The room was dry considering how far below the water Copper was. Apparently a lot had happened since he had last been here. Who knows how long that had been? He couldn't remember anything about what it was like in fact. There was some vague notion of seaponies he'd met. Places he'd been. But whenever he tried to focus, it would escape him. Like trying to hold water in his hooves. The room was nice and comfortable. He just wished it was his.
He sat, staring blankly at the window, which shimmered. It was amazing that they had come up with bubbles that could withstand the pressure without magic. Of course, magic was still used quite a lot, but for more permanent places, it was cheaper to have one of these installed. They never popped to Copper’s understanding and actually took a lot of effort to break. He had prodded at it quite a bit when he had come inside, as the door had one as well. It was possible to pass through them, which made things even stranger. It felt like pushing through jello.
Right now, he was waiting. He hated waiting. The thing he wanted to do right now was not wait. Waiting was a chance to sleep and he didn't want to sleep. He was so very tired, but it would have to wait. Sleep was something he could not afford right now. It allowed her to get to him. As the nights passed he could feel her getting more and more under his skin. It got to the point where he had not slept in a few days. Not on purpose, like something was keeping him awake and pushing him to get up whenever he laid down. He heard the clop of hooves on the dry cobble behind him as someone crossed through the bubbled doorway. “Oh. Sorry, I thought this was my room...”
“It is, Twilight...” Copper said, not turning away from the window.
“I...uhm...do I know you?” It was obviously Twilight, it sounded just like her. That voice simply made him feel better.
“Yes, you do. But it's...” He hesitated. “Been a long time.” He decided that was the best thing to say.
There was no sound for a a few seconds, as Twilight thought. “I...uhm...” He heard the slight pop from a magical bubble helmet. Copper knew that sound and had assumed she would have used one of those, rather than a stone.
He turned around and looked at her. “Four years to be-” He froze, staring at her. She was taller. Her horn was a tad longer and pointier. And she had wings. “I have completely lost my train of thought. Why are you an Alicorn?”
Her eyes widened. “Copper? Why are you alive?”
His brow wrinkled slightly, that didn't sound too happy. “I asked you first,” he retorted.
“I think my question is a tad more pressing!” She had backed away quite a bit and it was all Copper could do to not move.
No moving at all. But it was time to explain. And so he told her. About Doctor Whooves and his...associates, deciding not mention Chrysalis, or changelings.
She did not like what he had to say about Celestia. “So you're technically dead, but alive at the same time? And you think Princess Celestia is the reason you died?”
He took a deep breath and sighed. “Yes, Twilight... I...I may have chosen to take my own life, but it was Celestia's fault for me being in that situation.” He raised a hoof. “And not because she sent me on some stupid job. She didn't do that. She helped in the building of the False God.”
“Which you have no proof of,” she said, staring at him. It was obvious that she was trying to glare at him, but it was hard to glare at someone you were happy to see. She took in a deep breath. “And I don't get why you would want Luna to suggest me to come to Aquis... I mean, I like it here and everypony is so friendly, but why?”
He looked at her and then closed his eyes. “Because I need your help. I...I am broken. On the inside and out. And you're the only one who I trust enough to help...”
“Copper I just... I don't know...you...” She sat down on the floor, staring at him. “I just can't believe that Celestia would do something like that.”
“Whether she did or not doesn't matter, Twilight... I'm not asking you to help her. I'm asking you to help me... I need your help Twilight. Otherwise... I...” His mind raced, he didn't want to say it.
Her gaze did not leave him. “Otherwise what?”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had to tell her. “Because otherwise I'll die. Or worse.”
“You'll die?” she said, her eyes seemed to be searching for something in his face.
“Yes.” He hesitated, his mind traveling once again to Nightmare. “Or worse.”
There was a few moments of silence, as Twilight thought. Copper did not say anything. It was her decision to make. But if she said no, he would kill himself before Nightmare could take over. She was winning. She was beating him. Even while he was awake he could feel what little strength he had to fight her ebbing away. “What do I need to do?” she said finally, much to his relief.
“You just need to...bring the rest of me back,” he said, realizing now how absurd that sounded. “I'm not entirely sure how it worked the first time...as I was...well I was dead. But...” He pulled a small tube from inside his cloak. From it, he pulled a scroll. “I have the spell...but...it's Dark Magic. Very Dark...”
She moved towards him and the scroll glowed as it moved away from him and towards her, unfurling. “I...don't know if I could cast this...” she muttered, reading over the scroll.
“You don't have to cast it...just...finish it.” Again there was a part of him speaking from very far away.
“It's not finished?” she said, glancing up at him.
He shrugged. “Obviously not, since all of me isn't back.”
“It might take a few hours for me to work out something...” she said, the scroll moving over to a table that Copper had already covered with blank scrolls, ink bottles, quills and every reference text he could find on Dark Magic.
“Take your time,” he said, taking a deep breath. “You've got lots of time,” he said smiling a bit. She did not answer, obviously completely enveloped now in studying the spell. Questions buzzed in his head. Where was every other pony? He cursed a bit mentally for how his introduction had been ruined by the distraction. But an Alicorn. That was weird. Though questions would have to wait.
Instead, he sat by the window, staring outside. It was calm. Quiet. It was a good feeling. He could vaguely remember sitting in the library talking to somepony. But he couldn't remember who. He closed his eyes, trying to picture her. It was definitely a her. Yellow and pink were all that came to mind. That's all she was in his memory now. A pink and yellow blur. And there was a pink blur as well and it made him think of something sweet he once ate. It was delicious, but he couldn't remember the taste, or what it was. Just that it was delicious. This was torture. “Hey Twilight! You gotta come see the coral candy they-” In walked the pink blur, which immediately forced its way into Copper's mind.
How could he ever forget her? “Hi Pinkie,” he said, smiling at her.
Time seemed to slow down as he watched her seemingly lift off of the ground and then fly towards him. He was sure something went crunch when she hit him. “OhCelestiait'sCopper!Iamsosuperhappytoseeyou!Butyou'redead!Howareyouhere?”
Words seemed to smack him in the face as it took him a bit to translate in his head what she had just said. “I...” He cleared his throat and put his arms around her. She was sobbing. “It's ok Pinkie. I'm not dead.” There was a slight pause. “Technically.”
She looked up at him, tears running down her face, but she was smiling. “Technically?”
“Uhm... Yes. Technically I am alive. But I'm also still a bit dead. Twilight is seeing if she can help,” he said with a gesture over at Twilight.
“But how are you aliiiiiiiiive?” She was shaking him slightly.
He couldn't help but laugh, it was good to see Pinkie. It hurt him inside to think he ever forgot her. “Magic,” he said simply, as he had a feeling any longer of an explanation would pass right over her head.
There was a bit of thought behind those eyes, before she smiled again. “Oh. Well, that makes sense.” Suddenly she jumped up. “Ohmygosh!Wehavetotelleveryponythatyou'realive!” She turned and Copper barely managed to hook a hoof.
“No no no.” She looked back at him with a questioning look. “Not yet. I...I don't want anypony to see me like...” He paused and then gestured to himself. “Like this.” Who were the other blurs in his memory? None of them seemed to have names. But he knew them. “I barely wanted Twilight to see me like this...”
Pinkie took a step back and looked him up and down. “You do look pretty bad...” She leaned in close, staring at his eyes. He blinked. “And your eyes are all...” She waved a hoof vaguely. “Inky.”
He smiled a bit and nodded. “Yes. I'm quite aware of that. Though I'm not sure why... Something to do with me still being technically dead probably.” Then he noticed the necklace around her neck. It took him a moment before he remembered what it was. It was a magical amulet that created bubble helmets with the stone when the wearer moved into water and kept them from floating up. The amulet focused the stones to repel water in a circular sort of area around the wearer’s head. He had only seen one like it once before; they were expensive because of the material in the necklace, the magic in it and the stone itself. Maybe that had changed...or Twilight and her friends were just that important. The scuba gear, as he called it, did the same thing as the magic in a way, with a sort of helmet using the stones for air and weights to keep a pony under water.
She nodded and sat down. “But...you are here, yes?” Her face turned into a large smile. “Which is good. And everypony would be so happy to find out.”
“Pinkie.” He sighed softly, he had really hoped that only Twilight would see him like this. He didn't know how long it would take, but he had assumed he'd be alone for the most part. “I... I'm not myself. I'm only a part. I'm...broken.” He hated using that term, but it was the best way to describe it. “I don't want anypony seeing me like this.”
She frowned at him. “But they would all be happy. We could throw a big party and everything.”
An idea formed in his head. Or, more accurately, came flying at him from a fair distance and hit him in the back of the head. “Tell you what. You put together a party for tomorrow, I'm sure Twilight will have things sorted out by then.” He looked at Twilight, who nodded slowly; her scribbling had slowed quite a bit. “Good.” He smiled at Pinkie. “So you go get the party ready, but don't tell anyone who it's for. Ok?”
Her expression seemed a tad stressed as she tried not to explode. She sighed and nodded. “Alright.” She perked up again. “Secret surprise party tomorrow.”
“Promise?” he said, chuckling softly.
“Cross my heart,” which she did with a bit of exaggeration, “hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She placed her hoof apparently into her eye, smiling.
That was the best he could have gotten. “Good. No pony breaks a Pinkie Promise.”
She gave a serious nod and stood up. “Right. I've gotta get started!”
A thought struck him. “Cupcake...that's what it was...” He remembered instantly the taste. The texture. “Make sure...there are lots of cupcakes,” he said with a smile at her.
She grinned at him. “Of course! What's a party without cupcakes?” She ran from the room and then frantically floundered outside the door for a time before remembering there was water and then swam off to the side.
Copper laughed. How could he have ever forgotten her? Who else had he forgotten, who wasn't even a blur? Something told him it wasn't important right now, because he'd remember soon enough. He turned to Twilight and moved slightly closer to look at what she was doing. “How's it going?” he said after watching her for several minutes.
“Alright...” she said, pausing in her work. “It's not as complicated as I thought it was, which is disturbing.” She took in a deep breath. “It's very Dark Magic and what it does to the person you bring back...” Her head shook from side to side. “It's like...” She paused as she searched for the right words. “Like...smashing a vase...and then taking the big chunks and sticking them back together, but leaving the little parts alone.”
There was a short silence and then he nodded. “That...is an accurate way of describing how I feel...”
She turned to look at him, her eyes seemed to shine. “Copper. I don't know if I can do this... I mean, it's not as hard as I thought...but it's not going to be pleasant.”
He looked at her for a long time, just trying to remember things about her. “I...” His brow wrinkled slightly. “I don't want to make you do this Twilight... I'm not going to. I...it was selfish of me to try and get you to help... I knew it wouldn't be nice, but I just... I feel so...wretched. I...” He could feel his eyes watering. “I couldn't even remember Pinkie until I saw her. I couldn't remember her cupcakes. I can't remember anything about anything. I know things but I can't think...if...” He looked at her, she looked very concerned. “If there is any chance of something bad happening to anypony but me, than I'll just accept death.”
“I...it wouldn't be bad for anyone but you... I just... I don't know if I could put you through it...it could kill you.” She stared at him, again as if trying to find something.
“Good. If it's a matter of success or death, I'm more than willing to try.” He was almost surprised by the conviction in his voice. He had truly meant that. It was either try and have a chance of dying, or not try and die. There was no choice of not trying.
She took in a deep, slow breath. “Alright. If you're sure.” He only nodded, he couldn't trust himself to speak. She looked at her notes again and then turned to him, pointing her horn at him. “This is going to hurt. A lot.”
“Pain is not something I'm unfamiliar with.” However, as her horn glowed, it was without a doubt the most painful thing he had ever experienced. It was as if every hair on his body was being pulled so hard, that his skin was being pulled from his muscles. Worse than being flayed. Then everything went black.
But his eyes were still open. Or at least, he thought they were. The pain was suddenly gone and color rushed back. Well, not so much color as shapes of darkness. He was once again sitting on the gear. Everything looked worse. The trees were crumbling into black sand and there was already a thick layer of it covering everything.
So this was his nightmare. He stood up, feeling determined. Determined to do what, he didn't know. “This...uhm...is worse than I thought.”
He turned and blinked to see Twilight standing a ways away. She was so bright, it almost hurt to look at her. “It wasn't this bad last time I was here...”
She jumped and looked at him, recoiling immediately. “C-Copper?”
There was a slight hesitation. “This is what I am inside,” he said, looking down at himself. He looked blackened and burned. It wasn't his imagination, he was crumbling into black sand as well. “What's left, anyways...”
“I-it looks l-like we aren't too late...” she said, trying not to look at him. But it was like a train wreck; it was impossible to look away, even when you saw them carting away the bodies.
“Maybe...” He stared up, the sky was dark. Nothing shined. “It feels too late...but I'm still here. So it can't be.” He moved to the end of the gear and out of the sand below rose a path, leading down to the black sand. “Good... I still have power here.” He took a deep breath and let it out. But not much, he added to himself as the edge of the path crumbled.
They set off down the path, which continued to rise out of the sand in front of them. “I don't know really what to do...we need to find the other bits of you, I think...the spell was vague. I wish I had had more time to research...but I'm glad I didn't spend too much time on figuring things out. You might not have lasted...”
“Probably not.” He kept looking around. Where was she? “Not without help,” he said, smiling to himself.
Twilight walked ahead, the black sand seemed to reform under her hooves into gears once again. There was a shape of something to the right in the distance. A tower made of what looked to be copper. The black sand seemed to have not touched it. “That looks promising,” she said, as she turned towards it.
“Or it's a trap...” he mumbled, but followed her anyways. He felt weak, but she gave him strength. He could feel the immense magic she was putting into him. He did feel more stable. Whatever was going on, it felt like it was working.
“Why would there be a trap inside your head?” she said, looking back at him and blinking. “You don't look so bad now.”
He looked down at himself and it was true. He was no longer crumbling into dust and some color was returning. “I...guess it's working?” He shook his head, it was too early to be that positive. “But...I'm...not the only thing in here currently...” He couldn't help but look around. Any second now. That was the perfect introduction.
But nothing happened. When he looked back at Twilight, even she seemed to be deflating from expectancy. “That was a tad...anticlimactic?” He only nodded in response. “But...what else is in here?”
There was only a slight hesitation, before he sighed. He had to tell her. “Nightmare.”
She froze, the hairs on the back of her neck rose. “A nightmare?”
“Not a... The. The Nightmare. You...” He hesitated again. “You fought her, sort of...when she had control of Luna...though she was calling herself Nightmare Moon at that time.” She turned slowly to face him entirely, but didn't speak. He guessed he should continue, “She thought it was...funny to call herself that... It probably made Luna feel more like she still had control...but she hardly had any.”
“You mean...” Twilight's brain was obviously moving quite fast now. “That Luna was being controlled by Nightmare?”
“Sort of... Nightmare...well, she feeds off of ponies. She needs a pony to inhabit as it were...and once she gains control, she starts to feed... In exchange you gain immense power...but lose control. Luna was so angry at Celestia that she gave in to Nightmare and tried to overthrow her.”
Her brow wrinkled slightly. “And she's here? In your head?”
“Yes.” Again he looked around. “It's her fault I'm in this bad of shape I'm guessing... I may not have been all that stable at first, but she's been pushing and...and eventually I'll break completely and she'll have control...”
“So that's the 'or worse' you were talking about earlier?” Now he had her doing it, staring around.
“Yes...but...she can't hurt you. She's not in your head, so she can't touch you. And...I'm not letting her out, though that's just making her fight harder.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Then we should go before she finds us,” Twilight said and headed off towards the tower at a trot.
“I'm surprised she hasn't already...” His mind was racing now with foreign thoughts again. “Probably too busy tearing this place apart...”
“Why did she come after you?” The tower was getting closer and Copper realized it was a clock tower. That seemed important, but he couldn't think why. He wondered if Twilight had noticed it as well.
“We have history,” he said and then sighed at her questioning look. “Celestia sent me to speak with Luna...when she was still imprisoned. She wanted to know how much a threat she would be.” He closed his eyes and shuddered. “It was months of...torture.”
Twilight's brow wrinkled, looking at him. “Months? Why didn't Celestia bring you back?”
Copper shrugged and looked up at the tower. “To teach me a lesson I guess? I had been...quite rude to her. She told me my job would be to go to the moon and assess her sister’s mental health...” He shuddered again.
“And Nightmare Moon tortured you?” Twilight said, horrified.
“Not really physically...but mentally...yes.” He looked at her and gave another shrug. “Nightmare claims that she was...” His face scrunched up as he tried to remember. “Building a protégé? Someone to replace Luna if she failed.”
“And to do that she tortured you?” She stared at him, still very horrified at the thought.
He shrugged. “I guess. I guess it was to build up my strength or something... All I know is that it was awful...” Something on the ground around the tower shimmered. It was surrounded by a lake. He stared at it as they approached. “Wow...” It was completely untouched. The water glistened with a pale light. “So this...is what is left of me?”
“It... It would appear so... I mean, it's like she can't get at this area...”
He took a deep breath and walked towards the water. It burned when he touched it. “Ow...”
Twilight blinked and went up beside him. “What?” She reached out and touched the water. She did not recoil.
He plunged a hoof into the water. It burned for an instant, but when it died away and he withdrew it, it looked fine. The three scars seemed to glow faintly, but there was the natural gray blue. He dove in. He took deep breaths, letting the water fill him. It burned, but it felt good once the burn dissipated. He felt...immensely good in fact. “Well...one problem solved?” he said, bubbles coming from his mouth, but there was no need to breath.
She nodded and took in a breath. “Ah...I...I was worried that it was actual water...” she said as she looked around. It was bright down here.
“It is, I suppose...” He closed his eyes and thought. No memories had come to him. “Well, it's a good start...now I at least look alright...which means I won’t fall to her easily.” He could feel strength returning to him as well.
“Do you think she knows?” Twilight said, looking up at the sky, it looked blue under the water.
“Yes,” he said as he walked towards the tower. He could feel its importance growing. “It has to be in there...” Even when he said it, part of him didn't believe it. He shook his head, no. It had to be in there. Whatever it was.
“Do you know what we're looking for, Copper?” Twilight asked as the tower came closer. They were only a few hooves underwater, but it felt like they were getting deeper. His strength was coming back to him noticeably now. Now he felt...well, like his old self. Confident that he could do anything. The door to the clock tower stood open, darkness within. Again Copper had the thought: trap.
“I have no idea. But it's in there... I can feel it...” Feel. Feeling. That feeling. That. Feeling. He stopped suddenly and Twilight walked into him. When had Twilight entered the water?
“Wh-what's wrong?”
He swung around and planted his hoof firmly into Twilight's face. He leaped back as it exploded in black smoke. “Always trust the feeling. Always.”
“Oh Copper...we were having so much-” Nightmare blinked, as well as she could, being just smoke. Then looked towards the tower. “Hey! Get back here! No interrupting my monologue!”
He was running full speed towards the door. He had been feeling a trap. He knew there was a trap. But it wasn't behind him or ahead of him, it was leading him. Leading him to the one place that it couldn't go on it's own. But it could follow. At the door, he stopped and turned around to face her. “You, are not allowed...in! My! Head!” And then he fell backwards through the doorway. He heard the door slam and Nightmare scream in rage. Or joy. It was hard to tell. But he was still falling.
Falling through water. Not just water. A sea. A sea of his consciousness. A sea of himself. He took a deep breath, letting it envelope him. Lights. Distant lights came on and he smiled. Memories flooded back. Dash. Flying through the air. Rarity. The comfort of a cloak. Horsh. A voice that was only trying to help. Fluttershy. Softness and kindness. Lady Evale. Harsh laughter. Applejack. Shoo-bee-doo-shoop-shoop-bee-doo. He frowned slightly and then laughed. “Shoo-bee-doo-shoop-shoop-bee-doo...” he said softly, letting his eyes close.
~
His eyes opened to see Twilight, her horn still glowing. “Alright, you can stop now.”
Her head jerked up and she stared at him, before smiling. “Did it work?”
He looked down and patted himself softly, he felt a bit bruised, but all there. “I think so. How do I look?” He looked up at her.
Her smile widened a bit. “Besides exhausted?”
His smile widened more. “Yes, besides that.”
“Normal,” she said. She was crying and Copper noticed that she was shaking. “I...I could hear everything...but I...I couldn't do anything...”
He shrugged. “Well, it could have been worse.” His hoof hurt. His scars felt prickly and painful. He could feel all of them. The one on his muzzle was the most annoying, but least painful.
“Yeah...” She slumped forward and Copper moved quickly to catch her, before she hit the floor. “Oof...sorry...that...took a lot out of me...”
“It's ok...you did a great job...and...I'm so thankful that I have a friend as good as you.” He helped her towards her bed. “But now, it's time to rest.” He wondered what time it was. Surely later than it felt.
“Yeah...rest sounds nice...” she said, slumping into the bed. Copper pushed sheets over her and then moved towards the door, where he had left his scuba gear wrapped in his cloak.
“Thank you Twilight,” he said, putting on the scuba gear. “Thank you so much.”
She smiled at him. “I'd say anytime...but...I don't know if I could do that again.”
The words again seemed to echo in his head. “And you won’t,” he said as he moved towards the notes. “And no one will, if I have anything to do about it.” He took the scrolls and books and then left. He did not bother putting them into the tube. Instead, he let the water smudge and ruin them.
And as he walked, the papers slowly tore apart and mashed together in ways that no amount of anything, not even magic, could gather and repair them all. Or so he hoped.
~
“Why don't you sing anymore?” Copper said and Jeta jumped in her seat. She had been staring over the empty table that was the meeting room when Copper walked in.
“I...” She turned around and her eyes widened. “Copper! You're back to normal!” She hugged him again.
He chuckled softly and nodded. “Yes, I am.” He took a deep breath. “Now. Why don't you sing anymore? I haven't heard any singing since I arrived. I felt like something was missing but since I wasn't all there, I didn't know what.”
“Well...” She was still clinging to him, as if he would disappear the moment she let go. “It's just...” She sighed, closing her eyes. “No one's happy anymore. Things have been getting better, yeah...we do a lot more with the surface and seaponies are happy there...but down here we're all miserable.”
He sat down, which didn't seem to bother her and her clinging. “Why? Everypony I saw last time was having the time of their lives.”
“I don't know...” She sighed again, closing her eyes. “Things just...got so bad...especially in the last four years...Princess Celestia is forcing us to export everything from light coral, to lava rocks, to fish. It's become so rough down here for everyone.”
His brow wrinkled slightly as he thought. Oh how it was good to have all of his thoughts back. And the ideas that flooded him were all so good it was hard to choose. But one rose above all others and then he smiled. “I have an idea,” he said as he stood back up.
She blinked and tilted her head to the side. “What kind of idea?”
“The best kind of course.” He laughed as he headed out of the room, dragging her along with him. She was absolutely refusing to let go of him. “Do you know where Twilight's friends are?”
Her brow arched slightly. “Yes...” she said slowly, cautiously.
“Good. We need to talk to the pink one,” he said, smirking slightly. “Oh this will be most fun. Most fun indeed.”
It didn't take long for them to find the party room. It was huge. It was mostly drained, but there was a few good hooves of water inside, to allow for seaponies to assist. Jeta finally let go of Copper and he leaned against the wall by the door as Jeta stood just inside the doorway. He stayed in the hallway, staying out of sight. “What do I do?” she whispered to him.
He chuckled softly and nudged her. “Call out for Pinkie Pie. She'll pop up. And then just repeat what I say.”
She nodded hesitantly and entered the room. “Uhm...is Pinkie Pie in here?” she asked to the room in general.
On cue, Pinkie Pie descended in a net made of streamers and a banner. “Yes?” she said, hanging upside down and grinning at Jeta.
“I...uhm...” She hesitated and glanced back.
Copper chuckled and Pinkie tilted her head to the side slightly. “There's been a change of plans...” he whispered.
“Uhm...there's...been a change of plans,” Jeta said, clearing her throat.
Pinkie could probably hear him and was just acting along, or she didn't. “Oh? What plans? Did we have plans?”
“What do you mean plans have changed? You're not moving us to a different room again are you?” This was Dash, Copper knew it.
“No...not a room change...just a change to the guest list...” Copper whispered, he hoped Dash wouldn't come over.
“No. Not a room change, just a change to the guest list...” Jeta glanced back, thoroughly confused. “What guest list?” she hissed back.
“We had a guest list?” That was Applejack. That accent was unmistakable.
“I don't think so...” Pinkie said, scratching under her chin. “But I suppose we could make one?”
“No it would be too long...” Copper whispered, trying not to laugh.
“No, it would be too long,” Jeta repeated, staring straight ahead at Pinkie Pie now.
“Because, we're turning this into a party, for everypony,” Copper said and took a deep breath.
“Because...we're turning this into a party for everypony?” Jeta looked back at the door again. “Everypony?”
Copper heard Pinkie's intake of breath. “Youmeanasupermagicalfunhugegiganticpartyoffun?” She exclaimed.
“Yes,” Copper whispered, clenching his teeth to not laugh.
“Yes?” Jeta said hesitantly.
“Woohoo!” Copper heard frantic splashing and knew Pinkie had turned and begun running around the room. He had no idea how she got down from the tangle of streamers. “C'mon girls! Time to give this party a major boost!”
~
Back in his own room, Copper laid down on the bed. He was hesitant to sleep, but he had to see what the damage was. He had to know what was still left to be fixed, if anything. His eyes closed the moment he laid his head down. But he couldn't get to sleep yet. He was too excited. A Pinkie Pie party was not something to be sneezed at. She always went over the top. And this time, she would go over the tippy top and make a splash under the sea. Oh Celestia he was tired. He was making puns inside his own head. It had felt like only a few days before he woke up that he had been to one. But it had been over four years. How many parties had he missed?
He opened his eyes, staring at black sand. He sighed softly as he stood up and then looked up. A smile burst upon his face as lights shone high and bright. A large moon, devoid of the Mare in the Moon, shone overhead. He closed his eyes as wind blew across the sand. But now he had the stars and the sky. He stretched his wing outward and swept away some of the sand. Through the gap in the sand shone the brass of a gear. “Right then.” He swept clean an area and then stared at it a moment. There, in the center of a gear, was a tiny sprout. Two brass leaves, extending off the tip of a metal rod.
He tapped the gear, creating a noise like that of a gong. That was enough lazing about. His mind needed to be at one hundred percent. There was a soft creaking noise, which grew louder. No more messing about. “So eager...” came a voice behind him.
Turning around was not what he wanted to do, but the gear was slowly turning and eventually it turned him towards Nightmare. He smiled at her. “Notice anything?” he said casually. He felt exhilarated. Nothing could topple him.
“You're...back to...normal...” Her voice was difficult to hear. She was severely weakened now.
But he shook his head. “No. Not that,” he said with a smirk and pointed at the sky. “That.”
Her eyes traveled upwards. “What...all I see are stars...and the-” Her voice seemed to catch in her throat, her eyes widening.
“Seems there's a vacancy... Welcome to your new prison.”