Dreamscape

Chapter 2

After lunch Twilight and Spike occupied themselves with cleaning up the library. Every once in a while she would look out the window, or glance at the door to see if he would come. Spike grinned at her as he dusted the books behind her, “I’m sure he’ll be here any minute now”.

“I know,” said Twilight grinning back, “I wasn’t worried or anything, I just…….” Suddenly there was a knocking on her door, which immediately made her raise her head, “he’s here”. She trots her way to the door and swings it open, “Mickey, you……made it”. She stopped herself as she observed the stallion’s current state. His body and mane were wet; he also seemed out of it expressed through the almost vacant look in his eyes. But what really hit her was the smell, “ewwww, w…what is that?” her hooves flew to her muzzle and she backs up a little.

The sound of her voice snapped him out of his slight daze and he looked at her. After a minute or two he found his voice, “I stink, don’t I?”

“Horribly” said Twilight.

“Well this is embarrassing”, said Mickey chuckling, “I thought a dip in the lake would do the trick”. He looks over at the side of her tree house, then looks back at her, “can I use your garden hose? Oh and some dishwashing liquid if you have it”.

“Or you can use my shower”, said Twilight.

“Oh yes; let’s do that instead”, said Mickey beaming a smile at her, “thank you so much”.

“Give me a minute”, said Twilight. Her horn glows and two cloth pins appear, she puts one on her nose and gestures for Mickey to come in.

Spike excitedly walks out of the reading room and heads for the two, “Hey you must be Mickey, my name is…..ugh, what died in here?”

Twilight chuckled and fits the other clothes pin onto Spikes nose, “it appears he had a little accident”.

“Oh”, said Spike, “you know, they have adult diapers for that”.

“Spike” said Twilight slightly embarrassed, “not that kind of accident”. She blushed a little while Mickey laughs, “I’m sorry, he’s kind of blunt”.

“That’s ok” said Mickey following her to the washroom, “I didn’t want to come in and stink up you house”.

“It’s not a problem,” said Twilight in a friendly manner, they arrived at the washroom and Twilight opened the door for him, “there you go, come down whenever you’re ready”. The other stallion smiles at her again and walks in to shower.

20 minutes later

An odor free Mickey sips on some freshly made tea as the smell of scented candles spread through the room.  He sighs and looks at Twilight gratefully, “Thank you so much for letting me use your bathroom”.

“It’s ok”, said Twilight sitting across from him at the coffee table along with Spike, “you really needed it”.

“I’ll say”, said spike shifting a bit closer to Mickey, he was anxious to know about his journey, “what happened out there?”

“I was eaten by a dragon”, said Mickey in a nonchalant manner, he takes another sip of his tea and smiles, “is this chamomile?”

Twilight and spike look at each other before the alicorn answered, “um yes……I’m sorry, did you just say you were eaten?”

“Yep”, said Mickey nodding his head.

“By a dragon”, said Twilight.

“Uh huh”, said Mickey.

While Twilight looks at him with deep concern, spike becomes more interested, “wow, you were eaten by a dragon? How did you get through that? Did it cough you up?”

Mickey takes another sip before addressing Spike, “oh no, eating me or any pony for that matter would be like eating a really small chocolate chip morsel to a dragon as big as Canterlot Castle. There was no way he was coughing me up”.

“Well that explains the smell”, said Twilight.

“Whoa” said Spike getting concerned himself, “that sounds really dangerous, not to mention suicidal”.

“Well I kind of had to”, said Mickey, “he had my notebook in his mouth and…..”

“You risked your life for a notebook”, said spike.

“Well when you put it like that, it sounds kind of stupid”, said Mickey.

“No,no,no, it’s not stupid” said Spike sarcastically, “it’s just colossally dangerous, colossally suicidal and colossally dumb…..but no never stupid”.

“I’m glad you think so”, said Mickey smiling at him, “you see the trick to surviving that is to…….”.

“By celestia, your crazy, aren't you?” said Twilight rubbing her temple with her hoof.

“Slightly”, said Mickey unfazed by her comment, “so I’m told……between you and me, I hear it runs in the family”.

“That’s not funny”, said Twilight growing even more concerned, “you could have been killed out there”.

“Yes….yes I could have”, said Mickey and sips on his tea some more, “but more importantly it allowed me to experience something that no other has before. The anatomy of a dragon is AMAZING; the rib-cage, the flammatory glands located at the base of the throat, the ocean sized pool of lava like digestive juices inside the stomach, MY CELESTIA, I've never gotten this far in my dragon research before. It’s a completely new experience for me and can you believe it happened entirely by accident? Neither can I,   I had to enclose myself in a shield bubble in order to be passed through easily. However I ran out of air when I entered the lower bowels and was forced to lower the shield, luckily the exit was right in front of me and the rest is history”. He enthusiastically gulps down the rest of the tea and panting a little after his excited tangent. After a moment he looks back at the bewildered two with a smile, “but other then that, it been a pretty productive afternoon.  Tomorrow I’ll get my latest manuscript to the princess, she’s going to flip”.

“Uh….yeah”, said Spike, “she’s going to flip alright”.

“I think you might want to omit that part out of your report”, said Twilight giving him a serious look, “unless you can prove to the princess that you have a safer way of finding that information she might cancel your research”. She notices the sudden look of panic on his face and raises a hoof before he can say anything, “it’s no offense to what you have accomplished at all; she really cares for the safety and well being of all of her subjects. She wouldn't be happy to learn one of them risked their life just to turn in a research project”.

Mickey thought about it for a moment; his discovery was incredible but his method was dangerous, “You’re right; I have to prove to her that I’m not just recklessly endangering myself if I’m to continue”. He picks up the tea cup to take another sip but realizes it’s empty. Twilight chuckles and pours him another cup which he gratefully accepts, “heh, heh, thanks”. While he drinks it, his eyes wonder back to spike and he turns fully to him, “hey big guy, I almost forgot I’m supposed to be studying you today”. He puts his tea cup down and searches through his saddle bag, he then pulls out a tape measure and a notebook, “can you please stand for me?”

“Um, ok”, said Spike standing up, allowing Mickey to measure the scales on his back.

While Mickey takes Spike’s measurements; he carries on a conversation with Twilight, “so Twi, how was your day?”

Twilight beams at him, “I thought you’d never ask, I spent a large part of my day practicing a brand new spell”.

Mickey measures spikes head and writes down his findings, “another one?”

“Luna taught her”, said Spike raising his arms for the other pony, “it’s a dreamscape spell”.

“You don’t say?” asked Mickey, he was now examining the baby dragon’s scales closely with a magnifying glass.

Twilight grins at the scene, “well it’s just a little something that Luna practices all the time”.

“There she goes being modest again”, said Spike.

“Well I find her modesty endearing”, said Mickey moving from spike’s head and examining his tail.

Twilight blushed a little, “um….th…thank you”.

Spike grins at her seeing this as an opportunity to promote Twilight's awesomeness, “you know, the dreamscape spell allows the caster to walk through pony’s dreams. She’s practically on the same level as Princess Luna”.

“I kind of suspected that in the last duel we had together”, said Mickey immersed in his examination; “did she tell you she nearly gave me a concussion?”

“I did not”, said Twilight blushing even more.

“Well she is pretty powerful”, said Spike.

“I….I’m not that powerful actually”, said Twilight, “I’m still learning after all”.

“True”, said Spike, “but at this point you've learned way more then enough to actually start teaching it to others. In fact….” He turns around to face Mickey fully, but the other pony quickly takes this opportunity to reach back into his bag for a small flashlight. He flashes it in Spikes left eye watch it dilate, the dragon tries his best to ignore it, “she could probably teach you a spell or two”.

“Spike”, said Twilight wondering where he was going with this.

“In fact,” said spike before losing his patience with the flashlight. He takes it out of Mickey’s hoof and keeps it away when the stallion reaches for it, “she could probably teach you the dreamscape spell”.

“She could?” asked Mickey stopping himself suddenly.

“I COULD?” asked Twilight.

“Course she could”, said spike turning off the flashlight, “she could teach it to you in her room, you know where it’s quiet, secluded, with just the two of you……..alone”.

Twilight frowns at him, “spike, what are you…….”

Mickey gave it some thought while the other two conversed with one another; he was unsure if that power would be useful to him. He was already far along in his research, so he wouldn't need it for that. But what else would he need it for?……except, he looked at twilight and smiled, “LET’S DO IT”.

“What?” asked Twilight.

“Let’s go to your bedroom”, said Mickey.

“WHAT????” yelled out Twilight in shock, her whole face turning red and Spike chuckling in the background.

“I’d love to learn that dreamscape spell”, said Mickey.

Twilight tries to calm herself down from having a potential heart attack, “oh, of course that’s what you meant, what else would you mean? Hahahahahahaha”.

Mickey tilts his head in confusion; he had no idea where her manic burst of laughter came from. He slowly comes around to her side of the table concerned at her nervous behavior, “you ok?”

“I’m fine just fine”, said Twilight, she couldn't control running mouth for some reason, “no completely embarrassing insinuations here”.

“Oookkkkayyyy?” said Mickey even more confused.

“In any case”, said Twilight calming down, “I am afraid I won’t be able to. This isn't something I can or should show to everyone”.

“Awww, seriously?” said Mickey, making a pouty face.

“Oh come on Twilight”, said Spike moving towards Twilight, “you could be like his mentor”.

Twilight quirks an eyebrow, “mentor? I doubt it”.

“Well I don’t”, said Mickey, “you’re the most powerful pony I've ever meant, I’m lucky to even be sitting in your house right now”.

Twilight blushed and looked away, she chuckles nervously as Mickey looks directly at her, “stop, seriously….y…you’re kind of embarrassing me”. She froze as his hooves touched hers on the table…..she had no idea when that happened.

“I mean it”, said Mickey looking into her eyes, “you’re a wonderful pony and an amazing princess, which is why I look up to you with such high regard. I would be honored to receive your tutelage, your majesty”.

Twilight was frozen on the spot, her mind went completely blank, what could she possibly say to something like that? She didn't know what to do, should she cave in or stick to her previous decision. Then again looking at him at that moment with his head slightly bowed to her, she felt that disappointing him might be the equivalent of Celestia disappointing her. It just might devastate him and cause him to give up on researching magic, which might cause him to give up on his dragon research, which might cause him to turn his back on every pony and become a villain, which might………..Twilight shook her head vigorously, she had to stop herself from freaking out like she always did, “uh……..w…..well, I suppose….I could show you just this one spell”.

“Awesome, thank you so much”, said Mickey grinning excitedly, he could now add being taught by Equestria’s newest princess to his resume.

“BUT”, said Twilight, “Don’t tell anyone else I showed it to you, AND only use this spell when you really, really need it”.

“GOT IT”, said Mickey energetically.

“I mean it, Mickey”

“GOT IT”

“Only…….when you absolutely……..positively…..need it”

“GOT IT”.

Twilight grumbled a little; it was like talking to a male version of Pinkie Pie, “ok, but we’re doing this in the study”, she gets up and walks towards the study allowing a very excited Mickey to follow. Spike stayed where he was until Twilight levitated him from the table, “you come too Spike, Mickey’s not done with his research yet”.

“Heh, heh, right”, Spike chuckled while being placed on Twilights back, with that the three disappear into the study.