Transference

How much time had passed since Celestia's death? It felt like it must have been decades ago... a whole potential lifetime lost yet again.

The initial plan had been for me to take over Twilight, or anypony else for that matter, should it become necessary for Luna's wish to come to fruition. I was very much on board with that at first.

Luna wanted me to be some sort of fall-back in case somepony were to oppose her vision of a united world. Getting things in the right direction by taking over other nations' leaders, or at worst, removing them completely from the equation for the greater good.

I had hoped for an opportunity to find a host in the process. A potential enemy, for example, would have been an ideal candidate to test out Luna's theory for a permanent takeover.

Unfortunately, such a chance never came to pass.

Turns out, Twilight had been the perfect mare for the job and the sister Luna always wanted by her side. A pair of equals, loved by all and with almost the same mindset. There was simply no need for further bloodshed or deceptions.

After Twilight took the crown, so many years ago, one of her first acts as the newly appointed co-ruler, was giving all species the freedom to live and work in their pony kingdom, wherever they wanted and without restrictions, even Canterlot was open.

Before that, only the students of Twilight's School of Friendship had these rights with a special student visa. Something that had taken Twilight quite some persuasion for Celestia to give her consent back then.

Of course, not all ponies were open to the idea at first, mostly nobles. However, Luna and Twilight were able to deal with them on their own. A few threats from Luna, some heartwarming words of true friendship by Twilight, and voila, done. So there was also no need for me there.

Her close friends, quite a bit past their prime, also became great ambassadors and were highly successful in their given tasks to promote this new era. The openness was adopted by the other kingdoms very quickly after its success and its benefits became known all over.

Today you can see all kinds of creatures living together. Pegasi and Griffons, just being one example, living together in Cloudsdale and Griffonstone, sharing their cultures and advancements with each other more than ever before in pony history.

Another well-known story around Ponyville was Pinkie's sisters, who had moved to Yakyakistan to open their own rock farm and employed many yaks there. They called it rock-crushing there, though. Yaks became known as the best rock crushers.

Twilight had truly grown into a princess worthy of the title. She now looked a lot more like the other princesses as well, regally tall, and slender. Even had her own little faithful student. Luster Dawn was her name.

It was all going perfectly well from what I could tell, true world peace, or something. A fairy friendship tale... Luna had already achieved what she so desired. Good for her.

An intervention from my side was not required. Forbidden even at this point in time.

I did truly believe that Luna was still looking out for a possibility for me to come into the world of the living again. However, I had the feeling we both had very different understandings when it came to perceiving time.

For Luna, a natural immortal, who had already spent a thousand years banished to the moon, a few decades didn't mean much at all. So it appeared to me as if she wasn't in a hurry to find a quick solution. At the same time, I felt like my mind was deteriorating at an alarming rate.

Luckily, I realized that I could take copies of items out of a dream. Books or newspapers, for example, if they were part of one. Most books I found were from Twilight's dreams. She dreamt of libraries a lot, who would have thought.

Sure, I was aware that I wouldn't die of old age there, but the mind of a human was not made to live forever in a place such as this one. I was missing out and it was hurting my psyche a lot.

While being reduced to a sole spectator of others' dreams, I felt how my sanity slowly drifted away with each day that passed. I wanted to feel alive again and touch them. In more ways than I wanted to admit to myself at first.

I had changed over time, that much was clear to me. I could hardly remember who I even had been before. I had no true identity or values anymore, a true nopony.

Not wanting to displease Luna, I did my very best to suppress my feelings and the perversions that were creeping into my mind lately. In vain, of course, Luna knew damn well how I felt in her domain. The feeling of being read openly at any given time didn't help.

I wondered if she observed me while I was dream-walking. Did she truly trust me to follow her word?

Ruminating, I just sat there, looking into the void. Sometimes making my mind come to life to find some entertainment.

"I noticed some concerning changes in your behavior," Luna noted after appearing next to me while looking at the images floating around me. "You must be patient, the time for you will come, I promised you that."

Not looking at her I answered, "Don't worry, I can differentiate between what's real and what's not... I think."

A pause followed. The images around me turned wild. Awkward, but I didn't feel shame any longer.

Luna looked at me, and sighed. "Fine, but please, you mustn't threaten the peace we have achieved. Do not do anything rash out of selfishness."

I looked over at her with tired eyes. "Sure, Luna, let's talk again in another ten years or so," I said, not meaning what I said seriously.

"Of course, I shall leave you alone for now. Until we meet again," Luna said her goodbye, dead serious.

With an open mouth, I watched her turn around, fading away into a light blue mist as she walked away from me.

I mean, surely I would see her sooner than that again, but the way she had answered made me feel anxious. At least I could still feel something.

How much longer? Another decade, a hundred years, maybe even thousands of years?

Mumbling to myself, I started walking in circles.

I couldn't take this anymore. I wanted to get out of there, sooner than later.