//------------------------------// // Return // Story: "Is that you, my love?" // by Hopefullygoodgrammar //------------------------------// Author’s Note: I don’t own MLP or Amnesia: Justine.                                                          Return Alois sighed in relief as he stepped off the train and took in the familiar scents of Ponyville, Celestia had sent them back to await further instructions, having told them that she wanted more details before she made any decisions. Alois allowed himself to be led to Twilight’s house by Fluttershy, normally he would have protested as he wanted to test out his cane on his own, but he sensed that the meek pegasus was troubled and needed something to distract her. Once they entered the library Alois excused himself and went to the bathroom to clean up. Getting into the shower was a bit difficult, figuring out how to turn it on took him 5 minutes and trying to make the water hot using the knobs took him another 3. After what seemed like a small eternity the water reached a temperature that he liked, taking his clothes off he stepped in and allowed the hot water to wash the grime off of his skin. As he washed himself he was happy to discover that he was actually gaining weight, he could still feel his ribs, but it now felt like they were cushioned by small amounts of fat, At least I’ll fare a bit better once winter comes he thought as he let the water rinse the soap off of his back. The scars also felt quite a bit less inflamed and most of the less severe ones had faded to near nonexistence, Alois also felt hair returning to his pate at last, he had no clue why it had taken it so long to start growing back, but it was comforting nonetheless. Now for the difficult part, Alois gently peeled off the blindfold and tenderly traced the scars around his sockets, he winced as he remembered the agony, getting your eyes melted out of your skull was a special kind of pain, one that stuck with you long after the actual pain had faded. Alois retracted his hand and then shut the water off, after drying himself off and putting his clothes back on he went downstairs and almost immediately bumped into someone. “Hey TwiiiiiioooohhhhmmmmysweetCelestia!!!”  said a voice near his knees. Alois leaped back with a strangled yelp, he heard the sound of hooves coming down the stairs along with Twilight’s frantic breathing, “Spike? What’s wrong? Are you- oh hi, Alois.” Spike? I’m sure I’ve heard that name before… oh, he’s Twilight’s dragon assistant! How could I have forgotten about that? “It’s you! Why are you here?” asked Spike, sounding a bit scared. “This is Alois. He’s a little…. different, but he’s nice.” said Twilight, adding “And he doesn’t eat souls or brains.” as an afterthought. “Whuh?!” came the young dragon’s well-spoken retort.  “Sorry for scaring you Spike..” said Alois, extending his hand and hoping that  the young dragon would shake, he was relieved to feel a cool, scale-covered hand meet his own, Alois marveled at the blunt talons, the four fingers and the overall softness of the hand, it was definitely a child’s hand, Alois had never been very good with children and he prayed that Spike wouldn’t prove himself to be as annoying as most human children he had encountered, I think the only children I’ve ever gotten along with were those Cutie Mark Crusaders. His prayers were answered when Spike said “Oh, it’s okay, I just got a little freaked out, sorry about that by the way.” Alois smiled, “It’s quite alright, I know I don’t look even a little bit normal by any of your standards, I don’t even look normal by my own species standards, most of my people have eyes.” There was sad silence, then Alois said, “That was a joke, by the way.”, he heard Twilight give a nervous chuckle while Spike let out a genuine giggle, the human smiled, prompting an awed “Woahhh..” “What?” asked Alois, wondering what he did wrong. “You’ve got fangs like me! D’you eat gems too?” Alois shook his head, “Uhh… no? Are you telling me that you do?” Spike chuckled, “Yeah, they’re pretty tasty, the sapphires taste like blueberry, the emeralds taste like lime and the rubies taste like ketchup.” Alois wished he had more facial muscles so he could raise his brows even higher than he normally could; he was getting the feeling that a normal raised brow wouldn’t suffice anymore. “How can you eat gems without breaking your teeth?” asked the human. “I think it’s because my teeth are harder than any gems, which is really cool, when I get bigger they’ll all get sharp, which will look Awe-to-the-Some.”  said Spike excitedly. Alois smiled, he hadn’t talked to Spike for more than a few minutes and he was already liking the little dragon. Alois made his way to the kitchen and sat down, his hand straying to his head to feel the hair once again, he smiled again, Twilight seemed to notice this and stopped her eating to inquire about the smile. “Oh it’s just that I…. I’m just glad that I’m actually making progress, I think my hair might finish growing back by winter.” “If you’re worried about being warm then I’m sure Twilight cold cast a warming spell on you or something like that.” said Spike. Alois shook his head and opened his mouth to respond, but the words died in his throat when he felt something, it was a feeling that he had come to dread when he was crawling around in the catacombs, the loss of his eyes had heightened his senses to such an extent that he could pinpoint the locations of animals, people and even places using just his ears and nose.  With most of the other living beings he had to strain to locate them, their footfalls were soft and their breathing was tempered as if they knew that they were trespassing on unholy ground. But there was only one person in the entire dungeon, besides Justine, who walked like he owned the place: Malo De Vigny. The crazed suitor seemed to relish the terror that he instilled in the animals and people, it was like he fed off of their fear, even Basile, who often bragged about his strength, went quiet when Malo came calling, over time Alois developed a sort of sixth-sense that alerted him when Malo was near, a sort of sickly tingle that started in his stomach and worked its way to the back of his neck. Right now, in this new world, as far away from Malo and Basile and Justine, eons away from any of the issues of his world Alois felt that same feeling return to his gut. No…. Please no!  he thought, beginning to panic. Then he heard the door fly open. Trixie arrived back in Ponyville just as Alois was emerging from the shower. The last few miles had been grueling, but her need to warn Twilight and the other Elements of the coming danger had allowed her to persevere and keep a good pace. Once she was in town she blocked out all of the surprised and angry comments, right now she had more pressing matters. She passed the vendor stands, wincing as she remembered how many of those carts had been destroyed during the Ursa Minor’s rampage. Just as the Ponyville Library came into view Trixie felt a strange sensation wash over her: it was a sort of gentle tingling that started in her gut and worked its way up to the back of her neck, it brought with it the feeling of panic. Trixie looked at the library in time to see a very large, very oddly-shaped shadow cross one of the windows, the showmare’s eyes widened in fear, the shadow definitely didn’t belong to a pony; even wonky lighting couldn’t make a pony look bipedal. Trixie raced towards the library, her malnourished limbs protesting heavily from the extra workout, she ignored the pain and kept going until she reached the door, she threw herself against it, the time she had spent lugging around her caravan had strengthened her shoulder and back muscles, so breaking the door down was only mildly painful. The second she entered the library she saw the gangly-limbed, tall, pale, furless creature towering over Twilight and her assistant her mind returned to that dream, It’s the beast from my dreams, the violin player- Malo.  Sweet Celestia he’s going to kill Twilight! “Oh no you don’t, Malo!!” shouted Trixie, powering up her horn, the pain was sharp and instantaneous but she didn’t care, this monster had to be stopped no matter what. She conjured a length of chain and wrapped it around the creature’s body, she could barely hear Twilight and her assistant’s angry protests over the sound of blood rushing to her head, she began to conjure a number of locks to secure the creature, but found that she couldn’t, panic and frustration threatened to overwhelm her as she tried to focus her magic. “ I. Just. Have. To try. Harder!!” she screamed over the flow of magic, she felt an aura wrap itself around her, was Twilight trying to fight her? He must have put her under a spell. she thought grimly, trying to power her way through the rapidly increasing pain. It was only when the blood began to trickle out of her nose that she realized that she had made a very foolish mistake: she had engaged an alien creature who might be-no, WAS-more powerful than she was and she had done it in the most unsubtle way imaginable. Trixie felt a burst of agony, persistent and white-hot, lance through her horn and travel to her guts, her magic chains disappeared and she fell to her knees, feeling like all of her bones were snapping simultaneously, she vomited, looking at the red dribbling from her mouth with stunned horror. She looked up to see Malo start towards her, This is it… I’m going to die just like I lived: Weak and Powerless. she thought as tears began to cloud her waning vision. Then she let unconsciousness wash over her. Twilight stared at the unconscious form of the arrogant showmare in shocked silence, her brain trying to catch up to what happened, But what DID just happen? I haven’t seen Trixie since the whole magic duel debacle, why is she here, who the hay is Malo and why did she seem like she knew about Alois? She looked up at the human, whose mouth was hanging open, a look of both surprise and horror on his face. “Are you okay?” asked Twilight as she trotted to Alois with the intent of checking him over for injuries, but Alois silently held out a hand and walked past her to where Trixie lay, moving his cane around until the tip touched the boastful unicorn’s still form. Alois gently set the cane down and crouched over Trixie, his hands moving to her face and exploring it, when his fingers brushed against her horn he turned to Twilight. “What’s her fur color?” he asked, his tone grim. “It’s light blue.” said Twilight, feeling nervous. “And her mane…. is it silver, by chance?” “Yes” she said, “and her Cutie Mark is-” “A wand and a crescent moon.” interrupted Alois, he didn’t phrase it as a question. “Y-yes, but how did you know that?” asked Twilight, her eyes widening in shock. “One more question” said Alois, “Her name wouldn’t be ‘Trixie’, would it?” “Uh-huh.” replied Twilight, feeling shock and confusion wage an epic battle inside of her head. “I thought so, I recognized that voice from- what’s this?”, Alois’s voice took on a concerned tone as he turned to Twilight, he lifted his hand up, displaying a palm soaked in crimson liquid. “Twilight… what did you do?” he asked, sounding both fearful and angry. The purple unicorn took a step back, fear making her heart pound, “I-I didn’t do anything, I swear!” she exclaimed. “Then why is she bleeding?!” asked Alois, his voice rising, Twilight was about to protest at his anger when she realized that his voice didn’t hold any anger, instead it held desperation and fear. “I’ll go get help.” said Spike, racing out the door, Twilight wrapped her aura around Trixie and levitated her onto her couch, Alois left the room to go wash his hands and when he came back he retrieved his cane and took a seat on the chair next to the couch. When he had gotten comfortable enough he laid his cane across his lap, folded his hands and let his chin rest against his chest, “What are you doing?” asked Twilight curiously.  Alois looked at her, ‘I’m waiting for her to wake up.” he said simply before lowering his head again. “Alright’ said the unicorn, sounding unsure, ‘If that’s what you want, but let me or Spike know if you need anything, ‘K?” Alois nodded silently, Twilight shook her head and then returned her gaze to Trixie. It became clear almost instantly that the blue unicorn was in terrible shape: her fur was grubby, her mane was so dirty that it seemed almost gray, the soles of her hooves were scraped and caked in a mixture of dried mud and not-so-dry blood, her filthy skin was drawn taut over her bones, making her look like a zombie from one of Spike’s comic books. Oh, the poor thing  thought Twilight, feeling pity well up within her, what’s happened to you? Twilight shook her head to clear her mind and then went to get something to wash her with, all the while Alois sat and stared into nothingness.