By the Borders

by Rakoom

Chapter 7: Soulbound

Grandma softly shook me awake; so I thought that I had been asleep for a long time. On the table was the all of the ingredients, I just had cut some small bits of white-rock mushrooms and add it to the rest before heating it all together. But that wasn't why grandma woke me. "Acorn, come with me," she said. I was still very tired, so I just followed her outside without a word. The sun was setting, which explained why I was still tired after sleeping. I carefully closed the door behind me to not wake the others, and then followed her . The path we took lead to the pond I used to play in when I was just a little filly. Even though it took a while to get there, it was really worth it. I had forgot to visit it for such a long time, but the sight of it made my heart jump with excitement from those dear old memories.

While I was galloping down to the pond, the memories flashed before me; the day I learned to swim, the snowy days when I could walk on it, and the day I galloped onto it on the wrong time and broke the ice. The best part was grandma's hot soup and being tucked into a soft blanket afterwards. I almost shed a tear at that last memory. I jumped into it just to feel the nice water again. The water was so nice, perfect temperature and very clean water. But I had the shock of a lifetime when I got up again. Grandma sat on the edge of the water, but next to her sat five MASSIVE bears! Each of them looked kind of strange, but all of them looked dangerous. I was going to yell to grandma to run, but she just raised her hoof. "Don't be afraid dear Acorn; these bears are not dangerous at all," she said with a calm voice to calm me as well. "B- But Dice told me he fought big bears, which used elements!" I said; I was still not convinced, and a LOT of explaining was required. Each of the bears had slightly colored fur, each unique in color and style. One of them had a little spiky yellow fur, another had flowing fur with a blue tone and so on. The style resembled elements.

Grandma nodded her head. "Yes, it is true. These bears have always protected these woods. They felt a malicious aura and thought Dice was the source, but the real source escaped, and Dice defeated the three bears that found him," she explained. But all of this made some more questions for me. Most notably: "What are you not telling me," I said while trying to put up a more strict tone. Grandma just smiled while tilting her head. "You mother was an excellent herbalist, she could make any cure to any illness. She wrote it all down and left it here when she met your father. They were so happy together, and letting her go was the right decision. But before she had botched her first potion as a filly, I had reputation within enchanting. That is what inspired her to become good at something. And that is also where the story of these bears began," she said.

"These bears were friends of mine, or your mother actually. She found them as cubs, orphan cubs that would surely have perished. In no less than five years she tended to each of them. In time in time they grew to become fierce, strong and dominant. They protected me, my hut and your mother. But when your mother left, she wanted you to stay safe. The bears live a life of their own now, but they have sworn to never let no harm befall you. They try to make the woods safer when you leave the hut, but it's easier for them in daylight," she said, giving me the pieces for the puzzle. But a final detail remained. "But what about the elements?" I said. She let out a sigh. "These bears almost died a long time ago, and I knew they had to become stronger in order to survive. And I knew how. But the price was their mortality. I enchanted their very being with pure elemental orbs, so that they could better defend their home. I simply gave them the offer, and they accepted," she said with a sad tone; she wasn't really proud of that deed. "But it is time to get back; you should finish that potion soon. Anything can happen in the state your friend is in now," she said. But the second she did, the gray-maned bear stood up on his hind legs and sniffed into the air. It then looked at grandma who somehow understood. "We need to hurry back," she said.

I could stand his laughter, I could stand his swiftness, and I managed to beat the crap out of his wolves with just a couple of scratches. But the thing I could NOT stand was how that BUCKTARD was TAUNTING ME! "Oops that was a close one! Wait, no it wasn't! Better get better than yourself if you wanna beat me," he said while jumping about like a monkey, which made me see red. One of the wolves' head had taken a pretty well-placed hoof between his eyes, while the other wolf had gotten off with more of a fight. The wolves didn't bleed however, so I couldn't know how good I had knocked them away from reality. But my only focus was that little jockey. We flew around the room (which Shadow had magically lit up with torches on the all of the walls) with me in a constant pursuit. He knew how to fly way better than me, but the room wasn't that big. But after managing to escape my grasp by going BELOW me, I had enough of him.

I charged straight for him and made a nice tackle that you only see on sport highlights. He had turned around to taunt me again, but that had opened his mid-section for me. Now he was rolling on the floor a little before I jumped on top of him and held him down. I raised my hoof to strike him, but the wolf with lesser injuries had snuck up behind me. He pounced me and then he held me down while I was helpless on the floor. Shadow giggled a little, but he walked towards the wall again. "Finally, I have a proposition for you. But first I'm going to show you something," he said. I could hear how his fatigue had risen considerably; I could have finished him. But right there I was helpless, with the wolf standing over me and with pain aching in my body. And that is not applying MY fatigue, which almost could have put me asleep right there. Shadow touched the wall with his hoof, and suddenly the entire circle became something similar to a mirror. But the reflection was Acorn's living room...

"What the-" "Shhhh! Here comes the good part!" Shadow said to me. He was clearly in control of whatever happened in the mirror, which was not good. The mirror reflected a 1st person view from MY eyes; this was what he was talking about! The mirror showed me standing up, and walking towards the herbalist room. Then it showed my hooves grabbing bottles and matches, before pouring the contents out in the doorway and igniting it all into a furious inferno. I could see the hut burning down; I could see the tree curling slightly up as it darkened and the smoke filled the sky. But worst of all was the screams. A burning silhouette stumbled out the door before landing on the grass and lying motionless ass the fires spread in the grass towards me. Shadow closed the mirror and looked at me with content. I was completely shattered, tears filled my eyes. Shadow walked up to me and lowered his head in front of mine and stared straight into my eyes. "This is the future I can make reality, but you can prevent this if you comply with a simple request of mine," he said with his stone cold voice (MY stone cold voice).

"You see, there isn't really any specific reason for me to take control of you. I just want to, honest. I have been cursed with never having a body of my own to walk this earth with," he said. "In fact, I have never known how it is to have a body of my own. That mirror just lets me look at how it could be and how it would look, and that simply won't do. I am part of a greater being, a being I am now separated from. I like to be free from it, and I aim to keep it that way. It will try to get me back some other time, but that won't be soon. So now that you know me a little better, here is what I want from you," he continued. He didn't look so evil anymore, not as much of a pure essence of malice as I saw him as before. His voice softened up and he changed from evil to sympathetic. "I want my own self, my own me. Sure it is fun to be you, but it isn't me if you understand. All you need to do is to let me do what I want. It will take time, but you will be in complete control of yourself don't worry. There will be a lot of confusion no doubt, but I won't cause you or your friends any harm. I'll go away if I break any of those promises, deal?" He said, while reaching out a hoof in front of me. The wolf stepped away from me, allowing me to stand up. I stood there, allowing all of this to sink in. All of that in the mirror is what he will do if he can't get his way, but what will he do if he DOES get his way?

We reached the hut, nothing seemed wrong. Grandma jumped down from the bear she rode, before rushing in ahead of me. When we got inside, Breeze and Dice woke up with confused looks on their faces. Grandma stood in front of Blank, who slept with his pitch-black eyes wide open. Dice and Breeze noticed, and stood up. We all gathered up around him. Without a word he stood up with his empty gaze. He walked towards us with steady steps. Dice and Breeze readied for battle, but Grandma stopped them. "Let him pass," she said. They stepped hesitantly aside so that he could freely walk outside. Grandma stopped the bears snarling from tearing him into tiny pieces, and he kept on walking. He stopped a couple of feet away from the hut. Then out of the blue, a dark aura poured out from him. The aura didn't have anything evil about it, but it lifted Blank from his feet. He was levitating for a moment, with his hooves and wings hanging loosely. But suddenly a bright purple light nearly blinded me. After a few moments the light diminished, and I could see him again. A line of purple divided him in half.

Grandma pushed me to the side. I could see that it was not just a line, but a purple WALL in with the size of a door that divided him in two from the top of his head and down. He started to groan in pain, but that quickly switched to SCREAMS of pain. He tilted his head backwards and screamed towards the sky, but the rest of his body hang just as lifelessly as before. Suddenly the left side's mane became slightly darker, and the left side's mane became slightly brighter. Then we all looked in deep confusion as his voice doubled before suddenly going silent. And his head turned left and right at THE SAME TIME! The jaws of all of us (including the bears) dropped as it progressed. Now there was two heads sticking out from the same body. Then the purple wall started to become brighter again, and then it all exploded. The wind blew us back, and there were smoke everywhere. After a few moments Breeze blew the smoke away with just a few flaps of his wings. And before us laid two ponies...

And so the M. O. A. H. returned again (mother of all headaches). But have you ever had that feeling when you sit up and look directly at a persone that is basicly a spitting image of yourself? Of course you haven't! He looked at me and I looked at him, we tilted our heads simultaneously and sat up simultaneously as if we were one. Then we both said "Hi," simultaneously while raising my left and his right hoof at the same time. This got REALLY awkward. Even more so when we noticed that we were being watched by a most curious audience. I won't go into DETAIL on what happened next (because most of it was just awkward. For example the thing with Dice and the bears) but to skip to the part when we cleared that up. It was time for me (both of us) to explain ourselves. It seemed as though my coat became darker while his became brighter. "Who is the real you," Acorn asked us. We looked at each other, and knew we thought the same. And so we answered at the same time with the same words (also same tone): "I think we're the same, except for our colors. Shadow said that it would take ti-" Dice cut us off there. "Hol' on, who is this Shadow," he said.

We looked at each other and swallowed, then we stared at the ground while we gave them a rough explanation. "He defeated me in combat, and then he showed me what he would do by controlling my mind if I didn't accept his offer," we said. "O-kay then. He was the one inside you, and he proved too powerful to you?" Dice asked. We nodded. He let out a sigh before continuing. "But what'n the hay IS he? An' what was that offer ya talked 'bout," he asked. "Well, he said he was part of a greater being. He wanted a body of his own, but he didn't say how. His offer was do as he pleased, all while I watched him carefully that is," we said, realizing how stupid I had been. Dice let out another sigh; I was waiting for some yelling of any sort towards me. Something to make me feel like I screwed up big time and should never make such a mistake ever again. "Naw, it's okay. Ya haven't been completely screwed over y'know, I've heard 'bout stuff like that which wants to be free from the big boss," he said to both of us with a comforting smile. But then he got serious again and looked at him, at me, back to him, and back to me. "But I've seen this before! Shadow rests within one of ya, in time he'll try to take over ya when he ain't a tired lump of dark mud no more. But ah think neither of ya will get easy of either way."

Comments

[Rakoom]

FINALLY done. I will get going on a sequel soon. But for now I just want to relax.

As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.

The story that will follow up on this will come with more canon material and characters. I'm looking forward to adding something that actually originates from the actual series!

[Rakoom]

Okay, the last chapter was rushed. And in retrospective, the first chapter var kind of ridiculous as well. SO to make up for it I will do the following: I will edit the last chapter to make it less rushed and add an epilogue! And then I shall make an prologue for the next story just to give a taste of what is to come. And I will make it BETTER! BETTER character development, more and funnier moments, plot twists and an ending I have planned since I started this entire thing. I will make more time for this, and I'm pretty damn excited about it!
So now that "By the Borders" is done, I'm in a better position to make a good story!
(And it's gonna be awesome)