//------------------------------// // Chapter IV - My old enemy: fear. // Story: A Legend Returns // by 654_nosneb //------------------------------// Maybe he doesn't care anymore after all those years, but I do. Maybe he thinks that he did the right thing. I do not. Screw up my humanity salvation plan, I just want revenge on him! It was going to be too easy, TOO EASY to give humanity an infinite, clean energy source. All I had to do was to sacrifice those fillies lives and everything would be fine, but that wasn't enough for him, no no no no. He wanted to protect them; he wanted to make sure that they were happy. I just HATE him! How to take revenge? Killing the adult forms of the fillies would be too difficult. Maybe I should wait; I should wait and see how I can hurt him the most, how I can really break him. For now, I should stay hidden. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Sasha went to see the princesses a week ago; she got along with them very well. For them, I guess that it was great to know that their race wasn't just a lab creation, but they also got a bit sad when they discovered the horrors that the alicorns did in the past. I'm now currently at Canterlot's streets with Sasha, in her unicorn form, and Philomena at my shoulder. The sky is free from clouds for now, but the pegasi said that a rain is set for later in the afternoon. We're heading out of a cafeteria in which we chatted a bit about the whole situation. She told me that, when her friend died after she sent her in my search, she was just going to adopt a pegasus form and move to Cloudsdale. When she told me that, I asked about her dead friend. "Well," she said as we headed out of the cafeteria, "Poppy was a great friend, but she had some troubles with her bills and salary... I thought that I could help her by telling her where to find you, so she could have an interview with you or something." "Oh, and how did you know where to find me?" I asked. "Well, I saw you at the safe edge of the Everfree forest during my Sunday routine, so..." "Sunday routine?" I asked. "But I'm not at Ponyville during Sundays." "What?" Sasha asked. "Yeah, I'm just there during Mondays to Fridays for my magical studies. And during that week I didn't even go to Ponyville because I was... doing something with the princesses," I said because I'm just not in the mood to explain her about the Little Prince, even though she already knows him. "But if you weren't there, who was the one that I saw?" she asked with a worried voice tone. "Well I..." think I know who could be, but that's ridiculous. "Don't know who could be. What exactly did you see?" "Well, it was a tall, bipedal figure that was wearing a white robe." The mention of the white robe made my heart shrink in fear, "And, did you saw his face?" "No, I barely just saw his back, but then he kinda teleported." "Teleported? With one of my portals?" "Nope," she replied, "he just vanished with a sudden flash. Also, I think that he had no hair at all... Wait, now that I think about it, he wasn't you at all!" This was starting to worry me. Again, I think I know who could be but... I wish I'm wrong. "Do you know him?" she now asked. "Well I... am not sure, but... Can we change the topic?" "Why?" the green mare asked me. "I'm not so sure about what you saw; I would like to be sure if..." "If it was director Osvaldo?" she completed. "Wait, how do you..." "Oh come on!" she exclaimed. "Everypony knows your legend, and, due to the fact that he kidnapped me 20000 years ago, I just had to add 1 plus 1 and guess that it was him. But, didn't he die already? You killed him, right?" "Well, actually... The legend might be a bit wrong. I don't actually remember killing him, but he didn't survive the explosion that brought me here, otherwise he would have taken control of the earth with his power." "But that magical explosion could have brought him to the present as well," she questioned. "Yeah, but if that was the case, I would know since he would have appeared with me," I replied. Now I was starting to worry. "Are you sure about what you know?" she now asked with a worried look on her green pony face. "Actually, no. Not in the slightest," was my reply. We walked back to the castle as our chat continued. I desperately wanted to change the topic to another one; I just don't like to remember that day. As it was programmed, the pegasi started to place dark clouds all over the sky, and the rain almost caught us before we made it to the castle. Fortunately, one of my blue portals was able to fix this in some seconds. That night I couldn't sleep well, so I stood up from my bed and went to the balcony. Tia really did a great job with this castle; it isn't just extremely comfy, but it also feels extremely safe. Not just because of all those royal guards, but also because of how the castle is designed. Unlike Twilight's castle at Ponyville, the walls of Canterlot's castle felt ten times more robust and resistant, and its architecture was more prepared for an attack, although I heard about a changelling attack that was almost successful, but that's all it was: almost. I contemplated the beauty of the capital city of the Equestrian kingdom from the mentioned balcony. Luna's moon was up already, although nopony would be able to see it, since it was raining. I couldn't care less about it; I can return to bed anytime I want, and I really like the feeling of the raindrops on my face. I don't care about my clothes as well; I'm just wearing a shirt and some shorts after all. I wanna test something; last week, Twilight taught me that, through certain concentration, powerful magical beings, like me, can feel other powerful beings. To try to kill my fears once and for all, I extended a hand, closed my eyes, and focused. First, I could feel myself, quite an obvious thing. I focused further and I felt two great amounts of magic on the very same castle I was; they obviously were Celestia and Luna Tyler. Do they still use their last names? Anyways... I focused further, and I felt another presence. It was surrounded by a cold weather, and also love. She was clearly Cadence. I tried to focus to the opposite direction, towards Ponyville. After focusing a bit, I felt the obvious presence: Twilight, shining as a beacon full of knowledge. The next presence I felt was just as powerful as the others, but was far more chaotic. One second it felt like cooked rice, another like burning flames, and the other it felt like... Toilet paper? Yep, it was Discord. But my heart stopped when I felt another presence. It felt just as weird as discord's, but not that chaotic. My heart started to beat rapidly in fear as my worst fear was starting to confirm itself. Then... "Oh, hi William!" Pinkie's squeaky voice spoke as the powerful magical presence I just felt. "Are you able to feel me as well?" Well, that kinda explains some of Pinkie's weirdness; what it doesn't explain is why she has all that raw magic. That was a huge relief, I almost thought that... Nevermind. Well, I guess that I was just too scared. I think that, after all, there was nothing for me to... Then, I felt something else. It was powerful, VERY powerful, but also, full of anger. And it felt like, whatever it was, it was shouting. It was also deep inside the Everfree forest. "Oh no." "Something wrong, William?" Luna's voice said from behind me. "AH!" I shouted as I turned around to face her. "Luna, you scared me!" "Why are you at the balcony? It's raining!" she said. She was right. I don't know for how long I stood there, but the rain was now a lot worse than when I got out, and my clothing was completely wet, so wet that it was a bit sticky. "I... I think I... Felt him." "Felt who?" she replied with a confused glare. "The director," I responded, "director Osvaldo." She stared at me for some seconds, and then she asked, "Are you sure? Wasn't he..." "Dead?" I complemented. "That's what I thought, but Sasha told me something that changed that." "And what did she tell you?" "She saw him," I said, then when the confused face of Luna made me add this: "just barely, and just for a few seconds." "And are you sure that you felt him?" "In the Everfree forest, I felt his power, I felt his anger, and I felt him shouting." "That could be any evil creature from the forest," Luna replied. After some seconds of thinking, and getting more wet, I said: "You know what?, maybe you're right. Maybe it isn't the worse." "I still think that Tia and I should see what's up with that; we also felt something off in the forest," then, after an awkward silence, she spoke once more. "You should get inside, you'll get sick." "You're right, you're right," I said as I got inside my room ready to make a little change of clothes. "Wait, why did you come here in the first place?" "I was patrolling dreams, and I noticed that you weren't asleep, so I got a little worried." "Oh, thank you for that," I said. "You're welcome," said Luna, then she left my room. After changing my clothes, I closed my eyes to disconnect from reality. That night, I felt something in my sleep that I don't feel since the Owlen incident. Fear.