> Holed memories > by The Psychopath > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The tower > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why did you leave me? Fyra's head was spinning like a wheel. She was squirming on the ground , unaware of her surroundings. We could have left this place together! Why was she in so much pain? What were these voices in her head? You'll pay! You and those other two rejects! She suddenly found herself thrust into a familiar area. She was on an artificial island,just big enough to accommodate a giant tower of stone and metal. The sky was pitch black with only a full moon managing to pierce through the ink-stained sky. Around the island seemed to be an enormous ,dark lake.Further away stood a massive city with many,many buildings. These constructs were as dark as everything in this area , but they seemed to all have some yellow lights randomly strew all along their walls,lights who reflected upon the water like fire. Everything was blurred and she felt like she was in a strong gust storm. She started to ball up and cry , but a blue hoof put itself on her shoulder. She couldn't recognize the face , but saw a much comforting smile.Who was that? He was shorter than her , but he was of a deep , flashy blue. He seemed to have wings as well. His mane was of a bright , neon yellow , and was brushed in a manner to keep it straight , but curled in a way to keep the top of the mane round. His tail , however , was all ruffled up and strands of it flung in all directions.He seemed to have a mark on his flanks. This resembled a monocle with a cloth holding it. She heard some type of muffle sounds coming from another to her right. Another she couldn't see the face of , but she could see he was serious just by seeing his mouth. This one had...a horn? He was olive green and his mane was a very dark, jungle green. His mane seemed to have been cut to dramatic proportions. There was almost nothing left of it , allowing his horn to glow brightly out. His mark resembled a bullseye with a smile over it. Where was Fyra? How did she get here? She noticed the ground shift beneath her in roughness and cold. She was near the edge of the island, her hooves twisting in the gravel and sand left there. The tower right across from her ,however , held many different windows on every level to ensure perfect view of it's outsides. It was immensely tall! The front doors were made of black metal and blocked by six vertical metal bars. Strange creatures were in front of it. They were so frightening! What were they? The looked like the two other beings next to the alicorn , but...they were somehow...different? They seemed to be growling? Snarling? Their coats were of a sickly green, disappearing in spots of dripping red.And their eyes, THEIR EYES! This marked Fyra more than anything. What were these eyes? They were like empty sockets of nothingness , only filled by a pulsing yellow light. Fyra noticed that they had all been "leaking" this light all along. She felt her heart race , and the clouds above her started to bend and twist around the tower.What was this place? Why couldn't she remember? Fyra and the two other quadrupeds charged into the creatures. The unicorn performed several techniques paired with his horn. The result? Several creatures flinging about in pieces and being smashed into eac hother. The green one's teeth were gritting with every move , plowing through the sickly beasts with utmost ease. The blue one , however, wasn't too shabby either. He wouldn't use his wings , but was very quick and agile. He would literally jump on one of the creatures with a single hoof, and balance himself there. The "things" would smash into each other and tear themselves to pieces trying to get out of the predicament. Fyra was different. She simply moved forward , and the creatures would spontaneously combust every time they neared her. Fyra went closer and closer to the door , and fell to the ground on all fours. A shrieking pain pulsating through her head. It was a voice. "So" it said" You came back? I suppose you want me to congratulate you? It is too late now. We could've left the place in one piece ,but you decided to let me go when they caught up to us. Instead of pulling me as hard as you could , you let me go , and fell into the water. I watched you swim away as I was taken back to those..." it inhaled , crying suddenly"...those rooms! Those horrid places! You'll pay, YOU WILL PAY!" The island started to shake violently, like there was an earthquake. The tower also started to rumble and pieces of brick and chunks of metal started to fall down , crushing everything underneath their falling zone. The top of the tower then exploded! Showering the sky in metal shining from the moonlight. The creature was so dark , so black. It had erupted vertically from the top of the tower , it's face still looking upwards. Fyra heard the other two yelling at her. No! .....stronger.....run....ra! We'll keep....bay....GO! Who was this? Why was Fyra shaking like a leaf? Why did she feel the incessant sliding of blades into her flesh and muscle? The creature looked down at her, flapping it's wings. It also had a horn, which seemed to glow as well. Fyra couldn't make out the color. The creature then charged at Fyra , seemingly teleporting. The last thing Fyra saw were the eyes of this beast. The pupils were in the form of a horizontal rectangle, and the eye lids were closef onto it, looking like the creature was squinting. Fyra could feel several emotions from these eyes: pain, fear,anger,and a murderous intent were some of them , but there was another, more powerful , it felt like something was eating up it's mind. It was a cry for help, for freedom, and was quickly dwindling away into a will'o'wisp. Fyra quickly re-awoke, screaming at the top of her lungs. She frightened some birds, who flew out of the trees in the typical flapping session. Fyra was sweating profusely. She needed some cold water. She went to a nearby puddle and placed her hooves in it , only intent to splash the water all over her. Before she could do so, however, she saw herself. She was just like the creature that assaulted her. She had both a horn and wings.Her coat was of a rather dim red. Her iris were a flashy red, seemingly glowing whenever she heard something in the trees. Her mane and tail were both curled at spots, like something had been brushing her. She "held" the mane. It was so soft and comfy. The colors of a brighter red and yellow composed them. They flowed through her mane and tail like stripes. There was a very thin orange strip going through the middle of the mane. It felt much more comfy then anything she had ever slept on before. It took her some time before she decided to let go, the colorful assortments swaying back to their resting spot on the side of her neck. Fyra moved her left foreleg up and rubbed her face. She had been crying during that torturing dream. She splashed some water on her face to wash everything away. She was still covered by some dust that she kicked up during her writhing in agonizing pain. She decided to pay more attention to her surroundings. As she lift her head up, she saw things not akin to the tower nor the city surrounding it's lake. She was standing in grass. This feeling was so new! The frothy feeling of this cold green was somewhat itchy , but also quite pleasant. She bent down , sniffing it.....it had a strange smell. Now for what surrounded her. Trees! So many trees! And they were all so different too! She only knew one, something about a seed. She couldn't remember , but she knew that there was a memory of it somewhere. She spun around until she got dizzy and nearly fell down, tripping over a few times in the process. However, it was extremely dark. Through the dense foliage , she could see a beautiful full moon. She stared at this gigantic pearl of the sky. She found comfort and a soothing feeling while staring into it's pure abyss. She was illuminated by a brief lunar ray that managed to pass through the leaves as two squirrels jumped through the branches to reach their home. Fyra just observed the little balls of fur as they swung from branch to branch like if they were flying. Fyra tilted her head a little , a curious expression on her face. Certainly these woods weren't as dangerous as they seemed to be. It was probably her fears just coming up because of the night. She would make full advantage of this new found freedom. She would figure out who she really was, who those..."things" were in her remaining memories,why she felt so much pain coursing through her body like sharp pieces of metal in the place of her blood, and more importantly, where she was. She knew something , however , someone wiped out her memory , and she wanted to know why. Fyra decided that the best course of action would be to find some form of civilization. After the whispers in her head cleared,and the pain in her body receded somewhat, she departed , intent in getting through this sea of green and brown , and find everything she needed answers to. She never noticed it , but behind her was a trickling trail of blood, certainly coming from her wounded right hindleg. She was limping, and the surging pain coursing through her body prevented her from noticing this miniscule detail. Well , my first story here ever. Don't expect much perfectitude in the beginning. I'll also be plowing through the chapters so long as my imagination stays concentrated on this particular subject and social life stays away. > A new world > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fyra had seen many things in this forest. Several deer, rabbits, lizards , and other small or medium-sized creature. She was intrigued and had a happy of trying to imitate the animals , bouncing up and down like a frog , or trying to hang on a branch and follow the raccoons jumping on them. Without any way to grip herself to the branch, she found herself falling back on the ground. She was so used to pain that her wounded leg seemed to act of it's own accord and kept any sense of pain underneath it. The moon was still brightly shining upon the forest, it's clean white rays comforting Fyra every time she felt scared or saddened. She did meet some peculiar beasts. Namely two of them. One of these creatures seemed to have the body of a lion , but it also had the red tail of a scorpion. It was gigantic! Fyra , not knowing any better, shortened her distance from the creature. This one was peacefully finishing its meal. It heard Fyra and quickly turned around , determination in it's eyes. Fyra had simply tilted her head slightly with a curious face. The beast started to growl at her and was scraping the ground with its claws, trying to tell her to go away. She just lowered her head to look more closely at the thing's claws. She gave a little chuckle and started to copy it. The creature stopped and stared at her for a moment. "What was this red thing doing?" it certainly wondered. It preferred to not take any chances and lunged at Fyra. Her happy expression turned to fear as she jumped out of the impact point just as the beast smashed into the ground , tossing up smoke and little patches of dirt. The monster chased after her and she ran away panicking. When she finally increased the distance ten-fold , the beast backed down. It certainly thought that it had triumphed over a tough creature , or at least, that it protected it's territory from an invader. After this terrible predicament, Fyra set out further. The forest seemed to have been getting thicker. Vines were growing everywhere and many blue flowers dotted the area. There were also strange green flowers whose "petal" seemed to twirl upwards all around the stem like a circular staircase. Fyra lied down looked at these plants glow and grow. She was intrigued with nature. She had only known....wait...what had she known? She brushed this thought aside and continued to observe the swaying flowers. Suddenly, she heard a loud roar behind her. This roar flung her mane forwards for the duration of the deafening sound. Fyra readjusted it. Her eyes had shrunk. She was shaking and her teeth were gittering. She turned slowly around, taking in the energy from the Moon to fuel her courage. She jumped back as her mouth fell open and she looked slowly upwards. "What is this thing?" she thought. This creature's body was all viney like a plant's and it had several "heads". These heads were blue and green like the flowers behind Fyra. It looked like a plant , but , even though it's head looked a few carnivorous plants she saw earlier, they were definitely "looking" at her. It seemed to slide through the first to move, as Fyra quickly understood as the thing just started chasing after her. ANOTHER?! Fyra, although strangely capable of quick and somewhat agile movements despite her wound , was almost incapable of loosing this plant....thing. While she jumped over tree roots sticking out from the ground, slid around large rocks and batches of fallen trees, the creature would just plow through everything, seemingly laughing every time it did so. It started to take this for a game and was purposely slowing down just so that it could plow through something huge. The mouths of it's heads were making an upwards position. Was it smiling? Fyra didn't find this funny , knowing her life was at stake here. She decided to try and use her wings. She noticed that she had never actually used them. Perhaps she could through the thick foliage of the trees and fly into the open sky? Hopefully the plant monster was able to stretch that high. She thought about moving them, but they wouldn't budge! Why?! What was wrong with her? She started to tire out and started slowing down, barely able to make another step and fell down in pure fatigue. She awaited the worst t happen. Perhaps she would be digested quickly? "How did carnivorous plants work?" she thought. She panted heavily and the plant creature slowly (slid?) towards her, riling up some chunks of dirt as it moved closer. The 'smiles' from it's heads had disappeared. It look disappointed. It was covered with little pieces of moss and stone. It certainly loved tearing through things. At first, it thought about eating Fyra , but decided not to. It had much fun tonight and would prefer not to stain this pleasant moment by eating the one thing that brought it. Sure , this creature had threatened it's tranquil neck of the woods, but it didn't step on the flowers, and it took it far in the woods. The red creature even took it to the best parts that could be run through! It decided to give a snort with one of it's heads.A sound akin to ruffling leaves and popping fire. A warning that, next time, it wouldn't be so merciful. It then just turned around and started bouncing up and down while swaying left to right. The heads were also making sounds akin to humming. Was it singing and dancing? The creature quickly disappeared behind many trees and more vines. Fyra had almost sighed in relief until she heard it smash through another boulder.She bounced up in surprise. After these events, Fyra decided that she needed to find civilization as fast as she could. She loved nature , and wished to stay in it eternally, but she had no knowledge of survival , especially in this bizarre world, and it proved to be dangerous, as the two beasts that attacked her demonstrated. However , the plant monster showed her that not all things should be taken as seriously as they appeared. She stayed on the floor , trying to catch her breath. Fyra had been chased TWICE in barely an hour. She was tuckered out to the extreme. While she rested, she calmed herself down hoping that nothing would be chasing her again. She decided to listens to the sounds of this forest and smell it's smells. She didn't remember any good smells but a dull one that seemed to sicken her every time she remembered it. She was so happy right now for some reason. Surely she had been in nature once? Her gut said know, and she felt the urge to heave, quickly jumping to her hooves as this feeling reached her throat. False alarm. She let out a small burp which echoed slightly. She blushed a bit , in case someone heard. She decided to keep going to what looked bright lights, at the other end of the forest. But before she could even exit it, her tiredness struck her like a stone to glass. She struggled to get back up and jumped high to try and grope on a branch by curving her forelegs on it.Success! She went high in the tree and decided to sleep there. The tree branch was large enough to anticipate her rolling about. The wood was rough and dense. Just like how she was used to. She soon dozed off into slumber land. Fyra suddenly found herself floating in a dark abyss. She didn't know where she was nor what was wrong. She was so used to evil dreams of pain and torture, this didn't change much. Suddenly, a bright flash illuminated the still dark room, blinding Fyra who promptly covered her eyes. Two eyes , side by side, were there, but they were different from each other. One resembled those horrid angry ones from so long ago, and the others were...crying? They were colored a deep sea blue and were as "normal" as Fyra knew eyes to be as. They started to speak, the evil eye spoke first: "Well, well, well. It seems you survived." "What?" asked Fyra. "Ah yes. The memory wipe, a temporary side effect. It seems the device worked on you when I attacked you. Tsktsktsk." The blue eye started to speak: "Stop this!" it said to the evil one, "It wasn't her fault! Why are you trying to do this?" "For vengeance of course,my dear. Don't you remember how much more you suffered in there while she lived a good life?" "A good life? We are linked psychically, she was not only in physical pain , but in mental pain as well!" "TRICKS! LIES!" The black started to turn and twist into a thunderstorm of extreme violence. "I was forced to live through that torment , that suffering! IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN! We may share something, but I will not let all those lies and babble in your mind trick and deceive me!" "But I-" "THAT'S ENOUGH!" The thunderstorm exploded with incredible force. Fyra tried to interject a sentence in this supposedly 'internal' conflict. "Who...who are you two? Do you know who those two...creatures who were with me at that tower are?" The blue eye stopped leaking tears and her pupils shrunk dramatically , it was shocked. "Oh no! The....the device...it" "Wiped her memory clean! Hahahahahaha!" The evil eye closed even more, its evil laughter echoing through Fyra's head like a headache. The blue eye closed itself and said nothing more. The 'evil' one looked to it's side then looked back at Fyra, who was still glaring in confusion and what she felt , anger. The eye shrunk and closened towards Fyra , still floating in the dark abyss. It swirled around her and Fyra felt her head being pushed up. "Don't you worry your pretty little head! I won't let anything bad happen to you," it said kindly , before a row of spiked teeth curved upwards appeared and spoke violently. "Because I'm the one who will kill you!" Those teeth shone a blinding white, and it wasn't until a thunderbolt erupted that Fyra saw an outlining. The creature only had a left eye , and it took her shape! It was walking slowly towards Fyra who was trying to crawl away. Her 'shadow' stood on it's hind legs and command the storm with it's fore. It pointed towards Fyra, it's horrid smile still stalking her. The storm charged at Fyra like a viper after having found it's prey. She screamed in pain. Fyra re-awoke. It was daylight, and the forest seemed so much more welcoming now. But, that dream just left her with more questions then she could ponder. She used the same technique to get down from the branches as she had used to climb them. The red creature miscalculated the height of the last branch and fell on her rear. "Owch!" she yiped while rubbing her flanks. She stood back up , remembering the direction of the light. She quickly ran towards it. The tree leaves had been blocking the majority of the sunlight, and she had just gone out of it. She shunned the brightness as it tore through her eyes like searing hot metal rods. She moaned a bit and wiped them profusely before readapting to the light and looking at a wondrous world. She expected a gigantic, lonely world with massive buildings. She instead saw something that nearly disconnected her jaw from her skull. Colors! Beautiful buildings! And...wait...what were those things? They came in all assortments of colors, and had different mane a tail styles to boot. Some of them wore clothes, others did not. Some had wings, some had horns, some did not. How come no one had both like she did? Fyra looked at the flying pegasi and looked back at her wings. She still tried to move them, but it didn't work. She stomped her front hoof down lightly in anger. She quickly jumped back into nearby bushes, avoiding the possible gazes of those weird quadrupeds. She kept observing them. Were they violent or were they kind? A building caught her attention out of all the others. It was very tall and white with pinkish assortments and two objects that resembled the other quadrupedal creatures. It was beautifully decorated in her eyes. Then, out of nowhere, the front door opened and tow more of those creatures came out. One was yellow and was dressed in a white suit , looking very stylish. His mane was red and pulled back to have a sort of frontal curl.His tail was left alone. He, as Fyra thought, was keeping his head up in a smug manner , apparently , he was following the instructions of a bright white one. She was slightly smaller and had a purple mane. Her mane and tail were brushed a splendid, curled manner, shining perfectly in the sunlight and not even showing a sign of dirtiness. She had three...jewels...adorning her flank. Fyra suddenly realized that every one of those creatures she saw had strange marks on their flanks.Even the two in her dream had marks. She decided to see what her's looked like. To her surprise, there was nothing but more red coat. She felt somehow angered and confused at the same time. What were they for and what did they mean? Was this the reason she couldn't control her wings? She decided to go to that building where the white horned creature was. She would need a good disguise. She wanted to use the bush, but that would be easily noticeable by the other creatures moving about. She kept thinking. A few ideas here and there but they always came to the same conclusion , she would be discovered before she reached the building. She felt strained and decided to stretch a bit. She reopened her eyes when she felt some sort of cloth. She saw that there was a darkened cloak right there in the surrounding foliage. But...that wasn't here earlier....was it....that thing in my dreams? She decided to put it on. A perfect fit! The only thing still showing was her face. She also felt some sort of comfort in embracing the fabric. She quickly shook her head and tried hitting the sides of her head with her fore hooves. It was time to go into this open world and directly to that building. Not exactly 'open' if she went into the confines of more walls , but the unknown beauty called out to her. She had a strong determination that built up inside of her. She left the "protection" of the forest and slowly climbed down the hill and the paths that would dare separate her from her goal. > Burning discoveries > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity had been working all night on an order all night and had just finished it his morning. She was tired and exhausted , but satisfied of her work. The pony who came was a rich one who was actually a very shy pony. He asked Rarity to help him in acting distinguished. What a young gentlecolt! Rarity had thought to herself. The teachings took all morning , but she finally managed to spread some of her knowledge. She tried to do so with a certain orange pony , but that one was so stubborn! Anyways, Rarity had also received a few more orders that she completed at the night. She decided that now would be a good moment to rest and left for her room. She would sleep for just a moment. Not too long , she must look horrible without her beauty sleep, and a good amount of well organized sleep would bring anyone to their best posture and appearance. She had barely fallen asleep that the bell of her store rang as the door swung gently open. She groaned and mumbled but quickly regained herself and started going back downstairs. "Oh! Why did I forget to close the store?" "Just a minute! I'll be right there!" Rarity was completely exhausted. Even if she loves doing her dresses known as a great form of perfection, she still needed her rest. Why didn't this pony choose to do something else? Well, it was too late now , but she would certainly be impressing another pony who didn't know of her fabulous designs. She reached the bottom of the steps, a perfect lady's smile and a few quick blinking would be perfect to soften up the most serious of colts. "Yes? Is...is anyone there?" She looked around for any signs of life. Besides the ponies outside, there was nopony in sight. The door was completely open and swaying lightly back and forth as the wind blew. "Oh my! It is getting quite cold! I wonder who has the NERVE to pull this sort of prank on m-" As Rarity turned while she closed the door , she noticed a horribly dirty black rag on the floor. The first thing she thought was: "Ewww! What is this dirty thing doing in my store? Covered in dirt and...and...bloo....." Rarity quickly scampered away from the thing. What was it doing here? Did somepony with ill intent try and dispose of something horrid in her store to have her blamed for whatever it was related to? She quickly picked it up with her magic and threw it away., etching a note in the back of her mind to remind her to burn that thing after the day was over. She tried to get her best cleaning tools and started brushing her floor with the utmost delicacy and violence. Just enough delicacy to clean the stains up without damaging what lie underneath this mass of horror, but with just enough violence as to scrub away even the smallest atom. Rarity's mane was starting to sprang in all directions when she heard something. Irregular hoof steps. She quickly brandished her mop with her magic and was going to use it as a weapon.She closed in on the corner of the wall. The sounds were coming from there. She moved slowly towards this turning point of what could possibly hold the WORST character she would possibly ever know. Not as horrid as Discord , perhaps , but horrid enough to bring that....red substance into HER shop. She didn't say a word, as to have the element of surprise. She peeked slightly around the corner, barely showing her eye and nose.What she saw disgusted her. It was a rather tall red unicorn covered in dirt and filth. Twigs and leaves tangled into it's mane and tail , looking like some horrid forest beast. This unicorn's back was covered with an extremely thick amount of dirt and pieces of wood that became trapped within the now dry mud. Rarity kept scrutinizing this pony and it's nasty habits until she saw the deep cut in the right hindleg.Despite this wound , the unicorn didn't seem to notice and just stared blindly at Rarity's dresses , seemingly hypnotized by the beauty and architecture of these pieces. Rarity decided to put her mop down, slowly and quietly. She moved with just as many precautions to shut the door and lock it, determined to keep this mare within her shop and get her cleaned up and brushed. "She must be in shock , the poor thing. I'll see to it that she is taken care of. I am the spirit of generosity after all. Rarity gulped , an expression of great worries adorning her still radiant face. W-well....here I go. Rarity moved slowly towards the wounded unicorn who had moved her spot and was now looking at a dress with a mixture of a beautiful red and blue, with some yellow put in to allow the "fainter" colors to pop out more. "Uh...are you okay my dear? What happened to you?" Fyra immediately snapped out of her beauty trance and twisted directly in the direction of Rarity. She scuttled away from Rarity , hoping to find an exit , but was blocked by well organized fabric rolls and other clothes creation accessories. She found herself hugging the wall , fright and shock on her face. Rarity jumped a bit too but saw the incredible amounts of fright on the unicorn's face. Besides her increased size , she was nothing more than a unicorn. Rarity , despite hating everything dirt , knew that she had to appease the poor frightened dear unless she risked collapsing right in her shop. Rarity lifted her hoof and extended them towards the now heavily breathing unicorn. Fyra closed her eyes , expecting an attack, instead , she felt a caring caress through her dirtied mane. She opened one eye to see what was going on. This white pony had taken a piece of fabric that was certainly useless to her and was busy picking out the twigs. Fyra started to breathe normally again, although her eyes were still closed. Fyra started to like this feeling. She felt like she was never cared for before. This was a great feeling , just like a massage. "Oh , my poor dear! What have you gone through? Your mane is in such a mess , and it seems to have a magnificent color to it too. We'll fix thaaat right away won't we? " Fyra was soothed by these words as well . She then felt something tug on her and quickly opened her eyes in surprise. Rarity got a close up look at this unicorn's eyes. They were of a most peculiar red. So much feeling came from them. They looked like rubies. She didn't get a good look at them earlier considering the angle she was at as well as where Fyra was looking. "Come on now! We'll get you cleaned right up! Nopony will be horrid looking after they leave my shop. Oh no! It would be an insult to me and fabulosity itself!" she stomped down on the ground, a stern look on her face, but still looking straight. Fyra followed this strange creature , not sure what to expect. The tissue holding the twigs in her mane was being held aloft in a blue , sparkling could. What was that? And why did it's horn glow with the same thing? She was being drowned with all these questions in just two days! She needed to relax. Rarity took her her guest upstairs and opened a white wooden door outlined with pink. She opened it and requested the red unicorn to follow her inside. It was a beautifully white bathroom. The tiles and walls were white. The towels placed perfectly on hooks along the wall were also perfectly folded and clean. Not a spot of the place was dirty. Rarity went towards a bathtub and opened the curtains , turning the nobs controlling the flow of water and their heat with her magic. She also took a towel off the hook and placed it on a wooden tablet near the bathtub. It was rather high , as for one to be able to grab it directly after leaving the shower.The white unicorn also took out a bottle of shampoo and placed it on the edge of the tub. One last thing was needed, the mat right at the exit of the bathtub , to keep any water from falling on her floor. An oval shaped purple mat was magicked all the way to the bathtub entry. "Well. There you go. I'll be waiting outside the door for when you are finished cleaning up. Please make sure you replace the towel on the hooks, and DON'T drop ANY water on the floor!" she sighed in an annoyed fashion. "You can just push on this lever to get the shower head going. I personally prefer baths as they are SOOOOO much more soothing with bubbles and they allow my skin to rest and soak up in the nutrients the so-" Rarity stopped. She had noticed she was babbling on and the red unicorn was looking at her wierd. "Oh.Heheheh. Sorry about that , I tend to get caught up in my tips of beauty and say everything to anypony once I start. Well , have a nice shower...or bath , whichever you choose." And with that , the white unicorn exited the bathroom. Both had something in thought. "Why didn't she say anything?" wondered Rarity. Fyra , however , had chosen to accept this generosity offer and decided to think about those strange words that horned creature used: Any...pony?Somepony? What's a pony? A few minutes later , the door sprung open, Rarity was surprised. The red unicorn was all clean and beautiful now! Her mane seemed to be naturally spruced up like that. Rarity then looked at her back, she saw a magnificent glowing coat of a beautiful red and...wings?! Here pupils shrunk to near infinitely minuscule sizes. Rarity looked back up at the red pony's head, A horn! At the back, WINGS! Rarity didn't know if this was a trick being played on her eyes or if there really was a new alicorn! Not only was she an alicorn , but she seemed to be emitting a great amount of steam, something that would be normal , if it were winter. No; Ponyville was smack dab in summer , this sort of thing doesn't happen then. One last trait caught her eyes. This...this "alicorn" ,seemed to have no cutie mark whatsoever. What was she?! Only princess Celestia and Luna were the existing alicorns in all of Equestria , and even then , THEY HAD THEIR CUTIE MARKS! "I....we need to go to a friend's home. Are you okay with that? D-d-dear?" stuttered Rarity. Fyra nodded her head. "Great! Well , first , we need to hide those wings of yours first. Follow me back downstairs." Fyra did so and was immediately assaulted by a red fabric of an exact color as her dim red coat. It was placed over her wings. Rarity was expecting this alicorn to struggle her wings out of the fabric , but nothing happened. The red alicorn just looked at the red fabric posed on her back and tilted her head a bit in curiosity. "Come on, let's go." Rarity waited for the alicorn to leave before closing the door and locking it with her magic. They walked at a fast pace through the town.Fyra stuck close to the white unicorn this whole time , looking back and forth at her surroundings with awe. Rarity found this attitude and behavior strange for somepony who is supposed to be over several centuries old. Rarity decided to open a conversation , trying to get the alicorn to talk to her. "So, I don't believe I've introduced myself. I am Rarity , expert fashion designer." Fyra looked at her and tilted her head slightly and repeated: "Rarity?" Rarity gave an expression similar to someone trying to say a silent but easily seeable "wha-". She regained her posture. "And what is your name?" There was a long pause but Fyra stared directly in front of her into a seemingly blank abyss and said: "Fyra." After a bit of walking, Fyra found herself in front of what looked like a giant tree turned into a house. She was intrigued as to how such a thing could stay alive. Rarity knocked on the door and entered immediately after , urging Fyra to enter quickly. What a place this was! It was huge and seemed to hold a wide assortment of books. Fyra couldn't wait to start reading the contents of those things. Rarity took off the fabric from Fyra's back , revealing her wings. She then called out, extremely stressed and worried: "Twilight! I need you to come see this! Quickly! It's extremely urgent and I need your help!" "Hold on Rarity. I'm finishing this up and I'll be down in a sec." Spike heard Rarity and was filled with glee as the most beautiful pony he had ever seen was back in his sight. He was in the kitchen apparently , cleaning the dishes. "Oh! Rarity!" he quickly ran to the main room, his claws covered in yellow rubber gloves and still holding several plates.This tower of dishes blocked Fyra from his view. "It's so good to see you again! What's brings you to the library?" He had a very happy smirk on his face talking to Rarity , until he noticed that she was in a state of stress and only looked at him through the corner of her eye. He knew something was wrong and shifted himself , revealing Fyra little by little. "Hey , Rarity , what's going on? Is there something wrong at the boutique (he tried his best to pronounce the name right)? Do you need help cleaning up the place? Is there any-" Spike fell silent. He saw the red alicorn next to Rarity , also looking at him through the corner of her eye. That eye looked scary , the way it just stared at him with a temporarily reduced size. He dropped all the plates along with his jaw , frightening Fyra , whose iris glowed brightly for a small second. Spike was just staring at her. Twilight had heard the racket and came quickly back from the top of her "room". "Spike! What did you do? You know those plates aren't easy to repair perfectly! So Rarity , what's going ooooOOOooOOON!" Twilight was the second to stare at Fyra with her jaw hanging open. Fyra had bent down and was hitting the plate pieces with the end of her hooves , apparently finding it funny. Her wings were in plain sight , and so was her lack of a cutie mark and the apparent existence of a horn. "What the haaaaaaaay!" said Twilight as her hoof shakingly pointed towards the red alicorn. > New discoveries > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight and Rarity had gotten over their incredible amounts of fear and took curiosity and disbelief and threw them onto their faces.Something was...not right about that "alicorn". It wasn't just the way she acted , nor was it the fact she was missing a cutie mark, it was.....deeper. Whatever the case, Rarity and Twilight were discussing the appearance of this new character while sipping tea from their glasses. "Where did you find her Rarity?" "I don't know. I was in my boutique , just about to get ready to take a well deserved beauty nap , until I heard somepony open the door. I went to greet the pony but there was nothing but a...filthy FILTHY black rag on the floor covered in dirt and...blood." "Bl...blood?" Twilight looked at Fyra and saw the deep cut on her hind leg. It was still oozing out a bit of red , but nothing too dramatic. "How come she hasn't been screaming in pain? It looks pretty deep." "That's what I don't understand. She seems to have gone through much but doesn't seem to be reacting to any of the other small cuts and bruises that she has." "Well let me ask Spike to get the first aid kit. Spike!" Fyra and Spike had been poking at each other. Fyra wondered what this little scaley creature was , while Spike looked around her to see if the wings or horn weren't there by magic or were taped or glued. Spike turned around after his calling. "Yeah?" "Could you get the first aid kit near my bed?" "Sure Twilight!" Spike gleefully went to the stairs near the bookshelves and quickly climbed it. Sounds of ruffling were heard until he came back holding a squarish white box with a red cross on it. He climbed back down the stairs and handed it to Twilight , who quickly levitated it to her and started to open it's contents , checking for bandages and disinfectants. Fyra was watching the entire time , still on the floor. Twilight went close to her and spread out a bandage sheet.Rarity quickly stopped her before she could move closer to Fyra. "Twilight!" "Wh-what?" "Look at Fyra , what's wrong with her?" Apparently, Fyra's pupils had contracted and she was breathing irregularly again. She was staring at the cloth , the way it was spread...so familiar. Twilight quickly tried to calm her down. "It's okay...Fyra was it? This is just to heal your leg , it won't hurt." Fyra questioned this , what wound? She looked at her forelegs, nothing , then the hind, no-....oh. Apparently she was wounded.She was stricken with so much pain before that she didn't notice it. She lift her right hind leg a bit to get a closer look at the wound , but it was held by Twilight's magic. What is that? It looks so cool! I wonder if I can do that." While Twilight put the disinfectant on the wound, she didn't noticed Fyra making a muffled face , like she was trying to force something out. She stopped and panted a bit, then tried again. Rarity was trying hard not too giggle. Fyra gave up and waited until the purple...pony(?) went back in front of her to get near Rarity again. The alicorn checked her leg , it was neatly covered and well protected by the white cloth. This was yet another good feeling, she had nearly never felt, safety. "Have you tried talking to her?"asked Twilight. "Yes , but she doesn't appear to answer to anything you will ask her." "The how come you know her name." Rarity blushed a bit , trying to find an answer. "I..I don't know! She just told me her name after I told her mine." "Really?" Twilight had a hard time believing this.'Fyra'," she said. The red alicorn turned it's head away from spike, who was trying to rip off her 'fake' wings again. Twilight expected a 'Yes' or a 'What is it?' , but nothing but silence passed the alicorn's lips. "Oooookaaaaay. Where do you come from?" "..." "So you don't want to say...that's okay , some ponies prefer not to say , personal stories and whatnot. Well, how did you get here? Are you related to the princesses?" "...Princesses?" asked Fyra. Both ponies eyes widened. Surely she knew of Celestia and Luna. Rarity spoke up a bit: "Oh come on now darling. Surely you know of the princesses?" a nervous smile adorned her lips. Fyra shook her head. "Then...what do you know?" asked Twilight bending forwards. Fyra shrugged, her wings ruffling a little , causing Spike to fall over and rub his head. This was a strange feat. What kind of pony doesn't know about the princesses? They brought the day and the night! Even the youngest of fillies and colts knew about the princesses and their history...even if it was a bit tarnished. Twilight quickly went to a bookshelf and searched for 'The history of Equestria: basic knowledge'. She found and levitated it down in front of Fyra , who spread her forelegs forwards to greet this newcoming. "There. If you really didn't know your history , then this will help you." a bit of irritation flushed through her words. The alicorn didn't seem to care. Fyra looked at the pages and started reading through them fervently and carefully, trying to absorb every letter and word like a sponge. A little smile appeared on her face. Twilight was pleased that at least SOMEPONY liked her library and its books. Suddenly , a voice, one all too familiar , erupted inside the library , causing both Rarity and Twilight to start sweating cold pearls. It was too late to hide Fyra. They both stared at Applejack , trying to play it cool , while Spike tried to push Fyra inside the kitchen. She was just too big and was too concentrated on the book to notice anything happening to her surroundings. "Hey Twi! How're ya doin'? Ah decided to take a little break from mah apple buckin' to see how you were doin'. Oh , didn't see ya there , hi Rarity," her thick country accent sprucing up the mood a bit. She turned around to greet Spike but saw the alicorn reading her book , being slightly tipped over by Spike who was using all his strength to push her. He finally slouched down next to Fyra, wiping his forehead and catching his breath. She was just TOO heavy. Applejack's reaction was much different from her two friends'. She chuckled a bit , surprising Twilight and Rarity. "Wow Twi , that's mighty neat! You perfected yer flyin' spell?" "N-no." "Oh. It's an image then? You tryin' to make yer own story then? Tryin' ta get a good look at a character?" "No." Here , Applejack started feling a mixture of emotions , most notably surprise and worriedness. "Then ya made her them wings , Rarity?" The white unicorn shook her head. "The horn?" Rarity still shook her head. Applejack turned her head slowly towards the alicorn reading a book and walked carefully towards the other two. "Twi , is that a real alicorn?" "Yes, yes it is , although I hesitate." Applejack adorned a look demanding answers. "Why would ya say that?" "You know how I'm the element of magic?" "Yeah." "Well , whenever I get near princess, I can still feel intense amounts of magic flowing on and around me, same for Princess Luna. But with her, there's nothing. NOTHING! I can't feel any magic, no matter how miniscule, flowing from her. It's like she has none." "But that's impossible. What's the horn fer then? Didn't unicorns have them because they can use magic?" "That's true but...I don't know. And she won't talk. It's like she is afraid of everything around her. Just earlier she started to panic as I was going to put that bandage on her leg. This is urgent , and I need to alert princess Celestia and see what she can say about this pony." "Don't you have anything about alicorns in yer library,Twi?" "Surprisingly , no. But I guess that's a bit normal , seeing as princess Celestia never spoke of her past." "Well , whatever.ya say Twi." Twilight levitated a scroll and a quill to Spike who had fallen asleep on Fyra's side. She seemed to have noticed and liked the feeling , but continued to read. Twilight woke Spike up and asked him to write everything she was saying. Rarity and Applejack , on the other hand, preferred to take their mind off this mystery and talk about other things. Fyra kept reading her book. Who knew that there was so much that happened in this world. From the foundation of Equestria to Discord's rise to power , to the coming of the princesses, there was so much that happened! Fyra pondered , what did the future hold for the past , then? Spike belched out a green flame , sending the scroll to Celestia. It barely took a moment that he already burped a response out. It simply read: Are you sure about this? Twilight rolled her eyes and sent the reply. Another answer quickly gassed the library. That is most peculiar news. I will be right over with a few guards to see if this is not one of Discord's possible creations. Twilight felt better now that she alerted the princess. Everything would be settled and surely the herald of the sun would get through to the red alicorn. Twilight looked back at this pony. She had already gone quite far in the book and seemed stuck to it. Her eyes gleemed with curiosity. But Twilight suddenly found herself on the floor. She had been struck in the head by....a cupcake. "HEY, GIRLS!" yelled a particular pink party pony. "Pinkie Pie!"yelled Rarity "This isn't the best time to be here." "Why? Because you found another alicorn?" "No! It's because....wait...how did you...?" "Pinkie Pie always has her ways! Now can we throw her a welcoming party? Oooo oooo! What if I make her a GIANT cupcake and put a normal cake in there? That would be perfect! And lots of confetti and baloons! Maybe I can test my party machine again." Twilight stood back up , wiping the icing off her face. "So you hit me in the face with that cupcake Pinkie?" "Oh , sorry Twilight." Pinkie started bouncing around her" I tried out my party machine and it accidentally flung a cupcake towards your house." Pinkie swiped a bit of icing from Twilight and licked it. "Mmmm! Vanilla-lemon surprise!" Pinkie caught the watchful face of Fyra , who was staring at her. The alicorn was now sitting up and following every movement of Pinie with her head. "Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! I bet you love parties Fyra!" "Parties?" asked the red alicorn. Pinkie's face lit with glee. "So you don't know what it is? OOOOO! Be throwing your first party ever! This needs something special. I'll invite everypony in town to-" but she was cut short by Applejack. "I don't think that's a good idea sugarcube. It's best if we wait that Celestia arrives. Otherwise the ponies her might lose it." "Ooooh....alright , but I'll still do it eventually!" "But not right now?" "Nope. Pinkie swear!" Pinkie noticed that Fyra was imitating her , bouncing around behind Pinkie Pie with a gigantic smile on her face. Oh no! Thought Applejack.She ain't gonna be like Pinkie Pie is she? "Hahaha! You think you can follow me?" said Pinkie Pie."Try to follow me! Backflip!" And as she said , Pinkie did a backflip. Fyra followed. "Cart wheel!" Pinkie put her four hooves in a circular position around her and started to roll around the library. Fyra bounced in excitement and did the same. Fyra kept imitating the laughing Pinkie Pie and was laughing as well. Twilight , Rarity , and Applejack were somewhat irritated by the two Pinkie Pies doing acrobatics around them. After awhile, Celestia had arrived with ten royal guards and went near the door. Celestia was about to knock when she heard a crashing noise. It sounded like something fragile was destroyed. She started to panic , thinking her student and her friends were being attacked by this new 'alicorn'. A guard asked the princess to step back. His golden armor shining vibrantly in the light. He turned around and kicked the door down with the full strength of his hind legs. All the guards piled inside the library entrance , with Celestia following closely. They stopped in their tracks once they saw what was actually going on. It seemed that Pinkie was trying to teach Fyra to balance a spinning plate on a long wooden pole. While she had one on both fore hooves , one on her hind hoof ,, one on her nose , her head , and strangely , her tail, Fyra could barely balance one on her and caused it to fall. She was rubbing her head in shame , trying to be apologetic to Twilight for destroying her property. The mysterious mare was starting to open up thanks to Pinkie Pie , who was laughing very hard. "It's okay Fyra! I had the same problems when I first started. You just have to work your way up Pinkie Pie style and you'll get better soon." Pinkie was speaking in an almost muffled tone.She quickly caught glimpse of the princess and "yelled": "Hi princess!" Apparently , Pinkie didn't notice the door being smashed down. Fyra was trying to reassemble the plate pieces , not finding it as funny as before when it was Spike who broke them. "Princess Celestia! Thank Equestria you're here!" "Hello Twilight. I assume that she is this new 'alicorn' you spoke to me of?" Celestia pointed towards Fyra. "Yes." "Where did you find her?" "Well, I think Rarity can say that part." Twilight gave a nervous chuckle. Rarity repeated what she told Twilight to the princess. The state in which the red alicorn was when found disturbed Celestia greatly. If this Fyra was indeed an alicorn , she would have been able to get to pony ville in one piece. Then there was Twilight who spoke about the alicorn's apparent inability to use magic or her wings. This was the strangest thing of all. Celestia had noticed that the pony was lacking a cutie mark, despite her apparent age and size. "Twilight Sparkle." "Yes, your majesty?" "Do you feel that?" "Feel what?" "She emits no magic." "I...I know , princess. I was just about to tell you that. I also think that she has had a memory loss or something similar." "That would make sense , considering how she seems to love imitating your friend there." Celestia pointed at Fyra again. She had gone over her phase and was busy tickling with a feather she found on the floor. She held it between her teeth and was trying to make Pinkie drop her plates. Pinkie was sweating a lot , straining herself not to laugh. "H-hey! That's...heehee....cheating!" Celestia readied her horn , in case this was a cover up, some type of disguise being worn by an evil creature ready to destroy the elements of harmony once they were reunited. She closened to Fyra who was paying no attention to her. Celestia's face had a very serious tone to it. Her wings were spread out , and she had a type of glowing halo behind her head. "Fyra?" she said. Fyra turned around , her crimson eyes gleeming at her , joy and satisfaction filling them. She was almost as tall as her sister Luna, just , a few millimeters shorter, but , Celestia was suddenly set aback. The alicorn dropped the feather from her mouth and was clutching her head and looking at the floor. "Another memory?!" Fyra thought , a screech pulsating through her mind. "Are you al-" Celestia tried to reach out to the red alicorn , but she just looked at Celestia , her iris glowing. Fyra swung her hooves at Celestia while trying to stand her ground this time. She had the expression of pure terror on her face, like her life was at stake. Celestia tried get closer to her again , but Fyra just yelled: "STAY AWAY!!!". Her horn started to "activate". Unlike most magic imbued ponies, whose horns were surrounded by a sparkling aura, her's was surrounded by two funnels, both widening near the tip of the horn, and both looking like they were made of wind.. The smallest , inner funnel was of a dark grey. The bigger , outer funnel was whiter and opened much more near the tip of the horn. Fyra's eyes were starting to fill with tears. The library was shaking only slightly , and it seemed that the red alicorn was at full power. However , as Celestia attempted to grab Fyra ,the red alicorn's mouth spewed smoke, and a bright wall of fire appeared, blocking Celestia from her and Pinkie Pie. Mini bonfires started to appear all over the library. "Oh no! My books!" yelled Twilight." My home! PINKIE PIE!" "It's okay Twi! Let the princess deal with this, me and Rarity will get some water and help to light out these flames." "Wait , maybe I can use a spell to blow them out?" Twilight concentrated very hard , but her new spell didn't work on the the little flames dotted all over the library. "W-what? That's impossible." "Now is not the time to worry about that dear. Unless we do something , your home will be ashes." "Okay! Princess, will you be alright?" "Yes, Twilight. Guards, help them with this new task." They all saluted the princess and yelled in unison: "Yes m'am!" While the rumbling hooves could be heard, Celestia was concentrating on the flames, she had already pushed a hole through them, albeit a tiny hole , but she was already making quick progress. This alicorn was unusually weak. However , while Celestia was trying to get through the fire wall , Fyra was remembering a horrid memory within that tower. Celestia's coat was of a purer white than Rarity's , and that seemed to affect her, the icing on the cupcake , however , was the halo of light behind the princesses' head. Fyra first saw in blur , she was dizzy, but quickly saw some sort of metal hive-like object attached to the ceiling , shining on her with several balls of light. Fyra tried to get out , but she was stuck. She was held by four silvery clamps keeping her hooves down. She was also on some type of flat, grey table. She was much smaller than normal and could feel the lack of wings and a horn. Suddenly , a giant thin creature came from her right, placing itself in front of the light in order to face her. It was adjusting a black rubber glove on it's right hand which, if Fyra looked correctly , was made of...metal? The creature wore black black boots made of some alloy that clomped on the floor every time 'it' took a step. Said creature seemed to wear a very long white coat of the cleanest variety which was held shut by several black buttons. The neck of the coat sticking upwards , covering the creature's mouth and nose. It wore weird goggles. The thing seemed to have several lens on it , allowing for an automatic adjustion for pinpoint accuracy. It's right eye seemed to glow as a little yellow dot through the lens. The creature also had nothing on it's head. When it finished adjusting it's glove, it lift an eyebrow, and went towards a tray filled with strange small pointy and sharp objects. She was being operated on. As she turned her head to look at the "thing", she became aware of what was a pitch black environment. Several gigantic cages were in the corners of the room , filled with strange creatures who seemed...dead. There was blood everywhere. It was splattered on the walls , on the floor tiles , even on the ceiling , but none on the table. Oh no. The creature needed it to be strictly clean and disinfected. There was one trail of blood that bothered Fyra , however. It looked like the creature was dragging itself towards the far away door , and was killed before it could reach it. The little splattered dots of red all over the wall seemed to prove this. She looked back at the thing. It was holding a scalpel and analyzing it scrutinously. He carefully placed it back on the tray , grabbed the side of it and it's support , and threw them violently on the floor in a seemingly furious manner , spreading the dangerous objects on the floor. It stood back up and laughed in a very deep tone. It then spoke. "Now now. We don't need something so trivial as a scalpel. Let's use some...more modern equipment provided to me by some good friends." The creature dragged a massive table next to Fyra's in great difficulty. "Pfiou. That was heavy. Now then , which one shall I test first? Let's check what you need changed today, mahaha." The creature checked through a notebook and found a single line circled by red ink." Oooh. It seems that you are ready for the final phase. While I would've hoped that an imperfection like you would've just had the basic....hmhm...injection, it would seem that the higher ups have better plans. Let's see if you survive this or if you become one of those....complete failures." It reached for what looked like some type of metal saw. The "saw" was in a circular shape all around the top of the device. The insides were filled with rotating saws each delicately placed on the edges. The only ones really need were the outside ones and the horizontal saws on the inside. "Now then, I need to saw through your right side to inject this into you." Fyra started squirming, trying to get as far way from that thing as possible.The creature sighed and let it's arms drop to its sides. "Oh pffff. Come one! What are you scared of? You've had this happen to you many times over. This doctor took care of you in the least gruesome manners possible...unlike my colleagues. They have no thought of what they are doing, ignorants. Well then , it's time to begin." The "doctor" activated the device , and started to drill into Fyra's side, she was screaming with the top of her lungs. The goggles of the doctor kept changing and rearranging themselves. Blood and flesh being sucked into the machine...almost entirely. The doctor then stopped. Fyra's side was almost drilled to the ribs. She could barely breathe and was expecting to die in a few seconds, but the doctor interjected: "Now now. We won't have you dying on us , will we? We still need you. Now hold still." The creature held a strange syringe in his...fingers? The syringe was filled with what looked like molten fire. He jammed it "gently" into Fyra's side and injected it. The red pony nearly died when she felt intense energies flowing through her, but she still couldn't move. "There we go. Now for the last part, brain injection." It grabbed a tinier drill. This one looked like two claws curved into an "L" at the end. "Well, here we go." Fyra ws paralyzed , but she didn't know why. She watched the drill as it activated , filling her ears with that horrible music of pain. It crept closer and closer to her forehead. WHACK Everything went dark. > A new start > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fyra opened her eyes , she was floating in that dark place again. The two eyes were staring at her. The blue one wasn't crying anymore. The "evil" eye spoke first once again. "Ha! You got whacked in the head? Such a silly pony." Fyra was more confident of herself now and replied. "I got whacked? By what?" "By the doctor of course! Don't you remember?" Fyra put her front hoof on her side, there was no hole , but she couldn't help but still feel the pain. "So you know who that was?" "Perhaps.Why spoil the fun and tell the ending of SUCH an interesting story at the beginning? That would spoil the surprise finale." "What surprise finale?" "Oh...you'll see." "Stop taunting her," said the 'kind' eye. "Oh? And what will you do? You have no power." "Maybe, but I know how to suppress you." "Oh no! I'm so scared! Don't banish me!" The eye rolled around."You no longer have as much power as you did in that horrid tower. Just be happy that I haven't erased you from existence yet." The blue eye gasped, frightened. "Now then , Fyra, it would seem that we cannot meet just yet. It would seem that there are two creatures on this world with unfathomable power. I will be perfecting my....hmhm.....OURselves until we can meet. Why not do the same? You'll drag our fight on until everything around us is destroyed and those four ponies are dead." "What? How do you-" "Know about those creatures you met? Have you not forgotten that we are psychically linked? I can see through your eyes without you noticing and take in knowledge of what you see and hear. You could do the same , if you could still conrol these gifts bestowed upon us. I look forward to....ugh...what?!" The evil eye was phazing out of existence. The blue eye seemed to be concentrating with her whole being to keep the evil one suppressed. "N...no matter...eventu....ally....I'll send you....a creature you....know...all too well...." it faded away. The blue eye then spoke quickly , time was running out. "Fyra , I know you remember about the encounter at the tower. You remember those two other ponies that were with you?" "Yes." "Find them. They didn't have a device planted into their brains as they were semi-successes. They remember everything , and they could help you recover your powers , like last time." "Last time?" "Yes. You aren't the only one who can defeat her , know that. But you are the only one who can properly free her....find the other two ponies.One of them is near you right now. Quickly!" "But what did you mean by semi-successes? Who are you?" The eye had almost faded out , but Fyra heard three words: "........a forgotten friend..........." Fyra awoke. She sat up , rubbing her head. There was a lump on the side. She was in a dungeon and was sitting on hay in a cell made of hoof-layed stones. The red alicorn got up and went near the metal bars to take a peek through them. Nothing on the left but more cells , nothing on right but....the exit....guarded by two armored white pegasi. Fyra knew much more thanks to the book that Twilight had given her. She knew what pegasi and unicorns were now , what those guards were , and many other intriguing things. She stared at the guards , who gave a cold stare back with the corner of their eyes. Fyra backed away from the bars. She just let her rear flop down on the hay pile. The alicorn noticed that there was a light coming into her cell and twisted around to find the source. There was a hole in the wall , also blocked by metal bars , and it was very high. It was already night , and there was a full moon again. She once again felt at ease. Another memory came to her , but this one was soothing. She was in the tower again, but in a similar room as the cell she was in. It was very tiny and she was on a very hard bed that only had a dirty white cloth for a blanket.The toilet was in a distant corner , and there was a window against the wall. The only door in the room was one about slightly higher than the "doctor". It was a heavy metal mass and the only openings on it was a pushable opening for feeding trays, and a sliding 'window' for seeing the 'patient' in the room. Fyra had decided to stare through her window. It was a reinforced glass, capable of resisting any blunt force. Fyra decided to look through the window , despite the obvious pain in her legs. The only thing she could consider beautiful and comfortable in this cruel world she is trapped in was that moon. It looked so far away from this wretched place , yet so close she could almost reach it. It was also the only "pure white" object she had ever seen. She bathed in it's rays. She liked to "meditate" under a full moon. Back in the cell, she was meditating under the moonlight again. She was humming a song that came from the deep reaches of her mind, one she was familiar with , but didn't know the origin. The two guards were wondering what this "song" was and started to force their bodies to bend towards the red alicorn's cell. It was too far. Suddenly, a gentle, almost inaudible voice came through the stairway. "Umm , excuse me." The pegasi readjusted themselves almost immediately and crossed their wings , preventing passage. "What is it?" "Ummm , well , Twilight wanted me to give this book to a red pony here." "Twilight? You mean Twilight Sparkle? The student of princess Celestia?" "Oh yes. She wanted me to give that red pony this book and--" "Okay. I'll accompany you. You never know if she'll try to attack you." "Oh my." They both went towards the cell, the humming becoming louder and louder. They were surprised at the sight. It looked as though the alicorn was glowing in the moonlight. She had a great smile on her face while her eyes were closed. She was meditating too deeply to notice the hoof clopping on the ground. "Um....excuse me...I have something for you." The humming stopped and Fyra opened her eyes , her smile fading away slightly. She lowered her head and stood up and turned to face a yellow pony with a long pink mane. This pegasi was rubbing the floor with her front hoof. Her mane partially covered her face. She had the book Twilight had given her wedged carefully between her two wings. "Twilight asked me to give this to you." The pegasi let the book slide on her wing towards her hoof, a little trick that Rainbow Dash taught her. "Here you go." Fyra reached out calmly and grabbed the book by pressing her front hooves against it , using friction to keep the book from falling. She quickly dropped the book in the hay pile and saw that it was the book she had been reading pertaining to the history of Equestria. She looked back up at the yellow pony, but still said nothing. Her smile and the sparkle in her eyes showed the pegasi that she was thanked. "Your welcome. Twilight also said that those flames that you created in her library didn't destroy or damage anything...and that...well...there you go." A wave of relief overflowed Fyra like a wave crashing against rocks. She exhaled and wiped her forehead to show it. The yellow pony stayed there for awhile without saying anything. The guard tired of this and said: "Okay m'am. It's time for you to go back upstairs." "Oh, wait! What's your name?" she asked the alicorn" Mine is Fluttershy." "M-m-m...mine is...Fyra." "Nice to meet you Fyra. Pinkie Pie said that you were a lot of fun to play with and that she wanted a...what did she say? A rematch with plate spinning?" Fyra chuckled. The guard tugged on Fluttershy's wing. "Oh, well , it would seem I need to leave. I hope to see you later Fyra." Fyra waved goodbye. She finally had her book back. She flipped the pages until she reached the chapter "Founding of Canterlot". This chapter had been interesting her alot and she wanted to read through it to see what this Canterlot was and how it was made by the past ponies. Several hours had passed and Fyra had already finished the book. She had decided to restart meditating in the moonlight , humming the same tune as earlier. She was shaken awake by the sound of a heavy door swinging away from it's closed hold. Fyra went near the bars again to see what was going on. She heard the two guards say: "Princess Luna! W-what are you doing here. It could be dangerous!" "Do not forget that we are still a royal sister. We can protect ourselves quite fine. My sister asked me to speak to a prisoner. I suppose that that is her?" Luna pointed to the little portion of Fyra's head sticking out. The red alicorn quickly retracted her head and hid under the hay pile. She didn't like the face that the dark blue unicorn had given her. Fyra kept her breathing to a very quiet , very slow rythm.She kept her eyes closed when she heard the door to her cell slide open. She thought she was well hidden, until she heard a type of humming sound , and found the hay all over her was now pressed against the wall. Her eyes widened in surprise. She stayed on the floor for a few seconds before sitting upright, her eyes still widened. "So," said Luna,"We see that our sister was not pranking us. Thou truly is an alicorn like my sister and I." The princess was circling Fyra, who had been strangely docile. Something about this pony...no...this "alicorn", seemed so familiar. Fyra felt a familiar energy coming from this dark blue pony with a flowing mane. It looked like the night sky outside. Luna stopped. This pony had no 'cutie' mark. Something she was sure had already arisen within the minds of several others. Luna rounded Fyra once more and faced her again. Her stern face not giving the proper atmosphere for a response from the red alicorn. "We know who you are , and what you are, but where did you come from? What is your power? Why were you so afraid of my sister?" "Sister?" "Ah, she answered," Luna thought. "Yes , princess Celestia. The one you nearly burnt back at ponyville." Fyra slouched slightly, embarrassed and ashamed. "Will you tell us everything about yourself?" "..." "You can unleash your feelings unto us. We will not harm you." "..." Luna put her hoof on Fyra's shoulder and changed her cold , expressionless face to a more concerned one. That hoof on her shoulder and that comforting smile reminded her of that blue pegasus. "We are here to understand you and try and figure out why you are here and why you seem to act...the way you act. It's okay now, you are safe." Safe...safe...safe.... those words echoed in her mind. Luna noticed the red alicorn starting to sniffle and her eyes watering up. Before the princess knew it , she was within the grasp of the red alicorn. Fyra was crying, a lot! All those pent up feelings within her burst out to their password , one that had never been spoken to her before, the word "safe". Luna was surprised at this reaction. She expected an exhale and a simple trivial answering of questions. Instead , she had a red alicorn who was hugging her and sulking right next to her as well. Luna didn't know how to react. She tried to mumble some words but nothing came out. She decided that the best course of action would be to hug this pony as well. She folded her arms against Fyra, who squeezed the princess even harder and used the same amount of strength in her crying. The two guards were taken aback by this sudden and most unexpected reaction. Luna decided to try and calm the alicorn down by using what Celestia would do to her before she became Nightmare Moon. It was the only thing that came to mind first. Luna's hooves stroke through Fyra's mane while she hummed another soothing tune. Celestia was waiting in her thrown room with the mane six. Celestia had been worried about the time it was taking Luna to return. Sure, that Alicorn was dramatically weak in terms of magic control, but she could control the flames. "Are you alright princess?"asked Twilight. She was worried about Celestia's pensive look. Biting her lower lip and staring at the ground. She quickly lift her head up to face her student. "Not really....I'm worried about Luna is all." "There's no reason to fret your majesty. Fyra seemed harmless enough , and she ended up becoming-" Twilight face-hoofed"-like Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie bounced towards Twilight, wearing one of her goofy glasses again. "Yeah , it was lots of fun! It was like a "Ricky says" but without the "says"." Rainbow Dash had been circling around the large room, impatient as always. She overheard the worries of the princess and flew up to her, showing off again. "Don't worry your majesty , if anything happens to your sister, were here. We'll show her a thing or two!" Rainbow was punching the air to show her "abilities". "Rainbow , I don't think that's going to be necessary," said Twilight. "Of course not. Did you see the poor dear? She was absolutely terrified! And she seemed so harmless. Plus her mane is magnificent. Surely someone with anything bad in their hearts could not have such style...aside from a certain colt I wish to not speak of again." Rarity turned her head and pouted. Twilight and Celestia both gave out a little giggle. A loud boom was heard soon after. Luna had returned from the prison , a terribly shocked expression on her face. She seemed to have thrown several cans of white paint to her face. While she curved around the corner of the massive doors leading to the thrown room, Fyra popped up right behind her. Looking around in awe. Rainbow soon jetted right into Fyra's face. The red alicorn was shocked at first but quickly looked irritated by how this blue pegasi was acting. This annoying creature kept pushing Fyra's face. "Hey! What'd you do to the princess, huh? SPEAK UP or else!" "Rainbow , we told you she doesn't--" "Who wants to know?" yelled Fyra, pushing back against Rainbow's head. The ponies who knew her almost disconnected their jaws from their skulls yet again. "Oh? A wise guy huh? Come on then! Put 'em up!" Rainbow started to bounce around on the ground, showing some ample footwork , while putting her front hooves up, ready for a fight. Fyra simply lowered her head slightly and lifted her eyebrow , in a pure mocking manner. This enraged Rainbow , who turned all shades of red on her face. She performed an excellent high kick aiming directly for Fyra's face. Fyra just moved slightly to the right and touched Rainbow slightly on the back of her head, causing her to lose balance and fall on her face during landing. She got back up expecting a strike towards her , and lift her hooves to block it , but saw Fyra standing at her same spot , the same smirk on her face. Rainbow started to attack Fyra with all manners and forms , while Fyra didn't fight back , and couldn't block them all , she knew how to effectively counter many of these moves and cause Rainbow to lose balance , even when the pegasi used her wings. The others were shocked at this sudden mood change, this didn't seem at all like Fyra, a stubborn pony that seemed to find pleasure in mocking their friend. A resounding 'STOP' echoed through the throne room. Celestia was aggravated by the fighting.While Rainbow kept looking at Fyra, the red alicorn seemed to have a mood swing and adorned a smile. Pleasure reflecting in her eyes. She moved towards the throne of Celestia , where the princess was sitting. The only way to know that she was horrified by what Luna told her , was to see her eyes , and a gagging reflex being suppressed. "Considering the current events, I have deemed that you six will have to watch over Fyra and teach her new things. As you are the e-" Luna interrupted her sister , doing a cutting motion on her neck with her hoof. "-uh...are very special and dear to us, we have decided that it would be best for you to watch over her." Rainbow Dash was irritated. "But why? She's just a pompous punk! She should be able to care for herself!" The two sisters saw Fyra squint her eyes and give a menacing smile towards the possible location of Rainbow Dash. They were worried she might do something unthinkable. It was actually muh more sinister. "I wonder if I should prank her? And how? Maybe the pink pony...Pinkie....Pie(?).... would help me with that. She seems playful. I hope she doesn't hate me for what I did to her though. I can't wait for that rematch." Fyra then returned to a normal smile and looked up at Luna. "This is done. Now for wherever she sleeps , you are to talk about that between yourselves. My sister and I must rest for the night, we have much to discuss between ourselves." The group was escorted outside by guards. Now outside the castle walls and back into regular Canterlot, they had to reach the train station. Applejack was busy scolding Rainbow Dash who was still flying , but with crossed arms and a pouting face. "Well , I suppose that is that, my dear. I'm surprised you have just decided to talk. What happened in that dungeon with the princess?" asked Rarity. Fyra looked towards the full moon with her eyes and said: "Nothing much...personal things mostly. Oh , and sorry about dirtying your store awhile back. "Oh , that's quite alright darling. All is forgiven , and your mane has given me a wonderful idea for a dress too. By the way , how is your leg doing?" "Fine, I guess. The bandage burned off , but I didnt see any scars or anything on it." "Fantastic!" Rarity and Fyra seemed to get along just fine. But the best of friends were the combination of both Pinkie Pie and Fyra , who seemed to be dancing along the way, some ponies who were still out watched as the duo performed a great many feats of acrobacy. But Fyra still seemed unable to use her wings and horn. Pinkie still outranked her with some moves she invented. "Fyra! I just remembered! What happened to my book? You didn't forget it in the dungeon did you?" "Hold on." Fyra rummaged through her mane. Out came the book! "I tangled it in my mane since I didn't want to nasty it with my mouth." "Well then, I hope you kept it clean." Twilight gave a nervous smile and floated the book right next to her. Fyra saw a hotel further on. She hesitated to ask, thinking it was too much: "Um...I'm sorry to ask but....can we stay here for awhile?" "In Canterlot? What fer?" asked Applejack. "Well...there's somepony I need to find, and I don't know his name , I just know what he looks like." "Oh no!" grumbled the rainbow pegasi."I'm not staying here with her! You can sleep in that hotel if you want, but I'm going home. GOOD NIGHT!" And with that, the cyan pegasi bolted off into the distance. "Well, I guess that you five don't want to either then?" The five remaining ponies all hesitated for a few moments, performing various movements, but Pinkie Pie was there to save the day. "Hey girls , let's help her! She has been having problems since we've found her. Maybe that pony she's looking for is her special somepony that she hasn't seen for awhile." Fyra started blushing. "Wh-what? No! It's nothing like that...it's something else." "Whatever you say Fyra. I believe you." Pinkie adorned a smirk and bounced to Twilight Sparkle. "Sososososo?!" "Okay, but we're returning to ponyville when the sun starts to set tomorrow.Spike should be able to handle himself with Owlowiscious for one more day. I'm sure he'll appreciate the "alone" time he so desperately wanted." "Yay!" Yelled both Fyra and Pinkie. The group got out two golden things from brown bags they had hidden on themselves, with Pinkie taking out four.Fyra moved closer to the golden things shimmering in the moonlight. "What are those?" "Ya mean ya've never seen bits before too?" "Bits?" "It's money , a way to exchange something for another. You have to work to get some. It's actually very necessary if you want to live." "Huh. Weird, they don't seem to be valuable." "That's just how things are." After Twilight had finished her explanation she was about to push the door of the very tall white building adorned with many orange-tinted windows. The windows were currently blocked by the white curtains on their other side. The name 'The White Horn' was etched on the face , just above the door , in curly black letters. "Wait Twilight!" "Ugh, what is it again Pinkie?" "We need to hide her wings." Pinkie took out a red cloth from nowhere and placed it on Fyra's wings. "There we go. All done!" "Pinkie...how did you....never mind. Let's go." After the payment to a very "sophisticated" pony , by Rarity's terms, they were all in a six-bed room. The beds were all aligned with each other. Each pony had gotten into bed, except for Pinkie Pie, who was the last to go to the restroom. Rarity delicately slid in the bed , Applejack just flopped the blanket on herself, Twilight folded her's neatly, Fluttershy comfortably laid in hers, having still not made a sound since earlier. Pinkie still wasn't in hers. Fyra wanted to pull a prank by hiding under the covers and bouncing out at Pinkie, but the pink party animal bounced out of the sheets. "Boo! Hahahaha!" The others bounced up as well , all looking at Pinkie in an annoyed manner , but too tired to complain. "You need to teach me how to do that teleporting thing Pinkie." "Maybe I will, if you are a good 'student'." "Heheheh. Maybe." Fyra climbed into her bed while the other ponies dozed off. She was next to the window , the moon shining brightly onto her.She had never felt such great comfort before. It was like she was sleeping on clouds. She closed her eyes and , since who knows how long , her dreams weren't filled with nightmares or those two eyes, no , they were filled with blissful dreams.....of her and Pinkie Pie pranking everypony in every way imaginable. Fyra had a little grin on her face and a tear ran down her cheek. Good dreams. > Politeness lends wings > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fyra had awoken to the sun shining brightly in her face. Apparently , she didn't anticipate that the sun would shine through the window as much as the moon did. The group had attended to their basic morning activities:cleaning up , doing their needs , and eating breakfast. It was blueberry muffins and oatmeal cereal. Fyra found her favorite food now , blueberry muffins. There was a new pony at the register.She was much more rude then the one from last night, but the group had finally returned outside, the road buzzing with ponies and the like. Some were carrying wooden wagons full of goods , others were in carriages , and more decided to fly around from place to place.Pinkie had put the red fabric back on Fyra's wings, so she now just looked a giant red unicorn with no cutie mark.....not the best of disguises. And truth be told , every passer-by looked at Fyra , making her uncomfortable. She started to shrink away. "So"started Twilight:" Do you know where to start?" "Not really. I was hoping we could each split in groups of two and search around...what's this place called again?" "Canterlot." replied Rarity. "That sounds like a good plan to me. Okay then , Rarity and Fluttershy, you'll be together.I'll be with Applejack , and I'm sure Fyra and Pinkie we'll be a perfect group." "Yes!" yelled Pinkie. "Now then, let's get looking for this po-..." Twilight stopped and realized that she had no idea who she was looking for. "Wait a minute, Fyra , you never told me who we were looking for. What does this pony look like?" "Oh. Sorry , hold on then , let me try and remember." The pony she was sensing was one of kindness and politeness.It was a colt, a pegasi, and blue. Her senses had developed a bit better , but she still couldn't use her horn. This pegasi had a yellow mane that was "coiffed" in a style to keep the mane straight but round all along it's top. The tail was till scrounged up , and he had a mark on his flanks. It resembled resembled a monocle being held in a white, ruffled up cloth. Fyra repeated this all to the five mares with her. Twilight explained that those were cutie marks and how they appeared, filling Fyra with more knowledge and a pure goal, finding her special talent. They all put their hooves together. Fyra hesitated and wondered hat this act was. Applejack told her that it was a sign of trust and good luck. Fyra gave a smile and slammed her hoof in the circle, causing the others to retract their's and start rubbing their hoof. The group then left in separate directions , bound to return to the hotel if they found the pony. Everypony left in separate directions to search for the pegasi in question. The groups would often mistake somepony for the description , as they looked at the mane and coat color first before the cutie mark. Several hours had passed and the search seemed hopeless. Twilight had started to complain about this situation to Applejack. "This is tiring. I know Canterlot is big , but shouldn't we have found this pony if he really here?" "I know what ya mean Twi. I ain't too used to hard fllors so ma hooves are startin' ta ache up. But were doin' the gal a favor." "I know. But , I thought she barely knew anything or anypony. Like she had amnesia?" "Yeah.Ah think she did lose her memory, she just won't tell us." "How does she "remember" this pony if she lost it though?" "I dunno Twi , but...wait...isn't that him over there?" The two ponies had found themselves in front of a very "chic" restaurant. The walls were of a beautiful marine blue , and it was designed to look like it was falling over.The windows all seemed egg shaped as well, a strange place. It was called 'Le poney bleu'. Neither Twilight nor Applejack could read that. Rarity certainly could , but she wasn't here. The restaurant was on the edge of the walls , allowing ponies who came to eat outside to look at nature whenever they wanted. The tables outside were all "skeleton" framed. Meaning that they were made to look like they were assembled from many cords and bars. A nice idea appreciated by the clients. The pony who fit the description perfectly (including the cutie mark) and who caught the attention of Twilight and Rarity, was a very fashionable pony who was holding a silver platter topped by varied food dishes. He was a waiter. The clients were all thrilled by his way of giving them food and moving about. He literally seemed to be hovering above the floor. This time , his platter held two bowls full of a thick stew overflowing with perfectly cooked vegetables. It gave off a mouth-watering aroma. The pony was performing dance moves while holding the platter. He first spun around, keeping the bowl in place on his wings. The bowls didn't move at all, even when he was spinning. He then performed a forward flip towards the table that the green and orange unicorns were waiting at. Before touching the floor with his front hooves , he kicked the platter up and threw the stew out of it's containers. The cooking had spread around in a wide area above the table. The blue pegasi flipped back onto his back hooves and kept a meaningless expression his face , besides the lifted eyebrow. It looked like he was showing off, like he was shouting: "This isn't hard. This is just a typical thing." He caught the two bowls with the tips of his wings and made them spin around his before throwing them back up into the air. He kept his arms crossed after this. Everypony looked at the bowls follow the exact path of the falling stew. The pegasi then stood straight forward, parallel to the table, while sticking his right fore hoof forward and his hind left one up. The bowls landed perfectly on them without moving. The blue pony then made a little movement with both legs , bouncing the bowls up slightly in the air. He grabbed the silver platter he had placed on the table of his clients and moved it all te way up towards the bowls who stayed on their now solid ground. He finally placed the tray with it's passengers on the table and swiped the tray back away. With a tiny clunk , the bowls fell on the table , not spilling a single drop of their juices or a chunk of their vegetables. Nopony knew how he had performed this, seeing as the tray had high edges to prevent anything from falling off it. The clients applauded him for this mark of dexterity and reflex. He bowed, the tray balanced perfectly on his head. He walked away after the applauding stopped and went back inside the restaurant. "Wow. Now that was some show. Ah didn't that there was ponies who could perform like that." "Neither did I. Let's go talk to him." Applejack and Twilight Sparkle both went through the open doors to the restaurant, seeing tons of ponies eating at the tables and gossiping about whatever subjects interested them at the time. There was a very long brown maple wood bar where the cooks were. They were cooking all manners of food on the stoves. The blue pegasi the two were looking for was right behind it , taking two plates onto another tray. "That's him Applejack." "Well then , what're we waitin' fer? Let's go 'n greet him." The blue pegasi had just barely left the closed off area that Applejack popped right in front of him. "Uhhh...may I help you madame?" "Yeah.There's someone important who's been lookin' for ya. Can ya come with us?" The pony looked up and down at Applejack , then continued to another table to deliver the meals. He gestured his head to tell the two ponies to follow him. "You seem to be a rustic personnage. Quite fascinating." he put the plates on the table and wished the clients to eat well. He turned back towards Applejack. "Someone who has creativity, unlike these other ponies." Oh great.Another Rarity thought the cowpony. "But tell me who this "friend" of yours is." Twilight stepped past Applejack. "Well, she just wants to meet you at all costs. She says it's important. When do you think you can leave?" "When? In five minutes. I finish at six, not at five fifty-five. My job is important and requires the touch parfait." "Now that's a pony!" yelled Applejack, causing everyone to turn around and stare at her. "He takes his job seriously and prefers that it's well done!" Applejack slapped the blue pegasi on the back. "Ooomf. Yes , quite. Now , if you wouldn't mind , please wait outside this establishment , I'll be right with you." "I think you went overboard Applejack." "Yeah. Maybeh." The two ponies exited the "chic" restaurant and waited outside. They saw the blue pegasi waving to his work-mates who were working late night shifts. He walked towards the two ponies waiting for him. "Well then , now that I have finished my working hours, I believe proper introductions are in the matter. As proper male etiquette, I shall ask for your names first." "Well , I'm Twilight Sparkle , it's a pleasure to meet you." "Ah! A pleasure for my eyes to seep in I must say. Nopony around here is a dazzling as you my dear." Twilight blushed a bit , with the blue pegasi giving an overconfident look. Applejack gave a grin. "And ah'm Applejack. It's a pleasure ta meet ya." "The-the-the p-pl-pleasure is a-all m-m-m-m-ine." Applejack got the waiter in her well known super hoof shake. When she let go, the waiter's mane was ruffled out and he was tilting and wobbling , before shaking himself and regaining his posture. "Now then, what is this about un ami? I suppose you want me to follow you?" "Yes. It's imperative that you follow us." The pegasi lifted its eyebrow. "AND the use of a sophisticated vocabulary. I was sure one such as yourself could only depicted on a canvas, beautiful and viewable , but nonexistent and unobtainable." Twilight started becoming as red as a cherry. Applejack gave a light punch to the pegasi on his left shoulder. "Alright then lover colt , I think you haven't told us your name." "Ah yes, a thousand pardons. It was uncouth of me to behave in such a manner. My name is Motel Bleu," he bowed while putting his right fore leg over his lowered chest: "Written like 'motel' but pronounced like 'model' with a 't'." "That's a weird name." said Applejack. "Applejack, that's not something to say!" Motel rubbed his chin. "No, it is quite alright Madame Sparkle." "Please , just call me Twilight." "Whatever you wish for Twilight. I will not deny the fact that my name is quite étrange. I guess my...." there was a long pause:".....parents....had a sense of humor. Now then , is there a meeting place for this friend?" "Yeah. But it's in front of a hotel. Ah forgot it's name. But we both know where it's at, don't we Twi?" Applejack grabbed Twilight in one arm and pressed her against herself. "Y...yes. It seemed very important to her that she meet you." "Well then , lead the way mademoiselles." The group started walking through the streets who has started taking the steepness of the hill they were made on. The white bricks used in the construction were still quite clean. Both Applejack and Motel were discussing the best physical needs for each other's jobs and how to properly perform in it. Motel continued to let out a compliment to Twilight Sparkle every now and then. They had reached a street that was being avoided by the crowd. The ponies were staring at something and were too terrified to move. Some had even fainted. They were all blocking the way. Both Motel and Twilight were trying politeness to pass , but to no avail , nopony flinched. Applejack had to use....convincing demonstrations to force everypony out of the way. Motel gut crushed under a fainting pony. "Ow. Um , Twilight, could you , perhaps , lend a colt a hoof?" "Oh no. Hold on." Twilight started to pull on Motel's hooves (the only part still sticking out from under the pony) with her magic. She struggled. "Uh,Twi...." "What is it Applejack?" "Have you ever seen somethin' like that in any of yer books?" "What are you talking about Applejack? What th--" Twilight stopped pulling on Motel and stared in the same direction as everypony else. "What's going on? What is it Twilight?" "What in Equestria...?" she whispered out. Several different ponies were laying in front of the hotel , it's door torn down. They had a few things in common. First , they were all on the ground. Second, they seemed to have become extremely pale, like when Discord corrupted Twilight and her friends. And last , they were all around a strange pony that seemed to be looking for something. It's mane was black and not at all taken care of, same thing of it's tail. It's coat was of an extremely dark green color, almost black , and patches of glowing yellow erupted from them. It wore a torn of cloth that covered almost all of it's body. The only exception to this "dress-code" was a heavy grey armor that resembled the lower portion of a warrior's helmet. This grey thing was slightly further from the pony's muzzle , but it covered up the entirety of it's lower face. The yes were the most frightening. The looked like empty sockets filled with a yellow light. It was slowly scrutinizing the surrounding area. "Twilight....I can't breathe...."Twilight snapped out of her trance. "Oh! I'm so sorry." Twilight started pulling on Motel's hooves then facehoofed. "Duh! I can levitate the pony. Gently now." Motel stood back up , his eyes closed and gasping for air.While Motel was trying to regain his posture, a Yellow pony with a lemon yellow moved forward , thinking that this was some type of show. The creature didn't pay attention to the approaching pony and turned away , causing the group opposite from Twilight and Applejack to gasp and step back. It kept looking at the sky for some reason. But , when the yellow pony approached the "armored" pony , it spun around and roared so loud it broke the surrounding windows and caused everypony to try and block their ears. It grabbed the yellow pony with it's strange hooves , that seemed to have grown claws , or at least broken bones that were sticking out conveniantly. It dug deep into the pony's flesh , letting loose a light trickle of blood. The pony couldn't even yell, she just stood there, her mouth drooping out and her eyes losing their colors. She turned pale and dropped to the floor, her eyes shut. The creature landed back on the floor and turned back to the other group. Everypony started screaming and running away. "What was that sound? Why are you all...no...it can't be." Motel saw the creature who suddenly turned around after Applejack called out to it. "Hey! What'd you do to that pony there?" The thing just ignored her and turned back around. "What? Fine then! Ya asked fer this!" Applejack sprinted with incredible speed. She was so fast , in fact , that the "pony" couldn't react fast enough and received a full force buck to it's right side. With a loud crunch, it flopped to the ground , inanimate. "Oh no! Ah didn't mean to...oh no..." The thing just stayed on the ground. The cloth covering it was torn and on the floor , revealing its side bent inwards instead of outwards. Motel got up and started to run towards Applejack. "APPLEJACK! Get away from it! Quickly! You don't know what it's capable of! GO! Quickly! I'll destroy it! Get to Twlight NOW!" "Wha...what do ya mean , I ki-" Applejack was stopped silent after she heard cracking noises. She turned around to look at the creature's ribs rebuilding themselves. It slowly started to stand back up. Applejack took a step back in shock. "What the hay?" The creature quickly twisted itself and tried to clamp it's "claws" into Applejack , but Motel rammed into it , slid on it's back , then bucked it through a wall. "Quickly , get to Twilight over there. I deal with this beast." "No. Ah can help!" "The only way you can help me is if you learn what points to hit to destroy these things. Just stay as far as Twilight over there and watch me." Applejack did as told , a little guilt in her mouth gave a bad taste. The creature got out from the wall and stopped once it got a good look at motel. The yellow lights in it's eyes spread to form a type of black pupil. "Yeah. You remember me don't you? Come at me sir! I shall slay thee!" he said in mockery. The creature let out another scream and charged towards Motel. The waiter just rolled over the thing and hit it on the back of it's neck , causing it's "lights" to fade slightly. The unconscious ponies on the floor started to regain color. "What's he doing?" thought Twilight. The creature tried to swipe at Motel, but he jumped up and seemed to her over with his wings. He flipped himself sideways at 360° and sliced off the creature's arm with his wing. It stared at the wound,The light faded to almost nothing , and the floored ponies started squirming. "That's a sharp wing. Ah'm sure Rainbow Dash'd love ta meet 'im." "That didn't even seem physically possible. How did he sliced through that thing's arm with his feathers?" "Well , e' did say that only he knew where ta strike. Maybe it has weak points all over?" "That would make more sense, hitting a more fragile area." The "pony's " lights started to flicker, and it kept keeping itself from falling over. "Well , it seems you kept your last spot "protected" under that half-helmet.Too bad it won't help you much." The creature seemed irritated and clumsily galloped towards Motel. The waiter turned around, ducked , and imitated Applejack's kicks. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion. Motel's hind legs crushed the metal of the half-helmet and compressed further into the thing's neck, causing one last shriek and an explosion to dust and light. The tissue and helmet had fallen to the floor. The victims of the beast regained their colors, and were getting back up. "Quickly. We need to leave!" "What , and leave these poor ponies here?" "No time to explain , unless YOU want to tell everypony how a life draining pony demolished a hotel and drained 12 ponies in the street." "LIFE DRAINING?!" "C'mon Twi , I think he's right , they seem to be doing fine. It's best if we scidaddle.He'll explain later." "Fine, but we need to get to the trainstation , I'll teleport everyone to us afterwards." As said , the three galloped away towards the train station. Luckily for them , the train had just freshly arrived and was getting ready to return to ponyville. "Ok, hold on , this'll take awhile. I need to concentrate." Motel bent towards Applejack: "What is she doing?" "Didn't ya hear? She said she was gonna bring our friends back here." "And the one who wanted to meet me is in that group?" "Yeah." "Okay then." Twilight's horn started erupt in sparks , then all four ponies plopped right there in pink flashes. Rarity and Fluttershy were wondering what had just happened, While Fyra both had sacks on their head as well as a bunch of confetti all over them and were swaying from side to side. Everypony looked at them. "Quite the friends you two have." mocked Motel. "They're always like this. Pinkie! Fyra! Get those bags off your heads!" "Aww, why? It's fun!" said Pinkie. "Yeah! There's lots of candy in here." "I found your friend Fyra." "Did....did you just say F-F-Fyra?!" stuttered Motel in a semi-whispering way. "Oh. Thanks a lot." Fyra took off her bag and got a good look at Motel, whose eyes shrink to unimaginable proportions. Fyra recognized him from her dream and now got a clear look of his face. His muzzle was of a straight , distinguished shape, and his eyes were as blue as his coat. Applejack had already gotten the tickets for them all. "I..I can't believe that you're still alive Fyra." "Who are you? I remember seeing you in my dreams but I never remembered who you were." "You don't re--" Motel slammed his hoof into the ground. "Those.....the device in your head was activated then." "What device?" "I can't tell. If I do , you might just stay in that "amnesia" state forever. Too much of those terrible memories won't do you any good." "Oooookaaaay." "C'mon everypony, on the train. Ah already got the tickets." Everypony got on the train. They had gotten into a private cabin for themselves and closed the door right behind them. Once the tension calmed down, and Twilight finished explaining why they had to leave so quickly and suddenly Motel wanted to introduce himself. "So,I believe I should introduce myself to everyone besides the strong Applejack and the beautiful Twilight Sparkle.But first , what about yours?" Rarity went first: "And why would you want to know our names first?" "Isn't it the first rule of being a gentecolt? "Always ask the mare her name first , then introduce yourself afterwards". "Oh my , such a distinguished pony. I didn't think that they existed anymore, well , besides Mister Fancypants. Well then, my name is Rarity, I'm a fashion designer." "Ah! A Mare with good style and taste! Such a rare treat to my ego.I suppose you can make a magnificent suit just by looking at somepony and devising what would fit them best?" "Why yes! How did you--" "Motel a ses secrets." "And you even speak French?" "Oui. Je suis même trés affluent dans cette langue." Rarity started giggling. "And.... I'm Fluttershy...." The yellow pony wasn't exactly trying to hide , but wasn't trying to be seen either. "Ah! The delicate flower of the group. You must be the most caring of them all." "Well , I don't know if MOST caring is a good way to say it. I don't want to look like I'm being selfish or anything." "NONSENSE!" "Eep!" "A caring nature is something you should embrace! Don't be ashamed of it. Show it like the unique flower you are!" A flower of an incomparable beauty set upon the highest of mountains and bathed in the purest of sun rays. Stories have been spoken of it yet nopony has managed to reach it. YOU are that unique flower." "Oh. That's very kind of you" Motel didn't even have time to turn to look towards Pinkie Pie who had already started to babble on ans on about her plans for a party and everything she wanted to do with Fyra in the future. Applejack was laughing at the face Motel gave when¨Pinkie erupted in his face with all her words like an active volcano.He put his hoof on her mouth. "Wow. The energetic one I presume?" "Yes," Rarity answered. "I never knew anypony who was as hyper as she is. Well , maybe there IS one." Motel looked at Fyra who was staring at the floor , looking pensive. "Well then , now I can introduce myself. I am Motel Bleu. Written like "motel" but pronounced like "model". I must say though, that I need to speak with you Fyra." Fyra lift her head and looked at him. "Why?" "Because I can teach you to use those wings of yours." Everypony looked surprised. "Really?" Motel nodded. "Yes. I did it once , I'll do it again." "What do you mean by again?" "Time is a cruel mistress, but beautifying if given time." he looked at Twilight with the corner of his eye."But she will reveal everything to you as she crosses this monde. I will try and help you remember , but know this , the pain you endured and you knew will come back everytime." "I...I understand." "Good! I believe the train has started to move. I wonder what this "Ponyville" looks like?" "Oh. You will LOVE it!" shouted Rarity. The ponies in the cabin started to say everything they knew about the town they lived in. Fyra knew that tomorrow would be a long day for her. Her new "trainer" would help her use these accursed wings at long last. Hopefully it won't be too strenuous. > The beginning of a normal life > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever since Motel was found , things had been changing for Fyra and the mane six. Rainbow Dash was still angry at her for the fight , but with Motel's 'suave' talking , and Fyra eventually asking Rainbow how to pull off some of her moves , the two began to accept each other's presence. Although they still get in fights from time to time , it's for playing. Motel was a very good teacher, allowing Fyra to "reconnect" with her wings. The first movements were aching and painful , but Fyra uses her wings like a diamond dog uses it's claws. Motel moved in a house that was renting a room. It belonged to a certain turquoise colored pony. Like the gentlecolt he was , he'd help around the house before leaving to train Fyra a bit more. He took a job as an assistant to Rarity after he sent a letter to his restaurant that he needed some "off" time. His fanciness and polite way of speaking , added with the compliments that most dresses or suits somepony would find would go well with them helped to boost sales. It didn't always work though. The fancy pair would sometimes get in fights over what went best on a pony , who would smile nervously , then gallop away. They would then yell at each other complaining about scaring away the customer. Fyra was given a room at Applejack's house. The fact that she had no cutie mark made her a firm friend with Applebloom , who wanted to try everything to help her get a cutie mark. Fyra wouldn't help with the apple tending as she always had to go to Motel to train with her wings. She would then go to Twilight's library to brush up on Equestria's history and basic knowledge. But , not everything was light and sunshine. Twilight managed to convince the confused ponies of Ponyville that Fyra's alicorn appearance was just an experiment and that she was documenting everything about it. They knew Twilight well and shrugged off their doubts. Motel was asked by Fyra to go to the Princesses to talk about the "thing" that had appeared in Canterlot. Motel was reassured that his friend still had some memory of her past left. She seemed to instinctively know what they were. The thing was apparently called a "Final failure". He wouldn't reveal why they were called this to Celestia (whom he managed to talk to after waiting for a few hours) and warned her that these creatures would need to be watched. The "light" in them was the life energy they would drain from everything they attacked. At most , Fyra's sudden arrival and this strange pegasi who knew about her gave bad omens for much of Equestria. When Celestia asked about there being a threat , Motel stated that she and her sister would be able to protect their world well enough, but that it would be best if Fyra dealt with the problem. He said that is was for 'personal issues'. Celestia had lifted her eyebrow in hearing this, but Motel's serious expression convinced the princess, who asked for nothing more. Sometimes, Fyra would sneak to Canterlot during the day , just to talk with the moon princess. She wanted to know more about the moon and the stars. Twilight's books said many about the constellations , but surely , the one who created that work of art knew more than anything about the cosmos. Luna appreciated this. She already knew that ponies all over started to appreciate her night after so long, but that somepony would ask her directly was completely unexpected. It had been two weeks since Motel was "discovered" and today , Fyra wouldn't be trained. There was a special pony that would be going to Rarity's shop, and it needed full attendance, but she didn't know this yet. She was sleeping, dreaming, about that black storm again. The eyes were there as usual. The evil one seemed irritated , and the blue one looked happy. "It's good to see that you made good friends so quickly here." "..." The evil eye still didn't say anything. The surrounding clouds were calm. "See? What did I tell you? You said she would be alone forever , that nopony would love her , and that she would just succumb to depression and let you kill her without resistance." The clouds around became red and started spinning violently. The blue eye retracted. "Yes...quite the feat. Especially as you found the blue reject." "Oh no! Are you mad?" mocked Fyra." "Why yes,I AM!" "Then tell me why you sent that "thing" after me." "Not just you. And as I said , why spoil the suspense. You'll have to wait until the end of the story to know the ending." "Stop mocking me! Who ARE you?" "So you want to know who I am?" "YES!" "Really....well then. I'll show you how we both met. Just don't get all whiny after you wake up in that wooden shack with those inbred beasts." Fyra became furious with this remark , but before she could fight back, the evil eye had taken the form of her shadow like before and touched Fyra's head with it's horn. This is YOUR memory.NOT mine. You'll see just how much pain I've gone through because of you. Fyra was even tinier then when she was on that table, and she was still missing her wings and horn.This was an even older memory.She was with a blue pony in a cage made of metallic bars. It seemed that these "things" liked metal bars. She was busy upping the spirits of another pony in the cage.It was a small filly. She had blue eyes and was herself , blue , but a deep sea blue, mixed with a faint shade of green. Her mane was a bright, pure indigo. Fyra remembered nicknaming her "Blueberry" while she was nicknamed 'Raspberry' by this same filly. There were others in the cages around them. Some had gone insane and killed everypony in the cages with them. They were always covered in blood, had their eyes widened with a tiny dot as a pupil, and a crazy smile, as they looked at the others who were clamped against the far edge of their cages, keeping the best distance they could from the brand new psychopath. The door at the end of the room was composed of two actually. They were "flip" doors. Doors that just needed to be pushed to be opened. It was eerily illuminated by just one flickering light above it. Suddenly , it was forced open, a giant white-coated creature walking through it directly to Fyra's cage. It had to go around the others, occasionally stopping to kick the cage of the 'psychopaths', just to hear them hiss and try and bite him. Instead of laughing , it shook it's head in disgust.It finally reached the cage. Fyra recognized this "beast". It was the "doctor". It crouched down to be able to see the ponies more clearly now. "Well , well. It seems everything is going as planned. You two have perfect dna for the tests and experimentations." Both fillies were hugging each other ,foreheads pressed. They tried hanging close to each other to keep them from being separated. They didn't want to see this character. The doctor had folded it's right sleeve arm , revealing just how complicated it's metallic arm was in reality. What could be an elbow was some sort of rotatable "wheel". Several cables and whatnot were seen through the frames of this metallic member. The Doctor just moved like it was born with that thing. "Let's see. Just let me get my notebook...pah pah pah pum....dead, dead,dead,passes,passes.....AH! Here you two are!" The lumbering creature readjusted it's goggles. "Wow. You two have passed with perfect dna tests. You'll get the special treatment: dna alteration and body-shape rearranging. Lucky you! Now then , it would seem that the blue one is first." it opened the cage door and stretched it's left arm, those skinny digits going between both fillies and pushing Fyra away. They both started swaying their legs , trying to get out of the Doctor's grip and to reach each other again. The Doctor didn't even push them away violently. It grabbed Blueberry with the metallic arm and was about to get out of the tiny cage until Fyra attacked it , her high-pitched voice making it cringe in a cuteness overload more then anything. "Let go of her! GNAP!" Fyra bit the doctor's leg. The Doctor yelped a bit and kicked her away, back into the cage, but she kept attacking it's leg , and , by the fifth time , it grew annoyed and , this time , kicked her VIOLENTLY against the bars, stunning her. "Oh no! You MEANIE! LET GO! Leave Raspberry alone!" Blueberry was hitting the Doctor with her two free hooves. It kept flinching away from the flailing , then dropped her a bit just to trap her front hooves. She couldn't reach it with her stubby hind legs. The Doctor reached into a pocket in it's costume and pulled out a strange object. It held it with it's left arm , pointing the "hole" directly at Fyra , who was struggling to get back up. One of it's digits was on what looked like a curved claw surrounded by a hollow half-circle. The object's body shape was too strange to describe. "You know , I find you two adorable like this. You even gave each other nicknames! This means the plans have been working perfectly. If you two pass the final tests which should be...in a few years, then....well.....you'll see. But for now, you are irritating me little red one." BANG Fyra felt a sting on her neck. She had a dart stuck in it. What normally would have automatically knocked somepony, so small, out immediately , continued to struggle towards the Doctor's foot. It shut the cage and locked it. Fyra was trying to reach her friend, stretching a hoof out to reach the Doctor's hand. "How intriguing. Perhaps you will be the "perfect" success. You are quite resistant.Well , I'll be off. Toodles!" The Doctor turned "tail" and started walking towards the door. Apparently , the two fillies knew what was going to happen and Blueberry was panicking terribly. The thing could barely hold her in it's hand. "Rasberry! Help! Help! Don't let them take me! I don't want them to hurt me anymore! HEEEEELLP!" Fyra's vision went blurry , then she passed out. Fyra was back in the dark room. There was nothing here anymore, just a voice saying: "There is the last pony from your first memory who is nearby now." "Where is he?" "He'll come to you. Don't worry. Just wait." "O....kay...." FLOMP "AAAHHHHHHH!" Fyra had fallen from her bed. She was shaking from the abrupt awakening, the blanket covering half her body. She shook her head and got back up, the wooden boards creaking under her weight. She stretched a bit. The other one would be arriving soon. Fyra did her necessary and went downstairs. Apple Bloom was at school and Granny Smith was still sleeping. Fyra exited the door and was about to go to Motel when Big Mac blocked her. "What's wrong Big Mac?" "Ya won't be goin' ta yer friend's place today." "What? Why?" "It'd seem that he 'n Rarity had somethin' important today and he can't help ya." "Oh." Fyra lowered her head in disappointment . "Maybe ya could work on yer muscles?" said Big Mac, putting his hoof on Fyra's shoulder. "What?" "Yeah. It's apple pickin' time and if we got another hoof, it'd go faster." "Well , I suppose. Where's Applejack?" "She's already buckin' the trees. I was just pullin' this 'ere cart full of more buckets when I recieved yer message. Well, it's workin' time now, so, c'mon." Big Mac put the handle of the cart back on his harness and proceeded to the apple fields, with Fyra following close next to him. They met up with Applejack who had already filled up twenty of the buckets. She took off her hat and wiped her forehead. She saw her brother with Fyra coming. "Fyra? What're ya still doin' 'ere? Motel not givin' ya his lessons?" "Well , it seems that he had something important to do with Rarity , so he can't train me today." "Then why're ya here? Ah was 'spectin ya ta go to Twi's library." "Well , Big Mac proposed I help you to "develop my muscles"." Applejack gave a suspicious look towards Big Mac , who looked away. "Well , ah suppose four more hooves would help. Watcha know 'bout apple buckin'?" "Kick tree , make apple fall?" said Fyra , giving off a dumb smile and shrugging her shoulders. "Pff. It's more important than that. Ya gotta hit the tree with just the right amount of strength and at the right spot, like this. HMPH!" Applejack kicked the tree , it's apples falling directly in the holder. "Oooh. Look's hard." "Not really. Go ahead 'n give it a try." Fyra walked towards the tree opposite from Applejack and turned away from the tree. "Well, here goes nothing. YAH! OW!" Fyra hurt herself against the tree. AJ and Big Mac were laughing loudly. Fyra got mad and kicked the tree with all her strength: "RAH! Ha!" Oh! Now there's an apple stuck on my horn." Fyra had managed to knock the apples down, but one fell on her head and , well -, you get the picture. Big Macintosh put one hoof to her head and swiped the apple off. He passed her an unused towel that was in the wagon. "Thanks.Big Mac." Fyra wiped the juices off her head. "Well Fyra , it seems ya can buck a tree, but can ya buck them all?"asked Applejack. "No problem!" "Mah personal record is 200 bucked trees in one day. I bet ya can't beat me to that." said Big Mac. "Oh? Is that a challenge?" Fyra pressed her head against Big Mac's. "Maybe. Ya want ta try?" Big Mac lift his eyebrow. "I'll beat you easy. I may not be the strongest , but I am certainly the most endurant." "Haha! Now that ah'd like to see,"mocked Applejack. "Ready? Go!" yelled Fyra. Both started bucking tree after tree after tree. It was already sunset since the start of the challenge , and they were both tied at 199. Both were panting hard. They were each at their last tree. "I bet....you can't buck one last tree Big...Big Mac..." "I'm just....lettin' ya catch....catch a breather." "Yeah right. You're plum tuckered." "No I ain't." "Yes ya is." Applejack had come back after putting all the apples in the storehouse. "Wow! Y'all look horrible. Thanks fer the help Fyra. Pinkie Pie organized a party fer ya. We're all invited." Fyra looked at Big Mac , he looked back. "Why don't we...call this a draw...we'll finish our contest another time..." "Yeah...I can deal with that...." They both shook hooves on it , and quickly got ready for the descent back to Ponyville. It was late and, although Applebloom contested , she was tucked into bed by Granny Smith. Fyra, AJ , and Big M were surprised to see the entire town decorated in colorful floating lamps hanging from wires. There was a giant sign which had "Welcome Fyra and Motel!" written on it. The ponies were all dancing or partaking in beverages and the desserts that Pinkie had made for them. There was even a dancing area. Pinkie had put some great music on . Everyone was dancing, even Twilight, despite her...strange dancing moves. Spike was busy trying to stay awake while Pinkie was gulping down her cupcakes and cookies. Rarity and Motel were discussing their fashion tastes and what was needed for this or that detail. "Hmnomfnomf...FYRA!" Yelled PInkie Pie. Pinkie Pie seemed to have teleported right next to Fyra after going under the table. "Hey Pinkie Pie! What's all this for?" "Well , you remember I said I wanted to throw you a welcome party?" "Yeah." "I never got the chance. And since Motel is here now , I decided to invite ALL of Ponyville to participate." "Aww...thanks Pinkie...so this is what a party is like?" "Yeah! 'N just wait 'til she shows you her "surprise"." laughed Applejack. "SHHHH! You don't want to ruin it, AJ." "Yeah. Sorry." Pinkie was showing Fyra everything you had to do in a party. From eating sweets , to wrecking the dance floor, nothing escaped her. It was almost midnight, and Pinkie called everypony near a giant object covered by a raspberry colored sheet. "Fyra,Motel," she said" I hope you like your party, cause I got the best surprise just for you two!" She took the sheet off with the help of Big Mac , revealing a giant cake with at least three floors, each extremely large. It was covered in a thick white frosting. The surroundings were frosted with a pink and blue icing , and the middle floor had a very well drawn 'icing' of Fyra and Motel's head. Everybody "Wooed!" at this giant masterpiece. "Thanks a lot Pinkie Pie. This means a lot to me and Fyra. On apprécie tes intentions." Motel bowed. "Uuhhh, you're welcome? Anyways, dig in everypony!" Everyone was readying their plates to receive their pieces of cakes when they heard yiping. There was also yelling and the sound of wooden wheels rolling very quickly. "What IS that?" said a pony. Motel squinted , trying to make out the thing in the distance. "It can't be.Is that really him?" The objects came closer and became somewhat distinguishable. The first ones were a group of ten wolves seemingly made of wood. A pony yelled: "TIMBER WOLVES! EVERYPONY RUN!" "AAAAAHHH!" Twilight tried to reassure them: "Wait, WAIT! We can take care of this!" "Wait, what is that behind them?" The ponies had already returned near the cake. There was a giant wooden four-wheeled wagon seemingly pushed by magic, with a green pony on it. It was a colt. He had a sharpened metal blade attached to his right hoof with rope and was swinging it wildly. "Stupid wolves! Think ya can eat me? GO AHEAD AND TRY NOW! AAAAHAHAHAHA!" The wolves saw the huge crowd and quickly turned away to run left. The green colt turned his head as the wolves had made a sharp turn. His wagon was wheeling fast towards the cake. "Pfff. I really wanted to skin them." He positioned himself on the left of the wagon and front-flipped off it. The wagon slammed with full forced into the cake , splattering everypony with it's deliciousness. Pinkie was the only one that appreciated this. "WOO! There's nothin' better then chasin' after wild creatures to finish off a good day." "Well whadda ya know , it really is you!" "Whose the dumb pony who wants to kno-Motel! It's been awhile!" > Violence and its benefits > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After that unfortunate incident, Pinkie Pie and Fyra cleaned up the place in the speed of light. Tonight , it was another full moon, allowing the place to stay nice and bright.Motel had been talking to this green unicorn for awhile. This unicorn had a bullseye for a cutie mark., the little red and white circles just asking to be hit in their middle. He had no mane except for the part on his head. It was yellow and shaved to have a flat top. It didn't exactly go very high. Same thing for his tail, it looked more like a brush now.And his eyes were of a piercing silver color, something rare. The mane six and Fyra all went towards him after Motel invited them. He didn't seem at all phased by Fyra's appearance , nor did he seem to care. Motel HAD told him about her. "So , these're your friends now Motel?" "Yes." "Ya ain't still in yer "froofroo" stuff now are ya?" "What? You are still on ça? I do believe some of us in this world can have good taste in fashion and sophistication." Motel lift his head smugly with his hoof over his chest. The green pony seemed to give "are you kidding me?" face. "Yes. Somethings require a bit more 'pezazzle' in life. Fashion designing is very hard, especially when you look for the perfect one for anypony," Said Rarity. "And you are?" The green stallion's attitude seemed to irritate Rarity, whose eyebrow twitched. "My name is Rarity.I thought that it was the stallion's job to be polite towards a mare.." "Yeah?" He spat on the floor. "T'ain't my thing." "Ew! How horrid! That sir, is disgusting!" "Awwww. Ya can't take the rustic life? Poor froofroo." "Wha....what did you call me?" "I called ya froofroo!That's yer name now!" He started pointing towards Fluttershy then Twilight Sparkle. "You're the wuss , and you must be a nerd." Fluttershy squeaked and sniffed. Twilight looked ready to rip this unicorn's head off. "How dare you! Ya think y'all can come 'ere uninvited and start insultin' mah friends? Who're ya anyway." "Ya can call me Bullseye." Bullseye turned around , he seemed to "wow" at the pony talking to him. Her mane seemed to sparkle and she looked very robust. Her angry face didn't even phaze him. He seemed capable of controlling his emotions. "And who're you?" "Ah'm Applejack, and this giant red guy over here is mah brother, Big Macintosh." Bullseye didn't seem that intimidated by Big Mac. In fact , he seemed to have a massive smirk appear. "And what do ya two do?" "We work at an applefarm." "FINALLY!" he yelled , frightening everyone:" Somepony who actually works hard. This explains why you both seemed to look in such good shape. Ya dunno how FAR ah've travelled , nor how many cities 'n towns I passed by. Nopony was brave enough to follow me, nor were they even gettin' up ta work early. A good morning is an early mornin' followed a good run." Applejack seemed surprised that another pony would have a simikar life style to hers and Big Mac's. "An' how early do ya get up?" " 'Round five in the mornin'." "Aha!" He slapped both Big Mac and Applejack, causing them to fall forward by the unexpected strength. "GOOD! I usually get up at four, but that's an excellent start." he went to motel , laughing. He saw Rainbow Dash staring at him furiously, flapping her wings, and blocking his path. Bullseye simply stood back slightly and was eyeing her. "And what're you supposed ta be? A drawing ornament?" "WHAT?!THAT'S IT! I'M KICKING YOUR BUTT!" But Bullseye just ignored Rainbow Dash and turned away and ignored her threats. She raged and charged at him , intending to smash into him with her full speed. He quickly turned around and punched her in the top of her head, planting her into the ground. "The day a youngin' manages to beat me in combat is the day ah'll be dead. No , wait, you still wouldn't be able to beat me. Pahahaha!" Fyra was waiting next to Motel, both looking angry. "What?" "You are such a violent ruffian. I still don't know why I'm friends with you." "Perhaps because I taught you the weakpoints of those Final Failures? Maybe because I was also your only friend for five years straight?" "Yeah...maybe..." "Why did you say those things around my new friends like that? You hurt Fluttershy's feelings!" Fyra pointed towards Fluttershy who still shrinking away. "Oh , what are you? Five? Nyehnyehnyeh, my feelings, nyehnyehnyeh." Fyra tried to tackle Bullseye, who stopped her with his horn. There seemed to be a gray cloud spinning around it. He slammed her back onto the ground. "So , ah heard that ya can't use yer horn no more? I suppose ah can help ya with that. But it'll be tough work." "Pff, Motel's training was also tough wor--" Bullseye threw himself directly on Fyra's face , meeting eye to eye. "I SAID HARD WORK! NOT JUMP AND DROP!" Fyra tipped over. "F...fine,"she said. "Good. Now where can I fetch ya?" "She's at mah place," said Applejack. " 'N if'n ya want ta come by , it's up that hill , where the first barn's at. But don't you yell at mah little sister or mah Granny Smith." "Hmph. I may be a warrior, but I have mah standards. I will not attack yer granny nor will I attack a little one." Rarity looked surprised that someone so barbaric had such a rule. "Well , I suppose you do have some politeness in you after all." Bullseye blushed. "What? No! It's just...uh...that's how things are. Now lay off my back!" Rarity gave a sarcastic expression to Bullseye. "Well then , my "good" friend, where do you want to stay? I believe the room I have rented in that pleasant mare's house has space for two, provided you have the bits." "I do , but I ain't going to live in some "comfort". I'm going back into that forest. It's a lively place." "WHAT!" yelled the group. "But, the Everfree forest is dangerous!" yelled Twilight."You could be killed in it, or worse..." "Yeah , I could live in a library and read books all day." he mocked , laughing himself out of air. Twilight turned red and became furious. "Why you..." "Let him go Twilight."said Motel, putting a hoof up to block her."Give him time , he has always been like this , since the day we met. He is always this cold and humorless. He may seem like an uncouth jerk now , but he doesn't hide his feelings very well when he warms up to you." Bullseye had barely gone far that Fluttershy stood right in front of him , fury in her face.The green unicorn sighed. "What NOW?" "You...are just a big meanie! I saw what you were doing to those poor timberwolves. You chased them out of their home without them doing anything to you!" "Pff. THey attacked me. They asked for it."he mumbled unhearable words, but they were:"And I still didn't get to skin them." "So? You charged after them and scared them terribly! I won't let YOU go into the foest, DO.YOU.UNDERSTAND?!" Fluttershy was performing the dreaded "stare" of hers.While the others expected him to freeze up , Motel just chuckled. "He isn't going to be fazed by that." "What? Nothing has managed to resist Fluttershy's stare," said Twilight. "Yes,but we've had to escape from far more trrifying things that could have driven you insane. Just look , he'll snap out of it right about....now." And indeed , Motel was right. Although Bullseye was affected by "The Stare", his ability to lock away his feelings got him out of this lock. "What are you staring at?" "Wha-what?" "Whatever. Have a nice night." "Oh? It seems that Fluttershy's stare has managed to affect him more discreetly than I expected." "He did seem more...polite." "I suggest everypony goes to bed. It IS quite late." The group agreed and went back to their respective homes. On the path , Fyra wondered how she would deal with this pony. She also wondered how she would manage to control her own "magic". Sinking into her own bed and hearing Applejack stomp her way to her own room, Fyra fell asleep...but it wouldn't last long. Barely five in the morning , just as Applejack and Big Mac were getting ready to wake up, the sounds of a gong were coming from outside with an even LOUDER yelling. "GET UP FYRA! IT'S TIME TO TRAIN! A GOOD DAY STARTS OFF WITH A GOOD TRAINING AND WORKOUT!" Ugh.Well , at least me and Big Mac 're up. Ah hope Apple Bloom didn't notice the sounds. thought Applejack. Big Mac had to drag Fyra out of her bed despite her protests as even Applejack combined with Granny Smith and Applebloom couldn't get her out. Fyra was still half asleep as Big Mac pulled her outside of their house towards a waiting Bullseye. He was quite lively. This was what one calls a morning pony. Big Mac just tossed Fyra across the ground at the hooves of Bullseye. "Thanks Big M," Bullseye closed onto the ear of a drowsy Fyra and started whispering in her ear. Oh Fyyyyra, it's time ta wake UUUUUuuup. Ya have ta train." He kept a smile on his face and pulled some strange green rock from his wagon , that he pulled all the way to the farm. He placed it right next to her left ear. "What's that?" asked Big Mac. "This is a pelt stone." "A what stone?" "Cover yer ears and you'll understand." Bullseye adorned an evil smile then stomped on the strange green rock with his hooves. The sound literally gave out such a massive *BANG* that Fyra was propulsed several feet away , now wide awake and with a silly expression on her face. Big Mac was also surprised. While Bullseye was unfazed and his mane stayed the same , both Big Mac and Fyra's manes were jetted back like thorns. Applejack came running as fast as she could. "WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?! What'd ya do Bullseye?!" "Nothin'. I just used this here pelt stone." "A what stone?" "It's a stone only found in the deepest seas. It's infused with magic and fire. When a put enough pressure on it , the buildup inside the thing get's out , causing that explosion ya heard." "Huh, but DON'T use that thing again. Ya could give Granny Smith a heartattack." Bullseye gave her a scary smile and went towards Fyra who was still trying to assess the situation. "What happened?" "Ya didn't wake up. In case you want that wake up call every mornin', I suggest ya wake up from now on." "Al...alright...." Fyra's head was still spinning. The sun was barely rising from the hills. Bullseye just began with physical training. Fyra didn't understand why this was necessary for her horn to work. She was answered by a strong yelling and a forced running. It was the afternoon and they had both been filled up on some apple based 'rations', as Bullseye called it. Twilight , Pinkie Pie , and a protective Rainbow Dash came to their training grounds. It would seem that the apple farm was the perfect place to train, far from the eyes of the other ponies , and quite empty. Fyra was busy catching her breath while Bullseye was stretching in every way possible. "Twilight , Rainbow , Pinkie. What're you all doing here?" "We just came to check on you and see how your training has been going." reassured Twilight. "Yeah! I was hoping to see all the stuff you could do now , being an alicorn and all. So? What can you do? HUHUHUHUHUHUH?!" "I...uh...he hasn't....uh...." "I haven't taught her that yet." "What? Why not?" asked Twilight , confused? She was still angry at Bullseye , but that something changed within him. "Because she needs ta work on her physique first. Oh great , now Ah'm speakin' fancy. Curse you Motel. We'll start now." "Great!" Fyra bounced back to life. "Now I'll show ya how ta control your horn." Twilight rubbed her head in confusion. "Wait, that's it? Heh. I could teach her how to do that." Bullseye gave a cold stare. "Unless you haven't noticed yet , and I'm sure you haven't, Fyra, Motel, and I aren't exatly normal ponies like you all." "What're you talking about?" yelled Rainbow."Fyra has been flying fine since I've been showing her some of my moves." "Pfff.So? That's not what I meant. We have...a uniqueness to ourselves....as did many others....." Fyra saw him look at the ground , sadness in his eyes. She then remembered all those little colts and fillies stuck in the cages in that horrible room. "Now then, as much as I hate this , dig deep into yerself Fyra, and look for your power. It's in there somewhere , just concentrate." Fyra nodded and closed her eyes. She seemed to force her concentration. Bullseye backed up. Twilight wondered why. "I suggest ya protect yer friends with some magic shield Twilight Sparkle. If I recall what happened last time , me and Motel had a two second window to becoming well roasted marshmellows." "OOOO! I LOVE marshmellows! Especially whe they're 'smores, or in hot chocolate.Mmmm!" Twilight saw Fyra opening her eyes, her iris were glowing brightly. Twilight did as told and erected a barrier around her and her two friends, while Bullseye looked like he was distorting space around him, it looked all hazy. Suddenly, Fyra's horn erupted like a volcano. The shockwave spread as a circular, widening, torrent of flames skidding along the floor. "Here it comes! I didn't expect it to be so fast!" The fires smacked with full force into the Twilight's shield. She had some trouble controlling the brute force impact , but seemed unhindered. Bullseye's field distorted the flames and reflected them however he wanted them to reflect. The flames soon died out, not having gone too far. Fyra's eyes stopped glowing and she nearly fell down , but caught herself with a hoof. Pinkie rushed to her friend, and helped her back up. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright Fyra?" "Y....yeah. Thanks Pinkie." While Fyra was being helped back up by Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Rainbow Dash wanted answers. "What was that Bullseye? What did you do?" worried Twilight. "Nothing. She's able ta control her horn now." "Yeah, what did you mean by you three having "special" powers?" Bullseye sighed but knew that the moment was getting closer and had to at least tell some part to them. Motel had tracked him down in the forest and explained about the princesses and how they were preparing for the future event between Fyra and her. "Okay...but don't tell this ta anypony else. I'll only tell ya 'bout a small portion." The two ponies leaned closer. "We weren't exactly born with our powers, rather, they were....forced upon us." "What do you mean "forced". You didn't fight back or anything?" "I shall only say that at the time , we couldn't do anything. I don't want ta go further innit." "I understand. But , what exactly are your powers?" "Well , as you could see , Fyra has control over flames. She can create and manipulate them, but she can't exactly do fireballs or the like.Or cover herself in fire and fly at super speeds." "That reminds me of some of Pinkie's comics." "Pff, she reads those? Anyways, my specialty is telekinesis." "What? You mean like our levitation magic?" "Not quite. While your magics are diverse and shapable , I can only control things with my mind. Not somethin' too impressive." "And what about Motel?" asked Rainbow Dash. She had her eyes squinted and was rubbing her chin." Does he have, like, super agility or something?" "Lemme guess , he was performing his acrobacy in front of everypony?" "Yes," they both answered in unison. "Well , have you noticed how he seems to 'slide' across solid ground?" "Yeah. I did notice that. It seems physically impossible. How does he do it? Does he manipulate the air?" said Twilight , laughing. "No, he manipulates gravity around him." Twilight and Rainbow Dash's pupils shrunk. "What? But that isn't even possible! Gravity isn't something you can control! It's an everchanging force and--" "Will ya stop it nerd?" Bullseye twisted his head and crosses his eyes after saying "nerd" "That's how it is. Deal with it." "So that's how he can move like that without his wings!" concluded Rainbow Dash. "Actually, he needs his wings ta manipulate his own gravity field. We were all trained ta have great acrobatic abilities. Although Motel and I had more time ta do so. Fyra came after we--" Bullseye stopped suddenly. "Perhaps I've said too much. Why don'tcha go somewhere else fer taday? We've got much training ta do." Rainbow Dash agreed and called Pinkie Pie , who had been telling jokes to Fyra after she got over her headache. They both left soon after giving Fyra a 'Goodbye, see you later!'. Twilight didn't feel at all comfortable with what Bullseye told her.He turned around after Twilight called him. "What's wrong?" "I...I don't know what happened to you three, but...I wish I could have done something." "It's ain't yer fault. Those...things....are responsible fer it. Perhaps , one day , we'll tell you more , and I feel that that day is coming closer than hoped." "Well..whatever it is, we'll be here to help you." "I 'ppreciate it. BUT, if ya six want ta help, y'all 'll have ta come with mannequins so I can teach ya how ta destroy the Final Failures. I believe you've alreaedy seen one?" "Y...yes....but how did you-" "Motel told me." "Oh. Well , I'll try and convince Rarity to lend us some." "Good.Have a nice day then." Twilight Sparkle turned back around and went to reach her friends before she jumped up to a familiar yelling. "WHAT'RE YA DOING! YOU'LL BURN EVERYTHING DOWN! STOP THAT!" Twilght just gave a silent laugh and went to rejoin Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. "What took you so long Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Bullseye said that he's teach us how to perform some fighting moves. He said that he knew some weak points on everypony's body." "Weak points? So THAT'S how he beat me so easily!" "And filled your mouth with dirt! Hahaha!" "Shut up Pinkie." said Rainbow , pouting. Twilight just laughed at her friends and thought about Bullseye. Motel was right, he did seem to open his feelings more easily when he knew somepony. Apparently Fluttershy's stare helped accelerate that ten-fold. As Twilight and her friends walked down the hill to Ponyville, they noticed a shadow shaped like a pony on the floor. The htree turned around to see the source. It was a giant shadowed pony on higher ground but extremely far away. Twilight didn't feel good vibes coming from it. "Hey Twilight , look on the floor." said Rainbow Dash. Twilight looked and , indeed , there was something scary. It was an eye on the shadow. It was looking at them. The eye was squinted to surround a black, horizontal, rectangular pupil. Although there was barely any of the "white" of the eye to see, it was still there. It was extremely furious, the three mares could see it. It was especially focusing on Pinkie Pie. Even though the pony was so far away, it's eye was on the shadow. What kind of magic is that? though Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash was the first to talk to it: "Who are you?" The eye swung directly to Rainbow like a thrown knife. The shadow spoke. "Your demise." It then dissolved. Rainbow Dash turned towards the lat land that the shadowed pony was on , about to yell at it, but was stunned to see that it was already gone. Rainbow bolted over there with her trademark speed , only to see that the pony was nowhere in sight. She returned to Twilight with nothing. Twilight then looked up the hill to see Bullseye showing Fyra how to control her powers , and burn at simple cloth. Things weren't going well. "Who was that?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Something that Fyra is going to have to deal with, but not alone. We'll be with her and those other two." "Although I hate Bullseye, I definitely want to help Fyra and Motel." "Me too! She's so much fun to play with, and she great ideas for pranks too." "Heh, well , let's hope that whatever is praying upon them doesn't have it's eyes set for Equestria next." The three mares continued towards ponyville , intent on keeping this event secret from the three ponies they knew and spread the knews about the training with Bullseye. > The oncoming storm > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several days had passed since Bullseye decided to train everypony. A message sent to Celestia and her sister had Motel go to their guards and train these in hitting the weak points on the Final Failures. Fyra had gotten quite adept as manipulating her flames , and Twilight, despite not having abilities akin to these, helped Fyra perform techniques with these flames. Rainbow Dash had warned everypony in Ponyville of a massive black thunderstorm coming this way. She hadn't heard any news from the weather team, so this wasn't their doing. Ponies could see it looming several kilometers far away, launching lightning bolts like an angry dragon. It was coming closer , but Pinkie Pie decided to pull off a smaller to break the tension. It was happening in the Cakes' house. They had left with the babies for a little personal time together. Pinkie took advantage of this and organized a quaint little "fête". Not too flashy but not too boring either. Motel couldn't be present as he was still training the royal guards. Twilight decided to talk to Bullseye who was looking at the punch through the bowl. He still didn't understand how anypony could drink this...pink substance. "Well , I didn't expect this to be seeable. I thought it would just happen without us noticing," Bullseye kept looking at the punch, following the little yellow pieces of fruit with his eyes , but answered nonetheless: "The one responsible for this wasn't exactly the most discreet. She may have the innate ability to control those things , but she isn't too smart. I'm pretty sure the Princesses could easily destroy her , or you Elements of Harmony could dissolve her--" "How did you--" "I have my ways. Just like your pink friend over there." He pointed at Pinkie who had jumped into a giant cake and was eating through it with Fyra. "However , she always was surprising in the way she used those things." "How so?" "Let's just say that , if she ends up walking towards us from a far away distance, we'll be dragged underground and drained of our life." Twilight cringed. "W-wow. And what's 'her' name?" "I don't know. Motel and I always referred ta her as the "Soul Glare" , due to how her wierd eyes can pierce through yer soul." Twilight remembered the encounter with that shadowy creature and the eye in the shadow. She had to tell Bullseye. "Umm, Bullseye , I have something important to tell you," Bullseye turned around and faced her. "What is-OOOOH!" He suddenly looked straight across from him then squinted his eyes and looked around and tried to whisper to Twilight. "I see." "Wha-what? You do?" "Yeah. You like Motel don't ya?", Twilight became redder than Fyra , who was more blue now because of the cake icing. "WHAT?! NO! I don't--" "Yeah, yeah. I here ya. Winkwink nudgenudge 'n all that." "You are SOOOO irritating." "Just facing the facts." "Oh yeah? Then how about the way you act in front Applejack?" "What do you mean?" he started to sweat. "Oh? Did I hit a nerve?" "Nonsense! I only have feelings for my duty." "SUUUURRRRE you do. Like you said , nudgenudge winkwink." "Grrrr." "But that wasn't what I wanted to tell you about." The atmosphere around them became heavier and more sinister.Twilight gave a very serious look to Bullseye. He looked back , his mouth starting to open. He seemed to have understood. "What did you see?" he asked , having a stuttering sound hidden in his words. "I think Rainbow , Pinkie , and I met her, or atleast , we saw and spoke to her shadow." "What did she say?" "Well, Rainbow Dash asked her who she was, and she answered: 'Your demise'." Bullseye rubbed his forehead , curving around his horn. He started to breathe very fast. "That isn't good. She plans on killing you and the other five to get to Fyra." "What?!" "She has some type of grudge against Fyra that Motel and I don't understand.Only Fyra knows , and the reason is still hidden in her memories somewhere." "Oh no. We should stay grouped and get the elements." "NO! Don't do that. Even if you haven't spoken about them to Fyra , she certainly knows about the elements now , and will steal them from you if you aren't careful." "Then what CAN we do?" "Use the techniques I taught you all. It was thanks to those that me and Motel plowed through literally hundreds of those things at once." "Oh, one last thing Bullseye." "What is it?" "What happened to your accent?",Bullseye cleared his throat. "What're ya talkin' about?What accent?" "RRRIIIGHT!Well I'll be back to the party with the others." It appeared that Pinkie Pie had thrown a piece of cake at Twilight Sparkle, whose face was now pastry. Fyra threw one too, but at Bullseye , and hit him on his cutiemark. "BULLSEYE!" both PInkie and Fyra started to laugh uncontrollably. The group had all started throwing in and the shop was being covered with cake and other pastries. Things weren't so restful at the castle of Canterlot , however, where Celestia had not gotten any sleep at all last night. Luna was worried. They were both in the throne room once again. "Tia, you don't need to worry. Motel told us that if any pony is drained , they can be brought back just by destroying the one responsible." "Perhaps , but what if those "things" he spoke about are with her and they are just using her to make more of my subjects disappear?" Luna rolled her eyes , but couldn't help but understand what her sister was worried about. "Didn't that blue pegasi also say that this 'group' had been disbanded after the destruction of the tower?" "True," Celestia started to calm down."And he also said that--" , "We are both capable of handling her if she gets too careless. I remember Luna." "Then why do you worry?" "Because he said that 'she' is quite capable of killing , but only chooses particular targets for the deed." "Yes , but our royal guards are being sent to Ponyville right now to evacuate the citizens , while the others her at Canterlot will be sent to the underground passages." "I still don't know why she would only attack Ponyville and Canterlot." "Because she knows that we and Fyra have a...close connection. Similar to you and Twilight." Celestia lift an eyebrow. "So...what have you been teaching her, oh wise teacher?" "Hmph! She asked to learn more about the stars and the moon from us. She has been doing very well." "I guess since you managed to break her protective cage in the dungeons weeks ago , she might consider you to be a symbol of security , one who would protect her if she couldn't do it herself." Luna started thinking about what her sister had said.It is true that Fyra did not know much of her past after it being erased by that "device", so perhaps, when Luna reached out to her , Fyra considered her as a parental figure. This made Luna feel...strange. However , the doors swung open with a creaking sound. Motel walked into the throne room , hundreds of guards following him. He walked towards the princesses who had been talking at the base of the throne. He bowed politely and used his typical flattery. The princesses weren't phased whenever he did this. He considered them to be good 'challenges' to improve on his 'skills'. "Princesses , the troops have been trained and know exactly which spots to hit. A large portion of your guards have been sent to Ponyville to evacuate all citizens there except for your élements d'harmonie. The ones here in Canterlot have already been sent to those underground passages meant for a quick escape. I hope the exit will not be blocked." "We hope so too," replied Luna."Your 'friend' is not very discreet, is she?" "No. But her 'puppets' are. There are the greatest threat here. Now , while you two possess incredible strength and can easily disassemble them with your magic, the others won't be as strong. I suggest you only leave the castle when no other options are left." "Understood. Anything else, Motel?" "Yes. If they do appear in front of you , know that their greatest weakness is in their inability to fly. I believe you remember how they were created?" Princess Celestia shuddered to remember it. "Y-yes. I do." "Also , DON'T let them TOUCH you! They'll drain your life force, and if the Final Failures are imbued with your powers , Equestria will be left defenseless to these things. That, and they'll have super powers too. Hopefully they'll explode because of the excess of your powers." Motel just looked away, uncaring, at his final words , crossing his forelegs. I parchment appeared in green flames right above princess Celestia.She opened it and a look of confusion sprouted on her face. Luna tipped over and a similar expression formed. "What is it princesses?" Celestia lowered the letter and looked at Motel. "It says: The zombie ponies are coming! They're coming! Motel scratched his neck ab it while looking pensive. "Well , I GUESS they do look a bit like zombies.Wait, ALREADY?!" He quickly informed the soldiers to sound the alarms. "A final thing princesses." They both looked back up at him. "The Final Failures will aim for me only, so I'll be the best decoy to use if you need to destroy thousands of them in one go." "But you just said--" "Yes. As a final option. You will have to destroy me as well." "Good luck then, Motel," said Celestia. Trying to reassure her newest soldier. "Thank you milady." And with that , he was off. While Motel ran through the streets of Canterlot , watching the guards readying up, he thought to himself: "Pfiou. This feels so cliché." > Revelations > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- While Motel and the guards prepared , down at Ponyville, the 'zombies', as Spike called them , had already started to appear. They were as discreet as Bullseye depicted them. Already thirty ponies who hadn't evacuated yet had been 'absorbed'. The things were finally out in the open and were attacking everypony they found in their sights, but with less vigor when they saw Bullseye or one of the mane six. The royal guards had split into two groups: the escorts and the evacuators. The escorts were indeed, well trained by Motel as he had promised the princesses, and they were destroying Final failure after Final failure. But more kept coming seemingly out of nowhere. Rainbow Dash took full advantage of her wings, using her speed to lop off the creatures' heads. She would hit them right in the left part of their neck, causing them to crack and explode. She had learned this special technique from Bullseye who quickly regretted teaching it to her, as she got back at him for smashing her head into the ground. She kept beating him constantly, causing Bullseye to rage every time. This came in handy as she managed to get trapped by royal guards out of a sticky situation every time she saw them in said situations. Twilight , being the element of magic, used her capabilities and literally disassembled the creatures in mid-air. She was destroying hundreds of them at a time. Fluttershy was quite afraid but used her rage when she saw her animal friends in danger. While she did have her own assortment of Royal guards, the sudden change in attitude from a sweet pony to a raging beast literally destroying tons of the monsters stunned them. She had been reassured that whatever these creatures were before , they had no soul left , and had been taught by Bullseye to only hit the points that would cause the things to fall on the ground and evaporate into the air. Pinkie Pie and Fyra were together, dealing with the monsters. They were the only ones to not have a royal guard escort. Using Fyra's control over fire, Pinkie laid about traps that would into fireworks after Fyra lit the powder. Every now and then , fireworks would erupt from a random part of the town and explode into the ai , showering the besieged town in a sparkling color. It had become dark enough due to the approaching storm-cloud to be able to see them during the day. Applejack used her pure strength to EXPLODE the Final failures. While the royal guards were indeed powerful , perhaps more-so then she was, her need to protect her friends and family that little extra-boost to disassemble the monsters, causing a shower of yellow. Rarity , on the other hand , used her charm. It would seem that the monsters were bedazzled by her beauty , allowing the guards to destroy them in a few swift movements. She was strangely calm during this whole ordeal. Bullseye was....apocalyptic to the horrid things. While the Final Failures chased after fleeing ponies, Bullseye was chasing after them. He had a happy , murderous look on his face. The things were completely caught unawares every time he appeared in another part of their path , his eyes demanding blood (even if they had none), and his mouth drooling in anticipation. Everytime , these things would skid to a halt , and smash into each other. They tried to turn tail and flee in the opposite direction , but Bullseye was always quicker. It would seem that he had something that nopony else had went it came to fighting. This could probably explain why and how he was able to survive Everfree forest and all the harsh environments he had been through during his travels. Everything had been going as planned...mostly. But after an hour of battle, Canterlot came under siege as well. The ponies were still evacuating through the tunnels , but Princess Celestia was using her magic and blocking any possible intrusion into them. Motel had been using very of his acrobatic moves to poke the monsters at the back of their necks and on diverse points , while the "barbaric" guards would literally smash through the points. While touching one point was enough to weaken the beasts considerably , it was more "fun" to smash them to pieces , even if they had already started to reassemble themselves. The failures had already gathered in the thousands in front of the Canterlot castle doors , intending to bring them down. The guards still there were enraged by the fact that this things seemed to want to attack their princesses. It was their duty to protect them. The guards took giant metal pots full of boiling hot oils and dumped them on the beasts who let out their typical roars , but it was more high-pitched this time. Instead of just pounding against the doors, they started clawing at it. Some even started to literally kill themselves by trying to tear down the door. The guards prepared themselves as the door kept cracking and breaking. But , in the throne room, the princesses were worried. "We do not like this plan, sister." "Nor do I." "I feel it is our duty to protect our people , even if it is our guards." "You know what Motel said. Despite our immense powers and our capabilities , those things are very discreet and could cut us if we don't pay attention. I understand your concerns, Luna , but it's in the people's best interest that we stay her and let the elements of harmony and those three ponies deal with this matter directly." Luna silently protested. The sounds of combat were coming all the way inside the throne room. She was nervous , and what Celestia had told her earlier made her feel very weird. It was turning her stomach into a ball. Suddenly , an extremely loud thunder crack happened. It was so loud that it literally managed to crack the windows within the throne room. "Sister, she is..." "I know. Hopefully Fyra will be able to help her. If not , you know what we must do." Luna nodded and looked towards the dark stormclouds outside. The guards were still fighting the Final failures , but knew that something had appeared. In front of Pinkie Pie and Fyra stood a very tall figure. It was almost as tall as Celestia , and only it's left eye was open. It was the one in Fyra's dream. It was an extremely dark blue , nearly black. It's mane was quite fluffy , like Pinkie's , but flew backwards and was quite long. The mane and tail were of a metallic blue. Looking black at the directly-faced area but blue on the sides due to an optical illusion. It's mark was a black stormcloud with it's eye on it.It seemed surrounded by a black fog that swirled fiercely around it. Pinkie Pie tried to activate another of her traps , but the pony just grinned , widened her eye , and spread wings out. The fog exploded outwards , still swirling , and blew Pinkie's 'cream sandwich' trap far away. This pony was also like Fyra. An alicorn. Fyra adorned a furious look , but the alicorn stared at her , it's right eye still closed. Fyra's head started to spin at this figure staring at her with a grin. Fyra put a hoof on her head and fell down, her body shaking uncontrollably. Her head was pounding like drums. Rainbow Dash was in the vicinity and saw the alicorn. "She's here! Quickly! She's near the town hall!" Rainbow Dash yelled loudly , alerting her friends and Bullseye, who started racing towards the grand building. She charged directly at the alicorn and smashed into her with full force. The alicorn was thrust through the wall of the town hall, forming a gaping hole. Rainbow kept staring at the hole , a serious look on her face. "Are you okay Fyra?" "I...I don't-LOOK OUT!" Rainbow was thrown far away by a thunderbolt. The alicorn had charged at her and stabbed her with it's horn.Pinkie Pie saw her friend fly , semi-unconcious, and put on her serious face. "You Meanie McMeanerton! I'll get ya! You'll never see it coming." Pinkie Pie physics activate! As Pinkie charged head first towards the alicorn , "Soul Gaze" lift it's hoof to stomp the pink fury, but her stomp fell on dirt. Soul gaze looked around , wondering what had happened. Then she felt a hard whack on the back of her head. Pinkie had taken a giant wooden hammer out of nowhere and started hitting the alicorn with full fury. The alicorn kept trying to strike Pinkie with it's thunderbolts , but kept missing. Pinkie eventually disappeared again and came back with her party machine that she had tested but hit Twilight in the face with a cupcake fired from it. "CAKES AWAY!" she yelled , as a large salvo of cupcakes and other pastries started springing out from the wooden cannon covered with drawings. Soul Gaze flinched and tried to protect herself from this oncoming pastry slaughter, taking a few steps back with every hit. "Haha! Try and defend yourself from my PASTRY CANNON!!!" But Soul Gaze was not amused and fury stuck itself to her face. She lowered her hoof and her grin became more and more intense as the pastry-nitions hit her in the face. She lift her forelegs high into the air and yelled , as she stomped the ground: "ENOUGH!" The thunder that ensued literally blew Pinkie Pie away, just as the others came by. "PINKIE PIE!" yelled Twilight. Before she could react , Bullseye had already galloped and caught her , before smacking into a wall. The second alicorn towering over Fyra , who still clutched her head , impressed the ponies. Rainbow Dash was already on her feat , assisted by Applejack. "So, the group arrives in it's ENTIRETY?" The lightning bolts that struck the ground all around them caused Fluttershy to bounce high, but she was the first to speak. "Y-you don't sc-scare us. You're just a bad pony, and we'll defeat you!" she said firmly. The alicorn looked at the group in disgust, then saw Bullseye limping towards her. "Well , ugh, well. It's been awhile , hasn't it?" "Indeed it has. I take it you know that the device in her head had activated?" "Yes. I suppose you wish to kill her now?" "Oh! That'd be marvelous! But I cannot yet." Soul Gaze started to walk around in a smug manner. "You see , I'm not in the mood to kill an empty shell. It'd feel so much better if she remembered everything that happened in that tower and how we came to be what we are." Applejack spoke up: "Now what're y'all talkin' about? Why d o y'all keep talkin' like this? What is goin' on here? Ah want answers, 'n ah'm sure mah friends want some too!" The others nodded their heads.Bullseye sighed , while Soul Gaze flapped her wings a bit. "Girls , this isn't your fight." "YES IT IS! Fyra has become our friend and has shown that she has almost no evil intentions , despite whatever could have happened in the past!" snapped Twilight. Pinkie walked forward: "YEAH! And she is AWESOME at parties. No Meanie McMeanerton can be that great at their first party! We've even (pfffpphth) pulled quite a few good pranks together," Pinkie started laughing. "And she is nice with the animals.She even helped me take care of them when I got a nasty cold." "AAAAND she's pretty good at flying too. She's nearly beat me many times." "Her mane has inspired me to make many FABULOUS dresses;" "Mah brother Big Macintosh done found 'imself a good applebuckin' competitor , even though she ends up more tired than 'im." Twilight started walking towards Soul Gaze, a determined look ready to lash out at this evil alicorn. She stepped right in front of Soul Gaze and stared directly in the eye. "We want to know what happenned to all of you." Bullseye stared at Twilight in complete shock. He was sure the alicorn would stomp her, but it did no such thing. The dark blue being just flapped it's wings again and looked towards the injured unicorn. "Hmmm...I suppose I can work with you just this once to explain our estranged pasts." "I hate to say it , but I guess we have no choice now , do we. But I'm watching you , do anything funny and I'll stab you in the chest." Soul Gaze's deep voiced laughter echoed through the town like the thunder that erupted once again from the clouds. "I will only kill you and them after I have killed HER." she pointed towards Fyra. "Like we'd let ya." interjected Applejack. She was glaring directly at the dark alicorn , her head lowered and her hoof brushing the ground in front of her. "Hmmhmmhmm." "I'll have to start then," said Bullseye. The six felt themselves become lighter than air , as the landscape drizzled into darkness. They looked around trying to understand what was going on , then Bullseye's voice came through. "As you all know , magic is a powerful entity in your world, but , while we were still born in Equestria , bipedal creatures from some organization had obtained the ability to look into other dimensions. They were evil , but thought they would be doing good , as do most world hungry groups, but these ones, they were much different." A light lit an nonexistant wall , showing a shadow. It showed a two giants. One of them was attached to a table , while the other slowly started drilling into it, the shadow of it's blood splurting caused more shadows then wanted, and the thing tore something out. The shadow slowly disappeared. "They were looking for the perfect race. Each window would lead to a dimension that either pleased them , or bored them. Every time they found one, they would analyze the creatures and attempt to steal their dna to experiment with. If I understood right , they had tried their experiments with many different species and creatures, but they were usually all failures. When they finally found Equestria , they were marveled by our species." Another image appeared, showing ponies walking and flying around some open plain with Canterlot castle further away. "But, when they saw the magics we could control , and princess Celestia--" The image showed the princess erupting out of nowhere from a sun swirling behind her. "They took interest and did the same thing as before, but , this time , it was more successful than before. And they started to kidnap denizens of our world and theirs." The image showed weird shadowy figures stealing away ponies and disappearing in dark circles while Celestia wasn't looking, then disappeared , but showed the tower , from afar. It was still night there. "They were then taken to the tower , their base of experimentation. Then there , they would put you in cages and take your blood and skin away violently. When they came back ,they either said you were good , or you were bad. If you were good , they would take you further into the tower. If you were bad...." The image zoomed on boats transporting giant wooden boxes towards the island. Then Soul Gaze spoke out. "They would drag us into those dark reaches and alter us with their own species right next to us. The pain was unbearable. They would reach into your body and twist your bones, or inject you with some serum that mutated your appearance. On more then one occasion I saw one of theirs starting to turn into us , but quickly dying afterwards. They were the lucky ones. Those , on both sides , they had stayed or became an Earth pony , had dramatic degeneration." "Why?" asked Twilight. The group was shocked and it was barely a sea wave that would have them hurl their insides. "Well," it was Bullseye's turn now:" They wanted pegasi and unicorns , or , better yet , alicorns. Those with barely the proper dna would turn into those mindless monstrosities. The dna would react poorly and produce what this 'character' controls outside." "But what about you two? Did anypony make it out of there? You four seemed to have escaped." "Oh. Motel and I were both very lucky , and the first to be taken out of Equestria. We were also the first to escape. We even thought were the only ones.e managed to slip through the sewers and into that giant lake that you see around the tower. We went into the city but stayed near a port where everything was packaged and delivered to the tower , in order to sabotage everything.We were thirty to try and escape , only two ever did." "Oh my," stuttered Fluttershy. The entire scene Bullseye was about to depict appeared on the nonexistant wall , but from his point of view. "For five years we ate scrap and trained our abilities even further. Those 'things' anted us for something , but I don't know what. They had put us through intense combat training and intellectual enhancements. While staying in a cave conveniently placed within the rocky wall of the beach that the city around the tower was placed on , we heard a HUGE explosion, and looked out of the hole as gigantic flames had burst from underneath the island. We crept closer as we heard sirens sound and guns blare. Someone was trying to escape. But we didn't know who at the time. As the gun sounds became louder , even at this distance, we saw something break a window and even pass through the metal bars at the tenth floor of that building. We saw something red and yellow trying to get out of there , pulling somepony , but struggling to pull it through. As the red pony forced her friend to get through , she was starting to pulled back in. We had thought that yet another attempt at escape was lost , but this pony came through.She immediately attacked the aggressors. But one of them decided that it was time to cut the rope , and hit her hard on her head. We watched as the red dot fell into the lake from such a height. We even heard yelling. She was still trying to save her friend and her friend was calling out to her. As everything calmed , we thought the red pony was dead and decided to return into our cave , thinking the typical. But an hour later, she washed up on shore near our cave, wet , weak , hungry , and hurt. I'm sure you can imagine our surprise when we learned that a False-alicorn had been created." "Wait...'false'? What do you mean by 'false'?" Rainbow Dash had flow up and spoke to the empty room. Soul Gaze had started to speak again: "Yes. As you feeble creatures can comprehend , just trying to recreate one sixteenth of the true alicorns' powers were very hard, and this was a lucky try. They decided that enhanced physical capabilities and an added power could have the same functions. It did , in a way... You may find this shocking, you green reject, but there were three others who had become like me and that traitor." "WHAT?!" the group shouted in complete shock and disbelief. "Yes, but they could not handle the physical and mental changes that tormented them throughout their "stay" at the tower, and decided to self-terminate , if you wanted something less obvious to understand." "Th...they killed themselves?" whine Fluttershy. "Yes, you fragile acorn.THEY KILLED THEMSELVES IN THE MOST HORRID WAYS POSSIBLE! There were ALWAYS tears along with a psychotic smile when they did it too." Fluttershy rolled into a ball and started shaking while silent crying followed. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood up for their friend. "HEY! What's the big idea scaring Fluttershy like that?" "Yeah! If'n ya think that we're gonna let ya scare our friends , ya've got another thing comin'!" "But I only speak the truth. And now , back to the real world!" The six fell back upon the land they were accustomed to. Fluttershy was still in breakdown while Pinkie tried to help her spirits. "But...tell me.....how come YOU never self terminated?" Bullseye had regained some momentum and was looking at Soul Gaze while tipping and swaying lightly. "Because I'm strong! I was the perfect match for their genetical and physical manipulations!" "No...WHY didn't you kill yourself?" "I just TOLD YOU WHY!" Bullseye was speaking louder and more violently. "WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL YOURSELF! WHY IS IT THAT OF THE FIVE OTHERS THAT BECAME FALSE ALICORNS, YOU AND FYRA REMAINED?! EVEN AFTER YOU WERE SEPARATED?!" "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Soul Gaze became furious and transferred lightning to her hooves , intent on destroying this annoying green reject once and for all, but she was suddenly blown away by a funnel of fire. It was Fyra. Her eyes were glowing with fury , yet compassion somehow wormed it's way into her heart. She had her front end lowered , allowing her horn a perfect shot at the dark blue alicorn. "FYRA," yelled everypony. But as they were intent on going to hug her, she lift a leg, stopping them. "I remember everything now." she walked towards Soul Gaze who was on her back, her mane slightly singed and her whole body smoking. "I remember who YOU are! You aren't my friend. You are just some alter-ego planted into her mind to subdue her with a false companion." "What...are you talking about?" "I remember everything that happened when were captured and sent to the tower. We were just little fillies from two different areas. in Equestria. But we both helped each other when were put in a cage. Those "things" wanted to test something out. They had taken our dna just as they captured us and discovered that we had the best ones for the manipulation, and put us together. If we became good friends , we would be able to keep each other's hopes up and prevent any form of psychotic development or self-termination. As we grew, you became the most promising of the False-alicorns, and they wanted to use me to control you. They had a device planted in my mind that would erase my memory and turn me into a puppet if I didn't comply.They even gave us a psychic link so we could communicate from a distance. But , one day , they unleashed my flames with their last dna injection. I immediately burst into the room you were about to be tortured in and dragged you out of there , not before doing horrid things to the equally horrid beasts in there. We managed to get up to my room where I used a bit more of my anger to throw one the creatures out of the window. It seemed that my strength was greatly increased , and I could appreciate that enhancement they gave me. I could protect you. As I went first , you had come and given me your hoof. As I twisted mine around yours, you were caught by more of those monsters, they even grabbed me. I tried punching them to make them let go , but they refused. And then , one of them took out some strange black thing and clubbed me over he head with it. I fell into the lake , where I watched helplessly as you were dragged back into the tower. I was ready to die , but fate had other plans for me. I was drifted by the lake to Motel and Bullseye , who taught me how to use my new body and powers. I felt everything you endured and felt your mind slipping. I tried to contact you , but I couldn't reach you. Another "mind" had been blocking mine from reaching yours. I tried to help you , I really did, but when we reached the tower, it was too late.I cannot apologize for such horrors I let those monstrosities commit to my dearest friend" Soul Gaze's eye had started to shake. She was holding her head with both forelegs and still standing up. A grin of pain and torture explained everything while she shook her head violently from side to side as she couldn't stand still. "No!NO! YOU LIE! You left me in there to rot! You let go of me the first chance you got!" "NO! I had been thrown to my own death as they replaced me by your evil mind." "No! NOOOOOOOO! GRAAAARGH!" Soul Gaze suddenly stopped moving and landed back down. Everyone wondered what was going on as she took a step forward and opened both eyes. Everypony was stunned by this display. Soul Gaze was smiling and tears were coming from her right eye. It was blue. "BL-Blueberry?" Fyra called out. "Yes. I didn't know that you had cared about me for so long," this voice was more soothing then Soul Gaze's. "I couldn't live with myself knowing what had happened. I did everything I could to become stronger in time to save you." "It's okay Fyra , I forgive you. I would have done the same thing." As Fyra went forward to hug her friend, "Blueberry" fell to the ground suddenly , howling in pain. "What's wrong Blueberry?!" "She's...coming back!" Indeed.The blue eye had tentacles of black that started squirming their way towards her pupil. "She has completely corrupt me. I cannot hold her back anymore." "I can save you! Twilight!" "No, Fyra." "What?" "I can't." "YES YOU CAN! You're talented in magic aren't you? You must have a spell to save her." Twilight shook her head and looked up towards Fyra's desperate eyes , her own watering. "It's too late. Even if we used...she would only be destroyed." Fyra was about to cry, but the storms above started swirling violently and the Final failures that wiggled their way out of the royal guards surrounded the group. They prepared for combat as Soul Gaze screamed violently into the sky , piercing a hole through her storm clouds. "Finally, FINALLY! I won't be held back by that idiot. Since she didn't want to kill you, I'll do it for her, friend." Fyra was silently crying. She couldn't bare the loss of her first friend, the one who she was with and helped her get through those terrible times.Soul Gaze had a psychotic look on her face and was ready to kill Fyra, who grinned , showing her teeth in fury. Flames and bonfires started to appear everywhere. The surrounding Final failures spontaneously combusted. "Pinkie Pie, girls, I need you to stay out of this. This is my fight. I'll save my friend. Please, stay back." Fyra literally had waves of tears descend from her furious eyes, her face showing more heartbroken pain than revenge-filled fury.Rainbow Dash tried to convince Fyra otherwise. "No! We won't let you deal with this alone. We're your friends too! We're all in this together." Fyra gave a small chuckle but gave a death glare at Rainbow who backed off. "I'm sorry Rainbow , but I can't let you all risk your lives for me." "Wait!" But it was too late. Fyra had already charged at Soul Gaze. They kept chasing after each other and throwing fireballs and lightning bolts in an attempt to destroy the other. They were destroying the town in the process. Soul Gaze even mocked at how happy she was with Fyra having heeded her words and extending the fight. Soul Gaze even tackled Fyra down into a house and thrust the full power of her storm on Fyra , who screamed in raw pain , while the dark alicorn laughed maniacally. But a massive creature made of flames appeared right behind Fyra and punched Soul Gaze far away , stopping her attack. The creation had disappeared , but Fyra was badly wounded. That punch also heavily wounded Soul Gaze, who was entirely burnt. They both flied back in front of the surprisingly intact town hall. Well , excluding the hole in it. Soul Gaze surrounded herself with a piece of her storm clouds , leaving a massive portion of sunlight to get through. Fyra did the same but with her flames. The group looked at the pounded False-alicorns in horror, shocked by the state they were in. "Well , I guess this is it. All or nothing?" laughed Fyra. "Seems that way. But I will emerge victorious , and then I will kill your friends." "No you won't , I won't let you." Pinkie Pie looked worried." "What're you going to do Fyra?" "I'm sorry Pinkie, but we won't be able to put that itching powder on Rainbow Dash's wings like I hoped." Rainbow grabbed her wings in shock. "And to everyone else , seeing as she will not wait-" Soul Gaze was readying to charge. Eager to kill her "friend". "-This will be my last goodbye. You were great friends. Thank you. Transmit this to princess Luna. "Wait--" But before Applejack could use her persuasive abilities , the two False-alicorns charged one last time into each other. The ensuing impact blew everypony away and destroyed the side of the buildings facing the impact point. There was nothing but elevating smoke and flame. As the surrounding ponies regained their senses, Pinkie looked as the Stormclouds were literally blown into nothing , and the fire and smoke that remained after the impact elevated slowly into the air. They may not have seen it , but there seemed to have been two hooves , each formed of smoke and fire that joined together , then dissipated quickly after. Pinkie started wailing out. "FYYYYRRRAAAA!" > 2 years later > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As anyone would have it, the second both Fyra and Soul Gaze collided, the Final failures stopped moving and started to evaporate. The evacuated ponies had come back and started cheering for the guards, unaware of who really saved them. But she certainly didn't care, she did save her best friend. The princesses decided to celebrate this in honor of the guards , as well as Motel Bleu and Bullseye. They both received medals, and the mane six received praises. Rainbow Dash said she wanted a medal too , but Celestia refused , saying that : "Even if you helped save everypony from the invasion, you weren't the one who warned us." She still mumbled and grumbled , bu this hid her sadness at the loss of a friend. The celebration kept quiet at the existence of Fyra , and this was for the better , as the existence of two other alicorns , even if they weren't "true" alicorns, could bring problems around Equestria. Bullseye had to explain what he heard from Fyra as she remembered everything, but this brought an inconsistency, how did they end up back in this world? Well, it would seem that,when they assaulted the tower, Soul Gaze had freed herself from her entrapment and went on a destructive and murderous rampage, liberating the Final failures for her to control. She had destabilized the device needed to look into and interact with other dimensions. When she burst out of the tower head , it's possible that this allowed the energies of the machine to leave the confines of the black building and drag all four of them into Equestria, but at different time periods. It would seem that Fyra was the last. As the 2 years went by, even Pinkie had gotten over the loss and this translated well with her using a list of pranking ideas that Fyra wrote down , albeit with difficulty. Everypony had gotten over the problems that arose in their hearts with the loss of a new friend. However , the other two were still there. Motel decided that fashion was his passion and stayed to work as Rarity's assistant. He wrote a letter to his old boss at the restaurant saying that: "I am sorry to say that I will not be returning to your establishment. I have found a new calling and I must follow it's magnificent voice. However , as a token of appreciation , due to how I was treated during my working , here is a list of my special recipes that you should try out." This was followed by an angry letter, not because he quit, but demanding why Motel never gave them the recipes before this, as sales had gone up again. He simply replied: "Because. Why you mad?" Bullseye became an official trainer for the royal guard. His....methods were severe and so was his incessant yelling into the faces of every recruit. He had a habit of giving them all stupid nicknames in the process. Some would complain and even try and attack Bullseye , but a swift punch to the gut solved every one of "their" problems. All in all , Fyra slipped from the minds of everypony who knew her , even if they kept the most cherished memories of her in the back of their mind , leaving them in a type of shrine dedicated to her. There was still one , however , who was disturbed and had chills running down her spine. She just couldn't cope with what her sister said two years ago. Luna was in her relaxation room. It was a small room with a small bed perfect for her to lay on. Everything was star themed. The roof was painted in night blue with little white dots to act as stars , same thing for the walls , although a white line separated both of them. There were two small open shelves full of books related to the stars and beyond. It was an amalgamation of things that ponies had written over the centuries that Luna was banished into the moon. She appreciated everything that Celestia had collected over the years just for her , and even the ponies who bothered to study her artwork. On the opposite direction of the door was a balcony showing the other side of Canterlot. The deep gorge and it's plant-life could be seen from far away. Luna went back out as she opened the glass doors for a little inhale of fresh air. She stared into the abyss of the mist covered land down below. She turned back around , the feeling in her cut not leaving her since two years past. She decided to lie down on her comfortable bed and levitated a book towards her. It was the first she had shown Fyra. She chuckled a bit. She would have made a fine student in the celestial bodies. she thought to herself. The title showed :"The majesty of the stars." as it's title. Luna opened it and started reading through. Luna lift her head after hearing the sounds of hooves hitting a solid surface and stared at the door. The sound of hooves landing on her balcony surprised her. "Hey Luna, could you teach me more about the stars?"