WARNING! SPOILERS TO THE EPISODE "FOR WHOM THE SWEETIE BELLE TOILS" ARE PRESENT IN THIS CHAPTER! I RECOMMEND YOU WATCH THE EPISODE FIRST BEFORE YOU READ THIS!
Constant and Jethrek left the Monitor sometime later to go back to Carousel Boutique. It was seven minutes before Sweetie Belle would return from school. Constant was nervous. Knowing that Sweetie Belle was not happy when she and her friends heard about his crash was sure to make things a little difficult, if not a lot. "Mother always said that children are unpredictable," he thought to himself, "so who knows how she'll react when she sees us?"
Three minutes in, Constant and Jethrek arrived. Constant knocked, and Rarity opened the door for him. "Welcome back," she greeted, "You're early."
"We wanted to arrive as early as possible," Constant replied, "Jethrek and I came up with a list of questions for your sister."
"We wanted to make sure to leave a...good impression," Jethrek stated, taking note of something Constant had said prior to their leaving the Monitor, "We did not want to make it sound like an interrogation."
Rarity chuckled silently, remembering Constant's explanation about the Daleks. "Most certainly not," she agreed, "You don't want to frighten her."
"As far as we know, she didn't do anything wrong," Constant said, "except what caused her to have that nightmare in the first place, but I can already guess you know what that is."
Rarity nodded and then looked toward the front door again. "Here she comes. Should I stay for support?"
"If you wish," Constant replied.
"Actually, it would be beneficial if you did," Jethrek said, "If my perception filter malfunctions, Sweetie Belle might be frightened of my appearance."
At that moment, Sweetie Belle entered. "I'm home!" she called.
Rarity looked in her direction. "Welcome home, Sweetie. We have guests."
"Really? Who?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Before Rarity could answer, Constant spoke up, "Well, I'm sure your friend Spike will have told you and your friends about us by now."
Sweetie Belle's school bag dropped with a thump, as she realized who it was. "Constant and Jethrek?" she asked, half-surprised and half-annoyed. She walked to where they were. "What do they want with us?"
"We need information from you about something personal," Jethrek replied, as Rarity gave Sweetie a stern look about her tone.
Almost immediately, Sweetie Belle noticed the tonality in which Jethrek was speaking, so rather than react to the way Rarity was looking at her, she looked at Jethrek. "Uh...are you okay?" she asked.
Jethrek raised an eyebrow on the image of his perception filter. "Yes," he replied, "I am fine."
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow herself. "Are you sure? You sound like you---" Before she could finish that sentence, it dawned on her what Jethrek had said to her, "Wait, personal? What do you need to know?"
"About a nightmare you had," Jethrek replied.
"One in which you saw Princess Luna," Constant added.
"I...see," Sweetie Belle replied, a little nervous, "Uh...Rarity? Can I...uh...talk to them alone?"
Rarity looked to her, surprised. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure you have some project you want to finish...or start," Sweetie Belle answered, "I'm sure I can handle myself here."
"Uhm...very well," Rarity said, getting a little nervous herself, "Just...don't be afraid to call me if you need...support." She walked away, respecting that Sweetie Belle wanted to have a private conversation.
When Sweetie Belle heard Rarity close the door to another room, she looked to Constant and Jethrek. "Okay, so why do you want to know about that nightmare?" she asked.
"Both of us had a nightmare earlier," Constant replied, "and Princess Luna was in both of them."
"Huh?" Sweetie Belle asked, "So what does that have to do with me? And how did you know that I had a nightmare too?"
"Did Spike mention that we buried probes deep under the ground to record history?" Constant asked.
"Yes, he did," Sweetie Belle replied, "I see...and I'm also guessing that your...probes also recorded that I went to Canterlot to fix a mistake and that Princess Luna met me there too?"
"That's right," Constant replied, "What exactly happened? Did you realize something was wrong?"
"Was your nightmare a...premonition of what would happen?" Jethrek added.
Sweetie Belle sighed, "It was, and it's my fault that I got that...what did you call it, Jethrek?
"A premonition," Jethrek replied.
"Okay, it's my fault I got that premonition in the first place," Sweetie Belle finished.
Constant and Jethrek looked at each other, then back to Sweetie Belle. "Would you care to tell us about that?" Constant asked.
"Okay," Sweetie Belle replied, "Where do you---Hey! Isn't this about your nightmares? Why do I have to tell you about mine? And why do I have to tell you about everything that happened before and after my nightmare?"
"We need to find out why Princess Luna appeared in our nightmares," Jethrek replied, "By hearing information related to your nightmare, we might be able to find a connection or something related."
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Okay...So it started with a play which Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I were performing. Rarity had made the costumes for the performance. After the play, we wondered how we did...and the only good thing anyone seemed to notice was...the costumes, and that was it. I felt angry. I thought my sister had made the costumes too good so that the ponies watching the play would notice them, and not the performance." She looked down. "I was too angry to think that perhaps it was us. The next day, Rarity was scheduled to take a costume to Sapphire Shores, a pop star in Canterlot. I really wanted to get back at my sister...so I sabotaged the headdress so that it would fall apart."
"Rarity did not notice this?" Jethrek asked.
"She was already asleep when I did it," Sweetie Belle replied, "So, no, she didn't. When I was asleep sometime later, that's when the nightmare started. It started out fine until everything around me started to turn strange. Princess Luna was there, alright, and she showed me what really happened at a birthday party for me...and then I saw what would have happened if my sister had brought the headdress to Sapphire Shores in its current state, and it wasn't pretty. When I finally woke up...Rarity had already left for Canterlot."
"I'm guessing that you made it just in time to fix your mistake?" Constant asked.
"Not exactly," Sweetie Belle replied, "It was quite a rush, and I had to swipe the headdress from Rarity and...well, thank goodness Princess Luna was there to help me fix it..." She smiled a bit, "and add something that she knew would thrill Sapphire Shores."
Constant and Jethrek looked at each other, pondering..."So she appeared in your nightmare to help you correct your mistake...and see the error of your ways..."
"Yeah, that's about it," Sweetie Belle confirmed, "Also, in my nightmare...when I saw what would have happened to Rarity...I felt...sad...ashamed..."
"Guilty, perhaps?" Jethrek asked.
"I think so," Sweetie Belle said, "if that's how heavy it feels inside."
Constant and Jethrek were silent for a moment. Jethrek was the first to speak. "If she entered our nightmares, then she knows we are here."
"And she knows more about us, too," Constant added, and then his eyes widened, "And...our...universe..."
Sweetie Belle gulped. "Is...that bad?"
"Very bad," Constant replied, "Chances are, she'll probably send somepony to bring us to Canterlot..."
Sweetie Belle sighed, "I don't know how things like this are handled in Canterlot. It's a shame I don't have a time-traveling cutie mark."
"This is already a critical event, Sweetie Belle," Constant replied, "So nothing good would come of trying to change it. However, I appreciate your willingness to help."
"As do I," Jethrek replied, and a moment later, he had a slightly surprised look on his face, and Constant looked to him.
"Uhm...is something wrong?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"No," Jethrek said, "I just...never...said anything like that before."
"Surprises everywhere, I guess," Constant said, hoping not to turn this conversation into a big discussion about the Daleks, "Anyway, Sweetie Belle, you've helped us plenty with the information about and around the nightmare you had. We should go now."
"Yes," Jethrek agreed, "With the information you have given us, we may find a solution to our current situation."
"Wait," Sweetie Belle said, "You're going already?"
"I'm afraid so," Constant said as he walked toward the door, Jethrek following, "We don't belong in this universe, so it's best to limit contact while we find a way back home."
"Aww...and I wanted to see what you two really look like," Sweetie Belle said, disappointed.
Constant was two inches away from pushing the door open when he stopped. He sighed and turned to Sweetie Belle. "Don't get your hopes up," he said, "My knowledge of events in this world...in this universe, even, are limited. All I know is what I've seen as I traveled back in time to bury time probes, and what I read from the data in those time probes. And, as Spike may have told you, I don't travel beyond now, so I don't know what will happen in the future, and I'm not even sure that a nightmare will tell me correctly. So, chances are, you may or may not see me and Jethrek as we truly appear."
Sweetie Belle nodded. "I understand."
Rarity came out of the room she was working in. "Is everything alright?" she asked.
Sweetie Belle looked to her. "Everything's okay, Rarity. We're actually done."
Rarity looked to Constant and Jethrek. "Did you get what you needed from her?"
"Yes," Jethrek replied.
"She was indeed helpful," Constant added, "She answered all of our questions and a few more."
"Very well," Rarity said, "Sweetie Belle, did you feel uncomfortable at any point when they asked something?"
"Well, a little at first," Sweetie Belle answered, "But when they said why they were asking, everything was fine."
"Good," Rarity said, assured that no harm was done.
Constant gave a little smile as he pushed the door open, letting Jethrek go first. He looked back to Sweetie Belle and Rarity. "Again, thank you both for your help."
"You're welcome, Constant," Rarity replied.
"I hope your problem is solved soon," Sweetie Belle said, "Good luck!"
"We'll take all the luck we can get," Constant replied, "Goodbye."
"Bye!" Sweetie Belle replied, waving her hoof as Constant finally closed the door.
Jethrek waited for Constant, and they headed back toward Golden Oaks Library. Along the way, Jethrek looked up to find that some pegasi were moving clouds in the sky. He stopped for a moment. "The laws of physics in this universe seem to be more expanded than in ours."
Constant looked to Jethrek and looked where he was looking. "I see what you mean." When they reached the library and went inside the Monitor, Constant sat down in a chair, turning off his perception filter. "I don't think we should risk going there directly, because we take two possible risks: One, we might be seen as intruders, and end up getting arrested, and two, if Princess Luna already told her subjects, and her sister Princess Celestia about us...then the information might have already reached the public. "
"So what do you recommend we do?" Jethrek asked, turning off his perception filter mid-sentence.
"There is only one thing we can do," Constant replied, "We must find her again...in our nightmares."
Jethrek's travel machine jolted slightly backward. "In our nightmares?!"
"I don't see any other options, Jethrek," Constant said, "Unless you have an idea that you know won't expose us further, and won't cost lives."
Jethrek paused for a few seconds. "I do not. Being as unfamiliar with this universe as you are, I do not see any other course of action besides what you suggest.
"Well, we have plenty of time to spare before anyone goes to bed out there," Constant said, "So we might as well prepare for it."
"I concur," Jethrek said.
Constant typed into the console. "There. I've set a timer to go off once the appropriate time to sleep has struck." He looked at Jethrek. "You have some time to practice your maneuverability and watch the probe logs. I will watch the logs as well in the lab while I work on something I've been holding off for a while."
"Understood," Jethrek replied.
A few minutes later, Constant went to the lab and opened the probe records in the computer system. He had them projected in a holographic display as he brought out some raw materials and his sonic and laser screwdrivers. Looking at the records, he started drawing a plan to build something at another console. He stopped for a moment and sighed. "How am I going to face her again?" he thought to himself, "If she revealed what she saw to her sister...and everyone else in the higher-up...everyone's going to have their eyes on me...watching my every move, making sure I don't break any of their laws, most likely...And then...No. I'm not going to let that happen again!" He gripped his laser screwdriver tightly. "I'm not going to let this ship fall in the wrong hands! I'll get us home if it's the last thing---" His thought process was interrupted when he smelled something burning. He looked to his left to find that he had burned a black circle on the wall behind the computer. A closer smell made him look down to find that he had also burned off the tip of the nail on his left index finger. "That was close," he thought, "I can't let my emotions control me like that...I'd better start working on this while I still have the hours."
Hours passed. Constant was halfway through cutting out the pieces for what he was building when the timer he set finally reached zero. He looked up at the beeping console and pressed a button to stop the alert. "Bedtime," he thought to himself as he put the materials away. Once that was done, he walked out to find the door to the large empty chamber opening. "Turning in, Jethrek?" Constant asked.
"Affirmative," Jethrek replied as he came out, "I request you check my primary brain before we sleep."
Constant smiled a little. "I can understand your concern there," he said, leading him into the lab, "Open up." Jethrek opened his travel machine, and Constant scanned him again. "No change," he said.
"Then I shall go to my charging port and sleep," Jethrek stated.
"Alright," Constant replied, "That being said, I shall also turn in at once. The sooner we make contact, the better." He went to
his personal quarters, changed into a set of sleepwear, and lay on the bed. "Actually, the sooner we actually resolve the situation, the better," he thought to himself as he fell asleep.
Constant found himself running around a secret storage area with a key in hand. Not many things had a keyhole in them. There were boxes, chests, and other things, but none of them fit the key he had.
"Hurry up, Lieutenant!" called out his squad leader, "The Daleks will be shooting the ground above us in a few minutes!"
"I am quite aware that time is the last thing we have on our hands, sir!" Constant replied, "I'm looking as quickly as I---" He was stopped by the sight of a keyhole on a bullet-topped cylindrical construct. "I think I found it." He put the key in, and it fit. He turned the key, and the door on the construct jolted away from him before it opened. "This is it, sir!" He looked inside. "It's a TARDIS! It's not of a design I've seen before, but it looks like it has the basic layout."
"Speculate later, lieutenant," his squad leader replied, "We found what we came for. Now we have to get it out of the battle zone!" He ordered each person in his squadron to take positions in the control room. "And lieutenant," he said to Constant, "go down to the engineering section, and make sure we are fit to fly."
"Yes sir!" Constant replied as he ran out of the control room. He went to a console in the hallway and got a map of the interior so he wouldn't wander around aimlessly. This was, after all, a dire situation, and the Time Lord council did not want the Daleks to get their hands on this TARDIS. "Why this one in particular?" he thought to himself as he ran, "Was it custom-built? Or is there something so dangerous about it that they had to lock it away?" He put his questions aside for a later time. "I've got to get to the engineering section right away to---"
All of a sudden, he realized what was going on. He stopped, only to see another of himself running in the direction he was going. "Oh no," he sighed, "Not this event!" He looked around. "This is it! Where is she?!" He ran in a different direction this time, to where the lab he set up was. It was in the same mess he remembered in the first time he entered it. "Perfect spot to talk, I suppose," he said to himself. It was also dark inside, so his shadow was projected by the light entering the room. He looked around. "Come on," he said, "I know you're here too, Princess Luna. Show yourself."
"I'm here," her voice said as he saw her shadow in the light of the doorway.
He turned around, seeing her once again. "We meet again," he said, "And unfortunately at a critical moment, too."
"I know," Princess Luna replied, "I sensed that you felt uncomfortable seeing me when I first entered your nightmare."
"Yes," Constant said, "I was hoping to keep our presence secret from everyone, including you. Now that you know that we're in your world..." He looked at a control panel, which surprisingly to him, had changed to the way it looked after he cleaned and modified it. Looking around further, he found that the scenery had changed to present-day conditions. He sat down in a chair and sighed. "Now that you know that we're in your world, I'm scared to think that you might have told Princess Celestia and just about everyone else in the higher up about what you saw in our nightmares."
"I see," the dark alicorn said, "However, even I see that this is not the only thing that troubles you."
"No doubt you've seen my world," Constant said, "The Time War...my career, everything, right?"
"Allow me to put you at ease," Princess Luna said, transforming a chair so she could take a seat too, "I did not tell anyone about you and that...violent creature yet."
"Violent crea---you mean Jethrek?" Constant asked, and Princess Luna nodded. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you continued to keep it a secret. Twilight Sparkle and her friends already know about me, and they're in the circle of secrecy as well."
"I know that," Princess Luna replied, smiling slightly, "They were among the ponies in your last nightmare. As for keeping your secret," she looked to Constant directly now, "Are you absolutely certain that's what you want? After all, help comes to those who ask for it in desperate times."
"You're saying you'd be willing to help me get back to my universe?" Constant asked, surprised, but hiding it. Deep inside, he was punching himself in the gut for not thinking it was a good idea in the first place.
"Of course," Princess Luna replied, nodding, "My sister and I have the power to send something or someone to another dimension."
Constant sighed, heavily weighing the odds. "I don't know," he said at last, "I mean, you would need that power to help defend your civilization against a major threat, the likes of which we've seen already."
"Are you rejecting my offer?" Princess Luna asked, "This may be the only chance you get."
"As I said," Constant replied, "I don't know. Besides, there are other things I'm concerned about. First, the quantum signature of this universe. It is so close to that of mine, that I don't think your magic could distinguish it. Secondly, I encountered Discord some time ago, and he changed something in the timeline just to test me. If he found out about it, who knows what other being knows about it too? Changelings, perhaps? Anyone could be watching from the outside, and we wouldn't even know it!"
The mention of Discord was enough to worry Princess Luna. "You speak a valid point," she stated, "However, does that not give you enough reason to leave sooner rather than later?"
"There's no guarantee that doing it sooner rather than later will work," Constant replied, "And even if we did try, how do we know no one will see or hear something if it doesn't work?"
Jethrek was fighting a skirmish against an army on a planet that the Daleks would soon claim. The battle was in the favor of the Daleks, and once the last soldier was executed, Jethrek's team leader reported to their ship. "This was an easy skirmish," Jethrek stated, "These soldiers had weapons that could not match those of superior Dalek technology."
"Colonization will begin in 1200 rels," the team leaders said, "Units 1376-Alpha, 974-Gamma, and 1478-Epsilon, locate cities and send coordinates to the fleet to send laser barrages on the surface."
"I obey," Jethrek replied before the other two Daleks who received orders replied with the same sentence in succession. He left the area and scanned for metals used by this world to build living structures and other buildings. When he found one of the cities, he sent the coordinates, and laser fire shot from the sky and leveled the city. Once that was done, Jethrek flew to the scene and checked for survivors. A quick scan showed nobody was alive. "All life eradicated in this location," Jethrek reported, "I am moving to find the next settlement."
"Proceed, Unit 1376-Alpha," replied his team leader via radio.
When he found another concentration of those metals, he again, flew in that direction. On the way, he saw three Daleks from other groups going in his direction, and it became clear why when laser fire shot out from ahead of them. "Exterminate! Exterminate!" Jethrek called out, and the four Daleks fired their weapons back at their attackers. It was a group of ten soldiers, two of them only young enough to be teenagers. Jethrek's travel machine was hit at least six times, but the hits were too weak to do more damage than put burn marks on the body. Eight of the soldiers were finally hit, each one screaming in pain as their skeletons showed momentarily before they fell dead on the ground. The last adult soldier was hit in the arm, which had armor only strong enough to prevent the shot from being lethal As a result, he was weakened, barely able to stand. Two of the Daleks cornered him at a rock, while Jethrek and the fourth one did the same with the teenager whose weapon was rendered useless by laser fire hitting it.
"Why are you doing this?" the teenager asked, scared, "Why couldn't you have come in the name of peace?"
"Daleks do not declare peace with inferior beings," Jethrek stated.
"Inferior?!" the adult soldier wheezed, "How dare you? Are you really that heartless to slaughter us like...like animals?!"
"Those who submit to the Daleks can live to become slaves," said one of the Daleks cornering him.
"Why?!" the adult asked, "We had a home! We had a life! Every one of us! Why must you take them away from---" Before he could finish his sentence, he was blasted by one of the Daleks cornering him, and finally died.
The teenager finally had the courage to stand and slam his now useless laser rifle against the Dalek next to Jethrek. Jethrek fired his weapon at him, and he fell, sprawled on the ground. He was still alive, but only just, and his eyes shifted between the two Daleks standing before him. "You Daleks," he said quietly and weakly, "are monsters."
Jethrek paused, looking down at the teenager's face. "Daleks conquer and destroy!" he said, and the other three Daleks repeated that sentence in sequence as the teenager's eyes fully closed, and his life stopped. However, it didn't stop there. The sentence kept repeating over and over again, which confused Jethrek. He looked to the other three Daleks to find that they were indeed the ones repeating it, still in sequence. "Silence!" he said, "We must return to our assigned duties." But they did not stop. Three more times, the sentence was spoken before they all turned their eye stalks to him. "Return to your assigned duties!" Jethrek demanded, "Obey! Obey!" The three Daleks now chanted the sentence over and over again in unison. "Unit 1376-Alpha to team leader! Emergency! Three Daleks malfunctioning in global coordi---" He was cut off mid-sentence by the leader's voice repeating the same sentence in unison with the three Daleks in front of him. It then became clear. He was having another nightmare.
"You were made only to hate, Jethrek," said a familiar voice. His eye stalk snapped to look at the adult soldier, but in his place, lay Constant, in the same position as the soldier, and in the same condition. "Does this mean you hate your own race too?"
Jethrek shot back, remembering hearing those words before. "Where is Princess Luna?!" he demanded.
After a long discussion, Constant and Princess Luna had finally come to an agreement. At a predetermined time, Constant would come to her and Princess Celestia so they could help him and Jethrek get home. But between now and that time, Constant would have to study the way the laws of physics in this universe differed from those in his own. At the end of the conversation, Constant sat down on a chair in the lab. "So anyway, let me see if I understand why you came to our nightmares in the first place," he said, "You're saying that the guilt, sadness, and...fear in us was strong enough for you to sense that it qualified for you to show yourself to us?"
"That is correct," Princess Luna said, "Those emotions, suppressed or not, can lead to a nightmare. I can see, however, that there are some things that you would prefer to deal with yourself, so I will leave them to you."
"Thank you," Constant replied.
At that moment, Princess Luna looked up, surprised. "Your companion is suffering in his nightmare," she said, a worried look in her eyes, "It's hurting him, but it's strange...I'm not sure if he's aware of the pain."
"I'd better wake up, then," Constant said.
"You are not going to accompany me?" Princess Luna asked.
Constant looked at her. "While the idea is tempting, I think his nightmare is also linked to something that happened to him in the real world and may be happening again. I need to check on him."
Princess Luna nodded. "Very well, but hurry." She disappeared from view, and at this point, Constant had enough willpower to wake up from the dream...
...which he did. He rushed off his bed and into the corridor towards the lab. Recalling what he had seen of Jethrek after they both woke up, he was confident that the nightmare he was having now (if he was still having it, that is) would affect him further. Who knew? Perhaps there was more going on behind Jethrek's nightmare than the increase of his brain mass. Either way, Constant was worried about what would happen to Jethrek if it did not go unchecked. At the same time, he wondered why he was worried about Jethrek's health at all, despite their past.
When he reached the lab, he heard rapid beeping coming from Jethrek's travel machine. He ran to him and activated the console next to him which was connected to the charging station. A warning symbol was flashing on the screen, showing that a part of Jethrek's second brain was going critical. He checked to see which part on a diagram he made from an internal scan when he first revived Jethrek after their fight. The part that was going critical was a vital component needed to operate the behavioral regulator in the second brain, and since Constant did not know which part of the behavioral regulator it was, he felt there was nothing he could do but try to wake Jethrek up. He sent a signal to the travel machine, which opened it up, and he saw Jethrek with his eye shut tight, and his tendrils trembling violently. "Jethrek!" Constant said, "Wake up!...Can you hear me?" There was no response. All he could do now was watch him and the console until the situation was over. Moments later, the beeping from Jethrek's travel machine sped up and raised in pitch. "Oh for heaven's sake!" Constant said out loud, "JETHREK!"
Jethrek fled from the location he was in when the confusion started. In the distance, he could hear every Dalek still chanting that same sentence. "This is unbecoming of the Dalek mind," he thought to himself out loud, "Why is that sentence being chanted continuously in my nightmare?!"
"Perhaps that is a question that you must answer yourself," said a voice behind him. He looked to find Princess Luna lying on the ground in a partly-contemplative posture. "I know almost nothing about your universe...Jethrek. I do know, however, that you and Constant want to get home. However, I do not think that is the reason you are having this nightmare." She listened to the chanting. "Is this true of your race?"
"Yes," Jethrek replied simply, "Why does it matter?"
"Perhaps this nightmare is a message sent to you from deep inside yourself," Princess Luna replied, "What do you think it is saying?"
Before Jethrek could answer, he heard another Dalek yell "EXTERMINATE!" Jethrek looked to his left and screamed as that Dalek fired its weapon at him. But instead of his travel machine being destroyed, it deflected the shot back at the attacking Dalek, whose own travel machine exploded from the front as he screamed. Jethrek's travel machine seemed to change from the standard design to the one which Constant had built for him.
"I do not know!" Jethrek replied after taking in what just happened, "We are not created to have nightmares, especially one of this magnitude!"
Princess Luna raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps you need to look back and think about it."
"What more is there to think about besides my past?" Jethrek asked, "I followed orders. I exterminated oppressors. I helped conquer worlds for the Dalek Empire. That is what I was created for."
"While that is true, Jethrek," Princess Luna stated, "do you ever think about what you were being denied?" Jethrek looked straight at her now. "Perhaps I should make it clear." She proceeded to show Jethrek his own recent past, starting with when he woke up in the life-support container which Constant had made for him first. From there, it went on to when Jethrek escaped because he didn't know what happened to Constant, being rescued by Fluttershy, and talking with her later on. "Constant may not want to admit it," Princess Luna went on, "but it was the kind part of him that told him to make the travel machine you use now, even though he had his doubts."
"He did it out of kindness?" Jethrek asked, half with disbelief and half with curiosity.
"Yes," Princess Luna replied, smiling.
"Daleks have no concept of kindness," Jethrek stated. Princess Luna raised an eyebrow, her smile still on. Jethrek looked at her and saw that she was trying to tell him something. Jethrek looked at Fluttershy in the memory she was showing him. "Daleks have no concept of kindness because we are not created to be kind. Our second brains have behavioral regulators which keep us focused on our objectives, and prevent actions unbecoming of Daleks---" Then it struck him. "You are saying that these nightmares are being caused by the behavioral regulators?"
"I do not know," Princess Luna replied, watching as the scenery not relevant to the memories she was showing Jethrek changed from the planet the Daleks were conquering to somewhere in Gallifrey during the Time War, "But it does feel like some part of you is calling out to be released. If that is the case, then you are not letting it out, and it is causing you pain."
"How?" Jethrek asked.
Princess Luna looked at Jethrek. "Only you can answer that. If you can not find the answer, then the problem cannot be solved."
Jethrek was groaning in pain as Constant tried to gain access to the behavioral regulator. He found out that some part of Jethrek himself was trying to fight against the second brain, and he was worried about what would happen if either side won. "Either way," he thought to himself, "Jethrek is in for a psychological crisis!" He made a quick sigh as he scanned Jethrek himself and used the sonic screwdriver on the second brain to try and keep the materials in the behavioral regulator from fusing with each other. "Did this all start when his first travel machine overloaded?!" Constant said aloud, "No wonder his brain grew! It's trying to adapt because it lost it's connection with the second brain. Twice!" Looking at the scanner, he found that Jethrek's brain had grown another nine percent. "Oh, Princess Luna, I hope you can help him before his brain grows too big for his body to handle!"
Jethrek felt as if something was straining inside him, trying to push away something else, but the something else was coming in. "What--What is going on?! I am beginning to see beyond rational Dalek beliefs!"
At that moment, Princess Luna's look of worry and waiting changed to a smile. "You have found the answer."
Jethrek turned to face Princess Luna completely. "See beyond?!" At this moment, the continuous chanting, which was still heard despite the change of scenery, started to quiet down, and the atmosphere started to calm.
Princess Luna looked up toward the sky. "I believe it is time for you to wake up." She disappeared from view.
"WAIT!" Jethrek called. He looked around and saw everything starting to disappear too. "Help!" he called out, as he felt the ground beneath him give way. He started to fly away from the void approaching him. Ahead, he found more scenery fading away. He looked around inside the travel machine to find something to help him escape from this nightmare. Then it occurred to him. "Signal for help!" He felt for the emergency transmitter in his machine, opened the flip cover, and pressed the button hard. Then..it all seemed to happen at once. His vision blurred as he saw a bright light flashing before him.
Jethrek's second brain sparked violently in the area where the behavioral regulator was. "NO!" Constant yelled as Jethrek himself screamed in pain. The sparking went on for ten more seconds as Jethrek's grab arms flailed weakly.
"I am in pain!" Jethrek yelled.
"Hold on Jethrek!" Constant said. He checked the operating system to find error messages coming nonstop. Constant typed quickly and tried to override the behavioral regulator programming, but nothing he did worked. With a final loud pop, the second brain stopped sparking altogether, leaving Jethrek to groan in relief. Constant looked at the operating system link-up on the console and found that the second brain was controlling something inside the suit. It wasn't directly connected, but rather remote-controlled. He used a magnifying tool to look inside Jethrek's travel machine at the appropriate angle to examine the second brain. Tiny nanoprobes were working to repair the damaged parts, and clean up the mess. They were also cleaning and repairing Jethrek's organic material. He looked closer to see if the behavioral regulator was being fixed, but it was not. Apparently seeing it as a lost cause, the nanoprobes were instead taking parts from it and using them to repair other vital parts. "So, the nanoprobes in his system actually clung to the second brain when I extracted it," he thought to himself, "Thank you, Princess Luna."
Jethrek groaned as he slowly opened his eye. "What...happened?" he asked, "Where...am I?"
"You're awake now, Jethrek," Constant replied, "You're still in the Monitor's lab." He sighed. "The behavioral regulator malfunctioned...and it blew itself out trying to regain control."
Jethrek looked down. "If I was still among fellow Daleks, they would consider this an unacceptable loss. If they could not repair the behavioral regulator, I would be taken out of service."
"Well, since I cannot repair the behavioral regulator," Constant replied, "you'll have to adapt to your new situation."
Jethrek's eye squinted slightly as it turned to Constant. "I am aware of that," he said.
"How do you feel?" Constant asked, scanning Jethrek with the appropriate scanner.
"Weak," Jethrek replied, "but if a Dalek with all the necessary equipment felt this way, he would fully recover in 360 kilorels."
Constant looked at him..."Five days, huh?" he asked, "Would he need any special treatment within that time?"
"No," Jethrek replied, relaxing his eye, "It would take that time approximately to recover without treatments."
"I see," Constant said, taking this information into account. He finished the scan. "Well, all in all, your brain mass has grown by 20 percent. I can only guess that this happened due to you being disconnected from your second brain twice. If I'm not mistaken, your organic system must have been trying to replace what it was missing by itself."
"Perhaps," Jethrek said, contemplating the idea.
"So, how did your chat with Princess Luna go?" Constant asked.
Jethrek's tendrils quivered a little before he answered. "I...do not know. Usually, I would have felt insulted by what she was suggesting...Seeing beyond Dalek beliefs...But in that moment, when I gave in, everything that made the nightmare what it was started to diminish. I do not understand why."
Constant could not help but smile now. "Maybe another talk with Sweetie Belle might help." Jethrek looked to him as he walked to a nearby console. "Then again," Constant went on, typing in something, "maybe you're taking your first real step into a new life."
"New life?" Jethrek asked.
Constant turned to Jethrek again. "Jethrek, you've been living in the confines of that behavioral regulator for...I don't know how long now, but now that you don't have it anymore, you are free to make a wider variety of decisions than what it was allowing you to make in the first place."
Jethrek actually recognized his own fear at these words. "What if I still wish to return to my own people?" he asked.
"Then I won't stop you," Constant said, "If you still want to return to your own people, I'll even help you get to them."
There was a long pause...
Finally, Jethrek closed his travel machine. "Either way, I will have to explore the potential of this new life."
"Exactly, Jethrek, " Constant said, smiling, "I'll let you rest now. I'm going to talk with Princess Luna via isomorphic communication. I think it's fair to let her know that the situation is resolved."
"Agreed," Jethrek said, "Tomorrow, I will download schematics for a self-charging power cell. You need only modify one of the power cells which you already constructed."
"That will be helpful," Constant agreed as he walked out of the lab. As he walked down the corridor to the control room, he thought about what had transpired. With everything that was going on, and going to happen, he told himself that he would have to be patient with himself as well as the research he would have to do. Getting back to his universe was not going to happen sooner than later, but that was something he and Jethrek would have to live with. If any one thing was absolutely certain to him about this situation, it was that he and Jethrek were going to get an adventure out of it all.