> A Legend Returns > by 654_nosneb > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter I - It's too much magic. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was 3 PM in the afternoon, and the ponies of ponyville were minding their business, having another happy day chatting, working, playing and singing. The sun was bright, with a clear sky that let cloudsdale and canterlot on sight from any part of the town. Fluttershy's birds were singing along side with her at the edge of everfree forest, they were practicing an easy performance for no reason at all, other than the fact that she and the birds really enjoyed it. "Great, great!" Said the mare with a very soft voice tone. "But you are still out of tune little rose." She said to the little red bird. "But don't worry, we'll practice on it and soon you'll be able to sing along side the rest of the chorus." She was about to resume the singing practice, when suddenly a bright blue light flashed at her back, followed by a big explosion than make all of her birds flew away, and almost make her run away as well. Which instead was replaced with her hiding on a nearby bush. In the place of the explosion, emerged a tall bipedal figure with black short hair, brown eyes, dark blue shoes, a white T-shirt, and a black coat with some burned holes on it. "Ouch, my head!" he screamed. "No. My whole body hurts!" He said as he opened his eyes to see where he was. "Wait, where am I?" he found himself at the edge of a dense forest, and ahead he saw a clearing, and a small town, with an oddly looking crystal castle. He couldn't remember exactly how he got there, but he knew it was important. The first thing he noticed, apart from the pain, was that if he wanted to get help, he must go to civilization. So he started his way to the town at the distance. Fluttershy was scared, she knew than this part of the forest was completely safe from the everfree creatures, that's why she wasn't expecting this at all. She was about to go out and see what caused the explosion, when she heard something was approaching. It was something that she had heard of several times, but never actually believed it was true. It was a human, a real one! She once heard the story of a human that saved the world from an ancient evil, so ancient than was even before equestria's foundation, and equestria was 12000 years old. The creature was walking with difficulty and visible pain, although she was scared, she knew than him needed help, she needed to banish the fear. "Excuse me sir." she said with a soft, but audible voice. "But I couldn't just avoid noticing that you are very hurt, you need help?" "Yes, I would certainly like some..." he stopped talking for a moment, when he notice de yellow little pegasus, his mind stopped working, was this a dream? No, he knew how a dream was and this was not one."Who are you?! And more importantly, what are you?!" "Well I'm fluttershy, and I'm a pegasus." she said a little confused. "Why you don't know what I'm? Who are you?" "Well... From where I came ponies normally don't have wings, or talk actually." He said while sitting on the ground beacouse of the pain. "I'm sorry, but it seems that you are not from here, righ?." The pegasus said "But you need my help, let's go to my home so I can heal you, what's your name?" "William." he said. "William! Like William Tyler!" The mare said raising her voice very excitedly. "Actually yes." Said the human confused. "How did you know?" Fluttershy's mind was shouting to her that this was imposible, but a human, the name, his look, his coat; it was just like the ancient legend she was told about. "Follow me." she said. "I can help you." "Um... well... Ok." he finally said he didn't knew where he was but this strange looking mare seemed like wanted to help him. She took him to the town he saw earlier, so he guessed than her house was probably there. As they entered the town he saw tons of other colorful ponies, some of them with wings, some of them with a horn, and others with nothing else; although he never saw one of them, he felt them a little familiar. They aproached a railroad station that was at the other edge of the town, this was strange to William, since he thought they were going to the mare house, but maybe it was out of town. "Two tickets to Canterlot please." said the yellow mare to the stallion attending at the station. "We have free space for the 4:00 PM train, that would be 20 bi..." the stallion stoped, as he spotted the human that was beside Fluttershy. "ARE YOU WILLIAM?!" "Yes he is." responded the mare. "That's why we need to go to Canterlot as soon as possible." "I understand, it is an honor to meet you Mr. William." the stallion said to him, with a very formal voice tone. "Take your tickets." "Thank you." said the mare after using her wings to grab the tickets. "You need to trust on my friend, she is going to help you more than I can." "Ok." said the human walking with difficulty. "But how did he knew my name?." "Everypony knows you!" said the mare. "You are famous, a hero, a legend; you saved the world once, you don't remember?" "No I don't." said William while holding his head. "It seems that you really hurt your head, or maybe your name and figure it's just a coincidence." Fluttershy said. "What's the last thing you remember?" "Nothing concrete at all, I remember my home, my mother, my sister, and me attending to school." "It seems than maybe you are not who I think you are, but to check it out I'll take you with a friend of mine." she said. "Ok, but could I ask why you are helping me miss..." "Fluttershy." she said very slowly. "What?" William asked. "Fluttershy." said the mare a little bit louder. "Fluttershy, a very unique name I have to say, but I like it." he said. "Why we went to that train station?" "I need to take you to see my friend, remember, but first I'll take care of you and my little friends." "Um, Ok." said William to her. "Wait, what little friends?" They arrived to the mare's house, and as soon as they entered William saw the grand amount of animals. Birds, mice, a bunny, and even a giant bear! Which almost make him run away as fast as he could. "Don't worry." said Fluttershy. "He won't hurt you, we are friends." "If you say so." said him a little scared. She guide him to a couch in which he could land on, then she flew to the kitchen. "I'm gonna make you a special tea, it'll help with your headache." she said. "Then I'll take you to the princess so she can send you home." "Really! Thank you Fluttershy, but could I ask why are you helping me?" "Why I wouldn't help you." said Fluttershy. "You are a poor soul that is lost from his home, it's injured and needs a friend. Honestly if I didn't help you you'll be even more lost, and everypony will think than you are some kind of ancient warrior." "Yeah, how could I've saved the world, that's ridiculous." 10 minutes later Fluttershy returned with an herbal tea for William, that was lying on the couch with a hand on his head, trying to contain the pain. "Thank you." he said, as he started to drink it. When he finished part of the pain vanished almost instantly. "It's the princess a pony with influence? I say, that could take me to see the king or the queen?" "What." asked the mare a little confused. "Equestria doesn't have a queen or king, the Princess Celestia is the maximal authority." "Oh, sorry." he responded. "I had no idea of how the political system of this world works." "No problem, and in your world a king or queen is the ruler?" "In some counties." he answered. "But the majority, including mine, is ruled by a president." "What is the difference between a president and a princess? She asked. "Well this would take a while, but is like this..." he explained. After a nice talk about their worlds both of them became impressed by the stories of the other one, they seemed like two completely different realities. The continued until the mare noticed than the clock on the wall already marked 3:35 PM. "Well enough chatting for now." she said. "I need to feed my friends, and let them know that I'll take you to Canterlot." "Ok." said him. "And your tea make me fell very good, it almost banished my headache." "I'm glad that it helped you." said the mare while searching for the food bags. They arrived the station at 3:55 PM, and this time they were even more ponies than before, they were staring at William as a kid would stare to superhero, but they trotted fast to the train, and then found their respective spots to relax a little. Although it was hard to relax when everypony is staring at you, and whispering things between them. "Mind if I sleep for a while." he said to Fluttershy. "For some reason I'm very tired." "Of course, sleep you'll need it." "Thank you." he said before lying his body on the seat, which was easy since it was designed for ponies sitting, and went to the land of dreams." He suddenly appeared on a dark void, it was cold, infinite, and empty except for himself and two bright points in the darkness, they were together, resembling to be eyes, the left one was green, and the right one was red. They were just starring at him, and their presence was deeply scary, like they were from a creature that would kill him at any moment. Suddenly he heard a voice, a very deep voice saying: "KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL, MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID TO US!" He awoke, a very loud noise emanating from his pocket awoke him. Was one of his phone alarms. "AAHHH!" screamed Fluttershy. "What is that!" Other ponies were also scared by this, it was already 7:30 PM and some of them were already sleeping. "It was just an alarm on my phone." he said as he turned it off. "I guess that you ponies don't have cellphones." "No we don't" said Fluttershy. "What is it for." "Communication, entertaining, recording, taking photos, working, tell the hour... I could continue but you get the idea." "I was referring to the alarm." she said. "Honestly I don't know." answered William. "I don't remember putting an alarm for this hour. Sorry if I scare you." "It's not that big deal, just that I never saw nothing like it, how does it..." The mare's interlocutor was stopped by a young colt that approached to him and said." "Are you William Tyler." he spoke, it was a grey unicorn colt, with black hair, and no 'cutie mark' like Fluttershy explained. "Like the one from the legend. "Um." he didn't know how to respond, but luckily he was saved by the bell. "We arrived at Canterlot!" said a pony at the front. "Everypony down!" "It would be for the next time kid" he said as he stand up along with Fluttershy and went out of the train. As they went out the sight was really astonishing, a very big city, at the side of a mountain with very impressive buildings, but the greater one was a great white castle with an impossible architecture. She guide him through the city, while he was receiving even more judging looks at him. He did his best to ignore them as they went directly to the castle. "So this princess has the magic to send me to my world?" he asked to Fluttershy. "If she can't, I don't know who could." Soon later they reached the castle's entrance, when suddenly two guards stopped them with their spears. "Identify." said one of them. "William." "Fluttershy" "No pony sees the princess without authorization." said the other. "We need to see the princess beacouse..." Fluttershy said. "Wait, is he William!" one guard shouted. The other one reacted just as the first one "Sorry sir, it's an honor to be in your presence." Both guards leave them enter the palace, an Fluttershy guide him to the throne room. "Well that was odd" said William. "What exactly did this William did in the legend." "Just saved our world from a tyrant that was even more powerful than Celestia, Luna, and Discord combined." said the mare. "But it's just a legend, and since they think that humans don't even exist, they might think that you are that hero." Those names all combined together seemed a little familiar to William, but he tried to ignore it. They soon were at the throne room in which Celestia was. "Fluttershy." said the white alicorn. "What brings you to Canterlot at this hour?" "Hello your highness." said the mare doing a reverence. "You see I found him on the edge of the everfree forest, an although it might seem like the hero of the well known legend, he is just from a diferent world and wants to return home." she said while pointing a hoof to William. As soon as Celestia saw him tears began to run off his eyes. Would be possible, after all those years and he was still the same as the last time she saw him, but his eyes tell her that he doesn't remember her yet. "William did you remember me." she said while crying. "Um, no." this was even more odd. "I'm not that hero you think I am your highness, I just wanna return to my world." "So you have amnesia." the princess said with more tears on her face. "No I'm definitely not from this world." he said with more doubts on his head. "Your sister was Melissa, and your mother was Bianca." the princess sentence. "What! You are right but does that mean..." "Honestly me an Luna owe you our lives." the smilling-crying princess said. "But... you... you..." she stopped talking and flew in front of him and gave him a tide hug. "I don't see you in about 20000 years!" > Chapter II - The last human on earth. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy was stunned. The conversation between William and Celestia became more intense. She didn't expect this to happen; also, she never thought that she will see someday the princess cry, after saying that something happened 20000 years ago, she just hug him and break into an intense and painful crying. "WWHHHAAAAAA!" was crying Celestia. "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I COULDN'T HELP YOU!" William was also stunned by this, by the stories that Fluttershy told him, he though than she was a calmed and wise leader, but also a strong one, one that would not cry even on the hardest circumstances. But just his presence and name was enough to break her to a deep cry, a cry than he just saw once on his mother, when his father was imprisoned on jail. The cry was so loud than a second princess entered the throne room from another door, it was princess Luna. "Sister wat's wrong!?" she said. "What's happ..." she stopped talking as soon as she noticed the hug between William and Celestia, which made her also break into tears, and add herself to the hug. "William!" the crying moon princess said. "It's you! It's you! How is it possible!? I thought you died 20000 years ago!" The hug prolonged itself for almost 10 minutes, until Celestia ended it with her face all wet. "Well, I guess than you have amnesia." said Celestia. "But don't worry I've a memory recall spell that could help you!" "Wait!" said William pulling Celestia and Luna apart. "What is all of these about! What happened 20000 years ago!?" "Well, although you'll remember everything with the memory recall spell, I think I could explain it so Fluttershy can hear it as well. It all started 20000 years ago, when me an Luna were created. A group of human scientists discovered a new type of energy, an energy with never seen properties, it was so strange than this group decided to call it 'magic'. Then they noticed that this energy could solve a problem they called 'global warming' so they wanted to create more of these energy. Unfortunately this energy was only produced by few living organisms on earth, and in very few quantities, so they were about to abandon the project. But that was until your father entered the project, he created two biological altered organisms, the first one called 'the Celestial solution', and one year later the second one called 'experiment loona'." Fluttershy was shocked, nopony knew the origins of Celestia an Luna, and Celestia was revealing them just right now. Celestia continued. "Those experiments are me and my dear sister." William's head began to hurt again, he was starting to remember two little figures of little ponies that were important to him. "However he didn't plan these creatures to have so many magical power, it was so much raw magic that had the power to manipulate space-time. But another thing happened, me and Luna developed the ability to talk think critically, and have emotions. This surprised your father, and when he tried to take us to his home to be out of the lab and have a good childhood, his superior accused him on trying to steal 'precious equipment' and send him to jail." That last line make William's head hurt even stronger, he now remembered the real reason of his father's legal problem, and that hurt, not only on his head, but on his heart. "Then we were subjected to very cruel experiments that I don't wanna remember." said Celestia with perturbation on her face. "But it all changed when one day me and Luna were able to escape that lab, we wandered through the city until we somehow found you. You were astonished by our presence at first, but when you discovered that we were just two little 7 and 6 years old fillies, you convinced your mother and sister to let us stay at your home, and then you gave us the greatest childhood me and Luna could ask. You teach us friendship, you teach us morals, you put us at school, you teach us how to use our magic, you fight to give us human rights and succeeded!" Celestia said cheerfully. This made William started to cry as well, he was now starting to remember those 5 years he spent with these two ponies. They were suffering intensely, and he managed to end that suffering; he didn't know what to say, except for the obvious question. "But what happened?" he asked. "Then, 2 years before you banished the pandemic arrived." continued Luna. "You said it was a disease called COVID-19, and it was killing a lot of people. Until unconsciously my or Celestia's magic started to convert all the infected people in our city into ponies, although their minds were safe, it was obvious that was our fault and although some humans were mad on us, some of them were thanking us for saving their relatives, since the virus only attacked human bodies, but they were unconverted after the virus leaved their bodies. But when the director of the magical project saw this kind of power, he want it, he wanted more than anything on this world. He tried to kidnap us several times, but he always failed, he tried to recreate us, but without your father's help it was impossible, the best he could create was a creature called Discord, and his magic couldn't be drained from him. Until one day he managed to kidnap Celestia, and began to drain her magic into his body. Then you developed a quick plan, you ask me to give you part of my power so you can face him and rescue Celestia, and I accepted without doubts. That day was the last day I or my sister saw you, but from what she told to me, you managed to rescue her before all his magic was drained, and then you faced him in a huge magical battle, a battle which outcome will decide the fate of the world. You told her to run away from the place, but from the distance she could se a big blue explosion that expanded from there and quickly enveloped the city, the country, the continent, and the whole world, transforming everyone into everypony as it extended." Fluttershy and William were stunned at the princess statement. For Fluttershy it meant that she finally managed to discover the origins of the pony race, an origin than was always kept away from the public. But for William it meant something even more painful, it meant that he wouldn't see his mother again, he wouldn't see his sister again! A feeling that was very painful for him, he thought that this princesses would send him to his world, and that would be all, but now he discovered than his world doesn't exists anymore, and that all his loved ones, his friends, his family; all of them already died long long ago. "Then the world was merged into chaos." continued Celestia. "With Discord free, humans with hoofs instead of hands, and the fall of their communication systems their society was destroyed by it's own weight, in about 10 years the world was unrecognizable the ponies grouped themselves by their race, Discord mess up with the solar system, magic altered the fauna and lead crazy creatures to emerge, and me and Luna hide on our house beacouse of the fear of not finding you. But after some millenniums of suffering the ponies of these continent united themselves against some creatures called the windigos, Me and Luna managed to make day and night normal again, and the government of Equestria was formed with me and Luna as their rulers. And now here we are, we finally see you again, after all these years we though you died, but a part of me still had hope on seen you again, since the magic Luna gave you was enough to make you immortal as well." "I... I..." William said, he was starting to remember more about that day. "I don't know what to say, now that you tell these things to me I'm starting to remember, but how I appeared here?" "Well that's what we want to know as well." said the white mare. "But for that I can use the memory recall spell I mentioned before, with your permission obviously." "Do it." said William with no doubts on his voice. "Alright." said Celestia. "These spell will project the memories of that day so we can see it, Ok?" "Ok" The alicorn's horn began to glow, and a beam was fired from it and impacted William's head. When the beam hit him he felt his whole life pass is front of his eyes, but it all went quickly to the last day he remembered. It was cloudy, and William was high in the sky, firing up magical beams at another human figure, figure that also responded with his own beams at him. They continue battling, until the other figure tackled William unto the ground and started to beam more energy from his fists. William was containing this energy with his magic, but it was getting harder to do as a ball of energy began to grow between them. "Ready to surrender?" said the figure, as he intensified the energy he was beaming. "Never!" responded William. "Not even in 20000 years, this world shouldn't be ruled by a monster like you." he shouted. Then the ball of energy expolted and the two figures banished in the explosion as te memory ended. He returned to reality with even more pain than when he firs arrived, while Fluttershy, Celestia and Luna stared at the end of the projection. William fell unto the floor, he was still conscious, but the pain was very intense; to avoid worrying anypony he arose and stand before Celestia and Luna. "Ouch!" he said. "But how does that explain what happened?" "Magic is very attached to emotions." Said the moon mare. "By saying that phrase, and being one of the two most powerful magical entities you banished yourself 20000 years to the future, and since the director didn't appear with you, he was probably disintegrated on the explosion." A huge an long silence followed the last statement, then William break into an intense cry, but this was not of happiness, it was from sadness of the dead and suffering of all those people, for his now almost extinguished race. "So now I'm the last human on the earth?" he said with tears rolling his eyes. "Sadly, it seems so." said Celestia hugging his friend. Fluttershy contemplated the scene as Luna also add herself to the consolation of the poor human, she knew that Celestia could help him, but she didn't expect this to happen. > Chapter III - Return to a nightmare. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a very emotional reunion, the princesses let him stay on the room that Rarity normally occupied. The room was extremely fancy and very well decorated, he didn't have to much objects with him, except for his cellphone, his clothing, and his favorite book. He always liked 'The little prince' since it was the first book he managed to read by its own. Maybe it was for the amount of drawings that contained, maybe it was for his fathers recommendation, maybe it was for the fact that he really liked his clothing, both of them, but in a hard time like this he knew that he couldn't sleep, so will read it instead. He started reading, and he immediately was trapped on the story, again. As he read it the sunset was replaced with stars, the moon, and the beautiful darkness of the night. Although he really wanted to know what happened to the world in all these years, he preferred not to do it tonight; tonight he didn't felt strong enough. Tonight he was nothing against the fact than his whole species was extinguished, except for him. Now that he was starting to remember his time with Celestia and Luna, he was wandering: "Did I do the right thing? Was correct to take care of them, even though they were a danger to the world?" Tears began to fall on his face again, he left the book aside, and focused on sleeping; or at least trying to sleep that night. He tried to convince himself that he did the right thing, and that what happened was a simple accident, although it was pretty hard since now he remembered the last time he saw his mother. Two days before Celestia's kidnap, his mother left him in charge of the house, her sister, and the two little 'alicorns', since she had to go in a business trip, he now was 17 and proved to be responsible in the past, so she trusted him. "I'll be back in a week." she said. "Don't let anything else happen to Tia an Luna." "Don't worry, they tried to kidnap them before, and they always failed." William said. "They can fly, run very fast, and now I just teach Luna how to teleport." "Ok, See you later Tia." she said as she gave a hug to the withe alicorn. "I'll miss you Luna." she said as the black pony enjoyed her hugging time. "Don't forget to be nice Melisa, and do everything William says." "I'll do, I'll do." William's sister responded. The family ended hugging each other without a concrete order, all of them thought that in a week they'll reunite. But they were wrong. William finally stopped remembering, since it was painful to know that he failed. He wanted to go back in time, go back and fix all this huge mistake, but he can't. "I can't believe it Tia!" said Luna to her sister. "After all those years he is still alive! I was about to lose the hope." "But he returned back." said the white mare smiling, but her smile faded a second later. "What's wrong?" asked Luna to her. "Did you remember when he left us?" asked Celestia. "All the pain, all the fear of being alone, all the sadness of watching the human civilization fall before our eyes." "Yes." said the dark blue mare. "I remember when we found Melisa as a pegasus, we were so scared and lost than..." then the mare realized. "Oh no, William is going through the same thing as you and me, if not worse." "Exactly" said the white mare. "Although I gave him a room at the palace, it wouldn't be enough for him, I know him. He wants to see everypony happy, and he wanted to see his mother an sister happy as well. But now he lost them." "I've an idea!" said Luna. "Maybe I can go into his dreams; try to calm him, gave him comfort, and banish the nightmare that he probably is going through." "Oh a nightmare." said Celestia a little scared. "Well this is certainly more your terrain than mine. Well don't lose more time. He needs you!" "Ok Tia, I'll go." said Luna with determination on her voice. "Is the least I can do for all the times he comforted us from all those nightmares of the lab. Maybe he could help me with the tantabus problem." "What problem?" asked Celestia with a raised eyebrow. "Nothing!" Luna was starting her spell, her horn was glowing white as she entered the dream realm. In there, she saw tons of doors than leaded to the dreams of everypony in equestria, various and daily dreams she already was used to. But there was a new door among the others, and Luna could sense of who it was. As she approached to it, she could see that was a tall, blue, star-decorated door, with a golden round handle. "Here we go." said the princess to herself as she entered the door. In the dream, the place was all dark, cold, and empty; except for William, that was at the center of the darkness. But staring at him were 2 eyes in the darkness, one green, and one red. "NOW YOU UNDERSTAND." said a voice coming from the eyes. "CELESTIA AND LUNA KILLED OUR RACE, WE SHOULD TAKE REVENGE ON THEM!" the entity shouted. His voice was abnormal, extremely deep and disturbing, but understandable for William and Luna. Speaking of her, she was horrified by this nightmare, she never though of herself as a burden to William, and this statement paralyzed her in a way that she never felt since her time at the lab. "No!" William shouted to the entity. "Even if some mistakes were made, they were not Tia or Luna's fault, they were from director Osvaldo!" "THAT'S WHAT YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF." said the entity as he left the darkness into the sight of both presents. He was almost like William, but that thing had one green, and one red eyes without pupils; very long, and very messy hair; extremely big hands, with fingers that look more like claws; and spiky teeth on his mouth. "BUT YOU AND ME KNOW THE TRUTH, SINCE WE ARE THE SAME PERSON." the monstrosity said. "BUT SINCE I AM THE BRAVEST OF THE TWO I THINK YOU CAN CALL ME OWLEN." The princess already had enough of this 'Owlen' so she was about to undo the nightmare right now, but Owlen spotted her. "SPEAKING OF WHICH! LOOK WHO JUST DECIDED TO ENTER TO HER DOOM, THE PRINCESS LUNA HERSELF." said Owlen. "TO BE HONEST WITH YOU LUNA THAT TITLE FITS YOU VERY WELL. BUT ENOUGH CHATTING, ITS TIME FOR YOU TO DIE." "Enough 'Owlen'." said the night mare. "You are just a nightmare, and as one, you have no real power over hi... Ahhhhh!" The princess couldn't finish her statement, since Owlen extended a claw and levitated the princess from the neck strangling her. "Luna is it you!" asked William. He knew that Luna could enter in people's dreams, since she already entered in one of his. "What's happening!?" The princess barely could talk, she didn't knew how a nightmare can do this things to a real pony, until she realized: "William still has all that magic! With all of that power he could unconsciously create entities like the Tantabus!" she thought. "IT APPEARS THAN THIS MARE WANTED TO MAKE YOUR DREAMS PEACEFUL AGAIN, BUT SHE ISN'T A THREAT TO ME! NOW, HOW SHOULD I KILL HER?" Owlen asked to William. "DECAPITATION, SOFOCATION, DROWNING HER, BURNING HER, OR MAYBE I SHOULD GO FOR THE PAINFUL TORTURE OPTION!" "W-Wi-William" said the mare almost fainting "If he kills me he-here I'll d-die in the real world." "Leave her!" said William rushing to Owlen to punch him on the face, but Owlen just levitated him away. "AND YOU ARE STILL TRYING." said the monster. "EVEN AFTER ALL SHE AND CELESTIA DID TO YOU, YOU STILL TRY TO DEFEND THEM. THAT'S WHY I SHOULD KILL HER, TO SHOW YOU THE TRUTH SO YOU CAN AVENGE OUR SPECIES." "William." said Luna. "He only has as much power as you choose to gave him. Use your magic to... Mhp." her mouse was closed by a black aura. "SHUT UP STUPID HORSE!" shouted Owlen. "THAT'S BETTER, NOW, LET THE FUN BEGIN." William was about to close his eyes to avoid seeing the horrors that Owlen was about to show him, when he remembered: "I've Luna's magic!" Owlen was about to sink his claws into Luna's face, when a blue light beam throw him away. "Never! I said, NEVER! Touch her again." William shouted to Owlen as Luna fainted to the floor. "OH, SO YOU ARE STILL UP FOR FIGHTS." said Owlen. "DON'T WORRY THIS WILL BE FAST." "I know." William said confident of himself. Owlen rushed to him almost like an animal hunting its prey. But when his claw was about to hit William on the face, William grab it, and then threw the whole body of Owlen into the ground. Then his hand glow, and he use it to seal Owlen in the ground until he couldn't be seen. And with that quick movement, Owlen banished from sight. After recovering the calm William ran quickly to Luna, and tried to wake her up. As he was doing this, the absolute darkness of the dream was slowly replaced by a sky full of stars, and a floor that reflected that as a mirror. "Luna! Luna! Wake up! Wake up!" "Umm... what just happened?" said the mare before noticing William. "William! Are you ok, that thing almost killed me! It could have killed you as well, I wasn't sure that you could deal with..." She stopped before the tide hug William gave her. For that instant all their fears were gone, just for that single instant. "What was that thing?" asked William, breaking the silence. "Well..." "So this 'Tantabus' you faced before, is similar to Owlen." "Yes." said the mare. "Although he was more sapient, and more brutal than the Tantabus." "But... he is gone, right?" "I think so." answered Luna. "But that thing was formed from your negative feelings, your fear, your anger, your hate. I came to this dream to comfort you, and wipe out your fears, although the reality I founded was even more dark than I though. I don't know if I can do this alone." "What do you mean with 'alone'?" "I know some ponies that could help with your problem" stated Luna. "In fact, you already met one of them: Fluttershy." "If you say so Luna." William said with a mixed expression on his face. "Trust me." the mare said. "They are amazing, they are the elements of harmony!" "The what of harmony?" William asked. "Oh sorry, I forgot that you missed a lot of what happened, but I know that with enough time you'll get all the important info!" she declared. "In fact, I'll wake up and wrote a letter to one of them." "Ok." said William before the princess of the night banished in front of him. "I trust you Luna." He lay down on the reflecting floor as he watched the stars in his dream. Now he remembered almost everything that happened those years he raised Tia and Luna, he know that at least they had not forgotten him, and most importantly, he had hope. The dream lasted a few hours more until it dissolved as the sun began to rise in the morning. "Today is a new day." he said. "And at least the 'elements' could help me. Meanwhile, in William's subconscious, Owlen was trapped, but still angry. "COWARD! COWARD! THIS WONT LAST FOREVER, SOON I'LL BE FREE, SOON CELESTIA AND LUNA WILL PAY!" > Chapter IV - Meeting a legend. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was 7:00 AM on ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle was sleeping on her castle's bedroom very peacefully. For one time in a long time, she didn't stay awake at night to read a book, she didn't had to go to other city to solve a friendship problem, no major issues were going on on ponyville, and princess Celestia didn't send any... "Twilight! Twilight! Wake up!" said his faithful assistant. "I just erupted a letter from the princess!" ...letter. "Ugh, Spike, what did you say?" said the purple alicorn while trying to wake up. "Sorry, I wasn't listening." "A letter from princess Luna!" shouted Spike. "I was sleeping, when I erupted this letter with the moon seal instead of the sun's seal, so I guess is from princess Luna." "Princess Luna!?" asked the alicorn jumping off the bed. "Writing me a letter? That's weird. She never send me a letter before, you think something happened to princess Celestia!?" "Well, let's see. Ehem." the young dragon cleared his voice before breaking the moon seal on the roll, and started reading it. "Dear princess Twilight. Yesterday something unexpected, but wonderful happened. A very old friend of me and my sister appeared suddenly in our land. You know this 'person' in the legends by the name of 'William Tyler', and before you ask, yes, he is the one from the legends. Although me and my sister were extremely happy to see him again, one of my interventions to his dreams revealed that he is going through a lot of sadness. I'll certainly appreciate if you could came here to Canterlot with your friends so you can cheer him up. Also don't forget to bring as many history books as you can. He asked me to give him all the information of what happened in all this years he wasn't with us. Also, if you have any doubts, I'll be more than happy to answer them face to face. Luna. P D Fluttershy is already here, so don't worry about her." Twilight's brain stopped working for a moment, William! The William from the legend! If this was true, everything that she theorized about equestria's formation was wrong, humans existed...or exist, and the greatest hero of the whole world needed her help! "I don't get it." the dragon spoke. "Who is this 'William'?" "Who is William!?" replied the mare. "Nopony reads books anymore!? William is a hero from a legend even older than equestria's formation! In that legend we ponies came from humans, a magic-less species, but with an incredible well developed technology! He saved the world from one of their kind, that kidnapped and tortured Celestia and Luna when they where just fillies! And wanted to use their magic to shape the world at his will. But then William came, and since he was a pure soul, Luna gave her magic to him so he could face him and save the world from his tyranny. "And who was that evil human?" asked Spike. "Well...the legend is not clear with that part, as well as so many others like, how exactly ponies descend from humans? what happened to their technology? Or what happened to William?, I honestly never believed that that legend was true beacouse of all those inconsistencies. But if princess Luna is calling me and my friends to meet him that means that he is real! REAL!" shouted the princess. "So... I should call the girls or..." "Yes! Call them!" spoke Twilight cheerfully. "Go and search for Rarity and Pinkie, I'll go to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. We'll meet at the the castle!" said the princess flying away from her room at a tremendous speed. "Wait, NOW!?" asked Spike. "Yes now!" shouted the alicorn from the distance. "I'm gonna meet William! I'm gonna meet William!..." "Well then." said the dragon, only wishing to return to sleep. "This William should be really important. I never saw Twilight so altered beacouse of a legend, since the time we first arrived ponyville." William was starting to wake up, and as soon as he watched the castle like decorated roof, he remembered where he was. "Oh no, all of that happened!" said him with a scared voice. "My species is really extinguished, I'm the last human, and my family died a long time ag..." BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! His phone alarm of the morning started to ring at that moment. "Well, I guess my inner clock its still working. Now, time to turn that thing off." He extended his arm to try to reach his cellphone, but before his hand could touch it, a light blue aura enveloped the device, and levitated it into his hand. "What the..." was all William managed to say before remembering that he had magic now. "Oh that's cool! At least not everything is terrible in this situation." he thought while turning off the alarm. He stand up, and tried his new ability on his black coat that he left last night on a nearby chair. It took it some minutes to figure out how to lift it at will, but the satisfaction he had after he saw the levitating coat dressing him, was something that even with his recovered memory, he never experienced before. He went out of the bedroom, and started making his way to the dining room to get breakfast. Last night, Celestia told him that a very good breakfast will be served for him in the morning, and even though the idea of being treated as royalty make him a little uncomfortable, he was still very hungry since the only thing he ate, or drunk in the last 48 hours was a cup of Fluttershy's tea. And he loved to eat a lot of food. He also liked the idea of getting lost in that big palace, he always loved being lost. Mazes, new cities, buildings, all of those kind of places. The idea of exploring, making your way out of those places, the adrenaline, and loosing the fear to the new place. All of those things you normally don't notice when you get lost, it was like an adventure! Besides, he had plenty of time, and if he didn't manage to make it to the dining room, he could always ask to some perso... 'pony' where it was. Yeah there are only ponies on earth now. He tried his best to forget the problem as he walked to the beautiful hallways of the castle. It looked like the castle Celestia draw for him when she was a little colt, the walls, the design, everything, although that drawing was nothing compared to this building, it was... almost unreal. "So William is real!" shouted Pinkie pie. "And he is here on equestria! He is like the greatest hero of all times! I need to make him a party! I need to bring him gifts! I need to..." "Calm down Pinkie!" spoke Rarity. "He just reappeared after thousands of years, and you wanna scare him with a party!?" "Well, actually, Luna requested us, so we can cheer him up," Twilight spoke, "so I think that a party is not a bad idea, but maybe not today Pinkie." she said while grabbing tons of big volumes about equestrian history, magic, old legends, etc. In her saddlebag. Without her new alicorn magic it would be impossible to carry all of those books in there. "I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" my childhood hero is needing my help!" said Rainbow Dash from above her friends. "I say... our help, he he." "Are you sure this isn't some kind of joke Twilight?" asked Applejack. "From what I heard, he is just that, a legend." "I don't think so," Twilight responded, "look at what was included on the letter!" she shouted while levitating a photo of William alongside the princesses and Fluttershy. "Whoa! Let me see! Let me see!" shouted the hyperactive pink mare. "Oh! He looks exactly like the legends!" At this, the cowpony froze for a moment, before returning to its senses. "So what are we waiting!" spoke the orange mare. "Let's go and meet him!" William was still wandering through the castle, admiring the architecture, the roof, the floor, the windows, the... stained glasses? Oh, they were unexpected, but welcomed. They seemed to tell parts of this ponies history, although he didn't recognize almost any of the images, one of them caught his attention. It was of a pony similar to Luna, but more scary, being blasted away by another six ponies. "Maybe that was the tantabus." he thought. He continued his exploration through the castle, trying not to think on the problem, when he heard a very authoritarian and royal-like voice calling him from behind. "Hey you!" a white unicorn shouted from behind. "Could I know what a bipedal monster is doing on my castle?" William turned himself to be face to face with the stallion. "Um, this... I was just trying to find the dining room" William said on a low voice. "Creatures like you are not allowed on my castle!" spoke the blond, white stallion. "I'm prince Blueblood! Nephew of princess Celestia! How did you get in?" "Well, mr. Blueblood, in fact Celestia was the one that let me stay here last night, so I guess tha..." "Liar! Liar! She'll never let in a creature like you! Now get out of my sight before I call the guards!" "But I'm telling the truth!" said William. "Listen mr. I understand that my appearance could be a little weird for ponies, but that doesn't give you the right to... HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" William was lifted by the stallion's magic, and began to fly to a nearby window. "This will teach you to respect your superiors!" shouted Blueblood. "Now return to the dark forest from where you came from! Stupid creature!" "PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!" William was shouting with no response from the stallion. "I SAID, PUT ME DOWN!" he shouted, as he fired blue magical beams directly to Blueblood's position, which make him fly to the other part of the hallway, and crash into a window. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" shouted the stallion as he fell to the castle gardens. "Ups." said William as he returned to the ground. Fluttershy was at the castle gardens, re-meeting the animals that were there. She had a little bit of time before taking breakfast with William and the princesses, and she wanna use that time apologizing to all the animals there beacouse of the night of the grand galloping gala. "I'm so sorry for what I did that night my friends. All that pressure of having the greatest night possible turned me into a monster. And I'm really sorry for all that chaos I was responsible of creating." "AHHHHH! UFF!" said Blueblood as he crashed on the floor of the castle gardens. "Oh Celestia!" shouted the mare softly. "What are you doing Blueblood!?" "That monster! That stupid bipedal! He has no respect for his superiors! I'm gonna call the..." he said before fainting into the ground. "Wait, bipedal? Could it be?" she thought as she began to lift the ground, and fly to the broken window. "William!" she shouted. "What happened!?" "He attacked me! Grabbed me with magic, and then I... well, blast him away accidentally." he said a little ashamed of himself. "I saw that, but how?" "Well... did you remember that Luna gave me half of her magic." "Oh that's why." said Fluttershy with a laugh. "Oh and don't worry about him, it was just one floor, he'll survive. Also he kind of deserves it beacouse of the idiot he is." "Oh so he is like that to everypony. But wait it's Celestia's nephew! so that means..." "No no no no, it's not that, he is kind of adopted." "Oh I see." William spoke. "Sorry for asking, but, Did you know where's the dining room?" Celestia and Luna were waiting for William and/or Fluttershy to appear to have breakfast. They didn't wanna disturb William's sleep, since for his point of view, he didn't sleep in about 30 hours, so they waited patiently. Then they patience was rewarded. "And here is the dining room" said Fluttershy as William entered inside. "Thank you Fluttershy." said the human. "Good morning Tia! Good morning Luna!" "Good morning William!" said Celestia. "I can see that your memory has returned." "Yes, thank you for that." "It was nothing," Luna spoke, "now, if your memory returned you'll certainly remember this!" she said while pointing a hoof to a plate full of pancakes with honey. "Those are for me!?" asked William, this was his favorite breakfast. "Really?" "Yes." answered Celestia. "Since you don't eat hay, and the royal chefs didn't know how to make pancakes without it, I had to make them personally." "What!? You don't eat hay?" asked Fluttershy. "Nope, no human could without getting an indigestion." he answered. "Well, I think that we are all very hungry now, so let's eat!" Celestia spoke. William took a seat, and immediately started the assault on his pancakes. They were exactly the way he used to make them for Tia and Luna, when they were colts. "It seems that somepony learned how to cook." William said while devouring his food. "Well, I learned from the best chef ever." Celestia said with a smile on her face. William taught her how to cook years ago, and she always wanted to thank him for that. Maybe this was the best way she could, since William loved eating. "Also, may I tell you something that happened on my way here?" The four of them continued eating and chatting with a renewed joy, until somepony entered the room screaming his words. "Aunt Celestia! Aunt Celestia!" shouted Blueblood as he entered the room. "You gotta help me! There is a monster in the castle! He tried to attack me! He tried to..." he stopped talking as soon as he noticed William. "There it is! There it is! He wants to steal our food! He wants to..." "Enough Blueblood!" Celestia shouted. "He already told me the truth. How dare you to treat our closest friend like that!" "Your closest friend!?" asked the stallion with fear in his voice. "He is William." Luna spoke. With this new information, the expression on Blieblood's face changed to one of absolute horror. "W-Wi-William!?" he spoke. "There it goes my name again."William thought, he didn't like to see his name used to cause fear, even if that idiot deserves it, so he spoke. "Don't worry mr." William quickly said. "As long as you apologize, I see no problem on forgiving you." "Oh y-yes sir, I-I'm tr-truly sorry for what I did." he spoke. "It wasn't m-me. If you can excuse me I'll leave you alone with the princesses." he said as he quickly escaped from the room. "You'll let him leave!?" Luna spoke. "After how he treated you!?" "Luna, you know that revenge isn't my style." "BUT IT'S SURELY MY STYLE!" shouted Owlen from William subconcious, although not even him was able to hear him. Twilight and her friends were arriving at Canterlot's castle at 12:05 P M, all of them very excited to meet William, but also worried about him. "Princess Luna stated on her letter that he is going through a very hard time," Rarity spoke, "what do you think that happened to him?" "Honestly, I don't know Rarity." Twilight answered. "But since we are the elements of harmony, I think that we could help him!" They entered the castle, and followed luna's instructions at the P P D to meet with her and William at the throne room at 12:20 P M. They were extremely excited about this moment, specially Rainbow, that was about to meet his childhood hero, the only being in equestria that she considered more awesome than herself, although she would never admit it. They entered the throne room, and then, they saw him. William. It was just as the legends described him; black hair, bipedal figure, very very tall, and with his black coat. He was at the throne room with Luna, apparently waiting for them. For a minute, nopony said a word that would kill the the delicate silence, until Twilight spoke up. "Oh my Celestia! Is William!" > Chapter V - Welcome to Equestria and thank you for saving us party! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was 3:00 PM at Canterlot's castle, and William has experienced one of the craziest things he never though he would ever live, well... besides turning once into a pony when he got infected of coronavirus. He was with Twilight Sparkle at Canterlot's library. She was helping him to study all the history that he needed in order to live a 'normal' life on equestria. As well as he was teaching her everything from his lost civilization; technology, politics, economics, etc. "You know Twilight," William spoke while closing the book he was reading, "I just don't know how to act in these situation." "What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "I mean, everything. The magic, my past, my friends and relatives deaths, the extinction of my race..." he said with a sad tone on his voice. "I, um... well..." Twilight started talking, although she wasn't exactly sure of what to say to the great and brave William, until she remembered than he was not exactly as the legends describe him, and that was the reason she and her friends were with him. "...That's why me and my friends are here! To make you feel better." "Don't get me wrong Twilight." he said. "But what exactly are you and your friends supposed to do? I know that you have the best intentions, but if you can't go back in time, I doubt that you could do anything." "Well I can't go back in time, without causing 100 paradoxes, but me and my friends are the elements of harmony! I'm sure than we can help you." "If you say so." William stated. "By the way, what are those elements?" "Oh, I forgot to teach you that!" Twilight shouted. "How could I forgot to teach you the magic of friendship?" "The magic of what?" "Well, let me explain. The elements of harmony are six magical stones that come from the tree of harmony." "But you and your friends don't look as stones." he said "That's beacouse we are just the ones linked to them." she spoke. "They are: Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, Laugh, Loyalty and Magic. And when they are combined, they create the most powerful magic of all times! The magic of friendship." "But there was no thing as a tree of harmony 20000 years ago, so, where it comes from?" "From what Celestia told me, the magic of the elements is not only even older than equestria, but perhaps even more older than herself." "Wait," William said with astonishment, "are you telling me..." "The tree was just hidden from society most of the time." Twilight spoke. "And since humans existed, the tree was also hidden from them as well." "What!" William shouted at that revelation. "If that's true, magic was real even before Tia and Luna!" Twilight stared at him for a moment, she never heard somepony with enough courage to refer Celestia as Tia, other than princess Luna herself. But then she remembered who he was, and what Celestia mean to him. "Maybe, that's where your father originally discovered magic." "Yeah, maybe." he said. "By the way, what are your friends doing out there?" "Quick! Quick!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Pass me the table decorations!" "Here," Rarity spoke, "these are pretty, and according to Celestia, blue is his favourite color." The rest of the elements were making a 'welcome to equestria and thank you for saving us party'. Yeah, Pinkie's name. It wasn't that big since Celestia warned Pinkie not to exceed herself, but it was comfy and familiar enough for William's preferences. It was the way the friends and the princesses had to say 'thank you' to him. Celestia and Luna entered the room, and saw the result of the preparation and organization of Pinkie's decoration. They still don't know how she does it, but not even the royal staff was able to make such things as the pink mares parties. "Well done Pinkie!" Celestia spoke. "Now the only thing left is the food." "Don't worry princess, I'll..." Applejack began to speak. "Don't bother yourself Applejack." The white alicorn spoke. "Since William can't eat most of the things we ponies normally eat, I'll take care of his dinner personally." Celestia teleported herself to the castle's kitchen. She knew exactly what to make for William. Lasagna, his favorite food. She started the preparation of the plate, and went into an already advanced state of the cooking process, when she found the biggest issue, meat. For obvious reasons, she didn't have any meat in the castle, and by this point, all the animals on earth have become sapient beacouse of her magic, so killing them would be an atrocity. "Oh no." she thought. "I know how much he hates vegetarian lasagna, so that isn't an option." she continued struggling her brain, until after a while, she found a solution that William and the animal lover pegasus will enjoy. "Great Celestia! Great! This time, your creativity transfer all the limits!" she said with a smile. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" "You said something Twilight?" William asked. "What? No, why do you ask?" she spoke. "I could almost swear that I heard a voice." BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! His same alarm from yesterday triggered in that moment. "Ah!" Twilight shouted as William deactivated it once and for all. "What the hay is that!?" "It's just a cellphone. I think you ponies don't have these anymore. It would be pretty useful in the past, but now it's pretty much a relic." "Wait." Twilight said after a second of watching the screen. "That thing can display words! Text! Books!" "Well, yes; but I don't have any book in this device." William spoke. "But I've this!" he said while pulling out 'The little prince' of his coat. "I can't believe it!" Twilight shouted. "Human literature! It's impossible! It's incredible! May I see it?" "Sure." "Oh wow!" she exclaimed. "The little prince huh, and is it good?" "Is the best book of all times." William answered. "If you want, you can borrow it for a while." "Really!" the mare said with disbelief. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Just then, the doors of the room they were in opened, and a cyan pegasus called over to William and Twilight. "Hey you two book eaters! The princess wants to show William something." "Ok." the two of them said in an instant, as they followed the cyan mare to the room the party was in preparation. During the walk, Rainbow Dash couldn't stop staring at his childhood hero as he walked, and in two legs! She contained herself all the time that she could, but eventually her curiosity was enough to make her ask. "So, William." Rainbow spoke. "Do you still have all that magic from Luna?" "Well..." he said while raising his hand in order to levitate himself a few centimeters of the ground for a few amount of seconds. "I think than the answer is yes. It feels weird, but awesome at the same time!" "Oh cool!" the flying mare answered. "And, until now, what do you think about equestria?" "Well... I've to say that from what I read on the books that Twilight showed to me, the kingdom that Tia formed in my absence is a very peaceful one. I like it!" "Oh great! And just wait until you see cloudsdale!" she spoke. "Hoping to visit it later." he stated. The three of them continued on the way that Rainbow Dash indicated, until they arrived at the door that contained a party behind. Then, a golden aura enveloped the handle and opened it, revealing all the ponies that were behind the surprise, as they shouted: "Surprise!" William felt a joy that he didn't know it was possible. After all those years of absence, Tia and Luna still remember him. Tears of happiness began to fall from his eyes, as his mouth began to move. "I-I don't know what to say." he started to speak, as he contemplated the detailed decorations that were exactly the way he once told Tia he would like a party. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" "You are welcome." Luna replied. The little party was one of the best ones William has ever experienced, and he enjoyed the chatting, the music, the decorations, and everything. Then the moment of eating arrived, and Celestia appeared with a sudden flash with the plate for William. "Is that a," William spoke, already smelling it, "lasagna!" "Yes, it is." answered the white alicorn. "Just as you use to cook it when I was a child." William tried his new abilities on the plate, and levitate it very close to his position. But then, the yellow mare saw what was inside the lasagna. "Is-is th-that, meat!?" she almost shouted in horror, and William, who was about to start devouring his treasure, froze in fear of what his new friends might think of his diet. But then Celestia came to the rescue. "Don't worry Fluttershy. Although this plate contains meat, I can assure you that no animal was injured in the preparation." "So then how did you make it?" William asked. "It is something that you always wished to be real, and I wasn't sure than I could make it, but I did it! It's artificial meat!" Said the white mare with excitement. "It is easier to make, healthier for you, and it's even more tasty!" "Oh that's a relief." Fluttershy spoke. "Wait, your species eats meat! Where did you get it 20000 years ago!?" "Oh Fluttershy." Luna spoke. "This would take a while to explain." "I was this close to be hated for life!" said William while going to his room in the castle. "At least me and Tia came to rescue the night." Luna joked. "Well, did you have a good day after all?" "Yes, it was pretty nice." William said with a smile. "And, Luna, can I ask you something?" "Yes William." "Now that I have this magic, I want to know how to use it. And I wanna know beyond simple levitation! Could you ask Tia if she could teach me magic?" "Well, she is very occupied with her royal duties, in fact, she had to make some serious modifications to her schedule to make that party. But I know that her faithful student Twilight, would be more than happy to teach you." "*Yawn* Really? *yawn*" he said. "Yes really!" the blue mare spoke. "But I can see than you are very tired. Why you don't start that tomorrow?" "Good idea *yawn*. Well, good night Luna!" "Good night William! Don't forget that I'll be guarding your dreams tonight, just to make sure that Owlen really banished." After they finished the good nights, William went to his new/temporal bed to get some rest. Rest that he immediately founded. Meanwhile, Luna appeared in the same peaceful dream of the last night. Ready to guard William from Owlen, if he was still out there, but since the dream occurred peacefully, she assumed that Owlen had really banished. "I'VE TO WAIT!" Owlen talked to himself. "I'VE TO WAIT! UNTIL I GET A PLAN THAT WOULD MAKE ME SUCCEED IN MY REVENGE ONCE I GET OUT! I JUST NEED TO BE PACIENT, THAT'S ALL." > Chapter VI - A unicorn is teaching me magic. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The days passed, and at first, Twilight was very surprised and nervous about me asking her to teach me magic. She though that I already know how to use it at will, thing that is far from being true, since for me, I have magic for a few days ago. Eventually, she accepted. I asked Tia and Luna if I may live on Twilight's castle for learning magic. They were surprised at first; but since I practically finished school, and always wanted to study in university, I was looking forward to this, so I told them that I would see them on the weekend and went back to ponyville. The only thing that was nothing like I pictured on my mind, was the career that I would study. Magic. Although I already knew it existed, and saw it on action several times. As the days turned in a week, I was already making progress with my magic management; I learned how to levitate very heavy objects, make my hands glow blue, and other kind of simple stuff. Twilight was extremely kind to me, and when we weren't having classes, she would ask me everything about how the world was before the ponies. As well as I would ask her everything about what ponies did to the world in my 20000 years of absence. She ended 'The little prince' very quickly, and when she finished it, she asked me questions like 'how he could breathe out in space', or 'how he could talk to flowers', and 'what is a plane'. I ended up explaining tons of the metaphors that she didn't get, as well as all the 'human' things on it. And when she understand them, she ended up saying: "You know, I prefer to think of the history in a more literal way." "Yeah, me too." I responded. "But that story is completely impossible." "Well I don't think so." the mare said. "Since magic was real even before Celestia and Luna, the author of the book could perfectly found the real little prince." "Well, maybe you have a point. The author indeed flied on a plane that crashed on the sahara desert and..." I stopped talking at the moment than I realized that Twilight was right, and that the little prince could be up there at B612. That would certainly be amazing. "And?" she asked. "I guess that you could be right, although there isn't a real way to prove your theory. All I can say is that I never saw once that a story like this ended up being true." "But I did!" the purple alicorn shouted. "Like the tale of 'the mare at the moon'." "The what?" I asked. "When I was a filly, the moon was the prison of princess Luna, after she was corrupted by darkness, and transformed into nightmare moon. For the rest of the ponies it was just a legend for colts, but I paid attention to a legend that stated that, after 1000 years, she would break the seal, overthrown princess Celestia, and bring eternal night, and that's exactly what happened." "Wait, Luna did WHAT!" I shouted, shocked by the fact that the filly that I helped to raise, was capable of something like that, and against her own sister! "Yes, it did," Twilight spoke, "but don't worry, she was already forgiven, and is back to the light." "And how is she now back at her original form?" I asked "Well, that was the first time I and my friends used the elements of harmony. We found them on the ruins of the castle of the 2 sisters, and become the new elements." I processed all this new information, and after a while, I only had 2 more things to say. "You know what Twilight, I forgive her too. All peop... ponies, can make mistakes. But, I have a question." "Go ahead." "If the ponies didn't believe it, and it was only 1000 years old, then how they know my legend so well?" "Well, the thing is." Twilight begin her answer. "That Celestia did everything on her power to maintain your legend alive. And even though she always said that it was 100% true, it was so old and unverifiable that some ponies began to doubt of it, until well... now." After that chatting, and a good pasta based dinner made by myself, I went to sleep. Tomorrow Friday, Twilight would see if all the amount of raw magic I produce can already be used for teleporting, and that was one of the things I am very excited to test. However, after I got asleep, I was again in the same nightmare as the first day I returned to earth. The darkness, the cold, and him, Owlen. "YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GET RID OUT OF ME!" he shouted, as he began to run to me again. "YOU ARE TO WEAK TO BE LEFT ALIVE! NOW DIE!" But before he could do anything to me, I blasted him into the floor with al my mind and magical power. Before I knew it, the peace returned to my mind once again, and I was able to sleep well. "I should probably ask Luna about this, as well as what the hay was she thinking with that thing of 'eternal night'." I thought as I flied with my imagination through the stars. "YES! YES!" Owlen shouted from the subconscious. "EVERYTHING IS GOING ACCORDING TO MY PLAN. SOON I WILL GET ALL THE MAGIC I NEED TO EXECUTE MY PLAN! AND WHEN I WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE MAGIC WITH FEW MAGIC, I'LL HAVE MY OWN BODY! AND THEN I WILL HAVE REVENGE!" I woke up, and went immediately to the kitchen to make my breakfast. Nothing too special; just some eggs, orange juice, and bread. Those where the only things hay and flower free on the kitchen, so I guess that it would do it. Since Twilight's clases were after 12:00. I went for a walk at the town. The ponies already hear about me being real, and being at their town; but still, they stared at me like I was some kind of celebrity, which technically I am, but I don't like to be treated as one. I went directly to Fluttershy's home. I wanted to make sure than she doesn't hate me for eating meat. Although she didn't shouted anything rude to me, I always had troubles to figure out what people are thinking; and since this is a completely different culture, I don't wanna leave a bad impression on her. Her home was in the outer part of the town. It looked as comfy as I remembered from my first day on equestria. I approached to the door, and knock it softly 3 times. "Um, h-hi Fluttershy. It's me, William." At first I feared that nopony would answer me, but then that fear was wiped out as I heard the noise of flapping wings approaching to the door. Then the door opened, revealing the yellow pegasus I was looking for. "Who is it?" she spoke before noticing me. "Oh it's you William! What brings you here?" "Well, I just wanted to know if... you don't hate me." "Why would I do that!" she shouted. "You are one of the most kind beings in the whole world." "Well, since I... eat m..." I couldn't finish my sentence, luckily she did it for me. "What, meat? Oh! That's what you are worried about. Don't worry, so many of the animals I take care of eat it, and if what Celestia told me is true, most of the animals of your era are not even close to sapient. Also, she showed me how she did the artificial meat, and I have to say that is in fact very impressive." "Oh, it's good to hear that. Well I guess that I'm just disturbing, I'll leave you at peace." "Oh no, no no no, you are no disturbance. If you want, you can come inside." she said as she opened her door completely. "Thanks." I said as I get inside the house. "I just hope not to interrupt anyt..." then I froze before what was in front of my eyes. It was a lot bigger than the last time I saw him, but there he was; as amorphous, impossible, and anti natural. Discord. "Fluttershy! Who dares to disturb our tea part..." he tried to speak before dropping his tea cup into the floor. "What's wrong." the mare asked to no one in particular. "W-Wi-William!" Discord shouted. "I-I heard the rumors but... it's really you!?" "Yes, it is, Discord." I spoke. "Oh, it looks that you already know yourselves." Fluttershy spoke, remembering the story that princess Celestia told her. "Indeed Fluttershy, he my dear friend William." "Yes, 'friend' like that time you break free from Osvaldo's lab, and put the whole city upside down; and me, Tia and Luna, had to design a plan to stop you." "Oh common!" Discord said. "You can't blame a child for having fun! Besides, I've changed for the good since the last time we met, now I just live a peaceful life!" he said as he make appear a tiny, younger version of himself in the palm of his claw, and throw it as far as he could. "Don't worry William." Fluttershy said to me. "I know that Discord can do lot of horrible things, but when he means that he changed, he really means it." "Yeah my friend William, why you don't join us for tea? I think that you will enjoy it." said the draconequs. I decided to join them. At first, I wasn't so convinced that the chaotic Discord could be contained by that lovely pegasus, but as the conversation went on, I noticed that even though he is still chaotic, he is a good... being. "...And I didn't know how to present them." I spoke. "Beacouse, how often you can present 2 impossible talking creatures to your mom, and ask her to take care of them." RING! RING! RING! My phone alarm triggered in that moment. "You forgot to turn that thing off?" Fluttershy asked. "No, this alarm was an advise to return to the castle. It seems that my magic lessons with Twilight will start soon." "Then, well... goodbye my old friend." Discord stated. "At least it was good to see you around town. You haven't change in absolute!" "And you changed a lot." I spoke. "Well, then have a nice day William." Fluttershy said with a smile on her face. "It was nice to have you on our tea party. And you can came back whenever you want!" "I'll do. See you later!" I said while standing up, and heading to the door. "Try it again!" Twilight spoke to me. "Focus your magic, and picture in your mind the place that you wanna be. Also take in account than, the farther the place is, the harder it would be to succeed on the spell, so try to just go to the guest room you are sleeping." "Ok, ok." I spoke, while trying to teleport myself for the 50th time. I wasn't achieving the spell, and 3 hours have past already; so this time I wanted to try something different. Since I love physics, I tried something that I'm more familiar with. I closed my eyes, and tried to picture the space between me and my room; I tried to imagine the space like an ocean, an ocean that I could bend with my mind to be more close to my destination. I opened my eyes, to find an astonished Twilight looking at what I have done. I, somehow, opened a blue portal in front of me. A portal that revealed the room I sleep on my week of magical training. "Wow!" Twilight shouted. "How did you do that! It's a very weird way to use magic." "I don't know. I just faced magic as a mathematical problem." I said while going through the magical opening, entering my room and returning through the portal. "I have to tell princess Celestia about this!" she said as the portal closed itself. "I can only imagine how she will react to this kind of magical creativity!" "Go ahead." I told to her. "I'm very tired right now. You mind if I go to sleep? Magic can be very exhausting." "No problem." she spoke. I repeated the process I followed, and opened the same portal to my room; entered it, and collapsed into the bed as well as the portal. "Wow! That's still very amazing!" I heard Twilight said before the portal closed itself. > Chapter VII - Return to 'home'. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was 7:02 am, and William was wondering through town. It wasn't the first time, but it still felt weird; he had seen this ponies before when Tia and Luna were just fillies, but never at this big scale. Anyways, he had to go to carrousel boutique, since Celestia asked Rarity to make some clothes for him, and by now, they should be ready. The ponies were a little more familiar with his presence, but still stared at him with amazed faces, some of them even breaking the stranger-to-stranger contract, and thanking him for what he did 20000 years ago. "It's curious." he thought. "When I was a kid, I always wanted to save the world; and now that I actually did it feels incredibly weird. I just never thought of myself as a celebrity." He was thinking of all this thing when he almost stumbled with a filly that was in front of him. "Oh, sorry little one." "No problem, it was just an accide..." the yellow filly said, until she noticed who was talking to her. The bipedal figure, the black coat, that white-pink color skin, the absence of fur. He was William! The one that her sister told her about. "Are you William!" "Yes. I'm that obvious?" he said with a sarcastic smile. "Well, yes!" the filly spoke. "According to my big sister, you are the only human in equestria." "Well, you have a point, I'm." William said with a sad tone on his voice, until he realized. "Wait, how did you know that I was in equestria?" "My sister Applejack told me." the young one said with excitement. "Applejack? Oh, so you must be Applebloom, her little sister." "How do you know my name!" "Well, your sister told me a little bit about you." William spoke. "So it's true! Are you really the William from the legends!?" "Yes, I'm." he said. "And it's true that humans don't posses a cutie mark!?" Applebloom asked. "Yes, it's true. Twilight told me about your marks in your flanks, and nope, humans never had nothing like it." The answer hit the filly like a bullet. "So then, how do you know your special talent!?" "I don't need a mark to tell that my special talent is physics!" William said with a new smile forming on his face, result of remembering his physics teacher. "Although, after all the events involving magic, I've to rewrite half of what humans knew." "So now... your special talent is useless!?" Applebloom said with horror on her eyes. "That's far to be true, although magic can alter physics, it doesn't mean that I can't study magic from a physical perspective!" "Wait!" shouted the yellow filly after she remembered something. "Our school teacher asked us that for next week's Friday, every group of 3 students must present a project about an heroical historical figure; and I was wondering, you are the most heroic historical figure I could think of! Maybe you could come and be part of our presentation!" "Our?" "Well yes, remember it's a groups project, my friends are on my group as well. Will you like to help us?" she said with a cute voice and face. "This... em..." William spoke, not sure of what to say. "Please." Applebloom repeated with the most begging eyes she could show. Eyes with a soft orange tone that remembered William about his sister's eyes. "No problem." he finally spoke. "We can meet again on Monday afternoon at Sweet apple acres." "Really!?" Applebloom shouted. "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Oh wait, I've to tell the crusaders!" she said as she trotted out of the place in search for her friends. "Goodbye and thank you William." After that short but entertaining encounter, William reached carrousel boutique. He step inside, which made a bell ring on top of the door, letting know Rarity that somepony, or in this case someone, arrived. "Hello and welcome to carrousel boutique! If you wait..." the white unicorn said before noticing William. "Oh William! It's good to see you around here once again darling. I guess that you came for the clothing that the princess requested." "Indeed, yes." the human responded. "Well, I have to say that your anatomy was very tricky to work with, but I finally ended with this comfortable designs that I hope you enjoy." she said while levitating with her magic 2 bags full of clothes. "Thanks Rarity." William said as he started to be the one that levitated the bags. "I can see that you are getting better at it darling." she said. "I knew Twilight could be an amazing teacher!" "He is," William said, "now, if you will excuse me I've to change clothes. Even if I washed this clothes I'm wearing, doesn't mean than I like the idea of wearing the same thing over and over again." "Neither I will. So then, see you later William!" the mare said as William headed to the door. "See you lateeeeeere!" William shouted as a yellow Filly went through the door, making him fall. "Sweetie Bell! Sweetie Bell! You'll never guess who I found in the... Oh wait, is here!" William didn't have time for more presentations. If he continued like this, he will lose his train to Canterlot. "Sorry, I really have to go; my schedule is very occupied." he said as getting out of the floor "No problem darling," the white mare said, "I'll take care of the excited fillies." "Thank you Rarity." he said as he went out of the boutique. "Goodbye!" It has been an hour since William left, and Rarity was in the middle of one of her brainstorm ideas for a new dress, suit, or hat; in reality, of whatever that comes out of it. "But of what color?" she was thinking until she stumbled with something rectangular the floor. She levitated it in front of her, and saw that it was a book. "The little prince? A book with a human on its cover? What the... Oh, this should be William's book! It must have fallen when Applebloom stumbled with him. I must send it to him through mailbox immediately!" she was about to envelop the book on an envelope, when just by curiosity, she decided to open the book and see what it contains. She opened it on a random page, and then she stumbled with something that was exactly what she looked for. "Oh this blue suit is beautiful! I'll really like to see William with one of these." she thought. "What else this book has?" She went to the beginning, and what she saw, make some tears escape from her eyes. In the first page it stated on a blue mouthwritting: 'For Melissa and William, the 2 greatest joys in our lifes. With love. Mom and Dad'. BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! The alarm that indicated the moment in which William should have arrived to Canterlot triggered. He turned it off, waited for the train to stop, and went out of the train. As he advanced through the beautiful city, he noticed that his phone's battery was now at 12%. The last thing of the human technology on earth was about to die, but at least it would die with honor, serving his owner until the last moments. Or at least until he figured out a way to charge it with magic. He was about to enter the castle, but since he didn't want the reverences from the guards, he just opened a portal to the interiors of the massive construction. He went through it without thinking that much, but after appearing on the other side, he was received with a familiar voice behind him. "I can see that your studies with Twilight are having... interesting results." Celestia spoke with a smile. After some tabletop games; a dinner; and lots, of chatting; William was starting to feel happy about being again with her favourite friends/sisters/daughters Tia and Luna. The chatting was very enjoyable, until the 'Owlen' topic showed up. "So, you think that Owlen is still inside your mind?" asked Luna. "I don't think it, I saw him, he was... he was..." William spoke with difficulty. "He wants revenge on us, right?" Celestia asked. "How do you know?" the human asked. "Since I spoke to much about unnecessary details, (Tantabus), I was forced to told Tia what I discovered of Owlen." the night princess spoke. "All the raw magic on your body is very unstable, and since magic is very liked to emotions, it caused that the emotional shock of appearing in equestria managed to destabilize your mind, ending on it dividing in 2 parts; the first, and most powerful one, it's you, that resembles the bond you have with us, and to any other living being, as well as most of your original personality, around 97% of it." "And the other 3%?" William asked with a worried expression on his face. "The other 3% is the part that decided to call himself 'Owlen'. It is composed of the blame and angry you are feeling for the extincion of humanity." When Luna said the last part, William's face changed a bit, both sisters notice it, so Celestia said: "It's ok William. We don't expect you to overcome it fully in just a week. Take all the time you want. William broke into a deep and painful cry, while the two alicorns use their forelegs to give him a tide hug. The cry extended itself for another 16 minutes, until William stopped crying to ask: "So, sniff, what should we do about Owlen?" "For now, nothing!" declared the triumphant princess of the night. "Nothing!?" William and Celestia seemed confused. "You have full control of your mind, and every day that passes, he seems to become less and less powerful; so I think you are dealing with it very well. However, if you ever lose control over him, you can always request our help." "If you say so." William declared. "POOR TIA, POOR LUNA!" Owlen shouted to nopony. "IF ONLY THEY KNEW THAT I'M GETTING STRONGER, THEY WOULD HAVE KILL THEMSELVES BEFORE I COULD TORTURE THEM! BUT SOON THEY WILL KNOW! SOON THEY WILL PAY FOR THEY CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY!" > Chapter VIII - Imperial visit. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Philomena!" William shouted. "It's still alive!" They were at Canterlot's castle, and Celestia woke up William for a special weekend she and Luna were planning for him. They didn't spend time with William since 20000 years ago, and she wanted to recover some of the lost time. Before the visit, Luna gave Celestia the idea to show William an old friend from his past, Philomena. She conduced her friend to the room that Philomena occupied. As soon as she saw William, she flew right if front of him, and did some circles around him before landing on his arm. William stared at the mystical bird on his arm, it was the red phoenix that Celestia had as a pet. William could barely believe that Philomena, the injured bird that Celestia saved from death with her magic, was still alive to this days. Although he could expect that, since he knew Philomena was a phoenix. "I knew that seeing another familiar face could cheer you up." Celestia spoke to her friend. "Also, it's alive beacouse she is a..." "Phoenix, I know exactly what they are." William complemented. "I remember that when I first met her, she tried to burn me beacouse she thought I was dangerous to you and Luna." "Skuark." the phoenix spoke gently, while lowering her face before William, like trying to say 'I'm sorry for that'. "Don't worry Philomena, I already forgive you for that." he spoke. "So, are you ready for the special day that I planned?" Celestia asked to the human. "Yes," William responded, "but, where are we going?" "Well, we have 1 day before you return to ponyville for your studies. So I thought that you might wanna met the Crystal Empire." "What! An empire?" William asked a bit surprised. "And does it have good relationships with Equestria?" "Don't worry William, is not the kind of empire that were on earth 20000 years ago. In fact, they don't even have an emperor; they are also ruled by an alicorn princess. Princess Cadence, a very old friend of mine." "Wait, there are other alicorns? I thought that Twilight was the only new alicorn around here." "Yes, she's an alicorn. She discovered the magic of love, so I decided to turn her into an alicorn as a reward." "That's how it works?" William asked with a joking tone on his voice. "You create new magic and you are turned into an alicorn?" "That's pretty much it." Celestia responded. "Well, it makes sense to me." William spoke. "Ah! I was also wandering why is it called the 'Crystal' Empire." "You'll see when we arrive there." They were flying on the carriage that Celestia used for her personal transportation, Luna was also in the short 1 day visit to the empire. William stared at the views that the flying carriage provided. They were beautiful views of a very snowy place, views that William loved for sure, but when they were arriving at the empire, William's jaw dropped. The Crystal Empire was like an oasis of grassland in the middle of a pole, it also make honor to his name, since the houses, castle, and even the ponies were made of crystal. "Wow, this is... amazing." he said. "We knew that you would like it." Luna said. The carriage descended in front of the main building of the empire, that William assumed that was the castle. They went down and pick up their baggage, not that they have to much of it anyways, and were immediately received with a kind and unknown voice for William. "Celestia! Luna!" the voice said. "Is good to see you both again at the empire!" William turned himself, and stared at the pink alicorn alongside a white unicorn stallion that was with her. "Is good to see you too." said Celestia. "No, the pleasure is mine." the pink mare said, then she noticed William. "Oh, and I guess that you are William." "Indeed, and I guess that you are princess Cadence." he responded. "Just Cadence is fine." she spoke. "I heard tons of things about you. And, I'm also sorry for what happened to you. You should feel guilty for what happened to the human race." "In fact, yes." he responded. "Beacouse I'm kind of guilty for what happened there. If I arrived a little bit earlier I could..." "Don't punish yourself that hard young man." the white stallion spoke. "You did everything you could, and I have to say that what you did all those years ago was amazing. You have no reason to be ashamed of yourself." "Thanks mr. ..." William spoke. "Shining Armour." he responded. "I'm captain of the royal guard, as well as the husband of Cadence." "It's a pleasure mr. Shining armour." "Well, if you don't mind, I could show you a little bit of the castle while they help you with your baggage." Cadence spoke, while pointing a hoof to some of the guards. "No, don't bother yourself Cadence." William spoke. "It's just 1 backpack after all, I don't wanna bother you." "It doesn't bother me." she responded. "At all." "I understand, but I insist. I think I can manage 1 backpack." "Ok then, but at least, let me show you the castle." the pink mare said with a smile. "Ok." William said while picking up his new backpack from the carriage, courtesy of Rarity. "INTERESTING CASTLE. TO BAD IT WON'T BE STANDING FOR MUCH LONG!" a voice said. "What!" William shouted. "What?" Cadence said with a worried expression on her face. "Nothing, I think I heard something." William responded. "It must be just my imagination." "Well, let's start. As you can see, this is the..." Cadence took William to see all the interesting points of the castle. She showed him the crystal heart and its purpose, the throne room of the castle, the royal archives, and other stuff. William really enjoyed all of this, learning new things always kept his mind busy and away from the problems. That's what he did when his father got arrested, focus on his studies and try his best while doing them. Maybe he was repeating that tactic again with his magical studies with Twilight. Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna were debating about 1 thing: Owlen. "As you heard, I think that the voice that William heard was Owlen's voice from inside of his mind." "But that's impossible!" her sister responded. "That would mean that he is getting stronger, not weaker." "Listen, I know how it feels to have an evil entity inside of your mind, and that thing was clearly Owlen." Luna said with a worried expression on her face. "So what we should do?" "Well, we still have time to think what to do before it's too late and Owlen escapes into the real world." she responded. "When we get back to Canterlot we could start to search out for a way to kill Owlen once and for all. The important thing is to maintain his mind at peace." "Ok, I'll advise Twilight that he would not go to her magic clases for a while." "No!" Luna shouted. "You know William, learning new things keeps his mind busy and at peace. Disrupting his magical lessons, as well as his time with the elements is the worst thing that we could do." "You are right at that. But if Owlen is even more powerful than the Tantabus, then how are we supposed to kill him without harming William?" "We have to investigate." Luna said. "We have to investigate." "AAAAAAHHH! DIE FOR ONCE STUPID WEAK COUNTERPART!" Owlen shouted wile using his claws in an attempt to kill William. William was asleep again. After a long day of visiting the empire, he just crashed on the bed that Cadence provided. He just wished to have some rest, although Owlen had other plans for him. "No!" William responded, while avoiding the claws that tried to kill him. "Maybe is time to test that little spell that I was practicing." He concentrated a long fine stick of his blue magic, that materialized in front of him. He grabbed it with his right hand, and extended it in front of Owlen like a sword. "If you are me, then you know how much I wanted to have my own lightsaber." he said. After saying this, Owlen couldn't contain himself any longer. He unfolded his claws and tried very hard to murder William. In response, William used his new sword to block every single one of the claws that desperately wanted him dead. The intensity and speed of Owlen's attacks increased for every second that passed. William could barely avoid his death with his new blue blade, if this continued, he would die. He tried to make an thrust to Owlen with his blade, although it was impossible, since, well... he was facing himself. The only difference that William knew, was the fact that Owlen was too easy to anger. Then, the idea hit William: making Owlen angry. "You know what!" he said while blocking a claw from peering in his eye. "Maybe it was for the best! Maybe humans were just some stupid bipedal monkeys!" This statement really affected Owlen. His red and green eyes raged with fury. "YOU! YOU! YOU INSOLENT PEST!" This outrage from Owlen's part created a window of opportunity for William. Without thinking twice, he maneuvered his blade that severed through Owlen's head in a second. Before banishing Owlen shouted: "YOU KNOW THIS IS NOT OVER! THIS ISN'T ENOUGH TO KILL ME! IN FACT, NOW I'M STRONGER THAN BEFORE! SEE YOU AT YOUR NIGHTMARES!" After Owlen fainted, also did William. He was exhausted, even though it was all on his mind. "That was... amazing!" Luna's voice said. "Luna! Where were you?" "I entered your dream 2 minutes ago. I was about to do an intervention, but you did better than I would ever could." the mare said. "But, you really don't mean those thing about humanity, right?" "No, it was just a tactic for making him angry; I really don't mean those things. But what concerns me now is the fact that he would return, and when he does, maybe I wouldn't be this lucky. What would I do?" "You would have our help." Luna said, and then, she gave William a hug. William started to cry. He just wished to everything to return to normal; his school, his friends, his mother. All of that hunted William every second of every day, an it hurt; the pain was nothing like he faced before. "Thank you Luna." he manage to say. "Thank you." > Chapter IX - School visit. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was back at ponyville. Luna told me that Owlen would be contained, at least for 1 more week, so I was more relaxed. I was still very afraid of what might happen if he gets out. "Could he kill Tia and Luna? Would everypony hate me after that? Would I still be me?" I banished those thoughts apart. Luna said that she could find a solution, and the only thing she needed was time. In the meantime, I went to sweet apple acres to keep the promise I made to Applebloom. Luna said that if I went to do stuff that I enjoyed, that would give her even more time to came up with a solution. I shouldn't be afraid, right? I mean, she defeated the 'Tantabus' so I think that she could do the same with Owlen. When I arrived, I was received by the orange earth pony with a hat called Applejack. When she saw me she said: "William! Long time I didn't see ya. What brings you here today?" "Well, you see... you told me of your little sister Applebloom." "Yeah, and?" she asked. "I met her last week at the street, and I kinda promised her to help her and her friends with a school project." "Oh yeah, she spoke about it last night. I just thought that you might come later. She is in the tree house with the rest of the crusaders." "Crusaders?" "Oh, right. You'll know when you get there." After the encounter, she lead me to the club house of the 'crusaders'. During the trek I couldn't stop staring at the immense amount of trees that were planted there. I saw some farms back in my childhood, but never an apple farm with THIS amount of trees. It almost seemed like they would never end. It was a very enjoyable sight. After a while, we arrived at the crusader's club house. It was nice and seemed comfy. It wasn't that small as I imagined though. "Well, here we are." the mare beside me spoke. "Have fun with the girls." And with that, she left me alone. I climbed the stairs and went to one side of it. I peered the interiors with my sight, and then I saw them: Applebloom, the filly that I met last week; and other 2 young fillies, that I assumed that were Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell. "Are you sure that he's coming?" the pegasus I guessed was Scootaloo spoke. "I mean, I heard the rumors, and I even saw him wondering through town once. But isn't he like, super occupied with his magic studies with the princess to come and see 3 simple fillies?" "No!" Applebloom shouted. "He promised that he would come, and he would come." "I don't know." the unicorn filly spoke. "Maybe we should do the project about somepony else. Twilight count as an heroical figure, right?" "Yes, but I'm telling you; he's coming." I couldn't contain myself any longer, so I quickly made the coolest entrance I could think of: a portal. I concentrated my magic and open a portal in front of me that lead to the interior's celling. As soon as it opened, I jumped to the portal, and fall a few meters until my feet stomped on the floor. The fillies stared at me, even Applebloom was a bit surprised. But her amusement was nothing compared to her friend's faces. They were speechless, and almost scared about my presence, so I decided to break the silence. "Told you I wouldn't forget." It was already Friday, and I was in the outside celling watching the class presentations through a portal. Each group was presenting their hero to the rest of the class. Each group came with their own charts, books, and, in some cases, newspapers. They were talking about Celestia, Cadence, and a unicorn called Starswirl. Every presentation was nice, but it still wasn't their turn. "What a lovely presentation about Clover the clever!" miss 'Cheerilee' spoke. "And last but not least the cutie mark crusaders and their presentation about... William!?" she said while reading the charts that the crusaders were bringing. "Today we wanna talk about William." Sweetie Bell said. "He not only saved or world from 'the director' but also, as our investigation discovered, he was also..." "Excuse me miss Cheerilee." a pink filly spoke in a disgusting tone. "But this project wasn't about... well, 'real' heroical figures." "I'm sorry crusaders but she is right." the teacher spoke. "Even with all the amazing and exciting his legend could be, his legend is well... just that, a legend. There is no real record of him so his existence can't be demonstrated." This changed the plan. He was supposed to appear near the end of the presentation to surprise the crowd. But the teacher not knowing of his existence was unexpected. She didn't read the news? Or heard the rumors? Or saw him in the town? But enough thinking, if he didn't do something quickly the crusaders will get a huge 0 in their project, and he knew more that anypony how stressful could that be. "But he is read! Have you ever read the news? He is right here at ponyville, and even helped us the whole week to make this project!" "Apart of blank flanks, they are crazy." the same pink pony spoke. "He never existed! He and the humans are just an old legend for co..." I jumped through the portal and appeared in the middle of the classroom. The pink filly's jaw dropped, and all the eyes were staring at me. I had to came up with something funny. "Good morning fillies and teacher! Sorry for scaring you, but I couldn't hold the thought that you thought that I didn't exist. Now please Scootaloo, proceed with the explanation, as we practiced it. The rest of the presentation went perfectly. The ponies were still looking at me as if I was an illusion, but anything from that was ok. That was until the last part, when I had to spoke. "And, in conclusion, if I didn't help Tia and Luna 20000 years ago, there wouldn't be ponies on earth as you know them. And..." "ALSO THE HUMAN RACE WILL STILL BE ALIVE!" "William, are you ok?" Applebloom asked. I could barely hear her. The last thing I knew was that I was starting to feel heavier and heavier, until I fainted. "William! William!" Twilight's voice shouted. "Are you ok? "Yes, but I could be better." I spoke. I was back at her caastle, laying on my bed with a thermometer on my mouth. "What happened?" "Well... from what the crusaders told me, you were doing the presentation just fine, until you stopped talking and your eyes went green and red, then you fainted." "Green and...! Oh no, I've to tell Luna!" "She already knows, and she's coming as fast as she can. Also... I already know." "About what?" "About Owlen." she spoke. "Look, I know that I don't know what you went through since Celestia and Luna's childhood. I just want you to know that, as friends, we are here for you." "Are we friends!?" I spoke astonished. "Of course!" she responded. I smiled at her statement. "Thank you Twilight. And your friends as well. For making my life a little less miserable. She giggled. "You are welcome." > Chapter X - The beginning of the end. (Part I) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna arrived 1 hour later. And after crying a bit after analyzing my mind, and how powerful and dangerous Owlen had become, she started to search for a solution. Fortunately, she found one: a herbal medicine that kept Owlen under control for 6 hours, so I had to continuously drink it in order to keep everypony around me safe. Even though it wasn't a permanent solution, I like the fact that in theory someday I might be able to erase Owlen from my mind. And now I'm sure that I won't kill my friends without knowing, I'm a bit more happy than before. But, I still miss my mom and sister. And the fact that, at least my mother, died alone it's just... well, I don't wanna think of it too much. It has been 2 months since I appeared in equestria, and 1 month since I started to drink the herbal medicine. The only moment in which I don't drink it is when I sleep, but that's beacouse Luna guards my dreams now. It really helps and keeps me safe during nights. I didn't stop my magical lessons with Twilight. I'm even very advanced since, according to her, I've the same amount of magic as Tia or Luna. She and her friend told me about their various amount of adventures: Discord, Chrisalis, Tirek, king Sombra, and most recently, Starlight; which reminded me a bit of communism. Anyways, today I was attending a Twilight's speech about the magic of friendship. I always thought that friends where special, and kind of magical. I never thought I was THAT right. In the speech, she spoke about the special bond with her friends, and how the sonic rainboom of Rainbow Dash made them unite. I was taking notes on a notebook since my phone died long ago, and we still didn't figure out how to charge it. When it was done, I reunite myself with Twilight and her assistant: Spike, and went to the castle. On the way, she appeared to be worried about something: she saw Starlight Glimmer at the crowd. She asked me if I saw her, but since I didn't know how she look, I couldn't answer to her. "Maybe it was just your imagination." Spike said. "Maybe Spike," she said, "maybe." We where about to leave the topic when we arrived at the castle, but when we entered the map room we saw her: Starlight. I didn't need her to say her name, or Twilight to say it to me. It just fit perfectly with the description that she and her friends gave to me, physically as well as mentally. "Hello Twilight!" she spoke. "And his friend William! The legend himself! Well, that's not important. When I'm done here, even him will forget you!" And then she light up her horn and opened a weird space-time rip on the air and went through it, leaving us there. "What just happened?" I ask to Twilight. "I wish I knew." she answered "Look!" Spike shouted. "She leaved this roll!" "Really!?" the mare spoke grabbing it with her purple aura and then started reading it. "This seems like an alteration of the time travel spell I used once!" "You mean the time in which you went crazy to the point that you searched a way to stop time." I asked. "Yeah... just forget that." I grabbed the roll with my magic, and then I started to analyze it. It seemed like a very complicated spell that also required a very specific trigger: the magical map. After a few seconds of analyzing, I focus myself, and triggered the spell with the help of the magical map. That recreated the same rip in the air, in which Twilight and me fell into. "Ahhhhhh!" we shouted. When I woke up, I was on a free fall through the clouds. I quickly created a portal below me which opening was pointing upwards. That made me fly a bit through the skies and then, when I stopped going up, I used a spell that Twilight thought me to create 2 magical pieces of flying floor under my feet. "What happened!" "I don't know." Twilight's voice spoke from behind me. "I just tried to trigger the spell to see if I could, I never thought it'll work!" "Wait you... then we must be in the past!" "But, when?" Suddenly, a rainbow blur appeared through the sky. It was a filly Rainbow Dash racing against 2 other pegasus. "Oh, this must be when Rainbow Dash obtained her cutie mark!" the purple mare beside me spoke. We decided to watch it from a safe distance, to avoid disturbing the time-line. But when she was about to execute the trick, a blue aura stopped her in mid air. "Oh, so you managed to follow me here. Well, nice try! But both of you already lost!" a voice behind us shouted. We turned ourselves to see Starlight staring at us with a malevolent smile on her face. I was about to say something, but I felt an air current pulling me, as well as Twilight, to another rip in the air. This time, we woke up at ponyville alongside a weird version of the friendship map, a more 'grey' version if you ask me. "Where are we?" Twilight asked. I was tempted to say: 'the real question is when are we', but now wasn't time for jokes. "I don't know, it seems like ponyville though." The town in front of us resembled ponyville, but some things were wrong. What happened to the buildings? Or the sun? Which was a little bit less bright, even though there weren't any clouds in the sky, and last but not least, where was everypony!? Twilight and I ventured through the desert town and checked every building, but nopony was there to be seen. I was even starting to miss the random songs they sang sometimes which, according to Twilight, are a result of the magic inside them. "Maybe we should check on sweet apple acres." spoke the purple mare. "It's the safest place in ponyville and everypony goes there when there is an emergency." "Sounds logical to me." I responded. On the way, Twilight stumbled with a newspaper which title was: -----------------THE WAR IS OVER!--------------- WILLIAM DEFEATED KING SOMBRA AT THE BATTLE OF CANTERLOT! "What war?" she asked. "Also, you never saw king sombra before!" "I don't know, I never saw sombra before. Maybe Starlight alterated something important." "No! Really!" she said sarcasticaly. "What makes you think that!?" "Both of you, shut up!" a familiar voice shouted behind us. "You might attract his attention towar..." When we turned around, we saw Applejack staring at us with fear on her eyes. Wait, did I say 'us', I mean 'me'. "AAAAHHHHH!" she shouted and started running. "No, wait!" Twilight shouted and then grabbed her in her aura. I walked towards her, and every step that I made, made her more and more terrified. "Applejack it's me! Your friend William! What's going on?" "Wait, WILLIAM! It's really you!?" the orange mare managed to say. "Finally, the horrors would end!" "What horrors?" Twilight asked to her friend. "What horrors!? The horrors that came after the imperial war!" "What war?" I asked. "What war!? The war in which you fought!" she shouted. "Applejack could you please tell us what's going on?" "How did ya know ma name!?" "That's not important right now." I responded. "The real issue is: What war!?" "Ok ok, well... when the Crystal Empire returned, also did sombra. He enslaved the crystal ponies and sent them into war against equestria. We fought with everything we had but it didn't seemed to be enough. But then, you appeared, literally. And thanks to your help, magic, and tactics we started to win. Until, 3 days ago, during sombra's last effort to win the war with an attack to Canterlot, you appeared there through one of your portals and killed him." "But then, shouldn't everypony be celebrating?" I asked. "I hoped that as well, but then... but then..." "Then what?" I asked. "Then, you... you... you turned into a monster!" the orange mare shouted with tears in her eyes. "You killed Celestia and Luna and started to call yourself 'Owlen'. And then you murdered all the ponies that you could beacouse some kind of revenge and in just 2 days... AAAHHH!" The poor farmer just cried, so me and Twilight decided to leave her there. We returned to the friendship map and, now that I look it more closely, in all the main cities of equestria where craters, HUGE craters that where even burning in flames. "I..." I tried to speak but I couldn't. Never in my life I saw such destruction. And here it was, all my fears of what Tia and Luna could do to the world where now materialized, but this time, it was my fault. "I'm sorry. I understand if you hate me." After a few seconds, she responded: "This isn't your fault William, it's Owlen's. I know you very well and you will never do anything like that, not even for all the bits in the world. You are William, you are my friend." "Thank you Twilight." I spoke with some tears in my eyes. "Now, let's fix things with Starlight!" > Chapter XI - The beginning of the end. (Part II) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure you can repeat it?" Twilight asked to me, while I was holding the magical roll that bring us here. "No, but we'll see." I responded. I focused my magic into the roll and the magical map, and fortunately for us, it worked again. The same rip opened in the air, and we went through it, but this time, we were prepared. As soon as we appeared in Cloudsdale, Twilight and I started to search for Starlight; and in a dew seconds we found her. I used a portal to appear behind her, and then materialized my magical blue sword on my right hand and, without any hesitation, I tried to hit her with my sword. However, she somehow predicted it and banished in a sudden flash of magic. "What the..." Then, I turned myself just to find her trying to blast Twilight with a beam. I ran through the sky as fast as my magic and feet allowed me. I made my way through some of my portals even, but they were to far, I wouldn't get there on time. It was time to get creative, I never tried this thing before, but let's hope it works. I raised my hand in front of me, and drew an arc of light in front of me, which materialized almost instantly. I grabbed it, and then I focused a bit more of magic into a little light rod right in my hand. It was time to test: the light bow. I passed the rod or 'arrow' through the bow, aimed to Starlight, and fired. She instantly was blown away through the horizon, and left Twilight safe. "Wow!" Twilight spoke as she flew towards me. "I didn't teach you that but... that was amazing!" "Thanks," I responded, "I didn't knew either!" "Neither me!" a young voice spoke from behind us. "I can't believe this! Is William! It's here, at Cloudsdale!" We turned ourselves just to see a filly Rainbow Dash staring at me with her big eyes completely amazed at my presence. "Wait." I spoke. "You shouldn't be racing?" "Yeah, but you are more awesome than any race!" she responded. "Wait until I tell everyp..." I couldn't hear the rest. Again, the same rip swallowed us again, but this time, I prepared myself for the fall. We appeared at the everfree forest, or at least, what was left from it. Almost every tree was burnes as well as the grass, and a very disgusting smell enveloped the area. "Ew!" Twilight shouted. "What the hay is that smell!" "I think it comes from there." I said, pointing a finger to an almost burned tree. We walked to the tree, just to find a dead changeling with a frozen expression of fear on his face. "AAHHH!" I shouted in horror. "What happened here!?" the mare beside me shouted. I didn't know what to respond, but then, it hit me. The fact that Starlight avoided Twilight and her friends knowing each other, is what made all the treats that she and her friends fought in the past succeed in this new timeline. "I think this is Chrisalis doing." "But even she wouldn't kill her own troops!" she shouted. "I think that that's kind of my fault, or more specifically, Owlen's fault." BOOOOOOOM!!!!!! A distant explotion roared with the brightness of the sun. "AAAHH!" we both shouted. "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" A distant voice was shouting, as more explotions could be heard through the skies. "I think we should try it again." I spoke to my friend. "Wait!" she responded. "I think we should plan something first!" "There's no time for that! Owlen is here, and as long as that doesn't change, this place isn't safe!" "But, do you think we have any chance against Starlight?" "I hope so, it is our only hope to return to our present!" We returned to fight Starlight but we failed, so we tried again but failed. And every time we returned to the present we saw a more destroyed, and more tragic version of it. From Owlen torturing Nightmare moon, to him almost killing, and enslaving Discord. I don't know how much time we spend in this cycle, I guess 8 or 9 hours, but then, we managed to calm down Starlight a bit. "I don't get it." she said. "Why does that group of ponies is so important for both of you!?" "Beacouse they are our friends!" Twilight shouted. "If you ever had any friends, you'll understand!" "Oh but I did!" she shouted. Then she grabbed the magical roll and used it to take us to another place in space and time. We appeared in a small town, a town that I never saw before. There, she showed us her infancy friend, and how his cutie mark 'stole' him from her. When she was done, I spoke: "Is that it? Just the fact that you lost a friend gives you the right to ruin the friendship of others?" "You don't get it!" she responded. "The ponies at the town that Twilight destroyed were my friends! And now, I wanna see her going through the same!" "That's enough!" I shouted. "Now it's my turn to show you something!" I grabbed the roll, and focused more magic than I ever did before. I knew where I was going, and I knew that it would work. I had to go back to those days; no, to THE day. We appeared at the top of a tree, and I used my magic to hold Twilight and Starlight in the air. "What is this place!" Starlight shouted. "Shhh!" I silenced her, and then I spoke in a very low voice: "This is the everfree park, it was next to my house 20005 years ago. And this, is probably the most important moment in my life." Then, a younger version of me appeared walking through a sidewalk at the park. He was completely unaware of what was going to happen. "Follow me sister!" a filly Celestia spoke to a filly Luna. "Run faster! Otherwise someone might caught..." thud! She stumbled with my younger version. That was enough, I reopened the portal and sent all of us back to the rainboom day. "Yeah yeah, very cute and all, but what does that have to do with me!" Starlight shouted. "Nothing, but also, everything. Do you think that the friendship I share with them was always perfect? No, we went through many obstacles just to avoid them being kidnapped in the middle of the night. Or do you think it was easy for me to give unconditional love for them? That no one thought that I was insane by taking care of 2 'animals'? Or do you think it was easy for them, when everyone treated them rude? Or worst, when they lost me for 20000 years?" Starlight was speechless. "Friendship is not always easy, but as far as I know, is one of the few things in life that matters living for. And friends leave, they always do. They will travel, a pandemic will separate you from them, or they could die. But what's important, is that you are still friends even if they leave, and that you'll always have more friends, that'll also leave but, they'll leave you with a hug and a smile." "D-do you think I could have m-more friends?" Starlight asked with tears in her eyes. "I know you can, as long as you have hope." I responded. "But that is up to you." "I-I..." she was trying to say, while Rainbow Dash flew through the sky. "I just don't know if it's possible." "It is, take me as an example!" "Are we friends!?" she asked. "Of course." I responded. "Come here." I said as I opened my arms to offer her an embrace. She corresponded my offering with a hug, and also, with tears. She continued her cry even when the sonic rainboom covered the sky, and another rip sallowed us. "Well, THAT'S a thing I didn't teach you." Twilight spoke. "What can I say." I responded. "I guess the things went pretty well. Now, if your majesty will excuse me, I would like to go to bed. I really have to sleep." "Go ahead William, I'll tell this to the princesses! They will be very impressed." I opened a portal to my room, took a spoon of the herbal medicine, and went to bed. I was really tired after all. "DO YOU THINK THAT THAT MEDICINE IS GOING TO SAVE YOU!" "Yes! I'm pretty sure." "WELL, GUESS WHAT! YOU TOOK VERY LONG SINCE THE LAST TIME YOU DRINK IT. NOW, I'M FREE, FREE!!!! AND STARLIGHT GAVE ME THE PERFECT IDEA FOR MY REVENGE!" "Wait, what!" "GOOD NIGHT WILLIAM, BEACOUSE IS THE LAST ONE YOU'LL EVER SEE. TOMORROW, I'LL HAVE MY OWN BODY!" "Wait, no! You can't do this!" "TOO BAD I ALREADY DID!" Owlen said, and with that, he banished from the dream. "Oh no." > Chapter XII - The end. (Part I) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up, sweating in fear, breathing heavily, and almost crying. The sun was already up for hours, but I could barely see it. That dream, it leaved me with many questions. But I knew one thing: Owlen was coming. I went to the bathroom and checked my eyes in the mirror and, to my surprise, they were completely normal. What game was playing Owlen. I know him, he is me; more specifically the most violent part of me. And now that he was free, I was expecting a bit more of 'destruction'. I went to the dinning room of the castle. Twilight was probably having breakfast, maybe I could ask for her help. I opened the door but, when I went through, I just saw all her friends and Starlight eating pancakes. "Hello William!" Starlight spoke. "Did you slept well last night?" "More or less." I lied. "But, where's Twilight?" "Oh, somepony knocked the castle door, and she went to see who was there. Nothing important, she'll come back at any moment." the reformed unicorn answered. "Ok." I responded. "Starlight was telling us what she almost did, and how you helped her." Fluttershy spoke. "Did you really traveled in time?" "Yes, but..." "William!" Luna's and Tia's voices shouted as they went through the door and rushed to hug me. "What happened!?" I asked. "Starlight is ok, neither she or her spell means no more harm to anypony. Also, where is the spell?" "It's under the custody of princess Cadence, but that's not important now!" Luna spoke. "Last night, I couldn't enter your dreams and we got worried. It's everything alright?" "Look," I whispered to her ear, "the thing is that no, is not alright. He appeared in my dream last night and then..." My neck started to feel weird. I tried to continue speaking, but I simply couldn't. Then, I continued speaking, but I was no longer in control of what I was saying. "SO I'LL GET TO DESTROY THAT UGLY CASTLE AFTER ALL!" I shouted. I would rather not to describe what happened next, all I can say is that it was pretty disgusting. My mouth opened, and something came out of it. I closed my eyes in horror, so I didn't saw what it was. But when I reopened them, I saw him, Owlen. It was just like in my nightmares, but this time, he was real. I immediately stand up, and light up my sword in front of him, while the other mares stared the scene at horror. He opened his pupil-less green and red eyes and spoke: "FINALLY, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I'LL ENJOY THIS!" Then, he attacked Tia with his big and monstrous claws, but I blocked them with my sword, but he didn't stop there. With a speed even superior to what I saw in my dreams he continued his attacks as I blocked them. The mares, except for the alicorns and Starlight, were just petrified at the scene. They weren't safe here, not with Owlen, so I shouted: "Run! Run away from here! I'll be fine!" They obeyed, but the remaining ponies stayed here to help me fight Owlen. Even though our efforts and magic were tremendous, Owlen resisted all of our attacks, and my sword never touched anything but his claws. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I'VE OTHER STUFF TO DO." and then, he focused a magical red beam that went directly for me, and I didn't had enough time to respond to it. When I woke up, my black coat was gone. Presumably, completely burned, and the T-shirt I wore inside it was almost burned as well. As I tried to stand up, and searched for Tia or Luna, but I couldn't find them. I just found a fainted Twilight being helped to stand up by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. And Rarity and Fluttershy extending their hooves to help me stand up. "What happened?" I asked. "I-I don't know." Fluttershy responded. "I just saw that horrendous monstrosity kidnapping the princesses! What was that thing, and why it was so similar to you?" "Well..." I explained them everything I knew about Owlen, it wasn't that much, but it could help. "We must gather the elements!" I finally spoke. "Their power might be enough to erase Owlen once and for all!" "Yeah... about that." Rainbow spoke while pointing a hoof to some necklaces and a crown on the table, but the magical stones that they hold where now pure black, instead of the regular colors they use to hold. "He! He! He corrupted the elements!" I shouted. "It seems so." Twilight spoke. "What are we going to do now!" "I don't know." I said. "I'll go to try to stop him all the time I can, but without the elements, I don't know how are we going to stop him." then an idea materialized on my head. "I know! You can go and search for a way to dis-corrupt them, while I buy you some time!" "Do you thing there is a chance we make it on time?" Twilight spoke. "We have to try." "But, where is he?" Twilight asked. "I know exactly where: the Crystal Empire." As I approached to the door I heard Rarity's voice from behind. "Wait darling!" she said. "You can't go there like that! I've the perfect thing for you to wear!" I was running through portal over portal that I opened. Thanks to them, I was approaching the Empire at a very high speed, while wearing the most amazing thing I've ever seen: the blue suit of the little prince! It was very comfortable, pretty, and all; but now was time to be focused on the objective: Owlen. I finally reached the Empire, and saw some smoke emerging from the castle. I just hope that I made it on time. I opened another portal that let me inside of the castle's corridors, and I started to search for Owlen. I didn't know where to search for, until a shouting from the throne room told me where. "I WON'T ASK IT AGAIN! WHERE DID YOU LEAVED THE TIME TRAVEL SPELL? TELL ME, OR I'LL KILL THIS 2 ALICORNS ONCE AND FOR ALL!" "There he is!" I said to myself. I opened a portal to the throne room, more specifically, to the upper part of it. Then I jumped, and with some piece of magical floor I used to correct my trajectory, I was about to land on top of Owlen to end him with my blue blade. But in the last moment, he used a claw to hold me from the neck, stopping my heroical rescue. "WILLIAM!" he shouted. "ARE YOU DOING SOME KIND OF COSSPLAY? HA! ANYWAYS, YOUR EFFORTS ARE APPRECIABLE, BUT YOU ARE NOT A HERO. CAN'T YOU SEE IT? ALL I WANT IS TO GO BACK TO GIVE HUMANITY ANOTHER CHANCE! AS WELL AS WATCHING MOM AND MELISSA AGAIN. EVEN IF THAT MEANS HAVING TO ERASE THIS PONIES FROM EXISTENCE, I WON'T HESITATE AS YOU DO. THAT'S WHY YOU ARE WEAKER THAN ME AFTER ALL. I ADMIT I ONCE WANTED REVENGE ON TIA AND LUNA FOR TAKING EVERYTHING I ONCE LOVED, BUT SINCE I KNOW THAT THERE IS A SPELL THAT CAN CORRECT THE PAST, REVENGE HAS BECOME... POINTLESS." I tried to respond, but my neck was being held to tightly for me to speak. "YOU KNOW WHAT? I KIND OF APPRECIATE YOU. I WON'T GIVE YOU A PAINFUL DEATH, BUT YOU'LL DIE ANYWAYS. AND YOUR SUIT GAVE ME THE PERFECT IDEA TO END YOUR FATE!" Then, he blasted me with his magic through the skies. At a speed that made me abandon earth in just 5 seconds. I thought I'll just keep going through infinity, but something hit my back, leaving me unconscious. > Chapter XIII - The prince. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "THIS IS THE LAST TIME I WOULD ASK!" Owlen shouted to Cadence, while holding her from the neck. "WHERE IS THE SPELL!?" "I-I don't know." the pink alicorn lied. "I'M TIRED OF THIS! MAYBE I COULD..." Then, Owlen proceeded to put his other claw on Cadence's head, and use his magic to extract what he wanted. "I PREVIOUSLY WAS JUST A THOUGHT! DO YOU THINK I CAN'T SIMPLY... OH, IT'S IN THE CASTLE SUBTERRANEAN ARCHIVES. WELL THEN." He leaved the injured princess on the floor, and then rushed to the castle archives. My head hurts, again, I thought I wouldn't stumble with anything right after Owlen lunched me through the sky. I also thought than the space would be a lot 'colder' instead of this soft warm, and... hold on, how I'm still breathing!? My doubts were interrupted by a childish voice from above me, saying: "Wow! Your clothing is just like one I used to wear!" the voice said. "Who are you? Do you like games?" As I opened my eyes, I saw samepon... I mean, someone than I never thought I would ever see. His blue eyes, blond hair, green clothing, and his yellow scarf. It could only be... the little prince! He stared at me with a smile on his face, as I turned my head side to side, just to find that the horizon was extremely close to me; than the sky was covered in stars, billions, billions of stars; and that a little extinguished volcano was close to me. I could barely believe it, I was on B-612! "I'm the little prince." he spoke. "You act funny." the child continued, "you act as you never been in space before." "Am-am I dead!?" I asked to him, since that was the only logical explanation I could think of. "Nope." he responded. "At least not yet. What's your name?" "William." I responded as I stood up. "Bu-but how I'm still breathing!?" "What do you mean?" he asked me with a puzzled expression on his face. "Obviously with your lungs and nose." "But, there's no oxygen in space!" "What's oxygen?" he asked. "Here!" Twilight shouted. "The book about the elements! I almost thought that it was burned in the old library!" She and her friends were doing a registration on the castle's library, and none of them seem to find anything, until now. Twilight passed pages violently with her magic, to find anything that could be useful, but she wasn't founding anything that could dis-corrupt the elements. Just when she was about to close the book, and pass to the next one, she saw something on the last page. The page stated: And even if these elements were corrupted by powerful magic, there might or might not be a way to turn them back. There is a legend about a seventh element, an element that could hold together the other ones even in the darkest times: The element of hope. Some think it's just a bad interpretation, some think it never existed. But some of the legends states that the element was not originally part of the others. Some legends tell that is now lost in the stars, and might never come back, but as the elements themselves, it's just a legend. But in theory, if the other elements were corrupted this element could return them back. "Girls!" the mare shouted. "I think I found something!" "So, mr. Exupery wrote a book about me?" "You know him?" I asked. "Of course I knew him!" he responded. "He was my friend! I tamed him." "Look," I spoke, "it is very nice to meet you and all, but I've to return to earth!" "But why?" he said with a saddened voice. "You just came, and we didn't played even hide an seek!" "Beacouse I've friends there that are in danger!" I spoke to him with a worried voice tone. "Really!?" he responded. "If they are in danger, you should go now to help them! Wait, I've something that might help you." He then rushed to the other side of the asteroid, and returned from the other side with a necklace with a white crystal on it. "Take this!" he said. "I found it on an asteroid, and never used it once. But it seems that you'll need it." "What is it?" I asked. I don't know, but it has a very unusual bright on it. I found a collector on an asteroid that said that it was made of hope, and offered me some gold in exchange, but it was just too pretty to exchange for something so common as 'gold'." "Oh, thanks." I said, now a little sad. "What's wrong?" "It's just... well, someone might be right about doing a bad thing to obtain a good thing. And it troubles me think that I might not be doing the right thing by stopping him." The little prince didn't respond immediately, but when he did, he said: "What he is going to do, will harm people?" "Well, yes but..." "And stopping him, will make people happy?" I was starting to understand where he was going. "Yes." "So then, what are you waiting for. Go and stop him!" Now I was filled with determination. "Ok but, how I will go?" "Use the migration of wild birds! Look, take this strings." he said while pulling out some long strings out of his pockets. "But there are no birds in..." "Skweak!" a flock of birds started to appear in the sky as if they were part of the stars. "Space." "You are a little weird." he spoke. "I'll help you." "Wait!" I shouted. "What?" "Thank you." I spoke with some tears in my eyes. "Thank you for remembering me what's important." "You are welcome." he said with a smile. "Also, this is not a goodbye, it's a: see you later. I promise that I would come back and... I will tame you!" I spoke. Wow, those are words I never thought I would ever say. "Goodbye then William!" the little prince said while putting the strings on the birds. "I'm also looking forward to tame you! There are so many questions I would like to ask you." "Same here." I said while holding the strings that would lead me back to earth. "Goodbye little prince!" I shouted as I began to elevate myself. "Goodbye!" > Chapter XIV - The end. (Part II) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scene I was seeing, was one that I never even imagined I would ever see. Birds were helping me to go back to earth! And after meeting the little prince! Now that I see them better, they aren't normal birds, they are kind of made of light and fly very, VERY fast; since in a few minutes, I almost reached the earth. But enough wonders for now, I've to stop Owlen from committing mass murdering, and I knew exactly where to land on: ponyville. It was for 2 main factors; one: Owlen would need the friendship map in order to start the spell, and second: the only real chance anyone has to stop him is with the elements. So my only hope was that Twilight had founded a way to dis-corrupt the elements. As I approached earth, that now was at the center of the solar system, I could see that the continents were a little different from what they were 20000 years ago; but I could still find where I used, and where I live now: ponyville. I let go the strings that were holding the space birds, and I begun to fall to Twilight's castle. But, obviously slowing down with some pieces of magical floor. When I was close enough, I opened a portal to the castle's friendship's map room, in which I knew I will find Twilight. And if you find Twilight, you find her friends. "William!?" Twilight shouted as I made my entrance through the portal. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be at the Empire trying to stop Owlen?" "I tried that, but I failed." I responded. "It is a long story but listen, there is not much time. Owlen will arrive here at any moment and I can assume that he already has the spell with him. Our only chance are the elements. Have you found a way to dis-corrupt them?" "We tried." she responded. "But I don't think that 'the element of hope' is a real thing, and even if it was, it's lost in space." "Lost in space? Wait!" I shouted pulling out the necklace that the little prince gave me. "By any chance, it's this thing?" She grabbed it with her aura, as well as the element of magic. And when she put them together, the crown slowly started to recover its color. "It is!" she shouted. "How did you...?" "I'll explain you later. What matters now is that we get them ready for Owlen's arrival." I was with Starlight at the map's room, waiting for Owlen. The elements were dis-corrupting, but very slowly. So the plan was: Owlen arrives, traveles back in time, I go with him to avoid any changes in the time-line, Starlight keeps the rip open while we are there, and when the elements are ready, Twilight and her friends come through the rip and use them to erase that monster once and for all. Starlight is scared, I'm scared, and we continued waiting untill... "FINALLY!" Owlen shouted as he opened the door to enter the room. "OH, SO YOU PONIES ARE STILL REFUSING TO DIE AND... WILLIAM!!!!!" "The only one in existence." I spoke with a smile on my face. "BUT, BUT, I DID JUST... HOW DID YOU?" he said. "EHEM, EXCUSE ME, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" he shouted, as he blasted a beam of energy that would have reached me, if it wasn't for the portal that avoided it. Then, he jumped on top of the map and casted the spell. The rip opened, he got in, and before it closed, Starlight's horn light up and the rip was maintained. Before entering, Starlight said: "Good luck, William!" "Thanks, I'll need it!" I shouted as I entered the rip. When I reappeared, I saw my city once again. But the clouds, the cold weather, and the light beams at the distance being fired from 2 tiny figures; told me that this was the day, the day in which I leaved earth. "What could he do today to change the future?" I asked to myself, but then I saw Owlen running right to where the battle between my past self and director Osvaldo was taking place, and I knew exactly what he wanted to do. Before he could go any further, I opened a portal right in front of him. He then fell into it, and appeared right in front of me. The people in the streets stared at the scene in front of them in total confusion. I won't blame them, since, how often you see a battle between some kind of demon and a guy dressed as the little prince? Talking about battles, we started one. I first tried to hit him with my blue sword, but I knew that he would be able to block all of my attacks. I then took some distance, and used the light bow to try to hurt him, but his claws stopped all the magical arrows. Then, it was his turn to do his counterattack. He didn't just used his claws, he fired magic to me, tried to bite me, and even shoot fire from his mouth! But by blocking with the sword, dodging some blasts with my portals, and some with a magical shield, I was resisting. I just hope I resist long enough for the help to come. "YOU... MONSTER!" he shouted while his claws tried desperately to kill me. "ALL I'M TRYING IS TO SAVE HUMANITY! WHY YOU DON'T JUST SURRENDER AN LET ME SAVE THEM!?" "Humanity never died!" I responded. "The ponies that populate the earth in the present are just as humans as any other one from here. The exterior may be different, but their essence is intact! I would could say that I'm the one who's trying to save humanity!" "Besides, we are his friends!" voices from behind me told me that reinforcements had arrived. "And friends always watch for each other!" "It is all yours girls!" I shouted to them, as I opened a portal that leaved me behind them. Then, what I saw was one of the most amazing things I ever saw. A rainbow, more blinding and shining than the sun, emerged from the mares and blasted Owlen. Before fading he spoke: "NO, HOW IS IT POSSIBLE!? I CORRUPTED THOSE THINGS WITH MY MAGIC! THEY SHOULDN'T BE WORKING!" "They work beacouse we didn't loose hope!" I responded. Then, in just a second, he was gone. The people in the streets didn't understood what happened, but still gave an applause to us. "Wow," a kid spoke up, "I wanna get infected too! So I can do things like that!" When we returned, Starlight was still trying to maintain the rip opened. And when she finally stopped her efforts, the rip was still opened. "Ups, I think I put to much magic on it." "Don't worry." I responded. "It wasn't that much, so it should close in a few minutes. Wait, where are Tia and Luna!?" "They are still at the Empire!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Then, a knocking on the castle's main door caught mine and everypony's attention. Everyone rushed there to find Celestia, Cadence, and Luna; all of them very injured, and with several cuts along their body. "Where's Owlen!?" Tia shouted to us. "He is gone." I responded, what made the 3 alicorns make the craziest faces I ever saw. "Let's get in." I told them. "You'll never guess who I meet today." Director Osvaldo recovered from the explosion of magic very quickly, just to find that everyone around him has turned into one of those ponies. He wondered through the city searching for Celestia or Luna, but he couldn't find them. But then, other thing caught his attention. It was a weird time-space rip in the air. Maybe he could absorb power from it. But when he got close enough to see it in more detail, he felt his body being pulled into it. He recovered quickly, he wasn't at the city anymore. He was a bit confused at his new surroundings, but the closure of the rip, and some hoofsteps approaching told him to get out of that place as quickly and quietly as possible. "I sense more magic here." he though to himself. "Maybe this weird world could be better for my plans." > SECOND SEASON > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- William now felt a lot better since the Owlen incident. In fact, he now resumed his magical studies with great interest. Instead of seeing them as a way to disconnect himself from reality, he now saw them as the normal course his life had to take. Now, even though he still missed his mother and sister, he was happy. It was like nothing could threat his life now. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ It had been a long day, and Poppy Flower knew it. She was a gray unicorn mare with white mane in charge of redacting the articles of a Ponyville's newspaper and, due to the recent events regarding the living legend that turned out to be real and alive, she was craving to have an interview with him. The only problem was... It was nearly impossible! He doesn't avoid direct contact with the press (not like before at least), but it's really difficult to contact somepony that's in constant contact with royalty and the elements; it's almost like their schedules are always occupied or something. However, this might be her lucky day. One of her friends told her that, one hour ago, he saw a bipedal figure walking at the safe edge of the Everfree forest. That couldn't be other than William; if she was fast enough, she might be able to get an interview. The cloud factory already programmed a rain for that day, that's why gray cloud formations already took over the sky. But since the land was still dry, she still had an opportunity. "Hello!" she shouted through the forest. "Is somepony here? I mean... 'Some one'?" She continued calling but no human gave a response. Poppy was about to give up, but then, the sound of some hoofsteps behind her caught her attention. However, this didn't sound as hoofs were supposed to sound; they sounded... weird. "William!" she exclaimed as she turned back to face him. "Is it... you?" She almost didn't finish what she was saying. The figure that was before her was definitely a human, but not William. "He-hello?" she managed to say. "Oh, you saw me," the human replied. He was a bit more tall than William was supposed to be; instead of wearing normal clothes, he was wearing a dirty white robe; and the most notable difference, he had no hair, at all. "What a waste! I hoped that I didn't have to spill the blood of any of your species." "Wait, what!?" she said, now scared. "Anyways, nice to meet you miss," he said as he vanished. For a moment, Poppy thought that she was just hallucinating. But, after a sudden flash behind herself and what she could describe as a soft claw on her head, she could now avoid going to the hospital. And replace it with the morgue. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" was the last thing she said. > Chapter I - Visiting the prince. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I can't believe it!" The white alicorn exclaimed. "You weren't lying, he's real!" Three weeks after the Owlen incident, and after some magical research done by Luna about space, William, Luna, and Celestia finally found a way to go to B-612 without having to be blasted through the skies. And now, he finally could prove his best friends that the Little Price exists. "Of course I'm real!" the kid with a green suit responded. "I thought that Mr. Antoine was supposed to tell everyone on earth about me; or at least that's what he told me." Luna, who was also there, slowly approached towards the Little Prince; then she raised a hoof towards him and touched him with disbelief. "What are you doing?" He asked with his cheerful voice tone. "Didn't you die?" she then managed to say. "No," he responded, confused, "why do you say that?" "Because, according to your friend Antoine, you died at the Sahara desert!" "Oh, that, yeah, I 'died' there but the essential is still here." "But weren't you poisoned?" Celestia now added. "Yes," he responded without hesitation, "but, does that matter?" We continued discussing with him until minutes turned into hours. The way in which he views the world is really fascinating, not just because of his probably immortality, but also because... well, he's a kid! Then, some questions were formulated inside my brain; the only thing that was left to do was speak them out. "So," I started, "how old are you? I mean, what's the last thing you remember?" "I don't how old I am," was his reply, "and honestly, I don't care. The oldest thing I remember though was a sunset that I saw. Sunsets got weird since a long time ago though, but I still enjoy them." Celestia's face got a little ashamed after that statement; probably because she was the one that recomposed the solar system after the Discord's catastrophe, but she did it a bit wrong. "Another question," Luna now spoke, "why you don't find us weird? I mean, since we arrived at your planet you didn't look at us as anything weird. Even though you're practically a pure soul, don't you wonder about what are we?" "Nope, I know perfectly that you're alicorns," he said. Before this response, the princesses were now highly confused. "How do you know that?" asked Tia. "Common! You aren't the first alicorns I see." "What do you mean?" I interrupted. "Who was the first one you saw?" "Oh, she was named Sasha." "Another alicorn!" Tia exclaimed with excitement. "And when was the last time you ever saw her? "The last time I saw her was... Well, I don't know too much about your systems of time, but it was some 'years' before humans disappeared from earth." "Wait, WHAT!?" we all shouted. He then told us about Sasha, a green alicorn that he found during one of his trips to earth in the country of Poland. She told him that her race was almost extinguished by the human race, and that she must have been one of the last alicorns alive. "Wasn't she scared of you?" I asked. "No, I think that she felt my magic and figured out that I'm not exactly a human. Also, I don't know what I am," he quickly added, probably because he already predicted that I'd ask that. Then he told us that, during one of his visits, he saw that she was being captured by some guys speaking in English, and that he never saw her again. "Wait, weren't you speaking in English?" Celestia asked. "Nope, we were doing it on Polish," when he saw our astonished faces he added: "Aprendí a hablar muchos idiomas con el tiempo (With time, I learned to speak many languages). The first one I knew was French, but that's another story. Anyways, she got captured by a guy named 'Os-Val-Do' or something like that." After it we said goodbye to him, not before asking for the rose. "Ah, she's perfectly fine at the other side of this planet," he replied. I was about to ask: how was she still alive!? But then I realized that I was breathing in space, and I was talking with the Little Prince, how was that a plant surviving a long time was the only thing that caught my attention? Sadly, it was already time to say goodbye. "Goodbye!" Luna was the last one to say it. "Goodbye Luna, Tia, William," he said as Celestia begun to cast a powerful spell with her horn, "I like your suit by the way!" Yeah, I was still wearing it. What can I say? It's really comfy; Rarity do knows how to make clothes. Then Luna ignited her horn as well. With their combined magic, a brilliant spark appeared in front of us twinkling with fury, indicating that it was very unstable. To finish the spell that will take us back at home, I went to the spark, placed my hands, and magic, on it, and then, I extended my arms. Before us, a portal, just like the ones I make but this one's edge was a mix of dark blue, light blue, and yellow, that will take us back to Equestria. Also, another difference was that you couldn't see the other side; it was totally white. "Let's go?" I asked. "Indeed," Luna replied. We jumped in, and a second later the portal was gone. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Back at Canterlot's castle, we were excitedly discussing all that the Little price told us, mainly one thing. "So we weren't completely created; Alicorns existed, and since a long ago!" Luna exclaimed. "Do you think that she could still be alive?" she said as she turned her eyes towards me. "I don't know; she was captured by Osvaldo after all." "But then, why did he need us?" Celestia spoke. "It's obvious that she escaped!" Luna replied. "And that... She can be out somewhere!" "Maybe more like her," I interrupted. "Who knows how many alicorns were remaining when the 'ponyfication' occurred. Wait, do researchinc labs are still out there somewhere?" After some seconds, Tia spoke, "In fact, yes! Our old castle was built on top of its ruins; too bad the castle istself is a ruin now." "I could take a look tomorrow," I said, "after all, we have nothing to loose." "It's settled then, I'll give you its location so you can go tomorrow. It's close to Ponyville by the way." That night I went to sleep at my designated castle's room. Finally, after all this years, things are getting easier! > Chapter II - Ruins of the past. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why would the princesses build their castle on top of the place in which they were tortured for years?" Twilight asked to me while we were making our way through the Everfree forest. After arriving to Ponyville, Twilight and I decided to go to the mentioned ruins in the first hour of the morning. She told me that she knows were's the Castle of The Two Sisters... Good name by the way, Lulu and Tia! Also, this is kinda embarrassing, I was wearing the Little Prince's suit. What can I say? My favorite black coat got burned, and it's a bit cold today... Who am I trying to lie, I LOVE this suit! "Maybe they wanted to finally put an end to their past," I replied. "Also, they did have good memories there, at least from my father." As we continued our way there, we kept talking. By now, she was now one of my greatest friends in the world; probably just behind Tia and Luna. "I remember when this forest used to be called the 'Everfree Park'." "You mean it wasn't always a forest?" she asked. "Nope, in fact, it wasn't this big either. Probably the name was just placed from the park which vegetation, getting out of control, was enough to turn it into a forest with all this years." "Was the forest... I mean, park, always this weird?" "Weird?" I replied a bit confused. "What do you mean?" "You know, this is the only place in the world in which animals take care of themselves, climate isn't regulated by the pegasi, and plants grow as they please; it's anti-natural" I stared at her, but didn't stop walking, "Weird? That's the most normal thing ever!" "Oh, sorry, I forgot earth was very different in your time," was her reply. "What's weird then," she continued, "is that this is the only 'normal' remaining part on earth." "Oh, according to Tia, they placed a spell in this forest that will make it as earth once was; they did this because their permanent castle was supposed to be here, so they wanted it to remember them about their childhood." "Oh, that's cute!" my purple pony friend exclaimed. "But then, why did they allow all those monsters inside?... Oh, I remember! The monsters took over after Celestia moved the capital to Canterlot! It was on 'A Short Tale About Ponyville's history'; how could I..." "Wait, what do you mean by MONSTERS!?" I panicked. "Oh, nothing to worry about, at least for us." "What do you mean?" "I mean," then she light up her horn and blasted a nearby rock, "this." "Yeah, you're right," I chuckled. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ This place is weird as hell. Those magical ponies everywhere, the sun and moon's weird patterns, the weird animals, and the lack of humans. I'd have considered this place as a parallel dimension a long time ago, if it wasn't for one thing: somehow, my phone still receives the signal of my lab's bunker! That bunker was the safest spot on earth ever designed by humanity, (it was designed by me after all) and it has its own nuclear reactor with enough fuel to last millions of years but, why am I receiving it here? After some weeks, I decided that it was time to follow the signal, and great was my surprise when I discovered incredible castle ruins on top of where my lab should be. I got in anyway, and started searching for a good spot to access my lab. The castle was clearly made by those magical ponies, but what shocked me the most, was discovering a room decorated with two giant banners that clearly resembled Celestia and Luna in their adult forms... Then it hit me, the rip, the bunker's signal, those ponies everywhere, and now the adult forms of those fillies. This is the future! I was about to explode in anger; this is all William's fault! If he just stopped interfering with my attempts to save humanity, I wouldn't be the last human on... "This is the castle," a female distant voice echoed, "or at least what remains of it." I was about to simply give up, but then, I heard another voice, one that I recognized immediately. "Wow! Tia and Lulu really did a good job designing this." I teleported myself to an upper floor, and I did my best to hide as I waited for William to reveal himself. The first one that entered the room was a purple adult alicorn with something that looked like a backpack on her... well, back; and the second intruder was no other than the person that I wanna kill the most right now: William Tyler. I decided to wait to see what they're up to. I don't know for how long William stayed alive. After all, my research suggests that enough magic can increase the lifespan of a living being, maybe even forever. So I simply don't wanna test by myself how much William knows about magic right now. "Well, how do we get to that lab?" the mare asked. Then William pulled out his phone, and she added: "Wasn't your phone's 'battery' over already?" "Well, one thing that I do agree with Osvaldo is that magic can be a good energy source," that sentence made my blood boil. "Aha! I knew that he had a bunker!" "How do you know?" the mare spoke. "Well, there's a WiFi signal with the name 'Osvaldo's bunker'. I wonder how that WiFi still works though." "WiFi?" she asked. "Nevermind." he replied. Then he raised his phone, walked a bit through the room, and then, he stopped. "I think I now kinda know where the lab's bunker is. That was Osvaldo's private lab as well, so we definitely are gonna find what we're looking for." Looking for? What else do you wanna take from me!? Then, something that I can just describe as a blue portal materialized in mid air, and both the mare and human quickly entered through it. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ As we entered my portal, we discovered a dirty, rusty, but still functional room. The walls were made out of metal, they were some tables and, what made me smile, was discovering that the lights somehow still worked. As Twilight magically grabbed any object that to her big pony eyes looked interesting and placed it into her saddlebag, I quickly approached to a computer and turned it on. Apart from the Windows logo everything else was a mess, its desktop was filled with tons and tons of folders with tons of different names. I went to the searcher, and typed "The Celestial Solution" The only result was this: *Project: The Celestial Solution* *Date of creation: 2012 (20010 years ago)* *Observations: Important features of this project might be more clear with project: "Sasha".* Not even needing to open the folder, I immediately searched for project Sasha and this is what I found: *Project: Sasha* *Date of creation: 2007 (20015 years ago)* *Observations: Something never seen before.* "Did you find anything?" Twilight asked me as her head popped out at my shoulder. "I think so," I replied. "Wait fore to download this on my phone so we can leave." "Alright," her voice concluded as she examined another computer that was on the place. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ "*She was found at Poland. She barely understand our language, but our translators said that her Polish is fluid, smooth, and authentic. The creature also presents great capabilities of understanding and knowledge. What's more remarkable of her, is that she emits a weird form of energy that Dr. Wilson Tyler decided to name magic. Unfortunately she managed to escape our custody some days after her capture. Luckily for us, she left some of her blood during her escape so our researches will continue*." I read to Twilight from my spot at her castle's library. "So they were more alicorns before Tia and Luna!" she exclaimed with excitement. "It seems that yes, I have to show this to them!" "Now? But you just came," she added with a sad voice tone. "I was expecting that we could have a tea party with..." "Don't worry, I'm not leaving yet," I interrupted her. "There's definitely time for that and more." \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Dear diary, It had been a long day, and I didn't want to deal with anypony else. I don't sleep well since I sent my friend Poppy Flower to the edge of the Everfree forest and she does not comes back. Did something happened to her? Being as old as I am, I have to change the place in which I live periodically to avoid raising any suspects; that's why I don't have too many friends, but Poppy is an exception. I was even about to tell her about my secret, and reveal my true form in front of her. I hope it isn't too late. Well, I guess that's just the way that my life is: The life of Sasha. > Chapter III - Sasha, the alicorn. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear diary, I'm starting to think that somepony is following me. I feel a weird presence every time I go out, as powerful as me. That's not all, weird hoofsteps can be heard behind me from time to time, but when I turn around, nopony is there. Since my friend's death was confirmed one week ago, I have no more reasons to continue living here. I should probably adopt a pegasus form and move to Cloudsdale. I should also change my last name as well; I think that Sasha Fast-Fly would be good to... KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! The door was knocked. "Give me a second!" she shouted as she levitated her diary, and placed it under her bed. She was scared; she didn't know anypony that could be searching for her. With a flash of her horn, she let her wings reappear on her back. She knew who was there; it was the magical presence than has been following her during the last week. She was ready to fight him, and, if it was necessary, to run, or fly in her case. She went silently to the door and opened it a centimeter. She at least wanted to know who was there and what he wanted. But the thing that was at the other side of the door was not a pony. It was tall, biped, and with weird clothing. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ "Hello!" I greeted the green pony that I could barely see through the door. "My name is William, and I would like to ask you some questions. You're miss Sasha, right?" Once I spoke, the mare's face seemed to change drastically. It changed from super worried, to a one far more relaxed. "Oh, that's me, hehe. How can I help you?" "Well, I wanted to ask you some questions," I repeated. "May I come in?" "Oh yeah, wait one more second," she said. Then she closed the door, a sudden flash appeared from her window, and then she fully opened it. "Now, come in, come in." I slowly walked into her home. I had my objective clear, I wanna know if she's the same Sasha that the Little Prince told me about. For now, everything matched perfectly. According to Equestria's citizen's records, pegasi, and unicorns with the same name and appearance appeared and disappeared across thousands of years: Sasha Well-Spell, Sasha Green-Root, and even some inversions like Sasha Root-Green and Sasha Spell-Well. It's just too suspicious. "Well, Mr. William, what brings you here?" she nervously said as she trembled like a leaf. "Well, I'm gonna go directly to the point. Are you Sasha?" "Well, you already know that," she answered. "No, what I mean is if you're the Sasha that's more than she appears, the Sasha that's even older than me or the princesses." When I said this, tears begun to fall from her eyes. It was understandable; after all, humans were almost responsible for the extinction of her race. To break the awkward silence, I decided to say: "Look, I'm sorry for what my..." "I'm sorry for what my species did to humans!" she quickly shouted. My heart stopped beating for a second. "W-what!?" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry, and yes, I am that Sasha," she said as her tears escaped their wet round prison. "You might not know this, because it was a long time ago, but we alicorns did terrible things to humans." "Bu-but humans almost extinguished alicorns!" I exclaimed while my mind tried to understand what Sasha was telling me. "I should be the one apologizing." "I guess that that was a deserved punishment for what we did," she replied. "We had a power that you humans decided to call magic. And thanks to it, we felt more superior than any other race. We even ended up extinguishing unicorns, pegasi, and sapient earth ponies without human intervention..." Before hearing this, my mind just froze. What I thought that would be an apology turned out to be... well, an apology, but not in the way that I expected. "...I remember this well because back in that time I was a filly: my mother, who was an important pony between the alicorns, started talking about humans as a pest, one that should be extinguished from earth in order to ensure alicorn supremacy. Since I had a human friend, who's name I forgot a long time ago, I knew that that wasn't true. Humans were just like us in the interior, but nopony saw it that way. I ended up escaping my home, and avoided my mother for thousands of years. I saw as my mother, Opaline, create tons of dangerous diseases, for humans to die. I saw her command the other alicorns to spread hate and conflict among them so their civilization will slowly fall into nothing." "How did you stop her?" I then asked. "I didn't," she replied. "Eventually, a group of humans found me, and I decided to tell them everything that was happening under their noses. I left them to figure out what to do, but, despite my warnings, they started to hunt the alicorns. At first, they didn't manage too much success, since they only had swords and arrows, but, with the passing of generations, and technological development, their group started to be able to kill more and more alicorns. I didn't mind too much; I came to hate my own race, and they were just acting in self defense. The alicorns did made a last plan to kill all humans: 'The World War', but it didn't have too much success, so they used a very angry painter to develop their last, but most dangerous plan: 'World War II'. However, humans resisted it, and by the time the war was over, so was their race because the previously mentioned group finally managed to find the place in which the alicorn hideout was, a small island at the South Pole, and use their resources to nuke it. Almost every alicorn was killed, and even though I found survivors, they were so few that were not a threat to humans anymore." "Wow," I said when she finished her story. "I... I don't know what to say!" "Me neither," she replied. "Also, the rest of the story is kind unbelievable. But it has to do with someone called..." "The Little Prince?" "Yeah! How do you know him?" "Long story, maybe for another time," I said. "Well, just one more thing I would like to ask you: why you didn't tell the princesses that you're an alicorn? I'm sure that they would have helped you." "Well, It's not that I HAD to do it. Also, they didn't rose to the power immediately after human extinction, and since I pulled my own very well for thousands of years, I didn't have the need to do so," said Sasha. Some seconds after her reply, she asked: "Also, do you know the reason of human extinction?, because one day I just saw that everyone was now everypony." "Oh, that's kinda a long story," I spoke with a little laugh, "but we do have time so... Wanna hear it?" "Sure!" she exclaimed. "I would like to know your story, the story of a legend." "Yeah, the 'legend'," I said sarcastically. "Well, it all started when..." \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Twilight Sparkle was placing her personal library in order; Spike was helping too! Some hours ago, she hoofed William tons of tomes about civil records of Equestria. He said that he was in search of the pony named Sasha. She doesn't thinks that it will conduct to any success, but she still helped him with it. "Twilight, *yawns*, I'm a bit tired of this, may I go to sleep now?" her faithful dragon assistant said with a sleepy voice tone. "Sure, Spike, but I will stay here until..." "Twilight!" William shouted as he entered the room. "You won't believe this!" "I won't believe... SWEET CELESTIA!" she shouted at what she saw. A green alicorn mare was beside William; she matched with the description of the file William found at that old bunker. Her sole presence, even though it wasn't threatening, was now the most imponent in the whole room, maybe even in the whole castle. "Hello," the guest spoke. "I think that you already know this, but my name is Sasha." At that moment Spike fainted. > Chapter IV - My old enemy: fear. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maybe he doesn't care anymore after all those years, but I do. Maybe he thinks that he did the right thing. I do not. Screw up my humanity salvation plan, I just want revenge on him! It was going to be too easy, TOO EASY to give humanity an infinite, clean energy source. All I had to do was to sacrifice those fillies lives and everything would be fine, but that wasn't enough for him, no no no no. He wanted to protect them; he wanted to make sure that they were happy. I just HATE him! How to take revenge? Killing the adult forms of the fillies would be too difficult. Maybe I should wait; I should wait and see how I can hurt him the most, how I can really break him. For now, I should stay hidden. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Sasha went to see the princesses a week ago; she got along with them very well. For them, I guess that it was great to know that their race wasn't just a lab creation, but they also got a bit sad when they discovered the horrors that the alicorns did in the past. I'm now currently at Canterlot's streets with Sasha, in her unicorn form, and Philomena at my shoulder. The sky is free from clouds for now, but the pegasi said that a rain is set for later in the afternoon. We're heading out of a cafeteria in which we chatted a bit about the whole situation. She told me that, when her friend died after she sent her in my search, she was just going to adopt a pegasus form and move to Cloudsdale. When she told me that, I asked about her dead friend. "Well," she said as we headed out of the cafeteria, "Poppy was a great friend, but she had some troubles with her bills and salary... I thought that I could help her by telling her where to find you, so she could have an interview with you or something." "Oh, and how did you know where to find me?" I asked. "Well, I saw you at the safe edge of the Everfree forest during my Sunday routine, so..." "Sunday routine?" I asked. "But I'm not at Ponyville during Sundays." "What?" Sasha asked. "Yeah, I'm just there during Mondays to Fridays for my magical studies. And during that week I didn't even go to Ponyville because I was... doing something with the princesses," I said because I'm just not in the mood to explain her about the Little Prince, even though she already knows him. "But if you weren't there, who was the one that I saw?" she asked with a worried voice tone. "Well I..." think I know who could be, but that's ridiculous. "Don't know who could be. What exactly did you see?" "Well, it was a tall, bipedal figure that was wearing a white robe." The mention of the white robe made my heart shrink in fear, "And, did you saw his face?" "No, I barely just saw his back, but then he kinda teleported." "Teleported? With one of my portals?" "Nope," she replied, "he just vanished with a sudden flash. Also, I think that he had no hair at all... Wait, now that I think about it, he wasn't you at all!" This was starting to worry me. Again, I think I know who could be but... I wish I'm wrong. "Do you know him?" she now asked. "Well I... am not sure, but... Can we change the topic?" "Why?" the green mare asked me. "I'm not so sure about what you saw; I would like to be sure if..." "If it was director Osvaldo?" she completed. "Wait, how do you..." "Oh come on!" she exclaimed. "Everypony knows your legend, and, due to the fact that he kidnapped me 20000 years ago, I just had to add 1 plus 1 and guess that it was him. But, didn't he die already? You killed him, right?" "Well, actually... The legend might be a bit wrong. I don't actually remember killing him, but he didn't survive the explosion that brought me here, otherwise he would have taken control of the earth with his power." "But that magical explosion could have brought him to the present as well," she questioned. "Yeah, but if that was the case, I would know since he would have appeared with me," I replied. Now I was starting to worry. "Are you sure about what you know?" she now asked with a worried look on her green pony face. "Actually, no. Not in the slightest," was my reply. We walked back to the castle as our chat continued. I desperately wanted to change the topic to another one; I just don't like to remember that day. As it was programmed, the pegasi started to place dark clouds all over the sky, and the rain almost caught us before we made it to the castle. Fortunately, one of my blue portals was able to fix this in some seconds. That night I couldn't sleep well, so I stood up from my bed and went to the balcony. Tia really did a great job with this castle; it isn't just extremely comfy, but it also feels extremely safe. Not just because of all those royal guards, but also because of how the castle is designed. Unlike Twilight's castle at Ponyville, the walls of Canterlot's castle felt ten times more robust and resistant, and its architecture was more prepared for an attack, although I heard about a changelling attack that was almost successful, but that's all it was: almost. I contemplated the beauty of the capital city of the Equestrian kingdom from the mentioned balcony. Luna's moon was up already, although nopony would be able to see it, since it was raining. I couldn't care less about it; I can return to bed anytime I want, and I really like the feeling of the raindrops on my face. I don't care about my clothes as well; I'm just wearing a shirt and some shorts after all. I wanna test something; last week, Twilight taught me that, through certain concentration, powerful magical beings, like me, can feel other powerful beings. To try to kill my fears once and for all, I extended a hand, closed my eyes, and focused. First, I could feel myself, quite an obvious thing. I focused further and I felt two great amounts of magic on the very same castle I was; they obviously were Celestia and Luna Tyler. Do they still use their last names? Anyways... I focused further, and I felt another presence. It was surrounded by a cold weather, and also love. She was clearly Cadence. I tried to focus to the opposite direction, towards Ponyville. After focusing a bit, I felt the obvious presence: Twilight, shining as a beacon full of knowledge. The next presence I felt was just as powerful as the others, but was far more chaotic. One second it felt like cooked rice, another like burning flames, and the other it felt like... Toilet paper? Yep, it was Discord. But my heart stopped when I felt another presence. It felt just as weird as discord's, but not that chaotic. My heart started to beat rapidly in fear as my worst fear was starting to confirm itself. Then... "Oh, hi William!" Pinkie's squeaky voice spoke as the powerful magical presence I just felt. "Are you able to feel me as well?" Well, that kinda explains some of Pinkie's weirdness; what it doesn't explain is why she has all that raw magic. That was a huge relief, I almost thought that... Nevermind. Well, I guess that I was just too scared. I think that, after all, there was nothing for me to... Then, I felt something else. It was powerful, VERY powerful, but also, full of anger. And it felt like, whatever it was, it was shouting. It was also deep inside the Everfree forest. "Oh no." "Something wrong, William?" Luna's voice said from behind me. "AH!" I shouted as I turned around to face her. "Luna, you scared me!" "Why are you at the balcony? It's raining!" she said. She was right. I don't know for how long I stood there, but the rain was now a lot worse than when I got out, and my clothing was completely wet, so wet that it was a bit sticky. "I... I think I... Felt him." "Felt who?" she replied with a confused glare. "The director," I responded, "director Osvaldo." She stared at me for some seconds, and then she asked, "Are you sure? Wasn't he..." "Dead?" I complemented. "That's what I thought, but Sasha told me something that changed that." "And what did she tell you?" "She saw him," I said, then when the confused face of Luna made me add this: "just barely, and just for a few seconds." "And are you sure that you felt him?" "In the Everfree forest, I felt his power, I felt his anger, and I felt him shouting." "That could be any evil creature from the forest," Luna replied. After some seconds of thinking, and getting more wet, I said: "You know what?, maybe you're right. Maybe it isn't the worse." "I still think that Tia and I should see what's up with that; we also felt something off in the forest," then, after an awkward silence, she spoke once more. "You should get inside, you'll get sick." "You're right, you're right," I said as I got inside my room ready to make a little change of clothes. "Wait, why did you come here in the first place?" "I was patrolling dreams, and I noticed that you weren't asleep, so I got a little worried." "Oh, thank you for that," I said. "You're welcome," said Luna, then she left my room. After changing my clothes, I closed my eyes to disconnect from reality. That night, I felt something in my sleep that I don't feel since the Owlen incident. Fear. > Chapter V - Long time no see! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure about this, sis?" the sun alicorn asked to Luna. "I mean, I did felt a powerful presence at the forest, but I'm very sure that Osvaldo died a long time ago." "Yeah, but Sasha said that he saw a bald human at the forest; who else could it be?" "Maybe... Maybe she just saw a unicorn afected by... poison joke?" she replied. "Well," Luna spoke, "if that's the case, it's an enormous coincidence." After some seconds of uncomfortable silence, Celestia decided to break it. "I think we should focus on more important issues," the white mare spoke, "like, for example, what's exactly that 'new' element of harmony known as the element of hope?" "Well, maybe... Maybe it's... I don't know. We never fully understood the elements after all," was the night princess' reply. "Wait, Tia, don't change the topic at hoof!" "You know me too well don't you?" Tia replied. "But, am I right?" After deeply exhalating from her muzzle, Luna said, "I guess you are. You can send a letter to Twilight. I think that element is now kept inside her castle." "Indeed Lulu. Now that that's solved, I think we should..." "Hey, but what about the Osvaldo problem!" Exclaimed Luna. "Stop avoiding the problem, Tia." "Since that wasn't confirmed yet, technically I'm not avoiding any problem," Celestia lied, not just to her sister, but also to herself. She was terrified about the idea that Director Osvaldo could still be alive, and her mind desperately tried to avoid the topic, even if it was irrational. "You're the one who's forcing this topic." Both mares stared at each other for a long, and uncomfortable time. Luna was the one that decided to break the silence first, and spoke: "I think it's getting late. Maybe I should go keep checking on the dreams of our subjects." "Yeah, maybe you should," Tia replied. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ "So the Little Prince just gave it to you?" Twilight asked me. It was Monday, and because of it, I was back at Ponyville for my studies. Twilight recently received a letter from Tia in which the white alicorn practically begged her to see if she could at least try to understand what was that 'element of hope' that once saved us from Owlen. When I arrived, I saw the purple mare holding the pendant on her purple aura. I knew that she wanted to keep it in order to study it, but she never did that, until now. "Yep," I answered. I was now holding the new element/pendant on my hands. Its white bright now was a bit less strong than before, but it was still shining. "He briefly told me that he found it during one of his explorations in an asteroid, but that explains nothing. Does the book of the elements explains anything?" "Not anything that we don't know yet," she said. "At least it states that it was once part of the others, and was here on earth." After she said that, I tried to make the element react to my magic. I focused really hard, and even got to make it shine, but my efforts were worthless; nothing happened. "Well, maybe the Little Prince can tell us more about it," Twilight stated. "How about we go to B-612 to ask him?" "That's not likely to happen soon, not until you find another alicorn that can help us," I answered. "What do you mean?" "Well, B-612 is pretty far from earth, and since more far means more magic, we need the magical power of three alicorns in order to go there. I have the magic of an alicorn, you as well but... we need one more, and Tia and Luna are kinda occupied right now; they've a kingdom to rule after all." "Oh, I see," she said. I kept playing/testing with the element of hope, until the purple mare exclaimed: "Wait, how about Sasha?" "Hmm, that's... not actually a bad idea!" I shouted excitedly. "She returned to her home at Ponyville, or at least that's what I know. Maybe you could give her a little visit and get her help." "Why don't you go? She knows you better than me." "Twilight, I just came from an exhausting train trip, I didn't sleep in the whole night, and I'm having a horrible headache. May I sleep for some hours please?" "Sure, but... why didn't you sleep in the whole night?" "That's... a bit complicated, I'll tell you later, ok?" "... Ok," she replied. After an awkward silence, and a yawn, I spoke, "Well, I guess that I should go to sleep now." "Ok, in the meantime, I'll see what Sasha is up to." \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ After leaving William sleeping in the castle, I went directly to Sasha's house. It didn't take me long to find it, after all, I was the one that helped William to find Sasha in the first place. I knocked on her door, and waited for a response. It took her a long while, but eventually she showed her face as she opened the door. "Oh, Twilight, I wasn't expecting you," said she, "is there anything I could help you with?" "Indeed there is," I replied. I was about to explain her what it was, when I saw something, something was wrong. Her face was wet, her eyes were red, and liquid was escaping her nose. "Wait, Sasha, were you crying?" "No," she lied. "... Well yes, I was." "Why?" "Well, I... I was... I was just sad and stuff because... because I remember Poppy, my friend that died, but I'm ok, don't worry." That answer was weird, "Are you sure that you're alright?" "Yeah, very sure. Now, you said that there was something in which I could help you." \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Two hours before: Sasha was now at her home, preparing a hay soup for herself. She started the preparation by holding a knife with her magical aura and crushing the hay. The next step was to boil some water, mix it with the hay, and then add any vegetables she wanted. She was sad because she lost Poppy, but the visit she made to the princesses helped with it a little bit. It was so nice to actually meet alicorn that weren't just like... "Sasha! Long time no see," a mare voice that the green alicorn didn't hear in a long time, but still recognized spoke. Sasha stopped cutting the hay and, slowly, turned to face the mare that was in her house. She was a purple mare but, to her horror, she wasn't Twilight. It was her mother, Opaline. She was still in her alicorn form, but probably just to intimidate her; most likely she was just a unicorn during her normal days. She wasn't wearing her usual Armour though; probably she lost it after all those years. Sasha's heartbeat started to go wild as she was just frozen in place, too stunned to even speak, but she had to. She thought that this mare was dead, and she wanted to find a way to make it truth again. Best thing she could do now was to get answers. "How... how did you...?" "'How did I survived' You ask? Well, at World War II, I guess I was just lucky not to be in the wrong place in the wrong time. If you ask for the humanity extinction thing, well, it was pretty easy. I'm sure it was also easy for you." "And why do you show up now!" Sasha reclaimed. "To torture me, to yell at me, to complain or something?" "Again, you got it all wrong my dear child." she calmly replied. "For the first time in your long, boring, and meaningless life, I'm here to congratulate you." Sasha's face got confused, "Co... congratulate me?" "Yeah, I wasn't the pony who finally achieved the extinction of the human race. Neither the princesses; I've seen how they care for their human friend called William, even before his return. They wouldn't even hurt a human baby. It wasn't me, and all my companions are dead so that leaves you as the only possible option. I admit that you were really hard to find. Specially since you never showed up to Canterlot's castle and say, 'Oh princesses look! I have a horn and wings too,' until now." "Even then, how did you find me?" "I always keep an eye on the Equestrian government, mostly because I'd love to see those princesses loose their throne. I don't want it... yet, but I just can't tolerate that ponies that were friends with humans, and, due to recent events, still are, rule over me," she paused for a second, then she continued. "I wish I could kill William. Unfortunately, he's always in companion of rather the elements or the princesses. It would make too much noise, and would ruin the position I've been constructing during thousands of years. Well, at least I helped others to overthrown, or at least try, Celestia and Luna. Who do you think that gave all the information required to Chrisalis for her invasion in exchange for a comfortable position as a general? Who do you think that told Tirek that he had a free road to escape when his guard momentarily left? Who do you think that wrote the prophecy that stated that Nightmare Moon will return, and then slowly, but surely, started to move the stars? Who do you think that lowered the magical protection that imprisoned Discord in stone so even a little bit of chaos could free him? I'll give you a little clue: it was me!" After more seconds in which the tension in the air was breathable, Opaline spoke one last thing, "I came here to congratulate you, however, by the look in your face, you didn't even do the one thing I'd be proud of. What a waste. See ya later! I hope next time we see each other will be for me to see at least some kind of apology from you, or for me to congratulate you for something remotely remarkable," and with that said, her horn lighted up and she vanished. And with that said, Sasha collapsed and cried. > Chapter VI - The element of hope. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Really, a portal to the asteroid in which the Little Prince lives!" Sasha exclaimed excitedly. "To be honest, I didn't know that he was still alive." Twilight and Sasha were talking at the map room of Twilight's castle. The purple mare and I already told Sasha what we were trying to do and why we needed her help. It was obvious to me, even if Twilight didn't have told it to me already, that Sasha has been crying (the wet lines on her face were pretty hard to miss), however, the reason for it was still a mystery for both of us. "Yeah, he is," Twilight stated. "I think that we should've told it to you before. Anyway, are you sure that you can pull this spell on? It is very complicated magic, even for a..." "I'm very sure," said Sasha. "I lived even longer than the princesses. Do you seriously think that I don't know complex magic?" she said with a playful voice tone. "However, for some reason that I cannot understand yet, they're even more powerful than the ancient alicorns; maybe it is because they were lab created? Who knows." I was checking some details on the roll in which me and the princesses wrote the spell. I closed it, and added myself to the discussion in the table. "Well, all done," I said as I reopened the roll and passed it to Sasha with my light-blue aura, "but there's only one way to see if it works, right?" "Right," said the purple alicorn. "Are you ready, Sasha?" "Totally." We headed to a corner of the map room and placed ourselves in position. Twilight's and Sasha's horns started to glow intensely, a magical spark appeared on the crystal wall, and, last but not least, I focused, placed my hands on the magical bright spark and extended them. A portal to B-612 was opened. "You can get in first, Twilight," Sasha said. "Ok," she said as she hopped into the portal. I was about to go in as well, until Sasha stopped me by saying: "William, wait, can we talk for a bit?" "Later, Sasha," I replied. "This portal is very unstable, and I don't wanna leave Twilight trapped there. You understand that, right?" "Yeah, you're probably right," she said with a bit saddened voice. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get in!" As she said, I got in, and, an instant later, she did as well. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ "Sasha!" the Little Prince exclaimed as he saw the green mare. "It's been a while since I saw you. How are you?" "I'm fine, Little Prince," Sasha replied, "and all thanks to you for rescuing me." "You're welcome, Sasha." I let them talk for several minutes; after all, they clearly know for a longer time than me, and really wanted to talk. When there was a bit of silence in the conversation, I decided that it was time to talk about the topic that brought us here. "So, Little Prince, I'm here to ask you about the element of hope, that shining magical am..." "Oh, you mean the pendant that I gave you the first time that I met you," the Little Prince stated. "As I told you before, I found it on an asteroid thousands of years ago, but it was kinda weird; it didn't look like any asteroid that I saw before." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, it wasn't round; it was more like a cone, also it was silver colored. Oh!, and..." That sentence immediately triggered my attention. "Silver colored, what else did it have?" "Well, some parts of it were made of very transparent, colorless diamonds, and also..." Twilight had a hard time trying to figure out what was he referring to, but I instantly realized what was he talking about. A spacecraft. "Wait, did it have... some kinda door as well?" "Yeah! But it also had..." "And did you find it after or before humans were turned into ponies?" "It was clearly during the conversion because..." then he stopped talking "Because?" I asked. "Nothing, I just thought that I was going to be interrupted. The thing is... I found a human inside." "A human!" we exclaimed in unison, "but how?" "It's a long story, but resuming it: he was some kind of space explorer named Oscar. An astronaut I think he said. He wanted so badly to return to earth, but, due to some problems down there (maybe the ponification incident), he simply couldn't make it. Fortunately, with my help and some help from earth, he finally got to return. The thing is: during his hopeless moment, in which he thought that he'd never be able to see his family again, I helped him to regain his hope, and that caused an ordinary pendant that he carried with him to be impregnated with a powerful magic." "And he gave it to you?" I asked. "Yep, and then I gave it to you." "And do you have any idea of what magic this pendant contains?" I said as I lifted said pendant from my neck. "Sorry, but no." he responded. "Thank you very much for your help, Little Prince. Well, I think it's time for us to leave." "So soon?" the kid lamented. "But we didn't even play a game!" his face looked so innocent, so pure, so childish... how could I say no to that? "I guess we can stay for an hour or two, if everypony agrees." "For me it's fine," Twilight said. "For me too," said Sasha. "What do you have in mind?" she said to the Little Prince. We ended up playing hide-and-seek. I thought that it'd be an impossible game to play on an asteroid like B-612 but I didn't take into account that there were other asteroids around to hide in. Time became irrelevant. I guess that we lost two or three hours there. Sadly, eventually we had to go. "I promise that I'll visit you later. Next time, I hope it won't be to ask you a favor." "Don't worry, I'm glad to help," he replied. "Hurry up, William!" said Twilight. "Only you remain to activate the portal." > Chapter VII - He's back. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since I returned home, I just wanted to relax for a bit. Luna had already raised the moon, and Twilight already went to her bedroom to sleep. I was about to do the same, but Sasha, who didn't go to her home yet, stopped me as I opened the door of my room. "William, may I speak about something with you?" "What's the matter?" I said as I turned around to face her. She seemed deeply worried about something. She's been like that since Twilight called her to help us. "I've witnessed something today, something that concerns me. Do you remember my mother, Opaline?" "Yeah, I do. What's up with her?" "She..." Sasha looked at all places, as if she thought that she was being watched. When she got certain that she wasn't, she said. "She isn't dead." "What do you mean?" "She appeared to me today. She found out that I'm still alive. She... She wants... I don't know exactly what, but she isn't particularly happy with your presence." "Do you mean..." I hesitated. "Do you mean that she wants to... kill me?" "I don't know for sure, but it's very likely." Great! Simply great. Just when I thought that one maniac wanting to kill me was bad, I discover that there's another. "But... but are you sure about that?" "If I'm sure?" she replied a bit angry. "IF I'M SURE!? I saw her just today with my own eyes; how can I not be sure?" I sighed, "I just hoped it to be false; now I've two magical powerful beings out there that want to kill me." "Wait, two? What do you mean?" "Yesterday, I felt a powerful presence at the Everfree Forest. I first thought that it was just some kind of creature that lived there; the Everfree Forest had too many of them. But then I realized that I could recognize the presence from some part of my past. Now I'm sure; he's Director Osvaldo." "Director Osvaldo!" exclaimed Sasha. She also couldn't believe it. She did tried to negate it as Celestia did by saying: "No, that's impossible. It's simply not logical. Why would he wait until now to show up?" "I could say the same thing about Opaline," I answered. "Why would I believe that she's back?, just because an alicorn says so?" "Oh, now you're calling me a lier!" Sasha shouted, now angry. "Of course not, I'm just putting things into perspective," I quickly spoke. "Only if we're gonna trust each other, we can truly help ourselves." "Help ourselves? In what?" "Well we..." I had troubles with answering those questions. We both struggled with powerful demons of our pasts, perhaps that's why we connected so well. But unlike Sasha, I'm more willing to face that demon, to confront it, even if he'd easily kill me if I did so. "Have to... survive against them. We should tell the princesses about Opaline; they'll be of great help." "Perhaps. Did you tell them already about Osvaldo?" "Yeah, but that didn't go as I thought. Celestia didn't want to accept the truth, even if she can feel him as well. I guess it's their trauma; he made them live in hell during their early childhood... er, fillyhood." "And what about Luna?" "She did accepted it, but, as if they were still fillies, nothing can be done if they don't agree. "Maybe, since they are not as traumatized by Opaline as they are by Osvaldo, it will be more easy for them to understand it," Sasha said. "Maybe," I replied. "It will be better if you tell them though. Maybe they'll listen to an ancient alicorn better than his annoying older brother." "Really? I'm not sure that they'll take me too seriously; after all, I'm practically just a stranger that they just happen to meet." I paused for a second before replying. Not only I know how they were in their fillyhood, but now I also know that both Celestia and Luna are still more than willing to trust in Sasha, "Believe me, they really appreciate you. Your blood runs through their veins; you're technically part of their family." She was stunned after hearing this, "I... I never thought of it in that way," now tears started to form in her eyes, and some of them even spilled on the crystal floor. "So I... Do you mean that I... have a family? Do you mean that... you're my family?" I wasn't sure about how to proceed, but I did know that Sasha needed help. Any kind of help. I walked to her, and gave her a warm embrace around her green neck, "Of course you have, Sasha. I know how it feels to think you've lost everything you love, and I don't want you to go through it all alone." The hug lasted for some more minutes, then she realized that we both were tired, and that we needed some sleep. "Well," Sasha said as she broke the embrace, "I'm gonna fly to Canterlot tomorrow. I'll tell the princesses about Opaline, oh, and maybe what we've discovered of that element of hope. But for now, I just wanna sleep; it's been a tough day." "Yeah, me too." I said. "Goodnight, Sasha!" After saying goodbye, I turned around and entered my room. For now, all I wanted was to lay on my bed and forget all of my recent problems. Before I crashed into the bed, I noticed that the balcony door was opened. There wasn't any rain programed by the cloud factory, but I wanted to have it closed. Then, when I was about to close the entrance to the balcony, I saw it. Or him. "Greetings, William," it was Osvaldo. He was wearing a dirty lab coat and old destroyed jeans. "Do you remember me?" he asked with a mischievous smile. "If I remember you? IF I REMEMBER YOU!?" I shouted as I made my sword appear and, with both hands, point it to Osvaldo's face. "I don't know if you know it, but for me just a few months have passed since the last time I saw you!" "Oh, so it's the same thing with you then," he said. "I thought that you lived in this... fairytale for 20000 years. Well, that makes things even easier for me." "What exactly do you mean?" I asked still holding my blade between my hands with rage. "I mean that you're practically the same threat to me as you were 20000 years ago: none at all." Then, he took my blade and tried to throw it off the balcony. But since I was holding it too tightly, I ended up falling off alongside my sword. The castle didn't have too many floors, and I was about to hit the ground. As I panicked, I somehow managed to open a portal in the ground that will take me back to my room. However, even though it worked, the momentum I had was just too much to be stopped, and I ended up crashing into my desk. As I got back to my feet, I felt a kick in my stomach, then another, and then another one. It wasn't hard to guess what was happening: Osvaldo was kicking my ass, literally. "I think that's enough for tonight," he said after 15 kicks or so. "You were of great help, William. You know? I could kill you right here if I wanted to, but where would be all the fun then?" Osvaldo proceeded to grab me from my neck and then whispered to my ear: "The truth is: I want revenge. You took everything, not just from me, but also from the entire human race. You deserve even worse than this, but I'll let you be consumed by your own fear; it will be so much entertaining." Before getting unconscious, the last thing I saw was him throwing me to a nearby wall. > Chapter VIII - And You Can't Deny It Anymore > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "William!" I heard Spike's young voice say. "William! What happened to you?" I slowly opened my eyes, and carefully, but painfully, stood up. My room was exactly as it was last night: a complete disaster. Now that I regained consciousness, I noticed how severely injured I was: my clothes were covered with a little bit of my blood; I probably almost broke my right arm; and my stomach ached in agony from, probably, the worst injury that I ever had. The young dragon stared at me with a worried look on his face. During the several moths I've lived within the walls of Twilight's castle, I never saw Spike so concerned. "I... I'm fi-" then I vomited blood. Spike got even more scared as I did it. "I... I think that I might need some help." "Twilight! Starlight! Somepony!" the dragon yelled. "Come quickly!" After a minute, Starlight made herself present in the room by a teleportation spell. She might have heard Spike's yells. When she saw me, her expression turned to one of horror. "WILLIAM!" she shouted. "How did this happen!?" "It was Osvaldo," I said. "Osvaldo? But wasn't he..." "Dead? So did the princesses. Speaking of which," I placed my left hand on the crystal wall to support my weak balance, "I need to talk to one of them immediately. Where's Twilight?" "She isn't at Ponyville right now," Spike replied. "She was summoned by the map for a mission in Manehattan." "Then could you send a letter for me, Spike?" "Sure! For Twilight?" "No, for Celestia." ————————————————————— The older ruler of Equestria was looking through her window at Canterlot's castle. Canterlot's morning went as usual: ponies opened their stores, pegasi flew through the sky, and the beautiful birds' songs could be heard even from the castle. Everything seemed so beautiful, so pretty, in perfect harmony. Could it really be about to end? No, Osvaldo can't be back; he was defeated by William 20000 years ago. However, William sounded so certain of his return that she couldn't ignore it. "But even if he's truly back," she mumbled, "there's no reason to think that he'd oppose any threat. After all, I'm not the same pony as I was back in those days." "Neither do I," Luna complemented from behind her. Celestia almost shouted, but she managed to contain herself. She was used to Luna being like this. "If he is here, which I think is true, we're more than capable of teaching him a lesson or two." "What makes you believe that he's back?" Tia asked as she turned to face her sister. "Not every miracle in this world is a pleasant one. If William was able to travel from the past, why couldn't Osvaldo do it as well?" "He would've appeared with him!" Tia repeated once again. "I already told you." "But it's such a coincidence that we started to feel this dark magic at Ponyville right after Owlen traveled back in time. Doesn't that raise like tons of red flags?" At that moment, a letter materialized out of thin air in front of the princesses. The white alicorn opened the scroll and started reading it. "Tia, I know what you think about the matter, but you need to come to Ponyville IMMEDIATELY, or at least open a portal for me to Canterlot. We have to talk. Director Osvaldo is alive, I swear it to you. I'm telling this to you because, last night, he literally tried to assassinate me! I'm just alive because he wants to 'prolong my suffering' or something. Please don't take too long for a response. I am very scared right now. William." "I told you," Luna said as her sister finished reading the letter. "Now, what are we waiting for?" ————————————————————— It's amazing how my view of this castle has changed so much in this few hours. Yesterday, this seemed like a heavenly fortress in which nothing could get through; now this crystal walls seem as fragile as glass. Why did he leave me alive? For a man so logical as him, killing me in the act would've been much more appropriate. He isn't dumb, he would never leave me a chance to beat him. He knows that he's in clear disadvantage. The only plausible explanation is that he just said that to intimidate me because... "Because he wants something from me." "What did you say, William?" Starlight, who was sitting beside me, said. "Nothing. Just an interesting theory, but I have no evidence to prove it yet." A portal emerged right in front of us. Through it, I could see a room of Canterlot's castle and my two adoptive sisters. "Excuse me, Starlight. I'll be right back." "Sure. No problem," she replied. As I made my way to the portal and went through it, the sisters' facial expressions changed to horror as they saw my deplorable state. "So is it true?" Celestia asked. "That Osvaldo is..." "Sadly, it is." "But, if he could've killed you, why did he leave you alive?" Luna asked. As the portal behind me closed and I was sure that nopony... or nobody was listening to us, I said: "I don't know. The only thing that comes to my mind is that he wants something from me." As I said this, I felt like I was about to fall over. Luckily, my sisters caught me with their hooves and put me into a warm embrace and said: "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." ————————————————————— As Osvaldo watched the hug between William and the princesses from outside the balcony with an invisibility spell he stole from the library, he thought to himself: Hm... he's smart indeed. Fortunately he's not that smart. Then he crossed one item out of his invisible list. William is scared. Now I just need to get from this dummies what I want. > Chapter IX - Modern Talking. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This dummie has been chatting with those alicorns for hours, and none of what were saying has helped at all to determine how did 'Owlen' managed to travel back in time. Good thing that I have this invisibility spell. I must admit it, these ponies really made good use of magic during this 20000 years. At least he knows that I wouldn't be so stupid to leave him alive without a real reason. Part of the job is now done. Now all he has to do is to figure out why I did it, say it out loud, and then I'll be able to leave this balcony once and for all. A bad thing this spell has is the fact that the moment I move even a single muscle it will lose its effect, so I must make the most of it while I'm here. "Did you tell this to anypony else?" William asked to the dark blue alicorn. He was sitting on the sofa that was inside the room, drinking hot coffee. "Well, I didn't have to," the alicorn named Luna responded. She was inside the room's bed, so I guess this is her bedroom. "Starlight and Spike already knew; and after finishing her duties on Manehattan, Twilight found out when she asked them where were you. But then I recommended that they don't let anypony else know, just to avoid panic. However it was impossible for me to avoid Sasha from knowing." "Why?" William asked. "Because Celestia decided to tell her," Luna quickly answered. "In fact, she should be arriving to the castle at any moment. Don't forget that Osvaldo tortured her; she deserves to know that her life could also be in danger." Oh, come on! That alicorn was a huge menace to our society back in those days. William, as dumb as he is, probably doesn't know this, but the alicorns that existed prior to his dear adopted sisters were complete monsters! They nearly drove the human race to extinction during World War II. My family, whose job was to watch out for the alicorn menace back in 1940, is the reason of why we are still alive. All I did was to continue their ancient guard while also earning something in the process. "I'm here! I'm here!" exclaimed said green alicorn as she entered the room. "Wow, that was fast," Luna said. "I didn't expect you for about an hour or so." "Wait, what?" was her response. "Were you expecting me?" "Haven't you read the letter that I sent you?" the moon mare asked with a puzzled expression on her muzzle. "A letter? No! I came here because I need to tell you that something terrible has happened." "Something terrible?" Luna questioned, already imagining that Sasha already knew about Osvaldo's return. In that moment, I heard a loud thunder, and it started raining. Damn pegasi! Why did they have to program a rain for such a peaceful night? It was a lot easier when nature just followed its own course. Anyways, even though my dirty, smelly, invisible clothing was getting wet, I had to remain still so the invisibility spell wouldn't wear off. "Yeah, something totally terrible. The thing is that, yesterday, I discovered that my mother, Opaline, is still alive." Opaline! Like the Opaline my father told me about. The Opaline that was a complete monster, and practically the leader of the ancient alicorns. I must say that I had a really bad time containing myself to avoid saying something. "Wait, what?" Luna responded. "Oh, yeah; I forgot to tell you that," William spoke. "With all the trouble that Osvaldo caused me last night, I forgot about dummie number two." "What trouble?" Sasha said. "What happened last night?" They proceeded to do a long exchange of meaningless words, just pure gibberish and pointless consolation between themselves. I was starting to loose my patience. They weren't saying what I wanted to say. But then, it finally happened: I got from them what I wanted. "And what if he's after the time-travel spell?" the green mare asked to the princess. "Well, that's an option. But even if he's indeed after that scroll, he wouldn't oppose much of a threat. After Owlen stole it from the Crystal Empire, Cadence decided that said spell would be safer within the walls of Canterlot's castle. It is now kept at the most fortified section of our personal archive." "Ha! I knew it!" I exclaimed by accident. The moment that my lips let out that phrase, I became visible to all of the presents inside the room. Oh no... anyways, they're not gonna stop me, even if they attempt it. I vanished with a sudden flash and appeared at the castle gardens. I don't know exactly where the princesses' personal archive is, but it won't stay hidden from me too much time. Prepare yourself, William! You're about to be forgotten! > Chapter X - This Isn't The End (part I) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was stunned at what I just witnessed, "Was that Osvaldo?" was all I managed to say. "It-it seems so," Sasha replied with fear. Luna took a while longer to react, and when she did, she vanished from her bed with a sudden flash of her horn and left me and Sasha by ourselves. "So he's after the time-travel spell!" Sasha exclaimed. "He wants to do the same thing that Owlen almost managed to do!" Even though his plan wasn't too creative, it would be devastating if he managed to pull it off. I immediately ignited my blue sword and started to think. I've never been on my sisters' personal archive, otherwise I would be there already to protect the spell, maybe even destroy it, since the only thing that it did since its was created was making my life more difficult. "Where is it!?" I asked frantically to the green alicorn in front of me. "Where are the archives!?" "Calm down, William!" she hurried to reply. "I have no clue of where it could be. I didn't even know that it existed before tonight." "Tonight?" I asked in confusion. When I turned my head to the window I realized how much time has passed since I arrived at Canterlot. I don't know how Luna did to raise the moon without me noticing it, but she did. "Oh, yeah. Tonight." Then Luna reappeared in the room, but not alone; along side her was my sister Celestia, who had an angry expression on her muzzle. "Celestia!" I exclaimed as I saw her. I didn't know yet if she still thought that I was crazy, so I hurried to add: "Look, I..." "I know, William, I know," she quickly replied. "But there's no time now to give you an apology. We need to stop that maniac before it's too late!" As we quickly exited the bedroom, Luna was galloping at my left side while Tia and Sasha were doing the same thing at my right side. We quickly rushed to the castle's underground floors, in which the Celestial Archives rested. "But why doesn't he just teleport there and that's all?" I asked as we were running. "Because he was never there; therefore, he doesn't know how to do so," the white mare quickly answered. "And even if he did know, he wouldn't be able to do so because that place is protected by an anti-teleportation spell. Not even I can access it with a teleportation spell. The only way to get in is through the door." As we were heading downstairs, I could feel how fear was starting to take over me. It felt as if my new world, my new and fragile world was about to be destroyed by that monster once again. I tried to calm myself, though. I've kinda beaten him before, and surely I can do it again! At least that's what I wish; at least that's what I hope. We finally reached a giant golden door. Before reaching it we had to traverse a lot of magical locks and spiral stairs. It was decorated with Celestia's and Luna's faces sculpted on the gold. The door was more like a heavenly bank vault, since it was circular. On the right side was Celestia, alongside the sun symbol; and on the left side Luna, alongside the symbol of the moon. "So far it seems good," Sasha spoke. "Nopony... or in this case, nobody has entered through that door." "And how is it supposed to be opened?" I asked to Celestia. "See that hole in the middle of the door?" she responded. "Well, either me or Luna has to introduce his horn through it and it will open. It's that simple." "Hold on!" Luna exclaimed. "If he could use an invisibility spell at my bedroom, he could perfectly..." Then, out of a sudden, Osvaldo appeared in front of my white sister. In less than a second he grabbed her from the neck. He then stamped her skull against the nearest wall. In a second, Celestia fell unconscious. "Back away, Osvaldo!" Luna shouted as she ignited her horn with dark blue sparks, while the bald man still held the unconscious princess from her neck. "And leave my sister alone, NOW!" "It seems that you're not in the position to be asking, Luna," Osvaldo calmly, but firmly replied. "If any of you tries to anything, I'll have no problem with ending the miserable life of this horse." "YOU!" I said as I pointed my sword to where he was. "What the hay is your problem!? What are you trying to accomplish with this madness?" "Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to finish what the one you call 'Owlen' started. I'll travel back in time and fix once and for all what you did!" "What I did? WHAT I DID!?" I angrily shouted. "I wasn't the one that attacked you with powerful magic. Oh, and in case you've forgotten, that magical blast that transformed everyone into ponies was made with your magic as well as with my magic. As far as anyone can conclude, you are as responsible as me for humanity's 'extinction', because as far as I know humanity and ponies are practically the same by now, and always were." "But tons of lives were lost in the process. Our whole culture and identity is gone, and it's all thanks to you." "Thanks to both of us," I corrected him. "Either way, I'm the only one brave enough to do something about it! You're leaving the human race to DIE in the past, while I'm trying to save it." "Believe me, if there was a way for me to go back and save the human world without destroying the pony world, I totally would. But there isn't. And I don't want to be a murderer." He took a deep breath as I said this. "Did you think that it was easy for me?I knew from the very beginning that those fillies were sapient from the first time that I met them. But for humanity's sake, for the greater good, I suppressed that part of my humanity; I did it because two lives were nothing to pay in comparison to build a f4ck1ng utopia! There was just too much misery, hunger, war, and poverty in the world that could've been terminated if I just did what must be done. "Watching their cute, childish faces day after day, hearing their horrified screams as I applied each experimental chemical formula on them; all of it was deeply disturbing for me to do. But I had to remain strong; I had to remain tough and show no weakness to you or to anyone, not even to my own brother. I couldn't afford the luxury of showing empathy, of showing weakness. "I did the math, William. Not just me, but a lot of scientists throughout the world did it. The human race wouldn't have lasted fifty more years if they didn't find a solution to global warming soon," he then paused for a second and continued. "Look, you and I are very similar to each other in many ways, the only two differences are that I have the guts that you lack to do what must be done." "And what's the second thing?" I asked. "Well, that..." he vanished with a sudden flash and reappeared behind me. "I'M SUPERIOR THAN YOU, BY FAR!" He tackled me from my back. I felt how my recent injury ached in agony as my head crashed with the golden vault and my body fell to the floor. I tried to stand up quickly, but my senses were heavily disoriented. I heard a lot of magical blasts. When I managed to use my left hand to grab the hole of the vault and stand up, I found Luna and Sasha unconscious on the floor. "Well then, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Osvaldo shouted angrily. "GO AHEAD! ATTACK ME!" I wasted no time and did as he said. I opened a portal right below him and made him appear right above me. I had no mercy and I hit him with my sword. "Oh, oh. Whoa! It seems that you've practiced a lot," he said half laughing after he arose quickly from his fall. Then he blasted me with a red magical beam that appeared from his fist as he extended his arm towards me. "Too bad that I've practically practiced my whole life!" I tried to avoid that blast. Even though the majority of the beam didn't hit me, the border still did, burning one of my cheeks in the process. "AH!" I screamed in pain. That thing BURNED and almost hit my eye. He then rushed to tackle me. I extended my sword in order to get him while he was running, but he was smarter than me. Before my blue blade touched his head he vanished with a sudden flash, only to reappear behind me an give his final blow. Everything became very fuzzy at that point. I was too severely injured to focus anything with my eyes. I tried once again to stand up, but collapsed from pain as I did. The best thing I could do was to roll my body a bit in order to see what Osvaldo was doing. He held Celestia from her neck again. However, this time he had tears in his eyes. He introduced her horn into the magical door and... It opened. > Chapter XI - This Isn't The End (Part II) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Osvaldo didn't doubt it a second and entered as the golden vault divided itself in two. The archives were like a library with tons of bookshelves with various floors that went on and on. Inside I saw thousands, if not millions of scrolls, books and papers; but I also saw tons of CD's, cassettes, computers (both old and modern looking), various amounts of screens, media players of all kinds, and a long, LONG etcetera. It seems that my sisters have indeed cared to preserve human culture. Even with my deplorable state, I wouldn't let Osvaldo win. Equestria's existence depended on it. I used both of my arms (mostly my left one because my right arm was probably broken) to slowly crawl and make my way into the archives. Once I got inside I realized how BIG this place really was: the immense staircase that was in the middle of the big room went down, down, and down. I couldn't see were the end was, if there even was an end. I kept crawling. The fact that this place was so big gave me a shot: it was highly unlikely, but there was a small chance that I could find the spell before Osvaldo did. I used a bunch of portals to make my path a bit shorter. However, each portal couldn't be too far from each other, since that would require more strength from me, strength from which I now lacked. I knew that as soon as he found the spell, it will be all over: he just has to teleport himself to Twilight's castle and use the map the same way Starlight did. The archive itself was extremely well decorated. It had tons of emeralds on the ceiling, pillars made out of pure gold, a red carpet that covered every part of the floor. The only place in which said carpet was missing was on one of the corners of this floor, a corner with a large dark blue sofa and a carpet the same color with the moon emblem. In front of the sofa was a huge TV alongside some headphones (clearly modified to fit into a pony head) and a lot of different gaming systems, games, and controllers of all kinds. I guess that Luna comes here to play sometimes. I kept going. The archives were a complete mess. On one shelf there could be a lot of magical books, and right next to it tons of boxes filled with mp3 players. There was clearly no order for all of this stuff. At some point I was able to stand up against the pain. I made my sword reappear and used it as a crutch to help me walk. I ignored all the shelves that contained stuff from the human age and focused on the books and scrolls (although some books were human literature). If the spell was here, it had to be in one of those shelves. I checked about three floors, but the spell didn't show up. Thirty or more minutes have passed since I started my search and... nothing. Then I heard a voice, HIS voice. "Ha ha ha ha!" he laughed. "Give up once and for all, William! I found the spell two minutes ago but I just couldn't help myself. I had to watch you doing your pointless search. It was just too funny." I turned myself to face him, and indeed, he was holding the scroll that contained the time-travel spell. I was about to vomit blood again but I contained myself. If I'm gonna loose, I'm gonna do it with DIGNITY. He won, and there was nothing I could do about it, besides spilling some of my blood into his already dirty white robe. I just stared at him directly into his red eyes, waiting for him to vanish at any moment. However, that moment never came. He was frozen in that position, enveloped by a greenish aura. As I tried to understand what just happened, I heard some hoofsteps indicating that somepony was approaching. When she made herself present, I froze in fear. It was a purple alicorn. It was Opaline. "Well done, Osvaldo!" she said. "However, that spell isn't for you," she took the scroll from Osvaldo's hand with her green aura. "Thank you!" then she turned to face me. As soon as I saw her walking towards me my sword vanished from my horror. "And you must be the human named William. Well, your appearance is truly disappointing. I expected something more threatening from the guy that defeated Osvaldo and helped to erase humans from the face of the earth." I was about to run, but as soon as I did it I fell over. Then I felt a magical aura immobilize me and lift me until I was face-to-face with her. "Nope!" she shouted. "You're not going anywhere. You're not useful anymore in my game of chess. The time to end your miserable existence has come! And this time the 'legend' will not return from death anymore. Your legend ends here." She was about to execute her final blow and kill me. However, she gave me an idea: what if the legend could arise from the dead one more time? I didn't need a spell to travel in time. At least not to travel forward, since it was the natural flow of time. However, traveling backwards was a whole different matter. "Any last words, William?" "ONE THOUSAND YEARS!" I shouted.