A Shadow of Myself

"Wake up."

Charlotte groaned as she sleepily batted with a hoof at whoever had poked her. She then turned over.

"Another one of those charm bracelets appeared."

"Yeah, that means she is awake. Maybe half-awake, but awake."

Why did they have to be so loud?

"Did you figure out where they come from?"

"I don't know if I discovered it."

"Isn't that the same as not knowing?"

"Effectively, but not technically. I've been watching her sleep but haven't noticed anything beyond them appearing when she starts to wake."

Her eyes popped open at that.

She sat up. "You've been watching me sleep?!"

Sunset was sitting next to her with a glowing orb floating beside her. "It was for research purposes. This is the wrong crowd to express your outrage about that. One of the key duties of Dreamwardens' bodyguards is to watch over them as they sleep. You wouldn't happen to remember the general direction of the Autobot base, would you? Wandering in caves can get tedious."

She looked left and right, seeing long rocky passages that stretched into darkness. "Um…no. I didn't get to look at my surroundings well when Bursa was carrying me."

Sunset grunted.."I figured as much, but it was worth asking. Tempest, Blanche, we're reliant on you to determine our path."

"Starlight and I have spent a lot of time in caves. We can help," Rainbow said, giving a small flap of her wings.

Tempest grunted. "Years of service to Phobia allowed me to hone my ability to make out details in the dark, but I was never much of a spelunker, and I might be out of practice moving with care on four hooves which could be dangerous when traversing underground. I think Rainbow Brite might be the best to stay in front. It is best to trust experience."

Blanche nodded. "I've explored caves, but I used my tools to help me. I don't have access to those right now since you insist I stay a kirin for this trip. Let Rainbow Brite take the lead. We'll still keep our eyes open for any details along the way. Making sure we have a safe route is as important as finding the correct route. We don't want to get caught in a cave-in."

"You three are more experienced at this than Charlotte or me. I follow your direction here," Sunset agreed.

"What about mine? I was in caves alongside Whisp," Starlight protested.

Sunset raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you doubt Rainbow can keep us from wandering into a dangerous cavern, and did you volunteer before she did?"

"Well, no…."

"She will take the lead then. You're probably only interested in taking the lead so you can have five mares staring at your ass," Sunset said with a note of finality. "Charlotte, pick up your latest charm bracelet and get to your hooves."

It was only then that Charlotte fully realized she was a pony. Sunset must have slipped the bracelet on her immediately after they went through the portal. She looked again at Rainbow. Her now temporarily pegasus friend did indeed look that much more appealing. So much for avoiding that distraction. Although, Blanche looked kind of hot…no pun intended…in an exotic sort of way, even if Blanche was way too old for her. Urgh! Why did she have to be so horny! Was Sunset this horny when she was eighteen? That was a silly question. Sunset was clearly still horny, based on how often she fantasized about being fifty years younger. She should be called Sunset Frollo, spending her nights singing Hellfire by the fireplace.

They randomly picked a direction and started walking with Rainbow leading the way. They came to several intersections and, after a quick debate, decided to simply keep alternating left and right, so they didn't lose their way or go in a complete circle. After an hour, Rainbow pulled them to a halt.

"I don't think we are in danger of cave-ins or sudden drops. These caves aren't natural. Someone made these," she informed them.

"And I'm not seeing any signs of tracks or anyone passing this way," Blanche said.

"Nor have I," Tempest said. She frowned and sat down. "I know you wish us to keep these bracelets on, but I want to try using my magic. It isn't typically helpful on Earth, but it might be here."

Blanche flicked an ear. "I didn't know you had any human magic. It never came up in the reports about your capabilities."

Tempest shook her head. "It is almost impossible for me to utilize it on Earth. My power is that I sense electricity. Almost everything has an electric charge of some sort, even if it is small. Larger charged sources stand out to me more, but on Earth, there are so many electronic devices that it is nearly impossible to focus on any particular source. I just tune it out. Here, however, there may be low enough background static for me to try to hone in on where the bigger sources are."

Sunset grimaced. "I always suspected you had some ability you were hiding. The ability to track giant robots would have been helpful to know about before we went on this trip."

"I never think about the ability and haven't in a long time. For the entire time I have been human, it has served me no purpose. It isn't something I have ever made use of. I don't even know if I will be able to do this. It could still be worthless," Tempest said defensively.

"Worth a shot. It isn't like it hurts us to try, and better than wandering aimlessly through these tunnels," Charlotte said. Everyone else nodded their agreement.

Tempest took off her necklace and briefly staggered while crouching when she shifted back to human form. She grunted with annoyance, took now returned her pack off, and sat with her back against the wall.

"Can you all stand aside in one direction?" Tempest requested. "It may help me pinpoint a direction if the interference from your charges is all close together instead of all around me. Even your bodies give off an electric charge."

"What about your body? Are you detecting that charge too?" Blanche asked.

Tempest silently nodded.

Blanche sighed and joined Charlotte and Sunset on their side of the cave. "Great, you distract yourself. I can see why you never were able to utilize this. You sure lost out in the human magic lotto."

"We all aren't as fortunate as you when it comes to powers," Tempest agreed in a glum voice, but then she smiled. "Still, I don't regret my decision, and I am happy for what I got out of humanizing. I wrote my own destiny, not some stupid mark on a flank, and when we return, I will get to see my daughter and be held in my husband's loving embrace. That's all the magic I'll ever need."

"You know, Rebecca used to dislike cutie marks. She thought ponies would be better without them. I think she still prefers dealing with humans over ponies– humans, along with ponies that defy the nature of their mark," Blanche said thoughtfully. "She's the Warden of Creativity, and she sees cutie marks as a limiting factor, something that pigeon-holes ponies into a smaller set of paths. I think she would like your sentiment. Maybe you were serving the wrong warden."

Tempest shook her head. "No, I would never have found happiness without Phobia helping me along the way and the position she put me in, and your warden would have driven me insane with her nonsense. I don't know how someone as grounded and serious as you can tolerate her insanity and lack of decorum. I may have foalsat for Phobia, but I never had to foalsit Phobia herself."

Blanche chuckled. "A brilliant man once said, a little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men. I have to foalsit Rebecca because Rebecca doesn't care about politics but has to deal with politics. That doesn't make her stupid; it just means she has other priorities. I have seen enough blood and war to last a lifetime. Let me serve my warden, who lives to give the friendless a friend, inspires the artist to paint, helps the father come up with bad dad jokes, and helps the writer imagine new worlds. The world needs more of that."

"Yes, yes, you're both passionately loyal to the Dreamwardens you serve. Not something that anyone is shocked to hear," Sunset grumbled. "Tempest, get to work."

Rainbow and Starlight came and sat beside the other three of them as Tempest sat cross-legged on the floor, head dipped in concentration. Any hope of a quick answer to whether Tempest could do this was dashed when five minutes, then ten, then thirty passed without her moving or them talking.

"So…do we go back to searching?" Starlight asked.

"We'll give her more time. She hasn't given up on it yet," Sunset answered. "I trust her enough for her to make that call."

"If we get lost now or later, it doesn't matter much," Blanche said

"If we get lost, I'll teleport us to the surface," Sunset replied. "Then we'll make a lot of ruckus and see who notices. Hopefully, the Autobots will notice before the Decepticons."

Blanche snorted. "Sounds like a plan Rebecca would endorse."

"Who are these Dreamwardens, and what do they do?" Rainbow asked the kirin. "Charlotte mentioned them in passing when she told us her tale, but she didn't explain them."

"Every universe with magical life has a Dreamwarden," Blanche answered. "Magical life makes magical dreams, and that creates the dream realm. Life and magic are intertwined, and so the dream realm itself becomes a conscious entity in time, a powerful one. While their magical beings dream, this being cannot die, but it can pass who its consciousness is. A dreamer can be elevated to be the Dreamwarden consciousness. In Equestria and this world, each Dreamwarden is a single consciousness. This world has what is called a primordial, the original consciousness that arose from dreams, a simpleminded thing that is best left alone. In Equestria, it is Luna, who inherited the consciousness of that dream realm from another. On Earth, there are six consciousnesses, yet in the dream realm, they're technically all the same being, only with its personality divided. Those independent parts can pass on their mantle to others. Phobia Remedy did that recently."

"That explains what they are, but what do they do?" Rainbow asked.

"Make life miserable for everyone else," Charlotte grumbled.

Blanche scowled at her but continued, "Since they have different personalities, they have different focuses. I don't know if it is intentional, but each heir has carried on the mission of the one they replace in their own way."

"How dare you! Tonya is nothing like Sha'am!" Sunset hissed.

"Does she not stand watch over the dying and give them their last dream?" Blanche asked with a raised eyebrow. "I was pretty sure that was a duty she took upon herself and still takes quite seriously. She does things her way, but she carries on Sha'am's role, as did Krik's heir, and the heir after that carries on Krik's role. Rebecca, in her way, carries on the duties of Psychic Calm, and Phobia Remedy's heir is a dark creature that teaches us to understand the things we find scary. Each warden aids dreamers in their way, teaching lessons, providing comfort, helping them through tribulations…well….aside from the heirs of Krik, who maintain the eyes and ears operations in the waking world. Every one of the six wardens has a role to play that they are chosen for."

"So, they're like guardian angels?" Rainbow asked.

Sunset, Blanche, Charlotte, and even Tempest stared at the once-vampire pegasus, and Rainbow cowered back.

"Did I say something wrong?" Rainbow asked timidly.

"Where did you come by the concept of guardian angels?" Sunset asked.

"They seem to be magical helpers who-"

Sunset shook her head. "No, I mean, did your world believe in angels? That is a concept that should only be found on Earth."

Rainbow looked confused. "But that's where I got the idea. The humans on Earth, my Earth. They're fairly religious. I'm not, but I do understand their religion."

"Tell us about it," Sunset said slowly.

"Oh!" Rainbow said, seeming surprised. "Well, They believe there was this man called Jesus who died on s cross a long, long time ago-"

"What language do they speak?" Sunset interrupted.

"Eh, they just call it the Lord's Tongue. It sounds sorta like this one, but different. They have some different words, and they stress and pronounce their words very differently. I'm not sure you and they would understand one another, maybe if you listened closely. They said they fled some place called Angland to a New World, and while they were there, everything changed. The town they settled vanished, and they couldn't find their way back to Angland. They couldn't even find the ocean anymore, and they settled on a coast."

"Fucking hell…" Blanche breathed.

Charlotte decided to ask the question she knew Sunset would ask next. "What was the name of the town that vanished?"

"Roanoke," Rainbow answered, still seeming confused about why she was suddenly being interrogated.

Sunset growled and shook her head "Goddammit, is there a single universe humanity in some form hasn't leaked into? No wonder you were constructed to look like a human and a horse!"

"Constructed?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh, you didn't figure that out?" Sunset asked. "The pair of them are just like the intuits and the transformers. They are living constructs meant to serve a purpose. And before anyone accuses me of saying she and the dumb beast aren't real, I'm not. They are living beings just like the intuits; they have all the checkmarks for lifeforms. From what I gathered from our interviews, I think they have even more autonomy than the intuits, but their origin is similar. I would dare say that close to the same spells were used."

"That seems an odd coincidence," Blanche said.

"Oh, no coincidence," Sunset said. "That Spectra stone made her, which seems to be the heart of her universe's magic. The intuits and the transformers were made with the Allspark stone. Three stones, three different universes-"

"Three?" Charlotte asked in confusion.

"The Sunstone of Equestria, which gifted its powers to Celestia and Luna," Sunset concluded. "I haven't verified it is the same yet, I haven't verified any of it yet, but I very much want to see each of these stones. There's a bigger puzzle at work here, and I intend to solve it."