The League Of Darkness

by Zeydaan

Rating: teen
Tags: Nightmare Moon, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Queen Chrysalis, Other, Adventure, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human, Doctor Whooves
Length: 105071

When Patrick celebrates his 25th birthday, a mysterious woman named Elisabeth turns him upside down. And drags him and his friends into a war that spans Universes.

Story has been cancelled, for all new readers, don't expect any firm resolutions or anything. Sorry guys.

The League Of Darkness

Elizabeth says that in infinite universes, infinite choices are made. It is only when one steps through the barriers and sees the world made of a choice you have made, you can determine right and wrong.

After saving my friend from a chemistry experiment, my life took a turn for the worse. As my dreams of a strange world keep haunting me. And on the dawn of my 25th birthday; my behaviour shifts as a strange cutie-mark appears on my legs and a scar appears as my eye is torn from its socket. A new personality develops who tells me that I am not alone with my fate.

But as my powers and Nightmare Moon begins to take over, and as my friends also start to develop strange powers. We gain the attention of some people you never want to cross, and now I'm Britain's most wanted. And just as I thought I had a moment of sanity, a creature called the Original One claims that only I can save the universe.

So now I must work together with my friends, both old and new to defeat this threat, stop an inter-universal war.

And crack the Universal Code of the League Of Darkness.

A Five Score, Divided By Four side-story. Containing characters from Bioshock Infinite™ and Doctor Who™ And a story of the Combat Eternal™ extended Multiverse
This story is a 5S/4 story and a side story of the Combat Eternal™ Universe in some of the later chapters with the backstory. Some of the first few chapters will be character development and buildup to the 25th birthday

Edited (very well) by Dusk Writer

Cover art by me! at Deviantart, here's a full size picture

(This is the old version of the picture, I updated it.)

Published 2013-06-13 06:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-30 20:25:33 UTC

Part 1: Chapter 1: The Explosion

I woke up in the morning at about 5:30 by a loud thump from upstairs. I realised that Josh had woken up early. I looked around the room before I heard the springs of Josh’s bed creak slightly as he lay back down upon it. I groaned as I sat up slightly from the sofa. I guess the MLP marathon had made me fall asleep on the sofa.

I gripped my head as I felt a headache come on as I recounted the strange dream I had just had. It was like normal dreams; since I could not entirely piece it together afterwards. I guessed that I had read too many fanfictions before going to bed, whatever that dream was; it was one of the weirdest dreams I had ever had. But I simply dismissed it as another dream. I realised that I still had Ponies playing on my TV from last night. I ejected the disk quickly and put it back into my hiding place to prevent Josh or the others from finding out about my hidden love for the show. I packed away my dinner from last night and went to the kitchen to clean up my plates.

Eventually I got bored and started to cook myself a bacon sandwich, and when I put some of the cooked slices into the bread pieces, I was greeted by Josh, still in his dressing gown.

“Please put some clothes on you damn fool, you do know you’re not living on your own,” I barked at him as he took a slice of my sandwich for himself and walked off to turn on the telly for the morning broadcasts.
I took my side of my sandwich and plugged my phone into the charger… It was an iPhone 5, not the most recent in technology, but its feel and software was all I could really afford, plus it gave me a modest sense of nostalgia whenever I used it. It reminded me of the days when I was in Secondary school, and when season 3 of My Little Pony just hit the air. I remember people going nuts about Alicorn Twilight at the end of the series and then the Equestria Girls movie that soon followed. I thought EQG was pretty good when I saw it, despite some hiccups in plot and the overall weirdness of it, followed up by what I thought was a pretty cool finalé. But It was nothing compared to the show I loved.

When I ate my sandwich, I recounted the days when the fandom of Bronies was at its peak. I felt personally sad when the fandom started to decline after something that happened in series 5. When the show discontinued.

I felt moved when the show ended, but I still enjoy the fanart and the music and the ‘fics by the fans that still remain. I know that the really noble Bronies who enjoyed the community were the ones that stayed.

Personally I never watched the Series 5 finale that most of my friends talked about, mostly because I never wanted it to change the way I felt about the show in general.

But I continued to do my own part for the fandom, as I would go to the occasional cons or do some of my own fan-art. Now life seems a little bit bland since the show finished all those years ago. The only thing that really kept me excited for saturdays anymore were the episodes of Doctor Who.

I continued my train of thought as I went upstairs to get changed for another day at school. I went downstairs and grabbed my phone and some keys.

“Hey! Wait up!” Said Cordelia up the stairs, who was still putting on some earrings. “Don’t head out without me Trixie!” I cringed at that name again.
But she turned around to Josh in the sitting room, “See you later Joshi! Have fun at work!” she shouted energetically, to have a mumble in response. I opened the door and signalled to Cordelia.

“We should probably head off, we both need to get there pretty early to the lab. Daniel will be pretty pissed if we get there late again.”

She smirked and rolled her eyes sarcastically while making a brief chuckle before starting to walk out of the door behind me, she abruptly stopped and turned back inside

“Oh! I almost forgot!” she yelled before appearing again with a pair of black sunglasses. Ever since we saw the Matrix, she had mocked me for looking like agent Smith. She in fact got me a pair of sunglasses and always nicknamed me Smith whenever I wore them.

We walked into town together at a fairly quick rate while I snacked on an apple I had bought quickly at the local Co-op, we joked together as we usually would. We both complimented each other from our choice of clothing, yet today felt good. There was no cloud in the sky; yet there was a nice south-westerly breeze keeping us both slightly cool.

A nice ferrari passed by on the street, making me grin to myself and Cordelia to laugh and roll her eyes, she could never understand my other fascination with cars. But it wasn’t long after that, that we came up to the doors of the large school hall.

BANG!

a large sound was heard from inside, shaking the ground around us, before we saw a column of smoke rise up from one of the windows and several surprised gasps and shrieks to be heard from the nearby streets. Cordelia looked at me with some surprise as we avoided a small group of people pouring out of the building, screaming in terror. I couldn’t help but laugh slightly as I remember my great uncle telling me a familiar story about when he was a headmaster, and see something like this.

“What the hell happened?” Cordelia asked to herself, looking at the large column of smoke again.

“Do you want to have a look?” I said in an excited manner, with a half closed eye.

“Fuck yeah!” She announced, pulling a slight grin to her face as we both began to run in.

There were alarms blaring around the school as we continued to walk around, past the several crowds of people fleeing, with the obnoxious sounds of laughing and screaming from the people who went past.

“Should we just leave like the rest of them?” She asked in a moderate way, without looking even ahead of her.

I shook my head as we continued to walk towards where the smoke from the lab became more dense and thick.

“No, you wanted to see what caused this thing. So, we’re going to!” I laughed before we ran into a familiar stern face.

“What are you two doing going back in here?” A stern voice said, with a regal accent I would remember. “Don’t you see the others? You two need to get out of here and avoid getting yourself hurt” The figure stood up straight and adjusted her green tie.

I pointed to the large mass of smoke behind the figure and put on my best considerate voice to fool her.

“But Professor Lutece, that’s our lab in there. And we came here for a days work, so we were wondering if we could find some way to help out with this!” I lied badly, but it did result in Madame Lutece putting her face in her palm and stepping to a side.

“That was so obviously a lie Patrick, but I know that you usually mean well. Nothing can defeat the curiosity of either you or Miss Cross,” she replied with a snarky comment, I turned to Cordelia who grinned slightly to me and made the ever-so-slight squee. I knew that she wanted to know what caused such an explosion ever since when she was little. When a chemistry experiment went wrong at school and it nearly burnt her hair off.

That explosion traumatised her as a child, but it made her fascinated in chemistry and bombs and all forms of explosions. It was probably how we met up after we were apart for all of secondary school. Since she did applied sciences also at university, but during times when we weren’t set on experiments or research… Me, her, Elliott and Daniel would attempt to create the biggest explosion to not be noticed by Professor Robert or Rosalind Lutece, or as we called them; ‘The Lutece Twins’. Whoever created this monster of an explosion definitely won our ‘little’ game.

When we came to the door of the lab, we were greeted by Professor Robert standing by the door, holding a cloth over his face while smoke poured out of the door quickly in large amounts.
“What are you doing here!” He spluttered as he tried to get out a phone from his jacket. “Did my sister let you go through?” He annoyingly announced while staring at us.

“We were wondering if we could help. And get some clarity to what happened?” Cordelia asked only to have Professor Lutece to dial in ‘999’ into his phone and glare at us in confusion and annoyance;

“I can’t help you there Cordelia, it’s too dangerous to go in there before the fire brigade get here! We managed to get Daniel out quickly, but we can’t find Elliott. That smoke is too thick to see and we don’t have enough equipment to go in ourselves! If you go in there for too long; who knows what could happen!”

I flinched back slightly when I heard this. Elliott was also a good friend of mine, although a little nuts. If he didn’t get out quickly, he would die! I hoped the Fire Department got there as soon as humanly fucking possible!

“What can we do?” I pleaded “We can’t just let him stay in there, potentially dyeing!”

The professor didn’t reply; and put his phone up to his face;

“Hello, this is Professor Robert Lutece of Magdalen College. We need a fire squad as soon as possible!” A short pause followed, before he angrily yelled at the voice on the other side of the phone. “Just get here; a student’s life is in danger!” he hung up the phone. He then turned back to us: “I don’t care that my sister allowed you to come in here, you need to get out of here now!”

I thought about my friend in the lab for a moment, and then turned to Professor Lutece with bravery and anger.

“NO!” I yelled, realising the depth of this situation. “I will only leave. When I KNOW my friend is ok! The emergency services will not get here in time!”

“But I kinda still want to know-“ Cordelia started

“I don’t care who made that bloody thing! I just… Just…”

I paused for a second before I felt something snap. I didn’t even think: I just DID.

I burst into motion and ran into the smoke.

“Patrick! STOP!” The Professor yelled, but it was too late. I was already charging into the smoke, desperately searching for my friend.

“ELLIOTT!” I yelled out, whilst beginning to cough from the heavy, white gas surrounding me. I couldn’t see anything, and this was a big lab. So I had very little chance of finding him before either I pass out or I end up finding only a corpse. But I looked around the several conveniently placed lab tables and knocked over chemical vats and flasks, while I would eventually find pieces of shrapnel and burning pieces of rubble.

I was making no progress. And every breath I made started to become heavier and hurt me more. So I decided to search less of the place in feral instincts and decide to think for myself.

I thought what one would do in this kind of situation. I had a hunch that I had only one more burst of energy before either me or him would drop dead because of the gas.

I saw a lack of glass shrapnel and several liquid burns on the desks and even a few on my arms, an explosion like this would have probably been made from a chemical experiment, and not an experiment involving large machinery or appliances. So I moved into the area I knew that experiments like that would take place.

I knew that only a small number of experiments that we would do in this lab would result in a gas leak of this magnitude if performed wrong. Something like this could not be deliberate, and would require a misplacement of heat. So that limited it down to an area with bunsen burners. I walked over to a right-hand corner of the lab as my head began to get heavier from this horrible gas.

I wanted to get out of this place, and keep myself safe, just to prevent another one from ending up in a body bag. But it was then I started to remember a MLP episode I watched this morning. Elliott was a friend, and wherever he was. I couldn’t let a friend in need down! So as I coughed and struggled for breath; while desperately searching for more clues as to where Elliott was, I sang quietly and desperately;

“A true true friend”

I noticed hot ash falling down. The supports on the ceiling were burnt only in one area.

“-Helps… A friend in need”

This must have been caused by an explosive chemical; but only one that created a small surrounding explosion, narrowed it down to a single desk.

“A friend will be there… To help… Them… See…”

I saw a large charred part of the desk; creating a large split down the table, limiting what was going on to one element… Gunpowder.

“A true… True… Friend…”

I was beginning to become breathless as all my limbs started to feel heavy and painful. But I ran around the desk categorising the safety precautions and circumstances of this explosion. And I also remembered the smoke coming out from the windows, the windows were open during the explosion.

“Helps… a friend… In need…”

In a situation like this, with lit Bunsen Burners around, and the magnitude of an explosion.

I noticed burnt ash also on the table, next to the crack. Immediately I pieced together what happened, while images of what could have happened (And my life) flashed before my eyes.

A simple reaction experiment, combining gunpowder and another element. Completely air tight to avoid errors. But errors from surrounding experiments were not considered. As a fellow student forgot to consider his own bunsen burner as he burnt through his own notes, creating flecks of burning ash. And due to the slight south-westerly breeze must have moved the ash, yet not blow it out, into Elliott’s experiment.

“To… see… the… Light…”

I gathered my strength back slightly as I finally cracked it. With small power like Black Powder, and the attempt to stop an explosion like this by preventing a fire from spreading, he would probably not have grabbed a fire extinguisher, but a fire TOWEL.

My eyes snapped open as I ran towards where I knew the fire towels were kept.

“That shines from a true… true friend.” I saw Elliott’s body sprawled out, with one hand reaching towards the towels. But what else I saw made me gasp.

Elliott’s face was blood-soaked and had several square centimetres of flesh stripped off of it. I would vomit; but I needed to check if he was still alive. (Plus, now I knew that he made this explosion.)

I coughed and spluttered as I still heard people screaming from outside and people yelling from inside. I yelled at Elliott; “Elliott! If you’re. Still. Alive. Do something!”

And before I could do anything else, Elliott made a slight movement with his head, he was obviously in pain. So I picked up what strength I had left, as I began to cough, some support began to fall from the ceiling. I reached down; ignoring the blood and… urine… across the ground. I grasped underneath him and hoisted him up into the air.

I made a bolt for the exit as I heard voices yelling louder from the outside. I saw the figure of Robert Lutece and Cordelia jump in surprise as I drew closer.

“Patrick!” Cordelia yelled, with relief in her voice.

I burst out of the room, holding Elliott in my arms still, and placed him down on the ground. And then I looked up to see the stunned and scared Robert Lutece.

“Patrick. That was both careless… And completely stupid at the same time, if you were to do that in front of another teacher at this school they would-.”

His voice began to fade away. I wanted to reply, but my body would not respond to him. My sight began to blacken as my body began to fall to the ground as well.

I had inhaled too much of the smoke.

The last thing I remember seeing was Cordelia start to run towards me while I fell to the floor, all I could hear was a distorted mumble.
And then everything became silent.

“Please state yur’ business,” a dark voice blurted from my hidden vision.

“I come here to judge the wicked, and unify the just,” I said, with a familiar, but odd accent.
A door opened in front of me, on the other side was… Applejack?… At first I couldn’t tell completely, due to the fact that she was wearing a black cloak over her head and a red pendant over her neck. But I seemed to recognise her anyway. And the fact that I recognised this strange pony startled me.

“Welcome back. Y’ majesty,” she replied; bowing down to me before she lead me into a large conference room.

In the room were five other ponies. Three surrounding a central table; And two other ponies were standing off to the side; a brown one and a cream coloured one. They were all wearing the same black cloaks as Applejack was. But unlike her, she had the hood down.

This was exciting for me, because usually in my dreams, details like this wouldn’t usually come up very much. So I attempted to say hello to them, but my mouth would not be controlled; neither would my hooves.

Hooves, damn… I guess it was like the dream I had last night.

All of a sudden, I remembered the dream I had last night in complete detail. And remembered how little control I had over my body I had that time. I guessed that my body would be like that this time. So I might as well have enjoyed the show.

The first to speak was one of the earth ponies.

“You wished to speak with us due to the recent events?” The brown one asked, resulting in me nodding my head slightly. But I smiled and addressed the others in the group.

“My fellow subjects, we may be in the presence of guests…” My mind paused again due to the strangeness of my accent. My mouth continued “But there is no need to hide your identities. We are far from the commoners and slaves.” I then turned to the two earth ponies. “Do not be alarmed, we are not here to hurt you.”

I turned to a magenta pegasus on my left, who burst into green flames. Revealing the Changeling Queen Chrysalis.
This shocked me entirely, but not as much as what I saw next…

The next thing to change was a female grey unicorn, whose eyes lit up with an eerie green light. As shadows engulfed her body; transforming her into King Sombra… I would question this gender swap, but I was too confused at everything else to even think about that.

“And before we get to business. I would like to welcome a new member; who has joined us thankfully at this delicate time,”
I said, before turning to a yellow coated earth-pony, whose eyes in turn lit up with a bright Red. Her body began to fall apart, revealing the cyan coat and white mane of the Great and Powerful Trixie. And around her neck… The Alicorn Amulet. “I see that you have become well attuned to its power.”

I then realised that I was now surrounded by some of the greatest evils Equestria has ever faced, apart from two. Discord and-

Trixie nodded while she looked around the table. “Trixie thought that there was something urgent that needed to be addressed?”

I smirked to myself, before turning to the two ponies at my side. “We thank you both for coming here, as we all know what would happen if Discord were to get his way. But now I wish to welcome you both as honoured guests. From I... The new King of Equestria...”

My body tensed, as a searing pain surged throughout it. I felt my body darken, as a horn pushed further out of the front of my skull. My entire body twisted and turned as it did last night. And yet, I couldn’t see under the shadow. But I opened my eyes once more when I felt it stop. As the voice I had heard last night in the mirror spoke with my lips.

“Welcome… To the League Of Darkness.”

Author's Note

This chapter includes one of many flashes at which Pony he will eventually become. Some things will be explained in later chapters.

Do note that this is taking several days before the First of May, i'm using these chapters as help for character development.

Part 1: Chapter 2: Repercussions

“I think he’ll be fine, Mr Lutece,” a voice in the distance mumbled, “Thank goodness he awoke before the ambulance got here. It would be a nightmare explaining to his parents what he did just there.”

I opened my eyes slowly to see a doctor sitting next to me. As both Cordelia and the Lutece twins stood looking down at me; with the twins having a more angry scowl at myself and each-other.

“Mph. Flubla” I spluttered, still a little woozy from my recent gassing. This only lead to the doctor raising his hand slightly;

“Don’t waste your breath! You just inhaled an almost lethal amount of Carbon Monoxide. You need to take deep breaths until you can stand up for yourself,” he then stood up and addressed the Luteces; “As for the other student: we are keeping him from bleeding out until we can get him to a hospital. Lucky that this guy got him out of there in time!”

This caused the Luteces to look at each other with stern looks. From this angle on the ground; I could tell that they were both not very happy with what I did to save Elliott. But I still felt great for saving his life. At least I think I did.

The doctor indicated to Robert with his head;
“Professor, do you mind?” He asked, before they both lifted me up and moved me into the other room; which we used usually for tea breaks and 'chill out times', but it looked like it was going to be a place for me to rest before I could sit up without fainting again.

The two placed me on a sofa next to the television and the Professor placed a glass of water next to the settee. But without saying anything else, they left me there on the sofa. While each of my breaths became more relaxed and drawn out.

A while passed and I tried to pick up the TV remote, only to have my arm flop onto the side. While I coughed heavily, I reached over for a glass of water and took a heavy swig of it. But it wasn’t long before I heard the sound of heavy boots running into the lab and the distorted mumbles of the firemen next door. But shortly afterwards, Cordelia stepped into the room.

At first, I smiled to see her. But I eventually saw the red markings under her eyes. She had been crying, and that didn't make me feel any better for what I had done. She sat down on an adjacent sofa and cracked a small smile to cover up the look in her eyes. I turned to her and tried to speak; but her grief of the risk I had made had rubbed off onto me, thus I couldn't speak to her. But that didn't stop herself talking to me.

"That was really loyal of you, Patrick," she started, with pain in her voice. I could tell that the risk of me actually dying was serious for her; as she addressed me using my name. "But seeing you just faint onto the ground was one of the most nerve-racking things I have ever encountered," she sniffed as I saw a single tear trail down the side of her face.

"Cordelia... I can't," I spurted out, with my words almost indistinguishable from the coughs. But as I said these words, Cordelia snapped up to me with damp red eyes-

"No! You give for your friends; you show us all great kindness! But you give TOO MUCH. If you die to save your friends; I would lose you... And you would die for something that wasn't your fault! Today was MY FAULT! You never really wanted to see that explosion, now your blood’s on MY HANDS! And-" she cut off mid-sentence as she hung her head low and started crying again.
I could tell that this had not been a good day for her, and it would probably good if I didn't try to argue with her.

We both sat there for a couple more moments in almost absolute silence. She eventually tilted her head up again and spoke in a hushed tone from heavy breaths; "And to think... I was so excited about today. How wrong was I?"

Seeing her like this made me think of Pinkie's 'smile song' from the show. I would have sung it to her to try to cheer her up; but she wouldn't know what it was, and it would lead to the inevitable finding out that I am a Brony.
So all I could do now was watch as she cried.

Eventually we calmed down as Rosalind entered the room with a stern, yet considerate look upon her face.

"Do you mind if I have a quick word with Patrick; miss Cross?"
Cordelia stood up and left the room with tears in her eyes. But I gave her a reassuring smile on the way out.
The professor sat down on the side of the other sofa, whilst still keeping that same stern glare on her face; "Now, Patrick. We need to talk about what you just did in that lab."

I rolled my eyes at this; I knew where this was going. "What you did was a danger to both yourself and the reputation of myself, professor Robert and even the school!"
I grinned nervously as I tried to sit up; she continued as I drank a bit of water. "As you know: recklessness will not be tolerated at this school. And your lack of personal safety could get you suspended to prevent the press or police going any further into it." I widened my eyes and gulped heavily as I began to highly regret what I had done. But I was relieved by the fact the Professor sighed and continued.

"But in this case; you acted for the lives of fellow students and acted for yourself. That is something I have not seen by any other student apart from miss Cross herself. And for that reason; I am personally going to give you and Cordelia a detention."

I breathed heavily at this in relief; the last thing my parents would like me to do was to get a suspension. I think I would go to a hospital if I was given that after what had just happened to me and Elliott. But I smiled and thanked her with a tone of relief.

"What would you have me do for this detention professor?" I asked, with my voice still a bit gaspey from the recent gassing. Shortly followed by a loud, heavy cough.
The professor, in turn, lowered her brow slightly as she tilted her head. She cleared her throat and continued.

"I am not the sort to give out harsh punishments in this kind of situation. But I will expect you and Cordelia to come over to my house over the weekend. Then we'll see what we can do."

"Thank you, professor" I coughed again. Causing the professor to nod to herself and leave me alone.

I lay down on the sofa again, and breathed heavily while gripping my head. Why did I make that stupid decision? The levels of what I just did was in Rainbow Dash levels of impulse, like when she made the sonic rainboom.

But I found I was able to actually walk again; stupidly I didn’t stand up for another hour. But I did grab the TV remote and switch on the TV to see some of the regular junk. At least I was feeling better; that’s what some people called it. ‘The Lutece Field’, because Rosalind had a special talent. Just being in the same room as the professor had a strange, almost healing, effect. I remember an old friend coming down with vomiting, just to have her have a quick chat with him and leaving him perfectly fine.

I coughed again as I recounted the events over and over in my head. Yet still couldn't find what had driven me to that nervous impulse. Normally I would think twice before doing something like that. And even if I did, I wouldn't have to normally be treated with the Lutece Field.

My head hurt with my train of thought driving at full speed in my head; so when I saw the time as 14:34, I decided to call it a day and head back home, much to my tired legs and throbbing head protesting with every step I took.

When I walked back home; I saw a couple of people staring at me; I assumed that I had some markings of what had just happened clearly visible on my face. However it wasn't long before I had gotten away from the crowds in the streets and back at home.

"I'm back," I announced with a hoarse voice; with a general mumble from Cordelia. She must have been exhausted. Surprisingly Joshua came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Dude, I heard what happened at the lab today! You ok? You look as pale as snow!" I rolled my eyes at this and simply sat down on the sofa.

"I just feel a bit woozy, nothing more. 'Just need a bit of time to myself right now." Josh nodded considerately and walked out of the room with a beer. It was odd; it was the most considerate I had ever seen him, and that's saying a lot.

I turned to Cordelia, who still had a miserable look on her face and tears in her eyes. I tried to smile at her, but spoke instead;
"I'm sorry I made you feel this way, Cordie... It makes me feel bad to see you like this."
She rubbed her nose as a tear went down her cheek again. She looked up to me with a face marked with guilt. So I sat down next to her and gave her a comforting hug, as she began to sob again in a gentle way.

“How... do you deal with this?” She whimpered, leading to me remaining silent for a few moments.
I had put her through a lot today, and I guess not making her feel better would add to the current state of punishments I was receiving today from that impulse. And that would only make me feel worse. So I thought to myself with a stern look on my face.

“I guess... If I told her... It could make her feel better.” I sighed, and smiled to myself... I had kept it secret for too long. And with the events today; she deserved to know the truth.

“Alright,” I said, smiling to her briefly, but still lowering my brow slightly. “I have something. After all. For my behavior back at the lab. I think I should show you a bit of ‘friendship’.” She couldn’t tell the sarcasm in my voice, and simply glared with a teary eye.

I was ready to tell her, after all these years... I was finally going to tell her about it. Whilst still choking on my own saliva from the coughing. I didn’t mind if Josh walked in on us doing it; but I still called out to him:

“Josh, could you heat up a Pizza for us?”

“Ok! Don’t expect me to make it right. I have no idea how to work the USS Enterprise of a Microwave!” He replied, yelling from the other room.

Knowing that he was busy, I turned to the painting on the wall of the sitting room, then made the correct steps to opening my secret hatch.

"X-Box, on!" I ordered, and the gentle whirring of the X-Box started, so I put a disk into the console and we started to watch it.

"A long time ago- in the magical land of Equestria," Celestia's voice began on the screen, leading to a baffled look from Cordelia and an inevitable;

"What the hell is this?"

I coughed and replied with a hoarse voice, "Trust me, just watch."

And so, with a bit of skepticism at the beginning, we watched most of the full episode. When Pinkie Pie appeared on the screen, I could tell she had cheered up slightly. As even she was smiling as Pinkie went off on her nonsensical babbling.

"That pony... Is absolutely insane," she laughed with a smile on her face. I could tell that she loved her nonsensical behavior from the moment her pink face lit up the screen. “Do you know exactly what she’s going to say?” She asked, with a smug grin on her face. Taking that as a challenge; I nodded and rewound it back to when Pinkie started her big monologue and repeated on time with her.

“Well, that's silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring! Y'see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all "hello" and I was all *deep gasp*, remember? Y'see I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!”

Cordelia laughed at my strange fanboy out. And we watched the rest of the first episode with her hugging close to me. I realised that Josh must have been having problems with the microwave since we got to the twentieth minute of the episode.

And then came the moment that had gotten me hooked to the show. The return of Nightmare Moon.
As the mist appeared on the screen; I felt myself grinning again. And Cordelia nudged me, as if to say 'favourite pony?' I nodded in response as Nightmare Moon began her section.

With every syllable from her lips, I felt intoxicated, as her awe-inspiring black figure moved majestically to her every word. But with each word, Cordelia's face started to move from her smile... To a face of both confusion and fear at the same time.

And then came the very LINE that got me hooked, when Nightmare Moon laughs triumphant. Saying;

"Enjoy this day little ponies; for it was your last. From this moment forth... The night. Will last. FOREVER!"

When she burst out into her evil laughter; I felt a shiver down my spine. While Cordelia simply widened her eyes in surprise. And even more when the 'to be continued' appeared on the screen.

"Bit of a dark twist," she pointed out, without much else of a thought. And before I could ask if she wanted to watch another, Josh interrupted from the other room.

"Guys, I've eaten my pieces of the pizza. If you don't mind; I'm heading up early. You can get your own slices now if you want!" He yelled, promptly followed by loud footsteps up the stairs.

A moment of silence followed before I picked up the courage to speak.

“Want to see another?” I asked.

“I,” she started, pausing for a second. Possibly recounting the previous scene of Nightmare Moon. I saw a face of disagreement for a moment, and worried if that last moment might have turned her off my introduction to the show. But thankfully, she cracked a smile and lowered her shoulders. “Yeah... I’d like to see where this will go.”

I felt myself smiling like Pinkie Pie at that moment. And Cordelia laughed at me for that smile as I put on the next episode. Despite her internal reluctance; we still sat through then next episode.

And then another...

And then another...

And then another...

Whilst holding each other tightly. And smiling all the way through.

Author's Note

I am deliberately making the character Cordelia get into the show a little before the actual thing gets going, just to establish her understanding of it.

Part 1: Chapter 3: Elizabeth

A turn of the key powered down the roaring engine of my old Audi. Me and Cordelia stepped out of the car without much delay. Pressing the side of the intercom, the voice of Professor Lutece appeared through the speakers.

“Hello? Who is speaking?” She asked. Cordelia then leaned in to speak on the intercom.

“It’s me and Patrick. May we come in?”

There was a small pause, before the professor spoke again.

“Ah, yes. Do come in, you can leave your car here.”

A large bolt shifted as the metal gates slowly opened, revealing a large gravel pathway, leading to a light cream coloured mansion. Without saying anything, we just continued and walked down the pathway.

This wasn’t the first time that we went to see the Luteces for something. Both of us had to go there when we applied for their private course in physics and chemistry. At first, we found it a tad bit off how we weren't allowed in certain areas of the house, and with the fancy interior designs; it looked like it was made in the late Nineteenth to early Twentieth century. But we didn’t mind it, and besides. We eventually liked going there.

“Admiring the scenery Trixie?” Cordelia asked, as I was stopping and looking around the gardens surrounding the pathway. She then pieced it together in her head what was coming up next. And since she had now seen the show, I couldn’t resist.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is admiring how this garden is hydrated!” I announced, giving a more pronounced tone to mimic Trixie’s voice, leading to a quiet, yet awkward giggle from Cordelia. She understood it, but I still slightly doubted she understood my connection to it as much as I could.

A loud bang resonated around us when we knocked on the large doors to the house. Shortly followed by Rosalind opening the door.
"Yes, Patrick and Cordelia. Do come in," she stated, whilst still oddly wearing her formal attire. Me and Cordelia came inside.

The house was just like how it was when we first visited. Except there were some minor differences with paintings on the walls and some furniture had been moved around. But the walls still had that tea-coloured brown to them; and the yellow lamps still flickered when we walked by them.

"Do you want any tea?" Rosalind asked; while signalling to Robert, who was holding a steaming teapot. I shook my head in response, but Robert handed a nice cup of tea to both me and Cordelia. I smiled nervously as I both looked at the teacup and the Luteces himself.

“Why would you call yourself English if you refuse even a cup of tea?” Robert stated with his standard snarky tone of voice. “Milk or sugar?”

I moaned slightly as Cordelia sat down and started to sip her own cup of tea.

“Milk... No sugar please, Mr Lutece.”

Mr Lutece turned to Rosalind as he elegantly poured in a small amount of milk into my tea.

“Told you... Always trying to watch his weight,” he blurted as a snide comment. He then walked off without saying much else.

Rosalind sat down on a traditional 19th century chair while she sipped her own tea. And so the atmosphere remained comforting, yet cold for a few moments. There was a nerve-racking ticking clock in the corner of the room. It wasn’t loud, but its metallic clockwork did dig into my head for a little while when I politely sipped the tea that was forced into my hands.

“Are we ready to talk?” She blurted suddenly, causing me to stutter with my tea for a moment. She turned to me and straightened her tie whilst still keeping a fixed eye on me. “Would you be ok working; I know how much you inhaled that day. And if you are feeling in anyway nauseated by any work I set you today-”

“Professor!” I interrupted, holding back a cough, “I am fine, and have been feeling fine since the evening of that day.”

The Professor cleared her throat, with a slight insulted look in her eyes. And then began to talk to Cordelia: “Mrs Cross. Would you happen to know where the library is?”

Cordelia promptly shook her head whilst still sipping her tea. Rosalind chuckled quietly and continued:

“Don’t worry, I just need you to organize some books in a few sections. Robert will take you there,” She spoke with a quiet, yet comforting tone. Only to have Robert appear in the door we originally came in through.

Cordelia then began to follow him into the library as Rosalind put down her own tea.
"So then Patrick. Would you kindly follow me into the study please?" She asked politely, standing up as if to also guide me.

I was lead along the large, dimly lit corridor by the professor, still sipping some tea on the way to remain polite to the professors. But eventually we came to a section where there was practically no lighting at all. So the professor had to light a candle.

"We have to divert power from the lights in this area to save electricity. Do you mind?" She then came up to a door at the end of a large corridor.

Opening the door with a small creak; a little amount of natural light came through the curtains on the other side of the room through the door. I came to see a small desk in the middle of the room, and several shelves of books lining the edge of the room. But the thing that caught my interest the most was on the central desk itself.

A large; gorgeous green diamond. From the shade of green, I could tell this was some kind of emerald.

"Patrick, once we are done here; you can have a look at the Emerald. But for now, we have to do this detention," said the professor; with a very annoyed tone. "See those tapes?"

She then pointed to a large collection of recorded cassette tapes.

"I need you to run through all of those and check if they work on the voxophone," she stated, but before I could ask; she pointed to a large, 20's style record player; with a small box to place cassette tapes and a small handle to perhaps help keep it going.

She then began to walk out of the study. "When you're done; do see miss Cross and yourself out; but if she is not available: please take a look around the house," She stopped just before closing the door. "And please don't go upstairs." She then slammed the door sharply.

The Lutece’s collection of tapes was... Interesting to say at the least. With most of them consisting of either Rosalind babbling on about some complex science experiments, or an old man with religious or very racist beliefs. I thought when listening to him why my parents had ever gotten me baptised in the first place. But it wasn’t long before I had gone through the entire collection.

Eventually I decided to look around a bit of the office before I would wonder around the house, just to chew away some time before Cordie would finish. There was one phrase in one tape about how the worship of God in the medievil era was much more efficent than now, a phrase saying, "The Queen must bring the King his armor, before he engages in battle." It stuck in my head for a while, before fading into the inner noise of my thoughts.

The tapes; despite interesting or disturbing to listen to: got old fairly quickly. So I looked around to see if there were any other tapes scattered around the office. It was a bit difficult to find any more due to the room being lit by natural light alone; but I did find one.

A small little tape marked;

“Five Score Divided By Four, the Unwritten Universe.”

I was naturally intrigued by this; my inner maths determined that the equation would total up to 25. So I thought it would be some kind of tape about maths, or have some kind of complex codeword name to confuse the listener, and that Unwritten Universe thing made no sence in itself.. But the name itself seemed oddly familiar.
What could it be? Could it be a maths tape, like I thought? A random monologue like the other ones? Or even a-

I stopped my train of thought from going down that track any further; I popped open the Tape player again and slipped the tape into the box. Giving the handle a couple of turns, the central disk of the player began to spin and a few sounds of dirt on the empty tape began to sound on the small speaker attached to it. I reached over and began to press the play button.

“I wouldn’t do that yet,” said an unfamiliar voice from the doorway. Causing me to take my finger off the button and turn to its unfamiliar source.

A girl, looking about my age, stood at the door. She had short-ish brown hair and wore a slightly outdated blue coat over a white shirt.

“Are you?” I began, raising an uncertain finger up to point at a picture of the Luteces on the wall.

“No, I’m not their child or a houseworker. I come here on my own accord,” she replied with an american accent. Not a sort of harsh accent that Cordie would usually do to make fun of cheerleaders but a more gentle one like Twilight’s voice.

I regained my focus slightly and addressed the tape again.
“Why shouldn’t I listen to this?”

She smirked and replied; “Spoilers!” before walking out of the room.

A small moment passed before I heard some footsteps again. And the girl appeared again with an angry face. “Come on then!” She yelled, before disappearing again.

I ran out after her, abandoning the tape and following her down a corridor.

She seemed to like me following her, so we both decided to run down the corridor, leaving me to trip slightly a couple of times before we came to a set of large; antique stairs. I hesitated while the girl ran up the stairs, since I knew that the Luteces were especially focused on me NOT going upstairs.

“Are you going to keep following me, Patrick?” She mocked, with an excited glint in her eyes.

I flinched back slightly, as not only as she knew my name; but she was openly trying to make me disobey the rules.

“No, I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. But I still kept my eyes fixed upon the girl, who at this time was glaring with a snide smile at me from the small balcony between the floors. “I can’t disobey their rules.”
She chuckled slightly, raising her hand up to her face.
“Don’t you want to know how I know your name, Patrick? Just think outside the box a little, my little Brony,” she ran off, leaving me even more stunned. I had never met this girl in my entire life, and the fact that she knew my name and the fact of me being a Brony was a little disconcerting.

I never usually told people about my Bronyism, except people I knew were fellow Bronies, or close family members. I never told the Luteces about it, how could she know?

I needed to find out how she knew, that meant going up the stairs. And I did so cautiously to prevent anyone else from knowing too.

The upper floors of the house were pretty much like the ground floor, still looking like it was taken directly out of the 19th century, still stained with that brown tint and not very well litten. Leaving me to stumble around a little looking for that girl again.

“Hello? Strange girl?” I yelled out, but still keeping my voice down slightly. Eventually I turned a corner and found a light switch.

I turned it on to prevent myself from stumbling over anything again, to see the girl standing at the corner. Before I knew it, she’d thrown herself onto me and caused me to fall over into another room with a loud thump.

“MMPH!” I tried to yell out, as I found this weird girl lying on top of me. And... KISSING me.

Whoever this girl was... Was obviously very deranged. Why did she do this?
I forced her off my body, and turned my head away from her.

“Are you ok? Who are you?” I yelled, throwing her body off mine to the side, causing her to giggle again.

“Oh, stupid. My name’s Elizabeth... Elizabeth Comstock. But I don’t need to know your name. I already know too much!” She blurted out, standing up to grab a chair. I, on the other hand, started to crawl towards the door. Yes... She was very disturbed indeed.

“How do you know my name?” I asked, while still moving backwards slightly. Causing her to tilt her head curiously.

“You told me dunderhead. Like how you told me about My Little Pony,” she smiled, then leant over to me. “Well... Not you... Exactly...” I was baffled by this again, she was clearly out of her mind, but as she had done at the stairs, she had made me curious. So I let her continue again. “Even though I know some things, I still know little about you! So, tell me about yourself.”

I began to point at the door and speak, but Elizabeth stopped me. “Don’t worry Patch. It’ll be a short while before the Luteces come looking for you, and about the same amount of time for Cordelia comes up. So we have some time... Tell me about yourself!” Now saying the last line a bit more insistently. Making me even more worried, she oddly knew too much. But it just improved my theory of her just being completely nuts.

“You’re insane,” I suggested, causing her to laugh again. “That further proves my point.”

She settled down slightly and breathed deeply, before smiling nervously. “Ok... I knew that first meetings would probably freak you out.”

She twiddled her fingers together and started muttering to herself. I couldn’t make out most of the things she said; but I could make out certain things like: “Think Elizabeth... Think... What would HE do...”
“I follow you a lot online, your artwork is especially good. It’s easy to find you since you name your accounts the same- you’re still freaked out by me aren’t you?” I shook my head, but still felt a little grateful that she still wanted me not to be freaked out by it.

Sure she was weird, but at the same time she was interesting. I sat down on another chair and let her continue again. “Tell me a few things about yourself then. It’s rare that I get an opportunity to meet someone like this.” She put her hands between her legs and leant forward. Turning on a small lamp; I sat back on the chair I had recently acquired.

“I was born in London. Moved to Oxford in a young age; before I went to a private school where I met my friends Cordelia, Josh, Elliott, Daniel, Hannah and Tertia. I studied in art for O Levels, but after writing a few graphic novels, I eventually came to work in the sciences. I was eventually sent to a university to study with the Lutece twins.”

Elizabeth interrupted, holding her hand up. Obviously not interested with my school life and career.
“Don’t bore me with schools and hard sums! I get enough of that at home. The thing I see most prominent in your stuff online is that Pony stuff! Tell me more about that!”

My eyes shifted around for a second, then I hunched my shoulders and pouted my lips. I couldn’t see any harm of talking about Ponies to her.

“I guess it started when I was back in secondary school. I just found it lying around the internet... I saw a few episodes; and I was hooked. I think it was mostly the action that got me into it.”

She was grinning with her head resting on her hands, so I continued; “It takes place in a beautifully colourful world. Much more vibrant than most other shows. The characters are so vivid and relatable. Every situation- well, most situations I feel myself in. It helped me learn some life lessons.” I felt myself leaning forward, as a surge of nostalgia seemed to rush over me.

“Tell me about some of the characters! They sound fun!”
“Ok. It is quite a lot of detail to get into.” I leant back again and heavily sighed. “Well... There’s the booksmart Twilight; she had a cute design, yet I feel focus was drawn on her a little too much.

“-There’s Fluttershy, she had a really cute personality, she would whimper and shy away from most social situations, she had good interactions with animals, and could lash out at people if they were to ever harm her friends.

“-Applejack’s an interesting one. She’s honest when she needs to be, and will always try her best to support an apple farm that she owns. She is probably the most sympathetic of the characters, since she only really wanted to support her farm.

“-Rarity is a dressmaker in the town of Ponyville, the town the show is set in, she had a funny little sister. There’s not too much focus on her, but you see her pressure in trying to keep loyal to her friends and her love for a climb to fame to open a major dress shop in the capital of Equestria.

“-There’s the hyperactive Pinkie Pie, a completely adorable and insane pony, she didn’t really have a prime motif, but she always likes to cheer people up... And always made me smile whenever she appeared, with her adorable smile and almost inextinguishable happiness...”

I sighed for a moment as I felt a few hairs rise on the back of my neck.

"And then there's Rainbow Dash, a fast, agile pony, who possesses an amazing flying ability. Throughout the series, she was always trying to achieve things for her own personal goals, but still remaining loyal to her friends. She had one of the most interesting personalities of all the ponies. I remember dressing up as her for a convention a while back.” I chuckled a little, when thinking about how silly I thought of myself, wearing a big rainbow-coloured wig and furry wings.

“I love thinking about this kinda stuff, you should have seen the show when it was on air.” I sighed, while I saw Elizabeth still leaning forward and listening closely.

“Ok, I’m guessing you want to hear about plot don’t you?” I asked, responding in a nod.

I proceeded to recount a detailed description of all the episodes of most of season one, beginning to see the most of Elizabeth’s excitement and crazy wide-eyed stare begin to die down. I remember when I had gotten up to “The Best Night Ever” when-

“What are you DOING up here?” An, unfortunately, familiar voice blurted out from outside the door, causing me to turn around. To be met by an angry glare from Madame Lutece.

Elizabeth nervously looked around, trying to think.
“Mrs Lutece! It’s not his fault, I tricked him into coming up here! I just wanted to talk to him!”
Mrs Lutece, however, was not taking any of this.

“No! I told Patrick specifically that he should NOT come up here, and even he should have known that before following you up here!”

Elizabeth quickly dropped her brows and pouted her lips slightly.
“He couldn’t resist... I,” she paused, with obvious nerve issues. “Did That.”

The silence afterwards was eerie, as Mrs Lutece glared angrily at Elizabeth. As I saw a slight twitch in her eye. Before I could do anything else-

“Miss Cross is downstairs, I’d appreciate if you left as soon as possible Patrick.”

I sensed that Elizabeth was really in for it, probably for that display in information about me she had earlier. But now I just wanted to get out of the house, since something about Mrs Lutece’s bad mood made me really unnerved.

I received a small smile and a; “thank you” mouthed by Elizabeth before briskly walking out of the room, down the stairs and navigating the large maze of corridors before I came up to Cordelia.

“You ok? I’ve been waiting for you for a quarter of an hour now!” She asked, while we both left through the front door.

“I’m fine, Everest?” I asked, referring to a local curry restaurant that we both loved to go to. I brung it up to change the topic of the conversation. To shortly be stopped by Cordelia,

“Hold it buddy! Calm down!” She yelled, forcing me with her hand to sit down. I sighed softly and gripped my head. Shortly to be followed by Robert appearing with another cup of tea.

“Do accept my apologies for her behavior,” He said smugly, straightening his posture with the tea still in hand. “May I have a word?” Now addressing the both of us.

We couldn’t see the harm in his words. But I was hyperventilating a little at this time, so I couldn’t stand up properly. So muttering ‘smile smile smile’ under my breath, I was helped up by Cordelia and after giving me an UNhelpful slap on the back to help with my mini-panic attack.

“Are you singing Pinkie’s song?” She asked, a bit breathily as we both walked into the drawing room again.

There was Mr Lutece, sipping his tea and sitting down on another antique armchair. After putting the cup down on the arm, he leant forward slightly and put his hands together.

“I have heard... In a few days... That it’s both of your birthdays... I suppose you both will be?”

“25” We both replied, almost in complete unison. With a slight twinge of confusion.

Professor Lutece leant back and drummed his fingers together for a moment.
"25 eh? Do you know anyone else... Also reaching that age on the 1st of May on this fine year?”

I thought to myself for a moment, remembering some of my other friends. Even some that I hadn’t seen in awhile.

“Just a friend from my old school called Hannah," upon saying this, that phrase from earlier about Kings and armor popped into my head, but I chose to ignore that thought and continue without hesitation, "another called Alex, and a few pen friends online,” I said, then Mr Lutece waved his hand to make me continue. “There’s a guy in America called Dave, we met in California for a convention a few years ago, and regularly get in touch through internet communications, then there’s other people. Shef, from the navy of Australia, Rachael and Tess, also from america, Jenny Smith, Steve Antello-”

I stopped mid-sentence, and looked to the side nervously “Dodgy family” I muttered under my voice. “And John- a good fellow. Probably the one who I see the most of in my times online.”

Mr Lutece then handed me a small leaflet.

“I would like it if you and your friends would be happy to join me, Rosalind and...have you become acquainted with Miss Elizabeth?” I nodded, “Yes, miss Elizabeth for a special kind of birthday get-together to celebrate your achievements throughout your time with us, and to celebrate this major milestone in your lives!”

I looked around a bit, “Like I said, Mr Lutece. Those people are my PEN Friends, I doubt that they’ll all fly over from America, Military Duty or Nutso Families for one night!” I looked briefly at the leaflet. “But I think the ones in the country would be happy to join us. Thank you Mr Lutece.”

Mr Lutece nodded silently, as a small smile appeared on his long, straight expression.

“I will see you in a few days then you two. Now be off with you, you have a curry to get to.”

We proceeded to walk out of the room, with a quick tip of the heads to signify thanks. And then walked down the narrow pathway back to the old car.

I turned around for a moment and looked at the house again. While Cordelia continued to walk away, I looked back at a window that particularly took my interest. And there was Elizabeth.

She waved down to me, with signs that she had been crying in her eyes. But she still held that demented smile that she had greeted me with when I was in the upper floors of the house, but she was evidently getting my attention for some reason.
She stopped waving and began to mouth something, “Five Score Divided By Four” I could make out slightly. As I remember seeing on that tape, which in turn caused Déja Vu.

I mouthed back to her a simple ‘what?’, only to have her grin and give me a thumbs up. Before she stepped out of sight and back in doors, and leaving me baffled to even walk.

Cordelia and I got into the car and I started up the old engine, while recounting the strange experience I just had with that girl.

How did she know about me?

What was so bad ABOUT her knowing about me?

What was with her fascination with MY obsession with My Little Pony?

Why did she warn me away from that tape?

My mind was overworked, so I disengaged the handbrake and began to drive back into the city. With Cordelia also looking through the small booklet beside me. I smiled, thinking about the curry that we would soon enjoy, and just tried to look on the bright side of the situation. But I couldn’t, since throughout that visit, one question had been on my mind, and even stronger now that Elizabeth had said it.

What does “Five Score Divided By Four” mean to me?

Author's Note

In this chapter I give the first real example of Elizabeths powers and the Five Score treatment.

I tried to make Luteces as close as I could to the originals from Bioshock, while also making Elizabeth the slightly mad but smart person in my roster of characters.

I hope the shout-out to my personal 5S/4 fics aren't too pretentious.

Part 1: Chapter 4: Darius Jem

"Mr Taylor?" A voice said from behind a small desk. "How may I be helping you today?"

“I’m here to see Elliott, he was admitted the other day,” I replied, standing in front of the black-faced secretary.

She typed into a computer in front of her for a few moments. “Oh, yes. Mr ‘Harvey Dent.’ Nasty scars on that kid. Are you family?” She asked with a slight whine in her voice.

“No, just a close friend. I owe it to him, even though I saved-"

I was interrupted quickly. “Then, I’m sorry. We’re only allowing close family or V.I.P.s into his room at the moment. You’ll be able to see him once we’ve sorted through his procedure. I can book in an appointment for next-”

“No!” I snapped. “I want to see him now. I want to be sure that he’s okay!”

The secretary gave me a very stern look. “Well, I can’t change hospital procedures just to revolve around you, SIR. And do know that he is in very good hands here at the John Radcliffe!”

Already she was kinda pissing me off with just her voice.

“Hey, don’t speak to me like that, bitch! This is MY FRIEND we are talking about here. And I want to see him to make sure he’s safe and healthy!”

She leant forward as I saw a few people staring at us from around the large lobby.

“I understand that you value your friend dearly. But we can’t just let anyone waltz in there. I barely know if you even know him. And address me with such language again, sir, and I’ll call security!”

I was about to give this woman a full serving of my fist. But my internal moral code stopped me just as a phone started to ring on her desk. She shortly picked it up.

I couldn’t hear the person on the other line. Yet her dialogue was crisp and clear. “Hello, John Radcliffe Hospital, how may I be helping you today?”

A muffled voice spoke up from the other end, which, after a few moments, drew an odd look from her, as she turned and looked at me. “Yes. Someone like that is here. Who is this?”

There was another short moment before her eyes lit up wide. Her cheeks reddened brightly and she started to breath quickly and heavily. “Oh, sir!” She gasped. “Yes, yes! I’ll send him up immediately!”

There was another moment of quiet, before she suddenly giggled loudly to herself. Who the hell could be on the other end?

“Ooh! Thank you, sir. I would like that very much sir but;” she then whispered the next bit, “I’ll meet you for… dinner. And then… something... Special?” She then giggled loudly again and waved her hand quickly beside her face. “OOH! Thank you, sir. Call me!”

She slammed the phone down hastily, her face as red as a cherry.

“You can go up to Mr Wong, Patrick. He’s on the Seventh Floor, door at the end of the first corridor if you take the elevator!”

I was shocked, but I kinda expected it. Yet still, I had to ask.

“But what about the rules? Isn’t there massive security issues with this?”

“Oh, SCREW THOSE! Just go ahead! I’ve got a date to prepare for!”

I walked off towards the elevator as the receptionist was laughing to herself and spinning around on her chair. I tried not to look back, as I worried about what her reaction would be. What a crazy little bitch.

I always liked the lifts in hospitals. Since it had glass surrounding it, so you could see the rooms below. Yet the way that the elevator tannoy spoke was slightly disconcerting. And I always liked to see if I could get up or down the stairs faster than the lift could.

“Seventh Floor,” The lift spoke up in a smooth, monotone voice, obviously suffering dearly from its use and the scars of time. I wondered though, even with all the budget that this hospital would receive from the people’s tax money, the people running the place still wouldn’t fix that bloody tannoy. Yet I still remembered a lift in a flat my grandparents used to own where the tannoy sounded like it was suffering throat cancer and was holding on dearly to its last breath.

As I hopped off the lift, I was exposed to the normal chaos that would normally happen in a hospital. Doctors were running around; angry friends of patients yelling at doctors; a patient who obviously SHOULD be at A&E, but somehow managed to find his way to the 7th floor despite missing one of his arms; people being wheeled around on hospital beds. But I managed to overlook some of them, in order to get to Elliott’s room.

I opened the door and took out a card from my pocket. His room was quite spacious, yet felt cold and clean at the same time. But there he was, lying motionless on the bed.

“Hiya Elliott,” I waved, keeping my voice down slightly. But I received no reply, as the only sound I heard was the gentle sound of his breathing, and the slow beeps of the heart monitor next to him. I found a chair and pulled it up beside the bed.

“Funny how this happened, eh,” I murmured. “Something so stupid as a little game. I’m so sorry Elliott.”

I placed the card down on a little bowl next to his bed. I knew that he couldn’t hear me at the moment, but I still tried to make sure that he knew it was me.

“I got you a card… Plus a little money to just say… Sorry… For what we did.”

Elliott did not respond however. He just remained silent and motionless, and I bowed my head in slight shame.

Half of his head was covered in bandages, with medical tape going along the horizontal of his face. The bandaging was thick and left a lot to the imagination, but I still remember dragging him out to see him resembling nothing less than Gustavo Fring from the last episode of series 3 of Breaking Bad. The poor sod was lucky to be alive from his injuries ALONE.

At this time, I probably would have taken advantage of his injuries and left a coin on the side of his bed. Heck, even the receptionist had nicknamed him Harvey Dent from what I could tell. But I didn’t feel like it. Something in my head was ticking differently since I made that choice back in the lab. Nothing big that I really took into consideration, but something was going on differently in there.

I looked around a bit again. Before noticing something on the side of his bed next to my card. A quite high-class looking card, with some writing. But in a handwriting I could always recognise.

It was a slightly snappy comment, but something I definitely would not expect to be in a ‘get well soon’ card.

“Dont die, K? DJ.”

A figure burst through the door, wearing a full suit, shades and an earpiece. The classic, almost cliché, appearance of what a bodyguard would look like.

“Excuse me?” He asked in a stern tone. Straightening his posture, as did I, slightly. “Who gave you permission to be here, sir? Do note that this suite is reserved for the-”

“Don’t worry Craig, he’s a friend. Take the hour off and get yourself a sandwich, ‘kay bud?” A voice interrupted from outside of the room. Causing the bodyguard to look at the man in an odd way before shrugging his shoulders and walking off. To only be greeted by some flashes from cameras and some general mumbling from other people outside.

“Is Elliott’s injury attracting the press? Am I gunna be famous?” I asked in my head. But my question was answered properly and promptly by another figure entering the room. This was a figure that I had seen coming, but did not expect.

He had a broad posture, like Robert Lutece, but lacking the sign of eccentricity and wore the stature like he wore a large black suit and purple tie. But the thing that was his key feature, was his face. With an inviting smile surrounded by a masculine beard, and short spiky hair. With a thick jawline and finally his eyes.

No one could ever forget the eyes of Darius Jem.

“Darius. You son of a bitch!” I yelled, embracing my friend in a hug. As did he return the favor.

“It’s good to see you on such harsh times at the moment, Patch,” he replied, as I realised why he was here.

“Are you attempting to make publicity out of my friend’s injuries for your campaign, Darius?” I asked.

Darius scoffed for a moment. Before holding onto my shoulder. “No, Patrick. Would I do that? A rescue story is not the sadness and pity of the victim. But the humility and bravery of the hero!”

I sat down on the chair again and rolled my eyes. “Darius, I told you that all this ‘Prime Minister’ stuff is not something that I like to get myself involved in!”

Where are my manners, sorry. Now let me tell you about Darius Jem.

Years before I was born, my mother used to go out with a man with serious amnesia and a strange and rare degenerative disease that left his skin pale and his scelera tinted hauntingly black. She found him on the streets alone, and his stunning looks took the better of her. And soon she had him back on his feet and made him a better man. Despite not having him come to any conclusion on his identity beforehand, she gave him a place to stay and food to eat before, after a few weeks, he left on his own terms. Without saying a word, or taking anything with him except my grandfather's old tie.

About a month later, he arrived at her doorstep with a bunch of flowers and a large sum of money. She was shocked by his sudden appearance and wealth.

When she allowed him into her house again, he revealed that he was given a second chance in life due to a man known as Hermeas Mora. Who gave him enough power and wealth to begin what would become a multi-million pound enterprise known as 'The Government' despite not having any connection to politics ironically.

But he thanked my mother for helping him achieve the courage to find this man and saved his life from a life of poverty.

And soon they were a close couple, despite him still not having a name. So they moved in together and they shared and flourished in his wealth.

Soon the man was given a name; due to my mother finding an old children's rhyme.

He and my mother both thought that Darius Jem would be a fitting name for him. Despite the darkness the character was described with in this manner.

But it wasn’t long before he wanted her to become more than just close friends. He had it all planned, he would use his company to book an entire evening at the Ritz in London. He would get his employees to play her favourite song, get the chef to make her favourite meal to make her feel wonderful before he would get down on one knee and propose to her.

But then she left him.

She didn’t do the ‘I don’t want to see you again’ crap. She left him a note on their bed. Explaining how that she had been seeing another man. And that, even though she had done so much for him, and his kindness was very great to her: He was greedy, arrogant and slightly selfish. She didn’t want to be with a man that would only think about himself.

And so, in a few months, my mother married my father. And gave up a life of wealth with a man she made happy; to be with a man that made her happy. But even at her wedding, he was there. Not in spite, yet in the front row, clapping as they kissed at the alter.

They kept in touch, of course. After a few months, when I was born. My mother agreed Darius would be my guardian and godfather, if I were to ever need him.

But, since I suffered a rare form of autism from a young age. I was also prone to anger issues. So my mother could not put me into any public schools. And instead; I was taught and tested and examined by Darius himself. He was a good teacher, and acted as a good friend to me.

Whatever I learnt from him would always stay in my head. Even some things I later deemed 'pointless' I could write a 20 page essay on, about simply how it is related to how ink is used in pens! But this did mean, that when I did eventually go to a secondary school, I excelled quickly and always kept ahead of my classes. Eventually leading to me getting bullied a lot.

He was nice to have around, before he started to move into political work.

At first, it was minor things, like being a council member. And then, when I was in upper sixth form: he became Prime Minister of Great Britain.

He didn’t boast about it, far from it. The only change was that I would see him far less than usual: and when I did see him, most of our conversations would be of politics and other ‘delights’. Gradually, I would begin to hate those kinds of conversations, as mine and his life became slowly distant.

An opportunity where Darius would be involved in something to do with my own personal life was a rare one; and a suspicious one. But now, he wanted to use me!

You never know what you could expect from that strange and polite man.

Darius scoffed and sat down on the opposite side of the bed. “Don’t worry, Patrick. All this is, is good publicity! You don’t need to get into the politics of it all. And we could catch up on old times too!”

“No, Darius. I know that this will benefit your campaign. But this is still my friend we are talking about here. I’m not sure even he would like that.”

“Oh, you mean the Tabloids?” He asked, giving an indication to the people crammed up against the door, taking pictures with their cameras pressed up against the glass. He then pressed a little button on a phone in his pocket, and then shortly after; one of his guards pushed the press out of the way.

“But, I’m guessing you knew what happened then?” He asked, referring to Elliott. I looked to the side.

“Simple chemistry mistake made by a foolish competition, he received the full front of the blast; and was not escorted properly as the room fell up with poisonous gases. I went in to make sure that he wouldn’t die from the latter.”

I coughed heavily, causing Darius to raise one eyebrow. “Was that caused by the gases?”

I was going to deny it as a simple cough, but he did have a point. I did pass out after going into that room. “I don’t know,” I said, worryingly. Growing ever fearful now, even standing up. “Am I going to die?”

Darius held his head in his hands. “With a cough as strong as that, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were already a goner.”

“FUCK! JESUS!” I yelled, now running around a bit, holding my temples tight. “I’M GOING TO DIE, FOR FUCK’S SAKE, CHECK ME IN IF- You’re bull shitting me aren’t you?”

Darius broke down in a fit of chuckles. And pointed at me while straightening his sunglasses. “You should have seen your face there, Patrick! Priceless!”

He did have me fooled, and I could imagine the look I would have had on my face. But I still came round and punched him on the arm jokingly. “Oi! It was just a joke! Don’t do that around my guards, they’ll think you’re committing treason!”

“In a hospital, that kind of joke is most definitely not funny, Darius,” I said as he stood up and towered over me.

“True, but you shouldn’t fret anyway. If you were going to die, you’d be dead already. You’re just recovering, that’s all.” He turned to Elliott, then back to me, dropping his grin slightly. “Are you done here? Or are you here for a long visit? Since I would like to talk more in a bit less of a public place.”

I shrugged, “I’m free for the moment. I just wanted to see if he was in safe hands.”

Darius looked left and right assertively, announcing to himself. “Hey, a friend of yours better have good conditions for health care. That’s one part of my job!” Then, while addressing Elliott’s bandages; “And, unless he likes half his face blown off; I can see if we can get some reconstructive surgery done on him. To get him less of the ‘Two-Face’ look.”

I smiled gently, as we both started to walk out of the room. “Thanks Darius. But you’d better ask his parents before doing something like that.”

“When I have the time. But now we have some more pressing matters,” he said, holding the door open for me. Then he suddenly pressed hard on my shoulders. “Straighten your posture Patrick, you don’t look good with rounded shoulders.” I did so, and we both took the elevator down to the ground floor.

“My place or yours?” I asked, causing him to become confused and stare at me from an angle.

“For what exactly?”

“It’s obvious you want to interview me, Darius. You’re a terrible liar. So we might as well get the political wishy-washy stuff out of the way. Where should we go, then?”

Darius smiled, but shrugged. “You won’t mind if we head back to your place? My place is usually packed with tourists and the press. Plus… You know, Downing Street?”

“True,” I replied as we left the doors of the hospital, to be greeted by two cars. A Limo, and a Lambo.

“Luxury or speed, Taylor?” He asked, referring to the two cars, forcing me to raise one eyebrow and glare at Darius with a mouth pushed to the side. “The usual, sir?” He asked ironically; before tossing me a few keys and indicating with his head to the chauffeur in the limo. “Try not to crash it, please Patch! This thing costed me, and taxpayers money!”

I got into the yellow raging beast and turned the key when Darius got in the other side of the car. With the engine revving up, I booted up the sat-nav.

This was what I liked most about his visits.

“Hold on…” I said, slowing down the car slightly.

“Something wrong?”

“Not really. Just someone I know.” I then turned to out the window, where I saw Elizabeth walk down the street. I pulled down the window, and pulled into a little curb. “Elizabeth? Hey, Elizabeth!”

Elizabeth was wearing the same clothes I first met her in, but she only looked at me briefly before walking away slightly quickly.

I was curious again, so I turned off the engine and stepped out of the door quickly.

“Hey, Patrick? What’s the hurry, and… Keys?” Darius yelled, also stepping out the car, but holding onto the keys.

“Just a sec, Darius, I just need to talk to someone.” I then started to run after Elizabeth. But not in a way to raise attention. She glared at me when I grabbed her shoulder.

“Hey. What’s up?” I asked. Only to have her shrug her shoulders.

“I thought you were the Lambo-type. Didn’t expect to run into you here though,” she replied.

“Well, you know everything else about me. I would have expected that you would know that this street is on my way home!”

“I should have known, I’d expect that you’d like to talk about that… But it seems you are busy already.”

Darius ran up to us both, and slammed a hand down on my shoulder. “You’re a fast runner, Patrick… Who’s the girl?”

There was a moment’s pause as the three of us just stared at each other. “This… Is Elizabeth… We met only the other day. She works with the Luteces.”

Darius stuck out his bottom lip and nodded gently. “Those two, eh? I heard they were planning something big recently. Anyway- I’m-”

Elizabeth then cut across in a monotone voice. “Darius Jem: current Prime Minister and Godfather to Patrick Taylor. You spent millions of taxpayers’ money last year on personal goods and government projects that were deemed to fail from the outset. You suffer from Chronos Corpus, and have had up to this date twenty-six sexual partners.”

“Cripes, you’ve done your research, haven’t you?” Darius blurted, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“She did that with me too. I was just wondering how she does it.”

“It’s good to see you again, Patrick. But I’d rather not with him around.”

There was another pause.

"Er... Why?" Darius inquired, pushing back his sunglasses.

"I'm sorry, Prime Minister. You might have good votes; but I still don't like you."

Darius shrugged and chuckled. “You aren’t the only one who doesn’t trust me, my dear. But I can see why you want your privacy. I’ll be waiting in the car.” Darius straightened his jacket and walked off. So I diverted my attention back to Elizabeth.

“He’s gone now, so… Can we-” I was then grabbed by Elizabeth tightly. In such a way, that it would look like a kiss from afar. “What the fuck are you-?!”

“Don’t speak another word,” she whispered, holding me tightly. “I don’t want to spread panic.” She then slipped her hand into my pocket and deposited a small object into it. “When the clock strikes twelve tomorrow on the eve of the mid of spring. The curse will be lifted. And your power will awaken.”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow, then!” she then exclaimed rather loudly, shifting her tone to a happier rhyme.

“What the hell was that-?”

“Meet you at the Luteces, then,” she interrupted again, turning and walking off. Leaving me in the dark once more, even darker this time in fact.

“Hey!” I yelled, trying to get her attention. Thankfully, she turned and raised her head slightly.

“Yeah?”

“When we last saw each other, you mouthed something: ‘Five Score Divided By Four’, which mathematically works out to Twenty Five. What did you mean by that?”

Elizabeth smiled and just walked off. Without saying another word. It was obvious that I wouldn’t be getting any more information from her… without cutting her head open-

Calm down brain!

I went back to the car again, and revved up the engine.

“What was with her? She your special someone?” Darius asked sarcastically, arranging a few cards in his hands.

“Not really,” I replied. Staring blankly at the mysterious girl walking away from us on the street. “In fact, I barely know her.”

“Sudden interest… Because?” He asked again.

“She finds ways of getting to me. I haven’t found anyone else in my life who knows everything about me and the first thing she wants to know is about My Little Pony.”

Darius chuckled as I pulled out into the road again. “Still into that show? But I would like to meet her again, even if she hates my guts.”

“You manage to pull it off with my mother every time you come round. And she still wants to hit you with a truck every time!”

Darius laughed heartily and we both continued driving back home.

“Tea, Prime Minister?” offered Cordelia, holding the steaming brew above his cup.

“Yes, that would be nice Cordelia. No sugar, please.” He accepted the hot beverage graciously, and Cordelia walked out of the room shortly after, now holding her phone with the teapot in the other hand. “So, how did you piece it together?”

I then told him about the other day, and the series of thoughts that crossed my mind before I found him. As Darius listened closely. When I finished, there was a pause as he took some things down on a notepad.

“Not exactly Sherlock Holmes. I would have expected that it would have taken something a little more than year nine Chemistry and Physics,” he smirked, wisely.

“It would be more than most people could handle, and besides: the room was full of poisonous gases and low visibility.”

“True. But you can advance my conclusions for the press, if you like. There’s no real thing stopping you.”

Darius tipped his glasses back and smiled smugly. “That isn’t my policy. The truth… And Only the truth.”

“And what of the newspaper, nowadays? I heard you were still working on that,” I asked, grabbing a copy of the Uncovered Times on my counter. “And, I see you aren’t afraid to admit to your own mistakes. This, however is one of my favourites-” I then started to read from the newspaper.

“‘Prime Minister does Charity run, for Charity. Hopes to raise money for Charity,’

with a picture of you, crossing your fingers and chuckling. Then on the next day-” I then took out another paper.

“‘Prime Minister wastes taxpayers’ money on new extension.’

With a picture of you, with a frankly marvelous extension to your own house, giving the finger to the camera.

‘“At least I’m fucking honest,” remarks Darius Jem’

.”

Darius and I laughed as Cordelia walked back in and sat down on my sofa with me. Cordelia looked down at me, moved slightly away, and sipped her tea. Darius then stopped laughing for a moment and snapped his fingers.

“Ooh, yes! Thanks for reminding me about something. That girl from earlier, I thought that I recognised her! She sometimes does the horoscopes on page 24.”

I stopped for a moment, thinking over. Looking at Cordelia for guidance, before I grabbed another newspaper for today. And, there it was… Elizabeth Comstock; daily horoscope. With a small picture of her, looking as cheery as I remembered her.

And under what my star sign would be, there it was;

“This is a tremendous day for you, Taurus. You may find that dreams really can come true. Make sure you stay abreast of communication and periodicals. Let your fingers dip into many different pies and keep a notepad handy. Your brilliant strokes of inspiration may come on a whim, so be ready to receive them. The genius within you yearns to spring forth.”

“Pretty upbeat. But still makes as much sense as any other horoscope.”

“Such as?”

“No sense whatsoever!” Cordelia and I chuckled. We did not believe in astrology in any way. But liked to read horoscopes just to see what all the fuss was about, and just to see how ridiculous they were. And we soon found Darius was also chuckling.

We stopped laughing for a moment, as Darius sighed and stared guardedly at the two of us on the sofa.

“Why aren’t you two together?” He remarked, as I threw down the newspapers, to have my head snap back up to him.

“What?” Cordelia blurted, tad annoyed with the comment.

“Last time we met, Patrick was absolutely gaga for you! But now I see you, it seems like an invisible wall has been wedged between you!” He gestured with his hand a wall between us. As we looked at each other awkwardly. “See that! What the hell is going on?”

There was a silence, that fell on all of us. Only to be broken by Joshua coming back home.
“Hey guys. Sorry I’m late; I was a bit caught up in work a bit-” He stopped to stare at Darius. “P-p-p-prime Minister!”

Darius stood up to address my friend. But I only saw a look of disgust on his face. “Don’t address me, as such, Mr Newport. But I would prefer if you were to address me as ‘sir’.”

“Thank you, sir… May I ask why you are here?” He asked, obviously sweating from Darius’ tall and wide posture. But Darius took advantage of his height and leant over him.

“I was just here to ask Patrick some questions about his little ‘event’. But I have all I need,” he addressed to me now. But Josh was now also sitting down as Darius marked his position humorously.

“Do you wish… to have dinner, sir?” Josh whimpered. Leading to another smirk and a chuckle.

“No, you don’t need to cook. For a start; I doubt someone of your…” He paused, looking upon the Costa Coffee logo still on his shirt and widened his eyes, “... expertise, would be able to make a meal of certain quality. Plus, Patrick and Cordelia already have offered to make us all dinner tonight.”

“We have?” Cordelia asked, still slightly angry about Darius’ early point.

“Oh yes. But I’d suggest you two better get to it! I have time, but I think we’re all hungry! Don’t worry though-” He then turned back to Josh. “I’ll play nice.”

We were both grudgingly moved into the kitchen. Giving ourselves confused looks. But eventually, Cordelia shrugged and picked out a recipe from ‘Julia Child; Mastering the Art of French Cooking.’ Before glaring out back to the sitting room, to hear muffled shouting. She breathed heavily through her mouth. “What is that guy’s problem with Josh? What did he ever do?”

I grinned, but keeping back my laughter. “Darius respects us, but looks down on Josh. You and I see the nice guy in him. But Darius hates his guts!”

“Why does he need to be so rude, though?”

“And why did we break up?”

“Sorry?” She questioned, sternly. Showing sheer anger to me now.

“No, don’t change the subject! He was right. We were great friends, almost boyfriend and girlfriend! Then Sophia happened, and now you won’t be seen near me unless Josh is banging you upright!”

Cordelia stepped towards me, and slapped me hard on the cheek. Giving an unfamiliar sting in my jaw. “Don’t say that!”

“Cordelia, please!” I yelled, rubbing my cheek in pain.

“And how could it possibly be over if it never even started to begin with?” She yelled angrily. “You were weird, Patrick! And Sophia helped me see that. Even though you hated her, she helped me not become just the wasted girlfriend for you.”

“You’re dull, Josh isn’t. And you don’t take any risks, Josh does. And don’t think that finding out that you like… Goddamn ponies! And giving me one night- where I felt sorry for you, and took the blame for you, just to show me your little fetish and hope that I feel any different about you!”

I stopped, and stared for a moment at Cordelia. She was breathing heavily, as I saw it hit her in the face. What she had said to me was one of the most awful and hurtful things ANYONE had said to me. And from someone that I felt close to all of these years made it hurt more.

“Well,” I stammered, seeing Cordelia tear up and begin to step towards me. “I hope you have a lovely evening!”

“Patrick: I’m sorry!”

“No, no! It’s fine. You three need your privacy!” I started to storm out of the kitchen and grab my phone and a warm jacket.

“Patrick, please!”

I did not stop walking out. I was furious and devastated, but I wasn’t going to walk out without a show.

“Just tell Darius that I have something going on tonight! I’m sure that he’ll be fine with that.”

“Patrick,” Cordelia whimpered, trying to reach out to me.

“Enjoy your fucking evening!”

I slammed the door, without saying another word. But it seemed that I wasn’t going to see myself back in that house tonight. I stayed by the door for a moment, and just heard her sobbing. I walked away; and went out onto the high street. Holding back my own angry tears as much as I could.

I tried not thinking about the incident a few moments ago. I just walked on my own, soaking up the message Cordelia had given to me.

It was quite late into the night at that time. So no-one was really on the streets, while the night was dark and cool. If a little TOO cool.

It then hit me that I had just walked out of my own house. And it was a late spring night. So I would still need a place for the night. Thus, I got out my phone and dialed a number. before that phrase popped into my head once more. "The Queen must bring the King his armor, before he engages in battle." I chose to ignore it, before pressing the green button.

“Hello?” A familiar voice spoke on the phone.

“Hi Hannah,” I murmured with a hoarse voice. “It’s Patrick.”

There was a short silence as the information was digested. “Hi, Patrick. Is there any reason for your calling? At this time, no less?”

"It's not too much. But, could I crash at your place tonight? Something happened with me and Cordie, and I kinda walked out on my own accord."

There was a heavy sigh on the phone. But she understood, obviously.

“I have some guests round at the moment. Sorry if something bad happened, I’ll have my guest room made up. Just don’t get killed on your way here.” She said before a car narrowly passed by me.

"Arsehole!" I yelled at the careless driver. Taking my phone away and giving him the finger. "Anyway, thanks Hannah! See you in a bit."

"See you, Patrick."

I hung up, and punched the directions into Google Maps to get to Hannah's house.

Hannah's house was not exactly something to behold. It was more of a typical North Oxford house that she had bought herself.

And in the driveway, there was her specially customised Rolls-Royce. With the colouring to match the MLP villain; Queen Chrysalis. Even getting a cool green under glow! Also bought herself.

But with other people's credit cards.

Ever since she left school, Hannah took a bit of a dark turn. Becoming an identity criminal.

Any sane person would report this, but as you could probably tell by now, I'm not exactly sane. So I still kept her close, but remaining wary and silent about the whole forging credit cards and stealing other's money.

Mostly since she was the only person who could really understand me.

But not in a creepy way, like Elizabeth was.

I knocked on the door, using the loud knocker, but only knocking once as my trademark for people who knew me. But it was short moments before I could get a reply. As the door crept open to reveal the Luteces on the other side.

Rosalind was the first to speak up. “Oh. Hello Patrick. Your timing was…”

“-Unexpected” Robert cut across. “And yet, your appearance here-”

“Not as surprising.”

I just stood, blinking twice as the two looked back at me.

“Are you going to come in?” Rosalind asked forcefully.

“We, were just leaving,” Robert retorted.

“We have done all we need to do-”

“And you have yet to begin,” Robert said, as they both stood to the side, allowing me to walk into the house. Thinking nothing about them.

I was halfway down the main corridor before turning back to the door as it slammed shut. The rest of the house was brightly lit by ceiling and wall lights. I heard a general rustle from the end of the corridor, and gently wandered into the living room.

“Hiya Hannah.” I murmured quietly, seeing her glancing up at me while quickly putting something in her pocket. “Whatcha got there?”

She refused to take her hand out of her pocket, but leaned back casually. “Just an early birthday present from the Luteces. Nothing special,” She growled quietly.

“Mind if I sit down?”

“Sure!” She then shuffled up slightly on her sofa.

“What was it?” I wondered, referring to her pocket when I spoke.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” She retorted. Leaning in a bit closer.

I paused for a moment. “The Luteces haven’t given me anything. Plus, even if they did. I kinda left in a hurry. I didn’t have time for much, instead of my phone.”

“Pity,” She pouted, looking down as she took something out of her pocket.

The object was a strange black crown, metallic in appearance, but seemed cold and hard. With small turquoise orbs topping the four spikes that spread out from the small base: which could barely cover one’s forehead.

It was a replica of Queen Chrysalis’ crown.

“Good isn’t it?” Hannah smirked, propping the Onyx Crown on the top of her head. “I’m surprised that the two would spend that much money on a My Little Pony cosplay item!”

I glared at her. “‘That much’ money? How much is; ‘that much’?”

She took the crown off her head. “They didn’t tell me exactly, but they told me something close,” leaning in, she tapped on the crown base. “This stuff is a rare form of Chitin. You know;”

“A polymer of N-acetylglucosamine molecules,” we said in unison.

“But the catch is,” Hannah continued, “No-one knows what animal it came from! It was a fluke that the Luteces managed to get hold of it! And after doing some stuff with it; they shaped it and gave it to me!” She popped the crown back on her head. “Pretty cool, eh?”

I flicked the crown with my finger slowly. It remained in place as it made a metallic ‘ping’. “Quite metal-y, though. No known animal?”

“Probably. It’s not certain whether it was an animal at all!”

I smirked. “Maybe… Changeling?”

Hannah gave me a look of ‘yeah, right’ before announcing ironically, “And this day was going to be perfect, until you made that quip!” In Chrysalis’ tone of voice.

I giggled at her, "Yes my Queen, it shall be and The Queen must bring the King his armor, before he engages in battle." I slipped out at the last moment, causing Hannah to raise an eyebrow and giggle gently.

We both chuckled awkwardly before her phone went off. And with a short swift movement, she answered it.
She turned away so I couldn’t hear in on most of the conversation.

“Yeah… yeah… Don’t worry, he’s here. What do you… Oh, I see… Don’t worry, I’ll… Oh, that’s fine. Thank you…Hope to meet you soon, okay? Bye then.”

I tilted my head, “Was that Cordelia? What was she saying?”

Hannah put her phone in her pocket. “No. It was the Prime Minister. He was wondering where you were, and why you left so quickly.”

“It doesn’t matter, Hannah. I just felt a little depressed.”

She then smiled, concerned, but with only one side of her mouth.

“Do you care?” I asked.

“Not in the slightest.”

“Just as I expected from you.”

“Ponies? That’ll get your hopes up,” she asked, pointing to a presumably stolen TV.

“Why not?” I replied. Not giving much more than a shrug.

So we both watched the entirety of Season one, two and three before she went to bed and crashed on the couch. I still tried distracting myself from the events from earlier, but it didn’t really matter to me.

With the hospitality people give me these days. What’s left to expect any more.

Author's Note

Finally got that one out. Sorry for the slow update. But I managed to get it out just a few days after my birthday. Yay! Here, I introduce two new characters. The next chapter will be from the point of view of Hannah, for a change.

A big thank you to StrayanPhoenix772. Author of another Five Score Story; (And a great one at that) Earning Wings of a Different Nature, for editing this story!

Part 1: Chapter 5: Hannah

Hannah’s Story.

“What do you want?” A creature in my dreams snapped.

“I do not wish harm, Insect. But rather, to make you an offer.” A new voice emerged, more regal, but possessed the slight rasp of a snake.

“What could you offer ME? Death? Is that what fate you offered the one that fell?”

The vision became clearer as the next one who spoke came slowly into view. Showing a twinge of the mouth. “I guess that word of the ‘incident’ spreads quickly…”

The first raised her head, to assume a more dominant position. “It does, if your species is cursed with a hivemind.”

There was an eerie moment of silence. But the vision became clearer as time went on.

“Why am I not sending my children to attack you, Celestia? Why aren’t they tearing you limb from limb?”

‘Celestia’ then only chuckled and spread her wings. With her vibrant fiery hair blowing in an intangible wind. And her teeth showing through gaping holes of flesh on the face stripped bare of skin. “Because you know what has become of me. You know that my thirst for blood has been awakened. And I now long to see those that are enemies fall beneath me!”

She leaned into me, as I now took the position of the other voice.

“As do you, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis leapt back, at least as much as she could. “Mother will hear of this!”

“And she should. For I am offering you and your people something more valuable than just an invasion.” Celestia said with a sly voice and a devilish grin.

Chrysalis paced around the taller figure, with a state of confusion and panic.

“What could you offer the changelings?”

“Peace, a home among the lands of Equestria, a direct say in the rulings of the land and millions of subjects to feed on.”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened. She stopped as if she was just hit by a horde of ravenous parasprites. “You’re bluffing! No princess has ever given that choice, and no ruler of Equestria in their right mind would give the changelings that much power!”

Celestia scowled. “Do you insult my offer? I could take it directly to the queen. What would she do if she knew you refused?”

Chrysalis’ eye twitched. Before smiling angrily. “What do you wish… In return… From… Me?”

“Clever girl.” Celestia hissed, before using levitation to lift something off of her back. Well, more like somePONY.

“What is this? A meal? Why this-” Chrysalis was then interrupted.

“No, he is not a meal! You will have plenty to suit your needs once the deal is done… THIS,” She then referred to the sleeping colt on the ground. “IS the deal!”

“What would you have me do with a small colt? Who is this? Would you have me raise this creature as my own? Even with the clear species gap?”

Celestia lashed out. “That is exactly what I intend YOU to do, Chrysalis. And not to your mother. Eternal peace between ponykind and changelings: If you raise this pony to be one of your own.”

Chrysalis sat down, staring at the pony once more. “You have lost your mind Celestia. What makes this one so special?”

“Nothing you should worry about. You should consider my bargain Chrysalis.”

She raised her hoof, addressing the sleeping pony again. “The salvation and freedom of your people, for the raising of a child. Deal, or no deal?”

There was a long pause as Chrysalis waited and thought. Before looking up at the princess. “You’ve changed… Celestia. But…” She smiled a toothy grin. “We would say… Changed for the better.”

Celestia laughed maniacally. To be joined gently with Chrysalis. “I accept, and I am sure that mother will agree. And we will organise a mass migration to the surface world. And this pony will be with us!”

Celestia smiled, and bowed graciously to the Changeling Princess.

"Then let a reign of peace be born in this land!" She announced triumphantly. "But now, I must go. A king waits for me in the crystal empire."

Chrysalis nodded, keeping her grin. Before levitating the pony in the blanket with her magic. But also, stopping for a moment to observe the strange features of the Alicorn.

"Princess," She asked, to have Celestia stop in her hoofsteps.

"Chrysalis. I would appreciate if you would address me as 'Queen'."

"Ok, my QUEEN. What is the name of this pony? Does he have one?"

The skinless Queen with fire for her hair turned. With her draconian gaze meeting once more with the changeling.

"He is called; 'Chronos'."

"Just put your, little hand in mine, there ain’t no mountain or hill we can’t climb-" My alarm blared, with my eyes still in the comfortable abyss of darkness.

Resisting opening my eyes, I took a blind stab with my finger in turning off the alarm.

I had no real grasp on the dream I had just then. Since my mind was only piecing together some fragments, leaving the rest as a blur in my subconsciousness.

"Teeth to the tongue and the Tip Of the liPS," I recited twice, just getting my voice in check before the day. Coughing twice to get rid of the flem that was there before. And then slapping myself a couple of times to properly wake myself up. I needed some tea.

I got into a dressing gown and made it down to my kitchen, while reminiscing over my dream and the night before. Patrick just turned up, no real questions asked. But in my opinion, it wasn't really like him to just walk out on a friend like that.

Speaking of Patrick, I couldn't hear much from him. I peered around to the living room again, whilst sipping some freshly made tea, wincing a little at its sudden heat, to see Patrick completely sprawled out on the sofa. With a couple of cushions lying about the place.

He wasn't snoring, and yet he seemed in a deep sleep. So in order to keep him peaceful and (from personal experiences with some rarer situations) SANE. I decided to leave him be to wake up on his own times. Besides, it's both of our birthdays today and tomorrow, he needs the rest more than I do.

He coughed a couple of times, but didn’t move much from his current position. I went upstairs again to get prepared for the day. I couldn't get that weird phrase out of my head; "The Queen must bring the King his armor, before he engages in battle." It was weirdly poetic, but poetically weird, I couldn't help but notice this.

I should have noticed the blood dribbling from Patrick’s mouth.

“Alrighty, shoppingshoppingshopping.” I thought to myself, waltzing through the city centre, trying to find a shop that took my interest.

I noticed a few odd glances at me as I went down the street, but nothing too bad. Despite making me wonder why they were.

I wasn’t usually the one to get presents for these sorts of occasions, but I felt I needed to get birthday presents for both Cordie and Patrick this year. It was their 25th birthday, so they deserved something special. But even then, I doubted that Patrick or Cordie would have the same… Budget as I would.

I went down to the bank, and opened up my wallet to pick out the card which I thought looked the wealthiest, whilst trying to remember the PINs for each of them.

I silently spoke to myself, while making sure no-one else was there to observe my secret stash of ‘goodies’.

“Lucy Grant; 1736
Tom Matthews; 8590
Reece Thompson; 5545
Luke Luck; 7777, ironic.
Dr. Marc Shmueli; 3463
Lesley Cowley; 5791
Patrick Taylor;

Whoops, how did that get in there?

Federico Marcelli: 4381. Bingo”

I popped Fred’s card in and punched in the PIN. And when no-one was looking; I managed to slip out a device from my jacket. And casually put it also into the machine, as if I was taking out that card. And the device worked its magic on the machine. And the regular PIN screen popped up. And after punching in ‘4381’, what would usually come up at this point is an alarm saying the card is stolen or corrupted or the police have been alerted. But the screen flickered for a moment, and the regular options for transactions flashed onto the screen.

I peered at the small camera on top of the vending machine. And knowing the device would usually disable it, I kept silent in case someone WAS watching. But finally, the thing I was looking for came up.

“Balance: £301,545,234.00”

I grinned, before hitting; ‘Withdraw all’. And as usual, a message flashed on screen.

“This machine does not have the sufficient funds for this transaction, would you like to receive a cash slip?”

‘yes’

A small piece of paper printed out. With the 9 digit number posted onto it and several other lardee daa things that I never pay attention to. All that mattered was I was going to make one shop assistant very happy with this money.

I took the device and the card out, and after giving it a quick polish with some oil and a cloth to remove fingerprints. Before tossing it into a dustbin.

“Sorry, Fred. The government will pay you back.” I muttered to myself, considering the amount of money that man had just lost thanks to me. But I don’t care about that sort of thing, all I cared about right now was a good shop I could spend the money on.

I should mention, If you are wondering, that the device does not work in shops. And even if it did, people would NOTICE. All it does is allow me to use a stolen credit card in bank machines without the cops noticing or the bank noticing. I made it in science one day and won the school prize. And if either the school or police knew what I do with it, we’re talking LIFE imprisonment here. And as much as organised criminals would probably pay me; they’re not getting their hands on that device!

At last I found a shop. One that matched Cordelia’s need for pretty things, Patrick’s strange fascination with Jewels and the right amount of spending I would expect! John Gowing Jewellers. Just inside the covered market, so it wasn’t much of a walk from the banks. But being an Oxfordian jewellers, it was a batman villain’s wet dream. A concentrated area of colour, reflections and gold.

There weren’t many people there, only a bored looking cashier and a woman with a hat so upper-class, it might as well have had a ginormous 1% on the top. Both of them tried to keep themselves from giving off a snide expression to me. But I could see through the cashier's mask of customer politeness, and the thick makeup of the upper-class woman.

It was easy to find Cordie’s present. Most of the stuff in the shop consisted of fine and high standards of watches and bracelets. A watch costing roughly £1,500, with a nice Gold finish and a glass back cover allowing you to see all the mechanics and gears that operated the clock. But for Patrick, there was nothing really that seemed… Him.

He already had some watches, and even though he kinda liked necklaces, the ones with simple chains and tribal pendants. The ones they had here just seemed; meh. So I decided to just buy the watch and find another shop nearby. Until I came to the checkout, where I noticed something behind a curtain. I only got a glimpse, but it took my interest.

“Madam, what’s that?” I asked the cashier, pointing to the curtain.

“Sorry, customer’s not allowed there- right this vay,” she slithered, voice dropping a tone as I silently passed £1,000 cash into her hand.

She led me into a small back room. Lit a bit more with a golden glow than the rest of the shop. "I don't understand why so many people want to see room," sighed the lady, with a accent I could definitely tell as a thick Russian.

The objects I caught sight of wasn't the room itself, but a small painting and a large cabinet. The painting depicted a glorious battle scene, with an army clashing under a brilliantly painted sky, let by a truly wonderful looking king. He was fully clad in battle armor, a golden chest piece and a platinum crown. While the stallion he rode on was something to behold. A fierce rear with a carbon black coat and a flowing black mane, wearing also a great armor, consisting of black horseshoes, a head piece and a black necklace, with a great green diamond placed in the middle. The style of the painting seemed almost Van Gogh, but not echoing his style in the way the people looked, as I could see the people and horses clearly. Yet had his brilliant flare in the backgrounds and colour, with vibrant brush strokes detailing patterns that weren’t there, giving a special kind of depth that could only be seen from standing back. Patrick called it; ‘Distantism’.

The cabinet caused my eyes to widen. The positioning of the cabinet gave a clear detail that the object inside had some form of relevance to the painting. Any normal person would expect there to be some kind of weapon in there; which would be a good reason why it would need to be back here. Or have it be the platinum crown or golden armor of the king, that would fit the style of it being a jewelry store. Or going even further to just have something of the king’s armory or jewelry. But these objects in the cabinet were none of those things.

These objects were all on the king’s horse.

All the objects were there. The black horseshoes, the chestpiece, the spiked; crown-like helmet and of course, the necklace.

They all seemed in top condition, black and haunting yet shiny like a mirror, as if they were polished religiously. Although the only thing missing was the large green diamond in the centre of the necklace. Leaving a large eight-pointed pyramid going in, with complex patterns and embossing on the surface of the groove. Looking absolutely gorgeous and noir, yet I needed to know some things.

“You vant to know, little girl?” barked the woman viciously, with definite spite in her voice. “Ven I guess, just ask Russian encyclopedia! Knows everything!” She took a deep breath and calmed down a bit.

"Ve armor is from a horse, archeologists found it In a mass grave of bodies. The armor is intact, if the steed itself, the diamond and the people who vere meant to ride it vere missing. Ve armor is a rare metal, seemingly thousands of years old."

I looked between the woman and the armor rapidly for a moment. And said exactly as I thought: "Then this belongs in a museum! Not a jewellery shop."

The woman scoffed loudly with a grumpy expression on her face. "Ve tried to give to museum! But they not accept armor, they say; 'not enough data for historic accuracy, metal too shiny, armor not complete, anatomy not match horse!' And other bullshit."

She then turned to the painting and raised her hand, "So we pay small money for jewellery and painting, when no one buy, we move back here! Any more question, little girl?"

I stopped and looked at the armor. I was looking at potential historical evidence. And quite gorgeous looking evidence too! The crown and horseshoes were some of the most beautiful craftsmanship I had seen in my life, with fine, intricate details carved into every surface. From fine obsidian carvings of vine work structures, complex patterns and the shading of different colours reflecting off the surface giving it a glow like no other metal. And that would be enough even without the perfectly carved diamonds perfectly fitted into its body.

This was art, and even more; ancient art. It belonged in a museum, it deserved to be seen, but... There was something I kept thinking, no matter how I tried to suppress the idea, it just sprang back up! I couldn't buy this, it would be a waste of money and it's use! But I couldn't help it... Because...

I just felt... Compelled to buy it for Patrick.

"How much was it bought for?"

"25 million. But it not for-"

I then cut in. "I'll give you 50 million!"

The woman stood baffled, but keeping an angry scowl on her face. "No, it not for sale."

"100 million." I offered, dropping my tone slightly to show my point. This only angered the woman more.

"You test my patient madam. It not for sale!"

I was not giving up, I was feeling generous and had a stupid amount of money.

"200 million," I tried again. But yet again, having no response from the Russian woman.

I was at my last resort, so I swallowed hard and pulled out the slip that I got in from the bank.

"I will take it for £300 million. Cash up front."

The woman's eyes widened she seemed surprised at the same time happy. She paused, but she couldn't believe it.

"You... Have cash?"

I nodded while waving the slip.

She stared blankly. Looking nowhere, as if receiving massive shock. Like how Espurr looked in Pokémon X and Y. She couldn't tell if it was her authority to sell this product or to receive the money. Before I could realise the mistake, she came to the same conclusion I would.

"I will consult manager," she finally said slowly. Taking out a phone and dialling a number. "Hello manager... Yes a little girl down in room. She wished to Buy black armor... I tell Her this, but she offer price! She ask to pay £300 million." She put back the phone away from her ear as if someone was shouting on the other line. She hung up the phone and then turned to me immediately.

"We accept the offer, you make very generous donation!" She barked, with the forced smile upon her face.

"Thank you," I replied sternly, trying to hide the joy behind my expression. "Oh, and a watch."
I handed the woman the watch I picked up in the shop. "The rest of the check should cover the rest of the costs."

The woman bowed graciously, probably due to the high price of my offer and that she might be getting a promotion. But she still seemed to be eyeing something on my head.

"Next time you plan to make generous bit, take that thing off head. It make people not take you seriously."

My attention was then given to my head, as my hands rushed up to greet the intruder to my hairstyle. As when I took my hands down, I found the crown, that I had gotten yesterday, in them.

'What in the world?' I said to myself. Staring blankly at the black crown.

I was confused but slightly entranced. The amount of friction it would had to remain on my head all though last night and today was staggering. I would think that it would take super glue for this sort of thing, but I seemed to remove it easily enough.

Perhaps the chitin had an interesting chemical reaction with my hair? But with such a weak bond that it could be easily removed...

Or maybe I was looking too far into the fact that a novelty (but expensive) crown was just on my head.

Probably the latter.

"You like hag?"

I paid little attention and misheard the last thing the Russian woman said, bitterly and more bashfully saying; "I beg your pardon?"

The Russian woman raised her hands in defense before repeating. "No mean given, little girl! My English is no good. I say; Do you like BAG?"

I returned to my normal state of calm and relaxing, hiding the crown in my pocket to prevent any other wierd looks. With this stuff, I did not need any more attention to myself. "Sorry, yes I would like a bag," I replied before being handed my loot by the woman.

Over three hundred million spent on one shop. That is the last time I ever act on impulse again.

BAMF! I heard, slamming into someone. Sending the bag flying into the air.

"Whoops! Careful!" A familiar voice said. When a hand rushed in to grab the bag before any nasty impacts could occur. The hand then advanced to mine.

The man helped me up, revealing to be, in all his suited glory, Darius Jem. "You need to be more careful with your shopping there miss. You made me ruin a good suit!" He tutted, drawing attention to a dropped pasty and a large stain on his jacket.

He paused and raised an eyebrow while staring at me. "Wait... I know you!" He clicked tice and lowered his head while trying to guess my name. "Korra? Lydia? Hannah? Hannah! Yes, Hannah! You're Patrick's friend aren't you?"

I nodded politely, still thinking over the fact the prime minister was being so casual and suave in conversation with someone he'd just met. You'd think he was putting it on, like an act. But there was something off about him, that made you ignore it, just by looking into his eyes.

"Hello? You spaced out there Hannah... CAN you talk?" He barged in, noticing I was just staring blankly at him.
"You look as if you are in a hurry. So I won't keep you long..."

He began to hand the bag back to me before his eye was drawn to the glimmer of something within it. "What have we here then?"

Oh crap...

He took out one of the horseshoes and looked in detail at it. Closely examining it like I did. "Is this yours?" He asked, pointing to it.

"No. It's a present for Patrick," I replied, keeping calm as he smiled sheepishly and looked at the rest of the armor.

"With a matching crown and armor... Surely this would be a better present for Cordelia? Doesn't she own horses?"

I smiled, keeping nerves low as he stood taller over me. "No... I just thought that it would look good on him."

Darius raised his eyebrow and picked up another horseshoe. "Really? You spent good money on these, I can tell. Do you think Patricks going to turn into a pony overnight? Because I hope you haven't noticed this armor is made for Equine anatomy."

He put the shoes away and raised his hand. "Hand them over," he ordered, but I kept cool (in exterior).

"What's them?"

"We both know that neither of us could afford that kind of thing. So some donations would have to be made... The bonus credit cards and whatever you've been using to avoid anyone noticing you using them."

I was taken back on the outside. But terrified on the inside. He caught me at the wrong time, and read me like an open book. But at least I still had one chance left.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Mr Jem. They're just novelty presents!"

He picked up a receipt I had idiotically left in the bag. Before lowering his glasses and widening his eyes.
"300 million pounds worth of novelty presents! I mean, Jesus, Hannah! You robbed the bank of fucking England!"

"Why does it say 300 million?" I continued to ruse. "There's obviously a misprint there, mister Jem. It's nothing that you should-"

He dropped the tone of his voice and raised his glasses over his eyes. "No, Hannah. HERE'S how it's going to work!" He cut across, acting more serious than before.

"You are going to give me the cards you have collected. I will go to the bank personally and give them back with a report of a robbery. You will never do this again! Or I will go to the police, and I will have you arrested for multi-million pound credit card fraud and identity theft! Deal?"

My eye twitched as he loomed over me. He finished his sentence coldly; "I can be your friend Hannah... Don't make me your enemy on these terms."

I scowled at the man with loathing. But he had put me into a difficult situation. And I was not comfortable knowing that one man could put me in prison. So I reluctantly tore my wallet out of my jacket and took out two of the cards into his open hand.

"And... The rest," he instructed coldly. Shortly followed by me handing him the rest of the cards in anger.

"Is that all of them?" He asked. I nodded, putting on a forced smile. Only to have him tear the wallet out of my hand, and despite my protests: he then took out two more cards. "You mother's old card... And... Patrick's?"

He glared harshly. With the black scelera clearly visible in his eyes. "You didn't... Use this did you?"

I scoffed. "NO! Patrick's my friend! I would never steal from him! I have no idea how that got in there in the first place!"

Darius leaned in closer, with dark shadows cast on his looming face. "Do you expect me to take that as the truth? Do you believe that I will just take your word for it?"

I clenched my teeth. "You're the fucking prime minister. You tell me."

Darius smiled and returned to a standing posture. "True. I take your word. I'll return the cards back, and give this back to Patrick."

I looked left and right at this sudden mood swing. "Just... Like that? You're letting me go. Just on that!"

He was now walking off, but turned to me with a smile. "Yup! That's me! Enjoy your birthday by the way!"

"We're not done here!" I yelled, trying not to run towards him to avoid attention. But he kept walking and smiling.

"Yes we are! Hope he enjoys the prezzies!"

This sudden change in attitude confused me further. Causing me to stammer my sentences. "You... You can't... YOU'RE A MADMAN!"

He didn't even turn back. Just waved his hand up. "It's pronounced 'politician', dear. But these days, who can tell the difference?"

And then he disappeared into a crowd of people without saying another word.

I seethed, thinking about that man. He took my device and my cards as quickly as he appeared. But when you take back what is stolen, you should always check when you're being robbed yourself.

I took out his card from my back trouser pocket and grinned smugly before picking up the heavy shopping bag again. I needed to get back home. I had the Lutece's party to prepare for.

When I returned home. Patrick was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he'd cleared off when I went into town. Although there were some signs of rummaging through the living room; a couple of cushions and books lying around.

And just to check my theory, I checked my phone; to have a text I had ignored pop up on the screen.

"Have you seen my bloody credit card? Please don't tell me you used it!

-P"

I texted back, giving a brief summary on how I gave the cards to Darius. Missing out the part about the money spent and the presents.

He texted back almost instantly;

"Bloody fucking hell. At least it's with Darius.

Just heading to Lutece's. I do NOT need a lift. See you tonight."

I put my phone and bag on the counter of the kitchen. And with a quick unpacking I got started on the wrapping process of the presents. A hated task among my circle of friends. But I had to do it for tonight. After all... It was all of our birthdays today.

While I was trying to wrap some of the heavy armor. I checked through my phone messages. Only to find the usual influx of spam, with some messages from Cordelia. I was going to meet her in person later, so I thought I'd leave discussions until then.

When the presents were wrapped. I decided to get the place sorted out a bit. Since there was a bit of loose laundry and some areas just looked untidy. I had some time, so I decided to be a bit more thorough than I would normally be.

I got round to the sofa which Patrick slept on, to only see some cushions out of place, and the main parts of the sofa a bit scattered. A quick dust up and rearranging were not much of a problem. But what else I had seen shocked me.

Blood. Blood on the side where his head was.

I never knew he had any injuries. And I knew I didn’t bash his head in and steal his credit card. So I came to a logical conclusion. He was internally bleeding.

I panicked. I immediately rushed to my phone, stubbing my toe on the way and hastily sent Patrick a text.

‘Are you OK?’ I asked, to have the little replying icon appear.

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ He replied.

‘I found blood on the sofa. I think you might be internally bleeding.’

There was an awkward moment with no reply. But he still replied with a calm text.

‘I don’t have ebola, Hannah, I checked this morning when you were out. It wasn’t in my coughing.’

I sighed in relief. But I was greeted by another text.

‘Although… Since I woke up… My eye has become… Quite sore.’

‘How sore?’

‘It doesn’t matter really. Although if it’s infected, I’ll go and see the doctor tomorrow… But I do have that stupid social thing.’

I rolled my eyes, knowing his annoyance towards school reunions… ESPECIALLY on his birthday. I knew he would just continue as normal, so I ended the phone conversation with a colon and a bracket.

I packed my things up in my car. Breathing a bit slowly to calm down a bit from that sudden ‘friend might be dying’ ordeal. Having to force some things into the book as well due to their size. I was lucky it even managed to fit into a carrier bag. Either that, or Doctor Who exists, and time lord science applies to bags.

I didn’t want to drive to the Lutece’s too quickly. But I felt under a little imaginary time pressure.

I started the drive down, letting my mind wander a little.

Usually, I would find myself thinking about what just happened, but something expected happened.

I could not get my mind off the dream I had last night.

It became clearer as I continued to drive, if some of the facts were a bit fuzzy in my head. It was quite odd, if quite cool. If I had the time; I might write it down as a fanfiction. If I just recalled the details:

Celestia making deals with Chrysalis
Celestia now addressing herself as Queen
Changeling Alliance with Ponies
Luna… Possibly dead.
Celestia with new pony called-

I swerved suddenly, to avoid a fast moving truck; I had lost concentration. Breathing slowly, as to calm myself down. I decided not to think about that anymore until I had gotten back home.

It was a long journey for me, so I kept my focus to the open road, with the belief that nothing else could go wrong today.

Author's Note

This chapter's from Hannah's point of view for a change. Shout out to Twisted Spectrum, Violet Runner and Dusk Writer for allowing me to crossover in later chapters!

Part 1: Chapter 7: Doctor's Appointment

Patrick’s Story.

Vision returned to me as I awoke to a strange sounding voice.

“Lord Chronos! LORD CHRONOS! You have to get up! Are still alive?” I opened my eyes. To see the eyes of the Doctor in front of me.

“Thank you for your consideration, Doctor. I am fine. I just did not expect Discord to use that attack on us. He has become reckless,” I replied, without a thought of what was leaving my mouth. “Where is your family, Time Lord?” I asked now.

“If we distract ourselves now, my lord, then none will survive. We must consider the current situation before dealing with collateral,” he said with closed eyes. Dodging a little bit of shrapnel flying over his head.

Queen Chrysalis arrived quickly at the scene. Disrobing her illusion to speak to us. Her eyes were stained with tears, as much as she could have in her form.

“Chrysalis!” I yelled. “Where are the others of the league?”

Chrysalis broke down slightly as the Doctor comforted her. She looked away at the everfree forest to the south. “I… I… Discord attacked us. It was too quick for us to take him out by hand.”

“Where are the others?”

“Elizabeth managed to escape with Hope. Trixie and I went after Discord.”

There was a pause as both the Doctor and my own eyes widened. There was something off putting about what she said.

“Where. Is. Trixie?” I asked, noticing the significant lack of the boastful blue unicorn. Chrysalis sighed and held back tears as she lowered her head, but no significant response ordered me to say much more clearly now. “Where. Is. Trixie?”

“I only managed to escape thanks to her! Discord was too powerful. Even with the amulet… Her… Spine…” She stared catatonically at the ground; she was going through the images in her head. Even for a Changeling Queen who had to lay thousands of eggs every day, I couldn’t imagine what Discord had done that would make her react like that.

But some part of me became angry… Very quickly.

“And you just left her there? You left your leaguer to die to save your own insectoid backside?”

She then scowled at me. “My FRIEND sacrificed herself for me! There wasn’t any way I could make it any different! Discord took off as soon as he’d… Finished her.”

I chirped in an inaudible language, feeling muscles in my side act out to create the clicking noise. And an angry clicking if I may say so, only to have her reply almost telepathically.

“And remember, Lord Chronos. It is I to whom you have to thank for also gifting you with royal Changeling heritage,” I scowled back. Pulling a face of disgust at the black queen.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and began to scan the changeling with the small device. His face cringed, but he remained calm. “You have no real medical damage, but you are weak from a starvation of love. There’s something odd though.”

He stared at the sonic probe as we both stared at him. “If you’re saying, Doc., that I’m already dead. I’m going to kill you,” she blurted, eyes burning furiously red.

The Doctor jumped back and shook his head. “NO, NO! You’re not dying Chrysalis! I’m saying, that if Discord was doing as I expected, You WOULD be.”

I rolled my eyes at the Doctor’s remark. Knowing Discord, “He’s the god of Chaos, Doctor. He’s unpredictable like that. He could turn her into toast and you would have the same reaction. You don’t know him like I do. Th”

He scowled while pointing a hoof at the Queen. “I know Discord differently to you, Chronos! He wouldn’t just pass up on an opportunity to end the life of a pony that could cause him problems later.” My eyebrows lifted as I realised something.

“Chrysalis! Before Discord fled, did he… Do anything to you?” I asked, running up to her with a panicked expression.

She looked nervously from side to side. As did her head shake. “He didn’t do anything to me, Chronos. If he did, I would know!”

I sighed in relief and began to walk away from her to plan my next action. But my calm demeanour was broken by another word from the queen. “Although, there was something… I couldn’t stop thinking about something while he was nearby.”

I stopped. I felt terrified. It was like the greatest impending doom was given to me in my head. I physically shuddered and turned slowly to her. “What… Did… You… Think…”

Her eyes widened as the same doom came upon her. Her lip shuddered as she looked to me with despair. “The location of… The Oghma Infinium…”

I bit my lip and my eye twitched.

“AAGH!” I yelled in pure anger, as my body became that of Nightmare Moon once again. I breathed heavily as I turned to the Doctor.

“Our world… Is doomed…” I said through my Nightmarish demeanor. “We have lost…”

I began to walk off into the forest before I was stopped by the Doctor. “Do not attempt to stop me… Time Lord. You must fight for yourselves. But you will not survive.” I spat in the voice of the moon empress.

“What can we do? What about my family?” He asked, stopping me dead in my tracks.

I could not lie to him… He had to protect them… Even if it were useless.

Nightmare Moon retracted back into my head as I walked towards the Doctor with an empathetic smile.

“Doctor… Not even your Tardis can help them… If we are to die in this world… I can give you the power to ensure that they are safe… No matter what happens to them.”

The Doctor broke into tears of joy, embracing me with his hooves. “My King… I would be in debt to you if you did this for me… Would you be willing to do this… For a minor… Subject… Like me?”

I took his hooves away from me and smiled. “Ten years ago, Doctor, I would have had you killed for giving me physical contact without my permission. But today, Doctor, I will lend you a secret that I would take to the grave because of the companionship you gave to me.”

I turned to the forest again, thinking of the small, blue haired pony who put me into this business. “And a special mortal who taught me how to give it back.”

The Doctor smiled. And I smiled back. “Do you… Trust me?” He asked, raising his head in hope. I nodded and made my horn glow.

I tapped the Doctor on the shoulders and then on the head. As I spoke in a voice, practically song like. “From this day, you are a member of the League Of Darkness. May you bring darkness to the unjust, may you bring light to the weak and use darkness as your ally to bring order from chaos. May you be sung in the hall of heroes. And may our shields be raised in battle with you. In this life… And the next.”

We bowed to each other as I now spoke new words directly into his ear.

“To save your family, you must trust me, for the curse I utter to leave your lips is dark magic indeed. It is not completed, but even in its incomplete state, it can serve a different purpose. The consequences to save a life can break a heart dear. Utter the curse wrong and you will never reunite. Utter the curse to yourself and you will only be apart for a time. Is that a risk you will take for me? For your family?”

He nodded with determination. And took out his sonic screwdriver… For what I assume… Would be the last time in a good. Long. Time. “I am ready, Lord Chronos. Teach me the curse to save my family.”

I finally spoke to him the curse. Closing my eyes and speaking indirectly, in order for the curse not to affect him or myself.

“Five Score… Divided By Four.

Your memories removed, your body confused.

While I send you away.

Cast off to live for another day.

Your banishment. Shall act as punishment.

Your mind shall be weak. But let it not be bleak.

Forgetting everything, to live life again.

May returning to love help shield your pain.”

I blinked softly as a tear rolled down the Doctor’s eyes. “Thank you… My friend,” he whimpered.

I smiled and bowed respectfully. Knowing of what he would do, I turned away from my friend; and walked into the forest. Becoming Nightmare Moon again, I heard Chrysalis once more.

“Is that what Discord wanted?” She asked.

“Yes, and I worry that he plans to use it for his own evil deeds.”

She came up to me and hugged me once more. As I felt she did several times. As a mother would to a son.

“Take care, Chronos… I will fight to make sure he never uses it. But I hope that one day… We will fight together again.”

“I wish that too, Chrysalis. But now… I must see Elizabeth…” I released her from the hug. And finally entered the forest. “There is now something I must now know.”

“DAH NAA NAA! DAH NAH NA NAHHH!”
“FUCKFUCKSHITCUNT!” I yelled, forgetting that I still had that stupid song on my iPhone that could potentially be my ringtone. And even at… 25… It is the most horrible thing to hear at 7:20 in the morning. I nearly banged my head on the ceiling due to the sheer shock of being forced out of a dream with that level of Metroid soundtrack jumpscare.

The first thing that hit me was… Night Fury? No… not that… But the fact that I was back at home, as the last thing I remembered from last night was being at the Lutece’s; someone must have driven me back home.

And then light came through the curtains… The late spring sun still was a blinding sting even when the blinds were covering the majority of it. Never had day been more annoying to me than today. It was my birthday, but the fucking school reunion that I usually dread every year I left that school.

I looked over to see my clothes from last night were perfectly laid out, with a selection of clothes for today also there.

There was also something on my mantlepiece next to my iPhone and alarm clock plugged into it, a small jar marked.

“Morphine, for the eye- Lutece.”

Eye? What did they mean eye? Was there something…

I then felt it on my head, a small strap. With a small object fitted onto my eye. Wanting to check, I immediately jumped from my bed and ran to the mirror on the inside of my bedroom door. And my curiosity was confirmed in a small, black eyepatch covering my right (if you were looking at me, the eye to the left) eye. With small scarring of the flesh around it, and a large clean scar tore through in a diagonal pattern from the centre of my forehead to my cheek.

What the fuck did I do last night? Did I actually-

I saw something glimmer on the table next to my clothes; a small and blood-soaked knife. I had to confirm in one way or another, so I rushed into my bathroom for a second opinion. The eyepatch was still there, with the large scar looming upon the flesh itself.

I remained silent, staring catatonically at my reflection, who stared back with the equal amount of horror and shock. His other eye twitched, his lip jutting down and his pupil becoming so small you would barely be able to see it in the iris. Everything about this stranger in the mirror was the epitome of absolute horror, a stranger I remain.

It seemed like for hours I was staring at myself, before the heavens themselves came fourth and everything I seemed to have for breakfast this entire week seemed to fall down into the sink from my mouth.

“What did you do?” I asked myself, practically crying with the rage I had at the drunken version of myself.

“What DID YOU DO?” I screamed even louder. I bashed my fist against the mirror, cracking it violently, and causing a shard to stab into my hand. The dull pain became a sharp agony as I quickly removed the reflective glass shard from the palm of my hand to fall into the sink under a wash of tinted-red water.

I did not cry, I would not cry. I refused to give into such meaningless things as the human emotion of sad- oh fuck it-

*sob* I broke down in tears looking at myself in the cracked mirror, seeing myself the night before. Pictures of me drunkenly rambling, before stabbing myself in the eye while laughing maniacally. I thought and thought as the image was embedded right into my brain. I had lost my honor. I had done a foolish deed. I was a moron- You’re always a moron- well, I did something more moronic than usual.

I couldn’t help it. If I had done damage to myself, I might as well have seen what I had to fix.

I lifted my hand to the eyepatch and gently gripped the base, with horrible images of what I would see if I lifted the patch in mind. Best case scenario, small scarring around the eye. Worse case, when I lift up the eyepatch, I would see to the back of the socket itself, the veins themselves cut, with the very blood they held slowly draining away onto the base of the empty socket my eye once held, never again to ever occupy that space. Left sightless and a cyclops for the rest of my living days! Oh I couldn’t take it! I DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW

I lowered my hand, leaving the eyepatch still resting upon my face, left a mystery to me until I could comprehend why I had done this… Or if it were me who did this at all.

No matter, I had a day planned still. And no sodding eyepatch was going to stop me from doing that… Even if I did feel horrible having it in the first place.

I stared again at myself, forcing my own mental image to stop panicking and calm down. But as long as I didn’t remove the eyepatch, I might as well assess any other peculiarities before I decided to go out into town. So I ‘opened the hangar’ and took off any clothing I had on to achieve a full body scan. As a scientist, I went into my bedroom quickly and pulled out a small pen and notepad I had prepared for ‘morning after’ situations quite like this one and began to assess myself while writing in a similar fashion to earlier entries.

“Damage report on Physical Body…

Date: 01/05/2020 (1st of May 2020)

Possible Causes:

Detecting signs of strong alcohol; stains on clothing and high potency of fragrance suggests delusion by innebreation. Possible hallucinogenic drug slipped into drinks. Further studies required.

Physical Damage:

Small bruising caused by physical trauma. Possible falling and injury. Small glass foreign bodies in right bicep muscle; little risk of infection if removed quickly…”

A quick realisation struck me, and with some modifications to my being I made a different note.

“little risk of infection if removed quickly. Glass foreign bodies removed from right bicep muscle. Small scarring caused by removed shrapnel. Possible causes: passing out onto glass object. Large scarring on right eye, no sign of medical infection or risk of bleeding. Wound has taken on form of scarring. Further study is required into scarring and eye… No further study is required, as migraine or mental damage would be possible result of diagnosis.

Piercings:

None found.

Tattoos-”

It was at this moment, I saw them… I dreaded ever getting Tattoos, but my drunken rampage had caused me to get some. And in my opinion; it was in an absolutely horrible place… On both sides of my… flank. Going all the way around and meeting at my… Behind. Admittedly, it looked cool. But I hated tattoos nethertheless. It almost looked… Cutie mark. In appearance. An odd mixture of something that was Shadow The Hedgehog’s symbol back in 2005, and Luna’s cutie mark from My Little Pony. It was difficult to describe; so I even drew a little coloured picture in the report.

“Large tattoo covering both left and right flank circulating round to cover buttoks. Ink markings seem thick in appearance and rich in colour. Detailed illustration of Left side have been enclosed below:

"

I would probably book an appointment with the John Radcliffe for a laser-based tattoo removal. I didn’t care too much that it was there as long as it remained out of sight. But it still had to go. If I were to make ‘woohoo’ with anyone with that on my flank, they wouldn’t take me seriously.

Even if it did look cool.

I put some of the clothes laid out for today that was laid out on the table. Finally calming down after the whole eye debacle and trying my best to cover the Cutie Mark Tattoo with my pants and trousers. And with some success, I diverted my attention to some of the presents on the table as well. Including some of the strange books that nutjob gave me, the sword Josh sliced his hand open on, the ‘Pony Armor’ that Hannah gave me and finally, the large; fist sized, emerald that seemed to give off a cold green glow even now.

I realised in the armor, there was a large groove in it. It was shaped octagonally, with fine lines going to a inverse pointed end. I looked at it and then at the emerald… It didn’t take me long for me to get curious enough to put two and two together… And literally put ‘two’ and ‘two’ together, slotting the emerald directly into the chest piece.

Nothing happened really, it didn’t explode or cause an even brighter light. But instead; it just sat in the necklace as if it was made to be in there. It looked quite pretty to be honest. And with a small tug; it was confirmed that it wasn’t going to come OUT very easily. Thus sparking the question on how Hannah managed to find a necklace that…

“Hypnosis,” I spat, rolling my eyes in annoyance at the fact I might have encouraged Hannah THAT too without me knowing. So I put down the necklace and put on my shoes for the school reunion.

I then directed my attention to the little knife on the table... It scared me even with its appearance... With possibility alone. I picked it up and examined it while straightening my tie. I glared at the way it cruelly reflected my injury through my own blood. I wanted to throw it out the window. I saw it cutting into me, and dark images of using it to cut into my enemies. The dark images prevented me from seeing that it had already made its way into one of my pockets again.

A thought struck me. Dark images of blood, and significantly, my own blood.

And that really... Was just the thing… While the rest of the memories from last night were more of a mental blur than recognisable memories… Heck; even that fucked up dream I had about Shadow Ponies and strange mantras remained more dominant in my memories… But there was still some complex information that stuck in my head significantly.

School Reunion
Night Fury
Phone Call
Night Fury
4 - 849,514,996
Night Fury
Do not see Darius Jem
Night Fury
Do not lift up the eyepatch
Night Fury
Do not follow your peers
Night Fury
Night Fury
Night Fury

Dear lord did THAT stick in my head. I thought for a moment that this would be another side effect of the hypnosis. But if it were, I would do those orders unintentionally and I would not know about it, because otherwise the hypnosis wouldn’t have been good.

And it was far too brash than anything I’d seen Derren Brown do.

Unless that’s what was planned for me to think-

Unless that’s what was planned for me to think-

Unless that’s what was planned for me to think-

Unless- GOD, MY BRAIN HURTS!

I broke into hysterical laughter until I heard a loud thump from downstairs. It seemed Mr and Mrs hater had woken up…

I would ask them about either the eyepatch or the tattoo, but due to the fact I had woken up in my own bed and not the hospital, and that I received a bottle of morphine 'for the eye', I would guess that they had little to do with it. (Or have everything to do with it, but trying not to be involved if anyone wondered what had happened.)

I decided not to disturb them for these reasons… But realisation, again, came down on me like a ton of bricks. Time had flown over my head without me realising and it was 8:50 already. If I were to socialise with the two downstairs, I would be late for the 9:30 Waynefleet’s open morning Chapel Service. I wouldn’t usually care; but I felt it had been a while since I met some of my old friends from that School, so I put on my Sherlock-inspired jacket and decided to head out the door.

Putting on my wrap around shades, or course.

As I walked down the quiet road to the school. A small amount of cars passed by; but I rarely paid attention to them. But I could tell some people were paying attention to me.

A tall man with an eyepatch is definitely a one eye opener (ha ha). As I saw many people on the street giving me odd glances. From the mother driving her pram’s ‘ok?’ glance. To the Dragon parent dropping his jowls to form the biggest arch I had ever seen. As if to say ‘that is most unorthodox!’ in the poshest growl imaginable. I couldn’t care less. Since I decided that my only regret today from now in is not finding a way to be any more awesome.

I walked down the street, gently smiling to myself as I hummed ‘He’s A Pirate’ from the Disney film, yet not humming to a point that it would become stuck in my head… The further I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of having an eyepatch! It made me look like a mixture of Nick Fury and a classic pirate. It was a little childish giggle that escaped my lips that caused a walking mother to give me a confused look. I shut up immediately and directed my attention to the rest of my body… GOD I hate people here.

I felt my phone buzz, but I decided not to check it… Either something about last night, spam text or something from Darius, wishing me Happy Birthday.

I gave in and checked the phone; seeing a little message pop up from Darius Jem, reading; "Happy Birthday LOL! Want to meet up sometime today?"

I considered it in my head; but I thought it would be best if I didn't see him. After the open morning; I was going to go to the John Radcliffe and have some Doctors poke around my eye (possibly) and the tattoo. I wouldn't have any of the day LEFT to see him.

I crossed the bridge over to thePlain Roundabout. The place I used to take the bus to, to get to the large school that was the bane of both my time and existence… And yet, here I was! Walking once more to enter those gates at a time that least suited me to suit the officials higher up… And even worse, on my birthday… And I looked like a modern day stereotypical pirate.

Oh… I was going to be milked by the school bullies even today.

I arrived at one of the School gates, with a large yellow banner suspended upon it, and annoyingly ‘MCS Open Morning; 9:30-12:00 Noon’ In blasphemous COMIC SANS. I cringed at the sight of this banner, but I turned to the gate where I was let in by a smaller pupil; who looked up at me with fear. Roughly 12 years old and still in the junior school.

I was relatively tall compared to him, so I towered over him. But I saw that something was unnerving him about him, so I kneeled down slightly, allowing him to talk a bit more clearly. “If you wish to receive a tour; you can go to the Lunch Hall and a pupil can guide you around if you like.”

I chuckled at his high pitched voice and shaky sentence structure. I could tell he was still nervous as he couldn’t take his eyes off the scar on my face. I ignored this lack of restraint of politeness and talked politely. “Actually, I’m here as a Waynefleet. Do you know where that’s taking place?”

He sighed, obviously slightly relieved. And spoke with a looser breath as his hand strayed to the direction of the big school. Where my view was slightly distracted by a small crowd of people gathering around something out of my field of vision. “The Waynefleet meeting is currently in Big School’s Chapel. You’ll be handed timetables for the day while you’re there.”

“Thanks- and you are?” I asked, tilting my head to see the Pupil’s name badge.

“Zack Formine the third,” he replied, with such gusto you could cut it with a knife.

“Thanks… Is your grandfather-” I began, recognising that name from somewhere.

He began to walk with me from the gate to big school as someone took his place at the school gate. “Yes… My grandfather; Zack Formine the first, is running against Darius Jem for Prime minister.”

I scowled slightly, thinking that this man’s grandfather in recent tabloids wrote allegations about Darius, nearly sending him to prison. He seemed nice from what I had heard from reports. Even at the age of 81; he still kept the fight going with his husband and was proud of everything he was. But his grouchy attitude in his articles, and almost unhealthy obsession with Darius drove me to have some qualms with him in general. But it seemed that my unease with his grandfather allowed the boy to see it through my expression.

“I can tell you have problems with him… The Formine family has problems due to my grandfather and I’m not proud of it… He’s even taken a hobby of stalking a young man…”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, questioning the expositional information he had been giving me. He stared back at me as our walking pace dropped to a snails rate. He shrugged his shoulders.
“You used to go to Magdalen- you’re used to information.”

“True,” I smirked. “But it isn’t an assumption that you should make with everyone,” I shuddered reflecting on my mother’s seemingly endless supply of lectures talking about me not giving information overloads to people. But I couldn’t help but think: “What do you mean by stalking a boy?”

“Oh yeah, every time I go by his office; it’s always- ‘the boy’ ‘the boy must be protected!’ ‘the original’ this and ‘the original’ that. He’s following him because he believes there’s something to do with some kind of order. And wants to protect him because he believes someone will try to kill him within the next month.”

My curiosity sparked. “Who wants to kill him?”

“Darius Jem…”

I laughed as we walked again, disbelieving what he was saying. “Well, Zack, either you are mislead, or this guy’s done something to really piss Darius off… Because if Darius were to try and KILL someone, it would be a national thing, not just one man… I mean; military stuff and closed borders. Don’t you remember last year? All of that Drug Dealer stuff with the governor?”

He nodded and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I couldn’t write to my pen friend without getting a friendly visit from our local police force! Gov’ gave up because he couldn’t do anything with the borders closed. Darius had to bust me out big time to avoid treason.”

He looked up with a little concern and a glimmer in his eyes. “Do you know Darius Jem?” He burst. So I knew what was going to happen next.

“Let me guess, Zack- You want me to tell him to stop being a jerk? Or stop with whatever political scheme he’s currently doing? Or stopping the Quadraxis Project, whatever the hell he wants to do with it-”

“Actually-” He interrupted, taking out a small piece of paper and handing it to me. “Could you get his autograph for me? I’m kinda a fan of his,” he awkwardly smiled as I put the note in my pocket.

“Thanks… Zack,” I replied, smiling at the nice gesture. “How could I get this back to you?”

He shrugged, but continued smiling. “You could head up to my house in London or send it through post if you like?”
“Sure,” I smirked, “When I’m next in London I’ll try to get it to you personally… Well, I’ll try.”

I started to head into big school as he remained behind. “See you around, kiddo!” I shouted when leaving. He waved back to me.

“See you, Patrick!”

What a nice boy.

“Patrick?”

Oh dear.

I turned reluctantly as I came into the main chapel; seeing the blonde hair and blue eyes of one of the school bullies of my youth. James fucking Pierce in the flesh.

“Don’t talk to me James,” I warned, walking further into the Chapel, while he stayed in close proximity, much to my disgust.

“You look like a twat with that eyepatch! Did you slip and fall on your own ego?”

I did not respond.

“You going to talk to me? Are you not talking to me because I is black? Are you a racist? You’re a fucking racist Patrick? You still into that Brony stuff? Or have you moved on from wanking off to Pinkie Pie to sucking your mum’s dick?”

I did not respond, but walked more briskly to shake him off my tail.

“How’s that university rubbish working out for you, Patty T? I bet you’re so jealous that I’m making a fortune while you’re still working at school for a load of nutjobs who don’t pay you a penny- still living in your parent’s basement Nerd?”

I groaned and turned around to him, refusing to raise my fist as I could tell that would get me into some trouble… But thankfully; my salvation came in the form of Vincent Graham.

He didn’t say anything snarky or witty; he just simply shoved James out of the way in order to talk to me.

“Hi, Patch!” he said in his slightly deep voice, while placing his hand on his shoulder in a friendly way, his friendly smile deteriorating as his eyes wandered to the odd bit of leather strapped to my right eye. “Eye… Patch?”

“It’s a long story, Vincent. I don’t know how it got there either.” I mumbled. Lifting my shoulders vaguely. I think I was going to be asked that a lot today judging by his reaction. But his cringe begged for some form of description.

“Would you believe me if I said I took a role as Long John Silver; and just testing out the eyepatch so I don’t fall over?”

“Yes I would. Despite the obvious fact you don’t like that book; and the scar?”

“Err,” I stammered, forgetting that I had that glaring red scar that I had around the eyepatch. It’s pain was so dull, surprisingly, that I’d forgotten entirely about it! So I thought up a rushed hasty explanation. “Slipped and fell on a knife?”

He looked disdainful and suspicious. “You FELL on a knife that was facing your face? Seriously? What were you doing? Slicing an upside-down union while rollerblading?”

I laughed at this assumption, picturing the strange action in my head and trying to keep a straight face is no easy feat.

“I don’t know what happened, Vincent. I was drunk last night and woke up with both of these. I think someone spiked my drink and did something with my face.”

Some people squeezed past as Vincent began to speak again; but was shortly interrupted with someone getting uncomfortably close to him as they shuffled past. He cleared his throat and began again; with a more solemn tone that he only used when he knew something was wrong.

“Have you seen the… Damage?” he questioned. I shook my head in response and dropped the sides of my mouth down slightly.

“I haven’t seen because I don’t want to see,” I explained, looking up solemnly as others around me chuckled. “And I don’t want to see a Doctor just yet. They might blame it on me instead of who actually did it!”

Vincent nodded as I saw three of my other old friends; Varna, Guy and Tom; enter in the same door that I came through. But Vincent had another question that I now had to consider.
“Then, Patrick,” he started, using his concerned voice again. “Why come to the school reunion, something you obviously hate, than see a Doctor that you will obviously need!”

I stopped, swallowed and blinked twice. He had a point… I could have used it to get out of going to this stupid reunion! Although spending a morning at school can be moderately better than spending your birthday in the hospital with your parents on your back. Asking questions, operations, spending most of the day in general anesthetic! That would be awful! But I couldn’t just let this mystery go unaddressed. As I kept thinking to myself; I only needed to see a Doctor. Perhaps I could go to my local private Doctor; Doctor Chivers, or maybe see a different kind of Doctor entirely? As for why I still came here- I guess it might be to consult a less professional Doctor at the school for a first opinion- no, that couldn’t be it- they’re decent here, but I doubt that they could deal with something like my eye. Or maybe it was nostalgia? Did I miss seeing my friends so long that I would take seeing them as a higher priority than my own health? Element of Loyalty maybe? (Aww, isn’t friendship magic?) But as something as stupid and unexplainable with me doing this; it seemed like the most logical explanation.

I realised I had said none of this verbally and would have to explain this all again to Vincent. Feeling slightly cross at myself for not doing so first-hand, I opened my mouth to speak as I felt a quick, sharp, pain in my head. And directly afterwards; it seemed the words that I felt I needed to say; almost rolled off my tongue.

“Let’s say… Intuition- my good sir,” I said with disastrous regality, causing Vincent to lean back slightly with a little shock looking directly at my good eye.

“What?” I unconsciously said- I mean, it must be natural instinct for that sort of thing.

“Nothing,” he stammered back, blinking twice in order to confirm something he must have seen just now. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“It must have been my imagination… But I swear that your hair grew a bit just now.”

Despite the ridiculousness of his reactions; I felt my body acting in a motion of slight panic. Nervous tick maybe? My mouth opened to speak again without me wanting it to; and before I would speak again; I was interrupted.

“Patrick! How are you today!” Tom Woods burst with as much energy as when I first met him. Yet my behavior, rudely, was as if I had never seen him in my life. My eye darted back and forth as the name hung in my head strongly yet it was not forced out of my mouth. “What’s with the pirate getup?”

“Funny story-” I began without noticing.

“He doesn’t know Tom, I asked; he says he woke up like that.”

“Vincent, why isn’t he at the Doctors?” Tom asked, baffled.

Normally, I would have berated Vincent for giving such details to another good friend without my permission, but this time, I said something quite odd. “Vincent and Tom, respectively. That’ll make conversation a bit easier.”

They stared at me, and I smirked playfully.

“Anyway; Patch-” Tom started again awkwardly. Before perking up in his usual fashion. “It’s your birthday today and me and Richard W.R. are going to have a little Star Wars marathon at his house, would you like to come?”

I would jump at the opportunity usually; but then I remembered something on my mind; and before I could say it… I… Said it… “Sorry; Tom, I have to meet a Doctor… you see; I’ve developed a Cutie Mark overnight; and I need to check with him to see a similar case.”

Tom blinked twice at my odd behavior. “So… Do you want to meet up on a later date?”

“We’ll see, Tom. I’m planning on making some… Renovations… So, I might look a little… Odd compared to your normality. But… I’m sure I could make it the new normal with a bit of ‘DIY’.”

They half-laughed and Tom’s mouth cringed slightly. “I don’t get it. Was that meant to be a joke?”

“You don’t get it do you?” I unconsciously spoke it becoming a slight pattern now as the rolling off the tongue somehow felt more and more natural as I went on. Perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a strange meditative trance that speaks the mind of the unconscious! If that’s the case, I better keep from thinking anything dirty. It still felt like me somehow, but a little more-

“Excuse me?” a voice rang out across the hall, silencing the crowd of rowdy Waynefleets. I rolled my eye and turned to the source of the voice as did the rest of us.

It was the headmaster we all had when we were at the school, Mr. T Hans. Speaking with enthusiasm, although with the obvious tone showing he was basically reading from a list of inspirational quotes.

“Well, isn’t it nice to see all of you again and after so long! It’s at times like these where I like to reflect on the past, and think about times we had made in this school and the things we have done to the world and beyond!”

There was an awkward silence, followed by a quiet cough from someone in the crowd. But as he spoke; I heard something odd in the back of my head… Like a dull drone. Something I couldn’t control in my subconscious. It was barely audible, but still left a questioning pattern of thoughts in my conscious noise, while it also concentrated on the speech itself.

“Now, this year, I plan to cut this speech a little short; as we-”

“Actually, Mortal. I plan to cut it even shorter.”

That wasn’t me… That wasn’t me saying that… Yet I did… It left my lips.

“Er… Patrick; I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until afterwards. That was quite rude of you to interrupt and call me such a strange title.”

There were people staring at me with anger and confusion; James Pierce in the corner was laughing his arse off quietly at my outburst. But I continued; despite forcing myself not to.

“I’m afraid, Headmaster, that I’ve been waiting a long time for this opportunity. I intend to make this as private and public as possible so those who are my allies… KNOW of my return.”

I heard general mumbling from the crowd; they began to stir as my voice boomed out. Things like; ‘what is he doing?’, ‘has he gone mental?’ and ‘this is going up on youtube!’. But I still continued.

“From now on, Mortals, things will change… Most of you shall never see me again… And today; I will demonstrate my power; even now.”

I turned sharply to another boy near me; Enzo Round. And with his shock, II sharply glared at him with venom in my smile… Except it wasn’t my smile… I had no control over my body! I couldn't stop. I wasn't... Me. Then who was I?

Without another word; I started to run briskly towards the front of the room and a little stage where the headmaster was. He flinched backwards as I leaped quickly onto the platform with such height I could've been at the Olympics.

I glared at the headmaster with a disastrous smirk, before turning around to face the crowd.

"I believe I have your full attention now, you pathetic mortal scum." I spat; in a tone looking down upon the students like they were vermin.

They stared back at me as if I had grown two heads... From what I'd done; I think it would be less shocking if I did.

"It seems you all think that I've just gone mad, I have not, I have been enlightened. Then... It seems I must give you a demonstration. Of my own RAW power" I emphasized the 'raw' in such a way that James Pierce burst out laughing at me.

"It seems we have a volunteer!" I yelled, holding down the poor headmaster lightly with the sole of my shoe. "Your informality is insulting to my very presence... No matter, it'll allow me to demonstrate. Would you come up onto the stage please; boy?"

"Nope," he put bluntly; in a way that only an idiot would use. I felt myself smirking.

"Even better then- you boy; what is your name?"

"James God Pierce, Mortal. If you need reminding about people's names then you're Gaylord Faggot." His use of the world 'mortal' mocked how I was using it at the moment, something about my instincts told me that he was quickly going to regret saying that.

My smile widened as I heard some others giggle immaturely around the room.

"Tut tut. Even at your age, James... Those insults could be worked upon; but no matter-" I now addressed the room again. "And now ladies and gentlemen of the mortal human race, for my opening act; I start with a joke: What do you get with a room full of disbelieving peasants, a god trying to prove their power and a very, VERY stupid little boy. Who needs to be taught a lesson?" I pouted on the last part. As others in the crowd looked even more confused.

I bared my teeth as I spoke again, with so much venom on my tongue I could poison people in front of me. "Well, you get this. Today in front of your eyes; I will make James come up onto the stage, spill his darkest secrets to all of us, and maybe, if we have the time; I'll stick his head up his own arse!"

The crowd erupted with awkward laughter; especially from the boy in question. I even heard my own laughter crack in there slightly; as I said slightly over the crowd; "That's exastly the behaviour I have come to expect from you humans! Laughing at something so trivial as a 'but joke'! But I want to see, if you'll remain laughing; when I do THIS!"

Silence.

Absolute silence.

On the last word; I gestured with my hand upwards quickly. For now, my hand was surrounded by a bright blue glow... And James was, wide eyed, levitated up into the air.

My eye I felt glowing brightly; while I received mixed reactions from the crowd. From; 'he's wearing a wire!' To 'Jesus Fucking Christ!' To 'I don't want to die a virgin!' To general laughter.

James of course, was laughing, although a bit nervously. I would if I could fly like that, but I could tell this wasn’t the expected level of terror that this entity controlling me wanted. He started to float towards me due to a hand action and levitation. But he was still annoyingly laughing to himself.

If I had magical powers (possibly I did, I had no control over myself) I would have probably done something a little more creative than basic levitation. I was a Harry Potter nerd; so going through my mind was several different spells of any kind; almost by force!
Colloportus; the locking charm.
Confundus; the confusion charm
Densaugeo; the teeth growing charm
Diffindo; interesting
Erecto; no way
Expelliarmus; useless
Finate Incantatum; destructive
Incarcerous

I felt compelled to speed up my thinking, something was dragging me on.
Confringo
Locomotor Mortis
Bombarda
Sectumsempra

Crucio? The torture spell?

“Now we’re talking, Patrick! Allow me to make the final preparations!” I heard a scarily feminine voice resonate in my head loudly.

Wait; was that the thing controlling me?

Does that mean it could read my thoughts?

If that’s so; then… Oh no!

I twisted my free hand up and looked to the doors around the assembly hall. And with a cruel smile the entity spoke again.

“Let’s make some final preparations- COLLOPORTUS!” It now blared to the school before an angry red flash blared out from my hand; followed by a loud; locking sound from every door. James was next to me as I saw his childish grin deteriorate into panic. As did many of the others. They moved their attention to each door, while my friend Benedict Mulcare forcefully tried the locks with no success.

It was horrible to see their reaction, but some little part of me seemed to burst with pleasure at seeing their reaction. It was pure, 100% joy! To see their chaos unfold by an idea.

An idea that would come to life in a matter of moments. The thing that’ll make them all cower before me… No. US! We are two entities in one body! And I was going to use our joint symbiosis and make them worship us; they WILL BOW DOWN TO US!

IN FEAR!

No… What was I thinking? What am I thinking? Was I- ENJOYING THIS?

I had to stop this! Whatever this thing was doing to me, it was messing up my HEAD too! But there was nothing I could do! I was a slave to my body and it was going to make someone suffer because of it!

I leant into the panicking head of James. And slithered in the most foul of tones. “I’m going to make you SQUEEEEEEEEAAAAAAL!”

His eyes widened in a way I had never seen him do before. And this time, it was terror.

I lifted up my other hand one more time, and with as much gusto as I could; “CRUCIO!”

Almost immediately; his body contorted in pain. I could hear the bones snapping as his shoulder shot up and arm was forced back by the magical force I was using upon him. I was laughing uncontrollably as the level of this curse rose under my (technical) control. There were people screaming, SCREAMING at this show of torture on stage.

“It appears that you are not scared enough by my display mortals. Perhaps If you all got a better angle!”

With another command, I started to rush James around the entire hall. As he screamed agonisingly. It was like a demonic phantom screaming as if they just rose from hell! It was like a really fucked up puppet show. It was agony for him and horror to the rest of them. Myself inclusive.

He was in more agony as I returned him to me. His eyes wet with tears and pain. I gave him one more foul grin before the entity gave one more venom-filled monologue to his ears alone.

“I’m not going to kill you, boy. But since you’ve entertained me with your pain; I’ll give the shoving head up arse thing a miss today. Instead; I’m going to break your back!”

I threw him up into the air using telekinesis and blasted my hand out to face him one last time. And the entity once again controlled my tongue, as it flowed off my mouth with almost a rhythmic fashion. “Crucio… Maxima.”

*snap*

I seemed to hold him in the air fixed for a few moments; just to prove a point! I could vomit looking upon it, but I could not. I couldn’t even turn my eyes away! I was completely under the control of this monster. Forcing me to stare at our combined handiwork. It seemed both a proud glance, but also a warning to whatever was left of myself as to what it could do.

James' entire body was contorted; both of his arms were broken, his legs were sprawling and his screams were silenced by his catatonic unconsciousness.

And his head was against the back of his feet.

“Do you still doubt me, mortal human race?” I challenged the crowd, who were screaming and panicking as the body (thankfully still alive) flopped to the floor with a distinct splat.

The crowd was in turmoil, running around and trying the locks. They were not paying full attention to me, and this thing didn’t like it. So it attempted once more to use me to gain attention.

I felt energy flow into me from my chest. It seemed to flow all through me, from my head to toes and everywhere else. I wondered what was going on at the moment; it was confusing and I was still terrified.

“Give us a moment Patch; I’ve been dead for 25 years; I’ll talk to you after doing something quickly, It’s one of my favorite spells!” The voice spoke energetically in my head.

I was forced to look down upon my body, where I saw MYSELF now being levitated up into the air, surrounded by small sparks of electricity. But as the energy in my body became stronger, so did the density of the electricity surrounding me.

I felt wild and alive. The energy coursing through my veins, I looked at the crowd.

"I do believe I am still TALKING, MORTALS!" I spoke with my voice amplified by this mysterious energy, causing their fear-stricken faces to turn back to me once more... I looked behind me at that moment to see the headmaster looking back with as much confusion and horror as I currently had.

My body was radiating with this energy, lifting me into the air Galadriel-style. With my voice empowered by it to near deafening volume! "Allow me to introduce myself to ALL OF YOU, HUMAN RACE!"

My arms pressed together, forming all the energy that I was surrounded by into a tight ball of bright blue light. And with another action, the ball was thrust into the air, exploding into a cloud of light.

The light quickly began to condense into colour and shape; first... A black background, fading off into darkness. Before a bright purple nebula shape formed strongly on top of it.

"No. It can't be! That's not possible!"

"You are familiar with MY mark, aren't you?"

It couldn't be, it was a bad dream and a lucid dream at the same time; I was fearful of this moment. It wasn't possible! There was no possible way that could be... I was fearful for all of us.

And my fears were confirmed...

Topping off the symbol.

Slap-bang in the middle.

A crescent moon.

"You're real," I thought loudly in my head, disbelieving everything as the concept of reality seemed to crumble in my hands.

"Yes... I am, Patrick. And I am in you... In this reality."

My fears were fully realised at that moment. Raising my arms in glory to the crowd. In front of the symbol that shone above me. And one last time, I spoke in that deafening tone.

"I AM NIGHTMARE MOON! And this world will bow to us, the Gods of reality and time!"

The crowd blinked and stared while most screamed in terror at the declaration of this unholy name. I bowed, dissipating the symbol above me, while unlocking the doors with a swift motion of my hand.

"Right!" She spoke through my lips, with more of a flustered tone and calm approach. "It was nice to have that little speech there. But right now; I must leave... Don't follow me, mortals have no right to, this is a special meeting I have planned with a-"

"Doctor..." I finished... Actual me, in control once more of my mouth.

I touched my chest; feeling in control again... I would be relieved. But I was terrified, I had caused pain and fear... And I liked it! They would have thought I had gone mad! I had Nightmare Moon in my head and I felt sick! Was I GOING mad, or did I ACTUALLY have Nightmare Moon in my head?

I felt like I was going to vomit! I had to get out!

I picked up a quick pace, jumping down from the podium and shoving people out of the way to reach the door.

Fear, anguish, tears. I felt like I was going to shatter like glass if anyone were to touch me! I slammed into the doors, dramatically sending them flying open before I started to sprint away from the hall and into one of the other buildings.

I dared not look back... I was a monster...

And it seemed like I was going to meet that monster when I went into the bathroom.

Another door burst open as I frantically hurtled into the Colin Sanders bathroom. I had metaphorical blood on my hands still; and I needed to wash my hands.

There was no-one else in the bathroom; so I ran up to the nearest sink I could find with a mirror, and turned it on to the most blisteringly hot temperature I could find, singing my hands under the boiling water that came out of the metal tap.

I looked up to myself; seeing the eyepatch and scar on my right eye. With my left becoming red underneath from tears and panic.

I tore at the eyepatch with my hand; furiously to get the leather object out of my reflection. And with a rip; it flew off into another sink. Allowing me, finally, to see what had been done to me.

I could vomit… I felt dizzy and sick as the bile rose up my throat to see the chasm that once was my eye, tearing deep into my head. Still stained blood-red by torn nerve endings, flesh jutting out to reach still-bare muscle, ripped away until only a few strands remained of my once-was iris. Leading into a black pit behind it, where I dared not think of.

I breathed heavily and quickly, falling into a panic attack. I now knew who was responsible. So, I inhaled to yell at the person in my head. “What the fuck did you do to me?!” I screamed dramatically.

At first, no response. But then I heard that voice penetrating my very soul once more. “If we are to talk, my dear, first I must ask you to close your eyes and allow me control of your right hand.”

She seemed trustworthy, but I doubted giving over again, knowing of the destruction she just did to someone who maybe even didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.

She could pick up on my negative vibes towards the notion and spoke in my head with a clear, orderly fashion. “I do not want to cause more destruction right now, Patrick. If you want answers… You have to do this.”

I sighed and released my breath, looking down in submission to this strange creature. And focused my strength to try to give my arm over to her.

It was actually quite easy! All I did was focus on my right arm like it were water. The dried up ocean of my mind compared to the empty jug of Nightmare Moon. And all I did was pour it into that jug as I closed my eyes.

I felt energy flowing through into my arm, like how I felt when she locked all the doors. She spoke another spell, clearly into my head. “Carcarus Indicabus!”

I heard a small flash and water rippling from in front of me. I wondered what was going on until I heard her say, “Open your eyes.” I did.

It was madness incarnate… The blight of my sanity staring at me in the face.

I could not fathom the fact that I saw what I saw. I almost smiled… Smiled uncontrollably. My remaining eye widened with disbelief. It was maddening and insane…

Instead of my reflection, Nightmare Moon stared back at me.

Leaving some time to recover myself, Nightmare Moon waited patiently. I looked at myself not in the reflection quickly, thankfully to confirm that I had not turned into the Dark Pony herself. It seemed that she was simply in my reflection.

She just… Stared back at me, almost mimicking my every move, as a reflection would. She seemed to move, however, with a beautiful elegance that I did not expect to see from a creature that controlled me to break someone’s back…

I would have run and hid from my own reflection knowing of IT, what IT did and the pure ridiculousness that I could even see it!

I raised my hand up and slapped myself hard in the face…

No sign of waking up, just a sharp pain in my head from where my palm impacted. It was at that second I realised that Nightmare Moon had done the same in my reflection.

I took this moment, finally, for what it was. I looked upon the reflection with now eyes of admiration of this rare sight.

I was looking upon… Nightmare Moon… The actual… Nightmare Moon.

I looked into the eyes, seeing the pupils dilate with a lifelike realism, keeping their draconic cyan as I stared directly into her soul. It seemed like she was also looking back at me from the reflection. Studying me as I did her… She must have never seen a human before.

We both opened our mouths for our dental inspection, allowing me to see the strange pointed maw of her, a subtle tongue lying in between her teeth. Unlike my teeth, hers were pure white, and glowing with an almost pearl effect. She was obviously not impressed by my own; as her eyes focused with disgust.

Closing our mouths, we directed our attention to our hair. My eyes glistened with glee, seeing this marvel that flowed inside the mirror.

It was just as I imagined it; flowing with an imaginary wind that gave this beautiful deep blue and purple mane such volume and length, without letting it dare touch the ground. It practically radiated magic through the vision alone. And throughout it; I saw the beautiful stars glistening with sparkling and beauty. At its roots; the head was hidden by a glorious silver-blue helmet, shining with light while the mane flowed through it like an ethereal force. And protruding through the helmet was a beautifully formed horn, it would be better described as a weapon than a limb, but was more beautiful than to describe with such harsh tone

Her skin was covered by a midnight-black coat of fur. A necklace of the same metal adorned her neck and chest, with her signature moon embedded in the middle and the fleur de lis like design created a strip of metal leading back to near metallic feathers, spread out to form large, intimidating wings, leading back to her flank where her trademark cutie mark was patterned with clear precision. It was magnificent, and frightening to behold, but I was so drawn in I couldn’t stop this inspection that any Brony would die for.

I looked down at the legs and hooves. The legs beautifully formed, yet standing with the elegance and stature of an empress, or even still, a god. And at the ends of each of the four legs, the fine hooves were covered by silver-blue horseshoes. Shining with the force of an iron fist, but being so beautiful it became like a hoof you would love to be held by with love.

My thoughts strayed to the more explicit, thinking of the possibilities of seeing the parts that any strange Brony would sell his soul for and maybe, I could show Nightmare Moon my own. This was an opportunity that I probably would not have any attempt at again. But these thoughts caused the Princess in the mirror to frown and slant her scowl in disbelief. “There won’t be any of that now, Patrick. Have you quite finished your admiration?” she ordered, now not in my head, but seeming to come from inside the mirror and sounding like the mirror was simply an obstruction in the same room, and Nightmare Moon was simply on the other side.

"You... You can TALK?" I screamed, causing a bit of a stir with her as she had not seen me talk in that volume before. She recovered her initial posture to address me, as I felt now was the time to be addressed.

"So then, Patrick... What do you want to know?" she asked politely, as I noticed now she was speaking differently to when she was talking to the students.

"Are you... Actually you?" I said with more fear than the childlike hope that I would have expected myself to give.

"That depends on your take of me being actually me. Normally I would be surprised on how you know OF me, but I imagine you are more surprised of me existing because of how you know."

She glanced at me and frowned with a smile. "But yes, your eyes do not deceive you... I am Nightmare Moon. THE Nightmare Moon. In the flesh, technically, and living... IN YOU!"

She exaggerated the last phrase, startling me as a fact just became clear once again.

She was inside me...

From what I know from the show, that could only mean that soon I was going to...

Become her...

Nightmare Moon mistook my reaction of thrill to absolute fear as a reaction to her previous statement. At least that's what I thought she took, until what she said next; "You're not going to BECOME me Patrick. In a way... But I believe we both know the process has already begun."

I looked at her, dead in the eyes (with one of my eyes out of commission, it must have looked very intimidating. "How did you know what I was thinking? This isn't just the case now- but you did it when you did... That."

She smiled as I now addressed a subject she must have wanted to talk about. "I do love this part," my theory proven, "You see, Patrick... We share the same body, but different consciousnesses, so the body has to compensate with having only one brain to work with by stuffing both of them into the brain. It isn't too bad... We won't have secrets... But... We won't have secrets."

"Then if you can hear mine, how come I can't hear yours?"

"Mental training, Patrick," she stated, placing a hoof against her helmet. "I've had thousands of years to control my thoughts while also delving into others. You've just started! And your rattling away like a chatterbox in your head... You CAN hear my thoughts though-"

The next bit was definitely from in my own head. "But only when I want you to hear me."

She leaned into the mirror slightly for the next part with a sly look on her mouth. "And frankly, I'm flattered, but until we work on your 'inner voice', keep the imagination from wandering off to images like, those thoughts."

I gulped and shuddered, unaware I was subconsciously still thinking about that sort of stuff, her message was clear. So I left a mental note to stop myself from thinking so idly or... sexually when I knew Nightmare Moon was listening.

"I appreciate that," she responded with a villainous bow.

"I guess you must have had something to do while you were on the moon," I cracked, trying to make friendly banter with the being that should not have been there in the first place. But I only got a look of confusion and fast blinking from the Dark Moon Pony reflection.

"Moon? What about the moon? I've never been to the moon," She groaned, confused as was I after the statement. Since it was a well known fact that Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the Moon. If Nightmare Moon was really before me, she would have writhed and raged at the mere mention of the event.

"But... Didn't Celestia banish you to the Moon when you first took control of Princess Luna?" I asked, trying to clear up that little inconsistency. She pondered on the thought before her eyes shot open.

"You seem to have no access to my memories, but you somehow know of a tainted version of my past. 'Celestia' could NOT banish me to the Moon. She tried, but the power of the elements overwhelmed her... And it lead to consequences I did not expect, but more importantly, the creation of a pony that once I shared a body with for thousands of years." She seemed to scan through as a significant memory was forced into my head, "Although, it seems for some reason, you know of this tainted past from... A play appearing on a moving picture box."

She seemed even more confused as I was aggravated. "Now I've heard of everything."

She addressed me again now, "And besides, after that day, 'Celestia' became the royal empress 'Solar Flare'."

Solar Flare? Where had I heard that name before? WAIT- It was a few nights ago! In fact, LAST NIGHT! In my-

"In your dreams, yes. It seems, as well as me. You get some of my memories in your dream... It's a, as you would call, a special edition bundle package!"

I realised I was taking this incredibly lightly, but I guess it was the fact I was having a conversation and I had some form of human decency that I wasn't flipping out. But something irked me even still.

"That... That's just too surreal! I can't believe that's even physically possible for you to do that!" I blurted, but she smiled wisely.

"But according to you, it's impossible that you're even talking to me! And yet, you slapped yourself in the face and there is no confirmation that you have woken up in your cozy bed ready to have another day of normality! Isn't that cute? But seriously, Patrick, you're going to need to start believing in the impossible, or whatever's going to happen next is going to fuck you up. BIG TIME."

I winced, sighing with my nostril flared and eye maniacally darting around as impossible memories flowed around my head like a swarm of bees, yet making as much sense as a chocolate teapot.

And there was another fact that came up.

"Lord Chronos"

"Nightmare Moon," I asked, shaking. Thinking random things in attempts to throw her off what I was thinking.

"Yes?"

"If my dream last night was some of your memories... How come one of them called you 'Lord Chronos'?"

She flinched in surprise. Blinking as if she had been hit in the head with a lead brick. If something confused her that much. She glared at me. "Patrick, a memory of this morning interests me... Tell me, that mark you received- does it look like this?"

She turned to show me her cutie mark once more. I studied it as closely as she allowed me to, thinking about the tattoo I woke up with. (Although, was it even a tattoo?) Noticing a strong difference, as in-

"There was no moon on it, instead, there's a swirl symbol. Red in appearance, but definitely is different from your Cutie Mark."

She smirked, with malicious intent. I knew she was my reflection, but I was still worried by that look. "What does that mean?" I asked.

"I'm delighted... It seems that I'm not the only thing that's transferred over. It seems that the scar has a purpose again!"

I gripped the side of my face as my former eye and scar began to burn. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY EYE?!" I yelled, as she had confirmed that she'd cut out my eye.

"Nothing that can't be fixed, my boy," she slithered, bearing some of her sharp fangs in her malicious smile. "You see, my former host gave me a special gift in my previous body. A scar. But not any normal scar... A genetic scar that has transferred through into your body."

She referred to a scar that appeared on her right eye, wincing as it seemed to cut into her skin. "It was going to remain under your skin, but I find that a Scar gives you a special BAD BOY look."

I raged in my head and voice, remembering that my eye was also missing (much to my stomach's disadvantage). "WHAT ABOUT MY EYE YOU FUCKING WITCH? YOU CUT OUT MY EYE!"

She smiled awkwardly, even though this was not the situation where that would be the best response. "I had no real experience with hands up until that point, Patrick. I can be a tad... Clumsy. But it doesn't matter, due to the process, you'll find that too."

She moved her head to show me to another mirror.

I, on prompt, moved to the mirror she referenced, it was not enchanted, so I saw my reflection. Except... This time... Where the gaping hole was...

My eye was back.

The skin was perfectly healed, bar for a large scar of hard red flesh, but everything had grown back. Except for one thing.

"Why the fuck is my eye red?" I asked loudly, she responded once more with a villainous smile.

"The process. Since the curse is lifted, it seems that you are turning INTO my host. Your cutie mark has appeared, and now... The eye has grown back red. I should stop calling you 'Patrick', and instead call you a name better fitting of what you will soon become; LORD CHRONOS!"

Nightmare Moon took a devilish grin at my disbelief of this statement. I looked to her once more with absolute terror.

"What about you? What will you do to me?"

"I will follow my natural desire... Absolute control... As you have no means of suppressing me, and my evident growing power, as you saw from my little display earlier. You will soon become him, and then... me."

I started breathing heavily. Trying to find any possible causes for this, trying to find some logical conclusion for this to be possible, but every single one betrayed me. I could not cope, I wouldn't become her! Any scientist would say that I COULDN'T become her. This was impossible, could it have been the meal last night, the alcohol, the emerald? My inner child was jumping up and down as my sense of logic and reason was torn to shreds. In this, everything I'd believed to be possible had been defied!

"I feel sick. I'm going to be sick!" I said, leaning forward slightly, holding back something that was coming up my throat.

"Then go to the loo. Someone's coming!"

I saw the door to my side creak open, so I sprinted back into a loo with a door open and locked the door.

I heard Nightmare Moon quietly say "Dispello" before my gut gave out once more.

"Hold back your scarf, you'll get it dirty." She demanded, but I didn't care. All I could focus on was how stupid this all was.

I stayed in the loo and sobbed to myself quietly, undisturbed by Nightmare Moon.

“Are you going to just sit there, boy? You’re physically quaking and you’re a nervous wreck,” Nightmare Moon shouted in my head. I spoke back through tears.

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s not like I’ve just been told that I have a rampaging Moon Empress in my head who wants to take over my body!”

“It’s natural law; I am born to take the body of my host. Your mind shall remain intact as I take the saddle.”

“Has it occured to you that maybe I don’t want this?”

Nightmare Moon took no consideration. “Well tough, I don’t know how the curse works. If I did, I probably would have resurrected myself in a more willing host. But because I DIDN’T; you’re stuck with me.”

This confused me, “Curse? What curse? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Nightmare Moon hummed inside my head trying to think about what it could be. "That's where you lose me, I'm afraid. I have no idea even what the curse is! I don't know what causes it. But somehow, my servant Elizabeth broke it. And now you are marked."

"Are there others?"

"There's bound to be, if I'm here, then others have got to be in this realm. If they are marked with a cutie mark. They will become the pony who also bares that mark."

I swallowed and held back tears. "Like me."

"Why are you unhappy? Surely this is something you wanted? I can tell this was something you wanted in the past, what changes it now?"

If she was in front of me, I would have looked at her dead in the eyes. But because she was in my head, I just looked awkwardly into the air. "I have plans, Nightmare Moon! I want to do things in the future! I want to make a family and live in peace! I don't want to return to my family as a pony. They wouldn't even recognise me! My life will end as will my humanity thanks to you!"

"Listen, Patrick; grow up. These are all problems that are easily overcome. If you want to avoid problems, speak to your family before you fully transform. Your friends can help you in this delicate time."

I thought for another moment. "Where can I find others? Could they help me too?"

Nightmare Moon groaned. "You do know that I can't use location magic for something so vague as humans with cutie marks... If you can find one for yourself, that's good. But right now, you must rely on your friends; they are the most important thing you can rely on at the moment."

Confusion drove me to anger once more. "Since when did you, Nightmare Moon, have any concept of Friendship? It's the whole thing with the moon again. There's something off about you."

"There's nothing ‘odd’ about me Patrick! What's wrong with you?!"

“Why am I starting to doubt my self; oh my god- GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

"Patrick, the thing is-"

"You alright in there?" asked a new voice from outside the cubicle. "Bad night drinking?"

I regained little stature as I addressed this new voice through tears. "I have no idea what's going on any more!" I blurted.

"I know that feeling, mate. I have it all the time," it said with a now NOTICEABLE male scottish accent.

"Who are you? Are you with the school?" I asked, trying to find out who this person was.

"I'm no-one important. I'm just showing my kid around."

I took the time to give a good quote, might as well have in this time. "No-one important? In all my time, I've never met someone who wasn't important."

He only groaned, quietly. "You're one of those people? Great."

He slammed the door of the cubicle next to me and I heard a zipper sound.

I directed my attention back to my own situation, away from this mystery man.

I had no idea what was going to happen to me. Was I going to turn into a pony? Was I going to turn into Nightmare Moon? Was Nightmare Moon going to take over my body permanently? Was I going to change so much I mentally become Nightmare Moon?

Whatever happened to me... There was definitely something I could draw out of it.

I was alone in this.

"That's odd," I heard the other voice say from the other cubicle.

"What's odd?" I asked.

"Nothing- it's just something that's just appeared."

My eyes widened suddenly, at the possibility of it being what I thought it could have been.

"Is it, by chance, a tattoo?"

There was a moment of silence for a moment. Before Nightmare Moon kicked off in my head.

"It seems that voice is familiar to you, Patrick. If your instinct is correct, then this would happen to be the biggest coincidence I have ever encountered."

"Yes," He replied as everything around me became eerily quiet.

"Is it positioned on a strange part of the body?"

"How do you know-"

"-Patients can recognise the disease from another's symptoms."

I had one more question in the moment of silence that followed. “Have you had strange dreams recently?”

There was another moment of silence before I heard his zipper again. And his voice moved to the outside. "Tell me, do you know who I am?" he asked.

"No, sir." I don't.

He sighed again, and now spoke with a nervous tone to his scottish accent. "It seems we are in a similar case, though. I need to talk to you about what you could know about this. You could say, I need your help... But promise me... NOT TO FREAK OUT!"

"I promise!" I yelled back, startled by his sudden raise in voice. If this was the case.

"Oh boy, I'm going to regret this," he mumbled, with clear dread in his voice at my reaction. "Open the door," he ordered, and thus; I complied.

I opened the door slowly in order not to startle him, but when I saw the face on the other side, I knew why he didn't want me to freak out.

David Tennant.

"D-D-David T-T-Tennant!" I stuttered, eyes burning like fire with pure childlike joy. He put his palm against his eyes and rubbed them gently.

I was going to faint, I knew it. From one of the worst experiences in my life to one of the best that my mind could imagine! David Tennant was wondering if I could help HIM!

I held back froth from my mouth to prevent an Avatar like fangasm before starting to fall to the ground.

"Whoops! Don't want that!" he said, holding me by the shoulders to prevent me from collapsing. There was a brief moment that allowed me to recover. “What the hell is going on with your eye? Is that a contact lens?” he asked, referencing my now red right eye. I was surprised his reaction had nothing to do with the scar I had surrounding it. I shrugged, but I guessed he would’ve had thought that the eye stuff would have something to do with it.

“Will I have a scar?” he asked, confirming my guess, but I only shrugged once again, I had no idea what was going on.

"Funny," said Nightmare Moon in my head, being slightly interrupting. "Currently, you're thinking the same sort of things when you saw me. Who is this?" she asked. I paid little attention to her. My mind was too focused in convincing myself that I wasn't just having a really fucked up lucid dream.

"You still alive in there?" he said, poking me on the forehead. "Show me the mark you have."

"NO WAY! Not even to you, what if you see my doodle?"

"Time and a place, Patrick. This conversation to you is dire, do what he says and you'll do fine."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, before I embarrassingly started to pull down the back of my trousers, showing the mark that was placed on my side.

"Interesting," he said slowly with his accent, staring detailed at my cutie mark (might as well call it that, who am I kidding?). "Better show mine then-"

He showed me the theorized cutie mark on his own side... Make that confirmed cutie mark, it had the same, almost vector like qualities that gave it quite a smooth look.

But it was an hourglass. The Doctor's cutie mark. Isn't that ironic. Except, the sand inside the hourglass was stained red... Red, like blood.

I wondered if this was the cutie mark of another pony. And before I could think of the question, Nightmare Moon read my thoughts.

"That is the Cutie Mark of the Doctor, Patrick. Your eyes are not deceiving you."

That irony now became so massive it was almost poetic... Did that mean-

"Yes, Patrick. As you will become the Pony whose mark you bare. This man, that you recognise as 'The Doctor' is marked to become The Doctor of my realm."

"You've blanked out again, kid. You look like you've been shot, you OK?"

I wasn't sure what his reaction would be to the information that was just relayed to me. He'd probably think I was insane. But other than the whole turning into Ponies thing, there was no other explanation to what this could have been. But he needed some kind of explanation.

I was beginning, however, to think that this meeting couldn't have been a coincidence.

“David?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“Do you know about the show- ‘My Little Pony’?”

“Yes, I do. I’ve had several fans telling me I look like one of the characters.” He scrunched his mouth, thinking about the tattoo. “I remember the symbol currently tattooed on me seems to remind me of that… Pony.”

“Has it occured to you that maybe you tattooed it on yourself last night?”

He nodded, and rolled his eyes. “All I remember is going to bed, waking up this morning and finding this tattooed on me…” And then he looked around nervously. “And someone else.”

“Are you sure that you need my help with this? I know something; but you wouldn’t believe me! Are you sure that this isn’t just a man-made prank?”

“I don’t think tattoos appear over night without someone noticing it. And trust me- I would believe the Doctor did it. Give me your best shot on what you know.”

I tried to think for a moment, trying to find a way to stall him. I had no idea how to put what I had been listening to from my psychotic voice in my head.

Thankfully, his gaze was broken from mine as his phone began to ring loudly from his pocket. He rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket.

"Do you mind if I get this, I was expecting a call today. This might be important."

I nodded, and he promptly took out the small device and put it to his face.

"Hello?" he asked, and I heard a small voice from the other side.

"Oh, it's one of these... Wait... Password?"

He put the phone down slightly, giving a look into nothing. One that I recognised he did a lot on Doctor Who. He shook his head, and then stared out.

He continued to stare out as he put the phone up to his ear again, and muttered slowly. "Time Machine."

There was a moment of silence, before the other voice said something else. David hung up and gave a blank look and a shrug. “Funny,” he stammered, scrunching his face slightly like he was sucking on a lemon.

“What is it?”

“It’s just… I didn’t know I needed to say something. But I did… Like an instinct.”

“What did they say?”

He lifted his eyebrows up and sighed. “They didn’t say much, in fact. But when I said ‘time machine’, the person said; ‘Thank You, your number has been recorded, Subject Code Name: The Doctor, has been located.’ And then they hung up!” he addressed me now; “Do you think it’s just some fans messing around or something?”

He didn’t say much after that, but stared at me as if he were thinking. Nightmare Moon took the time of silence to talk as well.

“This is reminding you of something isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I responded in my head, now realising something that had been going through my head all of the morning. Just little snippets of memory;

If you have an accident, go to the bathroom and see a doctor

I went to the bathroom and found David Tennant

You will receive a call

Night Fury

“Convince a former client to do something”

Derren Brown

David Tennant once was on Derren Browns show?

Could Elizabeth have something to do with this?

“Mr Tennant?” I asked, being slightly nervous.

“Yes… Er-”

“Patrick. My name’s Patrick. Have you seen Derren Brown recently?”

He stepped back slightly and squinted with one eye. “Yes… I met him for lunch yesterday- how on earth did you know about that?”

I wouldn’t answer his question, I had to find something out. “Tell me EXACTLY what happened at the end of lunch. Every little detail.” He blinked, and looked up to remember.

“Well we got up, he paid for the sandwiches, then we got up, shook hands and-”

He facepalmed and sighed. “He did it again, didn’t he? He must have taken my wallet, read my mind or made me kill someone, didn’t he?”

My evidence was confirmed, Elizabeth must have gotten Derren Brown, in return for testing out audio-hypnosis, hypnotised David Tennant, who ironically bared the cutie mark of his Pony counterpart, to come here, at this time, to meet me, after I had discovered the existence of Nightmare Moon.

“Well done, I’m surprised you didn’t get that sooner.”

I took the remark as an insult and simply ignored it.

But I still had those other things going through my head, I had to find out another thing.

“David?” I asked, but he was staring at the ground in concentrated thinking. “DAVID!”

He shook his head and corrected his thinking to hear my next question: “Have you met anyone called ‘Elizabeth Comstock’?”

His eyes widened and the question caused him to stammer his position. “No… But the name does ring a bell.”

We’re going nowhere.
“-You’re going nowhere. I have an idea” interrupted Nightmare Moon.

My lips went numb, as did my tongue, jaw and throat. Before I could react to it; Nightmare Moon spoke in my voice as she did in the assembly earlier.

“David, look at me and tell me the first thing that comes into your head!” she shouted demandingly to the poor actor.

“Er… Kid, is this really going to help me find out about this tattoo? I think we went off topic a little.”

“Don’t argue! Just look at me and tell me the first thing that pops into your head.”

I really hate her now.

David looked puzzlingly at me, with a deep scowl before a spontaneous burst from him.

“Patient!”

“Patient?”

“Yes! THAT’S IT!”

“What’s it?”

“I remember something Derren must have told me; ‘The Doctor will catch the Patient’s symptoms and house call must be made!’, ooh! That was clever. Clever Derren.” his voice became shockingly questioning at the last moment, before he turned to me.

“Do you know,” he began, pointing to my eye. “If there’s going to be any other stuff that’s going to happen to me?”

“Unfortunately David, I know very little about this… ‘Stuff’ you refer to. And the rest of the things I know might be either weird of you, or beckon a restraining order.”

“OK. Can we keep to the non-weird stuff until I get a bit of a better grip on things?” he asked.

“I know that its effects will become full when the clock strikes twelve eve of the fourth of may.”

He looked stunned and confused. “And those being?”

“That’s where things get odd, David, and even then I don’t know much, unfortunately.”

I heard Nightmare Moon speak loudly in my head for a moment. ‘Good going with the lying, if he found out the truth now, we’d never get him to follow us.’

‘Why would you want him to follow me?’

‘The better question is why you don’t want him to follow us? You’ve been obsessing about him in your subconscious for ages! This is destiny coming up and KISSING YOU.’

“HELLO?” David shouted, waving his arms to get my attention.

I snapped to my senses as Nightmare Moon spoke through me once more. “But I know someone, David; an expert. I believe her to be the one who caused us both to be in this situation.”

“Would this person happen to be called Elizabeth?”

I nodded under my own free will.

“And I know where she will be today. I think she will be willing to tell what she knows to the both of us.”

David’s face lit up with a childish smile and he whipped out his phone and began to text something into his phone while I felt something flow from my mouth to my head.

My lips were mine to control again.

“I’ve made arrangements with my wife and daughter. You’re coming with me now,” he instructed forcefully, with a twinge of happiness.

“Hold on, why do I need to come with you? I could just tell you where she’s going!”

He was nearly out of the room by that point, but he comedically poked his head through the door and spoke again. “That wasn’t a question, Patrick,” he waved his hand.

‘Follow him,” Nightmare Moon ordered, and thus; I followed obediently.

As I followed David closely, I began to worry if people would notice me easily and punish me for what I did to James at that assembly. I wondered if the police had been called in, or the army, or even worse; my parents.

I expected myself to be arrested as soon as I came out of the bathroom. But to my surprise, I received no such reception. Since any people I came across were more interested in, well, David.

Every person of the few still walking around was looking directly at David; ignoring me completely. This gave me some form of privacy. (Although, I had little idea at why I needed to be so private. Barely anyone I saw outside was there during the speech.)

I followed David to the gate; as I saw a car parked next to it.

He got into the car in the passenger seat; and I followed him into the rear passenger seat at his command of another hand wave.

My heart was racing for a moment after I shut the door. Paranoia mostly, but confusion in the rest of me. But my heart rate definitely jumped up for a moment when I heard a voice speak from my side.

“Dad, who’s this? Why has he gotten into the car?”

I turned to look at this new voice to see Olivia Moffett, Tennent’s nine-year-old daughter, staring back at me with some strange look in her eyes.

“He’s a friend Olive. He says he knows someone who can help us with our little problem.”

EEEEEE! David Tennant called me his friend.

OUR problem? Did she have it too?

Before I could open my mouth to speak; Tennant’s wife, Georgia, peered round the corner to look at me with a scowl.

“And you just decided to let him into the car? Weren’t you thinking if we’d be OK with this?”

David smiled, causing me to feel unnerved and happy at the same time. “I trust him and he, hopefully, trusts me. And besides, don’t you want to know what’s going on?”

I couldn’t decide whether this day has just been one massive dream, or one waking Nightmare.

‘Your reaction to me is a little stronger than this moment. I’d go with the waking nightmare description.’

‘Thanks, Nightmare.’

“So where to then, Patrick?”

“Why didn’t you tell me your family also have them?” I interrupted loudly, startling everyone else in the car.

“Well, would you reveal private information to someone you just met? While the tabloids are on a 24-hour search for every little bit of information that they can get on you?” I shook my head in response with clenched teeth. “Me neither, so I tried keeping it to a minimum until you told me that you know someone.”

“Point taken.”

“What’s with his eye?” Olivia asked, slightly rudely, interrupting something David was about to say.

“Don’t interrupt honey, your father was about to say something.”

“Thanks dear,” David said to her, before talking to me again. “So where’s your friend you talked about?”

“She’s in Costa Coffee, it’s not very far from here, Doctor. Just continue onwards and I’ll give you directions.”

“Thank you. And it’s David, not Doctor,” he said before his wife began to drive the car away from the school.

The car pulled into a stop next to the Coffee restaurant. At first, I was worried, since I wasn’t sure that the two would be in there! However, my fears were dispelled when I saw both Hannah and Elizabeth talking next to the window, with Hannah looking pissed at the strange woman.

While the strange woman caught my eyes with a casual glance before turning to her phone, which she took out of her pocket and my phone promptly buzzed at a received text.

“Is this the place?” Georgia asked, turning back to me after turning off the engine.

“Yes,” I said, taking out my phone and checking the text.

‘Leave the girls, you and David come into the café.’

“Shall we all go in?” David asked, almost on cue.

“No,” I responded, resulting in a flinch from the three family members. “She said for only me and David to go in.”

Olivia groaned, “Typical; Dad’s always getting the attention. Why do we need to stay?”

Nightmare Moon sparked up. ‘Tell them to fuck off.’

‘Language, Nightmare. I won’t say that.’

“My friend said that only me and your Dad can go into the café to meet her. If that makes you uncertain, I’m sure your dad can relay what he’s been told back to you.”

David nodded and brought his lower lip forward before opening the door to the car.

“You coming then?” he asked through my door of the car.

I saw the two girls quickly retreated to their phones (and possibly Facebook) before I opened my door and started to walk with David into the café.

“You staying long?” I asked, beckoning no response. “Are you staying long in Oxford, Mr. Tennant?” I asked louder than the last; drawing his attention.

“No, not really, Patrick. We’ll leave back to Scotland after we’ve met your friend. Unless we’re told it’s the end of the world or something.”

“That’s unlikely,” I retorted after scoffing to myself.

“Oh no-” he began. “Last night, there was significant seismic activities in England. There was no real damage, but the sodding Prime minister doesn’t know a thing! Says he was up all night ‘banging a hospital secretary until his bed’s legs went through the fucking floor’.”

I snorted and laughed, imagining him saying that to the press, and the journalist’s reactions to it. But as we were still walking, I had to ask just for clarity, “What do they have?”

David raised one eyebrow. “You need to be a little more specific; you could be referring to anything by your vagueness.”

“I mean, you say they have the same thing as you and I do. What do they have for the tattoos?”

He thought as he walked, “There isn’t any real connection between those on them and my own. Honestly, they’re both a bit random.”

“Well I have a nebula and a red swirl, topped with a red eye and scar. I doubt they can top that.”

“Point taken. But Georgie has some Bubbles, while Olive has some golden stars. Do they have any relevance to you?”

“No, not really.”

I lied, I knew that the cutie marks of Bubbles and Golden stars belonged to Derpy Hooves and Dinky Hooves respectively. But from what Nightmare Moon said, that meant… Oh dear, poor Georgia!

Although… I could be going mad, and this just happens to be a massive coincidence and/or a dream.

‘Unlikely, Patrick. But I like how you keep thinking academically about the fact that you’re all going to turn into ponies.’

‘Thanks for reminding me, Nightmare. I prefer when you’re a dominating evil mastermind than when you give comedic quips.’ Nightmare Moon laughed evilly in my head, giving me some form of fulfillment to what I just ‘said’.

The door was opened by me, and David followed me in. The door opening allowed me to catch the eye of Hannah. Whose expression changed from a countenance of happiness, to confusion, to disgust and to shock.

She stood up and walked towards me. And oddly; the other people in the restaurant couldn’t give a shit about who had just walked in behind me. Hannah, began the converse.

“You’re here! Elizabeth was just about to explain some things. Is that David Tennant?”

David waved to her; “You have mysterious tattoos too?”

“Tattoos? What tattoos? Oh, and nice to meet you Mr. Tennant.”

“We both woke up with ‘Tattoos’ on our flanks,” I said before Hannah could veer the conversation into talking to David. “We believe Elizabeth has something to do with it. As by the way you said, ‘explain some things’ I guess you’ve woken up with something.”

She nodded and directed all of our eyes to bandages on her hands. “It’s nothing compared to your eye. But it’s bad. I’m terrified and confused, and apparently Elizabeth is the only one who knows the full details of what’s happening to me.”

“Eye? Is that scar what she was talking about?” David asked. And before I could stop Hannah from scaring him; she burst with vigor.

“He cut out his eye last night! I saw him do it with a knife, last night! He was saying he was Nightmare Moon! I thought he’d gone mad! But for some reason it’s grown back overnight… RED! I was so scared. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” The last line was obviously addressing me.

David looked at me with a furrowed brow. “You cut out your eye?” he blurted unbelieving of that fact. And what happened next shocked me.

“HE CUT OUT HIS EYE!” said everyone else in the café. Much to mine and David’s surprise. A little old granny turned to face me.

“I know you cut out your eye dear. But this lovely girl here wouldn’t stop until she’d given us every detail! Delightful girl, but I doubt she’d be a very good spy… I do like your scar by the way. It gives a very ‘renegade’ look to you, dear,” she spoke in a northern accent.

Hannah then came close to me in a moment for comfort. And winced when she put her hands on mine briefly. "Sorry, it's just-" she whispered the next part into my ear; "I think I'm turning into a changeling."

Elizabeth, next to the window, sipping her tea, beckoned us all to where she was sitting. "Would you kindly come over here, please?" she asked, lowering the tiny cup.

We all followed Hannah to the table she was sitting at while she addressed a passing waiter. "Michael, dear. Another round of drinks and delicacies on me. And make sure that no one else enters."

She slipped a small check into his hand while the rest of the café gave a happy cheer at the suggestion of free foodstuffs.

"Nice to see you again, Patrick. Good night's sleep?" she asked me, almost mocking me.

"The sleep was fine, Elizabeth. I believe it was the morning that was not good. Although I believe you know all about my morning, his morning, and everything else that's going on right now."

She smiled and put down the teacup. "I can tell you're all a little confused, and a tad angry at the moment. But here we are, as I am ready to supply what you need, for the time being, and you have come to me."

David stirred in his seat. "I'm beginning to suspect that this isn't just some weirdo with a tattoo needle and a drill."

Elizabeth leant in to talk to us now, putting on a tone of seriousness. "That is exactly what I want you to stop believing as I impart this vital information to you."

She pointed a blaming finger at the three of us.“You must rule out every logical and scientific theory that your minds can think of, the facts I reveal will be so difficult to believe you will have to force yourself not to think otherwise."

We had no idea what she was talking about, but she continued.

"I can only impart so much, as the information I do not impart is for you, and you alone to find out. Do you accept this?"

We all nodded. And the café became quiet.

"Then let us begin-"

Author's Note

My longest chapter yet! Brought to you from my holiday in Bruges today. Again, thank you to Dusk Writer for the editing. This has been the chapter I've most enjoyed writing so far, sorry about the fake-out ending. I had to do that to allow for more character's stories before any explanation.

See you next time!

Part 1: Chapter 8: Stigmata

Hannah’s Story.

“You don’t belong here, freak!” a voice chirped from the back of my mind, becoming clear almost as quickly as I heard it.

“Why are you even down here? The treaty may be over, but you have no right to come down here! We can still feed on you!”

“You don’t understand, do you? My queen will punish you if you do anything to me!” a timid voice spoke, with a slightly deep tone, but feelings of absolute fear.

“You think our queen is your queen, pony? You do not deserve to have that honor, you are not even a changeling!”

I approached the scene cautiously, to see two large changelings standing over a quivering colt, who was lying on the ground, covering his eyes with his hooves. I wanted to intervene, but my body was forced to watch as the changelings began to open fire on the poor colt.

He was in agony, suffering and fear. And it made me feel weak. While the changelings only laughed.

But then something odd happened. As the changelings barged him with painful attacks; his eye snapped open with a haunting blue.

“Where’s your queen to save you, pony? Why are you crying? Do you want to see your mummy and daddy?” one of them mocked, and the other joined him in bullying laughter.

“You’re wrong… Insects,” the pony now said with a frighteningly smooth voice. The two changelings stirred, but kept blasting him with magical energy. “When I said ‘my queen,’ I was not referring to Chrysalis!”

His eye now flashed with the blue colour. As a fire emerged from his coat.

“FUCK! IT’S NIGHTMARE MOON!” one of them yelled as the fire engulfed the little colt, and from the fire emerged the demonic form of Nightmare Moon, armor and everything.

“DON’T JUST STAND THERE YOU IDIOT- RUN!” one of them yelled, beginning to run away. Nightmare Moon only took this as a challenge, levitating them into the air and bringing them towards her.

“Changelings, darlings. You must have known about my current residence in your hive. Such ignorance should be punished. I think that DEATH is a suitable punishment!” she slithered with an almost poetry to her pronounciation. The two changelings broke down and started wailing in fear.

One of them begged and cried; “Please! Oh great moon empress! We are sorry, we apologise for not knowing of you! Have mercy upon us! Please, spare us!”

She only relished in their fear, taking up a magical sword and bringing it to both of their necks. “I’m tired of petty changelings and their petty crimes. And I am tired of the blood that has not been spilt. I crave for murder, and your insolence has solved my cravings!”

They cried out and writhed under her grasp. And then she sharply turned her gaze to me. “I know you’re there, Princess. You can come out now!” she mocked, and I stepped forward and made myself presentable to her.

“Release my subjects, Chronos, and I shall deal with them myself,” I ordered, with a stern, cold tone to my voice. This only made Nightmare Moon scrunch her face, before reluctantly throwing the two changelings to the ground with a crunch. “LEAVE!” I ordered, now to the two changelings. They fled with much haste, leaving me to approach Nightmare Moon.

“Must you be so dull, Chrysalis? I was just going to have some fun by murdering those two.”

My rage blossomed forth in a frightening display of green fire, revealing my true form upon the dark queen. From a dark, insect hide to the streaky green hair that flowed down to a black, chitinous saddle.

She looked down for a moment. “Those idiotic mortals, after everything, they cannot truly accept us. Why must they test us… Why do they hate… me…”

She began to look down and slumped to the floor, slowly dispelling the spell that gave her a physical body. Slowly shrinking her in size, reverting her back to the form of the small colt, who collapsed into my own hooves pathetically as soon as he reverted back to his normal size.

“What am I, Chryssi? Why am I so different? Why must I have Nightmare Moon in control of me?” he whimpered, burying his muzzle into my arms with tears. I had no answer, but I held him close to be friendly, I doubt that he would ever take consideration of that.

“I don’t know, Chronos. I ask myself that every single day I see you suffering in my hive,” I said, comforting him as he sobbed in my hooves.

He coughed and spluttered, becoming more heavy with every cough he made through heavy sobs. “I can’t… Control her. She’s so angry. And she yells in my head to do horrible things. Why can’t I stop myself from doing those things?!”

I held him close, as I would do to the changelings I loved so dear in my hive. There was a distinct, almost river-like, force coming from him. It was seeming directly into my head, making me feel warm, buzzy and stronger. I realised that I was draining him of love, and stopped immediately. He looked up with a teary smile and green saliva from his lips.

“It’s ok,” he spluttered, coughing loudly immediately afterwards. “You don’t need to stop.”

He began to cough loudly, having his body seize as some green, sticky substance was thrown up from the body.

“It’s been years now since you came into my care, Chronos. And yet, your body still rejects the royal jelly from the hive,” I said with a laugh, as Chronos looked sickly upon me.

He flinched, possibly hearing something Nightmare Moon said in his head. He looked down, pressing my hooves away from him. I could not bare to see him suffer more, and looked upon his pain with anger. Not anger towards the Nightmare within him, but the Nightmare he currently was.

“Chronos, do you know why we do those training exercises?” I asked him, squinting my eyes. “Since the day you could talk and walk, I started to do them with you- every single day of every single week of every single month of every single year. And yet, I have never told you why we do them. Do you know what they were for?”

He looked around, drooling a little with the green goop. He scowled at me. “Was it to integrate myself better with the changelings? Was it just to stall time to drive myself further from society? Was it going to be a so-called replacement to actual time with a mother?” he sighed and lowered his head.

“Chronos, I do this because I love you. Ever since I saw you, I knew of the horrible truth you have to live with,” I walked up to him and pressed against his forehead, just below his horn. “So I used my best techniques to help you block. her. out.”

He burst into sad rage, horn glowing ablaze and eyes streaming with tears. “What’s that done then? All it’s done is bottle her up until she bursts through even stronger than before. And there’s nothing I can do about it!”

I looked back at him with malice. "Chronos, I should punish you for saying something so stupid."

He sighed as I held his cheeks with my two front hooves, feeling slightly imbalanced, but still kept my posture. "There is ALWAYS something ponies can do. And it is your duty to never give up finding what is necessary to do."

"Remember, Chronos; no matter what happens in your life, no matter how powerful she seems to you, no matter how she uses you to wreck havoc, as long as you have one thing. you will always be better than her. I've raised you to be strong, Solar Flare has done nothing for you. Do you know what that makes you in my eyes?"

I held him close once more, flinching as he coughed directly onto my back. He returned the favor with his own front hooves.

"You are the closest thing I have to a son than any other changeling." I spoke directly into his ear.

I released him, having felt him fidget slightly, but now I saw something that I had not seen in a while.

He looked around a bit, thinking to himself and soaking in what I had just said. His lip quivered, forming the basis for a smile that actually mattered, until the smile blossomed into a full grin.

Then his eyes shot open, as if in agony. And it was.

He writhed around on the ground in front of me, extinguishing the little flame as he rolled around in pain, screaming as he did so.

I rushed to his attention, but I stopped when I noticed the small shreds of both black fur and shredded red skin, as if it were torn off his body by the very ground he was seizing on.

I wanted to help him, to stop whatever was happening and preventing him from hurting himself any further! But I stood in place, motionless.

I couldn't decide whether it was a state of catatonic disbelief, or simply observing. But, I remained in place.

He turned to me with a jolt, his eyes red and painful cries distorted horribly escaped his lips. "Help me," he cried, staring at the skin shredded on the ground and vomiting up more of the green liquid onto the ground around him.

"Chronos, don't fight it! You've been having royal jelly for years! Isn't it obvious that your integration is nigh?"

He looked upon me, skin and body contorting as he spoke with venom and fury. “STOP IT, FOR MY SISTER’S SAKE, STOP IT!” he charged up a magical attack, possibly a healing spell, except with a slightly darker shade of red.

“Nononononono!” I screamed, trying to stop him from what he was about to do.

“CHAOS

CONTROL”

There was a sudden flash of bright light from his position, and a strong blast of wind nearly blew me off my hooves! I kept my eyes fixed upon that point, seeing it bend and contort around that area. And through the light, I saw my vision become angry red, the light becoming harsher.

I heard voices, strong voices, that cut through my hearing range. With an angry voice lashing out, Chronos' voice, screaming with the same sadness he used just then, “SCAR OF TIME, SEPARATE THE WORLDS AND DESTROY!” he exasperated.

And then there was another scream… A scream of a child.

And suddenly, the rift turned dark. And then that rift suddenly blasted out an even stronger wind, as every sense in my body was overloaded by a single object in time and space, causing my vision to black out to deal with it. It was then I heard a new voice, a voice I had not heard before.

But it spoke in a deep and wise voice, overpowering every single other motion in my body.

“Scar Of Time… Connect the worlds… Heal thyself.”
There was now a bright light once more, looking like the light you would get from a well-coordinated sword slash, creating a small, diagonal ray of light in pure darkness.

My vision corrected, and Chronos faded back into view with the white tear mixing into him, turning into a physical feature upon his countenance. The scars on the rest of his body healed slowly, the changeling integration halting. He looked grief-stricken, and looked at me blankly with horror.

“Chronos? Speak to me- What’s going on?” I stumbled, trying to piece together what had just happened to me and my surroundings.

His pupils shrank, as he began to bleed from… Everywhere.

His mouth, eyes, hooves and fur began seeping with the shiny crimson liquid as his mouth choked out one more word; “Time.”

As if on cue, he screamed loudly as his body became a fountain of blood, no, a fountain would downplay the display that went on. His body erupted from horn to hoof with the tainted healing spell.

I tried to help him now; I wanted to make him weak enough so that I could heal him, but who was to say that Nightmare Moon wouldn't take the opportunity of his pain to take him over again. So I cast a shield around him to stop the blood, just blood-

and more

and more

and more

Pouring out from the small colt, no child should ever have to go through that kind of pain. And yet, he did, because of my own impatience and his ignorance.

The blood settled slightly, now only pouring like crimson streams from open wounds. And oddly, I saw no sign of Nightmare Moon taking control through his pain, despite seeing him earlier demonstrate this rare curse, I saw no angry moon goddess rise up from the blood. Only a small, wheezing colt lying in a sea of his own blood.

I rushed to him, holding him tightly again. "Help! My children," I called through the hive mind, "He is in grave pain and wounding! I require the help of the hivemind!"

I looked upon his barely breathing corpse to see that his cries were not all in vain, he was neither fully alicorn or fully changeling. But he had instead just become a strange combination of both Pony and Changeling.

Although his skin was intact, it felt hard to touch and shone with a chitinous feel to it. He had a shiny black saddle atop his back, which I doubt he would have been able to see. The rest of him remained relatively unchanged, his mane was still black and blue and his cutie mark was still present and his eyes still had the definitions of a pony, except for the fact his sclera had slightly diluted red.

And then the scar.

There was a large scar jutting across his right eye menacingly, and despite not showing actual damage to the eye itself, the scar seemed to burn the flesh around it. And the closer I looked at it, the stranger a sensation became at the back of my head.

He quivered and cowered as I brought a hoof to the scar, feeling the energy become greater the closer I brought my hoof to it. Until, even though I knew it was wrong, I placed my hoof on the surface of the scar.

Immediately, a vision flowed into my head, dark visions.

An older me, taking the body of a princess to infiltrate the royal guard, using my manipulation of him to allow my changelings to attack the stupid city of Canterlot. Although, my plan was flawed, I did not see a younger unicorn freeing the princess, who then used her magic to banish me to a far away place… Where I plotted my next step.

I snapped back to reality, to find myself lying on the smooth ground of the hive with Chronos nowhere to be seen. I was left alone in the dark, with a throbbing head and wondering what the hell was going on.

"What the hell was that?" I spoke aloud to myself, wondering how a newly formed scar could do that sort of thing.

I scouted the horizons of my current situation, to find myself in the same position I was when I held Chronos just a moment ago (at least to me). Yet I did not see any Changelings either roaming around or coming to the aid of their princess.

There was still a pool of blood on the ground around me, and I found that the blood had not stuck to my chitinous body, but remained dry on the waxy floor that I now stood up upon.

I was scared, and confused at the events over such a short time. But my fears were spiked when I heard the harsh clopping of hooves behind me.

"You have meddled with the rules of Nature, Chrysalis," Boomed my father, King Harvest, with his teeth bared slightly in anger.

I turned helplessly up to the King, who looked down with bitter distaste upon me.

I had a rough idea of what he meant, yet I did not know exactly. He read this idea like an open book and spoke with frustration, "The biological code of Pony and Changeling has become distant, connecting them again after so little time is not somepony should go through, yet alone a small colt."

I thought for but a moment, thinking about what my father had done to him upon seeing his changeling-like chitin lining his normal fur. Would he have killed him? What did he do?

He sighed, and dulled his rage towards me, only to be replaced with annoyance. "My Daughter, do not fret; I have not harmed the abomination, since as we BOTH know he is crucial to the survival of our species at this point. If he or Nightmare Moon failed, I know of something terrible that may emerge. It is YOU who I am angry with, forcing this upon all of us."

He came up close to me, making him seem even taller than me than he already was. "Your mother and I did not raise you to so freely take away something so valuable to ponies. We feast off their love, yet we do not try to integrate them into our society. He is valuable to the hive, and it is written that his integration was inevitable, but it was not meant to happen that day," He narrowed his eyes, "But the actions he took should not have been needed. His fear has caused his true alicorn powers to awaken. Your impatience might have doomed us all."

I raised an eyebrow before looking around panicking; my father was talking nonsense, what did Chronos do that doomed us? Was it the spell? Was it the fact he halted the transformation? Or was it-

"That... Scar... Is no scar at all, my daughter. Frankly, it is one of the most dangerous things known in the universe, it is a sign that the shackles that bound the great one are breaking..." he instructed forcefully, standing up tall to show his broad posture. I couldn’t believe my father could believe such mad theories.

"I don't understand, Father. How is that scar so dangerous?"

My father sat down with his two back legs, and spoke in his 'sciency' voice. "Each alicorn has a different Element to control, whether it be Sun, Moon, Love or Chaos. Due to this pony's strange existence, he controls something that is even a mystery to ourselves, he controls Paradoxes."

“Here, his powers are only just awakening, he is unaware of how his powers can work. He does not know about paradoxes and the damage it can do in a universe like our own. And you caused him to resent his own existence.”

“What has that got to do with anything?”

“It has to do with everything! The boy’s fear and shock caused him to travel in time… And end his life in the past!”

I was taken aback, stumbling simply on the suggestion of what he said, and he could sense my confusion. He simply couldn’t care less about my shock. A realisation dawned on me; I had heard a scream when that light had shown… He killed himself when he was but an infant! But that begged the question; how did he survive?

“He did not live… Chrysalis!” he snarled. Narrowing his eyes. “It is the damage he has made in those actions that have caused him to survive!”

He beckoned me to sit down, so I would listen better to him. “Chrysalis, when I was but a nymph, even I was told the tales of the Risen One... The Original. The creator of the Prophet Sword, a sword to save the universe, only to damage it in the process. It is said that when a pony travels to a land of time dispersed, and changes the actions that have once been made, the effects ripple to all time and all places. The prophet sword cuts through the fabric of space and time, separating the anomaly from damaging time around it. It tries to revert other occurrences to a state of healed form, which may be the reason that he became this hybrid form. But this scars reality with a mark that can never be healed.”

“A Scar of Time is dark magic. One of the most dangerous in our time, and even in the stories of the original, they are now aware of him. And if they return, then I fear for us all, my Daughter. The actions you made have caused a prophecy to unfold, as the child now bares the same scar of time as the original himself; a scar of time marked onto flesh.”

I thought and feared, letting my thoughts delve only deeper into our collective consciousness. Remembering the strange images that appeared to me when I touched the scar while being easily distracted by both dread and fear.

My father picked up on this, and continued. “A scar of time connects to other worlds, worlds of similar purpose, but different possibilities. The Original is said that the scars he created were so large, to the point that you could see through the scars without needing to touch them. His world was so central that the scars nearly destroyed it… There was no place to open to, so the two possibilities had to co-exist.”

“As the boy already has to live with two consciousnesses in his head, the world crammed in an alternate dimension that could even be travelled to through the tear! You simply received a backlash glimmer of another world! Your mind left your body through the scar, allowing you to see the world of other possibilities!”

My heart stopped for a moment, causing me to blankly look at my father. “I dimension jumped?” I asked him. He only shook his head.

“No, my daughter, like I said; only mentally. I have not heard of anyone who can open these dark devices. The Original is rumored to help those of the other dimensions by cutting through the scar and jumping through.”

“Father, sometimes your strong belief on the tales of the neverending wars tire me,” I groaned like a stroppy teenager. Causing the eyes of my father to begin to turn red.

“You have different beliefs to me, Chrysalis. I doubt the belief of the existence of the Original one, but since the existence of Discord, I have become fearful of the existence of his enemies… And now the scars of time exist; I have little to NO doubts.”

Harvest’s eyes turned blood red in rage. “The Original One… Is on the move.”

His eyes returned back to normal, and he began to move away from me, leaving me in a state of shock and fear. Mostly from the sheer information, from my father’s supposed madness, but the other: the fact that his tone on the original one changed from one of reverence, to one of fear.

I wasn’t sure about it, what was it? The way he said it? The fact that I never remembered him preaching about this strange being? Who the hell was he, or she?

My father did not pick up my asking thoughts. But instead, stopped and looked at me with full posture.

“Chronos has been waiting for you for the time you have been unconscious. His health has been restored, yet I do not wish to tell him the nature of his scar. But I do hope you realise that you have been asleep for two months.”

“TWO MONTHS? I’ve been asleep for two FUCKING MONTHS?”

“Language, my daughter. Do not tempt me to punish you… Luckily, he has been waiting patiently with your absence, and has been keeping with his studies well, although his Changeling parts cause him great distress,” he said, almost proud of Chronos had been doing.

“However,” he began again, speaking in a tone similar to that of earlier. “In order for you to continue your teaching to him; to must promise me four things. Do you understand?”

He did not leave me time to respond, as I was still digesting information, but his voice spoke with such force; he KNEW I was going to remember it!

“One; under no circumstances will you try to convert him! We have caused enough damage as it is, I doubt he will want that again. We rattled the creature's cage, let's not try to shatter it so soon."
Two; when he is of age to control his magic you will teach him how to use more temporal abilities. It’s evident he has them now- so he must learn how to master them.
Three; hone Chronos and Nightmare's skills in mental blockades, they will need to learn how to control and prevent being controlled by each other. They are useful assets to Equestria, and they will both be needed to stop the original one. If we lose him to her or vice versa, true Time Travel will become lost once more... And a Darker fate will await the world.
And then… Four.”

He closed his eyes, and took out a book from thin air, a book that struck fear into my heart once more. My lips quivered as I stared at the patchwork hardback, covered with transmutation symbols. It was a book I had heard about, feared, and yet lusted to use.

“The Oghma Infinium.”

My father slithered, as I saw visible shaking moving down his body while he nodded, “This shall be your new textbook.”

“Wait- what?”

“Chronos will now learn from this book. And I want you to help him master the art of dark magic, and particularly, the Universal Code.”

I blinked twice, confused once more. “The Five Score curse?”

He sighed, “If our enemy is to find him, then this shall be his last resort as a means of escape, to flee to the Central Six. If not that, then he will use it as a weapon against our numerous enemies. Only I know of its existence, Chrysalis. If you manage to get him to use it, it must be ONLY him who knows what it does. And how to use it properly.”

“Wh-where can he learn this?”

He smiled, as he used his magic to open up the book in front of me, flooding the room with even more green light. It was but a moment that I could see another strange transmutation symbol. With Chronos' cutie mark in the centre.

“He won’t learn it, Chrysalis. He shall be the one to finish and master it.”

My eyes opened with a ‘pling’ as the light completed my awakening. Rising me from my bed with a long yawn, stretching my hands out as far as I could go so my muscles were freshly exercised for the day of doing fuck-all.

I checked my phone, seeing nothing at all popping up on facebook or my messages. Just the date of May the First, a little message from me reading ‘Happy Birthday Hannah!’ and the background changed to a picture of the words ‘ring no-one!’ making me a tad confused... Until I suddenly remembered something.

"Shit! Last night!" I blurted to myself, disturbing no-one. The memories of last night flooded back to me like a bolt of lightning that calls you names.

It was unnerving, seeing Patrick cut out his eye, Elizabeth's ridiculous behaviour, HIS ridiculous behavior! It was strange, confusing, and terrifying. I couldn't even move with the thoughts flowing through my head like an out of control river.

Come on brain! Now's not the time to be making metaphors!

I tried to piece it together, coming to no results. Last thing I remember was the rest of us passing out. Did Patrick pass out too? Evidently, I had been brought back home as I had woken up in my own bed, thankfully with only my shoes taken off.

I wanted to find Patrick, yet I felt slightly compelled to not follow him wherever he was.

I then thought of the dream I just had. That was so unnerving! Usually in my dreams, especially recently, I felt like I was in the body of another being, simply an observer, usually Queen Chrysalis from My Little Pony.

But that dream... It felt like I WAS her. Every movement she made I felt as if it were made by my own muscles. Every word she spoke, I felt the tongue, jaw and air move through my body. It boggled me right to my core, causing me to grip my head in mental strain.

And then, something else happened.

I felt my hair on the other side of my hands.

It wasn't the feeling when some hair comes over your fingers and touches your hand; it felt like my hair was originating from out of the centre of my hand and travelling downwards. In fact, the hair seemed to be INSIDE my hand.

I lifted my hands, to feel my hair travelling through smoothly and allowing me to see my hands completely.

And that was where I started to freak out.

Holes.

Holes in the middle of my hands.

I thought this was from last night, but I definitely don't remember going through my hands with would would have had to have been a gigantic hole-puncher!

I just stared at my hands for a while, wanting to vomit at the sight of seeing right through my hands, but I knew that the vomit would just pass through them! That would happen if I wasn't just dreaming again.

*BAM* No, not dreaming... Ow.

The holes were weird, as they had no scientific explanation for their existence. Some might say it's something to do with stigmata; a genetic disease named after the holes on the Christ's hands after his crucifixion. Yet I had never heard any stories of this disease going THROUGH someone's hands, let alone near perfect circles (I have to give them credit though; they were pretty good circles).

I looked inside the holes to see that the area that I would expect to be invisible due to blood pouring out, to be instead coated with a strange, shiny surface. It was black in colour, so I would have imagined it would be hard in texture. This was not the case. When I clenched my fists, I was surprised to find no trouble in the compression of my palms. The waxy skin however bulged from the other side as my fists, which would have given me a better look at the inside of the hole, but I closed my eyes immediately.

I needed medical attention, whatever this was, I couldn’t afford to risk it.

I pulled my hair back with a headband and got dressed without even bothering to shower. I didn’t want to risk finding out what heat and/or soap could do to the hole and skin. But I washed my hands with cold water anyway after throwing on some clothes laid out for me near my bed (mostly, to prevent any possible infection.)

I rushed out to the car, realised I had forgotten my phone and ran back to grab it.

And then I simply broke down. Full. Blown. Panic attack. My heart was racing, eyes pouring out with tears, and choking breath fast with hyperventilation. I needed to go to the hospital, but I wanted to call them instead. I hoped if I did, they wouldn’t find me in this state sobbing on the floor of my house.

I banged my head with my hands and then my wall with my head. I had only one person I could possibly blame for this. Elizabeth. She must have drugged us last night, Patrick must have gone loopy because of it, that whole ‘Explosion’ and the eye thing were simply hallucinations!

But if that was the case, then it must have done wonders to Patrick afterwards… What if that was the case? What if he got mental damage from drugs? That could be possible! If that’s what happened, I would make Elizabeth pay!

Wait, I had arranged to meet her at Costa! I would personally bollock her there!

I clenched my fists, then cringed as I felt my fingers go straight through my hand painlessly. I had priorities at the moment, but if I were to carry them out, I would need to keep myself as inconspicuous as possible. And what's more conspicuous than someone with holes in their hands? It would be like walking around with an eyepatch on, unanswerable questions would be asked.

In a moment of mild genius, I had an idea. I rummaged through my kitchen draws, finding some Ketchup and a small first-aid kit. I tore open the first aid kit and, much to my relief, found a full roll of bandages and medical tape.

I unrolled the bandage and wrapped it tightly around both hands. Neither being too loose or hindering hand movement. I then fastened them in place with medical tape.

In order for my idea to work, I used a bit of watered down ketchup to stain the bandage on my palm. This gave the look of actual stigmata under the bandages. It certainly wasn't inconspicuous, but it was, at least, less conspicuous than holes.

I walked hastily through the doors of the hospital, making some effort to not draw attention to myself.

Although I got a few looks from the people that were there, I didn't have much trouble getting to the reception without someone trying to spark up a conversation. When I got there, I noticed the receptionist had red eyes, evidently from tears. I just tried to sound as pain-filled as possible to hopefully get into A&E.

"Hello! Can you help me, please!" I blurted, causing the woman's eyes to notice me fully now.

"What the fuck do you want?" she mumbled, choking slightly on tears.

"I've had a massive accident! I need to get to A&E now! Can you please get me in there as soon as possible!"

"From what it looks like, miss, you've just had a little booboo with your hands, and just want to dose up on the painkiller drugs! You're not going to fool anyone!"

I was taken back by this woman's sudden and rude remark. I don't think anyone in customer service should speak like that! She settled down and sighed due to my external signs of being insulted.

I looked around to see some people looking at us and rolling their eyes.

My attention was quickly drawn back to the receptionist as she made a small comment again. "I'm... Sorry. I've had a rough day, I just got dumped by the man of my dreams. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that... My apologies."

I pursed my lips and lowered my eyebrows but kept a calm demeanor around this woman's lack of self-control. "No offense taken," I mumbled back.

She rubbed her eyes and then turned her attention to the computer. “Name?” she asked, a bit more assertive now.

“Hannah. Hannah Biddle,” I replied, to have her type it into the computer. A message popped up, that I could not see, that made her frown and move her entire mouth to the side of her jaw.

“I’m afraid, Hannah, that I can’t allow you into A&E anyway,” she said with a monotone. Causing my own anger to bloom like a pissed off flower.

“What now? Are you just making up excuses so I can’t go in? What sort of game are you playing, woman? I have fucking HOLES IN MY HANDS, and I don’t know what to do-”

She shook her hand for a split second in the air, trying to stop me, before blurting, “Miss Biddle! I’m sorry you got the wrong idea there, but don’t shout foul language so loudly, there might be children. And besides, you can’t go to A&E because you already have an appointment booked!”

Everyone waiting in the lobby was now glaring at me with both confusion and anger. I was boggled, by what she just said, “I have… An APPOINTMENT, with A&E?”

She nodded, “Yes, a paid booking in A&E was made in your name. Funny, how you booked one before you got these… Holes… Are you sure those aren’t just self-inflicted, Hannah?”

It was evident she couldn't see the wounds, but her ignorance annoyed me greatly, "Just... When is my appointment?" I groaned, tired of talking to this woman already.

"Well-" she started, before a figure moving into the lobby caught my eye.

"Miss Hannah Biddle, coming to see Dr. Wilson for A&E?" he asked, as I made myself visible to him. At first, I was shocked that I seemed to have booked an appointment for, essentially, my time of arrival. But seeing as I had woken up with holes, I was willing to believe anything was possible today!

I raised my hand, and he gestured with his own to follow him. I did so quietly, while being watched by the rest of the people in the lobby.

I followed the man to a large room, full of medical instruments, bottles full of tablets, beakers full of medicine and enough lights for a J. J. Abrams wet dream. I wasn't kidding, if all of these were on, you'd be blinded.

I saw a middle-aged doctor sitting at a desk with a computer. As I approached him, the other man slammed the door behind me, leaving me and the doctor in the room.

"So you must be Hannah then?" he asked, turning to face me after a few moments of awkward silence. This allowed me to see his face. He wasn't exactly the most handsome man on earth, but he at least looked decent.

I smirked and nodded slowly. He adjusted his chair and wheeled towards me, now noticing the bandages on my hands. "It's uncommon for someone to BOOK A&E, but I can see why you came; may I see your hands?"

I lifted my hands to him, he looked at the ketchup marks and sniffed them. He could tell it was ketchup from the way he raised his brow. "Hannah, may I remove these bandages?" He asked, I suppose he expected me to say no on this occasion, guessing that I just needed to get into A&E. You could have imagined his subtle surprise when I nodded and presented my hands out to him further.

He removed the medical tape from the bandage, and began to unravel them slowly. It was interesting watching his face throughout the removal of the bandage, his expression moved from pensive, to interested, to confused, and when the bandage had been completely removed, horrified.

"Oh, my god," he spoke with wide eyes, seeing my torso through the large holes. "You definitely needed to come here, sorry if any doubts have been made against you. How the fuck did that happen?"

I shrugged and gave a pained look to him. "I don't know! That's the reason why I came here. But since I'm here, could you actually do your job and find out what's wrong with me?"

He blinked and tilted his head downwards slightly, "Sorry Madam. I'll have a look for you," he said with a cautious smile.

He proceeded to get out a few medical instruments as I sat down. These included a Bioreader, a stethoscope, a weird pokey-thing, a microscope and several other things that weren't visible at the time.

He rolled over to me with the pokey thing, and before he probably had a good poke; he looked up to me. "Before I do anything- on a scale of one to ten how much does it hurt? With one being so painless it's numb and ten being it's so painful you're practically dead."

"I'd say around 3. It's a bit odd, but doesn't really hurt," I replied.

He prodded the inside of the hole with the thing. Although it took me a while to realise this, I had to be looking at it before I realised it was even there. "You can't even feel it there, can you?" he asked.

I nodded. He retreated the thing and scrunched his mouth tight. "That's very odd, in order for that hole to have been created, it would have gone through several of your nerves. That needle would have given some form of response to them. I would guess either by some miracle the nerves have gone around it... Or whatever's lining the inside is blocking off the nerve endings."

I touched the inside of the holes, feeling no sensation. It was probably the latter, I don't think that even the best surgeons in the world could rearrange the positioning of individual nerve cells, let alone actually accomplishing it in less than 8 hours.

The doctor, after I gave my permission, started to touch the skin with a gloved hand, trying to find its texture or consistency. He pressed down hard on some areas, to find that they wouldn't even depress to his finger.

"From what it seems the layer of skin that has grown over the hole isn't skin at all. I would say that it's metal or another element that has been grafted into your skin, but look at this."

He drew my attention to one of the holes, where I was shown the edge, separating my skin from the black skin. And that's when I noticed something else. The Doctor said it as I thought it. "The skin seems to be fading into the substance with a steady gradient. If this hole has appeared overnight, then there is no scientific reason for how this could have happened. If you had my honest opinion for what I think it is, you'd think I were mad!"

He was right, my skin and the other skin faded seamlessly between each other. He then took a small swab of cotton wool and applied it to an area of the skin and rubbed it a bit to pick up a little of what was there.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" I asked, as he took it to a large machine in the corner of the room. He answered me while booting up the device.

"One of the only explanations I could think of to explain this phenomenon is accelerated mutation in a nuclear environment. I'm using this device to check a sample of that skin for background radiation on a subatomic level."

I would have said that I had not handled anything radioactive, but Patrick and I had STUDIED these machines. This was a cool reason to see one actually being used!

He machine lit up a screen, which quickly changed from blank, to showing a closeup of the sample, to zooming in on a subatomic level. A small loading bar filled up as the chemical bonds came into view...

And what then came on the screen startled both of us.

"It can't be," the doctor mumbled to himself as the compound appeared on the screen.

Poly(N-acetylglucosamine) or in layman's terms... Chitin.

"That's not normal at all," the doctor spoke again. "That area of your skin has grown into chitin. Even the strongest of Tumor mutation couldn't become this specific of a polymer. Any scientist would pay millions to get their hands on your hands!"

"I don't understand doctor, are you going to help me find out what's wrong, or are you planning on selling me?"

He shook his head with a smile. "Goodness no, Hannah. Patient-Doctor confidentiality. What happens in here will stay in here," He said with a friendly voice.

He looked back at the compound on the screen and then spoke in a voice similar to when I had just walked in. "I've seen chitin before though, Hannah," he began, "But this is one of the finest examples I've ever seen. I don't think this level of molecular bonding exists! It's the first time I've seen something like this."

Then I thought of something, something that had been stuck in my mind since he mentioned the word 'chitin'. A small lump I discovered in my pocket confirmed that I still had it on me. "Doctor," I asked, taking the object out of my pocket.

"Do the molecular bonds happen to look anything like this?" I said, showing the Doctor the small, black, chitin crown.

He raised his eyebrow and took it into his own hands, before placing it in the machine alongside the sample. And after he pressed a few more buttons, a comparison screen lit up.

Two images appeared, before combining to see the differences and/or similarities. Finding that there was literally no difference in the molecular compounds.

That's impossible.

"Doctor-"

"Yes. Your suspicion is correct, Hannah. The element on your hand and on this crown are exactly the same... In all my years as being a doctor, I don't think I've ever seen this level of... Genetic corruption."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm thinking that whatever that crown is, it seems to be assimilating itself into your body. Those holes must be a result of this!"

"That's just mad," I said, shaking my head at him in disbelief.

"You're going to need to start believing some really crazy stuff, otherwise what I'm about to tell you is going to, to put it bluntly, fuck you up."

He pointed to my mouth.

"You've grown fangs."

I slammed my mouth shut, before looking around quickly for a mirror. I found one in the corner of the room, next to the big black Atomic Microscope. When I opened my mouth next to the mirror, what I saw in my reflection, to put it bluntly, fucked me up.

In place of my incisors and premolars; there were small, pointed teeth. They were roughly the size of my normal teeth, but there was no doubting it, those were fangs.

"Hannah," the Doctor interrupted, startling me and causing me to jump. "I'm starting to think that your appointment here was no coincidence."

He handed the crown back to me, and without thinking, I put it on my head. By the time I noticed that I had done that, he spoke again.

"Did you mean to do that?"

"No. I'm sorry-"

"No need to be sorry Hannah- Did you have a good sleep?"

I stopped, glaring at him, to see what he meant. But I felt compelled to tell him what he wanted, mostly due to the fact that he seemed to have a completely different expression than before. It was almost as if he was telling me he knew exactly what he was doing.

"I had... Weird dreams."

His eyes widened, "Were those dreams from the eyes of... Queen Chrysalis?"

I stopped. Either he was a brony and I didn't know it, or he had done some stupidly good deduction. There was no response to the obvious Queen Chrysalis crown, not even subtle reactions. But how did he know?

"Yes," I responded, with a voice at a bare whisper.

"Have you been in contact with this man?" he asked, while taking out a picture... A picture of Patrick to be exact.

"Yes, Patrick... He's my best friend. Why the hell do you have a picture of him?"

He did not answer my question, but instead came back to me with a statement. "Two words..."

My lips quivered, as a memory was forced from my unconscious mind, directly into my mouth.

"Blissful... Love..."

He smiled, but not in a nice way. It was a smile that goes directly to your soul. Then he clapped his hands in joy, and practically started bouncing around on the spot.

“Hallelujah! The lord, the original, has sent his prophet, and now his followers will defeat the false prophet!” he exclaimed, with such gusto I was nearly knocked off my feet.

“Doctor?” I began, stepping cautiously away from him… Whatever he was thinking, I didn’t like the sound of what he was saying.

“The prophet of the Original one has returned! And now, his servant Elizabeth has brought back his guard- Chrysalis!”

I stepped back, bumping into a machine. The doctor saw my backing and quickly walked towards me, seizing my hand. “I should have known from the start- how the girl has woven fate for us to be united… MY QUEEN!”

His body started to glow with a strange green glow, that was my cue to scream. I needed to alert someone, I didn’t know what was going on- but I really, REALLY didn’t like it.

Just as I began to scream, an object pressed against my mouth hard, silencing it. But it wasn’t the Doctor’s hand…

It was a hoof.

A physical hoof, touching my lips. But as I crossed my eyes to look at it, I saw the same material attached to the inside of my hand; chitin.

“Look upon usssss, my queen. You are ssssafe in my pressssence!” said a voice, similar to that of the doctor himself; but sounded… Different. More raspy, more chirpy and more…

Insectoid.

Insect.

Changeling.

“That is our speciesssss, my queen. And I am proud that you will be joining usssss once more,” said the being in front of me. WIth eyes ablaze with a blue tint- and a greenish-black chitin to cover the entire body of the being.

It was a living, and breathing… Changeling! A creature that in no means could ever exist in the physical world. I couldn’t say anything, I just stared at this creature. I just thought and thought. And as I thought, I could see him quenching and flustering at the thought, releasing his hoof from my mouth with a moan.

“Thisss is the proof, my queen. The hivemind glistens with the return of your thoughtssss. It’sssss only now that I can hear them. In my true form.”

"You... You can hear my thoughts?" I asked, baffled by the sudden invasion of privacy I had now noticed.

"Oh yes," he took note of my pained expression and stare. "If you are disturbed by this, my Queen- we would not look into your thoughtssss; you have the hivemind under your command.”

He backed down, and then bowed before me… It wasn’t in a mocking way… It was almost a worshipping bow. And I did not like that.

"Why are you bowing? It's not really appropriate, stop that," I blurted fast, and he stood up immediately. I saw his actions, and began to think to myself.

"Sit!" I commanded, with a small aspect of fear. He lowered his back and sat down on the ground, making him roughly one third smaller than me.

"Stand!" I said, with more confidence, getting the idea of what was going on.

"Run," he ran in a circle,
"Stop," he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Turn to me," he did so.
"Transform into Bruce Lee," he did instructed and Bruce Lee appeared in front of me.

I laughed to myself, he smiled back. But I couldn't help but think of what I had just done. I thought it was odd that something could be so obedient, not to mention, obedient to me!

"Why are you listening to my commands Changeling? I've just met you!"

He shook his head and returned to his form of the insect-like pony.

"To you, in your mind, we have only jusssst met. But we have known you for our entire livessssss. For we have already ssssaid to you... You are our Queen!" he bowed again, but this time, what he said stuck in deep.

"Queen... As in... Like Chrysalis?"

He grinned a toothy smile. "Not like Chrysssalisss. Exactly like Chrysssalisss!"

His eyes narrowed to drive the point in, making me feel like a human pincushion with the amount of points he'd embedded in me!

"I... Can't be, there has to be some kind of mistake, I'm not a-" I looked now at my hands I had raised in making my point. Remembering now the existence of the holes I had woken up with and the chitin that now grew on them. "Changeling," I finished with a whimper.

"You possessss the crown of our Queen, you know of the prophet, you can control ussss and you now become like ussss. That issss good evidence to suggesssst you are her!"

"But how could this have happened to me? I never knew about this! I didn't even know Changelings existed until now! Now you're saying I'm one of you? There's nothing I know of that could-"

I suddenly remembered something else from the night before... When Elizabeth did that... Thing Patrick, the wave travelled across the room, going into me among others!

That must have been it! The wave she created, must somehow have caused Patrick to think he was Nightmare Moon and started to turn me into... Queen Chrysalis!

I now knew what to do. I needed to talk to her, luckily we had booked that lunch in Costa. She was up to something, from the getting me to buy the Armor, to the strange books, to the alcohol, to the explosion and to everything else! I needed to find out what she was up to and what she had done!

I looked up to the Changeling, who had his head tilted to the side. I quickly stood up and took the crown from the machine and placed it back in my pocket from which I had taken it out of. "My Queen, where are you going?" he asked with remorse.

I had to think of something, "I'm going to see the... er..."

"You wish to commerce with the Servant of the Prophet. You believe that she is responsible for your destiny. If this is the case- I must be the one to guard you until your transformation is complete, until then... The hivemind won't like it if you left here!"

I didn't like the sound of anything he said after 'destiny', I could get the idea of what he meant by transformation, in that the holes were only the start. But I didn't like the sound of staying here until that transformation is complete!

"No!" I blurted, "I need to see Elizabeth, despite what you say. I'm kinda freaked out by what you've just said and done... No offense."

He closed his eyes and nodded gently, "None taken, my Queen. We have been given orderssss and we must follow them through."

I frowned, "Who gave you these orders?"

"The Original one..." he exclaimed in praise, with a head held up high.

I had an idea, "Tell me, Changeling- I am, according to you, your Queen. Am I not?”

He nodded, and bowed down again to express that fact. I couldn’t care less about it and continued. “Who is it that commands you? Your Queen, or the Original one?”

“My Queen, we are honored to have wordssss from the Original One himssssself. But do not missstake that as dissssloyalty to you. We forever ssserve our queen!”

“Who has more authority over the Changelings? The Original One or Me?”

He was baffled that I would question his loyalty to either me, or this so called, "Original One." He became nervous quickly and his body movements became slightly jumpy.

“We fear the Original One, we fear hisss wrath! Yet, we mussst follow our Queen to her endssss!” he slithered, shaking slightly on the ground.

“If you were to listen to what I want you to do, what would this ‘Original One’ do to you?”

He looked like he was about to talk again, but I interrupted. “I don’t know him, but seeing as he hasn’t ordered you to kill me, it seems that his intentions are in my favor… Or… Chrysalis.”

I started pacing up and down the room at a good pace.

“But here’s what I want to do, Changeling. I want to leave this place, and not be followed by you or any of your kin! Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

He stood up and nodded. I, for a moment, admired the spectacle of seeing this thing in real life, but any form of comprehension went through the window when I first saw it.

Either I was going mad, or what he was actually saying was true. What if I was becoming Chrysalis? What would that do? Would I still be me? What was so good about this ‘Original One’?

The last of my questions left a bad taste in my mouth and an upset stomach, the feeling I got was nearly nauseating! It was evident this Changeling was some kind of expert on the subject, so I took the chance in trying to ask him for any information.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

“Hannah Biddle? We know you’re in there!” boomed a voice from outside, startling me and the Changeling, leaving me unable to ask any more questions.

The Changeling assumed a half-human form, and spoke quickly and quietly- “Don’t talk, I’ll read your thoughts through the hivemind-”

I pinned myself up against the wall as I felt a little panic attack coming on. Thinking about the men at the door, whether they knew anything, had heard anything, or who they were working for.

No matter what it was, I didn’t like the sound of their talking through the door, and I felt it would end up with me in handcuffs, or worse; without hands.

‘What should I do?’ I thought, almost in a direct force towards the changeling. He seemed to pick it up, and responded verbally.

“My queen, I believe that these men wish you harm… I will do whatever I can to make sure that you leave this place unharmed.”

“Open this door right now!” said the voices outside loudly, startling me even more.

‘Just do something! I don’t like the sound of their voices.’

The changeling sighed. And then it smiled. “We would do anything for the safety of our queen.”

There was a bright flash for a split second, and the changeling was engulfed in a green fire once more… As I now stood in front of me.

The changeling grabbed a large medical blanket from a nearby bed, throwing it over my head to hide me from whoever was to come into the room.

“Stay down my Queen,” said the changeling in my voice, disturbing me to no end. “I hope that you find the answers you need from the prophet.”

I made myself small, by crouching into the fetal position, before throwing the blanket over my head. I, however, left a small gap between the blanket and the wall, allowing me to look at the doorway.

The changeling approached the door as the thundering banging upon it continued. “I’m here!” it yelled, getting my tone of voice near identical to my own.

BOOM!

Shards of glass shattered to the ground, giving rain of tiny fragments of silicon. The changeling stuttered, but remained in form… While a hole had been carved through their head. There was no blood at first, only an obscene fatality as it came crashing down to the ground.

I held back a scream, trying to keep as silent as possible, lest I were to suffer the same fate as the creature I had encountered. I couldn’t even move as blood pooled out from the now fresh corpse that lay there.

“Is she dead?” a new voice asked from outside, shortly followed by an arm forcing through the broken glass to open the door from the inside.

Two men walked into the room, keeping a tall posture and guns raised to a safe position. They were tall, but would be nearly unrecognizable if I were to look for them in a crowd.

The one in front lowered his gun to have the nozzle pointing to the corpse, before putting two more bullets into the head. There was no movement from the body, so the gun was lowered and put inside his jacket he had on. He nodded to his associate, and pressed his ear.

“The target’s been taken care of,” he spoke in a cold tone as they both started to walk out of the room. “I expect my payment as soon as I return. I believe that the Changelings will no longer be a threat.”

He slammed the door behind him, causing some other shards of glass to fall out of the broken window due to the shock of the slamming door, the polymer becoming a little instrument on the hard ground.

I was petrified, left to uncomfortable silence in a state that left me unable to move. Lest the two men returned to give me a treatment similar to the Changeling. I lost track of time, as no-one ever came in. It seemed that I was there for about an hour or so. Sight irked me, since my position meant that every time I would open my eyes, I would see the sight of blood and violence. Thus reminding me of the information I was just given. The Changelings existing, the fact I was to become a Queen… And SOMEONE just made an attempt on my life.

I had to warn someone, the Doctor mentioned particular interest in Patrick… And Elizabeth. I could only guess that they were next on some kind of kill list. And I thought by now, the men could have left.

I peered back, opening my eyes and pulling down the blanket that was hiding me from my killers.

The kill was gruesome, leaving a perfectly symmetrical corpse lying in a pool of blood. But this corpse was my own; even the clothing and glasses were a mirror image, created by a creature that my mind prevented me from believing existed. Its death mask was that of shock and horror, I shuddered thinking that might have been the face I would have had fixed on my face if it were me in its place.

But, it luckily kept up the disguise as it fell to the ground, dead.

I left the room hastily, lest the images stained my mind any longer than they should've. I checked to make sure I had the crown, but before I completely left the room, there was something there that bothered me to the point where I was restraining myself from screaming.

Silence.

There wasn't a sound to be heard in the hospital, not machinery, not even the casual chatter or ambient noise. It was probably just on this floor, but the level of eerie silence under the unnaturally bright light left me in a bit of a state of dismay.

My fears of the silence was confirmed as I came to the reception through closed doors. The weather was murky and overcast; creating a grey saturation to the large, empty room.

Those two men must have created some racket discharging guns, but I assume that they might not have wanted to be caught. Either the people who were here before we're moved from location, or...

I remembered something quickly. The receptions desk in these sorts of buildings have CCTV! I ran over to the desk and cycled back the footage, to several minutes before my rude interruption.

The two men walked into the hospital, it was moderately difficult to distinguish them, but they were definitely the same two men.

Before I could notice, the two men had already taken out what looked like gas canisters and thrown them all over the place. The camera misted up, but when it was clear, the two men started to drag the bodies away from sight.

I checked the other monitors, all cameras in all rooms; except for the one I was in thankfully. But it was a similar sight, more men appeared, gunning down any man, woman and child, whether they were doctor or patient. My breath increased to inhuman rates as I covered my mouth.

Evidently someone was willing to go that far to kill me... And that caused such a surge of panic that I threw up what little nourishment I had inside me directly onto the computer screen. My life felt more valuable than ever at that moment, but at the same time, made me regret having it in the first place.

I saw the glimmer of something under the sickly colour of my internal fluids on one of the monitors. The footage was on fast forward, by this time on the recording, the footage had already come to the present time… So what I saw was a small shock-

Elliott…

All I had heard about Elliott recently was that he had had a terrible accident regarding a stupid chemical explosion. According to Patrick, one of his best friends, he had third-degree burns across the side of his face, leaving him bandaged and practically cromatose. He was weird, but evidently smarter than those who were sent to kill me.

He scrambled out of his bed and landed on the floor of his room. The quality did not allow me to see any features, but this was clear. If I had learn’t anything from My Little Pony, other than how to tell if someone’s a Changeling, is that you shouldn’t leave someone in this kind of situation. Even if you’re in dire need of answers for ridiculous questions.

The lifts would be too slow in this kind of situation- I found the nearest staircase and sprinted with dear might to reach the seventh floor. I bet I must’ve looked like the bloody Flash in looking around the floor for the room that he was resting in.

I burst through the door in a hot sweat, heavy breathing startling him, but he did not scream.

“Hannah?” he whispered, barely speaking, as if he was trying not to wake a sleeping wolf. I’m guessing that he saw glimmers of what was going on- or, at least, heard it.

“No time to talk in detail right now-” I spoke with haste. “We need to get you out of here.”

He blinked with his one eye, but I felt after the ordeal, he had as much need to get out of the hospital as I had. But I doubt that he could have walked out with me as he was… I could tell; he seemed to struggle at every action his muscles would make.

I saw that he was on a drip, on a strong concentration of morphine. Judging by the quality of the room he was in, it wasn’t long before I found the conveniently close stash of medical supplies and drugs.

I had now an opportunity to get a friend out mostly unscathed, and keep him and others drugged up to avoid any pain in the coming days, yet I had no idea how to get them out of the building.

Thankfully, a corpse riding on a medical trolley scrolled by the door just in the corner of my eye- Elliott watched patiently with a wide-eyed stare as I shoved the bloody corpse, with my hands and a wince, off the trolley and then wheeled it into the room for him to be placed upon it.

I grabbed some of the medicine, being enough morphine to topple an elephant. I thought to myself again about the possibility of actually becoming something other than a human. So I grabbed everything else in sight as if it were a sweet counter at an olde toffee shoppe.

Putting the weight down into my legs, I lifted Elliott up onto the tray with the pharmaceutical rainbow underneath. He seemed surprised, but he was just about insane enough to ignore my crazed behavior completely and just go with what I was doing.

I remembered that the medical lifts here can lead directly into the car park in case a patient is required to be taken in directly from the ambulance. I scouted ahead, leaving him alone for a moment, by running around like an obsessive-compulsive cheetah. Before finding the door with great big ignorable warning signs that I had been looking for.

I remembered the route as I found my way back to Elliott’s room. I pulled a blanket over his body, which lopped over hiding the drugs to draw as little attention to myself as possible. I thought myself like a starving man- let loose on a buffet.

I sprinted out, keeping Elliott in front of me at all times, if he had any energy in him and wasn’t drugged up to Sovngarde, he would probably be screaming from my sudden burst in speed.

It was very possible that whomever was trying to kill me were still in the building, and the loud noises from the cart smashing into walls as I turned corners badly would probably alert them to my location, but there was no sound of bullets passing over my head or alerted people standing up. So then I made it to the lift again with myself unscathed, and Elliott in a wide-eyed panic.

The lift descended in its course, landing on the ground floor with a squeaky halt. And the doors opened to a slightly dull light from the outside world. A sigh of relief escaped my lips to see no black cars or snipers targeting every limb of my body. Elliott was silent, perhaps slightly catatonic as I went the short distance I had put between the hospital and my own car.

The Rolls was filled to the brim with the multi-coloured drugs, as significant effort was required in closing the boot without bursting any of the liquid-filled packets.

As I opened the back doors of the V-16 Phantom, Elliott moaned slightly. Even with all the painkillers he had had, it must have still hurt.

Using the same maneuver I did putting him into the trolley to get him strapped into the back seat. I, safely, put the seatbelt on him, lest I suddenly grow hooves and cause an accident.

I memorised the route I would have to take to get from here to the café. And resisted from hesitation as I engaged the engine with as much power I could jam into it. The car revved up, exploding forward-

Then my foot came down on the brake almost as hard as the realisation that had just dawned upon me.

It was my birthday…

I’d forgotten… And yet today I had woken up with holes in my hands, told I was to become the Queen of the fucking REAL LIFE CHANGELINGS, and then an… attempt on my life was made…

I was lucky I still had my mind, and even better; my life… But this was too difficult to compensate even happening! I yelled out from within the car; half across one of the driveways and nearly tailgating a poxy Fiat. I screamed and yelled as much as I possibly could, not in a way of a ‘hissy fit’... This was a maddened rage.

I smashed my head against the wheel- over and over and over and over. Gripping my hands tight until I felt like they could bleed, thrashing my feet to a point where the car leapt and bounded due to the sudden movements of the pedals, smashing into the Fiat and swerving slightly. All the time I was screaming. I was screaming like a Banshee, even Elliott was suffering.

*SMASH*

I calmed my screaming to a shrill whimper, while the volume of the car horn made up for the drop in my own output. My head was turned to the side without my mind compelling it… And I observed a completely destroyed window.

Correction- a completely destroyed Palladium glass window. It was the most expensive glass that I could have possibly installed in this car. I think, if you blew up a nuke next to the car- you’d only have the windows left! And I’d just punched it to pieces… With one punch.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck?” I heard behind me, as the one eye Elliott had was nearly flying out of his socket.

He knew what was in this thing, and he had also seen what I had done…

It scared me as much as him… But one thing was certain…

I was turning into a Changeling.

I wasn’t shot at on my way to the Costa. This instilled a sense of calm, but at the same time, terror. Either they still believed I was dead, or they were waiting for me to be completely vulnerable before killing me properly. But this was no time for fear or fun and games. I needed answers from a crazy bitch… And nothing was in my way now.

I looked back at Elliott, who was about awake enough to move his body at a semi-normal rate. “Are you going to be alright? I’m going to be a bit,” I asked, he shrugged.

“As long as I’m still alive… Take your time.”

I turned on the radio and tuned it to a station I believed Elliott would enjoy. I then noticed some discomfort that he was having in regards to his bandages.

“You alright?”

“Mostly… When you’ve done what you need to do, could you get me some more bandages? These are getting incredibly loose.”

I swallowed quickly and made a mental reminder of that fact. And in case those things did fall off, I checked quickly that the windows were tinted… Luckily they were, lest anyone was to peer in and see the hospital patient with half his face missing.

“I’ll do that,” I said, shortly before slamming the door shut and walking up to the entrance of the café.

A thought quickly crossed my mind, thinking that holes in my hands would not be the best thing to have when walking in a crowded place. Luckily, I still had the bandages from earlier. I reapplied them before I walked in.

There was a decent sized crowd, much to my dismay… However, it seemed to only be late-teenagers and veteran pensioners. They looked at me in perfect synchronisation- as if they were expecting me. But there was only one person that caught my attention.

Elizabeth.

“Hannah! You’ve arrived! And just on time too!” she was smoking a cigarette as she said this, which would be illegal in normal situations.

“Isn’t it illegal to smoke here?” I asked, and she only smiled.

“A friendly deed can do a lot of things.”

After she said this, I felt a small tug on my jacket. When I turned around, a little old grannie greeted me with a friendly smile.

She pointed at Elizabeth, “That lovely young lady helped get me to the hospital when I collapsed in public. She was kind enough to pay for the best room in the hospital in excess.”

A voice behind the main counter perked up. “She helped me get off my drug dependence and turn my whole life around! I have a family again because of her!”

“She gave me the will to not jump off a building- I owe my life to her!”

“She helped me stop my ex-wife’s wedding! We’re back together and we’ve never been happier!” “She got me into acting again!” “She finally showed me what the true meaning of Christmas was!” “She helped me overcome my depression!”

“I see you’ve helped all these people,” I said in a monotonous voice, which broke the racket of people talking at once.

“Has this lovely woman made a contribution to your life, dearie?” said the old woman again, with an unintentional condescending tone in her voice.

I noticed Elizabeth standing behind me, “You could say that,” I murmured, “In a way that I’d like to give my ‘thanks’ right now.”

I turned around sharply with my fist out and smacked her clean in the face- a collective gasp from the crowd was followed by a sharp crash as Elizabeth landed on a table, smashing some glasses that were on it at the time.

“YOU caused panic last night and today! YOU caused all this shit to happen! YOU’ve been weaving this entire week together for some twisted, made-up shit! And YOU MADE MY FRIEND CUT OUT HIS OWN FUCKING EYE!”

A tall waiter charged towards me with a large tray and a fierce look on his face. “Don’t you fucking dare hit Miss Comstock!”

Before I could be hit by the human equivalent of a speeding train- Elizabeth perked up from being on the table. “Micheal! Would you kindly stop?”

Like clockwork, the man stopped and put the tray down, causing some cakes to fall off of it.

“She’s had a rough day today… I think she needed to take her anger out on me,” she adjusted her jaw slightly and moved over to sit down on the bench next to the table. “Get me and Hannah here a spot of tea, we’ll be expecting guests soon.”

My eye twitched to see that she had no actual physical injury from a punch that, when last used, went through one of the strongest types of glass known to man.

“Well, are you going to sit down?” she asked. I felt now obliged to sit down to prevent myself from taking it out further on the woman.

There was a short pause in audible dialogue, which was broken when two cups of tea and other items arrived at the table.

“I guess you’re pretty angry at me for-”

“Who are you?” I interrupted in an explosive burst.

"Straight to business are we?"

"No! Don't change the subject!"

She leaned back in her chair and sipped a bit of her tea. "Fine, I'm listening."

"You waltz in like some psychological genius, you scare both myself and Patrick with your fucked up behaviour. You do some deranged and non-explained 'hypnosis' to get me to waste millions of pounds in buying 'pony armor'. You flood us with strange, and quite frankly, stupid presents. You act like a mad woman and call Patrick's best friend a madman- You do nothing when Joshua cut his hand on one of your 'gifts'. And after one strange outburst, you hold me back as Patrick went mad... And started believing he was... Nightmare Moon.

"You did nothing as he took up the knife that YOU gave him. He plunged it into his head and forced his eye out! And now, whatever you did to him is now effecting ME! And you act as if I'm your best friend! But I'll tell you what, Bitch- You're not my friend, YOU'RE turning me into a Changeling!"

She lifted her eyebrow, "What makes you so sure that I'm turning you?"

I took out the crown again and placed it on the table. “Another one of your presents, or it had something to do with that… Thing that happened to Patrick.”

“You met the head of the Changeling guard, I assume.”

I fell silent as she said this. Yet she continued, “I see he was willing to let you go… I hope he didn’t cause you too much trouble. Where is he now?”

“He’s dead.”

In all my time seeing Elizabeth, she now pulled a face that I hadn’t seen on her… Surprise.

It was for but a moment, any normal person wouldn’t be able to see it. For about one fifth of a second; her eyebrows raised, eyes widened and mouth hung open for more than usual. And then, her eyelids rose to accommodate her tensed up lower eyelids.

Fear… She was actually afraid.

“Who by?” I asked, trying to get something out of her.

“Honestly, Hannah. That’s something I don’t know,” she said, holding the same tone as before. “Oh! Hold on!” she took out her phone and began to start typing into the device quickly.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Texting a friend… He’ll be joining us soon. Then we’ll begin the discussion.”

“Can you please make SOME SENSE in what you’re saying?”

The front door opened from behind me.

“Oh he’s here!” Elizabeth said, causing me to turn around.

And then Patrick was there.

Several things went through my mind as I saw him. The sheer happiness of seeing him alive and well instead of being hospitalised or worse from the injury he received. Then my mind was distracted with the memory itself… I was confused on how he could’ve survived that. Such a violent injury, and possibly… BECOMING Nightmare Moon.

The image crossed my mind once more, of the violent situation that caused him to tear his own eye out with a rusty-looking knife.

The last thing I noticed was what was in place of his eye. Usually, someone would expect a bandage, or an eyepatch… or even a gaping hole for lazy people!

But he had none of these. Instead, he had an eye…

Except his eye wasn’t natural. It was as red as blood, and seemed to glare with absolute abhorrent evil even at a glance. It scared me to think that the eye belonged to my friend at all…

If Nightmare Moon had frightening blue eyes, and Nightmare Moon took control of him…

I would wonder what was in control of him now.

I walked towards him as another followed him in, I payed no real attention to the follower for the moment and just spoke to Patrick, keeping a fixed stare at the red eye and the scar surrounding it.

“You’re here! Elizabeth was just about to explain some things-” suddenly the identity of the following individual made itself aware, and it was just as unbelievable as most other things today. “Is that David Tennant?” I asked with a higher tone of voice.

The person I didn’t expect expect to speak next was the tenth doctor himself, “You have mysterious tattoos too?” he said with a golden scottish accent and a friendly wave.

I died a little inside by the fact such a wonderful situation would lead to something like this… But something caught my attention specifically again. “Tattoos? What tattoos?” I felt completely obliged to now start a friendly conversation. “Oh, and nice to meet you Mr. Tennant.”

Patrick piped up before I could start declaring my love for the Scottish actor in this situation. “We both woke up with ‘Tattoos’ on our flanks,” I came to the conclusion that this was the situation in their case. “We believe Elizabeth has something to do with it. And as by the way you said, ‘explain some things’ I guess you’ve woken up with something.”

I had a similar idea, but he needed clarification of what was my case. I directed him to the re-bandaged hands. “It’s nothing compared to your eye, but it’s bad. I’m terrified and confused, and apparently Elizabeth is the only one who knows the full details of what’s happening to me.”

David spoke up. “Eye? Is that scar what she was talking about?”

It now occurred to me that Patrick had not gone over what he had done last night; this particularly irked me. I knew that Patrick was out of his mind, perhaps even possessed with an eldritch force that I could only now understand, due to the fact there was something maybe even MORE ridiculous happening to me. Patrick looked as if he was about to stop me from saying what I was about to say. But even that red eye wasn’t going to stop me.

“He cut out his eye last night! I saw him do it with a knife, last night! He was saying he was Nightmare Moon! I thought he’d gone mad! But for some reason it’s grown back overnight… RED! I was so scared.” I addressed him with as much anger as I could muster, “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

David furrowed his brow in a way I had not seen since he was ‘10’. “You cut out your eye?” he said in an unbelieving manor to Patrick himself.

“HE CUT OUT HIS EYE!” Yelled everyone else in the café, much to Patrick and David’s surprise. The old lady from earlier turned to Patrick.

“I know you cut out your eye dear. But this lovely girl here wouldn’t stop until she’d given us every detail! Delightful girl, but I doubt she’d be a very good spy… I do like your scar by the way. It gives a very ‘renegade’ look to you, dear,”

Seeing the calm manner that old woman spoke about my outbursts made me realise my complete unreasonableness. For all I knew, Nightmare Moon could’ve still been in control. But the human eye Patrick had did not have the same harsh glare that I saw in him last night. I worried that Nightmare Moon could be triggered. So when I spoke again, I leaned in to whisper to him.

When I placed my hand on his shoulder, I winced with a small amount of pain, despite the diverted nerve endings. I could feel it almost… Growing… By about half a centimetre.

“Sorry, it’s just… I think I’m turning into a Changeling.”

I could see a twitch in his eye, and almost a grin trying to make its way out.

She was still there, it was clear. Patrick must have been holding her back.

"Would you kindly come over here, please?" Said Elizabeth from behind me. Getting the attention of all three of us.

I felt that discussion between us would get us more rowdy, knowing Nightmare Moon. I wouldn’t risk setting her off… Even if she wasn’t even real. I went back to the table Elizabeth and I were at, and the two men followed.

Michael, the tall waiter passed by the table again. “Michael dear,” said Elizabeth, "Another round of drinks and delicacies on me. And make sure that no one else enters."

The café made a small cheer at the suggestion of being given free food and drinks, and Michael and the other waiters/servers started flipping signs around and closing window blinds.

"Nice to see you again, Patrick. Good night's sleep?"

That made me want to punch her with how smug she said it, but Patrick did nothing. But I think Elizabeth got her appropriate super-powered punch to the face already.

"The sleep was fine, Elizabeth,” Patrick replied with a dark tone. “I believe it was the morning that was not good. Although I believe you know all about my morning, his morning, and everything else that's going on right now."

Burn, I had to admit it was quite satisfying the way he said that.

Elizabeth, who at the time was sipping tea, put down the cup and smiled with an Unbridgeesque giggle.

"I can tell you're all a little confused,” No shit. “-and a tad angry at the moment.” No fucking shit. “But here we are, as I am ready to supply what you need, for the time being, and you have come to me." She put particular emphasis on ‘need’ and ‘time being’.

David Tennant, who was setting down to a cup of tea that he was just handed, spoke again. “I'm beginning to suspect that this isn't just some weirdo with a tattoo needle and a drill.”

He’s a good actor, but he can be a little ignorant… But I guess that he didn’t have a Changeling General, or possibly Nightmare Moon.

Elizabeth leant over the table as Patrick refused a small cake… Shit… That’s serious. “That is exactly what I want you to stop believing as I impart this vital information to you.

She now pointed a sharp finger at all three of us sitting at the table. “You must rule out every logical and scientific theory that your minds can think of, the facts I reveal will be so difficult to believe you will have to force yourself not to think otherwise."

I knew this, and I had already thought that through. I think if I tried to put any rhyme or reason into the transformation I was possibly about to go through, I would go insane.

“I can only impart so much, as the information I do not impart is for you, and you alone to find out. Do you accept this?”

Great, fucking riddles. But if she was going to get us started, I would have to agree to this.

The others and I nodded and then something creepy happened.

The café’s ambient noise became freakishly quiet. Every person in the café stopped speaking, and didn’t even look at us. Almost as if they wanted us to know this as well.

“Then let us begin.”

Author's Note

I'm back with a long chapter again! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. But I've established a new character in this chapter, Which will link this story to the Combat Eternal Universe and added some backstory to Chronos and Chrysalis (but not all of it)

Thank you to Dusk Writer for editing again.

Until next time. -Zeydaan

Part 1: Chapter 9: Dimensia and Galaxia

Patrick’s Story.

“Imagine a coin,” began Elizabeth, “And each time you flip it, you get three outcomes… Heads,” she took out a coin from her pocket, “Tails,” she flipped the coin in the air, and it landed spinning on the table, falling to neither side, “Or nothing.”

“Every time one was to make a choice, you are left with three main choices, to do good, to do evil… Or to do nothing at all.” I was interested by this odd metaphor, but I couldn’t see where this was going.

“In our world, we are caught along a set path. One where the choices you make, although you may be aware of them or not, hold no importance to the life you make.”

“A bit morbid,” said Nightmare Moon loudly over my thoughts. I paid no attention to her.

“But what if,” she tossed the coin again, and made it land on the table, “The choices you make are as simple as tossing a coin… Imagine seeing the ways outcomes are made by each way it lands. From starting a kick off, to winning to coin itself or… To ending a life.”

We all stared at the coin on the table. “If something is as simple as a coin, imagine what would happen, if you could change fate,” She passed a hand over the coin, “As easily as you could flip over a coin.”

“Your point is?” said David. He was about as sceptical as the rest of us.

“My point is,” she handed the coin over to David, “Take this, and try to see both sides at the same time.”

David struggled and turned the coin at the same time. Eventually, he gave up and put the coin down upon the table. “I can’t, without a mirror it’s-”

“Impossible? It’s either heads or tails; it cannot be both no matter how you look at it. If that coin was glued to the table, you couldn’t even be certain that the other side even exists. A choice is made and a face remains in place. If a choice is made, thus-”

“A world remains in place… And the world made of the other choice can never coexist with it. They are separate, yet connected,” I said, resulting in a large smile from Elizabeth.

She applauded slightly while the others nodded slightly, “Someone gets it! Ten points to Patrick!”

“So then, if I would decide to come here or stay at home, another world would exist where I am now at home instead?”

Another nod, “Yes, but it’s not just big choices; the very direction of a cell is a choice. The very duration of a subatomic particle to the way that our genetics mutate over the years are all choices. So that means, more choices, more parallel worlds.”

The three of us who were marked all responded at the same time, “So it’s like a tree; every choice is a branch that connects to each other…”

“That’s exactly the metaphor where I needed us to be, since, there IS a reason that I have done this…” Elizabeth said, putting the coin back into her bag. “A tree has many branching roots and branches, over time, more and more branches are made from both other branches and the central trunk itself. According to my theory, we are of the many branches that connect back to the central trunk… Then comes the question-”

“What’s at the central trunk?”

Elizabeth nodded, “It is a question that those who believe in the multiverse theory, as I do, have been trying to crack for centuries. Trouble is, nobody knows either what it is, or how we get there,” She glanced at me with a cunning grin and a half-closed eye. “Until now.”

“I’m guessing now is the point that you tell us about the whole pony thing,” said Hannah with a solemn voice and a roll of the eyes.

“In another world, one distant from ours but joining along the same ‘branch’, there existed an Alicorn, black and blue in colour and calculative in mind-”

“Black and blue? Doesn’t that sound a bit ‘overpowered Mary Sue’ much?” Backhanded Hannah with a small giggle, and Elizabeth scowled at her.

“It doesn’t matter what it was, but what was locked in potential in his mind. For years, there existed the potential to find the way to the original world, or ‘The Prime Universe’, as I call it.”

Hannah leaned back, “I’m guessing something went wrong, otherwise you’d be doing something crazy to screw up this ‘universe tree’ from the source.”

“Yes, Hannah, something went wrong. On the day of his revelations, something went very wrong indeed.”

“How bad are we talking? Did this ‘Alicorn philosopher’ die?” asked David, joining his hands together.

“Oh no, David, much worse… He, along with his comrades, simply ceased to exist.”

“That seems inefficient,” I said smirking.

“But it has more impact than you might think. The collection of mind and body, being the soul, had been forced out of existence by a force that I do not understand, and the re-incarnation had no memories of the research that he had carried out. So, whatever happened to him, I made happen to myself… I followed into the abyss and found this world.”

“So you’re… A being from another dimension-” I laughed, only to stop when I had thought of Nightmare, “too?”

“Yes… Then comes the problem of… Dementia.”

“What about Dementia? The thing old people get when they start to forget stuff?” I asked, but Elizabeth shook her head.

“No, not Dementia: DImenSia, spelt with an ‘I’ and an ‘S’. It’s quite complicated, but understanding it would explain some of my actions.”

Most of us looked at whatever timing device we were using at the time, David sighed to himself, “We’ve got time, so explain away.”

Elizabeth got out a rubber band from her pocket and started stretching it to and fro in a playful manner. “If the world is like a coin with multiple sides, where the worlds can’t interact each other, the walls separating these ‘Dimensions’ are like a complex forest of needles. Travelling between dimensions, whether it be willing or forced, makes whatever you are act like a metaphorical rubber band.”

“So are you saying that we get caught on something in the needles if we travel through?”

“Yes, normally, this wouldn’t be such a problem, but the way that we have all arrived in this world-”

I scowl at her for a moment, “That being, 25 years ago on the day of our births.”

“Yes, when we arrived here, some part of us was left in the abyss in between worlds, like a rubber band caught on two different needles. I call this anomaly ‘Dimensia’ or ‘The ‘Rubber Band Slingshot Effect’.”

“Is this bad?” I ask, only to receive a solemn look from Elizabeth for a glancing moment.

“Very bad, I’m afraid,” She said with a deep, deep sigh. “Like a rubber band, after a while, we...dry out. If that happens when this process is still in effect, then we just… crumble.”

She turned to me with a glare, but a smallish smile as well, “It was happening to you before you even knew it.”

I didn’t know, but evidently, Nightmare did. “I thought something was wrong when I first was brought into consciousness.”

“That cough that you had was intended to kill you.”

I hesitated, then laughed, thinking of the cough I had had for the past couple of days before my birthday, and how Darius had joked that it would kill me. Hannah, however, said something that made me think differently.

“Patrick… There was blood on your pillow.”

Her eyes looked disappointed, and glossed over slightly with that fact. David straightened his tie.

“I’m new here; could you fill me in on what you mean, Hannah?”

Hannah regained her posture and tightened the straps of the hoodie that she was wearing. She smiled at David with a twinkle in her eyes and then glared directly at me.

“The other day, when you’d left to get me that necklace,” Which I realised she was still wearing, which subconsciously made me smile, “I cleared up the sofa to find a small puddle of blood. I don’t know whether it was from your mouth due to the coughing, or your eye, which looked like shit even before you cut it out. But the fact still remains that no healthy man should be bleeding from those areas.”

I stopped and stared without thinking, feeling nothing but the sounds around me and the gentle tug of Nightmare Moon to gain conscious control. I was about to ask her what she meant by ‘something wrong’ to divert her attention, but she answered before I could even ask.

“When I ‘arrived’ both your lungs and that organ you call a ‘heart’, were in tatters and on the brink of collapse. But before I could use a healing spell, they seemed to repair themselves. From what I can tell from this knowledge that I’ve been picking up in here, that sort of thing is not normal on this planet.”

She was right; no one would be able to survive that sort of damage to vital organs in this world. Even if Nightmare Moon was bluffing about that sort of thing, she’d have no motive to lie. It was obvious that this thing was about to kill me, but what remained unanswered was-

“So, how was he saved at the expense of his eye? Which even now wasn’t that much of a cost,” asked David, keeping a fixed gaze on myself at all times, not even bothering to look at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth perked up. “The thing I did to save him was an acceleration device, but before you ask, it isn’t accelerating anything physical: it accelerated the growth of magical potential, effectively raising your internal energies and stress levels to a point that Nightmare Moon could feed off of it and…reawaken.

“The forces of the universe are flawed, at best. When Nightmare Moon returned to consciousness, the universe tried to correct itself. But, since the effects of the Rubber Band Slingshot are so great, an interuniversal phenomenon took place.”

Hannah groaned, “You had me up to ‘forces of the universe’.”

Elizabeth smirked, “It’s a little like if you have all of these rubber bands stretched under the process of the rubber band slingshot effect. All that I did was find a way to temporarily remove whatever was holding the other parts of the band in place. One could say it created a large, trans-dimensional ‘ping’.”

“Ping?”

“Ping.”

David chuckled to himself before closing his eyes and grunting loudly. “You created a universal ‘ping’ how, exactly?”

Elizabeth turned to me once more, “Last night, I managed to get you to touch something, a device not of this World. That ‘emerald’ was a powerful source of energy from Nightmare’s home world. As well as reawakening Nightmare Moon, it contributed to this effect.

“The multiverse is like a lazy mechanic with all of his toolboxes unlabelled. Let’s say, there’s a box full of spanners, and an empty box where hammers go. What would he do if he saw both a hammer in the spanners box and a hammer lying next to the box? He would only assume that the box belongs to both Hammers and Spanners, and the rest of the Hammers are lost. So when he finds new hammers, he puts them back into the spanners box. Even though the box wasn’t designed for hammers, eventually the box becomes full of both hammers and spanners.”

“So Nightmare Moon was the hammer in the box?”

David raised an eyebrow, “And I’m guessing getting him to touch the object is like the hammer on the ground.

Things were adding up once again. “And the fact that we all have these ‘cutie marks’ are the other hammers returning to the wrong box, and the Rubber Band Slingshot Effect being released.”

“So the Souls of these Ponies are inside our bodies now, and I’m guessing they’re going to be taking over the body soon?” said Hannah with an inquisitorial tone, yet her voice had the markings of a rhetorical question.

Elizabeth only nodded in response. But there were more questions to be asked by all of us.

“We all have the souls of Ponies in us, why should it be us? And why did Patrick have Nightmare Moon in the first place?”

Elizabeth shrugged, “Unfortunately, that sort of thing is where my knowledge ends. I do not know why you all have this effect applied to you specifically. And I believe that the Nightmare thing is another part of Dimensia, Nightmare’s body and soul did not cross. However, her mind did, forming the base of Patrick’s, who also had the mind of the alicorn philosopher. How she retains her memories of the previous world, despite remaining dormant for twenty-five years remains a mystery even to myself.”

“It could have something to do with this alicorn philosopher trying to find the centre of the multiverse,” I said before Hannah asked another question.

“What about you? You said that you also crossed dimensions, how did you not get Dimensia?”

“I did. Just in a different way, my mind and soul made its was here, where a human host body was made my home. It is only now, that Dimensia is ending, that my body, like yours, is showing through.” I could only assume what she meant by this, but I felt my suspicions were about to be confirmed.

At this moment, she lifted up a portion of her skirt to show us her flank. This, as I expected, had a marking similar to David and I. A cutie mark of a blue ethereal Tear showing the symbol of a dead bird in the centre.

“The last information I will give you today is an apology,” she said, sighing heavily. “I am sorry that this has happened to you all. This process was out of my control, and for that matter, your control as well. I know that you, David, still have an acting career and this Transformation we are all about to go through is not something you or your family need. And Patrick.”

She tapped the side of her head twice. “I know you value your consciousness, and your creative imagination is something that makes you YOU. Having a dominating second personality, and the powers of an alicorn thrust onto you is not something even your worst enemies would wish upon you.”

“Do I get a personal apology?” asked Hannah with spite, Elizabeth smiled and closed her eyes.

“Well, from what I know, you’re already an identity thief! You’ll fit perfectly into the role of Queen Chrysalis. But if you’re expecting one, you’ll get an apology from me at a later date, trust me.”

Hannah scowled at her with clenched teeth. “Right now I find trusting you to be a bit difficult, so forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm.”

“And a general apology to you all. In order for this event to take place, and for me to rid Dimensia from the equation. I had to plan everything while finding all of you, but at the same time try to find a way to allow you to read up on some of the traits you will be receiving,” she lowered her voice for a moment, “But seriously, read those books I gave you, they’ll help you out with some things so I don’t have to.

“Anyway, in these delays, I may have risked your lives in the process, especially yours, Patrick. You started to experience genetic deterioration already so I apologise for not getting to you sooner, or allowing you time to understand what was about to happen to you. Remember, I’m no miracle worker.” At this moment, a waiter walked by the table and placed a few glasses of water on the table, Elizabeth looked up to him. “Actually, could I have a glass of wine instead, thanks.”

The waiter nodded and took the glass away, leading Elizabeth to look back at me again. “But what matters is that you are all still alive and you understand now.”

Deep inside, besides Nightmare’s niggling in the back of my mind, I wanted to punch her in the face for being responsible for everything that had happened to me in the past couple of days. But, admittedly, I knew she was right. That cough I had had for the past couple of days had completely vanished overnight and my eye, despite having a glaring scar, was completely painless.

I felt if it weren’t for her, I doubt I would survive the next few days alone. And even more, the people who also had Dimensia would have eventually ‘collapsed’. In gaining Nightmare Moon, for a fleeting moment, I felt that in return I had saved those people.

But right now, I still couldn’t forgive Elizabeth. She had still ruined me, and that destruction to myself was only going to increase. But to what end would it stop? If I was about to fully transform into an actual Alicorn, how much of me would be left? Would I even be myself? Would I be stuck in a body that is not my own forever? Or would this alicorn reduce me to a complete stranger?

These thoughts only depressed me, but in that moment of depression, I felt the sudden mental pull as my consciousness was violently yanked to Nightmare Moon. I tried fighting back to stop her from doing anything stupid, but Nightmare Moon was remaining silent in my head, and had not moved an inch from my original position. I was now a simple viewer again. A prisoner in my own body.

David was, somehow, able to pick up on this switch in drivers. It took him a while of staring before he said something.

“So it’s true,” he said quietly, alerting the others to his observance.

“What’s true?” asked Elizabeth.

“Everything you said, at first, I thought everything you said was some complex hoax thought up by Darren Brown. With fake tattoos and a man with scars… But just now, Patrick’s eyes changed colour.”

Hannah looked directly into my eyes, with fear in her own quickly showing itself. “Both your eyes are blue… And catlike.”

“You’re very observant, Doctor” said Nightmare with a smug grin and a voice as sharp as a knife, David continued his observation.

“I’ve heard of schizophrenia and split personalities. But that’s all in the mind; I look at you now, comparing you to earlier. Your eyes are blue, you talk like a snake, your hair is slightly longer and even the way you sit is different. Every part of you emanates something different, like you’ve become a completely different person. You’re not even you right now.”

Nightmare’s smile grew wider and more baring of her teeth. Even at his age, I could tell that David had fear in his heart, and the questions in his head were now questioning both his life and reality.

“You’re Nightmare Moon… Aren’t you?”

And on cue, Nightmare Moon used me to create a sinister laughter; it wasn’t full blown like she would have given on the show or in her display earlier, but more psychotic and chilling causing a universal shiver down the spines of the people in the café. Her laughter died down slightly to speak.

“I’m starting to see him in you, David,” she said looking directly at him. “Ever the paranoid and trying to find explanations for things. Yes, I am Nightmare Moon, the one, true Nightmare Moon. Born again in this world into the body of a man.”

“Do you like them?” She asked Hannah, causing her to flinch. “My eyes, Chrysalis… Or Hannah as you are known here, are but one sign of my control. There will be more to come as the days go by. As Patrick changes, as do I recover my power. I already have a portion of it in my control. Would you like me to demonstrate?”

Hannah shook her head, causing Nightmare to pout my lips sarcastically. “Shame for you, since I feel I’m going to have to anyway.”

At this moment, we had the door of the café open, I was turned to see two men wearing suits walk in. They had shades on and kept their heads low, one of the people behind the counter attempted to shoo them away.

“Excuse me? We’re having a private meeting at the moment, could you two gents kindly leave?” he asked, only for the two to arrive at the counter and sit down. One of them, the younger, looked up to him in response. Due to the lack of other’s dialogue, it was easy to hear them.

“I’m sorry, my friend and I have just come back from a big job uptown, all we need is a coffee and then we’ll be on our way.”

The man at the counter turned to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth nodded in response.

The rumble of voices started again in the Café as the man walked to serve the two men at the bar. This allowed Nightmare to pick up on Hannah’s distress. She sat there, with her eyes wide and breathing steadily increasing in speed. Like at the school, I could somehow feel the fear and panic off of her. But at the same time, there was another feeling; it was a sense of burning, spikes and sharpness, leading off of her and cutting down into me… It was hatred.

“Those two men, Hannah, are they the ones?” Nightmare asked, Hannah looked up with a confused glare, but she got the idea of what Nightmare was suggesting, leaving me in the dark. Hannah nodded, causing Nightmare to smile again.

“They’re the ones that killed everyone in the hospital.”

David’s eyes shot open, as a horrifying thought crossed my mind. If what she said was true, then was Elliott among the casualties.

Before I could do anything, Nightmare Moon gave me one thought across our mind in a strong tone, “No, I feel that Elliott was not among them. If he were, I think grief would be strong amongst her consciousness. I doubt he was left in that place either, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a nice discussion with the two gentlemen.”

She stood myself up, and began to walk over to the counter with an elegance I did not know I could do. Since no one in the Café reacted to this, I believed that Elizabeth had told them what to expect from today.

My left hand clicked as I heard Nightmare’s voice utter a spell in my head.

“Nocte Pallium: Metamorphagus, Lorem mulierem.” Almost immediately, I felt a strange feeling cover my body. There were no changes to my body itself, but I felt a strange force surrounding it after she used the spell.

As I reached the two men they turned to look at me as my shadow loomed over them.

Their expression held no meaning, but I could pick it up; arousal, confusion and stress all bundled inside both of them, especially the younger.

“Would you boys care for a drink? You must be thirsty after a long day of work,” said Nightmare with a more effeminate tone to her voice. The elder of the two men was not pleased.

“I’m sorry, Madam. We’re on a tight schedule, we can’t afford distractions.”

“Oh, you men with your business. You’re always so uptight, so stressed.” I had grabbed the elders tie and pulled him slightly towards me. “I can make that stress go away.”

His eyebrow rose for a moment, and a smile appeared on one side of his mouth. But it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. “Sorry madam, we don’t deal with prostitutes.”

He was glancing around slightly as Nightmare frowned. “I am no prostitute. I’m just a girl looking for justice,” she stood up as tall as possible and assumed a serious tone, “I deal with murderers.”

A coffee arrived on the counter, and the two seized theirs formally. “Well, if you find any murderers, you should report it to us. We don’t take kindly to vigilantes.”

“Actually, funny you should mention that, I happen to be looking for two murderers at the moment, I’d care to report.”

The elders’ eyebrow went up once more, and he signalled the younger to take out a notebook.

“Since we’re off duty, we won’t be able to lead into this right now, but we’ll take some notes now… So to begin with- was the victim identified?”

Nightmare gave a crooked smile, “Yes, she was. That’s her.”

She pointed over to Hannah, who was glaring at the two men. The elder’s eyes shot open with malice and the immense amount of confusion and fear that emanated from them was thick enough to taste.

“WHAT THE HELL?” the younger yelled, reaching into his coat pocket. Nightmare reacted quickly, raising both hands to their necks quickly and yelling in my head.

“Petrificus Locatus Maxima!”

Instantly, the arms of the men dropped, as did their posture. Their heads moved around confused, unable to move away. Their panic and fear were apparent from just looking at them.

“I can’t move my arms, boss! What’s going on?”

Nightmare laughed to herself while seeing the two men being absolutely helpless.

She silenced them by disabling whatever charm she had on to disguise herself. The men stared at her with absolute disbelief.

“Unless you never want to move again, you two are going to tell me which one of you pulled the trigger on my friend.”

The younger was shaking slightly, trying to get some movement out of their paralysed limbs. “We didn’t… Kill her. Look! She’s right there, still alive!”

Nightmare Moon glared at both of them before raising her hands again, this time, looking again like my own hands. “I think we all know that’s not the case. Crucio.”

The men screamed as the only parts of them that weren’t paralysed contorted and bent and scraped together. Reminding me of that event with James Pierce. It gave me almost a thrill to see again, but also a horrifying realisation that I couldn’t turn away due to Nightmare being in control of me.

One of them, in agony, finally spoke up- “IT WAS ME! IT WAS ME! FOR GOD’S SAKE MAKE IT STOP!”

Nightmare lowered her hands and went up to the man who spoke, being the elder. The effects of the curse had stopped, but they were both still in the after-agony. They looked like children to Nightmare. All fearing the creature that had come to bring judgement upon them. Nightmare was living up to her name at that point, being a Nightmare incarnate.

The room seemed to go dark around us, as all light that seemed to remain was on the elder. There was a moment of silence as Nightmare Moon looked directly into his eyes, either as a means of ‘studying’ him, or just allowing him to get a good look at her eyes. She leaned in, while raising a hand to his throat, “People who kill for money make me sick,” she said with a hiss, “I’m old fashioned, I kill for vengeance.”

She leaned back, pressing my nails slightly into his neck as he whimpered quietly. “Give Hitler my regards when you see him.”

That instant, he knew exactly what was about to happen, and began to scream. His scream was interrupted by the powerful thought of Nightmare Moon’s spell.

“MORTE PERCUNIA.”

At that moment, his breath choked. Every ounce of his body tensed up and began to solidify. His skin diluted and rotted into a pale yellow at first, before turning a more solid gold. Nightmare moon outstretched one finger and gently tapped upon his forehead. Causing him to crumble into a large pile of gold coins.

Some people around us gasped, but it was the younger man, being the observer who was screaming.

“OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! FUCK ME! I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE!”

His tone of voice suggested that he thought he was about to receive the same fate, and the fear from him only increased as Nightmare approached. “Yes… Mortal… I am your god,” she said with the vilest of vain voices. She raised an eyebrow as the man cowered away slightly, but she shed an almost friendly smile. “But I am not the one to kill you. Since I need to send a message back to whoever has sent you to kill my friend.”

She placed a hand quickly on his forehead, and a spiritual pressure began to be exerted from my mind, like a snake, the pressure coiled around the man’s mind with a gentle hum. As she spoke the words in my head, they became a command in his.

“When you leave this place, you will not remember my face, you will not remember what has happened in here, you will go back to your superiors, and say you have failed them. You will beg for death, and you will say that Nightmare Moon says: Hello.”

She released her hand from his head and the man’s body relaxed and flopped onto the ground in front of us. He stared at Nightmare, and then the door and then at the pile of money that used to be the elder man. He stumbled upright, before running towards the door screaming. As soon as he reached the outside world, his shrieks were silenced and he calmly walked away.

Nightmare Moon smiled and laughed in a sinister fashion. “If you live for money, then you will die for money,” she mocked, turning to the pile of gold sitting near her. “Take as much money as you want, my mortal subjects,” she said, seemingly to the rest of the people in the café who had done nothing during the display. No-one went up; they all remained silent and stared at me, my friends on the table included.

Hannah and David looked more scared than I had ever seen them. Perhaps that was the idea; maybe Nightmare was trying to show them what would happen if they got on her bad side. That seemed to be the idea. But I wanted no part of it anymore.

I struggled and struggled to get some control back. While Nightmare Moon was holding onto what energy she had strongly, I felt some give back to me.

“Getting feisty, are we Patrick? I’m going to see how you try this one.”

I fell to the ground; the effort of gaining control of the body was weighing hard on both of us, however more me than Nightmare. I imagined it as getting the energy from one chakra pool to another. I was beginning to understand the struggle that Luna had to go through, before a realisation struck me.

While struggling for control, I tried picturing happy thoughts, ignoring the death, trying to think of something nice. Happy bunnies, flowery fields, Yoshi frolicking near a rainbow, celebrating birthdays with my friends.

At this moment, I felt something give in Nightmare Moon, just a brief moment where she hesitated and stumbled. I used this to my advantage, and grabbed the energy for myself. With a gigantic scream, I began to move it over to my consciousness. It felt like someone was stabbing me through the eyes and going straight through my brain. I felt like my mind was about to crack open, my bones creaked and cracked beneath and around me. With a groan, my eyes burned furiously, the energy felt like it was almost completely mine, and I felt Nightmare Moon begin to pull it back again. But it was too late now, I collapsed. I was once again in control of my body.

Nightmare’s voice sounded heavy in my head, “Not… Bad… Patrick… You’re not good at the transformation. I dare say I’m looking forward to trying that again.” She groaned to herself suddenly, “But you’ve drained me, for now. Kudos for victory on your first time… I imagine we’re going to become very strong friends.”

I began to stand up slightly, putting all my energy into my body around me. My thoughts felt heavy as well in my mind, with the added weight of Nightmare. It was as if I had a solid lead weight in my skull. I focused myself on one thought and fired it at Nightmare with an angry flare.

“YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT, NIGHTMARE MOON.”

My eye left a drop of blood on the ground after that exertion, Nightmare sighed in my head. “Careful, Patrick. You’re not experienced at this. We’ll practice your voice soon enough. But I don’t want you collapsing of the blood pressure in your head.”

She became silent once more, and I began to stumble towards the table again. Hannah stood up and ran over to prevent me from falling over.

“I’m sorry, Patrick,” she said solemnly, holding me tight as she stood me up.

I gasped for breath and talked with a hoarse voice. “Why did that time hurt so much?”

Elizabeth looked me straight in the eyes, “That was the first time you’ve FOUGHT for control, Patrick,” she said, sounding eversoslightly proud, “I think other times; Nightmare had just given control back to you. This was the first time that you two have competed for your body.”

“Will she try again?” asked Hannah for me.

“Several times, as she gets stronger, it may get increasingly difficult for you to get that control back or remain in control if she tries.”

That was the last straw for David. He stood up explosively with panic in his eyes.

“That’s enough!” he blurted with a slight laugh. “I know that you lot have problems, and I’m sorry for that, but I can’t take it! I don’t know you very well, but I don’t want to stick around to see what that Nightmare Moon will do to all of us. If you don’t mind, I’m getting out of here!”

Elizabeth stood up in response, “I’m sorry, David. But I’m afraid that we’re the only choice that you’ve got at the moment.”

David raised an eyebrow as the cheek on the other side twitched slightly, “What do you mean, only choice? I’ve got-” he opened the blind expecting to see the car with Georgie and Olive outside, but to all of our surprise (bar Elizabeth), no car could be seen.

David turned to Elizabeth and I angrily, “Where are they?” he yelled at a tone I had not seen from him. He was breathing heavily, and almost blind with rage. Blind enough not to notice the syringe that Elizabeth had gotten out of her bag, which she promptly stuck into his neck.

David’s eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed onto the table with a large thump, breaking the glasses of water and knocking over Elizabeth’s cup of tea and glass of wine.

“What?” I said with a rasp. Elizabeth turned to us after placing the syringe back into her bag.

“That’ll keep him out for a couple of hours,” she said, feeling his pulse as he lay on the table.

Hannah and I backed up slightly, “Where’s his family? What did you do?” Hannah asked without blinking.

Elizabeth straightened her coat and looked at the two of us. “His family are currently on their way to a safe house. The reason they are going there is because of a deal I had made with them the other day. To keep them out of the country while the events of the Dimensia wear off on both themselves and David. And that injection was to knock him out in order to take him back to Patrick’s house.”

“Why would I want him or you in my house?”

She looked down at me, “To unite the League of Darkness,” she seemed to say to Nightmare Moon.

In order to prevent me from passing out due to my Mental fight with Nightmare, Elizabeth and Hannah both carried David out of the café, with Hannah holding arms and Elizabeth holding his legs while I stumbled behind.

“Why are we doing this?” yelled Hannah, stumbling slightly over a wonky pave-stone. Elizabeth bared the brunt of David’s weight.

“We’re just following the plan that I made you guys yesterday. Simple as that, if we don’t take him back, then the plan for the afternoon is not going to work!”

We began to get towards Hannah’s Rolls Royce, which was parked relatively close. “Why should we you? You just knocked a man out and expect us to follow your every whim?”

Elizabeth grinned to herself and chuckled, “You trust me because you know I’m the only one who can make some sense of all of this.”

I groaned, trying to withhold my anger, and thus, Nightmare Moon.

When we reached Hannah’s car, I saw the silhouette of another figure in the car, as well as the remains of what looked like a smashed up window… A window that I have heard can survive even an atomic blast. There was no glass on the inside, so I could only assume that it was broken from the inside. Making me slightly fear my life while standing next to Hannah, but judging by the display earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised if she felt the same way about me.

I was signalled to open the passenger door on the other side of the car. I did it while limping slightly. When the door opened, I only got a passing glance of Elliott Wong on the other side, still wearing a gown, before the unconscious body of David was shoved in.

I turned to Hannah with squinted eyes and shrugged my shoulders aggressively. She frowned in return.

“You heard me earlier, didn’t you? Those two men and some others Murdered everyone in the hospital, Doctors and Patients alike- Elliott and I were hidden so they didn’t find him. Did you want me to leave him there? He still has his meds on him thanks to me, thank you very much. I think that he’s in safe hands now.”

I stammered as I continued to glare at her, “What? With you, who appears to have punched through a Palladium glass window? Elizabeth, who I don’t think is properly mentally stable to be left with anypony… AnyONE, sorry. And lastly, both me and Nightmare Moon… And I think that you know the problems with THAT!”

“Touché. But I think it’s safer than him having to stay where those men could’ve gotten to him. If he were left there, then his medicine would have run out, and he would have died of shock and physical trauma before anyone could get to him that wouldn’t shoot him in the head.”

I doubted that someone like Elliott, especially with his injuries had any chance of being alive without his medicine. Hold on…

“Did you-” I began, but before my lips were opened, the boot of the Rolls was, revealing what could only be described as a Junkie’s greatest dream / worst Nightmare.

Somehow, despite being squeezed into a reasonably small space of a boot, several, nearly hundreds of plastic packages were placed intact in the boot, with different colours and markings. I was surprised beyond belief in how and why Hannah would do something like that. Elliott, in order to make a full recovery would only need one or two bags at least of some of the more moderate medicine.

This stuff was enough for that and…

To dull the pain and infections of people practically changing species.

“Did you know?” I asked her, causing her to close the boot non-suspiciously. She grimaced and shuggled her head side to side going “eh.”

“I could guess that it probably happened to you, considering that you became Nightmare last night and the fact that you and the others, like me, collapsed. So I got these in case we experience anything during these changes. I extrapolated and took opportunity from the hospital earlier. It would be good if we kept it between ourselves, and if Darius were to ask… Just change the subject.”

I nodded abruptly, as a sharp whistle was called into my hearing. “Let’s get moving guys! That drug will only keep him out for oh so long!” she yelled, before getting into the front passenger seat without asking any of us. This annoyed me slightly, but such things as seating would not be in my caring at the age of a steady twenty-five.

Upon her command, I limped into the car seat with the wedged body of David… And the near-corpse of Elliott.

His movements were subtle, if weak from rest and pain. It lacked the certain spasticity that I had come to expect from him. It seemed as if he were cold, as if he were dead. The charred, scarred and torn flesh that made up his entire left countenance and body was almost a bringing forth of the death that now was brought by his every move.

My usual thought patterns would normally criticize myself for not paying proper attention to the fact that I was observing the mangled face of one of my best friends staring back at me with one large, unblinking eyeball. I was more criticizing how my observations at that time were so outrageously poetic. I would blame Nightmare…

But I remembered that there was another I was turning into. Another pony, a pony that did not seem to even appear on the show, fan works or fiction.

If I were to change, would the part of me that is still myself remain that way? What dark secrets lay for me in the future? I hoped that such secrets did not go unanswered for very long. However, an unsettling feeling welled up inside of me. Every single bowel and inner organ shifted uncontrollably. Was it nausea? Was it the stress? Was it that I had just recently fought off a complete psychopath from taking over my mind without any form of the training? Was it the fact that I had just seen an open eyeball-?

My stomach opened up and I expelled my insides onto the payment through the open window to my right. Immediately, the feeling inside subsided before I was to either throw up again or observe the handiwork of what I had just done. I looked at Elizabeth, who looked back with an awkward smile.

“How about I go get some bandages for Elliott and Hannah when we get back to your house, you don’t mind Elliott staying in the car, do you Hannah?”

Hannah had no reaction; she only looked forward as she started the car.

Elizabeth smirked, “I hope you realise that you’ve just thrown up, Patrick… And I’d recommend checking that colour if I were you.”

I groaned loudly, but kept my innermost emotions in check. My outer shell spoke with a voice as sharp as the knife that had cut my friend’s hand the night before. “I do not wish to look, I do not care. Just take me home.”

“Really?” she asked, beginning to look forward again and twiddle her thumbs.

I had no reaction; I only fastened my seatbelt as the car pulled away.

“You all sitting comfortably?”

Elliott had no reaction; he only stared blankly as pain wrought his body.

David could not react. He was completely unconscious.

The car grinded to a halt, and a cough alerted me to press a small button on a device connected to my keychain. A small beeping was the sign of the large, opening gate that lead up to the large premises of my house.

The car drove down the driveway and parked just outside the front door that showed the way into the home. The house brought onto me by a loophole and political corruption at its most beneficial.

“Is the gate the only way in?” asked Elizabeth.

I glared and pointed to a small door, although covered with various roots and flowers, I had used only this morning. She pondered and looked at it.

“You can buzz me in afterwards can’t you?”

“Either that or I’ll happily let you climb over. You never know, after you do it I could ‘reveal’ that you actually went through some rough barbed wire-”

“And the wounds are already there. I see your metaphor, Patrick… Very clever.”

She climbed out of the car without any hesitation, Hannah snapped quickly from her trance-like state. “HEY!” she yelled.

“Yes?”

“What about these two?” she blurted, pointing to David, who was drooling slightly onto his leg.

Elizabeth promptly handed Hannah a set of a few objects, including some handcuffs, a key, a few syringes like that she had used on David earlier and the unopened package that we were not allowed to open from last night. Seeing, however, she had no clue what to do with them. Elizabeth opened up what she needed.

“Drag him into a place like the sitting room. When he wakes, if he is difficult to deal with, give him a small dose of that syringe stuff, then use the handcuffs to attach one hand to something like a pantry storage shelf or radiator. Once you have everything sorted, please provide him with the tomes inside of the package provided. I won’t be long, so I doubt that you will have to do much of this on your own.”

She walked off before anyone else could speak. Leaving Hannah with an open mouth and a raised hand. “Alright… Alright then.”

She turned back to me, and spoke with a casual friendliness that I had not heard in a long time today. “Are you OK to walk?”

I nodded respectfully, trying dulling the slight pain that still lingered in my joints.

I undid David’s seatbelt and nodded at Elliott. He replied by settling back slightly into his seat.

I had once done a first aid course in my CCF education back in 2010; in my studies of CPR I was given a good demonstration of the weight of an uncooperating unconscious body. Even then, I had little practice in the matter. David’s limp body was heavy and difficult to control. Every limb sprawled all over and his chest wanted to fall to the ground with every moment that I supported him. It would be easy for me to just drag him into the house.

But it was David fekking Tennant. I couldn’t do that to him.

I resorted to the method similar to that I had used on Elliott a few days ago, being the Pack Strap Carry. By dragging him slightly to the edge of the car, I managed to hoist him up onto my back, trying to keep the weight off my legs and keeping it on my hips as I crouched slightly.

My bones still ached from the internal battle, but it wasn’t a long distance from here to the sitting room in my house. As long as I didn’t have any other interruptions, I would be fine.

“Patrick!” yelled Joshua, as if on fucking cue.

“Not now Joshua, we need to get this man into the house before carrying him does any damage to my legs.”

Hannah decided to ignore Josh, but unlike him usually, he decided to take a stand and held his position. “Nononono. You’re not going in yet, not until I know what the fuck is going on out here.”

“I’m not an idiot, that’s fucking David fucking Tennant on your back, Patrick- YOU have your eye back, although I saw you REMOVE IT by yourself not last night. Why is Elliott in the car? Why the fuck did I just see Elizabeth get out of the car? And why-”

I picked up the pace and shoved past him, rolling my eyes, “Long story, can’t explain now- but I really need to put this guy DOWN NOW!”

I heard small stammers from Josh as the weight of David’s body began to become even more apparent as I picked up pace to slam him down on the central sofa of the sitting room. His body quickly slumped onto the seat with near-perfect precision. Allowing me to feel a tad freer to move as I didn’t have someone else’s body on my shoulders. However, it felt more as if my legs were about to drop off, leaving me to slump to the ground with a climactic smash. This was not the case, however. All that happened was a small stumble and a slight twist of my ankle.

Hannah had followed me in, which I found out when I found one of her bandaged hands coming to assist me.

Her smile was a calming force upon me, as much calming as I could have while in pain.

Weight was taken off my feet once more when I was placed in the soft comfort of my sofa, with the soft cotton cushions supporting my back and behind. I hadn’t sat down calmly for a while, so it felt as if I would sink into the settee if I weren’t careful. “Are you OK?” asked Hannah, I nodded calmly.

“I’ve never felt the experience of being on what you call ‘sofas’. I must admit, it is rather comforting in the flesh.”

I scowled, as my bones ached from the earlier confrontation. I suppressed a moan of pain while Hannah stroked my hand.

Nightmare Moon spoke again. “If you don’t like the pain, Patrick. I will happily get rid of it for you if you let me control one of your arms for an hour or two.”

I wasn’t that easily fooled, so I ignored her as much as you can ignore your own mind.

A moment or two passed with not much happening, Hannah comforted me, David flinched once or twice and I counted my breaths slowly but surely.

All was fine for one moment; all was calm just following my own breaths. One. Two. In. Out. Relaxed. And- “Leave my friend alone!”

My head snapped around, to see Josh standing poised upright, with a knife in his hand and a fierce look in his eye. From just a glance I knew that knife was intended for me.

“I don’t care who you are. You’re not Patrick! You changed him last night and now you’re back for me and Cordelia! Jesus Christ! I’m not afraid to defend myself right now! Don’t make me use this!”

Hannah sat slightly more upright, “Joshua! Don’t do anything you’ll regret- you don’t understand what’s going on right now-”

“Yes I do! Yes I fucking do! That Elizabeth’s cursed you! And now she wants me! She’s tasted my blood! She hates me! Everyone fucking hates me! It’s all about YOU isn’t it?”

I could see tears forming in his eyes, he was stammering his speech. Any other time I would think he was just taking the mick, but now I could see that he was completely terrified.

“You’re not him! You’re that Nightmare Moon from that fucking kid’s show aren’t you?” the knife started shaking slightly in his hand, “Give me my friend back! Make our lives normal again for god’s sake! Just leave us alone.”

Honestly, even though he was a complete arse last night, I could actually sympathise with him. This seemed to all be happening around him, he cut a hand on a sword meant for me, only to have someone laugh at him for it and then for me to end up cutting out my own eye after declaring myself as Nightmare Moon.

To any normal person, I would have looked like I had gone completely insane, and my leaving today would have been good for him to calm down.

But now I return to my house with a returned eye, an unconscious man and a woman who laughed at violence, as well as Hannah. He must have been absolutely terrified, and I did not blame him for one moment. In fact, I hoped he did stab something just to vent all of that stress that he would have had.

But I did not find him doing that, as an inquisitorial Hannah was the next to speak. “Josh… Where’s Cordelia?”

“Why should I tell you? You could be like him for all I know!”

“Josh… This is for all of our safety… Has anything strange happened to her?”

I’d forgotten that. Hannah had mentioned that we’d all collapsed after I had cut out my eye, probably from Dimensia.

And evidently, from the way that Josh had now lowered the knife, I wasn’t the only one.

“How the hell do you know if anything’s happened to her? For all I know you could have done it to her-”

“Josh, don’t try to be a badass. No-one’s buying it, for god’s sake, put down the knife before anyone ELSE loses an eye.” She then turned to me with a small smug grin; I only glared back at her.

Josh’s breath increased in pace as he realised the knife in his hand, eventually he started to lower it down to the ground. His eyes remained locked on ours at all times, it was only when the weapon was down on the ground and he held in place slightly that he looked like he was about to speak. However, a sharp breath from David caused a hand to flinch back and seize the knife.

“If you want to hold the knife, that’s fine. Just tell us what happened to Cordelia.”

Josh fidgeted and flinched, it was obvious he was having trouble putting it into words, “A symbol… A symbol appeared.”

“What KIND of symbol?”

“Err…” He stopped, his eyes and hands gave away the fact that he seemed to know what it was, but had lost the word to describe it with. “Round, circle thingy with a star in it.”

“A Pentagram?” Hannah practically laughed.

“Yeah, that’s right! A pentagram… Yeah, a Pentagram ap-appeared on her… Yup, on her.”

He seemed to have stopped awkwardly, as if he wasn’t really in the mood to go into detail. But we needed detail in order to determine whether she was in the same condition as the rest of us.

“Where ‘on her’?” I asked, trying to sound as imposing as I could without sounding too intimidating.

“Just in the general… Area…”

I tried to put it into words as maturely as I could, but words failed me at the wrong moment- “Josh, does she have a pentagram on her butt?”

Hannah burst out for a moment, but refrained from laughing out loud from what I said, and Nightmare Moon gave a sharp “Ha!” inside my head, to my annoyance.

Josh raised an eyebrow while nodding slowly. “Although… It’s on both… Sides.”

A short breathed Hannah spoke next “I guessed so, but that proves it.”

“Where is she?” I asked, getting back to my original question.

“She’s currently in her room, she ran off when we saw Elizabeth. That’s why I’m so suspicious of you guys right now. Tell me, why are you here now?”

That’s when we were speechless. We both just looked down and to each other.

“I’m guessing it’s got SOMETHING to do with how you SOMEHOW have David Tennant knocked out. Care to explain?”

Hannah looked up again, “All I could say is, Elizabeth, Elizabeth and… Elizabeth.”

“Someone called?” asked Elizabeth, in a Beetlejuice manner of now standing behind Josh, who appropriately almost fell over from her unheard appearance. It was a surprise to us all.

“What are you doing here?” asked Josh, familiar with the tone that he had used earlier to address the two of us.

Elizabeth looked to a corner of the room and shrugged, “I’m mainly just following a plan. Also, I helped get these guys here, so you should be thanking me- Where’s Cordelia? I guess she has lots of questions for me.”

Josh looked like he was about to begin his whole ‘I’m not telling you’ routine, so I interrupted. “Upstairs, first room on the left. She’ll either be there or on the Balcony that the room connects to.”

Josh stood up and frowned at me with bravery, “You shouldn’t have told her that, who knows what she’ll do to Cordie.”

“Josh…” said Elizabeth, with a calm voice, “Don’t panic. I don’t intend any harm to occur to any of us.”

“She doesn’t Josh, but I don’t think you’ll understand,” I said, leaning out for him to see me.

He seemed to be calming eversoslightly, but he still had a knife in his hand and a wild look in his eyes and hair.

“You don’t remember do you? The way she laughed when I cut myself, the way she acted like some kind of servant when you lost your mind! You can’t trust her! YOU CAN’T!”

Elizabeth held his hand, being the one with the knife, and spoke softly in juxtapose to his loud voice, “Josh. Go upstairs and find Cordelia. I’ll be up shortly and I’ll explain everything- I’ll even let you keep the knife. I don’t intend to bring any more harm, and I am sorry for the way I treated you yesterday.”

Josh scowled, and I saw a brief moment where he almost raised the knife up to meet her throat, but this changed when Elizabeth spoke again. “Josh, would you kindly take a deep breath, calm down… And trust me.”

It wasn’t instant, but it still seemed to get through. His arm lowered as took one deep breath in and out. “Fine,” he said, dropping the knife “I trust you.”

He took more deep and slow breaths. He walked out of the room and slowly went up the stairs. Elizabeth picked up the knife that he had dropped, and surprisingly put it behind one of the sofas with a small smile.

“Are you lot alright?”

We nodded.

She sighed, “I did mean what I said there. The way I treated you all last night was unacceptable, especially to Josh. I hope I can be forgiven.”

“We don’t care… Where’s Elliott?” I asked, causing her to gesture to another room.

“I managed to move him to the dining room with some fresh bandages. He’s still in a bit of pain, but I imagine that you have brought something for that.”

We looked at each other for several moments, each of us unaware of the motifs or intentions of the accused.

There was a strange balance and unbalance of trust and mistrust, and Elizabeth knew that well. If she hadn’t done something, and left us to our own normal lives, then we’d all be dead. In ruining our lives, as she said, she saved them.

“Do you have anything to drink?” she asked, in a tone that I had not heard her use before. But it was a harmless question.

“Check in the fridge in the kitchen. We’ll have some stuff in there, and all the tap water’s filtered so it’s safe to drink.”

She nodded her head in thanks and walked away silently.

Leaving us just with the ambient noise of the surroundings.

Part 1: Chapter 10: Dragonbane

“What do we do now?” asked Hannah, breaking the silence after a while of not speaking.

It took me a moment to respond, as all I could come up with was a gentle shrug. “What do you mean, though? Right now, I guess we wait for Elizabeth to tell us.”

“And then what? From what it looks like, we’re about to go through some serious changes over the next few days, if not even longer… What do we do? Do we keep ourselves in hiding? Does Elizabeth just expect the world to accept us becoming ponies? What about you… you two? Will you be OK?”

“I’m not sure, Hannah. It’s too early to jump to conclusions.”

“Hypocrite!” Nightmare Moon yelled in my head.

“I’m sorry?” I accidently said aloud, Hannah seemed to get what was going on.

“Jumping to conclusions is all you’ve done today, from what I can tell. I may be crazy, but at least I’m consistent!”

This made me a tad annoyed that I was the only one who could hear her when she wasn’t in control. But I thought it was probably for the better, an uncontrolled mad pony I don’t think needed her opinions broadcasted. Especially someone who has access to every single thought I have and have ever had.

That level of exposure was not something anyone would want.

“Have you tried calling your family?” probed Hannah, bringing my attention back to the now, “If these changes happen, wouldn’t it be for the best if they knew what was about to happen?”

“I don’t think that’ll be good. They’re coming round in the next day or two. They said it was for my birthday.”

My eyelids extended as Hannah’s words sunk in. “OH GOD!” I yelled, “What would they say if they saw me? I have scars and a second personality! They’d think I’d gone mad! I don’t want them to feel that! That’ll be awful! I-”

“OK! OK! Bad idea to leave them to their own devices, and I’m guessing calling them would be a bad idea due to disbelief.”

“Then what do we do?”

We pondered for a bit, unsure of what was the lesser of the two evils. Although… Was there a third option?

“What about Darius Jem?” I suggested, “What if we get Darius to explain, it’s a well-known fact that he’s unbearably honest.”

“That may be a good idea. But didn’t Elizabeth say not to call him?”

“She says lots of things, what if it’s just superstition?”

“I believe that you’re forgetting a lot of today. Most things that Elizabeth has said have either come true or are in our benefit. What if something bad happens if you call Darius?”

I shook my head, “I know Darius more than anyone. If there’s one thing he is other than honest, is that he’s loyal to the bone. And although his methods may be quite questionable, what he does is beneficial to all of us in the long run.” I took out my phone from my pocket, flinching slightly, “I could get him to talk to our families and find some place for us to stay while these changes happen.”

“Heck, he could even make us welcome to society if we fully transform- he could be our ambassador.”

“And… Nightmare Moon? Would the people, him included, manage to accept someone who is known by only a few as just a villain?”

“We’ll think about that later-”

“No you won’t!” she laughed angrily, “You always try to plan things ahead, but in the process you end up at the most dangerous of potentially avoidable circumstances! You don’t even know if Darius will believe you, and if he does, will he TRUST you?”

“He’s my friend!”

“But She isn’t. Just because he’s nice to you, it doesn’t guarantee that he’ll be so forgiving of her. He may not even recognise you through her. And then what? What will he think? Will he still be your friend?”

I stopped, and finally put the phone back into my pocket. “You did the right thing. From what Elizabeth said, that was probably what was going to happen. Let’s think things through with the rest of the guys and then we can move forward, without any other risks.”

“That seems to be the best way forward as of now. I think we all need our say on the matter,” said David from the other sofa, much to our surprise.

“How long were you awake?”

“Long enough to know that you know the Prime Minister personally,” he sat up on the sofa while holding his neck, “and that I’m not the only one having a tough time with what’s happening. But at least you haven’t been kidnapped.”

“Actually, we also have no idea why you’ve been brought here. For all we know you can go-”

“But you know that I won’t go now-”

He cracked a sinister smile and made a single quiet chuckle.

“Why don’t you want to go?”

“Just because I’m an actor, it doesn’t mean I’m not human-” he paused and looked down at his trousers, “for now. But in the meantime, I’m still curious about what’s happening. And it’s obvious that sticking around will help provide those answers.”

“Don’t get your hopes up… Mr Tennant, we can’t guarantee that you’ll get what you want,” I said in a warning tone. “We know what has happened, but all we know about the future is that we’re going to shift species.”

“Well at least I’ll be able to probably meet Mr Jem as a person for once. And not some kind of corporate joke or an actor on TV.”

“Again, don’t get your hopes up. Darius is usually on a tight schedule and even then, as we said before, it’s unlikely that he’ll trust us after-”

“Don’t worry, Patrick. Just because I was knocked out, it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t hear anything. I’m well aware of what’s going on and the risks of meeting him.”

“That would explain why you trust us a bit now- so you know that your family is safe, I presume?”

“Yes, and I am thankful that you are now not using that drug again on me. I can trust you two as long as she can promise that they are safe and will be safe without me there.”

I sighed, “We’ll make sure that Elizabeth keeps her word, OK David?”

“Yes, and I believe that you two have something for me?”

Hannah nodded and took out the small package from earlier, he took it slowly and began to unwrap it. “So Hannah, what do you think these are?”

“They’re just books, Elizabeth gave us them for our birthdays. Considering that you had your birthday a while ago, consider it a late birthday present.”

He shrugged with his mouth and unwrapped the books contained within the packaging. He did not read out the titles, nor did he show them to us. He kept himself reserved and small with his reactions. The most we got was a raised eyebrow. And unlike what we did last night, he actually started reading one of them.

“Why are you reading that now?” I asked.

“Better now than later. Simple as that,” he peered up at us, “I imagine that you have your own, do you?”

“Yes, would you suggest that we start reading them now?”

“I’m not forcing you. I’d just say if you have no information, your best hope is the information that was given to you on a silver platter.”

I shrugged, “Fair enough.” I said while standing up.

Hannah looked like she was about to stop me, “It’s fine, I’m just heading up to my room.”

I walked out of the sitting room with a leisurely pace, walking past the main stairs that only lead up to the first floor.

In the dining room, I found Elliott, thankfully with new bandages covering the side of his face, preventing any more scares. I left him to his own and he gave me a friendly nod.

I opened the door in the corner of the room, just next to the service window in the wall to make my way to the flight of stairs that would lead up to my room.

My room and the other connecting rooms were exactly as I had left them, organised, but with still an unmade bed and clothes thrown onto the ground… I had to blame this on either my laziness or someone getting me changed last night.

The blinds were closed, but it still allowed me enough light to determine where some of my stuff was, and it wasn’t very long before I stumbled across the small collection of books, the armor that Hannah had given me and the sheathed sword.

The books, of course, had had my curiosity since last night, due to their strange nature in subject. But since I had a rough idea now of what I would have to use them for, my attention was drawn to the armor and the sword.

I remembered a rough portion of my dream where the pony I was seeing from had the same sort of armor, but I never remember the sword.

And an even larger question was if that armor was the armor from my dreams, how did it get through to this world? Elizabeth never specified that for Dimensia to happen the components needed to be biological. Although in the analogy she used, the process was described with inanimate objects. If that was the case, wasn’t it that for the others to come through, didn’t we need Nightmare to awaken, or for something to have a host in the case of Nightmare? Then why was it that I was given this armor before Dimensia even happened.

It could have been a replica. I mean, Elizabeth was that desperate, she probably would have made a replica. But even still, why would I need it, even if I did become a pony? I wasn’t a king. Did it serve a purpose?

“Perhaps I should show you,” said Nightmare Moon, I attempted to avoid her. My body, without resistance, could not.

My hand lurched fourth in a manner of strange stamina and speed, she seemed to have warned me just there that she would seize control of a part of me, but I didn’t expect that she would have regained so much strength to take control after I was completely drained from our last encounter, but I guessed from the way that I was not simply an observer, she could only control a small part of me.

The rogue right hand grabbed the armor in front of me, more specifically, the crown.

Nothing much happened, only that my arm seemed to wave around, with the crown being grasped. Until-

“THERE!” Nightmare Moon yelled in my head, alerting me to a strange phenomenon.

It wasn’t immediate, only gradual, but still obvious what was happening.

Without heading or any other stimulant, the metal crown seemed to grow and morph in my hand, the black colouring faded to a light blue and the sharp spikes formed into long curves and intricate patterns.

I now realised that the crown had become Nightmare Moon’s headpiece.

I didn’t panic, nor had the same wonder that I had had when I had first seen her in the mirror. It was something just as crazy as the things that Elizabeth had explained, but judging by how she had reacted, I knew that she-

“Yes, I do know what it means-” she interrupted.

“And that is?”

“That this is the armor from my own dimension. I know it, since it is magically enchanted to shape to my form when I should touch it. My old host was… Persistent in his tastes, so I had to come up with a way of presenting us when one of us were to assume control.”

“Then how did it get here?”

“That is as much a mystery to you as it is to me. We do not know how far in time and space this Dimensia stretches.”

I guessed she was telling the truth at that moment, since she had no motive for all I know to lie to me about it. I turned my attention back to her specifically while I sat down upon the small unmade bed.

“Who was he?”

“I’m gathering from the tone of your voice that you are referring to my old host. I have already told you… He was an alicorn prince. I do not wish to go into further detail”

“Until one of us is strong or dumb enough to assume complete control, we’re stuck in a little hive mind- I’m going to find out more about him sooner or later. I promise I won’t tell anyone else about him.”

I repeated the line ‘I’m telling the truth’ over and over in my head- Nightmare Moon was not impressed.

“You are not convincing me that easily. But I will make you a promise- I will allow you glimpses of my past in your dreams. But at the same time, I would be using that time to build my own strength. It would be a waste of time in your part- but I will not try to assume control when you are dreaming for information in regards to him.

“Dream for any other reason, and I will not fulfil my end of the promise for those dreams. It’s a big risk for you- Is that a length you’d be prepared to go just to find out about one pony?”

I shrugged, hoping she would notice that, “I’m guessing that’s an agreement.”

I stared around, trying to think of things other than her just to take my mind off things, so I looked at the sword.

“Have you thought of a name?”

“A name? For what?”

“The sword, what else?”

“Would a name be necessary?”

“Only if it were needed, who knows, maybe you’d need it some time. Better to name it now than in the middle of a fight.”

“I don’t think I’ll need it-”

“Then if you don’t name it- I’ll name it! What about… The Rubber Sword? Or the Fairy Cake? I could get it engraved if you want-”

“No! I think I’ll name it, thank you!” I said, dreading having to walk around with a sword with ‘fairy cake’ written on it. That sort of stupidity in logic made me want to kill her.

I pondered for a moment, before taking the sword directly into my hand. I felt that drawing it may provide a flash of inspiration. Quickly unsheathing it- that was exactly what happened.

A sudden, non-physical burst happened in my mind, as if I had suddenly overcome a massive writer’s block, thousands of names coursed through my head, waiting to be chosen. I stared at the sword and only one name came to mind-

“Dragonbane.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I said: Dragonbane.”

Nightmare Moon stammered, as if I had just hit some kind of nerve. I took this sudden weakness as an opportunity for some questions- “Remind you of anything?”

She was silent, she was thinking. Which I had not heard until now, I could not hear her inner thoughts, but I knew there was something to it.

“That’s a stupid name for a sword. I’d pick a different one than that.”

“My mind is made, and the Sword is Dragonbane we had a bargain.”

Nightmare sighed, and then made a shrill laugh. “Oh, that flare! You remind me of myself when I was merely a filly.”
The obvious attempt to change the subject passed over my head, I did not reply, neither through voice nor thought, Nightmare Moon got the message. “You will get nothing from me. I am too strong.”

My hand slapped me roughly in the face. I had forgotten that she was still in control of it. And continued to slap me hard on the cheek until I thought it would draw blood. I never knew that I could receive so much damage from just my hand.

I seized it with my left hand, as it fidgeted and writhed. I used this moment as an opportunity.

“Give me my hand back and I will not ask about the Sword to you. Deal?”

The hand stopped for a moment, clenched its fingers into a fist and shook out of my grip. I stared at the limb for a moment before it accelerated and slammed into my face once.

“Deal.” Nightmare Moon said, making sure that she had her opportunity to give me one large hit.

I fell to the ground after that impact, but I did not pass out. Nightmare Moon must have found the right force to deal enough pain while minimising damage and preventing unconsciousness. Although I think she broke my nose with my own hand.

I went downstairs after that, holding the books and Dragonabne in both hands, while using one of my sleeves to hold back a possible nosebleed. I traced my steps back to the sitting room, where the two I had left were still sitting, but were now joined by Elizabeth, Josh and finally, Cordelia.

Elizabeth and Josh were pretty much how I had left them, with Elizabeth being quite sad, but keeping a fixed smile, Josh being twitchy and slightly angry.

Cordelia, on the other hand, had wildness to her eyes, fixed upon me with pupils as pinpricks; every action I took her eyes seemed to follow. I could not tell whether she was angry, upset or had gone completely insane from whatever Elizabeth had told her. Whatever it was, I felt that neither of us should cross her at that moment, for fear of what she would do to us, especially as we had a broken nose now.

“Glad to see you’re down now, were you getting those books?”

I nodded and placed the books and Dragonbane down while wiping my nose. I took the feeling of having no sudden torrent of blood to be a good thing.

I looked at the two lodgers in my house, who I guessed thought of me as some kind of alien being. They didn’t even notice the sword.

“So, what do you know?” I asked. Josh was the one to reply.

“Enough to know the Multiverse is a shit mechanic, you unintentionally caused this mess and I’m somehow not affected.”

I raised an eyebrow; this was news even to me.

The shock died down based on evidence that, I’m guessing, Nightmare made available.

-He was the one Elizabeth did not expect to come.
-His birthday did not coincide with ours.
-He did not say that he had a cutie mark either.
-He was not given any gifts or a plan for the day.

“Not everyone here was affected, as of now; Joshua Newport is the only true human in the room. We have no real use for him,” said Elizabeth, patting Joshua on the shoulder, who glared at her for a moment before she spoke again, “But due to his arrival yesterday, and his persistence to know about Cordelia, he knows everything we know, so we cannot afford to lose him.”

Josh blinked and sank his head into his hands, Elizabeth continued, “If we keep ourselves hidden, then Joshua will become our only connection to the human world until Hannah can master shapeshifting or we find another person willing to accept the transformation we will go through.”

David leant forward, “So when we are ‘complete’ we can’t go to the outside world?”

Elizabeth nodded, “We don’t know what the general public, let alone the Government would do if we went completely transformed. I believe the only reason to go out before some form of negotiation were to happen would be if a disaster occurred in the country, or by extension, the city.”

“So are we stuck in this house then?” asked David.

“Pretty much- Joshua will go out and get supplies, this house is very able to accommodate this number of people from what I can tell bedroom-wise. Plus we have enough games and movies to last us until roughly 2030. I doubt we’ll be bored.”

Cordelia squinted her eyes and glared at Elizabeth. She sat up tall and spoke with a hoarse voice. “That’s not all is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I doubt it’s just sitting around here that you have planned. You remember don’t you?” she glared at me with that last question. Only one thing was in my mind at that moment (excluding Nightmare Moon).

Night Fury.

“What about those phone calls?” she shouted.

“I’m guessing you’re referring to the phone calls I had planned for you all to take, and the code words that you were supposed to use. That, with the other information that you provided, I ‘all’.”

Cordelia stood up. “That’s just the thing, if we were meant to remain here completely under wraps as you said, what are we doing by taking a phone call and blurting a code word to someone that most likely we don’t know? You’re saying that we should remove all contact with the outside world, bar Josh, but what makes this phone call so special?”

Elizabeth smiled as a bead of sweat dropped down the side of her forehead, “I can’t exactly explain it in a manner that you’ll like.”

“Then do it anyway! Our lives aren’t exactly picking up on the funometer. Who are we taking the call from, and why do we need codewords?”

An awkward silence loomed over the room, since no-one knew exactly what to say in response to either of them. But the silence was broken by a sound that at this moment, no-one wanted to hear.

A ringtone.

More specifically, Cordelia’s ringtone.

She reached into her pocket and took out the device and scowled at it.

“I bet you want me to answer it don’t you?”

“Yes, I do…”

“What if I don’t?”

Elizabeth shrugged, “I cannot control free will. If you don’t answer then I don’t know what you’ll do. It’s as simple as yes or no… I have not told you who is on the phone or why they are phoning you. All I want you to do is to answer it.”

Cordelia stared at her, and then at the still-ringing phone. And then she looked at me.

I did not know how I could express to her without moving my mouth, I was in a similar mind-set as her at this point, and Elizabeth had told us nothing about this call other than what we needed to say. But I knew that what Elizabeth had done so far had been for our benefit, no matter what the cost.

If Elizabeth thought that this was the way to go, the likely possibility was that in total, picking up the phone for these calls would be for the greater good.

I nodded to Cordelia and, thankfully, she got the idea.

The anger washed out of her, to be replaced with fear and uncertainty. The button was pressed on the touchscreen, and the phone was placed to her ear.

Elizabeth turned to me out of the corner of my eye. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Cordelia stood, eversoslightly awkwardly, in the center of the room. With her phone pressed to her ear we all watched intently and in silence. No-one, not even her made a sound.

She broke the silence sharply with a phrase familiar to most of the people there.

“White Siren,” she said with a cold, almost robotic, tone. And a few moments after that, she hung up.

Josh immediately jumped to attention. “Who was it? Why were they calling?”

Cordelia blinked a few times, as if even she was unsure what had just happened. “I don’t know… They didn’t say… It seemed to be some sort of sales call.”

“Why did you say White Siren?” asked David.

“They asked if I had a Bargain code and, based on what Elizabeth said last night, it just blurted out. After that… They accepted the code with saying,” she squinted her eyes, “‘Golden Hope located,’ and then they hung up.”

“Golden Hope eh? Interesting,” muttered Nightmare. The name was familiar to me in some way, maybe one of the Ponies in my dreams, but I had to know more.

“Golden Hope? Does that mean anything?” I asked.

Cordelia did not respond, so only stared at me once more. The same level of fear and anger that she had had earlier. But now, she wanted to talk.

“You would know wouldn’t you?” she spat, “either from Nightmare Moon or the rest of that stupid pony knowledge?”

“Cordelia, I didn’t mean any of this-” she wasn’t going to listen.

“I don’t care! For all the interdimensional bullshit that could have ended up here, why the fuck did it have to be freaking Ponies? It’s all about you isn’t it!”

“Cordelia, stop!” Elizabeth shouted in an assertive manner.

“It had to be that! It had to be that you were the ‘chosen one’ and it was ponies that fucking-”

I snapped, “ENOUGH!”

The sheer force of my voice was enough to bring the room to silence. Even the ambient noise of pipes and heating seemed to have been dulled. Cordelia was all the more taken back. “I never intended this. I don’t even want this. I know that logically speaking from what you may have seen recently, I may be the one to blame.”

I rested the sword on the tip of the scabbard, still holding the grip firmly in my hand, while the other hand pointed to my eye. “I know that I have already gone through some things, but I am still the same person… More or less.”

“But you said it yourself, you’re Nightmare Moon.”

“I didn’t say that. Nightmare Moon did, she’s a different side of me. My body is the toolbox, she’s the hammer and I’m still a spanner. We exist together, one of us may be dominant, but we are still separate beings.”

Cordelia blinked twice, “What do you mean by hammers and spanners.”

Elizabeth interrupted, “He’s talking about the Universal Slingshot effect, or Dimensia. I just used a different analogy to describe it to you two. It’s essentially the same principle.”

Cordelia turned to me with a moment of silence. Inspecting. Learning and Understanding everything about me.

“So… she’s the Apple in the Orange bowl?”

I tipped my head. “You could say that. But now since there’s so much fruit ending up in the same bowl, some of us have become a little ‘pear-shaped’,” I smirked, smug that I could still make a pun in this situation.

Most of the people in the room groaned loudly, including Nightmare Moon. Cordelia flashed a small smile before the sides of her mouth dropped once more. “You’re still you still aren’t you?”

“Absolutely, I’m still me.”

At least… I hoped I was.

Cordelia sat down once more and put her phone into her pocket.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“It’s fine. I’m not mad.”

“And yet you have brought a sword into the sitting room,” said Josh, now holding the glares at me. I directed my attention to him and Dragonbane.

“I was interested in it. Not even Nightmare Moon knows about it… I just thought that there might be something unique about it.”

“Maybe it’s just a sword and you’re being a psychopath. I don’t think those swords are even legal in this country… Or safe,” he pointed quickly to his bandaged hand.

“It might be a regular sword, but why would Elizabeth give it to me then?” I turned to the aforementioned woman, “Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth smiled, “I don’t know either. I found it the same way I found you, just by pure luck. I gave it to you because I know you like swords compared to guns.”

“So… What you’re saying is that out of all the gifts that YOU gave us, only Dragonbane is an actual Birthday present?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what it is.”

I heard a sharp laugh from Josh, “Sorry- what did you say Patrick?”

“I called it Dragonbane… What about it?”

He held his head in his hands and leant back, “You’ve had that weapon for less than a day and you’ve ALREADY named it?”

Hannah joined in, “Yeah, that is a little weird, even compared to what’s been going on.”

“Hey hey!” David said, finally getting something out of himself, “Don’t berate him for that, I imagine that lots of people name their… Swords.”

Hannah responded appropriately, “Well you’ll find that a lot of those people are just-”

We were interrupted again, preventing her from finishing the quote, this time by David’s phone ringing.

“Is this going to happen a lot?” I asked.

Elizabeth stood up, “It’s going to continue until all of us, except Josh, have received a call and given their codeword. I’d suggest we go to different parts of the house so we can all take our calls in peace and,” She eyed that I had the books. “Catch up on our studies.”

David picked up the phone, giving us a chance to leave the room one at a time. Still cautiously, but with less tension between us.

Everything was mostly calm.

I sat down on a chair next to the dining room table, with Elliott sat on the seat opposite to me. He seemed restless, but not in a state of panic or intense pain as I had feared.

He did not respond to my sitting down. I took out my own phone from my pocket, thankful that it was only sixty-seven percent after leaving it on for a while. No e-mails, ten missed calls, all from family and Darius.

I placed the phone down, lest I felt tempted to call any of them.

All I had to do was wait for my own phone call.

“You do remember what you have to say don’t you?”

“I do remember Nightmare Moon. I’ve been having it going around my head all day.”

“Good. I wouldn’t like it for us to be the only ones who get it wrong.”

“Could you shut up?”

“Make me.”

“Good point.”

The phone sat idly, creating internal tension about when and if it would even ring. I knew full well it would. It was just a matter of waiting for it.

And waiting.

And waiting.

I felt that every second seemed to pass even slower as time moved forwards. Waiting became paradoxical syrup. Leaving me in silence, with only my breath and our thought to satisfy me.

Elliott shifted and stretched every now and then. But that was the only thing I would get out of him without deliberately waking him. But I felt that having another person to explain everything to would make things even more confusing and arduous.

But at last, Hallelujah. A response.

The gentle buzzing and the sharp tones alerted me to the inevitable.

I could not wait a moment longer. I seized the phone immediately and answered it.

“Hello?”

An automated voice answered.

“Hi! I’m Trevor from Dominoes UK. I’m just letting you know about the special deals of this week-”

Normally, I would have hung up rudely by now, but I had to keep listening.

“For a limited time only you can receive the Spring Fiesta deal for only £15.99 or the Half and Half meal deal only for £10.99. If you are interested in one of our deals, please enter your coupon code now!”

“I believe that’s your cue.”

I remembered that I had to do the code first, so I spoke the code clearly and softly. “4-849514996.”

Classically, the voice didn’t pick up on it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that.”

I spoke once more. This time trying to pronounce it as clearly as possible. “4.8.4.9.5.1.4.9.9.6.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Thank you, putting you through to an operator-”

A harsh shriek was emitted from my phone, at a sound that only increased with pitch. Elliott snapped awake and covered his uncovered ear.

“What the hell’s that?” he choked, unsure of what was happening. As was I.

The phone’s sound increased more and more. To the point it became difficult to hear due to its pitch, and then went even further to the point that it couldn’t even be heard at all.

This seemed to continue even more, until a voice spoke loudly on the phone.

“Are you still there, Sir?” it said.

I placed the phone against my ear once more and spoke harshly, “What was that?”

“I’m sorry; if I had warned you then the integrity of this entire operation would have been compromised. It was crucial that this went as smoothly as possible to avoid suspicion.”

I frowned when thinking through the logic of what he just said. “If you wanted to be secure, why are we talking normally now?”

“Due to the frequency of the sound generated by your phone’s speakers, it will distort and eliminate the signal emitted from your phone when a call is made. To everyone except yourself and the person you are calling, your phone now doesn’t exist.”

I thought of some nutjob thinking about ‘governments tapping into my phone’ but I felt that in the condition that I was in, and was going to be in, it would be best if the authorities didn’t know where I was and who I was trying to contact. But the unanswered question was why this person would do this for me.

“Who are you? And why do I need a secure phone network.”

“I’m afraid that information is classified at your security level. In order for you to gain the information, your security clearance must exceed that of level 1. Your current security clearance level is 3,” he said, with an almost monotonous reading tone to his voice.

I had only picked up the phone, and already I had a high level security clearance for something I didn’t know about.

“How did I get such high level clearance?”

The line went dead, and no sound was heard. “Goddamnit!” I shouted, rubbing my ear a few times after the sound still left a ringing sensation in there.

“I believe that this may go further than we had both anticipated. A security clearance of any kind usually means that you yourself are classified information.”

“But context means everything, Nightmare. 3 out of what? If it was out of three then I would have the lowest security for whatever that was. If it was out of one million, then I would have a problem.”

“That ‘Darius’ could have been responsible. After all, he has access to all NATO and Anti-Spy Software. It would only be logical that he would keep you under wraps in both information and technology.”

I thought for a moment… It made some sense.

Darius had known me for all my life, he knew me since I was a child and I had become very strong friends with him.

But his anti-terrorist campaign and secularism of the United Kingdom had left him with one or two strong enemies that wanted his head. If they found out about me, then they would use me to get to him. So he would put me under deep security.

But that didn’t explain Elizabeth, or the fact that she herself didn’t want me to contact him. And that she was the one who warned me about the phone call itself.

Maybe it had something to do with Dimensia. Elizabeth knew about it… Could anyone else have known? If so, Darius would have. Tap ins on my phone would be through the roof, people would be trying to make attempts on my life. And the lives of my friends, shown by those men who attacked Hannah.

Darius could have orchestrated this entire operation and I wouldn’t know about it.

He would know that I would think he couldn’t be trusted at this point just so I don’t call him before he set up the anti-tracking frequency. His forces, spearheaded by Elizabeth, would keep me, and others affected by Dimensia, safe.

It made perfect sense. That man was more secretive than James Bond holding a surprise birthday party for a NSA agent.

But how would I know if that was true?

What if it wasn’t the case?

What if Darius was the problem?

I wouldn’t know for sure for now… But that was still the possibility.

I knew Darius, but I didn’t know his inner workings. If he knew about Dimensia I wouldn’t know if he would shun it or start research into exploiting it.

I didn’t know whether he would accept me or declare me as not being myself.

It was all too confusing. I felt that answers would be coming soon, but again I questioned… Would these answers be enough?

A lulled state of half-awareness and thinking was drawn to a close through the sound of one of the clocks in the room.

I had not noticed the time until now, nor the darkness of outside.

But it was midnight.

Elliott was still resting and Nightmare was still restless. I could only assume from the silence around the rest of the house that I was the only one still awake… The others must have found a bed.

Surprisingly, I did not feel tired.

“And you won’t. Since you’re currently host to the Queen of the night.”

Unsurprisingly, then.

I whispered quietly, to avoid waking Elliott. “I’m guessing that I won’t be getting any sleep any time soon.”

“Far from it. You’d be surprised. Due to us being two different beings, and thus having different sleep cycles. I am preventing you from becoming tired tonight by allowing you to tap into some of my own energy.”

“Why’s that?”

“You’re my host; I can’t hate you for that. And for now I might allow you to be privileged by my presence. I’d like it if your last moments of consciousness were of my kindness.

“Plus… I am as curious as yourself to the contents of the next call, and by extension your future. I would not like you to miss this call by ‘sleeping on the job’.”

As if on cue, the phone began ringing again. This time, the sound of the ringtone sounded much harsher, clearer cut and deadly. I felt afraid to even touch the device. But I had made up my mind ages ago, and I was not backing down now.

“Hello?”

“Please state your identification code,” a voice said sharply on the other line.

“I’m sorry?”

“Please state your identification code,” it said, allowing me to notice the distinct male voice.

I replied clearly and carefully. “Night Fury.”

It felt that something had been lifted from my shoulders upon saying those two words.

There was a pause again, like the previous call. But this time I was not greeted by a harsh beeping, but instead, the voice spoke once more.

“You have been cleared for Security Level 0. Allow me to greet you, Patrick Taylor.”

The mention of my own name made me breathe deeply, as well as the zero on the title of the security level. It became clearer now how important I was to them. It felt that I was now about to receive some form of answers.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“I do not believe that you are familiar with our organisation. We are the TRIGON. A group specialised in tracking down and utilising the properties of Ultra-Terrestrial Life forms, such as yourself. We have become aware of your presence in this plain of reality, and will try our best to assist you in whatever means necessary.”

“My friends have all been given calls by you, haven’t they?” I asked, piecing together evidence from earlier.

“Yes, they have been given security level 4 clearance, far below what you have now. For now, you are the most important asset to the organisation. And we cannot afford for you to fall into the wrong hands.”

“I am disturbed in how you refer to me as some kind of inanimate object in that sentence.”

“Then I apologise for my phrasing. To put it bluntly, you are in far more danger than any of the others that have received calls from us. And you will need to act fast.”

Terror crept into my mind.

“Why? Why am I in danger?”

“Because you are the only thing that can stop this madness.”

“What madness? What are you talking about?”

There was a pause, and a rumbling sound on the other side of the call, which increasingly got louder the longer the pause was. A man started yelling in the background inaudibly.

“I’m sorry, I have to go. I will explain once you have completed the transformation. But for now, I want you to do something.”

“Yes… What is it?” I said, a tad annoyed that I could not receive my answer yet again.

“Do not trust Darius Jem.”

And then silence.

Left in silence with the name ringing in my head.

The name now left me in a state of fear that I had never experienced before.

When Elizabeth had said it the other day, it did not have as much impact. But now, with a whole secret organisation telling me that I can’t trust him, there was a whole lot more on my shoulders when that phrase was announced.

He was the problem, it seemed.

But why?

Why was he the problem?

I had no idea, and I felt I would have no idea at this time of Night. And the more I thought about it, the more tired I became. I decided to head up to bed.

I heard a rustling and creaking as I turned off the lights and made my way upstairs, allowing me to take note of the dark surroundings around me. And the gentle moonlight that slid through the window.

It was the dawn of the second day, and the moon held her ground magnificently. But I knew I did not have Nightmare Moon to thank for it-

“Yet.”

I could not dawdle, I had had a long Night and I did not want any more distractions from my own bed.

But fate was not going to be kind on this day, and especially not to me.

I took a majority of my outer clothes off, leaving me in just underwear and a Sherlock-themed shirt. And my clothes that I had taken off I placed, folded, back into a cupboard with drawers.

“Patrick, I believe that there’s something outside.”

I closed one of the open drawers quickly and knelt down instinctively… But I seemed to be too late; I heard a small knocking above my head.

He had seen me, and I knew that keeping hidden like this would only raise unwanted questions, with questions that I probably didn’t know the answer to. It was inevitable that I would have to stand up sooner or later, so I did so and saw him staring back in.

He was right there, knocking on the window, trying to get in. He had a welcoming smile and a small, wrapped gift in one hand and a ragged raincoat draped over his standard attire.

He had press meetings today, arrangements and loyalties; I guess that a midnight visit was the only thing that could fit into his quota.

His was a face of joy and excitement. Mine was cut and torn.

He was here, and could see me through my window. He could see the scar of Dimensia and the sword Dragonbane.

Darius Jem could see us.

Chapter X: The Dream

Author's Note

This was written after the first chapter, very early on. So excuse the weirdness and the mary-sueness of some of the characters.

-Zeydaan

Chapter X: The Dream

Falling... Endless falling...

My wings didn’t work in this state, no-matter how much I tried to flap them, I would not stop myself from falling. There were no true signs of my falling, just the rushing wind in my mane and fur. I visualised winds rushing by my head, and the winds were soon heard.

A short thump on the ground followed by a short feeling of pain... I knew that the dreamstate I was in could not completely create physical pain at this time. But I knew I was too deep into this to pull out at this moment. Nightmare Moon was coming. Somehow, the meaning of my past would be revealed in her... No matter how fucking terrifying she is.

As I stood up and walked around, something eerie shook me this time... My senses weren’t working.

Normally now, I could easily tell of my surroundings using all three of my Earth, Pegasus and Unicorn senses. I could navigate a maze with my eyes closed! Now, in this zone, I couldn’t feel anything, leaving me uncertain and worried.

Thinking about labyrinths too much must have caused something, since now I was surrounded by dark walls of a giant labyrinth.

It was near-impossible to see most of the things in this dreamstate. So I tried a quick test.

I dug my hooves down into the ground, and tried to focus my energy up to my horn. Focusing on my power, trying to control my heart rate, focusing on billions of things at once and trying to think of the most bright things I could think of...

After a few minutes, I gave up hope on using magic in this dream... Even yelling out “Temporal Control!” In an attempt to see if my Temporal energies had come into play like Chrysalis once said. But it seemed that even in my dreams my magic couldn’t work yet.

Something then hit me, dead in the face...

How do I KNOW I’m dreaming?

Before I could find answers, something startled me. It wasn’t a sound or a sense, it was just a presence... I looked around for it, but I knew something was here... Something that shouldn’t normally be here. I ran for it, only to grind to a halt. I looked for the nearest wall for clarity.

A large crack formed, hurting my ears. I felt my heart beginning to race as I saw a wall behind me begin to crumble, and a large amount of dark smoke begin to surround my legs. The wall had been breaking in my previous dreams, and now it was on the brink of total collapse.

I began to walk back, trying to get away from the wall, but the fog was weighing me down. Whatever was on the other side of the mental wall, it was strong... And incredibly angry, due to the fact that it seemed to be using its own body to smash down that wall. With every hit, more rubble came down onto the ground, and more of this fog poured out and kept me locked onto the ground. I tried to move, but the more I tried to pull my hooves up, the more the fog forced me down to the ground.

With one final pull, my hooves were free and the wall came tumbling down. Darkness lay beyond the wall, and a ton of fog poured out. My ears flopped down as I looked up to the dark figure that emerged from the darkness. Two glaring blue eyes opened, and some of the fog colourised and turned to a familiar blue colour.

It was the body I had seen too often in the mirror to become one of my worst fears. I was looking at Nightmare Moon once again.

The ghostly figure emerged from the wall, snaked its spiritual head down and hissed its serpent-like tongue at me, before saying in a cruel twisting of my own voice; “You’re MINE!”

She launched herself at me. As she got close, I felt something terrifying in my own hooves, the same feeling that I had many times throughout my transformation. I wouldn’t let her take control of me again!

I started to run, trying to get away from the horrible creature. I got a head start with a quick burst, as the feeling in my hooves died down, but turning back; I realised that the creature was still chasing me quickly.

I picked up the pace, running with all my might and trying to flap my wings to give myself a speed boost.

I navigated the maze while having panicking breaths and a racing heart, Nightmare Moon followed behind closely.

Every turn and straight drew her closer and drew less energy from me. I didn’t care about the maze or anything else, I just wanted to escape Nightmare Moon!

But the universe seemed to hate me tonight, as the maze reached a dead end. A quick stop in surprise caused me to lose my balance, and fall to the ground...

I rose my head up, to see the ominous figure of Nightmare Moon filling the entire area of the maze behind me. I looked up to see her face emerge again from the smoke.

I had to defeat her, or drive her back so I could see her past, but it was no use.

I had let my mental guard down... Just as Elizabeth said... And now I’m going to have my mind taken away from me. I looked around, as some figures appeared around me.

Each one taunted me, first the familiar well-dressed figure of Darius Jem.

“You’re weak... You can’t even perform magic.”

A twisted form of Chrysalis appeared shortly.

“You even risked the lives of the ones you loved since you couldn’t even use your powers to kill that man...”

The pony of Cordelia.

“You’re in the body of someone you will NEVER BE... You make me ashamed you even have his cutie mark!”

I sank down onto the ground, as taunts and tortures were thrown at me, as my body felt heavier and more painful.

“Hypocrite!” “Faker!” “Wimp!” “Weakling!” “You don’t know true power!”

I broke down sobbing, and I held my head in my hooves while Nightmare Moon laughed mechanically. I felt her presence nearby as her voice gently greeted me.

“Don’t listen to them... Patrick... You do not deserve this...”

My face was stained with tears and Nightmare Moon held me with her magical mane... I was tired and painful, I don’t care any more... Those people were right...

I had all this power... And I didn’t have the force to give myself to use it... If I stopped Darius... If I stopped this entire thing from fucking happening. But Darius was too smart. And I was too weak. I am simply in the body of this strange pony... I am not the pony either.

I am a faker, I am nothing... I could disappear and no-one would know!

Nightmare Moon’s mane felt warm against my face, as now the feeling of the changes felt more comforting. I felt the warmth over every part of my body, and looked up to see Nightmare Moon even closer than before. My energy was draining, as I was rightly fading away.

“Close your eyes... Let the water flow to me. Forever...”

Cordelia's Story

Chrysalis and I watched in horror at the sight, since he was exposed to her pheromones, he had been twitching and softly whimpering.
Since his outburst, I had worried about this moment. This is the moment of truth, if we were able to find out any more about this, we would have to risk him falling to Nightmare Moon again.

“How long has he been out, Doctor?” I asked, having him check the time.

“30 minutes, he should have contact with Nightmare by now.”

I saw a quick jolt in Chronos' body as he whimpered in pain.

“Are you sure this is the best method?” I asked, leaning down and nuzzling his fur.

Elizabeth stood up from the sofa of the Thinking room, and walked forward after Josh threw her a cold beer. Josh then took her place on the white sofa.

“The dream sequence will allow him to dive into the deepest part of his psyche. When Nightmare finds him, he will have a brief moment where he can look into Nightmare's memories that's where he'll see... Oh shit.” She stopped, staring at Chronos with horrified eyes.

Everypony turned around and stared at Chronos. Leaving me to have a similar response to what I was seeing.

Chronos' eyes were glowing.

“Chrysalis! Put a shield up around him, and keep using your pheromones!” the Doctor ordered, so Elizabeth and Chrysalis surrounded Chronos with a olive-green shield.

There was a slight whimper from Elizabeth as she walked around nervously, shaking her head as she put one hoof up to the air.

“Stupid! I should have remembered, Chronos' got NO mental training, we've essentially put him right where Nightmare Moon wants him!”

I, panicking, ran up to the cream-coloured pony.

“Is there any other way we could help?” I yelled, showing some deliberate consideration in my voice, only to have Josh roll his eyes slightly.

“I don’t know!” Elizabeth continued, “a dreamwalker guide for his subconscious would help him both drive off Nightmare Moon and help him through his memories, but even with your powers, we couldn’t get in far enough to get him out in this time, we’d need...”

“I don’t care what we need, we have to save him! Dreanwalking's the only thing we've got, and none of us are skilled enough to help him” I felt myself tearing up as I said this, as I grew more concerned for him

She stopped dead, as we looked at each-other square in the eyes. It took me a moment, but I saw that look in her eyes.

“Wait. A. Moment,” she scowled, thinking harshly, and then jumping up with realisation. She trotted around thinking as Chronos had another twitch. “Dreamwalking professional! That's it!”

“Yes, what are you thinking?”

“This Five Score incantation is much more diverse than we know, there's no real reason why what I have theorised hasn't come true. Back in Darius' headquarters, they had files on all of us... But as well, they had files going to several places across the world, other ponies!”

It took me a moment, staring at Chronos to get where she was going.

“You mean, all his friends in America?”

“Yes... There was a file for Princess Luna.”

“Chronos mentioned an old pen friend was going pony- does this mean, he was telling the truth?”

“Yes.”

“That means... He’s turned into the REAL Princess Luna!”

“Yes!” Elizabeth replied, with a strong nod.

“We can get her to enter into his dreamscape and be his guide!”

Elizabeths smile receded, as something seemed to hit her, HARD.

“But there are three problems though... One: This version of Nightmare Moon is obviously a LOT stronger than the one we know from the show. Two: we don't know which Pen friend he could be talking about, and we can't read his mind since he's unconscious, and Three: even if we did know who it was, how could we get them here? We don't know how quickly he/she could get here in dream state, we don't know if they'll be available right now and any communication we make to the outside world could put us all in mortal danger from the hands of Mr Immortal!”

“We can take that risk!” I blurted out, “we can move if Darius finds us and as soon as we can find this Luna, you could open a tear to get them here immediately!”

“I cannot open a tear strong enough to let him, or her, through yet. Trying to open one with my new horn, i’d risk destroying the shield. And getting someone from America is hard in itself! And I’d need to know her precise location to let her through! Knowing an identity wouldn't be enough! It's like trying to pinpoint a needle in a haystack from thousands of miles away.”

I paused for a second, hearing Chronos' inner voice and mental screams. I turned away and cringed at the blood-curdling cries emitted from his scar, and the dark forces around it. Then I came to another realisation.

“We don't need to know where Luna is. We only need some way of getting her here!” I remarked strongly, before turning to Chrysalis. “Hannah, Elizabeth! Put down the shield and try to channel some of the dark energies into my head!”

Chrysalis turned to me, but still kept her focus on maintaining the shield.

“This shield is stopping those dark forces taking YOU over. Why would you-”

“Just DO IT!” I yelled, willing now to take the risk.

“What are you doing, Cordie?” Elizabeth mumbled loudly, obviously confused and angry.

“I’ve seen how she would get inside a dream! A large force is emitted from the body and put into the atmosphere... If I can broadcast HIS psychic energy, then it might be strong enough to get to HER quickly! Both bait and the fishing line, we can force her mentally to come here!”

Chrysalis shrugged, and with a quick worried chirp, disabled the bubble and started to pull on a force around him.

A large black smoke started to pour out of his head and move into mine, darkening the room around us until the only light was the glow from Chrysalis’ horn and aura. The smoke moved steadily and slowly, but when it hit my head, it rushed straight into my mind like rapid-flowing water!

A dense crushing sensation filled my head, showing me memories of my past-self again, but showing darker things too. I felt the dark forces trying to take control of me, like before, but I wasn't having any of it... Not today.

I managed to ignore the images long enough to move this energy into certain areas of my brain, and prepared to launch a psychic blast.

I tensed my muscles, as my past-self had taught me. I readied my wings and lowered my head, but the energy wasn’t having any of that. A sharp pain filled my body, making me lose focus and cringe in pain.

I couldn’t take it much longer, as I began to yell out in pain too. Elizabeth tried to come near me, but a force seemed to repel her. My head hurt so much! It was like someone had just smashed out my brain with a piece of lemon-

Wrapped around a large gold brick.

I once again looked at Chronos, whose mane became more and more ethereal by the moment.

A tear fell down my cheek, as I picked up what was left of my strength, readied my stance, channeled my energies. And with a harsh yell, I released the energy with a large, air-shattering pulse. Sending me and everypony else flying off and hitting a wall, there was a sharp pain; but not as strong as the one before, and then a moment of silence followed.

Elizabeth used her magic to clear out some dust in the air that had appeared before I saw the others begin to stand up.

“Did it work?” Elizabeth asked, expecting me to sense something, whilst having a small coughing fit.

I turned and stared at Chronos, and seeing no physical changes or reactions. Just the gradual changes of length on his mane. I was getting hot and sweaty, and nerves were kicking in.

“Come on. Come on. COME ON!”

A mental flash, so minute it could be so easily missed and travelling at such a speed it was hardly distinguishable. But it came from somewhere indirect, and lead to a definite source.

“She’s here!” I remarked.

Chronos' Story

“Get away from him!” A voice yelled, followed by a bright light.

I looked up, to see that light glaring in front of me. My eyes focused, as my body returned to normal. I saw a hard light shield separating me from Nightmare Moon. And the caster;

Princess Luna.

It was a strange and marvelous sight, Nightmare Moon continued to ram into the shield in an attempt to break it, hissing and growling as Luna kept her stance strong.

“Stay back Nightmare! You are but a mere illusion!” She took out a sword of magic, and began to slash at Nightmare Moon, causing her to begin to dissipate.

Nightmare growled at the addition to my mental state, "You? IT CAN'T BE YOU!" she said with a venom and anger.

Luna darted towards Nightmare Moon, only to be held in a vice-like grip as her energies were quickly drained by the dark force.

"How?" she spluttered, perhaps at the surprise in how realistic Nightmare seemed to be. She was struggling, so I jumped with my might and slammed into the mass of the Nightmare energies. This gave Luna a chance to regain a magical grip on her sword and wail away at her.

“You will not claim me or him, whoever you are! You will go back to the solemn grave you came from!” Another slash with a fierce battle cry.

“And Never,” Another slash, “Come,” Once more “BACK!”

And with the final blast, the image of Nightmare Moon turned into a cloud of the black smoke and disappeared into thin air.

It was strange and incredible, as the smoke began to rise, as did the darkness of the dream. Until the walls and atmosphere around me turned into comforting shades of white and grey. But the thing that interested me was Luna herself, as when I stood up, I noticed a few scars and wounds on her body.

“Hello?” I said as Luna turned to face me, with some more scars on her face, and a darn intimidating look in her eyes. “Are you... Another mental projection of myself?”

Luna trotted up to me, and tilted her head slightly. “No. Genuine article here!” She said, nodding slowly. So the truth then began to hit me.

“You’re dreamwalking?” I whispered in a frightened way, and keeping my gaze fixed on Luna. I found it a bit odd, and a bit of an invasion of privacy... But perhaps this is what Darius was talking about. “Why are you here?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “It was a bit difficult to miss, a large amount of dark energy pinpointing to you. Plus the addition of...” A shudder overcame her quickly “Nightmare Moon. And from what I could tell, a Nightmare Moon who is no illusion. I have some questions for you.”

I had some questions too, but we both took a deep breath and said near simultaneously-

“Who the FUCK are you? Wait, what?”

Luna started the discussion: “No, usually these dream states I have had have been with ponies I recognised. Those ponies would spark subconscious memories to appear, but for you...” She paused and stared at my cutie mark. “Absolutely nothing.”

“I know who you are mostly... But I could say the same for you.”

“Why do you have Nightmare moon in your head?”

“Why do you have scars?”

“Who are you?”

“Why can I not, for the life of me, use my magic AT ALL?” I shuddered in anger, as I felt a wave of Nightmare Moon’s power wash over me. I stood up again to the wide eyed expression of Luna.

“I’m... Sorry.” I murmured, lowering my head in shame.

“Should we start again? I’ve had a rough day.” She replied in a similar tone, also lowering her head. “I guess, that you weren’t like this six days ago?”

I jumped back in surprise, “Yes, you too?”

Luna nodded, but continued. “A lot of people I met also have been having this change, from humans into ponies... All with one thing in common.”

“May 1st... Cutie marks, gradual changes and then... Mental changes.”

“Yep, name changes and memories were first until I realised the truth about it all.”

“I’ve been holding off most of the mental changes... Who are, or were you?”

“You don’t know anything... Do you?” She replied, putting a hoof to her head, obviously touching a scar. “Ow,” but smiled slightly. “I was, or still am, a human named John.”

“JOHN? As in We Are The Meta?” I shouted, widening my eyes. As did he, or she.

“I suppose we’ve met online? And you are?”

“Patrick... I called myself Chronos Skein, or Lord Chronos.”

“Ah yes, I see some resemblance. And your pony name?”“Coincidentally... Chronos...”

John (or Luna) giggled as he (or she) started to walk forward, signalling me to follow. While also having a good stare at the red emblem for my cutie mark with a smug grin.

“Now I can see the resemblance in the cutie mark. The whole Alicorn thing is a little difficult to take seriously, I find your design a tad unoriginal. Give you credit for not going black and red, but points off for the Changeling Chitin and red eyes.”

I glared at her for making such a remark. “How I look is of no importance, it is my body, fair and square, my body and potential are just that... I am myself, and I am both Patrick and Chronos.”

She stopped for a moment, taking in that information, before continuing to walk. “Oh... Well I can tell you’ve taken these changes well Patrick-”

“Chronos now, I kinda prefer the name.”

“Ok, you mentioned a trouble with magic... And repressing mental changes?”

I stopped and sighed, and pointed at my horn.

“Even my friends, who turned into a pony named Elizabeth, and... Queen Chrysalis were having trouble with their horns... But they still managed to achieve magic in some forms...” Luna was baffled at this point from me mentioning Chrysalis.

“But I know there’s Chrysalis already, I wasn’t aware of any others existing!”

“The mystery thickens then... But... I literally cannot use any magic.”

Luna was still looking from side to side to piece together some of the things that I had just said. But I could tell she was having some trouble trying to work things out just from what I had given her.

“Do you mind if I... Scan your magical background forces?” She asked, stopping and approaching me.

“Is it possible to do that here?”

Luna nodded, so I sat down as her horn began to glow. It was odd, to have her doing this to me, let alone the fact I would be squeeing and bouncing around a few days ago if I ever met Luna. But I guess the novelty of ponies in real life kinda wore off after I had completed my transformation.

She resonated curiosity, and anxiousness as she scanned me. But at the same time, one of my senses kicked in.

I opened my eyes, to see Luna struggling and sweating, obviously having trouble with her magic scanning. I could feel the magic like before, but this time I was beginning to sense something else now. A strange force surrounding her... It wasn’t visible to me, but it FELT blue... Just feeling, and nothing else.

Luna finally released me, and jumped back slightly with a small gasp, and some sweat.

“What did you see?” I asked.

“You’re...” She started, before having to take a few breaths. Obviously something happened earlier must have taken most of her strength. She must have been REALLY curious to want to look into this stuff. “Incredible...”

“Thanks? I guess...”

“Your magical forces are complicated and... Broken.”

“Meaning?”

“Your mind is shadowed by something dark. And something deep inside you.” She walked up slowly and touched me on my head with her hoof. “Something must have happened with your past...”

She turned away with a look of anger and sighed heavily. “Now I see why you needed me here urgently. You have problems...”

I scoffed, rather taken back by this.

“John, or Luna! I don’t understand what you mean.”

Luna turned back to me, with some reddening of the eyes.

“Not only do you have Nightmare Moon in your head, your magical background is similar... No, EXACTLY THE SAME as mine.”

I jumped back.

“What?”

“Don’t act so surprised, something is going on and you need to tell me about this-”

“I DON’T KNOW! I tried to find out about all of this, but whenever I do, I am blocked off by Nightmare Moon or even the fucking prime minister!”

We both stood our ground with angry glares at one another, before Luna sighed.

“Then, I guess it’s time for a little walk... To find out the truth for the both of us...”

She instructed me to follow again, and we began to walk down a slightly more narrow part of the labyrinth. At first, it seemed like Luna was leading me. But as we walked on in silence, I began to lead with a strange sense of where I was supposed to be going.

Even though she used to be someone I knew, I didn’t completely trust Luna at the moment. Heck, with the information that she’d just given me; I didn’t know what to think any more...

But if she could make any sense of this stupidity, I would have to trust her.

Eventually, there was a bright flash, and the scenery changed around us dramatically. Large screens passed by us, showing images of my life... And images of another... Closely resembling the images Twilight saw in the finale of series 3. But none of that really concerned me, as my interest was turned directly to a white screen.

I reached out a hoof to touch it, but stopped just before as a shiver came down my spine.

“I don’t know what we’ll see here, Chronos. But just know that I have no control over the images that we will see.”

“I understand.”

“Good...”

A gentle touch with my hoof was enough to make the picture explode into white light. Engulfing the both of us.

An image formed slowly from the white light. One of a dimly lit night sky, shortly followed by many thousands of stars and lights, then a large eclipse in the center of the sky burst into view. And finally a few dark walls formed around us, leaving the two of us ethereally looking down upon the castle of the two sisters.

“Why would you remember this place?” Luna asked. “This is 1000 years into the past, I never remember you on this day!”

I glared at her slightly as something else came into view. This being the image of Princess Celestia, badly wounded as she lies on the ground in the ruins of the castle of two sisters. A sound is quickly brought to our attention, along with the bright moonlight and the screams of citizens as bat ponies brought down fear.

Nightmare Moon laughed triumphantly, silhouetted by the moon behind her. Luna and I looked upon her with disdain and fear, she had left a bad taste in both of our mouths.

Below, we could see the fugue of Celestia, groaning as she returned to consciousnesses.

She stumbled up slightly, and to an unseeing eye, she said with sadness, "I'm sorry sister, but you leave me no choice" as she said this, a panel on the floor opened, revealing 6 familiar objects, the Elements of Harmony.

It was clear to me that this was near the end of this conflict. Luna looked upon them with a clenched mouth.

“You remember this... Don’t you?” I asked, as Luna lowered her head in shame.

“I sometimes wish I didn’t...” She paused. “Do you... Too?”

“Yes.”

Celestia levitated the elements around her, creating a spectrum of light as it shielded her. She ascended to the level of her sister, with the moon behind them both.

Celestia then began to channel the elements through her horn. Crying as she did it.

“I’m sorry...” She whispered. “I will fix this!” And with a tear, she released the elements’ magic with a strong burst from her horn. The short clash they held was short before Nightmare was engulfed by the light.

Luna closed her eyes and lowered her head even further down.

“Are you ok?”

There was a small pause as the light continued to blare.

“The image is still very clear in my memory... The banishment of the horrible Nightmare Moon. It is not something I would look back upon... But somehow you-”

She was interrupted by a loud scream, causing us both to turn to the images unfolding in my memories. What we saw tore down to the very foundations of my body. As Nightmare Moon was recoiling in pain as the light tore away at her.

“No...” Luna yelled quietly, shocked by the images. “NO! This isn’t what happened! This-”

She was interrupted again by an even more gruesome sight, as Nightmare Moon screamed in pure agony. Suddenly, the light was distorted and blood shot out from her chest, only to be thrown back with the power of the light. The amount of blood became stronger as Celestia could only watch in horror as the power of the elements tore away at her sister's body...

The wounds on Nightmare Moon became larger and more frequent, as her screams became more blood-curdling. With every pulse of the magic, she would flinch away as a large portion of flesh and bone would be torn away from her helpless body.

Time seemed to draw to a complete stop as we all witnessed in horror at the last moment Celestia gazed upon her sister, even through the excruciation light, we saw Nightmare Moon’s eyes switch back for a brief moment.

And then silence... As if my mind was stopping the image to capture the sheer emotion that Celestia felt at that very moment.

The image spiralled around as the light blared from Celestia’s crown and horn, as she looked up to her sister. It was difficult, but we all could make out what the image Luna was mouthing.

“Thank you...”

The body of Nightmare Moon exploded in a shower of blood, leaving red stains scattered on the walls and a large pool of the crimson liquid on the ground, as some chunks of flesh and light fell gently onto the ground.

Celestia’s mouth twitched as her eyes teared up again. Before breaking down in tears and hiding her head in her hooves. She yelled out loud to herself, showing sheer despair and desperation in her voice.

Luna, meanwhile, was shocked and bewildered by this sight. And then turned back to me with spite.

“You dared to show me this? WHY SHOW ME THIS?” She came close to me.

“I don’t know!”

“Was this some kind of cruel joke? Did you send out that beacon just to play with my mind?”

“I’m sorry!” I yelled, “I don’t know... Why we are both seeing-”

“Oh... my my, Celestia... We’ve made the wrong move... HAVEN’T WE?” An ominous voice said from the memories, causing our attentions to be drawn once again to the images.

“It’s still going...” I whispered, as another disturbing image appeared before us.

The figure flashed into view, in direct eye contact with Celestia, who was still sobbing from the moments beforehand. It also wasn’t normal, he was stained with blood, and there were open scars and his eyes were bloodshot and tainted black. It was a moment of shock, as we all said simultaneously.

“Discord.”

Normally we would expect Discord to break out into maniacal laughter at this moment. But this, new Discord instead lowered down to Celestia’s level, and looked down upon the elements of harmony too. He embraced her in his arms, as she attempted to push him away spitefully.

“There there now, Celestia. Hussssh, it’s alright.”

“YOU DID THIS DISCORD, YOU DID THIS!” Celestia sobbed. Only leading to Discord tutting.

“Now now, there’s no need to be like that, I have no control over the elements, and killing,” He looked at his claws for a moment. “Just. not. my. style.”

“I don’t want your nonsense now Discord... I can’t live with myself knowing what I have just done.”

“Celestia.” Luna whispered, obviously taken back by Lunas response.

“Well if it makes you feel better, I know that you made a more wise choice in another dimension.” He looked upon the blood-stained white alicorn. “But seeing this horrific sight, I’ve had a change of heart.”

Celestia looked up and spat into Discord’s face, “What could you do, to ever be a change of heart.”

Discord leant down towards Celestias face, and whispered in her ear, just barely audible to both me and Luna.

“I can help fix your mistakes.”

Celestia flinched and tried to back away from Discord.

“You dare say you could FIX this?”

“Oh yes... With a snap of my fingers, I can bring your sister back, I can bring back all those that you banished... And I can leave and never again enter Equestria under the rule of Princess Celestia!”

Celestia twitched, as a tear dropped down her cheek.

“You’re lying... You’re lying! You could never do that, and even if you EVER did, there’d always be a drawback. There always IS!”

Discord looked taken back; from what I could tell.

“At this moment of time, why would I lie to you Celestia? But yes, there is some form of a drawback, but more of a promise.”

“What... Promise?”

Discord leant in and said;

“I have something very special planned... When the time comes, you cannot have any part of it.”

Celestia stood up and began to back away from the draconequus, with a slight twitch in her eyes.

“What do you mean? Nothing you do is ‘special’, what makes this so special then? If it is, then I will have to stop you Discord!”

“Celestia! I guarantee, that if nothing occurs from your side, all your loyal, sweet little Ponies will not be harmed. But this is the life of your sibling! To fix all those mistakes! And besides, I swear on my life that not a single hair on your head will be harmed by myself.”

There was an eerie moment of silence between the angry glare of Celestia, and the more nonchalant stare of Discord. But there was a absolutely miniscule sign inside Celestias eyes, as something inside me made me whisper to myself.

“Don’t do it... Don’t Do It!”

But I had no interaction. As the dream-like memory continued without any recognition of my input.

“The life of Luna. For a promise...”

“No...”

“You agree to my terms then Celestia?”

“No.”

“Yes...”

“Then, you’ll accept the responsibilities of this reborn being?”

“Yes...”

“NO.”

“And you will remain in the shadows, when I carry out my plans... To rid the world of vile corruption?”

“Yes...”

“NO!”

“You would be willing. To endanger the lives of ALL your subjects, just for the life of your sister?”

Celestia’s response made her lower her body down as a tear also fell, giving one final:

“Yes.”

I sank down, as did Celestia. How could this version be so unTHINKING? Why would she give up such a strong position of moral authority, just for her sister? Was it love? I wouldn’t be that stupid for my own siblings, I would take revenge on what Discord did!

But Luna however, was slightly taken by Celestia’s loyalty. While Discord made a cunning smile at the helpless Alicorn, alerting us both to attention once more.

“That’s just what I needed to hear!” Hissed Discord, causing him to snap his fingers loudly, holding up Celestia in a magical field. Obviously causing some form of pain, but somehow... I could feel it TOO!

“What are you doing?”

“What are you doing?” We both said simultaneously.

Discord laughed again as he seemed to take some dark magic, scooped up from Luna’s blood. “You really ARE gullible, aren’t you Celestia? You really thought I would hold up my side of the deal? I’m the god of CHAOS!”

Celestia broke out into tears again, as I started to breath heavily in anger.

“But... Luna... You said...” Celestia whimpered.

“Oh, don’t worry... I will bring your sibling back. I just need to make some changes.”

Celestia’s eyes widened as her body shook slightly. “To what?” She whispered in terror.

“You”

The dark energy flung out of Discord’s paw, and impacted the Elements Of Harmony, before quickly slamming into Celestia.

“AAGH!” Celestia screamed, while Discord grinned maniacally as his evil deed was made.

I tried to stop him, but nothing I could do would stop the tormenting images.

“Make it stop!” I yelled, trying to shield my eyes from the sight. But my hooves weren’t responding. It seemed that both Luna and Nightmare Moon wanted me to see this.

Celestia’s coat started to burn away, revealing red-burnt flesh underneath. Some parts of her flesh burnt off, revealing some organs and the inside of her jaw, making it even more unbearable to watch as she screamed in agony. Her eyes narrowed as the corruption sunk into her body.

Her horn began to light up, while the elements kept pouring the rest of their magic into her, then she began to blast the blood on the ground. The magical transfer continued for a short time, just as Celestia’s screams started to change to laughter. She burst out into laughter, as her mane burst into huge flames, flaring brightly in the air, before she fell to the ground. The magic stream was cut off, and the Elements Of Harmony shattered in their place.

The Elements Of Harmony were gone.

“And now... Here. We. Go.” Discord mocked, staring at the blood on the ground.

The rest of us, who were still conscious, stared wondrously at the pool as it gently swayed and moved around. But those gentle movements soon became a torrent, as the blood rushed upward, creating a crimson tornado, glowing strongly with magic.

“Yes. Yes. YES!”

The blood-nado came together in a concentrated ball with a blinding light, before a quick snap of Discord’s fingers caused the ball to expand and explode with a long flash. Knocking back Discord and the unconscious body of the mutated Celestia.

The flash faded away, to reveal that all the blood had been cleared from the room. Discord stood up to see the new, white-glowing figure floating in the middle of the room.

It appeared that the light was emanating from the creatures eyes. The eyes closed, revealing the true form of the newborn figure appeared. Making me absolutely terrified as the two others in my images grinned at it.

It was me...

"The archetype has risen, I do not doubt that you are pleased for your actions?” The new Celestia remarked with a new accent.

“I’m glad that it turned out so perfectly. Any more delays and we would have had pony macaroni!”

Discord laughed, but Celestia did not return the laughter, she looked upon me, allowing me to note the lack of both Changeling Saddle and Scar of Time. “What do you plan to do with it, Lord Discord?”

“Ooh... Lord Discord? I like that. But I have plans of my own. And he will be very important to me... Thought of a good name, Solar Flare?”

Solar Flare laughed, showing the fangs inside her cheek, before looking with a tilted head at the younger... me...

“Chronos... A name befitting a god, as we are.”

“Then you will raise it as your own, until the day when I will need him.” He then stroked the mane of the pony on the ground with strange affection, the kind of effect ion Darius would have given to me. “I have excellent plans for you... Chronos.”

The images faded out, revealing just strange black and starry surroundings. I turned to Luna, with now teary eyes, she was now piecing some things together. But now also she seemed to have an even stronger glare of terror towards my very image.

“Well?” I yelled, bitterly, expecting her to make some sense of my twisted imagery that I had just seen inside my own head.

She coughed and cleared her throat, before rolling her eyes and sighing.

“You have turned into a being from a parallel version of Equestria. Discord created him using the remains of Nightmare Moon. You were meant to help him in some way.”

“But... Celestia there-” I interrupted, reminiscing on the images I had just seen.

“What she did there was beyond either of our control Chronos! Celestia would never have done such a thing in my Equestria...”

“If he saw what she did-” I said, hoping for the best, but with absolute fury in the back of my voice. “I’m in the body... Of Luna... From another dimension...”

“No.” She said, glaring at me. “You aren’t me... You are Nightmare Moon.”

We both looked around as other images flashed past us, showing things like the birth of the Scar Of Time, the grouping of The League Of Darkness and Tirek's death by my hoof.

A new image of Chronos appeared, now near identical to my current appearance bar his hairstyle, snapping back from one of Elizabeth’s tears. This Chronos looked up to the image of Elizabeth with the same look of anger I had at that moment.

“Why have you shown these horrible images to YOUR KING, Lutece Tear?” He barked, with a crisp undertone showing his apparent state of authority.

Elizabeth’s pony form emerged after closing the tear that we all had supposedly been looking into. Without even a moment of worry, she even stepped up to Chronos and pressed her hoof on his chest.

“It is a warning, Chronos. Of your past-” She stopped for a moment. “And your future.”

“What do you mean... Elizabeth?”

“In a few hours, the pact that Solar Flare made on that day will be complete. She will perish, and you will murder the elements of harmony.”

“WHAT?”

“WHAT?” Me and the image of Chronos simultaneously blurted.

“We both know about that 'universal code'. A curse that is one of the darkest I have ever sensed. Now Discord, I believe, has found it's whereabouts. He will think it will destroy his enemies. But soon he will realise the truth. That’s where you come in.”

“How do I come into that creatures plans?” Chronos said, with his eye twitching on one side.

“As you could see in those images, he plans to use you. He will tear away at everything you love. And then trick you to travel into another dimension, and murder the bearers of the Elements Of Harmony.”

“NO! But I saw... The Elements were DESTROYED! Didn’t you see? They shattered into pieces when Flare and Discord created... Me.”

“Another world. Where Celestia didn’t make that choice, the Elements Of Harmony exist. Discord has attempted to destroy them multiple times by now... And if he is to use you... He will win.”

Chronos shook his head, and then stood up to walk around a bit, cursing and swearing at himself, repeating “NO” loudly too. He finally said something completely audible using his royal Canterlot voice

“I will NOT murder innocents to please some Chaos god!”

“YOU WILL! You have been destined to do so, and Flare has fated that to you ever since she gave into Discord. He will try to get Nightmare Moon first, and then to your normal side. I’m not sure how he will try-”

“STOP! You’re mad, Tear.” He shouted, with his eyes burning for a moment. And began to walk out of the room he was in. “I think I can handle my problems MYSELF!”

Elizabeth ran up to him, halting him before he reached the door.

“Just... Be careful-” She whispered. “Stop Discord before his plans come to fruit. I worry for the future. Don't trust Flare.”

“Don’t! I control the future... And whatever happens after this point, I will make sure that whomever is responsible pays at the hooves of their god.”

I never thought someone like me would say anything as uptight or egotistical. But even though I had never seen these things before: I remembered them as if I had lived them.

The images spiralled out, flashing forward past some form of battle scene. And Luna and myself arrived at the throne room I had seen in my first dream. Just a bit more bashed up than normal.

Luna wondered about these images; and then turned back to me.

“The more I see these images, the more I understand, Chronos. You have some grim past sins... But from what I can tell... This is the last that we shall see.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because, seeing your face now...” She started, having a good stare. “You are more terrified than I have ever seen you before.”

A loud bang stopped us from talking, as we turned to see King Sombra and the image of Chronos run into the room.

“FLARE!” Chronos yelled at the top of his lungs. His voice held a tone of tiresome and he seemed to be using a volume spell. “Come out you bitch, FACE ME!”

The regal and disfigured form of Solar Flare appeared from behind the throne. I would have expected her to have the same look of regal and vein superiority. But she now had a strange look of disappointment and sadness.

“So you know... Don’t you? What I’ve done...” She murmured. Only to have Chronos crouch down and scrape his hoof in anger.

“Two of my friends are dead, at the hands of Discord, because of your cowardice! And you have doomed me to serve under that monsters hand! So Sombra and I are going to make you pay for your crimes!”

“You wish to end my life... To repay the life of Luna.”

Chronos winced, pausing only for a moment as his eyes turned to the all-too-familiar shade of cyan.

“It is justice... For your cowardice.”

Solar Flare shrunk in posture, before having her mane and tail flare up with her magical fire. And spoke words with a powerful voice, and a drained, tearful look in her eyes.

“Then, my student... Fight me!” She yelled, causing me and Luna to briefly look at eachother, before the two side engaged each-other suddenly.

Sombra’s horn flared up with his dark magic, causing several pillars of dark crystals to rise up quickly from the advancing Solar Flare, who had drawn out a magical battleaxe to cut down the black obstacles in her way. Chronos' mane was now waving like Nightmare Moon’s as he started to blast out large energy beams from his horn as he took to the air.

Flare started to throw large fireballs from her mane and slash away with her weapon, creating large lights as the blade literally cut the air. Sombra now drew out his own magical melee weapon and engaged her in bladed combat, while Chronos continuously fired magical projectiles at her from a height. Flare saw a weakness in Sombra’s defense and simultaneously slashed at him and fired a magical projectile at Chronos. Impacting both violently, yet they all continued to fight.

Fast movements ensued from the duelling monarchs as Chronos began to gather some strength for a powerful attack. With every slash of Solar Flare’s deadly blade, Sombra managed to dodge them, turning into his ethereal form briefly to avoid the more ranged attacks.

“Sombra! Use your enchantments, get up close!” Chronos yelled, as some projectiles narrowly missed his wing.

“She’s too fast, Chronos! The window of opportunity is too small!”

Sombra’s talking was a mistake, as a glance away for a mere moment allowed Solar Flare to block his attack in such a way that his swing turned against him, knocking him back slightly, only to receive the blunt end of Flare’s staff upon his head.

“Yield Sombra!” Flare yelled, as the king fell to the ground for a moment. Only to have Chronos begin to fly quickly towards the pair with his horn charged with magic. But his speed was not enough compared to Flare’s swing of her axe, embedding deep into Sombra’s skull with a deep crack. Yet the shadow king remained alive for the moment, as his last ounce of strength allowed him to retaliate slightly with some swings of a dark greatsword, while Chronos himself violently blasted Flare with light magic. “This is between me and my student, Sombra!” She yelled, drawing up her battleaxe from Sombra’s skull.

Sombra stumbled around slightly for a moment, as the axe had gone in slightly to the side, leaving a part of his head hanging off. But I saw at the last moments, he winked at Chronos with his other eye, before he was sliced in half by Flare’s battleaxe, creating a pool of black blood.

“SOMBRA!” Chronos yelled, before being knocked to the side brutally, only to hit a pillar and almost immediately get back up. “You murdered my FRIEND, Flare! If you wanted to make this personal, well guess what?” He then flashed with energy as his eyes started to glow like Sombra’s would, but he got out a large sword, in the shape of a more jagged and crewed Galaxia. And then with all the anger and spite he could muster, he yelled; “It was already FUCKING PERSONAL!”

The two engaged as Flare and Sombra did, but much MUCH faster. WIth every swing created a large spark as they clashed, using techniques I had never seen in my life to get at each other. Only a small moment of brief rest could I see tears in the eyes of both the ponies fighting. They did not want to fight, but destiny had other plans.

Eventually they changed tactics, having both their wings flare up and attempt to slash at each other using the movement of flight as an added bonus. This was where it became difficult to see the two fighters, as their fast flight and attacks meant that all we could really see were just random flashes around the room. It was the sort of chaotic fighting that you would expect to see in an episode of ‘Dragon Ball Z’, except without the quips or cheesy setting: this hurt me inside, as I couldn’t bare to watch these two fight.

The flying came to a sudden stop as the two became engaged in a clash. Flare used this to taunt Chronos.

“Do it! Don’t think of me as your mentor Chronos! I was the one who told Discord where Chrysalis and the Doctor were! I was the one who murdered Luna. DO IT!”

No, she wasn’t taunting him, she was encouraging him to kill her! It must have worked, as Chronos drew back his blade and made a blood-curdling scream as he gave one powerful slash at his mentor’s sword. The force used was enough to knock the alicorn queen into the throne, shattering it to pieces.

Chronos breathed heavily, as he emitted another scream, causing his body to erupt with black energy, and his eyes to glow white. Solar Flare then rushed towards the flying alicorn with her battleaxe poised for a deadly blow.

“TEMPORAL CONTROL!” Chronos screamed, creating a large pulse of energy and causing Flare to be stopped in her flight, as all colour seemed to drain out of the room around us. He narrowed his eyes once more until they were blaring with his magical light and raised up his sword again. But this time, there was no other blade to stop his attacks, he relentlessly slashed away at the frozen queen, screaming in hatred all the time.

The Chaos Control ended, as one more blow knocked Flare onto the ground with a loud crack. Chronos pinned her back to the ground using his sword. She was obviously weak now, and bleeding fatally from every tiny wound. Flare then attempted to stop him from further actions, but one quick blow to her horn prevented any further of her OWN actions.

Solar Flare looked in horror as she saw her own horn drop to the ground next to her. The sheer look of terror and horror on her wasted face was not something I would ever want to think about again.

Chronos paused as he swung his sword up. I saw another tear in his eye as he gritted his teeth.

Flare’s reaction was much different, but interesting, since as she talked... Her fur began to grow back onto her body...

“Well... Do it!” She ordered her student, since she knew that they were both suffering. “End... Me...”

Chronos was now shivering as his eye turned cyan again. With every passing second, his wings became more metallic and his mane more ethereal.

“END ME!” She screamed, with every part of her body changing back to a more familiar form.

Silence.

As Nightmare Moon cut off her head.

It was the most frightening and terrifying thing I had seen in my dreams, EVER. How could any of those ponies be so... HEARTLESS. I just witnessed a being, whose body I am in, murder his teacher without any control over his body. But at the last moment, it seemed like she WANTED death... That is what hurt most.

The image of Chronos had reverted to normal, as he stared at the body of his mentor fall limp. As the last amount of strength left the head, he saw her look at him and whisper her final words.

“Thank you, brother. For helping me back... To the light.”

The last ounce of fur covered her skin, before her head became limp. And Princess Celestia became lifeless.

“She...” Luna began. “She turned back... In the end.”

I felt horrible, as emotions had welled up inside me for crimes I never thought I could ever commit. But this body has cursed me with the guilt of murder it had committed. I felt myself sinking down. This was why I couldn’t use magic... Who would ever want to do that again, after knowing what harm your power could cause.

“Chronos... I’m-”

Another figure flashed into view, exactly like he did before. Discord.

His tail swished around as the Chronos image looked up to the draconequus with absolute hatred and lunged at him. But Discord wasn’t having any of it.

“Sit DOWN!” He ordered, as his own chaotic magic forced Chronos onto the ground. Chronos stumbled, but was unable to move, so he attempted to shout.

“TEMPORAL- Mmph!” He yelled, before having ice freeze over his mouth before he could use his magic on Discord.

“Now now, Chronos. We don’t want any of that today... There’s been enough violence!”

Chronos glared at Discord, and began to talk with reddened eyes. I guess he must have been using telepathy like I would to speak even with the ice.

“Enough games Discord, you are the cause of this! I might have fallen for your silver tongue. But you forced. My. Hoof. With. BLOOD!”

Discord chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Did you REALLY think I killed your friends?” Discord mocked, to have Chronos widen his eyes and loosen his stance.

“What? What did you do to them?” Discord grinned, and slivered around Chronos with murderous intent and burning chaos in his eyes.

“The better question is... What did YOU do to them?”

“What?”

“A simple enchantment, I think you’ll remember it. Goes along the lines of... Five Score Divided By Four?”

That was something I had been hearing from all the others, that strange rhyme... Was Discord the cause of it? But from what I could tell, Luna was the one more shocked than me at the moment. What did she know?

“The...” Chronos began. “Dimentia Code... How did you ever perfect it... Let alone... GET it?”

Discord leaned in, showing some of his fanged teeth to the Alicorn King. But the next thing Discord said caused Luna to lose her shit.

“You tell me, Chronos. I have eyes EVERYWHERE. And besides, YOU were the one who created it!”

“YOU!” Luna yelled, “You were the one responsible for ALL OF THIS?”

“Responsible for what?” I asked.

Luna’s eye twitched. “The suffering of hundreds of people AND ponies alike. Thanks to that curse, the Discord from the true dimension managed to take over ALL OF IT. Murdered Celestia and banished EVERYPONY to the human world!”

Those words hit me on the head like a bullet. I felt confused and heartbroken at the same time. Did I do all of that? If so, WHY? Had I caused so much suffering to my fellow ponies?

I don’t like to think I could ever do such a thing. But the image seemed to explain.

“That ‘curse’ was made that only I could understand this world and the source of all worlds. And I intended to use what I would find there as a means to truly usurp Celestia until. YOU happened”

“A selfish way out? That abomination was going to be used, JUST TO RISE TO FUCKING POWER?” Luna yelled, with much more harsh anger in her voice. I sank further to the ground hearing this. I felt awful.

“Well, passing by the ears of a certain Chaos God would probably change the meaning now, wouldn’t it?” He leant into Chronos' ear and whispered “You will not believe the fun I’ve had in another world with your fancy little rhyme!”

Chronos angrily attempted to wriggle out of his position, his eyes burned with anger and rage and hate towards the Chaos god. Discord gripped his beard and flew to an upright position.

“Anyway, to business. The reason that I’m here- and in a way, YOU’RE here. Is that I now realise, even with the perks of this curse. I do not believe that it is entirely foolproof, and I blame the fool of the creator.”

Chronos grunted angrily, taking very little offence in the comment though.

“Even though my counter believes there is no chance of their return, or the curses effects having 'rubber band slingshot'. I have got something planned for some enemies of mine as a secondary procedure: You. Even with your… Condition, we can work things out.”

“Let me guess. You want me to become your personal hitpony. Killing off all the ones you have banished to prevent any chance of your usurping.”

Discord clapped to himself.

“Very good Chronos. I see Elizabeth’s had a good word with you.”

“I will NEVER serve you, Discord! Your fucking trickery will not win against me! And wasn't it you who said 'killing isn't your style.'?”

“Then you know nothing! Rule one of Discord: You never talk about Discord, but that’s beside the point. Rule two: I ALWAYS win.”

Chronos glared and attempted to move again. But yet again there was no effect.

“No deal. Let me go and we can fight like true Gods! Let the best pony win!” Discord did not reply to Chronos' comment, but turned and tutted before grinning to himself.

“THIS is how it’s going to work, Chronos. I have a specially designed form of my ‘Five Score’ enchantment, that will allow you to assume the form you like permanently when you get to... There. All I would need is your sworn allegiance to me, and me alone, and I would even make it so you would see your little ‘pony’ friends again. I could even make it so that you could work together on my little... Termination. You see, there’s something that Nightmare-”

Chronos (smartly) barked out in response: “And when I refuse and powderize your fucking behind?”

But Discord expected this response and grinned again.

“If... You refuse...” He snapped his fingers; and what appeared in his claws caused my heart to stop. And the Chronos in front of us to widen his eyes. “You will never see your little friends again!”

“Cordie.”

“Cordie.” We both whispered.

I collapsed to the floor as a wave of guilt and hatred washed over me. I hated myself, I hated Discord. I hated everything! The power he had, the power I could have. And the ultimatum he had put him into. And yet, like before. I could feel the internal conflict he was put into. It was the single most painful thing I had ever experienced.

“Well then Chronos, time to make your choice... Your friends. Or NOTHING!”

Chronos looked even more depressed than before, as he had lowered his head to the ground with terror and sadness.

“If... I agree...” He whimpered, to have Discord grin with delight, and Cordelia cower in terror too. “You will spare them, all of them.”

Discord glared at his captive, and before she could say anything, he removed her muzzle in a similar way to that which Trixie used early in Series 3.

“Yes... I will. I swear that they will remain alive, Trixie, Chrysalis, Cordie, and everyone else safe and sound. I'll return them to you gift-wrapped.”

Cordelia whimpered and tried to shout something.

“Cordelia!” Chronos begged. “I can’t... Lose you... I care too much for you, and I have lost too many comrades. And I care too much about them! Letting them die would be a disgrace to their memories!”

Discord sighed, he knew he had conquered and defeated him. He knew that all of the violence today would get to him, and that the wearing down would make him defenseless.

“But I care too much about my subjects-” He yelled through telepathy, to have Discord’s face turn to terror, annoyance and surprise. Chronos, on the other hand, was glaring with glowing eyes. His rage seemed to burn out of him like wildfire. The magical locks on his hooves broke as he forced himself off the ground. And finally, the ice over his mouth shattered violently. “-To ever outweigh THEIR NEEDS!”

Discord growled as his body snaked and dropped Cordelia onto the ground with a thump. I couldn’t help but smile at Discord’s anger at this moment. I could feel it in me, all that planning and cunning. Gone to waste due to one Kings simple Loyalty! It was exhilarating. Me and the image had that tick that now, shit was going down!

“Temporal SPEAR!” Chronos screamed, as his attack blared out. But as it was forced out of his body, I oddly seemed to describe the attack.

“Temporal Spear: Temporal forces create a beam of solid energy taken from the dawn of the universe that can be used as a projectile from close to medium distances. Electrical discharge upon impact can make it a stunning implement, whereas charged attacks can overload target with electricity with hostile-harmful effects. Under the influence of energy bursts; up to seven Temporal Spears can be made. Under the effects of the Ambiguity Trigon, electrical energy within the spear is transferred to nuclear energy, breaching zeta-waves of the electromagnetic spectrum. The harmful effects of this Spear can even create small explosive effects upon successful impact. The longer range of this projectile gives the attack the name of Temporal Lance. Moderate threat: use wisely.”

How did I know all of that? That was odd.

But as my monologue suggested, the Temporal Spear hit Discord hard, discharging its electricity, holding him still for a couple of moments. Allowing Chronos to attack again.

“Temporal PULSE!”

“Temporal Pulse: Temporal forces collect surrounding potential energies and convert them quickly into thermal and nuclear energies, when critical mass is obtained, energies are released in short powerful bursts which discharge for purely harmful bursts upon short range targets. Under the effects of the Ambiguity Trigon, creating Temporal Force allows for more energy to to collected and burst, leading to more harmful effects. Strong threat: use only for hazardous foes”

The impact was hard upon Discord, enough to both make him groan with pain and knock him out of his stunned state. Discord did not hesitate to attack, since he knew that both of them had an equal amount of opportunity to defeat each other. He blasted out a few energy projectiles to slow down the speeding Alicorn flying around him. He even used a quick pulse attack to harm him, but he was ready for his next move.

“Hypermode!”

Chronos began to glow green and fly forward at an extraordinarily fast speed as my own internal encyclopaedia blurted out some more helpful facts.

“Hypermode: the combination of temporal energies and Alicorn magic forces combine momentum and kinetic energy to create a powerful blast on a nuclear scale. Energy is built us as velocity increases, a sonic boom can be created to increase flight speed, discharge of energy is created to protect user and increase effect by ignition of the nuclear energies surrounding them. Speeds can reach up to Mach 77 if enough energy is provided. Effects of initial explosion will be contained to target alone, but causing mass fallout after use if not contained properly. Intense threat: use only in desperate situations.”

“Um, mr Fact Sphere?” Luna asked, unnerved by my outbursts.

“I don’t know!” I whimpered. “I literally CANNOT help it!”

Chronos rammed into Discord with a harsh green light. Creating a powerful explosion from the two, it didn’t seem that powerful. But it was strong enough to make the creature bleed.

“Ugh! You test my patience Chronos. If only you could use your powers for something more substantial! You have no idea of the power that Nightmare Moon holds! You waste yourselves on these stupid little sensations! You DISGUST me!”

This was enough to get Chronos well and truly pissed, he’d had enough. The mere image of him screamed rage. He attacked Discord ferociously with bites and scratches, teleporting from place to place as he did. Knocking the creature around like a ragdoll as it feebly attempted to fight back.

“Time Break: A non-conventional channelling the Time Vortex for transportation, that allows the user to teleport quickly in a similar matter to Temporal Control. Phasing them in-and-out of the visible and physical dimension and moving to a nearby place for quickly arranged attacks. The Ambiguity Trigon allows for longer distance of teleport and more rapid fluxes of teleportation. Varying Threat, depending on the attacks used during the phases.”

Discord was still fighting as Chronos' strength was beginning to fall slightly. Chronos continued to attack in a feral manor compared to Discord’s more laid back attempts at defending himself. One hard blow sent them both flying in opposite directions.

“You can’t win Discord!” Chronos yelled, with a small distortion in his voice. “Even though you made me, you made me with the elements of harmony, they're destroyed and you are guilty! YOU CAN’T DEFEAT ME!”

Discord stood up with a smug grin. Facing his opponent with a disturbing amount of calm in his eyes. “I don’t need to defeat you.” He mocked. “You will defeat yourself, Chronos.”

Chronos flared up again, glowing once more with the red light. This time energy was being sucked into him at a devastating level. His pure anger and hate was almost unbearable to look at the scar I now saw clearly that matched the one on my face glowed and phased with energy. Discord had pushed this pony over the line. And I guess now it was time for the finisher.

But my brain had another dose of information for me.

“Scar of Time: One of the most devastating and lethal objects in the known universe created through the use of a self-inflicted temporal paradox. Pure nuclear energy is created and combined within users body, compressing and adding to the radioactivity by physically lowering the electromagnetic waves. Under the constant use of temporal energy, the scar of time will dispel a lethal force. Red discharge is created as energy seeps out before large energy wave is created. Contact with wave is lethal to even the most powerful of creatures due to the sheer amounts of energy contained within and it's ability to strip the both potential and previous life force away from living creatures. A scar of time can have an intense radius and can cause as much damage to a single cm-cubed volume of land to an atomic bomb. Range is unknown due to the variety of this attack. The effects of the ambiguity Trigon have weaponized this scar, and a higher risk than it would usually present. Threat level: ABSOLUTE. This is an absolute last resort on a universal scale, this attack should never be induced."

I looked around the room and terror washed over me.

“NO!”

It was too late. Time seemed to slow down as the events unfolded. Chronos released the energy directly from the scar, ripping apart the ground below him as the slow-moving wave made it across the floor. Vaporizing everything that it came into contact with. When it touched Discord, even he was stripped of his flesh leaving him standing and screaming with his muscles and blood exposed.

And then it touched Cordelia.

It did not vaporise her, let alone strip her of her skin. But I could tell that it hurt. As the very life in her breath was forced out of her body. She fell to the ground as us, the observers, could only again look and observe.

The wave passed through the walls, turning them to dust and rubble and ashes, and continued to grow and spread, reducing the land around it to fire and rock, while a white afterglow took place of our field of vision.

Chronos fell to the ground, weary after the outburst and the scar bleeding and eye bloodshot, and dragged himself to the corpse of Cordelia. Discord was somehow recovering, but Cordelia wasn’t looking like any form of recovery was going to come to her.

“Chronos.” She whispered. As her lover held her tightly in his hooves.

“I’m here.” He spluttered in response. “Don’t leave me! I’m so sorry!”

Cordelia whimpered as something became more audible in the distance. Screaming.

“Can you hear them Chronos?” Chronos looked up into the distance, only to have his vision obscured by the thick fog. “Millions of lives, silenced and destroyed.”

“Stay with me! Just hold on!”

Cordelia’s eyes changed to a red colour.

“I can hear them Chronos. The screams...” Chronos' breathing increased.

Cordelia looked at Chronos and smiled. Seeing her prince and her friend once more.

“Can you hear it? Can you hear how time screams? It... Hurts...” Her body tensed for a moment, before falling limp.

Chronos gripped her tight, sobbing gently with every breath. Screaming ‘no’ with his muzzle buried into her fur. I could feel his very suffering.

“You just couldn’t hold it in... Could you?” Mocked Discord, with most of his skin still limply hanging off his corpse-like body. He observed the new scenery unfolding around us, as a barren wasteland littered with only the light of fire. “You have beautiful Chaos within you. It’s a pity that you had to go for the other side. You had great potential.”

“Why. Are you doing this, Discord?” Sobbed Chronos.

“I didn’t do anything, my dark friend. You just grew impatient. Like you said, you were made from harmony. But we both know that you have no idea how to use it! So you became reckless, and chose to do the only other thing that you were meant for;” He raised his arms up and spun slowly, addressing to the destruction around them. “Absolute desolation!”

“I’ll make you pay for what you’ve done! I’ll kill you!”

“What will that solve, eh? Look around you! Genocide! You murdered everypony on this planet due to your power! Killing me won’t solve anything! What will you be fighting for? You will be alone on this wasteland while another me continues my work elsewhere!”

Chronos looked down at the corpse of his wife and shed another tear.

“But I could make you forget.” Discord stated in a whisper. “Your regrets I could wipe away... Only if you just... Give. Up.”

Chronos stopped, and whispered.

“Mercy... I give up... I have caused so much bloodshed. I don’t even want to live.”

Discord held his chin, pondering for a moment. And looking slightly moved at the scene of the two lovers lying on the ground.

“That’s good, Chronos. But this little scene has touched my heart. I think I will add my own little twist to this deal.”

Chronos looked up, eyes marked with sadness and anger. “DO IT!” He yelled.

“No... There will be no more death in this place...” Discord smiled in a sinister way, before talking to himself. “You’ve got to remember these things better Discord. How. Did. It. Go... Oh yes. Hold still, Chronos. You might experience some momentary discomfort.”

“For Five Score! Divided by Four!

Your memories removed, your body confused!

For your insolence you must pay,

Cast off to a land far far away!

To scatter the six, just the start of my tricks!

Your mind shall be weak, your outlooks bleak!

Forgetting everything and living like a fool,

You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!”

And just like that. Cordelia and Chronos were gone. Leaving nothing else.

There was a fleeting moment, an epiphany that I had been holding back. I understood everything Elizabeth had been saying, I knew how we ended up in this way, I knew how I knew so much about this Chronos and his power.

I knew now what I was. I wasn’t just in Chronos' body. Somehow I AM Chronos. Banished into the human world due to my own curse.

But that meant. I did all those things. I killed Celestia. I killed Cordelia. I committed mass genocide on everypony in Equestria! And I gave Discord the curse that allowed him to do all of this.

I was a monster. An abomination.

But my Nightmare wasn’t over.

“You can come out Elizabeth! You can’t hide forever!”

And just as he said that, a large tear opened. And Elizabeth jumped out in front of Discord.

“Where were you hiding then?”

“Just warning everypony in other dimensions of this curse. And telling them of ways to prevent it.” Mocked Elizabeth, causing Discord to jump back in shock.

“Well, that’s no fun at all! Yet still, I’ve caused enough Chaos already without your help!” Elizabeth circled round Discord slowly. “What are you doing?”

“Just giving you a warning.”

“A warning? How could I ever be afraid now?”

“You have no means of stopping the elements now, you’ve lost!”

“There are other Chronos' in other dimensions, Dimentia will soon wallow away both him and his pesky other side.”

“That won’t stop him you know. Each Chronos would be different, you blew your chance on this one. And if he understood himself, he could be unbeatable. If you had another Chronos, maybe even an entire army of them, what makes you so sure that this Chronos won’t just destroy them all?”

“I could pull a couple of strings, that's my promise, dear tear. He will never find out the truth, and will not break the cycle of Dimentia.”

Every instinct in my body was telling me otherwise, but I had no doubt now if my transformation was possible, but it was not a transformation… It was a healing and restoration.

Elizabeth paused and glared at the Draconequus. “THAT, was not my warning.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have the ability to see all dimensions, Discord. And have the ability to predict decisions people will make by disturbances in these dimensions. But in one... I see hope. And now, I can see him.”

And at that moment, nearly everyone replied “What?”

“Something of my own design. Don’t bother searching for it. It’s already gone. Chronos did make the code, yes. But I had the failsafe. Incase he were to ever have it used against himself. A blessing of the Original One himself.”

“What is this? What did you do?” yelled Discord. He didn’t like it when someone got something past him. And he knew that this would be something like that.

“A object of pure energy and mental storage. Not much, but enough that the mere touch of it will boost his powers to accelerate the Dimentia effect to the point where everything breaks. I’m not just talking about him- EVERYPONY that you ever used this curse upon! He will return here, he will defeat you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it!”

“I can destroy that object, pony, I am the god of Chaos!”

“I have a friend… You can destroy me, and be away with me and my meddlings. But I doubt that you have any chance against the God of Order.”

“You’ve,” Discord spasmed slightly, and went into a fit of rage. “YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE? YOU’VE RELEASED A GOD WORSE THAN MYSELF AND NIGHTMARE COMBINED!”

Elizabeth leaned in and smiled. “Chronos will pull through. You could kill me now, it would do nothing. No matter what you do now, he will recover from what he’s done. And there’s nothing YOU can do about it!”

Discord huffed and twitched, before pointing at Elizabeth.

“FOR FIVE SCORE DIVIDED BY FOUR!”

Discord finished the chant, and my vision ended. But the images still remained in my head. As they would forever now.

“You know now, don’t you?” Luna asked. Gasping gently after these things ended.

I sighed in sorrow as everything sunk in.

“I was created through the murder of Luna. I am the living incarnation of Nightmare Moon. I killed everyone I loved and more. The very reason I am standing here is through Discords sense of humor. I had all of this power, and I used it to commit genocide. No wonder why my powers don’t work, I could see why my subconsciousness would block it off... I’m a monster.”

Luna looked at me with concern, but something was worrying her.

“After seeing your past, I cannot see why I’m not mashing your mind into a pulp. You are of another world, your crimes are great. But I know that you did not intend to do those actions! And that you of now are ”

I couldn’t feel any more annoyed with her for those statements.

“My. Life. Is... A LIE! All of this time, I’ve been just a murderous dictator in denial for the horrible acts he had caused in his past life. There's no justification! I cannot be innocent for what I have done, I was rewarded with a life of guilt and punishment. There’s no way I can ever turn back into a human! SINCE I WAS THE PONY TO BEGIN WITH!”

Luna switched different emotions upon her face, reverting to an angry glare. “NO, Chronos!” Luna yelled. “Your life isn’t a lie! Listen to me. This life is a continuation of your past one! You can fix those mistakes. You can protect the elements!”

I felt awful, Luna didn’t have a point. I felt awful as my body began to quiver.

“Chronos, what are you doing?” Luna asked.

“The elements. Do not DESERVE TO BE SAVED.” No, did I say that? Something was wrong, I felt myself say that. But I didn’t want to! I was moving my hooves and legs, without my control.

“No... Nightmare Moon!” Luna yelled, as I began to tower over her. I had no control over my eyes, but I could still see the armor on my body. I had let my guard down! I tried to force myself to do other things, but my body was resisting!

“This is only a mental incarnation. The boy's strong enough to hold me off a bit, it won't last long. I’ll soon take control physically if I keep this up. But I need to thank YOU first Lulu. Without you, he wouldn’t have found out about his little incidents of the past. And given me so much to feed on.” I used my magical illusions. Forming images of Discord and Darius behind me, the evils of both my past and present. Ready to attack.

The images struck at Luna, but she seemed to be holding them back with her magical attacks. "How?" she asked angrily, "I thought I drove you away!"

The images dissipated one after the other as Luna landed fatal blows to them, only to be replaced by more.

"We were born together, Luna. He is as much a part of me as I am of him. You cannot only get rid of one. Surprised? Nevertheless, you've given me an opportunity to have a go at my old 'plaything'."

Luna was poised to attack. But seemed to be resisting. She still saw ME behind Nightmare Moon and Chronos. I wanted to beg her to kill me; but Nightmare Moon had other ideas.

“Now. How did his spell go? Oh yes, Temporal SPEAR!”

A bolt of energy blasted out of my horn, barely missing Luna by her skin. Yet still grazing the cuts already on her body. Luna attacked using a powerful magical laser. Oh how I wanted it to hit me. But Nightmare Moon held it for a moment using her own magic. Before firing it back at her with a large blast.

Luna landed on the ground in front of me, and before she could get up. I placed my hoof on her ribs and pressed hard down. But not enough to break anything.

“Those won’t work against me, Luna.” I blurted with an evil tone. “Remember, you use MY powers, Luna. Yet I use that and more! And besides. This realm is mine! And in my realm I am queen!”

Luna coughed and spluttered. “You want revenge? That’ll do nothing here!”

I tutted softly. “Didn’t you ever see the Matrix? The body can’t exist without the mind."

Luna's eyes widened, I had not thought of that, neither had Luna. Luna struggled slightly, she could not do anything with the weight of Nightmare Moon on her ribs and I guess, mental determination. I had to stop this, but what would happen? Would more die if I awoke my magic? "I thought about breaking you. But I think Chronos already did that. Yet I can still beat your mind until there is NOTHING LEFT!”

I summoned a magical sword above Luna’s head. I knew what was to come next. So I tried harder than ever to break from her control. But she continued.

“Such a shame that you never kept my power. So now this... Will be your TOMB!”

“NO!” I yelled, gaining control of my body once more. Having spasms as I forced her control out of my body. Yelling out as I finally fell to the ground. And the illusions disappeared.

My body shrank back down and reverted to its original colours as the armour disappeared. But the thought was still in my mind: I nearly killed Luna. I nearly killed my friend! I guess the killer instinct still runs through the dimensions. I’m still a bloodthirsty murderer! I broke down in a fit of tears, with a pain that I could not bare! I caused disaster in my past. And I could still do it! And this was proof.

Luna stood in front of me, looking down upon me with a harsh scowl mixed with fear and worry. She panted with her every breath, slowing in rate as mine increased.

“End me...” I whispered. Imagining myself as Solar Flare at her own last moments. Pushing the magical sword towards the older Alicorn. “I have caused so much bloodshed. I have broken the hearts of millions. And I have YOUR greatest regret inside my own head; that will stop at nothing to cause destruction!”

I knew that this was should be done, I had a thirst that could not be quenched. If what Nightmare had said was true, ending my life here would kill me in the physical world, hopefully taking Nightmare with me, as the curse had done, and preventing the deaths of those on earth.

Luna picked up the sword Nightmare had summoned and hovered it over my head. And stopped for a moment.

“What. Are. You. Waiting for? END ME!” I yelled before breaking down once more.

I looked down and awaited the short sensation of cold steel slice my neck. But it didn’t come.

“No... Even with someone with a past as black as yours. You deserve redemption. My Friend.”

I sighed, I felt horrible that Luna could not go through with it, but Luna helped me up, we were both now shedding some tears as she embraced me in a hug.

“I understand your life was built around deceit and anger. It wasn’t your fault that you did those things. And YOU only can prevent those things from happening again. You may have created that curse. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t help those in need. You may have enough power to wipe out worlds. But you can be a hero! It isn’t sheer power that you need to use. It’s the responsibilities you have to use them! Like you said to me, you might be a black Alicorn... But YOU ARE STILL YOU.”

“But I can’t use my powers! Didn’t you see? Why would anyone want to use that again?”

Luna stopped and touched me on my heart. “Your magic is clouded by guilt and darkness. This is the chance to reawaken your magic. Didn’t you see? You were at your most powerful when Cordelia was in peril. You couldn’t imagine seeing her suffer.”

“But she still ended up dead.”

“Chronos! You’ve had this magic in you all the time! It is the love you have for your friends and the harmony that you share with them!” Luna took her hoof off me and smiled. “You have potential to save this world and everyone on it! But don’t think about what you have done in your dark past! As Arthur Conan Doyle said: ‘learn not to fear the fruits of the past, but rather to be circumspect in the future, that those foul passions whereby we both have suffered so grievously may not again be loosed to our undoing!’ I can see that in you, not even that primeminister can lay a finger on you, not in fear of power, in fear of YOU.”

Something stuck in my mind with that statement. And I began to feel happy again, for some reason.

“Even that Chronos himself. He decided to Never Turn Back to his past, and look to the future, he was willing to dismiss his origins to be loyal to his subjects. Maybe even he had a point. The best person you can trust is yourself. And with the help of your... VERY loyal friends, who by the way are very good at getting my attention. I’m sure you will do great things.”

Luna stepped back, we were both smiling now.

“You are Nightmare Moon, Patrick Taylor and the GREAT King Chronos! The magic you have been searching for is right in front of you, as Friendship Is MAGIC!”

Luna lit up her horn with a warm glow, the same colour Twilight's was in Return of Harmony. When she touched the horn to my head, my mind filled and surged with emotions and images of the ones I loved. All around me. Having fun. As amazing friends.

My horn lit up bright red as I felt my eyes surge with this amazing sensation. One that I had never felt personally. A warm feeling, but feeling powerful. My horn suddenly surrounded with an aura as I felt my mane and tail wave by the wind behind me. The blue I had felt before had returned, intermingling with Luna's blue, becoming strong and vibrant.

“Magic.” I whispered, cracking a teary smile.

I felt my magic take control, as great forces surrounded me. The ground erupted causing mountains to form below us, the wind surged around me in a gigantic hurricane, fire blazed around us in a swirling storm and water surged up in tremendous waves. These elements combined together inside me. Pure energy coursed through my body, exploding outwards as I could see something different than before. But a sight that I had been unable to control before. But now, I could!

The cosmos stretched out before me, expanding until I could see time itself! It was incredible. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Chaos and Time. All in my hooves! I was KING Chronos and I was going to MAKE THINGS RIGHT!

I settled back onto the ground as a new sensation came over me after the magical burst. A pulling sensation came over both me and Luna. Our time was at its end.

“Thank you... For everything.” I said, hugging the Princess tightly. “I understand the power we both possess.”

Luna smiled back at me, looking thankful that I didn’t blow us both up in that outburst.

“You made a good point though. With the power we possess, we need to take responsibility or the ones we love could get hurt.”

I let go of her and began to walk away from her. “But all you have done for me. I couldn’t thank you enough. Thank you, Luna. For everything. But if you excuse me. I have a prime minister to sort out.”

A portal of light appeared as I saw Luna bow and fly away. My dream ended with me simply saying; “I will fulfill my destiny, the one that I write for myself!”

What would have happened in the end.

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Prologue: Exposition and The First Dream

“The electromagnetic spectrum is a span of all forms of electromagnetic wavelength, spanning from the low frequencies of radio waves and the high frequencies of gamma radiation. Only a minute portion of these electromagnetic wavelengths are visible to the human eye, called the visible electromagnetic spectrum. Plant-life use this spectrum in their chlorophyll to collect energy to carry out photosynthesis to split the bonding of the CO2 or Carbon Dioxide molecule and the H2Oor water molecule into the Element of Oxygen and the C6H12O6 or The Glucose Monomer, which can be used in the respiration reaction to reverse the process, or be used in the plant to create the starch Polymer and be used for its food. The visible electromagnetic spectrum is often referred to as the Light Spectrum, or in layman's terms… “A Rainbow”. A prism or an object with the ability to diffract light can be used to break the combination of all the wavelengths of this spectrum or “White Light” into the separate wavelengths; or “Colours” across. In a sunny day, if it begins to rain… The pure light from the sun is diffracted strongly by the droplets of water, and then quickly is directed into our eyes, where the angle of the sun and the rain angle can determine the arc of this diffraction and the strength of the visible sections. This type of diffraction is often called-

Whatcha doing?”

I was interrupted in my research by an all too familiar voice from my side, I turned my head to see my friend sitting on my sofa next to me. She flicked her beautiful blonde hair at me to get my attention. She could often do that sort of thing; she was way too much of an attention seeker when it came to work.

“Not now Cordie, I’m a little busy right now… I need to learn these for the Easter progress exams,” I said to her, gripping my head slightly and closing my revision notes.

“It’s always your work with you, isn’t it Paddy?” She replied, making me cringe slightly… Ever since I was little I had despised that nickname. It made me sound like a dog. But that didn’t stop her from using it as an obnoxious pet name, and several other names that she had derived from my name; Patch, Rick, Ricky, Trick, and Trixie. But it at least kept me and her close… Slightly… And when I mean slightly; I mean-

“Heya Pat,” an obnoxious male voice was then blurted out of somebody’s pie hole. Me and Cordelia turned to the door to see Joshua Newport, smirking to himself at the obvious ‘Joke’ he had just made to himself… He walked over to Cordelia and briefly kissed her on the cheek. Making her close her eyes and sigh, and me to quietly grunt in anger towards him.

Joshua also used to be a childhood friend, but he was always a bit weird towards me. He’d always talk about COD (or Call Of Duty if you don’t know) whenever I was even near him, and him and his other ‘Friends’ would always take the p*** out of me whenever I was near them. It was just their stupid ways of life that drove them to be like that. ‘Rich Swot parents create the most vile of children’ is what my sister and I used to say about those kinds of people.
When we both went to our secondary schools, communication with Josh ceased, although not completely… We would still have vague conversations about life on Facebook. Then all of a sudden; I hear he has gotten a sub-par job and waltzes in with Cordelia in his arm. Making me properly despise him from that day forward.

But I was still kind to them as well; due to my bloody code that I made for myself. Due to him and her having not much to go on for rent if they needed food, so I let them stay with me in my parents other house down in the centre of Oxford. They said that they would move out when they could both afford a decent flat near the school.

They have yet to move out after a year of this.

Nearly every night they would be up and ‘at it’, keeping me awake for most of the nights due to the noise or the anger towards them. But I still remained friendly to them; I had been friendly for most of my life… That was my ‘code’, to give kindness and friendship to all. And only judge others when it is only necessary, since I knew that judgement would be brought on those others when one with authority can.

That was probably why I wanted to work for the Police. To bring a little more judgement back into the world, without making a mark against my code.

Since we had been living together; I had learnt a good deal of things from those two. I learnt that Josh wanted to work in the armed forces, since he had a fascination with guns… Probably due to the billions of COD games that he had played. I tried playing them once, and I remember looking at Josh and saying; “You really want to do THIS for your life?”
The more reasonable opinion was that of Cordelia; since she was a little girl, she loved to keep and ride horses. She had her own horse, and she would ride him often. I remember taking up horse riding to try to impress her… But she barely noticed. And I was constantly stuck in the ‘Friend Zone’ with her. I think she wanted to do something with horses, like be a jockey or an olympic equestrian.

We would usually go about our days by having me and Cordie going off to the University while Josh would either go to work or go to a shooting range. We would often keep in touch at lunch and I would complete my daily routine of work and studies. But in the evening; I would either cook the three of us dinner, get a takeaway, or my parents would take me out to dinner while the two got a takeaway for themselves.

During the summer, we would go our separate ways again. But, again, I would keep in touch with the two of them.

Going back to the current time; I sat to the side of the sofa, and closed my textbook full of my revision notes and put them to the side, it was obvious THAT was now done today. Josh sat between me and Cordelia and grabbed the remote, he switched on the telly with a decent button press and switched it to the X-Box channel. With a simple head flick, he stood up and chose a good DVD from the side and put it into the console. ‘The Avengers’, despite it being an old film; it was one of my old childhood favourites.

We watched the film together before I got up from the sofa at about 7:00 pm, and started to cook a nice dinner. I cooked a quick Penne All’Arrabbiata whilst often peeking round the corner to see the nostalgic scenes of Iron Man goodness. After adding a bit of seasoning to the finished sauce, I took in the three plates into the sitting room. I was greeted shortly by the two kissing. I cleared my throat, causing them both to turn around to me.

“Dinner is served? I cater for humans; not lovebirds,” Cordie chuckled slightly at my incredibly bad joke. We all wolfed the pasta down before the two went up to bed earlier than usual. I took this as an obvious advantage and once again opened my textbook; before I checked the time…

21:54… I closed my textbook again, I realised that working this late would extremely damage my progress. So I ejected the Avengers disk and looked around for another thing to watch…

After a few minutes of searching, I couldn’t find anything that took my fancy other than the millions of DVDs Josh had brought with his own money or took from his own house and the seemingly endless box sets of Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Top Gear or, my personal favourite, Doctor Who. I turned around to a picture I had installed on one of the walls; it was a little picture of Link from the legend of Zelda fighting the creature Nightmare Moon. I lifted up the picture and found the hidden switch; with a small click, a panel loosened next to the DVD cases. I wondered over and popped it open with a gentle push. And found my secret collection.
I took out one of the DVDs and placed it in the X-Box, when I flicked through the menus the friendly bright colours lit up the screen.

“Now, what have we learnt?” Rainbow Dash said with an almost military tone

“Lots of control,” Fluttershy replied, with that small gentleness she always had.

“Good!”

“Screaming and hollering,”

“Yes… And most importantly?”
Fluttershy looked down and then stood up tall as Rainbow Dash flew around behind her

“Passion!” She announced with her soft voice.

I smirked to myself as Fluttershy repeatedly failed at making a proper cheer. I watched the episode alone to myself, and then watched the others of the first season for hours on end.
Despite me being truthful about it to some people, I had incredible love for that show; My Little Pony… And kept it hidden to Josh and Cordelia for years on end, but there was something that drew me to it from the characters, the stories and the general visuals. At first, I didn’t hate the show… In fact, I was one of the only other Bronies I knew who actually wanted to watch the show before they really got into it.
‘Sonic Rainboom’ was the episode that really got me into the show, and practically any episode with Rainbow Dash or Princess Luna was an immediate favourite.

Despite what some of my other Brony friends said, I found myself best relating to both Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash, especially at a younger age. I always stuck up for my friends, and always backed them up when someone tried to pick on them. And because of some anger management issues I had when I was younger, when I snapped if someone got on nerves enough.

I SNAPPED.

But due to punishments I would get from my parents and some anger management lessons, I calmed down slightly. But It meant I got slightly weaker, and I found myself getting slightly more distant from… Well… Myself… Even my friends said after a while that I was almost a completely different person. Thus I ended up building anger inside, and the only thing I could take it out on was myself. So whenever I watch the show now… When I see Rainbow or Luna, I get happy as I could see myself slightly, and then angry as I could only see what I used to be.

“They tamed me,” is what I would say to myself. And I still do, but looking at those beautiful Ponies gave me some kind of hope. And seeing the great things like the Sonic Rainboom, or the power of Nightmare Moon gave me a feeling that I could still do something great, and I could still be me if given the chance. But life didn’t work that way; since I was still at school and tied to the rules of laws and life, and I was tired… I mean; really tired. I lay down on the sofa with the DVD still playing as my eyelids started to feel really heavy all of a sudden.
I eventually succumbed to this tired feeling and just crashed down on the sofa. I had an overworked brain from revision and my train of thought, and an overworked body from cooking dinner and jogging earlier, so I just collapsed and fell asleep almost immediately. While the hours beforehand blurred into oblivion.

“Where is he? Where is he?” A booming voice flared, as I burst through a door and down a long hallway. If I were awake, I would think I recognised these halls. But unlike many of my dreams, it actually felt I had BEEN in those halls.
I ran towards the source of the voice, and when I did… I saw a figure that would shock me if I were awake. But somehow, I did not react; except to bow before the figure… The figure before me was Princess Celestia…

But somehow, it wasn’t… When I saw her, I saw her wearing harsh golden armour. Her eyes were like dragons and her mane was burning as fire. It was like some of those designs I had seen for if Celestia had become like Nightmare Moon. I was about to say something like ‘You remind me of a cool design I once saw’ or ‘Don’t kill me’, but as I opened my mouth to speak, foreign words were to flow out of my throat.

“What is it… Queen Solar Flare?” I said in a strange American accent, again odd… But somewhat familiar. The queen looked down upon me and said with anger and sorrow in her eyes;

“I have terrible news from the Doctor and Elisabeth. They say that the walls are breaking down, and the Scar Of Time is beginning to activate.” I stood my ground and felt afraid. But I didn’t know why.

“Why is this?” I asked, followed by a small moment of silence as the ‘Queen’ walked around me.

“We all have reason to believe that a sister reality has become increasingly damaged… It seems that somepony is using this instability to wreck havoc, despite his sealing in the eternal pits of Tartarus.”
I scowled in anger and gritted my teeth, I knew who she was talking about…

At least… I think I did.

“Tirek” I growled with spite, resulting in a gentle nod from the queen. She then proceeded to stand up from her throne and walk down towards me. She then places her hoof on my… Armour? Since when did Twilight Sparkle wear armour? Was I even Twilight? Who was I in this dream?

“It is your duty to stop him, my student. As you and your… Organisation have done for many years now together,” she continued as we began to walk together out of the hallway. “Use whatever resources your powers will allow, have NO MERCY. You may think this is one of many options.”
She then turned to me with fear in her eyes, it seemed odd slightly. But everything about this dream was odd in a certain way.

“But you have no other option… I am even enforcing the help of Discord himself in this matter, you must trust him and use him to your advantage.” She then glared out to a small earth pony with a brown coat and looked at me with pride. “You will lead him to victory and win the love of the mortal subjects.”

The princess then lowered her head. “But I cannot come with you... I will organise a full attack upon him from here, I will even scorch the subjects themselves with the sun if I have to. Do not tempt me to do so. I will not help you.” She flared up her mane with a rampaging blue. “Do not return here upon your leaving of the Castle. If you fail to destroy Tirek, I will personally end you myself.”

My sight started to blacken as me and the figure walked towards the other ponies, before I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirrored window, and I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw it… I was a pony. A midnight black Alicorn, donning shiny black armour and a chitinous back, his black and blue mane parting militarily to show a scar framing his haunting red eyes that pierced my very soul. My reflection took kindly to the attention and winked back at me.

I stopped and realised that this WAS a dream, I started to panic as I saw the images around me distorting, Solar Flare and the other pony disappeared behind me, the walls started to blacken and the sky started to become harsh colours of purple and red. The walls started to bring down the darkness onto me as I started to feel intense pain all over my body. I could barely breath as the darkness started to consume me. It started to drown me in darkness as I felt it coming into my own mind. The figure in my reflection began to distort and darken as its body was destroyed… Leaving a figure of darkness, it opened its eyes, to reveal to me who it was… And with a toothy grin, it simply said one word…

“Remember.”

Author's Note

Thanks to Dusk Writer for helping me edit these chapters.

Part 1: Chapter 6: Scars And Blood

The first thing I saw when I pulled up to the Luteces’ house, was a greeting golden glow. There was no sign of music. But there was a festive feel about tonight just by looking down that road to the Luteces’ house.

As I drove down the road, an unrecognisable figure came into view as my car wobbled closer to the mansion. The woman approached. She looked about my age, and was quite pretty but- holy shit; Was she wearing a corset?

“Are you Hannah?” She asked, leaning into the open window of my car.

“Yeah, that’s me… You are?”

“Elizabeth, friend of the Luteces… You can park round the back, I’m just sent to direct you round.” She gave a bit of a smile, but tilted her head. “You OK? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I looked directly ahead, and did not show any direct emotion. “Just a rough day, Elizabeth… Nothing to worry about.”

Elizabeth nodded, and adjusted the collar on her neck. She began to walk around back to the large doors before snapping round back to the car with enough energy to power a shuttle.

“OH!” She exclaimed, startling me. “We should get together and chat sometime! I’d love to meet you for coffee! When do you think would be good?”

I blinked and stammered, trying to find words to match the sudden information. Elizabeth knew she had made a mistake and slowed down.

“OK, sorry. I do that sometimes. How about we meet tomorrow at lunch. We could meet in Cowley’s Costa Coffee. How does that sound?”

I nodded and smiled politely. “I’ll see you there... Elizabeth.” I murmured before driving around the house slowly.

I knew right from the start that she was trouble, but it did not bother me at the time.

There was a little space around the back of the house, cleared away for a parking. I pulled my car to a stop as I pulled into the space available next to Cordelia’s car. I was a little cautious about that panicky woman. But I saw she wasn’t in sight any more much to my relief.

I got out the presents from the back of the car and proceeded to stumble to the back door of the house.

Crap.

My hands were full and I had no means of- oh wait.

I slammed my head against the door repeatedly as an alternate to knocking with my hand or dropping the very expensive presents to the ground. But the door opened to Robert Lutece.

“Your head is not a logical alternative to knocking with your hand, Hannah. Would you like me to take your things to the living area?” He wondered, still with his normal straight posture.

I nodded to his offer, and he almost immediately politely took my presents out of my hands. And I followed him into the vintage hallways.

“Do you still have that crown we gave you?” He inquired, looking back at me. I did not respond verbally, and kept my reaction subtle while I took the crown out again and made it clearly visible to the Professor.

“Good,” He replied. “You won’t believe what would happen if you lost it.”

I put the crown away again and smiled. “I’d be willing to hear,” I tempted.

With fruitless replies from the Professor. “It is good to ask questions, Miss Biddle. But good things come to those who wait.”

He started to walk through an open door before directing me through an archway. “Your friends are through there. You’ve got some time before midnight.”

I smiled to him. He smiled back gentlemanly, and did not break from his normal posh motif.

I walked into the living room. And, to be honest, it was decorated as if it were the 25th of December, with neon and LED lights and bright colours. All that was needed were annoying families and carols and we could watch the christmas specials and chow down on some christmas Turkey.

But there they were! All of them were put together and chatting to one another…

Or more, arguing.

Patrick was yelling at Josh who was also yelling back. Cordelia was not interested and looked pretty depressed to the side. The two seemed furious at one another. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I felt contractually obligated to break the ice.

“GUYS!” I yelled, as they all turned to me. Patrick raised an eyebrow, revealing quite a bloodshot right eye. They seemed angry, I had to come up with a good quip… Something! Anything smart! “Who... er, Started the... Ooh-er... the Argument?”

Nice one there, Hannah.

"Well last night- Cordelia made a highly- absolute madman!- I stormed off- A SWORD! HE WAS GOING TO- Completely unreasonable- fucking prime minister? How did people- Now he's blaming me? What gives-"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, causing them both to do so. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

Then, I swear to god, they said at exactly the same time; "Well you should know anyway, and besides. You weren't there!"

"Ok, then. I get it, sorry I asked."

There was a moment of awkward silence as we all just exchanged glances of either fear, anger or confusion. But relief was given in the form of a possibly mentally unstable woman wearing a corset.

“Hi guys!” She burst, only making Josh and Cordie flinch. Me and Patch just held our hands to our heads, we’d experienced her frightening crazy before. Me, only briefly as I can tell.

“And you are?” Josh asked, a little taken back by the appearance of the woman.

“Elizabeth. Me, Patrick and Hannah have met, and hey’ve already seen my ‘frightening crazy’. Don’t mind me although I’m the one who made you guys dinner tonight!” I was surprised. I would have expected the Luteces were the ones to make dinner that night. But Josh was a little more concerned by the rushed exposition.

“Sorry, could you slow down bitch? You dizzie? I can’t understand a word you’re saying!”

Elizabeth turned her attention to Josh. “Oh yeah, I forgot about you. I’ll have to make some preparations…”

Elizabeth started to walk off from the direction she appeared from before turning back to us and clasping her hands together. “I’m just going to make some last-minute preps but…” She paused and almost squeed. “It’s so good to have the old gang back together! All we need is a googly and a Doctor then we could call ourselves a riot!” Before darting out with such unbelievable speed I swear something fell off the shelf in the other room.

"Well that was awkward."

"Tell me about it," interrupted Patrick. "The other day she straight up snogged me! I had no idea why!"

"Ooh! Playa!" Slanged Josh, much to the rest of our own disgust.

"Josh, use English please. And no. I am not a 'playa' as you say. She's just a madwoman;"

Cordelia raised her hand: "But a madwoman who's making us all dinner tonight!"

"True. But my point is I don't get points for winning someone over who's already won over!"

I groaned. I had had enough of this shit.

“Can we just stop bickering for a single MOMENT?” I boomed, causing them all to turn to me yet again. I then seemed to be possessed by my mother, as I seemed to have a really big go at all of them in that moment.

“Patrick, it’s just Ponies! You don’t need to take it out on Cordelia for it! Cordelia, most people would die to have a loyal friend like Patrick, fucking be glad he’s still here for you when you have nowhere to live! And Josh, stop being such a mindless arsehole and see the truth around you for once! And fucking pay your rent to Patrick! Or did your half-assed stab at education leave you so broke you need to just piggy back off him until you can buy your guns and Lamborghini? For fucks sake all of you GROW UP!”

It felt like one of those scenes from anime. You know, those scenes where a character performs a move so large and spectacular that the others just stand around staring as dust settles around them. It was that… Except no spectacular moves were made beforehand but there still was the eerie silence that followed.

“Let’s just…” Started Patrick, holding back something that none of us wanted to let out.

He was holding back from crying at that moment. But he was breathing heavily to bring back order to the room. “Let’s just put our differences behind us tonight. So we can just have a good night for once in a while!”

He slapped himself, but we all couldn’t resist. He’d unintentionally set us up for a Portal reference. “For science?”

“You monsters.” He finished with his head in his hands and the broken tone of a man sentenced to death. Even with his love of making puns. That one was too painful.

“So everyone! Apologise.” I said, extending the last apologise to extend my point.

“Sorry.” The others droned to each other, with Patrick even shaking hands with the other two to make up for the night.

“Dinner is on the table, with the presents too! BON APPETIT!” Flared Elizabeth from the other room giving the final ‘Bon Appetit’ in the style of Julia Child. However, despite eccentric the call came and we arrived at the table. And, just to say… The girl did not disappoint!

The whole table was set out for an amazing platter. With a fine tablecloth, and large silver dishes covering the food for each of us. And like the rest of the house that night, the room had the warm reds, bright golds and mellow greens. With the combinations of an early christmas once again. It’s the sort of thing only a madman would do for something as menial as someone’s birthday! Yet, once again, there was strong evidence that this was a madwoman.

The second thing that hit me was the smell. It was warm and rich. Even though the food was under the platters; the strong aroma of meats, salts, fruits and nuts. From a succulent and bold meaty smell of beef, to the cool and complex dance of the spices and the crisp woody and spiky smell of pistachio and hazelnut. Jamie Oliver would go on forever at this kind of thing; It was bliss!

“Sit down then, we don’t have all night! I’ll show you your meals first, then we can get cracking on the presents!”

The cutlery was coloured, with a nice glossy glass finish to the bases, but had some little air bubbles like you would find in Biot. Indirectly pointing us to our places without even knowing it. Black for Patch, Yellow for Cordie, Blue for her, Green for me. And… Some plastic knives and forks oddly placed on the table for Josh…

She really had no idea he was coming didn’t she.

We all sat down at our places that took our fancy, with Elizabeth crammed in between me and Patch. Not in a mean way, I could tell she was just sitting there to be friendly. And it felt nice to have a friendly face to be around. If they were a little more sane than this woman.

“Let us enjoy our meals everyone! Bon appetit!” And with that, she quickly removed the dishes covering our meals. And like the smells that greeted us when we came in, there was an overload of colour and sights. Each of us had a different meal that was just an orgasm of food and flavor!

Cordelia was the first to be served, nothing too complex, but felt homely. A large, possibly nine-inch wide Pepperoni Pizza. The crust looked tender, yet crispy. The cheese was an excellent mixture between sainsburys thin and american thick. The pepperoni was just small enough to not be a mouthful, but thick enough to give a pointed flavor. Just by looking at it; you could see the spicy chilli practically dripping off the pizza. It was to die for, until I saw the others.

I was next, with something complex. The smells alone could tell me what was in it. A golden pasta with a beautiful, smooth pink sauce. Nothing too heavy; but there was signs of truffle, caviar, lobster and god knows what else. It smelled like the best of normal food all in one big dish!

Elizabeth had what could only be described as a meat feast. With a beautifully cooked, yet looked tender and rare full rib-eye steak. Almost drenched in the sweetest smelling gravy that had visible smoke. Served with other small sections of meats and potatoes. due to my close vicinity to it, it allowed me to get the full blow of the rich smells and tender, bold fragrance of the combination of meats.

Patrick’s dish wasn’t as meaty as Cordie and Elizabeth’s, or as rich and eccentric as my own. But the look on his face when I saw it was a look you could only really get once in a lifetime. Seeing his face when he looked at the small mound of sushi was what could only be described as pure joy. He loved sushi, and that face was the pinnacle of his enjoyment.

And Josh, seeing everything around him unfold, smiled. A grin of expectation and glee, wondering at the possibilities of the meal he could have. And when he lifted up the dish;

A soggy hamburger and chips from mcdonalds. Obviously brought in from the rain and… Lightning, hastily. Even I could admit that was a little harsh, she could have put a little more effort in, but I guess he was the only one who didn't have a birthday today. Josh, was none that happier.

“Seriously?” He grunted, being only retorted by a nervous sigh and smile from Elizabeth. Who then eventually swallowed after being glared at by Josh.

“Tell you what, Joshi. I’ll make it up to you in a couple of days! We could meet up some time and we can get to know eachother.”

Josh frowned and poked his burger with his index finger.

"I don't think we'll be meeting again any time soon Liz." He scowled and it was now Elizabeth’s time to frown. And it felt like Josh’s soul was about to be sucked out by her glare. Even Josh was taken back by this sudden harsh glare.

“Forget. I. Asked.” Elizabeth slithered. With a voice as cold as the stare she now had.

A smile quickly returned to her face as she now addressed all of us. “Tuck in!” She beamed.

We all slowly began to give the food a try. And in that, poking first, then using a fork before a first try was made and MMMPH!OHMPMYGOPH! WHAT THE FUCK IS IN THIS? When I bit into it, it was a flavor explosion! The succulency offsetting the power, the texture being beautifully smooth. The subtle flavors of lobster mixed perfectly with the powerful flavor of the truffles. Let’s say the smell did not give that dish any form of justice!

The combination of sights, smells and tastes was near overkill. But they were so amazing! It was near absolute heaven on a plate! How can a woman cook like that?

“If you’re all wondering how.” Elizabeth began, finishing a mouthful of her own meal. Causing everyone else to lean forward in interest. Except Josh, of course. “Just simple luck and a good days work!” She blurted in a trolling manor. Causing everyone, myself included to lean back into her seats.

“And for a special form of seasoning that’ll give a bit of extra oomph. A ground form of diacetylmorphine, or in layman’s terms; heroin-”

“PBBBBTTTT!” Was the sound that was made from Patrick as he spat out a large amount of water and glared at Elizabeth. She smiled and burst into hysterics at his reaction.

“I’m just kidding! I wouldn’t drug you. Although; I did put in an expensive spice called; Equestrian Salt.” Everyone then loosened up and continued to eat. But before I could take a bite; something took my interest again.

“Equestrian salt? That sounds like Brony merchandise. Is it?” I asked while Elizabeth was in the middle of a mouthful. She shook her head until she swallowed.

“No, it’s an unnamed formula I picked up from an exotic herb shop. It’s an ancient herb, it’s perfectly safe; except for one side-effect. That’s why I called it Equestrian salt.”

“I don’t care what it is!” Patrick interrupted. “It tastes good and is possibly the best thing I’ve had to eat for a while.”

Elizabeth smiled at the compliment. But her mind then began to wonder as something seemed to pop up in her head. “PRESENTS!” She burst, knocking Josh (who was currently leaning back on his chair) onto the floor.

“Fucking hell! What’s with your voice bitch?”

“Sorry. But I need to get something!” She jumped up and sprinted out of the room while taking no concern for Josh on the floor.

I could not believe that woman, but before anyone could say anything else. Elizabeth rushed in again with a mountain of presents in her arms and dumped them all on the table, knocking some dishes flying and crashing down on the ground in a dramatic display.

“It’s fine! I didn’t want it anyway!” mumbled Josh, referring to the burger and chips also flung onto the floor. But Elizabeth did not care, and started to divvy out the gifts to all of us.
“First ones then, from me to Cordelia!” She then handed a large book and several others to Cordelia. They were all unwrapped. But when she read out the titles of the books her face cringed in a way of ‘really?’

“Secrets of the Darkest Art by Owle Bullock
Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself Against Shocks by Bathilda Bagshot
Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming by Inigo Inago
Psychic Arts and Abilities: Why Can I Hear Thoughts? by Charles Xavier”

“Next one is for Hannah! From me too!” She then handed me also a couple of books. I looked at the books. But for me, there was something odd about these books. Much like how I think Cordelia felt when she got hers.

There was; The Dark Arts Outsmarted by Wilbert Slinkhard
Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts by Quentin Trimble
A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
Changeling Psychology by Edwardus Lima

I look around awkwardly. But smiled and thanked Elizabeth graciously. But oddly JOSH was the next one to receive a present.

Josh stood up and was handed a large wrapped stick-like object. He smiled jokingly as he began to slowly unwrap it.

“So you finally give me some respect. But I don’t think you’d know what an X-box is. So what could-” He stopped and widened his eyes. As a large portion of the gift fell to the floor. Revealing a white broadsword.

He didn’t say anything as Elizabeth quietly giggled. Josh stroked the blade lightly; to have his hand whip back to be covered with his own blood. He dropped the sword and made some confused, pained and inaudible sounds while pointing to all possible things he could point to.

“Is that even LEGAL? How do you- GHAH! I HATE SWORDS”

We could tell Josh was in pain at the moment. (And probably should seek medical attention because of that sort of cut.) But we all couldn’t help getting a guilty giggle. Josh stared at his hand in horror before clasping it and sprinting out of the room to get the Luteces.

We all looked at each other awkwardly for laughing, with an occasional cough to break the ice. Until I asked; “What was that for?”

Elizabeth smiled and then pursed her lips before snapping her eyes open I thought they would fly out and hit me in the face.

“That wasn’t actually for Josh. I knew he would do that, so I did that as a sort of practical joke. It’s actually for Patrick.”

“Me?” Patrick said with an eyebrow raised and a mouthful of sushi.

“Practical joke? He sliced his hand open!” Cordelia interrupted, but with a mouthful of Pizza.

“But we all laughed in a way!”

An awkward pause lay over us for another moment.

“True.” said I, finishing what I had left of my pasta.

Elizabeth then, as if nothing had happened; picked up another bundle of presents (including the sword) and handed them to Patrick. He glared in a way at her before she spoke again.

“Your main presents are the sword and something else. These are for now. And I want to give you your SPECIAL present later.” Patrick looked around a bit awkwardly while Cordelia scoffed.

“Spoilt! How come he gets that lot? I can only imagine what Hannah got for him!”

Shit. She must’ve seen the receipt or something. I swallowed hard as Patrick looked through his selection of odd books. And like Hannah and I, he read out the titles. After clearing his throat of course.

“Changeling Psychology by Edwardus Lima
Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard
Curses and Counter-Curses by Vindictus Viridian
Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk
Advanced Flight Maneuvers by Raina Lutece
From Egg to Inferno: a Dragon-Keeper's Guide by Dylan Marwood
Time and How To Weaponise It by Zachary Arnold Formine VII
and The Avatar State: Time and Space Master Guide by Unknown.”

“These are very odd books Elizabeth. Why buy these for us?”

She winked at him and made a ‘shush’ action with her hand. As she now addressed all of us. “You may all be confused by these gifts. But I know that soon enough; you will know the significance of these gifts and the meal I have made you. They may seem useless now; but keep them. They will become useful.”

I then noticed. There were still a couple more books on the table. Except these ones were wrapped in packaging with first-class stamps.
“Who are those for?” I asked. Elizabeth stopped me with her hand calmly.

“Not for your eyes. They’re for a tenant of mine.” And my eyes were drawn to her other hand.

I had not noticed that she had already handed Cordelia and Patrick their presents from me. And a small gift from Patrick had been slipped into my hand.

I unwrapped my gift, but this little trinket wasn’t as odd as the others. It was actually kind of sweet. It was a little, hand-made trinket. I couldn’t tell what it was. Only it looked pretty. A bit like how I felt when I first looked at the necklace. I could only think about myself wearing it, around my wrist, my neck, my black chitin perfectly contrasting-

“What the?” Burst Patrick from the other side of the table. Holding up the large necklace with possibly the best look on his face I’d seen in years.

“Yeah funny story about that.” I began, as Patrick was practically laughing with the ridiculousness of it.

“Oh do tell! I’d love to see what was going through your mind when- oh hold on!” He then took out one of the hoof pieces. “Is this made for a horse?”

Cordelia burst out laughing as she also took out a watch for her present. “I’m sorry, Hannah, does Patrick look like a pony? Because he looks perfectly human in my opinion! Why’d you get him that?”

I paused and looked at the ground. Without saying another word. “I don’t know.” I murmured.

“What?”

“I said I DON’T KNOW!” I screamed oddly. Then held my breath to silence myself.

“Funny… Isn’t it…” Interrupted Elizabeth. We all turned to her, while Patrick was taking out the necklace. “Influence.”

“What?”

“I’ve been studying… Things… Due to some of the tapes that you-” Referring to Patrick. “Sorted. That the mind is easily moulded…” She leant back on her chair. In a way they oozed ‘smug’.

“What did you do?” Patrick and I asked in harmony.

Elizabeth jumped out of her seat. I almost expected the soundtrack of Sherlock to start playing at how she got me to buy it.

"Does this phrase seem familiar; "The Queen must bring the King his armor, before he engages in battle,"?"

Patrick and I nodded, flinching slightly at the mention of that familiar phrase.

"It's a trigger Phrase, made for the sole purpose of getting two people to work off each other and achieve a specific objective.

“Zachary Hale Comstock. If you didn’t notice on the tapes themselves;” She then reached in her pocket. “What you didn’t know is his short-term work. A preacher; an incessant racist; practical marksman. And also Not his real name.-”

“You’ll find that this man is not also all of those, but he is a world renowned-”

“Hypnotist?” All of us said together.

Patrick half-smiled and nodded. “So… You somehow used him, whoever he is, to make me convince Hannah to buy this… Pony armor?”

“Yes, basic suggestion, a basic idea. You are a king and need armor. Reinforced by successive ideas by my asking about what else? Ponies. You make the link; Horse armor. Not just any horse; Pony armor specifically.”

“Except this hypnosis has some specific qualities to it. Details hidden in the vague suggestion; or should I say covered. But where is there armor covered? This suggestion would have to be so covered and so big that it would have to get in without drawing too much attention. Now you make the link: What matches all of those qualities?”

And then a little link came to me like a silver bullet. “Armor, covered, but in a way that’s big, and does not draw attention to itself… With a bit of research, you know it would lead me to ‘John Gowing Jewellers.’ How clever.”

“And then… The specifics? And how you got me to persuade Hannah? And how did you get him to do those messages? And how come I didn’t remember any of these messages?” Patrick onslaughts while leaning over the table. Elizabeth, however, was ready to offer any answers to him.

“First thing; you’ve seen Derren Brown’s actual shows, Patrick. You know that the right impressions can be given if you’re good enough at suggestion? And some impressions can be passed along; if you’re good enough at suggestion. And how could a hypnotist be good if you remember what you’re meant to forget?”

“Who was he?”

“Derren Brown, I just said that.”

“So then… Why? A little magic show?”

“Actually, it was more on his part than mine; I owed him a favor; so I got you to be hypnotised by him. It was an experiment, and I came up with the idea on the results it could come up with.”

Patrick lowered his eyelids with apathy; “Well I’m sorry I don’t sound grateful if I say I don’t like to be used to repay favors.”

I coughed and interrupted as a realisation dawned on me. “Although, I do like Derren Brown. So this is a bit of an experience for me.”

Patrick pursed his lips bitterly. “I don’t care Hannah; even if it is him. I would have preferred it if he did it in person to me. I would have liked it more.” His eyes shot open madly as he stared at Liz; “In fact I would love it if I met him in person. Just… I don’t like being used in that way.”

“I thought as much when I did it. But there are some things that I think you’ll like though.”

“Pardon?” He asked, a tad intrigued.

“In his part, he encouraged a former client to do something I wanted him to do. And… The object that breaks the hypnosis.”

A cold chill went down my spine as Elizabeth picked up one of the last remaining presents.

“I didn’t let you touch it the other day; since I needed you to be able to encourage Hannah. But now, it is safe for you to hold; BUT NOT. TOUCH. IT. So use this.” She handed a handkerchief with ‘Hands off’ written on it to Patrick along with the gift.

Patrick opened it; as a look of horror emerged. He snapped his mouth shut as his entire self, and the room around him illuminated with a green light. His pupils dilated as something seemed to put him under an almost trance. He phased out for a second and then grabbed this object with the cloth. And what he pulled out was…

An emerald.

“What… Is… This?” He asked, as Cordelia leant over to touch it.

“DON’T TOUCH IT!” Elizabeth yelled, forcing Cordelia’s hand out of the way. Much to Cordelia’s surprise. “Patrick must be the one to ‘draw first blood’. If you touch it first; we’ll all die! Patrick needs the energy.”

“Ok…” Cordelia whimpered at the reaction, withdrawing back into her seat while Patrick continued to be fixed on the emerald.

Elizabeth checked the time. Her eyes opened wide as she noticed how much time had passed now. “Time is running out now; guys. Are you all done with your meals?”

Most of us (Patrick not included) nodded. So Elizabeth rushed into the living room.

“COME ON THEN! I’VE GOT DRINKS AVAILABLE!” She called.

I shrugged, I couldn’t resist a drink because of how much stupidity had been laid on me and Patrick tonight. Might as well spend the rest of the night as bonkers as her. So I stood up and walked into the other room (with my gifts, of course).

“Are you following her? After all of that?” Cordelia spat closing one eye.

I sighed and yawned. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. And I thought I might as well get a little pissed to pass the time.”

She had a similar reaction to what I did. And then also began to follow along with Josh. But before we left the room; Cordelia broke Patrick’s gaze on this mysterious Emerald. And he almost immediately stood up and took the emerald into his pocket to follow us. He didn’t even say a word.

As he brushed past me; with the emerald still in his pocket. “Mad woman, mad evening… Just… Mad…” He murmured. With a little venom in his voice.

“Are you ok, Patrick?” I asked, sensing the object from his pocket. But then I noticed something when up close to him now.

Patrick’s eye was more bloodshot than ever. I felt at any moment it could burst in his head…

It must have been agony.

“Right then everyone, here you go!” Drinks were then given to each of us as Elizabeth checked the time hastily. We just came into the room, standing in the centre. But the rooms side was decorated with clocks; all chirping away in perfect synchronisation.

“Quickly now. We only have a few minutes till midnight.” She then handed out some glasses filled with a dark liqueur. Smelling of a rich cherry. And like usual; Josh was left out of the selection.

“Oh come on! I get left out even when it comes to booze?” Josh opened up after a while of not speaking. Also feeling a little left out again.

“You’re the designated driver; we can’t have you getting drunk on their night.” A voice emerged from the corner of the room. As one of the Luteces appeared again. Also with an eye on the time. “And besides. This alcohol is a tad rich, Joshua. I don’t think it’ll agree with your stomach.”

I gave the drink a good whiff, and coughed to myself as its scent filled my nostrils. I lowered the drink as I also felt a looming presence from Elizabeth. Which was uncomfortable.

“Do you mind, Elizabeth?” I asked, moving her away slightly. “You’re being slightly encroaching. Is something wrong?”

“I’m not worried, I just want you to drink before the time is up!” She was turning red, a slight frenzy almost. Until Robert tapped her shoulder blade with a calm manner.

The whole room seemed to cool a little from his authoritative glare. And Elizabeth sighed while I sipped the drink. “Elizabeth, behave yourself. There is time, but you do not have to do anything. It is up to them to make the actions. Please, Elizabeth, sit down and have a drink.”

“I’m sorry.” She said, holding her head in her hands and sighing. “I made a total fool of myself. I should be calm at a time like this. I usually remain cool headed.”

She smiled and turned to Patrick. “I don’t expect you to believe anything. I just needed you to trust me until you got your hands on that emerald.”

“Elizabeth!” Robert yelled. His eyes darted.

Elizabeth chugged down a whole glass of the liqueur and smiled. The clock was nearing midnight; and Patrick was beginning to be unnerved by what Elizabeth was saying.

“Time is running out now. But what has been done has been done.” She took out a notebook from her jacket. But before she could read it; Rosalind stopped her.

“Elizabeth, they don’t need to do this. They’ll do it anyway! They don’t need to know.”

“Could any of you tell me what the fuck is going on?” Patrick exclaimed, forcing his hands onto his head.

“-I agree with Paddy here. You’re not telling us anything of use; other than the fact that you got Derren Brown to get Hannah to buy some fancy jewellery.” Josh retorted to the three weirdos.

Elizabeth shoved the hand of the professor away from the book with a reassuring look. And with a calm motion; opened the cover and turned to a specific page. She now addressed all of us.

“Tomorrow. I would like you to follow a specific plan I have laid out for you all. Only tomorrow, and then you can do what you like. I would like you to follow these to. the. letter. without any deviation. Is that clear?”

One of us began to protest, before Elizabeth shouted in one of the loudest voices I had ever heard a woman use. “IS THAT CLEAR?”

“Yes.” We all said simultaneously; Josh included. Elizabeth grinned in Sherlockian fashion before directing to Cordelia.

“Cordelia Cross, tomorrow. I do not want you to follow your peers. I want you to study the books I have given you and learn anything you can. I will not be testing you; I just wish you to use them and build knowledge. In the afternoon, you will be contacted by an anonymous number; when you get that call; shut the blinds, or any other connection to the outside and answer with two words. White Siren. Remember that; do NOT forget. Just remember that; WHITE SIREN. Clear?”

“Yes.” Shakingly said Cordelia. Making a mental note on the two words she’d been instructed to remember. Josh; was however laughing to himself. He was taking this like a joke. Elizabeth continued, now to me.

“Hannah Biddle, tomorrow. I do not want you to follow your peers. Get a call from a friend, ignore it. Make no communication with anyone you know or anyone you don’t know. Go to the doctor though, I’ve booked an appointment at the John Radcliffe. Expect a little pain, but later, see a doctor, he is a friend. He’ll help you anyway. I'll meet you at lunch at Costa Coffee like we planned, then some truths will be revealed, and my actions will be understood. Then I'll take you to Patrick’s house! In the afternoon, you will be contacted by an anonymous number; when you get that call; shut the blinds, or any other connection to the outside and answer with two words. Blissful Love. Remember that; do NOT forget. Just remember that; BLISSFUL LOVE. Clear?”

“Yes.” I said, sweating at the forcefulness, yet, calm, tone of her voice. I was almost forced to comply.

“I, will do what I planned to do. And I will give the code. Songbird’s Call.”

She stood up and walked to Patrick. Looking him dead in the eyes. “And you… Our lead protagonist.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Elizabeth. But I’ll go with it, if it pleases you.”

She bowed and smiled. And relayed her instruction to him.

“Patrick John Peter Taylor, tomorrow. I do not want you to follow your peers. You will not take off the eyepatch. But you will go to your school reunion. If you have an accident, go to the bathroom and see a doctor. He will help you. Then fly back home and meet Hannah. Don’t contact Darius Jem. Even if you think it’s an emergency. Do not contact Darius Jem. You will have to take someone to meet me and Hannah at Costa at lunch. Where I will reveal to you some secrets that are mine alone until it enters your ears. And finally; in the afternoon. You will receive a call. When prompted, you will need to enter; 4 - 849,514,996. And reiterate; 4 - 849,514,996. And at midnight, you will receive a maximum security call from a secure number. Unlike the calls the others will receive, but instead; you will also be given instructions, after you have given your own password. Night Fury. And if it’s the last thing you remember, you need to remember that password. From it’s use on the phone to a later choice you must make. Just two words.

NIGHT. FURY.”

“Yes.” He replied. And then something seemed to hit him in the face. “Eyepatch? Why would I need an eyepatch?”

Bong

“Oh yes, you’re going to cut out your own eye.” She replied.

Bong

“What?” The rest of us said collectively. While I saw, out of the corner of my eye, the Luteces stood behind Cordelia and I.

Bong

“Yes, Patrick. You’re going to cut out your eye.”

Bong

“Not you, exactly. Although one mistake will cause that.” She smirked.

Bong

“Even though I told you not to, you’re still curious.” She raised her hand to Patrick’s side.

Bong

“A whole night of weirdness. A hypnosis, strange gifts. But the thing that takes your interest the most.”

Bong

“Is a diamond.”

Bong

“And even at the age of 24. Almost an adult. You still hold that childlike factor of curiosity.”

Bong

“You will find a stray hand, and a knife in a pocket can be the downfall of even a smart man’s vision.”

Bong

“And you, will find your destiny. Chronos.”

Bong

“At the stroke of midnight.”

Bong

-1st of March. Midnight.-

And before we could do anything, Elizabeth tapped Patrick’s pocket, with his hand in it. As I saw him cringe in pain. And then things became… Dark.

He took out his hand, now with the emerald in hand. With a freaky glow spreading up his entire body. As he screamed.

And boy did he scream.

It was like a cat on a blackboard, he was in agony. Falling onto the floor as a knife fell out of his pocket. Josh began to stir.

“Get away from my friend, you bitch!” He screamed, steaming towards him.

“No, Joshua. She’s saving all of us.” Rosalind interrupted as Elizabeth began a chant while Patrick clasped his face with his brightly glowing hands.

“God of Justice and Chaos hear my words and see my actions.

I am Elizabeth Lutece and I beckon you to break the curse through your equal!

Five Score broken by Four

Your memories returned, your body restored!

Your glory will return to all,

Soul and body united in the world of the small!

Reunite the six, the chaos transfixed!

Your mind will return, the gods trust you’ll earn!

Remember everything, empower the dragon.

We have won, now foul curse BEGONE!”

And then…

Boom.

Except… Not boom.

It was a wash over all of us. An eerie green blast emanated from him, blowing my hair back and sending me, Elizabeth and Cordelia away a couple of inches. It felt like something had just smacked us in the everything. And while it didn’t affect the rest of us in the room. It just kept going. Building up velocity as it left the house and kept going. It was not as I expected, it felt almost.

Nice.

But it wasn’t over. Patrick was clasping his eyes, as I think (if my eyes weren’t deceiving me.) His hair grew about an inch. And he settled down.

“Elizabeth?” He said in a smooth cold voice. “Am… Am I alive?”

Elizabeth gasped for joy. And raised Patrick off the ground.

“How long has it been?” He asked. Raising his head up and keeping his eyes closed.

“25 years. And yet, you remain. I have kept your armor in perfect condition.” She replied handing Patrick the crown. And as he touched it… It changed. The metal shaped and morphed, changed colour.

To become an all too familiar shape.

“Ahh. It feels natural.” He said, rolling the ‘s’ like a snake. “Where is the rest of my League?”

Elizabeth turned to us as did Patrick, now opening his eyes.

“Such odd forms. Nomatter. They will not last long.” He slithered.

“Patrick. What the fuck are you talking about-”

“QUIET MORTAL! Do you know who I am?” He yelled. As now… I noticed his eyes. Light blue. Cat-like. And satanic to the core. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t.

He opened his mouth and my fear was confirmed.

“I am NIGHTMARE MOON. AND I HAVE RETURNED TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING!”

There was a moment of silence and fear. We didn’t know how to react. Had Patrick gone mad… Was it more of the hypnosis? Or was it… Genuine?

“What did you do to him Elizabeth?” I yelled. Clenching my fists.

“Chrysalis? My dear sweet Changeling! Is that you?” He asked, almost crying with joy as he approached me.

“What are you-”

“Oh dear, hair’s a little more saggy, if that’s even possible, and I miss the cheeselegs. Nomatter, all changes can be corrected.” He said, pulling at different areas of my face. Before staring at me deep in the eyes.

“Have no fear, Hannah.” Elizabeth said, out of my sight. “He’s just flipped into Nightmare Moon. He’ll be fine in a bit. He’s just redeveloped a split personality.”

“Redeveloped?” Cordelia yelled, practically cowering in fear.

“Yes. Long story, I expect that you don’t remember too much my dear.” He pressed a finger against my forehead. “Oh yes, memory loss is common in this curse. But you’ll remember soon enough.”

“What are you TALKING ABOUT?” I yelled, to be completely ignored by him as he directed attention back to Elizabeth.

“Tear? My scar of time is missing. Does it disappear through the curse or-”

“No, the scar is still there my Queen. Just on the inside. But if you wish, you can…” She indicated to the knife.

“Oh yes… I’ve grown to love that scar. As will… What’s this boy’s name again?”

“Patrick… Patrick Taylor.” Cordelia said, with the biggest disbelief. To get a look of confusion and disgust from the man in question.

“Such an odd name. Too generic. But I think… Patrick… Will enjoy a little change I make to his… Vision.” He picked up the knife, and pressed a button to flick it out.

I thought of what was going to happen, and lept forward to try and stop him. Only to be restrained by the Lutece behind me.

“Don’t. He needs to do this!”

“Get off me! I need to stop him!” I yelled. As Patrick smiled at me. Josh and Cordelia were also being restrained. Trying to stop what we knew was going to happen.

“Such… Bravado from you all. Even after all of this. But remember. Change is inevitable! For better and worse.” He spoke with clean tongue, bringing the knife up to the bloodshot eye.

“I have returned, and will return more over time. And now… My empire of glory.” He brang the knife up.

“My rise to bring justice.” The knife shone in his hand.

“Begins.” Fuck… He’s actually going to do it.

“With scars… And BLOOD!”

Plunge.

The knife in the dead of the eye. Blood spurting out slower than usual. He opened his mouth and let out a silent scream. As the actual scream came from Cordelia.

He grabbed the knife, and dragged it down his face. Groaning and yelling as it tore through the skin, the muscle, the flesh. And inevitably… Bone.

I couldn’t watch, yet I couldn’t not watch, it was like Boris Johnson. Final yells emanated from him as he struggled with the knife. Seeing his eye bulging in his socket as the knife pushed on it. Pushing and pushing, further and further, more blood as the inevitable happened.

*Snap*

“WAAAAAAGH!”

He screamed in agony as the bloody round object burst out of his skull, hit a mirror and fell onto the ground right in front of me. As Patrick finished creating a scar in his face. I saw the object staring back at me. Surrounded in shreds of flesh, arteries, nerves and skin.

A small, round, human eye.

My gut gave out as Patrick looked to me, throwing up on the vile object on the ground. I stared into him, with vomit on my lips. To see the large, gaping hole bored directly into his face. With blood dripping everywhere.

“Jesus Christ… FUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKME-” Josh yelled, closing his eyes in terror as Patrick started… Laughing.

He laughed and laughed, satanically. He’d lost it. I’d lost it. We’d all lost it. I wanted the night to end so badly at that moment. I just wanted to be home. I couldn’t bare it! I started to feel dizzy and tired.

Patrick dropped the knife. And fell to one knee in a pool of his own blood. I heard another sound as Cordelia started to fall to the ground too.

“I trust… You have prepared for this… Mister and Misses Lutece?” Patrick asked, as Elizabeth now began to fall to the floor. The Luteces nodded, as they went over to a rocking Josh.

“Get up, Joshua.” Rosalind ordered, slapping Josh in the face. “You will need to take your friends home! Use Patrick’s car.”

Patrick reached into his pocket and pulled out a key which he threw to Rosalind. While Robert came back with a few pillows.

“Is this supposed to happen?” Patrick asked Elizabeth, who promptly nodded, as my eyelids became heavy and difficult to open. What was going on? Was it the wine? It must have been the wine.

“Queen Nightmare Moon, you will be fine. Tomorrow. You will… Return… To your… Glory…”

Robert placed a pillow behind me, before putting one behind the others. I wanted to cry. I wanted it to be over. I wanted to die. I wanted to sleep. As my fatigue made it even more difficult to keep myself conscious. I knew I would have to succumb to it. I was remembering constantly as I looked around me… Blissful Love, Blissful Love, Blissful Love.

It was time. I fell back into the pillow behind me. Succumbing to the fatigue finally. It was time. But I still heard a weak voice from Elizabeth.

“Tomorrow… Tomorrow… The Five will unite… I am… Happy…”

Sleep.

In a house of scars and blood.

Author's Note

Finally got to the first night! Now the plot will start to find it's hinge. If you are wondering about the weirdness of Elizabeth; she will become more understandable later in the story.
'Counter Curse' FiveScore made up by me... Its use will also be explained later.

Also, any of the eagle eyed will notice the references to the last of the League I will add in through Elizabeth's dialogue... Cookie going to anyone who spots who it is.

Credit to Dusk Writer for editing again.

Sorry Guys

This goes out to the guys who have been following the story, and those expecting something to end the hiatus. I'm afraid I'm going to be cancelling this story, for lack of interest nowadays (and frankly some better ideas popping up). I'll be putting up the last two chapters I've written, that have been left eversoslightly unedited, as well.

Sorry to leave it so untriuphant, but that's how a majority of the 5Score stuff has turned out, and I'm sorry this has ended up like some of the other rabble.

I hope to make some better writing for you guys to enjoy in the future.

-Zeydaan.

Part 1: Chapter 11: Dawn of the Second Day

“Hello?” said Darius Jem.

I could only stare back at him, “Hi… Hi Darius.”

He stood back and shifted casually, “Well, as much as I would like to stay outside on your roof, I’m actually quite cold… Could you let me in?”

I stood awkwardly, and thought at a rapid speed. Nightmare gave the impulse of not letting him in, but that would only make him suspicious. If someone was hiding something from Darius, usual order was that he would end up with what he wanted one way or another.

“Discuss with him in your usual manner, If you are to discuss anything other than matters regarding ‘life’ or ‘birthdays’, lie.”

I snapped to attention, and began to smile. Although keeping it slightly annoyed, as I would be if someone I knew was trying to get into my house at half an hour past midnight.

I sped walked to the french window, and threw it open.

“Normal way of continuing, hold him up and ask why he’s here.”

“Why are you here? It’s half past nothing in the fucking morning,” I shouted, keeping it a tad down to stop waking any of the others from waking up.

“I was busy today, and I couldn’t miss your birthday for the life of me!”

I coughed and alerted him to the time once more, “may I remind you, half past nothing on May the Second. You missed my birthday by forty-five minutes.”

“Good, keep humor high and make it seem like he’s the problem, it’ll keep the heat off you and the scar for another few-”

“Nice scar, by the way! You do realise that halloween isn’t for a good few months now,” he said, strolling past me to reach one of the bedside sofas.

I waited a moment and closed the door. It pained me that I was essentially locking myself in a room with a man who could possibly be a problem larger than even Nightmare Moon.

Either he was a master of deception and I was being a moron for even allowing him inside, or he could just be trying to be nice for my birthday. Where not letting him in would have betrayed the trust of a valued childhood friend.

I set myself a challenge, if I could find something, any little thing that could mean that he is actually a problem, after he left I would cease all forms of communication with him, run as fast as I could and make sure that we never met again. If I see no such thing, I would keep in contact, he may have been useful in keeping Nightmare in check.

But considering that it was late at Night, and I had no understanding of the situation or allegiance of him at the moment, I decided to leave out any details of Dimensia or Nightmare Moon for now.

“Yeah, I know. Hannah was taking up a course in filming and makeup and wanted to test out on me. But she used too much adhesive, now I can’t get the bloody prosthetic off my face.”

He smiled and nodded, “I have to give her credit though… That scar is pretty impressive. If you walked down the street with me, people would be saying ‘he’s pretty badass, oh look, that other guy has a scar,’.”

I snorted truthfully, that was actually pretty funny.

“And the red eye? I assume that’s a contact lens.”

“Yup. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He smirked, took off his glasses and slid back slightly. “How’s life?”

“Life? I’d say it was good,” I replied, although a bit too quickly.

It seemed to go over his head, “I mean, you had a freaking school reunion and I had five council meetings telling us how UKIP still want more power to a bunch of racists and how the Tories want to convert all council houses into velodromes.”

“Well, good to know that politics hasn’t changed from the early two-thousands.”

He smiled, “I’d like to change the system, you know I would. But no matter what I do I’m upsetting someone high up in the government. It’s strangely ironic, there’s no-one with more power than me other than the queen and yet it’s the bloody aristocrats who still have all the power.”

“Well you bought me this house and constantly use taxpayers money for your own means, so by your logic: You have all the power.”

He laughed, “Very clever. Very clever indeed.”

I changed the subject, “So, other than that, yesterday was great.”

“Really, how so?”

“Fuck, dead end.”

No it wasn’t, “I met David Tennant!”

Darius blinked, “Don’t lie. No way.” I adjusted my look towards him and raised an eyebrow. He quickly got the message, “No WAY! I didn’t know he was around the area. Now I’m really jealous, where did you see him?”

“Just at the school, turns out that going there wasn’t such a bad idea. It just happened to be pure luck that I met him! Friendly guy.”

He leant forward, “Did you get an autograph? C’mon, even I’d like a proper autograph from him.”

“Sadly, no, he was a little busy today, something about seeing a Doctor.”

“All he needed to do was look in the mirror then-”

“Ha! Good one.”

I checked the time, hoping that he would get the message that I didn’t want to talk to him. I think it flew over his head.

“Anyhow, I hope you got some good presents, I see that someone lucked out in the oriental department. I do hope that’s just ornamental.”

I had drifted off halfway, and lacked focus. Darius snapped his fingers twice in front of my face. “Hello? Ground control to Major Tom? What’s with the sword?”

Dragonbane lay on the nearby table like a giant slab of solid steel killjoy. I bluffed once more.

“It’s actually for a cosplay I’m working on, original character. I had that custom made to arrive today.”

“Do you mind if I?”

“By all means.” By no means actually, but I couldn’t just say no. Besides, if he ended up cutting himself on it I’d have him out of the house much quicker. I held back my emotions as he stood up and held the scabbard in his hands.

He knelt down, facing away from me and attempted to draw it in a manner a samurai would. But in a bizarre, and somewhat comedic fashion, the sword held its ground and his hand flew round and lodged his hand in one of the nearby draws.

“Jeese!” he yelled, pulling out his hand and nonchalantly closed the broken draw. He stared angrily at the sheathed greatsword. “That thing’s ruddy stiff. It it glued on or something?”

For all I knew, it was not. Earlier that day I had drawn it out of the scabbard like it was nothing. I was handed the sword and scabbard by him as he laughed.

“So is this just a scabbard or is there something in there? I mean, this craftsmanship of the guard is too exquisite for just a guard and scabbard, there has to be a sword in there.”

“Not that I know, it’s a little stiff,”

“AHEM-”

“Heard it as I said it,” I joked.

Darius smirked and looked more closely at the sword before glancing back at me. “Go on, have a go!”

“Sorry?”

“Have a go! Give it a few swings!”

I hesitated, thinking about if I actually drew the sword, if it had some sort of ‘chosen wielder’ shit. That would raise some questions.

“Are you sure? You’ve already broken one of my drawers. I doubt swinging a sword around would be good, especially at this time of night.”

“Yeah I’m sure, we could make a thing of it- go on! Give it a swing!”

I knelt down slightly, and pulled taut on the grip of the sword.

But nothing happened this time.

Strangely. Like the sword was now glued to the inside of the scabbard.

My mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, I definitely remember the sword coming out of the scabbard, I saw it the Night before when Josh cut himself, heck I even named it… Question was, why wasn’t it happening now?

“Darius, I think you should go… I’m really not in the mood for a visit right now,” I said, hopefully making him let me be.

“Aww, really? Why so, my boy?” he said with as much of a pout he could do with that jawline of his.

I decided to blurt out the blatantly obvious. “Because it’s half-past nothing in the Fucking morning.”

Then, his smile disappeared completely. To the point that one could assume that he would never smile from the frightening scowl that replaced it. It was a look that I had gotten only once or twice in my life before now. A look that meant either two things, I was in for a stern bollocking… Or I was royally screwed.

Judging by the events of Yesterday, I could assume the latter was true.

“Patrick… You do not know how… Disappointed I am.”

“Crap.” Nightmare and I thought simultaneously as one of his large hands forced me down upon the sofa.

He looked down upon me with a frightening gaze, his eyes locked into mine, as if to tear my soul right out just from a mere glance.

“From all the years I’ve known you… I knew that one day that you’d just… BECOME this. You don’t know how angry I am with you.”

This was not fucking good, not one single bit. I knew that he may react, but not THIS badly when he just figured it out. Maybe I should have kept myself hidden. Maybe he was about to do something horrible to me and Nightmare.

I felt her crawling for control, like a ravenous beast caged inside trying to tear open its bindings. Darius drew closer as I felt Nightmare about to release the full force of her power to protect us both. And I felt, that was exactly what was going to happen.

“I told you, Patrick… Don’t. Ever. Swear,” or so I thought.

“Wait, what?”

He continued to glare at me in the same way, with bitter distaste and disgust. “I said… Don’t swear. It may have been OK the day before yesterday, but now… I never want to hear any of those words pass by your lips again. Understand?” he shouted, much to my surprise.

I felt a little more relaxed, but I didn’t let down my guard. I didn’t want to look too relieved that THAT was the only thing he wanted to address. So I did what he did, delved deeper. Perhaps this benefitted me as well. “Why?” I asked.

He tensed up his face and spoke a little louder, “The mark of a true and righteous leader is the ability to love and control his or her people. The mark of a callous and false leader is one who uses his people like weapons, and treating them with disrespect.”

“And swearing has something to do with it?”

“Swearing has everything to do with it. By one raising his voice denotes that he has no control of his people. He may as well be a working class citizen- You are not that. You are a gentleman!” He started painfully prodding me with his finger on his head. “I want that to stay in your head, young man. Foul language is something I cannot accept from you ever again- Understand?”

“I understand, I understand. Jesus-”

“That too!”

“It’s just a name!”

“Do you hear anyone use your name as an expression of annoyance?”

“No.”

“Exactly, so stop that.”

We shared an awkward stare for what seemed like ten minutes, when in reality only a few seconds had passed. He was looking deep, was he trying to get me to watch my language, or trying to suck out my fuc-, excuse me, soul?

“What do you mean by leader? You’re the only one with some form of power in this room.”

“Excuse me?”, well, the only one with political power in this dimension.

He raised his scowl into a sinister smile before it disappeared once more. His eyes moved from the sword, to my eyes and then to a watch that he concealed on his sleeve.

“As much as I would like to discuss this more with you… I feel that you were right. It is very early in the morning, my bodyguards wouldn’t like me gone for this long at this time of night.”

He dusted himself off before I could say anything else, then reached into his pocket. “You don’t mind if I use the front entrance? The guys wouldn’t like me to return with broken legs.” I nodded slowly as he continued to rummage around. He finally stopped and took out a small package, wrapped in marble-patterned paper and tied up with a black bow. He handed it to me casually and spoke under his breath. “If anyone asks, Starbucks never needed that money.”

He twisted around sharply, and began to walk with silent footsteps. He lowered the brightness of the lights in my room using the switch, then began to close the door.

“Happy Birthday,” he said before the door was shut.

Leaving me alone once more.

At least, physically alone.

“That meeting could have gone better,” said Nightmare sans-hesitation. I couldn’t agree more with her. I was way too suspicious and argumentative for just a friendly visit. And even though we were both tired, we were too questioning and angry with one another.

Also that outburst from Darius himself.

Considering the potential danger of the situation, I had never felt more terrified to see him angry at me. Even though it was for something as menial as watching my language… But what if it wasn’t? I had thought that he was aware of the whole thing, Elizabeth’s warning would have made sense then.

In order to keep my chances at maximum of surviving the next few days, I would need to make sure I did not see Darius much… Or even at all. He was a friend, but I could not trust him.

But I would need a miracle in order to explain what’s going on if Darius saw me when the changes became more… Physical. And seeing me again at all with the scar would make him suspicious.

Endless suspicions, endless thoughts about how either Darius or I could betray each other. But still remained the endless suspicions of the word ‘COULD’. He was a friend, but for how long could I say that?

He had done nothing violent, besides trying to get the sword drawn. And from what I could tell, there was nothing really that stated he knew exactly what was going on.

But the risk was still there, and it made me afraid… And tired.

I placed Darius’ package, after checking for hidden cameras, upon my bedside table before I took off my remaining clothes.

My routine that I would do kicked into motion, brush teeth, go to the loo, turn lights off.

The lights off revealed the moonlight once more. Now seeming more haunting than beautiful, my paranoia saw it as the eyes of the world around me. Seeing everything that I was and would eventually become. I wouldn’t have minded if the moon slammed down into the earth and killed me.

“I’m going to take note of that one,” I did not take in her comment. For now I just needed to sleep.

I took in no distraction or nuance of difference. Not even the clothes on the floor would stop me from crashing onto the bed.

I pulled the covers over and shut my eyes tightly.

Sleep took me without my realisation, as I fell into the dark void of mysteries.

“Are you sure? This doesn’t seem like the sort of place we could find it-” A voice echoed, becoming more visible by the second.

“My dear, do not fret. My sister was crafty, she would always do the most unexpected things in my youth. I would not be surprised if she had hidden it in this very place,” a familiar voice replied and I moved towards it. At least, I felt myself moving towards it an an uncomfortable pace.

“Then what shall we be looking for my queen?”

“Hope, what have I told you about that title?”

“You are not a Queen until-”

“Yes, I am not a Queen until a certain miss Solar Flare decides to move her fat arse off the throne.”

“Thank you… Nightmare Moon… It won’t happen again.”

By now, my vision had cleared, allowing me to see the landscape around the two figures… Nightmare Moon herself, in full clad armor, and a small golden Pegasus I had only seen once before... During the second dream with the League Of Darkness.

The two were walking, in the dead of the night, through the canyon I had seen many times in the show. It was a large Canyon that eventually led to the resting place of the Tree Of Harmony. It was apparent that the two were heading there for unknown reasons.

What baffled me at the moment however, was how in the dreams I had had before had me seeing events in a first person perspective… Whereas now, I was an unseen observer of events unfolding.

The Pegasus tripped and began to fall down the stairs, only to be caught in the telekinetic grasp of Nightmare. She scowled at the smaller and allowed her to begin flying. Flying with gentle flaps, less like a bird and more like a butterfly. The same way I remember Fluttershy doing on the show.

“Please stay alert, Hope… It could be anywhere.”

I again had no context or information as to what the two would have been looking for. But seeing as where they were going and the fact that there seemed to be remnants of what looked like plunder vines, I could guess what they were looking for.

However, things did not add up. In the show, when Twilight had to go to the tree of harmony to stop the plunder seeds, it was obvious in the show that they were swarming out of the entrance of the tree of harmony. Yet in this world, I did not see a single root other than the occasional one dangling off their bodies.

So why were they there?

The little one, which Nightmare called ‘Hope’ twinged and twitched, before grabbing her head in agony.

Nightmare’s eyes widened with excitement. “It’s close then!”

“Yes,” she put bluntly.

“So where is it? Is it behind one of these walls?”

“No… It’s…”

Hope’s eyes widened, before she flew off into the fog, leaving Nightmare Moon temporarily behind.

She searched around for the little golden pegasus, before eventually finding her outside an area of rock. This rock, however, seemed different from the others in the canyon. It was obvious that Nightmare could sense this too.

“It’s here,” said Hope with a voice as cold as the air around us.

Nightmare inspected the wall carefully, and I moved in to see the wall for myself as well, seeing that I could move on my own accord as well.

The rock was strange… From afar, one could not see it. But up close, one could see that among the moss, nooks and crannies, areas of the rocks were marked with perfect parallel lines in an archaic fashion. Nightmare knew exactly what it was.

“It seems that she’s trying to deceive us. This rock is a fake.”

Her horn flared into a bright glow and a force was created that instantly shattered the rock, leaving nothing but shrapnel littered on the ground and for the light to emit itself from the new opening.

“Be on your guard, Hope. That wouldn’t be the last of my sister’s trickery,” she chuckled as she stepped over some of the newly created gravel flooring. I followed the two into the cave, seeing no plunder seeds or welcoming blue glow from the tree of Harmony. Which was there, in the centre of the room.

Except, the tree looked dead. Not shrivelled or twisted like a normal tree, but like when the plunder roots were strangling the life out of it. Looking metallic and blackened with time and weakness. The lack of reaction from Nightmare Moon said that this was what they were expecting. Although the expression on Hope’s face said the contrary.

“Surprised, Hope?”

“Definitely… Nightmare… I always imagined the tree of Harmony as an embodiment of light. This is not what I expected.”

Nightmare laughed. “Yes, I’d imagine it’s not what YOU expect, but I can use this tree whether it be black or blue. Even in death it still has a function.” She turned to face the pegasus, “book please, Hope.”

The little one pulled a large, marked book out from the bag that I now saw that she had. The book seemed to be engraved with archaic runes and transcriptions, while looking like it was made out of several pieces of coloured parchment, hastily sown together, on the cover. Nightmare Moon grabbed it telekinetically and placed it directly in front of the tree.

“The tree of harmony responds to sacrifice using Harmony magic. Enough would allow it to awaken from its slumber, but for now we only need a fraction of its power. Knife please.”

Hope took a small, dark and very much sharp knife out and it, like the others, was held telekinetically.

“What are you doing?” asked Hope as Nightmare hovered it over her raised hoof.

“Alicorn biology is strictly bound to Harmony magic, we won’t need much for a harmonious transmutation, but I still need to create a sacrifice of blood.”

She swiped the knife across her hoof, making a small incision and cut. She showed no sign of pain as she tilted her hoof sideways in order for two drops of blood to fall, one onto a blank page of the book itself, and another to land on the ground between the book and the tree.

There were no other words spoken, the effect was immediate. The blood soaked up through the roots of the tree, its dark crimson showing through the glossy crystal of its bark, until the tree illuminated the rest of the room in a red glow. Nightmares eyes directed down to the open book, which began to rise up, taking on more of the glow, before starting to shine with a cyan light.

Nightmare now began to speak, in a manner of almost a chant.

“Occultum Deus , exaudi verba mea

Utere fer mundum et ego ducam te ad scientiam victimæ!”

A rumble around them started, causing the tree to almost pulsate with unholy energy.

“Saecula fracto vitam fracta .

Educ de tenebris ad rem.

Iustitiae tibi do facultatem voluntatis.

Et sic facies eam : Scriptum!”

The air around the book pulsated, spinning, unfaltering at an increasing speed. Until an ominous light shot out from the centre of the pages, spinning around like a snake, wrapping around and then plunging back into the pages themselves. Acting like a disembodied pen, it engraved and scribed onto the large pages.

The speed and skill of this pen was beyond belief, truly an act of pure magic. It only increased in speed as it seemed to draw to the end.

It ended abruptly, with the book slamming shut. Falling onto the ground with a slam, shaking the ground around us.

They approached the book slowly, seeing it now completely still.

“Was that it?” asked Hope, reaching for it with her hoof. Nightmare stopped her calmly.

“It is as complete as we need it to be. The book itself is resonating Chaos.”

“Will we be able to understand it now?”

“Undoubtedly.”

She raised the book with her magic, cautiously opening it to the first of the new pages.

The newly created text and images wrapped around like a matrix, runes and scripts forming into lines and circles, illuminated slightly with a green glow. That glow faded as she read. A snake-like smile growing on her face.

“Oh, my dear subject… We are going to do such wonders with this.”

Hope bowed down graciously and fearfully.

“But… My Queen… What is this?”

Nightmare Moon smiled, closed the book and held it close to her body. “The tree of Harmony has accepted my wish, and it shall be done… With this spell… We will find the centre of reality.”

Those last words I heard weighed down on my like an ocean of syrup. A sickening laugh erupted from her, calm as it was vicious. But that was the laugh she used when in control of me. I felt sickened, violated, confused. Everything seemed to agree around me.

The dream distorted and warped, tearing up into shreds, revealing a blackened room.

I collapsed onto the floor of the room, trying to cope under the stress.

But something seemed off.

Why would I feel the ground so vividly?

Why could I breath?

Was I awake?

Was this real life or a dream so lucid my brain is having me believe it was real life?

Is this real life or is this just fantasy-

The fact music started almost playing along around me confirmed my suspicion.This was a new experience.

I had already found out enough I needed to know, but why was I still dreaming? I guess I could have woken up by now, but why hadn’t I?

Was Nightmare Moon in control of me? I doubt it, since I still remain aware of what I am doing when she controls me…

At least, I hoped that was the case. I had only been aware of her being in my head for about a day.

I looked down at myself, to find myself wearing black clothes. No noticeable difference in my appearance so far.

I would expect that dreams would allow oneself to appear how they would want to appear. For now, until I imagined myself as a dragon, this was how I was going to appear.

The land I was in fascinated me, from the details of the surrounding area, I saw some slightly raised platforms. Lining the ground like a long wall. But these platforms seemed to be rising, becoming walls as I imagined it.

It seemed I had control of something at least, albeit subconsciously.

I wasn’t going anywhere, but I felt a little lonely. It was quite quiet. No sound, not even the rush of air. The closer I concentrated on the silence, the louder I heard my own sounds, with the eerie lack of any kind of Echo.

There was no motif, no sound nor vision. Ironically, the place where people have the most chaos was probably the calmest place I had been to in a while. I did not need time, I could just sit here contemplating the silence.

I would enjoy the isolation of dreams and-

Wait, did I say that?

Was I just about to just remain in a dream?

If the Matrix or Bleach told me anything, remaining in the dream would not help me both physically or mentally. And again, I had little idea what was happening in the outside world.

One thing was for certain, I had become too relaxed in this state. I had learnt all I needed to learn tonight, yet leaving me a little more confused. I just needed to get out.

But the trouble was how.

How would I get out?

Could I even escape?

What if I was trapped here anyway?

“This is a world of walls,” a voice spoke. One that I had never heard before. But its voice was rich, masculine and… Looming.

“What do you mean?” I yelled to the abyss.

The abyss spoke back. “This is a world of walls, divisions. It is inescapable.”

That hit to home, I screamed out to it. “Then why taunt me? Is that you Nightmare Moon?”

The abyss did not reply to my question, it continued as if it never heard me.

“Walls cannot be escaped. Walls are everywhere, whether it be the ones you see around you. Or the ones that you cannot see.”

“That makes sense,” I mumbled sarcastically.

“Young boy, do you know the truth?” it said, louder than I had heard it before.

“Truth is an illogical concept, one man’s truth is another's lie,” quoting some philosophical babble.

“You obviously do not.”

“Then tell me, what is this truth I seek then, oh mighty Abyss?”

There was a pause, it did not reply for a while. But it returned, sharply.

“When all your questions are answered, and when you can then give the answers to the questions of others… You will have the Truth.”

“I get your vague message, but that doesn’t actually make sense.”

Then it did something that made me shiver. It simply chuckled.

But with the tone of voice and volume that the abyss had, it seemed all the more dark and disturbing to me.

It chuckled at my ignorance, it was mocking me.

“Who are you?” I yelled finally.

“You will know when you answer his calling.”

“What?”

“You have piqued his interests. You should feel proud. The truth will present itself when he comes to greet you.”

Something felt off now, as if someone was pulling on my head with a fishing line. This force only increased, never faltering. I appeared to be waking up. I had to take advantage of the time I had with the Abyss. Who knows if I was to meet it again?

I spoke to it, trying to locate where the source of the voice was. “What is the truth? Who is he?”

The world continued to brighten, the pull was now out of my control. But I heard the last thing that it said to me.

“You’re on your way… Do not fall. If you do… Then the truth will be lost, and we shall all pay the price.”

His repetitive use of the pronoun game was annoying me. I couldn’t get a grip on the world, if only I had slightly more time in that hell. But it was lost now.

I was going back to consciousness. With the smell of…

Bacon?

“Why do I smell Bacon?” I said as a disembodied voice inside my own head.

“I’m cooking it, what do you expect?”

Nightmare’s voice acted like an alarm clock. The vision I could see with my eyes was blurred and bright. But the smell of bacon was the first thing that hit me.

Another thing was that somehow my muscles hurt, like the ache after a good session of exercise. But I hadn’t exercised in a while. And I doubted that the transformation had anything to do with muscles.

“You’re persistent aren’t you?” she said, mockingly.

“Why are you frying bacon?” I asked with my mind.

“In your mind, it’s one of your favourites. I wanted to have this experience for myself… In our culture, it is rare for a pig’s meat to be used culinarily. I found your interest of Long Crendon Back Bacon intriguing. From just the smell, I can tell why you like this. The smell of caramel was strong.”

It was a delicious smell, admittedly, and I’m glad that’s all she had done in my unconsciousness.

I could see properly now, to see the sharp light of the spring sun.

“I thought it was all ‘eternal night’ with you, what gives with the sun.”

“As much as I would like to, my magic is still quite limited in this form at the moment. You won’t be seeing any moonrises in the next few days.”

“That’s nice to know, what’s the time right now?”

“It just turned 8:00. I hope you had a nice sleep.”

“Are the others up?”

“Joshua went out to ask for a leave at his job. He says he needs time off, as for the others, they haven’t shown their faces yet.”

Hold on, if it was only eight, where did the long crendon come from? Last time I checked, I was all out of bacon.

“Where did you get the bacon? Also, HOW?”

“You were asleep and I took advantage of the time of night. What’s wrong?”

“The only place to get that stuff is from Newitts in Thame, that’s over 13 miles away. Are you telling me that you ran to Thame, broke into a shop and stole some bacon?”

“Yes, with my limited magic, what else was I to do?”

The pain in my legs and arms seemed to make sense now.

“Did you have to sprint? What else did you do?”

Nightmare Moon laughed nervously.

I could not read her, but I asked anyway.

“Did… Did you kill someone again?”

She continued to cook the bacon in a similar way that I would do it.

“Well, don’t expect that breaking into somewhere won’t cause any trouble. It was better than you being in a jail cell right now… Although we could probably easily get out of there, I doubt that you want to gain any more attention from Darius.”

Shoot. She didn’t- she couldn’t… Actually, she probably would-

“Nightmare Moon. Tell me this honestly. Did you just kill a police officer to get some bacon?”

Nightmare Moon did not answer, she only displayed the images from her eyes.

The way the police officer spotted us.

The way he ran after us.

The was he ran into us.

The way he tried to call to his comrades.

The fear in his eyes.

The fear in all of their eyes.

The way they ceased to be.

And I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was innocent… But had falling asleep made me guilty?

She killed several police officers.

Potentially one school boy, that would make me a wanted man.

Two or more armed men, that would make me a fugitive.

But the fact ‘I’ had just killed three police officers… I was right and royally screwed.

I couldn’t even look at that bacon, as much as I loved it. But my eyes still held strong, Nightmare was trying to get them properly cooked.

“You sicken me, Nightmare… One day, I’m gonna make you pay.”

“I doubt that. I outclass you. And since I’m in this body, any harm to me will also be to yourself. I doubt that your family would be happy of a suicide.”

“Better than knowing that their son is turning into the pawn of some psychotic serial killer.”

“And we’re back to square one are we? I don’t have time for this, the bacon’s ready.”

I was furious, but I still had to be sure.

“Ok, Nightmare. I’ll happily deal with your psychotic outbursts, but did anyone else see you?”

“I like to make a spectacle, how are my subjects supposed to know of my return?”

“But did they see MY FACE?”

There was a pause, affirming the worst, if people recognised me from murdering 3 police officers I would be done for, even if I somehow escaped Nightmare’s clutches, I would not be free from her impacts.

“No. It would have been too dark. I moved also too fast for them to see me. Also, your bland choice of clothing doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”

She turned off the heat from the pan, then began to levitate the bacon towards some pre-prepared toast, making what looked like a delicious sandwich.

“I doubt I can trust you to have unsupervised control of my body again.”

“That would require you to have 24/7 watch over yourself. You wouldn’t be able to sleep… Nor learn anything about me or Chronos' past.”

“Better that than risking anything from you.”

“Fine. But you’ll fall behind on some important history lessons. Some more important than others.”

I spoke spitefully, “I hate history. What matters now is keeping hold of myself and keeping you in line. Not what you or whomever this ‘Hope’ is.”

“Oh, I forgot, you did learn something tonight, what was it?”

“You and a pony called hope using the tree of harmony to create something to get to the center of reality.”

“I still remember that like it was yesterday. Happy times.”

“Did you eventually find the center of reality?”

Nightmare scowled and expressed using my arms.

“What do you think?” she said out loud, using my body. Allowing me to notice the slightly more feminine tone she used in my voice now.

Luckily it seems she didn’t want to ask about other things, bringing up the abyss would not be something I would like to discuss with her. She was too focused on the Bacon sandwich.

Luckily for me, I could still use my taste buds, so I received every succulent flavor and texture.

The saltiness of the oil mixed in with the sweetness of the meat, the sharp flavor of the ketchup to mix in with the oily butter and the smooth white bread.

It was common for me to eat this stuff, but today I could feel new flavours. A bitter tang from the flesh, the wateriness of the uncooked parts tasted fresh and exquisite. The deep cooked parts still had the taste of something. I couldn’t put my finger on it… It was rich, iron-y, smooth and…

Blood… It tasted like blood.

My mind instantly went to the blood that was pointlessly spilt in order for Nightmare to have this Small Breakfast. I felt like spitting it out, but Nightmare relentlessly continued to expose me to the delicious flavours.

It was obvious that she was enjoying these flavors for an entirely different reason. She was a lion tasting fine penguin for the first time. It would be familiar to her, but the experience would be new. She was obviously in bliss.

She laughed. “This is delicious! A true delight.”

She scoffed the rest of it greedily down like a hungry dog. “Tell you what… I would have made it hard for you to survive without any sleep. But if you can keep introducing me to things like this, whether it will be meat or other- Then I will try to make it easier for you to keep awake.”

“I don’t think I can take your word for it.”

“Last night, I did let you explore some of my own memories, and I am in as much control of you as I was last Night. No unfair gain of control was done yesterday.”

“And here we are with the blood of three innocent men on my hands.”

“The bargain never said anything about what I could do with your body when you were asleep. And also, if we keep on those three men, then we won’t get anything done. I thought you said you hate history. So play your part and stop bringing up the past.”

“Could I have my body back please?”

“Nothing much is happening, so sure-”

The force exerted in our transfer was more apparent now, I felt being launched into the drivers seat, causing me to reel back in my seat. But the process was mercifully quick. Allowing me to raise my hands willingly.

“Thank god,” I said, noticing my voice now at it’s normal pitch.

I heard the sound of someone entering through the door behind me. It was David.

“Morning… You sleep well?”

He blinked twice. “Is that Patrick or Nightmare I’m speaking to?”

“Patrick, thankfully. You just caught us, do you want any breakfast?”

He raised his hand and shook his head. “I’ll wait for the others, I’m just wondering if there’s any changes of clothes? Being knocked out in a coffee shop kinda got my usual ones in a mess.”

Looking at him, I could see that obviously.

“Downstairs there should be a washing machine, I’d suggest popping those in and grabbing some clean ones from down there.”

“Thanks, you wouldn’t mind?”

“No, not at all, In fact I’d be honored.”

“Don’t push it,” he said dryly when leaving the room.

I sat up and cleared the plate away. I thanked the fact the dishwasher was empty to Nightmare Moon. Thankfully the pony I was turning into wasn’t a slob…

Which did remind me, I needed to check up on myself, to see any changes that had occurred.

I carefully went to the bathroom upstairs, which had the largest mirror. I grabbed my ‘morning after’ pad and began to take notes on the next page.

“Report on Physical Body

Date: 02/05/2020 (2nd of May 2020)

Things to note:

Due to the effects of Dimensia, body is going under a state of Metamorphosis, changes appear to be subtle for now- Split Personality emerging and mild ability to tap into non-scientific forces, dubbed ‘Magic’.

Adjustments to previous day:

Tattoo is permanently marked into skin, effect due to Dimensia.

Right Eye has been regrown with dominant red pigment.

Large scar has hardened diagonally across eye. No impairment to vision.

Physical Changes:

Coccyx is pressing against skin, possible signs of potential growth. Further observation needed.

Head hair has now grown, seeing reduction in facial and pubic hair.

Faint hints of blue pigment in some areas of hair.

Skin seems more tough, less flexible to touch. Further observation required.

Ears shows reduction in size.

Forehead shows physical strain, potential for growth needs to be observed.

Study continues.”

“You notice a lot of things in these studies.”

“It helps to know things that people wouldn’t really notice. Did you feel any of these when you were awake last night?”

“I did, but I guess I was too caught up in the moment to notice.”

It was either that or the changes were so subtle that one wouldn’t notice.

What are you talking about?

Who is Chronos?

You’re blade is dull and weak, much like the god who made it.

The void will claim you.

Wake UP-

My power comes from the moon.

???’s Story

I looked across the sand that stretched expansively across the horizon. It seemed never ending. But that did not stop the search of Kennedy or Roondar. The ferryman remained perfectly in place, he had just seen what all of us were capable of… Bar myself.

No-one should have to see what I am truly capable of yet.

The others were looking for those who had dropped the items that we should require. The sigil I still held, we weren’t going anywhere until I deemed us to do so.

Kennedy was of course looking for his spiked chain that was still embedded in the skull of some poor morsel he decided was unworthy of life. I however, had different motives.

That lunatic said that it would be here… The second part of the Zahtiid, one that reverberates with the scabbard and resonates with the first. Xemnas Philistine wanted it for himself. I was going to claim it for my own and take its power.

I knew I was just a link in the chain, but if I did this, then he would benefit, as would I… Only I could know what the Zahtiid could do.

But just my luck, I picked it up on my senses. It was close, I could feel it.

After what seemed like an hour of searching, the wastelands seemed every larger, while littered with bodies too-and-fro. It was only near the tallest mound of bodies that I felt my prize drawing ever closer.

The others weren’t looking, only the mage was nearby. He would not be a problem if he found out my intentions. Judging by how things have gone, they might’ve ended up helping me achieve what I want.

And there it was… The object I had been searching for.

What may have seemed like an ordinary weapon, it was however, so much more.

In my hands, it would give me such great power… In his, even more.

I took the blade, it’s beautifully woven handle to compliment the ferocity of its deadly white blade.

“Kage… I hope you can hear me…” I spoke coldly, grasping the Katana in my left hand. Placing my broadsword upon my back once more.

The power of it coursed through my veins. I did not know how to use it, but I felt it best to place the blade away before I transform for the first time. Especially in front of them.

“For now… I am your vessel…”

The blade clicked into its new found scabbard on my side.