Author's Note

Sorry, I would have gotten this chapter out sooner but a car rammed into mine this morning. Just had some minor bruising which made typing difficult for a bit. It shouldn't have any effect on tomorrow's chapter.

Chapter 10

“Thomas. Thomas!” I shake myself from my daze looking at my best friend who has concern on his face.

“Marcus don’t shout man. You’re giving me a headache.” I begin to rub my head with my free hand. The pulsing of the music is not helping with my now developing headache.

“Sorry man you were just out of it staring into space. What’s got you thinking so deeply?” He asked while sipping his beer. After regaining my senses I look around and see I’m still at the party we were throwing for our friends.

“Nothing, just spaced out and had a weird dream. I thought I was in a colorful land of ponies. Ended up doing something dangerous accidentally and they told me I might die.” Marcus looks at me confused.

“Damn dude, maybe you’ve had enough to drink tonight.” He takes my beer and chugs it. I look at him slightly annoyed.

“I’m telling you, it was so real I thought I was really…” I pause, staring slack jawed as I see a larger pony with wings and a horn like twilight in the middle of the room. She's dark blue with a majestic flowing mane with patterns of the night sky in it.

“Hey Marcus. Do you see what I’m seeing?” I point to the pony in the middle of the room, Marcus follows my finger but looks confused.

“I don’t see anything there dude. Look you seem kind of down, want to finally tell Angie how you feel about her? Maybe that’ll snap you out of this. I’ll go get her.” Marcus walks off and as soon as he does, the mystery mare begins to approach me. As soon as she gets close she looks around and then speaks.

“So you are the creature that has disrupted our world? I must say I was expecting something more… dangerous looking.” She said looking at me confused.

“You talk? So what happened to me really wasn’t a dream if you are here.” She shakes her head sadly.

“Unfortunately neither of us are here right now. This is simply a dream of yours. You are currently asleep in Twilight’s castle. I chuckle darkly.

“So then, I really might die? That’s a shitty thing to hear right now.” She looks at me with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean? Why would you die?” I go about explaining what happened to me before I fell asleep and her expression darkens.

“If what you say is true then you are in an extremely delicate situation. I won’t pretend to know the next steps but I’m certain Twilight and her friends will know what to do. Have faith in those you call friends and things will indeed turn out for the better.” She smiles softly at me.

“Thanks, I guess. Well since this is a dream with no consequences would you care to join me for a drink? I feel like I need a solid twenty or so right now.” She shakes her head and giggles.

“Unfortunately your friends have found you and are trying to rouse you. So we’ll have to postpone the festivities for a later date.” I look at her and chuckle.

“Alright then I’ll hold you to it. My name is Thomas, what’s yours?” I extend my hand and she meets it happily.

“You may call us Luna. It’s good to know you aren’t a threat to our ponies. I’ll tell my sister not to worry. And Thomas, please head us. Your friends here will help. Things will not be as bleak as they seem if you treasure them and keep them close. Now please, awaken and discuss your worries with them. As Luna begins to disappear I wake up surrounded by tons of colorful faces and eyes looking at me. I yawn as I get up.

“Good evening everyone. Are you all ok? I say in a bit of a daze where I’m suddenly tackled by a pink blur who begins crying on me.

“I’m so sorry you’re going through this! Your aunty Pinkie Pie is here so don’t you worry your little head about anything! I’ll make sure things are ok!” I laugh and hug Pinkie back as I start to tear up.

“Thank you, I’ll hold you to that.” I say as I hug her tightly.

“Ah don’t get it Twi. Didn’t Cozy Glow, Chrysalis, and Tirek use Discord’s magic with no problems? Why is Thomas struggling with a small portion of it?” Starlight looks at Applejack before going into lecture mode.

“They did but they channeled his magic through Grogar’s bell. It was an artifact that could hold the majority of his magic. Think of it as an external Magic core. One that can be called upon to cast the magicks captured inside of it.” Fluttershy pipes in at this.

“Then why don’t we use the bell to just take the magic out of Thomas?” At this Starlight just shakes her head.

“Thomas’ core is already damaged from absorbing too much of Discord’s magic. If we try to remove it now it could detonate it. Twilight and I have been calculating and we believe if his magic core is to detonate it could cause a large enough explosion to engulf all of equestria. So we need to be extremely delicate in how to repair or remove his core.” I look to starlight trying my best to not look as worried as a living bomb can.

“Oh is that all? I’m not sure why I was worried to begin with.” I reply, trying to keep myself calm. Starlight looks at my nervousness and tries to comfort me. Rainbow butts in and stares at me.

“Hey don’t worry, we have like, the best magic ponies in all of equestria right here!” She points to Twilight and Starlight who both smile sheepishly.

“With those two eggheads on the case you’ll be better faster than Celestia can raise the sun!” Rainbow says triumphantly.

“Ok well what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” I ask tiptoeing around my room to sit back on the bed delicately. Twilight looks to me and explains a bit more.

“Well luckily you don’t have to act like you’re an egg about to break. You can still go about your life normally. The only thing you have to be careful of is casting magic or having magic cast on you. If somepony casts magic on you, it will cause your magic core to fill up more past the brim causing more cracks. And if you cast any magic there is a chance if not controlled properly it could lead to you overworking your magic core which in turn will cause more cracks.” She looks at Starlight.

“Starlight, I think finding a way to get Thomas home should fall secondary to this. I’ll look for ways to remove the magic from him safely or fix his magic core. In the meantime would you be willing to teach him how to control his magic?” Starlight nods.

“You can count on me! I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt himself!” Twilight smiles.

“Thank you Starlight. I knew I could count on you. Now then girls. I think we’ve had quite a bit of excitement tonight. Let’s get some rest and come back in the morning to talk about our next steps.” Everyone nods and begins to file out. As I sit on my bed I try my best to keep my mind from moving a mile a minute but with all that happened today I truly cannot focus. Until I hear a knock on my door.

“Come in.” I say, wondering if one of the girls forgot something in this room. As the doors open I see Starlight and Rainbow standing at the entrance.

“Thomas, we both want to apologize for what happened today. Right Rainbow?” Starlight nudges Rainbow expectantly.

“Uh, yeah. I’m sorry for making you take part in the prank, even if the last part was kinda on you…” Starlight hits Rainbow on the back of the head.

“Ouch! I mean I’m sorry you are kind of… like a walking bomb now, my bad.” She chuckles sheepishly.

“And I’m sorry for recommending Discord for this prank. I didn’t know he would do that to you and now because of my decision you must be struggling so much. I’m truly sorry for doing this to you.” Starlight stares at me with a genuinely apologetic look in her eyes. I motion for both of them to come closer and they do. As soon as they are within reach I pull them into a hug and start to cry. They just sit in my arms and let me cry until I couldn’t cry anymore.

“Thank you both. But what happened was my choice and my choice alone. Neither of you have anything to apologize for.” As the minutes tick on in silence Rainbow awkwardly coughs and pulls aways.

“Yeah, no problem… Just take care of yourself, ok?” She begins to head out. After a little bit longer Starlight breaks the hug as well.

“Have a goodnight Thomas. I’ll start your training tomorrow ok? We’ll all get you through this.” She smiles and walks out. Feeling a bit better after crying, I decide to lay down on the bed and rest until tomorrow. Even though I don’t feel that tired I close my eyes anyway and slowly drift off.