Between Life and Death

“Spike, can you get me some more ink pots from upstairs.” Twilight asked as she handed him a small empty glass pot.

“Sure thing Twilight!” he replied happily as he took the pot and ran up stairs. Twilight then got a book off one of the shelves and opened it, she flipped ahead a few pages and stopped on one marked with a gold feather, she took it out and placed it on the paper she was writing on then closed the book and put it away. She went back and started examining the feather like it was a rare artifact then suddenly there was a loud roaring noise from the basement and footsteps racing up the stairs, she quickly hid the feather under the paper right as the basement door opened.

“Twilight,” Monochrome started, he slammed the door behind him then put his back against it. “I think it would be a good idea if we don’t go into my room for the next year.” He continued as he panted heavily, his face was drenched in sweat and he had blood coming from his nose.

“What did you do this time?”

“Uhh…summoned a demon?” he smiled nervously. Twilight raised her eyebrow then turned back to her paper.

“What’cha writing?”

“Nothing special.”

“Twilight, found the ink pot.” Spike interrupted as he raced back down the stairs. He stopped right next to Twilight and handed it to her, she took it then patted him on the head.

“Anything ells I can do?”

“Hmm…no, that will be all.” Spike nodded his head then went back upstairs to reorganize the books.

“Twilight, can you explain this for me?” Twilight faced Monochrome and saw he was holding the gold feather. She started panicking and attempting to get it back from him, he took a step backwards and placed his hand on her head preventing her from getting close.

“Twilight, explain what it is or I incinerate it-‘

“Don’t!-“

“Then explain-“

“Alright fine!’ Twilight smacked Monochromes hand off of her. “I found it a few days ago and it looked interesting, so I, kept it.”

“Twilight, that’s dangerous.”

“How?”

“Because, I’m detecting some black magic trases on this thing, do you know what that means?”

“Monochrome it’s just a feather, there’s nothing bad about it-“

“Then why were you hiding it?”

“…Oh, um, well.” She quickly took the feather back from him. “Because I didn’t want any pony to take it-“

“You suck at lying.” Monochrome interrupted as he crossed his arms.

“I’m not lying!” Twilight yelled at him, he flinched back and covered his face.

“Ok fine you’re not lying! But still this thing is bad, you have to get rid of it.”

“It’s just a-“

“No it isn’t. Twilight trust me, I know what I’m saying.” Twilight looked at him sadly then at the feather.

“Ok, I’ll get rid of it.”

“Good,” Monochrome huffed. Twilight opened the window and through it out. Monochrome started screaming and attempted to get it, he rushed right out the window but his waist got stuck.

“Twilight!” He pulled himself back in. “Are you crazy?! You don’t just throw a cursed item out the window like that-!”

“Oh well,” Twilight replied smugly as she walked away.

“…Oh well? Oh well! That thing was dangerous!”

“It was just a feather!”

“It was more than a-“ Monochrome stopped as a red ball flew through the window and shattered it, it landed under the table in the center of the room. The two exchanged looks then Monochrome walked over to it and picked it up.

“What is it?” Twilight asked as she approached him.

“It’s a-…Holly shit!” Monochrome screamed, he flipped onto his back and scurried away from it.

“Monochrome what’s wrong?”

“That’s a heart! That’s a heart that was just ripped out of someone!” he screamed as he crawled into the corner. Twilight looked at the strange item more closely, he was right, it was a heart, and it was still beating, and it spurted out blood every time it did.

“How…?” Twilight asked herself. She started reaching for it then suddenly there was a loud thud at the door, Twilight looked away from the organ and towards the door. She got up and walked to it.

“Twilight be careful! I f someone could just throw a heart through a window like who knows what ells they can do!” Twilight rolled her eyes and opened the door and when she did a fowl odder immediately entered the room.

“What is that smell?!” Twilight wined as she backed away from the door.

“Twilight.” Monochrome stuttered, she faced him and pointed back at the door, she looked at it again and saw someone pinned to it by their head with a spear.

“What’s going on,” She whispered to herself, she walked over to the body. She reached for it slowly then suddenly It opened its eyes and started screaming. Twilight jumped back in fear. She raced back to the door and slammed it shut.

“See, I told you that thing was cursed!”

“Monochrome the feather didn’t do this!” Twilight yelled back. The woman was still screaming, but it was muffled. It went on for a few minutes but just suddenly stopped.

“…Monochrome, it stopped.” Twilight whispered from across the room.

“Halleluiah! Preys Celestia!” Monochrome shouted in his deluded state. He started getting up but as soon as he got back on his feet there was a knock at the door and he started groaning and slid back to the floor. As he sat back down Twilight cautiously walked over to the door, she opened it and was surprised by who it was.

“Hey Twilight!” A tall man happily shouted as he saw her, he stood twice as tall as her and wore a white suit and blue under shirt like Monochrome, his skin was the same color and the only noticeable differences were his voice and hair.

“Hey Red, haven’t seen you in a while.” Twilight replied with the same level of joy.

“Yeah, I would have been here earlier but there was a problem at Canterlot and-…who’s that and why is he cowering in the corner?” Red asked as he peaked in through the door.

“Oh, that’s Monochrome. He’s kind of my new roommate.”

“Hi how you doing?” Red asked with a slight chuckle.

“Hi.” Monochrome replied.

“So any way, there was a problem at Canterlot and I had to defend Celestia and Luna until it could be resolved.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, i would have requested to protect you and the others if i knew you had the same problem”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold up a sec. First off who are you. Second what do you mean “Same Problem”?”. Monochrome complained as he got up from the corner and walked over to the two.

“Red, my names Red.” He extended his arm and shook hands with Monochrome. “By same problem I really mean same problem, these freaks just popped up in Canterlot and started eating the civilians, don’t know what they were, all I know is that the only way to kill them and make sure they actually stay dead is by breaking in their skull, or at least something like that.”

“Any idea on how they could have gotten here?” Monochrome asked with a suspicious look and tone.

“Buddy, wipe that stupid look off your face, I had nothing to do with this.” Red aggressively replied. Monochrome folded his arms and stuck his tongue out at him, Red then grabbed his tongue and yanked him to the floor. “Now Twilight listen to me, you need to get out of here. Celestia is evacuating people at Canterlot, if you can get there in time then you can bored the sky yacht.”

“What if I don’t make it in time?”

“Then you do this: Don’t. That’s the only way to get away from all this.” Twilight nodded her head nervously.

“I have to go, I need to warn the rest of the town. Remember what I said, got it?” Red told her one last time. He took a few steps back and flew up into the air, Twilight walked outside and looked up at him, he looked down towards her. He lifted his arm and waved to her but before he could start flying another Pegasus tackled him and rammed him to the ground

“Red!” Twilight screamed. She ran to the back of the library and screamed as she saw the other person eating him alive. She ran back to the front of the library and helped Monochrome back up.

“Monochrome you have to help!”

“What happened?”

“Red got tackled by someone and now their…” Twilight paused.

“Their?”

“Their eating him!” Monochrome shot up on to his feet. Twilight led Monochrome to the back of the library, when Monochrome saw what was happening, he walked up to the red haired creature and took them by the choler of their shirt, he yanked them back punched her in the face and threw her back. After she was gone Twilight ran to him and Red.

“Is he-?”

“Yup, she bit his wind pipe, suffocated and bled to death.” Monochrome interrupted with a sorrowed tone. He reached for the body and as soon as he grabbed it, it grabbed his arm and started growling and hissing at him.

“Monochrome-!”

“Hold on I got this.” Monochrome calmly interrupted. He flicked his wrist and his hand instantly turned into a three foot long blade, he pulled it bag and swung, and managed to take of Red’s head.

“Monochrome!” Twilight yelled at him angrily.

“What? He was trying to eat me-“

“He was Flutter Shy’s son!” Twilight continued.

“Ok, sheesh, calm dow-Flutter shy has a son!?” Monochrome yelled in sudden realization.

“Yes she has a son, he was adopted and-“

“Twilight!” Someone shouted from behind, Twilight and monochrome turned around and saw Red running up to them. When he got close enough he slid and stopped right in front of them.

“Red, How?”

“I can time travel…remember?”

“Oh, right” Twilight chuckled nervously.

“You from the past or the-…you know what your obviously from the past.”

“Yeah, past.” Red agreed with him.

“Why? how?” Twilight stuttered, she was trying to figure out how to react.

“When your brainless friend killed me, a telepathic message was sent to past me telling me who killed me-“

“Is there an easier way for you to explain this? My head hurts.” Monochrome wined as he held his head.

“Fine, When you kill future me, past me kills you. Got it?” Red scalded.

“I…guess? So wait, you’re going to kill me?” Monochrome tried not to laugh.

“Nope just this.” Red lofted his arm and smack Monochrome right across his face. He rushed towards him and attempted to hit him but Twilight held him back.

“I’m going to skin you alive you little-!” His anger kept growing until his hair and wings turned into fire and his skin and jacket turned red. Red then pulled out two Cutlasses made out of black crystal.

“I have to go, best of luck to you two.”

“Take care.” Twilight groaned as she continued to hold Monochrome back. Red then unfolded his wings and flew off.

“Can you remember all that?” Twilight asked as she let go of monochrome. He straightened his shirt and jacket and stared at her blankly.

“Yes.” He replied with absolutely no tone in his voice.

“Good,” Twilight shrugged and walked back into the library. Monochrome looked angrily at the sky then ran back inside and joined her.