The first thing that I was aware of in a dim and secluded corner of my semi conscious mind was the sound of slow and gentle breathing close by, small and delicate like a sleeping child’s. The second thing I was aware was the feel of warm air hitting my arm and causing my hair to stand up on end, tingling slightly where the warmth hit me. I listened to the breathing for a few moments, motionless where I lay on my back. It was very faint, and had a strangely soothing quality to it, like a lullaby that was fast putting me to sleep.
Eventually, it occurred to me that I was a mite uncomfortable lying on what felt like a wooden floor covered in blankets with a small pillow under my head. I frowned, still fairly out of it, and made an effort to shift myself, but to my great confusion, found that I could only move my extremities, and not much more than a few centimeters.
The sense of panic that I felt at not being able to move jolted my brain awake. I quickly opened my eyes only to shut them again with a hiss of pain as my vision filled with a painful, blinding white light, searing my retinas as though a red hot poker had been shoved into my pupils, branding faint imprints of vague and indistinct objects onto my eyelids..
I gritted my teeth as I quickly shut my eyes again. I waited a moment for the pain to go away before slowly opening my eyelids by a crack, letting just a sliver of light through so that my eyes may adjust. It took a little while, but I was eventually able to open them just enough so that I could see. I could only make out the ceiling above me, but at least it was something.
I resumed my efforts at trying to move, but only managed to raise my arm a few centimeters off of the ground before it fell back down. I furrowed my brow anxiously where I lay staring at the ceiling fixture above me. Why did I feel so weak? That little amount of movement had somehow managed to make my arm numb completely numb up to the shoulder.
“Shit…” I whispered, not knowing what else to do in my situation. I tried to move my head to better examine my surroundings (the ceiling was interesting and all, but it wasn’t really cutting it), but it too was motionless as a stone. I had to settle with flicking my half lidded eyes back and forth to get a better idea of where I was, but all that afforded me was a better view of the walls. Even moving that much was tiring.
I risked opening my eyes a bit more, and was rewarded with a splitting headache that bloomed in my skull. I winced instinctively and groaned, my surprisingly dry throat making it no more than a croak.
I heard a surprised snuffling noise coming from beside me and felt movement from near my arm as the steady flow of breath was interrupted, and then resumed shortly after.
Someone, or something, was there, probably asleep I figured. I took a moment to breath and gather my energy, my lungs aching as they expanded and contracted in my chest before I gritted my teeth, and with a mighty effort, managed to roll my head to the side so I could see what was near me.
My eyes came to rest on a pale yellow creature resting on its stomach with its head resting on crossed forelegs, snoozing peacefully right next to my arm. It had long pink hair that spilled over the floor around it, wings that twitched unconsciously in its sleep, and a strange picture of 3 butterflies on its rear. I stared at it dumbly for a moment before it all came back to me in a flash.
The forest, the monsters, the fight…me, broken and bloodied carrying the unconscious form in my arms…
My eyes widened. “Fluttershy...” I croaked, my throat feeling like it had been rubbed down with sandpaper. Immediately, I started to examine her from where I lay for anything wrong. I hadn’t noticed any injuries when I had carried her back, the blood that she had been covered with was mine I remembered with some embarrassment, but I wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind at the time to notice the little details, like potentially life threatening injuries. I had been running completely on instinct at the time.
She seemed alright, thankfully, if a little disheveled. There seemed to be bags under her eyes, and strands of her mane were sticking up out of place, giving her the look of a someone who hasn’t had a wink of sleep in far too long. All in all, she looked like she just needed a little bit of rest.
I sighed in relief, and then made a sharp intake of breath as a burning pain bloomed in my chest. I winced as the sensation of a saw blade tearing through my chest and abdomen assaulted me, bringing tears to my eyes.
I gasped as the feeling rapidly spread through my entire body, centering around my abdomen and chest and feeling like it was ripping me apart while I writhed instinctively in an effort to shake it off. It seemed to originate from inside me, tearing through my body without leaving the slightest mark to show its presence. Sweat started to bead down my forehead as my muscles clenched and unclenched spastically, causing my arms and legs to spasm uncontrollably.
Fluttershy’s sleeping body stirred from beside me. Her head rose from her forelegs drowsily. “Hmm?” she mumbled uncomprehendingly. All it took was for her to get one look at me, teeth clenched, body trembling, and eyes pained under my invisible assault for her to immediately snap back to reality.
“Oh no!” she cried, staring at my frightfully before turning away and running out of my field of view. “He’s awake!” I heard her yell, her voice uncharacteristically loud. “There’s something wrong!” She sounded on the verge of panicking, something that I could sympathize with as I was made familiar with what I imagine it would feel like to be electrocuted. I wasn’t even able to think coherent thoughts, just vague feelings of panic and agony.
I groaned loudly, my voice bursting forth despite the rawness of my throat. I was helpless to move or speak, the only thing I could do was wait while the sound of clattering steps on wood and loud voices came closer and closer.
Suddenly, my vision was filled with colour and activity. Multiple voices rose in unison, concern and shock rising in equal measure, making their words incomprehensible.
“Move.” somebody in a strong, commanding tone that silenced all of the other. I squeezed my eyes shut as I writhed in a vain effort to shut myself away from the pain that wracked through me, letting out another cry.
I heard a sob from somewhere in the opposite direction where my head was turned that cut through the air like a knife, but was ultimately ignored. A few gentle whispers met my ear, supporting condolences, I presumed, before everything was silent.
A small light, yellow and bright, suddenly appeared not far from my head, somehow not hurting my eyes in the slightest despite their sensitivity, and the most peculiar feeling washed over me. All at once, the spasms in my muscles stopped and my body lay still as a sweet warmth passed through me dulling my pain and numbing my aches. It felt like I had just submerged myself in warm water after having been freezing, the pain just melting away like it was never there to begin with.
I lay on the ground, gasping for breath. My sweat soaked hair was plastered to my forehead as I coughed; small drops of blood smattering the floor in front of me. Slowly, I opened my eyes, shivering as I beheld six horrified faces and one extremely serious one.
“What…the hell...just happened?” I wheezed hoarsely, despairing at how weak my voice sounded.
“You’re body was tearing itself apart at the seams.” Celestia replied, the only trace of emotion on her face from her furrowed brow. “It reacted negatively to the magic you used, treating it as something invasive and harmful.” Her brow furrowed more. “It started to tear itself apart, effectively destroying itself to protect itself.”
Before I could stop myself, I let out a nervous, high pitched laugh. “What?” I replied, not registering what she had said.
“I managed to slow down the process enough that it won’t hurt you whilst healing what damage it had caused.” She continued, not answering my question in the slightest. “You should be okay now, your body will adjust soon and go back to acting as it should.”
“…What?”
“You will feel weak for a little while, but eventually you’re strength will return. You must take it easy however, and give yourself time to recuperate. Being torn apart from the inside tends to leave one fragile afterwards. I have done what I can to speed up the process, but there is nothing more that I can do.”
I blinked stupidly and looked around at the assorted faces in the room, some holding expressions of concern while others held confusion.
“Okay…” I muttered, slowly pushing myself up on my elbows and sitting hunched over and looking at the tall alicorn straight in the eye, the fact that she was a princess not bothering me in the slightest in the face of what just happened. “How about we go back to the beginning…What happened when I came back?”
I was almost knocked flat on my back as something bowled into me. “I was so worried!” Fluttershy shrieked as she wrapped me in a hug. “You were unconscious for 3 whole days!”
This struck me dumb. “I…was?” I asked numbly, not receiving a reply from the yellow pegasus who was in the process of trying her best to crush my ribcage with a hug that belied her strength. I looked behind her inquiringly at the ponies watching, relieved expressions appearing on their faces as it dawned on them now the danger had passed.
“It’s true.” said Twilight Sparkle, walking towards me and patting Fluttershy on the back reassuringly as her quiet tears slowly sunk into my shirt. “Fluttershy’s been watching over you the entire time.”
“She told us all what happened!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she too bounced over and looked after their crying friend. I awkwardly patted the pegasus on the head comfortingly, not knowing what else to do. Pinkie's eyes watered as her lower lip started to tremble. "Poor Fluttershy, it sounded really scary."
The other ponies moved forward, Celestia opting to merely sit back and watch.
“It sounded absolutely dreadful!”
“Ya really know how ta get yourself in trouble, don’tcha partner?”
“Did you really fight off a pack of timberwolves all by yourself?”
“And the clothes that I made you are absolutely ruined too!”
“Seriously though, did you?”
“You were all covered in blood and everything! It was really weird looking!”
“Because that would be awesome if you did…”
“Girls!” Twilight interrupted loudly, cutting off their flow of words. “Please, he just woke up. Let’s give him some space to breath, shall we?”
The ponies stopped and looked at one another, muttering quiet affirmations as they stepped away. From where I sat, I could see a small smile form on Celestia’s face. Fluttershy however kept her arms wrapped around me.
I looked down at the pegasus and saw with some relief that her crying had stopped, but she was still trembling slightly. “Fluttershy? Are you alright?” I asked hesitantly, unsure of what I was supposed to do in the situation.
Slowly, she took her forelegs away from me and stepping back a bit before looking up with watery eyes and giving me a reassuring smile. “Yes.” She answered quietly.
“She’s been sitting by your side for 3 days, barely eating or sleeping despite our best efforts.” Twilight remarked matter of factly, eliciting nods from the other ponies. My eyebrows rose sharply at this, but I said nothing.
“We tried to get her to eat,” Pinkie Pie chirped, bouncing on the tips of her hooves a little bit, but every time we tried to get her away from you, she gave us…the stare.”
A small, inexplicable shudder went through the group, and Fluttershy blushed sheepishly.
I glanced at the pegasus before looking at the rest of them with imploring eyes. “I’ve been asleep for 3 whole days?” I asked, getting nods all around in return. I felt my mouth get slightly dry at this new piece of information. I hadn’t thought that my injuries were that bad; nothing more than a few bumps, scrapes, and bruises, although considering that little…episode my body had went through just now, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had been wrong. I looked from one pony face to another, eventually ending up on the long, alabaster visage of the Princesss. “How?’ I asked, both curiously and fearfully.
An eager spark appeared in Twilight’s eyes for a moment, and she quickly opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when Celestia firmly said, “I shall explain.” The lavender unicorn closed her mouth looking slightly disgruntled, something which seemed to amuse Celestia, before the tall princess continued.
“You see Kael, unlike myself, my sister Luna, or any other unicorn, you are unab-”
She did not manage to get any further before a massive realization crashed down upon me with the force of a planet sized meteor. My eyes flew open, and before I could stop myself, I quickly sat up, causing my body to groan in a pain that was largely ignored.
“Luna!” I said loudly, startling the assorted ponies. I looked at Celestia, confused and slightly affronted by my outburst, with panic. “She was hit by this massive…bull…thing! What happened to her?! Is she going to be okay? Are her injuries serious?” My eyes widened even more as another, even more horrifying prospect came to me. “Did she even come out of the forest?!”
Understanding dawned on Celestia’s face, and she smiled sweetly at me. “I can assure you, Kael Maalouf, that my sister is perfectly-”
Celestia was interrupted yet again by a loud bang as the door to the room flew open with little regard to its occupants or its structural integrity. A tall pony idly munching on a crisp red apple promptly walked in and looked around.
“Did somepony say my name?” she asked pleasantly around a mouthful of fruit before taking a small bite from the floating apple in front of her.
I felt something in my brain twitch as I beheld the sight of the Princess of the Night standing there without a care in the world, as though she had not recently been hit head on by something that I wouldn’t have been able to dream up in my worst nightmare.
I get a couple of scrapes and bruises and I’m knocked out for three full days, but the pretty pony princess gets hit by bovine the size of a goddamned steam engine, and she just shrugs it off?! I thought in bewilderment as I stared at Luna, stunned beyond words as she made eye contact with me and smiled happily while I simply groaned inwardly, despite being relieved at seeing her in one piece. “Makes about as much sense as anything else in this place I suppose…”
“Kael!” she announced, still giving us a good view of the food in her mouth. I could see Rarity’s mouth tightening at this as a look of slight exasperation befell Celestia. :”You are awake! This is most joyous news!”
After a brief pause, I gave her a weak smile. “Y-yeah. And you’re…in one piece.” I stammered. “Somehow.”
Luna smiled at me, a hint of pride showing. “T’would take a lot more than a rampaging star-beast to defeat me.” Her smile grew wider as she glanced at her sister. “My injuries, small as they were, were remedied quickly by the capable hooves of my dear sister, as yours seemed to have been.”
Celestia smiled and dipped her head graciously. “I was always quite good at healing injuries.” she said with a touch of pride. She glanced at the assorted ponies and me and smirked. “She was always better at causing them.”
Luna gave a stiff nod, as though to say ‘damn straight,’ and stomped a forehoof, loudly cracking the wooden floor underneath her. A sigh came from Twilight Sparkle as her horn lit up with a purple glow, and the crack promptly vanished in a small purple glow.
“I was just about to explain, dear sister, the reason for Kael’s unfortunate lapse into unconsciousness.” Celestia quickly said before Luna could say anything else, drawing the attention back to her. “Would you care to leave Twilight’s food storage alone and join me?”
Luna nodded with a smile. “Verily, I would.” She quickly marched over and sat down next to Celestia, somehow managing to look royal and dignified with her head held high even as she munched on her apple. She looked way too casual for somebody who by all rights should be nothing more than a stain on the ground at this point.
“As I was saying,” the white coated princess continued, looking at me straight in the eye. “unlike unicorns, alicorns, dragons, and several other beings in our world, you Kael are not capable of consciously channeling magic.”
I looked at her for a moment, uncomprehendingly nodding my head. I really didn’t need her to tell me that I wasn’t capable of magic, but whatever.
“This is why, when you were channeling magical energy during your encounter with the timberwolves, your body reacted in a most negate-”
“Whoa whoa whoa, back up a little.” I blurted, staring at her with wide eyes, not even noticing the cross look that befell her for being interrupted for a third time. “What was that? I used magic?”
Her irritation was replaced with confusion at my disbelief. “Yes, you did.” She looked at me strangely. “Did you not know this?”
It took me a moment before I realized that my mouth was hanging open, and another moment before I was able to muster the willpower to close it. “I most certainly did not.” I replied, irritated by how shrill my voice sounded. “Hell, before coming to this place, I never even knew that magic existed!”
Princess Celestia and Luna arched their elegant eyebrows and glanced at one another, Luna displaying significantly more surprise than her sister. Twilight, to my slight amusement, simply flinched, almost as though I had just slapped her, and muttered under her breath. I managed to make out the word unnatural being said in a hushed tone.
Celestia gave me a peculiar look. “I remember you mentioning something of that nature before. You and your kind are truly unfamiliar with the concept of magic?”
I grimaced. “It’s not the concept that I’m unfamiliar with, but magic itself. No human is actually capable of performing it, or so I thought before you told me that I may very well have been the first!”
The two princesses hummed speculatively, casting each other meaningful glances that that seemed to say volumes in their own silent language. Finally, they turned their eyes back to me.
“We think that thy reasons for being so…negatively affected by the magic are clear to us now.” Luna said, adopting a sympathetic look on her face. Indeed, it still pained me to breath, and every movement was far more laborious than it should be.
“First, because you seem to be unaware of what really happened to you, we will explain.” Celestia added. I nodded hesitantly, not sure if I was terrified or excited to hear what she had to say, but giving in to the fact that I had to hear it.
“Fluttershy gave us a fairly detailed description of what happened in the forest with the timberwolves before she fainted.” she continued, ignoring Fluttershy’s small blush from where she stood close to me. “She said that she had only seen you for a brief moment before she lost consciousness, but it was long enough to get a good picture of what was happening.”
I waited for her to continue, my brow furrowed in confusion. Fluttershy, I noticed was looking away from me. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie were listening with rapt attention, although they seemed to already know what was coming.
“She revealed that she had seen something most peculiar about you.” Luna said, continuing where Celestia left off. “Namely, in your eyes, for they glowed with a shining red power most unnatural.”
At this point, I didn't even blink when she said that my eyes were glowing, although it was hard to say if it was because I was becoming simply numb to the strangeness of it all or because my sanity was wearing thin. I hoped that it was the former.
“She reported that the same glow, a red light that hurt to look into, was emanating from your hand.” Luna said, her voice gradually becoming lower and more ominous.
I looked down at my hands, and my breath hitched in my throat when I realized what she was saying. My eyes were immediately drawn to the ring sitting snugly around my finger, seemingly innocuous and innocent, although I was starting to doubt that was the case. The stylized image of a pony with wings and a horn was curled around it, as always looking like nothing more than a neat little design, its one visible eye seeming to look back up at me.
I looked back up to meet their grave faces. “We did not wish for you to know this, but…” Luna started, pausing uncertainly to glance at her sister. Celestia gave her a tiny nod in response, and she continued. “That ring is an old, old artifact…a magical amplifier that can make even the meekest creature capable of incredible feats that has been lost for over a thousand years.”
I raised an eyebrow dubiously. This was starting to sound slightly familiar.
“It was because of the ring that you did not lose your lives to the timberwolves.” Luna said, both to me and Fluttershy, who shivered instinctively. “You’re emotions, your will, and your drive to live were what activated it, and even though you are not intrinsically capable of magic, it was enough activate its powers and strengthen you.”
I recalled back to the moment in the forest where I had my back up to a tree, watching the pack of timberwolves approach a defenseless Fluttershy before turning to me and giving me that ‘you’re next’ look. I remembered how I felt as though something had snapped inside of me, an elastic band that had been stretched too far and finally broke under the strain, making me angrier than I had ever felt in my entire life. At that moment, not only did all of my fear of the wolves suddenly vanish, but the mere thought of beating them, of destroying them, something that I would have never entertained in my entire life, became feasible. I remembered the way that sounds, smells, and sights became sharper, my reflexes quicker, and my movements faster.
“However, as this magic was being forced into you by the ring itself, your body treated it as though it were and invader, and nearly destroyed itself in the process of getting rid of it. Thankfully, I managed to reverse the process before it was too late”
“It is also, unfortunately, extremely dangerous to any whom wears it.” Celestia continued grimly, causing my other eyebrow to jump up and join its brother in surprise. “It slowly degrades the mind, turning its holder into something less than themselves, something depraved and vile, a twisted shadow of what they once were.”
It was a little bit surreal, hearing such dark words coming from such a serene looking face. The only indication that Celestia was at all perturbed being a few creases on her brow made all the more strange.
Startled exclamations arose all around me. Disbelief and confusion filled the room as each pony voiced their opinions, some angry, others fearful, but in the end, Twilight Sparkle was the one who made herself heard.
“Princess, what do you mean by that?” she asked nervously, shooting me a worried glance.
Celestia sighed, bowing her head sorrowfully, but her voice remained strong and steady. “That ring, my student, is no ordinary artifact. It is an instrument of war, created by a dark, evil being in the hopes of using it to destroy my sister and I and to take over Equestria. It is known is known as the Alicorn Ring, and the one who made it…is known as Sombra, former king of the Crystal Empire.”
Gasps erupted in unison from 6 throats, looks of pure horror on the pony’s faces telling me that there was a lot of context that I wasn’t understanding here, but what I did understand made me incredibly uneasy. Again, their voices rose, this time in more worrying tones than before, vying to be heard by their rulers so that they may ease their fears, whatever they may be. Sombra? The Alicorn Ring? The words were meaningless to me, so I simply waited patiently, dread settling in the pit of my stomach.
"The Alicorn Ring? Like the Alicorn Amulet?" Twilight cried out in dismay, looking at the princesses with wide eyes.
"The one that that showboatin' Trixie was using?" Applejack added.
"And ruined Ponyville in the process?" Rarity chipped in, her voice shrill.
Luna raised her hoof, and their voices slowly fell into quiet. They all wore worried expressions, I could see, even Pinkie Pie who I had never seen wearing anything but a smile had a small frown.
“You have all have questions and concerns, we know, and rightly so, we realize.” She said soothingly. “We shall answer them for you, but first…” she look me did in the eye, a soft light of pity and concern shining in hers. “we must explain ourselves.”
“We did not wish to hide anything from you Kael,” Celestia said, continuing what Luna was saying. “but considering the circumstances, we deemed it necessary. The Alicorn Ring has been lost for hundreds of years, and while its return may have been a surprise, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. As far as Luna and I knew, its return with you could be nothing more than bad luck.”
“Extremely bad luck...” Rainbow Dash muttered quietly in her sandy voice, looking at the floor.
“‘Missing your surprise birthday party because your train was running late’ bad luck!” Pinkie Pie chirped in, her signature smile back, wider than ever as though to compensate for the worry that permeated the room.
“‘Your sister using up all of your most precious materials for some simple capes’ bad luck.” Rarity chimed in somewhat bitterly.
“‘Getting a bag of manure knocked into yer head by a spooked hog.’ bad luck.” Applejack added, her country drawl tinged with regret. “That wasn’t a fun day for me…”
-
“Yes, bad luck.” Celestia continued, steadfastly ignoring their words while Luna unsuccessfully disguised a laugh behind her hoof as a cough. “Until now, we had no reason to believe that there were any malicious machinations behind the return of the Alicorn Ring. Pony kind is far from understanding all of the intricacies of magic; it could have just been yet another unexplainable phenomenon.”
I picked up on the thinly veiled message behind her words and felt my mouth go dry. “What do you mean, ‘until now?’”
Celestia’s face seemed to become even more impassive. “That was the reason for your perilous trek into the forest, you see, for it was the only way to know for sure the circumstances behind your arrival.”
“The last time the ring was seen by pony eyes, it was being wielded by Sombra in conjunction with the Alicorn Amulet, another twisted creation of his, in his efforts to overthrow us.” Luna added smoothly.
“Yes. It has been hundreds of years since I’ve seen that ring, and both my sister and I were very close to being killed because of it, but I will never forget what it was capable of, or the one who wielded it.” Celestia said quietly.
I blinked at that. Hundreds of years? Just how old was she? I was on the verge of opening my mouth and asking, but stopped myself, figuring it would be more prudent to just chalk it up to magic and let her continue speaking.
A few flashes of strain flashed across the Princesses, suddenly making her seem a lot older if my inexperience in reading pony faces was to be trusted. Some rather terrifying memories seemed to be surfacing under that mask of calmness that she wore, and she was trying her damnedest to not let it show. If it was for her sake or mine, I did not know.
“His magical aura was unlike any I have ever seen, since or before then. Celestia said, causing Twilight Sparkle to shudder slightly and murmur some kind of affirmation from where she stood nearby her. “As such, it was imperative that we examine the site of your appearance, for if he did have a hoof in this, we would be able to detect his foul magic in the air.”
“Oh.” I responded, my voice sounding indifferent to my own ears simply because I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel about all of this. “And…did you?” I asked, directing my question towards Luna, dreading the answer.
She looked at me for a long, hard moment before gravely nodding, inciting a chorus of groans of despair, and in one case, exasperation.
“Man, after all that work to kick his flank into last century, he’s back?!” Rainbow Dash cried, taking to the air and hovering so that she could throw her hooves over her head in exasperation. “That is such bogus!”
The assorted ponies, the princesses included, cast her some strange looks. Fluttershy however opted to inch closer to me, her trembling body seeming to bounce along the floor in my direction. I put my hand on her back comfortingly, but it didn’t help much.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash, it is indeed bogus.” Luna said before quietly muttering “Whatever that means…” under her breath and continuing, passing a royal eye over her audience. “After his fall under your hooves however, it seems that he has grown desperate, and is now making one last, desperate gamble.” Her eyes landed on me, and seemed to bore into me like an auger through thin ice. “And that gamble is you, Kael Maalouf, the first human to stand on Equestrian soil.”
I blinked rapidly whilst trying fruitlessly to speak for a few moments, my mouth forming words that I couldn’t say until I finally remembered how to talk.
“M-me?” I stammered nervously. “How am I the last hope for a one thousand year old psychopath?” I asked, taking a brief moment to appreciate the fact that I was probably the first person to ever say that sentence in a literal context.
“He is using you, Kael, as a catalyst for his return.” Celestia answered, not answering my question at all. “Because he created it, the Alicorn Ring is irreversibly connected to him and his will, and it is because of this connection that any who wears it will slowly become tainted with its…his…evil. It is also why you cannot simply remove the ring and be sent back to your home, as his will is keeping it from being taken off.”
I felt an eye twitch as a dull throb started to return in between my temples as I became irritatingly aware of how sweaty my palms were becoming. I slouched slightly where I sat, discreetly wiping my hands on my pants.
“What does that mean for me?” I asked in a quiet voice.
Celestia opened her mouth to say something, probably something supportive or reassuring if her concerned look was anything to go by, but was cut off by her shorter, and much more straightforward, younger sister.
“It means that, should you be corrupted by the ring from wearing it for too long, his consciousness will eventually overpower yours, trapping you in the confines of your own mind until you fade away and cease to exist, giving him full power over your body.”
Dead silence filled the room, the only interruption coming from Fluttershy’s limp body hitting the floor as she fainted, her hooves twitching slightly where she lay. The ponies all wore expressions of shock and disbelief while Celestia squeezed her eyes shut and pursed her lips in what I thought to be exasperation. Luna, for her part, looked like she hadn’t said anything more interesting than a mild mannered comment on the days’ weather.
“Oh.” I said softly
“Please Kael, you mustn’t worry yourself.” Celestia said hurriedly, casting her sister an irritated glance as she smiled reassuringly at me. “While what Luna said is true, what she failed to mention was that, because you are not a creature of magic, it will take longer for the ring to effect you, and longer then that to for it to overcome your mind.”
I perked slightly at that. “Really? How long will it take?”
Her smile faltered a bit. “If I’m correct, about 3 weeks.”
My eye twitched once more as my breathing started to quicken, and I seriously started to weigh the pros and cons of simply cutting off my finger and seeing if that would let me go back to where things made sense.
“We will do everything in our power to make sure that does not come to pass, Kael. I promise you, we will not let you be overwhelmed by Sombra’s taint.” Celestia said hurriedly, sensing my distress.
Luna nodded besides the alabaster pony. “Indeed. You have our word of it.” She said seriously, her face stony and determined.
“And we’ll help!” came a chipper voice before I felt two arms wrap around my shoulders and squeeze me tightly as my vision was filled with pink strands of hair. “We won’t let that big, mean, Sombrero head take over your brain! Right girls?”
“Darn tootin!” said a voice from behind me moments before I felt something slap into my back, almost sending me toppling back down. “If’n we can kick his keister once, you can bet we can do it again!”
Rarity and Twilight looked at each other curiously for a moment before coming to an unspoken agreement. They nodded to one another and turned to me, smiling. “Well said Applejack.” The lavender unicorn said, followed by an approving nod from Rarity who laid a supporting hoof on my knee as Twilight tried to coax Pinkie Pie, who was still squeezing me with all of her might, off of me.
“We’ll give that ruffian what for darling, don’t you worry about that.” she said in her prim accent, her blue eyes twinkling with sincerity.
I blinked, surprised at their words, and more than a little touched that they would so sincerely offer their support, our differences notwithstanding. If only the people from could always be so kind. There were quite a few who came to mind who could realy learn a thing or two from these ponies.
Something was missing though, or rather, someone was missing. I turned my head to see the sky blue pegasus with the prismatic mane standing a few steps away, looking very unsure of herself.
“Oh, what the hay.” She finally said after a moment, shooting me a small, cocky smile. “You did save Fluttershy after all.” She puffed out her chest and flared her wings, her smile widening as she looked at me. “With Equestria’s best flier on your side, Sombra won’t know what hit him! Right Fluttershy?” she asked excitedly.
The pegasus twitched where she lay in response.
Her grin didn’t falter a bit. “Nevermind!” She turned and rounded on the Princesses. “So where is Sombra anyway?” she asked eagerly. “Cuz I’m gonna show that loser what it means to mess with my friends!”
That threw me for a loop. We’re friends now?
Celestia sighed and shook her head. “I’m afraid it isn’t that easy, Rainbow Dash. If it was a matter of simply defeating Sombra, Luna and I would have already done it.” The Princess of the night nodded alongside her sister. “Unfortunately, it’s a little bit more complicated than that.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, looking up at the tall, regal alicorn with concern.
“What I mean, my little ponies, is that Sombra is not on this world, or at least not any more.”
She was met with blank stares, even from Twilight who seemed to be the smartest of the bunch. “I will explain.” she said primly, extending and folding her wings behind her as she rose her head up high, looking down at us like a grandparent would when telling a story to their grandchild, her eyes glimmering with memories long past.
“Before the Age of the Long Night, Sombra challenged my sister and I and tried to take over the Equestrian throne.” she started slowly. I had no idea what the Age of the Long Night was, but these ponies seemed to know what she was talking about, so I didn’t bother wasting time by asking for an explanation; it probably would have been impossible to understand or comprehend anyway. “At first, my sister and I were not too concerned. After all, we had the cumulative experience of hundreds of battles and spells at out disposal, not to mention an army of the strongest ponies Equestria had to offer. We did not see Sombra as a major threat, which, in hindsight, was a big mistake.”
“Sombra did not have our experience or our knowledge, that is true, but he did have something that was almost equally as powerful.” Her eyes passed over us, her face a canvass of multiple expressions battling for dominance as she recalled these events that she was apparently a part of hundreds of years ago.
Again, I kept my mouth shut.
“Incredibly dark magic.” she continued softly. “Magic so vile, and so dangerous, that even Luna and I do not dare to use it. He had found old tomes that had been created by a dark sept called The Relíquiæ, or ‘The Remnants.’ It was a group dedicated to preserving old secrets that were too dangerous to exist, despite our best attempts to seal them away. These books of theirs held some of the most advanced dark magics known to pony kind, and has since been locked away forever.”
To my surprise, Twilight seemed slightly disappointed by that. If Celestia noticed, she didn’t let on that she did.
“It was with this magic that he grew powerful.” Celestia explained grimly. “By the time Luna and I realized the severity of the situation, it had already become too late. So taken by the dark magic was he, his power rivaled even ours. He could destroy our entire army with a single spell, and then make his own with the bones of the fallen.”
The ponies shuddered, Rainbow Dash’s cocky grin replaced with a sickly one. She didn’t seem so eager to go and rip him the evil overlord a new one now, it seemed. As for me, I was finding that my prospects of ever returning home were becoming dimmer and dimmer with each passing word.
“We were not helpless, however, and we were able to defeat him by utilizing the power of the Elements of Harmony, which, as you girls know, can be slightly unpredictable at the best times…”
This must have meant something to the ponies as they all nodded in unison, their eyes riveted on their Princesses. Well, except for Fluttershy that is; she still lay on the floor where she had fainted, the poor thing. I briefly considered trying to shake her awake, but considering how weary she looked, I opted to simply let her rest. Someone will fill her in on the details later, I figured.
“Even under the attack of the most powerful magical force in Equestria, Sombra was too strong to be defeated.” Luna said, continuing where Celestia had left off. “He could not be destroyed, nor could he sealed by any magical means, not even by the Elements of Harmony themselves, the physical embodiments of magic, and thus, there was only one thing that could be done.”
Sensing the apex of the story, I held my breath in anticipation, anxiously fingering the ring on my finger, the one that had apparently been created and casted onto me by a megalomaniacal sociopath straight from a fantasy novel. Giving it a brief glance, it looked like the picture of the stylized alicorn was staring up at me more than ever.
“He was banished.” Luna explained stonily, as though announcing the death sentence of a murderer. “He was hurled out of our dimension to wander forever in the endless void of the In Between, the place that separates the dimensions from touching.” Finally, her stoic expression softened as she sighed sadly. “We fear, however, that he has been busy since his banishment, plotting his return for hundreds of years. He first reared his wicked head but a little over a year ago, in the Crystal Kingdom when he attempted to reclaim his throne.” She smirked. “Alas, even his magic, dark and terrible as it was, was not enough to defeat these six.” She finished, looking fondly at the group who shared smiles amongst themselves, Fluttershy not included.
This caused my mind to reel a bit. Of anyone, these six ponies, so innocent and gentle seeming, would not have been my first guess as to who defeated the evil wizard of untold power.
Well. except for Rainbow Dash. I can picture her fighting an ancient evil with nothing more than a cocky smile and a an ego the size of a mountain.
“So lets just grab the Elements and do it again!” Rainbow Dash cried, doing a small twirling backflip in the confined room and landing deftly on her hooves, chest pushed forward like a pigeon. “We’ve beat him before, how hard could it be to do it again?”
Luna frowned at the overexcited pegasus. “The In Between, the thread that holds the fabric of different worlds together, is not a place that one can simply fly to my little pony, nor will the Elements of Harmony be sufficient to defeat him. Nay, now he must be destroyed at the source.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes crossed as she muttered to herself. I managed to pick up the words “Can’t fly there…” It looked as though it physically pained her to contemplate the thought.
“Well then, what is the source Princess? What do we have to do?” Twilight asked desperately, her wide eyes trained on the two alicorns as though she were begging. I saw Luna’s jaw twitch, and Celestia immediately reverted to that poker face that she wore so well.
“The source is the only thing anchoring him to this world from the In Between as his power is now completely spent,” Celestia answered stoically. “in other words, The Alicorn Ring. And because it is cursed so that it may never be taken off, any attempts to destroy would result in the host being destroyed as well.”
All the heat left my body, the blood in my veins and arteries turning to ice as every pair of eyes were suddenly trained on me. This is it. I thought. They’re going to throw me in the center of a volcano to get rid of both me and the ring, killing two birds with one stone. She said it herself, there’s nothing else that can be done. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel the slightest surge of panic, as I knew that there was no conceivable way for me to defend myself from the powerful princesses. I would be an ant fighting against a hurricane, and there was nothing that trying to run away or fight back would do to change that.
I hung my head and slowly breathed out, marveling about how steady my heart rate was even though I knew how easily frightened I get. I guess that, when finally on the brink of death’s door with no way of turning back, I couldn’t help but only feel somewhat disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to my few friends and family. Well, at least I can say that I died in a way that no human in existence ever had…shame there wouldn’t be anything for them to bury.
“Of course, that isn’t an option.” Celestia’s voice rang out, causing me to jerk my head up and look at her sharply. She had a very peculiar look on her face, as did every other pony in the room who had just seen what it looked like when somebody gave up their will to live, something that mixed disbelief with concern.
“But you just said it yourself.” I blurted out, surprising both her and myself. “We can't find him because he’s not in this dimension, and we can’t go to this ‘In Between’ place; not to mention that in just a few weeks time he’ll have returned by taking over my body and mind” I was shocked by how vehemently I was speaking, almost verging on angry. “There’s no other choice, and there’s no way I’m going to sit back and let some despotic shit-head take over my body just so that he can use it for God knows what!” I folded my arms, not caring that they were all looking at me with open mouths. “I’d much rather you destroy both me and the ring than let myself become an instrument of war.” I said with a note of finality that brooked now argument.
A moment of incredibly tense silence passed, every pony looking at me in a way that I imagined one would a child who just beat a master chess player at their own game. Even Celestia’s poker face was shattered as she gawked at me before finally recomposing herself.
“Your death isn’t something that should be taken so lightly Kael…” she said, quietly and firmly.
“Everyone dies, some earlier than others, and most for far worse reasons than to stop a war.” I retorted stubbornly. “Besides, I haven’t lived nearly long enough, experienced, enough, or done enough to make my death anything more than a 20 year long waste of time and resources.” Luna opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. “My life is not worth more than the thousands that could be lost and you know it. It would be better for all of us if you just do it.”
My bluntness had the odd effect of both surprising me and not surprising me at the same time. On one hand, I had no idea where those words had come from, or whether or not they were my true feelings. Had I always felt this way and not realized it, or was I just making up excuses to get them to do what they had to? On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised that, now that I had so easily accepted the idea, dying sounded like nothing more than an inconvenience.
Celestia flashed her sister a bewildered look and cleared her throat. “You misunderstand me Kael.” she said patiently. “While it is impossible to get to the In Between by any normal means, flying, walking, or otherwise, it is not entirely impossible.” She gave me a small, albeit somewhat awkward smile. “It would be difficult and time consuming, but with a simply little bit of magic and ingenuity, anything is possible.”
I felt my eye twitch slightly as I looked at her moments before my hand went flying up and colliding hard into my forehead, something I immediately regretted doing as a sharp spike of pain made me dizzy again. “You couldn’t have mentioned that before?” I said, irritated.
Celestia cocked an eyebrow and once more glanced at her sister who merely shrugged. “We didn’t think you would be so…receptive to the idea of being destroyed.”
“Well, neither did I.” I mumbled under my breath, looking away from the ponies and pointing my eyes to the ground as a sudden wave of fatigue washed over me. I tried and failed to suppress a massive yawn, my arms and legs sagging as I was overcome with weariness.
“Oh dear…” Celestia started worriedly. “It seems that we have been taking too much of your time, I’m afraid.” The alicorn princess drew herself up to her full, impressive height, the tip of her horn mere inches away from the ceiling. Luna followed suit, standing slightly shorter than her alabaster sister, but no less impressive seeming.
“We will leave you now Kael, and let you get some much needed, and well deserved, rest.” She stated, leaving no room for contention by me or any of the other ponies. I couldn’t bring myself to argue against that, and to be honest, I didn’t really want to; already it was becoming a challenge just to keep my eyes open.
“Come, my little ponies, let us leave him in peace. We have much that we must discuss.” Celestia said, addressing the others who nodded in turn with a chorus of “Yes Princess.” Twilight cast a concerned glance at Fluttershy who was still lying on the ground in an unconscious heap before lighting her horn and enveloping her yellow body with a purple glow, lifting her gently into the air and carrying her outside.
“Sorry about putting you on the floor.” She said quietly to me as she walked out. “We didn’t have a bed that would fit you…”
I lazily waved a hand in her direction. “S’alright.” I mumbled. She nodded at me and smiled before casting a glance at the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash, who had yet to leave the room and was staring at me strangely. “Come on Rainbow, let’s let him rest.”
The pegasus nodded without taking her eyes off of me, although it was more of a respectful nod addressed to me than it was one of acquiescence to her friend’s words. She quickly turned and marched out the open door without a word, and the door was closed, leaving me alone with nothing but a few blankets, a small pillow, and a vague sense of unease.
I sighed as I fell from my sitting position so that I was again lying on my back, staring up at the plain wooden ceiling. The ring on my right hand felt like a weight that was suddenly too heavy to bear. Not only was it the reason that I was stuck in this mess, but it was also a catalyst for some incredibly powerful dark magic that was going to take over my mind and body until both were hollow shells that could be controlled at a whim. Such thoughts, and similar ones, such as what the hell was the In Between and how much of an idiot I was to fight a pack of wolves by myself, were making it very difficult for me to fall back asleep, something I very much wanted to do if only to briefly escape reality.
Not to mention I was incredibly sore and tired. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before I drifted off, only managing one last, insignificant thought before I lost consciousness entirely.
I just want to go home.