#Zalea and Airhead

[airheadandco]

Inktober Adventures 02 - Tranquil

Tranquil.

That's what the day had been so far. Tranquil.

Zalea had woken up well rested in the middle of the afternoon, her most recent book carefully nested on her muzzle, protecting her from the pesky rays of the suns. A filling meal was waiting for her in the kitchen, treat of Jewel.

Tranquil was definitely the best way to describe the day. Nothing to do, no problem on the horizon, Airhead and Jewel were out for the day... A very tranquil day.

Zalea was totally expecting it crashing down.

Soon.

The only surprise would be what kind of catastrophe had been summoned from the dredges of reality, what statistical anomaly had been conjured to make her tranquil day not tranquil anymore.

It could be anything really. A strange and spooky spellbinding scourge, one of Princess Twilight typical tomfoolery, a new form of chaotic chimaeras craving chaos or even ravenous revenants roaming 'round...

Zalea was expecting the unexpected with phlegm and fatalism. It was bound to happen and nothing could prevent it so she might as well enjoy the extra time of peace and tranquillity.

And as foreseen, the strangeness came. But it didn't come out with a boom, rainbows, screams or groans. It came with a long, prolonged scream rising from the ether. A scream as ancient as time. A scream Zalea knew well but rarely convoked.

It came with a "nope".

Reality shattered in front of Zalea. Shards of existence blew apart everywhere, revealing in their reflections corners of the universe that should not be seen. They flew outward more and more slowly then came back faster and faster, gathering in a small, furry, critery form. The form became more and more solid, more and more real until it formed a very familiar racoon.

"Hello Maine," Zalea said simply. "The door was open, you didn't have to –" She hesitated a moment, trying, and failing, to find a correct way to describe what had just happened, "– do that..."

"Sorry, force of habit," the racoon apologised as he jumped off the pony-sized chair. "Say do you have a flamethrower by any chance?" The zebra simply looked at him with a blank stare. "Oh... right... I forgot the bubblegum incident... Oh well, I'll just borrow Pat's."

"Do I need to worry?" Zalea said her hoof hopefully placed on her book.

Maine thought about for a few seconds. "Nah. They'll be fine."

"Okay," Zalea said sitting back comfortably and resuming her reading. "Good luck with whatever you're doing."

"Who needs luck when you've got a flamethrower?"

"I see why Pat loves you."

The racoon smiled and blinked out of existence – which in his case involves actual winking. Zalea didn't really pay attention. She was already entranced by the words in front of her.

Today, was such a tranquil day.

Today’s adventure features @maine-writes ^^

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[amor-immortalem]

My Adoring Fan Chapter 8

chapter 7

Arella was busying herself with housework that needed to be done. From picking up scattered toys that their youngest hadn’t put away before his brother had taken him out for the day to finishing up laundry from the previous night- she needed something to do to distract herself from worrying too much about her husband. It was just one of his bad days where he couldn’t focus on things very well and the world just didn’t feel real to him. He had moved past the incident that brought their oldest child into their life but the effects of the trauma he endured still plagued him from time to time. It was rare for an episode to be this bad however. He hadn’t had one on this scale since their twins were four. He would get better in a few days; all he needed was rest.

As she turned to pull the clothes out of the dryer, she could hear her phone ringing. Reading the caller id, she sighed as she picked up.

“Azalea, you had better be ringing me for a nonsense reason and not because you’re in Lord Diavolo’s office and I need to come down to get you.” Arella said in a whisper. With the condition he was in today, the last thing she wanted was Mammon hearing her and getting himself worked up.

“Well... at least I’m not in the office this time... but I did get kicked outta homeroom.” The girl said. “Can ya come pick us up... please?”

“Who is ‘us’, darling?”

“Me, ’Relius, Max, and Zulima. We had a good reason this time, Mum, I promise.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Let me see if Dad needs anything and then I’ll be on my way.” After they said goodbye and hung up, Arella stared at her phone. “My stars, I wonder what happened for Aurelius, Max, and Zulima to get kicked out of class as well.” She went into the bedroom to check on her husband. “I have to go get the twins, Zulima, and Max from RAD. Do you need anything before I leave?” She asks as she rubs his shoulder.

Mammon only shakes his head as he looks at the clock. “It’s 8:30 in the morning. What the hell happened?” He starts to sit up but Arella just places a hand on his chest.

“Just stay in bed and rest, Dear. I don’t know what happened exactly, but I’ll handle it when I find out, okay?”

“Fine.” He lets out a sigh. “Let me know when you find out, please.”

“I will. I’ll see you in a bit. I love you.”

“Love ya too, Treasure. Drive safely.”

After that brief exchange, Arella grabbed the keys and left for RAD.

--------------------------------------------------

“So, I want you to tell me exactly what got the four of you kicked out.” Arella asks as she drives them back to their home. “And no lies, please.”

“Well,” Azalea started wondering where exactly she should start, “It all started when I came into class a half-hour late... apparently the old hag took exception ta that. She called me out on bein’ late ‘n I mouthed back ‘n next thing ya know she’s calling me a brat ‘n stupid ‘n forgetful ‘n a delinquent ‘n spoiled- which ta be fair, she’s not wrong ‘bout some of that stuff... but then she took it a step further by callin’ me a half-breed ‘n tryin’ ta take my cane claimin’ it was a weapon so I couldn’t have it on my person ‘cuz -ya know- all the fights ‘n shit I get inta.”

“And then when we tried to stand up for ‘Zay,” Zulima began, “She turned her sights on us.”

“She called us trash and abominations on top of calling us that stupid slur too.” Aurelius leans his head against the passenger side window.

“She said she’s going to write all four of us up saying it was her word against ours so it’s probably going to be wildly fabricated.” Max says as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I have most of the exchange recorded, if you want to listen to it Mrs. Morningstar.”

“I would love to hear it, Max, thank you.” Arella stopped the car, having arrived at home. “We’ll listen to it now.” Max pulled out her D.D.D. and played back the audio. About half way through, Arella’s jaw dropped in surprise. “And she speaks to the three of you this way on a regular basis?” The three half-demons nodded. “And what about you, Max?”

“This is the first time she’s ever said anything like this to me.” The human frowned.

“And it’ll be the last time too if I have anything to do with it. Azalea, is this why you were always late to your homeroom hour last term, honey?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’m tired of bein’ berated ‘n called slurs and insults for an hour... I bet if she was the teacher in any of m’classes, I would have flunked them...”

“We all are,” Zulima says as she hugged herself tighter. “And whenever we try to defend ourselves or each other, she takes it out on us in the one other class we have with her. She almost failed me in world language claiming an airhead like me couldn’t have written such a high-level thesis in Latin of all languages, Auntie. I worked so hard with Uncle Satan on that thesis too! I felt so horrible.”

“And me in potions as well,” Max sighed. “And she gave me the wrong ingredients so I would be assured to fail.”

“I was this close,” Aurelius pinches his fingers together as he talks, “to flunking her Curses and Hexes course last term. I’m telling you, Mum, she’s an absolute witch of a demon. I think if Lord Diavolo hadn’t looked into it himself after I talked with Uncle Lucifer that I would have failed. Her excuse was that when it came to the end of term exam, mine was the last that she graded and she ‘accidentally’ used the wrong key.”

Arella had a look of realization on her face. “I know exactly who this teacher is. She absolutely hated me and your father. She was our curses and hexes teacher too.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “She never did anything too extreme because we shared a class with three of your uncles and if word ever got back to Uncle Lucifer, she knew there would be hell to pay.”

“So she takes it out on us because of you and Dad?” Aurelius looks over at his mother. “That’s pretty shitty.”

“Not to mention, she’s a racist and a xenophobe on top of it all,” Zulima growled in disgust. “How ugly.”

“Let’s go in now. Please be quiet when you walk in. Dad’s having one of his episodes and it's really bad this time so let him rest. I’ll make lunch in a bit.”

All of the kids nodded as they got out and headed into the house. Immediately Azalea pulled max around giving her a tour of the house while Zulima went up to Azalea’s room to make herself comfortable and wait for Aurelius to stop by his room to grab some spell books so the three of them could work on their magical studies together since there wasn’t really anything else to do.

--------------------------------------------------

As the house tour came to a close Max and Azalea climbed the stairs headed up to the second level where the bedrooms were located.

“You’re having a much better time with the stairs now; I’m starting to notice.” Max says quietly.

“Yeah, I still have trouble with the ones in my room though. With these, the steps are more closed off where the ones in my room have that opening between each step, ya know? With these types of stairs, I can jus’ slide my foot forward until it hits the base of the next step and that way, I can know how far my foot is out and whether it's safe ta step up without bein’ afraid I might slip.”

The human nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Makes sense.”

As they passed through the hall and by Azalea’s parents’ room, Mammon called out to her. “’Zalea come in here please. I wanna talk to ya ‘bout what happened at school.”

“Are ya sure? I know yer havin’ one of them bad days...”

“It’s fine. C’mere please.” Mammon says as he sits up on the bed and runs a hand through his hair.

Max hands Azalea her D.D.D. figuring Mammon might want to hear what was said before heading straight down the to her girlfriend’s room where the other two teens were waiting on them.

“Please tell me you didn’t get yourself and the others kicked out of class because of a fight.” The demon asks as his daughter climbs up next to him on the bed.

“I didn’t. Not this time. The teacher just had a stick up her ass ‘cuz I was late for homeroom... And then things escalated from there. Ta be fair, I kinda had some fault in it ‘cuz I got mouthy with ‘er but still she said somethings... And she then told me ta get outta her class... The others stood up for me ‘n that’s why they got kicked out too.”

“What kinda things?”

“It’s easier if I jus’ play the audio Max took of the exchange.” The half-demon unlocks the phone and plays the audio for her father. She watches him carefully just to see his reaction. It’s not any different from her mother’s except she can feel anger rising within him.

“I can’t believe she’s still workin’ for the school... If I’m rememberin’ her voice correctly, I know exactly who that is and she was decrepit when yer uncles and I were students there. There wasn’t nothin’ I could do right with ‘er. And this has been every day since ya entered this year?” Azalea only nods at his question. “I’m sorry ya gotta go through that, kiddo. We’ll take care of this for ya. Ya know none of that horrible stuff she said ‘bout y’all is true, right?”

“Yeah... but it still bites when people say it.” Azalea leans her head on Mammon’s chest, tucking herself up under his arm as he pulls her into a side hug. “Like all we’ve ever done is just exist and both demons and humans won’t even let us do that! There’s always somethin’ they got a problem with! It's unfair. We’re not demon enough to live here in the Devildom and not human enough to live in the human world. It’s like we don’t belong in either realm. Like we don’t get to be.... happy.”

Mammon would only hug his daughter tighter as he tucked her head under her chin. He wanted things to be different. It always broke his heart to hear his own children- even his nieces and nephews- talk like this. It all stemmed from the oldest generation of demons too- the ones that had existed even before he and his brothers had lost the war, fell from grace, and became demons. The ones that remembered what it was like long before Diavolo started pushing for peace between the three realms, long before the exchange program. Just like the humans they looked down upon, they were just as resistant to change, passing down their ideology to their offspring and so on and so forth as time went on. And the Devildom was doing just that- changing in many ways. From the exchange program that started over 20 years ago that was still going to this day to the advances in technology that put them on par with the human world... as much as the elderly demons might protest it, they couldn’t stop it. Once they all had kicked the bucket, the Avatar of Greed hoped things would get better. They had to.

And the youngest generation was proof of this- unpoisoned by their great grandparents’ and grandparents’ beliefs, Mammon could see how eager they were to accept the changes and the fact that half demons were becoming more frequent among the Devildom's elite- even if his kids themselves couldn’t see it themselves just yet.

As they sat in silence, the demon began purring- not in a way that showed contentment, but rather a deep rumbling purr that resonated through his chest that was often used when a demon was comforting themselves or their young when they were hurt or scared or ill or just upset in anyway shape or form. For his children, it often calmed them enough to put them to sleep for at least a few hours- more if they were sick and needed the rest. It always worked most for Azalea even back when she a baby, especially when she was this worked up and upset about something. He misses those days. The days when the twins and even Cyrus weren’t yet aware of things like racism or discrimination or hatred. Part of Mammon wishes all three of them could have just stayed that age forever.

As the half-demon was falling asleep, she tucked herself closer to her father mumbling a soft “Love you, Papa...” before she was out completely.

“Love ya too, my little Magpie.” He smiles softly before yawning and settling back down for a nap himself.

--------------------------------------------------

find more on my masterlist

[maine-writes]

Critters At The Gym

It was just another day. 

Zalea was wandering the city, searching for Airhead, who was probably out looking for his glasses. As she passed by crowds of ponies who were noticably shorter than her, she kept an eye out for the unicorn’s signature half-black, half-red mane. 

“When will he notice it’s right there on his horn?” she mumbled to herself. 

There were quite a few ponies there on the street who had never seen a zebra before, and were understandably curious. Zalea deduced that at least one of them would’ve seen Airhead. “You, random anonymous pony.” she said, pointing at a light grey earth pony, “Seen a unicorn about yea high? Red and black coat? Glasses? Constantly looks lost?” 

The slightly intimidated pedestrian pointed at a gym across the street, past the river of cars. After thanking the stranger, the zebra immediately crossed the street, ignoring the angry driver ponies who had to stop suddenly to avoid hitting her. 

Inside the modern glass building was massive complex of exercise equipment and courts, spanning three floors. But the first thing she saw was a front desk, where a young pegasus sat behind. “May I help you?” the pegasus asked Zalea. 

“Yeah, I’m looking for a unicorn.” she replied, walking up to the counter. 

“Aren’t we all.” the pegasus sighed. 

“No, I mean for a specific one.” Zalea continued, “His name’s Airhead. Red and black. Glasses on his horn. Always looks lost. Tends to speak French.” 

“Sorry, I’m not familiar with Mr Head.” apologized the pegasus. 

“Airhead.” Zalea quickly corrected her. “It’s one word; Airhead. Like the candy.” 

“Zalea?” said a little voice behind her. 

When she turned to the door, she saw a familiar raccoon. “Hey Maine.” she said, “What’re you doing here?” 

What struck her the most was the fact the little critter was at a gym. According to Airhead, Maine wasn’t the type to willingly exercise. 

“Patty comes here a lot and asked me to join her.” he explained, “I prefer hiking to this sort of thing.” 

“Miss Possum’s waiting for you at the weight training room.” the pegasus said, overhearing the raccoon mention Patty. 

“Can she come with?” Maine asked, pointing at Zalea. 

“Sure. As if I was stopping her in the first place.” the pegasus mused, resting her head on her hoof, apparently bored out of her mind. 

The duo meandered into the gym, passing by large ponies lifting massive weights, their rippling muscling quivering intensely. “Yeah, if one of these ponies steps on me, I’m gone.” Maine nervously gulped. “Splat. A fuzzy little red and grey stain on the floor.” 

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Zalea said as she spotted Patty lying on a bench, holding a set of weights above her. “There’s that opossum.” She called over to Patty and waved, getting her attention. 

The opossum set the weights onto the rack attached to the bench and sat up. While Patty wiped the sweat from her brow with a towel she had hanging nearby, Zalea noticed Maine was muttering incoherently, his eyes fixated on the opossum. 

“What? What are you looking at?” she asked the raccoon. 

“M-m-mama.” he stuttered, a touch of red spreading across his usually grey face. 

Zalea eyed Patty, trying to spot what Maine was staring at. Her first observation was the opossum’s slender figure; an apparent lack of curvature, as one would put it. But what probably got the raccoon’s attention were the telltale shapes of musculature on the boyish marsupial, specifically around her abdominal area. 

“She got abs.” she said, a hint of approval in her voice. 

“She do.” Maine agreed.

“Okay lover-boy, let’s get going!” Patty loudly declared, throwing the little raccoon over her shoulder. “It’s not mating season yet, it’s exercise season!” 

As she walked past Zalea, the opossum gently tapped her side and pointed at a vending machine on the other side of the room. There, Zalea spied Airhead, trapped inside with the snacks, reaching out toward a pair of glasses that were stuck to a bag of cheesy crackers. 

“He’s been in there since this morning.” Patty said before heading out to another court. 

With a sigh, Zalea thanked the opossum as she approached the vending machine. Airhead was straining to reach the pair of spectacles. Except there was one problem; his glasses were perched on his horn. The ones he was reaching for were a pair of bright red cat eye glasses with glittery acrylic rhinestones lining the frame. 

A green unicorn walked up behind Zalea and stared at Airhead. “Are you going to let him out?” he asked. 

“He’ll figure it out.” Zalea said. 

“Eventually.” 

@airheadlibrary

[airheadandco]

Zalea: “Where did you even find THESE?? YOU DON’T EVEN WEAR PANTS!”

Airhead: “Is that why ponies are asking what’s in my pants?”

It’s Pride Month! The Library’s pones celebrate it their way.

Zalea is Genderqueer Aromantic and Airhead is Genderfluid Asexual.

[airheadandco]

New glasses

Zalea sighed.

This was not how she'd planned to spend her afternoon, but in retrospect, she was a fool to have expected anything else. That was the price to pay to be a part of Airhead's life. Sometimes you lost a whole afternoon at the optician because someone didn't have a common grasp on convenience. 

 Zalea sighed again. 

She stared at Airhead. She was in an animated discussion with the optician, a nice mare who was trying her best to make sense of the absurd request she just received. The zebra shook her head and finally intervened. 

 "Miss?" she said calmly but firmly. "If you may?" 

Thinking she was receiving help, the mare turned toward Zalea, hoping the situation would resolve itself, hoping that some sense could be imparted to the unicorn... She quickly understood that she was sorely mistaken. There would be no help here. The Gods had left her alone with an insane mare and her zebra accomplice... She was already doomed. 

 Zalea put a compassionate hoof on her shoulder. "Miss, there is way of getting this kind of idea out of her head," she said softly. "She will get these glasses... Nothing I or you could say could change that... The best you can do is accept it and move on." 

The optician opened her mouth... Then closed it. Her shoulder slouched as she, at last, accepted her fate.  

She looked at Airhead.  She looked at the glasses. They were beautiful glasses. One of a kind. The only known model of glasses made specifically for elder dragons. 

They were big, bigger than the unicorn in front of them. Way bigger. "There is no way they will ever fit," she thought, a last attempt from her mind to bring back some normalcy. 

 "Are you really sure you want these glasses?" she tried, one last time. 

 Airhead stared at the peculiar pair of glasses and nodded. 

Zalea sighed.

A short story prompted by @char-char-chan ^^

The sentence was “Airhead stared at the peculiar pair of glasses and nodded.”

[airheadandco]

Zalea: "I give her two minutes before she lose the entire box..."

Airhead: "Don't be ridiculous!... Where's the box?"

Thank you so much Hoof! I love it ^^

Birthday present for @whoselibraryagain, who is getting a fuss made of him for the day.

[airheadandco]

The Curse 15

Airhead and Zalea were watching the sunset. In Airhead's case, it had been the second time in less than 24h hours. Time travel had its perks and weirdnesses.

"Today has been a strange day," the zebra said, breaking the silence.

The burgundy unicorn simply nodded.

"You've been awfully silent all this time. You didn't even give one of your usual explanation..."

"Yeah..." Airhead let out.

The Zebra sighed wistfully. "Listen, I'm not mad. You want to talk about what happened?"

"I wanted to free you from your curse..." the unicorn admitted in a whisper.

"What curse? The only curses I have to live with are your mind-shattering, reality-breaking plans," she mocked, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah... that..."

"What?"

"You always seem so angry at me, I'm always making your day worse somehow. But you can't leave... I thought you'd be better off free of me. I didn't know exactly what you were at the time... I really thought that if the tribe never disappeared, you'd be free."

The sun disappeared behind the horizon in under the gaze of a shocked zebra and a guilty-looking unicorn.

"You're an idiot," Zalea said.

"I know..."

"Shut up," she ordered. There was no anger in her words, it was almost said conversationally but it still did the trick. Airhead shut up obediently and Zalea sighed tiredly.

"Listen... I know I rant about you. A lot. And honestly who would blame me? But despite having my life threatened weekly, despite seeing reality unravel on a monthly basis, despite your constant defiance of basic rationality and the laws of probability... I'm still here. Despite the fact that I know that following you in your crazy schemes will end in a headache and potentially harm and even more debt, I sill do it. Well a bit less since Jewel and Atlas are there... but still. I don't have to. I could have left anytime but I stayed because we're family! We're supposed to watch each other's back. Not go through time to erase each other's existence."

Zalea shook her head. This is not how she wanted that conversation to go.

"I'm sorry... I never meant to make you feel that way... I should have realised." She put her head in her hooves and sighed again. "I'm bad at this... It may not seem like it, but I do enjoy your company. You made two thousand years of existence feel like a perpetual field trip. I am alive thanks to you... in more ways than one. I may not tell you that often enough but I do enjoy this life."

And then Zalea did something she didn't do often. She hugged Airhead. At first, Airhead didn't react but she finally found the control of her body and reciprocated the affection. It lasted a few seconds, maybe a bit more.

"I am still grounded aren't I?"

"Like you've never been in your life. And you'll have to properly apologize to everyone."

Before the unicorn could answer, an intense scream of frustration echoed from inside the library, quickly followed by Maine and his clone jumping through the window doing a flip and a superhero landing.

Both raccoons took the pose for a second, obviously enjoying their sortie. Their moment of pride passed as the characteristic noise of table being flipped was heard from inside.

"If we were you, we would run," said one of the Maines, jumping on Airhead's back.

"As fast as you can," the second completed, following suit.

"Why?" Airhead asked, confused.

"Come back you insufferable sexy pair of striped furred..."

The rest of Patty scream got lost in the noise of furniture being violently shoved away.

Airhead need not other convincing. She started to gallop as fast as she can. As they disappear into the night, Patty jumped through the window. She watched in the direction where the unicorn had disappeared, squinted her eyes and started to track them.

The whole scene had taken less than thirty seconds. Zalea was said nothing and simply shook her head. This was not the strangest thing that had happened around here. She let the critters deal with their love quarrel and slowly headed inside.

"Nice speech."

Jewel was looking at her, her face neutral but amusement quite visible in her eyes and tone.

Zalea shrugged. "No harm in opening up to her a bit. She's probably already forgotten it by now anyway," she lied. "And you'd better do the same. I don't want my reputation ruined."

"I don't see what you mean," Jewel said finally cracking a sly smile. "Not a single idea."

"What are you talking about lasses," an inebriated Tink asked, leaving the warmth of the library.

"Things that never happened."

"Let's talk about something that never happened before but /should/ happen."

The trio of mare came back inside laughing at Tink drunk flirt.

Airhead was unsure how much time she ran but by the time she finally stopped, she'd reached the outskirts of the village. The few people still out at this hour were more of the critter kind and seemed to be extra careful about not to look in their direction.

"Do you think we lost her?" Airhead asked as the raccoons unmounted her and guided her through the place.

"Probably not," said one of the Maine.

"Patty's like a Terminator," the second added.

"A drunk, sexy Terminator," completed the first again.

"Which makes her twice as dangerous," second Maine finished.

"Oh..." said Airhead, confused at both her new predicament and the duo of raccoons speech pattern. "So what do we do?"

"We hide until she sobers up..."

"... then we can maybe reason with her."

"Okay. What did you do by the way?"

"Well let's say we played a little game of Magic..."

"... she said she could take us both at the same time..."

"... and that when she won she'd take us both at the same time."

"I guess she forgot we own a bunch of Lighthouse Chronologist..."

"Oh," Airhead said, unsure of what it meant. "Is that bad?"

"It's not the worse..."

"... but it's still a bit evil."

"But hey in the meantime what about we go on a trip across time and go build New New Cheeseland?"

"There was an Old Cheeseland?" Airhead asked unsure of whether or not the duo of raccoons were pulling her leg.

"The most beautiful country in the world..." the said in unison, a gluttony filled nostalgia filling their voice.

"What happened?"

"Turns out cheese is a terrible building material..."

".. people kept eating it..."

"... and it only got worse when we told them about Mac & Cheese..."

"I see... And what about Old Old Cheeseland?"

"That's just France," they said in unison. "But that's not the point. I think it's time we start a new civilisation based on cheese."      

"All we need is a volcano...

"... several tons of macaroni..."

"... and a time machine."

"Luckily we know where to find each of these."

"You wanna come?"

Airhead hesitated for a second.

"I'm still grounded," she excused herself. "And I think I messed up with time enough as it is..."

"Nonsense..."

"... you just picked a bad spot..."

"... and you know what they say about falling and getting up?"

Airhead shook her head. "What do they say?"

"I dunno," they admitted together. They looked at each other and shrugged. "Probably something inspiring."

For a time, they kept walking in silence. The raccoons seemed to know where they were going but the unicorn had no idea what their destination was.

"What I mean is..."

"... your heart was in the right place..."

"... you were just a bit near-sighted..."

"... time travel doesn't have to turn into a tragedy..."

"... you just have to be careful..."

"... and enjoy the ride."

Airhead stayed silent as they closed on some dumpsters. They looked at her for a time. She seemed lost in her thought, though that may have been her natural look... which was already an improvement from the previous too-serious, wear-her-glass Airhead.

"Now that I think of it..." said one of the Maine climbing on one of the bins.

"...I don't really want to face Zalea's wrath..." following his double.

"...but if you want to go on an adventure one day..." Maine number 1 said, opening the bin's lid.

"... when you're not on the zebra's bad side..." added number two, raising a finger for emphasis.

"...you know where to find me," they finished together.

And on those words, they jumped inside the trash containers and didn't come out.

Airhead stayed alone in the dark for a moment, thinking.

"Where am I?"

So... It has been a while hasn’t it... Sorry for the longer-than-expected hiatus. I am back for a few days/weeks and I intend on fully finish that tory wit all its ramifications and little surprises. Sohere’s the end ofthe Curse. THEre will be a small conclusion tomorrow... and maybe more?

A huge thank to @maine-writes , @jewel-atlas  and @ask-doctor-dimension who appear in this story and also to @leaf-lord and @chance-of-chaos who’ve been a huge part of it and whose support helped me through its writing.

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[airheadandco]

The Curse - Conclusion

Days did what they do best. They passed. For once, however, they did so in a relative tranquillity. The misadventures in time slowly faded from memory, replaced than other, fresher shenanigans.

Zalea enjoyed the relative calm, sipping some tea while reading Russian philosophy. I had been a long time since she had been able to read such a lengthy book and honestly, as much as she'd missed it... she was bored to death. There had to be a middle ground between unravelling the fabric reality and complete calm!

Airhead had stayed put for days now, staying in his room, only leaving to eat and sometimes consult with Jewel and Atlas. There was something ahoof, she knew it but she couldn't guess what it was and knowing Airhead that would be something improbable... and dangerous. Or maybe not...

Zalea closed her book.

Well, I guess I've wondered and beat around the bush for long enough, she decided. I'm bored and I need answers.

She headed to Airhead's room and knocked.

"Airhead?"

"Quick!" Jewel's voice called cheerfully. "Come in, Zalea! You're right on time!"

Zalea didn’t wait and came in. She was welcomed by a bright light coming from a unicorn form she supposed was Airhead's.

"What's happening?" she said, barely hiding her worry and excitement.

Jewel didn't answer, a huge grin on her face.

The light slowly receded, revealing Airhead, just as she'd thought. Zalea quickly scanned the unicorn. There was something different about her but she couldn't point her hoof on it...

"Zalea!" the perpetually distracted unicorn shouted enthusiastically. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here..." she reminded. "I was wondering what you were doing and I come to see that light show... what are you doing this time?"

"Oh yeah... I mean... Look!" she said, pointing at her flank.

Zalea looked and had to dig deep into her phlegm to keep her answer calm. There were a billion things she wanted to say but only three words came out: "A cutie mark?"

"What? No! I have found a new birthmark. It looks a bit like a..."

"What's above your birthmark, Airhead," Jewel sighed.

"Oh... that's just my new cutie mark."

"How?"

"Magic and alchemy" Twisted explained, appearing from seemingly nowhere.

"It's not a true cutie mark," Jewel tried to explain.

"But my birthmark is 100% authentic!"

Jewel put her hoof on Airhead mouth.

"As I was saying, it's a fake cutie mark. Airhead asked my help to make her one and with Twisted's help we created some sort of temporary cutie mark spell."

"It wasn't easy," Twisted noted, "but there are almost no after effects and it looks just like a genuine one."

Zalea got closer to Airhead, scanning the mark, studying it. It looked nothing like equestrian cutie marks. They were usually easy to decipher and pretty spot on and used easy, literal symbols such as flowers, rocks and such. This one was obviously completely foreign. It looked like a blue flame, trapped in glass or ice. The mark was blue, with three stripes of a darker shade.

"What does it mean?"

Twisted shrugged. "Airhead chose the design."

"I still think some green would have suited her better..." Jewel said, removing her hoof.

"It's a metaphor! You see the flame trapped in glass symbolised trapped potential!" Airhead declared proudly. " I've found a new way to make money! I'm gonna be a curse-lifter!"

Zalea slowly massaged her temples. "And that explains the cutie mark how?"

"So people will take me seriously of course."

"It doesn't work that way..."

"Of course it does! I'll show you!"

And on those words, she was gone, followed closely by a concerned Zalea.

"Aren't you all living in a library?" Twisted asked after a few seconds.

"Yep."

"And they never figured out a way to make money out of that?"

"Nope."

Twisted sighed then smiled. "Figures..."

Here it is... the conclusion of The Curse. Well... not really. There are still a few surprises in stock. I had them planned for a long time and now I can finally show them.

Featuring @jewel-atlas and @chance-of-chaos

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[airheadandco]

T̸̢͍͕̘͇̬̏͊͌͂͝h̵̟̹̜̖̯̐́ḙ̷̡̧̲͚̅̐̿̈́ ̵̢͚͑́̒ͅĈ̵̜͐́̊u̴̫̠͙̜͙̹͊̓ŗ̷̨̩̳͇͊̄̌̏s̸̺̯͚̜̾ȩ̶͇̟̪͍̅̔̏̊͋͘ͅ ̶͔͕͆̀̀̎̎1̵͔̹̠̹̣̪̀̓̉̕2̶̢͖̖͌̾́̚

Atlas could not go any further. The winds of magic blew around the strange unicorn and the small levitating foal. The fur of the mysterious unicorn had turned black, singed by the raw magic unleashed around them and their horn was now translucent due to the energy coursing it... but he knew they were watching him, they were waiting for something.

"Find the pony you seek and set things right," Tink had said.

Atlas tried.

"Bones!" he screamed. ""You have to come back! Stop this!""

The name took them by surprise.

"Bones?" she let out.

In a strange moment of ubiquity, they could see themself through Atlas's eye and saw how much she had changed. Their burned fur and the bone attire she was wearing gave them the appearance of a skelepony.

'Bones' was a fitting name.

"It's too late, Atlas."

"Zalea... Zalea is dying! She needs you!"

Airhead-Bones felt a pang of guilt, but they fought it back.

"It's better that way..." they ushered, not entirely convinced by their own words.

"You have to come back! Stop this!"

"It is better that way..." they repeated as to gather conviction.

No! we wanted to free her... not this... said a voice... their voice in their mind.

I knew the price when I started all this.

No! We came to free Zalea, not his! We need to stop!

Was it for Zalea that we faced Discord? Was it for Zalea that we made a mockery of the rule of nature? No! We did it to correct our mistake and save our tribe!

But she's our family!

The tribe is.

How... how can you be so heartless!

I'm just honest with myself!

And on that words, they willed the second voice away. Silence reigned in their mind for an undetermined amount of time.

Airhead-Bones already knew the truth. Ever since the tribe was gone there was that part of them that was constantly seeking supervision, attention, validation from the zebra... a part of them that needed to go. It is time we stand on our own four hooves.

Bones opened their eyes. The real world and its chaos revealed themselves to them again... but not for long.

"I'm sorry, Atlas," they said.

Then blackness fell on the land and Atlas felt something cold and hungry lurking inside him. Before he could react the cold spread and he collapsed on the ground.

Here they are... the missing chapters of The Curse

Featuring @jewel-atlas .

<<F̷̨̥̙̥͇̎͑̆i̷͚̰͓͔̟̿̆̉̌͝r̷̝͝ş̶̗͆̒̾͌̎͜ţ̴̤̿͑͝<<    <P̴̳͇̯̈́̿̉̃ͅr̴̖̳̰̻̗̽̊̄̑͌ȇ̷̺͆v̵̧̺̲͂̃̋̀ͅí̷̫̾̉o̵̜̘̙͓̅̈́͝ͅu̵̲̹͔͑͘s̵̰̱̤͉̏<    Ä̵̩̤̯̣͋̄̈r̶̖̰͕̰̔̒̍͜͠c̴̢͍̱̣̬̈́̍̈́̽̋h̵̬͎͂̅ỉ̵͖̯̙͆́ͅv̵͍͊e̸̢͇̅̎    >Ņ̴̞͕̣͈̈́͆͋e̴̠̭̿́̋̆͆x̶̡̣̻̀̓t̶̛̺̲͋>    >>L̴̯̊̔̀͠a̶̗͈̍͗̒͝s̶̨̯̓̀̚t̸͍̍͒>>

[airheadandco]

The Curse 11

The last member of the Bone Equines wasn't crying anymore. She was well past that. She needed to do something. She had travelled across time and space, lied to and used her friends... she had even defied a god to protect her tribe. It was too late to stop. She would reverse the spell. She could do it. She was stronger now. She knew how to use her powers. She knew what she was doing. She could do it.

In the distance, she could see the clay monsters destroy every traces of the Bone Equines but she didn't care. Discord could very well destroy the village and all the area for that matter. It didn't make a damn difference.

She'd save her tribe.

The Void was healing.

Veves was making sure of it. Realities had stopped pouring into it, restoring it to its usual, calm, emptiness. Her work was till far from over though. Dimensions that should have never crossed paths had merged for frightening instants and she still had to correct that. Fortunately, nothing too mind shattering or realities-threatening had resulted from it. As far as she knew.

She'd had to be vigilant but for now, that was the best she could do. Now she hoped nobody would come and mess with her work.

"Veves, I need help."

The unicorn contemplated the small figure on the ground. The foal was so small, so naive... but not weak. Despite being unconscious, despite the lack of experience or skill... the kid still fed the spell, clinging to it and making it live, sucking the last remnants of magic that the tribe shared. It didn't matter that the Equines were all gone. The spell was still hunting the last traces of their accomplishments. One would be proud if the result was not so /wrong/.

The small body and it's unicorn bone lifted off the ground, carried by a golden aura.

"I'm sorry..." the unicorn said.

"Maine no! I told you times and times again! You can't change things as you see fit!"

"I know! But they have no place to go! And they have already left their mark in History! It doesn't change anything whether they... whether they stay or go. For all we know /this/ is the correct course of history."

"He's got a point," Tink simply added.

"Not you too Tink! You know better!"

The Time Lady didn't answer, the Critter didn't say a word either but they both looked at the Monoceros pony with determination.

"Fine," she finally let out. "But all of you have to swear. What happens here never leave the void. You must speak of it to no one under no circumstances."

She looked insistently at everyone. One after the other, they all agreed.

Atlas got closer and closer to the eye of the storm.

A storm... the name was definitely fitting. For reasons he could not fathom, the magical curse had changed. Blowing winds and magical energies whirled around him, threatening to send him flying even through his protective spells.

But he kept going. He was close now...

At this distance, the pressure was almost unbearable. Even the golems could not approach, or maybe they didn't dare approach, Atlas wasn't sure. His horn burned through the effort but he kept going.

His goal was so close now.

"Here,"Veves said, jumping into the Void. "They will be safe. They will be taken care of and they should not be a threat to the balance."

"Thank you Veves."

"Don't mention it. Ever. You promised. Now I must finish repairing the damages."

"Will you be okay?" Gooberry asked.

"I will. It's the rest of realities I'm worried about."

Atlas could see them now. They were using a child to channel the magic. He didn't try to understand. He was way past that. He kept going.

The last member of the tribe was in a strange state of awareness. It was as if they were in two places simultaneously. She could feel a part of her, wrestling with the spell, struggling to make it revert its effect and, at the same time, they were there, watching that lone pony coming to them.

Atlas could not go any further. They were watching him, they were waiting for something.

"Find the pony you seek and set things right," Tink had said.

So Atlas t̵̳͝r̵̙̜̒̅̌́ǐ̴̤̯͚̜͝ě̸̡̙̩̟̘̒̾͘d̴̨̤̣̑ ̴͎̗͗̓̓̓̚ţ̵̑̅͝��̰͈̮o̴̢̼̻͕͐ ̷̼̖̣̣̃̀d̷͙͒͌͑͌͝o̸̟͗̅  did just that.

The story is almost over. Can you feel it?

Featuring everybody: @the-mini-monoceros-pony, @maine-writes, @chance-of-chaos, @ask-doctor-dimension, @askscarycrows and of course, last but not least, at the center of the storm and at the side of Tink... @jewel-atlas.

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<<F̷̨̥̙̥͇̎͑̆i̷͚̰͓͔̟̿̆̉̌͝r̷̝͝ş̶̗͆̒̾͌̎͜ţ̴̤̿͑͝<<    <P̴̳͇̯̈́̿̉̃ͅr̴̖̳̰̻̗̽̊̄̑͌ȇ̷̺͆v̵̧̺̲͂̃̋̀ͅí̷̫̾̉o̵̜̘̙͓̅̈́͝ͅu̵̲̹͔͑͘s̵̰̱̤͉̏<    Ä̵̩̤̯̣͋̄̈r̶̖̰͕̰̔̒̍͜͠c̴̢͍̱̣̬̈́̍̈́̽̋h̵̬͎͂̅ỉ̵͖̯̙͆́ͅv̵͍͊e̸̢͇̅̎    >Ņ̴̞͕̣͈̈́͆͋e̴̠̭̿́̋̆͆x̶̡̣̻̀̓t̶̛̺̲͋>    >>L̴̯̊̔̀͠a̶̗͈̍͗̒͝s̶̨̯̓̀̚t̸͍̍͒>>

[airheadandco]

The Curse 14

Atlas woke up covered in flowers. A blue cascade of petals fell from his mane bouncing softly on his snout before jumping into the void, which was as beautiful as it was confusing.

The adventurer rearranged his glasses and lifted his head, carefully studying his surrounding. The storm had died and he was not on the edge of the village anymore. Instead, it seemed he had returned to his starting point, in the middle of the field of blue flowers.

How did I arrive here? he wondered. The thought inspired another one, which had crossed his mind many times today. Where's Airhead?

The soft tingling of magic in the air coming from behind him and the feeling of a flower getting inside his mane hinted him the answer to both questions.

"Please tell me we don't have to meet another Wendigo..." he said out loud, rolling on his back to face the mare.

"Hum? Don't be silly," she said putting another flower in Atlas's mane. "Wen isn't even born yet."

"Yes... silly me," he sighed, making more flowers fall from his fur and mane. He knew better than question the strange actions of the unicorn.

The thought made him pause. Another Wendigo? A few minutes ago, he could have sworn he couldn't even remember her name right... now it seemed as if they had been friends for quite some times.

It was a strange, very strange feeling. Frightening even.

There was a scar in his memory and the more he thought about it, the more clearly he could visualise it. It was not simply amnesia, it was something deeper than it. It was one thing to forget and remember about someone. It was something else entirely to know and remember that for a few hours he had no memories of a friend.

He could effortlessly recall their meeting, him joining the library, the renovation but the closer he got to the present, the blurrier things became until even her name was hard to conjure...

And now everything is normal again.

"We can go and see her later if you want?" Airhead proposed, confused about Atlas's sudden silence.

"Airhead?" he asked, ignoring the proposition. "What happened?"

"I don't know? What are you talking out?"

"Airhead, I usually don't mind your antic-" he thought about it for a moment "much..." he added, "but I don't like when people mess with my memories without my consent."- He sent her a sharp glance. -"What happened?

"I don't know I promise!" she pleaded. "I didn't think it would affect your memories..."

"It?"

"I.. played with time. I wanted to change the past and I failed. Or maybe I just did what I was supposed to do in the first place? I'm not sure... But it was supposed to only affect me and Zalea, not you."

"Change time?" he said out loud. Had this been the cause of his memory trouble? Maybe Tink would have some insight.

"Don't worry!" the burgundy unicorn said with a cheerful tone. "It will pass! I think..."

"If you say so," Atlas said, still a bit concerned.

"I do!" the librarian said with a wide, goofy grin.

Well, there will be time later to think about it, he thought, getting up at last. He stretched quickly getting his body ready for whatever the day would throw at them.

"So what are we doing now?" he finally inquired.

"Time to go home. Zalea needs me."

"You're surprisingly chill about it..."

"That's the thing with time travel. I can arrive right after you left, so no need to hurry."

"I suppose you're right. Still, I wouldn't mind going back home as soon as possible. There's a bottle of cider with my name on it."

"One minute..." she let out softly, "please..."

"What is it?"

"I... I can't find my glasses."

As always, Atlas was very tempted to point out her horn but a glance at Airhead convinced him not to.

"I'll look for them that way," he said pointing another  Take your time."

"Thanks"

Airhead wiped the tears from her glasses.

La mè a sou la tè was so beautiful. It was not only it's sight. It was the subtle scent of the blue flowers, the chaotic movements of its clouds, drifting in the untamed breeze that softly caressed her fur, the feel of its soil under her hoof... How could she have taken it as granted for so long? How could she have taken it for granted even now? She could have... she should have spent the last hours of the tribe feeling it.

Deep inside her mind, a thought started to form. Possibilities, plans to change history again. She could make this instant last forever if she prepared better.

She chased the thought before it could get any more ground.

A dozen minutes passed before Airhead finally joined Atlas.

"Did you find them?" he asked.

"No traces," she said. "It would be easier if I had them..."

"Probably," he smirked, looking at the glasses which were back to their usual spot. "But that would be pretty redundant wouldn't it?"

Penultimate chapter of this story, featuring @jewel-atlas

I am already writing the last chapter and I hope it will be ready tomorrow.

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[airheadandco]

The Curse 09

Atlas, Tink, Sally and Scary ran among the clay buildings, watching the magical plague spread. For a moment they had considered sneaking inside the village but it soon became obvious that the tribefolks had other, more pressing, considerations.

"What's happening?" asked Sally straddling on Tink's back.

"I don't know..." Atlas admitted. "I've never seen something like this!"

"Probably Discord..." Scary ventured. "Didn't you say he was going to ruin everything?" she asked the Time Lord.

"No," Tink refuted. "Tis not his style. Somethin' else's happenin'."

"What exactly?"

"No fookin' idea bu-"

A collision with a racoon-sized, racoon-shaped obstacle cut her short. She caught herself in extremis, avoiding a very disgraceful fall both for her and Sally.

"What the foo-" she started, sending an angry glare in the direction of the body who now lied on the ground. "Maine?"

"Tink?" the racoon answered.

"Maine?" the others repeated.

They stared at each other in confusion, questions piling in their head.

"Ma-Maine?" a timid voice inquired from behind a building.  

This was enough to dissipate the critter's stupor. He promptly got up and took his proudest and most authoritative pose.

"Here you are minions!" He exclaimed with a regal tone and an accomplice wink. "I've been looking for you all around!"- He turned in the direction of the voices. -"Don't be afraid! Those are my servants. They help me from time to time!"

The fawns, calves and foals slowly got out of their hiding. There were several dozens of them of them, all younger than five, all frightened and lost. Maine turned around to face his friends again.

"Let me do the presentations. The lady with the hay coming out of her body is Scary Crow, the unicorn in grey is Atlas and the one who swears a lot and talks with an accent is Tink..."- he then seemed to notices Sally -" and her familiar... Pink?"

"Hey! My nam-"

Tink put her hoof on the Salamander's mouth.

"Hello lil' fellows." Tink greeted, waving at the kids hidden behind the racoon. "Nice to meet you." She turned toward Maine. "What do ye plan to do... Master Maine?"

"I need you to help me get these kids to safety."

"Of course, but have ye thought about the consequences?"

"Of course! Maine always thinks of everything!" he said still playing his role. The critter got closer to the Time Lady and whispered. "We both know there's nothing else in the future for this tribe after that, Tink."

The Tinkerer thought of that for a time, then slowly nodded. "True. Their time's up."

"That's why I can save them," Maine whispered with determination. "We've lost enough time. Minions! The Cheese God wants you to help him put these kids to safety!"

Everyone discretely turned toward Tink, seeking her approval. She slowly nodded. The rest of the group followed.

"Great! Now follow me!" he told the kids, "The adventure continue!"

"Not ye, Atlas." Tink whispered to the adventurer as he passed in front of her. "Ye've got  a role to play here and now."

"What role?"

"Fook if I know... Ye must find the eye of this shitstorm. Find that pony and set things right."

Atlas never get the chance to ask about the meaning of these words. A deafening snapping sound echoed above them. The sound wave went through the deserted village with the strength of an explosion. It forced them to the ground, shattered wood and glass and sent everything not stuck to the ground flying.

The silence that fell after was surreal... Ominous.

Ponies, calves, fawns, scarecrow, salamander, time lord and racoon looked around in confusion, wondering what was happening. The answered manifested itself quite soon... as the structures around them came to life in the form of monstrous clay aberration.

"What's happening?" Scary asked

"That's Discord's doing., Tink answered

The conclusion is nigh. Stay tuned.

Featuring @ask-doctor-dimension, @jewel-atlas, @askscarycrows and @maine-writes

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[airheadandco]

The Curse 10

The void was in shambles. Twisted need not be an expert to see that. The otherwise calm place was... boiling, cracking, evaporating, breaking and many more inaccurate concepts that only apply superficially to what was happening.

Twisted Tonic struggled to progress into the chaotic unspace. The usual weightlessness had always been a bit unsettling but it was way better than the chaotic shifts in gravity and consistency he had to put up with at the moment. He jumped awkwardly from 'bubble' of anomalies to 'bubble' of anomalies, trying to find the mistress of the place.

"Veves!" he screamed into the Void.

The sound echoed strangely, getting loud and quiet without rime nor reason.

"Veves!" he screamed again.

Twisted was very worried, not only for Veves's safety but for his too. Maine spoke often of the things hiding in the Void... and who knew what would happen if the place collapsed with him inside?

"Veves! Where are you?" he tried again.

There was still nothing. He kept going, screaming and drifting when suddenly... she was there. It was a mystery how he had not seen her before: she was there, barely five metres away from him, floating, unmoving... a clear and distinctive figure in the Void.

Twisted didn't dwell on the incoherences of the place. With all his strength, he 'jumped' toward her. As he closed on the mare he saw realities shift and change chaotically but he tried to ignore it, keeping the mare into his sight fearing that losing her even for a second could mean that she'd be gone again. The Monoceros pony didn't react to the mutations nor to his approach. 

"Veves!" he said, finally reaching her. "Are you okay?"

"I failed..." she answered in a hushed, even tone.

"Veves?"

"I couldn't stop him..."

"What are you talking about?" the potion-maker asked, increasingly worried. 

"He's spreading terror on all realities and it's my fault..."

Twisted took her by the shoulder and forced her to face him. The movement transformed the Void around them as if the unicorn had made the entire Void turn to make the mare face him. But this was not what shocked him. As he finally faced Veves he let out a gasp of horror. Purple smoke was coming out of her now pupilless eyes and dark spots slowly gained ground on her torso, changing her in a way Twisted didn't comprehend. Almost half of her fur had shifted to coal black. He didn't know what would happen if it covered all her body, but he was not in a hurry to discover it.

"Veves! Snap out of it!"

"I should have been more careful... It's all my fault..."

Twisted had heard enough. He would obviously not reach her with words so he'd use more drastic methods. He dug deep in his bag and took out a small glass bottle and a nose-clip.

"I'm sorry Veves...”

And with those words, he put the flask under her nose. 

The effect was instantaneous. She immediately left her stupor, her face contorted in disgust and she started coughing uncontrollably. Twisted felt a pang of guilt but forget all about it when her eyes got back to normal. He quickly shut down the flask and put it back to his bag, then, with a burst of magic, he dissipated the horrible smell he had unleashed.

"Wha- Twisted?" she stammered, her voice weak and hesitant. "What... What's happening?"

"I don't know... You were talking to yourself and let me tell you it was very creepy."

"What?" she then seemed to notice the state the Void was in. They were changing places, again and again, broken pieces after broken pieces of the places revealed themselves to her every second. Veves looked in horror as the events of the day came back to her mind. "Oh no! No! What happened? No!" 

Smoke came from her eyes again and she took her head in her hooves. 

"He's coming... I failed..."

"You're doing it again..."

"You don't know... he's always there... I can't keep him in."

Twisted Tonic was confused and did not understand what was happening. But his friend needed help and this time /he could reach her/. He took the mare by the shoulders and watched her intently in the eyes. 

"Come on Veves! You're stronger than this! Snap out of it!"

"I... am... I am?"

"Whatever is happening to the Void, you can undo it! We all count on you!"

"I... can. I can do it. This... this... this is my duty. I can't fail. I will not fail." 

"Yes!"

"I am stronger. I am stronger than this, I am stronger than him." She closed her eyes, apparently caught in an intense internal struggle.  Twisted watched in awe as the dark spots slowly evaporated into a misty smog that swirled around the mare. "Begone!" she shouted.

The word reverberated with force and clarity. There were flashes of dark and for a split-second, Twisted saw something. It was gone before he could fully register it but for a fleeting instant, he grasped an ominous, shadowy figure towering above the Monoceros pony.  Then it was gone... and Veves was back to normal.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes... I am tired but I'll live. What are you doing here by the way?"

"Two clones of you barged into Atlas's library while I checked on a sick zebra. It was not hard to guess something was wrong in the Void."

Veves stopped on her track. "Something happened to Zalea?"

"Is that her name?"

A shiver ran down her spine. "You don't know her?"

"Not at all. Atlas told me she was sick and asked for my help but that's all."

"Where's Airhead?" she asked nervously.

"You know that's funny you ask... I think Atlas asked the exact same question... no idea who they are though..."  

"Oh no. No... No no no! I could keep up wit Maine shenanigans but this is bad!" She looked at the unicorn attentively. "Where's your snake?" 

"I left it in the library to check on the zebra."

The answer apparently reassured her. She took a deep breath and started to work.

"Okay..." she said, closing a rift, "tell me about your world. The important details. I need to know from which reality you're from."

Twisted nodded and started to talk about his universe. Veves patched the Void.

Featuring @the-mini-monoceros-pony and @chance-of-chaos.

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[airheadandco]

The Curse 12

Atlas could not go any further. The winds of magic blew around the mare and the small levitating foal. Her red fur glowed from the magic coursing through her body and her horn was so luminous Atlas could not watch her face... but he knew she was watching him, she was waiting for something.

"Find the pony you seek and set things right “Tink had said.

Atlas did just that.

"Airhead!" he screamed. "Zalea is dying! She needs you!"

The name hit her like a sledgehammer.

"Zalea?" she let out.

"You have to come back! Stop this!"

"Zalea... is dying?"

No, this was wrong. She was supposed to save her... What had she done? What was she doing now?

You knew the price when you started all this! a part of her own psyche argued. You need to save the tribe!

No! another part countered. I wanted to free her... not this... the full extent of what was happening hit her at last. I need to stop it! she decided.

No! the first voice screamed. They're our family!

Zalea too!

I refuse to let them go again!

They're already gone...

You're a coward!

The first voice screamed in her head, hurling meaningless threats and insults to herself. And then... Airhead understood. Deep inside her, there was still a small foal, lost, ridden with guilt, that tried to atone for her fault by erasing it completely. And this could not continue.

It's time to let go. she said softly.

There was no answer for a while.

When the voice finally talked again, it was no longer her current adult one but one of a filly, shaking and hesitant.

I'm scared... she said.

I know. It will be okay.

Airhead opened her eyes. The real world and its chaos revealed themselves to her again...

"Thank you, Atlas," she said.

Then everything turned white. Something hit Atlas on the head and he lost consciousness.

This chapter is like 5 times shorter than I wanted but I was stuck and I need to post to keep my motivation. Also, I don’t like making you wait for the rest of the story^^°. I say that while ending my chapters with cliffhangers... I’m a bad person...

This chapter features @jewel-atlas who saved the day with a few chosen words!

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[airheadandco]

The Curse 08

"Maine, can I ask you service?" Airhead had asked.

"Depends on the service."

"If I fail to stop Discord... can you help me protect my tribe? Doesn't matter how just... help me?"

"Sure," he had said.

He had not waited to see the result of the fight. Discord was a God that defeated Celestia and Luna multiple times before they found the Elements, Airhead was determined but that would not be enough. Moreover, Maine knew that History has a way to stay on track. Airhead would not win. He was not meant to.

Facts showed him right.

Maine ran among the clay buildings, watching the magical plague spread. He didn't know what was happening but he didn't really care. "First you get in the trash can then you ask what's in it" as critters say. But the trash can was full of disappearing people and screams and Maine needed a plan or even a clue on what to do...

"Momma?"

The racoon stopped. The voice was close.

"Daddy?"

Maine looked left and right. It was clearly a child's voice.

"Where are you?"

It was hard to know where it was coming from... noises echoed strangely in the now empty place. But it wasn't far and there was not a lot of places where a child would hide. MaineHe was a time-travelling racoon. After decades of raiding trash and exploring fallen civilisations, he had picked up a few things. He would find them.

"I can't find you..."

But I found you, little one!

Out of all the constructions surrounding him, only a few where habitations and one was bigger than the others which meant that more people lived inside. Probably a family. Maine ran toward it.

There was a young fawn in the house, probably no older than three or four. He was frantically looking around, obviously trying not to cry.

"Momma? I can't find you and Daddy... Where are you?"

It took only a glance to understand what had happened. The lunch table was half set, the meal was still hot... he was probably in his room or outside when it happened... a few more minutes and he'd seen everything.

"Hey little one," Maine greeted softly.

The fawn jumped and hid behind a table. Maine did not move.

"Sorry, I didn't want to scare you," he said with his most soothing voice. "I'm Maine. I'm a friend."

"Have you seen my Momma and Daddy?" the child asked after a time, stll hidden behind the table.

"I'm sorry little one...-" Maine hesitated only for a second, "-They had to leave," he lied. "There's an evil spirit and they couldn't stay, so they asked me to help."

The fawn said nothing for a time. Seconds ticked maddeningly slowly but Maine waited patiently. He had a shot at saving someone he had to do things right, he would not blow it.

"Are you the Cheese Stealer?" the fawn said, peeking out of his cover

Maine instantly took his chance. "You've heard of me?"

"Momma and Daddy told me if I didn't take out the trash, the Cheese Stealer would come and take all our cheese."

"Well, I'm more of Cheese God but yes, that's me."

The fawn left his cover at last. He still looked frightened but he would listen to him.

"Follow me, little one. We ar going on an adventure!"

Maine had a goal now. This was a good start. 

In the distance, he heard a filly cry.

I know what I must do.

Mod lied! There wil be new chapters this week!

This one features @maine-writes using his skills as a time-traveling racoon.

Hope you enjoyed it ^^. More coming your way very soon.

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[airheadandco]

The Curse 13

Airhead watched as the last remnants of magic disperse in the air.

Without the mare (child or otherwise) to feed it out of control, the maelstrom was slowly dying out. Its impact on the area, however, would likely mark it for years… or hours depending on the Discord-animated clay aberrations future actions.

Once again, the mare was waiting. Once again, someone was to come, but this time she was at peace. Things were as they should. So she waited while watching over her friend and her past self.

The creature came from the ruins, unbothered by the abominations that roamed them. Airhead watched it come. Even with her glasses on, she could barely understand it. Every time she blinked it looked like someone different.

It was a middle-aged Buffalo with a limp, a young deer with a piercing stare, an old and wise unicorn with greying hair, a strongly built Pegasus with immense wings, a feeble-looking earth pony walking with poise… and so many more.

It came to Airhead, fixing her with its strange shifting eyes. It stopped merely a metre from her and the foal. Despite its ever changing face, it looked puzzled, curious.

“What have you done to us?” it asked. Its voice was thrumming, echoing, the chorus of a thousand voices speaking in almost perfect synchronicity.

“I am sorry.”

“This does not answer our question.”

“She… I… Young me tried to unite the tribe…” Airhead explained slowly, caressing the mane of her younger self, “but this was too much for me… I failed and all of you paid the price.” Airhead kept talking. It seemed as if she was explaining what happened to herself as much as to the tribe. “You were gone, dissolved into the magic. I made you come back… but I could not bring each one of you… I’m so sorry.”

“So we are…?”

“You are the living embodiment of the tribe,” she confirmed sadly.

“Why did you do it?”

“Because…” she hesitated. There were so many reasons to do this choice. She could make it sound noble, she could reveal her doubts… or she could just be honest with herself. 

“My parents used to tell me about the spirit of the tribe. They told me it united every one of its members into one single entity. When I was younger I loved this story but I never really got the message in it.” She laughed at her own childish innocence. “I genuinely thought there was a spirit protecting the tribe. I think that up until today I still believed it. I wanted to protect that you know? I wanted to save you one way or another.” 

She paused a moment. There was one more reason.  She hesitated and looked into the eyes of the tribe, facing its judgement.

"Also… I will wake up alone, afraid, ashamed and plagued by guilt and I’ll need someone to look over me, to keep me out of trouble and to teach me how to use my powers, despite how frustrating this task will be… because you’re my best friend and the last family I have and I don’t want to lose you.”

The-tribe-of-the-Bone-Equines-made-one stayed silent for a moment. She stared at the unicorn and the unicorn stared back.

“We will look on our own.”

“Thank you.”

The avatar took the foal, delicately put her on its back and proceeded to leave.

“Before I go… What is… our name? How do you call us?”

“Zalea. I  call you Zalea.”

At last! Some answers! And probably way more questions… I’m sorry.

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