Hex

"Hello there..."

"Huh?" Breeze was awoken by a voice. The moon was low in the sky, and getting lower every passing moment. In his room, he could see a faint white glow. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes. The glow became brighter as he stood, revealing a unicorn mare. She was white with a light purple streak in her mane and tail. Her eyes were bluish-white, resembling ice. She was standing in the center of the room, smiling. "It's... you." She chuckled.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked. He raised his hoof, ready to respond, when she teleported directly in front of him, causing him to jump in surprise. "You got what you deserved!"

"I told you before, it wasn't me," he replied calmly. "Besides, your curse is about to be undone, Dream... Dream... Why can't I..."

"Has your stay in this lowly land made you forget all about your old home?" She laughed and turned quickly, catching the tip of his nose with her tail. "Why don't you come back to Araiyah, Silent Breeze? I'm sure you'll be able to remember then." He stomped his hoof.

"Equestria and Araiyah are not the same. Unlike home, the ponies here accept me, despite your curse. As I said, it's about to be undone! Princess Twilight will find a counter spell in no time!" The mare shook her head.

"Now, now. Do you really believe an Equestrian princess has the intellect or the power to undo an Araiyan hex? This land has damaged you more than the curse, it seems... Look at you; you settled for this lousy farm run by ponies that are somehow even more worthless. I thought you were above that." Breeze tried to run at her, but he couldn't move his hooves. "Oh? You can't move? That's unfortunate." She grinned.

"You know nothing of this place!" he hissed. She walked towards him and stroked his cheek with her hoof.

"I think I know a little more than you, my dear thief. The orange one, whatever her name is... She's hiding something from you; I can tell." Breeze tried to calm himself down.

"Applejack isn't hiding anything from me. I should know; I work with liars and deceivers every day. I'm constantly surrounded by an aura of mistrust. That is my life." He spat the words out in anger.

"That was your life. Then you ran away from your homeland." Breeze narrowed his eyes. "Besides, you just refuse to see the obvious." She brought her lips to his ear. "Your precious farm pony isn't being entirely truthful with you..." she whispered. He shook his head quickly.

"You're wrong! I know what she's like! What could she possibly be hiding from me that I haven't already found out?" he asked, desperation creeping into his voice.

"I'm not the one to answer that question," she responded, snickering. "Why don't you ask her? Oh, wait... Are you afraid she wouldn't tell you? Maybe she doesn't trust you as much as you think, hmm?" Breeze looked hurt by the statement.

"No... She'd tell me if I asked her! She has no reason to mistrust me!" he shouted. She frowned, bringing her forehead to his.

"Aww, you seem upset, Phoenix Flame. How do you expect her to trust you when you wouldn't even trust her enough to tell her your real name from the start?" He leaned back.

"We're past that now... I trust her completely." A field of magic enveloped him as the mare brought him back to her.

"Do you really?" she questioned.

"I... I-I do..." he stuttered, becoming unsure of himself. She chuckled, slowly wrapping her hooves around him.

"Oh, Breeze... Breeze..." Her voice repeated his name over and over, but her mouth never moved.

"What..."

"Breeze!" Breeze awoke once more; this time, he was met by not a glow, but by Applejack. She was standing beside him, shaking him quickly. As he rose, she sighed in relief. "You were out for quite some time, sugarcube. I came down here when I noticed that you weren't up and walked in to find you mumblin' to yourself and thrashin' about... You feelin' okay?" Breeze stood and looked at her.

"Yeah! I feel fine! I... I feel fine..." Applejack cocked her head to the side.

"I got a feelin' that spell did something to you... We really should tell Twilight," she wondered aloud.

"No, really! Everything's fine! It was just a nightmare, that's all!" He smiled. "You don't gotta worry about me."

"Alright, if you say so." She turned to leave.

"H-Hold on!" Breeze shouted. Applejack stopped and looked back at him. He raised his hoof, but said nothing; he couldn't find the courage. "I... Nevermind. It's nothing." He smiled again.

"Uh-huh... Well, I'll see you shortly!" He waved to her as she left. Once she disappeared from his view, his smile dropped. He sighed and turned to the window. The sun couldn't be seen.

"Must be at least noon... How long was I out?" he asked himself. "It doesn't matter. That mare, though... She might've been right." Breeze began pacing back and forth. "No, no... that was just a dream. Dream..." He laughed softly. "That's kinda funny..." Stopping in front of the doorway, he looked out. "I have to ask her; she won't tell me unless I do... She might not tell me even if I ask her. Hmm..." He flew back to the window. "How do I know she's hiding something, though? For all I know, she-"

"Ya really shouldn't talk to yourself so much, sugarcube." Breeze tensed up and turned around to find Applejack directly behind him. "I felt that you weren't feelin' right; I came back to check on you." He nervously stepped back. "And it looks like I had the right idea!" She ran to him. "Come on, we're gonna go find Twilight." Breeze hesitantly followed her out of his room. "By the way, I ain't hidin' anything from you worth sharing. You can go on and forget that whole nightmare you had." He blinked.

"You... How much did you hear?" he questioned.

"Oh, not much. I started listenin' from the hall when you mentioned the mare in your dreams." He was stunned. "Well, that ain't important! What's important is that we get to Twilight. Let's get moving, Breeze!" Applejack ran off without him. When she reached the castle, she turned around and saw Breeze, slowly dragging himself forward and breathing heavily.

"Why... Why didn't you... slow down?" he gasped. She laughed nervously, looking to the side.

"Sorry about that; I didn't quite hear ya..." Suddenly, the door opened. Twilight stepped out, a large smile on her face. "Howdy, Twi!"

"Hello, Applejack!" She looked past her. "Oh, and hello, Breeze!" Breeze was laid out on the ground, face down. He raised his hoof.

"Yo, princess..." he said, letting his hoof fall back to the ground.

"I'm really glad you stopped by. Come on in, you two!" Twilight motioned for Applejack to enter. Breeze sat still for a few moments before she levitated him off the ground.

"Thanks," he groaned, still out of breath as she pulled him inside. Once he was able to catch his breath, he stood. "Alright... So, we might have a problem..." he began, but Applejack took over the explanation.

"We got reason to believe that the counter spell did something to Breeze. He's been having these nightmares..."

"I had one nightmare, Applejack," he corrected.

"Well, we don't want you having any more, do we?" Twilight raised a hoof to stop them.

"I hate to interrupt you two, but I have some news." Both ponies looked at her. "I did a little more searching, and I found this book-" she paused to bring out a black book from one of the shelves. The cover had an alicorn, snake wrapped around the horn and wings fading into darkness. "-hidden behind one of the shelves. Do you recognize this symbol, Silent Breeze?" Breeze's eyes widened. He ran his hoof along the right wing.

"That symbol... That's Arcanis! The Araiyan queen! That must mean..." Twilight opened the book and flipped to a page in the middle.

"There were a couple with it; this one's all about Araiyan spells, hexes, curses, that sort of thing. We can probably find yours in here. Now then..." She skimmed through the pages, not stopping to read the descriptions. "Let's see... Spectral Form, no... Mind Lock, that's not it... Here we are!" Applejack and Breeze pressed up against her to see which one. "It's called the Crimson Butterfly Hex. Says here that this hex lasts until... Oh my." She closed the book and set it down. "Only the caster can return the afflicted to normal."

"What, you serious?" Breeze asked, frustrated.

"I'm afraid so..."

"Well, what do we do now?" Applejack picked the book back up and looked over the symbol. "Hmm..." Breeze gasped, quickly rising to the air.

"I got it!" he exclaimed. "Mares, get your things ready; we're going on a journey!"

"Uh, alright. Where we headed?" Applejack asked, walking over to him. He slowly landed next to her.

"To Araiyah, where else?"