Heavy Burdens

by polygonsmasher

Mild Preparation

Frowny tried to get his hoofs to move, he was struggling a little. He walked in the direction of Twilight an Spike, saying:

I need to contact the princess... First...

With his words came a chill that ran down both Twilight's and Spike's spines. The words Frowny spoke had that certain unnerving tone to them. The both of them shook their heads. Frowny continued:

...so could you tell your dragon to make a letter for me please?

Why don't you ask him yourself?

You could hear Twilight was still recuperating from the mind transfer. Not to mention the emotional breakdown everypony else experienced from the whole feat. Spike didn't see it though, he is just a baby dragon after all. A powerful spell like mind transfer could disrupt his growing up stage. Completely tormenting him was not something Frowny wished to do to him. Frowny stepped forward in Spike's direction and said:

Well then Spike, could you write me a letter to the princess?

Spike descended from Twilight's back and answered:

Well okay, though remember to fill me in later. I really wanna know whatever happened to the rest all of a sudden.

Frowny glanced at the group and to his surprise Rainbow Dash was awfully quiet and Pinkie was awfully... less jumpy and cheerful. With Rarity in an even more miserable condition, trying to steer herself off the thought. Frowny turned to them and said:

Are you girls all okay? you look kinda down. Cheer up! All thats the past and it's nothing to worry about... except that last part.

Rarity looked at Frowny as if she wanted to hug him real bad.

It's just too sad to see a young pony go through such a rough time.

Don't forget that it was my own doing and I brought it upon myself not to contain myself Frowny said to Rarity

Frowny came closer to spike and the dragon revealed a scroll from Twilights bag together with quill and ink ready to write.

What will it be Mr. Shineless?

Frowny grinned softly. Oh please, just call me Frowny. I'm going to be seeing you a lot until this is over. but heres what I'd like you to write: You're Highness the princess Celestia, Frowny Shineless has returned from completing his duty. He wishes to exchange words with you. Spike quickly wrote it down and Sent it by lighting the now rolled piece of paper up with a bright green flame to send it to the palace up in the mountains.

Frowny walked back to the center of the room and started talking. Intending to explain whats going to happen next

Now i want each of you to listen very carefully. The threat thats closing in on Ponyville will arrive near two weeks from now.

Pinkie suddenly looked up. Threat!? What do you mean?
With the rest looking up as well.

Frowny looked at his bag that appeared to be lying next to the carefully arrenged pillows that Fluttershy put him in and from a distance quickly grabbed an old tattered scroll out of it with magic.

I will read to you what will be the most important discovery I have made since I learned to read minds.

The group looked worried at each other when Rainbow Dash said:

Read minds? You mean you can find out whatever you want by using magic? Even the secret stuff?

Frowny expected this question and thought hard to come up with an answer that would make the most of sense.

You needn't worry Rainbow, I am not able to read personal matters and I never intended to. It is only that I respect you're wishes of privacy and I would never forgive myself to reach out and grab personal information out of all of you're minds.

Pinkie looked at Frowny with a devastating look to make sure he wasn't lying. But Frowny's eyes where so truthful that she gained trust in it that he was indeed not aware of anything that belonged to the groups personal ideals.

Well okay I believe ya! Guess what Dashie, I'm sure he isn't lying so you can stop worrying already!

Rainbow's face turned to happiness upon hearing Pinkie's words. You coul really tell she's relieved, apparently she hides alot of secrets. You can be sure that whenever Pinkie says something, she's right. Theres no arguing.

This threat I'm talking about though, has the ability to not only read every single detail about you from your minds. But it also has the ability to control them as if you were pawns in some kind of cheesy chess game. Thats why I decided rather showing you everything about me instead of telling you. otherwise it would just take far too long to explain.

The whole group gasped upon hearing this mind controlling ability Frowny spoke of.

Frowny opens the scroll and starts reading out loud in a language that anypony would not understand without some proper studying though Twilight listened very, very carefully and recited every single word in her head.

What is that pony talking about!

Rarity clearly did not understand but she wasn't the only one. Then something peculiar happened. the words Frowny spoke sprung out of the scroll and changed into frames that were part of a bigger picture of a shady character that looked completely harmless if not for the diabolical look in its eyes.

What you see here is some, 'thing' that walked around in circles for almost 10 hours straight.

Twilight looked at Frowny with extreme unbelief and said: That sounds like somepony that was summoning a creature from a higher plane. But is that even possible?

Frowny looked with serious eyes at Twilight and then continued his speech.

This character isn't summoning. It's preparing to create a bunch of golems.

Thats when Twilight's eyes became bigger and she started shaking.

G-g-g-golems!? Not those awful creatures, that would mean the end of this place!

The rest of the group of 5 looked confused at both Frowny and Twilight and then asked all at the same time:

What the hay are Golems!?

Frowny's frown started getting more frowny and looked deep within his memories to completely remember all of their properties. Then Twilight spoke up with a shivering voice.

Golems are creatures crafted from mud and have been given a enchanted scroll with orders and programmings and they will stop at nothing to complete them. When they lose a limb they will just keep going, though they turn to ashes when in contact with sunlight.

Twilight gasps and seemed enlightened with the situation.

So thats why you want to contact the princess. You want to make sure the golems never get here by getting the sun to rise when the golems get near the village!

Frowny's serious look changed into a grin and answered:

Thats right Twilight. If I didn't think of any safety measures I would have never come in the first place. I have fought these golems before but whatever I do, the only answer that doesn't include sunlight is sealing them and take the scroll out of their body. But thats really difficult to accomplish.

Twilight Looked confused at the slightly disappointed of himself Frowny and then said: "But you're the most powerful unicorn I've ever seen surely you could handle a slow muddy golem with ease!"

Frowny looked back up and sighed.

I'm afraid it's not that easy. The golems that the shady character in this picture creates are nothing like golems from you're books.

Frowny changes the picture back to encrypted words and burns it with his magic to avoid it being seen ever again. Then he clears the serious face and lightens up. Only a little though, for what he's about to say:

oh and by the way, this creature is absolutely NOT a pony. I repeat, not a pony. Frowny said with serious widened eyes.

Anypony was affraid to ask why. They have seen a lot of weird types around, but anything as weird as this is undescribable. Frowny could still picture the creature in his mind clearly. It was indeed a creature that looked similar to a pony. However it lacked any hooves thus didn't walk but somehow kind of floated above the ground. The creature is some kind of mutation.

this creature calls itself Soulbel...

Silence ocurred. It's as if the world stood still, only by saying that name could you get ponies to feel uneasy. Twilight then suddenly spoke up:

This Soulbel creature. What is it planning to do?

Frowny only glanced at Twilight to then turn to his head and think a bit. He then answered:

From what I understand, it's raising an army of all kinds of different creatures. Though the majority is golems. Thats for sure... But I thought I could sense several other presenses too. Like dragons, gargoyles or any other given winged creatures. Maybe some possessed griffins or pegasi as well

Everypony suddenly looked up. Especially Rainbow Dash looked worried. She knew a lot about griffins, creatures like those would never let them catch themselves. And if Soulbel has one under it's control, it could become a problem. Griffins are known throughout Equestria to be strong and fast. They would be able to rule the skies easily and win a fight by always staying on higher grounds and striking from above.

Frowny then continued:

I don't have much knowledge about it's true intentions. But it is clear to me that it's planning an attack on Canterlot and it's surroundings to gain control over the entire area.

Twilight asked another question:

did you try approaching Soulbel yourself to get some information out of it?

Frowny's look turned a little unedged. He was clearly not fond of the subject. Twilight could notice the fire in his eyes. She believed Frowny certainly truly hates this Soulbel creature. Thats when Frowny spoke with a kind of angry sounding tone:

... Oh I tried alright... Not only did it cost me 30 days of recovery from wounds, it also reaped me from motivation for half a year. I was drained of any thought, motivation and energy to continue my usual training methods and almost refrained to ever moved out of my hiding place.

why? What did Soulbel do? Twilight answered reluctant but curiously.

Soulbel almost made me braindead... Frowny answered.

It was quiet. Very quiet. The 5 ponies standing across from Frowny could not believe what they heared. With scared and confused looks on they're faces. Until Frowny said something again:

This is the main reason I began studying mental spells. To be able to deflect attacks to my brain and to be able to protect others from the mind spells Soulbel casts. I also wish to teach you how to defend yourself Twilight and Rarity.

Rarity and Twilight exchanged glances and then looked back at Frowny.

I also thought about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. You two girls are vital. Rainbow Dash is fast which will be usefull in a fight to quickly defeat opponents and dodge incoming attacks. Fluttershy is a special case that I'm gonna ask her about. and then theres Pinkie Pie...

Before Frowny continued he walked towards Pinkie. Who was reasonably quiet the whole time.

I think it would be a good idea for you to think stuff over a bit. You represent the element of laughter, think that through and see how you can use this strength to your advantage.

Pinkie suddenly looked happy and energized again and quickly answered:

Yes sir!

Now that were on the subject." Frowny continued, "How many times have you all used the elements so far?

Wasn't it two times? Twilight replied

Frowny thought about it for a sec and then continued his speech:

I guess then that you girls are still a little inexperienced about using your element. Then I'm gonna have to train you all one at a time.

~A little later~

there was a discussion among the 4 pony friends that were still in the house. In the meantime Frowny was quietly sitting on the pillows with his eyes closed. Thinking to himself how he should handle each of the training sessions. He was also eagerly waiting for a response from the princess. When the discussion seemed to end Frowny opened his eyes and spoke up:

So like I said, I'm gonna have to train each of you one by one before a training session together with using the united powers of the elements to they're full extend. Therefore I expect of you to prepare both physically and mentally. Especially Twilight and Rarity.

Both of the unicorns looked up again and exchanged glances for a moment before Frowny continued.

Rarity's magical abilities are undefined as of yet, it is also still unclear to me the level of strength that she's at. It could be anything ranging from level 2 until level 4. Because the horn changes color after ascending to level 5 and above.

Rarity looked up at her bright white horn still wondering what Frowny was talking about. Level of strength? What does that mean? 2 until 4? Is that a good thing? Frowny then continued:

Twilight is the key to unlocking the elements' true potential. She isn't the element of magic for nothing. Therefore I feel it's the right thing to teach her what she needs to do about with the elements.

Twilight thought about it for a second. She records that they only used the elements twice in battle. Excluding the one failure in the battle against Discord. She already wanted to study the elements thoroughly. But never got even one chance because she always had something else to do before free time came up on her schedule. She was heavily curious to what Frowny was thinking about the elements. But also had another aching question:

Frowny I've been meaning to ask. It seems that you got things thought through but how do you know about all of these things without witnessing it first hand?

Everypony then looked surprised at Twilight.

Isn't that what everypony wants to know? Because I don't think that someone that's been apart from society for 20 years or more could know about something like this...

Frowny closed his eyes again preparing for another spell. Or more like a ritual. He spoke:

I always wondered what was going on outside of the border barrier. I always picked up several scraps of magical activity throughout the years while traveling along the barrier. So I developed this single spell to detect and transfer any kind of movement and sound...

Frowny's horn began glowing red, constantly increasing color and size of the glow until the whole room lit up in a strong red color. Frowny's hooves appeared to be growing into the ground. Frowny was continuously grunting in the process. Black stripes appeared on his ears and eyelids which closed up as if stitched shut tight. When the glowing stopped Frowny's body was giving off some kind of radiation which seemed to be pushing things either towards or away from him. Frowny spoke once again:

This is a spell I called: Familiarization.

The 4 ponies were watching speechless at what Frowny became. Twilight was once again truly surprised, she didn't even dare to imagine something like this being possible.

The force that is pushing things away and towards me exists so that I won't be open for attacks. I'm very fragile in this form, even one single touch could break one of my bones. I used this spell to keep track of not only all of your movements... But also everything that happens around The Deeper Parts. This is how I came to know Soulbel's plans for example. Does this answer your question Twilight?

Twilight came closer by walking towards Frowny and examine him a bit. She was then forced back at her seat by the weird radiation coming from Frowny. She then picked up some paper out of her bag and noted the spell down in explicit detail. Then she spoke:

Remarkable! This explains your knowledge of us!

The moment Twilight finished her statement Frowny's hooves reappeared above ground again and the black stripes around his eyes and ears disappeared. Finally the radiation stopped after a while and Frowny opened his eyes panting to catch his breath. While saying:

This really consumes SOME energy... I wouldn't recommend trying to mimic it Twilight!

At that moment Spike barfed out a letter with a bright green flame. This must mean that the princess answered Frowny's call! Frowny levitated the scroll until it floated in front of his face, opened it and read it's contents to himself while the other ponies watched the look on his face turn from seriousness to happiness. The letter said:

Dear Frowny, I'm surprised you already broke through so soon. But have you really gained full control of you're Nightmare abilities I wonder? I will have to talk to you about this tomorrow morning I'm afraid. So report to me then and update me of the situation. P.S. I always knew that this wouldn't become a lost case. I heard you disappeared from this world and I was afraid you would have passed away. I'll be notifying your parents too, they have been anxiously waiting for any message from you.

Frowny shed a tiny tear and thought to himself:

Finally I will be able to see all that happened in such a long time, Mom, Dad, I'm coming back to you just like I promised.

Frowny looked at the 4 pony friends as they leave Fluttershy's house. Frowny thought he might want to apologize to Fluttershy. The mind transfer spell not only transferred information but also emotions. And he was afraid that it might have been too much to bear for Fluttershy's sensitive heart. Frowny walked out of the house and closed his eyes. He then disappeared in thin air. teleporting to where Fluttershy was.

Fluttershy was in deep sadness. Crying over the sadness that Frowny felt when he was banished. She escaped to the most beautiful place she knew about to cheer herself up with the area and the small animals. Thats when Frowny appeared, he saw how devastated Fluttershy looked and tried to comfort her with his presence.

Fluttershy... I... I Can't bear to see you like this...

Thats when Fluttershy looked around and saw Frowny's deep caring look in his eyes.

I know that I have caused you to see pain beyond belief, and I am sorry. No, I cant be more sorry to blur you're view of peace with the history of my existence.

Frowny dried her tears with the magic he possessed and turned around.

I shall not disturb you with this danger anymore!

Frowny started walking in the direction of Ponyville when Fluttershy quickly stood up and said:

N-no. I will be part of this! Didn't you hear me the first time? I said that I didn't care who or what you are, but to just see you doing fine fills me with enough happiness to heal the pain both you and me felt.

Frowny looked around in Fluttershy's direction and it looked like she completely recovered from the sadness that filled her being and she started to smile again.

I-if you don't mind though. Fluttershy said with a shaky voice.

Frowny turned to Fluttershy and walked in her direction.

T-thats great! I knew I could count on you!

Frowny said with a relieved look on his face.

So... what did I miss Frowny? This time please just tell me.

Frowny briefly updated Fluttershy on what he told the other ponies and then said:

Now that I'm on topic I have something important to give you.

Frowny then closed his eyes and his pitch black horn started glowing red. Something formed in front of him, when it started taking shape it looked like a bright red translucent crystal. When Frowny was finished he was panting and trying to catch his breath.

There *pant* *pant* this crystal I made contains part of my magical life force. Whenever I will encounter danger or whenever I will have transformed under someone else's will, this crystal will glow black and will start to crack.

Fluttershy took a good look at the red translucent crystal and Fluttershy realized what Frowny was trying to say.

Frowny... I-I... Do you really think you can entrust me with this?

Frowny looked at her and said:

Of course i can. You are the only one I can entrust this task to. Remember, you're kindness and you're way with wild animals will help me change back to normal if I ever transform into a vicious... Nightmare.

Frowny shivered at the thought of ever changing into that kind of being again. Fluttershy took the crystal that was floating in the air and said:

I... I promise that whatever may happen to you, I will try and help you in any way I can. Even if you look as vicious as... that...

Fluttershy gained deep trust in Frowny in these couple of minutes that passed and she realized that this could become a hard vow to keep. And then for the first time in Frowny's entire life his frown disappeared and he was looking truly happy.

I'm glad I can trust you with this. It's really important to me you know. Frowny said.

You cannot understand what gratitude I have.

Fluttershy's eyes were shining, as if it was the first time she ever felt truly happy in her life as well. Frowny was just the same. It was a magical moment for both Frowny and Fluttershy. they kept staring at each other like that for almost 20 minutes. Frowny's frown reappeared to his face, he then said:

I have to go and prepare the others now, I will see you again will I?

Fluttershy quickly nodded and headed back to her house jumping like Pinkie. Frowny started concentrating to teleport to Twilight's house and then disappeared into thin air again.

END OF CHAPTER