//------------------------------// // Freedom (3) // Story: Ascended // by BlackWing //------------------------------// freedom "WOOOHOOOOOO! THIS. IS. AWESOME!" Firebolt said, soaring through the sky. She was so excited, she had caught fully ablaze. The spirit in dream catcher she was wearing had given her wings, and she was having the time of her life, flying as she had always dreamed. She was quite a spectacle, sailing through the air, both wings and a horn, wrapped in an inferno. After a time, she flew to the ground, and the wings disappeared. "Hey, what gives?" She asked the necklace. "I am still weak, I must recover my power before I can make your dreams come true." We all know Nightmare, it had no intention of making that happen. When asked what it was, it had lied and said it was Nightshade's 'helper', a spirit bound within his dream catcher, and made him great by lending him it's power. It claimed it was weak because it left much of it's power in his still petrified body, and that part actually was true. "So, how do we get your mojo back?" She asked the spirit, which was trying to be as friendly as possible, so as not to be discovered. It was strange to Nightmare, this pony had been pushed down her entire life, and instead of being depressed, she was happy. She had flown without a care in the world, even though she had been made fun of, betrayed, and turned away by everypony else because she was different. Now that it thought about it, Nightshade had been as well, but both of them had been happy. "It will take time, and a little something else, but we don't need to worry about that right now." It made Nightmare feel ill, to have these happy thoughts swirling in it's head. It found it hard to focus on it's goal, of destroying the world. This was made all the more difficult by having to not just witness joy, but act happy as well. This winged unicorn (not an alicorn, doesn't have earth pony abilities) had been so sad before, and was quite possibly the happiest thing alive at that moment. "YES! Alright! I'm out! Awesome!" Stone crumbled, a small flash of light, and Nightshade found himself standing atop his pedestal. He picked up the year old bottle of maple syrup, and since sugar never goes bad, he drank it. "Oh, there's no way I'm EVER going without YOU again." He said after chugging the think and sweet substance. He noticed Black Law stabbed into the ground. "On the other hand, you I can do without." He brought up his hand, the sword flew to it. "Hmm, looks like I inherited Nightmare's power. It really is just a soul now. It can probably do really little things, but nothing like what it did to me." He stabbed the sword into the center of the stone he had been set on, and covered it with both the cloak he had been wearing, and his original one. He didn't want anyone to see the sword, and the cloaks would cover it nicely. "Besides, now that I've got wings, the cloak would just get in the way. Right! Wings!" He said excitedly. He was more than happy to be out of his prison. He was ecstatic. Bringing his black wings forward, he examined them. They shimmered in the moonlight. There were a couple ruffled up feathers, which he plucked out. His eyes lit up. "So soft! Wait, am I preening? I guess I am. I wonder if pegasi do that? They must, since the pillows at Fluttershy's are made with pegasus feathers. Fluttershy!" He rubbed his face in his wings, feeling their softness. His mind was running a mile a minute, being happier than Pinkie Pie at having his freedom. He wanted to see Fluttershy so badly. But wait, his birthday was in two days, and he needed to find the unicorn that took his dream catcher. He got a wonderfully devilish idea. Wearing blue jeans and a muscle shirt, he brought his wings up and flew. Having been connected with Nightmare, who had flown just about everywhere, he knew instinctively what to do. He flew to Ponyville and on his way, collided with a pony that had both wings and horn, and was burning like a falling star. "Hey, watch it bub.... OH MY GOSH!" The pony squeed with delight. "Oops, sorry about that I, huh?" Nightshade looked at the burning mare, who was flying around excitedly. "It's you! I mean it's really you! You're you!" She said, acting like a school filly. "Do I know you?" He asked skeptically. "No, but I'm your biggest fan!" Squeeing like a fangirl. "Hey, ouch, watch the flames, they're kinda hot." He said, sucking on his burnt finger. "Umm, maybe we should land? Then we can talk more." Said the emblazoned pony. "Good idea." Once they landed, the fires went out, and Nightshade recognized her. "Hey, wait a minute. I know you!" He exclaimed. "You do?" She asked, part confused and part excited that he knew her. "Yeah, you're the one that took my dream catcher while I was still a statue!" He said. "Oh, umm, yeah. Sorry? I was going to give it back, but.." She started to stammer. She didn't want her idol being mad at her. "You didn't put it on did you?" He asked with a very stern tone. He looked at her, and found that she was indeed wearing it. It hadn't even been burned by her flames. "Quick! Take it off!" He screamed in fear, grabbing it by the string and pulling it over her head. He dropped it on the ground, and her wings disappeared. "Hey, why'd ya do that?" She yelled, a little mad at him for taking away her wings. "Do you have any idea what that is?" He asked. "Umm, it's your spirit helper, part of your human magic? It gave you powers and made you awesome?" She repeated the voice's story. "No, it's a dream catcher. It doesn't catch good spirits. And humans don't HAVE magic. You know Nightmare, the one I turned myself to stone to defeat? It's trapped in that ring. If you had kept it on, it would have regained it's strength, possessed you, and tried to destroy the world AGAIN, using your body this time." He explained. She looked like she was about to cry. "I've always wanted to fly, even though I'm a unicorn, flying has always been my dream! It finally gave me that dream, it, it can't be. It wouldn't lie." She tried to reason. "It's Nightmare, lying is what it's best at. Sure, it helped you now but that's because it's weak. If it regained it's strength, sure you'd be able to fly, but at the cost of your freedom. I'm sorry, but it's not meant to be." He tried to break the news that she was almost the pawn of an evil spirit to her gently, it didn't work. She started bawling. "Are you mad I took your necklace?" She asked, crying. "Heck no! I was waiting for someone to come along and take it off me. Once it was on, Nightmare got trapped in it. Soon as it popped off, I went to work on getting out of that statue. If not for you, I'd be stuck in there for the next who knows how long. You just can't wear it. I don't want what happened to Lyra happening to you." Nightshade said, becoming a little sad at the memory. "Why, what happened to Lyra?" She asked. "You know her?" He asked in return. "I met her in Ponyville, when I was asking around for info about you. She was really sad." She answered. "After all this time, even though everyone forgave her, she still hasn't forgiven herself. Lyra was... human obsessed. She brought me to Equestria, and thought that because she saved my life, and knew my past, that I'd love her. When she found out I didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about me, she tried to make me love her. Nightmare used her pain and jealousy to get her to accept it. Nightmare possessed her, and almost ended the world. I accepted Nightmare into my body, in order to save her. Then, I overcame it, and allowed myself to be turned to stone to seal it forever." He explained. "And then?" She asked, no longer crying as she was more interested in his story. "I had no idea that dream catchers would actually work. Almost a year ago, Fluttershy gave it to me, and Nightmare had it's soul trapped inside, leaving almost all of it's power with me. Part of that was these wings. Now its trapped in this necklace, and it was promising to give you wings in return for wearing it. Once it regained it's strength, it would possess you. Seeing as how you have a strange power like my own, you're the perfect choice." Hearing what Lyra had done, and seeing the state she was in, Firebolt realized how close she was to becoming that, and having all that pain and misery happen all over again. "No wings are worth going through what she went through." She said, her fire extinguishing. He agreed. "Well, since I'm back, there's no need for tears any more! They can all stop crying! And it's thanks to you. I'm not just going to reveal myself though, there is always a certain procedure to go through with stuff like this. I need your help, umm...." "Firebolt." She realized she had not given him her name. "Hi Firebolt, I'm Nightshade, or just Shade, for short. I need your help." "Help with what?" She asked. "A prank." He's back, so it's the perfect time to pull off a prank! Or rather, a series of pranks that will make everyone's heads spin. After all, once they realize he's back, there's no way he'll get in trouble for the stunts he pulled, they'll be too happy. Lucky for Firebolt that Nightshade bumped into her, or else we'd have this whole fiasco all over again. This chapter was super happy. Firebolt got to fly, then meet her hero, Nightshade got out of jail, and can now get rid of his cursed necklace. And there's going to be major hilarity when he get's back. All in the next chapter of 'Ascended'