Living Hell
Chapter 6
Meeting the Other Bearers: Part 1

I woke up in the burned bed and, forgetting I was a pony, as I had done multiple times throughout the last few days, sat up on the side of my bed in a humanisque fasion and stood up on my hind legs only to fall backwards onto my bed and groan in the memory that I wasn't a bipedal creature anymore. I had been adjusting to life with Twilight and Spike, with occasional visits from the Sun and Moon Princesses, and I was actually feeling happy about myself, something I hadn't felt for a long time.

I turned back over on my bed, and stretched my legs out in a refreshing manner, before I decided to actually get up and sneak out of the door, watching to make sure I didn' wake up the still sleeping Twilight as I levitated the door around on it hinges silently. I was getting better at controlling my magic, and I was also getting better at condemning my twisted imagination from my magic.

I was just finishing my meal of juicy apples and hay fries when Twilight approached me, silently, and stood behind me until I turned around and practically jumped out of my seat out of instinct, then blushed when Twilight tried to stifle a laugh.

"I think it's time you met my second cousins," Twilight started after calming herself enough to talk, "you need a larger friend circle than just me and the other princesses."

"Second cousins?" I asked, confused.

"We all used to be just very close friends until we all got one blood sister in common," she stated, clearing up my confusion, "her name is Stellar Nova."

"Stellar Nova? I think you've mentioned that name before, supposedly as another human from my old world who had her soul dimensionally transferred or whatnot like mine." I stated, pulling from vague memories of around the time I first bumped into the purple princess pony, "By the way, we never did make it to Canterlot like we planned, did we?"

"Yes, I believe I have mentioned Stellar Nova before, and, no, we never made it to Canterlot. But Spike's fire magic sent letters to the princesses and they teleported here personally, so I don't believe we need to go to Canterlot anymore, that is, unless you want to go." Twilight answered truthfully.

I got up from my seat and we started walking to the door of the crystalline castle. "So what about your second cousins?" I asked politely, breaking the odd silence.

"You'll see," she started, "you said you watched some kind of 'Television Show' about us."

Realizing who she was talking about now, I spoke higher than I should have, feeling disbelief. "So this Stellar Nova girl became blood sisters with ALL THE BEARERS OF HARMONY??? Ow, I think I bruised my own eardrum."

Wincing from the volume I had produced, the purple princess stated, "Yes, Star, she did that."

Distracting myself from the conversation to rub my ears and figure out our location, I noticed that several ponies had stopped and looked to the source of the voice, several more staring from windowsills and open doors. I shied and looked down at the ground, embarresed by my own voice.

Soon, we arrived at a house that looked not unlike a colorful gingerbread house with a concave-ish roof. I stopped to look up and admire the unique archittecture of the building until Twilight yanked me inside.

As soon as we entered the building a pink blur was practically instanly atop a suddenly fallen but unsuprised Twilight. "WherehaveyouBEENTwilightI'veneverbeensolongwithoutyouthatisbeforewefirstmetatleastbutthat'sbesidethepoint." the pink blur spoke so fast that word spacing was practically nonexistent.

"Are...you ok, Twilight?" I asked, shock and confusion flooding my face, "You look a little... down."

Admiring my little joke, I watched as the pink blur slowed itself enough so that I could tell that it was a pony. "Pinkie Pie, I presume?" She turned to face me, but before I could continue, the pink logic defying pony had already gasped in sudden excitement and ran off so fast that I couldn't even see where she went.

"Expect a party in a few days, Star," Twilight began as she stood back up, "she's definitely throwing one it looks like."

"I can tell." I said flatly, sighing, feeling defeated by the pink pony despite that there was never a battle to be defeated in.

We left Sugarcube Corner and decided to have me meet Rarity next. "I hope Rarity doesn't start using measuring equipment on me the moment we walk in." I said, not wishing to get stuck in an awkward fashion situation anytime soon.

"Don't worry, Star, I'll try my hardest to discourage her if she does." Twilight replied assuringly.

We arrived at Carousel Boutique, and again I stopped in front of it and admired the unique architecture. Twilight picked me up in a field of levitation and gave me a look that seemed to say "We don't have time to admire architecture if you want to meet my friends."

When I realized that she had actually said that, I replied with a simple "Sorry."

She dropped the levitation field and I fell a half a foot to the ground, almost falling over. We entered the beauty shop and were greeted by a suprised Rarity. "Oh, um, Twilight, I haven't seen you for quite some time.. what have you been up to? And who is your friend? A new Alicorn, to say the least!"

As Twilight explained my situation for me, I noticed a very plush couch and went to take a seat on it. Overhearing the not-exactly-private conversation, I found myself interested in what the fashionista had to say about me.

"So, Star Fire is a similar case to Stellar Nova's case?"

"Yes, and from what I could gather from Celestia, that form is what Celestia would have looked like had she fallen victim to the evil spirit within herself and became what she told me would have been Hellmare Sun." Woah, that information was new. When did Twilight get this info?

"Oh my, that sounds serious. How did Celestia Banish the soul without banishing herself, though?" Hmm? Rarity, good question.

"She said the soul's aura felt similar to the aura she felt during the Nightmare Moon incident, and, when she recognized it, she had a team of the best unicorns she had at the time to develop a spell to banish it from this plane of existance." Twilight was bringing up information to Rarity that I had never heard, and now I was very interested.

"And?" Rarity pushed her purple friend.

"They developed the spell quite quickly, and Celestia cast it. It worked at first, but the spirit returned a few days later. She then calculated the spell's longevity to figure out how many duration subspells she needed for it to last roughly the same amount of time as Luna's banishment." Ok, Twilight, what happened next?

"What happened next?" Rarity asked, saying exactly what I thought.

"Well, from what Luna was able to figure out, the spirit was supposedly unable to exist in any world until the spell began to weaken. The spell began to weaken when Luna's banish ment from the moon ended and sent powerful waves of dark magic across multiple dimensions. Although unable to do anything at first, the soul had finally managed to enter the plane of existence that Star was born in. When Stellar Nova was born, she accidenally sent more waves of dark magic across the dimensions, making the evil spirit strong enough to posess smaller beings and such. However, it overestimated its own ability and attempted to take control of a newborn human child, failing in the process, and trapping itself within.

"The spirit seems to have gained the strenth to travel back to Equestria, but it seems that it will be forever unable to shake the primary control that Star Fire will always have over the body.

"Maybe, if Star Fire can learn to control the spirit, she can force herself to travel between the bodies of both worlds. However, this is just a base theory and I'm not sure if there is a way to control it." Twilight finished theorizing with a sudden inhalation that indicated she had said everything in one breath.

"Wait," I started, my head perking up, "so you're saying that I could be a possible link between worlds? If I learn magic, do you think the ability would carry over? What about all the other questions that I have but can't ask with words?"

They looked over in suprise as they realized that I had been listening in the whole time. "I.... guess?" Twilight finally responded after a brief recovery.

"Oh my god I can become a world famous magician back home! Any tips for communicating with the soul of Hellmare? Sorry I have a bad habit for listening in. Sorry,carry on, act like nothkng ever happened..."

"Well, it's only theory, and the theory also relies on the possibility that the soul is able to regain the lost power more quickly than before. If the theory holds true, you might find yourself back and forth between your bodies/worlds until you enforce com,and upon the soul of the Hellmare." the purple princess explaimed with a seemingly all-too-much amount of thought, though I did always find myself preferring long hard explanations so I didn't mind.

"So, theoretically, my magic ability should carry over? Even pegasi flight magic?" I questioned, "Awesome, I could be the world's first person to take off in a flying squirrel suit!"

"Yeah, sure you will. Also, what do you mean exactly by 'flying squirrel suit'?"

"It's a special suit that people can wear to glide down from high places, such as aircraft. It gets its name from a species of squirrel that does the same thing with similarly fashioned flaps from treetops." I replied, not thinking about the millions of questions I brought up in the two mares' minds, and the millions more from Twilight specifically.

"Wait, humams have flight? Aren't they supposed to be a flightless species?" purple princess questioned, "Nevermind that, what I'm saying is that roght now your original body is alove without a soul, and the soul of Hellmare could at any time do the same with this body amd return to your old world. I cannot say dor sure that it will happen, but I'm more worried about when than if."

"Are you criticising time?" I gave her a mockingly angry glare, "It doesn't matter, I'd say go for it, even if my pony body falls face-first into the street, go for it."

With all my focus working on the wording of that sentence, I lost concentration on the ability to hold back the fire of my mane and allowed the couch I was lying on to catch fire.

Rarity's eyes widened to the point where I swpre that they poppes out pf her head, then, with a burst pf blue magic, the cpuch was soaked and I was in roaring pain.

"Damn it, I always get the water treatment; I just wish this body would agree to it less fucking painfully though!" I blurted through the silent pain.

"Allergic to water, I presume?"

"Yep, stings her like an angry hprnet's nest, it seems."

"Oh, I'm incredibly sorry about that. Maybe next time you could teleport her away from the fire bedore I dowse it?

"Sounds like a plan."

The duo of Element bearers noticed when the thrashing on the floor stopped as the body pf Star Fire went limp.

A few pokes and prods and an aura check later they confirmed that hellmare had committed the first random body change of what they knew would become many.

"What a comvenient time to do such a thing; hellmare must have been listening in from her soul cage. Let's hope that hellmare will fall to the judgement of the soul it is trapped within." Twilight finally replied after several moments' thought.

"I just hope that Star's time here didn't arouse trouble at her home world; things might go terribly for her if they suspect badly pf the unwaking body." Rarity said with a hint of sadness mixed with worry in her voice.

Author's Note

NEXT TIME on Living Hell (POSSIBLE SPOILER, SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS I WRITE IT): Well, shit happens, and the diagnosed mini-coma that Samuel finds himself sleepimg in a hpspital ned over doesn't help. However, the basic telekinesis that Twilight taught him does carry over worlds, and becomes a great aid in his escape from the hospital bed that he had been cuffed to after a bit of thrashing from waking up back in his home world. I wonder just how well this two-body-two-world thing will work out. I'm not completely sure how I'm going to implement the flying; I'm thinking that when he thinks of wing related muscle movents and/or tensimgs a pair of ethereal wing will form on his back through his clothing. Hmm, guess I'll habe to work out the ideas as I write the next chapter.

I say that we close up this chapter after two long weeks of writee's block on what to do with some parts of the chapter and call it a night.

See you next chapter!

Also, this story was in hiatus for those two-three weeks due to amother work I wamted to work on in the background. However, a sudden show of support was offered to me by the original writer of Living Nightmare, Autum Breeze, and the sudden motivation to bring the story out of hiatus was too great for me to ignore. Hopefully soon you should expect some quality editing help from a quality book-artist (Because the word "writer" just isn't quite fancy enough).

Cheers!