> Light in the darkest hour > by DerpyEngi and Redd > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > prologue: A dare gone wrong (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi my name is John a boring name I know, but its mine so I'm not complaining.There I was, at the con dressed up as Ori from, of course, Ori and the Blind Forest. Why you ask? Because of a dare I made with my friend Harry, or as I called him Potter Pot. Anyway, the dare was who would beat Ori and the blind forest first, you can guess who won. I was walking down past the little shops looking like some furry. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate furries, I just don't like being called one. As I was walking I stopped abruptly and turned my head to a stall. "Now this is interesting" I said as walked up to a man in said stall with an impressive amount of cash and items. But one thing caught my eye, a glowing blue orb marked "Sein," I made my way to the merchant, who was dressed up like the merchant from resident evil 4. I stopped in front of the stall, the merchant was currently selling black lenses to a man dressed as a golden bear, probably Golden Freddy from the FNAF games. When he was done selling the lenses to the bear he turned to me and I asked him "how much for the glowing… sin orb?" he chuckled and said "it's sein," he corrected." this old thing is just 10 bucks." I gave him a surprised look that thing looked to be worth about 50 bucks. As I handed him the 10 dollars and took the orb hastily, but as soon as I touched it I heard girliest manly scream come from right... behind me, i turned around and I saw the bear falling into some portal and not even a second later I found myself falling through empty space and then everything went black. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna's (POV) 3rd person Luna raised the moon once more and lazily got herself ready to get some much needed rest, When she saw in the corner of her eye, a bright flash just above the forest near the castle, she looked out her window to see a light, slowly descending down towards a clearing in the forest she and her sister went to often when they were younger, a flood of questions arose in her mind. Is it Discord? she thought it can't be him! his in stone, but that light resembles his magic, I must hurry! She immediately went to investigate. After short time of flying, the light had dimmed a decent amount but was still there in the middle of the clearing. As she landed she saw a creature, not something that you usually see in the Everfree Forest, also to add to the strangeness of the creature it's fur was, glowing it had some cat like features but Luna knew that cats did not have glowing fur, nor did they have fingers on their paws. So she walked up to the creature, only to see it was asleep. Also it seemed like was dreaming… I guess its possible, but as Luna got closer the creature started to wake up. She stepped back not knowing what it would do when awoken. The creature opened its eyes, the creature eyes were pitch black with white pupils, those same eyes looked at her with confusion then it looked down at itself and then reached for its ears and went wide eyed and let out a high pichet "EEP" and jumped back. Luna started to walk up to the cowering creature to calm it down the creature looked like it was trying to talk but only made cute sounds of fear and confusion. Luna sat next to the creature still shivering with fear, she felt bad it and started petting it, the creature seemed to calm down, Luna let out a sigh of relief. Now to find out just what it was. This is going to be a long night she thought. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person As I woke up I heard footsteps coming towards me, no wait? that sounds like... hoofsteps? I slowly open my eyes to see a dark blue horse with a...horn? And wings too? So its not a horse, pegasus or unicorn. So what is it a wingacorn or something? Actually when I think about it, oh my ga...! This wingacorn is huge! I look down at myself and see that I have glowing white fur, paws with tiny fingers and then I put a hand/paw on my head only to feel that I have huge ears on the top of my head. I jumped back and tried to let out a scream and say. "what the hell!" But the only thing that came out was a high pitched "EEP." I put my paws on my throat, saying i was scared out of my mind was an understatement. I was terrified, and then I felt a hoof touch my back and started to pet me I calmed down immediately I felt safe like I was back home. after a while of petting the wingacorn put me on it's back with a weird blue glow that I'm not going to question, and it started to fly to some sort of castle. so wait this is a royal horse? I asked myself as I saw the armored horse guards with only wings, horns or none of the two. "Well this can't get much weirder" I said but still only noises came out. Shortly the wingacorn landed on one of the balconies of the castle I noticed a light floating towards me, I reeled back in surprise as it stopped right in front of me. "hello there my name is Sein I am the light spirit". "Ok then". I turned to the wingacorn... I should find a better name for that but anyway I turned to the horse, unicorn, pegasus thing. "Tell me I'm not going insane". I tried to say but nothing but noises came out of my mouth, but the orb seemed to understand me so I asked the orb "can you understand me?" "Yes I can"the orb answered. "Great! Then you can translate to Wingacorn over here! Wait, does it speak english?" "No sadly I can not translate for you as you see she can not see me nor hear me,”she stated her voice tinged with regret ”as for if she speaks your language then yes she does" she said her tone shifting from regret to some sort of happy. "oh" I said slightly disappointed and slightly relieved, first I knew I could understand this horse thing now and second I could not communicate with her as a result of my inability of speech, and just to add to my vasts amount of knowledge on this wingacorn I now know its a she. "and she's called an alicorn" the orb stated a matter of factly. "a wha?" I asked slightly confused "an alicorn, and her name is Luna"the orb deadpanned. Just like if confirming what sein just said this... Luna turned around and said "what to do with you?" as she put me on some sort of table. "maybe I could ask Tia if I could keep it". . I thought about that for a moment then nodded and said "Sure being the royal pet would not be so bad," understandably she did not understand me. she looked at me with a surprised look probably because I understood her, she smiled and left the room. I looked around curious of my surroundings. After a bit of looking around getting used to my new body I saw a quill and paper sitting on what looked like a coffee table. "I wonder if these horses or wachama call it... alicorns! can read? I announced excitedly when I remembered the name of her species “or that i can write?” I asked Sein but got no answer I looked around only to see that Sein was gone. "guess I'm on my own..." I said as I began writing. __________________________________________________________________________________ After a while I looked at a crudely written message that said "MY NAME IS ORI." Turns out my paws are not as nimble as hands so I was forced to use my whole arms to write, which in turn led to that the letters covered the whole page and also were in all capitals. I decided since I don't remember my real name I would just go as Ori. After a quarter of hour Luna and another Alicorn that I guessed was this Tia, a tall white alicorn with a pink mane and sitting on her back was a tiny red and orange bird. She and the bird looked at me with curiosity. "So this is the creature you wanted to tame?" Tia asked, as she did I took the paper with my new name on it and waved it around to get there attention, Tia took it with her magic (thats what im going to call it from now on) and looked at it surprised, she looked back at me then the paper and turned to Luna and said "I think this Ori is smarter than you think" and handed her the paper. Luna at first looked surprised then a smile crept its way on her face, then looked at me with that same goofy smile " well Ori I think we're going to be good friends.” > Chapter 1: The good old days(Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up after a surprisingly good nights sleep, I stretched out my legs and feet and was going to crack my knuckles like I was used to. And thats when I remembered I saw that my hands were now paws with tiny fingers on them, and that now I had glowing white fur. I also didn't remember, I didn't remember my name! Sure I called myself Ori yesterday but what was my real name! I started hyperventilating and chewing the pillow I was on. "Oh you poor thing." "What was that!" I shouted with an "eep" sound. I turned around to see it was Luna. "What frightens you Ori?" she said with concern in her voice. I only sunk back into my pillow. "Now is no time for rest Ori, we shall feast!"she said excitedly. I sunk a little deeper into the pillow. She gave out a tired sigh and said, "I really don't like talking like that, come on let's go eat you can sleep later." I perked up at that and hopped on her back. She looked dumbfounded by my jumping abilities, to be honest I was to. "Now onwards we shall feast!" I joked mostly to myself as no one could understand me. "Very well then," she said as we left the room and went down the corridor. As we walked down the corridor i started looking around, I noticed how many guards looked at me with surprised looks some even with horror, was I doing something wrong? Well that didn't matter though one caught my eye, it was a darkly coated horse i did not know if it was a he or a she, but it looked at me with disgust, I'm gonna have to keep an eye on it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Morning Tia!" Luna said excitedly as we walked into the dining area, "thou have yet to tell us of what breed your bird is!" Tia chuckled,"Luna you know you don't have to speak formally around me." "I know, but still i want to know what species you're bird is" Luna said whining just a bit. "Yes, yes Luna i'll tell you, it's a phoenix."She said still holding a proud smile on her face, "and her name is Philomena. "Philomena the phoenix, I like it "Luna said satisfied with the answer. As if on cue the phoenix flew in "You called?" She said rather smugly. Then I realized that I could understand her, I turned to the phoenix "Can you understand me?" I asked. Philomena turned to me with a curious gaze "Yes, and you me?" She asked hesitantly. I smiled and answered "Yeah I can,"i jumped of Luna's back and on to the table "It's nice to meet you Philomina" I greeted as I put my paw out to greet her. She literally beamed with excitement "Really!" She zoomed across the room to the table "Oh boy! oh boy! oh boy! No one understands me! not even the other animals in the garden! I don't know why though,"she tried to reach for my paw but her wings were too small, so I petted her head. "So what is Ori exactly?" Tia asked. Luna just shrugged and said "I don't know but all i know that she is harmless." I nodded in agreement, then i realized something, Wait did she say... she? "How do you know Ori's a she?" Tia asked curiosity slipping into her tone. "I did a full body skan of her body and noticed she had no male genitalia" Luna stated bluntly. "You did WHAT!" I said, angry at the invasion of privacy while sleeping, of course she only heard the irritated tone of voice I was using. She picked up on my angry tone of voice and said "Now Ori calm down it was only to see what your body's main functions are so if you get sick I could help you" she gave me a sheepish smile. I gave her a deadpan look. "What! I was curious" she pouted. I laughed at that, which was a strange sound to say the least. "Don't worry, she did that to me too," Philomena said with a big smile on her face still beaming. You would think that I would be freaking out right now, but learning that I'm probably female was not the strangest thing to happen in the last 24 hours. That title goes to being adopted as a pet by a royal alicorn... How am I not insane right now? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time Jump 3 weeks 5 days After a few weeks of Living here Ive gotten a little more used to not being able to talk, sure it's still annoying but I'm leading a good life, well as good of a life a royal pet can have but I don't think neither me nor Luna think of ourselves as pet and owner, more like very good friends. Me and Philomena have become good friends over the past weeks, we usually hang out in the fields that i was found in, I figured out what that place was called Moonlight Fields. The relationship between me and Celestia was never solid, she always either ignored me or just pushed me away. That Dark coated Pony (now i know there ponies, which did not surprise me) that I saw in the corridor, his name was Shadow Dagger, and I did not want to know why. He was one of the day guards, and it always looked like he was planning something while looking at me with anger and disgust. Me and Philomena were in the Moonlight Fields, it was a peaceful night and you could clearly see why it was called Moonlit fields. The soft light of The Moon, covered the whole field as nocturnal flowers glowed with a white glow. "Man, how come I never come to this place, it's down right gorgeous" Philomena said as she lay down on the grass, wings spread. "I don'tf knof you telf me." I said my mouth filled with delicious cod, Turns out that I can still eat some meat like fish chicken and... other things would rather not mention. She just grinned " Now Ori talking with your mouth full is very rude" she said while doing her best Celestia impression. I put a paw over my mouth, "pfft." Philomena just kept grinning like an idiot. I swallowed the rest of the fish in my mouth "pfft ha ha ha! that impression was terrible!" She only grinned more "how rude, now you will bake me the biggest bestest cake as an apology." I fell to the ground laughing my guts out, eww note to self never use that line again. "Do you like mmmm... bananas?" I kept on laughing for a bit, after a while I managed to catch my breath and say "okay, okay where did that last one come from?" "I don't know but Celestia said that to some pony that was running a vegetable business, I believe said something about cabbages." "You know it would be fun if celestia actually pretended to like me, at least not push me away every time I try to be nice" I say as I take another bite of my cod. "Oh she'll turn around " Philomena reassuringly. "I'm not so sure Philly" I said as I stood up and started walking towards Luna, who was sitting on the grass with Celestia. Philomena groaned at the nickname"you know," she turned around and flew after me "the longest day of the year is in 2 days." "And?" "It's Tias birthday, you can do something for her to earn her trust." I turned my head to her,"good point, I'll see what i can do" Then an idea came to mind. "Philly?" "Yes?" She answered ignoring the nickname. "do you know how to make a sphere?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day I woke up on the ground next to my project that me and Philomena managed to scrap together last night, I quickly hid it under Luna's bed. Just as I put it under her bed I heard a voice coming from behind me. "Morning to you Ori." I jumped back in surprise, Luna's way too good at that, like how does she walk so silently with hooves? She giggled in my expense when I landed on my rump. "Yeah, yeah shadow of the night, The Dark Knight rises again, very funny." "Now Ori do you know what day it is?" I tilted my head in confusion. "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" She shouted in pure excitement. "Whoa!" I shouted, as I got hurled at the wall with the sheer amount of force that her voice generated. "Oh no, Ori are you okay did I hurt you?" I just shook my head in response, I recovered shortly after and hopped on her back, just to show off I did a backflip for good measure. She shook her head and smiled warmly at me "arent you just the cutest?" I smiled proudly at that. "Now lets go, I heard that Tia's got a surprise for me!" she smiled widely as she cute *squeee* sound. I grinned "now who's the cute one?" she went on to bounce happily down the corridor, I hopped of her back to avoid the bumpy ride that would surely come if i were to sit on her back. As I was following her around I noticed shadow dagger standing in his usual spot, but something was of, his usual frown of disgust or anger was now replaced with a grin. To be honest it was unsettling, he had something planned I knew it, the question was what. > Chapter 2: Birthday Mares (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna and I finally made it to the party room where Celestia told Luna to go, it was dark, at least as dark as it can be when a walking light bulb is standing in said room. As I walked further in I lit up a banner that said, HAPPY 289th BIRTHDAY! "Dammit Ori! why do you glow? It ruins too many surprises!" Philomena said as she flew towards me pulling some sort of string. "I don't know, why do you have wings? They fly too much," I answered with a grin "Touche," she replied with a grin of her own. A second later Luna walked in after a talk with one of the solar guards, And philomena yanked the string. The lights turned on and confetti flew everywhere. I covered my sensitive ears from the noise the canons were making as they shot confetti all over the place. Luna noticed my suffering and she unarmed the party canons. I sighed in relief "Damn those things are loud," I said. "Yeah I never liked those things, me and Tia took one out for a test drive, when she fired it i had a headache for the rest of the day!," She said as she took out two earplugs that I somehow did not notice. "Wait, how could you hear me with those earplugs on?" I asked. She simply shrugged as she flew away "Happy birthday Luna," Celestia said as she walked up to Luna with a gift in her magic aura. Oh shit! I need a gift for Luna! But what?i thought, then i got an idea. I poked Luna's left hind leg, as she looked down I pretended I needed to go to the bathroom, she bought it and I ran of to her room. I stopped at Luna's front door, opened it and went under her bed and retrieved the project me and Philomena made for Celestia, but I was pretty certain that Celestias is fine with sharing this with her sister. The project was sphere model of Earth sitting on a small pedestal with a note on the front of it saying, my old home, it was the only memory I have from before Luna found me, I took the letter that was tied to it with a small string and I started to write. After what felt like hours I finished now I looked at a note I turned into a gift card which said: TO CELESTIA & LUNA. Thank you for my new home. From: Ori. I put the letter pack back between the string and the globe and carried them off. I knocked on the door to the party room, a solar guard answered and looked at me like i was some pest but eventually let me through. What is with these Solar Guards? I don't have these problems with the Lunar Guards. I thought. "Oh Ori, what do you have there?" Luna asked I smiled and pointed at Celestia then Luna then at the poster. "Is it a gift for me?" I nodded and took the gift card and pointed at it. "for the both of us I see," Celestia said as she walked up to us. I nodded eagerly smiling the biggest smile I could. as Luna read the note she smiled, not one of her signature goofy smiles, but a small genuine smile. I looked over to Celestia only to see her looking at me suspiciously. "How did you know that my birthday was tomorrow? you seem to know a lot about us Ori." Luna looked at Celestia clearly irritated with the question, "Celestia Morning Star!" She shouted at her sister. Celestia, Shocked by her sister using her full name looked at her with shock clearly on her face. "Ori just crafted a model of her old home and she just gave it to us with a letter that said Thank you for my new home and you thank her by asking her how she knew about your birthday!" Luna said an angry scowl on her face. Celestia's only response was a face frozen in shock. "Did you not think that maybe, just maybe she just made a gift for me and you, noticed my birthday was today and decided to give it to us today! Huh! Did you!" Her scowl intensifying. "Luna I,--" Celestia's reply was cut short when Luna interrupted her "NO!" she shouted even louder than last time, "I don't want to hear it!" Luna looked at me, my ears drooped and my face clearly saddened. "I'm going to my room," She announced to the shocked faces of Celestia Philomena the Solar/ Lunar Guards, the only ones that did not carry a shocked expression were me and Shadow Dagger, who was grinning. Luna stormed out of the room and the Lunar Guards followed. "That was odd" after a while of intense silence Celestia's shocked face turned into a frown, "Shadow Dagger," she said with authority "yes your majesty?" The unicorn stallion asked, all the while grinning. Celestia pointed a hoof at me, "take her away" she said in an angry tone. "What!" "What!" Me and Philomena said in unison. "Of course your highness" he said as he grabbed me in his magic, "where should I take her?" "To the dungeons," Celestia said with no emotion whatsoever Shadow Dagger nodded as he left, with me still in his magic Philomena just stared in shock at what just happened and whispered, "I'm so sorry." Just as we entered the dungeon cell where I would be held I heard Shadow Dagger say, "Perfect," as he through me in and locked the cell. I whimpered "What did i do?" As I began to cry openly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shadow Dagger's (POV) 1st person Perfect everything is going according to plan, The little rodent almost ruined everything but I managed to fix that by planting suspicion in Celestias mind. Now when Luna succumbs to the darkness Celestia will blame the rat instead of anyone else and eternal night shall reign upon Equestria! though i'm not in it for the eternal night, I will become king! And I shall prove that unicorns are superior to those Mud Dwellers and Barbarians! I will have my kingdom, a kingdom as pure as crystals! "Now just to plant the seeds of darkness into Luna's mind" I said as I began to laugh like a mad stallion, "muhahahaa, Muhahaha, AHH HA HA HA HAAA! Ah... its good to be me." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna's (POV) 3rd person Luna was in her room still fuming from earlier in the birthday party Why does Tia not trust her! It's been a whole month! she lay down on her bed, it isn't fair she's done nothing to earn your distrust Tia, "why can't you just trust her Tia?" she asked herself as she began sobbing. As she did she heard a knock on the door, "what is it?" She asked sternly. "after today's events I thought you might enjoy some relaxing tea your highness," The light coated unicorn Guard said. Luna thought about it for a moment then accepted, "very well leave it on the table." The guard smiled and put the tea on the table next to the door he then turned around. "Your Highness if I may" he asked "yes privet...?" Luna Started. "Light Hooves your Highness" he replied. Luna nodded, "yes privet Light Hooves, you may" Luna stood up and walked towards the table with the tea. "With all the respect Princess, but didn't you overreact a little?" he asked simply. Luna stopped and thought about it, it was true, she reacted rather harshly towards her sister for no real reason, so why did she react like that? And why is she so angry about it? Luna sighed "you're right privet, I did overreact, I am just going to finish my tea and I will go and meet my sister to apologize" she informed him. He smiled and walked out with no more words spoken. Luna took the tea with her magic and began to drink, she felt relaxed for a moment, then everything went to hell. Luna felt a splitting headache, she rolled of the bed in pain, she felt her anger amplify tenfold, as her fur turned pitch black. Another guard walked in, "how was your tea?" he asked with a evil grin. "wh,-- what did you do to me!?" "nothing much, everything that was in that tea was cinnamon, sugar and a little bit of a corruption potion," he said his grin not faltering, "now, now don't worry the potion will only corrupt you til you're nothing but a shell of what you once were, actually," he said as he put a hoof on his chin,"do worry!" he said with a toothy smile. Luna was now completely black and her eyes slitted like a lizards "y,-- yo,-- you monster!" Luna growled angrily, her voice not her own anymore. "Why thank you, now sleep," he hissed as Luna started to black out, "sleep and when you wake up you will not be Luna, you will be Nightmare Moon!" he said as he turned away from the unconscious black alicorn and towards the door. as he noticed a orange and red blur speed away from him, growled but kept heading towards Celestias chambers as he wore a mask of worry he ran and kicked the door open. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philomena's (POV) 1st person As I flew through the corridors of the dungeon, my mind racing to answer the questions that filled my head. What did that creep do to Ori? Why is he doing this? is Ori ok? Did she end up like Luna? I started to fly faster and faster, until I noticed a cell with light pouring out of it. "Ori, Are you okay?" I asked as I slipped through the bars of the cell door. And there she was fine physically fine, but an emotional wreck. "*sniff* What did i do?" she asked her body slumped on the floor still crying "I don't know Ori I,--" I didn't get to finish when I heard some one teleporting behind me. I turned around to see it was Celestia holding a chicken dragon? no... "Ori! Run!" but I was too late Ori had already looked at the cockatrice's eyes. And her feet started turning into stone. "No!No!No!No!No!No! This isn't happening! This isn't happening!" I started to panic, then a sickening crunch was heard, "NO!" I cried but all celestia heard was a loud squack. "The only one who can break a cockatrices' curse is the cockatrice that cast it," Celestia stated Bluntly, as she threw the body of the cockatrice she had used. "Ori?" Ori just looked up at me with sadness in her eyes. "But i don't want to go," she said tears running freely from her eyes. I hugged her "and you're not going anywhere, yo,-- you're not leaving me!" Ori hugged me back "Thank you phi,--" she was cut of her body now fully encased in stone. I started crying "she was my only friend..." I said quietly. "Come on Philomena ,it is done we shall go now," Celestia said as calm as ever. "SHE WAS MY ONLY FRIEND!" I screamed, "AND YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!" Celestia only stared in shock, her pet bird squawking angrily at her. "HAPPY FREAKING BIRTHDAY TO YOU! you just lost the only family you had left!" I was angry so so angry if heard another word come out of her mouth I would.-- "what is it Philo,--" She was cut of when a fireball shot her straight in the face. I flew away, as far away from that monster I could get then sighed. "Goodbye Ori." > Chapter 3: The Time in Stone (needs editing) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 500 hundred after imprisonment People waste a lot of time. Then they wish for more. More minutes in their hours. More hours in their days. More days in their years. More years in their lives... The funny thing about time is, is you don't make the most of every, single, moment, then you dont deserve a, single, extra, second! That's the rule I've come to live by in my life in stone, a statue, a prize! Put in the royal gardens like some sort of trophy, a trophy to be held in the air and say "I win!" My statue shamed with the name Betrayal! As she betrayed me! how she put me aside and cast me in stone! I've already been sitting here for 500 hundred years! I was barely holding on my sanity! Sein came back, which I thank any deity out there for she was one of two things keeping me sane. She usually came every year or so teaching me about the spirit that resides in all of my kind, teaching me how to use it. The only downside was I could only use it when Sein was around or else it would put a serious strain on me, so as of right now the only thing I could do was talk to my neighbor, Discord. He's the other reason I'm not insane right now, the draconequus was not evil that much I can tell you. He was betrayed like me, driven mad in his grief, his lover letting him go just because other ponies feared him, then sentenced into a stone prison by that very pony he loved because he looked like a threat to Equestria. Key word, looked! He was on the verge of insanity when Sein first came and linked our minds, I felt everything he had felt in the past, and he felt everything from my past. It was frightening how similar our pasts were, he had come here as the last of his species, met the royal sisters then got betrayed by celestia on Luna's birthday and he had also given them both a gift, Luna and Discord had been like brother and sister before he got imprisoned, and well... you know my story. I was having a nice chat with Discord, when something surprising happened. Discord how do you use chaos magic? you know it would be like explaining the world to an ant, right? I have time well okay then, first yo,-- he was cut short as a phoenix landed in front of me. "Hello Ori," the phoenix said. --u tell me who that is Discord finished. If could have I would have been wide eyed. She was alive, sitting right there in front of me. Oooh I know it's that Philly you talked about, isn't it? Discord asked playfully. Yeah... it is, I said half mindedly, hello Philly, I was to focused on Philomena to notice what discord was saying. "Long time no see," Philomena said as she smiled a sad smile. Yeah... I said still in awe that she was alive. "I miss you so much," she said as she hugged me with me still in the same position that i was in 500 years ago. I miss you too Philly, if I could, I would be crying, she was right there so close, yet so far. "We had some good times, didn't we?" She said as she began sobbing quietly. ... "remember when you got your ears stuck on a branch while we were racing?" I thought back to the time Philomena and me were racing back to the castle, then a branch came out of nowhere while I was in mid air and I some how got stuck. yeah.. I do, I said. Discord was silent, letting me be in peace while Philomena was crying on my cold shoulder. This was breaking my heart, not only was Philly crying, but I couldn't do anything about it. "I just wanted to say happy 500th birthday Ori," she said as she broke the hug. I smiled internally and said Thank you. I knew she could not hear me, but it help eased my pain to pretend she could "I found a family to live with about 250 years ago," Philomena said a small smile appearing on her face, "I thought you wanted to know." 250 years ago? How long do these ponies live? "of course the ones that found me are dead, but I am a family pet and they take good care of me," Philomena explained. That... explains it, I said in realization "I gotta go now though, I'll be back for your next birthday, goodbye Ori," she said sadly as she flew of. I'll find a way out of this prison Philly, just wait and see, I will find a way I said as she flew of. I have to find a way. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 999 years after imprisonment I can finally do it! I can finally free myself, all I need to do is get 6 ponies with different virtues. Kindness, the one who cares. Generosity, the one who will give everything to see you happy. Loyalty, the one who will stand by you. Honesty, the one who will keep the truth but not hide it. Laughter, the one who will not rest if you are down. knowledge, the one who will not ignore the facts and will not twist the truth. Those are the virtues that must be present so I can be freed. now to just get them here, Discord? I asked yes~? Discord cooed. any ideas on how to get them here? There was a pause and then Discord answered well you do have that light magic stuff, so why don't you use that to lure them here? I thought about it for a moment good point now let's see, I said and I began to focus on the enchantment. Six orbs of light appeared in front of me, and i sent them off to find the six ponies that would free me from this hellish prison. To be honest I was exhausted, casting light magic without Sein around is like opening a jar with only your hands, you get really sore afterwards. Philomena should be Back tomorrow, hopefully the light orbs will bring the ponies here before she leaves. I will be free, just in a few more hours I will be free. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy (POV) 3rd person "What a nice day" Fluttershy said with a smile on her face. She was on her way home when she noticed a yellow light floating towards her. "Is that a firefly? No they don't glow at daytime, so what is it?" She asked herself as it started to fly away, she followed it out of curiosity and a strange urge to follow it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash (POV) 3rd person Rainbow Dash was finally moving out, she had gotten a cloud house in ponyville. "Aw yeah! This house is going to be so awesome!" she said her tone of voice going high pitched in the end. Then she noticed a light blue light floating towards her. "Huh? What's that?" She asked as she felt an urge to follow it. "Guess my awesome house can wait a little longer," she said as she began to follow it. Then she noticed her old friend fluttershy following a yellow light. "Hey Shy! Long time no see," she said as she flew down to meet her old friend. "Oh, hello there Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy greeted happily. She then got a curious look when she saw the light blue orb of light float in front of Rainbow, "so you're following a light too?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah I was just moving in then this light just floated in front of me and I felt a strange urge to follow it." "It was the same for me, I was walking home and... Wait, youre moving in? To where?" Rainbow Dash grinned, "to Ponyville!" She proclaimed proudly "I'm moving into a sweet clou,--" Dash was interrupted as Fluttershy took her in for a bearhug. "You're moving into Ponyville! I'm so happy!" She shouted. "Can't... Breathe," Rainbow struggled to say. "Oh, sorry Rainbow," she apologised. Rainbow and Fluttershy continued their conversation as they followed the orbs of light. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AppleJack (POV) 3rd person Applejack was strolling through Canterlot as she saw a orange orb of light float towards her, then it stopped and floated away. "Well I'll be," she said as she felt the urge to follow it. Applejack only shrugged and followed the orange light, she was on a stroll, a very boring stroll so why not? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie (POV) 3rd person Pinkie was hopping down to sugarcube corner when a pink orb floated towards her. She frowned and said, "You know this is already getting old right?" Pinkie I told you no fourth wall breaking until I post a comedy story. She smiled and said "Oh, ok!" She followed the orb, and every one that was around her were questioning her sanity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity (POV) 3rd person Rarity was shopping for some fine fabric for her new fashion line, it was going to be marvelous. Then a white light started floating towards her. "No! not now! I'm too young and fashionable to die!" Rarity cried out dramatically, then the light stopped and started floating away and she felt the urge to follow it. Rarity embarrassed beyond belief followed the light, trying to get as far away as possible. the ponies in the store staring at her while she left. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle (POV) 3rd person Twilight was reading a book as usual when she noticed a purple light floating in front of her, then it floated away and Twilight felt an urge to follow it. Curiosity took over and Twilight followed the light. When she had been following the light for some time it stopped in the middle of the Canterlot Gardens in front of a familiar statue "Betrayal" she remembered how Celestia used to tell her stories about the statues and this one she remembered well. She and Celestia had a great nightmare night and she told her a story about Betrayal, about how she corrupted Luna to become Nightmare Moon and turned her pet bird against her, Then how she used a cockatrice to seal her in stone. So why did the light bring her here? Actually she had never seen the statue before, she had only seen pictures of Betrayal, all of which looked menacing , so she began to examine it. That was when she noticed Betrayal looked like she was... Crying? Why would a monster like Betrayal cry? Then she noticed a voice coming from behind her, she turned around and looked for the source of the voice. "And then I was all like, waffles? Are you crazy!" A pink earth-pony said excitedly while an orange earth-pony and a white unicorn groaned, they all had a different colored light in front of them. She was going to ask them why they were here, but somepony beat her too it. "So, was everypony just following a floating orb of light to canterlot, or is it just us," a cyan pegasus asked with a yellow one following her, they too had a light floating in front of them. Twilight just stood there for a moment not sure of what to say, then she finally spoke up, "It seems that whatever created those lights wanted us here but I'm not sure why." "Darling I don't think any of us know why, but let's first introduce ourselves, shall we?" the white unicorn suggested "I'll even go first, hello my name is Rarity," the white unicorn said. "My name is Applejack nice ta meet ya'll," the orange earth-pony said. "My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can just call me Pinkie," the pink earth-pony said excitedly. "My name is Rainbow Dash the fastest flier in Equestria!" the cyan pegasus announced proudly. Twilight hesitated but eventually said, "hi my name is Twilight Sparkle." "My name is Fluttershy." "uhm sorry what?" Twilight asked. "Uh, my name is... is that a Phoenix?" the yellow pegasus asked. Then Twilight's light began to glow brighter and shot a beam at Betrayal, soon the others followed suit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person I felt the stone prison around me crumble, and with a loud bang... I was free. I stretched, and boy did my limbs crack. "It's good to be free," i said and every one or in this case pony stared in awe. Except one, Twilight looked at me with horror like those guards so many years ago. "ORI!," I heard someone shout behind me, I turned around to see Philomena flying towards me at breakneck speeds. Wait, thats not good, as soon as Philomena was no more than a foot away from me she came to a screeching halt, then hugged me, I didn't hesitate to return the embrace. I broke the hug only to see that she was crying, not tears of sadness but tears of pure joy. I smiled and said "I'm back and I'm not leaving, not now, not ever." Then I heard someone Teleport, I looked away from Philomena to see it was Celestia. And she was angry. Not a second later she fired a magic bolt straight at me, I jumped up in the air and kicked it away, it hit the ground a few feet away... And exploded. "That would have killed both of us," Philomena said. I was angry I was really angry, I waited for her to fire again, I wanted her to fire again so I could reflect it straight back at her. But she didn't, she just stood there an angry scowl on her face. I put on my own scowl and started walking towards her. "Get behind me my little ponies," Celestia said, still calm yet angry. The six ponies did as they were told and stepped behind their ruler. I stopped my ears perked up at the sound of... music? I turned my head to the side to see Discord... moonwalking towards us? Discord reached us and bowed "thank you thank you you're too kind," he said a smile on his face. Celestia's eye twitched. Pinkie clapped her hooves and laughed "*snort* hahahaha, hehehe *snort*," The other five just looked at her and glared. "Sorry, bad time?" she apologised with a sheepish smile. "no, not a bad time at all Pinkie" Discord said still smiling a toothy smile and turned his head to Pinkie, "I needed to know if somepony still had a good sense of humor." Celestia shot another magical bolt, but this time at Discord. With a snap of his talon it was gone. He looked back at Celestia and his smile dropped, "hello Tia," he said the last word littered with venom. "It's been a loong time, how have you been? I've been really busy being petrified, you know AFTER YOU TURNED ME TO STONE!" Discord shouted, he snapped his fingers. Celestia looked up in horror to see her horn was gone, she looked at her back to see her wings were gone too, she looked at her subjects too see they also had their wings and horns removed. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be trapped in stone for a thousand years?!" "oh right, you don't! because i didn't turn ponies into stone!" Discord said then pointed at me, "and isn't it an odd set of circumstances that you traped her in stone on Luna's birthday! Just like me!" Discord lowered his voice but it was still angry, "you put an innocent sentient creature in a cage after it gave you a gift, left it heartbroken, then a few hours later come back with something to turn that creature to stone, for crimes it did not commit." Discord teleported straight in front of Celestia and added, "twice!" "Crimes it did not commit?" Celestia asked Darkly. "yes" Discord answered sternly. Celestia's mane and tail lit ablaze with anger "She corrupted my sister!" she shouted. "How?" Discord asked calmly. Celestia paused at that "what?" "How did Ori corrupt your sister?" he asked more sternly. An unsure look fell upon Celestia's face, "I... I don't know" Celestia answered, the inferno that was her mane and tale fading away. And with that Discord Teleported me, Philomena and himself away. > Chapter 4: New friends and old friends (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia's (POV) 3rd person Discord, Ori and Philomena disappeared and all Celestia did was stare. "Um, princess? What should we do?" Twilight asked. Celestia directed her attention to Twilight and said, "Go back to the study, Twilight. We have some catching up to do. As for the rest of you, head home, if a train will not arrive until tomorrow then you're welcome to stay in the castle," Celestia said with authority in her voice. The six of them nodded none of them daring to speak up. Then suddenly Discord appeared out of thin air. "Do any of you happen to be animal caretakers or vets?" He asked. Fluttershy raised her hoof slowly. "Ah, perfect!" he said happily as he snapped his fingers. And with that Fluttershy and Discord were gone. Celestia's eye twitched rapidly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person I felt incredibly dizzy after Discord teleported us. "okay let me know before you do that Discord," I said a little irritated. Discord only looked at me with confusion. "Hhmm... Seems that Ii can't understand you anymore" he concluded. Then he looked at my right leg and took a look of concern, "That... looks like it hurts." he said. Philomena looked at my leg the same time I did, it was incredibly burnet and there was blood pouring out of it. "Oh my, Ori, are you okay? Philomena asked., Immediately I felt a burning pain in my leg, I grunted and fell on the ground. "I'll go get some help." Discord said and he teleported away. "Ori! no, no, no, no, you just came back!". Philomena said, panicking. "I'm fine Philly, Discord’s just getting help. I, it's not like I'm dying.," I said, grunting and sure enough Discord appeared, this time with the yellow pegasus. "And here is your patient miss... What was your name?" Discord asked the pegasus. "Fluttershy...," she said, a little frightened. Then, she looked at my leg and she quickly went from frightened to shocked and worried. "Oh my, are you okay?" She said as she ran up to me and took a closer look at my leg. , "Oooh I don't have my animal healthcare kit, I don't know what to do!" she said, getting increasingly worried Discord snapped his fingers., "Here you go, an animal healthcare kit," he said as an animal healthcare kit appeared next to her. "Thank you," Fluttershy said as she took the healthcare kit. "Now, just stay still Betrayal, this is only going to hurt a little." she said as she started bandaging my leg. I growled, "My name is Ori.." She looked at me surprised then smiled kindly. "Well okay then, Ori." she said as she began putting disinfectant on my leg. "Huh? You can understand me?" I asked baffled, This is the only pony that I had ever met has understood me. "Yes I can, I can understand all animals," she said still holding her warm smile. "That is certainly interesting, how do you do it?" Discord asked. "It looks like me and Ori can't understand each other after we got out of stone." "Oh, she can understand you, but you can't understand her.," she answered timidly. "Still, it doesn't explain why you can understand her perfectly.," Discord crossed his arms and glared at her. "Well I can't understand her perfectly, but enough so I can talk to her.," she answered. "I agree with Discord. It's interesting that you can talk to us, so how did you learn to understand us? Philomena asked. "When you spend a lot of time with animals, you pick up what noises mean what." She said as she stood up. "There you go! Al done." "Thank you for your kindness. Most people would be hesitant to help a creature that just stood up to one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria!" I thanked rather formally. "Not a problem at all, but you might have to be carried for some time. Your leg is going to be fine but it's better if you'd keep pressure off of it." She explained. "Mind tagging along then?" Discord asked while sipping out of a chocolate cup with milk in it. "Uh... I don't know, I really need to get back to my animals and keep them fed, a,--" she started but was cut off by Discord. "Where are these animals?" Discord asked "Oh, they're in a cottage near the Everfree in Ponyville." she answered. Discord snapped his fingers. "Done, it won't be a problem anymore." he said simply. "What?" she asked in confusion. "Your animals have been put in a time lock until you get home, so they don't have to eat or anything untill you get home.," he explained. "H-how did you-" she asked, baffled. "I control chaos magic. I can do almost everything so I just located where you lived and put your home and all the animals there in a time lock.," he explained again. "Oh o-ok.," she said not really understanding but accepting it. "We should get going we could go to my family. W, what do you say Ori?" I simply nodded and said, "Sure, I've been wondering what your family looks like for a while now.." "I'm sure you family is lovely, Ms. Phoenix," Fluttershy said "My name is Philomena.," Philomena greeted and turned to me. "How did you know about my family?" "You remember the times you went to visit me and spoke to my statue?" I asked, she nodded. "I heard everything," I explained. She smiled., "Good to know i wasn't talking to a brick wall," she said while I chuckled. Fluttershy only stared at us in confusion., "How?..." she said "How what?" I asked. "How are you two communicating? Only animals of the same species can communicate." she said. Me and Philomena shrugged "Probably the same reason why we can understand any of you. We just do," Philomena answered and I nodded in agreement. "Well... I guess, I suppose that it is odd that animals understand ponies but not each other," she admitted. "Well, we should get going.," Discord stated. "Where to?" Fluttershy asked. "Uh... I was hoping you would know.," Discord said as he nervously while he rubbed the back of his neck with a claw. "Don't worry I'll lead the way," Philomena said. "Just follow Philomena Mr... what’s your name?" Fluttershy asked. A slight frown appeared on Discord's face., "Discord, my name is Discord." he said while crossing his arms. "Well, Mr. Discord lets follow Philomena to meet her family," she said. "Family? Sure, I've got nothing better to do.," he said while floating lazily above us. "Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!" Philomena said. A as she took to the air, she paused for a moment and looked at Fluttershy and said. "Thank you." Fluttershy smiled a small gentle smile and said nothing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location Unknown, Ori 1st person Philomena, Fluttershy, Discord and I were still flying after five and a half hours, and finally we arrived at some sort of city. "There it is! That's my home.," Philomena called out to me and Fluttershy who was falling a little far behind. "Good... can... we stop now?" she said exhausted., "We have been flying for five hours now." "Sure. Just wait here and I will go fetch my caretaker. Wait for me at the gate!" Philomena said as she flew off. Discord being Discord and not having a care in the world, was lazily floating above us. "Discord? Mind giving us a hand?" I said but only got a confused look from Discord. "I'm never going to get used to that," Discord said as he kept on floating around with seemingly no effort. "she... said... can you... help us?" Fluttershy said out completely out of breath. Discord only shrugged and snapped his fingers. All of us teleported in front of the train station which was currently empty. "Well, I'm already bored of this., Ori do you mind if I leave?" Discord asked clear bored expression on his face. I only shrugged in response. "Great! now I'll be off to the Badlands, I've heard that they're in need of some remodeling. Toodles!." He waved goodbye, and with a snap of his fingers he was gone. "Why did you let him go?" Fluttershy asked still a little tired. "I figured why not, when he get's bored he starts whining until he's entertained." I explained. "And it's not like we need him for everything, do we?" "I guess not." Fluttershy said as she stood up and started walking towards the gate. "So, how long do you think this is going to take to heal?" I asked her while I waited for us to arrive at the gate. "I don't know honestly, I haven't seen another member of your species, but seeing you heal as fast as a pony you will be ready to walk after a day," she explained. “Huh, well I guess that's good” I said as we stopped by the gate. Fluttershy put me down on a small hill with her wing. “Wow, this city is gorgeous, maybe just as beautiful as Canterlot,” she said sitting down next to me. I looked at city infront of me it was indeed very beautiful. There were tall buildings that looked like there scaffoldings were exposed. This city looked a lot like a old German village from home. “I’m willing to bet it’s even more beautiful at night with the starlit sky and the moon right behind it, lighting up the sky with with moonlight.” I said, imagining the beauty of the sky Luna crafted every night. “Starlit? What is a Starlit?” Fluttershy asked confused. I looked at her, confused as well. “You know, the white dots in the sky at night?” “You mean the moon? I think there is only one though.,” Fluttershy asked. I only looked at her, shocked., She didn't know about the stars!? But Luna put so much effort into them every night! did she give up on making them? No, that’s not like her. What happened? "Never mind, guess my memories are a bit off since I got out of stone," I lied, but I was going to find out what in the world was going on. After a short time of waiting we heard a voice coming from the gate, "Alright, alright, sheesh what's got you in such a hurry?" Me and Fluttershy turned our heads to see a griffon with a slight some light purple tint in their feathers and around it's eyes, following Philomena. Philomena flew over to us and landed on Fluttershy's head. She pointed her wings at the griffon and said, "Ta da! My caretaker, Gilda!" "Caretaker huh? So does your family hire her to take care of you?" I asked Philomena. "Well... no, she’s the member of the family that takes care of the family pet. In this case me." Philomena explained. "Does she understand us like Fluttershy?" I asked. "No, she can't." Philomena stated. simply. "Huh, I'm surprisingly satisfied with that answer" I said sarcastically, Philomena chuckled, knowing that I was always very curious and a answer like that was not going to suffice. "So, who's this, Philomena?" Gilda asked her pet bird. "It's nice to meet you by the way," she greeted, offering Fluttershy a talon. "Uh... uhm, hi, my name is Fluttershy and it's nice to meet you too.," Fluttershy greeted, reluctantly took her talon and shook it. Gilda smiled and said, "So what brings you here Fluttershy? And why does my pet phoenix recognize you?." And with that I hoped up on one leg on to Fluttershy's head and put an arm on Philomena's shoulder. Gilda only looked confused., "Is that your pet?" "What? N-, no I just helped Ori, her leg was badly burnt after reflecting a magic bolt.," Fluttershy explained, letting go of Gilda's talons. Gilda looked at my leg, curious to if Fluttershy was right., "So a unicorn attacked her?" she asked skeptically. "No, not exactly, it was actually the princess." Fluttershy said in a hushed tone as she hid behind her mane. Gilda looked surprised., "Wow, man you must screwed up bad to make the princess that pissed. I shrugged, literally having no idea what I did wrong. I then jumped towards Gilda., I landed and Fluttershy and Philomena gasped in surprise. I looked at them confused, "What is it? Did something happen?" Philomena pointed at my leg, "Doesn't it hurt?" She asked, a little worried. Then I remembered my leg, I looked down, curious to what happened. It didn't hurt at all. I carefully took of the bandaging and saw that my leg was fine. My fur had grown back and the wound that covered most of my leg was gone. Gilda Philomena and Fluttershy looked at me surprised., "Isn't it supposed to be badly burnt?" Gilda asked, now suspicious if Fluttershy was telling the truth. "I-, I don't know, i- i, it was just a f-, few hours ago" Fluttershy stammered, now a little scared, Philomena nodded repeatedly, trying to convince her caretaker. Gilda looked skeptical but eventually gave in and smiled., "Well good thing that no one here is loyal to the princess, now c'mon, I'll show you around." She said, motioning us to follow. Philomena flew over to her caretaker while Fluttershy and I followed her to the gates. There were some griffon guards standing next to the gate, when Gilda approached them they bowed and let her through. "Wonder what that's all about," I said outloud, Philomena only smirked and followed Gilda. I started to follow and started running after them to catch up, then something grabbed my tail and pulled me back. I looked at the griffon guard., He had a scowl on his face. "Now where do you two think you're going?" He asked as the other guard pointed his spear at the now cowering Fluttershy. "Let them go, they're with me." Gilda ordered in a harsh tone, the guards obeyed and moved back to their positions. Me and Fluttershy walked up to Gilda, she smiled and walked off. "Her personality seems to change a lot around other pon, err... I mean people," Fluttershy acknowledged. I only shrugged and followed Gilda. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time jump one and a half hours Me, Gilda, Fluttershy and Philomena had been walking around for some time. Gilda and Fluttershy spent most of their time talking to each other while Gilda showed us of the grand city’s sites, while me and Philomena were catching up. "So this is Griffoonstone huh?" I asked "Yep, I've been living here for 749 years, it's going to be 750 in 6 weeks" She replied rather smugly, it reminded me of how she acted when I first met her. I smiled, "Good to see you haven't changed much" "Hey! I've changed plenty! Like..." She stopped thinking of what had changed. My smile turned mischievous, "Well there is one thing." "What is it?" she asked completely clueless. "You've aged." I said with the perfect pokerface. she frowned "Hey! You've aged too!" "True, but for you it shows!" I said now laughing my ass of. "Well, at least I've matured a little..." she mumbled. "Hey! Catch!" Gilda shouted as she threw a fish toward Philomena. Philomena flew into the air a caught it with her beak, she landed then a look of realisation came across her face which immediately turned into a grin. She threw the fish over too me, I caught it with my paws and looked at it, then i realised why she had a grin. "Eat up fatty," she said, I only stared at the cod with hungry eyes. "Well? You want it or not?" she said still grinning, "I know you want it, Ori." "Come to momma!" I said and began tearing the cod apart, "Iit. Iifs. Sfo. DELIFOISF!"I said my mouth filled with delicious cod Philomena started laughing like a maniac, "Good to see you haven't changed either.." I frowned a bit at that, I tossed what was left of my cod into a nearby trashcan., "You know, I didn't get out of stone unscathed.." I said frowning a bit. Philomena looked confused. , "You look fine too me, what happened?" she said, a little bit of worry in her tone. "well... I don't know exactly what is wrong with me, but physically I'm fine.," I explained, "Discord told me a few years back while we were in stone that we had both developed some mental tics. He doesn't know what they are but they are there.," I said a little scared. "I don't want to hurt you! when it happens! Or anyone else for that matter!," I practically screamed, "Itit could happen at any moment and we don't know what I will do if it happens!" I was now panicking, "What if it happens now tomorrow, today! Or even now!" I said as I started hyperventilating. "Hey there, calm down! It's fine, maybe the mental tic is when a pig flies on its own or something like that, there is no need to worry okay?" Philomena said as she put her wing around me to comfort me. I started to calm down a little after that. Then Philomena hugged me. I stopped hyperventilating, got a grip of myself and regained my composure and hugged her back. A smirk crawled it's way on my face, "When did you get here and where is Philly?" I asked sarcastically, more a less to calm myself down. "Are you saying that I can't be nice?" she said raising an eyebrow. "Maybe..." I said smirking. "Ori?." "Yes?" "Never change.." "Don't plan on it," I said, me and Philomena still hugging. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestias (POV) 3rd person Celestia was not in a good state to say the least. It was 4:35 AM and she was still sitting there researching all she could in the restricted archives in the Canterlot library. "She must have done it, she must have done it, she must have done it..." she repeated quietly. It couldn't have been a lie, she must have done it, Ori HAD to have done it, her little ponies were the only things she could trust., "Wait, of course! He was just lying! Like he always does., Ponies don't lie, only Discord and Ori lie!" Celestia said her eye twitching rapidly her usually well groomed mane now a complete mess and her coat dirty from being around so many old dusty books. She smiled. "Problem solved. Now, I think I might need some rest." she said walking over to an unconscious Twilight. She had fallen asleep after many hours of research. "I won't let that monster take you away too Twilight., Ori. Will. Pay!" she said as she picked Twilight up with her magic and put her in her chambers. Celestia put twilight onto her bed and walked out to her own chamber., "Mark my words, I will find you Ori, one way or another." she said as she got into bed. "I promise Luna, I will avenge you." > Chapter 5: An unexpected surprise > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori 1st person After me and Philomena broke our hug, we noticed that a lot of griffins, centaurs, and ponies were either going "aww" or "dawww" at cuteness of the situation, or looking at us confused, and in turn made me confused. " Did we do something weird?" I asked Philomena as a centaur started whispering something to a light green coated pegasus with a yellow mane. The pony gasped in realisation and ran off. Philomena only grinned and said, "Nothing I'm aware of, but that doesn't matter." She said as she started flying towards Gilda and Fluttershy, then stopped midway. "How about a race? Last one to Gilda is a... rotten meat!" I walked towards her and stopped right next to her as I began to chuckle, "You mean a rotten egg?" "Huh?" she said, losing focus on the race. I took the chance and ran towards Gilda."You're too easy!" I shouted back. "Hey, no fair!" She shouted back as she began to follow. I hopped onto Gildas head with ease, "Life's not fair.." I shot back with a grin. Philomena quickly caught up and landed on Fluttershy's back. "Doesn't mean you have to help it out, you jerk!" She said, and glared at me. "What? I owe life some favors" I said shrugging, still smiling. Philomena crossed her wings and looked at me skeptically. "Yeah? Like for what?" she asked, a little irritated. "For letting me meet you" I said as hoped over and gave her a hug. Philomena sniffed the air and said, "I smell cheese.." I stopped hugging her and hit her lightly on the shoulder. "Shut up." I said, chuckling. Philomena smiled and flew over to Gilda and landed on her back, I sat down on Fluttershy's back and twiddled my fingers. I sat there for a while, Fluttershy and Gilda walking down some path which led out of the marked and into what looked like a normal street with a few 2 story houses lining up to a Castle, a big castle at that might I add. Fluttershy and Gilda had also been very quiet, they Didn't said anything for a while, I turned my head to Fluttershy and asked, "Are you two okay? You haven't been talking for a while now," She turned to me with a forced smile. "Yeah, we're fine but you're little freak out earlier was a little... you know... worrying." I gave a nervous chuckle "Yeah... I should have guessed.." Gilda looked at Fluttershy confused, "You can talk to her?" she asked pointing a claw at me. Fluttershy visibly brightened up. "Oh, I can talk to many if not all animals!" Fluttershy answered her smile widening. "Huh. That must come in handy, so how do you do it?" Gilda asked a curious expression on her face. "Alright I'll tell you, if that's okay with you..." Fluttershy answered timidly. Gilda laughed. "Of course it's okay with me, I was the one who asked you." she said as she punched Fluttershy lightly on her foreleg. "C'mon we'll talk about it on the way to my home." she said as she started walking down the same path as before. As we continued going down the path I noticed that there was a very wide variety of species walking around. Unlike normally, when ponies were the most frequent in this city it seemed to be griffins then minotaurs then ponies and I saw like 10 dragons! Flipping dragons! I did not know that they came in extra small. Anyway, I decided to ask Philomena about it and all she told me was, and I quote, "It's a sore subject and I am not in the mood to talk about it." It was very unlike her, usually when I asked her anything she would answer me straight, but this time, this time something is seriously wrong and I know it. I decided not to press the matter, I had a feeling that it would only make her angry "I understand." I said calmly. Her frown deepened, "No, no you don't." she said rather aggressively. I put my hands up defensively and replied, "Woah, calm down there, I'm on your side." Philomena calmed down noticeably and sighed. "Yeah... Sorry about that, like I said, it's a sore subject." she said while having a distant stare. "Okay..." I said hesitantly and decided to leave her to it. I hopped off of Fluttershy's back and on to her head, cutting her off while she was talking to Gilda and said,"Hey Shy, mind asking Gilda how far until we get to her home?" She looked up making me fall on her back again and turned her head to me and gave me a warm smile. "Sure thing! Gilda?" Fluttershy asked. Gilda turned her head towards Fluttershy and said "Yes? Something the matter." "Well, Ori wanted to know when we would be arriving at your home." Fluttershy explained and I nodded rapidly. Gilda chuckled. "We're already here." she said as she pointed forward. My jaw dropped when I looked at Gilda's home, it was a castle! The freaking castle! There were four small towers on each side while there was one large tower in the middle. All the towers were connected by the main part of the castle. Surrounding the castle was a gigantic stone wall, which had guards of various species on and surrounding it. It was an impressive building, but it stood out of the theme of the city. Instead of having an old German look to it, it had a more medieval look. "German? Medieval? where am I getting these names?" I mumbled. "I would say that I have a knack for being a pet of royalty." Philomena said grinning, a nice change from the sour mood I put her in earlier. "You are not the only one that is a pet of royalty Philly." I pointed out defensively. Her grin faded from existence. "Coming to think of it where is Luna? When Celestia confronted me, she was not there. I would think that she at least heard the music Discord started playing" I asked her. Philomena looked saddened by the topic. "You mean you don't know?" She asked. "Know what? Philly, what happened to Luna!?" I asked rather forcefully. She turned her head towards the sky. "I'll tell you later, right now, let's enjoy this one day together, okay?" She said, her face begging me to agree. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "You promise to tell me later? I asked her much more calmly. She turned her head to me and smiled a weak smile "I promise." I smiled, nodded weakly and turned to face the castle again. "So, what's the story behind this, Philly?" I asked. She laughed. "Always got to know everything huh, Ori?" "Well I would like it if I could hear at least a little about your 749 years here, going to be 750 by the way" I explained, messing with her a little. she smiled "You make the worst jokes, Ori." I shrugged. "I try." I said "Too hard." Philomena ended "M, but at least I got you to smile!" I pointed a finger at her. "So it was a little funny!" She gave me an "Are you serious?" face and turned to the castle and got ready to take of. "Hey wait!" I shouted but she had already taken of. "Great..." I grumbled, she managed to dodge my question, I was already getting irritated. I looked at Fluttershy and Gilda who had now just stopped and stared at me. "uhh..." I started, then Gilda cut me off. "Was that Bipedal cat just having a conversation with my pet bird?" Fluttershy turned to Gilda and said, "yes, yes she did" I quickly put on a goofy smile, putting my arms behind my back and flattening my ears. "Okay, I will never get use to that" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person, inside The Castle "This place is way too similar to the old castle, Philly." I said as I walked with the others down the halls of the castle. "I guess, but there is nothing I can do about it, really." Philomena replied, shrugging it off, having actually lived in the Griffonstone castle longer than in The Castle of The Two Pony Sisters. When we entered Gilda had gone from casual to formal as soon as we entered, something about manners and tradition, I don't know, I was too focused on the cod Gilda bought after she revealed her home. Damn, I love those things. Gilda was now showing us around and explaining how the titles worked in Griffonstone. First there is the King and Queen, like normal they had most of the power of the kingdom leading it and all that. Second there are no princesses or prince's, there are only heirs, and Gilda being the only Child meant she was the Heir of Griffonstone. "Here is the hall to the kitchen and over there are the guest chambers were you will be staying for the night since you have a long journey ahead if you wish to return to Ponyville." Gilda said formally. "Now that that's out of the way, wanna get something to eat?" Gilda said doing a complete flip from formal to casual. "Sure, I'd love to, well... if it okay with you?" Fluttershy said, well... shyly. Gilda laughed at that. "Shy, if I ask you to come and have dinner, of course it is okay with me." Gilda explained all the while chuckling a bit. "Now C'mon, Philomena will show Ori where they're sleeping tonight." Gilda instructed Fluttershy. I yawned. "Or sleep now." She looked up to a clock on the wall, it was 9:56 pm. "It's not that late, but you can still get a little rest." Gilda informed me. I only nodded and turned to Philomena, who only nodded as well and flew of, signalling me to follow. We got to a door with a burning feather symbol on it, I turned to Philly and asked, "This your room?" "Eeyup." she said in a weird southern accent. "So, I am sleeping in here?" I asked. She only nodded. "Tired?" I asked. She gave me an "Are you kidding me?" look and flew on the handlebar and opened the door. Then I saw a bed. I ran in, not even caring to look at my surroundings and shouting out "BED!" an jumped on to the bed. Philomena yawned and lay on the bed next to me. "You are so weird sometimes, Ori" Philomena said tiredly "Less talk more sleep"I said a little more energetically, but not much. She chuckled and we both fell asleep unaware of a shadow looming outside the window. > Chapter 6: Nightmares > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unknown... "John!" I heard a voice... It was, familiar. "Johnny," There it was again, why is it so familiar? "C'mon Johnny, wake up!" the voice called out again Wait, I remember, Rose... I thought to myself, I could only remember her name, but not who she was. Who is she calling out too? "C'mon, I got a surprise for you!" Rose called out again as I felt something weakly shaking me. I opened my eyes too see I was laying on a bed in a very familiar room, I turned around seeing a little girl smiling up at me. "What?" was the only word I managed to speak before a flood of memories of this girl flooded into my brain. Rose, Rose was my little sister and one of my best friends, even though she didn't know that. She was sweet, happy-go-lucky, and brave, though she did sometimes get a little annoying, but that didn't matter she was my sister and being a little annoying wasn't going to change that. Her fear of heights was always a good tool to get her to shut it. I groggily got up from bed stumbling a little bit. "What is it Rosie?" I asked, I was going to ask her so many things, but my body wouldn't listen to me. Rose smiled and took my hand as she started dragging me down stairs into the living room, "Woah, what's got you in such a hurry?" "It's a surprise!" she said, clearly excited herself. She dragged me to the living room were too older figures stood and a new flood of memories came back to me. Mom? Dad? I asked myself then I realized something. I said "DAD!" "Hey kiddo!" he said as the other me ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "I missed you, dad!" I said, still hugging my dad. My dad hugged other me back and said, "I missed you too." I thought about the situation for a little bit and came to the conclusion that this was a memory. It was my 18th birthday. The day my dad came back. I was so happy, he had been gone for 5 years. My dad was a tall and well-built man, he had black hair and blue eyes and a stuffy beard. He almost always wore a black T-shirt some blue jeans. My mom tried as she would to get him to wear something else but only succeeded on special occasions. My mother on the other hand was a short blond with green eyes and she always kept her hair in a ponytail. When me and my dad stopped hugging he signaled my mother to get something. When my mother came back she had three gifts, one big blue gift wrapped in a yellow ribbon, and two green ones, one wrapped in a gold ribbon and the other in a blue one. Rose was the first to hand me a gift. She gave me one of those tiny helicopters that you could control remotely. I hugged her and thanked her for the gift. Then my mother handed me the green gift with the golden ribbon. In the gift there were some clothes. There were jeans, a T-shirt, and some boxers. I smiled as this was the same gift as every year, and I found it funny. I hugged her and thanked her for the gift. My dad handed me the other green gift. He gave me an old collection of action figures from when he was young. Then I felt like I was being pulled away. I pulled back. I looked up at my father, his eyes were of shock and worry. "What is it, dad?" The pulling got stronger, and I started losing my footing. "Just hold on!" my dad shouted as a wind started picking up. "Dad! what's wrong what's going o--" my voice was caught in my throat as my voice changed to that of an animal. I looked down at myself, only to see that I now had glowing white fur and I had shrunk down to a size of a cat. "But I don't want to go! You just came back!" I looked up at my dad who was now saddened. I lost my footing, but my dad caught my arm, "John, you are a Hanson, and what do Hanson's do?" my dad asked me. I stared at him, terrified. I didn't want to go, he just came back! I don't want to lose him again. I regained control over my body and I immediately grabbed my father's hand with my free arm "They never forget, they never give up." he started as he started to lose his grip, my voice coming back to me. My grip was slipping I couldn't hold on much longer and the force pulling me away was getting stronger "A Hanson's pride, we have enough," I continued "Now go in there and show them what you’ve got." My dad finished, he chuckled sadly, "Damn, that rhyme never gets better, does it?" "Dad?" I asked, my voice becoming that of an animal's again. "Mom? Rose!" I shouted as I looked around the room which was now a black empty void, my sister or mother nowhere to be seen. "Look at me, John." my dad ordered. I looked at him with tears in my eyes. "John, I need to ask you one thing before I go." he himself struggling to keep his composure. I only nodded knowing that my dad wouldn't understand me. "Do you remember this?" he asked as he used his free hand to show me a photo. I looked at the photo, it was a picture of me in a red Basketball outfit holding a trophy with 11 other boys in the background. I nodded. I remembered this. I was 15 at the time and we had just won the Youngsters competition. My dad smiled weakly and said, "Good, my work here is done." "What? What do you mean by work?" I asked frantically, trying to speak normally again. A single tear fell from my father's eye. "Goodbye, son." he said sadly as he lost his grip on my arm and I got pulled into the void. "No! DAD! NOOO!"I screamed as I fell into the black empty nothingness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) Philomena's room "Ori! Wake up!" I head Philomena shouting. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" I shouted back, waking up from my nightmare. I looked around to see a dark cloud floating above me, a few seconds later it zoomed of. I sat there taking in what had just happened, then I felt something examining me, I looked at the culprit who turned out was Philomena. "Philly what are yo,--" I started but got cut off by her. "Are you okay? What did it do to you? Can you hear me? Tell me many feather am I holdi--" I cut her off. "Philly, stop! I'm fine!" I paused, trying to calm myself down. I looked into her eyes and said, "I think I just remembered my family." > Chapter 7: Departure > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- unknown's (POV) location, unknown "Oh, this is just perfect!" I said, my voice distorted as usual. "You thought I wouldn't notice?" I took on a physical form and smashed a hoof on my Melanthos' back. "A giant black cloud swirling around in daylight, you made it too easy." I chuckled. "I admit you were a worthy foe. If I had faced you a thousand years ago, while I was weak, mortal." I smirked and returned to my true form and removed my hoof off his back. "You're... a... madman" he said again, every time we faced each other he said that. It kept getting more annoying... "I AM NOT MAD!" I shouted in a voice that equaled that of the Royal Canterlot Voice. I sighed and calmed myself down. "I see the world as it is." I got closer to my prisoner. "Much like you, Melanthos, it's weak." I spat out his name like venom. "As such, it needs to be strengthened." I got even closer to my prisoner. "So weaklings and those tainted by Light need to be... removed." Melanthos was silent. "The false princess shall fall, just like all stars, those little beacons of light in the vast, empty space of Darkness." I chuckled lightly "They die out." I continued "And all those who oppose me will suffer until they succumb to the darkness." I turned all of my body except my head into a dark mist and swirled around him. "Just like Luna did." I turned my head towards my prisoner. "So, Avatar of Shadows will you embrace the darkness? Or will you suffer like your friends?" My prisoner stood up despite his beaten form from our battle. He stumbled trying to get close to me. "Never have I seen a creature as you wield my shadows, and I have seen many." he took another step closer. "You have corrupted almost every one close to me, used them as your puppets and killed thousands." he stumbled forward. He flared out his wings. "I will never join you!" he sent out a burst of energy which took me by surprise. I flew backwards from the force of his blast, but it didn't even leave a scratch. He stumbled and fell. "Too bad, I'll just have to make you." I took out a bottle full of a vile dark liquid. I used my mist-like form to lift the bottle and force it down his throat. He gagged as I forced the last of the liquid down his throat. "W-What.. did you... just make me... d-drink..." he panted. “Something which will make you listen to reason." I answered. "You can do whatever you want from me, but you will never find the others!" he said. I rolled my eyes. "Oh spare me from you cliche speeches, they’re almost as dull as you are. Besides, I don't need to find them." I turned to my two newly recruited minions who were hiding behind my mist. I grinned. "They found you." I said as they came out of the mist. His eyes went wide. "No..." he said just before the potion took effect. I watched as his as he spasmed in pain. I enjoyed. Every. Second. This was just too perfect! Everything was going smoothly, I have two of Melanthos' friends under my control. Soon the third will join them. I turned around to my two minions and shouted, "You two! Get over here!" "Of course..." they both said, then they began moving towards me. "You there" I said as I pointed towards my first minion. "You have served me well." "Thank you." She said in a deadpan voice I turned to my second minion. "I expect you to do as you are told. No more disobeying." "Of course." she replied. "Good, now fetch the last two." "As you wish." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) "What do you mean, I think I just remembered my family?" Philomena asked confused. "Exactly that Philly! I remember my family!"I said as I grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. "O-ok s-stop s-shaking me!" she replied I realized what I was doing and stopped shaking her, "Oh, sorry about that. Little panicky." "Yeah, a little." she said sarcastically. She shook her head then looked at me. "So, you’re saying that there are more of your kind out there? Didn't you come from some light in the sky?" she asked confused. I opened my mouth to speak then closed it, not being quite sure what to say, I did remember some of the stuff from my past life, even though it was mostly just how I got here. Everything else was just one big blur up until now. Like I now remembered my friend Harry, the one who I used to call Potter because of the Harry Potter movies. I also remembered my sister Rosie, my dad, and my mom, all of them, though most things were still a blur I remember almost everything I did with my family. Even my last day before I left. "Ori? Hey Ori?" Philomena said while she waved her wing in front of me "Equus to Ori. You there?" "Huh wha, what?"I snapped out of my trance and looked and Philomena who was now looking at me worriedly. "Ori, are you okay?" She asked with a hint concern in her voice. I nodded. "I'm fine Philly, just got lost in thought." I answered while rubbed my forehead. "So are there?" she asked I looked at her confused. "Are there more of your people, you know, glowing cat things?" Philomena explained. I rubbed the back of my head, "Eeh... not that I know of, no." "Wait, what? So how do yo--" She started but I cut her off by grabbing her beak and shushing her. "First off, it's a long story." I let go of her beak, she looked like she was going to protest but I shushed her again. "Second, I need to figure this out myself first before I tell you more, so how about we go get breakfast and we'll talk about it later?" I suggested. She looked at me, annoyed but eventually gave in and sighed "Fine, but if I have to wait more than a day, I will squeeze it out of you!" she warned. " Deal! Now, let's get something to eat." I said, then hopped of the bed and out the door, Philomena in tow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Royal dining quarters, half an hour later "Ori, I told you that you should have turned right, not left!" Philomena complained. "Hey! I smelled food and I am starving. Give me a break!" I retorted "Yeah, I'm sure that maid really appreciates you trying to eat her lunch!" She shot back. "Hehe... like I said, I'm starving." I said remembering that unfortunate event. Philomena shook her head and smiled. "Well anyhow, we’re here. Just don't eat off of someone's else's plate, okay?" She said, chuckling at her own little joke. I turned my head towards her. "Ha ha, comedy at it's finest." I replied sarcastically. We walked into a rather big room with a dining table taking most all the space in the room, some fancy chairs surrounded the table and hanging from the ceiling was a large golden chandelier. To the left side of the room was fancy looking bird feeder with some seeds in it and beneath that was a bowl with two medium sized fishes in it. "So, I am guessing this is where we eat?" I asked as I pointed to the left side of the room. Philomena nodded. "Yep, and I am guessing that is yours." She said as she landed next to the bird feeder and pointed at the bowl. As I walked towards the bowl I noticed that Fluttershy and Gilda had already taken their seats along with two other griffins. The two of them wore what looked like royal clothing and crowns. The taller and bulkier one of the two griffons had a dark coat and grey feathers with a black tint around his eyes which were brown, he had a rather large beak and really small eyes compared to Gilda. The smaller of the two was a spitting image of Gilda but instead of a purple tint around her eyes she had a green tint and said eyes were blue instead of yellow. "So miss Fluttershy, how is it that you found yourself in our castle?" The bulkier griffon asked in a very deep and manly voice, apparently ending a rather awkward silence between them. I sat down next to the food bowl and took one of the fishes inside and started eating, as I was eating I started listening to their conversation. "Well, it's a long story and I don't want to bother you by telling you about it." Fluttershy said as she started covering behind her mane. "Ah nonsense. Honey how long is it ‘till the next meeting?" the other griffon asked the bulkier one in much smoother and lighter tone. "In about 3 hours." he answered. "See, we have enough time. Now what brought you here?" The smaller griffin asked. Fluttershy shuffled nervously before speaking. "Well... okay then, it started when I was walking home..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One explanation later... Fluttershy had just finished explaining how she got here, even mentioning Discord and me getting released from stone and that she could talk to me and Philomena. "That is... quite the story." The bulkier griffin said "I agree, by the way, where is this Discord fellow? He seems like an interesting character." the other griffin said. "Oh, he's in the Badlands. He said that it needed some redecorating, though I don't know what he means by that." Fluttershy answered seemingly more comfortable around the two griffins. I finished the fishes, went over to Fluttershy and jumped on her head, she let out a surprised "eep" as I did so. She looked up to see what it was and almost knocked me off of her head. She noticed that it was only me and giggled. "Oh, it's only you. You scared me there Ori." "Yeah I noticed." I said as I jumped of her head and on top of the chairs back. "So this is your animal friend that you came here with?" The smaller griffin asked. Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, this is Ori. Ori this is king Iron Heart and queen Amabil." "Aah, so Gilda’s parents?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "Yes." Fluttershy said. I turned to both of them and waved> "It's nice to meet you." "It is nice to meet you too Ori." she replied. Me and Fluttershy looked at her surprised. "So you can understand her, too?" Fluttershy asked. Amabil looked surprised for a moment, then after a few seconds of silence she started laughing. "Oh no no no, it's called guessing, my dear. I guessed after Ori bowed that she was saying hello, but I didn't understand a word she said, darling." "Oh, that makes sense" Fluttershy said sheepishly. "So ,Fluttershy, are you planning to stay here?" Iron Heart asked "Or will you be leaving soon?" he added. "Well I was planing to go home later today, actually." Fluttershy answered. "Well then we will make sure that you will get a train right away" Iron Heart offered, "you live in... Ponyville, right?" He asked, holding back his laughter. Fluttershy didn't seem to notice. "Yes I do." Iron Heart started laughing. Amabil gave her husband a stern look. Iron Heart stopped laughing, "I am very sorry, it's just how Equestria names its cities and towns, it's always funny to me." he apologized, while still laughing a bit. "Oh, ok." Fluttershy answered. "Apology accepted." she said smiling. Shortly after their conversation ended, a minotaur in armour who looked like one of the guards came in. "Your Highnesses, a guest has arrived and is waiting for you." he informed the royals. "We will be right there" Amabil answered. "Tell our guest to wait until we get there." "Miss Fluttershy, you might want to hurry. The next train will leave in 15 minutes." Iron Heart said while looking at his pocket watch. "Actually honey, make that 10 minutes." Amabil corrected him. Fluttershy nodded in agreement, "Thank you for your hospitality, you three have been very generous." Fluttershy thanked "No prob." Gilda replied. "Catchya later though, right?" she asked. Fluttershy gave Gilda a small smile. "Sure! Just come see me in Ponyville, it's been a lot of fun." Fluttershy replied. "Well, we better see who this guest is." Iron Heart said. He turned his head towards the door. "Guards, escort miss Fluttershy here to the train station." he ordered. Two guards came from behind the door and signaled Fluttershy to follow. "I'll see you later" Fluttershy said before exiting. "See ya!" replied Gilda. Fluttershy exited the room and after that there was a awkward silence in the room. "Well, let's not keep our guest waiting. Shall we?" Iron will suggested as he stood up. "Agreed" Amabil replied. "Philomena, come here." she said then signaled Philomena to land on her shoulder. Philomena did as asked and flew on Amabil's shoulder. "You coming Ori?" I looked up, having fallen in a sort of a daze. "Yeah, yeah I'm coming." I jumped of the chair I was on and followed the king and queen towards the meeting room. There was a guard standing in front of the door. He was wearing blue tinted armor instead of the usual silver or iron that the guards in the castle usually wear. I thought nothing of it and continued to follow the others. Iron Heart neared the door, then the guard spoke up, "Princess Celestia has been waiting your highnesses" he said as he bowed. Then I realised something, I looked over too Philomena and she had the same look I had. "It's Celestia!" we said in unison. "We gotta hide, now!" I told Philomena. "I know just the place, grab my claw!" She ordered. I grabbed her claw as she flew up into some hole in the wall. The king and queen seemed to not notice or care. Once inside the hole in the wall I noticed that it went much further in and that it became much wider, just enough for me and philomena to be able to walk. I turned to Philomena and asked, "what is this place?" "Ventilation. It's designed to keep all of the rooms in the castle evenly warm, which means that it goes to every single room in the castle." She answered while walking down a few more steps. "Look, we can watch from over here." She said as she lay down to look through an opening in the tunnel which had some iron bars blocking anything from climbing in or out. I lay down next to Philomena and looked down into the room. Confirming our suspicions, Celestia was sitting on the other side of the table from the king and queen. We kept silent to listen to what they were saying. "Princess Celestia." Iron Heart greeted. "Iron Heart, Amabil." Celestia greeted. "So, what brings you here to our kingdom?" Iron Heart asked in a gruff tone. "I come to bear a warning of a threat to both our kingdoms and others." Celestia replied in a formal tone. "Oh? What is this threat, might I ask?" Amabil asked. "it is of two old foes that I faced a thousand years ago, both were imprisoned in stone and have escaped somehow, one of there names is Discord, Discord holds immense magical energy surpassing my own, he uses that power to throw the world around him into chaos. He is even the reason pegasi and griffons need to control the weather" Celestia explained. "That does not bode well." Iron Heart replied, looking quite shocked from hearing this, having heard of Discord from Fluttershy. "Indeed, how do you plan on stopping him? And of this other threat?" Amabil asked, looking quite shocked as well. "We will get to that later, first I must tell you of betrayal she was the one too curr--," Celestia continued explaining but I stood up and walked to the hole exit. "Ori, where are you going?" Philomena asked. I didn't answer, I just jumped out landing in front of the of where the guard was before and ran down the corridor towards the front door. I looked back to see the Philomena was following me. "Ori, wait!" She shouted as I ran out the front door. I looked around. Dusk-lit streets with no one around. Then I noticed the guards and Fluttershy. I ran after them. When I got close I slowed down and hid behind some barrels. Philomena caught up with me. "Ori, what in Tartarus are you doing?" "Catching a ride." I replied while keeping my eye on my target. "What do you mean, Ori?" she asked "I mean that I'm getting out of here and going somewhere that Celestia will never think of looking." I replied as the the guards entered the train station and Fluttershy boarded the train. I quickly ran towards the train and jumped on the side of one of the train carts. Philomena soon followed. I climbed on top of it, opened an unlocked hatch and jumped in. My luck prevailed as it was the cargo section. "I am going to Ponyville."I explained. "Alright, but where are you going to stay in Ponyville?" Philomena asked. "In Fluttershy's home of course. Where else can we trust someone who knows a lot about animals in Equestria?" I asked. "I don't know, but are you sure about this?" she asked. "Yes I am sure, Celestia is probably going to make a deal with the king and queen about searching the entire kingdom for me and Discord, then it would just be a matter of time before she would find us.." I replied. Philomena looked like she was going to protest but gave up and sighed, "You're not going to change your mind, are you?" I shook my head. "Well then, I’m coming with you." she stated firmly. I smiled. "Thank you, Philly." There was a loud whistle as the train took off. > Chapter 8: Memories of the long gone (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ha ha! Can't catch me! I’m the fastest person in the world!" My newly 3 year old sister taunted as I chased her. It was late. Me and Rose were alone at our vacation home. She wouldn't go to bed and just started running around. She eventually ran outside and stopped running and looked up into the sky. "Hey Rosie... you... done running around yet?" I asked as I sat down next to her, out of breath. She simply pointed to the sky. "Look at all the stars. They’re so pretty." she said with awe stricken eyes. I looked up and they were very pretty indeed. The stars shone brightly, the moon was full and stood proud in the middle of the sky and no cloud for miles, first time in ages probably. "They certainly are, Rosie." I agreed. I then grabbed her and sat her down on my leg. "I wish I could just fly up there and touch them," she said, still mesmerized by the stars. I chuckled, and said "But you're afraid of heights, you little goofball." I said as I tickled her stomach. She started laughing uncontrollably. "Stop it! Ha! Ha! Stop!" I continued for a little before I finally stopped and let her breathe, she took a few deep breaths before she leaned backwards and yawned. I sat back and looked at the stars for a moment. Then, I was hit with inspiration. "Do you want to learn about the stars, Rosie?" I asked her. "Mmm-hmm." she hummed as she nodded her head. "Well, first of you got to promise that you will go to sleep, okay?" I asked her. "Yeah, I promise, but you got to tell me about the stars then!" she warned in the most threatening way she could... which just ended up being cute. "Okay then, Long ago there was a tiny little star. The star was so tiny that none of the other stars noticed the tiny little star." I started my little story. Rosie just kept listening as I continued. "So the tiny little star got sad and went to Mistress Moon." I said as I pointed at the moon. "Then, the tiny little star asked Mistress Moon, ‘Mistress Moon, can you help me? All of the other stars ignore me because I am so tiny. Can you help me make some friends?’ Mistress Moon then said, ‘no I can not my little star, but you can. You need to find the other tiny little stars like you. I warn you though, it's going to a be hard journey, are you up to it?’ She asked the tiny little star. He decided that he wanted to find other tiny little stars that were sad, so the little tiny star went--" I got interrupted by a snoring sound. Rosie had fallen asleep, I chuckled. "Not sleepy at all, huh?" I shook my head. "Let's get you to bed, Rosie." I said as I picked her up. I carried her to her room and put her on her bunk bed and walked out, I heard her mutter something on my way out. "But when you're flying, you can always fall down..." She muttered quietly. I chuckled again. "Rosie, you goof." I said as I closed the door. I made my way to my bed and went to sleep, not caring about my teeth or clothes at the moment. Chasing your little sister gets really tiring after a bit, so I went to sleep, not having a care in the world. > Chapter 9: Voices > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person I woke up after a pleasant nap, my first one in a thousand years. A thousand years... I pulled out of my thoughts when something called my name. "Hey Ori, how long til we get there" Philomena asked, "because it feels like it has been days!" She complained. I simply shrugged. "Great, wake me up when we get there"she said, visibly annoyed. Me and philomena had been in the train for seven hours, it was starting to get boring and we would had have expected to arrive sooner. Me and Philomena had been trying to pass the time, with no avail so we decided to just lay down and relax. There was a loud whistle and a voice announced "Next stop, Ponyville!" "Welp thats our cue, let's go Philly" I said as I hoped off The briefcase I was sitting on. "Aww really? I was really starting to like it here, I mean this bed" she said and pointed at the bag she was laying on top of " it's so comfy, it totally doesn't feel like there is a freaking spear in there!" She shouted, clearly frustrated. "Hate this place?" I asked. "Hate this place" She answered. "Thought so, now let's get out of here, Don't want the train conductor find us or anyone else for that matter"I said then motioned her to follow. I climbed on top of a crate that was sitting directly beneath the hatch we came in from, I looked up and signaled Philomena to the hatch, "you mind opening this?" I asked her. She nodded and opened the hatch and flew out, I followed soon after. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philomena's (POV) 1st person Ori jumped out of hatch and we started looking around. Ponies of many different colors shape and sizes were walking in and out of the train, we waited for them to leave and soon enough the train station was empty. I turned to Ori to ask her what to next, I opened my beak to speak but then I noticed that she had a distant stare, when I was going to ask her what she was staring at when she just ran of. I groaned, "Damn it Ori, next time say something before you run away!" I shouted as she ran towards the town. I chased her for a while trusting she at least knew what she was doing and after ten minutes or so of chasing we finally stopped by a familiar forest. I landed next to Ori, "Ori, are you okay?" I asked worriedly. She only shook her head and ran off again. "Ori wait!"I pleaded, but my words fell on deaf ears ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ori's (POV) 1st person Just a little further I thought to myself as I continued to run, the only thing I needed to do was to get there it was only a little further then every thing would be okay, just a little further, almost there... Maybe I should stop and wait for Philly? I thought to myself. Continue a voice told me. But what about Philly? She's probable worried that I'm gone. I asked the voice, feeling tempted to just continue running. It will be okay, continue The voice reassured in a calm manner, making it harder to disobey. But how will it help? I asked as I stopped running and just stood there. CONTINUE! the voice demanded in a Threatening manner this time, me still having an overwhelming urge to do as it says. I took one step forward, the voice continuing to urge me to continue on my unknown path. I shook my head, suppressed the urge to move forward and took a step back stomping my foot down for emphasis. I am not abandoning Philly, and there is nothing a voice in my head can do to stop me I stated firmly. The voice growled, You MUST abandon her, the only thing that she will give you later in life is pain and suffering and the only way to avoid that pain is to avoid the people that will cause it The voice warned me sadness tainting its previous threatening tone. I took a deep breath before I spoke, "No, I will not abandon her, if I would do so then she would give her pain and suffering, leaving her would destroy her and that is a selfish act of disloyalty towards family and friends, Abandoning her is not an option when she has followed me on a mission that I don't truly know the goal of, she has shown me kindness and loyalty staying by my side for almost a millennium, abandoning her after that, I can't imagine what that would do to her..." I retorted. I stood there, the voice had silenced and I felt like a weight on my mind had been lifted. Shortly after Philomena landed next to me with an expression of anger and worry on her face I hid behind my ears in shame, "Sorry for running off philly, I guess... I guess I wasn't thinking" I apologized sheepishly. I stood there expecting her to burst into a fury of angry remarks like *how could you run of like that*, when something unexpected happened, she hugged me. "Don't you dare scare me like that again, you can't just run of like that, the first time I understood because Celestia was there, but just then you just ran of not answering to anything I said, you really scared me Ori" She said relieved with a hint of worry in her voice. I was initially surprised but quickly hugged her back, "Don't worry Philly it won't happen again, I promise" I said sincerely. After a while I broke the hug and sat down by a tree stump, patting the ground motioning Philly to sit down next to me. As she lay down next to me being unable to really sit on the ground, I asked her a question,"So where exactly are we? This place seems... off" I asked as I looked around nervously, feeling like anything could pop out at us. "You mean you don't know?" Philomena asked. I shook my head, confirming what she asked. Philomena sighed, "Ori, this is the Everfree." I was shocked, the everfree had always been such a bright and beautiful place, but now, now the forest holds a kind of dead look to it, the once green luscious leaves and grass now were dark blue and brown in color, the trees looking almost dead and the sun barely shining any light on the ground. The Everfree forest had taken a turn for the worst, it's once warm welcoming atmosphere now replaced with a dark eerie one. It scared me how much it had changed. Philomena stood up and put her wing on my shoulder, "I know it's scary what has become of the Everfree, but things change and we can't let that hold us down" Philoma said, "now c'mon let's get out of here" She said as she took to the air I stood up and began to follow Philomena, but as soon as I started running after her a small light appeared in front of me. My curiosity got the better of me as I got closer to the light and reached out with a paw to touch it. Philomena noticed what I was doing and flew back attempting to stop me. But it was too late and as I touched the light I let out a scream as it expanded and engulfed my entire body. > Chapter 10: Time to think > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I gurgled out as I woke up, feeling like I had been it in the head with a rock, then that rock got a drill and started drilling into my skull. My eyes felt like bricks that had been sealed with cement and my body had a thousand needles constantly pricking away at it. In short, I felt like crap. Due to my splitting headache my mind was really fuzzy and I had a hard time remembering what had happened. The only thing I recalled was a few distorted memories of a Light splitting into pieces, a brief flash and that's about it. Not much to go on so I decided to investigate. I opened my eyes slowly. I was so frazzled that I was tempted to just close my eyes and embrace the sweet, sweet release of unconsciousness, but my curiosity prevailed and I shakily righted myself up. I started to look around, I was apparently sitting on a small, soft mattress lying near some sort of dog house. There was also a birdhouse on the ceiling nearby. When I looked around a little bit more I noticed the house I was in was littered in bird houses cages, many of them occupied, and all sorts of things you would require for a multitude of pets. "Huh..." was the only thing that escaped from my mouth as I still felt exhausted, I was still curious about this and was wondering if I had been found and sent to a vet's for injuries, it would certainly explain why I was feeling so crappy, but before I could ponder on this longer a faint snoring behind me interrupted my thoughts. I turned around to see Fluttershy sleeping comfortably on a... Bear. Normally I would have fled at the sight of the hulking creature, but at the current moment and time I was too exhausted to even care. Also the fact that Fluttershy was sleeping on top of it made me assume that it was friendly or at least domesticated. I lay back down and sighed. At that moment my mind started to wander,.First to pop into my head was were Philomena had gone. I lifted my head up too look for her. Thankfully I didn't have too look for long as she was laying down on a mattress similar to my own, not looking too good herself. 'Wonder if she feels just as crappy as I do...' I thought to myself as I lay my head back down. I continued letting my mind drift to random matters and I found myself thinking of how Discord was faring. 'That draconicus is always planning something, heck I even remembered when we were both still stuck in stone he had this grand plan to eliminate the elements by using a crowbar some clue and a bowl of rice. thank goodness I was able to convince him otherwise,' I chuckled lightly at the memorie. As my mind drifted I began to wonder about what had happened the last thousand years and what had changed, I pondered that for a moment as I tried to fall back asleep. What new towns have been established? And how the old towns had fared, hopefully they didn't have as many horse puns in them as the old ones. Snoutsville had been a horrible name for a town. Then I started thinking of my family, my mother, my father and Rosie, even though I just got these memories back just this morning, I felt as if they were old, and I’d had had them for a long time. Then it hit me. Those memories were old, I had experienced them more than a thousand years ago before I was even in Equestria. That fact hit me like a brick. It was such a long time ago, everyone I knew then is gone now, there kids, and even grandkids were gone, Rosie had long ago grown up and died either of old age or through other means I didn't know, and it tore me up inside. I didn't get to live that life and everyone I had known was dead. I curled myself up in a ball quietly grieving the loss of my family. Before I knew it I had fallen asleep, tears staining the mattress. > Canceled: Reasons > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are reading this then I am sorry to say I have canceled this story. But no worries I plan on rewriting it, without the Displaced. The reasons why are when I began writing this story I had never planned on finishing it I had no plans and when I realised I had ruined the opportunity to make it a good story I decided to try and revive it which lead to many, many failures, so I made the only choice I could, if I want to finish this, I have to write it from the beginning, so I began editing rewriting and trying to fix the old chapters and in doing so I realised the Displaced part of the story was the reason it was failing, so I cancelled this story. The rewritten version should be out soon because I am not trying to fix old flaws that I had made with the older chapters, hope to see you there. Now if you are coming from the rage review group to tear my story apart, then I say do your worst, make me cry at the mistakes I made then take my tears bottle them up cut a wound on my arm then pour them into it, do. Your. Worst! I would appreciate it if you would.