Cyvern is currently standing on a hill overlooking a destroyed, unnamed village. He never knew his parents names, or the neighbors, or the other foals that were in town. He was alone. But this time, he was strong enough to deal with that. He didnt know what he was now -some half spirit, half pony creature?- but he knew he was powerful now. Powerful enough to make an alicorn scared, which he didn't know if that was a good thing.
Those ponies… why did they do this? Why did they hurt everyone? We didnt do anything to them! growing in anger at his situation, Cyvern begins to go over the events in his head once more.
Everything happened so fast, I was having breakfast when those three attacked, the house was on fire, then I got lost in the forest, found a friend, friend runs away, alicorn nearly finds me, friend dies and… says something about sparks? Then everything gets bright and now im this. This thing.
Cyvern looks over himself, taking in his new form. Where before he was a short earth pony colt, now he seems to have grown to a stallion.
However, age isn't the only thing that changed, as he now has wooden antlers on his head that are able to cast… not spells, some other kind of magic. There are also little pointed stones floating between the horn-like protrusions. Cyvern also notes that his fur has been replaced by a mosslike covering, but it doesn't feel any different. His hooves look like they were replaced by rock as well.
He also can feel all the living things on and in the ground around him and can “see” how they function, but doing that makes him dizzy.
As Cyvern walks around his former home, he discovers a toy he liked to play with. A smile crawls across his face as he picks it up in his hoof, and inspects it for damage. huh. This all happened in one day, but it feels like I haven't touched this thing in… a very long time…
That age thing must have done something else to my memories, I feel much more… adult? Im assuming. I dont feel as playful or immature, but I dont think thats a bad thing. Not to mention what I… did to those… bad ponies… not wanting to think about That, he drops the toy and moves onto more important things.
“Now,” Someone from behind him speaks. “Who the hell are you and what happened here?” Turning around, Cyvern’s eyes widen. Its not a pony! Its a… fox with several tails?
“Answer me, or face the wrath of the Kitsune!” The creature, now made known to Cyvern as a kitsune, snarls, face contorted in anger.
“Oh- Oh! Um. Well, I-“ Cyvern stutters, not knowing how to explain the situation.
The fox rolls its- hers?- eyes, face becoming neutral, and speaks once more, “Alright, just tell me who you are and what happened to this village.”
Cyvern hesitates, but responds after a moment of thinking. “So, I was having breakfast and then there was a noise- an explosion I think? But Ive never seen or heard one before so I dont know how I know, and then my parents disappeared and I saw an alicorn k-“ he gulps, and continues to summarize the events, all the while the Kitsune sits patiently listening.
Then the story gets to the forest spirit, and the Kitsune interrupts. “Hold on, a ‘Big nature thingy?’ Do you mean a Greater Nature Spirit?” She asks, eyes filled with intrigue.
“Um, yea, thats what he said he was.” Cyvern recalls, nervousness rising.
“Hmm…” the fox narrows her eyes. “Continue.” Cyvern does so, reciting his point of view of the events that transpired.
As Cyvern gets to the part where he fell onto the unicorn, the kitsune nods in approval. “Interesting strategy, and smart too. The pegasus would likely have flown upwards and made you fall and an alicorn is simply too strong to fight. Attacking the unicorn was the correct choice as it was the weakest link from what you’ve explained.” She says, a smile growing across her face.
Although, said smile quickly turns to a frown. “You do not have to continue the story, as I can guess what occurred next. This Nature Spirit was killed and it decided to fuse with you. I suppose-“
Cyvern didn't hear what else she said, as he doubled over in pain.
“ARRGGH!!” Images, painful sounds and images suddenly went through his head. A waterfall he's never seen before, a cave with a white light, and a unicorn firing a powerful spell. All these images cease and the pain begins to stop as well.
“Haaah… owwww, What was that?” Cyvern whines as he lay on the ground, the pain still simmering but not as bad.
“Fusion Recoil. I thought so. Your mortal body simply isn't used to spirit magic, so it is attempting to adapt. Several things may occur, some of them good for you.” The kitsune looks down at the former pony as he lay on his side.
“Urrrgh, whazzat?” Cyvern mumbles as he attempts to get up, only managing to sit up on his hind legs. He looks at the still-unnamed fox.
“Well,” the kitsune begins. “For one, when your bodies and souls were merged, I'm assuming the Greater’s body disappeared?” She asks, getting a nod from Cyvern. “And was there a great, blinding light?” A nod again.
“Alright then, that means your body has absorbed all of the physical energy as well as its magical essence and your mind simply cannot comprehend it.” She explains. “If you do not allow your magic to naturally flow, then your body will reject the fusion.”
Cyvern’s eyes widen. “Wait, does that mean I’ll turn back?”
The kitsune shakes her head, “Its not that simple, pony. If this rejection happens, you will explode.”
Cyverns eyes open wider, mouth widening in shock. EXPLODE?! WHAT DOES SHE MEAN ILL EXPLODE?! Then a fly flew in his open mouth. He quickly spat it out while shaking his head in disgust.
Continuing, the kitsune moves towards Cyvern until she gets uncomfortably close.
“The second thing that may happen, is if your body accepts the energies in its entirety, your body and mind will continue to change until you don't recognize yourself.”
Cyvern’s expression becomes serious as he replies, “I already don't recognize myself. I was an earth pony colt more than six hours ago.” Wait, how do I know that?
The kitsune nods, backing away. “I assumed as much, but I meant that no matter what form you get used to, your body and mind will change, and you will never stay the same. Also, your memorie-“ the Kitsune suddenly cuts off, eyes widening.
“Wait… do you not have any memories from the Greater?” The kitsune asks carefully.
Cyvern tilts his head to the side in slight confusion. “No? I don't think so…” he drifts off in thought.
“I see… that is new. Usually memories of both participants of a fusion also muddle together, sometimes creating a new person. But you say you dont have-” the kitsune suddenly jerks her head toward another burnt-down house.
“What?” Cyvern asks.
The kitsune lowers down to the ground a bit, and says “If you wish to hear more, you may follow me. But be silent, I heard something over there.”
The kitsune then stalks off towards the source of whatever noise was made.
Okay, what is going on?! The moment I have some peace and quiet, this… ‘kitsune’ shows up? Aren't you supposed to introduce yourself when you meet someone new? Wait… why didn't I? Something stopped me… Im sure its nothing.
Walking towards the only other person nearby, he begins to hear the kitsune speaking to someone.
“Okay. Its going to be alright, just give me a moment and I shall heal you.” She seems to be looking at someone under a beam of burnt wood.
Walking in a semicircle around the ruin so he can get a better angle to see, he discovers another unknown creature that seems to be ponylike in shape, but its all black, and instead of a mane it has something else he has never seen before.
Changeling…
Cyvern jumps a bit at the voice, looking around to see where it came from. What was that?! I think it said ‘Changeling?’ Is that what that not-pony is?
After a moment, he realized that the voice sounded like Titan. That was also the moment that the kitsune started to lift the beam that was trapping the changeling.
It got up slowly while the kitsune started to… cast a spell, but it was coming from her tails? Cyvern has never seen that before, but it makes sense since foxes don't have horns. He giggles a bit at the thought of random animals having horns.
“Who is that?” The changeling, now fully healed, asked the kitsune.
“Ah, this pony has recently fused with a spirit. I believe he is from this very village.” The kitsune replied, walking towards Cyvern.
“Oh!” Cyvern remembers something, “So, what are your names?”
The changeling looks at the kitsune, while the kitsune bursts out laughing.
“AHAHA, OHOHO! Okay… that is adorable!” She suddenly stops laughing and goes deadpan. “There is a rule among spirits and half-spirits; Never Give Your True Name. This rule functions for us, as well as against. Even if you remained a pony, I would never tell. But, for sake of conversation, you may call me Almori.”
Cyvern tilts his head in confusion, eyebrows furrowed. “Huh? Okay… but why?”
The kitsune closes her eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath, and opens them again. “If any spirit or half-spirit gives out their name to someone else, that person has full control over the actions of that spirit. This is because the Identity of the spirit is bound to its mind, making the name of said spirit have a Geas-like controlling effect on the one who's name is being used.”
Cyvern remains confused, but tries to make logic of it. “So… you don't give your name because other people make you do things you don't want to with it?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Okay.”
The three of them stand there in silence. The changeling speaks up. “The True Name magic doesn't work on changelings by the way, because of our type of magic. My name is Petonia. I like being called Petal, or Rose as I like the smell of roses.”
“Oh thats neat. Wait I think I know you! Were you the unicorn with a box of roses on her porch?”
“Yeah… too bad they're gone now. Those things are hard to grow sometimes.”
“Anyways.” Almori speaks up. “I believe I was explaining something to… hmm… what shall you be called? I will not take advantage of your lack of knowledge, so what may we call you, former pony?”
Cyvern perks up a bit, the horn-stones wobbling a bit. “Oh. Um… I don't know? I don't really have any ideas for a fake name. Do I really need one?” He asks.
Almori face-paws. “If you wish to keep your free will intact, then yes.”
“Oh. I cant think of one right now, can I choose from a list?” Cyvern, still barely grasping the idea of having to use a fake name, decides to ask the obvious expert in fake names, the kitsune.
Said fox-spirit just sighs and replies, “Fine, I will think of one. Hmmm…” and after a few moments of tilting her head back and forth, she stares back at Cyvern.
“We shall call you Everfree. As you are now unchained from the toils of mortal life, free to walk the world forever. You may find yourself naming a forest after this new name, however. Its common for new nature spirits to do so. But not all.” She shrugs as she finishes her sentence.
“Cool.” Cyvern, now called Everfree, smiles back at Almori.
“So…” the changeling, Rose, starts. “Can we go report this to my queen now?”
“What do you mean I'm not allowed in?” Cyvern asks the drone standing in the way of the hidden entrance to the hive that he, Almori and Petonia had taken two weeks to get to.
Two weeks in which Cyvern kept getting headaches, Almori tutoring him on how his spirit magic works, and Petonia just trying to keep the group moving towards their destination.
A destination that was achieved several minutes ago. However, Petonia was the only one allowed in, Almori and Everfree having to stay outside to wait for her to maybe come back.
“I mean, no visitors. Its a private changeling hive, we aren't Amber Hive.” The drone says with boredom.
“Okay… what hive are you then?”
The drone doesn't answer, continuing to block the way with an emotionless look. Cyvern begins to realize that he wont get anything out of the guard and turns around.
“Almori, have you ever been inside a changeling hive before?” He asks, walking over to where the kitsune was sitting.
“Hmm… once, several centuries ago, I was allowed into a hive to oversee their efforts in an experiment they were doing on animal life. They were attempting to modify various wildlife to try and get them to produce strong positive emotions. They succeeded, but only managed to increase the average intelligence of certain small animals.” The kitsune shares, a little too much for Cyvern’s liking.
“I hope no animal got hurt.” He says.
“They rarely felt pain if thats your worry.” The kitsune replies.
“Okay… that kinda makes me feel better.”
Cyvern then sits down next to the fox, being careful not to touch her tails. He made that mistake once and discovered that kitsune have strong jaws. He also discovered that he can regenerate body parts that day too, and that physical pain is lessened for him now.
“So, how many hives are there?” He asks after a minute of thinking.
The fox replies. “I do not know. I have known of several over my lifetime, but I have no way of knowing how many there are.”
“Oh, okay.” Cyvern looks at the ground, and decides to practice his geokinesis.
As Cyvern is playing with dirt, Almori watches the shapes he makes. She seems very interested in how detailed he can make some of them. “Hmm… Everfree, Can you try and use your Geokinesis to make three dimensional objects?” She says after a moment.
The nature spirit looks up. “Huh? Probably, I’ll try to. I just learned this power you know.” He looks back at the ground and, with some effort, makes a column of dirt rise slowly in front of him.
The column then has a hole dug slightly in the middle, where a small house can be seen. Barely the size of the fox’s head, the house is very simplistic. Square shaped, a flat triangle roof, no windows, and a single door. Everfree then stops shaping it, slightly exhausted from the effort. The dirt then resettles back to the ground.
“Hmm. Very good. You did that much quicker than the mere two dimensional shapes I told you to keep making several days ago.” The kitsune says approvingly.
“Yeah, Ive kept practicing. Question, do I even need to sleep?” He asks with a tilt of his head.
“Of course. Only true spirits don't require sleep, us half-spirits do need to eat and sleep. However, as I'm sure you've noticed, we don't produce waste.”
“Yeah, at first I didn't notice, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I haven't peed since I got fused with the other guy.” Everfree remarks.
“That ‘other guy’ was a Greater Spirit and is the reason you are alive. Do not disrespect his title.” The kitsune admonishes.
“Okay, but why though? If what you've told me is true, he didn't even need me to fuse with him! He woulda just got reborn or something!” Cyvern says, hooves flying up into the air in exasperation.
“Nature spirits are not like other spirits, they enjoy being around lesser life. Seeing you being in harms way must have made the Greater decide to spare your life by giving his own, knowing what would happen. And, in knowing, he suppressed his memories and most of his physical form so that you would remain mostly the same. The only reason you aren't in pain more often from fusion recoil is likely because of this. By the way, are you still having those headaches?” She asks, not really caring about the answer.
“Haven't had one in a few days, and the images stopped before then.” Cyvern replies honestly.
“Hm. You may still get some in the future, but they will stop soon enough.” She says.
“When should they stop?” Everfree asks.
“About a hundred years or so.” Almori bluntly states
Everfree’s eyes widen, mouth opening in shock. “A Hundred years?! Thats a long time!” He whines.
Almori tilts her head. “Not for us it isn't. Immortal means we do not age to death. It also means our life expectancy is undefined, we can die only by unnatural means. Being murdered by another spirit, half spirit or even a mortal, if they get lucky, can kill us. Also, half-spirits don't get reincarnation. We pass on as mortals do. This is why spirits usually dislike fusing with mortals.”
Cyvern thinks for a moment. “Can spirits fuse with each other?” He asks, eyebrows furrowed.
Almori’s eyes widen a bit. “It is usually not done… but yes. Half-spirits cannot fuse with true spirits, and vice versa, and mortals cannot fuse with other mortals, but half spirits can fuse with each other, and true spirits can do so as well. This always results in… what you should have experienced, memories and bodies and souls muddling together, creating something more powerful than the sum of their parts. You, however, only got the ‘good end of the stick’ as it were.” She says the last part with eyes narrowed, as if trying to still understand the oddity that is Everfree.
Cyvern thinks about this, trying to understand why Almori has stayed with him for this long.
Shes curious. She wants to understand me, and why Titan fused with me. But it seems she already knows… so then it must be something else? Maybe its because she wants to make sure I use my powers correctly. She HAS been teaching me things that I probably wouldn’t’ve figured out on my own…
“Hey Almori?” Everfree begins. The kitsune looks over at him, and asks “Yes? What is it?”
“Are we friends?” He asks the fox.
Almori blinks, then smiles. “I would like to think that we are friends, yes. Thou art fine company.” She finishes with an old accent.
“You talk funny sometimes. Why do you speak like that?” Cyvern asks.
“Because its funny. And because its just Old Royal Therrish, the language of the world.”
“Huh. Also, don't you think its odd everyone speaks the same language? You would think there would be some cultural differences in language, but all I’ve heard of is some accents being different.” Cyvern observes.
“I, and many kitsune along with me, believe this is because Harmony, when creating the worlds peoples, wanted to make sure we could understand each other.”
“‘Harmony?’ Ive heard of that word, but you say that like its a person.”
“Hmm… Harmony, Chaos and Order were the three First Ones at the beginning of the universe. They created all life, planets, and even magic itself. They are the reason for the spirits, mortals, the sun, the moon, the stars and the sky, they made everything.” She finishes, looking up past the trees at the sky.
“Ive never heard of that story before… tell me more.” Everfree says, intrigued.
“Hmm… I shall start the introduction then.”
“Introduction to what?”
“Everything.”
A Terribly Long Time Ago, before our world was made, there were three beings made of pure Order, Chaos and Harmony. These were also what their names were decided to be. They aren't spirits, but rather Entities, Beings of Power and Life.
At some point, Chaos got tired of the nothingness, as the other two beings were content with nothingness. He attempted to convince Harmony to create something, as Chaos was fond of doing. Harmony agreed, and created Space and Time, the first Lord Spirits.
“‘Lord spirits?” Cyvern asks, interrupting the story.
Frowning, the kitsune replies, “Lord spirits are the first of all spirits. They embody the essence of various universal rules. Such as Time and Space are two, and Sun and Moon are another set as well. I was getting to that, however.”
Cyvern bobs his head down, ears pinned back. “Sorry.”
Anyways, the First Ones created Time and Space, siblings and Lord Spirits, they proceeded to have fun with Chaos to create the Universe and all of its worlds.
However, Harmony realized something was wrong with these worlds, as the life couldn't survive very long at all, to them the life blinked out at fast as it appeared.
Harmony, with the help of Order, created two more Lord Spirits, Sun and Moon, to govern our planet, and watch over our lives to defend us from the blackness of nothingness.
As the life successfully grew, Harmony still wasn't satisfied with the lifespans of the creatures on the world, so She created the Spirit of Source, a being with the power to infinitely split into countless copies of itself, all independently able to experience different things. These copies filled the world, intermingling with various life. This is also around the time the First Kitsune was born, of Spirit and Fox.
A few centuries pass, and Harmony decided to take a break from observing the world, so She left to other worlds elsewhere in the universe. However, almost as soon as Harmony left, the world descended into chaos. Spirits enslaved mortal races under the basis that they were inferior to Spirits. Mortals and Spirits then fought for many years, when Harmony appeared once more, having heard of the dispute.
Harmony became angry at what occurred in Her absence, and created two things: a new race and a new rule. The Dragons, born out of fire and courage, were created to help keep the world in order. To make sure everyone obeyed this, She gave the Dragons control over Sun and Moon, giving them their true names, which ties into the second thing she created, The Rule of Names.
If a spirit ever has their True Name discovered, the person that uses this name in their presence has control over them. Mortal names also apply, but its far easier for them to break out of the control than for spirits. Mortals cannot use this power on each other as well. Half spirits, be it by nature or fusion, are fully controlled by this as well.
”I wasn’t angry, more disappointed.” A feminine voice spoke, interrupting the story.
“… Who said that?” Everfree asks, looking around to see a sphere of golden light levitating between him and Almori.
Almori just stares at it in fear and awe. “Harmony!? Why are you- Do you need- that is-“ for once, the kitsune is speechless.
”Oh, Sorry, Don't worry about me, I just haven't heard the story told this well in ages.” The voice, Harmony, giggles.
Almori decides to, with great reluctance, ignore the First One sitting less than a meter away from her, and continues the story.
Anyways… True Names are given by the one or ones that created the person that has that name. No living or non-living being can change or remove their True Name. They can, however, use a false name to protect themselves. This rule doesnt work on Changelings, as they were created by Chaos.
Chaos and Harmony don't get along well, they would rather do their own thing than work together. Order is the middle ground, more static and less Active than the other two First Ones, Chaos being the most active and notorious for being a trickster.
”You can also add Troll, Shenanigainizer, Tomfool, Q, and Prankster Lord of Whipping the Nae Nae” Another voice, this time male, speaks up from the other side of Everfree from where Harmony is.
This time, as he looks at who’s speaking, Everfree nearly has a heart attack at what he sees. A long, serpent form with various mish-mashing of animal parts.
“You must be Chaos then? It certainly looks like it…” Everfree observes fearfully, trying to scoot away from the abomination.
”Thats me. You can call me Chaos, Discord, or maybe even Tom if you wanna be friendly.” The Chaotic being grins. So much grin that its physically impossible to have that much grin. No, seriously, the grin somehow looked like it was overlapping itself with itself.
Almori, who is getting tired of this shit, just interjects with “Can I PLEASE finish the story!?”
Nobody speaks, Chaos with his grinN, Harmony just being an orb of light, and Everfree still staring at the impossible feature across Chaos’ face.
“Thank you…” Almori then continues the story.
As I was saying, Chaos and Harmony don't get along well. Mostly because Harmony has morals and Chaos does whatever He wants to without regard for the safety or sanity of-
Interrupting herself, Almori gets up and breaks Everfree’s eye contact with the thing that he’s been staring at dumbly for the last few minutes.
“Just… try not to terrorize him please.” She says to the Chaotic Entity. He nods, grinN dropping.
Continuing once again, Almori tries her best to finish the story before any more interruptions.
Chaos does Chaotic things, Harmony keeps all life safe, and Order is doing basically nothing. The world was given one final race, the ponies. Pegasi, Earth ponies and Unicorns were created to help govern and control nature. Then Chaos showed up and decided to create Alicorns. Why? Im not sure even He knows.
”Yeah, that sounds like me.” Chaos speaks up.
Almori, now done with the story, just stares at the entity.
Harmony speaks up. ”So… Good job! You got mostly everything right. Order isn't as boring as you make them to be, but then again they don't really do much anymore.”
”I wish I was in the story more, why cant we change it so I do everything?”
”Because time travel is off limits, Time is very fragile and sensitive and whenever someone uses his power without his consent, it hurts him.” Harmony retorts.
Almori and Everfree watch as the two First Ones argued over time travel and rules.
“So… I guess I have to believe all of what you said, huh?” Everfree states more than asks.
“Yep.” Almori just continues to watch the two entities bicker.
After a while, Harmony’s orb of light just blinks out of existence and Chaos snaps his tail like fingers somehow and disappears.
“So… what just happened?” Petonia, having came out of her hive, had only seen the last bit and was curious about what occurred.