Taking Pen from Paper

Chapters

A Closing Chapter
Run Bullet, Run
Familiar Faces
A Tale called Mercy
Everto Impetus
Inevitability
Trust Issues
Taming the Tiger

A Closing Chapter

The mare in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. The gunslinger was amazed at the mare in black’s evasiveness. Every well-aimed shot he would fire during the pursuit, she managed to dodge without even glancing back. It didn’t make a lick of sense, all things considered.

Upon the mare in black’s back was a rucksack. Without anything in it, this rucksack would impede a pony’s speed and maneuverability. This specific rucksack contained an ancient tome, one that the gunslinger strongly believed to have great power and knowledge. He wanted this tome. Badly. Not to use it, but to destroy it. The mare in black also had to be punished.

Another factor to the chase, which should have made the mare’s chances unfavourable, was her black cloak. It was midday in the desert. Deserts are generally unforgiving at any time of day, but at this point in time, the sun was directly above them. The gunslinger had been brought up in these parts, so he was used to the weather and learned in the ways of surviving the terrain. The mare in black should have fallen victim to dehydration by now.

Unbeknownst to the gunslinger, the mare in black was quite capable of surviving the desert. The cloak was in fact made of a rare material, imbued with magic, capable of reflecting the sun’s rays without the consequent shine. Not only that, but under her hood she had a tube up against her mouth which was connected to a water supply in the bag with the tome.

Of course, none of those things explained her ability to dodge bullets. The truth was, Cliff Jumper, the mare in black, wasn’t dodging the bullets. They were most certainly hitting their marks. The problem for the gunslinger was, he was killing her. Should Cliff initially survive the hit, she’d stumble, the gunslinger would catch up, and finish her off. Cliff would then find herself back at the moment when she had a chance to dodge, know where the bullet was headed and act accordingly.

Such was the curse she bore. The tome she carried was the source of all the trouble. Ultimately indestructible, the tome, otherwise known as the Mycrosia Multonian, cursed any who touched it, causing sufferers to see alternate realities mixed in with their own. It drove many a pony mad. Those who read it were more worse off, unable to truly die, yet experience any deaths that should occur, as if in an alternate reality.

The book had been burned and its ashes scattered to the wind, but then the ashes gathered into small pieces of the pages, the primary stage of the curse spreading like some sort of contagion. Cliff had made it her job to gather these pieces, allowing them to recombine, centering the curse into a single object once more. She had succeeded.

Cliff Jumper and the gunslinger, Sheriff of Pawridge, looked into one another’s eyes. Beneath the pair were the remains of some form of ancient construction. It was here that Cliff intended to hide- no, bury the Mycrosia Multonian. The construction had once been a large tower, built so tall that anyone could see it, wherever they were in the desert. Eventually, the desert became less travelled, and the tower abandoned. All that remained was the worn away floor and the forgotten basement.

“Give it up, mare,” growled the authoritative diamond dog. “Run, and I will give chase, to the ends of the earth if need be. I will not rest until you are brought to justice and your accursed book is removed from this world. You ken?”

Cliff sighed. “I do, but more importantly, I don’t think you ken.”

“Spare me your excuses.”

The Sheriff raised his revolver, there being no possible way for the mare to avoid fatality from this range. The hammer drew back as the dog tugged on the trigger.

“You know you’re out of bullets, right?”

There was a momentary pause as the Sheriff mentally recounted his shots. Although short, this pause was enough for the mare. Cliff ditched her bag and rolled back over the trapdoor behind her, pulling it open in the process. It was heavy, but Cliff was strong. The thick wood shielded her from the Sheriff’s last bullet. The dog cursed loudly.

Throwing his gun to one side, the Sheriff lunged forward. Cliff had to act fast. Locating a loose stone, she lifted it up over her head and the wood, flinging it at her assailant. The projectile struck the Sheriff’s muzzle head on. The lunge was hindered, redirecting it into the trapdoor, and the diamond dog subsequently fell through the opening.

The dog’s mixed roars of pain, anger, and fear faded as he fell further than Cliff expected. There was a sudden thump, simultaneously accompanied by a sickening crack, and the roaring ceased. Cautiously, the mare took a peek over the edge of the opening, finding only darkness.

“What the heck kinda basement is that?” she asked, getting no reply. “Guess this place’ll work after all.”

So, Cliff opened up her rucksack and double checked the contents: the Mycrosia Multonian, her water supply, and some dynamite she had pinched from the Sheriff’s supply. She removed the water, using the additional straps it came with to hang it on her back. Next, out came the dynamite, which she laid out around the tower remains, tying their long fuses together.

“That should do it.”

Drawing a match from under her cloak, Cliff struck it and lit the fuse. After quickly tossing the bag with the tome down the hole, the mare galloped as fast as she could to a safe distance. She’d given herself plenty of time and stopped when she believed she was far enough away. Turning around, Cliff waited, wanting to see the end.

In the process of turning, a hoof came into contact with something other than sand. Looking down, Cliff saw something horrifying: stone, not unlike the stone where the dynamite lay. The reason for this became abruptly clear to the mare. The basement was far wider than anticipated.

In a flash, she was galloping again. The fuses ended, dynamite exploding with such might that the basement ceiling began to collapse. Cliff could feel the ground shake as it fell away behind her. A quick glance told her she wasn’t going fast enough. More power was put into her legs.

“Come on, dammit! How wide is this thing!?”

Immediately, Cliff regretted speaking, the act affecting her breathing. Another glance. Right behind her. She felt a rear hoof push off a sinking stone. She leaped. The ground continued to fall, below and beyond.

“Stupid sand.”

The mare in black fell.

As always, Cliff Jumper found herself alive and well. For her, it was like time had rewound itself, only the rewind button appeared to have got itself jammed. In front of her lay the Mycrosia Multonian, closed, tattered, covered in dust. Just like it had been when she first found it.

“You have been warned!”

The magical image of the alicorn, Mycrosia, vanished. Cliff hadn’t noticed it at first, too focused on how far back she’d come. Surely that last death could have been avoided at a later point on the timeline? That said, Cliff didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. All of her problems would start upon making contact with that tome.

“Talk about learning from your mistakes,” she said to herself, retracting an outstretched hoof.

Everything around her was just how she remembered it. Mycrosia’s armour lying to one side. Pillars, some intact, others broken. On her back rested the almost empty rucksack, meant to carry the Multonian. Now, it was mostly useless, containing only some medical supplies and her research notes in several side pockets.

“Fat load of good those notes are now.”

Then, a second, cheery voice spoke up, “Well that’s not a very nice thing to say about them.”

Cliff yelped in surprise and leaped into the air. The shock almost made her bump into the Multonian. Realising how close she came to it, Cliff gave a relieved sigh, then turned her attention to the source of the new voice.

There stood a pegasus stallion, who beamed at the mare. His unkempt mane was almost long enough to cover his eyes, and his tail was equally as long and messy. His colours were simple but faded, with red fur, blue mane and green tail. Cliff found it odd that the mane and tail had independent colours. Lastly, he had the same wall eyes as the Ponyville mailmare. His were yellow, too.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, sorry! Hi! I’m Sukie Doo, but you can just call me Suke! Everypony else does!”

‘Suke’ continued to stand where he was, maintaining the mildly worrying smile of his.

“Alright then… Suke… Are you also here for the book? Because I should warn y-”

“Nope! I’m here for you!”

“-ou that- Wait, what?”

“I am here for you, Cliff Jumper!”

The mare just stared at the stallion, growing more uncomfortable by the second. His smile was unfaltering.

“Well… What do you want with me?”

At that, Suke began to approach. Cliff wanted to step backwards, but was painfully aware of the accursed tome resting behind her.

In a different voice from before, Suke announced, “I’m going to punch your face… in the face!”

The book forgotten, Cliff made to put distance between her and the assailing pegasus, but it was too late. A red hoof made contact with Cliff’s face and the lights went out.

A soft yet disgruntled moan escaped Cliff Jumper’s lips as she came to. Her face ached more than she cared for. She tried to open her eyes, but the eyelids seemed to be stuck in first gear, taking a horribly long time. As light made its way into her retina, everything was blurry. That said, she could still make out someone or something moving, standing over her.

Eventually, things began to clear up, and Cliff ascertained that the thing moving was a kindly looking zebra, tending to the cuts and bruises received from her climb to reach the Multonian. Seeing this, a stinging sensation all over the rest of her body became apparent, causing her to hiss.

“Ah, the princess awakens,” the zebra observed, the tone in his voice soothing.

The mare wanted to comment on being called a princess, but when she tried to speak, all that came out was wordless air.

The zebra chuckled. “Apologies, but your voice box was damaged when Suke punched you into this reality. Do not worry, though. I have already applied the necessary actions to fix the issue. You will talk again, trust me. Besides, a story with a mute hero is difficult to pull off.”

That last sentence earned the zebra an odd look.

“Where are my manners? My name is Zavine. I am The Writer’s caretaker.”

Zavine held out a hoof, which Cliff shook.

“I should apologise for Suke’s actions. He is a bit… special… if you get me.”

Cliff nodded.

“At least he got you here.” Zavine took a step back from the bed Cliff lay upon. “Could you try standing?”

The request seemed easy enough. Without a second thought, Cliff slipped off the bed and onto her hooves. Her legs felt weak, almost making her collapse, but she managed to hold herself up.

“Oh, good, the drugs are wearing off. Suke had hit you rather hard, you see, and I had to administer painkillers while repairing you. Hopefully, the pain will have mostly left by the time feeling completely returns. Now, I know you want explanations, but I can provide all the exposition you need while we proceed upwards. Follow me, please.”

Currently, they stood in a basic shack-like house where everything was in one room. Save for a good few piles of books, the place barely looked like it was really lived in. Zavine was one tidy zebra. Speaking of Zavine, the stallion was exiting his abode. Cliff trotted after him.

Immediately after leaving the building, Cliff was frozen in awe. The shack she had awoken in was right next to a tower. This tower was the tallest construction the mare had ever seen. It made her think back to the ruins she died in just before rewinding back to the start. That tower was supposedly the tallest thing ever built. Maybe this one she looked at now was based on it?

“Impressive, is it not? It is such a pity about the rest of the area.”

Cliff scanned the area Zavine spoke of. In every direction was the crumbled remains of a long dead civilisation. There was no colour, with no plant life to speak of. One could barely make out where the town ended, and even then, there was nothing to see there either. Life had simply ceased, as far as the eye could see.

“Cliff Jumper, I welcome you to Canakanory. It is not much to look at now, but back in its heyday, this place was quite the sight to behold. The tower wasn’t always here, and the citizens were a happy folk. The township was self reliant, with enough resources to heedlessly welcome travellers. And the roses… the streets were lined with beautiful roses… I miss them…”

‘How old isthis zebra?’ thought Cliff.

“But that is not the exposition you want, is it? Follow me into the tower.”

Zavine lead Cliff to a heavy looking wooden door at the foot of the tower. With but a light tap from the zebra, the door swung back, slowly but surely. He entered, as did Cliff right behind him. Once the pair were clear of the door, it closed of its own accord. Before them was a flight of stairs, keeping to the outer wall of the tower. Likely, it spiralled all the way to the top. Cliff hoped they wouldn’t have to go that far.

Starting up the stairs, Zavine explained, “I shall get straight to the point. You have a great amount of experience with The Book, which your reality came to call the Mycrosia Multonian. The Writer, at the top-”

Cliff cursed internally.

“-of this tower, is the one responsible for it.”

Anger began to seep into the mare listening.

“Do not assume that it was their idea to create such a thing. The Book had to be written. The Writer is just the medium, provided with the information required to make The Book a reality. This information has slowly driven them mad, however.

“I am sure you are already aware of the infinite expansion of the Multiverse, having been forced to see into many at once. The fact that you managed to maintain some sense of purpose and faux-sanity during your travels is a miracle. The Writer, however, suffers far more. They see not just the things their other selves see, but everything before, after and in between. It may be channeled in such a way that they can make sense of it and write it down, but that is a minor comfort that merely slows the onset of complete madness and corruption.”

As Zavine spoke, Cliff was taking note of the many metal doors they passed as they headed upwards. All were closed, with signs written in a language she had not seen before. Although without windows, she could sometimes hear movement or speech through the doors.

“I was assigned the title of Caretaker, my job being that I keep a watchful eye on The Writer. For a long time, they remained well. They were able to take breaks, roam the town, converse with the locals. Back then, what is now a tower was just a small manor. Sadly, they took fewer breaks, and the breaks became reserved for the task of eating and resting. That’s when the town starting dying out.

“There eventually came a point when The Writer desired their food be served to them while they worked. I had been informed that, although these were indeed signs of corruption, it was too early to act. The problem was that the townsfolk were the ones who were meant to assist once it was indeed time to act, and by the time the truer signs became apparent, they were all gone. I had had the displeasure of burying the last few.”

Having lost interest in the doors, Cliff had returned her full attention to Zavine, and now she watched the zebra shed a couple of tears.

“Anyway… The Writer created the tower not long after the townsfolk died. Its presence seemed to poison the land, killing off what little life remained in the area. Then came ‘The Characters’.”

Just then, they walked past yet another door. Whatever resided behind it must have heard the passing equines and ran up against the door. A voice yelled cheerily through it, and although the words were muffled beyond discernment, Cliff recognised the voice as Suke’s.

The Caretaker continued without the slightest pause, “Sukie Doo here was one of the first. He should not exist. That goes for most of the creatures in this place. The Writer made them, and wrote them into this reality, experimenting with The Book. I only know this because with each one that is born, a room is added to the tower, increasing its height. They have no memories of being from another reality, though, like in Suke’s case, they can have knowledge of other realities. They are broken, incomplete, unbalanced… or as The Writer put it when I confronted them on the matter, ‘OP’.”

Cliff was finally able to speak up, “How do I come into this again?”

“Ah, the princess speaketh.”

“Not a princess, mate.”

Zavine smiled. “Of course. Well, I attempted to remove The Writer on my own, but as I had been told upon appointment, The Caretaker cannot relieve The Writer of their duties. Some sort of security. I tried using the more agreeable members of The Characters I had at hoof, but The Writer made them incapable of opposing their creator.

“It was then that Suke told me about you. He had been watching your adventures in the form of a good series of novels, so much so that he suggested I read about you too. I managed to convince him to tell me what he knew, and then, once I was sure you were what I would need, I had him summon you.”

Cliff was getting tired, both with the physical exertion and with Zavine’s explanation.

“You still haven’t told me what use I am to you.”

“Apologies. I want you to kill The Writer.”

“To kill- Are you serious!? You expect me to just… just…”

The mare was in such a state of astonishment that she couldn’t speak clearly, instead resorting to miming stabbing and making fart noises to emulate blood splattering.

“Yes. You are no stranger to murder, Princess.”

“First off, stop calling me that. I’m going to assume lots of those books in your house were fairy tales, but believe me when I say I am not a princess. Secondly, yes, I killed a lot of ponies, zebras, diamond dogs and the like in my efforts to repair the Multonian, but those were all done as acts of mercy or self defence… with a little bit of experimentation and false judgement.”

“Then consider it an act of mercy, for The Writer and myself.”

Something caught Cliff’s attention.

She raised a curious eyebrow and asked, “Yourself?”

Zavine stopped in front another heavy looking wooden door, where the stairs ended.

“We are here.”

“Hang on-”

As he began to push, this door turning out to be as heavy if not heavier than it looked, Zavine pleaded, “Their corrupted experimentation threatens all of existence. You have to kill The Writer, Cliff. Your time with The Book allows you to resist the forces that usually prevent approach.”

“But-”

A strong gust of wind blew in through the small opening Zavine had made. The zebra continued to push hard.

To Cliff, the wind did not feel physical, nor magical. Instead, it felt more like… for lack of a better word, ‘existence’. It tried to cancel out her senses. Just like the madness she had suffered through ‘The Book’, her reality became smothered, others overlapping it. As before, she saw through it as best she could, her own reality becoming the dominant one, her senses focused.

Zavine, clearly affected by the existential torrent, shouted, “Believe me when I tell you, Cliff Jumper, that when you see The Writer, you will pity them! You will have no qualms with ending it! Trust me on this!”

Cliff nodded firmly, and moved forward to assist in pushing the door open. With her help it was considerably easier to move. Zavine looked to the mare, right into her eyes, and they shared a silent, motionless moment of agreement, then Cliff moved away from the door. Zavine was suddenly made aware of the door’s desire to close once again, and the strain in holding it open caused him to close his eyes.

For a while, there was just the loudness of the ‘wind’. The zebra was beginning to slide, his strength leaving him. He opened his eyes. Cliff was a mere couple of feet from him, stood stock still. She stared into the large, long and dark barrel of some kind of cannon-like weapon. The wielder was a changeling, its body in the shape of a diamond dog’s.

As the newcomer inhaled deeply, Zavine saw what was coming, and the last of his strength disappeared. The door took control and slammed shut, throwing him down a good few stairs. That was that. He had failed entirely, and the Multiverse was doomed. But then something occurred to Zavine as he sat on a random step.

“That might work… but I still need Cliff… maybe I can… no… blast it all!”

Now was not the time to quit, and so Zavine got back onto his hooves and galloped to The Writer’s door. He pushed with all his might, but it wouldn’t budge. The zebra began to hammer the door in frustration.

He yelled, “Don’t die, Princess!”

For Cliff Jumper, death was no stranger. Over the years of her travels, she had come to welcome death like an old friend. Sometimes it would frustrate her and sometimes it wouldn’t surprise her at all. There were occasions when it made her laugh, cry, scream and everything else. But, as she stared it in the face once again, Cliff felt a fear she thought she’d never feel again.

Sure, fear was something irrational, and even in the knowledge that death would not be permanent for her, Cliff would often encounter it with the rest of her emotions. The current fear, however, was not irrational. Her life had reverted to its state before she read the Multonian. Reading that tome had given her the curse of never truly dying. This death would be final, and now that she was faced with it, after longing for it for so many years, she did not want it. Cliff Jumper wanted to live.

It was a pity, then, that the cannon she was made to look into was so fear inducing that she couldn’t even move. The one at the trigger had begun to take a large inward breath, and Zavine had been ejected from the room by the door. What little of her mind wasn’t fogged over by her rediscovered fear of death was screaming, ‘MOVE!’

A rear leg managed to take a single step back. The changeling/diamond dog hybrid took no notice. The other rear leg stepped away, along with a foreleg. Very, very slowly, Cliff succeeded in moving backwards. The attacker noticed this, returned to regular breathing and maintained the ridiculous small distance between the cannon and Cliff’s face.

Then came the inevitable moment where Cliff found the door blocking her progress. At first, the cannon kept coming closer, forcing Cliff onto her rear legs, pressing her back against the door. She felt Zavine start hammering upon it. The cannon halted, the wielder recommencing its large inhalation.

Zavine yelled, “Don’t die, Princess.”

For a brief moment, Cliff broke free of her fear induced stupor.

“Not a princess, dammit!”

The hammering stopped, as did the inhalation. The changeling/diamond dog’s chest was puffed out. Then it opened its mouth.

In a voice that was half singing, half announcing, it sang/announced, “Cannon Ninjaaaaaaa!”

It was about then when it fired the cannon.

Run Bullet, Run

The ten o’clock train into Ponyville arrived precisely on time, as it always did. In Equestria, trains had a real knack for keeping on time. It’s what they were built for, along with the obvious purpose of transporting cargo and passengers. Were the trains alive, they’d pride themselves on their timeliness.

On this fine day, many a pony had planned outings to the quaint town of Ponyville. However, one passenger who disembarked at this time was not here for some leisurely outing. This pony, of the earth variety, was on a mission: a mission of love. He rearranged his faux leather jacket and stepped off the train.

Reaching the steps off of the platform, the stallion stood there, taking in the Sun and the sights, standing proud. Today was his day. He could feel it in his dark green fur. A grin spread over his muzzle. The gentle wind blew into his brown mane and tail. He needed to get a mane cut, as it had grown lower than his chin, but the stallion didn’t have time for that. His tail was nearly long enough to touch the ground, but that bothered him less.

The pony began to give himself a pep talk, “You can do this, you know you can… You’re Speeding Bullet, fastest earth pony to ever live. How can a mare like her not want to hang with you? It’s a sure thing. If somepony were to bet against you, they’d be an id—”

A thick Italian accent interrupted, “Oi, Speedy Gonzales!”

Slightly startled, Bullet looked behind him to see a disgruntled pony from Manehatten.

“My name’s not—”

“I don’t care what your name is! You’re blocking the way! Move it!”

Bullet realised the stallion was right, with other ponies further back, waiting to get on their way.

“Oh, terribly sorry, sir!”

He moved out of the way, smiling as he watched the others pass by.

One of them randomly muttered, “Damn Brit.”

Bullet’s smile drooped. His accent was a big giveaway, but still, he disliked being reminded of his home. He was not homesick. No, far from it. He was glad to be miles from Isle of Britannia. It had been, and still was, a hellhole.

Britannia was a protectorate of Equestria, with its own government and laws. It was a fairly recent addition, in fact. Unlike most pony dominant nations, Britannia was still thick with racial inequality. Thanks to Equestria’s involvement, it had been dumbed down, but it was still very much present in their society. Pegasi were scarce in Britannia. Unicorns were high class, and earth ponies were their former slaves, their lives hardly improved since being freed long ago. But for Speeding Bullet, this was only the foundation of his problems.

As he walked through Ponyville, Bullet couldn’t help but think back over his miserable life. His family was a long, long, long line of distinguished unicorns, quite possibly being Britannian royalty at one point, before democracy took over. When his parents saw they’d had an earth pony colt, one can imagine the horror on their faces.

The first thing they did was check whether they were both really his parents. Had it turned out he was the illegitimate love child of his mother’s, Bullet’s life may have been more bearable, but no. It turned out both unicorns had a rare, regressive version of the earth pony gene. As much as they hated his existence, Bullet’s parents couldn’t rightly ditch him and pretend he never happened. Their friends would ask questions. So, they kept him, and made his life a living hell, as if it were his fault he was born.

His race meant his family and their friends looked down on him, and his family meant his fellow earth ponies despised him. Nopony would associate with him, except for one pony in particular: his older brother, Rugged Past. A unicorn like the rest of the family, he cared not for his brother’s race, seeing only a sibling in need of a friend.

Sadly, as they got older, Rugged grew tired of the nationwide intolerance, and went abroad. They kept in contact for a short time, but eventually, Rugged’s letters stopped coming. Speeding suspected his parents had a hoof in that. Now, Speeding had done the same, albeit he had fled.

Not looking where he was really going, Speeding’s head collided with a tree. Not just any tree, though. The Library Tree, famous home of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Gathering his thoughts, the stallion walked round to the front door and knocked precisely three times.

A voice, presumably Twilight’s, welcomed from inside, “You can come in.”

Bullet entered the building, finding the princess reading a book while sat on a bean bag. The earth pony bowed.

“Your Highness.”

The mare looked up from her book and smiled awkwardly.

“Oh, don’t worry about formalities here, erm… I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.”

“The name’s Speeding Bullet, ma’am. You can call me Speed, or Bullet.”

“Just call me Twilight. May I ask where that accent is from?”

“Britannia, ma’am, and I’m sorry, but this is how I treat most mares. A habit from my upbringing.”

“Strange to meet a Britannian earth pony who’s so…”

“High strung?”

“I was going to say Rarity.”

Speed raised a confused eyebrow at this, but it dropped back down when he remembered why he was here. He opened his mouth to begin his enquiries, but Twilight spoke first.

“So what brings a Britannian to little old Ponyville? I’d heard you were a mostly reclusive nation.”

“They are,” Speed said with such distaste. “I’m actually here to ask about a friend of yours. You wouldn’t happen to know where Rainbow Dash is, would you?”

Twilight’s face made no effort to hide her curiosity piquing. She gave the earth pony before her a quick once over.

“I would. What do you need her for? Maybe I can help you in her stead.”

“I’m probably her biggest fan ever! She was my idol during my later years in Britannia! Have you ever heard of the Derby Derby?”

With a light laugh, the princess lifted up her book, the title reading ‘The History of Britannia’s Derby Derby’.

“Huh,” said Bullet. “That’s convenient. What date does it go up to?”

“It was published a few years back. I’ve heard they’ll be updating it soon, as apparently there’s a big new star on the… track… You’re the star, aren’t you?”

“In the flesh,” he answered, standing with pride.

“I’d overheard something about it from a Britannian Ambassador. Did you really break the sound barrier?”

“Yes indeed. A few days earlier, I’d heard of Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom when saving the Wonderbolts, and thought that I needed to keep up with her. Sure enough, at the next race, boom goes the sound barrier and thank my lucky stars I slowed before hitting that wall.”

The pair of ponies laughed together. When Twilight caught her breath, she sighed, satisfied.

“Well, Rainbow is currently at Sugarcube Corner, but—”

“Thanks!”

Speeding Bullet zipped out the library before Twilight could finish. This wasn’t going to end well. She knew a crush when she saw one. After taking the time to carefully put her book back on its shelf, the princess made to follow, but two large unicorn stallions in suits came through the door. Their coats were pure white, and their manes and tails striped black and grey.

Twilight started to explain, “I’m sorry, but I need to—”

“This is rather important, Your Highness,” interrupted one of the suits, his accent Britannian, like Bullet’s.

‘What is it with Britannians and cutting me off?’ thought the mare.

Sounding a little more frustrated than she’d liked, Twilight enquired, “What is it?”

“We’re looking for this pony,” explained the same stallion, his partner holding up a picture of Speeding Bullet. “He disappeared from his home in Fetlock, and his parents are so very upset. They’re desperate to see their dear son again.”

“Oh, well, he just left. I think he’s headed to Sugarcube Corner. I was about to head that way myself.”

“We’ll take it from here, Your Highness.”

With that, the suited unicorns teleported away. Twilight stood staring at where they’d been a second ago, lost in thought.

Being a princess, she knew all too well about the racial issues Britannia were having, so it seemed peculiar a pair of Britannian unicorns would be searching for an earth pony. And then there was Bullet’s own upper class accent, and the short conversation they shared. It didn’t make much sense, and this worried the mare, and she decided not to leave it to the unicorns.

‘How could she?’

Dirt went this way and that as Speed continued to slide awkwardly along the road. His tears streamed endlessly. He was heart broken.

Moments earlier, the stallion had been running through Ponyville, searching for the fabled Sugarcube Corner, a sweet shop built to look like it was made of said sweets. It hadn’t taken long to locate it. He had seen his hero and the object of his desire through a window. He had picked up speed, planning to ‘Sonic Blast’ right outside the shop to grab her attention. She would come out, admire his awesome speed and instantly want him.

As his view of the mare had changed, he noticed her standing up instead of sitting, seemingly gasping at something out of view. As the angle of view had changed further, and she begun to nod, something else had come into view. This something was what broke his heart. It had been a wedding band. Somepony had proposed to Rainbow Dash, and she had said yes.

This had not been the cause for Speed’s current predicament of skidding along a dirt road with his chin, body stuck up in the air. That had only destroyed his chances of ever being happy.

Back at the point when his happiness was forever moved out of reach, two familiar looking suited unicorns with slicked back manes had teleported in front of him, and one of them had tripped him up, intentionally. Seeing as he had been nearly at the speed of sound, he had quite the momentum.

Presently, he was finally slowing down to a stop. The hearty laughter of the two unicorns were still within earshot. He knew who they were. Bish and Bash, two of the three unicorns his parents hired to do their dirty work, including, it seemed, making Speed’s life a misery, wherever he may roam.

“Tartarus be damned!” screamed the earth pony. “How did they even find me!?”

A purple flash of light told Speed of somepony else arriving, probably to help Bish and Bash ruin his life further.

“Oh no! What happened, Speed?”

Recognising Twilight’s voice, Bullet got to his hooves and pointed back at the stallions, who had stopped laughing upon seeing the princess. They vanished in another flash of teleportation magic.

Speed cursed again, “Bollocks.”

Twilight’s magic enveloped him and in yet another flash of magical light, he and Twilight were elsewhere in Ponyville. More specifically, Ponyville’s park, right by the pond.

“I am so sorry, Speed. I didn’t know they’d hurt you! They said your parents were looking for you.”

Speed moved to the pond to wash off the dirt.

“It’s alright. Can’t expect an Equestrian to consider the possibility that ponies could be racist pricks.” Twilight tried to speak again, but Bullet continued, “Nor can I expect somepony to figure out that I wanted to court Rainbow Dash before I galloped off like a naive foal. Is he nice, her fiancé?”

Twilight became ecstatic.

“She said yes!? That’s so wonderful!”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

With all the dirt he could find washed off, Speeding Bullet grumpily stared at his reflection as the water settled.

“Oh, sorry, really. I did work it out, but those brutes held me up with questions about you, and then it was too late.”

He took his eyes away from his reflection to look back at Twilight and say, “As unnecessary as your apologies are, I accept them. Thank you for helping me get away from Bish and Bash, too.”

“That’s their names?”

“Yeah. They’re triplets. Bish is the diplomat, with a silver tongue, and Bash is the main muscle. They may look the same, but that guy has freaky muscle density.”

Twilight turned her head a little in confusion, wondering aloud, “You said triplets.”

“That I did. Bosh is the third, and some consider him the worst. He’s the magic expert, specialising in stea—”

“Specialising in what, sorry? You just stopped—… You okay, Speed? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

While describing Bosh, Speeding Bullet had returned to his reflection, only to find a mare staring back at him.

It was to Cliff Jumper’s surprise that she awoke once more, most certainly not dead. A sound the mare recognised to be of somepony operating a shovel was nearby. Maybe her grave was being dug. She’d best make the gravedigger aware of her revival. Eyes opened to see stars beginning to appear, darkness slowly pushing away the amber light of a setting sun.

The ‘gravedigger’ stopped shovelling and approached. Cliff turned her head to see Zavine, also alive and well. Behind him was a hole that, even from where Cliff lay, looked very much like a grave.

“I see you are back with us. Sleep well?”

“What happened?” Cliff enquired, rolling over and lifting herself up.

“Ironically, the forces that meant to stop our approach saved our lives. You may have noticed that they induced the Multiversal Madness. Due to your previous interactions with The Book, your life rewound. However, my alternate self did truly die when the blast passed through the door, but being in your local vicinity and suffering from a minor form of the madness, his memories came with you and were passed onto me.”

After a good stretch, Cliff sat down.

“How was it ironic? They didn’t intend to kill me.”

“It is ironic because you now live to fight another day.”

The mare examined the Zavine’s handiwork from where she sat.

“And the grave?”

Zavine went behind Cliff, hefting something up.

“That is for dear Hayley.”

Back in view once more, Zavine trotted to the grave with a deceased baby dragoness on his back. She had an evident stab wound in her head.

“And why is she dead?”

Tossing the body into the hole, Zavine replied, “She brought us here.”

There was no more speaking for a good minute while Zavine went to work burying Hayley.

“Could you just explain it all in one go rather than have me squeeze it out of you with a tonne of questions?”

“Hayley here had a gift not dissimilar to that of Spike, that dragon you met in Ponyville in your own reality. However, she did not need a connection to another being to pull it off. She only needs to have an image in her head; that, and she has to tag along with whatever or whoever she sends.”

“But it puts a great strain on her body?”

“No. I killed her so that she couldn’t go back and tell anypony where we went.”

Cliff had guessed this is what truly happened, but she wanted to believe otherwise.

“But she’s so young.”

“Was, and that added to the likelihood of her giving us away. It had to be done. Besides, she was just a Character, borne of The Writer’s corrupt mind.”

Glaring, Cliff growled, “A mercy killing, huh?”

“Exactly.”

With a few light pats of the shovel, the grave was finished. Cliff got up and took the tool from Zavine’s hooves. Stabbing it into the dirt at one end of the grave, she held out a hoof to the zebra.

“Knife.”

Without a word, Zavine handed the requested item. Cliff then went on to carve ‘Hayley’ into the shaft.

“You didn’t want to lug the shovel around with you, did you?”

“Not at all.”

With that, the pair of equines began to walk. There was nothing but grassy knolls in all directions, or so they thought, until the sound of waves reached their ears, and they found themselves on a short beach, the distance between soil and water averaging about three feet.

As they admired the sunset coming to an end, Zavine spoke up, “You are going to have to find The Book.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I am afraid not.” Zavine turned left and began to walk alongside the shoreline. “The only way you are going to succeed here is if you have the Multiversal Madness on your side. When Cannon Ninja—”

Trotting to catch up, Cliff stifled a laugh.

“Its name was actually Cannon Ninja? He just announces his name when he kills ponies?”

“Yes. When Cannon Ninja killed you, you managed to escape thanks to the infliction. However, you are once more free of the infliction, and you cannot rely on receiving it upon another direct confrontation.”

“But isn’t The Writer, well, writing in it, right now?”

“The Writer was ‘writing in it’ while you were gathering its ashes. Its contents are infinite, and as such, The Writer’s job is never done.”

“But if that’s the case—”

“That does not matter. All you need to know is that The Writer uses a tool that links their pen to The Book, making it possible to add to it, wherever it may be. For a long while, the residents of Canakanory kept it secure. It was their possession of the item that would somehow assist them with The Writer’s removal, which is why you need to find it.”

“I’m going to guess that some bugger went and looted it ages ago, right?”

“Sort of. Many citizens would come and go over the many years. A large group left as the town began to lose its life. They found that their vitality returned once far enough away. They planned to have The Book leave with one of the more responsible townsfolk who intended to leave, but some jealous relative took it with them instead. Their destination was unknown, and I never heard back from those who went out in an attempt to track them.”

Cliff let out an exasperated sigh.

“Well this is gonna be fun.”

The mare bumped into Zavine, who had stopped in his tracks, looking out at the calm waters.

“Why’d we stop?”

“It is here that I must leave you, Princess.”

Cliff let the misused title slide, what with the sudden announcement of Zavine’s departure.

“What!?”

Zavine did not turn to face the mare.

“Do not worry. I trust you to build your own ka-tet who will assist you in your travels.”

“Ka-tet? What are you talking about? Why do you have to go?”

“There is another Character who can use the scars Hayley leaves behind when she jumps locations. He will have been angered by his dear sister’s murder. He will want to kill me.”

Everything Zavine said just proved to confuse poor Cliff. She noticed a weird shimmering to Zavine’s right.

“You’re going to sacrifice yourself for me!?”

“This is not for you… I cannot die…”

He waited for Cliff to exclaim another ‘What!?’, but nothing came. She was lost for words. From how he spoke of the better days in Canakanory, she’d figured he was unaging, but completely immortal? Also, if this wasn’t because of the book, and he’s from this reality, then…

“Have you figured it out, yet? I too am one of The Writer’s Characters. I am the first. I was made at the very beginning, hence my simplicity. I am Zavine, The Caretaker, and my life is bound to that of The Writer’s. I can only die when they do. Not before. Not after.”

The zebra spun on the spot, tears running down his cheeks.

“Please, Princess! Won’t you let me die!?”

Right at that moment, an incredibly large, clawed dragon hand burst through Hayley’s scar and grabbed Zavine. It grabbed so tight, his bones cracked audibly. Blood trickled down the claws’ scales.

“Zavine!”

Clearly in great pain, Zavine wheezed, “Go, Princess… find The Book… gather ka-tet… save… all…”

The claws pulled Zavine back through the scar. Cliff dived at them, but both zebra and dragon hand vanished, along with the scar. In their place, Cliff just landed face first in the sea water. Coughing and spluttering, she withdrew her face from the salty brine.

The mare cursed loudly, “Dammit! Lost my only guide, don’t know what a ka-tet is, and now my reflection’s gone weird!… Hang on a sec…”

It was true, her reflection had gone weird. Instead of her face with longish hair (the colour indiscernible in the night light), a stallion’s face looked back, his mane short and slightly windswept. Weirder still was that she could see a reflection at all. The massive body of water before her had gone deathly still.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Something peculiar was indeed going on, but this was only the start.

“Miss Twilight, tell me you’re seeing this too,” Bullet said warily, pointing to the mare in the water.

Twilight looked to where he was pointing.

“Erm, have you never seen your reflection before?”

“What? Of course I have! This ain’t my reflection! To start with, that’s a mare!”

“Calm down, Speed. Describe her to me.”

“Her coat’s a lighter shade of than mine, as is her mane, which is also longer and smoother, with blue streaks here and there. I think I can just make out a rucksack on her back too. What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of this happening before.”

A hoof came to rest on his shoulder.

“What are you doing, Miss Twilight?”

“That’s not me, Speed.”

Judging from the concern in Twilight’s voice, Speed had a good idea of who the hoof belonged to. He twisted his neck to see Bosh grinning down at him.

“Oh, bloomin’ ‘eck.”

Bosh teleported the pair of them away, leaving Twilight by herself with no idea what to do.

“So, lads, how’s the family business? Those hot cross buns selling nicely? The sister enjoying her new pastry shop? You know, I was going to pop into that Sugarcube Corner place to see if they were up to snuff, but I seriously doubt it. Your sister’s one hell of a patissier. Best of the b—”

“Shut up, soiler!” Bash roared into his face.

Bish, Bash and Bosh had Speeding Bullet sat in the middle of some unknown basement with a single light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Slowly, they paced in a big circle around him, equally spaced out.

“Don’t let him get to you, brother Bash,” Bosh advised. “They wanted him back alive, remember?”

Bash just grumbled and returned to his spot among the pacing ponies.

“As I was saying, she’s the best of the best. And not just in cooking either. You guys remember that time we slept together? Bloody good in the bed, too. Hooey, what a way to lose a virginity, eh? She did this one thing when—”

“HER FRIENDS DARED HER!!!”

Bash broke one of Speed’s legs, causing him to howl in pain.

Bosh scalded his brother, “BASH!”

Bish spoke up, “Calm down, brother Bosh. They said we could use force should he resist capture, and you know how they feel about him. Where’s the harm in a little pain?”

“Oh, hardy har har,” Bullet said sarcastically. “I hope you bite that silver tongue of yours one day.”

Bash hit him so hard in the stomach that he slid back a couple metres. He began to cough up some blood.

“Brother Bish, let’s go make the arrangements for our trip back.”

“Good idea, brother Bosh. I’m sure brother Bash and the soiler want to be left alone. Just be sure to leave his other legs intact. I know none of us want to carry him.”

The three brothers shared mocking grins between one another before Bish and Bosh went upstairs. Bash then went to work on beating Speeding Bullet to a pulp.

For a while, Cliff Jumper’s reflection returned to normal, but the water remained absolutely still, so the mare waited and waited. To get more comfortable, the rucksack was taken off and put to one side. After an hour, the stallion returned, looking like he’d taken on a professional boxer.

“That can’t be good,” she said, nopony around to hear her. “Maybe I should try and help him… I wonder.”

Gently, Cliff placed her hoof on the water’s surface. There were no ripples. Putting the hoof through, she felt not water, but warm air, like somepony’s breath. She couldn’t believe it! She was reaching through to the stallion. Without a second thought, she went all the way, her entire body crossing the threshold.

The next day, the triplets began preparations to leave. Bullet was escorted out of the basement and to the bathroom. They had made sure there was nothing of use for an escape before letting him in. Speed didn’t need the loo like he had told them, but he wanted to see his reflection again. Lo and behold, in the bathroom mirror, the mare stared back.

She frowned at him. He frowned back. She reached a hoof towards him, face now curious. He too was curious, so he just watched. The hoof came through. The mare’s face switched to determination. In seconds, a whole mare came through the mirror. Speed just gawked at her, still unable to believe what had happened.

The mare picked herself up from the floor and faced Speed.

“So, now that I’m here, what on Luna’s Moon happened to you?”

Speed just shushed the mare, making gestures to the door in warning.

Bash’s voice came through the door, “What’s going on in there, soiler?”

Keeping the need for quiet in mind, the mare mouthed, ‘SOILER!?’

Speed mouthed back, ‘Unicorn. Big. Bad.’

“Soiler! Answer me!”

The mare watched Speed begin to have a meltdown, unable to think of anything. Rolling her eyes, she but on her best male voice.

“I just hurt my balls. Sorry mate.”

The closeness to Bullet’s real voice was uncanny. Even still, he didn’t talk like that. Bash was bound to get suspicious.

“Stupid soiler. Just hurry up. We’re about ready to go out here.”

Apparently not. The mare smiled smugly at Speed. He mouthed, ‘Thank you. I’m Speeding Bullet.’

She replied, ‘You’re welcome. Call me Glyph Humper.’

Bullet gave the mare a funny look.

From outside, Bish called to Bash, “Fetch the soiler, brother Bash. He’s likely done by now, and we need to head out.”

And so, Bullet recommenced meltdown. Glyph inaudibly sighed and took a fighting pose at the door. The stallion tried to tell her not to fight these guys, but the door opened wide, and Glyph lunged for Bash. In a single move, she went over his head, grabbing it, swung around and used her momentum to throw Bash into a wall in the living room. The place was apparently going to be demolished soon, so it was abandoned.

Bish witnessed Glyph’s Bash tossing.

“What the— Brother Bash! Who are you, soiler!?”

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you that’s racist, jackass?!” Glyph roared back.

Bish just spat at the mare, produced a knife and charged. Pulling out her own knife, Glyph smirked.

“Bad move, shithead.”

She placed the knife in her mouth and dodged out the way of Bish’s vertical slash, then immediately went forward, the knife cutting Bish along his side. Once Glyph had gone all the way, she spun round and leapt up onto the now anguished unicorn’s back. Next, the blade was back in a forehoof and slitting his throat.

Collapsing to the floor, Bish clawed away at his throat, unable to help himself. There wasn’t time to breathe for the earth ponies though, as Bosh appeared out of thin air, an energy blast already charged up. Glyph had her knife knocked from her hoof. In response, she pounced. Getting hold of Bosh’s horn, she pulled him downwards, and when the body refused, the two strongly opposing forces caused the horn to break off.

More cries of pain assaulted Speed’s ears as he helplessly watched Glyph Humper take on his parents’ best goons all by herself. The element of surprise was likely a major table turner. The horn was relocated to Bosh’s eye, and he stumbled, crashing through what little remained of the old window, either fainting or dying out in the street. Needless to say, other ponies became aware of Bosh and screamed.

“We need to get out of here!” Bullet ordered.

“Go through the mirror!”

“Seriously!?”

“Just do i— gak!”

Bash had come back to his senses and pinned Glyph up against a wall, by the neck.

“YOU KILLED MY BROTHERS! NOW I KILL YOU!”

Glyph’s face was already turning as blue as the streaks in her mane. Bullet had to do something, but what could he do? Maybe ram the unicorn at top speed? But a high speed start already strained the body, and one of his legs was broken and held straight by two boards. But Glyph came from wherever she came from to save him! He had to help!

Preparing for the consequential pain his actions would incur on his own body, Speeding Bullet moved into a good position. Focusing, he took off at high speed, ramming Bash. The last of the triplets turned into a crash dummy, limply smacking against another wall. He was still breathing, but the sheer force of the impact had knocked him out cold.

Glyph fell to the floor and gasped. Speed smiled before becoming very aware of the searing pain in his leg. The boards had broken and come loose, and some bone was visible. He then cursed with words that would have made even Iron Will cry.

“Now that’s Britannian spirit,” Glyph commented.

She found her hoofing and helped Speed limp back into the bathroom. A quick test showed that the mirror was still linked to wherever Glyph came from, and she gave Speed the required assistance to get him through it, before going through herself.

Familiar Faces

The two earth ponies sat together on the beach, Cliff Jumper tending to Speeding Bullet’s leg with her climber’s medical kit. The poor stallion wouldn’t be walking anytime tonight, and Cliff was too tired to carry him however far it was to the nearest civilisation. Zavine could have done with telling her which way to go.

Earlier on, they’d had a little laugh over a misunderstanding between them. It seemed they’d both misread the other’s name back in Speed’s world; ‘Glyph Humper’ and ‘Feeding Gullet’. Now, Cliff was finishing off her explanation of the situation.

“And, well… we’re kinda lost, but at a guess, I’d say we follow the beach when day breaks, keeping the sea to our right…”

“… Sounds like we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

“You’re okay with all this? Just like that?”

Bullet shrugged. “Pretty much. You may have noticed my life wasn’t perfect back there. Bish, Bash and Bosh were taking me back to my racist, unicorn parents and the mare of my dreams had just got engaged before she even met me. At least here, I don’t have to run from any more Britannian goons.”

“So, let me just get this straight… your Britannia’s racist, with unicorns on top?”

“Yep. Not many pegasi around those parts, either.”

“How’d the Equestrian government let that happen?”

“We’re just a protectorate, and they’ve always got their hooves full with changelings and Discord and the like.”

Cliff finished with Speed’s leg and sat back.

“Do you at least have the Derby Derby?”

“Do we!? It’s the only thing I’ll miss about the place! I was the best racer they’ve ever seen! Pulled off a Sonic Blast!”

“Wait a sec! That was you? That happened in my Britannia too! Rainbow Dash came by one day to meet the stallion responsible for it.”

“She what!?”

“Oooooo, sorry about that… fresh wounds… completely forgot.”

Speed just grumbled in discontent.

“Thing is, I too was born through the rare recessive earth pony gene. A pair of Britannian pegasi. Like I said before, they brought me up on stories about that stupid tome. Died before I found it, thank heavens.”

“… So, you probably don’t exist in my world… I mean, that accent you have doesn’t even exist… there’s just unicorn and earth pony… my stupid accent made my own race hate me.”

“It seems we have both been given cruel fates in our own worlds… Heh… maybe we can start anew here once we save the multiverse, eh?”

Speed didn’t smile or say anything. Instead, he merely nodded and looked out over the water.

“Got any siblings? I’m an only child, personally.”

“One. He left.”

“Oh… Well… You know what? We should probably get some sleep. Keep chatting and we’ll end up still being awake by daybreak. Night, Speed!”

Rather hurriedly, Cliff lay down and looked away from Speed, guilt ridden with how she made him more depressed. The stallion in question sighed longingly and lay down too, making sure not to mess up his bad leg any further.

Surprisingly, they both slept soundly, and after the Sun climbed away from the horizon, the pair awoke, feeling well rested and raring to go. Even with his leg, Bullet felt he could manage easily.

For the first part of the day, he was right. As midday approached, though, hunger made itself present. The landscape hadn’t changed a bit. There wasn’t any fish, as the water proved to be quite shallow for some distance. Cliff made her way up the grassy knoll that blocked off the inland view from the beach. Straight away, she called Speed up.

While they had walked, at some point, a desert had started further in, and slowly stretched over towards the beach. When they squinted, they could just make out the grassy knoll giving way to sand further along. In addition to the desert, they saw a town sitting pretty in the sand. With no other possible sign of food in any other direction, Speed and Cliff agreed to take their chances with the town in the desert.

“You know, I feel like I’ve seen this place before,” said Cliff. “Like, more than just some silly deja vu.”

Speed, noting the heat of the sand under his hooves, didn’t really pay attention.

“It’s getting kinda irritating how I can’t put my hoof on it.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing, Cliff.”

“But what if it’s not?”

“Can we wait until we’re fed, please? I’m hungry, tired, aching and have a very unhelpful limp. The sand is hot, the Sun is hot, you’re hot, I’m hot, EVERYTHING IS HOT!”

“I’m ho—”

Speed stopped and yelled in Cliff’s face, “I DON’T LIKE HEAT!”

“Okay okay!” she said as she wiped spit from her face. “Let’s pick up the pace.”

With a grunt, Bullet sped up. It was hard, with the leg, but he was really at the end of his tether. Cliff smiled awkwardly and kept up. The Sun had clearly begun to slide back down the sky by the time they reached the town’s entrance. There stood two tall poles, clearly meant to hold up a sign over head, but the sign appeared to be missing.

Past the sign, the town was bustling with activity. Consisting mostly of diamond dogs, there were the odd griffins and ponies here and there in the crowds. The majority of them wore old wild western style clothes, matching the town’s aesthetics. The two newcomers had stopped their approach and watched the others get on with their business.

“Diamond dogs living above ground?” questioned Speed.

“The ones that live underground are just a minority, mate,” Cliff explained. “In actuality, they are a sociable race, if you ignore how their preferred living locations result in seclusion.”

“...Oh.”

“Anyway, let’s find us some grub.”

Nodding to one another, Cliff and Speed strolled amongst the crowds, looking for somewhere that would serve food. They eventually located a saloon, going through the batwing doors and being greeted by hearty laughter, piano music and the clinking of glasses.

Shuddering, Cliff muttered, “That sense of familiarity is growing more and more.”

They crossed the room to reach the bartender, who smiled at them. A diamond dog, he wore a fashionable, cliche saloon get up, and had grown a thick, well tended moustache. A good sniff of the air near him told of hair wax. His accent was a strong, generic western one.

“How can ah help yous two fine earth ponies?”

“Food,” moaned Speed, slumping onto a stool.

Being a bit more thoughtful, Cliff produced a bag of bits and added, “We’ve walked a long way with no food for a while. I hope I can cover the cost with these. Also, we’re gonna need to know where to find a doctor for my friend’s leg.”

“Two double hay burgers it is. I’m gonna assume you wants a couple generous servings of fries with that?”

“Please.”

“Alrighty then!” The dog went over to the kitchen door and called out their order. Returning, he said, “Once you’ve eaten, you’ll wanna go straight outta here, take the second right and the doctor’s is on the left. You’ll know it when ya see it.”

“Thank you.”

“Yes,” Bullet agreed. “Thank you.” He then began to doze with his head on the bar.

“Always happy to help a paying customer. Now, what brings you to our fair town?”

“It was the first we found. We, er, kinda got stranded through no fault of our own.”

“Ah, gotcha. Well, want any drinks?”

“A couple waters for now.”

“Coming up!”

The waters were poured, and eventually, their food came out. The pair stuffed their faces and restored their energy. With plenty bits to spare, they left and followed the bartender’s directions, finding the doctor’s with ease. There was no wait when they got in, and Cliff sat to one side while the professional examined Bullet’s leg. She was another diamond dog, slightly more well spoken than the bartender.

“I must say, Miss Jumper, that you did a mighty fine job with what you had at hoof. I congratulate you.”

“Years of climbing accidents will teach a mare a few things.”

“Quite right. Anyway, I just need to redress the leg, and then I suggest you go visit the town enchantress. She can cast a couple spells to help with sand and other natural health risks.”

“Is it possible to restock my med kit here, too?”

The doctor pointed to a cupboard while redressing Bullet’s leg, the stallion wincing every so often.

“Everything you need will be in there.”

Cliff began searching the cupboard, taking what she needed.

After putting the med kit back in the bag, the mare enquired, “How much do we owe you?”

“A few bits should cover the cost, and no charge for the check up.”

Soon after, they left, Cliff’s pouch a few bits lighter. They followed a second set of directions, eventually finding themselves in front of yet another building. With a quick knock on the door, they went in and froze. They couldn’t believe what they saw behind the counter.

“How can I help ya, folks?” Asked the unicorn mare, seemingly oblivious to the funny looks she was getting. She spoke with a Texan drawl.

Bullet limped forward, and cautiously poked at the horn.

“Do ya mind, sugarcube?”

Just as cautious, Cliff went up to the mare and tried to touch the stetson resting on her head.

“What in tarnation are you two doin’?”

In perfect synchronisation, the two earth ponies jumped back, yelping in chorus, “Applejack?!”

The orange coated mare responded, “That would be my name. Mind telling me what’s goin’ on?”

Cliff and Speed ducked away, sharing a private conversation.

“I know how this is possible, but it’s just so weird,” Cliff said.

“It’s a parallel universe thing, isn’t it?”

Cliff nodded.

Speed continued, “But a unicorn? I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

“Wait, when’d you ever meet AJ?”

“Canterlot, while making my way to Ponyville. She’d recently opened a new stall there. Besides, she’s famous, you know? Bearer of Honesty, saviour of Equestria.”

“Hmmm…”

“You two done over there?”

The newcomers quickly turned their attention back to Applejack the unicorn, failing to hide their fascination. AJ frowned.

“You’re a mite strange, the two of ya. Care to tell me what you’re up to?”

“Sorry about that. It’s just we’ve seen a near identical pony to you, except she was an earth pony,” Bullet explained.

In addition, Cliff blurted out, “She even had the same name!”

“Huh…” AJ waved a hoof dismissively. “The Writer works in weird ways.”

Cliff gawked. “You know of The Writer?”

“My gran told me about him. Nice ta meet a fellow believer.” AJ watched the other two share a couple of looks, mouthing the word ‘believer’. “So, why are ya here? Ya wantin’ me for somethin’?”

“Oh, yes, we came for something,” Cliff said unhelpfully.

Bullet lifted his bad leg up. “The doctor sent us your way. Said you could help with sand and other health risks.”

“I see. She didn’t explain what I do, did she? No matter. For a fair price, I can enchant items and clothing to protect against things like sand, dust, and other things that may cause infection. I can also reduce pain by providing a spell that softens any light contact with an injury.”

“That’s pretty helpful,” Bullet commented.

“My family’s been in this business for generations. We’ve been helping protect Pawridge from sandstorms for the last three.”

“P-Pawridge?” Cliff stuttered.

“That’s the town’s name. ‘Course, you probably came in from the side with the broken sign. Sorry ‘bout that.” AJ’s voice increased in volume, and she leaned towards an opened door behind the counter. “Somepony forgot the sand barrier needed a little extension at that end, like it always does.”

Through the door were a set of stairs, and from up the stairs and filly’s voice called down, “I said I was sorry, okay? I’m just a foal! Big Mac, back me up here!”

A third, deep, stallion’s voice answered the filly’s, “Eenope.”

There was a near-silence, the only sound being wood creaking under Cliff’s hooves.

“Well,” Speed started, “I’d like it if you did your magic with my leg.”

“Sure thing, Mister…?”

“Speeding Bullet. My friend here’s Cliff Jumper… Cliff? You okay?”

The mare in question was shaking, looking straight ahead of her. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped, but then she fainted.

“CLIFF!”

“Anything wrong with her, Doc?” Speed asked.

“No,” replied the doctor, who then sighed. “Well, nothing physical. From how you described what happened, mentioning Pawridge may have triggered something in her head. All we can do is wait for her to wake up.”

Speeding Bullet and the doctor stood outside a spare room above Applejack’s store. When Cliff fainted, the unicorn had taken her to the room and put her on the bed, while Speed had fetched the doctor. AJ was back at her counter, dealing with another customer. Her little sister Applebloom, who had been yelling down the stairs earlier, was tending to Cliff. The poor mare was tossing and turning, and sweating up a storm. Big Mac, the older brother, was stoically sat nearby.

Bullet sighed. “Thanks anyway, Doc.”

“Wish I could have helped more. If you need me, and I’m not at my surgery, ask around for Anti. That’s what most folks round here call me.”

“Will do, Anti.”

Just then, there was a scream and a thump from the spare room. Like lightning, Big Mac was through the door. Bullet and Anti were close on his tail. They didn’t like what they saw. Cliff Jumper was sat upright in the bed, a hoof sticking out, her face manic. Applebloom was on the floor, covering an eye, crying.

As Big Mac went to his sister, AJ came storming into the room.

“What happened?”

“Sh-sh-she hit me!”

“She WHAT!?”

At was at this point that Cliff began to babble, “I’m sorry. The madness. I’m sorry. I had no choice. They were gone. Nothing could be done. No choice. Forced my hoof. Mercy killing. I’m sorry.”

“What’s she going on about?” AJ growled.

Anti held a paw to her chin, thinking, repeating aloud, “The madness… I think I know what this is.” She received many questioning looks. “There was a case of this, before I was born, when a visitor came to Pawridge. They rambled like Cliff here, and something called ‘The madness’ was mentioned frequently. He also spoke of other things: The Book and The Writer.”

AJ’s eyes widened briefly, but another look at Applebloom brought back her anger.

“Whatever her excuse, I don’t care. I want her out of my home!”

“If the past is anything to go by, I suggest she be put in a cell for the time being.”

Bullet just looked at Cliff with pity in his eyes.

“Oh Cliff. What’s happened to you?”

Cliff Jumper was now residing in a cell, and wearing a straightjacket, since she began to flail whenever she saw a diamond dog. Speed stood on the other side of the bars, watching her babble, her expression frightened. Behind the stallion, the Sheriff of Pawridge sat at his desk, taking notes.

“So you say she pulled you from your own reality?”

“Not exactly. She came to mine, saved my flank, then I chose to take her offer to come back here with her.”

“By killing those unicorns that broke your leg?”

“They were real pieces of work, sir. Though seeing it first hand was initially off putting, I never felt bad for them, and looking back… I’d likely let her do it again, given the chance.”

“Hmm…”

Speed turned to face the Sheriff.

“Please, sir. She just needs help. I’m sure she’ll recover, if we just find out what’s wrong.”

The Sheriff looked away from the notes, his voice sympathetic as he said, “It’s like Anti said, Mister Bullet. Before our time, someone came to this town, rambling like Miss Jumper here. Thing is, he was old, weak. Death came for him while in his cell, and in his last moments, his sanity returned. He told us that he came into contact with The Book, and began seeing other worlds, the strain on his mind too great. You yourself have said she has touched The Book.”

“But she’s cured now!”

“Yes, apparently she doesn’t see the other worlds any more, but insanity doesn’t just-” The Sheriff clicked his fingers. “-go like that. At the least, it certainly leaves mental scars.”

“I know, but—”

“You should also be aware that some forms of insanity can be hidden by the inflicted.”

“Yes, but—”

“I am sorry, Mister Bullet. More than likely, we’re going to have to put her out of her misery.”

Speed slammed a hoof.

“You can’t!”

Getting out of his chair and standing up straight, the Sheriff towered of the stallion.

“It’s within the law. Both Anti and I are legally capable of doing it. Now, I have to go discuss the situation with the good doctor. I have the only keys, so don’t get any ideas.”

With that, he walked out, grabbing his long coat on the way. Speeding Bullet sat and leant against the bars, unable to look at his friend’s condition.

“I’m so, so sorry, Cliff… I don’t know what I can do.”

Cliff’s rambling continued, endlessly, “…- Forced hoof. Mercy killing-…”

“We barely just met, and this happens. You saved my life.”

“…- No choice-…”

“I just moped… then shouted at you… ignored your talk about deja vu…”

“…- Multonian-…”

“Wait a minute. You kept feeling like you knew this place, and you acted up when the name was mentioned.”

“…- I’m sorry-…”

“You’ve been here before! In your own world, while collecting the pieces of The Book!”

Bullet jumped to his hooves, ignoring the slight pain.

“Hang in there, Cliff! I’ve got an idea!”

“I still don’t like this.”

The Sheriff was not fond of being told what to do. Applejack, Big Mac and Anti joined him in following Speeding Bullet back to the jail. The idea was that Anti and the Sheriff would stand just outside, out of view, in earshot, while AJ and Big Mac escorted Speed into Cliff Jumper’s cell.

“It’s worth a shot, Dyne,” said Anti, who didn’t like the idea of euthanizing the mare.

‘Dyne’ growled at the use of his name in front of a visitor.

Speed attempted to convince him further, “Worst she can do is keep rambling, right?”

“I still ain’t happy about the black eye she gave Applebloom,” said AJ, who agreed in the hopes of getting a genuine, non-rambled apology.

“Eeyup.”

They reached the jail, and the diamond dogs took their positions, out of sight. If Speed had it right, Cliff knew them from the other Pawridge. It was pointed out that she didn’t react to Anti, but perhaps she never saw the alternate Anti. Even still, being a diamond dog, it was better she stay out of view. AJ and Big Mac, however, were most certainly not in the alternate town, and somepony needed to keep an eye on the stallion during this whole affair.

Taking Dyne’s keys in her magic, AJ took the lead going inside. The cell was reached, and the entry unlocked. Big Mac joined Bullet inside the cell. Cliff’s rambling had stopped, and the mare seemed to have calmed. This was a good sign.

Bullet spoke softly, “Cliff, can you hear me?” No response. “It’s me, Speeding Bullet, your friend… I think.” Still no response. “Big Mac’s with me.”

Quietly, she finally said, “I’m sorry.”

“We know you are, Cliff. We want to help. We think that, if you tell us what happened, you’ll regain some control over your mind. Maybe relieve some guilt by letting it out.”

“Mercy killing.”

“Cliff… please… tell us what happened back in Pawridge.”

To everyone but Speed’s surprise, Cliff calmly looked into Speed’s eyes. She told her story.

A Tale called Mercy

Back in the reality of my birth, I was raised on stories of the Mycrosia Multonian. The Multonian is a book containing knowledge of every reality in the Multiverse. As an adult, I found it and brought it home. I lived in a flat above my landlady’s shop. We were good friends. In the month after finding it, I went mad. Alternate realities overlapped my own. It led me to take my own life.

Upon my death, I found myself back at a moment just before my death was unavoidable. After many tries, I realised I would never be allowed to remain dead. Sadly, somepony found out about my discovery and came to take it from me, threatening my friend and I. For what may have accumulated into years, I tried and tried to save us both. But I had to let my friend die in order to take down the assailant.

The shop, my home, the bodies and the tome were caught in a resulting fire, and I thought it was over. However, later, while I roamed the land aimlessly, I came across another sufferer. I learned the tome was reforming. Its ashes had spread all over the place, on the wind. I also discovered that physical contact alone caused the madness. The fact that I had read it was the reason behind my apparent immortality.

From that point on, I roamed with purpose. I made it my life’s mission to right my wrongs and gather the Multonian, before the madness destroyed the world. I eventually succeeded in this. It all ended in Pawridge.

The final piece, a mere page corner, had found it’s way into the hooves of a travelling merchant. I caught up with the merchant and interrogated him. He knew what it was capable of when he first got a hold of it, and had made sure not to actually touch it. He’d sold it as a tool used for cursing one’s enemies, warning the customer of the dangers.

This customer was a resident of Pawridge. A diamond dog pup, going through her teenage years. Knowing this, I made for the town as quickly as possible. Upon arrival, things were deceptively calm. Everyone was going about their business. I entered the saloon and went to the bar.

A moustache-less bartender greeted me, “Evenin’ there, Missy. What brings a pony to Pawridge?”

I gave my prepared answer, “I’m a collector. Heard something was sold here that I’d like to add to my collection. Looking for information on it.”

“Well, ya came to the right place. ‘Course, my brother is usually the one who knows everything, but he’s taken ill, as of late. Fever.”

“Sorry to hear that. Can you help me, in his place?”

“I’ll try my best. What are ya lookin’ for?”

“I don’t exactly know,” I lied. “But when I spoke to the previous owner, he said he sold it to a teenage pup.”

I noticed the bartender twitch, ever so slightly.

“You, er, get a name?”

“Fido.”

“Never heard of her,” said the dog, a bit too fast for my liking. “You sure you got the right town? Certain it wasn’t called Porridge?”

“Perhaps. I shall leave for now, but I may come back to rent a room. Any vacancy here?”

“Uh, sure, yeah. Just come by the bar before midnight and I’ll set you up.”

“Many thanks.”

I made my way out of the saloon. As I passed through the batwing doors, I took a glance back at the bar to see the bartender looking at me with a patron, clearly talking about me. I knew I had the right place.

I decided to make my next port of call the local cemetery. Personally, I wasn’t afraid of graveyards in the dark, but it was disconcerting when one of the other realities I’d grown to see through showed corpses rising from the grave. Thankfully, I only felt pain in my own reality, and ignored the other world corpses.

It wasn’t hard to find what I was looking for. There were a few fresh graves to one side. I examined their tombstones:

‘Dr. Anti Histamine - Beloved wife. Expectant mother.’

‘Mary Mite - Precious sister. Not of sound mind. Forgiven.’

As I began to read the next stone, a gruff voice spoke behind me, “Did you know any of them?”

The source stepped up beside me. The perfect image of a skilled gunslinger, the diamond dog wore a leather long coat, and I could just see the aging waist coat underneath. He held his hat to his chest.

“I met-” I glanced at the name of the third tombstone. “-Kit, once.”

“Ah, yes. Poor boy. After one trip to that pony city, all he ever talked about was how he was going to move there. You must be that racer pony he met. Didn’t realise you were a mare, though.”

“It was only a brief encounter, and I can come across as masculine in the right light.”

“That explains it.” The dog put his hat back on and held out a paw, kneeling slightly for me to reach. His hat had hidden a sheriff’s badge. “Name’s Dyne.”

I provided my hoof for him to shake, replying in kind, “Usain Bolt. Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Don’t bother with that ‘sir’ nonsense. I may be sheriff, but I’m still like everyone else.”

“Very well. Might I ask if you knew anyone here? Personally, I mean.”

Dyne pointed to the first two graves.

“My wife and sister.”

“I am so very sorry.”

“Don’t be. No one could’ve seen it coming. My sister began to act out, as if she were possessed by some Tartaran demon. Her condition intensified. Next thing we know, she goes and kills one of the dancers at the saloon. In an attempt to restrain her, Anti was stabbed in the womb. Both she and our future child passed on. Mary though… she kept screaming, hurting others… had to put her down…”

“Sweet Luna, that sounds horrible.”

“It was. I vowed never to fire my gun again.”

“... Perhaps you would allow me to buy you a drink?”

Dyne smiled faintly.

“You don’t—”

“I insist.”

“Fine.”

The pair of us left the cemetery and returned to the saloon. I bought us both drinks and booked my room. I avoided getting merry, as did the sheriff. At some point, everyone was sent home, and I went and slept.

The following morning, screams woke me from my slumber. In seconds I donned my cloak and hidden weapons. Running out onto the balcony, I witnessed a male diamond dog rip out another’s throat with his teeth and cackle like the mad thing that he was. Others backed or ran away from the scene.

By the jail, I saw Dyne, hesitant to act. His paw hovered over his holster. The mad dog, frothing at the mouth, shook his head, foamy spittle flying everywhere. When he stopped, he was glaring at the sheriff.

Somehow, the mad dog managed to speak clearly, “Why aren’t you doing anything, Dyne!? I just killed him! You could’ve stopped me, but still, you’re too pussycat to do anything. You’ve been useless ever since Mary! Let me put you out of your misery!”

He ran at the sheriff, claws and fangs bared. Dyne wasn’t doing anything to stop him. Maybe he wanted to die. I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to let it happen. Before I could act, though, a shot rang out, and the mad dog flew sideways. Someone under the balcony had fired the bullet.

“Pimm!” I recognised the voice as the bartender’s. “What are you doing out of bed? You’re sick! Come back inside.”

Footsteps as Pimm and his brother came into the saloon. I kept my eye on Dyne. The dog was examining his almost killer. He searched the body and apparently found nothing of importance. Then, a paw went to his hat, and respects were paid.

“But where is the piece?” I asked myself, returning to my room.

During the day, I played the role of curious visitor, asking the kind of questions a curious, innocent bystander might ask. From what I gathered, the mad dog, Fluffy (a good reason to be mad), was one of Fido’s teachers, as was his victim. This Fido girl didn’t have a grave, but neither was she out and about, and no one would tell me anything about her other than her connections with the dogs going mad.

In regards to the town’s knowledge of what could’ve been happening, the official theory was (quite rightly) a contagion spreading in a previously unprecedented manner. The rumour mill did, however, have a second theory. Many wondered whether Fido was putting curses on those she disliked. It amused me how the truth was a mix of both, or so I thought.

As an added bonus, through my investigation, I discovered that Kit was Fido’s little brother, which, with my current story, gave me a way to possibly meet Fido. With every minute counting, I acted on this plan. In the mid-afternoon, I was knocking on Fido’s door. Her mother answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Are you, by any chance, Kit’s mother?”

“Y-yes?”

“My name’s Usain Bolt. I’m the race pony who met your son when he visited the city.”

“From Derby? You came all this way?”

“Yes, but I was not aware he had passed…”

As expected, the mother stood to one side and waved me in. “Come in. Come in.”

She guided me to their living room, where we sat and chatted. We spoke of Kit. I made sure to keep my comments subtly vague so as not to be found out. Eventually, current events came up, as we both witnessed Fluffy this morning. Then, I moved the conversation onto Fido.

“I couldn’t help but overhear that Fluffy was a teacher.”

“Oh, yes. Kit’s sister, Fido, was in his class.”

“Oh, is she alright?”

“She’s become rather antisocial as of late, staying in her room. It is such a pity.”

“Do you think I could go talk to her? I understand I only met Kit the once, but I heard he held our meeting close to his heart.”

“I wish it would help, but likely it would just make things worse.”

“That’s a pity…” I got up and stretched. “Anyway, I best be off. Promised someone else I’d race them later. Before I go though, couldn’t borrow your bathroom, could I?”

“That’ll be fine. It’s upstairs, second door.”

“Thank you.”

While I proceeded up the stairs, a knock came at the door. The mother conversed with whoever it was. In the meantime, once up all the stairs, I checked all the doors. I deduced Fido’s door to be the one with the sign reading ‘GO AWAY!’

I knocked lightly and entered while saying, “Hello? Fido? Sorry to disturb you but—”

Her room was a sight to behold, and not in a good way. There was a giant list of names on one wall, the wallpaper having been torn off. I sniffed the air, and there was a faint smell to the room. Fido was lying in bed, her back turned to me. When I reached a hoof over, I noticed a strange fuzziness in the blanket she lay under. The key observation I made, though, was that she didn’t seem to be breathing.

Just then, almost making me jump, the mother’s voiced called up the stairs, “Usain? You done up there yet? There’s someone here to see you.”

With my time up, I crept out of Fido’s room, closing the door behind me, then went and flushed the toilet in the bathroom. Coming back downstairs, I saw Pimm’s brother stood at the door, trying his best to look friendly.

“Howdy, Usain. Ready for that race?”

Either the mother had mentioned it in their brief conversation, or the bartender got lucky. Whichever it was, the fact he was using my lie worried me. We bid the mother goodbye and walked away.

“I know you’re not who ya say ya are.”

“I figured.”

“My friend and I think you’re involved in all this.”

“You’re friend being the guy at the bar when I first left last night?”

“… Yes.”

“So, you going the blackmail route?”

“Maybe. First, we wanna know what you’re up to.”

“Fair enough. Where we meeting this friend, then?”

“At his place.” The bartender frowned at me. “You’re awful calm, considering.”

“I’m hoping you can help.”

The bartender took me into a household, where another dog sat waiting in a chair in his living room.

“First off,” said the friend. “We want your real name.”

“Cliff Jumper. You two?”

“Marty,” replied the bartender.

The friend answered, “Melman.”

I chuckled, recalling another reality I had seen.

“Is there an Alex and Gloria, too?”

Melman stared daggers at me.

“There was,” Marty explained.

“Oh.”

“What’s it you’re collecting,” Melman enquired.

“A book. Touching it drives you to madness. I attempted to destroy it, but it just reforms itself. Its pieces were scattered. The last piece is here, and after getting it, I am going to make sure it can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

Marty and Melman shared looks of disbelief.

“I realise it sounds ridiculous, but I was told Fido bought the last piece from a merchant, and so far, those that have gone mad have all been connected to her. Now, its only small right now, but anything could happen, and entire towns, even cities have fallen apart thanks to this thing.”

“Say that we trust you. What can we do?”

“Don’t touch it. Keep an ear to the ground. Alert me when something comes up. Don’t hesitate to kill the inflicted, as soon as you legitimately can.”

The two dogs got up after a short pause, and left the room. There was a long silence while I awaited their decision. I knew not to leave without permission.

Upon their return, Melman rather begrudgingly told me, “We trust you.”

“Jolly good show. By the way, keep an eye on Fido’s mother. I suspect she has a part in all of this, and I doubt she’s on our side.”

With that, I was allowed to leave. As night fell once again, I decided to have an early night. There was nothing else I could do. Or, as usual, so I thought. That night, while I slept, things got far worse.

Like the previous morning, I did not awake of my own accord. Instead of screams, this time I was shook. I opened my eyes to find Dyne standing over me. He did not look pleased.

“What seems to be the problem, officer?” I asked.

My humour ignored, Dyne simply said, “Come with me.”

So, I rolled out of bed, donned my cloak and followed Dyne out of the saloon. He took me to the jail. Inside, I found Melman frothing at the mouth, barking through the bars of his new cell.

“In the early hours of this morning, Melman came in here and demanded he be locked up, for he had killed Marty. A few hours later, he becomes like this. Now, you and Marty were both last seen in each other’s company.”

I thought back over last night. The saloon had been closed, as it was a Sunday. This did not bode well.

“How’d he—”

“Marty was basically crucified in Melman’s living room.”

I cringed.

“So, Usain, care to provide an alibi?”

“Marty took me to see Melman. Turns out we had similar interests. I then went back to the saloon to rest.”

“Not much there to help you, Miss Bolt.”

“Mind if I ask who the witness is?”

“Kit’s mother, who you’d paid a visit to beforehand.”

I considered my options at this point in time. In the end, I realised my best choice was to show Dyne Fido’s room.

“I have strong reasons to suspect that woman of having a hand in at least one of the recent killings.”

“What!?”

“All you have to do is see Fido’s room. At worst, I’m wrong and we bothered an antisocial girl, and hopefully dispel any rumours that the poor lass is responsible.”

Dyne thought on this, analysing my face in an attempt to read my thoughts. He came to the desired conclusion.

“Alright, Miss Bolt. But, if you are wrong, I’m arresting you for assisted murder.”

“Fair enough.”

Thankfully, it was still early morning, and no one was around to see me being escorted by the sheriff. We reached Fido’s house a minute later and Dyne knocked on her door. There was no answer. He knocked again.

“Penny? Penny! You in there? It’s Dyne.”

For a short while, Dyne kept knocking and calling out, attracting the drowsy attention of the neighbours, who watched from their windows.

“Mayhaps you should knock down the door? I have enough bits to pay for a new one.”

I was growled at in response, but even still, Dyne took my advice, ramming the door open in one go. His steps quickened with concern, I had to trot to keep up with Dyne as he climbed the stairs. I stopped short of going into Fido’s room. Dyne came back out, horrified.

“The names… And Fido… She’s dead… it was—”

The sheriff lifted a paw to his mouth and he ran into the bathroom to vomit. It was clear I made the right decision to stay out of the room. Once he was done in the bathroom, Dyne searched the whole house. There was no sign of Penny.

Then came yet another scream from outside. Dyne and I rushed to the scene. Melman was somehow out of his cell, dragging a bloodied corpse with him. Upon sighting us, he threw the corpse ahead of him. The face was unrecognisable. Still, Dyne knew who it was.

“Pimm,” he gasped. “But… how… why…?”

“Madness it may be, but there can still be method to it,” I suggested.

With a loud howl that probably woke up the rest of Pawridge, Melman charged at us. Once again, Dyne’s paw hovered over his gun, but did nothing else. I sighed and stepped forward. Reaching a hoof under my cloak, I got a hold of one of my hidden knives and threw it. It found its home in Melman’s leg, tripping him up. Before he could recover, I galloped toward him and jumped. With another knife, I penetrated his skull, ending Melman’s life.

While searching the body, I could feel all the eyes trained on me. My mind raced. Things were getting worse, and every time I thought I was closer to achieving my goal, something happened to put me back. What was I to do? Everyone had watched me kill Melman. I was already a suspect. I heard Dyne walk up behind me as I finished my fruitless search.

“Usain Bolt, I am arresting you under suspicion of mass murder. I will escort you to your cell, where you will await trial.”

I sighed, handed over my cloak and knives, and corrected him, “Call me Cliff Jumper.”

The cell was uncomfortable. There was nothing to do. I could but only wonder what was going to happen now. A whole day went by with no company or conversation. Dyne had left me alone all day, and it seemed he wasn’t coming back during the night, either. When night came, so did Penny.

She stood at my cell door, look down at me, grinning, scheming. She thought she had all the cards.

“I don’t know who you are, Cliff Jumper, but you know about the paper. Did you also know that covering it in hallucinogenic poison sped up the madness? I found out by accident, and it’s been so helpful.”

“One question before you do me in: What’s the deal with all of this?”

“Purposefully inflicting the madness? Well, dear Fido got hold of the paper with the purpose of getting revenge on certain individuals. She was bullied as a little pup, and it messed her up. Mary Mite was her first target. Then came a couple others. But, Kit accidentally found it, and dear Fido ran to me for help. I got so emotional… I may have killed her, but I couldn’t bear to have them both leave me; not with their father dying so long ago.”

“So, you kept Fido’s body, excused Kyte’s death as…”

“The same as the rest: Self defense and mercy killing.”

“Then you decided to keep up Fido’s plan of mass revenge?”

“You’re a smart one.”

“Thanks, and you’re insane. Funny how you’re the only one that went mad naturally.”

“You may be right there, but I don’t care. There’s only one left now. Dyne killed my husband when my precious hubby was a hostage in a bank robbery. I know it wasn’t intentional, but I still want him to pay!”

I didn’t say any more. I tried to see what weapon Penny had waiting for me. Nothing, as far as I could see. She was wearing gloves though, and it wasn’t hard to figure out she intended to use the Multonian piece on me. Boy, was she in for a surprise. I walked up to her, and her grin became an ecstatic smile.

“Go on then, kill me. It’s this or wait for Dyne to sentence me to death.”

“Oh, I have far worse planned for you.”

“You don’t mean—”

“YES!”

Penny produced the page corner, drenched in the poison she mentioned, and stroked my muzzle with it. Admittedly, it felt rather anticlimactic. Next, I put on the act of going feral. While I was ‘distracted’, the dog opened my cell and ran off, cackling. Once she was gone, I calmly walked out the cell, retrieved my cloak and knives and strolled out into the night, a free mare.

“Now, where’d that bitch go?”

Having no idea where she went, I headed back to my rented room. As expected, my rucksack was gone, and the Multonian with it. Things had gone from worse to absolutely terrible. I left the room and found a suitable hiding spot to await daytime, and the ensuing chaos.

Chaos was a good word to describe the final day. There were many possibilities on who had the Mycrosia Multonian. As Sod’s Law would have it, Penny was the lucky bitch. It turns out that Dyne had gone out of town in search of Penny. As such, he wasn’t present the morning it rained paper in Pawridge.

I had fallen asleep at some point, and when I woke, Penny had called all of town over to the saloon, on top of which, she stood. I don’t know what it was she said to convince the town to hang around and let her shower paper all over them, but it worked, and the entire residency was lost.

Knowing things were about to go further south than the South Pole, I quickly found my way round the back of the saloon and climbed up to the roof. A loud cough from me grabbed Penny’s attention.

“You!? But how!?”

“Did you read the book before you tore it up?”

“No, but what’s the worry? It replaced the pages it lost.”

“Oh, I knew that bit. Was just making sure I could kill you.”

Before the bitch could even say ‘what’, I tackled her from the roof. As we fell, I watched fear fill her eyes. Then we hit the ground. Penny’s body cushioned my fall. I then realised I’d just jumped into a crowd of diamond dogs about to go rabid. I could smell the poison. She must have soaked the paper in it for Luna knows how long.

Everyone just stared at me. Then, spittle slowly frothed at their mouths. I ran for it, only to be stopped a couple minutes later at the edge of town by Dyne.

“How did you escape?”

“No time!”

The townsfolk had begun running after me. Dyne saw them and his jaw dropped. In an instant, he had his gun in hand.

“What did you do!?”

He fired a warning shot over their heads.

“It was Penny! She got hold of the Multonian! We need to get out of here!”

Dyne continued to aim his gun at the oncoming mob.

“Dyne, seriously! We. Need. To. Go!”

“The whole town… insane… while I was gone…”

“Don’t do this, Dyne.”

He pulled the trigger halfway.

“I could have—”

“You’d just end up like them. Penny wants them to kill you. SPECIFICALLY YOU!”

“This is my duty.”

The trigger was pulled back completely. One of the rabid dogs took a bullet to the head, causing the others to stop and look at the body. Then, they looked back at Dyne. Like I’d implied before, they were madness stricken, but they still had some awareness. The fact that Dyne actually fired on them came as quite the shock. Sadly, it didn’t last long. They restarted their charge.

Dyne emptied the gun, taking four more dogs down. I thought back to the book, sat atop the saloon. All the pieces resting just out the doors. The end was so close. The mob was nearly upon us. Stupidly, I chose to aid the sheriff. Drawing my own weapons, I threw blade after blade. It wouldn’t be enough, and close combat was inevitable. I placed my favourite knife in my mouth.

Looking up, I saw Dyne staring at me, undecided.

Muffled by the knife, I tried to say, “You’d shoot me in the back before I got five feet away.”

“That I would.”

The gun was reloaded, and his free paw was armed with a survival knife. With the mob only a metre or two away, we jumped into the fray.

I brought the book down from the saloon’s roof, and began to gather the pieces from the ground in front of the same building. Back where we fought the now deceased townsfolk, Dyne was piling up the bodies. He intended to cremate them. He couldn’t bear to dig up all the graves they required.

I was still bringing all the pieces together when Dyne came over. He knelt down to help, reaching for a stray scrap.

“Don’t touch it!”

Quickly pulling his paw back, Dyne questioned me silently.

“These are what sent the others over the edge. A simple touch, and you join them.”

In the corner of my eye, I could see his expression change as he thought on this fact. It was pretty obvious something was fishy, seeing as I was touching them all without a care in the world.

“You’re already inflicted, aren’t you?”

“An astute observation, Watson. Yes, I have been cursed since the beginning. This book-” I placed all the gather paper onto the opened booked and watched as they were slowly absorbed. “- is the cause of it all. I’ve been putting it back together ever since. I must atone.”

“Are you saying that you started all this?”

“Well, inadvertently, yes, but—”

Dyne shot me in the head.

Everto Impetus

“From there, I managed to grab some dynamite from Dyne’s storage, flee across the desert and locate some ruins I’d read about before getting to Pawridge. Got there, unintentionally killed Dyne, blew up the book underground, making sure it was near impossible to rediscover, and died again. That’s when I found myself right back when I first found the book, and this adventure began.”

Applejack and Big Macintosh sat in silence in their respective places in the jail. They didn’t quite expect such a tale. For some inexplicable reason, they knew Cliff was telling the truth. Somehow, they were always good with telling lies from the truth. The two of them pitied the mare in the cell.

“I see how you can feel guilty for what happened, Cliff, but all the same, you shouldn’t,” Speed said, trying to comfort her.

“If I hadn’t found the book… or burned it… things could have gone differently…”

The emotions Speeding Bullet felt were mixed. He was sad to see Cliff so guilt-ridden, but at the same time, he was happy that she wasn’t rambling anymore. Problem was, he didn’t know what to say to help her out of her current funk.

He opened his mouth to make another attempt of changing Cliff’s mind, but another voice from the jail’s front door spoke first.

“I forgive you, Miss Jumper,” Dyne said. “Your actions may have been questionable, but your intentions were pure. Anyone could see you were truly sorry. My other self was just blinded by emotion. You can’t blame him, either.”

When Dyne first made himself apparent to Cliff Jumper, the mare had flinched away, seeing only the gunslinger from before. However, as he spoke, she seemed to relax. A large weight was being lifted from her shoulders.

“Thank you… Dyne…”

Big Mac decided to undo Cliff’s straightjacket, and AJ responded to this by unlocking the cell. Slowly but surely, Cliff left her prison, alongside Speed.

When the two mares present passed each other, Cliff whispered, “Sorry for hurting Applebloom, AJ.”

“I know ya are, sugarcube.”

And with that, they all left the jail, heading into the saloon for a drink or two. A mild celebration, but a celebration all the same. During this time, Cliff went back to her regular self, and plans were discussed.

The next built up area of any kind was further across the desert. Going by hoof would be suicide, and all transport was currently out of town, fetching supplies. They would return after the next sandstorm passed. For the earth ponies, though, time was of the essence. They would somehow need to travel through the oncoming storm. For that, Applejack had a suggestion.

It turns out that her little sister had been becoming quite the skilled engineer as of late. Combine that with the family’s talent for light protective enchantments, and they were able to work something out.

A week later, and a small crowd had gathered at the edge of Pawridge. It consisted of the resident Apple family, Dyne and Anti, and pretty much the rest of town, after they found out about the earth ponies’ plan.

The two earth ponies in question were stood on Applebloom’s new contraption. Put simply, it was a sailing boat made for the desert. When the filly had explained the idea, Cliff had immediately headed to the library and read up on sailing. With help from a couple townsfolk, Fluffy and Melman, Applebloom had managed to construct the ‘boat’ in just over a day.

Bullet had gathered the supplies. Due to his leg, which was healing nicely, Marty from the saloon assisted in this. All the activity had lead to the rest of town learning of the plan, and they wished the ponies luck whenever they passed by.

In the last moments, Cliff taught Bullet what she’d learned. Then they practised on the stationary vehicle before getting a good night’s rest. Now, things were packed and tied down on the boat. The adventurers double checked the boat’s apparatus; Everything was in order.

“We’re about ready to be off, then,” Cliff announced.

The crowd started to cheer.

Anti shouted over them, “Don’t forget to tell our friends in High Peak how the journey fared. You’re pioneering a whole new mode of travel for us.”

“Gotcha.”

While the crowd cheered even more, Dyne approached the vessel to speak a little more privately.

“Now, about The Book’s victim. All we know is that he arrived on a carriage from High Peak. Wish we could help you more.”

“We should be fine,” Bullet told the sheriff. “If you lot can remember a visitor you weren’t alive to see, I’m sure someone over there will have something for us.”

“Here’s hoping. Good luck, to the pair of ya!”

Cliff and Speed nodded and got into positions. AJ removed the block stopping them from rolling off, then Dyne and Big Mac pushed it toward the exit, where a wall of moving sand hit against the town’s shield. The boat was to enter the storm at an angle so as not to be torn up straight away. As soon as the boat touched the storm, it was dragged right in, causing the two pushing to fall forward.

“Godspeed,” Dyne muttered, getting up and dusting himself off.

Big Mac concurred, “Eeyup.”

The train from Vanhoover to Ponyville was a long one, both physically and in duration. Most would complain about the duration, but not Omni Chrome. He was a rare pony who enjoyed the journey as much as he enjoyed the destination. The physical length, however, was becoming a problem.

“Why must someone always have to mess up the instructions?” said the bat pony.

No one replied, as the train’s passengers consisted of but two souls. Or, in Omni’s opinion, one soul and one monster clearly lacking in the soul department. This monster was the target. It had to be killed. More than killed, in fact. It needed to be utterly destroyed, even if that meant wrecking the train.

Omni Chrome was a Prench bat pony, and member of Celestia’s Solar Guard. More specifically, he was in the division known as the Solar Eclipse Corps (SEC). This division’s sole purpose was covert operations, be it infiltration, undercover investigation or dealing with threats Celestia did not wish her subjects to know about. The current mission was in the latter category. It was so secret that Omni was the only guard member who knew about it.

The train was empty because Omni had ordered it so, under the guise of picking up high security convicts. His target had thought it was boarding the train without anyone’s knowledge. It was wrong. It now knew this. Due to an apparent miscommunication, the train was 13 carriages long, making it very difficult to locate the monster.

“Where are you, La Poney!?” he shouted, hoping to at least make it respond.

It did indeed respond, in a feminine voice, Prench accent similar to Omni’s own, “Wouldn’t you like to know, Monsieur Guillory?”

While he tried to locate the direction the voice came from, Omni replied, “That is not my name.”

“Of course it isn’t. Not any more, anyway. What was it again? Crum?”

“Chrome. Omni Chrome.”

The bat pony proceeded into the next carriage.

“What a stupide name. You’re not very colourful. Then again, you have changed your image before. Guess you just couldn’t be bothered with changing it, non?”

‘Just keep talking… I will have you soon,’ Omni thought to himself.

“By the way, how’s that bat wench of yours doing?”

Omni roared, “She is not a wench!”

“Pardonnez-moi. She is clearly a saint, after all those things she did before you met her.”

“That was in the past, and she regrets it. That is enough for me.”

“Your kindness makes me sick. With what you have, we should be working together, bringing an end to this disgusting, joyeux reality. You could even get to keep the wench.”

Next carriage.

“This world is beautiful. I wish to protect it for future generations to enjoy.”

“Future generations? Don’t tell me! You’ve had children? Itty bitty bat pony foals?! All cute and adorable?”

“Merde,” the soldier cursed quietly.

He had not wanted to let La Poney know about his new family. There’d already been an incident with a jealous colleague being corrupted and attacking during the pregnancy. Since then, Omni had focused on finding what corrupted the colleague, leading to the discovery of La Poney’s existence.

“Precious little Omni has a fully formed family. That’s so lovely I could just die… from excess vomiting.”

“Please do.”

“Once I remove you from the equation, I shall begin this world’s collapse in Ponyville, with your house at ground zero. I recall the wench has some of your gift. Maybe she will put up a good fight, but in the end, she will fall.”

Crossing into yet another carriage, Omni growled loudly.

“Do not worry, Monsieur Crum. I’m not a complete monster. I think I might adopt your offspring. Carve them in my own image. They won’t be cute and cuddly after that, believe me.”

La Poney began to giggle evilly. She knew how to get to Omni, every time they spoke. If the stallion had anything to say about it, though, this would their last communique. While the voice continued to giggle away, Omni picked up the pace, making his way into the next carriage.

Out of the shadows, a black spike extended at extreme speed, aiming for Omni. It tried to pierce his chest, but just as it was about to make contact, a patch of Omni’s guard armour melted into existence, blocking the attack.

Due to the covert nature of SEC operations, members required a hidden way to protect themselves. As such, their armour is placed on magical stands that are connected to the owners. This allows them to summon them at will, and not necessarily altogether at once, as demonstrated just that moment.

“Every time I see that,” La Poney said as she walked into view. “I can’t help but admire the ingenuity. Magic is a wondrous thing, is it not?”

Omni glared at the target, seeing no need to continue conversing with it, now that is was located. The all black imitation pony before him would strike fear into any normal Equestrian citizen’s heart. The ‘mare’ had no visible cutie mark, and black tendrils rose up from ‘her’ legs. The mane and tail were short, but flowed like Celestia’s. There were no eyes, leaving only holes. While La Poney smiled, one could see the many jagged rows of teeth, dark grey and grimey.

In previous encounters, the thing before Omni had proven a worthy adversary, capable of altering its race. If the witness accounts were anything to go by, it could even alter its sex and species. Of course, this was all imitation. Omni had seen what one of ‘her’ kind truly looked like, and it was far more disconcerting than how ‘she’ was now.

“Silly me. I forgot you only spoke to me so as to follow my voice. Well, here I am, lover boy. Come at me, if a gentleman like yourself can even hit a girl.”

“You are no girl.”

The entire suit of armour was called forth. As the train entered a tunnel, the armour displayed its ability to produce its own light, illuminating the carriage.

“Not a girl? I am hurt.”

“No, you are not. Not yet.”

Battle commenced.

It turned out that learning how to sail through a sandstorm by practising on a stationary boat does not work. The two ponies almost lost control on many occasions. If not for Applejack’s enchantments, they likely would have been unable to survive.

The entire boat was protected from sand, but allowed wind to strike the sail. Not only that, but Speed’s jacket was enchanted to protect his whole body. Cliff had gone and found someone to modify her straightjacket to make it less like a straightjacket, and add a hood. That too was enchanted like Speed’s jacket.

Currently, the untrained sailors were going for the longest amount of time without incident. Neither said this aloud for fear of jinxing themselves. When it came to direction, they had to keep to the outer edge, frequently moving further out to check their surroundings. As the name implied, High Peak was upon a tall mountain. If all went according to plan, it would be visible long before they had to leave the sandstorm’s helpful wind power.

“We should probably check again!” Speed yelled at Cliff.

The mare nodded and the two of them operated the boat accordingly. Out of nowhere, something bumped under wheel, knocking the boat off course. Cliff, who’d been pulling on a rope so hard she was leaning over the edge, fell overboard, still holding onto the rope with her mouth. Bullet stopped what he was doing and moved to help her.

“Hold on!”

Cliff made the mistake of trying to sarcastically reply, her mouth letting go of the rope. As luck would have it, the straightjacket had a couple straps left over from the modifications, and Bullet succeeded in biting one of them. He pulled Cliff close enough to get a leg around her. While he pulled her up, she got her fore hooves over the boat’s side and added her own strength. Both ponies were soon safely back on the boat, which was going whatever direction it wanted.

Before they could take back control, the boat burst out of the sandstorm. A long way ahead of them, they could see the sandstorm. In fact, it was in every direction. This was the eye of the storm. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the boat wasn’t losing speed fast. Cliff and Speed tried to turn the land vessel, but to no avail. It was stuck going perfectly straight, slowing down. Stopping. Stopped.

“How the heck are we gonna get this blasted thing back into the storm?”

“I dunno Speed… Can’t push it, else it’ll leave without us,” Cliff pointed out, hopping down to the sand.

Speed sat back and threw a hoof up in frustration. “Ugh! Any idea what happened?”

“Let me see here. Wheels are stuck in something. Sand’s hiding it.”

Sand was brushed away, and what Cliff found baffled her.

“Train tracks?”

Hearing Cliff, Speed jumped down and double checked her findings.

“They didn’t say anything about trains in the desert back at Pawridge, did they?” he asked.

“Not that I remember.”

“Maybe we can wait for the train to pass by and hitch a ride,” joked the stallion.

Cliff sighed and climbed back into the boat. She passed a rope down to her companion, then returned to his side with a rope of her own.

“We’ll have to topple it. Pull on three. One. Two. Th—”

All of a sudden, a train burst out of the sandstorm. In seconds, it smashed into the poor land boat. The broken remains pressed up against the engine front, the connected ropes yanking Cliff and Bullet along for the ride.

“SWEET PONY JESUS!” they screamed in chorus.

With two ponies flailing off of it, the train sped across the open patch of desert. Cliff looked to her friend.

She shouted over train, “Speed! I think this is like when we met!”

“What!?” he shouted, keeping his eyes sealed shut.

“We need to get on the train!”

“Are you insane!?” No reply. “Oh… Sorry!”

“We’re by the engine! Take my hoof and I’ll swing you!”

Bullet knew not to question the mare. He opened his eyes and swapped his hooves on the rope for his mouth. Cliff did the same, except she kept one leg wrapped around the rope for additional grip. Next, Bullet took Cliff’s freed hoof and allowed her to swing him, after a quick few swings to and fro, he got his rear hooves into the engine compartment.

Cliff pushed him so he could fall forward, all four hooves securely inside. The rope Bullet had was released, and then the stallion pulled Cliff in. Just as the second rope was let go, the train re-entered the sandstorm, only instead of the storm, the earth ponies saw a tunnel.

Speed let out a breath he’d held, “Phew.”

“You said it.”

The fight between Omni Chrome and La Poney was a fierce one. The monster had far more means of attacking at the same time, yet Omni managed to counter every attack, using the extendable blades on his armour. His own attacks never hit home, however, as La Poney was equally if not more agile.

“Still, you don’t use your gift. Why is that? Are you afraid of it?”

Omni grunted, explaining, “I do not wish to rely on it.”

“Pah! I remember when you cared less about that! So many of us fell to you! You’ll never beat me without it.”

‘She’ was right, but Omni didn’t want to admit it. He ducked out of the way of a high blow. When he stood back up, light came through the carriage windows. This was unexpected, as the tunnel should be longer.

The soldier thought to himself, ‘This fight has me losing track of time. I need to end this soo—Is that desert sand I see!?’

It was indeed a desert outside the carriage. This distraction caused Omni to suffer a strong, blunt blow to the chest, knocking him backwards. He smashed through the carriage door that attempted to halt his progress. La Poney ran after him, laughing.

“How convenient,” she observed. “A simple weak spot in the Multiverse and you’re struck dumb. I sometimes forget how short a time you’ve been at this. It really boggles the mind that you’re still a thorn in my side.”

“You talk too much.”

“You don’t talk enough.”

Omni got off his back and took up a new fighter stance, standing on his hind legs alone. His wings helped keep his balance.

“What’s this now? Attempting to go bipedal?”

La Poney laughed. A dark, liquid-like essence made itself visible on Omni’s legs. The laughter halted.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

The desert view became replaced by tunnel walls once more. The battle continued.

Further up the train, two universally misplaced ponies were entering the first carriage.

“Ooooo, first class! Think we could fool the conductors?”

“I know I could,” Speed answered, emphasising his Britannian upper class accent. “But you… you’re clearly wearing a modified straightjacket.”

“Speak for yourself, fake leather colt! I can pass it off as one of those unusual fashions. Maybe I should try and plant the idea into some fashionista’s head in this reality before we get back to the quest, eh?”

The pair of them shared a laugh. It didn’t last long, fading out into awkward silence.

Bluntly, Speed asked, “The train’s abandoned, isn’t it?”

Cliff looked up and down the carriage.

“No engineers up front, first carriage is empty and the second looks the same through the window. I’d hazard a guess at the others being no different, so yeah; Abandoned.”

“Know how to operate a train?”

“Not at all.”

“Should we figure out the brakes?”

“Definitely.”

As Cliff and Speed turned back to the engine, they heard a loud crash. Looking back to the windows into the next carriages, they could make out something coming their way. This something was smashing its way up to them. In no time at all, this something came through the last door.

It turned out the something was two ponies. One was ramming the other. The rammer, a bat pony, wore armour resembling that of the Solar Guards, with only a few slight differences. He spotted the two new observers, eyes going wide. Skidding to a halt, he spun and threw the second, rather peculiar looking pony back down into the second carriage, where it fell into some seats.

“Tell me how you two got on this train!?” demanded the bat pony.

“Ugh, a Prenchie,” Cliff whispered, forgetting about the bat pony’s improved hearing.

Speed blurted out, “Your train hit our boat!”

“Your boat? I do not even— No matter! You are in danger here!”

“You mean from that thing?”

Cliff pointed past the bat pony at the pony that was far more than peculiar; it was downright creepy.

“Luna’s sake! Get to the engine!”

They did as commanded, looking back at the armoured one, only to have him knocked into them. They all tumbled together into the engine compartment. The scary as Tartarus pony laughed maniacally as it approached. The train exited the tunnel, the sudden flash of bright natural light temporarily blinding everypony.

As their eyes became accustomed to the new lighting, they heard the sound of crunching wood, and the train left the tracks.

“The boat! It’s derailing us!”

The bat pony embraced both earth ponies with a hoof each and everything went black. They could feel themselves bouncing this way and that, but something dulled the impacts. At least, for Speed and Cliff. The bat pony kept grunting with each impact.

Eventually, the bouncing stopped and the bat pony let go, falling onto his back. With the release from embrace, light returned. Leaving the bat pony to rest a little bit, Speed and Cliff got up and took a look around. Carriages could be seen, beaten, broken, lying about the place. The tracks crossed a bridge over a river nearby. The engine was nose first in the water, dead. Even further along, what they assumed was the other pony was spotted galloping along the tracks towards a very familiar looking town.

“So, evil and potentially deadly pony thing is headed for Ponyville,” Cliff stated.

Bullet smiled. “I don’t think we need to worry. I mean, everything else that’s tried to be a problem’s been beaten by the Element Bearers, right?”

“You might be right there.”

“You do not know what that thing is capable of,” the bat pony groaned, trotting past the other two. “The Elements can do nothing against it.” He spread his wings. “They draw power from emotional unity. It takes great power, pure and emotionless, to harm it. That, or a being not of this world.”

As he took off, Cliff jumped after him and held him down.

“Hold your horses, Prenchie. What do you mean, ‘not of this world’?”

“Argh, get off me, you dumb mare! I must stop it before it ruins this world. There is little—”

Speed yelled at him, “We ain’t of this world, either!”

“Quoi?”

“It’s true! We can help!”

The bat pony returned to the ground and looked over the otherworlders. He seemed to take note of something and nodded.

“Very well. It will still be faster to fly there.”

The bat pony’s armour seemingly melted out of existence, earning an awe filled comment from Speeding Bullet.

“Freaky.”

Cliff, however, saw a flaw in the plan, saying as such, “How are we gonna fly there with just one pair of wings?”

“I shall carry you.”

“You don’t look-”

A black, liquid-like essence appeared on the Prench stallion’s fore legs and wings, spreading over them rapidly. The wings grew to two, three, four times their original size and the legs bulged.

“-strong… enough… the feck?”

“Stallion, climb on my back. Mare, I shall carry you under belly.”

Speechless, Speed climbed aboard the bat pony, who then lifted off the ground. He flew over Cliff, picking her up like he said he would. With that, the trio flew towards Ponyville. They talked while in the air, introducing themselves. The earth ponies explained how they came to be on the train, keeping it compressed to save time. Then it was Omni’s turn.

“That creature is an Everto. Everto are foul beings bent on annihilating the Multiverse. They believe that what remains will be their paradise. The one we pursue is known only as La Poney. I have ascertained that it is the last in this reality. I have already removed the access point that allowed their entry, and La Poney is not an Everto who can summon more. The only remaining way to enter this world is during ruination. It intends to commence this in my home, after killing my loved ones… or worse.”

“Worse?”

“They can possess and corrupt others, mutating the genetics, or simply turning them completely into one of their own. The end result depends on the victim. Either way, it is a fate worse than death.”

Ponyville was very close now, but there was no sight of La Poney. Omni started lowering the party down. Once the ground was within reach, Cliff hit it running.

“I know you said the Elements can’t help, but I’m gonna warn Twilight, all the same!” she explained as she galloped off towards the library.

“She and the other princesses are the only ones aware of the true threat. Have her inform Celestia!”

Omni then continued to fly, albeit low enough to touch ground, headed for his home.

Speed began to ask, “Hey Omni, how do we know this ruination is star… ting… Oh Luna… Is that your—?”

“Oui.”

“I am so sorry.”

Before the now landed stallions was a house. This house was crumbling before their very eyes. Even some scaffolding on one side was crumbling like stone rather than metal. The air around it seemed oddly lifeless, without colour. This lifelessness was spreading, about to reach the neighbouring buildings.

Out of the front door came their quarry, dragging behind it the body of another bat pony. It threw the body forward, but not far enough to escape the ruined air. Upon leaving contact with the killer, the body rapidly rotted, decayed, became but a skeleton, which then turned to dust.

“Ma chérie…” Omni whispered.

“It appears I overestimated her, Monsieur Crum. Then again, that might be because your lovely little life had dulled her senses, and I managed to simply sneak behind her.”

Through gritted teeth, Omni instructed, “Bullet, keep yourself and anyone other than myself out of the radius of the ruination. Should I manage to get La Poney out of it, feel free to kick the ever loving shit out of it.”

“Yes sir!”

“Oh,” La Poney gasped. “I almost forgot. Have you met your new and improved child? Turns out the other had a strong resistance to the essence, so I had to kill her too. Sorry about that.”

A cute little colt walked out the house and stood beside La Poney.

“I didn’t ask what you called him, so I named him myself. Come on, Le Poney Junior. Say hello to daddy.”

The colt opened its mouth, but the only sounds to come out were disturbing gurgles and grunts.

“Huh… the voice box must still be resisting. They really are your children. Well…” La Poney snorted. “Were.”

Omni just stood where he was, baring his teeth at La Poney, eyes filled to the brim with rage. At the same time, Speed watched a second Omni come out of the shadows behind his son.

“Forgive me, mon fils,” he said, as he stabbed the colt.

With an unnaturally high pitched screech, the foal exploded into black wispy smoke, which quickly dispersed from view. Straight after this, Omni began to attack La Poney, who kept blocking and evading.

“You’re a sentimental fool, Monsieur Crum. You could’ve caught me off guard and ended me. You should know full well that the foal would’ve been easy to defeat on its own. Yet you did what you did and I’m still a threat!”

Speed watched helplessly as the two fought. Whatever it was that made it safe for Omni to be inside the growing zone of ruination, Speed didn’t have it. Nor did the gormless ponies stood around watching, the zone approaching them.

“Get away from here!” he yelled. “If that weird air touches you, you’re dead!”

Although a good majority of ponies listened to the stallion, some remained motionless. Then, when one unlucky mare was met with the ruination, there wasn’t anypony waiting around. There was running and screaming. Amongst the crowd, Bullet spotted Cliff, who was acting like everypony else for some reason.

He observed her as another mare came up to her. Recognising this new mare from his own world, Speed continued his observation, watching the mare grab Cliff and tap a hoof on some device on her leg. The pair of them vanished.

“What on Celestia’s Sun was that?” Bullet asked himself.

“Omni Chrome needs my help!”

From out of the crowd came Princess Twilight, Cliff Jumper hot on her tail. Before the alicorn could enter the ruination, though, Bullet blocked her way.

“Don’t go in there!”

“Why? Who are you?”

Cliff caught up, panting, answering, “Speeding… Bullet… friend… he’s right… dangerous.”

“Don’t worry. Omni has told me and the other princesses about these things and what they can do. He has said that alicorns are not affected instantly. I only have to be brief!”

Before either of the earth ponies could do anything to stop her, Twilight teleported past Bullet and continued towards the battle. She crossed into the ever expanding ruination.

“See, everything’s fi— AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-”

Twilight’s screams were ear splitting. Her entire body was aging at such a speed that it hurt. Soon, however, the screams stopped, and the not-so-immortal alicorn suffered the same fate as those before her. With everypony else galloping for the hills, Cliff and Speed were the only ones to witness the demise. Unable to voice how she felt, Cliff bowed her head in respect. Speed followed suit.

The pair lifted their heads back up in time to see Everto come storming out of the ruins of Omni’s house. The bat pony tried his best to stop them from spreading, but there were too many, and he still had to contend with La Poney. The newly arriving Everto went in all directions, overtaking the spreading area of ruination. Some had seen the earth ponies and went for them.

“Oh crap!” Speed shouted, turning to run.

Cliff stood firm.

“No, Speed! We can fight them off!”

“Not that many, you stupid mare! We need to escape!”

“We have to help Omni!”

The pony in question called over, “You must go! You stand no chance!”

It was too late, though. The approaching Everto leapt upon them. They looked different to La Poney. Monstrous humanoids, they had grey, almost black skin. Black eyes with red dots for apparent pupils eyed up their quarry. Their claws dripped with the dark essence their kind wielded. The only similarity between these things and La Poney were the rows upon rows of sharp, grimey teeth.

Cliff kicked as many Everto as she could, as did Speed, only less so with his bad leg holding him back. Claws swiped away at them, coming close to drawing blood. Something in the back of their minds told the ponies to not let the claws get them.

All hope seemed lost. Omni, stuck in a seemingly endless battle with La Poney. Cliff and Speed, running out of energy, unable to destroy a single Everto with simple kicks. But then, a bright light shone in the sky. The Sun’s light intensified, and beams of energy shot forth from the heavens.

The air was filled with the screams of dissipating Everto. La Poney managed to evade the light beam intended for her and became a shadow on the ground, slinking away. More Everto flowed endlessly from the ruination’s centre, and even more than that began to stream out of other crumbling buildings. The beams could not get them all.

With a flash of light, Princess Luna arrived on the scene with Shining Armour at her side, shielding the pair of them. The unicorn extended his shield just enough to engulf Cliff and Bullet. As the ruination spread ever further, passing over Luna and her escort, Shining’s shield proved strong enough to resist its effects. The princess began to blast at the closest Everto.

“SUBJECTS! TO ME!” ordered Luna, using the Royal voice productively.

Omni made a beeline for the shield, and successfully entered its protection. The other two ponies got closer to the princess, allowing Shining to shrink the shield.

“What do we do now?!” asked Cliff, flinching away from the Everto pounding on the shield.

The light in the sky vanished, and a second later, Princess Celestia appeared with the shielded group.

The princess of the Sun replied, “Now, Miss Jumper, we flee.”

The horns of the two princesses began to glow in unison. Soon after, the last ponies in Ponyville teleported away, shield and all.

Inevitability

Many weeks had gone by since the loss of Ponyville. Canterlot was all that remained, the rest of Equestria and lands beyond lying in ruin. The city was forced to grow thanks to the intake of refugees. Any differences were put aside, with changelings, griffins, diamond dogs, dragons and so on, living together for the sake of survival.

The massive shield protecting the city from the surrounding ruination was a feat of magical ingenuity, being the combination of unicorn, alicorn and changeling magic, zebrican potions, Discord’s chaotic abilities and much more. Even the griffins contributed with some gem related engineering no other species knew about.

The multiple species worked side by side to create more homes, and somehow make the city self reliant. Shielded excursions out of the city were extremely risky, and over time, became less and less fruitful. As it was now, Canterlot could manage, but only just.

Were the situation less futile, the survivors of Canterlot would be prideful of the collaboration happening around them. Not even the two outsiders could see the beauty, the ugly truth being far more eye catching.

Speeding Bullet sat in the city park. The stallion’s leg had healed, but there was not much use of a runner in Canterlot nowadays. So instead, he volunteered for child minding, watching over orphans and children whose parents were too busy. His travelling companion, Cliff Jumper, was likely with at least one of the many parents, putting her climbing talent to good use building and repairing.

As pups played with foals, larvae with chicks, Speed recalled the initial arrival in Canterlot, having fled Ponyville.

The six ponies teleported into Canterlot Castle’s throne room and the shield was dropped. Shining Armour collapsed, nearly drained of all his energy. Two guards galloped in and took him away to be looked at. The two princesses moved to their thrones, sitting down and looking upon the remaining three.

“We,” started Luna, speaking normally, “are sorry for your loss, Sir Chrome.”

Omni, his armour scratched and beaten, bowed.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Celestia then said, “I suggest we drop formalities, as it will only hinder us, and time is clearly not on our side.” Everypony present nodded their agreement, moods darkened. “First off, we must know: what of Twilight?”

Cliff and Speed shared looks of guilt, before the mare answered for both of them, “She’s dead, Celestia. She went into the ruination and turned to dust. I wish I could say it had been quick and painless…”

Both Luna and Celestia shed silent tears. The other three joined in, for the sight of an alicorn crying was cause to cry, too. It was truly a sad day for Equestria.

Bullet broke the mournful silence, “I saw something else before Twilight passed.” He looked to Cliff. “There was another you. She was panicking like the rest of Ponyville, but then this mulberry coloured mare found her and they vanished before my eyes.”

Celestia smiled faintly, saying, “Ah, Berry Punch. She has gone to see if she can’t alter past events to fix the situation. I wish her luck.”

Luna looked at the Cliff Jumper before her, puzzled.

“If the mare who left with Berry was Cliff, who is this?”

The mare in question replied, “I am from an alternate reality. So’s Speed here.”

“My apologies, princesses,” Omni cut in. “These two are Speeding Bullet and Cliff Jumper. While battling La Poney as planned, the train proceeded through a tunnel and it briefly entered their reality. Certain circumstances lead to their being forced to board the train, which then returned here.”

“We’re so sorry, Omni, princesses. If we hadn’t got on that train, La Poney would have been defeated on the train and none of this would be happening,” Bullet apologised.

“Omni just explained that you had no choice in the matter,” Celestia explained. “One cannot be blamed for the acts of ka.”

Cliff nearly choked on air.

“Something the matter, Cliff?”

“Did you just say ka?”

“Ka? No, I said fate.”

Omni frowned, commenting, “I beg your pardon Celestia, but I also heard ka.”

“Me, too,” added Bullet.

Celestia looked at Luna. “Sister?”

“I heard you say fate. What is ka?”

Everypony turned to Cliff, who shrugged, “I don’t know, but someone has said it before. It just surprised me when I thought you said it.”

“Fair enough… Anyway, moving on. We must warn—”

The entire castle shook as a humongous crash was heard elsewhere. A guard soon came galloping inside.

“Princesses! The strange air from Ponyville! It’s appearing out of other towns! Not only that, but the speed they’re spreading at is increasing!”

“By the gates of Tartarus!” exclaimed Luna.

Celestia began to give orders, “Guardscolt! Give the order to get everypony into Canterlot.”

The guard wasted no time with a salute when he left.

“Omni! Gather the Solar Eclipse Corps and fill them in as quickly as possible. You are temporarily promoted to Corps Commander. I want a SEC pony at every inflicted location. Find La Poney!”

“Oui madame!”

Omni was gone like the wind.

“Luna, organise the shielding division.”

Celestia hadn’t even needed to say it, Luna teleporting away before the sentence was finished.

Sighing, Celestia muttered, “If only this was just another changeling attack… the division isn’t prepared for this.”

“What can we do, Celestia?” Cliff asked.

“I do not know, Cliff. Do you have any experience with these Everto from your world?”

The mare thought on this. She knew of them from her life with the Mycrosia Multonian’s curse. In fact, she may have read about them before that even took effect. Even with this knowledge, Cliff had no idea how she or Bullet could help in the fight.

Regrettably, she admitted, “No.”

“Then I am sorry to say you are better off keeping out of harm’s way. Now I must be off to inform Shining of his dear sister’s passing.”

“Allow us, Celestia,” offered Bullet.

With but a moments pause, Celestia nodded and teleported elsewhere. Cliff and Speed left the room in silence, searching for wherever Shining Armour had been taken. They found him resting in a spare bedroom, alone.

Cliff made the stallion aware of their presence, “Captain Armour, sir?”

“Oh, hello. I’m sorry, but I never got your names.”

“I’m Cliff Jumper,sir, and this is Speeding Bullet.”

Speed waved awkwardly.

“Well I wish we could have met in better circumstances, Miss Jumper, Mister Bullet. Did you want something?”

For a while, nopony spoke, confusing Shining.

Eventually, Speed broke the silence, “Um, Captain Armour… we’re sorry to have to tell you this… but your sister… Twilight… she died in Ponyville.”

“W-What?”

Cliff explained, “She insisted on helping Omni, saying that being an alicorn would protect her from the effects of the Everto’s ruination. She got by us and… well…”

“My little… My little Twiley’s… she’s gone?”

“We tried to stop her,” added Speed. “We really did.”

“I can’t believe it… so soon…”

Cliff offered, “If there’s anything we can do to help, please tell us.”

“... No. There’s nothing anypony can do for her now, except beat these things. It’s what she’d want. It’s my duty as a Captain. We shall win this fight, and we shall live on!”

Shining jumped out of bed, his energy returned. The two earth ponies moved out of the way, allowing the soldier march off with renewed vigour.

The following weeks were hard on everyone. Of the Equestrian lands and protectorates, the Crystal Empire fell last, taking Princess Cadence with it. Then came the dragon refugees, their homes in the Badlands inhabitable. The other species shortly followed. Even with the extensions, Canterlot was overcrowded. Many folks intentionally left the shield’s protection, preferring eternal rest over the torment of living.

Speed looked around, noting empty spaces where there used to be others. Rainbow no longer flew overhead, using her rainbow trail to inspire hope. Spike was absent, having formerly been another child minder. Pinkie’s ‘Neverending Party in the Park’ was now just one straight maned mare in a room with inanimate objects.

Not even Fluttershy, who cared so much for the park’s animals, could muster the effort to come out. Losing Twilight had been hard on them, but when Rarity’s name appeared on the list of suicides, nothing felt worthwhile anymore. Why try to be happy when something was inevitably going to come along and depress you all over again?

Another child minding volunteer came along and thanked Speed, taking the little ones back to their respective homes. Speed smiled, got up and headed to his own temporary residence in Canterlot Castle. As one might expect, the place was opened up for refugees like everywhere else.

The stallion couldn’t help but overhear others while he walked:

“Heat Wave crossed the line yesterday. Poor soul.”

“You’ve run out of bread?! How am I supposed to feed my family?!”

“The end is nigh! Repent!”

“Have you heard? Celestia had a secret division of guards for dealing with the things out there and never told us.”

“Some drunk mare said she was part of this Solar Eclipse Corps.”

“There’s this rumour that a guard member caused this whole thing.”

“If this Crum guy is still around, he’s gonna have a lot of enemies in Canterlot.”

Finally reaching his destination, Bullet had become very concerned. Ignoring all other distractions, he marched through the castle. He passed Applejack, who was coming out of Rainbow’s room. The farm mare was the only Equestrian hero who still tried to find a reason to be happy. That said, her expression was currently fearful.

“Bullet. Glad you’re here. Rainbow’s getting worse. I’m worried she might cross the line. I know how you got special feelings for her, so maybe you can do something for her?”

It was true that Bullet felt something for this Rainbow Dash, but she was not his Rainbow Dash. He was sure his Rainbow would keep soldiering on, even as things were. And, although he hated to admit it, Bullet’s obsession had dulled as of late. He still thought she was an amazing mare, but something had changed. Likely it was the fact his Rainbow was engaged now.

“I doubt I can do any better, AJ. Besides, I need to find somepony else right now. Just keep trying, okay? If all else fails, I’ll catch her before she does anything stupid, promise.”

With that, Speed continued his search. Cliff, returned from a day of construction, spotted him and walked at his side. Seeing his determined yet worried expression, she just stayed quiet, waiting to see what he was doing. Eventually, they found Omni Chrome conversing with another guard.

Ignoring their conversation, Speed spoke up, “Sorry to interrupt, Omni, but we need to talk. It’s urgent.”

Omni bid the nameless guard farewell and turned his tired eyes to his fellow other-worlders.

“What is it? I am very busy, as you should know.”

“Somepony’s been spreading rumours about you.”

“Oh?” Cliff and Omni said in unison.

“From what I’ve heard, some mare got drunk, revealed the existence of SEC and mentioned a member called Crum who was responsible for the state of things.”

Omni raised an eyebrow, “Crum?”

“Yes. I remember La Poney calling you Crum back in Ponyville. She can pretend to look like a real pony, can’t she?”

“You were right. This really is urgent. La Poney has managed to enter Canterlot!”

Omni took flight and flew down the corridor. Cliff and Speed made to follow, but AJ came galloping from the other end, calling Speed’s name.

“Speed! There you are! Rainbow’s gone! You have to hel—”

The stallion was already gone, making his way to the nearest exit.

“Dammit, Rainbow, slow down! You don’t have to do this!”

Speeding Bullet was just about managing to keep up with Rainbow Dash. Thankfully, the mare had visited Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, bidding them farewell. This had meant Speed was able to catch up with her. Now, Rainbow raced for the shield’s edge. It was a small mercy that she did not think to fly directly upwards.

“I know! I want to do this! I can’t take it anymore!”

Many ponies watched them go by, the shouting creating quite a scene. Even if he did manage to stop Rainbow, Speed couldn’t stop more ponies losing hope entirely. He still had to try, though, and so he put on more speed. Slowly but surely, he gained on the pegasus.

“Think about everyone else! The Element of Loyalty deserting Equestria in a time of need! Don’t do this to them!”

Rainbow slowed a little, the stallion’s words sinking in.

“It’s too late now! Everyone’s seen us! Heard us!”

“If it was that easy to beat them, we wouldn’t be here!”

She slowed much more drastically, causing Speed to overtake. He began to skid to a halt. Just in time too, as any further and he would have passed right through the shield. Then, out of nowhere, something stuck out across the ground, tripping Speed. He tumbled along, not slowing down enough. Speeding Bullet crossed the line.

Nothing happened. A magical force halted the earth pony’s tumbling and pulled him back through. He was put down at Shining Armour’s hooves, who let out a sigh of relief. Rainbow Dash landed next to Speed and helped him up. She then hugged him tightly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve heard enough apologies to last me a lifetime.”

“Okay.”

The hug ended and the nearby crowd of onlookers cheered. They always did this when a line crossing was prevented. However, the moment didn’t last long. A black tendril, which Speed recognised as what tripped him up, punctured Shining Armour’s neck. Before he could die from suffocation, Shining was thrown out of the shield’s protection and became dust.

As the crowds ran away screaming, La Poney came out of the shadows, beaming excitedly.

“Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Poney!” she yelled.

Speed stood between Rainbow and the uninvited guest.

“So brave for a stallion who almost died a second ago. Rather pointless gesture, I’m afraid. I brought friends.”

Rainbow tried to scream but choked on something. About turning, Speed nearly didn’t see something finish entering a horror struck Rainbow’s mouth. Her eyes rolled back as she collapsed, spasming.

“You’re next, lover boy.”

Knowing it was too late for the pegasus, Bullet just ran. He ran so fast that the crowds blocking his way were knocked aside. As with Rainbow, it was too late for every living thing in the world. He had to make it to Cliff, and then, they were getting the heck outta dodge.

Everto appeared out of every shadow, killing or taking over ex-survivors everywhere. From high up in the throne room, Celestia, Luna, Omni and Cliff watched everything come to an end. Many guards stood or hovered ready at the great doors.

Celestia turned away from the carnage.

“Dear sister, with our time coming to an end, I ask once more for your forgiveness. A thousand years on the Moon, and it all comes down to this, not even a decade later.”

Luna smiled and embraced her sister. “Of course, sister. Besides, we could not have avoided this. It was ka’s will.”

‘Again with that word,’ Cliff thought.

“I can take us to another world,” Omni announced.

Celestia shook her head. “We know you can, Sir Chrome, but we cannot leave our kingdom to die.”

The bat pony muttered, “Just like last time…”

Cliff cautiously said, “Erm… well… Speed and I could do with a lift back to where we were before that train.”

“Would you do that for them, Omni? Take them back?”

“I will not leave while there is still someone to protect.”

“How very noble of you, Monsieur Crum.”

A shadow on the seat of Celestia’s throne stretched up, forming La Poney. Many guards charged, but Luna raised a commanding hoof, ordering them to cease.

“Wise move, Princess Luna. Pity there’s no point to surrendering with us. Everto do not allow surrender.”

The great double doors of the throne room flew off their hinges, crushing many a guard. Where the doors had been, there stood Applejack, who’d evidently bucked the doors. She bore the same tendrils as La Poney. An army of Everto and possessed ex-survivors stood behind her.

Before anypony could react, a rainbow coloured blur smashed through window after window, the winged guards disappearing as the blur tackled them outside, one after another. At the same time, Pinkie Pie appeared amongst the last of the ground force, her tendrils making short work of them.

Once all the guards were defeated, Rainbow Dash landed by Pinkie, Applejack trotting forward to join them. A quick glance out the broken windows revealed the throne room to be surrounded by the airworthy possessed.

“I would have to say, dear princesses, that this is game, set and… wait for it…”

Down in the depths below Canterlot, Discord was alone. Mere moments earlier, this had not been the case. He once had the company of the changelings. It was he who saved them from the ruination, after their Queen turned to dust before their very eyes. Eternally grateful, it had been their idea to use caverns beneath Canterlot as their home. This spared the ponies from having to live alongside those that attacked them only a couple years earlier.

The underground caverns were also the home to the shield’s source of energy. The griffins had discovered that some gems could store magic for later use. As such, when what was left of the species joined the rest of the refugees, they made a device that could take all the shield magic and use it at a steady rate. It removed the problem of magically exhausting the shield providers.

Only a select few knew of the device, and the changelings were tasked with guarding it while they lived in the caverns. Discord was fond of the changelings, since they’d turned over new leaves just like him. He was visiting them when the Everto attacked. Sensing the disturbance above ground, Discord remained with the changelings to act as a last line of defence for the device.

Changelings lay all over the place, dead, and not necessarily in single pieces. The culprit walked through the field of corpses. She smiled at Discord.

“F-Fluttershy… What happened to you?”

“What’s the matter, Discord, friend? Aren’t you happy to see me? Aren’t you proud of how outgoing I’ve become?”

“I… I… I…”

Discord slumped, not knowing what to do.

“It’s okay, Discord. Don’t fret. Sweet little Fluttershy’s just going to break that silly thing behind you, and then we can have one of those tea parties you really like.”

Discord straightened up, taking a hesitant position directly between pegasus and device.

“I… I can’t let you. You’re not sweet little Fluttershy anymore.”

The thing that used to be Fluttershy froze, her expression becoming highly upset. Tears gathered in her eyes.

“Y-You d-d-don’t l-like me any m-more?”

“Oh, Fluttershy, I’m so sorry!”

Discord moved to hug his friend, only to be penetrated several times through the chest with tendrils.

“But… my magic…” he said as he fell forward.

“Stupid creature. We Everto are from beyond this world. Your Chaos has no power over us.”

After watching the life leave Discord’s eyes, the possessed Fluttershy gently flew over to the device. Her tendrils reached out and wrapped around it. Slowly, the device was covered in dark essence.

Outside, the shield began to turn black, as if somepony had spilt ink over it.

“There we go. And that’s match. You lose, ponies. Your heroes are now ours, as are many of your subjects and allies. Any last words before you join our ranks?”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but a commotion was heard from beyond the corridor outside the throne room.

“Excuse me! Pardon me! Out the way! Not sorry! Never liked you anyway! Move it!”

Accompanying the voice were the frequent screams of defeated Everto. Speeding Bullet slid into view, then zoomed over to his friends, running through the possessed Equestrian heroes. Rainbow flew out of the way, and Pinkie hopped, but Applejack was knocked flying. She exploded with a screech when she hit a wall.

“Phew! Made it!”

Coming to a complete stop, Speed went to pat Omni, the closest to him, on the back. His hoof went right through the bat pony, who wasn’t really there. The real Omni leapt from his hiding place at La Poney, from behind. Three tendrils formed a single sharp point which skewered one of Omni’s forehoof. The soldier was now pinned to Celestia’s throne, hanging by his hoof.

“Seriously, Monsieur Crum? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Now, where were we? Oh yes, your last words. Probably some majestic speech about never really dying or something.”

Celestia shook her head.

“No. We have suffered an utter defeat. We will die. Should you continue to attack other Equestria’s, however, you will lose. It is the way of the Multiverse. There is a reality where we won, and one day, you will be there. I take pride in this knowledge, with the hopes that my magic is the magic that ends your pathetic existence.”

La Poney burst out laughing. After a short moment of that, the laughter died and it wiped a fake tear from its eyes.

“That’s priceless. Didn’t you know, Celly? We Everto do not abide by the way of the Multiverse. Our whole thing is messing up the Multiverse. Stupid mare. A waste of a speech if you ask me.”

With a smile, Celestia replied, “There was once something Sir Chrome told me in a previously dire situation: ‘It is not over until the fat lady sings.’”

“Are you calling me fat?”

A gigantic claw slashed right through La Poney, decapitating it and dicing up its body. As the head rolled, its eyes searched for the slayer. Omni hovered mere inches behind where La Poney had been. One foreleg was missing its lower half, the other foreleg reverting from being a claw. The skewered forehoof still resided where La Poney had put it.

“You would have been a great Everto, Monsieur Chrome.”

The pieces of La Poney’s body began to turn into wispy smoke which then dissipated. The tendrils holding up the hoof vanished, allowing Omni to re-attach it. With the head being the only thing left, it kept rolling, eventually bumping into Pinkie Pie.

“What are you waiting for!? GET THEM!”

And with that, the head disappeared. The hordes of Everto charged forward. The shield, completely blackened, shattered. Princess Luna cast her own shield around everypony left, except Omni. The bat pony fought his way into the shield, as Celestia fired scorching beams of magic to assist.

Upon Omni’s entry into the shield’s protection, Luna demanded, “Sir Chrome, this is no longer a request but an order. You are to take these two ponies back to whence they came. From there, you are never to return. Other than that, you are relieved from duty indefinitely. You have served us well, Omni Chrome, and we wish you the best in your continued life.”

Omni looked between the two princesses. Having ceased firing upon the enemy, Celestia turned to face the three ponies.

“Cliff, Speed… Take care of him for us. Can you promise us that?”

“Yes ma’am,” they said in unison, saluting.

This act made the princesses chuckle.

“Now go!”

They turned away, horns lighting up. Half heartedly, Omni raised a hoof, and where he held it, a tear appeared in the fabric of reality. It opened up wide enough to step through. Cliff and Speed went through, followed by Omni. The tear sealed back up and vanished.

“Sister,” Luna said. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

Celestia and Luna began to sing a tune from their childhood, harmoniously, just as their mother had taught them. Their song, were there anyone left to hear it, would fill hearts with joy and sorrow simultaneously. Listeners would feel satisfied with how they lived, and mourn their losses. They would accept their fates.

Far away, all the stars began to go out, including the Sun. The magic that had created them returned to the pair that cast said magic long ago. Everywhere, where the alicorns had cast magic, that magic stopped whatever it was doing and returned.

With almost all their magic gathered inside them, the princesses of the Sun and the Moon began to glow. Only the pure Everto continued to hammer away at the shield. The possessed seemed to come to their senses, the song having paralysed the possessers. Rainbow and Pinkie hugged one another. Deep down below, Fluttershy hugged Discord’s limp form.

Lastly, the shield retreated into Luna, and as the ruination sank its hungry fangs into the alicorns’ life energies, the last ponies of Equestria exploded. The explosion had such a force that it swallowed up the whole planet. The Everto ruination had turned most to dust on the surface, but the pure, destructive energy of the two alicorns’ suicides caused the entire astral body to crumble into nothingness.

Trust Issues

“I would say ‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire’, but I think this is more the frying pan and the Everto the fire.”

Cliff nodded her agreement to Speed’s statement. They sat across from one another, two sets of iron bars separating them. Their new travelling companion, Omni Chrome, sat off to the side, in his own cell.

When they had changed realities, they had appeared in the alternate world’s throne room. Their sudden appearance was treated as an assassination attempt and the trio were thrown into the dungeon cells in which they currently resided.

Grumpily, Omni asked, “Do either of you have any idea where we are?”

“Nope,” was Cliff’s answer.

“Not a clue,” Speed replied.

“Perfect,” Omni remarked sarcastically.

“You know, we could use this time to get to know each other better. I mean, Cliff and I already know each other well enough, but you were so busy in your world we never got a chance to talk.”

“I would rather not. I do not intend to stick around with the likes of you.”

“We’re not that bad,” said Cliff.

“It is like you said; were it not for your appearance on the train, none of the events that followed would have happened.”

Speed pointed out, “But you said that you didn’t blame us…”

“I lied.”

An awkward silence fell upon the group.

Cliff then spoke up, “Actually, Speed, I don’t think we need to ask him much. I’ve got a pretty good idea who and what he is. Would’ve been nice for him to tell us himself, but he’s made his position clear on that.”

Speed raised a curious eyebrow.

“You see, back when I perused the Mycrosia Multonian, there appeared to be some unusually knowledgeable characters that recurred throughout the Multiverse, wherever Everto would strike. After some time, I found their point of origin. It all began with a human.”

Omni twitched, unnoticed by the earth ponies.

“Human?” Speed asked.

“Imagine hairless diamond dogs, but more like monkeys than dogs. Often very imaginative.”

“Huh… weird.”

“Anyway, this human was tasked with defending the Multiverse from Everto, making sure that key moments in realities came to be without the Everto messing them up. He went by the name of Thunder. At some point, he saved some humans from a doomed reality and took them on as sort of apprentices. They, too, now roam the Multiverse, hunting Everto.”

“So Omni’s one of them?”

“Well, every apprentice has a gift, a trait which they can use against the Everto. Omni’s is clearly the ability to wield the same dark essence as Everto, possibly thanks to a failed possession attempt. The fact he can traverse the Multiverse is a dead giveaway, too.”

Silence continued to reign in Omni’s cell.

“Then there’s the fact he wasn’t affected by the ruination. It may be due to his Everto side, but I read of others being unaffected.”

“Twilight did say something about alicorns.”

“I thought about that. In that reality, it seems alicorns are just long lived. Omni has implied that wasn’t the first Equestria he’d failed to protect. In that reality, alicorns were probably full on unaging. With Thunder’s apprentices, though, there’s something about being a survivor from a ruined world that makes them immune.”

“I wonder what it is…”

“Omni probably knows, don’t you bud… dy… when’d he escape?”

There was a gaping hole in the back of Omni’s cell, and the bat pony in question was gone. Unfortunately, the guards decided to do a check up at that time. Two griffins came marching into the dungeon, and froze on the spot at the sight of Omni’s cell. In a flash, they had their spears pointed at the two remaining prisoners.

One of them, a female, demanded, “Tell us where your friend went?!”

“We’re more acquaintances, really,” Cliff corrected.

“Answer her!” the male guard shouted.

Speed, forehooves raised, did indeed answer, “We honestly don’t know. Cliff and I were talking, and when we looked over to him, he was gone.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

Cliff suggested, “Because you don’t know what that guy is capable of?”

“You really need to learn when to shut your mouth, mare!”

Speed chuckled and added, “We’d love to help you find him, but we can’t do much behind these bars.”

“Well, you’re staying here!”

The guards left. Cliff and Speed shared amused looks.

“Think he’ll come back for us?”

“Probably not.”

Alternate Canterlot felt so familiar to Omni Chrome, but it also felt different. The primary difference was that it appeared to be a Griffin-centric settlement. Other species did roam the streets, but they were heavily outnumbered by Griffins. Architecturally speaking, the buildings lacked the pony glamour, but beyond that, it’d be hard not to see this as an alternate version of Canterlot.

“At what point did this reality split off from the core?” Omni wondered aloud.

No one paid him any attention. The bat pony continued to walk in a random direction, depression weighing his hooves down. Three times now, he’d left a dying (if not already dead) world to its fate. His own world, he had no control over, not aware of what was going on before Thunder woke him up from deep sleep. The two Equestria’s, however, he had no excuse for. He’d failed two Celestias. Two Lunas. His family.

“Crescendo… what should I do? Would it be wise to just continue trying to prevent ruination?”

‘And fail again? Don’t bother,’ said a voice in Omni’s head.

“Then what? Maybe I could just go round, seeing the Multiverse, killing any Everto I stumble upon.”

‘No! Are you an idiot? You’ll only get too involved. You care too much.’

“Hunt down an untainted version of my home?”

‘Likely you’ll have to contend with another you, or if not, it just wouldn’t be the same. Besides, you don’t remember that world, do you?’

This conversation went uninterrupted for another couple of minutes. Passersby would give Omni odd looks, only hearing half of the discussion. His legs took him in whatever direction they felt like going.

‘Why not stick with those two earth ponies?’

“Never. They are just bad news.”

‘And you aren’t? That mare knows quite a fair bit about you and Thunder. Said something about a Mycrosia Multonian. Maybe you should tag along with them? Who knows? You could find out more about Thunder. At least you can find out what they’re up to.’

“...”

‘It’s that or give yourself a second bout of amnesia.’

Omni roared in frustration.

An elderly voice, not in Omni’s head, caught his attention, “Careful there, sonny. You almost scared this old mare to death.”

Looking for the voice’s owner, Omni found an elderly unicorn. A very familiar looking old mare with white hair and faded green coat.

“Forgive me, miss…?”

“You’re forgiven. Name’s Granny Smith.”

“Truly? That’s your name?”

“Er, yes? Something wrong with my name?”

“N-no… just… I knew another Granny Smith… You are nearly the spitting image of her.”

Smith smiled sagely.

“Ah, it must have been another me.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Another me, from another reality. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of the Multiverse? The Book? The Writer?”

The only answer Smith got was Omni’s sudden inability to speak, causing her to sigh.

“I guess they’ve been forgotten with you new generations. Passed off as some crackpot myth and legend. But I know it’s true. My grandchildren met otherworlders the last time I came here.”

Omni finally regained control of his voice box.

“They met otherworlders?! Where was this?”

“Oh, so now that something’s actually happened, you young’ns are ready to accept the truth. Ye of little faith.”

“I have believed in the Multiverse for some time now, Madame Smith. Tell me of these otherworlders, s'il vous plaît.”

“Since you asked so nicely. It was back home in Pawridge across the desert. A couple of earth ponies. Came looking for supplies and medical treatment, ‘cause the stallion had broken his leg. Said they were looking for The Book. My grandkids helped ‘em make a land boat of all things. Couldn’t wait for a sandstorm to finish before heading here. Pity they never made it.”

Omni made all the connections in his head. Cliff and Speed were otherworlders here, too. Although the idea of being around the two of them was a massive deterrent, no other course of action made as much sense. This book had something to do with the multiverse, and there was a writer to consider too. He could ask the writer why they were so intent on making Omni’s life a misery. At the very least, he could pummel the bastard. The mental imagery this thought put in Omni’s head made him exceptionally happy.

“Merci beaucoup!” exclaimed the bat pony, being sure to hug Granny Smith gently.

“I don’t rightly know what ya just said.”

“Thank you, Madame Smith!”

“Oh, well then. You’re quite welcome, whoever ya are.”

“Oh! My apologies! I am called Omni Chrome. Please tell Applejack and the others that Cliff and Speed made it, and that we will be continuing our hunt for The Book.”

With that, Omni flew off, in search of his former prison. Smith watched him go, shaking her head.

“What a strange pony… Omni Chrome, huh? He’s not very colourful.”

“Mooooooom!”

“Coming!”

Back in Alternate Canterlot Castle, Cliff and Speed were being escorted up a flight of stairs. The same two guards from earlier walked behind them, spears held uncomfortably close to the ponies’ necks. In front, another griffin. This leader had a bronze, metallic feather behind each ear, signifying some kind of rank.

“How d’ya think they’ll have us executed?” Cliff asked.

Speed looked horrified, “How can you joke about that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry if I prefer not to be seen shaking in fear in front of my killers. Come on, just accept what’s coming and humour me.”

“You’ve died far too often.”

“True, but after thinking I really was going to die a couple times as of late, I’ve realised that it’s not such a big thing.”

“Well, I haven’t reached that stage of enlightenment just yet. I’d rather get to keep living.”

“Fine then. I’ll just answer my own question. I think we’re going to be hung. Aerial creatures making fun of our lack of wings. I guess dropping us from a great height would work, too, but a hanging is more common.”

The male guard behind them joined in with, “I’m hoping you’re beheaded.”

“Then we can put your heads on pikes,” added the female.

“No talking with the criminals!” ordered the officer in front.

“See, Speed? Even the guards had an opinion. Imagine our heads being put to use as displays of power and control.”

The officer spoke again, “Piked heads are used for target practice in the barracks.”

“Well, that’s disappointing.”

Queitly, Speed muttered, “Maybe something painless, like putting us permanently to sleep.”

“There we go! Admittedly a bit naive, but at least you’re getting into the spirit. Now that we have our choices, you lot want to bet?”

“I’ll take that action,” replied the male rear guard.

The female interjected, “She won’t be able to pay when she’s dead, idiot.”

“No betting with the criminals!”

The stairs long behind them, and with many corridors traversed, the prisoners were escorted to their destination: the throne room. Last time they were there, they’d never had the time to check around them before crushed under a pile of guards. The officer knocked hard, three times. The doors opened.

Cliff examined the surroundings while guided down the central red carpet. Many guards stood alongside the walls. Two of them, stood at either side of the throne, had a gold feather each, behind their right ears. Between them, seated regally, was their apparent leader.

This female griffin wore a gold band around her head, which was adorned with twelve tinted crystal feathers. It was like a crystal rainbow circled the griffin’s head, with the front two being red, second foremost being orange, and so on. Clear crystal feathers acted as shoulder pads for the royal blue cape draped down her back. The ruler smiled with such confidence.

One of the gold feathered guards stepped forward and took a breath before commanding, “Kneel, criminals!”

The ‘criminals’ knelt.

“Presenting Her Royal Highness, fastest flyer in all the lands, most awesome griffin in the kingdom, completer of the Crown’s Trial in ten seconds flat…”

As the list continued, Speeding Bullet’s eyes widened. Beside him, Cliff could not hide her disbelief.

“... capable of performing a Sonic Rainboom and 20 percent cooler than you’ll ever be, Empress Gilda Stork.”

The disbelief was gone and Cliff blurted out, “Who?”

The guard took another breath, clearly about to repeat the announcement, but Gilda stepped forward and held up a claw.

“Is that meant to be a joke, dweeb?” enquired the empress.

Whispers spread around the room.

“She said dweeb.”

“She’s mad.”

“They’re in for it now.”

“Funnily enough,” Cliff began to reply. “No. Your announcer’s little list just made me think of this pony I knew, is all. Kind of caught me off guard.”

“Are you calling me a pony, now?”

“Again, no. I can clearly see that you are a mighty griffin. Problem is, your guards forgot to feed us. Hunger and thirst stop me from thinking clearly.”

Gilda looked at the guilty party behind the prisoners. They bowed in apology.

Speed took the chance to say his own piece, “Might we ask why we have been given the honour of your presence?”

“Normally, I would never look upon you again after your failed attempt on my life, b—”

Cliff interrupted, “Sorry to cut you off, but I’d like to add that we had no intention of harming a single royal feather. Purely a misunderstanding.”

“If you’d let me speak, dweeb, then you’d hear that I want to provide you a means of redemption.”

The mare smiled awkwardly.

“Oh. Then please continue.”

“The bat pony who escaped. I want him recaptured.”

Sharing a confused look with Cliff, Speed asked, “And you’re willing to set us free if we get him back for you?”

“Yes.”

“What is it you want him for? Over us, I mean.”

“That isn’t any of your business. Your only concern should be deciding between rotting in the dungeon or walking free.”

“Trade a friend for our freedom?”

One of the rear guards quoted, “You’re more acquaintances, really.”

Speed glared at Cliff.

“Did I say that? I was just so hungry back then. Still am.”

Gilda returned to her throne.

“Very well.” To the other of her gold feathered guards, “Have a small banquet prepared for them.” Said guard flew out the throne room, while Gilda advised the ponies, “I suggest you have a decision ready when you are done eating.”

“Of course, milady.”

The two ponies were escorted out. With a wave of a claw, Gilda had the throne room emptied. Once the echo of the closing doors faded away, the empress slumped into a more comfortable sitting position.

“Tell me again why I’m letting those dweebs go for that emo pony?”

Another griffin walked out from behind the throne. Behind one ear was an orange feather, and the other a black one. She, too, wore a cape, the shoulder feathers a mix of orange and black. The cape itself bore an image of several bladed weapons forming the shape of a skull and crossbones. Her wings and coat, except for her white head and neck, were orange with black stripes.

“I dunno, really. I feel like I should know him.”

Gilda rubbed the bridge of her beak.

“Ugh, I sometimes wonder why I listen to you…”

“Because you love me.”

Sneaking in the shadows of the castle’s corridors, a certain bat pony was struggling to find the two earth ponies. He’d found the hole he’d made, but a quick look inside told him of their absence. Now, he crept around the castle, listening in on conversations. Last thing he’d heard was about a banquet. The layout was different to Canterlot Castle, which explained why Omni couldn’t locate the dining hall.

Just then, he spotted a griffin in a chef’s hat rushing by.

“I’m late. Gaston is going to kill me.”

Following the chef, Omni soon found the kitchens. There was no way of getting past so many cooks, so he had to follow a corridor or two around them, finally reaching the hall. His targets were gorging themselves on a variety of delicacies, any meaty ones being left to one side.

“God, this stuff is amazing!” Cliff exclaimed between bites.

Speed attempted to respond, but his mouth was too full to make any sense. Omni crept closer, looking for a way to communicate with the ponies without alerting the guards that circled the room.

Having finally swallowed, Speed enquired, “So, we taking Gilda’s offer?”

“Yep. How else we gonna get out of here?”

“I guess. We really gonna hunt Omni down?”

“Duh. He ditched us, remember?”

When she said that, Cliff winked at Speed. The stallion got the message, aware of the guards. Omni, however, was not at an angle to see this wink, and couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Sure, he’d ditched them and they didn’t know he was coming back for them, but he thought they were better than this.

The voice from earlier commented, ‘Even theycan’t be trusted.’

The bat pony snuck out of the room and the castle, without the earth ponies even knowing he’d been there. Omni Chrome would find The Book himself.

Taming the Tiger

Night ended and gave way to morning. At the gates of High Peak Castle, Cliff Jumper and Speeding Bullet stood alone, their guards having returned to their posts elsewhere. The pair of ponies were free to roam anywhere in the city, but would not be allowed to leave.

“Who knew High Peak would turn out to be this world’s Canterlot?” Cliff asked.

Speed nodded, “I know. Pretty convenient.”

After another few seconds of taking in the view from the gates, Cliff and Speed headed into the city.

“So,” Speed began, “what’s the plan?”

“I was thinking we ask around about The Book.”

“And Omni?”

“Maybe we’ll bump into him. Maybe we won’t. We’ll just see what happens.”

“Huh…”

Unbeknownst to the earth ponies, they were being followed by a black and orange griffin. High Peak citizens could blatantly see her, but knew not to bother her, or bring any attention to her. Not after the last time. No one ever wants to be decapitated in the middle of the street.

In a different part of High Peak, though not too far away, the bat pony known as Omni Chrome wasn’t having any luck in his search for information. With each unhelpful response from the locals, he grew more and more frustrated.

“How on Earth did those two idiots think they would get anywhere with this?”

‘They clearly know something you don’t.’

“I had hoped I had seen enough of them, but it seems fate insists I go to them once more.”

Slipping into the shadows, Omni went back in the direction of the castle. He suspected the pair were, by now, somewhere in the city. The plan was to see if he couldn’t track them from there.

“Like I told the bat pony before you, we ain’t heard of this Book.”

“Sorry to waste your time, ma’am.”

Cliff and Speed continued down the road.

“That’s the fourth resident who brought up Omni. We’re sure we never mentioned our quest to him, right?”

“Quite sure… How’d he hear about it?”

Silence reigned momentarily.

Speed shrugged, “Guess it doesn’t matter.”

“True.”

“Should we start asking if there’s an asylum around here? Maybe they’ll know something there?”

“Next griffin we come across, we’ll ask.”

“What about that griffin that’s been following us?”

“Her? Well, seeing as no one else has paid her any attention, I’m assuming we shouldn’t either. Besides, looks like she’s affiliated with the royalty.”

“Ok.”

Cliff, Speed and their stalker continued through the city.

It hadn’t been hard for Omni to locate his quarry. They weren’t exactly trying to hide their path. Now, Omni watched them enter some medical facility. Judging by the sounds coming from it, the place was an asylum for the mentally insane. The griffin who was awful at hiding the fact she was following Cliff and Speed went in soon after. She was definitely important, judging by the cape and metal feathers.

“It is unlikely those two have not noticed their new friend.”

‘If they haven’t I’ll eat my hat.’

“We do not have a hat.”

‘It’s a figure of speech.’

Omni made sure the coast was clear before slipping inside the asylum. He eventually caught sight of Cliff again, who was asking the griffin at the desk about something.

“… The Book?”

“Hmmm… no one currently residing here is like that. Let me check our records for any previous patients.”

Moving closer, Omni came within touching distance of the caped stalker. Speed was spotted checking out some pamphlets. A minute or so later, the desk clerk produced a file.

“This pony was said to mention ‘The Book’ in his ranting. That help?”

The file was given a once over by Cliff.

“Yep. Any idea where he came from?”

“No one who treated him works here anymore. It was some time ago, after all. If I recall, one of them is still alive. Would you like an address?”

“That would be lovely, thanks.”

“Anything to further your research. I must say, wearing that jacket is quite the idea.”

“Oh this?”

It must have only then occurred to Cliff that she was still wearing the modified straight jacket. She was lucky it didn’t ruin whatever lies she was telling to get this information.

“It must make the patients feel more comfortable around you.”

“It does and it doesn’t. The lesser afflicted often don’t trust it.”

‘Wow,’ commented the voice in Omni’s head. ‘She’s clearly had a lot of practice.’

The clerk handed a piece of paper to Cliff and smiled.

“Nothing’s perfect.”

“Of that I’m painfully aware. Thank you for your help, Mister…?”

“Bull. Gully Bull.”

“Many thanks, Mister Bull.”

With that, Speed put down the reading material and joined Cliff in heading back out. They almost walked right past the stalker griffin without incident. Sadly, Cliff couldn’t hold herself back anymore.

She said to the griffin, “You know, you’re the worst stalker ever. You may as well just walk alongside us.”

In the blink of an eye, the griffin had a katana in claw, aiming for the mare’s neck. Just as fast, Omni was between weapon and victim. He raised a hoof which took the blow. The blade only managed to go a centimetre deep before stopping.

“Omni!?” the earth ponies exclaimed simultaneously.

The griffin grinned.

“So, you’re the one making me feel watched. Did you feel it, too?” she queried.

A grunt was Omni’s only reply as he used his other forehoof to knock the assailant away. She slid into the wall behind her. The weapon vanished and the griffin raised her claws up.

“Now that I’ve found you, there’s no need for violence. I just want to talk with you. Mind accompanying me to the castle?” Her request was met with a glare. “Alright, here will have to do.” Sitting down in the empty waiting area, the griffin introduced herself, “My name is Tiger Princess. I come from the lost tribe of Heavenly Flowers.”

While Omni remained standing, Cliff and Speed decided to sit across from Tiger.

Speed asked, “What’s with your interest in Omni?”

“He makes me feel weird, like I should know him. That or we have some other kind of connection. All I know for sure is that he isn’t some long lost lover. Even if he was, I’d never leave Gilda.”

Cliff scoffed.

“You and the Empress are an item?”

“Oh, we’re deeply in love with each other. I helped her get over a loss some time ago.”

“And you’re sure you’re not a rebound?”

An axe found its way into the wall behind Cliff, a little to the side of her head.

In a deep, threatening voice, Tiger replied, “We will be together forever.”

A tiny bead of sweat trickled down Cliff’s face. She got out of her seat and pulled Speed from his.

“Speed and I need to discuss private matters. I’m sure you two can sort out whatever this ‘connection’ is while we wait outside.”

‘Well, they’re gonna run away.’

Omni and Tiger were left with an awkward silence.

Contrary to popular belief, Cliff and Speed did not run away, and did in fact discuss private matters while stood outside.

“You really have a death wish, don’t you?”

“So I have a bad habit from my less mortal days. Sue me.”

Speed rolled his eyes.

“That’s not important though. Please tell me I’m not the only one getting a bad vibe from that Tiger lady.”

“I’m going to assume you aren’t referring to her casual murderous nature.”

“That can be included. I’m talking about everything about her.” Cliff began to count out a list on imaginary fingers. “The locals humour her without batting an eyelid. Weapons just appear in her claws. Her name and home. Her ridiculous appearance. Even the way she talked about her relationship with Gilda.”

Realisation dawned upon Speed’s face as he spoke, “Kind of like some foal’s homemade character for a comic or book they like. Centre of attention, with an air of subconscious self-importance.”

“She feels something around Omni. Omni’s pretty kick ass, and a foal would want their character to be just as impressive if not more so.”

“We need to go see Gilda. Ask her about Tiger.”

Cliff nodded and lead the way as the pair of ponies galloped castle-wards.

Minutes went by without a sound. Omni continued to glare at Tiger, who stared back, calmness having returned upon the departure of the other two.

‘You know you’re gonna have to talk to her eventually, right?’

Maintaining his glare, Omni moved into the chair opposite to Tiger, ignoring the hole where an axe had been moments earlier.

‘Maybe you could mention the weather. I mean, she’s clearly struggling to think of a conversation starter. She’d compliment your hat if you had one. You should get a hat.’

Tiger enquired, “Who are you?”

‘You gonna be honest or make something up?’

“I am Omni Chrome.”

“Not very colourful.”

“So it has been said.”

“… What are you?”

Omni knew what the griffin truly meant by this.

“I am formerly an apprenticed guardian of the Multiverse, but having failed two worlds since I began, it has become painfully clear to me that I am not suited for such a role.”

Tiger’s eyes widened with glee.

“And I can sense that in you! That must mean I’m like you! Or maybe I’m your replacement! I knew I was meant for great things!”

“Have you ever met Thunder?”

“Thunder? Wait, you said apprentice… is Thunder the one who trained you? Did he approach in some kind of disguise? Maybe I have met him but he didn’t have time to reveal himself.”

“He saved me when my home reality ceased to exist. He offered to either send me to a new world to live in peace, or assist him in his job of eliminating the beings that ended my world. I was told that there were others like me, being offered the same deal. Unless he has come to you directly, you are not one of us.”

“But I’m gifted! My origin is mysterious!”

“It is true I sense something peculiar when in your presence, but it is likely something to do with this reality. The walls separating it from the rest of the Multiverse are thin.”

“So I’m still special, right? I could be destined for greatness?”

“I doubt it. You may have something over others, but beyond that, you are nothing special.”

‘Way to let her down gently.’

The griffin’s face went blank, and her whole body shook. Seeing this as a good time to end the conversation, Omni got up and left. He needed to catch up with the earth ponies.

As Omni began tracking down the Cliff and Speed once again, the pair of ponies in question were being escorted back into the throne room, having requested an audience with the Empress. Upon reaching the great doors, a group of caped griffins were seen exiting, faces sharing disapproving frowns.

The group glanced at the new arrivals and shook their heads, frowns worsening.

“What’s their problem?” Cliff wondered aloud, entering the throne room.

“The old farts don’t like how their precious tradition appointed me as their Empress,” Gilda explained with some exasperation. “Didn’t realise that a survivor of the Crown’s Trial might want to, you know, do their own thing rather than listened to wrinkled has-beens who think they know everything.”

All Cliff could think to say in response was, “Huh.”

“So you found Omni, I presume?”

“The fact that your lover isn’t following us anymore tell you that?”

“Ugh, that idiot can’t control herself, can she?”

“Nope,” said Speed. “We’re guessing that she’s the reason why you wanted us to find Omni.”

“Yes.”

Cliff smiled. “Good, because we left them together. Seeing as we’re free ponies now, mind telling us about Tiger? We’re curious as to how she became an important member of your military, if the cape is anything to go by.”

“You’ve heard about curiosity and the cat, right?”

This time, Speed smiled, albeit sarcastically. “Death’s more of a concept to us.”

“Well, I see no harm in telling you. It’s no secret.”

“So we could’ve asked anyone? We went through the trouble of getting back here for something any old griffin knows?”

“Yes.” Gilda signalled a couple of guards. “Prepare my meeting room. I don’t see the point in telling this story here.”

Down at the gates, Omni didn’t bother hiding himself, walking straight through. The guards would have moved to stop him, but they found this difficult with their heads separated from their bodies.

“Omni Chrome! I challenge you! We shall fight to the death!” Tiger screamed, bloodied double edged swords in her claws.

The bat pony stopped in his tracks, not looking at the griffin.

Calmly, he asked, “Are you sure you want to do this? Normally, I would offer to spare your life once you are clearly defeated, but I have not been feeling generous as of late.”

“YOU WILL DIE BY MY CLAW FOR SLIGHTING MY HONOUR!”

Omni spun round, slowly. He took in the two undeserving victims of the griffin’s rage. It was his fault they were dead. For some reason, he did not care. The only thing that bothered him was this naive female before him, who had the insulting delusion that she could be better than him.

‘What’s she got that makes her so high and mighty?’ said the ever present voice in Omni’s head. ‘She can summon an assortment of bladed weaponry, huh? That pales in comparison to the power of an Everto. She is weak and bigheaded. Beat her down! Make her suffer! BLEED HER DRY!!!’

“What honour would that be?” taunted Omni, dark essence spreading to his limbs.

Tiger performed some kind of griffin battle cry and flew at Omni, forelegs crossed over, ready to slice and dice.

In the privacy of a sound proofed meeting room, Gilda Stork told the tale of her meeting Tiger Princess.

“Four years ago, the griffins of High Peak fought with the minotaurs of Labirinti. Previously, we had worked side by side, conquering a crystal covered territory that we both desired. Our Emperor at the time secretly desired complete ownership. He suffered from Sombratitis, a mental illness where one becomes obsessed over crystals, gems and the like. The minotaurs caught wind of our leader’s desire, misinterpreting it as the desire of our entire species. They invaded our half of the territory and continued toward High Peak.

“At the time, I was a young warrior chief for a newly formed clan. I was one of many clan leaders who plotted and succeeded in overthrowing the Emperor. While I took part in the Crown’s Trial, which is the method of choosing our leader, my current lover at the time and second in command lead my clan to defend our land which the minotaur army threatened in its march for the capital. By the time I was in a position to negotiate peace, my clan was reduced to me alone.

“I was heartbroken, but managed to get the truth across to the enemy leaders. They assisted in repairs. During this process, they found Tiger. She was like me, the last of her clan. The brief war had taken everything of hers, like it had mine. It wasn’t long until we became lovers.”

Cliff interjected, “This clan you’ve both mentioned, Heavenly Flowers. Are you sure it was there beforehand?”

“There don’t appear to be any records of it. However, the battle in my clan’s former territory had ended abruptly when many soldiers, including most of the clan, disappeared.”

“But surely the minotaurs could tell you if it happened with her clan, too?”

“… Why are you questioning Tiger’s history?”

“Before I say anything, is there anything else special about her?”

“… She did tell me that, before the battle that wiped her clan off the map, she was a scrawny weakling who her father, the chief, was going to marry off to the first clan that would take her.”

Speed finally said, “Well that just confirms it, right Cliff?”

This confused Gilda more than she was already.

“Confirms what?”

“Tiger is what we’d call a Character.”

Something in Gilda’s eyes told the ponies that she knew what they were talking about.

“A what?” she lied.

“A creation of The Writer.”

“The who?”

Speed sighed audibly, stating, “You know what we’re talking about. We can tell by your eyes.”

There was a pause.

“How do you know about these things?”

Cliff brushed off the question, “That’s not important. What is important is that Tiger is the product of a corrupt individual and needs to be put down.”

“You can’t!”

Speed tried to explain, “Her continued existence messes with the Multiverse. She’s not meant to be.”

“But I love her!”

Cliff’s voice began to increase in volume to match Gilda’s, “Think about it, Gilda! She’s written in such a way that you would fall for her, not long after losing your clan and previous lover! You were ripe for the taking!”

A gentle hoof from Speed came to rest on the griffin’s wings, which were spread out in the heat of the debate.

“She was a rebound.”

“… No…”

An assault of hurried knocks sounded through the door, followed by a soldier abruptly opening said door, out of breath.

“Empress! Tiger Princess! She’s fighting the bat pony! Several guards have been killed or injured!”

“Th-then clear the area!”

“We have now, Empress, but the fight continues!”

Standing proud, emotions thrown to one side, the griffin leader demanded, “Take us to it!”

The battle was incredibly intense. Tiger Princess was a formidable opponent, to say the least. She could not be disarmed, thanks to her talent for summoning weapons. Her griffin body allowed for better movement than even a pegasus, her limbs being more flexible. Even with all this, though, Omni fought on, determined to prove his supremacy.

Gilda, Cliff and Speed came out of the castle to bear witness to the conflict. Catching sight of the empress, Tiger seemed to put even more into the fight. They were level pegging. The only advantage Omni still had was the dark essence acting as an extreme defense as well as offense.

“With my love watching me, you shall fall beneath my blades!” Tiger screamed, failing to intimidate the bat pony.

“You may have unlimited blades, but you still only have two claws to wield them!”

Down below, while many necks craned to watch the fight, Gilda heard Omni’s words and frowned with concern.

“He shouldn’t have said that.”

After knocking Omni away for the umpteenth time, Tiger clasped her claws together and the air around the pair of them began to blur.

“Face my Fanged Fury, and FEAR!”

Countless bladed weapons, swords, axes, spears, scythes and more appeared all around them. They began to move as if caught in the wind. This wind blew with purpose, directing the blades in different directions, every so often aiming for Omni. At first, he managed to dodge the attacks, but then he lost track of Tiger, who flanked him and cut his back. Stunned, the hordes of blades flew right into him. He roared in pain.

There was a point where all the blades gathered so closely around Omni that it was like he’d been swallowed up by a ball of steel, his pained cries the only indication of his continued survival. Eventually, his voice went silent.

“It is done!” Tiger announced. “I am the victor, as the case has always been and forever will be!”

Just then, the ball exploded, weapons scattering and vanishing. Omni was cut up beyond belief, but the blood leaking from his wounds were mere trickles, the essence already working to repair the damage. Tiger was furious.

“Why won’t you just die!?”

“My gift… is that… of the Everto… Death is but… a distant thought.”

At that moment, Tiger’s desire to end Omni’s life called forth a new blade. It was imbued with the need to get past this Everto power. The bat pony recognised for what it truly was: The Everto Bane, Alastoru.

“But… but how?”

Tiger saw the recognition, and more importantly, the fear in Omni’s eyes. She smiled manically.

“Because I am destined for greatness.”

“This cannot be. Only one can wield that blade, and you are not him. He would never give that to anyone! He would destroy it over this!”

On the ground, both Gilda and Speed were a mite lost, having no idea what was so special about the weapon. All they saw was a double edged greatsword, with a singular jade embedded in either side. It seemed to spark with electricity. It’s presence managed to inspire awe in all who looked upon it, whether they knew of it or not.

“What is that thing?” Gilda enquired, the forced awe causing her to speak in whispers.

Cliff whispered back, “The most powerful anti Everto weapon to ever exist. It belongs to Thunder, Omni’s boss. The extent of a Character’s corruption is truly something to behold.”

“What does this mean for Omni?” Speed asked.

“Well, Tiger won’t likely know how to use it straight away, but I doubt it would take her long to figure it out.”

Gilda stopped watching the fight to look at the two ponies she stood with. They didn’t know it, but there were visibly fraught with worry. It was not worry for the stability of the reality, but for Omni Chrome. The empress looked within her heart, examining the love she felt for Tiger. Looking back up at the fight, still paused, Gilda saw the griffin wanting the bat pony to wallow in the fear.

A Character. That’s what Tiger was. These ponies were on some sort of mission, and it had to do with The Writer and their creations. Not only that, but she knew of the thin walls between worlds. It was the most logical cause for the loss of her clan. Something had to be done, and these ponies were the ones doing it.

Back in the air, Tiger was done waiting and charged. Omni barely succeeded in evading. With more swings of the sword, the batpony evaded over and over, not even trying to block. The griffin paused again, taking in more of Omni’s fear. He wouldn’t be so fearful if he could just get away with dodging. There was more to this weapon she had in her claws.

She noted the electrical sparks that appeared every so often. It occurred to Tiger to just swing at Omni from where she was, willing her attack to reach. Where the sword cut the air, a wave of electricity formed, flying at Omni. He dodged again, but that was to be expected from that range. Tiger’s manic smile grew larger.

Gilda’s voice shouted from below, “Tiger!”

“Yes, my love?” Tiger called back.

“I think we should break up!”

For the airborne griffin, the world ended. Her wings maintained her flight, but the rest of her body went limp. The sword fell away.

‘Catch the sword!’ the voice ordered. ‘End this NOW!’

Without a second thought, Omni dived for the weapon. The essence on one hoof formed a black claw to grab a hold of the hilt. The black speckles in the embedded jade seemed to pulsate. Now directly below Tiger, the bat pony flew straight up. Seconds later, the end of the sword was sticking out of Tiger’s back, nary a single bit of it free of blood.

Omni spun in the air, tossing the griffin down to Earth, immediately throwing Alastoru after her. There was a crack of breaking bones as the avian foe struck the ground, and then the sword caught up and embedded in the dirt where Tiger’s neck had been previously. The white head, somehow spared of blood, rolled a slight distance before stopping, eyes staring at the sky.