//------------------------------// // Chapter VIII - And You Can't Deny It Anymore // Story: A Legend Returns // by 654_nosneb //------------------------------// "William!" I heard Spike's young voice say. "William! What happened to you?" I slowly opened my eyes, and carefully, but painfully, stood up. My room was exactly as it was last night: a complete disaster. Now that I regained consciousness, I noticed how severely injured I was: my clothes were covered with a little bit of my blood; I probably almost broke my right arm; and my stomach ached in agony from, probably, the worst injury that I ever had. The young dragon stared at me with a worried look on his face. During the several moths I've lived within the walls of Twilight's castle, I never saw Spike so concerned. "I... I'm fi-" then I vomited blood. Spike got even more scared as I did it. "I... I think that I might need some help." "Twilight! Starlight! Somepony!" the dragon yelled. "Come quickly!" After a minute, Starlight made herself present in the room by a teleportation spell. She might have heard Spike's yells. When she saw me, her expression turned to one of horror. "WILLIAM!" she shouted. "How did this happen!?" "It was Osvaldo," I said. "Osvaldo? But wasn't he..." "Dead? So did the princesses. Speaking of which," I placed my left hand on the crystal wall to support my weak balance, "I need to talk to one of them immediately. Where's Twilight?" "She isn't at Ponyville right now," Spike replied. "She was summoned by the map for a mission in Manehattan." "Then could you send a letter for me, Spike?" "Sure! For Twilight?" "No, for Celestia." ————————————————————— The older ruler of Equestria was looking through her window at Canterlot's castle. Canterlot's morning went as usual: ponies opened their stores, pegasi flew through the sky, and the beautiful birds' songs could be heard even from the castle. Everything seemed so beautiful, so pretty, in perfect harmony. Could it really be about to end? No, Osvaldo can't be back; he was defeated by William 20000 years ago. However, William sounded so certain of his return that she couldn't ignore it. "But even if he's truly back," she mumbled, "there's no reason to think that he'd oppose any threat. After all, I'm not the same pony as I was back in those days." "Neither do I," Luna complemented from behind her. Celestia almost shouted, but she managed to contain herself. She was used to Luna being like this. "If he is here, which I think is true, we're more than capable of teaching him a lesson or two." "What makes you believe that he's back?" Tia asked as she turned to face her sister. "Not every miracle in this world is a pleasant one. If William was able to travel from the past, why couldn't Osvaldo do it as well?" "He would've appeared with him!" Tia repeated once again. "I already told you." "But it's such a coincidence that we started to feel this dark magic at Ponyville right after Owlen traveled back in time. Doesn't that raise like tons of red flags?" At that moment, a letter materialized out of thin air in front of the princesses. The white alicorn opened the scroll and started reading it. "Tia, I know what you think about the matter, but you need to come to Ponyville IMMEDIATELY, or at least open a portal for me to Canterlot. We have to talk. Director Osvaldo is alive, I swear it to you. I'm telling this to you because, last night, he literally tried to assassinate me! I'm just alive because he wants to 'prolong my suffering' or something. Please don't take too long for a response. I am very scared right now. William." "I told you," Luna said as her sister finished reading the letter. "Now, what are we waiting for?" ————————————————————— It's amazing how my view of this castle has changed so much in this few hours. Yesterday, this seemed like a heavenly fortress in which nothing could get through; now this crystal walls seem as fragile as glass. Why did he leave me alive? For a man so logical as him, killing me in the act would've been much more appropriate. He isn't dumb, he would never leave me a chance to beat him. He knows that he's in clear disadvantage. The only plausible explanation is that he just said that to intimidate me because... "Because he wants something from me." "What did you say, William?" Starlight, who was sitting beside me, said. "Nothing. Just an interesting theory, but I have no evidence to prove it yet." A portal emerged right in front of us. Through it, I could see a room of Canterlot's castle and my two adoptive sisters. "Excuse me, Starlight. I'll be right back." "Sure. No problem," she replied. As I made my way to the portal and went through it, the sisters' facial expressions changed to horror as they saw my deplorable state. "So is it true?" Celestia asked. "That Osvaldo is..." "Sadly, it is." "But, if he could've killed you, why did he leave you alive?" Luna asked. As the portal behind me closed and I was sure that nopony... or nobody was listening to us, I said: "I don't know. The only thing that comes to my mind is that he wants something from me." As I said this, I felt like I was about to fall over. Luckily, my sisters caught me with their hooves and put me into a warm embrace and said: "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." ————————————————————— As Osvaldo watched the hug between William and the princesses from outside the balcony with an invisibility spell he stole from the library, he thought to himself: Hm... he's smart indeed. Fortunately he's not that smart. Then he crossed one item out of his invisible list. William is scared. Now I just need to get from this dummies what I want.