[Yomega]
I woke up early again. Or I think I did.
It's always so hard to tell these days, ever since I evolved. My aura sight, as I've started to call it, tends to start the day on by default. I could see Spike's armored form crammed into his tiny bed, his cape like wings draped over himself like a blanket. His crown had been knocked off kilter, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the great mighty dragon sucking his thumb in his sleep.
I tracked my gaze over to Twilight, instantly recognizing her alicorn, or Princess Twilight, self. Even in her sleep, papers and parchments swirled around her, almost obscuring her form. Arcane sigils danced through the paper storm, flickering into existence only to be shattered by something a moment later. Sparks of energy would periodically jump out and scribble something onto the nearest surface, only to be overwritten by the next one.
Even asleep with a book over her muzzle, Twilight's mind works ever on, it seems.
Yawning, I got up and stretched. With a moment of concentration, reality returned to its norm. At least I'm getting better at that. I pulled the door and slipped from the room. I climbed my way up to the library's attic and settled myself into a spot I had cleared. I sat as still and as relaxed as I could, closed my eyes, and focused on my breathing. I quickly settled into a smooth rhythm. And now for the hard part.
One. I let my thoughts fade away until my mind saw the same black as my eyes.
Two. Focusing, a patch of green entered my view. It quickly resolved itself into a small clearing surrounded by bamboo.
Three. My mental body touched down on the grass. With a twitch of an ear, a large divot was carved from the soil and rapidly filled with water.
Four. A pair of koi, one white and gold, the other black and blue, appeared from the depths and started to swim near the surface. Ignoring them, I flicked my tail towards the far shore. Our monument stone burst from the ground, and lily pads spread across the water's surface.
One... I began again, and let my thoughts flow. Each one appeared on the water, the koi swimming endless circles around them in time to my counting and breathing. I gave every thought a cursory glance, acknowledged it was there, then let it drift on. No thought stayed longer than a count.
A breeze began to blow through my clearing, while psychic currents brushed across my whiskers. The next image showed nothing but the pond itself. The white koi swam towards the stone, while the black one dove into the depths. Acknowledging this, and the strangest of urges to follow, I set them aside.
The white koi grew brighter and brighter, until the pond dissolved into the sunlight spearing into the attic. With a sigh, I left to go start prepping breakfast.
As I approached the kitchen, I saw a black mist flow under the door and into the main room. Curious, I let the impressions wash over me. Rising from the cloud stood a black knight, gold rimming his pauldrons, gauntlets and greaves. His helmet, the visor crafted into a visage of a snarling dog, was attached to his belt. This allowed me to see his red eyes, framed by raven hair, glancing around the room. His pale skin always seemed to be straining to hold something in check, and every move was preceded and followed by afterimages of himself making those movements. Each step he took, once the mist had dissipated, left a patch of morning glories that glowed with an inner silvery light. He soon spotted me, and gave me a chilling fanged smile.
"G̵o̶o̴d̴ ̶m̸o̵r̸n̶i̸n̶g̸,̸ ̴Y̶o̷m̸e̵g̴a̸.̵!" It growled out. I flinched and slammed my mind away, forcing my perception of the world to return to normal. Abes was giving me a concerned look. "You okay?"
"Yeah." I grumbled. "M'fine. Bad sleep."
"Leo's dream isn't spreading, is it?"
"No, nothing of the sort." I hurried to assure him. "Just slept on my tail wrong. It's a little sore."
"Ah." Abes knowingly nodded. "Yeah. So, got any plans for today?"
"Other than breakfast?" I chuckled. "I'm going to go take a look at the eggs and then Spike and I will be working on my teleporting."
Abes continued to nod. "Good luck with that. Trying to go for more utility?"
"Yup." Working together, we pulled our food out from the cupboards and filled our dishes. "I figured that Leo, Cy and Zann have the straight up power handled."
"What if we need to split up?" Abes asked as we began eating.
"I'll have enough with my offensive moves. And I can always put foes to sleep and heal up off of their dreams."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound creepy at all." Abes sighed. "On a related note, the Circle is looking into how moves like Dream Eater work."
I paused long enough to swallow my last mouthful of food. "I think there was something like that going on in one of the games?"
"Really? What became of it?"
"No idea." I admitted picking my bowl up and carrying it to the sink. "I think it had something to do with the multiplayer?" We cleaned up our mess and made our way back up the stairs. I opened the door to Twilight's room for Abes, who swiftly made his way over to the closet. As he closed the door, Spike started to stir.
"Good morning, Spike." I thought at the room as a whole. "I've already eaten. I'm going to go sort through the after hours returns bin while you two have breakfast." I smiled, watching Twilight flop a hoof at her alarm clock.
"Okay..." He thought as he rolled out of his basket. "I'm going to get the coffee started. Twilight looks like she had a rough night."
"I wonder what she was up all night doing that required her to teleport all the way here from Cantorlot?" I curled around Spike and started guiding the bleary eyed drake from the room. "You're getting good at projecting your thoughts, by the way."
"Thanks." He murmured. We walked our separate ways, Spike to the bathroom and myself to the front door.
Sure enough, the bin was mostly empty, just a couple of self-help books and a history book. I carefully wrapped them in my mental aura and pulled them out. I trotted through the library past the stairs, smiling as I felt Twilight's brief confusion. I flicked my tail to point her towards the kitchen and the breakfast Spike was making for her.
It didn't take me long to find the books their homes. Nodding to myself, I turned and left for the basement. I sent a tendril of thought out to Spike. "I'm heading out to the hutch. Meet you at the pond at 11?"
"Yup! See you then."
I quickly made my way through town. I had just passed the market place when the first stalls started opening up. Feeling more minds waking, I hurried my pace, and just made it out of town when the morning rush hit. I only slowed my pace once the main portion of town was behind me.
My ears, whiskers and tail kept twitching from all the currents hitting them in the psychic field. While annoying and distracting, I decided that it was a worthwhile trade off for quieting my own mind enough to focus on reality. Besides, I knew that they will be useful for me later on, if I could interpret them.
Thoughts for another time. I mused as I approached Fluttershy's cottage. I made my way around the building, feeling Conner's familiar vibes coming from the cottage. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of our pack medic finally being able to start his proper training soon. Angel's slowly boiling current washed over me as I passed the shed.
I felt his current spark out and bounce off of a bucket shaped object above him, and the ripples it would cause sent a shiver down my tail. I sent a cushion of thought out as Angel kicked a shelf in frustration, which caused a bucket of feed to fall off a higher shelf. The bucket was deflected by my mental cushion enough to land and spill to Angel's side instead of on him.
Smiling, I made my way up the Daycare ramp. I pulled a checklist off the inner walls. It was one I had Leo write up for me for taking care of the eggs. I deftly worked through the steps, even kissing the upper shells in the exact manner like Leo had written as the last step. She might have written it as revenge for me holding her down with my basic telekinesis.
I'm not going to tell her that she could've easily broken out of it.
Once done, I returned the list to its place and sat at the top of the ramp. Toggling on my aura sight, I looked at our eggs. They were replaced by small, grayed out Eevees, each half the size of a normal Eevee. They floated in the middle of where their egg was, curled up in slumber. Different images faded into and out of existence, and I could tell that they were nothing more than possible potentials.
All in all, the whole tableau strangely reminded me of a loading screen
"Oh, good morning!" I heard Conner call out. I turned to see an Eevee gracefully walking towards me, the ground almost seeming to flow out of his way. That's when I noticed that he hovered an inch or so off the ground. The porcelain human mask he wore was smooth enough I could use it as a mirror, and the bow wrapped around his waist reminded me of those traditionally worn with kimonos.
"Good morning." I said, turning off my sight. "Just stopping by to check up on the eggs. Although, if there's anything you'd like a paw with, I'm free to help until about ten."
"Can you take the pail of fish food out to the back pond?" Conner offered. "When you're done with that, could you come see me if you still have time? I can think of a couple of things Angel and I can have you do."