He was busy when she arrived, working the strange world she once again found herself in with a desperate purpose. Busy, attempting to distract himself. She'd seen Tia do it many times before. Her sister often fell into such actions when something weighed heavily on her mind, but she could take no action to alter the outcome of the event. Odd seeing this, thing, this human, doing such in his dream. Did he not have any more of the insane humans to while away the time?
Approaching Cimmerian, Luna took note of his creation. It was a blocky construct, seemingly some sort of building. Judging by the textures she saw, it appeared to be made of some sort of stone. Following as he rushed inside, she noted that even the insides of the building had been given excruciating detail, signs marking storage rooms, bedrooms, the dining hall, and one which pointed to something called "The Ritual Room". When she finally caught up to him, he was in one labeled "My Room", and was attempting to get the odd materials to replicate what looked like a vanity. She coughed lightly into a hoof, drawing his attention from his work, and before she even had time to react he was upon her.
"LUNA! I can't do this anymore! I almost lost. I need an answer for this now, NO MORE PUTTING IT OFF! I don't want to lose myself to the memories. If I'm not me, I may as well be dead, you need to help me with this, now!" He yelled at her, any sense of patience gone.
"Cimmerian, please. Calm yourself. I cannot help you if-"
"No! My name is Ted, Theodore Fredson, you hear me! Not Lunacae Nocturnis, not Cimmerian, not Nightmare, not any of those other damned names! My name is Cimm- Damn it! I can't, I won't I..." The hysterical creature ranted and raved, horribly confusing the lunar princess. Just the other night he'd been the picture of patience, allowing Tia and herself to not only discuss their situation, but just be there for each other for the first time in years. Now the stallion seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown, in fact it was possible that it was occurring as she watched.
"Ci- Ted, calm yourself, I cannot help you if you are thrashing about like this!" She attempted, yelling over his mad ramblings. It seemed to have no effect, so she bit her lip, swallowed her doubt, and pulled the hybrid into her barrel. It was awkward, holding a creature nearly twice her size, but slowly he seemed to calm, and eventually she tried again. "I told you I'd come to help, C-Ted, what happened? What has you in such a state?"
"I... I almost lost it. I, the ponies I, that freed me were attacked." He said shakily, tears rolling down his furry face. "Gnolls, from the jungle struck our base when I was away. I came back to see. To see the bastards leading my ponies away in chains. Something happened, I lashed out at them. I'm not sure, I think one got away. No, I let it go. It was smaller, weaker. I let it leave as a warning to its pack. Then I went upstairs and collapsed in my bed. When I woke up, I... I" Ted choked for a moment, eliciting a soothing stroke on the back from the smaller alicorn. "When I woke up, I wasn't me. I was her. You. I called myself Luna, I. Fuck, I was looking around confused about where I was. I was wondering where my sister was, and why I was a guy. I, I don't want that. If that's what the memories do, I don't want them." Ted turned to face her, tears slowly falling from his eyes. "They're not mine, they're yours. Take them back, please. I don't want to lose myself like that again. I can't do it."
Luna just pulled him close again, going through her spells. The Nightmare never lost itself in her memories, as the creature seemed just as long-lived as she. Taking a preparatory breath, she pushed Ted away, looking him in the eyes once more. Memory spells were tricky, and she would need to asses the damage personally.
"Ted, I want you to listen very closely. I would like to search you, but I need your power to do it. The Traitor has left both me and my sister very weak, and this spell is currently beyond my mana capacity. Will you help me, and allow me to learn of the damage done to you?"
The hybrid seemed to consider this, no doubt still weary of her since her earlier attacks. Truly not her best moment, considering what her sister had goaded her into discovering. After a while, he seemed to decide upon his course, and he nodded to her, wiping away a few remaining tears as he finally calmed. She knew why; he was hoping for a cure to the madness. Unfortunately, there likely wasn't a fast fix for this. Not if she knew the nightmare as well as she thought she did.
"Good. Focus your power to me."
"I, I don't know how to do that" Ted muttered.
"Think of what you wish to do and let the memori-"
"No! No, I won't do that! That's how it happened last time, I can't-
"TED!" Luna shouted. "Calm yourself. Think of what you wish to do. They will guide you, but as long as you keep control of your emotions, they can do nothing more. I am right here. Help me to help you." She said, finally drawing a nod from the larger being, before she found a large surge of power flood her presence. Quickly forming the energy into a spell so it wasn't bled off by the Traitor's arrays, she cast her spell, and dove in to the lost stallions mind.
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'Calm. I am myself and no one else. I remember taking walks in the park. I remember playing video games. Yes, that's good, it's not something she'd ever had a chance to do, those are all me. Breath.' Ted was doing his level best to keep himself calm while the alicorn, now in his arms, did whatever it was she needed to do to help him.
It wasn't much, but he had hope she would find something useful, something that could be used to stop his leaks, his slips into that other self. After what seemed an eternity of staring at the business end of a blue alicorn, the glow died down, and Luna hugged him quickly before separating from him.
"Thank you C-Theodore. I, well, I apologize for my earlier actions. The spell the Nightmare used seemed to be a modified version of an old infiltration spell used by unicorns centuries ago. Amongst mortals, the memories can cause headaches and confusion in movement, but otherwise tend to be fairly simple to repair. In your case, however, the memories were, for lack of a better word, broken. I believe it was because it attempted to use as little mana in the memory part of the spell as possible. There is also the fact that the swap was with a creature that lived so much longer than your own species." The natural alicorn explained. "I did reinforce your own wards and managed to fix a few errors I saw, but it is still a temporary solution. It will also make it more difficult to draw on these memories for aid in the future. Are you certain you wish to be rid of them?"
"They almost drove me mad!"
"They also let you keep those you protect safe." She pointed out. "While I do not like the idea of somepony else remembering my past I, I will not fault you for this." Luna said, climbing into Teds lap and hugging him once more. "We will discuss this in greater detail at a later date. We will also see about getting you a proper magical education, rather that broken mess you are working with at the moment." Suddenly she grew a devious smile. "I do like the altered shadow blades, however. I first thought you'd ruined them with your patchy repairs, but seeing them in action, I would like to try them myself one day. They seem as though they would be entertaining to throw around. Good luck, Theodore, and please, do not fear the name this world has given you. It is yours, just as surely as the one your mother on Earth gave you."
As Ted returned to the waking world, Luna lingered just a moment longer, watching the old location of her new charge.
'Tia was right,' She thought to herself sadly 'If one were to test him magically, he would seem like a son to me. And no mother should let her hatred for the Sire color her views of her children.'
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Slowly, consciousness returned to the dark alicon in the Temple of the Shadows. Lifting his head and looking around, he found he was not alone. In the corner of the room, curled up on a few blankets sat Mirage, the nymphs still pressing themselves against her larger frame. He was torn between happiness at the convenience of the changeling being so close, and sorrow at the circumstances that led to her being in this situation. Since it hadn't failed him yet, he decided to let his instinct guide him, levitating the group of bug-ponies over to his bed, and nuzzling the mare awake. As she came to, and realized her situation, he decided to take the initiative.
"Why are you on the floor in my room? I know we have other places that would be much more comfortable."
The changeling floundered for and explanation for a moment, before looking back to the nymphs at her side. "They, the gnolls put us together, and they linked to me." She said, barely a whisper.
"And can you cut the link?" He asked.
"I. I don't need to. I felt it. The presence others spoke of. It passes by every now and then, like some bird of prey. But it didn't see us." She nuzzled the smaller of the two, smiling faintly. "And the closer we are to you, the less we feel it."
"I see." Ted said, taking the new information into consideration. Was he passively shrouding them? He knew he could hide his followers from sight if he focused on it, but detection magic was another ballgame. He'd assumed it was the distance from the array that led to the magical presence passing over the changelings, losing them in the jungle, but according to Mirage, the closer they were to him, the greater the effect. Which meant it had nothing to do with the distance from the array.
Smiling at the implications, Ted stretched a wing over the group. "In that case, I will tell you what I wanted you to do earlier. I want you to help Gleam with the foals. You already have experience taking care of little ones, and I'm sure you two can inform each other of what the other's species may need."
"But Master, the tunnels, I still haven't finished them." The shape shifter objected.
"There are others that can do the work, Mirage. You can still help them, I just want you to focus on something more important." Fixing his gaze on the nymphs, he asked her. "Do they have names?"
She shook her head. "No. Not only are they too young, only a queen has the right to name nymphs. Even then, they usually don't receive their names until much later."
"That's silly" The alicorn muttered, nuzzling the waking foals. "What will we call them if we need to talk to them?"
Noticing something behind her, Mirage turned to see a faint glow from the mark on the alicorn. Whipping back to the nymphs and the Nightmare, she saw the same glow in his eyes, as he looked deeply at the nymphs. "Adamant," he muttered, gazing into the eyes of the older nymph, before turning to the younger one "Gem." The younger foal giggled happily at the attention, latching onto the alicorns muzzle with its hooves before attempting to bite him. The teeth were too small though, leaving the newly named foal to gum the alicorn a few moments, as the glow faded from his eyes.
Blinking a few times, he turned to the changeling, confused, but she didn't see it. She was bowing, her head in the blankets. Suddenly, the alicorns stomach rumbled, distracting him from his questions. Sensing an opportunity, the mare grabbed the nymphs and left, citing a need to check in with Gleam about her new position. Still a bit dazed, not certain what had occurred, and slightly disturbed by the similarity to what Luna had done to him a few nights before, he rose from his bed and went to the dining hall. Questions could wait. Now that his mind was clearer, he needed to asses the damages the bandits did to the Temple the day before.
Only queens could name nymphs, that's what she'd always been told. She'd seen pony Namings though, and recognized this as something similar. Perhaps it was because he was a male, perhaps that was why the effect was so muted. Or maybe because he was an alicorn. Or maybe there was something to the ravings of that mad pegasus. She'd been right before, after all.
The queen that named a nymph was often its mother, hay, her own Mother had named her shortly before her last molt as a nymph. To see the one so many were starting to call Father do something not even the strongest queens could do, though? It shook her to her core. He was not natural, he was not of this world. He flew against every law, every fact of life the changeling mare held dear. But she wasn't scared by this.
No, she wouldn't be afraid. He watched her, after all, gave her a chance. He guarded their link. She'd lost her Mother, but she'd found a Father.
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The damage was minimal, it seemed. Shadow and Gleams reports were both certain that the repairs would only take two days at the most, as the only damage seemed to be doors and furniture. With the influx of wood from clearing the area outside the temple, those ponies with skills in carving were already churning out replacements for the damaged items, while the scraps were turned into arrow shafts and pikes, by order of Amald. Ted liked the griffon. Amald recognized the lack of weapons and saw this as the perfect opportunity to rectify this shortcoming. The food supplies, by some miracle, were undamaged, and they would be fine for another few days due to the foraging that was done around the Temple before they started clearing the underbrush. The medical supplies were running dangerously low, however, even with salvaging blankets and the thestrals tents for bandages. They needed to head to one of the villages to the north soon, before things degraded any more. The valuables from the bandits would help a bit, as well as the giant snake parts Ted had kept. Surely someone there would love to have such a trophy.
The planning was interrupted as an earth pony stormed into the war room, shouting one word; Gnolls. Ted was down the stairs and tearing down the halls to the door before the three ponies even knew what was happening. Opening the door and walking into the late morning sunlight, he was greeted by the sight of nearly forty gnolls all gathered in the clearing ahead of him. But they didn't draw weapons at his approach. Instead they pushed forward twelve emaciated captives of various races; Ponies, another changeling, a griffon missing its wing, and, to Ted's confusion and slight amusement, three zebra. The gnolls kept their heads low, one haltingly approaching him with its good paw held out and no weapons visible on it. Its pelt was riddled with old scares, it's left paw hanging limp to its side. It addressed him, not raising its head from its bow.
"Apologize. Did not know were under care of Dark One. Won't make mistake again. Take offering. If not enough, offer some of pack. Hold nothing back. Swear."
The voice sounded like and old male, surprising since the creatures seemed to follow the law of biggest is boss, and there was no way this was the strongest in the group. That's when he noticed the state of the rest of the gathered gnolls. Some were elderly, greying patches of fur scattered over their pelts. Others bore injuries that would impede combat, a missing eye, a mutilated arm, a wooden stump to replace a missing leg. Finally were the females. Normally he wouldn't have been able to identify them, but some seemed pregnant, while others were actually carrying pups on their backs.
"Do you rule your pack now, or are you just speaking for your Alpha?" Ted asked, returning his gaze to the speaker.
"Rust be Alpha when better." The gnoll said, gesturing to the shaking form staring at him from its place on a litter." Hope. Only one back. Warn us, Elders remember rules. Assemble, give tribute, apologize, survive."
Noticing those gathering behind him, he turned and addressed his ponies, gesturing to the captives given in tribute. "Clean them up before you bring them in, get them some food, and some beds, but keep them in Medical until we're sure they're not sick. We don't have the supplies to counter an epidemic at the moment."
Several of his followers rushed ahead, herding the shell shocked captives away from the middle of the clearing. He saw the shadows of several pegasi as they took off looking for clouds, and heard the commotion of the captives murmuring to themselves, unsure of what was to happen to them.
"Will your pack survive?" He asked. They had attacked his ponies, certainly, but some of those out there were children.
"W-we live. Need hunt more and less now. Less pack, less hunters." The elder said in the gnolls broken speech. "Why ask? Hope to take more, till too many?"
Ted could see the fear in the elder's eyes. The gnoll had promised to hold nothing back, and he was therefore in his right to do anything with them, right up to and including disbanding the pack, he assumed. That wasn't his goal though.
"I want one, or more if it makes the trip safer, of your pack to come here in one week. They will guide me to your Den. Understand?" Seeing the fear clouding the elders eyes, he spoke again. "I will not destroy your home. As much as I may desire to, as much as I feel it would be deserved, such actions are not vengeance, they are overkill. Those who attacked my ponies were dealt with, besides the messenger, and he served his purpose. Between now and then, however, if I hear of your kind eating ponies, or changelings, or griffins, or any creature capable of speech, I will change my mind. And I will burn your Den until not even ashes remain. Am I understood?"
The elder nodded, every third nod punctuated by a scraping bow, before the entire pack took off into the underbrush. The situation seemingly diffused, Ted sighed, turning back and walking back to the temple entrance, passing by the shocked stares of follower and captive alike. Suddenly a stallion to his left spoke up, Twitch, if he remembered correctly.
"F-father, I don't understand. Why did you let them go?"
"Did you see them, Twitch? There's no fight left in them, just a need to survive. I won't kick a dying stallion just because I feel he wronged me in the past. I know it was scary, but I hurt them much more than they hurt us. Their friends, their families, they won't be coming back."
"But they attacked us, I mean, look at them!" A mare next to Twitch said, pointing a hoof at the captives. "Those things wanted to do that to us!"
"So you would do the same to them?" Ted asked, frowning at the mare who ducked behind Twitch. "I will not stoop to that level. My followers will not stoop to that level. I will learn what I can next week, and I will see if they can be taught better. If not, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. However, I like to hold onto the hope that deep down, we're all better than our instincts. Besides, before you had me, what was it that kept you going, little pony? It was hope, wasn't it? Hope that after all this suffering, you would have something to show for it. Would you deny another such hope, when not so long ago it was all you had?"
With that he left, walking back into the temple. He had so much to do, and the captives only added to the urgency of the trip north. Maybe...maybe it was time he put his pride behind him, and asked a pegasus for help with flying. Oh yes, and he knew just the one to ask. No way she'd pass up this opportunity. The only issue was how to explain his inability in the first place.