//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Princesses in the room // Story: Regal Mind // by Lorhelei //------------------------------// Stead Hoof eyes erratically moved across the room looking for the source of the voices. I heard them, where are they!? At the moment he realized that the voices rest in silence. It must be the stress… It has to be the stress. That dream couldn’t be possibly real, thought Stead with cold sweat flowing all over his forehead. How was that dream again? Two voices… Both were arguing about something… Something dangerous, Stead intensively focused on the images in that fateful dream. There was a black room… Or wasn’t? I remember only darkness until that voices start chatting… The more he focused on that black void, the more intense his horn were glowing full of power. Aggh… Why I can’t remember anything else! There was a room, voices… Pain? And then I woke up… His horn slowly became a bright point of light in the middle of the bedroom, emanating more and more green mana, pulsating with black and yellow electricity around it. The only reason for Daisy to not wake up was that the blankets and the pillow were covering her face. I recall a strong jolt of pain in the back of my head, I remember that. I recall one of the voices questioning if that was going to hurt somepony… Was the pony they were talking about… Me? But then it might mean that­- A painful sensation shut down his thoughts in one single strike, only then he was able to see what was in front of him. Lighting bolts were jumping from the point of his horn to random directions in the room like a coil but not causing any visible damage to it, yet the sight of such power going uncontrollable from his own horn was enough to send a shiver through his spine, not for his safety, but hers. His eyes moved, but his head didn’t follow them, in fear of the surge moving with it, his gaze turns to his wife who was still in a deep dream, with her face under the blankets but half of her body out of it Even when she sleeps... He then recalled what happened that morning, the doorframe remained shattered by him pulling it too hard with his kinesis early morning. Pictures him hurting Daisy with a surge of electricity began to filling his mind, only worsening whatever was happening to him. If this is a surge, I could blow up the entire room, Daisy included… He gazed once more time to his wife before let it out a faint smile. I can’t allow her to be damaged. I need to get out of here! His mind rapidly shifts from fear to determination, blood pumped faster as adrenaline began to flow through his body. Stead was about to run through the door as fast as he could and get out of the house, but something stopped him. “Stop! Don’t run! Fear not little one. Just relax yourself, free your mind, calm down, she is safe.” “What the!” Yelled Stead, receiving a groan from his wife indicating him to let her sleep. “Who is there” he whispered instead. “That’s beside the point. We don’t have the time, if you don’t relax yourself you could hurt your wife” said the voice in a peacefully yet adamant tone. “Who-“ “There’s no time, Stead!” “… Ok… I’ll believe in you” With those words, Stead close his eyes and began to breath, slowly. As he slowed his heartbeat, his horn stop pulsating with energy and began too dimmer. With every exhale, he went deeper into his own mind. It wasn’t easy, meditate in any state is never easy, but he had only one thought in his mind to move forward. Daisy’s safety. With only the image of his wife he could control the surge of energy and the electricity began to subside inside his body. Soon he was back in the dark room of his dreams. “Who… Who are you?” spoke Stead in an echoed voice in what seems to be a dark room, “Why do you help me? Is anypony here… Great, I’m talking to myself,” his thought was his own voice, even if he didn’t want to, the room seemed to echoed all of what he was thinking in his inner voice. For almost a full minute, the only thing that seems to answer his questions was his echo. He seems to be alone with himself, like he always was, I guess that I’m becoming crazy after all. Stead was about to open his eyes in resignation when a faint of regret hits him. “If… If there is anypony in my mind... Dear Celestia, I can’t believe I’m saying this to myself-” before he could finish his thought, Stead heard a faraway chuckle that was fast hushed. “Ok… I hear that…”. From a corner in the dark room, two alicorns stepped out of the shadows and showed themselves. “P-Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? What’s happening?! I mean… I could expect Princess Luna to appear in my mind… Wait… isn’t not supposed that she could only appears in dreams? Is this a dream?!” Stead Hoof breath arose at the sight of the two rulers of Equestria appearing in his mind. “I’m afraid this is not a dream, little one” said Celestia while sending an ashamed look to Luna, “My sister and I mean no harm to you… Besides of what you have already seen… You should not worry” Luna coughed before speak “The events that lead us to the inside of your mind shall be revealed soon, but not today I’m afraid. I think my sister will agree with this…-” she turned to see a noticeable nodding in Celestia, “-request of mine… This is a very delicate situation I must say, we need time to think about our next course of actions.” “…Ok… I get it… So, I’m not becoming a crazy pony?” “No, you are not, little one” Celestia tried unsuccessfully to cover her laugh with her hoof, “This is just an unfortunate chain of events” Celestia sat on her haunches before speaking again “It’s getting pretty late, you should rest, even here we can feel that you are too tired to stand anymore.” Luna sat too at the side of her sister, “I will protect your dream, and this room will protect your body… Mostly. With that said, we are at your service. Formalism are not required though.” “T-thanks Princess-” Stead hesitated a moment before corrected himself “-Luna, thanks Luna and Celestia. I’ll sleep then I hope you two… Emm… Enjoy your stay in my head, there is a lot of room I guess, that’s what my wife always says” “I can see that,” Celestia smiled at Stead Hoof, “Quite the mare you had there I must say” “Wait, you know her?” “Not exactly, we had seen her through your eyes.” “Well… That is weird… I better go to sleep…” “Good night Stead… You deserve it.” Luna and Celestia both nod to each other while disappearing into the darkness of the room. Stead Hoof took that like his signal for the conversation to end and he opened up his eyes. The room was dark and silent, no trace of what happened before, the lightings were gone, his horn was again in his normal state, and Daisy still sleeping. Thanks Celestia, a faint of a smile came to his mind along with the image of Luna chuckling and Celestia giving her an angry but funny gaze. The night was long, the facts that were revealed to him were hardly easy to digest, but he was already too tired to fight his anxiety and to ask the princesses further. So, without the threat of death he collapsed on his bed at the side of Daisy. Stead’s eyelids were heavy as steel and his head and horn were sore, just a good night of sleep is what he wanted since that dream. Stead closed his eyes with more happiness that he thought were possible by the simple promise of a good dream. Life had other plans. “Wake up you sleepy one,” Daisy affectively nuzzle his not-so-sleep husband, “Hope you rested plenty, because today we had a lot to do. See you down honey, I’ll make the breakfast” Stead couldn’t believe how the sweetest of words could drill trough his hears so bad, “Yeah… Right on sweetheart… Just *yawn* give me a moment to *yawn* get ready…” With those last words, Stead Hoof just felt into a deep dream and plumped again into the bed, even the princesses thought he would not wake up. “Well, I’ll let you sleep a bit more, just because the tractor works just fine,” Daisy gently put a sweet kiss on Stead’s lips, “I’ll wake you up in two hours, have a good rest honey,” and with that, she left the room and tried to close the door, she then remembered that there was no door to be closed and turn to his husband and chuckle. “She is a good mare” “Indeed sister… She is…” Both princesses stay silent for the rest of what was left of Stead’s night.