Magic of Little Blueberry’s Love

‘I did warn you, Twilight’ Celestia said. ‘A great many will come. To be honest, I hoped that Fate will give you and all of us a longer break, but even Princesses have no power over Fate. It so happened that when Ranhorn escaped from Tartar, he wasn’t alone. He never guessed that, and he still has no clue – I didn’t think it would be wise to enlighten him.

‘Ranhorn, as you know, has no body. But, at least, he is visible to a naked eye, and he can do nothing about it. All he can do it to change his appearance slightly. As for his fellow traveler, she is completely invisible, which is why her presence remained a secret to Ranhorn during his entire quest. If he had known who was following him everywhere, he, most likely, would have tried to recruit her. But this villain had very different plans.

‘Her name is Borlena. She managed to conceal the fact of her escape for a long time. She is a spirit without a body, and no one can either see or hear her. To start speaking she needs a body – somepony else’s body. That body will let her do various evil deeds also, as soon as she is ready for that. I can only guess what happened next, but I don’t think that my conclusions are far off the mark.

‘Borlena followed Ranhorn, but not to help him. On the contrary, she wanted to ruin his plans. To achieve her own goal she needed full and happy ponies, not crying and homeless ones. That’s why she temporarily took our side in that memorable battle.

‘Do you remember how Ranhorn so unexpectedly fell asleep in the middle of the battle? Many were surprised then. Yesterday I went to Tartar to talk to him, and it seems he himself had been just as surprised. He blames Discord “the traitor”. I thought so too at first, but Discord confessed to me recently that his initial plan had been different, namely, to neutralize Ranhorn using a huge cloud of cotton candy. Ranhorn’s sudden nap made this move unnecessary.

‘I’m almost sure that we must thank Borlena for this sudden help. One of those few abilities she has without a body is to send sudden sleep. Only she did not do it for the sake of good.

‘When Ranhorn & Co flew above Cranberry Marsh, the villain couldn’t help himself and destroyed yet another village, even though he was in a hurry for his most important battle. Among the crying residents there were Myrtle Peelberry Ice and Marshberry Jam Ice, Myrtle and Jam to their friends, the parents of our little Blueberry. Borlena liked Myrtle: she saw a beautiful and still relatively young pony, accustomed to healthy food and as sturdy as all northerners. But, most importantly, by that time Myrtle had been pregnant with two foals for some days. She didn’t know it back then. Now she does, of course, but now she is no longer the same Myrtle. Borlena commands her body and mind.

‘Borlena has always wanted children. Every time she was close to her goal, something prevented its accomplishment – the last time it happened, we stopped her with Luna. We locked her in Tartar. Borlena cannot give birth by herself – for that purpose she needs to steal a body too. If Myrtle gives birth before we free her from Borlena, her babies won’t be hers. They will be Borlena’s – two new evil spirits forever tied to the bodies of two charming foals, and we will never be able to sever that connection. It will be all over.

‘As for Jam, Borlena keeps him near herself as protection for the body she has stolen. She abuses his love for his wife. Sooner or later she will find better protection, and then… you can guess what she will do with this kind and cheery stallion. We have to save Jam urgently.’

After such revelations Twilight sat on the library floor totally dumbfounded. The reality was scarier than all her deductions, than all the hypotheses she formed during those silent sleepless nights. Having never seen Myrtle or Jam, she was already prepared to risk her own life to rescue them. With her mind’s eye she saw her dear little Blueberry. Why did that pretty, well-mannered, hardworking little filly have to face such a terrible fate? Why did it have to be her parents the horrible Borlena captured?

‘The chest will not help you in this battle’ Celestia continued. ‘To fight with Borlena you will need the magic that is concealed in your own horn. And you cannot deal with her alone. Only two alicorns with a combined strike of their two magical beams can win over her. This time, my little sister Luna will go with you. As for me, it looks like I’ll have to mess with both the sun and the moon once again. But that’s alright – after all, I had to do it for a thousand years.’

At the council they all decided that Twilight’s friends and Spike would accompany her only until they all together save Jam. The they would have to drag him away and let Luna and Twilight do their magic work together. They also decided to use Luna’s chariot to move from one place to another – it was roomy enough to accommodate the entire gang, and Luna’s own guards were to carry it. Twilight’s youthful eagerness wasn’t really approved by the royalty – she had to start behaving as a real Princess should. Myrtle and Jam had been discovered not far away from Las Pegasus, and that’s where they all had to fly soon, but first they would travel northward. Celestia’s intuition was telling her they needed to pick up Blueberry, and nopony dared to quarrel with that.