Cherry Tune: A New Tune Season Two

by CherryTune

Ch 06 Cherry, Illu, and King Again!

Cherry rolls over in bed as the light from the rising sun seeped in through her windows curtains. The birds were chirping and she could hear the faint sounds of the creek near by. She’d been working a hard shift the week prior so staying in bed late for a change was nice. When she finally got out of bed it had been some time passed breakfast. Her mane a mess and wings tattered from sleep she began her weekend ritual.

She set a relaxing bath and groomed her wings, washed her mane and tale, and after a thorough rinse took the time to redraw fresh hot water and soaked for a bit. Her music played from the living room loud enough to hear from the bathroom and she would hum or sing to the tunes. After the bath she dried off put on her white blouse and skirt for her role in the Spring Festival and headed to the kitchen for lunch.

Her meal was a hearty sandwich with a nice tomato basil soup. Naturally she dunked the sandwich in the soup and began writing some music out during lunch. From there she took the few notes from the kitchen to her bean bag chair and plomped down in it with banjo in tow. She strummed a few tunes making corrections where needed.

From outside, a curious green and purple spirit fluttered near Cherry’s window to listen in on the music. Cherry wasn’t all that good but did her best and when she got frustrated she playfully lashed out. The spirit found this amusing and chuckled. Cherry heard the laughter and looked over. The spirit lurched back and started to fly away.

“Wait!” Cherry said. “You’re a spirit aren’t you?” she asked.

The spirit paused and cautiously approached the window again. “I... am yes.” she said.

“You’re not like the others though, I’m Cherry Tune! Who are you?” Cherry asked.

“The others? I’m Illu. And I don’t know about the others.” Illu said.

“Where’d you come from?” Cherry probed.

“I… came from Phantom. A servant of Reapers.” Illu said.

Cherry’s ears perked up. “Is that so? What do you mean you “came from” Phantom?” she replied.

She explains that after Phantom was betrayed by Reaper for being too good natured and used to possess a fierce dragon, Phantoms form had been damaged. And after the defeat of Apep her energy burst into many pieces and formed a bunch of lesser spirits. This spirit called herself Illu. She was a green orb of light with a purple center and ethereal waves gently emanated like wings behind her.

“So you split from Phantom and now you seek out the other pieces of you… err Phantom..?” Cherry asked. “Why are you looking for them?” she added.

Illu paused as she left out a few details to her becoming Illu. “I wanted to save them.” she answered.

“Save them? From what?” Cherry asked.

“From themselves.” Illu replied.

“Well you certainly don’t act like the dark spirits we’ve encountered before. But I’d stay low unless you want to get sealed away in a box” Cherry said sipping from a glass of water.

“That doesn’t sound at all pleasant. But if I make it to the warrior princesses who defeated Reaper, maybe I can stay with them.” Illu said.

Cherry choked on her water and coughed up a storm. “Whoa, whoa, whoa… I don’t think the castle is the best place for wandering spirits.” Cherry said. “Creatures are already on high alert with the new reports of aggressive spirits. If word got out that one made it here you’d be sealed in a pot in a hurry, and trust me, those things aren’t comfy after awhile.” she added.

“But where will I go?” Illu asked.

“How about you stay here, I live on the edge of Canterlot and rarely get visitors that I am unaware off.” Cherry said raising an eyebrow at Illu.

“What should I do, I still need to find my other spirits.” Illu questioned.

“Well, do you know how to find them?” Cherry asked.

“Other than a strange pull, not really.” Illu said. “I did sense quite a few here in Canterlot, but until I get closer I can’t tell how many or what their intentions are.” She added.

“Hmm, tell you what, I’ll help you figure this out BUT right now I gotta head out to the Spring Festival. They’re wanting me to play some banjo plus I got friends I need to check up on.” Cherry said.

“Can I come?” Illu asked.

“I think it’d be better if you stay here for now. We can talk about getting you out and about when I get back.” Cherry said while grabbing her purple headphones and heading out. “Don’t get into trouble!” she added running off.

Illu floated silently as the door closed behind Cherry. “Hmm, now what.” Illu said.

Just then a light blue orb with a dark blue core drifted in through the window behind Illu. Illu immediately felt the presence and was alerted to the spirit.

“Who are you?” Illu barked.

“I’m you silly, well part of you.” the blue spirit said.

“Of course.” Illu replied. “So what now?” she asked.

“I… I don’t know. I saw you just outside this city and started following you. I’ve been hiding in objects until I saw you.” the blue spirit said.

“Hiding in objects?” Illu questioned.

“Yes! Like this!” the blue spirit said while drifting over to a plush pony doll. She flickered and sent her light into the doll and slowly entangled herself in it. The doll twitched, and began to move.

“See! It’s how I’ve been getting around.” the blue spirit said.

“That’s amazing! Can you teach me?” Illu said.

“I… I don’t think so. But I… I did see others… like you and I. And they merged into one.” the blue spirit said. “ But they were bad and the other was … gone forever.” she added.

“But he gained all the abilities of the smaller one including shapeshifting!” the blue spirit said. “Perhaps if you and I merged you’d get my abilities!” she added.

“But you just said the other spirit was gone forever? Wouldn’t that happen to you as well?” Illu asked.

“His was, unwilling. Our’s would be a mutual unification so probably not.” Blue said. “But there’s not much time, I also have spirit masking and if you can sense them, they can surely sense you. We must act quickly.” Blue said.

“But I don’t know how.” Illu replied.

“Yes you do! You are THE Phantom, THE Illu, the origin. All you have to do is reach out. I… lost everything when he took my Amber. But I know you can make things right.” Blue said. “He was my second half and without him I fade away day by day. So you must reach out and take my essence. Here, I’ll help.” she added.

Blue krept up to Illu and released her hold on the pony doll. As it dropped, Blue began using the same energy to take over the doll on Illu. Illu resisted but felt a warmth of sincerity in Blues magic and accepted her energy. “See, now we are one and you are close to being whole again. Save us Illu.” Blue said before being fully absorbed into Illu.

As Blue’s voice faded her memories flowed through Illu, not just from when she split from Phantom but all the memories that she had from Phantom and prior to being Phantom. She saw the images of a dark red spirit consume a bright orange spirit, that must have been Amber. Another memory before Amber was taken. Blue and him, found each other not long after the split and since then became close friends. Taking care of each other and avoiding danger, Blue would mask their energy and Amber would shapeshift into fierce creatures for protection.
Illu snapped back into focus and looked at the pony doll. She tried Blue’s spell and merged into it taking control. “Well this will certainly help with the low profile.” She said.

Cherry had a long day at the Spring Festival and started to head home and on her way she bumped into a familiar face. Cherry runs into Hamsterking again but this time he’s carrying a lot of steel and canvas for another armorers job. King explains that after his steel armor sets he’ll start on harmonies but require large amounts of rubies.

King had explained that a unicorn guard at Canterlot asked him to manufacture what she called “harmonies”. These would be the basis for her spirit charms. While King works on his armor Cherry goes on a quest to gather rubies for King. She returns after a few hours of going around town and its outskirts to gather the materials. King and Cherry met back up outside Sugar Cube Corner where she presented him the gems and are talking about the new type of arms and gear request that are coming from Canterlot.

Cherry hands over the gems and explains, “I’m fairly certain these are going to be for Sapphire Spark. She’s making Zeora’s potions into crystal charms so that we can battle dark spirits more easily.”

King was amazed. “I never thought my work would make it to such important levels! I can’t wait to get started!”

“Well you still got that last armor job to do.” Cherry said poking out her tongue and winking.

“True, but that’ll be done in now time. These harmonies are going to be top notch!” King said. “I should get started on that last batch of armor to start this new project!” King added.

“I won’t keep you! Hey good luck and I think you are going to have a larger part in the guards future!” Cherry said.

“Hey thanks agaim Cherry! I’ll catch you later!” King said galloping off to his workshop.

Cherry heads back to Canterlot, drops off her banjo, and grabs her headphones saying “Hey Illu!”

“Hi Cherry I found a solution to my low profile!” Illu said.

“That’s awesome! But I gotta go. I’m going to be late meeting my friends at the Light and Sound.” Cherry replied.

“Okie…” Illu said.

“Hey, I might be back until late so we can talk about it first thing tomorrow!” Cherry explained trotting outside.

Illu notices that Cherry took her headphones with her and that’s when she gets an idea.

Author's Note:

As Always, please let me know all of your comments! Better quality feedback, better quality chapters in the future!
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Check in next time for Chapter 7 "Sugar Cherry Crumble", 29 October 2020

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