Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.
Flight From Memories Chapter One:
Wake
Two years ago…
* * *
“I guess I do owe you some answers. Very well then, Premier. Ask away.”
“Let’s start with the obvious one; what am I?” I looked at my forelegs. “I’m obviously not a regular pony.”
My companion laughed, “No, Premier. You are so much more than that. You are the Voidborn Premier. A demon of the Void born of a mortal shell.”
I looked over myself. I definitely looked like a demon. My coat was the same flat black that the Void was notable for, my mane joined in the color scheme, save that one rebellious streak of rainbow. “Question two: why do I still have the streak in my mane?”
The other demon shook his head. “I do not know. Maybe it is because you kept your identity after changing, maybe it was a side effect of one of Celestia’s spells.”
Something in my brain clicked. “You said I was the Voidborn Premier. What does that mean?”
“You are the leader of the Voidborn, just as Nihility was before you.”
“Nihility! Where is that bastard, he promised me answers!”
“Nihility is no more. You now occupy the vessel he was contained in.”
I was struck momentarily speechless. Nihility was dead? Once I recovered, I asked my next question. “He said he was stuck in the Void. What did that mean?”
“You are lucky that Nihility saw this possibility before you died and told me what you need to know.” The demon sighed. “You are the product of two planes, an oddity. The Librarian needed someone that was not attached to the Weave to go and mess everything up. When she checked the Void, she found you, a being with the body and soul of a demon but the mind of a mortal. It would not have been long before you lost your identity to the Void, like the rest of us, so she pulled you out and fixed you.
“She did not need a demon, however, she needed a pony. So, when she saved you, she built a new body for you to inhabit and created Nihility to care for your body. This allowed her to speak with you and people around you, and provided her with a ‘booster’ of sorts for her reality warping abilities. She would have never been able to drop that chunk of ceiling at Rainbow Dash if you hadn’t been there. She also built in a kill switch, so that when she was done with you, you would be sent back here, to the Void.
“Nihility knew this, and the Librarian wanted this knowledge kept from you at all costs. He also knew that if he died, so would you. Permanently. If you had not died that day, she would have thrown the kill switch anyway in an attempt to wipe Nihility from existence before his knowledge could be a danger to her plans.
“When you returned to the Void, you replaced the ‘Nihility’ intelligence that she created to inhabit your true body. Welcome to your new home, Premier.”
* * *
Modern day...
* * *
“The theory right now is that your body is actually a body, and therefore physical. That means that you could, hypothetically, return to the Material Plane for an extended period of time without a host.”
I looked at the nearby portal. “Worst that could happen is that I’m a regular demon and not corporeal. I’m going for it.”
My companion, whom I had learned was named Teller, nodded, “I cannot stop you, Premier.”
I sighed, “How many times must I tell you that we don’t need titles, Teller?”
“How many times must I remind you that our titles are our names?” Teller muttered to himself.
I chose to ignore him, instead stepping through the portal. On the other side was a clearing in the woods. I closed my eyes and inhaled eagerly the smells of the forest.
“Are you a demon, mister?” a small voice interrupted my rediscovery of the world. I opened my eyes and turned toward the source of the voice. What I saw made me do a double take.
A filly, she couldn’t have been more than thirteen years old, was looking at me with hopeful, vibrant orange eyes. The tip of her blue horn barely came up to my chin as it poked from her short white mane. Her tail was done in a similar short fashion, and her cutie mark was hidden behind a pair of saddlebags.
“Mister?” she repeated. “Can you talk?”
“I can,” I replied. I looked around for another pony, one who could have opened the portal that I stepped through. It was just me, the filly, and the portal.
The filly bounced in excitement, “Yes yes yes yes yes yes! They told me I couldn’t do it!”
I held up a hoof, “Wait a second, are you saying that you opened this portal?”
Nodding, the filly didn’t stop bouncing.
“Young one, where did you learn how to open it? Furthermore, how do you have enough magic in your body to even open it?”
The filly shrugged, “Dunno. Don’t care. It worked!” Her grin widened. “Now you can beat up the bullies so they will leave me alone!”
I backed up a step. “You opened a portal to the most dangerous place in known existence to beat up a bully?”
The filly stopped bouncing, nodding hesitantly.
“Why didn’t you just tell an adult?” I asked.
She got tears in her eyes, “I did! I told the matron, but she just made fun of me too!”
My eyes softened, “Why do they make fun of you, young one?”
“I’m… different,” she replied hesitantly.
“I will not make fun of you, I promise. You can tell me.”
“I–I don’t like colts,” she mumbled. “I’m interested in fillies.”
I put a hoof under her chin, pushing her eyes to meet where mine should have been, “That is not something to be ashamed of, young one. That is something to be embraced. I’m sure a cute little filly like you won’t be alone for long.”
Her tears of despair quickly switched to tears of joy as she latched onto me. It seemed that all she wanted was for someone, anyone, to accept her as she was. I clutched her back, smiling. Eventually, however, she spoke. “You feel cold, mister.”
I chuckled, “You don’t have to be so formal, young one. My name is Streak.”
Her eyes widened and she pulled back to be looking at my face, “Are you the Streak? The one that fought against Celestia?”
I fidgeted, “Well, yes, I am. Why do you ask, young one?”
She fished around in her saddlebags for a moment before pulling out a newspaper. She spread it open, placed it on the ground, and pointed to the headline.
Elements in Disharmony?
I know you all know the Elements of Harmony. Who doesn’t? They are the six that provide our nation’s last line of defense against an outside force. What we haven’t known, however, is that they have not been united in years.
According to an inside source, the schism started two years ago, when Rainbow Dash started to regret their unanimous decision to give Celestia another chance, fearing it had driven away their new friend, Streak. After two weeks of searching, all the other Elements had given up hope of finding him. This caused a falling out between Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, whom Rainbow allegedly accused of abandoning him.
Everything seemed to get better for a while, but the two reportedly still could not stand to even be in the same room as one another, going as far as walking out of group functions purely because the other was there too.
You might wonder why this story is coming to light two years after it should have. The reason is that Rainbow Dash was just admitted yesterday into Ponyville Jail awaiting a court date for a charge of aggravated assault with intent to murder and one charge of assault. Her victims have not been released, but according to another source, the same afternoon Twilight Sparkle was admitted into Ponyville General with cracked ribs and horn, internal bleeding, a broken nose, and a concussion.
This reporter thinks there is a connection, but for now it is just speculation with a lot of evidence.
I planted my hoof firmly into my face. “Rainbow,” I groaned before sighing. “Alright young one, we’ll deal with your bully problem first. Mine doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere soon.”
Her eyes widened, “You’re really going to help me?”
“If I am in a position to help someone in trouble and don’t take it, what does that say about me? Also, if you were willing to reach into the Void once, who says you won’t be able to do it again? Next time, however, you might not be so lucky.” My gaze turned stern. “The Void is a dangerous place, young one, and you are not to experiment with it again.”
She hung her head, “Yes mister Streak.”
I nudged her as I settled onto the ground, “Now hop on and direct me to where you need to go.”
She squealed in excitement, hopping onto my back, “My name’s Star, by the way. Star Swirl.”
I froze for a second at the name, eyes widening in shock. She noticed, “Are you okay, mister Streak?”
“Fine,” I replied. “That name just brought back memories.”
“They don’t look like good ones,” she frowned.
I sighed, “I knew someone with that name. It is unimportant now.”
“You don’t treat it as unimportant.” I didn’t reply to that, but Star didn’t care. “I heard Celestia talk about Starswirl that day, you know.” I looked back at her. “Everyone did. I don’t know who Brick and Ironhoof were, but I assume they were important to you.”
“They were friends, like I thought Starswirl was.”
She was silent for a minute, so I looked back forwards and kept walking. Suddenly she spoke up, “That’s not my real name, you know.”
I raised my eyebrow, looking back at her. She blushed, explaining, “Star Swirl. When I was really young, I didn’t really know my name. All I knew is that I was good at magic, and the matron said I was going to be the next Starswirl.” She looked upwards. “I’m not as proud of that as I used to be.”
I chuckled at her reaction, “Starswirl was good at what he did. Don’t let one aspect of his life color your opinion of a complement. You are really talented. I personally have only known four people, not counting you, that had the potential to open a portal to the Void.”
She smiled sheepishly at me, “Just call me Star, though. I don’t much like anything that I’ve heard about Starswirl recently.”
“You have quite the advanced vocabulary, Star. You are quite intelligent for your age.” I remarked.
She blushed, “I spend my spare time in the orphanage’s library.” She got quiet. “They leave me alone there.”
I nudged her with my nose, “Hey, you won’t have to worry about them soon.” My voice got mock-serious. “Don’t get all pouty on me, young lady.”
She giggled, “Okay, Mister Streak.”
I chuckled, “Just Streak.” We remained silent, save for her directing me to her orphanage. It was weird, not having a voice in my head to talk to. I missed Nihility. I only knew him for a month two years ago, but he was literally always there whenever I needed advice, or even to just talk.
We reached the orphanage around sundown. As we passed by a sign labeled ‘Tall Tale Orphanage’, I looked back at Star. “Now I need you to head up there. You’re not going to be able to see me, but I find that ponies say things that they wouldn’t say around outsiders.” Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded in understanding. I smiled reassuringly at her, even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “I’ll be nearby at all times. You’ll be okay.” She nodded and walked up toward the orphanage.
I melded into the shadows, doing my best to hide the rainbow splash of color from being visible. I was only partially successful. Star walked with hesitance, head twitching to the side occasionally. I could tell she wanted to look back, if only for the reassurance that I was still there, but she resisted the urge.
An older-looking green mare was sitting by the front door, “There’s the queer. I was beginning to think you had finally run off. Unfortunately, you decided to come back. Go to your bunk, no supper for you.”
“Yes, matron.” Star said, walking toward the door, head hanging low.
I was stunned. I had expected I would have had to wait for at least a few minutes to catch her red-hoofed. “Well that was fortunate. I honestly expected you to have a shred of decency in you.”
The matron’s eyes widened as she looked around frantically for the source of the voice. She eventually looked at Star with an angry look on her face. “I don’t know how you did that or what, exactly, you did, but you will regret that.” The matron raised her hoof to hit the filly, only to find her hoof blocked by a leg of purest black.
“Boo,” I said, holding the mare as she tried to jump and run away. “Star, get your stuff. Your matron and I are going to have words.”
Star got a huge grin on her face and hugged me before she sprinted into the orphanage. I turned my attention to the matron. “What is your name?”
She sputtered, “Wha–what?”
“It is really a simple question. What. Is. Your. Name?”
“Tender–Tender Hoof.”
“Good. Now what is your job?”
“I care for the fillies and foals at the orphanage.”
“Good. Now can you tell me where you screwed up?”
“I–I,” Tender Hoof’s eyes dashed back and forth as she searched her brain for what she could have done wrong. “I don’t know!”
“Wrong answer. You helped isolate that poor filly.”
“You’re here because of that useless freak?” The look of disgust on Tender Hoof’s face was audible in her voice.
I felt my heartbeat speed up as I curled my hoof around hers tighter and tighter. Her face went from disgust, to confusion, then panic, and finally pain as my hoof tightened. She cried out and dropped, held up only by the hoof I was crushing in my own. I spoke as calmly as I could, which, honestly, wasn’t very. “Wrong. Answer.”
She gasped out, “Why are you doing this?”
“Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? You call a filly who was able to open a portal to the Void useless, and you ask me why. You call her a freak because of how she was born, and you ask me why?” My voice raised as I was talking, until I was nearly shouting. I was losing control quickly. I took a deep breath. “Now I’m taking Star with me, and you aren’t stopping me, do you understand?” She quickly nodded. “If I’m ever back here, I will not hesitate to end you, should you have not ended your current practice. Find another vocation, Tender Hoof. You will find the denizens of the Void to be less than merciful. You won’t get off with a sore hoof next time.” I dropped the mare’s hoof, and she quickly got up and limped inside.
About thirty seconds after Tender Hoof reentered her orphanage, a smiling Star came out the door, her saddlebags looking barely any more filled than they were before she went in. I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that everything?”
She nodded, “I had pretty much everything packed when I met you anyway, so I just grabbed some nonessentials and got out of there.”
As the two of us walked away, someone called out for us to stop. I turned around, raising an eyebrow. A colt that couldn’t be more than two years older than Star came running out. Star’s lip turned up in disgust. “What do you want, Hail Mary? Come to get one last shot in at the queer before she’s gone and you have to find another target?”
The colt, named Hail Mary, it seemed, smiled sheepishly before reaching into his saddlebags. He pulled out a sack filled with something, placed it on the ground, and walked back inside.
Star looked at the sack in confusion, before nudging it with her hoof. I half expected it to explode into some kind of foul-smelling concoction, but instead all that happened was the bag clinked. Star looked at me, and I gave her an encouraging nudge. She used her magic to open the sack, and gasped at what was inside.
She quickly pulled out a note in her orange aura, beginning to read it quietly. I walked up to see what the fuss was about, and gasped myself. Inside the sack was bits. Lots and lots of bits. Star just sat there, staring at the note, so I walked up behind her and read it over her shoulder. It was hastily scrawled, and the grammar was atrocious, but it was one of the most touching gestures I have seen.
star swirl
i wanted to apolagize for how we treeted you. in the bag is mony for train ride some where nice too live. i know its not enough but there is mony for to train ride’s so that you can go on train with you’re new dad.
hail mary
I looked at the sack of bits. “That’s more than two train rides’ worth of bits.”
A tear ran down Star’s cheek. “Math never was Hail Mary’s strong suit.”
I chuckled, “Neither was Equestrian, but he turned out alright anyway.”
She looked up at me, hopeful, but hesitant, smile on her face. “Is what he said right? Are you my new dad?”
I paused. I had never really thought about that. I couldn’t very well leave her on her own, now could I? At the same time, could I drag along an innocent filly in my quest to actually kill Celestia? I saw her hopeful smile start to fall, and my answer was found. “I guess it is, Star.”
I don’t think she could have smiled wider. Frankly, I don’t think I could have, either.