Heart broken *edited*

Simon’s words were slow and his voice was ragged as if he hadn't spoken in ages. However,Twilight was only shocked at how Simon could not know who she was. She was about to answer but before she could utter a word an excited voice came from behind her.

“Oh-oh-oh I know, that's Twilight.” Twilight whirled around to find six large glass tubes, each one bathed in a different color of light. Most were broken and empty, save one bathed in yellow, with another Simon inside, wearing the same large smile that she has seen many times.

“She's been helping take care of us the last couple of weeks.” He seemed to speak fondly of the purple unicorn, yet there was something off about him, though what is was none could say.

Twilight didn’t care however, running up to the tube, using it as a stand to hold herself on her hind legs and look directly into Simon’s eyes. She was about to ask again about what was going on when she heard the ragged voice start laughing.

“I guess I should thank you little unicorn.” Twilight turned around to the Simon being held on his knees.

“What is this place?” Twilight finally asked approaching Simon, on guard for whatever may come.

Simon opened his mouth to answer when he went wide-eyed and looked to his right. Twilight followed his gaze and found there was a large box bathed in red light.

“Run.” Twilight heard the ragged voice say. She wanted to ask why but when she looked back Simon was gone. A loud, sudden explosion caused Twilight to panic as she looked around all the glass tubes, all empty with no signs of Simon. She had little time to think about this however, as there was a second boom and Twilight saw a part of the box bulge out followed by maniacal laughter that sent chills down her spine.

Not wanting to see what would come, Twilight didn't hesitate in turning and running as fast as her hooves could take her. Yet, no matter how fast she ran, Twilight could hear more booms and laughter coming from behind her, seemingly getting closer. When the laughter was on top of her Twilight found herself waking up in bed.

Twilight groaned looking out the window, that the sun had only just starting to rise. Deciding to get out of bed and stretching, she tried to recall what her dream was, yet all she could remember was that there was some weirdness to it. Shaking her head to clear her mind she made her way to the food car to get something to eat. The rest of the day proceeded fairly normally, with Simon repeating what he did the day before, though this time after the canister was empty Simon released the safety runes around the black spot. When the vacuum formed Simon reformed the safety runes.

“Wow, it's bigger than I thought it would be, it might take awhile before it’s stable enough to use on its own.” Simon said, smiling as he placed the now empty canister back into his own black spot. Twilight slowly let the magic fade as she panted lightly, It wasn't quite as bad this time but it was still straining to have to deal with that much weight. However, she felt some relief as Simon stood up and patted her head, happily indulging herself with his touch.

“How about you go take a rest and we will start up again in a couple of hours.” Twilight, slightly annoyed he’d stopped petting her, nodded, moving back to the other car, climbing into the bed and pulled out her book, opening it where she left off.

Mar 22, 1991.

I am finally starting to make progress thanks to the help of Simon and Rolf. We have found that passing a current through some special glasses at Nine point two GHz can reveal the fog through a green spectrum filter. A couple of days after we started getting a reliably working pair of glasses Rolf told me that he’d managed to pull together some people that might be interested in becoming investors and have given us some seed money to put together a working demo. Thus, we started doing experiments, most of which revolved around Simon since he is the only one we know that can manipulate the fog.

The rest of the page was filled with sketches of glasses with words and numbers filling in blank spots. If Twilight had to guess, it was a diagram on how to reproduce the item. Intrigued, Twilight continued on.

July 7, 1991.

We have made some interesting discoveries, by having Simon siphon a small amount of fog into animals they show signs of not only enhanced cognitive abilities but also enhanced physical ability. This might very well explain Simon’s superior intellect, the byproduct of absorbing the fog for his brother since they were children. This still leaves the issue of the fog’s source and despite my research all I can determine is it seems to come from everywhere, little more than a dead end. Thus, instead of finding the source we decided that it might be better if we try to find a way to manipulate it other than always having to rely on Simon.

The next several pages were filled with several designs of different objects. Curiously, many of the words and numbers were scratched out while others were written down in their place.

Sept 22, 1991.

We did it! We were able to create a machine that is able to manipulate the fog similar to how Simon does. On another note, some of the animals have been showing signs that there might be some kind of side effect to absorbing too much of the fog. The most prevalent is that the enhanced cognitive abilities comes and goes in bursts, the rest of the time they are either normal or seem very sick. I have also finally pried the information on who the investors are from Rolf. While all four are from large corporations one of them has ties to the American military, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with my research being used as a means of waging war. Yet, we’ve made so much progress, I can’t afford to stop now. For now, we will continue and set up a demo for the investors. I hope everything goes well.

Dec 14, 1991.

There was an accident when we met and tried to show off our research. At first, everything was fine, we showed off the glasses though we didn't have any more lab animals to use and Simon was preoccupied with class and wouldn’t arrive in time. With no other option I volunteered,. We set the machine down to its lowest setting as a safety precaution, but something went wrong and the machine exploded, I woke up in the hospital the next day. While things seemed fine, I have been having strange dreams ever since, though I can never remember the details I wake up feeling unnerved.

The writing started getting scratchy making it harder to read.

Dec 21, 1991.

I find myself growing a little concerned as I've been having blackouts lately. I'll be doing one thing then suddenly I find myself somewhere else. The dreams have been becoming clearer when I wake up, I've seen a world, one that appears to be everything and nothing. I find myself just standing on the edge of a vast library that expands as far as I can see in all directions. Yet, I can’t concern myself with this for long as there is a bit of good news. I guess our presentation wasn't all for waste though I heard that the person with the military contact, I think his name was Victor. I heard that he got in contact with a friend of his and now America has put out a word that they are looking for more people that can see the fog. Simon and Rolf signed up for it, and I can’t exactly fault them for it. The contact paid really well for their time and it helps with all the medical bills that are stacking up since my accident.

The further she went, the more pages she found filled with scratchy drawing containing unrecognizable shapes.

Jan 23, 1992.

The blackouts are getting worse and the dreams have become so real that I can't tell them from reality sometimes. I keep having detailed visions where Simon is being tortured in all manner of ways so horrific I dare not put them to paper. What I can say however, is that they leave him in excruciating pain, his screams still echo in the recesses of my mind. Simon and Rolf have been coming home later and later and it with these visions, I’m growing more concerned by the day.

A good chunk of pages was filled with more scribbles that Twilight couldn't understand but some of the markings she recognized as runes. Sadly, there was nothing to explain what their meanings were and thus she kept reading further, hoping for answers.

Feb 8, 1992.

I woke up this morning and found I had somehow created two objects in my sleep. While I can’t identify them, they are both metallic in appearance and hovered about an inch from the ground in a spherical shape. Curiously, despite their solid appearance, when I touched them they rippled like water. Something in the back of my mind told me that they were meant for Simon and Rolf. While I was apprehensive to the idea, my curiosity won out and I gave one to each of them. To our shock, when they each touched the objects they absorbed into their skin. While there doesn't seem to be any negative effects, I still pray almost every second I haven’t poisoned or harmed my friends. However, while they are alright physically. Rolf has stopped coming home and Simon has become strangely distant like there is something on his mind that he doesn't want to talk about.

There were several more pages of scribbles but it seemed as though they were becoming more organized and more of them were recognizable as runes.

Feb 13, 1992.

I see it, everything the dreams are trying to tell me everything. I don't have long but I know what the fog is, I also know what has been wrong. Simon hasn't been the one coming home it has been Rolf. When I confronted him about it he admitted it was him, Rolf told me there was an accident with Simon and he has been unable to come home. I have convinced Rolf to take me to him, maybe with this new found knowledge I have. Hopefully, I will be able to fix what they did.

Twilight turned the page hoping to find what happened but it was just blank. Annoyed, she quickly flipped through several pages only to find them blank as well, though she did eventually come to runes forming some sort of shifting lock stopping her from turning to the last page. Closing the book Twilight figured she might ask Simon about it later, for now, she was rested up and ready to work with Simon to stabilize her fourth-dimensional space.

After several hours of doing the same thing as before Twilight found herself exhausted. After Simon pulled the metal container out of her dimensional space Twilight let it close before collapsing on the spot, practically inhaling air as if it were water in a desert.Twilight figured that since they were about to take a break now would a good time to ask about the last page.

“Simon do you know what is on the last page of the diary?”

Simon simply responded by patting Twilight on the head, it had become his signature for a job well done. “I'm afraid that I do not, it has been sealed in a way that I have not been able to undo.” Simon smiled down at her. “But you don't think as I do, who knows maybe you will find a way. For now however, you should rest up.”

Twilight yawned, being reminded of her prior exhaustion. “Yea.”

She slowly made her way back to her bed on the train. Pulling out the book she turned to the rune marked page. Twilight was confused Simon told her to keep reading till she found what she was looking for but there was no information about runes in it. She felt as though maybe Simon was wanting her to learn from this book but she couldn't find any sort of lesson to take away. Yet, let it never be said Twilight Sparkle would back down from a challenge.

The rest of the ride back to Ponyville followed the same cycle of training with Simon and resting in between. By the time the train pulled into Ponyville station, it was late into the night as they all piled out of the train before going their separate ways.

Rarity forced Jack to come with her to carry her bags and explain to her parents they were not a couple, though Twilight could guess by the look on his face when Rarity turned away he had no plans to be any kind of help. Kat meanwhile, went with Pinkie after hearing her talk about planning a party for them, Kat insisted on helping her.

Simon all the while, was carrying Spike as the three of them split off and headed towards Twilight’s home, or rather, Spike was simply asleep and Simon was examining him, but the end result was the same.

Once back at the library Simon placed Spike in his bed before opening the door to his lab and disappearing while Twilight wrote a letter to the princesses regarding about acquiring the paperwork needed to declare Simon as an ambassador and set up a diplomatic meeting with them. Taking a glance at the sleeping Spike however, left her little way to send the letter and would simply wait for him to wake up.

While part of her contemplated taking a nap as well, a strange sound reminiscent of somepony crying immediately halted such thoughts. Looking around, everything was dark but she could make out the silhouette of a human figure. Slowly approaching the crying figure Twilight heard it speak.

“I’m so sorry...I couldn't control it.” Twilight recognized it as Simons' voice.

“It’s okay, I knew this was going to happen but I had to see you one last time.” A new voice spoke, this one was soft and weak.

“Why, I’m sure they would have found another way.” Twilight heard Simon’s voice again, trying to be comforting.

“Because this was the only way that I could see you, and only for this moment.” The weak voice seemed to be growing distant.

“Please...Please don't go.” Twilight could hear sobbing between Simon’s words. “My happy ending doesn't exist without you.” Twilight just noticed that the entire time she was walking that she got no closer to the human silhouette.

As she continued to move Twilight heard the weak voice give a soft chuckle, then nothing, the room fell to complete silence. Eventually, the human figure stood up, Twilight heard laughing but it wasn’t normal laughter, it was off and had a hint of sadness to it. The figure moved towards Twilight, as it hit the light Twilight could see that it was Simon but he was different both of his eyes were red in the iris and the sclera. Tears of blood streaming down his face Simon held out his hand, a shiny fluid seemed to flow from his arm forming a large object. Twilight was unsure of what the object was but she knew it was a weapon of some sort. As Simon approached the object in hand Twilight tried to backpedal away but found herself stuck to the spot. Simon stepped up to Twilight lifting the object above his head as he brought it down on her Twilight quickly sat up in her bed.

Breathing hard Twilight was startled out of her sleep. Looking around she noticed that the room was empty except for herself on the table where her letter was, there was now a pile of papers. Shaking her head to clear away thoughts of the nightmare she just had, Twilight got out of bed and moved over to the desk, levitating the papers as she looked through them, finding the paperwork she needed. Sitting down at her desk she began to fill out what she could. After half an hour of working Spike, who’d woken up while she was sleeping, brought up some breakfast for her.

“Spike, have you seen Simon, I have some paperwork that I need him to fill out.” Twilight looked up from the papers and over to Spike.

Spike put a claw to his chin thinking for a moment. “Actually, I was going to ask you the same thing. I got up this morning ready to make breakfast for all of us but I couldn't find him anywhere, I didn't even see his door around.” This surprised Twilight, true the human always seemed to disappear in the night but he was always nearby.

“We should find him.” Twilight stood from her desk and left the room with Spike, who wordlessly put down the tray he was carrying. They spent the next hour searching every door in the library until Twilight noticed something through the window near her bedroom door. Walking out, she found Simon standing there, staring off in the direction of Everfree Forest. “Um, hello Simon, what are you doing?”

Simon didn't look away. “There's something coming...something bad.”

Twilight looked out in the direction that Simon was but she didn't see anything. “What do you mean something bad is coming, how do you know.”

“I don't have time to explain I need you to evacuate the town.” Twilight was stunned.

“What do mean evacuate the town, we haven't even set up a signal for that yet.” Twilight was freaking out, the way Simon was acting was scaring her.

Simon sighed. “Of course you haven't.” Simon finally turned towards Twilight and held out his hand. “Just hand me your headset then.”

Twilight eyed him suspiciously but used her magic to remove the headset from her own ear and passed it to Simon. He placed it on his ear and held the button on side of it. “Admin override Roger, Oscar, Lema, Fred. Alert to all nearby users, evacuate the town immediately.”
That's when Twilight noticed that something was wrong with Simon, he wasn’t smiling. In all the time Simon has been here Twilight has never seen Simon not smiling, not even for a second.

Twilight backed up a little from the human. “You’re not Simon are you.”

The human sighed lightly as he removed the headset from his ear and tossed it back to Twilight. “Hmm, I guess I have lost a bit of my touch.” A ripple of magic moved across his body causing his mane to change into a light blue in color and his red eye to change to blue.

“Uncle Rolf.” Twilight heard a familiar voice call out before Erma appeared next to the human and gave him a hug.

Rolf returned her hug. “Hello, Erma.”

“What are you doing here?” Erma pulled back from the hug.

The smiled that Rolf had gained from seeing his niece faded. “I was ordered to come I’m afraid.”

Erma gasped. “No, Uncle Rolf you can’t.”

Rolf sighed. “I’m sorry Erma I have no choice.”

Twilight looked to Erma. “What what is it?”

Erma quickly turned to Twilight with a worried look on her face. “Twilight you need to get everything living out of this town now.” Erma then turned back to Rolf. “Why do you always have to do what the gods say?” Erma started trying to hit Rolf using the same style that she and Simon had fought with, leaving him on the defensive.

“I am not my brother, I will not baby you as he does.” Despite trying her best to hit him Rolf seemed to dodge her every move with ease. Twilight could only sit and watch as everytime Runes started to form on Erma just a tap on her from Rolf would cause them to burst and disappear. Finally, Rolf caught Erma's arm, twisting it causing her to flip over onto her back. Before Erma could sit up Rolf was holding a weapon of some sort the bladed end was crescent-shaped with a point in the ground on both sides of Erma's neck making sure she doesn't move.

“You think I want to do this.” Twilight watched as tears fell from Rolf’s eyes, despite staying firm. “I do this to protect you. You think your little rebellion has gone unnoticed by the gods?” To emphasize his point Rolf pushed the weapon further into the ground so that the bladed end was now in contact with her throat, just barely scratching the skin.

“Victor knows who you are, the only reason he does nothing is that I made an oath that as long as he does not interfere with you I will obey his orders.”

Laying on the ground defeated Erma spoke up on the verge of tears. “This world is full of peaceful creatures...Father will never forgive himself if this happens because of him.”

“I do not like this any more than you do but I do as I must to protect the only family I have left.” Twilight watched as the weapon Rolf was holding shifted in shape and was absorbed into his skin. In the background, she could see Pinkie Pie leading a family out of their house and several other families leaving town, at least whatever Rolf did it had gotten her friends to start evacuating the town.

“Erma what is going on,” Twilight shouted this time causing Erma to sit up and face her.

“There's no time to explain you need to get out of town with the rest of your kind,” Erma yelled pointing off at a group of ponies running away, while Rolf’s own expression hardened as he turned back to the town.

“I suppose I have stalled long enough for most of the inhabitants have gotten away. Before I do however.”

With a flick of his wrist, a black spot opened near Rolf and a cage rose from it. Twilight saw Simon inside it as Rolf approached. “Hello, Simon.” Simon turned his head up from where he was sitting in the cage.

“I should have guessed it was you that put me in here.” Simon smiled standing up. “Are you here for some fun?”

Rolf shook his head solemnly. “I’m sorry Simon I’m afraid not I have orders I need to follow.”

“Oh, I see...Did you at least give them a heads up.” Simon took a deep breath, awaiting the answer.

“I have been stalling as long as I could.” Rolf stepped forward passing through the bars to the cage and hugged his brother. “Es tut mir leid, dass ich das wieder geschehen lasse, Bruder.” As Simon hugged his brother ripples of magic moved across Simon. Rolf and Simon let go of each other and Rolf left the cage before it was encased in magic that obstructed Twilight’s vision. Before she could ask further, Jack and Kat appeared, standing between her and Erma.

“What are you doing back so soon Erma?” Jack had pulled out his knives, ready to fight.

“And what are you doing to Simon in that cage.” Kat added, similarly eager to battle.

Erma glumly looked to Kat as if the energy had been drained from her. “Something bad is about to happen.” That is when Rolf walked up to the group.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kat shouted, more on edge than ever.

Rolf looked at Kat, briefly perplexed. “Hm, perhaps you might recognize me like this.” Ripples of magic washed over his form as he grew in height and width, his mane grew out to his shoulders turning a dark blue in color and his eyes became a piercing red color. Twilight heard gasps from in front of her looking up she saw both Jack and Kat standing there fear on their faces.

“What is going on.” Twilight watched as Rolf had changed his entire appearance.

“It’s...Zack...The demon.” Jack had dropped his weapons in shock, while Kat had practically fallen to her knees.

“Well, you’re half right anyway. I’m merely the face of Zack, I do his speaking appearances and generally anything that doesn't have to do with fighting.” Even Rolf’s voice had changed taking on a much deeper tone. “However, the real Zack is an actual demon and will emerge short.” Rolf motioned to the cage behind him as he returned to normal.

“No, you lying,” Kat shouted running at Rolf she threw a punch at him, runes streaming down her arm to increase her strength. Rolf caught her fist in his palm and as when he was fighting Erma the runes of magic burst and disappeared the moment their hands connected.

Rolf closed his large hand around hers and started twisting it forcing Kat onto her knees. “A noble effort, but you are facing Rolf Liebe, the second rank in the gods' arena, older brother to Simon by three seconds, the first successfully created deity and the only holder of the Cancel rune.” Rolf finally released her hand before pushing her to the ground.

“You should always know your opponent before you strike. A lesson you’d do well to remember in the future.” A ripple of magic washed over Rolf as he returned to normal. “If you still wish to fight I will not treat you like the child that he does. Though with Zack about to awaken I would advise you run as far as you can.”

Twilight approached Rolf. “Excuse me, Rolf, I need to ask how did Zack end up inside of Simon.”

Rolf looked down at the little pony. “You have it wrong little one. Zack is not a separate entity but merely the other side of the same coin.” At that moments a pained scream came from Simon.
“Zack was created to be the ultimate weapon in times of need.” Rolf continued on as though he heard nothing, while Twilight could only watch in distress at the sight of Simon’s screams. “Do not fret about Simon, he’ll be fine, he always is. His pain is coming from the fact that he is currently resisting the transformation to give more time for everyone to leave town.”

Rolf looked back at the cage and with a wave of his hand, the cage fell apart, the magic that had previously kept Simon hidden faded. Twilight watched as Simon was on the ground in pain as waves of magic danced across his entire body. He had both of his hands again and his scars seemed to be disappearing one by one. Simon suddenly lifted into the air causing Rolf to look at him then turned back to the group.

“Hide now!” Rolf held out his hand as a large circle of runes appeared in front of his hand and a very strong gust of wind swept them all around to the other side of the library. Twilight quickly moved over to the side and peeked around the corner just in time to be blinded by a bright flash of light. When her vision cleared Simon was no longer in the air, in his place was the large figure that Jack had called Zack. That was when the laughter started, it was a horrid laughter that sent chills down her spine but there was something hidden within the chilling sound. Looking to the ground she noticed that Rolf was no longer there.

“That was a close one.” Twilight heard the voice come from behind her. Turning around she found that Rolf was uncomfortably close to her, peeking around the corner too.

“What do you mean, ‘that was close’, I thought he was your ultimate weapon?” Twilight backed up a bit from Rolf, visibly irritated. “Wouldn't that mean you’re safe from him.”

Rolf never moved from his spot. “Well, the original plan was that I was supposed to have complete control over him like this but something went wrong. I have only been given the ability to unleash it but controlling it is impossible.”

Twilight didn’t have time to process this as the laughing stopped, making her peek around the corner again. Simon was still in the air, however, upon closer inspection Twilight could see a circle of magic under each foot. The pair watched as Simon looked around a little before holding his open hand towards the house that Twilight saw Pinkie evacuate earlier. Three large rings of runes appeared in front of his hand and began rotating in alternating directions while sparks of lightning danced from the outer rings towards the center. After a minute of nothing happening the rings finally stopped and a beam of light shot from it towards the house. Upon contact the beam expanded out, engulfing the house. When the light finally faded a portion of the house was missing while the rest of it was on fire.

Twilight gasped. “Oh no.” She then looked up to Rolf. “Can’t you stop him?”

Rolf laughed. “Why would I do that?” Rolf looked down at Twilight as she tried to plead with him.

“This is my home. My friends and neighbors all live and make their livelihoods here.” Twilight almost got down on her knees as she pleaded, but could see they had no effect on the human, thus had to try a different approach. “Is this what Simon would want?”

“Simon does not know what he wants.” Rolf’s answer was quick and fierce, like it was a touchy subject.

Twilight looked back to Simon. He had his hand up pointed at another house, the runes of magic already forming. Twilight had to come up with something quick. “Is this what Hedwig would have wanted?” The reaction was faster than Twilight could have responded to. She found herself being held in the air by her throat, her back being pressed against what she could guess was the trunk of the library, Rolf’s eyes burning like fireballs.

“What would you know about what Hedwig would've wanted.” With the way Rolf was holding her up by her throat Twilight could barely breathe let alone answer his question.

“UNCLE ROLF, STOP!”

Twilight could see Erma running up to Rolf and using her momentum to knock his arm away. Twilight collapsed on the ground gasping for air. “She is in love with father.” Rolf stopped looking at Erma then looking over at Twilight. “She was also reading mom's diary.” Rolf stopped and his expression calmed as he seemed to think to himself for a second.

“Aw fuck, this is going to hurt.” Rolf turned and started walking towards Simon.

“Where are you going?” Twilight coughed out her words still recovering.

“There's only one way to return Simon to normal and that is to run him out of magic.” Rolf kept walking as he spoke.

Twilight looked to Erma. “What changed his mind?”

Erma smiled. “Twilight, my mom's diary is full of powerful magic, to just about everyone it is just a blank book. In fact, the only other person to be able to read it is my father.” Twilight, stunned by this revelation, wanted to ask more questions about it when her thoughts were interrupted by shouting.

“Hey, zimtzicke.” whipping her head around Twilight saw Rolf out in the open staring at Simon. Simon looked down to Rolf and turned his hand so that the magic was now pointed at Rolf. As the beam of light shot out, Rolf put up his hand somehow splitting the beam in several directions on contact. Most of the smaller beams went upwards into the sky, the ones that hit the ground left scorch marks where they landed. The beam only lasted a couple of seconds before it faded without expanding. Rolf shook his hand, shaking off some of the smoke that was rising from it.

“That all you have?” Simon didn't respond with any words instead he started laughing again. Holding out both of his hands' several circles of runes appeared in an arch over Simon’s head. Water was quickly pulled from the nearby clouds and out of the air, transforming into spears of ice as they passed through the circles. Simon threw his hands forward causing each of the deadly spears to launch towards Rolf.

Rolf managed to dodge the first couple of them but several had curved to follow Rolf as he moved. Rolf’s hands quickly met the projectiles and with a simple tap, they changed direction and reverted back to water. However, while Rolf was distracted, Simon quickly closed the distance, leaving runes under his feet with each step he took. By the time Rolf had gotten rid of the last spear, Simon had reached the ground.

The last step down Simon took was a bit of a leap down to the ground, a circle of runes appearing in front of him. The ground under the runes immediately started to twist and turn before a large object burst from it, several rocks twisting and turning around within the debris. As the dust settled the rocks hung in the air, quickly mashing together and rotating into a new shape. As it turned towards Rolf the shape became more identifiable, Twilight able to make out something roughly half the size of a full grown dragon head.

Without a word, it rushed off towards Rolf, seemingly pulling more rocks from the ground to join in forming a long body and leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Rolf had been so distracted, he hadn’t seen it coming and was only able to see it when it was mere feet from him. Leaning to the side Rolf had managed to dodge the brunt of the attack but the dragon's jaw had clamped down on Roofs arm tearing it off as it passed by.

If it wasn't for the pool of blood Twilight would've thought that it missed because there was no outward reaction from Rolf. Instead of howling in pain or horror, the human simply stood back up before a mass of red erupted from where his arm was, eventually turning into a replacement appendage. Giving his new limb a few test waves, Rolf returned his attention to Simon, as if nothing had even occurred, leaving Twilight stunned again.

Shaking off what she saw, her attention shifted to Erma. “Won't you help him?” When Erma looked down at her, Twilight could already see the sadness in her features.

“Twilight, think about what you’re asking me to do?” The confusion must have been all over her face because Erma continued. “What you saw before, it wasn't real. I knew in the end that everything would be fine. But this is different, that's no longer my father out there but a machine driven for the single purpose of killing and destroying.” Looking back to the fight, Erma simply sighed sadly. “I'm pretty sure this fight is about to turn around anyways.”

Rolf was now approaching Simon, a sword now in his hand. As Simon lifted his hand, a ring of runes appeared, yet with a quick swing of the sword Rolf cut the ring in half, causing it to dissipate. Rolf however, pressed on with his attack, swinging his sword forcing Simon forcing Simon back with every step.

“Twilight!” Turning her head Twilight saw that it was her friends that had called her and she rushed to meet them.

“What in sam hill is going on?” Applejack asked being the first to reach Twilight.

“Yes dear, we got an urgent message from you calling us to evacuate Ponyville but nothing beyond that.” Added Rarity.

“But I didn't...Rolf.” Twilight was initially confused but remembered that weird thing that he had done to her translation headset.

“Who's Rolf?” Pinkie Pie asked, keeping one eye completely focused on the fight going on.

“Oh right! Rolf is Simon’s twin brother.” Twilight paused as her friends took a collective gasp. “But that isn't the important part, the important part is that Simon turned out to have some sort of living weapon inside of him and it has taken control. Rolf trying to stop him right now.” Twilight’s sentence was cut off the sound of an explosion drawing all their attention to the fight. In the small amount of time that Twilights attention had been drawn from the fight, three more buildings had been heavily damaged and she could see two trails of black smoke heading towards the center of town.

“Well, what if we use the elements, it might purify him as it did to Luna or worse case it would turn him to stone as we did with Discord?” Rainbow Dash asked, flinching at the sight of another explosion in the distance.

Twilight thought about it for a second. “I don't know, Nightmare Moon and Discord were powerful and evil, but they were also from our universe. I don’t have any idea how they might react to Simon.”

“Darling, we all know how you feel about Simon.” Twilight was about to protest when Rarity stopped her. “You don't hide it as well as you think. However, regardless of that this is our home and we are the Elements of Harmony, we have to do something.”

Twilight sighed, she had to admit that they had a point. “Alright, I'll go get the elements. If anything hopefully it will at least distract him long enough for Rolf to stop him. You all should figure out where Simon is, it shouldn't be too hard with all the destruction they are causing, just don't get too close.” The group nodded to each other before Twilight separated from the group heading into the library.

“Spike,” Twilight called out worried about the little dragon.

“I'm right here.” A timid voice called out from right beside her. Twilight turned her head and found the little drake next to the window. Judging by the stool next to it, along with the frightened look on his face, he’d clearly been watching what was happening. Twilight ran over and hugged him.

“Spike, out behind the house are Jack and Kat, I want you to stay with them, they’ll keep you safe while the others and I handle this.” Twilight knew it was a dirty trick but the last time she had seen Kat, she was broken by what she had just learned. Twilight hoped that maybe having a baby Dragon with them might snap her out of it.

“Twilight, what's going on?” Spike asked worriedly, taking short glances back at the window.

“A very dangerous human has shown up, The girls and I are going to are going to use the Elements to try and stop him.”

Twilight’s horn quickly lit up, removing the elements from their case before heading out the door. Cautiously leaving the house Twilight waited for Spike to move around to the back of the library before heading off into town. It didn't take too long before she found a trail of destruction leading to the fight. A quick scan and she spotted her friends huddled behind a nearby building. Quickly joining them, she handed each pony their respective element.

“Okay girls, we probably only have one shot at this so we have to make it count.”

However, several of the group, most notably Applejack, didn’t seem confident.“I don't know about this Twilight, we’ve been watching them for a while and something ain’t right. That other human hadn't used a single bit of magic against Simon, just that strange weapon that keeps changing shape.”

Twilight peaked around the corner spying on the fight. Twilight could make out a lot of details but she could see what Applejack said was the truth, as Rolf moved the weapon in his hand, which quickly changed to better suit the situation.

“That may be just the way he fights.” Twilight turned back to her friends, trying her best to reassure them. “Regardless, the elements are our best bet to put an end to this and we have to at least try.” Her friends nodded in agreement, even if there was some hesitation. Twilight turned back to the fight, waiting for a moment when the dueling duo paused.

“Now.” The six of them jumped out from behind the building quickly the charged up the elements of harmony.

“No, wait,” Rolf shouted as he saw the rainbow of magic launch towards Simon. With a wave of his hand, Simon encased Rolf in several large slabs of rock that jumped up out of the ground, with his other hand he held it out towards the quickly approaching magic causing it to ricochet just before it connected. The rainbow seemed to bounce around in an ever-shrinking confined space. Once the beam has been compressed as much as it would go, the space lit up with a quick flash of light, revealing a large crystal of magic that was quickly absorbed into Simon. Once the crystal was gone Simon had turned his murderous gaze to Twilight and her friends but when he started approaching a rock had flown over and hit him in the face.

Twilight turned just in time see some blond mane fall behind the granite box as the front of it exploded outwards regaining Simon’s attention. Twilight and her friends all ran preferring to put some distance between them and Simon, quickly hiding behind another building, desperately trying to catch their breath.“We can't beat him can we?” Applejack said, trying to hide her growing panic and fright.

“The Elements of Harmony are supposed to be the strongest weapon in Equestria and all it did was making him stronger.” Rainbow Dash sat, angrily slamming her hooves on the ground, whilst Fluttershy and Rarity looked about ready to fall apart.

“There has to be something.” Twilight looked around seeing all her friends looking like they had already lost.

“I just don't know Twilight, with how they fight it seems only a human can fight a human.” Rarity managed out, looking up from the ground.

“That's it! Kat and Jack, they were being trained by Simon. They just might be able to help us.” Twilight shouted, jumping up, getting some of her friends to follow suit.. She turned and ran, not bothering to see if they were following her. When the group arrived back at the library she saw that Kat’s situation hadn’t improved.

“Kat, Jack, Spike,” Twilight yelled out though only the latter of the two bothered to look over.

“Jack, Kat, we need your help. Simon has been training with you both to take down Zack right?” Twilight watched as Jack looked down at Kat who was just staring at the ground lost in thought.

“It’s not the same Twilight, we can barely hold our ground against Simon when he's holding back, we wouldn’t stand a chance against Zack.” Jack didn't bother lifting his head.

Twilight looked to Kat, a frustrated look on her face. “Didn't you make a promise to Simon?”

“Promise, what's a promise to someone that has been lying about killing your parents. Promises, promises, promises.” Kat started repeating that word over and over like a broken record.

“Kat, you know Simon, does he seem like the type of person that would do that sort of stuff willingly?” Twilight tried to be empathetic, hoping to get through to the girl.

“No Twilight, you don't understand.” Jack interrupted her. “For a living creature, your bodies fight to live, for deities our bodies don't do anything without magic, if Simon really did want this to end all he had to do is just stop taking his magic and he would die.” Jack was shaking, Twilight was unsure if it was out of fear of death or rage at Simon.

Rarity stepped forwards from behind Twilight. “Maybe none of us are seeing the whole truth. I know that I have not known him as long as the two of you, but I do know that the entire time he has been here he has shown nothing but kindness, even if a tad unorthodox in his ways. I am still glad to call Simon a friend and I don't know about your world but here, I can promise you that we help our friends in need.” As Rarity ranted Twilight could see all her friends joining up beside them.

“Fuck, of course!” The group was startled by the sudden outburst by Kat. “Rarity does your sister still have that locket that Simon gave her?”

Rarity, suddenly cut off from her speech, looked confused. “Yes, I believe she was still wearing it.”

Kat stood up. “Good I need you to take me to her.” Rarity looked to her friends confused but nodded in spite of it. She took off running looking back to make sure they were all following her.

They eventually made it to Fluttershy's cottage, given its distance from the town it seemed the safest immediate place to go. Most of the Ponyville residents that didn't evacuate by train were gathered here and many were quick to question the girls on the situation. Twilight, Rarity, and the two humans pressed onward, leaving the others to try and explain as best they could. The quartet eventually found Rarity’s family, who were quick to get to her side.

“Rarity what is going on.” Her father asked concerned, while her mother simply listened.

“It’s difficult to explain I’m afraid.” Rarity looked around. “However, I believe this conversation would be held in private.” Twilight nodded in agreement.

“I think Fluttershy’s room should be clear,” Twilight commented before she lead the way. Once inside, Rarity turned her attention to Sweetie Belle, who practically shrunk under her gaze, thought Rarity did her best to appear non-hostile.

“ Sweetie, would you mind showing me that locket Simon gave you?” Rarity held out her hoof but Sweetie reacted like any child about to get something taken away, taking a step back and shaking her head. “Please, Sweetie it's important.” Rarity was trying to keep things simple as to not scare her during this stressful time.

“No, Simon gave it to me, and you can’t have it.” She placed her hoof over the locket covering it. Rarity was about to ask again when Kat stepped forward next to Rarity. Kneeling down to the filly's level, she slowly held out her hand, revealing a translator. Sweetie seemed to understand what she was getting across and allowed Kat to place the translator on her.

“Hello Sweetie Belle,” Kat spoke softly in order to not scare the child. “Do you remember me? I was the talking cat from the hospital.” Sweetie Belle nodded getting a smile from Kat. “You're one of Simon's friends right.” She had nodded again, a small smile upon her face. “That's good, so am I but you see Simon is in a bad place right now. We think that locket could really help him. So it would mean a lot if I could have it, just while I help Simon, then I promise to give it back to you as soon as I can. Does that sound fair?”

Sweetie gave a moment to think before she nodded. “Thank you.” Kat reached forward, removing both the locket and the translator.

Kat stood holding the locket in one hand. “I'm not sure what is going to happen once it's activated so we should probably take this somewhere else.”

The group made their way from Fluttershy’s house picking up their missing members as they went. Once they were on the edge of town Kat paused and took a deep breath, as though she was nervous about what would happen. She held the locket out at arm's length before speaking.

“I promise that I will not hesitate.” For a moment nothing happened, Twilight thought that maybe this was for nothing that the locket was only to deliver the key but Twilight was interrupted from her thoughts by a voice.

“Hello, Kat.” Twilight looked up and saw Simon back to normal, standing in front of Kat. Twilight wanted to run to him but was stopped by Jack.

“It's not the real one, think of it as a letter or message of sorts,” He stated. Twilight turned back to watch this Simon

“If you are seeing this then you finally know the truth… unfortunately, it also means that you are not as ready as I wanted.” Simon reached up appearing to cup the side of Kat’s face. “I am sorry that you had to find out this way.” Simons' arm dropped to his side and he took a step back.

“To keep things simple, what you’re facing is a being known as Zack who was used by the gods in a war that I was told would help end all fighting and make the world a better place. I was young and naive so I followed their directions without question. In the end, we won the war and the gods took control of everything. Sadly, when I finally realized what they actually wanted, it was too late, I tried to take my own life after all the horrible things I did, unfortunately, they’d also programmed some form of self-preservation command, forcing both of us to come back despite my best efforts. I had hoped for a better life for you, but since you are hearing this then I wasn't able to talk you out of becoming a deity. Now I need your help, I can't stop Zack but I might be able to give you an upper hand. What you now hold in your hand isn't what it appears.”

Simon snapped his fingers and the locket melted, dripping down until all that was left was a floating sphere of silver liquid.

“During the war, it became known as the Blitzkrieg, the predecessor to all enhancers. It's a weapon that can enhance the magical abilities of the owner and takes the form of anything that they chose at a moment's notice. If you use it you should be able to stop me… please, Kat, you are the only one I can count on for this task.”

“Simon, where are you.” Another voice suddenly called out.

“I'm in here,” Simon called back. Another human appeared as if they had walked out from behind a building. They approached Simon quickly wrapping him in a hug. This human was just a head shorter than him and their mane was done in the exact same style as Simons down to the coloration.

“What are you doing, you promised you would take me out for my birthday today.” The human grabbed his arm and started trying to pull him away causing Simon to chuckle.

“Calm down we'll go in a minute, I just need to finish this message.” The human stopped pulling and looked over to where Kat was standing.

“Oh, who's the message to, what is it about?” The human asked, now seemingly taking an interest in Kat.

“It's to a special friend of mine.” Simon pulled the other human back as it was reaching out towards Kat. “And it's an apology message. I made some bad choices that hurt them pretty bad.”

“You think they will forgive you?” the human looked up to Simon who simply shrugged.

“That is up to them.” Simon had walked out of view as he was talking. The other human lingered after Simon had left looking curiously in Kats direction. “Come on Katherine let's go.” The human quickly turned to face the direction that Simon had disappeared, looking rather annoyed Simon’s last words.

“I keep telling you to call me Kat, I don't like when you use my full name.” The human stomped away. There was silence as they all waited for something else but nothing appeared. Twilight looked to Kat who was silent for a few moments.

“GOD DAMN IT SIMON!” She yelled as loud as she could as she fell to her knees. “THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH SIMPLER IF YOU COULD HAVE JUST BEEN THE BAD GUY!” Twilight watched as tears started running down her face before cautiously approaching her.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked, already knowing the answer. Kat shook her head.

“I never questioned it,” Kat said angrily getting confused looks from everybody else. Kat slammed her fist into the ground making Twilight take a cautious step back.

“What are you talking about?”

“That was me, in the video. It was my first birthday since I met Simon.” Kat paused. “When Simon came into my life he just seemed to know everything about me, and I never really wondered how. All I knew was, that things were better whenever he was around and that was all I cared about.”

Kat looked up the sphere of liquid hovering in front of her. She reached up with a shaky hand slowly drawing closer to it before her arm fell to the ground. “I can't do it.” She spoke softly, looking completely defeated.

“Kat no, you can't give up, Simon needs you he said so himself.” Twilight quickly move to her side.

Kat turned her head to face Twilight. “You didn't understand, Simon, he said that thing forces them to come back every time they die. Simon doesn't want a savior, he wants a warden to keep him in a prison of his own death… I would have to kill the most important person in my life over and over again. I can't do that.”

Twilight was stunned, she hadn’t understood the implication of until Kat had pointed it out and she could understand Kat’s reservation. It was a seemingly unthinkable decision for anyone to make...yet, she knew despite everything, it needed to be done.

Hardening her heart and a frown etched deep in her face, Twilight knew what she had to do.“I'll do it.”

Before any of them could stop her she thrust her hoof out to the blitzkrieg. The moment her hoof got close it grabbed onto her. She could feel as it made a small cut in her leg before it started pushing its way into her, but strangely there was no pain, only a sensation of magical energy enveloping her before her world went black.

“Please, let me see him.” Twilight heard voices as the world came back into view.

“I'm sorry miss but he is just too unstable right now.” Twilight heard a male voice say. When everything came into view she recognized Hedwig from Simon’s dream. In front of her were three humans, each one wearing the same uniform. More noticeable however, was Hedwig’s demeanor, seemingly upset about something.

“I'm sorry.” She spoke as she lifted her hand. There was a shattering of glass as the blitzkrieg came flying to her hand before she whipped it around knocking over the humans. Quickly she grabbed a card from one of them as she ran past them. Using the card like a key the door opened, revealing a small cell for keeping prisoners there in a corner sat Simon.

“Simon, I need you to stay calm.” Hedwig wrapped Simon in a hug as she approached him from behind. “The Fog it isn't what we think, we should have never meddled with it.” Twilight watched as a light began to flow from Hedwig into Simon. “I can fix this just hold still a little lo…” Hedwig was interrupted as the blitzkrieg stabbed through her.

The now injured Hedwig stumbled backward, away from Simon as he slowly turned around, his eyes were soulless for thirty seconds until the life suddenly came back.

“I’m so sorry...I couldn't control it.” Simon spoke, his voice full of sorrow and regret.

“Its okay, I knew this was going to happen but I had to see you one last time,” Hedwig spoke, blood leaking from her mouth as she raised her hand to his cheek, her voice was soft and weak. The light returned to Hedwig’s arm as it flowed into Simon. Their voices went silent as a new voice chimed in from behind Twilight.

“It was that moment I tried to give Simon all my knowledge so that he may heal himself but it was too much for him and it shattered his mind.” As Hedwig's arm fell away there was a bright flash of light when it cleared Simon was standing several octahedrons of different colors surrounding him. Twilight turned around to find that she was no longer inside the cell, Standing before her was Hedwig.

“Hello Twilight.” Her voice was gentle with a soft smile.

“Hedwig?”

The human chuckled. “That is a name I haven't heard in a long time.” Twilight looked around, finding they were now in the middle of a massive library with bookshelves spanning out as far as she could see in all directions.

“Where are we?”

“We are in a dimension that is beyond time. Though, if you want a proper name, the others who have visited have come to call this place the Grand Library. It is a place that records all knowledge, past, present, and future.”

Twilight stared around at the books in awe. A library that contained all the knowledge in existence, she could find anything she wanted like Starswirl the Bearded lost research. Even as Twilight thought it the library seemed to move around her until in front of her was a bookcase filled with scrolls. Twilight eagerly reached to pick one up when she heard Hedwig clear her throat.

“I know this is difficult for you especially Twilight, but you must not let yourself wander, those who stay too long never leave. All those who come here, come seeking specific knowledge, and should only seek that knowledge alone. Thus I ask, what is it that you wish to know?” Twilight paused, shaking off her previous stupor, shocked she’d almost forgotten what was going on at her home.

“I need a way to help Simon.” As the words left Twilight the library immediately started to move around her until she left facing a new wall of books. Hedwig smiled as she started floating up into the air and grabbed one particular tome off a high up shelf.

“The knowledge you seek is in here.”

Twilight quickly levitated the book to her and opened it. Inside she found a great number of unknown runes, yet somehow she understood them all of them.

She had little time to question her sudden knowledge, as this information was tied to the Blitzkrieg and would disappear when she lost it. Inside the book was a magic formula that would separate the Zack personality from Simon allowing her to safely remove it. Twilight turned the page and was astonished as it continued on.

“How am I supposed to memorize this.”

“If this is truly the knowledge you seek then it will follow you when you leave.” Hedwig’s smile faltered. “However, I must warn you that you must do this alone, if Simon helps you in any way then the formula will not work.”

Twilight shut the book, having managed to look it over quickly, finding Hedwig holding out a pink octahedron to her.

“Please return this to Simon... I accidentally took it with me.” Twilight nodded and picked the crystal up, surprised to find it radiated some kind of warm sensation, almost as if it were alive.

“I also have a personal request. When you see Simon, tell him I have come to terms with what happened, and now it's his turn.” Twilight didn’t question Hedwig’s words and simply nodded, earning a smile from Hedwig.

“Then, I wish you luck Twilight Sparkle. Save Simon, I know you can do it.” Without another word, the Grand Library was consumed by a bright light that blinded Twilight for a moment, before she found herself back in Ponyville again. Pushing herself back up to a standing position, she found all of her friends surrounding her.

“Twilight!” She heard her friends exclaim.

Twilight looked to all of them. “How long was I gone for?” This got questionable looks from her friends.

“What do you mean gone?” Applejack asked.

“Yes Twilight, you put your hoof in that thing and then you fell forward a little bit,” Fluttershy added.

Twilight was confused for a moment, theorizing perhaps all she experienced was all just a strange hallucination, only for the formula to flash into her mind and she knew it was real.

“I need to go to Simon.” She looked over at Kat who hadn't moved at all. “Kat. I found a way to save him.”

Twilight didn't wait for a response, instead running in the direction that she could now feel strong magic flowing from. Oddly enough, despite the magic constantly moving and her running for what seemed like an hour, she felt no sense of fatigue or exhaustion in her legs.

When she had finally caught up to them it seemed as though the fight had ramped up quite a bit, with Simon now throwing magic at Rolf in a far greater magnitude than before with Rolf seeming keeping up with little trouble. However, Twilight knew this couldn’t go on and she would need to act fast.The problem was that with the speed that they were now moving it would be hard, one miss and Simon would know of her presence. Then she was hit by an idea.

“Rainbow Dash, there are times when she is moving so quickly she can hit someone before they even know she's there. Now if only I could move as fast as her”

As the idea formed in her head she could feel the Blitzkrieg react, gathering up at her shoulder joints before flowing from her body, forming two skeletal-like structures that made up the bones of a pair of wings. From there magic started to flow from it, forming into feathers.

By the time the process had ended Twilight had to guess she looked like an Alicorn, now with new silver and blue wings attached to her. Were the circumstances different, she’d likely be geeking out over this, both in the shapeshifting properties of the Blitzkrieg and...well her being an alicorn. However, that was for another time, hopefully.

Attempting to give her new appendages a try she thought of simply raising the wings up and they quickly responded. With a large stroke of her wings, Twilight shot up into the sky but it wasn't how she had pictured flying felt, it was more like she was shot out of Pinkie’s party cannon.

Thankfully, when Twilight wanted to stop the Blitzkrieg reacted bringing her to a hover. From her elevated point, she continued watching the fight below until she saw a moment that she could act. With only a thought she dropped, giving her wings another powerful stroke, increasing her speed even further.

For a moment Twilight was afraid that she was going to hit the ground at her current descent, however, her wings quickly responded turning up, allowing her to fly parallel to the ground. Not interested in thinking further about this, she approached the fight just as Simon had finished creating a set of runes. Closing the distance she clasped her hooves together as she collided with Simon, wrapping him in a hug before another bright flash blinded her.

Blinking her eyes and adjusting to the light Twilight once again found herself in a familiar white abyss. Looking around she remembered the dream she had on the train. Coming to the realization of where she was she took a calming breath and she focused her mind, softly calling out. “Simon”.

“So we meet again little unicorn.”

Twilight opened her eyes seeing the bound Simon. “We are inside your mind right now aren't we?” Simon wordlessly nodded, still lacking his tradition smile. “That makes you the true Simon.”

“More or less.”

Twilight looked off to the side where the all the glass tubes now stood, the one closest to her being the only one that contained a Simon.

“Then these must be your emotions.” Simon nodded again.

In a flash Twilight remembered something else, she held out her hoof as the pink octahedron came into existence.

“She told me to tell you that she has come to terms with what happened, now it's your turn.”

The bound Simon’s face filled with surprise as the crystal glowed brightly and floated over to one of the broken tubes. Once inside the tube seemed to repair itself and began to fill with a pink light that slowly revealed another Simon. Unlike his bound counterpart, This Simon seemed calmer, having a soft but knowing smile directed at Twilight. As the tube filled with light Twilight turned to the bound Simon as she did she felt a surge of strength when she placed her hoof down runes carved their way across the floor to him. When they touched his binds they broke, freeing him and allowing him to stand.

“You know the consequences of your actions right?” Twilight nodded but Simon didn't seem convinced. “Zack will fight you the entire time, if you weaken he will take the Blitzkrieg and kill you before turning his sights on everything else.”

“I know.” Twilight took a deep breath then stomped her hoof causing her runes to surround the pair before a cruel laugh was heard as Zack appeared, looking at the two with wicked glee.

Twilight, however, stood firm, stomping her hoof again, this time runes started forming on the ground near Zack, much finer in detailed that greatly slowed their formation, time Zack wasn’t going to give.

Without a word, Zack made his move, with a wave of his hand the Blitzkrieg stretched out from Twilight to him, connecting the two. The sudden pull sent a harsh pain through Twilight’s body, almost breaking her concentration and stopping the runes. Zack’s grin grew wider as the Blitzkrieg pulled hard, pulsing and sending sparks of red lighting from Zack to Twilight, a cry of pain echoing with each jolt, practically brining Twilight to her knees.

“Give up little pony, far greater than you have tried and failed.” Zack taunted her, yet even with each spark ripping through her body, the unicorn managed to stand, a resolute-looking etched across her as she continued. Sadly, for her strength and bravado, she could feel her mind slipping, barely holding onto consciousness as she tried to finish the spell, feeling the Blitzkrieg was nearly gone.

With one last push, she mustered up what strength she could and finished the last rune, knowing full well Zack would strike her but was happy that she could at least save Simon before her death.

Closing her eyes, she expected her end, only for none to come. Opening her eyes she saw the Blitzkrieg had formed a point mere centimeters away from her face but something had stopped it. There was something that had taken the brunt of the hit stopping it before it could reach her. Taking a couple steps back Twilight gasped when she recognized it as Simon.

“WHY?!” Twilight was about to ask that herself when another voice had spoken up. Twilight looked around Simon to see the form of Zack evaporating. Underneath was another Simon, this one looking angrily at them bleeding from the same spot where the attack had been intercepted.

“I couldn't let it happen again.”

“Not that!” the angry Simon yelled. “Why must you protect the reality that has taken everything from us.” The Blitzkrieg retracted allowing Simon to walk over to the angry version of himself.

“Hedwig gave us a message, she has made her peace and now she wants us to as well.” Simon then turned to Twilight. “It’s time for you to use that rune for the purpose that I gave it to you for.”

Twilight was surprised. “I can't, the magic didn't work, I was unable to separate you.” Simon laughed.

“When I gave you that rune I never expected you to know how to separate us let alone come so close to it.” His laughter though sad was enough to reassure her. With a wave of his hand, Simon sent the Blitzkrieg back to Twilight.

Twilight took a deep breath. “Erase”

With a single stamp of her hoof she engraved the one rune that had been ingrained in her from the moment that she first ingested the refined magic.

As the world around them started to fall apart Simon waved his hand, two octahedrons, one pink, one yellow, flew over to Twilight.

“Something tells me that these two will be happier with you.” Simon then placed his hand on the shoulder of his angry counterpart as the light slowly consumed the two. “Looks like we are going to finally get some well-deserved rest.”

Twilight woke up as she felt the two of them hit the ground. While the Blitzkrieg wings caught her, Twilight was forced to release her grasp on Simon's body, tears starting to form in her eyes as she watched it roll lifelessly across the ground. By the time he had stopped Simon’s form had returned to normal, he was also quickly losing color. Much to Twilight’s unease, Erma ran up to her.

“You did it Twilight, you stopped him.” Her voice was excited, seemingly not noticing what was happening to her father. Rolf though went straight to Simon, quickly looking over the body and his expression turned grim.

“Twilight, What the matter?” Erma finally noticing the tears rolling down her face, her heart sinking furtherer.

“I'm sorry, he asked me to do it.” Erma’s head shot up to look at her father, and she could already see the signs of his decay. Without a word, she bolted over to her uncle, his arms wrapped around her to comfort her as she cried out.

“I’m sorry Erma, but this is what he truly wanted.”

As Twilight's friends surrounded her wishing to comfort her having overheard what had been said..

Sadly, the quiet moment didn't last long as Twilight felt something though she was unsure as to what it was, only that it felt menacing and it was getting closer.
.
Managing to stand up, she looked in the direction the feeling was coming from. At first couldn't see anything, but the Blitzkrieg quickly picked up on this and magnified her vision. In the distance she spotted a group of humans approaching them, with a single one radiating a massive amount of dark magic and that was all she needed to know.

“The god? But why?” Her confusion was brief and quickly turned to anger as she knew the answer. “It must be Victor, here to finish things after their mission failed.”

Sadly, she couldn’t ruminate on this long as she needed to formulate a plan that would deter him from taking action. In her currently weakened state, she wouldn’t be able to stop him in a fight. However, with that thought, she had an idea.

“I don’t need to fight him, just have to intimidate him enough into leaving. Heh, should be easy.”

She turned back to her friends, all looking at her with mixtures of concern and worry.“Quick I need you all to hide.”

Though the group looked confused, even offended for some given all that happened, they reluctantly complied.

With the help of the Blitzkrieg Twilight formed the runes to hide everypony from sight, including Simon’s body. She quickly started working on the next and more crucial part of her plan. One important thing she’d learned from her interactions with humans was that her species was not something they considered to be intimidating and she would need to change that. As expected the Blitzkrieg immediately set to work changing her appearance to be more frightening, and it worked...perhaps even a little too well.

Her body became larger, almost to the same height as the humans, while her coat took on a dark gray color and her mane had become black, save for its now pink tips. Twilight’s horn lengthened and curved back slightly. In all, she looked quite monstrous and if Twilight looked in a mirror, she’d likely scream as loud as Fluttershy.

Taking a deep breath she tried to calm herself, if this was going to work she needed to be calm, she needed to be confident, they needed to have fun. Twilight had to stop and regain her composure, silently pondering where that thought came from. With another breath, she teleported a book from her home, only to then use the Blitzkrieg to give it a more sinister look.

Strangely, she didn’t question change and proceeded, getting into a proper position she noticed a necklace hanging with two charms hanging around her neck. She recognized them as the crystals that housed Simons emotions, though now they were no bigger than a pair of flies. However, she needed to push those thoughts aside as she had one last thing to prepare. With a quick flick of her head she laid out several traps around her in case they decided to attack instead of talk, though hopefully it wouldn’t come to that

Once Twilight believed that she was ready she levitated the book over to herself, flipping it open she was happy to see that in spite of the cover change, the inside of the book remained the same and was easily readable.

As the humans made their approach on Twilight’s location they quickly came to a stop once she came into view. Twilight watched them from the corner of her eye, trying to make it seem as though their presence gave her no warrant to worry. She waited until she heard the large human, she assumed had to be Victor, clear his throat.

“Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to understand me would you.”

Twilight casually lifted her head from the book, closing it with her magic in a way that made sure they saw what the cover looked like. “I do, is there something I can help you with?” She tried to make her annoyance as clear as possible, though Victor didn’t seem bothered..

“Yes, well I was hoping that you might be able to tell me if others like us have come through here.”

Twilight stopped for a moment like she was thinking before giving her reply

“Yes, there was a noisy group of you that came through a while ago. They spouted some nonsense of taking my world so I disposed of them.” Twilight watched as some of the humans began quietly whispering between each other. She hoped that Kat and the others saw that she was giving them an option to stay and be free from their world. As Twilight felt compassion towards her human friends in trying to free them she felt a sudden burst of power course through her but it also came with a problem as the pink charm on her necklace began to glow and Victor seemed to take notice of it as well.

Victor grinned at her. “Well, we can’t really do anything about that now. However, I do believe that you have something that belonged to one of them which means it belongs to me.” Victor held out his hand expectantly.

Twilight looked to him confused. “Excuse me.” She took this moment to try and examine Victor’s posture, looking to see if he was preparing to attack her. The magic that seemed to emanate from him was intense but there was something else. His power was being filtered into him, from some other source. That's when Twilight noticed that the source was a pouch hanging from his side.

Thus, Twilight had formed a plan. She looked down at the necklace on herself and then back to Victor. “Ah yes, these are some very interesting trinkets. So full of wonder and power.”

She smirked at Victor. Her horn lit up with magic as she teleported the satchel from his side to herself, letting the bag fall to the ground leaving four crystals hovering, leaving Victor momentarily stunned as he reflexively reached for his satchel, but found it was gone.

“I will be keeping these though, think of it as the price for disturbing me and getting to live.” As she moved the crystals to her necklace they seemed to attach themselves to it. Victor now angry, quickly snapped his fingers prompting the other human to come to attention.

“Get those crystals back.” He angrily said to them.

As the humans started moving towards her, Twilight moved to stand up as her first hoof came into contact with the ground, sending lines of runes out towards the humans, having been hidden through an illusionary shadow. As it reached the humans a shadowy hand came out, covering the lasso of runes now attaching to each of their ankles. In just a fraction of a second, all the humans were now being dragged around on the ground.

Sadly Victor seemed unphased by the predicament, instead deciding to lift his hand, forming ruins in the air before him. However, with the help of the Blitzkrieg, Twilight was able to figure out what the runes were and how to quickly counter them.

A bolt of lightning erupted from Victor’s runes, dead set on Twilight, but her own runes had changed the positive and negative charge of the ground off to her side, forcing the bolt to veer off course. Bringing his other hand up, e he let out a burst of fire that Twilight quickly shielded herself from.

Seeing his magic had been rendered ineffective, Victor quickly shifted to full frontal attack, charging at Twilight head on. Twilight however, easily teleported from his grasp in a single moment, slapped another rune upon the tyrant’s back, specifically the erase rune. Victor seemed stunned for moment, yet his body didn’t fade, instead the rune simply crumbled as he stood up and laughed at the now stunned Twilight.

“I see now.” Victor laughed. “I'm sorry but that little back door trick won't work on me. I guess the last ones you killed never mentioned that. Pity. ”

Victor charged again, only this time there were no runes to enhance his body or give away his plan. Thus with a single move, he tackled Twilight to the ground, with one hand on her throat and a knee on her barrel, all but paralyzing her. Twilight tried to teleport away but the moment she charged her horn Victor had punched her in the cheek causing her to lose focus.

“ I figured as much, seems that no matter the world, magic of any kind still needs some degree of intense concentration and without that you might as well be powerless.” Victor laughed triumphantly.

“Now, let me take what is mine.” Victor grabbed the necklace and ripped it from Twilight, callously tossing it off to the side. The moment the necklace was removed Twilight felt the loss of power and her form evaporated back to normal, breaking her hold on the other deities as well.

“Simon taught you well but he did not teach you everything.” He smirked, standing tall and holding the now much smaller Twilight up by her neck. “Now, tell me where he is?”

Even face to face with this manic tyrant, Twilight could help but become saddened by the thought of Simon.

“He...he’s dead.” She glanced over to where Simons corpse was now revealed after her loss of power. Victor followed her eyes after seeing the state his body was in he turned back to Twilight with anger burning in his eyes.

“You have no idea what you have cost me!” Victor roar in her face, almost looking ready to end her there, only to pause before smiling at her.

“Allow me to show you.” Victor raised his hand as if he was going to strike her again. “Simon was the only holder of the most powerful rune of all, none could use it as he could.” Victor stopped as if gathering himself. “Create.” He spoke the simple word and a rune appeared in his open hand before A knife materialized from nothing.

“With that power, he could’ve done any manner or things and now he’s gone. You’ve cost me thousands of years of planning and now you will pay with your life.” Victor quickly brought the knife down only to be stopped when he heard a familiar voice shout.

“Stop!” Both Victor and Twilight's eyes were drawn over to where Simon’s body was. However, the greater shock came when they found it, no longer a crumpled up corpse, but a living body. on its hands and knees, currently gagging as it tried to speak despite the blood leaking through its teeth.

“Just hang on for one fucking second.” Simon wiped the blood from his mouth as he tried to stand, his knees shaking weakly as he worked to steady himself..

“I hope everyone saw that because there will be no repeat performance, that shit hurt.” As Simon straightened his clothes and dusted off some of the dirt Victor seemed to be growing impatient with him as he threw the knife into the ground, whilst keeping a tight grip on Twilight’s throat.

“Simon, so nice to see you’re still alive. Tell me why should I spare this creature that dared to insult all of humanity by threatening me?”

Simon simply smiled as he always did. “Because I will give you the one thing that you want.” Simon held up his left arm and rolled up his sleeve, revealing two bands of revolving magic that Twilight hadn’t seen before. “My loyalty.”

Victor looked between Twilight and Simon a little before he grinned and threw Twilight aside. Twilight suddenly found herself surrounded by not only her friends but the humans as well. “No don't do it, father.” Erma had shouted.

“What is he doing?” Twilight watched as Simon ignored his daughter and placed a finger on his now bare arm as he did a new magic band started to form.

“He is using a powerful magic that will bind his will to his own promise as long as the other person hold up their end of the bargain. He’s essentially making himself Victor’s slave.” The group looked horrified at the notion, while Victor merely looked on, still impatient but much calmer than before.

“Well, isn’t this fortuitous for me. Tell me, what are the conditions of your oath.”

“I want this dimension and everypony here to be left alone, as in we leave this dimension right away and never come back. In return, I will become your loyal deity, no more switching.”

Victor seemed to think this over as he approached Simon. “You will follow my every command?”

“As long as it doesn't breach our contract.” Simon quickly answered.

“Deal.” Victor grinned at Simon as the two of them shook hands the band of magic on Simon’s arm filled with runes until it looked just like the other two.

Twilight approached Simon as Victor walked away with a whistle to gather his missing deities that she had scattered. “What are you doing?”

Simon smiled down to Twilight, who was surprised to see that both of his eyes were now blue. “Saving your life is the least I can do for the girl who made me whole again.” Simon reached into his pocket and pulled out a torn piece of string that Twilight recognized as the necklace that Victor had ripped off of her just missing the crystals. Simon leaned down and hugged Twilight as he did she could feel the Blitzkrieg leave her body. Several runes sprung out from Simon forming a large circle that surrounded all the living being in the nearby vicinity, as he waved his hand they spread outwards in all directions as far as Twilight could see.

Twilight gave him a questioning look to which he responded. “It might be best if the general population doesn't remember us, humans. Don't worry I'm not affecting you or your friends and I'm pretty sure that your princesses will be able to resist it.”

“Not, that I don’t find this little interaction adorable, we must go now, so come on Simon.”

Twilight looked over to where Victor was standing there was a familiar looking swirling vortex next to him. Twilight watched as Simon went to each of her friends, taking their translation headsets before he moved over next to Victor, watching as the humans he brought with him started to file through the vortex followed by Jack, Kat, and Rolf.

Erma stopped next to Twilight and whispered in her ear. “For what it's worth I think you would have made my father very happy.” She then continued on where Victor stopped her.

“Where are the other two?”

“Don't worry they are in my pocket space I will release them as soon as we are back.” Erma then walked through the portal followed by Victor then last was Simon. Twilight sat down watching as the vortex closed on its own.

“Are you going to be okay Twilight.” Twilight turned back to see her friends all of them sharing the same sober face. Twilight did her best to put on her best smile.

“I’ll be okay, I just need some time to myself right now. Let's head home Spike, I think I need some rest.” Twilight levitated Spike onto her back and started the silent walk home.

Back at the library Twilight put Spike down before heading to her room to lay down. As her head hit her pillow she noticed something on her nightstand that wasn't there before. Taking a closer look it was the headset that Simon had taken from her along with Hedwig's Diary and the piece of refined magic that Simon had given her.

Moving the headset and the magic out of the way she saw that the diary was opened to the magic lock that kept her from turning the last page. As she watched it shift away she had recognized the shape the lock just formed. Twilight quickly ingested the refined magic then turned her back to the diary.

“Erase.” She focused her magic as she placed the rune into the lock then watched as the magic dissolved. Twilight turned the page and was surprised by the simple passage she found.

Dear Twilight,

I’m not sure who you are but I have seen that you will play an important role in Simon's life. I also know that you have feelings for him and that by the time you read this he will be gone. I would simply like to offer you my deepest thanks, he means a lot to so many at this point.

Sincerely, Hedwig.