Luna had awoken to the noise of knocking on the door. It seemed to be past noon, and Celestia had a small stack of finished books next to her. She glanced at Luna but then quickly looked at the door and rose up.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Dr. Needle," came a female voice from the other side of the door. "We've got the results from, well... everything. Do you want me to give you the results through the door? Or..."

Celestia quickly opened the door and stepped to the side to let the mare in. She was a black furred unicorn with a yellow mane and tail, a test tube was her cutie mark. She looked at a clipboard that hovered in front of her while she spoke. Luna and Celestia leaned on every word.

"After scrubbing the room and analyzing all we managed to gather, I must that it is a surprisingly clean room. Except for this odd, unidentifiable bacteria."

Celestia felt herself grow cold. "Is it dangerous?"

"It's dead, everyone we found, dead," Dr. Needle said with a curious expression. "Not that it would matter. After analyzing its chemical compound and micro physiology, it serves no purpose for anything in Equestria. In fact, it's should be impossible that it even exists in the first place. Now, can you tell me what this is all about, Princess?"

Celestia breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door. The doctor looked at her quizzically, now she was alone with the two most powerful beings in Equestria. Foreboding weighed in her stomach like a rock.

"Has something happened, Princess Celestia," Needle asked, looking over at Luna, who had gotten out of the bed and trotted to her sister's side.

"A guest should be arriving soon, and you will analyze him as well," Celestia stated as she turned to Luna and nodded.

Luna sat down and closed her eyes in concentration as she created a physical extension of herself in the void.

* * *

Weaver was awake now, playing with the wall of fire he had built, changing the colors and creating shapes and images in them. He had forgotten his dream and his time with Luna. He didn't question his blank nights, considering them a blessing in this living nightmare he existed in. He felt a wave of soft magic flow over him and looked towards its origin.

Luna materialized a short distance away from the omnivore. She looked at him as he looked at her as though it happened everyday. Luna cleared her throat as she approached him with slow, purposeful steps.

"What news from your world, Lady Blue?" Weaver asked, standing and fully facing her now.

"Your disease is ineffective and useless in our world," Luna said with a small smile. "My sister asks that you come at once so we start a search for a cure."

Weaver's face almost seemed to be cut in half with the smile that crossed his face. He bounced awkwardly a few times on his hooves, and then let out a triumphant howl that made the flying creatures of the fumes plummet to the ground in droves. A new light shined in his eyes, and bowed before Luna, kissing her hoof in thanks.

"Words... there are none to express my gratitude, Lady Blue," he said in a voice broken with joy and appreciation.

"If you can learn our name, that will be enough," Luna said gently, bidding him to rise. "The ground is no place for a king. You shall be a guest of honor in our palace for the time being. Do you know how to leave this world?"

"I told you I knew a way out," Weaver said with a smile. "This way is much easier than creating a duplicate of yourself to walk in the void."

"How do you know our technique?"

"I've experimented with magic for forty-four hundred years, I know the smell, feel, and mechanics without even having to attempt them. It's second nature."

"Then perhaps you can teach us sometime," Luna said with a graceful nod of her head.

"I shall fill your halls and rooms with the scrolls and books I write," Weaver said with a chuckled, vanishing in a flash of green light.

Luna paused a moment, impressed at Weaver's trick. He had phased completely out of the void. Here she, with all her power, could only replicate herself and transmit her thoughts through to the void, leaving behind a vulnerable body. But Weaver could actually teleport through the realms at will. She had to learn this at some point.

* * *

After returning, Luna smiled and looked about for Weaver. But, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where has he gone?" Luna asked, looking at Celestia.

"Didn't he come with you?" Celestia asked, worry creeping over her.

"He left before we did," Luna said. Then she a thought crossed her mind. "He was very exited by the news we had given... he didn't ask where we were going. He may be..."

In flash of green, Weaver then appeared beside Luna.

"Sorry I'm late," he said with a embarrassed flinch. "I missed the first time and would up on a cliff. Then I had to go back and trace Lady Blue's magic path."

"That is quite alright," Celestia said with an honest smile. Unexplainably, she found his presence to be... almost pleasant. Maybe it was because they were in the comfort of her home, or because he appeared humble outside of the void.

"Can we hurry this along, please?" Weaver asked quickly, grabbing his writhing clothes to hold them still. "Your world is burning my flesh, add that to the pain already in the infected areas, and you get incredible torment."

"Infected?" Dr. Needle gasped. She moved hurried to Weaver's side and moved to try and remove his clothes. "Take these off and let's take a look at you."

Celestia tensed when she saw him scowl and slightly expose his teeth at the doctor's rushed movements. But he did nothing threatening, and allowed her to pull off the clothes and look at the infected blotches. Celestia relaxed again, seeing that he was only finding it uncomfortable. If not for the serious plight, it would be funny.

Luna chased and caught the clothes as they tried to crawl under her bed. "Foul beast, we shall not have thee haunting the palace."

With that, she pulled over a the books Celestia had read and dropped them upon it. Satisfied that would hold it, she turned back to see Dr. Needle running a hoof over the infected area. She could see Weaver was forcing himself to endure it, he seemed to be in pain from her touch.

"I've never seen anything like it," Dr. Needle spoke in a low, amazed voice. "It feels like burlap. What causes this?"

"A biological weapon strong enough to infect my kind," Weaver said through clenched teeth. The Doctor noticed them and backed away a few steps. "It was meant to kill us, but, as clichéd as many stories we tell, it backfired and made us invincible instead. While infect your in incredible pain, the more it covers your body, the more painful it becomes. Eventually it transforms you into an unintelligible monster that wants nothing more than to kill anything that's not one of them. Think of terrifying children's stuffed toys, now imagine it trying to kill you. This is what I hope to find a cure to."

"And what happens if you die before it fully covers you?" Luna asked, wanting an answer to what she saw in the dream. But she disguised her want of an answer as a calm question.

"It takes you over immediately and you become one of them," Weaver nodded to his clothes. "That, I made from one recently got transformed, so that if I ever found a cure, I would be able to test it immediately on another to see if it worked on a fully transformed pony."

"Anypony you know?" Luna immediately regretted the question. The look that flashed across Weaver's eyes told her all she needed to know.

Weaver managed to keep his composure, save for a small stammer and a soft tone. "Is-is it wrong f-for me to want some... somepony really close to me sooner than others?"

"No," Celestia said with a shake of her head, turning Weaver's attention on her. "It shows you have a good heart."

Weaver looked at the ground and smiled. "A good heart? I can assure you, I don't have one."

"What?" Dr. Needle squeaked when Weaver looked at her.

"The infection works inside as well as out," Weaver said as he placed a hoof to his chest. "My hide shall become like fabric, and the inside will turn to black bile. Right now I am at the halfway point of the transformation, in another forty-four hundred years..."

His voice trailed off and he stood up straight and put on a stoic face. "But that should be time enough." Next Chapter: -6- Five Years Later Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes