The nightmare came but this time there was something else in there. It was a predator, an eater of ponies and whenever I caught a glimpse of it, it wore a human face.
"You are a terrible person."
"You gave up your family."
"You gave up your species."
"Why do you hate everyth-"
The last cut off as a dark shape appeared, I thought it was Nightmare Moon, or Luna. It was huge and it was… Stick?
She ravaged the demon plaguing my night and I found myself curling up against her when she was done with them, letting her drink me away. It wouldn't be so bad.
I woke, with light coming into the barn. Stick was nuzzled up to my neck, her fangs resting so gently on my throat. I breathed once, twice. "You awake?" Her voice had almost no chitter. I pressed myself against her teeth a little more, then more. She closed her lips around my neck but wouldn't let me hurt myself on them. "They did bad things to you."
Pressed close, I nodded.
"Then we need to find Princess Twilight." Her assurance in that had me surprised, and she knew it. "What, you think I can't recognize a clever pony when I see one?" I laughed and started to pull back, only to have her grip at my throat keep me in place. "I made a mistake. I didn't feed for fear of hurting ponies. I need to be strong, to take care of those who I love."
She let go at that and I stared at her. "L-Love?" It felt all kinds of odd. I had always thought myself removed from that feeling, from experiencing something like that. But I had been wrong or, maybe that was the old me's thoughts about the old me. "I…" I held back, did I really want to say it, could I not? "I love you too, Stick."
Our embrace was tight, I could feel her hard shell against my soft dark fur. I was fairly sure she was the only pony I would feel this way for. "If you keep snuggling like this we wont ever see her." Loving and clever?
I sighed and nibbled her neck, my own fangs barely touching her. Rising to my hooves I still felt a little wobbly but it was better standing than laying down. Stick got up with me and together we did as best we could to straighten manes, tails, fur and shell. Opening the door of the barn I found it an oddly normal sight, ponies working in the fields, but none of them Apples.
Calling to one, moving to the fence, I asked where I could find the Apple family and was told to go to Twilight's castle. "Don't know, got the call to come help out my cousin's farm. They told me, when you woke, to point you to the castle." The stallion just shrugged.
Across town, it was a long walk but we decided that we had to do it. There was no sign of those other changelings, of anypony from the incident in fact.
"I was hurt," my voice didn't lift, this was the wrong song for that, "hurt so bad. They took from me, nearly all I had." It was slow, a lament.
Beside me, Stick brought her own voice up, with not a bit of chitter in it. "They hurt my love, took her fire. If I see 'em again they'll have my ire!"
I lifted my head at her ferocity. "They hurt my love," my voice was the next part, "they hurt me too. But when I hurt, it burnt right through."
Stick turned me around and, to my shock, bent me over backwards, singing down to me. "I was hurt, they hurt her too. If I lost her, I'd lose me too."
She leaned down and kissed me. I melted a little and kissed back, it was raw emotion, I loved her but this was mostly the song's doing and for once, I resisted it.
Stick blinked at me, helping me back up. "What… sorry, I got carried away."
Pushing back up against her side, I nibbled on one ear. "We both did. I shouldn't wallow in such emotions, it makes sad songs."
The one thing it did do, though, was to make the trip a quick one. Stepping forward, Stick raised a hoof and knocked at the big double doors. There was the sound of scuffing feet and then Spike had the door open. "Oh." He turned his head. "TWILIGHT, PENNY AND STICK ARE HERE!" He was a dragon, so that accounted for his amazingly loud voice. "Come on in, she was expecting you." He promptly turned and walked back into the castle.
We followed, I closed the door we had entered by. There was an odd shimmer of magic as Stick walked in. She blinked. "That was a ward against changelings, she must have made me an exception."
I nodded, and we moved in further. "There you are!" She was alone in the huge main room of the castle. The map hadn't manifest yet so… was this pre season five? But Moon Dancer had been… Apparently times could be confusing. "We have so much to do. Princess Celestia wants me to examine you both, then I am to give you your next magic lesson. My plan was," a notepad appeared, a list already on it, "to combine the two. I can feel something odd, but it isn't in your aetheric net."
Stick nodded. "Something changed. I had just the slightest nibble and instead of a little flow of emotional energy, I got a torrent. I had to stop so I didn't hurt her." The notebook of Twilight's flipped over and a quill appeared, scribbling quickly.
"Very well, so, you can make light steadily?" I nodded to her. A little scribble. "Lets see it then."
I relaxed that muscle, just like I always would. Only the smallest trickle of light came to my horn, but it was steady.
"Uh… whoa…" Stick's eyes were wide open. "Could you… oh…" She was chittering a lot and would have fallen over if it wasn't for Twilight wrapping her in energy. "Please… stop her."
A pinch was felt at my horn and it blew my concentration completely. Stick, however, looked… drunk? "Stick, are you alright? Explain what happened." Twilight had quill and paper ready.
"When she ch-channeled, so much-ch-ch energy…" Stick was very drunk, if I had any estimation.
I looked to Twilight. "I feel a bit drained but, not too much." I sort of shrugged my shoulders and lifted a hoof to make a throwaway gesture. "I should have been making more light than that and… well I am hungry."
The quill was going crazy, the pad flipped over a piece of paper and it kept going. "Stick, do you know how the pods function? Do they do anything to the pony inside?" Twilight was in full-investigation mode and even a changeling drunk on energy wasn't going to be stopping her.
"I don't know, they normally just make the pony… easier to drink from, like imagine you had a pond, use some magic, now you have a fountain." Stick giggled and made a fountain of green magic float in the air a moment before she seemed to blink and go cross-eyed. "Whoa, okay, that is all gone."
Twilight's quill broke and another instantly appeared. "Now then, lets look at your 'net." I felt her start to channel and stop. "No, need more focus. Downstairs!" She led the way to a door and stairs going down. When I didn't move fast enough she plucked me up from the floor, Stick too, levitating us down.
"Hey, Twilight, slow down. We aren't going anywhere!" I tried to run to get out of her bubble and she seemed to notice me again, really notice me.
"Oh, sorry. Could you climb up on the table?" She pointed with a hoof toward what looked just like the worst kind of mad scientist setup. I took a deep breath. I knew she wouldn't do anything terrible, but she does get carried away sometimes.
Climbing up, I lay back on the table, on my back. A colander-like device was plonked on my head, a little hole in it in just the right place for my horns. Unfortunately it wasn't built for lunar pony ears. A buzzing started and the machine I was, apparently, hooked to started to spew papers.
"Right, lets do that again." Her magic flowed, much stronger this time.
"Wait, Twilight, what are you… oh…" Her magic had bored into me, spreading out and making me feel… tingly.
"I have found something but… it isn't your 'net. It is like your magic just splits, right here…" Her poke at my horn felt odd.
"Twilight, can you… draw it?" She spun, eyes blinking away from that magic-view.
She blinked more and I could practically see her brain spinning a million miles an hour. "That… that would be amazing. Lets see if we can." She was over at the machine, magic and hooves working at different parts. The constant slew of pages stopped and, with a buzz, it deployed one sheet. Twilight tore it free and brought it over to me.
To say the view was abstract would be an understatement. It was like it had zoomed in on the heart, head and horn, but the rest of my body was a small foal. "It focuses on where my magic is?" I got a grinning nod from the alicorn. "Okay, so if this looks right, to make magic work normally there are, two? Yes, two. Two paths from the base of the horn, one into the middle, one to the outer."
"You were just about to learn that, as your magic class…" Twilight looked shocked. At least there was something, at last, an electronics design course would help me with.
"So, we can see a good chunk of each part of that section of my magic, it fans out in parallel, pushing down through my head to my heart. Emotional centers?" My question got a nod from both Twilight and Stick. "So, near as I can tell, whenever I channel, most of the magic I should be working through my horn ends up… radiating through my emotions."
Twilight gave a nod. "The question is, can we fix it. You might just naturally heal over time. Or you might be able to gain some control over it."
I pondered this and smiled. Leaning sideways off the table, I looked at Stick and pursed my lips. She grinned, still a little high from the magic burst earlier. She leaned in and I channeled just the smallest amount, barely a whisper of magic. The changeling's eyes first widened, then her kiss deepened. I let go and she softened back down, eventually pulling back.
"You remember what my shirt said, Twilight, when I first saw you?" I reached out one leg to wrap it around Stick and keep her close.
"Stand back, I'm going to try science?" The alicorn was so clueless. I had no idea why Dav- Silver, didn't want to come here and meet her. "Is there a room we can sleep in, I suddenly feel very tired. Maybe we could have that lesson tomorrow?"
"Oh, yes, yes of course." There was disappointment in Twilight's voice.
"I promise you, you get your questions and a whole day. But for now I need to relax and…" I was soothing the princess just as Spike arrived with a plate loaded with honey and nut cakes. "Perfect…" Green magic lifted the plate from the little dragon's hand and Stick led me back up the stairs.
"Up the stairs, fourth door on the right!" Twilight's voice echoed up the stairs behind us.
My horn flickered a little again. "Was that weaker, or stronger?" My question to the distracted changeling in front of me seemed to only gain her focus. A cake came toward my mouth and I caught it.
"Mmm, stronger."
I felt around that spot, where my magic split. Trying to get a sense of it, I tried to imagine another valve on it, pinching. "Now?"
"Much-ch-ch stronger!"
I giggled, opening that valve and trying again.
"A little less."
Science indeed. I could only limit how much magic I used on my horn, it seems that new 'circuit' took the rest and it flowed to Stick.