//------------------------------// // Dive to the Heart // Story: A Place to Call Home // by starshine_dash //------------------------------// Wake, child. It is not her time. Your time is soon. Wake up! My eyes snapped open. My face was pressed against glowing, warm, pink glass. I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees and was only slightly surprised to see that I was human again. I was still cartoony, but at least I had my digits back. I gave each of them a kiss as I stood, "Ah, fingers, I missed you! Victory wiggle!" I said, wiggling them about. I must have had some minor head trauma from the freaking sword to my head. And the head trauma. I took a look around. The glass below me was definitely pink. Perplexingly pink, even. I'd daresay it was perfectly perplexingly Pinkie Pie pink. That wasn't really the weirdest part, I suppose. There was also the fact that it was basically a giant stained glass image of the party pony. Source I looked around and found that the rest of the visible region around me was, in fact, black, "Okay? Now I'm in a giant Kingdom Hearts reference. The buck is going on around here?" An illusion out of control A dream beyond my power. Choices. "Well, thank you for being cryptic and only slightly useless, mysterious voice." I looked around and sure enough, a group of pedestals rose out of the ground. There were more than just the three standard choices I was familiar with. I guess the forest can only work with what I give it and has some semblance of a sense of humor considering it chose this particular venue to make me figure things out. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that since my, whatever, power, I guess, is from another world, you couldn't handle it when you created an illusion of what would happen if I embraced it completely." I mused and was met with silence. "I take that as a yes. So, now we're here, in a dream, that you're influencing, magic forest, so I can save us both?" I felt something small land on my shoulder. "I think you're right, kid." "Hey, Kes, forest finally let you in, huh?" "Hard to keep out a being of dreams when it forces you into one." I chuckled and started to examine the objects on the pillars. Some were recognizable as weapons or armor or some other object, but quite a few were simply crystal clear orbs with a gem in the shape of one of the elements of harmony in them, "Well, I guess now I know what it's like to be spoiled for choice." Many choices. Options. Take one, then another. Leave the rest behind. "Riiight... What about the elements?" Laughter is the best medicine. It's cruel to be kind. Have you met an honest liar? Find the truth. "And now you've become completely useless..." I sighed and picked my way through the displays until I saw something interesting. It was a great shield, larger than most of my body, emblazoned with a pair of pegasus wings, wrapped protectively around the gestalt cutie mark tattoo I had gotten, with the addition of the princess' own marks. I picked it up off the stand and it shrunk down to fit in my palm. A grand aegis to shield your loved ones. Paranoia and Tyranny disguised as protection. Do you choose this power? I paused and looked up, "Um, yes?" I said to the nothing and immediately the shield began to glow before disappearing. I blinked and looked at the miniature fox on my shoulder, who just shrugged helplessly. I shook my head and turned my gaze to other things standing around. I had another one of these... objects to pick, though I only had a vague idea of what that would do, and an element to choose. Laughter, Kindness, Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity. The big six. I may not wield the actual element, but which do I embody? I, unfortunately, wouldn't have the chance to think on it very much longer as the glass beneath me began to rumble and shatter. I reflexively grabbed something that looked like a weapon as I fell into the space beneath the portrait of my pink party pony. I tumbled end over end, Kesina clinging desperately to my shoulder, "What the hell is going on?!" she shouted over the rushing wind as something beneath us began to glow. "I think Sera found us! Hold on!" I hollered back as I rolled and streamlined myself to face the direction of the fall. There in the distance floating a pulsing green and purple orb which made me think of Spike after a bender, don't ask me why. I pushed my hands out in front and concentrated, forcing energy into my palms and outward. I felt an unfamiliar crackle and opened my eyes to see the power actually there for once. I willed it into a corona around me, turning myself and my companion into a miniature comet that was plummeting further downward into the darkness. I concentrated on keeping the field of energy around us as Kesina began to curse pretty much everything she knew at this illusion that was trying to hijack my body. I closed my eyes as the impact drew near and dumped a massive pulse of energy into the shield as we came into contact. The resulting explosion temporarily deafened me and I felt myself crash through something and slide across something else. I blinked my eyes open, trying to get the world to stop swaying precariously as I found myself standing on another flat plane of glass, staring at another one with a hole punched in it like someone or something had just... Oh wait, that was me. I got to my feet and examined the area. I had crashed through a giant plate glass window to land on another one. The area was lit only by light coming through the windows themselves and the hole I had punched into the first one. I could hear the distant flapping of wings before a silhouette appeared and flew through the gap. The figure charged across the distance between us and I could see a sword extended ready to swing. Instinctively, and probably stupidly, I brought an arm up to block the incoming blow. I felt the sword collide with something hard and looked, a protective coating of metal covering my forearm. I grinned and pushed the sword away, swinging up with my spare hand and cracking it into her jaw, sending her reeling, "Oh right, we're in MY head now... Time to show you how things really work around here, missy." She glared at me and sent power into the sword that she stole her name from. I'd have to teach her a lesson about stealing names later. She swung again and I blocked with the bracer, reaching into nullspace and wrenching out a sword of my own. I swung at her midsection, point forward, intending to end the fight quickly. She leaped back just before I made contact and stood proudly. "You have some skill." "Of course I do. This is my head, I can do anything I bloody want to here! Watch!" I said, summoning the shards of glass from my catastrophic entrance to form a second blade that I twirled around a little, "You can't win." "I need not win, I simply need to keep you from stopping my ascension." "What do you mean?" "While we are both here in this dream, we are also in the forest, where I am slowly absorbing into your body. Soon it will be mine and I will become real." "I'm not even going to try and think about how in Chrysalis' cavernous marehood that's going to work..." I muttered before I perked up. If there's one thing I could do, it was think about video games and movies about video games, "Hey, you're technically part of me right?" "Yes, a part that you suppressed. A part that should have been allowed to flourish!" she said as I dropped my swords and started to concentrate. "What are you doing?" I opened my eyes, now glowing with power and spread my arms out wide. The entire area became engulfed in a whirlwind with myself at the center. The wind concentrated behind Seraph and began to push her towards me. "Are you sure this will work?" came a tiny voice in my ear from my fox companion. "I have no idea!" I shouted with a maniacal grin. Either this would end the problems, or exasperate them. All I know is that I had to try something. I figured the Flynn Maneuver would be a good idea. If I could subsume her back into myself then perhaps I could just finish this. She careened towards me, sword outstretched and we collided in a blast of light. I felt myself falling again and then nothing.