Chapter 4: You've Changed

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

• Doctor Seuss

I open my eyes, hoping to fianlly be awake, awake in Ponyville. But I'm not. I scowl. Well, did I really expect to wake up normal? It doesn't matter now, though, because I have one more task to finish.

I'm in a world of gray. Gray sidewalk, bordered by a gray cement wall, with gray fields and gray factories in the distance, letting off darker gray fumes. And it's all held together by a sky covered in depressing light gray clouds, probably helped by those toxic fumes... And Derpy isn't here to try and clear them up (even if she is gray). Everything is so sad, somehow. Even I feel lonesome here. But maybe that's just because I miss Tavi - or maybe it's just 'cause I hate this sick dream and I want to go home.

I keep thinking about Tavi. Who cares if she appears in my dream? It's worth it. Her gray body, her dark hair, the splash of color on the white choker she always wears. I'd never thought about how much I'd miss her when she's gone for too long, but now I'm forced to be away from her, and I feel that longing to have her next to me. I guess it's my fault.

I turn to sit down and wonder about what's going to happen next, when a glimpse of red passes my eyes. I narrow them. Something's strange here. Then I look up... And there's a colossal red brick building right in front of me. The only color in this dream is here, but yet it's still depressing. Then I notice somepony in the window, the upstairs window. Gray body, dark hair... And is that... A white choker? Octavia is staring down at me from the window, her head in her hooves. She's smiling as if in a daydream herself. And I'm instantly glad I summoned her with my thoughts about her - I'm smiling ear-to-ear.

Then I see something flash in her eyes. A glint of bright red, then back to her original color. Then her eyes turn red again, except they don't blink back, and her body changes... I leap back in horror, my signature glasses fall and they shatter on the ground. Tavi's body is now a living corpse - she's decaying before my eyes. I can't find my voice; I don't have time to wonder whether that was because I went so quickly from joy to horror or not. What's worse is that she jumps out of the window now, and her body below her torso is missing, and I'm completely frozen to the spot. The other dreams were weird, but this is unbelievable - I find myself staring at the hollow black eyes, and when she sees that I'm staring, she starts running at me. I brace myself to be knocked over, because I haven't yet learned anything from zombie Octavia being here, charging at me like Little Strongheart did earlier. And I know from the past dream segments that if I haven't learned something or done something I wouldn't have - gave into something I thought was useless, been so brave it was stupid, gave the enemy a bear hug - I wouldn't move on to the next dream.

So... I won't move on? I think as I clench my teeth and shut my eyes tightly, before deciding not to give this any more thought. Just in case this is the end, I don't want to die with pessimistic feelings.

Then what? My eyes are closed. I have no idea. But I can hear a squeak. Yes, a loud, high-pitched squeak, probably coming from that... That thing that I thought was Tavi. Then, a few seconds later, when there's no noise, I dare open one eye, just a smidge.

And Princess Luna is standing right there, in front of me. Before I can even say something stupid that I would have regretted, she smiles at me. "Vinyl, it seems to me that this dream has been longer than you'd wanted."

I don't stammer or say something dumb, but I smile back, a little shyly (considering that I'm in the presence of the princess, I don't want to act awkward, even though I'm ecstatic that I might finally get away). "Y-yeah... It's been a long day..." To my surprise, Luna doesn't turn into any crazy troll or cake monster or zombie, but she motions for me to follow her into her chariot, which is descending from the sky for us in an aura of blue magic, and we climb in and ride the moonbeams away from Dreamland and back to reality.