Through the portal

Through the portal

Chapter 7

Bonding/How Equestria was made

I heard a voice. It was low and hard to hear, but it was at least something. The complete darkness around me, got broken by a blinding grayish light. I tried to raise my hand to cover my eyes, but found that I could not. The light came closer and closer, while I was even unable to blink. The voice continued to speak to me, until it finally got close enough for me to understand it.

“Do you accept the bond?”, it asked me in a pleasant tone of voice.

“What bond?”, I wanted to know. I had no idea what this voice meant.

A face appeared in the light. The face of a mare with gray coat and an eye-patch over her left eye. She shook her head, as if to tell me that there was no time to explain. I did not know it then, but I knew what she meant as if we were one and the same, because that was exactly the case. This mare.... Octavia.... wanted to save my life....

But what had happened? Why was there any need to save me in the first place? I could not remember. All I knew then, was that I could trust her. Whatever she had in mind, it was in my own interest to listen to her. This in mind, I agreed to what she called “the bond”. It did only take the fraction of a second, but I saw her muzzle show a smile, before I was enveloped in that gray light. The darkness around me cleared, and my eyes shot open.

As they did, I found myself in a bone crushing embrace and I heard someone sobbing. I couldn't see much, since there was dark green fabric in front of my eyes. Something was pressed against the right side of my head, as well as the front and back of it. It was soft, warm and not unpleasant at all, but it hindered my breathing. It was then, that I realized that I could hear a heartbeat, and suddenly I knew what was happening, and what had happened to me.

“Hey! No breast-choking, thank you very much!”, I joked, as I broke free from Janes arms. She looked at me, her eyes brimming with tears, the front of her green shirt drenched in blood. It didn't take me long to realize that this was my blood. I got hit. I should have been dead, but I wasn't.... Octavia had saved me. But where was the mare? I could not see her anywhere.

“If you are looking for me, do not worry yourself, I am here.”, I heard her voice inside of my head.

“What?”, I asked, and everyone in the vicinity looked at me as if I was crazy. It must have really looked like I was loosing my marbles, when I span around and looked for Octavia.

“No need to talk aloud. I can hear your thoughts. How are you feeling?”

“I... I guess I'm fine, but where are you?”, I asked.

“I am inside of you. Try to touch the place where you got hit.”

I did as I was told, and felt a patch of fur where there should have been naked skin. It covered exactly the place where I had been shot, and the bullet had taken a part of my neck out. Jane just stared at me in silence. She was obviously in shock at my sudden recovery.

“I will explain everything to you later. For now, I think it is time for some payback, don't you think?”

“You bet your fur!”, I snickered.

I was amazed at all the knowledge I suddenly had at my disposal. It was as if each and every memory in Octavias mind, had been copied into my own. I could remember her foalhood, and the day she got her cutiemark.... But there was something much more interesting.... MAGIC!

Before Jane, or any other bystander, could react, a nasty grin spread on my face as I grabbed my shotgun off of the ground. I pumped it once, before vanishing into the ground. It was a strange feeling, when the ground beneath me suddenly was as easy to penetrate as air. I could feel the metal plates slip through my body, but it did not freak me out as much as it excited me. I could feel Octavias and my own eagerness to get back at that bastard that had shot me. It was almost too much to handle, without breaking out into insane laughter.

I reappeared just in front of the door to the bridge. The soldiers that had barricaded themselves there, did not see me coming. I intended to keep it that way. They would never see what had hit them. Dropping my Shotgun, I grabbed to the belt of one of the soldiers that was crouching right in front of me, and took his knife.

“Hold your fire, or you might hit her!”, I heard Twilight order her troops.

The soldiers did not understand what Twilight meant, until the one whose knife I had taken, fell to the floor with hit throat slit open. They turned around and started to open fire, but it was no use. There were six of them, all of them using the standard MP5 of the guardsmen. The bullets went through me, just as my body had went through the floor seconds earlier. The knife flashed through the air, trailing a small tail of gray smoke behind it. It's blade flashed in the artificial light of the corridor, before splitting the unlucky soldiers head in two.

It was a massacre, and I did not go easy on any of them. It may have been over quickly, but the terror in their eyes haunted me for quite some time. I had never enjoyed killing, but at that moment, I did. I enjoyed their screams, their tears and the smell of their blood as it shot out of the wounds that I had inflicted on them. I practically bathed in it, when the vision in front of my eyes began to blur. My knees felt wobbly, as the knife clattered on the metal floor. I could see Jane run towards me, when I blacked out once again....

A few hours later

I could hear the beeping sound of a heart-rate-monitor as I came to. I did not open my eyes immediately. Instead I tried to gather where I was, just from the sounds around me and the smells that my nose picked up. It was a sterile smell, and except a low buzzing sound from somewhere under me, I could not hear much. Until I heard the ruffling of feathers and somepony taking a deep breath that was.

“I see your awake. That was quite the strain you put yourself through there. No creature has bonded with a familiar in over a millennium, and there is a good reason why we forbade it.”, I head Lunas voice call out to me. She sounded both nervous and angry.

I finally opened my eyes and saw her. She lay on the floor, next to the bed I ways laying in. What surprised me, was that the floor and walls where made out of metal. We certainly were not in the bunkers medical station. This was a fully equipped sick bay! I even saw an auto-doc in one corner of the room, it's robotic arm hanging lifeless from the wall.

“What... where...WHAT?”, I stammered, when I realized where I was.

“Shhh.... calm down, or you might wake her up.”, Luna hushed me, nodding to my right side. At first, I looked at the bed next to mine, but it was empty. Then my gaze went downwards, and I spotted Octavia who was curled up in bed beside me. Her neck was heavily bandaged and blood was seeping through at some places. Again my hand shot up to my own neck, where I felt the patch of fur that I had discovered earlier.

“What... happened?”, I asked confused.

“She has saved your life, as is her duty as your familiar. I had thought we had gotten them all, but I guess I was mistaken....”, Luna explained.

“What do you mean? Where you hunting them?”

“In a way, yes. But not to harm them. All we did, was permanently remove the enchantments that made them able to bond with other intelligent creatures. Over two thousand years ago, inter-dimensional-travel was pretty common. Some Ponies volunteered to undergo the familiar procedure. Celestia and I had originally invented it to make it easier to trade knowledge. Knowledge is the most valuable good here in Equestria, and we shared ours with visitors from other worlds. To make this process faster, and more efficient, we invented the familiar spell. The familiars would not only share their knowledge, but they would also receive the knowledge of their partner. In addition to that, each familiar was given special abilities, once they had bonded. One of them is to heal their partners injuries, by taking the wound upon themselves. It's basically a switching spell. If it is a flesh-wound, like yours was, then the exact place on her body would be switched with the one on yours. In this case, a part of her neck.”

“But why....”

“You must understand, that the multi-verse is endless. There are countless worlds and not all of the inhabited ones, house creatures that are as sturdy as we Ponies are. There are dangers in Equestria, and we did not want to cause a diplomatic incident, by having one of the diplomats die due to an injury that would be nothing too serious for a Pony. That is why we gave them this power. The active use of magic for Earth-ponies and Pegasi was also implemented because of that. A familiars duty is to protect his or her partner at all costs. There is a penalty, if a familiar refuses. It is all part of the enchantment that we placed upon them. They would suffer their partners fate, if they refused to help, but a little more intense. So if you were to get a near fatal injury because she did refuse to help you, she would die. If your were uncomfortable with anything and she did not help, she would feel miserable. But don't get me wrong. Familiars get something out of it as well. They get knowledge that nopony else has. They also heal faster, and become more resistant if they stay close to their partner. They even have the power of regeneration, as long as the contact is as close as possible. That is why we placed her in bed with you, and removed her wooden leg. Given the time, she will heal completely, and it is all thanks to the bond she now shares with you.”, Luna finished and sighed.

“Why did you forbid it then, and why are we still on that ship, instead of the bunker?”, I demanded, starting to stroke Octavias mane unconsciously. She sighed again, looking at the mare beside me, instead of my face.

“There was a war. Creatures from another dimension came over, and used the familiars against us. Thousands of Ponies died in that war, and not all of them fell due to the fighting. Many familiars died because they refused to raise a hoof against their peers. In the end, we defeated them, but Equestria was never the same after that. That is why we were reluctant to share our knowledge with your people, and that is why we got rid of all the familiars we could find. As for why we are still here... well... we captured the vessel, that is why. Your friend Frank said that he shut down all “outward channels and transponders”, even though I don't know what that means exactly. All I understood is, that it will make it harder for them, to track us down.”

“Track us down? Did you actually manage to start the ship? What about the Ponies in the generator room?”

“They were freed. Their positions are now taken by volunteers from Twilights forces. It has it's advantages, that she only accepts the most magical skilled Unicorns into her guard. So far they have been fine and take turns powering the ship. Jane and Frank are in the Control room, or on the Bridge as you might call it. They are organizing our efforts to hide the ship, and we have been successful so far. Right now, we are in muzzle-lake. Frank thought it was a good idea to sink the ship, after confirming it could actually be raised again, but it will not take long for them to notice that one of their ships is missing.”

I nodded. This ship was not so big, and it's role in a fleet was most likely quite unimportant, but it would still be missed. They might even have been aware that something was wrong, once Frank had cut all outward connections. My worries however, got interrupted as Luna looked into my eyes again.

“Since you will have to stay here for a while, for Octavias sake, how about I tell you a story to pass the time? It is a story nopony except myself knows in it's entirety.”

“Ehm... sure... I guess... I'm a little old for bedtime stories, but...”

“This is no bedside story... It is more of a history lesson. It is something you have to understand, if you want to live here in Equestria.”, she sighed, settling herself on the bed to my left to make herself more comfortable.

“As I told you, the multi-verse is endless. There are countless other Universes, some of which are inhabited by intelligent life forms. But everything must come to an end at some point. Every Universe dies, when it's time has come. It will collapse into itself and all the matter in it will be compressed in a spot, smaller and thinner then one of your hairs. Then it will explode, and the cycle will start again. But the life forms that are alive, when it collapses.... Their souls will wander the endlessness of the new Universe. Some call them ghosts, but they are really remnants of a previous cycle, that can only find rest once the next cycle starts. On the last cycle, there were billions of souls that started to roam the new Universe. A very few of them could feel and manipulate the energy of the universe. They remembered how they had lived before, and they wanted to live like that again. To achieve that goal, they started to gather dust particles from all over the place. They put them together, and started to spin the resulting lump of dust. With a bit of magic, they created a small gravitational field, and started to inhabit it.”

“So this is how Equestria was made?”

“No. This is how the Equestrian Moon was created. It took several million years, but the souls started to combine with each other. They started to form a single mind for themselves, and their new physical form, became the moon itself. At first the moon was happy, but after a while it got lonely and cold. The creatures that had formed it's mind, had been used to live in the sun. They yearned for it's warmth, and so they started the whole process of creating a heavenly body once again. This time they also collected several gases and other combustible materials, setting the newly formed star aflame. After linking it's fire to the energy of the universe itself, it could be sure that it's fire would never burn out. But... even though the moon was now warm and cozy, it was still alone. Then something amazing happened. The souls that had not helped in the creation of the moon, started to inhabit the sun, and the moon started to wait patiently. Several million years later, the sun had also developed one single mind. The two of them started to converse about many things, but the sun was unhappy. It knew that it's purpose was to bring life, and to share it's warmth with their creatures of the land.... But.... there was no land, and the moon itself was unable to support any form of physical life. Combining their magic, the two of them started to gather dust particles once again, forming a planet between them. Then they took every little atom of water, that they could get their hoofs on, and put it onto that new planet. The Atmosphere was artificial at first, but soon, after they had also gathered some organic materials, plants started to form. A natural atmosphere formed after some time, and now all they needed were living creatures. The two argued about that point pretty long, but then they decided to just let life run it's course. The current inhabitants of this planet, were the result of this natural evolution. Ponies, Dragons, Griffins, Diamond Dogs and others. But... then a disaster happened... Something the sun and moon had not foreseen, and it threatened to destroy their wonderful creation....”

“What happened?”, I asked, Octavia had snuggled up to me even closer now, while staying asleep. She obviously liked her mane being stroked.

“A doorway to another world opened up and a creature came through. That creature.... was Discord. He is parasite, that feeds of chaos and strive. The peaceful creatures of the land had absolutely no way to fight him, and his magic twisted their minds enough to start a war.... It was the darkest time there had ever been. The sun, dismayed at the development, started to deprive the world of it's warmth the worse their fighting got. The moon pleaded with the sun, to continue to share it's warmth with their innocent creations, but the sun did not listen. The moon tried to convince the sun that they had no fault in this, that it was Discord who was the one to blame... But her pleas fell on deaf ears. So the moon did something it did not want to do. It took control over the sun, forcing it to give it's warmth to the land below. The mental struggle between the two lasted for years, and the moon eventually won, but had been weakened greatly. When the sun tried to retaliate, the moon saw itself forced to use it's final option. It created two bodies on the world below, and ripped the suns mind from it's celestial body, forcing it in the newly created body. Shortly after, it followed, and inhabited the second body. The last thing, the moon did, before taking on a completely different name, was altering the suns memories.... She erased her sisters memories of the events, and made it seem like they had agreed on this. To this day, the moon feels about deceiving it's sister. In the end, the two of them defeated Discord, and started to rule over the land they had created. Just as a precaution, should they ever be unable to defend the Ponies of the land, or should Discord return the moon connected six gems to the power of the Universe.... You may know these, as the elements of harmony. They are to cleanse the target of everything that is not considered harmony in Equestria.”

There was a long silence, which was eventually broken when Octavia began to stir. She put her head on my chest, looking at the Princess.

“So what you are saying, is that you are not a Pony in all actuality. You are the moon itself, and the stars and other planets outside are all your creations? Are you telling us, that you are some kind of god?”, she asked, as politely as she could, and Luna nodded.

“I created other solar-systems so my night sky would not be so empty. I created them so Ponies could marvel at it's beauty. These aliens that are attacking us now, have most likely developed on one of my worlds, but I have no idea on which one. My control over all of those heavily bodies vanished when I was banished to my original body. Control like that is abnormal in Equestria, so the elements that I created, took it away from me. Nightmare might still have some of it left, but it should be nowhere near powerful enough to track their home-world down.”

“But... aren't you immortal then? I mean, you created your own body and that of your sister. Would it really matter if those bodies are destroyed? Couldn't you just recreate them?”, I asked perplexed.

“I could not. These bodies are unique and designed to force our minds to stay in them. When they die, then the moon will cease to be, and the sun will darken. We are very careful because of that. If we fall, then Equestria will follow us soon after.”

I just lay there. It was a lot to digest. I was in the actual presence of the very first life-form of this universe. I was in the presence of this worlds god, in lack of a better term, and yet she looked so fragile and her crippled wing was pretty obvious if you looked at it directly. I stopped stroking Octavia, being lost in my thoughts. She reacted by pouting at me in mock disappointment....