//------------------------------//
// The soul that wasn't there before 
// Story: Asriel's Journey through Equis 
// by RenaissanceDreemurr 
//------------------------------//

-The Soul That wasn't there before-


The moment Asriel had climbed on the blue pony's back was the very same moment he regretted it. His heart immediately stopped as her wings unfurled from her side, letting Asriel know that she was indeed capable (despite her size) of flying with him on her.

The air rushed down at him in an instant as the pony skyrocketed into the air at high speeds, leaving nothing but a rainbow blur trail in her wake. She pushed the air below her faster and harder as she climbed high into the atmosphere with him on her back.

Tightly Asriel clung as the pilot didn't seem to have any realization that this was much too fast for him to take. It seemed like the climb upward was endless, but gradually, the pony did began decelerating until eventually she met a full stop, kicking Asriel up half an inch off of her. Not enough for him to fall off, but enough to make his skin crawl with dread of the possibility.

He shook as he looked down from the sky; he was high enough to see the bend of the world, and the point where the smoke from the fire began to dissipate.

"Whoa... buddy, you’re shaking like foal who had way too much Nightmare night candy, you alright?"

Asriel's teeth chittered from the cold. "W-why... how, did you co-come so high up? It's frigid." He refrained himself from getting upset with the pony. After all, she and Fluttershy did offer to help him. That seemed to be a lot to ask for considerably, as it meant for them to go out of their way just for someone they barely knew.

A small sad smile and sigh crept upon him, as this particularly was not too unfamiliar to the little monster. 'Oh Frisk.' he thought.

Rainbow responded, "Oh... Right, sorry kid, got carried away a little bit, hadn't come up here with you in mind. Pegasi are more tolerant up here than most other things, that and I'm much faster than the average flyer." She emphasized, "I also needed to get high enough to quickly spot the forest clearing, I'll head right down immediately so you don't, you know... die from the lack of air or something like that."

Asriel nodded as he held himself tightly to the pony's furry back, suddenly feeling her shifting wing muscles stop, air rushing around them as they plummeted from the sky at an angle. Rainbow Dash was used to it, even enjoyed the feeling the air trying to resist her at high speeds. It was invigorating to her, but the point being for this descent, was that it did not hinder her sight as she searched below for her target.

Ten seconds before she spotted it with her gifted avian-like eyes, smirking, she immediately began to shift gears to completely pull her wings inward. A definite bullseye for her.

Asriel looked down below as they both fell from the daring height and towards the forest. The wind pulled Asriel's ears back as he and the pony neared the ground little by little, faster and faster to the point where the ground seemed to be just a blur.

He shielded his eyes from the rushing air.

Unexpectedly, his ears began to tweak in response as he heard... the sound of bells?

Tinkle... tinkle

Time froze all around Asriel as everything grew into a black void, leaving nothing but him and the sweet notes that went through the air.

"Huh?" Asriel turned, finding that he was no longer on the back of the rainbow pony, but standing on top of nothingness. His mind spun as this had felt to be strangely familiar to him, a place once darkly ventured, Limbo.

Tinkle... sob, Tinkle

'Is that crying?' Asriel thought as he turned towards the sound. As he did so, his eyes caught the culprit for that of which made the sweet sound. A shiny blue bell which was hovering midair, lightly shifting around to make the noise.

Upon his approach, the bell suddenly stopped, the black void disappearing all around as time started ticking again. He was on Dash once more falling from the sky.

He was too stunned by the quick and confusing event to realise that his grip on the pony's neck had loosened, causing him to have been ripped from her back by the rushing air. The result leaving him to be in freefall as the pony descended without him.

His heart sank as the pony seemed to grow smaller and smaller. At the rate he was going, it would be too late before the pony could help him, let alone realize that he was gone.

Frantic, Asriel began to search for any cloud he could safely fall on, but none around were to be found. Attempting a fire spell to slow his descent was out of the question, as the events taking place earlier on taught him, 'what option was left?' he thought.

Asriel's eyes went wide as his... passenger revealed itself, a soul, one that wasn't there before, the bell, it screamed for his survival, 'I can't.' He thought, 'But I must...' his internal, yet stronger voice countered.

He clutched his chest with mixed feeling, his heart beat wildly against his chest, it was fear, true terror of death, but it wasn't his.

'I must reset.' He thought. 'It's the only way.'

He had felt it, the soul, but never noticed it before, the feeling were so natural, so subtle. The determination he felt, how could he not know before?

'Whose soul is this?'

Time then slowed down to a halt before it started moving backwards in motion, yet forward in time still. It was like falling in reverse. This kind of power didn't send him back to the past like how time travel is normally perceived, but rather it brought the past to the present while regular time moved forward as ever.

The pony came back up in reverse, gradually towards him as they moved high in the air.

The lowering smoke from the fire caught Asriel's eyes, oh how he wanted to undo his mistake, but going that far in time, he was not willing to do. It would mean accepting the monster he was before, even if it was for the greater good. The power represented only his sins, he did not want the totalitarianism, but in this case, it seemed unavoidable.

Asriel was nearing in reach of the pony, he halfheartedly extended his arms to grasp a hold of her tightly. He then felt his heartbeat slow as his determination to survive diminished with relief, allowing time to hence forth once more.

Instantly he felt the wind rushing at him.

Minutes passed as the unrealizing Rainbow slowed her descent until she met the forest floor, looking to be in a bit of a daze, "Whew, that oddly felt longer than usual." She turned towards the hut that was in front of her.

Asriel gingerly stepped off of the pony's back and onto the saint like soil that made up solid ground. He felt relieved by that fact, but it was short lived. He was angry, upset, betrayed, and he didn't know what to aim it at. His blood boiled at the thought of the taboo committed.

"Kid, you alright?" asked Rainbow noticing his anger.

Asriel turned to her, taking a deep breath to chill his nerves, "I'm fine thank you," he lied. Asriel was anything but fine, he possessed a soul that didn't belong to him, stolen and placed inside him without his knowing.

"Hey, my flying wasn't that bad was it?" She asked, "I mean, I don't usually have passengers but... yeah, I guess I could go slower next time. sound good to ya?"

"I wouldn't mind that, " Stated Asriel, whose anger began to diminish by the second, "But truly, it’s really not why I'm upset, it's just I remembered something of inconvenience."

Rainbow perked, "Well what is it?"

Asriel sighed, "I’d rather not talk about it."

Rainbow nodded in understanding, she had looked a bit upset herself, likely due to the defiance of her friend whom she obviously cared deeply for.

Asriel changed the subject, "How are you holding? It must not have been easy to have left your friend back there."

"It wasn't kid, believe me." She responded, "I was not kidding about what I said to her." She looked over the ornament in front of the hut, finding the masks still as creepy as they were back when she first saw them. She let out a sigh, "It goes against every part of me, never in my right mind would I leave her there, or anypony for that matter, but if I did force her into leaving, her fragile heart would shatter into tiny pieces. She would beat herself up over the 'what if's' and she might not ever recover from something like that. It’s where my loyalties conflict, I don't know how to explain it but..."

She stood for a minute before shrugging, "Well, no point in standing here like a pair of Cockatrice statues, let’s go get the witch doctor."

Rainbow quickly walked up to the door and knocked.

No answer.

Again she knocked, this time, the door slightly opened ajar on it's own, revealing the dimly lit room, the centerpiece being a green floating light.

Asriel moved towards the light, and upon the disturbance from his movements, the light flickered and morphed into the shape of a zebra Head.

"Hello," it spoke, "If you are friend who stumbled upon my home, then you should just go, for from the disaster I have fled, you too should go on ahead, go home in safety from the fire, for hardship in ponyville is about to transpire, beast of the Everfree will come in response, ponies in Ponyville they will taunt."

The message ended as it reformed into a shapeless glowing blob.

It was quiet afterwards.


~:::~


Rainbow felt real mad about the fact that she had to return without the two ponies that she was sent to get, and to instead bring back... a whatever it was that sat on her back. She didn't mention it, but it began to creep her out the way he moved and stood, walking on only two legs just didn't seem natural. But his freakiness however was made up by his adorable pillow crossed goat like appearance. It was similar to that of the situation with Spike, but that was a different story.

As she neared the edge of town, she rose into the air so that she could aim for her friend's castle in the center of it, a building completely made of crystal which was much bigger on the inside as Rainbow observed. It was quite a thing to behold, not to mention out of place in the small town, but since it was a place that an Equestrian ruler lived in, it was more than likely that the little quiet town of Ponyville, will one day become a bustling city similar to that of Canterlot or Manehattan.

Tourists and their cameras had already began to flood the place during the spring and summer, but Rainbow wasn't complaining, as she ate up their praises, posing in many of their pictures, some of which were involuntary for the tourists as she would fly in front of the camera.

Rainbow had began to steady herself onto the top balconies of the castle, and as she did so, Asriel climbed off of her back quickly with the look of relief plastered on his face.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as a smile crept up on her, she began to like the little guy. "Land lovers, can't understand them."

Asriel raised an eyebrow about to speak, but faltered, releasing his breath in a sigh.

She began to snicker for a minute, but stopped to regain her composure, "Alright, enough shenanigans, we really have to get to the Princess."

They both had nodded to each other and headed inside the castle. It was mostly empty, containing the bare minimum in the hallways. A couple tables and stairways that led up and down, but that seemed to be about it.

Asriel thought it to be the perfect moment to start up a conversation. He cleared his throat, "So... miss Dash, by the name of this place, is it, entirely composed of ponies?"

Rainbow turned her attention to him and nodded, "Yep, mostly, it’s not just the town though, the entire country is made up of the three pony races."

Asriel raised a brow, "Pony races?" He questioned.

Rainbow stopped and faced hoofed, "Are you an alien from another planet or something? How can you not know about the three races?"

Asriel shrugged, mildly paying attention, "Well I don't recognize any of this from history, nothing I know ever mentions it."

While it was true that he had never heard about Ponyville or the country it was in, he did know that the info that his home provided  was extremely outdated when it came to the outside world, and often inaccurate as well. Even that being, he doubted that an entire race could have sprouted in the time monsters were isolated from the world, that, and the fact that unlike his home, almost every object in this place seemed to have reverberate with a magical signature, leaving him to the conclusion that he was in another world or dimension.

The Rainbow pony scoffed. "You sure, nothing at all? Did you live in a hole or something?"  

Asriel narrowed his eyes at her and nodded, "For many many years untold, my race has been magically sealed underground after losing the war with humanity."

Rainbow shut her mouth and thought for a moment, not knowing what to say, "Oh... sorry."  

Asriel's expression lightened, "That's alright, I'm just letting you know so that if you come across any monsters from where I come from, you don't accidentally offend them." He then gave her a reassuring smile to let her know that no offense was taken.

She nodded in understanding before switching the subject, "Okay, so what exactly are you anyway, a two-legged goat or something like that."

Asriel shook his head, "Well I'm not a goat, that’s one thing. I'm a monster, former prince of the underground, and son of Asgore, the king of all monsters."

Rainbow shrugged, "Cool... but what are you?"

Asriel sighed. "I'm a Boss Monster, that’s my race, not an original name I know, but if it makes you feel better, you can call me a somniare daemonium, it’s our proper name anyway."

Rainbow tried the pronunciation, "Som..somni.. semono... yeah it’s better for me to stick with an unoriginal name like boss monster rather than your fancy gibberish."  

They had completely dropped the subject and instead talked about the pony races that governed the world's natural laws. Asriel had found it incredible that any of these beings could manipulate nature through a set magical principle, not as different as the magic monsters possessed, though it was much more of a tool of survival than that of necessity for universal stability.

They finally stopped as they had neared what appeared to be the main throne room, containing six and a half crystal thrones, and a large table in the center, standing on top of it, a purple winged unicorn, which looked to be trying to inscribe a circular pattern on it with a piece of purple chalk.

Twilight's ears perked up to the clopping sound of hooves getting closer and closer. Concentrating on her work and not wanting to be distracted, she had continued to hold her ancient tome to her face and finished etching out the alchemic symbol of the extreme barrier.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she attempted to get the attention of her friend "Ahem, Twilight?"

"Ah, Rainbow," she said in surprise,  "how was your trek? Did you evacuate Fluttershy and Zecora like I asked?"

"Well... Zecora already left ahead of time, but there was a bit of a problem concerning Fluttershy," Rainbow started.

At those words, Twilight put down the book, "Wait wha... " She trailed as she looked to Asriel, finally noticed him in the room.

He shifted uneasily at the pony's reaction of him.

Rainbow turned to Asriel, "Oh right, almost forgot, Twilight this is  Asriel," she introduced, "I guess Fluttershy found him and told me to take him to you so you can help him or something like that."

The young boss monster lightly waved to her. "Howdy."

Twilight felt a headache come on, "Um, okay, what... what happened where Fluttershy was concerned? You lost me." She looked to Rainbow, attempting to look as if she wasn't at all frustrated. It failed as Rainbow began to catch on.

"You okay Twilight? you don't look so good."

Twilight suddenly jerked, "I-I'm fine, just a little tired is all, you understand don't you?" That was an understatement, prior to the fire, she had been working on new spell casting techniques for days without any sleep, rendering her usual processing.    

Rainbow shrugged in response, "Yeah, it has been a long day for everypony."

Rainbow went on explaining to her about everything that had occurred concerning Fluttershy and the warning Zecora gave.

Twilight sighed, her headache getting worse, "You did everything you could Dash, it was her choice." She turned to the alchemy circle she had planted, "I'll need you two to leave the room for the moment so I can finish setting this up okay? I'll get to... Asriel afterward," She turned to him, "Are you fine with that?"

He nodded.

Rainbow too nodded, then turned to Asriel, "Come on kid, let’s let her finish her work."

Asriel began to walk out with her "Why do you keep calling me that? I told you, I'm not a goat."

They continued the debate until they were out of earshot from the Princess.

As soon as they were far enough away, Twilight took a deep breath of relief, "Oh boy, I'll have to inform Celestia of this." 'But first...' She thought as she looked to the seal she had created on the table.  

She extended her magic into the circle, causing it to glow and reverberate with help of her magical aura. Suddenly after tending to it, the circle began to glow on its own as magenta energy shot towards the castle's magical star transceiver, allowing the entire spell to spread over the whole of Ponyville.

Twilight couldn't help but smile at her achievement, it was months ago when she had discovered the uses of the castles antenna originally designed to spread harmony magic over a certain square area in the form of a spectrum, she however learned that it could also spread any other type of magic as well, such as her alchemy spells.

Such powerful magic needed protecting, for if anypony were to use it for a darker purpose such as that of nightmare magic, then ultimately it would be disastrous for the whole of Equestria.

"Spike?" She called out, "I need you!" She heard the pitter patter of footsteps alongside a "I'm coming."

Panting, the little dragon bursted into the room, "I'm here, what is it you need?"

Twilight cleared her throat, "Letter to Celestia, code 3.1415926." she told him, reaction from the dragon was immediate.

"Yikes, that kind of letter?" exclaimed Spike. "What’s it about? is it the fire or something else really bad?"

Twilight paced, "It may or may not be a bad thing, but I would like the princess to immediately be informed of it."

Spike held out a piece of parchment and quill, "Ready when you are" the dragon quietly waited, but the parchment and quill were taken from him by a purple aura, "Hey!"

"I'm sorry Spike, but I called you just so you could send it, it's too confidential to say it out loud."

The dragon began to give a minor pout, but reconciled, "Fine, I guess I understand." he said as he tapped his foot waiting for her to just hand him the piece of parchment.

"Excellent." Twilight said as she began to write.


~:::~


Asriel had leaned against the crystal wall of the castle as he continued talking to Rainbow, learning that she was an ironically self centered pony despite the care she seemed to give to others. She would tell him all of the reason as to why she was the coolest pony around, and continue to explain all of the incredible aerial stunts she was capable of. She then off and on would speak of her dream to become some captain of the Wonderbolts or something like that.

Asriel's mind however drifted, he was still very upset about the predicament, though he tried not to show it.

Rainbow caught him off guard with a question. "What’s your dream?" She asked.

Asriel turned to her thinking for a minute and shrugged, "I've never really been given the time to think about it I guess, though now, I guess I have all the time." His thoughts drifted back to soul that he possessed. His mind continually prodding at it, finding that it was very pure, innocent, powerful, how could he have receive such a thing? What force could have ripped a soul right out of a being, and then want to give it to him? The idea of it frightened him, as he once possessed such power to do so.

Rainbow waved a hoof in front of him, giving him a start, "Gahh!"

Rainbow laughed, "Haa ha! oh boy, you are just as bad as Twilight when it comes to the zoning thing." Suddenly her eyes caught a glimpse of something outside the nearby window, "Seems that old Twilight has completed the barrier thing."

Asriel looked out to see a shimmering purple aura that seemed to surround the whole of the town, shifting the natural light of the setting sun. He couldn't believe that it had been an entire day, the events were all over the place for him, what more was in store?