Any interesting dreams you remember? I'll start, maybe a dose of insanity will inspire you.

This was last night's dream... (actually from July-23-2009)

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It involved festivals, firework-gazing and climbing buildings to get to the best spot, one of them had a water cannal on the inside, as if stairs (obviously, we went down by there -climbing around the gaps though, not by sliding, the water was very cold!). True to the roleplaying mentality, I wasn't "ME" me, I felt like a character in a comic or play. It might be the characterization means I use... Hmm. Anyways, I had a lot of fun discussing with friends and the like, I felt like I had known them all of my life, very relaxing. Specially the cartoon-style the world was in (saturday-morning/anime hybrid type, too), complete with (a tad squiggly) outlines (like hand-drawn, NOT Ed, Edd & Eddy), random-slight-change-of-style-due-to-perspective and colorful everything.

I kept running into this guy (a blonde) with an attitude (a spy, and by his skillset I'd say also assassin), with an overly cliche'd japanese outfit (red baggy pants and long sleeve white tunic/robe/shirt/whathaveyou), he was a poet to top it all off -having a weirdly-shapen caligraphy brush on his hip like you would a sword. Anyways, the guy employing him might have finally wanted me out of the picture, but a guy helping me tipped me off (in some kind of scene-cut, I'd be in a cafe sitting next to him, he wore a black trenchcoat).

I went to the building the poet was living and a fight broke out, it was taken straight to his aparment (a rather nice pad). Where he reveals that he has hidden a variety of weapons all over the place -all of which he was adept at using- and he was physically strong and nimble. Very ninja-like. I answer in kind, trying to prevent him from reaching anything.

(In the furniture that holds the TV, or on the table, or drawers, below an occupied sky-blue flowerpot -th'was yellow, maybe a sunflower...)

It is revealed that he went with the "inocuous object-turned-weapon" skill in there, as everything was silverware. It would have been sorta silly seeing someone fight over a fork or butter knive, 'cept that I have played FFIV here on real life (the spoon does an automatic 9999 max damage when thrown). We finally separate a few feet from each other, "Ha-HA!" He goes all 'I got you now!', holding a spoon. "This way I don't have to get around the slots!" I personally think a fork would have been better, maybe he meant the power outlet slots though.

Anyways, I am all deadpan, with a face of 'you can't be serious', then I hold up a butter knife. "Aww man!" He said. So we start battling to the death with those. Still, he's too good, I remembered Disgaea and the item world, with the resident specialist that boost the item's powers and bestow you with more stats and bonus stuff. I am transported inside, and am greeted by two random dudes. "Hey, you're fighting him!" They then state their total support for me, since they can't stand the guy.

They complain about him (remember I said he had an attitude?). "He's all like: "I am sir mystical Cuba". "I 'm sir mystical Cuba!" "I am SIR MYSTICAL CUBA!!!" (Nonsense, I know, but he does give that vibe!) While a set of comic-like panels are displayed, twelve for each time he repeated the bit about Cuba. In each of them, he has the poses of "I'm not giving up"-like attitude he gave me, although some are extras and some of those extras are just the outlines. The Armsmaster specialist (he was introduced as such), being the one that helps you to level up the weapon type faster, is the one to teach me that the guy doesn't parry very weel -there's an opening!

After the Armsmater defeats a copy and drops it of the pier that suddenly appeared (I think it's a pier, there's a water sound, an "from an angle below the water" shot and all). I continue my fight, and do a very dramatic move, crouching slightly and then pow! Forward like a mighty stab! Both hands on the 'weapon', and looking slightly downwards like I already won even.

There's a smudge of pink stuff on the very tip of the knife, less than a fingernail's surface. And he took it like a crushing defeat, he said he lost his honor or his dignity. He took the brush, I didn't know at the time so I think "A sword? Would have been more useful than- oh, so it's a brush! Still- hey!" He "stabs" himself in the stomach with the hairy end, more like a gentle hit. And falls over, overly dramatic, no?

Anyways, back at the cafe, I ponder with my coat-friend what to do next. He sais maybe we could find him something to do once he calms down.

This, my friends, is the point where I wake up...

Zodiac (Or, played way too much Megaman Starforce last night)

This dream is kind of like a movie... (Bold sentences are annotations, made while I'm awake, comment if you like.)

I am in the flash-back of my teacher and adoptive parent for what feels like the hundredth time, though I didn't mind, it show that there are strange little miracles everywhere.

Well, he's telling me. "I had just been walking home from church, when I turned back to greet a friend I saw from the corner of my eye. Yes, he was the one I though I had seen, but any small talk that either of us had in mind was cut short over the sound of sirens and cars screeching. That's when I saw her, an injured lady that couldn't stand any more yet still managed to cross the street and holding a child on her hands no less."

That would be my mom. My father was one of those with the title "Demon Lord", but something had happened to him, he wasn't the same. He'd never hurt my mom, he loved her too much.

Continuing. "I am there, as she ask for someone to take care of her baby child, so I offered her my help."

"I would travel all over the world on my own errands, and, miraculously, somehow was still able to keep my promise and raise the child appropriately" Indeed, even when I still needed a crib, he travelled to Japan to a friend's house, to further practice his skills as a smith, the place was very traditional-looking too. He also would go on hours to an end when speaking about metal, that you can't rush it or it would not obtain it's shine and that you had to be careful to correct the imperfections on the metal.



After that, I am walking about, without a specific target on my mind. I came across a group of three statues when I walked by a median on the street crossing, the afectionally named "Scrapyard gods" given their recycled components and that they where everywhere, often a sculptor would donate their rendering of them to the lobby of a fancy hotel and such.

Not long after that, I am feeling heavier and heavier, it's just the funk of not being able to know where my father is or what happened to him that's keeping me down. The road being slightly uphill didn't help, either.

I guess that all my depression didn't help some of my old training wounds, I decide to turn right to avoid any more climbing by following the gently curving path, and also have to use a wheelchair -it pays having someone so skilled in making stuff as an adoptive parent, I can pop it into being whenever I wish to and no normal man will ever so much as remember seeing me standing/needing it whatever be the case.

In the end, I'm feeling like I really need to do something, and decide to turn right again, in what looks like the steepest road I'll ever be able to roll down without falling on my face from the inclination.

The chair can unfold a bit and has wheels on the backside should I ever find myself on that situation, y'know, so I won't be catapulted out of the chair if I hit a bump. And hit bumps I did, the speed was something else I tell you; although I was in quite an unusual state of mind, as what I did to prevent hitting bumps as if they were improptu ramps was entirely by reflex, as if I just didn't (actively) care about it. I still steered by myself, though, somehow managing not to burn my hands from friction. Thank God for "selective memory" spells, that means no normals will have "seen" me.

(NOTE: I fully expected to dart by some other locations I has previously seen in my dreams that where also on inclined streets, but I didn't, all was new... weird, considering how concious I was of it being a dream at THAT point.)

I decided to stop once the speed managed to knock the fog out of my system and make me feel better even physically, I ended up close to a store too, so I decided to pay a visit. I knew this was a special store, given some of the strange objects making up it's selection, thankfuly, normals only ever see what they would expect to see in a run-of-the-mill stationery shop. The grocery shop across the street wasn't the common type either.

Anyways, I decided to open up the Zodiac, a special notebook/newspaper that those with such a title (constelation titles, that is) can use as an instantaneous variant of the classified ads section of the newspaper, each shop has one "reciever" -I sit on the floor for this. Most of the time it was used for stuff that was too much of a pain to someone so important to do by themselves (well, unless they don't mind the hassle of hidding their identity in public and such superhero-esque antics), annotations in the Zodiac notebook from a shop are made to indicate a completed job. Example, the one with the title of Virgo was issuing a reward on finding a certain luchador's mask, while Cancer wanted to sell some luchador's mask he had and some one else wanted to buy difficult-to-find stuff (oddly enough, a luchador's mask too).

Whatever or whoever made my dad behave the way he was doing seemed to also make him keep some sort of elaborate charade, as I told the shopkeep. "My father is Cancer, I'm looking for him." I witheld the fact I know he also has a title of "Demon Lord" and I hold both the title of Libra and Edgemaster.

(NOTE: Due to wake-up amnesia, I don't remember what my "mom's" title was supposed to be, but I suspect it was Pisces, with Aquarius and Gemini somewhat further down the line.)

(NOTE TWO: Also, sometimes, I hear background music, given what I heard when on the "Japanese blacksmith" part, I'm guessing that one of the blades I have is the Ama no Murakumo. Famous, mythical swords are obviously kept out of the reach of normals, what they do have is copies made at the time for hystorical purposes so that they'd have at the very least something from the period (like their own sword of Goujian or part of the Durendal) - oh, and to go nuts when trying to see "if myths/legends and their artifacts had a basis on reality" if they wished, and trying to see how it all fits (some of them? It doesnt!).)

(As I am about to wake up) : I see myself leaving a different store (stuff was arranged differently, and the owner looked more like a slightly portly barkeep, white shirt and green apron combo too), I don't reveal I'm Libra, but I do show I have the "power set" and thus have studied something of the libra house. The (classical) balance in my hand (whose shape is commonly associated with libra) has a white chocolate cylinder on a plate and a dark chocolate cylinder on the other (I paid for the chocolate, and eat it as I'm explaining what did it mean that the dark chocolate side was in the "Weight greater than" side). The side with the white was the truth and the dark was words, falling like that was that he was lying to me (and dangerous lies at that), while the white being "heavier" meant he was holding information from me (well, only when the lack of such info was dangerous), the scale whould swing back and forth if he was doing both, the lie making the pan heavy when the lies were spoken and then resting on the "withold" state when quiet. I am leaving when he suddenly asks me to a deal, which makes me stop and reconsider, not because of the offer itself but because it made the pan the white chocolate had been in to come down nearly to balance it out with the other side.

And that, my friends, is when I wake up.

The Star that Shines on the Black Sun - Part 1 - Prelude of Twilit Skies

"Stupid box!" Someone yelled, the space between Everything was not a quiet place. "You do this every time! I had the right of way! Respect the rules for ooonceeeee!" The scream faded and was lost among the gaps in the tapestry of creation.

The collision had tossed the man wildly off course, and was unable to do anything about it. No problem, he was just thrown at the mercy of fate and luck, nothing too different for him. It's just the way it is around him, whatever happens will happen for a reason, there was meaning in his visit to... whatever place he would end up. Whenever something weird like this happened, it always resulted in some interesting times, so he wouldn't complain.

That does not mean he can just sit there and do nothing about it, however, the bubbly dimensional borders that divided one place from another had to be taken into consideration. It was up to him to touch gracefully like a snowflake on a pond, soft and becoming part of it without trouble... or suddenly and messy like hail, hitting everything in the way and risking damage on himself -or worse still, the world.

*****

Inside the bubble, before the unexpected guest came in.

There was a nice little town, its residents have always been a friendly bunch, every face one comes across was a face with a cheerful smile drawn across it.

And why wouldn't they smile? Everything about the place was colorful and lively, flowerbeds in front of virtually every house, brightly colored buildings, birds chirping...

"SPIKE!" And a library that is usually a quiet place, but right now? "Ugh. No, no, no! NO!" There was a frantic search for a particular book. "Argh! Did you find it yet?!"

"Right here!" Answered the young assistant, book in hand, rushing before the place was torn apart by his boss.

As the book was taken from his hands, he could barely contain the tears produced by the unsightly state the library was in. He just knew it, Twilight would either focus entirely on the book, or run off to who-knows-where and leave him to clean up the mess.

"And why the sudden interest on disguise?" Asked Spike, slightly upset over this whole ordeal. The baby dragon made the motion of wanting to kick one of the books strewn about the floor, but just slumped back, resigned to his fate.

Twilight placed the book on the stand and turned to him, shocked as if the question had been mildly insulting. "Wha- You didn't notice that I have been out after dark for the past three days? Didn't I tell you?"

The dragon smiled nervously and shrugged. "I-eh, uh, I thought you were enjoying yourself?" Spike made his smile wider as the purple unicorn stared at him, what an awkward situation he had bumbled into.

To his relief, she just shook her head and went back to the book. "I told you, business at the boutique has been slow lately, and I think Rarity didn't take it very well."

Ha, think? Rarity got extremedly bored, she wanted somepony to wear her designs, she wanted company and Sweetie Belle didn't cut it. Preparations for the coming season were in order and she was determined to use that opportunity to make her fashion known across all of Equestria.

"Three days ago, she practically dragged me there and made me model." She had missed lunch. Not that she thought much of it that time, she understood that the fashionista wanted to present her work to others. "The day after that, she took me to her shop again."  She felt like losing lunch that day; the white unicorn could be a tad more gentle when securing the saddles, just a thought. "Yesterday I tried to avoid her, but she spotted me at the restaurant." Well, an incomplete lunch was nothing among friends, but all those hours of modeling? Twilight had been at Rarity's home for a longer time than her own.

Spike wouldn't think of it as an inconvinience, then again, Twilight knew he wouldn't mind even being his beloved's pincushion.

*****

There was a bright flash atop a hill in the border of the Everfree Forest, a figure rolled down from it like a rag doll, tumbling and bouncing until a tree stopped his progress.

"I am the shadow of the blade, this cannot hurt me." He told himself. "I am the light of dawn and dusk- ugh, this isn't working." He breathed out and just rested there at the shade of the tree, face down on the grass, groaning a little.

It wasn't long before he got tired of being tangled up with his own scarf and bag, standing up to dust off in spite of the allure of the soft grass. His face contorted into a discontent pout, hidden by his scarf. "It's always when going home." He lamented as he picked up his hat from the ground.

No tent, no supplies beyond any exotic ingredients picked up before the trek home, no idea what fate has in store for him until he's too far in to stop and rest. "Maybe I can come back later? When I'm not drained from past adventures?" He thought, the idea of going home for a spell before setting off again was appealing.

Still, not a bad idea to look around a bit and see just what sort of trouble he was likely to get into. "Become as if Nothing." He whispered, closing his eyes, eliminating his presence. "Neither a beam of light nor a shadow leave traces of their passing." Magic was wierd in here, he had to focus strongly on the spell.

And not a moment too soon, something or someone was closing in on his position, fast.

Very, very fast. From the direction of other powerful presences, now more evident than before thanks to his own muted one. He began casting a spell to become invisible, this had all the signs for a long journey...

*****

A couple of minutes ago.

"Rainbow Dash! Where are you!?" Somepony yelled, worry in her voice, searching through the streets for the pegasus.

"Can't a pony get a nice, long nap?" Asked Rainbow Dash from above, leaving her cloud and landing before the other pony without the slightest care to hide her annoyance. "And I just now got away from Rarity." She grunted again.

"Sorry to cut your nap time short, but this is important!" Said the other pony.

"Who are you?" Asked Rainbow Dash, eyeing her seeker. "Have we met before? You seem familiar." She tilted her head in thought.

"Oh, this? Sorry." There was a small flash of light, the other pony began to change before Rainbow's very eyes; her coat turning a known shade of purple, her head sporting a horn. "In any case, this is important, there has-"

"Whoa, that is so. Cool. Can I go next?" Rainbow Dash interrupted.

Twilight stomped the ground in urgency. "Focus! I saw a very strange light coming from the edge of the Everfree Forest, I feel that something strange is going on." She pointed to the direction of the anomaly. "And I-"

"Need me to take a look? On it!" And the pegasus was off, itching for some action after a dull day of modeling for Rarity.

"That isn't what I meant!" Yelled the unicorn, to no avail, her friend was already too far. "I was going to round up the others first." She said in a whisper, now another cause for concern added.

*****

Eyes still closed, he tried to see beyond sight. A haze covered everything he looked at, like a dream, giving the illusion of everything becoming slow. It would have to do.

He felt the air stir, a figure flew over the spot he had appeared, looking closer at the mess his fall had made. The figure landed next to some flowers he had rolled over.

It was amazing! A sky-blue pegasus, with a mane and tail in the colors of the rainbow! It was a touch on the small side, though.

But other than the appearance, what really caught his eye was the feel the creature gave. That moment where sky and earth become one, a storm, intense, looking forward. The wind, fierce at times, calm the next. Freedom. Full of pride, of conviction.

A beautiful spirit, undoubtedly. There was more to this pegasus than it met the eye. And the surprises did not stop there.

Looking at one of his handprints on a patch of dirt, the pegasus spoke! "What in Equestria could have done this?" A girl's voice, perhaps? That explained it, she was intelligent. At least now he knew the name of the place he was in, coming back would be even easier if he could just... uh oh.

She was walking towards him, his prints would no longer give him away, but that didn't mean he could relax just yet.

He was going to take advantage of the soft breeze that filled the forest with all sorts of sounds, though the little investigator seemed tense, as if the place was haunted or something. While she was distracted looking behind her, he ran a hand through her mane, leaving behind an invisible mark that he'd later follow to come back.

Of course, the move did not go unnoticed. "Who's there?!" She said, hoofs swinging. " I ain't scared of you!"

It did not matter, what he was after was the cover of the crunching wood masking whatever noise his spells could not. He had jumped out of the way, holding his hat tightly, landing soft as a kiss.

"Calm down Rainbow Dash, there's nothing there." She shook her head, trying to reassure herself.

He would laugh a bit if it didn't mean giving himself away. "What a messy mane." He thought, if "Rainbow Dash" flew everywhere like she did when she came in, it would be hard to keep any sort of hairstyle.

Yet, there was a sense of imminent doom, a sick pressure on his heart. If he had to guess, there were more people incoming, albeit most of them by land.

Indeed, someone was calling for the pegasus. "Girls! Over here!" She answered the calls.

Sweet heavens! What he had thought was over two dozen people felt ever closer to one another, so that the number wound up being less and less with each step taken towards the hill. Until it was revealed to him that only five more guests had arrived, led by a lavender unicorn.

This was a worrying development, surely a pawn of fate had nothing to do here! Yes, he met all sorts of important characters before, but those were leisure visits. For him to be tossed into this, just what problem had he gotten himself into?

"Don't you ever do something that brash again darling!" Said a stately white unicorn, seemed like quite a classy lady.

"Hey, there's nothing here, so it's fine right?" Rainbow Dash pointed at the print again. "Besides, check this out!"

"Looks like the hand of a monkey." Said another pegasus, a yellow one with a much calmer spirit than the first.

He felt like laughing again, despite how nervous he felt. "That happens when you favor a human shape." If they thought of a monkey rather than a human, perhaps that meant there were none in here? He would enjoy the possibilities a lot more if the feeling of dread gripping his heart wasn't squeezing it like an orange.

That other unicorn, the one with the stars on her flank, was deep in thought. "But what could have caused that light? It felt like magic, but nopony lives on this part of the forest; Zecora's hut is way over there in any case." She was not convinced by the monkey explanation. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Tee he he, snrk!" A pink... pony was it? She tried to hold back laughter.

"Pinkie, seriously." The unicorn looked back at the other pony, she was worried. Did he mess up already? Or maybe the girls were in trouble? Was it too late to turn around and come back better prepared?

"Sorry Twilight." The pink one shrunk back.

No, every fiber of his being, every string of fate he could see was screaming for him to walk away. Right now. Very unusual, since the strands had brought him here to begin with. This is not the place he is supposed to be at the moment.

He carefully stepped away from the group, once he was far enough that the ponies wouldn't wander accidentally into him, he crawled and hid inside the fallen, hollow husk of a dead tree. Breathing out, clearing the mind, shaking off useless thoughts.

*****

Twilight's horn began to glow intensely. "Hmm? What's going on?" Unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason, so she was understandably confused.

"What's wrong sugar cube?" Asked Applejack.

"I don't know, it just began to -whoa!" Twilight was pulled away from the group, flailing about due to the sudden movement.

"Wait for us!" Said the other five in unison.

She was magically pulled deeper into the forest, followed closely by her friends. Only for her to disappear inside a dead tree.

"Twilight!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, the pegasus went inside the tree at full speed, but just came out of the other side. "Twilight!" She called again, desperately looking around for her friend.

*****

The wanderer felt something hitting him on the back, it turns out that the bubble he was using for transport had picked up a last-minute guest.

His blood ran cold, one of the unicorns had followed him.

"Quick, you have to go back!" He turned around and pushed away the pony, back towards her world. "Before the hole closes!"

Twilight was it? She didn't seem to doubt him, it seems that the pressing tone of his voice made the message pretty clear. The man grunted from the effort required to send her back.

She saw the hole becoming narrower, and even a flash of rainbow colors calling her name and coming right at it the very moment it finally closed.

Too late, however, the traveler's bubble was still connected to hers, the situation was still salvageable. He exerted himself further and managed to pull her to him again.

This wasn't good, he had sacrificed his "oars" for that last shot at trying to get her back, something told him that he would be unable to regain control in time to avoid ending up somewhere else, and to top it all off there was the strange feeling that the girl was just in the place she was supposed to be.

He covered her eyes and began to recite an incantation. Being outside of a world, magic was much wilder, much more different. Magic was a thousand answers to the same question, which had to be worded very, very carefully.

He knew exactly what to ask and how to get it.

If translated from the soft, whisper-y tones he used, it would be like this:

"As sacred as it is, a unicorn's horn."

Twilight was getting scared.

"I'm afraid that if found, she won't survive long."

She wondered what would be of her.

"I beg on the name of my father, change her form."

This wasn't right, just this morning her greatest concern was hiding from Rarity!

She felt a strange sensation course through her body, as well as something else; the stranger had covered her with a weird robe, it wasn't ordinary cloth.

He casted one last spell, to disguise his true nature, as the bubble and its occupants landed on a different world.

It didn't take long for Luna to arrive, she said Celestia was still at a meeting, but as soon as she was done she would go inform Twilight's parents and depart for Ponyville immediately afterwards.

Celestia thought it was only fair to do it herself; seeing the little filly grow up and study hard, laugh and cry, it was as if she was also her daughter. And that faithful student of hers had saved Luna, her little sister, from the feelings of resentfulness that had taken over her heart, something for which Celestia would forever be grateful.

And now, she needed help. Both royals felt that they owed her so much, the only answer was to be here personally. Luna now had a second chance, her life stretching in front of her now that she was free, even the guilt and fear she felt due to her previous actions as Nightmare Moon had faded into nothing thanks to what had started that fateful night; something Twilight had said that stopped her pain, Celestia too, but then again they were sisters and could have been 'just saying that to calm me', they had said: "That wasn't the real you".

Luna used her magic to prod at the environment, a pale blue light around her horn. There was a spot above the canopy of the forest where something had appeared quite suddenly, something with powerful and strange magics with a serene grace to them, the feeling was almost gone by now. There was another pool of magical energy at the base of a nearby tree, but that was it. The trail that Twilight had left was very distinct, however it just ended at the place she was seen last.

According to the similarities between the hole in the air and the other pool, what had come through the first came to rest at the second. Whatever it had been, it might have been unwillingly transported there, since the tree felt much less chaotic and there was no such trace at the place the unicorn vanished.

The princess of the night did her best to sustain the fading energies that were the biggest clues left, whatever or whoever had left the print might be responsible or somehow involved in Twilight's disappearance. There was something about it, something that felt like... no, it was better to wait for Celestia before drawing any conclusions - particularly such strange ones.

*****

It did not take long to fully recover consciousness, but since he could not feel Twilight anywhere near due to the precautions that the captors took, there was little choice but to wait and see. How embarrassing, the Blade that walks the dark path captured like a total amateur. Though he had a very important task, there had to be a big reason as to why did the little pony follow him, maybe this was part of it?

He had learned -sometimes the hard way- to collect every possible scrap of information that presented itself, so he turned his attention to his situation. He had some strange shackles, they drained him of magic and made him feel weak, possibly a side-effect. There was something odd about them, an incomplete feeling, if these were meant to imprison a caster they wouldn't work on someone that used a different way of weaving spells. Well, his teeth felt normal, so his disguise had not failed, confirmation enough that these could not undo the effects of a wizard versed in different arts.

No, those things had been made to counteract a very specific type of wizard, it was a golden opportunity! There is no failproof method to prevent the use of magic to begin with, even the most powerful required that the users also abandon their ability to cast spells for the duration, and even then it doesn't always work. These? They might as well try to hold him with feathers and plastic, and Twilight as well, even if that had only been a fluke and she could only summon half of the strength she did that moment.

"Become as if Nothing." Like back in the forest, he eliminated his own magic to make a vessel to consume everything, pulling against the force of the shackles. Like the roots of a tree, he felt the enchantments inside his body and twisted them into uselessness.

Someone nudged him. "Wake up." A command, he opened his eyes to find himself already in what presumably was their captors' base, in a medical ward. He slowly stirred his other senses and was greeted by the smell of gunpowder and grease, he was being nudged with a gun. "Come on, you'll feel bad, but not bad enough that you can't walk under your own power."

To the guard's horror he merely sprang to his feet. "Ha. My wife orders harder drinks with her afternoon snack, this is a sleep aid." He saved the comment on how painful it had been for later.

The guard had... something. The shackles' influence prevented him from finding out in detail, but it seems that these people used technology to manipulate their inner power, a full-body suit under their uniform. Not that it was wrong, but like the binds on his arm they felt rather lacking.

He quickly regained sensitivity, the air inside the base was filtered and stripped of nearly all aroma of the exterior, but the soldiers around and the prisoner's uniform he wore all had the smell of the mountain air. One of the nurses had Twilight's smell very faintly, normally it would be lost to a human nose, but not to a wolf's. He lamented the fact that he had to suppress his laugh yet again, he would have to display his shapeshifting prowess in another occasion.

Several plans began to formulate inside his head, priority number one being finding the girl, followed closely by finding his gear.

He paid close attention to any talk going on, specially if it concerned either purpose. Apparently some nurses found it strange that the girl had a tattoo of stars, while some soldier said that finding star glyphs on an "Arcane Master" was like saying that birds use wings to fly, so when he was corrected by pointing out they are just markings and there is not a single rune on neither the girl nor man he almost fainted. Apparently, commanding that much power without external assistance was unthinkable, that made him very glad. Oh, and apparently she kept the marks she had when she was still a pony, those must be something special indeed.

Snippets of conversations here and there, slowly piecing together information. Too bad that the escort had regained his bearings and pushed the prisoner outside, beckoning more soldiers to follow. In any case, he made a mental note to remember where everything was inside the base.

They led him to a large door deep down into the fortress. "The best room in the hotel." Said one the soldiers, sarcasm dripping from his words. "We thought it would never see any use, and we find two Arcane Master generals dropped into our laps!"

He'd blow a raspberry if he didn't want to play this new image of general for all it was worth, so he settled for making a retort. "Very nice, it has all the charm and sturdiness of a cardboard box in the alley." One of the guards hit him with an elbow to push him inside, but to his surprise it was like hitting rock rooted into the ground. "Even without armor, the Shield of hope's light still has it." The man smiled to his insides, it was painful, still, he acted as if he hadn't noticed.

The room was divided in the middle by an elaborate metal fence, it was meant to prevent the use of magic across it. It was not that hard to notice that the walls had a similar protection, even more powerful than the ones in the hallways leading there. A single bed protruded from the wall, though it would be more accurate to call it a shelf with a blanket on top.

Turns out, he wasn't going to need to look around for Twilight, he felt at ease when another group of guards came in with her.

She could not walk properly and had to be helped by the nurses, not surprising, the serenity spell was still strong, the poison, the restraints and the fact that she became bipedal a little while ago all conspired against her. She was unceremoniously tossed in with him by a soldier, startling the nurses. With his hands behind his back it was hard to help her to the bed, this was just the tip of the iceberg of atonement.

Now all that was left was waiting for someone to get information from, or who could get them out of there (be it willingly or not). This was not the place they were supposed to be.

Oh, and the more in control they think they are, the better.

The waiting game again, though this round was much shorter, the guards saluted and stood firm as two figures entered.

"You may have important connections, Major." The older of the two was very upset, yet managed to keep his composure. "But as long as I outrank you you will adhere to my decisions, your family may have gotten you into your position, however they cannot alter that fact. Remember your place."

The other man kept silent, scowling at his superior as they made their way to the middle.

"Why are you here and how did you arrive?" Said the older man, his medals far outnumbering that of the major. "This is the Bastion of the North, it should have been impossible for someone like you to pass unnoticed." That "you" had a lot of mixed feelings, like both acknowledgment and disdain.

"I don't even know where that is." He answered, remaining calm and looking into their eyes defiantly. "What I do know is that you overestimate your abilities, even an apprentice of Eastern magical theory could waltz in and out of this cell." The major looked closer at him, never suspecting that the brown eyes he was gazing into were trying something devious. "What? Never heard that honesty is the best policy?"

Twilight mumbled something about apples, was she hungry? He only altered what he had to in order to pass her off as human and make her comfortable, so her diet would be pretty much unchanged.

"The clothes you were found with-"

"Yes, hat, scarf, pants and robe, each is made of a single fiber making a single thread weaved into a single piece of cloth and both ends are fused together, which explains why the seams are fake. I use little hooks and eyes to hold the robe closed instead of buttons or belts because I fancied the plain look for my previous trip. Yes, they are protected and have powerful regeneration, judgement and shapechanging magic infused, so that is why you cannot cut a piece from them." He recited the answer as if it had been practiced.

"Colonel, this man is insolent. As I said, we shoul-"

"And how is it possible to do all that?" The colonel raised his hand to silence the major, who turned red from frustration.

"Well, it kind of isn't. Here? I don't have the resources to do that fancy string trick, my home is much better equipped and prepared for things like that than this land." Maybe the colonel was open-minded enough to consider the possibility of other worlds he had alluded to, but the major seemed to be sure that it either was just a bluff to play up his ability, or...

"Just how? Don't Arcane Masters like yourself consider the use of technology blasphemous?" Twilight stirred upon hearing the major say that, as if she found it unpleasant; this made the other captive angry.

"I don't remember calling myself that." He turned to her aggressor, for a chilling moment, it was as if the roles had been reversed between captor and prisoner.

"He is right." Said the colonel, growing wary of that man, he wasn't taking the situation the way that common sense dictated. "That bag he was found with contains much more than just journals, that we know, but we cannot discover those secrets residing in neither bag nor books." He stared at the man inside the cell, did he just mouth 'of course you can't'? In any case, he turned around. "This is a serious matter, major, we are talking about something that the Science Lords are merely in the speculation stages of." If the colonel was right, and this man did not care for either ideology and managed to merge the results, that meant that he was the most dangerous threat to both sides of the war.

"What is inside the journals? Why keep that many?"

"Well, one is my cookbook." Even the soldiers broke their expressionless stance for a second at such a blunt, direct and kind of stupid answer. "Yes, I keep track of everything I come across, recording all possible data about the ingredients and recipes." A shrug and a polite smile. "I then compliment using my senses and knowledge to make new ones or adapt to individual tastes. I have everything from hors d'oeuvres to magical potions recorded in there."

And again the girl muttered something when she heard that, something about what a rarity that word was? And a bit about... zebras?

"See, when you live long you gather a lot of memories you want to keep but can't keep in your head without going crazy, so I use magic to have other things remember for me!" He said cheerfully, as if he was in a party. "Music, pictures, name it! Magic and technology alike are my tools, though my brother is the one that prefers machinery."

"I bet you don't even know what started the conflict, or that it has long since turned irrelevant. And yet, here I am. Another bet says that both sides don't know anything else about other arts because you scare away all prospects of exchange. You could learn so much from others, like I do!" He used his sweetest voice. "You have to share, you have to care."

What did she utter this time? Ugh, whispers he can catch, but slurring and babbling? Pinkie something? Oh! The pink pony from before! She had been talking about her friends all this time!

If his heart had a thorn stabbed into it before, now it was almost unbearable. He didn't mean to pull her into this mess! Honest! Just what did she have to do that couldn't be done alone by him? Maybe it was a test for both of them?

In that case, he'd grow to hate the situation even more. Thanks in no small part to what he would have to do to get both of them out of there. The other part being making others suffer in the meantime, he just knew there was no way to get Twilight back right to the moment she left, not if her friends did something to connect both of the otherwise unrelated timelines.

*****

"I knew it!" Rainbow Dash cried out at the top of her lungs, causing birds to flee. "I knew there was something there! I felt that touch!" She was stomping the ground, furious at herself, tears coming from her eyes. "I should have done something! Anything! I failed her..." Her wailing tore apart the usual calm of the forest.

One of Zecora's strange powders had revealed what was quite evidently the prone form of a living being where the residue of the tree had formed, the trace was too decayed to see any detail in the dust sticking to it and floating in the air, but one could discern head, arms and feet as well as... a pointy wizard hat? In any case, Rainbow did not take it well, she was hoarse from all that screaming.

"Calm down my dear, this was not your fault." Said Celestia, voice sweet as honey, placing her hoof on the pegasus's shoulder much like AJ had done. "If we cannot find anything, how would you have?" Even if her own eyes were reddened from tears, she still had that motherly and regal presence. Dash pulled away still very angry, but she stopped being so loud, she wept in Fluttershy's shoulder as the yellow pegasus began to sob as well.

"Sister." Called Luna. "Is it really... do I just have an active imagination?"

The sun princess shook her head. "It is just as you said, these traces appear to contain parts of the Veil of Night, as well as other powers of the dark. I also detect the Sun's Light in them."

"But how can that be?" That didn't make any sense! Magic like that could only be used by those whom the stars above know and accept, while it wasn't impossible that there could be another avatar of the night or an artifact with the power of the night sky, to use the light of day as well? What would such a being even be?

Both alicorns took this as a sign that there was something ominous and foreboding looming over Twilight. It must be destiny, if her unicorn magic had happened on it's own, though they could only hope that she would get back safe and sound.

Still, their findings poked and prodded their attention, trying to shift it away from the missing unicorn. Light and dark. Celestia had a thousand years to get to know the night better, but she already had the sun behind her, the moon and stars did not need to be persuaded. This was not an unicorn, this wasn't even a pony, and yet it felt natural that this thing could use both magics. What would that make such a being?