Part 1: Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Lyra and Nympha walked into the suite. They brought with them an energy that chased away any of the darkness left from the previous topic. Nympha, as usual, radiated energy. Lyra on the other hand looked worn to the bone. Nympha half tackled half hugged me.
“Good to see you too, sweetie,” I said. “Did you have fun playing with Lyra?”
“Yes, much fun,” Nympha said. “We go play now?”
“Um maybe later,” I said.
“Yes later for now, you need a bath we are going to go visit some ponies and I want you to look your best,” Bon Bon said. “Nympha take her to your bath and why don’t the two of you get bathed. It is nice having access to two baths at once.”
“How much time do we have?” I asked.
“Plenty,” Bon Bon said. “So yes you can enjoy the soak for as long as Nympha will let you.”
Nympha and I left Bon Bon behind and headed for the bath. A good soak would be good for my nerves. I filled up the tub while Nympha was being the most helpful parasite ever and clung to me. She seemed particularly clingy today but I couldn’t figure why. I was feeling pretty alright all things considered. Our encounter with Princess Celestia had me a bit shaken but for once it didn’t phase me like I felt maybe it should. The tub was filled a bit more than I would normally put it at and I stopped the water and flipped the switch on the heating runes.
I shrugged off Nympha and got into the tub. Nympha followed quickly. She let her disguise fall revealing her natural black chitin. It was much softer than I had thought it would be and was more like flexible plastic. I ran the brush over her chitin in my magic lazily as I sat mostly submerged under the water. Nympha picked up the other with her own magic and brushed me as well. After a while it became a bit tiring to hold my above the water at the angle I had to to do so, and so instead I moved using Nympha’s back to prop me up further. With a quick cleaning of our manes and tails we were completely clean and could just enjoy the water.
“Why you feel different?” asked Nympha. “What happen?”
“I don’t really know. I guess part of it is just knowing what to do next. Having a step to take,” I said. “Sorry I have been such a worry wart.”
“You hurt but also love much,” Nympha said. “No worry. I just give your love back. Make you feel better.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” I said. “I am really happy to have met you.”
“Me too,” Nympha said. Her face turned sullen which was quite a stark difference for her. “Never feel love like you before. Better now. Why you give love so much? Why mama not?”
“I don’t know, I can’t rightly tell you on that one. Maybe you will get the chance for her to answer that question for you,” I said. “I want you to know that I am worried that your mom is up to no good. I don’t know what but my guts says that something foul is up.”
“Understand. Love mom. Not trust mom,” Nympha said. “Mom no hurt you. I not let her.”
“I hope it never comes to that,” I said. “I don’t want to see you in that kind of pain.”
“I love you,” Nympha said.
“I love you, too,” I said.
It was weird but in the just under a week that I had known her I had grown quite fond of her. Hopefully nothing would ever change that. I leaned my head up against the back of hers and we sat just enjoying each others company. It was strange suddenly having a little sister like this but I hoped my other siblings would be as much of a joy as Nympha was.
Feeling the heat starting to get to my head I pulled myself reluctantly out of the bath. We dried off quickly and headed back out into the living room. Neither Bon Bon nor Lyra were there and I assumed that they were still bathing. Pulling a book from the shelf I read to Nympha for a while. It was the book that Bon Bon had been reading the last few days. It was about some buisness mare who hadn’t had time to find love deciding to finally look for it after her aunt dies tragically alone. Nympha didn’t seem to be paying too much attention as she rested her head on my back but I kept reading aloud anyway.
In what was just over ten minutes Lyra and Bon Bon came out of their room. They were looking fresh and ready to go though Lyra did still look pretty tired. She smiled at us sitting on the couch and pulled her head back indicating it was time to go.
The walk to the Heartstring’s manor was pleasant as the weather was still fair. The city was busy which wasn’t too surprising what with the good weather and it being the last day of the weekend. Everypony wanted to make the most of their weekend. I was looking forward to a quiet time again. No more need to dig into my past. Not when the future had so many things to deal with.
Nympha was energetic as usual. Ecstatically she went from spot to spot taking in as much of the sights and sounds of the city. There was a part of me that wished I found wonder in such simple things still. It seemed like I should given my bodies age but It wasn’t so. But I did try to keep up with Nympha if just to explain things for her as we stopped and looked at something.
Our walk wasn’t far and we came to the large blue house where Lyra’s parents lived. It was quite the house to behold even still and I in my prior life would have loved to live in it. The victorian style which it reminded me of was one I had always been quite fond of. That and every visit had been a pleasant experience. Lyra’s parents were always so very welcoming to me.
One knock later and the door was opened by Iron Hoof. He was wearing an apron and uncharacteristically had a smile plastered on his face. He had never been mean or anything but kind but his face in my experience he always had a bit of a stoic look to me. Something was off but it seemed to me that it couldn’t be anything wrong.
“Oh welcome, Miss, or should I say, Mrs. Lyra,” Iron Hoof said. “I hope you have been enjoying your honeymoon.”
“It was cut short,” Lyra said. “But other than that it was quite enjoyable. But time spent with family is what really matters.”
“Truer words were never spoken,” Iron hoof said. “It is good to see you again. I understand that you are busy but I do miss our time together when you were no bigger than Lilac.”
Lyra blushed and looked away. Shaking her head to drive away her embarrassment, Lyra said, “You aren’t going to bring up all the silly things I did as a filly are you now? I mean can’t we have a day where you don’t embarass me infront of Bon Bon?”
“It is only said out of love,” Iron Hoof said. “Come in your mother and I were just working on dinner.”
“Oooh what is it tonight?” I asked. I ran up to the front with Nympha right behind me. “Nympha, Lyra’s um friend here is such a good cook. He always makes something I hadn’t had before whenever we visit which to be fair has only been twice now but still.”
“I do believe you may find tonights dinner to be up to standards,” Iron Hoof said. “Tonight we are having Alfalfa Burgehay.”
“Have you been hitting the wine?” Lyra asked.
“A proper stallion never lets a lady drink alone,” Iron Hoof said. There was mirth in his eyes. “It has been known on occasion that Lady Heartstrings and I will relax with a nice wine or cider when ever we end up cooking together.”
“It is good to see you enjoying yourself,” Lyra said. Iron hoof had stepped back to let us in. “I want to introduce to the other little one. This is Nympha. She is a friends child that we are looking after for a bit. Nympha this is Iron Hoof.”
“Hi,” Nympha said.
“Greetings young one,” said Iron Hoof. “It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I pushed Nympha forward trying to stall the probably need to explain her. I wasn’t certain how it would be best to explain her and though there was likely no escaping that explanation. Still any delay gave me more time to think about an answer. Maybe the truth was the only real answer for this but I didn’t want to give Princess Celestia any more reason to yell at me or Nympha.
I lead the way to the reading room. It seemed to reason to be the best place to hang out with out being under hoof. Nympha followed me at a brisk pace. She did pause a few times to look at two different paintings on the wall. One was of Lyra’s long since dead ancestors. It was an amazing painting and one could tell the love of the painter for the pony depicted. The other was of Canterlot but from a bird’s eye view off the mountain. The castle was quite majestic in the painting and the small town that was Canterlot in the picture had a quaint little look to it.
In the reading room Twisted Logic with his bright colors was busy reading what looked to be some sort of scientific journal. Through his orange coat you could see he had not been eating right again. I worried about him but it was plain to see he was where Lyra got her obsessiveness.
“Hello, Twisted Logic,” I said joyfully. “What are you reading?”
“Oh just a dissertation about the physiology of Changelings. The paper seems to gloss over many of the implications that Changelings bring up. It barely talks about love as a measurable magical energy,” said Twisted Logic. He finally looked up from his reading. “Oh hi Lilac. Who is your friend?”
“Um, this is Nympha,” I said.
“Hi,” Nympha said. Curiosity oozed from Nympha’s words. “What physiology? What do with Changeling?”
“Physiology is the study of bodies and how they work,” Twisted Logic said. “So where did you find her, Lilac?”
“She is just a family friend,” I said.
“I can tell that you are hiding something and my hunches are that she is not as she seems,” said Twisted Logic. “You can trust me.”
“I don’t know if I am allowed to tell you,” I said.
“Tell what?” asked Nympha. “He not mean. We trust.”
“I promise that whatever it is that you tell me will not leave these walls,” Twisted Logic said.
I rubbed my ankles together as I pondered my decision. No one had told me not to talk about Nympha and I felt like I could trust Twisted Logic but it still seemed off to tell him. I fought with myself for a while. Twisted Logic for his part didn’t pressure me to make a decision. Nympha however made my choice for me.
Dropping her disguise, Nympha said, “I am changeling.”
It took a moment for Twisted to regain his composure. There was no anger in his eyes but they did seem to be trying to calculate something. His horn lit up and I felt his magic pass through me. I wasn’t certain what he had done but I figured it was some sort of scanning spell. His spell must have revealed something because he relit his horn after the first spell and a second slightly more invasive spell ran over me.
“Interesting,” said Twisted Logic. “I have so many questions. Let me get paper first if you don’t mind, Nympha. I really want to work out the kinks of that this paper I just read has. That is of course if you are up to answering some questions.”
“I don’t know how much Nympha can answer your questions,” I said. “We think she has been cut off from the changeling hive network.”
“Does that mean she is a proto-queen? The paper I just read said that drones require the network to be functional,” Twisted Logic said. “This just increases the number of questions I have. Let’s stick to the basics.”
“Okay,” I said. “As long as that is fine with Nympha.”
“Is fine,” Nympha said with cheer in her voice. She seemed almost too happy for this and I couldn’t really tell why. “Want know more too.”
A bright flash of green filled the room and Bon bon stepped into the room. She had a glow to her that was contagious. As if her worries had washed away for that moment. There was a mirth in her eyes that was unusual for her or at least as of recent was.
“Twisted, do you mind watching the fillies while we have a foal free zone in the kitchen?” asked Bon Bon. “it has been a while at this point to have a relaxing moment without having to worry what sort of trouble Lilac is getting into.”
“I don't mind at all,” said Twisted Logic. “I don't get as much time with foals and younglings anymore now that I have been promoted at work.”
“Thanks. I’ll be in the kitchen with everypony else,” Bon Bon said as she disappeared out the door.
With Bon Bon gone there was a second flash of green and Nympha was back in her natural form. She climbed up onto the couch and sat down. Patting on the couch next to her she motioned for me to join her. When I did she pulled me up next to her with her magic.
“So what questions do you have?” I asked. “Though if you don't mind why did you scan me twice?”
“Well the first one was to check for what spells you were under the effect of. The second one was to gauge your wellspring depth,” said Twisted Logic. “Though I bet that brings up another question. I checked your wellspring depth because you had much more magic in your system than you should have. Part of me was worried that your mana was leaking into your physical form which can cause all sorts of problems. My check can tell if your it was and thankfully it wasn’t. Have you been working on depth increasing exercises?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I just have been practicing teleportation and Princess Luna is teaching me how to safely disrupt magical outbursts. She did cast a spell to alleviate a headache of mine from our practice and she said it would make me a bit loopy. I haven’t really noticed too much effect outside of being better able to keep up with Nympha without wearing myself out.”
“Hmm. Your wellspring is much deeper than it should be based on natural growth alone,” Twisted Logic said. “When compared to where you were the first time we met you have grown nearly twice that. Maybe that growth is a side effect of your soul binding. Still that doesn’t explain the overflow of mana. It was like your wellspring just suddenly grew significantly and for lack of a better word splashed out into your physical form. Hmm how is Princess Luna teaching you to disrupt magical outbursts? Most of the time we just let them run their course and those we don’t we just use a calming spell on the foal in question and that gets them to release their mana.”
“Do you promise not to tell anyone about this? Anyone at all?” I asked. “Like really really important.”
“I already gave you my word,” Twisted Logic said. “You can trust me.”
“Princess Luna has been teaching me to disrupt outbursts by taking the foal’s mana from them,” I said.
“Stealing others magic is a painful endeavor and if not done right can be harmful to the person who you are taking from. Why would Princess Luna teach you that sort of magic?”
“Because of Annabelle. She has more magic than even I do. Enough to damage the castle if she has an magical outburst or seriously hurt herself,” I said. “I have to be able to protect her until she has control over her magic.”
“A foal with more wellspring depth than you do,” Twisted said. He had a dumbfounded look on his face. “I guess I can understand why drastic measures might be necessary. Doesn’t mean I like it but I trust Princess Luna.”
“How deep is my wellspring now?” I asked. “A few days ago Twilight said I had eight kilolites and that seems like a lot in some ways. Okay if I was being honest it doesn’t anymore knowing what I do about alicorns but still.”
“That much growth in just a few days,” said Twisted Logic. He seemed dazed for a moment. His horn lit up again and I could feel he was scanning my wellspring again. “Sorry I needed to be sure. You have thirteen kilolites now.”
“Maybe the growth is a side effect of Sombra’s spell? I know that it makes me have much greater access to my mana than would otherwise be,” I said. “Princess Luna said I can pull on nearly all my mana. But what if the opposite is true. Where anything cast on me seeps into my wellspring making it bigger?”
“That is a possibility,” said Twisted Logic. “It would explain how Sombra was able to grow in power so quickly according to the history books. Well no point in dwelling on that we can’t answer at least yet. So Nympha what can you tell me about changelings? Anything in particular that is really important to you as a changeling?”
“Love. Mama need love, but don’t give. Love heals. Love make strong. Much stronger now,” Nympha said. “Home not good. Here good.”
“I am sorry that your home life has not been the best,” Twisted Logic said. “I am sure your mother does love you though. I can’t imagine a mother who doesn’t love their child.”
“My mama no good. I tool not daughter,” Nympha said. “Can’t speak right. Can’t think right. All alone. Mama why. Only not dead because Lilac.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” Twisted Logic said. “You always have a home amongst my family. I do hope that Celestia knows what she is doing when working with Chrysalis.”
“Me too,” said both Nympha and I at the same time.
Nympha’s magic engulfed her again as she resumed her disguise. It was weird to feel her magic flow between us. It had a strange stickiness to it and I couldn’t shake the feeling that it as clinging to me. A moment later Lyra came into the room. She was walking slightly off and even without smelling it I could tell she had been hitting the wine a bit harder than she usually did.
“Hey Dad,” Lyra said. “I love you. Oh and I love you two as well, Nympha and Lilac. I love you all. Uh, um, yeah diner is ready.”
“We love you too, my little Cherub,” Twisted Logic said.
The three of us followed the clearly drunk Lyra to the dining room. Iron Hoof had just set the last plate onto the table when we walked in. Lyra sat down next to the seat that Bon Bon was already in and she scooted her chair over to the point of touching Bon Bon. For her part Bon Bon didn’t seem annoyed at all. I couldn’t blame Lyra for drinking to relax after this week and apparently neither did Bon Bon.
The diner was very different than I had expected but was quite delicious. The slight taste of the wine in it added a depth that I hadn’t thought one could get with alcohol. Not that there seemed to be any alcohol left in the meal. The egg noodles were a perfect base for the sauce and the garlic bread was to die for.
Nympha was much more cleanly tonight than I had come to expect. She must have picked up using telekinesis recently because she was using that to shovel food into her mouth. Her grasp of magic seemed to be growing quite well for a filly who ate with her face just a few days ago. Lyra must have been giving her lessons.
Symphonia was similarly intoxicated as Lyra and seemed to be having a fun time of it. It was a little weird knowing that the adults were all drunk. Well most of them. Bon Bon had good reason not to and in a number of ways Twisted Logic had never struck me as an adult really. He was too excitable or something that just made me feel like he was on my level. The conversation meandered from family to general life to work and back again. It was honestly hard to follow and I had other things on my mind. I was starting to get restless sitting there listening to the adults talk about nothing which was odd for me. Normally my patience for this sort of thing was much longer than today.
There was a strange poof of magic right next to my head and a scroll appeared out of thin air. It reminded me of Spike’s dragon mail but without the fire. Based on the color of the magic it must have been from Luna. I opened the scroll and read it quickly. Annabelle was having an episode of sorts and was refusing to talk to Luna. Luna thought that I would be able to calm her. It was a request to teleport me back to the castle with instructions to burn the letter if I wished to come.
“Bon Bon, can I go back to the castle?” I asked. Everypony else had been waiting for me to read the letter on baited breathe. Bon Bon looked confused and worried. The implications of my request seemed to go over the head of Lyra though and she still seemed quite cheerful. “Annabelle needs me.”
“I guess I can walk you there,” Bon Bon said. “Sorry to leave so early everypony. Lyra why don’t you stay here and enjoy your night.”
“Don’t worry about walking me,” I said. “Princess Luna is going to summon me via teleportation.”
I lit the letter on fire with one of the candles that sat on the table. For a moment there was nothing but then a strange force seemed to overcome me. It didn’t have the same feel as magic normally did and definitely didn’t feel like any teleportation spell I had felt before. The world quickly faded to black around me and just as quickly it came back but I was no longer at Lyra’s parents’ house. I found myself in the teleportation beacon room once more. There teleportation hit me harder than any had in a long time and I struggled to keep my diner. Mr. Floor was not happy with me efforts.
“I’m sorry, Lilac,” Luna said. “I should have warned you that this type of teleportation is quite unsettling.”
“It’s fine,” I croaked out. “Annabelle is what matters.”
“Yes. One more teleport coming up,” Luna said. “I am going to teleport us directly to Annabelle’s room. She is quite distraught and I don’t want her to have an outburst right now.”
Pop. That teleport was comforting compared to the previous one. We were right outside Annabelle’s room and inside I could see Annabelle wailing and throwing whatever she could get her hoof on. Which at this point was a lamp. There was a Night Guard unicorn who was catching everything that Annabelle was throwing at him.
There was a second pop. I jumped in surprise. RIght next to us was Princess Celestia. Her eyes were bright with fire and I could feel the venom in her gaze. Luna pushed me into Annabelle’s room with her magic and closed the door with it. As she was doing that an argument broke out between Luna and Princess Celestia. With the door closed though all sound of their bickering was snuffed out.
I jumped up onto Annabelle’s bed and scooped her up in a hug. She fought me for a while screaming and yelling. Her horn started to glow with power and sparks sputtered off her horn and landed on my shoulders burning me. I stole a glance at the Night Guard. Her horn quickly lit up but she stood still. I could see doubt in her eyes.
I touched my horn to Annabelle’s. Again it burned my horn though this time the pain was much more. I could tell that she was pushing much more of her mana into this outburst. I channeled my own magic into my horn if just to buffer it from her magic and tried to center myself. I didn’t have much time and really only managed it half way. I pulled on her magic and again it flowed into me like a broken dam. The pain was nearly unbearable but it didn’t break my focus. I pushed her magic through an array. It was sloppy but most of it managed to be tamed by my matrix. Slowly I started to reach an equilibrium of her magic and mine. Her outburst though kept flowing on and on. I could only imagine how much this could hurt her if it continued.
“Cast the calming spell now,” I yelled. Having taken my concentration away from my spellwork her mana once more burned away in my body. I was reaching my limit.
A spell washed over the both of us. Instantly my own focus was shattered and the pain of her magic doubled for a moment. Thankfully after one big burst of mana her horn lost it’s glow. I collapsed onto the bed and Annabelle onto me. I could still feel her mana eating away at my insides. The pain fought off the calming spell the guard had cast on us. After a moment of trying to block out the pain I managed to run the rest of Annabelle’s magic through a matrix neutralizing it.
Annabelle moved first. After the spell she had been silent but as she slowly lifted herself off of me I could hear her tears and sniffles returning. I was almost stunned by the fact that she was still conscious after that outburst. After a moment or two more of trying to shut out the scream of my nerves throughout my body I lifted myself up into a sitting position.
“Alex, I’m so sorry. I can’t control it. And these bad memories or thoughts just keep springing up in my head. They don’t want to go away,” Annabelle stammered out. “Can you stay here please? I don’t want to be alone.”
“Of course,” I said slowly. The pain was starting to fade but it was quite slow. “I’ll be here for as long as you need.”
“Thank you,” Annabelle said. She half hugged half fell into me. I used my magic to move the two of us so that we could rest against the headrest and pillows.
We sat there for a while in the silence. The guard seemed to do her best to look like she wasn’t watching us while watching us. I didn’t pay her much attention. I was both exhausted and overly energetic all at the same time. Even with everything proving a distraction my mind kept coming back to what had just happened. That Annabelle was having waking nightmares.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. “I don’t know if I can help but I will try.”
“It just hurts,” Annabelle said. “Mom is gone and so is Melody. I wish I had told her that I knew. I wish I could have told her that I loved her. Their gone and now I am broken. -” Annabelle tears flowwed freely again. “-Did you know about Melody and me?”
I was pretty certain that I knew what she was referring to but I didn’t want to burden her with my own knowledge if I was wrong. I nuzzled her head with mine being careful not to touch our horns as at least mine was still aching. Images of Melody and of her father ran through my head. He didn’t deserve that title though. Not after what he had done.
“I think so but I think you should say it just in case,” I said. “I want to make sure we are on the same page with that one.”
“That Melody was my mom,” Annabelle said. “Not that Mommy wasn’t Mommy to me but it is confusing.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We are on the same page. How did you find out? Melody didn’t want to tell you till you were older.”
“I overheard her and Mommy talking. My dad wanted to see me and Mommy was trying to convince Melody to let him. I’m happy Melody won. I don’t want to know him. He hurt Mommy and Melody so much,” Annabelle said. “But I don’t want to be angry right now. I don’t want to be angry that I exist. Can we talk about something else?”
“Of course,” I said. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Tell me what it is like outside the castle?” Annabelle asked. “The star pony showed me some pictures but I want to know more.”
“So I live in a town called Ponyville,” I started. I went on to explain all the little things that I could remember to talk about. I told her of Twilight’s castle, of our home, of Canterlot, a bit about the Everfree, and what I knew from books. I went on for nearly an hour just talking about life in Ponyville and Equestria. Annabelle had fallen asleep somewhere along the line and by the end of my story I just followed suit.
Strange monsters attacked me as I desperately tried to protect Annabelle. The monsters took many forms. Some of them were pony like with fiery makes and tails with sharp perfect teeth. Others were large brutish humanoid creatures with odd proportions on their arms and legs and large glowing eyes. But beyond that a large bat like creature seemed to be controlling the hoard. For what seemed like hours I fought them off. Suddenly though their numbers dwindled and the leader bat creature had disappeared. Minutes latter an indigo blue appeared out of nowhere and all the monsters were blown away bit by bit.
“May your rest be undisturbed for the rest of this night,” said Luna.
I woke the next morning still in Annabelle’s bed. She had wrapped her foreleg around me and was holding on as well as she could. It felt early but I couldn’t tell there was a night light on but otherwise the room was dark. It hit me that there were no windows in this room which felt odd considering the room I had been in had one. We were alone as far as I could tell.
I reached out with my magic and snagged a book from the small shelf in the room. Lighting my horn um I started to quietly read while I waited for Annabelle to wake or someone to come wake her. The book was dry and boring but it was better than nothing. It went over the growth and care of apple trees. It turned out it was written by one of Applejacks ancestors. For a book about trees it wasn’t too bad and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the bible for the Apple family. I had half read half skimmed through half of the book before there was stirring to my right. Annabelle slowly came out of her sleep. Her eyes caught in my light and I could tell that more of her eyes were amber. It was weird that she was still shifting in form this long after the transformation spell or at least I thought so.
“Good morning,” I said. “Did you sleep well?”
“I had nightmares again but the star pony chased them away,” Annabelle said. “I wish they would stay away. Ever since Melody they haven't gone away.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I have been having nightmares too since then. Well honestly since before then. They just got worse afterwards. But at least here there is Princess Luna, that star pony you keep talking about, who tries to keep our nightmares at bay.”
“Yeah she seems really nice,” said Annabelle. “Not like the white big pony. She just is so mean. She doesn’t even smile and I could tell that she was judging me for some reason. I didn’t do anything wrong. Well since I got here.”
“She is normally very nice from what I hear,” I said. “Maybe she just was having an off day.”
“Maybe,” Annabelle said. “I have only seen her once. It has been a bit lonely here. I’m happy you’re here though. Can we go play today or something? I don’t know what I can do but I want to do something.”
“I’ll ask for you,” I said. “I’m sure we can find something fun to do. I’m hungry. Are you?”
“Food yes,” said Annabelle.
“Okay I’ll be back in a jiffy,” I said.
I hopped off the bed and headed out the door to see two night guard. Stoic as ever they seemed to ignore my presences. I was about to ask them whether I should go get the food from the cafeteria or have it ordered when I noticed a strange sight in the stone floor near us. It was warped and melted in a way that I had never seen on a rock. Had Princess Celestia and Luna’s fight been that heated. Something was about to snap and I couldn’t think of anything to do to stop it. Maybe Twilight would but for some reason I hadn’t seen her in days.
Turning back to the task at hand, I asked, “Um Annabelle and I are hungry. Can we order food to be delivered or should I go to the cafeteria and get some to bring back?”
“Delivery would be best,” said one of the guards. “What would you like and I’ll see to it?”
“Pancakes with extra syrup on the side. Figure should stick to something familiar with her,” I said. “Um thanks.”
I retreated back into Annabelle’s room. It was weird not reading in the morning with Bon Bon but I could make the exception for today. Annabelle was flailing her wing around along with the small stump where her second wing should have been. Still this was a pleasant enough morning.
“So I guess I should bring this up now,” I said. “So you’ve been calling me Alex but my name is now Lilac. Or at least it is my pony name and I have gotten used to it. I would appreciate if you called me that.”
“You have a pony name?” Annabelle asked excitedly. “Does that mean I get one too?”
“If you want one,” I said. “My name was picked by Twilight and Lyra. I’m sure we can come up with one for you.”
“Cool,” Annabelle said. “Hmm I wonder who will pick mine? Do you think it will be, uh, Princess Luna, that is the star pony right?”
“Yep and I am sure if she asks you she would be glad to give you a pony name,” I said. “One other thing. Our home world, Earth, we are keeping it a secret from most of the rest of Equis. So you can talk to me about it and Doctor Vibes but maybe make sure with me or him on who else. Oh and Princess Luna, Twilight, Lyra and Bon Bon all know too so I guess they are all good. Oh and Spike. I almost forgot about him.”
“Why are we keeping it a secret?” asked Annabelle. “Is there something wrong with being from Earth?”
“We decided that I, and now you, deserved to not be judged because of our origins and so we kept it a secret.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
Our conversation wandered from there until our breakfast showed up. The pancakes were delicious even if Annabelle seemed to be only picking at it. I asked her about and only to respond that it was the third day of pancakes and she was tired of them. I would have gone and gotten something else had not Princess Celestia walked into the room. There was no hiding that she was off. Instantly my eyes went to the amulet around her neck. It had an intense green glow to it. I placed myself between Princess Celestia and Annabelle.
“Good morning,” said Princess Celestia. There was something off about her voice. Like something had cracked in her. “I heard from the guard that you were here this morning, Lilac. I just wanted to apologize. I know that Twilight was working on your magical education but I had to have her go deal with a diplomatic problem in Manhattan. There was a griffon that her and Rainbow Dash know that was causing some problems. A perfect job for Twilight to go fix. But that leaves you without your teacher. As dearest sister has taken up the slack, I would be remiss to not do the same. Why don’t you just tell me what you and Luna were working on and the two of us can continue where you left off?”
“Um I made a promise to Luna to not tell you,” I said. “I don’t want to break her trust.”
“But I am the princess,” Celestia said. “Besides I’m sure my sister wouldn’t mind. Now just tell me.”
“I can’t,” I said.
“You can’t make Lilac break a promise. It isn’t right,” Annabelle said. Anger coated her face. For a moment I was just happy that she still had her fierce spirit but that was greatly overshadowed by the increasing heat in the room.
“It is an order. I am the ruler of the country. You have to listen to me,” said Princess Celestia. “Answer me or I will tear the answer from you.”
“I can’t. I made a promise to your equal,” I said calmly and quietly. I could feel the panic building in me. There was only so much that I could stand up to Princess Celestia. “Please take this up with her.”
“If you won’t tell me what she has been teaching you, I will rip it from your magic. Luna information is out of date, I doubt that she knows of this spell,” Princess Celestia said. “It is sad the effects it will have on you. But order must be preserved.”
Her horn lit up in an instant and I was surrounded by her aura. I could barely breath her grip was so strong. After a moment of floating in the air, a dark glow came over Princess Celestia’s eyes. It wafted off her eyes and her horn bubbling as it did. Then her magic hit me. It was not the most painful thing I had ever felt but it was close. I had to stop her or at least try. I was starting to not feel my hooves. I pushed my magic to my horn and focused on where I wanted to be. I had never tried to teleport two ponies or even how one did so but hopefully this would work. I reached out to Nympha with my magic and I pulled a tiny bit of her magic into my spell and then I fired it. My spell fizzled though as an outside force slammed into my magic. The backlash was intense. I had forgotten about the wards. My world was starting to fade to black as Celestia's magic ate away at me but I pushed what little mana I could muster to my head to buffer it from Celestia’s magic just a second more.
A bright glow overcame us. I couldn’t tell where it came from but I had the inkling that it was from Annabelle. I hoped that she wouldn’t be harmed by her outburst. There was something off about where we were. All my pain had washed away and I seemed to be floating in something pleasantly warm, like a bathtub without the wet of the water. A startled thought came over me. Was I dead? This wasn’t what I had imagined and Twilight had been very certain in her belief that the afterlife for ponies and others in Equis was the Golden Fields of Elysium. This didn’t seem like there and Twilight wasn’t one to be religious. Maybe it was purgatory or something.
Trying to focus on anything I tried to take inventory of my body. It all seemed to be there but my hooves were dark and twisted in ways that made me panic. Was that permanant now. My mind started to spiral out of control. My world started to fade when I felt a presence near me. It was warm and kind. I could tell almost instantly that it was Annabelle as she hugged me. I could feel some magic flowing from her to me and my hooves which I hadn’t realized I couldn’t feel to that moment started to tingle and slowly my world came back into view. We were no longer in the featureless white void. A cool breeze brushed over me sending waves of pain through my legs but that was slowly fading.
Looking down an amber aura surrounded my legs and they were visibly healing. Annabelle’s horn was lit up with the same amber aura. There were striking differences in her eyes now as they were nearly completely amber now and her hair now had long white streaks in it but more than that her hair was billowing with an unseen force like that of Princess Celestia’s or Luna’s. She was even a bit bigger than I was now. As I turned to look at where we were i noticed that a cutie mark rested on her flanks. It was a Brilliant silver shield with wings that were spread out of it. In the center of the shield there was a circle that had a from top to bottom a line through it and perpendicular to that line there were openings in the circle. It reminded me of something but I couldn’t remember what.
Finally looking around I noticed we were in the gardens. How we had ended up out here was beyond me but I wasn’t too surprised that her alicorn magic could do something that I couldn’t. Especially considering how much power she had. I tried to stand but my legs were too weak to hold me.
“Don’t move please,” Annabelle said. There was strain in her voice and her magic falter shortly thereafter. For a few moments she sat there trying to regain her breathe. “Sorry. I can’t do more. I don’t know what happened but I couldn’t let her hurt you like that”
Her horn lit up with her magic again though this time less strongly than the previous time and a few sparks shot off of it. It sputtered for a few seconds before the glow died. Annabelle just buried her head in my side and I could feel the telltale wetness of crying. I snuggled up against her as much as I could with what mobility I had at the moment. Ignoring the pain that wracked all of my body I pulled on my mana. If using too much of my magic can cause harm to me it stood to reason that the opposite would be true. I pulled on my magic gathering as much of it as possible which was intensely draining but I managed to keep my focus. I spread that mana through my form focusing on my legs. Itching was the biggest sensation from my legs after doing that but I kept cycling my magic through my body.
A familiar voices came into earshot. Lyra must be out playing with Nympha. Her voice was distant though and I struggled to my feet. We needed to get out of here until Luna or Twilight dealt with Princess Celestia. Annabelle looked at me with worry in her face.
“Don’t worry I am going go get help stay here I’ll be right back. Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m fine.”
I was lying but Annabelle didn’t need to know that. I slowly hobbled towards Lyra’s voice. It took me much longer than I was hoping it would to get into view of them. I didn’t know who else was there with them and I didn’t want to risk shouting out incase Princess Celestia was within ear shot. Thankfully Nympha and Lyra were alone.
“Lyra, Nympha,” I half shouted half screamed. I couldn’t ignore the pain in my legs anymore and I collapsed. “Help me.”
Lyra’s head jolted up when she heard my voice. Faster than I had thought she could run, she was scooping me up in her arms. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. Nympha was just a second behind. Nympha’s horn lit up and I could feel the comforting warmth of her magic flow into me. Any left over pain was washed away in her magic.
“What happened? What spell were you trying to work on that this happened?” asked Lyra.
“It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t do this. Please Annabelle is just over that way,” I said pointing in the direction that Annabelle was. “We need to get out of here. Princess Celestia has gone crazy.”
“What are you talking about? Princess Celestia is an angel,” Lyra said.
“Have you seen her in the last couple of days?” I asked. “She has been wearing this amulet that Chrysalis gave her and I think it has been controlling her or messing with her mind in some way. She attacked me today. I don’t think I would have survived it had not Annabelle’s spells.”
Lyra lifted me up onto her back and started to walk in the direction that I had pointed. It didn’t take long for us to come up to Annabelle. Nympha was constantly bathing me in her magic and love and it was definitely helping my mood.
“What mom do?” Nympha asked. “How fix?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Twilight will figure it out. She and the other elements of harmony will fix all of this.”
“See nothing to worry about,” Lyra said. “You outside of a god-like pony gone mad.”
“Somebody say mad god?” asked a deep voice from inside a tree. Discord slithered out of the tree and hung upside down.
“We weren’t talking about you,” I said. “Princess Celestia seems dead set on taking your title of the mad god.”
“So she finally snapped,” said Discord. “I was hoping that Moonbutt or bookworm would have figured out what was wrong before that. Oh well. I guess I get a great show now.”
“Discord,” I shouted. “This is bad. If Celestia goes and blows up the mountain, you won’t be able to snap your fingers and make it better.”
“No way that she’ll go that far,” Discord said. He was relaxing on Nympha’s back while being barely bigger than a garter snake.
“She tried to kill me,” I said. “All because I wouldn’t tell her what Luna is teaching me.”
Discord went silent at that. I hadn’t seen him so serious. It was even more so than our somber moment a few days ago. It was quite scary seeing even him shaken. He said, “Don’t worry I won’t let her go too far off the deep end. The ashy barrens that would follow is not fun. Not at all.”
“If you knew all this was going to happen or what is going to happen, why don’t you stop it?” asked Lyra. “I guess I get that chaos is your stick but this seems bad even for you.”
“If I focus I can see all of what could be, but I can’t tell for certain that anything will. There is a chance that she just takes that amulet off now and an equal chance that she burns the world to a crisp. I don’t know if it is a good thing that neither of those are too likely.”
We came up to Annabelle. She had moved a bit but not much since I had left her. I really needed to find something to help her get around as from appearances only having two legs was not useful for a pony. As if reading my mind Discord snapped his fingers and an animate wheelchair formed under Annabelle. Discord appeared behind it and started pushing her towards the Gardens exit. As he walked the plants and trees around us rose up from their places in the ground and they formed a perimeter around us as we headed towards the castle.
“Lyra,” I said. “The three of us will be fine with Discord. Please go get Bon Bon and get out of the castle. We will head that way in a bit. I just have to warn Luna.”
“I can’t leave you,” said Lyra.
“Don’t fret she will be fine with me,” said Discord. “Now go and rescue your pregnant wife.”
Lyra paused for a second before sprinting into the castle. A small thought ran through my head that we were over reacting but the sense of dread hanging over me drowned out that thought quickly. We made it to the entrance of the castle only to find the one pony I was hoping to avoid waiting for us. Princess Celestia stood there with wisps of darkness just barely noticeable coming from her eyes. The amulet was glowing brighter than before.
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Where can I find TheSexyBranMuffin?
8298392
They're my cousin. I don't think he has an account on here yet but I will make sure he does. then you can find him there.
8298392
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/304692/GayLilMuffinBoi
that is them. they finally made an account
8298737
Hello!
Yep... After that Chrysalis will have a terminate on her head after this.