//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: A Lead // Story: A Life, for A Life // by Zinnia //------------------------------// I stared at the phone in my hands, eyeing it with uncertainty and caution. I unlocked the screen, and read the caller ID. It was blank. No number, no name, no area code. It ringed again in my hands, each vibration sending a chill down my spine. My eyes flicked off of the screen to look at Twilight and the others, uncertainty clear on my face. Twilight herself looked curiously at the device, but she seemed to notice something was off too. Fizzlepop gave me a quick glance from her position near the now ruined carpet. But Valkyrie.. For some reason, Valkyrie seemed to be backing away slowly against the wall, with wide eyes and dread clear on her face. I watched her for a few moments, I was confused by her reaction. She was an odd one but this just seemed.. extremely off putting, and she really has me worried now. Twilight and Fizzlepop noticed this too, and gave each other uneasy looks. The phone rang again, and this time, I reluctantly answered it. I held the device close to my ear and spoke. "Hello..?" I heard a drawn out yawn coming from the other end of the line, making me raise an eyebrow. "I've missed you, Isaiah." My eyes widened, as I recognize the feminine voice. It was the same person that called me when I was being chased by the Ursa Major. Even so, I'm not sure what she meant by that. "I'm sorry but.. who are you?" I asked, genuinely curious. "I don't think we've.. met." "No," she began. "You haven't met me. But I've met you, from the first day you bought me.. heh, not that you'd remember anyway." I almost stumbled from that statement. "Huh? What do you meant I 'bought' you?" I asked, even more confused than I initially was. "Well.. you bought me from some shop, and that's where I met you." She explained. "But that's all I can remember, that you own me and I'm your assistant. Everything between that day and when you dropped into this world is completely blank." I paused, taking in this new information. "So.. you're telling me that you're actually inside the phone?" I asked, trying to comprehend this. "Well, I guess that's one way of putting it," She paused for a moment, then continued. "..Actually I think I am the phone. Probably." I sighed, and walked to the steps that led up to the throne and sat down. "Okay. What's your name?" She hummed in thought for a few moments. "I don't think I have one. It was your job to give me a name." "How the hell was that my job?" I asked, rubbing my temples. "I didn't even know you were sentient. Which I'm pretty sure you technically aren't supposed to be." I pointed out. "Well, I guess you have a point. Tell you what." I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" "You give me a name right now, and maybe I'll forgive ya." "I.. fine, I guess." I relented, sighing. I thought about this for a moment, and I looked around the room again. Twilight was watching me with a confused looked, and I just shook my head letting her know not to worry about it. Fizzlepop was inspecting the bodies for anything that could be of use. Valkyrie.. was sitting in the corner in the fetal position? Concerned, I got up and walked over to her. "Yo Val, what's wrong?" I asked, kneeling down in front of her. Valkyrie gasped and backed further into the wall. My eyes widened in shock, and I tried not to move too much before continuing. "Valkyrie, talk to me. What is going on?" She didn't answer right away, and she swallowed heavily. "T-That thing.." She said shakily, pointing a trembling hoof at the device in my hand. "I've seen it before.." I gawked at her after hearing that. "You have!?" Valkyrie gave a quick nod, putting her hoof back down. "Where?" Her eyes went wide again, and tears starting to form in her eyes. "I.. was kidnapped by a creature that I haven't seen before a while ago." She began, trembling. "I don't believe it was the same thing that was in here, but I saw that it had a device similar to that one, and he called it the same thing. Only.." "What is it? You can tell me Val." I said, trying to comfort her. "Only.. every time it rang, he.. it came out. And it made him change into a different person. it took everything I had from me.. And forced me to do things I'm not so proud of." When she said the last part, she looked away, guilt and regret on her face. "Oh.. I see." I said walking up and sitting next to her, back against the wall. "Well, I'm still me, right?" I asked. Valkyrie nodded, but still had uncertainty on her features. "I promise that i'll never hurt you Valkyrie. You are my friend, as well as my companion. I trust you." Hey eyes widened, and she looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite place. "Do you trust me?" "You.." She began, but went silent. After several seconds, she spoke."..Okay, I do Zale. I trust you." She answered with a small smile. "Alrighty then, now what was I doing?" I asked aloud, stroking my chin. "Thinking up a name for me." The phone answered with displeasure. I winced slightly, a bit guilty for keeping her waiting. "Right, right. Sorry. Let's see.." I went into thought, trying to think of a name that would work and had a ring to it. I thought of some generic names like 'Clara' or maybe 'Rose' but those didn't really sound right to me. Since I owned her apparently, I guess it wouldn't really matter, but I would feel bad if she didn't like it. "One sec." I said, opening the phone. I browsed through the various apps I had on screen, seeking inspiration. My eyes landed on the music app again, and it hit me almost spontaneously. "Hey, how does Harmony sound to you?" I asked the device in my hands. "Harmony, huh? It has a nice ring to it." She noted. "Harmony it is then!" I nodded, satisfied with it myself. "That's exactly what I was going for." ~ ~ ~ ~ > > < < ~ ~ ~ ~ "Hey guys, I think I found something!" Twilight said, motioning for us to come over. We all got up from our positions and walked over to her. When we got to her, she held the item in her magic up for us to see. My eyes widened, as I immediately recognized what it was. It was scorched and and torn, but just barely maintained the resemblance of a wallet. "Hey, let me see that." "Okay, but be careful." I rolled my eyes, but I figured she did have a point. Slowly, I put my fingers inside the fold of the wallet, and opened it up. Ash immediately fell out as I opened it fully, nothing but charred remains. There was however, something that was still readable inside. "Hey, this is.. this is a drivers license.." Twilight tilted her head in bewilderment. "Drivers license? What's that?" Twilight asked, her curiosity peaking. "It's from my world, it lets people know that you have been educated enough to drive a car publicly." I explained. "But, what's it doing here..?" Taking a closer look at it, I examined what I could make out from the remaining piece of the license. The picture of whoever it was that owned this seemed to be ripped off, and the part where the name and address had been burned off as well. That only left the date, state, sex, and birthday. "The date it was issued was July 7th.. 1987," I began. "It's 2020 now.. It expired nearly 7 years ago. They are from Miami Florida, and they are male." My eyes widened when I saw the birthday, and maybe it was just coincidence but it made me feel.. weird. "His birthday is.. September 15th, 1971.. I was born on the same day and month." I turned to Valkyrie, eyebrow raised. "Val, didn't you say you were kidnapped by a creature you've never seen before?" Valkyrie hesitated at first, but nodded. "Do you remember where he took you?" "N-no.. I don't know where he took me, but I remember that it was cold, and the air was thin." She said, shivering. "If I had to guess it was probably in a mountain somewhere." Twilight hummed in thought, nodding in understanding. "Well.. we have a lead at least, no matter how vague it may be. But how do you know this creature is him?" "I don't." I answered simply. "But from what you and Val told me, these are both creatures neither of you have any knowledge of, and on top of that the thing that Val saw had a device similar to the one I have. Do you really think that's coincidence?" "Isaiah is right, it is a bit odd that these would be here in this world." Harmony pointed out. Twilight and Fizzlepop jumped slightly and her voice. The both looked at it curiously in my hand. "Is that..?" Fizzlepop asked, trailing off. I nodded in confirmation. "Yup, It's the same voice. Meet Harmony." I put Harmony on speaker phone so that they could all hear her more clearly. "Hello~" Twilight and Fizzlepop waved at the device awkwardly, and that made me snort in amusement. "I don't think she can see you... Can you see them?" I asked after a moment of hesitation. "No, I can't. At least not right now unless, you allow me to see through your eyes." My eyes widened at that, but narrowed suspiciously. "What do you mean?" "Don't worry, it's not that same as taking over your body; which by the way you're welcome." She added smugly."Open up your phone and click on the new app that popped up." Curious, I did as I was told. I went to the home page of my phone, and sure enough there was a new app I haven't seen before. It was called 'Link'. I opened it up, and the interface had various options on it, some of which were 'Link sight', 'Link mind', 'Link Force' etc. I'm not sure what the last one meant, but I shrugged, and selected the option 'Link sight'. There was a brief flash, and then my vision returned to me. The first thing I noticed was that in the corner of my eye, there was an icon of some sort. It looked like a horseshoe. "Okay.. that did do it?" I asked cautiously. "Yeah, that did the trick. Hello ther- Oh wow.." She greeted in awe. Something else popped up in my vision, a green outline, and it was currently hovering over Fizzlepop. I assumed that meant I could see what she was currently looking at, and highlighted it as well. That's pretty neat. "Tempest, was it? You are so.. adorable!!" I was caught off guard by that, and chuckled silently to myself. Fizzlepop wasn't expecting that either, and she now had a blush on her face. "Um.. thank you I guess, hehe.." Fizzlepop said awkwardly. Harmony then looked over at Twilight, humming in thought. "You're pretty cute too Twilight, more chest fluff would do wonders for you." Twilight looked raised an eyebrow, and looked down at herself, placing a hoof on her chest. I rolled my eyes, and Harmony then looked over at Valkyrie. "Hmm.. nah sorry. Not cute. Good posture though." Valkyrie mouth went agape for a moment, and then pouted, genuinely hurt. "Alright well, you had your fun. I'd like my eyes back to normal now." I said as I disabled the link and my vision was now my own again. "Such a party-pooper." Harmony sighed dejectedly. "Anyway, so we have a lead right?" "Yeah, what we know is that there may be something or someone else from my world that is here, and that when Valkyrie was kidnapped, she was in a mountain somewhere." I paused, looking at Valkyrie with an eyebrow raised. "Say, how did you manage to escape?" Valkyrie looked back and forth, a cold sweat forming on her brow. "W-Well, I ran away when I had the chance. He forced me to do something, and when he didn't have any more use for me he tried to get rid of me.. I used that opportunity to run and managed to get away." I nodded in understanding. "Right well, we have something to follow up on at least. We should go tell the others what we've found out so far." I figured, making my way towards the doors, friends in tow. Valkyrie hesitated at first, but she soon fell into step behind us. ~ ~ ~ ~ > > < < ~ ~ ~ ~ The walk back didn't take long at all. We passed by guards I haven't seen before, adorned with similar armor to Valkyrie's, and had bat wings themselves. I assumed that they were under Luna's orders as well, and just shrugged it off. We walked back into the room where our friends were waiting. Almost everyone fell asleep, and the nurse was nowhere to be seen. Probably had went home for the rest of the night. The only ones who are awake were Spike, Celestia and Rainbow Dash. I waved and quietly made my way over to Celestia's side, and sat on a side of the bed. Valkyrie stayed standing, while Twilight and Tempest sat on the opposite bed. "Heya Celly." i greeted the solar princess in a low voice. Her eyes shot up in surprise for a moment, and she giggled in a hoof. "Celly, hm?" She cooed teasingly, nudging me with a hoof. I rolled my eyes at that, a little chuckle escaping me. "Yeah yeah," I began, gently pushing her off. "Anyway, we found something." Celestia sat more upright when she heard that, but Rainbow beat her to it. "Wait, What did you find out?" The prismatic mare asked in a whisper, now hovering at my eye level. I reeled back at the suddenness of her face being so close to mine, but I recomposed myself after a moment. "We found this." I held up the wallet and ID in my hands. They eyed it curiously for a few moments, and gave me a confused look. "Uh, what is it?" Spike asked from his position. "It's from my world. This is what is called a wallet, and inside said wallet we found this drivers license; which is something used as proof of identification and shows that you're legally allowed to drive a car; which is a piece of technology from my world as well." I added with a smirk, knocking some other questions undoubtedly out of the way. "Okay.. but what's that got to do with Starlight and Luna?" Rainbow asked, eyebrow raised. Celestia nodded, and I continued. "Well, that's where Valkyrie's story comes into play." I said, motioning towards the mare. "She was apparently kidnapped a while back as well by something that she hasn't seen before, and that creature had a smart phone, like mine." "So, these items all come from your world, and since this was here after the attack.." Celestia contemplated. "It could have been something from your world." Spike finished for her. "Or someone." Harmony chimed in. Spike, Celestia and Rainbow dash looked around in confusion. "W-What was that?" Spike asked with a shaky voice. "Oh right, guys," I began, pulling out my iPhone. "Meet Harmony." They all stared at the device, and looked at me like a crazy man. "She's the voice I heard back during the Ursa Major thing." I clarified. Their eyes widened as their mouths formed an 'o'. "Harmony, was it?" Celestia asked carefully. "Yep, that's me. Nice to meet you all." Harmony hummed in thought for a moment before continuing. "Hey Isaiah, could I use your eyes again?" Celestia eyed the phone with bewilderment, and looked back to me for clarification. I just shrugged however, and opened up the app for the link. "You know how she took over my body to save me life? Well apparently there's an app for it now.. only I have control this time." I explained as I enabled the link. "Is that better?" "Yep, much better- whoa.." Harmony cut herself off. "You're beautiful.. And your mane.." I chuckled when I saw the reaction on Celestia's face. At first her eyes widened at the compliment, and then she actually looked away with a blush. She then smiled and nodded in thanks. "Well anyway," Celestia began of the a moment of silence. "This is quite an interesting development." Celestia hummed after I ran the details by her. "I wouldn't think Valkyrie's kidnap to be a coincidence either. This has to be connected somehow, in one way or another." I nodded. "Yeah, now if only we knew where to start looking.." I sighed and scratched the back of my head. Wait.. this world has spells and stuff right? I thought as I looked over to Twilight. "Hey Twilight, is there some sort of tracking spell we could use on the wallet? Or maybe follow prints?" I asked hopefully. She hummed in thought for a few moments. "There is something like that we can try, but It only works in a certain radius, and within a certain time frame." She explained. "Actually, that would be a pretty good idea, only the one who cast the spell is the one who can actually detect anything. And by the time we actually do find a signature, it'll be too late and the signature would vanish, leaving us with only a trace." "I see.." I said, turning to Valkyrie. "Val, you sure you can't remember anything else about where you were? Any landmarks when you escaped, or climate maybe?" Valkyrie stiffened at the mention of her, but she turned and nodded slowly. "I.. I remember seeing a forest. I couldn't tell which one though, I was so high that I was in the clouds which made it hard to make out." She said, rubbing an arm with a hoof. Twilight's eyes widened. "The only mountains the fits that description would be.. the Smokey Mountains.." Hope swelled up in my chest, and I turned to Twilight. "Is that true?" "Yes, my friends and I have been there before actually, but that was nearly 2 years ago now." I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, and went to stand. "Well, at least we have something to follow up on." I stated with a yawn. I looked at the phone screen which read 2:47 AM. "We've been up for a while now. I think it's about time we get some rest and get ready to go tomor- .. later today." I said correcting myself. I'll go ahead and go into sleep mode then. I'll undo the link for you. Goodnight, my little ponies~ "Yes, I suppose you're right. You four must be exhausted after today." Celestia noted with a smile. "You can go ahead and use my quarters again." I paused, and look at the other ponies in the room for a moment. I then looked at the empty bed that was next to a now sleeping Carbon. "Actually, I think I'll sleep in here with you guys. If that's okay I mean." I looked down at the floor at the moment, frowning. "I'd.. I'd feel a lot better, staying here tonight." Celestia stared at me with a sympathetic expression, and she nodded in understanding. "I understand Zale." She answered. I began to walk over to the empty bed, but paused. I look between Twilight, Fizzlepop and Valkyrie. Before I could say anything though, Twilight spoke up. "I'll go ahead to my room and turn in there after I prepare everything for the tracking spells." Twilight said as she went for the door. "Have a nice rest everypony." And with that, she left the room, closing the door behind her. "I'll take this one." Valkyrie said, motioning over to the bed next do Carbon. That only left Fizzlepop and I. "I guess we're sharing again, huh?" I asked with a smirk. "Hmph, guess you better get used to it then." She shot back, a cocky grin of her own. I chuckled silently to myself, and we made our way over. I lied down first on my back. For a hospital bed, these were pretty big. Well, I guess we are in a royal castle I figured. Fizzlepop made her way in next to me, taking my arm in hers and using it as a makeshift pillow of sorts. I didn't mind though, and slowly, I dozed off, only just now realizing how tired I was. It was a hell of a day, and we still have to prepare for the search.