Merlin tossed and turned in his bed; he had been having nightmares for the past 2 days in Equestria, ever since Joseph got there. His nightmares were strange and disturbing; in his dream, he was standing in a misty, dark forest, very little light allowed him to see. As he walked through the forest, he heard breathing behind him. Each time he whirled around, there was nothing there. The ground was covered in roots and dead grass. Every now and then, he would hear a gargled, almost demonic, hiss. For the past two nights he hadn't been able to reach the edge of the clearing, however, tonight was different. He made it to the opening of a forest, a lone pedestal stood there, made of grey stone. Laying on there was a short, bright, sharp sword. He reached out, closing the handle in his right hand. and grabbing it with the other. It had a red handle, gold pommel and guards, a silver blade, and runes engraved on one side. On the other side, it had the word "Kether" engraved down the blade.
Suddenly, he heard the hiss again, he whirled around, and a red-winged human was standing in front of him, he raised up his hand, then pounded Merlin over the head. As his vision faded, he heard a whisper:
"Come to Calisto Village."
Merlin shot up in his bed, shaking, sweating, and gasping for air. He had of look of horror stuck on his face. The door creaked open.
"Merlin? Are you all right?"
"The... same nightmare... again." He said, Twilight frowned.
"I'm sorry, Merlin."
"I'll get over it... it's weird... this time it ended differently."
"What happened?" She asked.
Merlin told her about how he got to the edge of the clearing, how he found the sword, and about the red-winged 'angel'. Twilight seemed even more concerned when he mentioned the "Calisto Village" it whispered to him about.
"Do you know a place like that?" He asked. She shook her head.
"I don't... it's probably just your mind playing with you, Merlin. Either that, or you might have cast a spell that had side-affects." Merlin smiled at her.
"I'm sorry to trouble you over my problems... I've been having similar nightmares to this ever since I was back in kindergarten... not too often, though..." He got up, and grabbed his conical hat off the nightstand.
"Y' know... I kind of find it funny, actually. It's almost like something's warning me of something... oh, well." He walked past Twilight and towards the doorway.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Princess Celestia sent for me the other day; she wants me back at the sanctum by noon." Merlin said, he half-smiled.
"Aren't you going to have some breakfast?"
"No, I'm not hungry. Thanks anyway." He walked out the front door, the carriage was waiting for him, along with Mordred and Joseph. They seemed to be in a good mood, but after five seconds, their expressions went blank, then, they started flailing their arms at Merlin. Merlin couldn't hear what they were saying, he gave them a weird look. Then, the ground began to tremble.
"There he is!" He heard a girl's voice shout, and a crowd of ponies started running towards him. Not again... Merlin thought, and he ran towards the carriage. He opened the door and slammed it shut behind him.
"Get this thing off the ground!" Mordred yelled, the two guards nodded. The carriage lurched upward.
"Is this what you went through the first day you got here?" Mordred said, looking out the window down at the crowd of Ponies staring up at them.
"Yep, exactly the same..." Merlin answered. The carriage rose up higher and higher until they were above the clouds.
"Sounds like half of a nightmare, half a dream; you get to be a celebrity, but you also have to deal with the fans." Joseph said, he chuckled.
"Funny you should mention nightmares..." Merlin said, he looked down and held his hands together. Mordred and Joseph exchanged concerned glances.
"Oh no...don't tell me- their back?" Mordred asked, he reached over and put his hand on his brother's shoulder, he sighed as Merlin nodded his head.
"I'll make you another sleeping draft when this is over." Mordred continued.
"Watcha' talkin about?" A squeaky voice said, the three boys jumped up in surprise.
"Good Lord, Pinkie, how long have you been down there!?" Mordred said. Pinkie stared up at them through the grate in the floor of the
carriage, which served as a door to the storage compartment. Instead of an answer, Pinkie Pie just giggled.
"Never mind... Come on up here." Mordred said, he opened the grate. Pinkie Pie hopped out and sat down on the cushion next to Merlin.
"Hey! You're... Joseph, right?" Pinkie asked, Joseph gave her a weird look.
"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?" He asked.
"Rainbow Dash told me about ya'! My name is Pinkie Pie!" She said, smiling.
"Huh. Good to meet you."
"You too!" She answered. Joseph looked out the window as a Pegasus flew by.
"So, where'd you say we were going?" Mordred asked. Merlin opened his mouth as if to talk, but then stopped.
"Uhmm... guys?" Merlin said, turning to the guards.
"Yes, sir?"
"Could you drop Pinkie Pie here off at her house?"
"What?" Pinkie said, disappointed.
"Yes... wait, how long has SHE been in here?" The guard asked, Pinkie rolled her eyes. They stopped by at her bakery.
"Sorry, Pinkie. But these are private matters. I wish I could tell you about it, but... I can't. Sorry." Merlin said. The mare sat in front of the Bakery and watched as the carriage took off again. Merlin stared down at her, apologetically. She smiled to let him know she was all right with it. She walked inside of the bakery.
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"Uuggh... How much longer?" Joseph asked, he kicked his feet up on the chair across from him.
"I don't know! It felt a lot shorter when I first came here!" Merlin said.
"Time flies when your staring down taking in the country side." The first guard said.
"Fair point." Mordred remarked.
Joseph looked longingly out the window, then looked at Merlin.
"What?" Merlin asked. Mordred pointed his thumb at the window.
"Oh, all right." Merlin said, Joseph opened the door and jumped out.
"What in Equestria-!?" The second guard said, Merlin shut the door. Then, Joseph rose back up to the window. He was wearing his jet boots, again.
"What the buck!? How is he-!?" The first guard was struggling to find words.
"He's all right." Merlin said, smiling, but shaking his head a bit.
"How is he flying!? No kind of magic here can do that! You have to be born with wings!" The second guard said.
"That's not magic, that's cutting-edge technology, direct from the military." Merlin smiled as he looked out the window at his friend. Joseph came close to the window and motioned for Merlin to roll the window down. Merlin did so.
"Hey, you have a map, right? To this secret place your taking us to?" Joseph asked, he looked excited.
"Uh... yeah...?" Merlin asked, he slowly pulled out a map, he unfolded it to show where they were going.
"Good! See ya' there!" His jet boots gave a burst and he left them in the dust.
"Come back here, you oaf!" Mordred shouted out the window. All they heard was loud, almost maniacal laughing.
"Maniac." Merlin whispered, but he was trying hard not to laugh. The two sat back down.
"Will he everget over those stupid boots!?" Mordred asked, very annoyed.
"He's in his element while flying. I can't stop him! Cut him a break, he's just having fun." Mordred looked even more annoyed, and the guards still looked amazed as they watched Joseph fade into some mist in the distance.
"Come on, it's been his dream since he was just a kid- I mean... a little kid. Let him have his fun." Merlin said, Mordred sighed.
"Very well... you think he'll give us a lift next time, though?" Mordred asked, Merlin shook his head lightly, not in disagreement, but in humor.
"Someday, Mordred. Someday you'll get a pair of those and understand what it's like." Merlin said, and Mordred half-smiled.
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They landed in front of the sanctum, Joseph was waiting for the two boys there.
"What did you call me? An 'oaf'? Really, Mordred?" He said, Mordred rolled his eyes, then laughed.
"Yeah... So, Merlin, what is this place?" Mordred said.
"You know how I told you guys about Princess Celestia, right? How I met her when I got here?" The two listened intently.
"Well, this her 'private study' in a sense- it's where she researches subjects like alchemy, magic, astronomy, and a lot of other things I think you guys will enjoy. Come on, she's waiting for us." Mordred and Joseph looked at each other excitedly, they walked up the concrete steps to the brass doors.
"By the way- how did she say she knew you?" Joseph asked.
"She didn't... she actually seemed real evasive... it was weird..." Merlin said, Joseph was about to say something when the doors opened. Standing there was the majestic Princess. Merlin bowed, Joseph and Mordred followed.
"Hello Merlin... I take it you invited some friends into Equestria?" She asked, Merlin stood up.
"Well, actually, they heard from my Mother that I had re-opened the portal, so, they decided to jump in the portal themselves." Celestia smiled.
"Quite the lovely surprise. What are your names?" She asked, Mordred and Joseph stood up. Joseph stepped forward.
"My name is Joseph. A pleasure, your Majesty." He stepped back.
"And who are you?" She motioned to Mordred.
"My name is Mordred. I'm Merlin's brother." He replied.
"A pleasure to meet the both of of you. Come, I'll show you around the sanctum." She turned away, and the three boys followed.
Celestia showed Joseph and Mordred the same room she showed Merlin. Mordred was intrigued by all the rooms, specifically the one that was for alchemy; she showed Mordred how, with a little magic, you can turn not only lead into gold, but also quartz into diamonds, Bloodstone into rubies, charcoal into clay, whatever you wanted, however, Mordred got lost halfway through the process as it was very complicated, so he asked Celestia for some books on the subject.
Joseph was surprised to find that Celestia was also working on flying devices. She said that before she opened the sanctum to the public, she wanted to have the devices she designed tested. He immediately volunteered, and showed her his jet boots. He tried just one of them to start with; a hang glider. He took it outside, and ran down the road leading from the landing area for the carriage, to the sanctum itself. It worked much better then originally thought. It worked even better when he used his jet boots along with it- it made it travel much quicker. He landed down on the ground with ease. Celestia looked at him proudly.
"I started these projects so flight would no longer be limited to the common pegasus here in Equestria- now, thanks to you, unicorns and Earth Ponies may no longer be bound to the ground. Thank you." She said, Joseph was glowing with pride. He bowed his head to her, ran back up the path, and to the doors.
Late in the afternoon, Merlin went down to Celestia's magical library. The shelves were aligned with spell books of all kinds of different magical subjects. He found himself drawn to the magic books that taught how to do tricks and create illusions, one showed how one could use illusions to bring any book to you, whenever you wished. He tried the spell, and performed it properly after just four tries; he conjured up a holographic-like image of his grandfather's spell book.
As he flipped through the ghost like pages, however, his thoughts were drawn to his nightmare. He lost concentration, and instead of the normal words on the pages of his grandfather's book, he saw his nightmare playing before him, as if in a cinema. He watched not in horror, but intrigued. When he saw the sword again, he felt something in his hands. He completely lost concentration, the book faded to a mist, when he looked down in his hands, he saw a flash- and whatever was in his hands, disappeared. It felt like it was made of leather, and oval shaped... Merlin quickly brushed it off as his mind playing tricks on him, and left the library. Mordred and Joseph were waiting for him out in the marble hallway.
"Dude! This place is awesome! Not even Prince Andromeda's magical college is this cool!"
"I agree, Princess Celestia is quite the scholar in alchemy- look at this ring, it used to be made of clay, now it's a ruby!" Mordred held up his hand, to reveal of solid-ruby ring.
"I could really grow to like... no, love this place! If this place ever opens up, I'm applying to become a student here!" Joseph said. They walked down the hallways, then an elegant voice spoke from behind them.
"So... your liking the school so far?" It asked, the three boys turned around, and were met by a dark blue-colored Alicorn. Joseph and Mordred jumped back; it was Princess Luna.
"Oooh crap." Mordred said.
"What?" Luna asked. Joseph and Mordred stepped back even more.
"Your n-n-nightmare m-m-m--" Joseph stuttered, Merlin turned to look at the two boys.
"She's not 'nightmare moon' anymore, she... reformed a while back." Merlin said, Mordred and Joseph got half-confused, half-scared looks on their faces.
"Forgive me, if I am causing you any trouble-"
"Not at all, Princess Luna, your not causing any trouble.." Merlin said, he bowed his head, and Mordred and Joseph -cautiously- followed, still keeping their eyes on her.
"Hmmm... Purple robes... six-rayed star pendant... conical hat... you must be Merlin." She said, Merlin raised his head.
"Yes... Did Princess Celestia by chance tell you that?" She nodded her head.
"And did she tell you how she knows me, by chance? She won't tell me." Merlin asked.
"No. But if my sister doesn't want you to know, I can assure you it's for good reason." She said, Merlin sighed.
"Anyway, I need you to come with me." She said, Merlin looked back at Joseph and Mordred, both looked still unsure of the situation. Merlin turned around and followed Princess Luna. They came to a large office adorned with stars on the ceiling. Merlin sat down in a chair across from Princess Luna.
"I was sent a letter an hour ago, from Twilight. She says you've been having nightmares. Having domain over the night, it's part of my responsibility to prevent nightmares in our citizens... would you mind telling me about them?" She asked.
"Well... they sometimes have there differences, but... It always starts with me waking up in a misty clearing. The grounds are completely covered by roots- no soil." Merlin said, Princess Luna focused her magic on a quill, and began to write the details down on a piece of paper.
"Go on." She said.
"Anyway, sometimes I'm actually trapped up to the waist in the roots, when I get up, I start walking... I can't see more then twenty feet in front of me... but then I start running because..." Merlin stopped.
"Because of what?" Luna asked.
"Well, I hear this gargled... demonic sounding hiss far behind me. Every 10 seconds I hear it getting closer... But every time I turn around, even when I swear it was right behind me, it's not there... normally that's where the nightmare ends- and I get stabbed in the back by something..." Merlin said, Luna began writing more quickly, she gave on an intense vibe.
"Anyway... normally I'm not able to get out of the place, but... last night was different. I came to the edge of the clearing... and I saw something..." He said.
"What? What did you see?" She asked, Merlin closed his eyes, re-living what happened.
"I saw... a stone pedestal... on top of it was a sharp, bright sword... it's handle was colored gold and red... I don't remember why, but, I picked it up."
"And then?" Luna asked, finishing a few letters on the page.
"And then I turn around and I see a... red winged angel." Merlin finished, Luna's quill snapped, she looked at Merlin with wide eyes.
"Are you sure?" She asked, she seemed very worried.
"Yeah, I'm positive." He said, there was a moment of silence between the two.
"...I will see what I can do." Luna finally said, she rolled up the paper into a scroll. Merlin got up, bowed his head, and walked toward the doorway. Did I forget something? Merlin thought.
"And Merlin?" She called, Merlin turned around.
"Take care. Try to get some sleep tonight." She said. Merlin nodded his head, and left the room.
Oh, precious moon... have mercy on me... I wished this day would never come... Luna thought, and she looked up at the moon, with a very worried look in her eyes, almost afraid.