//------------------------------//
// The tale of Firefly, Choices, Uncaring Roommate. 
// Story: A New Tale In Equestria. 
// by Sylif Daring Doo 
//------------------------------//

_____*a little earlier that day, Gwen's house, Firefly and Solar's room 8:10 AM.*_____

Firefly opened her eyes and grumbled, she sat up and rubbed her eyes, accidentally shocking herself in the process, she twitched but not much else. 'I hate when that happens.' She said to herself.

She noticed that Solar was already out of the room and stood up. "Better late than never." She muttered.

Firefly slowly walked out of the room, she heard movement downstairs and headed for the bathroom, when she reached the bathroom, it was thankfully empty, she entered and locked the door.

After a while, Firefly left the bathroom and headed downstairs, when she entered the kitchen, she saw Gwen making breakfast, she walked to the table and sat down. "Morning Gwen." She said, still slightly tired.

Gwen seemed to pause for a second but continued quickly, it was extremely subtle, so Firefly didn't pick up on it.

Roxanne entered the room and sat down. "Hey Gwen." She greeted.

Gwen looked over. "Hey Roxanne." She replied before returning to cooking the food.

"Hi mom." Firefly said.

Roxanne noticed a small tear run down Gwen's face, but she didn't let Firefly see it, she chuckled and ruffled Firefly's hair. "Hey Firefly." She replied. 

____*later in the day, at School, 9:32 AM*____

Firefly sat at the bench with Spark, Solar and the Crusaders, they had bonded rather quickly over the last few weeks, but when Scootaloo was attacked last week, she had quieted down a lot and was much more skittish, more so than normal.

Spark, who was once again sitting on the table, was currently lost in thought as Firefly and the others talked. "You're sure your alright?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo nodded. "Yea, I'll be alright, but I probably shouldn't do anything reckless for a while, especially in the forest." She replied calmly, but her hoof was still shaking.

Firefly blinked but said nothing, one thing she noticed was how strangely Spark was acting, normally he was talking freely, but now he was quiet as could be. "Spark, what's on your mind?" She asked.

Spark blinked and looked at Firefly. "I've been thinking about what Lyaroa said, she had heard about the attack and said she would handle it.....but the way she said it, it was odd." He answered.

"How so?" Firefly asked.

Spark looked up at the sky. "Earlier that week, she had told dad about an anomaly she felt back in the Crystal Empire, and that it came here......it makes me wonder what the anomaly was." He replied.

Scootaloo put her head in the table and grumbled. "Well if she knew what it was, why didn't she do anything?" She wondered.

Spark shrugged. "I don't know, but something tells me that the source of the anomaly is what attacked you." He said as he stood up.

Firefly watched as Spark jumped up the table and stretched. "Maybe we should let this one play out?....I don't know if you all noticed, but we're in over our heads." Spark said.

Apple Bloom sighed and got off the bench. "I know we don't have a good record with these sort of things when we try to help out....but you can't expect us to do nothing?....Scoots was attacked after all, we have just as much right to go after this thing, besides, your a DRAGON, and Firefly has her lightning along with whatever me and the others can pull out." She argued.

Spark looked at Apple Bloom and chuckled. "Alright, you have a plan?.....do you know where to find this thing?" He wondered.

"Guys knock it off." Firefly said as she stood up.

Spark and Apple Bloom glanced at Firefly and backed off. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me." Apple Bloom apologized.

"You're concerned for your friends safety, that's all, but you need to understand, my power has limits, and they aren't small, and for all we know, this things feeds off lightning." Spark said as he sat back down.

The school bell rang after that, and the six friends got up and headed inside. 

When the class was seated and the lessons continued, they found that the next lesson was on history, and Firefly, being who she was, lost almost all interest.

_____*later that day, Gwen's house, 2:10 PM*_____

Firefly sat in the living room, contemplating her next move.....in chess, against Roxanne.

Normally she won, which was twice, but that was only because Roxanne took it easy on her, but now that the fox was being serious about the game, it was challenging.

Eventually Firefly moved a pawn and decided to start up a conversation. "Hey....mom, can I ask you something?" She started.

Roxanne moved a knight and looked at her daughter. "Sure." She said.

Firefly spoke as she thought on her next move. "A while ago, you told me that I had lived a past life, and that Lyaroa could fix it." She continued.

Roxanne chuckled, knowing fully well where this was going. "Let me guess....your curious aren't you?" She asked.

Firefly moved a rook and nodded. "Would it be possible for you to show me?" She asked.

Roxanne shook her head. "I can't.....but Lyaroa can, if you want." She replied before moving one of her pawns.

Firefly stared at the chess board for a few moments, she eventually spoke again. "Yea, I want to know more, if she can show me what I was like, or anything in general, or even if it's true." She said.

Roxanne sat back in the chair. "You know, if you do that.....you'll have to sit through all of your memories." She pointed out.

Firefly moved a pawn and sat back. "I know that, but it's better I do this now, then some time later in life." She said.

Roxanne rubbed her eyes and moved a bishop. "Checkmate......I'll talk with Lyaroa, see when she can do whatever it is she does." She said.

Firefly blinked and glanced at the board, she tried to see a flaw in the move but found none, she sighed. "Ok......hey mom, I have another question." She mentioned.

Roxanne stood up to stretch her legs. "What is it?" She asked.

Firefly looked at her mother and and blinked. "Do you know why Fang has been so quiet lately?" She wondered.

Roxanne walked over to the nearby wall and leaned on it. "To be honest?.....I'm not sure anymore, as much as I hate to say it, me and him?....we've sorta drifted apart, I guess he isn't taking the whole being back thing very well." She answered.

Firefly stood up. "I don't really blame him, I mean, one day he's in control, then he wakes up around a month or longer later with no memory of what happened, and finds out he's a father in a strange land?.....I'm surprised he hasn't shut down entirely." She said as she walked around.

_____*Two days later, Lyaroa's house, 1:20 AM*_____

Firefly yawned as she rubbed her eyes. "Remind me again why we are doing this so early?" She asked sleepily.

Lyaroa placed an orb on the floor in the middle of a large circle. "Because, when you go through your memories like this, you enter a dream state, you'll actually be absorbing at least twenty years of memories in a few hours, and this is technically the safest way of doing things, if I simply gave you your memories back in an instant, you could go into shock or a coma, or even fry your brain." She said as she drew some more magical lines.

Roxanne yawned as she sat on a nearby chair. "Won't this ritual or whatever disturb everyone else?" She wondered.

Lyaroa shook her head. "No, he may not look it, but Spark is a very deep sleeper, besides, I put a soundfroof spell on his room and told him what was going on, he was......oddly accepting of the situation, Wheatly can go into sleep mode and isn't bothered by magic, and Fang is still awake in his room." She said.

"And what about you?" Firefly asked.

Lyaroa snapped her fingered and a strange metal cylinder appeared in her hand. "I have plenty of energy drinks.....besides, not like I can die from a heart attack." She said as she drank some of the liquid.

Firefly slowly stretched her limbs and looked at the strange lines on the floor. "What are these?" She asked.

Lyaroa chuckled and drew one last line. "They are called memory lines, each one shows a different level of memories......for your sanity, I have filtered out the memory of your birth and the time you had as a baby, the orb in the center is basically the catalyst for the ritual, it's going to be the connector between you and the lines, when you are ready, step into the center and sit down." She instructed.

Firefly took a quick breath and stepped into the circle. 'Most people would call this insane, that they couldn't have lived a second life, but me?.....I've seen signs of it, they try to hide it, but everyone acts.....strangely, around me, like they are seeing a ghost, mom has done a a few times as well, but not recently, well, it's time to see what this fuss was about.' She told herself as she sat down.

"Okay, now gaze into the orb, it will let you enter your memories, even the ones wiped clean." Lyaroa said.

Firefly focused her vision on the orb and quickly found herself feeling woozy, and then she was somewhere strange, it was that of a city, but it was in the clouds, she looked around and saw that she seemed to be in a town square of some kind, she looked around and saw something odd.

It was herself, but a little younger, and she was running around with what seemed to be a young version of Gwen. "Can't catch me!" The young Firefly teased.

The young Gwen seemed to be lagging behind. "Oh yes I can!....just you wait!" She yelled back.

Firefly noticed something odd, she saw Fang standing there watching. "What the?" She muttered as the world soon changed perspective.

She saw many images next, it was a blur, but it was slowly clearing up, as they did, she started to hear voices, and then the voices became clearer and clearer.....until.

She was in a field, but she noticed something odd, she saw what looked like an older version of herself, and she saw Gwen and Lightning Dust walking over catiously, she also noticed Derpy and Skitter slowly heading over.

All of a sudden, Dust charged at the older Firefly, and they began coming to blows, it was pointless to say that she was confused and terrified.

The older Firefly then punched Dust in the gut and then powerfully kicked her out of the bushes, the memory seemed to speed up a little and everything was blurry, but one thing came out clear. "It wouldn't be right to let my little sis go off on her own would it?" 

Firefly then watched as the images changed to that of a cave, the older version of herself lied on the ground and soon woke up, she cringed in pain and slowly stood up. "What happened?" She said.

The images changed again, but this time, they were inside a familiar place, the Temple of Jandoka, she was watching as Roxanne ran up to the cocoon and freed the older version of herself. 

They said some things but it was blurred as it slowly entered Firefly's mind, things were kind of sped up from there, from them finding Derpy, to them finding Fang and then searching the building, finding everyone one by one, but the time returned to normal when they entered a strangely familiar room.

The older Firefly and Roxanne were watching as a very familiar dragon headed down the steps, she watched as they soon began fighting, eventually, she watched as Emerald entrapped Firefly in some kind of magic, and explaining as things went on in her mind.

The only memory that came out of the supposed 'test' was a short scenario of her life before, and soon enough she changed, her body shrunk, her mind was wiped, and she had no recollection of what happened.

Firefly watched as Roxanne coldly allowed Emerald to fight with her, but as Firefly watched the parts she remembered, she found herself feeling off whenever she called Roxanne mom, it was strange.

But when Firefly watched the fight against Jandoka, she was horrified, she watched as the three changelings from before were killed, and as they fought Jandoka so they could survive.

Firefly watched as they eventually defeated the God, but that got her thinking. "I don't remember any of this, and that was too easy for a god." She muttered.

Soon she watched as a pathway out opened up, and as Emerald put his fingers on her forehead. "At least now she will not be haunted by this day." He said.

Firefly then watched as everyone left the temple, but she managed to hear what Emerald said to Roxanne. "I am sorry......I know I never said it before.......but I am genuinely sorry, I know I have no right to ask this of you......but swear to me that you can protect her, whatever happens." He asked quietly.

Roxanne nodded. "Yes.....I'll do what I can." She replied quietly.

Emerald smiled then leaned up to her ear. "One more thing.......HE, is false.....he will try to trick you, don't let him." He said before passing away.

Roxanne's eyes widened and she closed her eyes as tears fell down her face. 

Firefly watched in confusion as she felt the world fading away around her. "What's going on?" She wondered.

_____*later that day, Lyaroa's house, 7:03 AM*_____

Firefly shot up and was breathing heavily, she was sweating profusely and her eyes were bloodshot, she blinked rapidly and tried to calm herself, she didn't know why, the memories weren't that intense, so why was this happening.

She heard a cup being set on a nearby table and found herself on the couch, she slowed her breathing down to normal levels and tried to calm down.

She focused her vision and saw that there was a glass of water on it, she reached out and grabbed it, she moved it to her mouth and drank, her hoof shaking violently the entire time. "Ok, this is a lot to process." She told herself quietly.

She heard voices soon. "Good to see you awake, how are you?" Asked Lyaroa.

Firefly looked over her shoulder and saw the Sentinel pacing around the room. "How long was I out?" She asked.

Lyaroa chuckled. "Five hours and thirty five minutes." She replied.

Firefly rubbed her eyes. "Where's mom?" She asked.

Lyaroa pointed upstairs. "I let her sleep in my room, I've basically been wandering around out here since." She answered as she eventually walked over and sat down on the opposite couch. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

Firefly drank some more water. "I've been better, what caused this anyway?" She wondered.

Lyaroa kicked all the way back on the couch. "Memory overload, your brain tried to process too much at once, and it went all over the place trying to absorb the info." She explained.

"That is not good, the last thing we need is a brain explosion. "A voice said.

"Quiet." Firefly said.

Lyaroa blinked. "Why do you want me to be quiet?" She asked.

Firefly shook her head. "Not you....the other person." She replied as she looked around.

Lyaroa looked around quickly, t returned her focus on Firefly. "There's nobody here but me and you." She said.

"Is she blind?....Im right here!" The voice said again, but this time with a body, it was the older Firefly.....but she looked like a ghost.

"What in the world?" Firefly muttered.

Lyaroa sighed. "Anyway kid.....do you want me too revert you back to normal?....it doesn't take long." She wondered.

Firefly heard the ghost talk again. "Uh, duh!....of course I want my body back!....quick, tell her!" The ghost demanded.

"No......I won't." Firefly said.

Lyaroa grumbled. "Kid, I'm right here, you can cut the act." She complained.

Firefly held her head for a moment before speaking. "This is going to sound insane.....but the old Firefly is right next to you, and is a ghost." She said.

Lyaroa raised an eyebrow and looked around, seeing nothing, her eyes then glowed and she soon saw what Firefly was talking about, she shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Oh boy.....this ain't good." She mumbled.

Firefly stood up and walked around some. "So what.....I have a ghost following me now?" She said.

The ghost growled and lunged at the kid Firefly, only to phase right through. "Says the body snatcher!" She shouted.

Lyaroa stood up and groaned. "She isn't a ghost......she is a soul, literally, somehow, the spell messed up and she was brought along with you, problem is, I can't get rid of her without harming either of you......so you are literally stuck with each other." She explained.

The other Firefly's eye twitched and she screamed in frustration. "OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!.....I GET WOKEN UP ONLY TO BE THE BACKSEAT DRIVER OF A KID!?"

Firefly held her head. "She isn't happy." She said simply.

Lyaroa walked around some before looking at Firefly. "The best I can do right now is wake Roxanne so she can take you home, you two are just going to have to get along." She said before heading upstairs.

Firefly looked at the older version of herself and watched as she changed.....mostly in color, her pink fur was replaced by black fur, her hair and tail changed to an incredibly dark red with black streaks, her cutie mark vanished and was replaced by a piercing black eye. "I am so pissed right now." She said.

Firefly decided that it would be wise to get this under control. "Shut up you damned ghost." She ordered.

She heard footsteps on the stairs and looked up and saw Roxanne and Lyaroa, they had dropped jaws and concealed snickering respectively. "Where did you learn that word?" Roxanne asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"My old memories." Firefly answered......truthfully, but nervously.

The ghost shivered. "I don't blame you kid.....I do NOT want to make Rox mad." She said before vanishing.

Roxanne growled and walked down the stairs. "Lyaroa......did she choose?" She asked.

Lyaroa nodded. "Yep, she wanted to stay like she is." She said.

Firefly wasn't going to say anything.....because it was true. "Um.....thanks for showing me that stuff." She said to Lyaroa as she left the house with Roxanne.