//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: A Wizard Finds Kinship and Magic // Story: Solid Script Equestria // by Garnet Naturea //------------------------------// As the light dies down, the ponies all look to each other and see that they are all transparent looking and look like they are all made of crystals. They look to the heart and cheer. The creatures not from the empire are also crystal looking, even Spike and Echo. The all look over themselves in awe. Suddenly there was a pop of a teleportation spell and Twilight appeared at the entrance, looking around at her friends. “Girls! Spike! Your all ok!” She says, bringing her friends in for a group hug. They laugh and then Twilight sees Echo. She looks to the feline and suddenly realizes something. “Wait, where’s Lex?” All her friends pause and look around for a minute. “Where is Sonbāsutā too?” Echo asks, summoning her wings and hovering around. The group become worried and look, before Pinkie pops up with a smile. “There they are!” She says, pointing to the crater Sombra and I were in beforehand. The group rushes to me as I am coming to from the light wave. Pushing myself up I rub my head before looking to my hand in shock. My hand, my body and dress, even my hair looks like I am made of crystal. I am also back to normal and not some kind of demon of darkness. I turn as I hear several hooves coming to me and see the girls and royals along with some crystal ponies. They pause and look to me in shock. “What?” I ask with a raised brow. They just point below me and I realize I was on something that was breathing. Looking below me, I lock eyes with a pair of ruby iris that were staring back up at me. Looking past them, I see a coat of shining silver with an equally shining black mane. His armor was still wrecked but he still wore some under clothing. Sonbāsutā was back to normal too, the corrupted mist of magic were no longer in his eyes and his horn was the same as any other unicorns. He also appeared to have shrunk a little. Not much, but now he is the same height as Shining Armor instead of Big Mac. After a second he clears his throat, causing me to lock eyes with him again. I see he has a faint blush on his face. “Can you get off me please?” He asks, his voice now rather smooth. It was at that moment I realize I was straddling his crotch. My face erupted into a blush as I scramble off of him, falling onto my back in the process. “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Repeat frantically, before calming down a bit and sitting next to him and carefully lifting his head to rest on my lap, seeing all sorts of bruises and cuts on his shining fur. He groans and grits his teeth a bit. “Guess you did more damage to me than I thought.” He says as he rests his head on my lap. He looks left of us and sees all the ponies before locking eyes with Echo. The little feline looks like she is about to explode with tears. Sonbāsutā smiles to her. “Hey Echo? You going to hover there all day, or are you going to come here?” At that, the Exeed launches herself at him, crying into the unicorns chest. “Sonbāsutā! Your back! I thought I would never see you again, and that you would remain evil, and you would never be happy, and and and..!” She says quickly, crying hard into his chest. With some effort, he lifts his arms and hugs his little sister/assistant. “Hey, hey. It’s ok now. I’m back sis. I’m back.” He says softly to her. We hear a pair of hooves coming to us so we turn and see Emerald Blizzard. “Uncle Emerald. I’m sorry.” He says with grief and sadness. “For what my dear nephew?” He asks, crouching to Sonbāsutā. He just looks to the crystal pony like he grew a second head. “For what!?! I became a tyrant! I lost my mind and turned my subjects into slaves! I killed innocent ponies, tore families apart! I nearly invaded Equestria for mothers sake! I failed!” He shouts with tears falling from his eyes, the other ponies all taking a step back from his loud rant, before he turns away from his uncle. “I failed mom.” He says softly. “No.” I grab his head and force him to look at me. “You did not fail your mother. You were betrayed and that forced your magic to go out of control and for you to be corrupted. None of this was your fault.” I tell him loud enough for the others to hear. We hear more hooves coming to us and turn to see Cadence, Shining and Twilight walking up with the others behind them. “Sombra-“ “Sonbāsutā.” I interrupted Shining. He looks to me with a raised brow then pauses at seeing my glare. He gulps a bit and clears his throat. “Sonbāsutā. What does Lex mean that you were betrayed?” He asks and Echo and Emerald both flinch and look to Sonbāsutā in worry. He just sighs and sits up with a bit, having to use me as support. I don’t mind as I am curious myself but I get a bad feeling about this. “When I was twenty one, I met a mare named Crystal Dust. She was a noble that had moved here from Equestria a few years beforehand to learn about what the kingdom is like. When we met, she was so nice, so sweet and caring, that we ended up hanging out more then started dating. I thought we were in love, so after a year I let her...take my innocence.” He says, the others having to take a second to realize what he means. Echo flies up and hugs his chest again, Sonbā hugging her back. “It was afterwards I was walking around the castle after finishing an assignment from Uncle Emerald that I found her talking with some other, less than noble, nobles.” Echo says, before clenching her teeth in anger. “She was bragging that she took the kings innocence and that she will be the next queen. That she would change things to make sure she and her ‘friends’ were the only ones who ‘sit pretty’ while those she chose were useless would be banished and left for dead.” The other ponies all gasp at this and more than a few of them growl and grind their own teeth in anger. “She what?! How dare she!” To all our surprise, it was Fluttershy who said that, clearly enraged. “Agreed! What kind of no good, double crossin, daughter of a flankhole would do that?!?” AppleJack says in anger. On the outside, me and Cadence appear saddened and remorseful, but within the both of us, a tempest of rage roars, but for different reasons. Cadence is the princess of love, so this kind of manipulation and betrayal is sickening to her. For me...well... I sigh and look to Sonbā. “Looks like you and I are more alike than I thought.” I say, earning the gathered creatures attentions. “What do you mean?” He asks. I sigh again and get into a comfortable position. “When I was nineteen, I was just starting my first year of college. It was tough and I struggles in a few of my classes before I met a man named Ray Thorn. He was a couple years older than me and had gone through the same courses as me. After we met one day after lunch, he became my tutor and helped me get a leg up on some of my classes. Even when he wasn’t teaching me, we hung out together and ended up going out for a while. My friends didn’t like him, but I was just too blind by my first real relationship.” The others frown and seem to get where I am going with this. “After I finished my first year, Ray and I went out for some drinks and....I....” I pause and take a breath, reigning in my anger. I feel as Echo lands on my head and looks at me upside down with sadness. “We ended up going to his house for the night and I let him...take me.” I feel as Sonbā wraps his hand around mine. “After the first week of my second year, I found Ray talking to some of his friends in the lunch hall. He was laughing, saying that he finally did as his friends did and took some girls innocence. I wouldn’t have minded him saying he took me, if he didn’t say ‘I could probably get that slut to join in for you guys’.” At that I feel a group of arms wrap around me. I see as Sonbā, Echo, Cadence and Rarity hug me. “Oh, you poor dear! You didn’t deserve that! This Ray is nothing more than a scoundrel who should be punished!” Rarity wails. I just laugh a little. “He was.” I say, the others looking to me in confusion and curiosity. “I have a sneaking suspicion, this is where both of our stories branch out Sonbā. You didn’t have anyone to turn to for help against Crystal and that caused you to lash out and for your magic to flare and become corrupted, right?” I ask him, getting a slow and ashamed nod. “I really couldn’t do anything. I may have been king, but I couldn’t do anything against her because we both consented. I got so frustrated, my emotions were running wild, I was destroying anything that wasn’t of value. I lost it.” He says. I put my arm around his shoulders in a side hug. “That is the difference between what happened to us. I did have someone to turn to. Three someone’s.” I say. “Your parents?” Echo asks, to which I shake my head no. “My parents were disappointed that I allowed that to happen and blamed me, saying I should have chosen a better boyfriend.” Cadence and Shining both visibly get angry at this, along with a couple of the crystal ponies that are listening in. I dig into my purse and take out the photo of me, Nat, and Adam we took before being sent here. “I didn’t get support from my parents, I got strength from my little sibling in all but blood.” I say, showing the gathered ponies the photo. “The girls in pink hair are my non-related little sisters, Natali and Sorano.” The others look to me in confusion. “Multiple personality’s.” they all nod. “And the tall guy is my little brother Adam.” “Nat and Sora were in their last year of high school, and after hearing what happened to me, they skipped two weeks worth of classes to come to the college and help take care of me. Nat would cook food for me and all but force me to eat, and when going to classes and she would see or hear someone going to make fun of me, Sorano would take over their body and scare the would be bullies to death so they would leave me alone.” The others all smile at this. “But didn’t you say this Ray was punished?” Rarity asks. I just smile warmly. “Yeah. A couple of days after my breakup and telling Nat and Adam about it, I get a call from the police to come to the local hospital. Adam was admitted with a broken arm and a cracked rib. The reason the police were the ones to call me, was because Adam tracked down Ray and beat the ever living crap out of him. Guess what the injury toll was for them.” The others think for a minute before most shrug. “Adam had one cracked rib and a broken arm. In contrast, Ray had two shattered ribs, three more being cracked, a broken jaw, a busted leg and a sprained wrist.” All the ponies eyes widen in shock at this. “Remember, Adam was only sixteen, and he ended up getting charged for assault and placed on monitored probation for being a minor but he didn’t care. He sent a message, that no one messes with his family. I paid for his bail and medical bill from my job money, while he was forced to pay for Ray’s but after that, I knew I could count on them.” All the ponies smile as I finish, Echo and Sonbā looking to the photo. I get up from my spot and stand next to Sonbāsutā and hold out my hand. “The past it something we can’t change, but the future is something new for us. So, how about you and I move forward.” He looks to my hand then to the others, before smiling and taking my hand. I lift him up, putting his arm around my shoulder to help support him after hearing several bones cracking. As I pull him up, Echo sees my emblem and does a double take. “Um, Lex? The symbol on your back is glowing.” She says. The others look and see that my Fairy Tail emblem is indeed glowing, much to all of our confusions. Sonbā looks at it and his eyes widen slightly. “That symbol. I have seen it before.” Sonbāsutā says causing me to look to him in shock. “What? That isn’t possible. This is the symbol of Fairy Tail, a wizard guild from another world. Where would you have seen it before?” I tell and ask him. Sonbā looks down for a moment before his eyes seem to light up with memory. “The royal treasury! I remember, that one time I was in there with mother, I saw some kind of chest with that symbol on it. Mom said she could sense a great magical power within it, but nothing we did would allow us to unlock it.” He explains. I think for a minute, but don’t come up with anything from Fairy Tail itself that fits that description. “Can you show me?” I ask him, getting a nod. He goes to step forward before Emerald come by and grabs his other arm, supporting him as Shining take the arm that was around my shoulders. Our group goes into the castle as the crystal ponies all go about celebrating their memories returning with what remains of the crystal fair we set up. We walk for a few minutes before Sonbā is able to support himself and walk normally. We walk in silence before coming to what looks like a pair of crystal vault doors that are underneath the castle itself. Sonbāsutā feels around the wall before pulling a false part of the crystal off and revealing a lever. Pulling it, the vault unlocks and begins to open. Inside is a veritable mountain of gold coins, unique crystals, tapestries and other such treasures. All the ponies and drake have their jaws fall to the ground so I snap my fingers and get their attention. “Remember, this treasure belongs to the crystal empire, so don’t take anything and just look around for the chest.” I say, looking to Spike and Rarity, the duo looking to the sides sheepishly. I just roll my eyes and begin to dig through the first pile. The others soon follow suit, finding their own piles to dig through. We spend maybe half an hour before Rainbow calls out. “Hey! I think I found it!” We all go to the prismatic pegasus and see as she is pulling a large chest out of her pile. The thing could hold me and Sonbāsutā, it was that large! On the top of the chest, just above the lock, was a rainbow coloured Fairy Tail symbol, just like my emblem and that of the seals for my scrolls. Echo looks back at me and sees my emblem glowing brighter. “Lex. Your mark.” The others look at my back as I walk up to the chest. Just from here, I can sense a massive source of magical energy inside of the chest. Looking below the emblem, I see a faint message written in the same runes as my enchantments. Looking closer I read aloud. “‘Only the one who can lead in the ways of magic, may gain this power to do so.’ What?” I say aloud, the others all scratching their heads in confusion as well. Oddly, I get a feeling I know what to do. I place my hand on the symbol and focus my magic, my emblem shining brighter still. The others begin to step back as a circle of light appears beneath me, before turning into some kind of spell matrix. “Lex!? What is going on?!” Twilight calls out in alarm. I don’t hear her as the chest is unlocked and I see some kind of a rainbow fire. Placing my hand on it, the flame climbs my arm and then covers me completely, yet doesn’t burn. “LEX!” I hear the other call before my vision goes white. ************ Getting my vision back, I see that I am in some kind of purple and blue void with mist around the area. Looking around, I don’t actually see anything aside from the void and mist. “Hello?!” I call out, only hearing my own voice echoing back for a minute. “Hello.” I turn behind me and pause as I see someone. Someone I know. She has long, pale blond hair almost reaching the ground with two odd wing-like ribbons on each side, her pale green eyes lacking pupils, wearing a large pink dress with a hot pink bow and lacking shoes. Fairy Tails first master, Mavis Vermilion. I just stare at her for a minute in complete shock, before she clears her throat, snapping me out of my shocked trance. “Master Mavis?” I ask in shock, the little girl before me nodding. “I don’t understand. How are you here? Where even is here?” “I like to call this place ‘the world between’. It is one barrier away from being the void between dimensions and two barriers away from an alternate timeline.” She explains. “As for how I am here, I was summoned when I sensed that the magical copies I sent out to the void were unlocked.” “Magical copies?” I ask with a tilted head. She nods and put her hand out, a large blue screen that I recognize as Super Archive appearing before her. “Many years after the death of my physical body, I gained the ability to travel between worlds and timelines. However, I needed to be careful as it is easy to get lost in the void. I thought, perhaps I could help other timelines or worlds by sending versions of the magic in Fiore to these worlds. Obviously I was worried about someone evil gaining access to them, so I put an extremely complex enchantment on the chest, making it so only one who has the spirit of a leader, and a true understanding of magic can unlock it and gain its knowledge and power.” She explains as she types on the screen, before finding a picture of me and my friends and reading quickly, gaining a sad yet impressed smile. “Looks like you made the cut.” She finishes. “But, why me? I am just some random girl that bought a scroll and got sent to another world. Sure that sounds unique, but I have a feeling I am not the only one this has happened to. Aside from all that, I am no one.” I tell her with worry and curiosity. “You really shouldn’t underestimate yourself Lex.” She says. I lean back a bit, surprised as she knows my name now, before remembering how Archive works. “In just over two days you have saved a duo of farmers from a pack of dangerous Timberwolves, made friends with a group of national heroines, gained two students to teach Japanese to, made the princesses of the sun and moon rethink their opinions on dark magic, and protected an empire from a corrupted tyrant, while beating him in one on one combat and returning him to the way he was before he was betrayed. Not just anyone could do that.” She says and I just stay silent for a minute, thinking about it. “I mean...sure that is a lot when you think about it, but that still doesn’t make me a leader.” I tell her, the girl shaking her head. “Wrong. Even though you did all this, that doesn’t mean you did it without thinking things through. For the Timberwolves, you placed a defensive enchantment on the cave first, making sure those two would be safe. For the princesses, you stood firm in your position while giving legitimate reasons and explanation for it. You investigated Sombra before anything, finding Echo and learning what you could about his past, while placing your faith in your friends to find a way to protect the empire. Even when you were forced to fight him, you made sure the civilians and your friends would be safe first and also placed your faith in them to get Echo out of her crystal. After that fight was over and the heart was back where it belonged, you defended Sonbāsutā and grew a kinship with him immediately from both your past experiences.” “All of it, faith in your friends, making sure they are safe before hand, ensuring they have confidence, saving someone from their own darkness, and defending them when they return. You place your trust in them, and trust is one of the biggest requirements for a leader.” I stay silent as my mind processes all of this. The ‘Great Fairy Tactician’ was telling me I am a leader that is worthy of all that magical knowledge. I think back to everything that has happened to me since arriving here in Equestria and how others would have reacted if they were in my position. I know plenty of people who would go nuts with fear and worry, or go mad with power from Fiore magic. Yet as far as I can tell, I am still me. I sigh and look back at Master Mavis. “So I am worthy of this magical knowledge and stuff. What do I even do with it?” I ask her, the child-looking woman putting a hand on her chin before smiling up at me. “Well, I can’t really make that decision for you, but why not do what Pinkie suggested the other day?” She says before seemingly becoming transparent for a second. “Looks like I am almost out of time. Just saying Lex, you would make a great guild master in my opinion.” After she says that, I begin to feel funny, like I just exited a sauna after a few minutes. As I begin to leave this place Mavis calls out. “Oh yeah! Also, I hope you like your new upgrades!” After that, my vision goes white again. ******************* Back in the vault, the ponies and drake have been freaking out for the past minute, trying to think of a way to ‘help’ me as I am covered in rainbow fire and they thought I was being hurt. But, no matter what spell they tried, nothing worked against the spell I was in. As Shining, Cadence, Twilight and Sonbāsutā prepare to use a combined magical blast, the flames suddenly grow a bit, causing them all to step back before they begin to go out. As the flames finish going out, they see me as I am still crouching by the chest. I open my eyes again and stand up. Looking over myself, I feel a little off and see that I wearing a gold highlighted, white overcoat over my dress. I raise a brow at it and notice that my left eye feels off, like my right does when I use Dark Ecriture. I see something out of the top of my vision and pull some of my hair down, seeing I have some golden stripes in my hair. “Lex?” I turn and see the others looking at me worried, only for their eyes to widen as I face them. “What is it?” I ask. They remain quiet for a second before Twilight walks up to me. “Um, Lex? Do you notice anything different right now?” She asks. I just raise a brow and look into her eyes and...wait what? I go wide eyed and realized I was staring at her eye to eye and not looking up to her. I look to the others and see that I am actually not having to look up anymore. “I’m...taller?” I say aloud looking over myself. Aside from my new height, I notice my right arm feels odd, like it is recovering from scratching it for a few minutes. I pull back my sleeve and what I see makes me do a double take and freeze. On my forearm is a red, narrowed Fairy Tail symbol within what looks like a thin barrier around it. Before I can gawk too long at my arm, Rarity taps my arm and hands me a mirror. Confused, I take it and look at the reflection of my face. I look in shock as I see my dark eye is activated, but my left eye is different. It is bright glowing gold with the Fairy Tail symbol in the center, just noticeable if you look close. I just look at my eyes in shock before shaking my head, focusing and deactivating them both, but my left eye is now pale yellow instead of gold or brown. “Okayyy....looks like I found those upgrades she was talking about.” I mumble to myself, the others looking to me in confusion. Before they can ask anything, I drop the mirror and grab my head, screaming as I get an intense pain going through my mind. “Lex!” The group comes to me and tries to help, Sonbāsutā holding me in his arms, trying to keep me still as I thrash in pain. It feels like I am getting my head filled to bursting with air and my eyes activate again. The group panics a bit, trying to find some way to help. Cadence puts her horn on my head and begins to cast a mental relaxation spell on me and sees what looks like a waterfall of information being sent into my head. She begins to sweat and pushes more magic into the spell, keeping me calm and the info not being as painful. This goes on for about two minutes before the waterfall of information slows down and Cadence can stop her spell, panting. I pant for breath and groan in pain, my eyes and head sore. I look to Sonbā and Cadence and smile in thanks for the help. They nod back, the princess panting a bit herself. “What was that?” Sonbā asks. I sit up a bit, grabbing my head in pain. “That was the magic that was in the chest. The chest was sealed with an extremely complex enchantment making it so it could only open when someone has the soul of a leader and true understanding of magic.” I explain. “At lease, that is what Master Mavis said. And it certain feels like it.” “Master Mavis?” The main six question. I don’t answer right away, getting to my feet again. “The founder of Fairy Tail.” I say simple, the girls looking surprised. Before they can react, I snap my fingers and the Archive screen appears next to me, the ponies jumping back in shock. I begin to type on the screen, bringing up a screen with a Chibi style look of my head with an arrow pointing to the heads of the others. “What are you doing?” Shining asks. As I finish typing, the arrow shows info going to the heads of the others, a progress bar appearing above each of their heads, before filling up within a few seconds. “Sending you all copies of my memory of what I just saw.” I answer as all of them look to me in shock from what I saw while I was on fire. They rub their heads, coming to terms with what they just learned. “So, you have knowledge of every type of magic from Fiore?” Twilight asks in shock. I shrug and open a menu that actually shows a list of magic. I look through them quickly before closing it. I get an idea and open another menu that shows my head and an arrow to Sonbāsutā. I type a few commands and then close the magical screen. “So are you guys ok?” I ask the gathered group, all of them nodding. We all leave the vault and head back to the throne room. We all arrive and just stand there awkwardly, Shining, Cadence and Sonbāsutā not really knowing what to do now. Sonbāsutā sighs and turns to the royal duo. “Listen you two, I know this is going to be all sorts of awkward, but I want you two to take over here as its new rulers.” He says. All of the ponies, Emerald in particular, look to him in shock. Sonbāsutā looks to his crown in his hand. “I may not have been in control, but the fact remains that I became a tyrant that forced my subjects into slaves. That is unacceptable and I cannot in good conscience retake the throne after what happened.” The duo and Emerald go to object, but I raise a hand, signalling them to stop. I walk up and place a hand on his shoulder. “If that is your decision. The girls and I have to get back to Canterlot to tell the princesses about our success. I think it would be best for you to come with us to tell them what happened to you in person.” I say. The girls look worried about this idea, while Shining and Cadence look a little unsure. “I believe that would be best. The princesses deserve an answer for what happened, considering they were the ones who banished me to shadows in the first place. Although, I wonder how they even heard about me, considering Equestria and the Empire didn’t have a reliable means of communication with one another at the time.” He says in thought. I wonder about that as well. “Well, if my nephew is going to this ‘Canterlot’, then I am going as well. I will not lose him like I did before.” Emerald says, walking beside me. “Same. I am not letting anything to happen to my big brother again if I can stop it.” Echo adds, landing on Sonbā’s shoulder. The two royals look to the four of us and sigh. “You know the crystal ponies won’t agree to this now that they remember how Sonbāsutā ruled instead of Sombra.” Shining says. The crystal trio nod. I just smile and think about what Mavis said to me. ‘I think I may have my first few members.’