Chapter 2 – A New Home
Part 1 – Awakening
Tired.
She felt endlessly tired….
And comfortable!
So comfortable…
She was totally at ease. Everything was just snuggly wuggly cozily. If she had her way, she would sleep forevermore!
The pillow, her head was resting on, must have been the softest and cuddliest one he ever had rested on! The warm blanket she was snuggled up in was also as smooth as the finest silk and made her want to lie like this for all eternity.
The calm deep breathes she took wafted the scent of a fresh summer morning breeze, mixed with the scents of fresh spearmint and a slight tang of chamomile, to her nostrils. Through an opened window above her, she heard the song of some birds, common skylarks she guessed, but wasn´t sure.
Everything was in harmony and perfected by a soft hoof, which was endlessly stroking tenderly through her mane.
She sighed in relish and gave a long loud yawn, knowing she disclosed her awakening to the one next to her, but snuggled up in her bed even more. She heard a chuckle and, shortly after that, she felt a warm breath at her ear and a familiar voice whispering. The hoof didn´t stop stroking all the time. “Good morning sleepyhead! Time to wake up!”
Moaning drowsy, she turned in her bed and faced the pony next to her, her eyes still closed. “Only five more minutes…” she said dozy. Another giggle.
“As you wish! You slept for so long, these five minutes won´t bother me…”
So, she rested another five minutes in her bed with the soft hoof in her mane.
After these minutes, she gave another long yawn. Her eyes fluttered and finally opened, looking up for the hoof´s source, just to find what she hoped to find: the deep dark-blue ocean-eyes she loved so much from the first moment she saw them!
“Well? Slept enough?” the eye´s owner asked her. She smiled dozily back at him.
“Uh-huh…”
He beamed at her. “Well then: Do you want some breakfast? You are sure hungry, considering how long you´ve slept!” Before she could answer, her stomach rumbled loud. She smiled sheepish at him and he giggled. “Guess that´s a ‘yes’, huh?”
Her smile got even wider and she nodded. “Yes.”
With that, the white stallion left his seat next to her and walked over to a small table in the middle of the room and opened a small cupboard with his magic.
Yawning and groaning, Twilight sat up in her bed and looked around. She found herself in one of the countless guest rooms of the royal palace. She instantly recognized the purple walls, which are so typical for it. The room was not very big. There was a small wooden table with a few chairs in the middle of the room, several vases with different colorful flowers inside standing on it. There was also a small half-filled cup and a pot of tea next to it.
Along the walls were a few cupboards for the personal possessions, a bigger cupboard with fresh bedding, some flatware and sundry other things and a dresser, where Bleach´s saddlebag rested on. Next to her bed was a slightly opened window. Through the window she saw the beautiful castle garden with its great colorful flowerbeds and the huge palace labyrinth.
Her gaze wandered back to Bleach, who was preparing a small breakfast for his loved filly. He levitated a small meal tray on the table, placed a plate and a cup on it and filled it with tea. At the same time, he opened his saddlebag on the dresser and levitated out a small box and, out of the small box, two sandwiches and placed them on the plate.
Twilight was amazed at how good he was prepared for her awakening.
“Tell me…how long did I sleep?” she asked him, stretching herself.
He stopped for a short moment with the breakfast-preparation and turned back to her, wide-smiling. “Oh, it is Saturday morning. That means if I calculate right, you slept exactly…two days, six hours, twenty two minutes and forty-two seconds until you took your first yawn.”
Twilight chuckled and quizzically cooked an eyebrow. “Yeah, sure! I slept exactly that long…”
“Okay, okay…it had been fifty-six seconds…”
Both laughed and Bleach continued preparing her breakfast.
The purple mare simply enjoyed watching him and one more time, she recognized how handsome he was. She always was wondering why he hadn´t a fillyfriend yet. He was so adorable! Who wouldn´t love his star-white coat, the long raven mane and, her favorite, the two dark-blue ocean-eyes? And his black surcoat made him look even more adorable and...Wait! Black?
“Bleach!” she suddenly shouted in surprise. He turned around with an asking look.
“What is it?”
“Your…your surcoat! It is…it is BLACK! Does that…?”
He grinned from ear to ear. “Yep, it does! In front of you stands a full-fledged Auraknight on her majesty´s service! Great, isn´t it?”
“That is way more than great! It is marvelous! But how…What did I miss?”
“Well…” he began and levitated the tray to her “Let me explain it to you while you´re breakfasting…”
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…“So this is your report?” a stern voice asked him and he nodded ashamed.
He really was not looking forward for where this was going. He only had heard short parts of what had happened after he had passed out in the library. His father and the princess herself had reached in the last nick of time before the dark alicorns got the chance to hurt him and Twilight and had banished them back into the book. Their summoner wasn´t found yet.
He finally had awakened in the late afternoon of the following day and had found himself in one of the chambers of the palace. Twilight had been still asleep at that time.
And also now, in the morning of the next day, she still was sleeping. He began to worry. And he had a guilty conscience about involving her in the situation without calling for the guards.
The fact, that princess Celestia instantly had called him for an audience this morning to report her, made him seriously nervous. This all wasn´t a very good omen and the stern and slightly displeased look on the white alicorn´s face agreed with his thoughts.
So, he now was kneeling down in front of his princess, sweating bullets.
“I asked you: This is your report?” she asked again, wanting to make him answer her loud.
“Y-y-yes…my princess…” he answered low-voiced but loud enough for her. She snorted displeased. “Let me sum this up: You and Twilight went out for a walk because you couldn´t sleep. When I consider your situation and your feelings at that time, there is no problem with your acting. Up to this point I say nothing against your acting and have to thank you for being a great comforter for my faithful student. But…” Here we go…
“…next you saw this strange black magic behind the library´s window and instead of calling for the guards and your father, who was at the school at that time too, you went for your own to inspect it! And as if that wouldn´t be dangerous enough, you also involved Twilight in the situation and risked your and her life! How do you explain your foolish acting? How do you explain risking the life of my faithful student in the face of your vow as an Auraknight-to-be to protect the lives of others?” Celestia´s anger rose with every word and Bleach shrank with every word.
This definitely wouldn´t have a happy end for him!
“I…I…”
“Well?”
He sighed. “I can´t explain it, my princess. I…I just wanted to stop that murder before he would kill another pony. I had to act fast. And Twilight…I really didn’t want to involve her into this. She was asleep when I saw that strange magic. I really wanted to go without her. I knew it could be dangerous, but…she woke up and asked me, where I was going to. I tried to lie at her, said I only would need the lavatory, but she didn´t believe me. To be honest: I´m a bad liar. She knew there was something else. I know, I shouldn´t have done this and I´m hating myself for it, but I took her with me because I knew she would push me until I´m yielding…”
“The cleverer give in, right?” the alicorn-princess asked blank and he nodded.
“I am so sorry for what happened. She still didn´t wake up and I am really worrying about her. I know it is all my fault and I´ll bear the consequences for my acting. I´m just begging you to understand me and to be merciful…”
A few moments, there was silence. Celestia scrutinized the youngster in front of her, before she took a sharp breath and exhaled her frustration. “Listen, Bleach: I know your heart is on the right place and I also know you won´t involve Twilight in such a dangerous situation deliberately. I know about your feelings for her. I watched you for a long time and, moreover, I heard your last words before you passed out.
I also know that you did your very best to protect her in the face of your enemy and that she´s still alive speaks for your abilities. And I also respect your father, who serves for me for many years now and always stays loyal at my side.
BUT: As princess of Equestria, teacher of Twilight AND your later employer and mentor besides your father, I can´t turn a blind eye to this!”
“I´ll accept every punishment, my princess…” he said and bowed down to except his sentence. The white alicorn-princess again silently looked over him, before she annunciated: “Take off your surcoat!”
Bleach thought, his heart would stop beating!
“M-m-m-my s-s-surcoat…” he gasped in panic and disbelief.
“Here and now!” Celestia commanded with emphasis.
“B-But…But…”
Frantically, he rose to his hooves and looked at his princess in desperation. “No! You…You can´t simply drop me out of my training! Please, my princess! I…I know, I made a mistake, but…Please! I´m begging for your mercy! It´s my destiny! My future! I…”
“BE QUIET!” she shouted at him angrily. He did so and shrank back again. “Don´t even dare thinking about regretting my order! Put off your surcoat! Right! Now!”
Celestia´s look destroyed every urge to disagree with her. A small tear formed in his eye and slowly ran down his cheek. Reluctant, he did as his princess had commanded and put off the white surcoat, which meant so much for him.
He wished there would be somebody to defend him, preferably his father! But Celestia had ordered to let them alone, so there was no pony around to help him.
The alicorn-princess levitated the surcoat in front of her. Bleach felt naked. Granted, they normally don´t wear any clothes in Equestria, but there, in this moment, he felt naked.
Without saying anything, the princess´ horn began glowing a bit brighter and with a sudden small pulse of magic, his surcoat was wrapped in flames. This sight was too much for him. He closed his eyes and looked to the ground in shame, listening to the crackle of his burning sign as an Auraknight-trainee.
The small tear dripped to the ground.
“Bleach Auraknight…” Celestia then pronounced “…in my capacity and my powers as princess, I declare your education in the name of all Equestria official as…” she took a deep breath for the last word “…finished!”
The white stallion frowned. Did she say ‘finished’? He looked up in confusion…and again he thought his heart would be out of service! What his eyes saw, was his surcoat, still levitating in front of a now smiling princess Celestia, the last flames vanishing.
It now was black. Black! The color of a full-fledged Auraknight! “What the…”
“Bleach, regarding the last events, I decided to declare you as a full-fledged Auraknight! You have showed courage and fortitude in face of a horrible enemy! You have acted fast and intelligent in face of a life-threatening situation, where every second counts! And you have proofed your skills in fighting and protecting whilst defending the life of my faithful student Twilight Sparkle! And, even if you were the one, who had led her in this life-threatening situation, you still command all your courage to face me and have the maturity to acknowledge your fault and bear its consequences!
All these qualities, every single one of them, make you worthy of being a full-fledged Auraknight at my service!”
Bleach didn´t know, what to say. Only two minutes ago, he thought that everything was lost, only to get now everything he had longed for! He just looked at his princess in wonderment and surprise. She giggled.
“Won´t you take back your surcoat?” she asked.
“Oh…” he said dumbfounded, levitated his surcoat back to him and put it on. “I´m just…surprised…and a little bit confused, to be honest…”
“Well, if I am honest, it wasn´t an easy decision, what I should do and how to handle your acting. As I said, I couldn´t turn a blind eye to this. I discussed a long time with your father and he persistently had affirmed that your heart is in the right place and that you´re worth to have a second chance.
And finally, he convinced me and we decided to finish your training because of the things I mentioned. The only condition was that you at least had to exculpate yourself, alone, without any help. That is why we are alone here.”
The white stallion just nodded and bowed down one more time, deeper than ever before. “I thank you wholehearted, my princess! I promise, no, I vow to never disappoint you again! I´ll always stay loyal at your side and always will defend your life with mine, if it´s necessary!” he said fervently and she nodded. Slowly, his proud and his self-confidence came back.
“But to fulfill your duty, you´ll need two more things…” and she levitated two items from behind her throne to him. The first thing was a black belt with two sheaths. And in these two sheaths were two new daggers. “The first should be these daggers, every one of them a masterpiece for itself!”
He donned the belt around his hips and levitated the two daggers out of their sheets in front of him to inspect them. They both shimmered faintly, one in sky-blue and the other in blazing red. The hilt and the blade of the red one were engraved with stylized flames. The ones of the blue dagger were engraved with stylized ocean waves and waterdrops. The blades´ material for itself had to be a special mix of steel and crystals. Crystals could bear more magical energy and it was easier to canalize magic through them, than through steel. That was the reason, why his old daggers had molten in the library. They had only consisted of steel and couldn´t bear the sheer mass of the black magic.
Only the daggers of a full-fledged Auraknight consisted of crystals and steel.
And now, finally, he had his own unique pair!
It was a really great feeling!
“Ruby and sapphire, fire and water, zeal and patience…Never forget these two things! As a fighter, you will always need them! Your passionate way of fighting! Your determination and your iron will to walk on, even if you fall!
And, on the other side, your intellect! Your deep, strong and powerful emotions! Your patience and longanimity! And your analyzing powers of observation!”
He nodded and put them back into their sheaths. “Thank you!” he said.
“And the second should be this…”
She levitated a small round item to him. It was a little bit bigger than a coin. There was the sign of Celestia engraved on it: the big sun which also was her cutie-mark. On the backside, there was engraved his own cutie-mark: the crossed daggers with the red rose in the background.
“This is your signet. Show it to anypony and he or she will know, that you´re acting on my behalf! You´ll need it, because I have a special mission for you and Twilight…”
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“A mission?” Twilight interrupted him.
Bleach nodded. “I´ll tell you later. First, we should use this day to get back some…normality, if you want so…” The purple unicorn also nodded and finished her breakfast with a last sip of her tea.
“Ah! That was good! Chamomile tea with one spoonful honey and a rose and a daisy sandwich…where do you know, that these are my favorites for breakfast?” “Well…” he said smirking “…we are friends for how many years now? Twelve? I know you since we were seven years old foals! Don´t you think I should know such things?”
Twilight chuckled. “You are right! After all, I also know what you like for breakfasting, so it was a silly question…” She yawned and stretched herself. “Anyway, I´ll take a hop into the shower, if you don´t mind…” she said and slipped out of her bed.
“Of course not!” he beamed and opened the door that led to the small bathroom. He waved inviting with his hoof and held her the door open like a gentlecolt. “Go and shower as long as you want! Spike already had brought your favorite shower foam and shampoo and perfume and I don´t know what all from your chamber. Everything is just waiting for you! Meanwhile, I´ll go and wash the dishes.”
The purple unicorn giggled and nuzzled him before she entered the bathroom. “Thank you very much!”
After the door to the bathroom had closed, he took Twilight´s tray with his magic and left the room for the central kitchen. He of course could have given the dishes to one of the kitchen helpers of the palace, but his love would surely need some time for her and he just wanted to give her some privacy. So, he went and washed the dishes by his own. He allowed himself enough time and chatted a little bit with the kitchen helpers. He also would have informed the princess about Twilight´s awakening, but she wasn´t at the palace at the time, so he just informed some guards to tell her and his father.
After about half an hour, he headed back for Twilight´s room. He politely knocked at the door and the sweet voice of his loved filly allowed him to enter.
With a singing “I am ba-hack!” he opened the door and an air draft wafted the scents of violets and roses to his nostrils. The beautiful scent deafened him for a short moment. He looked at Twilight, lying on her bed in front of the now wide opened window, her head resting on her forelegs and on the windowsill. Dreamy, she looked out of the window, savoring the warm sun and the fresh morning breeze, her eyes half-closed.
Bleach couldn´t help but stare. He knew, that the purple mare was beautiful, that was one of many reasons he loved her for, but he never had seen her perfect beauty this way! The sun made her purple coat sparkle like starry heavens, her purple-pink mane and tail waved playful, carried by the soft morning breeze. And her fragrance! This lovely heady aroma!
She looked back at the white stallion and noticed him staring at her. She giggled and smirked in a seductive manner. “Like what you see?” she asked, playfully flicking her tail and broke his stare.
He blinked and frantically shook his head. “I…I uh…” he stuttered and blushed heavily. “ I…uh…was just lost in thoughts for a moment…sorry…” Twilight smirked even wider and cocked an eyebrow - her typical look when she was going to be sarcastic. “Oh, this minute was but a looong moment!” she said, using the words Bleach once had used when they met the first time.
He came into the picture and smiled back nervously. “Well…it was a looooong delicate thought…” “Oh, and what was this looooooong delicate thought about?” she asked back and got out of the bed, coming very close to him, looking deep into his eyes. “W-Well…” he answered stuttering, not sure if he really should do the next step. “…t-this delicate thought m-maybe was about if I…” “If you…?” she came even closer until there were only a few inches left between their heads. She mesmerized him with her seductive sparkling eyes.
“W-Well…if I…” Oh, for God´s sake, just do it, idiot! “…if I…should do…this…”
And after these words, he closed his eyes, leaned forward and quickly locked his lips with hers.
Twilight´s eyes first opened wide in sudden surprise, but finally, she closed her eyes too and returned the kiss. It was a short, passionate kiss. And it was a meaningful one, for both of them.
Their hearts hammered in their chests when he finally broke the kiss. For a short moment, they just looked into each other’s eyes, blushing, smiling, exploring each other´s soul, carrying for nothing in the world. All the shadows, all the happenings of the last week, everything was forgotten in this one moment!
Bleach was the first, who found his tongue: “Twilight…” he said in a soft voice “…there´s…something…something I wanted to tell you since a long time now…”
She said nothing to interrupt him. She gave him his time. The purple unicorn knew the words he was going to say. She heard them in her dream. The words she wanted to hear since so long! She just smiled at him, silently encouraging him with her shining eyes to go on.
“Twilight, I…I…” Say it, idiot! Just say it! You got so far, now just say… “…I love you! I love you since the first time we met. You are the most beautiful mare I ever met in my entire life! I love everything about you, your shining eyes, your soft coat, your silky mane, simply everything! You´re intelligent, kind, amiable, funny an-hmmm…”
Her lips silenced him and they shared another passionate kiss, until Twilight slowly broke away, smiling wide and blushing heavily.
“I love you too!” she whispered to him with her lovely voice. “You are the most handsome and most intelligent stallion I ever met and I love you since we met the first time, too! But…” she chuckled “…sometimes you´re just talking too much.”
With these words, she leaned forward for another long kiss.
Together, continuing making out, they headed for the bed.
“You planned all this in this half-hour, didn´t you?” Bleach whispered between two kisses.
Twilight only smirked slyly in response and leaned in for another deep passionate kiss…
He didn´t know why, but he was in a good mood! Maybe it was because of his son´s finished education, or it was his anticipation for his son´s face when he gave him his present or it was just the good weather.
Anyway, the white stallion with the short blue mane was filled with cheerfulness this day. There was only one shadow. This shadow was Silverleaf.
He finally had the results of the autopsy and they were everything other than pleasant! The spell - or better: the magical shadow-alicorns, as he knew now - had killed her from the inside. And it surely hadn´t been a painless death but the extremely opposite.
Her inner organs, every single one of them, every bone, every vein, everything was destroyed! More than destroyed: everything was ONE SINGLE MASS!
He surely had seen many things in his life, but this was on a brand-new level! Luckily, the strange book and the shadow-alicorns were under his and Celestia´s control now.
“Ten-hut!” he commanded and the two pegasi-palace guards in front of the huge stairway, which led to the throne room and the hallways with the guest rooms, saluted with their wings.
“Any exceptional occurrences?” Bleach´s father asked in a habitual military voice.
“No Sir!” they replied chorusing. “But we have an information for you and the princess from your son!” one of them added.
“So?” he asked frowning. “Tell me!”
“Twilight´s awakening, Sir! She awoke about…must be one and a half to two hours ago! That´s at least, what your son had told us. And this was...about twenty minutes ago. After that, he headed back for Twilight´s room and still should be there, if you´re searching for him.” the guard told him honestly.
His good mood increased again a little bit.
“Ah, wonderful! So she finally awoke! That surely will be a pleasant message for the princess! Did he say something about her current state of health?”
“As far as he told us, she should be in a good condition. He didn´t say something about any emotional damages or disturbances, so she should be all right.”
“Thank you! That´s all for now. Move on!...Or stand on, that fits more…” he quipped and passed the two now chuckling guards.
He climbed the stairs and headed for the hallway with Twilight´s room, where he also would find his son. He was sure, he also would be there even if it hadn´t been his duty to protect and care for the purple mare.
With a wide smile he finally reached the door to Twilight´s room and with very much élan, he opened it.
“Goooood morning you two! It is very good to hear about your awakening and - Hellooo!”
What his eyes saw, was in one way not really surprising for him, but in the other way it was a little bit…sudden. In front of him in the bed lay his son and Twilight, cuddling and passionately kissing together. Nothing more… Yet, so his hidden agenda.
They frantically stopped with their activities when they heard the voice from the door, sat up straight and turned their heads to him, both blushing heavily.
“Well, well!” he said appreciative slow, smirking. “The young Auraknight and the princess´ faithful student, cuddling and kissing together, lost in their deep love and passion for each other! Who expected this?” Before they could answer, he shrugged, continued and answered his question. “I? Celestia? The whole school? The whole palace? Maybe whole Canterlot?”
Bleach chuckled. “You always had miserable timing, dad. And you still have it.”
Now, his father grinned slyly. “Well, better I disturbed you now than a quarter later. What would I have seen then…Believe me: That would have been really awkward!...”
“DAD!”
They all laughed.
“But now back to topic.” Bleach´s father then said and looked at Twilight. “It is good to see you awake. We all already started worrying about you! I think, after what I saw, it´s redundant to ask you if you´re okay?”
She smiled and nodded. “Yes. Bleach took good care for me.”
“Yeah, I can see it…” he smirked in response. “I just was a little bit worried, because you sometimes mumbled in your sleep. We tried to wake you up, but you were like…sealed off…”
“Oh…I…mumbled? What did I say?”
“We couldn´t understand it, to be honest. You mumbled very low, so we only recognized, that you mumbled, but not what.
“Maybe you just tell us about your dream…if you like…” Bleach suggested.
The purple mare thought a moment about that. Her dream was…strange. She had a conversation with that one mare she saw in her nightmare and her last dream. And after that, she had dreamed about her first school day and how she met Bleach…
Finally, she nodded. It wouldn´t do any harm to share the inner conversation between her and the mare, especially because it was about the six alicorns.
“Okay, I´ll tell you…”
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“Well, well! Look at this! If this isn´t one of the chosen six, left behind by his own friends! And one of them really should be the incarnation of ‘loyalty’? HA! I never heard a better joke!” the leader of the dark alicorns mocked.
She was on that clearing again. How did she come here? Wait! The shadows! The explosion! The hit on her head! And then…she was here. I am…unconscious! she thought and slight panic seized her. Oh no, that isn´t good! What´s about the alicorns! What´s about me! And…about Bleach! I have to help him! Hey! Body! Wake up! Hey! HEEEEEY! WAKE UP!...Nothing… her head bowed down. I am…trapped in my own body…SHOOT!...
“It was MY decision to leave behind, MY idea to make a martyr of myself! So mock at me and not at them, you damned scumbags!” the dark-blue stallion with the white waving mane hit back with all his bravery.
The six alicorns only laughed loud.
“Ooooh, you give your life for them? That´s a very biiiig sacrifice!” a mare with a sweet seductive voice cooed and trotted closer to him.
Twilight frowned. Again she was a silent watcher of the happenings in front of her. Her dream continued where it had end the last time: at the moment when the dark alicorns had entered the clearing. She had no other choice than watching the scene…
She looked closer at the alicorn-mare, which had a soft melodious and seductive voice, that really won´t fit her attitude.
Her outer beauty stood in an extreme contrast to her inner nature. Her coat was nearly snow-white with a slight touch of pink. Her long waving mane had a deep dark pink and her eyes shone in a demonic bright sky blue. Her slight figure and her well defined curves made her one of the most beautiful mares in the world. Two long black ribbons, which were tied up in her long mane and her tail, waved graceful around her in the slight breeze.
The only thing, which ruined the perfect look, was her cutie-mark. In front of a big flame where the signs of Venus and Mars, crossed in an unmistakable way, which showed her…’profession’…
“You are really generous to take such a fate on yourself! And I always thought you are the kind guy of the group! But after your words…”
“I am no longer the Element of Kindness!” he said and smirked wily. “I transferred it out of my body! They have it! I am useless for you! My death wouldn´t change anything for you!”
“You wily stripling, you…” she cooed and stalked around him like a hungry cat around a trapped mouse, coming a little bit closer with every step.
“But…in that case, you may haven´t to die…” she was now next to him, her mane softly tickled him and she looked at him in a seductive manner, a prankish smile on her face. She softly nuzzled his neck and he shuddered displeased.
She ignored it and whispered in his ear teasingly.
“Come with me! Fortunately for you, you are a very handsome young colt and alive you are more worthy for me! Forget your little playmate and this whole ‘We are the Elements of Harmony and we have to save the world’ thing! You know, they won´t do it! Come with me and you´ll survive! Come with me and I´ll give you everything you want! I´ll give endless pleasure to you! I´ll give you satisfaction!”
She nuzzled him again, surrounded him one last time, her mane tickling his coat and her tail playfully flicking across his face. “So, what´s your decision?...” she then asked beneath him.
Ocean snorted, exhaling her terrible sweet scent and shook his head. I heard enough!
He leaned over to her neck and bit her as firmly as he could.
She screamed by the sudden pain and frantically shook her head to loosen his bite, but he won´t stick to his guns! He tasted her blood and wanted to disgorge it, but he kept biting her.
Finally, with a strong pulse of magic, she kicked him off. He landed hard on the ground after he flew a few meters through the air and gasped. His broken leg shot waves of stinging pain through his body. He looked up and faced two demonic blue eyes focusing on him. Their message was unmistakable: You! Are! DEAD!
“Odium?” she asked, hardly holding back her temper. Her face had a deep purple. A dark red, nearly black, stallion with a blazing red and yellow mane replied: “You want him for yourself?” She nodded and grinned.
“With your leave, I´ll…show him heaven face-to-face…”
“As you wish…” the alicorn´s leader simply said. “And we´ll see if we can catch the others.” he turned around to the other four alicorns behind him. “MOVE OUT!”
“NO!” Ocean shouted and tried to rise to his hooves and block their way. But his broken hind leg brought him back to ground with a groan.
Not deigning to look at him one more time, the five alicorns passed him and he left alone with his murder-to-be.
As soon as they had disappeared in the forest, another wave of magic threw him through the air. He landed hard on his back and instantly the beautiful face of the alicorn-mare appeared in his glance, staring down at him with hatred.
“So you like to do it with pains? I didn´t know you´re this way! But if that´s really, what turns you on, I can help you getting warmed up…”
She raised her left fore leg and took aim. She grinned, knowing about his injury. He showed it to her when he tried to stop the others. His eyes went wide, silently begging: No! Please don´t!
In this moment, she tramped on his right hind leg for all one is worth.
First, the blue stallion only heard a loud cracking sound. But then, he heard the loudest noises he had heard in his entire life.
He heard his own screams of pain…
“Yeah, THAT´S a turn-on, right?”
Oceans view was bleary by the tears he cried. His screams didn´t die down. They only increased when the alicorn-mare increased the pressure on his broken leg. He trembled and tried to wriggle out of her grip, but it was useless. He was completely under his murders control.
“And now, let´s double the fun, what do you mean?” she asked and raised her other fore leg only to tramp it with all her powers on his left hind leg. Again, he heard a cracking sound and felt an unbearable pain after that, flooding his body and his mind. If he thought, his screams couldn´t get any louder, he was wrong. The mare only laughed sadistic, savoring every sign of pain from him.
And Ocean´s body only consisted of pain at this moment!
He couldn´t even cry for mercy! His throat was too busy forming his anguished screams instead of forming any words.
“Do you want me to end it?” she finally asked. He wrest a nod from himself. He couldn´t form a ‘yes’. His thoughts were too busy with the pain.
Her face came closer and she whispered in his ears, nuzzling him, hearing his beautiful screams right next to her ear. “Do you want me to relief you? Do you want me to…kill you?...”
She leaned back and looked down at him, waiting for his answer, increasing the pressure on his legs again.
Finally, he nodded.
“At your desire…”
Her horn began to glow. Slowly, one of her long ribbons moved in front of her, shrouded in a dark glow by her magic. It´s end pointed at the stallion beneath her. “It is really sad that it has to end like this. But it´s your own decision! So…” The ribbon´s tip, suddenly sharp as a sword because of her demonic magic, shot out, broke through his body and cut his heart. “…farewell…”
Instantly, his screams ended. His eyes went wide by the sudden sharp pain where his heart was. He trembled, coughed and rattled, fighting his last fight against the nearing death. He felt his life dwindling. His eyes fluttered and rolled back in their socks. One last time, his body reared up and finally his eyes closed and his body flagged with a last breath of relief.
Ocean was dead.
The mare slowly removed the ribbon out of his body and gave a devilish laugh, watching the puddle of blood growing around the dead stallion. And then, she left, following the other alicorns…
Twilight cried. Why can´t she do something? Why she has to be just a watcher? She wanted to help the stallion all the time, but nothing helped! She had tried to trot over to them, but she didn´t came closer with every step. She stayed where she was! That wasn´t fair!
She looked away and closed her eyes, but her gaze turned back to the blue stallion automatically. But…she gasped! There was no longer the blue stallion lying in a puddle of blood, it was… “BLEACH!” He turned his head and opened his eyes. “I…am sorry…” he whispered with a last breath “Twilight…I…love you…”
The stallion died again, this time the one she loved.
“NO! BLEACH!”
“And I tried all the time to block him out…” somepony sighed behind her.
Frantically, Twilight turned around and faced the red mare she saw in her dreams before. “You…”
“I am sorry you had to see this. I tried to keep him out of this part of our mind. But he and Ocean resemble each other way too much, so he projected himself onto him and…”
“Wait…You…tried to keep him out of our mind? What do you mean with ‘our mind’? What have you done with Bleach? Answer me!”
The mare smiled slightly. “You know this is just a dream. He isn´t really dead.” she calmed the purple mare and searched for a point to start her explanation. “I…manipulated your dreams to contact you. Our souls and memories are connected. I am a part of you. We are two ponies in one body, if you want so. Well, at least you are a pony. I´m just a remnant of a pony, a part of its spirit, reborn in your body, can you follow me till here?”
Twilight nodded slightly confused, trying to follow the mare’s words.
“I tried to contact you and to warn you the last time you dreamed. But you awoke too early. It is very difficult to import you, and only you, into my memories and contact you without becoming part of the memories for myself like the last time. That is why you saw this. It is, kinda, a side-effect of being imported to my memories and my part of our mind. And you saw this scene with Ocean because he is bloody similar to your Bleach…with the difference that Bleach isn´t…but that´s not important now…”
“But you hadn´t been there when she killed your love! How do you remember, what she had done to him? That´s not part of your memories!” Twilight asked her.
Sadly the mare looked to the ground.
“I…heard his screams…and I saw this in her memories. You remember when they had attacked you the first time? I had arbitrary access for their memories at this time.”
“You mean: when I had this nightmare where I saw you the first time?”
She nodded. “You can be thankful that you´re still alive! They already had nearly destroyed your mind when I blocked them out and transferred you into the dome.”
“You mean…You are the warm feelings I felt at that time?”
Again, she nodded. “They tried to block me out, too, when they had recognized me. But I was stronger and tried to warn you. I could break through for a short moment, as you remember. But finally, they fought me down and attacked you. My only chance was to wake you up.”
There was a short silence between them. Finally, Twilight asked:
“Ari…”
“Ariadne. Only Ocean is allowed to call me ‘Ari’, sorry.”
“Okay, Ariadne: what is going on here?”
The red mare with the green mane chuckled. “I´m sorry, my dear, but I won´t tell you this…”
“WHAT?” Twilight shouted in disbelief and indignation. “You try to contact me, show me this horrible memory of yourself and now you won´t tell me what that´s all meaning?”
She chuckled again. “Yes…” “And why the hay…” “Listen, Twilight! It is not as easy as you think! You´re very well-read, so think now! What happens if I tell you what I figured out and what I know? You ask me nothing more than for giving you my memories. And I can´t do this! There´s a huge wall between your and my memories! Imagine what happens, when I break this wall! Our memories will melt together! Your mind can´t bear this and will break! And what if it stands this flood of new memories? What then? Will you still be the same Twilight like before? Or will you be a second Ariadne? Do you even know how dangerous it already is to have you here?” she asked with a stern look.
“But…if it is that dangerous, why do you import me here after all?”
“Primary, I imported you to warn you about these six ponies. Somepony is trying to revive them and if this plan works, your world soon will be like the desert in your nightmare!”
“You mean…this desert…was a destroyed world? Our destroyed world?”
“As I said: I can´t tell you. Make your own thoughts about that! But…I at least can tell you, that everything you have to know about me, my friends and the alicorns is written down in the book.”
“What is this strange book after all?”
“Actually, it is a normal book. But the spells it tells, are very dangerous in the wrong hooves! But primary, it´s a book that tells the history of the six alicorns, where they come from and so on…”
“So I…have to read that book? That is your advice?”
Ariadne nodded.
“UUUUGH…Great! And I hoped to hear something more helpful…”
The red mare chuckled. “Please don´t be bad with me. Maybe, we´ll meet again when you figured out more. For now, you should rest…good night, Twilight Sparkle…”
“What? Hey, wait!”
But the mare already had vanished and the clearing was vanishing, too.
Twilight´s mind dreamed away and forgot the happenings of the last moments. Ariadne had sent her back to her own memories and to her own part of their mind.
She was dreaming now.
She dreamed about her first day at school, the excitement, her nervousness and how she met Bleach the first time. Her thoughts focused at him. She remembered all their big and small adventures. And when they ended, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned around and faced his beautiful ocean-eyes.
She smiled and was happy to see her love. He didn´t say anything. There was no need for words between them.
She leaned forward and kissed him passionately…
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“And from this point, the story gets…well…X-rated…” she finished low-voiced and blushed with a side-glance to Bleach. He blushed too, smiling slightly.
Bleach´s father, who had taken place on one of the chairs around the table, chuckled. “Nice to know, what youngsters are dreaming these days…but now serious: That all sounds very…” he shrugged. He didn´t find a word to describe what he had heard.
“…mysterious…” Bleach finished the sentence musing. “But at least we know now, what exactly that murder wanted!” he concluded. “And we also know something about that alicorns! We know that they are dark cravings, that´s at least what this one mare of them had told me. And after what you just told us, it must be the same mare that once had killed this ‘Ocean’. She is the incarnation of ‘lust’. One other name I heard is ‘Gula’, but I don´t know…”
“Gluttony.” Twilight interposed and gained an appreciatory glance from both stallions. She smiled sheepish. “I studied a little bit Latin combined with old religions during our summer holidays. ‘Gula’ is ‘gluttony’ in Latin and one of the Christian seven deadly sins.”
“Well, gluttony fits her behavior and her words. And what´s about this ‘Odium’?”
“It seems he is their leader. Abhorrence, abomination…hatred, that´s what describes him the best.”
“So we know now three incarnations, they represent: lust, gluttony and hatred…” Bleach´s father summed up. “And the others? And why does their master kill other ponies if he wants to revive them?”
“The others, I don´t know. But I can tell you why that pony is killing others, to revive them!” All eyes wandered to Bleach. “Energy! After all these years in that book, they´re sure weakened and have to collect new energy before they´re ready for their resurrection. You remember Silverleaf´s body? We couldn´t find any energy because they had absorbed it.”
“But…why of all ponies her?...” Twilight asked sadly. Bleach swallowed audibly and looked to the ground.
“Because…of you…”
Twilight went wide-eyed. “Me?” Her voice was throaty. Bleach nodded.
“And at the library, they didn´t want you, they wanted me! Because I am your friend and you, moreover, love me! It all fits! They work in two steps: first they break their victim’s mind, because our mind works like a protective wall for our body, and then they can absorb it´s energy without any resistance! And that´s why that pony wanted to kill Silverleaf and me: to weaken your mind and to get your energy!”
“My energy?” Twilight asked shocked.
“I´m afraid, but…” Bleach´s father added his statement “…he´s right. You know about your great magical potency and we two furthermore can see it. Your immense stock of pure magical energy would surely make them very much stronger in just a few moments! In this nightmare, you had, they had tried to break your mind but failed. So they had to weaken it and that´s why they killed Silverleaf. Because she´s your best friend and had a, don´t blame me for saying that, weaker mind than Bleach…”
All three shared a moment in silence, everypony of them lost in their own thoughts.
Finally, Bleach changed the topic and turned to his father: “Well…now, it´s your turn, dad: What happened after you heard my shout for help? You haven´t told me anything except for that you and Celestia had saved us.”
His father waved his hoof. “Oh, there´s nothing special I could tell you. After we heard your scream…”
“We?”
“Nevio, Soarin´, Spitfire and I. Well, after we heard your scream, Soarin´ looked through the window of the library and told me, you were chased by some creepy dangerous shadows and that there´s some kind of barrier behind the window. So, I sent him and Spitfire to call for Celestia.
Meanwhile, I ran to the library and tried to break the barrier, but it was too strong for me. Celestia finally broke it when she arrived and together, we entered the library, banished the surprised alicorn-shadows back in the book and sealed them inside. I also had sent out some guards to find the pony that cast the spell and the alicorns, but they hadn´t find anything…”
“Wait a second: Are you talking about the Soarin´ and the Spitfire?” his son interrupted him. “Why had they been there?”
“They helped me with Nevio.”
“Oh, mentioning him how is he doing?” Twilight interposed.
“He is…in a stable state, to say so. He…tried to kill himself, jumped out of the window in the tenth floor. I finally managed to calm him. He is trying to keep himself busy. At the moment, he is planning Silverleaf´s funeral at Monday together with her family.”
“You gave him a chamber in the tenth floor?” Bleach frowned. “You once had been more intelligent before…” he quipped and smirked. His father snorted.
“That is why I had called for Soarin´ and Spitfire. I am not that witless! After all, you of all ponies have to say that, Mister Catch-A-Murder-On-My-Own-Without-Calling-The-Guards…”
“Okay, okay…how have you calmed him?”
“I…” he looked to the ground. “I told him…”
Bleach realized and his look went to the ground, too. “You…told him…about her, right? About…mom…” the word stung in his heart. Just as always somepony touched this old scar. He felt a wave of depression coming up and closed his eyes, caught back in dark memories.
But the wave instantly died down when he felt a pony hugging him and nuzzling his neck. He opened his eyes and faced Twilight´s caring shining purple eyes. She planted a kiss on his cheek and whispered: “Don´t be sad! You know she´s always with you.” She put a hoof on his heart and felt its calm steady rhythm. “Right here…”
He just smiled and kissed her soft on the lips. The dark memories were gone. “Thank you…”
Bleach´s father simply watched the scene in front of him and smiled. Seems that true love can heal every scar… he thought. I just hope this love will last longer than mine…
He silently turned around to leave the room and let the young lovers alone. He would give Bleach his present another day. He opened the door and was already outside, when he turned around in the threshold one last time. “Oh, I forgot to tell you: Your parents wanted to visit you this afternoon, Twilight. They didn´t tell me an exact time, but…just to inform you.”
Twilight gave a thankful nod and after that, he finally left the room and closed the door. The purple mare and her lover left alone.
“Do you know, what I´m asking me all the time?” Twilight asked after a short silence.
“What?”
“Now that this book is in our hooves and no longer with this unknown murder: What is with him? Without it, he is surely harmless, or what do you think?”
Bleach put a hoof to his chin. “Hmm…I don´t know. If this pony really wants to revive these alicorns from the book, it won´t give up so easily…but my father and the guards will surely find it during our absence.”
“Our absence?” Twilight asked frowning.
“You remember that special mission I mentioned?” She nodded. “Well, our mission is: Leaving Canterlot to be safe from that murder and researching about that alicorns and finding a way to neutralize their powers. If you ask me, the only way to do that is killing them, but how do you kill somepony without a body?”
“And…when do we leave?” she asked, ignoring his last thoughts. She won´t think about such things at the moment.
“Monday, after Silverleaf´s funeral.” he answered honestly.
“And where are we going to hide ourselves from that murder?”
“At a small town south-west from Canterlot, called ‘Ponyville’…”
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