Ghosts of A Different Kind

by SpaceName

Your Fallen Shall Be Brought Peace

Year 7, R_eturn Of L_una
16th of D_iscordia
Early Morning

Sweetie Belle trotted down the dimly lit hallway at a brisk pace, her hooves clicking against the tile floor. The doctors and nurses assigned to look her over had given her a clean bill of health, aside from being tired and sore. They'd recommended that she and her sister find somewhere to stay and have her rest for a while, along with giving a list of stretches she could do for her legs if it hurt to walk.

It hadn't, really, but the gesture was appreciated. Celestia had invited them to stay at the castle for as long as they needed, which both unicorns appreciated. Their family had money, but paying for a chariot to get here had been expensive enough. Never mind the cost of one night in a hotel at Canterlot, what with her sister's standards of cleanliness and all.

Rarity doted on her. The mare fussed over her health, had answered her questions about Thanatos when she'd asked what happened to get that spirit to stop possessing her, and didn't complain once about her own experience with this, well, this entire situation.

All Sweetie Belle had wanted to do was help a weak, lost young mare who couldn't speak Equish.

She hadn't known that said help would involve possession. The mare hadn't looked like the shadow-like spirit that Rarity had described her as.

Sweetie had tried to reach out and take back control at first. When that hadn't worked, she'd thought to gain something from it. If the malevolent shadow was going to control her body like a puppet then she might as well get something in return, right?

Well the first thing that the filly had come up with was to find out what the mare was saying. Not being able to know what the spirit was making her do left her mind to wander and for it to wander a little too far into foreign territory, so to speak. A whole language was promptly dumped into her mind due to never having done anything like this before and pulling at too many "strings", or staring into the darkness of that mare's mind for so long that it started to stare back at her. Either analogy would work.

It was an experience that Sweetie Belle never wanted to repeat. She'd learned her lesson. Know what you're getting into before you help someone out and don't go wandering off alone where there wasn't another pony -preferably one that she knew- around.

At least she'd be able to understand any other spirits if they showed up, now. And that one. And maybe Thanatos. She wasn't too optimistic that he'd speak to her even though her goal this morning was, at Twilight's request, to ask him about his written language.

Apparently that would help with whatever research the purple alicorn was doing right now.

Somehow, the one who'd saved her had been put up in Luna's personal tower, of all places. She didn't get the reasons behind why but Celestia had this knowing grin all the while Luna just grumbled -but hadn't protested- and refused to say anything. Twilight was by now holed up in the royal library, Rarity was likely still sleeping or checking out her store here, and Thanatos?

Well, the filly had just arrived at the room he'd been given. There was a single thestral guard standing outside his door. One that was visible, anyway. Her sister said once that while pegasi had command over the weather, thestrals had this trick that made them invisible to all but skilled magi and magic detectors. Where pegasi had the best ranged eyesight -and generally the poorest at seeing anything within a hoof of their faces- thestrals had amazing low light vision which gave them their cat-like eyes.

Unicorns, Earth, and Crystal ponies didn't miss out in the perks department either. Unicorns were the only tribe to be able to see the color of another unicorn's magic. Or alicorn. Earth ponies had a connection to nature on top of being the strongest and more durable of the tribes. A connection that could come in really any form. For some, it was similar to Pinkie Pie and her Pinkie Sense. For others, it was having a green hoof that bordered on chlorokinesis. For others, it was Geomancy and being able to bend the earth and soil to their will or sense vibrations through it. And that was just the more common ones that could develop. Next to unicorns, the Earth tribe was the second most diverse in how their magic developed.

Apple Bloom's magic took more to geomancy than it did to the command over plant life that most of her family had. To say that her family had been proud of her would be an understatement. To say that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had been in awe of the multitude of small rocks that would sometimes dance around her like planets around a sun -or moons around a planet- or the way that next to no one could sneak up on her anymore was like saying that Scootaloo had a passive interest in flying under her own power^[1].

Crystal ponies were interesting though. Some merely thought that they were just an off-shoot of the Earth tribe and while that may be true in a sense, it was more accurate to liken the difference to that of the one between thestrals and pegasi. Crystal ponies were inherently darker than their Earth counterparts. While the Earth tribe had more energy and saw better in daylight, the opposite was true for the Crystal ponies and the darkness of nighttime. They were more adapted to the cold and could sense magic "flavors" in a similar way to a unicorn seeing magic colors. They were the most amazing inventors, metallurgists, not to mention crystal-based magi that the world had ever seen.

"You are Sweetie Belle?" The guard asked after a tense few heartbeats. The filly bobbed her head once in confirmation, glad that she wouldn't have to come up with some explanation for her being there, "You may enter."

The stormy grey coated pony stepped to the side as the door opened without any indication of somepony being there to open it. No magic, no sound other than a slight creak from the door, nothing.

Stupid thestrals and their amazing stealth skills. Were they trying to creep her out?

Stepping into the room as quietly as she dared, her tail flicking about with nervous energy, the unicorn filly scanned the room for any sign that she would be better off leaving the alicorn alone. She didn't want to disturb him if he turned out to be busy, or sleeping. For all she knew he could be nocturnal like Princess Luna.

But nope, there he was sitting on the ground by the foot of the bed, hunched over a book and glaring at it as if he wanted to set it on fire. Sweetie Belle shivered, only partially due to the chill. The fireplace at the wall opposite the bed was burning low, mere embers and ashes that the alicorn seemed to only have going for the light source it provided.

"Um. Thanatos?" Now or never, she supposed, if she was going to ever find out if they could communicate with this sudden second language in her head, "Are you busy? I could go if you want."

When no response came, the filly shuffled further inside, flinching as the door gave an abrupt thud as it closed behind her. Sweetie moved carefully more toward the fireplace, and more toward the only source of heat in the room, before calling out to him again.

This time the crow black colt's head snapped up to meet her eyes as his entire body language changed in an instant. Shock was the main thing she could see. There were other emotions that flashed across his face before he settled on a calm, almost neutral expression.

"You...did Spectra give you the language?" So that was that spirit's name. Good to know.

"Um, sort of. I just thought to get something out of, you know, dancing to her tune." Thanatos shuddered, nodding his head as if he understood exactly what she was talking about.

"So, um. What are you reading?" The filly asked, tentatively moving a few paces closer to him to get a better look, still keenly aware of the fire and how it was steadily getting warmer. The colt let out a deep frustrated sigh before responding, flipping the pages absentmindedly with telekinesis.

"One of the royalty left this book here. A picture book for foals. You would think that maybe, just maybe, I'd be," A snort, "this is going to be my sixth language^[2]. I should have a better idea of how to go about learning this."

Sixth?

"Which one are we speaking now, then?"

"Fifth." He grumbled, focused now on a pen grasped within his magic and writing down five other words underneath the ones printed on the page in small script. A few looked kind of similar to Equish's letters, while one, the fifth one, had this flow to it that looked really pretty. Like calligraphy.

"There are some things I can't translate though. Like, what is this thing here?" He pointed to a cube with a maze carved into it all the way down to the center in multiple layers. Sweetie Belle knew was it was, though found herself unable to give it a name that Thanatos would understand. Spectra' knowledge didn't extend that far.

The unicorn filly went for describing what it did instead, "It's a toy for young unicorns to practice their magic, specifically their telekinesis. You'd have to take a tiny round wooden ball and move it through the cube from the center to the exit and back again. I think there are ones with more complicated mazes to, and not just the one in this book." After a moment she added, "The princess that gave you that book was purple, right?" A nod, "That was Princess Twilight."

"So...it's like a," Here there was a word he spoke in a different language that the filly didn't understand, "cube then, but for magic and more geared toward fillies and colts instead of having a general audience." The alicorn's wings adjusted themselves at his sides, some of the feathers looking crooked and out of place. That couldn't be comfortable.

"What are the other names of the royals?" Oh, right.

"Well, there's princess Cadence who lives in the Crystal Empire up north along with her daughter, Flurry Heart; Princess Luna, the one who's tower you're staying in right now; and Princess Celestia." Her hooves were getting sore from standing, so she sat down with a little huff, wondering if she should ask about his wings, or his first language, or about his written language like Twilight had asked her to. Maybe she could just take the book to her when he was done with it? Come back with a new one for him, if he wanted one?

What was he going to do once she had to return back to Ponyville? It may be spring break right now so she had a couple weeks to be his translator, if the alicorn wanted her around, but after that?

He would be alone again if they hadn't found some way to communicate better by then.

Well, aside from that Spectra spirit but last she heard, the shadow was being held in the dungeon under heavy magic that they found she couldn't -thankfully- get out of. Would she only be there for a while? Would she try to possess someone else, if she was eventually let out? Somehow she doubted Luna would be so lenient and even Celestia from what she knew hadn't said anything against her being locked up.

"Are you okay miss-?"

"Sweetie Belle." She answered automatically, blinking as she returned to the present. She'd missed his reaction to what she'd said before but right now Thanatos' icy blue gaze was leveled with her own, concerned as his wings twitched restlessly to match his mood.

"Are you okay, Sweetie Belle?" He asked again while in the process of closing the book before she shook her head, grabbing part if it with her magic -disrupting his own, Sweet Celestia, it felt itchy and soothing at the same time, it was weird- to keep it open.

"I'm fine," An eyebrow raised, "No. Really. I'm okay. Just got lost in thought is all. Do you mind if I take this to Twi- Princess Twilight when you're done? She's working on a written translation I think."

Thanatos grinned, showing two sharp fangs and just a few too many teeth, "Of course you can. Would you like to help with the rest of the book? I'm only about half way through and that telekinetic cube, yes I'm calling it that unless I come up with a better name, wasn't the only thing I've stumbled over. Like this one thing here."

He flipped a few pages backwards and pointed to a pegasus toy this time.

This was going to be a fun.

Really though, "Um. If you don't mind my pointing this out, your wings have some feathers out of place." Did he even know how to preen them? Surely he was just caught up in translating this and was too busy to notice. Surely he knew.

"Hm?" He shifted his left wing a bit before extending it out all the way, looking at it with a frown, "Yup. Seems that way. How do I get them straight? I'd say magic but I can't exactly see everything clearly enough to get an idea of what's crooked, what's loose enough to pull out, and what's fine and just looks like it's at a funny angle."

Sweetie Belle nearly face hoofed. Maybe she should just suggest going to one of the princesses? Yep, best course of action right there. Best idea she had all week. Was Twilight an option? Maybe it was best to leave her out of it. She was busy enough right now as it was -and her researching and reading habits were known throughout Ponyville as being insane- and barely kept up with her own wing care as it was.

So that left Princess Celestia or Luna.

And guess who would be the nearest one available seeing as he was in a guest room in her tower?

Yeah. She could only see this ending well.

Author's Note:

This and the next couple chapters will hopefully be a bit more relaxed/slower paced. Not sure if the Slice of Life tag would apply yet or not or never. Aaand I have a scene in mind for later that digs a bit more into why exactly mind magic is restricted or banned In Eaquestria like it is.

I'd like to read your ideas/theories. I may just add it and have the reason turn into reasons. After all something this big should have an equally big cause, right?

[1] - Think Earthbending from The Last Airbender

[2] - In order? English, Spanish (because school and at least in this timeline he just decided not to stop after the required class(es) were met), Esperanto, Latin (second official ghost language), and Thaluthashe/Ghost.

Comments

[BlackoutSampler]

And who wants to bet that Celestia and Luna know Latin? It would seem like a thing that they'd have learned long ago.

That said, I was sorta hoping Esperanto would be an Equestrian thing as well, furthering cementing it as the most useful elective he's ever taken.

[Evilhumour]

Hehe, Danny going to get some awkward lessons soon!

[Crescent Glaive]

The kek will soon be doubled

[Jarimor]

I am seriously waiting on this guy to show up an cause shenanigans.
dreager1.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/tumblr_lr9uqw2vdx1qc65mmo1_400.jpg

[Angel767]

If only Unicorns can see the color of the magic beeing used. (like the magenta of Twilight or the blue from Rarity) Then do the other trives see nothing?

[SpaceName]

8400294
They might "feel" it or see transparent waves (think heat rising off asphalt) if they're more sensitive to magic, but yeah, they wouldn't see anything. Crystals in particular can "taste" it. Different flavors for different colors.

[SpaceName]

8400107
Hahahahaha.
Not telling.

8400120
I think it would be more awkward for Luna, actually. But yes.

8400165
The what?

8400209

[BeardedRedMane]

Too many reasons to guess why mind magic would be banned but if we are going to exclude the fact that it seems to be the type of magic more often than not used maliciously I'd guess it's just too dangerous. Lets say that they don't have to worry about silly things like the difference between a Pony brain and a Minotaurs brain that still leaves the fact that it seems to be a two lane street. And if Sweetie Belle with no training could have accidentally a whole language (lol) then what else could go wrong? Can memories be absorbed too? Would you be able to distinguish them from your own or would you live a confused life with two sets of memories melded into one brain? What of a mind like Celestias? Im sure that a normal pony wouldn't be able to handle a fraction of her memories before just exploding or something.

Eitherway it seems to have the possibility of completely changing your personality without you even knowing it. I've seen it done nicely in a few fics

-edit

If Unicorns can see the color of an individuals magic then I take it Chngelings are able to mask theirs? As in the show Chrysalis retains her green aura. I think I've only come across one fic where they touched upon it and said that energy can be seen but there is no color for it. I wanna say it was a H.I.E. where the human could see the color of it. It was interesting to say the least.

[Evilhumour]

8400346

Just lean forward and think of Equestria!

[SpaceName]

8400357
*Slightly evil cackling*
Also, I think I've read that fic to. Was it where he got turned into a pony later on? If not, then I do not know.

[Crescent Glaive]

8400346
Kek = lol

Here's why => https://www.google.fi/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=kek&amp=true

[Scare-Crow]

8400388
On the subject of colored magic, Diaries of a Madman touches upon it in the way that only the protagonist can see colored magic, and that he could tell changeling impersonators by the green of their magic. Thats probably the fic you were thinking of, if I'm putting 2 and 2 together correctly :D

Its at the very end of Chapter 32 to be more specific

[SpaceName]

8401347
Hm, I don't remember reading that far into that one but it does sound familiar. :)

[-Brutus]

Omg, I really like this vision of yours. Keep it up, moar! I demand!

[Mix-up]

Interesting story so far, for some reason it reminds me of A Foal Necromancer for some season, probably from the death aspect of the story.

Your writing is still a bit stilted but you are getting better, with the characters sounding rather emotionless most of the time or too rational in their thinking and reactions. At least you are are more consistent in the back story of the character and world.

I will be looking forward to see the next chapter from you, this is shaping to be a fun reading in seeing you improver your writing skills was the story progresses.

[damnaion]

pleas more

[unknowncape7377]

Plez moar

[DragoEclipse]

cant wait for more

[Zir]

more plz, this is a really cool story

[Blaze the draconic mage]

Pls make more this is really cool

[Professor Litmus]

dead inside. don't enter.

[rikithemonk]

too bad its dead

[TheGreatSako]

Aww, what a pity that this was cancelled. I really like your attention to detail.

[Risingsun896]

Seems cool

[Twilight_the_spy]

Can I inquire as to why this was cancelled?

It was a great story...

[SpaceName]

9508625
Long story short? I lost motivation for it. I may come back to it in an overhaul of sorts, but I think I’ll end up writing some other crossover before that happens. If only to help me get a better handle on my writing and what in it is the root of confusion for some people as far as what each of the characters know and of course my using a tad few too many commas....yeah. Improvements over all.

[blackfang]

Very nice fic. Havnt watched MLP or much of DF, but this crossover is already looking good. Accept my thumps up.