Chapter XV
Written Script yawned widely as he slowly became aware of his surroundings. He seemed to be lying upon something soft, with someone warm snuggled up next to him. It felt nice, just lying there without a care in the world, but he knew that it couldn't last. Eventually, that alarm was going to go off, and he would have to get up and go to work.
Not wanting to let the alarm get the better of him, he decided to beat it to the punch and get up now. Grunting softly, he gently disentangled himself from his wife's hooves and sat up. However, he immediately stopped when he noticed that he wasn't in his own bed, or even in his own house.
The room he found himself in was (according to his simpler tastes) very richly furnished. The bed was a lot softer, there was real carpeting on the floor, not to mention that the windows had actual curtains rather than the shutters he was used to.
“Uh... honey? Did we become rich in the middle of the night and I wasn't awake to be there for it?” he asked as he shook his wife awake.
“Hm?” Carrot asked sleepily as she looked up at him. “Oh, good, you're awake.”
“I'm awake? We were both sleeping,” Written pointed out.
“Well, yeah, but that's only because you were taking so long after passing out,” Carrot said as she sat up next to Written.
“Well, you can't exactly—wait, 'pass out?'” Written Script said in disbelief. “What happened?”
Carrot Top just sighed at that. “Don't you remember? We were on our way to the throne room to tell the Princesses about the alien that stopped us in the forest, when you passed out in the hallway outside their door.”
Written Script rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at that. “I... I was kind of hoping that that was all some kind of horrible nightmare...” he said with a sigh. “I guess this is some kind of guest room for us to wait in until I came back to my senses then?”
Carrot Top gave him a look of barely restrained glee at that. “Well, yes and no. Yes, this is a guest room at Canterlot, but no, you aren't here to recover,” she said, but then thought better about it. “Well, at least that isn't the only reason we're here...”
“Well, why are we here then? The Princesses didn't want to interview me personally, did they?” he asked as he got out of bed.
“Nothing of the sort,” Carrot said, her grin growing wider. “They wanted to extend a commission to you!”
Written Script couldn't quite believe his ears. “Wait, you're telling me that the rulers of Equestria want me to...” he started to say, but trailed off as his wife gave him an excited nod.
At that point, it probably would have been better for Written Script to have stayed in bed, because upon hearing the news, he fell into a dead faint. Again.
* * *
“I'm glad ya could come, Twilight, otherwise it'd be kind of a one-sided conversation, if ya know what Ah mean,” Applejack said as they approached the ~human's~ room.
“It's really no trouble at all. I actually needed to talk to him myself,” Twilight said a little sheepishly.
“Oh, really? What about?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “If-if you don't mind me asking, that is...”
“Well...” Twilight paused, her voice clearly on edge. “I kind of... made a mistake earlier, and I need to apologize,” she explained, clearly not wanting to go into detail.
“Oh, okay... I'm sorry...” Fluttershy apologized, wilting a little as she spoke.
“Don't be, Fluttershy, you've done nothing wrong,” Twilight said with a wave of her hoof. “You were just curious, and it isn't a crime to be curious.”
“Well...” Fluttershy started to say, but the rest of what she said was lost as her voice grew progressively quieter. However, before anypony was able to say anything else, they were interrupted by a loud crash up ahead.
“What was that?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“It came from over here!” Applejack said, breaking into a gallop.
The other two quickly followed the athletic farm pony, only stopping when they had come upon the source of the noise. As they approached, they slowly became aware of another, unidentifiable sound. It was soft at first, but it slowly increased in volume as they approached its origin.
The source of the first sound turned out to be a food tray, dropped by the shocked-looking nurse who stood as stiff as a board in front of the recovering ~human's~ door. Why she caused such a mess in the first place was apparent as soon as Twilight and her friends took a look inside ~Alex's~ room.
The still recovering ~human~ was at his desk, busily writing something down. This wasn't at all out of the ordinary, though what was happening around the ~human~ was a different matter entirely.
Around the ~human~ was a whirlwind of paper, ink and feathers. Sheaf after sheaf of parchment hovered near him, each with a quill and inkwell furiously scribbling on the papery surface, all while surrounded by a deep, ruby aura. The sound, which was the rustling of so much paper and the scribbling of so much ink, was so loud that Twilight could only barely make out the sound of the ~human~ muttering in his strange, harsh tongue.
“What in the Sam hill is all this?” Applejack asked, not daring to take a step inside.
“I-I'm not sure,” Twilight said as she gingerly edged forward. “It... It looks like a magical surge, but its far more... I don't know... concentrated? Directed?”
“You mean, like the one when you passed your magical exam?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “Didn't you say that you turned your own parents into potted plants?”
“Yeah, but this isn't nearly as potent. This may look like a lot of magic, but there is actually very little in the air. Most of it seems to be concentrated on ~Alex's~ head, though I'm not entirely certain what it's doing...” Twilight answered as she edged forwards a little bit.
“Well, what should we do? Just wait for him ta finish?” Applejack asked.
Instead of answering her directly, Twilight grabbed the still-unmoving nurse and roughly shook her back to the world around her. “Nurse Life Line, how long has he been like this?” she asked her.
“I don't know, he was... doing this, when I got here,” she said after a few seconds.
“Ponyfeathers,” Twilight said as she stomped her hoof. “Life Line, I'm going to need you to go get Doctor Tender Care, tell her that it's a medical emergency. Also, go get Doctor Level Head, he may want to take a look at the patient as well. After that, go find Princess Luna or Princess Celestia, They'll want to be apprised of this.”
“Y-yes Miss Sparkle,” Life Line said as she bolted down the hall.
“E-Emergency?” Fluttershy asked, worry filling her voice. Then, without even thinking about it, she started to move into the room, but was stopped immediately by Twilight's aura.
“You don't want to go in there. We'd probably be able to change you back from whatever you might turn into, but I'd rather not take the chance,” Twilight cautioned her.
“Wait, why would his own magic be causing a medical emergency?” Applejack asked as she raised an eyebrow at Twilight.
Twilight didn't answer. Instead, she just started walking into the room as a bright purple aura surrounded her whole body. All around her, paper and quills whizzed by, still occupied with whatever it was that the ~human~ was making them do without his knowledge. Tiny red bolts of lightning skirted along Twilight's coat as the ~human's~ magic reacted with her own, but fortunately, Twilight's spell kept her safe... for now.
However, it wasn't her safety that she was worried about.
She could have used her Failsafe Spell on the surge from the safety of the hallway, but that was incredibly dangerous for the ~human.~ Most of his aura, and his soul, was outside of his body at the moment, and without the protection that the body provided, the Failsafe could easily disperse his soul entirely.
She couldn't risk waiting for someone more qualified to deal with this, either. ~Alex~ had already been at this for a while, and it was entirely possible that he'd burn out his mana before help could even arrive, leaving him without enough magic to even keep his heart going.
It was still incredibly risky for Twilight to do this, though. The ~human's~ magic might not have been as strong as her own, nor did it have the expertise behind it to do anything metaphysically capable of puncturing her spell, but it was still quite capable of catching her off guard by firing something physical at her.
On top of that, she was going to have to weaken her protective spell the instant that she touched the ~human.~ If she weakened it too early, or by too much, she would be swept up into the arcane storm that had formed around ~Alex.~ If she weakened it too late, or too little, her spell could react violently to the magic immediately surrounding the ~human's~ body, possibly killing them both.
Therefore, it was with quite a bit of trepidation that Twilight approached the still working ~human.~ She could feel a lump form in her throat as she reached out for him, and with one final gulp, she closed the last couple of inches, touching him just as her protective spell weakened.
Instantly, the sound of the maelstrom of paper and ink stopped as ~Alex~ was pulled from his trance, quickly giving way to the sound of shattering glass and falling paper as gravity took over. He glanced up at the sudden, unexpected touch, but the brief look of shock and recognition gave way to an entirely different look as his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, his form slumping forward as the convulsions started.
* * *
I was floating in a sea of blackness. All around me I could hear words, voices, speaking in languages that I could not understand. However, underlying all of that was another voice, one that whispered at the very edge of my consciousness. I couldn’t tell what it was saying, but whatever it was gnawed at me, begging me to understand.
I could not, however. I tried, but whatever the voice was saying seemed to be just beyond my ability. It seemed to eventually realize this, if its sudden silence was anything to go by. I felt sad by its sudden absence, but the feeling soon left me. In fact, all feeling seemed to be leaving me. Sensation, feeling, the ability to care, all was fading, lost in the void that surrounded me.
As I felt my very consciousness begin to fade, however, two pinpricks of warmth sparked somewhere near my center. There was a voice, yet it seemed distorted and incomprehensible. I briefly wondered what it said, but all further thought was brought to a screeching halt when the two pinpricks of warmth ignited into an inferno. Pain far greater than anything I had ever experienced lanced through my whole being, bringing with it a cacophony of sensations. A rush of taste, sight, sound, touch, and smell all briefly threw themselves upon me in a confusing mass, only to fade as soon as they had come.
The voice shouted again, this time a bit clearer, and was immediately followed by another burning inferno of sights and sounds. It began to fade again, but at a much slower rate this time.
The voice shouted a third time, and again the inferno coursed through me. This time, however, the sensations stayed with me, and I felt myself sit bolt upright, gasping for air. All around me I could hear voices, but none of them made the smallest amount of sense. I didn’t even try to understand them, though, as all my attention was centered on trying to get my breathing back under control.
As I sat there, desperately gasping for air, I felt a wetness run down my face. It took me longer than I would care to admit to recognize that I was crying, though why I found that fact embarrassing wasn’t something I could really understand at the moment. What I did know, was that I hurt all over, and I felt completely exhausted, almost as if I had run a marathon.
As the world slowly worked itself back into focus, I realized that I was in the bed that the ponies had provided for me. All around I could see the faces of the doctors and nurses were responsible for my care, all rushing about as they worked on their separate tasks. I felt a pair of hooves gently push me backwards, urging me to lie down as my breathing normalized, and I found it difficult to resist.
As the doctors began to look me over, one question bubbled to the surface of my brain. At first, I couldn’t understand it. But as my faculties began to recover, I found that I was unable to contain myself, and I just blurted it out, not even caring that those around me wouldn’t be able to understand what I was saying well enough to answer.
“What the devil just happened?”
* * *
Doctor Tender Care stepped out of the patient’s room, and was immediately beset by one of the Element Bearers that had been at the scene when she had arrived. “Well? How is he? Is he going to be alright?” the yellow pegasus asked.
“He’s going to be just fine,” Care said reassuringly. “He’s exhausted and confused, but we managed to catch it in time to prevent any lasting harm. If nothing else happens, he should be right as rain by this time tomorrow.”
“Oh, thank goodness…” Fluttershy said as she visibly relaxed.
“Yeah, I know. He needs to learn to control his magic, or something like this might happen again,” Care said as Twilight and Applejack trotted over to stand with their friend. “He’s very lucky that you three decided to show up when you did so. If you hadn’t stopped him when you did…” she said, but trailed off.
After a few moments of oppressing silence, one of the Elements finally worked past the lump in their throat to say something. “Is it okay if we go in and see him?” Twilight finally asked.
“Yes, but please try to be brief. He’s very tired, and needs to rest,” Care said as she moved out of the way to let them pass.
The three friends filed into the room, and were immediately struck by just how pale ~Alex~ looked. And for him, that was saying something, as his skin had already begun to revert to the sickly gray that they had first seen him in.
He said something which none of them understood, but that was quickly rectified by a quick glow of Twilight’s horn.
“What… what happen?” he asked again.
Instead of answering his question, Twilight decided to ask one of her own. “...What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I… I remembering...working on calculation device. Draw plans. Then inspiration, draw more. More keep coming, had write all down. Remembering think nice, if more hands, write more,” he said weakly.
“Well, I think it would probably be a good idea to refrain from working on that. At least, for now,” Twilight said as she sidled up next to the bed.
“Wait, what? Why?” he asked, his voice taking on a slightly desperate tone.
“Well, I’m not sure, I need to run a few tests, but I think your magic may have latched onto your talents,” Twilight said slowly.
The ~human~ just shrugged at that, almost confused at what she had said. “Kind already guessed that. Not explain why not work.”
At this point, Twilight was completely at a loss on how to adequately explain what had happened. Any words that she knew that could be used to tell him would either translate very poorly, or not at all. She knew that the ideal situation would be to teach him equestrian, then explain, but there were a few problems with that.
The biggest one being time.
Twilight really didn’t know how long it would take before the aliens invaded, and they really needed that omniscope up and running before that happened. Problem with that, though, is that they needed the ~human’s~ help to complete it.
However, it looked like he couldn’t safely work on what he had to do without seriously endangering his own life, since his magic seemed inseparably connected to his talents.
And they couldn’t teach him how to use his magic safely without teaching him the language first, and as it had been stated before, they really didn’t have the time for that.
As Twilight sat there debating how best to tell him this, the ~human~ suddenly had a look of understanding cross his face. “I… not understand till understanding language?” he asked, correctly guessing Twilight’s dilemma.
“Well… yeah,” she said reluctantly.
He just nodded at that, then smiled. "It okay, you tell later."
“Well, in the mean time, you need your rest,” Fluttershy said as she gently tucked the ~human~ in. “You've been through quite a lot.”
It was doubtful that he even heard everything that she said, however, since he had fallen asleep before she had even finished tucking him in.
“Well, he seems plum tuckered out, not that Ah can blame him,” Applejack said as she glanced around the mess that the ~human’s~ episode had left.
“Me neither. There must be around four hundred pages in here. And he just started working on this today!” Twilight agreed as she began collecting the pages that were strewn about the room.
“It’s a shame that so much of this got covered in ink, especially after all that hard work,” Fluttershy said as she helped Twilight gather the pages.
“Yeah, but I’m more glad that we were able ta stop ‘em ‘afore he went and killed himself,” Applejack pointed out.
“I… I didn’t mean,” Fluttershy said, wilting a little.
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy; we knew what you meant,” Twilight reassured her with a smile. “Also, you don’t need to worry about the ink. This isn’t the first time that work like this has been ruined by a spilled ink bottle, and it won’t be the last. Trust me, none of his work will go to waste.”
However, as Twilight examined the ~human’s~ ink-stained papers, she couldn’t help but think that a little smudged ink was the least of their worries. If that was all they had to deal with, then they’d have this current crisis in the bag.
But as she looked over the pages and pages of notes that ~Alex~ had written in his own, incomprehensible tongue, she knew that, deep down, they would need some kind of miracle if they were going to survive any of what was to come.