Now You See

My name is Jerrard. I hail from Fallen Earth, a dimension long since compromised and destroyed. I was once human. Now I'm something more. An anomaly, they called us.

But my past is not your biggest concern. The information above was included so that if I were to fail in my battle, and you were to by some miracle find this pocket space, you would know a bit about me. The information that is most likely relevant to your situation is below. Remember to check the satellite cameras every now and again. You might see him. He might see you.

"Hey, Boulder! Nice beats back there!" Jerrard turned around to see the unicorn following him, surprised at the compliment. Vinyl was always a sort of free soul, but she was usually too busy listening to the newest dubstep track to listen to the world around her. Jerrard should know; he's her apprentice. He sometimes wished he had her talent of being so oblivious when she wanted to.

Smiling, Jerrard returned the compliment. "It's all thanks to that great teacher I've got. Honestly Vinyl, I've learned more working with you than I could have from Canterlot's finest musicians." He meant every word of that.

"Anyway, thanks for the lessons. I've got to get home," Jerrard said, before turning around to head home.

As he turned, he realized that Vinyl was still following him. "Hey, that reminds me. Where do you live? I've always seen you walk over that hill right there, but beyond that there's only grass for miles," Vinyl asked.

Jerrard stopped, heart pounding, wishing she hadn't asked that. Anything but that. I can't let her know.

"I live close by," he answered. That's sort of true.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. "Then why do you always head towards the hill?" she asked.

"To meet somepony. Okay, bye, gotta' go!" Jerrard quickly replied, hoping that Vinyl wouldn't ask anymore questions.

Vinyl smirked and bumped him with her shoulder. "Oh, I get it. You have a special somepony, don't you?"

Jerrard, or as the ponies knew him, Boulder, had lived in Ponyville long enough to not give a second thought about have a horse as a date. Still, he was about to object, but then he realized that he use this to his advantage.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Jerrard asked.

Her smirk increased tenfold. "Really Boulder? The nervous behavior, always sneaking off to 'check on some stuff', never telling me about your normal life? It was pretty obvious. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't figure it out before."

Jerrard barely hid his smile of triumph. "Wow, that's pretty smart of you. Now, I'd better go. Don't want to keep her waiting."

He once again failed to escape as the DJ asked him one last question. "What's her name?"

This is why I never pursued any relationships on Earth, Jerrard thought to himself."It's, uh, kind of private."

Vinyl was unable to keep the disappointment out of her eyes. "Alright, see ya' tomorrow, I guess," she said, before finally walking away.

Jerrard almost galloped across Ponyville, he was so nervous. He had to get back to the pocket dimension. Now. Not that there'll be much to check. There hasn't been for two months. The human turned earth pony remembered what had happened two months ago. How could he not? It was the day he died. It was the day that two of the greatest evils in the multiverse were destroyed. But all of today he had been sensing a dark presence surrounding Vinyl's house. Something that didn't belong in this dimension was there. Something like me.

Jerrard shook his head. The implications of what he had said were impossible. The Darkened Wanderer had been destroyed. Dissipated into infinitely small particles due to an overload of dark energy. Gone. His presence was something that would not be tolerated. Or manageable, the truthful part of his mind reminded him.

Normally, he would have slowed down in order to avoid tripping over any obstacles. Unfortunately, he was born with myopia, making him nearsighted. It ranged from mildly annoying to completely devastating in battle. It was enough to get through the day with only a few mistakes, but if Jerrard hadn't known the path he was traveling by heart, he might have stumbled over more than a few rocks protruding from the packed earth.

He'd finally reached the spot. He did a quick search of the clearing and almost missed the white horn extruding from the bush to his right. Almost.

"Vinyl, go back home, will you?"

The offender slowly crept from the shrubbery and smiled innocently. "Can you blame me?"

Sighing, Jerrard replied, "No, I can't. But please, respect my privacy."

As the mare turned back towards the town, she smiled devilishly, and he knew he hadn't gotten off scot-free. "Besides, somepony has to start the gossip."

Jerrard made sure that she was far away before shedding his disguise. Starting at his heart, a golden fire engulfed him, and everywhere the flames made contact, his diguise was stripped away. The procedure of cloaking his body in the form of a pony was very similar to how a certain doctor hid his TARDIS in the form of a police box. When the whole process was completed, where once was an earth pony now stood a six foot male, Caucasian, with jet black hair, and was clad in jeans and a red t-shirt.

The transformation was always a wonderful experience. When he was a pony, he always felt limited. Confined. But in this form, he could do things. He could destroy mountains. He could rip through the dimensional wall.

Jerrard knew a bit about the dimensional wall. It surrounded the ever-expanding universe and remained fixed in space at certain points. It was invisible, and on the other side was absolutely nothing. Nothing except for random bits of sub-dimensions he liked to call pocket spaces. The pocket spaces orbited the universe and sometimes ran into each other every ten thousand years. Jerrard lived in one of these pocket spaces, actually, and had been for over a thousand years.

Concentrating, Jerrard reached out with his mind, feeling for the pocket dimension that he called home. He located it easily, and connected with its signature. As he did, runes of glowing green appeared around him on the grass, circling him in a complicated matrix of energy. He couldn't see it, but he knew that a hemisphere of green energy had surrounded him, a shield against anything that wished to interrupt the procedure. A sense of relief washed over Jerrard's mind, and he opened his eyes to find his secret residence. The main computer as on the left, and the living area to the right. Home.

Intent on checking the dimensional composition of A1- Equus, he logged onto the computer. As he did so, he glanced back at the tear in time and space closing behind him. He analyzed the wormhole he had traveled here, still amazed by its power. When the tunnel had fully closed, he turned back to his computer. After a few maneuvers, he was scrolling through lines of text that only he could understand. He clicked the button "Satellite Analysis", and waited for it to load. The two-note beep signaled that all of the information attainable had been gathered. Scrolling though more lines of text, he saw something disturbing.

A break in the code.

It was small, an "%" out of place, but it marked the end of A1- Equus as the denizens knew it. Jerrard backed away from his computer, fighting down a panic attack. Can't be. Can't be. He's gone. Trembling, the man pulled back the chair and sat back down, switching to Manual Observation. Zooming in on Vinyl's house, he activated the "Scan Anomalies" button. Her house was surrounded in black. And the black had a face.

Jerrard's eyes were as large as dinner plates, and he started to hyperventilate. He held his head in his hands, shaking. No. He's not there. Not there. Not there.

It was then that he realized that the usually mechanical drone of the pocket dimension had silenced. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the computer screen, knowing what he would find. The face of the black, now filling the screen, grinned at him.

And all went dark as the shock took hold.

Tehizar. A former member of The Order. Someone like Jerrard. But much more powerful. So much more powerful. The story went that he was once like the Six Defenders. But he sought power through shadows, and The Order banished him. But that story is wrong. The Wanderer left on his own accord. He chose his fate.

Jerrard had faced many threats in his time. Living for over 1000 years will do that. He had faced Kizor, the Dread Soul from beyond the Pit. The Order themselves, with all of their combined might. He'd faced Luna and Celestia at their strongest. He had lost all of those battles.

But he has never faced the Wanderer. He prayed to whatever deity that listened that he wouldn't have to. The Darkened One has friends. Friends that he made a deal with. Now he can't say he's even part human, like Jerrard.

Those thoughts flashed through his head as Jerrard slowly regained consciousness. He shook his head, sorting through the happenings of the last hour. He's probably not in the system itself. He knows that I've guarded all of my confidential files. So he's still in A1- Equus. And he's going to- he stood still, straight and erect at the thought of the most likely course of action. He's going to kill Vinyl.

Of course, it made perfect sense. He had felt Tehizar spying on him all day, so he knew that there was a connection between him and Vinyl.

Jerrard fueled the tear and felt the familiar sensation of being pulled by an indescribably strong force. He felt the grass below his feet and the wind in his hair, and threw up his disguise out of habit. He opened an eye, the green pupil dilated in rage.

Jerrard would destroy the monster once and for all.

Vinyl found herself humming an upbeat little tune as she made her way back to her apartment. That Boulder. Never thought he'd pursue a love life. Hm, maybe I don't know him as well as I thought. The unicorn reached her door and easily pushed it open with a hoof. "Hey, Tavi! I'm back from that lesson with Boulder!" No response presented itself. The DJ suddenly remembered that Octavia was at some sort of convention for the week. She shrugged her shoulders and closed the door. At least Boulder's not here to see my yelling at an empty house. She walked up the stairs to her room and set down her bags.

CREAK

Hm, Octi must by home early or something. Vinyl walked down the stairs, busy thinking about who Boulder's special somepony was, when she reached the final stair and saw the thing in the doorway. She screamed, screamed so loud that Princess Luna, all the way in Canterlot, rolled over in her sleep.

When people, or ponies, become very emotional, they tend care less about hiding something. So, as he pelted across town, Jerrard felt some of the control over his disguise start to slip. They were just small holes, and the rest of Ponyville didn't notice. All they was was a blur sprinting towards Vinyl's house. It was just around the corner. Almost there.

Then he heard the scream. And that was the one thing that threatened to rip off his disguise completely. He rounded the corner, skidding to a halt, and threw himself at the door, hooves smashing through the wood, embers of golden fire trailing behind him.

I'm sorry for the delay. You are probably wondering what I am, seeing as you were determined enough to find this pocket dimension. Well, please let me explain.

I am what is known as an Erevian. There have only been eight Erevians, and only eight Erevians will ever exist. The first six had roughly the same level of power, and tasked themselves with protecting the multiverse from any major threats. The seventh one, Tehizar, was more powerful than the rest, and joined them on their mission. But for unknown reasons, he abandoned them before a battle. Without Tehizar's aid, the Six Defenders were defeated and destroyed. And Tehizar disappeared, not to be seen by anyone.

Until I summoned him to me two months ago. I released him, and now I'm paying the price.

What made the Erevians so powerful were their attacks and defenses. We can achieve a state of power where we can summon energy to our hands, and then channeling it through the rest of our bodies. The technical explanation is fairly complex, but basically, the energy is always around us, just in a sort of meta-universe, coexisting with ours at all times and places. The Erevians can pull the energy into the main universe, and it dissipates after disconnecting from the Erevian for too long. The most common maneuvers are to simply expel the energy through the hands at a target and to create a rough shield around them, as these are the easiest to control and require the least concentration. The Six Defenders were limited to these abilities not by the lack of concentration, however, but by not having the physical capacity to hold anymore power. Tehizar and I are more powerful than the Six, and we could force the energy into a solid form, manipulating it into discs, blades, armor, stronger shields, and other such things.

The Erevians are technically immortal. Once they use their abilities for the first time, they don't age and are invulnerable to airborne diseases. Suffocation, poison, and blood loss are still dangers to them, though. But Tehizar and I are again, special cases. Tehizar can absorb infinite amounts of dark matter, which origin is sill unknown to me, and effectively use it against foes. I can use an infinite amount of magic, but only if I am completely sure that I am to use it. The magic I use is not unicorn magic. My magic is corrupting magic, detestable some might say.

As for my ability to turn into a pony…. Well, that's not part of my powers as an Erevian. But that's another story.

Part of Vinyl wanted to scream again. Another part wanted to run for help. But the rest of her could only stare at the thing before her.

The first thing she noticed was the black smoke it emitted. It seemed to be surrounded by the haze, as if it were a cloak. Secondly, she realized that it was bipedal. It had two long legs, with another set of forelegs hanging by the side. And lastly, she saw the face. It was mostly concealed by the smoke, but its eyes shone through the murky dark. They were red, blood red, lacking pupils but still, staring at her.

She was so busy observing its appearance that she failed to notice it approaching her until it was too late. And then it was upon her, it's claw grasping her head, sending a message of dominance while testing its strength. The unicorn was powerless in his grasp.

Just as Tehizar had predicted.

Behind him he heard the tremendeously loud crash as Jerrard made his entrance, still cloaked in the golden fire.

Just as Tehizar had predicted.

The fire consuming Jerrard had yet to complete its task of unmasking the Erevian, most likely because he wished to remain hidden from his mentor. This meant, however, that his abilities could not be activated, and he was totally susceptible to the blow from a tendril of shadow.

Just as Tehizar had predicted.

The blow sent the earth pony flying backwards, slamming into the doorframe before falling down to the ground. Then, in an amazing display of strength and devotion, he stood back up. Only to be knocked down again.

Jerrard was struck with the shadowy appendage over and over, receiving multiple bleeding cuts, but nothing damaging. But Tehizar eventually pinned him to the ground, still clutching Vinyl's head in his hand. His trapped prey thrashed beneath him, blind fury in his muscles and horror in his eyes as Jerrard took in Tehizar's form. And then he spoke.

"You know you can't win."

He was right, of course. It was impossible for him to win. Simple as that. His battle rage told him otherwise, and he buck his hips upward at his attacker.

"Not in this form."

Another truth. But if he transformed in front of Vinyl, he'd be chased out of the town as a monster. Maybe she won't see me through Tehizar's hand.

"That won't work." The demon of a Erevian ripped his hand away from Vinyl's face. Gasping for breath, her eyes looked up at Jerrard and widened when she saw the fire encasing him and the dark form holding him down. What is happening!?!

"Come on, Jerrard. You know what you have to do."

Jerrard glared at him defiantly, crushed against the wall of the house, and reason slowly retaking his mind. He still remain terrified, but he spit out a response. "And you know why I won't do it."

Vinyl stood up shakily. "Boulder, what's happening?"

Tehizar chuckled. "Yes, Boulder, what is happening?"

Jerrard growled. He hated choices like these. If he transformed in front of Vinyl, he'd lose a valuable friend and any chance at a normal life in Ponyville. If he refused, he and the rest of equinity would be crushed into the ground. Jerrard thought back to his days in Earth. That calmed him, just a little. He breathed in, then out, and made his decision.

"Vinyl, close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to."

A look of warped confusion spread across Tehizar's face. He and Vinyl, in unison, said, "What?"

"You heard me. If we're really friends, just do."

Tehizar's countenance turned to that of anger. "No, you can't–"

He was interrupted by the blazing fist that knocked him through the wall on the other side of the building.