[Leo]
After the pony from the pound had dropped me off at the weather station, I had just meandered ho- to Rainbow's home. I could tell Tank was worried about me, but I didn't care. I spent most of that and the next day sleeping, if only to avoid thinking.
But now I couldn't sleep anymore, so I just laid in my bed and stared at the cloud ceiling, moping. One of my ears twitched to a familiar mechanical hum entering my room. "Go away, Tank." I mumbled.
"Oh, so y'are alive." Tank settled beside me. I just rolled to face away from him. "... What happened, Leo?"
I stayed silent.
"Does it have t'do with th' explosion from Canterlot?"
I tried to ignore him.
"You were there, weren't ya?" He placed a foot on my shoulder. "Don't bottle this up, it's okay to let it out, to cry."
I sniffed, burying my face into my tail. "Jus' go away." I murmured. I don't deserve your sympathy.
Tank didn't say anything, he just gently patted my shoulder and plodded his slow way out. I stayed curled up long after he had left. Great. All of Equis knows about what I did. It's only a matter of time before they figure out that I did it. Then they'll all hate me for it. And they'll be right to do so.
"Maybe you should start with finding out how you did it?"
Why? So that I can hurt someone else. Like the disappointment that I am?
"No, so that you know how NOT to do that." I grumbled and groaned, before sniffing and using my tail to wipe my face of snot and tears. I finally managed to roll out of bed and shuffled towards the door. I paused at the front door, looking at the drop. Jump, you'll finally fly! Heh, heh. I sighed and hopped onto the nearest cloud step, then the next one down. I paused on each cloud step, carefully judging distances to put the bare minimum of effort into each jump. Landing on solid ground, I slowly meandered towards the Crusader's Clubhouse. It took me a solid two hours to get there.
I sat at the base of the ramp, staring at the bottom of the clubhouse's floor, trying to work up the energy and nerve to go in. Their sisters would never let a monster like me get near their precious family if they knew the truth. I lifted a paw to leave-
"Nope! Get your ass UP that ramp, little Missy!"
- and planted it firmly on the ramp. I slowly crawled my way up into the clubhouse itself. My morose mood was briefly overtaken by wonder as I took in the changes the fillies had made within their hideout. The tree trunk was walled off by bookshelves filled with their summoning course books, their own notebooks, and some choice reagents. A section of flooring had been cleared up and a metal ring six feet across hung from that wall. There was a writing desk against the back wall with reams of parchment rolled up beside it. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were crowding around Silver, who was holding a book open in her hooves. Eros was by the ring with Sweetie, working on the unicorn's telekinesis. As I crept my way towards Eros, Zephyr flew in through the open window and dropped a letter in front of Scootaloo before flying up and clinging to the ceiling.
Scootaloo cracked the letter open, and gave it a quick glance before handing it off to Silver. I had finally made it to Eros when she called out to get everyone's attention. "Girls! I've been accepted!"
"Good fer ya!" Apple Bloom cheered.
"The Circle will want me up there to do my test after the wedding's over, and they've... Hold on." Silver squinted at the letter. "Something about needing to double check their foundation's stability?"
"But we haven't even been to Canterlot lately!" Sweetie whined. "Our train ride there was even canceled for some reason!"
"Ah think it has ta do with that explosion." Apple Bloom deadpanned.
Eros looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "So, what do you know about that?" She asked, crossing her arms.
<<I was there...>> I hedged. <<Best as they can figure, it was a mana bomb.>>
"A what?" Eros tilted her head at me before glancing over at Sweetie. "Is this a conversation we should be having here?"
<<Probably not.>> I admitted. I blinked and the world lurched around me. I managed to get my nausea under control and found myself and Eros under the clubhouse. I sighed. <<I don't know what a mana bomb is, exactly, but it's a very powerful explosive. Blew a crater into the city.>> I looked away. <<Are... Are there any abilities that Pokemon have on par with that?>>
"Can I see the damage?" Eros asked, holding a hand out to my head.
I sighed and nodded, focusing on what I saw before I ran, like a coward. I saw Eros's eyes widen as her mouth dropped open.
"A mana bomb can do all that?!" She shuddered and calmed herself down. I waited while she took a couple of calming breaths. "No, I don't know of anything we can do that can cause... that. I’ve lived a..." She glanced at me. "... secluded life before being summoned here. Triphyle might know, though." I felt her pick me up slightly with her mind. "I'll teleport us to him."
The world lurch around us again. I took a moment to dry heave my non-existent breakfast out -Have I really not eaten since I got back?- while Eros asked Triphyle my question. I shook my head as the large land tortoise rumbled a response to Eros.
"Alright, here's what he's saying." Eros thought at me while Triphyle kept talking. "Only the Pokemon of legends or gifted by Arceus have the power to do something like that by themselves. However, all Pokemon can access the ambient energy of the world with proper training, or with a human." Eros somehow managed to spit that last word out. "You see, humans are unique amongst Arceus's creations, as they cannot easily manipulate either their own nor the world's energies without special training or devices. What they can do is absorb and store energy, and give it out to us. That is why many Pokemon wish to team up with humans.
"That, and their lack of powers usually make them clever strategists.
"They do this in a variety of ways, based off of your human's nature. The most common is when a pokemon and a human are in perfect sync. The humans call the elemental powers we unleash Z moves, for some reason. There are a multitude of other triggers, but the most common ones are tied to our emotions. Humans are just now experimenting with these other triggers. They've named the three they've 'discovered': J moves, from those triggered by happiness, S moves from sadness, and R moves from anger.
"All of these are very powerful, and could create as much devastation as a mana bomb, but they all require a human partner to do and take a lot out of us." Eros finished translating for Triphyle. "So, there you go. Hope that helps."
<<It did, thanks.>> I smiled and nodded. <<I've got to be going, see you around.>> I waved my tail at them, then turned and walked away. I could hear some rustling from behind me, then Eros walked up beside me. I didn't look over at her.
I could feel her looking me over. "... Leo, are you okay?"
<<I...>> I started to dismiss her before remembering that she's an empath. <<... I don't want to talk about it.>>
"Alright..." I could feel the concern from her. "Just... If, you know, you need an ear...?"
<<... Yeah...>> I made my sullen way away from her. I spent the next hour or so just drifting through town. Eventually, I found myself staring at the cloud ceiling of Rainbow's home. Tank had long since gone to sleep, and I had heard Rainbow's rainboom about an hour ago.
"So... I could do that because of my human soul?" I mused. Perhaps, but only a monster would unleash a R move first.
"Or maybe you used your anger to protect."
"Anger can really only hurt." Most often, those that matter to you, or are innocent and undeserving of your wrath.
You monster.
"They were cocooning CHILDREN, for, er, Arceus's sake!"
That's no excuse for wanton murder.
"Shut up, you!"
"But I'm still right." I mumbled rolling over to stare at the wall, for a change of scenery. My thoughts chased and argued with themselves as I finally fell asleep.