Chapters Equestria Eons ago
"No!" A voice boomed in the sky. "It can't end like this, I won't let it end like this!"
Shining through the darkened skies a bolt of light made its way toward the silhouette, that was cursing the skies.
"Ahhhh, no it can't be," the voice became quieter, "noooo..." and then it was gone.
Current day Equestria high above the skies
High up in the skies of Equestria existed a voice, not one that could be heard, not one that could speak, but a voice that could think. The voice was aware of its surrounds as much as a voice in the air could be. All the voice was able to do was think to itself. And think it did.
How many years has it been? How long have I spent up here in the sky I once claimed ownership to? How long has it been since the magic holding me here started to weaken? How long will it be until I can return to a place that called home? How will I be welcomed back? Will I be sent away? Will I be thrown in a dungeon, never again to see the blue skies? Will I be killed for my past? Will the ponies who were running Equestria still be in charge? Or will they have been overthrow by some demonic overlord, that I may have to stop or join?
The voice asked itself these questions daily, always expecting an answer but never getting it. The voice however was smart, smart to the extent where it was aware that whoever was holding the spell that was keeping the voice from reforming was slowly getting weaker or diverting their power elsewhere. Not long now and I will be free. This thought was strange for the voice because it was not a question, but it was fact. The voice knew that someday maybe not today, maybe not even this week but sometime she would be free. She would be free. I will be free.
Meanwhile in Canterlot
"Sister!" Luna screeched as loudly and quietly as she could.
"What ever is the matter Luna?" Celestia inquired, wondering what had been so important for her breakfast to be interrupted.
"Can you not feel it," Luna spoke in a somewhat stressed voice. "she is returning!"
Celestia raised an eyebrow, "You're going to have to be a bit more specific then that Lulu, I am expecting alot of 'shes' to return at some point or another." Celestia sighed an resumed drinking her tea, with slow lady like sips.
Luna, almost in shock that her sister seems to be taking the news so well decided that maybe saying who she dealing with might just make her relies the magnitude of the situation. "Well sister, it would seem that you have forgotten who we are dealing with!" Luna spoke almost as calmly as Celestia did while circling her older sister. "Surely sister you have not forgotten about her."
Celestia put her cup down and with a slight annoyance in her voice returned with, "No," now almost barking at her younger sister. "and I won't unless you tell me who is!"
Luna sighed, now aware that her sister was not going to guess identity of the risk. "The pony who is returning is none other than,"
"Yes?"
"Volts."
An eerie silence filled the room. the open door letting in a cool breeze that reminded the two alicorns that neither of them were dreaming in, the cold reality that another old evil will be returning to Equestria in the nearby future was setting in. Celestia continued to drink her tea at the same rate she had been before Luna had burst in.
"Sister?" Luna asked worryingly.
"It will be alright Luna, I will handle her." Celestia said calmly.
"But sister, do you not remember last time? She had nearly killed you. If it weren't for the-"
"Elements, I know Luna but," She sighed "however she hasn't had the opportunity to grow strong like our other perils had, she has been nothing but a consonance floating in the sky, only able to think about what she has done. If anything I am hoping that we will not need to ask Twilight and her friends for help this time around," Celestia chuckled a bit, "it would be nice to give them a break after dealing with Sombra, I am certain they could use the rest."
"But sister surely Twilight, your student, the student who has spent her whole life in a library would have read up about Volts and her history. After all she played more then a vital role in making Equestria what it is today."
Celestia suddenly became very cold. "No Luna, she is NOT in any of the history books, she is NOT in any of the ancient stone tablets that you may find scatter across Equestria, she does NOT exist as far as they are concerned Luna."
"But why sister? Why would you remove her from history?" Luna ask with a confused look on her face.
"I-I had to," Celestia sighed. "she did things, things that would put Sombra to shame. She never enslaved, kill or hurt anypony but what she did was enough."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "And what was that sister?"
Celestia looked her sister dead on, with a bit of a glare. "Do you remember back before the complete set up of all the major hubs in Equestria," Luna nodded. "Well when they were more like small settlements Volts had just started her rampage surely you remember this?" Once again Luna nodded, not interrupting her sister. "Well," Celestia spoke very coldly now. "Volts had the audacity to 'take a few' off the map completely, gone, poof, no more, about 6 unnamed settlements all gone and burned to the ground violent thunderstorms."
"Sister! What about the ponies who lived there? I though you said..."
"No worries Luna, while her storms burned the settlements to the ground they were slow and the ponies were able to flee to other areas. Thinking about it the influx of ponies into the settlements probably lead to the larger ones becoming cities and towns like Manehatten."
For a brief amount of time there was silence in the room, the two sister staring at each other, both speechless at what had been said. finally Luna said. "I though you said she was worse then Sombra? Surely if she did not kill anypony but in fact lead to cities being built, she is not that bad?" Then Luna smiled a bit "Maybe she could see into the future, and besides oooOOOooo watch out i'm a slow moving storm that can be easily controlled by weather teams!" Luna and Celestia chuckled, then laughed, then laughed loudly, almost to the point of rolling on the floor.
"Thank you sister, even if you were the barer of bad news you always know what to say to make me happy."
Meanwhile above Canterlot
Not long now. Not long at all. I can feel it. The magic it is weakening. Soon, soon I will be free! Free to have my revenge? Yes REVENGE! But wouldn't that make me just as bad as they were? No it wouldn't because they weren't bad. Thinking about it. What did you do Volts?
"I don't know..." Some time passed before, "I am speaking? I am talking? I am reforming? I am..?"
Silenced filled the area that the voice was coming from, a group of clouds that were drifting over the Everfree forest.
Somewhere above the Everfree forest
In the skyline of the Everfree forest a group of clouds slowly started to amass around a single cloud, almost as if they were being forced to, but that doesn't happen in Everfree. The clouds roam around freely, so why are they amassing around a single cloud?
The voice, the once only conscious voice, was now starting to reform into herold form, before the banishment, before being bound to the skies. The voice now had a somewhat physical form of interaction, she could control the clouds as she pleased, allowing the voice to hop to and fro between areas. As the voice jumped between clouds trying to find an area to reform safely. She couldn't help but remember her questions.
What will I do when I have been reformed? Revenge always seemed like such a good idea, but why? Why would I harm those who wronged eons ago? Surely if I did, or try'd to I would be asked the same question.
Why?
When an Alicorn that has the same properties as Volts chooses to reform from a conscious state they will suffer three large give-aways. Firstly, all cloud in the nearby vicinity will be drawn towards him or her. Secondly, upon reaching the final stage of the reformation a huge amount static energy will be released, while not harmful to anypony the static energy can be traced back to its point origin and in Volt's case this would be bad for her. And finally when Volts has full reformed she will be very weak, weak to the point where the simplest of untrained unicorn magi could banish her a second time with little effort.
The cluster of clouds that were now containing the slowly reforming volts settled down at the edge of the Everfree forest, next to a small village. close enough so that she could slip away when fully formed but far away enough to both ditch anyone who was nearby and also avoid the weather teams.
While slowly reforming in the clouds the being that was regrowing thought to itself.
What makes me so bad? What did I do? Can I undo it? Have I been forgiven? I ask so many question... and expect the answers to fall right out of the sky.
Eons ago, in Canterlot halls, day court is in session
"...And with the new energy source..."
"...Of course I am aware of the risk that it poses but it should be nothing that we can't solve within the first few week or days of enabling it..."
"...But this could send us years ahead, think about it for a moment, an infinite power well which all lifeforms can draw from..."
"...turning it into a weapon would be a last ditch resort in a battle we are losing. It could wipe out all life on Equestria..."
"...No Princess i'm not saying you're wrong, I just personally think that..."
"...NO! I DO NOT SEE MY JOB AS A 'FAVOR' GAINER THE FACT THAT..."
"...Celestia you are making a huge mistake, mark my words I will be back, I will have it finished, there will be nothing you can do to stop me. Surely you can understand what it is like?.."
"If you wish to stop me so be it. Lets see how your precious little subjects deal with a bit of hard rain. I mean its not like I made it so that the Pegasus could take control of the weather. Oh wait I did."
Current day the edge of the Everfree forest
The voice was now capable of being just that: a voice.
"I wish I had been more patient, she would have agreed to it eventually, once she saw how much good it would do." The voice sighed, heard twisting and turning in all directions.
"But she still had no right to do what she did! I may have acted rash, but it's not like anypony got killed in what I did. Did they?" The voice was now mulling over the choices it had made, wondering what would happen to it if it were to step foot on Equestria again.
"I would get banished again," the voice seemed to pause for a moment, "but where to?"
Meanwhile in Golden Oak Library
"Oh isn't today wonderful Spike?" Twilight asked as she hurried downstairs eager to stay indoors on a fine cloudless day.
"Ugh" Spike groan as he slowly got out of bed, it was early in the morning, but late for Twilight, she had decided to let the baby dragon have a day where he could sleep in, after all he had only just recently saved an entire kingdom from the tyrannical overlord that was King Sombra... with a bit of help.
Suddenly the dragon perked up, and rather promptly spat out a small scroll sealed with the royal Canterlot seal, promptly catching it in one claw. He then looked over the scroll before saying in an almost sing-song fashion, "Ohhhhhh Twilighttttttttt you have a message from Celestiaaaaaa!"
Twilight quickly ran over to the baby dragon snatching the message from his claw with a levitation spell while she sat down at a nearby bench ready to open it. "Funny, I didn't expect Celestia to send a message so quickly after the last, regardless thanks Spike... My number one assistant." The little dragon blushed a bit before heading downstairs to sort out books.
Twilight cautiously unbound the letter from the seal and opened it up, she slowly examined the contents of the letter to read:
Dear my faithful student Twilight Sparkle
It has occurred to me due to the recent events that have transpired in the Crystal Kingdom various weather patterns in Equestria have been show anomalies, if for any reason you see any clouds act out of the ordinary, for example: Not moving when they should be, please contact me. Also and large static outbursts that you may witness are also needed to be reported to me.
Princess Celestia
P.S under No circumstances are you to go near any of the clouds in question, or find the point of origin from the static storm.
Odd. Very odd.
"Really Tia? You think that letter is going to be enough to keep Twilight and he friends away? If anything you made them more curious!" Luna bellowed at her sister.
"Luna you should know lying isn't my strong suit, and yes looking back at it I could have worded that letter, a bit better..."
"Oh Tia, you make me laugh sometimes." Luna said chuckling to herself about the blunder her older sister had made. "However," Luna's tone became alot serious all of a sudden. "where do you think she will materialize?"
"I would say near Ponyville, but that is so typical for evil do-ers to go there."
"Maybe she was counting on you saying that?"
"Maybe Lulu, Maybe."
My options are as follows I can:
A: Go to Canterlot and plead that I do not get banished and be offered a second chance.
B: I could go on a rampage and destroy large parts of Canterlot, while also taking my revenge on Celestia.
C: I can always stay quiet about coming back, and then integrate into to modern pony society.
D: Not reform and spend the rest of my eternal life living as a cloud in the sky.
E: Ahhhh plan E you are a bit complex then the other aren't you? The one in one-thousand plan.
In order to help her slowly reforming mind cope with these choices Volts conjured up five magical constructs of herself and her possible encounters with them, each acting one of the five plans that she had prepared.
Plan A as she had named it was simply her begging at the hooves of princess Celestia, Begging for forgiveness. This plan was the most shameful of the five plans, and it had two possible outcomes.
Outcome A-One: Celestia forgiving Volts and allowing her to live like she did before, this was the more favorable outcome for Volts, however.
Outcome A-Two: Princess Celestia throws Volt's begging aside and banishes her again. Not quiet what Volts was looking for.
Plan B or the 'Go crazy and try and take as many ponies down with me' plan as said it showed Volts using her various unique forms of magic to destroy, burn and otherwise obliterate everything however unlike Plan A this only had one outcome.
Outcome B-One: The Princess will once again use the Elements of Harmony on me and thus banish me from Equestria again.
Plan B was only to be done as a last resort, of a last resort. I.E if Plan A fails but I am able to get away briefly.
Plan C or the 'Outa sight outa mind' plan, where Volts would simply use her magic to hide her horn when she reforms and then integrate in pony society, and living a regular life. this gave one Two outcomes:
Outcome C-One: Live a regular life and not get banished. Seems pretty good, but Volts was never one for the 'regular life'
Outcome C-Two: get found out and ratted to Celestia and most likely BANISHED or not...
Plan D: The lazy plan, the hide and wait for it all to never blow over, Yup... only one outcome here
Outcome D-Cloud-not-9: Live as a cloud for the eternity that is my life.
Why do I even plan four other plans if I know I am going with Plan E? Oh well.
Plan E: Plan E entailed a 'mock' attack on Canterlot. Volts is capable of dealing massive damage however she is also somewhat of a illusionist and is also rather good at throwing fights, making weak points obvious and having magic 'back-fire' on her. No without a doubt in her mind she knew what she was going to do. She was going to attack Canterlot wait...
Why not just attack this innocent looking village? It's near enough to Canterlot that the Princess will come rushing to its aid, plus it means I don't have to fly miles! and besides it's just a harmless village, not like they have the Elements of Harmony living in it right?
Volts felt her strength returning and prepared to reform, while doing this she made plans for the 'Mock' attack on the small little village of Ponyville...
I could not have been more wrong in my entire life.
Act 3: Fragments of the past
Canterlot Eons ago
Inside the main chambers of the Canterlot Castle three Alicorns converse, they talk about the future and what it holds for them, they talk about ways to ensure that Pony population stays safe, they talk about ways they can make their world flourish.
Celestia, who standing no taller then Luna does currently addressed Volts; who body seems to radiate electricity.
"And you think this will be able to help the population how? The Pegasi already have the weather under control." she stated hoping to knock the Alicorn down a few pegs.
"Well Princesses, while the Pegasi currently move the weather to and fro, my plan, no, my magic, will make it so that Pegasi can easily chose when the weather does what, rather then just move it to and fro."
"How?" Princess Luna, who was no taller the Cadance said in shock.
"Well its simple," the Volts said. "I use my magic to create a small micro climate, then I simply enlarge it until it it pushes the old climate out. The micro climate can have various... should we called them 'features' that allow for things such as Pegasi being able to have more control."
"Well? said Princess Celestia, who was nearly sold on the idea. "It could be worth looking into. However I must know, do these 'Micro climate' risk running out our old one?"
"Yes, but not the way you might think," Volts quickly recovered. "Since they are controlled by my magic I get to make them the appropriate size, rest assure Princesses I will not make anything that is grievously out of proportion. I simply wish to Equestria do well."
"Very well, we shall allow you to try your magic, but if you do anything to endanger this new empire I will personally banish you from this plane of existence."
She wasn't lying...
Volts was sat on a cloud, she was not fully formed however reformed enough that she could materialize lightning to take her form. She glanced around at her surroundings, while she had a form, it was unable to stray far from the cloud that it was formed in. However as she allowed the cloud to drift around she noticed a small stone that was out of place. A completely smooth sphere with a small thunderbolt engraved into it, upon touching the stone it seemed to crackle and hiss, as if it still had some energy inside it.
"Just one recharge..." Volts cradled the ball close to her chest and sighed. It brought back memories of when she was working for the two Princesses.
Canterlot Eons ago
"Volts!" A voice called out from across the hallway. "Volts! I've been looking for you everywhere."
"Really Luna?"
"Yes, yes," The midnight Alicorn said almost failing to hide a large grin. "While Celestia may not seem like it, we both really appreciate the work you have been doing! You have been making the weather alot easier to run."
"Yes I know that," Volts said while trying to hide the faintest of blushes. "but why are you looking for me?" Giving Luna a brief puzzled look.
"Well," Luna said looking down at the small Alicorn. "I noticed that after you expand the Micro climate you always seem tired..."
"Yes," interrupted Volts. "Magical exhaustion, oops where are my manners, sorry Princess."
"Don't worry about it Volts," Luna said this with a smile that may not be seen again for thousands of years, one that made Volts feel warm and safe. "I decided to get you an item that may help you with this!"
Luna excitedly present a small gray sphere. The rock itself was smooth to the touch, this gave Volts the impression that it was once alot large and somepony had put alot of time and effort into get it right. On what would be the front of the sphere was a engraving of a thunderbolt. As the rock changed hoofs it seemed to glow and crackle with energy, as it had just been awoken.
After a brief then long explanation, Luna demonstrated to Volts how she could use energy stored up in the rock in order to 'recharge' her spark. after a brief exchange of farewells the two Alicorns parted ways for the time being.
What went wrong?
Canterlot, current day
"If were are assuming that she hasn't changed to much since our last encounter, Volts will most likely be very strong and very angry." Celestia spoke calmly, but it was not without a pinch of fear.
"Well," Princess Luna said with a hint of caution. "with all that has happened in the recent week and months, it may be a good idea to have the Elements are standby."
"Yes but given what they have been through in the past week," Princess Celestia said, slowly walking over to Luna. "I can't drag them into another one of my thousand year problems that I keep having."
"But sister, you know that the elements would be more then happy to help you in your time of need don't you? Surely if we neglect them we will be in a worse state then if we did not."
"Yes I know Luna, but this could be dangerous, this could be bad, this could be..."
"It can't be worse then Sombra!" Luna interrupted abruptly .
"You are right, but unlike Sombra, this is MY problem Luna, this is something I caused, I should have to deal with it." Celestia said as her gaze slowly fell to the ground.
"Then deal with her!" Luna bellowed in the massive halls, her voice bounced around as it echoed, then Luna continued. "But do so with the help of your friends!"
The great halls of Canterlot fell silent.
"Why do you not trust her?" Luna angrily said to her sister. "All she has done is help us, yet you treat her like dirt!"
"Sister," Celestia said calmly. "You have to try and see it from my side of the story, I am trying to look out for Equestria."
"I could understand if that was your excuses Two years ago but now," Luna spoke with a very clear disappointed tone in her voice. "Just give her a chance sister, please that is all I'm asking..."
"Sister," Celestia now spoke firmly. "What has she done to you? How has she gotten in your head? HOW HAS SHE TURNED MY OWN SISTER AGAINST ME?"
"No... sister..."
"Nothing," Celestia now spoke coldly. "I do now want you seeing her again, nor do I want her seeing you. By my generosity you may see her one last time and said what has transpired."
Luna was almost in tears as her sister turned her back on her and left the room.
"So never again?" A sad Volts said sadly. "I guess I should have seen this coming, don't worry I won't get you in any more trouble."
"But you haven't done anything wrong!" Luna said angrily. "I don't know why but my sister, she, she just doesn't trust you!"
"Well I am..."
"No!" Luna shouted angrily. "Don't try and make what she did seem right, you have been here for two years now, two years! And she still treats you like dirt!"
"Luna I know you are angry but," Volts sighed. "she is just trying to do her best for Equestria, she does not mean it."
"Maybe you are right, maybe I am just angry and maybe this will just all blow over." Luna said hopefully.
"Thats the spirit Luna!" Volts said with a renewed hope. "Just keep looking up and everything will be okay!"
I Never told you how sorry I was Luna...
Everfree forest, skyline
Okay, okay I can do this, I can do this. The slightly cloudy Alicorn thought to herself. She slowly started to reform. Right, so to recap I have come up with a plan to attack the nearby village..? Wait is it a town though? Never mind... Once I attack the village/town/city/house Princess Celestia will surely come to aid her ponies with the new-found trouble. Then we fight for a bit and then I make it look like I lost the fight THEN hopefully I don't get banished. Yep, Solid Plan Volts!
Meanwhile at the golden oaks library...
"Sorry Spike I just think it is a bit odd that Princess Celestia would send me a letter telling me to watch out for something suspicious, THEN tell me that if I see said suspicious thing to ignore it!" Twilight said as she frantically paced around the library floor. Spike, who was now worried that Twilight was going wear the floor away decided on what he could do or say to calm Twilight down, as this whole letter fiasco had clearly put her on edge. However before he could say a word Twilight continued. "Its not like we are UNABLE to help her if something happens, I mean sure, the way we stopped Sombra wasn't exactly as planned, but we still stopped him!" Now Twilight was running around the library and looking out the windows, as if she was expecting someone. Once again Spike raised his claw to show he was about to speak, he then opened his mouth and started to form a sentence.
"I thin..."
"But what if she doesn't think I am right for the task? What if she think I'm incapable of being her student? What if..."
Spike tried his hardest to filter out Twilight, as she once again fell into a endless loop of 'what if I'm not.'
"Just a little longer," Volts enjoyed talking, when she was a consonance all she could do was think, but now she can talk. Even though there was no one to talk to, she would talk. "soon I will be reformed and will be able to return! But first..." Volts glanced over to the small rock with the engraving, she picked it up with her magic and used it to 'charge' a cloud. She then used an illusion spell to make the orb appear almost ten times as large. She then used some of her more advanced magic to make the the clouds slowly take a shape around the now seemingly larger orb. once the orb was covered she brushed away the clouds that covered the engraving, she then used another illusion spell on the illusion to make the engraved bolt glow blue.
She took a step back to look at what she had created. She had made what seemed to be a large creature with four limbs, two large wing structures at the back and an area she could sit and see what was happening, the strange cloud creature also had a large glowing lightening bolt in it center. If Celestia can't figure out that weak point, were all doomed! Volts was looking at her creation a second time and then began to shape it further. While her magic was strong she would be relatively harmless while in this creature on a fact that she had a lot of focus on keeping the clouds together.
The creature now stood at the size of a large tree. The 'cloud suit' as Volts had donned it was capable to moving through the air at a relatively quick pace while maintain is weapons in good order. Power could easily be diverted from one section to the wing in order for a boost, at the cost of losing that section temporally. Volts could cast her spells and they would be funneled down into various sections, effectively allowing the suit to fire magic spells from any parts of its body.
The whole suit had taken her will into the night, and it was now early morning, Volts could just start to see the moon go down.
Suddenly Volts twitched, she knew what was happening, of course it would happen now. She quickly ran to under the thunder cloud she had charged earlier. Her body began to crackle with static energy, slowly coming out of the cloudy Alicorn, then when the static energy had covered the cloud completely, both the static and clouds flew off reviling an extremely tired Alicorn collapsed on the ground.
Volts lay on the ground for a minute, completely uncharged of energy. In this state Volts could not even maintain the spell that keeps her static form stable, and because of this she was completely normal, so to speak. She had no outstanding features except having both wings and horn. Her coat was a deep navy blue and her hair was more of a sky blue with yellow streaks running though it. Where she had not been in a physical form for the past few thousand year her hair was relatively short.
Quickly after returning to her old form Volts regained enough energy to fire a bolt of magic into the cloud above her, as instructed the cloud unloaded it static payload on the Alicorn. Once the cloud had discharged its payload, the once weak Alicorn was able to stand tall now, while she was only slightly smaller then Luna she was still a relative force that needed relative reckoning with.
The alicorn gasped quickly realizing that she had little time left before she would be found. How could I have been so stupid, I forgot about the discharge! She quickly jumped into her cloud suit and started moving over to Ponyville, hoping she had left enough time to get there.
Twilight was already awake, as of recently she had been getting up just before dawn to see the sun rise and the moon set. As she slowly drank her morning coffee she gazed over to the Everfree forest to see the sun rise, although there were no clouds on Ponyville at this time, there were a few in Everfree, but they hardly got in the way.
BOOM
Hmmm how odd, that must had come from the Everfree forest. Twilight thought to herself as she kept her watchful eye on the nearby forest, looking for signs of a thunderstorm that may be on its way. However she could not find one. Suddenly a blue halo of static energy appeared in the forest and slowly went out.
After waking up Spike, sending a message to Celestia and running outside Twilight was truly out of breath and hoping that Celestia would come and reassure her that is was nothing serious. While gazing at Equestrias most interesting rock Twilight felt the presence of something large behind her. Hoping it was Celestia she turn around.
It wasn't Celestia.
A brief moment of horror overcame Twilight as she saw the rather large cloud monster slowly fall down from the sky.
On her way over Volts had made a few changes to the suit, one of the 'arms' was now shaped like a horn or drill. This would allow her to churn the air around it to generate high pressure zones. To what effect this would have was unknown to Volts, however it was one of those 'seems pretty cool' ideas. The other arm was shortened and widened in order to give the impression of a barrel , she had decided that flinging static electricity all over the suit would give it an unfair advantage against Celestia, so instead she would direct all her magic down the tube instead.
After what seemed like an hour of silence, but in reality was only a few seconds. The cloud beast started to fade away, as if the energy that was holding it together was fading away. After a few moments the cloud beast was no longer visible, and only a tired looking Volts and a small stone remained in its place.
"That was," Volts said rather groggily. "that was, not a good idea..."
Volts was now drained completely of energy and in a huff she fell to the floor, losing her static form and once again revealing her true and weakest form. After a brief moment of lying on the ground she glanced up, look at the lavender unicorn that was looking down at her with a face that showed both surprise and confusion.
"Ummmm, hello?" Volts said rather weakly to the unicorn that was staring down at her. Now with a bit more energy in her voice she said. "Can I help you with anything, anything at all?"
Yep, because that the only effective way to recover from what I just did, act like its normal. Volts thought to herself as she slowly regained her bearings. Volts slowly got up, being only just slightly larger then the lavender unicorn she did not have to look down at her. The unicorn remained speechless as Volts gave her somewhat of a puzzled look.
"Are you... Alright?" She asked the shocked unicorn. "Do you need any help?"
Volts was slowly regaining her energy and it would not be long until Volts would be able to put her sparky form back on, however in the meantime she debated about whether or not she had broken this poor unicorn, she occasionally poked the unicorn, trying to provoke a response however much to her disappointment this failed to do so.
Meanwhile in Canterlot
"Sister, SISTER! I just received a letter from Twilight, while it was brief it basically says..."
"Was does it say sister?"
"It says its happening, OH LUNA ITS HAPPENING!"
"Then we make must make haste to Ponyville, there is no telling what Volts will do to that place while we sit here idly!"
Back outside the golden Oaks library....
Volts was shocked, not at the lack of attention she had been receiving, but at the lack of goddesses trying to completely obliterate her, while she glared at the still frozen unicorn she thought to herself. Maybe, just maybe, they are not coming? Maybe they vanished? Or got overthrown? I mean, I made a racket coming back, so surly somepony heard me and sent a letter to them? It is rather early in the morning though... Maybe nopony is awake? Maybe... Volt's trail of thought was interrupted by a blinding flash of light behind her.
"Finally, was worried you weren't going to show up, however I need a hoof... I think I... Broke this unicorn..?"
No sooner then had Volts said that, she had turned around to see a rather angry, yet sort of confused Celestia, while Volts had not seen the Alicorn arrive she could easily recognize the little flair that Celestia had in her magic spells. Volts shuffled a bit out of the way to allow Celestia sight of the unicorn.
Almost immediately after laying eyes on Twilight, Celestia ran over to her and gave Volts a somewhat of cold look.
"What did you do to her?" Celestia said to Volts while glaring daggers at her.
"Nothing..? I mean I did have a spell going... But, but..." Volts stuttered a bit, memories of before she was banished started to resurface causing Volts to shy away a bit.
Celestia now looking down at Twilight spoke more calmly, like she normally did. "Twilight? Can you hear me?"
Almost immediately after hear her mentors voice Twilight snapped out of her trance and began talking at a rather frightful pace.
Whilst Celestia nor Volts could fully understand what she was saying, the understanding was that she was describing the events that took place, up to her being frozen in place. whilst Celestia was trying to figure out the details of what happened Volts slowly started to back away from the two. Suddenly a large aura overtook Volts and threw her to the ground. The pony that had done this said nothing other then.
"Hello Volts, its been a while."
Canterlot five minutes before the capture of Volts
"Sister, do you see anything?"
"Yes, only for a brief moment."
"What did you see?"
"I'm not certain, I saw Twilight..."
"Is she okay?"
"She is shocked, but unharmed."
"Shocked?"
"Yes, she is stunned..."
"Was there anypony else there?"
"Yes, although it didn't look like her..."
"Ponies change Luna, you should know that."
"So what do you plan to do?"
"The better question is, what do we plan to do?"
Stunned, Luna took a few steps back, not certain of what to say to her sister. After a few moments of silence she spoke back to her sister.
"Why are you asking me this?" Luna said to her sister with a pang of distress in her voice.
"You know I won't be able to take her down by myself, sister I need your help."
Luna turned away from her sister, she contemplated her options.
"If I help you." Luna sighed. "She will never forgive me."
"I'm sorry Luna, there is no other way." Celestia said coldly.
"I... Very well, what do you need."
"Its simple," Celestia started explaining her plan to her sister. "If I confront her you sneak up behind her and put her to sleep..."
"Kill her!?"
"No, no... Just put her in a deep sleep, one that she will not wake up from for a few hours. She doesn't even need to know it was you."
Ponyville, a few moments before the apprehension of Volts
"Hello Volts, its been a while." Luna tried her best to disguise her voice, as she threw the Alicorn to the ground.
As Volts fell to the ground Luna her best tried to put her to sleep quickly, hoping that Volts would not be able to identify her and her magic. However this was not the case. Moments before Volts passed out a small but audible sound escaped. A sound that sounded like it questioned why, a sound that sounded like it had been stabbed in the back.
"Lu...Na?"
A silence fell upon the group, unaware the magnitude of the situation Twilight was the first to break the silence.
"Who was she Celestia?"
"Now is not the best place for this Twilight, I need you to gather up your friends and wait for me at Canterlot." As she finished her sentence she quickly materialized a scroll and proceeded to quickly write a message on it with a quill she materialized, after a brief moment of writing the scroll vanished in a puff of magic. "I have sent a letter to the royal guard, they will be waiting for you, now go my little pony."
Twilight gave a slow nod and then swiftly left for the library to gather supplies for the trip. Not long had she left, she came out of the the library with saddlebags on her back. She then headed for Apple acres.
After another minute of silence Celestia looked over to her sister, she was sat down by Volts gently stroking her mane.
"Luna..."
"She... She."
"It will be okay," Celestia tried to comfort her sister, who now had visible tears forming. "There was no way she could have know."
"She said my name... She knew it was me."
"Luna, I will make it better, I will make it better, trust me... Please."
Luna got up slowly, she slowly left Volt's side and then in a split second both of them vanished.
Canterlot castle, reception room
Twilight had run ahead of her friends. Whilst they were off enjoying what Canterlot had to offer. She was the only one of the group who knew who had happened. She was alone in the reception room, she was alone and waiting for somepony to show up. She kept replaying the events that had taken place in the morning. The whole event was odd. Why would Celestia not tell me about her? Why would she ask me to come to Canterlot if she had the situation under control? Why does it always seem that this castle is empty? She thought to herself as she slowly paced back and forth. After a few more moments of thinking to herself she decided that it would be best to look for the Princesses.
Celestia was moving around the castle at a fast pace. She was looking for her sister, since arriving back at Canterlot she had not seen hide nor hair of Volts or Luna, despite she had only been back for about five minutes. She had had to deal with some 'royal' issues before she could come back to the castle. As Celestia made her way through the castle she bumped into Twilight in one of the many corridors.
"Oh, Twilight! I did not expect you to arrive so quickly." Celestia started to think for a moment, no soon had she bumped into Twilight had she formulated a plan to find her wayward sister.
"Twilight, could I ask you a favor?"
"Of course Princess, anything... well nearly anything." Twilight said in response.
"Could you find Luna? I would find her myself but after today's events, I don't think it would be a good idea to see her just yet."
"Of course I can do that!" Twilight had now nearly forgotten the events that had transpired in the morning.
Whilst Canterlot castle was large and had many, many rooms to hide in Twilight knew exactly where to look. From the hallway where she bumped into Celestia, she quickly made her way up the castle and towards Luna's chambers. While it was a rather long walk to her chambers, Twilight was used to walking around long distances in the castle. After about 5 minutes of walking Twilight found herself outside the large doorway to Luna's chambers.
The guards let Twilight past and she slowly approached the large doorway. As she got closer to the doorway she contemplated what to say, while she did not know much about the matter she knew it was serious. After what seemed like a eternity of approaching the door she finally reached it. Twilight gently knocked on the door, receiving no answer and a few seconds passing she gently pushed the door open.
Luna's chambers were dark, however not pitch-black-can't-see dark. Twilight could make out two ponies in the dark room, one lying down and the other sat down. After the mornings events Twilight assumed that the pony sat down was Luna. She slowly walked over to her and assumed that she either didn't see her or didn't react to her. Twilight sat down next to Luna and spoke calmly.
"Luna?"
Luna let out a large sigh, but aside from that she remained silent. After about five minutes of silence Luna spoke.
"What should I do Twilight?"
"I'm going to go out on a limb here," Twilight said almost immediately after Luna had finished speaking. "Wake her up."
"What?" Luna was shocked by the rather bold suggestion, normally Twilight was less forward with her ideas.
"Well the way I see it if you keep her asleep for years, she will be a lot angrier when she wakes up." Twilight explained. "The worst thing you could do is keep her asleep."
Luna was taken back by not just Twilight's forwardness with her idea, but also how much sense the idea seemed to make. While Luna was unaware of how Volts would react when she woke up, she knew the last thing she would to hear is that she had been asleep for a while. At this point Luna knew she would have to awaken Volts.
A eerie silence filled the room, one that made the large warm room feel imposing and one that left its inhabitants feeling cold and alone, one that was pleading to be broken...
Volts wasn't sure where she was. She was in a large meadow. The sun was high in the sky and there were no clouds. She wasn't sure why she was here, but it felt like home. A time where things were simpler, before the change, before the great surge. She started to wander around the large meadow, looking for other ponies.
After about ten minutes of wandering around Volts finally found a few signs of other life, some small houses made out of logs. she walked up to the closest house and gently knocked on the door. The whole time she did this she felt a vague sense of knowing, as if she had been here before. No answer. she knocked slightly louder on the door hoping that somepony would hear her. No answer. Volts decided against breaking the door down. She walked around the small settlement a bit. It wasn't until she reached the center of the town that She started to realize she was dreaming. The town was far larger then it looked with more and more house going off in the distance. The town center where a large fountain stood was clearly no longer the center of the town and despite all the houses the town remained both silent and empty.
The sky was now getting cloudy and Volts was now frantically running around the town, she had completely lost her way and was running around aimlessly hoping to find a way out. The clouds that had formed overhead now starting to rain. The rain picked up and was now a downpour. Volts was still running around aimlessly hoping to get out of the rain.
Canterlot castle Luna's chambers
"Luna?"
"Yes Twilight, I will wake her up now."
In Volt's dream things started to get odd, the whole dream itself started to melt until there was nothing left except Volts suspended in the nothingness. Well this is odd. What is this? A dream limbo? Volts thought to herself silently. If I can remember correctly, I could dream-weave here. Just have to remember what Luna told me. Wait not a good idea, if I am in a dream limbo that means I'm waking up from a forced sleep. Wait... I was in a forced sleep? I may have to get ready to fight or flee. No wonder this has lasted so long...
An unseen dark blue aura of magic appeared around Volts. As Luna's horn lit up the magic that was keeping Volts trapped in her dream slowly faded away from her and returned back to Luna. The Alicorn lying down at the other side of the room started to stir. Surprisingly to both Luna and Twilight when volts awoke it was uneventful, not what they had planned. Volts slowly rose up from her slumber, mumbling and grumbling as she did. No great magical attacks, no great spells being cast and certainly no undying fury. This confused Luna to a large extent, she had expected Volts to either start going on about how she betrayed her or go into a blind rage.
Maybe the fact that Volts acted so normal is what threw them off. She didn't act out of the ordinary compared to any other pony. She just got up. After a brief moment of fumbling around Volts charged a spell to her horn and cast it. A large bright flash came over the room. The bright flashing scrambling both Luna and Twilight's eyesight briefly. Volts walked over to the balcony and look outside, she then turned back to the two dazed ponies and said.
"Good afternoon," Her voice was nearly devoid of any negative emotions and just sound chirpy. "Is anypony hungry? Because I'm famished!"
This really threw Luna off, not only was she not angry or upset but she was happy. Why would she be happy? I assisted in capturing her. Luna thought to herself as her eyesight recovered. As her eyesight came back she could now make out the glowing pony that was stood in front of her, with a glowing smile. And eyes that gazed into your soul.
"Ummmm, hello Volts?" If Volt's plan was to confuse Luna up to a grade of eleven she had done it.
"Got any food? I'm still as famished as I was few seconds ago. I haven't eaten in a few urghhhh ages."
"We should be having lunch soon, I'm sure Celestia won't mind." Twilight eagerly said.
"Sounds good ummmmm, Twilight right?"
"Yep that's my name!" Twilight said happily.
A small smile overcame Luna's face as she realized what was happening. All the strange behavior by Volts could only mean that she was either changed or was playing the waiting game. Luna was hoping that It was the first of the two. Twilight was just happy that thing had gone as smoothly as she had hoped for. Volts was just hoping that her over eager friendliness would not get her banished.
Maybe it was the fact that lunch went so well, maybe it was the fact that she was so friendly or maybe it was just the fact that she was herself and not some other pony. Celestia had almost not changed. Well she had changed but she still didn't trust Volts. She could see it in the way Celestia eye'd her and she could see it when she talked to her guards about accommodating her. She had told Luna several times that she felt like she was being treated like the old ways however Luna just dismissed this as paranoia. She dared not to speak to Twilight or 'Celestia's faithful student' for that exact reason.
Volts was in her temporary room. She let out a long drawn out sigh. Her world was crashing down around her, and if she didn't get help it would only end like it had in the past. Maybe it was because she had no pony to talk to, maybe it was because the guards refused to let her out of their sight or maybe it was because Celestia spoke to her in such a distrustful way. Maybe it was all in her head.
Volts rolled onto her rather large bed and stared at the ceiling. Tonight was going to be a long night. Tonight was going to be the night where she figured out her destiny. Tonight was going to be the night she finally destroyed that rebel flagship.
Act 7: Not by a long shot
Volts could not sleep, she was lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. Maybe she had hoped that the answers to her troubles might be up on the ceiling. Volts rolled over on her covers and was now facing the pillow, she had a lot to think about. It must have been getting late. She rolled on her covers and stared out the window, the sun had just been set and Luna was raising the moon. This is was going to be a very long night.
About ten minutes later the silence that echoed on the room was broken.
Knock-knock-knock
Most likely some of Luna's guard ponies being sent to keep an eye on me. Maybe if they think I'm asleep they will leave me alone.
knock-Knock-KNOCK
The knock came a second time and was louder this time, the last knock being more of a thump on the door rather then gentle knocking.
Just go away and let me sleep...
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-CRACK
The final hit on the door made it split slightly in the center, causing the pony outside to shuffle around, making a slight amount of noise. Ah maybe, just maybe they have gone away, maybe I can get some sleep. Who am I kidding I know I'm not going to get any sleep. Might be nice to have somepony else in here, even if it is for a little bit.
Knock-Knock...Knock
Volts slowly got off her bed and made her way to the large door at the front end of the bedroom. A quick glow of her horn and all the candles in the room sparked to life. Volts debated returning to her more sparky form, but decided against it seeing as she would be with guards who probably don't trust her. After what seemed like an eternity of walking towards the door she finally reached it. She slowly undid the lock on the door and opened it.
Much to the dismay of Volts it was not a guard that was on the other side ruthlessly knocking, it was the small lavender unicorn that Celestia seemed to favor. Volts could not remember her name for the life of her, she remembered it during lunch, she remembered it during the tour but she could not remember it.
The unicorn spoke formally as if addressing a noble. Not like Volts really noticed the formality though.
"Hello miss..."
It was at this point Volts realized that not once during the day had she been introduced to her, maybe she had heard the Princesses refer to her as Volts and thought she had a different name.
Volts let out a rather drawn out sigh. "Just call me Volts, all the other do."
"I thought that was just a nickname, sorry for misunderstanding."
"It is a nickname..."
"What your real name then?"
"Why is it important, not like any other pony cares."
"Well... I sort of care..."
"Is it really that important that you know my name?"
"I guess not, but I just want to know everything about you!" She spoke rather eagerly in this last sentence, making Volts shudder a bit and what she meant by that.
"So why not just go to the library, I'm sure that it has loooooooooooots of information about everything."
"It does, trust me." The Unicorn looked around briefly and leaned towards Volts and whispered. "I have read everything... Twice... Three times..."
"oh kay...." Volts back up a bit. "So why me?"
"Well after I talked to Celestia and Luna about you..."
"Wait!" Volts was taken back by this unicorn's initiative. "You asked them about me?"
"Yes, they had a lot to say about you..."
"Urgh, now I can't let you leave now, you have a bias opinion of me..."
"That was my plan." The unicorn bounced through the door happily. "Hope I wasn't too sneaky and devious for you."
"No I'm just... surprised, a bit taken back..." Volts now shut the door rather quickly , in-case any guards were listening in. "How long have you been planning this."
"Since Luna had her breakdown in Ponyville. She was so upset after she put you to sleep, I knew you were important somehow."
"She was?"
"Hey this isn't about Luna, its about you! Stop trying to avoid the subject."
"Well sorry for being concerned about other ponies..."
"Not like that..."
"..."
"You still haven't told me your name, that would be a good start."
"My name... It' funny, I made it seem like a little deal earlier." Volts let out a very long drawn out sigh. The unicorn was on the bed sat down. She had produced some saddle bags and had several inkwells, quills and note pads. Volts sat down next to her, together they took up about two thirds of the bed leaving a little bit of room behind them.
"It has been thousands of years since any pony has heard my name..." Volts stared down at her hoofs. "Before Celestia and Luna, before the elements of harmony..." Volts looked back up. "Back before the... Not yet... To painful..."
"Umm Volts are you okay?"
"Oh! Yeah... I'm fine..."
"You don't look or sound it Volts, if you don't want to talk now we can reschedule..."
Am I really that much of a mess. It would seem that it has gotten so bad that I can't even tell a pony my name without becoming an emotional train wreck. No I have to do this. Somepony has to hear my story!
"Ver... Ver... Veronica..."
"Your name is Veronica?" The unicorn must have just hear herself because within two seconds she started a stead stream of. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." It took her a few second to pull herself together before she continued.
"I'm sorry if I sounded rude Veronica, I just did not expect that."
"Its not that surprising is it?"
"I guess not, I mean some ponies have some pretty wacky names..."
"Well now that's out of the way. You know, I feel better. not sure why..." She quickly regained her composure. "Any thing else?"
"Oh yes! Lots more, were not done here yet!" The unicorn had a rather large smile on her face that made Veronica feel uneasy. Suddenly a plan formulated in Veronica's head.
"Well seeing as we will be a while, maybe we should formally introduce ourselves. We never had time to earlier."
The unicorn was taken back by this slightly. "Oh of course! Where are my manners..."
Alright I am going to do something odd here and... CHANGE PERSPECTIVE
She must have forgotten, I only told her once and that was nearly twelve hours ago. I should have noticed, but once again I was blinded be research. Maybe its not such a bad thing, maybe I can show her how much my opinion matters to Celestia, I might even be able to get Celestia to cut her some slack. She might then open up to me. Or it could end horribly wrong and be all my fault. Well I beat Discord, helped stop the Changelings and played a rather large roll in stopping King Sombra! I'm Twilight Sparkle and I can talk to this PONY!
"Hello," Twilight spoke with her most formal voice. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, student of Celestia, bearer of the element of magic."
Twilight looked at Veronica hoping that she wouldn't toss her out for mocking here.
"Well... Erhm." Veronica now spoke in a formal voice. "Hello Twilight Sparkle, I am Veronica, however most ponies call me Volts. I am the pony responsible for the pegasi being able to control the weather, and I am the former bearer now embodiment of the element of energy, or lighting, or static, or..."
Embodiment of an element huh, I need to ask Celestia is there are any other elements besides harmony.
"...years young."
Awwww I missed how old she was...
"Well Veronica it is certainly nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine Twilight Sparkle, it is not often one gets to meet a personal student of the Princess."
Formalities aside, Twilight wanted to get to the knitty gritty of it. She wanted to know everything about Veronica, she just had to figure how to get her to talk. Remember Twilight, Seduction is a last resort. And one that I doubt I will be able to do. Tonight was going to be long and educational... Even if it killed them.
"Okay Vol.. Veronica, I want to know about you."
And so I open the book its contents page, lets see what is available to read.
"Okay then Twilight, what do you want to know?"
"What are you willing to tell me?"
"I can tell you about, my magic, some of my past, my opinion on things and possibly later... My ummmm romantic interests..."
Seems like this book has a few sections that are in bad condition, I will have to take a look at them later and see if I can't repair them. Well at the moment I have three, possibly four rather good chapter available to read.
"Alright, I think we should get the slow stuff out of the way first, tell me about your opinion on the Princesses."
"Oh, didn't think you would go for that at all, oh well. personally I think very little has changed in Celestia since last time I was on Equestria."
"And why do you think that?"
"Well she is still overprotective of every. Single. PONY! That is currently alive, even if she doesn't show it very well, it is there.
"I see. Anything else?"
"Well I don't dislike her... I mean for the position she is in she has done well. And I am happy that I am still on Equestria currently, so I can't complain about her that much."
"So you would call her... A ummmm its gone from my head... A friend enemy or whatever it is."
"I guess so Twilight, I guess so."
"So what about Luna?"
"I have a lot of things to say about her," Twilight was taken back by the angry tone in Veronica's voice.
Argh I was wrong... Luna's going to kill me...
Veronica's tone brightened. "And all of them positive!"
"...Alright you got me. Very funny Veronica."
"What can I say, she was nice to me back then. The closest thing I had to a true friend back then. She was my shoulder to cry on when Celestia was really bad. And she would come get me if I ever passed out from working too hard. And so much more..."
"Wow it sounds like you were Really close.."
"It wasn't like that Twilight, I think she just felt sorry for me."
"You said you would pass out? Like become knocked out?"
"Ah yes... You saw me earlier, trying to hold to much without enough energy. I lost my spark and nearly passed out. Back when I was working for Celestia if I did not finish the spell I was doing, I would have had to start it again. So falling unconsciousness was common while out working. That was more my fault for taking on such a large workload."
"Alright, from what I have gathered you seem to be on thin ice with Celestia, however you seem to be more the comfortable with Luna..."
"Twilight, NOTHING ever happened between me and Luna, and certainly not back then. Something like that would have been such a scandal we would still be in hiding."
"Sureeeeeee nothing happened..."
"I'm serious!"
"Mmmmhmmmmm..."
"I will errrr.. Tell Luna!"
"And then I will tell Celestia..."
"Fine you win."
"That easy?"
"I haven't slept in a while..."
"But we are not done yet!"
Veronica let out a sigh and looked out the window. The dark skies with stars dotted around was a welcome sight. These combining factors sublimely lead Twilight away from the previous topic.
"So Veronica, tell me about you and magic. From what I saw this morning and what Celestia told me your magic works differently to normal ponies."
"Most Unicorn experts will tell you that magical energy can be depleted by doing a spell that is to hard or powerful and by overusing magic to much."
"The basic concept of magical energy, one that I am more then familiar with. Its the theory with the most amount of evidence behind it."
"Hmmm so you know how emotions influence magic then?"
"Yeah, when you surrounded by positive emotions it becomes hard to cast magic that have negative effects, such as combat spells."
"Combat spells are rarely done nowadays, only battle magi learn them. And even then I have only seen three in my lifetime. But that does not mean I haven't studied and mastered it."
"Well that is half the truth, combat spells are also in tune with morality. What is right and what is wrong."
"Yes, I know about this, more so since the wedding."
"I know about that. No need to explain Twilight."
"Well I helped fight off the changelings... Sorta... I think Pinkie used me as a weapon..."
"Well you were able to cast those spells because it was the right thing to do. Such principles do not apply to me."
"Hang on, I'm a bit lost. Were we talking about magical energy, and then how morals and emotions effect spell casting..."
"As I said Twilight, these principles do not apply to me. I can cast magic freely and do not suffer energy drawback or limitations. However if I overwork myself I just pass out. And this only happens when I have my spark so to speak, otherwise I'm just a regular alicorn."
"Alright, that makes more sense. So you can cast magic freely without limitations of morals or getting tired?"
"Yes, but if I over work myself I pass out."
"Anything else?"
"I can cast elemental magics with ease and not just lightning. I can cast large scale ice, fire and earth spells with almost no drawback."
"Elemental magics are hard to use, they often leave the user completely drained of energy. Emotional magics are easier to use and far more efficient. However... The old magics have their uses."
Twilight had now written a few pages of notes about Veronica and how she worked, yet she had only just hit the tip of the iceberg.
"So Twilight, anything else?"
"Yes." She said bluntly. "A Lot."
"Are we nearly done to say the least?"
"Not by a long shot Veronica, we have so much to cover. And such little time to do it in."
"Very well Twilight... What more do you want to know? I would be me or then happy to tell you... certain details."
The still seems to be in disrepair.. Despite my best efforts to repair it. Maybe I need to change my approach, rather then try and repair what is there I can salvage what I can get. I can use this to fill in the blanks, so to speak.
"Okay Veronica, what else can you tell me about you and magic, I mean you clearly can cloud weave effectively and I think you can do a lot more."
"Cloud weave?"
"The Pegasus do something similar when they are making buildings out of clouds, just that they are not able to take control of the clouds and fly around in them."
"Oh I see." Veronica paused for a moment considering what to say. "It is rather difficult to do, but its something that an adept magic user could learn while practice."
"Wait.. So this is something you could teach me?"
Veronica was now regretting opening her mouth. "I could, but it would be of little use to a land bound unicorn that can't walk on clouds."
"But I have a spell that allows me to walk on clouds!" Twilight's over eagerness was getting the better of her.
"A spell like that would mean that the cloud would crush you and you would die a quickly, but brutal death..."
"Oh..."
"If you ever grow wings I will be more then happy to teach you how to 'cloud weave.' Just not right now."
"Alright then, is there anything else yo can do magically that would set you aside from other magic users?"
"Most of my spells revolve around the use of electricity or as I used to call it static. Some of my more complex spells involve holding tiny water droplets in the air and then charging the area with static. This generates a status field in which I can control various aspects of it."
"Such as?"
"Well for starters I can dampen magical energy or increase it. I can charge ponies who are in it to give them energy. I can make it so that creatures are unable to fly. And finally I can knock creatures out, if needed of course."
"Is that all?"
"I can pick up static energy in the air and charge myself, allowing me to throw rather large ball lightning around. That is more for show though."
"And?"
"I can cause clouds to appear using moisture in the air, then I can charge said clouds with energy."
"Is that all?"
"In very large storms I can convert all the static energy in the storm into one bolt and strike anywhere with it. Any storm that is large enough to do this with would generate a bolt large enough to wipe two Canterlots off the face of Equestria and leave the area a thunder plane. Or flatten a mountain. Happy now Twilight?"
"A bit, I still I think there is a lot more you can do."
Veronica chuckled a bit. "Yes there is Twilight, but I will save those for another night or day when you decide to 'interview' me."
"Moving on, I would like to know more about you. What kind of things do you like? What do you like doing? Any hobbies? What kind of food do you like to eat?"
"Twilight." Veronica looked Twilight dead in the eyes. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about what you might use this information for."
"Oh.. Wait... You mean... Oh! Nonononono! Not like that, I just want to know you better. Not ummm how do they say... Woo you."
"Awwwww...."
For a brief few moments silence filled the room. While Twilight was trying to comprehend what had just happened. Wait... WAIT... She is disappointed that I am not trying to 'woo' her? What does that mean? I mean I think we are friends but... Oh...
"WAIT WHAT!?"
"Your face... Priceless."
She got you good Twilight. And judging by that huge grin she enjoyed it.
"Very funny Veronica. Verrrrrrryyyy funny." Twilight was blushing slightly.
"So about what I like then... This is going to take a while, so make sure you're ready to take notes!"
Over the remainder of the Night Veronica told Twilight a fair amount of information about her. While not everything Twilight would have wanted to hear it was enough to last well in to the last minutes. She told Twilight little things like what she ate, what she liked, pressure spot, her fighting strategy and what she did and didn't like in a pony.
Both Twilight and Veronica let out a loud yawn, Twilight who had been oblivious to how much time had gone by was debating heading to her room and getting some rest before sunrise. However her plans were put on hold as the moon started to set and the sun started to rise.
"Veronica, I doubt I will be able to get any sleep now. Celestia has rose the sun!"
"Hmmm I see your predicament, if you fell asleep in front of Celestia, Luna or anypony for that matter it would be embarrassing."
"Got any suggestions as to what I can do?"
"No suggestions, but seeing as you spent the entire night getting to know me... I suppose there is one thing I can do."
Veronica slowly shuffled next to Twilight, she then adjusted herself so that she was sat in front of Twilight. She slowly started to move her head closer to Twilight...
Act 8: How little we know.
Maybe it was because Twilight was so tired, maybe it was because she had been talking to the same pony for a few hours. Maybe she was just so tired that her head was playing tricks on her, or maybe her brain had overloaded and she had gone insane.
Twilight's world was moving rather slow for once. She had enough time to think about what was happening. It wasn't like she was clueless, just taken by surprise.
Alright Twilight, what is happening. I just need to think about what has happened and see if there were any clues to why she is doing this. Well first of all, I have spent the entire night talking to her despite only just meeting her. Thinking about it I may have moved a bit too quickly into this, but she is just so unique! She knows so much..! Great, now I am rationalizing with myself. Hmmm what else Twilight... Well she was very open with me. I mean she didn't tell me everything I wanted to know but... FOCUS TWILIGHT!
In a lapse of concentration Twilight shut her eyes, much to her dismay Veronica's reaction to this was a slight chuckle.
What else did she do or say that was a clue to this happening..! That's it! She never told me her romantic interests, maybe she was waiting to tell me... Okay, now I know that she has given a few clues to why she might want to ummm... THAT. I need to figure out if I have given any mixed signals.
Twilight replayed the events that had transpired within the night in her head. She was looking for specific areas which she knew she might of given a wrong signal.
Come on Twilight, you need to think fast, super fast! Before she can ummmm. THAT. Think Twilight think. You were friendly, but not that friendly. It just might be because she hasn't been on Equestria in years. She made that joke earlier... Maybe she took it seriously and didn't know how to tell me.
Despite having her eyes shut Twilight could feel Veronica's body heat. Twilight was both dreading and anticipating the obvious act that was due to come.
She must be right next to me, I can feel her breathing.
...
What came next startled and confused Twilight, against what she had been expecting she felt a small amount of pressure on her horn, before she could think of why she then felt a brief pain in it that spread across her body. She jumped up and let out a small yelp.
"Ow! That hurt!"
"Still tired?"
Oddly Twilight found she was no longer in need of a rest. It wasn't as if a spell to make her awake was cast. It was more like she had just gotten up early after a long night and sat down to a hot coffee. It was as if she had morning sleepiness but was slowly waking up for the day ahead.
"What was that?
"Well Twilight I wouldn't be very good at using lighting if I couldn't recharge myself could I? Normally I need a storm cloud normally . When casting the spell on others I use myself as the energy conduit. Doesn't drain much of my energy luckily."
"Well... Thanks."
"Something the matter?"
"No." Twilight let out a long drawn sigh. "I'm alright."
"Okay then, well... Okay."
"Veronica can I ask you something?"
"Is it something you didn't ask me last night?"
"Yes. I was just wondering, why?"
"Why?"
"Why tell me?"
"Well you asked... Not like I could say no."
"But you never told Luna or Celestia your name, or anything else."
"True, I guess its because I'm worried, worried that someday I will not be here and... Nopony will remember me."
"You just want to be remembered? Is that all?"
"Well, while I considered Luna a friend. But I never really confided in her or talked to her much."
"Why not?"
"Because... Because she felt sorry for me..."
"That's a bit silly. And trust me I know silly things."
"I know, I'm just a bit odd."
The two stared at each other for a brief moment, Veronica's brain was slowly ticking and trying to put together her last conversation. A few moments of deep thought and it hit her.
"Did you... expect something else?"
"What?"
"Back then... Did you expect me to do something else?"
"Veronica. I would be lying if I said I wasn't, but I doubt something like that would work out, you're and alicorn and you will probably still be alive when I pass on, I don't think I could put anypony through that."
"Alright Twilight, that is all I wanted to know."
A few days later...
Twilight had just gotten up, she immediately sprung out of bed an started looking for Veronica, for some reason what she had said a few days ago had just fully sunk in. Twilight had taken the few days between to finish her research into Veronica and her magic. She had also convinced Celestia to start calling her Veronica. Much to Twilight's surprise Celestia had gotten on with Veronica after she had presented her research to her.
Twilight bounced happily into the royal breakfast room, she had expected to see three alicorns sat down eating breakfast, however there were only two.
"Hey were is Veronica?"
"Did she not tell you?" Luna said rather quickly.
"Luna I think that would explain the scroll..." Celestia said with a rather sad tone in her voice.
"What scroll? I never saw no letter!"
"This one here." Luna said as she gestured to the letter on the table. Sure enough there was a small parchment rolled up with a tiny bit showing that read the name Twilight on it. Twilight levitated it over to her and gently opened it and looked at the message inside.
Twilight.
As much as it pains me to say goodbye I must for now, I am sorry that I have had done it this way.
You have been a true friend since I arrived in Canterlot, and I could not bring myself to wake you up with the bad news.
Some business from my past has come back and it needs my immediate attention. I hope that someday my past will remain just that and I will be able to live my life. Until then I very much doubt I will see you for a few months or years. Rest assure that I will never forget my friend took the time to get to know me.
Yours sincerely
Veronica