The next couple of days passed by without incident, Xaniel had been learning more and more about the daily life of everyone here. He realized that Twilight was a Princess after she read aloud a letter from Princess Celestia. He had no idea that he was staying with such royalty.
Applejack was a farmer, which he could tell right away hearing her accent, she worked very hard and is downright honest to the fullest extent. Rainbow Dash was pretty cocky and had a big ego but her loyalty was the best trait that she had. Pinkie Pie was very different, but she made him laugh whenever she came over to visit and Rarity was very prissy, but also very generous.
Then he remembered his cloak ('Hope Rarity is taking care of my cloak'). She had asked him the day after their dinner at Sugarcube Corner if she could spruce up his cloak, he was shy about Rarity taking away his cloak, but decided it might be better to let her do what she wanted with it. For some very odd reason, he felt lost without that cloak, like it was a soft warm blanket that a kid would always carry around with him.
Back to his thoughts on everyone, his mind went to Twilight, for she was quite the organizer, which she was a bit overzealous at times but he didn't mind, her skill with Magic however as she had shown over the last couple of days was very impressive.
('No its not that, your energy is very weak for you'). Why was his power so weak, could he even use energy?
Those thoughts were quickly pushed away when he thought about Fluttershy. Her shyness, was much worse than his, but she was always so brave around him, plus her kindness was what really made her stand out, just the way she approached her friends and even him when they first met was just unreal for him.
All that kindness was almost overwhelming if he remembered, but it wasn't bad either. All of these ponies were just so uniquely different but so alike at the same time, maybe this world was paradise in disguise.
But then other thoughts interrupted his thinking process. After remembering the boy Riku, the next night he lay in bed, another image became clearer as well, the girl that he saw, her image brightened and the name Kairi came out of nowhere. So he had two of the three figured out, its just that the last one never came to him the night after remembering her. "Why do I remember these people, were they my friends once?" He asked himself that question out loud for a while now.
How and why did he know any of these people, he never even met them before, but they all felt like friends. Whoever they were he was determined to find out, but for the time being, he was contempt to just relax with his new found friends. Speaking of which, he had offered to help Twilight test out some new spells she learned over the course of the last two days. Although he wasn't sure if being a guinea pig was right, he still wanted to help in anyway possible.
He got up and headed upstairs to see if anyone was up yet. Surprisingly no one was awake yet, even Twilight wasn't up which she usually was at this time of hour. So he took the liberty to try something out. He thought of cooking something for breakfast, so he went into the kitchen and looked around for ingredients. His memory kicked in again and this time, he saw something he wasn't expecting, a cooking memory.
Out of all the memories he was trying to find, memories of someone cooking filled his thoughts, then recipes floated into his head. So, he sifted through these recipes inside his head and came along something that sounded good. "Well, Blueberry Muffins do sound good, whatever these memories are, they're gonna come in handy." With that, he worked away to create the delicacies that he was craving, also hoping that everyone else would like them.
*
Twilight was just waking up, she saw the sun out, blinding her window. Everything looked beautiful, but another thing caught her attention. The smell of something delicious downstairs really confused her, then she saw Spike and Nyx still asleep. So then only one other person came to her thought. "Is Xaniel really cooking?" She thought that was silly, how could he know how to cook.
She went downstairs just to make sure, and like she guessed, Xaniel was there, lifting a tray of what smelt like Blueberry Muffins out. "Xaniel, you know how to cook?" She asked, wondering how he was able to even cook.
He stared back at her, a grin forming on his face. "Well yeah, I thought that since you've been taking care of me since I got here, I thought, why not repay the favor, after all I did feel a little guilty having you do all this stuff for me."
She blushed, a little surprised he would do something like this. "I do have to say, those really smell good and thank you Xaniel, you know you didn't have to do this." She said, walking over to one of the drawers to pull out some plates out.
"Well just because I'm a guest in your house doesn't excuse the fact of me being able to help you." He said, smiling back to her.
Twilight got the table set up and went upstairs to wake up Spike and Nyx, Xaniel was walking over to the table when he stopped, and raised a hand up to his head, a pain, not intense but hurting him enough to bring him standing down on one knee went through his head. Memories of these creatures came through his brain, one that was small, had bulgy yellow eyes and had two antennae on top of its head, the other, more sinister looking, was a white figure was very thin and looked plastic. He had no idea what these things were, but they frightened him.
He came out of his memory, sweating from terror that had consumed him, he got up and shook it off. He sat down in the chair as Twilight was coming down with Nyx and Spike following. Soon everyone was settled down and they began eating. It was quiet for a few moments before Twilight said. "Oh, these muffins are delicious Xaniel, I can say that you are quite the cook." She looked at Nyx and Spike. "Tell Xaniel thank you for baking these tasty muffins."
"Thank you Xaniel." Both of them said in unison. While Xaniel went back to eating, another pain in his head started up, not as bad as the first, but still causing him a bit of pain. ('Just ignore it Xaniel you don't need worry them right now, just take some deep breaths and you'll be fine'). Then another image flashed in his eyes, a room, completely white with thirteen seats, being the only objects in the room.
They were all quite tall, they had cloaked figures that sat upon them,having the same color as he had for his coat, but he felt a negative energy coming from every single person in this room, except for one. The figure just sat there, having the lowest chair in this room. He couldn't tell who this was. He heard whispers coming from nowhere and they got louder, saying the name of this person over and over again."Roxas."
That's all he ever heard from these whispers, when he got a feeling of the mysterious persons power, he felt the same energy from the other boy he had a hard time remembering. It felt as if they were almost the same being. Then the pain intensified. He grabbed his head even tighter as he kept seeing images of battle, and a horrible feeling of loss coming from this 'Roxas'. "Roxas!" Xaniel yelled as the whispers got louder. Another name was emanating from the voices but he couldn't hear it. Then the image was lost and everything turned to darkness.
All was black once again, then a faint voice saying his name broke the darkness around him.
*
Twilight was panicking, one moment Xaniel was fine then the next he fell out of his chair, with both hands clinging to his head, he was gasping in pain. She ran to his side and grabbed him, trying to stop him from moving around so much. "Xaniel, Xaniel, please whats wrong?" She didn't receive any answer. He fell silent, his hands falling to his side. She was terrified, why did he suddenly just stop.
"X...Xaniel?" She said in a tiny voice. She was almost on the verge of crying before she felt movement under her forelegs. He was moving again, his eyes were blinking slowly, then he tried to get up but she stopped him, from getting up. "Xaniel, are you alright?" She asked, trying to keep her composure. He got up slowly until he was just sitting upright, his right hand supporting him.
Twilight then hugged him, he was surprised by such affection like this. She pulled back, even surprising herself by such an action like this. She blushed, then asked him that question she had been trying to ask him for the last five minutes. "Xaniel, are you okay, how do you feel?"
He tried gathering words but couldn't, then he faintly replied. "I'm okay, but what happened, why am I on the floor?"
"You mean you don't remember grabbing your head and screaming in pain?"
He shook his head. "No, but I remember these images in my head, the world... that world." He stopped talking, afraid to go on, but Twilight was too concerned right now and urged him to keep going. "Xaniel, please go on, I need to know what you saw, what was this place you were just trying to mention?" She said, in a more nicer tone, hoping to help him calm down.
"I, this world... it just felt so dark and so cold." He paused then continued. "This castle was floating in the air, it was huge, but I found myself in one of the rooms and saw thirteen people sitting in each chair." He was having a hard time remembering, or at least a hard time trying not to feel pain. "These people, their energy felt so negative, only one felt similar to someone I dreamed about, then I saw flashes of battle through his eyes, then a very deep overwhelming sadness that felt so horrifying, and so much pain, I... I can't go on." He said laying back on the ground, trying to regain any air possible.
*
Twilight helped Xaniel to the couch she had and set him down, she sat next to him. Nyx and Spike came to sit down in front. Nyx was horrified seeing Xaniel go through something like this, even Spike had to admit that what he saw was scary. "Xaniel are you alright?" Nyx nervously asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine now, I'm just trying to think about what happened."
"Xaniel, did you see any of us in these images, who was the person you were talking about?" Twilight asked him in a calm voice.
"Well, none of you showed up, which is good, but the other person, his name came through whispers, they kept saying Roxas over and over again." He stopped, his breathing coming out in heavy gasps. "I felt this pain and sadness that kept getting worse and worse, but whoever he was, that pain was for someone else, and I don't know who he or she was."
Twilight was thinking carefully about what he said, a castle that floated in the middle of the air, and thirteen other people, that was just bizarre.
"Did you unlock any other memories?" She asked pushing the question a little further.
"Only two other people came to mind, one was named Riku and the other Kairi, but they weren't evil at all, they had good in them, one was Light and the other had a feeling of both dark and Light." He looked over to Nyx. "Riku was the boy that felt familiar to you Nyx, he was who I was trying to remember."
Nyx gazed at Xaniel, she wanted to know what he looked like. "Umm, Xaniel, could you describe what and who this Riku looked like?"
"Well, Riku has long hair like me, but its a little shorter and is fully colored white, he's a little taller than me and has clothes like me, but he looks different compared to me." He said, thinking that he would have to describe Kairi too. "The other one, Kairi, she's also the other one I remember, she has dark red hair, and is a bit shorter than me."
"So, is there anything else that we should know?" Twilight asked, hoping not to push him too far.
"There were these creatures, that came to me in my memories before you came back down, one was small, very dark in color, had bulgy yellow eyes and two antennae sticking out its head." The other creature was much more frightening. "The other one was tall, it was all white and was very slender like, but that's all I got from that memory."
Twilight was processing everything that was being said, so far this sounded like an ominous warning, but who were these people he mentioned. "Okay, although there isn't enough info to go on, I'll write everything down here." She looked over to Xaniel. "You don't have to help me with my magic today Xaniel, from what's happened, you'll need your rest for today after what you just went through." She said.
Walking up to him. "Okay...I know you wanted to help, but right now, you'll need your rest, I don't want to see you go through that again." She said smiling.
"Yeah, your right Twilight, just please make sure to let me know if you need help with anything." He said, walking down to the basement.
He got downstairs and crawled into his bed, he was pondering through his thoughts trying to figure out if there was any rational explanation for this. ('Why, just why were those memories so sad and violent, what happened to you Roxas?') Those thoughts stuck with into his sleep.
*
Twilight was writing down information in her journal, documenting everything that happened to Xaniel in the past hour. She was worried, so far everything was fine, he showed no problem like this earlier when he just woke up, but why was it happening? What did he mean by memories that were coming back, she thought he was fully awake but apparently there were still some processes to fix in his mind.
But what did he forget, were there any important memories that he needed, or any that he needed to remember from the dangers that they could be facing? But more importantly she was scared of what happened to him, the pain that he went through, that scene was still fresh in her mind and it was horrible to remember.
She walked over to her drawer and put away the journal, then reaching for a letter, she wrote down every second that went on during Xaniel's initial spasm. She would have to tell the princess right away, but she hoped she was doing the right thing.
She finished it and sent it over, hoping the Princess would respond quickly, while waiting she went down to the basement to check up on Xaniel hoping he recovered after the incident. She made it down and saw that he was still sleeping, she hadn't seen it before but he looked real peaceful while sleeping, that same smile that she had seen him show off. It looked like there wasn't a care for the world in his dreams.
But one thing was off still, that necklace that he wore every single day, why was it so important? She lifted it up with her magic and went to study it, nothing was out of the ordinary, it looked like just any sort of necklace but one thing threw her off. Why did it have this weird feel to it? Nothing ever truly felt anything like this before. A warmth emanated from it, like a loving warmth, she put it on and nothing really happened, but the warmth from this necklace kept getting stronger and unexpectedly a tear ran down her eye, she lifted her hoof to it and wiped it away. Seeing this she, never expected anything like this to happen, but even stranger, her heart felt like it was responding to it. "But how... how is this even possible?"
Twilight knew that the heart guided people, but she never knew that they could respond to something like this, was this...was this his heart? She took it off and put it back onto Xaniel, feeling a little odd about what just happened. She walked back upstairs trying to comprehend what just happened.
*
A new feeling emerged into his thoughts, a feeling from another being, something that was warm, another light came into his mind, but he couldn't recognize that feeling, the feeling of sadness came off from this light. So why was this light sad, better question is, whose light was this?
He went to reach for it but didn't get it as it disappeared from sight, then he was back, he saw the same old ceiling that he saw every time he woke up. But that warm feeling that he felt in his dream was still there, coming from his necklace. What was the reason for this necklace anyway, why was it here? Whatever reason he shrugged it off and went upstairs.
He came into the main room, to see that Twilight was sitting on the couch, contemplating about something. She looked over to see that he awakened and gestured with her hoof for him to come over. He walked over there and sat down next to her.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" She said, asking quietly.
"I feel better, nothing hurts right now." He replied back. Xaniel looked around to see that Nyx and Spike weren't around anywhere. "Uhh, where are Spike and Nyx at?"
"I sent them out to get a few things, so its just you and me, besides I needed to ask you a few questions."
"Okay, so what did you need to ask?"
"Well, first off, I want to know why you don't have memories of anything, how are you just gaining memories that aren't even about you?"
"I...I don't know, these memories, they just appear, I don't have any control over this." He looked away. "They just...I don't know."
Twilight wasn't trying to be mean, but she knew that she needed answers to all of these questions. "Well, what about that necklace you have on, why is it there?" She took careful consideration of how to say this. "Is... is it your heart?"
When she put it on, something happened, something that could not be explained. Whatever her heart responded to, it had to be another heart.
"My...heart?" He said looking at his necklace.
"Did you ever know if that was your heart?" She said.
This conversation was on thin wires, Xaniel was really confused and scared while Twilight was becoming bolder with questions. She didn't realize that Xaniel was freaking out inside his mind. ('What's she talking about, my heart has always been inside of me, nowhere else').
"Xaniel, are you alright, was that a bad question?" She asked.
That last question really made him think. Did he have a heart, or was his heart outside his body. This was all too confusing."Xaniel, was that a bad question to be asking?"
He then looked over to her and simply asked her. "Twilight, would it be possible for someone to live without a heart?"
She pondered at that question, of course it would be impossible for any creature to live without the heart. It was just another organ that worked to pump blood through the veins in each organisms body. But the last time she heard his heart, there was barely any noise coming from it. But when she put that necklace on, she felt otherwise.
"I'm sure that you need a heart to live, but when I put your necklace on, I felt something communicate with my heart, but how, can hearts talk?"
"Wait, you put on my necklace?" He said looking at her,
"Umm, yeah, you see...when you were asleep, I got curious about what was the reason you had that necklace on, so I put it on and felt a warm feeling against my chest, all I felt was sadness from that feeling, but truth be told I even had a tear come down my eye but I couldn't understand why."
Then he realized what that light was that interrupted his thoughts. "That light that I saw, it felt sad, but then if you put it on." He started to think about this more carefully. "Then that light was you, it was your heart I saw."
"Wait you saw my heart?"
"Well, I wouldn't say your actual heart, but the light that would emanate from it."
"But you said my heart gave off the feeling of sadness, what do you mean?"
"Well, your heart was just floating there, but a feeling of sadness came off of it, I think your heart was sad because of my past and mine was sad because it felt your feelings."
"But you don't even know about your past, maybe if you think harder?"
He tried to think of anything, but all he had were the same memories as before.
"Nothing still, but something tells me that maybe I shouldn't try to look for it."
"What do you mean by that?"
He looked at her again, then he lifted up his necklace, whatever it was it felt like it was coming from the heart shaped necklace.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it doesn't feel right."
*
Xaniel was in his memories again, but it wasn't like last time. These memories were strange, all that appeared was another person in a cloak but with a different color. The figure walked away as he tried to reach out with his hand. It disappeared, but he found himself in a room. It had a purple lighting that barely lit the room and blue lines that ran all over the place. Then other figures began to appear, all wearing the same cloaks but each having a different color. There were about Seventeen in all, but each had a different appearance. Most of them were human he could tell, but then there were others who took on an animal shape.
One had a complete white cloak with a star at the chest, but the figure sitting there was a cat. The next a dog of some kind, he had a red and blue cloak mix that had a ethereal sword on its chest, but the more he looked, the more he recognized a wolf like appearance. The next one took on a shape of a bird. Owl like in appearance, but its cloak had a silver and gray color. Then two shapes he would have never guessed. Two ponies stood there, the first one was far away from the other. One had a dark Blue cloak, and the other had a light blue cloak. Yet a human stood by one of the ponies and had the same colored cloak as the light blue one. How was that possible and better yet, what did it mean?
Then he saw the mysterious person he had first seen. It was standing in line with the rest, this one adorned a azure blue cloak, but at a closer inspection, he realized that this was a girl. A whisper came and said something, but he didn't quite catch the word it said. Then he noticed something at her left side. A weapon of some sorts, it looked like a sword that was still in it's sheathe, but it had a weird marking on it. "A key?" he said, as it was the only guess that he could make, but he saw three points that came out the bottom of the end of the swords sheathe.
The whisper came again, but much louder and clearer. "Vera." He looked behind him and saw no one there. He turned around and saw that the girl was gone, but the others remained in place. He looked everywhere but couldn't see where she had gone. Then he felt a hit to the back of his head, and everything went dark.
*
Xaniel woke up in a cold sweat, the dream was gone, but not the pain he felt at the back of his head. "Ahh, why did she have to hit me so hard?" Whoever she was, the only thing he could go by was the name that was heard. "So, Vera huh, why did she have such a weird cloak." The other thing he remembered was that there was a heart on her cloak.
Those people in that dream, they all wore cloaks like him, but he didn't feel any negative energy from any of them, just some had light, some dark, and a few who had a mix of both.
Something told him that these people weren't evil at all, but fighting for something. "Well, whoever they are, I hope I don't meet them."
True, his curiosity was at a all time high, but he sensed their power, and it fluctuated differently between each of them. The one at the far right that adorned a dark red cloak, as he remembered had a very strong power, much stronger than even the Princesses.
Xaniel thought about telling Twilight, but would it do any good? He felt that power and thought that he didn't need to worry her anymore. But half of him said that he should tell them, get them ready in case they might come to cause trouble.He decided that he should tell her, but how would it go?
He went upstairs pondering on how he should try to tell her, only to find that the main room was empty. "Hey Twilight are you there?" No response. "Nyx...Spike?" Still no response. He roamed around the place looking for any sign that they were there.
"Seriously, where is everyone?"
*
What Xaniel didn't know was that Twilight was at Canterlot, talking to Princess Celestia about the memories that he had been experiencing. "So, what you have told me so far is that these things Xaniel has been remembering shouldn't be taken lightly?" Celestia asked.
"Yes princess, from what I've been able to concur is that Xaniel has been having these weird memories all the time now, he doesn't even get a moments rest without flipping out and screaming in pain."
Celestia was taking all of this rather quite well. Hearing what Twilight was telling her was a bit nerve wracking, but years of experience have kept her calm and cool under a number of circumstances. "Well I think that it is good that you have been keeping a eye out for him, but right now we don't need to worry about anything."
"But, Celestia, what about the things he's seen?" Twilight asked. She didn't know how the princess could be so calm. "What about-"
"Twilight, don't worry yourself over these things right now, I know how all of this sounds, but let us handle these things, you just keep an eye on him, if anything else comes up, please be sure to tell me about it."
Twilight tried to form a sentence but then thought otherwise and just simply bowed, then walked out the doors.
Celestia went to her room, thinking about what Twilight has said, everything was fine with Xaniel until today, something just didn't seem right. Whatever was coming, it wasn't good.
*
Xaniel was beginning to panic, it was beginning to get dark and he wasn't so sure of what to do now, he didn't feel safe without the company of anyone. A knock on the door startled him, but felt safer when he heard the voice. "Um, Twilight, if it's not too much trouble, could you help me with a little problem?"
He walked up to the door and opened it.Fluttershy was hoping it was Twilight but saw Xaniel instead. "Oh, hey Xaniel, do you know where Twilight is?"
"Can't say I have, I was gonna tell her something but she disappeared on me too."
He wondered, what was Fluttershy here for? "Um, why, do you need help with anything?"
"Oh, well um, yeah you see I was having a little trouble with helping clean out some of the homes for my little bunny friends, and since everyone else had something to do, I thought I'd ask her."
"Well, since she's not here, would you mind if I helped you out?"
She looked at him and then stirred her hoof in the ground. "Oh, I don't know, you really shouldn't be outside, even at night, what if somepony had seen you, they would freak out and then we'd be in trouble."
"Well, you have a point, but still I mean, I can't leave a friend just for a dumb reason and don't worry, I'll take Twilight's wrath if she ever found out."
She still looked unsure but after some thought. "Well, if you insist, but I have to ask, how good are you with animals?"
"How good am I with animals, well if you mention the fact that I love animals and know how to handle some, then I can say that I am pretty qualified for this task." He said, with a sly grin.
"Oh, really you love animals, oh this is gonna be so much fun." She grabbed him by the arm and took off with him flying in the wind.
A half hour later after Fluttershy had finally quit pulling Xaniel around, they reached their destination. A part of a forest where Xaniel had no idea of what was in there. "Um, Fluttershy... where are we exactly?"
She looked back at him. "Oh, we're in the Everfree Forest, its creepy in some ways but its where the bunnies underground homes are at." She said, turning her head back forward. They walked along until Fluttershy spoke again. "You see, I always help my animal friends that need me, but being in this place alone scares me, but having a friend around really helps me out."
They reached the rabbit holes and she told him that they had to clean out the rabbit's homes so that they stayed nice and clean. He got the basic stuff and so their job began. Everything went smoothly, no hiccups along the way. Even the bunnies came out to see what was going on. One went right up to Xaniel, allowing him to pet the little guy. Fluttershy saw this and really smiled. She knew she was good at handling animals, but seeing him petting one of the bunnies really made her heart feel good.
She turned over to her right side, and saw something that scared her half to death. "Um, Xaniel th-th-th theres a...a." She doesn't finish before Xaniel turned around and saw three creatures growling at them. They looked like wolves but they were made up of materials like leafs, sticks and other stuff.
Fluttershy backed up to him, hiding right behind him, he had it in his head,('What can I do?')