//------------------------------// // 3. Pillow Talk // Story: Twilight's World // by grouchopony //------------------------------// Twilight was dreaming. She was having an awful dream about being lost in a land filled with horrible crystal trees. The trees looked beautiful, but they gave off an aura of menace. Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by crystalline danger. Their limbs moving in slow agitation, reaching out to embrace her. Even as the trees threatened her, Wendigoes circled above her, showering her with sudden blasts of ice and cold. Occasionally, they would break off from their circling to stoop down upon her. Twilight would have galloped away, even dashing between the clutching tentacles of the crystalline trees. But she was unable to do so. Every time she tried, the ground would reach up to bite and tear at her legs. Every time, she would stumble, and the Wendigoes added another layer to the icy shell surrounding her. The Wendigoes were almost upon her again, she had to move, had to move… "No!" She screamed… Disturbed by her nightmare, Twilight awoke. At first, she lay there, with her eyes closed, her heart pounding hard enough to make her body shudder. Gradually she became aware of a wonderful sensation of warmth. She welcomed that warmth, using the sensation to counter the residual terror of her nightmare. After a while, Twilight also became aware of a considerable amount of bodily discomfort. Her legs ached, her breast ached, her withers ached, her neck ached, her head ached, and most definitely her horn ached. The horn ache was a sure sign that she was suffering from magic exhaustion. Groaning, Twilight opened her eyes. At first, there was not much to see in the dim light. Twilight blinked, failing to recognize her surroundings. She raised her head to look around, which turned out to be a bad idea. “Ohh. My head.” Twilight groaned as she squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head again. Suddenly, she heard the sound of somepony drawing in a deep breath, so close as to be right in front of her face. Coincident with the drawn breath she had the unsettling feeling that the pillow underneath her was rising upwards. Alarmed, Twilight raised her head again, wincing with the movement and looked about. She was shocked to see a strange face mere inches to the right of her head. It was sunken down, just below the level of her chin, which was why she had missed it earlier. Twilight’s first instinct was to freeze. Motionless, she looked upon the apparition before her. Even in the dim light, it was easy to tell that what she saw was not the face of a pony. Rather, it looked like one of those creatures she had met in that world behind the magic mirror but it seemed different somehow. Like those creatures, it lacked fur and had no visible muzzle. Like them, it also had a protruding nose and an abbreviated dark brown mane that failed to cover its neck. Its eyes, though, were different from what Twilight could remember; they were smaller. And they were looking directly into her eyes. “Yahh!” Twilight screamed as she attempted to leap away from the creature; her legs exploding with pain after managing to lift her only a few inches, causing her to collapse and fall down again. “Oof,” she heard from the creature sharing her bed. “Thank you. I've always wanted to experience deafness.” Twilight lay there gasping in pain. She hurt so much that she literally could not even think about what the creature had said. Within a few seconds, as her own pain subsided, she heard the creature sigh and speak again. “I'm sorry. That comment was uncalled for; you were obviously quite startled to find yourself waking up in my bed.” Twilight lay there with her eyes squeezed shut, her headache was slowly subsiding. At the moment it was back down to merely pounding mercilessly. Puzzled, Twilight tried to recall the words she had heard earlier. What? Twilight was confused. The creature wants to be deaf? Why? … Oh, sarcasm. I must have screamed directly into its ear. Twilight considered its second statement. And it’s already apologizing for the rude comment. Maybe the creature is civilized after all. “Wait? I'm in your bed!” Twilight exclaimed loudly. Wincing as her raised voice caused her headache to spike. “Ahh!” the creature winced in pain as well. “Um. Yes. It was kind of necessary you see.” It paused. Aware that she was scarcely able to move, Twilight needed to gain control of the situation. Stay calm Twilight, stay calm and stay in control. She kept her voice level. “I'm waiting to hear an explanation.” The creature kept silent for a few moments and then it spoke. “Last night, or rather, early this morning, you collapsed in front of my door. Just before you collapsed, you begged me for assistance.” Twilight lay there quietly, trying to remember any of this. “I carried you inside my home. You were in such a bad state. You were all covered with ice and had fallen unconscious. You also had numerous lacerations on your legs.” As the creature spoke, Twilight painfully stretched out a forelimb a few inches and noticed with dismay that it was indeed wrapped in gauze. “From your symptoms, I treated you for hypothermia. You must have had ten kilos of ice adhering to your body.” Twilight was shocked. Hypothermia was a very rare and grave condition for a pony to find itself in. “Umm, 'keelos'?” Twilight asked. Her curiosity was piqued. “Ah. Let me think. That would be somewhat more than twenty pounds of ice if that style of measure is any more helpful to you.” “Oh yes. It is. I am quite familiar with pounds. Please continue.” Twilight replied politely. Privately, Twilight thought that the creature was exaggerating about the ice. For some unaccounted reason, the creature gave her a puzzled look but then resumed its narration. “After getting all the ice cleaned off of you and drying your fur as best I could, you had fallen unconscious again–” “Wait, what do you mean 'again'? I have no memory of any of this.” “Ah well, while I was drying you off, you became somewhat responsive. You were flicking your ears in response to my verbal comments. Maybe you weren’t fully conscious, but I think you were coming around to it.” Mike continued. “Anyway, soon after that, I noticed that your legs were hurt. While I was treating them, you must have gotten chilled because, by the time I was finished, you had lost consciousness again; your ears had stopped responding. That was when I noticed that you weren’t even shivering anymore. I knew that was bad, so I immediately took you with me into my own bed to warm you up.” “Please,” the creature begged, “you have to understand. You were already hypothermic, and your fur was damp, chilling you even further. I had no other means to warm you up; I could only share my body heat with you.” Twilight considered the creature’s story. She was certainly shocked. However, if it was telling her the truth, then she could only conclude it had done nothing wrong. Indeed it had probably saved her life. If she could believe it. Still not sure, she decided to defer the issue of the creature’s truthfulness until later. “Thank you.” She said. Bringing a smile to the creatures face. After a few moments, Twilight's curiosity stirred. “Do you have a name?” she asked. “And what are you. What name do you use to describe your kind?” In the world beyond the Mirror, Twilight had never gotten around to asking what those beings had called themselves. “Umm, Mike, my name is Mike Konik. I am a man. That is, a male human. In the common vernacular, our kind would call ourselves humans.” After he had said this, Twilight saw that Mike was looking expectantly at her. “Oh, of course.” Twilight attempted to formulate her reply in a similar manner. “I–," she paused for effect. "Am Twilight Sparkle. I am a mare, a female pony. In the common vernacular, as you phrased it, our kind would call ourselves ponies.” She smiled. “Further to that, I am an alicorn, a species of the pony subgenus.” Twilight hid the fact that she was a Princess. That title had brought her nothing but trouble. As she spoke, Mike's face assumed a pained expression. “You're female?” he asked. “Of course.” she replied happily. Mike groaned. “I'm sorry. I offer you my most sincere apologies.” If that expression had been on a pony, Twilight would have thought he was worried about something. “Whatever is wrong? What does my being a female matter?” “Um, maybe you haven’t noticed yet since you just woke up, but I have held you on top of my body all night long. To keep you warm, you understand. In fact, you're still lying on top of me and, well, the position could be considered compromising. If you are anything like human females, the fact that I am a male might be interpreted as an egregious insult to your body and personal integrity.” Compromis... Oh. Twilight's face burned as she realized what Mike meant by that. Twilight's tail swished in response to her uneasiness. Suddenly she could feel it brushing up against the inside of both of his legs. Her face burned even brighter. Mike inhaled a short, sharp breath. His face grew visibly darker in the dim light. Twilight thought he might be blushing as well. “Please don't do that!” he urged with a voice that sounded tight. Twilight stilled her tail, consciously suppressing any further swishing. Though she was now quite embarrassed, she considered her response carefully. “You're right.” she began, “I could be offended. But I forgive you. You only did what you had to do.” In fact, she thought, while cataloging what sensations she could glean from her body, the arrangement is very effective for heat transfer. Though I find the amount of contact and where we are in contact, to be absolutely mortifying. Twilight's blush grew even brighter, prompting her to attempt to scramble up off of Mike. A sudden agony throughout her body, most especially in her legs, put an end to that. She collapsed back onto Mike again. “Ahh,” she gasped weakly. “What's wrong?” asked Mike. He sounded worried for her. “It hurts.” “What hurts?” “Everything,” she gasped. “Everything hurts. My flanks, my withers and my neck. My legs hurt so bad that I can hardly move them at all. And to top it all off, I also have a monster headache.” She lay there quietly for more than a few moments - recovering. Finally, she asked, “Do you have any willow-bark tea? I think it would help me considerably.” Mike considered the request in silence. A few moments passed by before he replied. “I’m afraid that I cannot make you any tea right now. The power is out, so I am unable to heat any water. I can, however, get you a couple of aspirin's and a glass of water. If I remember correctly, aspirin's active ingredient was originally derived from willow bark.” “Yes please,” Twilight replied. “Please do that. Wait, the power is out? What do you mean?” “I mean the electricity is out. All appliances and utilities in this house run on electricity. Apparently, the ice storm has broken the power lines somewhere.” Mike paused and then went on. “I was still awake when the light from the bedside lamp went out. So I knew what had happened.” “Why were you awake?” Twilight asked in a fit of curiosity. “You had been shivering,” Mike replied with a tiny smile. “Your shivering nearly vibrated the two of us out of bed. And I do mean that; your shivering was exceedingly intense. Come to think of it; that may be why you are experiencing so much pain. That intense shivering may have over-strained your muscles.” Twilight considered that theory and was somewhat inclined to accept it. In a good way, it was comforting to be able to put a label to her pain. And in a perverse way, it also seemed to confirm his story about how she had gotten here. She sighed, “Thanks. You may be right about that. Um, about that 'asrin' you mentioned.” “Right, the aspirin.” Mike paused. “I'm sorry, but I will have to move you. If my theory about over-strained muscles is correct, it should not hurt you too much if I am the one doing the moving.” Twilight winced. Steeling herself for the potential onslaught of pain, Twilight took several deep breaths. “Okay. I'm ready. Go ahead.” She squeezed her eyes shut. Mike gently clasped her in his arms and shifted his body, rotating to his right. He deposited her onto the bed, on her left side. Twilight groaned. “I'm sorry, did that hurt?” Mike asked as he climbed out of bed. “Not really,” Twilight replied, “it wasn't too bad, except that it strained my neck. That's what hurts.” “Sorry,” Mike said. “I forgot that you have your pillows stacked up double. May I?” “Yes, go ahead.” she replied. Mike cupped his hand under her head, holding it up gently, as he adjusted the pillows. Slowly he lowered her head down onto the remaining single pillow. “Ahh,” she gasped. Then she sighed in relief. “Thank you.” Now that she was more comfortable, she was able to look up at Mike who stood beside the bed, seeming to tower over her. Despite having met humans before, he still looked odd to her eyes. From her perspective, he stood so very tall. His barrel was flat, broad and mostly hairless. And he had tiny teats? Twilight frowned briefly at the incongruous sight. Despite spending three days in the Mirror World, she had never observed the unclothed human form, not even her own. Nevertheless, he did resemble one of the mirror world inhabitants. Hands, arms, legs, the shape of his head and body, he had all of those. And like those beings, he also had no tail. Almost, but not quite, coincident with noticing Mike's lack of any caudal appendage, Twilight became aware that 'Mike,’ she reminded herself of his name, was covered by a small article of clothing, which concealed his… private parts. Twilight smiled. The barrier represented by the clothing seemed to verify Mike's statement that he had not intentionally set out to compromise her. Mike moved off and spent several moments fussing around in a part of the room which Twilight could not see from her position. All the while he muttered comments about how cold it was. After a while, Mike left the room. Presumably to get the 'asprin', whatever they were. Twilight considered the wrappings on her legs. Now how did I get injured? She wondered. Of a sudden, a memory came to her. She was walking through the storm on tippy-hooves over the ice covered ground. There was no light present except for her own magic. Every step required her to carefully strike the ice covered snow. Sometimes, her hoof would plunge through… “Oh, Celestia. That really happened. It wasn’t just a dream.” Twilight moaned. She lay there quietly, recalling more details of that experience. She recalled the cold, the dark and the demonic rain which coated her body in ice. Even the memory of that journey left her feeling exhausted. I guess Mike really was telling me the truth about the condition I was in, she thought. Though I think I was already totally exhausted when I reached this house. Any shivering I did as I recovered from the hypothermia simply increased my exhaustion and muscle strain. Fatigued, Twilight soon drifted into an uneasy slumber. ---------------- Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Twilight started awake as a raucous noise penetrated her sleep. She ground her teeth as the irritating noise continued unabated. It seemed to be the most perfectly irritating noise in the world. Unable to move as she was, she could not identify the source of the irritating noise, though, by swivelling her right ear, she could locate its position to be somewhere behind her head. Beep… Beep… Beep… Her headache now seemed to be getting worse again, pounding in sync with the rhythmic irritation. Suddenly Twilight heard Mike's hoofsteps as he entered the room. Her ear tracked him as he approached the night table she had seen earlier. There was a soft click, and the annoying noise was silenced. “Sorry about that,” she heard. “I forgot that I had set the alarm to wake me at 9:00 a.m.” Twilight kept her peace. “I've got your aspirin,” stated Mike. “Uhh.” She groaned even as she stirred. Opening an eye, she could see that Mike held a glass of water. “Could you,” she paused. “Could you help me up, so I can drink that,” Twilight requested. Putting the glass down on the night table, Mike came over to Twilight. “Sure. Um, how exactly?” “Help me roll back onto my stomach and raise me up, so I can support myself on my forelegs. Please.” “Right,” Mike proceeded to do exactly that. It certainly did hurt to move, but Twilight found she was able to lock the joints of her forelegs and continue supporting herself without demanding anything more from her muscles. “Here.” Mike held out his hand. Two white pills lay upon the broad flat area. “Don't chew them,” Mike warned. “They taste awful. Just hurry up and swallow them whole.” Having tasted willow bark before, Twilight could well believe his admonition. She tried her magic and found herself sufficiently recovered to levitate the pills out of his hand as well as the glass of water from his other hand. Quickly she took the pills into her mouth, washing them down with the water. Her horn ached from even such a minor exertion. “Yah!” exclaimed Mike, pulling back. “What was that?” His eyes were wide. “That was magic. I gather from your reaction that you were surprised.” “Yeah, you could say that. I tell you the truth. I have never before seen anything even remotely like your 'magic.'” “We can discuss it later.” Twilight sighed. She really was not feeling up to conducting an exposition on magic at that moment. “Could you please help me down?” she asked. Mike nodded his head slowly. Drawing near to Twilight in a more tentative manner. “All right. But first, you should drink all of the water, Twilight. Your headache might also be the result of dehydration.” “Yes of course. I should have thought of that,” Twilight replied. Levitating the glass once more she proceeded to drink the rest of the water. After that, Mike proceeded to lift her up slightly, just sufficient to allow her to unlock the joints in her forelegs. He then lowered her down again. Mike spoke again, “You should rest now. Let the aspirin do its job.” “Yes, thank you again, Mike.” She said while lowering her head to the pillow. Mike grabbed the covers and pulled them up over Twilight's withers. He asked, “Are you going to be alright if I leave you alone for a while? Like, a few hours. There are some things I need to take care of.” “Go, I'm fine,” she replied. “Thanks.” Mike made some more noises from the back of the room. Twilight ignored them. In short order, Mike had completed whatever he had tasked himself with and left the room. The room became quiet. Soon, Twilight's breathing settled down to the slow and regular sounds of a sleeping pony. ---------------- When Twilight awoke again, several hours had passed. The room was now reasonably well illuminated from the daylight coming in through the window. I wonder if the 'power' has been restored yet, she thought to herself. I would really like to have a cup of tea. The second thing Twilight noticed was that she felt much better. Cautiously, Twilight attempted to lift her head up and was very pleased to discover that her headache was very nearly gone. Compared to the headache which remained, she had certainly withstood much worse during some of her all-nighter study sessions. Even her muscles were much improved. As she experimented with moving about, she found her legs, by far the worst affected, merely felt stiff and sore. It seemed as if her alicorn constitution was in play, restoring her body at quite a rapid pace. Twilight worked her way towards the side of the bed. Upon reaching the edge she rolled off the bed. Twilight crashed down onto a carpeted floor with a thud, finding that she was still too stiff to manage that manoeuvre as gracefully as she had planned. Eww. That's a lot of dust bunnies. She thought, as her position on the floor gave her an unimpeded glimpse under the bed. If I have to stay here for any length of time, Mike will clean that up under there. A scowl darkened her face for a moment. She couldn’t stand the accumulation of dust. Taking her time, Twilight was able to raise herself up onto her hooves. Cautiously she proceeded to walk about the room. After a minute or two, as her muscles warmed up, Twilight was quite pleased to discover that walking became easier and less painful. She found herself less than pleased at the dishevelled state of the room. Shoes positioned haphazardly against one wall. Articles of clothing heaped upon a chair. Soon other matters caught her attention. “Mike?” Twilight called. No answer. “MIKE!” Twilight called out again. Again, there was no answer. Guess I have to find the little filly's room by myself. ---------------- Twilight was visibly irritated when she exited the bathroom. While nobody could blame Mike for being a bachelor, his lifestyle showed in the upkeep of his home. Twilight took exception to the obvious disorganization she had witnessed within that room. Further, in her weakened state, she had found it very awkward to use the human-sized bathroom fixtures, which did little to help her mood. What really took the cake, however, was the fact that the little filly's room did not have any running water. Though there was no truth to the matter, Twilight felt vaguely soiled. Twilight could at times get slightly obsessive-compulsive about matters. It was unfortunate for Mike that he now became the focus of just such an obsession. I need to make a list. But first I need a quill and some paper. Twilight returned to the bedroom. After rummaging around briefly, she was rewarded with the discovery of a notepad and a pencil in one of the night table's drawers. She smiled happily. With her newfound trophies, Twilight methodically made her way through the house. Room by room, upstairs and downstairs, the list grew. Eventually, she was forced to stop when the pencil was worn down. Twilight sighed as she was forced to stop her note taking. She found herself in a large room on the lower floor. The room contained a comfortable looking plush couch with a matching chair. At the other end of the couch was a second chair which did not match the decor of the couch and the first chair. A low piece of furniture, much like a table, was located in front of the couch. Twilight thought that this was a family room, though some items in the room remained unfamiliar. Twilight approached the couch and lay down upon it. Her list was put aside. Her heart grew heavy as she recalled the events that had trapped her here. ---------------- Twilight was seated in her study, pretending to read a book. Actually, she really was reading the book. Why pretend to read a book when you really do want to read it? She had thought. Nevertheless, she needed to misdirect Spike's curiosity, and conceal her current activities. “Twilight?” Spike entered the study. “Yes, Spike.” “Rarity asked me if I could help her out today. Is it alright if I leave now? I've finished my chores.” “Did you remember to dust all the books in our bedroom?” Twilight asked. “Of course!” he exclaimed. “Sheesh. You forget one time, and she never lets you forget,” he grumbled. “Alright, Spike. I guess I can do without my number one assistant for the rest of the afternoon. You can go and help Rarity.” Actually, Twilight had been waiting to get Spike out of the library. She had even asked Rarity to request Spike's assistance. As soon as Spike left, Twilight put aside the book she had not been pretending to read. A rosy glow surrounded the book as it levitated over to her current interests shelf. Twilight squinted slightly as she concentrated, teleporting what appeared to be a brown paper package onto her reading table. She had been hiding it in the basement lab, where Spike was least likely to stumble across it. When Twilight unwrapped the package there, on the table, lay revealed – a book. It came with several cards. The first card stated: The House of Enchanted Comics (HEC) thanks you for your purchase of this pre-enchanted literary blank. This superior product was crafted… Twilight stopped reading that card after reading only two lines. The second card: These license terms are an agreement between House of Enchanted Comics (HEC) and you… You may only install one literary work in this product. Any violation of this term will be… This enchantment is licensed “as-is”… HEC gives no express warranties, guarantees or conditions… HEC excludes implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose… Nopony, not even Twilight, had the patience to read through all that legal boilerplate. Well, she had once. But she was too disgusted to ever repeat the experience. Instead, she was currently pronking in circles around the study. "Yes! I'm so excited," she exclaimed. She was positively giddy. "Spike is going to be thrilled. I can't wait to see his face when I give him this for his birthday present." "First, he'll say, 'Oh its a book. Gee, thanks, Twilight.' And then he'll grumble in typical disappointment, 'What a surprise.' " "Hah! But then I'll tell him that this book is enchanted, just like his 'Power Ponies' comic was. And that I wrote it myself, just for him. It'll be an interactive story covering all of Starswirl the Bearded's greatest discoveries!" With a final giggle Twilight managed to contain her excitement. Settling down in front of the literary blank, she prepared the spell for imprinting a new story onto it. Twilight's eyes closed and her horn glowed brightly, as she prepared the imprinting spell. Her quick mind easily composed the interactive adventures she had previously selected, a total of forty-nine stories of Starswirl's best spell discoveries. The imprinting spell was almost ready. Twilight only needed to add the extra exit sequences. Nopony was going to get stuck inside one of her stories. “Twilight. I'm back; I forgot to get–” Spike called out as he re-entered the library downstairs. Startled at the thought of Spike discovering what she was up to, Twilight released the spell energies prematurely, shooting her magic towards the literary blank. Alarmed, she attempted to call back the spell. Reaching out with a significant portion of her alicorn magic. For a moment, Twilight held on to the energies of her imprinting spell, but the effort was futile. It started to merge with the reality generator that was at the core of the book's enchantment. She was still grasping at her imprinting spell when it suddenly, unaccountably, shattered. To Twilight's senses, the literary payload disintegrated, leaving nothing but an empty imprint spell. Another side effect of the disruption, however, was that the imprinting spell became entwined with her own active magic. The book's enchantment pulsed rapidly, Twilight's magic warping and twisting the book's complicated spell in unforeseen ways, causing the book to initiate its 'reader spell.' It started pulling Twilight in. However, as Twilight's magic was now firmly entangled in the enchantment's spell matrix, her substance did not proceed smoothly down the normal transport channels. Instead, she was diverted through the literary input port, dragged along by the now vacant imprint spell. Finally, stressed beyond all measure with an alicorn involuted inside its spell matrix, the book's reality generator exploded. ---------------- Twilight sighed again. Just yesterday, everything was going according to plan. And now… All of this activity is pointless, she thought. Making futile lists. I'm only fooling myself, trying to avoid thinking about what happened. She buried her face in her legs. Her withers heaved as she began sobbing. “I've trapped myself here inside this runaway spell. There’s no exit. No counter spell. No one knows I’m here - inside this book.”