Once he passed through the dolmen leading to another dream, his body went numb as it changed into the misty, cloud-like form as before. The dream started to take form as a long, cathedral-like hall took shape around him. High above, materialized an arched ceiling supported by pillars of light gray stone, which seemed to shift and flicker strangely. He then blinked and noted upon closer inspection that the stone was in truth clouds. Long rows of bunk beds formed on either side of the room, their exact amount hard to determine as the dream's unstable nature meant they kept shifting in size and numbers. Still, there were at least a dozen of them that seemed to be consistent.
David found himself near an entrance to what he assumed were military barracks. Farther away from him the details of the hall shifted, the number of ponies running around changed, so did the color of blankets on the bunks, and the length of the room was different every time he focused on it. Typical unstable dream.
“Thundercracker, get up, the sarge will be here any moment.” David jumped at the harsh voice coming out of his throat. His host then turned to look at the bunk to his right were two sleeping ponies moaned slightly as they stirred and woke.
“Lay off, Starscream, we had a long night last night,” came a voice from a mass of sheets on the lower bed. It groggily rose, and the speaker uncovered his head, letting the sheets slip past his blue face and gray mane.
Wait, Thundercracker, Starscream? David caught his appearance in a nearby mirror. Staring back at him was a red pegasus stallion with gray mane with stripes of sky blue and red in it. Fuck, I’m a pegasus version of Starscream? Why the hell are we the pony versions of the Transformers Decepticon Seekers? What kind of dream is this?
Another stallion fell off the upper bunk and landed on his back with all four hooves up in the air. “Ugh, I got a horrible hangover, at least it was worth it. Spent the night with Nova Storm and Shadow Striker,” he groaned.
“From what I heard, you passed out on Nova, and she left you at the bar, Skywarp,” spoke a sea-green mare.
“Shut it, Seawave.”
Seawave started laughing, and the cacophony of others following suit filled the barracks.
“Attention!” A large gray, buffed stallion with black mane and tail walked into the room, dressed in the armor of a Roman centurion. David’s host hurried to stand side by side with the other pegasi, lifted his right hoof, and placed it to his chest. I guess the hoof to the chest is a salute of some kind, David mused.
“Commander, they are ready!” the large stallion yelled after looking them over, his voice echoing around the barracks.
Commander? Wait, am I going to see this reality’s, Commander Hurricane? He looked to the door with interest. I wonder if this Hurricane will resemble Rainbow Dash somewhat.
Then he heard Pinkie Pie’s voice in his head, So, you accept it’s another reality?
David’s enthusiasm abated. No comment.
The large stallion stepped to the side, revealing that the commander was not Hurricane, but a light blue colt, perhaps the age of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or a few years older. It was hard to tell with a more realistic appearance.
Great, I’m in the dream of a kid.
“Listen up, you dodo birds! We have a winter storm approaching Cumulus Shire! We can’t let that storm disrupt our homes! Our families! My sleepover tomorrow!” the colt yelled, his voice’s pitch changing and hitching during his speech.
Aww, he’s a cutie! Pinkie Pie’s voice echoed in his mind.
The colt continued, “This flight will be dangerous, the ice could build on our wings, a few might even freeze and fall to their doom. I accept this risk! I refuse to let our home be destroyed!” He turned dramatically. “What about you? Will you cower under your beds, or will you join me?”
“We fly!” David found himself yelling with many others.
“Right! We are pegasi, we master the clouds, we master the wind, we will master this storm! Now armor up and follow me!”
Got to admit the little fellow has some charisma. That speech wasn’t half bad, David thought as he put on a helmet and jumped into the air. He felt the strange sensation of his wings catching the updraft, the flight muscles in his back and chest moving and shifting with each stroke of his wings.
The commander flew to the far end of the room were two double doors appeared and opened to the outside, the rest of the flock followed soon after him. The bright sun blinded David for a moment as he exited the barracks.
The town came into view as his eyes grew accustomed to the light. He looked around. The barracks stood on its own cloud with other military-like buildings, basic square or rectangle constructions. He noticed other buildings with real gardens floating on their own clouds nearby, all clearly manors of the very wealthy. Then he saw the main town, a massive anvil-shaped cloud with buildings carved out of it. What he assumed were government and public facilities were farther out on the edge of the main cloud, whereas the poorer homes and warehouses were higher up or deeper in the cloud.
It kind of reminds me of a Roman-like Mesa Verde. Just instead of being set in the rock cliff, it is carved out of clouds, David mused as his host spiraled above the town.
It was no major city, he guessed it could hold about a thousand ponies at most. There also wasn’t any sign of larger manufacture of any kind. The clouds were floating over a large lake. He spotted groups of ponies working and playing in the water below. Pegasi fishers dove into the water and pulled up nets full of fish moments later. Seems like ponies aren’t pure herbivores in this world.
The dark sky drew his attention back to the fast-approaching black clouds.
The air went from pleasant to cold as they entered the storm front. Rain splashed down with such force the pegasi were drenched in seconds.
“Goggles!” the colt commander yelled. David found his forelimbs reaching up and lowering goggles that weren’t there a few seconds before.
The wind was frighteningly chilly. Even though he registered it, his pegasus body didn’t seem to suffer. He didn’t know if pegasi were resistant to cold, or if the dreamer didn’t know how it could affect the body. Either way, he didn’t react to the cold as much as he thought he should.
The flock split into teams of three. David sighed as he got hooked up with the other Seekers, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. “We got upper anvil duty this time! Follow me!” David’s host yelled out. They rose to their section of the storm as other teams went lower to the shelf clouds.
Rain splattered against his goggles as they raced to the outlining clouds, flying counter-clockwise around the storm. Along the way, they kicked apart the outer edge of the storm clouds. A jolt of energy went down his spine and down to his hooves with each kick. It took a few times for him to realize that he was feeling the pegasus magic exiting his body and disrupting the cloud’s makeup to break it apart.
The reason they flew in a counter-clockwise direction became apparent to David when the flock moved together and picked up speed. Now they were closer to the storm cell.
David was reminded of the episode where the pegasi were able to create a waterspout with their combined wind speed. They were doing a similar thing here, creating an artificial high-pressure area to cancel the storm. He had no idea if that would work, but dream logic was in play, so if the dreamer believed it, so shall it be.
David could hear something scream, something familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Something was hiding in the clouds, and it was angry. As if in reply to the odd scream, the rain picked up. He felt it stinging his body as they reached max flight speeds. A ghostly figure of a horse-like entity came out of the clouds with another haunting wail.
“Windigo!” yelled the colt commander.
Hail started peppering the flock... They were the size of small pebbles or marbles at first, but they increased in mass till the ones zipping past were as large as baseballs. David yelped as one such hail struck his wing. His muscles spasmed at the pain. Unable to keep the rhythm, he lost control and spiraled.
His body struggled to get his wing pumping again through the agony. The ground came up fast, and he was sure he was going to crash. Then his wing started moving again, and he regained his rhythm. Someone stops this ride, I want off! That fucking hurt!
The groups of pegasi came closer together, and David noticed the dreamer wasn’t hindered by the storm’s more violent elements. In fact, they never touched him. The hail just whizzed by, and it seemed even the ice avoided him. Of course, he’s the hero, silly! Pinkie’s voice echoed in his mind.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Thundercracker get struck in the face with large hail. Streaks of dark red blood flowed across the wet blue fur of his forehead. The pegasus fell, his body limps as gravity drew it down to the hard earth below.
“Thundercracker! Noooo!” He heard Skywarp yell over the wind and then saw him dove down racing to his friend. No one came after me when I was hit, David grumbled to himself.
With speed nearly as fast as Rainbow Dash, Skywarp rocketed faster and faster after his fallen friend. A vapor cone formed in his wake as he approached the sound barrier. His forelegs outstretched, gripped Thundercracker’s tail, and then he pulled up out of the dive, just in time to save his friend’s life. The limp forehooves of the knocked-out pegasus dug two groves in the freshly fallen snow on the ground.
Out of the clouds came the windigo, screaming in a murderous rage. It headed directly to the commander’s team. The three lead pegasi flew apart, yet one mare wasn’t fast enough. She was caught in the spirit’s freezing breath and plummeted to the ground. No one got to her in time. She shattered into frozen chunks.
The colt yelled, “No!” He then drew weapons that weren’t on him a moment ago. A curved crescent blade with a mouth grip in the center reminding David of a Klingon Bat’leth. Armor enveloping the colt’s forelegs now sported raised blades.
“Keep flying! I got the wendigo!” he ordered as he flew past the beast, slashing it and leaving a deep gash on its barrel. Blue thick liquid seeped out of the wound before freezing into icy blue crystals.
As ordered, the other pegasi continued to fly. Faster and faster they went. Each time they passed the epic battle with the windigo, its wounds covered its torso. One pass David caught a hail and threw it at the spirit, distracting it. The colt took this opening to deliver a deadly blow and severed its head.
The windigo’s magic that was driving the storm weakened and then faded till just a few random clouds remained. The sun shone down on the anvil-shaped town again.
They flew back to the town, every pegasus was bruised and battered, all except the hero commander who didn’t have even a scratch on his armor.
The flock lifted the colt into the air. “Three cheers for Commander Jetstream, the windigo slayer!” David’s host called out as David himself rolled his eyes at the situation. The colt commander then leaped and performed a loop-de-loop over the crowds, savoring the teenage ego trip.
Once he landed two fillies came up to him. “Oh, Commander Jetstream! You saved us!” They kissed the colt passionately.
Yup, he is a teenager, fourteen perhaps, David chuckled. The dream started to fade as the dreamer woke up. The colt himself vanished then the very world around David dissolved.
David felt the stinging pins and needles sensation as he came out of the dolmen. His body took on a new shape once again. He was standing on four hooves. He signed. He wished his dream body was human again, at least just once.
The laughter of Pinkie Pie caused him to look up. She was by the willow tree, rolling in the grass. “Not funny, Pinkie, that was a windigo…” He froze. “Why is my voice so high-pitched?”
“You’re… he, he… you are...” Pinkie grabbed her stomach in a fit of laughter.
He lifted his hoof and looked at the lavender fur covering it. Quirking an eyebrow, he reached back and moved his mane to where he could see it. His mane was dark purple. “Why am I purple?” His ears perked up. His voice was familiar, he knew he heard it not that long ago.
“Oh no.” Turning, he saw a six-pointed star on his flank surrounded by five white stars. He hurried to the pond and looked in, staring back at him were two violet eyes. The eyes of Twilight Sparkle. “Fuc…k, I said only one identity crisis!” David sat up and stared into the dream realm swirling around. His vision swam, and his head spun, then he suddenly collapsed.
He rubbed his forehead with a hand and sat up, finding himself back in his bed. “Okay, David, think, two nights in a row. Something very odd is happening.”
Not bothering to get dressed, he headed to his living room and pulled out all the books about dreams he had.
“Oh! try the dream interpretation book,” Pinkie’s voice said. David jumped and expected to see the pink pony behind him. All he saw that was pony-related were the figurines on the top shelf of the bookcase.
“Must have still been dreaming,” he muttered and shook his head.
For two hours David looked through his books and found nothing remotely close to what he experienced.
“Maybe we should check the new age astral projection stuff, David.” He didn’t question Pinkie’s voice till after he got to the bookshelf.
“Pinkie?”
“Yupperoonie!”
“Oh, fuck, now I’m hearing voices.”
“Technically you always hear voices, if you don’t, you would be deaf.”
A mental breakdown, that had to be the answer. He had lost his mind. Professor Norse was right; he needed professional help.
Still, he did what Pinkie Pie suggested and opened the book about astral projection and the astral plane. “Huh, interesting.” He flipped through another few pages. “This description does seem similar to how I appeared during the fight of the two sisters.”
He closed the book and headed into his bedroom to change.
“You sure we should go to her?” Pinkie Pie’s voice echoed in his head.
“Of course, Pinkie, Mama G taught me how to lucid dream. If I did an astral projection, she would know how to fix this… and if it’s not an astral projection, I’m going crazy.”
David pulled up to the Cox’s townhouse. Shutting off the engine, he sighed. He still visited Gabriel and Nathan from time to time, though he had to fight the sadness that Jennifer wouldn’t be there each time.
He braced himself against the emotions and went to the door. He needed help, and the only one he could trust and hope could understand was Mama G.
He knocked and waited for the door to open. “David! Why didn’t you ca...” Mama G’s voice faded into a huff. She stepped outside and put her hand against his forehead, then moved her forearm close to his cheek and saw the small hairs there rise. “Hurry up and get inside.” She turned and called down to the basement, “Nathan, I need my toolbox!”
David quirked his brow. “Mama G?”
“Not now, David, I told you to come inside. Get settled on the couch, we got work to do. I will answer your questions soon.” She gave him a caring smile before she entered the kitchen, filled a teapot with water, and set it on the stove to heat up. Then she set down an incense burner on the coffee table and lit a cone of myrrh.
“Honey, I got the toolbox” Nathan came up the steps with a red toolbox, only to stop and sniff the air. “Wait, you lighting the incense? Then I have the wrong toolbox,” he said as he turned around to get his Wiccan wife’s witch toolbox.
“Nathan, grab the cheap digital watch your brother got you. You don’t use it.”
“Sure, dear,” he called from the steps leading to the basement.
“Mama G, what’s going on?” Confused, David watched as Gabriel went into the kitchen and got a tea pitcher. She then poured a mug of warm water and added honey and camomile. Then she returned to the living room and set the mug down in front of David.
Once she sat on the other side of the coffee table, she looked at him with the most serious look David has ever seen on the normally relaxed witch. “Tell me everything, David, don’t leave anything out. I can see your heart is racing enough the veins in your neck are throbbing, and you keep looking around as if you expect to see something jump at you. The bags under your eyes tell me you haven’t been sleeping well. I know that something strange happened, so talk.”
“Well, I guess it started two days ago. I was lucid dreaming and everything seemed fine, but then the sky turned black against my will and a vortex pulled me into it.”
Nathan came into the living room and set down a blue toolbox marked with the Triple Moon Goddess symbol. He looked over to David, then to his wife. “What’s the issue, love?”
“David's energy is high, highest I have ever seen, and tainted… not sure by what though.” Gabriel took the toolbox and opened it. She removed four candles and a homemade wand with a rose quartz stone bound to the wood with copper wire. Then she took out a cloth with the goddess symbols on it and laid it down on the table. “Nathan, hand David that watch. If I’m right, it will mess upon contact with his skin.”
“Love, you know this watch was a gift from my brother.”
“Yes, and we saw it for eight bucks at Walmart. It’s a cheap piece of crap, but today it has a noble purpose.”
David took the watch and put it on. As soon as he did, the display blinked and read 88:88. “Well, it did glitch, like my phone,” he said and shrugged lightly.
“Right, dear, I bet your energy overloaded the display of your phone. Now then, let’s get back to your story. Tell me about this vortex.”
David sighed and removed the watch. “Sorry, Nathan.”
“No problem, it was a cheap piece of shit anyway.”
David took a sip of tea, letting the sweet taste of honey dance over his palate for a moment. He closed his eyes as he tried to force the memories of panic down and recall what happened. “Well, inside the vortex was a hole. Once I was within it, at first I saw nothing but fog, it was everywhere. Then I started seeing shapes in the mist, just shadows. no real defined forms. I also heard voices, some were just mumbles, others I heard clearly, then I found a door. Large and wooden, like you might see in a medieval castle.”
“David! You're forgetting the Pony of Shadows!” Pinkie Pie called out. For a moment the three people glanced around then at the same time they looked down at the table where a three-inch high Pinkie Pie figurine stood. The only sign it wasn’t a normal toy was the fact it was waving at them.
“What the hell?” Nathan reached down to touch it, yet his finger went through the illusionary animated toy.
“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, David’s imaginary friend!” Pinkie jumped away from Nathan’s hand and stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.
“An illusionary projection, amazing. David, what did she mean about this Pony of Shadows and her being your imaginary friend?”
David looked down at Pinkie, his eyes wide with fear. “You two can see her? Please tell me I'm not hallucinating.”
“Yes, David, we can see and hear her too. So talk, this is far worse than I imagined. I need to know everything.” Mama G sighed and slowly slumped into her chair. Her eyes flitted to the toolbox.
''Well, um… it’s hard to explain.”
“No, it isn’t, silly.” Pinkie giggled. “David made me to remind himself of Jennifer. It’s sad, really. Pinkie Pie was her favorite character, she even had a shirt with Pinkie Pie on it when…” Pinkie’s mane fell straight and her voice took on a sad tone, “...when she died. David’s subconscious kind of fused memories of Jennifer with the character, so I came to be. I’m his memories of her.”
Mama G sighed. “David, I love you almost as much as I loved my daughter, but you need to let go. It’s unhealthy to dwell on our loss.”
“He knows that yesterday he even looked at a girl’s butt!”
Unfortunately, David took another sip of tea at that time. He spat it out and coughed hoarsely. “Pinkie!” he called out in shock, then shame crossed his face.
Nathan chuckled. “No offense, Miss Pie, but how the fuck is an imaginary friend appearing in my living room?”
Gabriel sighed and nodded. “It’s David’s magic, I have never felt one with so much energy. He is projecting the apparition.”
“What? I don’t have magic, even though Jennifer tried to teach me. None of the spells I tried worked.” David's voice was soft, his mind recalling the past attempts at magic. He never got any results. Whatever energy a witch had, he clearly didn’t, till now.
“You say that David, but there is a pink, toy-sized illusion dancing on my coffee table we can all interact with.” Mama G smirked as she motioned to the small pony.
“Go on, David, get to the good part!” Pinkie Pie smiled as she pranced around.
David looked at the mug in his hand, then sat it down. His eyes looked around as the terror he felt resurfaced before fading shortly after. “Okay, one of the things I saw was the Pony of Shadows, a character in the MLP show I never saw before the dream. The episode aired… after Jennifer died, so I didn’t see it till last night.”
“We think the place with the gray fog David was sucked into was limbo, described in the show as a place between worlds,” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
Gabriel sighed as Nathan came around her and started to massage her shoulders. Her hand reached up and took his as she turned her head to look at him. They both knew that the other was thinking about their hyper and somewhat chaotic daughter. Nathan didn’t even bother to wipe the stray tear that escaped his eyes. “Let him tell the story, Pinkie.”
“Okey dokey lokey.”
Nathan looked at David. “She’s more annoying than Jennifer. Really, how do you put up with her?”
“Until today she was just in my dreams…” David paused when Gabriel cleared her throat... “Oh yeah… I opened the door, and something grabbed me and pulled me through. It was just a dark mass.”
“It was Nightmare Moon’s mist form. All dark and creepy, full of stars. You were panicking, so you didn’t see the twinkling.” Pinkie walked over to the incense burner and sniffed the sweet fragrance. “Hey, David, Mama G lit that good dark myrrh for us.”
David just rolled his eyes. “Well, as I was saying, I was grabbed by that dark mist and pulled through the door. Then I guess I blacked out. I know it sounds strange, I was asleep, but I did seem to blackout in the dream. When I came too, still dreaming, I was in the Castle of the Two Sisters.”
David looked to Nathan and then Gabriel. “I don’t know how much you know of the show, but the two sisters were rulers of Equestria, then the younger sister turned evil. They fought in the castle, and I was there watching the fight.”
“They were all realistic, not cartoony at all. They looked like horses with only slight differences. Like shorter muzzles, and they were all different colors,” Pinkie added.
“They didn’t see me, though I think they heard me as both reacted to my voice. At the end of the fight... I was standing between them and got hit by their magic.”
“Now, David, real magic doesn’t make any fancy blasts of light. It’s a manipulation of possibilities,” Nathan spoke out.
Mama G coughed. “Dear, we have a small imaginary friend standing on our coffee table.” She pointed to Pinkie Pie who had sat down by the incense burner to enjoy the scent.
“Okay, good point.”
Mama G, leaned forward, the weight of the situation seemingly dragging her down. “I think that’s all I need to know, David. When you woke up, really woke up, you brought this magic with you. I can feel it in the air around you, like a static charge ready to cause a spark.”
She stood up and paced back and forth. “The closest thing I can think of even close to this are stories of the fae and elves. Otherworlds where the fae folk live or lands like Shangri-La. The stories mention that most taken by the fae never return. None spoke of magic bonding to a human though.”
“Wait, you mean I’m somehow being taken to Equestria? The real Equestria, not the cartoon?”
“Not if I can help it. I lost one child, I will be damned if I stand back and lose another.” She looked to Nathan. “Honey, get the pure white towels, we are going to try a purification ritual. Hopefully, this strange magic hasn’t got a strong grip on him.” She picked up her wand and hummed a melody as she moved to wave it in a pentagram over David's head. “I think you need to do this, David. Don’t worry, I’ll talk you through each step”
She ushered him to a cleared floor space in front of the altar. Nathan handed David the towels. She spoke with a clear voice one could contribute to a teacher “First twist these towels and make a circle on the floor large enough you can sit in the center.”
Once David settled down in the center of the circle, Gabriel handed him one of her white candles and a crystal candle stand. “Good, now light the candle and place it in the circle with you. Just make sure it’s a few inches away from you and the towels, for safety.”
When he put the lighter down, he settled back in his preferred meditative pose. Gabriel continued calmly, “Good, now clear your mind, then focus on the flame. Imagine its light increasing into a ball of light, make it grow and cover you. As the light grows, mentally push all the energy that’s not yours away.”
David did as he was told and focused his mind, using the meditation techniques he learned for his lucid dreaming. The flame of the candle turned blue and its light formed a sphere. It grew till the room was bathed in light.
When the light faded, David looked up. “What the hell was that?”
“I believe that was Equestrian magic, and no, it didn’t work.” Nathan motioned with his thumb to Pinkie Pie, who shrugged and waved her hoof.
Gabriel came over and pulled David into a hug. Her breath was harsh as worry shook her body. “I’m sorry I failed you, there is nothing I can do alone at this point, David. This magic seems bound to you.”
Tears ran down her cheeks as she barely kept her fear contained. “Even if I knew a spell that might do something, I don’t think there are enough witches on the planet that could overpower this level of energy. To put it in layman’s terms, a normal person has enough energy to light a light bulb, a strong witch could perhaps light three bulbs at a time. Yet you with this magic… you are akin to a lighthouse spotlight.”
Nathan came over and gripped both in a bear hug. “David, you are the son I never had. Whatever comes from this otherworldly magic, you don’t have to face it alone. We will call the coven and get more help, maybe then we can disrupt this energy that is gripping you.”
Nathan’s face was wet but determined. Just by looking into the older man’s eyes, David knew this man would do whatever was humanly possible for him.
“Thanks, Nathan.” David shook his head. “Thank you, Dad. You have been the father my biological father wasn’t.” David’s own eyes glistened with tears. After wiping his eyes, he added, “I didn’t even know it was magic, I was dreaming. I think I was entering the ponies’ dreams, I had no control. I thought I had lost my mind.”
“Yeah, he was even able to change one of the dreams,” Pinkie Pie chimed in again.
David froze and looked at her. “Wait? I changed one of the dreams?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yupperoonie. Remember that dream with the mare, the one that was about to become a wet dream? Then out of nowhere came that stallion Redwood, and suddenly the dream changed. You manifested the stallion and bent the dream enough she became fixated on him instead of you.”
She giggled, then added, “Also, who do you think provided the names and appearance for the pony Seekers? That was our influence on the dream.”
Gabriel looked at Pinkie Pie. “It might have been better if he didn’t. Seems this magic is tied to dreams and illusions, so by changing the dream he used the magic, and it got a better grip on him. You are proof of that.” She pursed her lips momentarily. “Speaking of which, mind going back to where you came from? You manifesting is also using that magic and strengthening its bond on David’s soul.”
“Oh, sorry.” The three people blinked as she popped like a balloon with glitter and confetti.
Davis stood up. “I better get going. I was able to contact my teachers via email to inform them I wasn’t coming to class today, but I wasn’t able to call out of work.”
“Ah, yeah, that problem. Some witches and other people who have high energy fields tend to mess with various techs like digital watches and touch screens,” Nathan said as he went to a side table with a drawer and removed a flip phone with hard buttons.
“We have this around in case of such emergencies. Take it with you, call us if something more happens, including more manifestations of Pinkie Pie.”
“We are serious, David, that magic isn’t meant for beings like us, there is no way to tell how it might affect you.” Gabriel pulled him into a hug.
David hugged her back, then took the phone. “How long till you can get the coven together?”
“There is a meeting this Saturday here at nine in the morning where we can have breakfast before we get together. Then we can bring you before the Head Priestess,” replied Nathan.
David smiled, looking at the two. “So I guess I will see you both Saturday.” Then he added, “Till then wish me luck, Mama G, Dad.
He looked at the phone as he exited the house. The weight of what he learned felt heavy on his mind. Magic. The real magic, and not the ritual stuff of a witch. He could make talking illusions appear and enter other beings’ dreams. The temptation to test what he could really do with Equestrian magic was there, but the fear of being yanked into that medieval world kept the urge to try at the back of his mind.
He went over what he thought he could and couldn’t resist. Pinkie stated he was tied to that dream island, so that was something he likely couldn’t avoid. However, going through the dolmen into another pony’s dream he could resist, so all he had to do was hang out on the island till he awoke.