Hi. I’m Arrell. The Master Chief of Equestria; the Lucid Dreamer; whatever you want to call me.

If you read the description of this story, you probably already know the gist of what’s going on. Things happened, and now I’m alone.

Lemme guess. You want specifics.

Fine. But I’m gonna start from the beginning. So I suggest you get comfy…

It was the 28th of August...that’s really the first time things started falling out of their regular pattern.

Up until that point, we had just been doing our job: collecting articles. Celestia hadn’t sent any of them back to their original universes since Ryu’s Headband, since she was busy with other things. That was fine; we had plenty of room in Alterspace.

Anyway, on that day, I had just finished up a trip to Trottingham. Turns out the hat Harley from Epic Meal Time always wears got sent to Equestria. Wearing it makes you have an intense craving for meat, but especially bacon. I have to admit, I laughed when I heard about it.

I stopped laughing when I watched somepony literally eat themselves to death.

But anyway, we had the hat back, and it was stored away. All was good, even if nopony out of the five of us wanted to eat anything ever again. It was late at night, so we just snagged a couple rooms at a hotel rather than trying to get back to Ponyville or Smooth Grove.

Yeah, as it turns out, I missed Smooth Grove. Ponyville was nice and all, but it lacked a sort of charm that Smooth Grove carried. Maybe it was how small yet lively it was.

So many people just thought “that’s what she said”...

The place had been growing in size quite a bit. Ponies from other towns and cities were moving in and more houses were being built. It was nowhere near the size of Ponyville, but it was getting there.

Anyway...back on topic. The hotel.

As soon as I walked into the room Asylum and I were sharing, I sighed in a mixture of relief and exhaustion. I dropped my saddlebags on the ground by the door and trotted over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. Asylum giggled, putting her own stuff down before coming over to join me.

“Four days,” I groaned. I then paused. “...wait...how many days are in August again?”

“Um...thirty-one.”

“Five days, then.” I mentally cursed for forgetting something so simple.

“Five days?”

“Five days until my fourth and final bout of evolution sickness,” I explained. “This’ll be the final time I get sick. And then in three months, I’ll evolve for real.”

She frowned and nuzzled me. “You don’t want to change, do you?”

I shook my head. “I like looking the way I do. Being the size of two houses won’t exactly help me stay inconspicuous either. And I can’t just press a B Button either.”

By this point, Asylum had grown used to my references to nerd culture, particularly video games. She didn’t necessarily understand them, but she knew not to question what I meant and instead chalk it up to ‘human stuff’. “Maybe there’s a way to prevent yourself from evolving? We could look it up...”

“I’ve read through every book on Windigoes that we’ve found. The only ones that talk about evolution always discuss it from a pony’s perspective and how it’s dangerous and whatnot. Nothing about whether or not they can stop it.” I shrugged. “Makes sense, I guess...they haven’t exactly tried interviewing any.”

Asylum giggled. “Well...that’s something we can worry about later. Maybe we can ask the princess if she knows anything.”

I shrugged again. “Maybe.”

She kissed my cheek. “There. That’s better than nothing...now come on. Let’s go to bed.”

I smirked at her. “Can’t tell if you meant for that to be an innuendo or not.”

She blushed and glared, though I could tell she was having trouble keeping it going. “You know what I mean...”

“Yeah, yeah...just goofing around.” I nuzzled her, then flopped down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I could feel movement beside me, telling me that she was also lying down. “Night, Asylum.”

She snuggled close to me. “Night...”

“...Arrell?”

I opened my eyes slowly, a familiar white void coming into view. I remembered this as the place where Styx always came to talk to me in my dreams. She really needed more imagination. It was bland here.

But this time, something seemed different. Styx wasn’t there, and I was...cold.

Windigoes never, ever get cold...yet here I was, shivering mildly as I looked around for the source of whoever called my name.

“A-Arrell? ...you’re Arrell...right...?”

I spun around in circles, looking up and down, yet still finding no trace of another being. “Yes, I’m Arrell! Who’s there?”

“I...” The voice trailed off and was silent for a second before continuing to speak. “...I’m not used to this...I don’t know if I’m doing it right...”

Judging by the sound of this person’s voice, they were female and probably not too professional. I quirked an eyebrow at what they said. “Doing what right? Talking to me? Because I can hear you just fine...”

“I’m...” she began, only to pause once more. “...I-I can’t do this...I...I’m sorry...”

The expanse around me started to fade. My eyes widened. “W-Wait! What’s going on?! Who are you?!”

She didn’t answer. The expanse faded away completely.

I gasped and sat up quickly, groaning and holding my head as soon as I did so when the blood started rushing to it. Once I recovered, I looked around to find I was back in the hotel room with Asylum. The sun was just beginning to rise, as evidenced by the faint rays of sunshine coming through the window.

...what was that all about? I thought to myself. I sighed, letting my head rest back on the pillow and closing my eyes again. I need to ask Styx about that sometime…

A breeze blew through the room and I shivered. My eyes snapped back open.

...the window is closed...and Windigoes don’t shiver… I sat up again and looked around, confused. “Hello…?”

Obviously, there was no one else in the room aside from Asylum, who was still out cold. No one answered my question, and no one made themselves known. All was quiet, and even the cold breeze finally went away.

But as it did, I could swear I heard a quiet apology.