Radiant Story-Book 2

“Alas, the SOUZOU-SHA is going. A destiny undesired, unwanted. What makes him go? It is nothing more than the principle of man that has the reason for being.”

Ginkei felt dizzy and light-headed, as he stumbled around the Everfree forest. Walking in a somewhat straight line, he felt as if he was actually sleepwalking. He saw almost nothing but darkness. Suddenly he saw a light at the end of the road, and he started to walk faster, reaching out towards the light. He finally reached the end, and he found himself to be in the middle of a clearing. Heavenly light shined down on Ginkei, as he took one final breath, and collapsed.

The sun was shining bright on the land of Equestria. Since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the land of Equestria has been somewhat more cheerful than before.

But a few days after the coronation, Twilight had discovered a crystalline box from the Tree of Harmony, the tree which once held the Elements of Harmony. Despite a few distractions, Twilight was once again pondering on the box. She spent over five months finding the keys to unlock the box, and finally, she found the final key. She brought it back to Canterlot, and proceeded to open it…

“Twilight, are you sure this box doesn’t have anything dangerous?” Spike asked.

“Spike, this is a gift from the Tree of Harmony,” Twilight said. “Absolutely nothing dangerous could pop out of it.”

“Y-Yeah, but don’t you know about Manedora’s Box?” Spike asked.

“A mare who opened the box in the Cradle of Life, unleashed chaos, pain and suffering, blah blah blah…”-Twilight rolled her eyes-“Spike, this box came from the Tree of Harmony. Manedora’s box came from the Cradle of Life. Huge difference.”

“But it’s dangerously similar…” Spike whimpered.

“Don’t worry, whatever happens, we’ll be safe.” Twilight said.

Twilight gently slipped the keys into the box. Using her magic, she turned all of the keys at once. The locks clicked open, and she pulled the keys out. The box slowly opened, the sides folding down, as if was a blooming flower.

And there was a red, crystalline orb, floating in the middle of the crystal flower-box.

"Huh? What is this...?" Twilight said, softly. Spike gazed at the red, slightly glowing orb. It was perfectly spherical, with no cracks or flaws.

"What is it?" Spike asked.

"I don't know... Truly, this should be an out-of-place artifact... this thing never showed up in any of our archives..."

Just as those words left her mouth, a loud explosion was heard outside, and a wave of yellow energy passed through the room.

“I-I told you that thing was dangerous!” Spike yelled.

“That wasn’t the orb! That came from outside!” Twilight yelled.

Twilight ran over to the window, and looked outside. What she saw was more frightening than anything she had ever seen.

A vortex of clouds were swirling around a large, octahedron-shaped crystal which was releasing bolts of yellow lightning everywhere. A blue light glowed from the clouds, and blue lightning jumped from cloud to cloud, and sometimes to the crystal itself. It seemed that some sort of energy was suppressing the energy from the crystal.

“What’s going on!?” Spike asked.

“We have to get to Celestia! Equestria’s in danger!” Twilight shouted. “And maybe we can see what this note is about…”

Wasting no time, the two searched for Celestia in the castle. Within a few minutes, they found her.

“Celestia!” Twilight called.

“Yes Twilight?” Celestia said, walking down the castle staircase.

“Princess, something’s wrong. We saw this huge blast of energy and we don’t know what it’s about.”

“Yes, I did see the phenomenon. I am sending a team of soldiers over to investigate, Twilight, can you go with them?” Princess Celestia asked.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “Oh, and by the way, do you know what this is all about? This orb came from the Box of Harmony.”

Celestia took the note and looked at it. A confused look passed through her face, as she struggled to understand the strange, curvy writing. Finally, she said: “I will scan our records, but in the meantime, go with the guards. I have a feeling that this orb… and that thing is connected somehow.”

In a few seconds, a group of soldiers arrived.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle is going with you. Protect her from any sign of danger,” Celestia said to the soldiers.

“Yes Princess,” A soldier said.

They set out to the carriage, where they were flown near the vortex. They arrived in Ponyville, just a few miles away from the vortex. They got out, and Twilight was greeted by a few of her friends.

“Twilight! Are you okay, dear?” Rarity asked.

“What in the hay is goin’ on?” Applejack asked.

“Those clouds are moving on their own! I didn’t know a hurricane was supposed to happen today!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“My animals have dug underneath my house! They’re scared of the loud boom outside. What happened?” Fluttershy asked.

“There was a loud boom like one of Rainbow Dash’s Rainbooms, but when I looked out it was this huge crystal and I don’t know what it is! Do you know what it is? Cause I don’t, and it looks pretty big and lightning is coming out of it, it’s like some sort of magic laser show crystal. Ooh! I like laser shows! Do you like laser shows? I do, and they’re super-duper-“ Pinkie Pie blubbered, but was interrupted by Twilight.

“Girls!! Look, I’m worried about what’s happening in Equestria right now, but I have to go investigate what’s going on,” Twilight said. “Um… If it’s not too hard, try to calm some of the townsponies down, okay?”

The group turned to look at each other, then said; “Okay.” Then,Twilight and the soldiers then ran towards the vortex, following the pathway up until they hit a big obstacle.

The vortex was in the middle of the Everfree Forest.

“Princess…?”

“We…we have to find out what’s in there. But stay alert, and watch out for any patches of blue flowers. Trust me, they’re not as pretty as you may think.” Twilight said, remembering the experience with Poison Joke.

Venturing across the forest, through a river, and down a cliff, and past the old castle where Nightmare Moon was defeated, they finally reached a clearing in the middle of the Everfree Forest.
Old, mossy stone pillars were knocked down around the clearing, seemingly an old, ancient ruins.

“Search the area!” Twilight ordered. The soldiers then started investigating the area for anything.

The soldiers spread out, looking for anything of interest, while Twilight gazed at what was above her.
The vortex cloud swirled above, giving out enough light for the giant crystalline object to be visible.

“Hey! I got a live one over here!” A soldier shouted. Twilight went over to him.

A white-coated male alicorn was lying on the ground, unconscious. It seems as though he fell from some height.

“An alicorn? Are there supposed to be any more alicorns?” Twilight asked.

“No, Princess.”

Twilight inspected the alicorn further. His cutie mark was nowhere to be seen.

“He doesn’t have a cutie mark! Who is this alicorn?” Twilight exclaimed.

The alicorn slowly opened his eyes.

“He’s coming to,” A soldier started.

“Wha… Where am I? What’s going on?”

“Hello? My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”

“Name…?”

“I Don’t think he remembers his name…” Twilight said. “We’ll take him back to Canterlot.”

“C-Canterlot? Where am I?”

“I found something else. A sword of some kind,” One soldier started. “That’s it.”

The sword was made out of some sort of crystalline element. Red, intricate glyph carvings ran along the length of the blade, which glowed faint blue, as if it had some sort of magical energy.

“Princess, I don’t think staying here’s a safe choice. It’s getting dark, and we’re in the middle of Everfree Forest.” A soldier said, obviously scared knowing that he’s in Everfree Forest.

“Then let’s head back. I have a feeling that this guy might know something about this storm.” Twilight said.

“What? Where are you taking me?” The alicorn asked.

“We are taking you to Canterlot, we will help you with your memory,” Twilight said.

“Canterlot? I’ve never… Heard of such a place…” The alicorn said.

“Do you know where you are?” A soldier asked. But the alicorn just shook his head.

“We’re in the kingdom of Equestria. Can you remember anything at all?” Twilight asked.

“No…”

“Well, that’s okay then. We’re bringing you to Canterlot, there we can help you to get your memory back!” Twilight said.

“…O-Okay…”

After about an hour, the group, along with the alicorn, arrived back at Canterlot. They were greeted by Celestia, eagerly awaiting a report. However, she was astonished when she saw the face of another alicorn.

“I don’t remember any other alicorns in Equestria. Where are you from, stranger?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t know… Who are you…?” The alicorn said, still very much confused.

“He has some memory problems.” Twilight said.

“Get him to the infirmary. We’ll see if we can get his memory back.” Celestia said.

“We also found this-” Twilight handed Celestia the sword “-Do you know anything about this thing?”

Celestia stared at the sword for a minute. She stared at the glyphs, and tried to decipher what they meant.

“I… don’t think I’ve seen a sword of this fashion before,” Celestia said. “Especially one made out of a crystal.”

“Well, I’ll try to see if I can get the alicorn’s memory back,” Twilight said, heading to the infirmary.

“Record anything the stranger gives us. I’ll study this sword further,” Celestia said. “What is this thing…?”

“What is this place? Who are you?” The alicorn asked, starting to become worried that he may be in danger.

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to try to get your memory back,” Twilight said. “My name’s Twilight.”

Twilight and the alicorn finally arrived at the infirmary. “Lie down on the bed, and let’s get started.” Following Twilight’s orders, the alicorn lied down on the bed.

“So, do you remember anything before we found you? Places, names, things?” Twilight asked, hoping to find a clue to what started this madness.

“No…”

“Well, what do you remember?”

“Uh…” The alicorn tied to recall any recent events. “Only the time where you found me… and brought me here.”

“Okay, so you don’t remember anything…” Twilight facehoofed, then got an idea. “I know! I’m going to have to cast a spell which will allow me to look inside your memories, even those you can’t recall. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure?” The alicorn seemed confused.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get a nurse here in case something goes wrong.” Twilight said, as she left the infirmary to look for the nurse.

“What do they want from me?” The alicorn thought to himself. Then suddenly, he started hearing random sounds.

“I need you to do something for me…”

“Huh? Who’s there!?” He started looking around, trying to see what was happening.

“What is it?”

“When I am needed, call on me again.”

“What? Who’s talking?”

Twilight came back in the room, with a nurse by her side.

“Huh? Did something happen?” Twilight asked.

“I… started hearing stuff…” The alicorn said.

“Must be something from your memories…” the nurse said.

“Okay, just relax and I’ll take a look inside your memory.” Twilight started casting a spell.

The alicorn closed his eyes.

Multiple images started flashing inside Twilight’s mind.

“What do you see?” The nurse asked.

“I don’t know. There’s a lot of stress in this guy’s head.” Twilight tried to go deeper into the alicorn’s memory, but was pushed out.

“Something’s wrong. I can’t seem to get in his memories at all!”

“Just relax. We need to find out if we can get your memories back, sir.”

“WATASHI WA ANATA GA WATASHI NO TAME NI NANIKA O SURU HITSUYOU GA ARIMASU…”

“Wait, I’m hearing some sort of a foreign language…” Twilight said.

“WATASHI WA FUTATABI KURU. SHIKASHI, WATASHI WA ATO NAN’NEN MO KURU.”

“DONO YOU NI SORE WA KANOUDESU KA?”

“WATASHI WA MAE NI SORE O YATTA.”

“ONAMAE WA?”

“Ginkei.”

“DARE GA WATASHI O MIRU NODAROU KA?”

“Silver Bird.”

“It seems to be a conversation of some sort… I think I heard some sort of a ‘ginkei’? And ‘Silver Bird’…”

“...”

“Wait! I’m losing it… he’s pushing me out again!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Once more! We still need a clear part of his memories!” The nurse tried using her own magic to calm the alicorn’s mind.

“Okay, one more time!” Twilight peered in once more.

“…WATASHI O YOBIDASU.”

“What? Who’s talking?”

“This looks like this happened just recently. I think this weird language is what he heard earlier,” Twilight said. Twilight’s mind then got too clouded to see anything.

“Argh, he pushed me out again!”

“Did you see anything else of use?” The nurse asked.

“No, just this foreign language.”

“So… What happened?” The alicorn asked.

“All I managed to find was ‘Ginkei’ and ‘Silver Bird’.” Twilight said.

“Um… ‘Ginkei’ means ‘Silver Bird”…” The alicorn said.

“Huh? How do you know that?” Twilight asked.

“I… Think that’s my name…!”

“Really?” Twilight said, surprised.

“Yeah… Anyways, did you get anything else?” He asked.

“No…” Twilight got an idea. “The sword! Maybe that can get some of your memories back!”

“How can that thing get his memories back?” The nurse asked.

“I read that certain items from a pony’s mind can get them to recall certain memories-” Twilight rushed to the door “-I need to get that sword from Princess Celestia.”

Twilight and the nurse left again, leaving Silver Bird very confused.
Minutes later, Twilight came back with the sword.

“Can you look at this?” Twilight asked. “Be careful, it’s still sharp.”

Silver Bird stared at the blade for a bit, but did not pick it up. In fact, he didn’t know how to use magic.

“Can’t you use magic? Try focusing on making the sword levitate,” Twilight said.

Silver Bird tried to focus magic on the sword. Eventually, he did make it levitate, and was able to hold the sword as a normal unicorn would.

“I… think I know this…” Silver Bird said.

Silver Bird stared at the sword a bit, noticing the intricate carvings and how they looked very familiar, he began to read them aloud without even thinking.

“Rin…Pyou…Tou…Sha…Kai…Jin…Retsu…Zai…Zen.”

“What?” Twilight said.

“It’s the symbols on the sword. The Kuji-in.”

“You can understand that?” Twilight asked.

Then, the sword released a blinding light, and Silver Bird passed out.

“Silver Bird!? Wake up! Can you hear me!?”

“Ginkei. Wake up. Can you hear me?”

“That… voice again… Who are you?”

“Chosen one, it is time.”