Dreams of Ash
An analysis of “The Road “ through the perspective of My Little Pony
A single bird chirped in the distance. The first note to a new day, high and bright. The sun had yet to fully rise over the rolling hills, but verdant fields could already be seen for miles. The morning dew clung to the grass in the valleys, and life bubbled in every reach of the land. The sun continued its lethargic pace upward, but it had not been bidden yet. Its rays had yet to find the mountain city that held its sovereign, and what light existed rippled through the crisp morning air. There was only one room that was secluded from the stubborn rays of light, and the princess of the night slept there fitfully.
In her mind, she saw the ruins of a civilization far removed from her own, its remaining inhabitants scrambling for one last breath before their demise. She trembled in its scope and horror, and searched for anything to latch onto - anything to overlook the vision of a future that paled any sin she had ever imagined. What she found was a boy. Though the child was suffering, she felt comfort as she sought refuge in his mind. But even this act imparted a certain kind of horror onto her, as a wind-up penguin maliciously invaded her thoughts.
She awoke, her chest clenched in fear. Soon enough, though, rational thought regained control of her mind. Her heartbeat slowed, and her breaths calmed. She shook her head in disbelief.
“What was that idle flight of fantasy, I wonder,” she whispered to herself.
The lunar princess walked down to the main dining room of the castle, her mind preoccupied. As she walked in, she immediately saw her sister already awake and eating breakfast. Her sister spoke up.
“Luna, you’re up early.”
“Yes, I... had some very peculiar dreams last night.”
Luna hoped that the vague answer would dissuade her sister, Celestia, from prodding further. Unfortunately, she had misjudged her fellow alicorn.
“You are privy to the collective dreams of every pony in our kingdom, Luna. What could you possibly see that would give you pause?”
Luna winced almost imperceptibly. She had forgotten just how shrewd her sister was. In truth, Luna wasn’t sure what to think of her dream.
“I think... it was a large penguin,” she finally answered, a blush forming over her dark blue features.
Celestia merely arched an eyebrow, as if to say, “And?”
Luna sighed. “It was a child’s toy, actually. A wind-up doll, and ‘the winder wasn’t turning’ while it walked (37). It was startling, to say the least.”
“Sister, please, don’t do this. There’s more to this dream than a simple toy, I can tell. One thousand years alone on the moon can’t change those unique tell-tale signs of yours.” Celestia’s eyes pleaded with Luna. “Please, tell me what’s troubling you.”
Luna looked down at the floor. She admired the intricate patterns laced into the smooth marble.
“Tia, is there a place in the world that appears simply dark, and bleak? As if all life had been sucked away?” she asked suddenly.
Celestia paused in thought, shaking her head after a moment. “None that I can think of. The dragons live in the volcanic badlands to the north. There are also the northern and southern poles, but... I get the impression that this is not what you refer to.”
The princess of the night shook her head. “No. I think it was just a strange occurrence, nothing to worry about. Forget I ever mentioned it.”
Celestia looked at her worryingly, but nodded despite her misgivings. The two alicorns finished their breakfast and headed their separate ways, royal duties demanding they attend to a country that thrived on the contentment of its people.
Later that night, the two had retired to their respective rooms. Luna approached her bed with trepidation, fearing what she might if the nightmare from before returned. She laid down, steeling her nerves for whatever was to come. After a scant few minutes, sleep had wrestled her away into the land of dreams, so rich in color.
In her dream, she watched over the man and boy as they slept inside a small metal shed. She could see both of their dreams as wisps of flame... like the shape of a flower, a molten rose. She hesitated, wary of the dark reality stowed in the depths of their hallucinations. Thinking back to the conversation she had held with her sister that day, she decided to explore the world she found herself in. Spreading her wings, she flew through the air, swathes of land disappearing beneath her in the blink of an eye. She flew on, taking in the monotonous ash grey highlighted by muddy browns, dull greens, and
the occasional faded rainbow of automobiles left on the winding paths of asphalt.
One of these collections of vehicles caught her eye, and she landed lightly on the blackened tar. She looked around, the dark blue alicorn inspecting the devastation before her. Boxes and bags. Everything melted and black. Old plastic suitcases curled shapeless in the heat. Here and there the imprint of things wrested out of the tar by scavengers. A mile on, she came across figures half mired in the blacktop, clutching themselves, mouths howling,. Realizing that these were people, much like the boy and man she had left behind, Luna recoiled. Bile rose in her throat, and her mind begged her eyes to divert their attention away from the hideous sight. After a tortuously long second, she managed to look away. Taking a deep breath, she settled on returning to the boy and his father, wanting to forget the indescribable scene. She took off, a gust of wind billowing where she had stood only a moment ago. In seconds, she had rediscovered the duo, still sound asleep.
Their dreams were still open to her. At any moment she could plunge into their subconscious. She looked between them, debating which she would delve into first, whether she should even take the risk. Her eyes settled on the man.
Surely his dreams are more stable than the boy’s, she thought to herself. Trembling, she stepped closer to the man and lowered her horn. It was inches away from the sprite of thought. A tendril of magic ignited her horn, and she closed the final gap between them.
She was floating, the night sky somewhat darker than what it had been moments ago. She looked around in confusion,
wondering why her spell hadn't worked. She looked downward, finally noticing that the pair had disappeared. She heard a whisper, the soft rasp of a male. Luna flicked her ears instinctively, trying to find the source. She heard the whisper again, this time much more audible. It possessed the sound of a strange, haunting narration to her.
“Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp." Luna felt her heart jump into her neck. There was a sob, far off in the distance. A woman.
“Tia? Sister, are you-”
“How else would death call you?” Luna’s eyes burned, and she saw the boy in a dream laid out upon a cooling-board, his ‘ candle-colored skin all but translucent. A tear fell from her eye, then she felt something tug at the nape of her neck. There was a curious sensation of free-fall.
Luna landed heavily, her dark blue hooves wobbling on the ground, her breaths ponderous. She looked up to see that the man had woken in horror. What he could bear in the waking world he could not by night and he sat awake for fear the dream would return. The lunar princess looked upon the man pitifully. Her resolve was faltering with every moment she spent with the pair. The man was settling down again, and Luna watched him morosely.
With only one sprite left for her to explore, she gritted her teeth and approached the dream of the boy. Another burst of magic, and she entered his imagination.
There was nothing. There was no night, no cold earth beneath her hooves. No errant thoughts to disturb her peace. The expanse around her felt massive, and restricting. Her breath caught in her throat, yet she felt so strangely untroubled. Contemplating the vast emptiness around her, it was sometime before she noticed something in the distance. A bright light, growing brighter as time passed. She shielded her eyes, and could make out the outline of a fire through the blinding light. Turning away and blinking, she saw two figures in the distance, one lying on the ground, and the other hunched over its companion. Faced with heading towards the giant flame or the pair of creatures in the distance, Luna decided to investigate the latter.
She approached the pair, and soon their shape was clarified. The much smaller boy was hunched over a body. He was sobbing. Intrigued, Luna circled around the two to better view what had occurred. When she saw the body, she stopped mid-stride. Ice seethed through her veins, and her mind struggled to make sense of what she was observing.
No, no. The man - the man was still alive. I saw him! He was still alive! W-Why is he dead? What is this, he can’t - no. No!
She blinked, ready to yell and collapse to the ground. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in the metal shed with the boy and the man, the large flame gone. She blinked several times, making sure she was out of the boy’s dream.
The father and son were both awake now, and the wisps of thought they had held were gone. The boy was sitting up wrapped in his blanket.
What is it?
Nothing. I had a bad dream.
What did you dream about?
Nothing.
Are you okay?
No.
He put his arms around him and held him. It’s okay, he said.
I was crying, but you didn't wake up.
I’m sorry. I was just so tired.
I meant in the dream.
Luna leaned against the metal of the shed, the cold aluminum shocking her body from its lack of warmth. The princess was on the verge of tears; her legs shivered. A gasp. A shaky exhalation.
Waking in the cold dawn the dream turned to ash instantly. Like certain ancient frescoes entombed for centuries suddenly exposed to the day. The princess felt like she had finished a marathon. Panting heavily, Luna stood up from her bed and walked to the window. She had no desire to go through her guards and put on a brave face for whomever else she would encounter this early in the morning. Spreading her wings and pushing open the glass panels, she jumped and glided through the air, making her way to her sister’s personal quarters.
In the air, Luna had a minute where all she could do was think. The city below her was spread far and wide; a magnificent spectacle that she would appreciate on any given day. In her mind, she could only see the dull rainbow colors of the few ponies below her sink into the ground. Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, the glorious mountain city that stretched to the heavens and had endured for centuries, burned. She smelt ash.
Sniffing, she forced herself to dispel the illusion. Birds were chirping, vibrant colors existed. Her entire existence hadn't been wiped away, despite the misgivings of her imagination. She contemplated that thought, and her mind. So sharp, so old, so easily perturbed.
I don’t feel over two millennia old.
Luna finally landed at the balcony to Celestia’s room. The white alicorn was already awake, having just finished raising the sun for the day. She glanced over in surprise when she heard the window creak open.
“Luna? Why are you up so early again? Is it -”
She stopped, noticing her sister’s distraught face. Celestia walked to the door and opened it only wide enough to talk to the guards posted outside.
“Find the servants, and have two mugs of hot cocoa sent up. On the double, if you please.”
The two pegasus guards outside saluted before rocketing off to the kitchens. Celestia turned around and discovered Luna had already collapsed on the large bed. Walking over with a deliberate step, Celestia approached her sister. She stepped onto the bed and sat next to Luna, who let her head hang limply from her neck.
“Luna? Sister, dear, is this about the dream from the night before?”
The dark blue princess nodded listlessly.
“Then talk to me about it. We have grown together for millennia, there’s nothing-.”
“No. We haven’t. When I transformed into Nightmare Moon one thousand years ago, I - I betrayed you. I betrayed Equestria. If you hadn't s-stopped me, I-”
Say it. You both know what happened, there’s no point in beating around the bush.
“Equestria would have been thrown into permanent darkness as I k-killed or exiled you. It was inexcusable, you should have done f-far more than simply banish me to the moon.” Luna was on the verge of tears, anguish painted onto her face.
Celestia sighed, having hoped that this conversation would never surface.
“What happened was unavoidable, Luna. It’s past us now, and our land is thriving like never before. I have forgiven you, and so has Equestria. Please, don’t be so hard on yourself.”
There was a knock at the door. Celestia stood up and trotted to the door. Opening it, she saw one of the ponies from the royal kitchens holding a tray with two mugs filled with a generous amount of hot cocoa. Celestia smiled as sincerely as she could.
“Thank you, my little pony.” She levitated the two mugs with her magic, then closed the door before walking back to the bed. She hovered one of the mugs to Luna, who wordlessly grasped it with her own aura of magic.
“Tia, why shouldn't I be so hard on myself? We were one mistake from ending centuries of civilization. It’s not... it wouldn't be a pleasant sight.”
“You say that it would not be pleasant... is this what you saw in your dream?” Celestia was alerted by what her sister said, but she calmly sipped her cocoa.
“Not ours. Another world’s. There was ash, cold wind, death everywhere... All I found was a man and his son.”
Luna told her sister of what she had witnessed, from the blackened corpses to the unending ash. She explained what she had seen in the pair’s dreams, their own tumultuous nightmares fleshed out for her to bear witness to. Every detail was laid bare before the white alicorn.
Celestia set her mug down, the drink long finished before Luna’s story had ended.
“And... what do you fear from this, Luna? The possibility of a broken future? Or do you empathize with the man and child?”
Luna shook her head. Realizing she hadn't taken a single sip of her cocoa, she downed the entire mug in three gulps. She set it down on the night stand, right next to Celestia’s. She shuddered.
“I don’t want to lose you again. There have been so many close calls in our lives. And then when I let my jealousy take control, our society almost vanished. A thousand years of solitude... a mortal would have gone insane, could they even live that long.”
Celestia stared straight ahead, weighing her next words carefully.
“Luna, the day you gave into the Nightmare, and we fought for dominance... that was the single worst day of my long life. Not because of my injuries, or because of the decades of chaos that came because of it. It was because I banished you, and I knew that I might never greet you as sister again. Yes, we aren't mortals, but neither are we perfect. We balance each other; the sun, and the moon. You’re my little sister, and I love you. Nothing will change that.”
Luna’s head rose, and a hint of a smile graced her lips.
“I know, and I love you too. But I’m afraid. How can something so enduring go so wrong in the blink of an eye? If you were to vanish, or if the kingdom fell... Our lives would meaningless, with or without each other.”
Celestia hugged the dark blue alicorn sitting next to her. “I would never leave you. We have an unimaginable amount of time ahead of us; we can rise from the ashes of any catastrophe that is thrown at us, so long as we stay together.”
Luna finally smiled. “I’m... glad to know you have you such confidence.”
“Something is still troubling you. We have some time before we hold court, you know.”
Luna shook her head sadly.
“I’m simply concerned for the man and the boy. I know, somewhere, they are still struggling. All they have is each other. If the child died, the father might have the wherewithal to continue on. But if the father died... I don’t know. The child would be without direction, without safety. Who will find him if he’s lost? Who will find the little boy?".
Celestia gazed out the window, unsure of what to say. Her thoughts were preoccupied by her sister, not of the child. After a second, though, Celestia realized she already had an answer; something her sister had already proved by redeeming herself and rising above her jealousy.
She smiled.
“Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It will again."
Author's Note
This story is unedited from what I submitted in class, aside from the deletion of personal information and annotations that would only aid someone who had never seen My Little Pony before. Hope you enjoyed!
