What Once Was, Shall Be Again.
By: Blackjewel101 and Fandoms
Chapter 1
The Begining
((Wow so uh...Bet you guys weren't expecting this, huh? This lovely little story is the brain child from me wondering what our characters from Circuit Hearts and Postage Stamps would be like in a medieval universe, and thus What Once Was Shall Be Again was born! Blackjewel (also known as Blue) and I both hope you enjoy this story. It can be read as a stand alone, though reading the other two will give you more of a background for the characters. Enjoy!))
They'd been here before, and it was now to be again… The same people, the same souls… only this time, the souls didn't move on. This time, those souls veered off course to the afterlife and circled back around. Taking their time, slowly but surely coming right around back to have new bodies, new lives. This, is the rare occurrence of reincarnation, for those who have unfinished business.
A golden pegasus' hooves carefully and silently trodden across the wild grasses of the Everfree forest. It had taken her months upon months to create this hidden gateway, a portal across the planet. In secret she approached the ancient gate of stone, drawing a circle in the dirt. Then, two lines through the circle, and finally a small dot at the top, it began to glow. In responde, the stones shuddered and, with a mighty pull by some unseen force, opened.
Golden fur and dark crimson mane darted inside the doorway, which began to close behind her as the mark in the dirt began to fade. Two sets of hooves followed her through before the portal could close, one pale white and one dusky gray. The stallions kept their distance, curious, but not willing to confront the mare yet. In case this all ended up being a big load of nothing. The shorter one hoped it was something, while also hoping it was nothing. He didn't want to get caught following his closest friend for no reason, but he also didn't want to know what sort of dark secrets the mare had hidden.
Upon exiting the portal, the two stallions beheld the view before them, a great expanse of forest stood before them on the edge of the clearing the now occupied. Ruined stones and bits of rotted timber dotted the area of what seemed to be a once great building of some sort. Ahead of them the two could just make out the end of the mare's tail turning down a long path within the forest. Unlike the Everfree forest, this one was well tended and seemed to the stallions, warm and almost… familiar.
On one of the ruined walls next to them depicted a grand carving, weathered away by the passage of time. Upon it, two stallions embraced, both earth ponies, surrounded by children and crowns upon their heads. The taller of the two wanted to stop and admire the carving, feeling an odd..Warmth in his chest as he gazed upon it, but the gray one urged him on. The last thing he wanted to do was get them stuck here, lost in who knows where with no way to get back. They kept their hoofsteps quick and light as they moved, always keeping the yellow mare within sight, but never getting close enough to alert her of their presence.
It was a few minutes before the mare turned on a tangent and pulled away what had first appeared to be a solid wall of native flora but was in fact a curtain of low hanging vines. Inside, a cemetery was revealed. Ancient in it's form, with headstones of all shapes, sizes and quality strewn about in some unseen pattern. Ebony Runwick, the pegasus they were following, walked deliberately towards a certain cluster of headstones that were much better maintained than the other ones surrounding them. They were immaculate, with beautiful carvings and inlets in the base of them, but the most remarkable piece, were the statues on those bases. On the center two, the two stallions from the carving before stood, hoof in hoof even in death, smiling at each other and dressed in the garb of their era.
The most distressing point, was that this place felt like the two stallions had not only been here before… but that they had a connection to these statues. Statues that looked. Exactly. Like. Them. Circuit, the shorter gray stallion, could feel his eyes widening as he stared at the statues, his breath catching in his throat. His husband, Adhesive, was in a similar state beside him. Both wanted to say something, to call out to the mare and question why she had these odd looking statues of what appeared to be..Them, on graves nonetheless, but neither felt able to break the shock that had fallen over them.
The mare knelt before the statues, placing bundles of carefully arranged flowers next to each headstone.
"It's been awhile since I last visited I know… And I'm sorry for that, I got married! Yeah, you met him, all those years ago. I found Paragon! He came back, I can't believe it.. He's back, and I'm so happy for it, first the loss of Blaze all those years ago, then I finally opened up to Paragon and he died… But that doesn't matter so much anymore, because he came back to me! And I want you to know that I'm gonna name one of our children after you two, middle names probably…"
She continued to retell tails of their lives currently, of Circuit and Adhesive mostly, and of things she'd been encountering every once in awhile. All the time she was cleaning the graves, taking great and almost loving care in her attentions. Her actions were finally enough to startle Adhesive out of his stupor, the white stallion taking a deep breath before stepping forward.
"...Who's Paragon?" He asked, his voice breaking the peaceful warmth that had settled over the clearing. It hadn't been what he originally meant to ask, but it was the first question that escaped from his mouth. The mare screeched in response, stopping what she was doing and flaring her wings out in a threatening motion, between each primary feather was a wickedly sharp piece of metal ready to be flung at any would be attackers. Upon seeing who the two stallions were thought she relaxed exponentially.
"Faust dammit… you scared the living essence out of me… How… how did you even find me?" She questioned, her voice sounding as small as her tiny form suggested. Both stallions had jerked back at her violent movements, but Circuit stepped forward once she had calmed again.
"We uh..Followed you here.." He muttered, his voice filled with guilt. He quickly pushed the guilt down though, shaking himself as though he could physically shake it off. "Ebony..What is all of this..?" The pegasus froze in response, her wings folding slowly before she sunk to the ground. Ebony then sighed, her whole body slumping with the action and waved them over.
"...This… Isn't the first time I've met you….. Paragon… Paragon is- was… Nimbus, in a past life…" Circuit opened his mouth, ready to quickly deny the idea of 'reincarnation', but a sharp look from Adhesive quickly shut him up.
"So these statues there...Not us..?" The green maned stallion asked as he trotted closer, trying to get a better look at the graves. "Or well..Us but..Also not?"
"Well… Sorta, you see, souls who pass on from the mortal plane but still have business to attend to here in life sometimes have a will so strong that they turn around. They take on a new host, similar to when the new soul inhabits a body, and live again. In an essence, they're the same people, but not really… Did you, feel.. Something when you entered this place?" Ebony asked, her deep green orbs holding a deep, questioning look. The lanky colt frowned as he thought, trying to think of how best to word what he'd felt when first entering the area. Surprisingly, it was Circuit who spoke up before Adhesive could finish gathering his thoughts.
"It felt like coming home..Coming home after a long day to find your family waiting for you. She clapped her hooves once in response.
"Yes! Exactly like that!" The mare let out a deep breath of air, relaxing herself. "See, when we first met, in this lifetime, I felt a connection to you, that's why I broke down your door… Yeeeeeaaaaah, still not as sorry as I maybe should be. But it doesn't matter, you see, all of this has happened before, and will happen again to somepony else. It's just how the cycle works, you two, this isn't your first time on this planet… And more importantly, it's not the first time you two have been married."
The hybrid then turned to gesture to the statues behind her, to the left, a shorter stallion stood proud, wearing the simplest of clothes yet looking just as regal as his companion. "This, is Iron Heart." She began, turning to the one on the right, he was taller, wearing slightly fancier clothing than Iron Heart. "And this," Ebony continued. "is Wax Seal."
"Huh..Even in past lives we've been together..Guess it really was destiny.." A little smile spread across Adhesive's face. Circuit just huffed, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'saps' under his breath as he trotted forward to admire the statues.
"So you..What, come here to look at statues of our past selves in your free time?"
"Sort of.. They're my friends, and in a way, you're connected." To prove her point, the mare went over and gently patted Iron Heart's stone hoof, as you would to comfort a friend. "I knew them in life, and I have the privilege to see them again, in you. You two came back, after all this time and now this is my way of thanking your old lives for being part of mine. I take care of this place because it reminds me of the good times, times we shared. If you focus, you can probably feel those memories inside you, even if you can't access them… yet." A mischievous smile spread across her face before she snickered softly. The 'pegasus' narrowed his eyes at her, taking a step back.
"What do you mean...Yet? You're not planning on doing black magic on us, are you? You know how that ended up last time.."
"Oh psh, the last time I did any major black magic on you was in your past lives when I offered to help you two have ch-" She clapped a hoof over her mouth, once soft eyes going wide in shock. "Nope, nope nope nope, we gotta go, we should go back home, right now." Adhesive rolled his eyes, planting a hoof on the mare's tail before she could try and go too far.
"Nu uh, you're gonna sit right here and explain to us what you meant by that. What exactly did you do to our 'past selves?'"
"So do you remember when I told you however long ago about where I came from? Like, where I was born?" Adhesive shook his head, while Circuit just shrugged.
"Was that around the time that I lost my leg? Cause I don't really remember a lot from that time except for you know...Pain and not having a leg."
"No no, this was when I disappeared and you all tracked me to the manor… That's where you discovered I had a manor…" The mare trailed off, shuffling her hooves.
"Hm..I remember that happening, don't really remember much except for uh...Panic." The 'pegasus' admitted sheepishly, Adhesive nodding in agreement. The two sat down next to her, forcing the mare to sit in the middle of them.
"Why don't you refresh our memories? Or start from the beginning of all..This, whichever works best." The white earth pony spoke, smiling as he gently patted one of Ebony's hooves.
"When I was born, I was born from an aristocratic background, but we didn't live that way. My father was a Prince, my mother was well… A Princess I guess you could say? Well, they weren't supposed to get married. They eloped and ran off to live a peasant life of their choosing, and in doing so, they had me and well… My baby brother…" The mare slumped to the ground, her crimson mane falling limply into her face, concealing her eyes. Circuit lifted a hoof up to gently rub her back while Adhesive took a hold of one of her hooves again, both of them giving her a moment before gently prodding her on.
"I didn't know you were royalty? Does that mean you have like, a claim to the throne or something? Gonna usurp Luna and Celestia now?" The pale 'pegasus' spoke, trying to lighten the mood slightly. The hybrid let out a chuckle, a small smile upon her face.
"No, my homeland is across the sea, long gone by now. Your old family made good work of that. You see, with no heir, my father's kingdom slowly deteriorated and was forgotten, the reason being, Iron Heart's father stole my Grandparents' throne. They used claims of religion and hate to conscript an army against my Grandfather's family, saying that their son, my father, had married a devil's daughter. In doing this, they sent what relatives I had on that side into exile, and took my father's rightful throne."
"Oh uh..Sorry…" The gray stallion muttered awkwardly, feeling oddly guilty for something that'd happened Luna knows how long ago. It's not like he'd been alive. Well, technically, but not this 'version' of him. For a moment he swore he could hear a voice ringing in his ears, telling him something similar to Ebony story, only deeper and with a much more haughty tone. It quickly vanished though, leaving him to wonder if he'd heard it at all. Adhesive simply frowned, feeling a pang of loss in his chest for a reason he couldn't explain.
"So your family was overthrown by uh..Iron Heart's, and then what? You mentioned another stallion, right? Wax something? How does he play into all of this?"
"Wax Seal, that's you Adhesive, you and I met years later when I was perceived a witch and left as an outcast in the forests after my parents were murdered. Yes, murdered, religious radicals invaded my family's meager cottage and slashed my parent's throats in their sleep, they stole away my brother and I and in the end, I was able to get him free but remained captured. To this day I do not know what happened to him…" They all sat in silence for a moment, then two, it was with a shaky breath that the mare continued her tale.
"Iron Heart was my friend, he'd come to the forest and talk with me, we'd talk for hours on end, and I even built a little addition to my cottage for him to stay with me whenever the Prince felt like it. But one day, something happened and well…"
Eight Hundred Years Prior
The mare watched him through the foliage, her green eyes trailing his every step. Yes, he would do, he would work perfectly for this task. She'd watched him for a week now, knew the schedule of the other woodcutters so there would be no interruptions while she made her proposal. There could be no flaws in her plan, no one else could see her, she had to remain invisible… for now. And with that final thought, the so called, 'Witch Queen of The Cursed Forest' stepped out into the light for the first time in a century. The white stallion abruptly dropped the bundle he'd been carrying, the pile of wood clattering to the forest floor. His breath picked up, his blue eyes widened as he took in the mare's form, her torn clothing, the jewels twined within her mane, the runes that covered her body.
He could practically hear his mothers' voices in his head, warning him when he was younger to never wander too far, otherwise the witch would find him and eat him, but he always thought they were just stories. Stories meant to keep him from getting himself lost. His hooves felt rooted to the ground, keeping him from bolting despite everything in his being telling him to run. Instead, the stallion simply stood and stared, waiting for the mare to make the first move.
She was dressed in simple garb, a long, flowing black dress covered most of her golden fur with billowing sleeves that were slightly torn but covered in golden runes that seemed to pulse with life. Around her shoulders, a forest green cloak lined with rabbit fur sat neatly, while the forefront of her golden wings stuck out just from underneath. Under the hood of said cloak, crimson locks of hair was braided in an elaborate and wild design, laced with chords of crystals and charms that seemed to simulate wind chimes in tree branches and pulled the locks from those piercing, deep, emerald eyes.
"I come to you not to harm you, but with a proposition." The pegasus began, voice like honey and as melodic as a lute.
"Oh Faust I'm going to die…" The lanky stallion wheezed out, his vocal cords suddenly freed from the frozen stupor he'd found himself in. The rest of his body slowly thawed as well, and he took a step back from the mare. "Look uh...Whatever 'proposition' you have for me, I'm not interested.."
The mare sighed before gliding up to him and looking him directly in the eyes. Said eyes were layers of green with a dark, forest slit pupil. They stared into the normal, blue equine eyes and spoke of ancient times and a connection to that of a more primal age.
"My friend has been wrongfully imprisoned, I need your help. I have watched you, you have a good heart, Wax Seal. The Prince is in danger, will you aid me?"
"I..I…" It felt like he'd been frozen again, his eyes wide. He wanted to look away from the mare, but his body felt trapped under her deep gaze. His whole body lurched a bit, his legs moving him back a step without thinking about it. "I'm not…..I can't…" Wax slowly shook his head, taking another step away. "You must be mistaken, I'm not the right stallion for this I..I don't even like the prince…" He wrinkled his nose, thinking of the pompous stallion he'd seen a few times he'd visited the capital. The stallion he'd caught glimpses of had been cruel, going as far to shove aside any peasant children that happened to cross his path. "Besides, if the prince is in danger, shouldn't the royal guards be taking care of it?"
The witch before him stomps off a few steps before whipping around. "Not that pompous brat, no, the youngest prince, Iron Heart! He's the one who's imprisoned! Those traitorous royals stole this land, they stole homes, the relics and its people. Do you even know what this place was before they invaded?"
"Invaded..? It was...Empty land…" The stallion muttered uncertainly, vaguely remembering the few lessons he'd had when he was a colt. "And there is no other prince, no..Iron Heart, was it? The king and queen only have one son, prince Knightly Duel."
The wind began to whip around as the mare stomped her hooves. "LIES!" She cried, her voice turning sour and eyes aflame with ethereal magic. "The youngest son of the royal family is an Earth Pony, the so called 'shame' of the family because he is not pure. He is the only thing that is keeping me from leveling that Faust forsaken castle and killing all the traitorous thieves inside of them…" With a deep breath, the malice is gone and the soft mare returns before Wax Seal. She seems to kind of shrink into herself as her head falls forward. "Please…" The witch whispered. "I need your help, I just want to help my friend." For a brief moment Wax Seal had been about to flee as the wind whipped around them, backing away a few feet without even thinking about it. He paused as the wind died down, hesitating as he heard the soft tone in her voice. With a sigh he turned back to face her, frowning as he looked her over.
"...Are you sure I'm the right pony for the job..?" She looked up, her deep eyes connecting once more with his.
"I have seen your heart, and I know it is good. You help those in need when others would step aside. You are a stallion who keeps his word, and honors his family, who stands for what he believes in." The witch pulls out a piece of carved wood, a symbol of a wolf head in a circle. "Take this, think about my offer, and when you wish to give me your response, throw this into a pool of water and I shall appear."
With a flap of her wings, and a whoosh of air, the mare was gone, leaving Wax in the clearing alone. He stared down at the symbol for a few moments before slowly tucking it in his bag, crouching down to scoop up his bundle again. Whatever had just happened, he decided to wait to process at home. After all, it was starting to get dark, and if mares like her existed in the woods, who knew what else was in there. He certainly didn't want to stick around and find out.