//------------------------------// // Chapter 89 // Story: Repercussions // by Hiver //------------------------------// Doctor Steady Beat ran the beam of magic along my horn, watching on concentration before he nodded, "Everything seems good," he said. "Good as in going well or good as in... good?" I asked and glanced up at my horn. "Good as in, try picking something up," He said with a smile, "Careful, at the first hint of strain, cut the magic." I eyed him warily for a second before my horn rippled with magic and I picked up my long empty teacup, "It feels normal," I said as I slowly brought the teacup over to me, moving it in a circle as I glanced up at my horn with a smile, "It feels normal." Steady Beat nodded, "Good. But don't go straining it anytime soon. Nothing more strenuous than telekinesis, light spells and such. Absolutely no teleporting or other strenuous spells for at least another month." "Sure thing, doc," I said and set the cup back down, "I'll keep magic to a minimum, but being able to use it at all is going to be so awesome. Thank you." "I didn't do anything, no cure for it," He said and shrugged, packing up his notes into his bag, "Nothing to do but wait and not make it worse. I'll be back in another three weeks and we'll give things a final look. Sounds good, your highness?" "It does. Thank you, once more." Steady Beat gave me a bow and then moved to leave the tower. I couldn't help but smile and pick the teacup up again, giving it another whirl around the room before I put it back down. Yes! I had almost been worried I wouldn't be able to use magic ever again. Tempest. To go through that when she was so young. That poor filly. I glanced back at my wing, spreading it wide. Worth it. Absolutely worth it. Especially with everything else I learned since. I glanced at the window at the sun outside and then frowned in thought. Speaking of bat ponies... Getting comfortable on the couch, I closed my eyes and used the very familiar spell to instantly fall asleep, finding myself in the dream realm. Moon Beam. It was mid morning so the amount of ponies still asleep was way lower, but she seemed to work the evening shift at that bar so... Her portal appeared before me, silvery and pink, rippled running through it. Oh. I see. Uhm, better not bother her right now then. I'll try again tonight instead, walking straight into that seemed like a bad plan. Instead I stepped back and did a sweep of the dream portals until I found one that was dark and stormy. That one was infested by a Nightmare. Touching my horn to it, I stepped through, wrapping the fabric of the dream around myself and finding myself an earth pony running along the street, one of many ponies that were screaming in fear as a swarm of changelings descended upon them. I could see the owner of the dream, a mare... no... barely a mare. She was in her teens, all ungainly legs. The changelings were upon her, dark webbing tying her legs as she was dragged towards a waiting and very demonic looking Queen Chrysalis. Slobbering tongue, big sharp tongue, long jagged horn and larger than Princess Celestia. This Nightmare has to be fairly new, it didn't even try to hide. It had just wrapped itself into the form of Queen Chrysalis and fed upon the filly as the dream constantly dragged her closer to it. I threw off the cloak of the earth pony and spread my wings as I stomped down with my hoof before spreading my wings and sending myself to between the filly and the Nightmare in a single flap, "No more of this, Nightmare," I said and started to walk towards it. "What!?" the fake Queen exclaimed and images of horrible things started to form around her. I took another step, putting my hoof down firmly and the images just collapsed, "I know the real Chrysalis," I told it, "You're nothing but a pale imitation." Then I blasted it into little glowing fragments of magic that quickly sublimated and I absorbed what magic it had gathered from it's victims. Not a lot there. I had been right, it had been new. Been a while since I ran into a strong and old one. With some hope, Luna and I had eradicated the worst ones by now. I turned towards the filly behind me and sent out a wave through the dream, panicked ponies disappearing in sparkles, changelings going poof and a rainbow forming across the sky as the sun shone brighter above, "There is no need to be afraid, Emerald Gem," I told her with a smile as the net covering her disintegrated into nothing. "W-wha..." she started to say, the green unicorn struggling to her hooves and looking around, her mouth gaping. I gave her a small bow, wings half spread, "I'm Blank Page. I was patrolling the dreams this morning and came upon yours. I banished the Nightmare from them and it won't trouble you again." She took half a step back, "But... but my mom said...your wings showed that..." I spread my left wing and looked at it before I shrugged, "They're just wings. different from a pegasus, yes, but still just wings, Emerald." Emerald nodded hesitantly. Smiling at her, I looked around, "I need to continue my rounds of the dreams. What kind of dreams would you.." I started before I frowned at her, "Wait, it's late morning. Shouldn't you be in school by now?" Emerald shifted uncomfortably, "I'm home with the flu," she grumbled. "Ah. Then, I think some dreamless sleep would be best," I told her, "And get better soon." With that, I collapsed the dream into dreamless sleep and slipped out into the dream realm to give her the best possible rest. I took a deep breath and looked around. Okay, one Nightmare down. Let's see if we can find another one.