//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - Shifting Worlds // Story: 10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 1 - "In Dreams They Came" // by TP Night //------------------------------// Luna moved her head just outside the door and carefully looked around. “All is clear. The Nighting has gone away, at least for now.” She said. They all went back outside the house. “Twilight.” She said. “While we have been in this realm, I have been thinking. I said earlier that your magic might not work here. And so far, you have not needed to use it. But I think, now that we have confirmed the Nightlings presence, you should try and see if you can or can not use your magic. It would be good to know in advance, in case we need to battle any of them.” “I agree.” Twilight said. “I’ll begin with something basic, like....” She looked around a bit. “Like lifting this rock.” She said, pointing at a rock on the ground near her hoofs. She focused on it, and her horn sparked. Its glow was unstable, flickering like a broken lamp. The rock moved, but just barely. Twilight stopped her spell. “That’s all I can do.. I can’t seem to get my magic focused.” Luna watched with thoughtful eyes. “Hm.. Yes, as I suspected then. Regular magic becomes unstable in the Dreamscape.” “So in other words, I’m magic-less as long as we’re in here.” “...Maybe not. There might be a way. I can try to give you a small amount of my Dream-magic. I do not know if it will work, but under the circumstances I would say it is worth a try.” “Yes, I agree. I might need magic later. So how does this work?” “Before we begin, I feel I should warn you. I have never attempted to transfer this type of magic to somepony else before. First of all, I do not know if it will work at all. Secondly, I do not know how it will feel. It may be a pleasant feeling, or it might be very painful. And that is if you feel anything at all.” “Only one way to find out, I suppose...” “Indeed. Do you still want to do it, knowing that it may cause you pain?” “I don’t think it’s much of a choice. I might need the magic later. Do it.” Twilight braced herself and closed her eyes. Luna moved closer, close enough to touch Twilights horn with her own. She bowed her head toward Twilight and just barely touched the tips of their horns together. Lunas horn started glowing intensively, almost like when she had fused the stones into one earlier. There was a few quick flashes of even brighter light. Twilight twitched and her legs gave in. She lost her balance and fell into a sitting position, rubbing her horn with one hoof. “oouch...” Luna shook her head. “Are you okay, Twilight?” “Yes...” “How did it feel?” Applejack asked. “At first it felt warm, almost like my body was filled up with hot liquid.. flowing from the horn and throughout my entire body.. And then when the flashes came, I felt as if I was given electric shocks. That’s when I lost balance. I guess this is what the Royal Guards’ Taser Spell must feel like..” “Try your magic now. It may feel a bit different, if this worked.” Twilight focused on the same rock again. Her horn gave a small spark, and a steady glow emitted from it. But it wasn’t her usual dark pink magic. This was a dark blue shade, like Lunas. And this time, it surrounded the rock too, which levitated up in front of Twilight. “...My magic... Are my eyes wrong, or is my magic blue?” Luna smiled. “It worked. And yes, your magic is blue, like mine. That is the dream magics’ aura. So now, you can use magic in this world. However, once we leave the Dreamscape, your magic should return to its normal colour.” “It feels a bit different too. It’s not harder to use, or easier... It just feels different somehow.” “In any case, now Twi can use magic again. We should get back to our duties and find that tower thing.” Applejack said. “You are right. We need to locate the tower.” A few seconds later, the whole place was rapidly covered in a thick fog. “What the hay?” Applejack said. Luna extended her wings toward Applejack and Twilight. “Grab my wings, before we completely loose sight!” The both took hold of one wing each. the fog increased, and within less than a minute, all the could see was grey and the tip of their muzzles. “What’s going on?” Applejack asked. “The Dreamscape is shifting.” Luna said. “Shifting?” Twilight asked. “Yes... When the fog disappears, you will see what I mean. Things will look different. The village will still remain, but it may be in other colours, it may be in ruins, it may be futuristic, or upside down. Or covered in sand. I will try to explain once the fog has gone.” * * * A minute passed, and the fog started fading. They all looked around. The village looked the same, except the houses no longer seemed to have doors. at least not visible ones. “What’s going on here?” Applejack asked. “Luna? Care to explain now?” “Yes. Shortly and simply speaking, this Dreamscape is a sort of collection of various dreams and nightmares. That means it is made of countless different dreams. And, since many ponies dream about the same places, but have different dreams - One pony might see Ponyville as it is today, while another pony might dream of the earlier days when it was just a settlement. Somepony might dream of it as a large, bustling city.” “So... You’re saying this Dreamscape ‘switches between different versions’?” Twilight said, looking around. “In a matter of speaking, yes. Though, the entire Dreamscape does not change all at once, it happens piece by piece. For example, what we just experienced was a shift in this village. As you can see, the houses lost the doors, but the rest looks the same. So whenever you see the thick fog, something will be changed when the fog disappears.” “Good to know. But I wonder.. Can anything change?” Twilight added. “No, not everything. Most smaller things can, but larger details do not. For example the houses, this village will always be here. But the way the village LOOKS can change. Some things are ‘locked’, so to speak, and other things are not.” “And what about us? Any risk of us changing?” Applejack said. “No. Since we are not from the Dreamscape, we do not change even if we stand inside the fog like we did now.” Luna answered. She looked upwards. “It appears more than the village shifted this time though.” “What do you...?”Twilight began, but stopped herself as she looked up. “Oh. I see... The sky is lime green...” Applejack climbed up on a pile of barrels to get a better view around. “The forest is greener too, and it’s not moving as much. I’d say it’s just a normal forest now.” “Perhaps it reverted back to how it was when the castle and village still stood here, before it became ‘alive’.” Luna pondered. “Sounds likely.” Applejack said and jumped down from the barrels. “Anyway, where do we go from here? I mean, the village is empty. Where can we find any clues to the tower?” “What about your old castle? It should be near here, right?” Twilight said. She took a leap and flew upwards into the air and started looking around. “See anything useful?” Applejack asked. “Not yet.. Oh wait, I think I see the castle! It’s hard to tell... It’s... kinda see-through. As if the entire thing was made of glass.” “Ah.. I actually recognize that. Last year, my dear sister had a dream that our old castle was made of glass. This must be a part from her dream.” “So, do you think there might be anything useful in the glass castle? Any point in going there?” Applejack asked. “I do believe we should make our way there, yes. Even if no ponies are there we may still find other clues to the Towers’ location.” “Oh, about that.” Twilight said as she landed. “I’ve been thinking. Is there any radius limit for where we may find the tower? I mean, can it only be in some specific areas, or can it be anywhere?” “Both yes and no. It can be anywhere within the Equestrian borders.” “So in theory, we might have to go all the way to Crystal Empire, or Manehattan, or Fillydelphia...” Applejack said. “In theory, yes. But if we DO need to travel great distances, we can use my dream magic to travel faster. Do not be worried, At the very most we should only need to be here a couple of days.” “That’s a couple of days in this time, right? Not a couple of real-world days?” “No, Dreamscape time. In real-world time, maybe a few hours.” “Very well. Now, let’s get goin’.” Applejack said with a small smirk, and started walking along a gravel road that lead toward the caste. Twilight and Luna followed close behind.