Nix: Identity

by Jarvy Jared

Chapters

Prologue: Reminiscence
Chapter One: Return
Chapter Two: Hello Again
Chapter Three: Intrigue
Chapter Four: The Mystery Deepens
Chapter Five: Remembering Elsewhere
Chapter Six: Quandary
Chapter Seven: The Mountain Roars
Chapter Eight: The Creature
Chapter Nine: Questions of Identity

Prologue: Reminiscence

PROLOGUE: REMINISCENCE

My name is Jared Berberabe.

I am writing this on March 22nd, 20XX.

And I am surprised.

Surprised at how much time has passed since my first story.

Would you believe that it has been six years since my first story came out?

Yes, that’s right; I am now seventeen years old.

In other words, six years since I first started recording my adventures as the Guardian of the Omniverse. Six years since I discovered the Omniverse and embarked on God’s quest to bring order to a Creation in turmoil.

Currently I am sitting at my desk reminiscing about the past. It’s a habit that I’ve started getting really into. I find it very comforting, for some odd reason, remembering everything that has happened.

Nix is here as well. He’s standing over my shoulder, watching me write this. Occasionally he points out something that I could add in (such as this sentence), but he’s mostly remained quiet. I’m penning this as a memo for myself, though I’m not sure for what; apparently reminding myself of certain things can help me. At least, that’s what several of my therapists say.

I now turn my gaze to a photo on my desk. It sits in a small, simple golden frame, only a few inches in dimensions. It’s a picture that gives me hope everyday. Something else that I’ve taken to doing; looking for hope.

In the picture are several people. People you might recognize if you’ve been around long enough. There’s a blue, anthropomorphic hedgehog at the right of the center. He has a huge grin on his face, and his hand is out in a thumbs up. To his left is a cyan pegasus with powerful wings. The pegasus has her wings behind the blue hedgehog in a hugging position. She also has a huge grin, and is slightly winking. In front of her is a lavender unicorn with purple and pink bangs. Her horn is glowing slightly as she lifts the camera to take the picture. To her right in an anthropomorphic, yellow, two-tailed fox with a grin on his face. In the back of the picture is a black-and-red hedgehog standing next to a yellow pegasus with pink hair. They’re smiling, though their smiles are noticeably smaller than the others. To the other side of the back is a red, muscular echidna with his arms wrapped around an orange pony and a white unicorn. They’re all smiling happily. On the echidna’s shoulder is a purple baby dragon, looking tired but still managing a grin. In the back’s center is a pink pony with a huge smile on her face. She’s staring at the camera with happy eyes as confetti rains down from above.

Finally, in the center of this all, is a young, fifteen year old boy with a small smile on his face, next to a green-and-blue quilled anthropomorphic hedgehog spirit, also smiling.

I chuckle slightly. Have I really changed that much in two years? I look so much different from then. I am much taller, at least four inches. There’s some stubble on my chin from a recent shave. My hair is thicker and slightly longer, though I still keep it somewhat short. Nix has changed just as much. His quills are longer and more refined. He’s taken to grooming them when he can. He’s about my height, only a few centimeters taller.

I wonder how much they have changed. Due to the difference in time between universes, and considering how time is constantly warped, there is no set way of figuring out how much time has passed in other universes in comparison with mine. Though I’m sure that a significant amount of time has passed. From what I can tell from hearing from the grapevine, the two universes are getting along quite well. Thanks to my teaching of the universe boom to Sonic the Hedgehog and Rainbow Dash, the two universes have been able to visit each other regularly.

Nix notices me thinking back to that time, and closes his eyes as I remember. I remember how the universes had first met; how, thanks to a mechanical failure on Eggman’s part, a tear between universes occurred. I remember how we had all been thrown into the MLP universe, and how for the first few days Sonic had to hide because the kingdom believed he had killed several royal guards, when in fact it was Shadow under the influence under Discord. I remember clearing Sonic’s name, then watching as the relationship between the characters from Sonic’s universe and the characters in the MLP universe grew closer and closer. I remember the final battle with Discord and Eggman, how Super Sonic, Super Shadow, Perfect Nix and me, powered up with the Chaos and Super Emeralds, with the Green Lantern Ring and the Tetraforce, had banded together with the Elements of Harmony to stop the Element of Disharmony once again.

I feel a pang in my heart as I remember my breakdown. I remember the feeling in my chest when Amy Rose accused me of purposely dying two years prior. I remember my friends’ faces when I conceded to telling them about my fate, how I would die when I turned eighteen.

I remember their gradual acceptance of the inevitable, and their drive to help me out whenever they could.

It would be nice to see them again, I think.

I feel happy as I think this, but there is still a feeling of sadness in my chest, as I realize that I only have a year left.

I shake my head. I can’t think about that right now. I’ve other problems to deal with.

I’m about to turn over another page and continue writing, when all of a sudden I hear a hum.

It’s a familiar hum, one that I’ve heard many times. It’s the hum of a portal being opened across universes, the sound of the gravity, electromagnetism, weak, and nuclear forces between universes acting on each other. It’s a sound I’ve heard ever since I opened up my first portal.

It doesn’t bother me at first; until I realize several things.

I live alone in the middle of nowhere.

There’s no one around for miles, since I prefer seclusion.

And neither Nix nor I decided on creating a portal.

Now I am worried. I stand up. Nix’s eyes shoot open, and he shadows my movements as I make my way towards the sound.

It is coming from the kitchen. I walk towards the room, careful not to make a sound. I peep around the corner.

There, in the small, marble room, is a portal that I have never seen.

Unlike the purple portals I am used, this one is a swirl of yellow. Energy whirls around it, like any normal universe portal; but the energy doesn’t dissipate into an image of what universe it would be arriving at. It continues to spin around, making the low hum.

I carefully step towards it, Nix shadowing my every step. We approach it in silence, taking note of its peculiarities.

“What do you think?” I ask Nix. “Should we see what this is?”

He shakes his head. “Of course we shouldn’t...but that won’t stop us.”

I nod, and start walking towards the portal.

I don’t know why I am doing this. Against all my reason, I am now approaching a portal that I did not create. An unknown portal that I had never seen before in my life.

Yet something tells me that this is worth investigating.

Nix retreats into my mind as I walk, and I feel his presence on guard. I stand in front of the portal, and take a deep breath, readying myself for whatever dangers I may face.

I walk into the portal...

Chapter One: Return

CHAPTER 1: RETURN

The first thing I noticed was the oddity of the forces in the dimensional gateway.

They weren’t strong, but they weren’t weak, either. They had some sort of odd balance between them. Somehow it unnerved me, despite being used to finding a balance between universes.

So what unnerved me so much about this one?

Perhaps it was the fact that the portal, though it was not mine, did not try to rip at my very being. Rather, it seemed complacent in letting me pass on through. Almost like it was expecting me…

Any further thoughts were cut short when I heard it.

It was a laugh, but an extremely cold one. It seemed to reverberate all around me, echoing inside my head. It was dark and foreboding; yet oddly upbeat and triumphant. It was an oxymoron laugh, almost, stating itself yet contradicting itself at the same time.

“What the—” I murmured as the laugh echoed all around. It creeped me out so much that I felt the hair on the back of my neck stiffen.

There was darkness as well, so I couldn’t see much in the portal. I was aware of energy being thrown around as if it were nothing, though that was to be expected as universes had no natural barriers that could keep their respective energy in (that explained why many universes were connected with Chaos energy, and why in only certain universes could I transform into Nix). The energy swirled around me like I was in a whirlpool, arcing and racing around like horses on a track.

I found myself asking aloud, “Where am I going?”

I didn’t expect a reply. All I got back was that creepy, low laugh again.

Suddenly I felt a massive force tug on me. I tried to resist the foreign power, but found myself being dragged across space and time by it. “Whoa!” I exclaimed as I shot through the darkness. “What the hell—”

I was cut short by a brilliant flash of light coming from nowhere. I shielded my eyes from the bright light. The force that was dragging me didn’t stop, however. It seemed to shoot towards the light. I could feel the illumination grow stronger as I approached it, cutting off my vision entirely as I reached its source.

The light reached its peak, and then...the force vanished.

Still feeling the stinging effects from the light, I didn’t open my eyes as I cautiously felt around with my other senses, making sure I was alone.

Then I began to fall.

I didn’t notice at first, since I was experiencing weightlessness. But a few seconds passed and I realized that I was descending. And at a not so slow pace either.

“Oh...GOD!” I shouted as I fell, finally opening my eyes. A tuft of clouds suddenly roared past me, shooting up as I shot down. A blue sky formed above me, but I couldn’t take the time to appreciate its splendor.

I twisted my body so that I was facing downward. The ground was rapidly approaching my face. Hey, Nix?! I shouted mentally.

Oh, crap, I realized. Don’t tell me that portal somehow messed up our communications…

I desperately felt around the air, trying to ignore the ground rising up to my face. I was looking for any remnant of Chaos energy that had followed me here.

...Yes! There was only a small amount, not even enough to use a Chaos Flash, but it could do nicely to slow the fall.

I grabbed the energy and felt it flow through my body. I managed a grin as I felt it course through me. The ground was now closer than ever, but I was ready.

I summoned the energy at the last possible second, temporarily creating an anti-gravitational field around my body. I slowed my descent just enough to stop in midair and avoid crashing into the ground and creating a large crater.

I let out a breath of relief, and wiped my forehead with my sleeve. Talk about too close for comfort! I thought. Now I’m only a few fifty feet above ground.

Then the energy chose that particular time to dissipate into nothing.

I spent the remainder of the fall cursing my luck.

“Oof!” I grunted as I hit the ground. I bounced and rolled, landing on my back, staring up at the sky dizzly. Thank goodness for my increased durability, I thought, otherwise I’d have been a bloody stain on the ground.

I shakily got to my feet and looked around. I was in some sort of park, it appeared. There was a playground nearby, and there were several kids on it, swinging on the swings or sliding down the slides.

Only...they weren’t any normal kids.

Foals? I questioned.

Behind me was a large cherry blossom tree, already ripe with fruit. To my left was the aforementioned playground; to my right was a path up to a farm. I recognized it as Sweet Apple Acres.

Then I realized where I was. Equestria? How—

“Oof!”

Something small ran into me full force. I tumbled over and rolled, standing up in a defensive stance as I was trained to do. When I looked back, I found three fillies rubbing their heads. One was orange and had purple hair and tiny wings; the second was white and had purple-and-pink hair, as well as a little horn on top; the third was slightly tan filly with red hair and a bow tie on her head.

“Ow!” the orange filly said. “What hit us?”

“I think you mean what did we hit,” said the tan one. “We just up and ran that guy over!”

“Gee, I’m sorry, mister,” the white one apologized, looking up. “We weren’t looking where we were going—”

She gasped, as did the other two fillies. “Y-you’re human!”

I gave them an odd look. “Yes, I am. Is there something wrong with that?”

“Well...no,” said the orange filly. “It’s just...there hasn’t been a human in Equestria for a while!” She looked at me with eyes of awe. I felt slightly uncomfortable.

“Um, Scootaloo? Maybe you should stop staring at him,” said the white one. “He looks...uncomfortable.”

Scootaloo huffed. “Well, excuse me for being curious, Sweetie Belle!”

“Girls, girls!” the tan one interjected before the other two could start arguing. “Please, we just ran into this guy! Sweetie Belle already apologized, so let’s apologize too!” She looked at me. “Mah name’s Apple Bloom, by the way. And ah’m sorry we ran into you.”

Scootaloo looked at me, but huffed. “...sorry we ran into you,” she mumbled.

I smiled. “Apology accepted.” I knelt down and looked at each of them in the eye. “I take you’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

They gasped. “How did you know that?” Apple Bloom asked.

They clearly did not recognize me at all from the kid two years back (or a little more than one Equestrian year). Though I supposed I couldn’t blame them. A shaved but very apparent stubble, more pronounced voice, much taller, and longer hair certainly differentiated me from my past self.

“Let’s just say I recognized you,” I answered back, inwardly finding myself enjoying fooling with them.

“Did you guys hear that?” Apple Bloom said. “This guy recognized us!”

“Yeah, so?” Scootaloo asked.

“It means we’re famous! Somehow, word got out about us!” Apple Bloom shouted. She started jumping around. “We’re famous! Famous! FAMOUS!”

The other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders eventually joined in, chanting the word over and over again like a mantra. I watched, amused, as they ran around me chanting.

“Oh my gosh!” Apple Bloom suddenly stopped. “I have to tell my sister this!” She and Sweetie Belle ran off for the Sweet Apple Acre farm.

“Hey! Wait up!” Scootaloo called before racing ahead. They were fast, all right; in seconds they were halfway up the road.

I calmly summoned a bit of Chaos energy and ran, feeling the energy flow through me. I boosted, and all of a sudden I was with the Crusaders; another boost, and I was at the farm.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Scootaloo when they reached me. “You’re fast! Almost as fast as Rainbow Dash!”

I chuckled a bit. “Thanks. Though, I wonder if I’m faster?” I let the question hang with a mischievous glint in my eyes. Scootaloo gave me an odd look, but shrugged.

“Hey, sister!” Apple Bloom knocked on the door to the barn. “Open up! I have to tell you something!”

“What do you want, Apple Bloom?” a voice on the other end called.

“We’re famous! The Cutie Mark Crusaders are famous!”

“Famous, huh.” I heard the voice chuckle. There was a creak as the farm door slowly opened. “That’ll be the day—SWEET CELESTIA!”

Applejack had been carrying carrying a basket of apple on her back. When she saw me, she accidentally knocked the basket over. Immediately I dove forward and caught the basket before its contents could spill out, landing on my stomach on the barn floor, placed the basket on the floor gingerly, stood up and turned.

“A human!” Applejack gasped. “And a pretty fast one!”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem surprised, Applejack.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, well, I’ve seen my share of humans before. A fat one, and a cool one.” She paused. “Hold on a minute. How’d you know my name?”

“Hey, yeah!” Apple Bloom spoke up. “I didn’t even tell you yet!”

Looks like the game is up, I thought. But I couldn’t resist putting the strong mare into an uncomfortable situation. “Applejack and I...are old friends,” I told Apple Bloom, pulling her sister to me.

“Hey, wait—” I placed a hand on her muzzle to quiet her.

“Oh, okay!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully, not noticing her sister’s discomfort. She and the other Crusaders said goodbye and walked off, still chanting that they were famous.

Once they left, Applejack forced my hand off of her and shrugged out of my grab. “Hey, pardner!” she said, facing me. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I seriously don’t know you!”

I wagged a finger at her; she started at the gesture. “Oh, come now. You’re the Element of Honesty, remember? Don’t lie; of course you know me.”

She squinted her eyes. “Listen, buddy, while it seems that my little sister likes you, I don’t know you anymore than she does.”

I smirked and waited.

She gave me an odd look as I stared at her intently.

...need I remind you? I telepathically said to her. Of an old, old friend from years back?

She froze, eyes widening, as my mental words hit her brain. She stared at me as her head took this in; she looked me up and down, noting the similarities between me and her old friend.

Then she let out an extremely out of character shriek.

“JARED!!!”

I was tackled by Applejack and landed on my back on the barn floor, feeling my arms getting crushed to the sides as the pony hugged me fiercely. I gritted against the slight pain, managing to hug her back.

“Oh mah gosh, Jared!” she exclaimed as she hugged me fiercely. “Is it really you?”

I smiled as I hugged back. “Indeed it is, Applejack.”

“But you look so different! Ah mean—not that I’m complaining, but you know…”

She broke the hug to take a quick look at me. “Is...is that facial hair?” she asked, pointing to my face. “You didn’t even have a wisp of hair on that baby face a year ago!”

I chuckled, rubbing the rough bristles. “Yep. I do miss the smoothness of my face, however.”

We continued talking, Applejack still slightly in awe of my changed appearance. I sought to catch on what I had missed in my hiatus from this universe. Applejack eagerly answered my questions. Sonic and the gang were now visiting on a regular basis. Sonic and Rainbow had nearly perfected their variant of the universe boom, so travel between the two universes, especially when traveling in large groups was much more convenient. The aforementioned hedgehog and pegasus were still in a relationship; just a little less than an Equestria year ago (which, according to my calculations, was about the same time as in Sonic’s universe, give or take a few seconds), they had celebrated their first anniversary.

“And how did that go?” I asked.

“Ooh, not well. Sonic got pestered by several fan-mares at the restaurant. Rainbow had to drive them out.” Applejack laughed. “You should have seen them! There was so much fear in the mares’ eyes when they saw the fire in Rainbow’s!”

She continued her gossip. She and Knuckles were in a stable relationship, which I was happy to hear. Twilight and Tails, though not dating, were in a very friendly relationship. I wondered if Twilight had moved on; she probably had, as I remembered how she reacted around the human Flash Sentry a little while back. Fluttershy and Shadow had one more date, but they broke off the relationship. Figures that they’d both be afraid of a relationship, I thought, inwardly chuckling to myself. Rarity was having a largely successful business; already so many clients from all across Equestria were lining up for her merchandise. I couldn’t say I could relate, since I had absolutely no business sense, but I felt happy for her.

Just when Applejack was about to get to the remaining pony…

BAM!

We both turned and our eyes widened in shock as we looked at the now opened barn door. There stood a pink pony, quivering with anger, holding open the doors. Two dents were where her hooves had hit the doors. Her mane was unfurled and bouncing all around crazily.

“Speak of the devil!” Applejack cheerfully said. “Hey there, Pinkie Pie—”

“YAH!” Pinkie suddenly jumped forward, aiming a kick at me. I ducked, and she flew over my head, landing in a clump of hay.

“Whoa! Pinkie!” Applejack exclaimed, helping me to my feet. “What are you doing?!”

“Don’t worry, Applejack!” Pinkie replied, throwing a pitchfork at me. I calmly stopped it with my telekinesis. “I heard you scream and I found this bipedal thing standing next to you menacingly! I’ll save you!” She got to her hooves and ran at me again. I jumped over her and she ran into the barn side, and I struggled not to chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.

“Pinkie! You don’t understand!” Applejack placed herself between the pink pony and me. “He’s not tryin’ to hurt me!”

Pinkie looked at her in confusion. “What are you talking about? He’s clearly threatening you!” She pointed. Applejack turned and sighed.

Because right then, I started laughing and rolling on the ground, tears escaping my eyes. It wasn’t everyday that the craziest pony of Ponyville mistook you for a villain.

“See?” Applejack gestured at my laughter-stricken body. “He’s not dangerous if he’s laughing!”

Pinkie still looked confused. “But the screech—”

“Yes, Applejack.” I sniffed, managing to calm down enough to talk. “That was so unlike you. It kind of sounded like Rarity’s screech.”

The bucking pony huffed. “I-it was not that bad, Jared!”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “J-Jared?!”

She followed this with a loud, joyful, and particularly high-pitched screech of her own.

“Ow…” I murmured, sticking a finger in my ear to make sure I could still hear fine.

Then I was tackled by a now ecstatic pink mare.

“OHMYGOSHJAREDIMISSEDYOUSOMUCHHOWHAVEYOUBEENWHATHAVEYOUBEENUPTOWHEREWEREYOU—”

Applejack had to pry her off of me as I recoiled in shock at her sudden enthusiasm. “C’mon, Pinkie, give the Guardian his space.”

“Ooops! I forgot you’re the Guardian!” Pinkie giggled.

I sighed, getting to my feet. “...I am not even going to try to answer that garbled mess of words that just left your mouth.”

“Oh, okay!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “Then I’ll just ask you one question! Why are you here?”

A feeling of apprehension came over me. “I...actually don’t know.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

I explained how I had gotten here again. They listened intently as I told them about the portal that had appeared in my kitchen, and about the maniacal laughter in the portal’s gateway, and the powerful force that had dragged me to here.

When I had finished, Applejack asked, “And you have no idea what brought you here, other than some force?”

I shook my head. “I still feel slightly disoriented. On top of it all, it appears that portal messed up communications with Nix. I can’t talk to him at the moment.”

Applejack took a moment to think, then said, “We should go see Princess Twilight about this. Tails is with her as well.”

I nodded. “Sounds good.” I then smiled. “It’d be nice to see everyone again.”

Applejack smiled back, then walked with Pinkie out of the barn towards Ponyville. I followed them.

Chapter Two: Hello Again

CHAPTER TWO: HELLO AGAIN

In a few short minutes we had reached the Ponyville. I took note of how happy and carefree the town seemed. So many ponies were out conversing and talking with each other, smiles on their faces. There didn’t seem to be a worry in the world for them. I found myself smiling at this.

Applejack and Pinkie led the way, occasionally stopping to greet some pony. A few of the town’s residents gave me odd looks, but otherwise ignored me. I wasn’t surprised; so many odd creatures had come through this town before, so I doubted that seeing a high evolved primate walking through on its two legs would unnerve many of them. Nonetheless, a few shot me and the girls a few concerned looks, but Pinkie managed to reassure them with her signature smile.

Eventually we reached Twilight’s new home. From my last visit, I already knew that it was her very own castle, awarded to her by the Tree of Harmony, shortly after the Battle With Tirek. Purple, crystal walls shot up into the sky, piercing the clouds. It shone brightly, signifying royalty’s presence in the town. I had to admit, it was pretty impressive, seeing it again. It had gotten slightly larger from the last time I had seen it, though I suspected it wasn’t by her doing. I managed to hear Applejack and Pinkie discussing recent renovations to the castle; I guessed that similar renovations had taken place sometime after my visit, making the castle much bigger.

Applejack knocked on the door, and a few moments later, a small, purple baby dragon with green spikes opened the door.

“Oh, hey, Applejack—” he started, but stopped when he saw me.

“Hey there, Spike,” Applejack replied calmly, not bothering to reintroduce me to the diminutive dragon. She entered, Pinkie Pie and I following suit. Spike gave me a confused look, but I waved it away. “We’re here to see Twilight?” Applejack called, turning Spike’s attention away from me.

“Oh, Twilight’s upstairs in her library with Tails. Want me to get you anything? Some cookies, maybe? A little lemonade?”

That was the Spike I had grown to appreciate; always so courteous and hospitable.

The mares shook their heads. Spike turned to me. “Just some herbal tea, thank you,” I told him. He nodded, and walked away.

I chuckled. I could practically hear his brain trying to solve the enigma of who I was.

We walked upstairs, the crystal steps dancing with light. Our reflections shone clearly, and I found myself once again staring at my face. For some reason, it fascinated me on how much I had physically changed. When we reached the top, I stopped to take in the surroundings. We were standing in what appeared to be the meeting room. In the center lay six thrones of marble, each with the Mane Six’s cutie mark engraved on the back. They faced a table made of crystal, which looked like a map. It was the same one that had guided the Elements in their quest to defeat Tirek and spread friendship across Equestria. I looked up, and saw what appeared to be tree roots sticking out from the ceiling.

“Um...Applejack? What is that?” I asked, pointing to the hanging structure.

“Oh, that? Just the remains of Twilight’s old home. At least, what was left of it after Tirek destroyed it.” I nodded, remembering that day, but I was still confused. “Twilight wanted something to remember her home by, so we decided on giving her that.” She pointed. “See there? That stuff dangling are ornaments that hold all the memories we had together.” I nodded understandingly. Memory crystals. That’s new.

We moved to the edge of the room where another set of large doors stood. Applejack knocked on it softly. “Twilight? It’s us.”

“Coming!” came a muffled voice from the other side. I heard the soft plop of a book being placed on the ground. There was some trotting, and then the door creaked and opened.

There stood Princess Twilight Sparkle, now the Princess of Friendship. She looked nearly identical to how I had seen her last; a purple and pink mane with a lavender body. There was a crown on her head, indicating her royalty.

“Oh, hey there, Applejack, Pinkie Pie,” she greeted her friends, smiling warmly. Then she noticed me. “Oh? A human…”

I bowed. “A pleasure to see you, Princess.”

She waved me off. “Please, don’t bow. I’m not into those formalities. And call me Twilight.”

Applejack struggled not to grin as I played along. “Of course...Twilight.”

She allowed us in. The room was filled to the brim with books of all kinds, similar to Celestia’s library. A two-tailed fox was at a table, going over an ancient manuscript with a look of concentration. He looked up when he heard us enter. “Oh, hey.” He walked over, and Applejack and Pinkie gave him a greeting hug.

He looked at me and briefly started. “Whoa—a human. And a really tall one at that.” He shook himself and held out a hand.

I smiled and shook it strongly. “Come now, Tails, surely I’m not the first human you’ve ever seen. I mean, you come from a universe filled with them, do you not?”

“Huh?” he asked, confused. “How’d you know that?”

“What are you reading over there?” I replied, turning his attention away from me briefly.

“Oh, it’s just some old manuscript—”

His voice faltered as I stretched out a hand. A slightly visible purple aura emanated from my hand and then over the paper. I lifted it with my mind and brought it over, ignoring the frozen features on everybody in the room. I read silently, taking note of the handwriting and the content of the manuscript.

I laughed out loud, then looked up. “Heh. Star Swirl the Bearded was quite the insulter—” I looked at their faces. “...oh, that’s right. You weren’t expecting that.”

Applejack and Pinkie were now trying not to laugh as they saw the gears in Tails’s and Twilight’s heads whirl and click their way to a conclusion.

Spike came running up. “Here’s your tea.” He looked at the room, noticing his caretaker and her friend’s looks of shock. “Um, what’s wrong?”

I walked over and took the tea from his hands and took a sip. “Oh, nothing much. They’re just figuring out who I really am.”

“Who you really are—” I cut him short with a playful finger to my lips, asking him to be quiet and watch. I mentally placed the manuscript back on the table, Tails’s and Twilight’s eyes following the floating paper.

Give them a second, I mentally told everyone, hearing Spike gasp in surprise.

“You-you’re—” Pinkie shushed him.

I let a cocky smile cross my lips as I waited for the two to figure it out.

Then:

“...Jared?” Tails asked quietly, shock in his eyes.

I winked and gave him a thumbs up.

Twilight walked over and placed a hoof on my chin. She could barely reach, so I bent down a bit. She rubbed it on my face in disbelief.

“Jared?” she asked, retracting her hoof. “But it’s only been a little more than a year…”

I shook my head, standing back up. “One Equestrian year. In my universe, it’s been two.”

“...two?” she confirmed quietly. “Then that means…”

“Yes. I’m seventeen.”

There was silence as everyone—Twilight, Tails, Spike, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie—took this in. “Oh, dear,” Twilight murmured. I knew what they were all thinking.

In a year I’d be dead, thanks to a twisted act of Fate.

After much time, I had accepted my fate as it was, and was ready to move on. Thankfully, my friends did so as well.

So they only dwelled on it for a few seconds before changing the topic. “What are you doing here, Jared?” Tails asked. “As far as I know, nothing dangerous has happened.”

I proceeded to tell them what had transpired. Once I was done, Twilight and Tails shared a look.

“Something...else opened you a portal?” Twilight asked, worriedly looking at me.

I nodded slowly. “So it appears. Though, it didn’t try to hurt me or anything, so I can’t say for sure that its intent was malicious.” I shook my head. “This is rather concerning...nothing else, other than me, Sonic, and Rainbow, should be able to open universe portals. At the same time, however, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Perhaps the universe just happened to want me here.” It was a weak argument, but an argument nonetheless; the Omniverse worked in mysterious ways.

“And you can’t contact Nix?” asked Tails.

“At least, not right now. The portal somehow interrupted our connection to each other. Don’t worry; he’ll be back soon, once we reestablish a connection.”

Twilight stared at me inquisitively. Then she said, “I guess...we can afford to wait.” She smiled. “In the meantime, since you’re here...I would think all of would we be happy to see you again.”

“So a party!” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

“Yes, Pinkie, a party. A welcome back party, actually.”

“Oooh, I better get set on writing out invitations!” The pink mare grabbed a stack of paper.

Sonic was laying in a tree dozing off. The tree was a place he would often go to gather his thoughts, though more often he would use it as a makeshift bed. He found relaxing in its branches quite comforting, though he couldn’t explain why.

As he settled in, his mind drifted to the past. He remembered the first time he had come to Equestria with his friends. Due to a malfunction in one of Dr. Robotnik’s machines, Sonic and his friends had somehow been transported to Equestria. There they had fought alongside the Elements of Harmony against the evils of Robotnik and Discord.

Sonic began to reflect on the aftermath of the battle. They had won, but Jared had been scarred. Sonic cringed at the memory of Jared nearly dying, with Nix performing a Chaos Pulse to restore his friend’s heartbeat. He remembered the distant look Jared had for days, as he tried to piece his confidence back together.

The hedgehog furrowed his brow as another memory came to him, this one even more uncomfortable. Things had been going smoothly with Rainbow Dash as the two gradually tried to open their relationship. Then Amy found out about it. Oh, Chaos, the anger in her eyes when she found out...it haunted him continuously. Sonic remembered the swing of her hammer and the bonk it made when it hit Rainbow in the head; he remembered the anger in his heart. He remembered being knocked to the side by something fast; he remembered looking back and nearly shrieking in fear when he saw Jared laying under several broken tables with a horribly mangled arm. He remembered the look of sadness on Jared’s face as he struggled to prop himself up, as Amy watched silently. He remembered Jared asking Amy why she was hurting people; how he carefully and coldy analyzed Amy’s nature.

How Nix had prevented Sonic from speak up when Amy confronted Jared about his death.

How Jared had carefully explained his death.

How, after Amy still had not calmed down, and called him a selfish heartbreaker, Jared revealed one final truth.

His fate.

Sonic remembered the looks of total shock as everyone took that in, the feeling of panic and despair in his heart. He remembered the tears in Jared’s eyes, his shaking body as he tried so desperately not to break down.

He remembered screaming for Amy to stop beating Jared to near death with her hammer, how his heart had exploded in anger when Jared went unconscious.

Those were terrible, terrible memories, and Sonic did not want to continue remembering them. He forced his mind to move to something else.

Then happier memories came to him, and he found himself smiling once more.

He remembered the plight that threatened Equestria, if the sun was no longer able to rise on its own. He remembered Jared, despite his injuries, taking it upon his beaten self to find a solution. He remembered spending the next two days looking for answers...and finding none. He remembered the look of confidence on Jared’s face when he emerged with the Sol Emeralds.

He remembered Nix’s smile as, using the Sol Emeralds, he managed to correct the sun cycle.

He remembered everyone’s joy.

He remembered the party that night, the look on Jared’s face as he saw peace on his friends’ faces.

The song. He remembered the song. Jared’s goodbye.

He remembered what was perceived as their last goodbye. For they could only stay in this universe for so long. He remembered the pain in his heart when Tails told them that the machine was a one way trip and most likely wouldn’t work again.

He remembered Jared’s shocking announcement: that he wouldn’t be coming with them.

He remembered Jared’s odd questioning, asking about what they liked about Equestria.

He remembered Jared asking why.

He remembered the look on his face as they answered why.

He remembered his calm smile.

His movements towards the switch.

The pull of the lever.

The shutdown of the machine.

And finally, Jared’s decision to teach Sonic and Rainbow how to universe boom.

He knew it was against his creed, Sonic thought, yet he still decided to teach it.

“Your happiness is something I’m willing to sacrifice my duty for,” Jared had said.

A warm feeling came to his heart as he recalled the tears he had shed as Jared once again saved the day.

Sonic then remembered the last day he saw Jared. The surprise party they had thrown. The happy memories Jared recounted to them. He remembered the journal Twilight had passed around, asking for several residents of Ponyville, as well as some of the rulers, what they perceived of Jared. He remembered seeing that same journal, now in book form and published, only a few days later.

He chuckled softly at the memory, recalling how different the personalities of Jared and Nix were in their perception of themselves.

Oh, Jared, he thought, if only you could recognize what an amazing person you are.

It had been a little over a year since he had seen Jared, though he wasn’t too worried. It was one of the things a person had to be prepared for when becoming friends with the Guardian; never expect him to show up when you want him to, because he’s probably out somewhere preventing the death of a universe. Sonic wondered when he would see Jared again; he missed him dearly.

He yawned, and shuffled a bit in his place. The afternoon sun was rising, and he found himself warmed by its comforting rays. He turned over and closed his eyes, intending for an afternoon nap...

When something slammed into his tree.

“Whoa!” Sonic exclaimed as he was rocked off of his branch. He fell through the leaves and landed on his back, eyes going dizzy. “Ugh…”

“Oh, gee, I’m sorry mister Sonic!” a voice apologized.

Sonic sat up, rubbing his head. “Uh...no worries.” He turned to the source and found himself staring at a grey pegasus.

With crossed eyes.

“Oh...you’re…” he started, unsure of which name to call the cross-eyed pegasus.

“Yep! I’m Derpy Hooves, mailpony extraordinaire!” the grey pegasus said cheerfully. “Oh, um, I have something for you.” She dug in her knapsack and pulled out a fancy envelope. She handed over to Sonic.

“Er...thanks, Derpy,” Sonic said, biting back the urge to chuckle at the strange name.

“No problem!” She flew away, presumably to deliver more mail (or attack some muffins; she seemed to really like those).

Sonic shook his head. He would never hope to understand every pony in Equestria. He smiled. Though, there is one pony I can probably understand.

He turned to the envelope and peeled it open. Inside was a simply invitation card that read:

Dear Sonic,

You are cordially invited to a Welcome-Back-To-Ponyville Party we will be throwing in Twilight Sparkle’s castle tonight! Feel free to come; we guarantee you will enjoy it!

We will be providing for food and any refreshments you will need. The party will begin at 5:45 and go on until I feel like ending it!

See you there!

Sincerely,

Pinkie Pie

Huh, Sonic thought as he finished the letter. A party...I wonder who’s it for?

Just then there was a colorful boom next to him, and he smiled widely.

“Hey, Sonic!” said a cyan-colored pegasus floating next to him.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Sonic replied to his marefriend, smiling back at her. “How’re things!”

“Pretty good. Just got an invitation in the mail for some ‘Welcome Back’ party that Pinkie’s throwing. Looks like you got one too.”

Sonic nodded, holding his up. “You don’t happen to know who’s it for, do you?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Nope. It’s probably meant as a surprise for whoever it is.” She looked at him expectantly. “You are going, aren’t you?”

Sonic chuckled. “Of course; I wouldn’t miss Pinkie’s parties for the world!” He lowered his voice. “I just hope no single mares are invited; remember the restaurant—”

She cut him off. “Yeah, I remember; don’t remind me.” She smiled, then flew in and kissed him on the cheek. “See you then. Don’t be late.”

“Same to you,” Sonic retorted.

Rainbow laughed and flew off, leaving Sonic with a warm feeling in his chest as he watched her go.

Now Sonic was walking to Twilight’s castle, dressed in a smart tuxedo with a rose tucked in his vest pocket. Next to him stood an equally ravishing Rainbow Dash in a fancy red dress.

Sonic smirked. “I thought you hated dresses.”

Rainbow glared at him. “And I thought you preferred no clothes.” He chuckled, but stopped teasing her.

Behind them was a smartly dressed Knuckles walking besides Rarity, wearing a more extravagant dress, adorned with jewels of all shapes, sizes, and colors; Sonic wondered what kept Spike from drooling over Rarity, since he had quite the attraction to jewels.

Shadow and Fluttershy were in the back, Shadow wearing a simple vest, Fluttershy in her Galloping Gala dress. While they weren’t a couple anymore, they still remained very close that one could mistake them for being one.

Not that either would be caught dead admitting how close they were.

“What are you grinning about?” Rainbow asked.

“Er—nothing,” Sonic replied, rubbing the underside of his nose. Rainbow gave him an odd look, but dropped the questioning.

Sonic was about to knock on the door when:

“Wait!”

He turned, and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders running through them to the front. “Er, hey, girls,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

Scootaloo spoke up. “We wanted to see the person this party is for!”

“That, and,” added Apple Bloom, “we wanted to see if the person knew who we were!”

Sonic and Rainbow shared a confused look, but the cyan pegasus shrugged. Sonic shook his head. He then tried again at knocking.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Silence. Then:

Creak!

Spike the purple dragon opened the door, dressed in a small tux with a red bowtie. He saw the group and smiled. “Welcome to Pinkie Pie’s Surprise Party! Come on in!” He opened the door widely, letting the group filter in. They all went upstairs where the party was being held.

The first thing Sonic saw was the people who were already here. A large, white-coated, lime-green-and-pink haired alicorn was conversing with a smaller, navy-blue-coated, blue-and-lavender haired alicorn. They were over by the punch table. On the other side of the room was a pink alicorn and a white stallion. They were happily talking with each other.

The alicorns and the stallion looked up and saw Sonic and the others. “Oh, there they are,” said the white stallion.

Sonic grinned. “Hey, there, Shining Armor.”

“Er, you should address royalty first, Sonic,” Rainbow reminded him.

“Oh! Uh…” He hastily bowed for the princesses. “My humble apologies. It’s nice to see you again, Princess Celestia,” addressing the white alicorn; “Princess Luna,” the navy-blue alicorn; “and Princess Cadance,” to the pink alicorn.

Princess Cadance laughed. “I hardly think there’s a need for royal etiquette while we’re here, Sonic. We’re all close friends!”

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna nodded in agreement, looking at the hedgehog with slight amusement.

“Do you know who this party is for?” Rainbow asked them.

Princess Celestia shook her head. “I’m not sure; Twilight hasn’t said anything, and Pinkie refused to tell me.”

Rarity sighed. “Then I suppose we’ll have to wait for this mystery guest to show up.”

Without any hints on who the person was, the group conceded to trying to enjoy themselves while they waited. Sonic and Rainbow had a few glasses of punch with Princess Luna, talking about old times, while the others enjoyed some of the snacks that were already in the room.

For a few minutes they idly chatted. Then the door at the side of the room swung open, revealing an exceptionally excited Pinkie next to Applejack, Twilight, and Tails.

Pinkie’s face lit up when she saw everyone. “Yay! Everypony’s here!” She started bouncing around, her face lit up like fireworks, the others smiling at her enthusiasm.

Applejack found herself staring at Knuckles intently. When he caught her, she blushed and looked away, but not before Knuckles could let out a chuckle.

“Hey, Pinkie!” Sonic greeted. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going great!” the pink pony answered. “Well, I mean, it could be better, like if it started raining chocolate and whipped cream with cookies, but other than that everything’s great!”

“Do you happen to know who this party is for?”

“I sure do!” She leaned in, and whispered, “but I can’t tell you. He’s in the next room, getting ready!”

Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Getting ready for what?”

Before Pinkie could answer, everyone heard something. They all stopped whatever it was that they were doing and turned to the door at the end of the room that led to Twilight’s library.

They could hear the sound of a violin being played. It was nostalgic, ancient, slow; it reminded them of times long gone. Of simpler times, when there wasn’t so much worry in the world. It sung of a time when the goal was simple, of when life hadn’t gotten so complex.

More importantly, it was the theme to one of Sonic’s oldest Zones: Green Hill Zone.

“Oh!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Looks like he’s ready!”

The pink pony, Applejack, Twilight, and Tails headed for the door. After a brief look at each other, the others followed them.

As they got closer, the music grew slower, softer, so that the group had to strain to hear. The melody seemed to uplift them, their spirits rising with each note. A feeling of peace wafted through the air, settling on their shoulders.

Twilight slowly opened the door, and the group stopped at what they saw.

“A...human?” Shadow whispered.

Indeed he appeared to be. He stood on his two legs with an aura of authority and leadership. He wore a black-and-white flannel shirt that was unbuttoned, revealing a purple T-shirt underneath. Black skinny jeans outfitted his legs, and a pair of slightly dirty, worn black sneakers covered his feet.

His song reached its ending, and he had a look of peace on his face as he finished it. He pulled the bow back for one final, long note, slightly fiddling with the strings at the end to change the tone. The note slowly drew to a close, and he lifted the bow silently, hanging it by his side in a relaxed manner. He let out a slow breath then turned and faced them.

Those eyes, Sonic thought as he looked at the human. There’s so much...life in them!

The human stared at them for a while, and they stared back, waiting for someone to make a move.

The looks on my friends’ faces were priceless. They all had confusion written all over them as they tried to figure out what was going on. I lowered the violin to my side, still smiling at them.

There was silence for a good thirty seconds.

Then:

“Hey, you’re that guy we ran into this morning!” exclaimed Scootaloo. “I didn’t know you could play violin!” The other Crusaders murmured their agreement.

“Um excuse me…” Fluttershy said quietly. I looked at her and tried not to die from cuteness overload. “If you don’t mind me asking...who...exactly are you?”

“I would like to know that as well,” Shadow said. Everyone else—save for Twilight, Tails, Pinkie, Spike, and Applejack—nodded their agreement.

I chuckled slightly. “My, my...have I really changed that much?”

“Uh, yeah!” Rainbow said, confused. “I mean...not that we knew you before or anything!” She turned to Pinkie. “Don’t tell me this is the welcome party’s guest of honor!”

“Indeed he is,” I answered. “And you have known me for quite some time, now. I’d imagine...a little over a year?”

I enjoyed seeing them rack their brains for any memory of seeing me before, despite knowing they wouldn’t have. Still, I couldn’t help but play with them.

I formed a frown. “Come on, do you seriously not remember me?”

They shook their heads no.

“The stubble?” No.

“The longer hair?” No.

“The height?” No.

I mocked an exasperated sigh and turned to Twilight. “Can you believe this? I’ve never been so insulted!”

She rolled her eyes. “You know, it was kind of hard to recognize you at all. I mean, you had to give us a hint.”

I waved her off. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” I sighed. “Come back when you’ve remembered, you hear?”

They stared at me in shock.

I closed my eyes and, using my telekinetic powers, lifted the violin and bow with my mind.

Now, where was I? I thought to everyone. Oh yes…I started slowly humming the theme of Green Hill Zone.

They started, and I held back laughter.

I played for a bit, then stopped and sighed, pretending to be annoyed with them. “Seriously, guys? Five minutes? It too you a full five minutes to figure out who I am?” I shook my head, letting a smile cross my features. “I’ve gotta say; I’m disappointed.”

I stopped humming, crossed my arms, and waited.

Silence for a solid fifteen seconds.

Then:

“...oh my stars,” murmured Princess Luna. She slowly walked over, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. “...Jared?”

I nodded.

Then I was tackled—rather uncharastically—by the Princess of the Night.

I tried to get up, but then I was forced once again to the ground by the force of the others. First Rainbow, then Cadance, then Knuckles, Rarity, Sonic, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Princess Celestia.

I silently thanked God that I wasn’t tackled by Shadow or Shining Armor. That would have been weird.

They eventually got off of me, after much hugging and squeezing.

“DUDE!” Sonic exclaimed, grinning dumbly. “What took you so long to come back!”

Princess Celestia nodded. “I concur. You look so different, Jared.”

I ruffled a hand through my hair. “Yeah...so I’ve been told. Repeatedly.”

“Whoa, man!” exclaimed Knuckles. “Is...is that stubble I see?!” He pointed at my face and laughed. “My bro’s becoming a man!”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were running laps around me cheering, Pinkie doing much the same. Princess Cadance and Shining were laughing happily. Shadow was silently smiling in the back with Fluttershy. Rarity was dancing happily with Spike, who looked like his heart was going to burst from joy.

Rainbow, however, reacted differently. She gave me an odd look, then asked, “Jared?...how old are you?”

Despite my apprehension, I chuckled. “Well, well, well...Rainbow Dash has actually matured in my absence? Not a retort for a greeting? Looks like miracles really happen.” I looked at her, and though in times past I would have been hesitant to reveal anything, I had since then realized the importance of coming clean with your friends. “I’m seventeen, guys.”

The joy of the reunion seemingly dissipated, replaced with growing anxiety and sympathy.

“Oh…” Rainbow quietly said.

I held up a hand. “I don’t mean to sound uncaring...but we’ve established this fact.” I sighed. “Yes, I’ve one year left in my life. But I’ve made my peace; and while I don’t expect you to have done so as well, I would want you to not feel bad for me.” I looked at them and smiled. “After all, thanks to you, I’ve lived a happy life. That’s all I could have ever asked for as the Guardian.”

They nodded slowly, their smiles coming back to them. Whether or not they chose to move to on was up to them; but they understood my acceptance of the end.

Fluttershy looked up. “You look...different.”

I shrugged. “What gave it away? The stubble? The height?” I smirked. “My amazing good looks?”

“You wish,” murmured Shadow.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I mean…” She walked over and put a hoof on my chest. She stared intently at me. “I don’t mean any offense, but...your eyes are different.”

“How so?”

“They’re...more vibrant, I guess.”

I chuckled. “Two years in my universe can really mature a guy.” I smiled happily at her. “I’ve had time to think and consider myself. In that time I’ve grown to accept who I am and what I do. I don’t have to hide from myself anymore.”

Fluttershy hugged me warmly, a gentle smile caressing her face, as my friends d’awed before this act.

Then:

Well said, Jared.

I sighed, feigning annoyance. “Took you long enough, Nix.”

He stepped out of my body in spectral form, calmly overlooking the others, a peaceful look on his face. “Hello again,” he said.

Pinkie tried to hug him, but passed through. He sighed. “When is anyone going to learn that I can’t be hugged? I’m a freaking ghost, for Pete’s sake!” He smiled anyway, a twinkle in his eyes. The others laughed.

We continued talking, trying to catch up on the latest news. The conversations slowly drifted away, moving towards why I was here. At this, I had to shake my head.

“We don’t know,” Nix answered for me. He explained the portal and the strange laughter and force in the portal. “I only just managed to resync with Jared,” he said, explaining his absence. “Whatever that portal did was enough to momentarily separate us.”

They had concern on their faces, but I tried to ease them. “It didn’t seem dangerous, to be honest. If it were, I would have reasoned that it would have chosen to hurt me somehow. But I’m here in one piece.” I frowned. “Though I suppose that is slightly concerning; I mean, I don’t know why I was dragged here.”

“Or by whom,” Tails added.

“I think we should keep our guard up,” advised Nix. “This could just be the Omniverse being weird again. Or lead up to something much bigger. I’d prefer the former.” He looked at me. “It’d be nice to relax again, wouldn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Well, you’re here now,” Sonic said. “So why don’t we enjoy this reunion?”

I smiled and took a glass of punch from the stand. The others did the same. I held mine out for a toast. “To the return of friends!”

“To the return of friends!” they cheered, and we clinked glasses together.

“So we can have the party now?” Pinkie exclaimed. “Yay! Let’s have the party now!”

It’s good to be back, I thought as Pinkie suddenly fired her confetti cannon.

Chapter Three: Intrigue

CHAPTER THREE: INTRIGUE

A few days after the reunion, I decided to visit some old haunts.

I decided to go through Everfree Forest for a bit, feeling suddenly nostalgic about it. The walk also presented an opportunity for me to think and throw my thoughts around. Twilight had decided to join me, bringing along a satchel so as to bring back several samples of the Forests’ plant life. This was also a great time to visit an old friend and ask for some help.

As we walked, I took note of how little the forest had changed in my absence. It was still the gloomy, melancholy forest that I had come to know, filled with various herbs and plant life that could be beneficial or detrimental. I picked up one such plant—a luneshine, I was told by Twilight—and twirled it in my fingers, taking note of its beauty. Its petals were a pale white with a hint of blue in them, reflecting the color of the moon. The petals were spread out at the bottom of the stem, gathering at the top in a cluster in a reverse cone shape. In the center was the pale yellow stigma, with several anthers of a lighter shade of yellow around it. The stem was a dark green that was cold and smooth to the touch. A few drops of water still remained on its stem, indicating a recent downfall.

“What are you thinking about, Jared?” Twilight asked, seeing my look of concentration.

“Oh, nothing much,” I answered, looking up from the flower. I held the flower in the air with my telekinesis, and walked around it, still observing. “Remarkable, isn’t it?” I said aloud.

“What’s remarkable?”

“I may not understand beauty from a logical perspective, but even I know when I’m in its presence. Such as now.” I spun the flower a few times. “Life certainly has an extravagant way of showing off its most sublime points, don’t you think? The pristine petals around the bulb, reflecting what little light is here; the stem, still wet with dew, glistening brilliantly.” I looked at Twilight. “What do you think? Does beauty affect an organism’s survival? Or was beauty placed in our minds so that we may appreciate the finer things?”

Twilight walked around the floating flower, carefully taking note of its appearance. “I suppose from a logical perspective, one could assume that appearance is a key component in the survival of species. It may explain why animals don’t all randomly mate.”

I nodded. “Yes, sexual selection. Choosing a mate based on attraction.”

“At the same time, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What we perceive as beautiful naturally appeals to us.” She looked at me, and there was a sudden sadness in her eyes. “Or maybe beautiful things remind us to appreciate what we have left, because like all things, beauty fades with time.”

I smiled at her. “Beauty does fade with time; at least, for one object of beauty. But life; life itself is the most beautiful thing in all of Creation, is it not? It’s not just a bunch of elements joining together to form an organism capable of reproducing itself. Life is an art that we all must learn to appreciate. And even in the longest passages of time, life goes on, never ending.”

“But what happens when a life passes away? What happens to that beauty?”

“It never truly leaves this plane of existence. It lives on, in our memories, our minds, our hearts, and our souls.”

I gently pinched the flower from the air with my forefinger and thumb, giving it one last look. Then, with a gentle smile, I handed it to Twilight. She gazed at me for a second; there was something in her eyes that showed her fighting something.

“I’m not asking you to let go of life,” I gently said. “I’m asking you to appreciate it.”

She nodded and, after much consideration, took the luneshine and placed it in her satchel.

We continued walking, quietly conversing about the various flowers and herbs that could be found in the Everfree Forest. After some time, we reached a familiar hut located in the middle of the woods. It was built out of an ancient oak tree’s trunk, only slightly under the Forest’s canopy. It was twisted in shape, irregular in appearance, afflicted with age. To the ordinary onlooker it might have been quite the foreboding sight, to see such an enigma in an enigmatic forest. For Twilight and me, it was a comforting feature.

I walked up to the door and knocked in it three times. A few moments later, it opened with a creak, and there stood a zebra with blue eyes and a neck adorned with gold rings. Her forelegs and ears also had the same accessory attached.

“Zecora,” I greeted warmly, holding out a hand to shake.

She took it politely. “Jared! You have returned; no doubt to here, for something you yearned.”

I was used to the zebra’s rhyming antics, so I didn’t start when she had said her verse. I simply nodded. “Yes, and it’s quite an urgent manner.” She nodded and allowed us inside. Twilight greeted her warmly, and Zecora reciprocated the tone.

Inside lay a huge cauldron in the center, above a fire pit. A greenish liquid boiled inside of it; probably one of Zecora’s many brews. Tiki masks and other ornaments adorned the house, reminding me of African huts from my universe. Several potions and elixirs were placed on shelves at the side of the room.

The zebra, since she was comfortable in our presence, dropped the rhyming tone. Her voice sounded ancient and wise, a sage among ponies. “What seems to be the problem, young Jared?”

I chuckled. “Not so young anymore, Zecora. I’m seventeen.”

“Seventeen! Ah! A most impressive age, where the young stallion begins to find his true path.” She didn’t seem upset at all, and for that I was grateful; I had had my share of grief, and I didn’t need to see anymore.

I proceeded to tell the zebra of how I got here, starting all the way back with the appearance of the portal. When I was finished, she placed her hoof on her chin, closing her eyes as she thought this over.

“I presume you came here when other options had been exhausted?” she asked.

I nodded. “I’ve gone over every book in Twilight’s library, looking for instances in which random portals have turned up. I’ve even looked at all the books in Celestia’s library.” I shook my head. “There’s nothing in them. Nothing regarding yellow portals, at least, or maniacal laughter, or forces stronger than forces between universes…” I sighed. “I want to investigate this matter thoroughly. Though I cannot determine if there is a threat…”

“It’s his duty as the Guardian to make sure that this doesn’t turn into something much worse,” finished Twilight.

Zecora nodded slowly. “Very well, my friend. What can I do, to help achieve your end?”

“Since I could not find anything that might have magically created the portal, that leaves me with two options: either something mystical could have created the portal, or something much worse.”

“I see. So you want to use some of my potions in hopes of recreating the portal?”

“Not just potions. Everything you have in store, whether that be chemicals, mysticism, anything.”

“...all right. I’ll gather my things.”

“Thank you, Zecora. It means a lot.”

She waved my gratitude away. “Nonsense. You’re the Guardian; it’s the least I can do.”

She turned and started rummaging through the shelves. A few moments later she returned with several flasks, powders, and a few artifacts. She signaled to follow her outside, and we did.

After several minutes of mixing, swirling, combining, breathing, utilizing, and much, much frustration, I finally came to a conclusion.

“Looks like I was wrong,” I muttered as the last of a yellow potion was used in a mixture with a green powder. We had used everything that we could have, and nothing had come out of it. Not even a slight vibration, nor an influx of dark energy, emerged.

I shook my head. “Well...that can’t be good.”

Zecora looked down. “I am sorry, Jared.”

I looked at her. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. You’ve helped a lot, actually.” I pointed to the fading gas from the previous mixture. “Now I can narrow down the search quite a lot.” I managed a smile. “At least I’ll be dealing with something I’m comfortable with.”

Zecora looked up. “And what is that?”

“The unknown.”

That got a smile out of her, and her calm demeanor returned. She invited us for a bit of lunch in her hut, which we politely accepted.

Afterwards, when the dishes were cleared and we were resting comfortably, I looked outside the window of the hut. The afternoon sun was setting, and the sky was turning a lighter shade of orange. I stood up and walked over to the window to get a better look.

Then I saw it.

It was barely visible to the naked eye, as it was so far away, but it was definitely there. A faint light, periodically flickering on and off, in the distance, standing in what appeared to be a large spire. It was a bright light, most likely meant for being seen over large distances.

“Twilight?” I asked. “Do you happen to know what’s at the edge of the Everfree Forest?”

Twilight looked up. “Er...just the Castle of the Two Sisters. Why?”

“Can you tell me a bit about the castle?”

“Um...well, it’s also called the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to live there, actually.”

“The Princesses?”

“Yes, they lived there a thousand years ago.” She gave me a questioning look. “Is something wrong?”

“Maybe,” I muttered. “If they’re gone...who’s that?”

She walked over to the window and looked at what I was looking at. She gasped. “How?”

“I’m not sure—” I started, but was then cut off by something very unexpected.

BOOM!

Twilight and I were thrown back by some sort of force, strong enough to be felt throughout the entire forest. As we fell, all the windows and glass vials shattered under the immense force. We clasped our hands to our heads, reeling in agony, as the force filled the hut and forest with what sounded like absolute hell.

Eventually it finally subsided, much to our relief.

“Ngh!” Twilight grunted, standing up. “What the heck was that?!”

I rushed over to the now shattered window, peering outside. I saw a faint streak rush by, but I couldn’t tell the color. It cut through the forest faster than the speed of sound, going towards the Castle.

“It’s heading for the light!” I shouted. I didn’t hesitate; I dove out of the window, and took off at the speed of sound for the Castle, ignoring Twilight and Zecora’s protestations to wait.

I cautiously entered the Castle, all my senses tingling with warning. I had never been here before, so I was sure to be vigilant to the end. It was clear that whatever had been light signaling from the top had been signaling whatever force that had blown by us and disrupted our tranquility.

As the doors shut behind me, inky blackness filled the building, the dimming sun totally cut off from the inside. I pulled a small flashlight out from under my jacket, and pressed it on. It cast a pale glow that somehow mirrored the castle’s atmosphere all too well.

I walked heel first so as to move silently, my eyes darting around, looking for the source of the boom. A few cobwebs reflected the flashlight, their silky connections complex and intricate. Arches hung overhead, supported by columns of various lengths and patterns. A few banners with the Sister Princesses, tattered and ripped, hung on the walls. They were dusty and covered to the brim with cobwebs as well.

I heard something. Quickly I turned off the flashlight and ducked around a large, dark column, blending in perfectly. Something moved past me, breathing heavily. It was murmuring something, but I didn’t understand what it was saying.

I didn’t move, didn’t so much as breathe, as the figure moved by. Once it was in the center of the entrance room, I craned my neck to take a look at it. It was covered in a dark hood that flowed down its body. It was large, almost as large as the Princesses. While the shroud covered most of its face, I could tell that its muzzle was a dark black. It picked up one of the banners, muttered something, and instantly the banner caught on fire. It burnt down to nothing but ash, and the figure seemed to nod contendly.

It can use magic, I realized. I still remained silent, watching out of the corner of my eye.

The figure suddenly stopped murmuring and turned to face my column. I quickly ducked my head back behind it. Had I been caught?

The figure spoke some words and all of a sudden I felt immense heat rocket towards me. It was a fireball, a large one, and it swirled around the column like a serpent, threatening to engulf me. I nearly gasped aloud when a spark touched me; it burned like hell, searing my skin. The fireball circled around, as if it were looking for something. The figure muttered some more, and the fireball suddenly charged at the column length.

I instinctively jumped and rolled to the side, revealing myself to the figure. It hissed and turned, waving an arm, controlling the fireball still. The figure ran towards a wall. I couldn’t go after it with the fireball still trying to burn me.

As the fireball roared towards me, I raised an arm and fired a small Chaos Beam at it, intending to disrupt its path. The Beam did its job, the fireball splitting in half, and I accelerated, running around it. As I sped up to the speed of sound, I began sucking the oxygen from the room, and the fireball began to diminish. I ran faster and faster until I reached my speed limit, and finally the ball diminished completely. I slowed, dragging my heels, trying to catch my breath. I heard the sound of something swinging, and I turned, hands up to catch a flying object…

Only to be met with silence.

I walked towards the wall I had seen the figure run to, trying to figure out where it went. I looked it up and down. It was solidly built out of grey stone, cemented together. It was covered with dust and cobwebs, much like the banners in the Castle.

I leaned the side of my head on it and tapped lightly. I heard the sound echo on the other side. It’s hollow, I realized. But how do I move it?

I looked at the the far right corner of the wall. It was faint, but something gleamed slightly. I pulled out my flashlight, turned it on, and pointed it at the corner. There was a rusty, golden, small hinge, worn with age.

Of course, I thought. A revolving stone door.

I stepped back slightly, then accelerated to just under Mach 1, ramming my body against the left side of the wall. It swung, creaking against the sudden force, shaking the entire foundation of the castle. I grunted as it reached its full turn, stumbling through the opening. I glanced up and saw the figure making its way up the stairs. It saw me, and sped up.

“Hey!” I shouted, getting to my feet and running to it. “Get back here!”

It didn’t respond, accelerating so fast up the stairs that it was gone in an instant. I summoned some Chaos energy and accelerated just as fast, going up the stairs like it was nothing.

We ran all the way to the top, not stopping for anything. There were a few broken sets of stairs that we had to leap over, and several traps leaped out at us, trying to cut off our heads. The figure jumped over them while I had to duck and roll to avoid the ones it missed.

It suddenly turned and threw something at me, and then darkness clouded my vision. Some sort of smoke, I realized. I slowed, then spun rapidly in place, generating wind to drive the smoke away. As the smoke dissipated, I slowed down, coming to a stop in a crouched position. I looked up, and saw the figure duck into a room at the top of the staircase, not giving me a second look, thinking I was still reeling from the smoke.

Knowing this, I silently made my way up the staircase, careful not to make any more noise. I cautiously approached the room, concealed in shadow.

There was someone else talking with the figure. This one I could understand.

“Where have you been?” the newcomer asked angrily, in a feminine voice. “I’ve been waiting all day!”

The figure murmured something back.

“What! You were busy frolicking?!”

The figure seemed to chuckle, then said something darkly.

“You’ve been followed? Why didn’t you stop him?!”

Then the figure pointed to where I was.

“He’s here?!” the female screeched. Something glowed white, and suddenly light engulfed the whole room, revealing my position.

I squinted in the harsh light. Though it was glaring, I could just make out their forms. The tall dark one was still there, and next to him was a smaller creature; a unicorn, judging how the light emanated from something on her head.

“Well, well, well,” the female said as she looked at me. “What have we here? A rat, a canary?”

“Actually, I’m human,” I responded snarkily.

The female narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, human, but I assure you that you’re in for a world of pain if you try anything.”

I didn’t say anything, one arm covering my eyes in the light. Behind my back I slipped a small shuriken-like object down my arm into my hand.

“Well?” the female sneered. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

In response, I whipped my arm around, throwing the shuriken-like object at them. It was in the shape of a bat. I had coated its wings with some powder that, when thrown at the right velocity, would explode. I dove to the side, landing in front of the windows overlooking the rest of the Forest.

“What the—” the female began, only to be engulfed in an explosion.

I calmly stood, and waited for the smoke to clear. My eyes widened in shock when it cleared.

A green shield covered the two, completely blocking the explosion. No one could have reacted that fast! I thought. The larger creature had a hoof out, and I saw a faint green emanating from its head. A unicorn?

The shield disappeared, and I stood in shock.

The large figure smirked, pointing the hoof at me. It finally spoke something I could understand.

“Now...you die,” it said in a masculine voice.

Fire roared from his horn and rocketed towards me. It was a much larger fireball than the one he had conjured back on the first floor, and much faster. I didn’t have time to dodge as it struck me square in the chest, burning my body. It shot me back, into the windows, shattering them. I was pushed through the air, arms and legs out in front of me.

The fireball died away, returning to its summoner, and suddenly I was falling. I looked up, and saw the masculine figure glaring at me, teeth bared. I thought I heard someone desperately call my name, but it didn’t matter. Everything went black.

Chapter Four: The Mystery Deepens

CHAPTER FOUR: THE MYSTERY DEEPENS

Well, this is familiar, I thought as I waited for Jared to wake up.

I was sitting next to Jared’s bed in the hospital room the next day, my arms crossed and seated in a comfortable position. Though technically I did not have to sit, since I was a spectral, I found it oddly comforting to assume the position.

This was the exact same room we were in two years ago after Amy’s beatdown. Not many things had changed from our last check-in. The same devices that had been used two years ago were on and beeping. A jug of water and several paper cups were on a nightstand next to the bed. A light fixture hung overhead, a slightly yellow light emanating from it.

Jared coughed, and I turned to look at him. He coughed again, and a mixture of spit, blood, and—a bit of flesh?—flew out of his mouth. I chuckled. “Nice one.”

Jared shuffled up the pillow, groaning. “Thanks, I try.” He rubbed his drowsiness off of him, peering at the mess of spit on his bed. “Ugh...is that a lung?”

I leaned over. “Certainly looks like it.”

He shook his head. “I guess we can add punctured lungs to the list of injuries.”

“Don’t forget third degree burns and branches in your back.”

He shrugged and levitated the liquid and flesh off the bed into the trash can, leaving only a light pink stain on the bed covers.

“Did you find anything?” he asked me.

“Depends on what you mean by anything,” I answered. “While you were resting, I was busy sifting through the memories in the Castle.” I shook my head. “Unfortunately, there’s not much there. Not that it’s your fault, though; those two were good at hiding their secrets.”

He threw off the covers and grabbed his signature brown leather jacket which was hanging on the side table and put it on. “What about their appearance?”

“The female, from what I gather, had a pink coat. She had a purple and greyish-blue mane as well. Judging from where the light emanated, we can also assume that she is a unicorn. And judging by how harsh the light was, she’s most likely a talented magic user.”

“What about the male?”

I rubbed my temples. “There’s next to nothing there. Dark fur, dark coat, dark muzzle. He wore a brown shroud, was very tall, and definitely an incredible magic user.”

Jared shook his head. “You’re right. Nothing all that useful there.” He got out of bed and walked around, stretching his legs. “By the way, how’d we get here?”

“Looks like we were carried here by Twilight and Zecora, after we blacked out.”

He managed a chuckle. “What is it with us and hospitals?”

I smiled. “They’re like our home away from home.”

There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” I called.

The doorknob turned, and the door swung open. A teal colored unicorn walked in. She had a pale-blue mane and tail, and amber eyes. A harp was on her flank, signaling her talent for music, I presumed. She closed the door after she had entered.

She gasped when she saw Jared standing, a crooked, welcoming smile on his lips. “May I help you?” he asked.

In answer she ran around him excitedly. “Oh my gosh a human!” she squealed.

Jared chuckled. “Lyra Heartstrings, I presume.”

“Yeah! How’d you guess?!”

“No other pony is this fascinated with humans like you are,” he answered, eyes twinkling.

She blushed in embarrassment. “Er, yeah! Um. I was just wondering if...you know...I could ask you some things!”

He shared a sidelong glance with me. “I...suppose I could talk.”

She nodded ecstatically. She started asking about everything remotely human. She asked about clothing, walking, grabbing, anatomy, language, culture, his kind’s history, and so forth. He answered all questions patiently and as clearly as he could, despite not knowing everything about humankind.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “You all evolved from basic primates?”

“So the theory goes,” he answered, “though it hasn’t completely been confirmed.”

“Wow…” she murmured, staring starry-eyed at him.

The door turned and an earth pony entered wearing a nurse’s uniform. When she saw Lyra, she frowned. “Hey! No visitors to the VIP room unless you have an appointment!”

Lyra yelped and ran straight out the room, though not before thanking Jared again. The nurse sighed, and turned to Jared. “How are you feeling, Mr. Jared?”

“Fine, thanks,” he answered. “VIP room, huh? Didn’t know I warranted special treatment.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, well, neither did I.” He smirked. “Anyway, I’m here to check up on you. Raise your shirt.”

He sighed and did so, and the nurse’s eyes widened when she looked. A huge burn mark was left on his chest, in a Y-shape. The charred flesh was sickening to look at, though Jared didn’t seem to mind.

Then again, I thought, we’ve had much worse. I looked to his side, where an ancient scar was still visible.

“Good Celestia,” she murmured, and he put his short down. “I’ve seen my share of burns, but this…”

He shrugged. “It’ll vanish one day. No need to worry.” He grinned reassuringly.

“Alright. If you need anything, just call.” She walked out.

A few moments later, we heard the sound of hooves marching up to the door. Two Royal Guards entered, wearing their signature gold armor with blue plumes.

“Nix and Jared?” one of them addressed. “We are here to escort you to Canterlot to Princess Celestia.”

Jared and I shared a look. “News travels fast, doesn’t it?” he said with a small smile. He turned to the guards and nodded. “Alright. Let’s go.”

The Mane Six as well as Sonic and his friends had already gathered in the throne room.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Twilight exclaimed when we entered the Royal Sister’s residence. She threw her hoof around Jared in a hug, which Jared calmly returned.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” Fluttershy asked. “Ooh, if I ever find out who did this to you…”

Sonic chuckled. “I’m sure Jared’s fine, Fluttershy.” He looked at Jared. “I mean, besides the burns and cuts, of course…”

Shadow shook his head. “It seems burns and cuts are naturally attracted to Jared…”

I smiled a bit. “Eh, what can we say? Danger loves us.”

Jared and I walked up to the throne where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were seated. We bowed respectfully, then stood.

“Please, Jared, tell us what happened,” asked Princess Celestia. Luna nodded her agreement.

Jared began his tale, with me filling in several details in between. The Princesses’ eyes narrowed as he talked. Our friends stood by, listening intently to the story. When he had finished, the Princesses shared a look with Twilight.

“What did this female unicorn look like?” asked Princess Celestia.

I scrunched my brow. “She had a pink coat and a greyish-blue mane. She also had blue eyes.”

“And her voice? What did it sound like?”

Jared answered, “Very demanding. She had a callous and ill-tempered persona around her, I believe.” He looked at the Princesses questioning. “Why? Does that match the psyche profile of somepony?”

“Maybe,” Celestia answered. “I think Twilight knows what we’re thinking.”

“Twilight?” Jared prompted. All eyes turned to the Princess of Friendship.

“It...sounds like you met Starlight Glimmer,” she said.

“Who?”

“A while back, the girls and I had followed the mark on the map to this village in the middle of nowhere. The village was a rather odd one—”

“Yeah!” Pinkie interjected. “They smiled funnily!”

“It wasn’t just the smiles. It was the way everyone acted. They were exceptionally friendly, and kept welcoming us repeatedly.”

“And how does Starlight Glimmer fit into all this?” I asked.

“She was the founder and leader of the town, apparently.”

“What else made the town odd?”

“Well, the most notable things were the Cutie Marks. You see, a Cutie Mark usually depicts a pony’s natural talent. In this town, however, each pony had the same one: a grey equal sign. Starlight Glimmer had a philosophy in the town that ‘true friendship’ comes from being equal in every way.”

“How were the Cutie Marks made into equal signs?”

“According to the townsfolk, Starlight Glimmer used a magical artifact called the ‘Staff of Sameness’ to remove them.”

“Is there such an artifact?”

“No; it was all a sham. She was using magic to remove their Cutie Marks.”

Jared’s eyes narrowed. Twilight continued: “She showed us where she kept all the Cutie Marks, outside the village in a vault, and she used her magic to steal our Cutie Marks. We managed to expose her as a fraud, thanks to Fluttershy, and she tried to escape with the marks. The townsfolk helped us get our Cutie Marks back, but Starlight used her magic to escape.”

“I see,” Jared said, pacing around the room. “The way you described this Glimmer character certainly seems to coincide with how this female unicorn acted.”

“So was she a Communist?” Tails asked. The ponies looked at him in confusion. “Oh, it’s a political movement in Jared’s and our universe.”

Jared shook his head. “Communism is the socioeconomic system that is built upon the idea of common ownership among the means of production. It’s characterized by the absence of social classes, money, and the state. It’s basically the working middle class being equal to all other classes, and then removing the class system. The workman is equal to the poor and also to the aristocrats.” He looked at Tails. “While the ideals are similar, in that everyone is equal, Starlight Glimmer and her town were not following Communism. It seems more likely that they were a cult of sorts. Cult of Equal Cutie Marks, so it seems.”

Sonic turned to the Princesses. “Should we be worried?”

Luna frowned. “It’s uncertain. Since Glimmer was apparently powerful enough to magically remove a pony’s Cutie Mark, we should be on guard.” She looked at me. “I’m more concerned of this dark creature you spoke of.”

“We’re assuming he was a unicorn,” I replied, “given his magical ability. However, based on how fast he had thrown up that shield, he’s either an incredibly powerful normal unicorn, or a minor alicorn, though I didn’t see any wings.”

Celestia nodded. “In any case, we’re glad you’re well, Nix and Jared.” We nodded our thanks, bowed, and turned to leave.

As Jared and Nix left, Sonic walked over to Twilight and watched them go. The doors closed shut as the Guardian moved on to other things.

“I can’t get over it,” Twilight said to Sonic. “I mean, he’s changed so much in two years!”

Sonic nodded. “Two years ago, he would have been anxious to get to whoever hurt him. Now, though, he seems content with waiting for more information.” He looked at Twilight. “They’ve matured quite a lot, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” the alicorn answered, smiling. “It’s a pleasure to see him again, even if he’s different.”

“Different, but definitely better off,” Sonic said with a sly wink. He and Twilight walked away.

Tails stood next to Shadow and noticed that the black hedgehog was in deep thought. “What’s up, Shadow?”

The Ultimate Life Form looked up and at the two-tailed fox. “It’s...incredible.”

“What is?”

“That Jared and Nix have changed so much. Jared used to be more into the action than Nix; but now it seems he’s switched gears.”

Tails nodded. “He certainly is thinking things through more. And Nix is taking more action rather than staying inside of Jared all the time.”

“What do you think made them change so drastically?”

“I’d guess that it has to deal with his coming to terms with himself. Did you hear about his last meeting with the Mane Six, when we weren’t here?”

“Oh, yes, when they went to the human opposite of Equestria.” Shadow shook his head. “From what Fluttershy told me, Jared had a lot to deal with there.”

“Yeah. According to Twilight, Jared had matured there more than he had anywhere else.” Tails let out a breath. “Apparently something there had broken his barriers, and he emerged emotionally stronger than ever.” He smiled. “He never was one of the strongest emotional people, was he?”

Shadow chuckled. “I can relate.”

The rest of the group gradually left, leaving Princess Celestia alone with her sister.

“Sister,” Luna began, “what are you going to do?”

In response, Celestia summoned the captain of the guard, Shining Armor. “Yes, Your Highnesses?” he said.

“I want the Royal Guard on the look out for these characters,” Celestia commanded. She described the two who had attacked Jared. Shining Armor nodded, turned, and left to resume his duties.

“I hope this doesn’t turn out any worse, Luna,” Celestia said quietly once they were alone again.

Luna nodded. “As do I sister.” She sighed. “Looks like we’ll have to put off figuring out how Jared got here for this.”

"Indeed."

Chapter Five: Remembering Elsewhere

CHAPTER FIVE: REMEMBERING ELSEWHERE

The fiery red-and-yellow haired girl gazed at the picture on her desk. It was taken a little over a year ago, back when an old friend and a new one had emerged from a portal connecting worlds. She smiled as she found herself remembering that time.

She stood up and slung her backpack over her shoulder, giving the picture one last glance. Had it really been that long? Over a year later, and she still found herself reminiscing about it.

“Sunset?” A pink-haired girl stuck her head into the room. “Oh, there you are!” She walked in. “What are you doing?”

Sunset Shimmer shook her head. “Nothing much, Pinkie; just reminiscing.”

“Reminiscing about what?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Sunset pointed to the picture on her desk. Pinkie walked over and looked at it, and a smile emerged from her. “I don’t blame you! Those were fun times!”

Sunset nodded, also smiling. “Do you think we’ll ever see them again?”

“Well, Twilight, maybe,” Pinkie said, but then her face fell. “But, as for Jared...I don’t know.”

Sunset’s smile vanished, but she nodded. “Yeah. He did say it was unlikely…”

Pinkie shrugged. “Oh well. What can you do? He’s probably busy anyway, doing some Guardian stuff.” She walked out, leaving Sunset with her thoughts.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said, still a bit sad. She shook herself; she understood that Jared had responsibilities to bear, so she shouldn’t feel so neglected.

Then again, it had been a while since she had last heard from him. So maybe her feelings of neglect could be justified.

Indeed, it had been a while since anyone had heard from the Guardian. Twilight hadn’t mentioned anything to her about Jared returning, so it could be assumed that he hadn’t contacted the princess either.

Sunset let out a sigh. She really did miss him, even after knowing he couldn’t feel the same way about her as she did about him…

What can you do? she thought. It’s the way it is, I guess.

“Sunset? Are you comin’ or whut?” a Southern accented girl called.

“Coming, Applejack!” Sunset said. After a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed the picture off of her desk and slid it into her backpack. She quickly exited her room and traveled downstairs where the rest of her friends were waiting.

“What took you so long?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Just...thinking about old friends,” Sunset replied.

Fluttershy and Applejack nodded understandingly. Rarity placed a reassuring hand on Sunset’s arm. “We’ll see them again someday,” she said, smiling.

“Maybe,” Sunset replied, returning the smile. “But for now, let’s just focus on getting to school.”

After the events with the sirens from Equestria, Sunset’s reputation around Canterlot High had drastically changed. Soon after the battle her acceptance skyrocketed, and soon she found herself in an even larger group of friends that she had never thought would have been possible.

What was it that Jared had said? she thought as she and the girls entered the lunch room much later. “Don’t let your past define your present, my dear Sunset Shimmer.”

She smiled. That philosophy helped her overcome her discomforts and disillusionments, even after Twilight and Jared had gone. Even across universes, he continues to help others out.

She sat down with her friends and they started talking about their day so far. Pinkie made a reference to Twilight and Jared in one of her stories which inadvertently changed the topic to their last meeting.

“Do you girls remember the first time we saw Jared?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course!” Applejack laughed. “I gotta say, I was mighty confused about him. I thought he and Twilight had a thing!”

“It was most impressive when he deduced all that about us and the principals!” added Rarity. “I had no idea any one person could figure so much out in minutes of meeting someone!”

“Well, he did say he trained under Sherlock Holmes for a bit,” said Sunset, smiling as she remembered.

“Oh! Oh! The milk carton! Remember the milk carton?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Do Ah ever! That was amazing how he deflected that!” Applejack replied enthusiastically.

“That Truth or Dare game was pretty memorable,” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow laughed. “Oh, man, Twilight’s face was hilarious!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “It was also funny how he made you confess your crush that you can’t remember.”

Rainbow made an odd face. “Yeah, that was kind of awkward.”

“How about the way he revealed who he was?” Rarity continued. “That was amazing!”

“Well, of course!” Rainbow snorted. “Who else raises a wine bottle in the air, opens a portal to another universe, and runs around at Mach 3?”

“With you being dragged behind, remember?” Sunset added.

The topic fast forwarded to after the sleepover:

“He had the voice of an angel,” Rarity said dreamily. “So soothing and gentle when he sang at the piano.”

“His reaction to seeing us, though, was priceless!” Rainbow said.

“Ah swear his head might’ve popped off from sheer embarrassment!” said Applejack.

They all shared a laugh, and gradually the conversation became a walk down memory lane for them. A new memory appeared before them with each word uttered, and it filled their hearts with a feeling of happiness.

For the moment, Sunset forgot about the lingering depression that befell her as she took a trip down happier times. A ray of sunlight emanated in her heart as she remembered.

Chapter Six: Quandary

CHAPTER SIX: QUANDARY

So far, no news had come up regarding the whereabouts about the individuals who had attacked me. While many assumed that Starlight Glimmer was behind it, I still refrained from making any rash conclusions. As for the other individual, nothing from any of our combined investigations came up.

I looked out the window of the dormitory that I had taken up residence. It was the same dormitory that I had rested in two years ago when I first arrived in this universe. Not much had changed from when I was last in, as per the Princesses request.

Not that it had much in it before I arrived.

A few books for reference were cluttered on the floor and bookshelf, a few opened up to the pages I had read for researching the individuals in question. A bed lay in the middle of the room, covers folded nicely. The floor was composed of a shiny maple wood, each plank laid perfectly symmetrical to each other. From the light coming from the window, I could see dust particles fluttering down from the ceiling onto the curtains and floor.

I sighed as I looked out the window onto Ponyville, watching the townsfolk go about their daily routine. A feeling of calmness swept over me as I watched them work. My universe may be significantly more advanced than this one, but it lacks in one aspect: a sense of tranquility.

My eyes drifted over the town and then onto the Everfree Forest. Its dense growth of trees covered the entire landscape, a shroud of mystery and intrigue that piqued many a pony’s interest. Compared to the sleepy calmness of Ponyville, it was a stark contrast, filled with apprehension and slight fear.

A harmonious relationship of sorts, I supposed. Each needs the other to thrive in some way. Just as Chaos needs Order, and Order needs Chaos.

I stared silently at the land, taking in all its features, thoughts drifting through my mind on a wind of epiphany. I found myself grasping my violin as my eyes glazed over, a pensive look appearing on my face. Unconsciously I began to play on the instrument, a melodic tune escaping the strings. It wasn’t any particular song, more of a series of notes that compelled me to think. The bow acted as my thoughts’ movements, speeding up or slowing down depending on the rapidity of each thought or the intensity of each idea. My body naturally moved to the song, swaying left and right and all around the room, legs dancing slowly and surely to the beat. My eyes closed as I thought and played in harmony, my brow furrowed in concentration, thoughts swirling around me, a torrent of ideas that I revelled in. The music sped up, all the way through, then gradually slowed. The pace fell, the end of a tune, until one final, long, drawn-out note remained hanging above the silent abyss. I held it for as long as I could, until I had to let go. When I did, the music faded away into the abyss, leaving behind a nostalgic feeling in my heart.

I heard clapping behind me, but did not start in surprise. I smiled. “Discord,” I called, turning around to face the draconequus. “I take it you enjoyed my playing?”

“Indeed,” the Element of Disharmony said. His serpentine body mixed with the head of a horse, a right deer antler, a left blue goat horn, one long fang, two distinctly differing in size pupils, a snake tongue, a goat beard, white bushy eyebrows, the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, the left leg of a goat, a bat’s right wing, a pegasus’s left wing, a horse’s mane, and a dragon-like snake’s tail with a white tail tuft demonstrated his unusual anatomy. As such, he was technically a chimera, a creature composed of the body parts of different animals. As he spoke, a deep, rich voice that was disarmingly charming came out. “I must say, I am impressed by your playing.”

“Thanks. I try.”

“Really? No retort, no sarcastic comment?” He laughed. “Has the Guardian truly changed that much in two years?”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re one to talk. Look at you. You were this universe’s Spirit of Chaos, and now you’re one of its greatest protectors.” I smiled. “In two years, you’ve changed quite a lot, haven’t you?”

Discord snorted. “That’s nothing. I’m only protecting what is mine.”

“You mean, what you care for.”

“Well, of course I do! If I didn’t, then it wouldn’t be mine, would it?”

I chuckled, leaning back against a wall, violin drooped at my side. “So what brings you to my humble abode, oh master of Disharmony?”

“Psh. Mocking me, are you?” He casually raised a clawed hand and used a bit of his energy to bend reality. The books at my feet suddenly melted, and the wall turned to rubber.

I sighed. “Please don’t do that.” I raised my own hand, and my eyes glowed briefly white. A second later, there was a flash of light, and reality returned to normal.

Discord gave a dejected sigh. “I keep forgetting that your power rivals mine.”

“Nonsense. I’m just better at wielding Chaos than you are.”

“How ironic.”

There was a knock on the door. Discord teleported over to it and opened it with a swing of his hand. With another careless swing, he flung the knockers inside. I managed to catch them with my telekinesis and slowly lowered them to the ground. “Discord!” I scolded. “That is no way to treat guests!” I looked at the guests and smiled. “Especially when those guests are your friends.”

Discord mocked a gasp. “Oh my, how could I have been so careless?” He leaned in. “I am so sorry, Fluttershy, will you ever forgive me?”

The yellow pony was about to answer her friend, when Pinkie spoke up. “Oh! Look! A dragon!”

Discord looked offended. “Pinkie Pie, dear, you know I am not a dragon. I am a draconequus.”

“Dragon, draconequus, what’s the difference?” she responded cheerfully. Discord sighed exasperatedly, raising a claw.

“Er, anyway,” I interrupted, before Discord warped reality in annoyance, “what are you doing here, girls?”

“Twilight says you might be interested in something,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Really? Do tell, I’d love to hear what that Princess has to say,” Discord said.

“She said that she wants Jared to come along with her to that town that Starlight Glimmer used to be leading. It might help gather some leads on where she is.”

“Twilight also gets a chance to check up on the town!” Pinkie exclaimed.

I nodded. “Sounds good to me. Who’s going?”

“Well...Princess Celestia wants most of us to remain behind, and most of us are busy anyway...so it’ll be you, Twilight, and Shadow…”

“Alright. What time should I meet them?”

“Now would be good!” Pinkie said, smiling cheerfully. “They’re already on the train. Shadow said you’d meet them there anyway.”

I shook my head. “It’s probably too late to get a ticket anyway. I’ll just run there.”

Fluttershy gave me a confused look. “Run? I thought you couldn’t run all that fast, Jared.”

I grinned. “With a bit of Chaos Control, I can run at the speed of sound. Should be fast enough.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded, while Discord looked bored. “Oh, dear, I was actually thinking of having some actual fun with you, Jared.”

I gave him a sly wink. “I’m sure you’ll manage.” I gave them a two finger salute, then, after summoning some Chaos energy, I sped off at the speed of sound.

“I told you he’d make it,” Shadow quietly murmured as he and Twilight rode the train to the mysterious town.

Twilight gave him an awed look. “Yeah, I never doubted you...but he’s actually keeping up with this vehicle!”

Shadow shook his head and grinned. It was a nice grin, one that was distinctly different than the dark one he would have given a while back, before he entered Equestria. “He’s capable of the impossible, remember?”

“Of course; how could I forget?”

Meanwhile, I was calmly running by the train, boosting occasionally to keep the pace. While I was by no means as fast as either Sonic, Shadow, Rainbow, or Nix, I could certainly hold my own in a simple race; before being completely outclassed, of course. The train reminded me of the board game Candyland, with its coaches in the shape of sweets. Twilight and Shadow resided in the first coach behind the engine, which was in the shape of a brown and pink cupcake. The coaches behind were more of a cake shape. The locomotive was similar in design to the common steam locomotive, tubular at the face and a square box for where the engineers would ride. It was pink and purple, the windows in the shape of hearts. The face also had a small heart on it. The cowcatcher—an inclined platform placed in front of the train to ram animals off of the tracks— was a dolphin-grey, with two rows of hearts embossed upon it. Pinkie must really like this train, I reflected as I ran.

“Er, sir?” one of the pony engineers called. “Are you sure you don’t want to hitch a ride?”

I gave him a thumbs up. “I’m fine, really. In fact—” there was a competitive gleam in my eye; “—I’ll make it there before you can!”

I grabbed extra energy and boosted to just under Mach 2, accelerating so quickly ahead of the train that it soon turned into a miniscule speck in the distance.

A short time later, I arrived at the end of the railroad. I slowed by dragging my heels and took a second to look at my shoes. They were dirty from all the running, but thankfully didn’t fall apart. A few minutes passed, and then the train arrived. It applied its brakes, gently coming to a stop at the bump. Twilight and Shadow got off. The engineers gave them a nod, gave me an odd look, then reversed the train and headed back to Ponyville.

“You got faster,” Shadow said as we watched it go.

I smirked. “You got more social.”

He chuckled. We began walking to the town.

“Does this town have a name?” asked Shadow as we neared the outskirts of the town.

Twilight shook her head. “The first time we came here, it didn’t bother giving itself a name.”

“How odd,” the black hedgehog commented.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I said suddenly, pointing at the town’s residents. Their gaze turned to where I was pointing.

The ponyfolk acted similarly to how Ponyville’s residents acted, but it was their faces that threw me off. They were all smiling a wide smile, stretching from ear to ear. They seemed unnatural, foreign, and fake to the eye.

“Ugh!” I groaned. “Reminds me of the Joker’s grin. Creepy.”

Twilight shook her head. “Somehow, the influence of Starlight Glimmer still remains in those smiles.”

Shadow nodded. “Thank goodness you managed to liberate them somewhat.”

I nodded my agreement, and together we walked towards the creepy town.

The first pony we met gave us a creepy smile. “Welcome!” he said, the wide smile still plastered on her lips.

“Er...thanks, I guess,” I replied, unnerved.

Shadow ignored their welcoming.

Twilight, on the other hand, got the most attention from the ponies. Many of them remembered her from when she and the Mane Six arrived in their town. Several came up to her and thanked her continuously. Twilight, though grateful, was slightly embarrassed.

“Princess Twilight!’ somepony called. I looked up and saw a pink unicorn run up and give Twilight a big hug. Behind her trailed a dark blue pegasus with a white mane and a light blue unicorn.

I didn’t recognize them, but Twilight did. “Sugar Belle!” she exclaimed as she hugged the pink pony back. “And Night Glider and Party Favor!”

Sugar Belle nodded happily. I noticed her cutie mark. It was a purple and teal cupcake with a red cherry on top. Probably a baker, I thought. I looked at the others. Night Glider had a crescent moon with two silver feathers around it; for what I was unsure of. Party Favor had a pink balloon toy for his, which most likely referred to an ability with balloons.

What an odd group of ponies, I thought.

“How are things with the town, guys?” Twilight asked.

“It’s going great!” answered Night Glider. She flew up and around excitedly before landing back in front of the alicorn. “We’ve managed to get everypony his or her Cutie Mark back.”

“Who are your friends?” Party Favor asked.

“This is Shadow the Hedgehog. You may have heard of him?” Twilight pointed at the black hedgehog, who managed a small smile.

“Oh, him. One of the saviors, right?” Party Favor nodded, then turned to me. “Who’s he?”

Shadow smirked. “Do you want the full title, or…”

Sugar Belle gasped. “He has a title?”

I bowed politely. “Jared Berberabe. The Ghost, the Spirit, the Runner. Embodiment of Hope, Controller of Chaos. Green Lantern. Wielder of the Tetraforce. Avenger and Justice Leaguer. Detective, Writer, Philosopher, Theoretical Physicist, Marksman. Guardian of the Omniverse.”

They gasped. “The actual Guardian?” Sugar Belle gasped. The entire town heard this, turned to face us, and bowed.

I stood and rubbed the back of my head, a cheeky smile on my face. “Uh, I know I’m famous and all that...but I’m not royalty.”

They all stood, embarrassed, but I assured them that there was nothing to be embarrassed about with a smile.

“So, Twilight!” Sugar Belle began. “What brings you here?”

A serious look came across Twilight’s features. “We’re...investigating Starlight Glimmer.”

“Really? What for?”

I answered, “We suspect that she was one of the two individuals who had attacked me in the Castle of the Two Sisters.”

“She attacked you?”

“We suspect. It’s not a given yet; we just want to find out more about this character.”

“I see. Well, we’ll all be happy to help if we can,” said Party Favor.

I began my questioning, asking everything the town knew about Starlight Glimmer. Not much was known of the pegasus’s past. She somehow acquired the funds to create this town from something, though from what was also unknown. The ponies had come here out of their own free will, thanks in part by the propaganda Starlight had been spewing. The promises of friendship and equality proved extremely tempting.

As evidenced by how the ritual of removing their Cutie Marks was described, Starlight was not an ordinary unicorn. If she could easily remove a pony’s Mark, there was no telling what else she could do. Magically, she may not have been as powerful as an alicorn, but she was definitely not to be trifled with.

I shook my head as I finished my last questioning. Not much had come out of it that a bit of logical reasoning could conclude. I turned to Twilight and Shadow. “We don’t have much that we don’t already know,” I told them. They nodded dejectedly.

Sugar Belle looked down. “I’m sorry, Jared. We weren’t exactly so aware of Starlight’s origins.”

I waved off her depression. “It’s no one’s fault but Glimmer’s. She’s just good at hiding her past.”

My eyes wandered around the town absentmindedly, while inwardly I was ruminating. Gradually my eyes moved up to a house at the edge of the town, just outside the equal sign structure. It piqued my interest in that it was oddly placed. “What is that?” I asked, pointing.

Sugar Belle’s eyes followed my finger. “That? That was where Starlight Glimmer used to reside.”

I turned and started walking towards it. Night Glider protested, “Er, Jared? I wouldn’t bother.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“That door’s been bolted shut for a time, and the windows are covered.”

I smirked. “That seems to warrant a search to me.” Without another word, I resumed walking.

I reached the door a few moments later. I tried the knob. True to Glider’s word, it was locked shut, and no amount of wiggling would loosen it. I glanced around the sides and saw that the windows were indeed curtained. Odd, I thought, looking at the door. Why is this locked?

I pushed, and found that it would not budge. At this point, the others caught up to me.

“Huh?” Twilight asked. “That’s odd; the door wasn’t locked the last time we were here.”

“In fact,” Party Favor continued, “nopony has entered this house in such a while!”

I nodded. “Which means something had to have come in recently to have locked it. Shadow?”

I gestured to the door and stepped back. Shadow nodded and walked up to it.

“Chaos...Blast!”

It was small, but strong enough, shattering the wood into tiny specks. The metal bar that had blocked the door fell to the ground with a clank. As the smoke cleared, we walked inside, with me wafting an arm around to remove the smoke.

Inside was a mess. Stacks of paper were all around, on the ground and desk. A few bottles filled with unknown fluids were on a shelf that rocked with the Chaos Blast. A few banners lay at the back, and an old, mahogany bookshelf, still filled with volumes. In the back was a bedroom.

While these were of varying interests, they weren’t what caught my eye.

It was what the room lacked.

“Do you guys see it?” I asked them.

Twilight gave me a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

I waved an arm around. “There isn’t a shred of dust in here! Do you realize what this means?”

Shadow’s eyes widened. “Someone’s been here recently.”

I looked down and closed my eyes, concentrating all my focus on my sense of hearing, listening for the distinct and distant sound of hooves stomping.

I heard it downstairs.

My eyes shot open. “Whoever they are, they’re still here!”

I raced forward towards the bedroom and threw the bed away, revealing a trap door. I threw it open and dove down the steps. The hooves grew distant until they were no longer within my range of hearing, yet I knew that I had to keep up with them. I heard Shadow and Twilight, as well as the three other ponies, follow after me.

The trapdoor led through a tunnel which I rapidly cleared. There was an opening that led to the outside, on the outskirts of the town. I looked down and saw hoof marks in the dirt, leading up the mountains at the south.

“There!” I exclaimed, speeding off at the speed of sound towards the mountain pass. Shadow followed at the same speed.

Whoever it was that had been in the house, it was obvious they were trying to vanish into the mountains. Unfortunately, they had too much of a head start, and the mountains zig-zagged all around, obstructing the view at certain levels. To cut time short, I made a sharp turn at a side and leapt forward, straightening out my body to cut through the air. I landed on the other side of the precipice, snow flying around me. I didn’t wait for Shadow to follow, getting to my feet and speeding around the mountain.

Eventually I reached the entrance to the mountain’s caves. I slowed to a grinding halt and took in the entrance. Based on the hoof marks, the pony was most definitely in there somewhere. Snow covered the top of the mountain and blanketed around, coating the rock surface with a layer of coldness. Shadow suddenly appeared by my side with a teleport. Twilight and the others shortly arrived and also took in the mountain.

“Well?” Shadow said. “What are we waiting for?”

I nodded, and we entered the caves.

Chapter Seven: The Mountain Roars

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE MOUNTAIN ROARS

The inside of the caves were glistening with crystals, reflecting our features. A few pockets of snow lay here and there. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, their sharp icicle structures pointy and menacing.

I was quiet as we walked through the caves. As we went deeper, it got darker, so I brought out my flashlight and clicked it on. The light reflected brilliantly off the crystal walls, though not enough to completely blind us.

Twilight groaned. “Whoever this pony is, they’re most likely gone already.”

I nodded. “So it seems. I can’t hear them anymore. Still, it might be good to snoop around a bit.”

I led the way, flashlight in hand, Shadow and Twilight behind me, glancing around at the cave and its tunnels. At some point we reached a crossroads. Three tunnels stood before us, all of them dark and mysterious.

“Damn,” Shadow muttered.

I looked down, peering for tracks, and found a faint set. It led down the middle tunnel. I shone the flashlight down the darkness, and suddenly red eyes stared back. A lot of red eyes.

Hundreds of bats suddenly flew out, and I instinctively fell back with Shadow and Twilight. We covered our faces protectively as the mammals flew by us in large droves, screeching. After a few moments, they all had left the tunnel and had travelled outside.

I shakily stood with Twilight and Shadow. We had looks of apprehension on our faces.

“I guess...middle it is,” Twilight said.

We walked through the middle tunnel, careful not to spook any other residents of the cave. We found no other life forms in there, however, and I found myself slightly nervous. While I was not familiar with the cave creatures of Equestria, there normally would be some.

I looked down and shone my light at a slight angle, looking at the rocks and pebbles beneath our feet. Suddenly I stopped. The light reflected something small and thin. I quickly identified it as some sort of wire. The others didn’t notice it, and Shadow was about to step on it.

I shot my hand out and pulled them back. “Hold it,” I said gruffly, pointing my light around. They didn’t protest, looking at me with confusion in their eyes. I gleaned the light at the sides, and found that the wire was part of an intricate chain of wires that rose to the ceiling. They appeared to be knotted to something. I picked up a small pebble and motioned everyone to stand back. I then tossed the pebble lightly onto the wire. There was a pause as silence echoed around us.

I waited.

Then there was the sound of something falling up ahead. I pointed my flashlight forward. A humongous boulder hurtled towards us down the incline, rolling and crushing the floor beneath it.

As it grew closer, I drew Chaos energy around me and focused it into my right fist. I winded my arm back. Just when the boulder was about to hit, I sprung forward, right fist outstretched, knuckles connecting with the hard surface. There was an explosion of light as I blasted out a Chaos Fist, shattering the boulder like it was nothing. It turned to nothing more than rubble, crumbling around me.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Evidently, something’s been busy setting up traps for us.”

Shadow nodded. “There might be more, so we’d better be careful.”

We advanced at a more slower pace, my flashlight acting as a sentry of sorts that would warn us of an potential danger. There were a few more traps, designed to either crush or trap us; luckily, we managed to avoid them just as we did before.

We reached what appeared to be an entrance to a larger cavern. It was completely barren and seemingly devoid of anything remotely remarkable. For some reason, I felt unease from this.

I checked for any traps that might have been visible. I shined my light around the entrance, keen eyes looking for anything. Oddly enough, I found no sign of any sort of rig, which only increased my apprehension.

“Wait here,” I told the others, walking ahead. They didn’t answer, silently watching me.

I physically checked around the entrance, looking under every nook and cranny, every crack, every small fissure, every miniscule detail; and found absolutely nothing. I stood back and scratched the back of my head, confused.

Unsure of what else to do, I walked forward so that I was in the actual entrance.

Then:

SCHOOM!

I started and instinctively dove forward, thinking something was trying to kill me. When I recovered and turned, I let out a brief curse.

A thick, transparent wall of crystal had suddenly fallen between Shadow and Twilight and me. I saw their reflections, their faces in shock, but I couldn’t hear them. The wall must have been thick enough to block sound. They tried to speak to me, but I shook my head, signaling that I couldn’t hear them.

Well, so much for curiosity, I said to them mentally.

Stay put, Jared. I’ll get you out, Shadow replied. He summoned a Chaos Blast and, after motioning for Twilight and me to back off, he blasted the wall with the energy.

Nothing happened; not a single scratch, dent, or change in structure occurred. The wall remained, daunting, and we stared at it in shock.

...damn, I heard Shadow mutter.

Jared! Twilight mentally exclaimed. What should we do?

Just stay there, I answered. I’ll go on ahead, and see if there’s another way out. I’ll maintain mental contact for as long as I can.

She hesitated, but nodded anyway and, although Shadow didn’t want to, made to walk away from the wall.

I breathed slowly, then slowly backed off and turned, running from the wall.

Careful, Jared, Nix cautioned as I reached the end of the tunnel. We don’t know what lies ahead.

I nodded wordlessly, pushing on ahead. I must have been quite some distance from where the wall had come down. The walls were turning into a silt-grey color, and the texture reflected the mineral.The end of the tunnel seemed to glow a faint, fluorescent blue, and my eyes began to adjust to this new source of light. I turned off my flashlight and cautiously approached the light.

I smelt something, something faint. I closed my eyes and paused, letting the scent waft through the air. It smelled metallic and fresh, coppery almost. I opened my eyes and pointed the flashlight down, and nearly gasped at what I saw.

There, on the floor leading to the cavern with the light, was a puddle of red.

Oh, dear God, I muttered.

What? Twilight asked. What is it?

Blood.

I ventured forward, this time more quickly, and soon found myself in the cavern.

It was glowing a bright blue from what appeared to be some sort of blue lava lamp sitting in the corner. A few arches rose up, supporting the ceiling. It looked like a little dwelling, a place where one could hide for a few days. There was a table at the back, next to the lamp.

The bloodstain stretched in a direction, moving behind one of the arches. Its coppery smell filled my nostrils, and I felt myself go slightly nauseous.

I walked behind the arch and my eyes widened.

Jesus...Nix cursed.

A small creature with black skin and transparent wings was laying in front of me. Its pupil-less, blue eyes were dimmed greatly. A black horn, covered in blood, stood out from its head. A pair of fangs, stained yellow, pointed out of its mouth. It was a quadruped, similar in structure as a horse. There were holes in its tail and hooves.

When I approached, it turned its head to look at me but did nothing to stop me. I knelt down and placed a hand in front of it. It breathed slowly, ragged breath escaping its black lips. It was alive, though barely. Blood seeped out of its arms and chest area, coating the floor with metallic scent. I ignored the liquid now spreading across my jeans, only concerned with who this creature was.

“Who are you?” I asked.

No answer.

“Do you have a name?”

No answer.

“What are you doing here?”

No answer.

I checked its pulse. It was slow and faint, much like its breathing. Judging from the wounds, something had attacked it. I inspected one of the hooves. It was broken, meaning that something strong had hit the creature. Based on the way the hoof cracked, it might have been a large rock, either from one of the traps or something else.

“Are you the one I was following?” I asked.

It finally responded with a shake of its head.

“What attacked you?”

It tried to say something, but only managed a gurgle as blood seeped into its throat. It coughed the liquid onto me, but I didn’t bother wiping it away.

“...alright. Don’t move. I’m going to take a look around.”

I thought it nodded, so I stood and walked back around to investigate the room further.

Next to the lava lamp was some sort of table, carved out of a wall. It was obsidian black, its grooves and markings ancient and well-worn. On it lay a small box with an antennae sticking out of it. A radio? I thought, walking over. I played with the dials on the radio, but it wouldn’t turn on. I checked the underside. It didn’t have a compartment for batteries. It must run off of an alternate energy source. I’ll get Tails to check this out. I placed the small radio inside my jacket for safekeeping.

I bent down and inspected under the table. Several crates with unknown markings were there. I shuffled one around, and found that they had some contents in them. My eyes glanced over a trail leading away from the crates. I followed it carefully, ducking back out of the table. I followed it a short distance. It led to the lava lamp.

I furrowed my brow. Why have a trail lead to a lamp?

I bent down to the trail and sniffed. It had a scent similar to gas stations in my universe. I raised an eyebrow at this.

I remembered the oddness of the walls, and walked over to one of them. I placed a hand on the wall. It was cool to the touch, yet oddly smooth and flat. It didn’t seem naturally made. I shined my flashlight on it, and found that the light easily refracted off of it onto the column behind me. Definitely not rock.

I tapped lightly, and an odd sound came out. It wasn’t dull, like how a rock would sound, but somewhat vibrant. Like glass windows having rain beat upon them.

There was a faint outline of something as I shined my flashlight on the wall. The light outlined some sort of cover on the wall. I reached out and grabbed an edge, and pulled down.

It was some sort of tarp placed on the wall. As I pulled it down, the wall turned into transparent glass. A cover-up, I realized. I pulled the tarp completely down and stepped back, throwing the material to the ground. Before me were walls of glass. Behind them were similar crates to under the tables. These crates, however, were opened, and I could see powders of various types inside.

I walked back to the fallen creature. I knelt down to its level. “What is this?” I asked, gesturing to the walls.

“...explosives,” it managed to mutter barely. It had a male voice.

My eyes widened. My mind went into overdrive. Why were there explosives in here? I closed my eyes and began to analyze everything in my mind’s eye. Explosives meant there had to be some sort of trigger. In the case of powders, the trigger could be through the air, or on the ground…

As a liquid! The substance leading to the lamp! That had to be the trigger.

But what kind of trigger was it? How could it be activated?

I picked the creature up gingerly, and his eyes closed and he spoke no more. He was barely breathing. I needed to get out of here.

Jared, did you find anything? Shadow asked.

Shadow, teleport yourself and Twilight out of the mountain.

What? Why—

Before I could answer, something small and sharp whizzed by me. I ducked, avoiding it. I heard the object hit something, and I heard glass crack. I turned and saw an arrow at the ground before a now cracked lava lamp. Instantly I knew what was going to happen.

Did you hear us, Shadow? Nix exclaimed. Get out of here; now!

But—

No time for argument, Twilight! I said. Just go! I’ll be right behind you!

I heard Shadow grunt in affirmation. He then grabbed the alicorn princess and teleported out.

We need an exit, I said to Nix. He voiced his affirmation. I scanned around quickly, looking for some sort of crevice to slip through. My eyes rested on a small hole at the back of the cavern, just big enough for me to fit through upright.

That must be where the one we were following went.

I didn’t have time to hesitate. Already the hot liquid inside the lava lamp seeped down the cracked glass, slowly lowering itself to the substance below. I backed up a bit, then took off, grabbing a bit of Chaos energy and slipping inside the crevice. The liquid touched the substance, and I heard the distinct roar of fire. The fire spread across the flammable substance, eating through the material. It approached the crates under the table, burning away the crate exterior; then there was a flash of light and hellish warmth as an explosion rocked the cavern. The fiery explosion, so hot it was, expanded to the glass walls, melting them. It touched the crates behind the glass, eating them away, igniting the remaining powders. I ran without stopping to look back, as I knew that an unmerciful, deadly, enormous explosion was on my heels. I briefly glanced down at the creature in my arms. He unconsciously formed a frown, somehow knowing that a fiery death was on our backs.

Faster, Jared! Nix urged.

I used the grabbed Chaos energy and boosted to Mach 2, feeling the wind burn against my skin and tears forcefully jump from my eyes. My body groaned as it was subjected to so much force in front and behind, a sandwich between two painful experiences. I accelerated so fast that I felt my clothes ripped, pieces of cloth being consumed by the fire. I heard myself screaming as I pushed myself to the absolute limits, jumping and ducking under structures, feeling everything burning from fire and cooling from air at the same time. Blisters appeared on my skin, but I ignored them, despite the intense pain. I leapt over crevices and abysses as I tried to find a way out of the mountain, feeling my muscles screech at me in agony. I was barely aware of Nix trying to calm down Twilight and Shadow as they heard me scream.

I found myself thinking to the creature, I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but I willget us out of here, no matter what.

And somehow the creature managed to mentally answer,Hope.

His mind suddenly went weak, and the connection was broken. His one word reverberated through my mind, suddenly deafening every other sound.

Kind of a bad time to start reflecting, Jared, Nix said, noticing me slipping into my thoughts.

Er-right. Sorry.

Even after all this running, the end seemed nowhere in sight. Each turn led me down deeper into darkness. I made a left turn into a tunnel, and found myself running towards a dead end. The explosion still chased after me, determined to engulf me in fire. I couldn’t turn around and run back and search for another way out.

Quick; use the Explosive Gel! Nix advised.

I nodded and slipped a hand in my jacket pocket and pulled out a small gun. It was in the shape of a glue gun, similar to the one Batman used; but I had modified it to have several settings. The gel inside could be remotely detonated up to a twenty meter distance. I had installed settings that would enable me to fire the gel as a concentrated bullet.

I selected this setting and pointed the gun forward, then pressed the trigger. Carbon exploded in the gun, propelling a gel-bullet out. It hit the wall squarely, spreading around in a wide square.

I placed my thumb on the detonator as I approached. I waited one second, two seconds...then pressed down. The gel exploded, smoke rising from the explosion. It had been strong enough to create a hole that I could expand.

There was no time to consider using my psychic powers to widen the gap, as now the fire behind me was biting at my heels. I closed my eyes and accelerated to my max limit, just under Mach 3. I jumped and rolled over so that my shoulder was forward. The fiery explosion pushed me forward, and my shoulder connected with the wall solidly. There was cracking as I broke through, and time seemed to slow down as a flurry of visuals bombarded me. Light collided with the darkness from the mountain; the coldness of the outside clashed with the deadly warmth. I clutched the creature to my body protectively as I battled to roll and land on my feet. I faltered and my breath came in ragged breaths as I landed. Time started to speed up again; I didn’t have time to recover my breath. I had to take off at the same speed, still trying to outrun the explosion. Backward force pushed the explosion even faster, and a missile of fire rocketed towards me.

I neared a crevice. I couldn’t jump over to the other side; it was too far, even for me. I glanced back, and felt my face burn. Only one solution came to mind, and it was by no means comfortable.

I jumped and dove down. I felt the fire burn my back and clothes, and I clenched my teeth. Gravity took hold, and I fell beneath the explosion, plummeting into the darkness, still tightly holding the creature to me.

Not going down! I thought. I rotated in the air, turning back to face the explosion. Its brightness seared my eyes, and I squinted. I reached into my jacket and pulled out my own Grapple Gun. I shot it at a forty-five degree angle up, hoping I had measured the angle right. I heard its metal claw clamp onto the side of the cliff. With another press of the trigger, the line tightened and stiffened. I felt my arm nearly pop out of my socket as I was suddenly stopped from falling. I nearly let go of the creature.

I breathed heavily as cold wind whipped up from the abyss and fire roared above. I heard the mountain rumble; I looked up and gasped. The explosion had not only reduced most of the mountain to nothing, but had triggered an avalanche that was coming our way. There wasn’t time to pull myself up. I closed my eyes and said a small prayer as the avalanche leaped over us and fell. Right before it took us down, I boosted back and slammed myself and the creature to the face of the abyss. Snow roared down in front of us, just barely missing me. The specks of cold that flaked off of the avalanche ice-burned my skin and face, cooling me to the bone. I clenched my teeth even harder, fighting the urge to black out from the intensity of the whole experience.

Eventually the avalanche subsided, and the shaking of the mountain ceased. Now things seemed relatively peaceful, and I found enough sense in myself to activate the grapnel boost and pull us up.

“Argh!” I groaned as I managed to pull myself and the creature back onto the cliffside. I curled up, as my body shook with intense pain and stress. “God...damn…”

The creature said nothing, his eyes closed and breath escaping through tight lips. The cold air swirled around him, and he shivered. Seeing this, I managed to get up to a knee and look at him, sympathy in my tired eyes. I didn’t hesitate; I took off my jacket and wrapped him up with it. While the cold bit at my skin, I felt some warmth in my chest as I saw him visibly relax. Now I had to make the long journey home.

I picked him up and began to walk, wind screaming in my ears and snow freezing my joints. I was cold, so cold, but I kept going. All I saw was white and dull blue and even duller grey; nothing about the landscape seemed different. I walked in silence, and gradually the sounds of the mountain became dull as I grew used to it. My mind narrowed onto the simple goal of getting back to the town; the idea of getting there in once piece did not cross my mind. I needed to get this creature back alive; that’s all that mattered.

Nix might have said something, but I didn’t respond. He too eventually faded away, but I still felt his reassuring presence walk with me through the coldness. I vaguely became aware of other voices in my head, trying to ask me what was going on. They were frantic, concerned with my well-being. Nix said something. I didn’t answer them. I shut out any incoming and outgoing mental communications so as to direct my remaining energy into just walking.

I felt nearly all of my senses die off as I moved. Touch and taste and smell and hearing turned into complacent numbness; all that was left was a simple remnant of my sight, taking in simple colors and features that I barely processed.

Such dullness might have driven me insane at another point; yet still I walked, determination still burning in my heart.

The first warning signs of Jared’s peril came from when he found blood in the cavern. Judging from his sudden silentness, he was busy investigating the scene. The next sign came from when he ordered Shadow and herself out of the caves. Against her wishes, Shadow had teleported them away with Chaos Control all the way back to the town. Sugar Belle, Party Favor, and Night Glider had met them, but were shocked that they arrived alone.

Twilight had managed to calm down somewhat, and had decided to wait in Sugar Belle’s cottage while they waited.

Then the mountain rumbled and groaned, and then a fiery explosion suddenly engulfed the countryside. The entire town shook as the mountain roared in pain. Twilight saw the rocks and boulders suddenly reduced to nothing, saw the snow suddenly evaporate from the peaks.

“NO!” she yelled, bursting out of the door and standing in the middle of the town. “Shadow! We have to get back there!”

Shadow shook his head. “At this rate, there isn’t something left to go back to.”

The princess stomped over and glared at him. “Are you saying that we allow Jared to be buried under all that snow?”

Shadow was silent and looked down. He clenched his fists tightly, saying nothing. The mountain continued to shake for a few more minutes; then it subsided gradually. Eerie silence carried over the mountain and town. Everypony looked at the mountain with unease. The sudden change from nature’s anger to nature’s timidness was surprising to say the least.

...Jared? Shadow mentally called out. He furrowed his brow as a wave of mental static took hold.

Then:

...have to keep going, Nix said, more so to Jared than anyone else.

Twilight gasped. Nix! You’re alive! Can you get Jared to tell us what’s going on?

We’ll be fine...just hold out for us—suddenly the communications went dead as Jared cut off their talk.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, we won’t be able to hear from him, but at least we know he’s alive.” Shadow nodded his agreement.

“I suppose...we can’t do anything but wait,” Shadow said. He teleported himself and Twilight over to the edge of the town, just outside of the mountain range. Together they waited for the Guardian to returned.

The minutes ticked by, turning from fifteen to thirty to forty-five. The snow continued to fall without end, and soon all that was visible was whiteness. Shadow’s eyes burned as the sun reflected off the snow brightly. He squinted in the harsh light as he waited. Cold air stung his skin, but he paid it no heed.

He felt Twilight’s demeanor change as they waited. Her anxiety began to worsen. No longer was it the cold that made her shake; now her worry lended itself to her degeneration. His stiffness alleviated, and he grabbed her hoof comfortingly. Though he said nothing, he meant to reassure her that everything would be alright.

In the years that the Ultimate Life Form had known the Guardian, he had learned one thing: there was always hope. No matter what happened, you had to believe to the end. That was one of the reasons why Jared and the others hadn’t given up on Shadow completely, even after all the crimes he had committed. Jared saw a bit of his past self in Shadow; someone with so much power but so much confusion, having so much trouble differentiating between what was right and what was wrong. To that end he constantly encouraged Shadow to not confine himself to this definition. He was convinced that the hedgehog had good inside of him; all he needed was the push to use it.

And indeed, he had used it, in redemption for his crimes. After being manipulated by Discord and nearly destroying Ponyville, Shadow had come to his senses and fought on the side of good. They had won, of course, and Shadow was mostly forgiven. It would take some time before all could be pardoned. Shadow didn’t mind this; he believed punishment was necessary, and that you had to accept the consequences of your actions. He was by no means a good person; the bad ought to be punished. Jared described it quite well; I fight on the side of angels, but I am by no means one.

Through all their struggles, Jared had remained hopeful. And gradually, Shadow grew to feel the same way. There was always a way out, always a chance. One simply had to look for it to find it. Now, as he stood here, at the edge of the mountainside, feeling the wind whip up and holding the alicorn close to him, Shadow still remained hopeful that Jared would be fine.

That, of course, didn’t mean he didn’t worry. He may not have shown it, but inside Shadow was fighting not to panic. Worry creeped up on him, and a barrage of fear and anxiety formulated before him. Images came to mind, of Jared frozen in the snow, or being engulfed in ice and hail—

Shadow shook himself. He couldn’t allow himself to imagine these dark situation. He needed to remain hopeful, for Jared’s sake.

And for Twilight’s, he remembered, glancing briefly back at the Princess of Friendship. She stared ahead at the snow, unblinking. Her heart seemed to explode in anxiety as they waited. Poor thing...one should never feel so much worry in her lifetime.

He returned his gaze to the snow falling before them, resuming silence, both in his voice and in his mind.

The minutes ticked up to an hour. Then Twilight saw something in the distance. A dark, hunched over figure was walking towards them, carrying a body in its arms. The body was covered up in some sort of garment. Blood slowly seeped out of the garment, dropping down onto the snow; luckily, it wasn’t a ton of blood. The figure clenched the cloak to the body tightly, trying to close up the wounds. He walked in silence, face down and dark.

As he neared, Twilight and Shadow gasped. His skin was turning blue and his lip was trembling. Snow gathered around his shoulders and neck; his temperature was so low that the snow wasn’t melting on contact. His clothing was soaked completely, and the snow stuck to the cloth. Snow filled his shoes and soaked his pants, making his movements sickeningly slow and stiff.

He shuffled through the snow like he was walking through molasses, staring straight down. He did not take notice of Twilight or Shadow. The creature in his arms did not move nor speak; Twilight was unsure if it was even alive.

They were in so much shock over the appearance of their friend, that it briefly did not occur to them to teleport themselves back to the town. The Guardian suddenly teetered to the side, falling on a knee to recover his balance. He nearly dropped the body in his arms. Twilight and Shadow came closer, and they heard his breathing slow considerably as he forcibly redirected all his energy to saying one word.

“...teleport…”

Instantly Shadow knew what needed to be done. He grabbed Twilight and the Guardian by the arms. The Guardian readjusted his grip on the creature in his grasp.

“Chaos Control!” Shadow commanded. There was a flash of bright light; then they were gone.

They reappeared moments later back in the middle of the town. The other ponies stared in shock. Before them stood four snow covered individuals, two of whom looked near death.

“What are you standing around for?” Sugar Belle suddenly yelled. “Get them to the hospital bay!”

A pair of ponies in nurse outfits rushed over with a stretcher. Shadow and Twilight waved off their offers to help carry them. Jared, on the other hand, gingerly placed the creature onto the stretcher, and motioned the two nurse ponies to take him to someplace warm. After a bit of hesitation, they nodded and rushed off into the town’s hospital.

Now his body groaned against its master. He collapsed onto the ground, totally exhausted. He didn’t feel Shadow and Twilight get him up as cold numbness enveloped him. He didn’t hear their begging for someone to help, didn’t feel Night Glider come up and carry him to the hospital. Darkness peeked out at the edge of his vision before suddenly collapsing into a singularity as he blacked out.

Chapter Eight: The Creature

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE CREATURE

I vaguely recalled waking up in a blanket next to a roaring fire, swaddled in heat and looks of concern. I was shivering and dots appeared in my vision. I felt exceptionally sick and nearly threw up to moment I tried to turn my head. I could only breathe slowly, and found that my voice was extremely weak. I could barely answer the questions the hospital staff asked.

There were moments where I could have sworn I blacked out in the middle of conversations, as I later could not recall several key points from talking. I did remember having several blood pulses taken. From what I could tell in my near comatose state, my pulse was slow, but starting to rise back to normal levels.

Hypothermia, I realized much later. I had near-hypothermia.

For some reason, I found this somewhat amusing. I was unused to being killed by the cold; normally one would find me escaping death by fire.

Nix tried talking to me, though I could barely muster enough energy to form coherent answers. Most of my responses consisted of “yes,” “no,” and “cold.” Nix was still concerned, but refrained from pushing me any further, knowing I needed rest after my frozen ordeal.

Based on the position of the sun when Shadow had teleported us back to the position of the sun now, I concluded that a few hours had passed. It must’ve been evening then, though the sun still shone just as brightly as it did in the afternoon. In spite of my less-than-ideal state, I tried to keep track of time.

I worried more for the creature I had brought in. I heard nothing from the various nurses and doctors regarding his condition, and I didn’t have the energy to try and ask directly.

My impatience grew with each minute, and I found myself wanting to shift a bit. I shuffled around, trying to move my joints out of their stiff position, and ended up flopping onto my side. I sighed. Great; I can’t even change placement.

I heard a soft chuckle from behind me, and I sighed even louder. I couldn’t even turn around to retort back.

“Enjoying yourself, Jared?” Shadow the hedgehog said.

I mumbled something back, though its meaning was lost on both of us.

Shadow shook his head. “I see your voice is still weak.” He walked over. “Here; allow me.”

He righted me and placed me in a sitting position. I could now see that beside him was Twilight with a worried look on her face.

I tried to give her a reassuring smile; it came out more of a grimace, and she was visibly unnerved by it. I dropped my lips back into a neutral look.

They gave me looks of concern, and I tried to return a reassuring look. A doctor came in and took my pulse. “80 bpm,” he commented, looking at me. “Seems like your body’s returning to normal.”

A nurse poked her head in. “Already? We’ve had victims of hypothermia before that didn’t recover for days!”

I managed to say matter-of-factly, “Healing factor.”

They nodded understandingly and left to attend to other matters.

I closed my eyes and waited a bit as my energy returned just enough for me to start talking normally again. I opened my eyes and looked at Shadow and Twilight, who were still giving me those looks of concern. I managed to raise an arm and give a thumbs up, indicating my better condition. Their concern, while still there, was mostly alleviated at the action.

“The creature,” I began, “where is he?”

Twilight got visibly uncomfortable. “It’s—”

“He,” I corrected automatically.

She looked exasperated. “He’s in the other room, getting checked up by the doctors.”

“In that case, we’d better go help them.”

“What do you mean?” asked Shadow.

“He’s been through a lot, and seeing strangers won’t do much to assure him that everything’s okay. Hopefully he’ll remember briefly meeting me, and that should calm him down.”

I got to my feet unsteadily. Shadow came over and carried me over my shoulder. I nodded my thanks. Twilight walked by my side, still uncomfortable, though by what I could not tell. We walked over slowly to the room containing the creature.

I heard a commotion inside the room. We peeked inside. The creature was thrashing about at the nurse ponies. He was saying something incoherent. One doctor commented that he was probably delirious and tried to inject some sort of fluid into him; he didn’t like that and shook the doctor away.

A nurse by the door noticed us. I smiled a bit at her. “Better let me handle this.” She nodded, and allowed me through. The other staff members saw me, and after seeing my determined look, averted to the sides of the room. Twilight and Shadow refrained from going any further. I approached the bed.

“What’s going on?” the creature asked, scared. “What’s happening?”

“Calm down,” I said reassuringly, placing an arm on his foreleg. “They’re not here to hurt you.”

His eyes widened in shock, and he turned to face me. “I...I remember you!” he exclaimed, blue eyes filled with sudden emotion. “You...you’re the one that carried me out?”

I nodded, giving him a tired, but still warm smile. I motioned for the doctors and nurses to clear out. After they left, the creature suddenly seized me in a hug. “I don’t even know you! Thank you!” he exclaimed gratefully.

I squeezed him back. “Hey, no worries. But, I do have some questions,” I added, breaking the hug and sitting in the chair next to the bed.

He gave me a confused look. “Er...okay. Shoot.”

“Alright. First, what is your name?”

“My...name?” He furrowed his brow in contemplation. “My name...my name is…” Suddenly his eyes shot open, and he stared at me with frank shock. “...I don’t know.”

Shadow started. “What?”

The creature’s eyes started tearing up. “Why don’t I know my own name? I’m sure I should be able to remember it!”

I stared at him for a second, before getting up and walking over to him. I tilted his head to the side. “Hmmm…I see.” A large bump was on the back of his head that rose beyond the other features. It was just under the back of the head, located right where the hippocampus might be.

“What...what is it?” the creature asked me fearfully.

I returned to my seat and shook my head. “It appears you’ve suffered damage to your hippocampus.”

The creature blinked. “What?”

“The part of your brain that controls memories. There’s a rather large bump on the back of your head, directly on top of where the hippocampus would be.” I looked at him sadly. “You have amnesia, I believe.”

“No...that can’t be!” He stared down at the bedsheets. Tears began to fall, and his whole body shook. I didn’t try to comfort him; I knew I couldn’t, as I had no idea how.

I cast a glance at Shadow. I knew he had amnesia before. How bad is it?

He responded, It’s one of the worst things for anyone to experience, not knowing who you are.

I sighed, turning back to the creature. “I know that this is a difficult realization for you, and you have my condolences. But, I need information, and you might be the only person who is able to supply it.”

He gradually calmed down, and looked at me and nodded. “Who knows?” he said dejectedly. “Maybe if I say something, my memories will come rushing back?”

Twilight muttered something, though I didn’t hear what.

“You were found by me in a cave with multiple wounds. Any idea what you got them from?”

He furrowed his brow and inspected one of his legs. A bandage was wrapped around it. He pulled it off slightly, revealing a large, disgusting wound on his leg. He grimaced and re-wrapped the bandage back on, then looked at me. “Um...it looks like I was stabbed by something.”

I nodded, then pointed to his chest, where several bruises and hoof marks were just barely visible. “Looks as if you were in some sort of conflict with a pony of some sort. You might have been crushed by a large boulder, judging by the size of the bruise on your chest.”

“And the back of the head?” Shadow asked.

“Something hard hit him,” I responded. “Something hard enough to cause damage to parts of the brain responsible for memory processes.”

The creature gritted his teeth. “If I find out who did this…”

“What were you doing in the caves, by the way?” I asked.

He again furrowed his brow as he tried to search through broken memories. “I...I can’t remember. I don’t even remember ever entering the mountain.”

“Maybe this will raise a bell?” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small radio. I showed it to him. He took it from my hands and turned it around, inspecting every element of it desperately.

After some time he gave a depressed sigh and handed it back. “I’m sorry; I can’t remember anything still.”

I nodded. “Still, it’s curious how it was in the same room as you were in.” I flipped it around. “And I’m still unsure of how it’s powered. No compartment for batteries, no port for plugging in…”

I placed the radio back inside my pocket and proceeded to start rapidly fire off question after question:

“Where are you from?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have any relatives?”

“I don’t know.”

“What is your profession?”

“As far as I know, I don’t have one.”

I asked him about himself, repeatedly, in a desperate attempt to jog his memory. I had thought that if I asked the same question over and over, only worded differently , then maybe his subconsciousness may provide the information I needed. This proved as a bad method, as it only further increased his confusion.

Exasperated by his amnesia, I randomly asked, “What are you?”

Twilight aggressively and loudly cleared her throat, interrupting the creature’s response. I turned to her. She gestured for me and Shadow to follow her outside the room.

I looked back at the creature. “Please excuse us.” He nodded. We followed Twilight out.

Once we were out of the creature’s hearing range, Twilight suddenly turned and faced me angrily. “Jared, do you have any idea what you are dealing with?”

I raised an eyebrow, confused. “You mean besides an amnesiac?”

She shook her head. “That creature is of one of the most vile races in Equestria!”

“Really?” Shadow snorted. “He didn’t seem that bad.”

“Guys, he’s a Changeling!”

We stared at her. “A what?” I asked.

“A Changeling! Haven’t you ever heard of them?”

Shadow and I both shook our heads. Twilight sighed. “They’re a sub-species of ponies that can shape-shift into other ponies.”

Shadow and I exchanged a look. “That...doesn’t sound that bad,” I said.

“They are extremely dangerous creatures!”

I crossed my arms. “Well, he certainly doesn’t seem like much of a threat now…”

“That’s because he’s lost his memory!”

“And we need him to regain his memory in order to get information.” I sighed. “Twilight, I get that you’ve had...less than exuberant experiences with this race. But you cannot judge the majority based on the generalization of the minority. For all you know, they might not all be so bad.”

“But—”

“Twilight, please listen. He evidently doesn’t know what he is. He doesn’t know that his race is ‘bad.’ Therefore, he is least likely to be a danger to any of us. Let me talk to him; he won’t do anything bad, I promise.”

She grumbled, but eventually consented to letting me go.

I walked back into the room, Shadow following behind. Twilight remained outside, still slightly fuming.

“Is something wrong?” the creature asked. I gave Shadow a look of slight unease; he returned a reassuring nod.

I let out a slow breath. “Maybe...can you tell me what a Changeling is?”

He thought for a few seconds before answering, “No, I cannot.”

“Well...from what we gather, it’s what you are.”

He stared at me. “That’s what I am? This ‘Changeling?’”

I nodded in affirmation. “Yes; but apparently your kind isn’t on good terms with several ponies of Equestria.”

“Really?” he asked, intrigued. “Why is that?”

“I really have no idea. I’ve never had experience with Changelings before.”

The Changeling thought this over for a moment, eyes closed in concentration. I watched him in silence, noting how his eyes shifted as new thoughts entered his brain. “Is that why the alicorn over there isn’t too fond of me?”

“I believe so.”

I turned to Shadow. “I think we’d better return to Ponyville now. So far our leads are falling flat.” The hedgehog nodded his agreement.

“And,” I added, turning back to the Changeling, “you’re coming with us.”

“Really? Why?”

“You might be our only lead. We need to find a way to unlock your memories so that we get the information we need.”

“...alright. Though I guess you can’t promise that I won’t get some odd looks when we get to this ‘Ponyville.’”

“...no, I cannot.”

He gave a sigh of resignation. “I suppose I’ll just have to try to not be a Changeling.”

We all got up and left the room. Shadow walked with Twilight while the Changeling walked with me. We left the hospital quickly and without the staff trying to stop us.

“A name,” the Changeling suddenly said. He turned to me. “I’ll need a name. I don’t want to be called just a creature.”

I shrugged. “You’ll have to choose one on the train ride back.”

A few minutes later, after we had bought ourselves four train tickets, the train arrived to take us back. We got on board and were met with some odd looks from the engineers, which I casually waved away. The train blew its horn and began the journey back.

Chapter Nine: Questions of Identity

CHAPTER NINE: QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY

This creature that had saved the Changeling was certainly an odd one. Standing on two legs only and managing to tower above the others was the largest oddity. Though the Changeling couldn’t exactly be one to judge; they were all oddities after all.

He looked at his savior as he stared out the window, lost in his thoughts. A dreamlike gleam came over his eyes as he stared outside, and the Changeling somehow knew that a million thoughts were going off in his head. He didn’t try to interrupt him, allowing him to remain in his thoughts.

The Changeling had many questions, but he figured they could wait when they returned. Right now he had to figure out a name for himself.

He glanced at the black hedgehog that was sitting on the seat in front of him, arms crossed. Red streaks went down his quills and white fur stood out of his chest. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be meditating. He seemed rather distant from the group, almost like a shadow of something else, a darker past, perhaps. The Changeling then cast his gaze upon the other creature that sat next to him rigidly. She stared straight ahead, not even bothering to attempt conversation, nor appearing to recognize his presence. She was a lavender mare with a horn on her head; a pink-red star was on her flank. He guessed that it was some sort of mark of sorts, perhaps a sign of power. She was the coldest one in the group towards him, he realized, though he understood why, to some extent. After all, he was apparently some sort of creature from her past that had done something irrevocable. Perhaps her coldness was simply her memories resurfacing.

Was his kind really this bad? Did they really perform some sort of evil?

He looked down at his hoof. It was ash-grey, and had several holes on it. They didn’t seem like puncture marks; rather, they might have been there from the start of his life. A pair of lightly-transparent blue wings were on his back. They seemed quite fragile, and he was afraid that any amount of stress might break them. They reminded him of insect wings in this way, and he reflected on their delicateness. A dark-grey horn was on his head, curved and oddly shaped. It wasn’t a cone, like the one on the lavender mare. It was distorted, ugly even, and he found himself uneased by it.

I guess I would be hesitant to let me follow them home, he thought. Given my appearance, I would find myself quite unnerving as well.

He looked out the window, still in a pensive mood. He watched the landscape rush on by, hills and fields a blur of green and brown. Daisies and petunias stuck out here and there, adding some variety to the blurring world around the train. As the train moved, their colors gradually blended into a mix of white and purple. He found this mix quite pretty.

As time passed, he found himself reflecting on his supposed past. If what his savior said was true, that he was of an evil race, then what did that mean for him? Did that mean that he was a bad person? Should his past define his amnesiac present?

Who am I? What am I? Can I change?

Still pondering, I see, a voice suddenly said.

The Changeling yelped and jumped. “Gah!” he exclaimed. “Who said that?”

I did, the bipedal creature mentally said, waving a hand. Psychically, of course.

The black hedgehog chuckled at the bipedal creature’s forwardness. You never seem to be able to break that easily to people, he said.

The Changeling gave them a questioning look. How are you hearing this? he asked the shadow.

I allowed him, answered the bipedal creature. Or rather, I opened a psychic link that will allow us to communicate telepathically.

Oh...that makes sense, said the Changeling.

They were silent for a moment, then:

Um, if you don’t mind me asking...who are you guys? the Changeling asked.

Jared Berberabe, the tall one said. Guardian of the Omniverse, at your service.

Guardian, huh? Is that some sort of royal title?

The lavender mare actually laughed, causing the other three to give her a confused look. She blushed and waved them off.

Er, no, it’s my ‘occupation,’ if you will, Jared answered.

I thought you were a writer? the black hedgehog retorted. My name’s Shadow the Hedgehog. Ultimate Life Form.

Jared snorted. Please, I’mthe Ultimate Life Form.

That’s not your title—

Girls, please, later, another voice interrupted. A green hedgehog spirit suddenly appeared next to Jared, floating in midair.

The Changeling gasped. Who’s that?

The other half of the Guardian, the green hedgehog answered with a grin. Nix the Hedgehog. At your service.

Nix turned to the lavender mare. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”

She sighed, annoyed, but conceded to mentally introducing herself. Twilight Sparkle. And I guess my title would be Princess of Friendship.

Royalty?! The Changeling suddenly got up and kneeled before Twilight.

Whoa, fast learner, Jared commented. Where’d you learn how to treat royalty?

The Changeling looked up with confused eyes. I don’t know. I just did this instinctually. He gave Twilight a meek look. Sorry, Princess. I didn’t mean—

She managed a small smile, despite still being a bit cold to him. It’s alright; you don’t have to treat me like royalty.

He nodded, and sat back in his seat, resuming his thoughtful mood.

Still questioning who you are, I see, Nix said, chuckling softly.

The Changeling sighed. Yeah. I have so many questions that nopony can answer.

In time, you may have all the answers you need. But, it’s not the answers themselves that matter; it’s how you go about getting them.

He took a moment to think over Nix’s words, as the Guardians looked over at him quietly. Could that be true? Not all answers were easy to find; it was the determination and the drive to find them out was what mattered. The journey, in many cases, was more important than the destination.

In that case, what should concern him more? His past; or his now unknown present and future? What was more important?

Twilight, Jared asked. What did the Changelings do that warrants hostility?

The Princess of Friendship sighed. It’s a long story.

We’ve got time.

Maybe, but don’t you think that the others should know? Especially since we’re bringing one of them along?

She glanced at the Changeling. He was perturbed, that already he was being identified as a “them,” as if he was an anomaly. Anger didn’t rise up in him, however; only angst and a desire to redeem himself. His race’s crimes were unknown to him, but somehow he felt he owed a debt.

Twilight, he said as calmly as he could, I don’t know what my race has done. But I promise you, I am not like them.

She had an unsure look on her face but, after Jared cast her a knowing look, sighed and nodded. Alright. I’ll...give you a chance. Please don’t mess up.

A part of him lit up like fireworks, and joy entered his heart. Thank you; it means so much. He furrowed his brow. Then again, everything means so much, since I have nothing to compare them to…

Nobody responded, and the conversation ended there. At the request of the Changeling, Jared terminated the mental connection.

Now he was left with his thoughts and a window viewing the outside. Can I really change who I am, or who I was, without knowing what I did? Would I be changing my identity for the better?

He had to trust these people who had saved him; and he most likely had to trust the people they were bringing him to. No doubt that they would react similarly, if they had history with the Changelings. Yet somehow he had latched onto them, and didn’t want to disappoint them. For what reason, he could not understand; perhaps it was a psychological need born out of amnesia.

He shook himself. These were tough issues, and he needed time to think on them.

What do I call myself? I have nothing to mark me; I am an enigma to all. What should define who I am? A name; I need a name.

The sun was starting to set, and he found himself staring up at the sky. It was still bright enough to see the landscape, though now the sun was starting to wane below the hills. A few stars peeked out from behind the now turning orange clouds. The back of the sky was phasing into a dark blue, with orange highlights in the middle.

The sky was unknown to him; it was foreign to his mind. Evidently he had never observed the sky in such a way for it to truly touch upon him. It was unknown, yet strangely familiar; comforting, despite being so far away.

He shook himself. Why was he thinking like this? Getting so philosophical over a skyline was unheard of; at least to him.

Then again, perhaps it was a sign. Free of an unknown past, he somehow had more time to treasure the unknown aspects of life. He could look at the sky and form new meaning behind it; and when he got his memories back, he would have double the amount.

So why did the sky speak to him in such a way, as to encourage questioning and ruminating? He did not know; yet found himself liking it very much.

It’s the end of twilight, and the beginning of night, he reflected. An end to a different past, and the start of a different present.

He smiled as he watched the sun go down and the trees go by and the land fly by him. For now he had a name. It was short and cliche, but it seemed to define him. And that was all that mattered.

With this in mind, Dusk was born from the remnants of the unknown.