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Misunderstandings

A dream? I wondered, looking around. If it was, it was certainly unusual. The room was solid, detailed to the point that there were even imperfections, like a nick in the kettle on the fire. The room itself was rather small. In one corner was a bed, another held the fireplace with a kettle, complete with something foul-smelling boiling inside. Aside from those two spaces, almost every other space was crammed with books. I even recognized a copy of the book I’d written on the use of non-combat spells in combat situations, which confused me. Only fifteen copies had been written that I was aware of… besides the original, that is.

Finally, I noticed the figure hunched over the desk next to the bed, face buried in… wait that was MY book! But how? It had just been sitting on the table! I looked again, and the book was no longer where it had been.

“Ah, good: you’re here.” The figure finally looked up. “I’ve been waiting for you to find your way here.”

I looked him up and down for a moment, or at least what I could see of him. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, with brown hair and tan skin. But his youthful appearance was belied by his eyes. They were the eyes of an old man: tired, experienced, wise.

“Where are we… and who’re you?” my hand crept toward my sword, but found only air.

The man noticed the motion. “Your sword’s still with your body, along with your Element. As for your questions, the complete answers are rather complicated and would take too long to explain. Suffice it to say, we’re no longer in the physical realm.”

“You mean we’re in one of the Aetherial Realms?”

“For one of your era, you’re surprisingly knowledgeable of the Old Ways.”

“Since you’re reading my book, I’d have thought you knew of that already. Especially since that looks like my original copy, complete with all my notes!” My tone was borderline accusatory.

“You’re the one who brought this here, in your memories.” The man admonished, “I’m merely looking at it as you remember it.”

“You still haven’t answered my second question.” I flatly stated, barely fazed. The Aetherial planes were all unique, and anything was possible in them.

He paused, looking me up and down for a long time. “I apologize, but I’m afraid I can’t reveal that to you yet. Much too soon, too much to do before you’re ready.”

That answer, cryptic as it was, said something at least. “You’re an ancient mage,” I said, firmly. “I don’t know which one, but that’s the only thing I can make sense of.”

He just grinned at me. “Ah yes! I needed to tell you something, and time runs short!” His eyes began to glow green, and an aura of power like none I’d ever felt before flowed from him. In a voice that was completely different than the one that had been speaking mere moments before, he began, “Trust not the one who wears the form of the Alicorn and bears dominion over the heart,” the world began to fade, as if I was being pulled away, perhaps back to my body. “For in her heart she holds a great darkness; a darkness ….” There was more, but it faded into the darkness that began to encompass everything.

I was unfortunate enough to wake to two unpleasant sensations. First, golden light burned into my eyes and blinded me even before I managed to open them. Then came the pain; pure, burning agony from my whole body, centering in my chest and stomach and flaring out from there. After a moment, I could feel myself moving, and it was as if I was… floating. “Fuck… my everything,” I groaned, my voice coming out weaker than I intended. Despite my eyes screaming at me that it was a bad idea, I forced them open just a crack.

Above me, not three meters from my eyes, the sun burned intensely. A quick shift of my eyes showed that it curved inward, but a dark shape interrupted my inspection before I could complete it. “Don’t try to move, Felix. I’m not sure how bad it is yet.”

With a groan, I relaxed. If my companions were here, there was no need to worry. “Who’s carrying me?” I asked. Alaric was probably still out, even if he’d been healed already, and Shun was obviously too busy probing me with her diagnostic magic to be maintaining a levitation spell.

“Oh, that’d be Twilight,” she said casually. Immediately I attempted to leap away in terror, but as if the unicorn had been expecting this move, the spell shifted and caught me, holding me firmly in place, but not before a surge of blinding pain forced me to forgo any plans of escape.

“Am I really that bad?” squeaked the voice of absolute terror from somewhere underneath me.

“Nope,” was Shun’s long-winded response.

A few seconds of silence passed, until suddenly…

“AHA!” The cry of victory accompanied a sharp pain in my belly, followed by countless, tumbling through my form like the ripples after a rock hits water. Then, the pain faded into a warm, soothing pleasure.

“’Bout time,” I mumbled, sleepily.

“That’s right,” muttered the healer. “Sleep.”

Twilight watched the human female, Shun, use a very strange spell. The threads of power woven by her ‘fingers’ so fine that they were nearly invisible, even to the unicorn. Suddenly, with a triumphant shout that made the pony jump in surprise, the threads melted into Felix’s body, and he fainted again. A quick shift of her eyes showed that the threads of magic, moving so fast that she couldn’t even begin to guess how they worked, started to heal his broken body.

“Wow…” was all she could manage. The complexity of that spell was years beyond her. Maybe decades. “Where did you learn to do that!?”

The woman glanced over at her briefly, before moving onto the other injured human. “My clan specializes in the healing arts. Even the youngest of us know more about the human body than the entirety of any other clan put together.” She gave Twilight a quick wink. “And I always had a knack for magic, so putting the two together just felt… natural.”

They finally reached the end of the bridge between Princess Luna’s castle and Canterlot. Almost as soon as they exited the brightly-lit portal, they found their way barred by two guards, both unicorns, for but a moment until they saw the Princess and the Elements of Harmony. Though the strange creatures they were escorting gave them pause, they were not so foolish as to attempt to hinder these ponies.

Walking through the doors, they walked down a set of spiral stairs until they hit the ground floor. Twilight, long familiar with the castle’s layout, led the way through the twisting corridors to her old chambers, still unoccupied and with her things still lying exactly where she’d left them, even after more than a year away. Stopping in the center of the room, she turned to face the humans. “I will request an audience with Princess Celestia. Everypony else should wait here… shouldn’t be more than a few hours for her personal student.” The lavender unicorn almost glowed with pride at her own words.

“No,” Princess Luna’s voice was soft, but it made Twilight jump in surprise. “This is a matter of the utmost importance. We shall inform my sister of this, and thou will have her ear within the hour.”

Twilight deflated visibly. “G-good idea…” she said, almost dejectedly.

“Hey, cheer up kid,” said Shun. “Even I couldn’t compete with royalty when it comes to getting attention.”

Even before I opened my eyes, I bolted upright, the covers flying away from my chest as I began searching for clues to my location. My eyes opened as the covers hit my legs, and began to dart around the room, taking not of the bookshelves, the windows, the doors, the… two armored unicorns staring at me as I slept? Shit. With a quick somersault, I vaulted off the bed, landing on my feet almost two meters away and taking up an unarmed fighting stance, facing the steel-clad ponies, who simply watched me, not attacking.

“Where are my weapons?” I asked cautiously, taking note of the polished marble… Not as good as normal rock, but it’ll have to do. Wordlessly and simultaneously, the two white unicorns lifted a hoof and pointed… to the nightstand directly next to the bed, where my blades were calmly sitting despite my failure to see them. More than a little red in the face, I’m sure, I made my way over to them, and strapped them in place, glad for more than one reason that I was still dressed.

Turning back to the door, the comforting weight of my weapons back in their places, I said, “Please stand aside.” Of course, the two didn’t budge. “If you do not allow me to leave, I will force my way out.” My hand moved to grip my sword’s hilt as I advanced on the two soldiers.

To my surprise, the one on the left finally spoke. “We’ve been ordered to escort you through the castle, kid, but don’t expect us to bow to your every whim just because the Princess’s personal student has taken a liking to you.”

“Who has taken a liking to me?” I asked, more than merely confused. I’d never even met anyone who claimed to have that title.

With a grunt of annoyance came the reply, “Lady Twilight Sparkle.” And my head went spinning. That crazy unicorn was a noble?! Looking around, this time out of curiosity, I noticed that this was the kind of place I could imagine her living. Bookshelves on every wall, going up to the ceiling, and all crammed with books so tightly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if magic had been used to jam them together.

“This is her… Lady Twilight’s room, isn’t it?” the looks I was given were about as close to a ‘well duh,’ as it got. “Well this is awkward… care to ‘escort’ me anywhere but here?”

I swear I saw a brief flash of understanding dart across those blank faces, but it could very well have been my imagination. “Where are you planning to go?”

I paused to think for a moment. “Where are the others who came with me?”

“They should be on their way to the throne room as we speak for their audience with the princesses.”

“Take me to them.”

I was led quickly through the winding corridors, and it was obvious almost instantly how lost I’d have been on my own. Within just a couple minutes, my guides managed to find their way to a set of massive double-doors. Just outside stood my comrades, Nero’s hand already on the door handle. Without a word to my guards, I sprinted up to catch them just as the doors swung open. “’Bout time, Felix,” Al muttered to me. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it.”

I was about to reply, but then a loud, feminine voice said, “Welcome to Equestria, my sister has said only…” she broke off, staring at us for a moment. “YOU!” she screamed, “YOU DARE TO RETURN HERE?! GUARDS!”

I was confused, but with the sound of clanking steel signaling the arrival of what seemed to be a hundred guards, I didn’t have time to dwell on it. A quick look around, and we’d all met eyes. That glance was all it took.

We moved as one. Grabbing the threads of magic from the surrounding stone with my fingertips, I gave a slight tug, and the floor directly behind us rose to form a wall, cutting off reinforcements. I sensed Al casting stun spells from his staff, while everybody else formed up around us, weapons drawn and lowered at the bright-white princess. Within seconds, the only ones not paralyzed by Al’s spellcasting were us and the two princesses. Tying off the threads with a flick of my wrist, the new wall behind us wasn’t going anywhere for now.

With an inarticulate scream of rage, Celestia jumped at us with a flap of her wings, firing a stream of burning golden fire at us from the tip of her horn. Drawing my sword, I leapt in front of the inferno, slashing down. My blade met resistance, and it took all I had to hold it before me, cutting the blaze to part off to the sides, where I could hear it blasting through the marble I’d raised. The heat was incredible! Fortunately, it took only a moment for the fire to cease, though the end of it blasted me back, leaving me dazed. Unfortunately, that horn was pointed straight at me and the alicorn was still flying straight where it led.

At the last possible instant, a large, hulking form appeared in front of me so fast it was almost as if it’d been teleported in. Nero’s feet slid back a bit when the weight of the flying pony slammed into his grip, full-force. Just as quickly, three other shapes appeared: Shun to the left, an arrow drawn and positioned barely a centimeter from the princess’s right eye; Satomi, with the tip of her katana just as close on the opposite side; Dexter stood calmly between her wings, the tip of his longsword resting gently against the back of her skull. Panting, I stood back up and moved around to stand next to Nero. Only then did I notice that the horn he had saved me from was resting against his throat, just barely breaking skin and drawing blood.

“What the fuck!?” Was all I could manage to say. Looking around, I realized that, despite the inelegance of the phrase, all our thoughts were expressed perfectly by those three words.

One sky-blue eye alighted on me, and a look of confusion took it. “Who’re you?”

“What do you mean!? You attacked us!” Yelled Shun.

Looking over the rest of us, the alicorn seemed… confused. “You have the same aura…” she muttered, so quietly I may have been the only one to hear, “but different faces…”

There was a clanking of metal, and suddenly, I felt cold steel pressing against the back of my head. Looking around, I saw a look on each of my companions’ faces that said they felt the same thing.

Nero looked into the princess’s eyes and said, “You gunna to have them lower the weapons, or’ll we have to fight y’all ‘fore we can even warn ya about the comin’ war?”

The equine’s eyes widened at his words, and her body relaxed. “Guards, lower your hooves. I would like to speak with these warriors in peace.” There was barely a moment’s hesitation before I felt the edge lift from my skull. Slowly, cautiously, I sheathed my sword, taking a step back as the others did likewise.

“Hang on, let me unseal the entrance,” I said, grabbing the magical knot and undoing it with a quick mental flick, allowing the now-broken wall to sink back into the floor, leaving barely a hint that it had ever been anything but smooth marble. Instantly, many more armored soldiers rushed in, but stopped when they heard their princess call them off.

“Guards, leave us,” Commanded the princess. “Twilight Sparkle, if you would be so kind as to fetch your brother from his office? And made sure you and he come back alone.” The purple unicorn nodded vigorously, disappearing in a flash of light.

“Unicorns can teleport that easily?!” Demanded Alaric and I in unison, the two of us instantly distracted by the magical curiosity.

Just as quickly, we received annoyed looks from the other four. “Is this really the time?” demanded Shun. At her tone, we recoiled.

“Oh, right,” mumbled Al.

“Yeah… we’ll find out later,” I said to him.

No sooner than did I speak did Twilight reappear before us. “He said he’ll be right here.”

We waited almost ten seconds. Then, finally, another flash signaled a second, larger pony to appear. Instantly, something went wrong. The new pony leapt at me with a wordless battle cry, attempting to spear me on his horn the same way Celestia had done. With no time to draw a weapon to deflect the blow, and nobody near enough to help me, I did the only other thing I could and released my wings again, wincing when I realized that it would no doubt tear my shirt up again, and the jacket, too.

The silver-speckled blades caught his horn at the tip, wrapping around me like armor made from the night sky. Looking him in the eye, I saw the surprise I expected to see, but also… was that respect? Pushing my wings out, I easily tossed him back, watching as he was caught in a golden haze that kept him from hitting the floor.

“Shining!” came Twilights distressed cry.

Looking around, I saw that everyone in the room was watching me, weapons drawn. So, they’re all waiting to see if I’ll be the one to ruin this delicate balancing act? I thought. No pressure. Taking a deep breath, I stood straight, looking the unicorn that had just attacked me in the eye. “No hard feelings,” I said, “I’d probably have done the same thing.”

The tension in the room relaxed instantly, and it palpable.

Celestia let out a small sigh. “So, what’s this about a war coming?” she demanded.

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