Minds Me : Inside the Mind of Me

We find our way back to the tower, but this time, the void looked more like a globe. There were clouds up and down all around us, and we could see another sun in the sky. Above us, I found I was able to see the top of the tower. Smiling I lipped 'thanks' for Thaemis.

"Lord Thaemis asked us to speak to a mare named Odara." Luna's eyes shot open and gasped, then covered her mouth. "Why did I say 'lord'?"

"I have a feeling something's not quite right." Fluttershy's wings fluttered nervously.

Apple Jack nodded, looking around as her tail flicked. " 'S like somepony's watch'n us....d-don't feel right."

Influence when you think olde.

Luna nodded. "Tis indeed Sir Knight Michael. We are beginning to see that thine kind are immortal in their own way."

"Whatcha' mean?" Apple Jack asked.

"Well, some minds-lets say in my case- can withstand attacks without end and never give way. Some will fall apart and work from the broken parts..." Luna went quiet for a moment. "In Michael's case, it is much clearer. He has a mind that cannot die, even in spirit he will keep thinking, moving, but however his mind is also broken. I am starting to believe that these other doors lead to those other parts."

"You say'n that he has the same problem as Pinkie Pie?"

"But much worse, twice as worse I believe." Luna nodded as she looked around. I had just noticed that Thaemis's door was covered in locks and chains. When Luna saw what I saw, she sighed. "It looks like whatever doesn't want us here, knows."

"I-is that bad?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"Well, we better get a move on if we wish to keep our distance." Just as she began walking towards the next door marked "Memory", she winced, holding her head. "We better hurry as well. I can only keep this up until sunrise."

"How much time do we have?"

"Six hours, lets move."

So we made our way to the doorway. From the entrance, we all felt a powerful vibration, like from one of Vinyl's songs. They even caused our manes to stand on end from the power, and our ears fell back as it hurt them. With a quick spell from Luna-which was smart on her part- we were all safe from the horrid feeling.

When the door opened, we all met another bright flash and then everything went dark.

Memory saved...

"What the?" My eyes opened and I could tell we weren't anywhere Equestria could ever be.

Grid Zone 6 still under recovery. Status: 58%

"Wha?" I looked around. The ground was black with white lines glowing all around.  The sky had cubed clouds. We all felt another wave hit us. Grunting from frustration, we managed to stick our ground.

Integrity compromised. Four viruses detected.

"Hello?" asked a soft voice.

I turned my head to the child's voice, when suddenly I looked upon a smaller looking human. He wore a black suit like the rest of us, but instead of white lines, he had yellow deep sea blue lines. He had sad looking eyes, and two sad looking eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Soaring Rower." He responded. "I trust you, like he does."

Luna stepped closer. "Tell us Soaring, can you help us find a mare named Odara?"

He nodded. "I can, but Wraga won't like that. I don't want him to make him mad at me, or he'll beat me again."

"Like, harm you?" Fluttershy asked.

He nodded again, this time he whimpered slightly. "Wraga doesn't like when people help him. He doesn't like help from anybody, or he'll hurt us."

"Well, I swear that I won't let anypony hurt you." Fluttershy promised. "Nopony deserves to be hurt by a bully. I remember when I was, and I didn't like it one bit!"

For once, it seemed the kid smiled. "Okay, he trusts all of you, so I guess I can too! Let's go, Odara will think I caught you!" She's always nice, maybe she will help you too!"

We all seemed to sigh at that. "Let us hope so little one. Tell us, you seem different from other thoughts. Are you one of the four?"

He nodded. "I am, but you'll see me last because I'm the first."

"First as in what?"

Applejack's eyes widened then teared up. "Oh my...dear Celestia..."

"I am."

"You're his pain?"

"I am all of it." He replied. "But lets go see my sister."

"Tell us your real name?"

"Later, my sister will see you now." Soaring Rower replied. He took a black stick from his leg and held it out to show us. "This is called a 'drive bar'. There are three different modes. How would you like to get there. Light Wings, Light Cycle, or Light Stream."

"Ah don' wanna go fly'n now. What's a Light Cycle? Ah wanna hear 'bout that?"

"Cycle!" Soaring said loudly and threw the bar in front of him. From it lighter blue lines, nearly white turned into a black and blue bike looking bike thing. "This is a Light Cycle. Odara likes technology, and likes the movie Tron."

"Michael told me about those, it's like moving pictures and sounds come from it." I explained. "So what's this do?"

"It moves along really fast." He replied. "He likes them too, he likes all kinds of machines. They like him too, tell him how they feel. Let's get going before Odara begins to fight back, and she doesn't like to fight at all."

Luna threw the bar, followed by the rest of us. They looked a little different from Soaring Rower's cycle, but I guessed they were made with us in mind. "Let us get going now." Luna ordered.

"Push forward to move." Soaring leaned forward and flew off down the path that seemed to keep going straight.

Applejack shook her head and laughed. "Ah hope Equestria don' go that way. Ah like it right were it's at."

"Tia would agree with you, but I think it is amazing." Luna smiled, and pushed on. I whistled and the rest of us laughed in surprise.

The wind pushed against us, it felt so amazing. The pulsing was harder as the closer we got to Odara, or at least I think. Happily, the ride seemed to end just as quick. We saw that Soaring had parked his bike outside of a massive tower. He told us he had to go, and that Odara was waiting for us.

We gave our thanks to him, the quest to aid our friend was just about half over. Inside we stepped into a room. It pushed up on our hooves just as we began to rise up above the cuboid clouds. I scratched my nose and Luna seemed to look rather tense.

You four are unexpected yet expected I heard a voice ring through my head. A set of doors opened on their own revealing a massive room with a human figure standing in the center.

The room had four massive screens all showing different clips of what looked to be memories. The human in the center looked at all of them, studying them closely.

I would give you a warm welcome ponies, but I do not have the ability to give you my emotions, since I have none.

"Are you Odara?" Fluttershy asked, taking the lead. "W-we came-"

To aid him? The one who created us?..... There was a long silence as the mare looked over at us and away from the screens. You wish to help, but instead you break into his mind. A crime I believe anywhere there is law. Equestria does have law, doesn it not?

"It does, but Michael is hurting. Please..." Luna asked.

The mare shook her head. No, I cannot help you all, for I have no reason. In order to find such a way to assist you, would be to defile the very code I am written by. I am his only way of keeping the memories that built his character. Odara stepped closer, but was pulled back by giant wires. See? I cannot move from here.

"Odara? Can you show me the memory where Michael saved me from Tirek's blast?" I asked. "If you show me this, we'll leave."

Your mind lies in truth, but I shall show you. Odara waved her hand and a smaller screen moved up to us.

Through the screen they watched as Michael looked out a window, they guessed it was his bedroom's. Outside he saw a giant monster fighting the newly crowned princess Twilight. He gasped at the sight of Twilight being blown back through a mountain. Swearing to himself, he had to do something to help.

Most of the ponies he knew by now where already drained of their magic, but the monster didn't know Michael had some of his own. The magic he had was unlike any other unicorn or even an alicorn could ever hope to obtain. Spirit Magic, or that was what Zecora had described it to be. It was the use of the very life force that allowed him to live each day. Through many days of practice before and after his trip to Equestria had brought him even closer to his true self.

With Spirit Magic, the use of one's spirit to manipulate the energy, the living energy that was all around. It could never kill, but it was powerful. Many would ask what is more powerful than an atomic bomb? The answer would be the soul. The soul was the most powerful essence anything could obtain. Harnessing the power of the soul, there are six primal paths one could follow. The first four would be the four elements of nature; fire, earth, water, and air. The other two is order and chaos. At most a living being could harness two, maybe three if they had mastered it. Any more and the soul would be too split to hold itself together.

Michael as a young child was born as a pyromaniac. When he was five, he burned his family's back porch, and later in his life before he went to Equestria, he lit a bonfire with a flame thrower. Since then, he practiced the path of fire as well as the path of order. With this, he could truly look outside the box of the uses of fire. In Equestria, he found that magic was much easier to use, he didn't need to find out why because it was already explained that Equestria had magic out the ass.

So Michael ran down stares and grabbed his outlet, which was what he used to manifest his magic. A long staff he carved from a tree branch and placed a large stone of peridot which was his birthstone. The staff was about four feet long and a half inch think. In a spiral from the top where the stone rested to the bottom, a single line of runes, and in them the name he took from a dream he had. The name is what he used as his Spirit Name, a name that he only entrusted to those he cared about.

Through the screen they saw him whisper, but couldn't hear the words. Looking back out the door, he studied if the area was safe to traverse. They watched as he stepped over the fallen's bodies, and each time he did, the screen seemed to get redder in tint. They could feel his anger and disgust to the monster who called himself Tirek.

He ran into Rarity's boutique and opened the cellar door. Sweetie Belle and the other crusaders were huddled together in fear.

"Michael!" They cheered.

"Sshhhh!" He hissed through his teeth and closed the door. Sweetie Belle was able to make an orb of light from her horn. "Sweetie Belle, I'm looking for my robe, do you know where it is?"

"You mean the thing Rarity has been working over three months on?" She asked. When Michael nodded, so did she. "I do! It's in her room in a box under her bed!"

Michael hugged the fillies tight and smiled. "You three stay hidden okay? Do that, and I'll buy you ice cream when this is all over. Deal?"

"DEAL!" They cried in joy.

"Good, thanks again Sweetie Belle!"

Michael returned from the cellar and looked for the stairs. Some of them were broken from the blasts, but he was able to climb up the railing. After nearly falling a few times, he managed to make his way to Rarity's room.

He stepped over some fallen bed posts and moved the broken bed frame. Under it was a small box with a lock on it. He snapped it off with ease and opened the box. Inside was a dark red robe with gold trimmings. On the back was a patch that was a shield. The patch said "Unbound, Unbent, and Unbroken". With a smile he flipped it over and saw the main pieces he was looking forward to.

Right over where his heart would be was a patch that looked like the Compass Sun, and on each side of his chest there were four runes that gave the whole robe protection from the elements, they were made of gold colored silk. He threw it on and felt the power inside him grow. Even though they couldn't see his face, they knew he was smiling. Nearly six thousand bits to make, and over a year of waiting, he found that it was done. Everything he had asked for, paid for, it was worth it. It felt so right to wear, the monitors around them were getting readings of Michael having a high from the feeling it brought him.

As soon as he realized there was a battle going on outside, he rushed out, and jumped over a few missing stairs from the most resent blast of energy. There was still a large amount of energy radiating off the land scars. Michael's heart rate picked up as he tried to keep his breath calm. He was feeling all sorts of negative emotions to his failure such as worry, and sadness.

Because Tirek was so massive now from dying out everypony, Michael could see him from a mile away. He had only one shot it seemed. Twilight was standing under him, crying as she tried to hold off Tirek. She was covered in bruises and, bleeding from her snout and other parts of her body. Everypony inside winced as they watched the recalled memory. Behind Tirek floating in yellow tinted bubbles were his friends. Rage fired forth fusing with his energy and replacing all other emotions. Hurt and broken friends including Discord, who was the only other being that knew of his conditions-not by his part mind you.

"Ego euocare deabusque ignis et ordinem!" He shouted the few words of Latin from Earth he remembered as he neared Twilight, only a football field's distance away. His staff grew to life with energy, over flowing even with red and gray light. "Please ut homines salute!" As he landed in front of Twilight, Michael slammed his staff onto the earth soon as a great wall of fire spewed forward and attacked Tirek. "NOW!"

In a bight flash everything had ended and so did the memory...

Till Next Time