Despair

Spark

Chapter 12

"AAAHH!" I yelled from the top of my lungs. I could not stand what was happening to me in that moment. It was simply too much to bear.

"Passion?! Are you okay?!" Fluttershy peeked her head from the kitchen's entrance.

"I-It's biting my ear!" I kept screaming while running from one place to another, trying to get away with my magic the little monster biting my very sensitive spot, but his teeth would not let go. "Get it away! Get it away!"

"Angel!" suddenly, Fluttershy's eyes were filled with something I could not decipher... but it was scary. Angel stopped nibbling on my ear and I stopped running "Let go" the little bunny obeyed without hesitation and I gently put him on the floor. I just stared blankly at Fluttershy, not understanding what had just happened. Normally, Fluttershy would had to beg to make Angel eat his food... but now. "Good boy" Fluttershy's gentle smile came back "Now, your lunch is on the kitchen" Angel obeyed and walked towards the plate, which had a salad, lying on the kitchen's floor.

"Th-thanks" I hesitantly said with a nervous smile, still a little confused and even scared. Fluttershy smiled brightly at me, nodded and continued feeding the birds, mice and other animals that were currently inside. I lowered my head and my ears cautiously, afraid that some other animal would try to bite them (which had been something that had been happening a lot lately), but then remembered I wanted to ask something to Fluttershy... well, now I wanted to ask two things "Fluttershy, if you don't mind me asking... what did you just do?"

"U-um... well... I don't normally like to use it but it's called The Stare" Fluttershy explained with a little guilt in her tone. For some reason the name sounded familiar and I started looking it up in my brain.

Then I remembered I had read it somewhere in my childhood. It said it was the ability to control other living beings using the emotion from the soul amplified by the eyes. It forces the soul of the 'victim' to obey the soul of the user, like a puppet (though it actually depends on how powerful it is). The ability only works with those living beings whose spiritual power is lower than the user's.

"I-is something wrong, Passion?" asked Fluttershy with worry. I had been lost in thought and did not notice that I had been staring at her for a while.

"N-no, I'm okay." I shook my head. I decided to ask more about Fluttershy's ability "s-so, what can you control with your Stare?"

"W-well... so far only animals... small ones..." Fluttershy said timidly, staring at her hooves. I realized Fluttershy's Stare wasn't that powerful... or maybe it had to do with her very insecure personality. Unfortunately, all I knew about the Stare was from books, since I did not possess such an ability myself.

"Oh, okay. Sorry if it was a touchy subject" I apologized noticing Fluttershy was feeling uncomfortable. I decided to ask her what I wanted to ask her from the very beginning.

"D-don't worry" she smiled timidly and before she could make her way back to the kitchen I stopped her.

"There was something else I wanted to ask you. Can you tell me about the Everfree forest?" even though I had been to the Everfree forest before, I did not know much about it, only about how it could maintain natural balance by itself and about its exotic flora and fauna. I had heard from Applejack that Fluttershy could be very brave and she was one of the few ponies that ventured the mysterious forest, and perhaps knew about it more than anyone... almost.

"Oh, yeah... I guess" she answered shyly "But I think it might take some time... c-could you please wait until I take care of the animals?" she asked with an apologetic smile while hiding her face behind her pink mane.

"It's okay! I can wait! Sorry for interrupting" I smiled to calm Fluttershy down. "I'll make myself some lunch meanwhile"

"Its not necessary... I already made something for you" she pointed at the counter and then muttered something I could not understand. I looked at the plate on the counter and felt my mouth watering; the food looked specially delicious. I thanked Fluttershy and began eating.

Now, you may be wondering. Why did I want to know more about the Everfree Forest?

I had a dream... There was a familiar feminine voice telling me something. However I could only remember her telling me to Be careful and something about poison running through my veins... that was enough for me. Even if I did not know what kind of poison I had, how it got inside of me, or what it would do to me, Applejack had also told me about a kind of pony whose name starts with 'z' but she can't remember could help me, and that she lived in the Everfree Forest. But she told me to ask Fluttershy for guidance since I could get lost inside.

And that was exactly what I was going to do... but lets say I wanted to know a little more about the forest.

While I was eating the last parts of my breakfast, I heard a knocking on the door. When I opened it I looked down to find a panting Spike, holding a letter without a seal. I immediately knew it was my sister's and got extremely happy.

"Here" Spike said while catching his breath (it seemed like he had come here running from the library) and held out the letter for me to grab. I took it with my magic and opened it without hesitation.

"Thanks" I said absentmindedly and began reading. The letter was actually very short.

Dear Sis,

I forgot to mention you can live in the library for now, after all, Spike could use a little help. And... well, I think Fluttershy would rather tell you that herself.

That? What does she mean?

"Hey, Spike" I called out for the dragon that seemed to have recovered.

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell me what Twilight meant with this?" I held out the letter for him to read and he held it with his claws, reading the two short sentences again and again.

"Oh! I think she's talking about Fluttershy's-" but before Spike could finish...

"Hi there!" said a very cool, mature and composed voice behind Spike with a slight cheery and playful tone.

I lifted my gaze and saw a unicorn mare with light lavender coat and wavy black mane. Her cutie mark consisted of two quills crossed over a scroll. She was carrying a saddle bag that seemed to have nothing more than books and scrolls inside of it. Everything about her seemed normal, except her blue eyes... there was something about them that made me curious.

"Oh! Hi Silver! Back already?" Spike turned to face her with a big smile and, after a moment of hesitation, he ran to hug her.

"Aw" sh nuzzled the dragon's head as she smiled "see? you can be really cute when you try!" Spike retreated from the hug and gave her a pout, however she ignored this "and, well, it was kinda tough but everything went well..." then, she looked at me with curiosity "and who might this be?" she started approaching me with a calm grin.

"I'm Golden Passion" I introduced myself, extending a hoof.

"Silver Quill, nice to meet you" the mare shook my hoof... but as soon as we made contact I felt something... odd. However, I decided to shake it off.

I need to relax... relax...

"I've heard a bit about you from Fluttershy" the mare spoke again, calling my attention back to the real world.

"Is that so?" I said, a bit curious. What could have Fluttershy told her?

"Yeah... well, as much as I'd like to stay and chat for a bit I'm a little busy, see ya!" she went upstairs and left me behind with a dozen questions.

"...W-well..." I muttered, unsure of what to say to break the silence between me and Spike "so, can I really move into the library?"

"Of course! It gets kinda lonely in there..." he said with a sad tone and sighed "need any help with your stuff?"

"N-no, not really" however, I remembered I had to tell Fluttershy I was leaving. I really did not had much stuff, only a couple of things I bought the days before with the money I gained helping ponies around (I also had to beg Fluttershy to allow me to 'work'). "But... I'd be thankful if you took them since I've got to tell Fluttershy that I'm leaveing. It's not too much anyways and I already have them inside a bag"

Not too long after, I was inside the library, lying on the floor while doing some research about different poisons since Fluttershy told me she wasn't going to be able to talk since she was too busy with something that came up in the last minute. She, of course, apologized a ton of times, and I assured her that it was okay since I had a whole library at my disposition.

I had a pile of books beside me, and some parchment, quill and ink to take notes. By that time, I had quite a lot of information. However, I did not know exactly which kind of poison that voice was referring to and I did not seem to have any symptoms... right?

I finally felt something click into place inside my brain, and went running right back to the bookshelves, not noticing a certain dragon coming downstairs. After going through the sections I finally found a couple of books that maybe could possess the information I was looking for.

"Hey, I finished putting your..." Spike paused, and I only noticed this since even though I was ignoring him I could faintly hear his voice mumbling something my brain didn't care to register and had trailed off "...you are just like Twilight..." just the mention of Twilight's name had made me direct my attention to Spike.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously, slowly putting the books next to the other pile.

"She's always researching stuff and reading a ton of boring books without paying attention to absolutely anything around her!" the dragon explained with a slightly annoyed, yet proud and nostalgic tone while waving his claws around "I mean, the library could be on fire and she still wouldn't notice!" he rolled his eyes and silence took the room for a couple of seconds... until I broke into laughter.

I laughed heartily and when my stomach started hurting I tried to calm it. When I finally succeeded I wiped a tear from my eye "Really? She's that absent minded?"

"Not really absent minded. More like, very focused... But she's actually the smartest and most talented pony I've ever known!" Spike exclaimed with a grin from ear to ear, though it didn't really last long, overtaken by a look of sadness "I really miss her, though..."

"Don't worry" I approached the dragon and put a hoof over his shoulder. I tried to give him the gentlest smile I could form "either I find her, or she finds us, but she'll definitely come back!" somehow, I ended up making such a foolish promise, but I felt like I needed to. Not only to calm down the poor Spike, but to calm down myself too.

"Yes! You're right! This is Twilight we're talking about!" Spike beamed again as I removed my hoof from his shoulder "well, I better move! There's some dust to clean and groceries to make!" he went to the kitchen, perhaps to check what he needed to buy, but before he left, he looked back at me "and... Passion?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you" he gave me a sincere smile and I returned it. When he left to the kitchen, I sighted deeply, feeling guilty for not telling him the whole truth about his almost big sister...

I returned to my full attention to my research, finding it perfect to escape my thoughts and guilt. I took the first book from the pile and checked the index.

Seaponies... Lycans...

Aha!

Changelings. Page 235.

Quickly turning to the indicated page, I recognized it instantly because of a large drawing of a changeling in one of the pages. I already knew a lot of things about changelings myself, so I skimmed to a good portion of the information until something caught my attention.

Changelings have different methods of reproduction. One of them, is through infection. This can be done through biting the victim, or introducing the poison through an already open wound with, for example, a spell. The victim, the time required depending on the amount of poison received, will transform into a changeling, loosing the memories of its previous life to become a slave of the Changeling Queen's desires.

My heart started beating faster. Everything was right in place now, but it didn't relieve me in the slightest. I remembered when I arrived here, being chased by changelings and desperately trying to run away without caring where I would land. One of them had managed to hit me...

In my left injured eye...

And even though the wound was very old, it was still an open passage into my body. My heart seemed to have gone up to my head at this point, since it was pounding hard, and my chest was already about to explode. It had been a while since I was this scared. The symptoms hadn't shown up since that night inside one of Canterlot's prison cells because the explosion of power that occurred then had seemed to accelerate the process, or somehow given power to the poison, which wasn't really enough to cause me effect before. It had been a week or two since then... Who knows what else had that poison done to me already, however I knew that since my body was specially resilient the process of contamination had been slowed down. I was lucky, but I decided not to trust luck anymore and start looking for a way out of this.

I kept reading, however, it never mentioned a cure. I took the other books and kept reading, and reading, and reading. It was already somewhere near eight o'clock and I hadn't noticed, but I kept reading.

Finally, I closed the last book with a deep sigh of defeat. A number of spells and other ideas came to my mind, but it required a lot of magic which I didn't possess since the Spark had taken some of my power so he could survive without me. Also, there was a side effect for using the Spark's magic for so much time; my own magical aura was blocked, only a small fraction available.

However, if I unlock it... After all, I do possess some power myself, but it is kind of... unstable.

Maybe I can ask my sister for help. She's the only reliable pony available right now. She's able to keep her cool in desperate situations so I don't have to worry about her panicking...

So I took a quill and some parchment and began my very brief and direct letter. Spike was still awake and I managed to send it. He explained he did not know how he was able to do it, but told me it maybe had to do with Twilight already sending a letter through him before.

Maybe Spike's flames work like some sort of... link?

I remember the Spark telling me about a kind of technology...

Memories of stories that the Spark had told me came to my mind. Those were and are secrets that only me and probably Origin too should know. I kept pondering about many things at the same time until not too much time later a reply came. It was very short as usual.

Sis,

Meditate. However, I warn you that those spells you told me might not be able to do the job. There's someone that will be able to provide detailed information about a cure. But still, meditate and practice, you will need your magic for the journey you will have to make.

The pony you need to find is actually a zebra and she lives in the Everfree Forest, her name is Zecora. You should ask Fluttershy for directions and be careful with the poison joke, a blue flower that maybe you'll find it easy to spot... You don't want to know what it does, believe me.

I sighed and suddenly felt very sleepy. I finally felt all the stress catch up to me at once, and my body was begging for a comfortable and warm bed to the point that even the cold wooden floor of the library looked very inviting. I was tired of just thinking about all the things I had to do; looking for a cure before transforming, finding Twilight, Luna and 'Tia, somehow entering Nicardia, and finally defeating Origin. On top of it, who knows where the Spark was.

I thanked Spike absentmindedly and out of habit, then I immediately went upstairs to Twilight and his bedroom. Normally, one would explore a place in which one has never been inside before, but I couldn't care less about the details at that moment. I simply let my body fall flat on the bed with starry, indigo blue sheets, without even caring to cover myself with a blanket. I quickly drifted away to sleep...

Walking. I knew I was looking for something, but I didn't know what. I could feel a rocky surface under my hooves, taking a closer look I could see drawings engraved on it, however, I could not see details since it was very dark, the place only being lit by the silver moon that hung high up in the sky.

I yawned loudly, stopping momentarily to do so. I was feeling exhausted, almost as if I had spent the whole day looking for whatever I had been looking for. It seemed very important though.

I sighed and looked around, looking for something else. It seemed like I was looking for a place to rest. The area was surrounded by trees, though they weren't very dense. There were also huge boulders and ruins that seemed to had belonged to an ancient civilization of some sorts. I suddenly took impulse and started flying. I noticed that I had my wings back; however there was something very strange about them... I heard a buzzing sound...

Finally arriving to a dark, humid, but very spacious cave, I laid down the saddlebags I had just realized I was carrying and lit my horn, the soft, red light casting somewhat scary shadows because of the other rocks inside the cave. It didn't scare me at all though, I was already used to it.

Suddenly, I went from simply watching the scene from a first person perspective to live the scene. I simply stood there... without knowing what to do. Then, I decided to check the saddlebags. I found supplies, food, tools and... a book. A very old leather book. I opened very carefully, since it had the impression that it was so old it could shatter with the slightest mistreatment. The very first page had a single word written in the middle. No, not exactly a word; more like a name...

"Origin"

A second later, the book vaporized into thin air and so did my surroundings. The next thing I knew, I was drowning, and then, I was running aimlessly and desperately, without any intention of looking back. I ran through the halls of what resembled a castle, tears streaming down my cheeks. However, I was expressionless, and the only thing I felt in my heart was not sadness, but an anger I had never, ever felt so intensely before. Thousands of curses and dark thoughts crossed my mind, and I felt something frightening and dark coursing through my whole body.

A tree slowly dying and loosing its leaves...
Everything pure being replaced by...
A sacred meadow losing its sacredness...
Darkness and evil...
Golden fruit of life rotting...
Love and happiness are no more...
Souls loosing their long desired peace and rest...
Anger and hatred... may prevail

What surprised me the most was that the curses were directed at...

Just as I was reaching the door that led outside, I started drowning again inside a dimly lit ocean. The current carried me, and I tried fighting back, but my body wouldn't move. Suddenly, I felt something wrapping around my already cold body. A pair of hooves that pulled me out of the water and caught me in a loving embrace, probably in an attempt to warm my body, or to show a deep affection that washed away all the negative feelings I felt previously.

I breathed in, and my heart started to beat faster when a familiar scent entered my nostrils... I had a hunch that the body I was leaning on belonged to...

"Passion, my dear, it's time to wake up" soothingly whispered an equally familiar voice into my ear, and my eyes shot open. I already knew I was probably in a dream, and I was relieved when I did not see the wooden roof of the library, instead I saw a starry night sky above me; I wanted to see the owner of the scent, the body, and the voice that rescued me from the abyss of nightmares. I slowly rose, rubbing my head with a hoof, feeling a little dizzy. I turned my head around and saw...

"L-Luna...?" my eyes widened in disbelief. The silver light of the moon bathed her body, and the light reflected on her teal eyes, giving a somewhat mystical and majestic aura. She was the same, but lacked her royal garments. Though I knew it was her, I wanted to make sure she was not part of the dream, but instead Luna herself communicating with me through the dream.

"Passion..." she caressed my cheek tenderly with her hoof and suddenly pulled me in for a kiss. Our first kiss in what seemed like a long time. My eyes were wide open in shock and tears started welling up... then I closed them, allowing the tears to flow freely through my cheeks, and returned the kiss we had longed. We reluctantly separated after a while; even in a dream we felt the necessity to breathe.

"Luna..." I nuzzled her neck while hugging her tightly, afraid that she may disappear again. Luna hugged me back stroking my mane repeatedly, she did not seem to care that I was soaking her coat with my tears. I suddenly rose up again and grabbed her by her shoulders "Please, tell me where are you!"

Luna remained silent with her eyes closed and formed a small and sad smile. Then she opened her eyes again and whispered "Passion... promise me something..."

"Anything" I answered firmly with a determined look in my eyes, still holding her shoulders.

"...Promise me that no matter what happens you will forgive me..."

"I promise" something told me that this was a promise I was not going to be able to fulfill.