//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Changes Of Heart and Soul // by Tohshi //------------------------------// A chariot set down outside the Carousal Boutique and a guard pegasus unhitched himself from it. He quickly entered the building where a white unicorn with dark purple mane and tail was busy putting the finishing touches on a dress. The charioteer sat for a moment and enjoyed the view before approaching Rarity. “I’m terribly sorry dear but we are closing for the day you will have to come back tomorrow,” said Rarity. She didn’t even look up to see the charioteer. “I am not here on business, Ma’am. The Elements .of Harmony have been summoned to Canterlot,” said the charioteer. “I’m truly sorry how late this is but I give the orders just follow them.” Looking at her guest for the first time, Rarity gave him a one over and enjoyed the sights. Charioteers were always in good shape as they had to pull a heavy load while flying. Maybe not as in shape as a Wonderbolt but second best wasn’t anything to shy away from. “Oh. It isn’t any worry. If the Elements are being summoned it must be for something important. You don’t happen to know what is going on do you?” asked Rarity. “I was instructed to give you this letter. I think it will explain things. I don’t really know myself as it is a need to know and I don’t to do my job,” said the charioteer. “Hmm,” said Rarity. She took the letter and quickly read over it. Worry coated her face. “Well I just need to grab my house call back and I’ll be ready. Have the rest of the girls been picked up already?” “Your the first, Ma’am. I only have instructions to pick up you, Miss Rainbow Dash, and Miss Pie. Another chariot is picking up your other two friends,” Said the Charioteer. “Well lets not dilly dally then,” Rarity said. She grabbed a large set of saddlebags that were absolutely stuffed to the brim with materials. Despite its packed nature it still was elegant and looked comfortable or at least as comfortable as it could be for its weight. Rarity walked out the door not waiting on the charioteer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A dead calm had taken over me. My thoughts had gone down dark places that should have disturbed me but it didn’t and that scared me more than anything. I only had a week to live and it was weird that knowing I had made a choice before to end it but now that choice had been taken away and it felt more horrible for it. I couldn’t tell why part of me was welcoming death so willingly. It was as if there was a deep hole in my heart some where in the void of my memories that even though I knew not what it was it still was there oozing despair. The purple pony was sitting on the other bed jotting down notes every once in a while. She had kept relatively quiet since the male pony had left and I wasn’t ready to break the silence. Though I wish I had some music. I could vaguely remember being able to carry music around with me where ever I went but I couldn’t for the life of me remember how. I felt like there was a part of me missing with out the music. There was a knock at the door before the door swung open. I quickly grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to cover my chest. The large pony that entered gave me a weird look as I did so. The pony was much larger than any I had seen before but as it was the third pony I had seen I didn’t have a good reference really. She had a horn and wings and her mane billowed with a nonexistent wind. You could see the night sky in her mane and tail and she was a dark blue in color. A symbol of the moon emblazoned her rump. Again though it was her eyes that captured me. A sense of ancient wisdom could be seen in them especially the way she looked at me. There was a hint of regret in them but mostly sadness ruled. "Whorre, Twiridd Spaxalkro. Pum zint Pum whaxavo pit serutien te whol plefrom zeugh dit wirr loquilo dewolbur vaxagics. Zo ethol oromonks whaxavo foon summenow pi Pum zint zoupp wirr put zis deel seur lidd axagaxain. Whewovol Pum axam coltaxain zis plecopt wirr fo juto paxainbur pi Pum wisk te waxaln whol. Whaxas sko spekon el skewn axanupp ethol belm eb cemmunicaxatien?" said the large pony. "Whorre Plincopt Runaxa. Sko waxas taxarkick oaxalriol zeugh Pum whaxavo je didoaxa haxat raxackuaxago. Sko peosniz soom te uctolchaxact Oquisk fut sko soomow te kot zo pindulo Pum wrod wholo te torr whol eb whed reck zo pendel kaxavo whol," said the purple unicorn. She seemed to shy away from this pony. I couldn’t tell why as the large pony had a gentle feel to her. "Pum whaxavo pit serutien zaxat vaxaupp welk te eep cemmunicaxatien plefrom," said the large pony. Her horn glowed with an indigo light and a strange feeling filled my head. It worked its way around my head in strange spirals before dispersing. “Can you understand me now?” “Yes,” I said. “How did you do that?” “I cast a spell on you that allows you to communicate your intent it is translated as well as possible but some things will likely be untranslatable. My name is Luna. I am a princess of this land,” said the large pony. “Oh, My name is Zoe,” I said. “Or well at least I think it is. I don’t remember much. All I remember is jumping off a large building and then waking up here. I know that I am missing memories. Why can’t I remember?” “That is a product of spell that created you. Souls do not have memory with out a body and as such only the most recent or traumatic events are left to the souls domain. When you jumped your body died but Twilight Sparkle’s spell had latched onto your soul pulling it free of its host. When your soul crossed the border of our two realms it started sucking up all of the ambient magic and that of anything it could nearby. Much of that was Twilight’s own magic. You were going to cascade with horrendous results. It would have been an explosion that would have killed many. Twilight shaped your cascade of mana and gave it purpose which was to create you. The problem is that it had too much of Twilight’s influence in your soul as so much of your magic was not your own but hers. This made complications in the forming of your new body. As you have been told if we leave you be you will likely die in a matter of days to a week. However we have a plan to fix you. It is not guaranteed to work and will likely be fairly painful but it is your only hope at this point.” “You don’t have to go through the effort. It is fine. I wasn’t supposed to live through the fall. I am not worth your time,” I said. A deep sorrow spread over me as I accepted my fate. “You are clearly not of the right mind right now. In this country you can not be considered competent enough to make such a decision on your own. In part if need be I can treat you as your age which as of right now is less than a day old. But more importantly you clearly have a mental illness and need help not to let it consume you,” Princess Luna said. “Now why are you hiding your torso from us?” “Um it feels wrong to be exposed like that. I need clothes for at least up here,” I said. “We shall acquire you some suitable clothes in the mean time this will have to work,” Princess Luna said. Her magic pulsed out of her horn and a small bead of indigo light appeared near me. After a moment the bead transformed into a black cloak that looked much too big for me. Luna wrapped the cloak around my neck and it fell down my torso. I let it cover me and while a strip down the front was still exposed I felt much better as I pulled it closed. A stabbing sensation ran up my left side on my pony half. I cried out in pain unable to contain myself. Princess Luna’s horn lit up as the strange sensation came back though it was concentrated on my lower half. It just added to my unease and I doubled over. The pain was causing my head to spin. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Howdy,” Applejack said as she walked up to the chariot that was carrying Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow dash landed with a bit of a thud near by having chosen to fly herself. “I wonder what is the problem this time around. Hopefully nothing that we can’t handle.” “Yeah it is weird of the princess to call us on such short notice,” said Rainbow Dash. “I bet it is some sort of monster that is rampaging through the country side.” “Oh I sure hope not,” Fluttershy said. “That would just be awful.” “What else could the princesses need the elements for?” Rainbow Dash said. “We are here to save a life,” Rarity said. “The princess had a letter for me to bring my work supplies with. That she felt that my talents would be in demand during this outing. She mentioned something about a poor soul who was in grave danger.” “Wait a new pony,” said Pinkie Pie. “I don’t think so my tail was twitching in a weird way even for me. I think it is something more than that. I can’t wait to throw them a welcome party.” A guard came over to the gathering mares. He was the typical stoic fare. He said, “Right this way, Ma’ams. The princess is waiting on your arrival. If you follow me I will lead you to where she is meeting you.” “Where is Twilight?” Asked Rainbow Dash. “The whole rainbow light show can’t get started without her.” “Miss Sparkle is already here,” said the guard. The guard led the group of five mares into the castle away from the chariot bay. The princesses’ part of the castle was two stories up from where they were. Thankfully there was a relatively direct route there if you didn’t mind taking the stairs. There were the usual amounts of guards on the way which always made Applejack a little nervous. After only a few twists and turns the group found themselves in a large empty chamber in which Princess Celestia had trained Twilight in many different spells. The walls had been specially reinforced to withstand errant blasts or spell mishaps that tending to end in explosions. Princess Celestia was already in the room preparing a circle of runes on the ground that would help contain the blast of the elements. She had just put the last touches on the circle when the group had walked in. She came over to them and with a smile said, “Welcome my little ponies. I am happy that you all made it on such short notice. How was the chariot ride?” “It was pleasant as always,” Rarity said. “Where is Twilight and the guest you mentioned?” “They are in a room not far from here. I will gather them in a moment but first I wanted to let you know what is at stake. As I am certain you already guessed this is a mater of grave importance though not in the usual manner of these summoning. Earlier today Twilight pulled a creature from another realm however the only part of her that came through was her soul. The realm she was from must have not had any magic for as soon as her soul passed the portal between our realm and her home realm she started to gather a large amount of mana. Her soul had no way to contain this mana and she would have cascaded into a large explosion that would have wiped out much of Ponyville. However thanks to the quick thinking of Twilight, that mana was instead shaped and put to use in creating her a body. However the instructions to make that body were jumbled by Twilight’s magic and now the creature is in a body that is failing. She only has a week at most to live and our medicine can fix what is wrong with her. We are hoping that the Elements can bring harmony to her body and soul as it is obvious from our scans they are not in sink,” said Princess Celestia. “Here are the Elements. Put yours on and find your spot in the circle. It is marked with your element on the floor. I am going to go fetch our guest and Twilight.” Princess Celestia started to walk out of the room but stopped as Princess Luna burst through the door nearly running over Celestia. The creature floated in her magic behind her and Twilight came in pushing the pile of pony at the door over the top causing it to all topple over. Not bothering to untangle herself from her sister, Princess Luna said, “Are the Elements here? She is bleeding out internally and my magic can’t stop it. We must act now.” “Great timing sister,” Princess Celestia said. “I was just about to retrieve you. Lets prepare as we are currently in the way of Twilight doing her job.” “Oops,” Princess Luna said. She hastily removed herself from her sister. She gently placed Zoe in the center of the circle. And then stepped out of the way and back so Twilight could take her place in the circle. Twilight grabbed them remaining Element and donned it. Taking her place she said, “Ready girls?” “Ready,” said the rest of them in unison. A brilliant light started to glow out of each of the Elements quickly engulfing each of the Bearers. A beam of light ran the length of the circle connecting all of the Elements. Floating in the air, Twilight unleashed the final spark sending a beam of rainbow into the semi-conscious form of Zoe in the middle of the room. A bright flash blinding all in the room.