"This evening was fruitful."
I groaned as I turned to look at the Deer that spoke to me, watching Aspen walk with a nonchalant gait.
"Aspen." I told the Deer King, my eyes twitching as I looked at the many Deer guards that surrounded us as we walked back to Thicket, "Please shut the fuck up."
I ignored the offended gasps from the surrounding guards, "Oh, don't you gasp at me, you weren't even there!" I yelled at them, annoyed at being unable to fully turn to shout at them thanks to my sleeping passenger, "Besides, I'm the one carrying your prince! I'm the injured one here! The least you bums could do is take him off my back and carry him yourselves!!!"
I stared blankly at Aspen's chuckling face as one of the nearby guards came closer and picked Bramble off my back.
"I hate the Everfree..."
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After returning to Thicket and collapsing onto the bed in the guest room provided to me, I fell asleep before I even noticed. I didn't even shower or brush my teeth; I was too tired to do so.
When I next opened my eyes, I found myself standing in the midst of a vast nebula, stars and galaxies shining around me like an infinite curtain of space.
"Shit..." I whispered as I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, realizing that I didn't take the shards off my neck before falling asleep.
I slowly turned around to look behind me, finding myself staring face to mouth against a giant head, easily three times my height, baring its sharp white teeth in a prominent scowl, a pair of giant yellow eyes looking down at me, staring so intensely it was as if they were trying to bore a hole through me.
"Where were you?" The giant head asked, and the horns that stood up from the top of its head seemed sharper than usual.
"Hey~ Cosmos~" I smiled, trying to hide the unease I was feeling, "Long time no see, how long has it been? A week? Two?"
"Two months." The giant's tone hinted that I should probably close my mouth and let her speak. "You left me with Cadance to help prepare for her wedding. You said you needed to take a short vacation, a week at most."
Faster than my still-tired mind could react, a giant blue claw connected to a furry purple forearm snatched me up like I was a rabbit getting caught by a hawk. It held me tightly as it brought me higher and higher, allowing me to watch as Cosmos's head rose from the nonexistent floor, an illusion of her body taking form as she stood up higher than before.
"Waitwaitwaitwait!" I quickly yelled as the stars around us began to flare up in brightness, crackling cosmic lightning dancing between clouds of space dust like some sort of biblical show of force. I tried to wave my hands as Cosmos opened her mouth, pulling me closer towards the giant maw of the beast, "I can explain! I can explain!"
I did not know if Cosmos had the ability to harm me in this dream-like prison, and I was not planning on risking myself to find out.
Dying in my sleep thanks to some Freddy Krueger bullshit? Not how I wanted to go out. Not enough dynamites, sharks, and volcanoes involved.
"Your explanation better be very convincing..." Cosmos told me as she pulled me away from her mouth, still glaring down at me in her hand as a pair of blue, leathery bat wings emerged from her back.
And so I told her. I told her about Chrysalis kidnapping me, and I told her about the Crystal Empire. I told her about needing time for myself after all that stressful work, and I told her about needing to be focused for the Saddle Arabian's visit, and how all these things came in the way of visiting her.
I was busy, and I was stressed, and I just needed to get some normal sleep for a while.
"Liar." I made no reaction to Macaw whispering in my ear as I watched Cosmos, searching her expression for any change.
"Is that true?" Cosmos asked, her voice rumbling with the power of a burning nebula as the background of space around us began to distort and twist into a swirling mess of colors.
"Yes! Yes, it's all true!" I told her, "Why would I lie to you about this? About anything?" I asked her.
"Cosmos, you need to believe me! You already know my secrets, you know more of my mind than any person in Equestria, why would I lie to you?!"
A few seconds passed, letting me hear my words echo in the vastness of imaginary space as I stared into the giant's eyes, feeling her clawed grip on my body tighten as she slowly squeezed.
"I knew it!" Suddenly, as if the flip of a light switch, I was lying on a sandy with a green coconut in my hoof, a small straw extending from the cut-open top of the coconut next to a tiny paper umbrella. "I knew you'd never leave me! Never and ever, I knew you'd be back!" Cosmos, back to her regular size once more, as just a head with an arm, grabbed onto my neck like a chimpanzee to a tree branch and hugged herself close.
"I love you I love you I love you you love me I love you you love me I love you you love me I-" I zoned her out as I stared at the sun setting beyond the false horizon, two simple words bouncing around in my mind.
"I'm fucked."
-----------------------------------------------
"What is this?" Prince Blueblood Cocytus Platinum asked as he sat in a meeting room in the castle of Thicket, turning his head to stare at King Aspen, who sat diagonally from him at the small round table.
"It's a bracelet," King Aspen answered as he pointed at the small object that sat before him on the table, "I used the Heart of the Everfree to create some strong ironwood roots, as you can see, they're holding the two marbles you received."
"First of all," Blueblood started to speak as he picked the bracelet up in his magic, "Ironwood isn't supposed to be made out of actual Iron, or whatever metal this is," He tapped the brown metallic bracelet, "And that's not what I was talking about," Blueblood stared at Aspen's face, "I mean this-" He motioned with his hoof at the Deer's face, "What is this?"
"Oh!" Aspen's ears perked as he realized what the Prince was talking about, "I shaved.'
Blueblood stared blankly at the Deer King, and at his lack of an overgrown, unkempt bushy white beard.
"You used to look like you were a senile old fart with one foot in the grave. Now you look like you're a single father who has his life together. What kind of skin routine do you even use?" Bueblood frustratingly stood up from the table, "What is this shit?!"
"Do you know how annoying it is to keep this illusion on my face? It's like I'm flexing my muscles for over twelve hours a day, it's annoying as shit! And now you go ahead and shave that stupid beard off and look like a third of the age you previously looked like! What the fuck!" Blueblood shouted in frustration.
"Well, if it pleases you, I am a single father who does not necessarily have his life together." Aspen said teasingly, "And besides, I do need to actually thank you."
"Huh?" Blueblood said dumbly as he picked up the bracelet off the table and stared at the two small marbles that decorated the brown metal. One had the mark of an ice blue snowflake, the other had two silver shooting stars, their trails creating a twirling helix pattern.
"It's thanks to you that I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my heart, my mind is clearer than it has been in what I feel could be centuries," Aspen said with a relaxed smile on his face and a gentle glint in his green eyes.
"That is why I will help you in your investigation into the spirit's banishment," Aspen's tone took a serious shift as he focused on the Unicorn prince, "I still have no memories of any involvement, but it's become clear that the Pony of Shadow is behind it all." King Aspen took a deep breath.
"Prince Blueblood Platinum, by my authority as King Aspen Everfree, I hereby do swear that the Crown of Everfree will lend aid in putting an end to the Pony of Shadows." Aspen's eyes did not blink as he said those words, focusing entirely on the Prince's face.
"We succeeded in putting my dearest Gaia out of her misery," Aspen told him, "Now I wish to put my mind at ease, to know that my dearest Bramble will be able to grow safe and strong, and I simply cannot rest easy knowing the Pony of Shadows may still return."
King Aspen stood up from the table, the Heart of the Everfree strapped to his chest, "We will put an end to the Pony of Shadows." He said, a resolute echo in his voice.
"We will stop Stygian Platinum."
--------------------------------------------------
On the third day of Blueblood's stay in the Everfree, he returned to Platinum Manor, accompanied by the two Deer royals and a small squad of Guards just in case.
"There's a lot still down there..." Prince Bramble muttered as he stared down into the sinkhole, looking at the many colorful marbles that rested on the stone floor of the cavern below.
The young prince then yelped as he took a step back, watching the many marbles levitate out of the sinkhole before landing inside of a makeshift bucket made of dirt and grass, held together by fiery veins of blue magic.
"Ploo~" A small serpentine skull appeared above the container, a small fiery blue arm appearing next, balling its thumb, ring, and pinkie finger in while extending its index and middle fingers.
"Just a moment~" Prince Blueblood said as his horn shone brighter, before a pair of red crystals resembling two halves of a broken heart levitated up next, landing on the grass next to King Aspen. "There, do with that whatever." The Unicorn told the Deer King before he raised his hoof to look at his front left wrist, fidgeting with the new bracelet he wore.
"Thank you..." Aspen said as the Heart around his neck shone with a red light, a pair of green vines lifted the broken heart off the ground before wrapping themselves around the Deer king like a makeshift belt, holding the broken heart close.
"Now, the apparition said to-" Blueblood began speaking once the group began to move again, only for the younger prince to interrupt him.
"Ghost~" Bramble said simply.
"Ghosts aren't real." Blueblood continued, "The apparition said-"
"But ghosts are real, we saw-" It was now Bramble's turn to be interrupted.
"Apparitions, not ghosts, these were apparitions! Apparition- Salome dancing before Herod- Gustave Moreue, I did a presentation on that painting in High School, ghosts aren't real, now stop interrupting me." Blueblood took a deep breath, "As I was saying, the apparition last morning-"
"It was two nights ago-"
"It was like five in the morning yesterday, the sun was already rising. Just because we all went to sleep twice since then doesn't change that only one night actually passed. Now stop interrupting me, or I'll punch your dad." Blueblood shouted at the younger prince with no real heat behind his words, "The apparition said-"
"Why punch me?" Aspen asked, once again interrupting Blueblood.
"Throw a coin in the well and we'll get our answers! That's what the apparition said. Pluto, kick Aspen in the shin. Bramble, don't be like your father, and stop interrupting people. Let's go!" Blueblood shouted before he walked away from the sinkhole, stopping next to the tree that the Deer King had grown two nights prior and kicking it, causing a few red fruits to fall down and be caught in his magic.
"Pluto!" The small translucent skull above the bucket of dirt shouted before a small spade-shaped point made of dirt and grass appeared behind it, connected to a burning blue tail, before it flicked forward and weakly slapped Aspen's leg.
"...That was rude." King Aspen said, not feeling anything other than a mild annoyance from the slap.
"Pluto!" The skull yelled before it slithered after the Unicorn, joined by the sound of marbles clinking together inside of its bucket-shaped body.
The two deer looked at each other, shrugged, and turned to follow the Unicorn Prince.
----------------------------------------
"So... Do we just throw it in and see what happens?" Prince Bramble asked as the royal trio stood in front of an old well made of grey bricks, covered in moss and weeds.
Leaning over to look in, Blueblood frowned at seeing that the well had dried up, leaving at the bottom little more than a dark and dank pile of overgrown weeds.
"Looks like it." The Unicorn said as he stepped back from the well, his horn glowing as a single equestrian bit appeared in front of him, "Here goes nothing." He whispered before flicking the coin down the well.
"...Is something supposed to happen now?" King Aspen asked as he sat down on the grass, chewing on a shiny red plum-sized berry, not bothering to wipe the stains of juice off his lips and chin as he chowed down on the magically grown fruit.
"I hope so-" Blueblood began to say before a brilliant light beamed out of the well.
The trio watched in wonder as pale pink and soft yellow lights began to intertwine in the air, as if spinning in a mesmerizing dance of magic and colors.
"Oh my..." Bramble whispered, his eyes wide at the beautiful sight before him.
"Holy..." Blueblood muttered silently, watching the weeds and moss that covered the well get blown away, the magical light seeming to clean the dusty old well up, giving it a brand new look.
"Oh yeah, baby!" A soft voice echoed out from within the pillar of light, "It's showtime!" the voice yelled before a small object shot out of the well, surrounded by the pillar of light, making it look like little more than a shadow swimming in a stream of yellow and pink magic.
The ground began to tremble as the light emerging from the well shone brighter and brighter. The well seemed to jump in excitement, the yellows and pinks blending together to create a mesmerizing white light as the voice that came from the well seemed to erupt into uproarious laughter.
"Hahahaha! After one thousand long years, I've finally been called!" The voice shouted, the shadow swimming in the stream of magic began twirling inside the brilliant white light, "The moment you've all been waiting for!" The spinning shadow seemed to suck the light towards it, causing it to spin into a mesmerizing whirlpool of pinks, yellows, and whites.
Bramble and Blueblood took a few steps back away from the well.
"The return of none other than-!" The spinning twister of magic began to gain speed, the colors blending together like some sort of messy mashup of ice cream and sparkles.
King Aspen stood up and took a step back himself, wiping the juices from his face.
"The one and only!" The well began to levitate off the ground as sparks of pink and yellow magic began shooting out of the twister, causing the ground to lift as the gravity around the well seemed to shift.
"Legendary wishing well Nymph!" And with a colorful and bright burst of light, the twister exploded into loud and popping yellow and pink fireworks, color and sound flying around in abundance as the well fell back to the ground with a loud thud, revealing the small creature that floated above the mouth of the well.
"Milkyway!!!" The creature shouted, its face looking up at the sky as it extended its arms as if inviting the crowd to cheer, its long pink and yellow tail floating behind it, unaffected by gravity.
"..." The royal trio stared silently at the small pink and yellow Fennec-looking creature before Prince Bramble began to clap his hooves together, a wide smile on his face.
"Thank you, thank you," The Fennec said as it gave a courteous bow of showmanship to the Deer Prince, "You didn't need to clap, but it is appreciated~" It looked up from its bow before its eyes focused on the Unicorn of the group.
"Is that-" A light shone from the well before a picture appeared in the Nymph's tiny hands, "Oh my gosh, it is!" She squealed in excitement before throwing the picture into the air and disappearing in a flash of light, "Bloopy!" Only to reappear next to Prince Blueblood and begin touching his body.
King Aspen picked up the picture as it floated down beside him and looked at it, seeing an aging old Fennec that clearly had a very strong resemblance to this Whishing Well Nymph before him, and a small baby Unicorn held in a bundle of cloth beside her.
"Pinkie Pie is worse..." Blueblood whispered to himself, a blank stare on his face as he looked ahead, lifting his hoof to allow Milkyway to grab his leg and begin feeling up his muscles.
"Is that you in this picture?" Aspen asked as he showed off the picture.
"That? Nope~ That's Gram Gram me, from like centuries ago~" Milkyway waved her hand, and the picture flew back into the wishing well.
"Gram Gram, you?" Bramble asked.
"I'm a Wishing Well Nymph, Kid, a magical spirit~" Milkyway began flying around, doing circles around the Unicorn's head, "We don't have real physical bodies like you guys do," The Fennec began teleporting around, seeming to pop in and out of existence, "I mean, we technically do, but we also don't, it's complicated~"
"The gist of it-" Milkyway suddenly reappeared floating upside down in front of Bramble's face, "Is that when we die, instead of turning into disgusting little flesh puddles, like you guys do, we just pop back to our own little corner of reality inside a new body. It's kinda like reincarnation." She explained, "We just get recycled in the magical washing machine called life and pop out brand new!"
"Gram Gram in the picture is me, but also not me, because that was several reincarnations ago~" She said, crossing her arms before spinning in the air, her long tail moving to act like a pillow for her to sit on, "I'm the all-new, one and only, super fabulous ~ Milkyway!" A few firework-like sparks escaped from her fingers as she shouted her name out.
"I don't really care," Blueblood decided to cut off the discussion before it could derail further, "We were told to throw a coin into the well to find the answers we needed, I'm not even fully sure what the answers are for because of how many questions could be asked, so just- What now?"
"...Are you asking me?" Milkyway looked at the three people staring at her, "Eh, whatever it is that I'm supposed to tell you was probably hashed out between Gram Gram and whoever made the wish in the first place all those years ago, but was like, cleaned out of my head a few reincarnations ago, so like-" Milkyway dove back into the Wishing Well, "I'll see if she left any notes in here!"
"Do you think anything useful is going to come out of this?" Blueblood decided to ask Aspen as the Fennec rummaged through the well.
"I'm sure whatever it was Cocytus told her to tell you was of great importance," Aspen told Blueblood as he stared at the Wishing Well, seeing random objects being tossed out as if Milkyway was digging through a pile of junk.
"I like her," Bramble said simply, enjoying the vibrancy of the newest character in his life.
"Did you just say Cocytus?!" Milkyway's voice echoed from the well before she shouted, "Ah hah! Found it!" and with another burst of light, she was back, holding an old and fraying piece of parchment.
"What does it say?" Bramble asked excitedly.
"Hang on just a minute-" With a wave of her hand a pair of reading glasses appeared over her eyes, "Okay, let's see~ Should what I fear come to past, I want you to take the child and bring him to a safety, where he will be taken care of by ponies who know the truth of his blood, and will make sure he's-"
"So Gram Gram sent me to the future and placed me in a position for Celestia to notice me. I got that. Can you skip ahead to the important part?" Blueblood hurried her along, earning him a weak tap on the leg from the Deer Prince.
"I was getting there but fine-" Milkyway rolled her eyes before skipping ahead, "Should our Pride ever come to this place in search for the truth of our name, send him to my secret study, and tell him that we expect great things from him."
"..." The trio waited for the Nymph to continue.
"That's it. That's where it ends." Milkyway told the group, a wave of her hands causing her glasses to disappear.
"Well, this was useless." Blueblood turned around and began walking away.
"Hey, wait! Come back!" Milkyway shouted before teleporting in front of the Unicorn to block his path, "You can't just leave!"
"Yes, I can." Blueblood side-stepped the Nymph and continued walking.
"But- Don't you want to make a wish?" She teleported in front of the Prince once more, flailing her arms in front of his face to block his view.
"I wish for you to tell me where Cocytus's secret study is," Blueblood told her without skipping a beat.
"You could wish for- Huh? Wait, you actually made a wish?" Milkyway paused for a moment before a smile crossed her face, "Very well! The location of Cocytus Platinum's Secret study!" She pointed at the Wishing Well, and a pink cloud of smoke burst out of it before it flew into the manor, leaving a trail for the group to follow.
"Huh..." Blueblood said before he turned back and began walking after the trail of pink smoke, the two Deer royals following closely after him.
-------------------------------------------------------
"This is a dead end." King Aspen said as he watched the pink cloud of smoke bash itself against the broken, dusty fireplace of the Manor, as if trying to keep flying forward, only to get stuck on the wall in front of it.
"No, it's not, there must be a secret lever we can pull that would open up-" Prince Bramble began to say, only to drop his line of thinking as he watched Blueblood tear a hole in the back of the fireplace, revealing a secret pathway.
"Found it." Blueblood said simply before a mask appeared over her mouth and nose to block out the dust, "Be careful not to breathe this, who knows what's in here."
"No need~" Milkyway said, a wave of her hand clearing the dust away to reveal that the path led to a door, its wooden frame rotted away long ago, the magic keeping the Manor from fully collapsing being the sole reason it hasn't deteriorated any further, "See how useful I am? Praise me!"
"Well done, Milkyway," Bramble, ever eager to please, quickly congratulated the Nymph for cleaning the way for them.
"Watch your step, Dearest Bramble, I don't want you to get hurt," Aspen told his son as he carefully stepped over the broken fireplace and into the short secret passage, following Blueblood in entering through the broken door.
Stepping into the room, Blueblood frowned to himself at seeing the state it was in. The bookcases on the walls were broken and empty, a patch of mold grew in one of the corners, and much of the surrounding walls were empty.
All the room's walls had was a large portrait depicting both the White and Gold Unicorns from early last morning, and another Unicorn that he could recognize from that weird dream he had before he woke up to find Aspen gone, all surprisingly well kept, a clear indicator to the magic protecting the painting.
"Cocytus, Xanthos, and Stygian..." Blueblood whispered the names as he looked at the portrait, "My Grandfather, my Father, and the Pony of Shadows..."
"Blueblood, look there," Aspen tapped the Unicorn's shoulder, diverting his attention to the only other object in the room.
It was a big leather-bound book, sitting on top of an exquisite ebony desk adorned with wooden carvings of snowflakes and stars.
"Sol." Blueblood did not hesitate to cast the spell the second he saw the book, a blinding light emerging from his horn and illuminating the dark room in an instant.
"Ah!" Milkyway yelped as she covered her eyes, "Maybe give us a bit of a warning next time!"
"Apologies, but I wanted to make sure there weren't any traps placed on the book," Blueblood told Milkyway in an uncaring tone before he picked up the book. "We got what we came here for, let's return to Thicket. I'll go through this book once we're back-" Blueblood paused as he heard a small object fall from within the book's pages and clink onto the floor.
As he looked down at the small object, he felt his smile spread across his face in recognition.
"Three down, three more to go~"
--------------------------------------------
"Did you really need to take that portrait with you?"
Blueblood bit his lips as he read through the pages of the black leather book, ignoring the red Harpy's words as he moved on to the next page, his mind whirling with thoughts as he read the words on the paper.
He initially thought the book was going to be a journal, one that Cocytus wrote in before the tragedy occurred.
But he was wrong. This was no journal.
It was a spell book, one written by a now very familiar Pony.
And his eyes widened as he reached a specific page.
-------------------------------------------
"They're not ghosts!"
King Aspen put down the papers he was reading through, trying his best to acclimate to his renewed state of mind by doing the Kingly duty of paperwork.
"Excuse me?" The Deer King asked with a tilt of his head as he turned to stare at the Unicorn Prince.
"Those apparitions in the Manor, I know how they happened!" Blueblood walked towards the king, a smile on his face as he shoved a book in front of his face.
"I was never that good with magic. This just looks like a page of gibberish to me." Aspen told Blueblood, weakly pushing the book away from his face.
"I apologize, my excitement got the better of me," Blueblood said in a not-so-apologetic tone, "Allow me to explain!"
"These marbles-" Blueblood lifted his hoof to show off the bracelet, "Are actually crystallized Imaginary organs!" He said with a tone of voice that told King Aspen that whatever he was talking about was an incredibly important thing to understand.
"What's an Imaginary organ?" Aspen let out a sigh of relief as his Son entered the room and asked the question, followed by the pink and yellow Nymph that for some reason refused to leave them now.
"I'm glad you asked, my dearest Apprentice!" With a flash of light-blue magic from his horn, the room the group was in changed to resemble a classroom, with the Unicorn Prince standing at the front next to a blackboard with a small collection of chalk.
"You know how Magic can be found in all living things, right?" Professor Blueblood asked the class, his eyes moving over the tired Deer King, the Wishing Well Nymph that wore a schoolgirl uniform and was playing with what Aspen assumed was modern-day makeup gear, and Prince Bramble, wearing a school uniform and sitting at his desk near the front of the class.
"Yep, Magic is everywhere!" Bramble answered.
"Exactly, but have you ever wondered how it is that creatures can use Magic? How Unicorns can shoot beams from their horns, or how Pegasi can fly and push clouds around?" Blueblood asked.
"Eh, because they have horns and wings?" Bramble guessed.
"Yes- but also no." Blueblood told him, the chalk magically moving to draw on the blackboard behind him, "Horn and Wings are just outlets, pathways for the magic to interact with the outside world instead of being stuck inside our bodies the entire time." Blueblood explained, "If you take the horn off a Unicorn, or the wings off a Pegasus, they still have that magic, they just can't use those outlets to properly release it. A Pegasus without wings can still walk on clouds, a Unicorn without a horn can still fire uncontrollable energy from its stump. They don't lose the magic, only the pathway to using it." Blueblood illustrated the examples, "An Earth Pony doesn't have a horn, nor does he have wings, but he's still physically stronger than both of them, thanks to the way his species interacts with the magic inside them."
"Okay, so if it's not the horn or the wings, I'm guessing it's this Imaginary Organ you brought up?" Bramble asked.
"Precisely!" Blueblood cleared the blackboard, "The Imaginary Organ, sometimes referred to as the Invisible Organ, is a magical theory whose existence has been debated amongst scholars for- well, for as long as Magic has been debated!" He laughed, "The premise is this: each living creature has an invisible internal organ that has no real mass, which acts as a conduit for Magical Energy inside a creature's body. Why is a Pegasus still able to push clouds if you remove its wings? Because their Imaginary Organ is still intact. Why is an Earth Pony able to output more force than a Unicorn with the same exact physical stats? Because their Imaginary Organ is magically strengthening them."
"Okay, so Stygian managed to prove a magical theory correct. How does this relate to what we saw in the Manor?" Aspen asked.
"So, the theory was that the Imaginary Organ is the source of our ability to utilize magic, both passive and active, and that without this Imaginary Organ, we're really no better than a moving corpse." Blueblood told him, "However, Stygian, I don't know how he did it, but he managed to create a spell that takes this imaginary organ and crystallizes it into a physical form, one that can be interacted with just like any other internal organ! It's incredible!"
"I don't think incredible is the word we should be using, Bloopy~" Milkyway weighed her opinion in, "Playing with somebody's internal organs is- Yuck! I feel icky just thinking about it."
"Don't call me Bloopy, and yes, this is a horrible spell, I am not disagreeing with you there," Blueblood told the group, "But it's what he discovered about the Imaginary Organ that's incredible." Blueblood took a deep breath as he prepared to explain the discovery, "The Imaginary Organ, being not just the reason we are able to cast magic at all, Also acts as an immaterial information unit that stores all of a persons memories, It's how for example someone can use magic to erase someone's memories, and then the person who got his memories erased gets his memories back. It acts as a backup that holds all of a being's personal information. From the moment you are born to the moment you die, the Imaginary Organ records it all and keeps it safe." Blueblood let out a chuckle as he heard those words leave his mouth.
"And so-" Brable wanted to ask a question, but he was interrupted as Blueblood continued speaking, the blackboard behind him growing messy as he drew more illustrations on it, the chalk he used breaking apart, so he picked up a new one before he continued.
"What Stygian did, or what the Pony of Shadows did, was use this spell to crystallize the Imaginary Organs of the victims in that Manor before their bodies ran out of magic." Blueblood lifted the bracelet to show it off, "These marbles are in fact the crystallized Imaginary Organs of Cocytus and Xanthos Platinum, now fully empty of magic following their release yesterday morning- I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm sorry, this is just so exhilarating to talk about!" Blueblood said before he took a few deep breaths to calm down.
"By using these Imaginary Organs, he took the stored information about the victims and activated it again before returning it to their bodies. He turned those corpses into semi-living beings that ran on Magic instead of Oxygen and Blood."
"So he took their souls and shoved them back into their bodies!" Bramble said excitedly, "He created Zombies!"
"No!" Blueblood yelled, "The Imaginary Organ is not a person's Soul! And they weren't Zombies!" Blueblood slammed his head on the teacher's desk, "They were closer to Clones of the victims than the Victims actually returning, using back-up memories and all."
"But they didn't use different bodies, so they weren't clones." Bramble pointed out, "And you previously said that these Imaginary Organ things are both the source of how our bodies can use magic, and also store all our memory and personality and all that. You even said that without this Imaginary Organ, we're no better than a moving corpse." Bramble let those words hang in the air for a moment, "That just sounds like the soul~"
"The Imaginary Organ is not-" Blueblood tried to correct him.
"I don't know, Bloopy. It sounds kind of like a soul to me," Milkyway said before she started checking her nails.
"It's not a- Why are you even here?" Blueblood asked the Fennec.
"It's boring waiting for guys to come and make a wish," Milkyway told him, "A long time ago we were able to travel around the world, granting wishes to all who needed us, but then the Alberon Pact happened, and Wishing Wells were no longer allowed to travel the world, now they're forced to stay in a fixed location." She raised her feet and placed them on the table, "My Cousin got lucky, her well was located near some town on the other side of the world. Meanwhile, I got stuck in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Luckily, the Manor was there, but they made this stupid rule so only the head of the family would be allowed to call on me, or on Gram Gram in this case."
"Cool story, still doesn't answer my question," Blueblood told her.
"It's empty and boring there, but it's not boring here." Milkyway shrugged, "Sure, I won't really be able to grant any useful wishes so far away from my Well, but it's better than waiting in silence for the next wish to arrive, all the while my annoying Cousin keeps getting Wishing Well Nymph of the Month awards."
"Don't worry, Milkyway!" Bramble told her, "I, for one, am happy to have more friends around. Who knows how long I'll need to wait for Blueblood or Cadance to come visit again?"
"Thanks, Kid, that's why you're my favorite!" Milkyway smiled at the young Deer, "You hear that, Bloopy?! You're not my favorite anymore!"
Blueblood merely lowered his head in defeat as the classroom illusion faded away.
"Anyways, I'm hungry! What's for dinner?" Milkway asked as she turned towards King Aspen, only to find the Deer asleep at his desk.
"I'm not drunk enough for this..." Blueblood whispered as he walked back to his guest room.
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"Hey, Hey Blueblood! Hey- Hey Blueblood!" The decapitated head of an ancient Spirit tried to call for the Human-turned-Unicorn's attention.
"What is it, Cosmos?" Blueblood asked as he leaned back on a large couch, his horn shining with a light blue glow as he magically pressed down on keys on the keyboard in front of him, watching the green rabbit on screen jump around and shoot his gun.
"Did you notice something different tonight?" She asked with a cheeky grin, her hands pressing down on the keys of her own keyboard, moving around the yellow rabbit she controlled.
"Did you get a new haircut?" Blueblood guessed, some beads of sweat moving down his face as he focused on pressing only the correct buttons of the keyboard, knowing that it would have been much easier had he used his human form and his regular fingers.
"Noo, try again~" Cosmos smiled before she poked him in the side with her left hand.
"Did you try out the newest Donut flavor at Pony Joe's?" Blueblood guessed again, his face twitching as he watched Cosmos's character kill his own.
"Try~" Cosmos said in a sing-song voice, "Again~" Continuing to use her left hand to poke and prod at the Unicorn Prince.
"Is it your new arm?" Blueblood gave in and answered.
"It's my new arm!" Cosmos cheered before wrapping both arms around the Prince's neck, hanging on to his back like a sack of potatoes.
"I almost didn't notice..." Blueblood said with a roll of his eyes before he flung the Space Spirit off his back, the living room they were in changing to an outdoor hill on a sunny afternoon, Cosmos's head landing softly on the grass.
"Yep~" Cosmos smiled, "You know what this means?" She asked with a smile as she used her arms like legs and hand-walked over to sit next to the prince.
"Of course I do," Blueblood told her.
"It means you got more of your lost memories back," Blueblood said.
"It means we're having awesome hardcore sex tonight," Cosmos said at the same time.
"What?" Blueblood turned his head away from the clouds in the sky and down to the decapitated head beside him.
"What? I mean- Yeah! My memories, that's what I said!" Cosmos began rubbing at her forehead as she tried to find what was once missing but now returned.
"I remember..." Cosmos said, "I remember... Ahah! I know who it is!" She shouted as she pulled herself up to stare into the Prince's eyes, "This is super duper important, so remember this, okay? Listen closely!" She yelled at his face, "The true secret identity of the Pony of Shadows is-"
"Stygian Platinum, yeah, I already knew." Blueblood interrupted her.
"What the fuck!" Cosmos yelled as she pushed herself away, allowing her head to roll on the grass a bit, "You knew this already?! No fair, that's all I had!"
"It's fine..." Blueblood said gently as he stood up from his spot on the grass.
"Hey, Blueblood?" Cosmos asked as she grabbed onto the ground before her head began rolling off the hill.
"Yes, Cosmos?" Blueblood asked, a hint of worry in his tone at the lack of reaction to getting a missing body part back.
"You wanna' go out with me?" She turned to stare into his eyes, ice-blue meeting buttercup yellow.
Blueblood smiled down at the head, "No." He said simply.
"Haha," She let out a weak chuckle, "Shut down yet again..."
"..."
"So about the Sex," Cosmos quickly switched the topic, ignoring Blueblood beginning to choke from laughter. "I was thinking... we never tried doing it outdoors and this hill-"
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"Milkyway." Blueblood called to the Fennec as he walked into a meeting room in Thicket's castle, "Here's a check, fourteen million Equestrian Bits, I want you to fix and restore Platinum Manor for me, and bring it up to modern standards."
"Why are you asking me to do this for you?" Milkyway asked as she took the check from the Prince.
"Because I don't want anybody in Equestria to know of this, and you also live on Manor grounds. As the new Landowner, It is up to me to make sure my property isn't in literal ruins." He told her.
"Wow... Okay." Milkyway said, "You can count on me then, Bloopy!" She gave him a mock salute, "One of my cousins has her Wishing Well somewhere in Minotopia. I can get the best construction crew in the world on this project!"
"Good, make sure to contact me if you need any help," Blueblood told her before walking away.
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"Everything is prepared, Your Majesty,"
Far south of the southernmost border of Equestria, a Changeling bowed to his Queen.
"Good, begin the operation!" She commanded her underling, "In four days, I will finally succeed! Heh Hahahah! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Of course, your greatness..." The Changeling bowed his head deeper before leaving the room.
"In four days... I will finally do it..." The Changeling Queen whispered to herself.
"Ah~ Amore~ If only you could see me now~"