Chapter 11
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“So… would someone mind explaining what in the world just happened?” Irma asks, looking around at us all. “How did we get our powers back and how’d we lose them in the first place? How are there two Merindas now? And why do you look like an emo spider version of Will’s Guardian form?” she aims that last one directly at me.
“I… honestly wish I had answers,” I say, looking at my hands and then around at the much taller than me people. “But, for the most part, I’ve literally no clue.”
“So, are you Miranda’s Altermere?” Taranee asks, leaning down a little to my level.
I shake my head. “No. I’m not Miranda, but she’s the Altermere, not me.”
“Um… that’s not how Altermeres work, kid,” Irma folds her arms.
I hold up my hands. “Trust me, I’m well aware. But I’m honestly both not Miranda but am her too… at least physically.”
Will frowns. “Physically?”
I sigh. “Back when you guys were taking Miranda to prison after the Battle of Kandrakar, Miranda used a tiny spark of power, the last remnant of what Cedric had given her, to try escaping. It did the job of changing her personal destination through the Fold, but locked her consciousness or maybe her spirit, I honestly still don’t know at this point, away, deep within this body,” I put a hand on my chest, “while also yanking me from my world and trapping me in her form.”
“Wait, so when I saw Miranda running into that Fold outside my grandmother’s restaurant all those months ago…?” Hay Lin asks.
I nod. “That wasn’t the real Miranda. That was me, having just recently found myself trapped in her form. And, when Caleb showed up, I knew from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t going to wait for me to even attempt an explanation, so I grabbed Blunk’s tusk and Folded out of there as quick as possible.”
“And that other Miranda?” Matt asks, changing back from his Shagon form to his human form, Mr. Huggles and Napoleon returning to their normal animal forms.
I sigh, folding my arms. “Some asshole on Earth somehow managed to make an Astral Drop of me and turned her into an Altermere , myself getting yanked back into Equestria before I could really think it through. And, I couldn’t exactly risk going back to warn you because…”
“Because we’d have thought you were just Miranda playing a sick game and locked you up, leaving the Altermere Miranda to continue unopposed,” Matt nods, holding his chin. “Makes sense.”
“Though, seriously, what’s with the spider themed get up?” Irma leans down, pulling on my right sleeve. “You look like you’re cosplaying some spider Guardian or something.”
“There’s also the matter of,” Will holds the Heart of Kandrakar towards me and it glows brightly, a light shining from my chest at the same time, “this. How do you have a Heart inside you? Where’d you get it?”
“Both questions, I honestly can’t answer,” I say, shrugging. “This is as much a confusing surprise to me as all of you. Also,” I frown, clenching a fist, “I can swear I don’t feel as strong or full of energy as I have the last couple months. What’s up with that? Shouldn’t a new transformation make me feel, well, stronger?”
“Wait. But, you said, while fighting that other Miranda, that the moment you knew she was an Altermere, you went straight to Earth to try and warn us,” Cornelia points out. “But, if the Altermere was made so soon, how did you manage to react so fast?”
“I’m afraid I would be to blame for that.”
The girls, Matt and the animals jumped at the sudden disembodied voice, followed by the appearance of its owner.
“Just had to make an entrance, didn’t you?” I fold my arms, giving him an unamused look.
“Guilty as charged,” Discord says merrily, a hand on his chest, before he whizzes around, shaking each Guardian’s hand in turn. “Delighted to meet you all. Miranda has told me so much about you on. I must commend you, by the way, on your defeat of that wench Nerissa. She had that coming for centuries.”
He vanishes with a pop, appearing next to Matt and his fellow Regents.
“And this is quite the surprise, I must say. I never would’ve expected your world to gain its own personal Guardians. And for you to have that much power each, when it was split between the three of you? That Lilian is going to be quite the powerhouse when she gets older.”
“What do you mean you’re to blame?” Will asks, talking surprisingly calmly despite Discord’s appearance, sudden arrival and clear display of power.
I sigh, putting my hands on my hips. “Because he’s the one who convinced me the guy who created my Astral Drop couldn’t have had the magical resources to change her into an Altermere.”
Discord turns around, pressing his fingers together sheepishly. “In my defence, I haven’t been to Earth in over a thousand years, so how was I to know how much their connections to magic have improved since my last visit?”
Taranee’s eyes widen. “Wait, hold up. A thousand years? How’re you still alive if you last came to Earth a thousand years ago?”
“Well, I am an immortal Lord of Chaos,” Discord says with a flourish.
“Plus, he spent the last thousand years locked away as a stone statue,” I point out what he’s conveniently leaving out.
“Hold on!” Hay Lin points at Discord. “I recognise you!”
We all look to her, all genuinely confused. “What?”
“My grandma mentioned how one of her and the previous Guardians fought a creature of chaos not long before Cassidy replaced Nerissa as leader of the Guardians,” Hay Lin explains, looking in confused worry at Discord. “You were making Chaos throughout multiple worlds, so you had to be locked away in your own. But… but that wasn’t a thousand years ago. My grandma’s old, but she’s not that old.”
I sigh, folding my arms. “You can thank Nerissa for that one.” When they all look to me, I continue. “You were told the power of the Heart of Kandrakar was too much for Nerissa, her becoming obsessed with its power and that that is when her role of leader was taken from her, the Heart being given to Cassidy instead.”
I clench a hand on my arm.
“What you weren’t told is that that happened after, to punish Discord for causing all that Chaos, Nerissa accelerated this world’s time, so a couple decades in any other realm was hundreds of years here.”
“The only reason time’s returned to normal here in Equestria comparative to the other worlds out there is the Veil your fellow Guardians raised to stop that Phobos character,” Discord snorts, folding his arms.
“No way,” Taranee’s eyes widen. “Nerissa punished this whole world by accelerating it’s time ahead of every other world, just to punish you? Didn’t she think about how that would affect everyone and everything else in this world?”
“Doubt it,” Irma folds her arms, shaking her head. “Now I get why she lost the Heart. That’s just plain evil.”
“So… what do we do now?” Cornelia looks to me and I shrink a little under her gaze. “This girl clearly isn’t the Miranda we need to go after, but, can we just leave her here in this world with that new power of hers?”
“I’m afraid it’s a bit more complicated than that.”
We all turn to see both Hay Lin’s grandmothers stepping out from a Fold none of us had apparently noticed until now.
The two look to Discord, who returns their look. “Discord.”
“Yan Lin,” he nods, before frowning at the other one. “And…?”
“Meera,” she replies, before giving a small smile. “Been a long time, huh?”
He gives a wry laugh. “Longer than you know. Unless Miranda explained that little detail to you,” he adds, looking to me.
I fold my arms. “Um, was kinda in a hurry to get back here and save the Guardians from Miranda? I didn’t exactly have time to go into an in depth discussion.”
“What do you mean by it’s more complicated than that?” Will asks, bringing us back to current events.
Yan Lin looks at me. “All will be explained in Kandrakar. Come,” the two turn to head back into the Fold, “the princesses are already waiting.”
Princesses? Who’s she talking about?
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“Isn’t the world fascinating?!” Twilight is practically bouncing with glee as her eyes dart around the shining walls of Kandrakar.
“You can practically feel the magic around here,” Cadance agrees, waving a hoof in front of her face. “The air is practically saturated in it.”
We all standing in the main hall of Kandrakar. And be we I don’t just meant myself, the Regents and W.I.T.C.H.
Cadance, Shining Armour (the latter trying to catch a very active Flurry Heart), Twilight and the rest of the Element Bearers and Spike and Celestia and Luna are here too. Even Starlight was brought along.
Lilian is also here, herself staying close to Cornelia.
And… there’s one other. Elyon… and she is glaring dangers at me.
Even though Meera, Yan Lin and the council explained it to her, she clearly doesn’t see me as anything but Miranda… and, considering how betrayed she felt by Miranda, I can’t really say I blame her.
“Yes, Princess Twilight,” The Oracle says with an amazing amount of patience. “You’ve said that fifty times already. Now, if we could please get to the matters at hand.”
Twilight blushed heavily. “Oh! Right. Sorry.”
The Oracle nods, looking to myself and the Guardians. “The matter at hand is the danger the Infinite Dimensions face. While the cause is still unknown, something has caused the Guardians to become distant from their Aurameres. And, with their connection weakened, they cannot draw on their Aurameres’ power, meaning the Guardians cannot defend the realms, as is their duty.”
“Wait. Are you firing us?” Taranee asks.
The Oracle shakes his head. “No, Fire Guardian. There is no reason for you to have to step down as of yet. Besides, even if we did choose a new generation of Guardians, it would do no good. The problem is not with yourselves, but the Heart of Kandrakar itself.”
We all look to the jewel hanging around Will’s neck.
“Something has weakened it’s connection to the Aurameres,” Nubah says, her face grim. “Never in history had this ever happened. Even if new Guardians are chosen now, it would do no good. The weakened connection to the Heart would not be fixed and the Guardians would not be able to do their duty or be Guardians.”
“But, we are still Guardians,” Irma indicates to her body. “We still transformed. How is our connection to our Aurameres still weakened?”
“Because a new connection was formed to replace it,” Nubah points to me.
I blink, glancing around as everyone’s eyes turn to me and I point to myself. “Me? Um, how exactly does that work?”
Yan Lin smiles at me. “You acquired a Heart and it connected to my granddaughter and her friends when they put their trust in you during your fight with your evil counterpart. You are now what powers their transformations and power.”
“Yeah, I’m still a little confused on the how of that,” Taranee remarks. “How did Miranda gain a Heart? Shouldn’t it be given back to wherever it came from?”
The Oracle shakes his head. “It would do no good. The world Miranda’s Heart came from is a dead world.”
Everyone gasps, while my eyes widen as something clicks I’d never even considered.
But… there’s no way. It couldn’t have been… could it?
The Oracle looks to Starlight, Twilight and Spike. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon, Starlight Glimmer. Do you three remember when you travelled to alternate timelines?”
All three of their eyes widen in recognition, as do mine.
“Wait, so, you’re telling me that timeline where Equestria was a wasteland…?” Starlight asks.
The Oracle nods. “You arrived in that timeline after its Heart was no longer there. Miranda, on the other hand,” he looks to me, “unknowingly Folded to it at a time where that world was still struggling to stay alive against the evil that had taken root there.”
“No, it can’t be,” I shake my head, my voice trembling in fear. “I… I can’t have taken Equestria’s Heart, not even from a doomed timeline. I never would’ve done that! I don’t want it!”
The Oracle shakes his head. “That was not up to you, Miranda. Nor did you take it. It was given to you, by that world’s Tree of Harmony itself.”
“Tree of what now?” Irma whispers, only to wince when Hay Lin elbows her in the side.
“That world was already dying, Miranda,” The Oracle looks firmly at me. “When you and that Changeling mother wound up there, that world was already on the brink of dying. The tyrant ruling over it had all but depleted its lifeforce, the world’s magic being all that kept it as close to balance as could be done. But, when that Changeling mother was threatened, despite you both being enemies at the time, you were fully willing to fight a being you stood no chance of defeating in order to keep her safe.”
“This was an act of purity that world’s Heart recognized and it chose you to bear it,” Yubah says, nodding. “This meant the world soon finally fell, but its Heart lives on, inside you.”
Celestia looks to me with a smile. “I told you that you had more power deep within you.”
“But, wait, if Miranda is our connection to our powers now, what does that mean?” Cornelia asks, holding her sister a little closer.
Yubah sighs, giving me a pitying look that make my blood go cold. “It means, until we can find a way to restore the Heart of Kandrakar’s connection to your Aurameres, Miranda will have to fight by your side. Without her, you cannot transform anymore. However, this means…”
“I can’t stay in Equestria,” I answer, my voice slightly hollow.
Everyone looks to me as I hug myself, bitting my bottom lip, my new fangs pressing into the flesh.
This isn’t fair. It’s bad enough I learned I can never go home and I’m forced to remain in Miranda’s body for the rest of my natural life, but now, after months of building up a life in Equestria, I have to leave my life all behind all over again?
The Oracle nods. “It is hardly fair, but it is what it is. Until the Heart’s connection to the Aurameres is restored, Miranda will need to remain with the Guardians on Earth.”
“Of course it’s hardly fair!” Lilian shouts, pulling away from her sister, glaring at The Oracle and Yubah. “Miranda shouldn’t have to give up her home in that pony world! That’s not at all fair. She didn’t do anything wrong, so why’s she gotta be punished?!”
“Sweetie, it’s not that simple,” Cornelia takes Lilian by the shoulders and leans down, looking her in the eye. “We know this Miranda did nothing wrong. We don’t want to force her to give up anything, but, if she stays in that world and we go back home, we won’t be able to protect anyone.”
“It’s true,” Will holds the Heart of Kandrakar. “I felt it when we transformed. Miranda is bound to us. If she stays behind in that pony world, we’ll all be cut off from our powers. It’s horrible and completely unfair, but, the Heart chose Miranda for a reason.”
“Because it knows I’ll do what’s right, not just what I want,” I say bitterly, clutching my chest angrily. “It knows I’ll put everyone else’s welfare over my own happiness right now.” I shut my eyes, a single tear falling from my right and sliding down my cheek. “It’s not fair.”
There’s silence for a moment, no one really knowing what to say.
“This being the case,” The Oracle says after some time, “Miranda will need to assume a new identity on Earth while staying there. However, it isn’t as simple as her going there and trying to blend in.”
“The Oracle is right,” Will looks around at everyone. “Maybe in Equestria it was fine, but life on Earth is very different. She’s need a legal identity, not to mention the matter of where she’ll live.”
“Agreed,” Meera nods. “We’re not going to make her just bum at someone’s house until this is settled. She needs a home.”
“Considering the circumstances, I believe Miranda would be best living with Will,” Yubah says, looking to the red haired girl. “As you both are now, by default, the leaders of the Guardians, it would make more sense for you both to remain as close as possible.”
At once, Will has a firm look of worry. “Um, just one problem? Have you met my mother? How exactly do you expect me to explain to her why we’ve got an interdimensional house guest who would be living with us indefinitely? Sure, we’ve got a spare room we could convert into a makeshift bedroom, or she and I could even share my room, but convincing my mom to even consider the idea is the biggest problem there. She isn’t exactly aware of magic, after all.”
The Oracle nods. “We understand the challenge, young Guardian. However, I believe we have a solution that should work.”
I fold my arms, an eyebrow arched.
Oh, this should be good.