Out From the Shadows

Out From the Shadows

Extra 3

A New Soul Arrives!

“Its state is now stable, and its wounds are healing. Now we simply need to wait for when it will stop sleeping.” Zecora pronounced her diagnostic to her public, composed of six ponies.

Just as she finished this sentence, a high-pitched voice could suddenly be heard.

“Weeeeeeee, this means I can make a get-better-after-near-death but-not-so-quite-dead party!” Pinkie Pie said, as she bursted cheerfully in the air, somehow making confetis appear in the process, and staying mid-air for probably longer than gravity would normally allow anybody else. Her outburst almost made her hit the ceiling of Zecora’s house.

Rarity rolled her eyes at her friend’s demeanor, judging it exasperating, while most other ponies continued to discuss amongst themselves over the matter, as if nothing had just happened.

A sigh of relief could be heard. “So… Does that mean it will live?” Asked a very shy voice. “Or does it still need care?”

Zecora nodded at Fluttershy’s question, and explained, “Its wounds are closed, and are healing quite nice. We will only need to change its bandages once or twice.”

Fluttershy made a sigh of relief, before taking out a few things out of the saddlebags she was carrying, namely a small sack filled with grains, as well as a water pouch.

Apparently oblivious to the conversation, Twilight Sparkle was asit near a quite strange creature. She seemed fascinated by it, even though it was simply laying in Zecora’s bed, deep asleep.

While scribbling on a parchment, using magic to keep both the scroll and a quill levitating in the air, she kept staring at the odd creature as she was silently focusing on taking notes over every detail she could add in her notes.

Fluttershy went near her, but her interest didn’t go in the same direction as the unicorn’s. She looked up, toward a brown eagle, perched in one of the branches of the alcove, just above the strange creature Twilight was taking notes on.

A sincere smile appeared on Fluttershy’s face, as she said, “Hello sweet bird. Here is your meal for today. Don’t eat it all now or you might not get enough to last for until tomorrow.”

She deposited a hoof-full of grains for the eagle to eat in a makeshift birdtable that Applejack had took care to fixate at the eagle’s level, allowing Fluttershy to put both food and water.

“You still do not want to come over at my house? You would be more comfortable you know…” She asked to the eagle. “Also, there would be others animals you could make friends with while you wait for your companion to get better.”

The eagle responded, though only Fluttershy could understand what it said, sounding more or less like bird screeches for anypony else present. “This half-elf is important to me. I will not leave his side until I am sure he gets better.”

Fluttershy simply nodded and said, “It is alright, I can understand.” Though she was a bit sad that the eagle would still refuse her offer, she also knew that it was very attached to this… Strange creature in the bed.

Well, looking back in the past events, it was that eagle who came to signal that the creature was in danger, so she knew there is probably some kind of relation between the two. Though she didn’t know how they were related exactly.

Fluttershy knew eagles were not known to care about the well-being of others, and especially in the Everfree forest where they actually hunt some creatures down to eat instead. She had shivers in her back just by thinking about that.

“Ah’ve never seen something like that in mah life, but Ah ‘spose that there are things Ah can’t always know ‘bout,” observed Applejack.

“Pfft,” made Rainbow Dash while looking at the farm-pony. “It’s not like you ever hardly leave your barn and its surroundings,” she said, as she crossed her front hooves, resting herself in the only chair available in the house, near the chemistry table of Zecora.

“Is that ah challenge you’re proposing to me?!” countered Applejack, frowning at Rainbow Dash while approaching her menacingly. “Ah bet ah can leave my farm an’ even travel more than you could with your wings,” she said, defiance in her voice as she was now inches away from her rival’s face.

Rainbow Dash countered by also approaching her face from Applejack’s in a resistant manner. “And I bet I would leave you in the dust in the first few seconds.”

“Girls! Please, behave. We are guests here, and we have a… special someone. It is no time for one of your meaningless squabble,” said Rarity as she approached the two, using her front hooves to gently push them away from each other, showing a forced compassionate smile.

As she noticed the content of the table near the two, she also added, “And it would not be wise to… Put even more at mess this table than it already is.”

After being separated, the two quarrelsome ponies seemed to agree at the same time to face away from each other, in an haughty ignoring gesture. Applejack mumbled something barely audible about a possible interaction between her hooves and Rainbow Dash’s wings, but no one in the room seemed to have caught on her speech.

“Hum… Zecora? We have been attending to this creature for two days now. Did you have any luck finding information about it?” Fluttershy asked in an almost inaudible voice.

Zecora could only shake her head at the question. “Through all my books and knowledge this creature seems to be absent, but judging by the fact we found it with clothes it looks like it is sentient.”

Twilight Sparkle absent-mindedly noded to Zecora’s words while still focusing on her task. She also said, “I think it is also a civilised creature if we judge by the fact it had a money purse filled with a few gold coins. I took the liberty to take one of the coins to analyse it when we arrived, and as I suspected, it is very much like our own bits. The coin weighs almost exactly as much as ours, but I haven’t been able to test the fineness of it yet. Of course the major difference being that it is stamped with a symbol I have absolutely no idea of where it comes from.”

She also added, “Oh… This is so fascinating…”

As she was still scribbling furiously through her 5th scroll, Twilight Sparkle heard something peculiar that caused her to stop focusing on it.

“Ugh…”

She turned her gaze at the bedridden creature, and surely, it was slightly shifting, and a few sounds were coming from it as it struggled to wake up.

“Girls…?” asked Twilight. Sadly, she was not heard over.

Her friends did not notice what was going on at all, still going through their own conversations, or ignorations for the two rival friends. So she made sure they realised what was up.

“Uh… Girls!” Twilight Sparkle said out loud. Her hesitating and worried voice made the group of ponies and the zebra instantly stop what they were doing. Except for one pink pony.

“...And then I told him,” she began, and made a loud gasp before going on “‘ I think it's high time you went shopping for a better exc...’ Oh…” She said, realising with a slight delay what was happening.

All eyes were now focused on the unknown creature, as it was shifting in the bed. Tension was building up, as nobody knew what was to expect from it. Was it going to be aggressive? Was it going to be thankful?

After a few seconds, the creature rolled to its side, and slowly opened its eyes, right in front of Twilight Sparkle. The creature’s gaze was locked upon the purple unicorn. The later was feeling a mixture of fear, and great interest in what was going to happen. She wanted to know more about this yet-unknown creature and so she kept staring back, trying not to miss any valuable information about its imminent reaction.

The creature blinked a few times, its look full of confusion and... fear? After a time of a few seconds, which was felt more like an eternity to the ponies and zebra as they were holding their breath, the creature just went back to an unconscious state with one last long-drawn and heavy sigh.

“...”

Everypony and zebra were quite disappointed, as they have had high expectations to what was going to happen. Even Twilight Sparkle released the breath she was holding and said, “That’s it? I was really hoping for some kind of reaction, not for it to just… faint right here.”

Known only to Fluttershy, the eagle said something,“The half-elf was shocked because he saw that creature staring back at him as he woke up. However he is still very tired. He was awaken because of noise. He has retired in its sleeping state again.”

Curious, Fluttershy asked “How do you know that…? Hum, if you don’t mind telling me that is.”

Not missing that there was an exchange between the two, Rarity asked to her friend, “Your conversation with the eagle seems interesting, darling. Could you please share it with us?” She did that in a very persuasive tone.

“I will once I am finished talking to it, just a second,” she replied as the eagle was giving her answer after a few seconds of reflection.

“I am bound to him just as he is to me. I can feel what happens to this half-elf just like if I was him.”

“Uh… How did you get… ‘bound’ to this creature then?”

“... I don’t know. As far as I remember I always have been.”

Fluttershy turned to her friends and explained what she had just talked about with the eagle. Of course the first one to react was Twilight Sparkle, writing down everything that Fluttershy reported, notably that the eagle called this creature a ‘half-elf’.

However, Zecora spoke up, “If what this eagle says is true, we may have woke up this creature with our presence. It still needs to rest for it to finish its convalescence.”

“Ah think we should go out for now. Nuthin’ better than letting it rest for its bruises to heal up nice! It would be best that Zecora call us up when the creature’s up and walkin’.”

Pinkie Pie trotted up to the creature’s bed and poked it in its arm. “Are you sure it is not just trying to avoid my party?” She asked, with an expression clearly thinking that the creature was guilty of such crime.

As the third hoof-poke struck the creature, Twilight Sparkle used her magic, a purple aura enveloped her horn and a similar aura appeared on Pinkie Pie’s hoof to prevent her from poking the creature again.

“Pinkie…” she began, her voice slightly irritated. “This… ‘half-elf’ is clearly not in a state where it can wake up, and I don’t think it even knows that you plan on giving it a party.” She also gave a side glance at the creature to make sure it had not been awaken again.

After making sure it was not the case, she released Pinkie from her grasp. She added, “Also, I think we have to know more about this creature if we want to eventually have interactions with it in the first place. A party is clearly not in the priority list. We have to try communicating with it first. We have to make sure it is not hostile.”

“Awww…” was the only thing Pinkie Pie muttered before slowly walking away towards the door, her head down in disappointment.

“Thank you for inviting us over Zecora. Next time, we should do a meeting at the Carousel Boutique. You will be most welcome,” Rarity proposed, as she went through the door. She was soon followed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.

Twilight Sparkle was busy ordering her scrolls and putting them in a saddlebag she wore to carry them, but soon followed her friends, with a good-bye addressed to Zecora.

Before going out, Fluttershy said, “Oh… I will come back tomorrow as usual to bring food for the eagle… Is that ok with you?”

Zecora simply nodded, and said, “Farewell my friends. I will not miss to inform you when its sleep ends,” Zecora said to all other ponies.

As they all walked away from Zecora’s house, chatting together about these recent events, Rainbow Dash suddenly said,

“Hey, Applejack!”

As the farm-pony turned to face Rainbow Dash, she heard, “First to Ponyville’s town hall wins!”

And with that, Rainbow Dash suddenly flew away toward the city at incredible speed. Applejack didn’t miss a beat, as she started sprinting to catch up on the very short head start her rival had taken.

The remaining ponies rolled their eyes, or had similar reactions, except for Pinkie Pie, who started bouncing up and down in a playful manner.

“Oh! Oh! Can I play too?! What do we win?” she asked, oblivious to the fact the two competing friends were already long out of earshot.

“I do not think there is anything to win but pride in this race…” said Twilight Sparkle, as the group continued to trot away . However that didn’t stop Pinkie from jovially jumping up and down.

Rarity made a half-smile, and said, “I do not know if you noticed my dear Twilight, but this creature had a few vestments of its own when Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash found it. I had time to see how it seemed to have been made perfectly for the creature to wear them.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded, and added. “Yes, I have written it down right there. Strangely enough, the fabric itself seemed to emanate some sort of warmth, even though the temperature at Zecora’s was clearly quite normal…”

She thought over the matter for a few more seconds. “I guess I wouldn’t even have noticed if it wasn’t for you Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash telling me. You were the ones who carried the creature back to Zecora’s home.”

Fluttershy emitted a small approbation sound. “Well… The creature was quite heavy… Even with Rainbow Dash, it would have been hard to carry it all the way to my cottage. Zecora’s house was only a few meters away… But even then the fabric felt oddly warm, yes.”

“By the way,” began Twilight, “Fluttershy, do you mind if I ask you to provide me with information whenever the eagle says something about the ‘half-elf’? It seems to know a bit about this creature, and any detail could prove valuable in this research.”

It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to give an answer, “Of course Twilight. I will even try to have a conversation with it tomorrow, if it can help you.”

Twilight nuzzled Fluttershy as they continued to walk, “Thank you, I knew I could count on you.”

The group of ponies separated as they arrived near Ponyville. Fluttershy went to her cottage, while Rarity and Pinkie Pie went to their respective homes.

As she arrived at her library, Twilight Sparkle was levitating the coin she had borrowed from the creature in front of her, staring intently at the stamp present on the heads of the gold coin.

She did not stop looking at it as she opened the door to her library using her magic, and made a beeline to her basement.

“Spike! I will need you to take care of the library for a few hours, I need to do some experiments down there.”

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t see Spike’s reaction as she was already going downstairs. The baby dragon was a bit taken aback by the sudden order, while he was rummaging through the library. However, he did not object, and did as he was told, putting her behavior on another of her obsessional phases.

However, he told himself to at least go see what has gotten into her this time, if only to make sure she doesn’t go… unstable… again.