Chapters Chapter 1: A Strange Beginning
Chapter 1: A strange beginning
Celestia yawned on the balcony overlooking Equestria as the sun began to set on what had been a long day in.
Celestia had been searching for the cause of the disturbance in the magic of Equestria she and her sister had been feeling the past few days, on top of her normal regal duties.
“Rest sister i will watch the night,” Luna said as she landed behind Celestia and took her place at the telescope.
As Celestia began to walk back inside of Canterlot Castle she sleepily replied to her sister“Thank you Luna, I do need some rest.”
Night set over Equestria as Luna began her watch for any strange happenings that might be the cause of the magical disturbance.
As Luna took her eye away from the telescope to gaze over Equestria she saw an explosion in the sky over Everfree Forest.
Luna quickly trained in the telescope on the explosion to see a trail of smoke trail down towards the ground as she heard it crash a massive dust cloud rose from the site.
Luna turned to two guards behind her “Prepare a chariot immediately,” as the guard ponies galloped off she turned back to gaze at the dust cloud, with concern filling her heart wondering if this was the cause of the disturbance she and her sister feared.
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Luna arrived at the site of the crash shortly with two pegasus guards drawing her chariot.
As she stepped off the chariot she saw the skid trail of whatever had landed from that explosion.
At the end of the trail against a tree, she found something strange, it was a creature she had never seen before.
Like a dragon it had two arms and two legs but it had no scales and wore strange clothing.
The creature also had no fur except for that upon its head.
The creature was unconscious and covered in cuts and burns, Luna looked in awe as the injuries seemed to glow a faint green and heal themselves right before her eyes.
“Shackle this creature, we shall put it in the dungeon until it can be questioned,” Luna ordered to her two guards.
Luna still had worry in her heart wondering what this creature was and what trouble it might bring, for she could feel the magic of Equestria avoiding this creature.
After the guards loaded the shackled and unconscious creature onto the chariot, Luna spotted some sort of metal object sticking out of the ground and noticed the creature had some sort of satchel on his left side.
“Confiscate that satchel and take that metal contraption too,” she commanded, as they prepared to leave back for Canterlot Castle.
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Luna watched the creature in the dungeon as it lay unconscious watching, how the creatures face cringed in pain as the wounds healed themselves.
Luna left two guards in watch of the creature with order to call for her when it was awake.
Luna went to inform her sister of the creature but only to see her sister show concern for it when she saw it in such pain.
“Sister why do you worry for this creature you must feel that the magic avoids it,” Luna said sternly to her sister.
Celestia looked to Luna and replied calmly, “Yes but you too can feel sister that there is more to the disturbance than this creature,” Celestia sighed “and also why should I condemn this creature when we know nothing about it, you should open your heart more sister do not let fear cloud your judgement.”
Celestia left her sister in the throne room as she went back to rest, knowing that everypony would be worried and full of questions the next day about the explosion and the crash in Everfree Forest.
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Three days have passed since the capture of the creature, with no change in the daily routine of it lying on the floor healing.
Luna departed to the dungeon to check on the creature once more to check on the creature and see if there was any changes.
As she closed the door to the dungeon behind her she saw the creatures eyes open and it sat up and fall on its back as it attempted to stand.
Luna edged closer as the creature looked around its surroundings and soon she and the creature locked eyes.
Luna cleared her throat and spoke in her royal voice “Ahh, I see you're awake,” the creature seems startled but replies with a stern look on his face “who are you, and where am I”.
Luna chuckled a little at the creatures attempt to be bold “O my, aren’t we demanding for a creature locked in a cell.”
The creature is stunned with the incredible sound of authority in Luna’s voice and replies, “No, I’m sorry I wasn’t demanding I am just worried I don’t know how I got here I can’t remember hardly anything.”
Luna steps forward into the light so the creature can see her and can instantly see the surprise in the creatures brown eyes behind it's glasses, “Tell me what you are creature and what you are doing here” Luna demands, the creature answers calmly and clearly but with surprise in his voice, “I am a human I don’t know how I got here I told you that I don’t even know where I am…”.
Luna interrupts him with a yell, “Silence! You appeared when you fell from an explosion in the sky and I will know what you’re doing here and…”,
“Enough!, can’t you see he knows nothing of why he is here Luna”, interrupts Celestia as she approaches from the dungeon door.
“But how can you trust him so easily Celestia”, Luna replies as she swore she caught a glimpse of a green flash in the human's eyes.
“Good” replied Celestia “now can you remember anything from before you awoke here?”, “Nothing” Kald says sadly, “all I can remember is that I’m a human and that my name is Kald other than that everything is a blur.
Celestia and Luna turn away and talk amongst themselves for a short while until Celestia turns to face Kald, “We will find out something to do with you Kald I’m sorry but you must stay in here for now but here have some apples and water you must be hungry from sleeping for three days.”
A pony clad in armor walks over and slides a bowl of apples and a bowl of water in the cell, Kald takes an apple and quickly takes a bite and starts to eat, “Thank you very much” he says between his bites as he continues to eat, “You're welcome”, said Celestia as she and Luna departed.
Kald begins to think to himself as he eats, “Well this seems interesting, seems i’m in a world of ponies,” Kald chuckles a little to himself, “I better learn their ways if i am to make it by i guess,” as he smiles to himself.
After his meal Kald slid the bowls back to the guard and laid down on the stone floor to get some actual sleep.
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Awakening to the sound of his cell door opening Kald looks to see two guard ponies at his cell door, “Get up it's time to see the princess”, said one the guards’ while the other remained stern and silent.
Kald obeyed quietly and got up and shuffled along next to the guards with his shackles on his wrists and ankles and was lead through a dungeon that eventually lead to a throne room where Celestia sat on her throne with Luna standing next to her and many other ponies in the hall all staring at him, Kald felt uneasy with all the gazing eyes of uncertainty.
Celestia rose and spoke to crowd, “Citizens of Canterlot I bring before you the creature that was found four days ago after the explosion in the night sky, this creature is called a Human as he has proclaimed and has given us his name of which is Kald, I ask everypony what say you on the matter of how to deal with the Human?”.
Kald thought to himself and carefully took notice how Celestia used “pony” in place of “body” in her word as he continued to listen so as to learn how to speak as they do.
Luna glanced over at Kald and swore again that she saw the same green glow in his eyes as he listened to Celestia but only for an instant, it appeared as quickly as it vanished.
There was a murmuring in the crowd as they all chattered amongst themselves until one pony stepped forward and with his nose held high proclaimed, “I think he should be eliminated, who knows what dangers he could cause after that massive explosion in the sky, it was felt all over Equestria I believe him to be too dangerous.”
The muttering grew louder as the ponies grew more worrisome and then a female pony stepped forward, “You said his name was Kald correct, what does he have to say about the explosion, what is his story?”
Kald raised his head to speak, “I don’t know anything about the explosion or of how I got here, but I promise you I mean no harm I want to know what happened and who I am as much as you do”.
The female pony looked puzzled at what Kald has said, “You seem innocent enough to me human but how do we know we can trust you?”, “Yea!” the crowd roared in unison, as the murmuring of the crowd grew louder.
Kald watched as the crowd of ponies argued amongst themselves over his fate and wondered if there would be anypony that would be on his side.
At that moment Kald thought he saw something moving through the crowd, he couldn't see what it was but then suddenly amongst the commotion a voice yelled “Listen!”, silence fell over the room as a little white unicorn walked up to the front of the crowd and spoke in her little voice “You all wonder if we can trust him and want to try to make all these decisions why don’t we give the human a chance to prove himself?”, Kald was silent in awe at this display of bravery shown on his behalf.
Celestia rose from her throne at the end of the child’s words and spoke “That is a terrific decision young one, the human will be sent to Ponyville under the supervision of Canterlot guard to provide help and service to the citizens of the town and prove his innocence through good behavior and community service”, Kald was relieved to hear that nothing bad would happen and that the one who seemed to be in charge at least saw fit to give him a chance.
Kald looked at the unicorn filly and their eyes met and Kald smiled and slightly bowed to the child show his appreciation, and she smiled back at him as she withdrew back to the crowd.
Celestia turned to Kald, “Do you have anything to say on this decision?”, Kald took a deep breath and spoke loud enough for everyone in the throne room to hear, “Thank you everypony, I hope to be able to repay you for your kindness and to exceed your expectations”, then Kald bowed and was lead back to his cell to await his ride to Ponyville where he would begin his community service to the ponies of the town.
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Kald took a nap leaning against the wall of his cell till he was awakened by the familiar sound of the door opening, but this time a guard came in to unlock his shackles, “Follow them” said the guard as he pointed to two other gaurds with his hoof, Kald obeyed and walked with the two guards till they arrived outside at what seemed like a chariot that had two armored pegasi to draw it.
Kald stepped onto the chariot as instructed along with his 2 guards and they were off, lifted into the sky by the pegasi, Kald grabbed onto the front of the chariot to stay aboard and in no time they landed just outside a bustling town of ponies, Kald and the guards stepped off the chariot and the pegasi took off flying back to Canterlot.
Kald was lead into town and up onto a stage where a pony came up two a podium and spoke, “Hello everypony it is my pleasure to introduce to you all the creature that will be helping us around town from now on he is called a human and his name is Kald, I have been informed by princess Celestia that he is here to help us with whatever we need and is under the watch of Canterlot guard so please, everypony get acquainted with the human”
The pony walked over to Kald and help out her hoof “Nice to meet you I am the mayor of Ponyville and am happy to make your acquaintance”, Kald shook her hoof and smiled, “Thank you I look forward to helping everypony”, “Good” said the mayor “I hope you find whatever you need here and make friends with everypony, I have your first assignment here and it is for you to go help Fluttershy with some animals, just return here when you’re done”, Kald thanked her and was lead off to do his first assignment.
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Kald soon found himself standing outside what looked to be a house covered in grass with woodland critters all around, wondering what kind of pony Fluttershy was Kald nervously approached the door and knocked “Ms. Fluttershy I am here to help you with the critters for today,” he said and a very soft reply returned “O so soon I hadn’t expected any help for a little while sorry to make you… EEP!!!,” the pony had slammed the door shut with only a glance and was gone as quickly as she had appeared, Kald only was able to see the slightest flash of yellow and pink.
A little disheartened at the reaction Kald knocked again, “Ms. Fluttershy? Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you I’m here to help,” Fluttershy quickly responded softly and with a quivering fear in her voice, “Umm no that’s ok I can handle it myself today no need for you to help it’s alright,” Kald was puzzled for a moment but quickly accepted that this would probably be the normal reaction to him.
Kald then spoke again “Ms. Fluttershy if you would can you sign my task form then?”, in a flash Kald saw the door open the form disappear from his hand and the form back again floating in the air with a hastily scribbled Fluttershy on the line where it needed to be signed.
Kald hung his head a little, saddened at his first attempt at helping somepony, “I’ll be leaving now Ms. Fluttershy, I’m sorry to have troubled you,” and with that said Kald turned around to the guards and started his walk back to town wondering if anyone would begin to accept him here.
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When Kald arrived back in town he sat down at what appeared to be a Café but he felt so out of place with everyone staring at him, he imagined that it would be best to get used to it since he didn’t really belong here and knew that it would probably be this way for a while.
Kald sat in silence at his table thinking of what to do since his assignment that was supposed to take all day turned into a disaster, Kald hung his head a little losing some of his confidence in making it in this place, but suddenly a yell broke the silence “Look up there!”, as a pony pointed to the roof of a building.
Kald looked to see what appeared to be a little filly on the roof trying to get a scooter that was stuck in the roof but once the small filly had pulled it loose she began to fall, Kald quickly jumped up from his chair and ran as fast as he could towards where the small pony was falling two green rings appeared around each of his legs one at each of his ankles and another just below his knees.
Kald jumped with his arms outstretched and caught the filly in the air and turned so that small pony stayed protected as he fell to the ground and slid up to and bumped the wall of the building, once stopped the rings around Kald’s legs vanished and as Kald unfolded his arms and released the filly he realized it was an orange pegasus filly.
The small pegasus jumped out of his arms and looked back at him and smiled, “Thanks mister, I thought I was a goner there,” Kald looked back surprised but smiled back at the filly pegasus “No problem I was happy to help, but why aren’t you scared like the rest?”, the small pegasus just kept smiling and said “I saw you on the stage at town hall your name is Kald right you’re the human,” she held out her hoof and Kald grasped it with his hand and shook her hoof as the pegasus continued, “my name is Scootaloo it is nice to meet you,” Kald’s smile grew wider as his hand let go of her hoof, “It’s nice to meet you too, so what were you doing up there?” he asked.
Scootaloo blushed a little embarrassed “Well I was doing tricks on my scooter when I lost control and it landed up on top of that house so I went to get it,” Kald looked at the pegasus impressed, “well that was brave of you to go up there by yourself but next time ask for help so that way you won’t hurt yourself,” he said as he stood up and dusted himself off, and at that time Kald noticed that everypony in the area was staring at him but this time not with fear but with astonishment and approval.
A waitress pony trotted over to Kald and apologized for not coming to him when he was at the table, but Kald just smiled and told her it was alright, Kald understood that it would take time for everypony to get used to him.
Kald then returned to his table waving at Scootaloo as she rode off on her scooter, the waitress brought him a cup of apple cider on the house as apologies for the way he was treated, he smiled and drank it happily and enjoyed ponies acknowledging him and greeting him instead of avoiding him and just staring at him with fear.
As Kald sat at the table he wondered to himself what that was that happened to him that allowed him to jump that high, and why it seemed like what it was is important somehow. Kald strained to think of what it could be or why it was so important but to no avail.
As the day neared to an end Kald saw the chariot which had carried him to Ponyville return and as he was lead back on the chariot he turned around to see some pony’s waving him off and smiling awaiting his return tomorrow, Kald smiled and thought to himself, “Maybe today wasn’t so bad” as he was carried back to Canterlot castle to await the next day to arrive.
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Upon Kald’s return to Ponyville he was greeted by some eager pony’s and the mayor with his next assignment to help a pony named Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres collect some apples, the guards lead Kald down a road towards what appeared to be a giant barn and all around were apple trees.
Kald soon say an orange pony with what looked like a faded yellow mane wearing a western style hat, “Hello Ms. AppleJack I am here to help you with the apples today,” Kald said waving and smiling.
Applejack turned and bucked a tree to make all the apples fall off into a bucket and then trotted over to Kald, “Well sugarcube you don’t look like much but let’s see what ya can do,” as she pointed with her hoof to another apple tree, “Just give it a good kick and round up all the apples into a bucket,” Kald nodded and walked over to the tree.
Kald brought his leg around the side ending with a good side kick to the tree, then almost immediately stumbled backwards and sat on the grass and held his foot “Ouch!”.
Kald sat rubbing his throbbing foot as he turned to see Applejack laughing, “Well that’s a nice try sugarcube but I don’t think yer’ tough enough for the job,” Kald then saw a pile of junk next to the side of the barn and Applejack could have sworn she saw the boys brown eyes flash a light green color but dismissed it as an illusion brought on by the heat, “Hold on a second, I have an idea,” Kald said as he got up and walked over to the junk pile pulled out a sturdy board that used to belonged to a broken wagon.
Applejack look confused, “What y’all gonna do with a piece of an ole’ cart?”, Kald smiled and looked back at her and just said “Watch”, Applejack thought she saw the green glow in his eyes again as he took off at the apple tree he tried to kick earlier and gave it a good smack with the board which seemed to have done the trick as the apples came falling down and he began to pick them up and put them in a bucket.
“Good thinkin sugarcube” Applejack said walking over to Kald “but we have a lot to go,” Kald looked back to Applejack “Don’t worry i'm up to the task you can count on me,” as he smiled at his own confidence Kald walked with Applejack throughout the orchard helping knock down and round up apples.
At the end of the job Applejack signed Kald’s task form and sent him on his way back to town, on the walk back Kald thought to himself, “Well it’s not that I’ve made friends of everyone but it seems like they trust me some and that’s a start,” when he arrived back at Town Hall the mayor gave Kald another assignment, he was to accompany a unicorn named Rarity on a dig to get some gems and do whatever else she needed.
Kald took the task form with a smile, glad to meet another new pony; the guards lead Kald through town to a marvelous store called Carousel Boutique as Kald walked through the door he say a bag float through the air and land on the back of a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane.
Kald was astonished and then realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly composed himself and realized there was more than just the pegasus in the room, there was also a small purple dragon with green spikes and a white unicorn with a purple mane, Kald was a little embarrassed at his reaction to seeing the pegasus, “Umm I am here to help and accompany Rarity on finding gems,” the white mare spoke, “O darling so you’re the one they sent to help us, hmm you're that human thing aren’t you eh I’m not sure what I can do with you,” the cyan pegasus turned to the mare, “O come on Rarity give the guy a break he is here to help after all,” Rarity sighed “O, I guess you're right Rainbow Dash, here carry these for me”, as she threw her bags to Kald to carry.
Kald slung the bags over his shoulders “No problem Ms. Rarity, I’ll do what I can,” Rainbow Dash laughed “’Ms.’ Rarity o that’s rich” she said as she continued to laugh, Rarity glared at Rainbow Dash “What is so funny about that Rainbow Dash at least it seems he has some class,” Rarity turned to look at the dragon “Come on then Spike let’s get a move on, you too Rainbow Dash” she called as she walked past Kald and out the door along with Rainbow Dash and Spike following behind her, Kald proceeded to follow behind Spike with Rarity’s bags.
Spike turned to look at Kald and narrowed his eyes “You better not be trying to move in on Rarity with all that fancy ‘Ms.’ stuff you got me,” Kald was surprised but replied with a smile, “Yea I got you, but don’t worry I’m not moving in on anyone I was just being polite,” Spike narrowed his eyes a little more, “I’ll be watching you,” he said as he turned back towards Rarity.
Kald was at unease wondering if he had done something wrong and if he had offended the little dragon, but he couldn’t let that stop him he needed to be of some help.
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The walk ended when the group was in a canyon, Rarity stepped forward and pointed her horn towards the ground and Kald could see it glow a light blue and as Rarity kept walking Kald soon saw gems through the ground, “Here” she pointed and Spike walked over and quickly began to dig up the gems, “Wow” Kald gasped, “How did you do that?” he asked Rarity who looked at him with puzzlement “What you haven’t ever seen magic before?” Kald look at her with amazement “No I haven’t do you think you could show me more later?” Rarity just chuckled “Well I don’t know about that but maybe sometime darling,” Spike walked over with his arms full of gems and placed them in the bags Kald carried glaring at him as he walked away.
Rainbow Dash flew over to Kald “Don’t worry about him he just has a crush on Rarity”, she chuckled “Is that so,” Kald replied while he began to watch spike and could see it clearly as he watch how Spike acted around Rarity.
Kald smiled and turned to Rainbow Dash “Thank you, that makes me feel better knowing that, I thought I had done something to offend him,” Rainbow Dash patted Kald on the back “Don’t mention it, your name is Kald right?” Kald nodded “well, I’m Rainbow Dash I hope you get used to stuff here,” Kald smiled at her “Thanks”, Rainbow Dash then flew up and trotted next to Rarity.
As the gem collecting continued until finally all the bags were full of gems and Rarity smiled “O this is marvelous these gems are absolutely gorgeous, now let’s get them back to the shop”, as Rarity turned around to lead the way back, when suddenly, Wham! The two guards had been slammed into the side of the canyon and were unconscious, Kald quickly turned around only to see a black dragon a little taller than Kald.
The dragon stood as tall as he could and glared at Rarity “Why look at all these gems you have gathered for me my little pony, I’ll be glad to take them now” the dragon smiled showing his teeth, Kald placed himself between the dragon and the rest of the group “Rainbow Dash, Spike, Rarity, get the guards and run I’ll hold him off,” the dragon laughed and slammed Kald into the side of the canyon with a single swipe of his tail “Puny creature how can you hope to stop me” said the dragon as he stepped forwards towards Rarity.
Kald got up and yelled, “Leave them alone” and rammed his shoulder into the dragon as hard as he could knocking him over to the side, “Hurry and run!” yelled Kald back to the pony’s and Spike as the dragon slammed his tail down on Kald crashing him to the ground, “Your beginning to annoy me” growled the dragon as he removed his tail from over Kald and walked back to Rarity, “Now give me those gems pony!” he roared as he began to bring his claw down to slap Rarity aside but then Bam!
The dragon looked shocked as Kald had gotten up and stopped his claw with nothing more than one arm, but on Kald’s arm there were two green rings glowing one at his wrist and one just below the elbow, Kald then looked up at the dragon and the dragon began to show confusion as Kald’s eyes were now glowing a light green.
Kald yelled at the dragon, “I thought I told you, to leave them alone!” as he threw the dragons claw back making the dragon stumble, Kald made a fist with his right hand and as he did the small dark green rings of energy expanded outwards leaving his skin and slowly rotating around his arm, Kald pulled back his arm as if to throw a punch and as he did the rings began to spin faster, “Now, go back where you came from!” Kald yelled as he threw his fist forward making the rings rapidly expand even further outwards making a bolt of what seemed to be compressed air shoot out from his fist recoiling his arm back.
The bolt hit the dragon on the side of the face flipping him over and landing him on the ground, the dragon quickly shuffled to get up and flew away, Kald breathing heavy felt relief that everyone was now safe but looked at his arm and saw the two rings and wondered what had he just done, what kind of power was this, it seemed different than magic to him, and why did it seem so familiar.
Rainbow Dash rushed up and patted Kald on the back “That was amazing, how did you do that” the rings contracted and rested back on his skin, then faded away and Kald look back at her with his brown eyes, “I’m, not sure really” he said as he turned to see everyone alright and was surprised to realize his injuries were already healed.
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Once they arrived back at the store and the gems were put away Rarity signed the task form and sent Kald out on an errand to go to Sugarcube Corner and get some sweets and then come the the library, but when Kald arrived at the store it seemed to be closed he tried knocking but got no answer.
“I guess I should just head to the library then” Kald thought to himself as he walked to the library with his two recently awakened guards, but when he arrived it seemed like all the lights were off, Kald knocked “Hello?”, there was no answer but the door was unlocked, Kald figured there couldn’t be any harm in going in and waiting for Rarity since it was getting late so he opened the door and walked inside, “SURPRISE!!!” said a chorus of voices as the lights came on and Kald saw all kinds of party decorations and a cake on a table.
Kald was speechless and wide eyed at what he was seeing then suddenly, “Hey how do you do my names’ Pinkie Pie what’s yours?” Kald looked at Pinkie Pie and stuttered to get his words together for the fast talking pony, “Kald, my name is Kald,” Pinkie Pie took his hand and shook it furiously “Well Kaldy Waldy I’m your new friend Pinkie Pie and this is your awesome thank you for saving Rarity and welcome to Ponyville party!” she said with such delight as she pushed him into the room in front of everpony and put her hoof around his neck.
“Now let me introduce you to everpony of course you know Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike but that shy pony over by the table is Fluttershy and the purple pony over there by the books is Twilight and we are all your new friends” Kald looked around the room astonished, “Thank you everyone” is all he could say before Pinkie interrupted him, “Let’s get this party started” she yelled as she turned on the music and everone started dancing, Kald a little embarrassed edged his way to get some punch and once he had drank a little Pinkie came over.
“Whatcha doin over here come on dance,” Kald blushed, “I don’t know how to dance” he said embarrassingly, Pinkie laughed, “Well sure you do silly just get out there and move to the beat don’t worry so much,” she said as she pushed Kald to the dance floor but before he knew it he was dancing with the rest of them and having fun all he had to do was let go and not worry so much and just follow the beat like Pinkie said, Kald soon threw his tattered green jacket into a corner to loosen up more for the party.
The party went on and started to slow down and Kald went to get some more punch and turned around and was surprised to see Twilight, “O Kald good to meet you I know Pinkie introduced me already but I wanted to do it myself I am Twlight Sparkle,” Twilight extended her hoof to shake and Kald gladly accepted with a smile “Nice to meet you Twilight I’m Kald,” they both laughed at the second introduction of each other.
Twilight got everyone to gather around cause she had an announcement, “Everyone I have good news I got a letter from Princess Celestia and Kald can stay here in the library with me and his guards are to be dismissed”, everyone cheered and congratulated Kald, and with that the party finally came to an end with the guards leaving to depart back to Canterlot.
Twilight lead Kald to what seemed to be a recently acquired couch in the second floor of the Library, "You can sleep here" she said with a yawn as she climbed up to her bed near Spike.
Kald was happy as he lay on the couch in the library, he looked around the library and at the left over party stuff and thought to himself “I finally fit in, somewhere I don’t even belong and I have friends, everything turned out great after all,” as he smirked thinking highly of himself and what he had accomplished, Kald slowly drifted off into a comfortable sleep.
Chapter 2: Good Intentions?
Chapter 2: Good Intentions?
Kald could feel the wind in his hair as the amazing sensation of soaring through the sky filled him, but why did this feel so familiar.
Wham! Kald rolled off the couch and awoke from his sleep as he hit the floor, “Only a dream,” he thought but why did it feel like he had done that before, why did it seem like soaring through the sky should be normal.
Kald yawned and stretched wondering what he should do today with his new found freedom, Kald began to yawn again as he proceeded to walk down the stair to the main room of the library.
“O, good morning,” Twilight greeted as Kald was coming down the stairs, “Morning,” Kald replied back with half a yawn, “So should I do today, I don't really know anypony and I don’t know what to do with all my newly acquired free time,” Kald asked Twilight in hopes that she would give him something to do.
“Well, why don’t you go to Rarity’s at the Carousel Boutique she was telling me earlier about wanting to properly thank you for the other day,” Kald smiled “Ok then, but she really shouldn't she doesn’t need to,” Twilight chuckled “Yeah I know, but she it pretty generous like that sometimes, just head on over whenever you're ready i’m sure she will be glad to see you, and then just try getting to know some ponies,” Kald grabbed his ragged green jacket and threw it on anyway, he didn't want to leave one of his few possessions behind as he walked out the door.
As he walked through town Kald was greeted by a few ponies and he helped one of them pick up the contents of her spilled cart and was rewarded with a free apple for his efforts, which Kald had appreciated very much since he hadn’t had anything to eat yet.
As Kald continued his walk he managed to see Scootaloo pass by and it looked as if she were headed somewhere important since she raced by without even noticing Kald but he just laughed and thought to himself, “Kids will be kids no matter where you are i suppose,” .
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Kald had finally arrived at Rarity’s and was glad that it seemed that everypony was starting to like him, he smirked being reassured of himself and opened the door, “Rarity i'm here,” Kald called as he walked inside and saw all the fabric and dresses on pony mannequins.
“Good good i'm so glad you're finally here darling now we can get started,” Kald looked at Rarity with confusion, “Get started on what?”, Rarity had a look of surprise on her face, “Why started on your new clothes of course I can’t have the one who saved me running around in rags now hold still and let me get your measurements,” soon all kinds of tape measures and other instruments were floating around and measuring Kald and taking in his stature.
“O this will be so wonderful and fun i have never designed clothes for a human before, this is so exciting,” Kald stood and did as instructed so that Rarity could get proper measurements, “Umm you don't have to go out of your way I appreciate your offer but just a new shirt, pants, and jacket will suffice you don't have to make anything special for me,” Kald said a little embarrassed at all this trouble for his sake.
Rarity sighed, “Of course darling sorry to overwhelm you all of a sudden don’t worry i’ll just whip up some nice casual clothes for you,” Rarity jumped in excitement “O, I just can’t wait to get started why don’t you go back to Twilights and I will see if i can’t get your clothes finished today,” Kald thanked Rarity and began walking back to the library.
As Kald leisurely walked back through town with a confident smirk on his face he saw a young couple of young colts playing up on a roof, one looked like an opal color and the other amber.
Kald watched on a little worried the young ones might hurt themselves but was soon interrupted by a girly little voice, “And what do you think you're doing you disgusting thing,” Kald turned around but only to see a small magenta filly with a tiara cutie mark.
Kald just smiled as he shrugged off the comment, “O nothing just watching those two up there making sure they don’t get hurt,” the filly looked at Kald with disgust.
Kald looked back confused, “What’s wrong did i offend you?”, he said as he tried to walk closer to the filly, “Eww, get away from me before i get you in trouble,” she demanded.
Kald glared at her, “What reason do you have to be so rude someone should teach you..”, Kald was cut off as he heard the screams of the two colts as he quickly turned around and saw them falling.
In an instant the rings on Kald’s legs reappeared as he jumped on the side of the house and then directly over to catch the two colts in mid air as he landed safely with them as the rings disappeared leaving Kald with that strange familiar sensation again.
Kald noticed the small rude filly running away screaming, and as he set down the two colts they also ran away yelling, “Help help the human is gonna get us,” Kald was confused as to what had just happened.
“Ouch!”, Kald yelled as an apple hit him in the head, to which he quickly turned around to see a stallion who had an apple stand with another apple in hoof, “You better leave them children alone,” he said with a glare, “Yea you tell him Red Delicious,” came a resound of approval.
Kald quickly backed up from everypony, “No no you have it wrong i was saving those two colts from falling and...”, Kald was quickly interrupted by a flustered mare, “O yea well what about that little filly!,” Kald backed up a little more, “I didn't do anything to her she just ran.”
A group of ponies gathered up glaring at Kald, the crowd saw a flash of green in Kald’s eyes behind his glasses “You might wanna run yourself we will inform Princess Celestia and then we will see about you Human,” Kald began to run back towards the library yelling back, “I’m telling you you have things wrong,” as he made it out of the town square and back to the library.
“O good your back that took longer than i expected, and why are you out of breath?”, ask Twilight as Kald returned, Kald tried to compose himself, “O, it’s just a misunderstanding nothing big,” he managed between breaths.
Twilight looked at him with puzzlement, “Oookay then, well me and the girls were planning a picnic why don’t you come join us i would like to try and get to know you better since you're staying here in the library,” Kald looked at her with his confident smile back, “Sure sounds great want me to carry anything?”, “Sure,” Twilight said as she handed Kald the food basket and led him out the door.
***********
Kald and Twilight arrived at a nice little opening amongst some trees where the others were waiting, “Hey Kald,” Rainbow Dash yelled in excitement as he sat down to join everyone.
“Hey Rainbow, what's up,” greeted Kald as he grabbed an apple which Rainbow knocked up out of his hand and ate, “Hey what was that for,” Kald snapped at Rainbow Dash who was laughing, “O come on it’s not hurt and besides you eat apple’s all the time, here try this sandwich i brought,” as she handed Kald a sandwich of what appeared to only have lettuce and tomatoes between the bread.
Kald accepted the sandwich, “You could have just said something you know,” Kald said a little annoyed at the trick, “Yea but then i wouldnt have been able to see that priceless face of yours,” Kald rolled his eyes as he began to eat his newly acquired sandwich.
“So what’s this cool magic trick you have Kald,” chimed in Pinkie Pie, “Magic what magic?”, Twilight inquired, Rainbows face lit up with excitement, “O yea, I hadn't had time to tell you but in the mountains when Kald saved us from that dragon youngling he did this awesome thing with his arm that knocked that dragon on his rump you shoulda been there Twilight,” Twilight looked to Kald in curiosity.
“It’s not magic though it's something different I don't know how i know i just feel it,” Kald said in his defense.
“I would like to see it too please, if it’s not too much trouble,” said Fluttershy gently, Kald looked at them all as they stared at him, “But I don’t even know how I did it.”
Twilight thought for a moment, “Well just try to think back to when it happened and see if you can replicate the feeling,” Kald stood up, “Well everyone was in danger I just wanted to protect them,” Kald closed his eyes and tried to picture the moment in his mind but nothing happened, “It’s not working,” Kald said with disappointment.
“Eek! Help! Help! Whatever shall I do!,” came Rarity’s voice as Kald quickly spun around only so see Rarity giggling and completely fine, “Well that seemed to do the trick,” she giggled as she trotted over to join everyone with a saddle bag on her side, Kald looked down at his arms to see the rings on both his arms and legs, as he turned and saw everyponies surprised faces they vanished.
“Quick, do it again,” Twilight said to Kald with excitement, Kald smirked “No problem,” as he threw out his arms and had all the rings back out again, Twilight looked and saw his eyes flash green even if it was only there for an instant she was sure she saw it, “I don't know how to describe it but i feel amazing,” Kald said as he gazed at the rings, “What do you mean,” said Twilight, Kald just smirked, “Let me show ya,” as he jumped at a nearby tree with his feet landing firmly on the tree as he kicked off doing a backflip back to where he started.
“Come on Kald show us that thing again,” Rainbow Dash said barely holding her excitement, Kald point his fist at a nearby rock and the rings began to spin, “Easy,” Kald said with confidence and at that moment Foom!, Kald was thrown back into a tree as the rings discharged, backfiring Kald and upon impact slumped to the ground, as everypony started laughing.
“I can get this,” Kald said between gritted teeth as he got up and began running and through his arm forward Foom!, only so be slammed back into the tree again by the backfire making everyone laugh more.
Once the laughing died down Twilight looked over to Kald, “So what exactly are you trying to do?”
“It was some kind of awesome air blast thing,” Rainbow Dash looked over to Kald, “So what are you gonna call it?”
Kald looked puzzled, “Call it what do you mean?”, Rainbow flew over to Kald and put a hoof on his shoulder “Come on man, every cool move needs an awesome name, like my Sonic Rainboom and my Fantastic Filly Flash,” Kald thought for a moment but couldn't come up with a name.
“How about the Sonic Air Blast or the Boom Blast,” Rainbow suggested, Kald thought it over, “No, those don't sound right.”
Rarity trotted over to Kald, “Let him come up with a name on his own Rainbow Dash it is his move after all, here dear I don't have everything done but i thought you would like it,” as she pulled a new green jacket from a saddle bag and laid it in Kald’s lap.
Kald took it in hand and smiled and hugged Rarity, “It’s amazing and i love the style and all the pockets,” Rarity blushed, “Well i figured you might would like a kind of rugged look that could also be useful,” Kald began to take off his old jacket and put on the new jacket.
“Oh, deary let me see if I can’t fix this old one for you at least,” as Rarity took Kald’s old jacket with her magic placing it inside her saddle bag.
“Come on crusaders it came from over here,” said a young voice with a similar accent as Applejack, Kald turned to see three fillies galloping his direction, Hey Scootaloo,” Kald called over waving his arm.
“You know him?,” said the white unicorn filly in surprise to Scootaloo, “Yea, I told you remember he saved me from falling off the roof that one day.”
“Oh yea, guess i forgot,” as the three fillies laughed, Kald recognized the small white unicorn, “Her I remember you,” the white unicorn looked back at Kald, “Well i would hope so.”
“Sweetie Belle, when did you meet Kald?”
“I saw him at his hearing when we were visiting Canterlot for your dress stuff I spoke on his behalf cause it didn't seem like everypony else was being fair to him.”
Rarity was surprised at what her sister had said but quickly smiled and hugged her, “Well that was a brave and generous thing to do, i'm proud of you.”
Applejack walked over to the three fillies, “What are y’all doin here Applebloom i thought you were playing with your friends at the farm,” Applebloom looked at the other two fillies, “Well we heard a booming noise and we came over here on an adventure to try and earn our cutie-marks.”
“Cutie-marks, so that's what you call the things on your flanks?”, Kald said with interest in his voice.
“Yes they appear when ponies discover their special talent,” Twilight informed Kald.
“Yea, but we don't have ours yet so we are on a quest to find them,” Applebloom said as the three came together and cheered, “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
Kald smiled at the crusaders, “Well I wish you luck on your quest, I have one of my own too, i'm trying to learn to control my powers.”
“Can we watch?,” Scootaloo asked with wide eyes, Kald smiled “Sure you can.”
Kald got up and revved up his rings in confidence, “I’ll get it this time,” only to be stopped by a familiar voice, “I don't think that would be wise to try again so soon from what i’ve seen,” as Princess Celestia’s carriage landed with Luna following behind.
Kald kneeled along with the others bowing, “Come now there is no need for such formalities please stand and be at ease,” Celestia said softly, “Princess what brings you here all of a sudden?”, Twilight asked as she hugged Celestia, “Well i figured it time to return some of Kald’s things to him,” Celestia said turning to Luna, “Go on”, she said as she motioned Luna forward.
Luna stepped over as a small pouch and metal board followed behind her with a cobalt blue aura around it, “These are yours Kald i took them from you when i found you,” Kald took them as his face instantly lit up, “I know what these are!” he exclaimed with joy, Luna again saw the green glow as well as did Celestia and Twilight.
“What is it?”, Rainbow asked, Kald just smiled, “Let me show ya,” as he dropped the metal board and reached into the pouch and removed a metal oval disk and threw it forward as he jumped.
The disk began to expand and unfold turning into another board as Kald landed on it and took off into the air with amazing speed and control as he performed a few flips and landed folding the board back into a disk and placing it back in the pouch.
Rainbow with her mouth wide open just managed to squeak out, “That was so awesome,” Kald walked back over to the other board on the ground and looked it over, “This one is broken beyond repair but i think i can do something with some parts and my other prototype,” as Kald opened a compartment of the broken board and took a few tools from it.
Kald detached a few parts and added them to the other board and soon the board folded back into its disk form, “What's the deal it looks the same,” said Rainbow with disappointment, Kald looked over to her, “Oh yeah u wanna have a race?”
***********
Kald on his board and Rainbow at the ready Fluttershy walked out in front of the two, “Oh, umm, uh,... go,” and just as she had finished both took off at lightning speed, “That all you got, weak,” as Rainbow pulled ahead of Kald.
Kald smiled and as he did it seemed he jumped ahead of his board but as he did so it folded and compressed and attached to his back around his shoulders and mid section as the two thrusters stacked on top of themselves and two wings sprout off the sides as the board turned into a twin turbine boosterpack and Kald rocketed ahead of Rainbow.
Amongst the race Luna took Celestia off to the side to talk in private, “You saw it too sister, the flash of green in his eyes, could he be a changeling?,” Celestia looked back at Kald as he raced Rainbow Dash, “I do not believe so sister, i do not know of a changeling taking a form like that,”; “But what about the green flash,” pleaded Luna.
Celestia silenced her sister, “I know you have good intentions sister but oppressing him will not help if he meant us harm don’t you think he would have done it by now,” Luna looked on in distress, “But sister....” Celestia cut her off, “No, no more of this you can continue to watch him but do not be hasty sister,” Celestia walked back over to Twilight, “We must depart back to Canterlot, there is still much to do,” Twilight turned back to Celestia, “Of course i understand Princess don't worry Kald is in good hooves with me,” they shared a smile and then Celestia and Luna departed.
Kald and Rainbow Dash landed with Kald barely coming in the lead, “You got luck cause i didn't expect you to be that fast,” Rainbow said antagonizing Kald, “Yea right you just can’t stand that i'm faster,” said Kald playfully.
***********
As the day neared its end the picnic was finished and everyone departed for home with Twilight having a million questions for Kald.
“So how does your jetpack work?” Twilight questioned, “I’m not real sure how i know how it works i just know that it work kinda like the rings do,” Kald replied as Twilight lost herself in thought again.
As Kald opened the door and Twilight entered the library she quickly lit up with an idea as she turned around to Kald as he walked in.
“O please Kald you must let me study you, your just so fascinating i can’t let this pass me by,” Kald was surprised by the sudden outburst, “Woah wait what?”
“It would be easy i have all the equipment downstairs and I could look at your blood and genetics, O there is just so much to learn I could be the first pony to document on human, O this is so exciting,” Kald was confused of this sudden conversation thrown at him.
“Princess Celestia would be so impressed, maybe I could even learn how you arrived here, or maybe even where your from quick we must start immediately there is no time to waste,” as Twilight quickly darted over and opened the door to the basement.
Twilight turned to see Kald looking at her in utter confusion, “Heh heh ummm that is if it’s ok with you of course,” she said smiling a big innocent smile to Kald as she finally realized what she had just done.
Kald blinked a couple times, “Uh yea sure that's fine,” Twilight squealed in excitement as she rushed down the stairs as Kald through off his jacket and followed behind her.
Once Kald was in the basement Twilight sat him in a chair and strapped his arms down and attached a bunch of stuff to him, “So what is all this?”
“Oh its nothing just some research equipment i tried to use on Pinkie Pie once, now for that blood sample,” Twilight used her magic and floated a needle over to Kald’s arm, “This will pinch a bit,” Kald watched as the needle skillfully entered his arm and filled with his blood.
Twilight kept looking at her machines and excitedly jotting things down in a notebook, “So where is Spike?”, Kald asked trying to start conversation.
“Oh, he’s asleep i'm sure he loves his sleep,..... hmmm,” Kald looked over to Twilight seeing her stare at something on a monitor, “What is it?”
“Well this is weird, but something seems to be in your blood,” Kald’s eyes widened with worry “What do you mean?”
“I don't know i can see you normal blood cells but then it looks like something is inside them, but it doesn't look like its hurting you, and it’s so strange how similar you are to ponies,” Kald sighed in relief that there didn't seem to be anything wrong.
“Wow this is remarkable your internals and the way your body works is nearly identical to ponies, it’s just moved around a bit,” Twilight unhooked Kald from her machines satisfied with her data.
“Hey Twilight, i'm gonna go for a walk okay,” Twilight was still writing in her notebook, “Ok, O, and i would love to research more on your powers once you learn to control them,” Kald smiled and sighed, “Okay deal i’ll see you later.”
“Don't get in any trouble,” Twilight called out as Kald closed the door.
***********
It was night as Kald walked back to where he and the ponies had the picnic earlier that day and sat at the tree he had knocked himself against trying to show off his power.
Kald took some deep breaths and slowly stood up and looked at the rock he had tried to hit earlier, Kald looked down at his arm and clenched a fist as he brought the rings up.
Kald closed his eyes hearing Rainbows words echo in his head, “A name huh,” Kald thought to himself as he opened his eyes and brought up his fist to aim at the rock, “I have a name.”
“Impact Bullet,” Kald yelled as he fired a perfect shot into the center of the rock cracking it, Kald stared at what he had done.
“Yes! I did it! I knew i would get it!” Kald yelled in excitement as he fired another two dead center into the rock making it bust.
Kald breathed heavy feeling winded as he smirked, “Impact Bullet, that's a pretty cool name I can't wait to tell Rainbow Dash.”
Kald turned around ready to head back to the library to sleep when “Gah!”
A cobalt blue bolt of magic struck him in the chest, knocking him to the ground and leaving him out of breath.
Luna stepped out of the shadows glaring at Kald, “Why?” Kald asked as he tried to stand and get his breath back.
“I saw you use your powers and destroy that rock I knew you were dangerous,” Kald leaned against the tree to keep his footing, “I wasn’t practicing it to hurt anypony.”
Luna’s face twisted with anger, “Stop talking like us, you are not a pony and you are a menace who can not be trusted, your resistance to magic is great the blast should have knocked you out but don’t worry, i’ll get it right this time,” Luna smiled a menacing smile as her horn glowed with her magic aura and zapped Kald in the head leaving him unconscious.
“Guards!” Luna called as a chariot pulled by two Canterlot pegasus guards emerged from the shadows where she came from.
Luna tried to pick Kald up with her mouth by the neck of his shirt and placed him in the chariot, and hopped on herself, “To Canterlot where we can lock up this foul creature,” the guards took off carrying the Chariot away into the night back to Canterlot Castle.
Chapter 3: A Challenge Accepted
Chapter 3: A Challenge Accepted
Morning rose as Twilight got out of bed smiling seeing Spike twitch in his sleep, Twilight noticed Kald wasn't on his couch.
Twilight walked down the stairs to look for Kald but he wasn't there either, getting worried Twilight looked in the basement but still didn't find him.
Twilight galloped out of the door to the library and quickly saw Rainbow Dash napping on a nearby cloud, “Hey! Rainbow Dash!”, she yelled her voice strained with worry.
“Huh, what is it Twilight?”, Rainbow replied sleepily as she woke up from her nap, Twilight quickly responded “You haven't seen Kald have you, I can't find him anywhere,” Rainbow thought for a moment, “No I haven't seen him since the picnic yesterday, maybe Rarity has since she was making him those clothes,” Rainbow flew down from her cloud to join Twilight on their walk over to Carousel Boutique.
When they arrived Rarity was in the middle of stitching what appeared to be a shirt for Kald, Twilight a little less worried walked over to Rarity, “Hey Rarity, you haven't seen Kald by any chance today have you?”, Rarity looked at Twilight with puzzlement, “Why no deary why do ask?”, at this news Twilights ears lowered as her worry began to grow.
“Twilight, what's wrong?”, Rarity asked with sincerity, “I can't find Kald, it doesn't seem like he ever came back from his walk last night, i'm worried” Twilight said frantically, Rainbow put a hoof on Twilights shoulder to try and calm her down, “Don’t worry Twilight he probably just got lost, maybe Pinkie Pie has seen him,” Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash with worry, “We should hurry and check, I have a bad feeling.”
The three ponies walked out the door heading to Sugarcube Corner in hopes of finding out what could have happened to Kald all the while Twilight could feel a sinking feeling in her heart.
Twilight was the first through the door to Sugarcube Corner, “Pinkie, Pinkie, where are you?”, Pinkie Pie came bouncing out of the kitchen, “What's the matter Twilight you act like you're going to be tardy again,” Twilight grabbed Pinkie Pie and stared at her with a dire expression on her face, “Pinkie this is serious have you seen Kald I can’t find him.”
Pinkie released herself from Twilights grasp giggling, “Of course i have silly, I saw him walking into the woods last night.”
“Do you remember anything strange?” Twilight asked desperately hoping to hear good news.
Pinkie Pie thought for a moment, “Oh, well I saw Luna following him into the woods all secret like, i just guessed she was going to give him a surprise,” Twilight rattled her brain wondering what Luna would follow Kald for.
Spike suddenly burst through the door along with Fluttershy, “Twilight quick! We all need to go now”, Twilight stumbled back in surprise, “Woah, calm down spike what's happened?”, Twilight then noticed a letter in Spike’s hand.
Spike caught his breath, “Celestia sent me this letter wanting you and the others to come to Canterlot, Twilight something has happened with Kald,” Twilight expected this news but not that Kald would be in Canterlot.
Twilight’s bad feeling grew as she absorbed the news she just heard, she wondered what had happened to have Kald end up in Canterlot, and what could be so bad Celestia needed their help.
***********
Twilight and the girls gathered to the Library as Celestia’s letter had instructed to find Canterlot chariots awaiting them to which they quickly boarded.
Twilight was filled with worry as to what could have happened to Kald last night, “It must be serious if Celestia is rushing us like this,” she thought, as the possibility of her new friend being in great danger sank in.
The chariots soon arrived at the Canterlot Castle courtyard as Twilight and the rest disembarked and quickly galloped into the throne room to see Celestia and Luna arguing.
“I don't know where you're hiding him sister but you must release him immediately!” Celestia furiously yelled at Luna, Luna snorted, “What makes you think I have him maybe he ran off on his own,” Celestia stamped a hoof in anger, “I will find him sister and i will release him Equestria has enough troubles, we do not need to create more!” she yelled as she stormed off to Twilight and the others as Luna receeded back to her wing of the castle.
“What’s wrong princess what's happened?”, Twilight inquired with fear in her voice, Celestia calmed herself and faced the six brave ponies, “I have trusted you six with great tasks before so I trust you with this one now, Kald is missing as i'm sure you know and i believe that Luna is hiding him somewhere, I want you all to see if you can find him and rescue him.”
Rainbow swooped up and gave a salute, “You can count on us mam ain't no one taking our friend away,” as the others chimed in agreement Celestia smiled, “Thank you my little ponies, I will warn you now Luna has her Shadow Bolts posted around her wing of the castle and the dungeon on patrols, i suspect she is hiding him in the castle but i do not have any proof, so don't let anypony else know what your doing.”
“Don’t worry we will find him princess,” Twilight said reassuringly, “Come on girls lets see what clues we find,” Pinkie Pie said with her detective’s hat on as she darted out the door to head to the town square of Canterlot.
As Celestia watched them depart she stared back at the door to Luna’s wing of the castle, hoping they were not too late to save him.
***********
Luna closed her door as she entered her room, she looked around making sure she was alone, assured she was not being watched she casually walked over to a bookcase to which she kicked the bottom shelf making it sink back into the wall and to the right revealing a secret passage.
Luna walked down a few stairs to a room dimly lit with torches where Kald unconsciously hung from its low ceiling by his shackled hands, Luna used her magic to have him fall to floor as she kicked him in the side to wake him up.
“Oww! It’s rude to wake someone up that way you know,” Kald said tauntingly as he smirked in defiance to her treatment.
Luna used her mouth to grab Kald by the back of his jacket and drag him up the stairs, where Luna threw him onto the floor of her room.
“So, am I getting the royal treatment now?” Kald said keeping a smug, confident face.
Luna snorted in anger, “You may act tough, but no one will come for you.”
Kald looked at her and smiled, “Are you sure about that?”
“Of course I am, even if your so called friends look for you they will not find you here I am sure of that, and the magical pressure I keep on you should keep you from using your powers since you can’t hardly move,” Luna walked over and looked out her window, “I don't know what you came here for but it doesn't matter, you don’t belong here and I will be sure to get rid of you one way or another.”
“If that is so why haven't you just killed me then? Why do you keep me here?”, Luna walked over to Kald holding his chin with her hoof, “So I can learn why magic avoids you, and so that I can make sure nothing like you makes it to Equestria again.”
Kald’s eyes grew wide at her statement as he could feel the hatred in her gaze, Luna laughed, “I see i struck a nerve, but don’t worry everypony will forget you soon enough,” Luna put a carrot in Kald’s mouth, “Now eat, I can't have you dying now can I.”
Kald ate his carrot and looked at Luna with a defiant look on his face, “I won't die here, I have friends and they will find me,” Luna turned to Kald her face filled with anger as she trotted over and kicked him in the stomach, “And why do you say that? Why do you believe you are safe?”
Kald looked into her eyes so she could see his determination, “Because I believe in my friends and still have hope,” Luna kicked him again to which Kald passed out from the pain.
Luna left Kald on the floor and quickly left her room locking her door behind her, “Guard the door, make sure no one get in,” she ordered to one of her Shadow Bolts as she left to go fly, she had to clear her head, Luna didn't like what she was doing but she had to do it, she had to protect her little ponies from what her sister chose to ignore, with tears in her eyes she reached a balcony and took flight into the now night sky.
***********
Twilight and the gang met at Spike’s favorite doughnut shop to talk about what to do next since there had been no clues of where Kald might be.
“Did y’all find anythin’?”, Applejack asked as they all gathered around a table, Twilight and the others shook their heads, “The only thing suspicious going on is Lunas’ Shadowbolts guarding her wing of the castle,” Twilight said with a sigh.
Rainbow Dash began to delve into thought as she heard what Twilight had said, “Something on your mind Rainbow?”, Fluttershy asked in her soft tone.
Rainbows ears perked up, “Yea, yea there is, I wanna know what Luna is trying to hide and i'm gonna find out,” as she began to trot over to the door.
Twilight quickly teleported herself in front of Rainbow Dash to stop her“Wait Rainbow you just can’t just fly into Lunas room,” Rainbow flapped her wings in annoyance, “O yea, and why not?”, Twilight hung her head and sighed, “You remember what Celestia said we can’t raise any suspicion remember, no pony can know what's going on.”
Rainbow tucked her wings back in and snorted, “Ugh I guess you're right, but I need to get up there I gotta know what she’s hiding.”
At that moment Rainbow saw Luna flying away from the castle, “Look,” she called to the others as they all came outside to see what Rainbow was pointing at.
Rainbow looked back to the others and flapped her wings ready to take off, “Now’s my chance,” as she shot off like a bullet into the night heading to the window that lead to Lunas room.
The others watched as Rainbow disappeared into the dark, “Good luck Rainbow,” Twilight whispered to herself as worry began to fill her heart now that two of her friends were in harms way.
***********
Kald slowly began to wake up feeling pain all throughout his body from the magical pressure spell being kept on him and the blows he received from Luna, Kald crawled towards the bed in the room inching his way over and eventually sitting himself up at the foot of the bed.
Kald lowered his head looking down at the floor, Kald looked around the room realizing he was the only one inside and since he wasn't hanging from the ceiling he was relatively comfortable, well as much as he could be anyway.
Kald began to laugh a little to himself as a tear dripped to the floor, Kald wiped away his other tear and gathered his composure, he had to stay strong for his friends, he knew they would come.
“Kald is that you?”, Kald turned to the window his eyes wide with happiness at the Rainbow Dash he saw at the window, “Yes Rainbow it’s me, I knew you would come,” Rainbow flew in the window and trotted over to Kald and gave him a hug.
“Of course we would, we couldn't leave you hangin,” she said as she pulled away and saw the rough shape Kald was in, “By Celestia what has she done too you?” Kald smirked back at her, “This is nothing i’m fine.”
“Come on let’s get you out of here,” Rainbow said as she began to try and pick him up, “You weigh a ton,” she said in struggled grunts as she continued to try and lift Kald.
“That won’t work, Luna is maintaining some kind of magic pressure spell,” Kald said stopping Rainbow Dash from attempting to pick him up.
Rainbow stepped back, “Hey wait here i’ll go get Twilight to help get that spell off you,” as she quickly bolted out the window and out of sight.
Kald attempted to stand but only to collapse onto his knees and fall over, Kald was glad his friends had arrived but he knew it wouldn't be so easy to escape as flying out the window, once Twilight used her magic the Shadowbolts would know something was wrong and there would be a fight on their hands.
Sitting himself back up against the bed Kald waited for his friends to return he knew he needed to rest for what was soon to come.
Rainbow Dash soon returned carrying Twilight on her back, “O my, I am so sorry Kald,” Twilight said sadly, Kald looked over to her with a smile, “Don't worry this isn't your fault,” Twilight walked over to Kald and pointed her horn at him and it began to glow.
“Hmm, this doesn't seem too difficult, give me a second,” Twilight said her horn glowing as she concentrated on breaking the spell being held on Kald.
Soon Twilight's horn grew brighter and there was a flash and the spell was dispersed from Kald.
***********
Luna could feel her spell disperse as she flew through the sky, coming back to reality from her mind she noticed she had flown far past Everfree Forest.
With worry building in her chest she quickly turned around and began to soar back to Canterlot, hoping that nothing terrible had happened in her absence and that Kald had not escaped.
She tried to fly faster but tired from the flight out she settled for the steady pace she managed to maintain.
Her fear began to creep into her mind as she began to doubt herself on the decisions she had made, she found herself wondering if she had made the wrong choice being so cruel and cold to Kald.
Luna shook the thoughts from her mind, now was not the time to worry about that, her ponies needed her and she needed to get back quickly to ensure their continued safety.
***********
Kald went to stand up but sprung up too quickly and fell over, “I’m not used to being so light, this could take some getting used to,” just as fast as Kald had regain himself the door flew open, “Halt, you will not escape,” one of the Shadowbolts said darting after Kald.
Kald quickly spun and picked up the dark pegasus and threw it into the other that had just arrived at the door, “Stop in Luna’s name,” another Shadowbolt yelled as it blocked the window.
Kald turned and spun up his rings, aimed, and shouted, “Impact Bullet,” as Kald unleashed a bullet at the Shadowbolt knocking out of the air.
“Wow so that's what it is,” Twilight gasped amazed at what Kald had just done, “That’s an awesome name for it Kald my man,” Rainbow chimed in.
The sound of galloping ponies and armor clattered through the door as it seem more of Luna’s guards were coming after Kald.
“Quick we gotta get out of here,” Twilight shouted, “I can’t carry both of you out of here,” Rainbow protested.
Kald turned to Rainbow Dash, “take Twilight and go, if you can meet me in the courtyard i’ll give you a distraction from Luna’s guards,” Kald said with an arrogant smile on his face as he ran out the door.
Rainbow quickly grabbed Twilight and flew out the window to go meet with the others, in hopes of making it to Kald in time, Twilight was still mesmerized by Kald’s strange power and at the same time was excited to learn more when the time came.
As Kald ran down the stairs into a small circular room that appeared to be a study, “Stop creature!,” yelled a pair of bat winged pegasi that came down the stairs.
Kald turned and fired off another couple bullets, one connected and knocked the bat pegasi back as the other dodged and took off into the air and darted at Kald talking him at full speed as they both rolled across the floor.
Kald put his foot under the belly of the pegasi and kicked it off of him as they rolled launching it into the wall, as Kald got up he was tackled again from behind by the other to which he twisted his arm and placed his fist to the pegasi’s chest and fired an impact bullet rendering him unconscious.
Kald then got up and began running down a hallway leading out of the study, Kald turned down a few more hallways and down more stairs till he was in the throne room of the castle where more bat pegasi awaited him as well as dark coated colts with purple armor.
“Come on, i’ll take you all at once,” Kald yelled as he jumped from from the staircase, Kald’s rings appeared and began to spin as he readied himself for a fight.
Kald landed in the middle of the room atop of an armored earth pony knocking it to the ground.
Kald spun to kick a pegasus coming at him from behind, but was quickly rammed in the stomach by another and knocked over onto his back.
Kald hopped onto his feet and jumped over to a pillar and kicked off towards a group of unicorns, with their horns glowing ready to attack.
As the unicorns unleashed a barrage of magic bolts, Kald quickly brought his arms up to block.
The force of the impact stopped Kald in his tracks and made him fall to the floor and slide over to the other armor clad ponies.
Kald began to get up, only able to rise to his hand and knees as his rings contracted back to his skin and faded, Kald had become too exhausted to keep up the fight, “We have you now,” Kald heard one of the ponies say, “O no you don’t!”, Kald’s face lit up with a smile at the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash, as he saw her come flying into the mass of ponies taking down a few in an impressive high speed tackle.
“Don’t worry dear you don’t have to fight alone,” Kald heard as Rarity galloped in and punched one of the other earth ponies with her hoof.
Kald felt himself being lifted gently, as he looked over he met eyes with Fluttershy, “I’ll get you to safety,” she said in her soft voice.
“What is the meaning of this!,” one of the dark armored ponies yelled, “By order of Celestia we are here to rescue Kald, now leave him alone,” Twilight said in a commanding voice.
The armored pony just laughed, “We server Luna, your orders from Celestia mean nothing to us,” Twilight glared at the pony who spoke, “then so be it,” is all she said before she quickly shot a magic bolt into his chest rendering him unconscious.
“Ahh, did I miss all the fun?” Pinkie Pie said bouncing into the room a little late for the party so to speak.
Kald laughed a little, “Yea seems that way, but I am sure there is more to come,” Fluttershy carried Kald over to the side of the room and rested him against the wall.
Applejack galloped into the throne room panting as she ran over to where Kald and the rest were, “I came as fast as i could once i got that stuff ya asked for Fluttershy,” she said as Kald noticed the saddle bags at her sides.
“O good, thank you, here drink this,” Fluttershy said as she took a little glass container out of the bag and tipped it up for Kald to drink.
“Wow, I already feel a little better,” Kald said as his eyes widened with amazement as his bodily aches began to fade and he began to feel less exhausted.
“Good, give it a little more time and you should feel almost as good as new thanks to my medicine,” Fluttershy chimed as she took the bottle and placed it back into Applejacks bag.
***********
Once Kald had regained his strength, he stood and stretched a little feeling how refreshed his body felt and, stronger from the lifting of the pressure spell and through the fighting he had done.
“Thank you everpony, i couldn’t have done it without you,” Kald said smiling as he turned to address Twilight and the others, Rainbow glided over and patted Kald on the back, “Ehh it was nothin, couldn’t leave my cool new bud hangin,” Rainbow said as they all shared a short laugh.
Kald looked the throne room door that lead to the staircase that would lead them outside, “Well I guess it’s time to get moving again,” Kald said with a serious expression on his face.
Kald the the other opened the throne room door only at the surprise that there wasn't any resistance waiting for them on the other side, Kald looked around puzzled, “That’s strange, I was sure there would be more,” he said a little worriedly.
“They probably ran away from my pure awesomeness,” Rainbow said as she crossed her hooves looking triumphant, “Hold on Rainbow this does seem strange,” Twilight said cautiously.
Kald began to walk down the stairs with the others following behind as the reached the last door till they made it outside, “Why is it so quiet,” Kald said quizzically to himself as he placed his hand on the door and began to open it.
As the door fully opened, Kald finally saw why there had not been any resistance, in the sky was what looked to be a large tear into nothing that just lead to a white space where there was a large image of what looked like a metallic unicorn face.
Kald quickly ran to the courtyard to join the crowd that had amassed there, Kald quickly found Celestia amongst the crowd next to Luna, “Princess Celestia what’s going on who is that?”
“You, what have you done!,” Luna yelled as she turned to Kald angrily, Kald look at her with innocence, “I have done nothing other than escape you,” Kald said dismissively as he turned his attention back to the pony image in the tear in the sky.
The face turned to where it seemed to be staring right at Kald and spoke, “Good you brought the human, now relinquish him to me so i may rid him from this world, he does not belong,” she said in a booming voice.
Celestia stomped her hoof and spoke, “and who are you to make demands of my kingdom?” Celestia inquired with a commanding royal tone much like the pony in the sky used.
“I am the Dimensional Queen Teresia, and i command the human be turned over to me for purging,” Teresia shouted, Twilight looked in shock, “Teresia, it can’t be, the Princess Teresia from the old pony tales,” Kald turned to Twilight and asked, “what tale?”
“There was a story of how there was another kingdom of ponies very skilled in magic, their princess Teresia was the most gifted of them all, but one day it seemed like she had gone mad, and then a few days later it was like everypony in the kingdom vanished, it was rumored it was from some magic the mad princess Teresia had done,” Kald began to fill with worry at the story that Twilight had told, could this be the same pony.
Teresia turned as she had heard Twilight and Kald’s conversation, “Yes, the princess from the story and I are the one in the same, I learned of other dimensions and saw them for the horrors they were, and since no pony would listen to me, I sacrificed my kingdom and myself to create this dimensional white space separating Equestria from the rest of the dimensions, but this human tore through and must be purged to keep Equestria safe,” at the end of the last word Kald saw Rainbow Dash shoot past his head as she soared into the sky and yelled at Teresia, “You can’t have our friend, who are you to decide if he is a danger or not, he hasn’t harmed anypony!”
Teresia’s gaze turned to Rainbow Dash, “you would defy me young one?”, Rainbow raised herself defiantly at Teresia, “If it means sticking up for my friends then ya,” Kald quickly yelled out, “No wait Rainbow, if it means i can protect everypony, then I will go, I don’t want to see any of you get hurt.”
Teresia laughed, “A noble cause human, but you can not save them, they know to much and must be purged same as you,” Kald clenched his fists in anger, “How dare you, they haven’t done anything wrong leave them alone it’s me you want,” Teresia laughed again, “Fool! I can’t let them know, if they knew of you and other dimensions they will strive to discover them i can not let that happen.”
Kald gritted his teeth at what he was hearing, how could anything be so heartless and controlling, but then Kald heard his friends, “We won’t hand over Kald,” he heard from Rarity, “and we won't go down without a fight,” Rainbow chimed in, “even if the knowledge is dangerous we will decide for ourselves how to handle it,” Twilight said with amazing vigor.
Teresia seemed angry, “You would all defy me?”, Applejack glared up at Teresia, “If it means protectin’ our friends an’ family heck ya we do,” she said as she walked up beside Kald and the others standing tall, Teresia gritted her teeth, “Fine, have it your way, for your insolence the purge will start with ponyville.”
As the sun began to rise to end to Kald’s horrible night, Kald walked forward standing in front of the crowd standing tall and defiant as he stared up at Teresia, “O, something to say human?” Teresia said almost with amusement, Kald narrowed his eyes into an angry glare, “Yea, Bring it on,” is all he said as he spun up his rings and raised a fist to the sky yelling, “I will fight for everypony against your tyranny, you won't get away with this,” Teresia laughed, “Sure are you? Can’t you hear it?”
Kald as well as everypony in the crowd could hear screams from ponyville, Kald turned to Luna with a look of concern, “Luna do you have my satchel, I need it if i'm going to get to ponyville in time,” Luna looked at Kald, “I may not trust you human but,....” Luna made Kald’s satchel appear with a flash of magic as it landed in her hoof and she tossed it to him, “but you are our hope, please help us.”
Kald smirked as he reached into the satchel and threw out his disk and landed on his board and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you down,” as he began flying towards ponyville, Luna looked on as he faded away and whispered to herself, “Good Luck.”
“Come on guys we gotta head back, Kald can’t do this himself,” Rainbow said to Twilight and the others as she sped off in pursuit of Kald, “She’s right, lets go girls,” Twilight shouted as Pinky and the rest began to gallop of back to ponyville.
Celestia walked over to her sister placing a hoof on her shoulder, “You did the right thing here sister, now we need to protect Canterlot, but first please help me round up the guard,” Luna looked at her sister in puzzlement, “The guard?,” Celestia giggled, “Why yes, those seven can’t do it on their own lets send them as much help as we can,” Luna looked at her sister with a smile and nodded, “Right.”
Luna galloped off to gather up troops, as Celestia watched her sister disappear into the castle she looked out to ponyville and wondered if they were prepared for a fight like this, but the thought of Kald and his stubborn and reckless act getting out of the castle made Celestia feel a little more reassured.
Celestia whispered to herself, “Good luck brave Kald, all our hope rests with you,” as she turned to gather her own guard to send to reinforce ponyville.
Chapter 4: Hope For Tomorrow
Chapter 4: Hope For Tomorrow
Diamond Tiara galloped away frantically as three strange metallic looking stallions chased her through Ponyville square. She quickly darted between two buildings only to find a dead end. As she turned around to try and escape, the three ponies were already at the entrance.
Diamond Tiara hunched down and began to cry as the three ponies locked their eyes on her, she screamed at the horrors filling her mind. “Back Off!” Diamond Tiara looked up to see the three ponies get knocked aside as some metal object rammed into them and sent them unconsciously flying through the air. In their place a familiar figure skidded to a stop.
Kald turned to Diamond Tiara with a serious face but quickly smiled. “Don’t worry, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll keep you safe.” Diamond Tiara galloped to Kald and hugged him crying. “Hey Kald!” Kald turned around to where the voices had come from to see the three cutie mark crusaders galloping his way.
“Kald I’m glad we found you! What's going on? Who are these metal ponies, and who is that weird pony in the sky?” the three fillies asked with quivering worry in their voices. Kald looked at them and gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll handle it. I will keep everypony safe, but would you three like to help me?” The crusaders stood up straight as if at attention. “Yea! What can we do to help?” Kald looked around town seeing ponies hiding under carts and running frantically. He knew that he wouldn't be able to fight and calm them down at the same time.
Kald turned to the crusaders, “Can you get everypony calmed down and back into their homes, or at least to a safe place?” the crusaders put a hoof to their heads in salute, “You can count on us.” Applebloom said as the three fillies darted off getting ponies attention and getting them to safety.
Kald looked at Diamond Tiara who had finally stopped crying. “You go with them too ok?” Diamond Tiara wiped her tears away and galloped off after the crusaders, “And stay safe!” he called before catching a glimpse of what seemed like another dimensional tear happening at the bridge just outside of the square near town hall. Kald pulled himself together and took off.
Kald knew he had to hurry to where the dimensional tear was. He had to stop the metallic ponies before they could do any damage.
Kald soon arrived at the site of the tear just in time to see the last of what looked like a group of five earth ponies exit as the tear closed behind them. Kald spun up his rings and fired off an impact bullet, scoring a hit one of them as they began to charge his way.
Kald dropped down and swept the legs out from one as it lunged at him. He then rolled to the side to dodge a vicious stomp unleashed by one of the downed pony’s comrades. Kald quickly rose up from underneath the one that tried to flatten him and roughly threw it at another, causing them to both fall unconscious due to the impact. The previously downed pony sprung to its hooves as it shook off its daze and charged toward the human, bent on bowling him over. Kald saw this however and readied himself, earning a scoff of amusement from the pony. The scoff was soon replaced by a neigh of surprise as Kald grabbed his assailant’s neck and flipped it over the bridge and into the river using its momentum.
“A valiant effort puny human. However, it is all for naught. Give up now and accept your death peacefully.” said the image of Teresia that still loomed in the sky.
“You just wait, I’ll show you. I’ll protect everypony!” Kald exclaimed with confidence. Teresia just laughed as she dispatched another squad of her earth ponies, keeping her gaze on Kald as she did so.
“You are good human, but you are not prepared. You will die alone!” Teresia laughed maniacally as a dimensional tear opened in the sky and metal pegasus ponies began to fly out and head towards ponyville square, Kald saw the crusaders funneling frightened ponies through the square to their homes. “No!” Kald yelled angrily as he spun up the rings on his legs and sprinted off back to town.
***********
Scootaloo looked up to see a metallic pegasus diving towards her at dangerously high speeds, she screamed and began to run. Just as the pegasus was about to catch her, Boom! The pegasus was knocked away by what seemed like a burst of air, sending the pegasus pony crashing into a building.
Scootaloo turned to see Kald standing at the edge of the town square with his rings spinning slightly. Her face brightened at the sight of her savior, but quickly turned to worry as she saw Kald breathing heavily. She could see he was getting tired and knew he couldn’t keep this fighting up alone.
Kald looked up and saw three other metal pegasi. As exhausted as he was, Kald knew he had to do something. Spinning up the rings in his legs again, he smiled to himself at the idea that formed in his head as he prepared to jump. He had always been good at making things up on the go before so why start with a plan now? He laughed a little to himself as he launched himself high into the air using the stored energy of the rings.
Kald soared towards the middle pegasi and grabbed its wing to redirect his jump. Due to his speed, he caused the pegasus to spin mid-air and, once he was right-side-up, jumped off with a harsh kick to its flank so as to engage his next target. As he sent the pegasus spiraling to the ground, he was sure to drag a handful of feathers with him, being sure that the flying pony wouldn’t be able to recover in the air. Unfortunately, the other two pegasi were now alert of him and quickly flew out of his reach, leaving nothing for him to grab but air.
Kald’s heart began to sink as he could feel the pull of gravity take hold of him and looked down to see just how high he was above Ponyville. Everypony looked like specs but were getting larger by the second. Kald turned to see the other metal pegasi as they watched him fall with a sneer adorning their metallic faces.
But to Kald’s surprise and relief he saw the only thing he had hoped to see this far up. In a flash of rainbow, the metal pegasi were knocked away and sent towards the ground, passing by Kald as he continued to fall. He soon felt the strength of a set of hooves under him as Rainbow Dash had once again made it to his rescue.
“Wow, don’t you ever think?” Rainbow asked mockingly to Kald as they began their descent back to the ground. Kald laughed and smiled, “Well, thinking things through has never been a strong suite of mine.” Rainbow and Kald shared a laugh as they finally touched down. “Don’t worry about the ponies in the sky, they’re all mine!” Rainbow said narrowing her eyes and having a dare devil grin stretch across her face. Kald shook his head with a sigh, “I’ll keep everypony safe on the ground.” and with that Rainbow shot off into the sky, taking down another metal pegasus on her way up.
With Rainbow Dash here, Kald knew the others would be close behind. With a breath of relief he turned back to the square to see that almost everyone was back in their homes. Spinning up his rings, Kald ran back towards the town bridge where he saw another tear appear. Even though his body was getting exhausted, Kald knew he only had to keep things up a little longer. On his way to the bridge, Kald had noticed that the ponies he had defeated seemed to have disappeared. Kald wondered where they could have gone but shook the thoughts off. He knew there was no time, he had to focus on the threat at hand.
***********
As Kald kept the metal earth ponies at bay from ponyville, his body grew more and more exhausted. At the moment, there were no enemies and he took what little time he had to lean against a house and catch his breath. All too soon, Kald heard the scream of somepony off near the outer parts of town. Taking one last long breath, he quickly spun up his rings and dashed off in the direction of the scream.
He soon found an aquamarine colored unicorn mare backed to a wall by a metal earth pony. Kald spun up his rings, preparing to fire another impact bullet. He fired but the continuous strain had finally caught up. Once his impact bullet was unleashed, he fell to a knee and caught himself before his face hit the dirt. He looked up to see if the young mare was alright but saw that he had missed his target. He immediately rolled to the side to avoid the metallic pony’s charge. Kald quickly whirled around just in time to block the back-kick sent towards him but the force knocked him on his back.
Kald looked up to see the metal pony standing over him as it raised its hoof and readied himself for the oncoming strike. Just as the hoof was about to connect, TWANG! The metal pony stumbled to the side and fell to the ground.
“Are you alright?” The unicorn asked as she dropped a tree branch from her teeth and offered a helping hoof. “Yes, thank you, uhh,” he started as he accepted her hoof making her giggle. “Lyra, my name is Lyra,” Kald stood and found his footing, “Thank you Lyra, but hurry. You need to return home and stay safe.” the unicorn nodded and darted off. She didn't need to be told twice.
Kald knew he couldn’t fight much longer but forced himself to walk towards town square. He wanted to check and make sure everypony was alright. Before he could get very far, Kald felt a sharp pain in his back and the force from the blow launched him into the air.
Kald turned his head to see a new tear that he hadn’t noticed and coming out of it were metal unicorns. “Are you kidding m- UGH!,” Kald was interrupted as another magic bolt struck him from the side sending him soaring towards ponyville. Instead of crashing into a wall like he expected, he felt himself collide with something fairly soft and was slowing down considerably.
Kald looked around to see Twilight and the rest of his friends once Fluttershy set him down gently on the ground. “I’m glad we got here just in time.” she said in her soft voice. She pulled out a small vial from the saddle bag at her side and handed it to Kald. “Here is a little medicine, it’s not much but I hope it helps.” Kald drank the medicine and thanked Fluttershy as he began to stand back up.
Applejack pushed Kald back down with a hoof, “Oh no you don't pardner’, you sit right here and take a break. You’ve done enough for us already. Let us handle some while ya rest up a bit.” Kald looked at all the serious faces of his friends and smiled, “Thank you.” He said as he sat against the town square fountain. “Oh, I’m not a fighter,” Fluttershy began to trot over to the mass of frightened ponies the crusaders were trying to lead to safety, “but I’ll make sure everypony gets to safety.” Twilight nodded and the four mares galloped off to defend ponyville.
As Kald rested he could slowly start to feel his body regain its strength even though it was still hard to move. “By Celestia look out, she is coming down!” Kald looked to the crowd and saw that they were looking up at the sky. Kald followed their gaze and soon spotted a falling Rainbow Dash. With eyes widening, Kald tried to get up but his body felt so heavy. “No, I have to catch her!” he thought as he struggled to get to his knees, “Come on! Move!” he thought angrily to himself as Rainbow Dash continued to fall.
Rainbow was barely conscious from the blow she took to her head from the flying metal pony. She knew she was falling but couldn’t do anything to stop it. Just as she thought she would soon collide with the ground, it seemed as if something caught her early. It was soft and warm, but it felt like she was still in the air.
Rainbow opened her eyes to see that not only was she not falling anymore, but she was in Kald’s arms in a decent to the ground. Rainbow blushed and laughed a little, “Seems like you saved me this time.” but her words didn't seem to reach Kald. She then noticed the faint green glow in his eyes and the stern, angry expression on his face.
“Are you ok?” Rainbow asked as she was gently placed on the ground. Kald turned to her and said, “Yea, I'm fine, but things are about to get a little more even.” He began to walk away to where Twilight was beginning to have trouble with some metal unicorns.
Kald spun up his rings faster than he had ever before as he continued walking. He raised his hands to his sides as air began to form in the palms of his hands. Kald brought his hands together so that the balls formed together and yelled, “Impact Wave!” A cone of air was blasted from his hands and proceeded to collide with the metal unicorns, sending them flying away in one powerful hit.
Twilight turned to see Kald but as soon as she saw him he was gone, quickly leaping his way to where Applejack and Rarity were.
Kald landed in front of the metal earth ponies and unicorns, impeding their advance towards the two mares. Kald spun up his rings with a confident smirk. Boom! A loud and powerful explosion of confetti and streamers blasted the enemy ponies away.
“Can’t have a party without me and my Party Cannon!” Pinkie Pie cheered walking over with her cannon in hoof. “Well then I guess I’ll get the pegasi.” he said with a smirk as he turned and raised two fists to the air and spun up his rings.
“Impact Bullet Barrage!” Kald yelled as he unleashed a hail of impact bullets rapidly into the sky, bombarding the pegasi with attacks and taking out a good number. One managed to swoop down and collide with Kald at high speed. He was sent sprawling across the ground due to the impressive force and was now a fair ways away from Pinkie and the rest.
The pegasus slammed a hoof down on Kald’s chest forcing all the air out of his lungs as it continued to crush down on Kald. He yelled in pain but couldn't move his body to resist the pegasus.
The metal pegasus raised its hoof and slammed down on Kald’s chest repeatedly, bringing Kald closer and closer to unconsciousness as blood began to escape his mouth.
“Oh no you don’t!” Kald heard an unfamiliar voice yell as he saw the metal pegasus quickly swiped away in a streak of blue and gold.
Kald was helped to his feet by a pegasus wearing a blue suit with what seemed to be gold trim on the hooves and some flight goggles, “Don’t worry, reinforcements have arrived. Wonderbolt Spitfire here,” Kald smiled and thanked Spitfire for her assistance as she took flight to fight the metal pegasi along with her and the other Wonderbolts.
***********
Kald looked close and not only saw the Wonderbolts helping in the fight, but royal guard pegasus were too. As he headed back to town, there were more royal guard ponies and even some town ponies helping fight back what seemed to be a never ending horde of metal ponies.
Rainbow Dash quickly flew over and helped Kald back to the others and sat him down to rest. “I’m glad we got reinforcements, we were almost done for.” he said with relief as he relaxed a little.
Kald noticed Rainbow was staring at him. “What is it Rainbow?” he asked, “Your eyes changed back there. You know when you saved me, but they're normal now, what was that?” Kald shook his head at her question. “I don’t know, I remember seeing you fall and I just wanted to move so bad so I could save you. My body just went by itself.” Kald stared at the rings around his arm wondering to himself what had happened.
“Oh come on, you must know more than that.” Rainbow egged on, Kald just shook his head. “No, I’m sorry I don’t. It was like an instinct, I barely realized I was doing it.” Twilight trotted over to where Kald and Rainbow were talking, “Sorry to interrupt, but we can’t keep this up forever Kald.” Kald looked to see that even with all the ponies they had taken down, there were still just as many if not more.
“I know, but I don’t know how to stop them.” Kald sighed. “Well Dearie I might have a solution.” Rarity chimed in as Kald and the rest turned to listen, “You see I’ve noticed something. Teresia’s big face up there always seems to have some extra pegasi around it. I bet if you could fly through that, you could face her directly. That should stop them.” Kald stared on, surprised by her amazing observation. Kald soon saw a metal object coming his way and reached out and caught it, realizing it was his board. “I found this when I was helping everypony.” Fluttershy said softly. “Thanks this is just what I needed.” Kald said as he put the board to his back and he stood up, transforming it into the twin turbine boosterpack he had made earlier.
“Darling you can't make it by yourself.” Rarity said to Kald, “He won’t be doing it himself,” Rainbow said stretching her wings, “I’ll clear the skies for ya, you just make a straight shot for that dimensional whatever.” Kald looked to Rainbow Dash with surprise and a happy grin on his face. “Yea but that won’t be enough.” Kald said as he retracted the rings on his jetpack and jumped into Pinkie Pie’s party cannon. “Hey Pinkie aim me at Teresia. Rainbow, when I launch, clear them out of the way I'm going in.” Pinkie Pie appeared out from behind the cannon, “Okie Dokie Loki!” she said turning Kald towards Teresia and quickly firing her cannon.
As Kald soared through the air, he saw Rainbow quickly zoom by and clear out the metal pegasi blocking his path. Kald soon spun and deployed the wings of his booster pack and blasted off, hitting the dimensional tear at top speed. Feeling a resistance of what felt like a plastic like material, Kald gave another good burst from his boosterpack and felt the resistance fade. He knew he had busted through and made it to Teresia’s pocket dimension.
***********
“Hey you, wake up!” Kald heard as he was awoken from his nap. He looked at his surroundings in confusion. “Where am I?” he thought to himself. “Hey! No sleeping on the job you worthless peon!” Kald remembered now he was just a nameless peon who worked at a factory assembling parts for machines.
Kald began working on assembling parts again. “Sorry Warden.” he said as the bulky man walked away. Kald got back into his normal routine as he began to slack off again. “What was I doing? Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?” Kald thought to himself again before getting back to work as the warden came by to check on him again.
***********
Teresia laughed maniacally as she showed Kald suspended in a sphere of magic in her pocket dimension. His eyes were in a dazed state as if he were in some sort of trance. Teresia's voice boomed in triumph “See how your hero falls at my power!”
“Why you! What did you do to Kald!?” Rainbow yelled angrily.
“I have locked your hero in a little dimensional illusion. He is trapped within his own mind that I can control and is completely helpless.” Teresia said, laughing at her victory.
“Come on Kald, wake up!” Pinkie yelled at the top of her lungs while hopping up and down. “We need your help, so wake up!” Twilight walked over to Pinkie Pie. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Well isn’t it obvious? Kald is in trouble so we need to help him. I’ll scream and yell at the top of my lungs to get him to snap out of it.” Pinkie replied while still yelling.
Twilight looked back up to the image of Kald in the sky. “Come on girls, we’ve gotta help too.” she said to the others as she joined Pinkie in yelling.
Rainbow quickly flew around houses and to ponies still in the streets. “Come on everypony, Kald needs our help. Yell for him as loud as you can so we can bring him back.” she urged on the other ponies. She noticed that there seemed to be less of the metallic ponies but shrugged it off as her imagination. Once she got everypony she could find to start yelling, Rainbow joined in herself to call for Kald.
***********
Kald put his stuff away as he returned home from work to his little rickety house, but for some reason he couldn’t shake the feeling he was forgetting something important. He tried to ease his mind by laying down in his bed and turned on his radio to hear the broadcast.
Kald lay in the bed trying to relax as the radio scanned channels for a good reception. “Kald you’re awesome!” Kald perked up at what he had thought he heard from the radio but soon only heard static as it kept going through the frequencies.
“Kald the newcomer is the next contestant in this round....” again Kald knew he heard it this time but what was this? He was a nobody, what were these broadcasts? What did they mean?
Kald jumped out of bed and began to run to the factory that he worked at. He had to know, what was it that he couldn’t remember? The warden must know, he had too.
As Kald burst into the factory, the warden was standing in the middle of the assembly room. “What are you doing here? Go back home.” Kald walked over to him and looked the warden in the eye. “Who am I? Why can’t I remember who I was before?” The warden laughed at Kald’s questions. “You can't remember anything because there isn't anything to remember. I dragged you here off the streets and gave you a job.” Kald looked to the ground at his feet pondering if what he heard was the truth.
Kald clenched his fists in anger, there was no way what the warden had said could be the truth. Kald’s eyes strayed to a door he never remembered seeing before; having the words “Keep Out” painted along the top with large letters. Kald wasn’t sure why but he felt drawn to the door, like he knew his answers were behind it. Kald quickly pushed passed the warden in a mad dash to the door.
“Hey brat, stop! You can't go in there!” yelled the warden as he jumped over assembly lines and grabbed one of Kald’s legs. “Let go!” Kald grunted as he struggled to get free of the bulky man’s grasp before kicking the warden in the face, freeing himself of the huge man’s iron grasp. Kald quickly got up and raced for the door, swinging it open once he got to it. Surprised it was unlocked, Kald quickly ran through the door and slammed it shut behind him.
When Kald turned around, he was left in shock. There was nothing here, just empty white space. He turned back around only to notice the door was gone.
“So you made it, I was wondering when you would get here.” said a voice from behind him. Kald turned back around and saw a figure walking his way. Kald tried to see what it was as it got closer but once the mysterious figure finally made it to him, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was as if he was staring in a mirror, the figure looked exactly like him.
The man had a smirk spread across his face at Kald’s wide eyed expression. “Who are you?” Kald asked astonished. The man chuckled and looked him in the eye. “Can’t you tell? I'm you.” Kald’s mouth dropped at what the man just said. “But your eyes are green, you can't be me.” The man laughed again. “Well I guess you could say I'm more like a part of you.” The man walked over to Kald and patted him on the back. “I’m glad you decided to quit wasting time here. You got friends counting on you, don't let them down.” As the man spoke his words, Kald saw an image of six ponies in front of him and then more images of other ponies. “Wait who am I?” Kald said as he turned to look at the man but he was gone, it was as if he never even showed.
“Come on, you already know the answer, now don’t keep them waiting.” said the man’s voice as it echoed through the empty space. “I’ll see you in the mirror kid.” It echoed again with a more joking tone.
Kald looked down at his hands and then back to where the images had appeared. He clenched his fists and looked back to the images with a smile on his face. “He was right, I do know who I am.” Kald said to himself as he walked towards the image of the first six ponies he saw.
***********
“Look, they’re retreating,” said Soarin’ as him and the rest of the Wonderbolts took down a few more metal pegasi before they retreated into the dimensional tear.
The ponies cheered as they saw the full retreat of the metal ponies as everypony began to gather in the town square.
Teresia laughed, “You fools, did you think you had won?,” she said in her booming voice as the dimensional tear that showed her face seemed to shatter. Another tear opened up, one that was directly to her form, the suspended Kald, and a large build up of magic.
Teresia laughed maniacally as she looked up to the giant magic bolt. “This is your doom my ponies, this is my eraser bolt! It will obliterate you and any evidence of this human from existence, starting with your precious human.” Teresia turned her gaze to Kald, “Now watch as he is hopelessly killed in front of your very eyes!” She yelled as she directed her horn forward, causing the magic bolt to descend towards Kald and ponyville.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took off only to be caught by the tail by Applejack. “Let me go! I gotta save him!” Rainbow protested struggling against AJ. “No can do Sugarecube, we just have to stake our hopes that Kald will come through.” Rainbow landed and looked on as the magic bolt was about to come into contact with Kald. “Come on Kald, you can do it,” she whispered to herself.
As the magic bolt went to envelop Kald it seemed to stop and everyponys’ jaws dropped in suspenseful fear. Their fear quickly changed to cheers as they saw Kald’s eyes open.
Teresia’s face twisted with anger. “How, how could you escape my trap? How can you still fight?!” Kald smirked back at Teresia. “Don’t underestimate me, I am capable of way more than you can believe.” Kald replied defiantly. Teresia was taken aback by Kald’s sudden burst of confidence. “But how, you’re just a human.” Kald glared at her and Teresia saw that he had changed. Kald’s iris in his left eye was green and gave off a faint glow. “I am not just a human. My name is Kald Valsarus!” Kald yelled with confidence as his booster pack revved up and blasted Kald forward pushing back the magic bolt.
“I finally understand, my body is resistant to magic which makes it like an armor. My rings and my booster pack run off my body. So as long as I have the will to fight, I can keep going and with my power focused in my hands, I will take this bolt and send it right back at you!” Kald yelled as his rings spun faster allowing him to push the bolt back a little farther.
Teresia gritted her teeth. “No, you will not win!” as she struggled to force the bolt forward, stopping Kald’s advance and slowly starting it back towards ponyville. “Ha! See human you cannot win, it’s over!” Teresia laughed.
Everypony in ponyville watched as Kald struggled to hold back the magic bolt. He was losing ground and the bolt continued to slowly advance towards them.
“Come on Kald, you can do it!” Rainbow yelled. “Yea, you can’t lose! We still gotta party afterwards!” Pinkie added. “And don’t you dare make my hard work on your new clothes go to waste!” Rarity yelled up. More and more cheers continued to join in as everypony started yelling words of encouragement up to Kald.
***********
As the words of his friends and many other ponies reached Kald’s ears, he smirked and glared up to Teresia as the words gave him strength, Kald revved up his rings and booster faster giving propelling him forward enough to stop the bolt in its tracks, “Not yet, you haven't won yet,” Kald yelled at Teresia.
Teresia’s face took on a look of fear. “How? Where do you get this strength? What drives you to fight, you have nothing to fight for!” she yelled at him.
Kald kept holding the bolt at bay. “That doesn't matter, as long as there is a tomorrow I will keep fighting!” Teresia stepped back at his words. “But there is nothing for you, why do you try so hard to protect them? They aren't even your species!”
Kald could feel the booster pack beginning to fail. He moved the rings from his legs and had them attached to the twin thrusters on his pack, spinning them faster and pushing them to their limits. He sent another glare toward Teresia as he struggled to hold the bolt. “Because they're my friends! It doesn't matter who or what they, are I will protect them!”
Teresia stared at Kald, watching as he tried with all his might to hold back the magic bolt headed towards Equestria. “You are alone here, give up! You cannot stop it!" Teresia yelled as she used the last of her strength to push the bolt forward.
Kald yelled as all his rings began to spin faster as he pushed the bolt even harder, seeming as if to stop it's advance once again. "Shut up! My friends are here, they’re right here with me! At my back and in my heart, pushing me on as they believe in me! I can't and won't fail, my friends are waiting for me to come home so I won't give up! As long as I have hope and the will to fight, nothing is impossible!"
Teresia looked at Kald surprised "Do you think you have the will to best me? I sacrificed myself and my own people to protect Equestria! I kept us alive as husks of our former selves in the barrier I created! You don't even know who you are, how can you keep fighting?"
Kald just smirked, "Your right, I don't know my past, but I know who I am right here, right now, at this moment, this minute, this second, and I will keep moving forward. I will fight for the past I have forgotten and for the future that has yet to come, bound together with my new friends and the hope they have placed in me. I fight to give hope for tomorrow!"
Teresia's eyes widened with shock as she yelled with stress in her voice "I already told you, it's hopeless you cannot stop it!"
As Kald was pushed back by the bolt Kald's smirk widened. "You're right, I can't stop it." As he pushed himself back from the bolt, Kald used four of his rings to make a sphere to encircle himself and the magic bolt. The area inside the rings glowed a faint white as both he and the bolt stopped moving.
“What are you doing?” Teresia asked with a look of shock. “I created a stasis field with my rings to hold me and your bolt in place.” Kald laughed. “Was this your plan all along?” she snarled getting Kald to laugh again. “Nope,” he replied as he made the rings making the stasis field spin faster, making the bolt discharge in the ring. “I’m just making this up as I go.”
Teresia looked at Kald angrily, “What are you doing to my bolt?” Kald simply smirked back at her. “I’m accelerating the particles in the stasis field.” Kald used the other four rings and created a funnel from the bolt to his chest. “And now I'm going to break down your magic down into raw magic and force it inside my body.” Kald said as the four funnel rings began to spin at high speeds, all opposite of each other tearing the bolt apart and breaking it down.
Kald gritted his teeth as the magic was forced into his body, “With the stasis field accelerating my particles into an open state, I can use the other rings to completely break down your magic and force it inside me. Like you said, I can’t stop it, so the next best thing is absorbing it. I will bear this world’s burden on my own two shoulders!” Kald yelled as he gritted his teeth and began to scream at the increasing pain from more and more magic being forced into his body.
Teresia watch in shock at what Kald was doing. She couldn’t believe that one would go so far to protect something they don’t belong to. Teresia felt something stir in her chest, something she thought lost long ago, something she had forgotten.
As the final bits of magic were forced into Kald, the rings disbanded and disappeared leaving Kald and Teresia face to face in the air. Kald’s arms went limp down at his sides as he looked up to Teresia and smiled as his eyes closed. A few seconds later he began to fall backwards and down towards ponyville.
Kald was barely conscious as he felt himself falling through the sky. “Oof!” Kald exhaled as he felt an impact to his stomach. “Don’t worry I got ya.” He heard Rainbow say. Kald opened his left eye and turned his head to Rainbow who looked surprised, “Thank... you,” Kald managed to say before slipping into unconsciousness with a smile.
***********
Rainbow Dash landed and laid Kald down amongst everypony. “Twilight he’s not dead is he?” Rainbow asked frantically. Twilight trotted over and put an ear to Kald’s chest. Silence fell as everypony waited for Twilight’s answer.
Twilight lifted her head, “No Rainbow Dash, Kald’s not dead. He’s just unconscious.” A sigh of relief released amongst the crowd as everypony was relieved at the news.
“Why you! Come ‘ere’”, Applejack yelled as she galloped towards Teresia as she landed behind the group of ponies “Whoa, Applejack.” Twilight said as she lifted AJ up with her magic and floated her back to the group. Teresia raised a hoof and spoke, “I no longer mean you harm ponies,” Rainbow snorted. “Yeah right, like we would trust you.” she said with a glare. “Wait, I know it’s strange but I can tell she is telling the truth.” Twilight said stopping Rainbow Dash.
Teresia walked over to the group of ponies. “Magic is strong in you I see, to be able to sense my intent.” Twilight looked at Teresia skeptically. “So why have you decided to stop your attack?” she asked.
Teresia looked at Kald lying unconscious on the ground with a smile still on his face. “Because this human reminded me of something I had forgotten about long ago. Something I never dreamed I would feel again.” Twilight looked at Teresia puzzled at what she had said. “What’s that?” Teresia looked at Twilight, who saw that Teresia was different then before. She now had iris’s returning to her eyes and that emotion was now showing. “Hope... this human reminded me of hope. I now see that my actions were wrong.”
“So what will you do now?” Twilight asked, Teresia looked up to the sky. “I will look for a way to turn my kin back to normal, even if I must travel all across Equestria and through different dimensions in order to discover a way.” Twilight was again surprised at the new found emotions of Teresia, “But what about the white space?” Teresia looked back to Twilight. “I no longer have the magic required to sustain the white space. Kald has taken much of my magic and I am severely weaker for it. But as for you, may I share my dimensional knowledge with you?”
Twilight perked up with interest. “Of course but how?”
Teresia’s horn began to glow with a silvery aura. “If you would allow me, I will use my magic to give you everything I know of dimensional magic.” Twilight lifted her horn to touch Teresia’s, accepting the knowledge she was willing to share.
There was a flash and Twilight took a step back. “Wow, I never imagined it was even possible. this wealth of information is fascinating.” Teresia smiled at Twilight. “Yes it truly is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight looked at Teresia with shock. “How did you know my name? I never told it to you.” Teresia gave a slight giggle. “No you didn’t but sharing knowledge is not strictly a one way street. While our minds were connected, I obtained the knowledge of your name.” Twilight stood amazed at what she was told fascinated, with hopefully learning this herself one day.
Teresia looked again to Kald. “I regret that I cannot undo what that brave human has done to himself.” Twilight looked at Teresia confused. “What do you mean?” she asked getting a sigh from Teresia. “I’m sure you could feel that Kald was not a magical creature, forcing in so much magic into his body will surely kill him.” Twilight looked to Kald with worry in her eyes,
“Is there nothing that can be done?,” Teresia shook her head, “I’m sorry Twilight. I must leave you now to attend to my injured kin while my dimension still stands, till we meet again Twilight.” Teresia nodded her head to Twilight as she took flight and disappeared into a dimensional tear.
Twilight looked back at Kald as she walked over to the group of ponies, “Come on girls, let’s get Kald back to the library so he can rest. He’s has had a long day.” she said somewhat uneasily to her friends, wondering if what Teresia said was true. What would happen to Kald in the next few days?
Chapter 5: A New Perspective
Chapter 5: A New Perspective
Kald slowly began to open his eyes, seeing the familiar site of Twilight’s tree library around him, Kald smiled to himself as he sat up to see he was lying on Twilights bed.
Kald looked over the side of the bed to see all of his friends asleep on the floor, with Rainbow Dash right next to the bed, Kald looked around for his glasses, giving up trusting his blurred vision would be enough, but it did seem better than it used too.
Kald quietly got out of the bed and went down stairs careful not to wake anyone as he went to the calendar Twilight kept around the library to see what day it was, to Kald’s surprise it had been three days since he fought with Teresia.
Kald walked over to a nearby mirror and looked himself over noticing he seemed to have no injuries, but upon closer inspection Kald noticed the iris of his left eye had turned to a dark green.
Smiling to himself Kald closed his eye and raised his hand covering his right eye and opened his left eye to see it staring back at him in the mirror with it’s new green color, “I see you” he said to himself.
As Kald turned to head to the fridge to get something to snack on, his chest suddenly started to hurt, he paused for a moment putting a hand to his chest as a wave of pain hit him knocking the air from his lungs and forcing him to the floor.
Kald grasped at his chest as if he could grab the pain and get it away, as another wave of pain hit him Kald fell over onto his side, feeling as if his body was on fire and his heart was being squeezed.
Kald soon was able to breath as the pain receded a little, Kald stood up with a hand still on his chest wondering what had just happened to him.
Kald heard footsteps coming down the stairs, he began to walk back to the stairs to meet whoever was approaching
As Spike reached the end of the stairs and saw Kald, he jumped from the stairs and latched on to Kald’s arm in a hug, “Kald you're awake, this is great lets go tell everyone they will be so happy and.....,” Kald cut Spike short and hugged the little dragon back, “I’m glad to be awake too buddy, but let’s let them get some sleep and i’m sure you could use some too,” Kald said with a smile.
Spike yawned as he let go of Kald, “Yea your right. Hey I heard a crash before I came down here what was that?” Kald looked at Spike and laughed quietly, “O, I just fell is all,” Kald said as he and Spike began to walk back up the stairs to go to bed.
Although the pain had subsided there was still some sort of weight in Kald’s chest, as he laid down in his bed to sleep he really began to ponder what was going on and if this was from what he had done with Teresia’s magic.
***********
Kald awoke the next morning to excited chatter coming from the bottom floor of the library.
Kald got up from his couch and put on his glasses and walked downstairs to find everyone talking to Spike.
Pinkie Pie was the first to notice Kald and quickly bounce over and land ontop of him in greeting.
“Kald, your finally awake, do you know what this means?” Pinkie said as she stared at Kald, “What?” Kald replied hastily, “Duh, it means it’s time for a party!” she exclaimed joyfully.
Twilight stepped forward to interrupt Pinkie before she got too carried away, “Calm down Pinkie, we don’t need to overwhelm all at once,” she said as she helped Kald to his feet, “So how are you feeling?”, Kald laughed and ruffled her mane, “I’m fine Twilight don’t worry so much”.
Twilight stepped back from Kald so as to keep her mane intact, “Are you sure? Nothing seems off too you?”, Kald smiled, “Nope, everything is ok,” he said while stretching to emphasise his point.
“So now that i'm awake, what have I missed since I was asleep?” Kald asked everyone only to be interrupted by his stomach growling.
“First seems, like you need something to eat,” Rainbow Dash jibbed at him as she nudged Kald in the side with her hoof, “Here let me get ya something,” she stated as she darted out of the room.
Rainbow had returned as quickly as she had gone with a sandwich in hoof, “Here, I know you like these,” she said handing Kald the sandwich.
Kald smiled as he accepted the sandwich and began eating it, “So, tell me, what happened to Teresia?” Kald asked between bites.
“She ceased her attack and left to try and find a way to transform herself and her ponies back to normal,” Twilight said as she began to pack a bag, Kald smiled to himself as he finished his sandwich, “I’m glad she found a new goal to chase after.”
“Kald dear,” Rarity began as she trotted over and stared at Kald with a hoof on her chin, “One of your eyes have changed color, are you sure you're alright?” at this comment everypony crowded around Kald and looked at his eyes, “Yea, your left eyes green now” AJ said pointing her hoof at Kald.
“It’s fine,” Kald said reassuringly, “Infact, I feel that it’s a good thing, i'm slowly starting to remember some things about where i came from,” he said standing to try and escape everyponies lingering eyes.
“Really what do you remember?” Fluttershy asked quietly, Kald seemed to lose himself in thought as he recalled some of his memories, “I remember some of my old friends, like Blanne, he was a cool guy who always loved a challenge and was very athletic, another friend of mine, Zak was a real character, he and I hung out alot and we were worked together in a labratory. I can remember I used to be a scientist and me and Zak used to prank all the others for fun when we weren't busy,” Kald came back from reality as he drew himself away from his thoughts.
“Wow, seems you have some great friends back home dear,” Rarity assured him, “Yea and I like the sound of that Zak guy I wonder what kinds of pranks he could show me,” Pinkie said excitedly.
Kald smiled at their comments but finally noticed Twilight finishing her packing, “Hey Twilight, you going somewhere?” Twilight snapped the bag shut and turned back to Kald, “Yea, I’m heading back to Canterlot to continue my studies on dimensional magic, Teresia was kind enough to lend me some of her knowledge but i still have some practice and research to do so I might be gone a while but take care of the library and Spike for me ok.”
“No problem,” Kald said with a thumbs up, “Good, well i’m off then,” Twilight said as she walked out the door.
Kald turned back to the rest of the group, “So, lets spend the day catching up since I have been out for a while.”
“O, splendid idea darling,” Rarity complemented, “How bout a picnic at the lake,” Fluttershy suggested.
Kald thought for a moment, “Sounds good, but i’ll need someone to show me where the lake is,” Rainbow flew over to Kald’s side and put a hoof on his shoulder, “Don’t worry I got ya covered.”
“Great then we can all meet there in about an hour, i’ll bring snacks,” Pinkie said as she bounced off to get ready.
***********
As dusk began to set, Kald and the gang packed up the picnic and began the walk back to town.
Kald was deep in thought, wondering if Twilight was making any progress in finding his home, despite his distractions he couldn’t shake the thoughts in his head over what might be wrong with him from the odd experience that morning.
As everypony began to depart for their homes, Kald told Spike he would meet him back at the library and departed to walk around for a while.
Kald didn't notice where he was going as there was a rising pain inside him, Kald soon collapsed to the ground, his body burning and aching.
“What is this? What’s happening to me?” Kald thought to himself as he barely held on to consciousness as he could feel his strength fading, as Kald slowly slipped away into unconsciousness.
***********
Kald awoke sometime in the night, glad that he could keep this a secret from his friends, he didn't want them to worry and Kald knew he would be able to figure this out when he got home, he had too.
Kald dusted himself off and began running back to the library, “I hope Spike didn't stay up too late, if Twilight found out she would kill me,” he joked to himself as he opened the door to the library.
Kald was tackled in a hug from Spike upon his return, “Thank Celestia your safe, after you didn't come home for a while i tried to find but no one had seen you so I started to get worried.”
Kald got up laughing, “I’m fine Spike I just took a nap for longer than expected.”
“O well that's, good,” Spike said with a yawn.
“Come on Spike, lets get some rest,” Kald urged on as he walked up the stairs to the bedroom.
“You don't have to tell me twice,” Spike said with sleepy enthusiasm as he and Kald went to go get some needed rest.
***********
“Kald! Wake up! Kald” Spike yelled as he furiously shook Kald awake.
“Yes yes i’m up, what's going on?” Kald said groggily, as Spike thrusted a letter into Kald’s face.
As Kald read the letter his face began to light up, “No way, she figured it out!” he yelled as he picked up Spike in an excited hug.
“Yea, I thought that would make you happy. Twilight wants us in Canterlot by tomorrow,” Spike said putting up the letter.
“We gotta tell everypony, I want you all too see my home,” Kald said enthusiastically as he ran out the door.
As Kald ran through town with excitement he could feel his heart racing, his home was so close, he could remember his house and the front porch and he could remember the feel of laying on his favorite couch.
As Kald approached Rainbow’s mailbox, he threw the booster pack onto his back and was preparing to take flight when he felt the racing in his heart stop and become a weight inside his chest as his body grew heavy and he collapsed to the ground.
Kald could hardly breath as he felt his chest grow heavy and tighten, Kald made himself stand and prepare to take off as he felt the pain subside although he still felt heavy.
Kald kicked off the ground as his newly repaired booster pack kicked in and propelled him up to Rainbow’s house, his trip cut short however as Rainbow was already on her way down from her house.
“Hey Kald what's up?” she asked in greeting.
“Rainbow can you help me round up everyone at the library i have a huge announcement,” Kald said bursting with excitement.
“Yea sure, no problem, but first I gotta have a rematch. Race ya to the library.” she said with confidence.
“Your on,” Kald taking the challenge as they both took off with blinding speed towards the library.
As they raced through town Kald was ahead with Rainbow closing in, Kald rounded a building almost clipping a wing of his booster pack, he could feel his chest tighten and the pain rising he knew it was going to be impossible to maintain control at high speeds like this.
Kald slowed down his speed as he rounded another building, giving Rainbow the lead, with the Library in sight the mad dash to the finish was all that was left.
Rainbow did a quick lap around the Library as she landed in front of the door in a triumphant pose, “Looks like i got fast enough to beat you huh,” she said proudly.
Kald landed and gave her a smile, “Seems you did but don't let that go to your head,” he said as they shared a laugh.
“Can you go round up the others Rainbow, I need a break after that,” Rainbow looked at Kald a little surprised, “You need a break after just that? Well I guess it’s fine, it’s not everyday you get to see somepony as awesome as me,” Kald laughed and waved as she flew off to tell the others.
As Rainbow Dash disappeared in the distance Kald sat next to the door to await everyone’s return, needed a rest from the strange stress his body has been going through.
***********
Kald awoke from his short nap when Rainbow dash returned with the rest except for AJ, “Hey where’s AJ isn't she going to come?”.
Rainbow scratched her head, “She was but she has alot of work to do at Sweet Apple Acres, she doesn't think she can make it.”
Kald thought for a moment, “Well, why don’t we go help her get done early so she can come with us, if we all help i'm sure we can get done in no time!”
“Now you talkin,” Rainbow said as they all departed to Sweet Apple Acres to help Applejack.
***********
Upon their arrival to Sweet Apple Acres, the group quickly found AJ at work in the fields, “Hey AJ! We’re here to help!” Kald yelled across the orchard.
Applejack finished bucking some apples from a nearby tree, “Shucks, y’all don't gotta help me with this,” she said between breaths as she was clearly winded from an extensive amount of apple bucking.
“Come on AJ, we get to see Kald’s home tomorrow we can't let you miss that,” Rainbow said as she placed a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder.
“Yea, and besides I can't go home without the gang all together,” Kald said giving AJ a smile, “So what do you need us to do?”
“Well, I gotta harvest all the apples in this field and fix the wheel on Big Mac’s wagon as well as fix the barn door,” Applejack listed off.
“Well let’s get started then,” Kald said stepping up to a nearby tree and spinning up his rings he pulled his arm back and let loose a low power Impact Bullet at the tree shaking down the apples into the buckets below, at his first success he turned back to the rest, “Well what are we waiting for lets get to it,” he challenged as he ran to knock down more apples.
Kald made quick work of a few more trees, with his enhanced strength from his rings he swiftly kicked, punched, and blasted apples out of trees and spun back to the gang with a confident smirk on his face.
At this the rest of the gang all galloped off to get to work, Rainbow Dash flying and bucking trees at blinding speeds was making quick work of the apples especially with the help of Fluttershy all the apples were quickly gathered.
Kald could feel the pressure in his chest again, it seemed the rings made whatever was wrong with him even worse, he could feel the strength leaving him as he continued to help fix the wagon making sure not to let on to his friends that he was in pain.
As Applejack hit in the last nail with her hoof to fix the wheel, Kald lost his grip and dropped the wagon down hard.
“You ok sugarcube?” AJ asked as she helped Kald off the ground.
Kald dusted himself off, “Yeah. I just need a little break is all.”
“Well looks like we are all done here since Pinkie fixed the barn door. Lets head back to the library and rest up till tomorrow,” AJ said with a smile as the gang gathered for the walk back to town.
***********
As the gang settled in the library Kald noticed the time and that they had missed the train for Canterlot today, so the trip would have to wait till tomorrow but at least they would have time to rest up and make the trip early tomorrow.
“Sorry I made y’all miss the train,” said Applejack as she took off her hat and got comfortable.
Rainbow Dash flew over to the couch and relaxed, “Ehh don’t worry about it AJ, we can catch the train tomorrow.”
Kald stretched and leaned against the couch, “Yea. Don't worry we will have plenty of time.”
“Oh, i'm just so excited to see your world Kald, it must be so beautiful,” Fluttershy said as she laid on the floor.
Rarity neatly got into the guest bed ensuring that it stayed neat, “Darling I can’t wait to see your home it must be marvelous.”
Pinkie bounced her way atop Twilights unoccupied bed and bounced around ecstatically, “Oh, I can't wait to meet your friends Kald. Oh! And you gotta show me some of your sweets.”
Kald chuckled at all of their enthusiasm to see where he came from, “I can’t wait to see it for myself you know,” he said with a yawn.
“Better get some shuteye so we can be well rested fer tomorrow,” AJ said as she laid down with a yawn.
Rarity used her magic and turned out the lights, “Yes dear we don't wanna be late.”
***********
The sky was clear and the sun shining bright as the train went its way along the track on the way to Canterlot.
Kald looked out the window and saw all the beautiful scenery and ponyville off in the distance, everything was so peaceful, Kald turned his attention back to his friends in the train car as they were all talking excitedly except for Rarity who was concerning herself with her outfit as she rustled through her many bags for accessories and such to make her outfit perfect.
“Come on Rarity, you have been trying on stuff for hours and why did you bring all that stuff anyway,” Rainbow said as she packed away some of Rarity’s things that had gotten tossed about the train car.
Rarity wore a look of shock, “Well of course I have. This is my first time going to a new world and meeting new creatures, I simply must look my best.”
Kald laughed and walked over to Rarity and put a hand on her shoulder, “Just pick something Rarity, it will be fine.”
Rarity finally settled on her apparel by the time the train pulled into Canterlot station.
Kald was the first to step off, and with a smile on his face. He was glad to finally step into canterlot without a hostile or unpleasant greeting. Pinkie bounced ahead of him, “Come on everypony! We got a castle to get too.”
Kald followed Pinkie with the rest behind him, Kald look around marveling at the sight of Canterlot and all of it’s beauty. It was funny, he thought to himself that even though he had been here before he never got to appreciate how beautiful it all was.
As they approached the door to the castle Twilight was there to greet them all with hugs, “It’s so great to see everyony again, sorry my work took so long.”
“Don’t worry about it Twilight i’m just happy I will be able to see my home again thanks to you,” Kald said while he hugged Twilight.
Twilight turned back to the Castle and motioned for everyone to follow, “No need to keep them waiting, let’s get this started.”
Twilight lead the way to the throne room where Celestia and Luna awaited them. Kald looked over to Luna who averted from his gaze, Kald figured there might still be harsh feelings.
“Are you ready to get started Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia asked as she and Luna approached Twilight.
Twilight positioned herself in the center of the throne room, “I’m ready princess, let’s get started.”
Celestia and Luna took their places beside Twilight. Twilight began to cast her magic making it swirl in front of her and the princesses, Luna and Celestia both began to intertwine their magic with Twilights making the magic swirl faster as it changed colors rapidly and began to grow in size.
Kald watched, wide eyed with amazement at the display of power and control that the three displayed in the spell they were performing. Kald’s amazement was soon interrupted when he heard his name, “Kald!” he heard bringing himself out of his daze.
“Kald, I need you to touch the portal to complete the spell,” Twilight said without ever breaking focus on the spell, Kald walked forward and went in between the unicorns and stood facing the portal, “Now Kald! Place your hand on the portal,” and with that Kald raised his hand and laid his palm on the swirling magic in front of him, it felt strangely solid for a moment and then it sparked around his hand singeing his hand as he pulled it back.
The portal began stopped swirling and rested peacefully for a moment as Twilight and the princesses stopped casting their magic, soon the portal pulsed sending ripples through it, “It’s ready Kald, you home is on the other side of this portal, all we have to do is walk through.”
Kald stood amazed at what was before him, through this dark purple and sparkling portal was his home. Kald began to tremble as he stepped close to it and stared. A hoof came to rest on his shoulder, “We will all be right behind you,” Celestia assured him.
Kald took a deep breath, “Alright then lets go,” he said as he stepped through the portal with the others quickly following. Kald could feel the massive build up of anticipation and excitement in his heart.
***********
As Kald stepped out of the portal to the other side his heart fell as he stared he didn't understand anything before him. As he looked on he couldn't believe his eyes, nothing was as he remembered.
The rest of his friends stepped out of the portal behind him with Celestia and Luna being the last to come through, as the portal shrank to nothing more than a small orb floating in the air.
“I..... I don't understand,” Kald began to say as he started to walk.
Twilight followed Kald and taking in her surroundings, “This is nothing like what you described,” she they continued on.
Kald stopped and looked around with wide eyes, “This can’t be,....... this can't be my home,” he said with despair as he took in the view of the black, ashy, desolate waste before him, where building stood there was only rubble and ash much like what they stood in now, there was nothing but the sound of the wind.
Twilight turned to Kald and saw the sadness in his face, “I’m sorry Kald, this is correct the portal used your genetic signature to open this place, this is where you are from.”
Rainbow lightly landed next to Kald making a puff of ash rise up and blow away, “Kald I,....” she said as he began to walk off again.
As Kald walked on he heard a crunch under his foot and picked up what seemed to be a burnt piece of newspaper, the title read, “People Revolt Against Government Betrayal of Local Hero” Kald’s head ached as his memory began to come back, he dropped the newspaper as he began to remember.
“What does this title mean?” Twilight asked as she read the paper, Pinkie bounced over to read it too “Yea, what's a government?”.
Kald turned to them, “A government is a group of people we elected to be our leaders.”
Rarity saw the hard look in Kald’s eyes, “Dear have you remembered something?”
Kald averted his gaze down to his hand and then to the piece or paper, “I remember what happened now. I was a self proclaimed superhero, I invented nanobots that I injected into myself originally with the purpose of fixing a brain degeneration problem i gave myself from a lab accident during my interdimensional research. To my surprise not only did they do that they amplified my body by allowing me to control the energy my body produced, I became stronger, faster, and even smarter than I was before, and with enough concentration and control I could fire concentrated blasts of energy, although a side effect was that the iris’s of my eyes had turned green. With this new discovery i invented that hover board that ran off my energy, the same way the nanobots did, a friend of mine helped perfect it to optimize it's performance, I always thought it was funny that I could never quite get my own invention to work right. I took to being a local vigilante and helped many people. But my power attracted unwanted attention from a neighboring nation who launched an attack on my nation, the government had me go to try and stop a devastating missile headed for us. I hurriedly accepted in order to protect everyone, but during my interception of the missile the government fired an interceptor missile at me in order to be sure to stop the missile off the coast line. I knew that if I didn't do something about the explosion it would hit the coast and harm innocent people, so I created a stasis field around myself and the missiles when they collided and in the chaos of it all it imploded throwing me to your world.”
Kald walked a few more steps looking around, “There must have been another attack after that, and without me here and the people rebeling there was nothing to stop it.”
Fluttershy hugged Kald, “That’s awful just awful, i’m so sorry,” Kald walked out of the hug and kept looking around the rubble they were in.
Applejack walked over to Kald and watched as he kept walking around and looking, “What are you looking for sugarcube?”
Kald began to pick up his pace searching furiously, “I don't know. I just feel like there is something I haven't remembered yet,” as he tossed a piece of rock over and walked forward something cracked under his foot. Kald knelt down and picked up a cracked frame that had ash all over it, but he could see himself in the photo, he removed the photo from the frame and began to wipe off the ash.
Twilight and the rest caught up too Kald, “I think we should head back, we don't wanna stray too far from the portal,” Twilight then noticed Kald was holding something in his hands, “What’s that?”
Kald looked up to his friends with tears in his now green eyes, “I remember,... everything,” as he dropped to his knees crying and holding the photo out from himself so that his tears wouldn't get it wet.
Rainbow flew over to try and comfort Kald, “So who is that with you in the picture?”
Kald’s tears began to flow faster, “That’s.... my wife,.... her name was Lita.”
The ponies were all shocked at Kald’s words, and could not imagine the pain Kald was in, having to rediscover who he was only to find that everything is gone.
Kald’s rings appeared around his arms and began to spin as he cried, he clutched the photo in his left hand as he balled his right into a fist. As he screamed out into the sky he stood and threw a punch forward launching an impact bullet into the sky so hard that it laid Kald flat on his back. The impact bullet soared away and glowed in the sky like a star, as Kald lay on the ground with tears still streaming down his cheeks he turned his head to face his friends, “Do you think it reached her?”
With her subjects speechless at the display they just witnessed Celestia walked over to Kald, “Of course it did, and i’m sure she is happy to see it.”
“That’s,...... good,” Kald said as he closed his eyes.
Celestia noticed Kald’s breathing had slowed, “Kald?” she poked him with her hoof to no avail, Kald wasn’t moving, “Kald are you alright?”
Twilight quickly galloped over, “Kald!? Kald wake up!” she shook him with her hooves with no effect on Kald. Twilight pressed her ear to his chest and could hear a weak heartbeat as well as Kald’s troubled breathing. “It must be the magic he absorbed from Teresia. She warned me he would suffer from it. Quick we have to go back, we have to help him.”
Rainbow and AJ lifted Kald onto Celestia’s back as they went back to the orb and reopened the portal to travel back to Equestria.
***********
As they all arrived back in the throne room of Canterlot Castle, Celestia lightly laid Kald onto the floor.
Twilight stood over Kald and turned to Celestia, “Princess isn’t there anything we can do for him?”
Celestia put a wing around Twilight, “There is a spell I know but it will require alot of magic in order to be done, and since we would have to cast more magic than Kald’s body could reject we would need a gem as a focusing point. Sadly we don’t have that kind of time.”
Rarity started rummaging through her bags quickly throwing stuff everywhere, “Rarity, what are you doing?” Twilight asked as she dodged some of Rarity’s things, “You said you needed a gem right? Well it just so happens i have an emerald in here I was going to give to Kald as a present but this seems much more important,” as she pulled out the emerald from her bag and used her magic to levitate it over to Celestia who gladly accepted it.
“Rarity would you assist me with this spell as well?” Celestia asked looking over to Rarity.
Rarity stammered on her words, “Of course princess,... but... I don’t know how to perform such a spell.”
“Do not worry, all you need do is focus your magic into the emerald along with Luna, Twilight, and myself and I will handle the rest,” Rarity shook her head, “Of course I will help princess.”
Celestia hovered the Emerald directly over Kald as she, Luna, Rarity, and Twilight circled him in preparation for the spell, before anything started Twilight looked to Celestia, “Princess, what exactly will this spell do?”, Celestia sighed, “It will turn him into an Equine like us, turning him into a magical creature so that his body will no longer reject the magic within him.”
Applejack spoke up, “But how will that solve it, what if he turns into an earth pony or a pegasus, we don't have magic.”
“That is where you are wrong Applejack, all ponies have magic be they a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony we all have magic. Think back to the elements of harmony and how it brought out the magic in all of you. Unicorn’s may be the only ones who can control magic but we all have it inside,” Celestia said as she turned her attention back to the task at hand. Celestia’s eyes turned completely white as her magic began to fill the emerald and begin the spell, “Please direct all of your magic into the gem and we shall begin.”
Luna’s magic joined her sisters connecting to the gem as well as Twilight and Rarity, and with the magic connections complete Celestia started the process of the transformation spell as a gold trail of magic began to seep down from the emerald and begin to cover Kald, sparking as it made contact.
Kald awoke yelling from the sudden shock of the magic and the pain from his body trying to reject the magic that was being forced on him, with fear and tears in his eyes Rainbow flew into his view, “I’m sorry Kald don’t worry we are trying to help,” Kald locked eyes with Rainbow Dash as he gripped his photo tighter and passed out with another set of tears going down his cheeks.
As the spell continued Celestia forced more magic onto Kald, due to the massive resistance of his body, the process was slow but soon Kald’s entire body was bathed in the golden magic and soon the cocoon of magic thickened until you could no longer see Kald and once it touched the gem there was a bright flash of light. Celestia and the others stopped casting their magic to turn away from the bright light.
When the light had died down there was a golden glow coming from the magic cocoon which slowly dimmed and faded with no trace of the emerald and in the cocoons place, laying on the ground was a green unicorn that wore a small dark green jacket and glasses with black ruffled mane and a short messy tail accompanied by a blank flank.
They all gathered around Kald, Twilight looked him over, “Princess did it work right? I thought he would have been an earth pony,” Celestia thought for a moment, “I thought the same Twilight but it would seem the magic within him forced his transformation to be a unicorn.”
Luna cleared her throat in order to gain attention, “I believe we should get him his own house in Ponyville,” Celestia looked at her sister with surprise, “This is unexpected of you sister, have you finally begun to trust him,” Luna tried to avoid their gazes, “I only think it would help him feel more accepted here, since we did just change him to one of us it would be comforting for him to have his own home.”
Celestia put a wing around Luna and turned to face the others, “I think that would be a wonderful idea sister. Let’s give Kald a home for him to wake up in.”
***********
Kald finally awoke in some strange building, it appeared to be someones house, he was on a couch and could see there was a nice rug on the floor and a vanity with mirror near the door. Kald tried to get up but seemed to have problems moving and fell to the floor, when he reached up to rub his head he didn't find a hand but a hoof instead.
Kald stared at it for a while then attempted to stand up again only to fall over once more but catching himself on the vanity and what he saw in the mirror was not the him he knew but instead a unicorn. Kald put a hoof to the mirror confirming that it was infact him he was seeing, but he couldn't hardly believe it. Kald soon noticed the picture of him and Lita in a stunning new frame that was lined with gems standing next to his hoof on the vanity, he grabbed it between his hooves as he sat on the floor with tears coming to his eyes.
The door swung open as Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight walked in the door and at the sight of Kald Rainbow swooped in for a tackle hug, “Kald! You're awake!”
Twilight and Pinkie quickly trotted over to join in the hug, “I’m so glad your ok” Twilight said as she backed off from the hug along with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie still remained in the hug, “Oh gosh. I thought you would never wake up, you had been asleep for so long and i’ve been wanting to talk to you but you couldn't and we kept checking up on you and you just kept sleeping. But i'm glad you're awake now do you like your house?” Kald finally got released from Pinkie’s hug and looked to them quizzically, “This is my house?”
Pinkie twisted her head upside down, “Well duh, everypony needs their own house. So since you were asleep everypony in Ponyville helped to build you one.”
Kald looked around and then back down to the framed photo as he traced the figure of Lita with his hoof.
“O! We also brought you food and all kinds of snacks,” Pinkie said as she darted out the door and back again with bags of food.
Kald got up slowly getting used to his new pony form, “You said I was asleep. How long was I asleep?”
Twilight looked over at a calendar hanging on the wall, “It’s been five days since you passed out from the transformation spell, so we brought food this time to stock your house incase you woke up and were hungry.”
Kald sat back down on the couch dangling his back legs off the side and using his front legs to keep balance, “Why did you turn me into a unicorn?”
Twilight scratched her head nervously, “Well we had to transform you into an Equine to stop you from dying we didn't know you would become a unicorn. Honestly i thought you would have been an earth pony.”
Kald just looked down taking in her words, “Why did you transform me at all, why didn't you just let me die. My world is gone, along with everything I had, why didn't you just leave me there.”
Rainbow flew over to Kald and nudged his shoulder with her hoof, “Hey what’s wrong with you. You know we couldn't ever leave you like that, we’re your friends.”
Kald just shook his head with tears falling down his cheeks, “What is there for me now? My home is gone, my life is gone.”
As Kald picked up his picture and held it close to him as he sat on the couch Twilight got the girls together to leave and let Kald process what had happened, “We will check up on you again ok Kald? Just try to get some rest,” and with that they left leaving Kald in his new house.
Kald looked at his photo again and set it back on the vanity and began to try and put away the food in his kitchen but not to much success. As he got curious of being a unicorn he attempted to use magic, but couldn’t figure out how to make it work, not even a single spark or even of the feeling of doing something remotely right. Eventually exhausted with getting used to his new form he walked up the stairs to his bedroom and looked out the window to see it was late and tucked himself into bed as best he could and went to sleep.
***********
Kald awoke the next day to knocking at his door. He stumbled out of bed and made it halfway down the stairs before falling the rest of the way to which his door was magically unlocked and was swung open with a worried Twilight Sparkle bursting in, “Kald are you alright?”
Kald got up and rubbed his back with his hoof, “Yea, just getting used to all this is all,” Twilight looked him over making sure that he was really ok.
“Well it seems you're doing better. So what do you want to do today?” Kald looked back at Twilight and she could see the sadness in his eyes.
Kald walked off into the kitchen to get a snack, “Oh. Well I don't think I want to do much of anything today. But can I get you anything?”
Twilight followed him into the kitchen with a look of puzzlement, “No i’m fine. But how can you not wanna do anything surely there is somewhere you wanna go besides your house.”
“Not really,” he said as he ate some hayfries that he left on the table and tried to reach up into a cabinet to get something else but was having difficulties.
Twilight noticed he wasn't using any magic and was having trouble reaching what appeared to be some cider in the cabinet, “Here let me get that for you,” Kald got down and watched as the cider floated from the cabinet and to the table with Twilight’s magic, “So would you want me to try and teach you magic. Since you are a unicorn you should be able to use magic.”
Kald sighed as he knew Twilight was going to be persistent on getting him out of his house, “Sure, lets give it a try.”
With that Twilight clapped her hooves in excitement, “Great! Come with me to the library we got a lot of practice to do.”
As Kald followed her he knew that getting used to being a pony was going to be difficult but as he walked through town he found that everypony greeted him warm heartedly and seemed to accept him as if he never was a human. As he walked by a apple stand the same pony who had shunned him before now gave him a free apple.
As Kald ate the apple and arrived at the library to try and learn magic he knew that getting used to this new life was going to be a long road ahead of him.
Chapter 6: Unexpected Change
Chapter 6: Unexpected Change
Kald took a calming breath and entered the library with an eager Twilight Sparkle, who was smiling and giggling uncontrollably at the possible knowledge she was going to gain from this. Twilight shut the door behind them both and giddily started picking some books off the shelves and arranging some things around the room. “Umm, so how does magic work exactly?”
Twilight turned to face Kald with a broad smile across her face, “Well from how you described your nanobots, the way to control magic is fairly similar.” Twilight trotted to the center of the room and with what appeared to be no effort at all, began to levitate many items and making them move in intricate patterns and formations, “You need to feel the magic flow through you and then focus it in your horn, and direct it to what you're trying to do. Imagine what you want to happen and then use the magic within you to make it happen.”
Kald looked on in amazement at how much Twilight could do with very little effort. All the items drifted back to their original places as Twilight ended her example, “Ok now you try, we will start simple,” she pointed to a blank scroll with her hoof, “Try to pick that up.”
Kald looked at the paper then back to Twilight before he closed his eyes and tried to focus on moving the paper, but try as he might he couldn't seem to make anything happen, not even a spark of magic.
Twilight placed a hoof under her chin in thought, “Maybe we started too fast. Let’s just try meditating and get you to try and feel your magic. Now just sit and clear you mind,” Kald sat and mimicked Twilight, closing his eyes and trying to clear his mind.
Kald wasn’t feeling anything though, he fidgeted in his sitting position trying to search for any indicator of a feeling of magic.
“Stop that,” Twilight said interrupting his thoughts, “You can’t force this, just try to relax and the magic should come to you. The more you try to force it the harder this will be.”
Taking her advice Kald took a deep breath and closed his eyes again trying to clear out all the thoughts swirling around inside his head, he sat motionless and lost track of time as he listened to the sound of birds singing outside the open window, and the low murmur of ponies outside going about their day. Try as he might though Kald could not keep the thoughts of his destroyed home from creeping back into his mind, the images of the ashen wasteland and the memories of his wife he had recently reclaimed only to discover she was gone. Kald could feel tears coming to his eyes, losing his focus he stood up and wiped his eyes with a foreleg, “I’m sorry Twilight i'm not sure this is going to work.”
Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, “It’s ok Kald. I can't even begin to understand your pain but lets try again, but this time see if your emotions can lead you to that magic spark. I know you can do it, now show me that confidence and conviction from when your fought Teresia”
Kald shook his head with a slight smirk and sat back down and began to concentrate on the feelings dwelling inside him. Once Kald and let his emotions flow he began to feel a tingling sensation within him, but he could never manage to manifest the feeling into anything, and with a sigh decided to give it a rest.
Twilight saw the disappointment in his eyes, “His green eyes that’s it, that might cheer him up,” she thought as she cleared her throat to get Kald’s attention, “Kald why don't we do something you're used too to lighten things up, show me more of your powers. With you memory back I'm sure you have some more tricks up your sleeve.”
Kald brightened up at the idea, he hadn’t even tried using his powers since he got back, a good bit of fighting practice with the moves he remembered would be relaxing indeed, “Sounds good lets get this started.” Kald smirked as he took a more comfortable stance and tried to feel the surge of power he had grown to expect, but it never came. Kald looked to Twilight with fear in his eyes, “It’s not working. My powers. I can't feel them,” in a state of panic he quickly tried to stand up on his two hind legs only to fall over as he stared at his hooves wondering why he couldn’t use his powers.
Twilight galloped over to his side, “Kald you need to calm down,” unsure if her words were reaching him she watched as his eyes darted around in fear as he was losing himself in his own fears and insecurity. Twilight reached out a hoof to Kald to try and calm him, only to see his confidence fading.
“Why,... why won't anything work. My powers won't work. What am I now? I am even more lost now than before,” Kald kept mumbling to himself, delving deeper into his despair.
Twilight back up a little and took a deep breath, “Kald! Snap out of it!”
As Twilights words echoed from her yell, Kald came back to reality and quickly picked himself up and calmed down, “I’m sorry Twilight. I didn't mean to lose it like that.”
Twilight released a sigh of relief at the return of her friend, “It’s ok Kald. Now lets get back to magic practice.”
***********
Weeks had gone by with Kald diligently training under Twilight with some input from Rarity, but in the end it seemed there were no results. No matter how hard Kald tried it seemed that he never made any progress in becoming more adept with magic, and there wasn’t any new developments in his own powers either. Kald had tried many different attempts at magic all that should have been easy, trying to move a scroll or levitate a feather but all with no success, he couldn't even get his horn to glow with an aura. Many attempts to draw out his powers went unrewarded as nothing seemed to feel right anymore and except for his eyes it seemed that his nanobots and his powers were gone.
The more Kald tried to practice the more he fell into his sadness as it seemed he had become even more of an outcast that he was before, not only was he a unicorn that couldn't use magic, he wasn't even a real Equine to begin with, he was a human that no longer had a home and was now something foreign.
As time went on Kald took to secluding himself in his home. His friends were worried but try as they may Kald would never open his door and would always turn away anyone who came.
Twilight and the others grew more worrisome since Kald’s seclusion became worse, to where he didn’t even leave his home to get food or anything else for that matter. Worried about what to do Twilight sent a letter to Celestia explaining the situation, but instead of the advice she had been expecting from the princess Twilight only received grave news that there was something was amiss that required her attention. Despite their best efforts it didn’t seem anypony could get through to Kald, he even turned Rainbow Dash away who he had seemed to get along with the best. Twilight also made sure they didn't infringe on Kald by either flying into his house or using magic to get in, which she had to stop Rainbow from doing more than a few times, but under the circumstances she just figured that it would only make things worse.
***********
Kald sat alone at home, eating what little he had if he even felt like eating but most of his time was taken up being lost inside his own mind of self doubt and despair. Kald had noticed it had been a few days since anyone had come by to check on him, he was unsure if they finally got his message or just stopped caring, either way it didn't matter to him, this wasn't his home and he didn't belong here or anywhere anymore. As he was beginning to go nestle back onto his couch with the picture of his wife he heard a knock at the door, “Go away. I don’t want visitors,” but from the other side of the door came a familiar voice that he didn't expect to hear.
“Kald please let me in,” came Luna’s voice from behind the door much to Kald’s surprise, but even so he just wanted to be alone.
Fed up with waiting Luna teleported herself into the house spooking Kald and making him fall off his couch, “Get a hold of yourself. How can you remain here when others are in danger?”
Kald got up rubbing the spot on his head he hit on his way down to the floor, “What danger what are you talking about?”
Luna snorted at his remark, “Have you not noticed that nopony has come by to check on you for a few days now?”
With a distant look in his eyes Kald, turned his attention back to the picture“I thought that, they just finally got the message and stopped caring.”
“That is not the case Kald, everyone still cares but Discord has returned. It is taking everything we have to try and stop him but he has hidden the elements of harmony and without them we cannot stop him,” Kald placed the picture down and turned to Luna it seemed as if her words never reached him.
Kald unlocked and opened his front door, “What can I do? I can't use magic or my powers, I am useless. So please be on your way,” Kald could hear the clopping of her hooves as she began her walk to the door but, all of a sudden he soon found himself in an unexpected hug.
Luna’s voice was soft as she spoke, “I don’t know what happened to the overly confident, brash, brave, and loyal human I had seen before, and I don't know what you're going through. But i'm sorry for everything Kald. I’m sorry for how I treated you, and for how I didn't trust you. I am sorry for everything that I have put you through,” and with that Luna departed taking flight as she exited the door.
Kald stood shocked at what he had just heard. From the tone of her voice he knew this was no trick and that she was really sincere and for the first time in a long while he looked at what was outside. What he saw was a broken ponyville with buildings floating and upside down and the land torn apart, and he hadn’t even noticed. That ended now, Kald looked back to his picture focusing on Lita’s face and the beautiful smile that complimented the blue eyes she had, he remembered well how she always smiled and laughed with him, always encouraging him and being amazed at what he did and deep down Kald knew that Lita would never want to see him being depressed. So with a final glance he shut his door and looked at the broken sections of floating land beneath him. Kald reached for a pocket on his jacket but dismissed his idea of using the booster pack, knowing it wouldn't fit his pony body, a problem he would have to fix later. “The old fashioned way it is then,” he thought as he quickly found a route, and began to nimbly leap from one platform to another in a slow descent to the ground, taking notice that it seemed he had grown more accustomed to his new body than he had realized.
***********
Discord laughed as Twilight and the others stood before him trying hard to lay a hoof on him but with no luck, “Bah ha ha. You really thought you could even touch me without your precious elements?”
Rainbow swooped in fast trying to land a punch on him from behind only to ram into Applejack who was trying a similar aggressive approach from the front as he disappeared.
Discord appeared again floating over them all simply on nothing, “Now Rainbow Dash did you really think that would work? Ha! I’m so glad that somepony was distraught enough to bring me back to Equestria, but I wonder who it was.”
Twilight stamped a hoof in rage, “You will never find out!” she yelled as a magic bolt shot at Discord which he easily dodged.
Rainbow snorted and took an aggressive stance, “O yea! Bring it on!”
Discord grew a wicked smile across his face, “Very well then. To redeem the elements that you seek, first yourselves you must defeat. Ha ha, have fun,” he said as he took a seat in a chair he had constructed a little ways away.
“Wait a minute you,” Rainbow said as she began to dart off only to be cut off by a pegasus that looked exactly like her but had a dark grey coat and a mane with shades of black with eyes that were black and menacing, “What the?” As she looked back it seemed they all had a dark doppelganger in their path.
They all began to struggle in the fight with their opponents, as the all quickly learned that fighting yourself was no easy task. Discord laughed as he was enjoying watching the ponies with their struggle taking in the show he had laid out before himself. As Rainbow and Twilight took some hard hits from their counterparts, Discord stood up and started applause for his creations, only to be cut short by a sudden headbutt to his side.
Discord scrambled to get up and turn around, “Now really, who headbutts anymore?” to his surprise he say before him a dark green unicorn with glasses and sporting a jacket, “And who might you be?”
His answer came from an excited Rainbow Dash, “Kald! Nice of you to join us!” with a mocking tone to her words Kald smiled at the familiar gesture and appreciated it.
Discord appeared next to Kald making him jump back from surprise, “Kald eh? I don’t believe we have met.”
Kald took a defensive stance, “We haven't but don't worry that won't matter soon enough,” the arrogance in his voice seemed to strike a nerve with Discord, “Is that so? We shall see.” Kald felt a tingle all around him as Discord attempted to use his magic, Kald darted forward and lunged at Discord who disappeared, “Odd. My magic didn't affect you much.”
Amidst the fighting a thought dawned to Twilight, “Of course. There must still be human traits in him that must suppress his magic and give him a little more resistance to magic, but that gives him an advantage against Discord.”
Kald smirked at the realization that although his magic resistance wasn't what it was when he was human at least some of it stayed with him. Kald turned to the others, “I see yall are having trouble. Sorry I was late to the party.”
Pinkie was having trouble with her hoof to hoof fight with her dark double, “You mean there was a party and nopony told me!” Kald chuckled at how even when in a stressful situation Pinkie was still able to be Pinkie.
And with that thought he shouted back to them, “Hey, if they are hard to fight cause they know how you fight. Then don't fight how you would, fight like each other would,” with his words of wisdom said Kald took off after Discord only to be rammed in the side by the dark Rainbow Dash, who was quickly tackled by the real Rainbow in an Applejack kind of style, “Hey, leave them to us you get Discord.”
Kald nodded and took off after Discord again, jumping and kicking only for him to dodge every blow. With his frustration building up Kald began to yell, “Hold still!” but Discord just laughed at his attempts. With rage building Kald charged at Discord missing once again but quickly flipping back around to charge again this time his horn glowing with a green aura.
Twilight caught a glimpse of Kald’s glowing horn before he tried to kick Discord again but missing and turning in the air to try and slam his hooves down on Discord who had appeared under him.
Discord appeared again with a smug smile and his hands behind his back with a cloud of dust behind him, “Such futile efforts, and you aren't even using magic.” Discord turned around to see the dust cloud clearing, “Really you're so boring. What a let-...” he stopped mid sentence at what he saw when the dust had cleared.
Kald stood up and stared back at Discord as he clenched his fists and looked down at his hands seeing the familiar site again, “Looks like I can fight for real now. No more fooling around,” stepping forward with the legs he was used too and brought his arms up and activated his energy manipulator rings feeling the familiar sensation of the energy control.
Discord stood speechless with his mouth hanging open, “What are you?” he said as the human figure of Kald stepped towards him with a green emerald gem in his forehead.
Kald took the booster pack disc from his pocket and threw it into the air with it unfolding and coming down to rest on his back, as he set his sites on Discord he had the most confident smile he had ever known spread across his face, “I’m a human. So prepare to meet your match!” Kald quickly shot forward with the help of his booster pack and within an instance had placed a rotating ring around Discord and then planted his feet to quickly shoot back and leave another. Kald had quickly surrounded Discord with four rings trapping him and suppressing his magic so he could not escape.
With a panicked expression Discord tried to leave the rings but was unable to teleport out or force himself to freedom, “What is this? This doesn't make any sense.”
Kald laughed as he began to charge up an impact bullet, “Aren’t you a fan of not making sense?”
Discord couldn’t help but laugh at the irony at what was happening to him, “Very well human. But I will be back count on it.”
Kald stared him down not showing any sign of fear, “Bring it on anytime,” as he took an offensive stance and threw his fist forward, “Impact Bullet!” the attack made contact with Discord knocking him out of his ring cage. Kald was surprised to see Discord turn to stone as he fell to the ground, but took comfort in his victory.
The pony doppelgangers dissipated leaving their respective elements on the ground where they stood. Kald walked over seeing these fabled objects for the first time, “So these are those elements of harmony huh.”
“Indeed they are Kald,” said Luna as she and Celestia landed next to them, “Glad to see your better.”
Kald locked gazes with Luna, “Well I would have never made it if I didn’t get some help.”
Celestia looked at her sister with an approving smile, “You have done well sister. I’m glad you’re learning.”
“So that’s what happened to that gem,” Rarity butted in looking at Kald’s forehead. With this the others turned their attention to Kald to study the once again human.
“Seems your back to normal there champ,” Rainbow said nudging Kald in the side, and then taping the gem in his forehead, “Well mostly anyway.”
Kald noticed the town returning to normal and watched the princesses gather up the Discord statue and the elements, “We will take these back to Canterlot,” Celestia stated preparing to take flight with Luna. But before she left she turned back to Kald, “It seems you have more to learn about,” and as she said that the gem in Kald’s forehead gave off a flash and when it dimmed there stood Kald the unicorn stallion once again as the princesses took flight to Canterlot. With his smaller frame his booster pack slid off his back and hit the ground having it compact down to it’s small disk form, Kald picked up with his mouth and placed it in one of his pockets taking a mental note of a new design that just came to mind.
Twilight clapped her hooves and giggled, “How fascinating! Kald, I saw your horn glow, you used magic and transformed back to human form. This is so interesting, I would never had imagined you would have the power to shift between your human and pony forms,” Kald blushed at the sudden amazement but was equally as surprised himself. With his friends by his side and with the crisis averted they began to walk back to the library to celebrate Kald’s return and enjoy eachothers company. Kald also saw the energy in Twilights stride as he was sure she was ready to continue Kald’s training, and Kald was up to the challenge with a renewed vigor.
***********
As the little celebration died down Rarity and Applejack departed to return to their homes and begin work again along with Fluttershy who left to go check on her animals. Rainbow was busy catching up with Kald about all of the awesome stuff she had done since he went into seclusion, and Kald was more than happy to hear about it all. Twilight was reading up on a book about magic for beginners which Kald knew must be for his soon to come lessons.
Eventually it came down to Kald being left alone with Twilight in the library, and since the day was still young Twilight decided it was time to start on Kald’s magic lessons once again. With a new perspective on magic Kald learned more control with his magic and could easily make his magic flow into his horn, but as for control that was a different matter. Kald couldn’t levitate or really control his magic at all, the required grace and gentle touch just wasn’t really something he was good at. “Let’s take a break,” Kald suggested after trying many exhausting attempts at controlling his magic. Sitting down Kald looked to his forelegs and began to think about his powers, since the fight with Discord he was much more comfortable in this body than he ever realized and now was time to test a theory he had. Kald closed his eyes and began to concentrate on feeling his on energy within him trying to activate the manipulator rings, he could feel the presence of his nanobots as they began to respond.
Twilight saw Kald deep in concentration even though he had asked for a break, “What are you doing? I thought you were taking a break.” Kald’s concentration deepened and Twilight could see what appeared to be green sparks trailing over his legs.
Kald soon felt the familiar rush of his energy as it flowed through him and as he opened his eyes he saw that he had managed to have one energy ring around each leg near the hoof, “Well it’s not perfect but about half will have to do.”
Twilight clapped her hooves excitedly at his success, “Kald this is great your learning to use your powers with your new body.” They shared a laugh at the little personal victory Kald was having and decided to turn the magic studies to his transformation for now. “Come on Kald you can do it. Just try to think of the way felt when fighting Discord and let your magic flow through you,” Twilight encouraged.
Kald relaxed and let the rings fade away as he concentrated on feeling his magic gather in his horn and start to slowly flow through him, it felt as if he was being enveloped in a slight buzz of electricity as the tingling sensation spread throughout his body. Kald kept the image of his human form in mind and before long there was a surge of magic that rushed through him, as he quickly stood up and the sensation dissipated he turned to Twilight and raised his hands into sight, and was proud to be in his human form again but this time on purpose.
“This is fascinating. It seems that the magic changes your clothes into your coat and adapts the color as well, except it seems your jacket simply changes to fit your form. This is so exciting,” the lavender mare said excitedly. Twilight used her magic to take notes on a scroll that was on a desk across the room, which seemed to give Kald a strange sense of happiness as Twilight caught him smiling as the quill jotted down a few things. “Ok why don’t we see how long you can maintain your transformation. It seems the gem in your forehead is kind of like your horn, except it stores your magic so your human body isn’t damaged from it, i'm impressed at how your human body has been adapted to the magic since the equine spell. If you concentrate you should be able to feel the magic that keeps you in your human form. You should be able to feel the tug of magic in your body as it tries to retreat back but in order to maintain your transformation you need to find a balance of not overloading it to where it backfires but at the same time not letting it fade.” Twilight levitated a stopwatch over to where she could see it and started keeping time.
Kald could feel his magic just like Twilight said but it was faint and fleeting. Kald focused on holding on to the magic that was already there while trying to tap into the magic stored in the gem in his forehead, he could feel the magic slipping out of his control and tried to frantically get magic from the gem, forcing an unwanted surge of magic to blast through him knocking him back into the wall in his pony from. “Oww. That's hard,” he groaned rubbing the back of his head with a forehoof.
“Well you made good progress you held your human form for twelve minutes,” she proclaimed as she took notes on his time.
“Only twelve? Man this is gonna be harder than I thought to get this under control,” he said with a sigh as he picked himself up ready to try again. As he felt the magic flow through him as he transformed again, Kald tried to focus on the amount of magic that was used and tried to keep a constant flow in order to maintain his form. Kald managed to maintain a small steady trickle of magic from his gem in order to maintain the magic flow in his body but he could still feel it slipping away. Try as he might Kald could not keep the form for much longer and soon the magic retreated and he was left standing on all four hooves once again.
“Wow, seventeen minutes this time,” Twilight said with confidence.
Kald sighed and sat down a little exhausted, “Yea but it’s not enough. I wonder how long I will ever be able to keep it up at one time.”
Twilight thought for a moment, “Well considering that you get more proficient with the transformation to where it becomes easier, you might be able to eventually hold it indefinitely with a smaller requirement on the spell with practice and your natural magic regeneration. As long as you don't overtax your body of course.” Kald hugged the lavender mare and thanked her with deep sincerity at this fantastic news. “Well why don’t we end practice early today. I think you earned it.”
“Thank you for everything Twilight. I did have some changes I wanted to make to my booster pack that I could get started on,” Kald said as he left the library with new found happiness. As he arrived at his home and laid the booster pack disk on a table that would soon become a workbench Kald decided to sit on his couch and relax a bit. He turned and looked at Lita in his picture and smiled, because even though his world and old life were gone he had his friends here to help him through it and he wasn’t much of a human anymore since he now had magic, but what really matters is the life he has now and those he wants to protect. Kald got up and walked to a window and stared up at the beautiful sky and thought to himself, “This world almost feels natural to me already,” as he turned his attention back to the project at hand he left to get his tools and get started.
Chapter 7: Just A Normal Day
Chapter 7: Just A Normal Day
Chapter 7: Just A Normal Day
Kald groaned as he opened his eyes and woke up from his unexpected night spent asleep on the floor. Kald had spent much of his time in his living room as of late, which had become something of a workshop for him with parts from his many disassembled inventions strung all about the floor as his most recent project was nearing completion. Using his human form and having help from Twilight when he needed it had resulted in his project getting finished much faster than he had anticipated. Kald got up off the floor firmly placing all four hooves and stretching his back feeling the refreshing pop of his joints, and decided it was high time he took a bath.
Kald leisurely walked up the stairs to his bathroom and began running hot water into the tub. As the water ran, Kald grabbed the bubble bath that Pinkie Pie had given him and transformed into human form to open the bottle and pour a little in. With the bath bubbling nicely he recapped and placed the bottle back under his sink and transformed back to his stallion form, removing his jacket Kald stepped into the tub and began to relax. With the water warm and the bubbles cleaning him, Kald drifted into thought and was wondering what more about his transformation he had yet to discover. He had learned his clothes had pretty much become a part of him, he had tried taking them off before and then changing into pony form only to have the clothes disappear from where they lay except for the jacket, and upon transforming back to his human form his clothes were back on. It also seemed taking a bath as a pony washed his clothes as well drawing Kald to the conclusion that his coat and his clothes were one in the same, at least he wouldn’t have to have more regular clothes now, which Kald chalked up to a personal win since he didn't much like having a lot of clothes.
Growing confident in his cleanliness, Kald climbed out of the tub and pulled the plug to let it drain as he shook off and got a towel to attempt to dry himself. Kald got done as best he could and walked back down his stairs to look at his project and smiled to himself at it’s near completion. It had been a lot of work getting this new project done and he was excited to give it a test run, a few more finishing touches and his new booster pack would be ready. Kald always enjoyed freedom of flight and the wind going through his hair despite his nagging fear of heights, but the booster pack and having that ability to fly just made the fear go away. In all honesty he wished he would have been turned into a pegasus instead of a unicorn so he would never have to fear being in a high place and not being able to fly. Being so lost in thought Kald barely even noticed there was a knock on his door. As he came back to reality he quickly yelled, “Come in, doors open,” as he turned his attention back to the near finished booster pack.
With that the door swung open and three energetic fillies walked in the door, “Hey Kald, what’s up?”, Scootaloo chimed as she jumped into the room with her wings fluttering.
Kald turned in surprise at his guests, “Well hi girls. I didn't expect you to be at my door, what are you up too today?”
“We were about to go out crusading and figured, since you don't have your cutie mark and all, that maybe you would wanna join us,” said Applebloom as she walked over to look at what Kald was working on, “What’s this?”
Kald perked up at her interest as the others came to look at his little invention, “This is going to be my new and improved booster pack once it’s finished. It will be more powerful enabling me to go faster with less effort and should be able to switch fittings freely between my pony and human forms. Just having a little trouble getting it finished.” Kald looked with pride at his creation as the girls seemed to take a fascination with it.
Sweetie Belle looked up to Kald quizzically, “What’s the problem? I mean it’s your invention, shouldn’t you be able to make it work like the other one?”
“Well to be honest, I didn’t invent it alone. It was my idea yes but I never could quite get it to work. I had a friend back home that actually understood the finer point more than I did. Without him, that first hover board would have never been finished, and modifying his work into the first booster pack wasn’t hard since basically all I did was change the outside, the machine itself worked the same,” Kald seemed to have a distant look in his eyes at his remembrance of his lost friend. The time they had spent together working on personal projects and hanging out had been some of his fondest memories.
Scootaloo was the first to hop down back to the floor soon followed by the rest of the crusaders, “That’s cool and all, but it’s over my head. So are you coming with us?” She asked ecstatically.
Kald fiddled with some circuits in the pack and then shut the lid to cover the circuits, making the pack retract and fold into itself until it looked like a metal egg, “Well...I still have a lot of work to do, so I don’t think so this time. Plus i’m not worried about my cutie mark.”
Sweetie Belle rushed over to Kald, “Not worried!? But everypony needs their cutie mark!”
Kald laughed a little at her over reaction, “I’m sorry girls i'm just busy right now is all.”
Sweetie Belle looked up at Kald, with big eyes and a quibbling lower lip, “Please won’t you come with us?”
Kald sighed and just couldn’t turn them down now, “Ok. I needed to give the new pack a test run anyway,” Kald scooped the compacted pack into his hoof and placed it in one of his jacket pockets, turning to accompany the crusaders on their wacky adventure.
“Yea! Cutie mark crusaders ho!” The trio shouted together as they trotted off with Kald following behind making sure to shut his door.
As Kald trotted along with the crusaders he couldn’t help but think that this would make for an interesting day.
***********
Kald sat in a corner of the crusaders club house as the three fillies came up with ideas on what to try for a cutie mark. Kald smiled to himself seeing the eagerness and joy in their faces as they rambled on with ideas, Kald knew some were a little dangerous and would be there to protect them mostly but he figured some of the ideas they had would be fun.
“Let’s try getting a cooking cutie mark,” Scootaloo, chimed in above the others.
“Nah, that won’t work I already tried that with Pinkie,” Applebloom said dismissively.
The three thought again for a moment until Sweetie Belle had an idea and turned to Kald, “What do you think we should try for a cutie mark?” she asked as Applebloom and Scootaloo turned to look, waiting with anticipation.
Kald was surprised they would want his opinion since he is new around here, but figured what could a little idea hurt, “Well how about exploring somewhere to try and find something new to get some kind of explorers cutie mark,” Kald laughed a little to himself at his silly idea.
Scootaloo bounced up with excitement as she frantically flapped her little wings “That sounds awesome!”
Sweetie belle quickly ran to a storage chest and came back wearing a safari hat, “We could try exploring the Everfree Forest.”
Kald got up at the mention of the forest, he had heard much of how it was dangerous, “Now girls wouldn’t that be dangerous why not explore something safer.”
Applebloom looked to the others and then back to Kald with a stern look, “Everypony knows about everywhere here around Ponyville, if we’re gonna find somethin’ new, we gotta go there. Besides you will be with us, so we will be fine.”
Kald sighed his agreement to go, knowing full well they would go without him or not and he couldn't just let them go by themselves, “Alright but, if anything dangerous starts to happen I am getting you out of there. Deal?”
“Deal!” they all cheered in delight as they prepared themselves for an exploratory trip to the Everfree Forest.
***********
Kald followed close behind the trio as he kept a watchful eye for anything that might pose a threat, although the thought of when the crusaders had to stop him from walking into some poison joke made him smile a little at how little he knew about what was really dangerous. The trees all seemed to be like one’s from his home, they were old and some damaged from natural growth he guessed. As they trudged on Kald kept having a bad feeling that something was watching, Kald constantly stopped to try and listen for movement but heard nothing aside from the trio of fillies ahead of him.
“Hey look at this!” Scootaloo yelled as they neared what appeared to be a clearing of some kind, “Isn’t this amazing?”
The clearing was slightly indented and had lush green grass growing within, but there was no tree’s for about ten feet from the center of the clearing.
Applebloom looked around and saw how the trees surrounding the grove seemed to be swept outwards, “I wonder what made this,” she said as she saw two small mounds of dirt that lead up to a tree that was bent forward towards the grove.
Kald looked around and chuckled at his realization, “Well girls, I believe we found the spot where I arrived.”
The three fillies all looked back to Kald with shock, “You made this crater?”
“Well, yea. Didn’t you know they found me crashed here in the Everfree Forest?” Kald said with a slightly defensive tone.
Sweetie Belle looked around the grove again and then back to Kald, “Yeah we knew. But look how big this clearing is and how the ground is dented you shouldn’t be alive.”
Kald smiled and laughed at her statement, “Well normally yes, but i'm not normal now am I,” he said amusingly. Out of the corner of his eye Kald noticed a spot where grass had just started to grow that was about two feet wide near the tree that had been bent over from his impact, “Seems something else has traveled here aswell,” he thought.
“Come on girls we are bound to find somethin’ if we keep lookin’,” Applebloom exclaimed as she began to venture forth deeper into the forest with the other two behind her.
Kald ran and caught up but now he knew there was something else here, there had to be, and if he had to place a bet he would say it’s whatever is giving him this watched feeling. Kald noticed as he left the grove that there was a pair of shadow’s that kept just out of sight, they moved fairly quickly and he lost sight of them once they passed a few trees, whatever was following them knew just how to avoid him, making Kald nervous.
***********
After sometime of clambering through the woods with a few stops at some ponds for a drink Sweetie Belle found what seemed to be a camp of some kind.
“Is this supposed to be a tent?” she said fumbling with some cloth that had been draped around some arranged branches to make a decent shelter.
Kald heard a rustling of leaves from in the trees and suspected it wasn’t just birds, “Girl’s I think it’s time we leave.”
Applebloom looked to Kald with sad eyes, “But we are just gettin’ to findin’ cool stuff.”
Kald looked around anxiously, “Well it’s getting late we need to head back,” he said noticing that dusk was approaching.
The crusaders hung their heads, “Okay,” they sighed knowing Kald was right.
Kald followed the girls as they started to walk back the way they had came, but this time Kald could notice the slight movement in the trees and he knew that whatever those shadows he saw before were they were here alongside them.
The group stopped as a nearby howl began to pierce the silence of the forest.
Kald took a defensive stance ready to fight, “Girls, what was that?”
The crusaders were trembling as they answered with shaky voices, “Timberwolves.”
Kald was taken by surprise when a wolf completely made of wood leaped out from the trees. Kald quickly spun around and kicked his back legs hard into the timberwolf shattering it to pieces, “You weren't kidding about the Timber part were you,” he said laughing at the play on words. Kald jumped forward and landed on top of another timberwolf smashing it against the ground, “We leave now girls!” Kald used his magic and changed into his human form quickly getting his new prototype booster pack out of his pocket and throwing it behind him to have it attach to his back. Picking up the three fillies Kald looked to the sky which was almost dark, “Good a time as any to test this thing I guess,” he said as he jumped up and the booster back boosted them skyward as they flew above the trees and headed towards Ponyville.
Scootaloo looked up to Kald and has to yell against the wind, “What did you mean by test this?”
Kald looked down and smiled to try and reassure her and the others, “Well I haven't flown this new one yet so I’m hoping it works like I want it too,” he yelled.
Applebloom looked up worried, “What if it don’t?”
Kald made a playful smirk, “Don’t worry girls even if it doesn’t I will make sure you're safe,” he said with such concern and confidence, Kald could feel the fillies relax a little. As the approached town Kald began to worry, it seemed that he couldn’t decelerate the booster pack and it was drawing too much energy from him. Kald feeling exhausted searched for a way to land the girls safely and spotted a stack of hay near a building, “I’m sorry girls I gotta drop you in that hay pile over there, but head home straight away ok.”
The three turned and looked at Kald with shock, “What!” was all they managed to say before Kald released them, landing them safely in the hay pile.
Kald sighed with relief knowing they were ok but was it was getting harder to stay conscious with the booster pack sapping all his energy, but if this was wrong maybe something else was too it was a long shot but he had to try. Kald began flying towards his house and once he was lined up with the broad side of his house he changed back to his pony form and just as he had expected the booster pack did not readjust with him as he had originally intended, so Kald dropped down and rolled across the ground as the booster pack collided with the side of his house and fell to the ground both it and the house sustaining some damage. Kald got up feeling the pain in his legs and back from the impact of the ground from the speed he was going, he limped over and tried to make the pack compact itself but to no avail, it was pretty broken. Grabbing a wing of the pack in his teeth he dragged it around to the front of his house only to see the two shadowy figures in cloaks fleeing from inside his house, “Hey! Stop!” he yelled as he dropped the booster back and attempted to give chase only to collapse on himself from his hurt limbs. Losing sight of the two cloaked shady figures Kald got back up and dragged the pack into the house and relocked the door behind him along with blocking it with some furniture, it didn't seem like anything was taken or damaged the only thing out of place was his picture of him and Lita had been dropped on the floor but what would they have wanted with it he wondered. After placing the picture back where it belonged Kald walked up to his room for some much needed rest, but tomorrow he was going to try and find out more about those two that had broke into his house. He sighed to himself, seems this has been anything but a normal day.
***********
Elsewhere in the night a faint glow could be seen in the everfree forest where a pool of water gave off an eerie light as what appeared to be a black wisp emerged and quickly flew off into the night sky towards canterlot.
Luna feeling a disturbance in the night took flight in search only to see the light fading from the everfree forest. Upon her arrival there was nothing more than a small pond and nothing to be found. Although she could feel that something was amiss in the darkness she decided to return to the castle, she could just feel that something bad was going to happen and soon. She just hoped that equestria was prepared for what was to come.
The wisp had eluded Luna but knew it was only for so long. Searching for some way to hide it quickly came upon a garden full of statues, one caught it’s eye. It was a statue of a Draconequus that had a sense of life emanating from it. Seeing this as it’s chance the wisp flew over to the statue and went inside melding with the life already inside, corrupting it. For soon his plan would be under way.
