36 - Awaken
“Hello, Emma,” Penumbra greeted, a smile on her face. “Hello… Little Wing.”
“WAH!?” Little Wing shouted as she flapped her wings, shot off of the floor where she’d been lying on her back, and firmly planted her four hooves beneath her. “What are YOU doing here!? Wait… where even is here!?”
The rolling plains of cloud that was Cloudsdale was nowhere to be found, instead everything around the Wonderbolt was a mass field of stars stretching for as far as the eye could see. The floor beneath her was like an invisible barrier preventing her from falling for eternity, the only other life in sight being the dark coated alicorn before her.
“Do you not recognise it?” Penumbra questioned. “I would think it hard to forget. Even as long ago as it was. It is not something a person would easily forget.”
“Recognise…?” Little Wing questioned, trying to calm her breathing and try to place the void. And once she really though about it, it was easy to do so. “This place… I was here when…”
And then she was no longer a pony. Standing on two bare legs she brought up a hand and examined it with a bewildered expression. She gave couple of fingers experimental wiggles, before running them through her dark brown hair that run down to the top of her shoulders.
“…I’m taller than I remember…” Emma muttered to herself.
“You have aged a great deal,” Penumbra pointed out. “You are not as I last left you.”
“You would know. You’ve been watching me.”
“It took a great deal to resurrect you, I was interested in your progress,” Penumbra explained. “I am pleased you did not disappoint.”
Emma groaned, feeling a headache coming on. “How did I get here? I was with the others… Ugh, I have a LOT of questions…”
“I imagine you do. The last time you were here, your young mind wasn’t the most prepared for full explanations.”
“Then try me now,” she crossly demanded, her form shifting a moment before the cyan pegasus known as Little Wing returned. “My last life… It’s like a dream, but I know it happened.”
“It most certainly happened,” Penumbra confirmed. “Neglected, alone. Left to die. I have lived for thousands of years, experimenting with a whole manner of abilities.”
Windows appeared around the duo, each one showing a large globe that Little Wing recognised as Equus… or Earth. Many had the same landmass shapes, others seemed to have gone through different continental shifts. The windows shifted again, each one showing an image from their respective planets. One showed an eerily familiar rainbow haired human hanging out in front of a school, and its neighbour showing a dreary wasteland with the shattered city of Manehatten far in the distance. Another showed a quiet night in Ponyville, her sister’s cloud mansion floating idly high above.
“Time. Space. I can see many places, but I cannot visit,” Penumbra continued. “Others have breached other realities and taken a peek, but it is something I personally never accomplished. But I do watch, and I listen.”
“And you found me,” Little Wing finished for her.
Penumbra nodded. “Yes. I saw a small child pass away, unnoticed and unloved. It was… a terrible thing. I have seen many, and I know not why on this occasion I decided to act… But I did.”
“But you just said you cannot interact with other worlds?”
“I did. And it remains so,” Penumbra responded. “This place around us… it is a world between worlds. Every star you see is another place and time, and it is here that I can see and hear them. But more importantly, for people like you, it is a road.”
“A… road?” Little Wing deadpanned. If that was true, it was the sparsest road she’d ever seen. “Alright, a road to where?”
“I don’t know,” the alicorn responded with a sigh. “If other realities are beyond my visitation, then that place is most assuredly so.”
As she was explaining herself, a small memory came to the forefront of Little Wing’s mind.
“I don’t know,” the pony answered honestly. “I cannot go that far, but I can grab departing souls such as yours before they get there. Though taking yours from another universe was a challenge.”
“Death,” Little Wing said. “And what comes after.”
Penumbra nodded. “Indeed. The shape of that existence is unknown to me, but all souls from all places pass through here to reach it. Seizing your soul as it travelled there was… difficult. But what was more difficult was giving you your life.”
If this was a place between life and death, then the connotations were starting to fill Little Wing with a sense of dread and alarm. But she had a push that aside for just a moment, that could come after she got the answers she’d sought for so long.
“I can’t say I know much about unicorn magic. But I know large spells can be… draining.”
“Indeed,” she confirmed. “I used a sample of my own DNA to build a body and shape it to a suitable form. But that was the easy part. Binding your soul to the foal? I cannot begin to describe how much energy it took, and how many years it took for me to fully recover. There is a reason that foul necromancers bring their victims ‘back to life’ sans the soul.”
“I’m sorry,” Little Wing apologised, feeling a little guilty for the pain she had- Wait. “DNA!? You created my body from your DNA!?”
Penumbra blinked. “Yes? What is the issue?”
“Well, I mean… Doesn’t that make you my…?”
“No,” she deadpanned. “Don’t even go there.”
She decided to take her up on that, her life was complicated enough as it was. “Well… Okay then! It was good seeing you again but… um, can I go now? I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but this is all… a lot to take in.”
Penumbra just silently stared at Little Wing for a few moments, before releasing a regretful sigh. “I will release you, Little Wing. I must. But you shall not return to your body.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Do you not recall?” Penumbra asked. “The griffon?”
“Griffon…?” Little Wing muttered questioningly, shutting her eyes as images of an arrow rushing through the air entered her mind.
“The Sovereign Empire group you’ve heard so much about. I imagine he was there for one of the princesses, but he couldn’t get close. So he decided a Wonderbolt and Element Bearer would suffice… Until you got in the way.”
“WING!” Rainbow Dash shouted in grief, reaching forwards and cradling her little sister as her usual bravado crumbled and was replaced with something more desperate and… begging.
Scootaloo and Misty also rushed to her side, sitting down beside her and whispering promises of help and medical attention.
“No…” Rainbow muttered, before her eyes fell onto the arrow. “We… We’ve got to get it out!”
“No!” Scootaloo shouted back. “It would only increase the bleeding! She needs a doctor!”
“Please please please…” Misty was beginning as her hysterical cries echoed around their now silent surroundings. “You’re going to be alright! You’re going to be alright…”
But she hadn’t been alright. She’d slipped away as she had done many years prior, everything proceeding as it had before… Right down to a dark alicorn taking her soul before it reached its final destination.
"You are dead Little Wing," Penumbra informed her regretfully. “The arrow made its mark.”
"...Oh bwah."
Despite the severity of the situation, Penumbra couldn’t help but snort. "I don't get the appeal of that random babble."
"It stuck, give me a break! I'm dead so I get to say what I want!"
"No you-"
"BWAH!"
Now Penumbra was getting annoyed. “Little Wing! You. Are. DEAD! I’m sorry it came to this, but you know better than anyone how cruel life can be.”
“Yes, I do know!” Little Wing shouted back, tears beginning to stream down her face. “But… Rainbow. Scootaloo… Misty. Forget about me, what about them? My friends, my family… I can’t just leave them now!”
“The act is done. As we speak, back in your final place in time, Rainbow Dash clings onto your corpse as Princess Twilight Sparkle attempts to resuscitate you. She will fail. I’m sorry it has come to this, and I know how much this will hurt them. But there is nothing more to be done.”
But that wasn’t true, was it? Little Wing couldn’t stand the thought of what this would do to the ponies she loved, the curse of having a family that cared the second go around. But as she looked into the eyes of Penumbra with an almost maddened expression, she knew there was another way.
“Put me back,” Little Wing requested. “You can put me back.”
Penumbra gave her a dark frown. “You’d still be mortally wounded.”
“Princess Twilight is there. If I’m breathing, she can keep me that way.”
“That’s not for certain.”
“You can try!”
“Do you think I go around handing out lives like treats to foals on Nightmare Night!?” Penumbra suddenly bellowed, wings flaring wide and her eyes glowing a bright white. “Did I not state the energy it takes!? I already gave you one extra life, Emma. Is that not enough!?”
“Then why bring me back at all!?”
“I felt sorry for you, you whelp!” the alicorn angrily admitted. “What I did the result of a bleeding heart, a momentary decision without much considering. In truth, I shouldn’t have. It interfered with the natural cycle of life and death in the multiverse. Not only does it take so much energy away from me, but who knows what unseen damage it may be causing to reality itself?”
Little Wing slumped, grief ravaging her mind as she tried to think of some way to convince the alicorn. The problem was that she wasn’t wrong, Penumbra had interfered with something that was… questionable to interfere with.
But Little Wing couldn’t stop thinking about the others. And in truth, she wanted to live.
“Please,” Little Wing begged. “Once more, that is all I ask. If I die again, no matter the way, don’t even take my soul aside like you've done now. Just let me go.”
Penumbra growled, screwing her eyes shut in conflict. But she did finally open them again, never losing her frown. A few more moments passed as she looked down at Little Wing judgementally, before seemingly coming to a decision.
“I once said that should we meet again in these circumstances, there would be a penance,” Penumbra growled. “If I put you back a second time, it will be as a blank slate. No memories of Emma or Little Wing shall go with you. They will be locked away, and you will start anew.”
“What…?”
“That will be your penance. If I have to perform such a dangerous and even damaging spell for your sake, then you will give something in turn.”
“But… I…” Leaving her memories behind, all those times she’d shared… Could she do that? Would it even be worth living if she couldn’t be… Little Wing anymore? “Erase my human memories. But… maybe have my pony memories return? Even fragments… Anything! Even if it takes years, please?”
“…Perhaps. But my terms have been laid out, your answer?”
Little Wing shut her eyes in though, so many factors running through her head. What would happen between her and the others if she couldn’t remember? Should she consider it at all? The spell was said to be dangerous and damaging…
Why couldn’t there be a simple right answer?
“Do it,” Little Wing decided. “I will bear it. Just… let me see them again. Don’t let them bear the pain of my death.”
Penumbra nodded, her horn beginning to light up with her magic aura.
“Then waken, my little pony. And live with the consequences.”
Everything blurred away. The stars, the void, and Penumbra all vanishing in an instant. And they weren’t the only thing, as Little Wing began to lose… more.
Where had she gone to kindergarten again?
She had a sister… what was her name?
Why couldn’t she remember… what was she trying to remember again?
A spark erupted from Princess Twilight’s horn, coursing through the still body of Little Wing as her family members all gathered around. Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles had since run to the scene, word of the attack haven spread like wildfire around the event. For minutes on end the Princess had worked tirelessly to revive the young pegasus, going on far after any doctor would have called it in. Maybe it was the fact that one of her best friends was a mess as she looked on with the tiniest glimmer of hope that Twilight would succeed… Hope that was fading fast.
Another jolt, and still nothing. Not even the tiniest sign of life, even with the arrow removed and Twilight magic keeping the wound contained.
Little Wing was dead, and there was nothing more Twilight Sparkle could do for her.
Twilight sighed, fighting away her own tears as she looked over to Rainbow Dash and all the other ponies who’d held Little Wing close to their hearts. Rainbow, Scootaloo, Misty, Bow and Windy all looked at the Princess with that fading hope…. Hope that the Princess now had to shatter entirely.
“I’m sorry, my little ponies,” Twilight whispered regretfully. “She’s g-”
Little Wing gave in a sharp gasp of breath as her eyes shot open. A few of the onlookers gave shouts of surprise, Princess Twilight only looking at the pegasus in utter confusion.
“But… how…?”
“Little Wing!” the revived pegasus’ family all shouted, though stopped short of their attempts to embrace her out of fear of hurting her further.
Except for Rainbow Dash, still holding her sister tightly in her hooves. “Wing, you’re okay! I told you, right? Twilight had this this, you’re going to be fine!”
Little Wing’s dazed eyes glanced over all the ponies present, almost as if she was seeing them for the first time…
“I don’t understand, she wasn’t responding…” Twilight muttered to herself, before shaking her confusion away. “Forget that, I’ll teleport us straight to the hospital. She still needs major medical attention if she’s going to remain alive.”
“Yeah, right. Do it,” Rainbow Dash agreed.
“We can come along, right Princess?” Misty asked beggingly. “Please?”
“I said I’ll teleport us,” Twilight confirmed, before looking down at Little Wing. “Little Wing, did you understand that? Are you ready for the teleport?”
Little Wing’s eyes met Twilight’s own, and what she weakly said in response almost floored them all.
“Who are you ponies?”
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8815028
Right now.
That last line.
bwah...
Great chapter, to lazy to look for any mistakes, love it.
pa1.narvii.com/6705/86008e87ab697a00cae6e980e1408b082f096cc7_hq.gif
oh that's gonna be ruff on her wife
Eh...
I like the idea of Little Wing losing her memories. That's definitely interesting. I'm not sure I'm okay with her losing her memories as Emma as well.
This whole story has struggled with the HiE aspect, and by fully severing ties with Emma it makes it clear (well, more clear than it already was) that it's a plot point that probably should never have existed at all.
I wanted a BWAH and was sorely disappointed... But then you made up for it in full later.
My only real problem is that I don't really understand Penumbra's modus operandi. You want to make someone "pays penance" for dying a second time and begging to go back... So you make them forget everything, destroying the point of punishment in the first place, while also expending large amounts of energy to give them essentially what they begged for? Maybe I just misunderstood something, or maybe we just don't have all of the pieces, but it seems like Penumbra laid out a certain logic and then immediately threw it out a window.
Well, that happened.
Well then.... I’m almost sad this isn’t the last chapter as it could have been an excilent place to end it with an epilogue.
However I do look forward to seeing what comes next.
8815087
You say that now...
Mwhaha
No ties have been severed. Trust me.
Why did she get her memory wipe she can't remember her family of her wife can twilight can get her memory back
8815090
Not knowing IS the punishment. Not knowing sucks, and ruins a lot of established relationships.
But it's no less a pointless gesture that got Penumbra nothing. That is not a moot point.
peek
I swear I always let a small giggle (in this case, a girlish one) every time she lets out a BWAH. I'm such a sucker whenever something like this happens! Makes my cheeks go red all the time <3
Look forward to see what happens next!
It'll be interesting to see how Little Wing will rebuild the relationships that she had previously forged in the story.
And this, my friends, is why you write journals and diaries.
I’ll chalk it up to brain damage after death. Also Penumbra fight me.
The first and only memory to come back will definitely be BWAH
Very interesting twist.
Wonder what you are planning long term with this?
Nice work, keep it up.
that's got to be one of the most interesting typos I've found on this site.
let's see if Twilight doesn't cheat with a memory spell.
Ohhhhhhhhhh dang it!!!
Break my manly heart, why don't ya!
Oh wow that's harsh, half of living life is making and having memories, so this is interesting. Another cliff hanger too. Wow, just wow, nice work Tom.
Fuck
Damn, that’s a tough call to make. Great chappy!
well dang i have saw twists in story's before but this is a cork screw.
i can say i have flan for this story it is just that good.
now i am wondering just ware the new story ark is going.
I am so going to read some of this... later...
I can't believe you've done this.
This had better have a good reason... otherwise, Penumbra just went from being a suspicious savior to crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
*sings the Moral Event Horizon Song*
I just... I knew it was going to happen, you've slipped in a GREAT deal of foreshadowing, but...
It still hurts, seeing that it happened.
It hurts to know that this might be the end. But it isn't, is it?
The first thing I thought was that she was going to come out of some sort of comatose state with major amnesia.
Edit: I mean I guess I was kind of close, or something.
The "bwah!" thing she does is funny.
Personally I’ve always been of the opinion that if your memories die you die. What good is a body that looks like someone you used to know and care about.
9643488
That's rather cold. Little Wing is still alive, she's still their family even is she doesn't remember. You'd expect them to leave the amnesiac mare to fend for herself, scared and alone?
"What good is a body that looks like someone you used to know and care about."? The fact that the mare still is conscious, has feelings and emotions and is in a very rough spot and needs those who care for her more than ever. Her memories have been locked away, she's not brain dead.
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