It was nearly four hours before Twilight and Arkantos woke up. Immediately Twilight was surprised to feel Arkantos’ hand on the back of her neck. “Just… hold up a bit, I know how uncomfortable sleeping like that is.” He assured softly, a warmth flooded her neck as he muscles and nerves relaxed. She let out a long and happy sigh.

“Oh gods… you said you were a soldier? Why not a masseuse?” She teased.

Arkantos just chuckled.

“Gods… I hope we can make Princess Celestia see you aren’t bad… This… just continues to make me regret having to block off your magic…”

“This isn’t really magic per se. I can naturally adjust my body temperature. Even cut off from magic completely… it’s uuh… useful. If I desired I could quite literally ignite myself… why I’d want to is well beyond me.” He shook his head. “Especially with you around.” He sighed quietly, removing his hands from her.

She glanced back to him for a moment and blushed a little. “Hopefully… within the next few days you’ll be free of that bed.” She smiled slightly, slowly standing up. “Who knows, you might also be welcomed by Celestia too… we can only really hope though, can’t we?”

“We can hope.” He nodded.

“Oh… um two poni- well a pony and a dragon might be coming to visit you…” Twilight began.

Arkantos immediately froze up and he started sweating. “D-dragon?”

“Oh! Oh, don’t worry… he’s my assistant he’s still very much a baby. Barely more then four feet tall.” Twilight assured. “He’s… well, despite not even meeting you, already looking up to you. He sees you as a hero for what you did… so I don’t think it’s really a good idea to keep him away any longer.” She explained, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“A… alright.” Arkantos took in a few deep breaths.

“I’ll tell him to be careful around you, don’t worry… but once you’re out you will be dealing with him a l-”

“No. No it’s fine… Just didn’t expect a dragon.” He shook his head.

Twilight smiled and was about to speak before the door opened up and the two they were just talking about walked in.

“Twilight! I was worried, you said you’d be coming home a few hours ago!” Spike said as he ran in and hugged Twilight tightly.

“I got a bit worried too, but I had a chat with the guards outside.” Shining Armor chuckled. “So this is the uuh… human, that saved my sister and her friends.” He approached the bed and looked down at Arkantos. “I’m…” He paused for a moment deciding what exactly he should tell the human. “Shining Armor.” He introduced himself.

“It’s nice to meet you Shining Armor. I’m Arkantos.” Ark introduced himself.

“It’s great to finally meet you!” Spike hopped up onto the chair beside Arkantos. The human was still a bit tense when he first saw Spike and Shining took instant notice of it.

“L-likewise.” Arkantos nodded slowly, giving the small dragon a smile. His initial apprehensions of seeing a dragon faded as he saw that Spike was only around three feet tall. He was by all accounts a baby. “What did you do back in your old home?” He started questioning Arkantos.

Shining took a seat nearby but he was content to let Spike grill Arkantos.

“I’ll see you both later tonight.” Twilight smiled, waving as she walked out of the hospital room.

“Yep, we’ll see you later!” Shining waved.

All of her friends had gathered in her home, trying to deduce why the bat pony had dragged them all here.

Well, all of them except for Fluttershy who was actively blushing and shooting him the occasional glance.

Nightingale had left the five mares alone and they all pounced on the shy and reserved pegasus. Fluttershy reeled back from her friends, trying to escape before the questions started.

“You don’t have to run darling!” Rarity said quickly. “We just want to know if you two know each other.”

“No! I’ve never met him before today…” Fluttershy shook her head.

“But…”

Fluttershy shook her head again.

“You think…”

“Yes! I think he’s cute… he was really nice when he talked to me… and well, he walked with me here.” Fluttershy said quietly. “Does it matter if I do? Rarity’s been inviting Big Ma-”

“Hmph. If I could be with him I would. But…” Rarity crossed her arms.

“Flutters… Big Mac’s gay.” Applejack put a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“Oh… well… There’s…” Fluttershy mumbled quietly. “I don’t know…”

“Fluttershy… now, work with us her-”

“Would you let hi-” Applejack, Rarity, AND Rainbow Dash covered her mouth.

“Don’t even say it Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash said.

Fluttershy’s blush grew much brighter and she completely covered her face up.

Pinkie broke free. “Would you let him take you out on a date?” She asked before the three other mares could cut her off.

“Mmm...n….nnnn… Yes…” Fluttershy mumbled quietly. Her face reddened even more as she saw the exact stallion they were talking about standing behind Rainbow Dash, though he just smiled at her, causing her to instantly relax.

“Well! Go out with him then!” Pinkie said. “He’s a workaholic, so you’re gonna have to catch him off guard with it…”

“Workaholic? He’s inept! He was actin-”

“What was I doing?” Nightingale stretched. “Sorry, had to go check on some things.” He cracked his back and wings and neck. Rainbow Dash tensed up as she realized he was behind her and had been for an unknown amount of time. “I only really heard that I’m a workaholic… somepony wants to go out with another pony, and that I’m inept. I’d have to agree with only one of the two things that involved me.”

“H-how long have you been… t-there.”

“Eh, thirty seconds.” Nightingale shrugged. “So, I’m going to inform all of you that Miss Twilight Sparkle will be investigating her abilities with dream magics tonight… and you five will help her out, of course, if you agree to.”

“What about yo-”

“The only one who I’ll willingly allow access to my dreams is the Mistress.” Nightingale yawned.

“And why is that?” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms.

“Because, Dash, he’s a high ranking official inside the Lunar Guard. He knows things we shouldn’t know. And it’d put me in danger if I found out.” Twilight stated, startling everypony except Nightingale.

“Correct. Now, if she were a Princess, or my superior I’d have no choice but to let her see them.” Nightingale said, walking between the group. He didn’t pause as he passed Fluttershy but he did smile at her again, “I’ll be back later… I still have to complete my other task.” He sighed. “Off to find a ‘friend’.” He chuckled before he vanished out into the door.

All of her friends turned to look at Twilight.

“Well… I’ll ask you now, are you girls alright if I investigate your dreams? I won’t breathe a word of what I see in them if you don’t want me to.” Twilight began.

“Of course it’s alright!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “It was only a matter of time before you wanted to see how awesome my dreams were too.” She chuckled.

“It’s fine, darling. We all trust you enough.” Rarity smiled.

Twilight smiled at all of her friends. “Thank you all so much… I hope i can do this right though…” She sighed.

“If you can’t?” Pinkie inquired.

“If I can’t, you’ll all be getting some good naps in.” Twilight laughed. “Nothing serious will happen.”

“Great! Who do you want to start with though?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hmmmm…” Twilight tapped her chin for a few moments as she thought. “Maybe…”

Author's Note

Woooh boy. Big decisions for me here... I may not continue Icy wastes as a sequel to this story... hell sequels may be coming as I feel they should (smaller ones while this is a long and massive story).

Edit: I really didn't think to deeply about how hard the full eight dreams would be... I'll limit it down to three. Fluttershy, Spike, and Shining Armor.