After the group consisting of four ponies and one Changeling made themselves at home in the Forgotten Castle, Fade prepared something in a small room. He asked the others to meet him in this room at a later time. The other four stepped into it after he was done, and what they saw confused them a little.
"What is all this?" Rosa asked confused as she looked at the middle of the room, where she could see a circle of chairs.
Fade explained. "I want you all to take a seat so that we can each share our stories,"
"Share our stories?" Mystic asked almost offended. "What are we? Colts and Fillies sitting around a campfire? Also...I am not interested in any of your backstories nor do I intend to share mine with you!" He said, making sure that everyone would understand his opinion on this.
Fade slowly walked up to him with a blank expression on his face. "Some of us are more trustworthy than others," he said, obviously hinting at Mystic and Tagma. "You still wanted to ask me something, right? I'm just making sure that I am not answering somepony who I can't trust," he said before he turned to one of the seats and sat down.
Mystic got a little annoyed by hearing those words but eventually, he quietly sat down as well, right on the chair that was on the other end of the circle, away from Fade. The others joined as well. Tagma sat down to Mystic's left and to Fade's right on the only chair that was between them. Rosa sat down to the right of Mystic and Wildheart sat down on her right side between her and Fade.
At first, there was an awkward silence. Wildheart did not bother and Fade wasn't too since he came up with it but the rest seemed a little uncomfortable with it and didn't think that this was a good idea.
Fade looked around him and saw how they all must have felt so he decided to begin. "I'll start..." he said, making it easier for the others to open up as well. "My name is Fade Sol. Just a while ago, I was working under Princess Celestia as the Captain of the Royal Guard. My duty was to serve and protect the ponies of Equestria," he then turned his head towards Tagma with a small glare on his face. "That includes, dealing with threats...like Changelings..."
Tagma made a nervous face to that sentence but then he smiled awkwardly. "Good to know that you are not doing that anymore, right?" He said with an awkward smile on his face.
However, Fade kept his glare up. "Let's just wait until you share your story..." he warned.
Tagma then tried to change the subject. "So what happened? Why are the Royal Guards going after you now?"
Fade continued. "There was an accident...one that I caused, in a way...I think..." he explained, though there was not much to explain, to begin with.
"You think?" Mystic pointed out.
"Let's just say, that I rather want things back the way they used to be..." Fade replied while he looked down at the ground with a frown on his face.
"So that you can return to your precious princess again?" Mystic provocatively said. This caused Rosa to glare at him because of his rude behavior since she had an idea what Fade was talking about.
Rosa wanted to give him a little piece of her mind but Fade replied instead. "No...so that I can see my daughter again..." he said with his eyes still focusing on the ground. Mystic reacted a little surprised to hear that. He turned his head away and was quiet now. "My daughter was unfortunate enough to get caught by a sickness which is just known as "Eternal Slumber","
"Eternal Slumber?" Tagma asked away confused.
Fade explained further. "It's a sickness that prevents one to wake up. My daughter was caught by it for a long time now. There is no known cure for it. I did everything to find a cure for her but it was all in vain," it was obvious that he was not feeling too well telling a bunch of strangers this story but he kept continuing. "The worst part is, that her mother passed away, making me the only family she has. Just thinking about that she will wake up some day and finds out that her father is now a wanted criminal is just..." he stopped in mid-sentence but everyone knew where he was going at.
Wildheart was the only one who felt lost a little but he could literally feel how Fade must have felt and stood up from his seat, walking up to the Unicorn in the purple armor. He simply put a hoof on Fade and said: "Wildheart...sorry..."
Those words were enough to put a little smile on Fade. "Thank you..." he replied as he petted the little colt on the head.
Wildheart returned to his seat. Rosa smiled, seeing the little colt doing this to comfort Fade. She felt like as if the room got a little more depressing so she figured that she should continue now and decided to lighten up the mood with her story. "Okay! Listen up! My turn now!" She said loudly, getting the others to focus on her immediately. She stood on top of her seat and began her story. "I am a thief! I steal stuff because I like it! I like money and shiny stuff! All of Equestria knows about me and locks away their treasures as soon as they see me! And the name of this famous thief...is Rosa!"
There would be a silence in the room if it wasn't for Tagma's excited claps after Rosa's "story". This made Rosa actually a little proud of herself if it hadn't been for Mystic's next comment.
"Never heard of you..." he said ice-coldly.
"Meanie!" Rosa replied angrily. There was another silence after this and Rosa decided to get to the more serious part of her story. "I grew up with my mother in a small village. She was a flower sales pony and I was the little filly that always would create trouble in the village when I happened to go there. You see, our house was just at the corner of the village and the villagers just happened to not like me because of I kinda am...the daughter of another famous thief so..." Before she knew it, she was all caught up with her story and continued without a care.
Fade, however, was interested in something. "What was your father's name?"
Rosa shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry...I don't know. I blamed him for leaving my mother alone and making all the villagers hate me because I happened to be his daughter so I never bothered to ask my mothwe about his name," she explained.
"I see..." Fade replied, leaving it be.
Wildheart, who seemed to be interested in the story, was wondering about something as well. "Where...mother...now?" He asked.
Rosa had a slight frown on her face but answered his question. "One day, those ponies appeared and wanted to take her with her. She refused at first, but later, she decided to leave anyway. I think she went to the ponies what came before to take care of some...things..." she explained before she pulled out the last thing that she got from her mother before she left. "This brooch is the only thing that reminds me of her," she said as she grabbed tightly to it. "Since then, I took care of myself. Of course, I was looking for my mother but...Wherever she is now or whatever she is doing right now, I think she is alright. She also told me to live my own life so that's what I am doing!" She explained before she smiled confidently.
The others seemed affected by those last words. Tagma was looking at Rosa impressed and touched his yellow headband, instantly thinking about Sole. Fade and Wildheart lightly smiled. Mystic, however, only looked away while being in deep thoughts.
The Changeling got a little affected by Rosa's story. He gulped heavily and prepared himself to share his story. "I'm next!" He said with an awkward smile on his face. However, the smile instantly vanished once Fade gave looked at him with a piercing expression on his face. Still, he couldn't let him judge him forever so he started his story. "I'm a Changeling!" He started.
This caused Mystic to slap his own forehead. "We already know that..." he said, astonished by Tagma's obliviousness, especially since he was not transformed right now.
But Tagma was not bothered by this and continued. "Yes! But I am a special one! I don't need to steal love from ponies!" He briefly explained.
Fade, of course, was the first one to speak up to this. "What?" He said confused, demanding more of an explanation.
"Well, you see...our queen told me that I possess this special gift of creating love on my own. She thought she could use it to help our Kingdom grow stronger," Tagma further explained.
"How?" Rosa asked, who was now interested in Tagma's backstory as well.
As soon as Tagma realized what he was supposed to tell them, he began to frown. "She kept me in a chamber and wanted me to create love for her. To make her and the other Changelings stronger. At first, it didn't bother me too much. After all, I was helping the Changelings to reach their goal to conquer all of Equestria,"
As soon as those words were said, Fade, once again, glared at the Changeling for his poor choice of words.
"Um...no hard feeling...okay?" Tagma added with an awkward smile on his face before he continued. "After a few months, it was just too much. Sharing my love with all Changelings on a daily basis was really exhausting...and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life trapped in one room. Thankfully, another Changeling helped me to escape. I met another Pony who took me in for a while, despite me being a Changeling but..." he grabbed his headband tightly. "He vanished after I was attacked by a group of Changelings that tried to get me back to the Kingdom..."
"So the Changeling's that attacked us earlier, wanted you back because of that special ability..." Mystic figured which only confused the rest of the group since they didn't know what he was talking about.
Tagma nodded. "I thought, after meeting this one pony and seeing how he accepted me, that I could find a place in Equestria to live," he turned his head towards Fade who returned a surprised look. "But I guess that's not that easy..." he said quietly, frowning in the process.
Fade felt bad after those words were said. He frowned as well. Whatever Tagma might be, Changeling or Pony, in his eyes, the only monster that was in the room, was himself. He had no right to judge Tagma for being a Changeling alone. After all, after carefully thinking about it, Tagma was not even remotely behaving like any Changeling that he ever met before. He was harmless, maybe a little oblivious and simple-minded but still harmless.
"Me...next..." Wildheart then said suddenly, raising his front leg in the air. The others turned towards the little colt and listened carefully because understanding would probably a little more difficult than with the rest. "Me...born in forest...animals...took care...of Wildheart" he started with a blank expression on his face. "Animals...friends...family...but...no pony...in forest...Wildheart...only pony...Wildheart...alone..." he then said as he formed a frown on his face after telling this story.
Rosa smiled. "Not anymore," she said, causing Wildheart to turn his head towards her with a slight smile on his face, appreciating those words.
Wildheart continued with his story. "Two ponies...came to forest...Wildheart...tried to leave...forest...but ponies...came here...in castle...one pony...gone evil...glowing white eyes...no life...dark mist around him..."
As soon as those words were spoken, Fade's eyes widened in surprise. Of course, Fade had to make sure of something and asked Wildheart something.
"White glowing lifeless eyes and a dark mist around him?" Fade mumbled to himself. He remembered how before he attacked his fellow Royal Guards, that he was approaching a pony with glowing white eyes and a dark aura, dragging him into this weird place where he was forced to fight his way out. After that, he only saw how his fellow guards laid on the ground. Wildheart's description fitted what he saw back then.
Fade kept this in mind and continued listening to Wildheart's story, not planning to interrupt him anytime soon. "I...fought...protected...me...protected...friends...other pony...angry...for attacking...white-eyed pony...call me...monster...more ponies came...more ponies called me...monster..." he explained with a frown on his face.
"So what?" Rosa simply added in. "You protected yourself and your friends. That doesn't make you a monster! If anything, it would be the complete opposite!"
Fade agreed. "Rosa is right. Everyone was just scared because they thought you were different than them. Just because they call you a monster, doesn't mean that you are one," he explained, trying his best to cheer the little colt up again since he simply had no reason to be sad considering that he does not make the impression of a bad pony at all.
Mystic, surprisingly agreed with Fade. "Sometimes being different than everybody else is enough to hurt you. Not giving anything about the opinion of others is what gives you the strength to go forward in life," he explained, almost as if he was speaking from personal experience.
The rest of the group agreed that some of those words were true. None of them were here if they decided to give up somewhere along the line. Even after thinking about it, Fade regretted letting himself almost caught from the Royal Guards. All of them were in some kind of way, different. Whether there was something that changed their life or if they were born with something that made their life harder, they tried to break out and attempted to change it for the better. Some of them more successful than the others.
Hearing Mystic talking like that made them all curious about what he went through, much to his dislike. He rolled his eyes. "You really want me to join into this?" He asked annoyed. But no one answered. Instead, they waited patiently until he would continue. He sighed heavily and eventually began. "I was born in a little village in the west of Equestria. There is nothing more to say about that. It's a real quiet and small village. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not even on an Equestrian map," Mystic explained. It did feel like as if he was not telling them everything, though. "Some things happened, some good, some bad. And now I am here," he continued before he paused for a while. However, the pause went on for a little while, making the others wonder what would come next until Mystic finally spoke up. "That's it. End of the story," he simply said.
Rosa was the first one share her opinion on this "story". "That's it? That didn't tell us anything!" She said with a mix of confusion and annoyance.
"Well, I didn't agree to tell you anything about me," Mystic replied boldly.
"Come on, Mystic," Tagma said. "I'm sure it'll be fun! We are all interested in what you went through. Maybe you feel better if you share it with us," he added a little cheerfully, trying to convince Mystic to tell his story.
Mystic looked straight at the Changeling with an angered look on his face. "Well, I am not interested in your stories!" He coldly replied. "Do you really think that I become friends with you after I listened to your sob-stories?"
"You are unbelievable!" Rosa exclaimed angrily at Mystic's behavior. "Why are you even here if you don't care about any of this?"
Mystic looked over to Fade with a serious expression on his face. "As soon as I got my answer, I'll leave." Mystic left the room after he said those words. He was sure that Fade knew what he meant with that.
The story exchanging ended and the rest of the group left the room as well. Since it was already getting dark outside, the group decided to each find a room to stay for the night. Everyone, besides Mystic, warmed up to each other a little more. After hearing each other's stories, they soon figured that they were all connected in some kind of way. They were all alone. But not anymore. They might be different. They might have no reason to stay with each other but at least, they were not alone anymore. If it meant spending time with ponies or Changelings, Royal Knights or thieves, then it was either that or being alone again.
Mystic, however, was not looking at the situation like this.
"Hey!" Mystic said towards Fade who was walking along the hallway, ready to go to sleep. The Unicorn turned towards Mystic and listened to what he had to say, even though he knew exactly what was coming up next. "Since we are done with everything, I can finally ask my question now so that I can leave?" Mystic said as if he was in some kind of hurry right now.
Fade had a disappointing expression on his face. "Looks like my intention to get you warmed up to the others was in vain..." he said, accompanied with a sigh. "Fine. Go ahead," he added giving up on this matter.
Mystic was waiting for this and finally asked away. "As the former Captain of the Royal Guard, I expect you to know something about this case. You better not lie to me," he advised, even though it sounded more like a threat. "A few years ago...the most important pony in my life was taken away from the Royal Guards. My big sister, Mysteria..."
Fade could feel how talking about this matter made Mystic a little depressed, as well as angry. This anger was focused on Fade who did not say anything yet and let Mystic continue.
"First, they came and talked to her. She didn't tell me what it was about, said that I didn't have to worry about it. So I didn't. But one day, they came back. They said that the Princess herself wanted to see her. She went with them and left me at the village, assuring me that she would soon be back.
And she did.
But..." Mystic stopped in the middle of his explanation frowning in the process.
"When she came back...she was...broken..."
"Broken?" Fade asked confused, narrowing his eyes.
Mystic continued. "She was no longer the sister that I knew. Her happiness was gone. Her joy. Her smile. Eventually, everything was gone...until...she was as well...gone..."
"What happened?" Fade asked.
Mystic pulled himself together and continued further. "She just left me...ran away...without a word...no one in my village knew what happened or where she went. They had no idea. The sister that I loved above all else just left me alone..."
There was a pause in the hallway. Fade understood that Mystic was sad about it and he also had an idea what Mystic wanted to ask him now so he asked away. "You want to know if I know anything about this case?" He asked, making Mystic raise his head towards the former Captain. However, Fade's answer was not to the Unicorns liking. "I'm sorry but...I never heard that name before. I was the Captain of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard for quite a while now but I don't know anything about this matter. If Princess Celestia was the one who demanded to talk with your sister, then the best thing to do is ask her herself," Fade explained.
Fade expected Mystic to burst out in anger after this answer but he was surprised by how he reacted instead.
He chuckled. "I'm afraid, that is not an option..." he simply replied.
"Why not?" Fade asked confused.
This caused Mystic to continue further with his story. "A little while later, after my sister was gone, something surprising happened," Mystic said with an almost emotionless smile on his face. "Princess Celestia came to our little village. She never visited this village before, as far as I can recall so naturally this was a big surprise. And it was also...my chance to get some answers. I didn't care why she was there or if it was wrong to go up to the princess as a little colt but I just had to ask her what happened to my sister.
I asked what happened to Mysteria.
I asked why she wanted to talk with her.
I asked what happened to make her end out like that.
...
Do you know what she answered to me?" He said with a smile on his face that had a mix of shock and madness in it.
"...what did she answer?" Fade asked, being curious of the answer now himself.
Mystic's smile widened even further. "She said...
...
I have no idea what you are talking about..." he said while still keeping up his big smile that began to send shivers done on Fade's spine.
"She never heard the name Mysteria before!
She never talked to a pony like that!
She never sent a bunch of Royal Guards to take someone away from our village!"
After every sentence, Mystic's anger grew even further until it was visible by the magic aura that ran out of control and surrounded him in a dark blue light.
"How dare she say that!? She was the cause of my sister's disappearance! I know it! And she just pretends as if she didn't even know about her! How Dare she!? How dare she take away my sister and then pretending that she didn't even know her!?"
The magic around Mystic began to crack some of the walls next to him because of the sheer pressure of his magic. Fortunately, Mystic calmed down a little and walked past Fade who was keeping his guard up at all costs after this little incident. He was considering to talk Mystic out of this mindset but then he decided to keep quiet to not get into trouble with him. The last thing he wanted, was to get into a fight with him. One of the reasons being that Mystic's magic seemed more powerful than his own.
"I will stay here for today but I'll leave tomorrow...You better don't come in my way after this," Mystic advised before he walked away to find a room to stay for today. Fade let him. He didn't like how he was expressing his hate towards Princess Celestia and feared that he would do something to get himself in danger sooner or later. But as for now, Fade was staying away from Princess Celestia as well. It was actually about time to figure out what he wanted to do from now on.
But as for now...he just wanted to go to sleep and let the next day come to him. Maybe he will know what to do then...