Like a shooting star, the mysterious being flew through the air and landed not too far away from the floating mirror.

The mirror shined bright one last time before it shattered to the ground, breaking into a thousand pieces. The glowing fragments made the dark ground appear like the night sky for a brief moment.

Luna had already taken a few steps back and was watching the arrival unfold. Lying on the ground was now a glowing creature she had never seen or heard of before. As there was no sign of movement, Luna presumed the biped to be in shock, which didn't come as a surprise.

The being reminded Luna of a mix between a minotaur and a diamond dog, so rather unappealing in her books. While she was still examining the being, while keeping her distance, the unknown creature started to transform. The process was almost instant, and after another bright light had illuminated the void around them, it looked as if the biped had shifted into a more familiar equine form. A pony.

While this was nothing out of the ordinary in the dream realm, if one wished upon it, that is, Luna doubted it was a deliberate act of the former biped. It rather confirmed to her that the entity simply did not exist in this world in its former shape, and therefore had adjusted to something more befitting to the rules of the reality it found itself in.

After the light had dimmed, Luna walked over to the pony. She could now clearly see that it was an earth pony with pale gray fur. The mane and tail in a charcoal shade gave a strong contrast. The shine of the fur also almost gave the impression as if the body was see-through. The citizens of the Crystal Empire came to mind. He also seemed to have no cutie mark despite being an adult.

Luna sat down in front of the colt looking down at him. The bright turquoise eyes of the pony were still unfocused, not looking at anything in particular. He obviously needed more time. But so did Luna, for she knew that there would be questions following soon, for which she had no answers to offer yet.

My eyes hurt and I could barely see. All those bright lights. What was happening? Did I die?

Focusing my eyes in front, I saw a familiar horse looking down at me. Which didn't surprise me much, though. I was used to seeing things like that and other weird stuff quite often lately. They really must have been giving me the good stuff those past few days in the hospital. So I just smiled and waved at her, noticing my hooves while I did.

"Oh, that's new!" I giggled while clopping my hooves together.

"You are finally awake. And in good spirits it seems," said best princess.

Looking at her with big eyes, my smile wavered. They had never talked to me before.

"I must still be dreaming," I said out loud in an uncertain voice.

"Yes, you could put it like that," Luna said with a warm smile.

Looking around me, I noticed the place I was in. Mostly dark, but still with light coming from various directions in different colors. Looking like a pitch black night sky with a few stars coming to life here and there just to die out and fade away again, while the occasional stream of color was drawn through the air like it was pulled by some force in the distance.

"I am the Princess of-," Luna started to speak.

"Ok, thanks, now shut up for a moment, Luna. This is freaking me out and I need to think," I said before closing my eyes, trying to calm myself down.

I would surely wake up soon, no doubt. Or had I been put in a coma? Did this dream feel so different because I was dreaming while being in a comatose state? I couldn't tell, maybe I had dreamt this realistic before but just couldn't remember afterward. Thinking of my cancer and latest prognosis, I wasn't sure if I wanted to wake up anyway. But this was all a bit too much for me right now and I wasn't really in the mood to interact with anyone or anypony in this case.

With anger and bewilderment showing on Luna's face, she came closer and looked me straight in the eyes. "I do wonder how you know of my name. But do not think I will let you further speak to me in this tone without consequences. And just so we are clear, it is Princess Luna to you."

Looking at her beautiful eyes, I just dumbly nodded. I then remembered vaguely what had happened. I had stepped into the light to escape the fire and excruciating pain. I felt ashamed, since she did save me from a nightmare I had. Exactly like in the show! So I chose to play this along. I mean, why not? It's just a silly dream.

With remorse, I asked for forgiveness. "Please, Princess Luna, forgive my disrespect, for I was not in a clear mind."

Having no problems standing up on my four hooves, which was probably due to all of it just being a dream, I even managed to bow before her.

"I hope that I will remember this conversation when I wake up", I said, still looking down, noticing the floor was riddled with small shards.

With a frown, Luna looked at me. "I'm afraid, you can't go back to your world."

"Wait, what do you mean? I mean, not that I'm looking forward to my sweaty hospital bed and piss-bags," I said confused but with a grin trying to lift my mood with a bit of dark humor.

"That nightmare you had, would have been your last if you had stayed in your world," Luna explained. "Your soul, spirit, what you are right here and now, would have ceased existing as your body stopped functioning. This would have meant for your life to have ended as your soul would have carried onwards beyond. Way too soon for a youngling like you. It didn't feel right to me to let that happen. So I brought you here instead."

Still perplexed by what Lund had said, I tried to process what it all meant.

"So you saved my soul," I said, trying to follow this up from my side. "So I can continue living here in Equestria instead?"

Concluding that I had just cheated death and the promise of a new, healthy life in pastel pony-world, I started to cheer up visually. I couldn't believe it.

"Yes, but..." Luna said slowly.

That wasn't good. I didn't like that kind of but.

Waiting for her to continue, I just stared at her to tell me what the catch was to all this. It did seem too good to be true.

"Again, I don't understand why you seem to know about Equestria and myself. But you will not, at least for the time being, be able to leave the dreamscape here. You have no equivalent to your spirit here, no physical body." said Luna in an unusually regretful tone.

The realization finally hit me and I had to take a deep breath. "I am trapped here.. You trapped me here... in this no man's land?"

Luna, visibly uncomfortable with the situation, "I will find a solution for you to continue a normal life, do not worry, everything will turn out to be fine. Besides, you can do whatever your heart desires here in the dreamscape, so it's not all bad."

"I..." was all I could muster saying at that moment.

Luna, looking into the distance like she had heard something. "I will have to go for now. I have other duties I must fulfill. Please, trust that everything will be alright."

"You are leaving me alone in here, right after you presumably saved me?" I said with disbelief and with panic dwelling up inside me again.

Luna started to fade, "You are safe here. You will not have any worldly needs. Set your imagination to whatever your heart desires to keep you entertained."

And just like that, I felt more alone than I ever had before in my past life.

Unsure about what to feel, I just sat there silently as a pony, looking around the dreamscape and wondering about my life choices and the choices that had been made for me.

Ruminating, I realized something rather important that distracted me from the rather serious situation. Luna never asked me my name and I would have to come up with a pony name, obviously.

My old past was dead, that's what she said. Then so was my old name to me. I couldn't help but smile at the thought and started thinking about one more befitting me.

Author's Note

Constructive criticism and grammar correction very welcome in comments!

Also name ideas, since the mc has not been named yet :)