Hero Souls: Awakening

by SvenFoxx

49. More Than Believed, Less Than Wanted

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Celestia admitted somewhat uneasily.

The source of her unease was obvious. Harry Potter, the Avatar of Death and Magic both, was currently smoking mad. Literally. There was smoke billowing from his mouth and nostrils. Anyone who knew Harry knew this was a bad sign.

Harry made a visible effort to calm himself. “...Your student… was an experiment,” he ground out. “That is the only way I can possibly describe how utterly botched this fustercluck of a soul merge is,” he growled in clear rage.

He sighed after a moment longer of simmering, letting go of his understandable irritation for the moment. “I’m gonna be honest with you, Celestia. I have no fucking idea what will happen if I so much as touch Twilight’s soul. It’s why I gave her every chance to take her time and think about her situation. I don’t know if I even can finish her soul merge.”

Celestia sat down, ears flipping back in worry. “Is she in any danger?”

Harry shook his head. “No. I was being completely honest when I told her that she’s in no immediate danger, but at the same time I’ve never seen something this… disgusting… before. I genuinely don’t know what kind of danger she’s in, or if she is in any at all. By all rights her two souls should have violently rejected each other the moment they tried to exist in the same vessel. There are ways around that forcefully, and I’ve seen situations where one soul can act as a sort of guardian over another, but that’s not the case here. Twilight Sparkle and Clark Kent should never have been able to bond like this.”

Celestia frowned in concern. “What about the other Hero Souls? Are they in similar danger?”

Harry’s frown deepened. “No, surprisingly. That’s another reason why I think whoever started this Hero Soul thing was experimenting with Twilight. The other Hero Souls, barring Miss Rarity, are for the most part very stable. They have the expected issues with identity crisis and occasional panic attacks from overlapping memories, but Luna’s handling that admirably.” His eyes narrowed. “No, what concerns me is how utterly clean their merges are. If I hadn’t known about this Hero Soul thing, I never would have guessed those souls had been merged.”

He paused. “... On that note, you may want to keep an eye on Miss Pie. Her soul was damaged. Not extensively so, but it was eerily similar to the damage inflicted by a severed soul bond.”

Celestia sighed to herself. “I suppose it was too much to hope this situation would become easier with you here. Alas, you have only revealed more issues.”

Harry shrugged apologetically, before standing and stretching. “I wish there was more I can do, I really do, but until I know more about this I don’t dare get involved.” He frowned slightly. “As it stands I’m gonna be leaving Equestria to go speak with the Phoenix Council. My hope is that they know more than they were letting on. At the very least I need to wring Fawkes’ neck for not telling me about this sooner.”

“Is there really nothing you can do for Rarity?” Celestia asked, also standing.

They both left the dining room they were in and began aimlessly wandering the corridors of Canterlot Castle. “Rarity is in a unique situation. She is effectively fighting herself. This is very similar to cases where war vets, or amnesia patients, reject memories that cause them pain. The memories don’t go away just because you don’t like them, and the act of rejecting even a portion of yourself never ends well. In this case, near as I can tell, the Hero Soul system is trying to blunt force the memories onto Rarity, but she simply refuses. The system is strong though, and will eventually overwhelm her… erasing Rarity from existence on accident if she doesn’t accept them.”

“You can’t remove the memories? I remember stories of Thor and Loki,” Celestia reminded him.

Harry nodded. “True, but those were both complete and utter eradication of the person who came before, and using the leftover blank soul to create a new life, starting from scratch. In order for me to save Rarity I would have to wipe her clean the same way the memories will if they overwhelm her. And even then I’m not familiar enough with the Hero Soul system to find a way to prevent the memories from trying again. She needs to face this now.”

Harry stopped. “Based on what Luna and Twilight told me, Rarity’s Hero Soul is a thief of some kind. Considering they were eligible to become a Hero Soul, they may actually be a good person, and Rarity rejected them on principle without seeing that. Maybe try that angle if nothing else works.”

Celestia nodded. “Thank you, Lord Death, for helping us,” she said, bowing to him.

Harry sighed. “I had thought better of you, Celestia.” He noticed her smirk at the corner of her mouth. He also grinned. “Then again, I’ve seen you when you prank people.”

Celestia straightened herself, the very image of regal rule. “I’m sure I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Harry waved a hand. “Yeah yeah, political response, blah blah. Let’s take our minds off of everything and go prank one of your ponies.”

Celestia happily followed along, eager to once again enjoy a day of fun with her old friend. However, in the back of her mind, a plan was forming. She just may be able to save Rarity yet.

Author's Note:

Hey look! I did a thing!

Comments

[Marauder15]

Have rarity relive Sly’s memories

[badninja]

Well that went well. I think by getting the Hero Soul Twilight is all sorts of messed up. Hopefully she can live long enough to enjoy old age, because unfortunately the Soul of Hope always leads an interesting life.

[Greenhorn]

That’s another reason why I think whoever started this Hero Soul thing was experimenting with Twilight.

But I thought Twilight isn't the oldest of the group, is she? Thus, Twilight already confront the who brought her to this world already. Does Celestia know about the prophecy?

[alfonso_rd_33]

9717130
I don't think anypony has ever confronted the intellect / will behind the HSS.

And regarding Twilight / Clark issue, personally the most I could do was adding the DNA strand.

Regarding the issue itself, I could theorize that, despite the botched up soul merging, a possible cause of the "not tearing each other apart from the start" would be the fact that Twilight Sparkle is the "Alfonso Rodriguez" of the MLP universe, which could have helped ease the merger. Still I don't think that is the case... In the end, I just hope Death didn't notice my handywork...

[SvenFoxx]

9717036
She normally would, but the moment she knew he was a thief she locked herself down. The memories are getting more forceful, and eventually will overwhelm her and force the issue, but at that point they'd be so strong that they would wipe "Rarity" from existence, leaving only Sly Cooper.

That's the underlying issue here. Unless Rarity willingly accepts the memories, one of two things will happen. She will either be wiped away by the memories when they get too powerful, or she'll die from the stress her brain is under.

[SvenFoxx]

9717130
My only response, as it has previously been, is thus:

Spoilers! River Song and I go way back.

The Doctor and I go way back as well. Take from that what you will.