Now You See

"Why am I not dead?"

Those were the words of Jerrard as he stood over the crater that was occupied by Tehizar.

"Why, Boulder, whatever are you talking about?"

The Erevian growled, and glared at the shadowy figure below him. "Stop with the Boulder nonsense. My name is Jerrard and you know it!"

Grinning, the demon below lifted a claw to his mouth. "Careful, Boulder, your friend over there might hear you."

Jerrard glanced back at the unicorn. She did indeed have her eyes firmly shut, and hadn't seemed to moved at all. Turning back to Tehizar, he said, "You could have killed me right then. My head was turned. You could've easily attacked me."

An impressed grin grew itself upon the former-Erevian's face. "Why, Boulder, I never realized that you could think so strategically. You're obviously operating on a level I couldn't possibly understand."

By now the transforming fire had all but disappeared, leaving the Erevian completely stripped of his disguise. Poised on the rim of the crater, Jerrard was a sight to see. There was energy churning within his body, energy rivaled by only the Princesses and the Elements. His pupils had become tiny pinpricks, and white energy streamed from the back of his eyes. He was still clad in his jeans and plain t-shirt, but a luminous substance, which curled around his body, shone through the fabric, every line of it marking his bloodstream. White orbs of crackling energy encircled his hands.

Jerrard, raising an arm to point at Tehizar, fired a beam of light at the foe's head. The demon's head separated, and the beam hit the rocks beneath him. Jerrard squinted his eyes in suspicion. "You could have absorbed that!"

Raising a claw to his chin, Tehizar considered his answer. "I could have." And a devious smile suddenly found its way onto his face. He looked at Jerrard, no, behind Jerrard. "Looks like we've attracted quite the crowd."

Lyra ambled down the road, following the crowd. "Where's everypony going?" she asked.

"They heard Vinyl scream and they think she might be in trouble," her roommate, Bon Bon, explained.

This worried Lyra considerably. She wasn't very good friends with the DJ, but she knew that she wasn't one to scream at any random thing. Lyra and Vinyl had shared a lunch together one day in the town square, trying to get to know each other a little better. While the white pony was in the middle of explaining the definition of dubstep to the ignorant lyrist, Rainbow Dash had positioned a storm cloud over the pair's heads. The resulting thunder clap had caused Lyra to jump a foot into the air and hide under the bench. Vinyl, on the other hoof, had calmly looked at Dash and complimented her on her stealth skills.

Lyra's memories were interrupted by the voice of Twilight Sparkle. "Hold it, ponies! Nothing to see here. Please return to your normal business!"

Lyra inspected her surroundings and saw a faint shimmer around Vinyl's home, the sign of a hastily- cast spell.  An illusion spell? Why would Twilight use an illusion spell if there were nothing to see?

Vinyl stood in her house, eyes darting about under the lids. She was breathing heavily due to the layer of fine dust the wreckage had thrown up. She was constantly tempted to open her eyes and see what Boulder was hiding. But as his friend, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Still, the curious mare justified that she could at least try and guess.

Let's see, what do I know about him? He was a little awkward when we first met and he asked for the job. Almost like he hadn't had a casual conversation with anypony before. He also seemed to like electronics a lot. She smiled fondly as she remembered how Boulder had amped up her music enough for the entirity of Ponyville to hear. It had been a mistake, actually, but she'd loved the commotion just the same. He told me that he had always loves music, and he thought that this would be the best job he could find in Ponyville. She frowned. He never told me where he came from. I just assumed it was from Canterlot or someplace north of here. And what about that black- smoke thing? What is it, exactly? A monster from the Everfree Forest? No, it spoke Equestrian. Well then what is it? Vinyl racked her brains for a time when she's seen something like her assailant. The only time she could think of was that Nightmare Moon incident. And Princess Luna is sleeping back in Canterlot. So what is it?

Her frown turned into a frustrated scowl. This was getting her nowhere. Maybe I should–

Her ears detected somepony approaching. Panting, heavy hoofsteps. What if it's that smoke- monster? Vinyl started sweating, eyelids squeezed together in the awful anticipation of the fiendish beast finally reaching its destination: the helpless white equine standing in the remains of her home.

"Gasp… Don't worry Vinyl. It's… Cough!… It's just me, Boulder. Tehizar's gone. I beat him."

Relief like Vinyl had never felt consumed her. Her lips stretched into a wide smile and she opened her eyes.

"Looks like we've attracted quite the crowd."

Jerrard didn't bother to verify. "That may be, but you haven't answered my question." The Erevian brought his hand back yet again. Energy flew threw his arm, energizing every fiber of his being. He pulled his other hand back as well, thrusting them forward and releasing his energy attack on the crater. His target left from the pit, elongating and reforming due to his gaseous form. Maintaining the weapon, Jerrard lifted his hand upward and pointed at the new position of his foe. "Why." His enemy dodge again, flipping over his head. The concentrated beam of light following him. "Am." The brilliant ray made contact with Tehizar's chest. The black-clad figure stood his ground as the force of a freight train hit him. "I". Amazing, incredibly, indescribably, a force began to slice through the center of Jerrard's attack, as if it were a knife through butter. Squinting, Jerrard saw a humanoid shadow pushing its way through the onslaught. Now, with a considerable amount of doubt, and fear entering his voice as he remembered the demon he was fighting, he finished his question. "Alive?" The silhouette before him threw an arm, now resembling a tentacle, forward, lashing Jerrard across the arm. The Erevian dropped the assault and grabbed his arm, grimacing in pain. He looked up, searching for the culprit who had inflicted the bleeding wound. Unfortunately, it was then that Jerrard's nearsighteness decided to remind him of its presense. Scanning the area proved to be futile, and Jerrard realized with crushing devastation that he was a sitting duck. It was only until he heard the slow sound of footstep close behind him did he locate his assailant. He whipped around to face the mass of shadow.

He felt the blow to the chest. He felt himself fly through the air and hit the ground. He felt his neck come into contact with the hard earth, and be crushed beneath the tentacle of Tehizar's arm.

"You know, you're better at fighting than I suspected." Fear shown prominently in Jerrard's eyes as he observed the beast that was holding down. Time seemed to stretch on forever as Jerrard's lungs began to crave air. The dark figure on top of him, however, was busy weighing his options. "I might just tell you." Please, just one gulp of air. "I might not." Air… Tehizar made up his mind and leaned forward, whispering in Jerrard's ear. "How much do you value friendship?"

Black oblivion met the Erevian as he lost consciousness, falling limp beneath his dominant adversary.

Slowly, Tehizar pulled back his arm from Jerrard's throat and started to dust himself off. If he didn't have that vision defect he might have fought me for a few more minutes. Tehizar turned towards the unicorn's house. It's time for some justice. Finally, after this all these years….

He climbed threw the hole in the wall and started to breath heavily. Seeing the shaking creature before him, he leaned in close to comfort her.

"Gasp… Don't worry Vinyl. It's… Cough!… It's just me, Boulder. Tehizar's gone. I beat him."

Vinyl's eyes flew open as she happily searched the room for her friend. The room was empty. "Wait, Boulder? Where are you? Where's the monster?" She trotted about the house, searching for her apprentice. "Are you out here?" She poked her head out through the hole in her wall. No, he wasn't out there either. Maybe it's a–. Wait, is that a giant crater in my lawn? She sprinted across the grass to the obstruction, eying the indention in the earth. What could have caused this? Vinyl shook her head in frustration at the unsolvable mystery. Maybe if I find where Boulder went, he'll tell me what happened. She scanned the ground for hoofprints. There were a couple of clawprints near the rim of the crater, and, a little farther away, another set that seemed to be advancing towards the first. A thorough search of the area proved futile, and she growled in anger as she turned back towards her house. When I find that Boulder I'm going give him a piece of my mind about damaging other ponies' property, she thought, before tripping into another hole. As she fell, her irritation increased tenfold. But instead of hitting hard-packed earth, as she had expected, she landed on something soft.

The thing beneath her cried out in pain, bucking underneath her. She jumped back in fright as the thing settled down again. She slowly approached the thing again, and took the odd sight in. It had four legs, all of them ending with five digits, like an ape. It had a short snout, if any, and looked to be clad in a shirt and pants. As she studied it, it stirred and whispered, "Tehizar. Vinyl. Stop." One word remained on its lips longer than the others before trailing of into silence. "Why?"

All of a sudden, the thing's eyes opened. Its claw went to its head, which turned and stared right at her.

She again jumped back, whispering, "How do you know my name?"

Laugher emanated behind her. "You really haven't figured it out yet?"

Vinyl whirled around to face the source of the laughter, indubitably the smoke-thing. Indeed, the thing oozed from the shadows and piled into one form. It smiled a kind smile at Vinyl, stating evenly, "That thing in front of you is Boulder."

Vinyl blinked a few times. "What did you say?"

The thing behind her sighed. "He's right. It's not a lie."

She froze. His voice in that thing. That thing had his voice. How did it have his voice? She was at a complete loss for words. "How?… Why?…"

The smoke-thing smiled even wider. "Allow me to explain. Your friend Boulder is what's called an Erevian, something that can spit fire like a dragon and kill as easily as one. He comes from another world, called Earth. There, he was like the rest of his kind, harmless. That is, until he used his abilities for the first time and critically injured two others."

Jerrard winced at the words. Why am I not stopping him?

He knew the answer. Vinyl needed to hear this, and better now than later.

"He did what?"

Tehizar waved his claw dismissively. "I'm sure you'll hear about it later. But after he nearly killed those two, he ran off into the woods and traveled around his world for a while, until one day he realized that there was a monster trying to get into his universe."

"A monster?" the white unicorn asked.

Tehizar nodded. "Kizor, killer of dimensions. Boulder, or Jerrard, used his powers to escape into a different universe. He hopped around dimensions for a while, learning about other the Erevians."

Wait, why did he not tell Vinyl about it? That would have turned her against Jerrard for sure.

"So, Jerrard is an Erevian?"

"Yes."

"He's not a pony."

"Yes again."

"And he's right behind me."

"Aren't we smart?"

Vinyl stared at the creature behind her, his head hung in defeat and dejection. What do I say to him? "Uh, Boulder?"

In response, Jerrard raised his head to look at his former adversary. "What are you playing at, Tehizar?"

The smoky creature raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You came here," said Jerrard, waving his arm for dramatic effect, "attack Vinyl, then proceed to attack me, knock me out, and then do absolutely nothing? What's your plan?" Why do I feel like I've made an awful mistake?

Tehizar stared at Jerrard, as a scientist studies a bug in a Petri dish. He did this for a few seconds, and then asked, "Why did you come here?"

It was Jerrard's turn to say, "Excuse me?"

"Why did you assume that I would hurt your friend? Why did you think that I meant her harm?"

Jerrard turned towards Vinyl, gesturing at the smoke-thing. "You're evil. What other reason is there?"

Tehizar raised another eyebrow. "I'm evil, am I? You're certainly one to judge."

Jerrard narrowed his eyes. "Be quiet."

But Tehizar carried on, adding, "I mean, I've never killed anyone, but I'm being told that I'm evil by the man who has killed millions."

Jerrard's eyes became slits. "I had just witnessed the destruction of my planet and all of my friends and family. The trauma got to me." Is it just me, or is Tehizar growing? The smoke-clad enemy did seem to be enlarging.

"Oh, and I'm assuming the 'stress got to you' for 50 years?" Tehizar was definitely growing, now almost as big as Vinyl's home.

Vinyl was worried now. "Jerrard, what's he talking about?"

Tehizar answered for her. "Your friend here is omnicidal. Ever wondered why there aren't any humans walking in from other dimensions? He killed every last one."

Vinyl didn't know what to say. It was just so awful and yet sounded so true. She turned her head toward Jerrard, new fear shining in her eyes. "Why would you do it?"

Why, why, why, why, why. It word was all that anyone was saying today. I think we all want answers, Jerrard thought.

"But back to the point. You see me as evil, I see myself as a bringer of justice." Tehizar was now twice as big as Vinyl's home, and was leaning down to talk to them. "I'm going to take it upon myself to see that you pay for every sin, every wrongdoing you've ever committed, and make you experience it tenfold." He turned to Vinyl. "Tell me who's evil: the one who uphold's justice, or the one who–"

"Enough!"

Tehizar turned to Jerrard. "About time you piped up."

Jerrard ignored him. "I was a different person then! A cruel, sadistic one who lived off of pain! I killed millions, no billions, no, trillions, and I loved every second of it. But that's not who I am, not who I want to be! I am Boulder, a pony in the land of Equestria, apprentice to Vinyl Scratch, and protector of the land by night. I won't be the monster everypony sees, but instead the pony you refuse to acknowledge!"

Tehizar smirked. "An admirable speech, but you've failed to change my mind." He drifted a claw lazily upwards, until it touched an invisible shield. "Strange how weak this illusion spell is. If I were to flick my thumb and touch it, the entire thing would fall."

Jerrard paled. "If you reveal yourself, you'll be left to the Elements of Harmony."

Tehizar shrugged. "I'm fine with that." And with a flick of the thumb and a single thought, the spell collapsed and the monster was gone.

As the dissipating spell crawled toward the ground with the noise of a thousand broken windows, Jerrard started to panic at the prospect of the entire town seeing him. He couldn't let them see.

He focused his energy on concentrating enough to open a portal, his usual ritual of green magic and golden fire rushed significantly. When the entrance was big enough for him to walk through, he took in the scene before him. The grass was torn up in a thousand different place, there was a crater to right, and to his left, a unicorn trembling in shock and staring at the ground. With a ever-saddening countenance, him turned from the sight and walked into the tear, one thought sounding above the others.

Everything is different now.

How could… Why… Why would he…

Those were the jumbled thoughts of Vinyl after she heard the word "omnicidal". Why would Boulder do something like that? He was crazy? No, he's completely same when I see him. How could he lie for so long and not have me catch on?

The shattering of glass brought her back into reality. A quick look told her that Tehizar was gone and Jerrard had left a quickly closing rip in space behind him. She eyed the rip. It was big enough for two ponies to walk side by side. She hurried in after him.

It was probably the oddest sensation she had ever felt. She felt like she was being pulled one way, but another at the same time. She had some extreme nausea as well. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the trip to be over.

She opened her eyes to a room of chrome on one side and comfort on the other. Before her stood a giant… box with a screen and a chair. In the chair sat a despondent Jerrard, head in hands. She cautiously approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. "That was a nice speech back there."

His response was pulling up his head and falling into the back of the chair. "That's the problem: They're just words." He turned to Vinyl, and she could see he was near tears. In the two months she had known him, she had gathered that he was not the type to look at the world emotionally.

"I meant what I said back there. I enjoyed every second of that violence. I'm a sick, cruel individual who deserves nothing but pain." He started to cry a little. She wrapped a hoof around his neck comfortingly. "Please Vinyl, don't tell everypony about this. Please keep this a secret. I'll give up being your apprentice if you don't. I don't know why you'd want me now."

Vinyl patted him on the back with her hoof. "Alright, I won't tell anypony. And you're still my apprentice."

The room was silent for a few minutes. Then Vinyl said, "Why don't you see Princess Celestia? She could probably fight that Tehizar thing."

Jerrard sighed. "Celestia and I aren't on the best of terms. She's ignoring me so that she doesn't have to order Twilight to use the Elements on me."

The hours ticked past as they stood there, and Jerrard was left to his own thoughts. Vinyl, I… I don't know why you forgave me. I don't think you should forgive me. If you had seen me, your choice would have been different. I had fire in my eyes, I looked at children and their mothers as just as deserving of death as the armies that were sent to fight me. I can't… I don't…" Jerrard mentally sighed. Why would Vinyl do something so kind? Maybe she didn't know the significance of what happened today. Maybe she was just being the good guy. But Jerrard found he didn't care.

Now, strengthened with new resolve, he stood up, consequently awaken his equine companion, who had fallen into a doze. He stood still, feeling the rejuvenating warmth of the fire consume him. When he opened his eyes, he turned to the DJ before him, who had silently observed the transformation. With a gently smile, he said, "I think I have a turntable lesson to get to."

So, walking hoof in hoof, they made their way to the portal. Two spieces, two pasts, two parts of a puzzle that fit perfectly together.

And all this, Tehizar watched with a frown upon his face. Things had not gone as planned.