Chapter 18

*Author's Note: *

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Moon Shadow's dreams were troubled. She had always remembered her dreams, even when she was human, but now they were a lot more vivid. And, she had learned, some were more important than others.

Upon entering the dream, she quickly realized that it was no ordinary dream, and yet it wasn't the Dream World. This Dream had importance. She watched it unfold, instinctually knowing that she would be able to recall every detail when she woke.

She saw Irony appear out of the fog. With her was a much smaller pony, though the size of the other pony was all that could be seen, as Shadow's vision was clouded when she tried to gaze upon it.

She felt a pang of jealousy flush through her when the pony leaned against Irony, and she turned her head to kiss the other pony on the muzzle lovingly. The jealousy dissipated, however, when Moon Shadow saw herself excitedly trot up to the pair. She watched as her dream-self nuzzled the new pony and kissed Irony. The trio then faded away.

Another Dream began almost immediately.

Out of darkness there appeared a pegasus. Once again, Shadow could see few details, beyond that it was, indeed, a pegasus. The pony trotted forward along a clearly defined path, seeming to know it's way very well, until it came upon a split. At the fork in the trail, Shadow saw Irony standing proudly. The pegasus sat back on its haunches, frowning as it hesitated.

Suddenly, the paths lit up for Moon Shadow to see. Down one, she saw Irony lying flat on the ground, crying in defeat, her heart crushed. The pegasus soldiered on, though something in its bearing told Shadow that it would never be the same again. She saw herself, with tears falling freely down her face from some fierce sadness, caused by what, she could not tell. Beyond that, there was a great emptiness.

The other path was much longer, but it was also littered with death. Along the way, there were many dead ponies, though interspersed amongst them were ponies that were instead bathed in a halo of light, almost like a bright white aura. There was a great battle, hard-fought, but won. The victory, however, was tainted by a great angst.

Further along that path, she could see the pegasus plodding, with its head down. Every step the pegasus took changed it. Shadow could see bruises form, then open wounds, and finally, scars. Then it began to heal, moving with less pain, standing taller.

Her attention was drawn away from the pegasus, to a point further down that path. Her eyes widened and she gasped in shock at what she saw there.

At the very end of what Shadow could readily see, stood the same pegasus, battered and scarred, forlorn. And something that made Moon Shadow's blood run like ice through her veins: Irony's broken body, her blood spilled all around. She lay there alone, with none to aid her.

"No. No! NOOO!!" screamed Moon Shadow, her heart shattered. Sobbing, she fled the dream, but not before she saw that there was more to be seen beyond that awful vision, fogged though it was. She paid it little attention as she ran, trying to evade the truth of the Dream she'd just been witness to.

* * *

Moon Shadow stopped running when she finally realized that she had successfully escaped the horrifying nightmare. She fell into a heap and, laying her head on her hooves, cried until she ran out of tears.

Oh my dear Irony, why is your life destined to be so full of pain and suffering? she thought to herself as she lay there. Is it not enough that you had your first love murdered, before your very eyes? Or that you were ripped away from your own world, your own time, and even had your gender forcibly changed? Not to mention you were then banished from the new world, which you'd only just become accustomed to, to live once again as a human? It isn't right that you have had to suffer so, and will face even worse in the future, no matter which path your hooves are set upon!

Having finally calmed herself, Shadow looked around her. She soon realized that she had run from her own Dream, and into the World of Dreams.

Going to have to be more careful. I could get myself killed, she reprimanded herself lightly, knowing that anything that happened in the World of Dreams was completely real. If she died there, that was it, she would really cease to exist.

She regained her hooves, shaking off her sadness and fear as she did so, and began to slowly walk, her eyes searching every direction for danger, as though she could make up for her lapse with extra vigilance. She'd been practicing ever since she remembered that she had the ability to Dreamwalk. She still didn't have a lot of memories to go off of, so she had been surviving mostly by being cautious, listening to her instincts, and getting lucky.

She knew it wasn't wise to rely on luck, but she felt a pressing need to continue to learn, no matter the dangers she would face. Her foremost goal, after making it out alive, of course, was to find a way back to Equestria. She felt, deep in her soul, that they would be needed there, sooner rather than later.

That was, in fact, the reason she had sought out the Dream this night. Though, instead of the World of Dreams, she'd found herself watching visions of the future.

Now that she had recovered from the ordeal, Shadow decided it was time to return to her true purpose. Earlier in the day, she had remembered a fragment of a lesson with Princess Luna. What she remembered, was that if the need were great enough, that you could find something you'd never seen before, by focusing on what you were looking for, closing your eyes, and taking a leap of faith. This was a dangerous way to seek something, because of the necessity of closing your eyes while you stepped into a completely unknown situation. One wrong step would be her doom.

Shadow had decided that the need was, indeed, great enough. If they didn't find a way home, they would be stuck on Earth forever, with no real purpose other than survival. That was something that didn't bear thinking about.

She stopped walking, turned in a circle to ensure she was alone and clear of danger, then closed her eyes and focused on her need to find a way home, a way to Equestria. Once that was firmly in her mind, she took the blind step. The world shifted around her, which caused a lurch in her stomach, then she quickly opened her eyes and peered around in every direction, prepared to run or fight if she saw anything at all that seemed dangerous.

When she was certain that it was safe, she took a moment to better catalog her surroundings. What she saw didn't make much sense to her at all. There was a crappy looking little shed, surrounded by a field of grass, several larger buildings in the background. Her attention kept being drawn to the shed, even though it didn't seem to be of any worth.

Maybe I didn't do it right? she considered briefly. She closed her eyes and, concentrating more intently on her goal, stepped blindly. When she looked once again, all she found was that she was even closer to the dilapidated little out-building.

Okaaay... whatever I'm looking for, it must be in there, she realized. She stepped up to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. That's odd... She visualized the door open instead of closed, trying to control it as she would anything else in the World of Dreams, but it remained steadfastly shut. She turned around and bucked the door in frustration when that failed, but it didn't even shake in its frame.

"What the hell?" Moon Shadow said aloud in frustration. Whatever is in there must be very powerful. Maybe it really is the way back home. But, if it is... then where the heck is this place?

Shadow paced around the building, building its shape in her mind so that she could find it again. Then she retreated a ways to see if she could find any indication as to just where in the world this phenomenon was.

No matter where she looked, she couldn't find any sign at all that would give her a clue. She ranged further out, but all she found was a river nearby. There were no other telling landmarks. After a time of searching, she finally gave up and walked back to the shack. Or tried to. When she returned to where the building had stood, she found nothing. Not an empty field, not a different building, but nothing at all. She spun on her hooves and found that the nothing was everywhere now. Everything that she had seen, only moments ago, was simply gone. She stood alone, surrounded by emptiness.

What...?

Shadow closed her eyes, having decided to try to reach the shack through her need again. When she took a step forward, it was like she ran muzzle first into a brick wall. She opened her eyes to see she was still surrounded by the nothing. A shiver ran down her spine, and she decided it was time to leave.

She sidestepped out of the World of Dreams, feeling relieved to be away from the exceedingly odd scene. She floated in the void, surrounded by pinpricks of light, the space between dreams.

I need to find Irony and tell her about this, she decided. She envisioned her lover in her mind, expecting her dream to come forth, but it didn't. Which led Shadow to one conclusion. She must not be asleep. Which means she's probably in her shop again, working at her forge.

Shadow sighed. The last several days had seen Irony closeted in her shop more and more. It was like she was driven by whatever she was working on. Whenever asked what the project was, she simply replied 'I have no idea... yet'.

Shadow and Trixie had both completed their transformations, but were still trying to get used to their new bodies. They'd spent a lot of time working on magic together, with some interesting results, but Shadow would have rather spent that time with Irony instead.

Trixie spent her nights crying herself to sleep. It was blatantly obvious to everypony that she was missing, and worried, about Jim, though she tried not to show it. Whenever the crying became too severe, Irony would carry her into their room and the three of them would cuddle in a pony pile to help comfort her. Usually, in the middle of the night, Trixie would extricate herself and return to her room. Shadow had noticed that, while nowhere near as obnoxious as she was portrayed in the show, that Trixie was a proud pony, and a scared one too.

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Moon Shadow opened her eyes and, as expected, found herself huddled alone in the big bed. She levered herself out from under the covers and off the bed, then quietly trotted down the hall and out the door to the yard. Just as she knew she would, she heard the sound of a hammer striking hot steel as it reverberated from Irony's shop.

The moment she stepped through the door, she stopped dead in her tracks. She was treated to the sight of her lover; the midnight mare's form was bathed in a flickering orange luminescence as she gazed lovingly upon the steel rod as she applied the hellish fury of the forge fire.

Shadow watched in awe as the bipedal mare swung the glowing steel over to the anvil, a hammer having appeared in her hand almost like it had been magicked there. The inert implement seemed to take on a life all its own as it was swung over her head in a broad stroke. The hardened steel sang out in triumph when it imparted the force of the blow to the fiery bar of metal, throwing out an explosion of sparks in every direction.

Before Shadow could even fully register the sound that was emitted, the hammer was beginning its next arc, smiting the steel again, and again.

Moon Shadow was mesmerized by the scene before her. She watched, silently soaking up the sheer primal beauty that exuded from the love of her life. It took several minutes of watching before she realized that Irony was singing softly as she worked:

"Come little children

I'll take thee away, into a land

of Enchantment

Come little children

the time's come to play

here in my garden

of Shadows

Follow sweet children

I'll show thee the way

through all the pain and

the Sorrows

Weep not poor children

for life is this way

murdering beauty and

Passions

Hush now dear children

it must be this way

to weary of life and

Deceptions

Rest now my children

for soon we'll away

into the calm and

the Quiet

Come little children

I'll take thee away, into a land

of Enchantment

Come little children

the time's come to play

here in my garden

of Shadows"

As the song came to a close, so too did the ringing of the steel. Irony held up the piece, inspecting it critically, before setting it next to several other similar pieces. Then she looked up and smiled at Shadow.

"I thought I felt somepony come in, but I was in the zone..." she said sheepishly.

"It's okay, I know how you work. Besides, it was amazing to watch you. I never thought about it before, but I've never actually seen you in the creative process. It was... magical!" Shadow gushed. Irony blushed fiercely at the compliment.

"Yeah, well, I just wish I knew what it is that I'm making. I have a pretty good idea of how it will all go together, but... still don't have a clue what it is," Irony shrugged her massive shoulders.

"Hmmm..." Shadow studied the separate parts, a picture forming in her minds eye of what they would look like when attached, "I think... I think they're wing-blades."

Confusion was evident in Irony's eyes, "What are wing-blades?"

"You know, a weapon that a pegasus wears on their wings. They're pretty deadly."

"How do you know what wing-blades are?" Irony asked, bewildered.

"I'm not sure, just a memory popping to the surface, I guess," she replied with a shrug. "What's more interesting, is that they have to be custom-fit for every pegasus, otherwise they won't fold right, and will impede the pegasus' ability to fly. It makes me wonder whom you could be making them for."

Irony shrugged, "Well, maybe we'll meet this pegasus someday. I bet they'll fit somepony, eventually."

"Maybe sooner than you can imagine," Shadow muttered, her mind drifting to her dreams again.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Are you going to come back to bed now?" Moon Shadow asked, changing the subject. She had decided that she didn't want to cause her love grief, and there was nothing they could do about her dreams right then anyway.

"I suppose I should," Irony replied as she stifled a yawn.

* * *

"That's great, Trixie! It's like my gaze slides right past you. You're not actually invisible, just not worth noticing to my mind. How difficult is it to maintain?" Moon Shadow complimented her companion as she popped back into existence before her.

"Trixie finds the spell only mildly draining, though she would be remisce if she didn't point out that all it would take is a bit of concentration on somepony's part to see through it," the pale blue unicorn replied modestly, though she was practically glowing from the praise.

"Still, it seems pretty useful, and you could hold it for much longer than the Mask of Mirrors I was trying before," Shadow said, thinking of the illusion spell she'd been practicing. It was actually very effective at making a pony invisible. She had practiced bending the light around herself, and while it worked exactly as she wanted, it took a lot of concentration. That made it difficult to use for more than a few moments at a time. Trixie's spell seemed tailor-made for more practical applications.

"Trixie is certain she could use it for extended periods of time without too much effort," Trixie grinned.

"Great, at least we won't cause any accidents on the freeway just by driving."

"Oh good, then maybe I won't have to go shopping by myself anymore," said Dr. Ray as he appeared around the corner of the house, laden with grocery sacks. "Think you two can give me a hand with the rest of this stuff?"

"The Great, and Extremely Helpful, Trixie would gladly give you a hand. If only she still had any," the unicorn laughed.

Ray cocked his eyebrow in her direction, "I don't know which should irritate me more: the talking in third person about yourself, the self-aggrandizement, or that horrible joke!" He cracked a smile at the end to take the sting out of his words, though Trixie's ears wilted a bit just the same.

"Sorry. Tri-- I'll go get the rest," Trixie replied as she trudged around the corner.

Moon Shadow smacked the Doc upside the back of his head with her magic, "Be nice to her! She's trying really hard to tone things down! A lot of her personality can't be helped, not to mention how upset she is that Flash is still gone!"

"I was just teasing her," he replied as he rubbed the sore spot on his head.

"You should go tell her that. She could really use our friendship right now, okay?"

Ray nodded, put the bags in the house and went in search of Trixie, while Shadow saw to putting things away using her horn.

He found her leaned against the side of his pickup, sobbing quietly. He immediately knelt down beside her and took her into his arms, "I'm sorry, Trixie. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I don't intend to be a schmuck, it just comes naturally."

Trixie laid her head on his shoulder, letting the tears flow down her muzzle and onto his shirt, "Trixie knows you were only trying to jest. She just can't seem to control her emotions right now. Trixie is still sorry about our last shopping trip together. She tries hard to control herself, but it does not work. Please don't hate her."

"Don't think that. I couldn't hate you. Trixie is a good pony. I consider you my friend," Ray soothed her as he stroked a hand through her mane.

"Thank you. Trixie thinks of you as her friend too," she murmured, wiping her eyes with a fetlock.

"How about we work together to get these last bags?" Ray suggested, smiling at the pale-blue unicorn.

Trixie nodded, smiled a small smile, then surrounded all the bags with her magical aura. She lifted them and started walking toward the house, "Come on, slow-poke," she called back to the stunned human.

As they came around to the back, they saw Irony exit her shop and lift her arms above her head, stretching out her back. The midnight-blue mare waved at them, smiling as she did so. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, her phone started to ring. Without looking at the screen, she held the device to her ear, answering it, "Hello?" just as Moon Shadow exited the house again.

A moment later they all heard her gasp, "Flash?!"