//------------------------------//
// Prologue Part 3: Summer Blossom 
// Story: Brony Recon: Ascension 
// by Freescript the Bard 
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?????'s POV

My head hurt. A lot. That was the first thing I ever knew when I woke up laying in a puddle. My first thought was, why am I laying in a puddle? I opened my eyes. Or at least, the one not submerged in liquid. There were conifer trees around me, coated in snow. I felt cold as I realized that I was lying in the white substance.

I tuned my thoughts back to the puddle. Looking down, all I saw was a deep red. Blood. Whose blood was I laying in? It certainly wasn't-- My thoughts were interjected by the pain in my head becoming unbearable. It blocked out rational thought, rendering me unable to move.

Okay, I need to move. I need to find out why I'm bleeding.
…am I bleeding? Or am I in someone else's blood?
Why would I be laying in someone else's blood? Is there someone hurt?
…I didn't see anyone when I looked around. But I only have limited perception given my position.
Okay, I need to move. I need to find out where the blood is coming from.

The drive to discover the source of the blood drove me into alertness. My hearing came with birdsong. …and running water. The thought of water put a thirst in my mouth that would have been otherwise unquenchable. My primal instincts drove me toward the sound, crawling along the ground.

There was a searing pain in my left foreleg that made it impossible to move, as well as an ache throughout my entire body. All this was lost on me as I dragged my large body to the water with one foreleg, pulling myself along at an agonizingly slow pace. Finally, I felt the coolness of the small stream, numbing the pain in my head. I stuck out my tongue and began lapping the refreshing liquid up.

Then, I tasted something peculiar. It was a metallic taste, like iron. I racked my brain for what it was. I opened my eyes again to see the water had streaks of blood running through the stream. My blood. Coming from my head.

Suddenly, there was a muffled gasp from off my vision. "Oh sweet Celestia! Sir, are you alright?" came a mare's voice. I didn't have the strength to form a coherent answer, so I did the next best thing. Moan. "Your head is bleeding… we've gotta get you to a place where I can patch this up!"

"Uuuuuggghhh…" I groaned as teeth bit down on my tail and dragged me from the water. No… my water… it was so refreshing… The pain in my head began to come back as the wintery stream was taken from me. Luckily, my supposed savior had dragged me to a snow bank, where the deeper accumulation was enough to keep any feel in in my face and head numbed.

"Sir, try to stay still, please…" the mare said, staying outside my field of view. "This may feel a little weird."

"Wha…" Suddenly, a good portion of the pain that wasn't sedated by the cold was taken from me. I heard a grunt from my rescuer, like she was feeling the pain I was now… "Who…"

"Don't try to talk," she ordered. "Just… relax and close your eyes." I did as I was told, slackening the muscles in my neck and giving up my optical search for the mare. The pain slipped back to me, but not as severe as before. I felt her move around my head, occasionally lifting it, much to my pain. But I didn't cry out, knowing the mare meant well. Soon, I felt something wrap around my head and tighten around the source of the pain. "Okay, I'm done," she reported. "But don't strain yourself."

I opened my eyes to her voice, emanating from directly in front of me. The mare had a pearl-colored coat and a plant-green tinted mane and tail. Her cutie mark showed a ruby heart with a rose-vine circlet around it, matching the one on her saddlebags. She looked at me with light blue eyes, full of concern and intrigue. "Um… hi," I greeted weakly.

She straightened for a moment at my words. "Oh, um… sorry. Where are my manners--?"

"No, it's alright. Given the circumstances, I'd say it's excusable."

"Oh, right… um, my name's Summer Blossom, but you can call me Summer," she smiled.

I was about give my name when I stopped. There was nothing. My mind frantically searched for a name, but instead came up with a headache. Nothing. There wasn't a single memory before my waking in a pool of blood. Not a name, or birthdate, or even a semblance of what I looked like besides my maroon hooves. "I can't remember…" I whispered.

She gave me a sidelong look. "Huh?"

"I don't remember my name or… or my life… my…" I said in a shock. I didn't have an identity, anything to tell me apart from anypony else. I could be anyone, a criminal, a noble, a commoner, or even royalty, and there was no way to tell.

Summer looked at me in pity and concern. "You hit your head pretty hard…" she wondered to me. "It must have jarred your brain enough to cause total amnesia."

"What did I hit my head on?" She pointed to a particularly large pile of rocks. "How did…"

"Avalanche by the looks of it," she said pointedly. Summer looked up at the large cliff face that was initially hidden from me. "Part of the path up there looks collapsed. Did you fall?"

Rubbing my head with a hoof, the headache returned with a vengeance as I tried to recall. "I… I can't remember… I don't know…"

"Don't stress yourself," she said firmly but softly. "I'm sorry, I forgot for a minute that you…"

I lifted my right hoof to stop her. "Don't be. It's hardly a normal situation."

She giggled lightly. "Well aren't you humble," she said before growing serious. "Can you stand? You lost a lot of blood, so take it easy."

Shakily and cautiously, I began to rise to my hooves. When I was on all fours, I stood up quick… only to fall again to pain in my left foreleg and lightheadedness. Of course, blood loss… After a restrained giggle from Summer, I rose more slowly. I stood on three hooves, keeping my injured leg elevated.

Summer looked at the leg with concern. "It looks like you broke your leg…" she wondered out loud. "Let me get that in a sling." She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a piece of cloth that looked like an oversized hoofkerchief. With the cloth in hoof, Summer placed herself in front of me. Reaching around my neck, she tied the cloth on my back, letting the hurt leg hang in the sling. I felt a little uncomfortable with her forelegs around me, making what little blood I had rush to my face.

"Oh, sorry," she said meekly. "Was that a bit too… intimate?" She pointed at my tail. I looked back to see my short tail was completely rigid, similar to pegasi wings when they…

The realization hit me. "Oh… um," I stammered, blushing deeper. "This is awkward."

"Yes," she said, giggling. "Yes it is." She sidled up next to my left. "C'mon, you can lean on me and we can head for my home."

"Okay." I leaned on her body, careful no to put of much of my bulk on her side. It would be even more awkward than now if we tumbled through the snow in a heap. "Um…" I glanced back and pointed.

Summer gave me a questioning look and followed my gaze. Her own tail had gone completely straight, even more evident than mine, which was half as long. She blushed, the pink showing on her light coat. "Um… hehe…"

"Maybe we should… uh… go to your place then?"

"Sure."

It took us nearly a half hour to get our tails to cease their aroused-rigid display.

>><<>><<

Shift's POV

"Isn't a lovely night for stargazing?" Twilight said dreamily, leaning her head against mine.

"Just like every other clear night on Saturday, yes, it is," I whispered back. "Our usual hilltop then?" She nodded as we made our way to the top of our special hill. It was on this very hill upon which we had the first of many dates and picnics, as well as the party that brought Twilight and I back together after the 'misconception' her friends had. Now, we had found a new use, stargazing. The top of the mound was high enough and far enough from town to view Luna's artistic nights.

But tonight, the sky was filled with very few bright stars, making me wonder why Twilight had wanted to go stargazing. Twilight was setting up her usual array, a telescope, astronomy books, and a picnic basket for her if she got hungry. I didn't need the basket, as I simply fed off my fillyfriend's love.

I looked around to see if any witnesses would see me. Seeing there was hardly a soul out tonight, I dropped my unicorn disguise, becoming my familiar insectile form. "Twi, are you sure that you don't want to come back tomorrow night?" I asked, the studious unicorn looking at me, unfazed by my true form. "It's supposed to be just as clear."

She smiled slyly, producing a scroll of notes from her saddlebags. "It's because of the lack of stars I wanted to come out tonight, Shift." I waited for her to continue, but she was once again flipping through her notes and various astronomy books.

"Would you care to elaborate, Twi?"

She looked at me and, seeing my impatient face, giggled in embarrassment. "Sorry, Shift, but you know how into magic I get."

I smiled forgivingly at her. "Yeah, and it's so adorkable!" I exclaimed, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "…and it's why I love you."

She smiled and kissed him back, albeit on the lips. "I wanted to try out a spell I've been developing," she said, going back to her telescope. "But I need your shadow magic to make it work."

"Hey, I may be a Changeling, but that's no need to--"

"No, I don't mean DARK magic, I mean SHADOW magic," Twilight giggled at my unknowing face. "Shadow magic is what Luna uses to raise the moon and stars. Unlike light magic, which is based off intellect and knowledge, shadow magic is based on imagination and creativity. For example, Skyblaze's  bard qualities are shadow magic because he needs to create certain songs for specific spells. Since your talent is translating emotions into visual expositions, I can only assume your magic is shadow-based."

I was taking this all in, trying to discern what she was ultimately getting to. "…and you need shadow magic because…"

"Oh, I can't do anything but the basic shadow spells," replied Twilight dejectedly. "Almost everything I learned about magic is from books, so my magic is mostly light."

"Ah…" I answered ambiguously. "So again, you need my shadow magic because…"

"Oh, I created a spell that I think can brighten the stars in case there are very few constellations visible," she said, looking at a scroll. "It's basically using how Luna controls the night sky, but I need shadow magic to do it. So you will need to feed me a constant stream of it so I can cast the spell."

I shrugged. "I guess that makes sense," I told her. "I'm not as book smart as you, but either way you could have just told me to feed you magic while you cast a spell to brighten the stars."

She grinned. "Glad to see you're catching on. Let's get started."

"Wait, that's it?" I asked incredulously. "No runic symbols or enchanted crystals or anything?"

"Nope. Just feed it to me when you're ready!"

"Um, okay…" My horn glowed as I gave a direct transfer of magic to Twilight, also drawing power from her love and using that. If somepony were recording the amount of magical power being transferred, it would be comparable to somepony teleporting six other ponies from Canterlot to Manehattan.

So pure was Twi's love for me that I could be the most powerful entity in Equestria, surpassing even Luna and possibly Celestia. However, with limited experience with magic, I still only possessed the knowledge to perform intermediate spells, albeit with no more energy than blinking. Still, if it came down to raw power on raw power, I had anypony beat.

Twilight's horn glowed white with absolute power, signaling the preparation of an extremely massive spell. Considering it involved altering the sky, it would need to be powerful. As I looked on, continuing the funnel of energy, Twilight's purple irises disappeared, her eyes completely white and glowing. A lavender aura surrounded her, creating a swirling wall around us.

Finally, Twilight lifted her horn to the sky and blasted a beam of lavender light into the night. As the beam channelled, a light wind whipped up around the epicenter. Suddenly, the stars began to appear. It was a gradual process at first, a few points of growing light in the sky. But soon, I saw the stars even clearer than before, every point of light ing the sky a starburst of pure white.

Twilight ended the spell, stopping the flow of energy into her from me. "Um… wow," was all I could get out before Twilight collapsed.