//------------------------------// // Nothing Left: Something Left // Story: Horn And Wings // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. The bronze unicorn's legs failed him and his rump unceremoniously hit the ground. He sighed dejectedly and looked up at king Sombra standing victoriously in front of him. The fight would have taken long time if there was a way of measuring it and both combatants were tired. It was clear who was more resillient though. Sombra had dragged Blazing through every memory, he'd learned all the little tricks and strategies the bronze unicorn had been using and finally there was nothing left. He'd known he would win from the beginning but even then it took far longer than expected. None of that mattered anymore as he could no longer sense any relevant power in his foe. Sombra won. The body was his and his only now. What he hadn't counted on was that a lesser being could learn something from the king as well. This place was Blazing's head, that much he'd realized during the fight. What he hadn't known at the start was that compared to the king there was no reason for him to need to use spells here. All he needed was somepony else to show him the way and now he was brimming with dark magic the king had been using to deal with his fragments previously and with him now. Blaze grinned and wisps of black smoke danced around his body. A two-sided mirror appeared between him and the soul of king Sombra. Having been defeated and rising up so many times throughout the fight, Blazing had been sacrificing parts of himself to gain the slightest edge and a chance to find the king's weakness. In the end there was nothing more to give up and the king was still there, strong as ever. An angular black crystal on the top of the mirror glowed. "Do you really think I can't remove my own spell?" asked Sombra, clearly annoyed at Blazing's stalling attempts. "Heh, remove? You've been throwing all my mistakes at me so much that I actually learned the spell from you. Do you have the courage to look inside instead of breaking it? After all this I really want to know - can YOU face your greatest fear?" "I hate to repeat myself but there is nothing I fear, stop playing for time and just die." Blazing looked into the mirror. "Oh no, the horror, my brain iz meeeeeeltiiiing! Whatever shall I do? I will die alone and unloved," he screamed, overacting so much that an entire Canterlot theatre scene must have commited sucide at that point. Sombra couldn't help himself and facehoofed. Involuntarily, his curiosity got the better of him and he looked up into the mirror. Blazing Light had no idea what the king saw, all he heard was a choked groan and the sound of a body hitting the ground. He turned away from his vision and walked around the mirror. The bigger unicorn was lying on the ground, shivering and mumbling to himself. Blazing kicked him for good measure. "And stay down..." Sombra's soul stopped breathing and the bronze unicorn just sat down, his entire body made of lead. The mirror was still there, showing the ultimate fear and failure of whoever looked into it. For the bronze unicorn the image in front of him was a one of him, sitting slumped in the darkness. No matter what broke the king, the only thing Blaze saw in the magical mirror was the same thing he'd seen every single morning in any completely non-magical one. The image behind the glass smiled and the mirror disappeared. Blaze raised a hoof, a small book appeared and he tore out a single sheet of paper. His broken horn glowed and a pen appeared as well. He knew he was too weak to return and that he would fade just like the king had moments ago but no matter what little remained of him he would stay here long enough to do one more thing. One last thing to do, one more duty to fulfill before he could let everything go. That mantra which had followed him most of his life surfaced once again and he grinned. Levitating the pen he scribbled a short message on the paper and closed his eyes. I nibble the ear belonging to the pony lying in the bed next to me and giggle when it twitches away and tickles my nose. The following lick makes the entire head move. "Whatever you're trying to do, commander, is not going to work," says far too familiar voice. "Heavy?!" I'm immediately awake but the reality of Heavy Hoof lying with me in bed doesn't really make sense. "Before you begin - no, you're not charming enough to set me straight." "Damn, there goes my opener. Am I THAT predictable?" "Just a bit." "Alright, back to business at hoof." "No comment," "Har har. Why are you with me here? More like - why isn't Bright here with me or Bright with you?" "First of all, your doctor friend isn't gay, there's not enough colorful clothing anywhere around and no decorative wooden inlay in the walls. Second reason might be that he is a good host and took the couch for tonight, leaving us here when you fell asleep at the table after our little chat." "That makes sense," I yawn. "Don't sound too disappointed. So?" "So what?" "Are we going to visit the queen of changelings?" My coughing fit would be enough to wake anypony up with the added benefit of my lungs hitting the wall on the other side of the room. "I'm not sure I was being serious. It's all a bit hazy." "To be honest, it is a good idea." "I'm surprised you turned around so easily." Heavy looks blankly at the ground. "I really did love them both and the best thing was that either one was okay with it. All I wanted from you was to give me a second opinion on Blaze's diary. I would have never told princess Luna, not after seeing you pushing a wheelchair with some crazy lady trying to talk to the trees outside the asylum." "That's miss Pearl, she gets confused around trees... and chairs and ponies and, well, everything." Heavy smiles and stretches his legs. Not for the first time I have to curse the heavens for him having no interest in mares because that body is... whoah. "You're panting, commander." "Your fault, not mine. Also," I point to myself, "not a guard anymore, just a reminder." "Noted. On my part, I'll try to eat more cake to be less... droolworthy. Enough of that though, we should go." "Crap, it's late! Why didn't Bright Eye wake me up?" "He said he'll somehow manage when he left. He wanted to get the paperwork done early so we could leave for the Everfree as soon as possible." "Let's go then. Wanna grab breakfast at Donut-, I mean Sugarcube Corner?" "Good idea, it might be a long trip." "Not really, it's only few hours away. Pretty close to Sharp's memorial actually... sorry," I add when I see Heavy's smile turn bitter. "It's fine. I prefer remembering the good times we had instead of dwelling on what will never again be," he shakes his head, "The thing is that Blazing's diary mentions travelling to the hive and it taking some two weeks." "That's was actually true before they built the bridge over Ghastly Gorge. That thing makes it trivial and both changelings and ponies keep an eye on it." "Let's go then." For the first time in my life and maybe for the first time in documented existence it is the mare who spends less time in the bathroom than the stallion. Honestly, with Heavy's looks I wouldn't have it any other way. Funnily enough, there are no snippy remarks to us walking through Ponyville alhough there's more ponies than usual looking our way. More mares, to be precise. "Damn, if that girl begins licking the lollipop any faster she'll get friction burns," I comment at one of the more openly interested mares. "I don't think that's physically possible," Heavy looks directly at her, "Aaand there she goes, she swallowed the wooden bit as well." "And yet," I comment as the mare keeps moving her hoof up and down, "she didn't seem to notice. I wish ponies here reacted that well to me too." "Problems?" "The batpony thing. Marked by the moon, bringer of nightmares, vampire, all the fun jazz. Plus the crippled wing stubs," I flutter the useless things, "It was so much easier in Canterlot." Heavy takes my head into his hooves, looks into my eyes and nuzzles my nose. In the distance, dozens of mares collectively send their waves of jealousy and hatred towards me. Not a single buck was, is and will be given about them that day because all I see are warm, brown eyes. "You are beautiful, friendly and, from what I've heard, amazing in bed. There is nopony who could stay mad at you after they got to know you." I really can't help blushing, nopony could. "Thank ya, my knight in shining thong." "Pfff," Heavy rolls his eyes, "That's what I get for trying to cheer you up." "Yep! Ya get the cheery me with all the perks and benefits," I wiggle my bottom ineffectively. "And now there's a fair amount of stallions looking at me with murder in their eyes. Thank you, I haven't had a nemesis in a while." We could go making fun of ponies around for a long time... and we do. A nice change of pace comes when nopony starts insulting me at the bakery aside from whispers of shock at me being accompanied by Heavy. The words 'Big Mac grade' come as a bit of strangeness but for once I'm happy, only if mrs. Cake would stop with the 'knowing' glances alternating between us. Full of sugar and energy, we leave for the asylum and I'm surprised to see one of the night shift nurses at the reception. At the sight of us she just waves in the direction of Bright's office. Bright isn't alone, sitting on the couch and playing with something shiny in his hooves is Blaze who seems surprisingly relaxed. "Ah, here you are!" Bright greets us, "I have the temporary release papers ready and filled. We can't just snatch a patient and go for a walk into the most dangerous forest in Equestria. Please just sign your names next to mine and we're ready to go." Seeing no apparent problem, both me and Heavy do so. When the doc files the form he produces a leash from a drawer in his table. "Standard procedure," he explains upon seeing our questioning gazes, "Trust me, it's for his good. We can either go with the wheelchair or the leash but I'm not letting a mostly self-unaware patient just move around." Another memory surfaces, a great one, at least for me. "Give it to me." Blaze doesn't complain or anything when I put it around his neck. The trip is uneventful discounting hydras, necromancers, rogue changeling armies and a tale about a young recruit hated for being different up until the point he recieved a very important lesson from his sargeant and a further one from pony who later became his coltfriend. I know the story from Blaze but hearing Heavy's viewpoint on all that keeps my attention. Blaze doesn't seem to care about anything in the story itself but whenever we forget some detail and go silent trying to remember he curiously stops and just looks at us. All in all, it's a pretty fun trip. Up until the point when a squad of changelings surrounds us, it is. "Intruders! Get ready, guys, we'll be feasting tonig- I mean... buck," he pulls out a piece of paper from a bag on his back and tries again. "Welcome, our new tourist friends. We hope your visit to our fair hive will be full of enjoyment and fun fun fun. We are the visitor welcoming squad and will be happy to show you the best spots around." The longer the stunned silence goes on the more nervous the changeling leader seems to get. "I'm afraid we're here on business, young po- changeling," Bright gathers his wits first, "We need to see your queen for her expertise in mind control magic." The changeling begins thumping through the pamphlet and throws it away in disgust after a while. "That thing is useless. Fine, let's go." "Tourist guide to the Hive... how does that work?" my quick glance reveals the paper's title. "Don't push your luck, dinner. Ehm, I mean pony, of course." "Ooookay, nevermind then." The building we're ushered in is surprisingly similar to the throne room in Canterlot castle aside from it being mostly empty. The 'mostly' is the important part. When the pair of green eyes stops examining us, queen Chrysalis gets up from the throne and speaks. "One of you I know, two of you are... strange. Who is the unicorn with the glasses?" she asks, looking at Bright Eye. "A psychiatrist from Ponyville, not tasty at all." I can't even be mad at him acting like an idiot. Heavy himself is slightly on edge and I would be as well if I haven't met the queen before. "Rude," comments the queen but doesn't seem too offended, "Who is the one looking like Shining Armor. As much as I hate saying it - like a better version of Shining Armor." "Heavy Hoof, a Royal Guard. We've met at Sharp Biscuit's memorial after the invasion." "Ah yes. You, little and very, so very cheeky bat," she grins, "I know. Who is the other unicorn and why is he marked as a friend of the hive? Try to explain in a way that would not result in him 'helping' my subjects more." Heavy is the one to open his mouth first. "From what I understand you might remember him as a bronze changeling-" "What do you require from me?" the queen interrupts immediately. I make a mental note to ask Blaze if he- WHEN he recovers what happened between him and Chrysalis. "We'd like your help in getting into his head. We suspect his condition was brought by magic and for various reasons you're the only reachable expert on that subject." "Unfortunately for you, changelings are mostly adept at forceful manipulation and not analysis. There is one spell I can provide for you, a visualization spell which allows you to see a mind and interact with it as if you were a part of it. Be warned though, any danger posed to you will be very real and might kill you." "I'm going in," I don't hesitate, " As for you-" "Don't even bother. I'm with you, commander." "I'm going too. I can't leave my best scrubbing nurse get hurt." Chrysalis nods and her horn glows. "Ready?" "Yep!" Darkness. A scene of massacre. Hundreds, no... thousands of Blaze's lying on the floor maimed, crushed, sliced and burned, all of them forming a circle around a grey unicorn who used to strike fear into the hearts of Equestrians. "BLAZE!" I yell into the blackness. Not a single one of them moves or answers. "BLAZE!" "BLAZE!" "BLAZE!" "BLAZE!" "Blaze...?" "Is that king Sombra? How?" asks Heavy, standing by the grey corpse. "No idea. Ignore him and keep looking, Blaze must be somewhere around." "Everywhere around," mumbles Bright with fairly bad taste. "SHUT UP! He's okay, just messing with us. He won against Sombra or something so he must be here. He's just hiding among the dead ones and he'll jump when we get close. RIGHT, BLAZE?" "Heh... heh... right?" my mouth finally catches up to my head. This isn't a fairy tale. "This one is holding something, commander. I wonder what it- WHOA!" Heavy reaches for something in the hooves of the only Blaze who seems to be sitting and then gets pushed away by an invisible force. Bright Eye tries from behind and ends up the same way. With a bitter smile I walk closer and take the crumpled piece of paper from Blaze's hooves. I knew it would work, I remembered the last thought on the last page of his journal. I read aloud. I was wrong, Sombra was too strong. All this time I hoped I could win against him here so I could somehow return to you. A little bit more, okay a lot more, and I would have done that. Well, I wasn't strong enough but I took him down with me. The only thing I want now is to stay here long enough for you to find this message. I don't know whether it will work, I don't even know whether you are looking. All I know is that you're safe from him now. Remember when Scream revived me after you left me hanging? Good one, right? Sombra wanted to know the spell for himself and the entire second invasion was aimed at getting it. I am sorry for putting all ponies in danger. I should have refused Void's offer in the Crystal Empire and let things here work out the way they should have. Damn, this was supposed to be short and to the point. Fine, the most important part. I learned something about this body from Sombra. I mean really, that guy loved to hear himself talk. The spell restored my body to the point before I got cursed and turned into a changeling. It is a legacy left behind by the alicorn of Life and Sombra wanted to harness its energy to become immortal. I guess Void might be able to tell you more details but he's not here. What I was able to understand was that I might be able to restore something back myself. As much as I wanted I wasn't able to get back so I focused all the power I stole from Sombra to preserve what little I could. In short, something might get back. Not me, I must disappear along with Sombra locked here. I don't know whether it will work, it probably won't, to be honest. The only thing I know is that you'll be the key somehow if by some miracle it does. There's only one thing I ask of you in case you decide to try. There's one pony I hurt the most and I need him to know I am sorry. If you find this somehow then the restoration will become possible and if you don't then I will fade along with everything else and leave an empty shell, I suppose. So... in case you try something then ask Heavy for permission first. If he can't get over Sharp's death then leave me be and he will have his revenge. No matter what will happen I want to tell you this: Chokey, thank you for the best three years of my life. Every single Blaze fades into the darkness after I finish reading, leaving only the three of us as visible shapes sharply contrasting with the black background. The spell ends when I let the piece of paper drop and the real world comes back. Blaze is sitting on the stone floor, staring blankly. All signs of intelligence and recovery from before are completely gone. I do the only thing left to do and look at Heavy Hoof. He looks back. "I've never seen you this... broken, Darky. What do you think I'm going to say - let him die? The message warned you that it won't be him that comes back though." "He said he'd try to preserve something. So... can I?" "Go for it. Got an idea what to do?" "Blaze?" I say to the empty face and wave my hoof. Nothing happens. "Smell and touch are the strongest triggers for amnesia patients most of the time," interjects Bright Eye, "There's one thing I want you to do first. Come back to the asylum. If something we don't like comes back we'll need a place to hold it." "I agree," says Chrysalis harshly, "Get out of here!" "Hey, what's-" "Get. Out." The growl sends shivers up everypony's spine and we back out of the throne room. What my sensitive ears catch before we leave makes me smile as much as I can in this situation. "You'll be always welcome in my hive, no matter what happens," a whisper and a quiet sob. The silence hanging over us would feel creepy if any of us was in the mood to notice. Blaze is simply following the tug of the leash. We arrive back in the late afternoon and get ready inside one of the padded cells in the asylum. At one point I jumped into a nearby shop and bought a little package. I didn't answer the questioning gazes of my companions at the time. "Touch and smell you said?" I scrunch my nose. "Yes." There's only one thing I was able to think about during the trip that combined both of those. I hug the brainless unicorn and kiss him. I don't stop until the body tenses and front legs try to push me back. "Owwww," Blaze groans, "What did I do yesterday?" The rest of us keep waiting. Blaze looks at each one of us carefully. "I sold my organs while drunk and you're the mob, right?" he facehoofs. I pull out the package I bough before from my saddlebag and open it. With a weak orange glow swirling around his horn, Blaze holds the presented notebook and a pen in front of him. "It's a fresh journal so you can write down things you don't want to forget." "Thanks, miss...?" "Choking," I fight off a wave of nausea, "Darkness." "Blazing? Light?" he grins nervously. "I know, I'm your guardian angel," Tugging at the leash, I shoot Bright Eye a fiery look when he opens his mouth to say something undoubtedly connected to the discharging protocol of the asylum. He is my second chance and I'm not going to waste it.