Chapter Four: New Life
Sanctis awoke slowly at first as the tender wisps of her slumber faded. She curled into a tighter ball, hoping to return to her peaceful dreams with a contented sigh.
Try though she might, however, there was an insistent clattering and jingling that only grew louder as time passed.
Whatever the noise was, it wasn’t going away, and something about it set off Sanctis’ sense of danger.
As her rose colored eyes slid opened, she remembered why the sound was so threatening.
This isn’t my home.
Sanctis looked around the room quickly, panicking.
She was curled up on a bale of hay in the corner that was scratchy, but one of the best things she had slept on in days. The room that surrounded her was that of a restaurant with the chairs turned upside down as they rested on the tables. There was a locked display counter that showed many scrumptious looking treats.
Most importantly though, there were only two doors that led out of the room, and currently only one of them was unlocked, and it wasn’t the back one. The front door was banging against the chair that was braced against it as somepony on the other side attempted to come in.
Sanctis quickly ran for the opposite door, grateful that the windows were covered by shutters, preventing anypony from seeing her.
Jumping onto the chair that sat in front of the rear door, she started fumbling with the lock.
If only I was old enough to use my magic!
Her heart pounding, her ears ringing, her hooves shaking, the lock finally clicked open as she leapt through the doorway straight from her chair before kicking it shut again.
As quick as she could, Sanctis climbed onto the stove in the back of the kitchen, already knowing that the door that led outside required a key to open. She hastily scrambled up the pipe chimney of the stove as she heard the chair finally break behind the door in the front room.
At least being a small filly has some advantages… she thought to herself before coughing from the smoke and dust her hooves knocked loose as she braced them against the sides of the chimney.
“Somepony come quick! I’m being robbed!” called the stallion who had entered the store before a commotion erupted.
No… I didn’t take anything important, honest! Sanctis thought to herself as tears started to well up in her eyes not just from her situation, but her sad lot in life and that she was being misunderstood for a thief.
I only ate the stale dough that was going to be thrown out… I didn’t take anything else!
The reminder of the dreadfully small, dreadfully terrible meal she ate last night made her tummy grumble as her hooves hooked around the top of the chimney, the black of the smoke and grime covering her normally dark pink coat.
Straining under her own weight, weak from the effort and her hunger, Sanctis managed to pull herself over the edge of the chimney.
Hanging on the outside of the chimney now, Sanctis looked down below her, seeing the snowy ground at least twenty feet below her. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat, but doing so only brought on another wave of dry coughs.
Her weak body weakening further from the effort, her hooves slipped causing her to fall backwards. Hurtling to the ground, Sanctis instinctively covered her head with her hooves.
Please still be open!...
Sanctis landed with a crash into a dumpster outside the backdoor of the restaurant, discarded foods and ingredients softening her landing as the shock of the impact slammed the lid of the dumpster down over her.
Sanctis sat in the dumpster, stunned from the event as her heart pounded in her ears.
“Quick! I heard something back here!” called another pony who had likely came to help the shop owner.
Sanctis wrapped her hooves around herself to try and quiet the shaking before she got herself caught.
Why is this happening? I haven’t done anything wrong! Honest! Why can’t they just look around and see that nothing is missing?
Sanctis heard the door beside her opening, followed by several ponies walking around, looking over the snow covered field that separated the shop from the mountains.
Sanctis held her breath silently as a pair of ponies walked in front of her dumpster, the snow crunching beneath their hooves. Her heart pounding so loudly in her ears, she thought the other ponies might hear it and find her.
They stood in front of the dumpster, and they stood there, and they stood there… Her fear covering her senses, her perception of time, it felt like they stood there for hours.
Finally, she could hear the snow crunching as they walked away to the side of the building. Sanctis started to let out a sigh of relief as she started breathing again, but quickly caught herself as she sat quietly, her ears dancing as she listened to the sounds around her.
The other ponies that were outside started to take off in different directions before the sounds faded.
“Sorry Mr. Frosting, but whoever was here is gone now. Do you know what’s missing?”
“Well, um…” the shopkeeper hesitated.
Yes, please realize that nothing’s missing! I didn’t do anything wrong, I just wanted to stay warm for one night.
“Oh yes, the register! There’s money missing from the register! At least a hundred bits are missing!”
That’s a lie! I don’t even have anywhere to put a hundred bits!
“Okay Mr. Frosting, if you would kindly submit an Incident of Theft report to Captain Snow Castle, we will review your case. If the culprit is found, they will be charged the full sum of any misappropriated funds as well as all damages. If nopony is found guilty, your insurance should cover you. Have a nice day.”
The other stallion walked around the building as the others had. “A nice day, indeed! The only damages are a broken chair and some dust in the kitchen… A hundred bits should fill my registers quite nicely!”
Mr. Frosting had returned into the store with an undeserved laugh before closing and locking the door once more.
Why are adults so stupid?! He’s obviously lying for money! Sanctis thought to herself as she pulled a half eaten piece of bread from her mane. I can’t even tell the truth because then I would be in trouble!
She pulled a frozen, nearly whole donut from around her small horn as she continued removing foodstuffs from her coat.
”You’re worthless!” her mother’s words rang inside of her head. “A Unicorn filly of nearly 8 years old, and you cannot even lift a feather with your magic!” Sanctis’ mother, a Pegasus, could not teach her magic, and refused to allow anypony into their home to teach her.
“An 8 year old who cannot even work for her own meals! Have you ever heard of such a thing?” In truth, Sanctis didn’t know any other fillies or foals, or very many other ponies for that matter.
Growing up, her mother had left Sanctis alone in their home in the forest, saying that you couldn’t trust anypony but yourself. Her mother was obsessed with being independent and had insisted that Sanctis do the same.
“Surely you do not expect to depend on me for your whole life? Do you really think that is fair for me? You have got to be kidding me!”
These arguments happened often, and thankfully they were usually only verbal. Her mother was a lot of things, few of them good, but she rarely hit Sanctis out of anger.
Yeah, Celestia forbid should mother try to hurt me or anything…
Sanctis poked her nose out of the dumpster for a moment to look around, seeing only the field of snow and the hoofprints that were left by the others only a few minutes ago.
Hoping the coast really was clear, Sanctis climbed out of the dumpster before kicking bits of hay out of her tail, tossing up tufts of smoke that clung to her.
I can’t wander around town like this…
Looking around once more with a greater view now, she didn’t see anypony around. With nopony watching her, she ran as quick as she could in the snow that came up to just below her ankles.
Sanctis was mostly use to the snow now, having spent her 8th birthday in the cold weeks after her mother had kicked her out of her home. The only thing that accompanied her birthday that day was a snowstorm that drove her into a thankfully warm cave.
A shiver passed over her small body as the chill of the wind caressed her.
Sanctis was getting use to the cold a bit as well, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant. It was especially unpleasant after feeling the warmth of a comfortable bed of hay inside an actual building for a night.
After running in the snow for a while in the direction of the mountains, she finally came to the unusual stream she knew so well. Surrounding the stream, instead of snow, there was plush green grass and a few flowers.
Without a thought of hesitation, Sanctis jumped into the water headfirst, her body falling to the bottom slowly before her hooves alighted along the rocky riverbed before she pushed off back to the top.
The water was warm to the touch, but not quite hot. After travelling through the snow, it was the perfect temperature.
Sanctis watched as the black of the smoke and dust from the chimney washed from her body along with multiple colors of frosting and other bits of food, carried away by the subtle flow of the stream.
After scrubbing away some of the more stubborn bits, Sanctis came back aground as she shook some of the water from herself before curling up on the side of the water, watching her reflection as the water calmed once more.
Her rose-colored eyes were nearly covered by the grayscale mane that flattened against her forehead, parted only partially by the small, blunt horn that matched her dark pink coat.
Wanting to take a nap as she listened to the soft sounds of the stream as she dried before heading back into the snow, Sanctis curled into a comfortable ball as she rested, her eyes setting on her blank flank.
”You’re worthless! Absolutely worthless!”
The moon was beginning to rise into the sky as Ace and Twilight started to make their way back to the library. Despite their insistence, Pinkie Pie had thrown a get-together under the pretense that ‘it isn’t a party, sillies! Get-togethers and parties are like cakes and cupcakes!’
Regardless, Ace said that it was fine, since it was only his closest friends who were there, and he said he had no reason not to let them all say their goodbyes together rather than having them come by the library.
Ace let them have the get-together, but Twilight could tell it bothered him. ‘Leaving is not something that should be celebrated… Only a safe return should be festive,’ Ace had said to her in private as they left.
Even now, Twilight watched as Ace walked down the path physically, but she could tell his mind was already in another place.
In the past couple of weeks, Ace halted all of her lessons in favor of recapping everything she had learned, and he started acting more… methodical. It was as though every word, every response, every action was premeditated and automatic, like he had expected that it was coming and was only letting you finish to be polite before replying.
Ace was acting just like he was when they had first met… Distant, and closed…
Twilight understood that he was just falling on habits he had likely held for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. That he was mentally focused on what was coming while his body only served to carry him to his destination while he was distressed.
Ace just has a lot on his mind, and secrets to keep not only for himsel, but for others… He carries such heavy weights on his own…
Twilight understood, but it still bothered her.
When they finally came to the library, Ace opened the door for her, but looked as though he was in a hurry.
Once they were inside, he took the sword that Night Light had given him and strapped it onto his back, adjusting the cinch so that it made very little noise as he walked.
“You’re not going to take Loki’s Key with you? Wouldn’t it be safer?”
“Loki’s Key is a powerful and irreplaceable artifact,” he said immediately. “I cannot risk the artifact being destroyed should my magic overload from the ritual as it has before. ‘Tis one of the reasons why I commit the ritual in private, far away from here.”
Twilight hesitated nervously before saying anything else, not wanting to interrupt him.
Ace was looking around the room as though making sure not to forget anything, though the only thing he appeared to be taking was the sword.
When his gaze fell on her rubbing the side of her hoof, his gaze softened considerably.
“I won’t forget my promise, my Starlight. I will do everything in my power to come back to you, even if I have to hop all the way back here on only a single hoof.”
Ace’s hooves wrapped around her before his muzzle pressed against hers, bringing her into a deep, passionate kiss.
“So long as my lungs draw air in this world, Twilight, I will return to you. That is my promise.”
Twilight could only nod as her eyes became blurry with her tears. “I know you will; I believe in you… It’s just… Stay safe, okay?”
Ace only managed to nod before lowering himself in a deep bow as his horn alighted in its blackened glow, and with a dark flash, he was gone – and Twilight was reduced to tears as the worried feeling inside of her only beat louder.
Deep inside the cave in the side of the mountain, a bright, black flash illuminated the cave for only a brief moment as a Unicorn appeared from its depths.
His vision quickly adjusting to the unlit cave, Ace made his way deeper, following the sounds of the drips of water falling from the stalactites as they struck the surface of his objective.
The further into the cave he went, more and more fungal growth and other signs of life started to appear. On top of the sounds of water deeper in the cave, there were also the sounds of insects skittering across the rocks, snakes making territorial noises as he passed, and bats overhead as they returned home after hunting for food, the crunch of their meals punctuated by bits of it falling from above.
Before long, he could see a soft light hanging over the surface of the water ahead, though the light appeared to flow into the water, as though it were a part of it.
Ace approached the light, setting his sword against the rock wall of the cave before taking the light in his hooves.
The light itself was a flat and shallow cup, used in some nations to drink wine or sample foods. Or rather, the light was the unending wine that flowed from it, a radiant golden color with a smell so sweet and indescribable that Ace nearly lost himself to it as he inhaled its fragrance.
The liquid held in the cup, known as either Light Wine or Life Wine depending on the interpretation, has long since become a part of the ritual since the magical cup came into his possession.
Ace took several long, indulging drinks from the cup, the glowing golden liquid cascading down his body as the cup overflowed in response to his insatiable thirst.
The more Ace drank from the ever-full cup, the brighter the cave became even through his closed eyes.
Finally removing the cup from his lips, the sweet and flavorful liquid still dancing over each of senses, Ace opened his eyes to bear witness to the numerous dull, golden lights that floated or danced over the surface of the expansive pool of water laid before him.
Each of the lights was a pony’s soul, but they were not the souls to be used in the ritual – the dullness of the lights signified that these souls were spent, only now preparing to return to the network of souls after being cleansed in the purity of water over the year since their departure of their vessels.
The fact that these duller lights were here, still bathing in the water, meant that Ace had come early, so he took a seat at the edge and watched as more and more lights rose from the water's depth.
While the pool seemed small inside the cave, it was actually an incredibly deep spring rising up from inside of the earth. So deep, in fact, that the water was warm to the touch despite the chilled climate of the mountain and surrounding areas.
The spring ran over and out of the mountain, causing a stream that melted the snow as it went. The deeper down one were to go in this section, however, the hotter the water would become. So deep, the water went, that it was boiling, with bubbles rising to the top in other places.
This specific spring carried its water to numerous towns and villages in more streams and rivers than Ace cared to count, given each of its sub-branches.
In addition to the water, the Life Wine that overflowed from the cup poured into the water, allowing it to grant life to many plants down the length of the streams and rivers.
Life Wine was known to a number of races and beliefs to be the life-granting essence of the world. Normally, to acquire such an elixir, one would need to burrow deep below the crust to even have a glimmer of a hope of hitting a Life Spring, and even if you had, it would dry up quickly as it moved to another place.
The power of such elixir, however, has been said to bring back even the dead in large enough quantities, but often at an irreparable cost. Ace could never use such a gift to enact such dark rites, though the thought had danced into his mind no small number of times.
“It isn’t right that she died simply because she is my child!” came a younger, rasher voice that sounded much like Ace’s. “Forest Wave has every right to live in this world, not me… Her only sin was that she was proud to be born a fraction Al Bhed… Pride that I never felt myself.”
“Just because it is right does not always make it so; you yourself taught me that.” A mare’s voice that sounded like aged wine trickled from not far behind. “You know there is nothing that can be done; nothing that should be done… Why are you doing this to our daughter?”
“Because I can bring her back.”
Little Raven’s jaw went slack as she stared at Ace’s back as he worked, nearly all of his attention focused on the strange maps he was studying.
“If I can find a vein of the Life Spring, I can extract enough of it to bring Forest Wave back to life.”
Little Raven’s hoof grasped at his shoulder to spin him around to face her on the stool, but when she looked into his eyes, it was like he was already dead to the world.
Little Raven knew that Ace hadn’t slept at all since Forest Wave’s death in the hospital room, their daughter hospitalized by her lover and his thuggish, prejudiced friends almost three days ago.
“Immortality is a curse I would never wish upon my most hated of enemies…” he said in a deadpanned voice. “Burying generations of your own children… Planning your spouse’s funeral… Being by their side as they draw their last breath when you look nary a day older than them… I hate it!
Little Raven jumped as Ace’s hoof slammed against the nearby table, shattering it beneath the force of his rage, sending splinters and scrolls sailing through the air across the room.
“You have a choice, my love… Do not perform the ritual, and eternity will come to greet you as you wish.”
Little Raven had meant the words as a comfort, I knew that…
Ace was reduced to tears as he was sheltered in Little Raven’s embrace.
But her words still cut deep, and it hurt… Not that she was offering that I die to be happy, I know she didn’t mean that… But because I couldn’t…
“I’ve promised, sworn an oath, that I will continue living for as long as I am able… I made this oath to so many… My father, my first wife, my second daughter, the Watchers of the Stars, my sisters… I could never break such a promise, no matter how selfish I was.”
That didn’t mean that I had never tried…
Just as he was about to delve into memories left buried, the light of the souls that covered the surface of the water started to fade before drifting through the rocky ceiling, disappearing entirely from view.
As Ace watched all of the souls dissolve through the ceiling, there was only a brief moment of darkness before the cave was bathed in a soft but brilliantly bright light as the first hoofful of new souls started to trickle in.
The light put off by these radiant spheres was bright enough to illuminate the cave for as far as the eye could see, should the eye be able to see them, but they were not hurtful to Ace’s sensitive eyes as the Sun was.
Like the far off lights of the distant stars, the lights of the souls was soft and delicate, even kind. These lights, the very essence of life, so out of this world, could never be used to harm anypony, or anything.
The pure, unsoiled souls continued to come from on high as they filtered into the cave at random intervals. The souls had no sense of direction, no sense of order… They each were drawn to the water, rich with the impurities that were washed from the previous souls.
Those impurities, washed away from the souls as they bathed in the water, served as a catalyst to the new souls, granting them new energy and strength. In a couple of hours, the new souls would be rested from their journey here and they would seek out their new vessels.
The ritual of New Life hinged on these facts, as the souls were desperate to find a new host, a new vessel to carry them in this world.
A pony could only see pony souls, just as a wolf, for example, would only see wolves’ souls after supping of the Life Wine. While there were other ways to view the souls, the Life Wine was the simplest method.
What made the ritual so hazardous for anypony who was not Alicorn was that all souls look alike, be it a Unicorn, an Alicorn or even an Earth Pony… At our core, all of our souls are exactly the same in appearance.
Two of the souls were already leaving the cave, signifying that somewhere nearby, two pony foals were coming into this world, and were about to take their first breaths of life at this very moment.
The thought brought a smile to Ace’s features.
May your lives be long and without suffering, young ones…
Remembering the core principle of the ritual, to extend one’s life beyond normal limitations, Ace started to set hoof into the water. It was warm to the touch, the water feeling as though it meant to absolve him of all his sins.
If only such were possible… To so simply clean one’s hooves of all trespasses…
The stony bottom of the water brought him near to the center of the pool before falling away to the deep chasm that laid below the surface, the light blue of the water fading to a much darker shade.
Ace laid at the edge of impromptu platform, fully immersing himself in the water as the cleansing feeling carried throughout his entire body.
Followed by a pain akin to having one’s insides removed.
Ace gritted his teeth as the pain washed over him before he rose from the water gasping for breath, though the air came shallow into his lungs.
”I shall become thine vessel!” Ace spoke in the language he had first learned the ritual in. Grant me life, so that I may continue to serve others… Grant me your strength, and you shall have mine in return!”
Ace paused for a moment to catch his breath, his body feeling as though it were being torn asunder as his present soul fought to leave his body.
”My life is my own, yet I share it with so many… Grant me New Life, not for my sake, but for the sake of those who rely on me.”
Ace’s back arched before he collapsed into the water once more, each of the lights overhead beginning to shake violently, anxious to be the first to claim a new vessel.
Ace’s screams of pain caused the water to bubble as a sphere of light raised from his place below its surface. The light was nearly extinguished as it rose listlessly from the cave.
No sooner than the bubbles stopped and the faltering light had faded from view, one of the souls overhead shot straight into Ace’s body below the water.
For a span of a time, there was no movement in the cave. Each of the remaining lights drifted and hovered over the surface of the water, content to wait before receding into the depths of the water as they await the birth of their vessels.
As this time passed, another light drifted into the cavern to replace the light that had been consumed.
As it came to rest above the surface of the water, there was a violent commotion as a pony shot forth from the silence, sending water flying throughout the cavern as he sucked in a deep breath.
His body shaking, Ace started to make his way slowly out of the water before his legs started to give out beneath him.
When it made it to the dry ground, he fell forward with his eyes closed, beginning to lose himself to the pain as his body adjusted to the new soul.
The tawny wisps of consciousness were beginning to fade when there was a loud hissing directly in front of his face.
Ace’s entire being was sore, and he couldn’t bring himself to raise his eyelids, let alone any part of his body.
His entire being was calling out to him, trying to warn him of some danger he knew he should know and be wary of, but his mind was foggy and he couldn’t connect the thoughts together.
The hiss grew louder, and it seemed impossibly closer, like it should have been touching him already.
Then he felt a slimy, gooey presence sliding into his nose and mouth.
Ace’s eyes shot open, sending a new wave of pain through his body in addition to the pain that was persisting over his entire body already.
Then he felt it – or rather, he couldn’t feel it - his magic had left him, left his control.
It wasn’t a Unicorn or Alicorn soul he had accepted into his body.
Ace tried to rise to his hooves, but he couldn’t move, his body wouldn’t obey his commands.
An indescribable pain shot through his core, like a phoenix was being reborn from its funeral pyre inside of him while a dragon was rampaging through the whole thing with its claws tearing at his insides while the fire melted his flesh.
Ace started to suck in his breath in attempt to scream in the pain, but it only caused to pull in the slick, gooeyness that was filling his body.
His gaze finally obeying him, he looked down to see the last of the pre-magic crawling into his mouth and nose, the sleeve having come loose from the force of the water and his arching body in the pain.
The last of the pre-magic faded from his view while the magic inside of his own body started to devour his flesh.
He could feel his insides shuffling, shifting, disappearing.
The magic was devouring his organs, his entire body, from the inside out as the soul rejected the foreign force, having no clue how to handle such strange phenomena.
Ace managed to rise to his hooves shakily, but the bright blackness of his horn blinded his vision and hurt his eyes.
I’m going to die if I don’t do something!
But what could he do?
His body was weak from the transferred souls, and his magic was the cause of his death.
I have to try! To do something!
Ace ran forward blindly, his head lowered.
His body ached with the pain pulsing like fire with every slight motion, his nerve endings igniting with every step.
A violent cough erupted from his muzzle, spewing forth either blood or pre-magic.
Ace slipped on the puddle of expelled fluid.
His body slid forward on the rocks, but not for long as the wall ahead of him stopped his advance violently as his horn struck against it with all of his momentum.
Ace coughed up more blood as a hundred new pains ran through his body, a loud crack resounding through the cave as the bone protruding from his skull, his horn, was fractured by the impact.
That’s it!
Ace pulled his head back before swiftly bringing it down against the rocky wall again, his horn pulsing even greater pain through his body as he recoiled.
Ace lost consciousness for only a few seconds before being awoken once more as his magic feasted upon him.
With no time to lose, he swung his horn violently against the wall again…
There was another loud crack throughout the cave, followed by a thud and a splash.
The pain finally took its toll over the beaten and battered pony, and with another cough of blood, his head fell forward, the blackness of the world swallowing him up as his eyes slid shut.