Stolen Soul on the Passage of Home

by Kaffeina

I - Chapter Six

I
Chapter Six
Golden Oaks

A blast emanated from the spear itself and drove the beast to the ground, letting her force her weapon through its helmet. Immediately, the being began to drip in darkness and fade out of sight. Huffing from the effort, she nodded at Magnus as he lifted another vial she was briefly covered in green light a third time.

“I knew I forgot something important,” Aranea said as she moved towards Magnus. She waved him towards her and opened her bag, letting his drop the items inside. She immediately began walking briskly, “And it’s even more imperative I talk to Twilight now.”

“Why?” Magnus asked as she began moving at a brisker pace, the silence still permeating the square. A soft crunch of the dirt and gravel underfoot was the answer as they got closer to the edge of the square. Aranea remained silent, though she seemed to be pondering something until she halted.

“What do you know of video games?” Aranea asked, making eye contact with the swirling shadows of the man’s eyes. “I assume you at least know something, right?” A nod was the silent response as she turned away and bit her lip. She resumed walking and Magnus followed. “Back home, well my home, there was a game called Final Fantasy XV, and like it says, it’s the fifteenth of franchise, although there were other minor games. Anyways, in XV, there were a variety of creatures you had to fight, but there was a kind that only came out at night."

"Like the entity you just defeated. Which was?" Magnus offered, attempting to follow her ramblings. She nodded, looking up towards the sky. For a moment or two, she did not speak and allowed the soft crunch of dirt to replace their conversation.

"A demon," Aranea finally said, "they were a disease, both literally and figuratively, that struck the kingdom in the game. It turned man, into monster." Aranea uttered these words quietly.

Magnus gazed at her for a moment, "And you believe it's here as well, that's why you want to speak with Twilight." Aranea nodded, and they finally reached the tree in question, though it was lit up much like the rest of town, there were no signs of movement indoors.

"While I am not friends with her," Aranea said, rapping on the door with her hand, "I do know she is an avid scholar and the protégé of Celestia."

"Indeed," Magnus muttered, “And thank you for the explanation on demons.” That much knowledge, on Twilight, he had learned from his own world, before coming here. Aranea knocked again and a small purple baby dragon, Spike, opened the door blearily. The dragon glared up at Aranea for a moment.

“TWILIGHT! THAT DRAGOON IS HERE FOR YOU!” he turned around, blanket dragged behind him and a stuffed animal in his hands. The baby dragon began moving up the steps and the lavender unicorn, known as Twilight Sparkle, emerged from the kitchen doorway.

“We’ve got a problem, purple.”

---

The loud crunch and thud of an old door masked the footsteps for a moment, before the dull thump of heavy feet echoed in the room as wind whistled outside. Another thud came as the person tossed a heavy coat onto a chair, which it slid off. A scoff and the person walked straight into the kitchen, dusty with grime.

“It’s now been two years, three months, one day, and fourteen hours since the events which lost-” A hiss of static interrupted the speaker and the smack of hand on the radio caused to shift back. “New York City, Toronto, San Francisco,” the speaker listed off several major cities, “are all still in ruins, due to lack of-” another hiss of static, though momentary.

“Every day, the same shit,” a masculine voice hissed, shutting off the radio as it began to ramble on. “Those bastards still can’t tell me where my daughter is, or the bastard that moved in with her.” The door to the fridge opened, nearly flung as the man began downing a bottle of alcohol.

“Fuckin’ bastards, acting like everything's okay when,” the man burped, “it's the fucking Apocalypse! The Rapture! Some other hocus pocus that makes half the fuckin world disappear in just a few days.”

Another set of footsteps came from the entry, rapping hard on the door as they approached. “Come on out, old man! We know what you have in there!” A chuckle came from two different voices in the same area.

With growling sigh, the man stood up, and approached the door. Grabbing the shotgun leaned against the wall, he opened the door slightly and glared at the men. “Just open the door, dude.”

“Fine,” he lifted up the shotgun and stepped back. “Come on in.”

---

The indignant unicorn stared at her for few moments, “You do realize what time of night it is, don’t you?” Strangely enough, at least to Magnus and Aranea, the unicorn was in fact wearing polka-dot pajamas. Even adding to the amusement and moderately adorable sight was the fact she was holding a stuffed animal.

“Of course,” Aranea rolled her eyes before pushing her way inside. The lavender unicorn sighed and moved out the way as Magnus followed the armor-clad warrior into the library. Thankfully the door was just barely tall enough and he gazed around at the plethora of books, the shelves they rested on rose to the ceiling and left the library feeling positively drowned in possible knowledge.

“This is quite the collection,” Magnus commented, “Quite a bit more in this library than I expected.” The lavender unicorn smiled in response.

“Thank you! I brought many of these with me when I moved in. Who are you, by the way?” The lavender unicorn asked, continuing to smile at Magnus.

He smiled back, “Magnus, at your service, Miss Sparkle.” Twilight nodded and raised out a hoof for him to shake as Aranea coughed to get her attention. Quickly shaking it, Magnus let Aranea speak and turned towards the walls of books.

“I need the books you have on demons,” Aranea said, “and we also need to talk.”

“Demons? You mean the Daemos, right?” the unicorn’s horn had started glowing and a group of books floated down from the shelves, stacking into a neat pile on the closest table. Twilight opened the top one in her magic, “We’ve certainly researched them a lot, and know how to keep them away. However, the first books only talk about bipedal ones, whereas in the past few decades we’ve started seeing them as quadrupeds too. And these ones act very different too...”

“Shit,” Aranea cursed, “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” the magical prodigy frowned and raised an eyebrow, staring at the woman she believed to quite possibly be crazy.

“Daemos, or demons, were a disease in another world. Not mine, but one my world… invented, for lack of a better term. Ponies play games, right?” Aranea sat down and Magnus drifted to a shelf, picking out the titles.

“Like Tag, or Hide-And-Seek?” Twilight asked.

“More complex, but that is base concept. Think of a moving picture that you can control with a little device or magic,” Aranea said. “We had games like that back home, and the demons were from one such game.”

“Why would an element from a fictional game world end up here? That’s just odd,” Twilight responded, waving a hoof. “It’s like saying Daring Do is a real person.”

“Technically, I am an element from a game, albeit a different kind,” Twilight just looked confused at this statement and Aranea sighed. “My appearance and abilities were not mine when I was born, I got them when I came here. I believe the demons were sent or brought here by whomever sent me here, for some insane reason. Though, I have to say that what I know most likely only works as a base skeleton for whatever is happening.”

“...You’re insane! The very idea of travelling between universes is impossible, even by magic!” Twilight blurted, loudly, “Sure, Starswirl hypothesized it, but it’s not possible for us!”

“How do you think he got here?” Aranea pointed at Magnus, “Yes, it’s not possible for ponies, but I myself saw Discord toss things through portals to other worlds numerous times throughout the time he had me trapped!”

“You think Discord did this?” Twilight asked, “That’s ridiculous.”

“Yes, but that’s because Discord never plans anything this far! I can pretty much guarantee it wasn’t him,” Aranea said, “And I honestly have no idea who it was.”

“You’re saying that someone as powerful as Discord, more powerful than the princesses, decided to add these monstrosities to our world? Thousands of ponies have died to these things and more die every day! Princess Celestia had to increase the guard around every city and enact a 24/7 lights on policy in every town across Equestria, because someone decided to do this on a whim?”

“I honestly don’t know, whether it was a whim or not. What I do know, is that demons are a disease, and as far as I remember, a contagious one,” Aranea said, slumping back in the chair. “I don’t know who would have an immunity, and who wouldn’t.”

“It’s a disease!?” Twilight yelled, “That explains so much, but why would ones that look like ponies start appearing now, and not earlier? That doesn’t make any sense!”

Magnus spoke up from the book he had opened, “Maybe it evolved to start affecting ponies recently?”

“...Sweet Celestia,” Twilight’s eyes widened to rival a pair of dinner plates as she realized the very implications of such a hypothesis. “I need to send a letter to Celestia now. We need to start working on a vaccine or a cure.”

“The only cure I can remember from the game was the divine beings, or whatever they were exactly. People who could absorb the disease into their own bodies and cure those who had started becoming afflicted,” Aranea had her face in her hands as she spoke.

“Then we find them and have them start absorbing the affliction!” Twilight said, stomping her hoof. “Whoever they are HAVE to care about Equestria.”

“I think we already know who they are,” Aranea said, looking up at Twilight, “and one of them already felt the effects of absorbing the disease.”

“The princesses?” Twilight gaped, “Wait… No! Why would they not control it!? It’s a danger to ponies!”

“I think because Celestia saw what happened to Luna, when she became Nightmare Moon,” Aranea answered, standing up. She moved towards Magnus, “Come on, you and I are going to Canterlot. Twilight, when you send that message let the Princesses know I, and a guest, am on my way to see them.”

The lavender unicorn shook her head, “You do that and I’ll start researching a possible cure.” The mare suddenly yelled out for Spike and the little dragon came walking down the stairs lazily. Twilight already had a bit of parchment in her magic and was writing out a letter as fast as she could.

Aranea nodded and Magnus set the book down, joining her as she opened the door and went outside. “You think someone did this? Sent you here, or possibly me as well?”

“It’d make sense,” Aranea answered as she pulled her spear out and passed Magnus the satchel on her waist, which she had quickly unfastened. “We’re walking there, since the train doesn’t run at night and Canterlot is visible in the distance, so it’s probably relatively close.”

Magnus nodded and fastened it on her waist, “If I had a weapon, I would help.”

“I think Elemancy might be your best bet,” she answered, stopping and pointing at the satchel. “Its best I explain it now and you have it at the ready, since we’ll probably get in a fight or two on the way there.”

“Quite right,” he said and opened the satchel.

“Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder are the basic elements for magic and the base spells. The more potent the spell value, which you’ll see on the magic flask, the stronger the spell. Adding another item can change its effect. I have them listed in a journal,” she nodded as he pulled the journal out. “Make the spells as we go. If need be, I can explain more but we need to move quickly, as the longer the demons are about and people are afflicted, the more danger they’re in.”

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

This is getting interesting....