At The End

Dream magic was just way too fun. The ability to open up gateways like in the dream realm and to appear somewhere else was just… cool. Honestly I had never experienced such a sensation and it seemed to just help me take my mind off things.

I asked Twilight to not tell anyone about it, not wanting to spook the others but I really wanted to show them any way. It was fun, and I was happy. Sadly it did mean that using my new found spells were more of a way to avoid the challenges of my real life. It was a coping mechanism, and I knew that.

These past few nights I had not had a single nightmare. Save for the one I had with Squire but I no longer had this feeling of dread wash over me when I went to sleep. The others still suffered from nightmares, Twilight told me about Mark mumbling to himself, then he would start to cry out a few times before going dead silent. I had not noticed.

It was a shame that this was not what I actually wanted. I wanted a life of normality, not one of fighting nightmares. But with my return home, I had quickly learned that it was not going to happen that way. Here on Equus however, I was home free. I could go to sleep without fearing the nightmares, here they didn’t define me. Here I was… Fire Fly. Imperial Alicorn from the northern lands! Slayer of the demons of midnight! Ruler of the fallen empires! Friend of the uh… the uh…

Maybe I wasn’t as all powerful as my training had me believe…

In fairness however, I was so happy with how well my training session with Squire had gone yesterday that it all seemed so effortless doing it here in the real world. Squire had a very interesting way of explaining magic that made it easy for my simpleton mind to understand.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the guilt that I had. I could just run away. Leave Earth behind and live here, with Twilight. Helping her attend to her nation and her people.

Guilt was the only reason that I would stay home and endure the nightmares. That and my pride in my family. My father had fought in the Great War, lost his cousin and father. He endured nightmares from Verdun, not able to escape. I could, the opportunity was available to me right here, right now. But for my father, Romain, Tomy and so many others that I had immense respect for their ultimate sacrifice, I could not bring myself to cower away.

I will return to Earth.

Twilight and I had talked during our session outside on what we should do next. There was very little for us left here in the old castle. Despite having some information about the Shadow, what magic was being used and how to defeat said magic, we were still lacking the weapon to use. The elements of harmony were the only things that Twilight and her friends were sure would bring about the end of the Shadow. If it was the case, then the Shadow, Peacock, would want them too. To be purged of the magic that had taken over, finding the elements would be a top priority.

But something was amiss. I was sure of it. Twilight and Chrysalis had spoken of the battles raging against the Yaks and the Griffons. Why fight your neighbours if all Peacock wanted is to be free of the magic that he had corrupted himself with, trying to avenge his parents death? I had my suspicions, and Chrysalis was the most likely example of my inner reasoning.

Twilight had spoke of many bad things happening in the weeks prior to the release of the Shadow. She spoke of ill feelings, moments of xenophobia and racism towards the other creatures from other nations. It seems that tensions run high amongst them all. Maybe the neighbouring nations had attacked first, wanting something that they felt Equestria had robbed them of.

Twilight was unsure, not ready to press blame on the other nations when from her view point, they were trying to stop the Shadow from occupying their lands. She saw them as possible liberators, but I wasn’t so sure. Many of the history books spoke of battles of old between ponies and the other creatures of this magical land. Bad blood might still exist between them now.

I just hoped that by defeating the Shadow and getting the rulers of this land back on their throne, hopefully they could avoid serious military repercussions. Not that I knew much of course, I was most likely due to help occupy Japan once war was won.

Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure how I would react around the Japs. I had never met one before the war, all I knew was what I was told. They were insidious, revolting people who plotted with a knife behind their backs. And from the few prisoners that I had seen, there was always a sense of insecurity around them. I also wasn’t sure if I could forgive them for the death of my friends. It was also their fault that my brother was dead, so maybe hating them was perfectly fine. Maybe it was… justified.

Having notified the others of our departure, we all began to tidy our stuff away. Moving the books that we had read back to their place in the archive. I kept one with me though, it was book about dream spell casting. While I was not going to be practising anytime soon, I was sure as hell gonna read up on certain defensive spells. The sound of my gun going off the other day was horrible. Having sensitive ears that amplified the sound made using our guns more of an after thought. I noticed Jack also taking a spell book with him, Mark though was as defiant as ever. Taking only what was his, putting what was not back in its rightful place.

Chrysalis, Discord and the Doctor helped to an extent. I was unsure if the Doctor would be joining us on our journey back to Ponyville. He seemed reluctant to leave his blue box of wonders. When we were all settled in the dining room once more, he asked the crucial question.

“What’s the plan here? You can’t just expect to go to Canterlot without any sort of trouble.” He was a bit irritated, I did get the feeling that not knowing what to do was not something that happened often to him.

“We don’t have much choice Doctor.” Twilight replied.

“We don’t have the elements, nor do we have any real means to defeat the Shadow without help. Our plan is to free the Princesses and hopefully conjure up enough Harmonious magic to purge the Shadow.”

“I’m not sure that’s a foolproof plan. In fact, I’m not sure that it would work at all! You’d need an army of ponies to purge the dark magic. It’s not exactly… perfect.” He finished, and he was right. Quite honestly our plan was to literately overwhelm the evil magic with good magic.

“That wasn’t my only plan…” She said quietly, almost not wanting to be heard, she eyed me quickly as she hung her head. ‘She had another plan?’

“What’s plan B?” Mark asked, he was a bit apprehensive as he asked, Twilight just gave a nervous smile as she looked at him.

“Well… I was reading up on how to open up void ways.” She began only to have Discord and the Doctor look at her in shock.

“You want to trap him in the void?” They both said in unison. I for one was lost, but it seemed to make sense to them. Though her friends and Chrysalis seemed as confused as we were.

“Just like Galaxia, open up a void way and force him back into the dark. At least until we can find a way to purge him of the Shadow. Until then, its banishment.” She explained almost ashamed of saying what she was saying. They were talking about sending the Shadow back into… the void?

“I’m hearing a ‘but’ coming in soon aren’t I?” I asked, she smiled nervously before realising that she had no choice but spill her plan a little more.

“Well not a ‘but’ exactly… more of a ‘weelllll’.” She rubbed her leg nervously.

“I’m not sure I could open such a void gate, and it might be outside of any one of us here’s abilities.” She said, even shaking her head when Discord gave off a pout.

“Outside of our abilities except yours.”

I looked at the others, a feeling of understanding was washing over me. I could see that Mark and Jack were also starting to understand what her plan was. Mark was slowly starting to sweat, his visage becoming pale.

“You want us to initiate the spell.” I offered, and she nodded nervously.

“It might be easier for you three than for any of us. Discord can open up gateways to other pocket dimensions, but his power is limited because I’m using it. But--” She lifted a hoof when Mark moved to interject.

“–Even if I gave up the magic in me now, I wouldn’t have any magic to help either of you. I’m afraid this is sort of a ‘its on you’ kinda deal.” She was right and I heard Mark sigh in the back but still loud enough to make him reply with a mumble.

“But using our magic too much will trap us here.”

“So? Surely you guys love Equestria!” Rainbow said, looping up in the air with a smile. If only Mark could share it.

“Maybe for you. For them too.” He said, gesturing to me and Jack.

“But I don’t want to stay here, I want to get home as soon as possible. I’m not sure this is the best plan Twilight.” She gave him a sad smile, understanding what he was saying.

“The third option is to try and negotiate with the Shadow. Get Peacock to accept our help with his problems and free the Princesses and my family to help recover the nation from war.” She offered.

It was not exactly a good plan either. I could tell that the first option was the best plan that we had. But maybe we could negotiate with the Shadow. If Peacock was still in there, if he was still in control, maybe we could do this. I wasn’t sure about locking the poor guy back away in a mirror once more. Maybe we could help purge the magic and all be happy?

It was late afternoon by the time we left the castle. The sun was going down in the sky and I could almost feel the eyes of the forest around me. I had been a bit worried of monsters attacking us while we were here. Twilight’s friend Fluttershy had spoken of creatures such as Manticores and Chimeras. I for one was worried that maybe my imagination would get the better of me. I had been worried that maybe an army of imaginary Japs would come out from the brush. Quite honestly, I was almost expecting it, I even thought I heard shouts coming from the forest several times during our stay in the castle.

The Doctor seemed a little sad to be leaving his blue police box, but ventured forward nonetheless. I took point and Mark followed close behind. Jack was tailing. During our trek through the forest, Mark approached me, his expression full of concern.

“What do you think Lou?” He asked, my attention was on the path and I almost hadn’t heard him first.

“Huh?”

“What do you think, about the plan?”

“I’m not sure, it doesn’t sound hopeful, but we don’t have much more to offer.” He looked ahead instead of focusing on me. I think he was hoping for something more comforting. Maybe some of my wisdom on how we would get through this, but I had nothing.

“I just hope that if we end up having to learn to cast this spell, we won’t have to train too much. The more magic we use the higher the chances of us becoming trapped here, right?”

“I’m not really sure of the magic behind it, but that’s what Squire and Galaxia gestured to.” I responded, it must have been a little rough because Mark went absolutely silent. He seemed lost in thought, maybe thinking of running away. Observing him for a moment, I sighed.

“Mark, I’m not going to let you wallow like this. We’re here to help these people!” I whispered to him.

“I know the risks and I’m going to work on learning this spell. I’m not losing you Mark. Not after all of the stuff we did.” He looked at me with a look of relief. Maybe it was something else, I wasn’t sure.

“If I have to take on the spell, then I will. You want to go home, I do too. But I won’t ask you to follow me where you can’t return from.”

The words seemed to ring around his head when finally he cracked a smile. Moving his wings slightly, he looked at me and whispered.

“I know that you guys think I don’t really like it here. I do like it, I swear! I’m just, not sure about the whole becoming trapped here thing.” He explained, earning a wing across his back from me. I smiled and gave him the kindest words I could offer.

“Mark, I’m going to learn this spell tonight. You won’t.” I said, he looked at me slightly confused.

“We need to free the rulers from their prison. I’m sending you with a team to free them.”

“We’re working this out in the morning right?”

“Yeah, but know that I want you to rest easy. You’re not going to be stuck here. Maybe tonight I should introduce you to Squire, he could ease your fears.” I offered, Mark’s ears splayed back in nervousness and smiled weakly.

“Or make them worse.” He mumbled.

Crossing the Everfree was much easier this time round. The paths were still worn from our last few journeys, though we did see signs of the illusive beasts that roamed the forest. We saw signs of destruction, trails of blood lingered in the forest. We had feared that maybe a pony had been taken or even killed by the creatures.

Surprisingly it was Fluttershy who calmed the fears of everypony. She was an animal expert according to her friends, she was quick to identify that the blood belonged to another animal. While I believed that the sight of blood would easily make her faint, she proved me wrong. She may have been shy and scared of most things, but animal nature wasn’t one of them. She knew that animals had to eat, so for her this was normal.

Mark and I held point for the entirety of the trip. I was sure that Twilight and some of the others would be better than me or the others would be if attacked, but I didn’t feel good not doing what I had been trained to do. It was more of an instinct, not a show of how good me and the others were.

Either by sheer luck or some unforeseen miracle, we exited the forest just as the sun was beginning to set. We approached Ponyville just as the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon. All of Twilight’s friends went their separate ways. Fluttershy and Discord were the first to leave, spending the night at Fluttershy’s nearby cottage. Apple Jack and rainbow were next, heading to the nearby Orchards.

Upon entering the town, we bid goodnight to Rarity and Pinkie, Rarity also dragging the Doctor along with her. He seemed a little reluctant, as his hooves dug into the ground as he was dragged away to his doom.

That left five, now ready to head home to Twilight’s tree house. Jack and Chrysalis were almost passing out, but that didn’t stop Jack from allowing the bug to ride on his back. Despite being much larger than he, the former Marine was still able to hold his own and carry her into the library.

“You better make it up to me for the lock.” Twilight said, absent-mindedly looking around the library as we settled our items down in the corner near the staircase.

“I’ll buy you a new one, don’t worry.” I yawned and lay down. I was so tired I didn’t have the stomach for food. All I wanted now was to go to bed, and see if Squire could help me learn the ‘void way’ spell.

I saw Twilight look at me, a little disappointed for some reason. What did I say, was I not suppose to replace her lock?

As the others settled down on the makeshift beds, I was about to lay down when a sudden force pulled me off the ground. I yelped, only to come face to face with twilight on the landing. She was looking at me, bemused.

“Wh-What?” I stammered, a little surprised by how fast I had gone from the ground floor to the first floor.

“You’re not sleeping on the floor! You’re sleeping in a proper bed.” Twilight ordered, as if sensing my reluctance, she grabbed me by the ear and pulled me into her bedroom. My ‘owowowow’s not gaining me any favours as she deposited me in the rather small bed.

Twilight removed her armour and placed it upon a chair in the back. When she finally turned, she pounced. Pressing her lips against mine as we lay on the bed. It was a powerful kiss, full of passion and desire. But I also felt a twinge of sadness, a feeling of uncertainty.

“You’re worried about facing the Shadow, aren’t you?” I asked, after having stopped kissing and just lying there. She only nodded in response, sighing heavily she moved to her side of the bed to grab a second pillow from the floor. It was all a bit dusty, but I wasn’t complaining.

“I was talking to Mark earlier about another plan, something that could allow the others to escape if we fail.”

“I’m not sure about our failure Lou, I just…” She sighed, ears splaying backwards emphasising her concern.

“I’m worried about what it will all come too. Our peoples aren’t as… bloody as your own. Even against the Griffons and the Yaks, we’re not suffering fatalities, only wounded casualties.” She had explained this all before. I was well aware that Equus was far from anything that I knew. Even their wars were rather… bloodless, the only fatalities that did occur were accidents. I’m not sure how such peoples could exist, but they did.

“I’m not sure I could bring myself to kill the Shadow, Peacock, I mean. It’s not something I could do.” I hugged her with a wing as I lay on my stomach. Giving her a sympathetic smile, I stroked her back with the extra appendage that I had, eliciting some moans from her exhausted form.

“Like I said, I told Mark that I wasn’t going to have everyone there. We need to split up into teams. We both know that the whole ‘bringing the royals to Peacock once again’ will only bring about our downfall. We may need another solution.” I knew that it was a fools hope, but a hope nonetheless.

“I’m hoping that we can talk this out, but I have my doubts, especially when it comes to this kind of magic.

“I know… I mean, when somepony becomes corrupted such evil magic, how much of them is left after so long trapped within a mirror? Magic tends to be infectious, just like you and the others. You’re a better example because of all spells you are learning withinin the dream realm.”

“Talking about training, could I have that book.” I said, pointing to the one that was partially sitting out of her bag.

“I’m planning on going with Squire and learning how to cast the spell to open ‘void ways’.” I explained. Twilight passed me the book with her magic. One glance was all I needed, hopefully I could just pull it out of thin air like Galaxia and Squire could do.

“Hold on… this book was written by Plume?” I asked, Twilight nodded.

“It’s her spell book that we went through. It talks in some detail about how to cast this one but the notes appear to come from another apprentice in the castle. Plume must have been the pony to write it down. I’m not sure though…” She said, snuggling up to my side and yawning. She did look cute when her tongue would poke out like that.

“I know that I’m not really in shape, but you do realise that learning, casting and then actually using this spell will take its toll on you?” She asked, I just tilted my head to the side, confused.

“Like I said earlier, magic is infectious, you’re not a magical being, the more magic you use, the more it will…” She trailed off, gesturing to my body.

“Will make me a pony permanently?” I offered, filling in the blank and receiving only a nod in return.

“I’ll have to ask Squire just how much magic I can do. Ever since I’ve found out about this, everyone has been more than a little vague.” I huffed in irritation. In all fairness, I was new to all this magic bullshit. While it was really fascinating to actually be able to cast my own spells, fly around the dream realm and be a fluffy imperial cat hybrid pony, no one was being clear on how much magic I could use before there is no humanity left within me.

I was willing to risk it for myself, but not for the others. I liked spell casting, but I also wasn’t prepared to push my luck to its total limits. Returning home as a human was one of the most important things I should keep my mind on. Maybe one day, I might try actual spells, ones that would be more taxing, but for now, I was going to play it as safe as I could.

XXX

“You need to keep holding the spell like that. No, not too hard, try and… No not like that, hold it within your heart, you have to want it. Yes, just like that, not too much or you’ll end up ripping a hole in the fabric of reality.”

I sat there, sweat running off my brow, my tongue sticking out to the side in concentration. My eyes were locked with the training mirror that Squire had pulled out of his arse… well… out of thin air at least!

“You know I’m not really the pony you should be asking about this. I had a colleague who could have told you how to master such a spell.” He said as I let go of the spell, exhausted. This was going to be harder than I thought.

“You mean Plume Peacock or the pony she wrote the notes down from?” I asked, he looked at me with a little shock, only to regain his composure and clear his throat.

“Plume was actually the one who was researching the spell, she wrote it down back when she was still Galaxia’s protegée.” I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

“Wait… Plume was Galaxia’s student?” He nodded, almost a bit sad but he didn’t voice it.

“Yes, back in the old days. Before she became a teacher who taught ponies how to respond to evil magic and curses, she was a student who studied world travel.” He noticed my confused cock of the head and continued.

“The idea of opening a portal that lead to alternate realities. Dimensions far from here, unlike the dream realm, these places were out of reach by normal magic. Creationist magic was the only way to open such gateways to the other worlds.”

“Like the magic that me and the others have?”

“Far more than what you three have. In fact you ponies only have a minute amount of magic, your own magic is supplementing you. Twilight has the same deal if you will. She only has a small amount of chaos magic since she was stripped of her own when she was sent to your world.” He explained.

“So how much magic would any of us have to use before it becomes permanent.” He smiled, he knew that I would ask about it once more.

“You and Galaxia haven’t been very clear on the subject. And what happens if it does become permanent. The books in that old archive weren’t very helpful.”

“It’s not just the use of magic that will make you a pony permanently. Just staying here without using magic for about a year or so would bind you magically to this world.”

“So we have roughly what? A few months if we continue using magic? If we don’t use magic unless if we have to…” I mumbled to myself in deep thought. That meant that we still had time, a lot of time.

“And if we return to Earth, does it just go and the reset when we return to Equus?”

“I’m not the expert on that subject, Plume would have been your pony.” He said, moving past me to inspect some floating white portals of dreaming ponies. I had seen him several times going up to these portals to ‘calm’ the nightmares of ponies. What he meant by calming their nightmares was entirely lost on me.

“Ideally, the magic should reset. But I can guarantee that you won’t be trapped here if either of you lose your humanity. You can still go back to your home, but you just won’t be human any more.” He explained all while doing his duties for the night.

“I’m not sure I could live with that.” I said as I moved to join him. He turned to me, seemingly confused by what I had just said.

“You ‘can’ live with it, Fire Fly. Magic isn’t just a tool, it’s a being, and it wants to be free. Your inner magic is what will define you. You are the one in control, because the magic, is you.” My mouth hung open at the sheer amount of nothing that sentence meant.

“That is one of the biggest pieces of shit I’ve heard!” I exclaimed, he just laughed and smiled caringly.

“The magic is you. The magic you are using now is Galaxia’s mixed with yours, but sooner or later, your inner magic will prevail over hers. And when that happens, you’ll be a proud member of the pony race.” He continued, his clarification only compounding my confusion.

“Magic is a being, it’s the heart. If your heart wants to be heard, it will tell you. If you end up becoming a pony, it doesn’t stop you from returning home.”

I would have given him quite a lecture on why returning to Earth as a pony would cause more harm than good. People weren’t very kind to things they didn’t know much about. I was right because I was one of them. My inner hatred for the Japanese wasn’t something that would rub off too soon. People liked to blame others for their problems and I knew all to well that I could end up making things worse for both worlds. The best I could do was keep it all a secret and do things… off the record, so to say.

I would have told him all that had I not peered through one of the portals that Squire was busy going through. Within one, I saw Mark. Human Mark, and he was having one strange nightmare. Squire noticed and watched me as I looked at the horror that was starting to unfold.

Mark was being beaten, his body slowly morphing into his current pony form. He was terrified, screaming begging for someone to save him. My breath caught, the taunting from the people, they were his family. And they were killing him.

“Can we help him Squire?”

“We can appease the dream, but I feel like you want some more, direct action.” I nodded my head and he just gestured to the portal.

“Then as a guardian of the night, go help him.” That was all the warning I got before he pushed me through the hole. I yelped in surprise, only just catching myself on my hands as I landed on the wood flooring of the home that I was now in.

Looking back behind me, I saw the portal, Squire still standing there, urging me on with a motion of his hoof. Turning to face the commotion in front of me. I saw a sight that sent a chill down my spine. Mark’s family were pinning him to the floor. Their cries and shouts of surprise and anger at the ‘devil’ that was in front of them.

Mark was begging them to stop, pleading with them to allow him to explain. The sight and sound made me freeze. This was a possibility, the idea that our families might not accept our return if we were not human. Mark was more terrified of this than I was, but his own imagination could only spark my own. This was a nightmare, not the real world.

I watched as Mark’s farther turned away from his son, yelling: “I’m gonna kill it!” Turning to grab a rifle that was hanging on the wall. Loaded he marched up to shoot his own child, Mark staring pleadingly, tears staining his face as he cried for mercy from whatever God was listening.

“Stop!” My voice echoed around the room, with such force that everything shook. Marks family were blown over to the ground, before vanishing. The entire house began to shift and shake, slowly fading out of existence.

The only one who was still there was Mark, his hands over his ears as he tried to protect himself. His mouth moving rapidly as he chanted out a rapid prayer. In that one moment, I watched Mark go from pony to human within a blink of an eye.

He shook and yelled out as I reached out to hold him. He opened his eyes in fear, then slowly becoming confusion as he saw me holding him. I sat beside him and held him carefully, stroking his head, trying to comfort him to the best of my ability.

“Lou?” He chocked, wiping away his tears. “What are—What are you doing here?”

“It’s okay Mark, you’re safe. It was a nightmare.” I shushed his worry and concerns. He looked around, noticing the black that we lay in. The only light that shone came from the portal behind me, where Squire was entering, still a pony.

“I don’t--” He began only to be cut off when Squire appeared beside me, and Mark went wide eyed. His hand raised and pointed at the ghostly figure next to me.

“H-holy shit!” He stammered, almost a shriek. I looked at Squire and smiled, returning to look at Mark as he observed Squire fearfully.

“Mark, this is Squire. Squire, this is Mark, one of my friends accompanying me from Earth.” I introduced them, Mark now looked a little confused, if not relieved. Helping him into a seated position, Squire extended a hoof to Mark who shook it gingerly.

“That was quite a show there, though I confess that you have nothing to worry about Mark. Nightmares are an illustration of what our minds consider the worst case. You are far from transforming into a full on pony in your own home.” For once I felt that Squire actually said the right thing immediately. Then again, maybe Squire was toying with me. He seemed to like the company.

“Not sure about that.” Mark sniffed, sitting up beside me.

“What are you doing here? How are you here?” He asked. I looked at Squire, debating internally if we should say or not.

“You were having a nightmare. Squire taught me how to move through dreams if someone I knew was having a nightmare and such, you’re my first customer.” I waved my hand in exaggeration. Now I had him looking at me all the more confused.

“What Fire Fly is trying to say is that it is part of his role as a Thestral to monitor the dreams of close ones. You two are quite close so it was his duty to help you in your time of need.” Mark’s eyes switched from me to Squire several times over before he formulated a response.

“Fire Fly?” I was expecting something a little more… prepared than that, but I don’t think I could begin to imagine what this situation must look and feel like when you’re on the receiving end.

“It’s nothing important.” I said, earning me a disappointed look from Squire.
“I just wanted to help out a friend in need.”

“Thanks I guess… I was hoping to get some proper sleep. I’m sorry that you guys had to--” he didn’t get a chance to finish before Squire reached out with a hoof. Mark backed away in surprise.

“Um…? Yes?”

“Come here, let me touch your forehead a moment.” Mark sat back up, a little unsure of what to do. The moment he looked at me to see my reaction, Squire reached forward. Taping Mark on the head lightly, his eyes closed and he fell to the floor.

“What did you do?” I almost yelled at him, moving to check on Mark.

“He’s fine. I sent him into deep sleep.” At my alarmed look he shook his head.
“No you have nothing to worry about. It’s a trick that we bats use to allow ponies who are struggling with bad nightmares to at least get their rest.” He said, lighting his horn, I watched in fascination as a whole world built itself around us. I watched in surprise as Mark was lifted into the air and deposited on a luscious bed with lovely white sheets. The world was peaceful, a small cottage in the middle of a beautiful forest. Birds chirping, squirrels running and bouncing. A dog barked in the distance, but other than that, everything was still.

“He’ll sleep peacefully now.”

“Can you teach me that too?” My question eliciting a laugh from him. Squire shook his head with mirth.

“I’ll teach you that once you finish learning the void spell.” He chuckled, moving towards the portal. I moved to follow, turning around one last time to check on Mark. His sleeping form still unresponsive, lost in dream of sleep.