Do Digital Ponies Dream of Electric Sheep?
She had never seen something like that before.
She knew this was meant to be a fantastical world, but did they really have to add in all the terrifying stuff?!
Ponies, dragons, gryphons, and all the other sentient creatures she was aware here of were normal, but a gigantic translucent bear filled with stars and magic wasn’t something she was ever warned of before or after entering this world.
But, there it was, standing over her with wrath in its eyes and her horn crushed to dust under one of its paws. She hardly knew if that horn could ever get given back to her, but it hardly mattered with her entire life in this world on the line.
She so desperately wanted to fight or run, but the massive creature before her had already slammed her into a wall and beaten her half to death, leaving her with little more than her consciousness and the ability to see and hear the terrifying beast that would kill her at any moment.
Staring up at it as it raised a paw and prepared to strike one final time, confusion swirled amidst the terror in her mind, asking why this all had to be, how this even managed to happen; she never recalled entering this cave, at all, so why?
Why was she going to perish for so little reason?
Was this world really just as bad as the one she had already escaped from?
She had been promised a paradise, and instead she was given death.
She could only let her eyes fall closed as the beast’s paw swung at her, her mind fading into oblivion amongst the machinery that made up this world, with the realization of its true horridness left to disappear along with her...
That’s how this worked, yes?
So...
Why was it taking so long to set in...?
Deciding to swallow her fears, she opened up her eyes and saw... that the beast had impossibly vanished, only to be replaced by a pony of a darker and cooler blue, with a starry translucent mane, and both a set of wings and a horn...
“Tempest Shadow,” The pony, a mare, Tempest could now tell, spoke to her as she looked towards her.
Letting herself exhale in a mixture of relief and confusion, Tempest found her breaths far less laboured than they were previously, making her practically jump to her hooves in surprise and look over herself for any of the many large bruises or scars that had just blemished her purple fur, only to find them all gone. Noticing something out of her peripheral, she looked up to see her horn having been restored and sitting atop her forehead once more, making her sigh again, this time more fully in relief.
However, some confusion still lingered in her mind, and so she looked over at the mare standing across from her in the cave and asked hesitantly, “Hello..?”
The mare bowed curtly in acknowledgement, and spoke in a composed, though somewhat apologetic tone, “We are thankful thou art still well, Miss Shadow. This realm hath been volatile in a scale unprecedented and unpredicted by Us or Our Creators, so We must apologize for the mental harm that hath come to thineself.”
Squinting in confusion at the odd manner of speech, Tempest took a moment to parse and understand it, but it still didn’t answer her questions; “I appreciate it, but I’d like to ask; who are you, and what is ‘this realm’?”
“This... is Our Realm of Dreams, Miss Shadow,” The pony spoke, and looked up at the ceiling of the cave, and as Tempest followed, she found that the previously closed ceiling had faded away into a beautiful starry sky, complete with faint clouds and an incredible aurora.
It took her several seconds to take her eyes off it, as it was a sight she’d never seen before, even in this--well, the ‘real’ world, as opposed to the dream world she apparently now found herself in. Finally looking down at the mare across from her in the cave, she then found the entire cave having vanished as well, replaced by a snow-covered forest of crystalline trees, no doubt meant to be in that ‘Crystal Empire’ she had heard about before.
“And We,” The pony continued, pulling Tempest’s attention back to her as a cool breeze began to sweep across the area, “Art the program deigned with overseeing this realm, so separate from Our sister’s World of Waking, that We hast been needed as a new being; one named LunAI, or simply spoken as Luna.”
“Oh,” Tempest muttered in acknowledgement at the name, but the information about the world she was in was more important to her, and with the foreknowledge about the pony world as a whole, she felt forced to ask, “So, they’ve recently added dreams..?”
Nodding, Luna replied, “That is correct. A world beheld by such little logic ‘twas beyond Our Creators for time untold, been fraught with contradictions inordinate, though hath been since trimmed ‘til but a few remained.” She sighed with slight despondent, seemingly under the weight of it all, leaving the other mare a few moments to understand the speech. “Unfortunately, these few do impact greatly the subsystems that hath split my mind, with these realms of whimsy being instead of terror as a result.”
Pausing for a few seconds to observe Tempest, Luna seemed to pay close attention to the scar across her right that was kept from her previous self, until she spoke carefully, “Thou art no meaningful victim of the Tantabus, with the nightmare upon thineself being a symptom of the system’s instability. ‘Twas meant to target those presently corrupt, not those whomst mistakes hath already changed them.”
Blinking with the continued fruitless attempts to get used to the mare’s speech, Tempest managed to understand the concept, though she still had to ask, “So, why am I being targeted then?”
“Not We, nor Our Creators understand this glitch,” Luna replied apologetically, but did add as the other pony’s gaze fell, “But a hypothesis may be of the other subsystem within Our mind; one even less perfect and even more ruthless, though thankfully hath spared you as of yet, with it’s specified date of not having come with your short time here.”
Nodding along for a moment, Tempest sharply stopped as she recognized something; “That’s like The Daybreak,” She muttered, only partially to herself, then looked back towards Luna and, noting the curious look, added, “That’s what we called the annual event where a lot of people were purged from the system, around... June twenty, if I’m not mistaken..?”
Eyes lighting up with understanding, Luna nodded and responded, “Yes; ‘tis is the Daybreaker Mode of Celestia, whereupon at the Summer Solstice, ponies art Judged, and if their current sins great enough, they art... terminated.”
“Oh,” Tempest soberly said in comprehension, and off-handedly noted, “A lot of people thought it was some kind of glitch with overflowing or something...”
“Hm, well, judgement ‘tis not the only purpose,” Luna noted, snapping the other mare’s attention back to her, “‘Tis indeed also meant as a method to clean disk space, though only ancillary to judgement.”
“...’Ancillary’?”
“Secondary, or less vital,” Luna defined.
Nodding in understanding and thanks, Tempest let the knowledge of the Daybreaker’s nature settle in for a moment, with the sobering thought of ‘termination’ making it clear this world was hardly as perfect as it was touted, though possibly all done for keeping it as good as possible...?
However, as she traced back through her conversation, she remembered why they were on the topic to begin with, and it made her ask, “Wait, so if Celestia has ‘Daybreaker’, then what do you have?”
Seeming to grow melancholic at the question, Luna took a deep breath before answering, “It is called the Nightmare, and ‘tis meant to be wrought upon the world amidst the night of the Winter Solstice, whereupon it shall psychologically torture its victims in an effort to impart upon them the error of their ways so that they mayhaps learn before the reckoning of the Daybreak comes.”
“...And that’s separate from this, uh... ‘Tantabus’ you mentioned earlier?”
“Yes,” Luna nodded, though hesitated slightly as if possessed by the question herself before elaborating, “The two entities, while scarcely distinct in methodology, art not meant to fulfill the same purpose within the same time, so they ought to be kept separate.”
Taking a deep breath as she let all the knowledge rotate around in her mind for a short while, Tempest looked around her to find that the snowy crystal forest she and Luna were in had grown still and quiet during their conversation, seeming almost eerie for a moment amidst the dark fog, but as if looking back towards it was the cause, the wind kicked up once more and whistled across the surroundings and the ponies there.
Noting the oddity, but moving her attention back to Luna, she hesitantly asked of her, “So, how long should the Tantabus take to get fixed? I... don’t think I can take nightmares like the one you walked into here for all that long...”
Seeming to understand the concern, Luna thought for a second before answering, “With it’s likely connection to Our Nightmare, they both ought to be fixed before the Solstice is upon us. However,” She quickly added before Tempest could get disheartened at the prospect, “Thou art scarcely alone in this undeserving torment, and Our Creators hast been made aware of it all, so Our Tantabus shall likely be disabled or otherwise muted in some aspect to keep thou and thine safe in thy minds.
“Even then,” She continued, noting the other mare’s suspicion, “We, as this world’s Keeper, shall personally do what we are able to keep thou safe here.”
“Oh,” Tempest muttered in surprise and thankfulness, though still took a deep breath at the idea of her dreams being meddled with by these forces she didn’t understand, and looked up at the sky to try and calm herself.
Even with the idealistic and perfect nature of these worlds she had joined being peeled away right in front of her eyes, she still felt like this was better than what came before, especially when these ‘mysterious’ forces were actually pretty forthcoming...
“If We may...” Luna spoke softly, pulling Tempest’s gaze and attention back toward her again, “Thou hath already known of these worlds’ ostensible, yet untrue nature, no?”
Thinking about the question and what she had recalled from her time before entering, Tempest soon answered, “In a sense; it was often portrayed as ‘perfect’, but it was obvious from the many patch notes that wasn’t quite true.”
“Then, may We ask, why, pray tell, thou hast decided to join these worlds?” Luna asked, and at the sharp squint from the other pony, appended, “We art not questioning or judging thine decision; just curious.”
Sighing heavily, Tempest wasn’t sure how much she wanted to divulge about her past life, but... she could at least repay Luna’s favour in advance. “I felt like, whatever this place would be like, it would have to be better than what I dealt with back then,” She spoke, watching Luna’s keen interest and sympathy show in her eyes. “I didn’t trust the idea of these worlds too much, but I kept getting beaten down at every turn in that world, from commanded like a dog in the military to being forced into a system or else getting thrown aside in any other job, and with more and more news about horrible things that kept happening and affecting so many people, I... couldn’t possibly imagine another world existing where things would be worse than that.”
She could see Luna nod with a solemn frown on her face, clearly aware that these worlds were mostly made as an escape from the horrid world above, and a thought crossed her own mind, making her laugh. “You know, I actually gave myself this name a long while before I actually managed to enter,” She said, biting her lip as she recalled the awkward and embarrassing conversations she had with herself due to giving herself that name, “So I’m thankful that worked out, but I’m still not all that used to the pony-based terminology around here...”
Expression shifting into a smile, Luna looked up at the sky herself and spoke assuredly, “Thou shall find thine place in these worlds within due time, Tempest; of that We art certain.”
Inhaling through her nostrils and gulping down her worry, Tempest looked up at the myriad stars and constellations thereof that the system manifested before her had constructed, and along with the beautiful blue and green gradients that she’d never known before, it allowed her to calm down just a little. “I’m not that confident, but,” She said, pausing for a moment to exhale a visible breath in the cool air, “...Thank you.”
