The Angelby Nexas_ValentineChaptersStar OceanBe Careful What You Wish ForThe 5 ElementsA Momentary PeaceStar Ocean“How many times is this now?”, inquired a young human man, with black spiked hair and burning, deep red eyes, dressed in a long black coat. “Lost count, huh?”, replied an identical looking young man, with the exceptions of long white hair a white coat and luminescent icy blue eyes. “That’ll happen after... lord knows how many reincarnations.” “I can’t imagine all the times I beat the crap outa ya helped yer memory.” “As if, those were draws.” “You wish, you were stone dead every time,” the white haired man laughed then donned a serious expression, “now, let’s quit wasting time talking, I’ve got a world to save and a monster to kill.” “Fair ‘nough.”, replied the black haired man. He then summoned small black flames that swirled furiously around his forearms and hands. “Let’s get started then.” The white haired man responded in kind, conjuring ice crystals that created a vortex of ice and mist around each of his arms. Suddenly a massive torrent of black flame began to descend on him, he quickly leaped back as the entire wall turned into a glass-like wall of ice, then he rapidly propelled himself over the wall generating six very large shards of ice behind him. He stopped his descent as he launched each shard directly into the black haired man, who seemingly refused to move out of the way. The shards continued to make their way through his body puncturing him repeatedly. The black haired man dropped to his knees, as each wound leaked out a thin black smoke instead of blood. “You could have easily dodged that. what are you playing at?”, the white haired man yelled. “This.”, he said as he removed a small spherical device from inside his jacket. “What the...”, the white haired one began but was cut off by a sudden blinding light. The source was the sphere in the other one’s hands, it hummed and droned as the light grew larger and stronger and the world around them began to vaporize, even themselves. The last thing either heard was the black haired man laughing wildly and the few spoken words, “See you on the next battle field, old friend.” Then one more intense flash of light occurred, afterward there was nothing but a large hole in the ground and melting ice. “This is so boring without somepony else to enjoy it with.”, a violet unicorn pony sighed with exasperation as she dropped onto her back. “At least the stars are pretty.” Like every night Star Ocean, a typical, young unicorn pony mare, went to the outskirts of Canterlot and admired the night’s beauty, from Luna’s moon to the nearly infinite little sparkles, from which her name was derived. As an assistant at the Canterlot observatory this was the only time she could watch stars completely uninterrupted, doing so there often got her in trouble. As she lay there staring off into infinite space she saw a sudden light streak across the sky, “Ah! A shooting star! Hmmm... I wonder.” She took in a deep breath and scrunched her entire face as she made the wish silently in her head, “Weird... I haven’t been compelled to do that since I was a filly. Oh well, that’s not important.”, she said, gasping lightly just realizing then that she didn’t breath while making the wish. She sighed again, this time out of contentment as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool night breeze brush it’s way through her coat and mane. Her peace was violently interrupted by a sudden explosion and several subsequent shock waves only a few miles away. She struggled to regain both her senses and her balance as the shock waves finally subsided, “What in the hay was that?” As if expecting an answer she stood in silence for awhile, finally she magically levitated her saddlebags onto her back and thought very intently about her next action, yet before she knew it she was going in the direction of the previous blast. She whistled, “Wow... That is one big hole, but beside that very obvious crater there doesn’t seem to be any signs of destruction. No debris, no impact fractures, no burn or scorch marks, and even more oddly the entire crater is completely smooth and spherical. Hmm...”, She dropped down onto her haunches and began rubbing her chin with her hoof, “And, the most perplexing thing is the lack of material of any kind in or out of the crater like it just vanished.” She sat longer pondering and examining, she knew she had to be able to understand this, she was a scientist after all, but she just couldn’t which only aggravated her. “Stupid hole! What are you hiding?”, she screamed in frustration. After some time she realized what she had just done and smacked her forehead with her hoof, “Really Star? Yelling at a hole, wouldn’t your teachers be proud...”, she sighed for the third time that night. “I guess I’ll just tell the royal guards and let the princess deal with this, I’m just a nopony anyway. What do I know?” As she turned away from the crater with head hung low she suddenly heard a long chiming noise, her head immediately spun around to see an even stranger sight. A very radiant beam of white light was shooting out of the hole, burrowing it’s way through the sky and out to space. She started to speak until the beam changed, now it had little black balls of light swirling around it in a ring just at her eye level. She had never seen anything like any of this, and now no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t turn her body away from it, in fact it was driven against her will, closer and closer. She resisted as hard as she could as each hoofstep brought her closer to the core beam, as soon as the first hoof reached the bottom depths of the crater and stepped into the light she became lightheaded and weak and quickly blacked out. The first of her senses to return was touch, she had no idea where she was but she knew it wasn’t where she began she felt something very soft underneath her, like a cotton ball only more solid, she also felt a gentle warm breeze. Next was hearing, chimes, more specifically wind chimes and the sound of wind rustling through plants of some kind. Shortly after that was smell, it was the smell of flowers, answering just what the wind was blowing through, she was no botanist but by smell alone she knew enough to know that those flowers weren’t the kind normally found in Equestria. Finally, sight, as she slowly and tentatively opened her eyes as this new environment came into view, adding to the ever growing curiosity of her situation. She was lying down on a ground that looked like cloud and as far as she knew was, everything around was constructed of the stuff, much like in Cloudsdale or any number of other Pegasi hometowns. The structures around her were all, either towers that looked like they belonged on the palace back home or incredible circular gardens of glowing, white flowers surrounded by many stylized columns. The sky seemed, by all accounts, normal, a beautiful shade of blue and the brilliant sun beaming it’s light everywhere in it’s gaze. Putting aside that walking on a cloud usually was absolutely impossible for a unicorn, she began to wander around hoping to find any signs of life. After several hours of searching each tower she came across, she found nothing, not only were the buildings empty of inhabitants but also of basic home furnishings, or any kind of decorational pieces, there was literally nothing. “What’s up with this place? There is absolutely nopony here and even less objects, but someone has to be here, there wouldn’t be buildings here otherwise.”, She reasoned to nopony in particular, her agitation clearly audible in her voice. “I’m sorry, I came as soon as I noticed you here”, a soft voice replied from behind Star. “Huh?”, was the only thing she could formulate as she spun around to see a pegasus mare roughly her own age. “I said, I’m sorry...”, the pegasus began, but was cut short. “I heard what you said, I was just surprised, not to mention I didn’t fully understand what you meant.” “Well... this is my home, and it’s very rare that anyone but ‘the other one’ comes here so I wasn’t expecting you.” “’The other one’?” “Yes, the owner of this world.” “I thought that was you.” “It is, but not.”, The pegasus replied matter of factly as if what she said made all the sense in the world. Star sighed, “That aside, where exactly am I? And, just what is going on here? The last thing I remember is walking against my will into this weird light beam thingy.” “I’m sorry about that, but I needed your help.”, the pegasus apologized, her penitence obvious in her voice and body language. “Help? With what?”, Star inquired, forgetting entirely her initial questions. “Only you have the power to unlock the gate and awaken the angel, so that it may restore it’s power and save your world from annihilation.” “Annihilation?”, Star practically yelled in shock. The Pegasus cringed lightly at the volume of Star’s outburst, “Could you please be more quiet, and yes. I’m afraid a very powerful and ancient evil has made it’s way to your world of Equestria.” “Sorry.”, Star said as her face turned red out of embarrassment. Ok, Star. What do you do? I mean, not a bit of this sounds real and could just be a very vivid dream maybe one of those... ‘lucid?’ ones. But, on the other hoof if it’s real you could be the pony that saved Equestria and be among the ranks of Twilight Sparkle and the others. Plus you can’t let Equestria be destroyed think of all those poor innocent ponies just living there lives, suddenly ending. I guess, the real question is whether I’m ready to accept such a huge responsibility or not... “Are you ok?”, the pegasus questioned after noticing the pained look painted across Star’s pensive visage. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry. So... what can I do to help?” “Follow me and I’ll show you.” Star Ocean followed the pegasus as they walked through the bizarre cloud world. This was the first time she could really study her guide, the pegasus had a pure white coat, a long and elegant pale blue mane and tail, both of which were obviously very well taken care of, icy blue eyes that seemed to shine lightly, and no cutie mark on her flank which made Star even more curious about this very unusual pony. They came to a sudden stop in front of a large gate. The gate was roughly twenty feet high, fifteen feet wide, and had no fencing or walling on either side. As far as aesthetics it was made of two distinct metals, one half seemed to be silver, while the other was gold, The silver side was decorated with a white stone, Star couldn’t place, in several intricate patterns and designs, the gold side was similarly decorated with black stone. In the center was a large lock, about the size of a stallion pony, the lock continued the pattern of the rest of the gate, but the colors and metals were reversed the gold half of the gate had the silver half of the lock, while the gold half of the lock was on the silver. In the center of the lock was a very unusual keyhole, a single vertical diamond shaped hole, with a smaller perpendicular horizontal one, through the middle. “So how do I do this?”, Star asked, as she walked full-circle around the gate. “Use your powers.”, the pegasus replied. “What powers? you mean my magic?” “You aren’t aware of them?” “No? And, why does it feel so hot all of a...”, Star’s voice trailed off as she collapsed to the cloud floor. Right as her awareness began to fade she heard the pegasus saying something about being brought to the wrong half. Then it all went black. “I’m getting tired of passing out.”, Star grumbled as she picked herself up in yet another venue. Wrong side? So is this place the right side? She examined her new location, now she was surrounded by several black skyscrapers, edged by neon lighting. The only lighting were those neon strips, and the occasional burst of lightning from the dark clouded sky. This place was a perfect contrast to her prior location, it was dark, cold, and had only the fragrance of oils and tar and the sound of humming electricity, and for some reason absolutely no thunder to accompany the lightning, but after all she had been through that really didn't surprise her. She again searched her new location finding nothing again like last time, but this time she was more comfortable. She couldn’t understand it, it was close to below thirty, or at least felt like it, it smelled awful and was so dark she couldn’t see very well, yet despite it all she felt calmed and soothed by this odd black and neon town. Her self evaluation was interrupted when she heard a low but audible bass drum beat, “What the? Drums?” She followed the sound to a building with the word 'club' written on it in neon, “Huh... that’s imaginative. Might as well have called it ‘Building’.”, she remarked as she rolled her eyes and stepped inside. The interior was very plain, in the middle was a circular bar, directly between that and the door was a pit, Star assumed to be the dance floor, to the far back were the tables and a place for a dj. The turntable was playing a typical electronic dance song by itself, because like everywhere else there was nopony here. Star’s eyes wandered over the room, everything was black except the dance floor panels and the neon lights edging each and every wall, even the bottles behind the bar were black, each of which were rimmed by a neon light at the top of the bottle. “Someone should fire the decorator...”, said Star letting her tongue stick out to emphasize her disgust. “You don’t like it? that’s too bad.”, said a familiar soft voice from behind her, the music cutting at the exact same moment. “You again? Wait, how did you turn off the music?”, Star replied again astonished by the sudden appearance. “We’ve met? Oh... You must mean the other one, and this is my world, I simply made the music turn off. Now, are you ready?” “you aren’t...”, Star looked closer and realized this pony was slightly different, the eyes were the same but the coat was black and the mane was midnight blue. “This whole thing is very confusing, you know that.” “It will become clear soon. Now, again, are you ready?” “Ready for w...”, Star was cut off by the pegasus pony placing a hoof on her forehead. She felt a sudden flash of energy shoot through her body, it was hot and felt like lightning coursing through her veins. Her eyes began to glow a bright violet as lightning began bursting out of every inch of her body shocking everything around her, scorching or destroying everything in the club, she had no control over this sudden outburst and had even less understanding of where it came from. Then it subsided as soon as it began, as she crashed to the ground that she had been hovering a few feet off of a second ago. “Your full power has been awakened, it will take time to control but eventually you will be able to help the angel awaken it’s full power. For now, we are trusting you with protecting it.”, the pegasus said to an exhausted Star, right before she blacked out again. “Ugh... my head, my hooves, ow... my everything.”, Star moaned as she picked herself up, parts of her coat still smoking from the lightning storm she had turned into not that long ago. She looked around and realized that she was back where she began. “The crater again. Whoa! wait a second... that wasn’t there before.” Be Careful What You Wish ForIn the center of the crater was the last thing Star Ocean had expected to see, a stallion pony, more specifically a pegasus. She cautiously moved closer, rightfully concerned about what might happen when she reached him. Fortunately nothing happened, everything finally seemed to be normal, until she noticed his wings. The one to the left of his side was white, while the other was jet black, neither of which matched his peach colored coat, which needless to say wasn’t natural for the average pegasus. “Hey, can you hear me? Are you even alive?”, Star then smacked a hoof to her forehead and sighed. Why am I suddenly being so stupid? Anyway I better check to see if he’s okay. She then lowered her ear to his chest, “Well his hearts still beating,”, after that she moved a hoof in front of his slightly parted lips, “and he’s breathing. He just seems to be unconscious.” Star began examining the rest of his body, she didn’t notice any injuries or even simple things like bruises, just his appearance. His coat was a light peach color, complimented by white hooves and his unusual wings, both his mane and tail were white as well and fairly long, for a stallion that is. In particular, Star noticed that his lean pegasus body, masked toned and powerful muscles the kind that could only be forged in constant, intense use. Her eyes then wandered over to his flank, decorated with a strange cutie mark, a crystalline sword with a black wing stretched outward to the left of it and an identical, white one to the right. Her face grew hot as she realized just where she had been staring and immediately ripped her eyes away, she cleared her throat and spoke to herself, “Well... just how am I gonna get this guy back home without hurting myself... or creating an even more awkward situation.” She sat down and thought hard over her years in Celestia’s school, when she took classes in magic. “Oh! I know! Or at least I remember reading about it... but do I have the power to pull that off? I’ve only ever been moderately talented with magic. I guess there’s only one way to find out.” She then adjusted her stance, spreading her legs slightly and digging her hooves into the ground as she lowered her head. At first her horn only sputtered little magical sparks, but soon began to glow with a light violet aura. Tiny specks of light began to appear and disappear around the two, “Just. A. Little. More.”, she grumbled as the lights converged turning into a large flash, then it vanished taking the ponies with it. At the same moment several miles into Canterlot a simultaneous flash of light occurred as Star and the mystery stallion appeared in front of her house. Star was panting heavily with exhaustion, “I can’t believe I actually teleported... I don’t think I’ll be doing that again any time soon.” She looked down at the stallion. I could probably levitate him the rest of the way. But, where will I put him... who am I kidding? I’ll let him have my bed. I just hope the couch doesn’t kill my back. She dropped him lightly onto her bed and moved the covers over him. That should be good enough for now, I’ll call a doctor tomorrow. She then began to head back down the stairs right outside the bedroom door, but took one look back and smiled at the pegasus, “Good night.”, she whispered and then continued down the stairs. Once she reached the couch she moved some cushions around to make makeshift pillows once she settled in she sighed, “I have a bad feeling that all this is going to become a huge headache, and completely crazy... but, he is cute.”, she giggled as she quickly drifted off into sleep. The next morning the stallion slowly opened his eyes, but immediately squinted them as light flooded in from the ceiling. Once his eyes adjusted he looked around to see where he was, the first thing he noticed was the glass dome making the center of the ceiling. Next to catch his attention was the bed and the surrounding room, the bed itself was relatively large, on each side was a small night table, one with an alarm clock, the other with a lamp and small book. The rest of the room was very plain, to the far end was the door and outside it a flight of stairs, to one side of the doorway was a dresser, to the other a mirror. He sat up and prepared to get up out of the bed, but as soon as he placed all his balance on his hind legs he fell flat on his face. “Ow! My nose.”, he groaned as he rubbed his snout with his hoof then suddenly stopped, “A hoof? Damn, I was just starting to like being a biped again.” He sighed heavily, “Oh well, might as well figure out what I’m stuck as now, I coulda sworn I saw a mirror earlier.” He quickly walked over to the mirror and stared into it. A horse? Nah, I’m not big enough, plus I have wings so I’m a pegasus of some kind. A mini horse... no, I knew there was a specific word for it... right! pony! ...With oddly huge eyes. As he examined his reflection he heard some rustling downstairs, acting out of instinct he immediately donned a battle ready pose, expecting the worst. After several minutes nothing happened, he eventually relaxed his body and decided to explore the next floor down. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he heard another noise, this time it was snoring. He immediately sped around the corner to see another pony laying on the floor in front of a couch. He couldn’t help but let out a barely audible chuckle at the scene before him; A female unicorn pony with a mostly violet coat which changed to a black color from the knee down of each leg and her entire flank on both sides, decorated with five different colored four pointed stars, a vibrant blue mane and tail both with a single off center aqua colored stripe through them, laying in a humorous position on her stomach with her legs spread outward and a small string of drool coming out of her open mouth, as the occasional light snore escaped. He finally failed to contain himself as he let out a burst of roaring laughter, this being more than enough to awaken Star. She rubbed her eyes lightly as they slowly focused to the morning light, once they focused she immediately turned to the stallion, a glare burning across her face. “What’s so funny?”, she yelled. “You. How you were sleeping.”, he just barely voiced between gasps for breath and more laughter. Her face suddenly began to burn red, “Didn’t anypony ever teach you any manners?” “Wow, you can blush through all that violet fur? That’s so adorable!”, he said as he pulled her closer for an embrace. As he was pulling her over, her horn glowed brightly casting the teleport spell sending him to the other side of the room, “Try that again. I want to see just how far I can send you.”, she said with a smirk. “Cool trick. So can I know your name? Or, are we just gonna keep arguing, that could be fun too.”, he replied with a huge grin on his face. Is this guy serious? I wonder if he has brain damage, he wakes up in a complete strangers home, irritates her, then acts like were friends? I hope this isn’t ‘the angel’ that one black pegasus was talking about. All I know is that he was cuter before he opened his mouth. “Hey, what do these stars on your butt mean?”, He interrupted her thoughts. “What, hey!”, she yelled just now realizing that he suddenly appeared next to her with his head near her flank. “Huh? Oh right! Sorry, curiosity usually gets the better of me, so what do they mean?”, he apologized as he took a few steps back. She sighed, “ My name is Star Ocean, and the stars and the black around them are my cutie mark.” “Cutie mark?” “You aren’t from here are you?” “Why do you say that?”, he responded suddenly, now acting rather suspicious. “Just a case of amnesia, nothin’ else.”, he continued, beaming again. her only response was a quizzical stare, in light of this his grin became more forced. This cycle went on for a few more minutes before he finally broke down, “All right, no. I’m not from here. In fact I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.” “I knew it! Are you that ‘angel’ that black mare told me about?”, she exclaimed, somewhat proud that she had forced him to confess. “Say what now?”, he answered. “The black pegasus in the weird neon lit city, she was in a night club, turned me into a generator for a bit. You don’t know what I’m talking about?” “I know what your talking about, I just didn’t know anyone else could be there. Ya see... Both of those worlds are kinda like pieces of my subconscious where my powers are stored, one half is my light, the other my darkness.” “Uh huh... I’m sorry, but I don’t understand any of this.”, Star replied. “It might be better if I told you the whole story, take a seat. It’s a long one.”, He then cleared his throat and began, “Ages ago, before what we consider as time there were several... beings I guess is the best word, who more or less enjoyed their power and abilities, but they eventually grew bored of each other and decided to create their own ‘entertainment’ in a sense.” “So multiple gods exist and created us for entertainment?”, Star interrupted. “Essentially yeah, anyway, at first everything was fine, all the worlds ran just as the creators had wanted, but something they didn’t plan came to be. A monster, a vicious creature made up of hatred, malice, greed, basically every dark emotion one could possibly feel, it called itself The Scourge. In it’s primal beginning it was nothing more than a fledgeling monstrosity, feeding on the darkness born on these worlds, growing larger and stronger. At this point no one paid any attention to it, not viewing it as a threat, then it destroyed an entire world, inhabitants and all.” “Why? That plan seems to have no real result.”, Star inquired. “That’s exactly it. The whole goal is to spite the ones who created these places, trying to prove that whatever they made, it could dispose of.” “That’s... kinda twisted.” “Well it was born from the worst emotions possible, it just wants suffering, no other goal means anything to it. Destruction incarnate basically. Anyway, so after it completely destroyed a world one god decided to change this, and it gifted a mortal with powers to rival the deities so that they could combat this evil.” “You?” “Yep, and I did exactly that, I fought it and destroyed it, or so I thought. It couldn’t be stopped so easily and it escaped to another world to rebuild itself, and I thought it would be someone else’s problem and lived out the rest of my life.” “Your dead?”, Star interjected. “Would ya let me finish? After that, next thing I knew I was an infant, in a new world and new body. And, well, that’s been my... ‘life’ since then. Now, I’m permanently stuck in this cycle of rebirth, in fact this is the first time I came to a world as a fully grown anything.” Star stared at him for awhile trying to comprehend everything she had just heard. After a few moments she finally spoke, “So why aren’t you a foal right now?” “Hmm... ah! That jerk, in our last fight, that weird device musta sent me here and jacked up my powers.” “Huh?” “Oh, after the fourth or fifth time I beat The Scourge, it got a champion too, some puppet to do it’s dirty work.”, He then dropped onto his haunches and rubbed his chin, “And, if they sent me here, they must be here too. They wouldn’t pass up the chance to lord their victory over the angel.” “That’s what those pegasi in your head said, in less words though. Something about an ancient evil, and Equestria in danger.” “Wait, you said the dark one turned you into a generator?” “Yes, I started shooting off electricity like several lightning storms in my body at once. Then she said she had unlocked my powers, but I haven’t noticed anything since then, granted it hasn’t been that long.” “Since last night, can you do anything you couldn’t before?” “Well that spell I used on you earlier, last night I did it for the first time with great difficulty, but this morning it was second nature.” The pegasus stallion immediately closed the space between them as he began to walk full circle around her while examining carefully, occasionally poking or prodding certain spots that were still singed from the night before, eliciting sounds of irritation and protest from Star. “You really do have power. Sweet, I needed a sidekick.”, he then beamed widely. Her response was a smack to his head, “I had a bad enough time being a regular pony, now you’re telling me I have superpowers?” He let out a chuckle as he rubbed his head, “Not exactly. Powers are a little more complicated, they are fueled by something inside you, it’s very rare anybody has the potential for them, mine is fueled by the light and darkness I was infused with by the god. Yours must be some darkness inside you.” “First off, if you want to fit in in this world, you need to use familiar words and phrases so you don’t seem far too out of place. Anybody, as far as I know isn’t a word here. Anypony, on the other hoof is. And, secondly...”, Then she stopped as the full extent of what he said sunk in, “Did you say Darkness? Isn’t that how the evil thing gets all it’s power?” “Yeah?” “Does that make me evil?” He burst out into laughter, again infuriating her. After a minute of laughter she lost patience and levitated him up off the ground by his mane, “What’s funny now?”, rage very obvious in her voice and expression. “Heh, well my pretty savior,” He began, shooting her a large grin, “Darkness, like light, is just a power source, what you do with it is the important thing.” Appeased by his response she placed him back down, “You really shouldn’t keep upsetting me. I do have the advantage here”, She added with a smirk. “I noticed that. Follow me outside.”, he then continued to exit the house. What have you gotten yourself into Star? That’ll teach me to wish for something exciting to happen to liven up my life. I meant a boyfriend or a promotion, not the possible end of all ponydom. And, I still don't understand this guy. He’s serious one moment then random the next, I hope to Celestia he doesn’t have a split personality. “So what’s out here?”, she remarked once she was out the door. “I’m going to emphasize my earlier point. Think about the night sky, millions of tiny specks of light in nearly infinite darkness. Each star is a tiny generator of chemical reactions, burning, combusting, and eventually burning out to make way for the next one. Those stars all create light and warmth for another world, planet, civilization. So yes, light is inherently good, but it could be used to destroy, it creates heat which creates drought, creating famine and death. Darkness, is usually treated as evil, used to describe things that are slightly less pleasant, but what nopony seems to think of is that all that darkness more or less holds us in place, every star, planet, satellite, and whatever else is out there all given a place to be in all that darkness. Problem is, most people go with the stereotype, how ‘bout you? Are you going to be another shady corner hiding a monster, or are you going to be the ocean of stars from which your name and cutie mark seemed to be derived?”, He concluded with yet another large grin. Star was dumbfounded by his sudden burst of depth and intellect, she could only stand and stare in surprise. “Pretty cool huh? I am smarter than I look.” “That doesn’t say much, but I have to admit I was kind of impressed. So, how do I work these powers?”, Star replied with a giggle. “Finally! That took longer than it should have,”, he said throwing his forelegs into the air then continued, “and... umm... I have no idea. I don’t even remember how I figured out my own.”, he replied finishing with a shrug. “Finally what?”, She inquired. “You smiled. I’ve been tryin’ to get a genuine one since I sorta made you angry first thing this morning.” She was about to respond when her stomach suddenly grumbled, fairly loudly. Her face red with embarrassment, “How about we go somewhere to eat and figure out what to do next?” “Sure!” “So you have no clue how you’re going to be able to restore your full power?”, Star questioned over the cafe table. “No, nothing like this has ever happened. I have no idea how to handle it. Didn’t you say the white pegasus had some large gate?” “Yeah, but she seemed to think the only way I could open it was with these powers, which I still can’t call forth at will.” There conversation was momentarily interrupted by a mail carrier, but not a typical one, it was the royal courier dressed in a golden laced white outfit ornamented with Celestia’s crest. He quietly cleared his throat, levitated a single letter from his bag toward Star, once she grabbed it with her own magic he bowed and left as quickly as he’d come. “I wonder what this is.”, Star remarked. “Well open it.”, came the food muffled reply from the pegasus. Before she could open it she heard three voices all call her name, her coworkers and lack for a better term, friends, were coming her way. “Hey Star, Who’s your friend?”, questioned the earth pony in the front. “Just an old school friend. Nopony important.”, she replied nervously. “What’s his name?”, added the second earth pony. “Name? Oh, uuh.. Bladewings! That’s it. Bladewings.”, Star answered with a confirming head nod. “Bladewings?”, The pegasus whispered. “It matches your cutie mark, now shut up and go with it.”, Star whispered a little more loudly. “Heh, yep. That’s me, but you can call me Blade for short.”, he added with a forced grin. “Come on girls, she’s on a date let’s not interrupt.”, interjected the unicorn accompanying the two earth ponies, then the three waved and said there goodbyes. “Wait, that’s not...”, but she gave up and hung her head as she realized they were too far away to hear her. “Great, that’s what I needed. A bunch of stupid rumors.” “Forget them, what’s with the letter? It seemed pretty important.”, Blade remarked. Star perked up as she realized that she had completely forgotten it, “Yeah, let me see.” She opened up the letter and began to read, but stopped half way through to gasp in shock. “I, Princess Celestia request that you, Star Ocean, and your new guest see me as soon as possible in the throne room in the royal palace. It is of the utmost importance.”, Star read aloud. “Whoa, being summoned by name by royalty. Cool!”, he said swinging around behind Star to read the letter. Star was stunned, she had never thought of herself as the kind of pony to receive a letter directly from the princess. For awhile she was stuck in shock, not knowing what to feel first or how to react. She was snapped back into reality when she felt herself being lifted up. “Hey, what are you doing?”, Star yelled realizing that she was now on Blade’s back. “She said it was ‘of the utmost importance’. Better hold on.”, he then spread his wings and shot off like lightning going far faster than even the fastest pegasi. All Star could do was hold onto his neck and hope she didn’t fall. The two walked slowly past several stoic guards each standing at full attention as if the princess herself had entered the hallway to the throne room. Star was visibly nervous, not quite sure what the princess wanted and knowing even less of what to expect and what was expected of her. Blade was very calm, the whole time he merely admired the designs of the stained glass windows, and the armor suits the guards wore proudly. Once they reached the door at the end of the hall, each and every guard walked out in unison, and the doors were opened by two distinct magical auras. “Weird, guards leaving after we get here and doors that open as if by themselves. Kinda creepy, eh Star?”, Blade said, loving the mystery of the whole thing. Star made no reply, she simply looked onward as she noticed both Celestia and Luna standing side by side, looking very serious, and nopony else in the room. “You wished to see us, princess?”, Star said as she bowed lowly, meanwhile grabbing Blade’s ear with her magic, pulling him down into a forced bow. Celestia replaced her serious countenance with her typical warm smile, “There is no need for such formal greeting. We asked you both here because we are aware of your situation and your role in protecting Equestria.” “You do?”, Star perked up, dumbfounded for the second time that day. “Yes, I saw what occurred last night, but before I could react you had already been taken into the beam. So instead I began a search through the royal archives for information.”, Luna answered. “While I watched over the rest of the night, and your progress.”, Celestia added. “And, what did you find?”, Blade inquired. “Stories, each retelling a very similar tale to the one you told to Star this morning, and the conclusion that we came to was that your best chance to fight back this evil, while your powers recuperate, was to seek the aid of the Elements of Harmony.”, Celestia replied. “Also I have this for you Star.”, Luna said as a small midnight blue amulet appeared around Star’s neck. “What’s this?”, She asked, studying it in her hoof. “A portion of the armor that once graced my neck when I, regrettably, was known as Nightmare Moon. My hope is that having a piece of such strong darkness will help you focus your own powers.” “Thank you Princess.”, Star replied with a small smile, with an ever larger one wanting to break out. “Now, there is a chariot outside waiting to take you to Ponyville, I suggest you try the library there first. While you are doing this, we will continue our search and find out all that we can to help.”, Celestia said, then both her and Luna gestured their silent fare wells and disappeared into flashes of light. “Ponyville? Sounds fun!”, Blade grinned again. “Have you any sense of severity?”, Star complained as she left the chamber. “Hmm... nope!”, Blade replied letting a little laugh out as he followed closely behind Star. The 5 Elements“So what is your name?”, Star inquired, looking over to Blade next to her in the chariot. “My previous one? I wouldn’t worry ‘bout that, Bladewings sounds better for this pony body. And, I don’t even remember my original one.”, he replied, staring over the edge at the view below them. The two then fell silent, Star was so concerned about the situation she had found herself in that small talk was lost on her. Blade was so entranced in this new and different world he could only enjoy the sights, never knowing when or if he’d be able to do so again. While he watched the world go underneath them a thought crossed his mind. “Hey, Star, what are the Elements of Harmony anyway?” “Huh? Oh, of course you wouldn’t know. Well... if I remember correctly, they are six ancient relics that have a lot of power, but can only be used by certain ponies. More specifically ‘the six’, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy.”, Star answered, only half of her attention on the conversation. “Do you know them?” “No. Why?” “You knew all their names.” “It’s called a newspaper.” “Why would they be in the news?” “They saved Equestria about... three times now?” “That Explains why the princess believed they could help.” Then the two fell silent again for the remainder of their trip to Ponyville. Meanwhile deep in the Everfree Forest, inside a decaying ruin, a dark red pegasus mare slowly made her way to the highest floor. “The boss certainly has an affinity for creepy places. When are we gonna be able to have a head quarters in a mansion or something?”, The pegasus thought aloud. After a few minutes of silence she found her way to the top of the stairs and forced open the massive stone door. Once she was in the room she walked all the way to the other end of the room and reached into her black saddlebag pulling out a small black device with a deep red sigil on it, then placed it on the ground and pressed the sigil. Smoke began to billow out of the device gradually forming into a grotesque creature, next the shadows in the room all began to move toward the monster continuing to form it’s body, finally a small spark of black flame appeared in the center of the creature causing an implosion of smoke and shadow. When it concluded all that was left was a small ball of black flame, floating only a few feet from the floor. “This is the specified location?”, A voice came from the ball of flame. The voice was dual toned, like two voices at once, one was male and very deep and raspy, the other was a mature sounding woman's with a sensuous overtone. “Yep, the exact center of the source of all darkness in this world. Will it work in reconstituting your body?”, answered the pegasus. “You have done well as always. What is this body called?”, Questioned the flame. “I’ve adopted the name Shadow Flare for the sake of moving around in this world. I just looked at this insignia on my rear and concluded that these creatures names seem derivative of them.”, the pegasus explained. “Very well, Shadow. The inhabitants of this world will move against us sooner than later. I want you to halt their progress.” “And, how should I do this?” “On this particular planet they have items known as The Elements of Harmony, they are very powerful and could easily stop me in my weakened state. Keep them from activating them.” “Again, how? I’m not an omniscient being like you boss.” “These items have one flaw, all six must be used in unison or nothing will happen. Luckily for us, all we need to do is keep one of the elements from activating.” “Seems like somebody would have already thought of that... anyway, so I should kill one?” “No. Simply keep one incapable of using their element. Scout all six and choose the weakest and bring them here. As long as we keep them at a disadvantage they will be destroyed once this is over anyway. No need to hasten it.” “Where can I find them?”, Shadow inquired. The moment Shadow finished her question black tendrils shot outward from the flame, each of which wrapping tightly around her head. Shadow convulsed in pain as the tendrils tightened further pulsing black flames into her skull and deeper still, while all this happened her eyes glowed an infernal red and her body smoked. The tendrils finally released, dropping Shadow’s limp body hard to the floor. “Now you know where. Any further questions?”, the flame inquired coldly. Shadow slowly picked herself up painfully, still cringing from the lingering pain of the countless burns on her body. “No. I got it.”, she answered through clenched teeth, she then disappeared into a burst of black flame. Star and Blade landed down in Ponyville, thanked the pegasi pulling the chariot then exited to find their next destination. “So... where were we going again?”, Blade inquired. “The library.”, Star answered glancing around town trying to discern which buildings were what. “Okay. But, where is it?” “Not sure. Never been here before. In fact I’ve never left Canterlot in my life. So, in other words, your guess is as good as mine.” The two continued through town, studying every building they came across. While Blade looked into the window of what he assumed was a candy store he heard a loud crash behind him, when he turned he saw a cyan pegasus sitting and rubbing her head. She chuckled, “Guess I still have to work on that one.” “You all right?”, Blade inquired. Star walked over from the other side of the street to enter the conversation, “Yeah, and what happened?” “I’m fine, and I was working on a new trick.”, she chuckled again, “I still think it needs a little work... hey, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two. You new here?” “Actually, yes, and were looking for the library. Do you happen to know where it is?”, Star said. “Of course, my friend Twilight lives there. It’s the big tree in the middle of town. You can’t miss it. Anyway, I need to practice this trick. Maybe we can hang out later.”, The pegasus then took off like a shot. “Some interesting ponies here. Did you see her hair? In all my years, I’ve never seen rainbow colored hair.”, Blade remarked still watching the pegasus fly off. “I think that was Rainbow Dash... oh well, we’ll see her again later. We need to head to the library now.”, Star added, then began walking toward the center of town. After only a short walk they came across a large tree with a sign out front decorated with the image of a book. Star quickly went to the door and opened it with her magic and calmly walked in, scanning the area around her, Blade followed immediately afterward. There were very few books on the shelves because the majority were laying on the floor for a reason neither Star nor Blade could come up with. To the far end of the first room two unicorn ponies stood there doing very peculiar things. The purple one picked up one book at a time, eyed the covers suspiciously, then groaned and tossed them to the floor. The white one seemed to be placing the books back, but not in any kind of typical order but rather by color and appearance. “Dear, you really should stop tearing through your books like this. It makes an awful mess.”, The white one commented to the purple one. “It is my house, besides I have more important things to worry about other than a little mess, Rarity.”, answered the purple one. “Little? Darling Twilight, the entire floor is covered.”, Rarity replied. Star then cleared her throat, hoping to grab the arguing ponies’ attentions. When that failed Blade casually walked up to Rarity and Twilight, cleared his throat, then spoke, “Howdy!” Star immediately pulled him away with her magic, both embarrassed and irritated. “I’m sorry. He’s an idiot and has absolutely no tact.” Rarity gave the two of them a puzzled look, while Twilight seemed completely unaffected, still focused solely on her earlier task. “Twilight dear, you have visitors.”, Rarity said, nudging Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight glanced up, she eyed them shortly then looked back at the books. Suddenly, she did a double take at the unicorn. “You must be Star, the princess told me you were coming, and... that’s ‘him’?”, she said as she walked over to Blade and Star all the while studying their appearances. “Him?”, Blade questioned. “Sorry. The princess never specified a name in the letter.”, Twilight replied. “It’s Blade.”, he said. “Excuse me Twilight dear, but, who are these two?”, Rarity inquired, looking intently at Blade. “Oh! That’s right, you got here after I sent spike to tell the others. I’ll save the extensive details for later, for now you just need to know that these two are very important ponies and they need our help.”, Twilight answered. “So you already know all the details?”, Star interjected. “Yes, and I was actually in the process of finding a book that might help.”, Twilight replied. “I could help you.”, Star offered. “Oh, good. That will help move things along much faster.”, then Twilight and Star walked over to the mound of books and began searching. While the two of them searched the fairly large stack of books, Rarity inched closer to Blade, staring intently at his eyes. At first Blade didn’t notice and was looking around the library, but soon his eyes met Rarity’s. “Umm... what? Somethin’ on my face?”, Blade asked, trying to hide the blush forming on his face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just admiring your eyes. They look like two crystals. They’re quite beautiful.”, she remarked. “Uhh... gee, thanks.”, he replied shyly, his normally peach face now burning red. “You simply must let me take you back to my boutique and fix your mane, and maybe make you a handsome outfit to match your magnificent coloration.” “Umm... I dunno.”, he replied tugging on his bangs, “I like it now.” “Please, you must. I could make you look fabulous.” “Maybe... but shouldn’t I stay here in case they need me?” “Twilight dear, you won’t mind if I take Blade for a second will you?”, Rarity questioned. “What? No. We have this covered.”, she answered not even looking away from the book she was focused on. “See? Now please, you simply must let me at least do something with that scruffy thing you call a mane.” Blade sighed, “Fine.” As soon as he finished his sentiment a giddy Rarity grabbed him with her magic and dragged him out the door. “I’m starting to hate this unicorn magic.”, he groaned right before being dragged out of the library all together. Star suddenly perked up, “Wait... what? Where did Blade and that other unicorn go?” “I wouldn’t worry, she’ll just give him a forceful makeover.”, Twilight replied. “Wait, who said I was worried?”, Star inquired, her face turning slightly red. Twilight giggled, “This book isn’t going to find itself... though that would be convenient.” “So how many lives have you lived through?”, Rarity inquired as she applied the shampoo to Blade’s mane. “As I said, a lot of memories kinda slip through after so many years. I remember being a human a few times, I was a dog like creature once, a reptilian thing another time, and... a lot of different things. Honestly though, the weirdest thing is when my gender is suddenly switched on me. That always takes getting used to.”, Blade answered, reclining in the salon chair in Rarity’s boutique. “You mean you aren’t always male?” “Nope. I’m usually born into the body of the first available infant. Which means it’s always totally random. Really, the only things that stay the same are my eyes and hair, that’s if I have hair.” “Honestly, you’ve been a female before and you still can’t take care of your mane?” “It’s not like I had much time for beauty needs since I got here. Anyway, enough about me, tell me about you. I kinda get tired of explaining my bizarre existence.” “Not much to tell. I’m a fashionista with great friends, a younger sister, and slightly embarrassing parents.”, Rarity said while rinsing his mane, “Okay, now I need you to get up so I can dry and style your mane.” Blade got off the chair and sat on his haunches as a towel surrounded by a magical aura roughly dried his mane. Once it finished Rarity walked to him with an assortment of styling implements. “Ya know, I’m kinda envious of that.”, Blade remarked. “Of what dear?” “Your life, I dream of a normal life. Embarrassing parents, siblings or a sibling with which to argue, a job that doesn’t involve fighting a giant monster. Ya know, average.” “I thought you’ve lived several lives. That means several parents and siblings, doesn’t it?” “You’d think so, but not a lot of beings want an infant like me.” “That’s awful!”, Rarity gasped. “I can’t exactly blame them. I’m not sure how I’d handle a month old infant that has eyes that glow in the midday sun, white hair, oh, and the clincher, occasionally freezes things solid on physical contact.” “Okay, I can see that as being hard to get used to, but your still their child.”, she then turned in front of him to face him, “You shouldn’t dismiss that so easily.” “You’re right. After so many times I just stopped letting it affect me.”, Blade replied smiling lightly at her. For the next minute the two simply looked into each other’s eyes, Rarity was about to say something when the door of her boutique opened and a purple baby dragon stood in the doorway huffing heavily. “Spike? What’s wrong?”, Rarity said surprised. He held up a claw in a pausing gesture as he caught his breath, “Twilight wants you and the other guy back at the library, I was sent to get you.” “That doesn’t sound overly urgent, so why did you run over here?”, Blade inquired. “Well after Twilight said that you were... I mean, I just felt like hurrying. Now come on, I don’t like making Twilight wait.”, Spike replied, flustered. “Of course.”, Rarity added, then walked out the door. “Jealousy isn’t very becoming of a dragon ya know.”, Blade jokingly remarked, with a grin that expressed to the dragon that he was only teasing. “Jealous? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”, Replied Spike. “Hey, you wanna ride?”, Blade said as he extended a wing down for Spike to climb up. “All right, but this doesn’t make us friends. I’m still watching you.”, Spike said, then they both began laughing. “Are you coming?”, Rarity inquired from a few feet away. “Right. Coming.”, Blade and Spike said in unison. As Blade, Rarity, and Spike walked into the library many more ponies were now present in the central room. In the center were Twilight and Star, standing around them were an orange pony in a hat, a pink pony with a cotton candy like mane, and Rainbow Dash. Each of which, excluding one, had much more serious expressions gracing their faces. “Oh, you’re here. Blade, come here.”, Star said waving him over. Blade stood in the center of the group as the three new ponies studied him carefully. The pink one was the first to comment, “He doesn’t look that old. I expected an old grandpa pony.” “Umm... Pinkie, weren’t ya listenin’ to what Twi was jus tellin’ us.”, the orange pony interjected. “Duh.”, Pinkie replied. “So o’ course he ain’t gonna be old.”, the orange one retorted. “Don’t be silly Aj, he reincarnates, which means he isn’t going to be old, who said he’d be old?”, Pinkie replied. “You jus said you thought he’d be an old grandpa pony.”, Applejack said, now getting frustrated. “Hmm... I don’t remember that.”, She remarked, ending with a beaming grin. Twilight sighed, “Well you’ve met Pinkie Pie, the one in the hat is Applejack, and apparently you already met Rainbow.”, Twilight then turned to her friends, “Girls, this is Blade and Star, they...” Twilight was suddenly interrupted by Applejack, “Beggin' yer pardon Twi, but does anypony else notice that Fluttershy ain’t here?” “Oh my gosh, you’re right. How did I not notice?”, Twilight replied. “Well she is kind of easy to miss.”, Rainbow remarked. “Rainbow! She’s still our friend, Spike didn’t you tell her to meet us here?”, Twilight questioned. “Of course. She was actually my first stop, seeing as she lives farthest away.”, Spike answered still perched on Blade’s back. “Everyone be quiet.”, Blade then closed his eyes as a faint white aura appeared around him, “This isn’t good.” He then ran toward the door, on his way out he yelled at the others, “We need to get to your friend fast!” “Oh my, I hope I’m not late.”, Fluttershy thought out loud as she stepped out of her house looking toward the sun resting on the horizon. She began hurriedly walking down the pathway from her door, until she was stopped by another pegasus mare. “Oh, umm... I’m sorry, but would you mind moving, I’m in a hurry. I mean, that’s if you want to.”, She said in her nearly inaudible, soft voice. “Fluttershy, the element of kindness, also the meekest pony in all of Equestria.”, the pegasus remarked not looking at Fluttershy, but instead her garden. “Excuse me?”, Fluttershy replied now baffled with this pony’s knowledge of her. “The name is Shadow Flare, nice to meet you.”, she said, turning to Fluttershy with a sinister grin. Fluttershy was taken aback by this pony’s appearance. Her coat was a dark, deep red like dried blood, a mane and tail blacker than anything she had ever seen. Most of all, she was transfixed with her eyes, the iris was the same red as her coat but had a faint glow like a dull flame, and where there was normally a vast area of white surrounding it there was black. Fluttershy felt as if she could fall into the black of her eyes, they seemed to have no depth like an endless void of darkness. Fluttershy began slowly backing away trying not to show her fear, “Well... that’s very nice, but I really need to go. My friends are waiting for me right now. So if you don’t mind...” She was suddenly interrupted by Shadow pushing her to the ground. “I’m afraid I can’t let you see your friends. You pose a very great threat to my boss.”, Shadow said, standing over Fluttershy now pinned onto her back. “What are you going to do to me?”, Fluttershy questioned. “Well I intended to kidnap you, but now that I get a better look at you. I can see an untapped well of dark feelings locked up in here.”, Shadow said placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s chest. Suddenly small black flames began crawling from Shadow’s hoof and washed over Fluttershy’s chest moving up her neck and to her head. Each wave of flame affected Fluttershy’s mind, each one turning her more mean and aggressive. As the final wave washed over her she kicked Shadow off of her and glared through dark red eyes in a sea of black, at her previous attacker. “This doesn’t seem good.”, Shadow said rubbing her stomach and inching away from the new, darker Fluttershy. “Shut up.”, Fluttershy barked. “You got what you wanted, so what now genius?” For awhile Shadow could only stare in bewilderment at the immediate shift in personality. Once she composed herself she grinned lightly, “Sweet. I didn’t expect that much change, but I’ll be damned if I don’t love it. As for what’s next, How much do you care about your old friends.” “I don’t.” “Awesome. How ‘bout you help me squash them like the insects they are?” “Fine. Just quit talking, Your voice is annoying.” “Hoo boy, I really love it.” Suddenly a large spike of ice slammed down next to Shadow’s haunch, as Blade and the others ran up to the scene. “Fluttershy?”, All the elements yelled in unison, once they noticed her eyes. “Heya buddy. How you been? Your aim is awful.”, Shadow casually acknowledged Blade. “You made yourself a mare, what... are you trying to hide all that evil behind a pretty face?”, Blade replied. “You really think it’s pretty, you flatterer you. Sadly I don’t have time to play verbal chess, me and my new friend here have to go and get to work on destroying this weird pastel world. Ciao.”, Shadow said with a grin then both her and Fluttershy disappeared in bursts of black flame. “Dammit!”, Blade yelled as he failed to catch them before the flames vanished. Rainbow Dash immediately flew into his face, “What in Equestria just happened to our friend? And, why didn’t you do something?” Blade just stood there with his head down, shaking with rage. “Well?”, Rainbow demanded. “Rainbow stop, he did all he could.”, Rarity interjected. “No. Rainbow Dash is right. I failed. My power is too weak, I should’ve been able to sense that creep well before she got to your friend.”, he mumbled, his head still hung low. “However, I won’t fail again.”, he then lifted his head. “Star, come with me.” Star almost shuddered at her name, she had never heard him sound like this. Rage and anger seemed to be nearly foreign to him, until now. At first she wanted to ask where they were going but given his disposition she couldn’t bring herself to. He walked up to Twilight, “Did you find that book?” “Oh, right, yes. Here.”, she replied, quickly floating the book from her bag to Blade, who clamped it under his wing. “Hey! Fluttershy just got taken, you can’t just walk away.”, Rainbow yelled. “I’m getting your friend back, but first I’m going to teach Star how to turn that bastard that took Fluttershy into a light bulb.”, Blade said, then slowly walked away with Star trailing closely behind. “Wow. He seemed kinda angry.”, Spike commented. “And, I’m sure somepony didn’t make that any better.”, Applejack said shooting a look at Rainbow dash. Rainbow dash finally calmed down and landed, “Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away.” “What should we do Twilight?”, Pinkie asked in an uncharacteristically somber way. “I don’t know girls. We just have to trust that Blade and Star can help us.”, Twilight replied staring off in the distance. A Momentary PeaceBlade and Star had been walking in silence for an hour now. Star couldn’t even begin to guess where they were, all she knew was that they were far outside of Ponyville. Suddenly Blade turned around and looked at Star, “I just realized, you never answered my question.” “Huh?”, Star replied in an obviously perplexed tone, “You haven’t said anything for an hour.” “I meant from this morning. The one about your cutie mark. Just what are they?”, Blade inquired. “Oh. Right, well it’s a marking that almost all ponies have that personifies their unique talent in a single image.” “So... What’s yours?” “Mine?”, she then turned her head back to her flank and looked at the black patch graced by five four pointed stars in two vertical rows, each of which a different color than the last. “To be honest... I don’t really know. I don’t remember when I got it or the consequences surrounding it.” Blade looked for awhile and rubbed his chin as he tried to brainstorm a theory. Her entire rear is black, apparently apart of her cutie mark. Five stars, each one a different color. The colors don’t even seem to mean anything they just match her natural colors. The top one is white, diagonally down there is a purple one, then a blue one similar to her mane colors, then an aqua one also like her mane, then a green one like her eyes. Why does this seem so familiar... “I’ve got nothing.”, Blade said with a shrug. “Not that talking about my flank with a guy is fun and all, but it’s getting late and you still haven’t said anything about how were going to get my powers working and yours at full capacity.”, Star remarked, now noticing Luna’s moon looming over head. Blade looked around at the small grassy hill they had found themselves on, “We’ll make camp here tonight, then we’ll worry about the rest tomorrow morning. Things are only going to get worse and more complicated from this point, we can’t miss out on any kind of rest we can get... correction, I’ll start reading this book, you get sleep. You need it.” “You make a good point. I guess this isn’t too bad. Wouldn’t be the first time I fell asleep outside, usually I was stargazing and drifted off, but still.”, Star said as she walked to the highest point of the hill over looking a cliff. “Stargazing? That explains the ceiling in your room.”, Blade remarked in an off handed manner. “Oh, the glass dome? That was actually my father’s addition, I just happen to like it too.” “Your father’s addition?” “Yeah. Umm... that house used to be my parents’ home but they left it to me.” “So they’re... sorry.”, Blade replied somberly. “It’s ok. It was awhile ago.”, Star then turned away to face the valley the cliff stood high above. She laid down on the hill, tucking all four legs underneath her body, and looked up at the sky. As she lay there, Star named each and every star constellation that she could, momentarily forgetting all of the insanity that had occurred in the past twenty four hours. Star always found comfort in looking up at the sky, the night itself, in fact, was comforting. The nearly regular cool breeze, the simple ambient sounds, the beauty of the stars, and the majesty of the moon’s dominating presence, spreading it’s dim reflected light all over Equestria. While deep in her meditations on the numerous things she loved about the night she felt something soft and warm drape over her back. Snapping back into reality she looked to her right and saw Blade laying in a similar fashion next to her with his white wing stretched over her back. Upon this realization her face became warm and her heart began beating rapidly, fortunately for her, Blade failed to notice this as he was intently focused on the aforementioned book that Star and Twilight found in Twilight’s library. “Blade, What are you doing?”, Star said softly. “Oh. I’m sorry,”, he said pulling his wing back, “ you looked cold.” “Could you put it back?”, Star inquired in a nearly inaudible tone. “Really? Sure, if you really don’t mind.”, Blade said, hesitantly moving his wing back to it’s previous position. “Thanks.” “Hmm...” “What?” “Are you sick?” “What? No. Why would you ask that?” “You never seemed like the kind of pony that was overly fond of physical contact. Plus you feel really warm and your face is kinda... magenta now.” “Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fine.”, Star replied turning her face away from Blade. “If you say so... well I’m going to get back to reading this book, try to get some sleep.”, Blade said with concern obvious in his voice. Star silently sighed heavily keeping her face turned from Blade. Why am I getting like this? Star, you know full well why, the real question is how this happened. When did you start liking this crazy pony, technically he’s old enough to be your great great great great... a lot of greats grandfather, plus he’s nuts. But, he isn’t half bad looking and when he does actually show it he’s really smart, he also has a very obvious well of compassion somewhere in all that randomness. Star then violently shook her head. What am I saying, I’ve only known him for a day, that’s hardly enough time to develop any serious emotions, even for a crush it’s unlikely. But... Star looked up at blade. She stared at his only visible icy-blue eye as it slowly moved along the words on the page he read. Blade finally noticed her gaze and turned to her, “ Something wrong?” “Oh, uhh... no. Nothing.”, Star replied doing her best to force an innocent smile. Blades expression became serious, “What is it?” “I said it was nothing.”, she answered still forcing her smile. Blade responded with a quizzical stare, as Star continued to force her grin. After awhile Star’s forced smile faded as she lost herself in Blade’s luminescent crystalline eyes. Blade, too, failed to keep up his expression when he realized this was the first time he was really able to look at Star’s eyes, technically, eye as her left one was always covered by her mane style. The visible right one was a vibrant green that shone lightly in the dim moonlight, Blade also now noticed that nearly invisible sparks of electricity danced around in her iris. “You really shouldn’t wear your mane like that? Not with eyes like that.”, Blade remarked, trying to move her bangs with his hoof. Star immediately pulled away keeping him from moving her hair. “I’d prefer you didn’t see my left eye.” “Why?” Star sighed, then lifted her hair with her magic revealing a vibrant blue eye, “As if the black legs weren’t enough I also had to be born with eyes that aren’t even the same color as each other. It did not make my foalhood easy.” “I think they’re kinda cool.”, Blade said with a grin. “Well of course you would, you think everything is cool.”, Star said rolling her eyes. Blade placed a hoof on Star’s cheek and looked straight into her eyes, at this, her face grew red again. “I also think their beautiful.”, he commented in an unusually calm and intimate manner. “I bet you flirt like this with all the girls you meet.”, Star replied playfully, trying to hide her real feelings. “No. I don’t. In fact, with my life being what it is, I never let myself get emotionally involved.”, he replied calmly still holding her face with his hoof. “Really? Why now? Why... me? ...Wait, you aren’t teasing me are you?”, Star inquired. “C’mon, I’m not like that, and as for why you... I haven’t the foggiest idea. Ever since I met you I’ve felt this way. Like being reunited with a long lost lover... that’s the best way I could describe it.” “I guess that’s the way I’ve been feeling too, but why? As far as I know I’m a mostly normal pony.”, Star inquired. “I don’t know.” “Well... you like me and I like you and were sitting like this, you still have your hoof softly holding my cheek. So what are you going to do now?”, Star commented calmly. The two then slowly inched closer, both of them were bright red now, as they slowly shut their eyes. Finally their lips met, at first it was awkward out of the dual inexperience, but soon it became second nature. Though it was the first time they had kissed one another, or the first time they had done anything like this as far as either could remember, it seemed like they had in fact done this thousands of times before. In light of this it suddenly took on a different feel, before it was a clumsy first step into a young relationship. Now, it was a sweet and tender sentiment from an older more experienced love. As the two were lost in these new and very sudden feelings from a past neither knew existed, Star’s body began reacting in a very unusual way. Arches of electricity began to leap from one part of her body to another, creating a very bright and high voltage display. Blade pulled out of the kiss and acknowledged this phenomenon when a bolt struck his flank, finally Star snapped into reality and looked back at herself. “Umm... Ow.”, Blade said rubbing his flank, “That hurt.” “I’m not doing this, at least, not that I know.”, Star replied, then suddenly the sparks died down and faded leaving only small trails of smoke on her coat where the lightning arches originated. “Huh... Oh! Duh! Powers are best controlled with emotion! Why didn’t I think of that til now...”, Blade exclaimed, then concluded by rubbing his chin in thought. “Emotions? So, is this gonna happen every time we do that?” “No. Because, now you know it’s emotion that sparks it, pun not intended, so you should be able to control it. You just need to focus your thoughts and feelings into one.” “How do I do that?” Blade looked at Star, even though she was genuinely curious her eyes told a different story, they displayed fatigue and sleep deprivation. “Let’s worry about it tomorrow. You need sleep.” “But...”, Star sighed, “ Fine.” She then nuzzled his neck and rested her head on it. As she drifted to sleep the pendant Princess Luna gave her began emitting a faint azure glow. This went unnoticed by Blade, who was back to looking through the book laid out before him. “Aha! I knew I read something like that somewhere!”, Twilight yelled in triumph from the first floor of her library, a large and very old book placed in front of her. “Twilight, what are you doing? It’s two in the morning.”, said a freshly awoken Spike from the top of the stairs. “Oh, I’m sorry Spike, I guess I got a little excited. Well while your awake, you can take a letter.”, Twilight replied floating a quill and parchment over to Spike. “Can’t this wait until morning? You know, when the sun’s up?” “No Spike, this is pivotal to the survival of Equestria.” Spike sighed as he readied the quill and parchment in his claws, “All right, I guess I’m ready.” Twilight cleared her throat and began to dictate, “Dear Princess Celestia, while looking for more clues about ‘The Scourge’ and it’s weaknesses, if any, I came across an old book recounting several moments from Equestria’s history. It didn’t have any information on the monster, however it may hold even more important clues on how Blade can repair his powers. I am requesting that you help us find him. After the situation with Fluttershy, I wrote to you about earlier, we haven’t seen or heard from him or Star Ocean. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. All right Spike, send it.” “Now? It’s still dark out.” “Yes Spike, this is important and can’t possibly wait.” Spike sighed, then rolled up the paper and held it in front of his mouth as he loosed a small green flame, sending the letter on it’s way to the princess.
Star Ocean“How many times is this now?”, inquired a young human man, with black spiked hair and burning, deep red eyes, dressed in a long black coat. “Lost count, huh?”, replied an identical looking young man, with the exceptions of long white hair a white coat and luminescent icy blue eyes. “That’ll happen after... lord knows how many reincarnations.” “I can’t imagine all the times I beat the crap outa ya helped yer memory.” “As if, those were draws.” “You wish, you were stone dead every time,” the white haired man laughed then donned a serious expression, “now, let’s quit wasting time talking, I’ve got a world to save and a monster to kill.” “Fair ‘nough.”, replied the black haired man. He then summoned small black flames that swirled furiously around his forearms and hands. “Let’s get started then.” The white haired man responded in kind, conjuring ice crystals that created a vortex of ice and mist around each of his arms. Suddenly a massive torrent of black flame began to descend on him, he quickly leaped back as the entire wall turned into a glass-like wall of ice, then he rapidly propelled himself over the wall generating six very large shards of ice behind him. He stopped his descent as he launched each shard directly into the black haired man, who seemingly refused to move out of the way. The shards continued to make their way through his body puncturing him repeatedly. The black haired man dropped to his knees, as each wound leaked out a thin black smoke instead of blood. “You could have easily dodged that. what are you playing at?”, the white haired man yelled. “This.”, he said as he removed a small spherical device from inside his jacket. “What the...”, the white haired one began but was cut off by a sudden blinding light. The source was the sphere in the other one’s hands, it hummed and droned as the light grew larger and stronger and the world around them began to vaporize, even themselves. The last thing either heard was the black haired man laughing wildly and the few spoken words, “See you on the next battle field, old friend.” Then one more intense flash of light occurred, afterward there was nothing but a large hole in the ground and melting ice. “This is so boring without somepony else to enjoy it with.”, a violet unicorn pony sighed with exasperation as she dropped onto her back. “At least the stars are pretty.” Like every night Star Ocean, a typical, young unicorn pony mare, went to the outskirts of Canterlot and admired the night’s beauty, from Luna’s moon to the nearly infinite little sparkles, from which her name was derived. As an assistant at the Canterlot observatory this was the only time she could watch stars completely uninterrupted, doing so there often got her in trouble. As she lay there staring off into infinite space she saw a sudden light streak across the sky, “Ah! A shooting star! Hmmm... I wonder.” She took in a deep breath and scrunched her entire face as she made the wish silently in her head, “Weird... I haven’t been compelled to do that since I was a filly. Oh well, that’s not important.”, she said, gasping lightly just realizing then that she didn’t breath while making the wish. She sighed again, this time out of contentment as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool night breeze brush it’s way through her coat and mane. Her peace was violently interrupted by a sudden explosion and several subsequent shock waves only a few miles away. She struggled to regain both her senses and her balance as the shock waves finally subsided, “What in the hay was that?” As if expecting an answer she stood in silence for awhile, finally she magically levitated her saddlebags onto her back and thought very intently about her next action, yet before she knew it she was going in the direction of the previous blast. She whistled, “Wow... That is one big hole, but beside that very obvious crater there doesn’t seem to be any signs of destruction. No debris, no impact fractures, no burn or scorch marks, and even more oddly the entire crater is completely smooth and spherical. Hmm...”, She dropped down onto her haunches and began rubbing her chin with her hoof, “And, the most perplexing thing is the lack of material of any kind in or out of the crater like it just vanished.” She sat longer pondering and examining, she knew she had to be able to understand this, she was a scientist after all, but she just couldn’t which only aggravated her. “Stupid hole! What are you hiding?”, she screamed in frustration. After some time she realized what she had just done and smacked her forehead with her hoof, “Really Star? Yelling at a hole, wouldn’t your teachers be proud...”, she sighed for the third time that night. “I guess I’ll just tell the royal guards and let the princess deal with this, I’m just a nopony anyway. What do I know?” As she turned away from the crater with head hung low she suddenly heard a long chiming noise, her head immediately spun around to see an even stranger sight. A very radiant beam of white light was shooting out of the hole, burrowing it’s way through the sky and out to space. She started to speak until the beam changed, now it had little black balls of light swirling around it in a ring just at her eye level. She had never seen anything like any of this, and now no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t turn her body away from it, in fact it was driven against her will, closer and closer. She resisted as hard as she could as each hoofstep brought her closer to the core beam, as soon as the first hoof reached the bottom depths of the crater and stepped into the light she became lightheaded and weak and quickly blacked out. The first of her senses to return was touch, she had no idea where she was but she knew it wasn’t where she began she felt something very soft underneath her, like a cotton ball only more solid, she also felt a gentle warm breeze. Next was hearing, chimes, more specifically wind chimes and the sound of wind rustling through plants of some kind. Shortly after that was smell, it was the smell of flowers, answering just what the wind was blowing through, she was no botanist but by smell alone she knew enough to know that those flowers weren’t the kind normally found in Equestria. Finally, sight, as she slowly and tentatively opened her eyes as this new environment came into view, adding to the ever growing curiosity of her situation. She was lying down on a ground that looked like cloud and as far as she knew was, everything around was constructed of the stuff, much like in Cloudsdale or any number of other Pegasi hometowns. The structures around her were all, either towers that looked like they belonged on the palace back home or incredible circular gardens of glowing, white flowers surrounded by many stylized columns. The sky seemed, by all accounts, normal, a beautiful shade of blue and the brilliant sun beaming it’s light everywhere in it’s gaze. Putting aside that walking on a cloud usually was absolutely impossible for a unicorn, she began to wander around hoping to find any signs of life. After several hours of searching each tower she came across, she found nothing, not only were the buildings empty of inhabitants but also of basic home furnishings, or any kind of decorational pieces, there was literally nothing. “What’s up with this place? There is absolutely nopony here and even less objects, but someone has to be here, there wouldn’t be buildings here otherwise.”, She reasoned to nopony in particular, her agitation clearly audible in her voice. “I’m sorry, I came as soon as I noticed you here”, a soft voice replied from behind Star. “Huh?”, was the only thing she could formulate as she spun around to see a pegasus mare roughly her own age. “I said, I’m sorry...”, the pegasus began, but was cut short. “I heard what you said, I was just surprised, not to mention I didn’t fully understand what you meant.” “Well... this is my home, and it’s very rare that anyone but ‘the other one’ comes here so I wasn’t expecting you.” “’The other one’?” “Yes, the owner of this world.” “I thought that was you.” “It is, but not.”, The pegasus replied matter of factly as if what she said made all the sense in the world. Star sighed, “That aside, where exactly am I? And, just what is going on here? The last thing I remember is walking against my will into this weird light beam thingy.” “I’m sorry about that, but I needed your help.”, the pegasus apologized, her penitence obvious in her voice and body language. “Help? With what?”, Star inquired, forgetting entirely her initial questions. “Only you have the power to unlock the gate and awaken the angel, so that it may restore it’s power and save your world from annihilation.” “Annihilation?”, Star practically yelled in shock. The Pegasus cringed lightly at the volume of Star’s outburst, “Could you please be more quiet, and yes. I’m afraid a very powerful and ancient evil has made it’s way to your world of Equestria.” “Sorry.”, Star said as her face turned red out of embarrassment. Ok, Star. What do you do? I mean, not a bit of this sounds real and could just be a very vivid dream maybe one of those... ‘lucid?’ ones. But, on the other hoof if it’s real you could be the pony that saved Equestria and be among the ranks of Twilight Sparkle and the others. Plus you can’t let Equestria be destroyed think of all those poor innocent ponies just living there lives, suddenly ending. I guess, the real question is whether I’m ready to accept such a huge responsibility or not... “Are you ok?”, the pegasus questioned after noticing the pained look painted across Star’s pensive visage. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry. So... what can I do to help?” “Follow me and I’ll show you.” Star Ocean followed the pegasus as they walked through the bizarre cloud world. This was the first time she could really study her guide, the pegasus had a pure white coat, a long and elegant pale blue mane and tail, both of which were obviously very well taken care of, icy blue eyes that seemed to shine lightly, and no cutie mark on her flank which made Star even more curious about this very unusual pony. They came to a sudden stop in front of a large gate. The gate was roughly twenty feet high, fifteen feet wide, and had no fencing or walling on either side. As far as aesthetics it was made of two distinct metals, one half seemed to be silver, while the other was gold, The silver side was decorated with a white stone, Star couldn’t place, in several intricate patterns and designs, the gold side was similarly decorated with black stone. In the center was a large lock, about the size of a stallion pony, the lock continued the pattern of the rest of the gate, but the colors and metals were reversed the gold half of the gate had the silver half of the lock, while the gold half of the lock was on the silver. In the center of the lock was a very unusual keyhole, a single vertical diamond shaped hole, with a smaller perpendicular horizontal one, through the middle. “So how do I do this?”, Star asked, as she walked full-circle around the gate. “Use your powers.”, the pegasus replied. “What powers? you mean my magic?” “You aren’t aware of them?” “No? And, why does it feel so hot all of a...”, Star’s voice trailed off as she collapsed to the cloud floor. Right as her awareness began to fade she heard the pegasus saying something about being brought to the wrong half. Then it all went black. “I’m getting tired of passing out.”, Star grumbled as she picked herself up in yet another venue. Wrong side? So is this place the right side? She examined her new location, now she was surrounded by several black skyscrapers, edged by neon lighting. The only lighting were those neon strips, and the occasional burst of lightning from the dark clouded sky. This place was a perfect contrast to her prior location, it was dark, cold, and had only the fragrance of oils and tar and the sound of humming electricity, and for some reason absolutely no thunder to accompany the lightning, but after all she had been through that really didn't surprise her. She again searched her new location finding nothing again like last time, but this time she was more comfortable. She couldn’t understand it, it was close to below thirty, or at least felt like it, it smelled awful and was so dark she couldn’t see very well, yet despite it all she felt calmed and soothed by this odd black and neon town. Her self evaluation was interrupted when she heard a low but audible bass drum beat, “What the? Drums?” She followed the sound to a building with the word 'club' written on it in neon, “Huh... that’s imaginative. Might as well have called it ‘Building’.”, she remarked as she rolled her eyes and stepped inside. The interior was very plain, in the middle was a circular bar, directly between that and the door was a pit, Star assumed to be the dance floor, to the far back were the tables and a place for a dj. The turntable was playing a typical electronic dance song by itself, because like everywhere else there was nopony here. Star’s eyes wandered over the room, everything was black except the dance floor panels and the neon lights edging each and every wall, even the bottles behind the bar were black, each of which were rimmed by a neon light at the top of the bottle. “Someone should fire the decorator...”, said Star letting her tongue stick out to emphasize her disgust. “You don’t like it? that’s too bad.”, said a familiar soft voice from behind her, the music cutting at the exact same moment. “You again? Wait, how did you turn off the music?”, Star replied again astonished by the sudden appearance. “We’ve met? Oh... You must mean the other one, and this is my world, I simply made the music turn off. Now, are you ready?” “you aren’t...”, Star looked closer and realized this pony was slightly different, the eyes were the same but the coat was black and the mane was midnight blue. “This whole thing is very confusing, you know that.” “It will become clear soon. Now, again, are you ready?” “Ready for w...”, Star was cut off by the pegasus pony placing a hoof on her forehead. She felt a sudden flash of energy shoot through her body, it was hot and felt like lightning coursing through her veins. Her eyes began to glow a bright violet as lightning began bursting out of every inch of her body shocking everything around her, scorching or destroying everything in the club, she had no control over this sudden outburst and had even less understanding of where it came from. Then it subsided as soon as it began, as she crashed to the ground that she had been hovering a few feet off of a second ago. “Your full power has been awakened, it will take time to control but eventually you will be able to help the angel awaken it’s full power. For now, we are trusting you with protecting it.”, the pegasus said to an exhausted Star, right before she blacked out again. “Ugh... my head, my hooves, ow... my everything.”, Star moaned as she picked herself up, parts of her coat still smoking from the lightning storm she had turned into not that long ago. She looked around and realized that she was back where she began. “The crater again. Whoa! wait a second... that wasn’t there before.”
Be Careful What You Wish ForIn the center of the crater was the last thing Star Ocean had expected to see, a stallion pony, more specifically a pegasus. She cautiously moved closer, rightfully concerned about what might happen when she reached him. Fortunately nothing happened, everything finally seemed to be normal, until she noticed his wings. The one to the left of his side was white, while the other was jet black, neither of which matched his peach colored coat, which needless to say wasn’t natural for the average pegasus. “Hey, can you hear me? Are you even alive?”, Star then smacked a hoof to her forehead and sighed. Why am I suddenly being so stupid? Anyway I better check to see if he’s okay. She then lowered her ear to his chest, “Well his hearts still beating,”, after that she moved a hoof in front of his slightly parted lips, “and he’s breathing. He just seems to be unconscious.” Star began examining the rest of his body, she didn’t notice any injuries or even simple things like bruises, just his appearance. His coat was a light peach color, complimented by white hooves and his unusual wings, both his mane and tail were white as well and fairly long, for a stallion that is. In particular, Star noticed that his lean pegasus body, masked toned and powerful muscles the kind that could only be forged in constant, intense use. Her eyes then wandered over to his flank, decorated with a strange cutie mark, a crystalline sword with a black wing stretched outward to the left of it and an identical, white one to the right. Her face grew hot as she realized just where she had been staring and immediately ripped her eyes away, she cleared her throat and spoke to herself, “Well... just how am I gonna get this guy back home without hurting myself... or creating an even more awkward situation.” She sat down and thought hard over her years in Celestia’s school, when she took classes in magic. “Oh! I know! Or at least I remember reading about it... but do I have the power to pull that off? I’ve only ever been moderately talented with magic. I guess there’s only one way to find out.” She then adjusted her stance, spreading her legs slightly and digging her hooves into the ground as she lowered her head. At first her horn only sputtered little magical sparks, but soon began to glow with a light violet aura. Tiny specks of light began to appear and disappear around the two, “Just. A. Little. More.”, she grumbled as the lights converged turning into a large flash, then it vanished taking the ponies with it. At the same moment several miles into Canterlot a simultaneous flash of light occurred as Star and the mystery stallion appeared in front of her house. Star was panting heavily with exhaustion, “I can’t believe I actually teleported... I don’t think I’ll be doing that again any time soon.” She looked down at the stallion. I could probably levitate him the rest of the way. But, where will I put him... who am I kidding? I’ll let him have my bed. I just hope the couch doesn’t kill my back. She dropped him lightly onto her bed and moved the covers over him. That should be good enough for now, I’ll call a doctor tomorrow. She then began to head back down the stairs right outside the bedroom door, but took one look back and smiled at the pegasus, “Good night.”, she whispered and then continued down the stairs. Once she reached the couch she moved some cushions around to make makeshift pillows once she settled in she sighed, “I have a bad feeling that all this is going to become a huge headache, and completely crazy... but, he is cute.”, she giggled as she quickly drifted off into sleep. The next morning the stallion slowly opened his eyes, but immediately squinted them as light flooded in from the ceiling. Once his eyes adjusted he looked around to see where he was, the first thing he noticed was the glass dome making the center of the ceiling. Next to catch his attention was the bed and the surrounding room, the bed itself was relatively large, on each side was a small night table, one with an alarm clock, the other with a lamp and small book. The rest of the room was very plain, to the far end was the door and outside it a flight of stairs, to one side of the doorway was a dresser, to the other a mirror. He sat up and prepared to get up out of the bed, but as soon as he placed all his balance on his hind legs he fell flat on his face. “Ow! My nose.”, he groaned as he rubbed his snout with his hoof then suddenly stopped, “A hoof? Damn, I was just starting to like being a biped again.” He sighed heavily, “Oh well, might as well figure out what I’m stuck as now, I coulda sworn I saw a mirror earlier.” He quickly walked over to the mirror and stared into it. A horse? Nah, I’m not big enough, plus I have wings so I’m a pegasus of some kind. A mini horse... no, I knew there was a specific word for it... right! pony! ...With oddly huge eyes. As he examined his reflection he heard some rustling downstairs, acting out of instinct he immediately donned a battle ready pose, expecting the worst. After several minutes nothing happened, he eventually relaxed his body and decided to explore the next floor down. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he heard another noise, this time it was snoring. He immediately sped around the corner to see another pony laying on the floor in front of a couch. He couldn’t help but let out a barely audible chuckle at the scene before him; A female unicorn pony with a mostly violet coat which changed to a black color from the knee down of each leg and her entire flank on both sides, decorated with five different colored four pointed stars, a vibrant blue mane and tail both with a single off center aqua colored stripe through them, laying in a humorous position on her stomach with her legs spread outward and a small string of drool coming out of her open mouth, as the occasional light snore escaped. He finally failed to contain himself as he let out a burst of roaring laughter, this being more than enough to awaken Star. She rubbed her eyes lightly as they slowly focused to the morning light, once they focused she immediately turned to the stallion, a glare burning across her face. “What’s so funny?”, she yelled. “You. How you were sleeping.”, he just barely voiced between gasps for breath and more laughter. Her face suddenly began to burn red, “Didn’t anypony ever teach you any manners?” “Wow, you can blush through all that violet fur? That’s so adorable!”, he said as he pulled her closer for an embrace. As he was pulling her over, her horn glowed brightly casting the teleport spell sending him to the other side of the room, “Try that again. I want to see just how far I can send you.”, she said with a smirk. “Cool trick. So can I know your name? Or, are we just gonna keep arguing, that could be fun too.”, he replied with a huge grin on his face. Is this guy serious? I wonder if he has brain damage, he wakes up in a complete strangers home, irritates her, then acts like were friends? I hope this isn’t ‘the angel’ that one black pegasus was talking about. All I know is that he was cuter before he opened his mouth. “Hey, what do these stars on your butt mean?”, He interrupted her thoughts. “What, hey!”, she yelled just now realizing that he suddenly appeared next to her with his head near her flank. “Huh? Oh right! Sorry, curiosity usually gets the better of me, so what do they mean?”, he apologized as he took a few steps back. She sighed, “ My name is Star Ocean, and the stars and the black around them are my cutie mark.” “Cutie mark?” “You aren’t from here are you?” “Why do you say that?”, he responded suddenly, now acting rather suspicious. “Just a case of amnesia, nothin’ else.”, he continued, beaming again. her only response was a quizzical stare, in light of this his grin became more forced. This cycle went on for a few more minutes before he finally broke down, “All right, no. I’m not from here. In fact I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.” “I knew it! Are you that ‘angel’ that black mare told me about?”, she exclaimed, somewhat proud that she had forced him to confess. “Say what now?”, he answered. “The black pegasus in the weird neon lit city, she was in a night club, turned me into a generator for a bit. You don’t know what I’m talking about?” “I know what your talking about, I just didn’t know anyone else could be there. Ya see... Both of those worlds are kinda like pieces of my subconscious where my powers are stored, one half is my light, the other my darkness.” “Uh huh... I’m sorry, but I don’t understand any of this.”, Star replied. “It might be better if I told you the whole story, take a seat. It’s a long one.”, He then cleared his throat and began, “Ages ago, before what we consider as time there were several... beings I guess is the best word, who more or less enjoyed their power and abilities, but they eventually grew bored of each other and decided to create their own ‘entertainment’ in a sense.” “So multiple gods exist and created us for entertainment?”, Star interrupted. “Essentially yeah, anyway, at first everything was fine, all the worlds ran just as the creators had wanted, but something they didn’t plan came to be. A monster, a vicious creature made up of hatred, malice, greed, basically every dark emotion one could possibly feel, it called itself The Scourge. In it’s primal beginning it was nothing more than a fledgeling monstrosity, feeding on the darkness born on these worlds, growing larger and stronger. At this point no one paid any attention to it, not viewing it as a threat, then it destroyed an entire world, inhabitants and all.” “Why? That plan seems to have no real result.”, Star inquired. “That’s exactly it. The whole goal is to spite the ones who created these places, trying to prove that whatever they made, it could dispose of.” “That’s... kinda twisted.” “Well it was born from the worst emotions possible, it just wants suffering, no other goal means anything to it. Destruction incarnate basically. Anyway, so after it completely destroyed a world one god decided to change this, and it gifted a mortal with powers to rival the deities so that they could combat this evil.” “You?” “Yep, and I did exactly that, I fought it and destroyed it, or so I thought. It couldn’t be stopped so easily and it escaped to another world to rebuild itself, and I thought it would be someone else’s problem and lived out the rest of my life.” “Your dead?”, Star interjected. “Would ya let me finish? After that, next thing I knew I was an infant, in a new world and new body. And, well, that’s been my... ‘life’ since then. Now, I’m permanently stuck in this cycle of rebirth, in fact this is the first time I came to a world as a fully grown anything.” Star stared at him for awhile trying to comprehend everything she had just heard. After a few moments she finally spoke, “So why aren’t you a foal right now?” “Hmm... ah! That jerk, in our last fight, that weird device musta sent me here and jacked up my powers.” “Huh?” “Oh, after the fourth or fifth time I beat The Scourge, it got a champion too, some puppet to do it’s dirty work.”, He then dropped onto his haunches and rubbed his chin, “And, if they sent me here, they must be here too. They wouldn’t pass up the chance to lord their victory over the angel.” “That’s what those pegasi in your head said, in less words though. Something about an ancient evil, and Equestria in danger.” “Wait, you said the dark one turned you into a generator?” “Yes, I started shooting off electricity like several lightning storms in my body at once. Then she said she had unlocked my powers, but I haven’t noticed anything since then, granted it hasn’t been that long.” “Since last night, can you do anything you couldn’t before?” “Well that spell I used on you earlier, last night I did it for the first time with great difficulty, but this morning it was second nature.” The pegasus stallion immediately closed the space between them as he began to walk full circle around her while examining carefully, occasionally poking or prodding certain spots that were still singed from the night before, eliciting sounds of irritation and protest from Star. “You really do have power. Sweet, I needed a sidekick.”, he then beamed widely. Her response was a smack to his head, “I had a bad enough time being a regular pony, now you’re telling me I have superpowers?” He let out a chuckle as he rubbed his head, “Not exactly. Powers are a little more complicated, they are fueled by something inside you, it’s very rare anybody has the potential for them, mine is fueled by the light and darkness I was infused with by the god. Yours must be some darkness inside you.” “First off, if you want to fit in in this world, you need to use familiar words and phrases so you don’t seem far too out of place. Anybody, as far as I know isn’t a word here. Anypony, on the other hoof is. And, secondly...”, Then she stopped as the full extent of what he said sunk in, “Did you say Darkness? Isn’t that how the evil thing gets all it’s power?” “Yeah?” “Does that make me evil?” He burst out into laughter, again infuriating her. After a minute of laughter she lost patience and levitated him up off the ground by his mane, “What’s funny now?”, rage very obvious in her voice and expression. “Heh, well my pretty savior,” He began, shooting her a large grin, “Darkness, like light, is just a power source, what you do with it is the important thing.” Appeased by his response she placed him back down, “You really shouldn’t keep upsetting me. I do have the advantage here”, She added with a smirk. “I noticed that. Follow me outside.”, he then continued to exit the house. What have you gotten yourself into Star? That’ll teach me to wish for something exciting to happen to liven up my life. I meant a boyfriend or a promotion, not the possible end of all ponydom. And, I still don't understand this guy. He’s serious one moment then random the next, I hope to Celestia he doesn’t have a split personality. “So what’s out here?”, she remarked once she was out the door. “I’m going to emphasize my earlier point. Think about the night sky, millions of tiny specks of light in nearly infinite darkness. Each star is a tiny generator of chemical reactions, burning, combusting, and eventually burning out to make way for the next one. Those stars all create light and warmth for another world, planet, civilization. So yes, light is inherently good, but it could be used to destroy, it creates heat which creates drought, creating famine and death. Darkness, is usually treated as evil, used to describe things that are slightly less pleasant, but what nopony seems to think of is that all that darkness more or less holds us in place, every star, planet, satellite, and whatever else is out there all given a place to be in all that darkness. Problem is, most people go with the stereotype, how ‘bout you? Are you going to be another shady corner hiding a monster, or are you going to be the ocean of stars from which your name and cutie mark seemed to be derived?”, He concluded with yet another large grin. Star was dumbfounded by his sudden burst of depth and intellect, she could only stand and stare in surprise. “Pretty cool huh? I am smarter than I look.” “That doesn’t say much, but I have to admit I was kind of impressed. So, how do I work these powers?”, Star replied with a giggle. “Finally! That took longer than it should have,”, he said throwing his forelegs into the air then continued, “and... umm... I have no idea. I don’t even remember how I figured out my own.”, he replied finishing with a shrug. “Finally what?”, She inquired. “You smiled. I’ve been tryin’ to get a genuine one since I sorta made you angry first thing this morning.” She was about to respond when her stomach suddenly grumbled, fairly loudly. Her face red with embarrassment, “How about we go somewhere to eat and figure out what to do next?” “Sure!” “So you have no clue how you’re going to be able to restore your full power?”, Star questioned over the cafe table. “No, nothing like this has ever happened. I have no idea how to handle it. Didn’t you say the white pegasus had some large gate?” “Yeah, but she seemed to think the only way I could open it was with these powers, which I still can’t call forth at will.” There conversation was momentarily interrupted by a mail carrier, but not a typical one, it was the royal courier dressed in a golden laced white outfit ornamented with Celestia’s crest. He quietly cleared his throat, levitated a single letter from his bag toward Star, once she grabbed it with her own magic he bowed and left as quickly as he’d come. “I wonder what this is.”, Star remarked. “Well open it.”, came the food muffled reply from the pegasus. Before she could open it she heard three voices all call her name, her coworkers and lack for a better term, friends, were coming her way. “Hey Star, Who’s your friend?”, questioned the earth pony in the front. “Just an old school friend. Nopony important.”, she replied nervously. “What’s his name?”, added the second earth pony. “Name? Oh, uuh.. Bladewings! That’s it. Bladewings.”, Star answered with a confirming head nod. “Bladewings?”, The pegasus whispered. “It matches your cutie mark, now shut up and go with it.”, Star whispered a little more loudly. “Heh, yep. That’s me, but you can call me Blade for short.”, he added with a forced grin. “Come on girls, she’s on a date let’s not interrupt.”, interjected the unicorn accompanying the two earth ponies, then the three waved and said there goodbyes. “Wait, that’s not...”, but she gave up and hung her head as she realized they were too far away to hear her. “Great, that’s what I needed. A bunch of stupid rumors.” “Forget them, what’s with the letter? It seemed pretty important.”, Blade remarked. Star perked up as she realized that she had completely forgotten it, “Yeah, let me see.” She opened up the letter and began to read, but stopped half way through to gasp in shock. “I, Princess Celestia request that you, Star Ocean, and your new guest see me as soon as possible in the throne room in the royal palace. It is of the utmost importance.”, Star read aloud. “Whoa, being summoned by name by royalty. Cool!”, he said swinging around behind Star to read the letter. Star was stunned, she had never thought of herself as the kind of pony to receive a letter directly from the princess. For awhile she was stuck in shock, not knowing what to feel first or how to react. She was snapped back into reality when she felt herself being lifted up. “Hey, what are you doing?”, Star yelled realizing that she was now on Blade’s back. “She said it was ‘of the utmost importance’. Better hold on.”, he then spread his wings and shot off like lightning going far faster than even the fastest pegasi. All Star could do was hold onto his neck and hope she didn’t fall. The two walked slowly past several stoic guards each standing at full attention as if the princess herself had entered the hallway to the throne room. Star was visibly nervous, not quite sure what the princess wanted and knowing even less of what to expect and what was expected of her. Blade was very calm, the whole time he merely admired the designs of the stained glass windows, and the armor suits the guards wore proudly. Once they reached the door at the end of the hall, each and every guard walked out in unison, and the doors were opened by two distinct magical auras. “Weird, guards leaving after we get here and doors that open as if by themselves. Kinda creepy, eh Star?”, Blade said, loving the mystery of the whole thing. Star made no reply, she simply looked onward as she noticed both Celestia and Luna standing side by side, looking very serious, and nopony else in the room. “You wished to see us, princess?”, Star said as she bowed lowly, meanwhile grabbing Blade’s ear with her magic, pulling him down into a forced bow. Celestia replaced her serious countenance with her typical warm smile, “There is no need for such formal greeting. We asked you both here because we are aware of your situation and your role in protecting Equestria.” “You do?”, Star perked up, dumbfounded for the second time that day. “Yes, I saw what occurred last night, but before I could react you had already been taken into the beam. So instead I began a search through the royal archives for information.”, Luna answered. “While I watched over the rest of the night, and your progress.”, Celestia added. “And, what did you find?”, Blade inquired. “Stories, each retelling a very similar tale to the one you told to Star this morning, and the conclusion that we came to was that your best chance to fight back this evil, while your powers recuperate, was to seek the aid of the Elements of Harmony.”, Celestia replied. “Also I have this for you Star.”, Luna said as a small midnight blue amulet appeared around Star’s neck. “What’s this?”, She asked, studying it in her hoof. “A portion of the armor that once graced my neck when I, regrettably, was known as Nightmare Moon. My hope is that having a piece of such strong darkness will help you focus your own powers.” “Thank you Princess.”, Star replied with a small smile, with an ever larger one wanting to break out. “Now, there is a chariot outside waiting to take you to Ponyville, I suggest you try the library there first. While you are doing this, we will continue our search and find out all that we can to help.”, Celestia said, then both her and Luna gestured their silent fare wells and disappeared into flashes of light. “Ponyville? Sounds fun!”, Blade grinned again. “Have you any sense of severity?”, Star complained as she left the chamber. “Hmm... nope!”, Blade replied letting a little laugh out as he followed closely behind Star.
The 5 Elements“So what is your name?”, Star inquired, looking over to Blade next to her in the chariot. “My previous one? I wouldn’t worry ‘bout that, Bladewings sounds better for this pony body. And, I don’t even remember my original one.”, he replied, staring over the edge at the view below them. The two then fell silent, Star was so concerned about the situation she had found herself in that small talk was lost on her. Blade was so entranced in this new and different world he could only enjoy the sights, never knowing when or if he’d be able to do so again. While he watched the world go underneath them a thought crossed his mind. “Hey, Star, what are the Elements of Harmony anyway?” “Huh? Oh, of course you wouldn’t know. Well... if I remember correctly, they are six ancient relics that have a lot of power, but can only be used by certain ponies. More specifically ‘the six’, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy.”, Star answered, only half of her attention on the conversation. “Do you know them?” “No. Why?” “You knew all their names.” “It’s called a newspaper.” “Why would they be in the news?” “They saved Equestria about... three times now?” “That Explains why the princess believed they could help.” Then the two fell silent again for the remainder of their trip to Ponyville. Meanwhile deep in the Everfree Forest, inside a decaying ruin, a dark red pegasus mare slowly made her way to the highest floor. “The boss certainly has an affinity for creepy places. When are we gonna be able to have a head quarters in a mansion or something?”, The pegasus thought aloud. After a few minutes of silence she found her way to the top of the stairs and forced open the massive stone door. Once she was in the room she walked all the way to the other end of the room and reached into her black saddlebag pulling out a small black device with a deep red sigil on it, then placed it on the ground and pressed the sigil. Smoke began to billow out of the device gradually forming into a grotesque creature, next the shadows in the room all began to move toward the monster continuing to form it’s body, finally a small spark of black flame appeared in the center of the creature causing an implosion of smoke and shadow. When it concluded all that was left was a small ball of black flame, floating only a few feet from the floor. “This is the specified location?”, A voice came from the ball of flame. The voice was dual toned, like two voices at once, one was male and very deep and raspy, the other was a mature sounding woman's with a sensuous overtone. “Yep, the exact center of the source of all darkness in this world. Will it work in reconstituting your body?”, answered the pegasus. “You have done well as always. What is this body called?”, Questioned the flame. “I’ve adopted the name Shadow Flare for the sake of moving around in this world. I just looked at this insignia on my rear and concluded that these creatures names seem derivative of them.”, the pegasus explained. “Very well, Shadow. The inhabitants of this world will move against us sooner than later. I want you to halt their progress.” “And, how should I do this?” “On this particular planet they have items known as The Elements of Harmony, they are very powerful and could easily stop me in my weakened state. Keep them from activating them.” “Again, how? I’m not an omniscient being like you boss.” “These items have one flaw, all six must be used in unison or nothing will happen. Luckily for us, all we need to do is keep one of the elements from activating.” “Seems like somebody would have already thought of that... anyway, so I should kill one?” “No. Simply keep one incapable of using their element. Scout all six and choose the weakest and bring them here. As long as we keep them at a disadvantage they will be destroyed once this is over anyway. No need to hasten it.” “Where can I find them?”, Shadow inquired. The moment Shadow finished her question black tendrils shot outward from the flame, each of which wrapping tightly around her head. Shadow convulsed in pain as the tendrils tightened further pulsing black flames into her skull and deeper still, while all this happened her eyes glowed an infernal red and her body smoked. The tendrils finally released, dropping Shadow’s limp body hard to the floor. “Now you know where. Any further questions?”, the flame inquired coldly. Shadow slowly picked herself up painfully, still cringing from the lingering pain of the countless burns on her body. “No. I got it.”, she answered through clenched teeth, she then disappeared into a burst of black flame. Star and Blade landed down in Ponyville, thanked the pegasi pulling the chariot then exited to find their next destination. “So... where were we going again?”, Blade inquired. “The library.”, Star answered glancing around town trying to discern which buildings were what. “Okay. But, where is it?” “Not sure. Never been here before. In fact I’ve never left Canterlot in my life. So, in other words, your guess is as good as mine.” The two continued through town, studying every building they came across. While Blade looked into the window of what he assumed was a candy store he heard a loud crash behind him, when he turned he saw a cyan pegasus sitting and rubbing her head. She chuckled, “Guess I still have to work on that one.” “You all right?”, Blade inquired. Star walked over from the other side of the street to enter the conversation, “Yeah, and what happened?” “I’m fine, and I was working on a new trick.”, she chuckled again, “I still think it needs a little work... hey, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two. You new here?” “Actually, yes, and were looking for the library. Do you happen to know where it is?”, Star said. “Of course, my friend Twilight lives there. It’s the big tree in the middle of town. You can’t miss it. Anyway, I need to practice this trick. Maybe we can hang out later.”, The pegasus then took off like a shot. “Some interesting ponies here. Did you see her hair? In all my years, I’ve never seen rainbow colored hair.”, Blade remarked still watching the pegasus fly off. “I think that was Rainbow Dash... oh well, we’ll see her again later. We need to head to the library now.”, Star added, then began walking toward the center of town. After only a short walk they came across a large tree with a sign out front decorated with the image of a book. Star quickly went to the door and opened it with her magic and calmly walked in, scanning the area around her, Blade followed immediately afterward. There were very few books on the shelves because the majority were laying on the floor for a reason neither Star nor Blade could come up with. To the far end of the first room two unicorn ponies stood there doing very peculiar things. The purple one picked up one book at a time, eyed the covers suspiciously, then groaned and tossed them to the floor. The white one seemed to be placing the books back, but not in any kind of typical order but rather by color and appearance. “Dear, you really should stop tearing through your books like this. It makes an awful mess.”, The white one commented to the purple one. “It is my house, besides I have more important things to worry about other than a little mess, Rarity.”, answered the purple one. “Little? Darling Twilight, the entire floor is covered.”, Rarity replied. Star then cleared her throat, hoping to grab the arguing ponies’ attentions. When that failed Blade casually walked up to Rarity and Twilight, cleared his throat, then spoke, “Howdy!” Star immediately pulled him away with her magic, both embarrassed and irritated. “I’m sorry. He’s an idiot and has absolutely no tact.” Rarity gave the two of them a puzzled look, while Twilight seemed completely unaffected, still focused solely on her earlier task. “Twilight dear, you have visitors.”, Rarity said, nudging Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight glanced up, she eyed them shortly then looked back at the books. Suddenly, she did a double take at the unicorn. “You must be Star, the princess told me you were coming, and... that’s ‘him’?”, she said as she walked over to Blade and Star all the while studying their appearances. “Him?”, Blade questioned. “Sorry. The princess never specified a name in the letter.”, Twilight replied. “It’s Blade.”, he said. “Excuse me Twilight dear, but, who are these two?”, Rarity inquired, looking intently at Blade. “Oh! That’s right, you got here after I sent spike to tell the others. I’ll save the extensive details for later, for now you just need to know that these two are very important ponies and they need our help.”, Twilight answered. “So you already know all the details?”, Star interjected. “Yes, and I was actually in the process of finding a book that might help.”, Twilight replied. “I could help you.”, Star offered. “Oh, good. That will help move things along much faster.”, then Twilight and Star walked over to the mound of books and began searching. While the two of them searched the fairly large stack of books, Rarity inched closer to Blade, staring intently at his eyes. At first Blade didn’t notice and was looking around the library, but soon his eyes met Rarity’s. “Umm... what? Somethin’ on my face?”, Blade asked, trying to hide the blush forming on his face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just admiring your eyes. They look like two crystals. They’re quite beautiful.”, she remarked. “Uhh... gee, thanks.”, he replied shyly, his normally peach face now burning red. “You simply must let me take you back to my boutique and fix your mane, and maybe make you a handsome outfit to match your magnificent coloration.” “Umm... I dunno.”, he replied tugging on his bangs, “I like it now.” “Please, you must. I could make you look fabulous.” “Maybe... but shouldn’t I stay here in case they need me?” “Twilight dear, you won’t mind if I take Blade for a second will you?”, Rarity questioned. “What? No. We have this covered.”, she answered not even looking away from the book she was focused on. “See? Now please, you simply must let me at least do something with that scruffy thing you call a mane.” Blade sighed, “Fine.” As soon as he finished his sentiment a giddy Rarity grabbed him with her magic and dragged him out the door. “I’m starting to hate this unicorn magic.”, he groaned right before being dragged out of the library all together. Star suddenly perked up, “Wait... what? Where did Blade and that other unicorn go?” “I wouldn’t worry, she’ll just give him a forceful makeover.”, Twilight replied. “Wait, who said I was worried?”, Star inquired, her face turning slightly red. Twilight giggled, “This book isn’t going to find itself... though that would be convenient.” “So how many lives have you lived through?”, Rarity inquired as she applied the shampoo to Blade’s mane. “As I said, a lot of memories kinda slip through after so many years. I remember being a human a few times, I was a dog like creature once, a reptilian thing another time, and... a lot of different things. Honestly though, the weirdest thing is when my gender is suddenly switched on me. That always takes getting used to.”, Blade answered, reclining in the salon chair in Rarity’s boutique. “You mean you aren’t always male?” “Nope. I’m usually born into the body of the first available infant. Which means it’s always totally random. Really, the only things that stay the same are my eyes and hair, that’s if I have hair.” “Honestly, you’ve been a female before and you still can’t take care of your mane?” “It’s not like I had much time for beauty needs since I got here. Anyway, enough about me, tell me about you. I kinda get tired of explaining my bizarre existence.” “Not much to tell. I’m a fashionista with great friends, a younger sister, and slightly embarrassing parents.”, Rarity said while rinsing his mane, “Okay, now I need you to get up so I can dry and style your mane.” Blade got off the chair and sat on his haunches as a towel surrounded by a magical aura roughly dried his mane. Once it finished Rarity walked to him with an assortment of styling implements. “Ya know, I’m kinda envious of that.”, Blade remarked. “Of what dear?” “Your life, I dream of a normal life. Embarrassing parents, siblings or a sibling with which to argue, a job that doesn’t involve fighting a giant monster. Ya know, average.” “I thought you’ve lived several lives. That means several parents and siblings, doesn’t it?” “You’d think so, but not a lot of beings want an infant like me.” “That’s awful!”, Rarity gasped. “I can’t exactly blame them. I’m not sure how I’d handle a month old infant that has eyes that glow in the midday sun, white hair, oh, and the clincher, occasionally freezes things solid on physical contact.” “Okay, I can see that as being hard to get used to, but your still their child.”, she then turned in front of him to face him, “You shouldn’t dismiss that so easily.” “You’re right. After so many times I just stopped letting it affect me.”, Blade replied smiling lightly at her. For the next minute the two simply looked into each other’s eyes, Rarity was about to say something when the door of her boutique opened and a purple baby dragon stood in the doorway huffing heavily. “Spike? What’s wrong?”, Rarity said surprised. He held up a claw in a pausing gesture as he caught his breath, “Twilight wants you and the other guy back at the library, I was sent to get you.” “That doesn’t sound overly urgent, so why did you run over here?”, Blade inquired. “Well after Twilight said that you were... I mean, I just felt like hurrying. Now come on, I don’t like making Twilight wait.”, Spike replied, flustered. “Of course.”, Rarity added, then walked out the door. “Jealousy isn’t very becoming of a dragon ya know.”, Blade jokingly remarked, with a grin that expressed to the dragon that he was only teasing. “Jealous? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”, Replied Spike. “Hey, you wanna ride?”, Blade said as he extended a wing down for Spike to climb up. “All right, but this doesn’t make us friends. I’m still watching you.”, Spike said, then they both began laughing. “Are you coming?”, Rarity inquired from a few feet away. “Right. Coming.”, Blade and Spike said in unison. As Blade, Rarity, and Spike walked into the library many more ponies were now present in the central room. In the center were Twilight and Star, standing around them were an orange pony in a hat, a pink pony with a cotton candy like mane, and Rainbow Dash. Each of which, excluding one, had much more serious expressions gracing their faces. “Oh, you’re here. Blade, come here.”, Star said waving him over. Blade stood in the center of the group as the three new ponies studied him carefully. The pink one was the first to comment, “He doesn’t look that old. I expected an old grandpa pony.” “Umm... Pinkie, weren’t ya listenin’ to what Twi was jus tellin’ us.”, the orange pony interjected. “Duh.”, Pinkie replied. “So o’ course he ain’t gonna be old.”, the orange one retorted. “Don’t be silly Aj, he reincarnates, which means he isn’t going to be old, who said he’d be old?”, Pinkie replied. “You jus said you thought he’d be an old grandpa pony.”, Applejack said, now getting frustrated. “Hmm... I don’t remember that.”, She remarked, ending with a beaming grin. Twilight sighed, “Well you’ve met Pinkie Pie, the one in the hat is Applejack, and apparently you already met Rainbow.”, Twilight then turned to her friends, “Girls, this is Blade and Star, they...” Twilight was suddenly interrupted by Applejack, “Beggin' yer pardon Twi, but does anypony else notice that Fluttershy ain’t here?” “Oh my gosh, you’re right. How did I not notice?”, Twilight replied. “Well she is kind of easy to miss.”, Rainbow remarked. “Rainbow! She’s still our friend, Spike didn’t you tell her to meet us here?”, Twilight questioned. “Of course. She was actually my first stop, seeing as she lives farthest away.”, Spike answered still perched on Blade’s back. “Everyone be quiet.”, Blade then closed his eyes as a faint white aura appeared around him, “This isn’t good.” He then ran toward the door, on his way out he yelled at the others, “We need to get to your friend fast!” “Oh my, I hope I’m not late.”, Fluttershy thought out loud as she stepped out of her house looking toward the sun resting on the horizon. She began hurriedly walking down the pathway from her door, until she was stopped by another pegasus mare. “Oh, umm... I’m sorry, but would you mind moving, I’m in a hurry. I mean, that’s if you want to.”, She said in her nearly inaudible, soft voice. “Fluttershy, the element of kindness, also the meekest pony in all of Equestria.”, the pegasus remarked not looking at Fluttershy, but instead her garden. “Excuse me?”, Fluttershy replied now baffled with this pony’s knowledge of her. “The name is Shadow Flare, nice to meet you.”, she said, turning to Fluttershy with a sinister grin. Fluttershy was taken aback by this pony’s appearance. Her coat was a dark, deep red like dried blood, a mane and tail blacker than anything she had ever seen. Most of all, she was transfixed with her eyes, the iris was the same red as her coat but had a faint glow like a dull flame, and where there was normally a vast area of white surrounding it there was black. Fluttershy felt as if she could fall into the black of her eyes, they seemed to have no depth like an endless void of darkness. Fluttershy began slowly backing away trying not to show her fear, “Well... that’s very nice, but I really need to go. My friends are waiting for me right now. So if you don’t mind...” She was suddenly interrupted by Shadow pushing her to the ground. “I’m afraid I can’t let you see your friends. You pose a very great threat to my boss.”, Shadow said, standing over Fluttershy now pinned onto her back. “What are you going to do to me?”, Fluttershy questioned. “Well I intended to kidnap you, but now that I get a better look at you. I can see an untapped well of dark feelings locked up in here.”, Shadow said placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s chest. Suddenly small black flames began crawling from Shadow’s hoof and washed over Fluttershy’s chest moving up her neck and to her head. Each wave of flame affected Fluttershy’s mind, each one turning her more mean and aggressive. As the final wave washed over her she kicked Shadow off of her and glared through dark red eyes in a sea of black, at her previous attacker. “This doesn’t seem good.”, Shadow said rubbing her stomach and inching away from the new, darker Fluttershy. “Shut up.”, Fluttershy barked. “You got what you wanted, so what now genius?” For awhile Shadow could only stare in bewilderment at the immediate shift in personality. Once she composed herself she grinned lightly, “Sweet. I didn’t expect that much change, but I’ll be damned if I don’t love it. As for what’s next, How much do you care about your old friends.” “I don’t.” “Awesome. How ‘bout you help me squash them like the insects they are?” “Fine. Just quit talking, Your voice is annoying.” “Hoo boy, I really love it.” Suddenly a large spike of ice slammed down next to Shadow’s haunch, as Blade and the others ran up to the scene. “Fluttershy?”, All the elements yelled in unison, once they noticed her eyes. “Heya buddy. How you been? Your aim is awful.”, Shadow casually acknowledged Blade. “You made yourself a mare, what... are you trying to hide all that evil behind a pretty face?”, Blade replied. “You really think it’s pretty, you flatterer you. Sadly I don’t have time to play verbal chess, me and my new friend here have to go and get to work on destroying this weird pastel world. Ciao.”, Shadow said with a grin then both her and Fluttershy disappeared in bursts of black flame. “Dammit!”, Blade yelled as he failed to catch them before the flames vanished. Rainbow Dash immediately flew into his face, “What in Equestria just happened to our friend? And, why didn’t you do something?” Blade just stood there with his head down, shaking with rage. “Well?”, Rainbow demanded. “Rainbow stop, he did all he could.”, Rarity interjected. “No. Rainbow Dash is right. I failed. My power is too weak, I should’ve been able to sense that creep well before she got to your friend.”, he mumbled, his head still hung low. “However, I won’t fail again.”, he then lifted his head. “Star, come with me.” Star almost shuddered at her name, she had never heard him sound like this. Rage and anger seemed to be nearly foreign to him, until now. At first she wanted to ask where they were going but given his disposition she couldn’t bring herself to. He walked up to Twilight, “Did you find that book?” “Oh, right, yes. Here.”, she replied, quickly floating the book from her bag to Blade, who clamped it under his wing. “Hey! Fluttershy just got taken, you can’t just walk away.”, Rainbow yelled. “I’m getting your friend back, but first I’m going to teach Star how to turn that bastard that took Fluttershy into a light bulb.”, Blade said, then slowly walked away with Star trailing closely behind. “Wow. He seemed kinda angry.”, Spike commented. “And, I’m sure somepony didn’t make that any better.”, Applejack said shooting a look at Rainbow dash. Rainbow dash finally calmed down and landed, “Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away.” “What should we do Twilight?”, Pinkie asked in an uncharacteristically somber way. “I don’t know girls. We just have to trust that Blade and Star can help us.”, Twilight replied staring off in the distance.
A Momentary PeaceBlade and Star had been walking in silence for an hour now. Star couldn’t even begin to guess where they were, all she knew was that they were far outside of Ponyville. Suddenly Blade turned around and looked at Star, “I just realized, you never answered my question.” “Huh?”, Star replied in an obviously perplexed tone, “You haven’t said anything for an hour.” “I meant from this morning. The one about your cutie mark. Just what are they?”, Blade inquired. “Oh. Right, well it’s a marking that almost all ponies have that personifies their unique talent in a single image.” “So... What’s yours?” “Mine?”, she then turned her head back to her flank and looked at the black patch graced by five four pointed stars in two vertical rows, each of which a different color than the last. “To be honest... I don’t really know. I don’t remember when I got it or the consequences surrounding it.” Blade looked for awhile and rubbed his chin as he tried to brainstorm a theory. Her entire rear is black, apparently apart of her cutie mark. Five stars, each one a different color. The colors don’t even seem to mean anything they just match her natural colors. The top one is white, diagonally down there is a purple one, then a blue one similar to her mane colors, then an aqua one also like her mane, then a green one like her eyes. Why does this seem so familiar... “I’ve got nothing.”, Blade said with a shrug. “Not that talking about my flank with a guy is fun and all, but it’s getting late and you still haven’t said anything about how were going to get my powers working and yours at full capacity.”, Star remarked, now noticing Luna’s moon looming over head. Blade looked around at the small grassy hill they had found themselves on, “We’ll make camp here tonight, then we’ll worry about the rest tomorrow morning. Things are only going to get worse and more complicated from this point, we can’t miss out on any kind of rest we can get... correction, I’ll start reading this book, you get sleep. You need it.” “You make a good point. I guess this isn’t too bad. Wouldn’t be the first time I fell asleep outside, usually I was stargazing and drifted off, but still.”, Star said as she walked to the highest point of the hill over looking a cliff. “Stargazing? That explains the ceiling in your room.”, Blade remarked in an off handed manner. “Oh, the glass dome? That was actually my father’s addition, I just happen to like it too.” “Your father’s addition?” “Yeah. Umm... that house used to be my parents’ home but they left it to me.” “So they’re... sorry.”, Blade replied somberly. “It’s ok. It was awhile ago.”, Star then turned away to face the valley the cliff stood high above. She laid down on the hill, tucking all four legs underneath her body, and looked up at the sky. As she lay there, Star named each and every star constellation that she could, momentarily forgetting all of the insanity that had occurred in the past twenty four hours. Star always found comfort in looking up at the sky, the night itself, in fact, was comforting. The nearly regular cool breeze, the simple ambient sounds, the beauty of the stars, and the majesty of the moon’s dominating presence, spreading it’s dim reflected light all over Equestria. While deep in her meditations on the numerous things she loved about the night she felt something soft and warm drape over her back. Snapping back into reality she looked to her right and saw Blade laying in a similar fashion next to her with his white wing stretched over her back. Upon this realization her face became warm and her heart began beating rapidly, fortunately for her, Blade failed to notice this as he was intently focused on the aforementioned book that Star and Twilight found in Twilight’s library. “Blade, What are you doing?”, Star said softly. “Oh. I’m sorry,”, he said pulling his wing back, “ you looked cold.” “Could you put it back?”, Star inquired in a nearly inaudible tone. “Really? Sure, if you really don’t mind.”, Blade said, hesitantly moving his wing back to it’s previous position. “Thanks.” “Hmm...” “What?” “Are you sick?” “What? No. Why would you ask that?” “You never seemed like the kind of pony that was overly fond of physical contact. Plus you feel really warm and your face is kinda... magenta now.” “Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fine.”, Star replied turning her face away from Blade. “If you say so... well I’m going to get back to reading this book, try to get some sleep.”, Blade said with concern obvious in his voice. Star silently sighed heavily keeping her face turned from Blade. Why am I getting like this? Star, you know full well why, the real question is how this happened. When did you start liking this crazy pony, technically he’s old enough to be your great great great great... a lot of greats grandfather, plus he’s nuts. But, he isn’t half bad looking and when he does actually show it he’s really smart, he also has a very obvious well of compassion somewhere in all that randomness. Star then violently shook her head. What am I saying, I’ve only known him for a day, that’s hardly enough time to develop any serious emotions, even for a crush it’s unlikely. But... Star looked up at blade. She stared at his only visible icy-blue eye as it slowly moved along the words on the page he read. Blade finally noticed her gaze and turned to her, “ Something wrong?” “Oh, uhh... no. Nothing.”, Star replied doing her best to force an innocent smile. Blades expression became serious, “What is it?” “I said it was nothing.”, she answered still forcing her smile. Blade responded with a quizzical stare, as Star continued to force her grin. After awhile Star’s forced smile faded as she lost herself in Blade’s luminescent crystalline eyes. Blade, too, failed to keep up his expression when he realized this was the first time he was really able to look at Star’s eyes, technically, eye as her left one was always covered by her mane style. The visible right one was a vibrant green that shone lightly in the dim moonlight, Blade also now noticed that nearly invisible sparks of electricity danced around in her iris. “You really shouldn’t wear your mane like that? Not with eyes like that.”, Blade remarked, trying to move her bangs with his hoof. Star immediately pulled away keeping him from moving her hair. “I’d prefer you didn’t see my left eye.” “Why?” Star sighed, then lifted her hair with her magic revealing a vibrant blue eye, “As if the black legs weren’t enough I also had to be born with eyes that aren’t even the same color as each other. It did not make my foalhood easy.” “I think they’re kinda cool.”, Blade said with a grin. “Well of course you would, you think everything is cool.”, Star said rolling her eyes. Blade placed a hoof on Star’s cheek and looked straight into her eyes, at this, her face grew red again. “I also think their beautiful.”, he commented in an unusually calm and intimate manner. “I bet you flirt like this with all the girls you meet.”, Star replied playfully, trying to hide her real feelings. “No. I don’t. In fact, with my life being what it is, I never let myself get emotionally involved.”, he replied calmly still holding her face with his hoof. “Really? Why now? Why... me? ...Wait, you aren’t teasing me are you?”, Star inquired. “C’mon, I’m not like that, and as for why you... I haven’t the foggiest idea. Ever since I met you I’ve felt this way. Like being reunited with a long lost lover... that’s the best way I could describe it.” “I guess that’s the way I’ve been feeling too, but why? As far as I know I’m a mostly normal pony.”, Star inquired. “I don’t know.” “Well... you like me and I like you and were sitting like this, you still have your hoof softly holding my cheek. So what are you going to do now?”, Star commented calmly. The two then slowly inched closer, both of them were bright red now, as they slowly shut their eyes. Finally their lips met, at first it was awkward out of the dual inexperience, but soon it became second nature. Though it was the first time they had kissed one another, or the first time they had done anything like this as far as either could remember, it seemed like they had in fact done this thousands of times before. In light of this it suddenly took on a different feel, before it was a clumsy first step into a young relationship. Now, it was a sweet and tender sentiment from an older more experienced love. As the two were lost in these new and very sudden feelings from a past neither knew existed, Star’s body began reacting in a very unusual way. Arches of electricity began to leap from one part of her body to another, creating a very bright and high voltage display. Blade pulled out of the kiss and acknowledged this phenomenon when a bolt struck his flank, finally Star snapped into reality and looked back at herself. “Umm... Ow.”, Blade said rubbing his flank, “That hurt.” “I’m not doing this, at least, not that I know.”, Star replied, then suddenly the sparks died down and faded leaving only small trails of smoke on her coat where the lightning arches originated. “Huh... Oh! Duh! Powers are best controlled with emotion! Why didn’t I think of that til now...”, Blade exclaimed, then concluded by rubbing his chin in thought. “Emotions? So, is this gonna happen every time we do that?” “No. Because, now you know it’s emotion that sparks it, pun not intended, so you should be able to control it. You just need to focus your thoughts and feelings into one.” “How do I do that?” Blade looked at Star, even though she was genuinely curious her eyes told a different story, they displayed fatigue and sleep deprivation. “Let’s worry about it tomorrow. You need sleep.” “But...”, Star sighed, “ Fine.” She then nuzzled his neck and rested her head on it. As she drifted to sleep the pendant Princess Luna gave her began emitting a faint azure glow. This went unnoticed by Blade, who was back to looking through the book laid out before him. “Aha! I knew I read something like that somewhere!”, Twilight yelled in triumph from the first floor of her library, a large and very old book placed in front of her. “Twilight, what are you doing? It’s two in the morning.”, said a freshly awoken Spike from the top of the stairs. “Oh, I’m sorry Spike, I guess I got a little excited. Well while your awake, you can take a letter.”, Twilight replied floating a quill and parchment over to Spike. “Can’t this wait until morning? You know, when the sun’s up?” “No Spike, this is pivotal to the survival of Equestria.” Spike sighed as he readied the quill and parchment in his claws, “All right, I guess I’m ready.” Twilight cleared her throat and began to dictate, “Dear Princess Celestia, while looking for more clues about ‘The Scourge’ and it’s weaknesses, if any, I came across an old book recounting several moments from Equestria’s history. It didn’t have any information on the monster, however it may hold even more important clues on how Blade can repair his powers. I am requesting that you help us find him. After the situation with Fluttershy, I wrote to you about earlier, we haven’t seen or heard from him or Star Ocean. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. All right Spike, send it.” “Now? It’s still dark out.” “Yes Spike, this is important and can’t possibly wait.” Spike sighed, then rolled up the paper and held it in front of his mouth as he loosed a small green flame, sending the letter on it’s way to the princess.
