The Changeling of Illusions

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Aurelic stands in the abandoned castle of the two sisters, setting up more stone columns. Nearby, he's keeping a notepad and pencil with his discoveries, along with some magic books he asked Spike to borrow. At the time, he thought it best to ask the dragon before Twilight knew he was around.

"Alright, if I can use the barrier spell in tandem with this transmutation spell here... I could do more than do that little teacup transformation thing Trixie had, or has yet to, fixate on. Shaping this solid magical field... Let's see what I can do with this." Aurelic thinks to himself, unaware of the little wasp watching from afar. Aurelic ignites his horn, a small sphere of magic forming. Its form begins to warp with Aurelic's thoughts, five protrusions extending from the sphere. Some adjustments here and there, and voila, what looks like a right hand has formed. He tests it out some, making the circle gesture, making the rock on gesture, and even flipping the bird. He quickly jots this down, using the new hand construct.

"Up next, range test." Aurelic thinks, watching as the hand flies forward at a moderate speed. After getting about six feet away, it starts to lose its opacity, dimming in power until it fizzles out past ten feet. He makes note of this, conjuring another right hand, quicker this time. Then, he imagines a mirror image of the hand, soon forming a left hand.

Aurelic approaches a column, using his newly made hands to punch at it. Nothing seems to be happening, save a bit of pushing. Then, he has an idea. He tries to form arms from the wrists of the disembodied hands, then goes back to punching the column. He increases the speed of the punches, now with arms to add more force to his punches. The column starts to crack, chips flying off of it. After a solid minute of magic punching, the cracks in the column splinter the top half off, as it falls to the ground with a thud, fracturing.

"WOOOOOOOOO!" Aurelic cheers in triumph, as the tiny wasp watches in wonder, and maybe a ~~lot of~~ little bit of fear at this bizarre combination of spells.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Having gone back to his room for the night, Aurelic lies in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Eventually, he lets his eyes close as he drifts off to sleep. The transition is different this time, as the dream world assembles itself around Aurelic. Before long, it's fully manifested, as Aurelic lazily trots down a sidewalk by an asphalt road in a grey city with a grey sky. The weather is overcast once again, the light seeming to come from the clouds rather than a sun. It doesn't take long for a nearby door of a building to open, as Luna steps out, the only real spot of color in the area.

"Greetings, Aurelic. We have deigned to visit thee this night, as our exploring of subjects' dreams has proven... problematic, at this time." Luna relays, having looked at Aurelic while speaking, and only now noticing the landscape around her.

Aurelic tilts his head to the side. "Problematic? I thought you'd have regained the rest of your power by now."

"N-no, it is not that we cannot visit our subjects, rather... Their believing our presence is... not, good." She admits, head down and ears back. "Everypony we visit thinks that their dreams are nightmares, when we show up. Most wake up right away..."

Aurelic thinks, thankfully not out loud. "Well, I hear Nightmare Night is coming up. Why don't we go down to Ponyville? If it's anything like what I've been told, it would be a good chance to start meeting more ponies."

Luna looks back up, mild confusion on her face. "Thou are suggesting we go attend this holiday, to meet new ponies, and make some friends? Just as sister's pupil has?"

Aurelic shrugs. "You don't have to, but the option's there. The more friends the better, yeah? And you'll get to socialize more, with the modern ponies of today."

"And, thou are sure this will help ponies' opinions of us?" She asks, wide eyed.

"Who knows, you can't force ponies to change their opinions, but they may improve." Aurelic reasons.

Luna bounces a bit, giddy. "This sounds wonderful! How shall we prepare for this Nightmare Night?"

"Not much you can really do for preparing. Aside from a costume, but that might go against what we're trying to do. I probably won't be wearing a costume either, nothing I want to dress up as would make any sense in this world." Aurelic surmises.

Luna seems to remember something. "OH! Right, sister told us of your... situation. And, we are to assume that form which we first found thee in when dreaming was what thou really looked like before?"

"Yeah, sorry for lying about that. I didn't really want to cause confusion with that before I was ready to tell everyone about it." Aurelic admits. Now it's his turn to look down.

"And, the locations we've seen, are those from thy homeworld as well?" Luna asks.

"Not, exactly. The layout is all wrong, but generally speaking, yes." Aurelic says, looking up at the city. "Normally, it would be heavily populated, bustling crowds of all sorts of people, motor vehicles driving along the roads, and it's not as... grey."

Luna takes a step forward. "Are thou, okay? This, grey weather, and... empty place..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Trust me, this is normal. My dreams tend to be like this, as you've seen every time we've talked." Aurelic says.

"We... we have noticed, but... this is..." She trails off, the words escaping her.

"Well, not everything here's grey." Aurelic says, gesturing to Luna.

She gives him a complex look, something he's having trouble identifying. "Aurelic?"

"Yeah?" He quirks a brow.

"Are we... friends?" Luna asks.

Aurelic looks to the sky for a moment, before looking back to Luna. "I didn't want to presume, but if you want to be friends, I'd gladly have you."

Luna smiles, pulling Aurelic into a hug, as the dream begins to fade.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Aurelic wakes up, the morning sun peeking through the curtains. He looks down, noticing a bulge underneath the blanket.

"Stupid, sexy ponies."