Half-truths and Half-lies
I had never, in my entire life, been so scared to hear somepony talk.
Sitting down, we had taken to the living room without much formality, Calx lying on his new favorite cushion of the Power Ponies. Thadal, on the other hoof, was not so inclined, seemingly unable to stay absolutely still now that we were in the same room together.
“Because I’m your friend,” he had said to me. The words kept echoing, over and over again. But it was so hard to believe. This, what he’d done, was not the normal thing to be done between friends. Risking… risking losing their whole world wasn’t what simple friends did for each other.
Thadal was more than that.
And this stallion in front of me wasn’t entirely Thadal either.
His eyes showed a great deal more than just the casual cockiness of the friend I had had for centuries. Worry and panic lit up his gaze far more than even my own, I suspected. He had already tried speaking once, making both my brother and I shift in our seats with anticipation, before choking and taking a much deeper breath.
His mouth probably felt dry, and in his every movement, there was a subtle shaking that betrayed far more than he would have liked to. “I… huh, wow, this isn’t easy.”
I bit back a sarcastic comment. Could he just not?! If he kept this up, I might accidentally cause a storm somewhere from the sheer pent-up emotion.
Luckily, he seemed to get his fear under control. “Gotta start somewhere…” he muttered, more to himself than to us, then gave me a tentative grin.
For a split second, I saw not an alicorn, but a human, shying away from a group gathering of bronies and excusing himself with a word about Fluttershy.
A sudden worry gripped at my throat. Don’t tell me you…
“Well, okay, first off, I’m here,” Thadal finally said, tapping the floor conspicuously, “in Ponyville, because I met with Celestia the other day. She found me unconscious in a field somewhere outside of town. I have no idea why and how.”
Without thinking, I lifted a hoof to my face, feeling a ghostly trail of water still dampening my fur. There had been pillars of water…
“I just know that Judicium wanted to come himself, and I kinda screwed it up without meaning to. A-at least, Celestia didn’t think he would be too mad.”
Oh, that would be up to debate, unfortunately. He had roared. Just thinking about it was enough to make ripples go over my coat. Nopony could see it under the illusion, luckily, not even Thadal.
“So… she kept me in Canterlot till the burns I had were healed, which was freakishly fast.”
“Alicorns,” I said simply.
That seemed to have startled him far more than it should have.
Eying me with just a hint more hesitation, he cleared his throat. “Y-yeah, alicorns, aaand she more or less told me where you two were and said she’d allow me to stay with you, so long as I agreed to pretend to be an earth pony friend visiting. It… kind of annoyed me, to be honest.” He scoffed, shifting where he stood. “I wanted to fly.”
“Yeah, it’s really awesome.” Tom nodded sagely, then looked at me with a half-frown. “S’just Sam that doesn’t like it for some weird reason.”
I lightly swatted the back of his head with my wing. “Shut up, squirt.”
Thadal chuckled. “Right. Well, Celestia used the spell and sent me on my way here. With some instruction to show up to the Town’s Hall later this week.”
Well, I recognized that pattern. Probably for a job. At the Ponyville’s dam, maybe?
But why would Celestia feel the need to give him that if we were supposed to be able to go back soon? She… she promised to look deeper into it, to get the approval for our return now that Sombra had been crushed…
Don’t tell me…
“That’s pretty much it for how I got here,” Thadal said slowly, looking a bit uncomfortable under my gaze.
That was new. The friend I had known most of my life wasn’t the kind of alicorn to get flustered by so little. He could be shy, but the time we had spent growing up together had more or less brought him out of his shell. For him to act like this now…
“That’s it for the Equestria part of your story?” I asked with a bit more surprise than I felt. “I was expecting more…”
His face didn’t change, but his tail flicked to the side in a jolt.
“W-well, there wasn’t a lot of stuff happening in Canterlot. I was a little disappointed, but, well, I was stuck in a bed for a while… Then there was the business with Celestia and me being sent on my merry way, so, yeah, that’s it.” He put on a cocky grin that seemed to hide just a hint of disappointment. It would have been convincing, if not for the briefest flash in his eyes. “You believe me, don’t you?”
It had tainted his words, made him sound guarded about me. Was he afraid?
“Come on.” I rolled my eyes, smiling widely. “What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t trust you?”
He seemed a bit too relieved by my approval. “Yeah, losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend…”
“Forever!”
The high pitched shout came out from underneath Thadal, sending a jolt of surprise through Calx and I, and he reared in shock with a whinny.
Blinking, we stared at the mare that had slipped past all of us to make her declaration, who didn’t seem very bothered by the way we’d almost gotten a heart attack.
“Oh, hey guys!” she said innocently.
“Thank you, Pinkie,” I said, trying to smile despite the shaking in my wings. “That was perfect added weight to our discussion.”
From the way Thadal looked at me as if I had grown two heads and started singing in a chorus, he might disagree.
“It was?” Pinkie cheered up. “Great!”
Grinning, I nodded and put on a face of mock concern. “Now, if you don’t mind, can you please move a few steps to the right or the left? My friend is not used to having a mare scream underneath him.”
“Oh gosh, gotta get away quick then,” she said, slipping away by stretching out from under him like a slinky. There hadn’t been a trace of anything but sincerity in her statement, and she even shot an apologetic look to my friend.
Of course, Pinkie wouldn’t pick up on the underlining taunt, but Thadal would. And so did Calx, whose snickers loudly made the situation that much worse.
Shots. Fired, I thought with a shit-eating grin.
His eyes narrowed on me. I bet he was regretting taunting me on my old scrying habits now.
“I’m not forgetting this one,” he mouthed off.
Promises, everypony made them. And yet I was still alive. What was one more? Hay, Blueblood alone had promised my untimely demise a few times already. It seemed to be a trend. Well, Celestia hadn’t, but it was always on the edge of her voice after I did something to give her a headache. She was just too wise to wish for things that would sadden her.
Likewise, Pinkie wouldn’t have begrudged me for that joke, even if she had gotten its meaning. She was much better natured than I. Always a smile that one, to the point it felt like the show didn’t do her justice. Twenty minutes weren’t long enough to show exactly how strong
somepony had to be this happy, energetic and kind twenty-four seven.
“Oh, hey, you’re the new pony I met today!” Pinkie clapped her hooves together, before suddenly leaning very close and whispering in his ear, “You’re friend with Ventus, Raindrop?”
Thadal stared in shock. “I… I, huh, I mean…Y-yes, like, you…”
Pinkie tended to have that effect in person. Another thing the show couldn’t prepare you for.
“Yes!” She pumped her hoof in the air, even making a little dance that I didn’t think an equine had the joints for. “This makes another friend of my friend being friends with my friends. Phew, this’ll make things smooth as a banana’s skin. So, special new friend from Canterlot, the party will be somewhere after tomorrow, because the girls all had a busy day. Especially Rarity. She was running everywhere today, first the fields, then the train station and the mailpost for that special silk order she needed, then to Sugarcube Corner to cry over the delay that screwed over her schedule, then for her parents to take care of Sweetie Belle for the night, and –”
I didn’t hear much after that. My mood had plummeted down, and worse yet, Calx’s had as well. He sank a little deeper into his cushion, a grimace on his face, and his eyes fallen to the floor with more interest than the mosaic pattern warranted.
Pinkie was instantly as his side, quite literally. I swear, that mare was related to the Weeping Angels. “Bladey, are you feeling alright? You look a little glum.”
“Meh,” he replied while curling up a bit more on himself.
“Do you need your aunt Pinkie’s precious help?” she asked eagerly, winking as she closed in on him. “I know a few secret warriors that still need a strong courageous alicorn’s help in their rescue.”
For once however, my little brother wasn’t entirely receptive to a chance at spending time with his favorite pony.
“Aww, but I…” He traced a circle on the floor with his hoof, avoiding her gaze. “I wanted to hear this stuff too… S’been a while since we talked to Mom or Dad.”
My heart dropped, and I wasted no time to kneel down on the opposite side of him.
“I’ll tell you, if you want to go. It’s… fine,” I forced the words out, struggling to smile. “It might take a while. Just go have fun.”
“You see? My idea is brother approved.” Pinkie spread her forelegs wide. “The best remedy for gloomy times is funny times! And that is a philosophy Granny-Pie-TestedTrademark,” she whispered the last word in an aside.
It had its effect. Calx chucked under his breath, itching to get up. Now he looked back to me with a twitch on the corner of his mouth, fighting a grin while seeking approval, just to be sure it was alright.
Wordlessly, I nodded, and brought him into a quick hug. Then, with a small push, I encouraged him to go with Pinkie Pie. She was still all smiles, quite ready to make sure his frown was turned upside down.
Calx suddenly turned to my friend, his brows furrowed together. “They’re fine, right? Promise they’re doing alright!”
Thadal stared right back, and said with what seemed to be a reassuring tone, “Magnus and Atonie are doing alright.”
It took so much of my willpower to keep my ears from ticking at that. Father and Mother, huh?
Calx didn’t catch that, as he grinned and gave me a much happier look.
Thank you, Pinkie. Seriously.
Said mare started bouncing her way out of the living room, followed by my crazy colt of a brother, but before she had left completely, her gaze caught mine. In that split second, there was so much understanding in her eyes, so much compassion, that I was convinced this hadn’t been a coincidence at all.
Their combined figures disappearing around the corner with Pinkie asking, “So, what did you want to do, Bladey?” And then, it was just me and Thadal in the living room.
“For the record…” I turned slowly toward him. “Not even I know how Pinkie manages to say so much with so little air.”
I had hoped that would help, but no. Thadal did not have a mind for laughter at the moment. Something about him, about his guard, crumbled with my brother and Pinkie gone.
Sighing, I channeled some magic through my horn. The subtle change spread across the living room, washing over him in an invisible wave, and kept going until it reached the hallway.
“…It’s okay…” I told him softly. “They won’t hear us now. Nopony will.”
It came out as half-scream. “You know who I am, right?!”
My ears flattened against my skull. “I… remember.” But your name’s fuzzy.
It was as if he’d read my thoughts, or the look on my face. “Eric!” he shouted, with more fright than anger. “It’s me, Sam! I’ve… I’ve found that ritual thing in your room and I figured… It looked the most promising of the bunch so I did it all exactly like the drawings and I…”
But then, his voice died out, and his whole self seemed to shrink down with a shudder.
“I heard a voice,” he croaked. “A deep, thunderous voice, as booming as an explosion, the sternest thing I’ve ever heard. And…”
I leaned in while he paused. My heart was beating too hard in my chest.
“Next thing I know…”
His voice broke, as did the last of his resolve. He looked at his hooves, as if he had never seen them before.
“I’m a pony…”
A cold hand gripped at my throat. My friend shouldn’t look this miserable. It wasn’t something normal, it wasn’t something that should happen at all. Perhaps it was the reason my legs remained stuck to the floor. I should be helping him!
Without a sound, he sunk to the floor and hugged himself. “I’m a pony…”
Biting my lips, I tried to move closer.
“Thadal, please calm down,” I said.
The wrong thing to say.
“No!” He shouted back, almost angry with me. “I didn’t get to do that before! There were other ponies around! Celestia was there! Like, the actual Princess Celestia, High Queen of Dawn! The one my dad said had lived amongst mortals for a thousand–!”
For a second, a single terrible second, his pupils shrunk and the warmth left his gaze to become a strangling fear. To see that look directed at me was like a punch in the guts.
Don’t… “Thadal, please.”
“Why do you keep calling me Thadal?! You know that’s not my name!”
Cringing, I took a step forward. “…Eric.”
Why had that name felt so forced? Why had it felt so unnatural to use? It was his name, or one of them. I knew that much!
What’s Dad’s name? I asked myself, blinking in shock. Mom’s?
With another wave of nausea, I realized that even that had been forgotten. They were lost adrift a sea of other memories, of much more tangible – real – memories. Why was it that I could remember the shade of blue in Mother’s mane with such ease, that I could recall the scent of Father’s coat? The tone of Dominus’ voice like he was talking to me at this very instant?
My human life was but a lost cloud in the skies in comparison, one I clung to desperately, whenever I remembered to.
And that was exactly what fear plagued Eric right now. To be honest, I could not tell how justified he was in that. He hadn’t been stuck here that long, even I could remember the first few days being moved by a single-minded purpose. Unless the spell had reacted differently to him.
“Do you remember your father?” I asked slowly.
“I…” His gaze fell to the floor, choked words coming out of his mouth. “I do… What kind of question is that?”
It took seven seconds, to the clock, for his mind to catch up. And when it did, I felt discouragement gain ground over me. Yes. I had been given my answer and so had he. The realization dawned on him, and at once, the dam burst.
“I… I do remember and I shouldn’t!” He yelled, standing up at once and running up to me. “I’ve never met my dad before! Do you understand what I’m saying?!”
Flinching, I wiped the spittle flying out of his mouth off my muzzle, my mind briefly going to Twilight and the work we had done together.
“I do.” As careful as I could, I placed a wing over his shoulder with the hope the contact would soothe him at least a little. “Thadal, calm down. It’s okay, it’s just the two of us. We can fix it. Calm. Down.”
“I’ll calm down once I’m done being hysterical!” he shouted… well, hysterically.
Alright, gentle and patient pleading hadn’t wielded much result. Perhaps a bit more abrupt.
“Any chance that will happen today?”
“NO! Dude, we’re ponies! Actual ponies with hooves and tail and everything else!” he completed his statement by waggling his tail and wings. “Including remembering being ponies all our lives!”
I gave him a flat look. “Technically, it’s a lie. We’re alicorns, not ponies; there’s a difference. And I’ve learned to deal with it by now. You’ll have to tell me something more shocking than that if you want a reaction out of me.”
I could tell, from the widening of his eyes then, that he had not expected my answer at all.
“W-w-we’re… we’re not wearing clothes!” he shouted, then realized that what he had said was perfectly true. In one fell swoop, he dropped down to the floor, blushing all the way down his neck.
He has a point here, but… I hid a little grin thinking about mares not wearing clothes. Some heat spread to my face as I pushed the lewd thought away. “So long as I don’t have to see your junk, I’m surprisingly okay with that.”
“Oh… Wait w-what?! Where is it?!” His eyes widened in shock, prompting him to jump to his hooves and look between his legs. The very next second, he turned to me in panic. “Sam, I don’t want to be a girl!”
I held in an annoyed sigh. “Oh for freak’s sake, Eric, it’s a sheath, look it up.”
Eric blinked. Twice or so. Then his eyes started to light up with comprehension. Not completely though… His head tilted toward my rump, and below that.
“Thadal!” I shouted, self-consciously unfolding my wings downward to shield myself.
As if realizing his shudder inducing mistake, he recoiled with an obvious cringe. “Errrrh, sorry. Didn’t mean to do that.” He lowered his head, but still shook a little, squirming uncomfortably and rubbing his hind legs together.
If I didn’t know any better, I would say he wanted to make sure it was really there.
Well, that wasn’t anything I needed to know. Where the hay is the brain bleach?! Ah, yes, right there, the same place I left it after having to hear a bunch of ponies have an orgy in the next town over. So many fetishes at once…
Sometimes, my powers really sucked.
“Let’s just forget that happened, okay?”
For a moment, he didn’t answer, his head tilted to the side as he stared with suddenly narrowed eyes.
“…What?” I asked, a little self-conscious.
“What’s wrong with your voice, Sam? I could not even recognize it at first and it’s still hard to now.”
That wasn’t what I had expected.
“I… just took a more ‘proper’ tone, what’s with alicorns and royalty…” I also figured we’d be able to come back quickly, but that was another completely foolish notion, right? “I just thought it would be appropriate.”
“Wait, so you’re forcing yourself to do it right now?”
That gave me a pause. When was the last time I had to actually make my voice like this?
“No, I’m not… It just comes naturally. I guess.” Then, as an idea struck me, I let out a chuckle. “Eh, that’s a good thing, considering Twilight said she likes the sound of my voice in her ears. She’s so adorable you have no–”
This time, his eyes widened and he almost recoiled.
“…idea,” I completed my thought hesitantly. “Thadal?”
“Wait,” he said slowly. “You’re actually dating Twilight? I thought that was just a crazy wild guess.”
This was the tipping point. We couldn’t go on like this, stumbling at whatever the other said. We had to do this better.
“We need to establish clearly what we know of the other’s situation,” I said in a tone that brokered no argument. “First off, can you tell me more about how you got here? There might be something we’re overlooking there.”
I thought he would freeze up, put on the spot like this, but no, he spoke with an almost casual tone.
“It’s not that complicated. When you disappeared… well, Cassandra transferred to another school and I was alone. S-so I figured I’d seek you two out, and I found out about this, being alicorns and what’s not.”
There he paused, glancing downward before locking gaze with me.
“I told them…”
I tensed.
“I told your parents, Sam. I said you two were here.”
Elders… I thought as he gave me a sad imitation of a smile.
“How well do you think they took it?”
“H-how are they?” I choked. “How have they been holding up?”
“Y-your mother’s in therapy last I heard, your father is still searching, and I… I came along to say ‘your kids magicked themselves out of the world’. Ah, it’s… is it any surprise if they threw me out?” He chuckled, looking at the ground like he wanted to be buried and never see the light again. “I couldn’t even think of a good reason, I couldn’t explain. I just froze up after saying it.”
Closing my eyes, I steadied my breath. The image of two humans, two that were like my parents, suffering in silence in our home, it was there, at the front of my mind. Dad held himself together with a haunted look, nothing but despair at the world crumbling around him. Mom stared at the small bottle, at the pills inside, and sometimes thought about taking a bit more… a bit more than what was recommended.
I almost retched. Please…
“It wasn’t…” Thadal said, because there always had to be more. “It wasn’t the only thing…”
My gaze met him, even if I felt like my shoulders carried a weight far past my strength. I looked and waited, despite wishing I could just forget it had ever befallen me. “Yes?”
“W-when I started the ritual… t-the chanting… I felt… I felt something different, big.” He shuddered, a shadow falling over him. “All I could think of was this strange presence, just outside of my field of vision, no matter where I looked… And it grew. It grew stronger with every syllable, every sound I made.”
Whispers echoed through the living room, three voices saying the same words, though none at the same time.
“Then, when I was just a sentence… one sentence away… I heard a scream in my head. That voice, it wanted me to stop.” He was almost pleading, but I could not tell to whom. “And the paper I was holding… it suddenly… brightened.”
In a second, my mind flashed to the bedroom I had owned, a lifetime ago, to a piece of paper and a complicated pattern drawn upon the floor. And just like that, it was all gone, from my mind and my home. They hadn’t found it, because there was nothing to find anymore.
“It felt like something had detonated around me. My hand was burned, the paper was gone. I… I was just one sentence away… My ears were ringing, I could only see blurs and silhouettes, my whole body felt as if I had been plunged deep underwater… So I just said the last few lines anyway…”
I saw Fire, shivering in rage, then disappearing.
His next words fell heavily between us. “And, while I was sinking through the ground, I heard a roar of anger.”
The atmosphere had grown grim. Gone was the semi-casual air, we could barely keep ourselves from looking like this was a funeral.
To be honest, that was more or less how I felt about it. The ritual was gone on their side as well. They would never stumble here through some strange unlucky accident. The only way we’d reunite with our human families was by succeeding in pulling off this trip in reverse.
It was as if somepony had cut off a link between us. Stinging prickled at my eyes, something I did my best to hide. I hadn’t even realized it before, but a small part of me had hoped we would be reunited here without the pressure of success relying entirely on me.
But no, it would not be that simple. It never was.
I sighed. “Alright… So no hope on that side, right?”
He nodded quickly.
“Figures…” I growled to nopony, letting it sink in.
Thadal, however, did not intend to wait or ignore this. “I think it’s Judicium. At the time, I couldn’t have known, but now I kinda remember what it felt like, when I was there at the Higher Tribunal and –”
He seemed to catch himself there, like he hadn’t meant to say so much. His hoof had shot up to his mouth in a flurry of panic.
They’ve already judged us… “Alright, no need to ponder that too long,” I told him, letting his blunder slide away unnoticed. “If we think of it like the show, then the finale should have already happened and there won’t be a big event for some time. I’d think the Elder of Justice would warrant a two-parters, considering the kind of hatred he has for Discord. Would a week be too generous? It’s never really clear how time passes in-between episode and in comparison to the human world. We just need t–”
“Huh, Sam?” he cut me off suddenly.
I blinked. “What?”
“The finale hasn’t aired yet.”
Just like that, he stopped me cold.
“…What?”
He bit his lips, looking away. “Well, I left just a few days before the twenty-second and twenty-third episodes aired. There was a special, and it promised to be epic, so I knew I had to come here fast, just in case you were involved.”
He didn’t need me to reply. The look on my face must have been enough.
“I missed it all, didn’t I?”
Father, give me strength. “Y-yup…”
Swallowing another bout of nausea, I started pacing around the room.
King Sombra wasn’t the main villain of season four? How can that be? Is there really no epic season finale this time?
No, no, there must a threat for the girls to take down, likely with the Elements, that is how the show rolls. There’s a finale and it involves a very big threat.
I stared at the ground with a sinking feeling. It wasn’t over. It wasn’t over yet and Judicium was more pissed off than ever. And there was just enough episodes left to make it a reality. Just enough time to allow Him access to us and unleash whatever circles of Tartarus he thought appropriate.
I shouldn’t be thinking of that. I bravely attempted to put on a smile. Maybe it’ll be like season one, the Gala. A big event that everypony looks forward too and learns a personal lesson through. Maybe the Equestria Games? Those were mentioned last season.
That train of thought did little to quench the fear gripping at me. I haven’t heard of anything remotely like this yet.
“Sam,” Thadal called. “Calm down, okay? It’s not happening yet.”
“W-well… alright.” I pawed at the ground, not quite feeling able to look him in the eyes. “Celestia promised she was working on it and last I heard there was some progress.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Working on what?”
“Getting us home.”
“Home?” he repeated, his brows furrowing together for some reason. “I thought… So she knows then? About where home is?”
“Y-yeah, I…” The words got stuck in my throat. No, no I hadn’t actually given Celestia the right location to look for. I had just asked her to send us home, and she thought we were astral alicorns.
I had been waiting on something that would not happen.
What the hell?! W-what… how?! Just how had I not realized that?!
Or maybe I did, said another voice full of disdain and anger.
“Sam, what’s going on?! You’ve been here for almost the entire season! You have had so many chances to say it.” Thadal trotted forward, glaring at me like he had never done it. He was quite literally shaking with anger, and every step he took was echoed by one of mine backward. “Why haven’t you fucking told them already!?”
His shout came in a burst, startling me in a jump. My flanks collided with the wall, then slowly slid down to the ground.
“Because…” I looked down, trying to gather my thoughts. It had been so easy to understand before. Too dangerous, too risky, too something, always something that I could not risk. So why? Why was it that Thadal’s question stumped me so!
His brown eyes searched on my mask. They knew, unlike everypony else, they actually knew what was underneath, they saw the discrepancies nopony else could. And Thadal was baffled by my silence. It wasn’t like me, he knew.
But he didn’t get what had happened here, not yet.
Miserable, wishing this could be done with, I whispered, “…Everyone hates humans in Equestria.”
“That’s just fandom bullshit!” He stomped. “Ponies aren’t xenophobes!”
“I’m NOT talking about the ponies, Eric!” I said hotly, glaring at him with a sudden burst of strength. “That wouldn’t have stopped me before! What could a bunch of ponies possibly do to us as we are?! Do you think I would have bothered with a lie if that had been the reason why?”
“Then who’s stopping you?!” he cried out.
“I’m talking about them… They’ll… the fans will…”
“That’s…” The words died out, as he struggled to even comprehend what I was hinting at. “That’s insane! Why would you even believe that?” And as he said it, he stilled. “You mean… it was all because of that piece of garbage?!”
My ears drooped down, his sheer disbelief grating against my fur. Hearing it from him, with such conviction behind every word, made me feel all the more foolish.
“Y-you know what that thing was about…” I said weakly, so small under his stern gaze.
And that was the worst part. He knew.
“For the Elder’s sake, Sam!” His hooves slammed on both side of my head, forcing me to look straight in his eyes. They were hot, burning hot with barely suppressed fury. On each side of me, the hooves trembled, as if he was restraining himself not to punch me in the face. “It. Was. A. TROLL FIC! All just a sad attempt at shocking people with mindless gore and out-of-character behavior! It means horseapples in the end!”
I could not say a thing in my defense, but that seemed to only enrage him even more.
“You… You completely sabotaged yourself over what people thought of you! I don’t believe it! That’s not… that’s not the Sam I know! You could have… from the beginning, you could have just…” Sheer bafflement seemed to sap his strength and he faltered. “Over a fic of all things…”
It stung. By the Higher Powers above and the Circles of Tartarus, it stung to hear my long-time friend call me a moron, and be completely right about it.
“I know…” My voice grew raspy, sore. “I fucking know it was just a fanfic…”
He fell back down, drained of his strength, his voice thick with pain. “Then why did you act like you didn’t?! I… everyone thought you were lost…”
I’m sorry, Thadal. I swear I am…
“I… I haven’t really…” I held out a hoof to my eyes, trying to keep a hold on the boiling emotions under my skin. “At first, I really did believe it and it made me so angry…”
An old ugly thing stirred deep inside of me.
“So… angry…” I whispered, seeing the words again, the little details, the ones that meant effort had been put into it. We twist the wings! “You can’t even imagine. When I read it, I was ready to kill that author with my bare hands, stomped him to death with my own hooves if it was what it took.”
At some point, I had gotten up to my hooves. I was looming over my friend, hot churning fire run through my veins, defying him.
A worrying rumble came from outside, and Thadal’s eyes flickered to the window. There he saw the darkened clouds gathered at my behest. The lighting in the room was growing dim, slowly stealing away from the vibrancy of the sunset’s colors.
The wind howled.
“Do you have any idea what it is like?! To read about people’s desire to torture a member of your family over the pettiest reasons?! TO GUT OPEN YOUR LITTLE BROTHER?! HOW WOULD YOU HAVE REACTED IN MY PLACE?!”
Lightning struck.
Somewhere, outside, there had been a cry from a few startled ponies. Something was charred, a tree, set ablaze in the streets. Already, there were a bunch of people trying to extinguish it.
Stinging pain exploded from the side of my face, and I fought to keep my balance. Thadal’s hoof was raised, still high from the backhoof strike, while I could barely believe the sight.
“I don’t know, Sam! The truth is I just plain don’t know how I would react! But I sure as hell wouldn’t let it turn me into a monster.”
My jaw dropped as my ears rang loud with the word I had feared more than any other in this world. Monster. My best friend just called me a monster.
I wished he had just punched my lights out instead.
Heaving, Thadal collected himself in the false impression of silence fallen over the living room. He gulped down, green under his fur despite the obvious traces of anger left in him. “Sam, they were lashing out at a fictional character…”
I saw red.
“That’s a lie!” I stomped, my hoof coming down with a shockwave. It could have just as easily been another strike of lightning.
The excuse, that was the excuse they all used to fantasize, to mock and laugh while my parents cried their eyes out hoping such a thing wouldn’t happen! The same neat little package to justify sharing the hope my family’s worst fears came true!
“This is REAL! WE’RE STUCK HERE WITH NO WAY-… no… no way out.”
I crumbled, the fight leaving me for good. Elders above… there’s no way out. It’s all on me, all of it. If I fail – I am failing – our parents will… will…
“It’s real for us, but they didn’t know it was a lie,” he said gently, placing a hoof over my shoulder. “And even then, it was still just fanfiction. You know, Sam, haters gonna hate or whatever motivations people use to keep going. They don’t matter in the long run.”
He didn’t say anything about being able to leave Equestria.
“…” The words didn’t come. I just looked away, my ears drooping down, my tail flicking nervously. “If… if it were up to them…”
“It’s not. Come on, Sam. You can’t keep that over your head. You can’t keep worrying about the opinions of people a world away. It’s not as if it was the majority opinion either.”
There was a second I was tempted, so very tempted, to believe him, but I smiled and said, “You know… they changed Derpy.”
He grew pale.
“You weren’t a brony back then, but I was. They actually changed the model, changed the voice and the lines, just not to face the backlash. They’re a company, they do this for a profit and if we really hurt their numbers, they’ll do their best to make the problem disappear.”
“T-they would not!” he said, but he didn’t look perfectly convinced. A sliver of doubt had come through.
“Doesn’t matter… we’d be gone by now if they had wanted it to happen… Unless we try something drastic…”
Like covering Equestria with ice and snow, I thought with my face burning in shame.
Thadal took no notice. “If you know the fandom won’t make you explode, why haven’t you told everypony the truth?”
There was a moment of pregnant silence during which I pretended not to notice his confusion. I did not honestly want to say it. It was just unfortunate he would not allow me that.
“…What truth?” I asked calmly.
“That you’re human!”
It had come so clearly, with no pause whatsoever. He had not hesitated.
The same couldn’t be said of me.
“Because…”
“Because…?” he pressed forward.
I could not find the words for it. Even with him asking me in earnest, it was so difficult to even formulate the thought. To accept it. Was there anyone that could? I didn’t want to say it, but my friend deserved at least this much from me.
With a sigh, I grabbed his foreleg and willed us elsewhere. In the blink of an eye, we had slipped away from my new house toward the fields surrounding Ponyville. There was no danger of being found, for the spell still hid our alicorn nature. It would simply look as if a unicorn had teleported here with his friend.
I felt surprisingly calm for this. Serene, maybe, despite what I was about to do.
Eric probably understood before I had even lowered my head. There was nothing else in this place, it was just green hills as far as the eyes could see. Just two herbivores and a grassy field.
I opened my mouth and closed it on a patch of grass. I made a conscious show of looking up to him, of grazing like any other common pony. Honestly, it tastes a bit like salad, with a lot more fiber. Nothing terrible in itself. I swallowed without much of a care for it, and straightened to look back toward Thadal on an even level.
His eyes had shrunken into dots. His mouth was half-opened, completely immobile as he stared at me and could not see a human.
He looked scared. Terrified.
In a stumble, he fell back onto his backside. His hind legs had given out from under him. I imagined the truth had struck him dizzy.
Gently, I walked to his side, offering a few words in a soothing voice. “I’m sorry about this… you came here to help us back, to help Sam your brony pal and his brother back home, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore.”
“Aren’t you going to…? D-don’t you want…?”
Nothing else came out. His eyes asked many more questions, all of them aimed purely at my resolve.
Are you going to stay here? Do you think you belong? What of those back on Earth? Do you still care? …Can you?
Closing my eyes, I chased off those visions. It was not the first time I had come to see them, it would not sway me now!
“Do I want to go home, Eric?” I asked – and he had the good grace to look guilty –, “yes, but you have to understand that the person who will go back to Earth won’t be human. Not fully.”
My eyes went to my hooves, but the truth was so much deeper than that.
“I’m quite aware that I’m not just Sam anymore, I’m different. I changed. I’ve learned some things, many of which I would rather forget.”
“I… I think I get it.”
No, not yet, Eric.
Smirking, I glanced at the hills to the East, focusing just a bit beyond that. “Come on, let’s go back to Ponyville before Tom throws a fit trying to find us.”
I moved to pick up his hoof, but to my surprise, he jumped backward and dodged. “No… not yet! I’m not giving up that easy, Sam. There’s still a lot for us to talk about!”
“What?”
“You tried, didn’t you?”
It was as if he had punched me. “I did!”
“Why hasn’t it worked out then? I’ve said a few big lies here and there, and everypony treated them as the truth. Heck, I remember most of the stuff I lie about as if it were the absolute truth! How did you not find a way out?! ”
I had to laugh at that. “Why, you ask? Because, even considering that dimensional travel’s a crapshoot that nopony could ever figure to make work, the main way to come here is already…”
Gone, Twilight had said.
“For fuck’s sake… it’s the first thing I tried. Said I knew the way back and the spell…”
The spell…
I froze.
Thadal’s eyes widened, completely taken by my words, not realizing what I had realized. He was almost leaning, trusting me without question, and he was completely unprepared for the hoof that fell over his shoulder and spirited him away.
--
Our arrival was punctuated by an explosive decompression.
“Twilight!” I called out over the sound of toppling books and wincing bookshelves. “For the love of the Elders, you have to start testing him now!”
She was there, amidst papers, books and inkpots, half of them scattered across her worktable. In any other situation, I would be bowing at her hooves and apologizing in ways of kisses and hugs until she forgave me. As it stood, I overrode that instinct and pushed my just-as-stunned comrade forward.
“This is Thadal Fragor, a friend of mine. As you can guess, he’s also an alicorn,” I said in lieu of presentation.
Still reeling from the shock, he waved absentmindedly to my marefriend, who did not seem to know how to react other than by copying him.
Well, with that part clear, perhaps we could get to what was important!
“Twilight, he’s used the same spell and it’s on him, at this very moment! It’s only been a few days, since the mission in the Everfree. We have to do this quickly before the same thing that happened with me happens to him!”
With my tirade coming to an end, I realized in-between two gulps of air, that during all this time, Twilight still hadn’t spoken up. She was looking at me, like a deer in headlight and she couldn’t formulate a response. Surely, another alicorn out of nowhere had to be a bit shocking, but not THAT much. So, yes, after a few more seconds of staring, and a gentle call for her name, Twilight finally digested what was going on.
Except, when she got her wits back, when she shook her head and steadied herself, there was an inimitable sadness to her eyes. Like she was about to lose somepony precious.
It hit me like a tons of brick.
“I… I know what I’m asking of you… what it must sound like to you…” I swallowed, my heart pounding in my chest and nausea gripping at my throat. “But, please, Twilight… If you love me, won’t you at least allow me a choice?”
Just saying that pulled at my heartstrings, and I knew from the way her muscles tensed that it had been so much worse for her. I had learned how to manipulate ponies a while ago.
And the worst part? It had been completely sincere. I had not even planned it.
Bastard, I thought to myself.
“Follow me downstairs,” she said faintly.
We did. But Thadal’s gaze didn’t leave me the whole time and Twilight was trying to still her breathing. It didn’t feel like a victory, nor a breakthrough.
Once downstairs, surrounded by Twilight’s lab equipment, she took a moment to properly greet Eric, saying something to the effect of being sorry the surprise had affected her manner for that long. In return, he acted a bit shy, meeting an incredible heroic mare for the first time and a personal favorite of his. And the whole time, he was subtly glancing at me as if to really confirm to himself that, yes, she was dating me.
Smirking, I gave a quick peck on Twilight’s cheek and whispered to her how it wasn’t a big deal, that it was my fault, and maybe, perhaps, probably, that my desire to see her again had influenced how quickly we had arrived. It was enough to make her go beet red.
No, I wasn’t strutting around like a peacock, showing off my marefriend to my best friend. It was kind of obvious enough from the possessive wing draped over her back.
Thadal didn’t ask any question after that, but he sure rolled his eyes hard.
Sue me, bro. I got this great mare as my lover.
To my regret and shameful relief, Twilight quickly got things back on track.
“Okay, guys, you’re both going to stand on the pedestals, so I can compare the data I have with what we’ll test,” she said while levitating a bunch of science-looking objects.
Like two very obedient little colts, Thadal and I climbed on top of the wooden platforms near the southern wall. Likewise, we did not utter a word of protest when Twilight started placing the probes and the electromagnetic patches on us, even if my friend eyed them warily.
“Please try not to move too much,” Twilight asked with a professional tone. “They will register magical energy at a certain frequency, but I don’t want the illusion spells to create interference if you shatter them.”
We nodded, and the next few minutes were spent in silence, each of us lost to our thoughts.
I felt relieved to see Twilight in her element. The shadows left her eyes when she was in a lab. I was still silently wondering why her cutie mark hadn’t related to science. She had the attire for it, what’s with the lab coat and the oversized protective glasses on her muzzle. In my humble opinion, it was quite flattering of her best features.
Harmony must have had a hoof in making that cute muzzle.
A small grin showed on my face, one I pushed down as she turned to me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered instead when she passed me by.
She responded with a quick nuzzle. Just enough to leave her warmth lingering over my face and my neck. And Elders if it wasn’t hard to stop myself from chasing after her after that.
Maybe that had been on purpose.
No, Twilight wasn’t evil like that.
Thus, the reason my fur suddenly tingle from my stretched-out wing to my shoulder was only coincidental. The way her magic flowed over my feathers, with a light and gentle touch, barely stroking the tip, made me shiver, and it was all I could do not to gasp.
Oh yeah, definitely on purpose, I thought as I saw her teasing smile. Aside from the fact that I certainly deserved it, that was truly unfair.
I wanted to tease her too…
And of course, of course Thadal couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself. From my left, I heard, oh so distinctly, humming that amounted to something suspiciously similar to ‘bow-chicka-wow-wow’.
Everypony just likes to kick me today.
My puppy eyes did not even convince Twilight to stop! She did the same but twice as sensual with my other wing!
Thus, like a brave soldier before an opponent that could not be defeated, I tried my very best to ignore Twilight and her coy smiles, even if they made my heartbeat speed up every three seconds. The only reprise I got was when she announced that she needed a minute to look at the preliminary readings, and even then…
“You two actually are an item, aren’t you?”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “I told you earlier.”
“Yeah…” Thadal nodded, his tail flicking. “But it just didn’t quite register. Like, seeing you two interact like this…” His mouth formed a fond grin. “I didn’t think I’d see the day I saw Twilight Sparkle act flirty.”
I shrugged, though a part of me did think it was a bit at odd with her previous behavior. My cute little marefriend was acting a bit bolder than usual. What had brought that on? Was it just the fact that Thadal was around for it to be seen?
Damn, I’ve been missing out then.
Unfortunately – or perhaps very fortunately – Twilight chose that moment to come back, her eyes on a long sheet of printed paper, and I did my very best to keep the inappropriate thoughts I’d been having to the back of my mind.
“Alright,” she said, going through her notes, “I haven’t quite isolated the core components yet, but I think there’s a test I can run to get a better idea of it.”
We leaned forward, suddenly attentive.
“I’m theorizing that if I attune my magic to an aura as dissimilar as possible to the wavelengths I’ve discovered studying you, Ventus, then it will make it possible to physically see the structure of the spell.”
My eyes went up, as I recalled a sliver of light, held at arm’s length, fading out. “Like… how the spell fragment flashed once cut from the rest of me?”
“Somewhat.” Twilight held a hoof, readjusting her protective glass over her muzzle like the absolute cutie she was. “It’s not exactly like that, as the fragment was coming to the end of its natural life anyway, and this is more of an active reaction than a passive reactivity to external stimuli while the magical wavelength back then had gone full Omega and… I’ve lost you, didn’t I?”
My smile turned sheepish. “It’s a possibility, I’m afraid.”
“Seconded,” Thadal raised a leg over his head, frowning. “Elders, I thought I had left Magister behind…”
“Hey!” I called him out, a mock snarl on my face. “Don’t compare my marefriend to that old geezer! Twilight’s lectures are a charming part of her adorable character. None of it could be called boring or obtuse!”
“Oh yeah?” Thadal asked with a grin. “Then what did she just say?”
“She… she said shut up!” I stuttered in indignation, my face heating up.
“It’s fine, Ventus.” Twilight brought a hoof to my face and kissed the tip of my muzzle. “I do tend to ramble and forget to vulgarize from times to times. Think of it this way: I will be putting a filter over it that reacts only with the spell. It will be like noise cancelling.”
“Sorry.” I looked away, not happy with my failure as an attentive coltfriend.
“Don’t worry about it.” She nuzzled me. “It’s time to test out just how deeply this spell runs.”
A purple glow surrounded her horn and her eyes narrowed with focus. With a shimmering crackling noise, Thadal’s body lit up with a flash of purple light and the spell was cast.
Twilight and I instinctively took a step back, horror painted on our faces.
We hadn’t put enough thought on what the spell was actually like, though little could have prepared us for the sight of it in a contrast of purple and nothingness.
Thin tendrils of purple voids, curved at abrupt obtuse angles, each end twisted into hooks, stretched forward, away from Thadal, as if trying to escape into the rest of the world. The mass of unlight seemed focused on the middle of his back, in unmoving swirls that pulsed, not in outward, but inward waves.
At the sight, a simple image came to me, of ticking mandibles, dripping venoms and digestive fluids, attached below eight eyes. It spoke of a posture, of a willingness and eagerness, of a preparation to strike at an unsuspecting prey.
I felt my skin crawl, tingling in lines on my fur not unlike the thing in front of us. My heart jumped in my throat, as the sensation of something digging into me lingered over my chest. Yet my eyes told me it hadn’t moved. It remained immobile, waiting.
“I…” I blinked, trying to say something for poor Thadal, whose entire body was as stiff as a stone statue, the tips of the tendrils just a hair’s width away from his neck. “What is it?”
“That’s almost like… a delayed spell.” Twilight stared in confusion. “If it faded for you, then it was triggered. Have you noticed anything that could have been caused by… that?”
Thadal’s eyes screamed that, yes, he had.
If only I hadn’t fucking lied before… Later, I’d give him permission to buck me in the face and make him promise to keep me in check from now on.
“I-I’m not sure…”
For the love of Vitam Mortem… I had had that all over my body before?!
With a shiver, I saw, vividly, Calx back in Celestia’s throne room, kneeling and complaining his head hurt. Only… this time, tendrils of unlight were sunken at his head like mandibles.
I steadied my breath. Father, Mother, forgive me…
“I think the trigger is verbal.”
“Ventus…” Twilight paused, her eyes closing as she steadied herself. For a second, her breathing seemed slightly shorter, shallower, and the pulse of her heart radiated even more strongly from her chest. “Could you make up something about your friend?”
“Anything?” I asked, adding just enough interest to my question to make Thadal’s eyes zoom on me with worry.
“Huh… Sam?”
Unfortunately, Twilight caught on to my vicious glee and smirked. “As inconsequential as possible, if you could.”
Spoilsport.
“Fine.” I gave a wing shrug. “Hmm… the spell reminds me… of the star spiders’ incident, back in the days.”
There was a flash of light.
My front legs gave out, and I fell forward, kneeling, as if bowing to an incomprehensible entity. But my consciousness was not on such things, for I was reminded of an unwelcomed pain striking my head. At my side, Twilight’s panicked shout blurred into muddled sounds, replaced by much younger voices and the scolding of adults.
Colts, that’s what we had been. Only colts would have done that. The consequence was as ironic as it was self-inflicted.
“Irresponsible!” some pompous alicorn had growled after retrieving us.
“Are you okay?” a much sweeter voice asked me, and soft hooves rubbed against my shoulder.
“I… I think I am,” I said as I straightened. I’d be fine, I knew that much. It hadn’t been the first time this kind of mind whammy hit me. I was more concerned with my friend.
Thadal was heaving, beads of sweat dampening his fur, and his glare bore into my skull. “Ventus, I can’t believe you just said that. You know I hate these things!”
“Did you always?” Twilight immediately stepped forward, staring at him very intensively.
Startled, Thadal forgot to look angry. “Well, it started with that time when we were colts and… Wait…”
His voice trailed off, bringing silence while Twilight’s nose dove into her notes. By her enthusiasm, it was clear she had noticed.
It was starting to dawn on me as well.
“So it is causing circular reasoning!” Twilight deduced while holding out her notes. “You were annoyed at him for making up something specifically about spiders, because he should have known you have hated them since the incident he just made up!”
My friend squirmed before the hoof pointed at him. “I… huh… n-no, that’s not what…”
“And you don’t even realize it!” Twilight shouted in triumph.
She was the only one happy about that discovery.
As her words sank in, I felt a pair of ghostly hands gripped my throat. “And you don’t even realize it!” a voice repeated in my head. No, I hadn’t realized it, or maybe I had, then forgotten. There was still a haze over my memories, reeling as I felt over the foalhood incident that apparently hadn’t happened.
And we had had fun too, until we discovered why it was a season of spiders.
With a single breath, I chased away the smoke of that fake dream and tried to focus on my still febrile marefriend.
“A-amazing…” she muttered. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. This is what studying Chaos magic is like?”
“It’s called Chaos for a reason,” Thadal scowled at me. “It’s not linear, straightforward or predictable.”
Gee, next time I’ll go about gumdrops and icecream, bro.
If it had been left to me, that spell would have been destroyed as soon as it had been created. But alas, the one to discover it first had lacked the judgment necessary to tell it was a bad thing to use. We could have just went on happily in the astral planes, growing and waiting for our true assignment, though that would not be a possibility now.
For a short terrible time, I felt almost blinding bitterness toward Tom and the reckless, childish tantrum that led to this situation. Bile rose in my throat, and I bit the interior of my mouth to the blood.
Get over yourself. You didn’t help, Ventus.
So lost in this, I almost didn’t hear Twilight speak up again.
“Okay. Guys, I think I will need a bit more time to determine the spell’s structure, but this has given me a tremendous amount of data. When added to what I already know… I can make an educated guess.”
My heart started beating madly.
Then skipped a dozen beats entirely as I saw Twilight’s eyes go to the floor. “It requires Chaos magic, much more than equinely possible to produce… I still have no idea how you could have used it in the first place, it’s insane.”
For a moment, I thought Judicium had come back, ripping apart the fabric of the world and exposing my raw flesh in a messy cut. There was a hole where my heart should have been. Without both Thadal and Twiligth’s support, I would have fallen.
“H-how?” I asked, my throat raw. “We ourselves had no access to Chaos magic in the first place! I did not possess any of the prerequisite for it, nor did Calx or Thadal.”
Twilight’s eyes shimmered with new tears, and she leaned in to give me the most tender nuzzle yet. I drank it, I drank that affection for all it was worth, and Twilight kept giving, her words now tainted with the guilt of failure. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… This thing, it’s so complex…” she whispered, “it feeds off a strange source of power from outside of this reality. I… I think it comes from the anchor point. And what I don’t get… is that it seems to be fueled by a visual affection.”
Thadal’s hoof tensed against me.
It triggers when it’s an episode of the show, I thought, knowing that my friend had understood as well.
Nothing that helps now. Not the way Twilight did. She was such an amazing mare, such a beautiful, beautiful alicorn. I wanted those pure lavender wings to take me away from this nightmare again, but I forced myself to stay at least focused. “Is there any way to do the same on our side?”
“I… I don’t know anypony that could have ever created this. It… it will take time to reverse engineer just the destination point. I can’t find the way to convert a similar source or power into it, but I swear I will do everything to pinpoint the location of your home. Maybe… maybe there will be another way to get there than the original spell. I just need to get more information, then maybe…”
Sighing, I let go, trying my best to show my appreciation of her effort. A gentle kiss brushed her lips, and I whispered a shaken ‘thank you’ in her ears.
“I do know the name of the creator of the spell,” Thadal piped up, freezing us in place. “Or at least the one that wrote it where I saw it.”
“Who was it?” she asked quickly, with a touch of eagerness in her tone.
“A certain Monsieur Ten Ropes.”
“That doesn’t ring any bell…” Twilight slumped, as did my hopes. Perhaps she had thought she could recognize the creator, that she had read about them before. Even then, she shook her head and looked curious. “Monsieur? That’s Prench, isn’t it?”
…Prench? The word ticked at my mind, as if aiming for specifics spots to pierce. I’d heard it before, of course, but why was this so important right now…?
It’s Monsieur Ten Ropes, I heard somepony say – or maybe I hadn’t. The voice had been grating, nerve racking, higher pitch than my own, with a strange insistance on the title rather than the name. It just came and came again. And I looked at Eric, saying the name that slowly returned to me as it had been put to paper, with a shock going down my spine. The key, I stumbled upon it, it was there, in just three words said by an alicorn to another.
“Twilight?” I asked, shaking. “Do you happen to have a Prench dictionary upstairs?”
“Oh, good idea, Ventus!” she said, seemingly relieved by how calm I appeared. “There’s one upstairs, in the referential section, just under the spiral stairs to my room.” Seeing me nod, she turned back to Thadal, still professional as if I hadn’t interrupted. “Alright, and what happened once you used the spell?”
Thadal’s gaze stayed on me perhaps a second longer, with a silent question filled with worry in his eyes. He saw me shake my head before heading upstairs.
“I… sank into the ground, then I was in a void of colors. It was strange, like nothing I ever felt before or since, with just shapes and shades, but nothing ever material, not even me.” He repressed a shiver, and so did I. “Except… yeah, there was something else…”
I had reached the door to the library’s level when Twilight started pressing him.
“What did you see? This is important, it could be a vital clue!”
“I-I saw…” His face scrunched up in concentration as he grasped at the memory. “A snake… then it turned into a goat.”
I stilled.
A snake that turns in a goat?
The idea was ridiculous, yet familiar.
Wait… when I used the spell, I saw a changing thing, didn’t I? What was it?
Twilight’s voice rose again from downstairs, this time asking that Thadal rake his memory, perhaps he had had an encounter with that spell’s creator.
A pony! My thoughts came together with a sudden clarity. It had been a pony, and then something like a… a… Fire and blood. Green scales. The shade of moonlight washing over us. Dragon!
I started to pace around the library, almost at a gallop’s pace as my thoughts flowed through my head at still higher speed. A pony… a dragon… a snake… a goat… a pony… a dragon… a snake… a goat…
What does it mean?
It felt… incomplete, like there was a piece or two that could be added.
And there was another that had used the spell.
“Calx?”
“Sam?” his juvenile voice rang to my ears, curious and a little bit reproachful. “Where are you?”
I cringed, but kept my voice steady. “I needed to ask something to Twilight.”
“Awww, you went to the library without me?”
Never thought I’d see the day…
“We had to go in a hurry. Don’t worry, we’ll pick you up right when we’re done.”
I got the distinct impression he was rolling his eyes and crossing his forelegs over his chest. “Pfffff, fine.”
“Yeah, it’s right-o okay with me too!” Somepony cheery piped up, making me blink.
“T-thanks, Pinkie,” I stuttered, embarrassed by this gross oversight. “I’m sorry to spring this on you out of the blue.”
“Well, it’s better than if you had a fall in red,” she giggled, almost snorting at her own joke, something I barely stopped myself from doing. I hadn’t expected it, that’s all.
Luckily, laughter didn’t carried if I didn’t will it. Thus, I remained cool in Calx’s eyes.
“So, little brother, I kinda needed to ask you something. About the spell we used to come here.”
“What about it?” he asked, his voice hinting at his curiosity.
“Do you remember seeing any animal in the colors?”
There was a pause. He was thinking, that was all. Hopefully, he hadn’t seen anything. I should not have wished that, but Celestia burn us all, it was the biggest hope I had at this point.
“Animals? Huh… yeah…” he said, making my mouth dry up. “T’was a… lion… and then it became a bird!”
“T-thanks… have fun with Pinkie,” I said, to which he replied in kind, and as soon as he had, I turned to frantically search for the dictionary. It had never been that imperative that I find one before.
A pony, a dragon, a snake, a goat, a lion, a bird…
I wanted to laugh, and, at the same time, never had I wanted to not laugh that badly.
Slowly, a ridiculous idea crawled out of the corners of my mind. One so bizarre it couldn’t be ignored, one so strange that my guts twisted on themselves. I could not put it into words yet, but my legs suddenly felt crawling with energy. It was impossible to stay still.
It was just there, the whole concept was just on the tip of my tongue.
Thadal’s words were burned into my memory now. I echoed them again, “Monsieur Ten Ropes… Monsieur…”
The Prench-English dictionary floated toward me.
“Do I speak Prench?”
“Bonne soirée, Monsieur Cercle.”
I repeated the words to the book, almost expecting it to reply to me, “Do I speak Prench?”
The words were blurry on the pages, and it took me a moment to understand that my grip was too shaken.
“How do you translate ‘Ten’ and ‘Ropes’ in Prench?”
The first blast of wind was too strong and almost ripped off the pages from the book. The second was just enough to end up over the page starting with the letter ‘T’. So, I glanced inside, ignoring how light-headed I felt and zoomed in on the translation.
One word down, one to go.
Like a wooden puppet, I searched for the second word, as if I hadn’t already guessed. As if the very first part hadn’t been enough and I needed to be absolutely certain.
The pages flipped before me again, pushed by a cold wind that stiffened the paper itself. Distantly, horror clawed its way in the darkest corners of my mind. It couldn’t be, I would think, only for the first word to echo, to taunt me. And so I ended up finding the Prench equivalent of ‘ropes’ in that small dictionary, with my body as tense as the chord of an arc.
It was there. In plain black ink.
I stared.
The answer stared back.
--
“B-but what about the situation back in the Everfree?”
Such a predictable question, spoken in exactly the tone her dear student, too nervous to be at ease, too serious to allow herself to relax.
“Am I to believe you have not already consigned every single detail to paper in a report?” she asked in a teasing tone.
A deep blush rewarded her inquiry, and the poor young alicorn nodded. “I-I did, of course. I simply thought you would like to hear it from my mouth.”
“Now, now, Twilight, I have complete faith in you in this matter,” she had told Twilight Sparkle gently. “I do wish to find out about this new act of heroism you participated in, but there are many factors limiting the time I can give you today. As such, I felt it would be better if we spoke of more interesting topics. Why don’t we talk about your time in Ponyville for instance? Have you been adjusting well to your new duties? I’ve noticed a few hesitations in your previous letters.”
“I would not want to ”
“Please, never forget that I wish to help you in as many ways I can, your new duties especially.” She folded a wing over her student’s back. “This is not a burden one can bear on their lonesome.”
“T-then…” Twilight took a deep breath. “Could we speak of Ponyville? There are so many new things I want to tell you about. The girls and I have been busy, even without the mission in the forest.”
“Very well, my most faithful student.” They settled in more comfortably, a steaming teapot resting on the table in front of them. “Talk to me of your recent experiences. I am certain they will be a delight to hear about.”
She still had to fight to keep her regal manners when thinking back on the content of that conversation. Truly, there was no dull moment for the Elements of Harmony, no matter what era they lived in.
Yet, her recollections would have to wait, no matter how tempting they were. The Royal Courier had not galloped through the entire castle to deliver her student’s message only for her to zone it out.
Luckily, the red pegasus had barely started reading and had not yet finished the long-winded explanation her student used as an introduction. She easily kept her momentarily distraction off her face, acting as if she had been listening all along. It would have worked, flawlessly, had it not been for the word she happened to catch.
The thought struck her like a thunderbolt, and she felt a cold breeze wash over her body.
“You… can you repeat what you just told me?” Celestia turned to the messenger slowly, a strange stiffness to her movement clashing with her image of unending benevolence and calm.
“O-of course, y-your Highness.” The pony stumbled with the scroll, suddenly rendered nervous by his princess’ unexpected reaction. With a lot of professionalism, he managed to clear his throat and sound generally neutral about the text he read out loud. “Princess sparkle has reported that the source of some strange events occurring around Ponyville has been discovered and neutralized. With the help of Prince Ventus has an undercover ally, Princess Luna’s fleet and the coordinated effort of the soldiers assisting them, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony managed to purge out what appeared to be a cloud of black smoke, animated with evil magic. Further investigations have proven that King Sombra of the Crystal Empire, or what was left of him, was behind the events.”
Looking up from his scroll, the poor stallion got the shock of his life, seeing Celestia dumbstruck.
“T-that is impossible. You must have been mistaken.” She came forward with a strange insistence that scared him out of his wits.
“I-It is what is written-” He stuttered, and squeaked when the piece of paper flew out of his hoof and into his ruler’s.
Rapidly, her eyes darted from one side of the letter to another, her mouth moving in a similarly rapid succession as well. It seemed as if answers to question untold were suddenly becoming known to the alicorn mare, as if she finally saw things in their absolute clarity. Then, before he could even blink, a spark made the parchment burst in flames.
He yelped, making her regret the intensity of her reaction, but there was no time for apologies. This would require immediate attention.
“Y-your Majesty, why is Princess Sparkle’s retelling of the events impossible?”
Grave, the princess finally looked at her loyal subject in the eyes and spoke with such finality it was impossible for him to mistake the importance of her words, even if he did not know their meaning.
“King Sombra was a monster born to bring Order.”
“O-Order…?” The messenger asked, unable to process the information she had given him. “What does this mean, Princess?”
There was a moment of silence, during which he wondered if he would experience a terrible punishment for bringing what was apparently bad news. She was simply looking at him with shifting emotions behind her eyes, none of which he could identify, until she spoke.
Then, she sounded dire.
“It means that what came before him must have been of Chaos.”
Her words fell on them with an unusual gravity. Though his eyes shone with confusion, his muscles still tensed at her declaration.
“…Chaos?” the messenger repeated with a very small voice, and Celestia realized this was not fit for the ears of anypony in her castle.
“Leave!” she ordered more harshly than she intended. “And speak nothing of this to anypony. Not even my sister!”
A precaution that would surely prove useless. Luna had been on the battlefield herself. She had to have come into contact with the Dark King himself, and understood what his presence meant. Why, if her sister hadn’t decided to leave for an unknown venture in the Everfree Forest, she surely would have informed her of this by now!
Luna had to have noticed. She had fought the corruption head on, had fell Sombra’s champion beast. Any hope of this not being recognized by her sister would be null and void. There had been signs before, this could only be the confirmation.
Celestia couldn’t believe she had let that slip past her. She had been content with the simple presence of her cousins, troublemakers as they were. They were family, and she had too little of that as it were.
The windigoes. Ventus had brought the windigoes back, then dealt with them accordingly.
He took them back.
An alicorn had absorbed the remnants of their previous incarnation. It was appropriate. Of course, plausible and proper even. But the windigoes… their arrival had threatened the realm with chaos. For one of Order to absorb Chaos…
It had soothed him… repaired him in ways he had been broken. Ventus Vinco, appearing on a whim, running after a younger brother that had disobeyed rules, unable to keep himself from causing more and more trouble, even in his attempts to help others.
The hallmarks of Chaos.
It seemed, somehow, as if that was the most plausible conclusion.
But that couldn’t have been the real answer either! Even if it had been the spell they used that had somehow altered them to the core, they still had had to break the rules to cast it in the first place! Spirits of Order were unable to do such things, and not even the excuse of foalhood eagerness could justify that!
There could not have been an Alicorn of Chaos born. That impossibility would have damaged the Astral Planes to the point of breaking them! And the ones of her species she had contacted had confirmed their words. Every alicorn had considered the two colts of their own kind. They had to have been of Order…
Judicium had looked upon the world, before suddenly retreating, as if a more urgent matter had demanded His attention.
A matter such as the Astral Planes suffering from the strain of a sudden discharge of Chaos magic… But that could have only happened if someone from that plane of existence had had access to it in the first place.
She could feel a headache hammering down on her temples, as every contradiction existed only to drive her into a mental impasse. Every possible fact only seemed to deny the others and vice versa. It simply… didn’t…
Celestia’s entire being froze in shock, as the words appeared in her mind, with perfect clarity. So sudden had been her revelation that the idea hardened itself as an undeniable fact.
She understood now, who had been behind this whole mess.
It didn’t make sense.
--
“Dix…” I chuckled, panting. “Ten is dix.”
Really? REALLY?! Of course, of course that would be the answer. Of course I’d been too bucking blind to see it! Had I ever cared to go back?! Was I really lying to myself that much?!
“And Ropes is corde.”
My wings scrapped against the dirt, lifted it in small clouds of dust, all along the way to my destination. I’d tried, I had tried to get there at once, but my aim had been off. I’d ended up a hundred meters away. My control was shot to Tartarus.
There was a mute pain in my jaw, spreading from my cheeks and my gums. My teeth were being grinded into dust, only getting a reprieve when I repeated the words again and again, “Monsieur Ten Ropes.”
And if you flip it around, you get…
“Mister Dix cordes.”
Together, my hooves stomped against the door to Fluttershy’s cottage. With my lungs working at full capacity, I bellowed one word strongly enough to shake the whole structure:
“DISCORD!”
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This cannot end well.
The best Discord alias I've seen so far. Hidden in plain sight, in the corner of your mind. Simply glorious.
d22zlbw5ff7yk5.cloudfront.net/images/cm-29490-050938f1f39e78.gif
.......you know, on some level, it really was very obvious, wasn't it?
That said...that reveal! Wow! All the major players figuring out the main catalyst behind the alicorn appearances...very well done. Now for the ascent into the next, and final?, climax.....(insert maniacal laughter here)
I love this story, the premise drew me in at first but the true horror of below is what makes me love it even more:
It's a tragedy on a level that eclipses the imagination.
Now that I think about it, only A Three Foal Wish comes close to this level of identity crisis that I'm aware of (and considering that author 5623422 is a fan of this story, I'm pretty sure it was inspired by this).
I think I'm in love with this style of identity crisis, it really can be milked for anything and everything as a plot vehicle, as you clearly show in this story especially when compounded with lies becoming truth, and when you stare into the pony, the pony stares back into you, and you find that even if you could go home, you'll never be the same again.
Discord is behind everything in every story it seems, it's almost a given to the point where it's a surprise when it's not him. That said, the depth this story has gone to before pointing him out, and the extended reveal in doing so is definitely praise worthy in execution.
You are a good writer.
Quick! While the retroactive continuity spell is still going Eric's gotta say something really crazy. Really test the limits. "I've actually secretly been a bear this entire time." or "Remember that time we were double agents infiltrating Chaos a few centuries back?"
...Yeah not likely. But the thing's I'd do with that spell. Completely irresponsible for fun and profit.
My mind, blown. Holy fuck.
5623421 That is fact.
5623422 5623535 Thank you. I was a bit worried that it was in fact too obvious. It's THERE, and the reveal was so far away from its first mention that I thought someone would just point it out to me. But, hey, when I told my beta, she went ...
'That's cheap, Wise'. I figured that would be alright.
And now, there can only be one result to this, right? Hint: it starts with a C.
Maniacal laughter inserted.
There are a few more chapters to go.5623895 I am so sorry. I did not want to make your mind explode. Unfortunately, as I have often discovered, writing is quite similar to doing this:
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11113/111132456/4338252-1510796242-mindc.jpg
5623825 A wonderful idea. If only the trigger didn't depend on being seen and accepted by a whole bunch of people... Not to say it woudn't work, or would it, or wouldn't it? Maybe, they'd have to try and be ready to suddenly think they were bears or double-triple-quadruple agents. Like they're no messed up enough.
5623663
A-are you after my heart? This is such an amazing thing to read in a comment. It's more or less everything I've ever tried to do with this fic. Becoming someone else because of a mistake you made before, because of a power beyond your control (in this case, magic), it just strikes a chord. It's a big identity crisis, and it will hurt everyone he does know.
I honestly don't know if 5623422 was inspired by this fic. I'd be flattered, but I don't think so. He's used it to great effect in his own style so far. I always thought it was a bit of a device to identify more strongly what a physical transformation of that level. Something like this.
"when you stare into the pony, the pony stares back into you"... Not gonna lie, that was very fun and very epic to read.
About the culprit, well, I know that. It's a bit of a shame, but there were very few candidates in the first place. The story itself had a few other possibilities, but this was a pre-season 4 story, meaning there was a bit of a point that I thought I could make. You'll see about that next chapter. At this point, this is a 'replacement' season 4, simply because of the mechanics of the fic (being meta did this).
Still, I'm glad the other elements, as well as the execution itself, allowed you to overlook it. I'm really flattered by your comment, my good canary.
5625491
There are a hundred and one transformation stories which deal with becoming an Equestrian rather well, and even more that explore the alien nature for what it is. Sadly you have to really dig to get at them and those that do exist are just small nuggets buried in a larger story. I really dislike stories that just gloss over transformations; I am a firm believer in the mind is a plaything of the body, and being different in body should reflect in a difference of perspective beyond being closer to the ground and 'I miss hands'.
Yet the one thing that remains constant is the identity of the transformed; it makes sense in a way, if the personality and memories were different, it'd just be the death of one character replaced by another and that is definitely something I don't like to see. First Pony View is I think the precursor to the idea presented in this story, and while the introspection within that story is delicious, it's a bit on the extended freakout side for my tastes (I think it still holds the record for longest and most in depth transformation freakout in all MLP fiction) and as far as I know never appreciates the 'other life' part beyond that has fully replaced the main character's memories and she firmly believes that it is wrong.
[Still, the first true reveal in that story when she doesn't like her mane color very much and wonders what it would look like dyed, then having Déjà vu moment at that thought, which when explored turns into an image of actually having dyed her mane before was a truly delicious moment where that story really hit its stride.]
All the transformed stories are outsiders though, and it is the method used here and A Three Foal Wish as far as I know that manages to sidestep that by providing a transformed identity consistent with the personality of the character (and not merely a body swap) that I like. Though... the new personality being different in ways and noticed as such by the transformed is also a delicious aspect, provided it isn't portrayed as a death of self either indirectly because the author refuses to address the personality shift or directly like Don't Go Into The Everfree Forest TD.
In Sam's case, he is Ventus and Sam mixed into one. Learning who Ventus really is and realizing that he was as much Ventus as Sam (or more-so since Ventus has more memories) and that it was not an act just adds that much to the tragedy flavor, and he knows it. Tom is too young to appreciate it as far as I can understand (plus Calx is an idealized self-insert of Tom as a pony and not something fundamentally different like Ventus, and as far as he is concerned is just really elaborate role-playing), and for Eric the implications have yet to sink in because he hasn't expressed himself yet.
It helps that the thing that jump started this whole mess was Sam turning into an alicorn, because Calx was an alicorn and it's expected that his brother would be one too. It just built from there. If Calx were just a normal pony. . .
5626092 Ah, yes, not that many stories look at the psychological effects on the mind of the newly-made pony. I've seen a few though, like Greycait's work and this one: Off the beaten path. Truth is, however, is that it's often a bit detrimental to pacing when the story tries to be more adventurous. Introspection often does that.
You reminded me of something. Honestly, I was a bit bothered by the ending to that TD's story, and a bit of the reactions too. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing it, but if the story goes out of his way to say that TD's personality would be so completely altered as to be considered the death of him, then... it's also the birth of someone else, isn't it? The ending was more of a murder-suicide to me... Yeah, probably thinking too much about it.
It's not even that idealized. If you switch the backstories, you have pretty much the same person. One of the biggest difference is a slight increase of maturity (scary, isn't it?) and the lack of parental supervision. Sam's more lax about rules, in keeping with the big brother role he has.
Ventus is certainly different from Sam, but considering that Ventus was created from him, he's not diametrically opposite from him either. There are some backstory elements that clash very badly. It's a different path creating a different being, for the most part. Plus a few other details that might be revealed soon.
I don't know if it's obvious that this chapter is my favorite, because everyone is figuring out everything, but I really like how everything has been going, especially with Eric trying to understand how Sam has changed over his time in Equestria. But while Eric has been on Sam about the truth about what they are it seems like he's been blocked off by it too. I just hope that he's telling Twilight about this or had Sam plan to do it with Discord revealing everything to our heroes. I'm already guessing at the ending already but I'm still hoping it comes down to Sam having to choose at the end or at least telling his real parents goodbye before living in pony world forever, or that the alicorns will seal up this portal when the time comes so no brony or any other human won't try to teleport themselves to the world.
Also, I like the twist with the whole memory being some sort of monstrous energy spider thing that will chomp down on your head to force you to "remember" events when told by someone. But it also got me wondering about that if this is true, then what would that mean for the alicorns and what is Sam and Ventus really? Are the they two different beings from different universes that are combined or a completely different entity altogether?
I wonder how Discord will handle things from here now that he's been called out that he was the one that gave Tom that in the first place. Actually how did he even do that? Did he just left a book there for the kid to find or did he just go "hey kid you should check out this book" in disguise in a friendly place? Though I also wonder how Samtus will handle the fact that in reality all three of them are creatures of chaos?
By the way, I knew something was up when the author of that book had a pony-like name in the real world.
Also ironically, when I wrote the Three Foal Wish part you were talking about updated.
Well... spit. You weren't kidding about the downhill part.
5625491 Deeply depressing, though that isn't your fault. I might just bail until after the last chapter of the story is posted, so I don't have to drag things out. I've buried too many friends to be comfortable with dark stories. *shrugs* When you're a military brat and then military yourself, that's just something that happens, and it's no reflection on the quality of your story. A story I've been following with interest, I have to admit. But for now, I think I'll wait for you to finish it, then read, so I don't have to drag out the frustration with a dark ending.
5635175 Well... I'm sorry that's been making you uncomfortable. Heck, I'm also sorry for dragging things out, I've been forced on a slow updating schedule for a while, especially with other collaboration projects on my plate. Hopefully, I'll be able to settle things quickly enough to allow things to be a bit better for you.
5631812 Indeed I wasn't.
5629730 Obviously, I'm not going to tell you the ending ahead of time.
Now, the mechanics for the spell are just about shown. Ironically, Eric makes a better show of it than Sam or Tom, simply because I've given you a look of Equestria before he came around. In particular, in "Quietly", there are mentions of a pair of alicorns, one of which should sound somewhat familiar to you.
AS for what Discord will do, well, that's a question for the next chapter. Just keep in mind that this is all happening in an alternate version of season 4. It's keeping in line with that. Heck, looking at season 4 Discord, I was half happy and half mad, seeing as I knew others will think I either planned it well in advance or used the show's characterization. At least, it confirmed that what I had thought was at least plausible.
5636207 Hey, not your fault. I'm old enough that I've buried friends from several wars. I'm just a little burnt out on dragging out the pain. I still like your story, I just want to get the painful chapters all at once - like a spoonful of cod liver oil.
I'll still review, once I've finished it. No worries there. It's simply that at the moment, I suspect the story will be like watching a train wreck. You know what'll happen, but there's not a damned thing you can do about it. And I've always hated being helpless that way.
5636220
Okay so that was further proof about Ventus' existence now before Sam showed up, sort of.
Anyway about Season 4 I thought this was supposed to be like season 5 or 6 or something when Tom jumped into the show.
Holy....! How did I miss the update?!
Really we should have seen this coming, but dang if that wasn't a good reveal!
Discord.
I bucking knew it.
When it comes to confusing events, if none of the clues fit at all, and it were to, I don't know, make no sense, then I assume it is Discord.
When a whole list of chaotic things and Chaos magic is involved, I assume it is Discord.
If the main characters that got transformed remember seeing all the parts of Discord's body, I assume it is Discord.
When Celestia says something related to the main characters makes no sense, I assume it is Discord.
Very subtle, Mr. WiseFireCracker. I mean this with no sarcasm, but when you have a list on hand to write chaos related events, it's not too hard to figure it out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known. Good job.
Don't blow the cover eric...
I enjoyed that part!
Edit 4/26/2018:
Oh I thought that was another word to hook someone up to a bunch of lap equipment.