into your mind, letting you watch her life slowly devolve into husband after husband, each one nastier and less compassionate than the last. Especially for a near-eternal being, things moved with alarming speed. Some husbands only lasted a year, many less than three. None would tolerate her far-away stares, her unloving ways and her ruined purity. They knew her not as a mare, but as a tool that for the great machine of nations. The grinding mechanisms had caught Luna between smashing gears and set about pulverizing her to nothing.

“Can you imagine the agony of knowing perfection? Knowing what it is you desire, what wonders the world can offer you and just how far it is from your grasp? Think of it… your wives… nothing but ashes whilst you carry on.” The dream world shuddered and ruptured as she put such horrors into your mind, your own thoughts destabilizing with an unconditioned angst. Luna felt your terrible pain, fleeting as it was.

“I passed from stallion to stallion. Changing hooves like unwanted jewelry. We were nothing to this world but a joke. Just from a stroke of young lust endemic to us all… who were We to blame at such an age?” You felt the spikes of regret and submissive guilt stab through your chest, sensations you had felt before and begged to never know again. Luna’s warmth rushed down your back and brought you a manner of easy, albeit unusual comfort.

“Stallions had brought Us here. Down into this mire from which We felt no escape. There was not a single notion of mercy in Our mind. Once the days of my Father’s guidance had ended, We returned to Our throne atop Equestria. We vowed on that day to never humor the fancies of a stallion again. We would reject them and the games they play with flesh and blood. We would never be a toy again.” Luna’s sharp tone rumbled the space around you both, bringing dust from the ceiling and sending the images of herself into a foggy haze. The painful reality of times lost faded into nothingness around you, leaving only you and her in a vast field of inky black.

Standing opposite of you, bowing for you presence, Luna held about her an unseen aura of gorgeous light. She beamed with warmth, fertility, softness and femininity your masculine mind instantly yearned for. In the darker corners of your subconscious, you were disassembling her equine form and studying each plush curve. Your heart pounded in your chest, mirroring her own when you both were so intimately linked. Bringing her gaze slowly up to meet yours, Princess Luna held a tiny, slight smile in the face of your cherry red blush.

“Time runs short for us. But We believe that this has been as enlightening for thee as it t’was for Us.”

“Yeah… I’ll say.” You replied simply, feeling a sharp compulsion to come closer to her. You stepped toward the majestic pony and naturally wrapped your arms about her neck and shoulders, sealing her into a welcomed and soft hug. She returned the gesture with a leg curling about your hip, pulling you possessively closer with wings fluttering at her sides.

“Thanks for this, Luna. I… I don’t even know what to say. I feel like you’re… like you could be my sister. It feels like we’ve known each other forever.” Her tiny squeak of enjoyment tickled your chest, neither one of your bodies attempting to untangle from the other. She pulled you ever closer, as if she intended to press herself into your body and disappear in you.

“We are so very gracious to be here with ye, Anonymous. We must admit to a… ‘kindred’ fascination with thee. As if We were destined from the beginning of time to fall into the other’s grasp.” Several seconds passed without another word, just the simulated breathing of two bodies drinking in the vast ocean of physical comfort. She was so soft and warm, so relaxing and satisfying to touch and pet. And you were titanic to her, securing and firm and all-encompassing. You were something she could hide within, something to hold aloft as a shining beacon in an otherwise uncaring and cold world.

“Anonymous?” She whispered into your neck, losing her thoughts to the growing intimacy of this moment just as you did.

“Yeah?” You retorted with equal quiet.

“Before you go… We wish to ask of Thou a question.” You agreed silently, running your open palm up her neck and gripping the bundle of soft mane gliding down such an elegant piece of engineering.

“Will you dance with Us?” Such a simple question. A rudimentary thing to say for an infinitely complex notion. Like a rock, a shapeless blob of raw matter, crashing through a sheet of glass and shattering it into sand. You were devastated by the question, but not enough so to take your hands off this mistress of dreams for one tiny second.

“I can’t dance.” You answered sheepishly, only for Luna to slowly melt out of your hands and surround you like water.

“It is a dream. We shall not move with our bodies.” Her voice filled you like molten gold poured into a mold, satisfying every need and want you’d ever had in your comparatively tiny life. Colors and shapes formed in your vision, bounding from one side to the next in a show of dazzling brilliance and soaring music. Music you recognized. Your music.

“We will show one another our most beautiful selves.” Before long you felt yourself aloft, gliding through a crisp springtime fog that crawled down the side of a lush mountain. Your feet hovered high above the tree tops and the rivers below, effortlessly defying gravity with some unseen force. All of Equestria spread out before your eyes, tucking the dark green land behind a purple sky with the ease and care that a nanny tucked a child into bed. Emotions and physical sensations swelled deep within you, charging your body with a shocking excitement as Luna trailed close behind. The Princess and you both left burning trails of blue fire raining teardrops of ice onto the Earth below, showering the make-believe residents with glorious crystals of personality and beauty.

Never having experienced the joy of flight, your unprepared mind was somewhat overwhelmed by it all. Luna had to playfully guide you along the invisible track in the sky, bringing you to the land marks of her eternal home. Canterlot, Ponyville, the mountains, the shores, the wind whipped glaciers and the jungles. For what seemed like hours you flew with her, ringing music playing just behind you both and fueling your escape. After eons of this journey, Luna grabbed hold of your body in her hooves, as if holding you whilst she flew. Like a bullet punching through fabric, you broke through a strange veil in the sky and returned home.

Uniquely human settlements buzzing with lights and gently sailing cars hummed below with the long lost noises and energies of the place you once called home. Straight and unnatural lines carved with beams of sodium lights like hazy yellow bolts of lightning. Luna soared with you so quick, so effortlessly touring your world as you remembered it. She sliced clouds in half with her elegant dives and fearless plunged through the open space, screaming silently with fantastic speeds toward the ground.

You naturally held your breath in terror, unable to imagine how this was happening, how this was real. Your voice was silent as the asphalt whipped below, mere inches separating you from the stony road. No human paid either of you any mind, their faces hidden by the hustle and bustle of a human city. Luna dug deep into your repressed mind, that part of you that never truly forgot the experiences of the life you no longer lived. Turning and twisting and snapping from street to street in harrowing navigation, Luna found the city melting away little by little into dark countryside illuminated only by the moonlight. Your home waited in the trees, hidden from the world by a cultivated and synthetic veil of privacy.

No time for details. She knew that this experience was overwhelming for you as it was. Thus, she kept the pace. She beat her wings and carried you further. Away from this, away from Equestria, away from Earth, away from everything. She whisked you to the sea, where all things begin and end. Releasing your spiritual form, she let you take wing alongside her, totally formless say for the whipping fire surrounding you. You and her took on shapes befitting your emotions, little of you left besides shrieking joy and color.

Twisting and turning over the desert sea like birds of prey harassing and clawing at each other with playful jabs and swipes, your and hers plunged into the water. A downward hook straight into the inky darkness with bubbles boiling off the surface of your undying flames. Luna spiraled and surrounded you many a time, far more experienced and excited to be with you. She wanted to engulf your form, to swallow you up and keep this burning gem for herself. She took on the form of an angler chasing after you, snapping and biting at your tail as your emotions summoned images and things from the vast blackness.

A ship rocketed out of the infinite void, up and between the both of you. It too moved with no hint of strain or physical drag, carrying its passengers and crew through the rushing water as if it were a light breeze. Luna pursued you dauntlessly, spinning and spiraling about the ship and getting her eyes caught on the strange sight. Humans swabbing the deck, tending to the oil lamps, families dressed finely sitting about the decks and watching her with gleeful smiles. They cheered her on, told her to chase, encouraged her to seize you and never let go. She came so close as to taste you, feel your being against hers again, maddeningly close.

Just then, the bow burst from the brine with fountains of white water gushing skyward. Massive plumes shot to the stars and fell as rainbow sparkles of rain, the gravity of their fall bringing your weightless mind back to a state of being. You felt wet, hot, heavy and defenseless. Things focused back into a clear image once the sea water and the salt trickled out of your eyes, but they were no less confusing and strange once there.

Laid out on your back, legs spread and eyes wide, you beheld a goddess. A shimmering woman wet from the sea, her hanging locks of dark blue hair stretching from her shrouded face down into a pool of water all around you. Her olive skin glistened with healthy shine, catching the light in beads of diamond ocean beading against her curvy form. You felt her weight, her warmth. The familiar shape of a female made for you. Her tiny hands stroked and held your bare chest with greedy and intense desire, clutching to you surely as the rocks to the Earth. You sucked in a sharp breath in surprise, too confused to protest as she parted her hair and showed herself.

Plush lips, cyan eyes, petite nose and a starving glare. Luna did not smile as she pulled in close to you, sharing your breaths with proximity. You shuddered as both hands naturally touched her hips, holding close the creature you were meant to be with. You were compelled by buried instincts to protect and hold her, a being entire genres of poetry and song struggled to admire properly. In your better mind you knew it was wrong. You were not hers, you were claimed property.

But when she kissed you with her soft, pink, warm lips, your mind broke apart surely as the ship below you did. Rivet by rivet, the plates drifted away from the hull. Its iron skeleton let water rush into the holds and the cabins, smothering away any evidence of this excursion. You gasped as the cold ocean wrapped around you mercilessly, pulling you down into darkness as Luna fell away from you.

Gripping stupidly at nothing, you swished and turned and tumbled through the familiar realm of transition, falling into yourself with not but the most gentle of bumps. All at once, you were real again. Your weight and sluggish motions were restored, the blankness of your once absent mind slowly taking in the sensation around you.

Soft warmth, the sweet smell of mare fur and the mumble of a breeze going down the hall way. In your arms, a curled and softly sleeping Umbra. She bundled herself against your chest, chewing on your arm and kneading your chest in her hooves. Against your back, sweet Derpy lounged across you like melting cheese. She mumbled into your ribs and stretched her wings, the soft rustle like a booming shotgun blast in this perfectly silent world. You sighed in exasperation and pulled Umbra closer to you, just to make sure that you were with who you belonged with.

“Poppy?” Another massive noise in the still room, the sound of your daughter’s dear voice. The developing little squeak made you perk up somewhat, enough to look out and over Umbra’s blooming mane.

“I had a bad dream…” She whined, prompting you to shuffle around a bit to make the tiniest gap. She knew the score well enough, eagerly pressing into the warm fold of protective bodies. Dinky sheltered under your form, both the mares in her life shielding her with their wings and hair. Another body pressing against your proved more therapeutic than you’d ever imagine, lulling you back into a far more restful sleep.

“Yeah… me too.”