A Lost Hero

by Emerald Byte


Chapter 4: Hope For Tomorrow

Chapter 4: Hope For Tomorrow

Diamond Tiara galloped away frantically as three strange metallic looking stallions chased her through Ponyville square. She quickly darted between two buildings only to find a dead end. As she turned around to try and escape, the three ponies were already at the entrance.

Diamond Tiara hunched down and began to cry as the three ponies locked their eyes on her, she screamed at the horrors filling her mind. “Back Off!” Diamond Tiara looked up to see the three ponies get knocked aside as some metal object rammed into them and sent them unconsciously flying through the air. In their place a familiar figure skidded to a stop.

Kald turned to Diamond Tiara with a serious face but quickly smiled. “Don’t worry, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll keep you safe.” Diamond Tiara galloped to Kald and hugged him crying. “Hey Kald!” Kald turned around to where the voices had come from to see the three cutie mark crusaders galloping his way.

“Kald I’m glad we found you! What's going on? Who are these metal ponies, and who is that weird pony in the sky?” the three fillies asked with quivering worry in their voices. Kald looked at them and gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll handle it. I will keep everypony safe, but would you three like to help me?” The crusaders stood up straight as if at attention. “Yea! What can we do to help?” Kald looked around town seeing ponies hiding under carts and running frantically. He knew that he wouldn't be able to fight and calm them down at the same time.

Kald turned to the crusaders, “Can you get everypony calmed down and back into their homes, or at least to a safe place?” the crusaders put a hoof to their heads in salute, “You can count on us.” Applebloom said as the three fillies darted off getting ponies attention and getting them to safety.

Kald looked at Diamond Tiara who had finally stopped crying. “You go with them too ok?” Diamond Tiara wiped her tears away and galloped off after the crusaders, “And stay safe!” he called before catching a glimpse of what seemed like another dimensional tear happening at the bridge just outside of the square near town hall. Kald pulled himself together and took off.

Kald knew he had to hurry to where the dimensional tear was. He had to stop the metallic ponies before they could do any damage.

Kald soon arrived at the site of the tear just in time to see the last of what looked like a group of five earth ponies exit as the tear closed behind them. Kald spun up his rings and fired off an impact bullet, scoring a hit one of them as they began to charge his way.

Kald dropped down and swept the legs out from one as it lunged at him. He then rolled to the side to dodge a vicious stomp unleashed by one of the downed pony’s comrades. Kald quickly rose up from underneath the one that tried to flatten him and roughly threw it at another, causing them to both fall unconscious due to the impact. The previously downed pony sprung to its hooves as it shook off its daze and charged toward the human, bent on bowling him over. Kald saw this however and readied himself, earning a scoff of amusement from the pony. The scoff was soon replaced by a neigh of surprise as Kald grabbed his assailant’s neck and flipped it over the bridge and into the river using its momentum.

“A valiant effort puny human. However, it is all for naught. Give up now and accept your death peacefully.” said the image of Teresia that still loomed in the sky.

“You just wait, I’ll show you. I’ll protect everypony!” Kald exclaimed with confidence. Teresia just laughed as she dispatched another squad of her earth ponies, keeping her gaze on Kald as she did so.

“You are good human, but you are not prepared. You will die alone!” Teresia laughed maniacally as a dimensional tear opened in the sky and metal pegasus ponies began to fly out and head towards ponyville square, Kald saw the crusaders funneling frightened ponies through the square to their homes. “No!” Kald yelled angrily as he spun up the rings on his legs and sprinted off back to town.

***********

Scootaloo looked up to see a metallic pegasus diving towards her at dangerously high speeds, she screamed and began to run. Just as the pegasus was about to catch her, Boom! The pegasus was knocked away by what seemed like a burst of air, sending the pegasus pony crashing into a building.

Scootaloo turned to see Kald standing at the edge of the town square with his rings spinning slightly. Her face brightened at the sight of her savior, but quickly turned to worry as she saw Kald breathing heavily. She could see he was getting tired and knew he couldn’t keep this fighting up alone.

Kald looked up and saw three other metal pegasi. As exhausted as he was, Kald knew he had to do something. Spinning up the rings in his legs again, he smiled to himself at the idea that formed in his head as he prepared to jump. He had always been good at making things up on the go before so why start with a plan now? He laughed a little to himself as he launched himself high into the air using the stored energy of the rings.

Kald soared towards the middle pegasi and grabbed its wing to redirect his jump. Due to his speed, he caused the pegasus to spin mid-air and, once he was right-side-up, jumped off with a harsh kick to its flank so as to engage his next target. As he sent the pegasus spiraling to the ground, he was sure to drag a handful of feathers with him, being sure that the flying pony wouldn’t be able to recover in the air. Unfortunately, the other two pegasi were now alert of him and quickly flew out of his reach, leaving nothing for him to grab but air.

Kald’s heart began to sink as he could feel the pull of gravity take hold of him and looked down to see just how high he was above Ponyville. Everypony looked like specs but were getting larger by the second. Kald turned to see the other metal pegasi as they watched him fall with a sneer adorning their metallic faces.

But to Kald’s surprise and relief he saw the only thing he had hoped to see this far up. In a flash of rainbow, the metal pegasi were knocked away and sent towards the ground, passing by Kald as he continued to fall. He soon felt the strength of a set of hooves under him as Rainbow Dash had once again made it to his rescue.

“Wow, don’t you ever think?” Rainbow asked mockingly to Kald as they began their descent back to the ground. Kald laughed and smiled, “Well, thinking things through has never been a strong suite of mine.” Rainbow and Kald shared a laugh as they finally touched down. “Don’t worry about the ponies in the sky, they’re all mine!” Rainbow said narrowing her eyes and having a dare devil grin stretch across her face. Kald shook his head with a sigh, “I’ll keep everypony safe on the ground.” and with that Rainbow shot off into the sky, taking down another metal pegasus on her way up.

With Rainbow Dash here, Kald knew the others would be close behind. With a breath of relief he turned back to the square to see that almost everyone was back in their homes. Spinning up his rings, Kald ran back towards the town bridge where he saw another tear appear. Even though his body was getting exhausted, Kald knew he only had to keep things up a little longer. On his way to the bridge, Kald had noticed that the ponies he had defeated seemed to have disappeared. Kald wondered where they could have gone but shook the thoughts off. He knew there was no time, he had to focus on the threat at hand.

***********

As Kald kept the metal earth ponies at bay from ponyville, his body grew more and more exhausted. At the moment, there were no enemies and he took what little time he had to lean against a house and catch his breath. All too soon, Kald heard the scream of somepony off near the outer parts of town. Taking one last long breath, he quickly spun up his rings and dashed off in the direction of the scream.

He soon found an aquamarine colored unicorn mare backed to a wall by a metal earth pony. Kald spun up his rings, preparing to fire another impact bullet. He fired but the continuous strain had finally caught up. Once his impact bullet was unleashed, he fell to a knee and caught himself before his face hit the dirt. He looked up to see if the young mare was alright but saw that he had missed his target. He immediately rolled to the side to avoid the metallic pony’s charge. Kald quickly whirled around just in time to block the back-kick sent towards him but the force knocked him on his back.

Kald looked up to see the metal pony standing over him as it raised its hoof and readied himself for the oncoming strike. Just as the hoof was about to connect, TWANG! The metal pony stumbled to the side and fell to the ground.

“Are you alright?” The unicorn asked as she dropped a tree branch from her teeth and offered a helping hoof. “Yes, thank you, uhh,” he started as he accepted her hoof making her giggle. “Lyra, my name is Lyra,” Kald stood and found his footing, “Thank you Lyra, but hurry. You need to return home and stay safe.” the unicorn nodded and darted off. She didn't need to be told twice.

Kald knew he couldn’t fight much longer but forced himself to walk towards town square. He wanted to check and make sure everypony was alright. Before he could get very far, Kald felt a sharp pain in his back and the force from the blow launched him into the air.

Kald turned his head to see a new tear that he hadn’t noticed and coming out of it were metal unicorns. “Are you kidding m- UGH!,” Kald was interrupted as another magic bolt struck him from the side sending him soaring towards ponyville. Instead of crashing into a wall like he expected, he felt himself collide with something fairly soft and was slowing down considerably.

Kald looked around to see Twilight and the rest of his friends once Fluttershy set him down gently on the ground. “I’m glad we got here just in time.” she said in her soft voice. She pulled out a small vial from the saddle bag at her side and handed it to Kald. “Here is a little medicine, it’s not much but I hope it helps.” Kald drank the medicine and thanked Fluttershy as he began to stand back up.

Applejack pushed Kald back down with a hoof, “Oh no you don't pardner’, you sit right here and take a break. You’ve done enough for us already. Let us handle some while ya rest up a bit.” Kald looked at all the serious faces of his friends and smiled, “Thank you.” He said as he sat against the town square fountain. “Oh, I’m not a fighter,” Fluttershy began to trot over to the mass of frightened ponies the crusaders were trying to lead to safety, “but I’ll make sure everypony gets to safety.” Twilight nodded and the four mares galloped off to defend ponyville.

As Kald rested he could slowly start to feel his body regain its strength even though it was still hard to move. “By Celestia look out, she is coming down!” Kald looked to the crowd and saw that they were looking up at the sky. Kald followed their gaze and soon spotted a falling Rainbow Dash. With eyes widening, Kald tried to get up but his body felt so heavy. “No, I have to catch her!” he thought as he struggled to get to his knees, “Come on! Move!” he thought angrily to himself as Rainbow Dash continued to fall.

Rainbow was barely conscious from the blow she took to her head from the flying metal pony. She knew she was falling but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Just as she thought she would soon collide with the ground, it seemed as if something caught her early. It was soft and warm, but it felt like she was still in the air.

Rainbow opened her eyes to see that not only was she not falling anymore, but she was in Kald’s arms in a decent to the ground. Rainbow blushed and laughed a little, “Seems like you saved me this time.” but her words didn't seem to reach Kald. She then noticed the faint green glow in his eyes and the stern, angry expression on his face.

“Are you ok?” Rainbow asked as she was gently placed on the ground. Kald turned to her and said, “Yea, I'm fine, but things are about to get a little more even.” He began to walk away to where Twilight was beginning to have trouble with some metal unicorns.

Kald spun up his rings faster than he had ever before as he continued walking. He raised his hands to his sides as air began to form in the palms of his hands. Kald brought his hands together so that the balls formed together and yelled, “Impact Wave!” A cone of air was blasted from his hands and proceeded to collide with the metal unicorns, sending them flying away in one powerful hit.

Twilight turned to see Kald but as soon as she saw him he was gone, quickly leaping his way to where Applejack and Rarity were.

Kald landed in front of the metal earth ponies and unicorns, impeding their advance towards the two mares. Kald spun up his rings with a confident smirk. Boom! A loud and powerful explosion of confetti and streamers blasted the enemy ponies away.

“Can’t have a party without me and my Party Cannon!” Pinkie Pie cheered walking over with her cannon in hoof. “Well then I guess I’ll get the pegasi.” he said with a smirk as he turned and raised two fists to the air and spun up his rings.

“Impact Bullet Barrage!” Kald yelled as he unleashed a hail of impact bullets rapidly into the sky, bombarding the pegasi with attacks and taking out a good number. One managed to swoop down and collide with Kald at high speed. He was sent sprawling across the ground due to the impressive force and was now a fair ways away from Pinkie and the rest.

The pegasus slammed a hoof down on Kald’s chest forcing all the air out of his lungs as it continued to crush down on Kald. He yelled in pain but couldn't move his body to resist the pegasus.

The metal pegasus raised its hoof and slammed down on Kald’s chest repeatedly, bringing Kald closer and closer to unconsciousness as blood began to escape his mouth.

“Oh no you don’t!” Kald heard an unfamiliar voice yell as he saw the metal pegasus quickly swiped away in a streak of blue and gold.

Kald was helped to his feet by a pegasus wearing a blue suit with what seemed to be gold trim on the hooves and some flight goggles, “Don’t worry, reinforcements have arrived. Wonderbolt Spitfire here,” Kald smiled and thanked Spitfire for her assistance as she took flight to fight the metal pegasi along with her and the other Wonderbolts.

***********

Kald looked close and not only saw the Wonderbolts helping in the fight, but royal guard pegasus were too. As he headed back to town, there were more royal guard ponies and even some town ponies helping fight back what seemed to be a never ending horde of metal ponies.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew over and helped Kald back to the others and sat him down to rest. “I’m glad we got reinforcements, we were almost done for.” he said with relief as he relaxed a little.

Kald noticed Rainbow was staring at him. “What is it Rainbow?” he asked, “Your eyes changed back there. You know when you saved me, but they're normal now, what was that?” Kald shook his head at her question. “I don’t know, I remember seeing you fall and I just wanted to move so bad so I could save you. My body just went by itself.” Kald stared at the rings around his arm wondering to himself what had happened.

“Oh come on, you must know more than that.” Rainbow egged on, Kald just shook his head. “No, I’m sorry I don’t. It was like an instinct, I barely realized I was doing it.” Twilight trotted over to where Kald and Rainbow were talking, “Sorry to interrupt, but we can’t keep this up forever Kald.” Kald looked to see that even with all the ponies they had taken down, there were still just as many if not more.

“I know, but I don’t know how to stop them.” Kald sighed. “Well Dearie I might have a solution.” Rarity chimed in as Kald and the rest turned to listen, “You see I’ve noticed something. Teresia’s big face up there always seems to have some extra pegasi around it. I bet if you could fly through that, you could face her directly. That should stop them.” Kald stared on, surprised by her amazing observation. Kald soon saw a metal object coming his way and reached out and caught it, realizing it was his board. “I found this when I was helping everypony.” Fluttershy said softly. “Thanks this is just what I needed.” Kald said as he put the board to his back and he stood up, transforming it into the twin turbine boosterpack he had made earlier.

“Darling you can't make it by yourself.” Rarity said to Kald, “He won’t be doing it himself,” Rainbow said stretching her wings, “I’ll clear the skies for ya, you just make a straight shot for that dimensional whatever.” Kald looked to Rainbow Dash with surprise and a happy grin on his face. “Yea but that won’t be enough.” Kald said as he retracted the rings on his jetpack and jumped into Pinkie Pie’s party cannon. “Hey Pinkie aim me at Teresia. Rainbow, when I launch, clear them out of the way I'm going in.” Pinkie Pie appeared out from behind the cannon, “Okie Dokie Loki!” she said turning Kald towards Teresia and quickly firing her cannon.

As Kald soared through the air, he saw Rainbow quickly zoom by and clear out the metal pegasi blocking his path. Kald soon spun and deployed the wings of his booster pack and blasted off, hitting the dimensional tear at top speed. Feeling a resistance of what felt like a plastic like material, Kald gave another good burst from his boosterpack and felt the resistance fade. He knew he had busted through and made it to Teresia’s pocket dimension.

***********

“Hey you, wake up!” Kald heard as he was awoken from his nap. He looked at his surroundings in confusion. “Where am I?” he thought to himself. “Hey! No sleeping on the job you worthless peon!” Kald remembered now he was just a nameless peon who worked at a factory assembling parts for machines.

Kald began working on assembling parts again. “Sorry Warden.” he said as the bulky man walked away. Kald got back into his normal routine as he began to slack off again. “What was I doing? Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?” Kald thought to himself again before getting back to work as the warden came by to check on him again.

***********

Teresia laughed maniacally as she showed Kald suspended in a sphere of magic in her pocket dimension. His eyes were in a dazed state as if he were in some sort of trance. Teresia's voice boomed in triumph “See how your hero falls at my power!”

“Why you! What did you do to Kald!?” Rainbow yelled angrily.

“I have locked your hero in a little dimensional illusion. He is trapped within his own mind that I can control and is completely helpless.” Teresia said, laughing at her victory.

“Come on Kald, wake up!” Pinkie yelled at the top of her lungs while hopping up and down. “We need your help, so wake up!” Twilight walked over to Pinkie Pie. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Well isn’t it obvious? Kald is in trouble so we need to help him. I’ll scream and yell at the top of my lungs to get him to snap out of it.” Pinkie replied while still yelling.

Twilight looked back up to the image of Kald in the sky. “Come on girls, we’ve gotta help too.” she said to the others as she joined Pinkie in yelling.

Rainbow quickly flew around houses and to ponies still in the streets. “Come on everypony, Kald needs our help. Yell for him as loud as you can so we can bring him back.” she urged on the other ponies. She noticed that there seemed to be less of the metallic ponies but shrugged it off as her imagination. Once she got everypony she could find to start yelling, Rainbow joined in herself to call for Kald.

***********

Kald put his stuff away as he returned home from work to his little rickety house, but for some reason he couldn’t shake the feeling he was forgetting something important. He tried to ease his mind by laying down in his bed and turned on his radio to hear the broadcast.

Kald lay in the bed trying to relax as the radio scanned channels for a good reception. “Kald you’re awesome!” Kald perked up at what he had thought he heard from the radio but soon only heard static as it kept going through the frequencies.

“Kald the newcomer is the next contestant in this round....” again Kald knew he heard it this time but what was this? He was a nobody, what were these broadcasts? What did they mean?

Kald jumped out of bed and began to run to the factory that he worked at. He had to know, what was it that he couldn’t remember? The warden must know, he had too.

As Kald burst into the factory, the warden was standing in the middle of the assembly room. “What are you doing here? Go back home.” Kald walked over to him and looked the warden in the eye. “Who am I? Why can’t I remember who I was before?” The warden laughed at Kald’s questions. “You can't remember anything because there isn't anything to remember. I dragged you here off the streets and gave you a job.” Kald looked to the ground at his feet pondering if what he heard was the truth.

Kald clenched his fists in anger, there was no way what the warden had said could be the truth. Kald’s eyes strayed to a door he never remembered seeing before; having the words “Keep Out” painted along the top with large letters. Kald wasn’t sure why but he felt drawn to the door, like he knew his answers were behind it. Kald quickly pushed passed the warden in a mad dash to the door.

“Hey brat, stop! You can't go in there!” yelled the warden as he jumped over assembly lines and grabbed one of Kald’s legs. “Let go!” Kald grunted as he struggled to get free of the bulky man’s grasp before kicking the warden in the face, freeing himself of the huge man’s iron grasp. Kald quickly got up and raced for the door, swinging it open once he got to it. Surprised it was unlocked, Kald quickly ran through the door and slammed it shut behind him.

When Kald turned around, he was left in shock. There was nothing here, just empty white space. He turned back around only to notice the door was gone.

“So you made it, I was wondering when you would get here.” said a voice from behind him. Kald turned back around and saw a figure walking his way. Kald tried to see what it was as it got closer but once the mysterious figure finally made it to him, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was as if he was staring in a mirror, the figure looked exactly like him.

The man had a smirk spread across his face at Kald’s wide eyed expression. “Who are you?” Kald asked astonished. The man chuckled and looked him in the eye. “Can’t you tell? I'm you.” Kald’s mouth dropped at what the man just said. “But your eyes are green, you can't be me.” The man laughed again. “Well I guess you could say I'm more like a part of you.” The man walked over to Kald and patted him on the back. “I’m glad you decided to quit wasting time here. You got friends counting on you, don't let them down.” As the man spoke his words, Kald saw an image of six ponies in front of him and then more images of other ponies. “Wait who am I?” Kald said as he turned to look at the man but he was gone, it was as if he never even showed.

“Come on, you already know the answer, now don’t keep them waiting.” said the man’s voice as it echoed through the empty space. “I’ll see you in the mirror kid.” It echoed again with a more joking tone.

Kald looked down at his hands and then back to where the images had appeared. He clenched his fists and looked back to the images with a smile on his face. “He was right, I do know who I am.” Kald said to himself as he walked towards the image of the first six ponies he saw.

***********

“Look, they’re retreating,” said Soarin’ as him and the rest of the Wonderbolts took down a few more metal pegasi before they retreated into the dimensional tear.

The ponies cheered as they saw the full retreat of the metal ponies as everypony began to gather in the town square.

Teresia laughed, “You fools, did you think you had won?,” she said in her booming voice as the dimensional tear that showed her face seemed to shatter. Another tear opened up, one that was directly to her form, the suspended Kald, and a large build up of magic.

Teresia laughed maniacally as she looked up to the giant magic bolt. “This is your doom my ponies, this is my eraser bolt! It will obliterate you and any evidence of this human from existence, starting with your precious human.” Teresia turned her gaze to Kald, “Now watch as he is hopelessly killed in front of your very eyes!” She yelled as she directed her horn forward, causing the magic bolt to descend towards Kald and ponyville.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took off only to be caught by the tail by Applejack. “Let me go! I gotta save him!” Rainbow protested struggling against AJ. “No can do Sugarecube, we just have to stake our hopes that Kald will come through.” Rainbow landed and looked on as the magic bolt was about to come into contact with Kald. “Come on Kald, you can do it,” she whispered to herself.

As the magic bolt went to envelop Kald it seemed to stop and everyponys’ jaws dropped in suspenseful fear. Their fear quickly changed to cheers as they saw Kald’s eyes open.

Teresia’s face twisted with anger. “How, how could you escape my trap? How can you still fight?!” Kald smirked back at Teresia. “Don’t underestimate me, I am capable of way more than you can believe.” Kald replied defiantly. Teresia was taken aback by Kald’s sudden burst of confidence. “But how, you’re just a human.” Kald glared at her and Teresia saw that he had changed. Kald’s iris in his left eye was green and gave off a faint glow. “I am not just a human. My name is Kald Valsarus!” Kald yelled with confidence as his booster pack revved up and blasted Kald forward pushing back the magic bolt.

“I finally understand, my body is resistant to magic which makes it like an armor. My rings and my booster pack run off my body. So as long as I have the will to fight, I can keep going and with my power focused in my hands, I will take this bolt and send it right back at you!” Kald yelled as his rings spun faster allowing him to push the bolt back a little farther.

Teresia gritted her teeth. “No, you will not win!” as she struggled to force the bolt forward, stopping Kald’s advance and slowly starting it back towards ponyville. “Ha! See human you cannot win, it’s over!” Teresia laughed.

Everypony in ponyville watched as Kald struggled to hold back the magic bolt. He was losing ground and the bolt continued to slowly advance towards them.

“Come on Kald, you can do it!” Rainbow yelled. “Yea, you can’t lose! We still gotta party afterwards!” Pinkie added. “And don’t you dare make my hard work on your new clothes go to waste!” Rarity yelled up. More and more cheers continued to join in as everypony started yelling words of encouragement up to Kald.

***********

As the words of his friends and many other ponies reached Kald’s ears, he smirked and glared up to Teresia as the words gave him strength, Kald revved up his rings and booster faster giving propelling him forward enough to stop the bolt in its tracks, “Not yet, you haven't won yet,” Kald yelled at Teresia.

Teresia’s face took on a look of fear. “How? Where do you get this strength? What drives you to fight, you have nothing to fight for!” she yelled at him.

Kald kept holding the bolt at bay. “That doesn't matter, as long as there is a tomorrow I will keep fighting!” Teresia stepped back at his words. “But there is nothing for you, why do you try so hard to protect them? They aren't even your species!”

Kald could feel the booster pack beginning to fail. He moved the rings from his legs and had them attached to the twin thrusters on his pack, spinning them faster and pushing them to their limits. He sent another glare toward Teresia as he struggled to hold the bolt. “Because they're my friends! It doesn't matter who or what they, are I will protect them!”

Teresia stared at Kald, watching as he tried with all his might to hold back the magic bolt headed towards Equestria. “You are alone here, give up! You cannot stop it!" Teresia yelled as she used the last of her strength to push the bolt forward.

Kald yelled as all his rings began to spin faster as he pushed the bolt even harder, seeming as if to stop it's advance once again. "Shut up! My friends are here, they’re right here with me! At my back and in my heart, pushing me on as they believe in me! I can't and won't fail, my friends are waiting for me to come home so I won't give up! As long as I have hope and the will to fight, nothing is impossible!"

Teresia looked at Kald surprised "Do you think you have the will to best me? I sacrificed myself and my own people to protect Equestria! I kept us alive as husks of our former selves in the barrier I created! You don't even know who you are, how can you keep fighting?"

Kald just smirked, "Your right, I don't know my past, but I know who I am right here, right now, at this moment, this minute, this second, and I will keep moving forward. I will fight for the past I have forgotten and for the future that has yet to come, bound together with my new friends and the hope they have placed in me. I fight to give hope for tomorrow!"

Teresia's eyes widened with shock as she yelled with stress in her voice "I already told you, it's hopeless you cannot stop it!"

As Kald was pushed back by the bolt Kald's smirk widened. "You're right, I can't stop it." As he pushed himself back from the bolt, Kald used four of his rings to make a sphere to encircle himself and the magic bolt. The area inside the rings glowed a faint white as both he and the bolt stopped moving.

“What are you doing?” Teresia asked with a look of shock. “I created a stasis field with my rings to hold me and your bolt in place.” Kald laughed. “Was this your plan all along?” she snarled getting Kald to laugh again. “Nope,” he replied as he made the rings making the stasis field spin faster, making the bolt discharge in the ring. “I’m just making this up as I go.”

Teresia looked at Kald angrily, “What are you doing to my bolt?” Kald simply smirked back at her. “I’m accelerating the particles in the stasis field.” Kald used the other four rings and created a funnel from the bolt to his chest. “And now I'm going to break down your magic down into raw magic and force it inside my body.” Kald said as the four funnel rings began to spin at high speeds, all opposite of each other tearing the bolt apart and breaking it down.

Kald gritted his teeth as the magic was forced into his body, “With the stasis field accelerating my particles into an open state, I can use the other rings to completely break down your magic and force it inside me. Like you said, I can’t stop it, so the next best thing is absorbing it. I will bear this world’s burden on my own two shoulders!” Kald yelled as he gritted his teeth and began to scream at the increasing pain from more and more magic being forced into his body.

Teresia watch in shock at what Kald was doing. She couldn’t believe that one would go so far to protect something they don’t belong to. Teresia felt something stir in her chest, something she thought lost long ago, something she had forgotten.

As the final bits of magic were forced into Kald, the rings disbanded and disappeared leaving Kald and Teresia face to face in the air. Kald’s arms went limp down at his sides as he looked up to Teresia and smiled as his eyes closed. A few seconds later he began to fall backwards and down towards ponyville.

Kald was barely conscious as he felt himself falling through the sky. “Oof!” Kald exhaled as he felt an impact to his stomach. “Don’t worry I got ya.” He heard Rainbow say. Kald opened his left eye and turned his head to Rainbow who looked surprised, “Thank... you,” Kald managed to say before slipping into unconsciousness with a smile.

***********

Rainbow Dash landed and laid Kald down amongst everypony. “Twilight he’s not dead is he?” Rainbow asked frantically. Twilight trotted over and put an ear to Kald’s chest. Silence fell as everypony waited for Twilight’s answer.

Twilight lifted her head, “No Rainbow Dash, Kald’s not dead. He’s just unconscious.” A sigh of relief released amongst the crowd as everypony was relieved at the news.

“Why you! Come ‘ere’”, Applejack yelled as she galloped towards Teresia as she landed behind the group of ponies “Whoa, Applejack.” Twilight said as she lifted AJ up with her magic and floated her back to the group. Teresia raised a hoof and spoke, “I no longer mean you harm ponies,” Rainbow snorted. “Yeah right, like we would trust you.” she said with a glare. “Wait, I know it’s strange but I can tell she is telling the truth.” Twilight said stopping Rainbow Dash.

Teresia walked over to the group of ponies. “Magic is strong in you I see, to be able to sense my intent.” Twilight looked at Teresia skeptically. “So why have you decided to stop your attack?” she asked.

Teresia looked at Kald lying unconscious on the ground with a smile still on his face. “Because this human reminded me of something I had forgotten about long ago. Something I never dreamed I would feel again.” Twilight looked at Teresia puzzled at what she had said. “What’s that?” Teresia looked at Twilight, who saw that Teresia was different then before. She now had iris’s returning to her eyes and that emotion was now showing. “Hope... this human reminded me of hope. I now see that my actions were wrong.”

“So what will you do now?” Twilight asked, Teresia looked up to the sky. “I will look for a way to turn my kin back to normal, even if I must travel all across Equestria and through different dimensions in order to discover a way.” Twilight was again surprised at the new found emotions of Teresia, “But what about the white space?” Teresia looked back to Twilight. “I no longer have the magic required to sustain the white space. Kald has taken much of my magic and I am severely weaker for it. But as for you, may I share my dimensional knowledge with you?”

Twilight perked up with interest. “Of course but how?”

Teresia’s horn began to glow with a silvery aura. “If you would allow me, I will use my magic to give you everything I know of dimensional magic.” Twilight lifted her horn to touch Teresia’s, accepting the knowledge she was willing to share.

There was a flash and Twilight took a step back. “Wow, I never imagined it was even possible. this wealth of information is fascinating.” Teresia smiled at Twilight. “Yes it truly is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight looked at Teresia with shock. “How did you know my name? I never told it to you.” Teresia gave a slight giggle. “No you didn’t but sharing knowledge is not strictly a one way street. While our minds were connected, I obtained the knowledge of your name.” Twilight stood amazed at what she was told fascinated, with hopefully learning this herself one day.

Teresia looked again to Kald. “I regret that I cannot undo what that brave human has done to himself.” Twilight looked at Teresia confused. “What do you mean?” she asked getting a sigh from Teresia. “I’m sure you could feel that Kald was not a magical creature, forcing in so much magic into his body will surely kill him.” Twilight looked to Kald with worry in her eyes,

“Is there nothing that can be done?,” Teresia shook her head, “I’m sorry Twilight. I must leave you now to attend to my injured kin while my dimension still stands, till we meet again Twilight.” Teresia nodded her head to Twilight as she took flight and disappeared into a dimensional tear.

Twilight looked back at Kald as she walked over to the group of ponies, “Come on girls, let’s get Kald back to the library so he can rest. He’s has had a long day.” she said somewhat uneasily to her friends, wondering if what Teresia said was true. What would happen to Kald in the next few days?