Chapter 12
The wind whipped past my face as I stared into Ayla’s eyes while she stood in front of me. Months of work, and we’d made barely any progress at transforming.
“Focus on me,” Ayla says as we reach out and touch hooves. A dark glow begins to form around us, slowly swirling and building up speed. The dark energy began to form a tornado around us as it began to intensify in brightness.
Suddenly, it came to a grinding halt, disappearing with a loud whoosh, leaving Ayla and me staring at each other in frustration.
“Damn it,” I muttered, dropping my hoof back to the ground.
“We’ll get it,” Ayla reassures as she leans forward and places her forehead against mine.
I sigh as I nod and turn to see Bronwyn, Lance, and their Ego weapons taking a break. Lance made it so we can see each other’s Ego weapons while inside this dimension.
“Let’s join them,” I say as we turn and head for the other two.
“That was a good attempt,” Bronwyn said as we neared them, giving us a thumbs up.
Ayla gave a nod, looking just as exhausted as I felt, “We’re making slow progress, but this would be easier if we had instructions to follow.”
Bronwyn chuckled, nodding, “Welcome to trying to do something new.”
I sat down hard and pulled out a snack pouch from one of the boxes of supplies around us. Ripping it open, I poured the contents into my mouth, munching loudly.
“They taste better if you heat them,” Lance commented as he ate his own with a spoon.
“Meh,” I shrugged and opened a second one, eating it the same way as before. Lance just rolled his eyes.
“So,” I said after I finished the pouch, looking at Lance. “Let’s go over this again.”
He sighed loudly as he turned to me, looking a bit annoyed, “I don’t know how else to tell you this; I first transformed mid-fight after my friends had been hurt by Frederic’s father. Break and Dawn took control of me and forced my body to access the holy energy within me. We didn’t know that’s what it was back then, but it just came as second nature to us.”
I nod, thinking hard, “And what about nowadays?”
“I can just do it now,” he replied, trying to think as well. “With a thought, I can switch between any of my transformations, basically instantly.” He looked at me and Alya over, “But I think it’s going to be different for you two. When you two start to transform, all that dark starry energy swirls around you. That’s completely different from me.”
Bronwyn rubbed her chin as she looked up into the sky, “Hm, maybe you’re going about it wrong.”
“How so?” I asked, my tired expression dropping into a scowl. “We’re doing our best to focus our thoughts and get on the same wavelength, but it keeps falling short right before we transform. It’s like it rejects us.”
“Have you tried not focusing on transforming, and instead trying to combine?” She asked, getting a raised eyebrow from Ayla and me. “Maybe trying to focus on doing it the way Lance does it is the wrong approach. You said you are trying to make a form combining your fathers original form with this Nightmare beings form.”
Ayla’s eyes slowly widen as she seems to realize something, “Of course!” She grabs my shoulders and shakes me as she smiles at me, “Scamp, you are more our father than I am, and I am more of the Nightmare than you are! We’ve been trying to transform as if we’re trying to just shift into a new form! But what if we should instead focus on trying to merge you and I together!”
“Like Goten and Trunks fusion in Dragon Ball Z!” Lance suddenly exclaimed, getting strange stares from everyone around him. He kind of chuckles as he looks embarrassed, “Sorry, it’s a TV show in my world. But, it's basically what you just said; try and combine yourselves together to create a completely new being! Meaning it won’t be like mine where I’m still in there, controlling what I do, but instead it’ll be whatever you two become when combined! That make sense?”
I blink at him, a smile slowly forming on my face, “Now that’s something I haven’t thought of.”
“Let’s try it!” Ayla yelled as she ran back to our original position, jumping from hoof to hoof in excitement.
Giving a nod to the others, I stand and walk back to Ayla, standing before her.
“Okay!” she says, smiling brightly, “This time, don’t try and focus on thinking about what I am, instead focus on merging into me. Think about becoming one singular being with me.”
I nod, not fully understanding, but having an idea.
We squared up, and reached out to touch hooves. Unlike before, where it was a slow start up, the dark energy seemed to burst from us. Flying around us at an incredibly fast speed.
Staring into Ayla’s eyes, I felt a deeper connection to her than I had before. Then I blinked out.
ooo000<^>000ooo
This is… strange.
I blinked as the world faded into focus in front of me, revealing the shocked faces of my friends. This felt… very weird. Not wrong, just weird.
“I’m… alive?” I say out loud, my voice deep and raspy, but also pleasant to the ear.
“Scamp?” Lance asked as he approached.
I looked up at him, and shook my head. “No, I’m not Scamp.”
“Ayla then?” he asked, looking worried.
Again, I shook my head, “No, I’m neither. I’m both. New and unique. I am Scayla.”
“What? So it is like DBZ,” Lance muttered, then smiled happily up at me. “You look amazing, by the way.”
I blink down at him, then summon a mirror using magic. Staring into it, I looked myself over.
A tall, dark coated mare stared back at me. Dark, starry antlers sat atop my head, and somehow I’d gained piercings on my lips, nose, and ears. My midnight blue mane flickered with stars, same as the space around my pupils. My cutie mark changed to reflect who I am now; it was the same cutie mark as Scamp’s, but now the playing card had a crescent moon and the symbol of Nightmare Moon.
“Perfect,” I say, smiling.
“You have magic now?!” Lance said in shock, getting a sly smile from me. “But you don't have a horn?”
Chuckling, I give myself a twirl, loving how free I feel now. “I don’t need a horn, my body is a conductor of magic.” Flaring my wings, a loud whoosh is heard, causing my smile to grow impossibly larger. “Being alive is so amazing!”
“Are you…” Lance said slowly, looking back at the others, “Still Ayla and Scamp?”
With another twirl, I come to a stop, staring down at him, “If you mean do I still have the same desires as them, then yes, I do. I am the two combined, I know and want what they do. But you need to understand this, I am me. So call me by my name, please.”
“Okay, Scayla, it is nice to meet you then,” he said, holding out a hoof.
I take his hoof and shake it, both rough and elegantly. He grimaces a bit, but doesn’t protest.
“Now,” I say, turning and walking towards some test dummies, “If you don’t mind, Lance, I want to play around a bit.”
“Uh, sure, go ahead,” he said, seeming to not know what to do with me.
Stepping up to the twenty or so test dummies, I flexed my body, power and energy bursting from me. This felt good, very good.
My body not only conducted magic through it, I was also a living Ego weapon. Blades could come out of any part of me.
With that in mind, let's try this.
I flared my wings and flapped them hard in front of myself, sending my Ego and magic mixed together towards the dummies. They don’t stand a chance as they are shredded by the combination.
“Ooo, now that’s fun!” I exclaim, realizing I have a different Ego from Scamp. While her’s seemed to shut off others' Ego and allowed her to transfer it, mine was more brutal.
To test it, I took a tendril of Ego and slapped it across a remaining dummy, slicing it in half.
My Ego appears to be able to affect the physical world, basically becoming impossibly sharp whips. The possibilities were endless!
The dummies replaced themselves as I sprang into the world, Ego exploding out of my body, tendrils springing forward and impaling each dummy through the chest. They were each then shredded as I flexed my Ego, causing it to whip around violently.
Landing back on all fours, I flipped my long mane back, smiling proudly.
“Jesus fucking christ,” Lance said from afar. “That is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Bronwyn had a different opinion though, “That is so beautiful!”
I turn and bow to the pair, their own Ego weapons standing behind them. “Thank you, my friends.”
“Woooo, that is some fine abilities you got there, Scayla!” Eclipse exclaimed as he walked towards me.
A tendril whipped forward and smacked his forehead, sending him flying back behind Lance. I chose to make the Ego blunt instead of sharp, no need to hurt him, badly. “Thank you, Eclipse, but stay over there, please.”
Melody stepped around Bronwyn and stepped up to me, looking me over. “This is beyond impressive. Ego weapon and soulbind, combining. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”
“Thank you, Melody,” I say, smiling at her.
“What? She doesn’t get hit but I do?” Eclipse whined, getting shushed by Lance.
“I’m not very fond of you,” I say bluntly, barely glancing his way.
“Eh… fair,” Eclipse says, chuckling to himself.
Giving another bow, I spin back around, “If you’ll all excuse me for real this time, I’d like to train alone for a bit.”
“Of course,” Melody says, returning to Bronwyn.
I walk further away this time, stepping up to more test dummies.
Behind me, I could hear the others also resuming their training.
So, if my Ego can be used as blunt and bladed weapons, what else can it do?
With a moment of thought, a wicked look fell across my face as my Ego shot forward. Multiple tendrils grabbed the same dummy on all its limbs and lifted it into the air. With no effort at all, I pulled it apart in all directions, dropping all the pieces to the ground below.
“Starting to look like a villain,” I muttered, then smiled to myself.
With the endless amount of Ego within me, I felt literally unstoppable.
Then an idea slipped into my mind, as if someone else suggested it. My eyes widened, as the idea excited me.
With a thought, new dummies appeared, these ones being more lifelike than the ones before. Their bodies are closer to a living human than the previous; organ’s, bones, and all.
My Ego tendrils rose above me and shot forward, impaling each in the top of the head. With a bit of effort, I forced my Ego to branch out through their bodies, extending through each limb and appendages. Their bodies wiggled and jerked violently as my Ego spread through them.
With my Ego connected to them and fully spread through them, I flexed the tendrils.
Like uncoordinated zombies, the lifelike dummies began walking towards me. I smiled brightly as I made them start dancing awkwardly.
I can control a corpse? Oh yeah, things are all coming together now.
“The level of disturbing is off the charts with that,” Lance said as he flew above me, looking a bit sick at the display.
I lifted one of the dummies up to him and threw its arms wide. Lance cringed away, but I jerked the dummy forward, forcing it to hug Lance.
“Gah! Get this thing off of me, Scamp!” He squealed, thrashing about.
“Not my name,” I yelled back in a sing-song voice.
“Scayla!” He yelped as I added four more to the now group hug.
I laugh loudly as I pull the puppets away from Lance, causing him to flee back to Bronwyn, who was also laughing at the display.
Looking at my new puppets, I nod in approval. I whip my Ego, causing the tendrils inside the dummies to spin, turning into mini blinders as they completely obliterate the dummies bodies.
“Brutal,” I say in awe, in love with all my abilities and the possibilities they presented.
ooo000<^>000ooo
I trotted back to the group, not even tired after hours of training.
As I approached, I used my magic to levitate multiple different food pouches out of the supply boxes. With a thought, small balls of heat formed around each of them, heating them.
With all the class I had, I began to rip open pouches and pull the contents out with magic. I basically shoveled it all into my mouth, being just, if not more so, a messy eater as Scamp.
“Yep, Scamp is indeed in there alright,” Lance chuckled, watching me devour pouch after pouch.
I just rolled my eyes at him, not really caring about how I came off as I enjoyed my dinner.
“Scamp will be returning, correct?” Bronwyn asked, seeming a bit worried.
“Of course,” I reply, tossing all the empty pouches over my shoulder, pulling out even more. “I can end this coalescence whenever I want.”
As I pushed more food into my mouth, something rumbled within me as I felt something tear deep inside.
ooo000<^>000ooo
I slammed face first into the dirt, Ayla doing the same on my opposite side.
Groaning, I sat up and rubbed the dirt from my face.
“Welcome back you two,” Bronwyn chuckled, picking at her food with a fork.
Blinking, it slowly came back to me. It felt like a dream, only faintly remembering bits and pieces of what happened when we were fused.
“That was amazing!” Ayla proclaimed, joy clear on her face.
I could only nod my head, the experience still too new to me to be able to form an opinion on it.
“You were scary as fuck,” Lance said, getting a nod of agreement from Eclipse.
“Scary is good,” Melody commented. “The power Scayla possesses is nothing like anything I’ve ever seen.”
Scayla? So that’s the name of the fusion. The imagery of vicious Ego tendrils shredding through dummies filled my mind. Lance was right, that is scary.
Ayla nodded in agreement, knowing what I was thinking.
Looking back to Lance, I nod to his floating cards next to him. “Made any more progress?”
He glanced at his cards and gave a sharp nod, “Aye. Bronwyn helped me realize a lot about my powers, but I’m not comfortable doing the things you did, or anything similar. I’m not a killer.”
“That’s okay,” I assure him. “That’s why you got me, I kill so you don’t have to.”
He smiled back at me, giving me a tip of his hat.
“So you’ve made progress, just not ‘kill them all’ kinds of progress?” Ayla asked sweetly.
“Eh, yeah, pretty much,” he replied, looking anywhere but her as she stared at him with wide joy filled eyes.
I can’t help but grin at the two as I pick up a food pouch, frowning when I find it empty. Shifting through the box, finding all of them to be empty as well. “Oh come on, who ate my supply?”
“You did, technically,” Bronwyn said, laughing at my angry face as I kicked the box over.
ooo000<^>000ooo
The portal opened before us, revealing the wheat fields beyond. I stepped through first, just catching a glimpse of the portal we originally entered closing. As the others stepped out, I looked around, seeing the body of Heildan still sitting a few feet away. His smashed mask seemed to stare straight at me.
Ayla appeared over him and stuck her tongue out at his smashed up face, causing me to chuckle.
“So, saving my son now?” Lance asked, looking ready to go.
“We will try, but I’m warning you, Lorenzo is the top dog. We could train you two for a full reset, and I still wouldn’t be confident in us fighting him.” Bronwyn said with a sigh.
“I don’t care,” Lance came back with, looking determined. “He has my son, and I will do whatever it takes to get him back.”
I nod, pulling my hood up, “Besides, we probably don’t need to kill Lorenzo, just get Spark and bounce.”
Bronwyn didn’t look convinced as she adjusted the strap on her sword. Her head suddenly snapped up and she turned to the lone scarecrow that sat in the field, its head facing us.
“What?” I asked, not seeing anything out of place.
“We were being watched,” she said with a frown as she shot her Ego towards it, grabbing hold of it and yanking it over to us. As it landed, the head rolled off of the body, revealing a strange device inside of it. Ego seemed to emanate from it as Bronwyn lifted it up.
“By who?” Lance asked, stepping up next to her.
She glared down into the eyes of the scarecrow, “Larenzo and his cronies.”
Lance grabbed the head and stared into its eyes, shifting into Breaking Dawn mode. “I’m coming for your ass’s, fuckers! Don’t even try to hide! I will find you and pound your ass!” He paused, the flames of his eyes crackling quietly. “Pound it in the non sexual way!”
“Okay,” Bronwyn said as she took the head and shattered it with her bare hands.
“Nice one, Lance,” I replied, an eyebrow raised as I smiled at him. He frowned at me, shifting out of his rage form.
“Let’s just go get my kid, alright?” he said, shrugging off his blunder of words.
I flash my Ego bladed teeth, “Let’s go then.”