A Series of Unexpected Events

by LeoValkenhein

Chapter 8: Unexpected Truths

Chapter 8: Unexpected Truths

Rain Flare is torn from the latest bout of erotic dreams by shouts and the sounds of battle. Sitting up in the lavish bed to get a better look out of his and Applejack's cell, he can see changelings and guards battling in the cavernous prison. Pegasus guards dogfight with changeling drones while the unicorn guards take on the warriors and workers in the tunnels and along the pathways. Powerful spells fly through the air and collide with each other, creating massive explosions of magic that send shockwaves through the hive. Those fighting seem only to be a diversion though, the main focus being on freeing the prisoners. Dozens of pegasi and unicorns levitate and carry delirious ponies from their comfortable beds in the soft glow of the Changelings natural green lights into the harsher, inconsistent light of the sun to be set down on the scratchy grass and leaves of the forest above. Many of the saviors are attacked by those they are trying to save, those too far gone into the false reality, believing this life to be the lie. A sudden, splitting headache causes the thestral to cry out in pain, pressing his hooves to his temples. The world shifts around him, he feels like he is falling.

********

Rain Blade bolts upright in his stiff straw mattress to shouts and sounds of battle, his head feels light and his stomach twists as a feeling of déjà vu passes over him. A dull pain thumps in the back of the guards head, his eyes burn in the soft green light as though he hasn't used them in some time. Hoof falls advance quickly down the tunnel to his secluded cell, voices echo from the blackness.
"This way! The earliest subjects are in this section. Most of them were catastrophic failures and extremely dangerous, it was necessary to put them in solitary confinement."

"You better not be lying to us, bug."

"Knock it off, Blitz, she's been trustworthy so far, she has no reason to lie to us now," the last remark is followed by an angry snort as three ponies come into Rain Blade's line of sight; two unicorn guards and a changeling, either a traitor or a prisoner based on the conversation he had heard. The thestral recognizes one of the unicorns as being Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard. Deciding to skip the formalities, Rain Blade gets to his feet and trots to the bars of his cell.

"Captain, what's going on? How did I get here? And what did that changeling mean by 'earliest subjects'?"

"Relax Rain, I'll explain everything once we get you and the rest of the prisoners out of here. Are you fit to assist us?"

"Yes sir, I fe- GAH!" a searing pain shoots through the bat-pony's head, seeming to split his skull in half.

"Rain Blade!" Shining rounds on his informant, "What is happening to him!?"

"I warned you that most of the subjects down here were catastrophic failures. Your friend here, subject 03, is one of the worst, the spell literally split his mind in half. We had to put him into a coma or he would have died, we could still use him for food so it would have been a waste if we'd let him," the argument comes to an end when the three them here moans of pain coming from the form on the ground.

"He's still alive," the Captain lets out a relieved sigh. "Blitz, fetch a medic, and take the bug with you, put her with the other Independents," the guard salutes and leads the changeling away into the dark tunnel, lighting the way with his horn. "Rain Blade, can you hear me? Everything is going to be alright, we're going to help you get better."

"Nnngghh... R-Rain Blade? I'm... I'm Rain Flare. Wh-who are you? Where am I? What happened to Applejack?" Rain Flare looks around the small, dank cell in dismay, worried that he had passed out and the rescue had failed, or that he'd attacked a pony trying to save him and was now being held because they thought he was too far gone, too dangerous.

********

The pain finally stops and Rain Blade opens his eyes.

"What? Where am I?" He looks around the large cell and down at the luxuries bed he is sharing with a vaguely familiar orange mare in a Stetson. He shields himself and the mare with a leathery wing as the bars of his cell are exploded by a powerful spell. A purple unicorn enters, followed by a blue pegasus. The unicorn's eyes meet his and hers fill with tears as she gallops towards him.

"Rain Flare! Oh thank Celestia you're alright," She kisses him deeply and passionately. Thoroughly confused Rain Blade decides to just go along with it, until his mind clicks and he pulls away quickly, falling from the bed onto his back.

"P-P-P-Princess! What in all of Equestria are you doing!? And what's happened to your wings?" Twilight cocks her head, a frown tugging at her lips.

"Rain Flare, what are you talking about? I've never had wings, and I am definitely not a princess," The thestral begins mumbling to himself, ignoring the false mare.

"I must have switched places with my counterpart, I'm in the world he built to meet the Changelings design while he's in the real world. No matter, the spell should dissolve soon, Chrysalis and the Nightmare won't be able to focus on it enough while they're under attack."

"Rain Flare, darling, what are you going on about? You're scaring me."

"Shut up, Twilight doesn't talk like that. You aren't real, just a figment of my imagination, some desire conjured up by a demented sleep spell," The spell holds out just long enough for him to see the heart rending look on the false Twilight's face, tears streaming down her cheeks. When it mercifully dissolves away he is left alone in utter darkness, "Congrats Rain Blade, you just managed to stomp on another mare's heart, and she wasn't even real," the guard chastises himself bitterly.

The blackness is gradually replaced by a dull grey and the ground becomes soft underhoof. Different scenes play across the walls, ceiling, and floor of seemingly endless corridor. Some of the scenes are crisp and clear while others a just blurred smudges of motion, only a few discernible shapes in them. After a moment of watching one of the scenes, Blade realizes that they are his memories. He wanders around some, reliving his days in flight school and at cadet training. A flicker in the corner of his eyes draws the thestral's attention. An unfamiliar image wreathed in black and green depicts a guard delivering a letter to him from Princess Luna, calling him back to Canterlot for a top secret assignment.

"This must be one of my memories created by the Queen's spell," as he approaches to investigate further, his ears start to ring. The ringing intensifies as it spreads throughout the chamber of memories, he collapses, clutching at his ears, screaming in pain as the noise seems to cut into his skull.

Gradually the ringing stops, he opens his eyes slowly, not knowing what to expect. The surroundings have shifted again to a massive white expanse, completely void of anything save himself and a grey mass a few yards away. A small plip! draws his attention to the ground in front of him. A spot of blood sticks out on the stark white floor. As he watches another drips down to join it, touching a hoof to his snout he feels a wetness, upon examination he finds the hoof is red with blood.
"Wonderful..." wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hoof, Rain Blade makes his way over to the only other object in the whiteness.

"Nnnngh..." the unidentified mass groans as it sit up, stretching leathery wings and rubbing a hoof to its temple, "Where... am I?"
"In our head I believe," the other stallion is startled and looks over at Blade, it's like looking in a mirror. "Rain Blade of Princess Luna's Royal Guard and original inhabitant of this body, at your service."

"Rain Flare of Princess Luna's Royal Guard. What do you mean, in our head and original inhabitant?"
Rain Blade frowns.

"Well, the similarity in our names will undoubtedly cause confusion. As to answer your questions, I mean that we are unconscious and inside of our head, no other way to explain it, and you are the result of a failed spell concocted by the Nightmare and the changeling queen, Chrysalis. I was captured and experimented upon and you and your little fantasy world were the result of it. Now the spell has been disrupted and I have been awoken, so our brain is a little crowded with consciouses. Assuming we don't die from this, we can look forward to life in an insane asylum strapped to a bed with heavy doses of morphine periodically to dull the skull splitting migraines that will undoubtedly accompany our predicament. I would imagine that Discord will pay us visits on a regular basis to entertain himself with our psychotic ramblings and futile attempts to convince the nurses that we are not crazy."
The other stallion just stares at him through his rant, pupils growing smaller and mouth gaping larger with each passing moment. When he finally ends his tirade, his clone sits silently for a long time, before finally asking one more question in an empty monotone voice;

"I'm... not real?"