We were all sitting at the table now, just having finished our meals. Our empty bowls were taken away by a maid and we were then left alone, the atmosphere of the room feeling much more heavy. I could practically feel everyone's nerves boring into me from the pressure alone, but we knew what we had to do. Celestia took in a deep breath, and looked up at the group.
"I believe it's time to discuss the current situation regarding Princess Luna and Starlight Glimmer." Her horn lit up, and a large scroll appeared beside her. She then used her magic and levitated the scroll over to me. I gingerly took it, and unraveled it, unsealing it's contents. It was a map, of the entire country of Equestria from the looks of it.
"Right now, the only leads we have is that something or 'someone' that's originally from Zale's world has been at the scene, and that this could be related to Valkyrie's kidnapping somehow." Twilight stated, shuffling her wings. "We've seen how powerful this thing is first hand, so I don't think we can take it head on."
"Then we'll do our best to avoid that scenario." I answered, going into deep thought. "If it could over power all of you like that, then there's very little chance we'll be able to take it down. Our only objective is to get Starlight, Luna and any other ponies it might have taken. Not to fight it," I stroked my chin in thought after a moment before continuing. "Even if we are successful, there's no telling the damage it could still deal, and what it's even after in the first place. So I don't think we can just leave it be either."
"When, you are successful." Rarity added. "Everything will be fine darling, you'll see! Also, I have a little something for you back in Celestia's room, go take a look before you leave." I looked at her for a moment, expressionless. Even with the reassurance, I still had my doubts that everything will turn out as planned. Nothing ever does, at least not where I come from. I conceded the point however, and simply nodded with a small smile.
"Right, thank you Rarity. So, when do we leave?" I asked. "I would rather leave as soon as we can, I feel like the faster we get this job done, the better." Celestia hummed in thought, before nodding to herself.
"You, Valkyrie, Tempest and Twilight will be leaving tonight. For now, I shall prepare supplies and other necessities for your journey. You all take the time you need to discuss how you shall move forward." Celestia stated. "Remember that Luna's disappearance isn't known the the public yet, so be careful of what you say in public. We won't want to cause a panic while investigating." We all nodded in unison, grateful for the arrangements being made.
"Right. Well thanks again for breakfast Celly." I got up from the table and started to talk towards the door before stopping, my hand pushing the doors open. "Hey Fizzy, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Oh, sure." Fizzlepop got up from the table and followed me into the hallway. We walked for a moment or two in silence, before I stopped and turn around. "Is.. Is something wrong?" Fizzlepop asked hesitantly.
"That's what I was going to ask you actually," I began, crouching down. "I forgot to ask; or rather i didn't get the chance to back in Ponyville; I noticed that you give me this weird look sometimes, like you're worried or how a mother looks at her child." She was silent for a moment, before sighing.
"You see.. you remind me of somepony I haven't seen in a very long time." She explained. "He was.. he was like a little brother in a way. The way you talk, the way you smile, always putting others before yourself.. It all reminded me of him. He's always managed to get into trouble though despite being so reserved, always ended up getting hurt. Kind of like how you are right now." I couldn't help but snort at that, seeing as how true it was.
"Yeah, I see your point. You had me concerned, that's all." I hummed in thought for a moment before standing back up to full height. "What's his name?" Fizzlepop closed her eyes, a small smile touching her face.
"His name was Light Weight." I raised an eyebrow. Who would name their kid Light Weight? I shook the thought out of my head, and she continued. "As you can imagine, he was always picked on because of his name and cutie mark. Even if he was picked on, he always trudged on like it wasn't happening at all." Fizzlepop chuckled a little, a reminiscent smile appearing on her features. "He only acknowledged it when it concerned me or his other friends. He was always brave when it came to those he cared about." A smile of my own forming on my face.
"Sounds like a pretty great guy if you ask me." I said smugly. Fizzlepop chuckled at that, and nodded in agreement.
"He sure was. I haven't seen him since I started working under the Storm King, but that was over 6 years ago now. Haven't heard from him since." I hummed in thought at that, and I give Fizzlepop a quick scratch behind an ear.
"Well maybe after we take care of all this we can go pay him a visit?" I offered. Fizzlepop looked up at me, her mouth slight;y agape. A solemn smile formed on her face.
"Yes, I'd like that." I nodded, and then we both continued to walk side by side down the hallway.
~ ~ ~ ~ > > < < ~ ~ ~ ~
We had made it to Celestia's room, and there were a few noticeable changes upon entering. Firstly, the trays and medical equipment were now gone, due to the lack of a patient I mused. These were her royal chambers after all, not some medical wing.
Second, there was a package on the bed with my name attached to it , wrapped with violet wrapping paper and a blue ribbon. I walked up to the bed, sat down and put the package on my lap before carefully unwrapping it. Fizzlepop stood beside me as I did so, leaning in to get a better view.
I had finished undoing the tie on the ribbon, took the edges of the paper in my fingers, and revealed what lied underneath it all. My eyes widened as i saw the familiar cloth before me, having the same comforting charm that it always had given me. I held it up, taking in the details with awe and admiration.
It was my hoodie. It was as good as new. In fact, it had a new design and some other changes along with it. Instead of the simple, gray hemming at the ends of the sleeves and waist, was now black, and had an intricate design laced with a blue string that curved and weaved into itself at the other side, repeating the pattern. In the back, there was now a bad ass looking green letter 'Z' that took most of the space in the back. And the inside..
Before, it was a simple plaid layout on the inside of the hoodie, white and gray tiles. Now, it was black as well, and etched inside was the same symbols that my friends had on their asses. 'Cutie Marks' if i remembered correctly. I don't know why this hoodie had meant so much to me in the past, but now I knew for sure that it had even greater value to me now. A tear rolled down my face, and I took the piece of clothing and held it close to my heart.
Fizzlepop somehow slipped behind me and took me in her arms, offering her embrace to me. I leaned back a little, biting back my sobs, and just enjoyed this while it lasted. However as soon as I was done preparing, I was going to find Rarity, thank her a million times, and give her the biggest hug and brightest smile I have to offer.
I heard Fizzlepop giggle behind me as she let me go. For some strange reason, I knew that she probably knew what I was thinking. I blushed a little and cleared my throat. "Eheh, well uhm," I began, standing up and putting my newly designed hoodie on. "Let's go back to the others and get ready." As we began to walk out of the room, my Phone rang in my pocket. I lifted the phone in my hand and read the caller.
It looked like Harmony was awake. Answering, I put her on speaker phone. "Good morning." I greeted.
A drawn out yawn came from the device before she answered. "Good morning Isaiah. Sleep well?"
"Yep, slept like a rock, despite everything."
"That's good to hear. So, I guess we're going to leave soon then, huh?" She asked. I checked the time on screen. 11:27 AM.
"We still have a good six hours or so before we actually go anywhere. Why?" Harmony hummed in thought for a moment.
"Well, I remembered a few nifty features that I had that could be useful," She began. "You remember how I made that Speaker materialize back at Twilight's place?" I nodded.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked curiously as we walked through the hallway leading to the throne room.
"Well, I can do much more than just that apparently." I raised an eyebrow at that.
"Considering when you took over my body and somehow became Super Man, then yes I would assume you could." I quipped. "So, what else can you do?"
~ ~ ~ ~ > > < < ~ ~ ~ ~
Fizzlepop and I along with Harmony made it back to the dinning hall, only to find that no one was there. Valkyrie was standing at attention when i came in, but she was the only one in the room right now. Confused, I walked up to her.
"Where'd everybody go?" I asked inquisitively. Valkyrie put her hoof down and exhaled.
"Twilight went to retrieve some items down in the city, Princess Celestia had to go and take care of some royal duties along with Spike. The rest of them went to their guest rooms for some much needed rest." I hummed in consideration before nodding with satisfaction.
"Well, that's good. I guess we can go meet up with Twilight then and help her out." I figured since she's the only one that's able to tag along with us, we could discuss our plans in the process. "Care to help us out Harmony?" I asked with a coy smile. Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, before my phone made a pinging sound followed by a beep.
"Twilight is currently at an establishment called "Doughnut Joe's" in this location." Harmony responded. I smiled at how helpful Harmony was whens he told me about her locator during our walk in the hallway. She didn't really go into detail about how it worked, but basically anyone Harmony has seen through my eyes can be located as long as they're within range. What that specific range was however, she didn't know. I looked down at the map of Canterlot, showing our current location with the route to our target destination. Twilight wasn't far, about a 10 minute walk without holdups.
"Thanks Harmony, I appreciate it." I said in praise, looking towards Valkyrie. She looked almost.. Impressed. And a little scared but she sobered up quickly. "Let's go." And with that, we were out of the dinning hall and headed towards the entrance of the castle.
"Hey, Isaiah?" Fizzlepop pipped up as we turned the corner in the stairwell and headed down the corridor. I looked over at her with an eyebrow raised.
"What's up?"
"I know you haven't had the best experiences here in being so new here, and the timing is pretty bad for things like this to happen, But.." Fizzlepop look up at me, ears drooping slightly. "You don't have to feel like you have to take on all of this responsibility yourself, and I know you'll find that happiness you're looking for."
I thought about that for a moment. Was I really taking it all on myself? Huh.. I guess I kinda am. A small smile made it's way onto my face as I patted Fizzlepop on her head. "Don't worry, I know.. I just have a debt to Starlight that I owe her, that and on top of the help I've gotten from Luna just adds on to the never ending list of things I owe you girls." I sighed as the guards opened the castle doors for us and we walked through. "You've all done so much for me than you can ever imagine. Even if I can't remember my past, I'm so grateful for all of you.. and I just.." I tied to continue, but he words were caught in my throat. I started to get light headed as tears began to fall involuntarily. "Huh..?" Was the last thing that i managed to choke out before darkness claimed me.
~ ~ ~ ~ > > Flashback < < ~ ~ ~ ~
We all laughed as the episode finished. The Discord group call we had going was lively and comical, just enjoying each others company at 2 in the morning, time zones being the thing that separates us. A tired yawn escape from one of us, making the others snort in amusement.
"Getting sleepy already?" I quipped, closing the tab the anime was playing on.
"Whaddya mean 'Getting sleepy already'? It's 5 in the bloody morning.." Mackea defended, another yawn cutting her off. "Besides, don't cha got somewhere to be today?" I chucked sheepishly, clearing my throat.
"Yeah, it's getting pretty late Zale. I think we should call it here, starting to doze off myself." Nick stated. I heard him shuffle a bit over the line, probably getting comfortable in bed."
"Besides, I've got classes to get to soon anyway," Winter began. "I'll leave you guys to it. Have a good rest! And Zale? Try not to snore." We all laughed a little at that, and with that Winter left the call.
"Well, I guess I'm pretty tired myself." I relented. I got comfortable in my blankets on the couch, my laptop being in front of me on a chair. Silence ensued for a few moments before I spoke up again. "Hey, guys?"
"Yeah Zale?" Mackea asked curiously.
"I know this is going to sound super cheesy but.. I'm so glad that I met all of you. Everyone in this group has helped me see life from different angles, and with each experience I feel like I've grown closer with all of you."
Nick burst out laughing, and my cheeks burned a little. "Com' on dude, I know you said it would be cheesy, but wow," he calmed down a little, sighing. "But.. I know what you mean. I honestly don't know what I'd be doing right now without you three, and I'm happy to be your pals, even if it's only online. Right Mac?"
After a moment of silence, a loud snore broke out from Mackea's line, causing us to chuckle silently. "Ah well, I'm pretty sure she heard us. I hope"
"Yeah, heh. Still though.. I'm grateful for you guys, and grateful for the experiences we've had."
"Totally dude, just remember, We'll always be here..
~ ~ ~ ~ > > Present < < ~ ~ ~ ~
I let out a low groan of discomfort, putting a hand on my head.
"Isaiah?" I heard a voice call from beside me. I opened my eyes and looked over at Fizzlepop who had a concerned look on her face. "Was it another one? Another memory?" It took my a moment for my mind to register the question, but I nodded in response.
"Yeah.. it was," I began, standing back up. I looked around and noticed we were inside of a building that resembled a bakery. However, the place was empty. "Where are we?"
"We're in Doughnut Joe's right now." Twilight's voiced answered from behind me. I turned around to her her walking up to us with a box of doughnuts in her magic, and she set them down on a nearby table. "When Tempest and Valkyrie came in with you, the place had already been cleared out before hand to I could talk to Fluer de lis in private about our investigation." My eyes shot up in surprise and recognition.
"Lily? Is she here?" Twilight nodded. "Wait, how does she know about what happened?" Twilight's features damped a little, and her ears drooped.
"She should be back in a moment. She knows because her fiance was taken as well by a similar creature from what she told me. It happened while we were asleep, and it got away without it being noticed." Twilight explained. "Fluer didn't even notice herself until after she heard the window shatter and it disappeared into the night with Fancy."
"Oh.." I said frowning deeply at that, sympathy swelling in my heart. "Damn it.." I felt a hoof land on my shoulder, turning slightly I saw that it was Valkyrie.
"We'll get them all back Zale, count on it." I smiled a little at the sentiment that Valkyrie displayed, and booped her on the nose. Her cheeks puffed up and a weird crooked confused frown broke across her muzzle, scrunching up. "What was that for?" I chuckled, shaking my head.
"I just felt like booping ya. Can't help it sometimes, ya know?" I walked over to the table and took a seat, taking a vanilla frosted doughnut from the box. She narrowed her eyes slightly, but she couldn't hide the sly smile that she was wearing. Fizzlepop stifled a chuckle of her on behind a hoof. It was then we heard a door open behind Twilight, and we all turned to see that it was Lily that had entered the room.
Her eyes landed on me, and a small smile touched her lips. "Hello Zale, It's nice to see that you're okay." I smiled back, nodding.
"Hey Lily, glad to see you too." her smile faded as she walked in further, taking a seat next to me. I knew she had Fancy Pants on her mind, and i could understand what she was feeling.
"Don't worry Zale," Twilight chimed in. "I've already gotten most of the details about what happened last night from Fluer de lis." I began to respond, but Lily shook her head, looking up at me.
"No, it's okay. I'd like to tell Zale myself about what had happened. Besides, there's something I'd like to.. discuss with him in private, if that's alright."
"Oh, sure I'm okay with that." I responded with no hesitation at all. "I'll hear you out Lily." She smiled at that and nodded in thanks. Twilight paused for a moment, before nodding in understanding.
"Okay Fluer, we'll leave you to it." Twilight nodded towards Valkyrie and Fizzlepop, and they followed Twilight out of the room, closing the door behind them with a soft click. Lily took in a deep breath, before letting it out and steeling herself.
"Okay.. now here do I begin."