“Well, you are in a bad mood.” Luna said as we met in the realm between dreams, “What happened?”
I settled down next to her with a sigh, leaning against her side as I watched the portal next to us for any sign of a Night Terror before I nuzzled at her neck, “Sunset Shimmer.”
“Oh?” Luna asked with a smile as she nosed at my ear, “What did she do this time?”
Sighing I shook my head, “Mainly... being Sunset Shimmer.”
“Ah.” Luna said with a grin and nipped at my ear tip, “I have known ponies like that in the past. In my experience, you end up either killing or bedding them.”
“Not you too...” I groaned, putting my head against her neck.
“Just teasing, My Page.” she said with a grin in her voice, giving my ear a nip, “What did she do?”
“...She leers at my wings.” I admitted. There was no way in hell I was bringing the rest of it up.
“Well, they are nice wings...”
I raised my head to look at her and Luna smiled, nuzzling, “Relax. You do realize it's something you should get used to, right?”
“You are in a mood today.”
“Mhmm.” She agreed with a nod, “Not sure why, I just am. Now, don't worry about it. You do not think I feature in quite a few dreams? Or my sister?”
I didn't exactly like that fact, but it was something you just have to live with when being together with a goddess.
“Or you?” She continued with a smile, “You don't think there are plenty of mares dream of Princess Luna's consort? Even without knowing you are an alicorn?”
Sighing I nodded, “True.”
“My Page... are you blushing?”
Yes.
“No.”
“Yes, you are.” she teased and nuzzled, “It's cute.”
“...The world known author, Blank Page, Lord of Equestria, consort of Princess Luna, speaker with the hive, bringer of peace with the changelings, and vanquisher of Tirek... Is cute.”
Luna grinned, “I'll go as far as handsome.”
“I'll take handsome.” I sighed and shifted to kiss her softly, “I just have to deal with it, don't I?”
“Yes. But if you are really uncomfortable about it, have you asked Sunset Shimmer to stop?”
“I... uhm... no?”
Luna shook her head, “So?”
“...I'll deal with it. Asking her to stop would be letting her win.” I answered after a long moment, putting my wing across her back, leaning against her side with a small smirk, “I'll let you know if I decide to kill her or otherwise.”
“Otherwise?” Luna snorted and shifted to look at me with a mock glare, “Otherwise!? I'll teach you otherwise!” she exclaimed with a grin before she pounced.
“Eep!”
Not sure how long time passed. Time doesn't pass the same way here as it does in the real world. It could have been minutes or could have been hours. Dreams are different like that and I have not really learned how to keep track yet.
“Time for me to wake up now.” Luna sighed and pulled me closer with her front legs, “It's almost time to raise the moon.”
I sighed, “I really dislike this entire different schedules thing. Or at least that they are this different. I can't wait until I get back to Canterlot.”
“You say so almost every time, My Page. But I miss having you next to me in the real world too.” Luna said, “But it's not long now.”
“A few weeks.” I agreed and nuzzled, “I can't wait.”
Smiling Luna kissed me, “Sweet dreams, My Page.” before she faded away in a sparkle of lights as she woke up.
I just sighed and stayed there for a moment, rolling onto my back, looking up at the not sky. I wanted to wake up and take the train back to Canterlot now. But I needed to get a full handle of this entire flying thing and I couldn't do that now. Right now, the best you could say about my flying is 'not likely to kill himself or others'. I needed to get better than that and not like I can really practice in Canterlot. Not unless I wanted to announce I'm an alicorn. My illusion of being another pony was good, but not so good that there was no risk I wouldn't slip up at close range.
Dream time may beat the hell out of letters or even phone, but it didn't beat actually being there.
Well, it was only a couple of weeks. I can handle a couple of weeks.
Rolling onto my hooves I got up and stretched, spreading my wings before glancing to my right at my wing before I folded it again. Damn right my wings looked amazing. Now let's get to work.
It's still a bit early if Luna are just raising the moon now, but some ponies should be asleep already so I might as well do a early sweep.
Bringing up the interface, I started to filter through dreams. Like I thought there were not that many dreamers around yet, only a couple of thousand. Eh, don't need to filter those heavily, I'll just do them manually. I'll just remove the least likely three quarters and see what we end up with. Happy and/or romantic dreams can be filtered out, I'll check the rest.
Flicking the confirm button with my hoof I watched the not-landscape shift around before me, depositing the silvery portals before me in a orderly row I could move along. Luna didn't like the way I did this, she thought it took the magic out of it. But I would rather be efficient than magical in this case. I can do magic when it came to actually entering dreams.
Normal nightmare, sleep tight.
Normal dream, leave alone.
What in the fuck?
I paused by the portal next to me with one front hoof lifted off the not-floor with a frown as I looked at the mirror, and with that I mean mirror. It was completely blank, not like the ripply portals around.
I had never seen anything like that. Even ponies that were not actively dreaming still... rippled with slight colors and waves. This one was like a mirror.
What?
A thought brought up the interface and I shifted things around, copying the dream portal's 'readings' and doing a search, giving me almost a hundred of them. What is this? It's like... they were clearly sleeping, but it was like there were no dreams.
Frowning I walked up and walked through the closest one. Let's see what we have here.
awww it cut off just as it was getting good all well, chapters come out fast with you as the author.
Oh god "OUR TOWN?!" It has to be!!!
Also:
....that seems relevant, Hiver what are you up to?
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/poohadventures/images/3/3e/Princess_Luna_(Pregnant).png/revision/latest?cb=20140921014313 ?????
You can't have nightmares if you never dream, eh?
I'm actually rather disturbed trying to imagine what the 'dreams' of the brainwashed ponies of Our Town might be like. That can't possibly be healthy, at all.
7923349 You do realize, if that is true, that Flurry Heart would have a playmate of the same age (and probably the same race)?
If it's truly the inhabitants of Our Town that these belong to, I'd call it an interesting insight to world building. If everyone's equal and no true mastery in talents, then even imagination is dulled to the point of stunted and blank "dreams".
It'll be interesting how Page interferes with this portion of the timeline.
7923413 Oh dear god, two flying murder babies shooting death beams
I realized something, your stories lack the AU tag. While I understand that to most authors, they'd reserve the tag to if the story diverges greatly from canon, and it has. Discord hasn't gone through a full reformation, Chrysalis made peace and is an ally and Tirek is dead without the castle and new rainbow powers unleashed.
Which again, I'm glad you found a way to draw attention to Starlight's town without the aid of the map.
My thoughts are that they are in comas.
Starlight is going to be dealt harsher, I think, with Blank Page on the plot.
I feel that there's another possibility, these could be the dreams of ponies in pods. If so, this would be viewed as hostilities from Chrysalis, breaking the alliance but there is another possibility.
Vol.1 Ch.52
Chrysalis's peace with Equestria and the Empire, has brokered a deal with gains that far exceeds the dreams of any hive could ever thought possible. If these are recently podded victims, this could be the sign of one or multiple changeling incursions.
I am hopping that Page will go to Our Town with the rest of the mane six r at least with Sunset.I don't think Page has the same relationship with cutie marks as most ponies and could be in someways initially sympathetic with Starlight Glimmer creed or at the very least curious,until he is put in the Equalization room. Getting to turn the town again Starlight glimmer would be very tricky and the Mane 6 where lucky that Starlight was uncovered by Fluttershy like that.
Glimglam vs. Page, the mane 6 and Sunset?
This will be fun.
I'm guessing the line:
"you can't have a nightmare, if you never dream."
Inspired the portals.
7923413 Oh yes. And I am guessing a son to just to prove Sunset wrong and add another male Alicorn to the mix!
"You can't have a nightmare~! If you never dream~!" - "In Our Town" song by Starlight Glimmer and chorus
Sorry Luna but your reunion with Page has to wait...there is a creepy-butt town to save!
7923717
Out of curiosity, why do you think he'd be sympathetic? Since he arrived, he had a cutie mark, and it has served him very well. Besides, while he has complained in the past about his ability having a ceiling due to not having the correct cutie mark (for guarding, for magic use, etc), in actuality he has kept moving beyond the ceiling he thought he was limited by through hard work. This actually caused him to stop remarking on it in the plot.
It's all about perspective and if you let the idea of a cutie mark guide your destiny, or use it as a mild boost to help you along with whatever you wanted to be.
No matter how one would try and present it, the cult town looks like it has significantly less free will than any destiny influence on cutie marks could ever have. It's not the right way to go about it, and he'd probably come to that conclusion immediately.
Also, you could make a case that Sunset's lack of a cutie mark helped drive her mean in the human world. At least, that was a theory I was nursing for awhile.
7923984
Page might be happy with his Curie Mark, that he got on his arrival to Equestria, or at least to appreciate it at least over time, but he didn't had it ingrained from birth that it is the most special even of his life to celebrate in discovering, and I don't think he had thought much on the subject until the coming event. For what I can predict Page might agree with some of Starlight Glimmers's arguments at first (on a superficial level), for who she spins her words with equating Cutie Marks as a form limiting the potential what a pony can do in life. I don't think he would ever join them doe.
The question that person have to ask is what happens to a pony when he doesn't like his or her Cutie Mark, or that it doesn't fit ho they see themselves, or doesn't understand the meaning to them and that they are force to showcase it to the rest of world and be judged your worth as a person by it? You can take for example of Troubleshoes, he completely missed the "so called meaning" of his mark and had made him miserable in his life for many years. Could a cutie mark limit a ponies potential in life.
On a slightly more in depth reflection(superficially at least) cutie mark can feel restrictive if people/ponies define themselves by them and easily be seen as a a form of cast system by outsides. I don't see them as that way( I think a mark only has to the owner themselves), but the influence that mark has on a ponies life is very deep and could easily give them a tunnel vision on how to see the wold on what pony will explore other then their interests, or stipple a ponies ambitions.
The trouble that I often find with talking about freewill is that their is always a different way that people understand it and in what aspect they are even talking about it. I know that people place a lot of importance on freewill, but most people that I have encountered never really put much thought in the meaning of the and confuses it with being able to make decisions for them selves, free expression of the individual (with no fear of reprisals from the state and others), inalienable rights of individuals of individuals and that every person is equal rights in the eyes of the law and justice, which are all intimately interconnected to one another but are each very different thing form one another.
In the case of Starlight Glimmer rhetorics on Equality, she twisted the aforementioned concepts with Equality tells the ponies under her influence into a form of conformisms that servers her superposes, so that they will agree with her, uses false logic, pear pressure, gilt and shame to manipulate her followers along with subversion, psychological dependence to be perpetually fear of stepping out of line and mindlessly follow the rule of the mob. She makes the false link between Cutie Marks as Destiny in life that is immutable destiny, in order to get the ponies to start licensing to her.
7923856 OH wild!!! I forgot that line!
Well.... Everyone says it's Our Town.
I say it's a hive-mind.
Let's wait and see.
7923437 As far as I know, the AU tag is only supposed to be used if the story starts differently from canon. Basically "What If?" stories (for example: "What if Twilight was born a pegasus?") If the story simply slowly diverges from canon over time due to logical consequences of events in the fic, then it's not supposed to have an AU tag.
7923349 Could it be a foreshadowing??
7926189 I hope so!!
hooo boy, this should be interesting if it's the "our Town" group. He wont appreciate what the lack of marks mean until he sees that everypony affected is as bad at every skill as the worst of the group. I have to wonder how many ponies died there from the double hammer of bad nutrition and equally bad medical care, or any one of the many other ways sheer incompetance can kill.
be safe
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/222/716/6bd.png
What about ETERNITY!!!!
7928617
Weren't they also in the desert? Not surrounded by any feilds or food sources?
Sweet sweet Luna time ~♡
Damn it... Starlight Glimmer
Damn! Here comes a nightmare scenario without dreams!
Starwars reference
Here we go, Starlight Glimmer if smart, plays it timid and without attitude towards others. Or she acts like in Canon and get a similar result.
I recently read a story with Starlight Glimmer getting her cutie mark removed for the collective time that the town inhabitants had to live without theirs.
Fair to say that over a decade or two without ones cutie mark made her a crying mess.