The Medieval Ages

That night I rested on a cloud higher than I ever had before. I did it mostly to hide from other ponies, but it also helped me think clearly.

The sunset was beautiful. Much more than the sunset on earth. But when the moon rose, it was very pretty, but somehow dull and lackluster. I wondered if it was because Luna was on the moon.

Staring at the beauty of an Equestrian night eventually lulled me to sleep. But tonight, there were no nightmares. Instead, I found myself in a garden near the castle.

Mom was there. So was Celestia and Luna. They all had misty eyes, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. Me and Dads bodies were being buried.

The twist was that there was an expression of disbelief. When the burial was complete, they headed inside, where i followed them and heard something interesting.

"Celestia, why did his cutie mark vanish?" Mom asked.

"I fear he may have been born again, in another age. When he retaliated against his mental attackers, his blows did physical damage. My guess is that he has somehow freed himself from death, or at least a form of it."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, and mom nodded along with her.

"From what we can know, when somepony dies, they don't just cease to exist. It is my theory that they cam be born again, but they will be the same as a brand new pony. For Sky Gear, it would seem that he retains his identity across death. In a sense, he is immortal, but not linear with time."

That made sense to me. I was a non-linear (to time) immortal. If I were to die now, who knows when I would end up. Feeling that I heard enough, I flew outside and decided to try and visit Ponyville. If what I just witnessed actually happened, then there might be something going on back there.

When I arrived, I checked the school first. Apparently, the news was just about to come to them, because the girl who tried talking to me asked Ms. Cheerilee if I was here. Ms. Cheerilee looked sad, and sighed.

She passed out copies of the local paper. The headline read: "Most Powerful Psychic Event In Centuries! Murder Victim Strikes Back."

Most were shocked after reading it, and some just sat there wide eyed. Then she told them all to turn to the second page. Looking over Applebloom's shoulder, I saw a picture of my mom holding my body, with the cutie mark gone, and the mangled bodies of my killers just behind me. Lucky for the foals, it was in black and white, because if it wasn't, you would see that there was much more blood.

"What does this mean?" Applebloom asked.

"It means that Sky Gear held a vast potential. Today's lesson is taken from the article,..." Cheerilee started a lesson on psychic attacks and how normally they would leave one exaughsted, and at the very most put a hairline fracture on your horn.

At that point, I left. I went the only place I could think of going- home. When I arrived, mom was by herself in the yard holding what I had given her. She had misty eyes, but looked better than when I had seen her last.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I would like to think you are in a better place now," she said, clutching onto the crystal flame.

As I walked closer, the crystal fire started to glow the color of my eyes- deep sea blue. When I was standing right next to her, something strange happened. I could feel myself being drawn to it like a weak magnet that didn't have strength enough to actually do anything. I could also feel my surroundings become slightly more vivid, and I finally realized that everything had been tinted grey.

"S-Sky Gear?!" Mom cried. "How are you here?!"

"I'm not sure, but You don't need to cry. I don't want you to cry. I don't want ponies to suffer for having known me," I said, trying to hold back tears. I was a little angry for wallowing in my pity, but sad that others were hurt just because I existed.

"Ok, I-I will try... For you," mom replied, choking back tears. Just after that, the attraction from the piece of me diminished, and I could tell that soon she wouldn't see me anymore.

"Just remember mom; I will never forget you as long as I exist," i said before I faded out of her perception. She looked happy, and headed back inside without moping a lot. Then, it started to rain.

But something felt wrong. It didn't feel like anything from my faded dream world. It felt... Real.

I somehow managed to disconnect with whatever strength I seemed to be using to be when I was and shot out of my dreams and woke up.

There was a lone raincloud above me being emptied by somepony.

"Hey wake up! We gotta clear the skies for Nightmare Night!" said an earth brown pony.

"What?" I replied groggily. "Oh right, yeah ok I'll go," I said, pushing myself up and taking off, destroying the cloud behind me as I did.

While the pegasus carried on, I realized that that was the first Time in a while I had actually woken up normally- still tired. It felt nice to be a little tired, and it was fading away quickly.

If my recent dream was as real as it seemed, then it looked like I didn't have to worry about mom anymore. She'd be fine, just as the fillies at school would be eventually. It must mean something else, but I just can't place it.

As I headed towards town, I decided to read up on history. If I ever went further back, it would be nice to have a clue as to when I am and what ponies do.

But when I arrived, I saw something odd and depressing. Ponies all around were wearing black cloaks with some sort of red stripe pattern.

"Hey, nice costume! You going as Sky like the rest of us?" an earth pony with a mint green coat and red mane asked, sweeping a hoof at what must have been his friends.

"Uuhh, sure. Could you point me to a library? I'm looking to study up on history," I replied, hoping he wouldn't ask questions.

"Sure man, go right that way!" he exclaimed with a wave of his hoof and a smile.

I thanked him and walked away, steaming a bit about how ponies treated different things. I suppose it's better than what humans do (flip out and try to control it), even if it is very mocking.

I made it to the library without seeing many other ponies around. Once inside, I could see that Twilight had taken some designs in from the older structures. This library was like maze, with warping walls and circular clearings. Thankfully, there was a stack of maps to guide ponies. The place itself was an incredible feat of magic and engineering. The whole place was bigger inside than out, and it appeared that magic directed the massive weight straight to the ground. There were some sections way up high that was meant for winged ponies, and some had enchantments made to be bent by unicorns for access.

As I walked, I realized that I was staring at an unmapped section in front of me. Right when i turned to get a better look at it, a section of shelves started to close the gap.

Without hesitation, I ran through the "secret passage" and suddenly found myself locked from going back

Sighing and face-hoofing myself, I walked on towards what looked like a clearing section. When I arrived, I found it to be a common room, with a coffee table surrounded by 3 long couches.

Deciding to take a break, I took a seat and started trying to think of what to do with my eternity, and how long ponies everywhere would alienate me.

As I sat, alone with my thoughts, somepony had entered without my being aware of it.

"Who's there?" said an unmistakably familiar pony.

"Well, fancy that. Hello Starswirl, how is magic studies?" I replied, instantly recognizing him from a poster in Twilight's room.

"How... How do you know me?" he asked, as he fully entered the room.

"The future is relative," I replied, without thinking if ponies had anything like-

"Einstein's relativity relative, or are you just being funny?" he snapped back, taking me by surprise.

"Who named somepony Einstein?! Thought he was only back in Germany..." I said, wondering how Earth was doing. Had my other friends and family moved on? What year is it over there?

"Indeed. I came from Earth as well. I was left to die by my own family, and somehow came here, born for the second time. They said I was the second, and the last..."

"They?!" I retorted. "What year were you from?"

"Hard to say. After the fallout, we lost track for a while, and had to estimate from there. Closest guess is 4021. They said my emotions were powerful enough to alter time and space. But they also said that the one who came before me was so strong, he could rip it to shreds," he replied, looking at me in wonder.

"Whoever they were, they were probably right. Have you had a mental battle with anypony?"

"One. My human form was too much, and I beat his mental form to a bloody mess."

"What became of him in the physical realm?"

"He was broken inside, and it showed. He went completely insane."

"That is the extent of your abilities. When I went against two ponies at once, I sliced them open and ripped through their mental forms."

"What became of them?"

"The damage I did carried into the real world. One was severed in half, and both spewed blood everywhere."

Starswirl could only sit there stunned. "How much of your memories made it through? I have only shattered pieces left... They said that after this life I could be reborn normally, but sometimes I think about it and wonder if that is what I really want..."

"Hmmph. I want to talk to 'them'. 'They' gave you a great deal, and what have I got? I have everything. I don't want to have to remember everything that bastard did, not to mention the pain of being alone. Again. I challenge 'them' to do their job, and hit the reset button.." I retorted, realizing that "they" must be the force that would prepare a soul for the next life. I was so angry that I didn't even realize when they had come. One moment I was standing, and the next I felt the familiar floating sensation I had learned to associate with my mental landscape.

"Hmmph. Here you are, and I still can't believe it," said a voice in front of me.