Spirit One: Cassandra
Rainbow Dash stared at the bear in front of her. She remembered what this bear had told her, what it did to the sword she had found. She was worried, stealing her shoulders Rainbow Dash walked forward saying. “You still have a purpose. Even in this place.”
“And what is that?” the bear asked a mixture of curiosity and doubt. Rainbow Dash put a hoof on her shoulder saying. “Teaching me, apparently. I mean did you see how awesome you were? You threw a boulder at me with a single paw! I’ve only seen dragons do that. You also took the time to show how I couldn’t wield a large clunky sword and turned it into an awesome one! You’re just the bear who isn’t afraid to hold back on voicing your opinion. So I could go to you showing my awesome tricks!”
The bear stared at Rainbow Dash before giving an eye roll. Rainbow felt both offended and impressed with the action. She rocked back and forth on her hooves before saying. “So my name is Rainbow Dash. Is there something I can call you besides Bear?”
“My name….” the bear looked at the ground, her brows furrowing. “I can not remember it.”
“We’ll get there.” Rainbow told her, she found her first challenge while she was here. “So, why don’t you like this place?”
“I… I was hoping to move on after I died. Yet something happened, one I thought was my….” the bear shook her head at the mix up correcting herself. “A companion of the Inquisition, in desperation he killed us. Some believe it was so we would not have to face the horrors of what he was going to do.”
“What do you think?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head back to look at the green and yellow sky. The bear walked to stand beside her. She was quiet before saying. “I am not sure. I do believe he did what he thought was right, but in his desperation ignored all else. He wanted the world he knew back, I would have done the same and I almost had it for a time. Until I found out the truth of my world, that what I was… was a lie. He told me to determine which parts of myself to discard and which to keep. I guess in the end he could not decide to keep the world he was in at the time or bring back the world he had sealed away in anger.”
“He… killed you?” Rainbow Dash her eyes widening in horror as she tried to process that. “He was your friend!”
“Yes, I was angry at first too, but I remember what he had told me. It was like he did not want me to turn out like him. Desperate and starving for something that was no more. I think by instinct I just wanted to move on. To let myself fade and just become a spirit who helps others,” the bear shook her head once again. “Instead I was somewhere in between, lost but not malicious. I am not a demon nor the spirit I wanted to be.”
Rainbow Dash frowned before attempting to wrap her wing around the bear’s back saying. “You’re something better. You are you and I wouldn’t want you to change.”
“We just met,” the bear pointed out dryly and Rainbow Dash laughed. “Yeah! I know! But becoming friends doesn’t take years, it takes those few short moments to realize. ‘Hey this person is pretty awesome! I want to become friends with them.’ Plus you were a commander of sorts, so that makes you similar to a lot of my heroes. Why wouldn’t I want to be friends with my heroes?”
The bear let out a small chuckle before hiding it. Rainbow Dash laughed as well before flying in the air. “I get that the past hurts to remember. But burying it deep inside doesn’t help either. It just causes the wounds they cause to grow and become more… uh….”
“Festered?” the bear offered and Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she tried to think of the word before saying. “I was going to go for gross, festered works too.”
The bear couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore causing Rainbow Dash to grin. A large paw tapped her back lightly, the force causing her to stumble a bit. She looked at the bear once again who coughed. “Apologies, I should have expected those words to come from you. Yet it was still refreshing all the same. Thank you Rainbow Dash.”
“No problem.” Rainbow told her, unsure as to what part was funny but glad she got a laugh. It didn’t suit the appearance of the massive bear with spikes. Rainbow Dash found she couldn’t care less. Despite the grumpiness and rough exterior of the bear she had a kind heart. She was honorable and honest, loyal to her friends and her faith, had a buried sense of humor, and did not hold back on her comments apparently. Rainbow smiled, if she worked at this one she knew the bear would become a great friend.
“Well do you remember anything else?” Rainbow Dash asked and the bear frowned, wrinkling a bit. “I was once known as a Seeker of truth, a commander, a warrior. I did what I thought was right, only to find out that the organization I worked for had fallen. I committed horrors in the name of justice and peace. She was there for me though, the Inquisitor, she understood what I was going through and listened. Despite how rough she was she would stand beside her friends and just be there for them. She reminded me that I did not serve the Seekers, I served the Divine, I followed my faith, I was more than what they were. She encouraged me to do what was right in the end.”
“This Inquisitor sounds like a cool person… why isn’t she here?” Rainbow asked and the bear looked away shaking her head responding. “We do not know. We searched this place for her, high and low, yet there has been no sign. Even Fen’Harel looked.”
“Is Fen’Harel the one who…” Rainbow Dash didn’t want to finish that thought. Yet the bear’s brow furrowed again as she said. “I do not remember, he has always been here. Always watching over us but never approaching. Well except for one. Apologies, I still cannot remember their names.”
“Take your time.” Rainbow told her before sitting down. “Fen’Harel is the giant wolf hanging around Twilight, right?”
“Twilight is the light purple colored one with the wings and the horn?” the bear asked and Rainbow Dash nodded her head. “Then yes, that is Fen’Harel.”
Rainbow made a little humming sound under her breath pushing some dirt with her hooves. The bear sat down next to her deep in thought. The silence wasn’t awkward as it could have been but it was still odd. The bear looked up at the sky whispering. “Seeker… he would always call me Seeker, but that wasn’t my name.”
“What was that?” Rainbow looked at the bear who stood up saying. “Seeker was a nickname as well as a title, the nickname was given to me by… someone. It always annoyed me, however it struck a name. A name familiar, one that I went by.”
A large grin spread across Rainbow’s face as she also climbed to her feet as the bear finally remembered. “My name is Cassandra Pentaghast.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Cassandra.” Rainbow Dash tapped the bear’s shoulder with her hoof. “I’m glad to have you by my side.”
“As am I, Rainbow Dash,” Cassandra replied with a nod of her head. “We have many more memories to uncover and I have a lot to teach you.”
“This might be the first time I’ve ever said this, let the learning begin! What’s my first lesson?” Rainbow Dash asked and Cassandra looked at her saying. “Discipline.”
Rainbow Dash felt a pull as she groaned, hanging her head. “Really?”
“Yes, though that will happen later, now it is time for you to wake up,” Cassandra said as Rainbow felt herself get pulled back into reality.
Author's Note
This idea came from a simple question and there wasn't enough room in the fanfic: As the Sands begin to fall to post it.
Spirit Two: Thom
Fluttershy walked in silence next to the gryphon. She wasn’t sure if he could speak or not, he hadn’t before yet that was a different situation. Here in the moment there was no danger, yet there was still not a word. The silence was beginning to gnaw at her yet she knew that it wouldn’t be right to force him to talk. He needed to speak when he was ready, so it was walking in silence at the moment.
“I-I’m Fluttershy,” she said, deciding to introduce herself. It was alright to be polite, she didn’t really expect an answer from him. The gryphon turned to look at her as he stopped. She looked back at him when she realized that she had moved further than the spirit. “Oh! Thank you for saving me back there!”
She then gave a polite bow, getting increasingly nervous as the gryphon stared at her. “I don’t really mind if you can’t or don’t want to talk.”
“It… has been… a while,” the gryphon explained, struggling with the words. “You… do not… need… to thank me.”
Fluttershy looked at him in confusion before replying. “Of course I do! Duty or not you saved my life. That deserves a show of thanks.”
“I had… also meant to attack you,” the gryphon pointed out and Fluttershy shook her head. “You… do not care?”
“I would’ve cared if you continued when you paused, you protected me from the other one,” Fluttershy explained as she sat down at the edge of the arena. The gryphon laying down next to her listening carefully. “I don’t know why you did it, but it showed that you had a kind soul.”
“You were… scared… I once protected many who were scared,” the gryphon spoke as he began to recall what he could. “Conscripted them to teach them to fight and defend. So they could defend others.”
“You are noble as well as kind,” Fluttershy pointed out and the gryphon scoffed. “What?”
“No… I am not… I lied about who I was,” the gryphon explained and Fluttershy looked confused. “I… don’t remember cleary… but I lied about who I was. Took on the identity of someone far nobler than I.”
“But you didn’t use his name for your own gain, right?” Fluttershy asked and the gryphon shook his head. “Was anyone that you trained harmed or even killed because of the way you instructed?”
Again the gryphon shook his head.
“Then what happened when you hid who you were?”
The gryphon looked away as he thought about it. He couldn’t really remember a lot about his past besides his regrets. He couldn’t even remember his name or what he did after a strange person with pointed ears met him. After that… the only regret he had was lying to her and those he worked with. He didn’t even remember their faces, another regret. Now he worked with these strange demons. When this small one and her friends entered into their realm did they attack. They were supposed to attack those that entered here, it was their purpose. Yet when he saw this yellow one, Fluttershy, not even try to defend herself from the raven’s attacks he couldn’t stand by and watch. He defended her, just like he would others. That was when the memories started to eat away at him again. Being near Fluttershy was like a calming presence surrounding him.
“I don’t remember, I was happy, I only remember my regrets,” he admitted and Fluttershy looked up at him. “My last regret was not being able to protect those that I love and not being able to find someone here.”
“This someone… is important to you?” Fluttershy inquired and the gryphon looked up at the sky saying. “Yes, she gave me a time that I do not regret. If there was one thing that I do remember is that I had lied to her about who I was. Yet it didn’t matter to her, she gave me my goal and my purpose.”
“She seems like a good leader and a wonderful pony,” Fluttershy mused with a smile on her face. The gryphon looked down at her before saying. “She isn’t like you, not a pony. She was different, stood on two legs. Flatter face… I think she was called an Inquisitor?”
Fluttershy tried to imagine a species similar to that and all she got was Twilight’s description of a human. “No, not Inquisitor, that was her title. Her species was an Elf. Yes, an Elf. Pointed ears and smaller than a Human. That is what I was.”
“Yet you seem to be a gryphon now,” Fluttershy pointed out and the spirit nodded. “How did that happen?”
“I don’t remember,” the gryphon answered honestly, staring up at the strange sky. “But I remember what the sky looked like.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “I would love to see it again with my own eyes, one last time.”
“If I could make it happen I would,” Fluttershy answered, reaching up with her wing to pat the gryphon. “Maybe one day….”
The silence came once again, but it was comforting for the both of them. The gryphon’s tail moved back and forth. He wanted to protect this pony now. To stay with her. Perhaps this would be his chance to repent for everything. He failed his world and all the children there. The people who perished. The innocents who suffered. Now this was a second chance, he didn’t need all of his memories to know that this was what he wanted. He turned his head to look at the other spirits. He always felt a connection with them before and now, the ones that were healing, he felt closer to.
“Do you know them?” Fluttershy asked, turning her head to observe the other spirits as well. The gryphon nodded his head. “I think so, they feel more familiar now then they did before.”
The gryphon sighed. “Perhaps one day I will remember.”
“I think we will need to make a list,” Fluttershy tried to make a joke but felt like it fell short. That was when the gryphon let out a laugh. He wasn’t stopping for a while. Fluttershy turned red as she tried to hide behind her hair. She saw the wings spread and she was wondering if she should run or not. That was when he got comfortable once again and settled down. He blinked for a moment. Something was gnawing at him, in the back of his mind. Glancing forward he saw a white wolf staring at him from across the way at the maze from before.
“Thom,” he whispered and Fluttershy looked up at him. “My name was Thomas Rainier.”
He wasn’t expecting Fluttershy to give him a hug, holding him tightly, almost shouting. “Congratulations!”
Thom smiled as he returned the hug knowing that Fluttershy had to return soon. He didn’t know how he was going to protect her. No matter what.
