//------------------------------// // New Visitor (part 1) // Story: Traces of a Hidden Shadow // by Teotle //------------------------------// After recess, Cheerilee continued to discuss the study of chemistry to the class. They had a few notes to take and a pop quiz at the last half hour of class. When the final bell rang, and all the students were dismissed, Nyx, Teotle and their friends went back to the castle for lunch only to find Twlight and Spell Nexus sitting at the dinning room table, together. Nyx took a few steps back, too nervous to speak. Teotle, however, growled and began to reach for his sword, which was strapped to his back in case of an attack. Twilight reassured them and said, "It's ok, he's not going to hurt anypony. He's just here to talk." "Talk about what?" Teotle asked. "About how he thinks we're monsters?' "Not really." Nexus replied, looking down at the table. "I intend to do quite the opposite." He then got up from his chair, walked over to the children, and knelled out of respect. "I have come to apologize on behalf of myself and the former Children of Nightmare. What we did to Nyx and to those around her was inexcusable and I feel terrible because of it." "So do I." Filthy Rich added as he stepped out from the hall way. "Daddy?" Diamond Tiara asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here, shouldn't you be at your business meeting?" Rich chuckled and answered, "I rescheduled it for later today. I heard that Spell Nexus was here and I wanted to apologies to you all on my own behalf." "For what?" Twist asked. "Yeah, it wasn't your fault anyway." Apple Bloom added. "You were under some kind of mind control." "That may be." Spell Nexus admitted. "But that doesn't relieve the guilt we share for what we did. We all feel accountable for what had been done." "We're not asking you to forgive us." Said Rich. "We just want you to understand that we're sorry." The children looked at each other, using their facial expressions to deliberate on the topic at hand. One by one, they all nodded to each other in agreement. They all faced Spell Nexus and Filthy Rich and said, "We forgive you." "Well, now that's settled, Who wants lunch?" Spike said, as he pushed in a cart with trays of food. "Because I'm starved." "What do you two say?" Teotle asked the two stallions. "Want to have lunch with us?" They both looked at one another for a moment. "We'd be honored." Nexus replied. Later that day Teotle was walking down the hall to Nyx's room with a package he had just received in the mail. When he got to the door, he gave it a knock. "Nyx?" He asked. "Come in." Nyx replied. Teotle walked into the room to find Nyx sitting at her writing desk with a teal colored pegasus with a white spiky mane. "Nyx...?" said Teotle. "Who's this?" "Teotle, this is Day Dreamer." Nyx answered, pointing at the colt next to her. Day Dreamer then said, "Nice to finally meet you, Teotle. Nyx's told me so much about you." Teotle's eye began to twitch a little bit as he stared at the two of them. Why would Nyx let this guy into the castle so soon after meeting him? How did Twilight, Spike or even Starlight not even notice him? Eventually, Teotle calmed down and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you too. Hey, Nyx, I have something to show you." "Sure, what is it?' Nyx asked. Teotle opened the package he had in his paws and revealed the crystal cubes he gave her on Hearths Warming. "I sent these all across Equestria, like I said I would. half of them have come back after being inspected by the princesses, and when the others ge back here, we can build our science fair project." Nyx smiled and said, "That's great." "What's your project?" Day Dreamer asked. Teotle furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Well, I was going to keep it a surprise, but I guess that won't work since me and Nyx are partners." Teotle took one of the cubes from the box and held it in front of Nyx and Day Dreamer. "These Crystals are from my home land, remember?" "Yeah." Nyx answered. "Well, these Crystals radiate pure spirit energy from the landscape and animals around them. They can also have more transferred into them. I have devised an experiment to create an ultimate Crystal with all the different types of spirit energy from all across other countries around the globe." "Why?" Day Dreamer asked. Teotle looked at him and said, "To create an arc." "What kind of arc?" Nyx questioned. "Do you mean like a boat?" "No." Teotle replied. "It's kind of like a universal library that can contain all the worlds knowledge at its core. The arc will know everything every culture has learned over centuries of growth and be able to calculate other things we, ourselves, don't even know yet." "How can a crystal have knowledge?" "Spirit energy of basically the manifestation of our souls." Said Teotle. "When we put our spirit energy into it, our knowledge goes into it also. And that's not even the cool part. When there is enough knowledge put into the crystals, the knowledge and memories will manifest and take form." "It will become a whole other soul?" Nyx wondered, raising an eyebrow. "Yes." Teotle said with glee. "So, your creating artificial intelligence?" asked Day Dreamer. "Sort of." Teotle replied. "However, this will have natural intelligence, rather than artificial."