Chapters Justin let out a rather large yawn, that if the store was full, anypony would've heard from his office. His sleeping has taken a bit of a dive as of the past several weeks. Most of it was due to some terrifying visions that he calls nightmares. He can't make heads or tails of any of the experiences, but he has hope one pony can. Another yawn graces his presence, but he is diligent in getting this letter written and on it's way.
Dear, Luna
I'm sorry in advanced for taking away from your duties like this, but some terrible dreams have been keeping me awake here lately. Most of them consist of the same things; dark clouds, ruins, red, and laughter. That laugh snaps me awake in such a cold sweat. I don't know what to do, maybe you can help? Please.
Sincerely,
Justin the Human
He takes another look over his words, his penmanship is horrid, but still legible. Another decision leaves him to leave out some minor details; gravity shifting at home, things appearing and disappearing, and sometimes finding himself floating. He wasn't sure if it was real or just delusions of his sleep-deprived mind. With a smile, he rolls up the parchment and ties a ribbon around it. Justin rubs the sleep away from his eyes as he yawns yet again in the hour, a bit irritated too. Not only with how tired he is and how much yawning there is, but that this is the seventh time he has had to close his parlor early due to his brain not focusing.
The human rushes out the door and down the street, passing various ponies that he gives small waves to. He knows how to get his letter to the right pony, and that is through one dragon; Spike. Justin stumbles a little ways as he continues down the cobblestone path towards the library. His eyes were feeling heavy, heavier than they usually do. He remains determined though, and pushes onward.
Justin makes it to the door, thankfully, and raises a hand to give it a swift knock. Before his knuckles collide with the wood, it swings open to reveal a drowsy-looking Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn takes a minute to scan the human's features before breaking into something of a smile.
"Justin!" Twilight cheerfully exclaims with something of a slur. "What brings you here?"
"Spike, actually. I got something to send to Luna." Justin replies, holding up his letter. "You look tired, you sleeping well?"
Twilight lets out defeated sigh as she looks down. "No, not really. I've been having these terrible nightmares."
"I guess that makes two of us." Justin lets out a tired chuckle. "Is Spike home by chance?"
"OH, right!" Twilight shakes her head a bit to wake herself. "He's.. what is he doing?"
Justin just watches the princess loose her thoughts, trying to keep himself awake as well.
"I can't seem to recall. I can give it to him to send off when he gets back." Twilight elaborates.
"That'd be fantastic, thanks Twi." The alicorn took the piece of parchment in her magenta magic and gave the human a hug before she started to close the door.
He stuck his foot between the door ad looked at her. "Twi, how long have you been having nightmares?"
He may have been somewhat safe at home, but still wasn't fairing any better than before. His evening goes by in an unfocused blur. He remembers getting back home, eating some dinner, and now he's in his bed. Justin's eyes seem fixed on the ceiling, he doesn't want to sleep, but he knows he needs to. He peers off to his right to see Derpy, sound asleep and snuggling tight against his side with his arm around her. He gives the sleeping a mare a gentle smile before kissing her forehead and settling in for the rest of the night.
The smell of smoke filled the air as buildings were burning all around the human. It's Ponyville, and it's on fire. He can't help but look around, not another soul to be seen but his. There's a dark overcast from the clouds above and the billowing plumes of dark smoke rises to them, they're swirling but something seems unnatural about it. There's a flash of red lightning and something catches his attention out of the corner of his eye. His gaze shifts to the object, only for it to be cloaked figure, about his height. The same figure that's been in his head since all this started.
"What do you want?"
Another flash of lightning and the figure disappeared. Justin could've sworn that he saw the figure's eyes glow before they were gone. He was looking around his ruined hometown to see if the figure went somewhere. All he sees are burning buildings. Fires as far as he could see. He turns around once more only for his eyes to meet the figure, face-to-face. The figure was swift to grab Justin by his shirt and lift him off the ground.
You.
Justin shot up in his bed in a cold sweat. His chest heaved with breath as he looks around the bedroom. A wave of relief comes over him as he's back home now. He quietly and softly brushes the foreleg of the grey mare off him and turns to sit on the edge of the bed. He places his face in his palms and rubs. This was going to be another long night. He looks back to Derpy and frowns a little as his brain starts going.
"I wish she didn't have to see me like this."
There's a slight movement that catches his attention and he focuses in on the figure hiding in the darkness. Justin is quick to jump up and put up a defensive stance. Ready for a fight if need be. The figure soon shows themselves to be the very Princess of the Night, Luna. She's giving him a look, a serious one full of concern as she steps into the moonlight. Justin relaxes a bit now that it's a pony he knows.
"Long night, dear friend?" She asks in a hushed manner so as to not wake the mare.
"Yeah... you want some juice?"
Both of them are downstairs now, each with a glass of orange juice. Justin is leaning forward in his reading chair while Luna gazes at him from the couch. He takes a sip from his glass in silence. The human just finished explaining his nightmare to the princess. When his eyes shift over to her, she swirls the orange liquid while seeming to process the details. Luna then takes a drink from the glass and sets it on a coaster on the coffee table.
"You say that this is recurring?" Luna asks while rising to her hooves.
Justin just nods and drinks the last of his juice. "Starts the same and ends the same. Every single time. Since it started"
"I see." Luna nods a little, turning his attention to the fireplace. "If I could have intervened, I would not be here, dear human."
"Wait. Wat." Justin looks at her, confused now. "Isn't that, I dunno, your ability to enter dreams?"
"It is." Luna continue to keep her gaze to the mantle. "We got your letter, but when I tried to find your dream, I could not find you."
"How does that happen?"
"No idea. It seems that whoever is doing this did not want me to find you." Luna turns to the human and can see the concern growing on his face. "Or the Elements."
Justin stares blankly for the moment before silently grabbing the glasses. "More juice?"
Luna gives him a silent shake of he head and he goes into the kitchen to wash them up.
"What do you mean you couldn't find Twi and her friends?" His voice echoes from the kitchen.
Luna doesn't answer right away, her focus on display of the journal.
"Luna?"
Luna snaps out of her trances and looks behind her. "I think I mean whoever is doing this to you, is also casting this curse over your friends."
A lump formed in Justin's throat and was swiftly swallowed down. He clenched his hands into fists and steeled his nerves before coming back out of the kitchen. He sees the princess, but she has her back to him. He raised a brow as he approached her. Reaching a hand out and tapping her on the shoulder, seeming to grab her attention once more.
"Whatcha gawking at, Moon Lady?" He asks while her attention turns to him.
Luna just points a hoof at the journal. "Is it supposed to glow like that?"
The human's gaze followed to where the hoof was and noticed that her words are true. "No, it never glows."
"Would it okay with you if we try something?" Luna turns to him.
"Does it involve using a spell on it?" He asks, gazing at her.
Luna gives him a simple nod, causing him to turn away and bring a hand to his mouth. To him, this would be risky, very risky. He hasn't forgotten the last time magic was used on the book. Justin continued to muse over some of the possibilities before turning his attention back to the princess. Luna is closer now, looking at the human a deep concern.
"Sure, but be careful. The last time magic was used on that thing, it opened up a can of worms."
Luna tilted her head to the side while looking at him. "What happened?"
"Well, when Twilight tried using some sort of spell on it.. ano-"
"Dad?" A small female voice interrupted from behind.
They both turned to see a chocolate coated filly, sleepily rubbing an eye. "Sweetie, what're you doing up this late?"
"I couldn't sleep."
Justin smiles a little and walks over to the unicorn filly and kneels down to her level. "Well, how about we go get you back in bed and I'll sing you something to help you sleep again."
Fudge just looks at her father a smiles. "Please."
Justin gives her white mane a soft ruffle before scooping her up into his arms to carry her back up the stairs. Luna has a small smile on her face after witnessing the events unfold and went over to the couch to takes a seat. She has a spell for two to prepare herself for. A couple of minutes pass by and Justin silently closes the door to Fudge's room and started making his way downstairs. He spots Luna on the couch as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.
"Sorry about that."
"No need to apologize, dear Justin. You are just being a father." Luna simply dismisses.
The human makes his way over and sits next to the princess and lets out a short breath. "Worth it though."
"You were about to explain what happened?" Luna shifts a little to face him.
"Right, right. Twi used some magic on it and, well, took the both of us to a different Equestria." Justin looks back to the princess. "We should be careful, if it opens up again, I have no idea if we'll even come back."
"Do not fret, I have taken the necessary precautions for the unknown."
The human gives her a slight nod. "Alright, I trust you know what you're doing."
Luna gives the human a small smile as she rests a hoof on his shoulder. "We will be fine."
With that, Luna gets up off his couch and starts to make some other preparations. Justin watches as the princess just teleports a large pillow in to the room. Seeing it isn't quite fitting, he gets up and drags the coffee over next to the shelving to get it to fit. He then turns his attentions to Luna's pillow and helps her get it somewhat flattened out. She gives him a small smile in thanks.
"You may want to get comfortable, dear Justin." Luna says as she starts to lay on the pillow.
"What kind of spell is this, if you don't mind me asking?" Justin walks back over to the couch and begins to lay on it.
"One I have used many times to enter the dreams of others, only now targeted towards this book and us."
"So, almost like a shared dream thing?"
"One could say that." Luna smiles a little. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Luna falls silent and begins to focus her magic. Her horn gets enveloped in a shining pale glow, a small beam shoots out from the tip of her horn and hits the book. The room is bathing in the glow from the spectacle and Justin is in awe as he watches this. Barely noticing the same soft glow appearing around his body as Luna put more of her focus into the spell. His eyelids start to feel heavy and the feeling continues to grow until he can't keep them open.
Author's Note
We have lift off for this one! I do hope you enjoy this opening, and I know its a little on the shorter side, but I intend for the next chapter to be somewhat lengthy. Well, I can hope, I do want to work on this one. Anyway, toodles for now and all comments will be appreciated! Stay safe and stay hydrated!
Luna's eyes shot open and she quickly looks around her. All that surrounds her is total darkness. She can't see a thing. Not her friend and not her surroundings. Slowly, she pushed herself off of the ground of whatever this place is, continuing to scan the immediate area with her eyes. A sort of panic starting to set in.
"Justin..?" She calls out to now answer. "Justin?!"
Now full on panic is setting in as she's frantically looking around the darkness.
"Justin!"
"Luna?" The familiar voice calls back.
Her ears twitch as she tries to pinpoint where he was. "Justin, where are you?!"
"Luna, I'm right here." His voice sounded close, but coming from everywhere.
"Where? I can not see you!"
"Wait, I hope this works."
Luna opens her mouth to ask what, but stops when the comforting feel of the human's touch appears on her shoulder. The surroundings gradually fade in to her view and she looks over to the human. Justin is looking at her with concern, at her eye-level too. She's quick to wrap her forelegs around his neck and hugs him close. He doesn't hesitate to return the embrace, ever always the hugger.
"It's okay now, Luna." Justin says as he pats her back. "You're okay."
Luna gives him a short nod before releasing her embrace from his and looking around. "Is this-?"
"My house? Yeah." Justin stands at his full height now, looking at the surroundings as well. "Looks... off."
As the two survey the room and its immediate area, they take note that it looks abandoned. There is no furniture, the windows seem to have been boarded up, and a thick layer of dust seems to coat the space. Luna took a step towards the fireplace to gaze at it while Justin starts making his way towards the door. Her ear twitches when the sound of the door opening breaks the silence.
"Do you think I caused the portal to open again?" Luna asks, turning her attention towards the human.
"Nah, I don't think my house would be here if you did. That much I do know of the other Equestria." Justin spoke out, gazing out the door.
Luna makes her way over to the human to see what he is staring at. She lets out a small gasp in surprise. She sees a sight familiar to her yet not at the same time. It was Ponyville, but most of it looked industrialized, as if geared to produce for some kind of war. The large stacks aren't producing smoke. The other parts of the small town look like the normal for the both of them. All the colors are faded and the sky above is in a dark overcast. There remained something larger that confirms that this isn't real; five large twisters in a slow clockwise spin are scattered around the town.
"It looks like whatever this is, it's a mix of our Ponyville and theirs." Justin states as he looks over the horizon.
"Justin, do you know more than you are letting on?"
Luna sees the human grimace a bit and his eyes meet hers. "Maybe a little bit. Twilight and I did spend a bit looking up the history of that other Equestria, and we didn't like what we found."
Luna continues her gaze in his direction.
"A human appeared there long ago due to some magical surge. For a time, they lived peacefully amongst the ponies, until one day he just turned on them. Beat Discord in a wager, Your sister, You, all with some kind of magic."
"Humans are not able to use magic, can they?"
Justin looks back out towards the horizon. "Atleast not naturally is what I thought. I have no idea if they found an artifact of some kind that allowed them to use magic."
"Would that work?" Luna asks while stepping closer.
"Dunno, never really tested that theory. Maybe I should with Twi sometime."
Luna silently nods, keeping next to the human as look upon the dreary horizon. The air of this place oppressive at best and dark at worst. They sit in silent contemplation. Justin is tempted to throw out that they investigate the town, but then another kind of thought creeped into his head, almost like a beacon of sorts. He snaps his fingers as the metaphorical lightbulb went off in his head.
"What if Twi's library has something to lend into what's going on?" Justin asks as he turns his attention to the alicorn next to him.
Luna raised a brow at him, almost unsure if he was serious. "What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it this way: If we did enter a dream, the books would be blank, right? If the books have writing in them, then wherever we are must be real, right?"
The gears in Luna's head start to turning. "Are you sure about that?"
Justin just gives a sort of smile. "Unless we think searching an empty house will give us anything."
The two have left the house far behind as they walk the empty streets of Ponyville. The air remains an uneasy still and quiet unheard of by either of them. Every house, stall, and landmark they pass is dark or emprty with no signs of life anywhere. This sent a chill up both of their spines with the human visibly shaking cause of it. Luna turns to him after his spine tingle with some worry.
"Are you all right, dear Justin?"
"Yeah, yeah... I'll be fine." Justin responds with a wave of his hand. "The library shouldn't be much farther, was never too far from it."
His words instilled her with some confidence to keep pressing on through these empty streets. One might describe the utter lifelessness of the town as eerie, almost straight up unnerving. Luna looks to human to try and discern his face but fails to tell anything. That's when he suddenly stops right in his tracks, staring with his mouth slightly open.
"The hell?" Are the only words he can muster.
Luna follows his gaze and almost gasps at the sight before them. The library looked like it's in the middle of exploding with large chunks of the house tree suspended in flight. Justin's the first to make his mad dash towards the library and Twilight's home, only skidding to a halt once he's there. Luna simply floated over to examine the structure with the human. The interior is much of the same exploding look. The stairs are in chunks and there are books flying off the shelves. None of it moving like before either. Their gaze follow the destruction and see Twilight suspended in some kind of bubble.
"Twi!" Justin almost yells as he dashes in to the library.
"Friend, wait!" Luna calls out but lands on deaf ears.
Justin was quick, hopping over the debris and climbed his way to the orb that contained his friend. He examined the bubble for a quick minute, listening to some faint sounds coming from it. He cocks his head a little in confusion and presses his ear against the field. He can hear.... crying? Twilight's crying out but he can't make out a word that she is saying. Luna soon joins him on the platform.
"I can hear her crying in there." He says, turning to the princess.
"Then we must free her." Luna replies as he charges up in a brilliant pale glow.
Nothing happens.
"That wasn't supposed to happen..." Justin says as Luna strikes the orb with another magic blast.
"It appears not. My magic has no affect on it."
"This is heckin' great." Justin threw his hands up either out of frustration or anger.
"Fret not, we will find a way to get Twilight Sparkle out if there."
Justin turns and look out to the rest of Ponyville, well whatever this version of the town is. His frustration stagnated a little bit as he continue to lose himself in his thoughts. Luna continues to stare at the orb containing the other princess, seeing a face of anguish inside. She bring a hoof to rub her chin in thought. The human, however, starts to subconsciously lean against the bubble. Justin starts to lose his footing as he starts to sink into the field.
"Luna!" He calls out, reaching a hand out.
Luna is quick to react and wrap a hoof around the human's hand in an attempt to keep him from being eaten by the orb. Justin attempts to keep his fingers wrapped around the hoof but his grip is quickly slipping as this force keeps pulling on him. He lets out a yell when he finally slips and is consumed by the orb. Luna rushes forward to catch a foot at least but ends up smashing against the orb herself.
The human grunts after being dropped on his ass in some sort of void. Justin sits up on his hands to look around but can't make anything out currently. Slowly, he gets to his own two feet and continues to scan the small area he seems to be in, unsure which direction to start walking in. He takes a moment to flatten out his clothes and breathes.
"Luna?" He calls out. No answer. "Twilight?"
Still nothing.
I hope like hell that Luna finds a way in here.
Justin starts to make a slow and steady pace in a random direction. This place was vast, but just where is he? That's the question the human wants an answer to. As he continues his trek in wherever he's going, sobbing can be heard in the distance. He recognizes the voice and wastes not another minute breaking into a full sprint. Determination filled his mind as he tops off his speed.
Then, it seems that all at once his body came to a complete halt as it collided with an invisible wall. He let out a groan of agony as he slowly slid down the wall. Justin quickly scrambles back to his feet and presses the palms of his hands against the magical wall. Looking it up and down like he can actually see.
"The hell?"
The sobbing appears again, louder and closer than when he first heard it. His eyes peered past the wall to see a familiar lavender shape just beyond the barrier. He balled up a fist and pounded against the force keeping him from reaching his target. With the slightest of smiles, he started to take some steps back.
"Oohhh, no no no! No magical bullshit is going to keep me away from my friends!" He braces himself for a full on charge, readying his shoulder. This is gonna hurt.
Justin mentally steeled his nerves and takes off in a full on charge, shoulder at the ready. He focuses only on the one thing that matters as he gains speed: Twilight. Giving it his all, his sprint reaches the wall and his shoulder collides with the magical barrier. The sound of shattering glass fills his ears and soon a kind of screeching invades his mind. None of that matters as he stumbles his way to Twilight.
"Twilight?" He calls out while reaching a hand to her.
Her mane is in a bit of a mess and she's more or less mumbling to herself. Twilight trembles when the human's hand touches her shoulder. Twilight seizes as soon as is full hand clasps down on her shoulder. She slowly turns her head as the void around them lights up. There's tears streaming down her face and her eyes begin to widen. Nary a word is exchanged when she hops up and takes the human in a tight embrace.
"I'm so sorry!" She cries right into his shoulder.
He's about to ask what for until he sees it. Her nightmare before his eyes as he just holds her in his arms. Stuck inside her own head as she fights all of her friends off, Spike and him included, and winning with sheer magical might on her side. Everyone he sees through her eyes are battered and exhausted, but never faltering as they hope she's somewhere still in her own head. Little to their knowledge that Twilight is screaming to herself to stop.
"It is time to stop this, Twilight Sparkle" A familiar voice rings out.
Justin gives a knowing smirk at the scene about to unfold. "It's about damn time."
"L-Luna?" Twilight sniffles, now turning her attention back to the situation at hand.
Luna smashes into the ground before Twilight, effectively cutting herself off from her friends. The Twilight releases a snarl and charges up her magic to smite the Moon Princess. The princess is quick to counter once it fires off and meets the beam with one of her own, this one a lot stronger than the younger Princess' power. Knocking this Twilight to the ground, burning her horn.
"You will release the Princess at once." Luna demands, stomping a hoof on the ground.
Twilight and Justin watched on as the other Twilight starts to get up, readying for another strike. Luna, on the other hoof, isn't having another second of it and elects to cast a different kind of spell, freezing the renegade alicorn in place while she has her horn lit. Luna soon presses her horn to the Renegade's head and everything went white.
Justin is the first to rouse awake. His eyes flutter open before he starts to look around. There's a small weight on his chest that doesn't seem to bother him. He spots Luna on the ground with him, starting to awaken also. He lays a hand on the lavender alicorn currently occupying his chest and smiles a little.
We did it.
The weight on his chest starts to shift, signaling a return to conscious in the subconscious yet again. Justin wrapped an arms around the lavender princess as she starts to cling to his body. He reaches out with his other arm and starts to prod the lunar princess with his fingers. Slow is the waking of the bark blue alicorn as she opens her eyes to look at the human. Twilight lets out a small whimper as she just clings to the man.
"Think the others are here?" Justin asks the princess of the night, nodding his head at the young princess on his chest.
Luna just kind of shrugs at him as the lavender alicorn fully wakes.
"Princes Luna?" She groggily asks, rubbing an eye with a hoof.
"Yes, it is I, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luna gives her a soft smile. "I have also brought our human friend here."
Twilight blinks a couple of times before looking down at her bedding, then following the body up to the human's face. Twilight lets out a high pitched squeal of delight while wrapping her front legs around his neck and hugging him. He just chuckles a bit and hugs the princess back. The happy cuddling is quick to come to an end as they listen to something happening around them.
The three are quick to scramble to their hooves and feet, scanning the immediate area. At first, they don't see much of anything, it isn't until after a few minutes that they realize the library is putting itself back together and rather quickly at that. Ten minutes pass by and the building is almost back in full. A bright light starts to engulf the library, and shines at a blinding degree that all three have to close their eyes. Once they are able to open them again, the house tree is in one piece and lit up, finding themselves standing in Twilight's bedroom.
"Strange." Justin is the first to break the silence.
"I feel some of my influence over this dream returning."
"Wait, dream?" Twilight shoots them both an incredulous look. "We're not awake?"
Justin shakes his head, looking down to the lavender pony. "Nah, this kinda proves it."
"I think we are on a layer of a dream-like state." Luna looks at both of them.
It isn't long until the trio are out on the balcony of the dream library. Luna is across from Justin and Twilight has herself against his chest, between his knees. The young princess and lightly pawing at the ground with her hoof as they both are listening to Luna explain what might be going on. Twilight seeming more idle then actually listening.
"All righty then, if I understand this." Justin says, placing a hand out flat in front of him. "Let's say this right here is our layer. The first layer. Where we entered."
"That is correct."
Justin nods. "So then where we went to get Twily was a second layer of the dream."
Luna nods at him.
She watches a the human uses his over hand to bring it over the first and spread his digits out as if he were breaching the first layer. "That means her friends are all experiencing their own second layer of hell?"
"I would believe so, yes." Luna nods a bit more solemnly this time. "We will have to find them first. Princess Twilight?"
"Hm?" Twilight looks up from her idle hoof and at Luna.
"Don't think she was paying attention." A quick wing slams itself against the human's chest in retaliation.
"Any ideas how we may find the rest of your friends?" Luna inquires.
"No." Twilight looks down, both unsure if it's disappointment in herself. "Not really."
Justin rests his hands on her shoulders and gently rubs them. "It's okay, we'll figure something out."
Both the night princess and the human start to look about the place. A large portion of the area around the library seems to resemble their Ponyville at least. The overcast above gave way to a night sky with a full moon over head. Justin started to count the strange twisters locked in a slow spin. There isn't an air current to carry them, but there are five of them in specific areas. Luna turns her head to look at the human, seeing his gears turning in his head by the expression on his face.
"Friend Justin, are you all right?"
"Hold on. I think I got something..." He simply replies as he stands up, much to the dismay of a certain alicorn.
He makes his way towards the telescope on the balcony and starts to gaze through it, scanning each twister and seeing where they all are. Two are in Ponyville while the remaining three are outside of the limits. Justin pulls away from the device with a grin. Turning to Twilight and Luna with a grin, approaching the two and kneeling down.
"If we wanna find the girls, we go to the storms."
Luna kind of stares at him, wide eye'd. "You cannot be serious."
Twilight has the same look.
"Luna, you can't just sit there and tell me you haven't seen weirder shit in these dreams."
Twilight's gaze now shifted to Luna. "He does sort of have a point there."
"That is not the point!" Luna shouts. "What if we can not disperse those storms? There is not a guarantee we will wake up if we enter them otherwise!"
Justin just smiles and sits next to Twilight. "We have two alicorns, and as far as I'm concerned, you two can still use your magic."
Luna's mouth opens then closes several times, seemingly lost in the logic this absurd being just put forth. "There is no way this is going to work, dear Justin."
His smile morphs to a grin and looks at Twilight. "So, who do we go after first?"
The three stood at the base of one of the large twisters. Even with the air at a stand still, it still spun at a painfully slow speed. The sound it made was that of perpetual brakes on a train. Something rather ear grating. This particular one is where they suspect Rainbow Dash is inside of. Luna shifted a little bit as the human counterpart of their trio smiles. Was it in confidence or was he simply mad? The Princess couldn't really decide.
"Remind me again why we are trying this?" The lunar diarch asks with uncertainty.
"We gotta get the others out of here, right?" Justin looks down to Twilight.
Twilight is just staring at the large wall of cloud.
"Twi?" Justin kneels down and lays a hand on her shoulder. "You doing okay there?"
"It's just..." She tears he gaze away and to the human's eyes. "More intimidating up close."
Without another word, Luna's horn charges up with a spell and unleashes it on the spiraling tower of clouds. The reaction it has, however, is not one they were looking for. The twister fluctuates as it carries the pale light of the spell up into the overcast. They all watch the spectacle in an almost trance. A literal lightbulb almost went off above the human's head that noone noticed, not even him.
"I have an idea!" He exclaims, both alicorns looking at him inquisitively. "What if you two overloaded the thing with magic?"
Twilight looks at the human now. "You don't think that will work, right?"
Justin just shrugs his shoulders. "It's worth a shot if we don't have any other ideas. Do we have any other ideas?"
Twilight takes a moment to scan the human's face for any sign of him joking, when she doesn't find any, her gaze turns to Luna. "Luna?"
Luna doesn't seem to respond as she is also scanning the human's face, then looks to Twilight. "We could always try that old pegasus trick they use to wrangle up stray twisters. Use Justin's idea as a last resort."
Twilight gave her a nod then turned to Justin. The man gives them both a small smile. He relents and takes a few steps back away from the two alicorns to let them do what they agreed upon. Both princesses unfurled their wings and take off into the storm at blinding speeds. The human can see the streaks of bark blue and lavender as they race counter-clockwise to offset the twister they're in.
The twister starts to shift and sway, a crackle of magic starts to form around the two. Then it happens, the first to be ejected is Luna. She strikes the ground next to the human with a loud thud. Justin raises a brow at the scene, taking a moment to help the moon princess off the ground. The crackle starts up again and both look back towards the storm. The second ejection is a lavender form, this time hitting the human square in the chest. Justin's immediate reaction is to brace while wrapping his arms around Twilight to catch her, his heels having dug a little into the ground.
"Hm." The human grunts a little, opening his eyes to stare at the storm.
"What is it?" Luna asks, light prodding his side.
"Something, call it a hunch." He simply replies while setting the lavender mare back on her hooves. "Might need more wing power for these twisters."
"What do you mean by that?!" Twilight asks, using her wings to dust herself off. "Are you saying TWO alicorns aren't enough for these things?"
"I believe so, yes." Luna chimes in. "Shall we proceed with the first plan?"
Twilight gives an unsure nod to the princess and they both step forward, horns charging up a spell. They fire off their magic in concentrated beams at the base of the twister. The reaction is more potent this time but not quite what they're looking for. Justin walks up between the two, his eyes fixed on the storm ahead as he gently cups his fingers around their chins. Without a word, he starts to direct their beams closer until they meet. The wall of clouds start to react rather violently now before it disperses after a few minutes, sending out a shockwave that puts the trio on their asses.
"Hot damn! Now that's what I'm talking bout!" Justin screams like an excited filly, pumping his arms into the air.
"As much as I appreciate your revelry, dear Justin, but could you please watch your human cursing?" Luna sits up, rubbing her horn.
"For you, sure. Tia seems to find it 'charming' though" Justin says with a wide grin.
"My sister has some peculiar tastes as it is." Luna grumbles.
"Sure she do, but everyone tends to have those." Justin rises to his feet, helping the other two to their hooves. "Dirty little secrets and odd things that make us who we are."
"Like drinking hot sauce?" Twilight has smirk as she looks to him.
"How about a sweet tooth for cookies?" The human counters, causing the alicorn to scrunch her snout.
"Or eating peanut butter out of the jar?" He just points at Luna and winks at her.
They all break into a small fit of laughter, soon coming together in a hug. They hold the hug while moments pass for them to calm down from their merry quips at one another. Then they start to examine the sky above. Much like the library, Rainbow's cloud home is broken apart in chunks like it exploded. Rainbow is held up in the center, far above the ground and out of reach for one of them.
"How're all of us going to get up there?" Twilight ends up breaking the silence.
"Simple, Twi, you two will have to go up there and get her out."
Luna looks at the human with a bit of surprise. "What? You are coming with us!"
"If you haven't noticed, humans don't fly on their own. Neither can we stand on clouds naturally either."
"No inherent magic, right." Twilight sighs, bit of defeat in it. "What if we cast that cloud walking enchantment on you?"
"Could work, but how would I get up there?"
"We take turns lifting you with our magic." Luna replies.
It takes a little bit more convincing for the human to agree to the plan. Twilight cast the enchantment on him and Luna was the one to engulf him in her own telekinesis and fly him up to the first piece of cloud. Twilight flies a bit higher above and picks the human up on her way there. To say that Justin feels like a baton is putting it somewhat mildly. He feels like a ball being passed around like he is while trying his damn hardest to not look down and induce a panic attack. The entire process takes them all but a few minutes, the three of them surrounding Dash.
"So... we just push against it, and it'll let us into the dream?" Twilight asks, a bit confused at the explanation on the way up.
"Yes." Both Luna and Justin reply.
"Take that!" Rainbow yells out while throwing a kick.
Justin is finding himself blocking blow after blow from the prismatic pegasus. He doesn't know what's going on other than that Rainbow is fighting him. It's safe to say that he is currently losing this fight due to the sheer speed this mare flies at, and she hits just as hard. Then something clicks and he side steps out of the way of the kick, quickly grabbing the rainbow tail with both and pulling her back towards him. This throws Rainbow off as he grabs her and holds her back against his chest.
"Rainbow! Listen to me! I'm not going to fight you!" The human states as the athletic mare struggles against him.
"Should've thought about that before taking out my friends, you traitor!" Rainbow retorts, continuing her struggle.
"What.."
Justin doesn't have time to dwell on what she said for very long, she leans forward and rears her head back. The strike breaks his nose and he releases her from his grasp, opting to hold his face. What does she mean? A hind leg collides with the back of his head, putting the human on the ground. Justin is currently lost in his thoughts while poorly protecting himself from the prismatic assault. A kick to his side there and a hoof to the back of his head here.
"That's enough, Rainbow!" He heard Twilight's voice bellow in the Royal Voice.
A blast of magic hits Rainbow and freezes her mid-flight.
"T-Twilight! But you were-"
"I was what?" Twilight inquires, landing near the human.
Rainbow snarls as she gestures to the downed man. "I saw you taken out by that traitor!"
Twilight raises a brow and looks at the slowly recovering human next to her. "You okay?"
"Wish I could say I've had worse." Justin murmurs as he gets up on his hands and knees, battered to hell. "It isn't."
Luna is the next to show up, landing on the other side of Justin and helping him up.
"Princess Luna?" Dash sounds confused, then her eyes widen. "Oh pony feathers, this is a nightmare, isn't it?"
"Of course, young Rainbow Dash." Luna confirms. "We are all here together."
"Waaait... so that's-"
"The real me? Yeah. You hit like a sack of rocks, that hurt." Justin is holding on to his side with some red running down his nose. "Dream or not, this hurt."
"Tartarus" Rainbow curses under her breath, then looks at the human. "Sorry about that, Big Guy."
Rainbow gets released and is explained to about what's going on. She doesn't quite understand it and it takes Justin to give her a watered down version of their predicament. The cyan mare then explains to them her nightmare about the human turning on Equestria to take the Elements for himself. The three are looking at each other in contemplation. Luna then stands up and her horn flares up with a magic aura.
"I think it's time for you to join us."
Again, the human was first to open his eyes this time. Leaves him to wonder why that is as he feels for the pegasus. He finds her on his back, still snoozing. He makes the mistake of looking down and seeing the ground, almost going in to a full panic. Until he realizes that he isn't falling, he's just floating there. Justin knows it can't be Rainbow, the princesses are still alseep on nearby pieces of cloud. He feels something is out to get him here. He takes a cautious step out, and slides along nothing to the closest piece of cloud he can find.
He reaches the cloud and gently sets Rainbow down, then presses his hand into the fluffly mass. "Damn, these are soft."
"Rainbow..?" Twilight says in groggy tone, looking around for her friend.
"Over here." Justin quietly replies, waving to the lavender mare after taking a seat next to the sleeping pegasus.
Twilight flies over and seats herself next to Justin, looking over Rainbow. "Is she okay?"
"Oh yeah, she's going to be fine."
Luna soon joins them up on that piece cloud. The three exchanging some small smiles, believing they're making some sort of progress in the right direction. Rainbow lets out a cute little yawn while stretching out, causing the human to internally d'aw. She blinks her eyes a little bit to focus in on a three faces around her, then her eyes widen and pupils shrink at the realization of what just happened.
"Uh... hey." Rainbow meekly puts out.
"Hey yourself." Justin just replies with a smile.
Much like the library before it, the pieces of cloud start to shift and put Rainbow's house back together. The bright light and it's all back into one piece with the four in the main hall of the house. Rainbow is quick to get Twilight in a hug, watching the two, Justin uses his hips to nudge Luna's side and smile at her. The princess does return the smile and nudges the human back with her side.
Justin opens his mouth and is about to say something when a blur of rainbows and cyan clash with him. Rainbow takes the human in the tightest hug she can manage. He lets out a sharp gasp as the life is being squeezed out him, struggling to reach up and pat her on the back.
"Dash... can't... breathe." He manages to get out.
Rainbow quickly lets him go, a small blush on her cheeks. "Sorry, just wanted to thank you."
"You're welcome, just no death hugs yet." Justin chuckles a little and ruffles her mane.
The cyan mare tries not to show she enjoys the touch and gently swats his hand away.
"So, who's next?" Twilight asks on her approach to them.
"Hm.. a little extra unicorn magic couldn't hurt." Justin shrugs a little, shifting his eyes to the lavender Alicorn.
"Wait a second!" Rainbow interjected. "You can't be talking about Rarity! She's not even a fighter!"
"Right you may be, Dash, but I have a feeling this place isn't just going to let us try the alicorn trick we used to get to you." Justin takes a seat on the floor of the cloud home. "So, I think maybe some extra magic will help, even if it's not much."
"And what if that is not enough?" Luna asks the human.
As if finally catching on to the implications, Twilight responds with a small smile "We use wing power!"
The area outside the cloud villa turns out much like the library. Overcast giving way to a clear and star-filled night sky. The serenity of it was peaceful at best, but the remaining darkness over the rest of the dream state Ponyville remained and it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The four stand tall at the front of the house, ready for the next task. Justin took one look over the edge and takes a couple of noticeable steps back away from it.
Luna looks over at the human. "Are you okay, dear friend?"
"Not really a fan of heights." Justin manages to mutter.
"Oh don't be such a scaredy pony! It isn't that far down!" Rainbow adds.
"Easy for you to say, Dash!" Justin puts out his hand and gestures at her. "You got wings!"
"It's also just a dream. Can't you like imagine some wings or something?" Rainbow seems to throw out in a nonchalant manner.
"Unfortunately, it does not work like that, Rainbow Dash." Luna interjects now. "This is not a dream-state we have control of, it is something else."
"We could fly him down, the three of us." Twilight suggests, stepping closer to the human. "If that will help."
The human looks down at the cloud beneath his feet. A lavender hoof presses up against his chest, pulling his attention to the mare that put it there. He's met with a calm smile from the alicorn princess. He gazes over to Luna and she is just staring at him with concern. The gears turn as he thinks about what Twilight said, then he nods.
"Okay...let's go for it."
A couple of minutes later, they come to the ground. Justin having Luna in something of a death hug as he is carried down and set on the ground. Luna has to bring a hoof up and softly pat the human on his back, letting him know he's all right. He opens his eyes, looking at his surroundings and dropping his arms from the bark blue mare.
"I think it got bigger." Justin comments.
The storm before them looks more violent than before. Lightning seems to arc within it, lighting the pillar up. The twister also seems to have increased in size. It's a tad louder as well. The four just stand there, gazing up at the pillar of clouds.
"You all are afraid of this kind of storm? Hah! I can take that in my sleep!" Rainbow boasts, taking off towards the storm in a blur. "Leave it to me!"
"Dash wait!" Justin calls out a tad late.
They watch spirals of rainbow and cyan go around in the twister. The speed continues to take hikes until there are just rings of the two colors. The three take a couple of steps back as lightning arcs more sporadically, striking the ground cloe to the base of the twister. Then it happens, the storm spits Rainbow back out in the human's direction. The mare striking him square in the chest and sending him to the ground.
Twilight is the first to jump into action, helping Rainbow off the human and getting them both up. "Oh my gosh! Are you two okay?"
Justin just groans out in pain.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Dash replies, rubbing a hoof against her head. "What in the hay was that?"
"I do believe he did try to warn you." Luna chuckles as she walks up behind the human to keep him on his feet.
The human is tenderly rubbing his chest from the impact. He gives Rainbow a slight glare, even if it's a weak one.
"Should we try overloading this one?" Twilight asks the man.
"Worth a shot I guess." Justin replies, silently thanking Luna.
With a nod Twilight looks at Luna, she returns the nod and steps up to the storm with the younger alicorn, horns charged.
Justin lightly tugs Rainbow back towards him. "You may wanna step away for this."
Both princesses fire off their respective spells, meeting at the base of the of the twister. The reaction is almost instant as the storm engorges in the center. Rainbow's eyes widen as she tries to hide behind the human now. Lightning is arcing out and striking the ground around them, a few strikes a little too close for comfort. Magenta and pale lights flicker inside the storm before a beam shoots out towards Rainbow and Justin.
Twilight is quick to react, casting a shield over the two of them just as the beam is about to strike them. Justin having his arms around Rainbow, ready to take the brunt of the blow to his back. They both start to look around as nothing happens and see the dome Twilight is casting. Justin lets out a concerned hum as he stares at where the beam struck the shield. Both Luna and Twilight have stopped, gazing at the two.
Rainbow nudges the human. "Whatcha thinkin' about big guy?"
"I thinks we need a new take." He mutters, rubbing his chin.
What he doesn't say is that he feels a target has been on him since they arrived. It's no coincidence that he was hit by almost all three mares here and a close call with some magic. His staring at the storm, however, is giving him something of an idea. A smile creeps it's way across his face and he motions for the girls to come together.
"I have something, a long shot, but it's something." Justin opens once they're all within earshot.
"It's better than nothing." Twilight responds.
"Alrighty then. Here's what I got." The human takes a moment to clear his throat. "Twi and Dash will fly counter-clockwise in the storm wh-"
"Did me crashing into you knock a few screws loose in that head of yours?" Rainbow interrupts. "We tried that, didn't work, remember?"
"You tried doing it yourself, net me finish, Dash." Justin snaps back. "While Luna, you'll be blasting the storm with magic."
"Wait, why just me?" Luna asks. "Won't Twilight's magic be more help with mine?"
"Possibly, but your magic is stronger than hers and she has stronger wings than Fluttershy."
"Better not let her know you said that." Rainbow snarks.
"She's admitted she isn't a strong flyer anyway." The human remarks back. "Any more questions?"
Luna shakes her head along with Twilight.
"I just want to get my friends out of here." Twilight says.
The human breaks the group up with a smile, helping pick out some decent positions for them to start. Luna being somewhat close to use her magic and horn charging. Twilight and Rainbow farther back to gain speed as they fly into the storm. Justin uses his hands to signal their flight path and the two friends fly off and start their rounds. The storm has an almost immediate reaction.
Next up is Luna, he signals her with a pat on her shoulder and she fires away. The spell colliding with the spiraling clouds of varying colors. The storm emits something a kin to a growl but it's otherworldly. The smile morphs into a grin as the human takes it as a sign that it's working. The lightning starts to arc again, striking the grounds near them and the clouds above. Justin stays close to Luna as the lightning strikes out.
One of them arcs towards the pair, Justin sticking his hand up on instinct. It hits him but is deflected to the ground near them.
"The hell?" Justin questions, looking at his hand to see no mark.
"Is something the matter, dear Justin?" Luna asks, still focusing a stream of magic at the storm's base.
Justin looks to her for a moment. "I think I just deflected lightning?"
Before Luna could open her mouth to say something, the storm collapses in on itself. Twilight and Rainbow fleeing from the storm to join up with the other two. Rainbow being more pumped up at the display of storm busting rather than the stare down going on between the human and the princess. Twilight walks up to them, almost inquisitive about what' going on.
"Hey, is something the matter?" She asks.
"No, not at all Twi." Justin responds first. "Why don't you take Rainbow to Rares and we'll catch up."
Twilight just nods, figuring she will be told when the time is right.
Taking Luna with an arm, he turned their backs to the destroyed boutique. In a hushed tone he opens up. "Look, I know this is going to sound weird, but I think I deflected a bolt of lightning."
"How?" Luna whispers back.
"I may not have been entirely honest about all my problems here of late."
Luna's gaze of concern shifted to a glare. "I am not mad, friend. More disappointed that you did not see it fit to tell us about your problems. Do you not trust us?"
"It-it's not that, Luna. I do trust you, I just didn't know how bring it up. More so I needed to know for sure if it's real." Justin looks down a bit in shame.
"What else have you been experiencing?" Luna asks, bringing a hoof to his chin and makes him look at her.
"Well, floating, things appearing near me, rooms in my house shifting gravity, appearing around town at random." Justin looks over his shoulder to look at Dash and Twilight, seeing that they are somewhat distracted. "I was flying after we got Dash out of her sleep."
Luna gazes at him some more. "Do you know what it is?"
Justin just shakes his head.
"How long have you been experiencing these things?"
"I think several months?" Justin seems uncertain now.
"We will discuss this when we are out of here." Luna states, the human just nods.
"You will not lay a hoof on my Element, ruffian!" Rarity yells out, firing off a spell behind her towards her pursuer.
She finds herself sprinting through the thick brush of the Everfree. It's trees looming over casting shadows on the dirt path below. Rarity comes to a screeching halt as the path comes to an end. She starts to frantically look around for another way out. With no such luck, she turns to face her rapidly encroaching pursuer and charges a spell on her horn.
"Well, here goes nothing, I suppose." Rarity mutters under her breath.
Failing to notice four more figures rise from the bushes behind her. The figure chasing her comes to a complete stop just a little ways away. Rarity just smiles, not knowing why the thing chasing her has stopped.
"What I thought." She harrumphs
A rainbow blur flies right past her and towards the figure. The trail is followed by magenta and pail magic, then a familiar lanky form dashing right by. Realizing that her friends have manifested here is causing a state of confusion. She looks behind her to see Twilight and Princess Luna step out of the bushes, horns charged and ready for a fight. Rainbow collides with the figure, knocking it off-balance. The two spells hit the figure next and knock it to the ground. Justin follows up and drops an elbow right onto the figure and cast it back to the shadows.
"Wha-How did you all get in here?!" Rarity asks, figuring the answer may be Luna.
Rainbow lands next to her friends. "Dream within a dream."
Well, that certainly wasn't the answer she expected. "What?"
"Rainbow is kind of right." Twilight agrees, as does Luna with a nod.
"I feel like everypony here has gone crazy." Rarity mutters.
"Feels like that, don't it?" A familiar male voice calls out from behind. "Trust us-"
Rarity lets out a small 'eep!' and a spell slams into Justin's body, knocking him down.
"Woah there, Rare!" Dash flies out in front of her before another spell is cast. "It's okay, he's our human."
"How can you know for certain?" Rarity asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I did just land a pretty sweet elbow drop on that thing chasing you." Justin mutters as he gets back up.
It takes some convincing for Rarity to finally not blast the human a second time. With word from both of her best friends and a princess, she finally drops the offensive and allows him to get close. After some small talking amongst them, Rarity does accept that this one is the real human she knows. Once they all come to an agreement, the dream fades away from their senses.
Hushed whispers fill the air around him. He can't make out what they're saying, but it sounds like they're over him. The ground is cold, almost too cold to be comfortable. Was that carpet? At least it was soft, it's no cloud but still. His senses slowly came back to him. The voices were clearer, he can hear-no-FEEL the concern in their tone? That is a strange feeling. He opens his eyes slow, blurry vision plaguing him.
"Hellooooo?" A raspy mare's voice calls out. "Equestria to the Big Guy!"
Justin's vision starts to focus, seeing the five mares staring down at him. Except Dash, she's floating mere inches from his face.
"Dash, you get an closer and I may suck ya face off." He teases, causing the pegasus mare to reel back and sputter.
"Oh thank goodness you're okay, darling! You had us worried!" Rarity exclaims.
Justin starts to sit up, rubbing his eyes. "Worried? Why?"
"You may have been talking in your sleep, friend." Luna responds.
"Couldn't see it?"
Luna just shakes her head and the human huffs.
"Figures."
The group sit around on the boutique floor is something of a circle. Most of it idle chit-chat as they're taking the breather. Luna seems to be remaining silent for the most part, just enjoying the company. Justin slowly scooching his way over to her, inch by inch. Up until he was close enough to slightly nudge her with his shoulder, grabbing her attention away from the group.
"Bit for your thoughts?" Justin whispers to her. "I see that look in your eyes."
"Do you not find it strange?" Luna seems to ask, but not being specific.
"Find what strange?" The human has a tone of confusion.
"These two Element bearers having dreams about you turning on us?" Luna hasn't looked back to the group yet, still scanning the human's features.
Justin scratches his cheek a bit in thought and nods. They don't talk much more about as they turn their full attention back to the group. The human in his deepening concern about witnessing the recent dreams. He mostly stays next to Luna while the group continues on. Once a comfortable silence takes the room, a plan is formulated for the next captors of this weird place: Applejack and Fluttershy.
The group of five stand on the dirt path leading to Sweet Apple Acres, or at the very least it's weird dream counterpart. It's strange how both real and unreal this all felt. Sure, the Elements themselves have dealt with probably weirder things in their time. Yet they didn't have a human or a princess tagging along like this time. They will be without the very gemstones of arcane mystery here and any help is appreciated, even if they are the help.
Over the horizon, at their destination, they see another one of those storms. This one definitely bigger than before, the twister that made up most of it is spinning with a greater speed. Lightning lights up near the surface and it has changed it's color to a red. Something about the storm unnerves them right to their core. Almost like a feeling of dread comes over them. They steel themselves with the determination of why they're here; to get their friend back and start moving forward once again.
Luna takes notice of the human dragging behind a bit a joins him. "Is something bothering you, friend?"
"Been thinking about what you said." Justin looks at Luna, his voice hushed as to not pull the attention of the others. "It is strange what we found with Rainbow and Rarity. Twilight's was different though."
"Unfortunate, but true." Luna starts to match his tone, becoming closer to the human. "Do you think there is meaning behind it?"
"Either a sign of things that can be, or things to come? I don't know." Justin lets loose a frustrated sigh. "Twilight wouldn't turn on us like that, would she? It isn't her." Luna nods a little bit but he continues. "Then there's the one's with me, why would I turn? Will I go against my friends?"
At that moment, Luna stops him by placing a hoof against his chest. "We have seen you many times and know this cannot be true. You tend to wear your heart on your sleeve, do not let this falter your perception. You must be strong if we are to see this through."
Justin is looking at her while he lets her words sink in. His face shifting from doubt to a newfound determination and they push on with the others. Several minutes pass them by as they approach the farm. The winds start to pick up now as the storm is trying to push them away. The group continues on despite this and stand assembled at the base of the storm.
"Not to sound rude, but what is it we do now?" Rarity almost yells over the noise, her mane whipping in the wind.
Justin kneels down next to the white unicorn. "How strong is your magic?"
Rarity almost looks shocked at the human. "It isn't as strong as Twilight's, but I guess it can knock you down, darling."
"Perfect." Is the only word he says to her then looks to Twilight and Rainbow, giving them a knowing nod.
The two of them fly off and into the storm, leaving their respective trails. Rarity eye widen a bit as she watches the two flyers go against the current. The human then looks at Luna with a smile and gives her the same nod. The princess just nods back and charges her horn and fires off the spell at the base of the twister. Justin looks back to Rarity.
"Now." Justin points to where Luna's spell is hitting. "What we need you to do is hit the same place Luna is hitting."
"Yes, but how?" Rarity tilts her head.
"I'm sure you got something in that beautiful brain of yours!" Justin exclaims. "If not, just mimic whatever it is Luna is doing."
Rarity brings a hoof up to her chin and starts to tap her chin. Breaking her gaze from the human to take a quick glance at what spell Luna is casting. A glimmer comes to her eye and she forms a small smile. Getting the idea, she turns back to the storm with a charged horn and casts something similar to the Princess. She could hear an excited "Thatta girl!" beside her as she cast.
The storm was reacting now by bulging out and sinking back in to disrupt the flyers inside of it. Lighting arc out to strike the grounds around the spellcasters but to no avail. Crimson from the storm lights up the area around them as the strikes are starting to subside. It isn't long until the twister finally gives in and dissipates into the air. The winds coming to a stand-still yet again. Rainbow and Twilight flying over to the three and landing next to them. Rainbow trotting over to Justin and the two bumping a hoof to fist.
What lay before them was a sight much too familiar to four out of the five at this point. The old rustic farmhouse Applejack lives in exploded into pieces and all of them suspended in the air. Rarity takes a couple steps closer with an eyebrow raised, but is stopped when a hand rests on her shoulder. She turns her head to see Justin standing there, looking ahead.
"Is this what happened to my boutique here?" Rarity asks, his only response being a nod.
"AJ should be fine. Just gotta get her out and it should rebuild itself in a way." Justin says as his hand drops from her shoulder and he starts to walk forward.
Applejack is doing a might fine job of keeping the human at a distance, at the very least, she seems to think so. Whenever he gained some ground on her, she'd just barrage him with apples from the nearby trees. She doesn't have a single clue why this dream is having an evil version of one of her closest friends attacking her, but she wasn't going to let this change how she saw him.
He's stunned again from another apple to the head so she took the chance to run deeper into the orchard. The wind ripping through her ears as she dashes away from her assailant. Sure, she could take him but she isn't too keen on hurting him. That's when Luna comes around one of the trees and Applejack slams into her at full sprint. Both mares toppling over on the ground below.
Applejack was the first to recover, sitting up and looking at the princess. "Well, ain't ya sight for sore eyes!"
"Quite the... entrance." Luna mutters a little as she starts to recover. "We are glad to have found you, Applejack."
"We?" Applejack responds with little time for confusion when she finally spots three of her best friends. "Girls!"
She ran over to give them a big hug each in excitement. Applejack was clearly just happy to see her friends okay right now. When she got done dishing out the love, she turned back to Luna to find Justin helping her back to her hooves. He made some comment she didn't quite hear but it earns him a dirty look from the princess. Yup, that was the one she knew and she started to approach him.
Justin was quick to notice and put his hands up in defense. "Woah woah woah there. Friendly!"
Applejack doesn't say anything and gets up on her hind legs to take him in a tight hug. "Ah know, ya big lug. Just glad it's the real you"
She can feel his hand softly pat her back. "Can't.... breath... too... tight!"
"Oh, sorry sugarcube." Applejack replies and lets him go with a sheepish smile but she doesn't lower down just yet, allowing him to give her his own hug.
The reunion quickly became a short-lived moment when they heard a spell fire off. Looking to see Luna gazing off in the distance then following her gaze. The human this dream conjured up to chase Applejack had finally caught up, but also now having to face more. Luna cast another spell to hit him with and he didn't slow down. Justin got an idea and started to whisper it to Applejack.
"Are ya sure 'bout that, sugarcube?" She asks in somewhat of a confused tone.
"Is Celestia's sun bright?"
There is a moment of pause in the farm pony before giving him a silent confirmation. He just grins and lets her back down to go hide behind a nearby tree. The other Justin hasn't even flinched at the array of spells being thrown his away. He pushes on with his target in sight and now she wasn't moving. Instead being somewhat focused on the tree and the incoming intruder.
The rogue human was upon Applejack and she simply flipped a one-eighty and brought her hind legs up in a powerful buck. The kick connected with his jaw and is powerful enough to send him stumbling backwards. Stumble he did, right to her target. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around the mid section and the rogue was lifted up off the ground. Justin was straining a bit as he bent backwards and drove the clone's head right into the ground.
Justin rolled away and got back to his feet before walking over to Applejack and giving her a bump to the hoof for a job well done. Both of them having a satisfied smile and watch on as the human started to rise. A rainbow trail came down from the sky to drive him back into the ground. Seeing this causes a loud cheer to emanate from the group and seeming to finally put this Justin out of commission for good. The human just having his hands in the air and looks around to find out only he was the one to cheer.
"Love the enthusiasm, Big Guy, but can it wait until after we get out of here?" Rainbow comments as she makes her way over to the gathering.
"Heh, sorry. Got caught up in the moment." The human brings his hands down and puts one behind his head.
Rainbow just shakes her head at him and joins up with the rest. Luna gets them all to gather around as her horn starts to glow . The dream fading from their senses yet again as the surroundings go dark.
The four girls rouse awake before the princess and their human friend. Not wanting to go on without the two, they all settle around next to the sleeping pair. Luna is the next to wake from the slumber and starts to look around. She sees that the human is still out and sits with the rest, joining the soft idle chatter on occasion. Several minutes pass by before the human starts to rouse from his own slumber.
He groans out before blinking his sight into focus and looking at the small circle of ponies. "All right, what dark sorcery ritual are we doing today?" He chuckles a little to himself as he just crawls over and settles near the group.
"We're just talking while we wait." Twilight states, causing the human to smirk a little.
"Whatever you say, ya little sorceress." Justin teases with a pat to the alicorn's head.
Twilight huffs at the human out of a little bit of frustration and turns away from him. Out of the corner of his eye he spots Luna holding a hoof to her mouth, trying to subdue a giggle. Justin finally turns his attention away from the lavender mare to the rest of the girls and spots Rainbow with both hooves on her face. The human just smiles, giving the cyan pegasus a small knowing wink. His hand home in on one of Twilight's ears and start to scratch at it's base. The action cause the mare in question to relax a bit and lean into the touch.
"Loosen up a lil, Twi. I only tease ya cause I like ya." Justin remarks as he continues his ear scratching.
A couple more jokes are tossed around with some more idle chit-chat to help ease tensions and keep the spirits high. After a little while of sitting around, the group decides it's time to go get their friends. Each and every one start to rise to their hooves to feet respective before leaving the farmhouse. Down the dirt path they go under a clear night sky, the four girls talking amongst themselves.
Justin, however, is staring up at the star filled sky above as he keeps his pace with the group.
"Beautiful night?" A familiar voice calls out beside him, snapping him from his daze.
"I think the real one is perfect." He replies as his eyes shift to Twilight.
The mare tilts her head as she looks at him. "Why do you think that?"
Justin looks back up to the stars. "At least I know that sky isn't conjured up."
Twilight silently nods and presses a wing against his lower back. "You know, I got a book on astrology if you're interested in Luna's night sky."
"Thanks, I'll think about it, Twi." He replies back to her and she can see a small smile form on his face before he looks down to her. "You should go back to talking with your friends though, I don't think you'll be getting much out of me right now."
Twilight just shakes her head as he looks towards them. "They're talking about something I'm not really interested in, plus you looked like you could use the company."
Justin shifts his smile into the warm one she knows. "Thanks, Twi. Appreciate the thought."
"Don't mention it, monkey man." She coyly shoots back, earning her a playful nudge from the human's hip.
The two continue to walk with the rest of the group. Luna soon joining the two in the comforting silence while the human continues to look at the sky.
The group eventually make back to the strange Ponyville, most of the sky now clear as they walk. Justin holding a small conversation with Luna while the four friends ahead of them. They could overhear some of it, something about doughnuts from Canterlot. At least that's what Justin thinks he overhears as he talks with Luna. Out of his peripheral they are soon joined again by Twilight, though with some concern on her face now.
"Justin?" Twilight quietly says as the human looks at her. "I've been doing some thinking."
"About the last time we saw an heavily industrialized Equestria?" He responds back.
Twilight just nods and looks up to his face. "Do you think this is His doing?"
"Twilight Sparkle, what are you going on about?" Luna asks, causing the two to glance her way.
"Hard to tell, Twi." Justin looks back to the mare quick before turning to Luna. "That human I mention a little while ago? We sort of met him. He wasn't a nice guy."
Luna stares at the human, scanning his face. She knew it was only a half-truth but he isn't willing to say and she doesn't think Twilight will either.
"I've given her what is needed, Twi. I know you have concerns, and trust me, so do I." Justin glares back some at the lavender mare while he gets glared at by Luna. "I have a hunch he might be behind this since every dream version we find in their's is... well.... me."
"Except... mine." Twilight's eyes widen as she changes her expression to one of mild concern.
Justin nods a little before pulling Luna closer. "Look, what Twi and I found in this book wasn't what we thought. We found him, the human, but.."
Luna's eyes start to widen as she realizes what he's getting at. "It was another you ?"
Both Justin and Twilight nod their heads.
"And Fluttershy has been dealing with this for a whole week. I can only imagine how she'd react now." Justin saiys in a solemn tone.
The group finally makes their way to the storm that covers Fluttershy's cottage. This storm looks much like the one that was once over Applejack's home. Red lighting arcing from within its cloud walls, making itself known to all. Applejack seems to stay near the human, unsure what she should be doing as the other members of the group get themselves in position and ready. The loud roar of the storm making communication almost impossible.
"So.. uh.. what is it ah should be doin', sugarcube?" AJ yelled over the storm to Justin.
"Just watch the show!" Justin replied as he gesture to the storm.
The rest of the group waited for a signal from the man to let them know that he was ready. He raised his hands and brought them back down, signaling for the two flyers to dart into the storm. Luna and Rarity wasted no time as Rainbow and Twilight fly overhead, their horns casting the spell they've been using this entire time. All Applejack can do is watch the lightshow ahead of her, staying next to the human.
Justin leans down to the farm pony. "Here comes the fun part."
The storm starts to react like those before it, but this one isn't going away without a fight. Crimson bolts of energy lash out against everyone, striking the grounds near them to disrupt the spellcasters. The twister itself starts to wildly shake as to rid itself of the intruders. Lightning continues to arc out and lick at the surrounding overcast, seeming to split it before it pieces itself back together. Another of the red bolts lash out again, this time heading right for the orange mare next to the human. Almost as if it was instinct, Justin moves in front of the bolt with his hand out over his face. The lightning connects and gets reflected back into the storm.
"What in tarnation was that?!" Applejack yells at him about the display.
Justin just turns to her and shrugs. "Dunno, just felt right."
Before the farm mare could ask him about what really just happened, the storm manages to dislodge one of the flyers. The human is hit full speed in the back by an alicorn. The force of the impact sent Justin stumbling forward and fall on to Applejack. Now the filling for what is essentially a pony sandwich, it hurt none the less. All three groaning out in pain and shifting around.
Twilight recovered and stands up, stepping away from the two. "Sorry you two!" Then she flies off back into the storm to help Rainbow.
Justin groans out a bit in pain as he rolls off the farm mare. "I had no idea being bodied by an alicorn hurt so damn much." He takes a moment to look at Applejack, who is still writhing on the ground a bit. "At least she wasn't full grown."
"Har har... very funny." Applejack responds as she starts to find her footing again. "How 'bout next time, ya be the pony 'n ah'll be the creature twice yer size fallin' on ya."
He just gives her a pained smile and reaches a hand up to pat her cheek. "I love ya too, Apples."
The storm continues to put up a fight for a little while longer, throwing out more bolts of lightning around them. The flying pegasus and alicorn had themselves embedded so far in the twister that they weren't coming back out anytime soon. The storm is starting to lose a lot of its momentum as the minutes pass by. Before long, the storm finally gives in and collapses in on itself.
Rainbow and Twilight landed on their hooves next to Rarity. The human soon joining them with the farm mare. Together they stand on the path leading up to Fluttershy's cottage and their goal: Fluttershy herself. The five started up the dirt road while their sixth stayed behind, unsure if he should go with them or not. Luna happens to look behind her and stops to gaze at the unsure human.
She trots back over to him and gazes at him. "Is something wrong, friend?"
"I don't think I should go with you all on this one." Justin tells her with his gaze fixed on the butter-colored mare floating in the distance. "I know how timid Fluttershy can get. If tonight is anything to go by, I believe she will be avoiding me for quite some time. It'll be like the first time I arrived here."
"You should not doubt yourself, Justin." Luna brings a wing up and curls her feathers around his back.
"It ain't doubt, Luna. I know Fluttershy well enough to guess what is going to happen." Justin's gaze snaps to Luna's eyes.
Luna remains quiet for the moment, just staring back at him.
"You should go help them get Fluttershy, I'll just stay out here."
"Not without you, Dear Justin." Luna retorts, pushing the man forward with her wing.
"Dammit, Luna. Fine." Justin grunts while being a little surprised at the strength in her wing.
"It does not take much to convince you." Luna tells him with a smirk.
"Only because I know you won't leave me be until I agree."
Fear is the only thing clouding Fluttershy's mind at this moment. Paniced breathing leaves her muzzle as she flies as fast as she can away from the creature. The creature that can walk on clouds is very apparent and very terrifying. She doesn't know why she's back at the flight camp in Cloudsdale again, but she's been returning here all week and with no help from Luna. Fleeing is the only thing she has been able to do until she wakes up this entire time. Tonight seems different, this is lasting longer than it normally does.
The creature slams down on a cloud near her, threatening to bust it a part from sheer force. She happens a glance in it's direction and sees who it really is. Her eyes shrink in shock before hitting a cloud wall and sliding down to the bottom. Cowering and trying to disappear into her mane as the creature takes another leap and lands near her again, soon standing to his full height as he gazes at her.
"W-why are you doing this?" Fluttershy shakily asks.
The group of six find themselves standing in the middle of a courtyard of clouds. The human slightly sunken into the white and fluffy mass with some mild annoyance. The other five standing on the surface just fine, not him however. The clouds have him covered up to his shins and was making it harder to move around than normal. Twilight had tried to pull him up with some magic, but he sank back in.
"Well, this is fantastic." Justin says in a tone that drips with his annoyance. "This stuff feels like sludge."
"Clouds don't feel like that." Rainbow retorts.
"These aren't regular clouds here, hotshot." Justin says right back.
Rainbow stares at him a bit and nods some. "I guess you're right."
The group stands in mostly silent amusement as the human is trying to maneuver in the strange cloud sludge he finds himself in. A high-pitched scream broke the silence and pulled the groups attention towards it source. They saw a streak of yellow soaring across the sky while a mass of something leapt from cloud to cloud. They hear a startling yell and when they look to see who it's from, Justin has sunk even more into the cloud, just barely catching a glimpse of his hand before it disappears into the cloud.
Twilight has to be quick, deciding on a plan of action right then and there. "Rainbow, you and I will go get that thing from Fluttershy. Luna and Rarity, you both can try to get Justin out of the clouds, if he hasn't fallen through them. Applejack, you wait here, we're going to bring that thing here."
Before another word could be said or the plan challenged, the two left to aid Fluttershy. Luna was already prying apart pieces of cloud in an attempt to find the human within the fluffy white mass with Rarity. After a couple of minutes of not finding him, Luna took off to the underside of the cloud to look there while the white unicorn picked at some more pieces of cloud on the top. Still no such luck even locating the human.
Twilight and Rainbow both slammed into the human chasing Fluttershy as soon as he landed on another cloud. His balance was knocked way off and nearly fell off the cloud. Twilight races over to Fluttershy and tries to explain to her what's going on. Rainbow is flying circles around the human and striking him to keep his balance off.
"Luna, darling, any luck down there?" Rarity calls out through the cloud.
Luna's head appears through the cloud and shakes her head. "What about you, Miss Rarity?"
"Unfortunately, no." Is all the response she had.
Before she could turn and search another part of cloud, Rarity is taken up in some magic and, despite her cries not to, plowed right through the cloud and towards the ground with Luna. She shrieks out as her and the princess are careening towards the ground. Stopping in just the nick of time as they come close to the ground. Rarity being daintily set on the ground before Luna lands with a small smile.
"That isn't funny, your highness!" Rarity screams while stomping a hoof on the ground.
"I do apologize, but we must find Justin." Luna simply replies.
Applejack gets herself ready as she watches Twilight and Fluttershy fly towards her with Rainbow Dash following close behind. Once the three land just behind the farm mare, it's only going to be a matter of time. Another leap and here comes the human. He slams against the cloud, causing pieces of it to float up and rest back down. Reaching his full height once more and is met with two strong hooves colliding with his chest in one powerful buck that sends him flying backwards. As he is recovering, a beam of teal magic cuts around the human in a circle and he falls right through the new hole an straight to the ground below.
There's an exaggerated gasp behind them that causes the four to look in another direction. Seeing a head popping out from the cloud.
"Oh my gosh, Justin!" Twilight exclaims and rushes over to help the human out of the cloud. "What happened to you?"
The human was coughing, wheezing, and gasping for that sweet, sweet air to fill his lungs. "No... Idea... where's... the... other guy?"
"Luna cut a hole in the cloud and he fell through it." Twilight explains.
Justin just lays on top of the cloud in labored breath, a smile breaking across his face. "So you're saying that he took a fall."
After a little while, Justin finally sits up and looks over to Fluttershy. His smile fades a little when he sees that she's hiding as much as she can behind Applejack and Rainbow. All the while staring him down like he was some scary monster. A hoof presses down on his shoulder and he looks away to meet Twilight's gaze. Another beam cuts up from below to encircle them both.
"Shit." Justin mutters before he falls through, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Twilight flies through the hole after the human. Making the dive as quickly as possible with her hooves out to reach him. The distance was closing fast between the ground and his body. The alicorn flaps her wings harder to gain speed she needed, she touches his neck and quickly wraps her forelegs around him and flares her wings out to slow their descent. Then the feel of magic engulfs their bodies, bringing them down slow enough to negate injuries.
Luna set Justin on his feet, facing her, and found it rather amusing that Twilight was hugging so close to his back. The lunar princess starts to take a couple of steps forward.
"It makes me glad you can join us, friend." Luna spoke with a small smile while the human opens his eyes. "Or rather, friends."
"What was the idea? Scare the mortal soul?" Justin asks her with some irritation.
Luna just smiles at him as Twilight floats off his back.
"Thanks Twi, and thanks Luna."
"Is not a problem, human friend." Luna's smile seems to grow wider. "Though i believe our other human here isn't quite as friendly."
Justin turns just in time to see the other break the ground beneath him as he leaves them behind. "That's not natural and kinda scary."
About a minute later he comes crashing back down with a cyan mass on his chest. "And stay down!"
Justin walks on over and leans down to look at the human. "Welcome back, buddy! Can we get you anything? A water, maybe a granola bar?"
Rainbow just steps off his to join her human. He just grunts as he recovers and rises back to his feet. He's just about to take another leap when he's turned around and fist collides with his face, effectively knocking him out this time.
"That's for scaring the feathers off Flutters."
Justin stands outside the cottage, leaning against the shorter-than-average fence, and staring off into the distance. Luna coming out of the cottage and approaching him from to take up an empty spot on the fence next to him.
"Do you not wish to join the others, friend?" Luna asks, gazing at the human.
"Nah, I don't wanna cause Fluttershy to close herself off cause I'm there." Justin sighs and looks at the princess. "That dream did a number on her, it's going to take a while to fix that."
"With some patience and a little time, she will come back around to you." Luna gives the human a reassuring smile and drapes a wing over his shoulders.
"Yeah, and she's got her friends and you to keep her some comfort to see this through." Justin nods and returns his gaze back to the distance. "Just one more of the Bearers to get then we're outta here."
Luna nods in agreement and follows his gaze. There was the last storm that held the remainder of Twilight's friends: Pinkie Pie. Justin is feeling some kind of comfort in knowing that this is almost over and that his friends will be safe, well he hopes that they will. Being some of Equestria's greatest heroes does come with challenges. That doesn't matter to him right now, he just wants to be sure they won't have to suffer from these dreams any longer than he has.
Author's Note
One chapter down, two more to go. Would love any kind of feedback you all can give, so don't be shy! I can try to respond so I can be a little more interactive with my readers.
The group are well on their way back into Ponyville at this time. The girls keeping Fluttershy up in the front and distracted enough to not pay any mind to the human in the back. Justin keeps himself in the back, with only Luna for company, and not getting any closer to the five in front of him out of worry. Luna, more or less, is staying near him so he doesn't feel alone. He doesn't seem to mind as he does keep close to the princess.
"Dear Justin, I have a question." Luna breaks their comfortable silence.
"Hm?" Justin answers.
"What was your first time here like?" Luna leans against his side.
"Well..." Justin pauses for a moment as he tries to remember what happened then. "There was a lot of panic, doubt, and quite a bit of isolation. That last part mostly on me. Twilight did her best to try and calm me down, but that's easier said then done when trying not to get hit with your own broom."
Luna silently nods, mostly at his self imposed isolation. Much like she had done upon her return.
"And then the bond spell was severed and she sent me off to the palace for a little while."
"I remember your arrival." Luna remarks, then pauses and looks at the human. "Bond spell?"
Justin just chuckles a little bit. "Oh yeah, apparently getting unintentionally summoned as a familiar had me bound to Twi for a while. That was fun."
Luna hums while she continues to stare at him.
"Having an arcane leash dragging you where ever they go is totally fun." He says with sarcasm, then pauses. "What was your return like, y'know, after being turned back into Luna." Justin shifts his gaze to look at her.
"Filled with doubt, guilt, and isolation. Much like yours, but also relief in knowing I had returned to my sister." Luna responds, not giving it a second thought.
"Celestia definitely is happier having her sister around." Justin gives her a warm smile.
Luna returns the smile with one of her own and the two continue behind the five friends, returning to their comforting silence.
The group finally makes it to Ponyville, most the the chatter coming from the five girls leading the pack. The skies above are clear for the most part with the only spot still containing the last storm. Just the mere sight of it and close proximity to it was enough to put a certain yellow pegasus at an unease. The group came to a stop with Justin and Luna keeping a respectable distance away. Twilight broke off from the group and approached the two.
"Have you two noticed anything....strange about this storm?" Twilight asks in a hushed tone.
At first, the two are confused by the question, but instead they listen in. No wind. Looking at the storm and upon their inspection, it isn't being violent.
"Yeah..." Justin admits after a moment of silence. "We should be careful, something ain't right this time."
"Stick with the same plan or do we need to change it?" Twilight asks the human.
"I suggest we change the plan." Luna inputs.
"Agreed, but how." Justin starts to kneel down, mostly to get on Twilight's level.
They continue to whisper away, quickly laying out a changed plan. All three working to iron out this new set up, all the while the four other Elements idly chat amongst themselves. Twilight returns to them and talks to them about the changes. Luna and Justin sit and watch them.
"Luna." The human breaks. "I have an idea, but I don't want Twilight to know."
The princess just looks at the human with some concern.
Twilight comes back after a couple of minutes later to the two. "So, the girls are okay with this plan."
"Poke n' prod it until something happens." Justin says with a small smile.
The group take some time to gather a few items, then split off into two teams to stake out on opposite sides of differing buildings. The first team consists of only Luna and Justin while the Second team is made up of the five friends, both observing the storm. Something about the storm makes it seem dormant. There's no sound, rushing wind, arc of red lightning, nothing. Twilight pokes her head around the corner of her building and peers over to Justin and Luna. Both start to signal back and forth for a little while before nodding and ducking behind the buildings.
Applejack emerges from her side of the buildings with a rope in mouth fashioned like a lasso. Using her mouth to twirl it as she charges in a full sprint towards the twister. They all watch as she gets closer then throws the lasso into the storm to catch on to something. Catch it did and she tugs. Something tugs back before yanking the farm mare off her hooves and spinning her around like a toy before throwing her back towards her group. She ends up okay thanks to the use of magic from both Rairty and Twilight along with the quick action of Rainbow and her wings.
"That was... interesting." Justin muses as he watches the rope just linger outside the storm. "Luna, you should go see if AJ is okay."
Luna stares at him for a moment, knowing what's about to happen, and flares out her wings to fly over to the other team. The human takes a deep breath and steps out from around the corner. When the night princess arrives, she feel relief in seeing that Applejack having quickly recovered. Not many of them currently any the wiser to the storm's increasing activity.
Justin's approach towards the storm is slow and with each step he takes, he sees a faint flash of red. His eyes drift over to the group of six still making sure their recently flung friend is okay, then draw back to his destination. The rope disappears into the twister and flashes of lightning get bright. The bright flashes drawing the attentions of the group.
"What is he doing?!" Twilight quickly gets up, readying to move.
Before she can go, lightning arcs out like an appendage and wraps itself around the human's neck and yanks him forward. Justin digs in his heels and grabs a hold of the magical bolt of energy. Two more arc out and latch on to his wrists and pull with great force. Justin is pulled off his feet and towards the storm only to be stopped a little ways in.
He turns his head a little to see what's holding him back and it's Twilight using her magic to hold his foot in place. The lightning appendages pull on him with another hard tug and get nowhere. It sends a bolt out and strikes the ground near Twilight, but no avail as she doesn't flinch. The others are making their way towards her and the human. The storm lets out what sounds like a growl and manages to hit the alicorn with another bolt. Twilight lets out a yelp as her magic breaks its hold and Justin lurches forward.
He gets tugged back again, this time Rainbow is pulling on his pants with her mouth. Her eyes fixed on him with the fires of determination in them. Another of the supernatural bolts wraps itself around his waist and pulls them both forward. Applejack jumps forward and bite down on Rainbow's tail and pulls hard. Rairty follows suit and pulls on AJ's tail while Luna and Twilight combine their magical grips to even the odds. Justin groans out in pain more than relief due to being yanked in opposite directions. Then his gaze falls to Fluttershy, cowering away from the storm and the situation before her.
"Rainbow!" Justin yells over the roaring of the storm.
The primastic mare just focuses on his face.
"Let go!" He commands.
"What?! No!" Dash yells back at him through clenched teeth.
"Just let go, dammit!" Justin yells back at her.
He can see the frown on Dash grow and she begrudgingly lets go of his leg, letting him lurch towards the storm with another pull. The only thing holding him back is Twilight's and Luna's magic. Both are staring at him in silent contemplation and fear.
"What about you?" Twilight asks.
Justin manages to give her a small smile. "I think I'll be fine. I know you'll come for me."
Twilight furrows her brow a bit and nods, turning to Luna. "Let him go.."
Once the magic falls from around his form, Justin puts his legs out in front of him as if he is going down a slide.
"Self-sacrifice, baby!" He yells out before being pulled right into the storm and disappearing into the dark clouds.
Luna turns to the lavender mare next to her as the rest of her friends stare at the storm falling dormant again. "Are you certain we made the right call by listening to him?"
"Part of me says no." Twilight responds, then finally looks the Princess in the eyes. "He's right about one thing though, we are going after him."
Justin finds himself standing on a ledge, looking towards a tree line. In the distance are silhouettes of mountains. He nearly looses his footing to his right with a slight shift of his weight and looks behind him towards the ledge. His eyes are met with the dark of an abyss and what could be a long way down with no end. He puts his foot back on solid ground and takes a few steps away from the ledge. He goes back to scanning the horizon and soaking in his current surroundings.
The sky is kind of dark with a red hue to it that fades into black the higher it goes. There are no stars dotting the skies above. A hunch starts to grow that he isn't where he thinks, this isn't Pinkie's. A twig snapping nearby pulls his eyes towards the source. Three familiar ponies are standing before him; Two mares and filly. There was the confirmation he was looking for in these three faces.
Something about them seems off. Maybe it was the glowing red eyes. No, it was definitely the glowing red in their eyes. He takes a moment to look at Fudge, Vinyl, and Derpy only to find their expressions blank. These weren't his mares, but it does pique his interest about their presence here.
"Alien." One of them says, or was it all three?
"What?" Justin asks.
"We don't love you" They all seem to say.
"Wow, rude."
"Abomination." Six more voices call out from the treeline.
Justin doesn't say anything as his gaze shifts to the trees to watch six more mares emerge from them. Their trot is slow and deliberate, only his friends were expressing anger towards him. It puts him a little on edge but he doesn't want to back away or back down from whatever this is. They stop just behind the first three ponies and stare, no, they all glare at him.
"You don't belong here." They all say in unison.
"Yeah, well, I ain't the only one. Now am I?" He seems to challenge the visions of his friends and family before him.
Four horns start to charge up with magic as scowls form to compliment angry eyes. The human just stares, unflinching, unyielding as he stares back at them. Magic blasts in four differing flavors slam against his chest and send him flying backwards and off the edge. He falls into the darkness as a memory floods his mind.
"Sooooo... all I have to do is put this little magic crystal in here and it'll keep the watch wound?"
"Of course! If you need to charge it, just bring it back to me and I'll do it without opening it again." Twilight's voice echoes in his head.
"Man, magic is so cool." Was all he said then.
This was just after they got out of the book, the two were in the middle of the library as Justin had just built himself a pocket watch from scratch. He twirled the arcane charged crystal between his fingers while his other hand held the incomplete device. Twilight trotted over and planted her flank next to him.
"Why did you wanna build this anyway?" She asked him.
"I wanted something to commemorate us making up." Justin looked at her and grinned to himself, but it showed. "And the adventure we just went on."
"Is this some kind of human thing?" Twilight asked, now curious.
"Nah, this is a Justin thing." He responded and turned his gaze back to the crystal. He seemed to hesitate a bit.
A hoof touched his hand with the crystal and he looked back to the alicorn. "Then how about we put it in, together, as our friendship renewed?" She was smiling at him.
He smiled back at her a nodded. Hoof and Hand installed the charged crystal into the device and seemed to hum to life in it's new home. A grin broke across his face as even the time set itself. He closed the watch and looked over to Twilight before his arms encompassed her in a tight bear hug.
"Thanks, Twi. You're the best."
He's falling.
He's falling but doesn't seem to mind at this point as he has himself in a lounging position. A smile spread across his face from the memory. He opens his eyes for a moment. Yup, still dark. Then he shuts them again and starts to let his mind wander to a different topic. Soon drifting to his first arrival.
Justin took another swipe at the strange talking creature that just took him from his home. He was in full-blown panic mode and screaming at the top of his lungs. Gripping the broom like his life depended on it, which it probably did. The creature in question was lavender, looked almost like a unicorn, but smaller somehow. He can feel fear, but it wasn't his.
"Let's take this nice and slow." The voice spoke in soft tone, probably female. "Just put the broom down and we can talk."
"How do you know English!?" He practically screamed at her and readied his weapon for another strike.
"English? I speak Ponish." She simply replied to his apparent confusion. "Now, please, just put the broom down. I can feel what you're feeling."
"What?" Now he was really confused, only slightly lowered the broom.
She gave him a smile at the lowered weapon. "There we go, nice and easy..." He watched her horn light up and gently tug the broom free to set it down on the ground.
"What do you mean you can feel what I'm feeling?"
"I... don't know. Maybe we can figure that out together." She kept giving him a genuine smile that was starting to put him at ease. "My name is Twilight Sparkle." She held out a hoof towards him.
He gingerly reached out and gave it a small shake. "Justin"
He chuckles a little to himself about that tidbit to his past here. Stranger in a strange land that he now calls his home. All due to the wrong spell being casted at that time and he finds himself grateful for it now. He opens his eyes to see a little red light near him. He feels as though it's looking at him and his brow raises.
"What are you?" He hears a voice ask, thinking it's the orb at this point.
"What do you mean?" Justin asks.
"You don't feel fear like these ponies do." It tells him.
"I feel fear, I just ignore the feeling." He shrugs at the orb of light. "Got better things to focus on."
"Like these ponies?"
"'These ponies' you refer to are my friends, hell, family to some extent with how they treat me." He leans forward as if he were laying on his stomach on a bed, his chin in his hands. "What do you got?"
"The one who commands me." The orb says.
"'The one who commands me.'" He seemingly says in a mocking tone. "Who is that?"
"He calls himself 'Kronos' after leaving his real name to the sands of history."
"Wooow." Justin feigns amazement. "So dramatic this Kronos is."
"Yes." It didn't even pick up on the sarcasm. Does it even know what that is? "He will come to reclaim what is rightfully his."
"I'm sorry?" Justin has some genuine curiosity now. "Reclaim what exactly?"
"The magic you stole." It replies. "His chaos magic."
The group of six ponies finally break through into the dream of the human. They are met with their dark doppelgangers, whom of which were quick to engage in a fight with each of them. Luna being the more unlucky of them as she not only had to get away from being pelted at with cupcakes, but some fairly accurate magical blasts and precision flight of a mail mare.
"Y'know, Twi." Rainbow shouted after kicking herself free of her double. "I know you were being all noble when you said we're coming after him, but I honestly wasn't expecting to fight myself again!"
"I was expecting his other dream!" Twilight shouts back, currently locked in a spell duel with herself. "Something's changed!"
"Then these are meant to slow us down!" Luna declares while blasting a rogue cupcake.
Justin stands in the darkness with his palms pressing together, index fingers up to his lips, and the rest of his digits intertwined. Most of his surprise at the revelation of the fact he has a different Discord's Chaos Magic flowing through his body.
"So, you mean to tell me that, I, ME, This one here, has the powers of Unbound Chaos?"
"Yes." The little red orb replies.
"All because I somehow took it upon visiting your Equestria?"
"Correct." It just replies.
"It's been months since that last encounter, why're they showing up now?"
"Uncertain." The orb floats nearby. "I only see what's in your dream like I was tasked. Then Their dreams followed."
"And what was that task?"
"To weaken this Equestria's protectors, you included if needed." It just straight up told him. Why?
"Doing a fantastic job of that." He shifts to a mock clap. "Cause we're tearing through these nightmares."
"Yet, you are here, they are not." It tells him.
"They'll come for me. I know they will."
"What makes you so certain? What if they cut their losses to find their last friend and leave you behind?" Did the orb get brighter while trying this?
"We are friends, I'd do the same for any of them if we switched spots. We share those bonds as friends."
"Hm."
Fluttershy is running large circles around this weird mosh pit of doubles while screaming her lungs out. Rainbow is chasing Rainbow, Applejack butting heads with herself, Rarity dodging magic, Twilight still dueling. Luna wasn't faring any better, she was covered in assorted pastries while getting clipped by this dream pegasus. A magical blast hits one of her wings and she goes down.
"Twilight, darling, I hope you have something in mind for this!" Rarity squeals before narrowing avoiding a blast.
Twilight just grunts as all her focus is on besting her other half.
"That is.." Luna mumbles to herself, horn coming to life in a bright light as she rises to her hooves. "ENOUGH!" The last word she yells in her Royal Voice and her horn glows the brightest it's probably been all night.
The doppelgangers vanish as the light from Luna's horn shines. Four of the five Elements just staring at the Princess in amazement, a certain yellow pegasus hasn't stopped screaming, or running for that matter. Luna's horn lights up in her usual teal light and picks Fluttershy up mid-run. She turns the fragile mare over to Twilight so she can calm her friend down, which she manages after a few minutes of getting the mar to stop screaming.
"Couldn't you have done that sooner to save us time?" Rainbow asks.
"Rainbow!" Twilight snaps, giving her friend a dirty look.
"What? I was just-"
"You have a right to ask, Rainbow Dash." Luna says as she approaches the ledge to the chasm. "If were I not occupied, I would have cast that spell sooner if not to save our friend and time."
Without another word, Luna leaps off the edge and into the darkness below. One of the Elements screams out her name but it's too late for her to acknowledge which one said it. Having been left to look at one another, the five friends exchange glances. Most of their stares landing on Twilight.
"So... uh... do we follow her?" Applejack ends up asking. "Why'd she even jump in there?"
"I think I have an idea." Twilight has her gaze fixed on the chasm. "We show up and he isn't here. They were looking at... that." She points a hoof towards the chasm. "So Luna might be on to something."
"What're we waiting for?" Rainbow asks, fluffing out her wings. "Let's go follow her!"
"Not everypony can fly, Rainbow." Rarity chimes in.
The sounds of her friends having an argument fades into muffled background noise as it seems something calls out to her. Almost as if her body isn't her own, Twilight rises to her hoofs and starts a trot towards the edge. Something is pulling at her very core, calling her to go for him. The others haven't noticed the alicorn's strange behavior. That is until they hear her take off and dive right down into the chasm.
"What's her problem?" Rainbow opens after the brief silence.
"I hope she isn't mad about us arguing." Fluttershy says to nopony in particular.
Justin is still falling and rather leisurely at it. He wasn't really all that concerned about his predicament really. He had some company at the least in the form of this strange orb. Come to think of it, he doesn't even now what it really is. It talks, has been rather cooperative with his questions and what not. So he decides to totally do the subtle approach for the answer.
"So.... what are you?" Smooth as always.
"An aspect of-" It gets interrupted by something flying at high speeds right passed them.
"The hell was that?" He asks, looking down where the object went.
Before any speculation could be given, a mass of lavender fur and feathers slams itself against Justin's chest. The human lets out a grunt and wraps his arm around the soft object that just hit him on instinct. The two open their eyes to look at one another and a wave of relief comes over them.
"Justin!" Twilight exclaims while throwing her hooves around his neck and nuzzling against his cheek with her own.
"Twilight?!" He responds, accepting the tight embrace and cheek nuzzling. "How'd you find me?"
"I..." She pauses as she fails to find any sort of explanation. "...don't... know. Something just told me where you were and I couldn't help but listen to it."
"Blindly?" he raises a brow. "Could it be...?"
Twilight just kind of nods her head in response to the first part. "I have no idea..." Her attention turns to the seemingly patient ball of light nearby. "What's that?"
"I think an aspect of some sort. Something flew by us earlier and it didn't finish." He explains a bit.
"You must be Twilight Sparkle, the Princess." It says, showing no emotion still.
"It talks?!" She questions, looking at the human. "AND it knows who I am?!"
"Yup." He just nods and looks to the orb. "Anyway, as you were sayin flashy thing?"
"I am the aspect of the journal you found." It finally finishes.
"Rather revealing little shit, ain't ya." Justin comments with some mild amusement.
"I am a book afterall, nothing is stopping you from getting information, but I will still follow the orders of Master Kronos."
"Kronos?" Twilight whispers to the human.
"Later." Justin whispers back to her. "All right then." He challenges rather loudly. "Then where is our friend, Pinkie?"
"Back where our journey began." It simply tells them before just vanishing.
"Well, that's helpful." Twilight comments as she casts a light spell to see him better. "You okay, you aren't hurt are you?"
Justin just chuckles and pats the back of the alicorn's head. "Yeah, I'm fine."
She quickly starts to nuzzle up to him again, just feeling relieved he's actually okay. Twilight pulls back to look at him and opens her mouth to say something. Before she can, however, something latches itself on to Justin's back and dark blue wings unfurl. With a powerful flap, the mass starts to carry the two back up.
"Luna!" Justin yells with some glee to see her.
"Glad to see you are okay, my friend!" Luna responds and takes a quick glance at the two pairs of eyes looking at her. "I see you have been found by Twilight Sparkle."
It only takes a couple of minutes to reach the surface where the chasm is. Luna gently setting the human on his feet and Justin letting Twilight get back down to her own hooves. The lavender mares friends all clamor around her, where the more common question is what got in to her. Twilight leads the group away, trying to give them the answers they desire.
"So... Where does this chasm exist in Equestria?" Justin looks at Luna, pointing a thumb towards the mass behind them.
"It does not, this is your dream." Luna responds. "It represents something in your subconscious."
"Probably my darkest desires." Justin snickers as he walks away from the canyon of darkness. "The world may never knoooow!"
"You would rather not find out." Luna responds with a smirk as she trots up to his side.
"Not a snowball's chance in Tartarus." Was all he said, earning a small giggle from the ruler of the night. "Talked with the aspect of the book and I did get some info out of it and a clue as to where Pinkie is."
"I will take a gander that this 'info' is something you would rather wait until we are awake?" Luna asks.
"Yup."
"And what of this clue?" Luna raises a brow now.
"She is where 'our journey began.' Whatever that means." Justin shrugs, watching the group of mares ahead. "Rather ominous if you ask me. Also, where'd you get the wing power to lift both of us?"
"What, is a Princess not allowed to keep her secrets?" Luna replies with a smirk.
"Fair, fair." Justin replies, then he stops as his eyes widen. It hit him, the answer to the clue. "TWI!"
Twilight's ears perk up and move in the direction of the human. Her eyes soon follow suit and fall upon the man making a mad dash in her direction, a look on his face that convey that he figured something out. His strides up on her in mere minutes, his speed unintentionally scaring the daylights out of Fluttershy and causing her to cower away from him. Justin has his arms under Twilight's forelegs as he lifts her to his eye level.
"I know where Pinks is!" Justin all but speaks in excitement, still careful enough to not just blow her eardrums out.
"Darling, why're we in front of your house?" Rarity turns her attention to the human.
"Because, Pinkie has to be here." Justin replies, keeping his eyes on the front door.
The seven just stand in a file in front of the human's home. About half a little unsure if he's in his right mind with a couple of wayward glances his way. He either doesn't notice them or he just didn't care, this isn't going to back down from the idea. Twilight leans over a nudges him with her leg, he leans down.
"Any ideas where she would be?" The lavender mare whispers in his ear.
"No, but I don't have a lot of rooms, so it shouldn't take too long." Justin responds.
With that, he stands back up and walks right up to his door. With a click, it opens with ease and he steps in, leading the group with him. Everything was pretty much the way Luna and Justin left it: eerily empty. An audible gasp comes from Rarity upon seeing the empty abode. The first floor is already clear from some of the quick glances and they starts moving up the stairs. They break up into three pairs to start checking the rooms. Leaving the human on his own for the time being.
Justin takes the quiet approach as he's walking down the hall. He reaches out for the piece of rope and pulls on it, bringing down the ladder to his attic. The ladder unfurls and the feet hit the wooden floor before the human with a thud. He wraps his fingers around the sides of the ladder and places his foot on the bottom rung. He slowly ascends just enough to poke his head into the crawlspace and start craning his neck around, scanning the room.
Then he spots the pink mare in the corner. Bingo.
"Girls! I found our missing Pinks!" Justin calls out down the ladder and fully ascends into the attic.
A couple of minutes later and he is joined by the rest of the group. All of them looking at the floating pink mare with the faintest sounds of giggling. Each member of the group exchanging some kind of confused look. It's slowly turning into a knowing look as each gaze being exchanged is passed around. They all start their approach towards the magical field containing their bubbly pink friend.
Pinkie is having the time of her life right now. She's giggling and laughing her pink flank off as she bounds and jumps around the dream human trying to catch her. Pinkie doesn't know what kind of game they're playing, but she has a hunch that it may be tag. Then she gets the feeling of being stared at and looks over to see the seven pairs of eyes watching her.
"Ohmygosh! Girls!" Pinkie bounds over to the group just at the human is about to grab her, causing him to fall on his face. "And you brought Luna and Justin! Best. Dream. Ever."
Justin just smirks at little at the pink mare's infectious smile and energy as she takes her five friends in a tight hug. "Having fun with your ne friend there?"
"Oh absolutely! He kinda reminds me of you but if you were angry all the time instead!" Pinkie replies as she hops up on the human and squeeze the life out of him in a bear hug.
It's a bear hug he happily returns, though not earth pony strong. "I missed ya too, Pinks."
"Now we all can have fun playing tag together!" Pinkie exclaims, not letting her grip go on Justin.
"Pinkie, not to be a spoil sport, but ah don't think he's playing." Applejack interjects as she points a hoof at the recovering human not that far off.
"Yeah, but why does this one seem so slow." Rainbow interjects. "Like slower than Justin on a Monday."
"Hey!"
"OH! We've been playing tag for HOURS!" Pinkie excitedly hops off the human and bounds around her friends for a bit, then jumps on Luna. "I think he's getting tried!"
The ponies look a bit shocked now. They knew Pinkie was a literal infinite pool of energy, but this was something else entirely. Mostly due to them thinking that it wasn't possible for any of the dream humans to get exhausted. Speaking of which, the red-glow eyed human starts to shamble his way towards the group. Then he just collapses at their hooves and feet, looks like he's out of fuel of good this time as his body just sinks in shadows. The group of ponies are staring silently at the display.
"Damn." Was the only word that came to mind and from the mouth of Justin.
"Yeah! You said it!" Pinkie just cheerfully says.
Justin's eyes slowly open and he blinks a few times. He is met with the rather familiar sight of his living room, fully furnished, and a pair of teal eyes staring at him. A quiet yawn leaves his mouth as he stirs to sit up while rubbing the sleep from his eyes before looking at the alicorn.
"G'morning, Luna. Staying for breakfast?" Justin asks with a lightest hint of a smile.
Luna shakes her head. "Unfortunately, I cannot. It is close to dawn and I must return to the castle."
"Fair enough, don't be a stranger though." Justin rises to his feet.
The two say their goodbyes to one another and Luna teleports away with the pillow. The gem embedded in it's cover has died down and stopped glowing. Justin mutters something and starts making his way to his kitchen to start on breakfast for the household, he's feeling pancakes with chocolate chip. His stomach seems to agree with a growl and the decision is final. The human rummages through his cabinets and cupboards for the ingredients and utensils he needs.
By the time he gets to putting the batter on the skillet, the sun has risen. The morning light is warm and welcoming to the point that Justin takes a moment to bask in it after his long night. The house remains silent for the most part, save for the soft sizzling of batter on cast iron. Then her hears a door open and hooves clamber their way down the stairs.
"You're up early." A female voice calls out to him before pressing her cheek against his side.
"Wanted to surprise my girls with some pancakes." Justin responds as a hand absently reaches down to scratch Derpy's chin.
The mailmare makes a sound of content, almost like a purr, and leans in to the touch.
Soon another set of hooves come racing down the stairs and come to a halt. "Awe, Princess Luna wasn't going to stay for breakfast?"
Fudge's question cause Justin to relapse a bit. "Uh.. no. She has her own duties to care of."
"Luna was here last night?" Derpy asks as she breaks away slightly.
"Erm, yeah, very short visit." Justin replies as he flips one of the pancakes over.
"Was it about you not sleeping?" The grey mare questions.
"You could say that." The human replies as he puts one of the pancakes on a plate.
"Well, that was nice of her." Derpy nonchalantly says as she goes to the table.
It doesn't take long for the human to have a full platter of fresh pancakes and have the table set for the three of them. Each with a small stack of the delectable mixture of flour, milk, chocolate chip, and vanilla extract. There were definitely some other ingredients involved, but those didn't matter as of right now. What matters right now is the breakfast he's sharing with the ponies he cares most about. Today was going to be somewhat of a busy day for him.
The human wanders around the market with some bags slung over his shoulders. Going about his usual business and conversing with some of the denizens. Yet, he doesn't stick around for long due to his mission. Justin buys what he needs and heads right for the library. He's gonna have some words with Twilight.
His fist bangs hard against the door to the tree home. "Twilight! Open up! We need to talk!"
The door opens to a slightly irate lavender alicorn with a dagger-like stare. "Do you really need to be banging that hard?"
"Yeah, we need to have a chat." Justin says as he easily pushes past the librarian.
"About what? Last night?" Twilight asks, trying not to be bothered by the human's rudeness.
He just stares at her and reaches into his bag, fishing out the journal and slamming it against the center table.
"Oh no, we are NOT doing that again!" Twilight tells after staring at the book for a full minute.
"Of course not. We need to get rid of this thing." Justin tells her.
"Okay... but how?" She seems skeptical.
The human just shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno... thought you could figure it out. Cuz.. y'know.. magic n' stuff."
Twilight brings a hoof to her chin and taps it a little, then the imaginary light bulb goes off over her head. "I have an idea. I'll go get the girls, so just wait here and I'll be back as soon as I can!"
With that, she bolts out her own front door and leaves the human there in silence. "Uh, kay... guess I'll find something to read then."
Twilight's been gone for the better half of an hour to track her friends down. Justin's just sitting on the stairs with a spell book in hand, reading through the different effects within. There's an occasional hum of delight or intrigue when he finds something. Muttering a few things to himself as he makes a mental note for later.
Then the door to the library swings open with Twilight leading her company through the door. The alicorn doesn't say anything and neither does the human. His eyes watching the lavender mare walk about the library as if searching for something. She comes to a stop once she sees the human reading on her stairs.
"Are you reading a spell book?" Twilight asks.
"Yup, got bored." Justin replies, slowly closing his reading material and setting it down next to him. "Pretty interesting spells in there."
"Humans can't cast spells though?" Twilight's look a little incredulously at him now.
"No." Justin shrugs. "But I do got a unicorn filly at home who'd probably be eager to learn."
There's a small snicker from somewhere amongst the group of five mares still hanging around at the front door with one trying her best to hide from the human's gaze. Twilight looks over and remembers what she was looking for. Her horn lights up, opening a display case next to the stairs and levitating six trinkets out of it. Justin recognized the trinkets as the Elements of Harmony but was more concerned with how he missed them being next to them.
Twilight attached each of the Elements to their respectful bearer and placed the tiara-like crown on her head, tucking it firmly behind her horn. Then she engulfs the journal their human ally brought in her magical grasp and set it on the floor in front of her, after which she motions her friends to circle around it. Once she feels everything is in order, she turns to the human who is intently watching on the stairs.
"You may want to leave for this." Twilight says to him.
"What? Why? It ain't often you get to see the Elements in action." Justin tells her with a small smile.
Apparently that warm smile of his is infectious. "We don't know what'll happen with this kind of magic. We don't want to run the risk of anypony else getting hurt."
"Twilight, that damned book told me I have another Discord's Chaos inside of me, I think I'll be fine."
"Woah woah woah there, Big Guy!" Rainbow interjects. "That's a huge bombshell you're just dropping on us like that!"
The revelation more or less struck most of them in awe, except Pinkie, it just makes her excited for some reason.
"Are you sure?" Twilight asks, she can tell he wasn't in his usual joking tone but she had to be sure.
Justin just nods his head as he leans forward on the stairs. "Sure as I can be, Twi, but I trust you girls not to let anyone know. Especially Discord."
"What about the princesses?" Pinkie all but yells across the room.
"I have a hunch about that." Justin tells her.
"Why not Discord? He could help you understand it better, darling."
Justin visibly shivers a bit. "He'd be all over this like flies on honey."
"Right, we should probably begin then." Twilight says, wanting to move on.
The six gather around the journal again and Twilight initiates whatever her idea is. Each of the gemstones start to glow their brightest, turning the Bearers' eyes white in the process. Justin continues to watch the strange light show unfolding before him from the stairs. A ribbon made of rainbow light starts to weave in between each of the gems. The Elements start to glow before a beam of their respective color bursts forth to hit the book.
The journal gets wrapped up in the multi-spectrum lights as a tightly knit ball of magic. The human is awe-struck at the sight, almost a little too much. he doesn't get time to react as a beam of white shoots out between Raity and Rainbow just to hit the man square in his chest. What follows is unexpected to the lot of them, they're all treated to some kind of vision.
The vision is broken. The first part of it consists of the ever-familiar magical storm with a figure emerging from it. The second depicts a conflict between six ponies and the same figure. Something was different about it though, they aren't really sure about it. The third part of this vision depicts the two similar beings clashing. That was it, the vision ends right there with everyone passing out afterwards.
Twilight shakes the human awake against the side of her bed. She watches as his eyes groggily flutter open and look at her. His signature smile spreads across his features as a hand find it's place on her side. She continues to stare at his half-sleeping state and leans in closer to him.
"Are you feeling okay?" Twilight asks as she looks into his eyes.
"Never... bett.." Justin doesn't finish as he slips back into a sleep.
"Oh pony feathers." Twilight mutters and heads back down stairs to her friends.
The five mare were chatting amongst one another in a circle. Twilight Asked earlier from them to keep it down for the human currently knocked out in her loft. They all turn to her with smiles, she knows they're expecting something, well, somepony really.
"So, how'd it go, sugarcube?" Applejack asks.
"Got a minute out of him." Twilight says, almost sounding defeated.
"He's been out for so long though!" Rainbow quietly retorts. "Longer than any of us were at least."
"You have to remember, Rainbow, he's a human after all." Rarity chastises a bit. "His kind has no inherent magic, it may have taken a toll on him."
"Especially with that chaos magic in him." Twilight says, she hasn't made eye contact with any of them yet. "I'm starting to worry."
A few more hours pass by and Twilight has sent her friends home. Celestia's sun is lowering well into the evening and the human still isn't awake yet. She tries a third time, gently shaking his body awake once more. There's a grunt and his eyes flick open to look at the mare. For the briefest of moments, Twilight feels some excitement as it seems he's fully awake now. He starts to get up, at least to his knees, then collapses on to the floor. Twilight sighs in defeat and goes down the stairs again, deciding some dinner would be nice.
She just barely makes it through the kitchen doorway when she hears it. "Uh... Tiw?!"
Twilight turns around. "Strange, it sounded like he was just beside me."
"Up here!" Justin calls out above her.
"What in the name of all that is good?!" Twilight stammers out at the floating human.
"A little help, please?" Justin asks.
Twilight is more than happy to comply, her horn lighting up as she brings him down from near her ceiling. "I thought you were asleep."
"I was, until I didn't feel the floor." Justin replies as his feet finally meet ground. "Where's the book?"
"Gone." Twilight says.
"Good." The human looks to her, right in her eyes. "I saw something. A shield of some sort. Didn't quite get any details."
Twilight nods a bit, not saying anything.
Justin closes the door to Fudge's room, having told the filly a bedtime story to get her to sleep. It's become a nightly ritual for him to tell her a story or continuation of one, even if most of them are from past movies he's seen. She doesn't have to know yet. He turns his head towards the end of the hall, near the guest door. There, standing in somewhat darkness is a silhouette of a pony with some saddlebags.
"Hey Luna." Justin says as quiet as possible. "Come by for some tea?"
Luna nods as she steps in to the light, her face has no hint of emotion. Justin just nods back to her and leads the moon alicorn down stairs. He offers for her to sit on his couch while he goes into the kitchen to fetch cups and the kettle he left on a low heat to keep it warm. He fills up the two cups and goes to sit in his reading chair.
"I trust you know why I am here." Luna asks him before taking a sip.
"Mhm" Justin replies, looking right at her. "To talk about what happened with the lightning thing."
Luna doesn't say anything for a moment while she swirls the contents of her cup a little.
"I went to see Twilight about the journal, got rid of it, but learned some things."
Luna sat silent, listening in on the human as he explains what happened. The visions they all went through, the ritual type spell to send the book back, his own smaller portion of the vision, and even his conversation with what he is now calling the 'Aspect' about his discovery of the chaos magic. He lays everything out for her to mull over. At first, it's hard for him to read her expression, she has a damn good poker face. Then she sighs, setting the empty cup down and pouring more tea into it.
"This all sounds like much for you to handle." Luna says.
"A little bit, yeah." Justin admits. "Not exactly too enthused about potentially being a second Spirit of Chaos here."
"As troubling as it is to hear of it, at least we know you will not use it against us." Luna gives him a small, but reassuring smile.
"True, but I've gotta get them honed first. Randomly floating around doesn't make for a good surprise." Justin tells her. "May have to ask Twilight to help me with that."
"Why not Discord, you know he is reformed now. Do you not?" Luna asks with a tilt of her head.
"No, absolutely not." Justin visibly shudders again. "I can't imagine what he'd try to put me through if he finds out. Dude gets a little... competitive."
Luna simply nods her head at him. "Very well, if you must take help from Princess Twilight, do not let us stop you."
"Thanks." Justin says, now refilling his cup.
"This Kronos, you think he is coming here?" Luna raises a brow. "We have a name for this threat, yet not a face to put to it."
"That' what the Aspect thingy says." Justin takes a sip of tea. "As for the face... about that."
"Justin, what is wrong?" Luna looks to her friend.
"Well... he's... me." Justin looks down a bit. "An alternate version of me. Who's evil, and I believe can use magic, somehow."
"Very well. There is another matter we wish to discuss. I come with gifts." Luna's horn lights up as she pulls forth an urn, seals, and a pendant from her bags.
Justin gazes at the urn and sets of seals. "What is it?"
Luna chuckles a little at his confusion. "In case you need to reach me or my sister. The urn has a special enchantment on it that will work much like Spike's dragon breath. Depending on the seal, it will go right to me or Celestia. The pendant will work much the same way if we must reach you."
Justin stares for the moment and chuckles a little at a different thought. "Or if you just want to reach me and be a pain."
"It does work both ways, my friend." Luna chuckles back with a smirk.
They both share a laught as Justin reaches out and picks up one of the silver-looking seals and examines it. It bears the markings of the moon, more resembles her cutie mark. Then he picks up one of the gold seals and its much the same, except themed after Celestia. He returns both of them back to their respective stacks. He takes his tea back into his hands and takes a sip.
"So, do you two just have this stuff on hand-er, hoof?" Justin asks.
Luna giggles at his correction. "One could say that. Usually granted to allies beyond our borders should they our help."
"Does friends of the crown apart of that now or you just don't want to wait for the post to deliver my letters."
Luna just smiles at him. "A princess never reveals her secrets, but I will admit that it is both."
"Secret revealed." Justin smiles a little at the lunar princess.
"My friend." She calls out and grabs his attention. "We must be ready for what is to come."
The human nods a little at her. "We will, I believe we'll be ready by the time he comes."