THE MAGIX: CHAPTER 3: Waking Up

Rainbow Dash woke up screaming. She kicked her blankets onto the floor with a panicked thrash. She sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. After a few seconds she began to calm down. Her bedroom came into focus. She took a deep breath. The horrible experience was just a nightmare. Dash fell back down onto her pillow, relieved. Just a dream, nothing more.
Rainbow knew for a fact that none of what had just happened to her was real, but the vividness of her dream made her shudder. It had all been so real. She had felt the agent attack her, being dragged across the floor, the vibrations of the blind car ride, being held against the wall, and the parasprite... Just thinking about her encounter brought up an odd, sick feeling in her stomach. Or had it been there since she woke up? Rainbow shook the thought out of her head. No, she thought, Now you're just being silly. Leaving it at that, she headed downstairs, out the front door and onto the porch.
As Rainbow Dash stretched her wings and breathed in the sweet, magical scent of early fall, she finally felt at peace. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Her life felt the same as always. There were no cryptic messages, no strangers who knew everything about her, no weird android-ponies hunting her, and definitely no way that her dreams were reality. Even meeting that stallion at Glitterati on Friday... That could have been just a coincidence, right? Maybe an old friend from flight school? Whatever. Nothing was happening as long as she didn't think about it. She repeated this thought to herself as she stepped off her porch and began her morning flight.
However, when Rainbow Dash returned, so did all her suspicions, fighting their way back into her head with a vengeance. All because of one small, unmarked box sitting innocently on her doorstep. That's funny. She didn't remember ordering anything. Maybe it was just Pinkie Pie, dropping off another of her surprise presents. She did that all the time. Or maybe it was that stupid, wall-eyed mailpony, Derpy Hooves, making another postage mistake. That was a very irritating habit of hers. But what if...
"Stop it!" Dash scolded herself. "You promised that you wouldn't do this anymore. It's just a blank package. Where's the suspicion in that?"
Rainbow Dash picked up the box and shook it. It didn't sound dangerous. She took it inside without a second thought.
The small package sat on her kitchen table. At first, Rainbow simply stared at the small cardboard cube, as if unsure what to do with it. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she tore it open. Then she sat back, confused. In the box lay a simple black cell phone. Even though Pinkie's gifts were sometimes extravagant, a cell phone would be a bit much. As for the Derpy theory, it made even less sense now than it did to begin with. Why would somepony specifically order a blank package? Before Rainbow Dash could think it through any further, she heard a high, chirping noise. She looked down into the box again. The cell phone was ringing.
All she could do was stare. If this was a brand-new phone, it wouldn't be connected to a network. How had it ended up in her hooves, anyway? The phone continued to ring. Rainbow Dash hesitated for just a second, then picked up the cell phone and pressed the call button.
"Hello?" she said warily into the mouthpiece.
A low, mysterious voice answered on the other end. "Rain?"
"Who is this?" Dash demanded. "How do you know my alias?"
"That isn't important right now," the voice answered. "What is important is that something has happened to you, something you may not believe is real. But believe me when I say it was. Listen to me, Rain. You are in a very sensitive state right now. If you stay in this state for too long, it is very likely that you'll die."
Rainbow thought back to her dream from the previous night. "Are you that creepy agent from the mall?" she hissed.
"No. I am quite the opposite," the voice said. "My name is Horus. I am sorry we had to meet this way. Now, in order to stay alive, you'll need to listen to me and do exactly as I say."
"No way!" Dash snapped. "The last time that happened, I-" She cut herself off, realizing she was treating her dream like a reality.
"I know you're shocked, Rain. We all saw what happened to you," Horus explained.
"Who's we?" Rainbow Dash asked. "How do you know all this?"
Horus's voice quickened. "I can't explain now," he said hurriedly. "This connection might be tapped. Do you have a pen and paper with you?"
Dash fetched the two items off the counter. "Uh-huh."
"Write this down. You CAN'T forget, you hear me?" Horus insisted. "Be in the parking lot behind the old Ponyville Playhouse at 7:30 pm exactly. Remember, Rain: Your life depends on it."
Rainbow Dash scribbled to note onto her foreleg instead of the paper. "My life de-" she managed to get out before the other end hung up and the line went dead. "Great. Just great."

A heavy rain fell as a lone pegasus galloped towards a large Victorian building. This was the former Ponyville Playhouse, a once grand theater and center for art and culture. But times had changed, and the playhouse had long since been abandoned. In sharp contrast to its glory days, it had become a secluded hideout for runaways and vandals. It was the perfect place to hold a secret meeting.
Rainbow Dash ran towards the rundown parking lot behind the creepy old structure. There she huddled, shivering, under the weather-beaten awning over a doorway to the back entrance. She looked at the black cell phone, which she had brought with her in case this "Horus" character called again. The clock on the tiny screen on the phone's front read 7:28 pm. Now all she had to do was wait.
Sure enough, at exactly 7:30, a black car pulled into the decrepit lot. Motorized transport was a rare sight in Ponyville, as it was mainly made up of Earth ponies, who preferred walking. Seeing one gave Rainbow Dash an uncomfortable feeling. What was going on? Rainbow Dash stood up and went over to the mysterious car. The driver's side window rolled down. An midnight-blue Earth mare with a flyaway purple mane looked out at her. She wore a short black trench coat and a pair of wayfarer sunglasses.
"You're Rain, right?" she said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Yeah, that's me," Rainbow Dash responded uneasily.
The mare removed her sunglasses, showing her fierce grey eyes. She jerked her head toward the back seat. "Hop in. My name is Misty, by the way."
Rainbow Dash thought about her alias. Rain. It seemed to be what everyone called her now. Maybe I should just change my name, she thought as she opened the back seat door. Yeah. My name is Rain now.
Waiting for her on the other side was a amber-orange unicorn with a short dark mane cut in layers and falling in a deep swoop over her left eye. A circular, pixelated black starburst pattern adorned her flank, something that looked like a dark 8-bit firework. She was dressed in a black tank top with a matching hoodie, cut short so it ended just above her waist. "Well?" she said. "Are you just gonna stand there getting soaked or are you coming in?" Rain quickly slid into the back seat and slammed the door shut.
As her shivering slowly wore off, the car took them to Ponyville's outskirts. It was a only a small part of Ponyville, once just as populated and lively as the rest of the cheery city. But that had been a long time ago. After a parasprite invasion that had taken place before Rain had even learned to talk, the entire area had been completely abandoned. It was now nothing more than a crumbling, forgotten district filled with ghost stories and urban legends.
A small, cherry-red filly in the front passenger seat with a feathery, bright blue mane who Rain had previously overlooked introduced herself as Cherrybomb. She prattled on and on, filling Rain in on all that she was confused about. They were part of a secret organization working against something called the Magix. They had been studying Rain for months, readying her for whatever lay ahead on Ponyville's dark side. The unicorn who sat next to Rain didn't say a word. She seemed one of the strong-and-silent types.
"We're almost there," Misty said from the driver's seat. "Just a few more minutes."
"Great. This suspense is killing- OW!" Rain shrieked as a sharp pain arose from somewhere inside her. She doubled over, clutching her stomach.
"Oh, sh..."The mare next to her whipped around to look at her. "What happened?"
"It feels-" Rain stuttered. "It was almost like... something bit me!"
"Misty, stop the car!" the mare shouted. The car jerked forward and screeched to a stop.
Cherrybomb looked over the back of her seat. "What's going on?" she said, sounding scared.
The unicorn, however she tried to cover it up, seemed frightened too. "She's bugged. The sprite just activated."
"Thank Celestia we came prepared," Misty said.
"What the hay," Rain said, wincing as another pain rose up inside her, "is a sprite?"
"They're modeled after parasprites," Misty explained, fishing around under her seat and pulling out a silver case. "They can be used as torture devices or to get information. If left undetected too long, they can activate without warning and kill their host. And, unfortunately, you've got one."
"When did I ever- AGH!" Rain couldn't finish her sentence.
"That's how you can tell they've activated," the unicorn next to Rain said. "They start to move."
Rain could suddenly feel a weight rolling around inside of her. Misty handed the case to the unicorn, who opened it and began removing all sorts of equipment. She slipped two grayish bands onto Rain's wrists and three small adhesive pieces, which she attached to Rain's torso. She then connected everything together with wires and plugged them into the case. She removed a large switch from the case and handed it to Cherrybomb. The last things she took out were a flexible tube-covered wire and a pair of what looked like an oversized pair of tweezers with suction cups at the end of each prong. She handed the ball and wire to Rain. "Put that in your mouth, as far back as you can get it without choking."
Rain did as she was told. Misty spoke up from the driver's seat. "Try to hold still. This is a delicate operation, and it doesn't exactly tickle."
The unicorn picked up the tweezers using her magic and put a hoof against Rain's throbbing stomach. "Keep your head tilted back, okay?" she instructed. "You're probably not going to like this. Got the switch, Cherry?"
Cherrybomb held her switch proudly, one hoof poised to throw it. "Ready!"
"Okay, on my signal. 3, 2, 1... CLEAR!"
Cherrybomb threw the switch. Rain felt a sudden jolt of electricity. She screamed as whatever was inside her thrashed for a second, then it stopped. The unicorn pushed her hoof forcefully forward, making Rain gag. She then got a horrible, disgusting feeling in her throat that could only be compared to swallowing a tangerine backwards. Rain retched uncontrollably, feeling she was about to vomit. The thing kept moving upward and stuck to the metal ball. With not a second to spare, the unicorn caught it and pulled it out, along with the metal ball. What she held in the tweezers was...
A robotic parasprite. It was the exact one from Rain's dream, only motionless and slimy. Rain screamed.
"HOLY CELESTIA! WHAT IS THAT? THAT THING WAS REAL?!"
"Didya get it? Didyadidyadiya?" Cherrybomb asked excitedly.
"Yep," the unicorn mare said. "We're safe now." She opened the window and tossed the dead sprite out into the rain.
Rain was hyperventilating. "I am freaking out. I am OFFICIALLY freaking out!"
Misty rolled her eyes and started driving again. "Oh, relax. You made it, didn't you?"
The unicorn sighed, closing the silver case. "Remember that thing I said about "other people have feelings?"
Misty let out a snort of laughter and turned the car into an alley. "Good thing we caught that sprite when we did," she said. "It looks like we're here." She shut the car down and climbed out, followed by Cherrybomb and the unicorn. Throwing aside her last hesitations, Rain followed them.

Amber ran ahead of the group. She had to fill Horus in on what had just happened and let him know that the subject was okay. She reached the makeshift lab they'd set up and swung the door open. A dust-grey unicorn with a spiky red-orange mane and a cutie mark of a flame looked up from his work as she trotted over. "Hey, Ash," she said casually.
"Amber!" he called her over. "The system's almost ready. Is Rain here?"
Amber nodded. "I can't stay and chat. Something's come up, and Horus needs to know. It's really important. Have you seen him?"
"I think he's in the main room waiting for you guys. If he's not there, then I'm sure he's roving around here somewhere."
"Thanks, Ash. You're a lifesaver."
"Happy to help," he said, turning back to his work. With a flip of her short black mane, Amber ran off to tell Horus about the sprite. She never noticed the look of sick excitement on Ash's face.

Misty and Cherrybomb led Rain through a small hallway. The building they were in looked kind of like an old apartment complex, but obviously empty. The wallpaper was torn and peeling, the paint chipped and cracked, and the rough carpet loose from the floor, folding over itself at the corners. This place is creepy, Rain thought. At least if I want to leave I know where I am.
The three mares stopped in front of a pair of double doors. "You go in here," Cherrybomb said. "Do you want us to come?"
"Ummm..." Rain considered her answer.
"Pleeeease?" Cherrybomb made her eyes huge and watery. "I never get to hear about anything until the last minute. I want to know what happens first this time. Please let me come with you? Pleeeease?"
Misty nudged the little filly. "Leave her alone. She's got enough to handle as it is."
"It's okay," Rain answered. "She can come with. Sure." Secretly, going in alone scared her. She had no idea what would be waiting for her on the other side of the doors. Knowing that even a filly wasn't afraid made her feel a just a bit better.
Cherrybomb bounced up and down. "Great! I'm so excited!" Rain pushed the doors open and entered the room. It was large, high-ceilinged and empty, save for a few chairs and a coffee table in the center. There were several doors on the opposite side of the room, each a different color leading to a different place. One opened, and in strode a tall, dark brown Earth stallion. His mane was an intense dark brown and cut close to his head, and he wore a long black trench coat and simple John Lennon sunglasses. He looked at Rain and smiled.
"Rain," he said. "You made it."
Rain recognized that voice. "Are you..." she mumbled, unable to find the words.
"Horus? Yes, I am," he said, finishing off Rain's sentence. "We've been expecting you."
Suddenly a little red-and-blue ball of energy bounded forward. "Horus! I'm glad to see you again! Is everything ready for the transition? I can't wait! I'm so excited!"
"Cherrybomb!" Horus exclaimed at the sight of her. "How did I know you'd follow Rain?"
"Well..." Cherrybomb pawed the floor with a hoof. "It's kind of a long story. Should I leave?"
Horus nodded. "This is probably a conversation best kept private. I know you want to hear it all first, but some of the things I need to talk with her about are a little... personal," he gently explained as Cherrybomb sat and listened. "I have a job for you. Why don't you go help Ash set up the transition? I think he's still doing the security and connection checks. He'd appreciate the help."
"Okay!" she agreed, and with that she scampered out of the room.
"Now, then." Horus looked back to Rain. "I'll assume you're a little confused as to why you're here."
Rain flicked a strand of rainbow mane out of her face. "Oh, you don't say? That's the understatement of the year."
"You've been brought to us because you have a gift. Though you may know none of us at all, we have been searching a long time for you. Once you were found, we followed you, studied you, protected you, even. You are in danger, Rain. Those stallions who attacked you in what you have been led to believe was a nightmare are real. They have been working against us since our mission began. We believe that discovering you has not only raised tensions between us and them, but with you as well." He removed his sunglasses and stared at Rain with the deepest, darkest brown eyes she had ever seen. "You have been taken here because we want to save you, Rain. Those agents want you dead."
Rain felt shaken. Of course she'd been scared. She had known this whole time that something was wrong. She had never realized just how serious this was. "Those ponies were going to KILL me?" she gasped.
Horus looked down at his hooves, obviously concerned. "Yes, at best," he said, a deep, solemn tone in his voice. "They are the ones who defend the Magix. They know how long we have been searching for someone like you. If we are successful, you will be our ultimate weapon in destroying them and the Magix itself."
Rain opened her mouth to respond, but coughed just as she was about to speak. She faintly tasted something like blood. "I'm sorry," she said. "This thing happened on the way here, and-"
"You were bugged and they had to remove a sprite from you. I heard. Amber told me before you showed up."
Rain straightened herself up and began again. "So this "gift" I have... what exactly is it?"
"There are no others who currently have it, and only one in the entire history of the Magix who ever has. Your mind is very strong, Rain. Strong enough, in fact, that if used correctly, you could have the power to do the impossible, see the Magix as it truly is, even manipulate it to your own will. With our help, you will be able to do this. All we ask in return is your trust."
Rain carefully considered her answer. "This all sounds like a really great chance, and if I can unlock my... power, like you said, I just might do it. But there's one last thing that I don't understand. This whole time everypony has been talking about this "Magix" thing. It seems to have a lot to do with me, but I have no idea what it actually is. What is the Magix?"
"What is the Magix?" Horus repeated her question. "Using just words, it is almost impossible to describe. All I can say is this. You are living it right now. None of what you see is real."
"None of what I see..." Rain murmured. She looked around the room. It all seemed real to her. She could smell the dusty air, feel the cracked tiles under her hooves... and none of it was real? "It all seems real, but you're saying that it's not."
"Exactly." Horus looked at her, nothing but pure honesty in his eyes. "Rain, let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a dream so vivid, so lifelike that you could have sworn it was real?"
She was surprised by his question. "Does this have anything to do with that double-life thing those agents were talking about?"
"In a way, yes," Horus replied. "What do you think would happen if you were trapped in that dream, if you were unable to wake up?"
"I guess you'd just be stuck, living in a dream for the rest of your life."
"How would you be able to tell the difference between the dreamworld and the real world?"
"You're trapped in the dream. You can't tell."
Horus nodded. Rain knew she'd answered his question correctly.
"This is what the Magix is. A dream where you never wake up."
He proceeded to ask another question. "Do you now wonder what's out there, Rain? Awake from the dream in the outside world? I'll warn you now. Horrible things go on outside the Magix, disturbing truths you may not want to see. I'll need you to make a choice for me, Rain."
He led her to the room's opposite side, between two of the doors. He motioned to the one on the left. "This door leads downstairs and to the exit. Misty will drive you home and tomorrow, you'll wake up in your average life believing whatever you want to believe and never hear from us again. This door, however," he motioned to the door on the right, "goes directly to our lab. We've set up a jackout system for you, to wake you up and free you from the dream. You will live in the real world, see what has become of Equestria, and learn the truth behind the Magix, and become the pegasus you were meant to be. We are not forcing you into anything. The choice is yours."
He backed away slightly, as if to give Rain more room to think. She stared at the two doors, focusing alternately between one and the other. "Keep my normal life..." she mumbled to herself, "...or learn the truth. Stay here, or a new life. Stay trapped... or be free." Rain made her decision. She turned to Horus. "I want to know what's out there."
Horus seemed surprised. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Rain said with finality. "I am not scared of anything. I would rather face the truth, no matter how horrible it is, than never have taken the chance. I have never backed down from a challenge, and I'm not starting now."
"You know that once you have made your decision, you can never turn back."
"I know. That's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm not scared. I want to know what's being hidden from me. I'm ready for this."
Horus smiled. "I was hoping you would say that. Follow me."
He opened the right door and led Rain down a long, empty hallway and opened a door at the very end. "It looks like the transfer is ready to begin."
Rain was stunned by the sight. They had entered at the top of a short metal staircase leading down into the room. It was filled with hundreds of pieces of equipment and machines, so futuristic that Rain didn't even know what they were called, all alive with blinking lights, glowing screens and mechanical noise. They were all interconnected to one huge control panel set into one wall of the room. In the very center of the room was a large glass tank, big enough for a pony to lay comfortably in. Cherrybomb popped up from behind one of the machines. "Hi, guys!" she chirped cheerfully and she bounced up the stairs. "So, what happened? What did I miss?"
Horus laughed and ruffled her short blue hair. "All in good time," he put simply.
"Awww," she sighed, less energetic, but still excited. "Anyway, Ash said we can start the transition now."
Rain looked quizzically at Horus. "What's a transition?"
"It's the process of waking you up and getting you safely unplugged," he said. He turned to Cherrybomb, still sitting at the top of the stairs. "Can you get Amber and Misty? We'll need all the help we can get."
She nodded vigorously and galloped off through the doorway Rain and Horus had just come through.
"Ash! Are you down there?" Horus called into the lab.
The dusty grey unicorn emerged from behind the control panel. "Yeah," he answered. "Just finishing up the connection." He looked at Rain and gasped. "Th-that's her?" he mumbled, his voice cut by a nervous stutter.
Rain looked at Horus, who shrugged. Go ahead. Introduce yourself, he seemed to say. Wait... did he just seem to say that? Rain could have sworn she'd heard Horus's voice in her head. Shaking the thought away, she walked down the stairs and into the lab. "My name is Rain," she said to a surprisingly nervous Ash.
"I- I'm Ash," the unicorn stuttered.
"So..." Rain tried to continue the conversation. A door opened and Cherrybomb came galloping in, followed by Misty and the amber-and-black unicorn whose name Rain couldn't remember.
"She's joining us?" Misty asked.
"She's right here," Horus responded.
"Okay, then," the unicorn chimed in. "Let's get this started."
The mare worked worked quickly, attaching several wires to Rain, linking her to the monitors. Misty filled the center tank with water. Horus stood beside Ash at the controls, talking to someone on a black cell phone similar to the one Rain had received earlier. "We've got her, Spiro. She's coming your way. Start heading to waste disposal and set everything up for retrieval. Is Neon with you? Good. You'll need his help."
The unicorn mare placed one last wire on Rain's forehead. "There. Now that's finished." She led Rain to the tank and helped her step into the warm water.
"What exactly is the point of this?" she asked, reclining into the tank as the water soaked her fur all over again.
"You'll see," she said reassuringly. "Now just relax. Everything will be fine."
Rain lay silently in the water, trying to calm the buzzing thoughts in her mind. But she couldn't, not even by the time she heard Horus say, "Connections are stable. Begin the transition."
She heard a sound like an electricity generator spinning to life. Rain felt electrical pulses coming from all the monitors and spreading across her skin. For some reason, she expected all this. She listened to the faint sound of the others' voices, saying things she couldn't quite make out. Suddenly, a feeling hit her. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before. It wasn't pain. A sort of warm, tingling sensation rose up at the tips of her hooves. Wondering what it was, she opened her eyes and looked down. She screamed. Her hooves were slowly dissolving into nothing!
Rain began breathing heavily. "Ohmigosh," she gasped. "Ohmigosh!"
Horus noticed her panicked state. "Calm down," he said coolly. "It's all a part of the transition. Nothing is going to happen to you."
This did nothing to stop Rain's panic. She stared in shock at her disappearing body. "WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?" she screamed.
The golden unicorn rushed over from her place at the controls. "Cool off, alright?" she said to Rain. "It'll all be over soon."
"What do you mean? I'm gonna DIE?"
"No, you're waking up. Go underwater and try to breathe. It goes faster that way."
Rain tried as hard as she could to calm down and the unicorn pushed her head underwater. Sure enough, the feeling spread to her ears and mane as well. She tried to breathe the water, choking as bubbles rose from her mouth and she swallowed most of what she tried to breathe.
Rain felt different. Her body was going numb. She felt as if she couldn't move. Soon, the whole world began to fade out in front of her, and she was off.