//------------------------------// // 29. A Link To New Possibilities // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------// (Third Person POV, Canterlot Castle) Screwball was leading the three visitors to the gardens, floating above the ground with her propeller spinning. “So what exactly does Dark need help with?” Starlight asked. “He gained a couple new abilities yesterday and we're hoping you and Twilight can help him learn how to use one,” Screwball replied. “Wait, what do you mean he has new abilities?” Twilight asked. “As in, more spider powers?” “No. Something more...your understanding,” the filly said cryptically. “All three of you actually. Speaking of which, I’m surprised you came along Fluttershy.” The pegasus turned her gaze away from Screwball. “Well, Dark and Cece have been stuck here for a while, and we weren't able to spend a lot of time with them last time. Plus, I'd like to see how Brianna is doing.” “That's nice,” Screwball commented. “The others busy?” “Rainbow is out training,” Twilight replied. “Rarity's working on some orders with Spike helping, and Pinkie and Applejack are both working.” Screwball nodded. “Well, to be honest it's probably good Spike didn't come.” “Why?” Screwball chuckled nervously. “Um...you don't wanna know. Trust me.” “Okay…” Twilight hesitantly said. “So what's happened since our last visit?” Screwball shrugged. “Not much. A few days afterwards, Tito ran into Trixie, she met Brianna, and saw his eyes turn red.” When Fluttershy and Starlight were a little confused by the last statement, Twilight shuddered. “That couldn't have gone well…” “Why?” Starlight asked her mentor. “It's just his eyes changing color. Not like he hurt somepony.” Twilight sighed. “I don't know. It's just...when I saw that during our visit, it felt like every part of me was yelling to run away. Like-” “He'd murder you if you weren't careful?” Screwball finished. Twilight looked at Screwball in shock. “How did you know?” “I heard Trixie say it felt like that to her. Don't understand why. Then again, the red eyes thing is a bit of a mystery for everyone,” Screwball said with a shrug. “So what happened after that?” Starlight asked. “She went to Donut Joe's with Bri, I gave her some advice regarding her newfound fear of Tito, and we went back to him. Then he apologized for what he did and they became friends.” “Really?” Screwball nodded. “Tito is willing to forgive her for her past misdeeds, so long as she truly wants to make up for them, and she's willing to give him a chance because of it.” “I guess that makes sense,” Fluttershy commented. Screwball shrugged. “If what I've heard about his old life is any indication, it's good that he's able to make friends at all.” “What do you mean?” Starlight asked. “Have you guys ever heard him talk about his life prior to Displacement? Besides the videos he watches or you guys being a show where he's from?” The three ponies stood silent for a couple of moments before Twilight said, “Not really. Why?” Screwball shrugged. “From what I understand, he has better luck here than he did back in his original dimension.” “What makes you think that?” Starlight asked. “That's for him to talk about. Not me.” Before they can say anything in response, they reached the gardens. “Well, here we are. I'll get the others. Tito is around here somewhere, shouldn't be hard to find. He'll explain what happened yesterday.” With that, she snapped her fingers and disappeared in a flash of light. The three stared at where Screwball was a moment ago for a few seconds before Twilight sighed. “While she seems to be as strange to get a read on as her father, at least she's not as unpredictable or manipulative.” “Well we've only known her for a total of a few hours by now,” Starlight commented. “Only ones who truly know what she's like are Dark and Cece.” “Good point…” Twilight then looked around. “Where can Dark be?” The two other ponies looked around. A few minutes of the three looking around, Starlight sighed before shouting, “Dark, where are you?” While many of the animals nearby ran away from fear of the shout, the ponies heard something behind them. When they turned around, they saw a blue and black wolf, nearly as tall as them, standing there. When they realized how big it was, Twilight and Starlight stepped back in fear, while Fluttershy simply blinked. A moment later, Fluttershy smiled and said, “Hello there. Can you help us find our friend?” The wolf smiled, before she heard it say in a familiar voice, “I'm right here, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy did a double take. “D-Dark?” “What?” Twilight and Starlight asked in unison, having only heard it bark. The wolf seemed to chuckle before it raised a paw to a necklace it had that none of them noticed at first before the paw pressed on a stone attached to the necklace. After that, a bunch of black particles seemed to surround the wolf. A couple of seconds later, the particles disappeared and Dark was standing there in human form, his cover on. “Were you surprised?” He asked in an amused tone. The three ponies stared at the human in complete shock and disbelief for a few moments until Twilight said, “Wha-how-who-WHAT?” She then shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Since when can you transform into animals?” “Well I can only change into a wolf, and since yesterday,” Dark replied. He then showed the new stone on his necklace. “Thanks to this little thing. Whenever I grasp it, I can transform into a wolf and have a few abilities, including some...interesting ones. Certainly nothing any wolf can do.” “Like what?” Fluttershy asked, curious about the form. “Well, there's the obvious abilities. Very strong bite, claws, can understand other animals, which apparently include pokemon, and enhanced smell and hearing. However…” he hesitated, unsure how to explain the other abilities without sounding crazy. Deciding to just say it, he said, “In that form, I can see and talk to ghosts, see scents like a trail, detect things underground, jump high apparently, and presumably my spider powers will bleed through eventually.” The three stared at him in confusion before Starlight, tilting her head, said, “What?” Dark raised his hands up as if to surrender. “Hey, that's just what he said. I find that crazy too.” Twilight frowned. “Wait, who?” “That would be me.” A voice spoke out as Link walked out from behind one of the garden walls, his hood remained lowered seeing as he won’t need it to conceal his identity. The ponies looked at Link with surprise before Twilight said, “So, you're another Displaced?” “Pretty much, Twilight. I was summoned by Dark via the token he currently wears around his neck.” The hylian explained. “So exactly who did you become?” Starlight asked. “You look fairly human. Then again, so did Delsin, but Conduits are apparently a different species or something.” “Hylian.” Link said as he pointed at his long pointed ears. “Link to be exact, a hero by many titles and still counting as long as I draw breath.” “Ain't that the truth,” Dark muttered as he saw Emily head back to the castle. He then turned back to the mares. “Don't bother asking what they are. There are more titles for Link than things on one of Twilight's lists. And that's not counting the titles this guy's earned.” “I will tell you one thing, those were just nicknames based on what they’ve seen me do.” Link explained with a soft chuckle at Dark’s mentioning of lists. “Isn't that how a lot of nicknames happen?” Dark asked. “I mean, Cece's called the “Hammer Of The Guard” by the Royal Guard. You know how she got it?” “I can pretty much figure out why considering how the guards have been reacting whenever I pulled out my megaton hammer to practice. However, my titles were earned from simple actions. Some of them are much like Twilight’s title as the Element of Magic since she worked hard on unlocking their secrets.” Link explained. Dark cleared his throat. “We're seriously getting off topic here.” “Yeah,” Twilight nodded. “You said the stone on Dark's necklace is your token? And yet he can use it to transform into a wolf? How?” “When I first created it from my energy, I managed to grant it Twili-magic properties, nothing in relationship to you. That's a story for another time. The Twili-magic within the token when used, will grant the user their own wolf form. Each one looks different but retains the same abilities.” Link explained as he held up his original howling stone that was held by a simple necklace strap. “Wait, anyone can use it?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “Only if Dark’s copy falls into the wrong hands or hoofs. I’ve made it easier for him to use it simply by grabbing hold of it, both paw or hand.” Link explained. “Though it hurt like hell the first time,” Dark commented, causing the ponies to look at him in confusion.“Human version of Tartarus. Kinda. Less of a prison, more the place of eternal torture and damnation for the souls of the worst kind of people who died,” he explained, causing the ponies to widened their eyes in fear, Fluttershy growing pale. Link quickly raised his hands up. “I-it's just because it was adapting to his DNA to make it easier to shift the next time he uses it, I won’t go into detail though of how it works unless you can handle it.” “No idea why you're so worked up dude. I specified that it was only the first time that hurt. Besides, the real thing we should be talking about isn't the pain, but the abilities.” Starlight then recompose herself and said, “Right. Dark said something about talking to ghosts and seeing scents? Now, I'm nowhere as much of an animal expert as Fluttershy, but that sounds kinda crazy. Even for Displaced.” “It's just how Twili-magic works. Recreating it was the hard part since it doesn’t naturally exist. I’ve yet to meet another Displaced who uses that sort of power.” Link explained. “And how long have you been Displaced exactly?” Twilight asked. “Seventeen years.” Link answered after counting it in his head. Starlight and Fluttershy’s widened in surprise. “Wow,” Starlight muttered. “That's...pretty long…” Dark shrugged. “Delsin's been in his Equestria since before Nightmare Moon, in case you forgot.” “And you haven't found a way back to your world?” Fluttershy asked Link. “I gave up trying after ten years. I’ve ran through every possible option. Magic, artifacts, legends, rumors, forgotten stories, I even tried finding the other two pieces of the Triforce with zero luck.” Link said with a sigh as he held up his right hand. The ponies lowered their heads and folded their ears in sadness from hearing that, before Twilight blinked and frowned. “Wait, other two pieces of what?” Link removed the leather gauntlet that covered his right hand. “Triforce, a golden triangle that grants their user one of three attributes. Courage, Wisdom, and Power. I have a void copy of Courage. I wanted to find the other pieces and use their combined might to grant me a wish home.” Link raised his hand to show Twilight a triangle formation, two of the pieces were darkened while the bottom right glowed softly. “I recall someone saying in a video back home that each of the three pony races can represent one piece,” Dark commented. “Pegasi with courage, unicorns with wisdom, and earth ponies with power.” “And where can the other 2 pieces be?” Twilight asked Link. “That, I do not know as I’ve yet to find them, they’re attracted to anyone who has the most of what they present. The most powerful would get the triforce of power, the smartest gets wisdom, I got courage since I fight and protect others who cannot defend themselves.” Link explained before looking at Dark. “That’s actually a good theory.” Dark shrugged. Starlight then put a hand up. “Wait a minute. I just remembered. Screwball said you got two new abilities that regards the three of us. The first is obviously the wolf thing, and Fluttershy is the animal expert. What's the second?” Dark looked at Link. “You wanna tell them or should I? No matter who does, they're gonna have the same reaction as the rest of us did when you gave it to me.” “Be my guest, Dark.” Link answered. Dark clapped his hands together before turning to his pony friends and saying, “Long story short, ladies, Link ended up giving me the ability to use magic.” The mares eyes widened in shock once again before the horned ones yelled, “WHAT? HOW?” Causing Dark to cover his ears, a little happy he didn't have the wolf hearing at the moment. “You're explaining that,” he told Link, massaging his ears while the ponies stared at Link. “I transferred some of my Triforce’s void energy into him in order to allow him to hold a pool of magicka. It’s small at the moment but it should grow with time and practice since his doesn’t abide by the same rules as mine.” Link explained as he looked over at Twilight. “Um...is it wise to do that? Dark's body already reacts...differently to the magic in the atmosphere,” Twilight explained, recalling his red eyes and the explanation for them. “Well, it’s been about eighteen hours so far and his body took both the void energy and the twili-magic just fine, so I’d say it's a success. We’re both Displaced, so why should it have a different effect?” Link asked. “It's just that he already has enough problems with what magic passively does with him. I'm just not sure it's a good idea to change him further,” Twilight explained. Link frowned at that bit of information. “Too late to change him back now. It would be too risky for me to try as it may bring harm to both of us.” The hylian said as he tapped his chin in thought. “Channeling the void energy is rather draining on me. For the time being, just keep an eye on him when we go to teach him spells.” He moved his arm back down before facing the purple alicorn. “This is where you come in, Twilight. Teaching in my method doesn’t work for him, so I’m going to try teaching you how my magic works, then you can then teach him in how you taught others, hopefully your method will help, even though the magic will be coming from his hands rather than a horn.” “And what should I do?” Starlight asked. “Screwball said both of us might be able to help.” “Well… Which one of you is the better teacher and which one can help teach Dark how to channel his new magic?” Link asked, wondering what Screwball was planning. “If you wanna know what I'm planning, you can just ask,” a voice said a couple of feet away from the group. Before anyone can react, a blue blur tackled Dark and he was once again on the ground with Brianna nuzzling his chest. Screwball walked into view, munching on a chocolate treat with peanut butter in the center. “As for what that is, these two ponies are some of the most powerful magic users in modern Equestria. So I figured they can be a great help in teaching Dark magic.” Link looked between the two, wondering as to who would offer what. Screwball finished her treat and said, “As for your question, I believe Starlight should help activate Dark his magic and Twilight should learn the spells, and they both help him learn them. I have a strong feeling Starlight can be a good teacher to someone with little experience using real magic.” “Alright.” Link said, smiling before clapping his hands together. “Let’s go somewhere better suited for magic practice, I’d rather not accidently burn Celestia’s garden.” “Yeah, and I believe Fluttershy will have a fit if any of the animals end up in the crossfire,” Dark said as he got up, holding Brianna in one arm as she smiled at all of them. “You’re with me Twilight, while Starlight go with Dark to help him out a bit.” Link said as he started to walk off to the training area with Twilight following him. Dark slightly ruffled Bri’s head before he brought her up to eye level. “I'm leaving you with Fluttershy, okay?” He asked, to which the pup simply nodded with a smile. Dark then gave her to Fluttershy. “Be a little careful Fluttershy. She's strong and doesn't know her own strength.” “It's okay Dark,” the pegasus replied with a smile. Dark nodded. “Well, have fun you guys. Come on Starlight.” Before he even began to walk away however, Screwball said, “Hey Tito, can I borrow your phone?” Dark looked at her. “Why?” “I have a little project I'm working on, and I need your phone.” “Okay…” Dark said, pulling out his phone from his pocket and handing it to her. “Exactly what is this project anyway?” “Just something I thought can help you in a different way. I'll be gone for a little while though. See you later Tito. And good luck.” With that, she snapped her fingers and vanished. Without further ado, Twilight and Link made their way to the training grounds of the castle. “The first I’m going to teach you are arrow spells, the spells original design was to channel magic into the arrow before letting it loose, those spells can be channeled into your weapons to provide them with an elemental hit. So far, three exist of Fire, Ice, and Light, which one would you like to start with?” Link asked. “Well, I guess start with the easiest or simplest spell first and work up from there,” the alicorn suggested. “We’ll start with ice then. “ Link said as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a small bow and arrow along with its quiver, in which it suddenly grew to its full size. After placing the bundle of arrows onto his back, he loaded an arrow into his bow. “When I was learning my powers, I tried every method I knew on how to use them from trying to feel the magic to trying to direct it, I even tried saying its name. In the end, it turns out my magic responded to my mind and concentrating on how my magic worked.” Link explained as he drew back the bow, the tip of the arrow glowing with blue sparkling magic. “As long as I don’t allow my thoughts on the spell to drift, I can keep the magic flowing into the arrow.” Taking aim at one of the training dummies, he let go of the bow’s string to let the arrow fly loose. When the arrow hit its target, it was suddenly frozen in a block of ice. “This is the Ice Arrow, you can channel it into arrows but with some practice, it can be used on igniting your weapons with weaker ice properties, giving it a chance to spread ice wherever the weapon hits.” “Impressive,” Twilight said, looking at the target before she had an idea. “You know, this kind of magic can be a good help for the guard.” “You sure it's a good idea to give them the ability to make a weapon that requires concentrating?” A voice asked. When the two looked, they saw Cece standing there with Emily by her side. “The spell isn’t a weapon.” Link pointed out as he held his bow. Using his other hand, he reached into his pouch and took out a small knife, the Ice Arrow slowly transferred into the Kokiri Sword itself. He gave it a twirl, causing the magically energy flowing along with it. “Neat trick. But I mean that these guys don't seem...good enough to do that,” Cece said, deciding not to insult the guard out loud due to their already wounded egos. “Regardless, it can be casted by anyone as long as they have some magical reserve and perhaps the concentration to keep the spell in their mind when they want to use it.” Link explained. Cece looked at the target. “Well if you want to have the guards learn this spell Twi, go ahead. But don't be surprised if several end up frozen.” Twilight rolled her eyes and created a piece of parchment and a quill and telekinetically wrote down what Link said regarding the spell. “The second spell is a Fire Arrow, same method as before.” Link said as a glowing flame gathered in both his arrow and his Kokiri Sword. “The spell is self explainable, it’ll just burn the target or set them flame. Now for the last spell, the Light Arrow,” the hylian said as fire turned into bright glow. Link furrowed his brow in thought. “This spell’s damage is based on how much evil is in their heart or how many vile deeds they’ve performed, like if they’ve been killing a lot of innocents. This spell aims for the very core of their being and start to incinerate them from the inside. Now despite the spell’s power, there are some who can’t be harm and instead will be paralyzed.” he explained as the magic slowly faded. “Any questions before I explain the last remaining six of my spells?” “I have one,” Cece said, lifting a hand up. “Alright, what’s your question?” Link said as he turned his head to look at her. “Can ponies even learn these spells? You know, since they're from an entirely different world and species.” “Well, I’ve yet to see their limit other than their lack of experience. I mean, Twilight here can easily use my spells or at least recreate them in her design.” Link answered. Twilight blinked. “I just realized something.” Link looked over at Twilight curiously. “Exactly what magic can Dark do? If I heard correctly, you said his magic came from using your triforce. And I'm not sure what that can mean for his magical potential.” “So far, I’ve taught this to one other Displaced and it went well without any problems. As I’ve said, his mana pool is small and thus will be limited to that amount until he finds a way to expand it. Remember how much you struggled when you were learning magic, Twilight?” Link asked based on what he knew of his Equestria’s Twilight. Cece rose an eyebrow. “Wait, Twilight Sparkle, a pony who I was told had a title as “Bearer of the Element of Magic”, had trouble with magic?” Twilight nodded. “I wasn't an instant expert when I started learning magic, Cece. I was actually rather weak. It was only after the Rainboom when my magic seem to have gotten stronger. And even then it doesn't always work like I want to…” the alicorn muttered, recalling some past experiences. Cece nodded before frowning. “Rain-what?” “Long story. Either ask Rainbow or Dark, since he certainly knows about it with how often those two spend time together. Or maybe it was in the show that's about our lives, I don't know.” “Overall, just keep an eye on him and his progress. I don’t expect him to become a master overnight.” Link said as he crossed his arms. Cece crossed her arms and chuckled. “As if that'll happened.” Cece then blinked and looked around. “Wait, where is Tito anyway? I thought he needed help with his magic.” “Starlight Glimmer’s helping with the first part, Twilight will then help with the second part.” Link explained. “First part? Second part? What parts?” Link frowned at Cece’s confusion. “Starlight’s teaching how to draw out his magic and Twilight will be teaching him the arrow spells in her own way since Dark couldn’t understand my method.” “Ah.” “Anymore questions?” Link asked as he started going a mental list of spells he had. The two shook their heads. Without further discussion, Link continued to teach Twilight hylian spells while Cece decided to watch. (Dark's POV) Starlight and I went to my room to try to activate my magic. The walk was uneventful, with the both of us silent. While I was unaware of what was on Starlight’s mind, I was thinking about the whole magic thing again. Since I never used magic before, and technically shouldn’t even have magic, I don’t know what to expect from this “lesson”. Plus the reminder from Twilight about how my body already reacts to magic got me even more worried. I had enough problems as is with the red eye thing, I didn’t need more reasons for ponies to think I was a demon. When we reached my room, I put my bag on my bed and took off my hood, but I decided to keep my scarf over the lower half of my face. I looked at Starlight and asked, “So what exactly are we doing?” “Well, I was thinking first we try to activate your magic, then try a simple levitation spell,” Starlight replied. I frowned behind my scarf. “Levitation? You sure about that? Hell, can I even do that?” Starlight shrugged. “Well Link didn’t say anything about you being unable to, so we might as well give it a try.” I hesitated for a moment before sighing. “Fine. Though first thing’s first. How do I even activate my magic?” Starlight tapped her chin with one of her fingers. “Shouldn’t be too difficult. As you know, unicorn and alicorn magic comes from our horns.” As if to prove her point, she activated her own magic and her horn glowed light blue. “But Link said your magic comes from your hands. The best I can say, focus on channeling magic through them. Concentrate on your magic and will it to flow into your hands.” I hesitated, looking at my hands, before shrugging and deciding to do that. ‘Not like I have any better idea on how to do this.’ I sighed before closing my eyes and hands. I tried to concentrate on my magic and do what Starlight said. After a few seconds, I felt a strange feeling in my chest and arms, similar to when Link gave me magic in the first place. Except this time, I continued having the feeling, with my hands feeling...weird, for lack of a better word. “Well, I don't know whether or not to be surprised that's your aura,” I heard Starlight say, much to my confusion. I opened my eyes and looked at my hands, which was now glowing with a blue aura. “Huh. I feel the same way,” I said, before looking at Starlight. When she looked at me however, her eyes widened. “Okay, that's surprising.” I blinked, trying to keep my magic running. “What?” “Your eyes. They're blue now.” I did a double take, my magic stopping as a result. “What?” “Your eyes. They were blue just a second ago. Now they're brown again.” “Really?” Starlight nodded. “Never heard of that happening to anypony before. At least, not naturally.” “Of course you haven't…” I muttered, looking at my hands. I closed my eyes again, trying to channel my magic. It was a bit easier, now that I had more of an idea what I was doing, and after I had that feeling again, I opened my eyes and saw my hands were glowing again. “This'll take some getting used to,” I said, referring to how my chest and arms felt with me channeling my magic. “Probably,” Starlight replied with a shrug. “You're a creature that shouldn't even have magic, so I'm not that surprised to hear you feeling a bit strange when you use it.” After a few more seconds of looking over my hands and getting used to my magic, I took a deep breath. “Now what?” Starlight looked around the room for a bit before finding a small ball. She picked it up and turned towards me. “Now, I want you to try to levitate this and bring it towards you,” she said before placing the ball on a dresser a few feet away from me. She then took a couple of steps back and looked at me. “Simply imagine it levitating and will your magic to make that happen.” I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “That simple?” Starlight shrugged. “There's a reason it's the most basic spell. Why do you think even foals can do it?” I blinked, unable to argue. I then closed my eyes, took a deep breath and tried to do what she said. Once again, I could feel the strange feeling covering my arms and hands… but didn’t move beyond that. As I began feeling dizzy, I heard ‘crackling’ sourcing from in front of me. Huh. I imagine that is not how one moves stuff around with magic. Focusing, I tried once more - only this time my dizziness increased along with a headache and the feeling of having my brain reduced to mulch… pretty much like it always happened at history class back at high school. All I could hear was the ‘thump-thump’ constantly battering my eardrums as I strained myself. “Okay. That is enough, Dark.” Starlight said softly as I stopped. At this point, I fell to my knees from the overshadowing weakness invading my entire body. “That's harder than I thought…” I muttered, panting. I was a bit unused to being exhausted after getting used to my increased stamina since I was Displaced. “Are you okay?” Starlight asked me. “Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Just...give me a moment to catch my breath…” I said, panting the whole time. After a few minutes, I regained enough energy to stand properly. I then muttered, “Well that sucked.” “Well you are a beginner,” Starlight replied. “It'll take some time for you to master it.” “I know.” I took a deep breath. “Welp, I'm ready to start again.” “You sure?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “You didn't turn out too good the first time.” “I'll be fine, Starlight. Besides, I won't get anywhere if I stop now.” With that said, I activated my magic and tried again. (Third Person POV, Canterlot Training Grounds, several hours later) Link was currently sitting down playing his ocarina to help calm his nerves and sooth his headache that he had gained from providing hours of talking, especially the questions she kept asking on how the whole progress worked, but in the end Link was successful. Although there were times Twilight asked him a lot of questions about his ocarina, if it was magical, and about the enchanted songs. At this point, Link was pretty much being a teacher as he had told the many songs, each holding a mysterious power. The only song Link didn’t tell her about was the Song Of Time, let alone even try to teach her them. The hylian has played those songs but has not channeled his magic into them, especially the Sun’s Song. Link definitely didn’t want this world’s royal sisters being paranoid that they weren’t the only ones who could control the celestial bodies. He was drawn out of his inner thoughts by Twilight accompanying Starlight with some kind of blue ball in her hand. A fruit which, on closer look appeared to be some kind of berry. “What’s the hurry, Twilight?” Link asked in curiosity and concern. “Apparently Dark went a little overboard with his magic lesson and needs a bit of a pick-me-up,” the alicorn said. “Bit of an understatement,” Starlight commented. “He kept insisting that he should keep practicing, and now he's laying on his back on the floor, completely drained of energy.” “Hold up, I have something that could help him out, let me join you guys so I can see his condition as well.” Link said as he put away his ocarina. He looks over at the berry again, being remind of that of an Oran Berry that can help heal pokemon. A curious thought crosses the hylian’s mind on if it could heal non-pokemon, if it does, Link could ask them for some seeds. “Something wrong Link?” Twilight asked. “Can I ask you... what are those berries for?” Link asked her, concerning the oran berries she had on her handbag. He wanted to be sure, after all, that they were indeed that kind of berries. “Well, Link… this is what is named Oran berry, a fruit that works to heal a wounded or tired pokemon. I got some seeds a while ago and ever since they finished growing, I've kept a few on hand just in case. And albeit I'm currently not sure about it healing non-pokemon, I can most certainly say that it does refill one's energy. I can personally say that's true. So, I figured it'd be a good way to help Dark with his...current situation.” “Ah. Thanks for the answer, Twilight.” Link answered politely as they continued on their way. So, the mares and displaced moved to where Starlight had left Dark to rest after his first day at exercising ‘magic’. As the group moved at a brisk yet quiet pace through the stone corridors, they soon reached the corridor to the room where Dark had been practicing so far. “Well, here's hoping he’s regain enough strength to eat,” Starlight said. “How has his magic practice been going, anyway?” Twilight asked. Starlight chuckled sheepishly. “Well, not that good. As of now, he can only get the item a few inches away from the starting point, before he loses control. Hopefully one day he'll be able to actually get it to him in a single try, without being winded.” Link chuckled softly. “He’ll get it eventually, it took me years to master my magic.” So, they made their way into the room, where they could see Dark still lying on the ground. Hair greasy with sweat, face uncovered, with his clothes’ looking wet from the effort as his skin glistens with it. “I think next time, you should have a few snacks and a bottle of water on hand,” Twilight commented to her pink companion. “Might help.” “Duly noted,” the unicorn replied. “Might want to have an Oran Berry or two as well.” “Probably a good idea,” Dark commented weakly. “You're awake?” Twilight asked, surprised. “Eeyup.” “I said he was exhausted, not unconscious,” Starlight said, matter of factly. “Right…” Twilight then cleared her throat. “Well, I got you an Oran Berry to help with your energy problem.” “Yaaay…” Dark said weakly, similar to Fluttershy. He then slowly lifted his hand up, with Twilight handing him the berry. He then ate it and waiting a few moments. About a minute later, he slowly sat up, with Twilight helping him onto his feet. “Thanks.” The alicorn grinned at him. “Don't mention it. But really, what were you thinking, overexerting yourself like that?” Dark looked at her with an embarrassed look. “Honestly? I didn't know it'd be this bad.” “Not your brightest moment,” Starlight commented. “I noticed,” Dark said with an annoyed tone. “Will you be alright? I was thinking of giving you a blue potion.” Link said as he reached into his pouch. “What does that do?” Starlight asked. From out of his pouch was a bottle filled with a blue liquid. “I won it in a Pinkie Pie’s- I mean another universe’s Pinkie Pie’s contest.” Link said with a smile. “Thanks, but I’m fine now.” Dark stated before groaning as he slowly rose from the floor. “Note to self: do not do this training again like I did.”