A dream. I'm standing over cliff. There is a field ravaged by un-melting ice and billowing smoke and fire below me.
There is nobody else around, just me. It is a lonely, desolate atmosphere and I think of the story I have just heard and a tear rolls down my cheek against my will. A tragedy befell here. One where two brothers killed each other in the name of love, broken hearts and revenge. I sit down, letting my legs, my pony legs, dangle over the edge of the cliff. It's strange. I'm usually terrified of heights and often have nightmares where I'm falling off planes or buildings but even though I'm a hundred, no two hundred feet up on this cliff, I feel... comfortable. I look at my hooves, feel my muzzle and mane and just bask in the strangeness and wonder of it all.
Have I finally gone crazy? Or was the world crazy all along and I just regained my sanity?
I think I know how I'm connected to the story Tick Tock was telling me. The fact that I'm a pony even in my dreams hints at it. The fact that I feel weirdly alright in this pony body supports it. I look down on my body again. The fact that my coat is a bright red clinches it.
I groan. Now I have a billion other questions ask. How the hell did I end up in the human world as a human? Why am I back? Who is Tick Tock? Why is he telling me all this?
Suddenly, the frustration of knowing too little gets to me and I can't hold it back anymore. I stand back up and scream at the wasteland of destruction till my throat feels hoarse (sorry no pun intended hehe). I stand there panting for a bit before I go for a round two when all of a sudden, someone taps me on the shoulder.
"What?!" I turn around angrily to a see pony that was quite different from Tick Tock. Her coat is a dark blue, from afar it would look almost black. On her chest she dons a crescent moon that matches the one above her hind leg. A small black tiara of some sort sits behind a long horn that looked like it could easily impale and kill. me. Two small wings were tucked to her side but I felt that if she unfurled them, they too would be magnificent. The most prominent feature that burned themselves onto my retinas was her mane. There are two layers, one of them a translucent royal purple. The other layer is the night sky embedded with countless stars that constantly twinkled and shifted. Though there was no breeze, it flowed towards her side in waves of perfection.
I suddenly feel shy. Embarrassed as well for lashing out at her for that. And god, she must've heard me screaming like a maniac too. Shoot.
"Sorry, did I disturb you?" She asked, her voice like freshly woven silk.
I sheepishly shook my head. I don't think she was all that taller than me, certainly thinner, but her presence was big enough to make me sweat. Yo calm down, I told myself. It's only a dream.
"I saw a wandering dream and decided to pay a visit. I don't believe I have ever seen you before. Are you new to Equestria?" She asks.
Honestly, everything she said just went over my head. Wandering dream? Equestria? Sounds like it's a place but my head is already swarming with questions and I really don't need anymore. She must have recognized how confused I am because she changes her approach.
"May I sit down next you?" She asks.
"...sure," I reply, not able to reject her. I sit back down as well and look back upon the field in which the two brothers. Neither of us say anything but it isn't awkward or anything, just peaceful.
Finally, I break that peace in order to ask a question.
"Who are you?"
The mysterious pony smiles gently.
"It isn't often a pony asks me that question," she says.
"Sorry," I quickly amend, "did my question offend you?"
"No," she says but there is a tinge of sadness in her voice. "I am Princess Luna, ruler and watcher of the night," she announced in full grandeur. "But you may call me Luna."
"Oh, nice to meet you Luna," I say and we shake hooves. Huh, I'm dreaming of princess ponies now. What's next?
"And what is your name?" she asks. An easy question but for some reason I hesitate before I answer. Almost as if I had forgotten it for some reason.
"My.. my name is Lium," I reply. There's a weird ache in my skull now. Did I really almost forget my name just now?
"Lee-um" Luna tests my name, pronouncing it a little strangely. "An interesting name."
"Uh thanks? Your name is pretty interesting too. It means moon in Spanish right?"
So that brief period of time when I took Spanish in school came in handy.
"Spanish? Sorry, I am not familiar with this Spanish you speak of," Luna replies, confused. "What is it?"
"Oh it's nothing to worry about. Just forget about it," I say. Whoops, forgot that I'm in a world of talking ponies. Guess they don't speak in Spanish. Great, it wasn't one of my best subjects so no complaints here.
"This dreamscape..." Luna stares out to the frozen, burning wasteland. "It's very calm."
I wait for her to go on.
"The dreams I usually frequent are very chaotic since dreams are a place where a pony's state of mind usually manifests and organizes itself. This is a nice change of pace," she says.
"So you visit dreams?" I ask, suddenly realizing that she may not be a figment of my imagination.
"Yes, it is part of my duty to look over the ponies of Equestria in their dreams as well as guard the peace of the night," Luna says and I can see the pride she holds in her role.
Figures, my imagination could never dream up a pony like her.
Wait, maybe she can help me get a better grasp of the situation then.
"Sorry but I am actually pretty clueless of where I am," I say. "In the real world that is."
"What do mean?"
"I'm actually-" Suddenly, the ground wrenches away from my hooves and the fields starts twisting away.
"You're waking up," Luna says as she opens up her wings to take flight. I fall with the ground but she comes after me. As I expected, her wings are as large as life and despite the fact that it feels like I'm falling to my death into a giant black pit that has replaced the previous scenery, I admire the elegance of her wings.
"Oh come on, " I whine, frustrated that every time I'm about to get some real answers, something ends up screwing it over.
"I'm sure we will meet again, " Luna smiles. "Good bye Lee-um!"
"Good bye Luna!" I yell back, and she fades away to nothingness.
And replaced by the old wrinkly face of Tick Tock who was shaking me like a madman.
"Ah!" I jump back and I'm back in the stone room with the open roof and glowing basin of water.
"What's your deal you old coot?" I angrily shout.
"I was being stupid," Tick Tock wheezed. Then his trick with the aging thing kicked in reverse. The wrinkles started disappearing, his back grew stronger, his coat regained it's clean white glow and black streaked his grey mane.
"Quick, drink this," Tick Tock's new deeper, stronger voice boomed. He shoved a vial of clear green liquid to my face.
"Dude I don't drink random crap people shove at me," I complain. "And where the hell did you pull that out of?" He had no bag, it literally came out of nowhere.
"Just drink it before she finds us!" He yells with such desperation and fear in his eyes, I find myself lifting the vial to my lips despite my better judgement.
I gulp it down and it had a strange chemically after taste that made me gag.
"Does this have anything to do with the mare I met in my dreams," I ask, grimacing.
"Partly," Tick Tock says and he pushes me towards the other side of the cavern.
"Follow me and I'll explain things on the way there," he says. He trots right through a wall.
I stop and touch the wall with my hoof to see it go right through. Tick Tock pokes his face back out of the wall and it looks really creepy.
"Illusion magic," he explains. "Now hurry up!"
Swept up in the urgency in the situation, I jump through the wall to find a tunnel lit up by countless gems embedded on the walls and floors. It looked endless.
"Okay so are you going to explain what's going on now?" I ask as we walk down the path. Tick Tock seems to have calmed down.
"Yes," he takes a deep breath and starts to explain.
"I suppose I should start explaining who you are," he starts.
"I think I know who I am," I say.
He lets me go on.
"Is the fire stallion... my father?" I ask tentatively.
Tick Tock smiles sadly and shakes his head. Disappointment fills me.
"Close, young colt. You are on the right track but that is not the answer. Your father was the stallion of ice," Tick Tock says, looking ahead to the winding tunnel that was now curving to the left.
"What? You didn't mention he had a child," I exclaim. "Besides, it makes much more sense for me to the be the son of the fire stallion, look at my-"
I look down at my coat and I stop walking. Tick Tock stops too.
My coat isn't red. Even in this dizzying multi coloured light from the tunnels, I can see that my coat is not red. It's a deep blue.
"What?" I murmur.
"Dreams are curious things, young colt," he says, nudging me to keep walking with him. We resume our previous pace. "We are not always who are are in dreams."
"Then who am I?" My head hurts. Every time a question is answered, more questions come and I feel like I'll never understand anything.
"You are the son of the ice stallion," he repeats. "The story I had told was not complete. You did not hear of the ending of the unicorn of ice's wife."
When the battle ended, she emerged from the forest. She searched the battle field and found the remains of her husband, brutally charred and broken. It was a sad sight to see for she truly loved him with all her heart. And she had yet to tell him that there was a foal in her stomach. His foal.
She buried him and brought the other body of the fire stallion to the villagers who shunned her away.
She wandered away, lost. The only thing that kept her going was you, the little colt that slept in her belly. When you were born, life returned to her eyes and she was reborn. You were loved very dearly young colt. However...
Tick Tock sighed.
"I have to apologize on behalf of Time Twister. Know that we are not all like him," Tick Tock says. I was but a powerless colt at the time as well and Time Twister had grown old and twisted with time. Quite ironic for his name but still."
Time Twister is a Time Warden that collected young foals that show strong aptitudes for magic to be his apprentices.
You inherited a strong infinity for magic from him and that did not go unnoticed by him. In the middle of the night, he attempted to steal you away but your mother caught him and it resulted in violent fight. Your mother was a gifted magician in her own right but she no match for Time Twister. She did however manage to hit him with a stun spell in the middle of his teleport spell and as a result, he ended dropping you while he crossed time and space.
"And then I ended up in the human world," I finish.
"Not quite. You ended up drifting around for a bit before ending up in the hands of another Time Warden, 12-o-clock."
" And what's a time warden?" I ask, puzzled at the new term.
"Oh yes, I forgot how little you know," Tick Tock says. I don't really feel great at that comment but I let it pass.
"A time warden is pony intrusted to keep the order of time. If there is a irregularity, we must fix it. Usually, when ponies use time magic, it doesn't bug the system too much and usually corrects itself but on other, more rare occasions, paradoxes are created and that's when we step in and solve them."
I let that sink in a bit.
"Okay, I think I understand."
Yeah, all I had to do to get a grip on the situation is throw out all previous common sense I had and treat this like some sort of fantasy RPG.
"What happens if those problems aren't fixed?" I ask, eager to learn more. I'll ask how they fix those problems later.
"Time will fall apart. At least in theory. The problems have always been corrected with the utmost priority and nopony wants to risk the destruction of the world for the sake of curiosity."
"Hm.. alright, go on with the rest of your explanation," I urge.
Tick Tock nods.
"As I was saying, 12-o-clock found and saved you but she knew that Time Twister would find you if you remained in this world and so, she brought you here, turned you into a human and sent you off to the other world."
"So that pool of water, it turns ponies into humans?"
"Well yes and no. The pool is actually a gateway of sorts. It is exclusively controlled by Time Warden magic. It can open to almost any alternate world but there are very few that Time Wardens of today know how to open it to. I myself can only open it up to your particular world."
"Wait, does that mean I got here through that pool?" I ask.
"Yes."
"But I fell back in when you scar- er surprised me and that was when I got turned into a pony!"
My head is starting to hurt from trying to understand all this insanity.
"That's because I had closed the gate at that point. The reason why you turned into a pony when you fell into the water and not when you passed through the portal was because the transformation magic only works when the portal is closed," Tick Tock explained.
"Uh, okay. So what about when you touched the water and it turned violet?"
"I used the magic to change the effects of the transformation. If you went back into the water, you would have turned back into a human. Then I would have opened the portal and let you drop back into your old world."
I scratch the back of my head. I think I only absorbed about half of that information.
Tick Tock sees my expression and smiles.
"Don't worry. We'll have time for plenty of further explanations but let's move on. You're going to need a better grip on how it works around here in Equestria."
"Ah give me a sec," he says and stops me. We're still in the tunnel and I've been just following him this whole time through the countless branching. If he's lost, we're screwed. This place is big enough to get lost in for the rest of my life.
"Here we go," he says, looking marking on the wall. On closer inspection, it looks like someone carved a crude attempt at a winged pocket watch. I think. It's really horribly done so it's hard to say. It might also be a apple with a foot growing out of it.
Tick Tock touches his horn to it and there's a clicking sound. He walks right through the wall like we did to get into the tunnel and I'm right behind him.
I don't know what I was expecting to see but it certainly wasn't a kitchen.
"Make yourself at home," Tick Tock grins. It's a pretty normal kitchen, just looks a bit old. It has a sink in which a single lonely yellow cup sits unwashed. There are cupboards and a small green fridge. A round wooden table sits in the corner of the room with three chairs encircling it. The walls are painted bright mellow yellow and the pinkish purple light peaks through the drawn curtains of the windows.
"Dawn?" I walk up to window and look out. The landscape is quite hilly which restricts a proper view of the rising sun but the sky is a pretty shade nonetheless.
I see no other houses around. Wait, that's not the point.
"Hey, weren't we pretty deep underground? How is it that when we go horizontally through some magic door, we end up in this house above the ground?" I question.
"Magic," Tick Tock answered.
I sigh and sit down on one of the chair. This was really odd. I'm a pony and I'm sitting on a chair.
Tick Tock starts brewing tea.
"Do you mind Real Grey?" He asks.
"Do you mean Earl Grey?" I reply.
"No, what's that?"
"Nevermind. Real Grey is fine," I say. "Let's move on. I still have tons of questions. What happened to my mother, is she still alive?"
Tick Tock opens the cupboard and starts digging around.
"I'm sorry but she has passed on," Tick Tock brings over some sugar cubes.
I pretend that it doesn't matter to me. After all, I lived my entire life without a proper mom. It shouldn't be surprising to hear that she's dead.
"How, how did she die?" I ask. I don't want to know.
"She was eaten by timber wolves," Tick Tock says solemnly.
That's when I break.
"Timber wolves!? What the fu-k are timber wolves!? You can't do this Tick Tock! You can't just barge into my life, the life where I have lived as a human the entire time, turn me into a fu-king pony and tell me some bullshit story where you resurrect my parents into my life and then tell me they're all dead anyways!" I explode.
There's a hole in my heart and I don't know how to fill it so I keep yelling.
"Nothing makes sense!Fu-k the timber wolves, fu-k the time wardens, f-ck everything and tell me why the fu-k I'm here!"
There's nothing but the sound of my panting for a few moments. And soon those too fade. And then I start crying. I hate it, I hate showing him this weakling side of me and try desperately to stop the tears, stop the sobbing but it won't stop. Tick Tock wraps his forelegs around me in an awkward embrace and it only makes me cry harder.
"I'm sorry, young colt. I'm so sorry," he rubs my back and I'd never admit it out loud but it feels comforting.
"I've seen your life and the troubles you've faced. You weren't made for that world and as a result, it has broken you."
I see tears fall from his own eyes and that makes me stop my own sobbing from shock.
"But a reason why I brought you to this world was to put those pieces back together. Just as how 12-o-clock saved me from my old life, I wish to save you. Will you live with me as my apprentice?" Tick Tock wipes away his tears and offers his hoof.
I wipe my own tears and snort up my snot, trying as quickly as possible to regain my dignity.
Don't rush here, I caution to myself.
How many times have people lent their hands in help with a hidden agenda behind their back?
But he's not human, he's a pony, I reason. Surely that makes a difference?
Does it? My skeptical side fights back, You've known him for what? A few hours excluding the time you spent sleeping.
But what's the harm? If he really wanted to hurt you, then he would have done it while you were sleeping.
It's a little hesitent, but I take his hoof.
"If you ever do something sketchy to me, I'm outta here in a heartbeat," I warn him.
"Of course," he laughs.
"One more question," I ask. "What does Princess Luna have to do with everything?"
The smile falls off his face.
"I'll have to explain some Equestrian lore first then," Tick Tock sighs. It is obvious that he is reluctant to share this story.
I get a brief overview of Equestria's history in the span of about 30 minutes. The differences between unicorns, alicorns, earth ponies and pegasi, the rise of the two alicorn sisters that controlled day and night, how they overthrew King Sombra, Discord, and how the younger sister, Luna, turned into a nightmare creature and was banished to the moon for a thousand years by her sister, Celestia. When I start hearing about the most recent events that brought Luna back involving some elements of harmony and some pony named Twilight Sparkle, I stop him.
"I get the gist now, just tell me why you got all panicked when I was talking to Luna in my dream."
"The Time Wardens usually keep to themselves but Time Twister has made himself, as well as the existence of all Time Wardens known to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. In exchange for his services in their time of need, he asked a few favors. One of them was to keep an eye out for you."
"Woah hold on a second," I squint my eyes in confusion. "Why? It must have been over a decade since he tried to kidnap me. Why is he so obsessed?"
"It is not he who is obsessed," Tick Tock says. "Enough. I will tell you the rest another day. Let all that I have told you sink in first."
He has a point. My brain is filled with so much information that it might be a good idea to chill out a bit before cramming some more in.
"Go rest. I have a room prepared for you."
Tick Tock leads me to a pretty spacious place. It's furnished with a bed, a desk,a mirror, and a bookshelf full of books. A map of Equestria is pinned up above the desk. I open the closet to see it full of clothes. Ponies wear clothes?
"You're pretty... prepared," I say raising a brow.
"Yes, I suppose I am," Tick Tock smiles sadly. "Go ahead and use anything you need in this house. When you're ready to proceed with your new duties as my apprentice, just find me in my study which is right across from your room," he says. I leaves and closes the door behind him. I explore the items in my room.
I move up to the mirror and flinch. Haha, I guess I still expected my human face looking back at me but instead I see stranger of a different species staring at me with a half amused face.
I'm blue. I laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. I'm freaking dark blue, so dark it might as well be black. My mane and tail is white with streaks of cyan and the only thing that hasn't changed about me is the color of my eyes which are baby blue. To top it all off, I see a horn poking out on my forehead, right above my eyes.
The amused expression my reflection has is replaced with one with despair and confusion. Who am I? Tick Tock says I'm was originally a pony but if that's true then how come this mirror isn't showing what I am at all?
If Jason was here then we would have probably just trashed this place and gone and found our own place in this world without anyone's help.
"But he isn't here," I murmur to myself. Because he's- I choke that thought and stuff it down to the darkest recesses of my mind. I move on to look at the books on the shelves.
There about five volumes of the "History of Equestria" series and some books on magic that caught my eye.
"Basic spells Level One?" I read aloud off the book I just pulled from the shelf. More information was probably last thing I needed but I couldn't keep myself from opening the book. I mean, we're talking about magic. Was this what Harry Potter felt when he was told he was a wizard by Hagrid?
"You're a pony Lium."
I imagined Tick Tock saying that to me with a scruffy beard in his deep, gruff voice. The thought is so ridiculous that I have to chuckle. My mood is lifted and I sit at the desk to look over the book.
I skip the introduction go right onto the first spell.
The simplest of spells and the most useful for anypony is the levitation spell. The levitation is the basis for many higher leveled spells such as teleportation. The heavier an object that the caster is attempting to levitate is, the more difficult it is. It is strongly recommended to for beginners to start out with small objects and work their way up lest you pull your hornstring.
To levitate an object, focus on the object and enshroud it in your aura. Feel the tug in your hornstrings. Remember, it should not be painful. If you feel pain, stop immediately. Once the object is properly cloaked by your magic aura, move your aura up. Moving your horn up may help but it is not mandatory. This is should pull the object up with it. Remember, practice makes perfect!
I poke around the desk drawers in order to find a suitable item to try this spell on. I find a bright yellow feather which looks like a quill and awkwardly pick it up with my hooves. When I realize that I can't pick it up, I just try to lift it up with magic.
Like the book said, I focus on the quill until I feel the tugging on my hornstri-
Woah, woah, wait a second... What the hell are hornstrings?
I'm confused but I continue to stare at the quill but nothing happens. It says an aura should come out all but all I see is the unchanging quill, sitting in the drawer with some paper and a bottle of ink.
I try moving my horn around but to no avail. Finally I just stab the quill with my horn out of frustration and for some reason it explodes and ink gets all over my face.
"Great," I congratulate myself. "Basic Spells Level One and I can't even get the first spell down."
I close the book and head out to find the bathroom.
Now that I think about, how do ponies even take a piss?
I stop in the middle of the hallway, suddenly feeling that familiar tug of the bladder. Slowly, I lower my head to take a closer look the pony anatomy when all of sudden, the study door opens and Tick Tock steps out.
"Oh hey, just grabbing another cup'o tea. What are you doing?"
"Um just looking for the bathroom to wash this gunk off my face," I smile and it's the most forced smile I have ever attempted. Tick Tock sees something is off but he points me towards the bathroom without another word and for that, I'm grateful.
In the bathroom, not only did clean my face, but I became much more familiar with my new body. I go back to my room and put a hoof to my face. This was going to take some time to get used to. I wonder how mares... nope not even going to go there. I flop to my bed though it was late morning and bury my head under my pillow to block the light that was barely filtered through the drawn curtains. Even though Tick Tock warned me against it, I thought it would be nice to see Luna again in my dreams.