//------------------------------// // Chapter 9; Separation then Reunion? // Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown // by Tomas Lutwig //------------------------------// Before the two princesses, a mental struggle broke out as a creation of my mind and I struggled for dominant control of my body. To outsiders looking in, it looked like a young man wearing a strange costume holding his head with a shield on his arm and a spear on the ground next to him, screaming. Inside my head it was much more. Blackness surrounded myself and my reflection as I have taken to calling him. “do you not see? they intend on hurting us! after you killed that Tirek fellow, those two ponies only believe you a threat!” The being called out, pleading with me. I passed an arm over my chest in a downward motion. “No they don't trust me, and it is because I killed that centaur. They have a valid reason to be afraid though, they see the good in ponies and other creatures! Due to how I've been raised, and subsequently you've been created we only see the bad they can do, the threats and associate them with things of our world!” My reflection growled in frustration his fists balled at his sides. “your stupid love of that show is clouding your judgment! you need to see the facts and look at the beings in front of you, not the ones that you remember!” it said. “if you cannot do that I will make sure we stay safe until you can!” “You were created by my mind” I said tapping the side of my head. “I have every right to make judgments on things that I beli-” An excruciating pain took my head making me close my eyes. When I reopened them I was staring at the ground. Looking up I saw Princess Luna standing over me a swirling mass of color at the end of her horn. I reached up towards the princess for a moment before my eyes lolled back and everything faded into blackness. A sigh escaped me, disappointed at my situation. Walking down the street I adjusted the old backpack sitting it more comfortable on my back, the large water bottle not helping in the endeavor. I looked up and stopped before pressing the button on the stoplight, waiting for the orange hand to change. The sound of footsteps caught my attention making me turn as a blob of color came towards me the world changing around it. The blob said something I didn't understand before something seemed to break sending me into the inky blackness below, a single point of light coming closer until- I awoke at the sound to the sound of loud clomping outside my room, a hand rose to my head to try and find the cause of a sharp pain that pierced my skull. Looking around I was lying in a bed, the cool covers sending mixed signals from my skin as most of my body liked it, though my feet were bloody cold. I sat up before trying to get a look at the room around. It was a rather high class room, though most of the decorations seemed dark in color, navy blue, black, dark grays, I looked at the ceiling to find it speckled with white stars, constellations, star patterns I didn't recognize. The decor of the room was stunning, fit for a king, but a familiar set of folded clothes lying on a dresser on the other side of the room caught my attention. Lifting the covers I confirmed my suspicions and a nearly unseen blush ran across my face as I found that I was in fact, unclothed. Swinging my legs over to the edge of the bed proved easy enough, the magic from the petrification spell having worn off. Nearly jumping up out of bed, glad to be free of the spell and that quite bad situation with the princesses the fact hit me that I was most likely still in their castle. Unfortunately due to my over eagerness I ended up feeling as if all the strength in my body quickly left through my legs, allowing me to slam my face into into the wall. After a moment, much to my distress, a pair of guards opened the door and walked in quickly followed by the two diarches. They regarded me with a nod of their heads, “I see you're feeling better Wanderer” Celestia started as I grabbed the covers of the bed, holding my sore forehead. “Yes, now pardon me princesses, I seem to be naked at the moment so could you come back in a few minutes?” I asked looking at the two of them A questioning look appeared on both the diarches' faces before looking at one another. Luna's horn sparked to life with a blue aura, surrounding my clothes before levitating them in my direction. “We need to speak with you, it is the utmost urgency” The dark alicorn said as the clothes landed near my feet. I looked down at them as the two of them stared at me before sighing sitting down on my bare butt and throwing on the clothes as quickly as I could. “It seems being trapped in your dream-scape for the time has caused your mind to attempt to fragment, creating another being” Luna said, looking towards the top of my head as it bobbed slightly above the edge of the bed. “While you were unconscious, we found that for the most part, your own mind is healthy. The fragmented portion on the other hoof has become quite violent after the separation from you” I stood fastening my belt around my midsection before tying the bag on it and throwing the mask on my face before pulling up the hood. I looked around for a moment, “Where are my other things?” I asked only for the bag to be thrown into my chest. “Have you been listening?” Luna asked glaring at me, her sister put a hoof on her shoulder reminding her to show restraint. “Yes” I said throwing the bag on my back. “You said my mind started to fragment, though I seem perfectly fine which seems unlikely after being alone in my mind for two years” I said looking back at the pair of alicorns. “Regardless, if a part of my mind is causing problems we should look into it” “We already have” Celestia retorted motioning between herself and her sister. “The problem is he is wishing to speak with you and will not cease his attempts to break free from the containment until we give him this” A sigh escaped me. 'Never thought I'd go insane, but then again never thought I'd be stuck in the world of My little pony either' I thought before my hand shot to my head, pain racking it before I let out a groan. “I see the fragmentation has taken it's toll on you as well” Luna said, “Come, it may be possible to fix this before the damage is permanent. Then we shall discuss the remainder of your punishment” I rolled my eyes and tried to pop my neck only to be rewarded with more pain, “Fine” I said walking towards the two who started down the hallway. The pair pf guards flanked me their steely expressions not unlike that of Big Macintosh's bored stare. “If I may be so inclined to ask, where are my weapons?” I asked as small group walked down the stairs leading to wherever they were holding this reflection my mind had come up with. “That is none of your concern for now” Celestia said, only glancing back at me for a moment. “As my sister said, we shall find a solution to the current problem before discussing your punishment for the murder of Tirek” 'Are you still on about that?' I questioned mentally, 'He seals all the magic in the land, except perhaps what Zecora had, and then after I make sure he never does it again, you imprison me for two years effectively-' my thoughts were interrupted as pain racked my head causing me to nearly crumple. “It seems we must hurry, the separation is affecting him” Luna said before I felt a strange sensation, opening weary eyes I found that I was floating above the princess of the night. In a flash of dark blue light, the world around us changed. Looking around I found that the princess had teleported us to what looked to be a dungeon, an incredibly well kept one at that. None of the normal mold, cracked stone or anything else you would expect. Instead we stood in a large circular room, many iron bar doors lining the outside, leading into small holding cells only accessible through the obvious door, though a single iron grate was located in the back of each of these rooms, presumably for excrements. Looking down I saw the floor decorated with half a sun conjoined with half a moon. Directly before us was one of the cells, though inside rested what looked like a man, dressed identically to me, the only difference was a strange fog orange the being seemed to produce and the fact he was partially translucent colored a darker orange. Around him was what looked like a clear cube within a cube, the outline being the only thing visible. “ah, so you have brought him good, good.” The being said looking up. “now if you could be so kind as to, START PUTTING US BACK TOGETHER!” he shouted making the bars of the dungeon quake and the cubes he was in turn a deep shade of red for a moment before the bars settled once more. I was placed down near the princess' side before I realized my headache had stopped. 'How queer' I thought a hand rising to my chin. The princesses sighed the older stepping forward, “As we have said before, after the separation, the rejoining process shall take time, and isn't even worth the risk, as the possibility of death of the host is too high” Celestia said obviously tired of having this discussion. “While I believe my sister was a bit quick to use that method of settling things, your fighting with The Wanderer's mind would have torn it apart had we let it continue!” Luna shot her sister an annoyed look at this, but simply rolled her eyes before returning her attention back to the prisoner. “What is going on?” I asked the younger of the two as her sister continued her attempt to calm my reflection. Princess Luna sighed “After my, admittedly rushed, attempt to calm your mind by taking the second personality, he grew into the form you see before you. Now he is seemingly obsessed with returning to your mind, though we have told him it is virtually impossible without killing you” she said looking back at the being in the cell. “The only other option is to fragment him before he can form his own being, though this is less likely to work than the other option, it's risks are far less” “So our options are take him apart, and put him back in my head piece by piece, put him in whole, though it has a likely chance to kill me, or let him become his own being?” I asked inciting a nod from the lunar princess. A chuckle escaped me 'Perhaps these two are not as perfect as people make them out to be' I thought. “What will the effects of him becoming his own have on me?” I asked making the lunar princess turn towards him. “Well it would take your mind time to heal, as well as for him to complete himself. Ultimately the choice of what we shall do is yours, but you must weigh your options carefully” Luna said before turning back to me. “For if you perish while we are attempting to put him back, the chance of you returning at that 'bonfire' with a sound mind, is little to none” I nodded weighing my options before looking to my reflection in the cell. I approached making his bickering with Celestia stop as she stepped back. “And what do you want?” I asked, making him return an odd look. “what do I want?” he asked holding a hand to his chest. “I want to be back where I belong, I am part of your mind. And I want us to be safe” he said motioning to me. I regarded him for a moment, “You understand the risks?” I asked to which he nodded. “I see” I said thinking for a moment before turning back to the princesses. “How long will fragmenting and returning them to my mind take?” I asked. Luna gave an unsure look waving a hoof, “It could take anywhere from a few hours to a day, doing that will also make him a part of your mind, not another personality though” she said making me nod. “So be it” The dark alicorn's horn glowed it's normal deep blue before a click was heard and the cell door swung open. Princess Celestia stepped inside before both her younger sister and I followed. The off white alicorn's horn gave off the yellow light it was known for before the outlined cubes seemed to break down flowing back into her horn, leaving my reflection to float there in mid air. “finally!” It said stretching it's arms out and lounging back as if it was on a couch. I opened my mouth to ask him if he really wanted this, but he put up a hand. “no worries mate, out here i'm pretty much useless, kinda like you. if I go back into your head then at least i'd be of some kind of use!” he said before laughing at my expense. Luna gave only a slight chuckle before her horn re-lit. Blue magic started to swirl around the nearly transparent beings, slowly speckling it with orange before the brighter color completely turning it. Before my eyes the magic started to swell. The sight was breath taking, sending chills down my spine. After a few moments, I realized that my reflection was becoming more and more transparent to the point he could easily be thought as an optical illusion. A few more moments and he was completely gone and the magic formed itself into a loose sparkling sphere in the middle of the room. “Alright, this part is a bit trickier” Princess Celestia said as she looked over at me wearing a slightly unsure look on her face. I noticed her horn glowing making me raise an eyebrow, I was about to ask why, but a sudden impact in the back of my neck shocked my body making the world swirl into blackness. 'son of a...' I thought before consciousness faded from me.