> Just Roll With It: Kayla-verse
>  by sunnypack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 - Or
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1: Or


Celestia, Luna and I made our way out of the tower after Star Swirl so kindly teleported us to the castle. I bid Celestia and Luna goodbye and they watched me with big round eyes that tore at my heart as I waved away. Making my way back, I found Tempora ranging outside my front door.

Her tail flicked impatiently as I came up behind her.

“Hello?” I called out and Tempora whipped around to face me.

“Oh, Harmony. Just the pony- uh person I was looking for,” she replied awkwardly. I approached her hesitantly.

“Is something wrong?”

Something is wrong.

Tempora paced a bit away, then came back. “It’s your father, Harmony.” She trotted to the door and her horn lit up but then it faltered and she came back once again. There was a long pause. I realised she was waiting for me to say something. I jolted into action.

“Oh, u-uh c-come in,” I stammered, opening the door. I drew up a chair but she remained standing. She gestured to a seat instead. “Sit down, Harmony. I think you you’ll need to be seated for this.”

“How long?” I replied mildly. A flicker of surprise flittered across her features.

“How did you-“

“This was like the time my Dad told me Mom had passed away…” My eyes became unfocussed, I felt a wetness on my cheeks. “How long?” I choked out again.

I heard a sigh and the soft clatter of hooves. A pressure on my back. A linger of a breath as she gave me a soft embrace.

“One year,” she whispered.

There was silence for the longest stretch than I thought humanely possible.

“How?” was all I can say. 

Tempora’s expression changed, it became… sad? Regretful? I couldn’t see through the murky waters of her emotional whirlpool flooding across her features.

“Harmony, your father has been providing his unique set of skills as a… service to the crown.”

I looked up at that, peeping into the deep emerald depths of Tempora’s eyes. The windows to her soul was no more revealing than the silence that followed. I dove into the next question on my mind. A prickle of anger worked down my spine.

“I don’t get it.” My breathing quickened. “I thought my Dad was just tinkering, as usual.” It was getting hard to maintain control. “What was he doing? What does he have?” I clenched a fist to reign myself in a little. “Why does he only have one year?” I took a breath. “And why haven’t you taken me to see him, yet?”

Tempora had an indeterminable look on her face. “Your father has volunteered himself for some extra-Equestrian missions. Things that couldn’t be handled by the regular guard.”

I glared at Tempora until she lowered her gaze. I didn’t know what to say. There were too many things I wanted to ask. Regardless, Tempora continued, unsteadily at that.

“He didn’t want to be a figurehead with the crown. Even before, before I had even met him, he was out there- “ she waved a hoof vaguely “ -helping anypony who asked. He was… special to us, special to all of us.”

I pushed Tempora away.

“Don’t say that,” I warned menacingly. I stalked over to the mantle and lay my head on the cool stone.

Calm down. Calm down. I thought to myself. I repeated the mantra, feeling tendrils of anger withdraw, albeit slowly.

Tempora trotted over. “I’m sorry Harmony, what do you mean. Don’t say what?”

“You’re speaking like he’s dead!” Tempora opened her mouth. I threw up a hand. “No! Not now!” I gripped the mantle until my knuckles turned white. “Jus- “ I took a deep breath. “Just take me to him.”

——

With a flash, we appeared in a quiet room. The rooms walls were a sickly pale yellow. The walls were supposed to be bright and happy, I suppose. There was a quiet shuffle. I spotted an aged mare bearing a pile of sheets on her back. I watched with the curiosity that one reserves for an insect crossing the surface of my table. I just wanted to be alone with my Dad. I still waited patiently for her to disappear, though.

Then I approached the bed, sinking to the side.

“Dad,” I croaked softly. There was an empty silence. I reached out, taking his hand into mine. It was like touching ice. I turned to Tempora. “Why isn’t he responding?” I felt drained. “Why?”

Tempora looked like she was breaking in two, but she didn’t say anything. Her face was downcast and I saw glistening streaks of light reflected off the drops falling from the tip of her muzzle. Was she acting strong? Was she just weak? This was her fault! Was it her fault? Blame her! Forgive her. Be angry! Stay calm. Yell at her! Ask her.

Tempora waited for me. I don’t know how long, but she stood there. In that time a few messengers had come. I vaguely heard them talking about matter of the court. She was needed back, I heard them say. You need to come back. Somepony seeks your audience.

Tempora refused them all. After a while, she finally answered my question.

“Your father has had a sleeping curse cast over him. We coudn’t find out how to treat it. All we can do is keep him fed and watch over him.”

“Where was he?” I repeated. “What exactly was he doing?”

The soft clop of hooves came closer. “You father was in the griffon kingdoms.”

“The griffon kingdoms? Why was he that far out?”

“Investigating.”

“And that requires royalty?”

Tempora paused at that.

“Max sensed there was trouble within the griffon kingdoms, specifically with their own royalty.”

There was the rustle of parchment. I looked up and saw a scroll held aloft in Tempora’s telekinetic grip.

“This was the last message that Max had sent. It was addressed to you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, I’m not sure why but he specifically wanted you to have it.”

I took the letter from Tempora. With a snap, the seal was broken and I unfurled the scrolled parchment.

-----

Dear Harmony,

If this letter has been sent, then something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. I am writing this letter from a town just outside the capital city of Selim within the southern griffon kingdoms. What’s happening here… is wrong. Harmony, this is worse than the time when we were at Pravial, I have to stay here. I’ve written so many versions of this letter, but I still have yet to know what I want to write. Even now, I don’t know if this is what I really want, but I will leave it here.

In the time I have been here I realised that I have been very selfish. I have watched you grow into a strong, independent young man. You have always been one to do things yourself and in your own way. You remind me a lot of your mother, Harmony, and that makes me happy. It also makes me sad. While I see a lot of your mother in you, I fear I don’t see a lot of myself. It may be a good thing, but it also means I have failed you as a father.

Though my forays into Equestria had not passed more than six months on Earth, the truth is, I’ve been here a lot longer than that time. I’ve been travelling the lands among inhabitants that have welcomed me with open arms. I loved it here and though I wanted to come back to Earth, for you, I wanted nothing more than to be among the people and the ponies of this world. Like Earth, it’s not perfect but here I can make a real difference.

I know this must be how it is.

I’d like to apologise to you. Whenever I read this back to myself, the reasons I give never seem to be enough, it just highlights the many flaws I am riddled with. Harmony, I am afraid. Afraid that one day you will look at me and that tolerable gaze will turn into dislike and finally hatred. Because of that, I was a coward. I stopped asking for your opinions because I was afraid what the answer would be. I stopped telling you what I was doing because I was afraid that you’d judge me as a poor father. I was just so wrapped up in my own fears that I slowly turned away from you altogether. When I realised this, after lodging with a warm griffon family, it was too late. For them and for myself.

If this letter finds you, then there is no hope left. I have exhausted all my resources and this is the final stages of my inevitable demise. Ha! That sounds so melodramatic now that I write this. Ah where was I? The griffon messenger is here. She is faithful, she’ll make sure that this letter arrives safe and sound. I am getting sleepy. It’s so cold.

Please Harmony, live well. Don’t worry about an old man and carry on. 

Forgive me.

Love,

Your Dad.

-----

I clutched the parchment in my hands as I bowed my head to his hand. My father had a slight crease in his expression as if he were uncomfortable, even while sleeping. A burning filled my eyes and threatened to spill out.

“You stupid, stupid old man,” I rasped hoarsely. I clutched his hand tighter. “You stupid excuse for a father. Why do you have to care so much about others? Why’d you have to go out there and get yourself killed? Why couldn’t you just come back? Why do you always have to make my life so complicated? Why- “ I realised I wasn’t even breathing. I drew a deep, shuddering breath.

I felt the soft feathers of Tempora’s primaries wrap around me and my thoughts dissolved into a cauldron of roiling emotions. I wept until the tears had ended. I wept until I was drained. I wept past the emptiness. Then I wept some more. 

-----

The tiles of whatever room we were in, slowly grew warm as I knelt at the side of my father’s bed. My father’s hand never changed temperature. It was just as cold as when I had first grasped it. I squeezed it as if I could send all my warmth and life through that connection. I stayed there, wrapped in Tempora’s embrace, for the stars knew how long. Eventually, a small spark drifted lazily through the space of my empty mind. Something had to be done.

“One year?” I posed to Tempora, she confirmed it with a nod. I pulled myself up. I felt a tidal wave of emotions flow through every fibre of my being. Of all of them, there was mainly determination.

I looked in Tempora’s suddenly worry-filled eyes.

“Then we haven’t a second to waste.”

——

Star Swirl woke with a start as a sudden flash of white light lit up his tower room. I watched in amusement as he scrabbled weakly and stumbled out of his desk yelling a mixture of threats and profanities. After a short while of acclimatisation, I brought him up to speed.

“Sleeping curses, eh?” he tapped his chin with his hoof in thought. “Curses are a nuisance in themselves, but a sleeping curse… hmm… your father knows something. The spell caster wants to find out.”

“What? How? He’s asleep!”

Star Swirl turned a eye towards me. I took a step back from the sheer force of his gaze.

“Dream walking,” he hissed. Intrigued, I leant in.

“What is dream walking?” I pushed, but Star Swirl was mumbling to himself and pacing. Suddenly he burst into a gallop, grabbing a volume from a bookshelf, reading a few pages, and then tossing it aside. He grabbed several parchments and riffled through them in a similar fashion.

“Ahah! Dream walking. Your father doesn’t have long. Barely a month. Dreams pass faster than reality or a lot slower… hmm…”

Impatiently, I skirted around the various tabletop furniture and scattered literature between us and I stood in front of the eccentric unicorn, staring him down.

“You sound like you know something about this curse. Why didn’t you tell us before? Tempora said no one knew what was causing the disease- “

Star Swirl waggled a hoof at me. “Nopony said that. They said they didn’t know how to treat it. Also, I was cooped up in this tower and they must have only recently brought him here, which means I haven’t been notified before. Suddenly, I had an idea. Why is it a sleeping curse? A lot of preparation to get your father to just sleep and then pass away. Not to mention the constant drain on mana to keep the link active. Also, killing royalty, no matter on unofficial business or not, will prompt an investigation. That would be something the griffon kingdom would want to avoid. Without any proof, though…”

“Are you saying that my father isn’t going to die?” I asked hopefully. My spirits raised a little. They were crushed a moment later as Star Swirl shook his head hesitantly.

“I’m afraid your father will be as good as dead if they are doing what I think they are doing.”

A shiver worked its way down my spine. “What are they doing?” I finally asked, afraid of the answer.

“They’re erasing his memories. Quick, not a moment to lose!” he cried, flashing away. As I was just blinking the light out of my eyes, another flash lit the room.

“Oh, sorry,” he said meekly. “We’re going to your father’s room. Uhh, bring Discord.  We might need him.” Then he flashed away again. He flashed back. “Oh, and the Princesses. We’ll need them too.” He finally left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I stared at my fingers.

Time to go, I thought. Then I flashed away.


> 2 - Not
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2: Not


We gathered by Max's bedside, at first I alerted Tempora and she'd fetched Celestia and Luna while I went to find Discord. It had taken me a while to find Discord, in fact, it had taken a visit to the nearest Warning Tree to do so. After finding out what these 'trees' were for, I had loathed their very existence. Though I didn't like them but I had neither the magical power nor the right arguments to have them removed. 

Tempora had reasoned that it was just a precaution, it wasn't as if they were a weapon to slay draconequus. The Warning Trees just tracked draconequus nearby and warned if there was any of their particular brand of magic affecting the landscape or the ponies nearby. If Discord was not destined to destroy the world, then apparently he nor I had nothing to fear from them. 

I was angry and I still didn't like it, but one thing that Tempora never compromised on, for good or for worse, was the safety of her ponies. I suppose that she had the moral high ground in this argument, but I was beyond reason when it came to Discord. For the peace of mind of other ponies be damned, this was just another barrier between Discord and the rest of the ponies.

Discord knew of course, but it didn't make it any easier. Still in situations like this, at least it helped me find out where he was. When I found out though, I was a little surprised and a mite disturbed.

I entered the clearing with a not-so-subtle flash.

"Harmony," Discord greeted me with wistful smile. I spotted him sitting on a rock just outside his old home. If you could call the nest his home. I slowed as I approached the hunched over draconequus.

"Is everything alright?" I asked quietly. Discord gave me a weak smile.

"No," he admitted, tracing a claw down the side of the rock he sat on. "I was thinking about some things."

I hesitated briefly, then I carefully sat down beside him, wrapping an arm around my stiff friend. He felt a little cold.

"What's wrong?" I said finally, in the ensuing silence. Discord reached out and pulled at grass growing around the rock. He played with it for a while before turning to me giving a hapless shrug.

"I was thinking about my parents," he confessed, he tore the grass apart between his claws and his paws. "I don't know anything about them."

I sighed and gathered my wits about me. This was going to be a long conversation, but my Dad was on borrowed time.

I rubbed him affectionately on his head. "Discord, I don't know if we'll ever find out anything about your parents." I gave him a lop-sided smile. "But I promise you, if I find anything out about them, I'll let you know straight away."

Discord smiled at that and finally returned my hug.

"Thanks Harmony," he replied giving me a winning grin. "You're the only pony I can trust."

I snorted. "I'm not a pony," I shot back and the draconequus giggled.

"That's probably why I trust you," he commented. I felt a little sad at that.

"Discord, just remember that there are also good ponies out there," I reminded him.

Discord sighed and scuffed his hoof on the dirt as he got up from the rock. "Yeah I know," he said, taking a few steps away. "But it's getting harder and harder to see that everyday."

I gave him a playful punch. "Be the better pony, Discord. Better yet, be the better draconequus." I scooped him up in a surprise assault and put the heavy draconequus on my shoulders.

"Oof," I growled. "You've grown."

"Harmony!" he whined. "I'm not a foal anymore."

I chuckled at that. "You might not be a foal anymore," I said, shifting his weight around. "But you're always going to be my little brother."

Discord fell silent at that. I started out of the forest. It'd probably be best to tell him about my Dad when we were clear of the forest. Something about this forest always gave me the heebie jeebies at night.

"Do you mean that?" he asked suddenly after a couple of minutes.

I hummed an affirmative at that. "Of course," I enunciated more clearly. "You're family to me."

Though I couldn't see it, I imagine Discord was happy at that.

-----

As I clambered out the last stretch of the forest, I placed Discord gently on the ground. He padded halfway towards the front of my house before realising I hadn't followed him. He glanced back at me in worry.

"Harmony?" he called back to me. "Are you coming?"

"Discord, I hate to pile this on right now, but I need your help."

Discord's eyes widened at that and he scampered the remaining distance to crouch in front of me. He drew himself up. "Of course, anything," he offered. His tone carried a trace of uncertainty. "What's wrong?"

I almost laughed at that, inappropriate it was. It seemed like this whole day had been a slew of 'what's wrongs'. I shook my head to clear it of scattered ideas.

"It's my Dad, Discord. We're needed to help him recover. Can you come?"

Discord nodded eagerly. I held up a hand.

"I know Star Swirl wouldn't do anything underhoofed, but I can't help but feel that this will be a little dangerous. He was very serious about this." I paused. "You might be hurt. You don't have to come."

For the first time I had known Discord, I saw him angry. At me. He smacked me with his paw. I stared at him in shock.

He tapped a hoof on the ground, crossing his forelimbs as he regarded me. "Well?" he growled impatiently. "What are we waiting for?"

I grinned at that. Gees, I was being all kinds of stupid wasn't I? First I say he's family to me and then I tell him he didn't have to come.

"Thanks, Discord." I gave him a hug. I grasped his claw and snapped my fingers.

-----

Star Swirl was inscribing something on the floor. He didn't even look up as the aftermath of our teleportation flash blinded the occupants, excepting one person, of course. Tempora tilted her head in acknowledgement and I saw a sleepy Celestia and Luna yawn beside their mother. When they recognised us, Celestia and Luna skittered over to us.

"Hi Harmony!" Celestia greeted me enthusiastically. She grinned at Discord. "Hi Discord!"

Luna nodded at both of us. "Hi," she said in a more reserved voice. I gently patted the two alicorn sisters on their heads.

"Thank you both for coming," I said sincerely, I drew them into a hug. "I don't know what Star Swirl is planning but I think you both will play an important part."

"We'll try our best!" Celestia spoke up. Luna nodded furiously.

I grinned at the both of them. Then I turned to Tempora.

"So," I said. "What's the plan?"

Tempora gave me a strained smile. "Star Swirl has told me that what afflicts Max is a type of Dream Walking curse. When I gave him the letter- " she paused at this giving me a questioning look, I waved the issue away, my Dad was more important than the privacy of the letter " -he conjectured that Max found out something about the griffon royalty. They're erasing his memories from the dreamscape." Tempora took a deep breath. "Max won't die, of course, but we don't know how far this memory erasing could go. Or what it is even erasing."

I cocked my head in confusion. "So, how are going to fix this? Why do we need everypony here?"

Tempora shifted her hooves. "There are two reasons why we need everypony here. First, in most spells, there is a requirement of six ponies to create an amplification matrix. Five will gather around one and the one directs the power to execute the spell. The problem with this is Max is in an induced coma. Dream walking relies on the sleeper being in a form of deep sleep where dreams usually occur. When we step into Max's mind, it'll be more like his consciousness, and it'll be infinitely more dangerous."

Tempora had such a serious expression on, I felt like my next question didn't reflect the gravity of the situation. Still, I didn't know much about dream walking and this felt like a valid line of reasoning.

"How could dream walking be dangerous? We’re just observing things in my Dad's mind right? We can just find the source of the dream walker's link and dispel it."

Tempora nodded. "Conventionally that is true, but this spell appears to have buried itself very deep in Max's mind. If we try and dig around in Max's mind to scoop out the spell, we'll likely take a good portion of his memories with it. The problem is that in order to interact with the spell with finesse, we'll need to dive into the dreamscape and expose ourselves to get past the subsconscious shields that Max has put up in his mind."

"Subsconscious shields? I've never heard of that."

Tempora tapped a hoof impatiently. It seems like such things were common knowledge for magical users of her calibre. Probably didn't help that Tempora wasn't used to giving in depth explanations. Couldn't be helped though, I glanced back at Star Swirl. He was busy inscribing some more things on the floor. Occassionally a scraping sound preceded a levitation as he carved something that went under furniture in the room. I turned back to Tempora as she continued.

"Shielding is a form of mental defence against a class of mental spells. We call it psionics, but the griffons call it mentalism. Shielding is an effective way to protect your mind. Your father had been trained by some helpful griffons in his travels. Basically, shielding takes a particularly strong memory and reinforces that memory in the upper-most layer of the consciousness. It exists as a barrier to those that seek to gain access to core feelings, emotions, decisions and memories. Shielding is both your best strength and your greatest weakness. As it represents something that you feel the strongest about, you are essentially exposing your essence when you shield. There are ways around this, of course, but basic shielding can leave you vulnerable to attack psychologically for those that are not prepared."

"So the second reason we're all gathered together is…"

"Is because we're the closest ponies to Max at the moment so we have the best chance of breaching his shields."

"There is a third reason." We both turned in mild surprise to see Star Swirl leaning against the bed giving a small wave. "I'm done by the way if anypony cares."

I gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," he answered, he gestured to Luna. "But you should be thanking her."

Tempora cocked her head in confusion. "My daughter will be part of the six, is that not why we have gathered everpony here?"

Star Swirl shook his head in amusement. "No, Your Majesty. Haven't you noticed your daughter's cutie mark?" Tempora cocked her head in puzzlement.

"That is simply conjecture. Her dominion of the night, doesn't extend that far." She lowered her voice. "Also, I've not told her about that yet."

Star Swirl rubbed his muzzle with his hoof. He sniffed. "Alright, but she should be the focus of the circle."

Tempora gaped at the unicorn. "Luna couldn't be the focus! It should be me! She barely knows anything about intermediate spell casting, let alone dream walking."

"But it is her special talent!" Star Swirl shot back in a hiss.

"I don't care! She's too young, we can't do this."

I looked at each pony in the back and forth that had ensued. 

"I don't get it," I spoke up and both of them turned to me. I was taken aback by the intensity of their stares. "Aren't we all dream walking? Doesn't that mean the focus wouldn't really matter?"

Tempora sighed as she replied. "The greater the magical fidelity of the focus, admittedly, the better the chances of breaching the shielding and seeking out the problem."

"That's seems logical."

"It would be, if everypony here were trained professionals attempting a dream walk under controlled conditions. However, the focus is the most dangerous part of the circle. A fact Star Swirl should be well aware of. These conditions are not ideal and the focus of the circle has the most danger of magical backlash if something goes wrong."

"What could go wrong?" I winced, immediately regretted saying that. That's one for the foreshadowing record.

Tempora gave me a wry smile at that. "Any number of things could go wrong. Magical backlash from the focus losing the spell matrix cohesion. The shield repulsing us and causing feedback into the link. That one is the most likely out of all of these. The spell affecting Max to have some sort of defence mechanism to prevent dispelling or analysis. The lashing wouldn't spread to everypony in the five but the one, being the focus, will take the brunt of the counter-attack."

I drew my fingers through my hair as I thought about the situation.

"If only there were some way we could transfer the focus of the circle when we reached the spell," I mused out loud.

Tempora shook her head sadly. "No, transferring would disrupt the spell mid-way casting."

Star Swirl made to move but then paused.

"Or," he began thoughtfully. "Or, what if we co-focused?"

Tempora's eyes widened at that. She glanced at me, then to Discord before returning her gaze to Star Swirl. She cocked her head as she thought about it. “That hasn’t been field tested,” Tempora said slowly though she didn’t outright reject the notion. “It could work, but we would need a bond that is strong enough to withstand the link.”

“What kind of bond are you talking about?” I interjected quietly. Tempora and Star Swirl turned their attention to me. Tempora gestured at Star Swirl to explain. He nodded and delved into it.

“From what I know, and this is completely conjecture. Co-focussing is something that is theoretically possible but rarely occurs because it involves making yourself vulnerable across the link. When you co-focus you essentially become one entity even though physically, one of them becomes the focus and the other simply remains as a conduit. This was theory that you proved as fact when you dangerously demonstrated it after making  ‘the Tree of Harmony’.”

“That was dangerous. We can’t try it here either,” I replied, pursing my lips.

Star Swirl shook his head at that. “While the spell you attempted was dangerous, the act of co-focussing wasn’t in itself, malicious or particularly dangerous. Both Discord and yourself were able to trust each other implicitly, which allowed for the link to establish strongly. Had the spell backlashed though, both of your would be bearing the load, although it would be lessened as it distributed between you two.”

“So, you’re proposing to co-focus somepony with Luna… but you don’t want it to be one of the other foals, because they share in the danger. So what’s wrong? Tempora, you can co-focus easily with Luna.”

Tempora bowed her head, her expression flickered briefly and I failed to catch whatever it was.

“I’m not sure my children have a strong enough bond to co-focus with me.”

I shrugged helplessly. “Of course they do,” I pushed. “They’re your foals, why wouldn’t they?”

Star Swirl pulled me aside. He glanced back at Tempora and affixed me with an intense stare.

“Unlike you, Harmony, Queen Tempora hasn’t proven her bond with her foals just yet. Discord and yourself, both of you cemented a solid relationship that transcends life and death. Co-focussing is on a level as deep as that. It’s very rare for anypony to achieve a state that profound. Even sisters, will have their arguments, brothers will have their grudges, family and friends will have differences that prevent a true co-focus.

"For Queen Tempora, this is not a simple matter of casting a spell, this is a test. A test that will determine whether Tempora has enough love between herself and her foals.”

I finally understood. I swallowed thickly. This wasn’t going to be easy. I chuckled at that. Well it was never easy from the start.



> 3 - To
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3: To


I felt sorry for Tempora. It seems she tries hard, but it’s always something. I don’t pretend to know what it’s like to be in her position but I know people, or ponies for that matter, aren’t perfect. I don’t think anyone can expect her to be the perfect mother as well as be the perfect ruler. For any of us, even mortals, it was just one or the other. This was a delicate situation but I had trust in her, after all, she was a mare of her word.

“Hey,” I called out to her and she glanced up from her brooding. “I think you should give it a go with Luna.”

Tempora looked torn. “I-I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

I smiled and grabbed her hoof. “Come on,” I urged, tugging her along towards Luna and Celestia. “Let’s go ask her.”

As I approached with Tempora in tow, the three children suddenly sprang to their hooves and paws. Discord looked nervous, but I was mildly surprised to see Celestia and Luna were too. I tried to put them at ease.

“Hey guys,” I greeted them again. “Your Mum wants to ask a favour.”

Seeing the two fillies shrink away a bit as Tempora reached out, I felt sorry for the awkward Queen. I snapped my fingers and a burst of confetti blew out in front of them.

“Lighten up!” I admonished all of them. “We’re all family now.” With my arms, I wrapped them all in a big hug. Tentatively, the remaining four equines and draconequus hugged me back.

“All better,” I said with approval. “Now, your mother has something very important to ask of you.” I directed this statement to Luna and she looked at Tempora expectantly.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Tempora cleared her throat and dived straight into the issue. “Max, you know as Harmony’s father, is very very sick.”

Luna nodded. “That’s why we’re here, to help him.”

Tempora’s smile was a little strained. “Yes, but I need your help, Luna, my daughter.”

Luna looked a little nervous but nodded once again.

“Okay, Mother,” she replied, straightening.

“It will be dangerous,” Tempora warned. Luna nodded again.

“Luna, do you love me?” Tempora asked suddenly. I resisted the urge to facepalm. Way to be subtle.

Luna paused but smiled shyly. “Yes, Mom.” Her gaze flicked to me briefly as I made some gestures behind Tempora. “I love you.”

Tempora looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Oh, Luna!” 

Celestia bounded up as well. “Don’t forget me!” she whined, wrapping her hooves around her mother as well.

Star Swirl, being his usual tactful self, interjected with a sullen cough. “Okay, okay,” he groaned, traipsing to a stack of book squirrelled away in a corner that had gone unnoticed by me until now. He consulted a few volumes.

“Should we get started?” he asked impatiently to Tempora’s annoyance. Her ear flicked, but she stayed silent, only nodding in acquiescence

“Okay!” Star Swirl darted around the circle. He dragged us to various positions around the circle inscribed on the floor.

“You stand here, you here–– “ he pulled me to stand next to Discord “ ––and you’re here, okay Princess Luna you stand in the centre of the circle and Tempora, stand here.”

As everyone and everypony stood around awkwardly at the various positions around the circle, Star Swirl did a circuit around the whole gathering to make sure everything was in place. He swept a critical gaze among the various designs and nodded to himself, muttering all the time. Finally, he grunted and stamped a hoof.

“All right! Everything is goody good good!” he pranced over to a gap between Celestia and Discord. “I’ll initiate the spell matrix. Princess Celestia, Discord, Princess Luna, don’t do anything, just provide power through your primary focus. Tempora and I will construct the spell matrix. Harmony, eh, I think you should boost the spell matrix if you see a particular pony flagging behind.” He clapped his hooves together and danced on the spot.

“Alright, any last words?” he asked. There was silence in response. “Yeesh, okay let’s get to it.” With that the wizardly unicorn closed his eyes, deep in concentration. His horn lit up with a soft yellow actinic glow. The room was suffused with a soft golden light. At some unknown cue, Tempora bowed her head and closed her eyes as well. Her horn glowed a crimson red and suddenly the circle was alight with an orange glow. 

The air currents swept around the room and small particulates of glowing light whipped around the circle in a slow lazy current. I watched mesmerised for a moment until I felt a tug on my fingers. I looked down in surprise to see small white strands of glowing magical current flow from the tips of my fingers into the circle. Luna, Celestia and Discord had all followed Star Swirl’s lead. They had their heads bowed and I saw Luna’s and Celestia’s horns glow softly in sympathy, Discord’s claw and paw were both alight with suffused energy.

I realised that my part of the circle was duller and less vibrant than the rest. I struggled to pull at my magical reserves. I was holding the rest of the circle back.

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and bowed my head. I guess I was thinking too much. Just let it flow. I took a deep breath in, feeling the various energies flow around me. Casting magic was strange, it was like dipping my head into a bucket of water and opening my eyes. It stung for a moment before I could adjust to the shock of plunging into the magical plane. 

Magic requires a lot of concentration. Sensing magical currents and constructing the matrix requires as much logic as feeling. Simple, but wasteful spells can be done by any unicorn, like forcefully encompassing objects with a levitation field, but harder spells which require mental or metaphysical connections require a solid visualisation of the spell matrix, knowledge of latent ley lines and specific management of power and regulation. 

Many unicorns like to close their eyes when a particularly hard spell is attempted, any break in concentration can result in magical backlash. Power is fed back towards the user and they’re left sprawling on the ground for the resulting shockwave as some magical energy is displaced. I focused my entire being into producing matrices to encompass the spell, carefully supporting it and providing it with the auxiliary energy it required.

I felt the pulse of power around the circle slowly strengthen. Things became indistinct and dreamy after that. I felt myself sink slowly into a slumber. At first I fought it, until Star Swirl called out to me from across the room to let it happen. Slowly, blearily, I let myself fall into the cocoon of sleep.

––––

As I came to, I noticed the ground beneath me was soft but stringy. I was on my back staring at a strangely hued sky of deep azure. I glanced down at my hand, it was covered in a layer of something resembling grass but it was too fine. The strands waved about in the wind looking a little like wisps of green cotton. I ran my fingers through them feeling the softness for a while. I snapped out of my self-induced trance as I heard a shout from behind me.

“Harmony, is that you?”

I turned towards the voice and I saw Tempora come into focus. She looked worried.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, getting to my feet.

Tempora looked at me in suspicion.

“Who are you?” she demanded, nostrils flaring. I took a worried step back.

“Uh, Harmony, you just called out to me just then. What’s going on? Where’s the rest of the circle?”

I looked around. ‘Where’s Discord, Luna  and Celestia? Where’s Star Swirl?”

Tempora breathed a sigh of relief.

“It really is you,” she cried, wrapping her hooves around me. 

Confused, I held Tempora back a bit. “What’s happening?”

Tempora shook her head. “I’m not sure,” she replied nervously. Her eyes darted around. “We were supposed to wake up together, but instead we’re separated.”

“Do you have any idea what could be the cause?”

Tempora nodded slowly. “It’s just a theory, but I believe the spell that has Max is resisting our efforts from the very beginning. This doesn’t look like or feel like Max’s shield. It feels strange and alien.”

A cold breeze whipped around us and I felt a shiver creep down my spine.

“This place is a little eerie, I must admit,” I commented. Around us was just a plain field or that green ‘grass’. There weren’t any trees and the sky was light but there was no sun.

Tempora spread her wings but then retracted them. “I want to look around but I’m afraid of leaving you behind. I don’t like this place and I think we should stick together.”

I nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.” I don’t know, this place was giving me the creeps.

We traversed the grassy plains in silence for a while. I felt lulled by the steady hoofbeats of Tempora’s hoof steps regularly pacing beside me. The scenery was weird but it was placid and with every step I took it felt like I was getting more and more tired.

Tempora caught on before me.

“Harmony!” she shouted, clocking me with her hoof. The pain forced my eyes open and I stumbled, throwing my hands out to balance myself.

“Oh,” I groaned, shaking myself. “Thanks, I don’t know why but I feel sleepy.”

Tempora skittered nervously, casting her head this way and that, searching the horizon. “Something tell me that falling asleep here would be a bad idea indeed.”

My toes curled suddenly as I felt a presence behind me. I whipped around.

“Did you feel that?!” I squeaked, searching around for a hint of life. The plains were just as silent. Tempora grunted softly. I looked back at her and she was swaying on her hooves.

“Snap out of it! Come on, focus! We can’t sleep here!” I urged, shaking the alicorn queen. Tempora staggered around for a moment more before her eyes refocused on me.

“Oooh, that was strange,” she slurred. She shook her head and spoke with more force. “Harmony,” she began, her voice strained and intense. “I think we should leave now.”

I nodded quickly.

“How are we going to get out of here? Should we run?”

“At our current speed I don’t think we’ll make it out on hoof. Get on my back.”

“What?”

“Get on my back, now!” she yelled, and I jolted into action, mounting Tempora and clinging to her neck. With a powerful beat of her wings, she was airborne, although it was far less quickly than she usually was and with far less grace. I glanced back down and gasped.

“Look!” I yelled, pointing below.

A noxious blue fog was sweeping across the plains. I watched in horror as it swallowed the grass and turned in black as anthracite, it crept across below us, insidious and foreboding.

Tempora looked as disconcerted as I felt. “Thank Time we weren’t caught in that,” she said and I simply nodded in response to that. Whatever that was, I don’t think it was a good idea to touch it.

“What was that?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

I felt Tempora kind of shrug, shifting underneath me.

“I’m not too sure, but whatever it was it didn’t mean well.”

“Well we can’t be harmed here, can we?”

Tempora gave me a look that honestly made me feel like I asked her what colour the sky was, well here it was different, but you get what I mean.

“You can be hurt here as much as you can be hurt in reality. The damage, though not physical, could scar you. Touch it, and you may be bid farewell for a very long time indeed.”

I gulped audibly at that. Well wasn’t that just peachy?

“I think we’ve been hovering here long enough, I don’t particularly want to find out what happens when that blue fog thing decides to rise upwards,” I chittered nervously. Tempora didn’t say anything in response but she beat her powerful wings and took us away from the encroaching fog and towards the greener fields further ahead.

To lighten the load I used a simple levitation spell, trying to push against the air. It was inefficient and there wasn’t much to push against, but Tempora thanked me anyway as I probably dropped some of the weight burdening her.

There was nothing for miles around. I couldn’t see anything except the blue blot behind us and the green fields around us. I entertained a dangerous notion.

“What happens if we can’t find them?” I whispered softly. Tempora flicked an ear. Evidently she heard me, even though I had not exactly intended her to hear.

“Don’t worry, Harmony,” she consoled me. “We’ll find them, have a little hope. Have a little faith.”

I laughed at that. “My Dad used to tell me that hope and faith were dangerous things. It was better to deal with logic and facts.” In a smaller voice, I added, “I miss him.”

I felt a cold splat on my cheek. Tempora blinked away a few tears too. “I miss him too, Harmony. I miss him too.”

I was about to reply, but a glimmer in the distance caught my attention.

“Did you––“

“Yes!” Tempora replied quickly and tilted in the air. “What is it, can you see?”

“I have no idea, but it’s better than nothing!” I replied and we dove towards the glinting object in the vast sea of viridescent hues.


> 4 - Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4: Be


When we approached the light we spotted in the distance, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a beacon sent by the others. I held onto the hope that the others were out there somewhere, trying to reach us. Instead, Tempora and I alighted next to a strange looking artefact, surrounded by a faint white glow. It was a tall weathered limestone, with strange tribal carvings etched into its surface. We circled around it a few times in puzzlement.

“What do you think it is?” I asked her, pondering the significance of this new development. Tempora cocked her head and studied the stone intensely.

“I’m sorry, Harmony, I don’t have a clue. Dream walking isn’t a precise art, there are many strange and out of the ordinary things in this metaphysical plane. I can’t really tell you what they mean.”

I nodded, circling the stone once again. I reached out to touch the stone, only to feel a sharp tug on my clothes. A part of my clothes were wrapped in a glowing red aura as Tempora stared me down.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to touch the strange rock. It could be dangerous.”

I threw up my hands. “I don’t know, but I don’t know what else we could do.” I flopped down on the ‘grass’. I don’t know what this dream world grass was but heck it was grass now, no one was going to dispute that. Tempora was silent for a while, finally she spoke up.

“Keep an eye out for the blue fog, Harmony. I’ll do some tests on this in the meantime.”

I nodded and walked a few steps off to the side, giving her room to circle around the glowing stone unimpeded. After a few moments of listening to Tempora grumble and grunt at the stone as spell after spell lit from her horn, I turned my gaze to horizon. To my horror, I saw a tinge of deep navy blue stain the edges of the ground far away.

“Tempora,” I called out.

“Mmm?”

“We need to hurry. What have you found out?”

“It’s a sort of egress of some kind, I’m not sure how to activate it.”

“Nevermind! Try everything, the fog is here!” I yelled in desperation, pointing at the encroaching mass. Tempora turned briefly to look at the fog. Her eyes widened and she turned back to the stone, her horn lighting brighter than ever.

“Harmony, help me,” she cried out at me, gesturing with a free hoof. “Try any spell you can think of.”

I snapped my fingers, summoning a small bolt of thaumic energy and launched the missile at the stone. The stone shook and a dull roaring bell-like sound resounded, but otherwise the rock stood unscathed and unchanged. I tried again, with different spells, I didn’t have many in my arsenal, I was only a mage-in-training but I threw everything I could think at it. Conjuration, manipulation, dissipation, adaptation, metamorphosis, binding, rooting, and even levitation. Nothing worked.

Tempora tried some advanced spells, spells that to me were like a cathedral compared to my sand castles. She closed her eyes and concentrated, the spell matrix grew up from the ground like vines, I caught some sigils and runes that indicated Time and Energy, but otherwise the patterns were too complicated for me to comprehend. The stone shook and bellowed out a loud response, but it still remained the same.

Tempora stopped suddenly and threw a hoof out to disrupt my next spell.

“Stop,” she said, eyeing the stone. “I have an idea.” She circled the stone again, thinking out loud. “We’re in the dream-plane. Everything must have a significance.”

Nervously, my eyes were drawn behind her to the blue fog coming towards us at an accelerated pace. “Tempora,” I said urgently, and the mare only grunted in reply as she touched a hoof to the stone.

A pealing boom from the stone echoed around the field but it didn’t sounded lighter than when we were throwing spells at it. It hummed low and stayed in the air longer than any sound I thought possible could. The pitch of the noise gradually rose and the stone grew brighter.

“What's happening?!” I yelled in distress. I was becoming increasingly skeptical that we would make it out of here. The blue fog rolled closer, it was now close enough for me to see the roils of smoke and wisps of vapour that made up the mysterious fog.

“Tempora!”

Tempora was looking at me blankly, wide-eyed and unseeing. I took a step back, but she lunged forward, grabbing me by the hoof and slamming my hand against the stone.

In an instant, everything went a blinding white. The shrill whining cry of the stone faded and I faded out.

–––––

I felt a sharp pain in my side. My arm whipped out in the general direction of the annoyance. After a while it came again.

“Go away,” I moaned and I heard sharp skittering as whatever-it-was darted away.

I returned to my slumber.

Again, I felt the sharp pain. This time it was on my left shoulder. I groaned and opened my eyes. At first, all I saw was the green of the forest around me. Green trees filled with leaves, brown bark and blue sky behind it. It looked like I was back to an environment I was mainly familiar with. When I swept my gaze around I saw what looked like a large humanoid tiger. It was white with black stripes and it regarded me with a mix of caution and hostility. It held out a spear shakily in its grip, but other than the spear and the simple tan tunic it wore, it seemed bare of any other accessories. 

The spear must have been what was causing me my earlier discomfort. Seeing me looking at it, it growled. Eyeing the spear cautiously, I made to get up, but it poked me sharply with the weapon. I stayed still. It gestured with the spear to my right side. I couldn’t comprehend what it wanted me to do, so I stayed still. With a growl it gestured to my side again. I slowly crawled over to the spot it pointed at and stayed there.

“Good,” the tiger smiled, speaking in a lilting voice. It sounded feminine with a raspy undertone that I thought suited it.

“I’m glad it’s good,” I responded wryly.

The ‘tigress’ looked at me like I suddenly grew another head. At first she backed away in surprise, then she cautiously approached. She studied me for a while, then shook her head.

“Ha ha, I must be tired, for a moment I thought I heard you speak,” she chuckled to herself. I almost laughed at that, but it was strange, why wouldn’t I be able to speak? When we made eye contact I rolled my eyes. I had to admit, it was funny seeing that gawking expression on her face.

“But you can’t talk!” she spluttered, pointing a paw at me.

“Clearly I can,” I replied, still watching the spear. If the tigress got too agitated, I might end up impaled. “Let’s all just relax, shall we?” I offered and gradually and grudgingly, the tigress loosened her stance. As she did so I also relaxed.

“So,” I said casually, still eyeing the spear in case the tigress wanted to change her mind and stab me with it. “Where are we?” The tigress tensed, but eventually unwound, pulling the spear up so the butt of the spear touched the ground.

“You are in Campus, of course,” she replied slowly, but still watched me warily, as if I was going to attack her at any moment.

I scrunched up my face. Campus? I’ve never heard of a place like that, on Earth or in any of the territories within or without Equestria. My blank look must have been enough to tip off the tigress and she wiped a paw across her muzzle.

“Really?” she asked rhetorically, in a way that suggested that I had asked what colour the sky was. “Ugh, Campus is one of the five districts within the realms, don’t you know that?” 

I shook my head. “I’m new…” I said. “Don’t know my way around here.” I was struck by a thought. “Have you seen a red-maned alicorn around?”

The tigress leaned against her spear giving a shrug. “What’s an alicorn?”

“It’s a pony,” I started. “With wings and a horn…” I trailed off when the tigress simply mirrored a good likeness of my earlier blank look. “Nevermind,” I muttered with a sigh.

The tigress socked her head at me and sprung off her spear. She bowed to me.

“Nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Kayla.”

“Hello, Kayla. I’m Harmony,” I replied. She smiled in response and picked up her spear.

“Where are you headed?” she asked me, but before I could even answer she darted into the bushes. Suddenly, she was back, but this time she had a backpack slung over her shoulder.

“Uh,” I began, but paused. I didn’t know where I wanted to go. I didn’t even know where the heck I was. Was I still in my dad’s mind? Did I really end up somewhere completely different? I frowned, trying to think of a plan. First, I needed to contact the others. Most likely case, we were all split up, for some reason. Tempora should be around somewhere close, at least I thought that was a reasonable assumption, I mean who knew how the dream world worked? It seems like some things conformed to physical principles, like my magic, breathing – my stomach growled – apparently eating too.

Kayla interrupted my train of thought.

“Come with me,” she offered, gesturing with her spear to a direction to her left. “Over in this direction is my village, you may be able to get your bearings there, if you are unsure where you are.” She nudged me in the side. “It is not as if you can get more lost if you didn’t know what Campus was,” she teased as my cheeks mantled. Well it wasn’t my fault, but she was right, I was lost pretty bad. Perhaps it was lucky that Kayla had found me. I nodded in acquiescence, though she seemed somewhat relieved that I had decided to come with her. Strange…

It wasn’t a long trip, but we trudged through the forest. I was unused to walking down unbeaten tracks. Several times, Kayla would brush through branches and brushes and I’d get caught or tangled or whipped in the face by a stray leafy branch. To say I was glad that we reached a clearing was probably the understatement of the century.

Approaching the clearing, I took a small babbling brook and a couple of smooth flat stones. It took me a while to recognise that it looked a little like Discord’s former home, before he moved in with me.

Kayla gestured at me impatiently.

“Sorry,” I said. “Just remembered something.”

“Huh,” Kayla replied, eyeing me for a moment. Her eyes slid away from mine for a moment before whipping back to me. “I have something to tell you,” she began, I waved a hand for her to continue.

“If you don’t know much of Campus then you probably don’t know of village Rahira.”

At my obvious confusion she continued her explanation.

“Rahira is the law of our village, criminals are judged according to Rahira, villagers all respect, and even defer to, the Rahira in matters of the heart and spirit.”

Kayla paused and looked a little uncomfortable. I was starting to get an idea of the situation.

“So something about the Rahira is preventing me from coming to the village?” I asked her.

Kayla nodded and pressed her paws together in a way that reminded me of hands clasped in prayer.

“You will have to wear this,” she said, unslinging her backpack and rummaging around. She pulled out a metal band. I shrugged, not comprehending.

“What is it?”

“You’ve never seen a collar before?”

I looked at the band in a new light, but I didn’t know how she would get the thing over my head.

“Well yes, but it doesn’t seem so bad,” I reasoned looking at the metal band. She handed it to me reluctantly as I twisted it around examining it from every angle. It was smooth, I couldn’t see a mechanism that could be used to separate the two halves or unhinge it. It was just a smooth piece of metal.

“How are you going to get it on me?” I asked, handing the metal band back to her. Kayla took it gingerly in her paws and gestured to my neck with a look of askance. I gestured my assent and she placed the ring against my neck. She muttered a few words. The metal band glowed briefly and turned into something resembling quicksilver. Soon, I couldn’t see it as it flowed from her paw to wrap itself around my neck. I felt a warm feeling, but nothing worse than a tingle.

“Hmm,” I said, feeling the band. “It seems fine, but what is it for?”

Kayla laughed nervously. “Under Rahira, it is forbidden for any animal to walk into the village without a collar.”

I got the feeling that Kayla wasn’t telling me everything.

“Is that why you were so surprised to see me talk?” I put forward. Kayla nodded. That did make sense. Was I some sort of dangerous animal in this plane?

“Well it’s a good thing I’m not an animal then,” I said, tapping the collar. “So you can take this off.”

Kayla shook her head. “I don’t think that’s wise,” she said quickly. “You should keep that on until we can gather some supplies and find out where you are from. Then, you can leave.”

It made sense, but I didn’t like walking around with a collar on. With a sigh, I finally agreed. “Okay,” I mumbled, tugging at the collar. “But this better be worth it.”

Kayla nodded. “We’ll be fine,” she assured me, leading the way through the forest again. Reluctantly, I followed her, feeling the weight of the collar pressing down on the nape of my neck.

–––––

Outside the village, Kayla cautioned me on speaking.

“Some of us may not react as… calmly as I have when I found out you could talk. I think you should keep quiet until we leave the village.” I nodded in response, I was already committed.

“Okay,” I said simply.

Kayla lead me to the village gates. Around the village were huge wooden spikes set into the ground. They looked as if the builders had simply stripped the branches and leaves off the trunk of a tree and simply sharped out an end and planted the other in the ground. It was a crude, yet effective wall. The only thing that I could see that bound each pole together was a worn just thick rope that tied each of the huge logs together to make the combined log-wall. 

The gate was made of similar material, but the logs were thinner and a tower stood on either side. It was hard to see, but there were two tiger archers stationed at each tower. They had their bows drawn with an arrow nocked and at the ready. For some reason, I felt the bows were aimed more at me than they were at us. I watched the bows warily. I didn’t know if I could die in the dream-plane, I didn’t want to take any chances. Tempora had mentioned something about mental or psychological damage, if I died would that manifest itself as a mental illness. 

My eyes widened, would that mean I would slowly lose my mind if I died here? I shuddered and shook my head. I heard one of the sentries gasp and yell something to the other one. Kayla shot me a glance and I returned an apologetic look. She reminded me by placing an appendage on her thin lips. I nodded.

As Kayla approached the gate, the sentries called out towards us and I could hear them more clearly.

“Halt,” the one on the left called out, in a lighter voice than Kayla’s. The sentry shielded her eyes and peered at Kayla more closely.

“Kayla?” the sentry cried in astonishment. “Back so soon?” The sentry threw a rope ladder down the side of the tower and scrabbled down it at a lightning fast pace. I almost whistled in admiration, that was some fast climbing. Well actually, it was more leaping rather than climbing.

As the sentry approached I noticed that unlike Kayla, who dressed in a loose tan tunic, the sentry had on what looked like leather armour. It would probably be more disturbing if  I grew up as a pony, but I came from Earth so it didn’t bother me too much. Of course, I hadn’t experienced nor heard about the griffon wars. I almost shuddered, there were some disturbing details.

“Naila!” Kayla shouted warmly, wrapping the figure in a hug. Naila was shorter and more stocky than Kayla, she had an aura of domineering strength that made it hard to make eye contact. She was also golden brown with black stripes, unlike Kayla. In fact, the more I looked at Naila, the more I was struck by the differences in bearings between them. I watched in a mixture of bemusement and a tinge of loneliness as they greeted each other warmly. I sighed inwardly, I really needed to find the others. Naila seemed to collect herself, spotting me. At first she narrowed her eyes, focusing on me more intently, then her eyes widened and she whispered something I couldn’t hear. Instantly Naila let loose a menacing growl and tensed. She tugged Kayla back behind her and nocked an arrow.

“Kayla, you brought a Nanu’wan here?!” she yelled, pulling the bow to full draw. I took half a step back and shot Kayla a desperate look.

Kayla waved her hand urgently in front of Naila. “Stop!” she shouted, stepping between me and the bow. I heaved a private sigh of relief. “See?” she attested, yanking on my collar so I was brought forward a couple of steps. I felt a twinge of annoyance, but I played along. “It's collared.”

I would have bristled at being called an ‘it’ but I held my peace, mainly because I didn’t want to be made a pincushion of these arrows.

Kayla held her hands out in a peace-keeping gesture. “Naila,” she said gently and drew her to the side. I couldn’t hear what the two of them were whispering, but Naila made some sounds of anger, then sounds of curiosity, which then ended with what sounded like admiration. Well, at least that’s what I thought she was saying. My gaze drifted to the other sentry that was stationed at the tower. The sentry looked a lot more relaxed, but I could see that the bow was still at half draw and still aimed somewhat in my direction.

What was Naila talking about? What were Nanu’wans? It was pretty obvious she was referring to me. A pit formed in my stomach as I mulled this situation over. I was getting a bad feeling about this situation with every passing second. What was I thinking, following a complete stranger through a forest I just woke up in? Stupid!

Kayla apparently finished conversing with Naila and they broke apart in smiles. I was glad because that probably meant that I just narrowly escaped death. As Naila surged to the front to lead us both, I leaned in to Kayla and whispered a quick thanks. When I spotted a quick flash of guilt before breaking into a smile, I felt the pit in my stomach grow bigger.

Kayla, what are you up to?

–––––

Upon entering the village, I was surrounded by adoring fans. Okay, it was more like Kayla was surrounded by adoring fans. All around her, small cute little ‘cubs’ fawned around, chattering excitedly in their speedy one hundred miles per hour speech, asking Kayla about her trip into the forest, what she did there, why she would bring a ’Nanu’wan’ into the village and various other things that I eventually tuned out as I examined the rest of the village curiously.

It looked like I stepped back into the past, further than even Equestria, at least at a technological standpoint. Around me were huts of all different shapes and sizes, they were made from simple timber and had thatching mainly for their roofs. I saw elder tigers laying around contentedly outside their houses, it looked like they were napping. As we passed by, some of them opened a lazy eye and took interest, but the majority went straight back to snoozing.

Along the sides were some scattered fires and what looked like things hanging from a spit-roast. Unused to the smell, being on a mainly vegetarian diet since arriving in Equestria, I found it both intensely heavy and oily, but also a little tantalising in its allure. With difficulty I pulled myself away from the flames and the scent of meat and focused on other things.

Most tigers around here wore some sort of flowing robe made of colours ranging from deep brown to light tan. Some of the elder ones had white flowing robes and I wondered at the significance. Around Kayla, the cubs wore greys and deep browns and I was suddenly struck that Kayla was the exception rather than the rule when it came to her coat colour. All the tigers I had so far seen were golden brown, perhaps darker or lighter, but always a shade of brown. Kayla was the only white tiger in this village.

I felt a trickle of unease collect in the growing abyss centred in my abdominal region. Did her coat colour matter here? Did it hold some significance? I mentally shrugged. There was no use worrying about it now, I would find out sooner or later.

We passed a band of archers as they towed along quivers and arrows. Most of them gave Kayla and Naila a smile as they passed and mainly gave me looks ranging from curiosity to a guarded expression. When they saw my collar they seemed to relax, and I mentally thanked Kayla. Looks like she was right about Rahira, with this collar they seemed to relax around me.

We slowed down as Kayla and I approached a fairly large structure and the fluffy balls of fur dispersed, going back towards the main village. For a moment, I thought it was another wall, but then I realised that it was the side of a building that dominated the the surrounds by its sheer size. The wooden walls were huge and imposing and I took a moment to gather myself, taking in the large wooden conglomerate.

Naila gave Kayla another warm hug.

“Congratulations, Kayla,” she said, smiling widely. She patted the tigress on the back. “I will see you later at the feasts. This is a good day!”

Kayla nodded and smiled, then she turned to me and beckoned me as she stepped through the archway that comprised the main building. Inside, I realised that the wooden walls that made this building were merely a decoration. The inside walls were made of cut block stone, similar in style to the main castle back in Equestria. The tigers inside were all dressed in a loose yellow tunic and they darted around, looking awfully busy. I blinked in surprise when some of them bowed to Kayla as she passed them by.

Some of the tiger ‘servants’ gasped when they spotted me, but they quickly realised I was wearing the collar and they relaxed immediately. My hand shot to the collar as soon as we were out of sight, climbing one of the winding stairs that lead to an upper floor. What was this collar and why was it such a big deal?

Kayla lead me through a few side halls and then stood nervously in front of a couple of huge double doors. She paused, looking uncertain. Kayla glanced back at me. Her mouth opened in preparation to say something but she was interrupted when a small side door that had gone previously unnoticed by me opened and a small, but proud-looking tiger stalked out. His tunic was a paler yellow than the servants and there was a stripe of white on his left sleeve. He spotted Kayla and raised an eyebrow.

“Princess Kayla,” the tiger greeted with a bow. “Do you wish to see your father?”

–––––

I was still reeling from that little bombshell when we were all but ushered in by what seemed to be the royal chamberlain. Well, he sort of fit the description of a royal chamberlain by the way he acted and announced us and it was similar to the one back in Equestria, but I wasn’t really paying attention to him so much as Princess Kayla.

Oh by the Stars and Beyond I would have some choice words for that tigress when we’re alone.

Inside, the vaulted ceiling and the clear glass windows stood in stark contrast to the simplistic architecture of the outlying village huts. I would have expected more stone and and mortar for the surrounding huts when architectural feats like these were accomplished, but I guess that would be a question that would have to wait.

As soon as we had stepped in there was some mumbling that echoed throughout the room. I cast my eyes about and took in ranks upon ranks of tigers lining the sides of the court. They all wore a shade of orange, with generally the lighter shades at the front, near the dais and the darker shades fading towards the back. My eyes shot ahead when I heard a yellow-tunic announcer bellow out our arrival for the second time.

“Announcing Princess Kayla!” he yelled to the assembled tigers. The mumbling died down instantly as a shadowy figure rose from the throne and came out to the light cast by one of the windows on the right.

The massive bulky tiger, half a height more taller than myself (Kayla was only a few inches shorter than I was), approached us. He was an intimidating figure with the presence of a coiled spring, ready to explosively launch into action at a moment’s notice. I tensed as he drew nearer, eyeing us both with an aged yellow eye.

I noticed his fur colour was a light golden-brown but not anywhere near the whiteness that Kayla had.

“My daughter,” he greeted warmly, wrapping Kayla in a bear hug. “You have succeeded in your quest. I could not be more proud.”

Kayla smiled back and hugged her father tightly. 

“My liege,” she growled teasingly, and the tiger chuckled heartily, I swore I felt the room shake.

“Kayla, you have done it, I am so glad to see that you have tamed a spirit guide. A Nanu’wan no less! I thought they were dangerous beasts in the annals of myths but for you to bring back one, it leaves me speechless!”

He called out to the court.

“Fair citizens of Campus, the Tiger Nation has been graced by a most auspicious event, ever since the conquering of the Hippo tribes almost five hundred years ago. My daughter, the Princess of Campus, the Tiger Nation and all that dwell within it, has achieved the miraculous feat of taming a spirit guide to serving her for life. Not only that, it was no less than the mythical Nanu’wan, a creature famed for its bloodthirsty violence and invincibility!” At this there were cheers. “We will feast and celebrate tonight!”

After that, the court cheered with roars from the throats of every tiger within the room.  The roar came at me like a physical force, shaking the panes of the windows and rumbling through the stone floor. Several tigers stomped their pawed legs, creating a patting sound on the ground that reminded me of rain. Right now though, I wasn’t concentrating on the assembled tigers or the rest of the cheers and celebratory sounds. Right now I stared at Kayla as she smiled and hugged her father gleefully.

For life, I thought darkly. That’s not going to happen.


> 5 - Coincidences
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 5: Coincidences


After Kayla’s father, who I found out was called King Leo the Third, made the announcement, we were dismissed to prepare for the feast. The feast, I was told, was to begin tomorrow.

Though I was itching to break out of this collar and run away fast as I could, I knew that doing so in a room full of tigers that outnumbered me in the hundreds, then trying to get out of village surrounded by really tall, almost impassable wooden walls, would be a foolhardy proposition. My best bet was to escape without causing undue attention and suspicion.

I’d play the docile human for a while, but when they let their guard down, I’d show them exactly what I was capable of.

Kayla lead me out of the hall through another series of twists and turns and eventually outside an ornately carved door. We stopped in front of it and Kayla turned to me, rubbing the side of her arm in… what? Embarrassment? I just folded my arms and tapped my foot.

“This is my bedchamber,” she explained. “Would you like to come inside?”

I couldn’t help being surly. “So now you are asking me what I want? How do I know it’s not a door to a cage?” I replied fairly acidly.

Kayla shied away from making eye contact. “It wasn’t that simple,” she muttered, placing a hand against the wall. “You don’t know what this means to me. You can’t know the pressures of being me, the Princess of the Tiger Nation.”

“I have a fair idea of what it is to be royalty,” I shot back. I clenched my fist. “There are people who need me,” I continued softly. “People who’s lives could be in danger for every second I waste trapped here with you!”

It took a while for my words to sink in, but when they did I couldn’t help but feel a small measure of satisfaction at her distraught expression.

“Royalty?” she mumbled. “None of the texts mentioned the Nanu’wan ever having a leader… but then the Nanu’wan never spoke either…”

I sighed, rubbing a hand across my face. I suddenly felt very tired and weary. “Look,” I said, straining to gather my last dregs of patience. “I’m not one of these Nanu’wans that you’ve been labelling me as such. I’m a human. Hu-man. I don’t know how I got here, but wherever this is, I need to get back. If you had any shred of decency left in you, you would let me go.”

For a moment, I really thought Kayla would take me up on that. She looked like she regretted putting that collar on me, ever since she had first placed it around my neck with her own two paws. She reached up, her paws only inches away from the collar. Finally, they slid away and I glared at her as they slowly retreated.

“I’m sorry,” she choked, her eyes brimming with tears. “But I will be exiled, if I do this.”

So it was her freedom or mine, I thought. Dang.

–––––

Tempora came to slowly, in a field of white. Her hooves felt numb with cold and she vaguely registered small plumes of mist with each icy breath she took. Struggling to her hooves, Tempora heard the telltale squeak of snow as she peered into the distance to try and discern any recognisable features.

Around her were just flat plains of snow but spinning around over to the right she spotted a metallic glint. She stumbled forward a couple of hoof steps, then stopped when she remembered how she got here.

The mist, she thought. Harmony!

Frantically she scanned the surrounding snow, her horn lit up as she probed the environment intently. Tempora remembered she came through the egress with Harmony, but it seemed so fuzzy. Did she really maintain contact with him the whole way? Everything was so… out of focus.

Tempora found that she was stumbling a lot more often than usual. Initially, her hooves were the only thing that she felt was numb, but soon the sensation crept up to her fetlocks and it became difficult to move around. With a frantic flap of her wings, Tempora launched herself into the air, hovering above the snow.

After a couple of minutes of circling the area, Tempora felt the familiar pins and needles of recirculation flowing to her extremities. The numbness wore off fast, crystallising the conclusion that the snow wasn’t something normal. She sighed, wasn’t there anything normal in this jumble of a mind-maze. Suppressing the urge to scream in frustration, Tempora flapped towards the metallic haze in the distance.

Ten minutes later she alighted on a patch of bare earth ringing around the mysterious metallic structure. Up close, the structure was massive, with a thick metallic base and two strands of metal curling around each other is a double helix, reaching out for the sky. The surface wasn’t of one piece of metal. It looked like it was fashioned from several thousand smaller pieces of metal, somehow joined together through mysterious means, leaving a bump along the seams.

On hoof, Tempora circled the structure. It took roughly five minutes at a brisk trot to circumnavigate around it. Tempora was impressed, despite knowing that the structure must have been constructed within the mind. The attention to detail was intricate and the metal acted and felt like a real, physical thing.

Curious, Tempora examined the metal more closely, her horn lighting up as she tried probing the helices. It seemed strangely dull, as if the magic she threw at it was weakly absorbed before gently being buffeted back. It was like the whole structure was conductive to magic, but something at the other end was absorbing some of it and releasing it back. Tempora shot a few pulses into the structure, trying to pinpoint the source of the absorbing ‘core’.

It took a while, but she found that the core was somewhere up the tower-like structure.  Stepping inside the hollow rings of the metallic base, Tempora flapped hard… and found that she couldn’t get any lift. The sensation was startling to say the least, like tripping over and falling flat on her face. Perturbed, Tempora cast a worried gaze around. She spotted a impression on the structure’s wall. Sighing, she trotted towards it. Her suspicion was confirmed when she found that it was a staircase. Rolling her eyes she took a step and started climbing, all the while grumbling.

–––––

Kayla lead me to a room opposite to hers. I suppose I should be grateful that I had a room at all and not a cage. She apologised again, but I just nodded absently. With a sigh, she left me with a single candle lit. Listening to the door close with a click, I strode over to my bed and gave it an experimental press.

With a snap, I summoned a mage light. Satisfied that I could still perform magic, I snapped my fingers again, dismissing the light and tried probing the collar instead. It stayed remarkably inert. With a frown, I sent another magical pulse into the collar. There was a shadow of a whisper, as if the core was shielded from magical interference. Gently scanning the surface, I decided to try and find some sort of latch or hook to unhinge the collar from my neck.

The metal resisted my efforts again, but as I experimented with shorter, sharper pulses of thaumic energy, the mechanics of the collar was revealed to me in flashes, a little like echolocation. The process was a little disorienting and I had to snap several times to restart the pulses. Eventually, I got a handle on the innards of the collar.

The insides seemed to have a lot of internal parts, the collar bearing a lot more complexity than I originally gave it credit for. It was strange since I knew the collar was magical to some degree as it had transmuted to that ‘quicksilver’ state earlier when Kayla fixed it on my neck. Shaking my head I eventually dismissed the notion, it could just be a one time activation thing and the collar would form mechanical components afterwards.

Frowning in concentration, I found a thin wire that looped around, just beneath the surface of  the collar. I discovered the wire was attached to some sort of micro-lever mechanism. The wire was in some sort of tension, so I snapped the wire with a burst of magic. I celebrated with a small fist pump into the air as the collar clicked silently, falling into my lap. I felt a feral grin spread on my face as I triumphantly tossed the collar on my bed.

Part one was done, all I needed to do was sneak out whilst everyone was asleep. I settled into my bed, deciding to take a little nap.

–––––

A small ping woke me up, my self-made spell alarm shocking me out of sleep. I blinked in the sudden dark of the room. The candle must have blown out in the night. Summoning another mage-light, I swung myself out of the bed. I walked a couple steps to the door, then paused, looking back at the collar. It was a repugnant thing, but it could come in useful later if I needed to walk around without being instantly attacked. Reluctantly, I replaced the collar around my neck, keeping it loosely together with a small telekinetic charge.

I crept towards the door, placing an ear to the surface and casting a small spell to enhance my hearing. I heard the slight creak of wood as the timber expanded in the cool night air, I heard the soft flicker and crackle of the flame as they burned within their brackets. I couldn’t hear anything else for a while, so I cautiously turned the door knob.

It was locked, duh!

I almost smacked my forehead for not thinking of that. Ah well, I quickly probed the door lock, quickly finding the tumblers. It seemed simple enough, so I gave the tumblers a jiggle and with a soft click, the door became unlocked. Opening the door, I found Kayla there, sleeping soundly in front of the door.

My heart leapt into my throat. I froze, staring at her intently to see if I had woken her. She was still, save for the regular rise and fall of her chest. I let loose a silent breath I was holding. Good, it didn’t look like I woke her.

Edging the door open slowly, I carefully stepped over the tigress. I froze when she muttered something and turned in her sleep, but when she didn’t do more than that I relaxed and pulled my other leg over her. I crept away silently.

The castle was a confusing maze but I snuck along the edges, figuring that if I headed in the general direction I thought the front entrance would be, I would likely be able to sneak outside. Every once in a while, there was the sound of soft padded paw steps. It was lucky I had the listening spell activated because I would not have been able to hear the approaching paw steps. It looked like none of these tigers wore shoes or coverings on their feet, so their paws naturally muffled any sound they would usually make.

With every approaching sound I heard, I dove into the a crevice or corner and held my breath. Despite misgivings that tigers could see better than humans in the dark, it seemed like they had to pay attention to their surroundings, just like I would. The yellow tunic servants rushed by and even then there were only a few.

Trouble struck when I approached the main entrance to the castle. Peering around the corner of the spiral staircase, I was alerted, just barely, by the sound of leather creaking. With a muffled gasp I drew back into the stairwell, my heart pounding in my chest. If they discovered me I would have to teleport out without fixing a firm target. If the teleportation matrix became unstable, I might end up somewhere, anywhere there was space for me. It could get unpleasant.

Holding my breath I heard the strain of leather and soft paw steps.

“Huh,” I heard the guard say. “Thought I heard something over here.”

The paw steps faded away and I let go of the breath. I cursed silently to myself. Great, more guards. How was I supposed to get past them? I cautiously peeked around the corner.

Shoot, I thought. There’s two of them.

Drumming my fingers on my knee as I crouched against the wall, I debated whether or not it would be wise to teleport outside. The flash would definitely attract their attention, but by then I could be out. The disorienting teleport would leave me vulnerable, and I don’t think I could make it as far as the gates just by teleportation alone. There was a good chance I’d also get filled with arrows. I rubbed my face with a hand. I paused, bringing my hand into view.

Wait, I thought, toying with the ring I had all but forgotten on my finger. There is another way. 

–––––

The three guards were conversing as I approached them. I hung back a little, interested in what they had to say.

“I knew Kayla was adept but I really didn’t think she would be able to catch a Nanu’wan,” one of them spoke casually. The tone suggested the speaker was male.

“That’s Princess Kayla, to you, guard. We’re all in His Majesty’s  service. But yeah, I didn’t even know they existed, all the legends say they were hunted to extinction,” the other replied, stretching. This one sounded feminine. What? Genders were pretty hard to distinguish cross species. If it weren’t for me living with the ponies for a while or registering their voices, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. Even now I could be making some terrible assumptions. Oh well.

The other grunted in acknowledgement. “Yeah, okay,” he said, I saw him stretch and yawn. His gaze flickered in my direction. He stiffened and the other two guards whipped around their spears at the ready, one unsheathed a sword with a small hiss.

“You there!” the one who had spotted me called out. “Show yourself! What are you doing sneaking around?”

I bowed my head in supplication and approached the guards. I didn’t want them to see my face, because the design was based loosely off the guard I had spotted, King Leo himself and mainly the cubs around Kayla. I couldn’t take the risk that my face would pass basic scrutiny, so I held it down and mainly hung my head in ‘embarrassment’.

“Sorry!” I exclaimed, stepping into the flickering light of the torches and doing my best to cover up my modesty. To them I was just a young tiger cub and they relaxed slightly at the sight of me. “I’ve had a little accident with my clothes, they’re ruined and I have to get home to fix them.”

The feline on the left raised an eyebrow, or whatever it was above the eye for tigers.

“Don’t you have spares in the servant’s quarters?” she queried suspiciously. I swallowed thickly.

“Actually, funny story,” I started, keeping my head bowed in shame, but the leader, which I assumed he was because of his sword and being at the head of the group, waved a dismissive paw.

“The feast is tomorrow.” He glared at me, relaxing his stance. “Do what you have to, to remain presentable for the feast,” the tiger growled, sheathing his sword and leaning against the wall. “Nikta, show this buffoon of a cub the way out.” I bowed again for good measure as the one on the right saluted and beckoned me to follow. I kept my head low as Nikta opened the left hand side of the massive double doors. 

From my position behind her, I saw Nikta wore small sheath tied to the belt of her tunic, which held a small knife. I considered maybe slipping it out, but I would probably get myself caught. The intensity of the situation must have made me think of crazy hypotheticals because I considered giving a jaunty salute and teleporting out of there as soon as I was outside, but that would be stupid.

Instead as I got outside I was met with a chilling wind and biting cold, so much so my breath came out in misty plumes. Nikta gave me a humourless smile.

“That’ll teach you to misplace your uniform,” she commented wryly, before turning back. She gave me a quizzical look. “Come to think of it you seem familiar…” she started, but I was already gone, hastily retreating away along the cobblestone. Feeling the icy sensation work up my paws, I shiver a little but was able to relax when I heard the guard slam the double doors to the castle.

“Phew,” I muttered to myself. “Now to find out where the heck I am.”


> 6 - Coincidentally
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6: Coincidentally


You know, if it weren't for the ever present danger and the sense of paranoia, I would have liked sneaking around. Reminds me of times when Discord and I played hide and seek. 

It was the middle of the night so I wasn't expecting anyone to come out. I kept my disguise on and I stalked towards the gates. I wondered, exactly how was I going to get past it? Could I teleport? Too flashy. Should I somehow disable the guards and get through? Not likely. I wasn't trained in any sort of combat. Should I try and disguise myself with some other illusion and get past the gate while they're out looking for me?

I fingered the collar around my neck. While it had been easy to disguise the collar with a simple illusion spell, it was difficult to extend that field around my body, especially since there was a lot of relative movement between my limbs and my body. Extending the field far would be a huge drain on my power. I don't think I could sustain it for more than a few seconds. Walking as I was, I would get to the gate in a few minutes. I still didn't have a plan and everything kind of scrambled.

I tapped the collar again. It was some kind of metal that was conducive to thaumic charge. I pursed my lips. Could it be possible to keep charge within it? I considered it for a moment before discarding the idea as well. I wasn’t anywhere near advanced enough in magic to achieve something like that. The transmutation I performed stretched the limits of my ability and the spell matrix was already held in place by Tempora, with some pretty advanced Time manipulations I wasn’t even close to understanding.

I sighed in frustration. Sometimes things just go so well and then you hit a brick wall. At this rate I’d have to contemplate going back. I really didn’t want to do that, but I felt like I had no choice, I would have to wait for the ideal opportunity and then escape later. I was about to turn around and trudge back, but I paused. Something sounded suspiciously like the sound of snoring. As I approached the gate, the sound became louder. I waddled closer, marvelling at how the soft pads of my pawed feet would mute the sound of my paw steps. I drew nearer to the sound, stepping into the light of the torches. By now I should have been challenged. I frowned, peering at the guard towers. Boy, sound does carry when you snore that loudly, at that height.

I scaled the ladder carefully, unused to the sensation of a rope ladder. I’d climbed wooden ones before, but these felt wibbly wobbly and I almost smacked my limbs and my face into the hard, rough scaffolding of the tower. Cursing silently, I made my way up the tower and finally got to the source of snoring. I recognised the tiger, it was Naila. The guard was fast asleep, with a dart protruding from her neck. I sighed. This was a fight I obviously had no business being a part of. Conflicting thoughts whizzed around in my mind. Obviously, I could leave the tigers to their fate. The alternative was to take this chance and escape. Who knew the next time I would have a chance to flee?

I snarled, yanking the dart from Naila’s neck. The poison or sleeping drug would have already made it into her bloodstream, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave it in there. The tower’s platform had little else but I was able to spot a knife, which I used to roughly section a bit of Naila’s tunic, making a very rough bandage for her neck. There probably wouldn’t be much bleeding, but I wanted to make sure.

Checking her pulse radially, and being surprised that the physiology was vaguely similar to humans. I felt a strong heartbeat and relaxed slightly. Her heartbeat seemed a little fast, but I attributed that to her species. Regardless, there was nothing more I could do for her. Carefully, I peeked over the tower’s low wall. Whoever made that dart shot must have been amazingly accurate or used the aid of some sort of magic. In either case, the tower would have been visible clearly from their position.

Scanning the area, I eventually spotted a small rocky outcropping with muted firelights. They must have lit them after taking out the sentries. I slumped back against the tower and grappled with myself again. Tempora, Star Swirl, Celestia, Luna and Discord, they could all be in trouble, what should I do? Would I regret this chance to escape? I didn’t know if I could find them on my own. I clicked my tongue softly and made a decision.

If I was going to give myself up again, it was going to be on my terms.

–––––

I made my way out, heading towards the fire lights. As I drew close, I could hear the clinking sounds of metallic armour and the rough grunts of orders from a deep baritone voice.

“Gart’nir!” it shouted, as I cast an amplification spell. “Gear up already, we’re beginning attack in half and hour.”

“Relax,” a surly voice replied. “We’ve snuck through the border easily and the poison was designed to last all night. Don’t be so uptight, Commander.”

“If you were not the King’s son, I would have gutted you by now,” the Commander shot back. “You may be protected from death, but I can make this service for you very unpleasant.”

“You forget, Commander,” Gart’nir replied. “That I funded and approved for this raiding party. If you want to go toe-to-toe with me, Commander, make sure you’ve got the strength to back it up. Being the Paymaster does divide loyalties of our soldiers, after all.”

Gart’nir made a small concession. “Let’s make it an hour, this battle gear is so cumbersome to put on.” He yawned. “Besides, I will be taking my place at the rear column. Nothing to be afraid of.”

With that, the Commander grunted and stalked off, yelling orders to various other soldiers within the camp. I had heard enough at that point. They were going to attack the castle.

On my way back to the solidly built castle, I spotted laundry splayed out on sticks. I think they belonged to the local dyer because the fabric was dyed in all different colours. I reached out for one and then hesitated. Ah, I wasn’t going to become a thief just to sneak around. Retracting my paw, I resigned myself to think of some clever explanation as to why I came back without a tunic.

–––––

Turn out I didn’t really need a clever explanation.

“So you don’t have any clothes back at home either.” The leader-guard person, eh I’ll just refer to him as the Captain, gave me a most unimpressed glare. I averted my gaze and kept my head down, kicking at the floor morosely with my hands behind my back.

“Actually, you were right, they were all back at the servant’s quarters.”

Nikta growled. “So I opened the door for nothing?”

“Well I wouldn’t say for nothing, I did go out and back–“

“This is giving me a headache,” the guard on the right barked. “Just let the stupid cub go and the next time he wants out, he won’t be getting anywhere unless we see papers from the King himself.” The others seemed to agree.

Nikta rolled her eyes at me, whacking me over the head with an open paw.

“Don’t be stupid,” she commented, and went back to her post, all of them leaving me alone in the antechamber. As they left I let go of a breath. Well it looks like this route of sneaking was definitely closed to me.

I made my way back and found Kayla missing from her sleeping spot.

“Oooh he’s gone, what do I do?!” I hear her muttering out loud from within my room. Time to make a dramatic entrance.

“Probably shouldn’t have locked him up in the first place,” I commented mildly. She hissed at me and leaped back on top of my bed. I chuckled as she flailed to get her footing as she recognised that it was me and that I wasn’t going to immediately attack her, or something. Her spear was nowhere in sight.

“Thought I’d drop by and give you a warning,” I said, breaking the silence that ensued my dramatic appearance. Kayla slowly got down from the bed, but still remained tense, regarding me with suspicion in her eyes.

“What is this warning?” she asked casually. Her paws twitched.

I leaned against the doorframe giving Kayla a look. “Well there’s a bunch of soldiers outside your village right now. Some guy named Gart’nir is apparently in charge of them. They want to take the castle. The sentries were knocked out with some sort of sleeping dart. Just thought you should know.”

Kayla’s expression turned frantic as she processed the information. She headed to the door, but then turned back, regarding me with quizzical eyes.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. She paused for a while. “But why did you come back?”

“Well to be fair, you may not have made the best choices regarding me, but that doesn’t mean I’ll sleep better knowing that I just ignored a possible invasion and helped some people kill other people. If you could fend them off somehow that’d be great.” I shrugged. “This isn’t really my fight, but you’ve at least treated me fairly well.” I drew myself up.

“But this is where we part ways,” I finished, heading for the door. “You owe me for this and I think this is worth my freedom.” I punctuated the end of my sentence by tugging on my collar. The small thaumic charge holding it together broke with a snap and I handed the collar to a shocked tigress.

I could only smile grimly as I stared at the collar.

“Next time,” I grimly stated. “You might want to ask someone if they wanted to become your spirit guide before snapping a collar on their neck.”

–––––

Tempora worked her unsteady way up the twisting spires of the never-ending staircase. She thought it might be some sort of cosmological joke that the ruler of Equestria, the alicorn of Time, would spend all her time walking up a staircase. She knew she was gaining elevation, as the ground was dropping away and she knew that she was getting closer to the core of the structure. She sighed once again, bending her head and plodded along.

–––––

Star Swirl tried his best to calm down the panicking children.

“Where’s Harmony?” Discord cried, looking around.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” Star Swirl said, waving his arms around. Privately, he wondered where the heck his apprentice was. Clover was so much better at handling foals than he was.

“Mother? I thought she was coming with us?” It was the Sun Princess that had spoken. Ugh, talk about overpowered. He gestured for calm again.

“Yes, yes I’m sure she’s on the way, your mother is not a complete idiot.”

Celestia pouted and kicked the unicorn in the shin. Star Swirl yelped and danced back from the irate foal.

“What?” he muttered. “What in Tartarus did I say?”

Celestia kicked him again. “Don’t swear, Mother said so. Also, stop being mean.”

Luna nodded. “Swearing is bad,” she added helpfully.

“Oh for pony’s sake. Lay off will you two? Otherwise I might decide to just leave you here and go look for the shield myself.”

At that the foals suddenly fell silent.

Good, Star Swirl thought. Some peace and quiet.

Discord touched a claw and paw together. “You won’t really leave us behind, would you?” he asked plaintively.

Celestia gave him large round eyes, Luna followed suit. “You’re going to leave us?” she choked with her eyes welling with tears.

“No, don’t go!” Luna wailed, clinging to Star Swirl.

The unicorn moaned and wiped a hoof across his muzzle. “By all the frigging Stars…”

“Fine! Stop it! I wasn’t going to leave you!” he flopped down on the grass and laid his head between his hooves. He suddenly had a headache.

“Yaaaaaaaay!” the three cheered and they all hugged him. Discord doing so hesitantly, he kind of knew that Star Swirl disliked hugs.

Star Swirl just mumbled a couple of silent obscenities to himself and rubbed his aching forehead.


> 7 - Coinciding
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 7: Coinciding


Actually, I didn’t have a plan past telling Kayla and hoping she’d have an idea in letting me out. I mean, I did say I was going to do this on my terms but that’d be a bit of an overstatement. If Kayla or her father really wanted, I’d be a pincushion before I could even get outside the castle. Teleportation was a last resort, besides the spell matrices for that were very draining, it was hard for me to sustain them.

I couldn’t stay here though, this place was about to be swallowed up in a battle. I had to risk teleporting outside and just making a run for it. I silently cursed. Wasn’t there a more optimal solution to this problem?

“Wait!” I turned around to see Kayla approaching me again, holding onto the collar. She held it in her paws tapping it lightly against her leg. “Don’t go. We need you. Can’t you do anything to help us?”

“You’ve got nerve asking me for help when you pulled that collar stunt on me. What did you think? I’d just roll over and shake your ha–” I stopped myself from going into a tirade. I took a deep breath. “You have two choices. Either let me go or have yet another enemy to deal with. Trust me, you don’t want to deal with me.” I snapped my fingers and summoned a mage light to prove the point.

Seeing me work magic made Kayla plead with me more so. “Please, we need help.”

“What do you want me to do?!” I snapped at her. “Wave my arms and tell them to go somewhere else? Do you think they’ll listen to me? Heck, no one here even knows I talk!”

Kayla padded over to me, gripping me by the shoulders. “You only need to be there, just show that we have a Nanu’wan and they’ll be uncertain. You can prevent bloodshed.”

I put my head in my hands. What had this situation devolved to? First I was catapulted into my Dad’s headspace, then I had to run from a corrosive blue fog, then I wake up here and get caught up in the middle of a fight that I had nothing to do with. What was my life turning into?

I sighed. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I admitted, but before Kayla jumped to any conclusions I held up a hand. “I’m going to help you, but on one condition.”

Kayla hesitated then bowed her head. “Name it,” she said, her eyes averted.

“My freedom, of course.”

“Yes.”

“Some supplies to survive in the wilderness.”

“I can accede to that.”

“And you to guide me out of the country safely and to somewhere that’s more familiar to me.”

“What?!”

I shrugged. “You might have been misguided but it’s not as if you treated me that badly.” The tigress dismissed that issue with a flick of her tail.

“You’re asking the Princess of the Tiger Nation, the Princess, to escort you personally?”

“Think of it as a sort of atonement.”

“How will I explain this to my father?”

“That is your problem. You want my help, those are my conditions. Just tell him you have to go on a spiritual journey to achieve enlightenment or something. Make an excuse.”

Kayla growled and stalked away from me, her head bowed in thought. As I waited, I watched one of the brackets on the side flickering and dancing, casting shadows and light across the room. The flame was warm and inviting and I was suddenly aware of the lack of sleep I had for the last day or so. Did sleep matter here? How could I tell I was still dreaming? It seemed so difficult to delineate a clear distinction between reality and dream.

I was jolted back into the present as Kayla barked a response at me.

“Fine, we have an accord.” She held the collar out loosely. “You’re still going to have to wear this.”

I took the collar reluctantly. It seems I would have to tolerate this thing just a little longer, ironically for the sake of my freedom.  I snapped it back on, giving it an experimental tug after reestablishing the thaumic charge. It felt like I was constantly rubber-banding between freedom and imprisonment. It'll stay on but obviously not with the original mechanism that it was designed to use. Stupid thing, maybe this time I'll get rid of it.

The whole time Kayla studied me as I worked magic, she seemed interested as if it was the first time she'd ever seen magic. I pursed my lips. Huh, actually that would make a lot of sense.

“Hey Kayla–” I started, but I was cut off as the tigress raised a paw.

“Not now,” she hissed, all business now that we had agreed on the deal. I shrugged and subsided, waiting for her to lay out her plan.

“First,” she said, pointing a clawed paw upwards, “we tell my father about this quietly. He will be able to rally the guard and any able-bodied tiger in the vicinity of the castle."

“What about us?”

“I’m getting to that. Once we alert my father, we'll approach the hippos and see if we can deter them from attacking.”

“Alright. Hang on, hippos? As in, hippopotamuses?”

“Yes, those things, don’t you know anything?”

“Well that’s kind of rude, I’m not from around here.”

“Whatever. Let’s go.”

“Hang on, about deterring the–”

I sighed, trudging after the tigress as she marched through the stronghold. Kayla was sure getting snippy with me. We were soon in front of imposing double-doors which I recognised was the entrance to the throne room.

“Aren’t we heading to the King’s bedchambers, shouldn’t he be asleep?”

“No, my father usually works until late at night. He should still be awake. Now be silent, we can reveal your ability to speak later for greater effect. Right now, you need to just be a regular Nanu’wan.”

I grouched to myself. I had pushed the deal, true, but Kayla held most of the cards here. I was in an unfamiliar land with unfamiliar rules and next to no survival skills. I can sneak around, but fighting, foraging or trekking through woods extensively? That was asking too much from me. The most combat I’ve been in was running around trying not to get shot at by space-faring ponies. Yes, there were ponies in another alternate universe, it’s more common than you think. 

Regular Nanu’wan though? I sighed to myself softly as Kayla knocked on the door and spoke quietly to the chamberlain. Did she even consider that I was not exactly a Nanu’wan? Perhaps it was in the way that I looked. I mean, if a tiger walked into my room and started talking I’d freak out wouldn’t I? I’d probably call it a tiger and not really consider calling it something else. I hadn’t really told her exactly what I was. It occurred to me that I just take things too easily, hoping things would work out for the best. My eyes widened, that’s exactly how my Dad operated! Hmm, something to think about…

I was startled out of my thoughts as the side entrance (probably for more convenience when there wasn’t anything official going on) creaked open, admitting the both of us. I trailed behind Kayla trying to emit an aura of obedience, I guess? Hmm, that would probably run contrary to what I started with. Oh well, I’m not the best actor out there. I just kept my facial expression neutral.

“Kayla,” King Leo bellowed warmly. “What brings you here?” He got up from the desk that was positioned unobtrusively to the side of the vast hall. I hadn’t noticed it earlier, but they probably dragged it back and forth whenever the King required a desk to write on.

Kayla’s expression must have communicated the gravity of the situation because Kayla’s father immediately went from welcoming and warm to concern and a hint of wariness.

“Kayla?” he queried softly. “What’s wrong?”

Kayla shifted uneasily. “It’s the Hippos, father, they are planning to attack.”

Leo’s eyes widened fractionally then narrowed.

“How did you come across this information?”

Kayla glanced at me.

There was utter silence for a few heartbeats before the king burst into laughter. He held his sides.

“Oh forgive me,” he said in between laughing fits. “I did not mean to offend you, daughter.”

Kayla remained expressionless, she crossed her arms.

“Your spirit familiar?” the royal patriarch continued, his tone was scored with disbelief. “Kayla, I know you’re proud of your accomplishment, but there’s no way you could discern a Hippo attack from communicating with your spirit familiar.” He shot a look at me. “No matter the familiar.” He started to turn around.

“Gart’nir is behind the attack,” Kayla blurted.

Leo turned back slowly. “Really?” he said mildly. “Again, how are you coming across this information?”

Kayla impatiently gestured at me. I looked blankly at her before I realised she wanted me to say something. I smirked inwardly and gave an imperceptible shrug. Her gaze darkened. The King turned to me, waiting for me to do something. I cocked my head.

He turned back to Kayla.

“I don’t have time for this,” he muttered, waving an imperious paw in dismissal. Kayla glared at me and I rolled my eyes. Fine.

I yawned. “Neither do I,” I spoke mildly and the King froze. Leo glanced back at me and then turned to Kayla.

“That’s an interesting trick,” he said slowly. He circled around me.

I sighed. Enough playing around. “I would agree with you had we met under different circumstances, but right now I just want to fulfil my end of the bargain and get out. You’re the only thing that’s stopping me from doing so. Oh, and the army just outside your city.”

King Leo raised an eyebrow. 

“And who are you,” he drawled, “to make such demands from me?”

I sent Kayla a look that bespoke how impatient I was getting.

“Father,” she intervened before the situation ignited. “Regardless of what you are thinking right now, don’t you think it is a little farfetched that I would lie to you?”

The King paused at that and his belligerent expression softened as he considered his daughter’s words.

“Of course not, Kayla, my darling princess.” He drew away. “But this is a different matter,” he said, padding away. “You’ve made some accusations. Deeply political accusations that have to be handled with care.”

I snorted. “Handle with care?” I blurted out. “You have a dang army outside! What more deliberation do you need? You have to deal with them right now.”

King Leo whipped around and fixed me with a chilling glare that froze my throat.

“Do not insult my intelligence, you ignorant little cub,” he growled menacingly. “You may be a creature of lore, but I will not hesitate to try my paw against you if you speak to me like that.” He waited a couple of moments to see if I would say anything flippant. When I remained silent, he continued contemptuously. “Your ignorance does you discredit. Do you have the responsibility of making decisions for hundreds of your kind? Do you have any inkling the kind of consequences that could spring from one false move? The kind of lives that could be lost with a single word I utter, with the wave of my paw? Still your tongue.”

I was taken back by his words. I had thought that whatever reverence they had for me would protect me in this little standoff but I was sorely mistaken. What infuriated me the most though, was his cutting remark about my ignorance. I wasn’t mad at him, though I was tempted. I couldn’t be mad. What he said was true…

All this time I’d been bumbling around, whining and posturing. Was I really that self-centred? Am I the kind of hypocrite that complains and moans about his problems but doesn’t do anything about it? Was I a person that didn’t see the bigger picture? Unbidden, Discord sprang to my mind. He was right, this was a decision that involved lives. What I said was rash and callous. What was I thinking? I hung my head in shame. 

King Leo turned to Kayla. “But lacking wisdom though he may be, this Nanu’wan may be useful after all.” He pointed at my collar. “Perhaps he will be useful in the upcoming battle?” I jerked my head up at that.

Kayla must have seen my obvious discomfort because she jumped in immediately. “Father,” she began, bowing her head respectfully. “I don’t think it would be for the best if we charged into battle.” She glanced around. “If we show we’re more than a match for the Hippos, and that we are wide awake and alert, they may turn around and leave us.”

“Or put us at siege,” Leo pointed out. Kayla conceded that with a nod. “We need to find a way to discourage them from coming back.”

I clicked my fingers, sending a few sparks flying with that gesture.

“That,” I said with a weak grin, “is something I think I can help you with.”

––––––

Exhausted, the alicorn struggled the last few steps to the top of the structure. Around her the metallic walls reflected the light of a sphere that dominated the centre of the chamber. It glowed with a diffuse luminescence, bathing the room in a gentle white light. Tempora leaned against the wall of the chamber, catching her breath. With the monotony of climbing the steps, Tempora had had a lot of time to ponder the recent chain of events.

The alicorn wanted to help Max so much, but she was trapped, lost and alone in this tower, surrounded by a mute field of snow. Gingerly, Tempora sent a probing pulse to the glowing light. It flashed sympathetically for a small moment and then settled down. Her pulse was absorbed in the process. That confirmed it. This was the core.

Something compelled Tempora to reach out. To touch the softly glowing sphere.

As her hoof made contact, Tempora gasped.

It all made sense.


> 8 - I've
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 8: I've


Under the cool shade of a tree, Star Swirl relaxed while the foals finally got to sleep. Several times he had come close to snapping at the young ones, but he quickly gained control when he saw their pouty looks and their guilty expressions. Instead, he sighed and gave them a rough pat on the head. Despite acting all grumpy, he found their company strangely comforting as he dozed fitfully. Sleeping in a dream landscape was a risky proposition. Sometimes there were dangers here that could catch the unsuspecting mage in their sleep.

Star Swirl was no fool though, he had carefully maintained a web of spells to alert him of anything out of the ordinary. Often he'd be startled awake by a flight of a wayward bird or the rustle of leaves as a steady wind blew here. Luckily they were caught in a pleasant memory, not a dream, though Star Swirl wondered where this field came from.

Not being the focus, Star Swirl could only wait for Tempora to find the node and bring them all back together. Luna could do it of course, but she wouldn't know where to start. The filly was sleeping with her hooves tucked in under her, perhaps unaware that her dreams were within a dream within somepony's mind…

––––––

King Leo lead the procession rallying all of the soldiers, guards, and any tiger that was capable with weapons. I had mentioned to Kayla that the sentries had been put to sleep and a few tigers broke off to help them. I was a little doubtful that the tigers—despite their war-like appearance—were really tough fighters. 

The assembled guards and soldiers were scattered haphazardly and they looked like a loosely-held mob. I swallowed back my trepidation as Leo lead Kayla and I through the mass of soldiers. The ‘army’ didn’t look like they were debriefed on the situation with many looking tired and ragged, like they had just gotten out of bed.

Leo nodded to a pale yellow tunic servant off to the side. The tiger skittered away and moments later a bugle sounded. The mass of tigers tightened fractionally and Leo swept a cool gaze among his people. As they gathered I had a keen sense that time was running out, but I could only express this sentiment by shifting my feet a couple of times and glancing once or twice towards the gate. Kayla gripped my arm, forcing me to stop.

“Hello my fellow citizens of the Tiger Nation. While I am deeply sorry for disturbing you while you sleep, there is a matter of urgency I must address.” He paused for effect. “The Hippos have decided to attack!” Gasps and ripples of uncertainty coursed through the assembled crowd. The King raised his paws, signalling quiet. With a ripple, they fell silent. “Luckily,” he continued. “We do have a plan. Battle will be the last resort. We are a proud nation, but we are small, and any help is appreciated.” He gestured to me. “The Nanu’wan will go forth to deter the Hippos from attacking. His reputation by lore alone should be enough to send them running, and if not, at least a shiver of unease through their ranks.” The mood of the crowd got lighter and they seemed oblivious to my nervous disposition. I was sure my heart was about to explode out of my chest.

I hope I survive this, I thought to myself. Then my lips tightened. I will survive this.

––––––

The encampment containing the Hippos was still as sparsely manned and relaxed as I saw before. It seems like they hadn’t sent any scouts ahead to continually check on the enemy. What were they doing? Did they even know the principles of warfare? It seemed a little ridiculous on their part, they were just lying around or polishing their weapons.

I looked back at the gate I had popped out from. Despite walking to the camp they weren’t doing anything as I approached. That is until a large grey monstrosity exited the tent and I nearly crashed into him.

As he spoke I recognised his gravelly voice immediately.

“Well, well, what do we have here,” the commander growled, flexing his muscles.

I straightened my back and stood tall. I must not show weakness.

“I’m here to tell you that the Tiger Nation knows you're coming. I'm here to discourage you from attacking.”

The hippo sneered his gaze sizing me up.

“I’ve heard of your kind, how the Tigers revere you, while you little runts play god. I've never seen your kind speak before.” I saw his massive forelimb grip his war hammer. It slammed to the ground with a very loud BANG. I couldn't help it, I flinched.

“I don't know how your kind fights, but I find myself dying to find out,” he growled.

Without a moment's warning he charged at me and I had to snap quickly to teleport out of the way. I looked around me and soldiers were gathering arms and quickly surrounding me from all sides.

“I don't want to hurt you!” I yelled. They paused briefly, but then continued to advance. I heard a cruel chuckle from my left. Gart'nir appeared out of his own tent. He pulled free a wicked looking knife.

“Too bad,” he drawled, waving the knife slowly in front of him. “Because we intend to do a lot more than just hurt you.” He darted forward with his blade, lightning fast. I tried dodging… I just wasn’t fast enough.

–––––

I awoke in a familiar patch of forest. There was a sharp pain in my side. I looked over to see Kayla standing there with a wary look on her face, she held her spear out, the weapon shaking slightly in her grip.

“Ugh,” I groaned out loud. “Kayla, what happened?”

If the tigress’ eyes bulged out any further I would think that her eyes would pop out and roll about on the ground. Well now, that’s just unhygienic.

“W-What are you?!” she cried out, clearly shocked. “And how do you know my name?!”

I gaped at her.

What the heck was happening here?

–––––

Star Swirl cast another spell and felt the matrix leech out before he could do anything with it.

“Darn,” he muttered to himself. Discord waddled up, curious.
 
“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.

Star Swirl glanced back at the two foals playing a little hoof-game together. Luna missed and accidentally bopped Celestia on the nose. The cross-eyed expression Celestia made caused Luna to collapse in a fit of giggles. Seeing that they were distracted, Star Swirl turned back to Discord.

In a lowered voice he said, “I’m not sure. Something is inhibiting my spells. We’re supposed to be in a ‘safe zone’ within the mind, but there’s something not quite right here. I think it has something to do with whatever is attacking Maximilian.” He started pacing his head bowed deep in thought. “Queen Tempora and Harmony are gone to different places. Tempora must be somewhere close to the focus, but Harmony could be anywhere. He’ll be naturally attracted to key points in his father’s conscious. They’re very close to each other, so I heard.”

Discord nodded. “Harmony sometimes gets angry at his dad, but he always seems quick to forgive him.”

Star Swirl nodded, his gaze distant. “Yes. His father is his only blood relation left. He would love to hold on to that as long as he could.”

–––––

Tempora touched the core, determined to extract as much information out of it as possible. There were other nodes, but they were scattered among the mindscape. Star Swirl was trapped in the logical section of Max's mind. Tempora herself resided in the emotional section. Harmony was trapped in the memories section of the mind. She delved a little deeper. Ah, the recurring memories section. She was just there before they met up. Tempora must have been sent forward whilst Harmony must have been shuffled back.

Frowning, she tapped a hoof to her chin, deep in thought.

Why had he been pushed back and I was pushed forward?

Tempora touched the core again, feeling a little of Max's essence. For a moment she just stood there, basking in his emotions, relishing in the closeness that one could only experience while in the confines of mind-to-mind contact. Briefly, she was tempted to stay there, to perhaps stand there and just be close with Max. Reluctantly she pulled back. There was something eating at the fabric of Max's mind. It was starting in the memories…

Her eyes widened. She realised belatedly that Harmony was there.

Get out! she thought feverishly. Get out, Harmony!

––––––

I stared at Kayla, uncomprehending.

“What do you mean you don’t remember?” I asked, moving to get up. Kayla levelled the spear so the point was at my head. I stopped and slowly moved back to the ground.

“Remember what?” Kayla shot back. She was getting edgier, her voice shaking.

“Okay, okay!” I yelled, raising my hands slowly in a calming gesture. I feel like I’ve been doing that a lot since I got here. Yeesh, people around here need to calm down.

“I have some questions,” Kayla muttered, with narrowed eyes. Her gaze was filled with reflections of suspicion and uncertainty. She held the spear loosely, as if not sure whether to point it towards me or not.

“You’re a—”

“Nanu’wan, yes.”

Her guard returned almost instantly.

“So you know what you are.” Cautiously, she reached into her backpack and flung a small circular object onto the ground. “Put it on,” she ordered, her tip touched the collar with a metallic ‘clink’.

“No,” I responded. My voice hardened. “You’re here to look for a Spirit Familiar aren’t you? Last time you tricked me with the collar, this time you won’t.”

Kayla’s spear returned to my face. I used a finger to slowly move it out of my way.

“How did you know that?” She waved the spear menacingly. Frustrated I finally snapped my finger, yanking the spear out of her grip and dumping it on the ground behind me. Luckily she wasn’t gripping it tighter or she might’ve wanted to take another stab at me.

“Okay,” I growled, finally getting to my feet. “Now that we’ve put the dangerous weapon away, can we talk?”

The tigress stepped away from me. She crouched, hugging her knees.

“I want to know everything. Who are you? What are you? What is going on?”

For the first time in a while, I smiled.

“Do you really want to know?”

––––––

Star Swirl kept an eye on the spell matrices monitoring the environment. Particles were flying around, interacting and affecting the system. He frowned. His model were getting out of date. Who knew what would happen in this dream landscape though?

Celestia and Luna were starting to get bored.

“Starry,” Celestia said, coming up to the side of the grey unicorn.

At first, Star Swirl ignored her.

“Starry,” she repeated, tugging on his mane.

“Star— what?!”

Round eyes bored into his.

Tartarus eyes, he thought darkly. Tartarus eyes that pierce your very soul.

They went rounder and wider.

Definitely Tartarus-spawned. There’s no other logical explanation.

Luna joined in.

“Starry,” she squeaked, pulling on his mane too.

Star Swirl could no longer ignore the two fillies.

“What?” he grunted. “What do you want?”

“Can we call you Starry?”

Star Swirl bit down on his cloak and mightily resisted the urge to scream.

–––––

Tempora tried many times to reach Harmony through the core. It was no use, every time she tried to send a pulse into the core it sank into the depths. All she could get was a vague recollection of where everypony was. Muttering under her breath she tried spell after spell. It was no use. The core was rock-solid.

“Harmony,” she croaked. “Get out of there…”

–––––

The little info-dump session I had with Kayla was bumpy, to say the least. The tigress kept jumping up and pacing, then crouching down, depressed, then she was yelling or being moody or just generally being bi-polar. I didn’t know what her deal was. I reconsidered the statement. Yes, she was a little anxious, but understandably so. She was scared, probably more so than I was. If I was stuck in a time loop as one of the ‘background’ characters, wouldn’t I be upset. Someone comes up to me knowing things I haven’t told them, acting familiar…

I felt a foreboding chill creep up my spine.

No, I would not be calm.

Even though I laid it all out, it didn’t make it any better.

What the heck was going on here?


> 9 - Had
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 9: Had


At Luna's and Celestia's and a little of Discord's insistence, Star Swirl elected to finally go looking for the node himself. The core should be somewhere in this landscape, given that Luna was here. Initially he had wanted to stick around and wait for Tempora to catch up. It was dangerous to travel it alone especially in a mind that wasn't familiar. Star Swirl had a vague idea that they were in an ordered section of Max's mind given the consistency of the environment. Probably the long-term memory or the logical decision-making part.

With a grunt he dismissed all of the spells surrounding them. Hopefully Tempora had made it to a core and would be able to sense where they were. If not, it seems Princess Luna would have to take the reins from here. He shivered at the morbid phrasing.

Though he wasn't the greatest with kids, he still felt a little heartache at the thought of those playful foals falling into trouble. He got the feeling though, that destiny may have other plans for them.

––––––

Tempora struggled with the core. It resisted her efforts, only showing her some basic information. There was a skein of magic woven around it. Magic was a discipline of rigorous application and accuracy. To affect the world around them on had to know the bare minimum to move from cause to effect. To levitate was relatively simple, lift with air pressure, or provide upwards vectors resisting gravity. Simple. 

Dream-walking was like looking into one of Max's complex machines with millions of moving parts. Without a mapping or some sort of familiarity with the contents, it was hard to navigate through the tangled mess of the mind. Sure there were similarities, like cogs and gears are similar between machines, but the teeth could be different, the size, the shape, the aesthetics, the list could go on.

With these sorts of situations there was an element of feeling required. Like reaching deep within yourself and trying to connect on a visceral level. She could feel the wrongness snarled around Max. There was a thin weave around the core, skeins of dark magic that pulsed and made her feel sick to even probe. She tried everything to remove it. She tried pushing through it, connecting with it (ugh, never again) and even cutting through it. She stopped abruptly when cutting through it seemed to rock the world around her. She knew that meant Max was in pain. His emotions coursed through her through the core.

So close, she thought desperately. Yet so far…

––––––

I tried to explain the situation to Kayla again. This was the sixth time. Every time I came around, I would end up meeting the same Commander and Gart'nir. The places changed though. The Tigers and Hippos were still around but the location jittered around. Sometimes it was a vast sprawling city, sometimes it was a small village in the jungle, one time it was between two cloud-built cities, but nothing like that could ever exist. It was like the places didn't matter, as if they weren't important.

Meeting Kayla each time was the same, though the dialogue was different. With, or without her I managed to stumble upon a Hippo encampment and there would be the stoic Commander that I'd never get the name to and Gart'nir who took strange pleasure in introducing me to the wonders of passing out. 

There wasn't any pain, which was strange. I kept expecting to feel something as he stabbed me with his wicked knife.

"I—" I stopped. What was the point? How long would I be trapped here? How would I save my father if I was stuck in this recurring nightmare?

Kayla knelt by my side.

"You're crying," she whispered, rubbing a paw across my face. Her fur was ticklish but I was too drained to even summon laughter.

"I didn't know Nanu'wans could cry," she said, her claws rubbing together.

"I've been doing that a lot," I admitted, "It seemed like the appropriate response."

"I haven't known you for a long time," she said, creeping closer, "but I don't want to see you hurt."

I chuckled weakly. "That's what you said last time," I muttered under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

I stared off into the trees. I was in my father's mind. What was I doing concentrating on the problem in front of me instead of the whole picture? I sat up.

"What?" Kayla murmured. "What is it?"

"I hear something," I replied, distracted. It was true. There was a keening noise, just on the edge of my hearing.

"I don't—"

"Shh."

We both fell silent as I strained my ears. I turned this way and that, trying to pinpoint the origins of the sounds. There was also a faint odour in the air. It was unpleasant, just something unidentifiable.

Slowly I rotated, concentrating on my senses. There was a small flash as I passed the trees just to Kayla's right. It was fractionally louder in that direction.

"It's coming from there…" I muttered. I started heading towards it, only to stop as a spear barred my way. I turned back to the tigress who had on a smirk that looked—for lack of a better phrasing—evil.

"So," she said all too casually. "You've figured it out."

I eyed the spear as it was held in her firm grip.

"You can't die here," she said, grinning wickedly. "But I can make it oh so hard for you to reach your destination."

–––––

Star Swirl was making steady progress, with every step he sensed he was getting closer to the core. So it had to be at that moment when he thought things were starting to look up, that a three foot wall had to sprout up in front of the silver double helix.

"Pony—"

"Starry!"

"Pony penultimate parties. That's what I was going to say."

–––––

I got up as fast as I could. It was never fast enough. With every iteration, as soon as Kayla found out I knew about that weird noise or smell or the flash of light she'd end the recurring loop and I'd start on the ground or cloud or grass or whatever it was again with her spear poking me in the side.

To be honest, I was starting to hate that spear, and that was just the first time.

With a supreme effort, I flipped myself over and burst into the cover of the bushes. I could hear the muted pawsteps as she approached my ‘hiding spot’ slowly. Truthfully I was just trying to buy some time. I had tried to cast spells on her but it didn’t work. I had tried to outrun her but she just caught up to me. I had tried to hide, to conceal myself but she would always find me. Everything just slid past her and she was always faster, stronger or one step ahead of me. I couldn't outmanoeuvre this frustrating individual.

Crouching in the bushes my mind kicked into overdrive.

Okay, I thought to myself. I’ve tried magic, I’ve tried running, I’ve tried running and fighting. What haven’t’ I done?

I thought about playing along, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything, eventually the Commander would pop up or Gart’nir. I shivered. Like I said, there wasn’t any pain but the unsettling sensation of something piercing through you was enough to give me the willies. Almost like the same sensation of the dentist prying out your wisdom teeth while under local anaesthetic. It was that kind of disturbing sensation. I was in no rush to feel that.

But it didn’t seem like I had a choice. Anything I did would just end up being thwarted. I growled, tensing, ready to leap out as soon as Kayla came close to the bushes.

Pad. Pad. Pad.

She was getting closer. This time would be different. I would leap out and tackle her and while we were struggling on the ground, I’d grab her spear and swing up a tree, that way she couldn’t get me and I would be the one with the weapon. Fixing it in my mind, I leaped out of the bushes and tackled the first shadow I saw.

Tumbling through the shrubbery I grappled with the figure who felt strangely furless. I pinned the figure down, baring my teeth. When I focused on their face, my jaw dropped.

“Mother?!”

––––––

I must have looked pretty comical lying there with my mouth opening and closing like some kind of brain-dead fish.I glanced around and was surprised to note that there were no trees, no forest, no setting at all. It was just white space.

“Relax my little Ikemesit. Shh.” She stopped me from saying anything as she gently placed a finger on my lips. My old name was so startling I froze on top of her like an idiot for a few seconds before I clambered off. She rose from the ground gracefully, her movements bringing to mind the flow of a swan. Elegant, measured, graceful.

She laughed, her lilting voice carrying clearly across to me. “Come, Ikemesit, we have much to say in little time.” I was snapped out of the trance I was in. No, this was too inconvenient, I wouldn’t be fooled.

“You’re not real!” I shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her. 

She smiled somewhat sadly. “No, my child, my sunshine, I’m not.” My mother, or the vision I was having of her or whatever it was I was suffering from in this dreamworld, drifted away a little. A scene formed around us, fading into focus like broad strokes of an artist’s brush. It was disconcerting, one moment I was in this white void, the next I found myself surrounded by the familiar environment of my house. The house I lived in before my mother had passed away.

She guided me to a seat and I sat down gingerly, expecting it to somehow be unsubstantial with how whimsically it was willed into existence. Though I resolved to treat everything she said with a bucket full of salt, I found myself wanting to believe her. She was so much like my mother… At least, all that I could remember…

“We don’t have much time,” she announced as I took my seat. “I must tell you what you need to know and then I must go.”

I felt conflicted. By her own admission she wasn’t real, but the fantasy was so pleasant I felt myself not wanting to let go. “No,” I mumbled, reaching out for her. She pulled away quickly and I felt a stab through my heart. I tried again but she held up a hand and my own slowly sank back into my lap.

“No Ikemesit, we don’t have much time. You mustn’t get too attached to me, I don’t really exist.”

“Before we begin,” I ground out, surprised that I could speak at all, “I must ask you one question.” I took a deep breath. I was afraid what I would find out with this question. “Who or what are you?”

Mother smiled at me, her aqua eyes framed by wrinkles as she told me, “I’m your mother, simply put.” She gestured to herself. “More accurately I’m a memory of her. Your father’s memory of me.” She played with her hair giggling a little. “Though I probably look more beautiful now than I ever did in real life. Max does have quite the imagination. So for all intents and purposes I am your mother, right now. You can trust me.”

“Why should I?” I shot back. Even though I had every right to say it, saying it to a visage of my mother was so much harder. It was like spitting of her grave, talking back to this phantom.

My mother looked a little sad. “I don’t suppose you have a reason to trust me, at least not with what you’ve been through so far. But you’re in a pickle of a situation, are you not? In a few minutes you’ll be back in that recurring nightmare and you will struggle again.” She tapped the armrest with her fingers looking a little impatient. “No matter how strong-willed you are, trapped in a hopeless situation like that, you’ll eventually run out of ideas and your will to live will be shaved away ever so slightly with each reset.” She pointed to the clock on the wall behind me. I glanced at it, something was wrong it wasn’t moving.

“Time moves slower here,” my mother continued. “You experience much, but hardly any time has passed in the real world.” I looked at the clock again, it was true, it wasn’t stopped, the second hand was just moving impossibly slowly. I swallowed hard with the realisation.

“So by the time anyone forcibly terminates the spell from the outside, or from the inside, I would have gone through hundreds of loops?”

My mother placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Not just hundreds,” she said. “Millions.”

With that little bombshell I was all ears. My mother had put forward a very good case for my trusting in her. Well, everything she had just told me could have all been a lie, but I didn’t have much of a choice did I? I was stuck, I’ve tried so many things to get around Kayla, but nothing worked.

Her advice though, was not as helpful as I liked.

“I’ve told you everything you need to know,” she simply stated, she looked like she was commenting on the weather. I felt like I wanted to flip the table. I resisted the urge, but only just.

“You haven’t told me anything!” I growled. I wanted to yell and scream, but this was my dead mother, I had to mind my manners, in a manner of speaking. My mother was silent, sipping tea that had generously spawned on the table. She drew out an old kitchen egg timer and set the dial to three minutes.

“This is all the time we have here, Ikemesit. Use it wisely. Ask me something I can tell you.”

I paused at that.

“There are rules to this?” I asked incredulously. My mother hesitated then nodded slightly.

“Great,” I muttered, but sat down and started thinking as my mother tapped the timer with a slender finger.

“You’ve used my old name, is that somehow connected to this?”

There was a nod.

“Does this have something to do with Dad’s past—no wait—of course it has something to do with Dad’s past, it’s a memory.” I played with the frayed tassels on well used cushion I was sitting on. “We’re in the old house so it must be something in that era.”

Another nod. Two minutes left.

Encouraged I went further. “It must be during his travels. The animals I’ve encountered. Tigers from India and Asia, Hippos from Africa and of course my name from Grandpa… Must of been during his Asian-Saharan trip. Before he went exploring cross-dimensions.” I clicked my fingers. “That’s why they were surprised I could do magic!” 

Mother nodded once again, a smile spreading on her face. One minute left.

“There’s only one more piece of the puzzle, I’m missing…” I strained my mind, wracking my brain. What was I missing? Something obvious.

My mother spun the globe on the coffee table.

“Locations!” I yelled triumphantly half-rising from my chair. “That’s right, the location didn’t seem so important. The roots of the history might be from Earth, but the conflict is happening or has happened somewhere else.”

I sunk back down into my seat. “But where?” My mother pursed her lips. It looked like she couldn’t help me anymore. There wasn’t much time left, I had to figure this out… What was I missing?

“King Leo is strange name for a tiger…” My eyes widened. “Lions! Griffons! Head of a eagle, body of a lion!” I smacked my forehead, it was also mentioned in the letter. I don’t get it, why wasn’t this just told to me straightaway?

Mother seemed to know what my question was. Eyeing the timer approaching the alarm she gave me a pat on the head. “Memories are encoded differently in the mind, Harmony, just remember, memories fade with time…”

“Wait, I haven’t fully figured it out!”

At that, the house went out of focus and mother turned away from me, walking away purposefully. I cried out, leaping from my seat to try and snatch her hand, but she faded away and I felt myself hit something soft and furry.

Kayla gave me a smug grin.

“Found you,” she whispered in my ear. I was back to where I started.