//------------------------------// // The Answers // Story: Welcome to Batstralia // by Damaged //------------------------------// Language check. Anything wrapped in [ ] in this chapter is spoken dream-speak, everything else is in Equish. Dream Thunder flapped her wings as hard as she could. As a pegasus, she would have made more speed with each stroke, but bats flew somewhat differently. The speed of each stroke mattered more than the frequency, but in such a panic she wasn't thinking clearly enough. Despite what Lyra had told her, she gained some altitude and looked down at the town. The bands where each town slotted together were still there, but from what she could see magic was everywhere now. "This isn't right!" Tucking her wings in a little, Dream let the air slide out of them so she could dive at the ground. Catching her descent at the last moment, she landed in the back yard of her house. Walking off her quick flight, Dream Thunder advanced on the house and slipped quickly in the back door. Her trip through the house was quick, and in no time she was swinging her bedroom door open. "There you are." Tufts was hanging from one end of Dream's bed-perch, the bat already well asleep. Walking up to her perch, Dream performed a practiced jump and whipped her tail around it as she inverted. She swung once then drifted to a relaxed, hanging position. Sleep came quickly. "[… told you this would happen! But would you listen to me? No! Now look at the mess you've made]!" Tjinimin was right beside Dream Thunder in the dream world, hanging from the mysterious tree that seemed to always be present now. "[You got magic everywhere]!" Dream looked from Tjinimin outward, and realized that the Rainbow Serpent seemed a lot more distant now. "[What's going on]?" She had the distinct shock of having the attention of what seemed like two beings as powerful as Princess Celestia focus down onto her. Tjinimin stretched a wing protectively around Dream, nuzzled at her neck, and then glared out at the Rainbow Serpent. "[Now look what you did: she is terrified]!" Finding herself leaning against Tjinimin's pony-sized body for comfort, Dream Thunder tilted her head to look out at the Rainbow Serpent again, then back to Tjinimin. "[Are you going to tell me what happened]?" Nodding, Tjinimin gestured out, toward the Rainbow Serpent. "[The oversize silly-string couldn't hold back the magic, like I predicted, and it's everywhere now]." "[I TRIED TO HOLD IT BACK. IT WAS THE BEST I COULD DO]." The deep tone of the Rainbow Serpent was no less for coming from a long way away. "[THERE IS MORE WORK TO DO NOW. EVERYBODY MUST BE INFORMED. I WILL HOLD THIS AT THE COAST]" "[What do you mean, informed? I can only tell so many people]." Reaching one wing up, Dream Thunder scratched at one of Tjinimin's ears, her thoughts thinking of him more as Tufts than the god he resembled. "[YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL EVERYONE, BUT YOU CAN HELP US MAKE EVERYONE KNOW]." The Rainbow Serpent's intensity, combined with its message, had Dream huddling back against Tjinimin again. The tree, the bat, both felt like home and comfort to her. "[W-W-What do you need to do]?" "[Ol' lipless thinks we need to begin a new age. I like the idea, but I don't think I will be around here much longer]." Tjinimin wore a happy smile that he only shared with Dream Thunder. "[The Dreaming was the start of everything, but The Knowing will soon come. Everyone will have their future revealed, and we will take the blinders off all in Australia. Dream Thunder, we need you to be the pattern for us]." Dream Thunder closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "[Will it hurt]?" "[I don't know. But we only need to do this once]." There was more Tufts than Tjinimin in the voice that spoke to Dream. "[I'll do it]." Dream Thunder was almost completely wrapped in one of Tjinimin's huge bat wings. "[I need to tell everyone what happened, but not everyone, I mean Mum, Joyce, Lyra, and Robin]." Tjinimin focused both eyes on Dream, and kissed her on the forehead. "[Everyone in Australia will experience The Knowing. You can tell them when we are done]." "[WE WILL START NOW. WE HAVE TO PUT IN ALL THE KNOWLEDGE THAT PEOPLE WILL NEED INTO YOU. WE WILL THEN COPY THAT, AND GIFT IT TO THE PEOPLE]." The Rainbow Serpent sounded slightly hesitant, quite the feat for a being that spoke so loud. "[There's more ribbon-butt isn't telling you. Some of The Knowing will be compulsions: people will want to create a more fitting name for themselves, they will want to help each other. My part of the knowledge will be easy for you to take in]." When Tjinimin revealed a large mango in his wing, Dream snorted in derision. "[You think this silly]?" "[Yes]." Taking the offered mango, Dream Thunder used her clever wing-thumbs to peel the skin off one side. She took a bite. It was a slow wave at first, things she already knew, but styled in a different way. Flying. Eating fruit and using wings in general. Walking on all-fours. "[Well, it is silly. But it beats the alternatives]." Tjinimin used one wing to rub at Dream's tufted ears. More bites, more knowledge. Dream Thunder got instinctive knowledge for how dream magic worked. How dreams could be used to affect the real world. She even got knowledge about the tree she was hanging from. "[Shh. Don't tell slither-face that one, and I don't think it is needed in The Knowing]." With a deft brush of Dream Thunder's head, Tjinimin nudged the knowledge of the ancient, mystical mango tree away from The Knowing within Dream. Mostly done with the mango, Dream Thunder grinned at Tjinimin. She nibbled and ate her way through more knowledge, but they were small things she wasn't even sure of. Magic harmed modern things. Magic was coming, and it would seep out into the world like a wave. The mango was soon just pip and peel, and Dream dropped them both to the ground under the tree. While she licked her wings, thumbs, and mouth clean, she could sense a jitter in the knowledge within her: it wanted to be free. "[TJINIMIN MIGHT BE OLDER, BUT HE HAS BEEN NEGLECTING STUDY OF THIS NEW MAGIC. I HAVE NOT]." Dream Thunder's eyes went wide, and she felt a slithering sensation of something coiling around her. Tighter and tighter the unseen snake's body coiled, until it squeezed the last, little bit and pulled itself past her flesh. Tjinimin spread the one wing he had free, cradling Dream to his side with the other. "[You could have just swallowed her like you used to. It wouldn't have hurt as much as this]!" "[IT NEEDED TO BE DONE]." "[It did, Tufts]." Her own voice sounded almost like an echo of the Rainbow Serpent. Dream Thunder could barely hold all the knowledge now. "[They won't be ready for all this. Nopony would]." "[Pull some away. You will still keep it, but someone must. Hold tight to what you think should not be part of The Knowing]." Tjinimin's voice still held hints of Tufts', but it was softer than Tufts' screeching tones ever could be. "[Are you ready]?" There was so much knowledge that Dream almost exploded from the pressure of it. She shook her head. Knowledge of dreams was good. Knowledge of the monsters that would abound once magic was done—also good. Dream struggled to keep The Knowing together as she teased at the first undesirable thing: knowledge of how to use dreams to change reality on a large scale. Pulling that thread out, Dream felt it coil and wrap tightly within her own mind—like a snake. There were other, smaller things. Dream teased out knowledge of how to change ones alignment from Earth to Equestria, too, and slumped into Tjinimin's grip. "[It's done]." It took all of Dream Thunder's focus to hold the mass of knowledge as it was, separate from her own knowledge. "[This should be the easier part]." Tjinimin turned and wrapped both wings around Dream, and pulled her into tighter hug. Tjinimin's warmth all around her comforted Dream, but there was more seeping into her. Magic. Power. It didn't happen fast, but she felt her dream-self swelling with energy. She lifted her head and looked at Tjinimin's face, and saw a warm smile. The flow of magic grew greater and greater, and soon Dream thought she would break the mango tree in half with her weight, but it held her. Her ears twitched first. She inhaled, taking in a little more power before the flow tapered off. "[This is a dream. You have all the power here—all my power]." Tjinimin slowly opened his wings. "[Give them your gifts, Dream Thunder, foal of Tjinimin and Candela]!" Dream spread her wings, and imagined all the power wrapped around The Dreaming inside her. She willed it out, pushed it. And burped loudly. Tjinimin blinked as the echo of the most loud burp in existence radiated out through their dream, then he started to laugh. Screechy cackles filled the shared dream as the magic itself carried The Knowing away. Joining in the laughter, Dream Thunder reached for a mango on the tree, and then another. She passed the first to Tjinimin, and bit into the second for herself. The laughter of bats echoed behind The Knowing, but in the little, shared dream, only the sound of chewing was heard. "[BATS]..."