____*A day or so after Gwen's return, Lyaroa's home, the living room, 2:00 PM*____
Lyaroa sighed and crossed her arms as she looked around at everyone, Wheatley had gone upstairs a while ago, Spark, Spike and Firefly were upstairs, Roxanne and Fang were pacing around, Derpy and Gwen were both sitting on the couch waiting, while Twilight was reading a book. "What are we here for again?" Gwen asked.
Lyaroa shrugged and let her arms go to her sides, she then closed her hand save two fingers.....she then flexed them slightly, two pony sized magical circles with unknown patterns appeared on the floor, she then relaxed her hand. "If you must know......I spoke with Derpy and Golden Freddy, and they decided that it would be better if they separated, make sense?" She asked.
Gwen didn't say anything but when her ears perked up upon hearing that Golden was seperating from her girlfriend, Lyaroa knew she was on board with it.
Fang however, decided to raise a point. "What happens to Golden afterwards?.....and why are Twilight and Spike here for this anyway?" He asked.
"Golden will get his own body and will remain here if he so chooses, as for Twilight, she asked if she could see it for herself, so I let her, Spike is here mainly because he wanted to get out of the tree." Lyaroa answered as she snapped her fingers and a book appeared in her hands.
"Okay, I have an even better question.......why do you need spell books or magic circles for this stuff?....I thought you were basically all powerful?" Roxanne asked.
Lyaroa held up two fingers at that questions. "Two reasons, one, this is a cook book, two, the circles make for a good lightshow and block scanning spells." She said as she closed the book.
They all watched as Lyaroa paced around a little bit while muttering some incoherent words, she then looked at Derpy. "Alright, walk on over and step in a circle, but make sure that Golden is awake." She said as she threw the book behind her and it then vanished.
Derpy looked at Gwen, for a moment they shared a thought of doubt, but Derpy smiled briefly and nodded, she walked over and stepped into the circle, the circle glowed black as she entered. "Uhh.....what's that's?" She asked.
Lyaroa had her eyes closed but she answered. "It's a binding circle, skipping over the long explanation, the circle your standing in is bound to its twin, now please be quiet." She said calmly.
"Sorry." Derpy said.
Lyaroa grumbled. "Don't be sorry be quiet!" She said out of irritation.
"I'm sorry!" Golden shouted back briefly.
Lyaroa sighed and shook her head. "Forget it, screw mystical chants." She whispered as she simply cast the spell.
Almost immediately, Derpy felt an intense pain go through her head as the magic circles flared to life, but she couldn't move or make a sound about it, it felt as though someone were literally ripping her head open, she could only wait as she heard Golden scream in pain as he soon left her mind, the pain subsided, but it soon returned as her eye began to fix itself, without Golden maintaining it, it simply started going back to normal, albeit very painfully.
Derpy found herself slightly in the air as the magic started to take full effect.
Golden however, was MUCH more vocal about it, though no one could hear it, the pain he felt was far more intense than what Derpy felt, it felt as though someone had ripped out his skeleton straight from his skin, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he soon felt himself going numb.
The pain had subsided for the two, but they were both mentally and physically drained, Derpy dropped to her knees and panted as the pain slowly subsided.
Golden however, felt his body forming, he had no control of it, but as it began to take shape in his mind, he couldn't help but smile a little as the world went black for him.
Everyone stood there in shock of what they just witnessed, all except Lyaroa, who stood calmly watching the other circle.
In the blink of an eye, an unfamiliar body dropped to the floor, it seemed unconscious, but Lyaroa was the only one to approach, she knelt down to the body and chuckled. "So, this is how you are." She muttered.
_____*hours later, Lyaroa's house.*_____
Golden winced and shivered as he slept, he kept muttering words in his sleep, but his eyes soon opened and he quickly sat up, he was breathing heavily at first, but he soon slowed it down to a more reasonable pace. 'I'm still here?' He wondered in his mind.
"Good to see you awake." Said the familiar voice of Fang.
Golden slowly stretched his arms and looked back, seeing Fang leaning against the wall, he chuckled. "What do you want wolf boy?.....here to gloat?" He asked snidely as he stood back up.
Fang shook his head. "No, I don't have anything to brag about, at least to you." He countered.
Golden stretched his arms out and walked around the couch to face Fang. "How is Derpy?" He asked calmly.
Fang shrugged. "I don't know, after you showed up and Lyaroa deactivated the circles, everyone went home, Twilight took notes, Roxanne was puzzled, Gwen took Derpy home after she was good enough to head home, Lyaroa secluded herself to her room afterwards, can't say much beyond that." He replied.
Golden held out his hand and looked at it, he found that it was the exact same one back when he was with Ancree and the others. "Huh, curious." He mumbled.
"Lyaroa wanted me to tell you that you are welcome here, me?....I don't see why." Fang said before heading to his room.
Golden watched as Fang walked off to his room, he sighed. "Where's the bathroom?" He asked.
Fang chuckled and pointed to the small hallway next to the stairs. "It's the door on the left." He replied.
As Fang went upstairs, Golden walked to the bathroom, and when he entered, he happened to glance at the mirror, he noticed that his eyes had actually changed, they were now a soft green with the pupil and sclera as well, instead of black pits with a small white dot in the center. "Could be worse, they could be yellow." He said as he proceeded to do his business. [1]
_____*meanwhile.*_____
Fang sighed as he looked down the hall, much to his annoyance, the weird vision things still showed up for him, just not frequently, this time, the shadow him seemed to be shambling through the hallway, it tripped on something and fell down, it soon got up but seemed to be sobbing. "Why.....why did I do it!?.....now he's gone too, who else am I going to be forced to outlive?" It asked through a sore throat.
Fang looked away for a moment and the shadow soon vanished, he headed into his room and shut the door, he got on the bed and put his arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. 'Why is this happening?....I've learned everything I could from Lyaroa to help control time, and it's still not gone, so it must be something else.' He concluded as he closed his eyes.
_____*In the dream world.*______
Fang jumped down and rolled as he landed on the ground, he recovered quickly, he ran forward and swiftly climbed a wall, he kept on climbing, faster, more accurately, more carefully, he finally reached the top and looked on to the vast lands around, he couldn't help but feel exhilarated, even if it was only a dream, he felt a familiar presence enter the dream, he chuckled and changed the world to the familiar field from last time. "Been a while Luna.....how can I help you?" He asked.
Luna walked over and looked at the moon. "I won't be asking you for information about Lyaroa anymore, she has made herself known to me and my sister." She answered easily.
Fang was glad to hear that, but after a while of staring up at the stars, he noticed that Luna was still there. "Was there something else?" He asked.
Luna nodded. "I wished to warn you of something, you see, Lyaroa has made it abundantly clear that the Elements of Harmony are to be returned to where we found them, but this of course, will leave us vulnerable to most threats, Discord included." She said.
Fang blinked and walked around a little bit. "How is this my problem?.....I have enough to worry about without looking over my shoulder for the God of chaos or whatever." He said.
Luna sighed. "Discord takes great joy from toying with others, especially if they are stuck up nobles or are simply frustrated, if he should be freed again, there is no telling what he will do." She warned.
Fang crossed his arms. "You seem to be forgetting that Lyaroa is around right?....not to mention me and Roxanne, Golden, you and Celestia, Skitter.....you name it, we have a ton of powerhouses." He countered.
Luna narrowed her eyes at Fang, but the one thing she noticed was his completely calm expression. "The only issue with Lyaroa.....is her boredom, she would see Discord as a handy way to relieve her boredom so long as she let him run amok, besides, there is no guarantee that the bear....thing, would even help us." She stated.
Fang shook his head. "I don't want to argue right now Luna, I've already got a headache downstairs in the house right now, so I would rather just enjoy the rest of my night without an argument.....besides, I've seen what Discord can do with my own two eyes." He sat down and waved his hand.
The world changed rapidly into a world that Luna remembered all too well. "How did you do this?" She asked.
Fang pointed down from the large mountain they found themselves on. "Look familiar?" He asked.
Luna focused her gaze down and saw what was down there, she saw herself, her sister and Discord. "I know this.....this is, this is when we defeated Discord." She said in bewilderment. [2]
Fang watched as the whole thing went down, he was emotionless as it all happened, but once Discord was turned to stone, he sighed. "To answer your earlier question, I combined a little of time control with dreamwalking, a dangerous experiment, but successful." He answered.
The world then changed back into the autumn field with the forest off to the side. "No offense, but I need to get some actual sleep, so I would like you to get out." He said.
____*the next day, Lyaroa's house, 1:00 PM*____
Golden looked down at the picture in the amulet, he smiled and closed it as he heard footsteps approaching. "Who are they?" Lyaroa asked.
Golden sighed and clicked the small button, he then showed Lyaroa the picture. "They're from the world I went to after you tried to possess me, it's been a long time since then." He answered as the Sentinel held the amulet
Lyaroa looked at the image for a moment before handing it back to Golden. "Do you miss it?" She asked out of curiosity.
"Of course I miss it, but I can't go back." He replied.
"Why not?" The Sentinel asked.
Golden smiled and looked up, seemingly ignoring the question as he stared at the ceiling like he would the sky. "......A promise." He finally said quietly.
Lyaroa blinked, normally she would have gone through his memories and figure out what he was talking about, but he seemed to be immune to it, she didn't feel like asking either, so she simply let it slide. "Good reason." She walked away but soon paused. "Hey Golden, if a wolf called Shade comes by, let me know, trust me, you can't miss him." She said as she went upstairs.
Golden watched as she walked up the stairs, he sighed and walked over to the window and looked outside, he couldn't help but wonder what was held in store for them now, after all, nothing can really compare to defeating a god. 'But still, in this world, anything can happen.' He thought as he stared out the window.
_____*ten minutes later.*_____
Golden sat on the couch reading a book that Lyaroa had gotten from her library.....yes, she has a library in the house, which apparently had around at least a hundred other rooms. 'What does she need that many rooms for anyway?' He wondered as he closed the book.
A knock at the door came soon after, he sighed and stood up, he walked over to the door and opened it, he saw a wolf, not Fang, but far more feral looking. "Hello." Golden greeted.
The wolf nodded. "Hey, I'm Shade." He replied.
Golden blinked. 'So this is the wolf she was talking about.' He thought. "One second, can you wait here?" He asked, seeing Shade nod, he closed the door. "Lyaroa, Shade's here!" He called. 'Good thing the walls are completely soundproof.'
A moment later, Lyaroa appeared near the door, startling Golden, she only chuckled and opened the door. "Hey Shade, nice to see you." She greeted.
Shade entered the house after Lyaroa let him in. "Why did you call me here?.....this better be important." He said.
Lyaroa closed the door. "It is actually, first off, I wanted you to meet someone......Shade, this is Golden." She introduced.
Golden nodded. "Hey." He said in a monotone voice.
Shade looked at Lyaroa and crossed his arms. "You didn't call me here to introduce us did you?" He asked.
Lyaroa held her left hand up slightly. "Ok ok, you got me, to be honest, I came here to let you know about something.....you remember the girl from the Everfree?." She wondered.
Shade nodded. "The one that I was accused of attacking?" He wondered.
"Yea, that one, anyway, I think it would be better if you laid low for a while, as in hide somewhere else, because there are some soldiers investigating right now, and the last thing that I need to deal with is that fiasco should they find you." Lyaroa explained.
Shade sighed and walked around a little. "So, you brought me here to contain me until the investigation is over, is that it?" He asked coldly.
Lyaroa shook her head. "Nope, just wanted to warn you, also, I have one quick question for you." She said.
Shade blinked and did not speak, letting Lyaroa talk.
"What would you say to a rematch? we never finished our last brawl." She wondered.
Shade shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like I have anything better to do, but are you sure?.....if I need to lay low, how would a fight help this?" He wondered.
"I'm bored, besides, no one can see or hear my training yard unless they physically enter it from the house, so it's fine." She answered.
After that, Shade let them lead him to the training yard, once he entered it, he found himself bewildered, as it was wider than the house itself, and it was on the outside, but the sky was right there. "How is this possible?" He found himself asking.
Lyaroa chuckled. "It's one of my favorite little tricks, compressed space, you make an area the size you want, and compress it in a very special way, I won't bother explaining the details." She said.
As Shade familiarized himself with the yard, Golden walked up to Lyaroa and spoke quietly. "Let me fight.....I need to readjust to this body again, besides, you said it yourself a while ago that you wanted to see me fight with my own body.....am I wrong?" He asked.
Lyaroa sighed. "If Shade lets you." She relented.
Shade then got ready and saw that Golden was walking up, he raised an eyebrow. "I thought Lyaroa was fighting?" He wondered.
Golden crossed his arms. "How about letting me fight instead?......I need a workout anyway." He suggested.
Shade thought about it for a moment before slowly nodding. "Weapons or no?" He asked.
Golden took a deep breath. "In a possible rematch, but not this time." He answered as he readied himself.
Lyaroa teleported to the side and rang a gong. "Fight!" Sounded a sinister voice.
Shade and Golden soon closed distance, they quickly ended up fighting, Shade delivered a rapid punch combo to Golden's chest, the bear simply kicked Shade away, seemingly unfazed by the attack.
Shade growled and rolled forward, but just before he reached Golden, he leapt up and threw a strong punch at Golden's head.
The blow impacted, Golden held and shook his head before rounding on Shade, he threw a strong fist at the wolf, who dodged, Golden's fist slammed onto the stone, leaving a sizable crack.
Golden then charged the wolf and proceeded to assault him with punches and kicks, but Shade just dodged the attacks, eventually however, Golden got lucky just as Shade tripped, and his fist impacted with the wolves stomach.
Shade held in the gasp of pain as he tried to strike at the bear, but Golden simply knocked him to the ground.
Golden looked down at the wolf as he lie there on the ground, he then rolled the wolf over with his foot, the wolf seemed to have a blank expression, he simply took a few steps back, not willing to risk a surprise attack from the wolf.
The attack never came however, and Lyaroa stopped the fight, she walked over to Shade and knelt down. "You alright Shade?" She asked.
Shade grunted and sat back up. "Yea, I'm fine." He said shortly as he stood up next. 'That bear packs a punch.' He thought, it didn't surprise him, seeing as Bears had incredible natural strength, but he had never taken a hit from one.
Golden found himself feeling relieved, though he didn't know why. 'At least he didn't choose weapons.' He found himself thinking.
Shade looked at Golden who seemed to be lost in thought. "Hey Gold......what was that?" He asked.
Golden blinked and looked at Shade in confusion. "Huh?"
Shade gave Golden a suspicious glare. "That thing you did to me when you knocked me to the ground, what was that." He asked again.
Golden raised an eyebrow. "I honestly have no clue what you are talking about." He answered. 'I'm not even lying, what exactly did I do?'
"Don't give me that, as soon as you landed a hit on me, I couldn't move." Shade argued.
Lyaroa sighed. "You know, sometimes i think you guys forget that there's a Sentinel with time control and can sense pretty much anything." She mentioned as she flicked Golden and Shade's foreheads.
"Ow!" They both said. [3]
Lyaroa walked ahead of them a bit, she closed her eyes and after a minute or so, her eyes opened. "Well, I know what the hell happened, Golden, you are and are not to blame." She said cryptically.
Golden crossed his arms. "Come again?" He asked.
"Agreed, explain?" Shade agreed.
Lyaroa put her arms behind her head. "Simple, Golden, you accidentally and unintentionally hit Shade with a psychic blast just as you hit him." She explained.
Golden looked at one of his hands. 'Odd, I don't remember doing that, and my powers are just fine......were they amplified by something?' He wondered.
_____*Ponyville, 4:30 AM*______
Fang sighed as he wandered the now sleeping town, normally he wouldn't be awake, but he couldn't sleep with the visions constantly appearing, he could tell there was more to the story than constant babbling about how everything and everyone was gone.
As he walked, he found himself near Sugarcube corner, he saw another shadow appear and start speaking. "I.....I caused all of this, if only we never went to that damned mountain, tomorrow I'm ending it, I won't outlive anyone else anymore." The shadow said before vanishing.
'A mountain huh?.....Canterlot? no, I doubt that, it's a possibility, but unlikely.' He thought.
Fang continued walking until he came across the town square, he expected things like more shadows or weird flashes, but nothing, he didn't see anything. "Odd, this place must not have a memory." He mumbled.
"It's unwise to dwell on these things you know." Came a familiar voice.
Fang turned around and saw Skitter standing behind him. "Why are you out here?" He asked.
Skitter chuckled. "I could ask you the same thing, but if you must know, I couldn't sleep." She answered.
Fang sighed and looked up at the moon. "Then our reasons are more or less the same." He said.
Skitter flew up a little and looked Fang in the eye. "Fang, for once, I'm going to be the voice of concern......so tell me, what's the problem?" She asked.
Fang was going to just say that it was nothing, that he was alright and didn't need help, that he just couldn't sleep, but seeing Skitter's concern on her face, he just couldn't bear to lie to the Changeling. "Can I trust you to not tell anybody?" He asked.
Skitter nodded. "Of course." She replied.
Fang gave a skeptical glare. "Swear it, not a Pinkie Promise......YOUR word." He said.
Skitter blinked, she could tell that whatever it was, it was bothering her friend incredibly, she took a quick breath. "I swear, I won't tell anyone." She said.
Fang seemed to ease up a little, he then crossed his arms. "Ever since the day I told Lyaroa I accepted her offer, I've been having strange visions, like shadows, they look like me and they speak of a terrible tragedy, mostly about the aftermath of it all......I don't know what exactly happened, but somehow, I'm the cause of it all." He explained.
Skitter was about to say something when she paused, she felt like it would be better to let Fang continue, so she thought on what he said and decided to wait until the end of it all.
"What's worse is that Spark saw one of these shadows, only once, but it was still concerning, thankfully he didn't hear it speak, or that would have been very bad.....makes me wonder if the shadow is right though, apparently everyone vanished and I was the cause." He said while clenching his fist.
Skitter flew down and landed. "Fang, let me stop you there......you are not a bad person, a little misguided for a time, but that's it, you have a good heart, and you wouldn't let someone die if you could stop it." She said.
Fang looked at Skitter straight in the eye. ".......How do you know?" He asked.
Skitter was caught off guard by the question, but she didn't let it show. "Because I know you....that's why." She answered, it was a pitiful answer and it was obvious.
Fang huffed quietly. "Yea right......you don't know my past, I don't know yours, you have no idea what I went through.....hell, I don't even know myself half the time, so don't give me the 'I know you' excuse." He countered coldly.
Skitter was about to speak up, but realized that he was right.....she never asked him about his past, she didn't even know how old he was, she knew next to nothing about him other than his gender, his name, that he used to be an animatronic.....whatever that was, and that he was Lyaroa's host for a while. "Your right." She finally said.
Fang looked at the ground. "That's what I thought." He said quietly.
_____*Later that day, 12:01 PM*______
Golden was out in the training yard, he had been working out for an hour or so after breakfast, thankfully, he was capable of cooking, and knew poison when he saw it, right now, he was making sure all of his powers were under his control and his limbs obeyed him.
Golden was now making sure he was alone, thankfully, Lyaroa and Fang were out in the town right now, Spark was at school, and Wheatly didn't come out here.
Golden grinned and held his hand out, he focused his power to his hand, and he eventually materialized a long object in his hand.
On the surface, it looked like an odd walking stick, it wasn't.....it was actually a weapon, it was a staff, it was long, easily five feet long and two inches wide, it was obviously not square, it was made out of a sandy like wood with patterns of earth breaking apart all over it, the middle of the staff had a light orange like wood with the same patterns on it. [4]
On both ends of the staff, near the top and near the bottom, had small silver metal parts attached to them, they didn't seem to move, on the tip of the staff, was the symbol of a Fonku on it.
Golden chuckled as he grasped the staff, he tested the weight and balance of the staff before swinging it in a combo, intent on practicing it.
'It's been a long time.' He thought to himself.