//------------------------------// // Morning // Story: Last Lights Falling // by Kalros //------------------------------// Huh… That happened… I woke up god knows how much later to the sight of still falling snow, and a partially buried entrance. Laying there it took a few moments for my mind to register the small chunk of wood in my mouth. It seems like I had decided to have a snack while I slept and spent the next few seconds clearing my mouth of bark and other detritus. Letting out a yawn I began the process of clearing the snow that had partially covered my shelters entrance. Everything had a sort of serene appearance about it as the snowflakes fell slowly, the wind had died down at some point during my rest and the forest was deathly quiet. “CAW!” “Way to ruin the moment Reg…” Sighing I drag myself out, the cold snow reaching halfway up my legs and jolting me awake… I needed to get a move on, there still seemed to be enough time left in the day to make some progress before I made a camp of sorts. How I achieved that was beyond me though. Besides building a small shelter I was at a loss for how I would achieve a fire with just my hooves and mouth. Even if I were human I doubt I would be able to figure out making a fire before I froze to death. In the end however I knew I had no choice but to keep going on. I couldn’t give up, not when my life was on the line… No, when two lives were on the line. That dream from earlier was still bouncing around my thoughts although I don’t think that word really does it justice. In the past, after waking up, I would struggle to remember anything from my dreams the night before. Unless it had been a particularly bad nightmare they just faded away within an hour or so. I rarely had lucid dream but it always felt like I was communicating through water and sluggish. Also, said dreams tended to be about women, (don’t you judge me!), and the only female in that whole sequence was me… And underage. Ick. Not this. Whatever I had experienced seemed more like a memory than anything else. Perhaps a bit distorted due to my not being in control of the body but that really didn’t matter. I now had a name for the mare whose body I found myself in. “Sunset…” I mutter, making my way back to the river through the snow. “Cruk?” I hear Reg call out from behind me. It sounded like a question oddly enough… “Her names Sunset… And I think she might still be in my head somewhere” I respond uncertainly. Was she? Or were some of her memories lingering from wherever process had changed me. No matter, there was one other detail in that dream that had stuck out like a sore thumb. Magic. Looking around I began to dig in the snow, ignoring the cold as I cleared out some rocks by the river. “Alright… Concentrate…” I muttered to myself, sounding rather uncertain. I was never a believer in magic. Concrete facts and a firm belief in the sciences governed my beliefs. That wasn’t to say I didn’t enjoy reading about it. I’d read Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time… Suffice to say I could go on for awhile. Despite all this though I knew enough to differentiate fiction from reality and the ability to use magic was most definitely fiction… Then again so were ponies… With an irritated sigh I closed my eyes and imagined one of the stones in the pile and concentrated heavily on it floating through the air, trying to replicate what Sunset was doing in the memory. After a few moments of straining I opened my eyes with groan as I saw the rock hadn’t budged an inch. I repeated this action three more times before collapsing from mental exhaustion… This magic stuff was /hard/. On the last try id started yelling random spells from Harry Potter and gestures with my hooves, all of which resulted in nothing but a couple croaks from Reginald which sounded suspiciously like laughter. I don’t know how much longer I lay there but my mind was struggling to figure out what might be stopping me… Maybe it was because this wasn’t my body? The magic is tied to a ponies soul and if Sunset was gone from this body perhaps I couldn’t access it. Or mayb- “You’re trying to hard sweetie. Just calm down and watch daddy ok?” I feel myself tense as the image of my- Sunsets father floods my mind, overlaying itself on the snow filled scene before me. It’s from the campsite again and I watch as he effortlessly floats me a plate of pancakes. My eyes mostly focus on him however as I notice he’s not straining at all as he then grabs a napkin and utensils for me. “But dad, it’s just plates and forks… A tent’s much heavier! ” I complain, hearing two different voices speaking at the same time. One from the dream, and the other being my own, or adult Sunsets, as she lays on the snow. Her father seemed to be like a ghost as he walked over and ruffled my mane with a smile again “Mind over matter hon, just forget how heavy it is and the magic will do the lifting for you” he replies before fading away leaving me with the sight of a hibernating forest and snowflakes in front of me. What The Hell?!?!? “CAW” Giving a gasp of shock I scramble to my hooves and back away from the spot the ghostly pony had manifested in, in its place Reg just stares at me before flapping its wings and settling in a tree. My chest was heaving as I gasped for air in a panic, my mind racing as it tried to make sense of what it just saw. Looking back on it now I know it was a kind of continuation of the dream I had earlier, Sunsets father trying to explain to his daughter that she had been trying way too hard at the wagon. But to my panicked mind? I was going nuts! Let’s review what’s happened over the last 15 minutes. I wake up after experiencing a very vivid dream, collapse from exhaustion after trying to dabble with magic, then watch as a ghost lectures me on trying to hard! All things considered it’s understandable that I started running along the river upstream to get away from that spot, trying to ignore the sound of wings flapping as Reg followed me. I would come to a halt about 15 minutes later, panting in exhaustion “Right.. Get ahold of yourself Jean…” I mutter in a shaky voice for the second time today “It’s just a bit of mental residue left over from Sunset. You are not going nuts alright? We got to get back to civilization, sitting around here isn’t ” I mutter trying to reassure myself, and for once it kinda helps. Whatever was happening wouldn’t be fixed unless I returned home and right now I needed to stay focused. Aside from being a bit freaky, and paralyzing me for a few minutes, they had given me some insight into using magic... I hope. Taking a deep breath I calmed my mind and focussed on a large rock covered with snow. Closing my eyes I visualized it floating in front of me. Why did I close my eyes? I guess it helped me relax a bit, and let me focus on that one object without getting distracted. … … My horn feels itc- Funny… Opening my eyes I gasped as I saw the rock floating there in a light blue aura which promptly dropped as I loss focus. Not that I cared. “I did it!” I exclaimed in glee and over the next few minutes repeated the action a dozen more times until I could perform the act without needing to close my eyes. Giving a whoop of joy I trotted around a small inuksuk id formed from a bunch of different sized rocks. “I can do maggiiicccc, I am so awwwesssomme” Shut up… I can hear your mocking laughter! It was a pretty big deal for me. I’d been struggling all day with just my hooves and mouth, barely able to manipulate the environment around me and now here I was making little stone piles with my mind! Imagine having no hands; having to try to take a drink from a bottle, open a door, make a meal… I’d been feeling so helpless until this moment and being able to cast magic was a major morale booster. Add to the fact that the snowfall had stalled to a couple odd flakes falling here and there and you could say I was jubilant at how my luck was turning around. “Caw!” whipping my head around I spied the raven a bit upstream regarding me again with its black beady eyes. “What?” I muttered and on a whim tried to use my telekinesis on the bird. I felt me horn tingle a bit but no aura appeared around the animal. “Stupid bird…” I whispered angrily. Either it took more power to grab a living creature or Reg was special for some reason… I really hoped it wasn’t the later, that bird was really starting to creep me out and the thought of it being immune to magic sent a shiver down my spine. Looking past the bird I suddenly notice where the sun was positioned and the orange glow behind Reg. “Oh crap…” It was nearing night already? How long had I been out?!? AS I headed towards the trees I tried to do a recap of the days events but the nap earlier had really skewed my sense of time, looking around I get to work on a small shelter, this time much more elaborate in its design thanks to my magic as I grab some branches from some pine trees. I even manage to find a couple seeds which I reluctantly eat. Turns out they don’t taste half… A bit sticky and ‘pine-ey’ but still edible… As I finished up Id noticed that id been using a stick to light up the area like a sort of torch, my magical aura shining bright enough to light up the forest for a couple meters and basking it in a cyan light. No… My horn is doing most of the shining actually… Sitting back on my haunches I let the stick drop but try to keep the image of the lit up forest in my mind. For a moment everything flickers as if my horn was a light bulb but I smile as the light remains shining. “I can dooo maaagiiiiccc..” I sing out again and my smile grows wider as I manage to increase, and then dim the light with just a little effort. Things were really looking up for me. I had shelter, a bit of food, and light. “Now all I need is a fire and I’m set” I mutter out loud and start to head into the shelter. {Perhaps I could help with that…} I freeze as I hear what and look around in a panic, pausing for a moent to let my horns light shine brightly. That voice sounded really, really, familiar. {I’m in your head genius} the voice called out again and this time I manage to figure out what’s going on… “Sunset?” You know how your own voice sounds very different when you hear it on a recording or something? Well as a human id always hated how my voice sounded but as a pony I think I hate it even more. I sounded like some snobby high school cheerleader, at least, Sunset did… { The one and only. Now can you tell me what the hay is going on and why you are in my head?!?}