//------------------------------// // The Third Day: A Bountiful Train Ride // Story: To Live Again // by _No_One_Remains_ //------------------------------// From the Eyes of the Overlooked Assistant Dear Diary, Today was one heck of a busy one! I’ve been hard at work since before the sun came up! Twilight and her friends were doing their own work, I guess. I mean, if you can call that work, anyway. All they really did was try to convince that Vivi kid to come with us to Canterlot. Well, that and all the packing they had to do. Actually, now that I think about it, they really were busy all morning… But once we got on the train, they pretty much had the whole trip to relax. I mean, it’s not like they had to put up with her. I’m still having flashbacks! I guess it didn’t take much for them to convince the kid to come with us. It probably had a lot to do with his two weird friends. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re cool and all, but the white-haired guy is nothing but trouble! After what Twilight told me this morning, I’ve had my eyes glued to him. I’m not about to let whatever skeletons are in his closet hurt my friends! Like she almost did on the train ride. What was her name again? I mean, I remember the giant axe, but I think she was too busy threatening me for me to catch her name… No, wait, I remember it! It was…um…darn… Well, if I start from the beginning, I might remember! … Let’s see… I burped up the letter from Princess Celestia and hurried over to Sweet Apple Acres to give it to Twi. I ended up waking everypony up, but the letter was stamped with an emergency notice. She gave me one to send back, and once all her friends were awake she read it to us. It was a summons to the castle! Not even a request, it was a summons! So, naturally, she darted off in a hurry to get ready. The rest of the ponies hurried to pack their own things. You know, ‘the essentials’ as Rarity refers to them. Which basically means dozens of sets of clothes she won’t have time to wear. Oh well. But while the ponies were hurrying off to get ready, the strangers just kind of…walked around outside by the orchards. I hurried back to the library to help Twi. After about two hours of packing, unpacking, and checking things off of lists, we were finally ready to leave. As we were getting ready, she told me everything about yesterday, and how they were attacked by a monster. I was a little skeptical at first, but after seeing the panic in Canterlot, I’m starting to believe it more and more. Anyway, we met at the station at around noon to catch the very next train heading toward Canterlot. We loaded on, most of us sitting in one car, while the strangers decided to sit in the next car over. By that point, I was kinda curious about the white-haired guy. I mean, Twilight had told me about his powerful magic. In fact, I was starting to get a bit suspicious of him. After all, Ponyville had never been attacked by forest animals before he showed up a few weeks back. The train set off from the station, only a few passengers not summoned by Celestia actually riding. Our car was empty except for us, which was cool because we could talk about whatever we wanted. After we were in motion for a few minutes, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to join the strangers in their car. It was the emptiest I had ever seen a train car! Besides them, there was no one there! I heard a bunch of chatter from the next car, so I figured anypony that had been there moved away at the sight of such weird creatures. Anyway, they invited me to sit with them and enjoy the ride, so I said yes. Things got kind of weird not long after that, though. I got caught staring at the white-haired guy, and I think he almost got angry. If the kid hadn’t been there, he probably would’ve been a little scarier. I couldn’t help myself though! After what Twi told me, I wanted to keep my eyes on him to make sure he didn’t do anything bad! After a while, he finally got fed up with my glare. “Can I help you?” he snapped. I was kinda caught off guard by the sudden conversation, so it took me a sec to think of what to say. I finally settled on, “I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Spike.” I got up from my seat and approached him, holding out my claw. He looked a little surprised when he sighed, “My name is KooJah Kuja (he taught me how to spell it a minute ago). It’s a pleasure to meet you, Spike.” He reached out with one hand and we shook. Honestly, that was the first time I’d ever had a ‘handshake’ as a hello. “I’m Twilight Sparkle’s trusty assistant!” I cheered. Then, I leaned in close and whispered, “I kinda help keep her sane. She’s a sort of obsessive pony, y’know.” He chuckled in response, “I imagine so. Being smart can be a burden sometimes.” He waved a hand at the two pointy-hats beside him and added, “These two are VeeVee Vivi and Mr. 111, respectively.” The big one cheered, “Mr. 111; it’s a pleasure to meet you Spike!” The little one kept quiet for a second before finally looking up from the ground. He looked right at me and mumbled, “Vi…vi…” “He’s kinda quiet, ain’t he?” I remarked. Kuja sighed, “Yeah. I can’t blame him though.” He leaned down to me and explained quietly, “He can’t remember anything. I’m sure he’s just scared.” I suddenly felt really bad. I guess I’d be quiet if I didn’t have any idea what was going on. I kinda wanted to change the subject as fast as I could, so I turned to the bigger guy and chuckled, “So you’re a number, huh?” “Pretty much,” he said bluntly. Shrugging his shoulders, he stood up and stretched. “I mean, being a number isn’t bad. It’s better than being called Thorn.” I’m pretty sure he winked at Kuja just then. “More like a thorn in our sides,” he spat. Then, with a knowing glint in his eyes, he started laughing playfully. I was suddenly unbearably curious about him. He had a happy expression right after talking about somebody that annoyed him. I wanted to know why, but that’s kind of a weird question to ask. So, being the idiot I am, I ended up asking, “So what are you guys? Monsters?” Mr. 111 groaned, “I haven’t been called a monster since the last time I wandered outside Black Mage Village chasing after Bobby Corwen…” I heard a little bit of sadness in his tone towards the end. Had he really been called a monster back home? Vivi suddenly lurched from his seat, eyes glowing bright. He cheered, “Bobby Corwen! Boco!” Kuja flinched away, a look of absolute happiness on his face. The bigger fella did a small dance, laughing happily. The kid continued, “I remember him! He was the little yellow bird! He saved my life once…” Wait… A little yellow bird, huh? Now that I think about it…didn’t I see a weird chicken climb into Fluttershy’s bag before we left? I might’ve imagined it… Mr. 111 chuckled, “Of all the things to remember, you remember the little baby chocobo! That’s awesome!” He patted Vivi on the back in a ‘proud of you’ manner, looking right at Kuja. The white-haired stranger sighed, “Not only do you remember the bird; you remember an actual event involving him. That’s better than your memory of Eiko.” He placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, gripping gently. His smile grew even wider. “Wait…” Vivi mumbled. Suddenly, he darted forward again, breaking from Kuja’s grip. He cheered, “There’s some more! I remember…a number…” “…Number…?” I repeated curiously. He turned toward the large fella and groaned, “Two numbers! Thirty…Thirty… Oh, thirty-three! Mr. 33!” He started bouncing from foot to foot, overjoyed to be remembering stuff. I couldn’t help but feel happy for him. His friends looked at each other silently, waiting for the other number. Excitement was pretty obviously on their faces, though. Finally, after a few more seconds of thinking, Vivi whined, “I…can’t think of the other. I know it’s a number…but I don’t know which one.” Mr. 111 suddenly deflated, his excitement floating away in a sigh. He still looked happy for his friend, but he definitely wasn’t near as happy as before. He sighed, “Well, you’re halfway there, anyway.” “Can you remember anything about Mr. 33?” Kuja didn’t seem ready to accept such a sudden chain of memories. “Um…” the kid started, “…he had a friend: the other number I can’t remember. And they took care of Bobby Corwen while he was still an egg. I can’t remember the other number though…” It was pretty sudden. I almost missed it. But the bigger man fell to his knees and embraced the kid. It was pretty sentimental for the man. Wait…Mr. 111, huh? Was he the number Vivi couldn’t remember? Yeah, that makes sense! Suddenly, the way he reacted to Vivi’s memory makes me sad. I mean, he was still forgotten, but he hugged his friend. I guess friends stick together though. If hanging with Twi’s taught me anything, it’s that. Suddenly, I heard two loud thuds, and the chatter from the next car grew louder for only a few seconds. A voice pierced through the emotions with a scoff, “How touching! The baby knows a name!” Everyone shot their attention toward the source. The creature looked a lot like Kuja, except she was darker and had more meat on her bones. She had some kind of animal-pelt skirt around her waist and some sorta leather shirt draped on her shoulders. Most of the middle of her body was bare, except for a tight strip of white cloth wrapped around two large lumps just below her collar. There was a furry hat with a feather stuck through it resting on top of her dark red hair. Her gloves matched her shoulders, and behind her, hanging from a leather strap, was a ginormous iron-and-silver axe! I’m not really sure why, but I thought she was kinda cute… Well, I did, until she swung the axe at Mr. 111. I mean, I blinked, and suddenly the axe was wedged in the side of the car! Luckily she missed, but that was one serious swing! If Kuja hadn’t yanked the pair of pointy-hats back by their collars, I’m pretty sure we’d only have half of the numbered one! She recovered pretty fast, ripping the weapon from where it landed. “Ha! Nice reflexes, Kuja. I guess he He (Kuja told me to capitalize anytime she said ‘he’) wasn’t kidding when He said you handed it to those court fools. But what you don’t know is that He made me stronger than them!” Without even taking time to breath, she lunged forward, tackling me and crashing against the door to the previous car. Before I could blink, I was pinned to the door, her practically smothering me with her torso, the giant, suddenly scary axe resting just barely off of my throat. I squirmed just a little bit to see if I could get free, but it wasn’t happening. When she pressed the blade to my scales, I kinda froze in fear. I sorta hoped that, you know, maybe somepony in the other car would open the door and help me get free, but that was just too much to ask for! I mean, how could Twilight and the others have not heard that thud?! Well, whatever was distracting them, they weren’t helping me. Kuja tried to cast a spell at the lady, but when she pressed her body closer to mine and chuckled daringly, he stood down. I could smell her perfume right next to me. It kinda smelled like… The Everfree Forest, maybe? Or…maybe it was more like Poison Joke? She giggled in an admittedly cute tone, “That’s a good boy, Kuja! So much as move that arm again, and the little lizard dies.” She looked at me with a victorious smile on her face. That one word really ticked me off. That one, simple, degrading word set my stomach on fire. She called me a ‘lizard’! A ‘lizard’ of all things! She coulda said ‘reptile’ or ‘kid’, but she just had to say ‘lizard’! I roared, “I’m not a lizard, lady!” It was kinda cool what happened next. I guess I was so angry that the fire in my gut wasn’t just in my gut. Right when I finished screaming, a bunch of green flames spewed from my mouth and lit her hat on fire. She lunged away from me, swiping the hat to the ground with the handle of the axe, sending me to the floor without my restraint. The fire from her hat jumped down the handle and bit her glove, lighting it up in the same way. She started to panic. I guess dragon fire isn’t easy to put out, huh? Before I actually got back to my feet, she’d ripped both of her gloves off and tried stomping out the fire. Her fur shoes burst into flame just like the rest of her clothes had. The next thing I knew, she was darting toward me with her axe, a fire in her eyes. “You’re dead, you little prick!” I swallowed, pretty sure I was gonna die. Then, for some reason, everything turned pink. I closed my eyes, pretty sure I didn’t wanna see her kill me. The next thing I heard was a loud shriek of pain and a thud, followed by the sound of metal on metal. When I finally realized I was alive, I opened my eyes and looked for the girl. Vivi was shining a bright pink color. At least, I thought it was Vivi. He didn’t look anything like the kid did. He had large black wings on his back. The hat actually stood all the way up, and the jacket looked more like a feathered nightgown. For a split second, he turned to look at me, and his round golden eyes were actually small red slits. He mimicked a laughing motion before sending a burst of black fire at the now-grounded girl. She let out an ear-wrenching shriek before she started to melt into the floor of the train car. With a flash of white light, the evil figure that attacked her suddenly faded, and Vivi was back to his old self. Kuja and Mr. 111 were lying on the ground, stiff and breathless. As the kid fell to his knees, they suddenly sprang to life, darting toward the melting girl and catching him respectively. I heard Kuja scoff, “You’re an idiot if you actually thought you sounded like her. The real Lonnie Lani (hey, at least I finally remembered!) sounded a lot less like a whoar whore (whatever that is…).” He delivered a punch to the melting clump of whatever she was, drawing out a small gem with his fist. Mr. 111 groaned, “Another gem? Like the one on Meltigemini (I wasn’t even gonna try to spell that, so I left it blank and waited for him to help me)?” “Yeah,” he sighed. He looked a little sad right then. Maybe I should ask him why? Anyway, he crushed the gem in his hand and let the powder rain onto Lani’s puddle. He started to walk away when the girl’s voice began to call to them. It was…freaky! “Four days, Kuja! Four days, Vivi. Four days, Black Mage! Four days, Kuja. Four days, Vivi! Four days…and He will come.” I was instantly reminded of what Twi said the clowns’ last words had been. By the time I looked back at her, she was already gone. There was nothing left of her, not even the puddle where she melted. It was almost like she never even existed! After she was finally gone, Kuja turned back toward me and started a determined walk. He groaned, “We need to inform the ponies of what just happened. I’m certain Twilight will want to hear how Vivi saved your life, Spike.” He walked right past me, not even stopping to look down. He threw the door open to find our friends asleep in their seats. Mr. 111 walked over to us, carrying Vivi like a child. He chuckled, “Maybe that should wait until we get where we’re going.” He sat in the seat right by the door and set the kid beside him. Kuja nodded silently and took a seat right across from him. I closed the door and took a seat on the next bench. I wanted to listen to what they had to say. Every bit of information could be important, you know. “First Meltigemini, and now Lani…” “Are you thinking what I am?” “Maybe. But we can’t be sure.” “He remembered Eiko, 33, and Boco.” “Yeah. It just took some time.” “Maybe he’ll remember someone else now.” “Maybe.” They looked over at me with their faces scrunched up in confusion. “What’s wrong; you need something?” I wasn’t sure why they were looking at me. Kuja sighed, “You said you’re Twilight Sparkle’s assistant, right?” “Uh-huh!” He shared a careful look with the bigger man before continuing, “So you’ve probably read a lot of books. I wonder…” he stopped for a second, “…if you’ve ever read anything about magic spells that can erase memories.” I thought about it for a second before answering, “I can’t think of any off the top of my head. Maybe Twi can help.” I shook my head sadly and turned to look out the window. You know, usually Canterlot looks pretty from the outside. Usually it looks like a paradise hanging on a mountain. Usually, it isn’t covered in smoke with giant beasts flying all around it right outside of a large pink bubble! I must’ve let out a scream or something, because before I knew it, I heard shrieks and shouts coming from the other cars. Twilight and the other ponies darted into our car probably as soon as they woke up. Kuja and Mr. 111 were staring on in disbelief. I think they recognized some of the monsters flying around. I heard a loud screeching come from outside the train, and I remember being sent flying over Kuja toward the front of the car, and then everything went blank. … When I woke up, I was on Twilight’s back right outside Canterlot Castle. We were being told all the security measures the guards were putting in effect because of the monsters. I was kinda dazed, but I think he said something about other cities being attacked. Before I could get fully awake, we were escorted to our rooms in the castle and told to stay inside. I…wasn’t really tired because of my ‘nap’, so I went walking. I started writing this entry, and then Kuja came along. He looked sad, so I tried to cheer him up. He’s been helping me spell words and remember what all happened. My head’s still foggy, but I at least have it all written now. I can go to sleep now! Oh, Kuja asked me to write something that doesn’t make sense, but I’ll do it because he’s pretty cool. “Steiner” That’s it. That’s all he wanted me to write. I wonder what it means…