//------------------------------// // Chapter 49; Caving for Help // Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown // by Tomas Lutwig //------------------------------// I laid in bed again listening to the sounds of sleeping guards, and muffled crickets. A hint of excitement keeping my mind active. Glancing at the small trunk laying at the foot of my bed, what looked to be a simple book resting on the lid. 'How am I going to go about approaching that?' I thought grasping onto one of the many things that swirled around my head. 'Should I send her a message? Figure out what's going on over there before...' The thought trailed off as I looked back up at the ceiling, tracing the grain of the wood with my eyes in the dim. 'That's not even going into what I'm probably going to have to talk to the Princess about' I sighed as my eyes fell on a knot in the wood. 'Plus there's...' I trailed off as a shudder ran down my spine. 'I wonder if Luna can even really help...' I thought rolling onto my left, angling my arm so it was elevating the pillow and my head. 'I suppose if she can't then I'll have to actually go to a shrink' A shudder ran down my spine at the thought, remembering multiple horror stories from when I was younger of kids that went to psychiatrists only to wind up in some insane asylum for months on end. The thought of being locked up again, after so little time of getting to actually do what I wanted, was not attractive in the slightest. 'Well, I guess if it does come to that then I might be able to lie my way through' I thought, adjusting my position again so that I was laying on my stomach. 'Wonder if they have to deal with patients doing that a lot...' A yawn shook me as I closed my eyes, as the cloud of sleep finally started to descend over my mind. The sound of breathing seemed to multiply, quickly drowning out the muffled crickets that chirped their song behind stone walls. The darkness swam forming into beings that I watched as they walked down the dirt road, silently wondering who they were. Looking up I watched as stars glowed, a single lone dot flew across the sky at a high speed. Dots faded and the darkness swam again though the single light continued to move quickly. A motorcycle flew past my mother's car, I watched with awe as the red taillight slowly disappeared. “Hey Dad, can you show me how to ride one of those?” I asked the tall redheaded man in the front seat. He let out a tired sigh, “Maybe when you're older Bret.” Turning I looked out the window again, but the red light was long gone. Instead another light shown on what was a dark car ride home. Looking up I noticed the moon was extremely bright. “Twilight's letter said you wished to speak with me Wanderer?” A loud voice seemed to echo around me. Things slowly started to fade away forming instead into an inky blackness with the light of a bright full moon being the only thing to break the darkness. Slowly a woman, familiar to some part of me, drifted down from the bright orb. “Princess... Luna?” I finally asked some form of recognition starting to take place as the woman touched down in the darkness. Her bare feet causing a ripple that made dark marble materialize as they touched it. “Am I already...?” The woman rolled her eyes waving a hand dismissively. “Yes, you're already dreaming. I'm here because Princess Twilight sent me a letter that you wanted to speak with me.” she said hurriedly. Shaking my head, I lifted a hand to rub my eyes as it started to come back. “Right... right. I think there might be something wrong with my head. The changelings-” “They imprisoned you in a room, forcing sleep on you before starting to manipulate your dreams?” She asked making me lift my head to look at her. The woman nodded, “Tis not abnormal from my understanding. The few of my sister's guards who did manage to escape Queen Chrysalis' grasp spoke of similar experiences” I nodded in reply as the surprise wore off. “Right, but not long before I was rescued, something... happened that caused me to wake up” I said looking up at the woman from where I was sitting. A raised eyebrow and curious glance was my reply prompting my continued explanation. “When I was asleep there was a woman, I don't think I've ever met her, but basically she was... someone special.” Luna nodded, “The object of your affection that Chrysalis drew love off of” “R-right” I stuttered, trying to keep my composure as images slowly started to surface. “I don't know what happened, but she ended up... dying. Which woke me up” Looking back up at the woman I noticed shock in her eyes, though she was looking past me. The smell of blood made my stomach lurch before I noticed the change in our surroundings. A forest seemed to of materialized around us, broken only by the dark marble beneath the Princess' feet. Turning my head, I watched on in shocked horror as a huge black ursine monstrosity tore into what looked to be the remains of a young woman. I stepped back, passing the princess who stared on in horror. After a few moments a blue glow enveloped where her horn would be on her forehead and the forest seemed to fade, taking the black beast with it's meal back into nothingness. “I... see the problem” I looked at her, terrified, “I-it's not real, right? Just something those changeling bastards did... right?” The Princess stood there for a moment looking at where the images had been before turning to me. Her eyes were sad, almost apologetic. “I must apologize Wanderer, I believe this is my fault” For a moment Luna's words didn't seem to register and I could only stare up at her in a state of dazed terror. “W-what?” I finally managed, the stuttered word holding the whole of my emotions. The woman turned away as she held her head in her hand, a quiet sigh seemed to echo from her. “When the word came to us that you had been captured by the changelings my sister, your friend, was distraught. She immediately sent Sergeant Sundance to help find you while searching on her own time. After a few days she asked me to see if I could find you through the dreamscape.” Luna turned to look back at me. “I managed to find your dreams quickly enough, but Chrysalis had kept me from entering them. After enough time, I weakened her spells, but I received word that my sister, Sergeant Sundance, and the Elements of harmony were already planning an assault on the changelings to free you and our other subjects.” “Believing they could use whatever advantage they could get. I sent a nightmare into your dreams to hopefully awaken you, and destroy Chrysalis' hold. I did not... count on your violent nature to...” she trailed off covering her mouth with a hand, her eyes falling to find rest in the black void surrounding us. Silence ruled the void around us as conflicting emotions rose up, throwing my thoughts into chaos. “Can you get rid of it?” I asked. Confusion and anger welled up within me as she shook her head. “No, while I did send the nightmare that now plagues you I cannot simply make the emotions, the fear and anguish that sustains it, disappear.” Looking over the princess' face I turned away, rubbing a hand down my own, frantically trying to think of something. “I am truly sorry Wanderer, I did not mean for th-” she started only for me to hold up a hand. “You didn't mean this to happen?” I finished, before turning away and rubbing my eyes with a hand. “Damn it!” I finally said stomping a foot. “How the hell am I supposed to make them stop then?” “I cannot pretend to know the answer to that, Wanderer, but perhaps speaking with your friends may help? I have heard numerous times the aid they can give in situations like this” Luna's voice sounded behind me. I scoffed, laughing quietly to myself replacing the hand over my eyes. Glancing back at the shocked human form of the familiar alicorn, the humor seemed to fade. “Do you know how many ponies have told me to do that? Yesterday alone both the Princess of Friendship and Sundace have chided me for not talking to someone.” Heavy emotions crashed in my chest, the feeling easily flowing from my mouth, even as I felt something wet trail down my face. “What are they supposed to do to help me? What can they do, when you, the Princess of the Night, protector of your little ponies' dreams, can do nothing to dispel them?” Something in my chest ached as I held my head trying to hold what little I still could control together. My fists clenched over my eyes before slowly making their way down my face. The ache in my chest begged for violence, to right this wrong against me the only way I truly knew how. Looking back at the princess' forlorn face, the ache grew quiet making me let out a near silent sigh. “I know it is little consolation Wanderer...” Luna started making me look back up at her. “But I am sorry for causing this, and if you'll allow me I shall do everything in my power to help in fixing my mistake” Part of my mind screamed at me to reject the princess. To throw her aid, whatever it may be, back in her face and to cut ties before she made what she had done worse. The thought of having to be thrown into some other prison for the mentally unstable flashed through my mind before I shook it off. Looking over the woman's face, I could only see the apologetic visage of someone who was asking for forgiveness by offering to right the wrong they caused. Another sigh echoed from my lips. “I suppose it's not as though I can say no at this point” I said letting an humorless chuckle sound from my lips. “I'd also wager a guess to say your advice would still be to speak to my friends?” She nodded, “They were the only thing that could help me when I was struggling with the Tantabus. I believe that they may be able to aid you in dispelling the fear that fuels your nightmares as well.” I let out an acknowledging grunt, a hand rising to rest over my mouth as I thought. “I suppose there's little left to do if that's the case, Princess, and I'm sure you have others' dreams to visit” Princess Luna opened her mouth to say something, but closed it silently. Nodding “I wish you well Wanderer, and again I apologize” Heat bit at my face as I worked the pair of bellows of my forge, the fire inside crackled and spat embers out into my shop. Looking out one of the windows, I saw the light starting to crack over the horizon. I suppressed a yawn as I grabbed a piece of round stock from the small pile that I had been given along with the shop. Throwing the thumb thick piece of steel into the fire I started working the bellows again. 'I'm probably going to have to buy more soon' I thought looking at the dwindling pile of steel. Letting out a tired sigh as my mind started to wander, I refocused on my task. Having woke with the moon drifting close to the horizon, too many thoughts floating around my head for any kind of rest, I started for my forge. Silently hoping that the work would take some of the thoughts from my head. Hammer blows soon started to ring through the small smithy, the thick steel slowly flattening under the force of the impacts. Lifting the cooling metal a mental image slowly started to form of what the blade would look like. Placing the steel back into the fire, I brushed off the anvil with a gloved hand. Turning to the bellows I blew a puff of air from between my lips in annoyance. Shaking my head I reached for the familiar cool feeling within my chest, opting to exercise my magical ability rather than the tedium of working the bellows manually. The magical aid did little for the tediousness of the task however, bellows can only be worked so fast to avoid damaging them. Thankfully the pair did their simple jobs wonderfully, in minutes the steel was once again to forging temperatures and back onto the anvil. Pounding metal with a good sized hammer always seemed to help take my mind off of the problems of the world around me. Soon thoughts seemed to drift away, replaced by a rush of ideas of the blades uses, what it would be used for, and what would need to be done to reach that point. Glancing up at a thick metal pail sitting atop the forge I nodded as the fire within roared. Reaching up I felt at its side only to quickly retract my hand uttering a small hiss between my teeth at the heat. 'Alright, that's hot enough to not destroy the blade when quenching' I thought. Grabbing my hardie, I slid it into the slot in my anvil before going after the steel in the forge. Laying the long piece of round stock on the edge of the tool I started hammering on the other side cutting through the steel stock. The knife blank broke free of the steel easily enough ringing lightly against the anvil. Throwing the rest of the bar back onto the dwindling pile I put the blank back into the forge, working the bellows as I watched the blade quickly start glowing. Pulling the knife from the forge I gave it a quick once over before dipping the edge into the still steaming oil. Foul smelling fumes rose from heating the oil before igniting. Flames bit at the blade as I held the edge in the oil allowing it to harden before quenching the rest of the blade. I let out a few coughs as I finished quenching, a pointless attempt to relieve my lungs of the foul smelling fumes that made my chest ache and brought tears to my eyes. “I would think you're not supposed to breathe that if it's that bad.” A familiar voice said surprising me causing me to fumble the tongs in my hand. Blinking a few times, my tear blurred eyes caught a bright orange and yellow shape. “Geeze Sundance, don't do that” I said rubbing at my eyes with a forearm. “Nearly made me drop the knife” “Oh, is that what you're making? I thought by now you would've tried to fix your spear with as many times you complained about it being broken” the still blurred orange mare said with a smirk. I rubbed at my eyes a few more times before looking back up, “Yea, well...” I said looking back at the knife dipping it a few more times before pulling it out and shaking the excess oil off. “As one of the few things I made with my Dad I'd rather not accidentally destroy it. I figured get some more experience working with this stuff before I try.” I turned back to the mare. “Know what I mean?” Sundance nodded as she walked closer, looking between me and the knife blank dangling in the tongs. The crackling and spitting of the forge dominating the small smithy. Looking back to the knife I started back for the anvil, grabbing a wire brush on the way by it's hook, and started cleaning some of the black scale that seemed to form on the surface. “So what's up?” I finally asked, feeling like the silence had lasted too long, the sound of the wire brush on metal starting to grate on my nerves. “O-oh uh...” The unicorn started as I continued brushing off the metal. “I just wanted to see how you were doing is all.” I shrugged silently, “I guess I'm alright. My little talk with Princess Luna didn't go quite as planned” I said letting out a sigh as I stopped brushing against the knife blank and leaned on the anvil. “Or did you mean something else?” I asked looking back at her. A worried look had taken over her face, contrasting from the relatively happy mare I was used to seeing. “Well no...” She started looking down before returning her gaze to me. “I just wanted to know if everything was alright or if we needed to make you an appointment with the psychiatrist” I allowed a humorless chuckle to sound before I shook my head. “Nah I've had three ponies telling me to just talk to my friends, and two of them were princesses even!” I said walking over to one of the tables and putting the clean knife down before searching around in the pouch on my back hip. “I figure if you or Celestia can't help me, then I'll just start banging my head against the wall until I forget or something.” Turning back to Sundance with a bit of a goofy grin on my face I was met with an incredulous look, allowing me a chuckle at the mare's expense. After I had finished my giggle I turned back again to see her giving me another worried look, though calmer than the one before. “So where do you want to start?” she asked. Finding what I was looking for, I fished the horn from my pouch and tossed it on the table next to the knife blank, allowing it to roll in a few circles before it stopped. Stripping of my gloves and apron, I scratched at the back of my head. 'Where should I start?' I wondered looking at the ceiling. “I guess... It started when I heard a scream in the forest”