Chapters Section 1
Meeting Twilight Sparkle
My name is Ashura ZXexian Glitch. I'm an artist and a writer, and I am finally done with my training for the guard and now I am being sent to Ponyville to watch over the Princess's student Twilight. Her life has been threatened and she refuses to leave her friends to take up protection in the royal castle. I signed up for this assignment as soon as it surfaced. I wanted to prove myself as a guard, plus the peace and quiet of the small town would be a big relief from the yelling I got from all my commanders and drill sergeants in Basic Training. Becoming a royal guard isn't an easy thing to do. It feels good to be out; I even had the honor of meeting Shining Armor, which coincidentally is Twilight Sparkles brother.
He had come to me face to face to warn me if anything happened to his Twilight I would wish I was dead. I told him everything was handled and nothing bad would happen to Twilight in my care. He believed me, which I am happy for. The guy for the being the captain of the royal guards he is a huge softy for his sister, I could see that clear as day in his eyes. When I arrived in Ponyville I knew what to expect, I had been to this town many times. Mostly Rarity, she made dresses for my sisters and me being the lovely brother I was, I tagged along. Although I had no choice in the matter, my sisters had always dragged me to place to place when I was little. Rarity had tried many times to set me up with a few duds. I did once in a while but I wasn't one for sitting still for too long.
I took the train this time instead of being flown over by the other Pegasus Guards. I didn't want to make them work just to get me to my destination. I asked if it would be alright and it was luckily. It took a tad longer for me to get there, but not so much then flying here. When I arrived like I said I knew what to expect, small town, and a small number of ponies. I always wanted to live here because it was so small. But I knew about Pinkie Pie, her and Twilight were waiting for me at the train station. Pinkie broke out into song and welcomed me again. This would be the fourth time this month she has welcomed me to Ponyville. Confetti was blown and her song ended, I gave her a slight smile.
"Welcome to Ponyville." Twilight said happily.
"Thank you Miss, Sparkle." I said politely as I bowed my head.
"That's so silly, why do you bow your head. Oh I did that once and I accidently bumped my head. Not hard or anything but it hurt. I did that in cake one time, big face full of cake it was so good. Oh have you ever bumped your head, you get a funny feeling after words. I giggle from the funny feeling after the pain goes away. Pain is so not a good thing at all, sometimes you can get hurt so bad it's just horrible. Now I want cake!" Pinkie said bouncing from one thing to another about bumping your head and then eating cake.
"Just ignore her." Twilight said with a sigh.
"It's no problem Miss, Sparkle. I've met Pinkie Pie before; I know how she can get." I said as Pinkie Pie was still talking.
"I suppose we should head to the library. Spike is away with Fluttershy in Hoovesdale. So it will just be us until he gets back, you can help me with my studies." Twilight said with a smile. Once we were at the Library Twilight had shown me where I would sleep and so on. After all the showing around her library we had eaten supper and had a chance to get to know one another.
"So, what are your hobbies?" Twilight asked me when we in the middle of eating.
"Oh, uh well I draw, paint, and write." I said after I swallowed the bit of food I had in my mouth.
"You’re a writer?" Twilight said happily.
"Yeah I suppose." I said taking another bite.
"I wonder if I've read any of your books." Twilight said with smile before she took a bite.
"I haven't had a book published; there isn't a book in my name anywhere except in my head and on my papers." I said finishing off my food.
"Have you finished a book?" Twilight asked as she finished her food as well.
"Sort of, it's complicated. If anything I can never finish a true story." I said with a frown.
"Why would that be?" Twilight asked.
"Like I said, it's complicated. Secrets I suppose you could say, ones that can never be told. Secrets that die with the individual that created it in the first place. A burden placed on one’s soul that is forever doomed to know the secret." I said with a smirk. Answering every question but not at the same time.
"I don't get it." Twilight said confused.
"I know.” I said giving her a smile. I was starting to get desperate about changing the subject. The less she knew about me, the better. “You should probably be studying right?"
"Oh right. Oh I hope I won't fall behind." Twilight said scrambling now to get to studying. I followed her into her normal study area. Owlicious was sitting in his normal spot sleeping. Twilight started reading, probably a book she had read many times before. I made myself comfortable in a corner. Lying on the ground, watching Twilight making sure she was safe. So far everything was fine; nothing seemed to be threatening her life. If anything there was no threat and Twilight wasn't in danger at all.
The sky was black now, and everything was still. My eyes were closed helping me focus on the sounds all around us. So far the only sounds I could hear were the shuffling of the papers of Twilight's books, the slight snoring of Owlicious and the slight breeze outside. The only thing else I was focusing on was my magic studies. Like Twilight's library I had a library inside of my head. A world of my own placed lightly inside of my head.
"I honestly can't tell if you're asleep or if you're awake." I opened my eyes and I could see Twilight staring at me. "Okay that was kind of creepy."
"Being black and red, others get that a lot from me. My eyes have been known to make others stop in with precaution. Are you getting tired?" I asked her closing my eyes again.
"Yeah I'm all caught up in my reading." She said with a yawn.
"I shall escort you to bed, and from there you will be alone, for obvious reasons. You know where I am, need anything I will perform my duty to serve you Miss. For now I am your assistant and your protector." I said with utter professionalism.
"Okay, but you don't have to be so formal with me... Actually I don't think I even caught your name." Twilight said with a look of embarrassment.
"My name is Ashura ZXexian Glitch. I suppose for now you could call me Ash, for short." I said bowing my head.
"You have a really odd name." Twilight said with a chuckle.
"I know." I said chuckling as well. Nothing had happened at all during the night. Which was good, it was a peaceful night and I was able to get a full amount of sleep. It was good to get some actual rest. When I woke up, it was still a little early. So I took the time to get use to the place. Was simple place, no one could hide easily in here, but it still could be done. Once I was done scoping out the library I made myself some breakfast, and made some extra for Twilight. I knew she would be awake soon, she was close to her schedule. She was easy to predict, which was good and bad at the same time. When she came down I had been occupying myself with her books. Mostly organizing them; I looked at her and her mane was still a mess. I stopped myself from laughing; I gave her a smile and greeted her, "Good morning Twilight."
"You’re up early." She said with a yawn.
"Use to it, trained to stay awake with little sleep. To be truthful, that was the most sleep I had gotten in a very long time.” I said putting a book into place. I took some books off the shelves and looked at her. “Food is ready for you in the kitchen; I will stay here and clean up.”
"Clean up, it was clean last night." Twilight said with a chuckle before she walked into the kitchen.
"Your organization doesn't make sense what so ever." I said as I moved a book to the floor. I had made a big pile of books. The books were all jumbled up, the order of them made no sense at all. It had been driving me mad once I noticed it. Every book was set up as if a child had organized them.
"Spike isn't the best at organizing, and most things are jumbled up completely, Pinkie usually is the one that can find things in this mess. I don't know how she does it but she's good at finding missing things." Twilight said as she sat next to me and started to organize with me.
"Is this part of your schedule?" I asked, placing a fantastic book I read a very long time ago in the romance section. Never would have guessed Twilight would be into J.R. Ward.
"Not at this time no, but I can't let the little things bother me. It's not every day you have your life threatened." She said with a chuckle.
"Never would have guessed you liked J.R. Ward. She's one of my favorite authors." I said giving her a little smirk.
"Oh, well they were good books. At least for a vampire book; Vampires are such a fascinating topic I will say that, but it's completely fictional." Twilight said as we neared the end of shelving the books.
"Well, I don't know about fiction, behind all myth is truth. You never know what could be out there; it is a big place we live in after all. Equestria could be something small to a much bigger thing." With that, we were done with the books.
"So you believe there is something more out there then what we know?" Twilight asked.
"Oh yes, well possibly. Or maybe I'm just completely mad, deranged even. But it doesn't hurt to keep an opened mind about the world around us." I said as I looked at Twilight. She had a smile, such a cute little smile. I shook my head to knock myself back to reality.
"I don't think your mad Ash. But I suppose anything is possible." Twilight said with a laugh.
"Twilight get down!" I pushed Twilight down as throwing knives burst through the windows and stabbed into the books where Twilight was standing.
"Ouch." Twilight muttered.
"Damn and I thought it would be that easy." I heard a female's voice say. In the window I saw a white pony with a long red mane.
"Synith, I know you. You’re wanted for treason against Celestia." I stood my ground, not knowing what she would do. At this point the only thing that was important was to keep Twilight safe.
"Oh treason, I was just having a bit of fun." She disappeared from the window.
“Twilight, stay close to me.” She moved as close as she could to me. Well this was a shit storm; I was sure just the same as me that she thought the threat was a joke. Synith being here proved she was in danger.
"Run!" I yelled as Synith crashed through the floors above us. Twilight ran upstairs to her bedroom, that was a stupid move, she would be trapped up there. But if I had anything to do with it, Synith would be stopped here. She flexed out her wings and gave me a sly smile.
"Out of my way." She said throwing knives at me. I dogged the blade and charged at her. She was quick I'll give her that, she started running up to Twilight's bedroom.
"You’re not getting anywhere near Twilight." I grabbed her tail and pulled her away from the stairs.
"Ouch that hurts." She said kicking me in the face. I didn't let go, I pulled her closer and forced her to the ground. Lucky for me she was fast, not strong.
"Why are you after Twilight?" I asked her, she struggled to get away but I was stronger than her.
"Oh boy-O, I'm not after her." She said calming down.
"Then why are you trying to kill her?" She gave me a smirk.
"I was paid too, now get off!" A bolt of pain went through my whole body. She had stabbed me in the chest. She took the chance I had given her and ran to Twilight's bedroom. I ran as fast as I could after her. I was just behind her as she opened the door and fell to the ground. Twilight had been waiting by the door with a bat and smacked Synith over the head knocking her out.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod, I can't believe I just did that." Twilight said in a panic.
"I'm glad you did." I said checking if Synith was breathing. She was which was good in my book.
"Oh Celestia, you’re bleeding!" Twilight said running up to me. I held her off.
"I'm fine; I'm more worried about you. You alright?" She took a step back from me.
"Yeah, just a little shaken." She said looking at Synith's unconscious body. Later we got my wound patched up and Synith tied down. After a while she woke up and was looking around with a daze. She probably had a headache thanks to Twilight hitting her in the head.
"Who sent you?" I asked when she looked at me.
"Don't know." She said with calm dazed eyes.
"What do you mean you don't know?" I glared at her.
"Never met the guy, got half payment in a letter and I was promised more if I killed Twilight Sparkle." She said looking at me. I looked into her eyes, I sighed in frustration. She was telling the truth.
"Well you’re useless." I said as I started to pace.
"That's a mean thing to say Ash." Twilight said.
"Sorry, don't mean to be disrespectful. But your life is in true danger, someone wants you dead. Most of the guards except for Shining Armor thought it was a sick joke. Well Synith proves someone wants you dead." Now I was stressing. I was one of the guards who thought this was a joke. I have met Twilight before and I couldn't see anyone wanting her dead.
"I wonder why someone sent me to kill her; I mean why do they want her dead? She seems so nice." Synith said giving Twilight a smile.
"I was hoping you would know." I said.
"What we going to do with Synith?" Twilight asked.
"We take her back to the royal castle and you Twilight are going to stay under the protection of the castle as well." I said as I started packing things up.
"Alright, that sounds best." Twilight said. Later we had walked to the train station. Twilight had her bags and I had my things, Synith was walking behind us with a robe laced around her neck. I didn't trust her, even though she said she'd come willingly.
"Sorry, stations closed." A big brown pony said to Twilight when she got to the entrance.
"But why?" Twilight asked.
"Train has broken down. Repairs could take a month, there is a lot of damage." The pony said.
"Alright, thank you." We had no way to get to the castle. The train was our only way, and since Spike was gone we couldn't send a letter to the princess. We were stuck in Ponyville.
"So what do we do now?" Synith said as we walked back to Twilight's library.
"First off, we put you in a place where you can't hurt anyone. Then we make the Library as safe as we can. If you don't report back to receive payment then the person who hired you will send others after Twilight." I said pulling on the rope around Synith's neck.
"Easy there boy-o. Yeah would be kind of hard to fake her death too. Who hired me, wants her horn as proof." Synith said.
"Her horn, why her horn?" I asked feeling confused, didn’t make sense to me.
"Yeah why my horn?" Twilight asked as well.
"How should I know?" Synith said blowing her mane out of her eyes.
"I think it would just serve as proof, they couldn't use your horn's magic for long. But that doesn't solve the question why they want you dead." I said, I was trying to solve this problem without any clues. I was cleaver if I do say so myself, but I couldn't tell the future.
"Oh look at you, your acting like such a detective." Synith said as she grabbed onto me.
"Hey cut that out. Hey let go of me." I said trying to push her off of me.
"You’re cute, strong, and smart. Oh I could just kiss you." Synith said, I pushed her way from me.
"What is wrong with you?" I asked once we got inside the library.
"Home sweet home and I don't even feel safe anymore." Twilight said with a sigh.
"Don't worry Twilight I won't let anything happen to you." I said it to her to make her feel better. But honestly I didn't know if I could protect her. I was doubting myself now more than ever. We were stuck in Ponyville. No way of contacting the Castle, Synith was a prisoner, and for all I knew the whole town could be in danger. I was stressing but trying to keep my cool. Twilight was trying to act as if it was any other day. Twilight did all of her chores with me nearby helping as well. Synith even started to help. Later she went shopping, that wasn't fun at all. Synith and I were arguing the whole time about the rope around her neck. Twilight was short with us and yelled at us to shut up.
"Jeez, the two of you are arguing like siblings." Twilight said in frustration, I felt insulted. My sister didn’t even act like this. We certainly didn’t argue about stupid crap like this. Okay, well maybe we did, but that’s not the point.
"We are not!" Both of us yelled at the same time. Synith looked at me and smiled. God she was irritating.
"Oh that was so cool!" Synith cooed as she hugged me. I like to have my personal space, and she was disrupting that.
"You need to get the hell off of me!" I yelled pushing her away from me.
"Oh you two look so cute together." Twilight said with a chuckle.
"Wait what, no! Synith get off of me!" I pushed her away making her fall to the ground.
"Ouch that really hurt Ashura." Synith said getting to her hooves. After that Twilight had headed to the Spa. That place I would rather have not entered, but I had no choice. Twilight and Synith were enjoying themselves. This time I had to let her go, Twilight dragged her away while I sat nearby.
"Oh this feels so good." Twilight sighed as they sat in the hot tube.
"I will agree with you on that sister." Synith said with a sigh as well.
"I'm watching you Synith, you got that, one move and you’re done for." I warned her.
"Calm down Ash, we are just having a little calm down. Besides Synith doesn't seem so bad, right?" Twilight asked giving her a smile. Synith smiled back, and then she gave me a wink. I glared at her, she was up to something.
"So relaxing." Synith said laying back.
"Oh yeah." Twilight sighed.
"Ugh, the two of you are making me sick." I said making a gagging motion. The two of them laughed. Enemies and they were acting like they were friends. "You two are hitting it off."
"Yeah, no kidding, If I met her before now I wouldn't have even attempted to kill her." Synith said flapping her wings with a smile.
"It's great to have met you too." Twilight said with a smile.
"Synith, you have killed before, you are a killer. Do you honestly think I trust a word you say?" I said with a sigh.
"No I suppose you wouldn't trust me handsome." She said giving me a smile that unnerved me.
"I'd rather not break the law to see you gone Synith, so stop with the seductive act." I said with seriousness.
"The law, what law? What you going to kill me?" Synith asked, she actually look worried.
"Not that law. Just drop the act, or you will be taken care of. I’m not a babysitter." I got up and walked into the other room. It was stupid to do, but I needed to get away, the stress of everything was starting to get to me. I knew I was being harsh, but she was a killer. I couldn’t trust her, not even for a second.
"Ashura get in here!" Synith yelled. I sighed and walked in the room to see an Earth pony wrestling with Synith. I burst into the room as quick as I could when Synith yelled, “Ashura, get the hell in here, now!”
"What the hell is going on?" I saw Synith fighting for control over another pony. He had a knife in his mouth, desperately lashing to cut Synith. The two of them went under the water for a second, making water splash onto the hardwood floor.
"This guy attacked Twilight out of nowhere." Synith said before the two fell under the water. I ran over to Twilight, she was huddled in the corner, holding a bleeding cut. Synith and the other pony went under the water again. Synith gasped for breath as she said, “Who is this guy, geez?”
"My name is Murder, and I'm good at it too." The earth pony said before they went under the water again. He was trying to drown Synith. Murder broke free of her hold and came rushing for Twilight and myself. Synith had gone under the water one for time, but she still had a hold on the guy.
"You’re not killing Twilight." She said punching the guy in the face with her front hooves.
"Get off of me!" Murder yelled kicking Synith away. The two fell out of the hot tube and crashed to the floor. Synith’s hold was broken, giving Murder freedom of himself. He was able to get on his hooves and ran towards Twilight.
"You will have to get through me." I said blocking his path. I tried to side step him, but he was lucky and countered my movement. He tried slashing me at me; luckily I was able to dodge his attack in time.
"That I can do, cut your skin and your blood will flow. Deliciousness, I will sever your limbs." The guy said with the blades handle in his mouth. He had a huge, creepy ass grin on his face.
"Back off." Synith said jumping onto Murder's back.
"This is so unfair, Two against one." He mumbled while Synith pinned him.
"Twilight, are you alright?" I asked her. She was shaking; blood was soaking her coat and was dripping onto the floor. I went over to her; she tried to move away from me, she pushed herself more into the wall, trying to get away from any threat. She was in shock. Murder screamed, throwing Synith off of him he threw his blade toward Twilight. I had no choice but to get in its way. He was good at it, I’d give him that. It was thrown strong and with great accuracy. The blade had dug into my shoulder going down towards my rib cage. I gasped out in pain. Synith pulled herself up, but not in time to catch Murder as he ran out of the room.
"Synith wait!" I yelled, stopping her from running after him. I pulled the knife from my body and held the wound. This was a serious shit storm.
"We have to catch him." Synith said flapping her wings in frustration.
"No we have to get Twilight help. She has lost a lot of blood; if you really have changed then you will help me help her." I said looking at Twilight, whom was now unconscious, which would have explained why she didn't respond. We carried her to the hospital. Once we were there the nurses were freaking out about my bleeding. They tried pulling me into a room, but I wasn't having it. I wanted to make sure Twilight had help first. Once she was in good care I was set in a room with a doctor stitching up my cut.
"You’re lucky, that blade was close to piercing your heart." The doctor said before he cut the thread and started to wrap a bandage around the stitching. “Adrenaline is probably how he was able to throw it so hard. Probably how you were able to get here conscious.”
"Even if the blade pierced my heart, I still would have lived." I said probably full of myself. To be honest I didn't feel the pain at all, I was too worried about Twilight to notice.
“If you truly believe that son, then I can’t say anything about it.” The doc said with a chuckle.
"Quit acting tough." Synith said with a huff.
"Bandage is a little tight there doc." I said when he finished tying it off.
"It’s supposed to be tight son." The doc said with a smile. He called me son through this whole fiasco. It was sort of irritating, but it was also refreshing. Made me feel much younger then I truly was, at least emotionally.
"Oh I'm so glad you’re alright." Synith said hugging me. Her hug was irritating the stitching and blood was starting to show through the bandage. I lightly pushed her off of me and showed her the bandage.
"Quit it, we need to check on Twilight." I said walking over to the door. Synith followed close behind.
"Ah, Mr. Glitch shouldn't you rest?" The doctor asked as I opened the door.
"Nope, Twilight's safety is more important." I said as I closed the door behind me. I walked to Twilight's room with Synith right behind me. I didn't know if I could really trust Synith, but she did risk her life to protect Twilight. I’ll keep an eye on her, but I think there is more to that mare. We both walked into the room to see Twilight awake and well. She was sitting in bed looking down at her front hooves. "Twilight, are you okay?"
"Of course she's alright, she's all patched up and no bleeding." Synith ran over to Twilight and gave her a hug that wasn't returned. Synith’s ears batted down on her head. She was a bit of a child, but it kind of fit her.
"I'm not talking about physically well, blood can be replaced and cuts will heal. But her mental state could be in shock. Wouldn't surprise me at all, I can guarantee nothing had ever threatened her life like this. Today Murder stunned her with reality of her actually dying." I said going over to Twilight. Her stare was fixated at her front hooves. I looked at her eyes, and they were dull, showing little life. Yeah, she was defiantly in shock.
"What do we do?" Synith asked softly.
"Nothing we can do. Her friends might be able to help. They should be here soon enough." I said making myself comfortable in the corner.
“I feel so bad." Synith said sitting next to me.
"I don't get you." I said with a sigh.
"What?" Synith asked looking at me. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind.
"Why did you risk your own life to protect someone you tried to kill earlier?" I asked looking at her, a stare can be powerful. Eyes hold a great amount of the person who bears them. Not many can read what is hidden behind the doors, mostly because the eyes are a mirror of the soul, not a door. She was giving me a look of confusion. Her expression from confusion had changed to sadness.
"I don't know." Synith said, I tried to look at her eyes, but she was looking away from me.
"You’re alone aren't you?" I asked giving up on looking in her eyes. It’s natural, the things we hide. We look away from each other to hide the secrets. But there is no hiding; you will always know what has happened. You cannot hide them from yourself; the complication of life is the mind.
"Yeah I'm alone." Synith said looking at me with tears in her eyes. "My family has been dead for a while now. I'm all alone."
"That's not what I meant. You have no one to call a friend do you." Wasn't much of a question, was more of a stated fact.
“…No I don't, I don't have any friends." Synith said looking away from me ashamed.
"Well I would guess you have a friend now. Twilight had forgiven what you did, she wanted to be friends. Trust me; she can see much more of you. Twilight knows a great deal about friendship, has studied it ever since she made her friends in Ponyville. She sees the good in you, and you just have to let go of your past." I said closing my eyes trying to clear my mind. I took in a few breaths and calmed myself.
"How can I let my past go? My father trained me to be a killer, and that’s all I know how to do. I never wanted to do any of it; I never wanted to hurt anyone. But I did any way; I found my special talent to be perfect for murder. What can a killer do in the normal world?" She asked looking at me; her eyes were puffy and moist as tears fell to the floor.
"Don't be blind you idiot." I scolded her; she looked at me with disbelief. Sitting there crying, feeling sorry for herself. "If you feel sorry for yourself and don't do anything, nothing will get better. Stop crying and start thinking clearly!"
"I hate you!" She yelled before getting up and running out. After Synith had left, Twilight's friends had burst into the room worried about her. Luckily her friends were just enough to snap her back to her old self. She was smiling and laughing again as all four of her friends was around her. It was good to see Twilight happy and safe.
"Sorry ladies, but the visiting time is over." One of the nurses said to Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.
"Bye Darling." Rarity said as she left.
"Bye, bye." Pinkie said as she bounced away.
“See y’all later." Applejack said as she left.
"Catch yah on the flip side." Rainbow said as she flew away.
"Bye girls." Twilight said with a smile.
"I'm glad to see you fine and well." I said once the room was empty besides Twilight and I.
"Oh, yeah I suppose." Twilight said quietly. "Where did Synith go?"
"My guess would have to be crying somewhere near by." I said starting to feel bad again. Take my advice; be a little easier with others. Not everyone will see what you see, be patient and be thoughtful.
"Why would she be crying?" Twilight asked looking out the window.
"Because of me." I said feeling like an idiot.
"No, it's because of me." Synith said as she entered the room.
"Synith, are you okay?" Twilight asked worried about her. If it wasn’t for her cuts, she probably would have gone to Synith and hugged her. But she was ordered to stay in bed.
"I'm fine." She said sniffling.
"So what did you decide?" I asked her getting to my hooves.
"I have decided to change. I don't want to be like my family and kill." Synith said with a smile, tears were still in her eyes. But I think they were different type of tears this time.
"Good, that is really good Synith." I said with a smile.
"Yeah, that's great." Twilight agreed, Synith went over to Twilight. The two embraced in a quick hug.
"Thanks." She said looking at me, and then back at Twilight. “Thank you for being my first two friends.”
"If you help protect Twilight, you will be forgiven for what you did at the castle. You will be free to do what you want. Sound like a deal?" I asked offering her a friendly smile.
"Deal." She said with a chuckle and a big smile.
Author's Note
I'm merging some of the chapters together to lower down on the count of them. If I continue with what I'm doing, I'll break twenty chapters. It's just easier to do it this way haha.
Section 2
Bad Things Happen
I wasn't happy that Murder had gotten away from us. I heard about him, he was insane. Enjoyed killing more than anything, he's been known to bath in the blood of his victims. He's a great assassin, and completely dangerous. I had been pacing all night in Twilight's hospital room. I've been keeping an eye on everything, listening carefully. I didn't want to take any chances or make any mistakes.
"Shouldn't you rest?" Synith asked as Twilight slept.
"Not while Murder is still after Twilight." I said looking out the window. "Really wish I had my armor."
"I was wondering about that. How come you wear a tie and a fedora when you’re a soldier?" Synith asked as she slumped down on the other bed in the room.
"I'm not a normal soldier, I wouldn't need my armor for myself, and I want it for Twilight. At least with it on her, she would be more protected." I said looking outside in the hallway.
"Why wouldn't you need it? What if you were stabbed in the chest and your heart was sliced. That armor could protect you as well." Synith said.
"I would be fine, now quiet, I need to listen." I said focusing on all the sounds around us.
"No I want to know, how could you live if your heart was cut? Why haven't you used any magic to protect Twilight?" Synith was starting to raise her voice.
"Because I'm not normal, I heal much faster. The wound I had this afternoon is now gone. I took the stitching off a while ago but left the bandage on, I don't want anyone to ask stupid questions. I don't need to use magic, now stop asking questions." I said pacing about. When we were able to leave the hospital I didn't waste time. I hurried us to the library. At least there we could barricade ourselves in. Twilight was annoyed with me; she had to let me push her all the way back in the wheel chair the hospital provided.
"I can walk from now on thank you." She said getting from the seat when we got to the library.
"Murder will come again, please stay here while I and Synith look around." I said pushing her down on the couch. I was stressed and sleep deprived. Synith flew in the high spots in the place and searched in the lower places. Twilight sat in the medical gown on the couch with an angry expression.
"Are you both done yet?" She asked after we searched around for 30 minutes.
"No sign of anything." Synith said with a sigh.
"Yeah I guess its okay." I said sitting on the floor forcing myself to stay awake.
"Okay good." Twilight said getting up and coming over to me. She slapped me, slapped me hard too.
"What was that for?" I asked confused.
"Go and sleep, you are beyond tired." She said with a stern tone.
"But..." She cut me off.
"No, go get some sleep; Synith will be here to protect me. If that Murder guy comes for me again, you'll be next to useless if you don't at least have some sleep." She was right, I've been on alert the whole time, been jumping at the tiniest sound. I got to my hooves and walked to my bed Twilight had for me. Once I had lain down I fell asleep quickly. While I slept nothing happened to Twilight or Synith, they even made me something to eat when I woke up.
"You back to your normal self?" Twilight asked when I walked into her study room. Twilight had been keeping up with her studies. It was good to see Twilight the way she was again.
"If you can even call me normal, yeah I suppose I am." I said taking a seat next to Synith.
"You are very odd." Synith said as she looked at the books around her. "Hey Twilight, what’s all the fun in reading?"
"There is so much fun in reading." Twilight said looking at Synith with a smile.
"How can you say that, everyone reads and everyone enjoys it?" I said giving Synith a confused look.
"Well I lived with a family that mostly killed. The only book I ever read was about a bunny....and it died in the end. I didn't have much of a life until I was a guard at the castle. Even there I managed to screw it up, so yeah." Synith said ashamed of herself.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I mean it's not your fault what your family does. You even tried to change what your family sent you out to be. Synith if you cooperate I can give you a chance to change your whole life." I said with a smile. She smiled back at me before she took off into the air with a big giggly grin. "I think that's a yes."
"I think so too." Twilight said with a gleeful laugh. It was quiet all through the time Twilight was studying. Synith was given a book to read, a copy of Daring Do and the Crystal Flute or something along the lines. I was able to think about my many stories I had floating around in my head. Being a guard and all that doesn’t leave much time for me to write or do anything. Well the fact that I'm right out of Basic and all that, I just jumped on the first mission that was given out. It’s a little unbelievable that my first mission was to protect someone.
"Hey, Ash you alright?" Synith asked me, I guess I must of looked odd to her. I had a frustrated look on my face, I looked at her and gave her a smile.
"I'm fine, just a little stressed. But a little stress is good." It was getting late and Twilight was starting to put things back. She had written a letter, rolled it up and stashed them with others.
"The princess has been so busy lately, and with Spike not here I can't send my letters." Twilight said explaining the letters.
"There’s quite a few of them." I said.
"I know, and I haven’t received a letter in some time. The only one that I've gotten was the one that said you were coming to Ponyville. I haven’t gotten one from my brother, mother and father, or from the princess. It's as if the whole world is on lock down with the mailing system." Twilight said looking at Synith. She had fallen asleep a little bit ago; the book she was reading had fallen of the floor with the cover facing up.
"I noticed that when we went shopping. The shops were under stocked, I wonder why that is." I asked, it was a very good question. Sometimes mail and goods would get lost, but not to an extent as the princess not sending letters. She was able to send them with the medallion she has, even if Spike wasn't here, she should still receive letters. The pegues's mailing system was usually on its top game. It just didn't make much sense.
"Yeah I notice that too." It's like all of Ponyville is cut off from the outside world.
"A bloody mess if you ask me. I'm sure something happened to throw the mailing system off course. It should be back online soon enough. I'll be able to send out a message to my unit and get some help for us. Twilight, you cannot stay here. Everyone besides your brother thought the threat you received was a joke. I was sent down here to watch, if anything happened I was supposed to send out a message. But that didn't go well as you know." I said irritated.
"You thought it was a joke... Shining Armor, he would over react wouldn't he. Honestly I took it as a joke as well. I'm well known and have always been nice, so I don't know why someone would want to kill me." Twilight said sadly.
"I don't understand it either." I said shaking my head. I looked at Synith, she was knocked out cold. I went over and picked her up, placing her on my bed I had. She looked like a little child when she was covered, rolled into a little ball.
"You changed your bandages?" Twilight asked looking at my shoulder.
"Ah, yeah. Synith made my stitching bleed so I changed them." I said nervously.
"But there so loose. Here let me fix it." Twilight said untying the knot I had in the cloth.
"No it's fine really." I said stepping away. The bandages left my body showing my shoulder. There was no sitting or blood, nothing but my black coat.
"But...what?" Twilight was confused, that’s why I was trying to hide it. I didn't want to explain why I healed so fast.
"I'm just a fast healer." I said knowing she wouldn't go for that, she was smarter than that. I couldn't believe this just happened, out of all the most careless things I had to screw something up and show Twilight I'd rather hide.
"That fast...I was told it nearly touched your heart...how in all of Equestria is that possible." Twilight said a little freaked out.
"I used...magic, yeah I used magic to heal faster. You caught me." I laughed nervously, she was too smart for me to trick her.
"There is no magic that powerful, no something else happened. I haven’t even seen you use magic, how did a cut that deep heal so fast?" She asked looking at me with confusion.
"Look Twilight...I'm not normal. I hold allot of secrets that really shouldn't be let out. I heal faster, and I can think on a deeper level than normal. When I read a book, I don't forget it. It doesn't take me long to read a book, I have a big library in my head you could say." I said with all seriousness. "Please Twilight, just forget everything. Forget I healed and forget I told you anything, okay."
"...Okay..." Twilight said unsure of herself. I could imagine that she was confused and a little freaked out.
"Well hello again." I heard someone say before a rock was thrown threw a nearby window. Synith shot up with alarm as the rock nearly hit her. "Time to die!"
"Murder!" I said before I tackled him.
"And his friends." Said a green pony when he and another white pony climbed through the window.
"Oh just great." Synith said charging at the two ponies by the window.
"Twilight, get the hell out of here." I yelled before Murder kicked me in the face, my mind was clouded for a second. He climbed from under me and went for Twilight, who was running for the stairs. Synith flew in Murder's direction and tackled him to the ground.
"Ah, bitch!" He yelled, he had a knife strapped to his flank. He kicked Synith off of him and took the knife out and wielded it like he did before.
"This is bad." I said with worry. He went over to Twilight, threating her with the blade. I panicked and was able to run at the guy.
"No get away from her!" I yelled tackling Murder. The knife slide away, Murder and I fought for control. Synith was handling the pegasus and the other green pony was chasing after Twilight. I kicked Murder away and ran after the green pony. I tackled him and we both slammed into the ground hard. The impact knocked him out, lucky for me. But Murder had jumped on me cutting me deeply. Twilight was hiding under her bed. Synith and the pegasus were flying in the air and crashing down on random spots in the room.
"I'll cut you open and see what you have!" Murder said laughing. I pushed up and made him fall forward. I grabbed his neck and squeezed as hard as I could. The knife went into my flesh again as he was losing blood to his head. I got about twenty stabs in me before he finally passed out. He pushed him off of me and tried to get to my hooves. Nope wasn't going to happen, I had taken too many cuts and I had lost a lot of blood. I laid there listening to Synith and the other pegasus fight. The next thing I knew Twilight was by my side panicking.
"Oh Celestia, what should I do?" She asked not knowing what to do. She was so smart, but to her this many cuts and blood loss would kill a normal pony. Well thankfully I wasn't normal, but sure as shit I wasn't immortal. I could die, if I wasn't normal. It also helped when I felt her touch me. Her touch sent something threw me, it gave me strength to get up and tackle the damn pegasus who was flying low to avoid Synith. My body hit the ground and thanks to my weight knocked the pony out cold.
"How is it you’re the only one hurt here?" Synith asked flying next to me.
"Because I have all the luck." I said back feeling light headed.
"We need to get you help Ashura!" Twilight said frantically.
"No, I'll be fine Twilight. I would like to tie these three up and see what they know. My mission is to protect you and find out who is doing this. That is my priority, nothing else but keeping you safe and stopping this.
"Don't be stupid!" Twilight slapped me hard across my face. Stung like a bitch I say that much, wasn't pleasant. "Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry."
"Twilight calm down." I said to her calmly putting my hoof on her shoulder and offering an encouraging smile. She smiled back, but tears were running smoothly down her face. Made me sad to see her cry. Synith started to laugh. "What?"
"You’re bleeding and have a thousand cuts and you’re having a moment. How cute!" Synith said in a high pitch voice.
"Synith can you and Twilight go in the other room while I deal with these three?" I said to her calmly.
"Good idea, I don't think Twilight should see what you’re going to do." Synith said implying I was going to abuse them to get answers. Obviously it would be her idea, but no I wasn't going to hurt them while they were defenseless.
"Yeah, right." I said before Twilight and Synith went into the other room. I tied them up so they couldn't move. I tapped Murder's head and he stirred. I tapped his head again and his eyes opened. Once he saw me he tried to attack, but the binding stopped him from doing so. "Calm down."
"And why should I do that..." He said instantly calming.
"You okay?" I asked.
"No you idiot..." He said looking away from me.
"Money is not your motive is it? I would say it's these two guys here." I said looking at Murder. The guy looked at me, his whole outlook changed. He didn't seem deranged or crazy, he looked like someone who was worried.
"How the hell would you know that?" He asked looking at me dead on.
"Not normal, I should be dead from you stabbing me. I can read things from people, you were a lot more careless with these two about." I said looking at him.
"They are my family." He muttered.
"Adopted I'd say, big brother I'm guessing?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"Yes, and the bastard threaten them...how could I not do what he said. I failed the first time and I was punished for it." He looked away from me, clearly ashamed of himself. "I was poisoned."
"What?" I asked.
"I failed and was injected with a poison, only he had a cure. I only had tonight, my brothers...they don't know. I tried so hard...I tried to get us away from my old life...after I found them." He drifted off into silence.
"You’re more of a father than anything. What's your real name?" I asked him. He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
"Polly Knife...I was a baker...before...oh Celestia forgive me." He said crying. The two ponies next to him stirred.
"Polly, I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do for you. I'm so sorry." I said to him feeling useless.
"I'm so sorry." He cried to me. "I just didn't want to see my family dead...not again..."
"Polly, I won't let that happen. I'm sorry for the poison and how you were forced into this, but I can help your brothers. They will be save in Ponyville. No one will know their here." I said looking at him, he was still crying. The two stirred again.
"Please...just help them." He pleaded to him. "I'm so sorry."
"Polly, it's alright I understand alright. No one is hurt and Twilight is still alive." I said giving him a smile.
"That mare...she is so nice. I don't..." He let out a sigh and he fell to the side. Polly Knife was dead, and that was thanks to me. I cut off his blood to his head, and when I let go it all rushed in with the poison. It killed him quicker then what it was supposed to. Shutting off his brain. About fife minuet later the two woke up.
"Murder..." The green one said looking at his brother on the ground. His eyes were still open, it made it a sure sign he was dead. "You killed him!"
"Yes and I am very sorry for that. I didn't know he was poisoned at the time." I said looking at the Pegasus and then back to the green one. The green one tackled me and punched me over and over in the face. The pegasus pulled him off, allowing me to get up and wipe the fresh blood off my face.
"You killed him! I...I...Oh Celestia." He said starting to cry.
"He went out in good faith. You didn't know he was poisoned, and he didn't tell you why or what was going on. Being your older brother you followed him without question. I'm here to tell you now, you are safe."
"Hardly likely." The pegasus said.
"I forgive him for what he did, he went out in good faith my friend." I said to the pegasus, he kind of troubled me. He had no emotion on his face, except for one. Hatred was spread out through his face.
"No, I don't forgive that asshole. He gave us nothing to go on. Said we would die if we didn't follow him. He threaten us you god damn idiot!" The green pony looked at the pegasus and backed away toward me.
"He, he protected us. He was our bigger brother." The green one said not understanding the pegasus's hatred.
"Our brother! He...he was nothing. I should have ran away from him, but I couldn't leave you. Chance I couldn't leave you." The pegasus said.
"Berry...Polly was our family...why?" Chance asked not understanding.
"Before you joined us, I was just a god damn play thing to him. He abused me god dammit...He deserved to die" Berry said angry.
"No he was our brother! He looked out for us!"
"He hardly did that and you know it Chance!"
"No I don't, and fuck you!" Chance said before running out of the room. Berry followed after them. I didn't see them after that. I sent word to Mayor Mare about Polly. His body would be sent to his closest family. One less thing to worry about, but there's always something to come after words.
"Are you alright?" Twilight asked me when she came outside. It was nearly midnight now. Twilight had a small polyester blanket on, when she should have a jacket on.
"No I'm not actually. I think I know who is after you, I'm just wondering why all these games." I said looking the stars. They were wonderful in this world. Reminds me of a loony man I know. But they also reminded me of home. "I came here to escape."
"From what?"
"Not necessarily a what, bit who. His name is Atom. He was like a brother to me, family. It pained me to see those three today. Polly was a brother who had made mistakes. We make mistakes, that's normal I suppose."
"The world is full of mistakes. It's actually what makes it go round. We learn from our mistakes and progress from our teachings." Twilight looked at me with worry. I avoided her stare.
"Sometimes there is nothing to learn from a mistake, but to only forget." I said before looking at Twilight. I gave her a small smile and began to walk inside the library.
"What do you mean Ash?" Twilight asked looking at me concerned.
"Forget so you can survive, so you don't end up killing yourself." I said giving her a smile. That was the end of that, she knew I didn’t want to talk about it. So she left it where it was. I was grateful for that, I really was. Didn’t really sleep that well though. Mind wouldn’t rest, so it was going to be a rough day. But it actually wasn’t. Twilight had planned a picnic with her friends. She was delighted to see her friends again. All of them were in Ponyville this time, and they were enjoying their time together. They had set up a picnic a little out of town. Synith and I accompanied them, not like we had a choice. It would have been nice if I could have stayed out of site, but that really didn't work. Synith was enjoying making new friends. Why do I always get surrounded by females?
"So Ashura, where were you born?" Pinkie Pie asked me excitedly.
"Well, a small town far, far away from here." I said, a secret I didn't want others knowing.
"What's it called Darling?" Rarity asked curious. All of them were curious about me, and it was embarrassing actually. I came to protect Twilight, not make friends. But it seems I'm not getting a leeway in this, I had to be friendly and answer their questions.
"Been a long time, I don't remember the name of it." I said lying through my teeth.
"Ya'll must have moved soon after your birth." Applejack said taking a bite of her sandwich.
"What's your cutie mark mean?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"Well." I really didn't get anything out before Pinkie Pie interjected.
"It's a '13'?" She pointed out confused.
"Yes it is, not just any thirteen. It was the thirteen I had drawn before I got it, when I was very young. It has different colors in it corresponding with myself. My cutie mark is me, difficult to explain really, and to some to understand. But it makes sense to me." I said feeling proud.
"Can you tell us about it?" Fluttershy asked shyly.
"Oh, we have been talking about me this whole time. How about switching the subject." I said trying to avoid any more questions. It didn't work.
"Come to think of it, you’re like a stranger to me. You haven't told me much about yourself, now's your chance." Twilight said with a sly smile.
"Yeah no kidding." Synith said agreeing with Twilight. I took in a deep breath, there was no getting past this.
"Each color is part of my mind itself. As my mind moves in different way as I see the world. I cannot exactly tell you what each color's meaning is. But to my skills and to my interest, I think my cutie mark has a lot hidden in it that I don't know about. I guess I'll have to wait, in some ways I still don't have my whole cutie mark." I said trying to explain it the best I could.
"Can you tell us more about yourself?" Twilight asked. "Not just you're cutie mark, your actual self."
"Well...I lived a life alone really. When I was young I didn't have an actual friend to really call a friend. I thought I had a friend, but he betrayed me. I made worlds you could say in writing, it was my way of escaping the real world. I was happy as I was writing, but as the times went on I found friends close and dear to me. I grew a strong connection with my family and it drove me to joining the guard. I wanted to protect my family and friends." I paused for a second. It felt good yet bad to remember this. "I wanted to do great things, be known throughout the world. But the harder I tried the more it felt like I was sinking back into being something invisible. It was only fitting actually, anywhere I went I wouldn't hardly be acknowledged. Even in Basic Training, I was a ghost."
"Sounds annoying." Synith said with a scoff.
"Sounds lonely." Pinkie said looking depressed.
"It was lonely, very lonely. There was a time where I just didn't care anymore, where it didn't matter if I died or lived. I was just a robot, a shell of my former self. Just going through the motions, I stopped writing and drawing. I stopped being who I was, but then I found something that lifted me from my dark and void depression." I said with a smile.
"What was that?" Rarity asked taking a sip of water.
"My best friend." I said with a big smile.
"Really, what was his name?" Applejack asked finishing her sandwich.
"I don't remember actually. There is a gap in my memory, it's like I can't remember anything about him specifically. His name, age, what he looks like, but I remember everything we did and all the good and bad times we had." I said feeling depressed.
"Do you know what happened?" Twilight asked grabbing a sandwich out of the basket in the middle of us.
"Someone named Atom." I said turning down Rarity offering me some salad.
"Didn't you tell me about him?" Twilight asked taking the sandwich out of its wrapping and taking a bite.
"Yes I did, and he's a very dangerous pony. If I didn't witness it myself I would have said it's impossible. But the Amulet of Alicorn increased his magic and corrupted him." The looks on their faces confused me at first.
"But Zecora has the Amulet right now." Rarity said confused herself.
"Oh yes, she probably does. But it still had an effect on him, something happened when he put the amulet on. Just as fast as he put it on, it was taken off just as fast. The next thing I knew he was terrorizing the whole town we were in. That was the day he got his cutie mark too." I really shouldn't be telling them this by, I guess it couldn't hurt.
"So it bonded with him and lingers. Is that even possible?" Synith asked looking at Twilight.
"I guess anything is possible." Twilight said before she ate the rest of her sandwich. I couldn't help but watch her eat, she was just. No, throw that shit away god dammit, I have a job to do.
"Ya'll alright sugar cube?" Applejack asked me, I must have been giving a specific facial expression. I looked at the orange furred mare.
"Yeah, just that memories suck." I said with a chuckle. The other laughed too, honestly I felt a little awkward, but everyone else seemed comfortable. Especially Synith, it was great to see her making friends. Maybe there was hope for her, maybe Atom isn't after Twilight. Just maybe I'm wrong, and if I'm not, then we are royally fucked.
Section 3
Death Is An Illusion
"I'm so tired of waiting!" I heard a voice say. It sounded like Twilight, but much darker. I looked at her and Synith. I sure as shit wasn't the only one who heard it. "I'll take care of you myself!"
"Ash, that sounds like me. What’s going on?" Twilight asked getting close to me.
"Actually, I'm unsure what’s happening, just stay calm and stay close to me. Synith, keep a keen eye." We stood there for a minute or two. I didn't want to provoke what might attack us. "Don't move."
"Be careful." Twilight warned me before I ventured into the library. But as soon as I got to the middle of the room I heard a grunt come from Synith and Twilight scream. I quickly turned to see Synith fall to the floor unconscious and bleeding. "Ashura!"
"Twilight! Synith!" I yelled about to run to them.
"Stop! Or I will kill them." I heard Twilight say, but the voice was much darker. I watched as Twilight was pinned to the ground, revealing who was really behind all this. It was Twilight herself.
"Sider." I said with rage coursing through my body. The Sider smiled at me. I looked at Synith, she was breathing, which was a good sign. "How did you manifest?"
"Recesserit a re." She said with a smile. She looked at Twilight, I had a bad feeling. Something was missing, I was missing something.
"How did you manifest!" I screamed at the Sider. Her smile dropped, but then appeared again.
"Recesserit a re." She said again.
"Hic tamen revera quomodo? Dic mihi now!" I yelled angry as all hell.
"Depression tastes so good." She said forcing Twilight up. She held Twilight's neck and licked her cheek. I stood a step toward them and the Sider frowned. "Take another step and I break her neck."
"I swear if you hurt her."
"What kill me? You'd kill me either way. Maybe you’re only feeding me. Twilight is holding a secret, oh secrets are bad." She said licking Twilight again. "She's depressed, very depressed. It's so good to taste, it really is Ashura. You use to love the taste yourself, didn't you?"
"Shut up, you don't know me!" I yelled angry.
"She has been depressed, ever since you came Glitch. Isn't that right Twilight?" She asked Twilight.
"That isn't true Ash." She said giving me a hopeless look that told me it was true. Honestly I already knew, I couldn't stop her feelings, how could I. She had to feel what she was feeling and I had to make the best of it.
"Shut up you bitch." The Sider said with a smile.
"If I was being hunted, if I had someone come into my life protecting me. Yeah, I think I'd be a little depressed about it." I said trying to think of something. If I didn't do something Synith would bleed out?
"You’re always being hunted Writer." She was right, I came here trying to escape. All I did was bring a new threat to everyone in Equestria. "I can wait till she bleeds Writer."
"Do you really think I won't find you? I'll find you just like I always do Sider, Twilight will be fine, and everything will be fine." I said walking toward them.
"You can try if you want Writer, but this time, everything will come to an end. I will take her life, and he will take yours." A cloud of darkness engulfed them. I rushed to Synith's side and looked outside. I saw a brown earth pony and a grey pegasus. "Help! Please, I need help!"
"What happened?" The brown pony ran up to me.
"She's been hurt, please help me carry her to the hospital." I pleaded, I needed to get Synith help as fast as I could. Then I needed to find that Sider and save Twilight.
"Derpy, warn the hospital." The earth pony said to the pegasus.
"Yes Doctor." She said before taking off into the sky.
"Doc, we need to hurry." I said as we got Synith on our backs.
"I agree, why do I feel like I've met you before?" He asked as we made our way to the hospital.
"Because you have Doctor, but that's for another time, time you haven't had yet." After I got Synith help I left as quickly as I could. I had to track down this Sider and save Twilight. But I had real no way of tracking them down. The only real chance I had was following them through the cloud, but I had to help Synith. Man this went to shit fast.
"It's not like you to lose your cool." I heard an old friend's voice say behind me.
"ZXex?" The guy was being dramatic I'll tell you that right now. When I turned around I saw nothing. "Of course, you never did like to actually be here. Just floating in the back of my head."
"Should I be insulted?" He asked, I looked at the sun. It was setting, it would be dark soon.
"You tell me?" I said with a chuckle. I swear my head was going to explode, I was over thinking this. I just needed to stay calm, but I couldn't. I just couldn't get myself calm.
"I remember you telling all of us that a deep breath can go a long way." He said laughing. I was always the helping one, always there to help anyone. I was the shoulder for others to lean on when they had no one else. I mended other's wounds, all of my friends. I took in a deep breath.
"Thanks ZXexian." He didn't answer back. I think I knew how to find Twilight, or better yet knew where to look. Feelings suck, they really do suck. I tried to be professional and it blew up in my face. Of course she would be depressed. Things were just getting better, that's why the Sider came. Twilight wasn't feeling depressed, the Sider had to act or she would lose power. As far as I could see, Twilight was saved and dead at the same time. "Don't worry Twi, I'll save you even if it kills me."
I headed toward the Everfree forest. I knew the place was supposed to be unnatural and evil. It would be the perfect place for a Sider to go. Dark and creepy, yep home sweet home. I was taking my time, trusting an odd feeling I had. But I found myself lost fairly quickly and easy. It got even better when a Timber wolf decided to attack me. Bet no one knew if they scratched under their chin they turn friendly and helpful. It made finding Twilight much easier, they have a keen sense of smell.
"It just had to get better, that Writer just had to make things better!"
"Actually it was her friends that really changed her mood." I said rubbing the Timber Wolf on the head. It scurried off afterword. I looked at Sider Twilight, she looked scared.
"How did you find me?" She asked concerned for her safety. She was lucky I wouldn't kill her in front of Twilight.
"Twilight's perfume was easy to track with the right nose." I said walking up to them. Twilight was tied up laying on the ground. She had a smile on her face.
"Rarity made it, it's supposed to smell like sweet raspberry." She said laughing. "Never would have figured it would save my life."
"I'll be back, I swear I'll be back. I've stored power and you know it Writer. If it's the last thing I do I will have both of your blood, I will bath in it." She said quickly vanishing in a cloud of smoke. I ran as quickly as I could, but I was too late. Once I reached her nothing was left but the darkness. I was engulfed in the darkness for a little. I felt something come over me, something I hadn't felt in the long time. I shook the disgusting thought out of my head and went over to Twilight.
"Are you alright?" She asked me. I was confused as I untied her.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I asked when she was free.
"I've been yelling at you for an hour. You were just standing there, looking off into the distance." She asked giving me a questionable face.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked wanting to make sure I was hearing her right. But she was right, the sun had changed its position in the sky.
"Yes, I'm sure about that Ash. What happened?" She asked taking a step toward me. She looked me in the eye.
"Something that hasn't happened for a very long time." I said looking away from her feeling ashamed.
"What?" She asked trying to look me in the eye again.
"Evil, something very evil." Twilight knew I was hiding something from her but she sure as shit wasn't making it easy to tell. When we got back to the library she was calm and collected. She didn't bring up the Sider or what happened. She was just silent, well almost, she said hello to everyone we passed when we got into Ponyville. It was like she was trying to pretend that everything was normal. Can't blame her really, shit was going bad quickly. But she was brave, and strong, she would be able to pull through this.
"You are so curious to me." I said to her. She stood there in the middle of the room. She looked around before she looked at me. Her looked was one of mutual feeling.
"I feel the same Ash, you’re a mystery to me. I guess we have something in common." She said with a smile. I couldn't help but smile. She started to laugh. Twilight nearly died and she was laughing, she was just amazing. Like no other creature I have ever met. She was brilliant and brave.
"Twilight, why do you trust me?" I asked her walking closer to her. I looked her in the eyes, and she held my stare. Something changed in her, something she found again that she had lost.
"Because you risked your life for mine, for Synith. I think you'd die before anything would happen to anyone. You'd do anything in your power to keep everyone safe. That's why I trust you, it took me a while to see that, but I get it now." She said with a sigh. To be completely honest, I had something for Twilight. I felt really close to her. I looked away from her and felt a little stupid.
"I do what I can Twi. I just want to help as much as I can, make a difference in this world." I said feeling regretful. "That Sider is here because of me. It's my fault you’re in danger, and for that I am sorry."
"Shut up, don't say stupid things you dummy." She said before she kissed me. She fricken kissed me, Twilight kissed me. It caught me off guard. She pulled away, and I was sure both of us were feeling little bashful. I knew I was, and the look on her face. We kissed again, that's when I felt an imminence pain go through my whole body. Twilight backed away gasping in fright. I guess anyone would have if they just saw someone in front of them get stabbed through the chest.
"Oh Celestia..." Twilight said horrified. I looked down and saw the tip of the blade sticking out of my chest. My whole body was hot. I felt light headed and couldn't stop myself from falling to the ground.
"Shit..." I felt myself black out. I may be able to heal fast and can survive some things that others would die from. Well this was a little different. This was worse, this was a blade from my origin. At this very moment I was bound to this world. I was dying.
"Didn't expect to see this blade did you?" I heard a familiar voice said. I could barely see, all I saw was a fuzz face. But I knew who it was, it was me.
"Atom..." At that moment I had died. To this world I was dead, I sat there in a black void. This was a familiar place, I saw this place before anything started. The place where I was before I was born. The Realm of Broken Reality, the gray of a black and white reality.
Twilight:
"Ashura!" I yelled as I saw the life fade from his eyes. I went to his side, his stare was fixated straight ahead. He was gone and nothing was bringing him back. I looked at the pony who had killed him. He looked just like Ashura, but with blue instead of red in his mane and his blue eyes were cold. "Why!"
"Because I felt like it. Now shut up and die." He said pulling the blade out of Ashura's body. His blood spilled onto the wood floor. I gasped in horror. He walked toward me, I backed away till I hit the wall. He smiled as he crept closer to me. I felt an immense pain as the crimson blade was dug into my body. My whole body felt like it was on fire. I felt myself fall to the ground, after that nothing. I felt cold, I saw only darkness, an eternal darkness.
"Hello?" I asked and my voice echoed. I looked around and saw nothing, just black. "What happened?"
"You’re dead." I heard someone say. I looked around and there stood not too far away was a pony who looked like Ashura. But this one had green instead of blue or red.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, I was in denial. Although who could blame me, I just died and it didn't register in my mind yet.
"I mean exactly as it sound, you’re dead. Your life is up." He said looking away from me. Something didn't register. Why were there three Ashuras? Why were they different colors? Something just didn't make sense.
"Who are you? Why do you look exactly like Ashura?" I asked walking closer to him. He took a few steps away from me.
"Please just stay where you are, it hurts to even look at you." He said looking away for a second. "I look like him because I want to, let’s leave it at that alright Miss Sparkle. To answer your question, Ashura named me ZXexian I am nothing really. At least I was nothing, but that's not important, what is important is you. You took control Miss Sparkle, and you have to help Ashura."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, he looked away again like he was sad to see me. This stallion was confusing me and also irritating.
"What brings living beings back to life?" He asked looking up. I looked up as well and saw only black.
"Gods?" I asked.
"Precisely, and love. You feel it Twi.....Miss Sparkle, so bring him back." After that he vanished and the next thing I knew I was breathing hard looking around. I was in my library, I looked at myself and didn't see any blood and or wounds. I was fine, then I looked at where Ashura was lying dead on the floor.
"Ash..." I said feeling myself cry. "What am I supposed to do?"
"You were supposed to die." I heard someone say. I looked at him and it was Ashura, but this one was blue instead of green or red.
"Why are there three of you?" I asked.
"He named me Atom. He told you about me, I'm sure of that." He said walking up to me. I backed up but I only hit the wall behind me. "You were supposed to die with him. But ZXex wouldn't let that happen would he. I hate those two so much, always has a way to get free. Death could never touch them."
"What do you want?" I asked trying to be brave.
"I want life you stupid girl. I want to live but he won't let me. If he could die then I would live. I just need you to die you god damn fucking bitch!" He yelled punching me. My mind went numb and my vision became blurry. Atom had me pinned to the wall. At first I thought I was going to be killed again. But the next thing that happened caught me off guard. He kissed me, I was shocked. I had no idea what I should have done. When he pulled away, I felt my mind come back. I pushed him away from me.
"Forget it girl. He'll come back, but it will be the last time." He said disappearing afterword. I went to Ashura's side. Why did everyone say he'd come back. Now that I even think of it, how did I come back?
"Twilight?" I heard him ask. He pushed up a little. He looked at me and his eyes were blue. When he blinked they turned red again. "What happened?"
"We...we died." I wasn't sure how to answer honestly. How could I answer, technically we were supposed to be dead. But he was breathing and so was I. "Ash, what happened?"
"You said we died right?" He asked sitting up and looking at me. His eyes flashed blue again and then back to red. I wasn't sure what to make of this.
"Yeah that's right. ZXex and Atom were very clear on that." I said, the look on his face caught me off guard for a second.
"Son of a... Twilight, who rules over death?" He asked worked up. He was scaring me honestly. I looked into his eyes, they flashed blue again and then back. What was going on with his eyes? I wasn't sure what to do, so I just answered him.
"Well, technically Luna." I said, every pony should have known that. He was acting strange.
"The living can't manage the dead. Twilight, we aren't in Equestria anymore. What did ZXex say to you?" He asked, again with his eyes, but this time they seemed to stay a little bit longer than they did before.
"He asked me what can bring the dead back to life, and I answered 'Gods.' Then he told me that love can bring them back too." I asked. His eyes didn't turn back to red this time. He looked around like he was afraid. This wasn't like him, he wasn't acting normal. I pushed him away. "Who are you?"
"Twilight? What are you talking about, it's me." He said his eyes remaining blue. He looked positively frantic. This wasn't Ashura, he was calm and collected, even when he was freaking out.
"No you’re not you, you are not Ash!" I yelled at him.
"Bah! Let me guess, it was the eyes. Never could get them to stay, hides them well that guy. Petty fool if you ask me, tries to hide himself, but when he looks in the mirror he sees his true eyes. Well Twilight Sparkle, this is where I have to go, after all this is just a dream."
Ashura:
Ugh dead again. Man it hurts dying it really dose, I swear there is no peaceful way to go out. I've been shot, I've been drowned, I've fallen off of a cliff, I've been mash, smashed, crushed, torn apart, mutilated, decapitated, bleed to death, burned alive. I could go on, but I guess I should be more worried about the guy standing near me.
"You again." Death said, I looked at my body and then turned to look at him. I started laughing, man the guy look stupid in pony form.
"You look ridiculous." I said still laughing.
"Shut up, you coming this time or not?" He asked, the guy was always business. Never could do anything but his job. I gave the guy a look that answered his question.
"How long you have?" I asked, the guy looked at his watch and looked back at me. His white glowing eyes glared at me, obviously he didn't have a lot of time to deal with me.
"A year." He said with irritation.
"Wow, you really don't have the time. You sure you don't just want to pop me back into my body, so you can go on with your business. Cause you know I'll win either way." I said giving him a snide smirk.
"Ugh, fine. I will get you someday Ashura, and you're going straight to hell." He said before he vanished.
"Hell doesn't exist you twit." I said, I felt myself getting tired. I then awoke inside of my body, no wounds or anything. I was lucky to be truthful, if Death wasn't so busy I would have had to fight him. I've only been lucky enough to ward him off, but luck can only take you so far. He is right, someday he will get me, like he gets everyone. I pushed myself off the ground and looked at Twilight. Her eyes were open, but they were missing one important thing. Her eyes were completely white, I slammed my hoof on the ground. "Dammit!"
She was trapped now, I failed. She could easily break, I did when it happened to me. Twilight was on her own for this one, all I could do was wait and hope. I got Twilight on my back, her whole body was limp. Wasn't surprised, her body was missing her soul and mind. I took her to her bed and tucked her under the covers. That was the only useful thing I could do at this point.
Twilight:
Atom disappeared, like just gone. I blinked once or twice to make sure they weren't playing tricks on me. I then found myself in a field, one that I recognized. How could I not know this place, me and my friends had picnics here? This is also where we would come and play with our pets. One question rang through my head. "How did I get here?"
"Like I said girl, this is a dream. Well maybe not a dream per-say, basically it's what your mind wants to see before you die." I looked around and saw Atom laying on a branch in a tree, he was laying like Rainbow Dash in her spot. He was laying exactly like her too, she was always in the same position every time I saw her in that tree.
"What, I can't be dead. This feels all too real, besides your here aren't you." I asked, Atom looked at me and laughed. He rolled and started to fall. He landed on all four hooves like a cat.
"Reality is just a play of the mind girl. Reality is thinner than you think, trust me. I'm only here to see you rot you stupid girl, I'm here to make sure you don't find the way back to your body. So you will die, then my little pet can kill Ash. Once that is done I will be real, and I can control everything!" He said, he was sounding much like a super villain right now. He was very vain, almost deranged. I'll defiantly have to ask Ashura about him once I see him. He seems very different then what I imagined.
"How could you control anything, you deranged idiot." Reality, the imagination is powerful. Could it really change reality? I shook the thought out of my head, that's was stupid. Atom was just trying to mess with me.
"I'm more powerful then you know girl." He said with a hard voice. I must have hit a nerve. This guy’s ego was huge, it reminded me of Trixie. "I have great power! Ashura is the only wall that is blocking my rightful path, once he is dead, I will be free!"
"Who says, if you’re so great, how come Ashura is stopping you?" I asked, the guy looked at me. He got serious, he seemed normal for a bit.
"Because he made me." Okay then, I've stepped into loonyville, and now were are strolling down crazy lane. I looked at him and his expression did not change, he seemed different then he did a few minutes ago.
"You serious?" I asked, he nodded his head. How was that even possible? This felt real, and Atom was in front of me. This wasn't making a lick of sense.
"Why would I kid about that? That doesn't even matter now, cause you will die and I will live." He said going back to his deranged side. I ran toward Ponyville. I had to get back to my body. I figured if I could find my body then I can get back inside. ZXex said I was still alive, maybe my mind and body were separated. If I could just join them, this would stop Atom. But when I entered Ponyville I found myself in the temple of the two pony sisters. I saw Nightmare moon, just like when I first met my friends.
"What?" I asked, everything was happening like it did before. My friends had ran into the room. I got up and ran, then I heard myself say, "You think you can stop..."
I ran out the door and then found myself at Applejacks barn. I looked around, this was insane, I was moving to different places in my memory. "Yes and no."
"What?" I looked around and I saw ZXex walking up to me. His green eyes seemed to glow. "This is a realm Ashura created. You have two parts of you lost here, one has to remain here and play out its role. The other, which is you needs to return to the main realm."
"I'm just going mad, please tell me I'm just crazy!" The look on his face held no joking or anything, just seriousness. None if this made sense.
"Sorry Miss Sparkle, but this is a reality. In actuality there is an infinite amount of realities, all co-existing as one. They are separate, but together at the same time. Right now you are in one that exists through memory and death. It has two zones, one of memory and the other is death. Right now a part of you is stuck in the death zone." My head was spinning, this was a lot to take it.
"I think I'm feeling sick." I said feeling nausea set up house in my stomach. "What does this have to do with my situation now?"
"In due time Miss Sparkle, everything makes sense in the end, I swear it will. Now, Atom has trapped you here, keeping you here long enough will drive Ashura to madness. See, you’re not dead, you’re just stuck. Ash has a light mental stability, losing people drives him to anger. Now I. Your condition he is losing you but also not. It will drive him to depression again. If that happens, Atom will have the power to do what he wants." He said, ZXex was wearing Ashura's Fedora. Ashura, Atom, Zxex, I get Atom is Ash's side he banishes. Like he said he's his Sider. But who was ZXex, or should I say ZXexian, which is Ashura's middle name.
"I wouldn't worry about who I am." He said, he knew what I was thinking?
"How?" I asked.
"Just don't worry about it alright." He said with a sigh. "I'm trying to help you, I shouldn't be able too, but rules can bend. Now, like you thought before. If you can find your body, you'll return to Ashura. But you have to come to fact with your worse fear. It is stowed away with the memories you don't want to remember, your regrets, anger, depression, anything bad. To put it bluntly, you have to take on your Sider."
"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked, the scene around us changed, we were in the Everfree Forest.
"Nah, you’re in your mind you can't get hurt here." He said, wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or what. "At least, think that and hope it’s true."
"Well that makes me feel better." I said looking around. "Wait, I think I remember this. Yeah, this is when I was turned to stone."
"Sounds pleasant." ZXex said sarcastically.
"I have to find my regrets, fine, let’s go." I said walking into the woods. I then found myself in Magic Kindergarten. "This place brought back great memories."
"Little ones." ZXex said sounding really sad. I looked at him, he looked like he was about to cry. "What? Go on, look to see if your here."
"Okay then." I felt ZXex's eyes on me, there was something really odd about him. I looked at where I was sitting, I was at my desk drawing in a coloring book. Then the bullies came. "We are close, I think at least."
"Try the door." I went to the classroom door and opened it. I found myself in a classroom. One from my teen years. I was sitting at my desk studying. "This don't look so bad."
"If we stayed long enough..." I went through another door and found myself in the class hall. Celestia had wanted me to spend a month in a normal school. To make friends and meet other. It didn't go over well.
"Get her!" I was being chased through the halls by some bullies. I was the nerd, and was always picked on. Kind of one of the reasons I didn't have any friends.
"I think I know where I need to go." I said, I went through another door and found myself in the school's courtyard. I looked away from what I saw. I was yelling at someone. Her named was Sugar Bell. He liked me, and was probably my only friend I ever had besides maybe Spike or my brother. I stormed off, and he stood there with tears in his eyes.
"The boy?" ZXex asked.
"He was my only friend in school. I was yelling at him because I had a very bad day. He didn't deserve it, I was young and stupid. It's all my fault." I said feeling guilty. I wanted to cry, but I kept following him. He was mocking me, complaining, and making valid points. He had always helped me. I was so cruel to him.
"I think I know where this is going." ZXex said sounding quite depressed. He walked into his house, we followed close by. I was feeling regret and anger. Sugar Bell was still complaining and yelling, he was getting madder and madder. Sugar Bell had killed himself that night. His mother had found him, bleed himself dry. I watched helplessly as he cut himself over and over, deeper with ever cut.
"I love movies like this." Atom said. I looked at him, and he was smiling. I looked at ZXex, who was watching. Sadness was all over his face.
"I got a message, telling me Sugar Bell had committed suicide. I told the princess, she comforted me. We attended his funeral. His mother and father had blamed me. It was my fault, in a way, I murdered my friend." I felt tears lightly forming in my eyes. I looked a ZXex, he looked like a wreck.
"I can take this away girl, all this regret can go away. Just walk away." Atom said. I looked at him, it was a tempting offer, but I wasn't a fool. I took in a deep breath and walked toward Sugar Bell. He was dead just yet, his breathing was rapid and his eyes were moving wild.
"I'm sorry." I said as I felt his blood pool at my hooves. I felt warmth come over me. I felt tired and couldn't keep myself up. I saw black, and I started to feel extremely cold.
Ashura:
I felt myself going nuts. Twilight was still in that coma. I was afraid she'd never make it out of there. I was passing in the main entrance, when Synith came crashing through the door.
"What the hell? Synith, what are you doing here. You should be resting." She looked at me with anger.
"No! I want to kill that bitch, fucking stabbing me from behind! It's pathetic and cowardly!" She was pissed, that was clear as day. Once she looked at my condition her anger vanished.
"What happened?" She asked forgetting about Sider Twilight.
"I got her back...but not all of her." I said leading her to Twilight's room. Twilight was tossing and turning like she was having a night terror. I closed the door. "I'm not sure she'll make it out."
"What do you mean?" Synith asked looking worried. I looked at her with remorse. I felt old, sad, and angry, ugh it was working. Atom was trying to work it, but I'm not stupid, no matter how I feel. He won't be free.
"She is stuck in the in-between, death hasn’t taken her yet and she isn't alive. It difficult to explain, her body is well and okay. But her mind is somewhere else. She has a grab on her body, but she could slip at any given moment." I said looking at the door. That happened to me once, the first time I died actually. Death wasn't happy, hasn't been happy since he met me. Life is absolute, it always fights. I fought death and won. But my time will come, everyone's time comes.
"Is there anything we can do?" She asked, I looked at her. She was bleeding through her bandages. Obviously she left abruptly in the hospital. Wouldn't doubt if we had people from the hospital dropping by to take her back.
"Make sure you don't die for one. You need to be more careful." I said leading her away from Twilight's room. She followed willingly. "Take off the bandage, I'm going to have to replace the stitching."
"Alright." She said taking a seat. Synith took of the bandages and I was able to see the cut she had. Ever stitch had been broken. "It hurts."
"Probably, you had must have had a lot of adrenaline going through you." I got the first aid kit, got out the cleaning alcohol. "Hold still, this is going to sting."
I cleaned the wound with the liquid. Synith clenched her teeth and moaned in pain. I took the thread and needle and carefully stuck into her skin. She was doing a great job at holding still. The stitching didn't take long. "There, now don't move around too much, or you’re going back to the hospital."
"Alright." She said calmly, she was probably a little out of it thanks to the pain. I started to wrap the sittings in gauze. Once that was done Synith laid down on the hard wood. "I feel light headed."
"That's what happens when you freak out like that. You need to be careful Hun." I said putting the first aid kit away, it wasn't much of a first aid kit, more like a small portable doctor's office. What could I say, I tried to be prepared for anything, well almost anything.
"Can I ask you a question?" She asked, I continued to pace like I was before.
"You just did." I said with a chuckle.
"No I'm serious." She said the life coming back to her.
"Of course, shoot." I said still making my rounds.
"How come you can heal so fast, and know about all this?" She asked calmly.
"That's two questions Hun. I heal fast because I'm suppose to be dead, and I know what's going on because I created it and it happened to me." I said feeling guilt flush over me.
"What do you mean dead, and created. Please make some sense Ashura." She said with a little irritating in her voice. I sighed and stopped pacing. I went over to her and sat on the ground just in front of her.
"Reality is thin, I'm a writer. I made a story about Siders, and it came true. Now there is reason it came to reality, and that is because it was based on truth. Life, life is absolute. Life will always fight, death cannot stop it all together. He can only hinder it. I died and I fought off Death. I was lucky to have won." I said feeling all the memories flush back to me. "Its punishment, I'm being punished Synith. Because I know who or should I say what I'll become. The day I truly die, it's nothing I'd ever wish on anyone ever."
"Who is punishing you?" She asked, I looked in a different direction. Not because I saw something, I was just staring off into space.
"I am. I don't understand it myself. I created worlds by accidents, brought things to life. For a split second, I created, I became a god. But I have to live with it, I have to control it. I'm no god, I have powers only to help myself in this battle. But it's a losing battle. How can you make everyone feel happy and good forever? Disasters always happen, everyone feels sad, regret, anger, etc. It opens a door for Siders. They cause it, they are beings of chaos. Chaos within the heart, they can make you feel worse if you’re not strong enough to fight it. Not many are strong to fight it off all the time." I felt tired.
"You’re fighting them, you’re fighting off the bad feelings all the time aren't you?" She got it, bingo, jackpot, yazee.
"Yeah, it's hard Synith. Usually they keep only to me. But for some reason they have been getting stronger, I fear soon some will take control of their counterparts. For once Synith I'm afraid." Synith didn't say anything after that. I was sure she didn't know what to think. I then found myself running into Twilight's room. She was screaming, like she was in terrible pain. I went to her bedside. Her eyes were open, and her true eyes were back.
Author's Note
Just a quick note, that gibberish at the beginning is Latin.
Section 4
Broken Reality
Twilight:
I couldn't breathe, it felt like something was around my neck. I thrashed about trying to get whatever it was that was choking me. I was restrained; all I saw was black. I still couldn't breathe; I was sure I was going to die. But then I heard something in my ear. It was like a faint whisper. "I'm here, its okay."
"What?" I asked feeling myself calm. I looked around and saw only darkness.
"I'm here, its okay." The whisper said again. It seemed to echo around me. It was a soothing hard voice, one that was familiar. It was my father's voice; when I was young my father would say that to me. It was hard for me, the life I was given. A hard challenged life, always moving, never stopping. My father would tell me that he was there for me and it was all going to be okay. 'I'm here, its okay Twilight. I won't let anything hurt you.'
"I'm here, its okay Twilight. I won't let anything hurt you." The whisper said, it wasn't my father. I realized it was Ashura, he was whispering in my ear. I looked around and saw a bright spot of light. I felt what was restraining me, lift from my body. The light soon engulfed my eyes. A picture started to appear, the darkness was fading and so was the bright light. The next thing I knew, I was looking at a bandaged mare and a worried sick stallion. "I'm here, its okay."
"Ash?" I asked feeling light headed.
"Hold it, don't move." Ash said stopping me from moving.
"What happened?" I asked looking at him; it was good to see him. I felt safer now than I ever did my whole life; my father was the only one to make me feel like this. Well I guess he was the only one to make me feel like this.
"To put it bluntly, you died." He said looking at Synith, who looked unsure of the situation.
"I remember Atom, he—he killed us." I said feeling sick. I couldn't hold back the bile that forced itself into my throat. Ashura had grabbed a nearby trash can, and held it to me. As I threw up into the can, Ash was rubbing my back.
"Atom didn't kill us. That's the power of a powerful Sider." He said taking the trash can away. I looked at him with disbelief.
"Who are you Ashura?" I asked, he wasn't wearing his fedora. His mane was a mess, like he was rubbing through it nervously. His eyes looked so old. He was looking at me, looking ashamed of himself.
"Like I said, I'm an artist and a writer." I gasped when his eyes flashed blue. He rubbed his mane, making it less of a mess. Ash couldn't look me in the eye. But, I still could see them, his eyes were still blue. Just like Atom's eyes were, same shade and everything.
"Do you wear contacts or something?" Synith asked confused. He looked at her, his eyes were red again. When he blinked, they were green.
"A tortured soul, holding secrets. The first day we met." He blinked again, and his eyes were black. Pupils white, black irises. "I created a world. It wasn't on purpose, but I was real."
"You made the Siders?" I asked looking at Synith; whom looked at me with confusion.
"In a way, yes. Words are powerful, creating reality on paper." His eyes returned to normal. That dark crimson, eyes that held so much.
"So, you're saying our reality is a storybook, for someone to read. That we live on paper, words telling our lives. That's how we live, someone has to read it, to make it reality." Synith asked looking so confused. It was clear she was starting to get a headache. She probably was uneasy from not resting at the hospital. I saw that her wound was bleeding.
"Not exactly, everything is a story being told. Your life is a book that is being told. No matter how you look at it, everything is and has a story. A book or story is an extension of reality. Reality is thin; imagination is the key to make reality. To see the words that weave reality together; it is a blessing within a curse." He said messing up his mane again. He looked so tired, not tired as in needed sleep. Tired as in old, he looked so old.
"How come you never rest Ash, you let yourself do this to yourself, why not rest for once. Take a break from it all, let someone else take the burden for a while. It would be good for you.” I said trying to cheerful. He looked at me like I was insane. I recoiled back, wasn’t really expecting him to look at me like that.
“You’re kidding right? I couldn’t do that to someone. How could I do that to someone? It is my burden to bear. I cannot do that to someone, I couldn’t do that to anyone.” He said with all seriousness. I felt bad, I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t take that burden off of him, he wouldn’t let anyone have it, even for a little.
“Then let me help you.” I said looking at him. He looked at me shocked. I bet he never expected to hear that from someone. I saw tears in his eyes. I was confused, why would he be crying.
“That’s why I can’t remember my best friend. He helped me, and now he is gone.” He said closing his eyes. The tears burned his eyes as they fell to the ground. He rubbed them off and on, he soon left the room in a quick huff.
“Ash?” Synith asked, she was just as confused as we were left in the room together. “What just happened?”
“I’m not quite sure what just happened. I was only trying to help.” I said trying to get out of bed. Synith pushed me back down on the bed.
“You need to rest, we don’t need any more harm to come to anyone. It’s finally peaceful, let’s catch our breath, so we can handle what will happen next. Because at this point, I’m scared Twilight, I really am.” Synith looked at me worried. She certainly has changed hasn’t she?
“Alright, but you have to rest too. I don’t want to sit in bed alone.” I said giving Synith a small smile. She smiled at me and called into bed with me. “Not what I meant, but okay.”
“Ash’s humor, I bet if you said that to him, he would have done the exact same thing.” Synith had lain down, resting her head on my pillow. I set myself and turned on my side, mirroring her. It was peaceful, it really was for once. We looked into each other’s eyes for a bit, then Synith let out a light sigh.
“Just get comfortable?” I asked with a chuckle. She probably felt awkward. Ashura and I were her first friends. How could someone go without friends? Although, how could I even say that. For a good majority of my life, I had no friends. I isolated myself from everyone, except for Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, Mom and Dad. Those four where the only ones that were close to me for the first part of my life. Now I can’t even imagine being without my friends.
“It’s hard, everything is so hard Twilight. Why does it have to be so hard?” Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. They soon made their way down her face, soon soaking into my sheets. I pulled her close to me and hugged her.
“If life was simple, what would be the point in living? We would get bored with our lives, we really would. We all need something to cling too. To make a drive on and push through it all. But this, this is overwhelming. How can Ashura even stand it?” I asked hugging her tighter. The act was mirrored by her. It felt reassuring that she was here for me, and that I was here for her. I just wish I could help Ash.
Ashura:
I was kicking myself right now. I let my emotions get to me, how I could I do that. Dammit, I came here to get away, but I brought it with me. All the troubles will never go away, why I can’t just escape what I have been given. My eyes burned as the tears continued to rise. I rubbed them, it really hurt to cry.
“You alright?” I heard Twilight ask me. The tears were starting to stop, until I saw her. I turned away from her, feeling ashamed for her seeing me. I just wanted to do my job, protect Twilight and then get the hell out. I wasn’t expecting this, why did this happen?
“No, I’m not alright Twilight. I just wanted out; I’m so stupid for it too. There is no getting out of it, I’m stuck in this forsaken problem.” I said rubbing my head. My mane was a complete mess, my eyes were red from the crying and me rubbing them raw. She came up to me and tried to comfort me. But the best thing she could think of was hugging me. It was enough to calm myself down. I hugged her close, tight and close. I felt safe with her.
“I think it’ll be okay Ash. Everything will be fine, trust me. I promise you, everything will be alright.” She said looking into my eyes. Her brilliant violet eyes sparkled with life. I couldn’t help but lean in, we killed softly. Made me feel much better, with her; I just felt complete.
“You sound like me.” I said with a chuckle. She pushed me a little, giving off a small laugh herself. The tears had vanished from my eyes completely. I finally had a smile on his face. “Where is Synith?”
“She fell asleep in my bed. I left her be, she needs to rest.” She said with a sigh. Everything was still for once. Everything was going to be fine.
“Well isn’t that nice. But I’m not done yet!” We heard Atoms voice. Simultaneously turning in his direction. His green eyes burned into me.
“No, that isn’t possible. How did you manifest?” I asked shocked. This didn’t make sense; he wasn’t "able to become real, unless I died in the torture. He had a large grin on his face. I ran at him, the only thing I could think of was to kill him. I tackled him and pinned him to the wall.
“You can thanks Rose for that.” He said with a grunt after he was smashed into the wall. He pushed at me, but I wasn’t going to give in so easily. If it was possible I’d end it here and now. But that wasn’t really do-able unless I had another arm to use. He was trying to trip me up on my back hooves.
“Who is Rose?” I asked head butting him. Everything went fuzzy for a little bit. When my head cleared I head-butted him again. I should have just stuck with the first one, because the second one sent me in a wild spin inside my head. Atom had a free chance to trip me up, and he took it gladly. I was slammed on the ground; getting the breath knocked out of me. “Son of a…”
“Only one head-butt you’re supposed to use Ash.” Atom said with a laugh. He kicked me in the side, making my stomach turn. I couldn’t help but cough. I was helpless, and it was my own damn fault.
“Stop!” I heard Twilight scream. The next thing I saw was her tackling Atom. Atom was taken surprise, but when he realized what happened; he reacted quickly. He punched Twilight across the face with his hoof. She fell to ground, but she was strong; she forced herself to her hooves. By this time, I had gotten my breath and mind back. Atom was focused on Twilight, which was a huge mistake. I tackled him again and forced him into a bookshelf. The books shook madly and gravity took its course. The bookshelf and books came crashing down on him. Atom let out a scream before he was crushed under the weight of the many books.
“What the hell is going on?” I heard Synith ask as she walked into the room. She winced in pain from her stitching breaking. She must have gotten out of bed to fast. She looked at us and then at the pile of books. “Study session?”
“Not exactly, but kind of.” Twilight said laughing. I went to her and kissed where she had been punched from Atom.
“I’m not done yet!” Atom yelled at the top of his lungs as he burst out of the book pile. I ran over to him and forced him to the ground. I couldn’t hold him, for some reason he was much stronger than he was moments before.
“Dammit.” I said as I was bucked away from him. I pushed myself up and looked at him. His eyes, they were not green or even Sider black. They were pitch black, and they were bleeding blood. No, this couldn’t be happening.
“This reality is mine!” A gust of black energy burst out of him. I couldn’t get myself to move, I was stunned; I just couldn’t believe this happened, that this was actually happening. The next thing I saw was Twilight running into the darkness. At that moment I was able to get to my hooves. I was too late, I watched helplessly as Twilight disappeared in the darkness.
“Nonononononon. No!” I screamed pounding into the ground as hard as I could. This can’t be happening. “Twilight!”
“What just happened?” Synith asked walking up to me. I didn’t hear her, this wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was possible, but it happened. How could this happen? “Ashura, what the fuck happened?”
“She…Twilight…she’s…she’s dead.”
The End Is Just The Beginning
Section 5
The End Is Just The Beginning
Twilight:
I never thought anything like this would ever happen. How could things happen like this? It didn’t make sense. Why did my life get threatened? Why did all of this happen, was it fate? What caused all of this? Why did I meet Ashura, why him; who or what could have caused all of this? Stories and books, all just words; they were just words right? So why am I seeing them now, what Ash said. The words that weave reality together, why do I see words.
I felt myself falling. I was falling, but it wasn’t a frightful fall. It was peaceful; is this what dying is like? If so, why am I falling? Am I going to hell, I thought I was good. I wanted everything to be good, I just wanted things to go right. I always though I did the right things, so why am I falling? Did my intentions pave my road to hell? But if I was falling into hell, why do I feel peaceful. I saw nothing above me or below me. I was just falling, falling and falling. My eyes started to burn, I was crying. Why was I crying? I didn’t understand, I felt so at peace. But why was I crying.
I watched as my tears were left behind. Little droplets of tears, being left behind. I was sad, miserable and depressed. But I felt peaceful, how could I feel horrible and good at the same time? I closed my eyes and felt everything around me. This place was empty, there was nothing here. It was peaceful, but I felt sorrowful and angry. An entire world where nothing exists, only emotion, the only thing here is emotions. You feel nothing but emotions; sadness, anger, joy, bliss, etc. A blank and broken world.
This wasn’t death, but if it wasn’t death. Where was I? How could I be inside of a world that doesn’t exist? A world that is the heart of everything, how could I be here? Does this mean I don’t exist anymore, maybe this is what death is? When you die, do you come to the center of it all; becoming nothing? If so, what is the point of life? I felt angry and hopeless. So lost, I didn’t feel cold, I didn’t feel anything really.
I watched the darkness above me go nowhere. I was falling, but I wasn’t as well. I looked around, in hopes of seeing something, but all I saw was an eternal darkness. I felt myself stop, when I did I was afraid. I wasn’t sure what was happening. I looked around franticly. Oh Celestia, what the hell was going on? I felt my hooves lay on what felt like ground. I looked and I didn’t see anything below me. But it felt like I was standing on grass, it felt like I was standing on a grassy field in the middle of a clear night.
“You really are stupid you know that Miss Sparkle.” I heard ZXex’s voice. I turned in his direction. He looked upset. He looked like Ashura, and I don’t mean like physically, he looked old. The same look Ashura had looked when I woke up.
“What is this place?” I asked still feeling the same when I was falling. I looked around me again and the only thing that was here was ZXex and I. There were no buildings or anything, not even the words I saw before.
“It’s where I was born, where Ash will go when his time is up.” He said looking at me. ZXex had a fedora on, not just any fedora, it was Ashura’s fedora. “I haven’t worn this in millennia.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked feeling tired.
“Ashura thinks he knows everything, but in fact he just guesses majority of the time. He is good at thinking quick on the spot and getting out of jams, but his luck won’t run forever. He will come here.” ZXex said taking off the hat. He looked at it like it was an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Could ZXex really be older then millennia? It didn’t seem possible, although. Compared to what has been happening this week, it didn’t come to much of a surprise.
“Where is this going ZXex?” He looked at me; putting on the fedora he smiled at me. Walked up to me, staring me in the eyes the whole way of his short walk toward me. I didn’t move, was unsure of what he was going to do. But I trusted ZXex, he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Ashura ZXexian Glitch, is me. He will become me when his number is up, I am his death and his hell. Living throughout the world, seeing everything live and die. Knowing what can, might, should, and will happen. Realities needle, it always needs to be replaced at some point. Doomed to repeat what has been given.” His eyes were haunting.
“Repeating?” I heard myself say.
“Ashura lives an infinite amount of lives. Only to become something that cannot die, that can only be renewed. I watch him, being born and living his life. Always trying to escape his fate. He doesn’t believe in it, even though he knows what will happen in the end, that no matter what he does his fate is me.” ZXex said backing up.
“Why him?” I asked, it didn’t seem fare. Why would someone get this placed over their head?
“Because he created the Siders. He made them a reality, in doing so he broke reality. He is the thread and I am the needle. Together we make reality as it is, sounds less bad than it actually is. Trust me on that Miss Sparkle.” He said turning away from me. He made a wide distance from me. Leaving a large gap.
“So where am I exactly?” I asked looking around. When I looked back at him, he was standing just a few inches from me. It made me jump and fall on my butt. I was confused, especially when his lips and mine touched. I didn’t slap him, or push him away, or anything. I got swept up in the heat of it. It was true, this was Ashura. That kiss, only Ash could do that, and even now I wasn’t sure how he had that effect on me.
“Go back home Miss Sparkle, it hurts to see you.” He said breaking the kiss. I almost didn’t hear him, I was still a little dazed from the bliss I was feeling. The next thing I knew I was standing in Canterlot, in the castle. When I came back to reality and realized where I was, I went out to find the princess. It was a bit difficult to find her. But when I did, I explained to her about everything that was going on. She believed me, which was a good sign.
“Twily!” My big brother said as he entered the room. We were in my old courters in the castle. All the book shelves were empty, the place felt empty. It felt less empty when my brother and I embraced in a hug. When he tried to pull away, I didn’t let him go. “You okay Twilight?”
I stopped hugging him and smiled at him. I started to chuckle, which soon turned into a laughter. Shining Armor was looking at me like I lost my mind. “I couldn’t be any better.”
“What’s gotten into you Twilight?” Shining Armor asked confused. I looked at him with a smile. I felt so alive, I never felt this alive before. What else could I do but smile and laugh. I faced even more danger than I ever had in my whole life. I made new friends, I even kissed a boy.
“Life Shining Armor, life has gotten into me.” Within a few hours Ash and Synith had arrived in Canterlot. Celestia had sent the pegasus’s carriage to get them. If I showed up in Canterlot, I was certain that Atom would be here too. When Ashura saw me, he ran up to me and hugged me tight. Tight enough to cut off my breathing. I didn’t mind, mostly because he let go after he realized what he was doing.
“What happened?” Shining Armor asked looking at Ash suspiciously.
“Easy bro, if it wasn’t for him I would have been dead. You’d probably do the exact same thing if you saw what he saw.” I said looking at my brother sternly. He was going all protective brother on me, and just the same leader of the royal guard.
“My apologize sir. Been a rough week?” Ash said taking off his fedora and straightened his messed up mane. He was out of uniform and was probably walking on a fine line. But given the circumstances he let it slide.
“What exactly has been going on?” Shining Armor asked.
“Yes, please do explain.” The princess said walking into the room. Princess Luna following close by.
“Well…I don’t…” Ash said trying to put the words together.
“We have a very powerful Unicorn threating life as we know it. Not sure what his exact plan is, but we know for certain he is going to attack Canterlot.” I said for Ash. We didn’t need for anymore to know about Siders. Now I know why Ash tried to hide it all. A huge burden to bear, but he was strong, and so was I.
“How do we handle him?” The Princess said.
“Like any other threat to Canterlot, we take it out.” Shining Armor said getting into action. He walked out of the room, but he still could be heard from the other side of the door. He was barking orders for the guards to set up for an attack.
“Ashura, please explain to me what is going on.” The princess said to Ash. Ashura looked at me with uncertainty. I smiled at him and nodded. He looked at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
“Siders are beings of pure emotion, they don’t truly exist inside of this plane of existence. They are copies of everything that gives us our feelings of pain, sorrow, happiness, joy, etc. We need them just as much as they need us. They are tortured elements of emotion, only knowing the torture of what we don’t feel. If you feel happy, your Sider is feeling bad. Same goes for negative emotions, they feel happy you feel miserable. But it’s a one way street, they cannot make you feel bad every second. They influence your mind, trying to make you feel the way they want you too.” Ash said stopping for a second for everyone to catch up.
“How can one be here if it can’t exist here?” The princess asked, this was a first. The princess asking questions, usually she had all the answers.
“It’s my Sider, I created them. I’m not sure how he got out, but for some reason he exist as of right now.” He said looking at me worried.
“How can that be possible?” Celestia asked uncertain of what she was hearing.
“He said something about thanking Rose. I don’t know what he meant by that, I don’t know anyone by the name of Rose or any object that could help a Sider live.” At that moment the look on Luna’s face worried me. She soon left hurriedly, saying she would check on the guards.
“How can a unicorn like you, create an entire entity like this? I nor my sister could pull that off, even combining our power.” Princess Celestia said looking at Ash with uncertainty.
“It’s because I’m not truly from this world. I wasn’t born here, I came here trying to escape from all of this. But it followed, Atom needs me to live. He would follow me to hell and back.” Ash said putting on is fedora. He looked different, he looked stronger than the last time I saw him. “For that I am sorry.”
“Don’t blame yourself Ash. Everything is never at fault of what is given to us in life. We can only live and make the best choices we can. We will pull through this, because if what you say is true. Then this darkness will be vanquished.” The princess looked to me and smiled. She knew what to do, she knew what had to be done, and I think I knew as well.
“What brings someone back to life?” I asked looking at Ashura. He looked at me with confusion.
“Gods and death?” He asked really confused. I couldn’t help but laugh. The next thing we knew the whole place was shaking. Soon we were engulfed in a cloud of darkness. I could hear laughter, laughter from a maniac. Atom showed his ugly mug, along with my Sider. The guy didn’t stall, he attacked as soon as he appeared. The guy was using large tentacles made of black smoke to attack us. He wasn’t very good with them, had a hard time hitting us.
“Die-die-die-die!” Atom said lashing his tentacles around. He had knocked the princess out cold. Ashura and I went to her side. Atom gave up with the tentacles, they retracted back into him. Disappearing completely, I was able to see Atom’s face, his eyes were pitch red with black dots. I ran to the princess’s side. Ashura stood his ground. A dark aura was surrounding Atom, and when I looked at Ash. He had an aura around him too, one that resonated black and red.
“Stop this Atom! You’re going over the top, you will not come back from this! Your only helping him, please I beg of you stop, you know what will happen!” Ashura shouted to the deranged dark entity that was Atom. Atom seemed to ponder this, but he was soon laughing like a maniac.
“I don’t care! I exist, and I have power over all; this reality will be mine Chase! This world is mine, all of them are mine!” Ashura’s eyes became the same as Atom’s. He bowed his head, he had tears in his eyes.
“I left that life, I guess he will get what he wants this time. Next time it won’t come to this!” Ashura said running at Atom. The guy smiled and ran at him too. When they clashed everything became a blur. A huge explosion of power erupted in the room. I could have sworn a nuke had gone off.
“Please, help me!” I looked up and saw my Sider begging for help. She was had been standing where Atom was, she couldn’t move and she looked quite afraid. “Please!”
“Hold on!” I said before I left the Princess’s side. I quickly went over to her, wasn’t sure what to expect. Surly didn’t expect her to beg me to help her.
“Please, help.” She was crying. Everything was confusing. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I looked at the fight that was going on. It looked still, like nothing was happening, but it was also like looking into a still explosion.
“How?” I asked looking at her. She didn’t look like she did before, she looked like me. This wasn’t making sense.
“Hug me, please!” She pleaded with thick tears. I was hesitant, but when I did, I felt warmth spread throughout my body. My eyes had been closed, I fell forward. She disappeared, I was slightly confused until I noticed there was an aura surrounding me. She didn’t disappear, she was inside of me.
“Everything happens for a reason, I make it all happen because that is how it is supposed to be. He is the thread and I am the needle. I lead the thread to where it is supposed to go, I make reality and have everything happen because that is how it should be.” Everything was still. I looked around for the voice that I was hearing. It was ZXex, he was wearing a black trench coat with a different fedora. He had on a dress shirt and a tie. He looked like he was dressed for a funeral. “But you, you’re something new.”
“What are you talking about ZXex?” I asked as he walked up to me. Everything had stopped, like time had stopped. I looked at Ashura and Atom, the two were butting heads, frozen in time. “How is this possible?”
“Because of you, you stopped everything. You’re more of a part of this than you think Twilight.” He said turning away from me. “There are three things for the metaphor Ash and I use. He knows it very well, and why shouldn’t he, he made the metaphor. He has lived through it all time and time again. Funny really, yet also sad and tormenting.”
“ZXex, please make some sense.” I pleaded to him. He turned and looked at me with a smile.
“There is the thread, the needle, and the beautiful woman to hold them both. Twilight Sparkle, you are the one that weaves reality together. You make it all happen, this is your life and it is your future.” He said with a slight smile. The look he was giving me, was like a fathers look.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked feeling odd.
“Because this is the end. To be true fully honest, I am sad and happy.” He said walking away.
“Why?” I asked, he stopped and turned his head to look at me.
“Because in ten years I will see a new born baby. But I will also see death. This is farewell Twilight, you may see me again. So for now, I bid thee adieu.” ZXex said before he vanished. After he was gone I looked at Ashura and Atom. Time started up again, I walked toward the two. The two of them stopped in their tracks. It was weird, but it felt right. I walked up to Ashura, his eyes were still red and black.
“Twilight?” He was taken surprise when I hugged him. Atom was looking confused, but he didn’t do anything. I looked up at the idiot and kissed him. At first he was confused, but he soon gave into the kiss. Once we broke apart, his eyes were back to normal. “You’re brilliant you know that, I guess that means you just saw ZXex?”
I shook my head and smiled at him. Atom was screaming, he soon feel to the ground and was turned into a black puddle. “No! This isn’t right, this can’t be happening! Please, no-no!” The guy’s dislocated voice screamed.
“Everything is better this way, right?” I asked looking at Ash. He hugged me and we kissed again. Everything felt right, everything felt good.
Ashura:
A few days had passed since Atom went back to the Realm of Broken Reality. I had moved to Ponyville and was now living with my new Mare-friend Twilight. I couldn’t be happier. Synith was now part of the royal guard, she was content with her life now. It was a little hard getting used to having a schedule every day, but it soon was easy to keep up with Twilight. She was predictable, basically every morning I would look at her log book and see what she had planned for the day.
“Things went as they should have Ash, why didn’t you change it?” ZXexian asked, I looked at him in the mirror.
“Did you really expect me to leave Twilight? I will find another way to change things ZXex, I will not become what you are.” I said turning to look at him.
“There is more than you know Ashura, trust me, everything is supposed to be as it should be. There is no changing it, not even for a writer of reality.” With that, the guy was gone. I sighed and looked back in the mirror.
“Ready to go to lunch?” Twilight asked coming down from upstairs. She was wearing a dress Rarity and herself designed, well mostly Rarity. Twilight wasn’t very creative. She was skeptical of it at first, but once she showed it to me that was the end of that. She also talked me into wearing something nice looking too. Didn’t really object, sort of liked wearing dress outfits. Did take a little doing for her to let me wear my blood splattered tie. The thing was awesome, was made out of polyester and felt so nice. Looked nice too.
“We have an hour or two to spare.” I said looking in the mirror. We were going to lunch with the Princesses, so we were in Twilight’s old place in Canterlot. She had her hair up in a ponytail and looked utterly beautiful if you asked me.
“Why were you telling me to get ready to quick then?” She asked looking at me suspiciously.
“Because I love seeing you in that dress, and with your hair up.” I said smiling at her. I walked over to her and she punched me. “Ouch, that hurts. That is also something I would do.”
“Shush.” She said chuckling. I kissed her and the act was returned. Things got a little hot and soon the clothes were off. With that I will end this, don’t need to go into detail on what happened next. Just use your imagination.
