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                          Remnant                          
                      -by ArcIsDead-                       
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       LOG #0002: Designation-Introductions:Arrival        
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LOG #0002: Designation-Introductions:Arrival
This is the first of my logs as to my life in the wasteland which once was Equestria. This much will be written as to my first arrival to Equestria and what I found there, all those years ago...
"Are you sure you don't want to come? I'm sure Calvin wouldn't mind you tagging along with us to hang out. Hell, Jen's already gone out and is gonna meet up with us with her little boyfriend."
I sighed. Currently my younger brother Jack was talking to me in an effort to convince me to join him  and our sister as they headed out to a convention, both of them in cosplay. He was going as a necromorph from Dead Space, and she was going as Jenny 'XJ9' Wakeman. I had some interest in things like conventions, just not in going with my siblings and their friends. I had a small group of friends, and I stuck to them, but I never really felt like I belonged with my siblings or their friends. Jack and his friends were all a year younger than me (me being twenty one) though I never really clicked with them as friends, and Jen was sixteen as were her friends. As such I preferred to go alone whenever my friends were busy, though this time I was just not wanting to go.
"Look Jack I got a lot of homework from my classes. Maybe I'll go to Comic-Con when it gets here."
"Oh yeah, that's in like a week or two, right?"
"Yeah I think. Look, you guys have fun. I'm just gonna take it easy tonight."
"Ugh, fine. Whatever then, suit yourself.  Bye Will."
"Bye Jack."
I hung up, and thus what would be my last time talking to my either of my siblings ended. Both of my siblings, hell, even their friends all went missing as the latest of a long line of people going missing in cosplay. I wouldn't learn about that happening until months later, when I would meet them again myself. Later, as I didn't even know what had happened to them other than losing contact, I wasn't afraid to go cosplay myself, and thus when Comic-Con rolled in, my friends and I all gathered up dressed as characters from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. First was me, dressed as the Vanitas Remnant. Then was John, dressed to resemble Terra, Sam dressed as Ventus, and Jean as Aqua. We all had decided on these characters since we already looked like them decently and they'd be a good excuse to carry around things we could use as weapons in a fight, even if they were blunt metal keyblades. There was talk of war going on, and people were getting more and more edgy and prone to freaking out. We all went out in costume one of the nights of the convention and met up, walking downtown towards the convention center. John was talking as we went, afraid of some of the recent talks between countries.
"Guy are you sure we should be doing all this? Seriously, I know we want to be the ones to get to the bottom of this but there's some serious sparks flying. According to some of the recent reports there's supposed to be a chance of war actually breaking out and-"
Sam cut him off.
"Dude come off it! Seriously humanity's a buncha jackasses but there's nobody in power stupid enough to start war!"
I chimed in as well.
"Yeah John, let's just get back on track. Tonight let's just have one last night of fun before all of this war stuff starts making people close everything down. Let's just enjoy ourselves until the time comes for us to get involved with all the stupid preparation for the war that won't come, okay?"
They both nodded grimly.  I looked over to Jean.
"You alright Jean? You're being kinda quiet."
"Huh? Oh uh...Yeah, just lost in thought. I've been hearing some weird rumors about conventions lately so I'm just looking around in case-
She was cut off by the sound of a massive explosion. We all stumbled and I turned and saw a sight that made my blood freeze.
A mushroom cloud. Well damn... Looked like John was right. I turned to face the others and we all nodded and started running, hoping to get to one of the bunkers the city had for such an occasion. I felt the shockwave approaching and I turned one last time, only to stumble again and fall. I froze as the blast was about to decimate me. Time seemed to slow and a wave of gray washed over my vision. I looked around. Everything had stopped and was now locked in shades of black and white. I slowly stood up, and looked at where my friends were, only to see them all replaced with three dimensional silhouettes, looking to be made of shadow. I slowly approached and poked one of them with my replica of the Void Gear keyblade, only for them all to dissolve in an instant. I looked back to the frozen explosion in mute, confused terror.
"A beautiful nightmare, no?"
I turned to the speaker. He stood at a height of about eight feet, a young man with pale gray skin, and I pegged him to be about the age of nineteen. He didn’t look sick however, just...gray. His eyes looked feline, with slitted pupils and yellow irises. He gave me a grin full of sharp teeth. He wore a pair of black jeans and sneakers, and a white tank top. On his shoulders I saw glowing blue emblems of scarabs, and in his hand was a black Khopesh, held out to the side. He had shoulder length messy hair that looked white, though muddled with gray dust, covering his left eye. I responded uncertainly.
"Uh...What?"
"The blast. A wave of cleansing death, which burns with a light as bright as a star... An excellent match to the definition of a beautiful nightmare. But that's not why I'm here after all, though first introductions are in order. You are Will, brother to Jack and Jen, correct?"
I didn't say a word. What did he have to do with my siblings?
"I'll take your silence as a yes. I suppose you could call me simply 'Messenger'. Now to get to business. I am here to offer you an opportunity, a way to save your friends and your siblings alike, my emotionally distant friend. It will take you to a world apart from this one though it follows a similar path. Your parents are already dead, though I know you lack the connection to them to mourn. Still though, are you willing to step forward and into the void?"
I was unnerved by his words. It seemed he knew me well, by some impossibility. I simply nodded. The only people I could ever have a real connection to were my friends, and slightly less so to my siblings and if I could save them then I would give it my all. I stood up at my full height and nodded, reaching out and shaking his hand.
"Very well then child. May the fate you've chosen lead you to some form of happiness and may you find those you seek in due time. And when the time comes, may you have the will to do whats needed of you..."
I screamed as pain tore through me, seeming to burn my form away into darkness as my mind faded into unconsciousness...
Pain pounded through my head, and I heard a mess of voices all around me. I felt like shit all over and I slowly tried to stand up, only to fall after a wave of vertigo passed over me. I slowly took a moment to breathe, and to let my vision cease to be blurred. I looked up to see a what looked like a small, purple horse in front of me. It (she? It seemed like a girl but I wasn't sure) had a pair of wings and a horn, like a pegasus and a unicorn put together. She was wearing odd horseshoes, and looked dead tired, and maybe a bit malnourished. She glanced at me but paid no mind and kept talking into a camera in the room.
“I’m out of food, and the safe room’s water talisman seems to have been corrupted.”  She gave a wry smile. “At least, I’m fairly confident that pure water isn’t supposed to be that color.  I’m also beginning to suffer hallucinations.  I think that I’m hearing the screams of the ponies in Maripony, like something horrible is happening to them.  But I know that’s impossible.  These walls are soundproof. And just a moment ago I've started seeing an odd creature, in here with me. It's vivid for a hallucination, I'll give it that...But I know it can't be real... No one can teleport in or out of these safe rooms, and this thing just arrived in a  wave of darkness..."
I slowly took stock of our surroundings. We looked like we were in some sort of a fortified room, with a small water dispenser (it seemed to be the 'talisman' she was referring to) and some emptied containers of what once might have been first aid supplies. I slowly stood up and glanced down at her. I looked over and the door to the chamber seemed to be sealed, though there was a small window. I myself seemed to be wearing the actual armor of Vanitas Remnant... It seemed that Messenger wasn't kidding. I looked and saw that the mask to my armor had somewhat of a Heads Up Display, featuring the same meters as from Kingdom Hearts BBS' protagonists, with a command gauge and commands, as well as D-Link and Focus meters and an HP meter, although the D-Link meter was blacked out and all of my commands were basic melee moves. I reached out to touch it and a three dimensional menu opened in front of me, looking like a hologram in front of me. I moved around the commands, seeing that I had all of them stored... My head pounded. It was like I knew how all the attacks worked, but the commands I had loaded were spells that I had the framework to cast them readied in the back of my mind, that way I would be able to readily cast spells without having to have a copy of the framework involved.  I took a moment to select some attacks and spells to use, in case something happened. I quickly assembled Dark Haze, Chaos Blade, Freeze Raid, Triple Firaga, Triple Blizzaga, Esuna, and two of Curaga. I looked down to the mare and tried to speak and interrupt her talking into the camera, only to find myself silent... I panicked for the moment and put my hands to my throat. I... I couldn't talk. I was... Mute. I took a moment to keep myself from freaking out. Whatever was wrong with my voice could be fixed later. I looked back to the mare, and started paying more attention.
"What’s important now is that we still have one more chance.  Find Spike.  He’s my most loyal assistant… my number one assistant.  …Find him...”
The mare seemed to fall asleep and I pondered what she was talking about. I held out my hand in the motions I had seen time and time again and watched as darkness rather than light erupted from my hand and the Void Gear keyblade appeared. The slitted eyes in the blade looked like pristine gems, and the head of the blade was sharpened to an edge. I swung it a few times experimentally to test it. It was perfectly balanced, and it felt natural to hold in my hand. I aimed it to the unconscious mare and cast curaga, seeming to breath a bit of life into her. An air of sickness held about her and so I decided to cast Esuna as well. She took a sharp exhale upon this and looked around wildly. She locked her eyes on me and flinched away backing into a wall.
"Y-y-you're real! You're...You're not a hallucination...H-How? There's no known teleportation spell that can warp through whatever that darkness was!"
She looked around at the room where we were in and sighed.
"...It doesn't matter though...Nothing does... The balefire bombs have dropped...Everyone's..."
She teared up and shuddered.
"Everyone's dead..."
So it seemed that we were kindred souls. I could determine from context clues that this world that Messenger had sent me to was similar to my own, a world burned by war and radiation. At least that's what I figured 'balefire' bombs would be. It made a twisted sort of sense that a freakin' pega-corn would live in a world of magic, or at least magical technology. I walked over and poked her, and she looked up at me with massive tear ridden eyes. I gestured to her and then myself, hoping she'd get the meaning.
You and I are still here.
Her lip quivered and she leaped at me and sobbed into my chest. Unsure of what to do I simply patted her head and wrapped an arm around her in an odd embrace. She seemed to realize something and looked to a small screen mounted on her hoof/wrist. It looked like a Pipboy from Fallout actually...
"W-wait! All of my radiation is gone!? What in the... You!"
She pointed a hoof at me.
"What was that spell you just cast? It cleaned radiation, even some of my undernourishment! What was that spell? I've never been able to get any spell to do that with such a minimal draw of power...Unless you actually have the power to cast that much without effort..."
I tilted my head for a moment as I tried to figure out a mute response. I moved my hands to my throat and shook my head and then made a shrugged.
I can't speak, so I can't answer either way.
She tilted her head and spoke again.
"You...Can't talk? Well... Aha!"
She turned and her horn seemed to glow a pinkish/purple color, and a similar glow surrounded her Pipboy-lookalike. So I was right about the magic thing... She levitated it off and towards me, and I caught it in one hand.
"My Pipbuck has a function for reading back data, so if you type into it then you can use it to 'talk' to me."
I nodded and closed it onto my left wrist and heard it lock in place. It functions a good deal like a Pipboy, though I supposed it replaced certain functions. I watched my suit seem to melt around the Pip'buck' when I put it on, and seemed to meld with it, adding onto my own HUD, giving me a more detailed HP gauge as well as an AP bar that seemed to bind into my Focus meter, giving it more length. It seemed that my VATS was part of my Shotlock now. The mare gave me a runthrough of the functions of the Pipbuck and I decided to keep using the Pipboy terms for different functions. I typed into it and clicked the playback on, hoping to have a way to speak, as I figured that since the Remnant couldn't speak then neither could I.
"[Testing, Testing, one two three... Alright this thing seems to work. Thanks, I'm glad to not be mute anymore.]"
She gave me a small smile.
"I suppose introductions are in order then... My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, ruler of Equestria alongside Princess Luna and Cadence. What's your name?"
I took a moment to decide what to go by. If I was in his body, I might as well use his name.
"[Vanitas. Vanitas Remnant. So, Princess, where are we?]"
She lost the smile as she remembered the situation we were in. She started telling me the story of her world, and of the way it ended. She was the leader of her country alongside someone name Princess Luna, who was the sister to the previous ruler who had abdicated halfway into a war with a nation of Zebras. She had worked with Princess Luna, and had set six ministries to help guide the country below them, led by six of her best friends who were heroes, and wielders of something called the Elements of Harmony. The Ministry of Awesome led by Rainbow Dash, The Ministry of Technology under Applejack, The Ministry of Morale led by Pinkie Pie, The Ministry of Image led by Rarity, The Ministry of Peace led by Fluttershy, and The Ministry of Arcane Sciences led by Sunset Shimmer. The last of these was related to where we were now, in one of their facilities. When the bombs had dropped she had been here working on a project to create new 'alicorns' (what she told me were the 'royal' race of pony kind, with the traits of the three normal races combined and usually wielding great power) and she had ended up sealed in this room. She had run out of any and all supplies and had been going crazy with hallucinations and delusions when I had appeared, and thus she hadn't believed her eyes. I took some time as well to explain Esuna, and the way it could cleanse any negative status effect. It seemed that extended to radiation somewhat.
"But either way, it doesn't matter. We're sealed in. All of the fail-safes that were in place for me to open the doors are broken..."
"[Well maybe not...]"
"What do you mean?"
"[This blade I wield is called a Keyblade. They're weapons of great power and potential, to the point of shaping the fates of entire worlds. But one function of these that can be called the most dangerous...]"
I stood up and aimed it at the door.
"[Is the fact that they can open *any** lock on any door.*]"
A beam of light erupted from the end of my Void Gear and went into the mechanisms, and everything within was covered in a shining aura. The sound of scraping gears was heard and multicolored sparks erupted from the locks. Suddenly something slammed into the  door from the outside, and we heard metallic grinding tearing into our ears as the door was wrenched out of place slowly. It finally gave and we both looked out to see something outside, holding the door in a burning aura. It shimmered with light, and seemed to shudder, a spectral image of multiple mares in one place. Twilight spoke in a terrified voice. The thing seemed to completely ignore me.
"T-T-Trixie!? Oh Celestia... I'm so sorry..."
"You have nothing to be sorry for. Your experiment worked, after all.  It worked more wonderfully than we ever dreamed it would.  Don’t be sorry.  Be happy.  We’re going to live forever, you in I.”
"W-What!?"
“I’m sorry it took so long for me to be strong enough to save you, Twilight Sparkle.”
It shuddered and tendrils of the same spectral quality as the rest of it extended towards Twilight where she lay petrified with fear. I brought Void Gear down in front of them and moved into 'Trixie's path. I typed into my Pipbuck as it looked at me with disbelief.
"[I don't know *who** or what you are, but I'm willing to bet that's not anything Twilight want to be involved with.*]"
"Nonsense! We will become one with her and all of us will ascend into true GODDESSHO-GODDESS...GRAH! NYAAAAH!"
The blue specter erupted with cracks of golden light, and the blue unicorn screamed further as the left half of her face and her left forehoof shattered, taking on a golden look, and her mane taking on a look of flames.
"T-Twilight! Ru...Run! C-c-c-c-Can't.... hold it back... too long!"
"S...Sunset? Oh no..."
I shook the surprise out of my head and turned, grabbing Twilight onto my back.
"[You heard her, let's go!]"
I didn't wait for a response and started running, going past the screaming being. I managed to access air slide and glide to get over the massive chamber of broken vats around us, jumping and moving across catwalks as we headed out, getting some distance between us and the glowing mare we left behind. Eventually I managed to make it into an open doorway leading out from the vat chamber. I kicked the door shut behind me and sealed it with a cabinet nearby. I figured it wouldn't do much against something that could tear through a bunker meant for a nuclear blast, but it's the thought that counts, right? We continued forward, me carrying Twilight since she only came up to my chest when standing and had shorter legs, and she was still in rough shape. Eventually we found ourselves in a monitor room, and there we saw what had transpired. Twilight filled me in on some of the details I was missing. The creature we had seen back there...
It was an amalgam of suffering. Twilight had brought in all kinds of magically inclined ponies to help with various projects, and now... Now there were all part of that thing. Sunset Shimmer, a unicorn of enough raw magical talent to rival Twilight herself. Starlight Glimmer, a mare of low skill but one that had been recruited (apparently she was once a criminal but had been reformed into society and was more than willing to help the war effort) for the fact that she had spells capable of removing talents of all sorts, and had been working to adapt that magic to render any zebra's military talents useless. Trixie Lulamoon, a showmare but one that had successfully reverse engineered a magical device into a castable spell, thus making the impossible possible. They were just some of the higher-ups here, and now it seemed that thing was made from their ruined souls fallen to the mess of Impelled Metamorphosis Potion that flooded the labs... I ended up ripping Twilight away from the consoles... She didn't need to see her friends die like that. I managed to get a copy of my own arrival though, since it happened while Twilight was filming. It seemed like it could be important later. The two of us uncertainly started out journey, fleeing from the screams of the creature, finally reaching the surface of what was now a ruined world. I turned to Twilight slowly as she beheld the world with a heartbroken expression.
"[So... Where do we go now?]"
---END LOG---