Chapter Seven: Starting Anew
The floor shook as Twilight opened her eyes. She saw Pinkie’s hooves bouncing up and down as the party pony shouted. “We’re back!”
“We can tell sugarcube,” Applejack replied as she grabbed her head. “I know that Aqua Star said we were in the Core Realm but Ah don’t fully understand.”
“She can still explain,” Rainbow Dash said, nudging at Aqua Star who was still unconscious. “Why isn’t she waking up?”
“I don’t think she’s going to wake up anytime soon,” Fluttershy pointed out as she fished out a blanket from her bag and placed it over her. “These seats are really comfortable.”
“Why don’t we ask that pony?” Pinkie Pie suggested pointing towards a hooded figure munching on some nuts. There were gold eyes peering out from under the cloak. Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked over at the other pony. “You weren’t here before!” she said and the stranger laughed. “Sure I was!”
“Darling, we would have seen you,” Rarity spoke, noticing that the eyes gleamed in interest before the stranger lifted up a split hoof pointing at the ceiling. “I was up there!”
“We would have noticed that!” commented Applejack as she moved closer. The hood glowed with magic as it was removed revealing the same creature as Harmonia, yet instead of a white coat it was red. “Who are ye? What are ye? Are you like Harmonia?”
“Hi, my name is Lethoras,” the stranger introduced himself, complete with a bow. “I am a travelling Halla, similar to your deer except larger and both male and female have horns. No I am not like Harmonia, I’m flesh and blood you see. I go around from place to place selling my wares because I don’t do much as a Guardian. Oooh I’m also a Guardian, I was chosen by one of the Great Spirits to connect with the ponies and watch over them….”
Rarity and Applejack shared a look before turning to look at Fluttershy as Lethoras rambled in the background.
“Though now since they are in their confined form I go around and sell my knick knacks…”
“Are you going to ask him?” Applejack asked, looking at Twilight who had a shocked look on her face that there was somepony who could talk as much as Pinkie Pie.
“...Finding portals to other worlds….”
“I don’t think we should interrupt him,” Fluttershy pointed out, he seemed to be having a lot of fun.
“...Hanging around with….” the sentence was cut off as Rainbow Dash asked. “Who do you work for?”
“...Discord,” Lethoras answered and all the girls looked confused. Except for Pinkie Pie, she was trying to get the snack nuts from him.
“Wait, were you answering her question or finishing your sentence?” It was Applejack who asked the question as Lethoras passed his nuts off to Pinkie Pie as he said. “Yes.”
Rainbow Dash let out a noise of strangled irritation and Twilight shot her a look. “Alright, where were we?”
“I call it the Fade, Emerald Dream….” Lethoras started to list the different names it went by before looking at Aqua Star. “Those from her time call it the Core Realm. You see, it is a place of dreams and spirits, what better place to find yourself than within your own dream? Though unlike where I was from, your magic isn’t connected to your dreams. It is just a way for the test to happen.”
“What happened to us in there?” it was Rarity’s turn to ask the question and Lethoras looked at her before explaining. “You found your Core and helped some old friends along the way. You got your Gifts from Harmonia which you really should have paid attention to. It will come into play sooner or later.”
“So we weren’t in any real danger?” Fluttershy asked as hope began to rise, until Pinkie bounced by saying. “Nope! We were!”
“Pinkie is right,” Lethoras said as he looked at each of them. “You see, you may not have been there physically but your mind was still aware of everything. What do you think would have happened if they destroyed you there? Your mind and spirit would have been gone and your body open for any of those lost souls to enter. Not true demons but still really dangerous.”
His horns glowed as a bag of popcorn appeared out of nowhere observing all of them. “Say, have any of you time travelled recently? Looking at you Applejack, you used some powers that you don’t have access to, yet.”
“How do you know our names?” Rainbow Dash pointed out and Lethoras glanced at her. Applejack piped up trying to keep her friend at bay. “We must have mentioned them at one point. He seemed to have observed our actions within the Core Realm.”
“Nah, Rarity told me,” Lethoras explained, munching on the snack and earning a confused look from Rarity. “Not you, not yet anyways.”
Rarity began to nod her head before looking back at him as he continued to talk. “Not sure when, we kind of meet out of order and when we did meet my mind was doing worse than usual. Now onto the other reasons why I’m here.”
The popcorn vanished in fire. “Now that you have access to your Cores, you are going to have to train yourself to access the magic deep within. There are layers that you will have to break through but I’m pretty sure there is a book on it.”
“There is a book?” Twilight seemed to perk at the mention of it. “I don’t remember there being a book in the Canterlot library.”
“It’s not in the Canterlot library,” Lethoras told her as he moved past her. “The only copy was given to only one creature and I’m not telling you where it is. It’ll ruin the surprise!”
He tapped Twilight’s snout with his hoof laughing. “Now onto the next order of business!”
Lethoras brought the hoof away from Twilight’s face and slammed it on the ground. A light shown from each of the heroes chests before a crystal exited each of them. “Soul Stones.”
Lethoras moved to examine them, carefully, with a device as he nodded his head. “Yup, yup, still not fully formed. You have a connection to these spirits but no real bond.”
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash groaned not wanting to deal with this creature anymore. Lethoras looked at each of them. “The spirits that you met! The wayward souls! You made a connection with them but no bond.”
He pointed a hoof at Aqua Star. “Sleepy over there knows of a binding spell but it isn’t really the best thing to use for such unstable souls. Infact with how unicorns made that spell it is more likely to change them into demons then back into nice and stable spirits. Thankfully Sleepy got the corrected spell from her friend’s teacher.”
A look of sadness flashed over Lethoras’ face. “Poor thing though, because the Unicorns of her day were so paranoid they kept even their own people bound to learn only the magics related to their Core.”
“I want to help her,” Twilight sighed, she was finding that she really didn’t want to look into other Unicorns at the time. It was slowly becoming less and less of the era that defeated Sombra with Celestia and Luna and more of a time that Sombra seemed to have a right to hate. With how Unicorns were, Aqua Star had mentioned that there was some good. ‘Sirius.’ she thought, she wanted to look through all of the history books just to find out what happened to Aqua Star’s younger brother.
“Since we have a little bit of time before we arrive at our destination,” Lethoras said looking out the window. “I can get you started on your spirit binding journey.”
The halla laughed a huge grin on his face before he tapped his hoof against the ground. The crystal glowed once more and all in the train car fell asleep. A purple mist extended from Aqua Star’s eyes as they slid open revealing green sclera. A hiss left her mouth as she climbed to her feet before she began to cough. A thick shadow exited her mouth dripping to the ground as she fell down once more. The shadow began to take form. A transparent dark grey hoof hit the ground right by Twilight’s head gazing downwards with red eyes and bright green sclera. There was a low growl as the hoof slammed towards Twilight’s head only to be deflected. Snarling the shadow looked at Aqua Star as she stood up limply and opened a window. The shadow approached her and whispered. “I will claim the rest of my magic.”
The figure turned into a shadowy magic flying out of the window. Aqua Star’s eyes returned to normal as she blinked looking at the unconscious ponies around her then to Lethoras. She sighed slightly before settling in watching the scenery pass.
“Why does this place look different?” Applejack asked as she peered around. It looked like a large arena of some sorts. Lethoras turned to look at her saying. “Because this is my area in this realm. Most of the demons leave me alone.”
Twilight looked at her friends Lethoras spun around before his hooves hit the ground as the spirits appeared in front of them. Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw Fen’Harel standing a distance away from her. Lethoras glanced over at him before walking over and pushing him towards Twilight. Fen’Harel growled but didn’t snap at him as Lethoras returned to his spot saying. “Well then, let’s get started. The safest way to start strengthening your Spirit Stones is to get to know your bound spirit. It is much easier here and don’t worry, they’re not allowed to attack each other doing so would risk you. We all know that the ones you are bound to wouldn’t put innocents in danger. Rarity why don’t you begin! Introduce yourself to your new friend!”
“I am going to ask how in Equestria you know my name… after this.” Rarity said before looking forward towards the large black panther noticing glistening scales in patches. “Hello there, my name is Rarity and what shall I call you… dear sir?”
“You can call me Sparkler for now.” the panther replied, raising a brow ridge as he sat down, his tail moving across the ground. “So tell me, Rarity, what is it you wish to know?”
“To be honest I am more interested in fashion, so if you have any tips I will be grateful for them.” Rarity commented and a large smile grew on Sparkler’s face sending shivers down her spine.
“Well my dear, leather and belts are always in fashion but I think I can help you with some ideas.” Sparkler replied as he watched Rarity with grey eyes. She saw the emotions swirling around them but they were clearer than before. She knew she would be able to get along with this spirit quite nicely.
Aqua Star set down one of the books from one of the large bags of journals Twilight was taking back to Ponyville. She sighed as she saw Ponyville approaching, before looking at the sleeping ponies. They were all mumbling in their sleep and she decided now was the time to wake them. She approached Twilight first nudging her with her hoof saying quietly. “Princess Twilight, we are almost to Ponyville.”
“You’re right, it is almost time to wake them!” spoke Lethoras causing her to look at him. “Eh, they were having conversations and I got bored so I woke up.”
“You are a Guardian. You are the one who activated the Spirit Crystal.” Aqua Star pointed out and Lethoras nodded his head. “Why?”
“Mostly because I was asked to and because I was bored.” Lethoras answered and Aqua Star raised an eyebrow. “What? I get bored easily now that I’m sane and fully connected to the Fa… Core Realm.”
“You can call it by the name you know it as, I think I will be able to figure it out.” Aqua Star told him just as Pinkie went flying from her seat shouting. “WE’RE ALMOST THERE! WAKE UP!”
All the other ponies began to rouse and Aqua Star cast a suspicious look towards Lethoras just as the train came to a stop. Aqua Star was about to bolt at the screech of the brakes, though it felt like her hooves were glued to the ground. She glanced back at Lethoras who was already grabbing his bags and walking off. Twilight approached Aqua Star with an offer. “Would you like me to teach you basic magic?”
“That… yes,” Aqua Star admitted feeling her hooves unstick from the floor of the train as she walked out. “I think that would be most helpful.
“Can you tell me one thing? Do you know about a large library with books that not even the Royal Canterlot Library doesn’t have?” Twilight asked as they walked off the train, Aqua Star stared at her saying. “Only in rumor, I wasn’t able to find it.”
Twilight pouted for a moment, but she shook off her irritation as they began their tour of Ponyville. Aqua Star seemed rather cautious at first, but seemed to relax when she saw the other ponies continue with their day. Some actually were staring more at the scars on her person rather than her height.
“Well, I think I can help you with practicing general magic,” Twilight said as Aqua Star caught up as Pinkie pointed out multiple places at once. “Ooooh, there’s one of the old antique shops!”
“Antiques?” Aqua Star asked as she walked over to one of the boarded up windows.
“Yup, closed down shortly after Twilight got here, bringing us down to one,” Applejack explained as Aqua Star approached it. “It sure seems to suit ya! You know, with all your knowledge of history and all that. The only problem is… ponies are callin’ it haunted.”
“Haunted? We shall see,” Aqua Star walked towards the building causing the others to look at each other before following after her. “Are you sure? It could be.”
“Well if that’s the case, then you are still going to need some backup. It’s always best to have friends by your side rather than waiting outside,” Twilight told her, earning a surprised look from Aqua Star. Twilight smiled as she opened the door allowing Aqua Star and the others to walk in. The area was dark before a silver light surrounded Aqua Star’s horn as a small light appeared above her. The ponies glanced around at the broken shelves as they moved forward. Twilight’s hoof hit something causing her to jump. The sound of glass caught everyone’s attention as they looked at what Twilight kicked. A potion bottle. Leaning down, Twilight examined it before noticing a dried pink substance on the ground. She sniffed once before recoiling.
“Is that what I think it is?” Twilight asked and Aqua Star looked at it before nodding her head. “The Love Poison that ruined an entire kingdom.”
“There is enough here to cause the entirety of Ponyville to fall,” Twilight gasped before looking around. “But… most of these vials are empty. It can’t be affecting the ponies, there has been no sign that anyone is under its influence.”
“It gives the illusion of love to ponies. It could have another purpose,” mused Aqua Star before her ears perked catching the sound of something moving. “Who is there?”
“Just us, silly!” Pinkie pointed out before pointing her hoof towards each creature in the area with them. “There’s you, me, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity!”
“Wait… what?” Applejack looked next to her, seeing another her causing her to yelp as green flames surrounded it revealing a….
“Changeling!” shouted Rainbow Dash trying to tackle the creature only for a hoof to hit her head as it took off. “Hey!”
The Changeling hissed before diving towards Fluttershy who dropped to the floor covering her head. It snatched up one of the bottles, drinking the contents deeply.
“How fascinating, it is using the Love Poison to keep itself sustained. That can not be good for it,” Aqua Star mused as the Changeling swooped at the ponies again. Rainbow Dash let out a frustrated growl. “Now is not the time. If you’ve got something to deal with it, then use it! We can’t let a Changeling into Ponyville.”
“It seems to have been here a while, meaning it couldn’t feed off the ponies without getting caught. Using the Love Poison it probably sustained itself but it isn’t good for the Changeling,” Aqua Star pointed out before placing a barrier around the potion vials as the Changeling crashed into it. “There.”
A silver barrier wrapped around the Changeling, trapping it as she approached. The other ponies just stared at the Changeling, a frown growing on Twilight’s face.
“What are we going to do with it?” she wondered looking at her friends.
“Turn it over to Celestia of course,” answered Rarity, keeping away from it as Aqua Star dropped to the floor looking at it. “Aqua Star, darling, I wouldn’t be so close to it.”
“Look into my eyes,” instructed Aqua Star looking at the Changeling head on. “Tell me your name.”
“What are you doing?” Twilight asked just as the Changeling locked eyes with Aqua Star saying. “Chitin.”
“Wait… what’s going on here?” Applejack asked just as Aqua Star’s horn lit up. “What’s she doing?”
“I think this is the binding spell!” Twilight answered loudly.
“I kind of figured. Why’s she using it on the Changeling?” The confusion in Applejack’s voice was strong.
“It is either that or let him starve,” whispered Fluttershy, causing the other ponies to look at her. “The Love Poison is both a blessing and curse to starving Changelings. They can use it to sustain themselves, but they can become dependent on it. Soon they’ll crave it and ignore what sustains them. By creating a bond, she might be helping him. He will feed off of her and only her, therefore keeping the ponies safe.”
“I’m not sure if that is a good idea. I mean, what happens if Aqua Star… dies?” Applejack pointed out and Twilight glanced at the two saying. “I don’t know, but this is her decision. All we can do is keep an eye on it.”
Green flames surrounded Chitin as he slowly transformed into a black unicorn colt with eyes matching Aqua Star’s. His eyes slid shut before the Changeling collapsed to the ground. Aqua Star reached out a hoof and stroked the light grey mane as the other ponies ran up to them.
“I still think we should turn him over to Celestia and the Royal Guard,” Rainbow told her and Aqua Star shook her head saying. “I want to study him first and I want to stay here. Also if anyone is going to tell the Princesses about this, it should be me. I am the one claiming responsibility for him after all.”
“Just be sure to do it before you get in over your head,” Twilight told her before looking around. “Are you going to need any help cleaning up?”
“No, Princess Twilight, I shall be fine. If you want to help me… perhaps you can help me learn basic magic. I think it is time to learn what was denied to me,” Aqua Star told her and Twilight nodded her head with a smile. Her eyes held worry deep within them before she turned around and left. She couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder wondering what kind of connection was made. Why the Changeling took on the form that it did. Why Aqua Star seemed to hold such sadness and joy in her eyes when she looked upon the disguise.
“I hope she knows what she’s doing. Changelings are nasty.” grumbled Rainbow Dash looking over her shoulder. “I mean, there’s nothing good about having the same face.”
The six mares all muttered in agreement, yet something caught Rarity’s attention.
“Is that her? It can’t be… did she used to think that way before meeting them?”
Rarity’s eyes locked onto a Pegasus stallion with a small scar over his right eye. She was about to say something when Pinkie Pie bounced up in front of her. “So! What do you think we should do for Aqua Star’s welcoming party?”
“I think we should hold off on the parties until after she has a chance to settle in,” Rarity told her seeing the pegasi walking off. She made a mental note to find him later and have a chat with him.
“What did… did you do to me?” snapped Chitin glaring at Aqua Star as she began to clean up what she could. Aqua Star glanced at him before walking over and placing a hoof against his head.
“Hmmm. You need to feed. Come here,” Aqua Star pulled him into a hug as she squeezed her eyes shut. Chitin struggled before his horn glowed green and a pink mist was drawn into his mouth. He snapped his mouth shut once he felt full. It didn’t take too long and he glanced at Aqua Star who appeared to be paler than usual.
“I bound you to me, you would have killed yourself on those Love Poisons. This way you can have your natural food source and I can keep an eye on you,” explained Aqua Star as she released him. “We’re going to need to give you an alias during your time in Ponyville.”
“Is that why you showed me that image in my head? Who was that?” Chitin scoffed before walking after her and forcing her into a chair. “Stay there, I’ll clean up. Can’t have my food collapsing any minute now.”
Aqua Star hid a smile before she looked out the window saying. “My younger brother, Sirius.”
“Wouldn’t the other ponies find that suspicious? What if he comes to visit?” Chitin questioned and Aqua Star shook her head. “Not that close to your family?”
“They are long dead,” the answer caused an awkward silence before Chitin continued to sweep. He glanced at her then back to the floor trying to distract himself. He knew he shouldn’t care, she was just food.
“Comet… I’ll go by Comet. I just don’t want to get caught, alright? Hey! What are you doing? No hugs!”
It was almost dark when Twilight walked into the library, Spike was curled up in his basket reading a book. Twilight smiled as she walked up to him to see if it was a book he was reading or if he was hiding a comic behind him.
“Dragonology Book One: Discovering the Noble Heart,” Twilight read aloud causing Spike to jump. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this book.”
Spike looked at the book in his talons before looking at Twilight guilt upon his features before he said. “After you left, a bright blue flame took a book away. I chased after it into the Everfree Forest and while I was in there I found a huge cavern filled with books. Inside of it was a dragon… who lent it.”
“A library guarded by a dragon?” Twilight blinked before she thought about it. “No way! You were actually there?”
“Yeah, how did you know about it?” Spike asked and Twilight laughed as she laid on her bed saying. “It seems like we both had adventures today.”