//------------------------------//
// Chapter 31: Pink - Equestria's Natural Warning Label. 
// Story: My Little Fantasy 
// by GuyWhoWritesThings 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 31: Pink - Equestria's Natural Warning Label.

The door to my room sounds with the light beat of a hoof.

"Come in!"  Trixie yells to the door before I can say anything, regaining her 'Great and Powerful' demeanor at the warning signs of an intruder, tiredness vanishing behind her usual mask.

The door pushes open slowly, and Twilight's head pokes through.  "...Is it alright if we come in?"

"Quite, Sparkle."  Trixie turns her head away from the door, pulling her hat down in front of her face to hide a tired yawn.

Twilight smiles, apparently noticing, but simply opens the door and comes in, waving a hoof behind her.  Shining Armor, Spike, and Princess Celestia soon follow, alongside a beige-colored, grey-haired unicorn stallion, slightly shorter than Twilight, wearing a white overcoat and sporting a wrap on his flanks.  He might as well be wearing a sign that says 'Hello, My Name is Gauze Wrap'.  The other main feature of note about him is his horn - for whatever reason, it's the second largest in the room, second to only the Princess'.  I'm guessing that's a good thing?

"Looks like the gang's all here."  I quip, turning to the pony I presume is Gauze Wrap.  "How's the prognosis, doc?"

He raises an annoyed eyebrow at me.  "Well..."  His voice is hoarse, betraying a high age.  Taking a closer look at him, and comparing him to Shining Armor, I can see some of the signs that I at least assume would point to a much older pony than any of the ones I've met so far.  "Miss Sparkle said you required more pain medication, which is not so surprising."  His horn glows, causing a glow to emit from the wound on my stomach as well.  "Although... examining this wound, it appears your moving around has interfered with the healing some.  It could take up to five days for this to heal now."

"I don't have five days."  I reply, gripping at the bedsheet with my hands in frustration.

"You'd need to be able to heal your wounds with magic instead of medicine to make it heal faster than that."  Gauze Wrap says, checking the wound over a second time.  "I can dull the pain for you, but-"

"Hold on."  I turn to my left, looking at the drawer that's been idly left open since Twilight opened it to show me my Materia.  "I think you're onto something, doc."  I reach my left hand in with a slight wince, grabbing one of the Green Materia and pulling it out of the drawer.  I flip it once in my hand, rolling it around in my fingers, before taking hold of it properly.  Materia is certainly more useful now that I actually know how to use it properly.  I focus on it, the familiar green glow of Materia magic welling up, as the pain in my stomach subsides to a throb.

"Wait, did you just...?"  Gauze Wrap looks at me, trying to understand how I took him up on a satement he'd clearly meant as hyperbole.

I shrug, swinging my legs over the side of the bed with only some discomfort.  "Yep."

The doctor turns to the other unicorns in the room.  "That's not a thing unicorns can do now, is it?"

"Nope."  Twilight replies to him with a blink.

"I'll just... get you a change of bandages, then."  Gauze Wrap says, swinging the door open and excusing himself from the room.

"That was mean, Dusk."  Trixie admonishes from her place on the two-seater chair, still doing her best to not allow her exhaustion to seep into her voice.

"I had a great teacher, oh Great and Powerful one."  I fire back, turning to look at her over my shoulder as I stretch my legs from my sitting position.  She replies by scrunching her face and sticking her tongue at me, while Celestia giggles in the background.

"You're recovering quite well."  The Princess comments once her giggle fit has subsided.

"Something like that."  I place the Restore Materia back into the drawer for now.  "It'll still take a day or so to heal enough for me to move properly, but it's at least ahead of schedule now."

"You seem a bit different now, Cloud."  The Princess says.

"What do you mean?"  I ask, not even sure where her frame of reference would be to make that statement.

"Let's just say," She gives a small, mischievous smile, "that plate of scrambled eggs I had the cooks send up this morning had the desired effect."

I go to reply, then turn to Trixie instead.

"Trixie never said she did it."  The magician replies, holding up her head.  "You just assumed she did it, and it was funny, so Trixie took the credit!"

I turn back to the Princess again, whose lost in a stronger giggle fit than the last time.  I consider rebutting, but quickly change my mind.  I'm getting played somewhere, I'm sure of it.  I sit down and sigh, throwing my hands up in defeat.  "Who needs enemies with friends like you two?"

The rest of them start chuckling to themselves as well.  "Gonna admit," Shining Armor starts, "this is pretty funny."

I throw my face into my hands and groan.

"Wait..."  Twilight looks between Trixie and I once her own chuckling subsides.  "Does that mean...?"  She asks her half finished question, motioning a hoof between myself and Trixie.

Trixie rolls her eyes.  "No, Sparkle."  Seeing Twilight's excited face fall a bit, Trixie continues.  "However, Trixie was indeed successful with the memory restoration spell you provided for her."

I turn, cast Trixie a glance over my shoulder, then promptly shove my face even deeper into my hands.

A pop makes me pull my face back out, and my eyes are greeted to a face-full of Twilight Sparkle, holding a quill and paper in her magical grip.  "So, you can finally tell me about your world, Cloud!"

"Twi..."  Spike crosses his arms, looking up at the bookish unicorn.  "I didn't get all of it yesterday, but I'm pretty sure when we talked to Celestia I got the part where there's some crazy monster literally eating the sky.   It might not be the best time for this?"

Twilight rolls her eyes.  "I was joking, Spike."  Spike, however, simply stares up at her disapprovingly.  "What?  Everyone else was doing it!"

"It's honestly really hard to tell with you sometimes, Twilight."  Spike says, shaking his head.

I lean back, throwing myself back onto the bed perpendicularly, staring up at the ceiling.  Man, Sephiroth dropping Meteor right on top of this castle right now really doesn't sound so bad.

Trixie's head enters my vision from above, looking down at me and blinking.  "Trixie thinks we broke her assistant."  She turns her head back up, to look at Twilight.  "Sparkle, how do you fix your assistant when he malfunctions?"

"Hey!"  Spike speaks up.  "I'm not some kind of machine, you know!"

Shining Armor coughs, stopping whatever smart-ass reply whichever one of them was going to say next.  "I hate to be the stick in the mud of the group, but don't we have serious matters to discuss?"

"Quite."  The Princess says, supporting him.  "Twilight has informed you of her knowledge of our situation as well, Shining Armor?"

"Yeah... sounds like things are getting more than a little crazy."  Shining Armor gives a nod.  "And this time, I won't be caught sitting things out."

"But, Shiny," Twilight looks over to him, "what about Cadance?"

"Yeah, about that..."  Shining Armor laughs nervously and places a hoof behind his head.  "I may have-"

"Sorry I'm late, everypony!"  The door bursts open again, and another pony walks in.  The first thing I notice is her pink coat - essentially nature's warning label for things that will drive me insane in Equestria.  The next thing I notice is the telltale horn and wing combination that signifies her status as another alicorn - something currently with at least a fifty-percent chance to make my life terrible.  Though, instead of the wispy, flowing manes and tails of the previous Alicorn Princesses, her mane hangs like natural hair, a three-tone shade of cream, magneta, and violet.  In her magical grip are several cardboard boxes.  "I heard that a few ponies here have a weakness for Donut Joe's, so I decided to make a bit of a detour."

"Cadance!"  Twilight exclaims.

"Donut Joe's!"  Spike fist-pumps.

"Trixie requires sustenance!"  Trixie leaps over the bed from her chair in a single bound, nearly landing on top of Spike.

"Didn't you just eat, Trixie?"  I ask, turning my head to look at her from my collapsed spot on the bed.

"Do not judge Trixie, assistant!"  She replies adamantly.  "Else, Trixie shall tell embarrassing stories about your colthood to our current audience!"

I jump up to my feet, ignoring the pain in my gut as I glare down at Trixie.  "You wouldn't dare."

"Trixie would da-!"  Her exclamation is cut off by a donut floating into her waiting maw, the magical grip quickly changing from Cadance's to Trixie's as she takes the donut and begins chewing on it.

"Your friend's a pretty lively one, isn't she, Twilight?"  Cadance observes as she makes her way into the crowded room.  

"Yeah, lively's... one way of putting it."  Twilight says with a small laugh, all of us watching the poor donut be eviscerated in ways never thought possible.  "So why are you here, Cadance?"

"Oh, you should know how it is by now, Twilight."  She replies, sitting and draping one hoof over Twilight.  "My Shiny told me last night how about he's off to save the world, you know, boys being boys."  She turns, giving Shining Armor a sly look.  "And honestly Twilight, you'll learn this for yourself one day, but marriage really just means I've graduated from foalsitting the younger sibling to foalsitting the older one."

"Cadance..."  Shining Armor gives the duo an annoyed look.

"Oh, hush, Shiny."  She smiles.  "It's just a bit of teasing."

"Oh, bringer of Donut Joe's!"  Trixie declares, the poor donut now fully devoured, taking her hat in one hoof and sweeping it to her side as she bows.  "The Great and Powerful Trixie, Magician Extraordinaire, owes you a sincere debt of gratitude!"

Cadance giggles, bringing her free hoof to her lips.  "It's quite alright, it was my pleasure."  She unwraps her hoof from Twilight and moves closer to Trixie.  "It's nice to meet you, Great and Powerful Trixie.  Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, at your service.  But please, call me Cadance."

Trixie's extravagant gesture quickly turns into a full bow.  "Please call the Gracious and Humble Trixie by just Trixie, your majesty!"

Cadance rolls her eyes and turns to Celestia and Twilight, pointing a hoof at the prostrate Trixie.  "Does she always do this?"

"Kinda...?"  Twilight replies tentatively as Trixie gets back to her feet.

"Trixie apologizes Princess... Cadance."  She says, placing her hat back in its proper place.  "Trixie is still not entirely used to the near-constant presence of royalty in our company."

Cadance giggles.  "It's quite alright.  Though..."  she walks past Trixie, over to me, placing her wing on my shoulder.  "You're quite a bit more interesting looking than Shiny made it sound.  And so tall..."  She turns to her husband.  "And that, Shiny, isn't teasing."  She says with a wink.

I reflexively begin vying to make a new face-to-palm-per-day record as I groan again.  "I give up..."

"Anyway!"  Shining Armor says, giving Cadance another annoyed eye that she replies to with a playful smile as she pulls back her wing.  "The matter at hand, everypony?"

"Right," Celestia takes control of the conversation, "Cloud, does your restored memory have any information we can use to combat this threat?"

"I'm... not entirely sure."  I reply honestly.  "I still don't know how Sephiroth came here... or, in a lot of ways, how I came here."  Seeing the confused look from the Princess, I clarify.  "It's... complicated."

"Luna spoke to me."  Celestia says.  "She says that she believes the threat against our world may not be this 'Sephiroth', but that you dismissed her."

"I..."  I think back, reflecting over the events that have happened in Equestria with my new memories.  "I'm not sure."  I admit.  "The duplicate in the Crystal Caves, that person fought, acted, and spoke like Sephiroth.  However, using Jenova's cells to infect wildlife and attacking at random isn't Sephiroth's style.  Everything he does has a purpose.  It's possible that he's acting more aggressively since he doesn't know anything about this world, but..."

"Je-no-va?"  Twilight asks, mouthing the name.  "This Sephiroth... person, he can use cells of a different creature?"

"Again, it's complicated."  I reply, placing my right hand against my forehead to think.  "The short version is, Sephiroth contains inside him, and has the ability to control, the cells of another creature called Jenova, which can infect and control other life forms.  I have some of these cells inside me as well, which is how I survived his attack in the Crystal Caves... but also why he can influence my dreams."

"I... see."  Twilight's face curls in thought, turning my words over in her head in an attempt to understand how what I just told her might actually work.

"If it is 'Sephiroth'," Princess Celestia interjects as Twilight gets lost in her own thoughts, "how can he influence and consume the Weave like he does?  Our first goal needs to be severing that ability before any more damage can be done."

"I don't know."  Despite having my memories back, 'I don't know' and 'I'm not sure' are still common parts of my vocabulary.  "Back on Gaia, Sephiroth's plan was to use a powerful Natural Materia, known simply as the Black Materia, to summon a creature called Meteor to wound the planet, then place himself inside the wound as the planet's Lifestream attempted to heal it.  Nothing like that has happened, so it's safe to say whatever method he's using to pull down the Weave is different."

"I see."  Celestia nods.  "Yes, neither my sister nor myself have found any large-scale damage to Equestria or anywhere else within our range of perception.  The only activity we can find are the night-time prowls of the creatures our foe spawns."

"Say..."  I turn to the Princess.  "Where is Luna, anyway?  Everyone else decided to crowd this room like sardines."

"My sister sleeps during this time."  Celestia replies.  "Her and I may be alicorns that measure our age in centuries, but we still require slumber like any other pony."

"Right."  I nod, as the door behind the crowd creeks open again.

"Doctor Gauze Wrap," the old stallion announces himself as he slips through the door and past the other ponies, a namesake wrap clutched in his magic, "back with the, uh... gauze wrap.  If my patient could sit back on his bed please, I can get this changed over quickly."

I follow his instruction with a sigh, as the doctor uses his magic to quickly remove the wraps around my chest.  "How's the damage look now, doc?"

He grumbles at 'doc' before replying.  "It's... quite a bit less, actually."  He unrolls the wrap, a pop causing some sort of ointment bottle to come into existence.  "You must show me how you did that sometime.  My Gauzinga ointment is one of the most potent healing salves in Equestria, but your... whatever that was you did, beat it by a factor of five."  

...Gauzinga?  Really?  He applies the ointment to the gauze before using his magic to quickly wrap my chest back up.  I'll give him some credit - whatever 'Gauzinga' is, it's definitely effective at dulling pain, as the residual pain I've been feeling since using the Cure spell quickly disappears.  "Thanks."  I reply absentmindedly.

"I'll re-wrap this, too."  His eyes turn from my chest to my left arm, still wrapped in the bandages Fluttershy put on it a few days ago.  While it's somewhat visible through the top of the bandage, it becomes more obvious as he unwinds that the blackness I'd observed during the breakfast before coming to Canterlot has advanced further up my left arm, nearing the elbow.  The doctor pulls back slightly, raising an eyebrow, looking to my right arm, back to the left, back to the right, then finally back to the left.  "...I assume that's not supposed to look like that."

I raise my arm, flexing my left hand.  Without the bits of armor or gloves normally covering things, it's easy to see my left hand has also been changed to the inky coloration.  The skin isn't entirely black, like some kind of rash or gangrene.  Rather, it's... splotchy?  I think that's the correct word to describe this.  "It doesn't hurt, but... yeah, that's not supposed to be that way."  Whatever it is, the Cure spell hadn't affected it at all.

"Well, I'll take care of it the best I can."  Gauze Wrap says, producing a few more ointments and mixing them on a wrap before applying a new bandage.  I turn to the others, and let out a small sigh as I see Trixie's eyes downcast a bit at the sight of the wound, or infection, or... whatever that is.

"Thanks, doc."  I give him a nod as he finishes dressing the wound, and he's clearly biting his lip to avoid giving the 'doc' label a reply.

"Well..."  He says, after a moment.  "If the patient is stable, I'll be taking my leave.  Call me if I'm needed again, everypony."  He nods, slipping back through the mass of ponies to make his exit.

"...Is your arm okay, Cloud?"  Twilight asks, once the doctor's left.

"It's fine."  I reply, perhaps a bit too quickly, and reach my left arm down to grip the side of the mattress and hide it from view.

A silence hangs in the air for a moment, before Twilight speaks again.  "...What if we used the Elements of Harmony?"  She asks.  Trixie mentioned using those earlier, too. whatever they are.  Celestia had mentioned gems and compared them to Materia, so that gives me a better idea, but...

"It would be hard to predict the outcome of the Elements of Harmony without knowing the truth behind our foe, Twilight."  Celestia replies, lowering her head slightly.  "While I said the Elements of Harmony are capable of making miracles... they're not exactly miracles we can control.  This shouldn't be surprising to you, Twilight, since they chose you, but in a lot of ways, the Elements of Harmony essentially have their own consciousness.  Their own... idea, of how the world should be.  If you're strong enough, you can influence the outcome, such as when I used them to seal Luna in the moon one-thousand years ago, but to do so will usually break your connection with the Elements for good."  Sealed Luna in the moon...?  This must be related to the 'Nightmare Moon' thing Celestia mentioned before.  But, wasn't the moon supposed to be an illusion they make?  How do you seal someone in an illusion?

"But what's the problem, Princess?"  Twilight asks in reply to her explanation.  "The Elements of Harmony, when we used them, helped to purify the darkness from Princess Luna and sealed Discord in stone.  Even if we don't know quite what they'll do, they've never let us down."

"That's true, my Student."  Celestia nods.  "However, there is no known record of using them on a being not from our own planet.  It's possible the Elements of Harmony might be able to affect it, purify it, seal it, or something else, but..." Celestia hesistates a moment, "it's also possible that, being from another world and, in turn, from another Weave, or Lifestream, the Elements of Harmony won't be able to do anything to this 'Sephiroth' at all, or that they'll simply choose not to."

"But we need to try, don't we?"  Twilight insists.  "If we don't do anything..."

"My Faithful Student, listen."  Celestia turns to Twilight, facing her completely now.  "The Elements of Harmony are powerful, and key to our world.  I've asked you to face many dangerous threats before with them, but this isn't like Nightmare Moon, who wanted to be worshipped, or Discord, who wanted to spread chaos and disharmony, and watch as ponies suffered."  She closes her eyes, taking a breath.  "You saw the being in the Crystal Caves, Twilight.  If the Elements of Harmony fail, this 'Sephiroth' won't hesitate to simply kill you.  There won't be any second chances, and we can't afford to lose the Elements of Harmony, nor could anyone in this room afford to lose you, Twilight."

"I... but..."  Twilight hesitates, clearly wanting to argue but not finding the words.

"I don't think you're incapable, Twilight," Celestia says reassuringly, "but understand the need for caution.  We must act quickly, but even a single mistake could have consequences most of us would prefer not to contemplate."

"Guess I'll just have to hit him until he stops moving."  I quip, pulling everyone's attention to me.

"...That's a, erm, bold plan."  Cadance says with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not a plan at all."  Shining Armor interjects, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a breath to clear his head.  "However, after what happened to Twili in the caves, it's definitely a sentiment I can agree with."

"And you wonder why I said I've graduated to foalsitting the older sibling."  Cadance admonishes, giving her husband a sidelong glance.

"Actually..."  I cut in, thinking back for a moment.  "Twilight, you said when you spoke to the diamond dogs that helped us back in Ponyville, that the one, Beethoven, had brought a... head, back to their burrow?"

"Yeah..."  Twilight confirms, "why?"

"When Beethoven brought the diamond dogs to attack Ponyville, I think the creatures they brought with them were incomplete attempts to build a duplicate of Sephiroth.  When we beat the duplicate inside the Crystal Caves, its body turned out to also be a Diamond Dog... and before, the ones that helped us said that diamond dogs had started disappearing from the dwelling after Beethoven returned with that head."

Trixie looks up, the realization dawning on her as well.  "You mean, you think it's... Jenova's head?  The one Sephiroth took?"  ...I'm going to have to get used to this, aren't I?

"Yes."  I confirm.  "I don't know how it got here, or how Sephiroth would have lost it, unless he gave it to the diamond dogs intentionally... but it's all connected, somehow."  I nod, standing back up and turning to everyone with a determined fist-pump.  "We need to investigate that burrow.  Even if Sephiroth has moved on, we'll probably find something there.  One of Sephiroth's big flaws is his ego.  He'll think he's untouchable, so I doubt he cleaned up even if he's no longer there."

"That settles it, then."  Shining Armor says with a nod.  "I'll go with Cloud tomorrow to that burrow, once he's fully healed, and we'll check it out.  I can get the directions from the remaining diamond dogs that Princess Luna has been watching over.  You girls can stay here until we get back."

"Trixie is not staying behind!"  Trixie replies to him with a stomp of her hoof, and a resolve that part of me worried wouldn't be coming back.

"I'm not either, big brother!"  Twilight moves next to Trixie, both unicorns giving him a glare I'm more than thankful I'm not on the receiving end of.

"Twilight..."  Shining Armor attempts a rebuttal, but gets cut off.

"No!  Shiny, I'm an adult, and my magic is even stronger than yours is!"  Twilight declares, refusing to back down.  "I'm not staying behind!"

"That may be true, Twilight," Shining Armor says sternly, "but you're still my little sister, and nothing's going to change that.  You could be stronger than Princess Celestia and I'd say the same thing."

"Shiny..."  Cadance moves up next to Shining Armor, putting a wing across his back and leaning up against him.  "The little Twilight Sparkle I foalsat way back then is all grown up now, and she even saved our wedding.  You need to accept the fact she can take care of herself, even in situations like this."

"..."  Shining Armor shares a look with Cadance.  "You're right, honey.  All four of us will go.  Tomorrow.  Is that better?"

Twilight's determined face gives way to a calm smile.  "Yeah, Shiny, that's better."

"Hey!"  Spike pipes up.  "What about me?"

Twilight closes her eyes, thinking for a moment.  "I'd feel better if you stayed with the Princesses for this, Spike."

"What?"  Spike protests.  "You get mad that Shining Armor doesn't want to let you go, but then you want to not let me go, Twilight?"

"It's not the same, Spike..."  Twilight looks away, the dragon's counterargument clearly making her feel guity.

"How not?"  Spike keeps pressing the matter.  "I want to help, too!  You always go off with the others when stuff like this happens and it never feels like I can help you do anything!"

"Spike..."  Twilight keeps failing to collect her words.

"Let the youngling come, Twilight."  Trixie replies, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.  Her hat is pulled down slightly, obscuring her face.  "You understand the risks, little dragon?"

"...Yeah."  Spike replies after a second, blinking in confusion at the fact it's Trixie coming to his defense.

"Then, it should be fine."  She flips her hat up with a hoof, then drapes said hoof across Twilight's shoulders.  "Besides, he's got the Magnificent Twilight Sparkle to protect him if it really comes to that, doesn't he, Twilight?"

"...Magnificent Twilight Sparkle?"  Cadance mouths the title, giving the two unicorns a sly, curious look.  "Since when does my little Twili go by a name like that?"

"You never told them?"  Trixie asks, giving Twilight a smug grin as the lavender unicorn's face begins to cycle between shades along the red spectrum.  "Well, mares, gentlecolts, princesses alike, allow The Great and Powerful Trixie to regale you all with the tale of The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle, and the amazing debut performance in stage magic she made alongside The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!"  Trixie saunters to an open space on the far side of the room as she performs her intro spiel, clearly getting great pleasure from the way Twilight is squirming in front of her brother and the two Princesses.

It's good to see some things never change, at least.