The Diary of Starswirl the Bearded: lost in another world

Chapters

A strange new world
Equestria Girl
In the lion's den
One bad day
From bad to worse
Allies
Back where I began

A strange new world

Chapter on:

"A strange new world"

The sun had yet to set, when I opened my eyes. The back of my neck hurt, as if something had struck me right on the nape. I was feeling dizzy and all I could see was a mass of objects, whizzing around like a tornado.

I instinctively tried to get up on my hooves, yet the trembling of my legs was too much to juggle and I soon fell on the ground once again, hurting my chin on the cold surface of the road. The taste of blood was in my mouth; with all my heart I hoped I hadn't broken any of my teeth. Luckily a quick check with my tongue was enough to reassure me that my upper incisors were still intact; the blood was probably coming from a simple cut on the lower lip.

The pain in my head was growing stronger; I felt like the entire world was about to fall over me with all of its giant weight. Everything I could do was gather all the strength I still had and crawl toward a near lawn. The fresh green grass seemed the softest spot to rest on for now.

As soon as I felt the turf, pinching my skin, I laid down my head. At that moment I also felt an unbearable pain in my back, supposedly due to the crawling. It was then that I finally gave up the battle against the pain and closed my eyes, abandoning myself to the warm embrace of the approaching night.

I woke up briefly before dawn; my sight had recovered to the point that allowed me to distinguish the colours and the other things around me. The sky was still dark, yet the rays of the sun already painted the horizon in an enchanting pink tint, obscuring the last silvery stars and from the grass beneath my chin rose the distinguished smell of morning dew.

I now felt within me enough strength to get up on four legs and walk. As I placed my front hooves on the ground though, I began to feel an awkward sensation of cold and inching. It was then and only then that my mind was clear enough to be shocked by what my eyes saw.

My hooves had gone and been replaced by some strange kind of “paws”, but that was not all. My front legs had disappeared as well; instead of them I found myself with a new pair of ape-like arts. I was stunned by this change, for I had never seen such things, despite my numerous travels beyond the borders of the Realm. After the amazement, I quickly felt the necessity to regain my usual cold and collected composure. I headed to a nearby bench, realising that walking with my new “paws” was quite uncomfortable.

Having crawled on the pew, I glanced at my body: apparently my upper arts were not the only changes that had occurred to me. My posterior legs had grown taller and thinner, but also bulkier, furthermore my tail had disappeared. From that sight I deduced that my new anatomy was fit for walking on two legs.

The major part of this new physique of mine was covered by a layer of cloth: a deep blue robe, according to my observation, very similar to the one I regularly wore.

The only part of my body that was free was my face. A quickly touch with my new pair of “paws” made me realise that it still reassembled its original form. The high forehead, the sharp eyes, the small ears and the elongated chin, as usual covered in its long white beard, were still there; I was even still wearing my hat. The only difference I found was in the muzzle: it had in fact changed its shape, becoming much smaller and in some way more aquiline.

There were no words to describe the way I felt at that time.

The moment the pillars and I had decided to face the fiend of shadows, we knew very well what we were signing up for: if the worst had occurred, we would have found ourselves trapped in limbo along with the beast. Yet I had clearly made a terrible mistake in my calculations, since the place I had found myself in was obviously not limbo, but a world different to the one I had just left.

During youth, my passion and dedication to studying had led me to discover the existence of alternative dimensions: some of these worlds looked surprisingly similar to the Realm, while others were absolutely different. I had also found out that these dimensions were occasionally connected to one another, even if mostly for only a limited period of time. So one could easily navigate these worlds, finding or creating with the use of powerful spells a link that connected them, more specifically a portal.

After discovering their existence, I had quickly come to realise that such connections needed to remain unknown to all those who had evil intentions, so I had gathered and hidden many of them in a secret wing of the royal palace in the capital. It had not been a smart decision, for one night the youngest of the royal sisters had wandered into one of those mirror portals and, if it had not been for me and her sister, she would have remained trapped there.

To cut a long story short my knowledge about different dimensions was indeed vast, yet what had occurred to me was beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

I had previously found myself in difficult situations, so I did not fear for my safety, but for the one of the other pillars. If my calculations had turned out to be so wrong that my banishing spell had caused me to end up into this new, bizarre world, there was no telling what could have happened to the rest of my group. I could not even tell for sure if they had been sent to the same dimension as me, to another or to limbo.

The thing that now frightened me the most was the possibility that the Pony of Shadows had managed to get away, too. If Stygian had really been sent to a place different than the one he was supposed to, then I had doomed the inhabitants of this or that world. The good news was that if the Fiend were free, he was probably as weak as I was after our last battle, so hopefully I had time to regain my former strength and locate him wherever he was, before he could do any harm.

The was only one little, disturbing detail which I had noticed, while touching my forehead: during my transformation my horn had disappeared.

The loss of my horn was the most unsettling and unfortunate of the things that had happened to me. A unicorn without horn is the same as a bird without its wings: it simply loses its purpose. All of my life I have devoted myself to the study of magic, memorising thousands of different spells and even invented new ones, but all that knowledge and power were now useless or at least that is what I thought at the beginning.

I have to admit that I felt lost, after finding out that my most precious tool was gone, nonetheless I quickly figured out a solution.

In my journeys through different dimensions I had come across the most bizarre of creatures most of which had indeed the ability to use magic, even though they did not posses horns or were ponies at all. So I figured that if such leaving beings were able to cast spells as they pleased, they must have found a way to channel their magical power through something. Furthermore if all of those creatures, despite leaving in different worlds could conjure sorcery, then magic must have been an element common to all of their dimensions. Moreover if horns were not required to them, perhaps I could have found a way to channel and retrieve my magic. All I needed to do was find a source somewhere.

I immediately realised that even if my plan made sense, finding a magic source would not be an easy task even for me, yet this new world did not look threatening at all. It was similar to the Realm in many ways: it had a sun and a moon, the sky above was clear and blue and the ground covered in grass. I had spent some time resting on a bench and the previous afternoon I had found myself, laying on a road. Those things meant that this new world must have been inhabited by thinking creatures which would possibly reassemble my new form. Furthermore if these living beings were really so clever, they could have known where to find a magic source.

Relieved, I took a long, calming breath. As I gazed upon the distant horizon, the sun appeared, illumining the blue sky above. The gentle singing of a bird reached my ears: at least for the time being, things looked positive.

I cautiously walked outside the green area, where I had spent time resting, searching around with my eyes for any possible sign of life, yet the only thing that I noticed was the an absolutely dead silence.

As I wondered the reason for such thing, I realised that it was still dawn and even in the Realm most ponies did not get out of bed at such time.

On one hoof that was surely reassuring for it meant that the inhabitants of this world shared at least some habits with those of the Realm. On the other the atmosphere around me conveyed a strong sense of fright without any creature, walking the streets.

As I proceeded through the many roads I began to think that I had been sent to a quite big city, yet it did not look like the kind of place anypony in the Realm would live in. The houses of the inhabitants of the new world were much taller than those of the ponies in the Realm: some of them even touched the sky with their roofs, disappearing among the white clouds. Those awkward proportions made me shiver, for if the creatures of that world, who obviously were more or less as tall as I, required such homes it could only mean that their number was so great that a smaller house could not contain them all.

I hoped with all of my heart that they were at least friendly.

The thing that struck me the most though, was the absence of vegetation around me. As I already said, the moment I first opened my eyes I had found myself surrounded by plants, many of which I had even recognised, yet, apart from that, there was absolutely nothing around me that even came close to the look of a plant. That explained why wherever I turned, my eyes always saw the same colour: grey. Obviously the creatures from that world did not take care of preserving the natural environment of the areas they lived in.

Although nowadays such behaviour would certainly be considered vile and inconsiderate, I can assure that back in the early years the inhabitants of the Realm had not fully understood the importance of environmental preservation, either.

At that time the capital and its royal palace had not been built, yet and for unknown reasons the crews, who had been hired for such purpose, were always running out of supplies. So the foundation of the the capital of the Realm kept being delayed. When I asked the building crew for explanation, they replied that the woodland creatures, living in the nearby forest, were to blame, for they would come at the building sight to steal construction material during the night.

I must confess that I did not believe in their words at first, but after seeing the young Princess Luna, coming to me, holding the blue prints for a completely new and improved building project, I remained astonished. The young mare explained her older sister and me that during the previous night she had unexpectedly met with the woodland creatures which had helped her, drawing the new blue prints.

According to the princess's tale though, the interaction between the animals and her would have been impossible without the help of a certain elder mare. Unfortunately Luna had not been able to identify the pony in question, since she was wearing a hood; only a long time afterwards I finally learnt that the mysterious elder mare was the legendary Mistmane who had joined the other pillars and me to rid the Realm of the forces of evil.

It took approximately two hours, until the first faces started showing up. Despite having already seen my new facial features, which of course reassembled their own, the sight of those creatures still managed to upset me.

Exactly as I had predicted, they did walk on only two legs and, judging from what I saw, they had no problem with holding their balance. That certainly explained why they did not require tails, while I on the contrary, after loosing mine, still had some issues with moving.

The inhabitants of the new world had hair on their heads which surprisingly reminded me of our manes. The major difference between our hair and the one of those creatures is that theirs is much shorter.

Like us ponies, the inhabitants of the new world came in all shapes and sizes, although they did not seem to distinguish each other from their own species. More specifically there were absolutely no difference between one living being and another that could remind me of the difference we equines make between unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies.

Another thing we equines and the inhabitants of the new world had in common is the distinction between the two genders. The showed differences in the colour of their skin much like ponies do, yet, unlike us, they seemed to consider clothing an essential part of their daily routines.

They did not show to be bothered by my presence which indicated that either they did not mind interdimensional visitors such as me or that my transformation had completely turned me into one of them.

I curiously approached them to try to communicate, but all of them ignored me.

It was stunning for me to discover that I could perfectly understand what they were saying to one another. From this detail I presumed that either my astonishing transformation also allowed me to speak the language of the inhabitants of that dimension or they used a speech which was surprisingly identical to Ponish. The major issue for me now was get one of those beings to speak to me and I presumed that using violence would be inconvenient. Instead I preferred to hide among the crowd and gather some more information about their habits.

According to my observation, the creatures of that dimension do not normally display their emotions as openly as most ponies do. Many of them in fact kept walking the street without even bothering to notice one another. Instead they oddly talked to themselves, while holding some kind of strange little box in their “paws”. I must apologise for not gathering more information about this particular habit, but, as I have mentioned before, these creatures are particularly hard to talk to.

As I kept following a group of those beings, I noticed that they entered a tall building from which they did not exit for all the time I waited for them and so did many others. I struggled to find an answer on my own to why they would do such a thing and ultimately came up with the idea that something was keeping them busy. Although I followed many other individuals, I was unable to gather new info.

I had been walking for almost an hour, when I finally spotted something interesting: a group of youngsters. These creatures seemed a lot more cheerful and extrovert to each other than the adults, so I thought that following them would probably be the best idea. Of course in order to get their help I would eventually need to stop my observation and approach them properly, but I still needed to figure out how to talk without scaring them.

After a relatively short walk, the youngsters and I reached another building; this one clearly different than the others. It was not too tall, yet it could clearly contain a large group of youngsters, judging from the number of individuals in front of its doors. The most peculiar detail about that place was a tall statue, shaped like an equine, relatively close to the entrance.

At the noisy sound of a ringing bell, the youngsters seized their chatting and rushed into the building and the ones I was following along with them. I knew that if I had lost them, the time I had spent that morning, coming after them, would have been wasted and I had so little of it. So I, too, entered with the rest of the crowd.

Author's Note

Hey guys.
This is the start of our brand new series. Let me know what you think about it. If it turns out t be successful in the end, it could be developed in a nice little anthology.

Equestria Girl

Chapter 2:

"Equestria Girl"

The moment I entered that building, I found myself surrounded by a surprisingly large number of youngsters, zooming before me. My eyes rolled, confused: why were those creatures in such a hurry? The first reasonable explanation that came to me was that they had recognised me as an intruder and were bothered by my presence.

At least that was what I thought, until one peculiar-looking individual, who was deeply lost in his own thoughts , ended up bumping into me. I was caught by surprise and knocked over, as my reflexes had grown slower with age, yet I was lucky enough not to hurt my head, bumping it on the floor.

It was only after opening my eyes that I clearly saw who had caused the accident. The creature in question seemed to be very young and of a handsome complexion; his hair blue as the waves of the ocean.

Having realised what he had done, the youngster gave me his apology: even if now I cannot exactly recall his every word, I still vaguely remember what he told me at that time. It sounded more or less like this:

“Oh...I am sorry. Are you cool, man?”. The very last term he used, remained stuck in my head, for I did not know its meaning.

Standing up, I silently nodded in response. I must admit that, after being confused by the last word he had just spoken, I feared that my language and that of the creatures of this new world was more different than what I had initially thought, which led me to believe that starting a conversation with blue-haired youngster would be harder than expected.

Seeing me standing silent, the being before me showed clear signs of annoyance: he was probably expecting me to talk to him, but I was not feeling quite ready, yet.

“So...” He went on suddenly “I suppose that I can go to class, since you are obviously fine. See ya.”

As he turned around, ready to walk away, I felt the tension, which had not allowed me to speak, disappear. I knew that this was the chance I had been waiting for and, if I had not taken it, I probably would not have gotten another one.

Extending my arm to grab the youngster by the shoulder, I asked him not to leave; finally hearing my voice, the creature immediately stopped and turned his gaze toward me once more.

“You do speak, then.” He said, as a smirk of satisfaction slowly appeared on his face. I disliked his reaction; it felt to me like a total luck of respect, yet I quickly remembered that I was the stranger, visiting another world, not him, which meant that it would only be natural for me to find some of the habits and behaviours of the creatures around me slightly odd or inadequate.

Furthermore I had spent half a day looking for the right being to help me; it would have been foolish of me to start an argument and make an enemy out of a potential ally.

“Listen...” I said the moment I first opened my mouth. Talking to that creature did not feel as strange as I had expected, but in one corner of my mind I still feared that my language would not be understood by him, so I tried to make my speech as simple and informal as possible.

“...I need your help.”

“Of course.” The youngster quickly replied. “What can I do for you, man?”

That word again.

I did not know why the inhabitants of this new world used that single term so often: it must have meant something that they considered important, yet the fact that its significance was unknown to me felt incredibly frustrating.

“Excellent.” I went on saying, noticing that the being before me had not yet run away, meaning that his previous response had been sincere. “Do you know where to find a magic source?”

The moment the blue-haired creature heard me saying that sentence, he suddenly put on a suspicious expression on his face. It was like he had never heard the words I had just spoken.

As he delayed to give me his reply, I began to fear the worst. My knowledge of the inhabitants of the new world was so limited that I could not distinguish between the things that were appropriate to ask and those that were not.

What if I had said something terribly wrong? Perhaps the magic of the new world was secretly hidden by those who inhabited it for good reason? If that was the case, then I had made the worst question I could ever have thought of. The kind of question only a villainous being, eager to put his hooves on some kind of powerful and arcane magic, would make.

While I was mad at my own self for not having come up with a less direct question, the expression on the blue-haired creature changed, returning to its original, confident smile.

“Sorry, man, I don't know very much about that sort of stuff.”

Of all the answers he could have given me that was absolutely the worst and the most upsetting, for it meant that I had spent half of my day, accomplishing absolutely nothing, while the fiend of shadows was probably somewhere in this or another world, feeding on darkness to return to its former strength.

The next thing that the being before me said, was not reassuring, yet it still gave me a useful clue on what to.

“Don't worry, man. I know someone who could give you the answers you are looking for.”

As the sound those words reached my ears, a spark of hope glistened in my eyes.

“You must be a friend of Sunset Shimmer's: that explains your look, too. Trust me; she knows a lot more about these strange magical phenomenons that have been happening lately than I do. I don't know where she could be right now, though. Probably in her classroom, but I can't tell where that is exactly, either: we are not classmates, you see. But I am sure that, if you explain your problem to Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna, they'll let you see Sunset after class.”

The reply that youngster had given me did not provide anything but names which meant nothing to me. Well, one of them at least.

“Now I am really sorry to say that I must go or I will be late for class. See you around, man.”

“Wait!” I shouted, before he could get away.

“What's up?”

“Tell me where I can find this Principal Celestia.”

My heart was at full gallop, when I laid my eyes on the door the being from before had pointed out to me. It had been hard enough to get over my previous fear, part of which I could still sense lurking in my heart, and now I was feeling like my chest was about to explode: it was only a matter of time.

During the moments I passed mumbling to myself what I should say, after passing through the door that laid before me, I realised that my “paws” were shaking from nervousness. I simply could not believe that such a thing was happening to me.

As I have previously mentioned, this was not the first time I had found myself in a tough situation, yet what I was experiencing was totally new to me. The more I repeated that name in my head, the more my struggle grew worse.

Celestia: one of the princesses I had spent years tutoring.

As soon as the blue-haired youngster had mentioned that word, I had felt a blow of cold wind, freezing my spine.

I should not have been so surprised, though. After all if dimensions different from the one I lived in existed, it was more than plausible than one could have doubles, living in those worlds.

What was I afraid of then?

If the Celestia I was about to meet was not the one I knew, she would not be able to recognise me. The frightening tension in my heart still remained, though.

Perhaps it was not the prospective of meeting another Celestia that scared me: perhaps I was just afraid of seeing her face.

I was scared of those large, magenta eyes, staring at me, telling me that I had failed to live up to her expectations, that, venturing on a journey to save the Realm, I had abandoned her and her younger sister.

Sighing, I knocked on the door before me: who knows why that time my “paw” felt particularly heavy to lift?

A warm voice came from inside the room, inviting me to come in. As I opened the door, I remained speechless from what I saw.

Sitting behind a large table was not the one who I had expected to find. The creature before me was tall and thin; her skin white as winter snow.

Her facial complexion was completely different than that of the young pony princess I had left in the capital: this one was a lot more mature with dark bags circling her eyes...Her eyes.

Yes, those were the eyes I had feared to be stared by. Despite many differences, I had to admit that the creature before me was indeed Celestia: only she could have possessed such irises. Two royal magenta irises, full of courage and determination. The more I observed them, the more the energy the emitted made my head feel dizzy.

Furthermore the Celestia from this world had the same hair as the one I knew, only slightly shorter and not as flowing. On her chest she wore a pin, shaped like the sun; the same sun the young pony princess from my world had as a cutie mark.

“How may I help...you...?” The tall creature questioned insecurely.

I did not give her my answer straight away, as I was supposed to, for her gaze had suddenly frozen the vocal cords in my throat.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Celestia, regaining her composure from the previous shock, finally spoke up.

“May I know your name, sir, and the reason of your visit to my office?”

As she talked, I could clearly see that her lips were still trembling. Something about me was causing her to feel uncomfortable, though I did not know exactly what it was.

Noticing that I was not answering, Celestia tried to encourage me. “Please, there is no need to stand in silence. If there is anything I can help you with, I'd gladly do what I can to...”

At that precise moment a door on her right side opened and from the shadows of another room emerged...Luna.

“Sister.” I remember her saying to Celestia. “I was hoping you could take a look at these documents, while I...”

The instant the vice-principal laid her eyes on me was certainly the worst of the day. Immediately she dropped the papers in her "paws" and her jaw opened as widely as it could.

It was only then that I finally understood what was going on.

In her eyes I saw fear, fear of an odd-looking stranger, the kind of fear that could make one jump in their own bed at night.

I felt my old heart, shattering into a million pieces: Luna was scared, scared of me!

That sight was too much to handle even for me: in a second everything around me became black, the sounds ceased to exist and then I felt just oblivious.

When I woke up, I was laying on a bed and feeling a strong sense of nausea. I instinctively tried to stand up, yet my headache had come back, much stronger than before and I had to give up.

Shortly afterwards, another inhabitant of the new world arrived to help me. Her white skin was almost as candid as Celestia's and her hair pink as a spring rose. The smile she gave me was full of kindness and care: clearly she knew how to assist those who were in distress.

After helping me up, the creature in question asked me how I was feeling; I did not see anything wrong in telling her the truth. She explained to me that I had passed out in the principal's office and been brought to her, so that she could take care of me.

She also told me that the reason of what had happened to me was only stress and suggested that I should go home and get some rest.

To be completely honest, I liked that creature and I had a feeling that Meadowbrook would have liked her, too. Pity she was not with me. Instead she was somewhere I did not know, yet and so were the others. Only the stars knew when we would meet again and finally go home together.

I kindly thanked the creature who had taken care of me and exited what presumably was her office.

While I was walking through the hallways of the building where I was apparently stuck in, at least until I gathered enough information to know what to do next, I was lucky enough to come across the same blue-haired youngster who I had first met during the morning. He seemed pleased to see me.

“Hey, man!” He greeted me, using that unknown word once again. “How did it go with the principal? Did you meet Sunset?”

The sad answer to that question was obviously no.

“Oh, I guess you could not find her either this morning, but not to worry: I just saw her.” As soon as the sound of those words reached my ears, hope began to shine inside of me.

“Where?!” I asked impatiently.

“Just outside, in front of the Wondercolt statue.”

“Show me!”

“So that there is the one who is supposed to help me to find a magic source?” I asked the blue-haired youngster, stroking my beard in reflection.

“Yep, that's Sunset, alright!” He quickly replied. “If you've got a magic problem, then there's nobody better than her to help you fix it.”

“I see...”I went on saying, being still unconvinced.

“Is there something you wanna ask?” The one who had accompanied me questioned, noticing that I was in doubt.

“It's just that she looks so incredibly young for a sorceress...”

“Sorceress?! ”The blue-haired youngster shrieked, after hearing me speak.

“Why of course! Don't people with magical abilities receive proper titles in these parts?”

“Eh, no. Not that I know of...”.

After I had heard that answer, I realised that my knowledge had deceived me again.

“Other worlds, other rules.” I thought to myself, observing the one who the blue-haired youngster had called Sunset.

The first impression she gave me was absolutely normal. There was nothing about her that made her different from the others I had met so far in this world.

It was only after deeper and more intense focusing that I was able to see that, deep down her fiery and golden locks and her warm smile, she possessed a peculiar aura. For an instant I felt an electric spark, passing through my spine, which could only mean one thing: magic.

“Do you want me to introduce you to her?” The blue-haired one questioned, seeing me silent.

“I think I can take it from here”. I firmly replied. “Thank you for your help.”

“No problem, man, let me know if you need anything else tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I asked curiously. “Why tomorrow?”

“Eh...you do know that school is over for today, right? I am kind of going home.”

His reply made a flicker lighten in my mind: I had spent an entire day in a school! That explained many things.

When I had first seen Sunset Shimmer, she was surrounded by other five inhabitants of the new world, which made me feel weak and unsure about how to approach her. Now though that her companions had left her, the time had come for me to make my move.

“Sunset Simmer, I presume?” I asked, trying my best to sound polite, while the youngster neared the staircase before the entrance to the school building.

As the being before me raised her eyes to see who had spoken, an expression of terror appeared on Sunset's previously cheerful face, the same terror I had seen alter Luna's features the moment she first saw me.

“Who are you?! How do you know my name?!” She shrieked, trembling like a lief; her cyan eyes almost crying already.

“Please, there is no need for this. I mean you no harm.” I went on saying calmly, desperately attempting to reassure her, before she could run away. Of course, Sunset did not believe me.

“Stay back! Don't come any closer!” The youngster shouted more loudly than before.

“Don't be afraid. I need your help...I beg you!”

The moment I extended my arms to grab the youngster by the shoulders, I suddenly felt an indescribable pain on the back of my neck. Something, probably a heavy metallic object, had hit me on the nape.

The next thing I felt was my body, falling on the ground with all its weight, then the dark of the night fell on my eyes.

In the lion's den

Chapter 3:

"In the lion's den"

When I came up to my senses again, everything around me was dark. For an instant it almost felt like, I could not open my eyes, no matter how hard I tried. At the beginning I believed I was dreaming, yet an unbearable scent of wet, rotten wood soon led me to realise that I was indeed awake. Furthermore a terrible pain in my neck was, too, an efficient reminder of what had occurred to me just a few hours earlier.

The fair moon rays, penetrating from a small window, were the only source of light in the room, meaning that whoever had taken me there had done so from quite some time, since I remembered being attacked around sunset. I knew that I did not have time for such thinking though; for now my priority would be find a way to retrieve my freedom, escaping my dark, humid prison.

I was still feeling very weak back then, but I was aware that inside of me I had the necessary strength to do what I had to. Gathering my every bit of courage and energy I tried to stand up on my posterior legs, like I had learned, observing the inhabitants of the new world, yet I soon fell back onto my place.

At that moment I could not help but notice a strong tension on my new pair of “paws”. I tried to move them, but instantly felt an intense tightening pain. I had no doubts left now: I had been tied up.

Unsure of what to do, I slowly gulped; one of my many fears had come true. I had let myself been recognised as an individual who could not be trusted thanks to my bizarre ways and run into some creature who obviously meant me harm. A voice inside of me wished to cry for help as loudly as possible. It begged me to let my tension out and scream, yet I knew all too well that no creature would come to rescue me.

I was nothing but an old, defenceless fool in the hands of enemies and without my magic there was no way for me to get out of that dangerous situation.

Losing my last light of hope, I simply waited for my fate to come true. Somepony though would have been very disappointed to see me in that state; or at least that was what I thought, when the word "hope" came to me.

Somnanbula's mystical figure suddenly passed through my mind and, just like a bright flash, it lightened up my eyes. Of course she would not want to see me in such condition, nor would the rest of my missing comrades.

I did not know where Somnanbula was at that moment, but I was sure that, however awful the place she had ended up because of the failure of my banishing spell, she would never loose the glimmer of hope and nor I should.

Filled with a new courage, I attempted to move again, yet it all ended up like it had in the first place. This time something beneath me squeaked though, meaning that I was probably tied to a chair. That was a true relief to me, for it meant that it would not be difficult for me to get free, maybe after my “paws” had began to sweat...

As I reflected upon these things, trying to figure out a way to escape as quickly as possible, I started to hear noises coming the darkness, blinding my eyes. Some creatures were probably in another room, discussing with each other and, if my hunch was right, the topic of their conversation was me.

Careful not to make any sudden moves, so that I would avoid making sounds loud enough to attract any creature to my room, I slowly approached the nearest corner, jumping up and down with my chair, until I felt the cold surface of a wall, touching my face. After placing an ear on it, I heard two distinct voices, speaking to each other and quite vigorously I should say.

Judging from what I could hear the two beings, talking in the other room, were both females. The sound of their voices was hard to perceive clearly through the wall, yet I could tell with no doubt that one of the creature speaking sounded so mad that she almost hissed as she spoke, while the other was probably more concerned than upset.

If I remember correctly their conversation sounded more or less like this.

“Was tightening him up to a chair really necessary?” The concerned one asked in a trembling tone of voice.

“Yes”. The other quickly replied assertively. “He cannot be trusted.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Wasn't he the one who randomly approached you, already knowing your name and without even saying hello?” The angry one insisted. As her interlocutor spoke those words, the first girl remained silent, meaning that she agreed with her point.

In the meantime I began to feel nervous again: it seemed like everything was against me at that moment.

“See?” The angry one went on saying, noticing that her companion would not reply.

“What did I tell you? Trust me: he is nothing but a wicked, decrepit mule who should have died of old age by now.”

“You seem to know him pretty well.” The first girl said, interrupting her interlocutor.

“Do I know him?!” The other exclaimed so loudly that the walls around began to shake. “He is the very cause of my curse. Not that you are innocent by the way, but I suppose that, in cases such as this, the enemy of my enemy really is my friend.”

“Gee...thanks, I guess.” The worried girl timidly replied to the other.

“You are welcome, but remember that I am only helping you out this once.”

“Okay, I guess that will have to work then. Now before we go to the other room and interrogate our friend...”

“My new favourite hobby!” The second one said to herself in a mean giggle.

“...Would you mind telling me why you were snooping around the school of all places, Adagio?”

“For the last time I wasn't snooping, I was just...”

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a squeaking noise, coming from the room where I was. It had taken only a moment for me to doom my own self: I had made that noise, moving the chair to which I was tied up. I knew all too well that I was not supposed to let that happen, yet, as the sound of that familiar name reached my ears, I briefly lost control.

Adagio, how could it be?!

“Did you hear that?!” The angry girl exclaimed, as soon as she heard the noise. “It sounds like our guest is awake. Let's go pay him a visit, shall we?!”

“Fine, but, please, go easy on him, whatever he might have done to you to deserve your wrath.” The worried one added, noticing that her interlocutor was ready to blow off her steam on me.

“Oh, there is no way I am doing that. My sisters and I have some unfinished business to deal with, now that he is here. But don't worry, I promise I will leave you some time to ask him your questions and, in case he refuses to cooperate, I will make him spill the beans!” The second creature went on saying; the sound of her teeth grinding followed her words.

“Speaking of your sisters, why weren't they with you? Last time I saw you three I thought you were practicably inseparable.”

“This time I just decided to take a walk on my own and that's the only answer you're gonna get for now, Shimmer. But don't worry too much, I've just given them a call and our location. They're probably on their way here already; I'm sure they have a thing or two to say to our old friend, too. But for now I am gonna enjoy having him all to myself.”

Another noise, louder than the previous one, interrupted the two girls again and, exactly like the first time, I had made it. In a desperate attempt to free myself from the ropes that held me tightly, I had caused my chair to fall over and myself along with it. The fall caused me to bump my chin on the floor, while my old spine, which had taken too many hits in this adventure for my tastes, began to hurt again and the ropes, tightening my hands, sent an unbearable pain through my arms.

Soon a door opened from behind my back, letting a bright light enter the room. I heard the distinctive sound of steps coming toward me. At that moment I wished to turn around and face the enemies in their eyes, courageously like I always had, yet the condition I was in prevented me from doing so. During those dark, brief moments, for the first time, I truly felt weak and defenceless against a terrible foe.

As soon as the noise, of which I have spoken of, was interrupted, I saw a pair of very peculiar and at the same time familiar-looking boots.

“Starswirl?” A voice called out gently. “Are you alright? Did you get hurt?” It took me nothing but a brief moment to recognise who was speaking to me. It was Sunset Shimmer, the very same girl who I had met that afternoon and just a while ago was having an inconvenient conversation about me with some other creature.

“He's fine, Sunset. Put him and the chair back up, even if I must admit that this position is rather suitable for him.” Said the other voice from before, this time speaking loud and clear.

Soon afterwards Sunset put me in a more comfortable position, as she had been told by her companion. When I was back with my “hooves on the ground” so to speak, I gazed at the figure before me.

The individual in question must have been around 5 feet and 8 inches tall; moreover she was very thin, as if she had been suffering from hunger for a very long time. Her face was obscured by the shadow, created by the light, coming from the door behind her back; yet that did not hide either the amber colour of her skin or her voluminous, curly hair. She was wearing a lavender jacket on top of a purple attire; around her waist I saw a golden, spiky belt.

Without uttering a single word, the creature slowly walked toward me in a threatening way; in the meantime, feeling helpless, I could not avoid gulping in nervousness.

The being stepped forward, until she was finally just a few inches a way from me; it was then that she began to speak. The hiss in her voice still haunts my most horrible nightmares.

“Now,now, look at who we have here!” She said, kneeling before me, so I could see the grin on her face.

Her complexion was incredibly young and handsome, yet what stuck me the most was the vivid fire in her magenta eyes. A flame of pure hatred and anger, burning devilishly before me.

“What happened to you, Starswirl? Cat ate your tongue? I remembered you being much more loquacious.” I did not utter a word in response, I did not wish to, nor did my usually brave and righteous spirit for once.

Smirking, the girl turned around, facing the wall: she was probably pleased with seeing me silent; it made her understand that I was defenceless against her.

“I bet that you are wondering why we decided to bring you here.” The curly-haired one went on saying, turning her gaze to me again. “Or why, when you woke up, you found yourself tied to that chair. Don't worry, Starwirl, you will have your answers in due time. Right now I believe that you own us some explanations yourself.”

Saying these things, the inhabitant of the new world turned around the chair to which I was still tied up, a detail that she had so generously reminded me of, and me along with it.

“Sunset here has some questions for you, Starswirl. Would you be so kind to answer them for us?” The curly-haired girl hissed in my ear like a snake; the sound of her voice was so acute that it made me tremble in my chair.

“Starswirl.” The one, called Sunset, began to speak. “This afternoon, when we first met, you called me by my name, plus you approached me in a very unfriendly and let's just say creepy kind of way. I would like to know why and who told you who I was.”

I did not gave the girl any answer, as if I could have ever stooped down to speaking to some creature who, instead of helping me like I had been told, had agreed to cooperate with one of the worst evil being in all of the dimensional universes.

“Did you hear that, Starswirl?” The other one intervened from behind my back, still grinning evilly.

“This kind lady just asked you a question, would you be a gentlecolt and give us an answer now!”

Again I did not utter a word: as I have already mentioned, I had managed to get out of situations which seemed hopeless before. There was no way that a threat like that would influence me.

“I said answer!” The angry girl yelled, raising her arm in a rage of fury.

“Adagio!” Sunset exclaimed from behind her back. “Don't!”

Perhaps there was a natural charm in the youngster's voice, or she was sorceress like I had thought in the first place. Still something in her gentle tone seemed to calm down Adagio, even if only slightly.

Giving up the idea of hitting me, the curly-haired girl turned around to her companion. “You are right.” She finally sighed. “We need him in one piece, if we want to make him spill the beans. If I let my anger get the better of me, there's no way of telling what I'll do to him.”

“We'll wait for your sisters to arrive.” Sunset went on saying, placing a hand on Adagio's shoulder in a clear attempt to comfort her. “I am sure that he'll be more reasonable, once he sees us all together.” Without adding anything the curly-haired girl nodded in approval.

“Adagio Dazzle...” I spoke at that precise moment, as my pride had, as usual, gotten the better of me. “I don't know what your mean skims are this time, but I can assure you that they shall not work on me. Meeting you was an unfortunate turn of events, true, yet the simple fact that you and your ally have tied me up here will not be enough to defeat me. I shall prevail again, fiend, exactly as I and the other pillars prevailed against you at the time of our first meeting. Furthermore I wish you to know that I do not regret anything, let me say that again, anything of what I have done to you and your...”

Before I could finish my sentence, I was hit on the cheek by a powerful fist.

“Mean Skims?! Prevail?! Pillars?! Do not regret?! Have you ever taken time to reflect on how pathetic you are, Starswirl?!” Adagio exclaimed with a terrible tone of anger in her voice. “What do you think you can do this time, Starwirl?! You are in my power: nopony, not even your precious companions can come rescue you this time. You are alone and without magic in the dark of a room, yet you still think you can prevail?! They may treat you like a sage, Starswirl, but you can't fool me! I know the real you and I know for a fact that you are nothing but a powerless, old coward and a child who still believes in old tales in which good always wins!”

Getting under the siren's skin had not been wise of me, for it had caused Adagio to get even more upset at me than she
already was. Now she was delivering me one powerful punch after the other, painting my face red, while shouting.

“What are you gonna do now, Starswirl?! Where are the other pillars, Starswirl?! How are you gonna get out of this bad situation without your precious magic, Starswirls?! Will you tell me how are you gonna win this time, Starswirl?! C'mon, tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

Suddenly my torment ceased; the taste of blood was in my mouth once more, yet this time I had the impression that one of my incisors was indeed broken. As I tiredly opened my eyes, I saw that Sunset had stepped into the very middle of Adagio's wrath and grabbed the other girl by the arm, preventing her from delivering me another one of her fists.

“Let me go!” The curly-haired one shouted angrily. “Why are you stopping me?! I told you I would be rough on him, plus he is our common enemy!”

“I won't let you hurt him even more, Adagio” The red-haired youngster exclaimed assertively. “Even if he is a threatening creep and a jerk, I still don't understand why you are being so hard on him. What did he ever do to you to deserve you being so angry at him for such a long time?!”

At the sound of those words, the siren shrugged the other girl's hand off her arm, right before yelling.

“You want to know...What he did to me?! You really do?!” As she spoke those words, Adagio's face suddenly became as red as a chili pepper and tears began to run down her cheeks.

Seeing Adagio's state, Sunset timidly nodded in response to her previous question. So the curly-haired girl shouted.

“Then I'll tell you what he did!”

One bad day

Chapter 4:

"One bad day"

During my life there have been only two painful experiences.

I know it may not sound that terrible, since folks keep saying that their existence is full of dark moments. Yet I assure you that what I had to live through surpasses the limits of your imagination.

The first was when this old fool and his blasted pillars banished my sisters and me here. The second when the Rainbooms defeated us during the battle of bands at Canterlot High, causing our gems to shutter.

Now let's examine each of these step by step.

The day Starswirl and his little squad battled us was surely an experience I'd rather forget. I must admit that, despite being so tiny, ponies can really be strong and the pillars of Equestria were the strongest of them all back in the day.

What's funny about this all thing is that we did not face them unprepared, yet we did not succeed in defeating them anyway.

From the moment my sisters and I had emerged from the sea, keen on gathering as much energy of chaos from the inhabitants of Equestria as we could, we figured out that it would be a lot easier to conquer the land with a few equines on our side, so we began to build ourselves an army.

We had been informed by one of the servants we had sent out patrolling that a group of wanderers was dangerously nearing our headquarter; moreover our spy also revealed to us that those were not common folks. I planed our defensive tactic with great care, advised my sister to be ready for everything and ordered the pony army to fight till the very end. I also figured that building a fortification around the village, which my sisters and I had occupied, could not hurt, so I gathered up the local carpenters and asked them to take care of that.

By the time our enemy arrived, thanks to my plans and preparations, our headquarter had become a mighty fort with a high palisade, surrounding all the edges. Those fools would have had a hard time getting in.

Unfortunately I had slightly underestimated their capabilities; in fact it did not take them long to break through the fortification.

“Fair enough.” I said to myself back then. “If it's war that you want, then war you shall have.”

The combined powers of those six ponies was indeed impressive, but it was nothing my sisters and I could not handle: after all we were called sirens for a reason. Furthermore we had a whole army of ponies, ready to die for us: there was no way we could loose.

But we did anyway.

When those cursed pillars finally realised that they did not stand a chance against us, they decided to trick us instead.

Amongst them there were two pegasi. They immediately started flying around us; Aria and Sonata did not like that, so they went after them to crash them like the annoying cockroaches they were. What those two had not realised though was that our enemies were trying to separate us from one another in order to distract us from what was important.

Sadly it worked.

In the meantime the unicorn pillars conjured a powerful sorcery, while the rest of the squad dealt with what remained of our army.

As soon as the portal was ready, it was only a matter of seconds. A pegasi mare tricked Aria into chasing her, while the portal was materialising right before her. Aria was deaf to my desperate screams and chased her prey till the very last second, when the mare in question suddenly changed direction.

Aria quickly remained stuck and was captured by the portal, while I, in a hopeless attempt to rescue her, followed her into that black hole. Sonata went behind me soon afterwards.

Now that you know what happened on the day of our banishment, tell me: do you feel better? Do you still have a justification for this mule over here or was my little tale enough to shut your mouth? You believe you're on the righteous path, you're a force for good. But you're not. Do you have any idea what it feels like to loose everything?

And I am not talking about loosing your possessions or someone who was close to you. No, I am talking about everything.

Do you know what it feels like to find yourself lost in a strange, new world that looks at you as a stranger?

I am not gonna answer for you this time: I am not one to judge, but give me a call the next time you have to feed not only yourself but two more mouths which can count on you and you alone.

Now that I think of that, I have another story for you: would you like to hear that one, too? Yes? I am so glad. I don't want to spoil anything for you but I really hope it'll leave you speechless...

The night my sisters and I were defeated by the Rainbooms I felt the greatest of sorrows.

Not only had I not been able to live up to the girls' expectations, but I had also lead us to our humiliation and caused the pendants that we had brought from Equestria, our most powerful tools and only source of magic, to be destroyed.

Now weak and scared, we were running through the city streets. We were not headed anywhere specific: for the time being we just wished to go as far from Canterlot High as possible.

“Wait, girls, I...” Sonata suddenly gasped, probably tired of running.

“We don't have time to rest.” I shouted angrily. “We need to get away from here or who knows what will happen to us!”

“Do you really believe that they might be chasing us, Adagio?” Aria questioned. As I looked into her purple eyes, I saw something unexpected. For the very first time in her whole life Aria was sincerely scared.

Noticing her sudden change had me spooked. Aria had always been so proud of her magical abilities and intelligence. She was competitive in everything she did and not once in her life had she allowed Sonata or me to tease her, any time she made a mistake.

Our younger sister and her were a constant bittering, moreover she seized every chance she had to try proving that she was better than me. No matter how big or small, any achievement was enough to make her feel good for demonstrating that she should be the leader of our group instead of me.

Now she was trembling like an autumn leaf under the cold, wet rain and her pupils were so wide that they looked like two ponds of dark water.

That sight made me shiver. Even I began to feel weaker and weaker.

“I don't know.” I responded, sighing. “But we'd better not take any chances, so let's keep going.”

“But, I...Cannot...” As soon as Aria and I turned around to resume our running, we suddenly heard something heavy, falling on the ground. Little did we know that, when Sonata had first said that she could not keep up the pace any more, she really meant it. Now she was laying on the ground, motionless as a corpse.

“Sonata!” I called out, while kneeling before her. “Sonata, wake up!” Not a single answer came from her.

“How is she?” Aria asked me, getting closer to us. “What's happened to her?”

“Nothing grave I suppose.” I replied, after making sure that our sister was breathing regularly and her heartbeat was alright. “She's just fainted. The run must have worn her out.”

After hearing me, Aria let out a long, calming breath. She must have been worried about Sonata as much as me, if not even more, considering how much time they spent arguing with each other.

“What do we do now, Adagio?”

“I still think it would be best for us if we found shelter somewhere far away from here. But with Sonata in this state we can't simply keep walking as much as we would need to find a safe place to spend the night.”

“Do you have anywhere specific in mind?”

“Truth be told, yes.” I replied, nodding. “Do you remember the new aquarium they opened out of town?”

“Yeah” Aria quickly replied. “The one Sonata wanted to visit so eagerly, is that right?” I nodded in response. “I heard they had it close though. People kept saying that the patrons had it built too close to a polluted area, so the authorities were forced to shut it down, before they moved any fish in. Poor Sonata was so disappointed at first.”

“Exactly” I exclaimed, intervening. “That place is shut down, which means that nobody will be there to bother us.”

After hearing me out, Aria looked at me in the eyes: I could not say whether she agreed or not with my idea.

“It sure sounds great”. She finally answered. “But you're right. That place is too far away from here to reach it on foot with Sonata in these conditions. We'd better come up with an alternative solution quickly if we don't want the three of us to catch a bad cold under this torrent of rain.”

“Then help me lift her from the ground.”

The two of us together managed to proceed, carrying Sonata on our shoulders. It was surprising to find out how much a girl so thin could weight, when you're literally running for you life.

I do not remember how much we had to walk like that. It may as well have been just thirty minutes, yet to both Aria and me it felt like an eternity. Despite our desperate searching, we did not find any suitable place to use as shelter, so we decided to stop and rest at a bus stop which was provided with a little roof and a bench on which we laid poor Sonata on.

During the time we spent there we seldom talked: probably because we just did not feel like to.

The time passed slowly there, yet the rain eventually stopped and, after Sonata finally woke up, she was still miraculously healthy, so we immediately hurried up to the aquarium.

“This place is weird” Sonata commented, shortly after arriving to our newest hideout. “And it stinks.”

As much as I wanted to say a thing our two to my younger sister, I did not feel like arguing at all that night, moreover I thought to myself that there was no reason to: after all that place did stink of petroleum.

“Former sea creatures in an aquarium.” Aria added, suddenly intervening “What could ever be more cliche than that?”

I must admit that my sister Aria had always been incredible. Even if I never told her, I took delight in witnessing every time she accomplished her objects, with time I began to accept the fact that someday she could very well become more experienced than me. That night though, she left me completely astonished: after everything that had happened, she could still find the strength in her to make jokes?!

I forced myself to smile to make her believe that I had found her jest sincerely funny; she smiled back at me. Yet I knew very well that hers, too, was a fake beam. Aria had in fact learned from experience that letting yourself being fooled can lead to catastrophic consequences.

We spent the night inside the aquarium building. We did not have mattresses or sleeping bags with us, so we settled to sleep on the floor. The pavement was cold as ice, furthermore sleeping on a hard surface gets more uncomfortable if you don't have a blanket to wrap yourself in and there's a storm outside; yet we managed to fall asleep somehow.

We spent a few days without coming out of that stinking place. It was not all that bad, after all there was plenty of water around to remind us of where we originally came from: I know it might sound a bit bizarre, but that aquarium actually starting feeling like home at certain point. The downside of living in an abandoned building is that, after some time, you can start hallucinating, seeing things that aren't real, thinks that spook you especially at night.

Yet the hallucinations were not the hardest thing we had to go through. No...It was the hunger.

I suppose we should have seen that coming: after all it was only natural that, after loosing our gems, certain needs would soon claim to be satisfied. We just did not expect it would happen this early.

“I am hungry!” Sonata said the evening her stomach rumbled for the first time.

“We have no food.” I explained to her.

“But I'm starving. I've been like this for days now.”

“We all have...” Aria murmured to herself, hoping I would not notice the noises, coming from her stomach.

Unluckily for her, my hearing was sensitive enough to recognise the rumbling of her tummy, as she was saying those things. I gulped, as I realised that for the first time ever I had not come up with one of my usual over-complicated plans to solve things.

It felt incredibly frustrating: my sisters and I were already thin as rails and, unless I came up with a solution soon, we would all be doomed to starvation.

In the end It did not take much for me to make up my mind on what to do.

“I am going out!” I exclaimed, raising up with the last spark of pride I had within myself.

“On what exact purpose?” Aria questioned, confused.

“I must find food, otherwise we won't last anything but a few more days.” Lowering my gaze, I immediately noticed that my sisters were staring at me in an unusually awkward way.

“Adagio...” Aria went on saying, while Sonata gulped, visibly worried. “It's not that we don't trust you.” Instantly I understood that I would not like what my younger sister was going to say. “It's just that yours doesn't sound like a solid plan, you see?”

As Aria was speaking those words, I felt my heart breaking into a million pieces. Not only had I lost my title as the leader of our group, but my sisters had also lost their faith in me completely.

“We do not have money to buy our food.” Sonata murmured, finally stepping into our conversation.

“That would leave us with only one option.” Aria went on saying, interrupting our younger sister.

“Finding a job really quickly?”

“I am afraid, it's not that simple. As we are currently starving, the only way we could get food quickly enough to survive would be...” Aria's phrase was suddenly interrupted by a noise, coming from her back: it had been me, slamming the door.

Listening to my sisters had been a torture. They had obviously lost all of their faith in me, if they believed that I could do nothing to save us from certain doom. I knew though that there was one way I could really impress them: doing what I was best at, meaning pulling them out their trouble.

Sadly they were right about one thing. I knew which way Aria meant we could get food and, although I normally considered it a reckless foolishness, I knew it had to be done: we were not in normal circumstances after all.

So I did it, I robbed a bakery, as the owner, a young, thin boy was about to close the shop.

I hit him on the back of his neck and, after he passed out on the ground, stole as much bred as I could.

I am not gonna tell you the whole, incredibly sentimental story of how I managed to get back to the aquarium out of town. It would be too predictable and not entertaining enough for you and not pleasant to remember for me.

Let me tell you something else though: despite my actions being wrong and me being an ignoble thief, as you may put it, we managed to survive thanks to the food I had stolen...

Now listen and listen well.

The next time you come around, being so full of yourself, convinced to be a good fellow. Try walking the footstep of a villain: they may reveal you more about the truth, seen from another point of view, than what all of your goody friends ever told you.

From bad to worse

Chapter 5:

"From bad to worse"

Telling her story had moved Adagio. The proud siren's face was now covered in tears, while her soft cheeks had turned red. She would seldom sob, as she tried to dry her teardrops. Before her stood Sunset Shimmer who had listened to the other girl's tale without uttering a single word. The red-haired youngster looked like she had been saddened by Adagio's story, as she looked at the siren in the eyes with pitiful affection.

Whereas for me, I had no intention of showing my feelings to the one who had once been, and clearly still was, a dangerous enemy. I had in fact learned over the years that emotions can often be seen as points of weakness and that it was best to hide them at least most of the time.

We spent the following minutes in a particularly tense atmosphere, which did nothing but cause me to get more and more worried. Previously the red-haired youngster had done all in her power to keep Adagio from unleashing her full wrath upon me, but during those empty moments I began to fear that, after hearing the siren's story, she would not do the same twice. I had put on a brave face until then, yet I did not believe at that time that I would be able to go on like that for much longer. Terrorised, I gulped in my powerlessness.

“Do you understand now?” The siren said, as she began to speak once more. “Do you finally realise that he was the only cause of my and my sisters' damnation? If you have, then tell me how in the world I am supposed to put my past behind me? How can you expect me let the only chance I have to take my revenge on him slide?”

As she heard those words, Sunset lowered her head discouraged: either she had understood that trying to convince Adagio not to hurt me was impossible, or she agreed with her viewpoint.

“You stand silent, I see.” Adagio went on saying, seeing that her interlocutor would not budge. “I suppose that we won't need to put up a fight over this then”. After saying these things, the siren turned toward me; her smirk had disappeared, yet on her face I could still very well read the signs of her hatred. “I suppose it's better this way though. After all, I wouldn't want to waste energy, since it'll take long for me to get satisfied with hurting you, very long.”

As I saw the siren raising her fist, I closed my eyes, ready to do my best not to let a single scream of pain escape my mouth, yet Adagio did not manage to deliver her punch before being interrupted by a sound, coming from the outside.

“Was that the door?” Adagio questioned, since her fun had obviously been spoiled.

Sunset nodded in response. “You did say that your sisters would arrive here soon.”

Immediately Adagio, shook her head. “Right, I did say that. Keep an eye on him, I'll go open the door.”
“And you...” She then added, gazing into my eyes. “...Don't think you're safe, in fact your situation has just gotten even worse.”

In the moments that followed both Sunset and I remained silent. Hers was an awkward behaviour though, for it looked like that she had something to say to me, yet she refused to; as if something were holding her back. Truth be told, she was mystery to me. At first I had thought of her as an enemy, for the simple fact that she was coopering with Adagio. Yet, unlike the other girl, she had shown kindness and concern for me.

It was clear to me now that her heart was pure, but I did not understand why she would choose to trust in some creature like Adagio, who obviously despised her as well as me.

Who knows? Perhaps I had used the wrong approach with her after all. Maybe I should have tried to explain my situation better than I had done at the time of our first meeting. Furthermore if I had scared her so much, it would have made sense that she had decided to trust any creature who could protect her from the danger I represented, the siren, Adagio, included.

For the fist time that night I wished to talk to her, to apologise for what I had done to her and to ask, to beg for her help, yet I could not do that before the siren came back.

As the distinctive sound of her footsteps stopped, I heard an unfamiliar sound.

“So you weren't kidding: he is really here!” The feminine voice exclaimed, stunned.

“Why would I be kidding about something so serious?” Adagio replied, approaching me.

“It's him, it's him!” Another voice spoke from the shadows. “Let's grab him!”

“Wait for your turn, I want to be the first one to give him a a good lesson.” The voice from before added.

“No fair! Why do you have to be first at everything?!”

“Oh c'mon! Do you really want to argue right now?!”

“Why wouldn't I if it's necessary?”

“Look, let's do this. We hit him together the first time, then we switch turns, okay?”

“Sounds go to me.”

“Then let's get to it. I've been waiting too long for this moment.”

Suddenly two individuals stepped out of the corner of the room. Both of them were girls, one slightly younger than the other. They differed in everything from their skin tone to the clothes they were wearing. There was one thing they shared though and it was their wicked grin. A grin that made the blood in my veins freeze. It was only by intuition that I understood that those two must have been Adagio's younger sisters. The same ones that had been banished along with her.

The oldest of the sirens had been right about one thing: from the very start I had been in trouble, but now it was a completely different matter. If handling only one siren without the use of magic and with my new pair of “paws” tied up had been impossible, having three of them before me meant it was time for me to meet my faite.

At that moment Adagio shouted her command: “Have at him, girls!”

After hearing it, I closed my eyes, ready for the worst or so I thought...

Author's Note

What will happen to poor Starswirl now? Will he fall pray to the sirens or will he somehow manage to escape their lair and retrieve his magic and his companions?

If you're anxious to know that, please do not miss our next chapter.
"Allies"

Allies

Chapter 6

"Allies"

In noting but a mare second the terrifying trio launched their claws at me. As I felt them breathing on my neck, my body wanted, no, demanded to struggle with all of its strength to get free from their trap.

Although my instinct was strong, I knew that I had to remain calm without showing even the littlest sign of weakness. It was a vital concept.

On the other hoof, I must admit that even a pony as old and experienced as I can quickly fall from its pedestal, when the time comes for him to face his greatest fear. That was precisely the kind of thing through which I was going. My heartbeat raised to a million, my breath ceased, cold drops of sweat immediately came down my forehead. During one brief moment I felt a freezing shiver going through my spine: it was like the Windingos themselves had blown through it. I closed my eyes, hoping that would calm me, while I was waiting for my doom.

One second passed, then another, then another, yet nothing happened.

Not without fear I opened one eye to see why the sirens were taking so long to finish me up. After all if they had been seeking vengeance upon me for all these years, there was no reason for them to delay my inevitable end, like Adagio had explained just a few minutes before her sisters arrived.

To my surprise I saw the siren trio standing still, while right before me was her, Sunset Shimmer. The red-haired girl had finally stepped out of her shadowy corner of the room and was now blocking the path to my enemies with her arms spread open. The expression she had put on her face conveyed courage and unbreakable will from miles. In front of her the sirens stood motionless, partially shocked, partially mad at the youngster for not minding her own business like she had been doing until a few moments ago.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Adagio screamed uncontrollably, the sound of her voice resembling the roar of a caged lion. “I thought we had an agreement, Sunset!” She went on saying hissing at the teenager. “You owe me for saving your neck earlier! Plus I thought I had already explained you how much harm he can do to you. Let me and the girls take care of him
permanently!”

“It is true that I owe you, Adagio!” Sunset replied, after the other girl had finished speaking. “But I didn't sign up for this and there is no way I am gonna let you and the others do what you want to him without doing anything to prevent it!”

At the sound of those very words Adagio growled as a hungry dog. “Is this your final decision?” She questioned, barely keeping herself together. “Are you really planning to defend him no matter
what?”

Sunset nodded.

“Very well then. I hope you are prepared to face the consequences of your choice. Girls!”

“There's no use in harming him.” Sunset exclaimed right before Adagio's sisters launched at her.

“No use in hurting him, you say?” The siren went on saying, giggling in sarcastic amusement.

“What do you think you will get out of this, Adagio?” The red-haired youngster added without making a single move.

“The pleasure of revenge, that's what! I thought I had been clear enough earlier.”

“You were very clear, Adagio. But I can honestly say that vengeance is never the right solution. Trust me, I know, I've been through it already. Even if you do get your revenge, you will never truly be happy, for things are not gonna go back to how they used to be. Nothing is ever going to change this way.”

Sunset Shimmer's speech was simply brilliant. During my years of life I had come across all sort of ponies many of which were incredibly skilled and talented, so I could honestly tell that the teenager or sorceress in front of me was one of them. Her eyes were filled with the same flame and determination I saw in Clover the day I decided to take him under my protective wing. Those beautiful and at the same time courageous cyan eyes conveyed a strong a sensation of fright even through my body. Yet Adagio did not seem to be intimidated in the least.

The siren stood still before her new enemy, fixing her tremendous gaze on her, anger visibly flowing through her every vein.

“That's what I can't stand about you goodies.” She suddenly spoke “You are all the same.”

As she listened to the siren, the red-haired teenager did not make a single move.

“No matter what one tries to say to convince you, you always believe that you are right and doing the best for yourself and for others.” As she was saying these things, the proud siren lowered her chin to her chest, breathing heavily. “Well, guess what, hero: you're not and you're gonna learn it the hard way! Girls!”

When Adagio shouted her sisters' names I saw Sunset doing absolutely nothing: she never moved from where she was standing or gave any sign of weakness or even blinked her eyes. She just remained in her position, determined to defend me. It was then that I finally understood that she truly had a noble heart. One of the very few noble ones that are so rare to find these days. Had I been in a different situation, I would have certainly smiled. During those brief dark moments I wished I had my magic back to save her from harm: it would only take a flicker of my abilities to get ourselves out of trouble, yet I could not do anything.

In the meantime I noticed that Adagio's sisters had not launched at us, yet, which was incredibly strange, especially considering the things they had said about me a moment earlier. The two sirens were in fact standing by their leader's side without doing or saying anything.

“What are you two waiting for? An invitation?” Adagio yelled at them nervously. “Let's finish this now!” After the siren said these things, the purple-haired one on her right shook her head.

“She has a point” One of the other sirens said to her sister. “Even if we do what we want with them, we're not gonna get back what we lost thousands of years ago.”

“I agree with Aria” The third one, obviously the youngest and most sensitive of the entire trio, added. “I don't want to get my hands dirty for nothing.”

“But...But...” Adagio mumbled out. “This has been our secret dream for how don't even know how many moons! And now that we are so close to it you are telling me that you are really giving up on your goal because of the very same girl who made our lives miserable?!”

“It's been far too long to be angry with him” The purple-haired one went on saying. “Even if we still hate Sunset Shimmer and her friends for what they did to us, it's better not to make an even bigger mess of things. Not here, not now. It's just not worth it.”

As her younger sister spoke those words, the oldest of the sirens lowered her chin to her chest. Once more her cheeks turned red, once more tears came out of her magenta eyes. I am still not sure why, but something about that scene saddened me deeply. Perhaps it was seeing Adagio alone and isolated by her fellow sirens: it may have been true that they would do everything together, when they lived in Realm, but they certainly did not seem to agree the same way they used to any more. At that precise moment I recalled the words I had written in my journal the very same day the pillars and I had banished the sirens to another dimension and like back in that fateful day its meaning made a spear pierce my heart.

“Because the sirens' power required magic, Starswirl hoped that sending them to a world without magic would be enough. But in truth Starswirl had failed. He lacked some quality, some ability that could have redeemed the sirens. Indeed, they could have used their magic for good instead of evil. But it was not to be. It was, perhaps, his greatest failure ever.”

“Take him away...” Adagio murmured, as she finally spoke up again; Sunset did not answer. She probably had no more words left to say. “Take him away!” The siren shouted loudly, this time startling both Sunset and me. “And get out of here, before I change my mind!”

The red-haired youngster did as she had been told. Having slowly come to me, she quickly untied my “paws”. As I rose up on my posterior legs, I stared at Adagio once more: the proud siren was still facing the ground beneath her with her eyes full of tears. Noticing me, her purple-haired sister glazed upon me with great anger, probably advising me that I should go away at once. Suddenly something seized me from behind: it was Sunset. Understanding that the wisest thing for me to do was to obey Adagio's command, I turned around and let the teenager lead the way out.

As we excited the place that had kept be imprisoned for almost all night, I immediately felt an aggressive sensation of cold, running through my veins: I could not help but shrug. It was then that I noticed that my new skin, which lacked hair, was much more sensitive than I had thought.

“Feeling a little cold, aren't we?” Sunset said, gently smiling at me. Ignoring her question, I stared at her without opening my mouth. “Here, take this.” Suddenly the girl opened the bag that she was carrying on her shoulder and took a long orange scarf, which she then gave me. After putting it on, I immediately felt a pleasurable sensation of warmth around my neck and, even though the rest of my body still craved a nice fire, I could not deny that it did make me feel a lot better than before.

“We should hurry up”. The teenager went on saying, since I had not much to talk about. “Clouds are gathering up in the sky. We don't wanna be out here, when it starts raining. My place isn't big enough for the two of us, but I am sure that one my friends can help us fix that”. At this point, she quickly took something from her pocket.

I must admit that it was a rather curious object, as small as a filly's hoof. At the moment she touched it, it lightened up mysteriously. I was so stunned by that phenomenon that at first I believed it had to be some kind of magical artefact from this new world. Yet the real surprise had yet to come, for all of a sudden Sunset began to tap her fingers on the object in question: every time she touched it, a mechanic noise came from it. After finishing whatever she was doing, the teenager brought the artefact to her ear and waited a few seconds.

“Hey there, Rarity!” She then exclaimed, as if she had been talking to somepony. “Yes, I know it's late, but I can assure you that I am calling you for a very important reason. It's an equestrian emergency.”

The sight of the red-haired youngster speaking to the artefact was simply jaw-dropping. In all my long years of experience I had come to discover many kinds of magical objects: the majority of them was intriguing and quite interesting to study, while others turned out to be very dangerous to use. But never before had I seen an artefact, capable of following oral commands and instructions. I simply had to know how the sorceress, Sunset Shimmer, or whatever her title was, had managed to find or build it.

“No, Twilight hasn't said anything about this, though I am probably sure she doesn't know about this at all.”

As the teenager went on talking, I sensed a voice coming from the magical object that she was holding in her right “paw”, which lead me to believe that her artefact could either talk on its own or was some kind of distant communication tool. In the past I had heard that some equestrian wizards had been able to build that sort of things, yet I had never given the rumour much credit, for I did not believe that something like distant communication could be possible. Apparently though I had been wrong.

“You're the best, Rarity...” The red-haired youngster went on saying, while I was reflecting upon these things. “Of course I am not just flattering you: I am honestly grateful. Anyway see you in a bit, I'll bring our guest along.”

After finishing her speech, Sunset put the unusual object back in her pocket. Naturally I was more than eager to ask her all about the mysterious functions of her artefact, but the youngsters did not allow me to, for she instantly seized my left “paw” and started pulling me.

“C'mon!” She exclaimed with the same smile that she had put on her face a moment before. “We need to hurry: Rarity isn't gonna wait for us all night!”.

I was confused by her words, in fact I had not fully understood what she intended to do with me, yet. After all I had all the right to have my doubts about her. Surely she had saved my life, but she was also the very same creature who had agreed to cooperate with Adagio Dazzle in the first place.

“Where do you intend to take me?” I asked her, rather upset by her behaviour. “Also who is this Rarity character?”

“Geez...” Sunset said to me, after I had spoken. “I guess that some people might not agree with the old saying: beggars can't be choosers. But is this really the best you can say, after I saved your neck? Unpleasant questions?” Having heard that reply, caused me to get even more nervous. If on one hoof it was true that I owed her a life debt, on the other I also had the right to be respected at least for my age.

The truth was that I had always had a very bad temper. I must confess that this side of my personality often gets the best of me even today, yet at least I have finally become aware of it and try to make an effort to keep my pride in check. At that time though, my self-esteem was even stronger, therefore coming to an agreement with the red-haired teenager would be more difficult than what I had initially thought.

“I beg your pardon?!” I exclaimed in response. “But just five minutes ago you were my enemy just as much as the siren sisters and now you expect me not to demand the rightful respect you owe me? Believe me, I have visited many worlds and dimensions and I can honestly say that the rules of civilization apply everywhere.”

“Oh well; I guess then that you won't need my or my friends' help, if you're really that powerful, Mr. The Bearded. It's been a pleasure meeting you, but let me tell you that you sounded a lot cooler in my books, back when I attended magic school.” Saying those things, Sunset turned around and began to walk away.

At that time I almost felt lost again: after all my carelessness and lack of knowledge in negotiation had caused me enough trouble already: it would be stupid of me to let that happen again.

“Wait!” I shouted, before the youngster could get way.

“Yes?” Sunset responded, turning back.

“I apologise” I went on saying, lowering my head in sign of respect toward her. “You are right to demand my obedience: If it had not been for you, I would not be here. So please forgive me and lend me a helping hoof. I beg you: I am lost”.

“No need for such formality and over-complicated language”. Sunset said, when she spoke to me again. “Mine was just an innocent tease. Follow me, Rarity offered to let you stay in her spare room for the rest of the night.”

Immediately I did as I had been told and started walking behind her.

“You know? I think that Rarity is probably going to like your royal etiquette.”

Back where I began

After a short walk Sunset Shimmer and I found ourselves before a building. It was certainly not the tallest I had seen that day, yet it still looked much more spacious than our houses in the Realm.

Without wasting time, the teenager pressed a small object, which appeared to be a button, just next to the door in front of us. Immediately I heard an unexpected ringing sound, which, I will not lie, took me by surprise. As much as I would have liked to ask the red-haired sorceress how the button she had just pressed had been able to produce such a noise, I decided to not say a word. In truth I feared that she might be bothered by my question again.

Shortly afterwards the door before us was opened by an elegant young “mere” whose skin was white as snow and her eyes the colour of the sky.

“Sunset, darling!” The young “mere”, who I thought to be more or less as old as Sunset Shimmer, said, seeing the red-haired teenager. “You're finally here.”

“Hi, Rarity!” Sunset Shimmer replied, once again with a warm smile upon her face. “Thank you for helping me out. I know it's late.”

“Nonsense, darling. I was having insomnia anyway. Now who's your charming companion.”

“Starswirl, the bearded. The greatest wizard know by ponykind, defeater of countless monsters and currently tutor to the future monarchs of the Realm.” I replied, taking pride in declaring my status.

“Oh, my!” The youngster, called Rarity, said speaking to Sunset Shimmer. “You were right. He really is quite an interesting character.”

“Told you so” The red-haired sorceress replied, giggling. “Despite his many attributes, Starswirl was not exactly known for his humble personality. It seems that the books Princess Celestia made me read, while I was under her care, were right after all.”

“Excuse me?” I intervened, having heard my student's name being mentioned. “What do you exactly mean by interesting character? In addition I would like to know exactly how familiar you are with Celestia. Furthermore, would you care to explain to me how you came to be her pupil? She's only a filly.”

“A thousand years ago perhaps.” The red-haired youngster added, still smiling.

“Is this supposed to some kind of joke?” I then asked nervously . “I am warning you: I do not have time to waste.”

“Relax, Starswirl, I'll explain you sooner than you think.”

“Sir...” Said Rarity, intervening. “I do understand that you might be feeling uncomfortable, so why don't you come inside? I am sure that we can discuss this over a nice cup of tea.”

Moments later, I found myself in the teenager's living room. Just by looking around I could tell that its interior design had been carefully selected, despite its still looking unusual to my eye. Shortly afterwards the sorceress and her companion came in, the first holding in her hands a beautiful teapot, the second three small cups. After the tea had been poured, I gazed upon my two hosts, waiting for them to give me clarification about my current situation. Both of them were hiding something, I could tell that by the way they looked at me, yet it was hard to understand precisely what it was.

“Sunset” The white-skinned one began saying all of a sudden. “I believe that we own our guest from Equestria the explanation he is clearly expecting. I think that you might be the best person to give it to him.”After Rarity had said those things, it was as if the red-haired sorceress had been hit on a painful spot, for she instantly gulped intimidated.

Meanwhile I was feeling more and more upset, for I had being clearly toyed with: first by the Sirens and now by Sunset Shimmer and her supposed “Friend.” My mind was full of questions and I wished an answer to them more than anything else. Yet deep inside I knew that demanding what I wanted would be futile, for right at that moment, I was not the most powerful wizard in the Realm like I had been in the past. But a common beggar, left powerless in a strange, new world which had revealed itself to be much more dangerous than it looked.

“You're right, Rarity, even if it's not exactly an easy thing to say. Starswirl...”

As soon as I heard my name, I raised my ears in full attention.

“You see...How do I put this? You seem not only to have been teleported to a world different from the one you know, but also into the future.”

The first time the sorceress told me that, I did not give it much credit, for I still had the suspicion that she and her companion were trying to make fun of me, yet eventually I came to understand that it was the honest truth.

“Please!” I said, tired of lies and individuals trying to deceive me. “With all due respect, Sunset Shimmer, I am old enough to distinguish the truth from lies, therefore I have every right to think that you are still refusing to tell me the information I seek.”

“Starswirl, I am not making things up: this is the honest truth. How else would you explain what happened to you?”

“I am familiar with the existence of parallel worlds, Sunset Shimmer. I have visited many of them the majority of which seemed strange to me as much as this one does now.”

“Why should I be trying to deceive you in the first place.”

“To steal my powers or leave the Realm without its strongest protector or...”

“Starwhirl, listen to me!” The red-haired teenager exclaimed, suddenly raising her voice. “I am trying to help you! I, too, came to this world from Equestria, but when I left it I was Princess's Celestia student. You've every right to be proud of yourself: ponies still consider you the most amazing and powerful unicorn who ever existed, your names was in countless of my books. Yet in the Equestria I come from, you vanished without leaving a single trace behind.”

Hearing Sunset Shimmer saying all those things with that much emphasis made me realise that she was being sincere. Suddenly it all made sense to me: I had planned my banishing spell so that the pillars and I would remain trapped in limbo along with our foe, the Pony Of Shadows. Therefore, if my spell had succeeded and the Realm been saved, what the sorceress was telling me would only be a natural consequence of my achievement.

Humiliated by my own stubborn behaviour I sat back on the Rarity's couch. “Starwihrl...” The red-haired teenager said, placing her “paw” on my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me. “...Do you feel like telling us what happened back in Equestria, before you were brought into this world?”

Sunset Shimmer's words were powerful enough to make me confess to her all the things that had happened to me. How the pillars and I had met thanks to Stygian, our battle against the sirens sisters and our numerous victories. I also told her about Stygain's plan to steal my and the other pillar's powers and how he had turned into the Pony of Shadows. Finally I concluded my story, talking about my our final battle against the Fiend and revealed my banishing spell.

“So that's how you disappeared.” The sorceress said to herself, as soon as I had finished my story.

“Yes, my last spell was supposed to trap the Fiend in limbo: a dimension from which it is impossible to escape. But not everything went according to plan apparently.” I intervened, lowering my head before the sorceress. “I am afraid that the Pony of Shadows might have managed to counter my spell, escaping my trap. If my hunch is right, then the Realm is in serious danger. I must get back to my world and find the other pillars as fast as possible, before the Fiend causes any harm.”

“What makes you think that your spell was a total failure?” The white-skinned teenager questioned. “It's true that you're here and not in limbo, but your spell might have still worked.”

“I don't think so. You see, the Pony of Shadows is stronger than any of the pillars. That is the reason why we decided to contain him instead of trying to defeat him. His magical abilities are beyond anypony's comprehension. I cannot take any chances.”

“But if he is so powerful as you say and he is free, why hasn't the world fallen into eternal darkness, yet?”

“Firstly we have no guarantee that he has been brought to this very world like I have.” I continued. “Secondly, if he were free, he would not attack anypony, since our last battle has indeed left him very week. He must be hiding somewhere dark to restore his powers.”

“This still does not make sense to me.” Rarity went on saying. “If Equestria is safe and to everypony, living there you're a legend who suddenly disappeared, it must mean that your spell was indeed successful.”

“You both have a point.” Sunset Shimmer intervened, interrupting the other teenager. “Soon after the Friendship Games, Twilight told me of her adventure through time. She explained to me that, since even the littlest thing can make a world of difference, a single change in the past can lead to a cascade of effects in the future, meaning that time does not follow the logical order we think. On the other hand though, Twilight told me that every time she travelled through time, she had to witness terrible versions of her own future, while ours is still perfect. Perhaps Rarity is

right, perhaps the Fiend was really defeated in the past and only Starswhirl was brought into our world.”

“But how do we make sure?”

“There's only one way.”

At that point the red-haired sorceress placed her “paw” upon my forehead, meanwhile with the other she touched a glimmering gemstone hanging over her neck. Even though I had lost my magic I could still feel that there was something odd about that gem, something special. Before I knew it, Sunset Shimmer removed her hand from me, opening her eyes.

“Apparently we have one less thing to worry about.” She said, sighing. “The Pony of Shadows isn't going to pay us any visit.”

“How can you be so certain?” I asked , still not comprehending what kind of spell the sorceress had just cast on me.

“Look, do you see my necklace?” I immediately nodded at the sight of the red gemstone, hanging over the red-haired teenager's neck. “It enables me to see one's memories. According to yours the Pony of Shadows was captured by the portal to limbo you and your companions had generated with your spell.”

“But...How can that be?” I questioned, still unconvinced. “I don't remember any of the things you just said.”

“I suppose that I've just seen your unconscious memories then.” The sorceress replied. “That fight must have left you pretty beat after all.”

“Then why am I here? And where are the other pillars? Please, I need to know more.”

“According to what I saw the Pony of Shadows countered your magic with his own, unleashing immense power. That very power then created a reap through space and time, causing you to be brought here. Since you were the one who actually cast the banishing spell, it is only obvious that the majority of that tremendous energy effected you first. The other pillars were dragged to limbo along with the enemy.”

Those words left me speechless: I was the only one left of my squad of heroes, while my companions had remained stuck in limbo without any chance of escape. Was I really left with no option but abandoning them to their destiny, a destiny that I and I alone had decreed for all of us?

“There must be a mistake!” I exclaimed, hoping that my old ears had deceived me.#

“No mistakes.” Sunset Shimmer answered. “Gems don't lie. I know it's a lot to take in Starswirl: have some rest now, tomorrow I will accompany you back to Equestria. I've got a really good friend there who will be happy to take care of you.”

After the two teenagers had left me alone in my room, I tossed and turned in bed the whole night: no matter how hard I tried to drift off to sleep, I knew that I could not find the piece I needed to rest.

The following morning I went back to the living room where my hosts were waiting for me.

“Did you write to Twilight about our special guest last night?” I heard Rarity saying.

“Of course I did.” The sorceress, Sunset Shimmer replied immediately.

“And? What did she say?”

“She hasn't answered back, yet. I guess she must have been too busy to check her journal last night. If she had seen my message, she would have rushed to the the other side of the mirror-portal.”

“Excuse me.” I intervened, stepping into the room. The moment I did so, the two teenagers turned their heads toward me. Their expressions were a bit shocked: I suppose that I must have caught them by surprise.

“Good morning, Starwirl!” The red-haired one greeted, while her companion smiled at me. “Did you perchance overhear our conversation?”

“I most certainly did.” I answered calmly. “I must say that, although it was very fluttering, I would very like to know who is this Twilight character you were speaking of.”

“She the friend I mentioned to you last night. She is going to help you, once you reach Equestria.”

“And who is she to help me?”

“She is the Princess of Friendship.”

“What?!” I exclaimed gobsmacked by those words.

“Is something wrong, Starswirl?” The white-skinned one intervened. “You seem a little pale.”

“I do not remember ever tutoring any princesses else than Celestia and Luna and neither of them had such a title.”

“Yup, things have changed a bit since your time and there are four princesses in Equestria now.” Sunset Shimmer assured me.

“Even if what you are telling me were true, why would anypony wished to be known as the Princesses of Friendship? It's nonsense.”

“What makes you say that?”

“True power, the one I used to save the Realm many times, does not come from friendship.”

Hearing me saying that, the sorceress winked at her companion, smiling.

“May I know the reason of your sudden joy?”

“You'll find that out yourself, after spending some time with Twilight. Anyway, we should
move so that we can get to CHS before anyone else. We'd like nobody to see you entering the portal.” After the two teenagers had turned around and starting walking toward the door I suddenly understood that the time had come for me to reveal what my true intentions were.

“Wait!” I exclaimed, before the two of them could reach the exit.

“Yes?”

“What is it?”

“I wish to be brought back to the Realm I know.” Both of my hosts remained shocked by what I had just inquired.

“Sorry, what was that?” The red-haired one questioned, probably believing that her ears had deceived her.

“I wish to go back to the Realm I know.” Once again, the teenagers' jaws dropped in shock.

“Starwirl I simply don't think that is possible.”

“Plus, why would you want t do that?”

“If there's no chance for me to free my squad from limbo now and if, as I had predicted, our sacrifice was indeed necessary for the safety of the Realm, then I wish to try to rescue them in the past, while we were still together.”

“That sounds dangerous, darling.”

“Too dangerous to risk your neck. You'll remain trapped in limbo, too, this time.”

“I am aware of the risks, but I wish to try anyway.”

After a minute of silence, the sorceress, Sunset Shimmer, went on saying. “Are you completely sure you wanna do this?”

“Yes”

“Sunset, darling!” Rarity exclaimed at that point. “Don't tell me you really agree to this. You'll be sending him into a trap from which there is no escape.”

“I am not saying that I agree to this, in fact I still believe it's madness, but I can't help but understanding what Starswhirl is going through.”

“But, Sunset.” “If any of you girls remained trapped in another dimension, I would do anything to safe you.”

“I am well aware of that, Sunset, since you came to rescue us when Juniper had trapped us all into her mirror and you got captured in the attempt. In the end we had to thank Starlight for saving us before it was too late. But this time there'll be no rescuer for Starswirl and his companions.”

“I understand your worries.” I intervened, trying to reassure my young host. “However my mind is made up. I won't leave my companions alone, even if that means my own sacrifice.”

Seeing my determination, Rarity did not speak another word.

“So” The sorceress, Sunset Shimmer, began to talk, as soon as we had sat at her table. “According to my books you disappeared one thousand and twenty two years ago, meaning in the Pre-classical era of Equestria.”

“That's specific.” The white-skinned one exclaimed, stunned by her companions abilities to remember precisely such a complex date.

“I've read a lot of books. Now our objective is to bring you back to the time and place where you came from.”

“Exactly” I added, determined to reach my goal. “And we can't make any mistakes. These kind of travels are highly dangerous. Any minimal error could cause great consequences.”

“That's why we need to come up with a relatively simple spell. There's no guarantee of success if we try to pull out something complicated.”

“I agree. Even I did not manage to create a powerful spell for time travels, for its effect lasted only a few minutes.”

“I believe it may be useful though” The sorceress intervened

.“How so?”

“If we wanna be absolutely sure that you go back to the time and place you want to, considering that you'll need to go back more than a thousand years ago, plus travel to another world, our best shot is to use the power of the very same spell that brought you here.”

“Of course!” I exclaimed, once I had understood the sorceress 's plan. “ A spell like that must have left something behind. Some kind of magical track.”

“If we cast your time travel spell on the spot where you first appeared, we might as well manage to recreate that same portal that brought you here. Then you'll have a few minutes to jump into the reap and go back where you came from.”

“It does sound dangerous, yet I believe that it could work.”

“Excuse me...” Rarity suddenly intervened. “...But I fear I am not following.”

Soon after we had finished discussing our plan, my new companions and I set off to the place where I had first opened my eyes in the new world two nights before.

On our way we passed CHS, or at least that is the name that Sunset Shimmer had given to the place of our first meeting.

“Tell me something, Starswirl.” The red-haired sorceress asked.

“What is it?”

“Why did you come looking for me, when you needed help. We had never met before and obviously you do not know any of my friends but Rarity just yet. Who told you that I had experience with magic?”

It was a certain blue-haired teenager.”

“Did this one wear a black jacket and white t-shirt?”

“He did.”

“It must have been Flash then. It's good he told you to come looking for me, even if our first meeting was not exactly pleasant.”

“Indeed it was, Sunset Shimmer.” I replied coldly. “Indeed it was.”

“Can I ask you something now?” I then asked the red-haired teenager.

“Sure.”

“The one who told me about you spoke of you as a powerful sorceress of some sort. I suppose he was right, since you've figured out a way to bring me back to my Realm with great ease. Not to mention that you expect to be able cast my time travel spell which obviously requires enormous power. Now my question is: what's your secret, Sunset Shimmer? How can you manage to keep all of that power, while I lost mine, when I arrived into this world.”

After reflecting upon my question, the sorceress replied with a smile on her face. “Starswhirl, I do not know what expectations you have of me. But can assure you that I am not that great. All my knowledge comes from study, plus...My true secret is right in front of you.”

After the sorceress had mentioned those words, I heard many voices greeting as. Before me stood a group of young “meres” who welcomed us with great kindness. Each of them looked so different from one another, yet they all seemed to be so close nonetheless.

After showing them the spot where I had rested two nights before, they hold each other's “hooves” together with Rarity and Sunset Shimmer and a rainbow of colours came out of their bodies, hitting that very spot. Instantly a reap was opened: I knew that was the chance I had been waiting for.

Before going through though, I turned around and smiled upon those who had helped me throughout my struggle. I might not yet understand what was that magic that had opened the portal to my Realm or how they managed to love one another so much, yet inside of me I knew that someday I would need to find out...

The following part does not belong to my original notes, yet I chose to add it to this diary, as Twilight Sparkle told me about it, after she and her friends had rescued me and the pillars from limbo.

“So we really helped an Equestria legend?” Fluttershy asked, as soon as Starswhirl had left.

“Yup, the greatest Equestria has ever know, though certainly not for his humble nature.”

“You guys, we gotta throw a big party to celebrate another of our great accomplishments!”

“Sure, Pinkie Pie, dear.”

“Right now we need to get back to school, before we're late for class.” Rainbow Dash reminded her friends.

As soon as the girls had arrived to CHS, a glowing light came out of the mirror-portal and a very anxious Twilight appeared.

“Where is he?!” The Princess of Friendship exclaimed, running toward Sunset and the others. “Where is he, Sunset?! I need to speak to him and take my notes, I need all that knowledge.”

“Relax, Twilight.” Her red-haired friend replied, seeing Twilight in that state. “He's already gone. He desperately wanted to go back home, so we helped him out.”

Hearing those words, the Princess of Friendship's jaw dropped, right before the girl could scream in desperation. “Noooooo!!!!”

Author's Note

And that's how our story ends. I am sorry it took this long. From now on I will be working on something new, so don't forget to comment below and let me know if you would like me to write anything specific.
As always yours
Sunsetsjournal