Andrew found himself flying through a bank of clouds, the familiar sensation of the wind rushing past his body completely absent. After a brief moment he exited the clouds and took in a view of a vast blue sea below. He tried to halt his flight, but discovered that he had no control over his course. Andrew paid it no mind, however, still clutched in the numbing throes of sleep. But, Andrew did acknowledge the unpleasant feeling of paralysis; being unable to move his body had the effect of making him feel as if he was nothing but a flying head.
He blinked.
Without warning, the dream changed. Andrew was now flying through a desert landscape, swerving in the sky above a vast array of sand dunes. The desert stretched as far as the eye could see. Again, he blinked; now he was flying through another bank of clouds, he noticed a snowy mountain range below. The scene changed yet again. Now he was soaring across the same beautiful landscape as before, but instead of looking down at the mountains, he was flying in between them.
The scenery cut to what appeared to be him standing on the side of a mountain, looking in toward a valley of sorts. He heard footsteps coming closer from his right.
Andrew did not care very much about any of these visions, as vivid as they may be. He was dreaming, barely even able to form a coherent thought. Such were the nature of dreams. What he saw next though, brought him to full lucidity.
Matt.
This was his camera, the flying, the lack of peripheral vision and control. He was looking through his camera. Which means whatever he was seeing now had to have occurred after… everything.
As his cousin walked into his view Andrew felt his heart drop. He felt both searing rage at the one who abandoned him when he needed him most and aching regret for all the mayhem that he caused that forced Matt to kill him. He didn't mean for things to get so out of hand. He became blinded by rage, trying to take out on whomever was closest. It started off with just his father. But then Matt saved him, making Andrew even angrier than before. It all just spun out of control from there. Why? Why did Matt have to save him?
Matt walked over to the camera, breathing rather heavily before speaking. "Hey Andrew..." he looked down for a moment before continuing, "I just wanted to say... That I'm sorry. And, ugh...-- I hope... that you know that I did what I had to do." He looked straight at the camera, at Andrew and stated with confidence, "You're not a bad person, I know that. That's all that matters... and I want you to know I'm gonna be better from now on, I'm gonna help people. I'm gonna find out what happened to us down there. I don't care how long it takes, I'm gonna get answers... I'm gonna do it for you, and I'm gonna do it for Steve." Matt looked off to the distance momentarily. "I love you man, I didn't ever get a chance to tell you, but I love you."
Matt turned and looked behind him, presumably taking in the landscape. He turned back toward the camera smiling as he stepped forward. He reached out with his left hand and took hold of the camera, turning it to the left.
"And guess what?" he asked with a smile."
Even in a dream, one can feel the wetness of running tears in the real world, just as Andrew could now. The camera came to a stop on a snowy mountainside littered with temples.
Tibet.
"You made it," Matt stated enthusiastically. "Isn't it beautiful?" He slowly walked away from the camera, admiring the serene landscape.
"Heeeeeeeyyaa!" He bellowed into the air, an echo promptly following suit. Matt was sporting a look of absolute giddiness as he took a single step back towards the camera.
"Goodbye Andrew." He stated with finality. Andrew felt a sharp pain in the back of his head not unlike what accompanied overexertion during training; it was not on the level of a migraine but a momentary throbbing pain. Matt simultaneously clutched the back of his head softly, a hint of crimson exiting his nose as he began to make his way to the right and then off-screen.
Darkness quickly engulfed Andrew’s vision, consuming the scene. Alongside the blackness arose the feeling of being watched, as well as a sharp throbbing pain in his head. In the recesses of his mind he found no avenue of expression, no way to scream, no way to alleviate the silent agony. Something was in here with him, probing his mind. He could feel.. or rather, sense something foreign in here with him. Something that did not belong.
The pain faded as he began to recall the events of these past few weeks, seemingly forcefully as it was not by his will that they were brought to the forefront of his mind. Almost as if this hijacker was sifting through his memories looking for something.
He remembered in impossible detail the major events that would lead to him and his friends getting his powers, starting with him turning on his camera for the first time in his room. It seemed that the most prominent memories were linked to when he was using his camera, as those were the ones that the unseen force began to consistently bring up. Whether this was a coincidence or not was a different story.
This went on for what felt like hours before Andrew was forced to watch himself go mad in the streets of Seattle. He saw himself endangering, or flat out extinguishing the lives of countless innocents as he fought with Matt.
Soon enough came the moments just before his death. Andrew didn’t want to see this, he strained to regain control of his mind to no avail.
Andrew saw himself lift his arms as he began to scream in both rage and literal burning agony, shattering all the glass within a block.
“Andrew stop! Don’t make me do this!” pleaded Matt as he lay weak and bleeding on the ground. He looked over to a statue to his right, it looked like some sort of tribal man holding up a spear, as if about to throw it.
Andrew could do nothing but watch as his cousin lifted his hand toward the statue, ripped the spear from its grip and shoot it towards his back.
The memory ended immediately. And with its fading arose a slight feeling of control returning to Andrew's mind. He seized the opportunity and quickly wrestled back the reigns, going so far as to try and push back the invader with his telekinesis immediately after.
It worked. The very second he used his power he felt the invader forcefully eject from his consciousness. After a few moments of relishing in the feeling of control Andrew tried to wake himself up to no avail. He began to grow uneasy, still unable to feel himself, panicking against the blackness of the nothingness surrounding him. At least that thing was gone now.
He wondered if he could try forcing himself awake...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sss!"
Luna was flung backwards from the bed, hitting the wall with enough force to cause a sizable crack. Twilight and Celestia quickly closed the distance up to her.
"Luna"
"Princess!"
Luna stumbled back up to her hooves. "I'm alright, he just caught me off guard is all." Luna said breathlessly.
Celestia turned her head to look at the sleeping human. He was sweating profusely, as well as tossing and turning. She closed the curtains to prevent the morning sun from heating the room any further. Turning back to her sister worriedly she asked, "But... how was he able to stop you? I've never seen anypony resist your dream-walking spell."
Twilight was also about to ask what exactly caused the spell's violent failure when she got a clear look at Luna, her eyes went wide as she exclaimed, "Luna, your horn is burned!"
The lunar princess took a moment to conjure up a mirror and take a look at herself, a dull pain in her horn accompanying the feat and making her wince slightly. Sure enough, the the tip of her horn had been charred. "It must have occurred when he forced me out." She said calmly while reaching up with her right hoof to rub at the offending scorch mark.
"Twilight, perhaps this could have something to do with his strange magic. What did the nurse tell you when you spoke with her?" Celestia asked Twilight.
The purple unicorn took a worrying glance at Luna, who responded with a nod indicating that she was truly fine. "From what she told me, Andrew claimed that it isn't magic at all. He said that it is something he and some of his friends picked up." She shook her head. "I don't believe it, although his magic is definitely unique with its invisible aura and how strangely it reacts when it comes into contact with other forms of magic"
Celestia looked intrigued at what Twilight was saying. "Is that so? I was told by Dusk that he is only able to perform telekinesis, Is that correct?"
Twilight nodded. "That's correct, but from what he told me before you arrived Andrew is able to take his telekinesis and apply it in various different ways. For one can use it traditionally to manipulate objects without physical contact, but he is also able to manifest a layer of his magic into a shield using only his telekinesis, a literal "force field".
The solar princess rubbed her chin and nodded. "Astonishing, I never imagined telekinesis could be used as an alternative to a proper shield spell... And what of the flying?” Celestia further questioned.
"That is where things get really interesting!" replied Twilight enthusiastically. "He is able to use his telekinesis to lift himself off the ground to effectively simulate flight, something that should only be possible by creatures with innate flight magic like pegasi. Then there is the matter of how he somehow constantly has a layer of magic surrounding his body protecting him, even when he is unconscious. I mean, it's one thing for an earth pony with magic imbued into their skin to make them tougher, but he literally has a force field around him all the time! That's the reason why the nurses were unable to inject him with fluids when he was first found, the needles kept getting broken by some unseen force just millimeters above his skin."
Luna remained particularly quiet throughout the entire conversation, a look of sympathy adorning her face as she observed the restless form of Andrew. Like she was not even paying attention to Twilight.
"And the strange reaction?" Celestia asked.
Twilight nodded and continued excitedly, "Whenever his magic comes into direct contact with mana foreign to his, it causes a violent reaction and breaks down the foreign magic, leaving his completely undisturbed."
The white alicorn hummed in thought. "Do you have any idea as to why or how his magic reacts in such a way? I have my own theory but would like to hear yours first to compare." Even though Celestia was an inordinately powerful alicorn, with an insurmountable number of spells at her disposal there is a big difference between knowing hundreds of spells and advanced magic theory, to somepony who is actually dedicated to learning everything there is to know about magic and how it works. Twilight was an intellectual without equal in all of current unicorn society, her only equal having died long ago.
Twilight threw her hooves up into the air and exclaimed with a smile on her face and a slight twitch in her left eye, “Nope... I have absolutely no idea why or how it does it, but I intend on eventually running a few tests on him when he recovers,” after a moment she quickly added, “With his permission.. of course.” She gave a half-hearted smile.
Celestia raised an eyebrow at her pupil. “I see...” The white alicorn hummed in thought. “I can’t say I have ever seen or heard of such a peculiar kind of magic, although I suppose the fact that he is most certainly not of this world is explanation enough, for now anyways.” She turned towards her sister. "What were you able to find, Luna? Surely you could have absorbed a fair amount of information and memories from those few minutes of contact, I assume that the elapsed time was likely several hours from your perspective.
Luna looked aloof, still staring at the human. She blinked before turning towards Celestia. “Tia, forgive me but I absolutely can not share everything that I learned from my venture.” Luna looked down solemnly. There is no way she would tell her sister about Andrew's full story, that was something he would have to tell her himself
The white alicorn raised an eyebrow. “What? Why? Everything that you saw could potentially be used to interpret what kind of a creature he is, where he came from, and especially how dangerous he may be to our subjects!" She gave Luna a stern look, baffled at what her little sister could have seen that would make her so reluctant to share such valuable information.
There was a pregnant pause in the air as Luna mulled over what to say. She had to choose her words carefully. There was so much that she learned in her journey into Andrew's mind, yet she could not have even scratched the surface of the knowledge pertaining to his world. She let loose an audible sigh before speaking. "For the sake of his privacy, 'Tia, I refuse to say anything about him and his personal life that I believe he would prefer to tell you himself. If you would have let me finish I would have said I could tell you everything else."
Celestia's features softened a bit. She wondered what kind of things Luna could have seen in Andrew's life that would warrant such silence. "Oh... very well. I am sorry for assuming the worst."
Luna nodded. "It's quite alright. Now let us begin with his species. They call themselves Humans. They are bipedal and omnivorous in nature and are the dominant and only sapient race on their world."
Twilight's ears perked up in interest. "Wow, the only sapient race? I heard that he took the sight of us pretty well when he woke up, if we are the only other intelligent life he has ever seen wouldn't that be pretty peculiar behavior."
Celestia spoke up as well, "Agreed, something is definitely off about how he is taking all of this. And what of his magic? Can you tell us anything about why his reacts the way it does with ours?"
Luna nodded. "On his world, magic is nothing but something found in fantasy stories and myths. There is nothing indicating it’s existence. Because of this their species has evolved to focus more on industry and science, although I do not know anything more specific than that."
Twilight's ears twitched.
"His ability, which... from what I felt when he canceled out my spell is NOT magic, surfaced a few months ago after exploring a strange cave with two friends of his and having an encounter with what I can only describe to be a luminescent blue rock. Even he does not fully recall the events, but from what I could gather their noses started to bleed and their heads began to hurt as the rock pulsed red, he was flung backwards against a wall before they managed to escape. They discovered their telekinesis the day after."
Celestia opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off by Twilight, "But it HAS to be magic!...it has to be!?" Her ear visibly twitched.
Luna shook her head slowly. "No, Twilight Sparkle, he is from a completely different world, as far as we know he could be from a different reality altogether. A reality that knows no magic. We need to be prepared to accept things that we may find impossible. That includes the possibility of life without magic. As for the his powers, I have no better explanation than he himself can give us." She lowered her head to get eye level with the unicorn, "Andrew knows only a world without magic, just as we only know a world with magic. We cannot simply right off what we don't understand as impossible because we don't understand it. Look at him, Twilight."
Twilight glanced over at the human without turning away from Luna. "It’s hard to believe that he could face off against the royal guards and come out victorious without the aid of magic, let alone whatever he did with the storm."
"What do the kids say these days? The evidence is within the custard?" She gave a half-hearted smile.
Twilight snapped back at Luna, then shared a look at the equally confused Celestia.
…
"Ahahahahahaha!" They both shared a bout of laughter at the blue alicorn’s expense.
Luna stood wide eyed and befuddled. "I fail to see the humor in the situation. I was merely trying convey my message by a means I believed would be more effective for somepony of this century."
This only elicited another round of laughter...
Celestia wiped a hoof across her eyes. "I believe the saying goes by the proof is in the pudding"
"That is what we said!" Luna exclaimed.
The laughter paused, replaced with a dead silence as both teacher and protege stared at Luna with raised eyebrows.
It took the dark princess a few seconds to realize her mistake. "I! I said!”
Yet another round of giggles ensued.
Luna was not amused, but her visible blush betrayed her angry expression. "Might I continue?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"But of course, dear sister," Celestia said with a grin.
Twilight raised a hoof "Hold on. If he is one of only three humans with this 'power,' how are they the dominant species? If we assume that he is from some parallel world or dimension or whatever based on the fact that he can speak Equestrian and recognize everyday items like furniture, then it shouldn't be too far fetched to assume we have similar flora and fauna as well, right? He has no claws and doesn't seem particularly strong, as such he seems to have no way to defend himself. How would such an organism contend with far larger, far stronger predators?
Celestia nodded, "Yes I was wondering the same thing, did you get any insight on this as well Luna?"
Luna shook her head. “That is something he could explain better himself."
“And you couldn’t just ask me all this from the beginning, why?” questioned a familiar male tone.
The trio froze momentarily before turning toward the voice. Sure enough, Andrew was there, sitting up in his hospital bed. A look of muted anger on his face.
“Explain in detail why you thought it was okay to go through my head? What were you looking for!?" Andrew tried his best to resist the urge to use his powers right now. He didn't want history to repeat himself.
Luna stepped forward, unable to look Andrew directly in the eyes. “'Tia, Twilight. It will make things much easier for me if you would leave us alone for a moment.”
Celestia wondered if this had something to do with what Luna saw but chose not to say. as much, Luna must have a reason for withholding it. “If you believe that is for the best.. very well. Come along, Twilight.” She began to make her way out the door. The lavender unicorn followed, closing the door after her. The glow of her magic attracting the attention of a certain human. He looked back at the blue alicorn, clearly angry but level headed enough to listen.
“Andrew, I realize I invaded your privacy to the fullest degree, but look at this from my perspective. A strange alien creature appears out of nowhere, reveals itself to have the ability to take out a battalion of royal guards and then takes care of a storm that nopony is supposed to be capable of affecting. Forgive me but I needed to know what your intentions were. I needed to know you weren't a danger to my subjects”
“And?” Andrew asked stoically. “Am I a danger to your subjects?”
Luna looked into Andrew’s eyes, the window to one’s soul so they say, especially for her . Black, so much black in those hazel colored eyes. She felt like she might lose herself in the never ending darkness that lied behind those tragically dark eyes. And yet there was something in that blackness that could not be ignored, something familiar.
Regret. Pure and utter regret. In that ocean of black was a sea of remorse. It felt almost like she was looking into a mirror. The likeness was uncanny.
“Andrew, let me tell you the story of Nightmare Moon, a wicked mare whose lust for power and attention came close to tearing this world apart.”