//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: The Pony Named Legion // Story: The Tale of Neon Light // by DeffBwade //------------------------------// The Tale of Neon Light Written by DeffBwade Chapter 16: The Pony Named Legion Equestria. Geez, things have really changed since the last time I saw it. It's hard to believe that so many moons have passed. You see, in Heaven, or Elysium as these ponies would call it, time is more or less irrelevant. It's like sleeping. You close your eyes when it's night time, and next thing you know, you open your eyes to the rising sun. Thousands of years can go by when it feels like it's only been a few days at best. Then again, I wasn't really waiting in Heaven, per say. I'll explain more about that some other time. Regardless, it makes me pity Nightmare Moon when she was banished to the Moon, or Discord when he was imprisoned in stone, or hell, even Tirek when he was incarcerated in Tarturus because they all had to embrace the concept of time. At least, I think they did. I don't know. I could be wrong. So here I am now. In an Equestria unfamiliar to me, dead, and can only be seen by one pony. That pony being a pegasus named Neon Light. I'll be honest, I'm surprised at how well the pegasus is taking this thing so far. I'd figure he'd freak out and GTFO (even though that's exactly what he did before I stopped him), or just straight up ignore me, but so far, it seems like he's accepting this. For now, at least. After we finally introduced ourselves, Neon proceeded to exit his apartment (but not before taking a bagel) and walk to the stairs, with me flying and following behind him. Understandably, he kept glancing over his shoulder to look at me as he kept walking through the halls, down the elevator, and eventually through the front door. He then spread his wings and took to the air, me continuing to follow him. As we flew through the air, I looked down to view the town Neon lives in. It was small, to put it bluntly. It kinda reminds of Ponyville, only less medieval styled and more modern looking...and next to a sea. "Is that a tram I see?" I wondered, looking closely at the thing in question, "Holy crap! It is! And it doesn't look like it's being powered by a steam engine. It seems Equestria has also upped in technology." "This is a nice town you live in," I complimented with a whistle, "I wish I lived in a place like this when I was...well, alive." I mean, there were pretty active places like Manehattan and Baltimare, but they were pretty...how should I put it...metropolitan. Not that I have anything against metropolitan places or anything. They're just not my style. "Um...thanks. Maretime Bay may be small, but I guess that's what gives it charm," Neon said before asking in a bit of a nervous tone, "So...you're just gonna follow me from now on?" "Mmhm," I replied with a nod, "I will follow you until I deem that you're fully capable of fully handling your powers." "Cool," he said, but I could tell he wasn't all for it. Well, too bad. "By the way, Neon, just a forewarning, but I suggest you don't talk to me when we're out in public, or at least around other ponies. Remember, I said that you're the only one that can see and hear me," I reminded, "So to other ponies, it just seems like you're talking to yourself." "...I'll keep that in mind," he said in a reassuring way, but just the pause was enough to tell me that he was feeling a bit frustrated by that. Not that I can blame him or anything. He's probably thinking that I can annoy him as much as I want and he can't do enough about it or else he'll look crazy. And if that was the case, he's right. Guess I'm like the Shinigami Ryuk now. Oh, wait. Actually, I prefer to see myself as Obi-Wan from Star Wars when he was a ghost. Yeah. Let's go with that one. It's much cooler. "So who is this Sunny pony?" I asked, trying to make conversation, I guess, "Friend of yours?" "Yep. As I said, she was the first pony to befriend somepony that was a different type. She's sweet, friendly, and pretty scholarly. And to my knowledge, she's the only pony that has any information on Ancient Equestria," he said, "So if there's anypony that would have info on...what did you call it...Harmony Magic, it would be her... You're from Ancient Equestria, right?" "Yep, but I wouldn't really count on some books to shed some light," I said, "I only refer it as Harmony Magic because it doesn't actually have an official name. And nopony really knows anything about it. Heck, magic in general is mysterious and can be unpredictable. Then again, I wasn't the type to read because I find it boring." "Same here, dude," he agreed (it's nice to see we have something in common), "Alright, we're here." I looked ahead to our destination and saw that we arrived at lighthouse sitting on a hill. There was a beautiful rainbow emanating from said lighthouse and...and... "That...that ain't no ordinary rainbow. Is that—" "Welcome to the Crystal Brighthouse," Neon said as we landed, interrupting my thoughts. Well, he landed. I continued to fly beside him. "Pretty cool," I said as I admired the building, but I was mainly focusing on the rainbow because I could feel that it's not meant for show. We then entered the Brighthouse and...the front door wasn't locked? "Oh, hey Neon," greeted a pink pegasus sitting on a couch. "Hey Pipp," Neon greeted back with a smile, "Have you seen Sunny by any chance?" "I...don't know. I was too in the zone," the pink one named Pipp answered, "Hey, as long as you're here, come check out what I've been working on." "Umm...okay," Neon hesitated at first, probably since he really wanted to speak to Sunny. He then walked over and sat on the couch next to Pipp, me floating behind the couch, and looked at what was on the— "Equestria has laptops now?!" I thought in slight disbelief as I looked at the pink laptop with pegasi wings on the side, "Damn, technology has really gone up." "So what is this?" Neon asked as the laptop screen displayed an earth pony mare that strangely resembled a pegasus I knew. Yellow fur, pink hair. Anyways, she, along with four other earth ponies, were putting together the final touches of what looked to be a sand castle on a beach. "It's something I've been putting together since Maretime Bay Day yesterday. What better way to commemorate such a special day like a blog?" Pipp answered before playing the clip. “Steady. Steady," the mare said while sweating as she stood on top of the other earth ponies, trying to put a flag on the top of the sand castle while trying to steady their balance. But just as the flag was about to be placed, a wave of water from the ocean hit the edge of the sand castle, causing it to collapse and for the ponies to lose their balance. It was pretty much a domino effect from there. They couldn't steady their balances any longer and they ended up falling. "Dang," Neon chuckled as Pipp paused the video. "Aw. Unlucky," I chuckled as well, "So this pink one is a content creator. Awesome." Hallelujah! Let's all rejoice for Equestria has received the gift...of content creating. Although I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of said content is more on the family friendly side. “Oh. That is golden,” Pipp said as she looked through the footage she took, "I am a pony in the zoney~. Amazing what a little peace and quiet can do." I then noticed that something was...phasing through me, causing me to back away with a bit of a yelp. I then realized that it wasn't something, but somepony. Four ponies to be specific. There was an apricot earth pony mare, a light amber earth pony stallion, a lavender unicorn mare, and a white pegasus mare. "What are you two doing?" the lavender mare asked cheerfully, startling Neon and Pipp, the latter being so surprised that she flipped the laptop in the air, but thankfully managed to catch it in time before it could break. "Hey, everypony!" Pipp greeted the other ponies with a smile, “Just cutting together my Maretime Bay Day Blog.” "Gasp," the amber stallion said as he and the other ponies actually gasped in amazement with sparkles in their eyes. "I'm just here to spectate, so..." Neon said. "It was so special, I just wanted a way to remember it forever. Plus it’ll be great for my Ponygram," Pipp said. "Hehehe. Ponygram? What else is there? Cliptrot? YouHoof?" I chuckled, to which Neon quickly glanced at me with a questioning gaze, "Wait, is Cliptro and YouHoof actually a thing?" A subtle nod made me facehoof and groan a bit in annoyance. "Of course. Why not?" “Check it out. I got bloopers,” Pipp said as she opened up her laptop. The clip showed a couple of mares trying to make cotton candy. The earth pony mare took a closer look, but ended up getting her colorful mane getting stuck in the cotton candy spinner. The pegasus mare ducked as the earth pony pulled her mane out, but it ended up being all puffy due to the spinner. The earth pony laughed at how her mane looked, while the pegasus just looked on, not knowing what to say. "Behind the scenes." The next clip showed the amber stallion doing a weird dance and singing in a high pitched voice. It was...embarrassing, to say the least. We all giggled at this, including me, while the stallion looked embarrassed before he lifted his chin up and put on a prideful expression. "I regret nothing," he said in a prideful tone, causing us to stop giggling. "You know what? That is a true stallion right there." "Respect, dude," Neon said with a nod. Trust me when I say, I would be caught dead dancing and/or singing in front of a camera or, so help me, a live audience. I just can't do it. “I even caught the moment earth ponies got their magic." The next, next clip showed the yellow earth pony mare from before. The mare stomped her (glowing?) hooves twice on the ground, creating a giant pink flower. The mare had a proudful smile at her work, before the flower quickly chomped her whole. That...shocked me to say the least. And I'm not talking about the pony being eaten by a giant flower. You see a lot of crazy things in Equestria after all. But what shocked me was the fact that the mare made the flower via magic. "Whoa, that's...new. I've never seen earth ponies do that before," I said with a shocked expression, to which Neon quickly gave me that questioning gaze again, "I mean, earth ponies did have magic back then, but it only made them have a strong affinity with the earth. They've never been able to actually grow plants before." "And if this is possible, then who knows what other magics can be created?" I thought with a sigh, "Magic is truly unpredictable. But I suppose that's what makes it beautiful." "Nice one, sis," the white pegasus complimented, bringing out a smile from Pipp. So the two pegasus mares are sisters. Noted. The lavender unicorn then zipped around the couch and squeezed in between Neon and Pipp, grabbing the latter's laptop into her hooves. “Whoa. So, it’s kinda like making a daisy chain. But, instead of daisies it’s weird talking picture squares," she said with a smile. Not even gonna ask. “Oh, right. But, it kind of took me hours to put it all together," Pipp said nervously, “So, just be—” “So many memories," the unicorn said cheerfully as she began looking through whatever else was on the blog. One of them being a clip of the apricot mare trying to teach a couple of ponies how to make smoothies, “And this," she said, now playing a clip of a bird and crab poking their heads through one of those picture things (I suck at explaining stuff, shut up), “Oooh. And this," the unicorn said, now playing multiple clips such as her and the white pegasus riding a bumper car, with the latter freaking out as the former made the car go faster, a clip where the white one looked dizzy and the apricot one looked like she was about to puke and the lavender one looking completely fine, a clip of the amber one's face being pulled by the wind as he was riding something at high speeds, as well a bunch of other clips that I would describe, but I feel this explanation is taking too long. While the three ponies behind the couch looked on with smiles on their faces, Pipp and Neon looked nervous. “Um, Izzy? Maybe you should stop before you press—” Neon tried to say, but was cut off. "Files erased,” Pipp’s laptop said, shocking everypony, especially Pipp and the unicorn named Izzy. “The delete button," Neon finished before giving a small smile, "Well, it's not too bad. We can just reco—" “Don’t worry! I know how to fix this! More typing!" Izzy said with a nervous smile as she hastily started pressing buttons on the laptop. “Files gone forever,” Pipp’s laptop said. "Oh my god," I muttered with another facehoof as she could've just recovered them from the trash, "Aww, I know the feeling." Everypony gasped in shock at this, while Neon had widened eyes Pipp legit looked pissed if the look she was giving and twitchy eye were any indications. “Even more typing?” Izzy suggested as she was nervously sweating. “Izzy, NO!” everypony exclaimed as Pipp took her laptop back. “I’m so sorry, Pipp," Izzy tried to apologize as the pink pegasus started shaking and crying, “My hoof slipped. And then the button slipped. And then the picture square slipped into the trash. And I just—” “It’s okay," Pipp said with her eyes closed as she closed her laptop. She then turned to everypony with a smile I could tell was forced based on the fact that her voice was cracking and she was starting to tear up, "We’ll just do it again next year. No worries. Totally fine," she said with a choked voice as she got off the couch, "Um, I’m just gonna take a nap.” Pipp then walked up the stairs and heading into what I assume to be her bedroom, before we all heard the sound of a door being slammed. “Oh, it hurts!” we heard Pipp cry out as she continued to wail. "Oh boy," I muttered. A little while later, we, or more like Neon and his friends sans Pipp, finally established how they were gonna cheer up the sad pink pegasus. The plan involves a homemade picture frame of Pipp, a giant smoothie (seriously, it was as all as tall as a full grown pony), and the amber stallion named Hitch and a bunch of animals wearing red coats. To say the least, it shocked me when I saw that Hitch was communicating with said animals. And apparently he's the only one who can do that! I only knew one other pony that was able to communicate with animals. "Okay, everypony ready?" the apricot mare named Sunny asked as she and the others stood outside the door to the bedroom where we heard Pipp whimpering.. "Mmhm," the others nodded in confirmation. Izzy then approached the door and knocked on it. “You can come in," Pipp said in a sad tone, to which Izzy entered with the frame. “Hey, look. It’s me, Pipp," Izzy said while sounding like the pink pegasus, "The most iconic pegasus in Maretime Bay. With a song in my heart and a sparkle in my eye.” I peered inside and saw that Pipp cringed a bit, but then started to smile. "Seems like it's working so far, Neon," I commented. Sunny then pushed the giant smoothie through the doors as she, Neon, and the white pegasus named Zipp came from behind the smoothie, with Zipp carrying a can of whip cream. "And did someone order a giant strawberry ripple smoothie with pegasus wings?” Sunny asked with a smile before she motioned to Zipp by waving her hoof. Zipp got the signal and shook the can of whip cream and flew to the top of the smoothie. But apparently, she shook the can too much because as she started spraying, the cream...sprayed out uncontrollably (don't take that out of context), causing the mare to fly uncontrollably. Fortunately, even as she flew around, she still managed to make the shape of pegasus wings on top of the smoothie. Zipp landed as she, Sunny, and Neon smiled at the awesome work, but then the wingtips dropped down onto Sunny and Neon, causing the two to give unamused looks as they got creamed (again, don't take that out of context). Pipp smiled at this, though. "Or..." Hitch said as he emerged with his animal companions, “How about a cheer up dance!” he said as he and the animals tried to dance. Emphasis on 'tried' as Hitch ended up tripping and falling, "Ahhh!" "A for effort, at least." This time, Pipp didn't just smile, she also giggled. "Thanks, ponies. But none of this is gonna bring back Maretime Bay Day,” she said to them in a sad tone as she got up from her bed and proceeded to walk out the room. "...At least she giggled. That's...that's good...I guess." “Bring back Maretime Bay Day," Zipp muttered, repeating what Pipp just said, before it looked like she got a brain blast, “That’s it! Everypony, follow me," she said as she trotted to the door, but stopped and looked back at Sunny and Neon, "Sunny, Neon, hit the showers first." Sunny picked a piece of the whip cream off her face and chuckled. "Or I can just wash my face with a damp towel," Neon muttered before nodding, "Yeah. I'll do that instead." Cool. We're both lazy and a bit unhygienic. "I gotta say, your sister's idea is looking pretty dope. You're really going to such lengths to cheer up the pink one," I commented as Neon and the others were putting together what Zipp planned. The white pegasus looked around and saw that the others were preoccupied and focused on their own things. "Zipp's not my sister," Neon said not loud enough for the others to hear in a deadpan tone before smiling, "And of course we wanna cheer up Pipp. She's our friend. And not just my friend. One of my foalhood friends, along with Zipp." "Gotcha," I said before looking at the other ponies, "Your friends seem cool, by the way." "Yeah, they are," he said with a smile, "When I first met them, I was...a bit skeptical at first. After all, the three pony tribes have been apart for a long time. But...I'm glad I decided to trust my instincts and go along with them. I probably wouldn't have befriended them if I didn't. And it was because of friendship that we were able to bring magic back." "I guess you could say that friendship is magic," I joked. "Heh. That's exactly what I thought," Neon chuckled. After finishing up the work, Zipp and Neon then went to the Brighthouse to get Pipp. We entered and saw Pipp in the kitchen making a sand castle...or more like a bread castle. "Yay," Pipp said in a non-cheerful tone. “Pipp, come out into the garden. We got something to show you," Zipp said with a smile. “Um. I’m clearly a little busy building a sand castle," the pink pegasus pointed out, but then the bread castle crumbled and fell apart, causing to mare to be even more depressed. "Come on, Pipp. Trust us," Neon said as Zipp pushed the chair Pipp was sitting on out the door. “Look, unless you’ve recreated Maretime Bay Day in the garden—" Pipp said, but then gasped in surprised upon seeing the garden that was now transformed into a replica of the festival with stands, flowers, and the picture of Pipp, “Ooohhh! You’ve like totally recreated Maretime Bay Day in the garden!” "Surprise!" the others exclaimed as they popped out from behind a sand castle. “It's perfect! Oh, wow so many feels," Pipp cried out with tears of joy, “How did you do all this?” “Well, we had pretty great materials to guide us.” Izzy answered as she motioned her head to the board behind them, displaying pictures of the festival. "That, and teamwork," Neon added as Zipp handed— "Is that a freaking cellphone?!" "Here. So you can refilm it," Zipp said with a smile. “Thanks, Zipp," Pipp thanked as she looked at everypony present, and then looked like she had second thoughts, “But you know, I think I'd rather just enjoy an amazing time with my even more amazing friends.” This brought out a smile to everypony's face, including mine. After all... "A blog can always be replaced, Pipp, but Maretime Bay Day will always be within our memories. Especially if it's spent with friends," Neon said with a sincere smile. "Yeah. My thoughts exactly," I thought with smile. Pipp smiled at his words and then got on a stage and faced us with a determined look. “A one, two, three, hit it!” she cried out as she started to sing. (Hey) Try something new, take a chance, just believe it Let out your light, shining bright, can't you see it? "Heh. I'm glad to see that Equestrians still burst into song," I thought as we all vibed to the catchy music, "Holy crap, she's got a good voice." Later in the evening, we decided to finally end the festival that was put together, with Pipp putting up pictures that she took to commemorate it. Soon after, Neon finally approached Sunny and asked her about magic and the different types. To say that the mare was excited would be an understatement. Her reaction reminded me a lot about a couple of other scholarly mares. Especially one that was dear to my heart. Right now, the two ponies have spent about half an hour so far looking through the various research stuff that Sunny had. And let me tell you, she really does have a lot of stuff regarding old Equestria. From maps, journals, writings, drawings, etc. Hell, she even has figurines of six certain ponies. I've tried to relay as much information as needed, but due to amount of research and knowledge that Sunny had, my help wasn't required. So I decided to check on something that caught my eye earlier. I was now on the roof of the Brighthouse, looking at the three crystals that were projecting the rainbow. "So these crystals are what's keeping magic alive in Equestria," I thought before shaking my head in disbelief, "I can't believe that Princess Twilight thought that these were a good idea. What was she thinking?" I then subconsciously brought my hoof up and started to reach towards the crystals, "If only I could just..." Seeing what I was doing, I put my hoof down and took a deep breath to clear the negative thoughts. Earlier when Neon and I were flying here, the magic from this rainbow felt...familiar, but at the same time...it felt different. But now that I'm getting a closer look... I had to know for sure. Remembering a spell (or would technique be a better term?) I learned long ago, I closed my eyes and started to focus on both the crystals and the rainbow they were projecting. ... I immediately opened my eyes. "That magic..." It wasn't bad or anything, just overpowering. And just like I said, the feeling was familiar and even recognizable, yet also different. Not wrong or bad, per say, just different...and overpowering. "I guess that confirms it," I said to myself, making a mental note to talk to Neon about this. Deciding that I was done here for now, I then phased through the walls and entered the room where Neon and Sunny were still looking through books, "I'm guessing you two haven't found anything yet?" Neon looked up from his book and shook his head. "Well, that's the last book I had on magic," Sunny sighed as she closed the book she was reading, "Sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for, Neon." "Eh, don't worry about it," the white pegasus reassured with a wave of his hoof. "If I may ask, what sort of magic were you looking for exactly?" "To be honest, I don't know. I've never actually heard the official name before," Neon said, technically saying the truth. He then rubbed his chin as he pondered for a moment, "Hmm. Do you have anything regarding a pegasus named...Apex Legion?" "Apex Legion?" Sunny thought about it for a moment, "I don't think I read about somepony with that name before." "Ahhhh..." I said as I was in the orz position (slumped down with my head down in defeat in case you don't know what that is...or you don't watch anime), honestly a bit disappointed that my name didn't end up in the history books. I then jerked my head up with a small and accepting smile "Oh well. Can't win them all, I guess." "Eh, never mind," Neon said as he got up, "It's getting pretty late. I think I'm gonna head back home. Thanks for helping me with this, Sunny." "Of course. A-and again, sorry we weren't able to find what you were looking for," the apricot mare said sheepishly. "Again, don't worry about it. I can probably find it in some library if I'm lucky," Neon said as he walked out, "See ya, Sunny." "Bye, Neon." The two of us exited the Brighthouse, with Neon making sure to say goodbye to everypony else along the way, before we took to the skies. "Dang, I really thought Sunny would have the information I needed," Neon said. "Well, maybe she doesn't have info on everypony from Ancient Equestria... Or maybe I just wasn't written about in history," I suggested, "The important thing is we tried. And I'm sure there's other places we could check. I would tell you myself, but even I know pretty much nothing about Harmony Magic. And I can't really show you either because...well..." "Yeah," Neon sighed before looking at me, "Hey Legion? You're from Ancient Equestria. Do you know anything about why magic disappeared in the first place? Or why the tribes separated?" I thought about it moment, but then sadly shook my head. "I'm afraid not much," I said with a frown, "Ponies were living in harmony as usual, thriving with the magic they had. It was a nice time for everypony to be themselves. One day, I decided to...take a vacation out of Equestria. You know, explore new places," I explained, not wanting to say too much, as well as remembering the days of unity with a small smile, but then it turned into a frown again, "I guess I was away for longer than I thought, because when I came back, it was already too late. Ponies were arguing over their magical differences, and some even got violent. No matter what anypony did to try to stop it, conflicts only continued to arose. Eventually, Princess Twilight, the ruler at the time, decided to contain the magic in three crystals. And the only way that the crystals could keep magic alive..." "Is if there's friendship and harmony," Neon finished for me, "So this princess of yours made the Unity Crystals?" "Exactly," I said with a frown, "In truth, though, I always thought that the crystals weren't the right option to end the conflict. In fact, I was against...no...I hated the whole idea behind the crystals. Taking away what Equestria revolves around. Taking away what makes everypony unique. It just felt...wrong. Sure, it caused the ponies to stop fighting, but the fear and disharmony were still there, and eventually led to them separating anyway," I expressed, "If only I didn't go away for so long, or even go at all, I could've helped with the conflicts before they got out of control." "And because there was no magic due to the tribes separating, I couldn't..." I sadly thought before shaking my head, "Don't think about it, Legion. It's all in the past. And you still managed to live a happy life." "Look on the bright side, though. Everypony eventually managed to come together and bring magic back. Sure, there were a few bumps in the road, but it all worked out in the end." "...Yeah, I guess it did," I sighed. "And you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened all that time ago," Neon said in a reassuring tone, "You didn't know that conflicts would start to occur. Nopony did. Some things are just beyond our control." "...Still..." I said with a sigh, "I just wish I knew why the ponies would start fighting over their differences in the first place." "...I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that... But whatever it was, I promise that my friends and I will make sure that it'll never happen again. And..." Neon paused for a sec, "...if I really am capable of using Harmony Magic...then I promise to work hard. If you'll train me that is." His eyes. They showed both determination and heart. That brought a smile to my face. "Of course, dude. That's why I'm here in the first place," I said before raising a hoof, "From now on, you're my Padawan." "I'm just gonna assume that means student," Neon smiled as went to give me a hoof bump, only for his hoof to go through mine, "Oh right." "Man, it's gonna take a while for me to get used to being a ghost," I chuckled. "And it's gonna take a while for me to get used to being able to talk to one," Neon chuckled as well. "I think things will be a-okay." ... ... ... "...I'm gonna be a shit teacher."