Title:           Captain Anonymous - Chapter 11 - What Dreams May Come
Author:          somewritefag
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/jqbze7sw
First Edit:      Sunday 9th of August 2015 10:17:01 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Sunday 9th of August 2015 12:18:42 PM CDT

                                        Captain Anonymous - Chapter 11 - What Dreams May Come
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>The trip to Canterlot is uncomfortable, to say the least, with the tension in the air between you and Twilight. You sit next to her on the train, but neither of you make physical contact with each other. Though you love her with all your heart, part of you is outraged that she'd covered this up for so long. She avoids making eye contact, and squirms in her seat, hoping she hasn't damaged your relationship too badly. You know you'll forgive her in time, but right now the weight of what she'd done needs to sink in for a while.
 
>When you finally arrive and disembark, there's soft muttering and the occasional stare from other ponies - mostly unicorns - as you approach the castle. You pass by two armored guards at the entrance, neither of them showing any sort of change in facial expression or body movement, simply allowing Princess Twilight and her guest to pass unimpeded.
 
>Inside the castle you meet another guard. Twilight informs him that you and she urgently need to speak with Princess Luna. The guard tells you she's resting and doesn't want to be disturbed, but Twilight insists. The guard finally relents and leaves to summon the princess. Minutes later a somewhat disheveled Princess Luna, unfolding her wings as high as they'll go with a deep yawn, approaches the two of you.
 
>"Princess Twilight, mister Anonymous, may I ask for what purpose you have interrupted my rest?"
 
"My sincerest apologies, your Highness, but there have been some developments regarding my people which may pose a threat to Equestria."
 
>Luna suggests the three of you meet with Celestia as well, and you all agree.
 
>You and Twilight brief the two princesses thoroughly on the situation, and explain in great detail the options you've discussed so far. When Celestia suggests you build your ship and leave, Twilight objects vehemently. Celestia seems puzzled.
 
>"Twilight, this is our best chance at peace and preserving the safety of Equestria, and it will allow mister Anonymous to go home. Why are you against it?"
 
>Twilight looks back and forth between you and Celestia.
 
>She begins to tear up as she replies, "I don't want to lose my friend..."
 
>"I understand that you and mister Anonymous have become good friends over the time he's spent here, but hasn't he been longing to return home for some time now? Twilight, sometimes the best thing we can do for a friend if we truly care about them, is to let them go. I know this may be a tough lesson for you bu-"
 
>Twilight abruptly interrupts her
 
>"NO! It's more than that..."
 
>Celestia tilts her head slightly, waiting for Twilight to continue.
 
>"Please don't be ashamed of me, Princess Celestia... Princess Luna... Anon and I... we..."
 
>Twilight can't seem to finish her sentence, so you step in and do it for her
 
"Your Majesties, Twilight and I are in love. We're in a romantic relationship."
 
>A look of shock falls over both of their faces for a split second and there's an awkward silence before Celestia speaks up again, Twilight hanging her head in utter embarrassment."
 
>"I see," Celestia approaches Twilight and puts a wing around her, "Twilight, dear, you have nothing to be ashamed of."
 
>Twilight sniffles as she looks up at her, "Even though... even though he's not a pony?"
 
>Luna also chimes in, "Though your predilection for a romantic partner may be unconventional, it ultimately matters not what species he is, so long as he is pure of heart and faithful in deed. There is no need for shame, as my sister says."
 
>After a few moments of silence you clear your throat to get their attention
 
"Sorry to cut this touching moment short, and while I'm happy we have your blessing, there is still an urgent situation we need to discuss. In addition to the scenarios we already mentioned, there's one other possibility that we need to consider. It's the reason we came here, and the reason we came to see you in particular, Princess Luna."
 
>Celestia and Luna direct their attention to you as Twilight returns to your side, lightly resting against you.
 
"Twilight tells me you have the power to enter ponies' dreams."
 
>"Yes, that is correct, I do possess that capability. It is one of many ways I watch over our subjects."
 
"I see. Have you ever tried to enter the dreams of a non-pony?"
 
>"I have not," she replies, "my duty is to the ponies of Equestria, and no more than that. I have had no inclination or reason to attempt to enter the dreams of another species."
 
"Can you though?"
 
>"I suppose it may be possible, though there is no guarantee that I would be successful in such an attempt. Why do you ask?"
 
>You look at Twilight and allow her to explain.
 
>"We were hoping you could enter Anon's dreams... use the dream world to act as a conduit through which he may attempt to contact his people."
 
>Luna sits on her haunches, "An intriguing proposition," she says. "I would be willing to make the attempt, though there are no other members of his species nearby, it will be very difficult, though not impossible, to find another of his race to link with him."
 
"How much of a factor is distance in the 'dream world,' how far out can you reach?"
 
>"With ponies, physical distance is of no consequence in the dream world. I may easily travel between the dreams of ponies that are physically many miles apart in seconds. However, it's a matter of knowing *where* to look in the dream world. I have never had any reason to look beyond Equestria up until this point. Once inside, it would be up to you to aid me in finding one of your people, if it's even possible at all, that is."
 
"That's good to know, maybe we can reach someone aboard one of the ships patrolling the quarantine zone. They're the closest humans to us and should be the easiest to find. The trouble with that is that I have no idea what their patrol routes are, I can only guess."
 
>Luna replies to you, a look of concern on her face
 
>"I must warn you, mister Anonymous, there is a chance that you may be harmed in the process given the differences in our physiology, there's no way of knowing how badly. Are you sure you want to do this? I believe, as my sister does, that your best chance is to build your vessel and return to your home, though I understand your aversion to that plan given your affection for Twilight."
 
"I'd be taking the same risk by trying to leave the planet. As soon as my ship's power signature was detected there would be an immediate response. There is a significant risk that I would be shot down and killed before making the jump home."
 
>"Very well then. We should proceed immediately. Please follow me to my bedchamber and we can begin."
 
>Twilight shoots a jealous look at Luna for a split second before she and Celestia follow you. Luna instructs you to lie down on her bed, as she climbs up onto it next to you, tucking her legs underneath herself as her horn begins to glow.
 
>"We must be as close together as possible. This should reduce the risk of harm to you. I will meet you on the other side."
 
>She touches the tip of her horn to your forehead.
 
>"Relax now, Anonymous. Breathe deeply and slowly. Allow slumber to overtake you."
 
>You immediately feel your eyes close as you give a yawn, falling asleep within seconds.
 
>You find yourself swimming in an ocean. The further you swim, the more fish and other lifeforms you begin to see. You feel yourself exploring the Great Barrier Reef, taking in the vibrant colors of the ocean dwelling creatures surrounding you. You have no scuba gear on at all, but it feels perfectly natural that you can breathe without it.
 
>You continue to explore, diving deeper and deeper. Suddenly in the distance you can barely make out a shadowy form approaching you. The details begin to fill out the closer the creature gets, and you quickly realize it's a shark. You do your best to swim away but you can't outrun it. You look back and see that it's merely a few feet away from you. You call out for help, but there is none. You suddenly feel the creature's jaws clamp down on your leg, but curiously there is no pain. When you turn to face it, it speaks to you in a familiar feminine voice.
 
>"Mister Anonymous, you are dreaming, none of this is real."
 
>You ignore the message and continue to try to swim away, only to be caught once again.
 
>"Think, Anonymous, THINK. How are you breathing underwater? How is a sea creature talking to you? None of this is real, I need you to understand that."
 
>As you take in your surroundings, you slowly begin to realize what's happening. You still feel out of control, but the awareness that you're dreaming is slowly increasing. When you finally become lucid, you find yourself struggling to breathe, desperately trying to make it to the surface, swimming as hard as you can but making no progress. In the real world your body twitches and writhes, gasping for air. Twilight moves to wake you up, but Celestia stops her.
 
>"Trust my sister, Twilight. If Anon were in danger she would have woken him up by now."
 
>You look back at the shark, and its eyes begin to glow brightly as a blinding light surrounds you.
 
>When the light finally fades you're standing in the middle of what seems like very heavy fog, so dense you can't even see your feet beneath you or what you're walking on. Every direction you look is the same. You can't make out anything. You begin to walk, calling out several times, but getting no response. You're fully aware that you're dreaming at this point, but you have no idea what you're supposed to do.
 
>After several minutes of wandering, you see two bright lights approaching you, along with the outline of a pony. The pony gives a few strong flaps of her wings, pushing away the fog so that your vision is no longer obscured. You're still disoriented, trying to get your bearings as you speak to her
 
"Luna? What just happened? I was swimming and there was this shark an-"
 
>"It was significantly more difficult to pull you out of your dream than it would have been if you were a pony. I could not take on my true form in your dream nor pull you from it without you being at least partially aware that you were dreaming. I had to improvise using elements of your dream that were already in place. It was a fascinating experience."
 
>You're standing on a nebulous platform made of mist and clouds, wondering why you haven't fallen through yet. Far below, you see thousands of doorways neatly arranged in rows, each door uniquely styled.
 
"What's with all those doors?" you ask.
 
>"This, Anonymous, is my domain. Each of the doorways you see represents a pony somewhere in Equestria that is dreaming. You may see some appear and others disappear as ponies wake up or fall asleep."
 
>Hundreds of doors suddenly fly by you, and you're now standing between two of them.
 
>"You see, Anonymous, this door leads to the dream of a sleeping pony in Appaloosa."
 
>More doors fly by you rapidly before another one comes to rest before you.
 
>"And this one leads to the dream of a pony in the Crystal Empire."
 
>You hold your forehead, somewhat disoriented.
 
>"You can see now why distance is not an issue when I wish to enter the dreams of any pony."
 
>Hundreds of more doorways pass by at ludicrous speed before finally coming to a rest. You stand between two doorways, but in front of you lies only a dark abyss.
 
>"Now, mister Anonymous, we are on the precipice of my territory in the dream world. As I said, there is more out there, but I have had no reason to venture beyond this point. It is up to you how you wish to proceed. I will try to guide you as best as I can, but remember this is also unexplored territory for me as well, and there is danger to us both that might not be foreseeable."
 
"Where do we begin? And how? I don't have wings like you do. Or magic."
 
>"You're letting your rational mind get in the way. You must let go, take command of your thoughts. While in this realm you are in full control of everything, the only limit is your imagination. If you wish for an object to appear, it will appear. If you wish to take on a different form, then you shall. Do whatever comes easiest or feels the most natural to you."
 
"Okay, I'll give it a try."
 
>You close your eyes and concentrate as hard as you can, pulling up different memories, most of them useless, until one catches your attention. When you open your eyes again, you and Luna are standing on the bridge of your old ship, though it's empty. Luna seems captivated by your surroundings.
 
"Damn it, this won't work without a crew. I can't run this ship by myself."
 
>"If this result is unsatisfactory, simply try again, Anon. And remember, the only limit is your imagination, it doesn't have to be anything recalled from your memory, you can make up anything you want to."
 
>The ship vanishes around you, and you're back where you started. You close your eyes and try again, putting together a ship in your mind that will meet your needs. This time when you open your eyes you're in the two-seat cockpit of a small ship about as large as a standard Confederate fighter, except for the weapons, Luna in the seat next to you.
 
"Now this I can handle," you say with a smile.
 
>"We may have a means to travel now, Anonymous, but please be cautious and remember where you are. Don't wish anything into existence. Don't let your mind subconsciously make something appear that really isn't there. It's critical that you maintain your focus. Also, be sure to remember that distance here does not necessarily correlate to distance in the real world."
 
"Acknowledged," you say as you power up the ship's engines. As you check your aft sensors you can see the rows and rows of doors disappearing behind you. You decide on a spiral search pattern, trying to catch a glimpse of any more doors there might be, though navigation is quite difficult without any stars to lock on to as a reference. After hours of searching and making small talk with Luna you become increasingly frustrated that nothing has shown up yet.
 
"We need to go further out," you grumble.
 
>"I must caution you, Anonymous, exploring much further will put a strain on both of our minds and bodies. I can handle the stress easily, you may not be able to."
 
"I'll be fine. I know we’ll find someone eventually. We're just not going far enough."
 
>Luna hesitates. "If you insist... but if the danger becomes too great I will wake us both."
 
>You punch up the controls for the ship's QT drive. Though Luna doesn't know how it works, she knows what it does, as she's able to monitor your thoughts here.
 
>"Anon, I don't think it's wise to travel such a long distance so qui-"
 
>Before Luna can finish her sentence your ship makes the jump, dozens of the equivalent of light-years in the real world.
 
>When your ship emerges from the jump it's lost power and has taken serious damage, listing and drifting through the emptiness around you, smoke billowing from breaches in the hull. No matter how hard you try you can't control it anymore. In the waking world, your body begins to shake, blood beginning to stream slowly from your nose. Luna is clearly under duress as well, though her body is handling it far better. Sparks erupt in the cockpit as it begins to fill with smoke, the fire suppression system taking longer than it should to kick in, causing you to cough and sputter until the air is clear again.
 
>"Anon, I believe it's time for us to awaken."
 
>You keep pounding on the consoles in front of you, your ability to shape the world around you seems to have vanished now, and no matter how hard you try you can't regain control of anything. You look out the window and give a defeated sigh as Luna begins to awaken the two of you.
 
>Something catches your attention at the last moment. A very tiny white dot in the distance.
 
"WAIT!" you yell, interrupting Luna's attempt to wake you up, "Look over there, do you see it?"
 
>Luna squints her eyes as she looks out the cockpit window
 
>"Indeed, I do..."
 
>You're slowly drifting toward it, but will never reach it going this slowly, as it appears to be moving away as well.
 
"We need to get there somehow. Is there anything you can do? The ship is disabled, nothing I try is helping."
 
>"My power has weakened as well, I was not prepared for that jump, I'm still quite disoriented. I believe we can still make it, though. However we need to simplify things before we try."
 
>The ship vanishes around you, leaving you and Luna standing on a very small platform, looking toward the white dot that is slowly moving far in the distance.
 
"That HAS to be a starship," you proclaim in excitement "we HAVE to get there somehow..."
 
>"Get on my back, quickly" Luna says as you turn to look at her.
 
>She's wearing a saddle with two hand grips in the pommel
 
"Don't you think I'm too heavy for you?"
 
>"Weight is meaningless here, now mount up and hang on as tightly as you can."
 
>You quickly comply. As soon as you’re on her back and have a good grip on the saddle she takes off at incredible speed, you hold on for dear life, but it still feels like you'll fly off at any second. The closer you get, you can start to make out doors on the large white mass that's moving away from you, but you also feel exponentially increasing pain. Luna is also clearly in distress, her speed slowing and her strength faltering.
 
>"Anon... it's too much... I can't do this..." she says.
 
"We're so close..." you say desperately through clenched teeth, still getting closer even as Luna's speed decreases.
 
>"I'm sorry, Anon..." she says. Her horn glows brightly, there's a flash of light. You slowly awaken, groaning as you open your eyes, your head pounding with the worst headache you've ever had in your life. You notice there seems to be quite a bit of blood on your clothing and the bed, Twilight looks both concerned and enraged.
 
>"Anon you had me scared to death! What the hay were you doing in there?"
 
>You look to your other side and also see Luna slowly coming back to consciousness, clearly dazed and in pain as Celestia attends to her.
 
>All you can think is "DAMN IT" over and over in your mind.
 
"We were SO close, Twi..."
 
>Twilight does her best to start cleaning you up, when you try to raise your head she forces it back down onto the pillow.
 
>"THIS is exactly why I never brought this up," she says angrily, on the verge of tears as she wipes the blood from your face a bit too roughly.
 
"I had to try, Twi-"
 
>Twilight forces your mouth to close
 
>"SHUT UP Anon, you nearly killed yourself, and look at what you did to Princess Luna!"
 
>Luna shakes her head, her eyes half closed as she speaks softly to Twilight
 
>"Do not be so hard on him, Twilight. We both knew the risks, and it was worth the attempt. Unfortunately it would seem that even the nearest of his people are just barely beyond the range of my magic. We will both recover, and then we shall come up with another plan."
 
>It takes you a few days to fully recover, though it only took a few hours for Luna. Celestia sends a messenger to request Cadance and Shining Armor's presence as well.