(OST)

It was about noon and I was walking through town to get out to the desert and practice with my powers. I want to try that wing move I did again. See if I can repeat it. It was kinda a spur of the moment thing, and it was just an advanced light bending trick.

The edge of town was right in front of me when I heard the sound of a small stampede headed for me. I turned around and saw a group of colts and fillies galloping straight for me. I smiled and waved as they stopped at my feet. “Hello everyone!”

They all smiled and cheered. “Hi Mr. James!” It brought a smile to my face. Wow, I missed this more than I thought. One of the colts in the back waved a hoof in the air. “Can ya do a trick for us!” They all started cheering for a show and I couldn’t help but smile.

I put a hand on my chin in mock thought. “Hmmm... Sure. Just give me a sec.” I focused a ball of light into my hand and tossed into an orbit around my head. I caught it and started to bend and shape it. The children oohed and ahhed as it changed into a little man, then a stallion, and then into a griffon.

I tossed the griffon into the air, making it spread it’s wings and fly around the children’s heads, making them squeal and laugh. The miniature griffon landed on a small fillies head and she giggled. “It tickles!” The griffon flew off and back to my hand where it dissipated in a flash of gold sparkles. “Do it again! Again!”

I laughed and made a sphere form on each finger. “Okay then...” I rubbed my hands together and they started to glow. Aaaaaand “Light Puppets!” I spread my arms wide and the lights shot off of my fingers and formed a flock of pegasi. The miniature flyers swooped down and blew the kids manes back. They all laughed and played as a single pegasus flew to each of them.

With each colt and filly playing with their own little friend, some even competing to see whose was fastest, I got up and said goodbye. Most of them were dejected and voiced their opinion. Specifically Rose Blossom, a small pink filly about Choc’s age who was also a member of the ever growing, in both size and infamy, Cutie Mark Cusaders. “Awwwww, but why?”

I leaned down and rubbed the small filly’s white mane. “I’m going to try and make some new tricks. Don’t want to spoil the surprise now do you?”

She gasped and started jumping around. Her orange eyes sparkling with excitement. “A new trick! Can I watch you? Can I can I can I?” She has such a large abundance of energy... It’s almost scary.

I chuckled before waving a finger in front of her. “Ah ah, what did I say?”

She stopped jumping and blushed. “That it would spoil the surprise...”

“That’s right. And besides.” I looked around at the streets to feign secrecy before whispering in her ear. “It’s gonna be a doozy of a trick if I get it right.”

She grinned and started to run down the street to Choc’s house. The rest of the kids went to play at a small lot that was slowly being turned into a playground by the school. The small puppets giving me a final salute before flying along with them. They’ll dissipate in about an hour. Should give me enough time to work on some moves...

I continued my way to the outskirts and found my favorite place in the town. The Water Tower. It was simply the perfect place to view a sunset or sunrise. It didn’t matter which cause it was the highest point in the town.

I’ll come back when the sun isn’t blaring down on me. I kept walking and made my way to about a hundred yards from the Water Tower and stopped. “This ought to be far enough from town.” I closed my eyes and focused on the light around me.

When I opened them once more I could see the light rays as they fell to the ground from the sun. Each golden strand was mine to control, with enough practice, of course. “Let’s try it again.” I started to bend the light onto my back like last time, only the light just formed small shields on my back.

I tried again, and again, and again. Oh come on, why isn’t it working? I thought back to when I did it the first time I managed to do it. Maybe... I ran a couple more yards away from town and took a deep breath. “Releasing first restriction.” Unlike the first time, A bath of gold flames erupted around me instead of a golden shine. It soon dissipated and I felt invigorated instead of drained.

“That’s new... And much nicer than the first time.” I focused again and felt a subtle change in my powers. I was as if I could weave the strands of light together and form anything from a piece of silk to a solid brick if I so chose.

I redirected my thoughts back to the task at hand. Slowly the light started to collect around my spine and I felt it tap into my nerves. What did I call this again? Solar... something or oth- WINDS! It was Solar Winds! Let’s try that. “Solar Winds!”

Just like the first time, a pair of construct wings shot out of my back. I got a better look at them this time now that I wasn’t getting attacked by rock monsters. Still one of the weirdest days I’ve ever experienced.

Every feather was detailed in a way I didn’t think possible, especially for me. I grabbed one and plucked it out painlessly. It shimmered in the light for a moment before dissipating into dust. Amazing.

I looked back and tried flapping my wings when NOT in a stress induced panic. They responded and I felt myself lift an inch of the ground. I can fly at will... Yessssss. I crouched down and rocketed into the air. “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

I flew over the buildings and I could see a golden refraction of my wings cover the town. It was breathtaking to see as I flew over head. The light bathing the town and all who looked up at me as I flipped and glided through the air.

I swooped down to Choc’s house and my wings dissipated into a myriad of light. “I need to do this more often. That was fun!”

“Woooooah.” I turned around to see Choc and Rose looking at me from his bedroom window. Choc couldn’t come out today or the rest of the week because he was grounded for the whole fiasco caused by him following me out of town. “That was so cool!”

I smiled and waved. “Hey Choc! You like my latest trick?”

They leaned out of his window and beamed. “Are ya kiddin’!? That was amazing! You were all, Wooosh! And then Wooo! and then when you landed it was all Fwoosh! and sparkly and bright and... and... and awesome!”

I grinned and gave a mock bow. “Ah thank you.” This got some chuckles from them. “I would love to stay and chat with you Choc, but I need to go.”

He seemed slightly disappointed. “Oh, okay.”

My grin widened. “Before I do however.” I clapped my hands together and a small alicorn construct formed, “Here you go! Have fun kids!”

They both waved from the window as I left. “Bye Mr. James!”

I felt awesome as I walked down the street. There were so many smiling faces from the younger kids I almost didn’t notice Amy standing off to the side grinning. “Having a good time ‘Mr. James’? Or do I need to come back later?”

I stuck my tongue at her and she laughed. “Whatever. Can you make a pair of working wings, ‘Ms. Amy’.” She glowed slightly and I made my triumph known to all nearby with a loud ‘HA!’.

She smacked my lightly across the back of the head. “Shut it you idiot.” We both started laughing as we walked aimlessly through town. Eventually we ended up in the orchard again, and I leaned against a tree for a quick break. She was sitting in the tree eating an apple.

I turned to her as a thought crossed my mind. “Hey Amy?”

Amy swallowed her bite and looked down. “Yeah James?”

“When did you defeat a sentiment? I mean, you had some powers when you fought those Infernals and when you beat the Void Terror that was in town. So that means you did defeat one... Right?”

She grinned and tossed me an apple. “Yeah, I was staying in a different dimension at the time. Some really weird shit started happening. Next thing I knew, I fought and beat this creepy astrology guy.” She made a silver ball in her hand and made a crude stick figure. “I can do some things with light... but it’s not as detailed as those wings you made.”

I nodded. “Not bad...” I made a small man that sat on my shoulder. He waved at the now slightly irritated Amy, “... but I can at least entertain kids.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “You always were better with the smaller ones.”

I smiled sadly. “Yeah, I was.” Only cause of my little brothers... I hope they’re doing okay...

Amy hopped down from the tree and laid in the grass. I was about to stand up when she spoke up suddenly. “Do you miss them?”

I snapped my head up and stared at her. She didn’t move and kept staring at the blue sky. “What?” Okay something’s up.

She leaned her head back and looked me right in the eyes. “I said, do you miss them?”

I shot up and looked at Amy. “Of course I do! They were my family! I took care of them for years!” I had to explain why mom was gone... I hadn’t noticed but I was crying slightly. I felt a tear run down my cheek and brushed it aside. No time for tears right now.

Amy smiled sadly before turning back to the sky. “Good. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one...”

I gave her a questioning look. “And what made you think that in the first place?” Seriously? What’s up with her lately?

She sat up and looked at the horizon. “The fact you seemed so...” She waved her hands in front of her for a moment, “Happy.” She turned back around and looked at me. “It was like you had forgotten abo-”

She was stopped mid sentence as my hand slapped her across the face. I felt a burning rage from that one word as I stared at her shocked face. “I. Would rather fade from all existence. Than forget my family. You KNOW that.”

She looked at me for a moment before turning to the ground. “Sorry, It’s just been hard dealing with all of this lately. I shouldn’t have even needed to ask.”

I smiled apologetically and sat next to her. “And I’m sorry for slapping ya. You did kinda deserve it though.”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” I turned around to look behind me and saw Death standing next to the tree. He was chuckling slightly as he looked at us. “But I have someone for you to meet.”

(OST)

He stepped to the side and revealed a girl with pinkish, hair. She was wearing a light green T-shirt and white shorts that ended just above her knees. She had a light blue overcoat on top of that and some white sneakers on. She fidgeted nervously for a moment as she twirled her shoulder-length braid. “Hi, m-my name’s Megan.”

I smiled and offered my hand. “I’m James. Nice to meet you!”

She jumped slightly but took my offer. After a quick handshake she let go and started looking around before turning to Death. “Um... If you don’t mind me asking... Why am I here?”

Death grinned and turned to her. “I thought it would be best for you to start with someone who was also relatively new at being a wraith.” I blinked in surprise as she and I looked at each other. Oh... She’s new at this too.

I smiled and grabbed a surprised Amy by the shoulder. “Well then, Welcome to the family Megan!” Amy proceeded to smack me upside the head. I stuck my tongue out at her and heard Megan stifling a laugh as she stood next to Death.

Amy turned to Megan and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry about him. He can be an idiot at times... My name’s Amy Hindenburg, but you can just call me Amy.”

She smiled and shook Amy’s hand. “Thank you. My full name’s Megan Brooks, but everyone just calls me Meg or Megan.” I wonder what she’ll think of the town... and I feel like I’m forgetting something... I stopped thinking for a moment and facepalmed.

Amy turned to me in confusion.”What?”

I sighed and slumped over. “I just realized, I left my suit in Ponyville.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You have a suit?”

“Yeah, I have a hunch that sometime soon I’ll be roped into some fancy party or a ball soon.” They continued looking at me until I raised my hand in defence. “It’s just a hunch. I bought a suit just in case.”

Megan was covering her mouth trying hard not to laugh as she watched us bicker. I stopped and looked over before glowing slightly. She smiled as she lowered her hand. “Well I can tell that my stay will at least be interesting.” She turned to Death quickly. “Is there anything that I need to know?”

Death grinned and pointed at me and Amy. “I’m sure that your entry here told you some of the basics, but I’d ask for a tour from one of them.” Death vanished and the three of us were left standing in the clearing.

I turned to Megan and grinned as I did a fancy accent and offered my hand. “Would you like a tour Madam?”

She glowed a soft pink as she took my hand and replied in her own sophisticated accent. “Why thank you good sir.” We both chuckled a bit as we started walking.

Amy was smirking as she looked at us. Her expression was slightly unnerving. Just what is she thinking? “Stop messing with the girl James. You’re embarrassing her.”

I went wide eyed as I slowly turned to stare at her and I started glowing slightly. Megan was glowing a bright florescent pink. “Really?”

She started laughing as I facepalmed and Megan continued to glow. “Sorry, couldn’t help it little bro.”

Megan stopped glowing and looked at me, then Amy. “Wait, you really are siblings? I thought you were just being friendly.”

I started to rub the back of my head and grinned. “Technically, yes. Her parents adopted me and my brothers before this whole Wraith business happened.”

She looked away. “Oh... sorry if I brought up any sensitive topics....”

I waved her off and smiled. “It’s fine. You didn’t know, so I can’t hold it against you.”

Death suddenly appeared next to me, causing us to jump. “Also, I forgot to give this to you James.” He pulled out a box and put it in my hand, “Take care.” He vanished and I looked down to the box. Eh, I’ll open it later. I put the box in my pocket and started leading my new companion to town.

She seemed a bit nervous as we walked towards the actual town and I grinned. “You don’t have to worry. The townsfolk are nice and I’m pretty sure you’ll find some of them too cute to be threatening.”

She blinked a couple times. “Uh... really?”

“Yeah! I mean the kids here are just little balls of energy!” I laughed a bit, “Sometimes too much energy.” I lead her into the town and Amy followed. I continued to show her around, taking her to the theater, The Sheriff’s, and I even showed her the Inn. We kept touring the town and came across the residential district. I noticed a small cloud of dust headed for us and smiled. “And now you’ll know what I meant by balls of energy.”

She looked at me, confused, until I pointed behind her and she saw Choc and Rose headed for us. They skid to a halt and quickly looked at their still blank flanks, before slumping down. “Aww, Ah was sure we would have racing cutie marks.”

Rose walked up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “We still got other things ta try. How bout gardenin’”

He shook his head “Too girly, How bout rodeo cutie marks?”

She pondered it for a moment before smiling. “Sure! Let’s go!”

They paused for a moment before giving eachother a high hoof, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS RODEO RIDERS! YAY!!”

They ran off and Megan was staring at them. I waved a hand in front of her face, but got nothing in response. “Meg, you okay?”

She smiled and let out a small squee. “They’re. so. CUUUUUTE!” I laughed as she realized what she had done and started glowing. “Sorry... but they were so adorable!”

Yeah, they can be pretty cute at times... I’m pretty sure that one of them found a way to weaponize it against her mom. I grinned. “Yep. and completely destructive... You should have seen what they did about three weeks ago.”

She smiled. “But they were so cute... It couldn’t have been that bad.” I resisted the urge to tell her about the whole problem with sandworms Choc had inadvertently caused. It’s best that she doesn’t know...

“Well anyways, let’s get you to where Me and Amy have been staying.” I lead her down the rows of houses and we made it to Appleslice’s house. “Well here we are. There aren’t many places to sleep left thanks to both me and Amy staying here... Heck, if I have to I’ll sleep on the floor.”

She started to glow faintly again. “Oh, that’s alright... I could stay at the Inn...”

I quirked a brow. “With what money?” She looked down and started rubbing the back of her head. “It’s alright really, Appleslice is a nice pony. You’ll like her, trust me.”

I knocked on the door and Appleslice answered. True to my word she and Megan hit it off and were talking about some gardening stuff I didn’t pay much attention to. It was getting late and I laid on the couch to get some sleep. Megan had taken the bedroom after Amy offered to take the other couch.

It was getting pretty late. Curiosity took over my mind as I found sleep hard to come by and I pulled out the box Death had given me. What secrets do you hold? I pulled back the lid and gasped.

Inside the box was a necklace that I hadn’t seen for over a month. The necklace was a gift to my mother, my BIRTH mother, from my grandfather. It had a black jewel in the center of a gold base and chain. The jewel itself was flawless and shined in the light.

I held the gem to my chest and started to nod off. Hardly noticeable tears forming in the corner of my eyes.

Thank you Death. Thank you.

Author's Note

I told myself I wouldn't post this for a while, but it's been sitting in my docs for a week now. SO HERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER AND CHARACTER!! ENJOY!