open Cultures Unite (1x1 with GeneralDirection)

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

"It's a type of traditional Japonies art style. Like that." Samurai points at a ukiyoe painting that is all ready framed and hung up in his library.

Spoiler

He takes the time to admire Silver's art. "Yours is splendid as well." He gets up and shakes himself a bit. "Goodnight, my friend. Be sure to tell me if you had any interesting dreams tomorrow." Samurai says before going to his room.

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

Silver looks over at the painting his friend points and nods. “Yes, thank you, my friend. Your painting looks great, as well. You have a good night as well, and I’ll be sure to tell you if I have any dreams.”

The kirin puts his drawing away in his saddlebag before retiring to his room for the night. Before he falls asleep, he thinks about the conversation that he just had with his friend, and it makes him wonder how much longer he’ll be staying in Japone for. He had been through quite a bit with Samurai in the short time that they had met and became friends. He showed him around many different parts of his country and he met some great ponies along the way. They also helped many ponies, and Silver was even able to communicate with a dinosaur. The last thing he thought before he drifted off to sleep was that dinosaur wandering off into his new life of freedom.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

Once more, Silver has a dream.
It starts off similar to the one before. The same clearing as last time. But things have changed. The ghost is not there, but there is a large scratch mark on the ground where the ghost originally hovered over. The divine elk is sleeping, blocking the path to its forest. The fish isn't there, but there is a clam that is wide open with no pearl inside. There is no sparrow, but there is a birds nest in a low-hanging branch.

If Silver checks, he'll find he still has the pearl and the feather he collected the last time he had this dream.

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

As Silver falls asleep, he finds himself in the same dream world that he had been in before. Only this time, some things have changed since he had been here last. He sees the elk asleep on the path to the forest, and he also sees the clam. He looks into his saddlebag and notices that the pearl is still there, along with the feather.

I still don’t understand this place. He thought to himself.

Silver decides to slowly approach the elk, not seeing any other meaningful interaction he can make here.

“Uh, hey there?” He addresses the elk softly, so he doesn’t spook it.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

"Thank you." The elk psychically tells him before vanishing into thin air. The entrance to the elk's wacky forest is all closed up as well. Way too many vines, trees, branches, bushes, and such. You'd spend forever trying to cut it all down, and fire might make things even worse. It's as if it's purposely closed off to him, but also, it feels like it doesn't really matter anymore. When Silver is this close to the closed-off entrance, he can feel sense of relief and calmness. As if there's nothing more to do with the elk and his world, or rather, nothing more to worry about over there.

That just leaves the other three options. What will Silver choose?

Edited June 17, 2023 by Samurai Equine

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

Silver is a bit confused by the elk’s response, but before he can respond, the creature disappears, leaving him alone to pick another way. He looks around and recalls the ghost that had been there the first time and decides to trot over to that area. Here, he doesn’t find much, aside from a large scratch mark where the ghost had been. He wasn’t sure what it meant, nor did he understand the look that the ghost gave him when it hasn’t been picked. He studied the mark for a few moments, but ultimately didn’t see the significance of it, if there was any at all.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

The closer Silver gets to the scratch, a feeling of terror and dread washes over him. Yet there is also a feeling he can't describe underneath the dread. A sense of something familiar? The only way Silver will know more is if he touches the scratch mark.

So what will he do?
Power through and touch the scratch mark to see what secrets it has, for better or for worst?
He still has the other two options. He could put the pearl in the clam, or put the feather in the nest.

The choice is up to Silver.

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

After spending a while around the mark, Silver can feel a sense of dread and fear start to wash over him. He doesn’t understand why, but he feels that he needs to touch the mark to find out what’s going on. He remembers how the ghost looked at him and his curiosity wins him over, wanting to discover the unknown. For better or for worse, he extends a hoof and places it on the scratch. Now, Silver waits to see what will happen.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

Touching the mark turns Silver's dream into a nightmare. The area around him turns red and dreadful, and he can hear the sounds of his family screaming in terror mixed in with sounds of destruction. The screams seem to be coming from down the same road that the ghost traveled down when it disappeared.

Hurry, Silver! They need you!

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

Suddenly, Silver feels the environment around him start to change. Everything starts turning red, and the sense of dread he starting feeling becomes much stronger. He can also hear screams, and after a moment, he identifies those screams as belonging to his family! Silver’s eyes go wide at this realization, and he takes off as fast as he can, down the road he saw the ghost go down in the last dream.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

By dream logic, the road isn't that long. In no time, he returns to his village, but it's decimated. Houses are destroyed, some with smoke still rising from them. Some of his fellow kirins lay about randomly outisde; they might not be dead, but they look like they've taken on quite the punishment.

And when he tries to get home to his family, shady beasts are circling said home. They are only shadowy silhouettes, but they begin to lock eyes with Silver. They are saying... something. It's a little jumbled.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Samurai Equine

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

The distorted concept of time caught Silver a bit off-guard, and in no time at all he reached his village… or what was left of it, anyway. He surveyed the scene in horror as the place he grew up in now lay in ruins.

What sort of monster would’ve done this? He thought to himself.

He decides to try and visit his home, but it’s surrounded by these… shadowy beings. He is unable to determine what they are as well as what they’re saying. He approaches one of the kirin he finds lying on the ground.

“Can you tell me what happened here?” He asked.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

The kirin he talks to is too injured and too tired to talk. All he can do is point at the shadowy beasts, confirming that it was indeed them that wrecked the place.

Said beasts begin to approach Silver, showing that they are taller than your average house. Once up close, Silver can understand them better. "It's your fault. You weren't here to save them..."

By sheer dream logic, Silver understands. The beasts isn't talking about his fellow kirins. The beast is actually talking about his family. Sweet Celestia, what have they done?

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

Whatever happened here, it had been so severe that this kirin he tried to talk to didn’t even have the energy respond. As the beasts move in closer, he can start to understand what they are saying.

They blame me for what happened here. They say I wasn’t here to save them. Silver thought to himself.

“And just what is it that you’ve done?” He asks. He has enough understanding to realize that this is only a dream, but with how the previous one ended up having real-world implications, he had no way of knowing if the events here could possibly happen too.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

They don't offer an explanation. Some of the beasts are growling and foaming at the mouth, looking at Silver like he is their next snack. But you know what else they're not doing? Blocking the way to the house. He can rush in and see what has happened to his family; if Silver is ready for what lies ahead...

Edited June 22, 2023 by Samurai Equine

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

After waiting for a while and getting no explanation, it finally occurred to Silver that the monsters stopped moving towards him, and there was enough of an opening for him to enter his family’s home. He slowly started moving forward while watching the beasts, they made no movement. He continued to move towards the house and opened the front door to discover what was going on here.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

You know that feeling when a dream starts to feel real? To the point where you might double check things when you wake up?
Upon entering, Silver is not ready for what comes next. He really was too late. Compared to what he discovered outside, the sight of what happened to his family is so frightening, so cruel, so unspeakably horrible... That it wakes Silver up.

It's another day. Did he sleep in? Did he remember to feed his pet? Was all that really just a dream?

[Silver Slate]

Silver opens the door to his family’s home and is… horrified by what he sees. Then, everything goes blank, and he leaves the dream world once again. He awakes in his bed, back in Samurai’s house. He definitely will need to talk to his friend about all this. But before he does, he quickly feeds the fireflies he got back with Ryugane and Denki.

He made his way to the dining area and took a seat. If Samurai is there, he would probably notice the worried look that his kirin friend had on his face as he helped himself to some food.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

Samurai was not only there, but he was all ready eating breakfast. "Ah! Ohayou, Silver-san. You're up a little later than usual. Care to join me?" Samurai begins. However, he quickly notices the look on his friend's face. "Are you okay, tomoyo? You look like you just saw a ghost."

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

“I think I may have done just that.” He replied flatly, looking out a nearby window. It is indeed later than he usually got up. “I had another dream last night.” He explains to Samurai, looking back to his friend. “It was… a lot worse this time. I decided to follow the path of the ghost this time, and it led me to my village, or what was left of it, anyway. There were some shadowy figures that attacked it, destroyed a lot of the houses, there were kirin all over the place that had been badly hurt. The beasts were hanging around my family’s house, so I went in, and that’s where the dream ended. The last thing I remember was going through the front door and being mortified by what I found inside. Unfortunately, I have no memory of what I saw, only the feeling I had as a result.”

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

As Samurai listens, he claps and has his kuroko give Silver some breakfast and juice. Seems in his attempt to tell Samurai everything, he forgot to grab some food for himself. "I see. Sounds like your dream started the same as your last one, but ended in a more gruesome way. That is troubling." Samurai cleans his mouth with his napkin. "So what would you like to do about? I could still find a professional dream analyst to help you out, if you want. Unless there's something else you had in mind?"

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

Silver nods a silent thanks as Samurai’s kurokos set some food and juice out for him. “It is troubling.” Silver replies as he idly pushes his food around his plate. “I don’t know how much I should be reading into this, considering the last time I had a dream in this realm. Last time, there were some real-world implications, but it was abstract and weird enough that it kept it from feeling real. This time, things were pretty self-explanatory. The real question of course, did this really happen, or was there something, or someone, that was trying to scare me home and away from here?” He asked with a thoughtful expression. “I’d have no way of checking otherwise. Hmm, what do you think, my friend? Is this ‘professional dream analyst’ worth my time?”

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

Samurai thinks over Silver's dilemma. "As a duty-bound samurai, I cannot leave any post I've been assigned to. Not unless it's under extreme circumstances. However, you are not a soldier. You have the freedom to go where you want. You know that I would gladly hook you up with the best dream analyst Japone can produce. However if I were you, I'd go home and double check. I wouldn't be able to rest until I did." Samurai says with a reassuring smile.

[Silver Slate]

@Samurai Equine

Silver nods in silent agreement. He knows what he needs to do. He doesn’t want to leave his friend, but at the same time, he couldn’t abandon his home if something had indeed happened.

“It will take me a while to get back home, and I have no practical way of contacting you. It’s a shame you or one of the others I’ve met couldn’t come along. I have no idea what I may face once I arrive. It could be nothing, or it could be just as bad as I imagined.” Silver talks as he finishes the remainder of his meal.

He heads to his room to pack up the few things he had, then returns to his friend before he takes off.

“Well, I guess I should get going on. I don’t know when or if I’ll see you again.” He sighs and stares off into the distance, knowing what he must do but not wanting to face reality if his dream turns out to come true.

[Samurai Equine 51,417]

@GeneralDirection

"Well, actually I--" Samurai begins, but Silver runs off to his room. "Ah. Samishii desu ne." Samurai look up out of the corner of his eyes and contemplates for a second.

When Silver returns, Samurai has all ready cleared the table and is standing. "That's what I'm trying to tell you, Silver-san. I'm going with you!" Samurai says, hopefully to his surprise.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Samurai Equine