Time and Souls

“Sorry for the mess, my brother isn’t the best with the whole ‘make a mess, clean it up’ thing and I tend to be busy.” Anna said as they entered a large building, which was cut in half almost. The left side looked like a café or diner, while the other a clock shop.

“Who’s this then?” a brown earth pony asked, stepping out from behind the counter of the clock shop.

“Her name is Onyx, she’s the one I told you about.” Anna said.

“Brilliant! Dinky will love the company.” He replied with a grin. At that, a gray Pegasus with noncentered eyes came out of a door with a nearly identical smaller version on her back, but the Foal’s coat was slightly purple and she was a unicorn, and her eyes were normal.

“Come on back miss Onyx, I’ll give you a tour!” the Pegasus said with a smile.

“Um…alright.” Onyx replied, smiling as the Foal grinned at her.

“Hi! My name is Dinky Whooves!” she exclaimed.

“Hello Dinky, my name is Onyx.” Onyx said, returning the grin.

“Are you gonna be living with mommy and daddy and auntie and me?” she asked.

“Yes she is Dinky, she’s a special pony!” the Mother started. “My name is Derpy Whooves, I’ll show ya around.” Derpy continued as she held the door open. She noticed it led to stairs and a hallway.

“Down here we have bathrooms.” Derpy explained. There were three doors. Derpy explained that the one at the end of the small hall was a second entrance, while the two doors was a Stallion’s restroom, and a Mare’s restroom.

“Up here is the actual house. There are two spare rooms you can choose from. Here’s the Kitchen and the Living room. Down that hall is Dinky’s room and My room I share with Whooves. Down the other hallway are the two spare rooms and Anna’s room.” Derpy explained as they entered a double joined kitchen/living area with a television and everything, and then pointed down two hallways.

“Thank you Derpy, and you too Dinky. I’ll choose my room then.” Onyx said with a smile.

“Don’tcha got any bags or anything?” Derpy asked. Onyx shook her head and examined the two rooms. She wound up choosing the one with the bigger window, across from Anna’s, and went back downstairs.

“Here ya go Onyx!” Anna said happily when she sat the dark Mare down at one of the Diner tables and put a plate of hay fries and a salad in front of her. “On the house, remember?” she went on.

“Sorry, gotta run. Apparently there’s a diplomatic meeting in the Arcturius system happening in five minutes that is about to get sabotaged.” Doctor Whooves said quickly as he burst out of a blue box Onyx hadn’t noticed before.

“Coming, Anna watch out for Dinky?” Derpy asked. Anna nodded and the two entered the box. Onyx glanced something much larger, and wasn’t surprised when the thing disappeared with a distinctive noise.

“Whooves is a Time Lord. That blue box of his is the TARDIS, basically a time traveling ship. He goes through time and space, galaxy to galaxy, helping all species out with alien problems.” Anna began.

“If he’s your brother, wouldn’t that make you a ‘Time Lord’ as well?” Onyx asked.

“Yeah, it does. I have my own TARDIS, but I rarely use it. Only when I get bored of this time and decide to go do something fun outside of this timeframe. Whooves and Derpy will be back in a day or two with an amazing story to tell.” Anna continued.

“That’s…interesting. This is wonderful by the way, thank you.” Onyx replied smiling as she ate the food offered.

“Of course. There’s more where it came from if you have the bits, though if you don’t, I doubt my brother would object to joining the family dinner every day he’s here.” Anna said.

“Well…I’m in a bit of a…unique situation. I had a bank account all the way in Edinspur, but that was ten years ago. They probably closed it.” Onyx said.

“I doubt it. There’s a national bank here in Ponyville, they’d have your account status. And if you’ve had it for ten years it will have grown.” Anna continued.

“Hm…it is worth a try.”

“Great! Let’s go! Dinky, wanna go around the town a bit?” Anna asked the Filly sitting on a table next to them.

“Sure!” Dinky exclaimed. She rode on Anna’s back as they set a course for the bank.

“Yes, we have an account under the name ‘Black Onyx’ in Edinspur. Would you like to make a Withdrawal?” the Bank clerk asked.

“Maybe, what are my funds?” Onyx asked.

“Well, it says here you’ve been inactive for ten years, interest rates have piled up and along with funds from your family will, with interest as well…your total is twenty million bits.” The clerk said, a bit of wonder on her face.

Onyx’s, and Anna’s, jaw was almost literally on the ground.

“Hang on, this account’s owner is a Unicorn…are you still the same Pony?” the Clerk asked, looking at the synthetic wings.

“Yes, I’m still a Unicorn…I just have these weird synthetic wings…my parents were Black Skies of Trottingham and Blackhorn of Canterlot.” Onyx replied.

“Alright just making sure…so do you want a withdrawal?” the Clerk asked.

“Yes please, make it five hundred bits for now.” Onyx said after a moment of thought.

“Oh!, um can I get a two hundred bit withdrawal?” Anna asked.

“Sure Anna, gimme a second.” The Clerk said with a smile and made the transactions.

“What’s wrong?” Anna asked, Dinky currently perched on her head. Onyx looked deep in thought.

“It’s just that, with all the urgency the Princess sent me here with…her student is…I don’t know how to say it…not even trying yet?” Onyx said uncertainly.

“Oh she talked to me. She told me she was going to spend a day or two researching similar cases to what you have and also give you time to settle in.” Anna said.

“Hey look it’s Rainbow Dash and Scooty!” Dinky exclaimed. Indeed, the rainbow maned Pegasus and a Pegasus just out of Fillyhood were walking towards them.

“Hey you guys…Onyx, right?” Dash asked.

“Yes, Is this your Daughter?” Onyx asked.

“Legally yes, she’s adopted. Hey Scoots, go play with Dinky, I’ve got some things I need to talk about these two about.” Dash said. Scootaloo nodded and Dinky joined the older Filly in a game of hide and seek.

“What is it Dash?” Anna asked.

“Twilight got a letter from Celestia. Apparently it said to be ready for swarms of reporter ponies and stuff like that, they’re under the impression that either Onyx is trying to usurp Celestia, or Celestia is trying to hide Onyx…” Dash said.

“That’s ridiculous, she’s trying to help me! I wouldn’t harm her!” Onyx exclaimed. “And I certainly don’t want to rule anything but my own property, once I get some that is.” Onyx continued.

“Yeah I know you wouldn’t do something as stupid as that. Oh hey, gotta run…Scoots got stuck in a cloud again!” Dash exclaimed and sped off.

“Hey Onyx…I noticed when you got mad, your Cutie mark changed.” Anna said with a bit of confusion in her voice.

“Oh…yeah it kinda does that. It’s like a mood thing, but it only has two…when it changes to the other one, it means I’m really mad or unstable.” Onyx explained.

“Unstable?” Anna asked.

“I’ve got a distinct second personality that I keep under wraps, but when I get mad it comes out…let’s just say if I let it out all the time, I’d probably be locked up somewhere.” Onyx said, finishing with a nervous laugh.

“Oh I get it! Don’t worry, even the worst minds have good in them somewhere! If this ‘bad personality’ comes out I’ll just make sure it doesn’t do something you’ll regret!” Anna said happily.

“Wow…you don’t even know how much that means to me...” Onyx said lightly.

“By the way, what IS your cutie mark?” Anna asked.

“Oh…um…I guess since you’re letting me live with you, and I think I can call you my friend now…I’ll tell you. It’s the only thing I remember during the gap in my memory…and the only thing I don’t remember of before. I don’t remember what is was then, but now it’s a life force…or a soul or whatever you wanna call it…I can see them.” Onyx explained.

“Wait you can see souls?” Anna asked.

“Yeah…yours looks…vast, and kind…and full of love for your friends and family.” Onyx said.

“Wow that’s so cool. So what’s with the scythe appearing when your other personality comes around?” Anna asked.

“I don’t really know, but I think it has something to do with the gap…maybe it’s linked to me seeing souls, who knows. I just want to know what happened in the last ten years.” Onyx said.

“I understand that. Whooves tells me he’s one of the original Time Lords, so he’s been alive for hundreds of years. Every time he goes through his span of life, he sort of gets reborn. He’s on his twelfth one now I think he said. He has no real memories of the last one, only the events he affected and any changes to the Tardis. He doesn’t even really remember his assistants. Luckily I was born in this ‘cycle’ so I’m still on my first go.” Anna said with a shrug.

“I don’t even know much about me anymore…Winged Unicorns are supposed to live as long as Alicorns, but I don’t know if that still applies to me.” Onyx said.

“I’ve always wondered, what’s the difference between and winged unicorn and an alicorn?” Anna asked.

“A winged unicorn is just that, a unicorn with wings. An Alicorn, like Celestia and Luna, has far greater power and plays a near godlike role. Celestia raises the sun, Luna raises the moon. If Discord were a pony, he would be al Alicorn for he controls all things chaotic and in disarray.” Onyx explained.

“How do you know all of that?” Anna asked.

“I had a bit of a small library back home, I liked to read up on that kind of stuff.” Onyx said with a smile.

“Wow is it seven already?” Anna asked as she checked the time on her pocket watch she kept wrapped around a foreleg.

“It is? Wow…time flies when you have good company I guess.” Onyx commented.

“I guess it does. Dinky! Time to go! We should probably get some dinner.” Anna said, calling Dinky over.