I awoke, but to my great pleasure, not in another dream. I woke up in a soft, comfortable hospital bed. The pain in my leg and back had receded and been replaced by a deep pressure. I tried to move it, but it was not really possible. When I looked down on myself, it was mostly bandages. 'Feeling like a mummy' could have been a great title to describe this. After a while, the old medical pony came in.
„Oh, you are finally awake. Is everything okay, or do you still feel pain?‟
„No, just a little bit of pressure.‟
„That's completely normal. You had one fractured rip, two sprained rips and your leg was also sprained.”
He paused for a second. I really had thought that my leg had been broken, but I am not the medical pony here.
“I don't know about you, but when I was bound to my bed, I always liked to hear what was happening in the world. It is your decision, but I could bring you a magazine with the news and other topics. There is not much to do here anyway as most ponies are still wasting their time.‟
What a great service here.
„Yes, please. And... Thank you!‟
After a couple of minutes, which seemed like an eternity, he came back with one of these new magazines, that praise strange ponies like Photo Finish and Fametrimmer beyond understandable level. I hovered the magazine in front of my face:
Page 1:
Photo Finish and her big secrets:
Discover her young days and how she got famous. (Includes rare new photos)
How to improve your magic:
Tipps and tricks for all unicorns.
Fly like a lightning:
No pony will overtake you anymore.
Workout like the stars:
How to be as thin as Twin Spin.
The secret section with A HUGE STORY
THE WEEKLY FROZENFALLS
Page 2 – 10:
Something about Photo Finish with many big pictures of her early foalhood and some of her first photos. I did not identify with such ponies. I mean, where does fame get you? You are in every magazine, but do you actually find friends? Sometimes, you get around, but only to be in another shooting location. You have no time to freely move around. No time to meet, no time to make friends. Fame takes your time, freedom and privacy. I don't think it's worth the money.
Page 11-12:
Just some random jokes. A couple of riddles. A cooking recipe.
Page 13-22:
The thing about improving your magic. The beginning was quite interesting. It was about relaxation and training. If you are calm, you are usually more focussed on your magic and thus it is easier to cast. Training also helps a lot. Then, there was the main part. Only some 'secret' spells, which were not secret at all. Finally, some spells, that were just plain useless. I mean, which pony wants to be able to put ink into their skin. That is utterly strange.
Page 23-30:
Something about pegasi and aerodynamics: I don't understand that stuff; Something about different seasons and how their temperatures effect the thickness and controllability of the wind; Something about the ideal position of your outest feathers and something about how wings work ideally when performing different maneuvers. So, nothing of interest for me.
Page 31-37:
This part was just not necessary. I mean, why would you want to be such a trained pony? To show off? To work harder? I am modest and lazy. So nothing for me at all. I don't need the big muscles. Even the part about the aerodynamics was more interesting.
Part 38-58:
The big secret. I think, I am the only pony in all of Equestria, that already knew this secret. It was very decryptic, but the basic was about some kind of sickness that Princess Luna had caught. If they knew the truth, I had a big problem. They wrote the biggest part about how they aquired their information: How their heroic reporter jumped through a couple of explosions to find a top-secret note at the end. Not exactly that, but I think you get what I mean.
So. It was in magazines already. Probably it had even been in the newspaper, but I haven't read any since I left home. I was still not sure what to do. I mean, really. What could I do? I was not able to bring dead ponies back to live and I was not able to reverse time. Obviously I was able to murder though. This was a situation without a way out. I could not admit my crime, nor could I reverse it.
In hindsight, I admit that my following actions were actually quite paranoic. Even if Fluttershhy would have given around information about me being a murderer to every single hospital in Equestria, I still would not have been killed for it or imprisoned forever.
Still, I thought, I would land in prision for the rest of my life: There is no higher good than time. Because time just flies away on feather wings and never ever returns. Time is the only thing, you cannot aquire, you can only lose. That is what caused me to go a bit insane. I actually had one of the stupidiest ideas I have ever had and I never ever tried to do it again. It was plain impossible and I should have known it, but I thought I was out of options. I know, how stupid that sounds, but my thoughts were not really working that well. The plan was to use a dream to escape in reality. With the use of dream logic I wanted to cause my location to change. It was a stupid idea, because you always wake up, where you have been in reality. To really change my location, I would have needed to cause a self-boosting process inside the dream.
Remember how I told you about using much magic in your dreams? Usually the magic, that holds me in the dream, is only strong enough to affect the ponies inside the dream. If, however, I would actively use enough magic, the bond between me and the dream would be stronger. The stronger bond would result in the magic easier flowing inside the dream. The increase in magic would cause the bond to grow stronger and so on. Basically at some point, it becomes an uncontrollable spiral of destruction.
Today I can only reiterate, how stupid that idea had been. Instead of actually moving in reality, it would have only caused massive destruction in reality and proably killed everypony including myself in a huge radius.
Now you might ask: „Why can you use so much magic anyway? Aren't unicorns restricted to a level of magic?‟
Yes, we are, but here is the reason, why it is possible anyway:
I don't really cast that much magic. Nopony would ever achieve that amount of magical energy. The dreamer actually has to believe in my magic. In the dream, my magic is actually just as strong as the dreamer imagines me to be. Only if the dreamer imagines me to be incredibly strong, I could actually cast that much magic. The price is nothing but destruction. It was never actually worth it, nor will it ever be.
This is the reason, why I have sworn to myself never to use my magic to that extend. Given my situation, I decided to break my own vowels. Again, probably the stupidiest moment of my life.
Close your eyes. Count to twenty. 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6 ... 7 ... 8 ... 9...10 ... 11 ... 12 ... 13 ...
Where was I? I opened my eyes, I had lost track of counting again. How should I ever sleep, when I lost track every time. I looked around and was surprised: Some kind of tree in front of me. A big one, with doors and windows, laterns and balconies. At second thought, I finally realized: This was the dream already. Surrounding the tree was just the dream edge. Whoever was inside that tree did not look outside very much.
I had not thought about what I wanted to cast yet, because I knew it depended on the situation of the dreamer. Well, time to improvise. I started to create colours and lights and wanted it to seem as if I was using an immense amount of magic.
I felt the change in the dream first, even before I actively noticed, how the dream edge expanded far behind a new horizon.
Some voice came out of the tree.
„What the.. You!‟
Obviously, I had been discovered.
„Muhahahaha. My power is infinite!”
I yelled, trying to sound like a powerful vilian. Dream logic would do the rest: The dreamer just had to believe. Suddenly, I fell over on my face. Not because I am bad at keeping balance, but because something pushed me from behind; Or somepony. The next thing I remember is hanging up in the air, pulled up only by my tail.
„You. You are the one from Fluttershy's dream.‟
This was not good. Of all the millions of ponies in Equestria, I had to arrive in the dream of a friend or relative of Fluttershy. Time to do something: I magically lifted the other pony behind me by her tail, then I tried to turn around. Before I even had fully turned, she teleported directly in front of me.
Wait a minute. Purple-ish coat, stars as cutie mark, wings and a horn.
Holy Horseapples! Of all the millions of ponies of Equestria, I had to get into the dream of exactly this pony. The star student of Princess Celestia, priced for her incredible use of magic. The Alicorn with the biggest amount of magic in probably the whole of Equestria. A little bit younger than me, but probably a lot stronger. I had to find a weak point, probably this tree, because it was in her dream. Things in dreams are always either strongly positive or strongly negative connected to the dreamer.
I started channeling a fire spell right behind me, so she would not immediately see it, when I was finished.
„What is your plan? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to stop the night and bring eternal daylight? What does Fluttershy have to do with your evil plan? Answer me, or I will...‟
She didn't end the sentence, because the fire had finally started to spread.
„My home!‟
From nowhere appeared a bucket of water. I started to channel some other fire spells, all in different locations.
„Stop that!‟
The Princess jumped around, trying to manually extinguish every fire. After the third fire though, she stopped. You could see from her face, that she now was using immense magic. I could see giant dark clouds heading to this direction unnaturally fast. Instead of making it easier for me, I had made it even harder by angering her.
At this point, she should have realized the consequences of me being the pony from Fluttershy's dream. However, she still thought, this was reality. Which was good. I could just hope, her dream logic would protect me from the realization long enough for me to cast enough magic. I started to blow rough winds to get rid of the clouds, something I could have never done without Twilight Sparkle at least believing a bit in my magic. Maybe now I could... Twilight Sparkle had noticed my doing and created giant chains, that bound the clouds to the ground below them. How did she do this? No idea. It would remain her secret, because I would not start to ask her during a magic fight.
I had to use a different tactic. I started to let pieces of the ground floating around me like a shield, and from time to time, I threw pieces of dirt at her. This way, I would use small packages of magic for every piece of ground and thus still be able to maintain control. (That's what I thought, not my today's opinion. I now know that it would have backfired in the exact same way) Twilight Sparkle crossed my plan easily. With a shuttering noise, the ground below me just evaporated, leaving a hole for me to fall into. Before I could do anything, the hole was sealed with a platform of glass.
She was really talented, you had to say that. However, I already had an Idea. I started to drill through the walls of my cage. Until of course, I hit a thick wall out of spidersilk.
„What the...?‟
„Haha. Didn't you know, that spider silk is probably one of the strongest materials per hoof? It can contain the force of a fly, flying perpendicular to its plane. Calculated to your size, this would mean, you would have to push with a force of an ursa minor. Taking the circular movement in account, many trapped flies start to exhibit, you could say, it is inpenetrable.‟
Okay, taking in account, I only understood half of what she said, it was probably a thick wall of spider silk. I did not have to get out to cast further magic. A lightning coming from the stormy clouds was just what I needed. I magically redirected the energy of the lightning to... well, somewhere. Halfway through my spell, I lost control over the lightning. Even though I was in a dream, I was not almighty. The lightning, searching a way to the ground struck somewhere behind the Princess. Not harmfully close, but it showed false intentions. She probably thought by now, I was trying to kill her.
„Trying to kill all the Princesses?‟
Well, that verified my idea.
„It is not going to happen!‟
Twilight Sparkle teleported us both into a big chamber. Yes, she teleported us both. How ever in the name of Celestia you could do such thing. I shouldn't forget: She was an alicorn now.
The chamber had no advantages for me. Neither could I use the weather against her, nor could I do anything else to the tree. She immediately threw a ball of fire towards me. She obviously felt really threatened; If I wasn't careful, I would not get out of this dream alive.
I started to build a shield out of bricks, because I had no better idea. It defended me against the ball of fire, but her next was already coming. While I had been building up the wall, she had teleported behind me and threw heavy rocks towards me. I was able to jump out of their trajectory, but she was relentless. Two huge stone walls came from my left and right, leaving no place I could evade to. In a moment of sudden genius I just used her own ideas against her: I created some spidersilk sticking the walls to the ground. Their own speed made them fall towards me. I was lucky, that no debree hit me. As I was planning my next defense, it was already too late. I had not watched my surroundings carefully enough. From up above a rain of sharp pieces of glass started to rain. One especially sharp piece struck through my back. It was cruel; I stopped moving immediately, forced down by the pain. If I was not out of this dream in the next heartbeat, I don't know if I would survive. I had nothing to help myself though.
I counted down, knowing, these were the last moments. 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3.. 2... 1...
Nothing. She had stopped.
„Why?‟
I brought out this one word, but I regretted it afterwards. The pain was just too big. Some blood was assembling in my mouth.
„Look at you. Why did you do it? I mean, why did you kill her?‟
This whole plan had been condemned to fail form the start. What had I thought? Even when I had had enough energy, I would still not have been able to awake anywhere else than I was just now lying. The realization I should have had before this failed attempt was crushing. Again, it had probably been the stupidiest idea of my entire life.
„I... I did not want to...‟
A tear was running over my face. The pain alone would kill me.
„You did not what? You ... But ... You ...‟
„It was...‟
I had to cough out some blood to continue speaking:
„I was forced into there.‟
„Into where?!‟
You could nearly feel her anger:
„Tell me the truth! I don't want to hear your lies anymore.‟
„I... I did not want to be in that dream!‟
Twilight Sparkle was suddenly calm now. Still angry, but she would not harm me any further. She thought about what I said. Hopefully, she would make the right decisions. My eyelids fell down. I tried to open them agian, but they resisted. The pain was the only thing I sensed now. Heartbeat for heartbeat.
When I woke up again, I did not even try to open my eyes. There was still blood in my mouth and still the same pain in my back. The ground, I was lying on was a little bit softer. Somehow, it felt like it was moving. Some noises got into my ear, but I could not decipher anything, except some voices, speaking about something. It was all indistinct.
After a while, my body was lifted up and laid down onto another surface. It was colder and also smoother. My mouth was opened and I was given a potion. I drank it, because there was nothing much else, I could do. The fluid mixed with my blood, resulting in a bad taste, but that was the least I had to worry about right now. The effect of the fluid kicked in momentarily. My thoughts got slower and I drifted into nothingness again.