Chapter 14
Dreams and Premonitions
I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a monster truck. My eyes were reluctant to open, but after some effort they did. I stared up at a white ceiling, and after further inspection found I was in a hospital bed. I tried sitting up but that proved a fruitless effort as I was raked with horrible pain. I looked myself over and found that I was covered in so many bandages that the only thing that indicated I was a zebra was my mohawk.
As I settled back into my bed, not wanting to injure myself further, I heard a noise to my side. Turning to it, I saw Scarlet with her head on my bedside, the bandage from when I last saw her no longer present. She looked disheveled. Her mane was unkempt and her eyes were red and puffy, no doubt from crying. I heard her mutter something in her sleep.
“Shadow..” she said, a tear falling from her face. The sight of her crying pained me.
“Nice to see you finally awake,” said Silver Thorn.
I looked past Scarlet and saw my sword was sitting against the wall.
“Silver Thorn, it's nice to hear your voice,” I said.
“The same to you. You gave us all quite a scare,” he said.
“What happened? I remember killing the timberwolf, coming back to town hall, and then nothing,” I said. Before Silver Thorn could answer, Scarlet stirred from her sleep and opened her eyes. When she saw me, tears started to well in her eyes.
“Shadow, you're awake,” she said and grabbed me in a bear hug, which would've been great under regular circumstances, but my injuries only made it hurt.
“Owowow, yes I'm awake, and in a lot of pain,” I said. Scarlet released me and flushed red with embarrassment.
“Oh Celestia, I'm sorry, it's..I..” she stuttered.
I chuckled, which hurt, and said “It's good to see you too.” Scarlet pushed some hair out of her eyes, her face still red.
“Scarlet, what happened?” I said.
“Well, I wasn't awake when you were brought in, but the doctor told me you collapsed. You started bleeding from old wounds and stopped breathing,” she said, her voice faltering slightly.
“I woke up a few hours later and got the story from Twilight. She said that you had somehow depleted the magic in your body.”
I thought about the roar I had unleashed. I don't know where it came from, but there was definitely magic behind it.
“How long have I been out?” I said.
“A week,” she said.
“A WEEK!” I yelled, which caused my chest to hurt and forced me to lay back down.
“I'd advise you not to do that, unless you want to hurt your self even more,” she chided.
“Right, good to know” I looked at her, her mane disheveled and her eyes still puffy “Have you been by my bedside this whole time?” I asked.
She started blushing again “Well, uh, not just me, Nova, Nebula, and Jade came by as well, but for the most part yeah,” she said, her blush getting deeper.
I was awed “Wow, I didn't know you cared so much,” I said.
“Of course I care, you're my friend Shadow, why would you think I didn't care?” she asked.
I hesitated for a moment before saying “Nothing, it's just...back on my world, no ever cared about me this much before.”
We sat there in silence for what felt like forever. Finally, Scarlet said “Well, things change, you've got me and the others now,” she put a hoof on my shoulder “and we'll always care about you Shadow, no matter what.”
Tears began to form in my eyes, but I wiped them away and said “Thanks Scarlet, you don't know what that means to me.”
Scarlet smiled, a warm smile that came from the heart. She was about to say something else when the door opened. In stepped Nova, Nebula, Jade, and the Mane Six. When they saw me awake, they ran to my bed.
“Shadow, you're awake!” said Nova
“Thank Celestia, we thought you were never going to wake up,” said Nebula.
“I am glad Shadow okay,” said Jade.
“I'm glad you're awake Shadow,” said Twilight.
“We were ever so worried about you darling,” said Rarity.
“Glad to see you're awake sugarcube,” said Applejack.
“Nice to see you're awake,” Fluttershy said barely above a whisper.
“Took you long enough lazy bones,” said Rainbow Dash, which earned her a glare from Twilight and Scarlet.
“WOOOO, Shadow's awake, waking up party,” exclaimed Pinkie, who proceeded to pull her party cannon out of nowhere and was readying to fire it until Twilight stopped her.
“He just woke up Pinkie, save the party for later alright,”she chided the pink party mare.
“Oh, okie-dokie-lokie Twilight, I'll save it for later,” she said as she made her party cannon disappear, earning a raised eyebrow from everyone, me included.
“Thanks guys, but I'm fine really, just over exerted myself a bit,” I said.
“Over exertion was only part of it Shadow, you collapsed because you had depleted the magic in your body, not to mention the strain from using that alchemy magic,” she explained.
“It's not magic, it's science, and what exactly do you mean I used up all the magic in my body, is that even possible?” I asked.
“Completely. Everypony has magic in their bodies, and when that's used up, it causes extreme exhaustion and strain on the body like you experienced. However, one thing still bothers me,” she said.
'What would that be?”
“Well, two things actually, one, how did you defeat the timberwolf? Two, when you walked into town hall you didn't have a scratch on you, but when you collapsed you started bleeding like you had been put through a shredder, how do you explain that?” she asked.
I honestly didn't know how to answer. I don't know where that roar came from, and I still didn't know how my healing ability worked. I thought for a moment trying to think of an answer. Twilight grew irritated.
“Well, truthfully, I have no idea,” I said.
“WHAT!” she said.
“Just that, I have no idea. When I killed it, I felt this primal power well up inside me, until I let out some kind of roar. As for my lack of wounds and sudden bleeding, you're guess is as good as mine,” I said.
“You roared, that's nothing, I can do that,” said Rainbow dash as she proceeded to do her best impression of a timberwolf. Spot on, but it was so loud that it forced everyone to cover their ears. Fluttershy cowered in her mane. Everyone else shot her a glare.
“Thank you for that display Miss Dash, but this was different. It felt like I was channeling some kind of primal essence from deep inside my body,” I said.
Everyone was silent for a while.
“I'm sorry I couldn't explain better, but I'm still trying to figure out these powers myself. From what Silver Thorn tells me, it's something not seen often,” I said.
“Who's Silver Thorn?” asked Twilight, the others all having confused looks on their faces.
“Not important,” I said.
“Hey!” Silver Thorn protested.
“I didn't mean it like that,” I said.
“The point is, I know as much about this as you all do,” I said, rubbing the sides of my head, feeling a headache coming on.
Everyone looked at each other and Twilight said “We're sorry Shadow, we're just trying to help.”
“I know you are, and I appreciate that, but as things are now I don't think anyone can help me,” I said, hanging my head in defeat.
“Is that our cue?” I heard a voice say. I looked and found to my surprise Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the doorway. Everyone gasped and bowed. I just sat there awestruck.
“Please everypony, raise your heads,” said Celestia, and everyone did.
“Pardon me your highnesses, but what are you doing here?” I asked.
“We received Twilight's letter and were intrigued about what you had to ask us. We were expecting your visit, but Twilight sent us another letter telling us of your condition, so we decided it would be better to come to you,” said Celestia.
I was speechless “You honor me Princesses, thank you.”
“NO TROUBLE AT ALL, WE GREATLY ENJOY BEING AMONGST OUR LOYAL SUBJECTS,” Luna said in the Royal Canterlot voice, which shattered just about everyone's eardrums, again.
Celestia rubbed her ears “Luna, remember, inside voice,” she chided.
Luna blushed “Oh, sorry dear sister, we forgot,” she said.
“At any rate, may we have a few moments alone to discuss your abilities,” she said. Everyone got the message and left, Scarlet hesitating before leaving.
To say I was nervous would be an understatement. Being heavily injured and in the presence of two immortal goddesses will do that. I tried to think of how to start, but thankfully Celestia took care of that.
“Why don't you tell us what has happened. We already know you're human, but some specifics would be nice,” she said. So I told them about everything that had happened up till then, not leaving anything out. After I was done, they both had contemplative looks on their faces.
“Tis an amazing tale young one,” said Luna.
“Yeah, I still find it a little hard to believe,” I said.
“It is a very intriguing story, but I have some questions,” Celestia said.
“Ask away.”
“You say that sword of yours contains the spirit of an Elder Manticore yes?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you prove this?”
I hesitated “Well, that's the thing. Since Silver Thorn only used that mind link spell on me, I'm not sure if I can,” I said.
“I believe I can help with that,” said Luna. Her horn glowed and soon my sword was enveloped in a magical aura. After a few second the light dissipated, Luna sitting down.
“Um, what just happened?” I asked.
“I used a mind link spell similar to the one thou described. If what you say is true, the spirit in thine sword should be able to speak to us no problem,” she said.
Hesitant, I spoke to Silver Thorn in my mind “Silver Thorn, you following this?”
“Not really, but whatever she did tickled,” he said.
“HUZZAH, IT HAS WORKED,” Luna yelled.
“Ow, I don't even have ears anymore and that hurt,” he said.
“I resent that,” Luna huffed.
“Wait, you can hear him?” I said.
“Indeed, as can I,” Celestia said
“Can everyone hear him now?”
“Those he wishes to hear him, yes,” said Luna.
“Well, that's one question answered, now on to the next one. I have been told you use a strange type of magic called Alchemy, what exactly is it?” Celestia asked.
“First off it's not strictly magic, it's more like a mixture of magic and science,” I said.
“How so?” she asked.
“Well, and pardon me for this, but I don't wish to reveal too much about Alchemy,” I said.
“Why is that?” she asked, this time a sharp edge to her tone.
“Alchemy is a very dangerous thing. In my world it was nothing but fiction, but I've seen the things it can do, and they're not pretty.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“It has the power to create artificial beings, fuse creatures together, kill people in the most horrible ways, and twist the minds of even the most intelligent and wise of people,” I said, thinking of all the horrible things I'd seen Alchemy do in the show. I shuddered, realizing for the first time just how much power I held.
The Princesses looked at each other before Celestia said “If it is so dangerous a science, then why have you chosen to use it?”
“Because, while it is capable of great horror, it is also capable of great good. It allows one to reshape matter at will. If I can learn to use it, maybe I can help people. However, one has to have extensive knowledge of science to use it effectively,” I said.
“And you say you found this knowledge in a book here in Equestria?”
“Yes, I don't know how it got here, and I don't really want to. Can we move on to the next question please?” I asked.
They looked at each other before reaching a silent agreement. The next question came from Luna
“You say you have acquired the Ursa's Blessing, what do you wish to know of this?” she asked.
“Anything you can tell me. So far, all I know is that it has granted me great strength and a healing ability. Although, I still don't know just how much this ability can heal me. So what can you tell me about the Blessing?” I said.
The Princesses looked at each other “Unfortunately, we ourselves know very little about this power. We know that it has only been granted to a few people throughout history,” said Celestia.
“Can you tell me who?”
“Well, the only one that I can remember is Starswirl the Bearded, but he was always very guarded about his secrets. I do remember that he lived considerably longer than most ponies, perhaps extended longevity is one of the Blessing's powers,” she said.
“Ugh, I wish I'd never killed that damn bear, all this confusion started with that,” I said, rubbing my head with my hooves.
Celestia frowned“We are sorry we could not be of more help to you Shadow, but there are thing not even we know about,” said Celestia.
“It's fine, I appreciate the help, I really do, I just wish there was a way to find out more, like a spell or something,” I groaned.
Suddenly, Luna stood up and yelled “WE HAVE AN IDEA!”
“Seriously, what is with people today and the yelling?”
Luna shrunk in embarrassment “Sorry, but we just thought of something. You may not know this, but we possess the power to enter the dreams of others. If thou were to sleep, we could enter thy dream and subconscious and look for an answer.” she turned to her sister “What does thou think sister?”
“It's risky Luna, but it's worth a shot. Are you okay with this Shadow?'
“How does going into my subconscious help anything, I don't know anything?”
“The sleeping mind knows things that our waking minds do not, this is why many dreams have deeper meanings to them. Our sleeping minds are helping our waking minds to understand what we can't while awake. Do you agree to this plan?” asked Luna
I thought for a moment. There are thing's I'm not to keen about other people knowing about, but at this point I'd be willing to try anything if it meant figuring out more about the Blessing.
“I'm fine with it, but just don't invade too much of my mind, there are some things I'd still like to keep secret for the time being.” I said.
“We promise, now just lie down and we will enter thy dreams,” she said as her horn started to glow. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier until finally I fell asleep.
I opened my eyes and found myself in a massive corridor that stretched as far as I could see. The corridor had doors lining the entirety of the walls. I rubbed my head trying to comprehend all this when I noticed that I was no longer in my zebra body. I was back in my human body. I was wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and my favorite pair of leather boots.
“You're probably wondering why you are back to your human form” said a voice.
I whirled around to find Luna standing there. She looked slightly transparent though, like a ghost.
“A little bit, why am I human again, and what is this place?”
Luna walked past me, or I guess I should say through me, which was really creepy.
“This is your subconscious mind. In the subconscious, you take on whatever form is most comfortable for you. Now let's begin searching, we have many rooms to search,” she said and began to walk down the corridor.
“Wait up, what's in these rooms, my memories?”
“Those and other things. Some of these contain your memories of your old world, while others contain your hopes, dreams, and deepest fears. We need to search through as many as we can, hopefully we'll find something,” she said and continued walking down the corridor.
I don't know how long we walked down the corridor, reading the signs that were on the doors and looking through the ones we thought might hold information. We inevitably came to the door with the word FAMILY written on it. Thankfully, Luna walked right past it.
After walking for what felt like hours, we came to a door that wasn't like the others. It looked like a mixture of wood and stone, with a big paw print on the front.
“I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this is the door we're looking for.”
“Gee, thou think?” she said in a sarcastic tone. Weird, I didn't think she was capable of sarcasm.
Regardless, I pushed open the door, and right away my nostrils were assaulted with the worst thing I've ever smelled. Luna and I both plugged our noses, but ventured forward. The room was sparsely lit, the walls lined with stone and a few torches. I grabbed a torch off the wall and looked around the room. I t looked like an old fashioned torture chamber, complete with chains, bones, and a few blood stains.
“Well, guess that explains the smell. But why would this door be in my mind?” I asked.
“Everyone has some areas of their mind they don't know about, that's why it's the subconscious,” she said. I looked around a little more and saw a stairwell leading down.
“Ladies first,” I said.
“How gentlecoltly of thee,” she said sarcastically and walked down the stairwell. The stairwell seemed to go down forever. However, I noticed something as we kept walking, the smell from earlier was getting even worse. It got so bad that we were barely able to continues, but then we reached the bottom. What was there was a big cage, bones of various creatures littered around, some that looked vaguely human. Before I knew it, I was walking closer. I don't know why I did, it felt like I was being pulled. Thankfully, Luna caught me in a spell before I got too close. Good thing too, because no sooner did Luna catch me did a giant paw swipe at me from the cage. That snapped me out of my stupor and I backpedaled as fast as I could.
“What is that thing?” I asked.
“How dare you address me that way welp!” a voice said. In the cage, out of the shadows came the last thing I'd ever thought I'd see again. The Ursa Major I had killed. I backpedaled so fast I slammed into Luna. After getting whacked on the head for running into her, Luna helped me up and we both looked at the caged Ursa.
“What are you doing here, I thought I killed you?” I said.
“You did you little twat,” the Ursa spat.
“Then how are you here? Were you bound like Silver Thorn?” I asked.
“It's part of the Blessing, whenever we Ursa Majors are killed, our magic is transferred to the one who killed us. That Manticore getting bound was just an effect of the magic,” it said rather bored.
“Most intriguing, what other abilities doth this Blessing give Shadow?” asked Luna.
“I'm not telling,” it said.
“What! What do you mean you're not telling!?” I yelled.
“I'm a spirit living in your head, not a library. I don't gotta tell you shit,” it said.
“Then why'd you explain why you're here?” I asked.
“Did I? Slip of the tongue.”
“We tire of these games,” Luna stepped up to the cage, “As a Princess, we demand that thou tell us more about the Ursa's Blessing and the changes it is causing in Shadow,” she said.
“Wouldn't you like to know,” it said. I ran up to the cage, pushing Luna aside.
“Answer me! Why did you give me these powers? How am I able to heal? What was that roar when I was fighting the Timberwolf? What is the Ursa's Blessing really?” No answer. “ANSWER ME YOU DAMN BEAR!?”
Luna grabbed me with her magic and pulled me away from the cage as the Ursa swiped at me with it's paw “Shadow, control thy self” she said.
“Tch, just what you'd expect from a human, quick to anger when things don't go their way,” it said.
Me and Luna both went silent “How do you know about humans?” I said.
“I've met your kind more times than I care to remember. You keep popping up here in Equestria like roaches, and every time you do chaos always follows. You humans are a parasite in this world, and it sickens me that I was killed by one of your kind, you in particular,” it said.
“What's that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“I'm inside your head kid. It gets boring in here, so I found a way to entertain myself,” a smirk appeared on it's face “Looking through your memories.”
I could feel the fear and anger rising in my chest “You've been looking through my memories?” a dangerous edge to my voice.
“Oh yeah, and I gotta say, you're more interesting than I first thought. Before you two showed up, I had just finished a juicy memory. You remember that day three years ago, you know, the day of the accident,” it said.
I froze where I stood, the memory flooding my every thought “That..that wasn't my fault,” I said.
“That's not what I saw. Hard to think you could be so heartless, just leaving them there like that,”
“Shut up,”
“I can still hear their screams 'Don't go, don't leave us here to die,' classic.”
“I said shut up!”
“And to think, you'd let your own...”
“SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!” I yelled, falling to my knees and holding my hands to my ears.
“IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO HAPPEN! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” I yelled.
Luna ran to my side “Shadow, what is wrong. Pull thyself together!” But I couldn't hear her. All I heard was my own screaming.
She turned to the Ursa “What did thou do to Shadow?”
“Me? I've done nothing, I've merely reminded him of what kind of a person he really is. A coward!” The Ursa spat.
“That is enough. We will not allow thee to slander Shadow so,” she said, her horn glowing with magic “We shall dispose of thee ourselves.”
“Are you sure that's wise. We're inside his mind, one wrong move and you could break his mind completely, and seeing as how he's currently my host, I simply can't allow that,” it said and swatted Luna aside so fast she couldn't react. It grabbed me with one of it's paws and held me up to it's face, halting my screaming.
“Tell you what, since you and little miss royalty over there went through the trouble of coming here, I'll give you a taste of just what's in store for you little human,” it said. The Ursa lifted it's other paw up and touched my forehead with one of it's claws.
My mind burned. I saw my life flash before my eyes, on both Earth and Equestria. I saw me fighting the Ursa, the Diamond Dogs; meeting Scarlet, Jade, Nova, and Nebula. I'm not quite sure what I saw next. Me flying a dragon in full battle armor, my sword raised. Celestia and Luna fighting side by side, both having various body parts replaced with prosthetics. A group of griffins and diamond dogs fighting. A dragon ripping apart anything that crossed it's passed. A griffin in rainbow armor blasting diamond dogs with fire and lightning. Then I saw something that chilled my blood right to my very core. Me, standing over a bleeding Scarlet in what looked like a human transmutation circle. I screamed, I screamed until my throat burned.
“STOP! WHAT ARE YOU SHOWING ME! STOP IT!”
“I'm showing you what it's in store for you kid. I'm showing you your future,” said the Ursa.
The images didn't stop. I saw Nova falling out of the sky, missing a wing. Nebula surrounded by changelings. Jade bloody and in chains. I saw a griffin with black wings fighting a group of diamond dogs. A dragon burning a city. It was too much, my mind was burning and I could feel my eyes sizzling in their sockets.
“SSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Suddenly, Luna flew at the Ursa, knocking me out of it's grasp and encasing me in her magic. The images stopped, but my screams continued.
“Shadow, pull thyself together. Shadow!” she turned to the Ursa “What have you done beast!?”
“I've only showed him that which is inevitable, and know this human. The day will come when you call on me directly. On that day, you will know the truth behind the Ursa's Blessing.” it said.
“Silence foul beast! Thou shall not harm Shadow any longer,” she said. Her horn glowed and we disappeared, the last sight I saw being the Ursa with a smug smirk on it's face.
Next thing I remember was waking up screaming.
“Shadow, Shadow, it's over, your safe now,” said Luna.
I stopped screaming long enough to see that I was back in the hospital room, my friends, Celestia and Luna, and the Mane Six surrounding me.
“What...what's going on? Where'd the Ursa go?” I asked bewildered.
“It's gone for now, but it's still in your mind,” said Luna.
“So it's still there, looking through my memories?” I said.
“Shadow..” Luna said. I bolted out of my bed and began pounding my head against the wall.
“GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU BASTARD! GET OUT!” Celestia encased me in magic and threw me back onto my bed.
“Shadow, calm down! You're going to hurt yourself even more,” Celestia said.
“I can't calm down! That damn bear is still in my head, I want it out!” I screamed. Luna stood up and slapped me across the face. Everyone gasped, and I stopped screaming and struggling.
“Shadow, calm down. You're scaring everypony!” Luna chided.
I looked around and saw that everyone was staring at me, concern and fear across their faces. Fluttershy so scared that she was hiding behind Celestia.
“I'm sorry, it's just the thought of that bastard invading my mind both angers and scares me,” I said.
Scarlet walked up to me and said “Shadow, what happened?”
I sighed and told them of what had happened while em and Luna were inside my mind. I left out some of the visions the Ursa had shown me, the ones pertaining my friends and the Princesses.
“It showed you the future?” asked Celestia.
“I believe so. Just remembering chills my blood. What does it mean?” I asked.
“I do not know. Visions of the future are a tricky thing. You can never tell if they're a trick or not. But one thing is for certain, this spirit in your head is dangerous.” she said.
“Yeah, no kidding. He tossed Luna aside like she was a rag doll,” I said.
“At any rate, right now we can't do anything. All we can do is wait and see what happens,” Luna said.
“Great, just great,” I said slumping down in my bed. Everyone looked at each other, the uncomfortable feeling thick in the air.
I sighed “Well, only one thing to do now,” I said.
Scarlet raised an eyebrow “And what would that be?”
“Keep calm and carry on. Nothing can be done, so I shouldn't worry over it, right?” I said.
“I guess,” she said uncertainly.
“Plus, what have I got to fear with friends like you all,” I said.
“Yeah but..” Twilight started, but was stopped by a raised hoof from Celestia.
“Shadow is right, for right now, it is best not to worry. Moving on with things is the wise decision,” she said.
“Glad you agree, now Pinkie, you said something about a party earlier,” I said.
The pink mare sprang into action at the mention of party “You betcha, I've got everything set up at Sugarcube Corner!” she said.
“Well then what are we waiting for, let's head over there and party till we drop!” I said. Everyone cheered uncertainly and were practically dragged out of the room by Pinkie. I strapped Silver Thorn to my back and was about to walk out of the room when he said “Shadow, are you truly not worried about this Ursa inside your head?”
“Truth be told I'm scared shitless, but it's as Celestia said, I can't do anything so why should I worry about it?” I said.
“I will say only this, the Ursa are a proud race, and they do not take defeat lightly,” he said.
“Well, if that thing wants a fight, it's gonna get one. I killed it once, I can sure as hell do it again,” I said and headed to Sugarcube Corner, my mind still weighing on the images I was shown and the events to come.