• Published 15th Mar 2019
  • 4,707 Views, 331 Comments

Learning To Live Again - Speedy Quill



A changeling, abandoned to die after the Royal Wedding, is shown that there's life beyond the hive. Laughter, villains, and committee meetings ensue.

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Wakeup Call

The first thing I remember is standing in a black abyss. Was I still in the mines? I tried to produce some light from my horn, but nothing happened. My head dropped as I let out a groan. That was when I realized I could see my hooves. And my legs. So, I wasn’t in the pitch black. I began looking around, hoping to find a clue. Nothing...

I tried to say ‘hello’. My mouth moved, but no sound came out. I tried a few more times with the same result. What was going on? If I couldn’t call out for anypony, I’d have to start moving around. I took a hoofstep forward. My hoof felt heavier than normal. A few more steps proved that walking would be harder than expected. I looked around again, hoping something or somepony would be there.

My mouth began forming the word ‘help’. I tried yelling it, but still couldn’t find my voice. After a few minutes I stopped. Time to switch tactics. I lowered my voice to a whisper. Or at least I hoped I was doing that.

“Luna.”

I smiled. Now a little louder.

“Luna.”

Alright. Now we were getting somewhere.

“Luna!”

A dim light began to grow in the distance. I turned my hooves in that direction, moving them as fast as I could. It was slow going, but at least it was progress.

“Luna!”

The light grew stronger. And I was getting closer.

"Luna!”

A crack formed in the light.

Shade?!

“Luna?”

Shade!

The crack grew bigger. I needed one more good call. I took a deep breath, hoping I could get some volume.

“Luna!!”

The crack burst and Luna fell through. She landed in front of me, gasping for breath. As her eyes connected with me, she smiled.

“Finally.”

I felt my hooves grow lighter and I ran to her, pulling her into a tight hug. Her hooves closed around me with an iron grip. I could feel her tears on my back.

“I thought I’d never find you.”

I smiled.

“I haven’t been gone that long.”

She pulled away from me and wiped her tears.

“You...you don’t know...”

“Know what?”

“Shade, you know time passes differently when you're asleep.”

I felt a shiver go down my spine.

“But...I just got here.”

Luna sighed.

“You exposed yourself to a lot of dark magic. Not to mention accessing the ethereal plane! How in Tartarus did you even do that?!”

I narrowed my eyes.

“First you tell me how long I’ve been out.”

I could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but my glaring held her at bay. She took a breath before responding.

“You’ve been in a coma for six months.”

I blinked a few times as my head registered the fact. My rear slowly sank to the ground.

“Six months...”

Luna nodded.

“The fact I got through to you is good though. It means you’re beginning to wake up.”

I felt tears forming in my eyes. This was going to be a rough wake up call.

—————————

I knew I was awake when I felt how sore my body was. I began to moan.

"Shade?"

I cracked open an eye. My vision cleared to reveal Celestia standing next to me. I smiled.

"Good to see you."

She smiled back.

"Thank goodness."

"I told you he'd be fine."

I opened my other eye. I was in my room in the Crystal palace. Celestia was on my one side. I turned my head. Luna was standing on my other side with a smile.

"About time you woke up. You've had us worried."

"I'm sorry. I guess I didn't think things through. Again."

I felt a hoof connect with my shoulder, sending a flare of pain through my whole body.

"OWW!!"

I whipped my head back to Celestia. She looked furious.

"If you ever pull a stunt like that again I'll banish you to the Sun itself!"

"Well I stopped Sombra, didn't I?"

"By absorbing dark magic! And don't even get me started on what you did after."

I forced myself to sit up.

"You sent me up here to help, so I helped. Can we just leave it at that?"

"Like Tartarus we're going to leave it at that!"

Luna chimed in.

"Celestia? Perhaps we should let Shade tell us what happened."

I turned to Luna.

"Haven't Shining Armor and Sunburst told you?"

Luna shook her head.

"They don't remember."

That caught me off guard.

"What do you mean they don't remember?"

Celestia interrupted.

"Whatever you did in the mines wiped several of their memories. The only thing they remembered for sure was that Sombra was defeated."

I thought about the spell I had cast.

"Probably should have been a little more detailed. I asked for all dark magic to be banished from the mines. I guess it took any memories of dark magic too."

Celestia was beside herself.

"You asked?! You don't just ask arcane magic to do something!"

Luna furrowed her brow.

"Celestia!"

Celestia glared at her sister for a few seconds before sitting down.

"Fine. Go on Shade."

I cleared my throat and dove into my story. I told them about Sombra's tome, the umbrum, the crystals, and my solution for defeating Sombra. It was when I got to the final part that I had my own questions for them.

"So, once I destroyed the crystal, I knew I needed to try and help the umbrum."

Luna leaned forward.

"Was that what you were doing with that spell?"

I nodded.

"They gave me a book that Sombra had stashed in the mines. It was the book he used for his experiments. And it had directions on how to access the ethereal plane."

Celestia finally spoke up.

"I don't know how he could have found that knowledge."

I looked around the room and spotted my saddlebag. I summoned it to my bed, setting it on my lap.

"I know, though I'm not sure how he got this."

I pulled the book from my bag and set it in front of the sisters. Their eyes grew bigger by the second.

"That's not possible."

"I thought this was lost!"

"It was! I didn’t realize he’d gotten a hold of it!"

"I never thought we'd see this again."

I cleared my throat again, catching their attention.

"I doubt it really matters anymore how Sombra acquired it. It's back in your hooves now."

Celestia took the book, hugging it against her chest.

"Gusty's journal..."

Her eyes locked with mine.

"You read it?"

"I accessed the ethereal plane and used arcane magic. What do you think?"

Luna sighed.

"I suppose there's nothing to do but kill him now Celestia."

My head snapped to Luna.

"Now hold on!"

She flashed a half-smile.

"A joke Shade."

The smile faded.

"But you do understand how serious this is, right?"

Celestia nodded.

"This journal contains everything about alicorns."

I turned back to her.

"I thought you had other documents."

"Those just contain what we were able to write down from memory. Gusty gave us her journal when she passed, but somewhere along the way, it disappeared."

Luna chimed in.

"We spent years searching for it. After a while we just figured it had been destroyed or lost to history."

The gears turned in my head as I came to terms with the situation.

"So...I know everything about you now?"

They both nodded. I sat back against my pillow.

"The ethereal plane. That's where all your power and longevity comes from."

Celestia nodded again.

"When you accessed that magic, it was like dropping a rock in a pond."

Luna leaned in.

"We felt a disturbance in the plane. That's how we knew something was wrong. Shining Armor and Sunburst had just gotten you out of the mine when we arrived."

I closed my eyes.

"Rest assured I don't plan on doing it again. The sheer amount of power at my hooves was more than I could handle."

Celestia sighed.

"Absorbing dark magic and then casting an arcane spell? You have a death wish."

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Probably. I'm just glad it's over. I assume I'll be able to go home soon?"

Celestia looked at Luna.

"Maybe you should talk to him. I should find somewhere to secure the journal."

She moved to the exit, calling over her shoulder.

"I'll be back in a bit!"

She left the room and I turned to Luna.

"What's wrong?"

Luna sat down.

"We've been trying to pull the dark magic out of you for months. But the way you absorbed it... We're not entirely familiar with changeling magic. We even asked Thorax if he had any advice."

"Thorax was here?"

"Briefly. He was shocked to learn you consumed hatred. He's never seen changeling magic used like that."

"So, I guess he couldn't help much."

"Not as much as he hoped."

"So..."

She sighed.

"Shade, the longer the magic was in your body, the more...entwined it became."

"Entwined? You mean..."

"It's integrated with your own magic power now."

I felt my lip tremble.

"I...I have Sombra's magic..."

"We're not entirely sure what traits you do and don't have. Only time will tell."

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. How could I have been so stupid?

Something quickly distracted me though. A single thought. My eyes widened in a panic.

"Rarity!"

I tried to jump out of bed, but Luna stopped me.

"It's okay Shade!"

"She must be worried sick!"

"It's okay. We took care of everything."

I stopped struggling and sat back.

"How? It's been six months!"

Luna took a breath and explained.

"When you weren't responding to her letters, she got in touch with us."

"What did you say?"

"We told her that the situation in the Empire had taken a turn that required complete secrecy."

"And that worked?"

She smiled.

"Not really. She seemed more concerned than before. And she didn't like being kept in the dark."

"That sounds like her."

"We told her that you were safe and that you'd be back as soon as possible. And that you sent your love."

I nodded.

"Thank you. I can't imagine what she's thinking right now."

Luna smiled.

"Get some rest. It's been a long road to recovery. We'll take you home in a few days."

She went to leave the room. Upon opening the door though, she found more visitors; Cadance, Shining Armor, and Sunburst.

Cadance beamed.

"I'm so happy to see you awake!"

I smiled as the three entered the room. Luna snuck out behind them and closed the door. I focused my attention on my new visitors.

"Glad to see everypony in one piece!"

Shining Armor smiled.

"Thanks to you I'm guessing!"

Sunburst nodded.

"We don't remember everything exactly, but I assume that Sombra had something to do with that."

They didn't suspect anything. It was probably better that way. I glanced at Cadance, noticing a knowing glint in her eye. She had an idea of what had transpired in the mines. I refocused on the guys.

"I'm glad nopony else got hurt. What have you guys been up to since I keeled over?"

Shining Armor shrugged.

"Not a ton. Life in the Empire is pretty quiet. Everhoof was the most exciting thing to happen in a long time."

I chuckled.

"Well I'm glad I could provide entertainment."

Cadance rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't call hunting down Sombra's ghost entertainment."

I turned back to her.

"Is that shard still locked away?"

She nodded.

"The aura has disappeared around it, but I'm leaving it in there to be safe."

"Good. He must have pulled the magic from that too. I imagine the Empire will love the new supply of crystals."

"It's a wonderful surprise. The Crystal ponies will love it once we announce the discovery."

Shining Armor nudged her.

"Maybe we should save it until after we get back."

I looked at the two of them.

"Where are the two of you disappearing to?"

Shining Armor smiled.

"My parents won a free vacation. They've invited the whole family!"

I smiled back.

"I'm sure you could all use the time together. When do you leave?"

"It's in a week. I can't wait to see everypony."

Cadance shook her head.

"Neither can I. Flurry needs more time with her grandparents."

I let out a long sigh.

"I could use a vacation after all of this."

Sunburst chuckled.

"You've been asleep for six months. Do you really need more rest?"

The three of them began to laugh. I couldn't help but join in.

Six months. I could only imagine what had happened in all that time. I did my best to put everything to the back of my mind; Sombra, the umbrum, the coma, the dark magic… I didn’t want to think about any of that now. There was only one thing I had on my mind; I was ready to see Rarity.