//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: After the Nightmare // by CORACK //------------------------------// With a flash of light and a loud pop, Luna and Selene appeared in the Ascension's mess hall. Immediately Selene started coughing as the air was filled with smoke. Her whole body felt like it was on fire and she could smell burning. Luna stumbled over to a table and then levitated Selene off of her back and lowered her down gently. Selene's clothing was half burned away and her exposed skin was covered in red marks. "Let's... not do that again." Selene said with a cough. "I am sorry Selene, I should have never attempted to teleport so far in my current condition." "Hey, I'm still alive, so we'll call it a success. Run to the lounge and grab my tablet, then grab me the medkit off the wall." The adrenaline that had kept her going was starting to run out. Selene felt her eyes flutter shut and she lay her head down. Luna ran out of the mess, a moment later she returned tablet in tow. The medkit floated off the wall and she set both down on the table. Selene was laying still with her eyes closed, her breathing was erratic, and she was drenched in sweat. "Selene?" Luna poked at the girl. She coughed a few times and opened her eyes. "Sorry, not feeling great." "I have returned with your tablet and the medkit," Luna said. Selene weakly reached over, took the tablet and entered some commands, then she opened the medkit and took out a small device. "This is a medical scanner, it will interface with the ship's computer and provide a diagnosis. We can look up the diagnoses and treatment options on the tablet, " she said. Selene instructed Luna on how to use the scanner, when she was finished, Luna took the scanner and passed it over Selene's injuries. Selene hit a few keys on the tablet and started reading the screen. "The good news is, the leg will heal if you can set the bone right, also, - Selene pointed at her side - if you can remove the shard and stop the bleeding, I have medicine that will prevent infection and I should recover eventually." Luna cocked her head to the side. "And the bad news?" she asked. "I... I've lost a lot of blood and well..." Selene trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. "Is there no treatment available?" "Not unless we can find a donor, the Ascension doesn't have anything on board that we could use." "I might be able to use magic. Powerful healing magic is generally tailored to a specific species, that is why I can't simply cast a spell and heal your injuries, there are no spells for humans because they do not exist in Equestria. There are low level spells that are not species dependent that I can use to accelerate your body's natural healing, but that will not help with the blood loss." Luna paced back and forth nervously. "There are certain... forbidden fields of magic. They are not meant to heal but to steal life. I know of a spell that can be used to drain the lifeforce from one pony and give it to another. I could cast it upon myself, it may save you." "I'm not letting you put yourself in danger to save me." "The danger would not be to myself, I am... I am normally immune to such magic, but my journey here weakened me, in my current state the spell may work, I do not know. If it does not work, it will kill you." The room was spinning and her vision was starting to blur. Selene closed her eyes, so she could try to think but it was getting hard to concentrate on anything. "Selene, I need to know." "You promise it won't put you in any danger?" "I will be fine, " Luna said. "Do it then, " Selene said with a nod. "I need to take care of your other injuries first, there may be side effects to this spell." Her horn lit up and she carefully moved the broken bone into the proper position. She then pinned the bone into position with a light application of magic. Turning to the crystal shard, she focused her magic once again and simply teleported it out of the wound. Another spell slowed the bleeding and accelerated the repair functions of Selene's body. "I am ready." Luna closed her eyes and concentrated, the spell was a complicated one and she had never cast it herself. The area around her dimmed and a red glow surround her body. A sharp pain caused her to cry out. "Luna!" "I am fine, " she said, gritting her teeth. A red mist started to rise through her fur, directly over her heart. The pain was intense but she did not cry out again. It coalesced into a liquid that looked uncomfortably like blood. As she finished the spell, the ball of liquid flew over to Selene and entered the girl's chest. Selene's eyes flew open. The pain of the other injuries vanished and was replaced with an intense burning in her chest. She tried to scream before she realized she already was. Her chest was glowing bright red and her heart was beating so fast, it felt like it was going to explode. Luna's face appeared over her head, she saw the pony's lips move but she couldn't hear any of the words. She clutched her chest as the pain grew worse and worse. "Selene, can you hear me!?" Luna shouted. The only response was Selene's continued screams as she writhed in agony. She was shaking so hard that she fell off the table, but Luna caught her and lowered her down to the floor before she could suffer any damage. Luna knew something was wrong, the spell had never been designed to be cast upon an immortal. When cast on a normal pony, it would steal a portion of their life to extend the life of another. Too much life drained away would kill the donor, while granting decades of life to the other pony, but even a small fraction could help heal normally fatal wounds. Luna had cast the spell at the lowest power possible, but even a tiny fragment of eternity was too much for Selene's body to handle. After what seemed like hours, but was only minutes had passed, Selene's screaming slowly died down and she passed out. Luna looked over the girl. The wound from the crystal shard was completely gone. Her magic also showed that Selene's leg was no longer broken. She sighed in relief. The spell might have had some unexpected side effects, but it appeared to have worked. She picked Selene up and brought her to her room. She carefully placed Selene on her bed and then lay down beside her. The only thing to do now was to wait and let her rest. ##### Selene woke the next morning and found herself pinned under Luna's wing. She stretched her arms out and yawned loudly. Luna shifted and folded her wing back up. "How are you feeling?" Luna asked. "I feel, great? Which, given the circumstances concerns me. What happened?" Selene said, clearly confused. "The spell was successful. Your injuries have been healed as well, a side effect apparently." Selene reached down and lifted her shirt up. Her skin was smooth and unbroken, there wasn't even a scar. She moved her leg slightly, and felt no pain. She reached over and gave Luna a hug. "Thanks, you saved my life." Luna returned the hug. "I almost killed you." "But you didn't! Not that I want to go through that again, I don't think I've ever felt that much pain before." Luna winced. "I am sorry, it was another side effect." "Am I OK to get up? I'm starving." Luna nodded and Selene hopped out of bed. She couldn't remember the last time she had this much energy. She ran down the corridor, happy to be alive. Luna followed behind her as they made their way to the kitchen. After breakfast Selene turned to Luna. "Was I imagining things or was there a door in the cave?" Luna had forgotten all about the door. "No, you remember correctly." "The ship never detected any signs of life on this planet before we crashed. We should check it out." Luna turned her head and stared at the human. "You almost died and you want to go back?" "Well, we need to check it out at some point. Next time we'll be more careful. I shouldn't have wandered off alone, but I can't help it, I love investigating new places." Luna placed a hoof on Selene's shoulder. "Do not blame yourself, I told you there was nothing in the cave, " she said. "Even if there wasn't, I could have just as easily slipped and fallen, it was a dumb move on my part." "There is something I would like to do while we are here. You said before that you could give me information on the Ascension's dimensional drive, I would like to take a look at how it works, " Luna said. "Oh, that's easy. I'll be right back. Selene ran out of the room, a minute later she reappeared with her tablet. "I can pull up ship schematics on this, along with technical manuals on the dimension drive." She played with the tablet for a few minutes searching for the data before she handed it to Luna. Luna lifted the tablet and started to read. When she finished the page she poked at the screen with her hoof. The text changed and the next page came up. "I'm going to get a glass of water, do you want anything?" Selene asked. "I'll take one as well." For the next few hours, Luna read more and more about the Dimensional Drive. The mathematics behind the drive were very familiar to her. They were similar to those of a dimensional gate spell written by Star Swirl the Bearded thousands of years earlier. She should be able to replicate the effect of the drive by tweaking his spell. From there it would be a simple matter of inputting the correct dimensional coordinates and then she could open a portal to Selene's home planet. "Luna?" Luna noticed Selene waving at her. "Yes?" "I've been calling your name for five minutes, you've been reading for hours, you want to take a break?" "I am sorry, I didn't notice." "Did you learn anything?" "Yes, I did, human technology is amazing. The drive this ship uses functions very similarly to a dimensional spell that I know. I should be able to tweak that spell and open a gate to your home world." Selene dropped the glass she was sipping from. It crashed into the floor and shattered. "You c-c-can get me home?" she stammered. "As I said, it will take some reworking of a spell I already know, but I can do that while I continue to recover. I won't have the strength needed to open the dimensional portal for some time." Selene started to cry, she moved over next to Luna and wrapped her arms around the pony. "I can't even begin to express how much this means to me, I thought I would be stuck here forever, " she said, sniffling. "Will you come with me?" "I cannot, " Luna said sadly, shaking her head. "I must remain here, leaving this dimension will make it much harder for me to find my own way home." "But I can't leave you here alone," Selene said. There was no way she would do that to Luna, she had to think of another solution. "I will stay here, until you find your way home." "That may take years Selene. I can't ask you to do that." "You aren't asking, I'm telling. Besides, as much as I want to go home, I have no family or friends to return to. I can't abandon my only friend here." "None?" Luna asked. "Dad was my only living family, both his parents and mom's died before I was born. With his job we moved around a lot, so I never made any long term friends. The few people I knew well died when the Ascension crashed." "I will not lie, I would enjoy your company if you chose to remain with me here, but I do not want you to feel obligated, " Luna said. "I don't consider it an obligation, your my friend, and I don't want you to be lonely, " Selene said, giving Luna a squeeze. "Besides, I don't want to leave before we figure out what that door is." Luna rolled her eyes. "If you insist on going back there, we can, but we must be properly prepared." Selene's stomach choose that moment to make a loud growl. "When was the last time you ate?" Luna asked. "Before we went into the cave, I think, " Selene admitted. "That is far too long, wait here and I will bring you food." Luna left to go get some food while Selene sat and thought about the past 24 hours. From almost dying to being saved though a powerful magical spell. The whole situation was crazy. Now Luna was telling her she had a way to go home. Then there was that monster in the cave and the mysterious door. The ship should have picked up any signs of intelligent life before it crashed. Perhaps this planet was long abandoned, or maybe the sensors couldn't have found it since it was underground. She had a lot to think about.