Links to the Past

" Listen carefully: you are about to hear the basics of chaotic magic. " Vortex told his son. Hase nodded and sat on the ground.

The two stallions had chosen the small lawn between the bridge and the castle gates for the training ground of their first lesson. The black pegasus had also tried to fly, but all he did was fold his wings.

' I should probably ask Rainbow Dash to teach me when she comes back. ' he thought.

" Chaotic magic, unlike normal magic, has unlimited power, after you end your training, of course. Since one're not using their own magical reserves, the fully- trained chaotic has no problems using the endless amounts of energy the Void holds. In chaotic magical duels, although you won't be ready to enter one at least two months from now, you should know, that the opponents can't win with sheer power. You must pick the correct way to counter your opponent and use the moment of confusion to deliver the winning strike.

As I told you, chaotic magic can be used for any spells any other magic has ever been used, and therefore it's easier for us, alicorns, and for the unicorns. Since you aren't either, I'll have to explain the basics of magic as well.

In magic, you usually imagine the thing you want to happen and reach for your horn. Mentally, of course. That's easy, since the horn is a part of our body. We can feel it. It's more difficult with chaotic magic, since your tool is the magic itself. Instead for your horn, you have to grasp for the feeling of chaotic magic flowing through you by your own will. That's why, the first time will be the hardest. Later, you would be able to do that easier, since the feeing of the energy of the Void flowing through you isn't something you can forget.

We'll start with the chaos version of a spell unicorns master still as infants: telekinesis. Try to lift the stone. Remember, use your imagination. "

Vortex pushed one pebbe with his right forehoof and Hase focused on it. He imagined it lifting above the ground, but his eyes showed him, that it was still lying on the ground. He tried again. Nothing. He pointed his hoof at the rock and tried again. Nothing.

" Your hoof won't help you here. Just like it's with normal magic, there are targeting spells and non- targeting spells. In targeting spells, you target the object in your mind. In non- targeting spells the unicorns use their horn to serve as a targeting tool. We, chaotics, can use any part of our body to do so.

However, telekinesis is a targeting spell. Your hoof won't help you. "

Hase brought down his hoof. He thought of the pebble again. Suddeny, he realised, that he was thinking not only of it, but of its surroundings as well. He banished them from his mind, leaving the stone raising on the background of a sterile white field. This time, the real pebble was surounded by a black oreol with sharp, constantly changing shapes, while Hase felt as if he was disembodied and a powerful river was flowing trough his whole body. Surprised, he left the stone out of his mind and it fell on the ground.

" You felt it, didn't you? " his father smiled.

" Will it always be that... distracting? " the black pegasus asked.

" Only the first time. " the other stallion promised.

Amazed, that he had succeeded, Hase tried again. The stone was once again present in his mind, on a sterile white field, and Hase also recalled that flowing feeling. The stone was once again raised above the ground, surrounded by the dark oreol.

" With time it will become easier and easier. " Vortex commented, as he saw the second try. He looked aside and a frown appeared on his muzzle.

" Hase, you need to leave. " he said. He wasn't joking.

Surprised by that, Hase left the stone out of his mind and looked in the direction. 5 balls, made out of stone, fire and water were spinning in a circle. Than they flew downwards.

' Who let them escape? ' Hase wondered, worried about the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

" I need to save my friends. " he said.

" Go. " the black alicorn allowed him to.

" They'll come for me. I'll hold them here. "

Hase nodded. His father headed to the bridge. Hase decided, that if he used the bridge now, when he returned, if it was destroyed, he might not be able to come back and help his father. He decided to try out the teleportation Twilight had used.

' What did she say about it? ' he wondered, as he was standing on the edge of the rock, upon which the castle was built. He couldn't remember Twilight saying anything about teleportation, so he just imagined two doors on the two sides of the hole. He felt the surge of energy, as two black portals with sharp edges were opened.

' A portal! ' Hase thought. He had tried to create a bridge with doors out of nothing, not knowing that it was very hard, but in his mind he had just focused on something, that leads from here to there, so the portal had appeared. Remembering what his father said about the portal, how Voidians could come out if he didn't place protections ( which he had no idea how to place), he quickly jumped through the portal, imagining how both portals close and feeling the surge.

When he opened his eyes, he expected to be on the other side of the cliff. Instead, he was falling from somewhere very high, with some black dots flying ahead. They didn't come closer, so Hase suspected they were falling as well. He looked backwards and saw a big ball of white light, getting away. Before he could think about it, he saw the ground coming closer and closed his eyes, expecting to be turned into a pancake.

The contact with the ground didn't feel like he thought it would feel. He felt as if he landed on a trampline. For a moment he even thought he bounced back. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't have been more confused.

The land was acting like a trampline. But to him only. The black dots he had somehow got ahead of, as they fell, passed through the surface, as if it didn't exist. The land finally calmed down, and when Hase got up, expecting to sink in the trampline -like ground, he realised it was now as hard as a rock.

' Weird. ' he thought.

One of the black dots, the last one, seemed like it was going to fall right in front of him. Hase followed it, expecting to see it pass through. Instead it crashed in the ground in front of him. No trampline effect.

Worried, that it might be hurt, Hase came closer. The black dot turned out to be a mare.  She got up, seemingly very angry, mumbling something.

" Are you OK, ma'am? " the inventor asked.

" As good as somepony may be after falling from thousands of feet, yes, idiot! " she got up and looked at him.

" You'll soon lose your politeness, newbie. Here in the Void we don't need etiquette... "

" The Void? " after he thought of it, and looked at the lifeless gray panorama, Hase realised the mare was right.

" Are you that much of a newbie? " she looked at his eyes. She gasped. Meanwhile the black pegasus noticed, that she was all pitch black, even her eyes. Only her irises were white.

" You're not a Voidian. You're a Master! " she yelled and got away from him. The next minute she turned around, fell to her knees and begged:

" Please, award me with food! I'm starving, Master! "

" What? What food? " Hase didn't get it at first, but than he realised this pony Voidian was begging him to bring her with him to his world and to allow her to eat a piece of his world.

Thinking his question for a denial, and thinking he'd bind her to serve him without any reward, the Voidian quickly got up and ran away as fast as she could.

' Great. Now who'll tell me how to get out of here? ' the blue- maned pony throught. He looked around, hoping to see another Voidian, but there was nothing in the gray plains.

' My friends need my help and I'm not even in their world. ' he thought. Than he tried to remember some details of the Everfree forest, hoping he'd remember at least one place good enough to be able to open a portal to there. It wasn't that easy when the place wasn't in front of you. None of the places he remembered were detailed enough for a portal in the big, white sphere, hovering above him, to open.

Than he remembered one really crooked tree near one turn of the road. The tree was so crooked he had held his gaze upon it for whole 10 seconds, while he and Gale were going to the castle to save the girls. Along with the tree, he also remembered the whole turn. He visualized it in his head, summonned the power of the Void and suddenly flew upwards. Hase could see many black dots, probably Voidians, chasing him to the unshielded portal. Luckily, he was way ahead of them, and as soon he entered the portal and felt he left the Void, he imagined the portal closing and closed it.

" That is a really strange tree. " Applebloom commented. The tree reminded her of those curly straws they used to drink milkshake at the Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie always gave them curly straws. The group stopped for a second. After all, even if they reached the castle, there was nothing they could do, that the Sentinels of the Elements couldn't. They were about to leave, when suddenly a black portal with sharp edges, just like the one Vortex had used to banish the snake, opened in the crooked log of the three and something black came flying out. The portal closed behind it. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom took battle stances, hoping to scare off the potential beast. The black thing hit in the tree against the curved one, ouched and got up. It turned out to be just some black pegasus with a zenith blue mane.

" Ar' ya alright? " Applebloom asked the pony.

" Applebloom? " the surprised pegasus raised his head and took a look at the filly.

" How do you know her name? " Thunderflight, a bit frightened by the stranger, flew and landed right in front of Applebloom.

" Thunderflight? What are you guys doing in the forest? " the stallion spoke as if he knew them , which was odd.

" Who are you? " Scootaloo asked.

" Can't you recog... oh, right. " the stallion looked as if he had remembered something. He turned around and nodded back, at his rump. Thunderflight still couldn't get what was happenning, untill he saw the cutie mark the other pegasus had: a toothwheel, with two small mist clouds on its two sides.

Hase's cutie mark.

" Hase! " Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo jumped in his laps, almost bringing him down.

" What happenned to you? " Scootaloo asked, looking at his new wings.

" Long story. Get back to Ponyville! I have to help father fight off the lords! " he said and ran away, in direction the castle. The Starfliers and the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't follow him immeadietly; they were too surprised.

" Did he say " father " ? " Rush wondered.

Sweetie Belle nodded. Now the whole plan made sence. Vortex wanted to meet his son and tell him the truth (the unicorn filly doubted Hase wouldn't have said them the truth about his father if he knew earlier), trying to protect him from the reputation he had himself. That's why, he had arranged them to meet in a place, where he was sure nopony was listening. The Everfree forest.

That explained Hase's worries about his father, since he was unaware, that the lords were actually friendly. It also explained why he jumped out of a black portal like the one his father used. It only didn't explain the fact how from a brown- eyed beiged earth pony with dark brown mane and tail he had become a black pegsus with blue eyes and zenith blue mane and tail.

The group was just about to follow him, when suddenly Sweetie Belle heard a familliar voice:

" Sweetie Belle! What in Equestria do you believe you're doing? " that voice could belong only to one pony.

The filly turned around to see a very dissaproving Rarity, along with a very unhappy Applejack.

" Hehehe, hey sis. " Applebloom chuckled nervously.

" Wha' in tarnation were yah doin' in the forest all... " the farmer mare was about to say " all alone ", but then she and Rarity saw the Starfliers.

" Pardon me, but we haven't had the honour to know eachother. You are... ? " Rarity's tone suggested she expected, that the three pegasi would introduce himself.

" My name is Thunderflight. " the black- maned grey stallion presented himself.

" I'm Rush, " his red- maned companion told the newly arrived group his name.

" I'm Gale. " the mare was last.

" But you might know us as... " Rush was about to present the whole group, but was interrupted by a loud gasp, and somepony exclaiming:

" The Starfliers! " a cyan comet flew on the left of Celestia, halting right in front of them. It was a pegasus mare with a rainbow- coloured mane. Her smile spread from ear to ear, and she looked as if she was going to swallow them whole.

" I remember you, Starfliers. In your steady climb on the ladder of glory, you forgot who put you on it in the first place. " Luna knit her brows.

" We were sent across time to fix that mistake, Princess Luna. " Thunderflight bowed.

" I can assure you, that we came to Hase as soon as we woke up from the cryo- sleep. He put the past behind his back and accepted us as friends. I hope you will find strength in you to put our past doings aside as well. " Luna raised an eyebrow at this reply.

" We will. " Celestia assured the stallion.

" My little ponies. " she turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

" You made your sisters worry very much about you. However, from what we hear in Canterlot, you might have done the right things. Tell us the importrant things from the past few days, please.  "

The Cutie Mark Crusaders formed a small circle, apparently discussing who'll speak. The circle broke and Sweetie Belle began:

" I'll try to be short, Princess. When we were returning from the train station to school with Hase the day our sisters took off, Discord appeared out of nowhere... "

" Oh, it's so typical of him! He didn't scare you, did he? " Fluttershy asked them.

" Only a bit. It turns out he's friends with Hase... "

Sweetie Belle was interrupted, as Discord appeared out of nowhere, holding a scroll with " Certificate of Friendship Level C1 " written on it, complete with a seal, waved it into the muzzles of Luna and Celestia, saying:

" Confirmed! "

Even the two victims of the prank couldn't hide their smile.

" Discord, if you don't mind, we'd like to hear the rest of the story. Will you be kind enough to sit down and listen with us? " Fluttershy told him.

The draconequus nodded and obediently sat down, but not before conjuring a sultan's throne, four palms and one sultan outfit for himself.

" ... since Hase wanted to somehow use magic in his inventions. That idea failed, " Sweetie Belle carried on

" , but the friendship remained. He escorted us to school, where together with him we sang a song, which he said he hoped to reach royal ears. "

' I hope it's ment for Blueblood. ' Celestia thought, knowing well that Discord wouldn't just sing a song.

" Later that day we decided we can get our cutie marks by inventing and asked Hase to lend us some inventions of his. He did, and we spent the afternoon trying them out. On the next morning we found him speaking with his old friends... "

" When did they appear? " Luna asked. Gale decided this was the right moment to confess everything:

" Princess Luna, I beg you to tell this part on my own. " she received a nod from the Princess of the Night, so she continued:

" The newspapers said we were lost in a storm. We didn't. We were lured in the cryochambers by a disguised Vortex, who hoped to use us in some plan, 1000 years later.

When we awoke, he told us our cryochambers were broken, and that if we wanted to stay alive, we'd have to bring Hase to him. We haven't told anypony about this yet. In the beggining we had doubts, but when Hase cured us himsef the very night we were awoken, those doubts dissappeared. We were free of his control.

The day we met those fillies wasn't uneventful. Thunderflight promised to teach Scootaloo how to fly the afternoon. While he was teaching her, a big black timberwolf ( the 6 mares next to the Princesses gasped), who reminded us of our mission, jumped out and threatened us. Things were going to end badly, if it wasn't for Discord, who interferred, using... weird methods.

Hase advised us to consult a zebra, called Zecora, but she knew nothing certain either. The last hours of the day were peaceful. "

" The next day, today, Hase was called to his laboratory by a customer. We remained at the Carousel Boutique. " Scootaloo picked off where Gale had left it.

" During the game of hide- and seek, a black snake caught us all and ran away with us. In the Everfree forest, we met with Vortex, who, during our stay as his hostages, was very kind. " the orange pegasus assured them.

" Vortex being nice? " Celestia raised an eyebrow. She knew, that truth always hid in the words of foals. Was it indeed possible for the rumours from 3500 years ago to be false? As she thought of it, the white alicorn found more truth in the filly's words, than in the millenia- old knowledge.

' Repeated lies turn into truth. ' she thought. Nopony, who wasn't deeply interested in history, actually knew about Vortex. Discord's reign had wiped off his name from the history of the world he had created himself. There was no need for him to be remembered either. Once, during the beggining of her reign, ponies used him and Discord to scare their foals at Nightmare Night. Now this role was taken by Nightmare Moon. With so little known about their mysterious uncle, and, after she thought about it, she had literally no evidence of his crime. The princess promised herself to be objective, when he met them, and whispered the same advice to her sister.

Luna had the same thoughts, which she shared with her.

" Please, continue. What happenned in the last few hours? " Luna asked the purple- maned filly.

" Vortex traded us for Hase and revealed the Starfliers' mission. Hase was angry, that his friends were the reason for our ponynapping, but Vortex proved they weren't, so they forgave them.

We weren't sure if Vortex wouldn't do something bad, so we turned to Discord, hoping he'd help. He was too afraid. "

The joined groups looked at Discord. He was wearing a chicken outfit, having guessed what they were thinking.

" So we had no other option but to free the lords and hope they'd want to repay Vortex for their creation. " Sweetie Belle continued.

" They had changed. Each of them was built of their element and all were far kinder than we thought they'd be. They said they had been bound to Hase with a psychic connection from the moment he freed them to the moment we freed them, so the friendship lessons he learned were also passed to them, reforming the whole group. They flew ahead to see what's the situation. We followed them. "

" Is that the whole story, Sweetie Belle? " Rarity asked her.

" Not really. " the unicorn filly replied.

" Minutes before you all came, Hase appeared out of the same type of portals Vortex was using. "

" Perhaps he had used an open one to escape? " Dash suggested.

" Maybe. Also, he had changed. "

" What do you mean, Sweetie? " if somepony touched Rarity's chest now, he'd probably call a medic. Her pulse was very fast, all out of worries. She was afraid Vortex might have crippled Hase in some way.

" He was a pegasus. A black pegasus with a zenith blue mane and tail. But it was him. He had the same cutie mark! And the same eyes. " Scootaloo ended her worries.

" A pony changing its species? That's... " Twilight was going to say it wasn't possible, but than she remembered her own transformation.

" ... not likely. "

" Wha' do ya think he changed h's species? His previous look mighta been just... a magical disguise. " Applejack suggested.

" Like it is with changelings. Could Hase have been a changeling all the time? " Rainbow Dash wondered.

" Luna and I would have senced him. " Celestia proved Dash wrong.

" Did Hase say anything else? " Luna turned to Sweetie Belle.

" Yes... but I'm not sure if it's true. " the unicorn filly hesitated.

" Say it anyway. " the princess of the night encouraged her.

" He said Vortex is his father. " the violet- maned foal replied.

If they could, the jaws of the ponies, who didn't already know this, would have fallen to the ground.

" After you think of it... " Sweetie Belle began explaining, but was interrupted.

" ... it all makes sence. " Twilight looked at Sweetie Belle. The filly nodded, confirming, that that's what she ment.

" Vortex stores the Starfliers as pawns to use when his son wakes up. He carefully observes during the two months Hase spent with us, and takes advantage of our absence to start the plan. He tries to use the Starfliers as his tools, but he fails, so he is forced to use more inconvenient methods, but eventually he gets what he wants - a private meeting with Hase, where he'd be able to tell his son the truth, before researching how the society would react to that. However, the pegasus part still makes no sence... "

Celestia suddenly became enlightened and turned to Luna:

" Do you think of the same thing I'm thinking of? "

The dark blue alicorn nodded.

" That part is no mystery either. " the princess of the day turned to Twilight.

" About 1000 years ago, we heard rumours about Vortex returning to Canterlot. There were even rumours he had a foal to carry on his doings. We couldn't let that happen. We checked every house with a newborn in Canterlot, but we found nothing. He must have disguised Hase as an earth pony before running away, so our check wouldn't find anything suspicious. Now, as he met him, he had probably morphed him back to his initial appearance. "

" I remember Hase telling me his mother was an earth pony. " Fluttershy spoke. The phoenix Hermes cawed on her shoulder, as if confirming.

" How is a pegasus foal the result of a bond between an alicorn and an earth pony? " the pink- maned pegasus was curious.

" Sounds right in the middle between the two. To me, at least. " Rainbow Dash commented.

" I'm afraid we can't give a better explanation than Rainbow Dash. " Celestia replied to the yellow mare.

" Vortex is by so far the only alicorn in the story of Equestria to have bonded with a pony. Perhaps that should be expected. "

" Wait, Princess... and what about your mother? " Twilight wondered.

" We have never known her. Never met her. " Luna answered.

" Our father only told us some traits of her personality. We never knew much about her. We still don't."

" But we have talked enough! " Luna said and looked down the road. The others did so as well and suddenly realised, that with a new power he couldn't control, and a fear for his father, Hase could mess everything up.