//------------------------------// // 09 Blue // Story: Unlucky seven // by Pinklestia //------------------------------// ~~*Silly Old Surprise*~~ Surprise could admit to herself, she probably should've been a bit more tactful with the mare who'd only just woken from unconsciousness. Instead she'd surprised her, as was her talent, and Moony had been all but knocked back in shock. Now she was sprawled out and looking up at her with wide eyes. "Oh pony feathers..." Surprise muttered with her ears lowered. She then hurried forward and helped the unicorn back up to her hooves. Moon Dancer took a moment to catch her breath and Surprise smiled brightly. "There, you better?" she questioned. However Moon Dancer just looked at her, blinked in confusion, and then shook her head. “I must still be dreaming,” she mumbled with a dazed look. “Nah, I’m really here,” Surprise responded. Moon Dancer glanced at her warily and then poked her injured side, only to hiss at the sudden sharp pain she felt. "Don’t do that! You’ll exacerbate your injuries!” she stated with clear worry. Moon Dancer grunted in response and then looked around with a frown. It took her only a moment to notice the window and the familiar landscape outside, which combined with all the girly toys… “We’re in Megan’s house,” she noted. There weren’t too many children on her street after all. “Yeppers!” Surprise declared and Moon Dancer looked at her strangely. “Oh heh heh, sorry about that... and for surprising you like I did,” she responded with a scratch of her head. “My special talent works in a really super duper weird way, in that I have to surprise people or I’m really,” she began to explain only for Moon Dancer to shove her hoof into her mouth. “Surprise,” Moon Dancer began in a somewhat dangerous tone and the white Pegasus slowly nodded, “Shut up and let me decompress for a minute,” the white unicorn pleaded desperately as she let out a ragged shudder. After the Pegasus nodded she brought her hooves to her head with a groan. Surprise cleared her throat with a nervous chuckle and then backed up towards the door. "R-Right, w-well I’m just going to go find Megan so we can change your bandages,” she noted with a nervous chuckle. Moon Dancer grunted in response as she continued to rub at her temples. All the little surprises today had really been way too much for the poor mare to take in all at once… It wasn't too long till Surprise returned, an hour or so tops. The unicorn was still trying desperately to make sense of everything that'd happened when the door suddenly burst open. With a frown, Moon Dancer looked to the doorway and then watched with a bemused frown as Surprise marched, literally marched, in with a plate of something perched on her nose while Megan giggled at the display. Additionally, there seemed to be a band playing somewhere nearby, or a TV was left on. Well, Moon Dancer hoped that was the case, otherwise Surprise had access to music that played wherever she wanted. 'Can't Pinkie also do that though,' she considered for a moment, then shook her head and focused on the funny mare. 'With all her similarities to Pinkie Pie, she must be great at parties,' Moon Dancer noted blandly, then arched a brow as the focus of her attention came to a halt. Surprise had stopped in front of the bed and then lifted her head back, which somehow sent the plate back as she raised a hind leg to catch it with a grin. "Taa daa!" she declared. Megan clapped, of course, while Moon Dancer hummed. "I give it a five," she stated bluntly. Surprise started for a moment then looked at the clearly unamused face of her fellow equine. "Everyponies a critic," she stage whispered to Megan with a pout. Said girl merely watched the two with rapt attention, somewhat confused by the exchange, but smiling nonetheless. "So," Moon Dancer abruptly remarked. Surprise turned back to the pony as she glanced at her bandaged side and raised a brow. "Earlier you mentioned changing my bandages?" she questioned and Surprise nodded her head. "Eeyep!" she declared as she looked back to Megan. The little girl then held up a small white box with a very notable red cross on the top. "We found a med-kit!" Surprise declared. Moon Dancer hummed in response. 'She's acting more animated than she was before,' she thought to herself and then glanced at Megan. 'Unless she's just trying to entertain our host,' she decided and then let out a breath through her nose. "So what's with the plate?" the unicorn questioned. Surprise, in response, kicked her hind leg back to send the plate flying forward where she raised a fore-hoof to catch it. Megan watched the 'trick' with rapt attention while Moon Dancer narrowed her eyes. 'She said her special talent works based on surprise, so does that mean she has to act like this for her special talent to work?' she wondered to herself curiously. She also made a note to figure out how Surprise worked when she got the right equipment... 'Or would that just end with me combusting like Twilight did when she tried to figure out how Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense worked?' she wondered curiously. Honestly if she did combust like that it'd be kind of cool. Rapidash was a pretty cool pokemon from the first gen, even if fire types weren't really her thing. She much preferred ghost types or dark types. "We made cookies!" Surprise declared, derailing Moon Dancer from her thoughts. She instead focused on said cookies, which were... blue? "Why are they blue?" she questioned. "As it turns out, sweet grass is blue," Surprise replied then scratched at an ear, "which actually makes sense when you think about it, cause how else would ponies be able to tell a normal batch of grass from sweet grass if they didn't look different. I mean you could taste test but that'd totally take forever!" she admitted and Megan nodded her head in agreement. Moon Dancer also noticed that the girl seemed content to watch the two ponies interact with one another. 'She probably thinks of it like she's watching an episode of the show live,' Moon Dancer mused and then focused on the mare instead. "You do realize that there are actual species called sweet grass on earth. Most of them don't taste sweet though, they're aromatic and just smell sweet," she explained to a somewhat dumbfounded Surprise, "but you knew that before you went out looking for magical sweet tasting grass... right?" she questioned with narrowed eyes. "Ummm... yeah totally," Surprise replied with a nervous titter. "What's aro... aro," the girl tried to say and Moon Dancer sighed. "Aromatic," she responded tiredly and the girl nodded. "Yeah! That! What's that mean?" she questioned. "Well for starters," Moon Dancer began only for Surprise to randomly interject. "She means they smell nice," the pegasus explained to the little girl succinctly. As Megan made an 'Oh' with her mouth she also rolled her eyes at the look Moon Dancer shot her. "C'mon Moony, Megan's still little she won't really want to hear a long winded explanation," she remarked. Moon Dancer clicked her tongue and frowned. "Actually I was pretty much going to say that," she deadpanned and Surprise blinked. "Oh... sorry," she chirped and Moon Dancer groaned internally. 'Is this what it feels like to be around Pinkie Pie? I suddenly have so much sympathy for Twilight,' she thought to herself. She then shook her head with a sigh and focused on the blue cookies once more. "Cookies, blue, why?" she questioned bluntly. "They turned blue when we put the sweet grass in them," Surprise responded and then smiled brightly, "and boy did it take me forever to find that stuff," she remarked, "I mean at first I didn't know it was blue, and I couldn't really ask Posey right now with her so depressed and stuff, so I was just looking for any old kind of green grass. But then I started to realize that if it's green it'll totally blend in with all the other grass unless," however before the mare could go further on her tangent, Moon Dancer stuffed her hoof into her mouth. Megan giggled at the sight while Moon Dancer snorted. "Okay, I didn't need to know all that," she stated firmly and then glanced down at the cookies. After a moment she glanced over at Megan, then back to Surprise. "You didn't give her any did you?" she questioned warily. Given that this sweet grass was likely magical in nature, she wasn't exactly keen on the idea of a normal little girl eating it. Thankfully Surprise shook her head in response and Moon Dancer removed her hoof from her mouth with a sigh. "Good," she mumbled. She then looked down at the cookies before she exhaled a breath. "Well, might as well try them," she muttered under her breath. She was pretty hungry after all the running from that bear, not to mention she never got to eat her berries. With a sigh she looked at the cookies, then glanced up to her horn. 'Well... that dream had to be magic of some kind,' she noted to herself. She then looked back to the cookies and narrowed her eyes. She focused on her horn, and tried to feel out whatever it was that'd cast the sleep spell earlier. 'C'mon, you can do this, a filly can do it in Equestria for ponies sake!' she thought desperately. She then blinked and saw a faint crimson aura surround one of the cookies and cause it to hover for a moment. 'Yes!' she thought, only for it to quickly fall back down. 'Aw shoot,' she thought with a pout, then hissed and rubbed at her forehead. 'Ow ow ow ow ow! I really shouldn't have done that,' she thought at the lancing pain that stretched from the tip of her horn to somewhere in the center of her forehead. "Oh cool! Nice try, but I think the magic around here and in you is a bit too thin for that to really work right now," Surprise noted with a bob of her head. Moon Dancer stared at the pegasus strangely. However Surprise merely smiled brightly in response. With a roll of her eyes Moon Dancer leaned forward to grab one of the cookies in her teeth and then leaned back and began to slowly chew the cookie. She paused and then blinked as she registered the taste. It was indeed sweet as the name implied, but... it was actually hard to describe, it wasn't sweet like icing, which she hated quite a bit, but was sweeter than a muffin. It was an almost perfect blend of sweet, not too sweet that it'd make her cringe, and only just sweet enough for somepony to crave more of it. 'Well no wonder gen one Moon Dancer put a sleep curse on Cotton Candy over this stuff,' she thought to herself and then looked at Surprise. "Did you try one of these?" she questioned curiously and Surprise nodded her head. "Yeah, it's like the perfect amount of sweet right?" she questioned and the unicorn nodded her head, still stunned. She wondered if the normal ponies in equestria used sweet grass in their baking for a moment, but recalled Pinkie name dropped sugar a lot. "I mean I know it's called 'sweet grass' for a reason, but I really didn't expect it to be the perfect amount of sweet," Surprise continued to say while Moon Dancer slowly nodded. "Pinkie Pie must never know," she stated gravely, though with a slight smirk that tugged at the corners of her lips. Surprise blinked, and then nodded her head with a solemn expression. "Agreed," she replied with an amused twinkle in her eyes. Moon Dancer and Surprise both enjoyed their brief moment, only for Megan to hop onto Surprise's back and try to reach for the plate of cookies. "I wanna try one!" she exclaimed as she reached out. However Surprise gasped and rolled to the side to stop her, while Moon Dancer reached out and pulled the plate away. She also took another cookie and munched on it as Surprise wrestled with Megan. "C'mon Surprise! I wanna cookie too!" the little girl declared as she started to tickle the pegasus mare's sides. "N-No! You had chocolate chip cookies! Those are for us!" she exclaimed through her laughter while she held onto the little girl. She then snorted, a fire in her eyes as her wings twitched. "You realize," she paused to laugh again then narrowed her eyes on Megan, "you never challenge a pegasus to a tickle match!" she exclaimed as she started to use her wings to tickle Megan's feet. The little girl let out a mighty squeal that soon devolved into laughter, all the while Moon Dancer watched bemusedly. "And to think they were supposed to be changing my bandages," she idly remarked with a roll of her eyes. She then scooped up yet another of the sweet grass cookies and leaned over the side of the bed to watch the two as Megan desperately tried to escape from the now maniacally laughing pegasus who had her in her clutches. "Are you two done horsing around yet?" Moon Dancer questioned blandly and Surprise abruptly halted and looked at the unicorn with narrowed eyes. "No," she stated with a glare at Moon Dancer. However the unicorn merely smiled mischievously. "What? Did I stirrup something unpleasant?" she questioned with a smirk while Surprise placed a hoof to her face with a groan. "Puns... really?" she demanded and Moon Dancer shrugged. "I'm a gen one pony, so yes, yes I must," she replied. Surprise made to argue that, before she paused and considered it. She also considered the propensity for Gen four's puns and groaned in resignation. "Point taken," she remarked in defeat. With a sigh, Surprise rolled back onto her hooves and then allowed Megan to climb up onto her back and smiled. "Okay sweetie, how about I promise to make you some cookies for you and you leave the pony cookies to the ponies," she suggested and Megan narrowed her eyes. "Chocolate chip?" she questioned. Surprise rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. "Well you drive a hard bargain, but okay," she responded chipperly. Megan cheered in response while Moon Dancer rolled her eyes and quickly grabbed up yet another of the sweet grass cookies. "Hey! Don't eat them all!" Surprise exclaimed and Moon Dancer rolled her eyes and nudged the plate back her way. With narrowed eyes Surprise grabbed up one for herself and started to eat it. After a moment of silence though, Moon Dancer sighed. "Look," she began and then awkwardly frowned, "I'm just going to come out and say I'm sorry for what happened earlier," she stated and then snorted. "I know I'm really not the easiest per... pony to deal with and I'm really grumpy if not a bit snarky even on a good day," she remarked. Surprise idly nodded her head in full agreement while Megan simply watched the unicorn curiously. "But you brought me somewhere safe to heal," she remarked with a look around then glanced down at the nearly empty plate, "and made me cookies," she noted, "so the least I can do is say thank you for the help, Surprise, and sorry for me being... well, me," she stated with a slight incline of her head. The white pegasus smiled brightly in response. "Aw its no problem Moony," the pegasus responded with a wave of her wing. "I mean you were a little mean before, not to mention rude, with a really bad attitu," she began and Moon Dancer swiftly cut her off. "Don't push it," she warned and Surprise grinned. "Right, sorry!" she stated and then cleared her throat awkwardly, "Anyways," she began and then trotted over to the side of the bed and looked at Moon Dancer's side as well. "I think me and Megan still have a job to do," she remarked. Moon Dancer sighed in response, her eyes heavily as she crossed her forelegs and laid her head on them. Her eyes drooped for a moment before she slowly fell back to sleep as Surprise and Megan changed her bandages… "That went well, now let's go make some more cookies!" Surprise said as she pulled out a chef's hat from her mane. "Wow, how did you do that?" Megan looked at her with eyes full of wonder, it made the white pegasus feel good inside. "Magic." To be honest she had no real clue how it worked, it just did. Well she was pretty sure that she had her own pocket dimension and when she didn't use that she used sleight of hoof and the like. She wasn't and never would be Pinkie Pie, and that was good because Pinkie was way crazier than she was on any day. Yes, she was aware that she was at least a little insane. No one could be turned into a pony like this and not go a little crazy after all. It was still better than working a boring office job all day and constantly having to take antidepressants. How weird was her life that going from an old male human office worker to insane talking pegasus pony mare was actually an improvement to her life. Mmm, where was she anyways? 'Now I have to wonder if Discord is the way he is because his own power made him insane? Ah who cares, we got cookies to make!' And so alongside Megan, she did. Though as they baked the cookies Surprise wondered how old Megan was. She seemed to be alone for a long stretch of time, and usually kids that were like that were preteen age at least. 'What even counts as preteen anyways? Isn't any age before teenage technically preteen,' the pegasus noted to herself, then shook her head and focused on Megan instead. "Hey Megan, how old are you?" "Six... no seven... it was my birthday a few days ago and then I got my wish to meet a pony when I saw Moon Dancer and she let me ride on her back," she replied cheerfully and Surprise frowned. 'That seems awfully young to be on her own like this,' Surprise noted, 'Though at that age this must be like a dream come true for her. But I better watch the oven or the cookies will get burnt,' she thought to herself. The cookies were finished without much of a fuss. They were a simple batch of chocolate chip, without any kind of chocolate frosting or what not, as Surprise felt that would be a bit too much. She didn't want Megan bouncing off the walls and disturbing Moon Dancer while she was trying to rest after all. 'Not to mention there is the fact that her mother will be home soon,' Surprise noted to herself and then frowned, 'I think it'd bad idea to surprise her with talking ponies right away. Maybe I could just let Megan ride my back for a bit and not talk? Mmm, with puppy dog eyes? Maybe double the puppy dog eyes with me and her daughter? That might just do it,' she considered as she tapped her chin. However she shook her head of such thoughts and instead turned back to the cookies. She idly looked around then found a few oven-mitts and fit them over her hooves. She then pulled the over open with her mouth and stuck her forelimbs forward to pull the pan out. She put one hoof beneath the pan and carefully slid it out further, before she slid her other forelimb under and pulled it out with both. She opened her wings to keep her balance as she slowly stepped back and then placed the pan of cookies onto the counter with a relieved sigh. With that done she idly kicked her back leg up to close the oven. Now she just needed to let the cookies cool while she tried to think of a way to keep Megan occupied so she wouldn't burn herself on the still hot cookies. 'Story time?' she considered for a moment then nodded her head. "Story time," she stated and trotted over to Megan and urged her into the living room. She pushed her off and grabbed a book on their way. She and the little girl seated themselves on the couch and the pegasus mare quickly opened the book to whatever story the little girl wanted. As she read the story she felt her mind wander to more... distressing matters. 'I hope that Sweet Grass helped Moonie's reserves,' she thought to herself, 'hopefully if it in any way managed to fill her magical reserves that'll also help with her physical recovery,' she thought to herself as she turned a page in the book. 'I mean I'm kind of just winging things right now... heh, winging... but with how closely tied magic and ponies are I'd have to assume that magic plays some kind of role in our physical health too,' she internally reasoned. 'She still looks like she really needs a hug though,' she admitted to herself with an internal sigh. 'Posey isn't much better, I think she's still confused about what's happening and kind of disturbed by it all. It'd probably be a bad idea for me to drop in on her unexpectedly like I did with Moonie or Twinkie, mmm not her name but Twilight Twinkle would fit because Stars and wishes,' she mused to herself. If Megan noticed she didn't have Surprise's attention she didn't show it, instead silently listening to the pony tell her a story. 'With that in mind I should probably go and talk to AJ, just to make sure she isn't in too much trouble... and maybe Sparkler as well, although that pony seemed a bit more... well, kind of annoying even for me,' she thought with a slight nod of her head. Sparkler, from what she could gleam, seemed to be a materialistic shallow drama-queen... basically it was like she'd taken all of Rarity's worse traits and then amplified them. 'Ugh, I'm going to avoid her for a while till she gets better,' Surprise decided quite resolutely. She understood and accepted that that kind of person did really exist, but she honestly had no desire to associate with her. Hopefully if she could direct AJ to her she might be able to help her get out of that mindset and become a better pony altogether. Surprise paused as she heard a light snore. She turned to her side to see Megan had fallen asleep at some point and smiled softly. She quickly closed the book and put it onto the coffee table, then pulled a blanket over Megan to tuck her in. With Moonie sleeping in Megan's room it wasn't like she could just put the girl in there. Once that was done she made her way to the kitchen and looked for a container for the cookies. 'C'mon you have to have a cookie jar somewhere!' she thought and then frowned, 'why does no one have a cookie jar anymore?' she wondered with a snort. Instead she found a Tupperware container and put the cooled cookies inside before closing the lid. With the cookies sealed up she trotted into Megan's room to put the cookies where her mother wouldn't find them. 'Wait... won't Megan's mom notice Moonie!' she realized and turned to the sleeping pony. She then hurried over to her and quickly shook the other mare awake. Moonie growled low in her throat as she opened an eye to glare at the other mare. "What? I was busy with an experiment," she grumbled irritably. "Experiment?" Surprise questioned and Moon Dancer grunted. "I'm trying to see what limit my dream walking powers have," Moon Dancer replied as she rubbed at her head tiredly. "I was actually seeing what I can do when I pull people into my (yawn) dream tower thing when they're about to wake up... far as I can tell it keeps them stuck in a state of sleep," she mumbled tiredly. "Oh cool," Surprise murmured and then looked around warily, "but you really need to get up," she stated and Moon Dancer gave her a look. "Why?" she questioned. "Cause Megan's mom 'll be home soon and I don't think a big unicorn will seem normal to her!" Surprise replied and Moonie blinked. "That... is the first reasonable thing I've heard you say," she muttered softly, "speaking of me moving, I kind of need my stuff from the cave, I'm worried it'll be mauled by something in the woods," she admitted tiredly and Surprise rolled her eyes. "I already got that, it's all in the closet!" the pegasus stated with a smile and Moonie blinked. "Oh... thanks," she said unsurely. "No problem," Surprise chirped. "So I should just... hang out in the closet for the time being?" the white mare questioned and Surprise quickly nodded her head. "Right, I can do that, compared to sleeping in a cave a closet is the bucking ritz," she murmured tiredly. She slowly got up, nearly falling as she got off of Megan's bed, yet Surprise steadied and helped the unicorn into the closet. Once inside Moon Dancer noticed her bag and other effects and smiled. "So glad to see my stuff," she mumbled with a yawn. She idly pawed at the ground as she turned and then curled up and laid her head against her bag and closed her eyes. Once she had fallen to sleep Surprise closed the door to Megan's closest and then turned to the bed and frowned. 'That... isn't a good sign,' she noted to herself when she saw the bloodstains on the sheets and started to paw at the ground. 'Okay Surprise, think! You can totally fix this,' she insisted as she gathered up the sheets and headed to the laundry room. Well... it was actually more like a laundry hall as the washing machine was in the hall near the back door. 'Semantics,' she thought with a roll of her eyes as she tossed the dirtied sheets into the wash. She quickly grabbed a box of detergent and poured some in, then set the washer and breathed a sigh of relief. 'One thing done,' she thought as she galloped back to the little girl herself. She quickly nosed her head under the little girl to get her onto her back, waking the sleepy girl who looked down at her with a yawn. "Surprise?" the girl asked sleepily. "Sorry sweetie, just taking you to your bed," she quickly told the girl as she trotted back into Megan's bedroom. The little girl tiredly held onto her friend / steed as she carried her into her room and then helped her into bed. The little mare then quickly returned to the living room to grab the blanket from the couch and brought it to tuck the little girl in. With a yawn Megan fell back to sleep and Surprise breathed a relieved sigh. "Finally," she muttered to herself as she recalled the sweet grass still in the kitchen. 'I could really use the boost in magic right now,' she admitted to herself. And without a second thought she hurried into the kitchen and started to look around. 'Alright I know I,' she began and then grinned when she saw the blue-grass. "Paydirt!" she stated as she then proceeded to gobble up all the sweet grass. Sweet grass as it turned out was a magical form of flora, in that is had a trace of magic that was needed for it to exist. As such when creatures ate it, or any magically inclined flora or fauna really, it transferred a set amount of its magic on. That said, eating pure sweet grass was akin to eating pure sugar, it gave a sort of magical high that boosted the magical strength in someone... or in RPG terms, it over-maxed your MP. "Whoa! What a rush!" Surprise declared with a giggle to herself. With a lick of her lips she then scampered out of the house and into the air. She whooped happily to herself even as she left Megan and Moonie to their sleep and dreams. You know what, sometimes I think that maybe somepony or even someTHING up there must hate me. I mean Moonie was kind of a jerk when we first met, my friends are all kind of scattered and in danger right now, I had to skip meeting Megan's mom, and now I'm hitting an idiot with a rubber chicken... filled with rocks. Though to be fair, the idiot in question was just about to tranq Applejack. Sure its his job as animal control, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let him hurt my friend! So, its been like an hour or so since I left Megan and Moonie, but did things really have to take such a drastic turn this quickly? Admittedly Applejack is a bit dirty and grungy looking at the moment, but given what she's been through I can't really blame her. I also can't blame the complete look of shock and astonishment with which she stares at me. I mean I am pretty cool beating on animal control like this to save her! Or... or maybe she's just kind of confused about the rubber chicken, well whatever. I give a wink to her as I hop off of the now unconscious animal control worker. With a cheerful hum I pick up his gun and make sure the safety is on before I then place it under my wing for safe keeping. I'll be sure to get rid of it later as a bit of added protection for Applejack. I mean sure animal control probably has more, but... huh... you know that could be a problem in the future. Anyways I'll dump this one somewhere later, for now I focus on Applejack. "Hello, I'm Surprise, who are you?" I ask, though I already know my name. "Uh," the mare before me begins. Her voice sounds... off... not like FIM AJ's does, but also it doesn't sound like Jackie's from Gen 1. It was a bit hard to place and caught me off guard for a moment, though to be fair my voice and Twilight's also don't sound like what I would've expected. I also can't help but notice that AJ has gone silent, eyes distant before she blinks and breathes out her name a bit unsurely. "Applejack..." she murmured then frowned, "Though I have no idea why I said that..." she mumbled mostly to herself while I just chuckled. However as I did I also felt my weight increase, I'd used a lot of my magical reserves getting here as fast as I did. I don't regret it as AJ clearly needed the help but it will have severe drawbacks later. Earth is a great planet, but not for ponies like us. It has nearly no magic in the atmosphere for a ponie's body to absorb and thus function properly. Hence why Moonie's magic is a little bit junk right now, or why I typically can't fly for more than a few feet. That Sweet Grass I ate can bolster our bodies with additional magic, but its like pumping yourself full of sugar. It gives you a lot of energy, but on the flip side you burn through it quickly and then it causes you to crash. "Look," I began as I got close to Applejack, "Two blocks from here," I then point down the alley, "straight that way, you'll find another pony like us," I quickly explained as I shook my head as I felt the crash coming. "You'll just need to knock on the green wooden door and yell for Sparkler to open up!" I explained and AJ frowned. "Um... are you sure?" she questioned and I grasped her face with both hooves. "Do not question the pony who just saved your life!" I declared as I fought to keep my eyes open. AJ looked at me curiously and I groaned in my throat. "Hurry up and go already! That animal control guy won't be unconscious forever!" I exclaim and AJ yelped and galloped away. Once she'd left I stumbled off and shook my head with a groan. My entire body was starting to feel sluggish, a magical crash was feeling five times worse than any sugar-crash. "Note to self," I mumbled with a groan, "Never ever do that again," I decide with a shake of my head as I flex my wings. "No... not enough, need to find a place to rest," I decided as I hurried off. I made my way to the dump first to toss the gun, it wasn't like I could even use the thing, being a pegasus and all, and then started to search for a good place to pass out for a few hours. Thankfully I came across a small drainage pipe near the bay. It was just small enough for me to fit inside without having to worry about anyone finding or noticing me. So with a secure place to rest found I hopped inside and yawned tiredly as I sluggishly made my way to the back. I soon curled in on myself and slowly with another soft yawn I fell into a state of unconsciousness... ~~*Twilight The Wish Granter*~~ Dreams are in many ways the most amazing things one can have as well as the most terrifying. Dreams can inspire us to achieve amazing things in life. Yet at the same time a dream can frighten us, or in some rare cases even kill. Dreams have many unique facets too, some say you can interpret a great deal from them, while others say its all a simple sham... Whatever the case, all dreams have some significance to the one having them. I myself dream, I am in a barren wasteland. As a simple small pink unicorn with a scabbard at my side, both of which would be out of place in any other circumstance. I stand in this field of nothing beneath a brilliant full moon. My hooves dig into the sand, beneath me, and I turn at a low groan. It is then that I gasp as I see a legion of monsters, marching towards me. They are the undead, a true army of the living dead. They range from simple zombies and skeletons and ghosts to soul possessed armor and other such things. I see an ocean of them, dozens of them, perhaps even hundreds. I know not the exact number save that it is far too many for me to count. Given they march towards me, it takes little effort for me to know that they want me, most likely, I am simply food to them... Unfortunately for them, I am not helpless! "Time to light the darkness," I whisper as a pink light flares around my horn, "burn all to ash! Firaga!" I declared as a ball of fire at least tripple my size was suddenly sent roaring forward. It slammed into the undead with all the force of an explosion, and just like that almost a quarter of the undead are gone. The sole remainder of them is the smell of their ashes smoldering on the ground and now permeating the air like noxious fumes. Unfortunately that had also taken out most of my mana-reserves, I was practically running on fumes... speaking of... 'Yuck, I hate the smell of burnt flesh and hair,' I thought with a grimace. However I was not done, while I took out a fair number of them still more remained, some caught aflame, while others were immune to them. Regardless I snorted and then 'gripped' at a scabbard hanging at my side. With a flick of my head, my magic pulled a sword from the scabbard in a horizontal arc and I narrowed my eyes. "Have at thee!" I declared as I reared back, only to gallop forward with a roar. I slash at the first of my enemies, a simple skeleton, it is felled with little effort. My magical 'fumes' may be little, but it is still more than enough to keep my sword aloft. Said sword gleams in the light of the full moon above, both made from purest silver and heavily enchanted, it was purely designed to fell the forces of the undead. Slash after slash, cut after cut, I mow through the undead. The skeletons, armed with bows, try to fire at me but I duck and dodge the arrows behind their larger compatriots. The arrows do little but annoy the other undead, and so I am left fighting an uphill battle. My sword can deal with the skeletons if I get close, it can deal with the zombies and even with the ghosts... but it was the living armor I was worried about. The sword had been a... well, not a gift, but I'd technically found it nearby. It was odd in some ways, but I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. 'Poor choice of words,' I thought to myself as I leaped over a suit of living armor wielding a mace. I landed behind it and then bucked it's back, causing it to topple forward while I continued to try and reach the archers. The sword was alight, aglow, shimmering with power and the light of the moon herself. Enemy after enemy falls, the few remaining zombies are cut away like butter. The ghosts vanish with ethereal wails. The skeletons tumble apart into piles of useless bones! I feel a strange sense of euphoria, I feel adrenaline pumping through my veins! This battle brings me to life, it fuels me! I allow myself to be consumed in this battle, facing opponent after opponent on my own, no friends or companions to worry about, no greater quest! All it is is battle and a fight for survival! I feel it, my own power and that of the sword are syncing, becoming as one as I let loose! "Let's roar." I declare as I hold the sword aloft and a great and terrible sound is issued forth, bowling over several of the undead. Had they been living, the undead may have felt a sense of intense dread fill them, consume them, flaring every primal instinct within them! For lesser creatures the feeling of fear and panic would be unwavering, it would be all consuming! But these were the forces of the undead, they were already dead and so they had nothing left to fear! It matters little in the grand scheme of things, it only means I don't have to stop! I can fight to my hearts content, the sword and its power can be unleashed with little care! With that in mind I exhale a breath a gout of flame passing my teeth. My magic and the nature of the sword begin to spiral and swirl together before I launch forward once more. Flames race from the blade, wrap around my body, lift me up, higher and higher. They surge forth hotter than the sun, burning a brilliant white as I bat the living armor away as if they were harmless. Flames lunge forward from me, forming the head of a dragon as it 'bites' into the undead, it burns them away into smoldering ash that stink of burning flesh and hair and bone... I'll be very sick of that smell later, maybe even throw up, but for now I could care less! Body after body burns, armor melts, souls scream in agony as they are all soundly consumed by the white dragon fire. In the end I'm left tired, the sword falling to the earth with a clatter as I collapse into a panting heap. I'm covered in blood, gore, and dirt, and likely smell worse than the living dead at this point. The smell of singed hair and burning corpses permeate the air and leave me retching in disgust. I blink my eyes as I swallow and try to cover my noise of the horrible stench all around my. My eyes fall to the sword, gleaming brightly beneath the moons light. My magic gone I'm unable to sheathe the blade so reach out with a hoof. I find it disheartening to know that I'm so weak, so weak I needed the sword to save me... With a shake of my head I reach back to my saddlebags and pull a potion from it. The liquid catches my eye and for a moment I simple stare. The liquid within the glass bottle is as red as crimson, looking like blood. Perhaps that was why it was occasionally called a gods blood... but that was a story for another time. For now I pulled the cork from the bottle with my teeth and then bit onto the spout and lifted my head up. I gulped down the potion greedily, hopeful that it'd work quickly on the off chance that even more of them showed up. My caution seems to have been well founded as the ground shakes and I look up. I see a dark silhouette approaching. It's massive bulk shakes the earth as I scramble back to my hooves. I look to the silvery sword at my hooves and grimace. I have no magic left to lift it or call its might... So I quickly lean down and grab the hilt of the blade with my teeth. I bite down fiercely on it and narrow my eyes as the figure approaches. I see it now, looking like some horrible combination of a gorilla and a mountain-goat with a single-eye at the center of its head. It carried a massive club in one hand, and wore only a loincloth. It was a cyclops, and in my current state I was in no way prepared to fight it... While the potion had restored my body, revived my stamina, my magical reserves were basically empty. I couldn't lift my sword with my magic, I couldn't call on its flames to aid in this things destruction... so what could I do? My instincts told me there was no option, I couldn't fight this thing in my present condition. I would die faster than the undead had against the white dragons fire... So I did the only thing I could, and ran, but as I run it chases after me. It is huge, its heavy footfalls shake the earth as I try to escape. It does not let up for one moment, instead it swings its heavy club down at me. I run to the side to avoid it, leaping as the ground quakes and then land on my hooves and gallop away. I know that this won't last, my body will eventually give out, I need a plan... I need too... Wait... what... And then the dream started to fade... I awoke with a groan. My head pounding and out in the middle of a vast forest. I blinked my eyes open blearily, and reach up to rub at my face. However as I do a furry thing touches me and my eyes snap open. I see a pink hoof where my hand should be that taps onto something at my forehead, and then to top it off I suddenly feel a draft... I'm naked... and a pink fluffy unicorn it seems. Unlike with my dream, where I just rolled with whatever happened, I didn't take my sudden change at all well. I screamed as loudly as I was able and then started to panic. Unfortunately I was in a forest and my ruckus attracted attention. Two shadows fell over me and then I saw two massive 'dog-men' like things who started to talk to one another. I barely understood the language they spoke, but the threatening glint in their eyes did little to calm my frazzled nerves. I panicked, more than ever when one of them reached for me. With a shout a ball of fire was launched from my horn and at the two of them. They yelped and quickly scurried back into the forest to get away. I blinked, and saw the 'fireball' faze through a tree... an illusion? Had I somehow conjured an illusion to scare the dogs away? I then take time to think about what had happened. I had just had a dream were I was a pink unicorn fighting an army of undead, and then I woke up to find myself as a smaller and... I pause to glance over my body for a moment then nod my head. A much younger pink unicorn and a couple of oddly talking dogs had seemed to come at me in a threatening manor. Whether they wanted to kidnap, eat, or do something worse to me I didn't know, I did know it couldn't be good. Why does this all sound terribly familiar? Then I heard a sudden haunting laughter echo out all around me. "Whose there?!" I demand as I turn all around in search of the laughter. "C-Come out now!" I called out as a mist began to form around me. "I-I mean it!" I continued to call out to the sinister voice as the world was consumed in a dense fog... then I heard the sound of a creaking door before something pulled me away with a scream. I found myself sailing through the air a moment later and bounced across a polished floor. I land in a heap atop what looks like a mosaic of a familiar symbol. 'That looks really familiar,' I think as I slowly get up. I find myself in a circular room with a number of doors all around me, a few of them have symbols on them that are also vaguely familiar to me. Yet what draws my immediate attention is a cloaked figure chuckling lightly a ways away. "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly," a dark voice issued from the cloaked figure as it seemed to rise up and up and up. It towered over me, dark mist billowing from beneath its cloak and across the small room. I took a step back from the strange creature, breathes coming in short erratic bursts. "Who are you!?" I demand and let out a snort. I try to call my magic, only to blink when I feel nothing happen. No glow forms around my horn, no tingly feeling at the front of my brain... what just happened? The creature laughed once more, a low dark tone which pounded against my temples as the cloaked figure leaned forward. It's shadow was cast across me as it bent and twisted seemingly in the air to turn and maneuver itself. It moved like a snake, twisting over itself as it circled around me menacingly. A pair of eyes flared to life within the cloak, not the crimson red I had expected, instead, a brilliant and beautiful blue-white in color. I followed the eyes and the head of the figure intently, turning round and round so that it never got behind me, never left my sight. The figure soon slithered to a halt and then bent upwards, higher and higher to loom over me. The eyes mere pinpricks within the shadows of its hood. It then let out yet another laugh as I backed away from it fearfully. Then I watched as its eyes dimmed and its form shrank, soon standing no larger than myself. It chuckled, its dark voice breaking up and lightening. "Aww how cute... but ineffective. You see, your magic won't work here, little pony," the cloaked figure remarked, "Only my magic works here," she, and her voice definitely sounded feminine now, continued as she started to approach me. "W-Well then I'll just have to..." I tried to say, a slight quaver in my voice, yet she interrupted. "Do what? Use your non-existent magic to take me on? Oh wait... you don't have any magic here, this is my realm," she stated firmly, "Or perhaps you were thinking you'd fight me with your bare hooves?" she questioned and with a flash of crimson I was in the air and my hooves in four thick manacles that held me aloft. "Plain to see, but that's not happening," she noted plainly and I whimpered. "W-what do you want with me?" I asked as the cloaked figure paused. "Hmmm, what do I want?" she wondered briefly. She seemed to leap up into the air and a throne formed in a flash of crimson. She seated herself on it and leaned her head back, a white hoof leaving her cloak as she scratched within her hood. "A great many things if I'm honest," she admitted mostly to herself. "But if you mean right here and now," she began as she approached and then started to circle around me. "Do I want to torment you?" she questioned and I gulped even as she shook her head. "Oh dear no, that would be horribly unfair in this situation," she admitted. "Do I wish to hold you here, trapped forever?!" she questioned dramatically then clicked her tongue, "no, that's a bit much," she remarked. "Do I wish to frighten you then?" she questioned and let out a laugh, "Oh most certainly! And it has been so amusing to watch you squirm," she noted to herself. "Honestly... I suppose I'm only doing this to introduce myself," she remarked and I blinked. "What?" "I mean it's not like I didn't just have to deal with Surprise and needed to relieve a little stress," she continued as she idly rolled her fore-hoof. "What?!" "Certainly can't be that I saw how your dream was going, then thought that I could mess with you for my own amusement," she casually commented and my eye twitched. "WHAT!" "And oh no no no, it couldn't possibly be that I was just oh so curious about how much I can and can't do to somepony with these powers of mine," she remarked with a hoof raised to her chest, clearly very amused with herself while I snarled at her. "WHAT!?!" She laughed at my indignation. Her laughter was surprisingly bright and cheerful. It echoed around the room and bounced off the walls. She held her sides and pointed a white hoof at me as she fell backwards, revealing a pearly white coated ponies body beneath her cloak, one with a crimson tail with a purple streak. "You should see the look on your face!" she exclaimed quite loudly and I growled low in my throat. She took a moment to clam herself with a sigh as she wiped at an eye within her hood. "This isn't funny!" I growled at her and she snickered quietly. "Oh sorry, not sorry," the cloaked figure stated as she reached up with her white hooves to pull her hood back and smirked. She was a strangely pretty unicorn mare that gazed at me with brilliant blue eyes, her coat was a pearly white, with a noticeable a beauty mark on her left cheek bone, and a wavy red mane with a single purple stripe. "Just by the by, my name is Moon Dancer, just thought I'd introduce myself," she chirped with an annoying smirk on her face. "You!" I tried to say and then looked down, (up?), at my still shackled hooves. "Let me down!" I exclaimed and the mare idly hummed and tapped her chin. "So this what its like to have all of the power of dreams to literally mess with people in any way shape or form I see fit?" she idly asked herself and then grinned, "How does Luna not abuse the heck out of this to prank Celestia so hard their mother feels it?" she wondered aloud and I narrowed my eyes. "Maybe its because she's not a five year old filly!" I growled at the white mare. "Or she's just really really boring," Moon Dancer noted and clicked her tongue. "Let me down!" I shouted at her and Moon Dancer tapped her chin. She then whistled a little tune and turned to stretch in her throne much like a cat would. As she did she got comfortable and rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. "Nope," she finally responded and I growled. "Why not?!" I demanded and she grinned. "You didn't say the magic word," she sing songed. 'Why is that voice so infuriatingly familiar?' I briefly wondered as I glared at her. "Please let me down!" I growled at her and she smirked. "See, now that wasn't so hard was it," she quipped and clapped her hooves together twice. With a sudden pop the manacles around my hooves vanished and I fell to the ground with a yelp. However before I could actually hit the ground a crimson light wrapped around me and kept me aloft over the ground, before setting me gently on my hooves. I took a moment after the crimson light had left me to catch my breath and then glared at the unicorn. "Oh c'mon I didn't do anything too bad," the unicorn remarked with a roll of her eyes. "Dreams are supposed to be private and safe!" I retorted and she snorted. "Tell that to Luna," she murmured just loud enough for me to hear. "Luna protects the dreams of ponies, she doesn't use them to prank them!" I retorted with narrowed eyes. "As far as you know," she returned and I let out a groan. "Why does the pretty mare in my dream have to be so difficult!" I demanded and she raised a brow. "You think I'm pretty?" she questioned. She then turned to the side and with a wave of her hoof conjured a mirror to look at herself. "Of course you are! I mean you have a bucking beauty mark for Celestia's sake!" I remind the overly pretty mare and she tilted her head as she looked at her reflection curiously. "Huh... never really thought of it that way," she admitted with a shrug and then tossed the mirror away. It quickly dissolved into ethereal dust particles that vanished into nothing as soon as it left her immediate proximity. "But just so you know," the mare began as she refocused on me, "I'm not part of your dream," she stated firmly. I blinked in response and just stared at the mare in confusion for a moment. "What? Of course you are!" "Nope," she responded. "Oh c'mon! There is no way you're telling me your real!" "Eeyep," she stated with a smirk and I narrowed my eyes. "Prove it!" I growled and she smirked. "Surprise," she stated simply and I blinked. "Wha?" "You've met Surprise right?" she questioned and I slowly nodded my head. "Well she just recently decided to bug me, so blame her for my somewhat foul mood," she noted with her lips turned into an annoyed frown. "I mean seriously, popping up out of nowhere just to yell 'Surprise!' at the top of her lungs! What is up with that?" she demanded and I stared at her. "That... doesn't prove your real," I murmured unsurely. I had met surprise, and she did seem to like doing that for some reason. I don't know why exactly, maybe it was because it was the easiest prank she could pull on someone? "Oh and also, I can kind of prove I'm real by the fact you can't currently wake up," the overly pretty white pony noted as she stretched in her throne and hopped to the floor. "I've been doing a few tests, not just with you of course," she began and then hummed, "I grabbed a couple other people in these tests who were just about to wake up, usually from alarms and when I pulled them here they just don't wake up," she explained with a glance around. "Which I took to meaning that my magic keeps their conscious mind trapped here for however long I hold them," she chirped and then started to pace. "Alongside that I can manipulate other people's dreams to some minor extent, which also allows me to pull them in here, and then while I'm in my tower I have total and complete control over what happens here. I'm also fairly certain this place is always here, and doesn't vanish when I wake up," she paused at that. "Which actually explains that whole gen one thing where I 'put a sleep curse' on Cotton Candy, I probably just put her in some kind of dungeon or whatever I have in the basement here," she murmured then frowned, "which means I should really go take a look downstairs just to see if I have anything down there as well," she noted mostly to herself with a slow nod of her head. However I merely scoffed. "Oh that's such a load of," I tried to say only for her to sigh and slap me in the face with a burst of her magic. "Ow! That hurt you... you... you..." I tried to say only to trail off as I registered the fact that that had hurt... in a dream... and I mean it really hurt. Not the whole 'kind of' hurts when dreams make you think something hurts... if that makes any sense. "Yeah, fun fact that also means I can hurt you here despite it being a dream," Moon Dancer casually remarked. I stared at the mare as she then clicked her tongue. "Just wish I was able to read here, the books in my library are all blank, save a few which have to do with memories and even then, most of those have moving pictures in them," the overly pretty mare noted with a turn of her lips. "You... wait, you're really real?" I questioned as my mind finally caught back up with me. "I... wait, didn't I just spend the passed five or six minutes explaining that to you?" she demanded incredulously and I rolled my eyes. "Who cares?" I questioned and she grumbled something to herself. "Now just answer me, you saying that you're really really Moon Dancer?" I questioned as I approached the overly pretty mare and she let out a long-suffering sigh. "Yes," she replied a bit snappishly. I grinned and clapped my hooves together. "This is wonderful!" I declared and she raised a brow. "Right... why?" she questioned. "Because I just found another one of my friends!" I replied and she frowned. "Uh huh... and why exactly do you think I'm your friend?" she questioned and I looked back to her with a frown. "Well... I mean your a pony and," I tried to say and she rolled her eyes. "First of all, never met you before in my life, second of all, just because we're both ponies does not make us friends, third of all, I did just kidnap you from your dream to mess with you," she added and I blinked. "W-well yeah but," I tried to say and she shook her head. "No, we're also not friends just because we're gen one ponies," she added and I went silent. "But," I tried to say and she interrupted me again. "Look, I'm willing to get to know you and the others, but that does not mean we'll ever be friends, acquaintances, sure, allies, oh definitely, but friends is really pushing it," she stated firmly as she glared at me. "But... oh fine," I relented with a sigh, I then glanced around curiously. "So you can get into anyone's dreams right?" I questioned and she idly nodded her head. "So could you maybe get into the dreams of the other ponies so we could talk?" I questioned and she frowned. "Currently I only know for certain that that door," she pointed to one with a familiar symbol on it, "Leads to Firefly's dreams, and that that one," she pointed to another door with my own symbol on it, "leads to yours," she finished. She then clicked her tongue with a frown. "I'm still checking to see if the others only lead to pony dreams or if its some other kind of system that I'll need to 'map out' for lack of a better term," she remarked with a hum. Meanwhile I'd really only paid attention to one bit of that... "Firefly!" I declared and scurried towards the door in question. "Oh no you don't!" Moon Dancer stated as she vanished, then reappeared behind me and stepped on my tail. I gave a yelp as she arrested my forward momentum and caused me to fall to my back and look up at her. "But I," I tried to say and she shoved her hoof into my mouth. "No! I still don't understand all the rules or dangers of messing with dreams like this, I also don't know if you'll ever wake up if you get lost in a dream that isn't your own," she stated and then lifted me up with her magic. "But we could get Firefly to tell us where she is!" I reasoned and she rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure, then what? Its not like we can go visit her even if we knew where she is," Moon Dancer retorted with a shake of her head. "And I honestly I've kept you asleep long enough," she continued as she approached the door with my symbol. "What?! But we could," I tried to tell her and she shook her head. "Ugh... look I'm currently injured and in a lot of pain in the real world," she admitted and sniffed, "So with that in mind I am not looking for the others while that's going on," she stated with a firm nod of her head. "Wait your hurt?" I demanded but she just fixed me with a look. "Well I'd love to say its been fun," she began as she opened the door, only to pause, "But you kind of spoiled it for me," she remarked with a pout, "Bye bye now," and with that she up and tossed me back into the 'door' and thus my dreams where I promptly woke back up.