Gladiator

by Not_A_Hat

11 - Dream

"Wes? Twilight! You're back!"

I looked up from where I was laying on the floor, recuperating without being unconscious for once, to see Spike enthusiastically hugging Twilight.

"Hurk!...some air?"

"Oh! I need to tell them!" Spike released her and dashed out the door. A second later I heard stampeding hooves, and the door burst open to reveal a tall white unicorn with a blue mane. It was striped with a lighter shade of blue, just like Twilight's.

"Twilight!" She was once again swept up in a hug, which she returned gladly and laughed giddily.

"Shiny!" She squealed, but winced in pain. "Ow."

"Oh, you're hurt!" The unicorn carefully switched from hugging to levitating her and inspected her wounds, before glancing me over as well. "Medic!" He yelled. A second later the door opened again and another pony entered. He wore bronze armor, ornate but practical, with a crest atop his head.

"My lord?" he said, saluting the unicorn.

"Cold, these are the two we were preparing to search for. Get them some first aid and let me know when I can debrief them."

"Sir."

"Twilight and, Wesley, right? This is Cold Pack, our medic. I need to hear what you two have been through, after he makes sure that you're going to be OK."

---

The next hour was a bit of a blur. I started to wish I HAD blacked out. Cold Pack was a good doctor, but there was not much he could do for internal magic burns, damaged evil artifacts, and a bucket of bruises, besides hand out some painkillers and ice and hope for my recovery.

Somewhere in there, Twilight and I were moved to the hospital. After a thorough examination, the unicorn she called 'Shiny' returned and was introduced.

"Wes, this is my brother, Prince Shining Armor. He's captain of the royal guard in Canterlot Castle. Shiny, this is my friend Wesley. He's a human, and because of...things, he ended up captured with me."

"Things?" A raised eyebrow showed Shining wasn't quite ready to leave the discussion there, but he let it pass, instead quizzing us on what had happened after our disappearance. As soon as he got some idea of where the fort might be located he called in a few more guards, gave them precise orders for a patrol, and sent them off.

The rest of the story was related to a series of sympathetic winces, angry hisses, and a shocked gasp or two.

"So then something odd happened with Wes. I'm not sure exactly how it started, but he generated some sort of magical feedback and was able to pierce the shield. He distracted Sombra for a second, just long enough for me to snap off a Prismatic Sphere and warp us out of there."

"A Prismatic Sphere? Twily!" He laughed proudly. "You're just as shocking as usual. How can you casually consider 'snapping off' a Prismatic Sphere? Most unicorns would faint from that sort of magical overload."

"Hehe, well..." Twilight grinned, and rubbed her head abashedly. I bit my lip, hoping he wouldn't press for more. For some reason she was skating around anything to do with the soul-graft she had performed on me. I didn't exactly know what to make of that, but I'd pretty much just lain in bed and listened, here and there contributing a point or two. I yawned and rolled over, thinking to get some sleep.

Maybe I would hurt less tomorrow.

---

I was laying on a cloud.

It seemed totally normal, until I rolled over and discovered a tree growing in the center.

"Wait. Trees don't grow on clouds."

I stood up, plugged my nose, closed my mouth, and tried to breathe. As I pulled in a breath anyways, reality became clear to me.

"I'm dreaming."

"Correction. WE are dreaming."

Taking cautious steps, Twilight was coming around the tree.

"Twilight?"

I took a second to inspect my dream-self. As I concentrated on my fingers and feet, the dream solidified. This was one of the most realistic dreams I'd ever managed to achieve. It was also blessedly free of any of my usual traumatic memories.

"This is very odd," I said, wriggling my bare toes in the cloud.

"You're telling me," dream-Twilight said. "Dream sharing isn't supposed to just happen like this."

"Um." I said. Telling dream-characters they're just part of a dream didn't seem to work out well, usually.

"I mean, seriously, only Princess Luna is supposed to be able to dream walk. If I've started doing it, does that mean that our soul-bond is breaking down? Tightening? Does that mean we are in more trouble, or less?"

"I've never dreamed of a cloud before. Somehow, I didn't think it would feel like this." I said.

"That must mean it's from my dream." Twilight sighed despondently and flopped down on the cloud, laying in the tree's shade. The green leaves danced, sending dapples of shadow jumping and skittering over the fluffy surface..

"Wait wait." I said. "Ok. I need to re-think this. First off, are you convinced you're not just part of my dream?"

"What...Oh!" Comprehension dawned on Twilight's face. "You think dream sharing is impossible. Another one of the limitations of your science. Let me assure you, it's possible to dream walk. It's just not usually something that happens so simply as this. Only one pony has full control of their dream-self, and that's Princess Luna. I really am Twilight, although I have no idea how we ended up here."

"Ok." I thought for a second before throwing myself backwards to land flat on the cloud with a puff. I felt oddly safe here. "Ok, well, how about this. If you're really Twilight, when I ask you how you slept, you need to say 'like a banana' tomorrow."

She giggled a bit at that, but nodded her agreement.

"Fine then." She said. "If we're running an experiment, then you need to reply with 'orange you glad you didn't fall out of bed?'"

"Hah, OK. I guess that will work."

We lay under the tree for a while. All in all, it was one of the most restful dreams I'd had in a long time.

"So...any thoughts on this?" I said. "You claimed this shouldn't happen, but as a good scientist, you can learn more from a broken theory than a proved one."

She sighed. "I'm not sure. As I said before, this really shouldn't be happening. Perhaps the spell on your crystal was eroded by magical feedback? If so, the mixing of our souls could escalate...I really need to inspect it tomorrow."

"Hum. So, why were you were so reticent to tell your brother anything about the gem?" I asked, my eyes closed.

"She would not tell because it is forbidden magic." The voice that answered was unfamiliar, and Twilight's surprised gasp made me open my eyes. Standing on the cloud, not far from my feet and looking down at both of us, was the largest pony I'd seen yet. Her coat was midnight blue and her mane billowed ethereally, filled with a field of stars. I blinked as Twilight teleported to her feet and bowed. I smirked slightly, flexed my dream-control, and did the same.

The midnight alicorn raised an eyebrow at that.

"Princess Luna, I presume?" I said.

"Indeed. And thou must be the human, Wesley."

I nodded in response.

"I apologize for entering thy dreams without permission, Wesley. Yet this dream did seem unnatural to me, and since the guarding of dreams is part of my domain, I thought it needful to investigate." Her voice dropped slightly, taking on a serious tone. "It is well that I did. Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, how long did you intend to let this foolish exercise in numancy proceed before informing thy teacher?"

"It's not like that!" Twilight claimed, clearly bothered by the thought she had betrayed her teacher.

"She did it to save my life." I interjected. "It's no simple experiment. I don't know why this spell is forbidden, but she hasn't hurt me with it."

The dark princess regarded us coolly for a minute, before speaking again.

"I see the truth of your words. However, that is not all there be to the matter. This spell is restricted not because of the harm it can cause to the one it is cast on," she pointed at me, "but the harm it causes to the one who casts it." She turned to Twilight. "You know not what you have wrought, Twilight Sparkle. My sister must hear of this at once, or avoidance of injury will be a slim hope indeed."

"Did you know this?" I demanded, my head whipping around to stare at Twilight. She hung her head, trying to work up an answer. "DID you?" I yelled, slightly more loudly than necessary.

"Zecora did say..."

"Thou didst know?" Luna's voice was calm, but with an undercurrent of steel. "Surely thou art not so blind to the ways of magic to not see how badly wrong this could turn?"

"He was dying!" Twilight cried, anguish in her voice. "I-I was the one who wounded him, mortally! Don't tell me, don't YOU tell me that you've never been willing to throw caution to the wind! That you've never wanted to undo a mistake badly enough to gamble your life on it!"

Luna flinched as if physically struck, and cast her eyes down to her hooves. She stood silently for a second.

"Be that as it may, Twilight, everypony is judged on their actions, not their intents. Although there are those who foolishly esteem my sister and I as Goddesses, we are not able to truly judge the heart of anypony." She shook herself. "Sometimes even my own. I too have stood condemned for what I have done." She walked over to Twilight, and tenderly nuzzled her neck. "I will leave you with this, though; do not fear mercy. It's tenderness may cut like a knife, but my sister loves you yet. Bare your heart to her, and she will do her utmost to respond to that trust."

She stepped back, and her voice rang like a bell. "Both of you are hereby charged to appear before Princess Celestia with the elements of Harmony, no less than two days after you are discharged with clean health." She lowered her head and sighed. "Truly, this is but a formality; my sister would like to talk with thee and thine anyways." Her ears and tail drooped a little, as if the bearing of bad news had taken a physical toll on her. "Now that my royal business is done, I shall take my leave." She turned and vanished, rotating out of reality as if she was two-dimensional.

"Dang." I said. Twilight nodded soberly in response. "She's beautiful." Her nod of agreement turned into a boggle of surprise. "Seriously, royal, majestic, that mane...wow." I saw her looking at me suspiciously, and laughed. "I mean, like a work of art! Who do I look like, Louis Wu? I'm not into rishathra." That changed the look to confusion, and I changed the subject.

"Enough gloom!" I exclaimed, concentrating until I was hovering a few inches above the cloud we were on, "Since this is my first pleasant dream in quite a while, I intend to have some fun! Tag, your it!" I tapped her on the nose and flew off, laughing giddily at her surprise.

---

"Urgh." I rolled over and hurt. My right arm ached in a line from my chest to my fingertips, which were wrapped together in a bandage. I had bruises all over my body, and my other arm was taped to my chest to immobilize my abused shoulder. I awkwardly threw back the blankets and sat up, rubbing at my eyes with my free hand.

I was in the hospital. I'd expected it, but it still took me a minute to re-adjust myself to the surroundings. Groaning again, I swung my legs back onto the bed and scooted to lean against the headboard, before pulling the covers up over my legs.

"Wes, you awake?" Twilight asked. A glow of magic pulled back the curtain between our beds.

"Yeah." I said. "I kinda wish I wasn't, though. How did you sleep?"

"...like a banana," she said. My head cleared quickly at that. Sure, I'd experienced magic while being in this world, but honestly? I hadn't expected that to be anything more than an odd but fun dream. I rifled through my memory, looking for the response, and smirked slightly as I returned the bit of nonsense to her.

"Orange you glad you didn't fall out of bed, then?"

"Blargh." She grimaced. "That sounds even stupider when you actually say it."

"But that means," I said, "that was all real? You were really there? And...the Princess?" She nodded soberly.

"Yes, Princess Luna. We've been summoned to a royal audience in Canterlot. No getting out of it now. Looks like the jig is up."

"Twilight..."

"Yes?"

"Tell me."

She sighed.

"Alright. I guess you are owed an explanation." She took a minute to gather her thoughts. "First off, the spell I cast on you is branch of magic called 'numancy'. It's from the Old Equestrian 'Pneuma', or breath, as in breath of life, and '-mancy,' which refers to divination. It started as research into souls, especially the magic surrounding our Cutie Marks. There was much research done, by many respected wizards, but the Diarchy eventually decided that it was too dangerous to continue. Well intentioned practitioners, using their own souls for research, had a remarkable tendency to wind up dead after a failed experiment. Poorly intentioned practitioners, using the souls of others, tended to have dead bodies appear around them with distressing frequency. The whole discipline was bottled up." She turned to look at me. "I want to make it clear, the spell I used on you comes from the so-called 'good' side of the discipline. I had no nefarious intentions when I cast it."

"Twilight. If you hadn't already made that clear by your actions, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"Um. Right. Anyways, the spell is not without side effects." She sighed. "Working with magic is similar to working with any other high-energy project. Steam powered machinery, for instance. Although a machine is well built, well maintained, and well run, it's a complicated mechanism that contains high levels of power. Any sort of mistake can cause problems, and a small problem can cause a catastrophic cascade. A well constructed spell has multiple safeguards and fail-safes, but anything can be broken. The best spells are constructed as low-point balances; any energy added to them will self-correct the spell. This spell is not like that."

She rubbed her forehead, as if her horn was starting to ache.

"This spell was only half-finished, at best. Firstly, let me assure you, I knew every single risk I was getting into when I cast it. Zecora laid it out clearly, and I know enough magical theory..." She laughed dryly. "Suffice to say, I understood the spell. I understood the underpinnings of the spell. I understood the research those underpinnings were founded on. I knew the history of the researchers who laid those foundations. I knew what I was getting myself into, even if I'd never learned a numancy spell before, even if I re-wrote it on the fly, even if I have no idea where Zecora learned such magic."

She lapsed into silence, and I thought maybe she wouldn't continue, but her voice rose again. "That's not what you were asking about, though. You want to know what I've gotten myself into. Well, it's pretty simple. If something goes wrong, our souls could fuse. That-" She pointed a hoof at my chest, "Is what has started to happen. As I've said, it's not something simple, or romantic, or even good. At best, I'll die, and you will live a very confused life with two sets of memories. At worst, both of our souls will be ripped to shreds. Oblivion." Her voice faded into silence again.

"What are our chances?" I grated harshly.

"Wes, I-"

"Guess!"

"Not good." She said quietly. "Things are progressing too quickly. I'd hoped that we would have a quiet few months. If your soul healed with the support of mine, I would undo the spell. Everything would be back to....to the way it was before. Now, however...everything is going wrong. First, the memories. That, I thought, was manageable. Now, Sombra has forced us to stretch the capabilities of the crystal. It's even more damaged. The magic feedback, and the anti-magic spell, have introduced imperfections into the crystalline lattices. This dream-sharing, as much fun as it was last night, is a bad sign and we need to stop it however we can."

She rubbed her eyes, looking defeated.

"I knew, as soon as we teleported out of the crystal fortress, that we needed to go to the Princess. Celestia is one of the most talented mages in existence. It's just...well, I hoped it would never come to this, and it's a little hard to take. If only we had more information on how the crystal was built, maybe we could do something. "

I hunched over, and tried to think straight. What had happened wasn't important now. Even though I'd felt like she was punching me in the chest and head when she told me the consequences, and later, our odds, I fought past all of that. Self-loathing, recrimination, rage, and helplessness all burned away. I wasn't going to lie here and wait to die. I needed to do something.

Suddenly, a thought struck me, bringing a smile to my face. It wasn't a pleasant smile, and it hurt my teeth a little with the intensity of the thoughts behind it. This was it. A way to learn more about the gem bonded to me. Something I could throw my rage and anger at.

"How about we go find it, then?" She looked at me questioningly. "The Nexus." I tapped the crystal in my chest. "This came from a changeling hive. Let's go back, and find out what they did."

And maybe, just maybe, I'd get the chance to kill a changeling or two.

Comments

[Public Reader]

Great job. Loved it. Amazing story to say the least. Sad when I couldn't read it on my trip along the east coast yesterday. Still amazing though. No error that I can see. Keep up the good work

[Not_A_Hat]

3539130 Will do!

My schedule is still up in the air, but I won't quit!

[Public Reader]

3539702 yay
You deserve all of the fluttershys

[damnaion]

hummmm

[BunkerBuster]

Holy jeez, a Ringworld reference. That is something I never thought I'd see. As long as there aren't any Protectors...
Actually, that might be awesome.

[StarChaser01]

My right arm ached in a line from my chest to my to my fingertips

the arm arched in a line... so it was straight? also: To my to my...

[Not_A_Hat]

5209474 That's 'ached', as in, hurt with throbbing pain. Fixed the other, though.