The Secrets of Caduceus

We pull up to the gates of Asclepius, where we are met by a pony on top of the gate who asks for our identities. After rudely shouting some vulgar language at the gate guard, Ace manages to open the gate without lifting a hoof.

As we slowly ride into town, we are met with an abundant amount of ponies and others with fireworks and glow sticks. Cheers, firework pops, and the constant laughter of the celebrating crowd.

"This seems like a rather large celebration for… Well, you know." I whisper to Ace, making sure to be louder than the crowd, but quiet enough so that the grey filly can't hear me.

"Well, this is Asclepius' first victory against Caduceus in a long time. It's natural to celebrate that sort of accomplishment!" She replies.

"Speaking of which…" I ask, "Where is she? I'd like to ask her some questions."

Ace sighs, "Hmm… I'll show you to her. But only if you have a drink with us first!"

With no other option, I agree to her invitation.

After riding through town for a couple of minutes, Ace parks the buggy in a fenced off area near Black Blizzard's house. Thorns disappears into the dark alleys of Asclepius, while Strings eyes the blue earth pony suspiciously before trotting off into Black Blizzard's house. Dove shakes her head in concern and then follows Ace, who then proceeds to follow the white unicorn.

"Shall we?" I ask Shizuka, gesturing to follow the rest of the mares.

She nods, and we enter Black Blizzard's home.

"Well look who's back from the land of the dead!" A familiar voice shouts.

Out from another room approaches a black unicorn, with a bottle of champagne magically hovering above his head.

"I knew it. You're getting into my booze again!" Ace shouts, while swiping away the bottle from the black unicorn.

Blizzard chuckles, "Chill out kid, you got an entire cellar of this garbage downstairs."

"Garbage?!" Ace yells back, "This is a vintage Eché Wine that I've been aging for who knows how long!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say kiddo. Do me a favour, and go down and give our little guest a visit. And while you're at it, grab a bottle of something that isn't one of your family heirlooms."

"Guest? You mean… Her?" I ask.

Blizzard replies, "Yup. Your little Sentry made it home, safe and sound. I suppose you'd like to ask her some questions. Well then, maybe you can bring me a drink from down there."

"Look, priorities first. Just tell me where she is." I demand.

Ace sighs, and then gestures to follow her.

Then, I realize that Shizuka may be skeptical about our mission, "Um, Shizuka. Maybe you should--"

"Nice try, but I'm tired of you hiding stuff from me. And I know that's kind of hypocritical of me, but you can't stop me now!" The grey filly angrily interrupts me.

Annoyed, and unable to persuade her, I finally agree to take her along. We both follow the tan earth pony down a set of wooden stairs near the stairs, which leads down into a pitch-black darkness. As we descend down the stairs, the celebratory noises begin to fade away. Fireworks, poppers, and confetti cannons all become muffled, but are still loud enough to be heard in the distance.

The only source of light underneath this damp underfloor cellar is a flickering light fixture on the ceiling. On our left and right sides stand kegs and wine shelves that hold an abundance of bottles and alcoholic liquid. Although cramped, there is enough space to walk to the end of the cellar. And at the far end of the cellar, the three of us come to a wooden door. Ace unlocks it, and then proceeds inside.

"Hey. I'm gonna switch the lights on, don't jump out at us if you know what's good for you." Ace says, as she flips on a switch she feels on the wall.

The lights flash on, and I rub my eyes to adjust. Reopening them, I'm met with a completely wooden room. A large collection of rum kegs and wine coolers line the walls of the room. It is very similar to the previous room, but the main difference is the amount of moving space. However, I believe something's missing from this room.

"You better come out now, don't make this hard for me kid…" Ace grumbles angrily.

Then, a small yellow-cream coloured head pops out from behind of the kegs in the far right hand corner of the room. Aura Borealis stands to meet us.

Sticking her tongue out, the young mare speaks in an mocking tone, "You kidnap me, and then talk about me giving you a hard time? Such insolence!"

"Spare me. I might let you wander around the town tonight, since you're partially the reason for the celebration." Ace says, as she walks over to a wine cooler and picks up another bottle with her mouth.

Aura then notices me, her eyes light up, and she shouts in glee, "Apollo!"

I wave back, and then turn to Ace, "I wouldn't mind escorting her through the town. I think she needs the fresh air, since you've been keeping her down here all this time!"

"Calm down. It's only been a couple of days since we got back, and we let her out often. According to your friend, you were knocked out in that cell for a while. We kept coming back to look for you, but…" Ace says, as she pops the cork out of the bottle in her mouth.

The cream coloured filly trots towards me, "I need to get out of here! I'll go crazy if I spend another minute in this drunkard's cellar!"

"Why you--" Ace begins to shout, but Aura grabs my arm and runs off with me before the tan earth pony can finish.

With Aura wrapped around my leg, and Shizuka following behind us, the three of us make our way upwards and out of the house. We're met with the cracking of fireworks and the cheers of celebrators.

"Wow! There's never anything like this in Caduceus!" Both Shizuka and Aura Borealis shout in synchronization.

Surprised, the two fillies stare at each other, and then begin to speak in synchronization again, "Wait, what did you--"

"Heh, I suppose I should introduce you two. Shizuka this is--"

"Aura Borealis. Niece of the famed Martha of Caduceus." The grey filly says in a serious tone.

"And you are?" Aura rudely asks.

The grey filly pauses, then begins to glare angrily at the cream coloured earth pony, "Misaki. Misaki May." She introduces herself bitterly, using her previous alias' name.

"Ah, I see… Well then! Shall we get going into the celebration? Ooh, what's that over there!?" Aura quickly transitions, changing the topic.

Deciding to play along and avoid any drama, I answer the earth pony's question, "Oh uh, that's a candy apple stand."

"Candy… Apple? Do tell me more." She says, and she slowly squeezes my foreleg tighter.

Uncomfortable, I trot forward and try to explain, "Well, they're apples that are coated in all sorts of sugary sweets. Like caramel and icing."

"Fascinating! Now buy me one immediately! " Aura commanded.

After letting out a nervous laugh, I escort the two fillies over into the festive town, as the grey one continuously glares at the other.

Time passed quite slowly as we explored the firework-filled town of Asclepius; visiting food vendors stationed equally apart each other, watching performers perform their acts in the streets, and even participating in fun and distracting contests and games. It truly felt like the sun would never come up again, as the moon stayed fixed in the sky with the stars twinkling around it. Surprisingly enough Shizuka seemed to enjoy herself, despite being the presence of the somewhat annoying Aura Borealis.

Both fillies had purchased, or rather obtained for free, an intricately designed mask that each of them would wear on the side of their heads. They both explained that it 'smelled unpleasant' on the inside of the mask, and it was easier to breathe and see if they wore it that way. The masks depicted

We find ourselves wandering through the streets on the way back to Black Blizzard's house.

"I'm surprised you two haven't had a falling out in these past couple hours." I chuckle, while taking a bite out of a corn dog I had received for free earlier.

Shizuka speaks loudly and over the crowd's chatter, "You clearly didn't see that competition earlier! I had totally won that weird hammer-and-bell strength game!"

"In your dreams, it was me who should have taken home the prize!" Aura rebuts.

The two begin to fight again, which breaks their previous record of fifty minutes. Although, I don't know what they're getting so worked up at each other for; it was me who won the contest in the end. In fact, I split the prize between them, so they shouldn't arguing in the first place! The prize, of course, was a gift basket. Coincidentally, there basket was able to be evenly distributed between two individuals. Inside were two bottles of apple cider, two vouchers to see a theatre act in Asclepius, and two delicious looking cakes.

I remember that the two fillies had to be escorted off the stage, as Aura had attempted to use magic to cheat, and Shizuka was caught attempting to steal the prize when the judges weren't looking. Honestly, it's always 'more than meets the eye' with those two.

Suddenly, I begin to hear their argument develop a type of heat that has never taken place in their arguments before.

"Excuse me?!" Shizuka shouts.

The cream coloured pony takes a step backwards with a smirk on her face, "You heard me. Got a problem?" Her regular style of speaking seems to have changed drastically from formal to casual.

"You better repeat it, because I don't think I heard you right!" The grey earth pony raises her hoof up.

"H-Hey guys…" I try to interrupt them, but the heat of their debate pushes me back. Figuratively. Fortunately, we're far away from the festivities that nopony is around to worry.

Aura's smirk just screams the words, "Come at me you peasant!"

Shizuka falls for the trap of her rival's smirk, and then leaps forward towards her target. Aura soon finds herself a few inches above the air, being held up by her neck.

"H-Hey! Calm down Shizuka!" I shout.

Aura's smirk grows larger, "Gotcha."

"Whaddya' mean?" Shizuka says, as she shakes her victim gently.

"Shizuka and Apollo Coronis. The stars foretold your presences in our world." The cream coloured filly says in a monotone voice.

"What are you--" Shizuka starts to ask, but is soon cut off by the robotic sounding Aura.

"Silence. You two are not of this world, but the stars still acknowledge you having a purpose here."

I speak up in a concerned voice, "Tell us, we need to know!"

"Your father is in the same situation as you are. He constantly pulled from space and time itself, and then placed into another world. However, he is able to retain his memories, but you are not."

The nullified sound of cheerful festivities adds to the seriousness of the atmosphere. Nopony is around to see or hear this filly talk about dimensional paradoxes, fortunately. The empty dune buggy parking lot remains silent, before it is broken by Aura's voice again.

"There is a way to return to your own world, but there are side-effects." Aura offers a solution.

I ponder the opportunity for a moment. Do I really want to go back to my old world? What if it's in a worse state than this one?

The cream coloured filly continues, "The conditions are this; you will lose all memories of your time in this world, all of Caduceus, and all of Asclepius will be gone. You will, however, regain the memories you had from before you were sent here."

"Lose our memories? Of this place?" I ponder to myself.

I'll be the first to admit that I feel horrible here sometimes, but it's not always terrible! Like today for example, I feel a great sense of relief and self-enjoyment today.

Shizuka pushes Aura up against a nearby building wall, still holding her up by the neck, "Is there a way to come back?!" She asks, grinding her teeth in anger.

"There is no method to manipulate in order for you to travel back and forth between spaces on command. That is, none available to us." Aura says with difficulty breathing, but still maintaining her monotone speaking style.

Shizuka turns to me, her furious looking face changes into a concerned and worried one, "What's your take on it?"

"Put her down and maybe I'll tell you." I say, casually walking towards her.

"Tch." The grey filly exerts her annoyance, and then releases her grip on Aura Borealis, "Now, what do you think?"

Pondering the offer for a moment yet again, I finally reply after a temporary pause, "Let's do it."

"Really?" The grey filly asks.

I nod.

Aura continues, "I do have good news if you'd like."

"Please, everything you know." I request as much information as she can provide.

"We, the stars and Aura Borealis, are only knowledgeable to the restrictions of this world. Anything beyond the fabrics of this space and time are unknown to us. And any consumption of knowledge from beyond this world's boundaries could possibly result in self-termination." The cream coloured pony explains.

"In normal speak?" Says, not understanding anything that was said in Aura's explanation.

I simplify and summarize the statement, "She doesn't know anything, except for knowledge that's provided in this world. And if she were absorb any information from another world, on top with the information in this world, it would be too much for her to handle, and she would shut down I guess."

"Correct. It seems you would be lost without this one, Shizuka." Aura says mockingly, but still retaining her flat voice.

Shizuka's teeth grind harder, but she remains silent.

"Anyways, returning to the good news… Well, semi-good news. You see, I have no understanding of the world outside this one. So the concept of transport between spaces at will is not out of the question completely. And since you ultimately ended up here, it raises the chances of finding something to assist you."

"I… I want to do it if you do it." Shizuka speaks up.

Aura then follows, "If you both decide to proceed with this option I am offering, you will need to hurry."

"A time limit? Why? And how long?" Shizuka asks.

"The stars align tonight, and they will not align in the proper formation for another half-year. If you wish to go, you have until the a minute after midnight."

Looking at the Asclepius bell tower that stands in the centre of the city, the clock on the tower reads that it is about fifteen minutes before midnight! Honestly, could she have told any later?!

"I have a plan! Will we be able to carry material possessions between worlds?" I ask hastily.

Aura shakes her head, "Unfortunately that is not the case. Only your physical body remains, your mental state and material belongings will remain where they were developed. Anything outside the boundaries of your body will not travel with you, should you agree to this option."

"I see… Then maybe…" I scratch my chin, and then quickly head off towards Black Blizzard's home.

With a plan set in my head, I can just barely hear the shouts of Shizuka behind me as I suddenly run off.

Bursting through the door of Black Blizzard's house, I'm immediately met with five icy cold glares. Everypony, with the exception of Thorns and Dove, seems to be having a nice drink together in the living room of Black Blizzard's home; located to the immediate right of the entrance.

"What's got you out of breath Apollo?" Strings asks, as a wineglass gently leaves her lips.

Catching my breath, I outburst, "Dove!" at the top of my lungs.

The green pegasus flies around the corner from another room and into the living room, "Y-Yes?! Somepony called?" She frantically asks.

"Can the three-dimensional firearm designer on the laser train imprint designs on something that isn't a firearm?!" I ask loudly.

She stutters, "I-I, Um.. Well I suppose we could extract the design tools…"

"Help me! I'll explain later!" I shout, as I gesture for the pegasus to follow.

The pegasus, flustered, flies towards me and agrees to come.

"H-Hic. I'm tired of this, I wanna find out… H-Hic, too!" Ace drunkly shouts, with an occasional hiccup.

Strings and Blizzard also decide to tag along, not wanting to be left out of the insane plan I had concocted in my head. And as if on cue, Thorns walks through the entrance with the remnants of a candy apple stick in her mouth.

She tilts her head and raises an eyebrow, "Hm? Wuths' going on?" She says, just barely making her words out with a mouthful of a apple.

Black Blizzard explains, "Apollo's got something planned, and he needs the firearm designer for some reason."

"Oh, so that's your game huh?" Thorns says, munching on the small bits of fruit on her stick.

"Game?" Blizzard tilts his head.

Thorns swallows her food, and then proceeds to speak again, "Yeah, I overheard him, the new girl, and the psychic talking some kind of nonsense about dimensions and whatnot."

"Dimensions?" Strings asks.

"Uh-huh." The blue mare takes another bite out of her candy apple, "Then Apollo here books it out of there like a bat on Nightmare Night."

Suddenly, a sharp pain begins to throb inside my head, "Aaagh! I-It… It hurts…" I cringe, my teeth grinding harder than ever.

"Apollo!" Dove shouts, dropping to my level of height, "A-Are you okay? What happened?!"

"N-Night… N-Nightmare… Night…" I slowly piece my words together, writhing in pain on the floor.

Thorns' eyes light up, and then she drops to my level as well, "Hey! Do you… Do you know what Nightmare Night is?!"

Ace turns to Thorns, "But, he can't! Nightmare Night is--"

"An Equestrian Holiday."

Everypony turns to look at the front doorway. A grey filly stands on the house's porch, with a cream coloured earth pony standing next to her.

"Who the hell are you…?" Ace speaks just under her breath.

Shizuka speaks in a valiant tone, "My name is Shizuka. I attend Element Highschool, in Ponyville Equestria."

The grey filly crouches down to my height as well, as I massage my head with my hooves. She pulls my head under her chin, while gently stroking my mane.

"W-What… Why are you--"

"Apollo… My memories, they came back. They came back when that blue mare mentioned Nightmare Night."

Suddenly, another familiar voice begins to speak, "Memoria Recludam."

Once again, everypony turns around to face the porch. Aura Borealis stands in the entranceway.

"Memoria wha--?" Ace says, confused.

Aura replies, "Memoria Recludam. A phenomenon that triggers when an individual's memories flood back after a large-scale case of amnesia or memory loss. You can guess how it is triggered."

Everypony goes silent in awe.

Strings breaks the silence, "Wait a minute… So these two are Equestrians, and now they remember everything from Equestria. This one might be the son of any one of us, except you Blizzard."

"Funny." The black pony scoffs.

Strings continues, "Let me guess the next part, the one who sent you here in the first place was--"

"Oh no!" I shout, jumping to my hooves.

"What's wrong--" Ace asks, but is immediately cut off by Shizuka.

"Of course! We only have five minutes left until the stars go out of alignment!" The grey filly shouts.

Dove flies above us and begins waving her arms around, "Hold on! Hold on! Just hold on! What do the starts have to--"

Aura butts into the chaotic conversation, "I'll make this brief, as I do not wish to stress myself anymore. The stars will align at midnight tonight, and that is our cue to return to your 'Equestria', but without memories of this dimension."

"R-Return, to Equestria!?" Ace jumps to her hooves.

Thorns jumps in, "But wait, how come we maintained our memories when we came here?"

Dove begins to explain, "Well that's because--"

Ace intervenes, "Lemmie stop you right there Dove! According to Apollo's girlfriend here, we've only got five minutes on the clock now until we lose our opportunity!"

Aura nods, "This is true. Actually, to be specific, we currently only have three minutes and forty seconds left. Exactly."

I frantically look around the room, "There's no time! Aura, do what you need to do to get us back to Equestria! I need to find…"

As Aura moves outside to prepare some sort of ritual, Apollo runs off somewhere into the house. The blue earth pony, the tan earth pony, the green pegasus and the white unicorn all follow her. I'm left alone, waiting for Apollo with this quiet black pony. Blizzard was it?

"Um, aren't you going to follow the other mares outside?" I ask.

The pony chuckles, and then brings the bottle in his hoof up to his mouth, after removing it he replies, "Heh, somepony needs to stay here and defend Asclepius no? I built up this city. If I retained my memory, I don't think I could live with myself knowing that I could have doomed my baby to destruction by Caduceus."

"I… See." I quietly reply, respecting the honour and conscience that this pony exerts.

He turns to be me and then offers the bottle in his hoof to me. I shake my head, and he shrugs.

"Say, your boyfriend's taking quite a long time. Wonder what's--" Black Blizzard

"RRAAGH! Hngg… Hngg… RRAAH!" Screams of pain and agony echo through the house.

Concerned, I shout out to him, "Apollo! What's wrong?!"

After a long pause, and after about fifty to a hundred taps of my hoof, I decide to investigate. But before I can, the grey pony limps into the room.

"What was that about?!" I shout.

Apollo places his hoof over my lips.

Panting and catching his breath, he whispers to me, "No time to explain… Just, hrng… Don't worry."

I nod, and then place his arm around my neck. I help him down the porch, where the mares and Aura Borealis are sittings in a circle. Each of them glare at us.

"Where have you been?! Take this more seriously!" The tan earth pony shouts.

Apollo catches his breath, "I'm… Guh, sorry. Just, get on with it. How long do we have left?!"

Aura stares at the sky, still sitting down, "Along with the one minute after midnight, we have two minutes and thirty four seconds. Thirty three, thirty two…"

"We get it! Just get it done! Tell us what to do!" Ace shouts angrily.

"Everybody who wishes to go to Equestria must stand within the circle that is outlined in the sand. I will handle the rest." Aura says, as she begins to… Glow?

The strange cream coloured earth pony begins to slowly lift off the ground. When she is about a foot in the air, a large and transparent yellow orb begins to form around her. I'm absolutely baffled, but I remain quiet as I do not wish to disturb our chances of returning to our own dimension. I look around at the ponies in the circle, and every single one of them is open-jawed. I believe the blue earth pony seemed to be the most astounded, almost to the point where I could almost see stars in her eyes. Speaking of stars, the tiny twinkling dots in the sky begin to almost dance about. By 'dance' I mean, of course, the stars looked as if they were spiralling around in a tornado-like formation.

I glance towards Apollo, still leaning on the side of my body. He seems to be the only pony here who is unfazed by this amazing sight! Just what has he seen in Caduceus?

"Apollo." I say at a normal volume to catch his attention.

He doesn't seem to notice me. I poke and prod him, and he finally turns to me. He looks confused, and begins to move his mouth, but no words come out.

"Apollo? Why can't--" Then I realize the obvious, we're in some kind of vacuum that prevents sound or something.

Apollo seems to have noticed it too, as he seems flustered by it all. Then, I notice that everything around us seems to have been blurred out. Almost as if I had shut my eyes and then opened them in front of a bright room. The yellow orb that Aura had enveloped herself in seems to have risen higher than before. Everypony in the circle, except Apollo and myself, seem to be meditating. The silence is uncomfortable, as I can barely hear my own bated breath.

Then, in an instant, everything around me turns white.