Shattered Stars

Dream Server

A solid white floor stretched on into infinity in all directions. The sky was a featureless gray plane looming over me. The light came from no particular place in the sky, which made my body blend in with the ground. I held my arm in front of my face. Something was off. There were no shadows.

I swiveled my head to see if I was alone and claws scuttled on the floor behind me. I whirled around, but the thing was too fast and managed to stay behind me out of view. No matter how fast I spun around, I couldn't get it into my field of view. Not even for a millisecond.

This had to be a dream. But why wasn't I instantly lucid like all the other times? I queried my interface about my wakefulness.

<- Wakefulness Level: 100% ->

I scrunched my muzzle in confusion. "Wha...?"

It gave me the same result after I asked it again. I ran a hand through my mane, confused.

Something shrieked behind me and latched onto my back, trying to yank patches of my mane out. I screamed and took off in a sprint, trying to bat the thing off my back with my arms and wings. After that didn't work, I twisted around and fell on my back hoping to crush it beneath me. I slid smoothly across the floor. My attacker had disappeared.

When I stopped, I was looking up Neila's belly at her upside-down head. She wore her trademark smirk and had her hands on her hips. "That was close."

"Whoa!" I yelped, scrambling to my feet and backing away from her. I pointed a shaky finger at her. "You... Neila? What just happened? Where are we?"

Neila broke into a cackle, collapsing to the floor. After a minute of rolling around hysterically, she lolled her head over to me. She raised her hand and put her thumb and middle finger together. "Oh, I was just fucking with you."

Her snap was unnaturally loud as though done through a megaphone.

<- Lucidity: 100% ->

I blinked as the realization hit me. Of course it was a dream.

I relaxed and folded my arms. "Don't do that again."

"No need!" she exclaimed, rolling to her feet. "I got your reaction on video."

I looked away in anger. I swear, if she shares that I'm going to kill—

A torrent of icy water dumped on me from above, smashing me to the ground. My body trembled as the ice-water seeped in between my scales. My breaths became heavy and ragged. The previous thought was lost to me as the shock from the cold bounced around in my bones.

My neck shuddered when I lifted my head off the floor and wiped the wet mane-hair out of my eyes. Neila was biting her lower lip in restrained laughter. I bared my teeth. "N-N-Neila! What the F-FUCK!"

She held up her hands. "Okay now that prank had a real purpose. I saw your mean thought coming and decided to interrupt it. You won't be needing those types of thoughts! And I recorded your reaction again."

I furrowed my eyeridges. "Y-You read my th-thoughts?"

"Of course, because I am the administrator!" She clasped her hands together and grinned like a supervillain. "You underestimate my POWER!"

Vatria materialized behind her in Drake form. Neila froze. Vatria put her hands on Neila's shoulders, scowling down at her. "You are not an administrator of this dream server and you will be punished if you hack into it again."

Neila poofed out of existence, replaced for a moment by a label reading "Neila has been banned". Vatria looked at me. I was instantly dry and my body stopped shivering.