A Survivor's Guide to Grimdark Equestria

Chapters

Equus I -- It Goes About as Well as You'd Expect...
Equus II -- Not Exactly my Idea of a Dream Cruise...
Equus II -- Apparently Rarity Made a Huge Mistake
Nightmare
Equus II -- In Which I get Some Visitors
Equus II -- It Didn't Work
Equus II -- I Have a Plan, Hopefully it Works...
Equus II – I Will do What I Must
Equus II – A Good Night's... Rest?
Equus II – Man's Best Chance
Equus II – Of Myths and Melancholy
Equus II – An Unfortunate Escalation
Equus II – Things Escalate... Quickly
Equus II – Not Exactly Setting me up for Success...
Equus II – Dead Men are Told no Tales
Questions
Discussion
Repairs
Equus III – Night of the Living Dread
Equus III – Yup, Sounds About Right...
Equus III – Now We're Alone, Together
Equus III – Of Course it was Him, Naturally...
Equus III – Breakfast with the Book Horse
Equus III – Cat's out of the Bag
Complications
Equus III – The Chaos Within
Equus III – The Burden of Knowledge
Equus III – The More Things Change...
Equus III – I Can See Clearly Now...
Machinations
Decision
??? – [323DAYS]
Earth(?) – The Long Road Home
??? – And thus I was Given a New Purpose
White
Equus IV – Paint it Black
Equus IV – Welcome to Lovecraft Country
Equus IV – A Colloquy in the Cramped Crystal Cave
Equus IV – I Need a Hero
Equus IV – (Reluctantly) Crossing the Threshold
Equus IV – Good Help is Hard to Find
Equus IV – An Eldritch Tragedy ~ Part I
Equus IV – An Eldritch Tragedy ~ Part II
Equus IV – Return of the Book Horse
Equus IV – Fare Thee Well, O Placid Island of Ignorance...
Equus IV – We Cannot Live in a World of Chaos... or Can We?
Equus IV – Kill 'Em With Kindness
Agreement
The Prologue -- Or how I got Completely Screwed Over
Equus II -- Some Things Happen, both Expected and Unexpected
Equus III – They Never Said it Would be Easy...
Blame
Earth(?) - My Apartment and what We Found There...

Equus I -- It Goes About as Well as You'd Expect...

''--t are you... talking... about?"

I blinked and looked around me in confusion. Nothing but wild flora and darkness as far as my eyes could see... which wasn't very far unfortunately. The air was warm and humid, and something in it made me itch.

"Where the fuck..."

I heard the sound of a twig snapping somewhere, but when I turned to look, I didn't see anything. Deciding now wasn't the time to stand there gaping at my new surroundings, I took off in a random direction.

It was clear that I was in some kind of forest and...

"Oh you have got to be shitting me," I growled, carefully trying to make my way through fallen trees, thorny bushes, and various other underbrush, "if I wound up in the Everfree Forest I swear to god, Discord..."

Another snap of a twig made me jump slightly and I whipped my head around to see that there was still nothing there. My heartbeat began to pick up and I tried to quicken my pace.

The only thing that came out of that was me tripping over upraised tree roots and smacking into the trees I couldn't see in front of my face.

"I'm fucked," I muttered, rubbing my nose after running into yet another tree, "I'm absolutely useless in the dark, and I have no fucking idea where the hell I'm going," I hissed and yanked my hand away from the thorny bush I had mistakenly reached for, "seriously, the least he could've done was give me a goddamn flashlight or something..."

I continued to gripe and groan about Discord and the utter unfairness of my situation as I made my way through the thick dark forest. It probably wasn't a smart thing to do given where I was -- hell, it definitely wasn't a smart thing to do -- but I couldn't help it.

I had a habit of talking to myself out loud, and it was a rather hard one to break. Not to mention it was all that was keeping me from freaking out, as I tried not to think about the things that wanted to chew my poor unsuspecting legs off along with the rest of me.

Another sound caught my attention and made me freeze in my tracks. A loud cackle rang out from somewhere in the distance -- the eerie sound making my heart slam against my chest in fear.

The mad cackle sounded again and this time I could tell it was coming from somewhere up ahead. What that in mind, I promptly turned around and headed in the opposite direction.

"Nope," I muttered, pushing past more underbrush as fast as I could, "nopenopenopenopenope, I am not dealing with whatever the fuck that was."

I suddenly heard the sound of heavy footfalls and several loud cracks and thumps that most likely indicated the felling of large trees. That crazy laugh accompanied the loud noises and much to my horror the sounds were getting louder.

Whatever that thing was, it was getting closer.

"Oh shit," I moved as fast as I could possibly go while being hampered with crippling night blindness, "ohshitohshitohshitohshitshitshitshitsh--"

I slammed into a tree and fell backwards with a cry of pain.

Whatever was chasing me was now practically on top of me. I was crying and whimpering at this point as I tried to ignore the pain and scramble back to my feet.

"Fuck this goddamn forest!" I shouted as I pushed myself off the ground and tried to dash forward, "and fuck you, Discord!"

It was immediately after cursing the forest and the draconequus that had dropped me in it that I heard the cackling thing burst through the trees behind me. Against my better judgement I turned to look and screamed.

The first thing that caught my attention were the eyes.

I had a bit of a phobia when it came to eyes -- nothing major, but something about eyes just... unsettled me. It was the main reason I never fully looked anyone in the face whenever I talked to them.

This thing's face was more or less all eyes and big grinning mouth full of stupidly sharp teeth. It only had two eyes, but they were massive, had piercing black pupils, and they were disturbingly human looking -- nothing like the rest of it.

It had what looked like shiny white scales that covered it's massive pudgy body and pulled itself along the ground on all fours. It's stubby legs ended in thick stumps and it had a long tail that dragged so far behind it that the end disappear into the trees where I couldn't see it.

It's almost conical head was also way too big for its body.

Once the monster was out in the small clearing it stopped and stared at me silently. I had also stopped running and stood frozen in fear as I stared back. For a moment, neither of us moved an inch, the thing just standing there and staring at me unblinkingly as some kind of black ooze dripped from its open maw.

"Girls, over here! I think I heard something!"

And just like that, the spell was broken.

It opened its mouth wide and let out another loud and eerily human cackle before charging once again. I turned and tried to run in the direction of the voice, hopping over upturned trees and shouting for all I was worth.

I was far too panicked to shout any kind of cry for help so I just screamed wordlessly in the hopes that whoever was out there would hear me over the sound of the cackling beast behind me and save my ass.

"Hello? Who's out there? Where are you?"

The voice sounded incredibly familiar, but I couldn't afford to focus on it due to me literally running for my life. All I could do was try not to stumble over myself as I ran through the forest towards the voice.

I ducked a large overhanging branch I had been lucky enough to see and raised my head back up just in time to see a bright flash of magenta. I cried out in surprise and stumbled over a log I hadn't seen.

I hit the ground face first.

The loud cackle dissolved into a victorious screech.

A feminine scream somewhere above me pierced my ears.

Agony ripped through my back as I felt something vital being torn away.

My own blood curdling scream joined the others.

My screams quickly turned to thick gurgles as blood welled up in my throat.

One final stab of agony course through my body as another large piece of flesh was ripped from me.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain finally stopped and a blackness darker than that of the forest replaced everything else.

Equus II -- Not Exactly my Idea of a Dream Cruise...

A bright flash and a roar like that of a jet engine signaled my return to consciousness.

For a moment, there was nothing other than the light, the sound, and horrible pain, then it all stopped abruptly and I was once again surrounded in quiet darkness. I flinched slightly as my eyes shot open -- my heart beating a mile a minute.

I laid where I was for a few moments longer as I waited for my heartbeat to slow. This wasn't like when I first arrived in Equestria or when I woke up in the Realm of Chaos.

Waking up here felt like I had awakened from a really bad, really vivid nightmare. The only difference was that the memory stuck, but thankfully the pain didn't. Once my heartbeat slowed to an acceptable pace, I let out a shaky breath and slowly sat up.

I went to rub my eyes and that's when I noticed that I still had my glasses. I took them off and stared at them as I ruminated on what had just happened to me. I played the scene out in my head over and over again, and realized that at some point I had lost my glasses in the chase.

And yet, here they were.

"This... this is gonna mess me up," I muttered as I continued to idly twirl my glasses around in my hand, "this is gonna end up messing me up bad."

It was true.

I didn't really understand what I was getting into -- what Discord was forcing on me -- not until that happened. Now I understood just how truly messed up my situation was, and the thought made me shudder.

Not only did I have to go through the living nightmare of being eaten alive, I also had nothing to show for it. I failed right out of the gate and now that universe was just... gone now.

That memory wouldn't be leaving me for a long time, if ever, and I knew there'd be more where that came from -- a lot more. One way or another, I had to try and get used to this or I'd literally go insane.

"But how the fuck am I supposed to do that?" I growled in frustration, tightening my grip on my glasses, "I'm still shaking just thinking about what happened back there."

With no small amount of effort, I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind for the moment and focused on just where the hell I had ended up this time.

I put my glasses back on and looked around me, finally taking note of how quiet everything was, save for the constant creaking and settling of wood around me.

Now that I was actually paying attention to my surroundings, I could feel the floorboards slowly bobbing and shifting below me. The area I was in was incredibly small and, looking ahead, I could see why.

I was in a prison cell.

Iron bars covered one side of the small cell and the cell door was shut tight. Judging by the constantly creaking wood, the bobbing of the floor, and the distant sound of churning water, I wasn't in just any old prison cell.

I was in the brig.

On a ship.

"What? No, come on," I groaned, "what the fuck man, really?"

I was born and raised in Arizona, and I only ever traveled out of state a few times. None of those times did I ever get to travel on a ship of any kind. In fact, the only kind of boat I had been on was a small speed boat in a lake for maybe ten minutes once.

Needless to say, this was not how I envisioned my first time traveling by ship.

I half walked, half crawled my way over to the bars and tried to get a better look outside the cell. It was dark for the most part, but I could see a few rays of sunlight shining through small circular windows high above.

In the gloom, I could just barely make out some more cells on the opposite side of the room. I half expected everything to be old and rusty and moldy, but on the whole, the ship looked fairly clean.

The wood all around me was polished -- if a bit creaky, the iron bars were rust free and sturdy looking, even the manacles bolted to the wall behind me looked like they were in mint condition.

That of course, was marred by the fact that there were so many prison cells down here -- assuming I was at the very bottom of the ship itself. The odd thing was that there didn't seem to be anyone around.

I couldn't see inside the other cells, but if anyone was in them, they weren't making a sound. I didn't see any of the crew and I couldn't hear anything indicating activity from above.

The only sounds were the occasional creaks of wood and the sloshing waves outside.

"Odd... and slightly creepy," I mused aloud, "I'm really hoping this isn't some sort of pirate ship..."

As I scanned the area I began to feel a familiar itch. The itch was odd in that it didn't seem to be coming from any one place on my body and I was confused for a moment. After a moment's thought however, I realized this was the same itch I had felt back in the forest.

The more I focused on the itch, the less it actually felt like an itch. I didn't know what it felt like exactly, but by concentrating on it, I suddenly gained an odd sense of awareness. Like the strange feeling was nagging me to look in a certain direction.

My eyes widened slightly as I realized what this was.

This has to be that crystal sense thing Discord was talking about...

Having no desire to kick off a universal armageddon, I moved my attention elsewhere and the feeling was once more reduced to a slight itch.

"Yeah, that's not gonna get annoying at all," I muttered before letting out a sigh of frustration, "seriously, this is complete bullshit. How am I already captured? Did I just happen to land in the brig by complete chance? What the fuck, Discord?"

I groaned and made my way to the back of the cell where I sat against the back wall. I took my glasses off and rubbed my face wearily before looking out at the heavily blurred room outside my cell.

"Well, it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere anytime soon..."

With that, I decided to take stock of my current situation. I woke up in a locked cell -- whether by horrible luck or by the whims of that mismatched asshole, I couldn't say.

As far as I knew, there was no one else here but me. I didn't know who's ship this was, or if it was even a pony owned ship. It could've been run by griffons or minotaurs for all I knew.

I put my glasses back on, moved back towards the bars of my cell, and narrowed my eyes, trying to see past the darkness and into the other prison cells. A sudden and horrifying thought occurred to me as I looked at the many rows of cells.

What if this is a slave ship?

Given the nature of my 'journey' and the manacles on the wall, it was a very real possibility, but then if that were the case, then where were the slaves? I still couldn't see anything in the cells and--

A low groan somewhere to my left caught my attention.

Holy shit, there's actually someone else in here.

I opened my mouth to call out to whoever was here, but stopped short of actually saying anything. I was on a ship that could've been in the middle of the sea with no escape. I assumed no one knew I was here, and if that was the case, it was probably a better idea to keep it that way.

At least until I knew what was what.

So I waited to see if whoever was there would make another sound. After a minute, another groan came from my left, followed by a heavy fit of coughing. From the sound of it, the voice was coming from the cell next to mine.

I couldn't see into it due to the walls of the cell being made of some type of really sturdy wood, but the sound still carried through the bars and into my cell.

Another thing I had noticed was that the voice sounded feminine. Still, I held my silence and waited for whoever was there to inevitably speak up. After they had gotten their coughing under control they groaned again and I could hear the sound of movement.

"Ugh... where...?" the voice paused for a moment, "is... is this... oh... that's right, I -- ah!" another pause followed by what sounded like a hiss of pain, "oh my head... oh. OH! OH MY MANE!"

My brows shot up in bewilderment.

Rarity? Well fuck... didn't see that coming...

"I SWEAR, THOSE BRUTES KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HOW TO TREAT A LADY! I GIVE MYSELF UP PEACEFULLY AND WHAT DO THEY DO? THEY BASH MY HEAD IN AND DRAG ME HERE LIKE SOME SORT OF... OF... CAVE PONY'S WIFE!"

I winced and couldn't help but cast a worried glance to the room outside. I really hoped there was no one else around to hear Rarity's outburst -- which itself would've been funny had it not been for the situation we both found ourselves in.

"I did what they asked me to do!" Rarity growled, "I begged! I pleaded! I batted my lashes and turned up the charm and sacrificed everything to keep them safe! And still they... they... I couldn't... c-couldn't even..."

I heard a loud sniff followed by a high pitched whimper, which was then followed by an ear piercing wail that dissolved into heavy sobs.

"I'm... I'm s-so... sorry, girls!" she sniffed again, "I'm so sorry, Twilight! And... and Spike... I... I..."

Her words dissolved into more anguished wails and I felt my heart lurch unpleasantly in my chest at the sound. Whatever had happened to the mare, it was bad.

I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes before putting a hand over my face.

Just what the hell am I about to get myself into?

Author's Note

Thus begins the first actual adventure. Let's see how far he gets, shall we?

Equus II -- Apparently Rarity Made a Huge Mistake

I sat there in stunned silence as I listened to the mare descend into more heart wrenching sobs and half formed apologies. She continued on like this for what felt like a good ten minutes or so before she finally started to calm down.

The sobs were eventually reduced to whimpers, then to sniffles, and finally a heavy silence filled the air. I almost didn't want to break it, but I felt I had to say something.

But what?

What did I say after that?

After some thought, I decided to go the safe route.

"Hello?"

I heard a small gasp followed by another sniff and more movement.

"W-Who's there?" Rarity called out, "show yourself you.. you... vandal! Come to see me suffer have you?"

"What? No," I assured, "I'm in the cell next to you. I'm... apparently a prisoner here same as you."

My response was met with a brief moment of silence.

"How is that possible?" Rarity asked warily, "this ship is brand new and hasn't even left port yet so nopony is supposed to be here but me... at least, as far as I know," she finished uncertainly, "I don't really know how long I've been out..."

"Honestly, I don't know how or why I'm here," I replied, "I just woke up here, same as you," I looked out at the area past my bars, "quick question though... this isn't a slave ship, is it? Please tell me this isn't a slave ship."

"I..." Rarity hesitated a moment before speaking again in a more subdued tone, "I'm afraid it is, darling. It... it hasn't been used yet, thankfully... I mean I don't think it has... but... but..."

She trailed off, but I didn't pay it any mind as I proceeded to regret everything I head ever done to make it to where I was now.

"Great!" I cried, throwing up my hands in exasperation, "fucking perfect! I was screwed then, I'm screwed now," I leaned back against the wall and groaned, "dammit..."

After another pause she spoke again, her sad tone turning wary once more.

"Forgive my rudeness, but just who are you, anyway?" she asked, "I don't recognize some of the words you use, and I certainly haven't heard any of the natives speak like that."

"Well I... ah... fuck," I muttered, before letting out a sigh, "My name is Salvatore, and yeah, let's just say I'm... not from around here and leave it at that for now."

"What a strange name... Salvatore," Rarity repeated, as though testing out the name, "well at any rate, you can call me Rarity, dear," she went quiet again and I heard another sniffle, "I suppose you could say I'm not quite from here, either."

I raised a bemused eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" I asked, "are we not near Equestria at all?"

I inwardly cursed at myself for the slip and unfortunately for me, the oddity of the question didn't go unnoticed by Rarity.

"Now how was it that you knew I was from Equestria?" she asked suspiciously, "I've only told you my name, and as far as I know, we haven't met before and I don't even know what you look like. Believe me, I wouldn't forget a name like Salvatore."

"Well... your voice sounded... familiar," I replied, trying to think on my feet, "I've been to Equestria before, and... well, uh... you... kinda sound like someone I had met before. Must've been someone else, sorry about that."

"Ah, I... see..." Rarity replied slowly, "well it's quite alright, darling, and you were correct in your assumption after all."

Thank god I didn't end up locked in here with Applejack...

"So if we're not near Equestria, then where the h... where are we?" I asked, trying to curb my cursing a bit, "you said something about 'natives' so I'm assuming you're not living... wherever we are... or were possibly."

There was another silence, this one lasting somewhat longer than the others. It got to the point where I started to get worried.

"Hey... Rarity?" I asked tentatively, "you... okay over there?"

"What?" I heard her call out distractedly "oh... no, I... I'm not, darling... not at all," she let out a shuddering breath before speaking again, "Twilight Sparkle -- the Princess of Friendship... and my dear, dear friend... she was to undergo an important diplomatic mission in Abyssinia..."

The sound of another sniffle made its way into my cell as I sat and listened. My brows raised slightly at the mention of where Twilight had been going.

This was probably sometime after the movie, I couldn't help but shake my head and grin wryly, what a shit show the sequel is turning out to be...

As I thought about how odd that thought was, Rarity moved on, her tone low and melancholy.

"When we -- that is, the rest of our friends and I -- when we all heard the news, we went to Canterlot and convinced Princess Celestia to let us come along," she let out a single choked sob, "we... w-we wanted to be there to... to support our friend as the Element... the Elements of H-Harmony but... b-but..."

I grimaced as the distraught mare broke into more loud sobs.

"THE WHOLE AFFAIR WAS NOTHING BUT A WRETCHED FILTHY MISTAKE!"

I sympathized with Rarity and I wanted to help her... I really did, but I also didn't want to alert who or whatever decided to waltz back onto the ship while we weren't paying attention.

Ah, fuck it, I thought with a quiet sigh, knowing my luck, they're probably gonna show up anyway and give me and Rarity hell.

"We all got lost almost the instant we set hoof on land!" Rarity continued with another wail, "Pinkie wandered off somewhere and we all split up to different parts of town to look for her despite the fact that Fluttershy and I told everypony else it was a bad idea and.... a-and Spike and I... we couldn't find Pinkie and--"

"Whoa, whoa, Rarity wait a--"

"--ended up in the worst part of town and--"

"Rarity!"

"--find them anywhere! And then those filthy vultures--"

"RARITY, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! CALM... THE FUCK... DOWN!"

The mare sniffed and hiccuped and whimpered, but otherwise quieted down, finally giving me an opportunity to speak.

"...Alright, thank you," I said with a small sigh of relief, "and I'm sorry about that, but you were kinda spiraling there."

Even though I couldn't see her, I leaned up against the bars of my cell and looked over to the general direction of her own cell as I spoke.

"Now that you're not freaking out, try to relax," I said in as calming a tone as I could muster, "breathe... and when you're good, you can tell me again what happened to you and the others, okay?"

Rarity remained silent save for the occasional hiccup for a good two or three minutes. It wasn't until I started wondering if she just gave up that I heard heavy inhales and exhales coming from Rarity's cell that I took my own advice and relaxed.

I gave her another minute or so before I spoke again.

"You good now?"

A brief silence.

"I... I think so," Rarity replied, still uncertain and melancholy, but much less hysterical, "my apologies, darling, things have just been... not going quite so well for me at the moment."

"Believe me, Rarity," I answered with as much straight-faced seriousness as I could muster, "I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I'm in the same boat."

That managed to get a small chuckle out of her and I gave a small smile of my own.

"Now, you ready to tell me what happened to you all?" I asked cautiously, "the last thing I heard was that you had all split up to find Pinkie... and yes, splitting up was definitely an incredibly stupid idea given you only just arrived here for the first time in a land you all practically knew nothing about."

"Well Twilight had done some research into Abyssinian culture and its current state of affairs beforehoof," Rarity replied, "but as you can guess, it didn't help us a whole lot in the end."

"Did her research uncover some kind of slave trade?" I asked, idly looking around the dark room, "because going from a diplomatic mission to being held prisoner in what I'm assuming is some kind of brand new slave transport ship is a pretty big leap if you ask me."

"Well," Rarity gave a deep sigh and muttered something I couldn't hear before speaking up again, "when we all split up, I... Spike wanted to come with me 'as a loyal escort to his Lady'," Rarity let out an odd sound that was a mix between a giggle and a sob, "h-he... the poor dear always had a thing for me, but I..."

"He was too young and innocent, wasn't he?" I guessed.

"Not as young as you might think," Rarity responded her voice suddenly heavy with regret, "for a dragon, he was still very much an infant, but by pony standards, he wasn't all that much younger than Twilight or Rainbow Dash... but yes, I suppose I couldn't rid myself of the 'cute little baby brother' image I had of him."

Another moment passed by as we both sat there in silence. I patiently waited for Rarity to continue, and after another moment, she did -- her voice growing even more somber as she went on.

"Spike and I split up from the rest of the group and made our way to what I thought was a nicer part of town... but I was wrong... so very, very wrong!," the last word was punctuated by a heavy thunk, and Rarity continued on with an angry growl, "that part of town was filled with nothing but cutthroats and vagabonds!"

"Seriously?" I asked in surprise, "how did you mistake a place like that for the nicer part of town? Places where 'cutthroats and vagabonds' like to hang out are pretty easy to spot usually."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Rarity replied with a huff, "but no, these brutes were a bit more clever than that, darling."

"How so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The streets in Paw Print Port where we disembarked were filled with all sorts of wonderous things and creatures we had never seen in person before," her tone became slightly wistful, "many of the Abyssinians were a tall race of cat people believe it or not," she paused a second, "wait, are you an Abyssinian?"

"Ah... not... exactly, no," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck, "I guarantee you probably haven't seen anything like me at all to be perfectly honest."

"Really now?" Rarity answered, giving an intrigued hum, "now I'm all the more interested in meeting you face-to-face." I heard her clear her throat, "anyway, we were all treated so well while we were there. The Abyssinians were kind and always greeted us with a smile... and the fashion on display was truly something to behold!"

She sighed sadly.

"But I digress, dear," she said after a minute, "while we were all distracted by the sights, Pinkie Pie galloped off somewhere and we split up to look for her. Spike and I wound up in a place called Turncoat Alley and--"

"Wait hang on," I interjected incredulously, "you went into a place called Turncoat Alley and didn't expect something bad to happen?"

"Well forgive me," Rarity replied indignantly, "I had no idea at all what a turncoat was until later! I thought the street was named so for showcasing some sort of foreign coat I had never seen before!"

I lowered my face to my hand with a small groan of disbelief.

Fucking ponies and their stupid innocence, man, I swear...

"Alright well what happened next?" I asked, just trying to move on, "you and Spike went down Turncoat Alley and...?"

"When we had first arrived, everything looked nice at first," Rarity explained her voice holding a bitter edge to it, "the locals and store owners were even nicer than the ones near the docks... but it was all a horrid ruse.

"While we were looking for Pinkie, I got distracted by what I thought was a quaint little tailor shop owned by a rather dashing tom named Whisker. I had gotten so excited about new fabrics and foreign styles that I... in my excitement and ignorance, I made a rather bad decision..."

You mean aside from up and abandoning the search for your friend because some random tailor shop in an obviously seedy part of town caught your eye?

I of course knew better than to say that out loud, but I couldn't help but think it anyway. Rarity herself fell into another quiet moment and this one felt particularly heavy. She started to talk again, her words slow to come and weighed down with guilt.

"I... he... tried... t-tried to warn me, but I didn't listen," more sniffles could be heard and I frowned in dismay, "like a foal I didn't listen! And now he's... h-he's... oh Spike I'm so sorry!"

I sighed and sunk back down against the back wall as Rarity broke into another fit of heaving sobs and incomprehensible apologies to the little dragon. This time however, something she said caught my attention and my eyes widened in surprise.

"--my fault and now he's dead! My little Spikey-wikey is gone a-and I... I killed him! I killed him! I was the real villain in all of this and I... oh Spike!" I suddenly heard repeated muffled but very heavy thumps coming from the other side of the wall and my eyes widened further in alarm.

"I don't..."

*thump*

"...deserve..."

*thump*

"...the title of the Element of Generosity!"

I winced and looked at the wall next to me with a worried expression.

Is she pounding a hoof against the wall? I thought before coming to a horrifying realization, no... the banging sounds to heavy for that.

"Rarity what the fuck are you doing over there?!" I cried, quickly rising to my feet and grasping the bars as I tried in vain to get a better look at the cell next to mine, "seriously, if you're doing what I think you're doing it isn't gonna help! You're only gonna give yourself a--"

There was one last dull thump before the noise stopped completely. My heart nearly stopped as I heard something heavy briefly slide across the wooden floorboards followed by another softer thump.

Everything went silent.

"...Rarity?"

More silence.

"Rarity?!"

Nothing.

"...Fuck!"

I backed away from the wall separating me from Rarity's cell and into the wall on the opposite side. I sank down to the floor and ran a hand through my hair. I wasn't a person easily prone to stress, in fact, my actual motto in life was that no matter how bad things got, everything would work out in the end.

That motto had been true my entire life. No matter what hardships I faced, I always came out of them okay and in at least as good of a position as I was in before. With how well it had worked for me in the past, I had seen no reason not to hold that motto close to my chest.

Now though?

Now I was beginning to get the feeling things were going to be different. Now I was beginning to worry that I'd be gaining a very different outlook on life once this was all over, and that scared me more than anything.

I didn't want to change who I was, I liked who I was. Hearing Rarity try to explain what had happened hurt... bad. I hadn't experienced raw emotional pain like that since my mom died not so long ago. My aunt and I took her death well enough, but the rest of my family... not so much.

Their reactions tore at me in a way I hadn't felt before, and it was the same now as it was then.

It hurt.

I wanted to help Rarity so badly it hurt, but what could I do? As much sympathy as I felt for the mare, comforting others wasn't really my strong suit. I couldn't do anything from inside this cage and to top it all off, if I didn't do something, we'd both be sent off to who-knows-where as slaves.

If there was ever a time in my life where I needed something to work out in the end, this was it.

Nightmare

Twilight Sparkle awoke with a scream.

She shot up from where she lay -- her eyes wide and terrified, her breathing quick and heavy, and her entire body shivering violently. She found herself trying not to be sick right then and there.

She frantically looked about the room as if expecting some horrible thing to emerge from the shadows and attack. The only thing she saw however, was the familiar interior of her bedroom in the Castle of Friendship dimly lit by the soft glow of the moon outside her window.

Twilight sat there in bed for another few moments as she tried to get her heartbeat back under control. Closing her eyes, she raised a shaky hoof to her chest and stretched it out as she took several calming breaths.

She repeated the process a few more times until she felt she was calm enough to think rationally. She opened her eyes once more and turned to stare out the window and up at the night sky, her mind racing to understand what had just happened.

A dream?

She frowned and closed her eyes once more, gasping in shock as sounds and images came unbidden to her mind.

A dark forest.

A desperate wordless cry in the distance.

A bipedal creature charging straight for her, only to trip at the last second as a terrifying beast closed in.

And then...

Her eyes snapped back open and she shivered again at the thought of what had happened next. Bile started to rise up in her throat, but with a concentrated effort, she pushed it back down and brought her hooves up to her face, staring at them in horrified shock.

"That... couldn't have been a normal dream," she muttered aloud, "not even my worst nightmares were ever that horrifying... and I can still remember..."

Rather than fade in seconds like a dream normally would, this dream... this vision only grew clearer in her mind as time passed. While she could only remember bits and pieces of what had occurred and the setting had been too dark to make out anything clearly, the fragments remained vivid in her memory.

"Whatever that was, it felt like I was really there..."

A sudden knock on her bedroom door caused her to start and yelp in surprise. She whipped her head towards the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard who was behind it.

"Twilight?" the door opened and a bleary eyed baby dragon poked his head inside, his drowsiness warring with his worry, "is everything okay in here? You shouted so loud it woke me up from my room."

Twilight bit back her trepidation and gave the little dragon an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that, Spike," she replied, "I just... had a nightmare..." she lowered her gaze and frowned slightly, "...a really bad one."

"It must've been some kind of nightmare," came another voice behind Spike, "you woke both of us up with that shout."

Spike pushed the door open further to reveal Starlight Glimmer standing in the doorway looking just as tired and worried as Spike did. The two of them stepped inside the room, eyeing the lavender mare with no small amount of concern.

"Are you sure you're okay, Twi?" Spike asked with a frown, "do you wanna talk about it?"

"Trust me, Spike, I'm fine," Twilight answered with a shake of her head, "you don't need to worry so much. It was just a silly dream," as Spike got closer, she leaned over and pulled the dragon into a hug, "see? Perfectly fine."

"But--"

"Spike. I'm okay, really," Twilight said, exasperation creeping into her voice, as she set Spike back down, "now go back to bed, we have a lot to do tomorrow and we all need to be well rested."

"Technically, it is tomorrow," Starlight commented with a yawn, "but we've still got a few hours left, so I'll just take your word for it and get back to sleep," with that, she turned and trotted back out of the room, "good night, you two."

"Good night, Starlight," Twilight called back as Starlight stepped out of the room. She turned to see Spike still standing at the foot of the bed looking unconvinced for the most part. She sighed and frowned at the worried dragon, "Spike, I--"

"You're all sweaty and shaky," Spike stated bluntly as he crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, "it's painfully obvious that was more than just a 'silly dream', Twilight."

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise and she raised a hoof to her forehead to find that her mane and fur were indeed matted with sweat. She lowered her hoof and looked at it briefly before letting out a resigned sigh and turning back to Spike.

"You're right, Spike," she conceded morosely, "it wasn't just a silly dream... in fact, I'm not even sure it was a dream at all."

"What do you mean?" Spike asked, his worried frown once again in place, "what was it about?"

Twilight bit her lip and looked away from Spike and towards the window, staring out at the quiet, darkened Everfree Forest in the distance. After a moment she looked back to Spike.

"I can only remember a few things," Twilight began, "but from what I do remember, I think I was in the Everfree Forest at night."

"You went into the Everfree Forest alone?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I... don't think so," Twilight replied uncertainly, "I think the other girls were there... and... I think we were looking for something, but," she furrowed her brow, "I can't really remember that part very well, but I think we got separated... and that's when I heard something."

"What did you hear?" Spike asked, "was it a monster?"

"I heard... I heard a scream, and laughter," she shuddered and clenched her eyes shut, "the laughter sounded wrong, Spike... very wrong... a-and that scream..."

"Whoa, Twilight!" Spike cried, hopping onto the bed and resting a claw on one of her quivering hoof, "calm down, everything's okay now."

Twilight opened her eyes and turned to the baby dragon next to her, tears streaming down her face as she pulled him into another, tighter hug.

"It's not okay, Spike!" she cried, "i-it was horrible! There was... there was a monster, a-and... and it was chasing something... s-somepony," she hiccuped and sniffed before continuing, "a-and they... they fell in front o-of me... and then the monster came and... a-and..."

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't say anymore than that, and with a shuddering gasp, she broke down into heavy sobs. Spike set his confusion aside to comfort the mare that the closest thing to an older sister he had.

He stroked Twilight's mane as she cried into his tiny frame, muttering words of comfort and encouragement even as his own mind filled with countless questions about just what could've happened in that dream.

It was clear that whatever had happened was bad, bad enough to bring Twilight to tears just from the memory alone. In all the years that Spike had known Twilight, he had only ever seen her cry like this a clawful of times.

As troubled and confused as he was, Spike knew one thing for sure. Twilight needed the reassurance, comfort, and understanding of her friends, and he needed to send a letter to a certain Princess.

He didn't know what was going on with Twilight, but he had a strong feeling there was something more to this than just a bad nightmare.

Author's Note

Chapter's a bit shorter than I would've liked, but I'm already roughly halfway done with the next one, so hopefully I'll have that out within the next day or so.

Equus II -- In Which I get Some Visitors

I had no idea how long I had sat in that cell, but it had been long enough for me to actually start getting a bit bored.

For the longest time I had been worried about Rarity and whether or not she had killed herself or merely knocked herself out by slamming her head against the wall.

Another thought I hadn't consider that may have been a real possibility was that she was actually actively trying to kill herself by way of collapsing her head against the wall. The thought made me sick, but made a lot of sense given what had happened and how utterly broken she sounded over the whole thing.

I worried about her and about my situation for a good while, but eventually, I did what I always do when it came to dealing with stressful things beyond my control to do anything about.

I stopped worrying about it.

By no means was it an easy feat, and it took another long while before I managed it, but eventually I pulled it off. I had finally reached a state of mind where I could think about other things.

That had lasted all of a few minutes before my thoughts strayed back to getting me and Rarity -- who I chose to believe was still alive for the moment -- out of here before the supposed slavers arrived and did horrible things to us.

"Dammit..." I muttered rising to my feet and moving towards the bars, "I don't even have any guards to steal keys from or anything," I wrapped my hands around the bars and did a quick scan of the area outside my cell, "nope, still can't see much of anything."

My extremely poor vision continued to screw me out of finding anything useful from my surroundings and I sighed in frustration as I stepped back from the bars and looked around my little cell.

I found nothing of note other than a small bucket I hadn't noticed until now placed in a corner. I grimaced at the thing and looked inside. Nothing was held within, not even water.

"Didn't even have the decency to leave me something to drink..."

This of course, was a ridiculous thought given that whoever these slavers were, probably didn't know I was even here. It was only as I thought about what else I could use that I suddenly realized I didn't have anything to use.

More specifically, I didn't have anything already on me that I could use. For whatever reason, my smartphone, my headphones, and everything I had in my pockets -- both coat and pants -- were gone.

I was so preoccupied with all the insane things that had happened to me that I didn't even notice my things were missing. The only things I had left were my glasses and the clothes on my back.

At the very least I managed to keep my favorite faux fur coat even though I had used it along with my plain white tee as makeshift bandages back in Hell Treequestria -- not that that had done me a lot of good in the end.

It was little comfort in the face of my impossible situation and I resented Discord all the more for not throwing me a single bone. If I had asked, he probably would've just given me some bullshit about not wanting to make it too easy.

"Asshole could've at least fixed my eyesight," I groused as I sat back down against the back wall, "but nope, the intrepid hero gets to brave the cold, cruel multiverse alone and helpless without even music to pass the time."

I sighed and took off my glasses to rub my eyes wearily.

I abruptly stopped rubbing my eyes when I heard the sound of a door unlatching and swinging open with a creak somewhere far outside my cell to the right.

My eyes widened and my heart started beating a whole lot faster.

Fuck!

I slammed my glasses back on my face and quickly but quietly scrambled to find and sit in the darkest corner of my cell hoping who or whatever had just entered wouldn't see me.

This was another problem with having night blindness my whole life.

When everything looked about a few shades darker than they probably were, my brain assumed everyone else saw about as well as I did in the dark, even though intellectually I knew that wasn't the case usually.

"...put the majority of them for the duration of the trip, Captain."

God dammit!

I had only caught the tail end of that sentence, but what I focused on was the fact that the Captain of this ship had just arrived with some oily voiced... assistant?

"And how many are we expected to procure for the trip to Katzkandi?" came a deep, slow, and imperious voice, "this is our first voyage and if we fail to make quota, it will reflect badly upon us, and if it reflects badly upon us..."

I heard the footfalls stop and there was a tense silence before the deep voice spoke again in a threatening whisper.

"...I will make certain that you are held responsible, swine."

"Y-yes of course, Captain," the oily voice said, letting out a high pitched squeal, "e-everything is going as it should, a-and... and we have sixty-five in all, ready and waiting to be shipped at your command."

Wait... is that actually a...

"Excellent," said the deep voice, "and what of the mare and her friends? I hear one of them is a princess of some sort."

"Oh, yes," replied the toady with an enthusiastic snort, "Twilight Sparkle, apparently the Princess of Friendship. My sources say she was here on a diplomatic mission to meet with the new king."

The other voice scoffed in disdain.

"Princess of Friendship of all things... such a ridiculous title," the deep voice spat, before seeming to regain his composure, "that bit of nonsense aside, what is the status of the mare and her friends?"

I heard more footfalls as the two began walking once more.

"We managed to capture four of them in total," the lackey replied, "one of them is aboard this ship in this very room, and the other three are on board the other ship that's getting ready to set sail as we speak."

My heartbeat began to pick up again as they came closer to my cell. Just before they were about to pass into my line of sight however, they both stopped.

There was another moment of tense silence, and the oily voice spoke again, nervous and unsure.

"We... ah... lost two of the ponies during the chase."

"You let them escape?" the deep voice nearly growled, "You know we can't afford to have anyone finding out about our little operation, Napoleon."

"I-I'm well aware, Captain, believe me," the other voice -- Napoleon -- said quickly, "w-what I meant to say is that they had become too much to handle, so we... er... had to put them down. Apparently there was a baby dragon traveling with the white mare, but it was already dead by the time we found the others."

I grimaced at Napolean's words and my gut twisted into knots, adding to my rapidly failing nerves. Two of the Mane Six were already dead and the rest were captured and on another ship.

Why was Rarity separated?

Did she even know that two of her friends were dead?

From the sound of it, I didn't think that was the case, and my heart fell at the thought of her finding out. If she had been this broken up about Spike's death...

I made a mental note to try and keep an eye on the mare... assuming she was still alive, of course.

Dammit! How the hell am I supposed to fucking save anything when I keep showing up late to the goddamn party?!

There had been a long pause before the deep voice spoke again.

"...a pity," he finally said in a matter-of-fact voice that obviously held no pity whatsoever, "you did at least manage to capture the 'princess', yes?"

"Of course, Captain," Napoleon replied as one of the two walked forward and into view, "after she saw what we were willing to do to her friends, she came willingly. I'd say we can make quite a mint for..."

A pig.

It actually was a pig that had been talking this whole time. Not only was he talking, but he was sharply dressed -- wearing a black suit and tie complete with a too small looking bowler atop his fat head.

His beady black eyes widened as he caught sight of me trying -- and apparently failing -- to hide myself in the darkness.

"W-What in the king's name is that?" the well dressed pig squeal in alarm, "how did that... thing get in here?"

Shit...

I didn't even have time to give a response before the Captain stepped in front of the cell. Judging by the deep imperious voice, I was expecting some sort of tall, lanky guy with oily black hair and a perma-sneer.

Snape basically.

What I got was the biggest, meanest looking cat I had ever seen. The Abyssinian feline had to have been at least seven or eight feet tall and was all muscle.

Over his mottled black and tan fur, he wore a long white captain's coat, pressed white slacks that allowed his bushy tail to hang behind him, and a dark brown button up shirt covered with all sorts of belts and buckles. He completed the look with a white captain's hat and an intrigued look as he stared down at me.

"Well now.... what do we have here?" he leaned down to get a better look at me -- his slitted lime green eyes boring into me, "such a strange creature," he mused, putting a hand to his chin, "given how you look and your odd clothing, you're obviously sapient to some degree -- though I've never seen one of your race before..."

I wasn't exactly shaking with fear yet, but I was certainly nervous enough to keep my mouth shut. He hummed in thought as he continued to stare at me with clear interest.

"From Napoleon's reaction, it's clear you weren't one of the ones we had intended to bring aboard," he paused a second before raising an eyebrow, "can you speak?"

"I... uh... yeah," I replied weakly, stepping out of the shadows, "y-yeah, I can talk."

The large cat flashed me a toothy grin and stood back up, clapping his hands together once.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed before turning to the still shocked pig next to him, "Napoleon!"

The pig in question jumped and whipped his head in the Captain's direction.

"Y-yes, Captain?"

"You said one of the ponies was in here, correct?"

"That I did, Captain," Napoleon replied with a quick nod, "right in the next cell in fact."

"Good," the Captain replied, "go check on her, will you?"

He turned back to me with a wicked smile that showed every single one of his sharp teeth, and that was when I started shaking with fear.

"I'm going to find out a little more about our new friend here."

Equus II -- It Didn't Work

Something was niggling at the back of my mind as I sat at the other end of the table across from the Captain.

It wasn't that constant, annoying itch that told me where the doom crystal was, this was something... different. I didn't know what it was, but it was incessant, nagging at me to remember something I had forgotten, or overlooked, or... something.

It was bugging me, but I managed to ignore it well enough, figuring if it was important, I'd remember it eventually. I had a much bigger problem to deal with at the moment, and it was sitting across the table eyeing me hungrily.

Hopefully the large, burly, sharp toothed, predatory feline was just hungry for information.

The Captain leaned forward in his chair and crossed his fingers on the table. For a moment he didn't say anything, his gaze shifting to something resembling... indecision?

After a moment he leaned back once more and crossed his arms, a frown making its way across his whiskered face.

"What are you?"

Blunt.

"Human, homo sapien if you wanna get scientific about it," I replied, "there's ah... not too many of us around, and we kind of live... pretty far out there."

I waved my hand in some random, vague direction, causing the Captain to raise a furry eyebrow.

"I... don't really know where I am or how I got here so, uh... yeah..." I paused awkwardly, "name's Salvatore by the way... just so you know."

The Captain grunted and worked his jaw silently before narrowing his eyes.

"Judging by your build, I'm assuming you're a male," he stated, his face scrunching up in disdain, "mostly hairless, fairly scrawny, but I'm sure the masculine features are there somewhere under all that clothing."

He gave an unimpressed snort before shaking his head.

"Everything about you just screams weak and useless," he nearly growled, "how did you even manage to make it aboard without our lookouts noticing? And for that matter why were you locked in one of the cells?"

Ignoring the jabs at my masculinity...

"Well, like I said, I don't know how I got here," I replied as patiently as I could, "I just kind of woke up in that cell."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Not really," I replied with a shrug, "I wouldn't believe it, but it's true nevertheless," I tried for a bit of logic, "I mean, if this really is a slave ship, then I'd have all the reason in the world not to be here."

I gauged his reaction, seeing if he would snap, but he just smirked and gave a small chuckle.

"I suppose that makes sense," his smirk fell away and was replaced with a scowl, "whether or not you end up as a slave however, remains to be seen."

I didn't really have much to say to that.

If he wanted to snap a metal collar on my neck and make me push a large heavy wooden wheel around with other slaves for no reason, I wasn't really in a position to stop him.

I felt that odd niggling sensation in the back of my mind again at the thought, but I still couldn't place it, so I went back to ignoring it.

"Let's talk about that, actually, shall we?" the Captain continued with an amused grin, leaning forward, he crossed his fingers on the table once again, "what can you offer me in exchange for your freedom from enslavement alongside the other slaves soon to board this ship?"

I locked up for a moment.

I wasn't particularly good at thinking on my feet when it came to these kinds of situations, and his question had caught me completely off guard. I quickly tried to search for something to say.

I wasn't particularly strong.

I couldn't see for shit.

I was somewhat clumsy due in part to me not being able to see for shit.

I wasn't a very strategic thinker -- at least not most of the time.

I was doing myself no favors by thinking about my negative qualities.

Come on, Sal, there's gotta be something you can do...

I could play the electric guitar, but unless I could literally knock the Captain out with my wicked solos, that wouldn't help me here, and I'm not that good -- not to mention the obvious lack of guitars.

"I'd like to think I'm a fairly decent writer," I tried, rubbing the back of my neck, "if you need something written, I could probably do that. Maybe like a memoir or something?"

The Captain frowned, clearly unamused by my suggestion, but otherwise made no other moves than to shake his head.

"Try again, Salvatore."

Shit.

I was a nice guy, but that would probably just be seen as weakness on my part, and the only person I really felt like being nice to was Rarity who was indisposed at the moment.

I had to face the fact that I really didn't have any sort of skills that would help me in this situation, or if I did, I couldn't dredge them up from my memory at that moment.

It was as I was about to lie my ass off about what I could do, that the sensation of forgetting something overwhelmed me, and I went silent for a second, choosing to let the thought come to the surface and hoping it would help.

Metaphysics.

It was something I tended to think about on occasion when my brain wasn't occupied with other thoughts. I found it helped me create somewhat of a detached view of the world and how it worked, thinking about why and how people and things in general were the way they were.

Applying those thoughts to my current predicament led me to the realization that I was actually spirited away by a character I thought was fictional and that I was in a world I thought was fictional.

That realization caused another to finally hit home -- specifically that there was actually an infinite multiverse. Multiverse theory was right, and I was smack dab in the middle of it all.

Apparently it hadn't really sunken in until now, but everything that had happened to me up to this point was actually insane, and something I really should've been freaking out about more than I was.

The universe didn't work the way I thought it did, not even in the slightest.

That was both scary and exciting on a level I couldn't even process properly. Desperately trying to ignore the minor existential crisis that was taking place inside my mind right now, I tried to bring myself back to my present situation and think about how I could make this work to my benefit.

And just like that, I remembered Discord.

An actual living breathing God of Chaos had whisked me away to another universe and, more importantly, had given me some of his power. Sure, he had placed a bunch of restrictions on his power, but what if there was something he overlooked?

He had basically just given me the power to sense doom crystals and the function of a walking nuclear warhead that would explode and wipe everything out when hit just right, and that's it.

But what if there was more?

Hell, maybe this was all just a complete non-issue to begin with.

"I'm still waiting, Salvatore," came the Captain's impatient voice from across the table, "and you'd best make your case a good one because I'm getting bored and am about two seconds from throwing you back in your cage."

That snapped me back to reality and I held up my hands in a 'hear me out' gesture.

"Okay wait, hang on, just... gimme a minute," I replied quickly, "I wanna try something real quick. If it works, well... let's just hope it works I guess."

The Captain raised his furry eyebrow again, an intrigued -- if slightly cautious -- look on his face as he motioned for me to continue. I breathed a sigh of relief and closed my eyes...

...realizing that I had absolutely no idea how this would even work.

I may have a small amount of Discord's power running through me, but I no idea how I'd go about tapping into it. Did I Just snap my fingers? I really doubted it would be that simple.

Nevertheless I threw all logic to the wind and snapped my fingers.

Nothing happened.

I was left sitting there looking like an idiot, as I tried once more to the same result. I opened my eyes to see a bemused and slightly irritated look on the Captain's face.

I closed my eyes again and tried to concentrate on that itching sensation that told me where the crystal was, hoping I could somehow channel that. I felt the sensation grow into something more substantial, and to my surprise, I felt the presence of the very object I was trying to avoid somewhere in this room.

I set that discovery aside and, holding onto that itching sensation, snapped my fingers again.

Nothing.

I wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy... god dammit, Discord...

My eyes may have been opened to things I never thought could be possible, and my reality may have been drastically changed from what I knew, but it seemed one thing remained a constant.

If something seemed to good to be true, it probably was.

Not that anything about this situation was good, but at the very least I'd think I would get some kind of benefit from all of this as opposed to just fumbling my way through this mess.

In the end, I'd just have to get good at not dying. Once I mastered that, I could start thinking about how to actually save these universes from themselves. I just had to take it one step at a time, like I always did.

And hey, who knows what'll happen in the future. Hell, I just might get my hands on some kind of awesome power later.

Unfortunately my positive attitude didn't last much longer, as the Captain -- who still hadn't introduced himself -- gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his temple before rising out of his seat.

"I think I've seen all I need to see."

"Wait, that's it?" I asked in a fit of desperation, "didn't you want to know more about humans, or where we came from, or what--"

"No, I've heard all I care to hear," the Captain replied, "you have absolutely nothing to offer me, and frankly, I doubt you'd even make a good slave."

Ouch.

He walked over to the entrance and threw open the doors before turning back to me with a dispassionate frown.

"On your feet, human," he intoned, "you're to be kept in the brig until I decide what to do with you."

I grimaced and stole a brief glance behind me, spotting a small dresser next to a lavish looking bed. I cast my doom crystal senses out and quickly saw what I was looking for.

Right there, just lying atop the dresser like it was some kind of forgotten plate of half eaten dinner, was a softly glowing dark purple crystal about half the size of my forearm.

It was just sitting there, waiting for me to grab it.

The damn thing was practically goading me to take it and destroy the universe.

Something deep inside of me wanted to, and, looking back to the frowning Captain, the thought crossed my mind briefly, but in the end, I thought about Rarity and the rest of the remaining Mane Six.

I wasn't about to destroy the universe if I could help it, and even if I were to consider it as a contingency plan, I couldn't just up and grab the thing with the Captain watching me from over by the doorway.

With a sigh, I cut off the crystal sense and got up to follow the bulky cat man.

Equus II -- I Have a Plan, Hopefully it Works...

For the moment I decided to play the waiting game -- not that I really had a choice in the matter.

I had been thrown back into the brig, and during the last hour or so that I had been here, I took some time to really think about my current situation and what I could do about it.

If I wanted to get something done, I figured the best way right now was to wait until the opportunity presented itself, and make sure that I didn't miss that opportunity. I had no idea how long it would be, but as the Captain was leaving after putting me back in my cell, I overheard Napoleon mention something about the slaves arriving soon.

I assumed that meant we'd be leaving for this Katzcandi place soon, and my chance at escape would be minimal at best. At that point, the only option more or less would be to start some kind of slave rebellion in the hopes that we could take over the ship.

It was a long shot... maybe.

I didn't know exactly how many crew members there were going to be, but they almost certainly wouldn't be nearly as much as the slaves. I doubted I was charismatic enough to lead a full on rebellion against the Captain and his crew, and that wasn't even factoring in the question of how willing these slaves were to rebel in the first place.

I suddenly found myself thinking about the imprisoned earthbenders in that one episode of Avatar and couldn't help but grimace. I got the feeling the slaves would be a lot like they were, and wouldn't be so easy to convince in the end.

I wasn't one for rousing, impassioned speeches thought up at the spur of the moment, and I quickly decided that a stunt like the one Katara pulled would get me killed real quick, and then even if I somehow became a martyr it wouldn't even matter.

Because they'd all die in the end.

No, I'd need to be a bit more subtle than that, and that was something I might've been able to pull off, assuming I was given the chance to get close to the other slaves.

There was also the whole 'strange new bipedal creature that the world has never seen' thing to consider. Would me being a human be a boon or a hindrance? Would it make them less likely to trust me?

It was likely, but I couldn't know for sure until the slaves actually arrived and saw me for themselves, so I moved my thought process along. I'd figure something out once I had the opportunity to act, but there was one other very important issue to consider.

Rarity.

I didn't know what they had done to her or what that little sausage link Napoleon had injected her with, but from what he had said, it sounded like it was supposed to erase her memory. That or make her into some sort of emotionless blank slate the Captain could manipulate into serving him.

The thought made me shudder.

Rarity becoming a villain through mental manipulation would've made for an interesting read, but this wasn't a fanfiction, and there were very real stakes and lives I had to consider.

How the hell was I supposed to get Rarity out of here along with myself and possibly the other slaves?

At the moment, as far as I could tell, the white mare was still unconscious in her cell, and in the last hour or so that I had been here, neither the Captain, nor Napoleon had come back down to check on us.

Walking up to the bars of my cell, I looked around the dark room, listening for any indication that Napoleon or the Captain were on their way down. When I didn't hear anything but the settling of the ship, I decided to see if she was awake.

"Hey, Rarity," I called out in a loud whisper, gripping the bars of my cell and futilely looking over to where the next cell was, "Rarity, can you hear me?"

No response.

"Dammit," I muttered, pulling away from the bars, "guess I'll have to wait."

I went to sit against the back wall and do some more thinking, when I heard a voice from the direction of Rarity's cell.

"Rarity... that sounds like such a nice name," the voice muttered to itself somewhat longingly, "I wonder who he's talking about... it couldn't be me surely..."

Are you shitting me? How long has she been awake?

"Rarity?"

I stopped and mentally slapped myself as I walked back over to the bars.

"I'm talking about you," I called back, "your name is Rarity."

There was a pause, and then...

"Is that really my name?" Rarity asked hopefully, "I can't recall... anything before waking up here, but my head hurts terribly and I'm fairly sure I don't quite like the looks of this ship."

It looks like she's still Rarity, even without her memory... that's good, that might make things easier.

"Yes, that's your name," I said somewhat quickly, just knowing I was going to be interrupted by an opening door soon, "okay look, I probably don't have a lot of time to explain right now, but my name is Salvatore and right now we're both prisoners."

"What?!" Rarity cried in alarm, "why? What did I do?"

Got one of your friends killed because of a stupid decision apparently.

"You didn't do anything," I replied instead, "we we're captured by some... very bad people, but right at this moment, that's not what's important--"

"I very much beg to differ!" Rarity interjected, her voice full of panic, "why did they capture me? Who captured me? Why can't I remember anything?"

"Rarity, please, calm down," I pleaded, "freaking out isn't going to get us anywhere -- in fact, it'll probably just bring the Captain here, and then we're both screwed."

That seemed to shut her up some, though she gave an occasional sob.

This was actually a good thing -- the fear and doubt of her situation, not the actual sobbing.

I had no doubt the Captain would try to convince Rarity that he was the good guy, but if I could poison the well, maybe I could prevent her from being brainwashed. Maybe I could even make her remember who she was, if I was lucky enough.

Or maybe it would make things worse in a way I didn't expect.

I weighed my options.

If the Captain couldn't turn Rarity into his right hand mare, then he might find it more prudent to make her a slave like all the rest. Somehow I felt it was far more likely that he'd just outright kill her though.

Dammit! Should I risk it?

My attention snapped back to Rarity as she began to whimper and mumble to herself. I grimaced for a moment before an idea came to me, Rarity's earlier theatrics popping into my mind and reminding me of one of her strengths.

It's risky, but if Rarity is this much like her old self without her memory, she just might be able to pull it off.

"Rarity, I need you to keep calm and listen to me," I said sternly, but as calmly as I could, "I might have a way to get us out of here, but I need your help."

It took a second, but eventually Rarity's cries died down to mere sniffles and after another small pause, she responded with a weak, small voice.

"Y-You have a plan?" she asked hopefully, "can you really get us out of this horrid situation?"

"It might take some time... and you might have to do some things you don't want to do," I said tentatively, "but I think I could make it work."

Before I told Rarity what my plan was, I took a moment to fill her in on our current predicament, telling her about the Captain and how Napoleon drugged her. I left out what had happened to her friends for the moment.

Once she was caught up, I proceeded to tell her my plan, speaking quietly. I hadn't heard the door open at all, but it paid to be careful right now.

"The Captain is most likely going to try to convince you to join him as his number two or something like that," I explained, "what I need for you to do, is play along with what he wants."

I expected her to cry out against the idea, but she was strangely quiet for a few moments.

"...Rarity?"

"I think I understand," Rarity finally replied, "I may not know who I am right now, or what this all about, but I do know we're not getting out of this without a little subtlety."

I relaxed somewhat, glad that she had caught on so quickly.

"Right," I continued with a nod she couldn't see, "I have to warn you though, Rarity, he said something about 'training' you, and I don't know what his methods are going to be, but I'm pretty sure they're not gonna be pleasant."

"Ah... I see," Rarity replied, much less sure of herself at my words, "well, I... I suppose I'll have to just... bear with it for now."

I was amazed at just how much of herself she had retained despite the memory loss. I don't know how effective Napoleon's drug was supposed to be, but I started to get the feeling it hadn't worked exactly as intended.

"Just remember, you are Rarity," I reinforced, "you are confident, you are beautiful, you ooze grace, and you could have any stallion eating out of your hoof with your charms. I don't know too much else about you," I lied, "but I know this much. No matter how he tries to manipulate you, always keep this in mind."

"I am Rarity," she repeated as if to internalize the fact, "though I may act like it, I am nopony's puppet."

"Exactly," I replied, happy with the way things were going so far, "remember that, and you should be fine... hopefully."

"And what about you?" she suddenly asked, "what's to be your role in all of this, Salvatore?"

I grimaced as I was reminded of what I had to do. When I answered, it was with bitterness, a great lack of enthusiasm, and more than a little trepidation.

"I have to start a slave rebellion."

Equus II – I Will do What I Must

A lone white mare stood in a dark, musty alleyway, confused and afraid. Everything around her was old, dirty looking, and quiet -- eerily so. She looked to her left and right, but only saw heavily stained brick walls, large garbage pails, stacked and moldy wooden boxes, and smelly black bags.

Looking behind her, she could see a large opening into an endless expanse of white light. The light felt warm and inviting, like a mother calling her child home.

She wanted to be there, in that warm, inviting light. It was everything she ever wanted, it was perfect in every way, it promised peace, love, and protection.

It was wrong.

The white mare didn't know why she suddenly felt that way, but something about this warm white light unnerved her. It was as though the light were promising a way out, and that way out was at the bottom of a steep drop off of a cliff.

She shuddered and stepped away from the light, resisting its inviting aura.

Instead she turned away and looked in the opposite direction. At first, she could only see a dead end, a brick wall blocking off the rest of the path. Looking closer however, she could see that their was another path to the right, and it was dark.

This path felt nothing like the one behind her.

This path was dark, cold, and foreboding. While the light promised sweet and comforting lies, this path promised a harsh and unforgiving truth. The white mare knew deep down that this was the right path, but she didn't want to go down it.

She didn't want to go down either path.

And so the white mare stood there in that dark alleyway, frozen in indecision. She looked back and forth between the two paths, knowing she had to pick one, but refusing to choose either.

Sweet lies or bitter truth?

Before the mare could linger too much longer on her decision, a voice reached her ears. It was quiet and far away, almost like a breath on the wind. She strained her ears to hear the voice in the hopes that it would tell her what path to choose.

There!

She heard it again, still just as quiet, but much more pronounced. She frowned and listened harder, trying to pick up anything she could. It was difficult, but once the voice spoke again, she could just barely make it out.

A name.

Her name.

Rarity.

Her eyes widened and she shot a look towards the dark path of truth. She swore she could see something -- a flicker on the edge of her vision, but that was impossible.

Surely it was just her imagination?

But no, she had definitely seen something. Squinting her eyes, she trotted closer to the dark path, both eager and hesitant to get a better look at what might've been.

The white mare yelped and stumbled back as the shape flickered into view once more for a split second. It turned out a split second was all the mare needed to confirm her suspicions.

As brief as its appearance had been, the image was clearly a silhouette of a pony. Not just anypony however, the mare knew there was something more to this pony.

In the brief instance when it had appeared, the white mare could tell straight away that this pony exuded a powerful presence, strength, determination, grace, regal authority, and... fear and desperation?

The silhouette flickered into view once more before disappearing again. The mare stood there, frowning in confusion as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Just who was this pony, and why did it know her name?

"...up..."

Why had there been such an air of desperation about the pony, and why did it make her feel uneasy?

"Get up, you useless equine..."

The pony had appeared before the dark path of truth, and the white was beginning to think that may have meant something. Maybe if she were to--

"ON YOUR HOOVES, GIRL!"

Rarity's eyes snapped open and she quickly scrambled away from the booming voice with a startled yelp. She hit the wall behind her and yelped again as she eyed the large feline creature before her.

It took her a moment to realize she was looking at the brawny bipedal cat from behind a set of thick iron bars. She frantically looked around her, only to see that she was surrounded on all other sides by heavy wooden walls.

After another moment, it all came back to her. She was being held prisoner on a ship with no memory of who she was or how she had gotten here. The only thing she knew for certain -- at least according to the stallion in the cell next to hers -- was that her name was Rarity.

She remembered that they had made a plan, and was her job to play the part of the subservient right hoof mare. According to Salvatore, she was supposed to keep the Captain distracted, as well as get her hooves on any information that might get them out of this situation.

In the meantime, Salvatore would try to convince the slaves to rise up against the Captain and his underling. Rarity herself had many misgivings about the plan, but she hadn't mentioned any of them out loud.

As risky as the plan was, it was more or less all they had at the moment.

As she remembered more and more of what had occurred recently, her heartbeat slowed to normal levels and she gradually calmed herself -- that is, until she refocused her attention on the feline before her.

The Captain for his part, looked rather amused at her reaction. He had been crouched somewhat to get a better look at the mare who would become his second, and now stood up to his full height, making the much smaller mare swallow nervously.

"Glad to see you're awake, little lady," the Captain said with a smirk, "hope you had a good rest, because we've got a lot of work to do."

"Work?" Rarity replied, shrinking back a bit and smiling at the feline uneasily, "w-whatever do you mean? What kind of work?" she then remembered her role and took on a more confused look, "w-who are you? Where am I? Who am I? What's going--"

She cut herself off as the Captain lowered himself back to eye level and glared at the mare.

"I am the Captain, you are my captive on this ship, and who you were is not important," he stood up straight once again as he spoke, "what is important is that you learn to rise above your status as a mere captive and serve me as a faithful second-in-command."

He flashed Rarity a toothy smile and the mare shivered involuntarily.

"I can make your life one of wealth, leisure, and, if you so desire... pleasure," he then frowned and stepped to the side, gesturing outside of her cell, "or I can make it a living nightmare, and you'll never be anything more than a wretched waste of life, the same as any of these fools."

Rarity followed his sweeping arm and saw several more creatures she hadn't seen before she fell asleep. There were more catlike creatures like the captain, large bird creatures she was sure she had never seen before, and she even saw a few griffons and diamond dogs as well.

What she didn't see were other ponies like herself.

She frowned as she looked upon each of the creatures in turn. They were all locked up in cells much like hers, and while she couldn't see all of them from where she was, each of the ones she could see wore an expression of defeat or resignation.

Oh, dear, this is going to make Salvatore's job rather difficult...

Thinking on the mysterious stallion -- or whatever he may have been, she had no idea -- she wondered just where he was in all of this. Was he still in the cell next to hers?

"Well?"

Rarity's attention was drawn back to the Captain, who had rested his hands behind his back and was clearly waiting for a reply from the mare. He raised a furry eyebrow and frowned.

"Do you believe you have what it takes to rise above the life of a lowly slave?" he asked pointedly, "would you stand by me as something of an equal, or would you grovel at the feet of some lecherous and abusive noble?"

Rarity bit her lip and looked from the Captain, to the would-be slaves in the other cells. There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to take the Captain up on his offer, but doing so felt... selfish.

She knew she was being ridiculous and that this was the only way she could fulfill her role, but something nagged at her, telling her this was wrong and that she needed to help the dejected and downtrodden souls in those cells.

She thought back to Salvatore's plan and frowned in determination.

If their plan succeeded, she'd be able to help all of them, all it would take is a little patience. She was a lady, and she would handle this situation with grace, subtlety, and all the finesse of a mare who knew what she wanted, and knew just how to get it.

She turned back to the Captain and gave a single nod.

"I won't let you down, Captain," she finally replied with absolute conviction, "I refuse to become nothing more than a groveling slave. I will show you what a proper lady can do when she puts her mind to it."

The Captain frowned slightly before chuckling and giving the mare an approving grin.

"Well said, my little jewel... well said," the Captain replied, stepping back slightly, "now then, let's get you out of that cage and somewhere more comfortable, shall we?"

Rarity breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the Captain nodded towards someone just out of sight. After a second, a pig in a suit and bowler walked up to the cell with a pair of keys.

The Captain gave him a nod and the pig reached up to unlock the cell door, stopping briefly to give the mare what she could've sworn was a knowing smirk. Her suspicions were only heightened when the pig winked conspicuously.

She frowned in confusion as he opened the cell door

"Now don't try anything funny, mare," the pig warned before giving a small amused snort, "not that you could with that ring on your horn."

Rarity 'harrumph'd' and trotted out of the cell, ignoring the well dressed and smirking underling. As the three of them began to make their way out of the room, Rarity chanced a glance at the cell next to hers and her eyes widened in surprise.

There, sitting with its arms and legs crossed and leaning back against the wall, was not a stallion, but another creature she had never seen before. Rarity couldn't tell for sure, but it looked as though the creature was sleeping.

It's head hung low and Rarity could hear what sounded like soft snores coming from it. It appeared to be mostly furless save for a wild mop of black hair atop its head. It wore glasses, a rather nice looking black winter coat, with a plain white t-shirt and pants made of a material the mare didn't recognize along with strange footwear.

Rarity was snapped out of her shock when she felt herself pushed forward by a rough shove from the pig behind her.

"Don't worry about the human, mare," he growled, "just keep moving along. The Captain doesn't like to wait long so you'd best get it together."

Rarity glared at the bowler wearing pig before trotting forward once more, though she couldn't help but glance back at the cell contain this 'human' the pig spoke.

That... human was Salvatore?

Well... it certainly hadn't been what I was expecting... but that doesn't change what we have to do.

She faced forward again with a resolute frown.

I'll do my part, Salvatore... just make sure you do the same so we can get these poor creatures home and I can get my memories back.

Author's Note

Just so there's no confusion here, chapters without the 'Equus' portion of the title will always be from the POV of Twilight from Discord's Equestria. That means that if 'Equus' is in the title, it's taking place in the universe Sal is currently in, no matter who's POV it is.

Equus II – A Good Night's... Rest?

My bus hadn't stopped where I told it to, for the second time. It's happened twice now, and now I was in some kind of random suburb far away from the city... again.

The first time this happened, it was fine, because I was already lost and didn't really have to be anywhere at the moment.

This time however, I had somewhere I needed to be. Me, my buddy Nomad, and Pinkie, all needed to be at the church—that big one in the middle of the city with that giant sixty foot statue of... I think it was St. Mary?

It might not have been, but then again, the details weren't important. What was important, is that we were all late, and Twilight was probably gonna be pissed that we missed the birth of her daughter.

To be honest though, I didn't mind all that much... the little lavender larva kind of creeped me out a bit, and I didn't really have a good feeling about it anyway.

Regardless, she was counting on us to be there and I fucked it up for all of us. Maybe I should've just been in the church already...

Well thankfully it worked out in the end because we all managed to arrive at the church after a few minutes of aimless wandering in the suburbs.

We missed the initial birth of Twilight's disgusting larva child, but she was too busy fawning over how adorable it was to be mad at us, so it all turned out fine in the end, even if I did find the little one eyed lavender maggot positively hideous.

I don't know what happened to Pinkie and my friend, but at the very least I was safely hidden away—watching from a distance within that oversized statue as the maggot reached sudden maturity and busted out of the church's roof.

That purple parasitic mosquito wasp had to be at least half as big as this statue, which wasn't good for me because it somehow knew exactly where I was and tore the damn top right off of the statue.

As I fell and hit the ground next to a still fawning Twilight, I couldn't help but rub it in her face. I had told her this would happen, I knew nothing good was gonna come from birthing that damn larva, but she didn't listen to me.

Even now—even as she was impaled on her 'child's' stinger and drained of all her fluids right before my eyes, leaving her nothing but a withered husk—she was still singing it's praises.

Right to the very end.

Apparently the crazy blue horse with the wings and horn that was running down the street had seen enough, because she shouted something I didn't really understand, and everything froze.

I turned to fully face the—

Something snapped on inside my head and I blinked.

Furrowing my brow in abject confusion, I sat up from where I was lying and swept my gaze over my surroundings, trying to find out where this odd sense of wrongness was coming from.

"What the fu—JEEZUS CHRIST!"

I scrambled away from the gigantic lavender mutant mosquito thing right above me, my heart nearly beating its way out of my chest as I clumsily stumbled to my feet.

As I stared at the thing in horror, it slowly began to dawn on me that it wasn't moving. Just as I noticed the skewered jerky-like pony on the end of its stinger, it suddenly warped and twisted and with an odd fwip, it vanished.

Then everything vanished in a similar manner, leaving me in a black void and very, very confused.

"Just what manner of creature are you?"

I whipped around at the sound of the voice, and came face to face with the Lunar Princess herself—the pony calmly trotting towards me with an intrigued, if slightly disturbed, expression.

No doubt she had some questions about what she had just seen.

Hell, I had questions about what I had just seen.

"Tell me, creature, who—and what—are you?" Luna asked, stopping a few feet away, "how did you come to be here, and..."

She paused, looking thoughtful. Her face twisted into an unsure frown before she shook her head and grimaced.

"It matters not," she finally said, "there is a far more pressing matter at hoof than what you are and why your dreams are so... disturbing."

I went to speak, but she talked over me.

"I have many questions, but they will have to wait," she lit her horn, and the black void was suddenly replaced with a starry night sky overlooking a peaceful grassy meadow.

The midnight blue Princess hadn't given me any time to recover from the frankly insane events happening to me at the moment.

Instead she stepped up next to me and lit her horn again. Rarity appeared before the two of us, unmoving and unblinking.

"Have you seen this mare, creature?" Luna asked, turning to eye me with an intense gaze, "I've managed to track her through her dreams to this location, but something here is interfering with my connection to the dream realm and—"

"Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute!" I finally cried, raising my hands, "just... gimme a second here."

The mare's mouth snapped shut and she narrowed her eyes. Seeing this, I quickly went to explain.

"Look, I'm not sure who you are or what's going on here," I lied, "but at least gimme a second to clear my head from that..." I frowned, "I guess it was a dream? Wait..." I looked around, then back to Luna, "I guess I'm still technically dreaming."

Luna frowned, and looked as though she was considering my words. Eventually she sighed and gave me an apologetic smile.

"You are right, creature, I apologize for being so... rude," her smile fell and was replaced with a grimace, "but I'm afraid I don't have much time to explain who I am and what's going on. My connection even now is tenuous at best and I may fade from your dream at any moment."

"Okay, fine," I conceded, "whatever this is about, it seems urgent, so go ahead and I'll figure out the rest later."

In truth I knew exactly what was going on, as Luna being here and searching for Rarity was more or less a natural conclusion to the events that had transpired.

"That mare there?" I continued, gesturing to the creepy Rarity dream puppet, "I don't who she is, or why you're looking for her, but I've seen her. She's in a cell next to mine. We're both on a slave ship somewhere in Abyssinia."

"A... A slave ship?!" Luna cried in disbelief, her eyes ablaze with righteous fury, "WHERE IS THIS SHIP? WHO ARE THE FOOLISH CURS THAT WOULD DARE TO ENSLAVE EQUESTRIA'S GREATEST HEROES? FATHER HELP ME, WHEN I FIND OUT—"

"Hey!" I cried, trying to shout over the mare, "I'm not finished! There's some other stuff you should know!"

Somehow I managed to get through to the enraged mare and she looked at me, eyes still full of fire, but willing to listen. I breathed an audible sigh of relief before speaking in a more measured tone.

"Since you don't have a lot of time, I'll make this quick," I began, "One of the people on this ship gave Rarity some kind of drug that wiped her memory."

"What?!"

"Just hang on," I pleaded, "I'm not done, there's more."

Luna begrudgingly clamped her mouth shut and furrowed her brow.

"Before she lost her memory, she told me she and her friends got separated when they arrived here in... in... ah, fuck, I can't remember the name of this place!"

Luna grimaced, and I quickly moved on, mindful of the time she had left.

"Well, in any case," I continued, "some bad things went down, and the girls got captured by slavers... well actually..."

I hesitated.

Should I tell her? She won't take it well, and it may make things worse in the long run... ah fuck it, she's gonna find out sooner or later anyway, and it might speed up the rescue process.

"I'm gonna be blunt here since your pressed for time and all," I said with a frown, "Rarity... she told me that she messed up, and because of it, a dragon friend of hers named Spike was killed."

I raised a hand to forestall Luna's immediate response.

"I'm not finished," I said quickly. Luna slowly closed her mouth, her eyes wide and disbelieving, "I... I overheard the Captain of this ship talking to his lackey, and... I don't know which ones they were talking about, but apparently two of Rarity's other friends were also killed."

I waited for some kind of overblown reaction to the news, but Luna just fell to her haunches and stared at me blankly.

"...You lie."

"I'm not lying."

For a few seconds, we just stared at each other, me with a stoic expression, and her with one completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

Then Luna blinked once... and vanished.

"Wai—"

The world around me shattered and I jerked upright in my cell.

I immediately replayed everything that had just transpired, and cursed out loud. I hadn't gotten to say everything I needed to say, like the fact that the rest of the Elements were on a different ship, or that I had a plan to start a rebellion.

I didn't even know if we were still in that port city or if we had already set sail. I cursed again and leaned back against the wall I had been rested against while I was asleep as I rubbed my face.

Things were gonna get very messy, and soon.

I could just feel it.

Author's Note

That nice little bit of what the fuckery at the beginning of the chapter was based off of an actual dream that I actually had.

Rarity's dream was symbolic, it made a certain sense when you think about it. Human dreams are different—or at least my dreams are different—and they don't make any goddamn sense whatsoever.

Trust me, the actual dream was probably even weirder than I made it out to be in the story. :twilightoops:

Equus II – Man's Best Chance

I didn't know exactly what time it was, but judging by the light shining through the high up circular windows, it looked to be around morning.

I was fairly sure we had set sail by now, and that meant that unless there were life boats stashed away somewhere, there was no escaping the ship.

So much for a quick getaway, not that it would've worked, but hey, you never know.

I was still wary of what my immediate future held in store for me, but for the most part, I had gotten used to my current situation. I walked over to the bars of my cell and took a look around.

It looked as though the other prisoners had arrived while I was asleep, and to my dismay they were all exactly as downtrodden and defeated looking as I imagined they'd be.

This... wasn't going to be easy.

"Hey... Rarity," I whispered loudly over to the cell next to mine, "Rarity, you awake?"

"If yer talkin' about the mare, she ain't here."

The gruff yet feminine voice caught me off guard and I snapped my gaze towards the cell on my other side. I went to reply, but the voice elaborated before I could ask what she meant.

"The Captain and his little piggy took her out of her cell sometime last night," the voice explained. It gained a tone of amusement, "the big pussy cat seemed ta fancy the mare far as I could tell."

"Okay, setting that aside," I replied with a grimace, "do you know if we've already set sail?" I paused for half a second, "oh, the name's Salvatore by the way."

"Lassie," the voice replied, "and aye, we've already shoved off for much darker waters."

Lassie? Really?

"With a name like that, I take it you're a diamond dog?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Aye," came the curt reply, "and I've no idea what ta make of a name like Salvatore. Tell me, lad, what kind of creature do ya call yerself?"

"Human," I replied, "though I doubt you've heard of my race, we're not a very well known bunch around here."

Or anywhere in this world for that matter...

The diamond dog in the next cell over was quiet for a moment. I heard her hum to herself in thought before giving a short grunt of defeat.

"Nope, can't say I've heard of yer kind before, lad," she finally replied, "interestin' considerin' I been all over the world and downed a pint or three with just about every sapient race there is."

Oh my god, she's a fucking pirate isn't she?

Had this been any other circumstance I probably would've cursed my luck... or Discord again, but in this situation it took everything I had not to giggle like a madman.

This... was exactly what I needed right now.

I wasn't a hundred percent sure she was a pirate, but if she was, this would make my plan a lot easier... hopefully. Still, I didn't think it'd be a good idea to just straight up ask if she was a pirate... or maybe it didn't matter?

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Ya just did, lad," the voice snarked, "but go on, ask yer second question if ya must."

"Thanks," I deadpanned, "anyway, I don't really have a delicate way of asking this, so I'll just ask it... are you a pirate?"

The diamond dog laughed out loud at that. She laughed a loud booming laugh that made me rather nervous with how loud it was. Eventually her laughter died down into chuckles and she cleared her throat before answering.

"Believe me, lad," she replied with another small chuckle, "ya wouldn't be the first to assume that, and I doubt you'll be the last... but no. I may be a sea dog, but I ain't no pirate."

Naturally.

I sighed and was about to respond when Lassie spoke again.

"My father on the other paw," she continued, "now he was a true scourge of the sea. Feared in nearly every coastal city this side of Abyssinia."

Daughter of a diamond dog pirate... I think I can work with this.

It might not have been the long shot I had thought it would be after all. She may not have been a pirate, but she was a hell of a lot more spirited than everyone else here.

That was good, I needed spirit if I was gonna make this work.

A few questions still nagged at me, though, and I decided to voice them, if for no other reason than that there was nothing else to do at the moment—at least until the Captain came back.

"Aren't diamond dogs native to Equestria?" I asked curiously, "why were you and your dad in Abyssinia?"

"Bah, we diamond dogs live wherever we want, boy," Lassie replied with a snort, "it's true most of us prefer a nice hole in the ground, but not all dogs like ta live that way. My pa had a love fer the sea, as did his pa before him an' his ma before him."

"So... your family's lived in Abyssinia for generations?"

"Aye," she replied proudly, "'ain't no better place ta be if ya wanna make a livin on the sea' me gramps would always say."

"Huh," I replied with a small nod, "I can respect that. But there was something else you said earlier that's bugging me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," I responded, furrowing my brow as I leaned against the bars of my cell, "you said something about us heading into 'darker waters', what exactly did you mean?"

"Ah... that," Lassie replied with a huff. I could practically hear the frown in her voice, "the Captain is a damned fool if he thinks we're gonna just breeze our way to Katzcandi."

"What... wait, don't tell me..." I grimaced as a thought occurred to me, causing a feeling of dread rising up in my stomach, "there's some kind of sea monster between here and Katzcandi, isn't there?"

"Got it in one, lad," Lassie replied gravely, confirming my fears, "the waters ahead are home ta the dreaded Charybdis. A monster so massive, it's giant gaping maw causes deadly whirlpools half a mile wide."

"You're shitting me," I muttered, staring at the wall to the next cell in disbelief, "you've got to be shitting me..."

That... was much bigger than the Charybdis from the stories I was familiar with.

"If that pussy cat was any sort of real captain, he'd have avoided this entire area like the plague," Lassie growled, "now we're all gonna die because of his stupidity."

"Then we need to do something... now," I replied with a renewed sense of urgency, "I can't see that well in here, do you know if any of the crew are guarding the cells down here?"

"Far as I can tell, there's one vulture guardin' the door," Lassie replied after a moment, "but the birdbrain's out cold. From the smell of it, the fool couldn't handle his liquor."

"Do you know how many there are in the crew altogether?"

"About half as many as the prisoners, so I'd say around thirty paws on deck or so," Lassie replied warily, "what are you plannin', lad?"

"A rebellion," I replied quietly, "at this point, it's the only way we're getting out of this alive. I had already planned on it before, but the whole Charybdis thing just pushed my plans way up on the priority list."

"A rebellion, eh?" Lassie repeated thoughtfully, "you know what, lad? I think I'll join you in yer endeavor, after all, if it fails, we're all doomed anyway."

"Nice," I replied, "now I just need an opportunity..."

Things were going well... very well.

Too well.

Somehow I got the feeling the Charybdis wasn't the other shoe that was supposed to drop. I felt as though there was something else that was going to wreck my day, but until then, the only thing I could do was pray that I got somewhere with all of this.

And I was also worried about Rarity and the other Elements aboard that other ship.

It looked like the Captain had already made his move, and I could only leave the rest in Rarity's hooves on that end. I was hoping I could get a chance to talk to her away from the Captain.

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do about the other ship. I didn't know how far ahead of us it was, or even if it was headed in the same direction. Sure, there was a chance that someone was starting their own rebellion aboard that ship, but I wasn't about to get my hopes up on that one.

Still, maybe Twilight and the remaining Elements would pull through somehow...

No use in worrying about it right now. If we can't take this ship, we won't be able to get to the other ship.

I let out a deep breath and sat down against the back wall once more. I folded my arms and thought on what I'd do from here now that I actually had someone who was willing to help.

"Oi... Salvatore." came Lassie's quiet voice, "listen up, lad, I think I might have an idea."

"Hmm?" I replied, straightening up, "I'm listening."

"That bird's gotta have a key on him," she whispered, "if I can get him close, I can knock em' out quick an' clean, an' nab the key."

"Oh, sweet," I whispered back, "so... we just wait for him to wake up, and lure him over."

"Aye, an' when he's close enough..."

"You take him out," I finished with a nod, "okay... okay this is good. We've got the beginning of a plan, but we need more."

"What did ya have in mind, boy?" Lassie asked.

"I don't know yet," I replied uncertainly, "but I'll... think of something. I kinda have to or we're all screwed."

We had a first step, now we needed more. I tried to quash my rising optimism back down and remind myself that we were far from being in a good position right now.

Still, things could be worse... I just hoped they didn't get any worse.

Equus II – Of Myths and Melancholy

Though big and powerfully built, the Captain was only one creature, so if we could get him alone and away from his crew, we could overtake him. The would-be slaves aboard the ship outnumbered the crew by about half, giving us an edge in numbers.

As menacing as he was, the Captain didn't seem to know exactly what he was doing when it came to running the ship... or keeping slaves properly guarded for that matter. Mutinies aboard slave ships on Earth weren't particularly uncommon way back in the day, and slavers often had to take extra precautions against it.

They had to account for the massive disadvantage in numbers and the desire of would-be slaves to fight for their freedom. I wasn't yet sure of how willing the slaves aboard this particular ship would be to fight against the captain, but I was damn well gonna try to get them to.

I had a few good reasons for them to if they refused.

It was also apparently the first voyage the Captain had taken as a slaver, so it was possible the lack of experience was what was causing the slip ups. I hadn't yet seen the rest of the Captain's crew or how competent or armed they were, so I didn't want to go jumping right into a full on mutiny just yet.

In fact, I was beginning to think it might've been a good idea to hold off on breaking out while we knew so little. The problem with that though, is that we probably didn't have enough time to act before we ran into Charybdis.

I was assuming we didn't have a lot of time at all.

"Hey... Lassie," I called out from where I sat against the back wall of my cell, "how long do you think we have until we run into Charybdis?"

"Judgin' the distance from the shores of Paw Print Port an' our current direction, I'd say we have..." Lassie paused to think before once again calling back, "...just under three days afore we reach Charybdis territory... an' that was yesterday."

The bottom dropped out of my stomach at the response.

I only had just under two days to successfully pull off a mutiny and rescue the rest of the girls—and I guess the other slaves—from the other ship, assuming we were even near the other ship.

Yeah, there's no time to finesse this.

The only upside to this situation was that the Captain most likely wouldn't have any time to sink his figurative—and quite possibly literal—claws into Rarity. That wouldn't matter if this universe exploded because I died at sea of course, but it was still a reassuring thought.

"That's not enough time for a drawn out mutiny," I whispered just loudly enough for Lassie to hear, "we're gonna have to act... like, now."

It wasn't Lassie that answered however. Rather, another gritty, but masculine voice coming from a cell on the opposite side of the room spoke up.

"Don't be so hasty, kid," the voice warned, "the Captain might not have any experience in the slave trade, but he doesn't need any to put an upstart like you down for good."

I looked towards the voice, and I could tell it was coming from the cell opposite and slightly to the left of mine, but I couldn't make out the speaker in the relative darkness of the room.

"Why do you say that?" I asked with a slight frown, "you know what the guy is packing?"

"I only got hearsay to go on," the voice replied after a moment, "but from what I can gather, that pig that's always hanging around the Captain used his connections to get ahold of some newfangled weapons called 'firearms'. They're like tiny little cannons you can fit in your claws, hands, or paws."

Oh... that's not good.

"Apparently these things haven't even been cleared for public use yet," the voice continued, "but somehow that swine was able to get enough to outfit the entire crew."

I hadn't seen any sort of weapon on the Captain himself, but it would've been dumb to assume he didn't have one hidden on him somewhere. In any case, this would make things a lot more difficult for me, and would explain the Captain's lax attitude when it came to guarding the slaves.

After all, we didn't have any ranged weapons of any sort, and one well placed shot would be enough to put us out of commission and silence any dissenters if we misbehaved. I was assuming that if these guns were new, they wouldn't be very efficient and probably a little unwieldy, but I wasn't about to dismiss the potential danger either way.

Though I did wonder if they would actually shoot, given that they were suppose to be delivering the slaves to their new masters alive. Maybe there were procedures for a potential mutiny that I didn't know about. Either way, I got the feeling we'd be finding out soon enough.

"These 'firearms' ye speak of," I heard Lassie say from her cell, "wouldn't happen ta be little metal tubes with odd wooden handles now would it?"

"Yup, that's how I heard em' described," the voice replied, "why, you've actually seen one?"

"Aye," Lassie confirmed, "as a matter o' fact our stalwart prison guard just so happens ta be carryin' one on him right now."

I couldn't see the guard from where my cell was, but Lassie apparently had a better view. I heard some shuffling from the cell the voice had originated from before a pair of what looked like clipped claws and a beak poked their way through the bars.

I guess the guy was a griffon...

"Well, would you look at that," the griffon muttered before retreating deeper into the cell once more, "just like I said, with those weapons, escaping ain't gonna do us any good."

"We might as well try," I pushed, "I don't know if you heard Lassie, but we're all kind of headed for a giant whirlpool of death, and we don't have a lot of time to sit around and mope about our situation."

"Yeah, I heard you, kid," the griffon replied with a scoff, "but the diamond bitch has you fooled. That Charybdis is nothing but a myth, and not one many take stock in. No one's ever seen the thing, and I think a giant whirlpool half a mile wide would garner some attention."

Nope, I am one hundred percent going to believe it, until proven otherwise. Where there's smoke and all that.

"Oh?" I heard Lassie reply with some amusement, "and I suppose that's the reason ships always vanish whenever their foolish captains have tried to sail this route? No one has seen the beast because no on has survived to tell the tale."

"Then just how do you know the tale?" the griffon retorted, "face it, mutt, the Charybdis is just an old tale told by sailors for a good scare."

"Oh, it's far more than just an old tale, birdbrain," Lassie replied in a low ominous tone, "when I said no one had survived to tell the tale, I meant no one... save fer me own pa, and the bloke who had started the legend ta begin with."

"Oh please!" the griffon snorted, "you expect me to believe you just because your daddy fed you a lie when you were little?"

"I don't expect anythin' from ye," Lassie replied in that same unnerving tone, "I only know that me pa came home one day after havin' been gone fer nigh on fifteen years. Me ma was ready ta tear into the bastard fer leavin' her ta take care o' me on her own, but his mind was already gone.

"He was a right mess—stumblin' into the house, haggard looking, glassy eyed, an' three sheets to the wind he was. I remember that day well, I remember that empty gaze, an' I remember the first an' last words he spoke ta me after bein' gone fer fifteen years..."

Lassie's grim tone had been enough to silence both the griffon and I, and all we could do was wait for her to continue. And continue she did.

"...when I ran up to me Pa an' asked him where he'd been all these years, he leaned down and grabbed me by shoulders, a wild look coming into his eyes. Then he spoke to me with a fear in his words me mother and I had never heard before."

She paused a moment before continuing.

"'If ya ever find yerself lost in the southern seas of Abyssinia', he says ta me with a shaky voice, 'beware the screech of the ocean'," she paused again and I could've sworn I heard a small sniff, "that was the last time he spoke ta me, or anyone else fer that matter. After that, he gave up piratin' an' didn't say another word."

There was another uncomfortable silence.

"I did some diggin' of me own ta find out what me Pa was talkin' about, an' that's when I stumbled upon the legend of the Ocean's Maw," she explained, "it was said a great beast called the Charybdis roamed the seas just south of the Abyssinian continent, causing unfathomably large whirlpools beneath unsuspecting ships.

"The only warning sailors would get, was a queer screech that grew louder an' louder... then the ocean would rumble, an' mere moments after that... it would be too late. The ship would find itself in the jaws of the Charybdis—sucked into the whirlpool its massive maw would create an' sunk in the blink of an eye', leaving nothing behind."

"Damn," I muttered in the ensuing silence, "that... is some scary shit."

"...After a month o' silence an' isolation, me and me Ma came home one night ta find me Pa strung up by the neck right there in the middle of the livin' room," Lassie said quietly, "though she never forgave him fer what he did, me Ma was heartbroken all the same, an' I lost a precious opportunity ta finally have a father in me life."

I could practically hear the glare in her voice as she spoke her next words.

"A mere myth wouldn't drive a dog ta kill himself an' leave his family ta see the body," she growled, "me father lost his ship, his crew, his sanity, an' his very will ta live because o' what he saw out there in the southern seas, so don't ya dare sit there an' tell me that damned monster doesn't exist!"

I grimaced.

That, wasn't a story I had expected to hear, nor did I really want to hear it, but it was done, and I wouldn't be able to unhear it. Still, my heart went out to the diamond dog, and my unease only increased. The griffon didn't say anything in response to the story, merely giving a noncommittal grunt after a moment.

"I'm sorry you and your family had to go through something like that," I said after another beat of silence, "I don't really know what else to say."

And I didn't.

As much as I sympathized with the diamond dog, I wasn't particularly good at voicing my sympathy out loud. It seemed I didn't really need to however, as Lassie replied a second later.

"It ain't nothin' fer ya ta fret over, lad," she said in a more composed tone, "it's in the past, an' that's where I plan on keepin' it. We've got more important things ta worry about as it is, what with the—"

It was at that moment that I heard a door open and someone step inside. The many steps I heard indicated there were at least a few someones entering the room. I waited with a frown and was unsurprised to see Napoleon step into view—though the two powerful looking Abyssinian felines behind him were a new addition. The pig had a shit eating grin plastered on his pudgy face as he drew a key from his pocket and addressed me.

"It seems the Captain has finally found a use for you, human."

Author's Note

I honestly didn't expect the chapter to turn out like it did when I first start writing it, but I feel it turned out for the better in the end. Hopefully you guys'll agree. :twilightsheepish:

Equus II – An Unfortunate Escalation

The morning had only just given way to afternoon, but one would be hard pressed to tell given the completely overcast skies above.

Rarity watched the Captain pace methodically back and forth across the deck of the ship as he observed the rest of his crew go about their maintenance of the vessel.

She rubbed her neck and frowned.

She would've glowered at the large feline pacing before her, but somehow she felt that wouldn't have gone over well, and she'd be far worse off than she was.

Once she had been freed, Rarity was given her own quarters to stay in near the Captain's—the room in question being complete with a passably comfortable bed and a decent view of the seemingly endless ocean through a large window.

Really there was nothing else of note about the room other than that, but it still felt too lavish to the mare, given what she knew everypony else was going through just below decks.

She couldn't help but feel guilty.

Still, she swallowed the guilt and put up with the room for the moment. After all, it was important that she try to stay on the Captain's good side for now.

She thought she had done a fairly good job so far, all things considered. She had been polite, flattering, agreeable, and hadn't been so much as a small nuisance while in his presence.

The Captain seemed pleased with her compliance and apparently the pig had even convinced him to removed the horn ring somehow.

Despite all of this however, Rarity began to doubt herself after another burly feline member of his crew roughly and quite literally dragged her out of her bed by the scruff of her neck.

Despite her indignant and pain filled cries, the brute wouldn't let go—not until she was on deck. Now she stood near the railing, nursing her sore neck and silently cursing the Captain and his crew.

The most galling thing about her current situation she found, was that she hadn't even been given an opportunity to clean herself up or style her currently atrocious bedhead into something more presentable.

Setting that aside for the moment though, she now had no idea where she stood with the Captain. She saw the cat that had dragged her out here, inform the Captain of her 'arrival' and she saw the Captain acknowledge the fact, but other than that, he hadn't even looked in her direction.

As rude as she found it, she also found she couldn't really complain. From what that 'human' Salvatore had said, the Captain wasn't exactly pleasant company, and in the short time she had been around him, she had to agree.

He tried to come across as a gentlecolt, but he was arrogant, self-centered, and there was a cold malice in his eyes. Looking into them, Rarity felt as though he could turn on her or anypony else in a mere moment without warning.

So she stood there in silence, waiting for him to react to her presence.

Eventually another crew member, a gangly looking stork-like creature, came up and spoke to the Captain. Rarity perked her ears up, but couldn't hear from where she was standing near the railing at the front of the ship.

The Captain nodded in response and finally turned to the mare with a lopsided grin. Rarity quickly schooled her scowl into a pleasant smile, almost unconsciously trying to smooth her mane out somewhat.

The rather rough winds and salty air wasn't doing her any favors in that regard.
"Ah, forgive me, my little Jewel," the Captain exclaimed, walking over to where Rarity was, "I'm afraid I've been a bit distracted at the moment."

"Oh, please darling, it's no trouble," Rarity replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof, "a mare must have patience if she wants to get anywhere in life after all."

"Too true I suppose," the Captain replied with a chuckle, "either way, you have my apologies... but now the time for pleasantries has passed, and I mean to begin your training as of this moment."

Rarity hid a grimace behind her curious smile.

"Oh?" she replied with a raise of her brow, "and just what did you have in mind if I may ask?"

"Now now, my Jewel, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise," the Captain replied with a knowing smirk, "I don't expect you to enjoy what's to come right now, but by the time your training is finished, I assure you you'll have come around."

With that ominous statement, he turned on his heel and began walking towards the center of the ship and the stairs that led below deck, motioning for Rarity to follow.

As soon as his back was turned, she frowned, but reluctantly followed after him. A feeling of dread settled in her stomach at the feline's words, and she wondered what he had in store for her despite herself.

Whatever it was, she was certain she wouldn't be too thrilled about it, just as the Captain had said.

They both made their way downstairs and into the narrow halls below deck. The Captain suddenly rounded a corner and at the end of the path, Rarity could see a single wooden door and nothing else.

Though that particular hall was short—especially in comparison to every other path she had seen, the mare's hackles rose and the dread she felt suddenly spiked.

She opened her mouth to ask just where the Captain was taking her, but decided against it at the last second, considering she was about to find out anyway... whether she liked it or not.

"I thought quite a bit about how I wanted to break you in," the Captain said suddenly, his tone somewhat light and conversational as he turned the door handle and pushed the door open, "I wondered if I should go with a slower approach... maybe ease you into your new role."

He stepped inside the room and Rarity trotted in behind him, stopping inside with a small gasp. Her eyes widened in both surprise and confusion at what she saw inside.

"I'm well aware that patience is a virtue my dear," the Captain continued, walking over to the object of Rarity's shock, "but unlike yourself, I was never really one for waiting around until the time was right. I was always the one who made their own opportunities."

His tail flicked back and forth, hands clasped behind his back as he thoughtfully observed a nervous and confused looking Salvatore gagged with a white cloth and tied to the single chair in the small, mostly empty cabin.

Rarity looked from the human to the Captain to the well dressed and smirking pig standing near a wall next to a table. The white mare didn't like the look of the instruments she saw on that table... not in the slightest.

Apparently Salvatore didn't like them either, because his gaze constantly shifted to the table, his expression showing more than a bit of trepidation.

"With this in mind, my Jewel, I've decided to 'throw you into the deep end' as it were," the Captain said with a wicked grin, "you see, I've looked into your eyes, and I've seen a soul filled with compassion and endless generosity."

The Captain stopped his pacing and stood in front of the human. Rarity watched as he raised a hand and closed it into a fist, save for his pointer finger.

"If you're going to be an effective second, I must tear these things out of you."

A single claw extended from his raised finger and he slowly brought it to Salvatore's cheek, just above the thick cloth wrapped around his mouth, making the human wince and squirmed uselessly in his chair.

"I don't have a use for anyone who can't do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, so to that end..."

He dragged his claw along the length of the human's cheek, eliciting a muffled hiss of pain from the human as the claw drew a line of red.

Rarity looked on in horror, her heart beginning to race and her legs beginning to shake as she realized what the twisted feline intended for her to do.

He's insane if he thinks I'm going to—

"I know what you're thinking my little Jewel," the Captain purred as he brought the claw to his lips, "I know that you know what I have planned by now, and trust me when I say, that if you don't comply... I will kill the human..."

He licked the claw clean of any blood and grin toothily at the mare.

"...and I promise both you and the human that it will be a very slow death."

"Y-You wouldn't..." Rarity whispered, taking a step back, "s-surely you can't expect me to... to just..."

Her horrified gaze flickered to Salvatore who furrowed his brow as he looked back. Though his face showed a grim acceptance, Rarity could clearly see the sweat beading on his forehead and the visible shaking of his frame.

She swallowed and took another step back and returned her gaze to the Captain, who raised an expectant eyebrow.

"Well, little Jewel," he pressed, "what's it going to be? You showed such conviction when you took up my generous offer, now it's time to test that sincerity."

Rarity open and closed her mouth silently. She looked back to Salvatore and saw the human close his eyes and breathe in through his nose.

After a second, he opened them and exhaled through his nose before looking her in the eye and nodding ever so slightly.

"Might I recommend you start with these?"

Rarity jumped slightly and whipped around to see Napoleon standing next to her, holding out a large and viciously sharp needle and what looked like thin silvery wire.

"A... A needle and thread?" Rarity asked, fear lacing her strained voice, "w-what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Oh, I think you'll find a way to make good use of them," Napoleon replied with a wink, "who knows, you just might find you have quite a rare talent with such tools."

Rarity gave the swine a bewildered look, but the pig simply motioned for her to take the items. Reluctantly she took the items in her magic and trotted over to where Salvatore sat.

"Excellent choice, Napoleon," the Captain commented with a chuckle, "not what I would've gone for, but it should be entertaining nonetheless."

He turned back to Rarity, his amused smile becoming a stern frown.

"I trust you're ready to begin?"

Rarity glanced back to the Captain and gave a jerky nod before turning her attention back to Salvatore. For a few heartbeats, the two merely stared at each other.

Rarity's lost and desperate gaze met Salvatore's scared yet determined look, her own eyes tearing up as she threaded the wire through the large needle.

With a single sob, she raised the needle in her shaky magical grip.

Equus II – Things Escalate... Quickly

When I woke up however many days ago in my own bed, I never thought I'd be bound, gagged, and tortured by a pastel horse from a kids show.

Funny how life works out that way sometimes.

Or at least, that's what I would've thought... if Rarity actually had the stomach to do it. What happened instead, both shocked me, and strangely enough, didn't surprise me at all.

I sat there, putting on a brave face as Rarity brought the needle closer to my face to do... I didn't want to know what.

She hesitated a moment, then pulled the needle back somewhat, and rapidly shook her head.

"I c-can't!" she sobbed, taking a staggering step back, "I can't do it! I'm s-sorry, darling... b-but it's too much!"

With that, she fell to the floor, dropping the needle and wire altogether and bawling her eyes out. I would've been relieved, had it not been for the Captain's earlier threat.

Now I was terrified.

I whipped my head around just in time to see the Captain shake his head in disappointment. He walked over to Rarity as he spoke.

"Expected, but still a damn shame," he said with a sigh, "I'll make you a ruthless second-in-command yet, my little Jewel, but it seems we still have so much work to do."

He raised a hand and flexed it, pushing out five very sharp claws as he walked towards and past a horrified and still sobbing Rarity, making a beeline straight for me.

"No!" the distraught mare cried, scrambling to her hooves and rushing towards the Captain, "please, there has to be something else I can do! Anything else! Just... don't kill him, please!"

I could've kissed the mare, but as things stood, it was looking like I'd be down another universe, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

The Captain stopped suddenly—whirling around and smashing a powerful leg into Rarity's face as she approached. The surprise kick had enough force behind it to send the mare flying backwards.

She hit the ground a little ways away with a whump and didn't move.

That... wasn't good.

Beneath all the fear, a spark of indignation arose as I stared at Rarity's unresponsive form. I knew the Captain was a complete asshat, but... well... I guess I should've expected him to do something like that, really.

The sudden agonizing tightness in my throat and the following lack of any air was more than enough to distract me from my thoughts.

"Like I said, she'll learn... in time," the Captain began, lifting me from out of the chair by the neck, "though now that she's indisposed for the moment, I suppose I'll have to settle for showing her your remains rather than having her watch as I—"

"If I may make a suggestion, my dear..."

The Captain froze, his grip loosening somewhat as he turned towards Napoleon. I was getting lightheaded, but I managed to turn my teary eyed gaze towards the pig.

He was looking at Rarity with an odd sort of calm smugness on his face.

"Napoleon?" the Captain growled, a hint of bemusement in his voice, "what the devil are you on about?"

The pig glanced in the Captain's direction, but didn't say anything, turning back to Rarity's prone form a moment later.

"...why not give the Captain a hooves on demonstration of your excellent sewing technique?"

Remember when I said what happened next shocked, but didn't surprise me?

I wasn't talking about Rarity not being able to commit a terrible act of torture. On that front, the Captain and I both agreed that that was going to be an expected outcome.

No, it was what happened next that shocked me.

"Napoleon, what in the seven hells are you—"

A familiar hum filled the air and before I could fully register what was happening I was dropped back onto the chair, though I landed slightly off and the chair fell over with me on it.

My frantic gasps for air turned into pained grunts as I banged my knee against the hard wooden floor, inwardly cursing as my glasses flew off and landed... somewhere.

An angry, pained roar filled the cabin, and—unable to pull myself to my feet—I shifted my body so that I was facing the Captain.

The world had become a horribly blurry mess for me, so the only thing I saw was a large, humanoid blob flailing about in apparent agony.

I turned and saw a white, less humanoid blob I assumed was Rarity, standing just a bit further away. I had to see what was happening, so I ignored the Captain's loud expletives and searched around for where my glasses had landed.

With my arms, legs, and hands tied, I had to worm my way over to where I had heard my glasses fall. Fortunately it didn't take me too long to find them, but unfortunately I had to find a way to actually get them back onto my face.

It took some finagling, but I managed to kind of push them onto my face using the floor as leverage. With that done, I turned to see just what the hell was going on.

I saw Rarity standing just where I thought she had been—her face completely blank as she stared at the thrashing Captain, and her horn aglow with a light blue aura.

I furrowed my brow at the display. My mouth would've hung open if it wasn't already forced open with a cloth.

What... the fuck? Is she...

I glanced over to where Napoleon stood by the table, and sure enough, the pig had that same smug grin from before as he watched the Captain scream and hiss and spit and flail about.

Then I actually turned my attention to the Captain himself.

He stumbled this way and that, clawing at his face as he was ruthlessly assaulted by... something. I couldn't really see it that well from where I was lying, but I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was.

Setting my confusion and trepidation aside, I wormed my way a bit closer so I could get a better look, and narrowed my eyes.

It was only for a brief moment, but I was able to spot something small, thin, and wrapped in a bright, light blue glow. The object moved frantically and erratically around the Captain's head, and, looking closer, I could see small flecks of what I assumed was blood fly from his face.

As I watched. the Captain's screams became muffled grunts and he staggered backwards, falling over the overturned chair and landing right next to me.

I cried out in surprise and quickly shuffled away from the still thrashing feline. I was both horrified and awed to see that the Captain's eyes and mouth, and even nostrils had been completely sewn shut with silver wire, giving his features an oddly flattened appearance.

His furry face was matted down with blood, but the stitching itself was clean—almost not showing at all save for the glint of silver in the somewhat dim light of the cabin.

I watched him struggle for a moment more before turning my wide eyed gaze back to Rarity and Napoleon. Rarity hadn't moved an inch, merely continuing to stand there staring straight ahead.

Yup, she's been brainwashed... god dammit!

I knew things were going too well. I thought it was odd that Rarity had so much of her personality left, but apparently all she needed was a trigger.

How did a simple injection cause something like that? Didn't you have to be conditioned over a long period of time for that kind of thing?

Just what the hell was in that syringe?!

"Well, well, well... it seems I've saved your life, human."

I shook my thoughts away as Napoleon approached. That smug smile never left his face as he casually walked over to where I was lying.

He stopped a few feet away and cast a dismissive side glance towards the Captain. By this point the large cat's struggles had died down to weak twitching, his chest heaving as he tried to suck in any kind of air and failed.

He'd probably be dead in a minute or two.

"I'd say your luck has turned for the better, wouldn't you?" Napoleon continued, his eyes still locked on the Captain, "you can't tell me the Captain didn't have this coming, honestly."

I couldn't argue with that, but that fact didn't make me feel any better about the situation. If anything, I was more anxious at the sudden turn of events.

I had seen Napoleon's type before, and whenever someone like him showed up in a story, nothing ever went good for the protagonist—at least, not at first anyway.

Unfortunately I got the feeling this wasn't going to play out like some fictional story, and there was also the little problem of him brainwashing Rarity.

Nothing good was going to come from this—at least not for me, Rarity, and probably the other girls if they managed to make it off the other ship.

"Well, whether you agree or not, the Captain was becoming a nuisance," the pig continued, stepping over to the Captain's now still form and reaching into the feline's white captain's coat, "would you believe I was hired to do this?"

He chuckled as he pulled out a long flintlock pistol from the coat. He looked it over, nodding every so often as he continued to speak.

"You see, the Captain here has many, many enemies—shocking, I know," Napoleon explained, rolling his beady eyes, "and many of his enemies would love nothing more than to see him strung up, flogged with his own cat-o'-nine-tails, keelhauled, or—in a few cases—just straight up shot in the face."

He lowered the gun towards the Captain's head and pulled the trigger.

I don't know how he did it with his stubby little piggy fingers, but the resulting crack caused my heart to skip a beat. A sick squelching noise later, and the Captain's face was even more of a bloody mess than it was before.

"Rarity," Napoleon called out, tossing the pistol onto the Captain's chest, "be a dear and remove the human's gag would you? I'd like to have an actual two way conversation."

I heard a hum from somewhere behind me, and an instant later I felt the cloth remove itself from my mouth. I spit a few times, trying to get the foul taste of the cloth out of my mouth before working my sore jaw.

Once the soreness had dulled I looked over to Napoleon, watching with no small amount of nervousness as righted the chair and took a seat.

He made himself comfortable and beckoned Rarity over. The mind controlled mare dutifully trotted over to stand next to Napoleon and the pig turned back to me with an infuriatingly superior smirk.

"Now then, let's talk about what you can do to repay that debt of gratitude you now owe me, shall we?"

Author's Note

This story ain't over just yet, folks.

Equus II – Not Exactly Setting me up for Success...

This wasn't good, but at least I was alive.

Napoleon was the one holding all the cards at the moment, so it was him I'd have to try and convince to do... something. I had no idea what his goals were now that he had gotten rid of the Captain.

Honestly, seeing the Captain die like that and Napoleon shooting him in the face after the fact was... intense. Thankfully though, desensitization to brutal violence helped me get over the event soon enough, for the most part anyway.

I was at the very least able to focus on Napoleon and whatever it was he was planning to do.

"Now then, I suppose you have some questions for me, hmm?" the pig asked, tilting his head slightly and giving me a condescending smile, "well by all means, ask away. The crew won't interfere, and we've got all the time in the world."

"Well, we don't, actually," I replied after regaining my bearings, "I was gonna try to find a way to warn Rarity, but, well..."

I gave the blank faced mare a significant glance and Napoleon chuckled.

"I assume you're referring to the massive beast that's said to inhabit the waters near this area?" Napoleon guessed before shaking his head, "believe it or not, human, but I've traveled along this route many a time, and I've never once encountered the dreaded Charybdis."

He snorted and leaned forward with a slight scowl.

"I don't know who you've been talking to, but I can tell you from experience that there is no giant sea monster, human."

Somehow I was still inclined to believe Lassie. Still...

"Okay, fine," I replied, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position, "then can you tell me what's going on with the other ship? And the other ponies you captured?"

"Ah, worried about the remaining Elements of Harmony, eh?" Napoleon answered with a knowing smirk, "yes, I know all about them. Shame about poor Applejack and... Rainbow Dash, was it?"

He scrunched up his face in thought for a moment before giving a small shrug. I watched Rarity for any sign of recognition, and I swore I could see her frown slightly, just for a split second, but it was gone in a flash if the expression was even there at all.

"In any case, the ship holding the other ponies is about half a nautical mile ahead of us," Napoleon continued, "or at least, it should be. In fact..."

He pulled a pocket watch out of his suit and glanced at it briefly as he spoke. A moment later he nodded and replaced it back into his coat pocket before turning back to me.

"...the other ship should be slowing to a halt right about this time for the Captain's inspection. Who knows, maybe you'll get to see the others for yourself."

That... was actually great news.

If I could find a way out of this mess, I could get in contact with the other Elements. At the very least I wanted to know what kind of state they were in.

Probably not too good if Applejack and Rainbow Dash really were dead. That... would really suck. Without them, there was no using the Elements of Harmony.

As far as I knew, the Elements were Equestria's greatest line of defense, and they were rendered completely useless, not by a majorly powerful villain of epic proportions, but by some no name slaver in a foreign land.

Life just sucks sometimes.

A clearing of the throat caught my attention and I looked back up at Napoleon. He leaned back in the chair, folding his stubby little fingers in his lap and smirking at me.

"Before we go on, I'd like to talk about that favor you owe me," he cast Rarity a side glance, "Rarity, untie the human please."

Wordlessly, the mare lit up her horn and after a few seconds, I felt all of my bindings fall away. I quickly stood up and rubbed my sore wrists as I looked at Napoleon with a deep frown.

I could've tried to rush the pig and take him out, but he'd probably sic Rarity on me before I could do any real damage, and besides that, I wasn't really a fighter to begin with.

I opened my mouth to ask what he was planning, but was stopped short by the sound of several muffled footsteps in the distance outside the room.

They were getting closer to the door.

"You see, most of the crew is loyal to the Captain for one reason or another," Napoleon explained suddenly as he hopped off the chair, "there are some, that feel the way you and I do of course, and it was thanks to their efforts that I was able to pull this little stunt off at all..."

He walked over to one end of the room and laid down on the floor, much to my confusion. Still, he kept talking as if this was a normal occurrence.

The heavy footsteps and loud voices were getting closer.

"...unfortunately, the rest of the crew won't be too happy about what transpired here," Napoleon continued, nodding towards Rarity, "Rarity, if you would?"

Rarity then took the ropes that had been used to bind me, and used them to tie up Napoleon instead. My confusion spiked for only a moment before I realized what he was planning.

"Seriously?" I growled, looking from the now tied up swine to the door, "seriously? You're gonna use me as a scapegoat?"

"I'm afraid so, dear boy," he replied in an oddly gleeful tone, "if you want to repay me for saving your life, then you can start by taking my place on the chopping block," he then nodded at Rarity, "Rarity, the pistol."

Before I knew what was happening, something heavy was shoved into one of my hands.

The door slammed open and a burly black cat man, a lanky grey and white bird woman, and a muddy brown pig that was much taller than Napoleon burst into the room where they saw me standing there with a pistol in my hand.

The instant they entered, Napoleon starting squealing like the pig he was, his face twisted in a panic and tears streaming down his face. I couldn't help but stare in disbelief.

Dude... what the actual fuck?!

"HE KILLED HIM!" Napoleon squealed at the top of his lungs, "THE BASTARD ACTUALLY KILLED THE CAPTAIN!"

These three must've been really loyal to the Captain, because they all went ballistic. I didn't get a chance to say or do anything to defend myself as they made a beeline right for me.

I took a startled step back, but was quickly yanked forward by the larger pig and dragged towards the others. I was silently freaking out at this point, and didn't even bother to listen to what the crew was saying nor did I really notice them tear the incriminating from my hands.

All I could think about was my inevitable death as I stared at the smirking pig. Something slammed into the side of my head, and I saw stars. In my sudden pain and disorientation, I was only vaguely aware that my glasses had been knocked off of my face.

Another blow later and I was out.

An interesting fact about me.

I've never gotten a headache in my entire life, not even a minor one. I drank until I passed out once and woke up perfectly fine. No headache, no nausea... nothing.

To say that my first experience waking up with a headache was harrowing, would've been a drastic understatement.

I felt like someone was slamming a hammer into my head, and all I could do was keep my eyes clenched shut and groan in pain.

I was faintly aware of the creak of floorboards beneath me, and as I struggled to rise to my feet, I heard a voice somewhere to my left.

"Oi, lad," came a gruff and familiar feminine voice, "can ye hear me?"

It took me a second to realize the voice belonged to Lassie, and another second to realize I had been thrown back into my cell.

A second after that I realized my glasses were missing.

"Gah... fuck, man!" I hissed, wincing as my head throbbed painfully, "ahh, dammit this sucks."

"Salvatore, lad," came Lassie's urgent voice once more, "ye can hear me, can't ye?"

"Ugh," I grumbled, giving up and falling back on my ass. I scooted backwards until my back was against the wall and rubbed a hand across my face as I groaned again and answered, "yeah... yeah I can hear you."

"What happened out there, lad?" Lassie asked, "a few o' the Captain's crew came an' dragged yer carcass back down here. With all the commotion they were makin' I thought ye'd be fish food fer sure."

"No," I replied with a shaky sigh, "no, I just... got framed for a murder is all," I frowned and looked around me, "to be honest I thought I'd be dead right there... why'd they throw me back in the brig?"

"I can't answer that for ye lad," Lassie replied grimly, "but if what ye say is true, then I suspect they have somethin' nasty in mind fer ye."

My heart leapt into my throat at the thought. Against my better judgment, I asked the one thing I really didn't want the answer to.

"So... what can I expect, do you think?" I grimaced , "what kind of nasty thing are we talking about here?"

"Flogging most likely," Lassie replied solemnly, "they'll probably flay you alive with the Captain's cat-o'-nine-tails... and then toss ye screamin' overboard."

"...Oh."

I couldn't really say anything else to that.

I was boned, and there was nothing I could do about it. They weren't gonna be quick about it either and it was that fact that had me literally shaking.

I didn't like pain.

Shocking, I know, but I really hated the sensation. It was funny too, because I actually had a decent tolerance for pain, though I'm pretty sure that wouldn't mean anything if they were ripping my flesh off with a whip.

"You know, I wasn't quite sure what to do with you to be honest."

I stiffened at the sound of that familiar oily voice. My gaze snapped towards the bars of my cell just in time to see the blurry outline of Napoleon walk into view. I couldn't tell, but from the sound of his voice, I could only guess that he had that stupid shit eating grin on his face.

"It sounds like your punishment has already been decided without my input though, so I suppose it doesn't matter now," the pig continued. He reached into a jacket pocket, and pulled out something I couldn't make out, "the diamond bitch has the right of it, unfortunately for you."

He tossed the object through the bars and it hit the floor, sliding a ways before stopping just short of where I was sitting. Now that it was closer I was able to get a better look.

He had apparently gone out of his way to return my glasses.

I grabbed them and put them back on as the swine continued to speak.

"In a day's time, you'll be put to the whip in front of the entire crew as well as the rest of the slaves, though I'm not sure if they'll toss you overboard afterwords."

He chuckled and gave me another one of his infuriating smirks.

"You're lucky, you know," he said, taking a step back, "I've taken it upon myself to inspect the other ship, and I've also opted to postpone the flogging until all our affairs are in order. You should be grateful, human."

I didn't answer.

I really had nothing to say at this point, so I merely waited for him to continue. He frowned slightly, his brow furrowing in thought before once again placing a smirk back on his face.

"You needn't worry about those mares by the way," he said suddenly, "I'll make sure they're taken care of... after all we wouldn't want—"

Napoleon vanished.

There was no warning—no sound, no bright flash of light... nothing. He was there, and a blink of the eye later... he wasn't.

It was aimmediately after that that I began to hear muffled screams coming from somewhere up above. I looked up in confusion, wondering just what the hell was going on all of a sudden... and I wasn't the only one.

I heard all sorts of bemused muttering coming from the other prisoners around me. None of them had bothered to speak up until now, but whatever was going on apparenlty warranted some attention.

"What the devil is happenin' up there?" I heard Lassie mutter, "with all that racket, ye'd think the ship was bein'—"

Then I heard it.

It started out low, and at first, I didn't know what I was hearing... but then it gradually got louder. I wracked my brain trying to find out what it could be... and I didn't have to wonder for long as I came to a horrifying conclusion.

"The screech o' the ocean..."

Lassie's quiet shaky voice only cemented my fear as to what the sound could've possibly been. The noise seemed to come from everywhere at once, and it did indeed sound like a horrible drawn out deep screech.

I could feel it shake the boat, and my heartbeat picked up more and more as the sound droned on. I stood up and stumbled over to the bars, looking this way and that for something that would help get me out of here.

I needed to see what was going on.

"Lassie!" I cried, "Lassie, is that guard still there?"

No response.

"Lassie?!"

I thought I heard her mutter something, but I couldn't tell over the increasingly panicked voices of the other prisoners.

"Lassie, can you hear me?!" I shouted, "we need to—"

"It's over lad."

The quiet voice somehow managed to cut through the cacophony and reach me—slamming into me like a punch to the gut.

"What?" I asked incredulously, "you're giving up? Really?"

"We're trapped like rats, boy," came Lassie's bitter reply, "ain't no savin' us now—not like this."

I... found it hard to argue with that, but still, something wasn't right about all this. Why and how did Napoleon disappear like that?

Wasn't the Charybdis supposed to be a bit farther out according to Lassie herself? No, something was definitely off about this entire thing.

I may have been more scared than I've ever been in my life, but I still needed to know what the hell was going on. Unfortunately I wasn't going to find out anything—much less survive—if I was cooped up in this cell.

I needed a way out, and I needed it now.

Equus II – Dead Men are Told no Tales

As I paced in my cell, desperately wracking my brain to try and find out what to do, something... weird happened.

At this point my fellow prisoners were starting to flip out, and the resulting mess of noise wasn't doing anything to help my concentration.

I tried calling out to Lassie again, but she just ignored me, leaving me to figure out what to do on my own. It was as I was about to just say 'fuck it' and prepare for the worst that all the noise abruptly cut off.

Aside from the churning waves outside, the occasional screech of the Charybdis in the distance, and the commotion somewhere above me, there was complete and utter silence in the room.

I blinked and turned to the bars of my cell with a bewildered frown. Cautiously I moved closer to the cell door and placed my hands on the bars as I looked outside.

I didn't see a single soul.

"What the fuck?" I muttered, furrowing my brow before calling out a bit louder, "hello? Anyone out there?"

Nothing.

I called out again a few more times to the same result. I couldn't see all that well, and my view was limited by my cell, but I could only assume each and every other prisoner had disappeared just like Napoleon.

What is this, the Rapture?!

As I tried to figure out this new mystery, there was a loud wooden groan and the boat lurched violently. I cried out in surprise as I stumbled and lost my footing, slamming into one of the walls in the process.

I managed to twist my body so that my back hit the wall, but because of that, I wasn't prepared for the second violent lurch that threw me forward.

I hit the ground with a grunt and while it didn't hurt too much, my glasses once again flew from my face and skidded across the wooden floorboards of the cell.

I really hated having terrible vision.

Another screech shook the boat, the volume having grown exponentially louder than before. My heartbeat began to pick up once more as I scrambled to my feet.

I found my glasses and shoved them back onto my face before rushing over to the cell door once again and grabbing on for dear life in case the boat decided to lurch a third time.

"HEY!" I shouted as loudly as I could, "SOMEONE GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! COME ON, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME OUT THERE?!"

In truth I wasn't expecting anyone to answer, but to my surprise I heard the door slam open just as the boat lurched again. There was a feminine cry of alarm and the sound of something heavy shuffling against the wooden floor.

A moment later there was a dull thump and a grunt of pain. I tried to get a glimpse of who had entered, but couldn't see anything and settled for calling out again.

"Hey! Who's out..." I paused and shook my head, "you know what, it doesn't matter, just get me outta here or some bad shit is gonna go down!"

"Salvatore?" the voice called back in a panic. There was a short pause followed by the frantic beat of hooves against wood, "Salvatore, is that you, darling?"

My eyes widened in shock as a familiar white unicorn galloped into view.

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay, dear!" Rarity breathed with a relieved, if somewhat pained, smile, "when I didn't see you among the others I feared the worst."

"Rarity?" I asked incredulously, "I... what? I thought you were..." I stopped, completely caught off guard by the mare's state, "what the fuck happened you?"

Rarity was a complete mess.

Her mane was frazzled and sticking out at odd angles and there were visible bruises showing through her fur, but her face had gotten the worst of whatever had happened.

The entire left side of her face was one big red welt and her right eye was blackened and swollen shut. I stared at her, momentarily forgetting the imminent danger we were in.

Rarity's expression went from relieved to guilty, her ears flattening as she looked away. When she didn't say anything I went to ask again, but stopped as her horn lit up and she enveloped the lock in a bright blue aura.

"Well, you see..." Rarity finally replied quietly, her words somewhat hard to understand due to the swelling of her face, "a lot has happened in the last half hour or so. It appears Princess Luna got wind of what was going on and—"

"Wait," I interjected, my eyes widening in shock, "Luna's here? Now?"

Holy shit! She actually showed up!

"Luna and Discord," Rarity confirmed with a nod, "it was they who rescued me and restored my memory. They managed to rescue the other girls as well... and... well... Twilight and I had a bit of a... falling out over... o-over Spike."

I winced... at several things.

Apparently the tears rolling down the mare's face weren't just tears of physical pain. If Rarity's face was anything to go by, she and Twilight had more than just a simple 'falling out'.

I had no idea the lavender princess had it in her to do that to a person... or pony. It was one thing to read about Twilight being so violent in fiction, but to actually see the result of what the mare had done right before my eyes...

It honestly disturbed me a bit.

There was also the fact that this world's Discord was here... and suddenly the whole disappearing act of Napoleon and the other prisoners made a whole lot more sense... ironically.

But what about me?

If Discord really did make everyone vanish, why wasn't I swept up in his spell? Did he not know I was here? And what about the crystal? Did he not sense that either, or was he here to collect it along with the other girls?

Now that I thought about it, had any of the other Discords found these crystals, or was it something only that Discord could see and sense?

Another loud screech made me drop the subject altogether for the moment and I turned to Rarity who had just unlocked the door.

"Hey Rarity, I... sorry... about what happened with Twilight," I said as I quickly stepped out of the cell, "but we need to go, now. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it once we're out of this mess and away from the giant whirlpool monster of death."

"I... yes I suppose you're right," Rarity replied shakily, wiping her eyes with a hoof and trotting after me as I started making my way out of the room, "I can't very well try to make amends if I die at sea, can I?"

Before I could answer, the boat shuddered beneath us and another deafening screech made me clap my hands over my ears.

Unfortunately that didn't help against the next violent lurch of the ship and both Rarity and I went tumbling into the bars of one of the cell doors.

As I nursed what I was sure were some bruised ribs and cursed inwardly at losing my glasses again, I suddenly heard a loud, deep, ominous, and drawn out creak of wood somewhere below the floorboards.

Then something snapped and a low rumble filled the air.

I didn't know what that meant, but I had a fairly good idea it wasn't good. I hissed in pain as I rose to my feet and turned to help Rarity up.

"Yeah, we gotta go... like, now," I pressed, "I don't like the sound of that. I think something important broke, and I get the feeling this thing's not gonna be floating for much—"

"Rarity?!" came another familiar shout from up ahead, "Rarity?! Where are you? We must leave at once! The boat is all but lost and the beastly whirlpool draws ever closer!"

A moment later, a midnight blue blob rushed into the room. It stopped for a moment and I couldn't tell for sure, but I assumed it, it being Luna, was looking around for Rarity.

It didn't take long for the alicorn to find us, and I heard her breathe a sigh of relief as she made her way over. As she got closer, I could make out more of her features, but apparently she only had eyes for Rarity at the moment, completely ignoring me as she spoke.

"Rarity, thank the moon I found you when I..." she said before finally turning to me with a bemused frown that became a look of recognition a few seconds later, "wait... I remember you. You're that strange creature whose—"

"Hey, good to see you again," I interjected, holding my side with a pained grimace, "can we make introductions later, please? The boat's sinking apparently, there's a giant monster out there, my ribs are killing me, and I lost my glasses... again."

"I..." Luna blinked in surprise before shaking her head and giving me a grave nod, "yes... yes you're absolutely right," she lit up her horn, "there will be time for questions later, now we must make haste and return to the others."

Questions.

Yeah, I had some questions of my own—mostly for this world's Discord. I ruminated on those questions as Luna's horn brightened and, with a flash, I soon found myself on the deck of the ship for the first time.

I didn't even have time to take anything in before I fell to my knees and retched all over the wooden deck.

Apparently teleporting did not agree with me. I heard all sorts of screaming, screeching, rumbling, and several other noises I couldn't place at the moment due to my current condition.

Had I been paying more attention and had my glasses, I would've noticed that something had gone horribly wrong.

I would've realized that both Luna and Rarity were nowhere to be seen. I would've noticed that Discord, the prisoners, and the remaining Elements where nowhere to be seen.

I would've realized that I was trapped alone with a very panicked, very angry crew. As it stood, I only barely managed to look up just in time to come face to face with the barrel of a flintlock pistol.

The creature behind the pistol said something in a furious tone, but I didn't hear it as all my attention was focused on the barrel of that gun.

My mind locked up and I couldn't think, I could only remain there on my hands and knees staring at the thing with a dumbfounded expression.

A loud crack, a flash of agony, and before I could even curse my own luck, I was returned to that oppressive darkness once again.

Author's Note

Something weird's going on and Savaltore's caught in the middle of it, but unfortunately those answers will have to wait. For now, we'll have to see what happens next.

Questions

Twilight stood next to one of the large windows in the study of the Castle of Friendship.

Her gaze had drifted towards the night sky—the moon and stars above shining just outside. For the last half hour or so, she had just stood there, staring out the window with a blank look in her sunken, baggy red eyes.

Spike watched worriedly from the desk, his own tired gaze full of concern and unease. He had long since given up on trying to talk to the mare, as she had remained less than responsive at his prodding.

Twilight, for her part, hadn't said a word in some time, too lost in her thoughts to pay the little drake any attention. She had barely gotten any sleep at all in the week following the nightmare she had been subjected to, and it showed.

Every time she closed her eyes to go to bed for the night, she'd see it, as if the images had set up a permanent residence beneath her eyelids. Then she'd snap her eyes open a moment later.

Even when she did manage to get some sleep, she'd just wake up gasping, screaming, crying, or some combination of the three a few minutes later.

Despite Spike's insistence that she tell the others about her nightmares, Twilight tried to hide her fear and anxiety, not wanting to worry the Princess and her friends, hoping it would all just... go away eventually... but it didn't.

It was only the day before that Twilight had found out Spike had contacted Princess Celestia without her knowledge. At Twilight's continued silence on the matter, the baby dragon had decided to take matters into his own claws.

At first, Twilight was angry—something that was extremely rare for the alicorn to experience—but after the resulting argument had devolved into shouting, she relented and decided that it was for the best.

Twilight had been getting more and more irritable from the lack of sleep, and it showed in her now constant grimaces, her frazzled mane and tail, and the way she occasionally snapped at her own friends, only to apologize profusely a moment later.

The rest of the girls naturally took notice that something was wrong, and had urged her to tell them everything... so she did. It was painful, but Twilight told them every detail she could remember... aside from the very end.

There was no way in Tartarus she'd let her friends carry the weight of that image. No, she bore that little bit of horror on her own. In any case, her friends were of course, supportive as always, and she had been grateful for their words.

But then Twilight noticed something.

While her friends were indeed worried for her well-being, it seemed like they were trying to shrug off Twilight's recurring nightmare as though it was nothing to worry about in the long run.

As though it would all just... blow over and nothing would come of it despite the obvious distress the nightmare was causing her.

Twilight found this extremely strange, which itself was also strange, because she had felt the same way up until that point... or so she led herself to believe.

In reality however, she had never felt that way.

She had been lying to herself from the beginning, and deep down she knew there had to be something more to this. The reason it felt so strange to hear the same words from her friends was because she knew what they were saying was something they really believed.

It... kind of hurt in a way—like they weren't taking her seriously, like they were her collective parents telling her it was all just a bad dream and that things would be better in the morning.

But things weren't better.

Spike had sent the letter, and the response had come from not her former mentor, but from Princess Luna instead. At first, Twilight was completely baffled at the response, but quickly realized that this made much more sense.

Luna was the sentinel of the Dream Realm after all, so it made sense that she'd be the one to help with the problem. Unfortunately the Princess of the Night hadn't given any sort of detailed response—merely requesting to meet with Twilight at her castle that night.

Twilight would've been fine with this arrangement—and would've been happy to see Luna and finally find out what all this was about and why the dark blue alicorn hadn't done anything to stop the nightmares—but then she had actually managed to get a few hours of sleep the night before.

And she dreamed again—the nightmare just as vivid and permanent as the last... and far worse than it had been before.

There was no bipedal creature this time—at least, not the one she had seen in her last nightmare. She may not have gotten a good look at the creature, but somehow she was certain he wasn't there.

Instead, she and her friends had gotten lost in an unfamiliar town before soon being captured by slavers of all things. That was when things had taken a turn for the worst, the dreams showing her and telling her things she thought she'd never hear or see... and never wanted to.

Spike had died.

He had been slaughtered in an alleyway while he tried to protect Rarity from one of the slavers. Even worse was the fact that the white unicorn mare had been indirectly responsible for his death in the first place.

If it had stopped there, Twilight would have been beside herself, completely torn up about what happened to her number one assistant... but it didn't stop there.

In a desperate attempt to escape, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had tried to struggle against the slavers and cause a distraction so that the rest of the girls could escape.

It had cost them everything.

Twilight and the rest of her friends had to watch as the life drained out of Applejack and Rainbow Dash's eyes—their bodies riddled with holes that spilled blood onto the ground.

Twilight had given up then.

They all had... except for Rarity.

She tried to bargain, do whatever they wanted in exchange for the others freedom. They had taken her away somewhere else, and Twilight had lost track of her after that... not that she was all that sad to see her go in that moment.

Looking back on it now, the thought sickened her.

Nevertheless, Twilight and the others had been taken anyway. They had been shoved aboard a boat and thrown into cells to be sold off as slaves in some far off town.

Aside from the harsh words, occasional beatings to keep the girls and the rest of the would-be slaves in line, the snapping of Twilight's horn, and the clipping of both Twilight's and Fluttershy's wings, nothing else major happened aboard the ship... but nothing else needed to at that point.

The emotions that Twilight had been made to feel during that trip still made her shudder. The pain, despair, hopelessness, rage... all these negative feelings were completely alien to her for the most part.

What was worse was that the feelings still lingered, even after the nightmare.

Things had taken yet another turn for the worst when a sudden deafening screech filled the air and the ship began violently lurching about.

During the commotion, Twilight and the girls had managed to escape their cells and wound up on deck to find a monstrous whirlpool churning in the distance.

The other girls screamed in terror, but all Twilight could do was laugh at the futility of it all—the complete hopelessness of the situation sapping her of any kind of positive emotion she had left.

Even after Luna and Discord had suddenly showed up and saved them all as well as the slaves, Twilight couldn't muster up any sort of relief or hope. She felt hollow... and when she first saw Rarity, all she felt was more rage.

Rarity tried to apologize, but Twilight didn't listen. She tried to plead and beg for forgiveness, but Twilight didn't listen. The only thing the Princess of Friendship did was nearly beat her best friend into unconsciousness.

She would have too if it hadn't been for the interference of Discord, Luna, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

It was the next part of the dream as well as something Luna had said that gave Twilight pause and what she was dwelling on now.

When Pinkie had asked why Luna hadn't located us through her dreams, she told everypony that there had been some kind of interference... but that she was able to gain more insight thanks to a 'strange creature unlike any she had ever seen before'.

When Twilight asked for more detail, she had said it was a strange bipedal creature wearing odd clothes and glasses. In the dream, Twilight hadn't cared, blinded by her own despair as she was.

But here in reality, something clicked in Twilight's head. Her mind had immediately gone back to the silhouette of the creature she had seen in the Everfree Forest.

It had been hard to tell, but she could swear the creature was also wearing some kind of outfit as well, and now she wondered if those two were one and the same.

But why would that be the case? How would that be the case?

Maybe her desperation for answers just had her grasping at straws.

In any case, Rarity seemed especially worried about the creature, and had gone back down into the ship to find it, and both Pinkie and Fluttershy made to follow, but Discord had opted to send the remaining Elements and the rest of the slaves away.

Luna had promised to bring Rarity back before it was too late and the ship sank. Discord had teleported Twilight all back to the nearest landmass far away from the monstrous whirlpool.

It had been a small island where the girls waited for Luna and Rarity to arrive. After several minutes had passed, the group had begun to worry that they hadn't made it... but then they suddenly appeared in a flash of dark blue magic.

Almost immediately after that, the world exploded in a brilliant flash of white light, bringing nothing but searing agony for the briefest of moments.

And then... there was nothing.

Twilight had woken up screaming once again, and once again, Spike and Starlight were there wondering what was wrong. Twilight had pulled Spike into one of the most bone crushing hugs he had ever experienced and sobbed her eyes out for a good ten minutes.

Despite the intensity of the situation, Twilight hadn't said a word about what she had dreamt of. She simply locked herself in her room and didn't come out for the rest of the day.

It was only once night had fallen again and Spike had reminded her of Luna's visit that Twilight had finally decided to leave the room. Both Spike and Starlight worried about what was going through Twilight's head, but ultimately decided to let Luna take care of whatever was plaguing the lavender Princess.

Twilight herself had hundreds, if not thousands of questions running through her mind right now, and she found that the same two question kept rising to the surface time and time again.

Why was this happening to her, and were those two creatures really the same? Twilight didn't know, but she'd definitely find out on way or another. Maybe together with Luna, they could find the answer to these strange vivid nightmares, and hopefully put a stop to them.

There had only been two so far, and already, Twilight doubted she could take anymore.

Author's Note

To be continued in the next chapter I suppose. Wanted to write more, but I don't have the time for another full length chapter sadly...

Discussion

Twilight didn't know how long she stood there staring out the window, but time didn't really seem to matter much at the moment.

Too many thoughts ran through her head—too many questions about what she had seen. She had spent all day in her room just... thinking.

To be fair, that wasn't completely new for the studious mare, but normally that was done with a quill, some, parchment, and a lot of books.

She was used to jotting her thoughts, theories, and findings down, but this time there had been none of that. She simply shut herself off from the rest of the world, crawled back into bed, and just... ruminated.

She didn't have to force herself to remember both dreams, but it was hard on her nevertheless. Still, she had grit her teeth and bore it as best she could.

It never got any less horrible, but Twilight was diligent if nothing else, and—while she wanted the dreams to end more than she had ever wanted anything—her traitorous and inquisitive mind also wanted to unlock the mystery of just what was going on.

To that end, she replayed the scenes over and over again, trying to find some sort of hint as to what connected these dreams together and why she was the one that was having them.

In the end she had gained nothing but a growing migraine and some very dark thoughts for her troubles. By the time Spike had knocked on her door, Twilight had been ready to spend the rest of her life in bed.

She knew she should've gone to see her friends about the dreams—the most recent one especially—but she just couldn't bring herself to divulge their terrible contents, and she was beginning to feel like they wouldn't listen anyway.

"Twilight?"

The mare's ear twitched at the sound of Spike's worried voice, but she didn't otherwise react. She heard Spike sigh and speak again.

"Look, Twilight... I know you're hurting," the little dragon began quietly, "and I know the others haven't really been... taking this as seriously as they probably should... but—"

He cut himself off and snapped a wide eyed gaze towards one of the darkened corners of the room, convinced that something had shifted within the shadows.

His fear and—a moment later, relief—was confirmed when a midnight blue alicorn stepped out of seemingly nowhere and leisurely made her way over to the two other occupants.

Her hooves hadn't made a sound, and though Spike knew she was there to help, he couldn't help but feel a slight bit of nervousness and confusion at Luna's chosen method of arrival.

Twilight said nothing and made no move to greet the Night Princess immediately. It wasn't until Luna had joined her by the window that the smaller lavender Princess glanced over, her eyes dull and distant.

Luna had taken to looking through the window and up into her own night sky—an unreadle expression on her face.

Twilight went back to her own stargazing and for a time, neither mare said anything. Spike looked between the two, torn on whether or not to break the silence.

He eventually decided to speak on Twilight's behalf, but as he was about to do just that, Twilight spoke first—her voice dry, slightly raspy, and heavy with exhaustion.

"I can't figure it out, Luna."

Luna glanced down at Twilight, who hadn't taken her eyes off the sky. She didn't respond as she waited for Twilight to continue, and continue she did.

"I spent the entire day thinking about what these dreams meant... but I couldn't come up with anything," she shifted her stance so that she partially facing the other alicorn, "after I had the first dream, I searched through every book I had relating to dreams, nightmares, the subconscious, and even prophecies... but nothing helped."

Twilight caught Luna's raised eyebrow and shook her head before turning to stare out the window once more.

"I know I could've just asked you directly," Twilight continued with a sigh, "but... I don't know. I told my friends, and they didn't think much of it, so I started to think..."

"You were afraid I would not take your plight to heart and so did not even bother."

It came out as more of a statement than a question, and though it lacked an accusatory tone, Twilight still winced and hung her head in guilt at Luna's words.

She looked back up at Luna when she felt a hoof rest gently on her shoulder. Luna looked back at her with a sad, knowing smile before gazing out the window once more.

"I do not blame you in the slightest, Twilight Sparkle," Luna began, her voice soft and reassuring, "there was a time when I assumed much the same of my sister," she frowned, "you've seen first hoof what such a mentality had wrought in the end."

"But this isn't like that," Twilight replied, shaking her head, "I don't know where any of this is coming from, and... and I'm scared—terrified it'll happen again. I can't sleep, I've hardly eaten anything, and I haven't seen any of my friends since..."

Twilight trailed off and looked away.

Luna turned and gave the despondent alicorn a troubled frown. Twilight looked back and was puzzled to see that the older mare looked... unsure.

She looked as though she wanted to say something, but didn't quite know how to put it. An uneasy feeling began to rise in her chest as she watched Luna struggle with herself for a moment.

Eventually Luna sighed and, when she next spoke, her words were hesitant and her expression was apologetic.

"Twilight, I... I'm sorry you've had to go through such an ordeal... and had I known about it to begin with, I would not have hesitated to intervene, as is my duty to my subjects... but..."

Twilight took a step back from Luna, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"You... you didn't know?" she replied in a shocked whisper, "how... could you not know? How did dreams like these escape your notice?"

Luna's frown deepened slightly.

"Twilight, what you must understand is that there are some ponies who do not, or cannot dream, and I cannot help those who do not dream... and you..."

She trailed off and simply stared at Twilight for a moment, as though searching for something in her eyes that Twilight herself couldn't see.

Twilight took no notice of Luna's gaze, as her mind was replaying what the dark blue mare had just said, and her eyes slowly widened as she caught onto what Luna was implying.

"Are you... saying you can't see my dreams?" she asked incredulously, "that I'm not dreaming?"

Luna hesitated before giving a slow nod.

"I did not sense your presence in the Realm of Dreams, Twilight Sparkle," Luna explained, shifting her wings uncomfortably, her expression turning guilty, "I have an entire nation's worth of ponies whose dreams I must watch over.

"It is because of this that I did not think much of your absence... much to my shame," her guilty looked changed to one of concern as she eyed Twilight, "but once my sister informed me of your letter and I saw it for myself I chose to meet you in her stead so that I could hear the story directly from you."

Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, and looked over to Spike who had been silent up to this point. Their eyes met and Spike smiled wearily before giving her a small nod of encouragement.

Letting out a shaky breath, Twilight steeled herself and turned back to Luna, who was waiting with a patient, but expectant smile.

"I... had another dream—another vision—last night. This one was... different... worse. Much worse than the last one..."

And so she told the Lunar Princess of the most recent vision she had experienced. As she spoke, Luna's patient look grew into a grimace that only deepened as the story went on.

Spike, who hadn't heard the story yet, had dropped down from the desk he'd been standing on and made his way over to where Twilight and Luna were standing.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, he didn't want to believe what he was hearing, yet he heard it anyway, and didn't know whether to feel sickened at the thought of his own death or proud that he had died defending the mare he loved.

Either way, the story was more than unpleasant and, perhaps in an attempt to purge herself of the horrible knot of feelings within her, Twilight had held nothing back.

The story eventually came to an end, and it was only then that Twilight noticed she had clutched her tail in her hooves and had started slowly and methodically stroking it at some point.

She hadn't done that since the smartypants incident.

Both Luna and Spike remained quiet for a long time afterwords, lost in their thoughts and more than a little disturbed at what Twilight had seen and experienced in her sleep.

"So..." Twilight began, speaking in a quiet, tentative voice, "what do you think it means? Am I just going crazy, or is there more going here?"

"...No, I do not believe you've gone mad, Twilight Sparkle," Luna replied slowly, a contemplative frown forming on her face, "there is no doubt that these visions mean something... and I get the feeling they may portend of something sinister to come."

She shook her head and gave Twilight another apologetic frown.

"Aside from my suspicions however, I cannot glean any more than you yourself have," she hung her head, "I am truly sorry Twilight Sparkle, but I cannot help you."

Twilight visibly sagged, whatever hope she had drained away and the returning brightness in her eyes dulled once more.

"So that's it then?" she asked in a low, defeated voice, "I'm supposed to just... live with these horrible visions and hope they go away?"

Spike rested a claw on Twilight's leg, giving her a sympathetic look before turning back to Luna with a furrowed brow.

"There's really nothing you can do?" he pressed, "can't you ask Princess Celestia or... or maybe find something in the Royal Archives?" he looked back to Twilight with what he hoped was an encouraging smile, "there's gotta be some books you haven't read yet. Maybe—"

"I doubt Twilight will find the answers she seeks within the Archives, young drake," Luna replied, staring out the window with a contemplative frown, "and while I cannot personally help her in this matter, all hope is not yet lost."

Twilight's ears perked up and she looked at Luna. Rather than the confident, morale boosting smile she expected to see, Luna instead wore an odd grimace of displeasure, as though she had eaten something terribly bitter.

"Princess?" Twilight asked, taking a step towards Luna with a pleading look, "what is it? If there's anything else we can do, I want... I need to know!"

"There is indeed another option... but..." Luna's grimace became more pronounced for a few seconds before she sighed in resignation and dropped it altogether, "I'd rather not go this route if I could help it... but I doubt my sister would know what to do either, so I suppose I have no other choice..."

She turned to fully face Twilight and Spike. Both the lavender Princess and the little drake shared a confused look at the irritated scowl adorning Luna's features, but returned their attention back to the mare as she spoke.

"There may not be much I can do to help you, Twilight Sparkle, as this situation falls just outside of my expertise... but I do know somepony who can possibly give you answers... that is... if they're willing."

Repairs

I didn't wake up suddenly or peacefully like the last two times.

No... I woke up screaming in agony, I woke up writhing and thrashing about, I woke up feeling like my insides were twisting in on themselves. I didn't know where I was, I didn't care where I was, I couldn't care where I was—the pain was far too much for me to do anything other than scream myself hoarse.

I don't know how long I flailed around in pain, but it felt like an eternity. I mentioned before that I didn't like pain. Seriously, threaten me with legitimate torture for answers and I'd probably sing like a canary right then and there.

Shameful? Probably, but like I said, I'm not about having to endure intense amounts of pain for a prolonged period of time.

Given my situation though, I suppose this was something I'd probably have to get used to going forward.

Having said that, this particular situation was something out of my worst nightmares, and I couldn't even find the mental capacity to be angry or scared about it... because all of the pain was blocking out my ability to think properly.

Then everything stopped.

Just like that, I was completely fine—panting, sweating, and shaking as I lay on the ground... but completely fine otherwise.

"Oh, dear... now that's not good."

It took me several moments before I even realized someone had spoken. I continued to lie there for a bit longer trying to catch my breath, and finally, mercifully, I began to feel normal again.

I rose to a sitting position with a groan and blinked a few times before I finally realized just whose voice it was that I had heard speak.

I groaned again and rubbed my eyes, noticing my glasses were missing. I opened my eyes to see said pair of glasses being held in front of my face by an open paw.

"Not feeling too bad I hope?" came that amused and infuriating voice, "seems like you had quite the trip this time around, eh, Salvatore?"

"Fuck. You. Discord," I grumbled, swiping my glasses and putting them back on before glaring at the smirking draconequus, "Jeezus fucking Christ, dude, what the actual fuck?"

"It's good to see you too, Sal," Discord replied with a small chuckle, "though you should probably do something about that mouth of yours... perhaps I should start charging a fee for the foul language?"

A comically large glass jar labeled 'Swear Jar' poofed into existence next to Discord, who leaned on it with that stupid smirk.

I didn't even dignify that with a response.

Instead I glanced around briefly and found I was back in the Realm of Chaos in front of Discord cottage. I shook my head and sighed before turning back to Discord with a frown.

"Okay, two things," I began, raising two fingers, "one, what the fuck happened back there, and two, why the fuck am I back here?"

I was pissed at Discord, sure, but I also wasn't the kind of person who blew up at people. Apparently not even this had warranted an insane freakout from me.

I may have felt some extreme annoyance and somewhat subdued anger, but nothing intense enough for me to start seeing red and screaming my lungs out at him.

I simply didn't do fury, rage, or even legitimate hatred—it wasn't in my nature, so I just frowned at him and demanded an explanation instead.

Discord returned my frown with an unamused scowl of his own and snapped his talons, causing the giant jar to disappear. He sighed dramatically and gave me what looked like an attempt at an apologetic smile.

"Those are some very good questions, my boy," he replied, lifting himself into the air, "and let me start off by saying you did an excellent job in that last universe... Grade A work, Sal, really, I couldn't have done it better myself... not that I would've even tried."

I raised an eyebrow and he, in turn, rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so the execution could've used some work.. a lot of work actually," he conceded, "but the fact remains that you actually managed to fix that universe just by simply being in the wrong place at the right time."

"Wait, seriously?" I asked, furrowing my brow, "but... the universe exploded... I felt it explode," my stomach turned and I tried not to think too deeply about that feeling, "Discord... what the fuck is going on?"

"Ah well... there might have been some... issues that occurred when Luna tried to teleport you off of that ship," Discord replied, with a shrug and a sheepish smile, "call it a... bug if you will—something I might have overlooked when I transferred that little bit of power to you."

I set aside the question of how Discord had known what had happened to me and asked a far more important question instead.

"So Luna's magic fucked with the chaotic power you forced into me, the universe exploded, and I got to experience..." I shivered involuntarily, "...that, all because you didn't bother to transfer your magic properly, is that it?"

"Well, when you put it like that it makes me sound lazy and sloppy," Discord replied, crossing his arms with a pout, "I'll have you know, this is the first time I've done something like this, so of course there's bound to be a few... hiccups."

"Discord," I responded, rubbing my temples and exhaling deeply through my nose, "an entire universe is gone because you made a mistake."

I gave him a level stare, trying to get him to understand the weight of what he'd let happen by screwing up the transfer.

"If a universe blows up because of me, that's on me and I won't blame anyone but myself for it, but I'm also cognizant of the fact that I was forced into this situation and that I'm in way over my head... but you have no excuse.

"That... that didn't have to happen, Discord, it shouldn't have happened. I saved that universe... well, I made it less worse than it could've been at any rate. You said so yourself, but now that universe is gone and..."

I stopped and sighed at the impatient look on the draconequus' face.

"You don't even care, do you?"

"Clearly not as much as you seem to," Discord replied with a dismissive roll of his eyes, "however I think I know what the problem is, and I am at least willing to fix it before I send you back out there."

Before I could say anything in response, he reached out and tapped my forehead with his paw. That odd electrical sensation ran through my body once more and I stood there as my body locked up and I started shivering uncontrollably.

I didn't bother to say anything this time and just rode it out. After about a minute the sensation stopped and I shook my head to get rid of the lingering disorientation before looking up at Discord.

"So," I began, deciding it was worth a shot, "you being the omnipotent being that you are, do you think you could at least fix my vision?"

"Hmm?" Discord replied distractedly. looking off in the distance with a troubled frown. He turned back to me as though he just realized I was still here, "oh... sure, why not?"

He snapped his talons and for me, everything went blurry, as though I wasn't wearing my glasses. I took them off and was stunned to see... well... that I could see.

It was like the world had gone from 90p all the way to 4k UHD and the brightness had been turned up drastically. It sounded like a ridiculous comparison, but that's what it felt like to me, and it was... absolutely glorious.

"Consider it an apology on my part if you'd like," Discord said, raising his claw again, "now off with you, I have... other things I need to take care of."

I was stil standing there looking around in amazement when Discord snapped his talons and sent me on my way to the next Equestrian hellscape with a comical poof.

Author's Note

A shorter chapter, but hopefully the early release balances it out. Next chapter will be released as normal and we'll be on our way to the next Equestrian hellscape! I can't wait! :twilightsmile:

God, I wish someone would snap their fingers and fix my shitty vision...

Equus III – Night of the Living Dread

It took me a second to register that I had even been transported out of the Realm of Chaos and to another Equestria, and I was left a bit disoriented from the sudden shift in surroundings.

Discord's method of transportation happens a little too instantaneously for my liking.

Nevertheless, I gathered my wits after a moment and looked around warily, promising myself I'd do a bit better this time around.

Then I immediately got distracted by the fact that I wasn't wearing glasses, and could see just fine. This, compounded by the fact that it was nighttime was enough to completely derail my thoughts in favor of simply simply taking everything in in a sort of stunned silence.

Thankfully I caught myself quickly and cursed inwardly for being a dumbass and most definitely not doing a bit better this time around.

With a more cautious mindset I took another look around, and could immediately tell that I was in Ponyville. The cottages and the giant tree with a door, windows, and a balcony that I saw when I turned around were basically dead giveaways.

The streets were completely empty... and almost painfully silent. I wanted to chalk it up to it just being late, but somehow I highly doubted that.

Aside from the eerie silence and utter barrenness of the town, everything looked normal. The sky wasn't red and nothing was on fire. which was a good start in my opinion.

"Yep," I muttered to myself with a nod, "completely normal."

I didn't like this.

This was a grimdark world where everything was completely normal looking, and I'd be less on edge if it weren't for the three things that I did not want to exist in a grimdark world.

Silence.

Isolation.

Darkness.

Those three things together usually meant one of two things. Either everyone was dead or spirited away to some horrible fate, and you were next... or people were hiding out from some kind of horror, and since you were late to the party and didn't get the memo... you were fair game.

Or everything could be completely normal and I'm just overthinking things because it's way too quiet and empty and dark and what the fuck was that noise just now?

I could've sworn I heard something, but I couldn't quite place what the sound had been. I froze, trying to strain my ears for any sound whatsoever, but I didn't hear anything.

That's when the dread began to set in.

It was a familiar dread. It was a dread I had never felt in real life, but a dread I had felt plenty of times in some of my worst nightmares.

It was a dread that spoke of some kind of horrible something just around the corner, waiting to pop out at me and scare the living shit out of me before I suddenly woke up.

It even had that same dreamlike quality where I felt both separated from, and completely part of it. I was so caught off guard by the sensation that I didn't even realize I was shaking and my heart had leapt into my throat.

Right.

I whipped around and made my way over to the entrance of the Golden Oaks Library intending to see a purple pony librarian about letting me in for the night.

I never even thought about whether that was a good idea or not given the circumstances, but right now I didn't care. I needed to get away from this rapidly growing sense of dread as soon as humanly possible.

Not even hesitating I went for the doorknob.

It was locked.

Of course the door was locked, and now I felt like an idiot on top of being completely unnerved. I went to knock on the door, but bit back my increasing fear and stopped myself.

If there was something out there, it probably would've heard me for sure if I just idly knocked away on the door. I didn't really have much of a choice at this point—or at least, that's what it felt like.

Something was telling me I wasn't gonna live much longer if I stayed out here in the open, so I risked it. I took a quick nervous glance over my shoulder before quietly, but urgently knocking on the door a few times.

There was, of course, no answer.

I grimaced and went to knock again, this time more insistently. I was once again met with silence. Again a noise sounded out from somewhere and again, I fail to pick up on just what kind of noise it was.

I whipped my head around and scanned the area, thankful for my vastly improved vision. Unfortunately it didn't help me spot anything out of the ordinary.

Still, the dread only continued to increase.

"Come on, come on," I half whispered, half grumbled as I knocked more urgently, "open the damn door, purplesmart... I know you're in th—"

"Mommy?"

I started with a sharp intake of breath before whipping around to face whatever had just spoken. The fact that there wasn't anything there at all didn't do much to slow my now rapidly beating heart, which only seemed to beat faster.

I did not imagine that voice.

It was soft, quiet, childlike... and somewhat familiar. All in all, it wouldn't have sounded out of place normally, but there was the fact that it was disembodied and out of place in this freaky atmosphere.

I forwent the question of why it was asking for 'mommy' and started banging on the door. my rising panic enough to override my caution.

"Twilight?" I asked aloud, my voice as urgent as my knocking, "if you're in there, open the goddamn door please!"

I didn't care that I was using her name when she probably had no idea who I was. At that point I just wanted to get inside.

Another noise made me stop and turn... and I gasped sharply before slamming my back against the door. All I could do was just stand there and stare in mute horror at the thing that had made the odd noise.

Skittering.

That's what the noise had been, and the thing that had made it had found me. It was crouched low and skittered about on four long, thin purple spindly legs that ended in tiny little clawed feet—the claws looking fiendishly sharp despite their size.

The almost insect-like legs somehow held the weight of its grotesquely rotund purple body and dark green spines ran down its back towards its whip-like tail.

As the thing skittered closer I could just make out its head, which was just as grotesque as the rest of it. It was like the head wanted to be that of a dragon, but decided halfway through to be a spider instead.

It had a wide mouth full of gleaming white fangs, with two on either side jutting out to resemble mandibles. It had a frankly ridiculous amount of eyes that looked as though they had been arranged haphazardly on its face.

The slitted jade colored eyes constantly rolled about in their sockets save for the two largest orbs. Those were locked on me and because of its monstrous features, I couldn't tell what it intended to do—though I could take a guess.

This... thing wasn't all that big all things considered. If I had to guess, it probably reached up to about my knees, but it was... well... it was scary looking—like seeing a giant spider on your ceiling, except infinitely worse.

I know that was a lame way to describe it, but when it came right down to it, that's what it was. I just stood there as it clicked its mandible fangs and slowly inched forward.

It made a chittering noise and I heard it again.

"M... Mommy?"

I didn't know what to do at this point. Something about this tiny little terror was freaking me out, and I got the odd feeling it wasn't just from its appearance.

No, there was something else off about this thing—the way it asked for mommy like some lost little child, the eerily familiar color scheme of the thing, the way it wasn't there a moment ago.

The fact that I blinked and five more of the little fuckers appeared in that span of time.

I think I was hyperventilating at that point, but I couldn't really tell because my mind had kind of checked out at that point. I blinked again before I could stop myself and even more appeared.

I really needed to stop blinking.

There were now at least a dozen of them, and they had all opted to surround me—though they didn't make any sudden moves. In fact, if I was in a less panicked state of mind, I would say they looked... curious.

They continued to inch closer, chittering and giving occasional cries of 'mommy'. And then there was me, poor Salvatore freaking the fuck out with his back pressed against the door of the library that housed his favorite pony.

I blinked again.

If Twilight didn't answer the door, there was no way I was going to get out of this unscathed... or probably alive at all.

There were now a few dozen of these things surrounding me, and I found myself idly wondering what these things had done to the rest of the town.

One of them screeched.

They all charged.

I screamed.

With my eyes completely clenched shut out of reflex and the angry screeching, I didn't see the bright magenta flash or hear the sudden pop... but I certainly noticed the deafening silence that came afterwords.

The sudden lack of screeching made me shut up and snap my eyes open. I blinked a few times before frantically scanning my surroundings.

I took a moment to bring my fear and panic back down to manageable levels, which thankfully didn't take too long. It especially helped that the odd sense of dread no longer affected me like it did outside.

Okay... let's see... bookshelves, unicorn head bust... thing, practically everything being made of wood, more bookshelves... yep, this is most definitely the inside of the Golden Oaks Library all right.

I let out a heavy sigh of relief, then turned to where the front door was with a frown. I couldn't hear a thing from inside, and the freaky dragon spider things weren't bashing down the door to get to me.

Thinking back on it, the only logical conclusion I could come to in this situation was that I had been teleported to safety, which meant—

The sound of a wooden door creaking open from somewhere above me made me look in that direction. I had turned to face the spiral staircase just in time to catch the door above open, though no one came out to greet me.

It just kind of... seemed to open on its own.

My frown deepened.

I really really didn't like where this was headed, and as 'warm' as the invite was, I had the distinct feeling I wouldn't like what I found if I went up there.

Well... I'd probably find Twilight at any rate.

I carefully made my way to the bottom of the staircase and stopped. Now that I had calmed down a bit, a few thoughts crossed my mind as I stood there.

I had my suspicions about what the things outside were—or rather, what they had been. I also had a theory building in my mind that involved pain, loss, obsession, madness, and a certain lavender mare.

Despite this however, there were still several questions that needed to be answered, and I wasn't going to get them standing around out here. I hoped my theory was wrong, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be too far off the mark.

And so, with a shaky breath and regret that was already setting in, I made my way up the steps.

Author's Note

I'd say things are off to a good start so far. :pinkiesmile:

Equus III – Yup, Sounds About Right...

My brain has a habit of coming up with weird random, impossible scenarios sometimes.

I don't know why it happens, but I assume it's on the off chance that if that weird random impossible scenario were to ever actually occur, I'd be mentally prepared for it.

Just to give you an example, one of my earliest thoughts as a child was that some strange portal to another world would open up and some dude would step out saying they needed my help to save their world or some other equally stupid escapist bullshit like that.

Did I ever actually believe it would happen? Hell no—not even as a kid, but that wasn't the point. The point was that I would be mentally ready to face it in case something like that ever did happen—impossible as it may have been at the time.

Of course, that's not counting what had happened to me recently.

I mention this because for all my imagined scenarios, I wasn't even close to being ready for what Discord dumped me into.

Now, the point I was trying to make with all of this was that as I made my way up those steps, all sorts of scenarios had already ran through my mind almost completely unbidden.

By the time I reached the top of the steps and pushed the door the rest of the way open, I had already come up with... well... a lot of scenarios.

Unlike my previously imagined events, a lot of the scenarios I was imagining now were completely plausible in this situation.

So it actually didn't surprise me all that much when I saw Twilight's room completely trashed. Books were thrown everywhere, the bed was smashed, there was a small vanity tossed into a corner... completely crumpled up like a piece of paper.

That one made me a bit more nervous about my situation.

It was also dark, naturally, but not dark enough that I didn't see the lavender lump flopped over the one remaining piece of undamaged furniture that was the desk over by one of the walls.

I eyed the lump warily, not bothering to make any sudden noises or movements, though I did try to get a better look.

It wasn't until I leaned forward a bit that I finally noticed the head resting on a pair of hooves. The head facing in my direction—a single dull amethyst eye glaring at me from beneath a long messy indigo mane.

The realization that she'd probably been watching me look around the room this entire time made my heart skip a beat and my skin crawl unpleasantly.

"Uh... h-hey... um..."

That was it.

That was the most intelligent thing I could think to say in this situation. I was extremely creeped out at the moment and any others words I might've had failed me.

"I don't know who you are, I don't know what you are, and I don't know why you came here, yet you know who I am. How?"

The voice was as cold as a fucking blizzard and as biting as the wind in a goddamn snowstorm. It actually made me wince and when I did finally respond, it was with more than a little uncertainty.

"Well actually, I don't know you personally," I replied somewhat sheepishly, "I guess you could say I've... heard about you... a lot about you."

Twilight neither responded nor did she drop her icy glare one iota, so I continued.

"The details on how I got here are a little... well, I don't think you'd believe me if I—"

"Try me."

I blinked and frowned at the angry lavender mare before sucking in a breath and blowing it out in a resigned sigh.

"O-kaaayyy, well then," I replied with a small shrug, "name's Salvatore, but you can call me Sal if you want. I was basically sent here to try and fix whatever the hell happened here."

I made a point of turning to look out the closed window and the balcony just outside.

"So... what exactly happened here?" I asked, turning back to Twilight, "if you don't mind me asking that is. Oh, and thanks for saving me back there by the way. I don't really know what that was about but... yeah," I shivered involuntarily, "...thanks for that... seriously."

Twilight eyed me silently for a good minute before letting out a soft snort. She raised her head and slowly shifted herself and her chair so that she was fully facing me.

My eyebrows raised slightly in surprise at what I saw now that I was able to get a better look at the mare. Both her mane and tail were long and extremely unkempt.

Her eyes were dull and sunken with several bags beneath, and even in the darkness of the room I could tell her coat was ragged and dingy... and she didn't smell too nice either.

"So you came here to fix this mess, huh?" she snorted again, this time it was accompanied by a bitter chuckle, "well, Sal, you're welcome to try, but I can guarantee you won't get far. Not without my help... and you're out of luck on that front because I have no idea what the buck to do anymore."

"Uh... huh," I replied slowly, "so... you've pretty much given up then?"

"Yup."

"So... you saved me because...?"

"Curiosity mostly."

"Naturally," I replied flatly, "can you at least tell me what caused all of this?"

"I could," Twilight answered in a slow, thoughtful tone, staring at me all the while, "but I'd like to know more about you first."

I was wondering when the matter of me being me would come up.

"Well," I responded as I looked around the trashed room, "judging by the state you're in, and the fact that those things outside aren't tearing me to shreds, I assume we're safe in here?"

"As safe as we can be," Twilight replied easily, "I've warded the library against the Failure, so it won't be bothering us anytime soon."

Aaaand that's one theory almost confirmed right there, but Failure? As in, singular?

"The Failure?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "and you call them... it, a Failure because—"

"BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT IS!" Twilight shrieked—eyes that were dull and lifeless only a moment ago, now wild and enraged, "IT'S A FAILURE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD! I TRIED... SO HARD... I TRIED TO MAKE IT WORK, AND IT SHOULD'VE! IT SHOULD'VE WORKED!"

She had stood up so fast and suddenly that she knocked over the chair. For a long moment, she simply stood there, panting and fuming silently, then she suddenly slumped to the ground.

She looked... broken, and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to say something, and I was going to, but before I could open my mouth and probably say something stupid, she spoke again—her voice little more than a raspy whisper.

"It should've worked... I don't know why it didn't... I almost had it, but then... then I..." she sniffed and slowly raised her head to look straight at me, "Necromancy wasn't a viable option, so I... I tried something else, and.. a-and it was supposed to work."

She sniffed and started crawling over to where I was, never taking her eyes off of me. I simply stood there as she inched closer and grabbed my legs, pulling herself up even as she stared into my eyes with that hauntingly empty gaze.

"It was supposed to work," she repeated in a flat tone, "he told me it would work, promised me... but it didn't... and now he's gone... and my friends are gone... and the town is gone... and I'm all alone now... all alone."

I didn't say a damn thing.

I couldn't for fear of setting her off again. I just looked back at her as she stared at me. After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly backed away from me.

She lit up her horn and wrapped the turned over chair in a magenta glow before righting it and moving back over to the desk. I stood there and watched as she slowly and clumsily slipped back onto the seat and slumped back over onto the desk.

"All alone..." she continued to mutter, "he promised... but now I'm all alone..."

"...Twilight?"

No response, save for the muttering. I felt it was pointless to try again, as it looked like she had completely forgotten or ignored the fact that I was still here.

And after she was so curious to know more about me...

I sighed and shook my head. If her rant was anything to go by, she had far more to worry about than just me. Her explosion freaked me out a bit, but in the end, I was able to make at least a few more guesses as to what was going on.

Whatever happened had indeed been Twilight's doing, it was most likely some forbidden attempt to resurrect someone—most likely Spike, someone had put her up to... whatever she had done to make those things, and the town... was fucked.

"Perfect," I grumbled, "late to the party, as usual."

And what is it with these universes and Spike getting fucked over?

I put the thought out of my head and tried to focus on what I could do to salvage the situation. Then I stopped thinking about it because I still had nothing concrete to go off of.

Ignoring the muttering mare for the moment, I made my way over to one of the windows and peeked outside. I scanned the ground below, but didn't see any sign of the things anywhere.

"Well, that's a relief I guess," I said quietly before turning back to Twilight, who had gone silent, save for the soft snores I could hear, "but what the hell am I gonna do about Twilight?"

I couldn't help but wonder if she was really all alone. What about the areas outside of Ponyville? What about Canterlot? The Princesses?

These were all questions I had no answers to, and I sure as hell wasn't going back out there to find out. The only thing I could really do... was sleep on it.

Now that I had focused on it, I realized I was exhausted. I hadn't slept since being back on the boat... and I couldn't even remember the last time I slept before that.

Not only that... but I wasn't hungry either.

In fact, I hadn't eaten anything since my trip to McDonald's, and I hadn't been hungry since then. No grumbling stomach, no hunger pangs... nothing.

Wait... what the fuck?

A loud snort jerked me away from my thoughts and I turned to see Twilight moving about, trying to make herself more comfortable in her sleep.

I watched her for another moment before letting out another sigh.

Fuck it, I'll figure it all out in the morning.

With that decided, I quietly made my way back downstairs and into the main room. I thought I had seen a couch somewhere, so I went to look for that, and something I could use as a blanket.

I eventually found both and settled in for what I thought was going to be a fitful sleep. Surprisingly, I was out within minutes, hoping Twilight would be a lot less... insane with grief in the morning.

Knowing my luck, nothing would change for the better there.

Author's Note

This is going out a bit earlier because I have other things I want to focus on in the morning before I got to work... things involving quests and possibly a dragon... maybe.

Equus III – Now We're Alone, Together

"Gah—ow! What the fuck?!"

My eyes snapped open and I shot up in alarm. My right hand immediately went to massage my left forearm out of reflex as I tried to rub the itching, stinging pain of being... poked with a needle?

Jolted from being dead asleep to full wakefulness was not pleasant, and waking up to find that an unhinged lavender pony had casually injected you with some unknown substance was even less so.

"Twilight, what the hell?!"

I gave the mare in question a bewildered, questioning look, to which she responded by stoically removing the syringe from my arm.

A syringe full of a thick dark red substance.

A syringe I started to suspect wasn't for injection.

"Did you just... draw my blood?" I asked incredulously, "did you seriously just decide to stick me and draw blood while I was sleeping?"

"If I said no, would it make you feel better?" Twilight easily replied as she examined the syringe full of my blood, "then no, Salvatore, I did not draw your blood while you were sleeping, now be a good whatever-you-are and go back to sleep."

Twilight Snarkle, huh? You know what? I'm strangely okay with this.

"Funny," I said flatly, "seriously though, you could've just asked, y'know. After you explained why... among explaining a few other things."

"Ah, but I wanted to know more about you first, remember?" Twilight replied, trotting away and into another room, "and this will tell me all I need to know... well, about what you are anyway."

I went to respond, but stopped as I heard a door somewhere outside the room creak open and shut a moment later.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before idly scanning the room. Honestly, the library actually seemed to be a lot bigger than the show portrayed it to be, with multiple rooms and even a sitting room in the back, complete with fireplace.

That was where I had decided to sleep for the night as it looked the coziest at the time. Unfortunately there were no windows to tell me what time it was.

Fortunately however, there was an old fashion cuckoo clock on the far wall near the fireplace. From the look of it, I had slept until about six in the morning, though I'm not sure how much sleep I had actually gotten.

Aside from my little wake-up call, I did feel well-rested, so I guess I had gotten enough sleep at any rate.

The room was still dark, but Twilight had apparently lit the fireplace at some point while I was asleep, because there was now a crackling fire casting a dim orange glow over everything.

Twilight...

She still looked like shit, but she did look like she'd regained her senses for the most part. The whole 'stabbing me with a needle in my sleep' thing made me more than a bit leery of her overall mental faculties.

For all I knew, stabbing me with the business end of a syringe could just be the first step. The next step could be me waking up with a knife in my throat.

I resolved to not sleep anywhere near Twilight from now on... or in general if I could help it.

With a humorless chuckle, I pushed the blanket off of me and slipped off the couch. I figured that since Twilight had recovered from her breakdown, she'd be more willing to talk.

As I made my way out of the cozy sitting room and looked around the library, my mind began to wander and I once more thought about just how ridiculous and impossible my situation was.

Outwardly I think I might've been getting used to the idea that this was all happening, but inwardly, I still couldn't wrap my head around the sheer... coincidence of it all.

I had only gotten into My Little Pony roughly a year or so ago, and it became my new obsession—well, the fanfics mostly, but in general, I was hooked.

Then this shit with Discord happens?

I would've called bullshit if it weren't for the fact that I was standing in the Golden Oaks Library. No matter how used to all of this I got, I had the feeling it would never stop being a surreal experience.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts when I walked into some kind of dimly lit back room about the size of a smallish closet.

It was empty, save for a set of heavy looking wooden doors built into the floor. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say this was Twilight's usually infamous basement.

I didn't want to go in there, but at the same time, I was fairly sure this was where the mare had gone with the syringe full of my blood.

That would never stop being weird to think about.

I might've been wrong about Twilight being down here, and honestly I was kind of hoping I was wrong, but it was probably a safe bet given that's usually where the lab equipment was.

With a heavy sigh of resignation, I leaned down and pulled open the doors before straightening up and heading down the wooden staircase.

The basement, as it turned out, was exactly as I pictured it being.

While it was by no means well lit, the basement itself was brighter than I had imagined and it was easy to see my surroundings... though I couldn't find any real light source strangely enough.

There were a couple of large desks here and there covered in pieces of parchment, beakers, bunsen burners, tubes, microscopes, and other scientific instruments I didn't know the names of.

There were several shelves of books and more than a few boxes—both large and small—stacked in a neat pile off in one of the corners of the room.

Well, calling it a room would've been a bit of a stretch. It was more like a giant cave below the giant tree that made up the library. Giant roots lined the walls, which were themselves made up of dark grey stone.

There were also several giant contraptions of which I couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of. Giant spiraling tubes, and metal cylinders on one end of the room with weird boxy looking machines that sported knobs and levers and buttons.

Even with all the technology on display, it somehow still managed to look primitive—kind of like what people in the fifties thought future technology would look like in those old black and white sci-fi shows.

After getting an eyeful of the place, I finally turned my attention to the mare standing at one of the desks doing... something.

I couldn't see it from where I was, as she had her back turned to me. A large machine with different gauges and wires whirred and beeped next to her.

As I made my way over, the machine gave one final drawn out beep before spitting a long row of paper out of a slot in the front and onto the table before Twilight.

I stepped up behind the mare and moved off to the side to get a peek at what she was reading. As she took the paper in her hooves and scanned it, I raised an eyebrow.

Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the letters were in english, and the numbers were the same, but that didn't mean I understood a lick of what was printed out on that long sheet of paper.

"Find what you're looking for, Doctor Sparkle?"

Twilight barely reacted at my joking tone, merely casting me a small side glance before going back to her readouts.

"As a matter of fact, I did," she replied, "I won't bother boring you with the details, but according to this, you just might be able to help me after all."

"Really?" I asked, somewhat genuinely surprised, "that's... good?"

"It is," Twilight replied, turning to face me with a smile, "it really is. It means I just might be able to fix this after all."

I didn't like that smile... I didn't like it at all.

It was the kind of smile you saw just before someone knocked you out and you woke up strapped to a table. It was the kind of smile that promised very unpleasant things in the near future.

Rather than push it to the back of my mind, I decided to voice my concerns.

"You're not gonna knock me out and strap me to a table for your sick experiments, are you?" I asked flatly, "I mean, I'd be happy to help—that's what I'm here for after all—but if you're gonna start getting all psycho scientist on me—"

I was cut off by a loud, sharp laugh that did nothing to ease my worries.

"W-What... what in Tartarus are you talking about?" she gasped out between her bouts of laughter, "what kind of B class villain do you take me for? Torture for the sake of science?"

She nearly fell over laughing, and I got kind of worried around the third minute or so of this. I would've thought she was faking it if it weren't for the tears of mirth rolling down her cheeks.

"So..." I began hopefully, "that's a no then?"

Twilight took a moment to catch her breath before straightening up and clearing her throat. She turned back to her desk and took up a few pieces of parchment and a quill in her magic.

"No, I'm not going to strap you down to a table and remove your innards for scientific study while I make you watch," she replied conversationally as she began jotting down notes, "I'm not a monster, Salvatore."

She paused and looked up, tapping the quill to her chin thoughtfully.

"Although, I suppose I didn't really come off as a sane individual last night, did I?" she mused before looking back to me with something close to an apologetic smile, "yeah... sorry about that. I haven't really felt like myself since..."

Her smile dropped and she turned away, returning to her notes and pointedly not looking in my direction.

"You just caught me at a bad time is all," she finished curtly, "when you've been trapped and alone for three years in a town devoid of anything but the monster you created, your sanity tends to suffer a bit."

"Wait, whoa back up a minute," I replied, furrowing my brows, "you've been trapped in this library for three years? Alone?"

Twilight snorted and let out another bark of laughter before shaking her head.

"Salvatore, I've been trapped alone in Ponyville for the last three years," she corrected, "there's nopony here anymore except for me. You're the first living creature I've seen in three years aside from the Failure."

And yet the first thing she does aside from saving me is have a mental breakdown and stick me with a needle.

"Can we talk about that by the way?" I asked for what felt like the thousandth time, "what exactly is the Failure, and how did you even get in this mess in the first place? What about the Princesses—"

"Buck the Princesses!" Twilight growled, her face twisting in rage and her magic inadvertently tearing the parchment she was working on to shreds, "when i said I was trapped here in Ponyville alone, it wasn't because of the Failure."

"Okay..." I replied carefully as I took a step back from the irate mare, "so... what happened then?"

She turned and stared me in the eye as she spoke—her voice low and dangerous.

"I bet you thought the Failure did something to all the other ponies in town, didn't you?" she asked, "thought they met some horrible fate at the claws of the monster looking for its 'mommy'?"

She shook her head slowly and gave me a grim smile.

"No... they were all evacuated when Celestia realized what was happening, and I was left here all alone with the little monster."

"That's... why?" I asked incredulously.

"Isn't it obvious?" Twilight answered with a mock laugh, "so I could 'fix my mistake'!" she stopped laughing and glared at a far wall, "Celestia and Luna evacuated everypony but me and locked the area around Ponyville behind a large barrier."

"And you were left here alone," I surmised, "that's... pretty damn cold."

"Oh, I wasn't alone... not at first," Twilight corrected, her face darkening once more, "my friends refused to leave, saying that if I couldn't go, they wouldn't either... and they paid for it."

"Spike killed them, didn't he?"

Twilight nodded stiffly after a long moment, her eyes going dim.

"Each and every one of them... gone," she answered tonelessly, "trying to protect me from my own mistake no less. Now I really am alone in this Tartarus forsaken town... or at least, I was."

She smiled that horrible smile at me again, the expression made all the more unnerving by the emptiness in her eyes.

"Now you're here, and you're going to help me fix this because you have something I need."

Author's Note

Good news, everyone!

I've finished about half of the next chapter, and I only have an hour of work today, so I might have the next chapter up before the day is out.

Equus III – Of Course it was Him, Naturally...

I wanted to ask exactly what Twilight wanted from me, but instead she busied herself by pulling out another piece of parchment and starting her notes over, completely unbothered that she'd destroyed her previous notes.

"It's time for you to make good on that deal, Salvatore," Twilight said, scanning the paper ejected from the machine even as she jotted down more notes, "I told you a bit about what happened, but before I tell you the rest, you need to tell me some things about you."

I wanted to argue that I never actually agreed to any kind of deal, but I let it slide and simply shrugged my shoulders.

"Fair enough," I answered instead, "so what's first on the list, Doctor Sparkle?"

"Your species," Twilight replied immediately, "what are you and where did you come from?"

"Easy enough," I replied with a nod, "I'm a human—scientifically speaking, a homo sapien. As from where I come from... that's actually a bit more difficult to explain—"

"I've already deduced one of two explanations given the data that I have now," Twilight interjected, suddenly eyeing me suspiciously from over her notes, "either you're an as-of-yet to be discovered race hailing from some unknown land on Equus... or you're an alien."

I laughed out loud.

I couldn't help it.

For all intents and purposes, I should've been nervous that she had deduced that much, but for some reason, the fact that she just outright called me an alien was funny to me.

It was probably the sheer unexpectedness of the accusation, that caught me off guard. What made it even better was how Twilight went from highly suspicious to angry, red-faced embarrassment in an instant.

It was adorable despite her ragged appearance, and overall a nice change from the gloomy atmosphere from a moment ago.

It put me in a strangely good mood, and I decided to tell a bit of the truth regarding where I came from—though not how I got here, what the actual stakes were, or that I was dealing with a certain Lord of Chaos.

"Alright, you got me," I replied, still chuckling, "sorry I laughed in your face like that, I just wasn't expecting that last bit is all."

"Well, admittedly the former guess is a lot more likely," Twilight replied, clearing her throat awkwardly and looking away, "but I didn't want to rule anything out."

"Oh no, you're more or less right about the whole alien thing," I responded casually, "I can't tell you how I got here or how I know you, but I can tell you that I'm definitely not from around here."

She stared at me.

I stared back with an unflinchingly serious expression.

"I'm not joking."

Twilight blinked, opened her mouth, closed it, turned back to the readouts for a few moments, then looked back at me with an intensely scrutinizing gaze.

"You're not joking, are you?"

"Nope," I replied, crossing my arms, "I can't tell you how I got here, but if you want to know about my personal life or where I came from, I'd be happy to tell you."

Telling her about myself and Earth was a gamble, but the look in her eyes—the light in her eyes when I told her that—was absolutely worth the risk in my opinion.

And so my plan to lift her spirits by sating her thirst for knowledge began... and lasted for the better part of three hours.

For the first hour and a half I didn't mind, but as I got into the more mundane facets of everday life on Earth, things began to get tedious.

Thankfully she respected my decision not to tell her about how I came to be here or how I knew about her, her friends, and the Princesses—at least, for the most part.

She tried to steer me into talking about it, but her attempts were... laughably obvious to say the least. For all of her intelligence, apparently Twilight—or this Twilight at least—was most definitely not a master manipulator of any kind.

Time passed and the desk quickly became buried under piles of parchment as Twilight rapidly scribbled down note after note, completely forgetting about the major problem at hand.

Truth be told, I kind of forgot about it too for awhile, but as the Q&A session wore on and my mind began to inevitably drift, I finally noticed the faint itching sensation that told me a crystal was nearby.

I didn't even bother looking around for it, but it did remind me of what needed to be said and done.

"Hey," I interjected, cutting off Twilight's next question, "so this has been awesome and everything, but I think we should get back to the whole issue of what actually happened here?"

"What? Already?" Twilight whined, "but I haven't even touched on Earth's ecosystem, or how the cycle of the sun and moon work, or—"

"Twilight," I pressed, "we can talk about that stuff later, but I think it's time I get to hear about what happened with you, Spike, and your friends."

"But... but I..." her ears folded back and she looked away, speaking in a quiet voice, "I don't want to..."

I cursed inwardly as I saw the light in her eyes from earlier completely die as the reality of her situation reasserted itself.

I watched with more than a little regret as the old friendly, academically minded Twilight faded away and the embittered, depressed, and possibly deranged Twilight returned.

Well, it was nice while it lasted...

"I'm sorry, Twilight but I..." I blinked and furrowed my brow before letting out a sigh, "actually, you know what? It just occurred to me that I don't really need to know what happened to help you, so I guess you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Twilight's ears perked back up and she looked back at me in surprise. I just gave a dismissive grunt and shrugged at her response.

"You said it yourself," I continued, "I already have what you need. I doubt you'd expect me to actually help you with the actual science or magic or whatever. Somehow I get the feeling I'll be playing more of a passive role in all of this."

"I... you're right, but..." Twilight bit her lip and looked back at the ridiculous pile of notes on covering the desk. She gave the same sort of sigh I had a moment ago and turned back to me, "no... you've given me so much to think about... the least I can do is tell you about... what happened."

"You sure," I asked, raising an eyebrow, "I mean, I can probably guess at some of what happened based on what you've told me so far, but—"

"No," Twilight said, shaking her head and frowning at her hooves, "no, I... I think I need this," she looked back up at me, "I've been alone for three years. For three years I've had to suffer these memories alone, try to fix everything alone, only to fail time and time again."

I frowned.

"Twi—"

"You want to know the truth, Salvatore?" she continued, tears welling up in her eyes, "before you arrived, I was going to throw myself off that balcony. I was going to let that Failure... my son, do to me what it did to my friends... I was going to... I was..."

She lowered her head into her hooves and her body shook with stifled sobs. I made no attempt to move the conversation along for the next few moments.

Of course she'd be pushed that far after being alone for so long in a situation like this.

I didn't blame her in the slightest, for her choice—hell, I was still somewhat shocked she had even made it this long.

But even then...

"If that's the case, then I'm glad I showed up when I did."

She didn't respond, but the quiet, muffled sobs I had started to hear subsided into small sniffles. After another minute, she looked back up at me with watery eyes and I gave her my best reassuring smile, which probably wasn't all that great.

"If you need to get this off your chest, I'm all ears," I continued, "after that, we can go about getting this mess cleared up, alright?"

She stared at me for a few seconds longer before wiping her eyes and giving me a nod and a weak smile. It fell quickly and she took a deep breath before letting it out in a shaky sigh.

Then she spoke.

"We... my friends, Spike, and I went on a mission in the Frozen North to save my sister-in-law's empire," she continued after a moment, "it was being attacked by the dark shadow of an evil stallion named Sombra."

And just like that, I fit the pieces together. The next few minutes or so was spent explaining the events of what happened in the Crystal Empire, and it all seemed to check out... that is, until Twilight tried to nab the Crystal Heart.

"I was an idiot who had no idea what she was doing at all," Twilight spat, "I got caught in an obvious trap and Spike... Spike suffered for it... he died for it. Died because of my stupidity."

Tears of sorrow, rage, and despair welled up in her eyes and she grit her teeth as she continued.

"He tried to save the Crystal Heart," she nearly whispered, "he tried so hard... and he almost made it... but then Sombra, he..." she swallowed and shook her head rapidly before letting out a single choked sob, "I managed to get the Heart and save the Crystal Empire in the end... but Spike... he was wounded by Sombra and... a-and he didn't make it."

Ah... god dammit...

And so there was the root of the problem. Spike died during Sombra's attack on the Crystal Empire and it tore Twilight up inside, not just because the baby dragon—who was apparently like a son to her in this universe—died, but also because she felt it was her fault.

"And so the Faustian deal was struck," I muttered, before chuckling quietly, "heh... Faustian..."

Nothing about the situation was funny, but I couldn't help acknowledging the joke in that statement. Thankfully Twilight didn't seem to notice as she continued speaking.

"I bucked up... I made the mistake," she clenched her eyes shut, "I wanted my assistant back, I wanted my little brother back, I wanted my son back... but I didn't want to use Dark Magic to do it."

"Would Dark Magic even have been able to bring him back," I asked with a slight frown, "I'm guessing Necromancy classifies as Dark Magic, right?"

"Right," Twilight replied, wiping her eyes with a hoof, "Necromancy could've brought Spike back, but not in the way I would've wanted."

"So you turned to Discord for help instead, didn't you?" I asked. Twilight's eyes widened in shock, confirming my growing suspicion, "you figured, he was an all powerful god, he must know a way to fix all of this... to bring Spike back."

"I... yes, I did," she confirmed, still stunned that I had figured it out so easily, "but... how do you know about Discord?"

"The same way I knew about you," I replied with a shrug, "and like I said before, I can't tell you how I know, so you'll just have to deal with the fact that I know."

I could tell she wanted to push the issue, but thankfully she remained silent on the matter, allowing me to move on.

"So you made this deal with Discord," I pressed, "and what... he turned Spike into that... spider... dragon... thing?"

Twilight's thoughtful look disappeared beneath a dark expression as she replied.

"In exchange for releasing him from his stone prison, he promised to bring Spike back to me," Twilight snorted angrily, "he guaranteed I'd get to see him again with no strings attached. I'd see him just as he was before he died."

"And you believed him?"

"Of course I didn't!" Twilight cried, slamming a hoof on the desk, "I didn't believe a word of it!" she suddenly deflated and lowered her head, her ears falling back, "I knew there'd be some sort of catch... but Discord, he... he said things I needed to hear, and at that point I didn't care how he brought Spike back, as long as he brought him back."

So now Discord's free," I surmised, "and what about your friends and the Princesses?"

Twilight turned away from me and didn't speak for a long time.

"...Twilight?"

A twitch of an ear was all I got in response.

I sighed and moved over to the many bookshelves lining the walls. Having gotten tired of standing for so long, I lowered myself to the ground and leaned back against one of the shelves.

I wanted to ask again, but I figured it might be better to let her have her moment. It turned out that was the right choice, because a moment later she spoke again.

"The deal was struck, I freed Discord, he gave me Spike back, just as he was," Twilight explained in a low monotone, "both the Princesses and my friends were horrified, but I didn't care, I had Spike back and that was all that mattered."

She slowly turned back to me, her eyes somehow duller than they were a moment ago.

"I explained my reasons to Celestia and Luna, along with my friends," she continued, "my friends at least, understood why I did it, but the Princesses... Celestia was... she... I thought out of all ponies she'd understand most of all... but she was so... angry."

I didn't like the lack of tone in her voice.

"She and Luna both sent me and the rest of the girls back to Ponyville and I didn't hear from them again until... until it was too late."

"So, Spike was normal... until he wasn't," I surmised, "I'm guessing it was some kind of... delayed reaction? The change I mean."

Twilight nodded slowly.

"My friends had been staying over at the library to comfort me and Spike, and we were all about to go to bed... when the son I had been holding onto changed into a giant spider."

She visibly shivered and held a hoof to her other front leg. It drew my attention and it was only then that I saw a large but faint scar peeking through her lavender fur.

"It attacked my friends, and I... tried to change him back... I did my best, but I panicked, and the spell went awry... and when it hit him... he turned into what you saw outside."

At this point, she was back to staring at the wall as she spoke, her eyes distant and cloudy.

"I failed, and the effects of the botched spell only made things worse... so much worse," she muttered, "it multiplied rapidly, calling out for 'mommy' and attacking my friends as they tried to protect me from it."

Silence reigned again for a short time, completely unbroken by me as I waited for her to continue, which she did eventually, though with a bit more emotion thankfully.

"Somehow I managed to teleport them all out of the library before sealing it off," she said, "I sent a letter to the Princesses through my own magic and they... they came to Ponyville immediately."

"And that's when they evacuated all the townsfolk except for you," I finished, "and apparently your friends."

"I've never heard Celestia sound so furious before," Twilight lowered her head and shuddered, "she screamed at me, and my friends... I told them to go with everypony else... but they stayed. Even after they got hurt trying to protect me, they stayed."

Twilight lifted her head and looked up at the ceiling, as though it held all the answers to her problems somehow.

"Celestia argued against it, but Luna convinced her to let them stay," she said before finally turning to look at me with weary, reddened eyes, "once everypony but us was evacuated, Celestia and Luna sealed the area while they went to track down Discord."

I almost asked how they expected to stop him without the Elements of Harmony, but stop just short, not wanting to distract Twilight from her story.

"Luna promised she and Celestia would return as soon as possible so we could defeat Discord together, and even put extra wards around the library before they left, but it wasn't enough in the end."

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking around, "seems to work fine so far."

"There's nothing wrong with the wards," Twilight replied with a shake of her head, "the problem was that we needed to eat, and I only had so much food at the library."

"...Oh."

Twilight gave a grim nod.

"At first, we held up fairly well," she continued, "we had a plan, we stuck to the plan, and we survived... but then my friends started deviating from the plan... and they got picked off one by one during our food runs."

"And you survived until now," I remarked, "you stuck it out for three years."

"I stuck to the plan."

I nodded at that.

I didn't think there was much left to say after that where the story was concerned. I more or less had the situation figured out by now, and it didn't look like Twilight was going to say anymore about it either.

"So..." I said to break the silence, "I'm assuming Discord is still out there somewhere?"

"Who knows? I haven't heard anything about what's been going on outside since the barrier went up," Twilight replied, turning away from me and shifting through her notes. She stopped and looked back at me with an expression I couldn't quite place, "y'know... when I got the results back from your blood test I..."

She paused, then shook her head and went back to searching her notes.

"No, nevermind... it's stupid to think about now, knowing what I do about you."

"What is it?" I asked, grunting as I rose to my feet, "what were you thinking?"

"Well..." Twilight glanced back at me with an uncertain expression, "I told you that you had something I needed... and it was because of that 'something' that I... well... that I thought you were Discord in disguise."

I stared at her blankly for a moment before realization set in.

"You thought I was Discord... because—"

"Because the blood test reveal trace amounts of chaos magic in your bloodstream," Twilight finished, "it was only a small amount, and that was why I didn't freak out and reveal what I suspected. I wasn't sure."

I nodded.

"Fair enough, I guess," I replied, "I'm definitely not Discord though, I can promise you that."

"I know," Twilight replied with a small smile, "well, I know that now. With everything you've told me, and the way you've acted... Discord would never act this way... even if he was acting. He wouldn't be able to keep the act up for so long."

"I told you there was no such thing as actual magic on Earth—not like you have here," I said, getting ready to lie my ass off, "but maybe humans do have some kind of natural dormant chaotic magic. It would make sense given how chaotic humans are."

"I... guess that could explain it," Twilight replied thoughtfully, "but without any other humans to confirm that... I don't know."

I just shrugged at her and moved on.

"So, you need the chaos magic in order to fix this," I said, trying to move the conversation along,, "and since I have chaos magic running through my veins, you think I can do something about it?"

Twilight nodded with a determined frown, something I was happy to see after everything she'd told me.

"I still need to find a way to harness it—without harming you of course," she quickly added at my wary look, "but once I can accomplish that, I might be able to find a way to return the Fai... return Spike to normal."

She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling again, this time with a look of utter disbelief.

"After three years... I finally have a chance to get Spike back," her eyes grew wet, but no tears fell, "I can't bring back my friends... but at least I'll be able to see my Spike again."

I watched her for a moment before clapping my hands together.

"Right then," I exclaimed, "whatever needs doing, I'm ready to do it."

She wiped her eyes and nodded before hopping out of the chair.

"Alright, I'll need to prepare a few things, but in the meantime you must be hungry," she replied, making her way over to the staircase, "why don't we head back upstairs and I'll make us something to eat?"

She paused and gave me a funny look.

"You said your species was omnivorous, right?"

"Yup, but we can't eat hay or grass or... a lot of the flowers you ponies eat in general, really," I replied, "just... give me whatever isn't that stuff."

She nodded before turning back to the staircase. I decided to keep my apparent lack of a need to eat to myself, though i wanted to be sure of something else.

"Hey, Twilight?"

She stopped near the top of the stairs and turned back to me with a questioning look.

"You feel any better after letting it all out?"

Twilight opened her mouth slightly before furrowing her brow in thought. Eventually she smiled back at me and nodded.

"You know what? I kind of do actually."

Author's Note

This chapter ended up being way longer than I anticipated. :rainbowderp:

Anyway, here's something new for ya... hope! Pure, unadulterated hope! I know, crazy, right? :twilightoops:

Let's see if it gets rewarded. :trixieshiftleft:

Equus III – Breakfast with the Book Horse

Both Twilight and I went back upstairs, and while she went towards the kitchen to make whatever it was she was going to make, I took some more time to look around while I collected my thoughts.

There were still a lot of questions I wanted to ask, and now that Twilight was feeling a bit better, I could focus on those questions. The problem was that, even if she was no longer suicidal, she was still very much not okay.

I had to be careful about how I asked the questions I wanted to ask. Moving out of the actual library and into the main room where the entrance was, I took a moment to look outside.

It was a clear day out, and nothing really seemed to be out of the ordinary at first glance. The sun was shining, the flora was green and bountiful, and there was no destruction anywhere to be seen.

It was quiet, though.

I didn't even have to be outside to know that the air was still. I didn't see or hear a single animal around, and could take a pretty good guess at why.

I also didn't see the shield Twilight had mentioned, and while I wanted to check to see if it was actually there, again, I wasn't stepping foot outside—not until I was prepared anyway.

I didn't want to find myself swarmed, and I wanted more information about the situation first.

With a sigh, I turned away from the window, wondering if Discord had taken over, and if that was the case, why everything was so... normal. Based on what Twilight had said, I was fairly sure the Princess's weren't in their right mind when they put the shield up.

None of what they were doing made any sense, and my first instinct was to blame Discord's influence. Maybe it wasn't that simple, or maybe it was, either way, Twilight apparently had no idea.

After a moment's thought, I decided to check on Twilight in the kitchen. I followed the familiar smell of pancakes to the room in question, and found the mare sitting at a dining room table with a small stack of books.

I looked over to the stove to see a pan wrapped in a magenta glow. It shifted, moving the sizzling pancake batter within and giving it a flip, though Twilight didn't once look up from her books to check on the stove itself.

Next to the stove, I could see a few fully cooked pancakes on a plate. Next to the plate was a stick of butter and a bottle of... apple syrup.

Well, that'll be a new experience for me...

I turned back to the mare and frowned slightly, trying to decide if I should catch her attention, what with her focusing on both her books and the pancakes at once.

Glancing back at the pan, I could see that the pancake was already almost cooked, so I figured I might as well get this conversation on the road.

"...Hey, Twilight?"

"Hm?"

Twilight didn't look up from the page she was reading, nor did the pan stop moving. I took that as a good sign to continue, walking closer to the table.

There were a lot of things I needed to find out about.

I was both curious and concerned about the odd, nonsensical behavior of the Princesses and the situation with Discord and the citizens that were evacuated.

Before that however, I wanted to touch on the immediate threat prowling around out there in town somewhere. I wanted to know what we were up against exactly.

"So before we get into this whole thing with my chaos magic," I began, taking a seat across from Twilight, "I was... kind of hoping you could tell me more about... y'know. Spike—or whatever he is now."

For a few moments, Twilight didn't say anything, and I thought she had simply ignored me, but then she closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

She dog eared the page she was on, closed the book, and set it aside. The low hum of the active stove stopped and the now finished flapjack flung itself onto the plate along with the others.

That done, the plate of pancakes, the butter, and the syrup along with two pairs of forks and knives floated over to where we were sitting.

We both took a silent moment to prepare the breakfast the way we wanted. I patiently waited for Twilight to speak as I slathered my own pancakes in syrup.

She cut into her pancakes and took a slow contemplative bite before finally turning to me. She looked worn, and the countless stress lines on her face made her look a lot older than she probably was.

She swallowed, and when she spoke, her voice was tired and sullen.

"I suppose I have to tell you," she conceded, "if for no other reason than that we'll most likely have to go back out there to test out whatever solution I come up with."

I nodded.

"Sorry for bringing it up again," I replied, "but... well... knowing is half the battle and all that. I wanna be prepared when we do have to go up against the thing."

"Right," Twilight muttered, leaning over the table and rubbing her temples, "where do I even start?"

"Well, you already told me how this happened..." I replied, taking a large bite out of my first pancake.

I frowned.

"...Salvatore?" Twilight asked, "are you okay? Are the pancakes not any good?"

"No... no, they're fine," I replied, shaking my head and taking another bite, "I was just thinking of where to begin."

"Oh, thank goodness," Twilight said with a tight, yet relieved smile, "I can't really afford to be making terrible pancakes right now."

I chuckled a bit before putting on a thoughtful frown.

"Well anyway... how about we start with what makes the thing so deadly? Y'know, aside from the whole duplication thing?"

Twilight nodded slowly.

"Yeah... yeah, okay," she responded, sitting up in her seat, "Spike was small—about half my size, and that at least, hasn't changed much. As you saw though, it makes up for that with its ability to appear suddenly and make more of itself."

"Does it have a limit?" I asked, "the duplication I mean."

"I don't know for sure," Twilight answered quietly, "but what I do know, is that it can at least make enough of itself to cover the entire town."

Well that's not good...

My next question was going to be a painful one, but it needed to be asked.

"You've been here for about three years," I began carefully, "did you or any of the others try to... y'know... put it down?"

"You don't need to tiphoof around the issue for my sake, Salvatore," Twilight replied with an unappreciative frown, "you're asking if we ever tried to kill it, and the answer is yes, several times."

She paused and looked down at the last pancake on her plate. For a moment I thought she was going to push them away with the way she was looking at it.

To my surprise though, she shook her head, stabbed a fork into the pancake, and shoved the entire thing into her mouth.

I raised an eyebrow at the display, but she ignored me as she finished the last of her breakfast and wiped her face clean with a small rag she pulled from the counter behind her.

That done, she continued on as though she'd never stopped talking in the first place.

"Celestia herself tried and failed to kill it, her spells just bouncing right off of it," Twilight said bitterly, "Luna tried more physical means, but every time she tried to smash it, crush it, slice it... anything, the corpse would just vanish, only for it to reappear moments later alive and no worse for wear."

"Well fuck me," I muttered, "no wonder they chose to evacuate the town."

That still didn't explain exactly where they had all evacuated to, but I'd get to that bit of information later.

"Wait, so if magic didn't work, how were Celestia and Luna able to trap this thing behind that giant barrier?"

"When killing it didn't work, they tried trapping it both physically and magically. Unfortunately It just broke out any cages and regular magic barriers didn't work either."

"And the giant shield covering the area?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, "how'd they manage to keep it trapped behind that?"

"With no way to trap the thing through normal means," Twilight explained, "the Princesses had to resort to... drastic measures."

"Such as?" I pushed.

"They've effectively cut the entire area around Ponyville off from the rest of Equestria through a dimensional barrier."

"A dimensional barrier," I repeated flatly, "and how exactly does that work?"

"We can see outside the barrier, but there's no way to interact with anything beyond it, nor can anything or anypony interact with us.

"If you try to move past the barrier's edge, you'll just wind up right back inside its walls on the opposite side. Anypony that tries to cross into the barrier just ends up on the other side, outside its walls."

Effective, but that kind of really fucks us over here. Seriously, why the hell didn't they just lock the thing up behind a smaller version of that?

I asked as much and Twilight shook her head morosely.

"If they had made the barrier any smaller, it would've destroyed itself and everything else within roughly a fifty mile radius," she snorted derisively, "I guess they cared just enough to not kill us all directly."

Even though they technically kind of did with the whole cutting 'Ponyville off from the rest of the world' thing.

She shook her head again and slammed her hooves into the table.

"Why did she do it?!" Twilight growled, "I've been asking myself that over and over again since this Tartarus forsaken barrier went up!

"We... my friends and I were the Elements of Harmony! Even if she hated me enough to trap me here for what I did, you'd think she'd still need us to take down Discord!

"Was he the one that made her do this? It had to have been him! There's no way Celestia would have done something so... so... stupid! There's no way she and Luna would be this... this heartless..."

She pressed her hooves into the table and fumed silently for a second, tears streaming down her face.

I waited for her to finish her sudden rant, not really having anything to add on the matter. I had the same questions after all, and it seemed I wasn't going to get them from Twilight.

And assuming we did find a way to stop this thing for good, how are we even expected to get out if we're cut off from the rest of the world?

There were several other implications that came to mind, such as what would've happened if I were to break the crystal inside the barrier, and...

Wait a minute... would that work?

An idea was forming in my head.

It was something I normally wouldn't have entertained, but given the circumstances it may have been our only choice.

The issue was that I really, really didn't want to go through with it if I didn't have to, and I had no guarantee it would work either way.

I'll hold off and see what Twilight comes up with first.

I kept my silence however, not wanting to go that route just yet. Instead I watched as Twilight took a few deep breaths and wiped her eyes, regaining her composure and continued on from where she left off originally.

"Anyway, after some... heated words with my friends about taking matters into their own hooves, we all decided it would be best to try and... end him before he could hurt us."

"And... what happened?"

Twilight lowered her gaze and said nothing.

I frowned at her.

"...Twilight?"

"You felt it, right?" she suddenly asked in a near whisper, "that hazy, dreamlike fear and foreboding that nearly overwhelmed you even before it showed up?"

My frown deepened as I remembered that strange dread I felt at the time. I nodded, wondering where Twilight was going with the question.

She nodded in return and spoke again.

"For reasons I haven't yet fully figured out, Spike—as he is now, emits some sort of fear aura that clouds the mind," she explained, "my only guess is that Discord had something to do with that, but it could've been another side effect of my spell going wrong, I'm not entirely sure."

She looked back at me, then looked through me, her eyes going distant as she remembered some no doubt horrible event.

"We all felt it, and it was only after I created a spell to counteract that fear aura and used it on myself and my friends that I realized that the aura was actually keeping us alive.

"In order for the spell to work properly, I had to tweak the brain's fear response, and that had the unfortunate effect of making my friends fearless."

"Like morphine running through your veins," I surmised, "without the body's response to pain, after awhile you start getting reckless."

"I'm not sure what 'morphine' is," Twilight replied, coming back to her senses, "but from how you worded it, I'm assuming it's some kind of drug that dulls the nerves, and you're exactly right.

"Without the paralyzing effect of the fear aura, my friends and I were able to focus on finding out a way to end the threat... but like I said before, they stopped listening to me."

"They started getting reckless due to the lack of a fear response I'd imagine," I guessed, "is that about right?"

Twilight nodded in affirmation, her expression sullen.

"By the time I realized what was happening, we had already lost Rainbow and Fluttershy, and Rarity and I were the only one's left when I finally found a way to reverse the spell I created."

"And... Rarity?"

"Couldn't take it anymore," Twilight replied tonelessly, "she killed herself before I could stop her."

"Oh... damn," I muttered, images of Rarity and the ship I had been on coming to my mind unbidden, "I'm sorry, Twilight."

Twilight merely nodded in response, her gaze haunted.

And thus, any hope of blasting Discord with the Elements goes right out the window, probably just as he planned, the son of a bitch.

I idly wondered if he'd been watching all of this play out somewhere where we couldn't see.

If that was the case, though, wouldn't he have seen or sensed me show up? I'd imagine that would've been enough to gain his attention and investigate, then I'd be able to ask my questions.

But no, I had no idea what he was doing or what happened to the Princesses or the rest of Equestria beneath the supposed shield trapping us here.

Best to focus on the here-and-now for the time being.

"So... I have a few more questions," I said, somewhat tentatively, "one of them you're probably not gonna want to hear."

"I have a feeling I know what you're going to ask," Twilight replied with a dark frown, "but go ahead and ask anyway."

"O...kay, then," I said, leaning back in my chair a bit, "my first question is this," I jerked a thumb over my shoulder and in the direction of the main room, "I can't see the shield out there. If it is there, how do you know it's still active?"

"Mage sight," Twilight replied simply, "it allows me to see the inner workings of complex magical systems, and with it, I was able to see that the shield is completely static. Even if Celestia and Luna were to die—not that they could, mind you—the shield would remain active until the magic burned itself out."

"And how long would that take?"

"Given how powerful Celestia and Luna are?" Twilight leaned back and looked towards the ceiling thoughtfully, "it would be at least another three or four years easily."

Well fuck me.

"And what about Discord?" I asked, "couldn't he just break it down whenever? Even if it is a dimensional barrier?"

"He probably could," Twilight replied with a small shrug, "the question is, would he want to? I mean he has—had us all right where he wanted us. Out of the way so he could... do whatever he's doing right now."

"Fair enough," I replied with a nod, "now on to my second question. If magic just bounces right off that thing, what makes you so certain chaos magic will do anything to it? Just because it was transformed by chaos magic doesn't necessarily mean it'll be affected by it."

"...I know that," Twilight said quietly, "but it's the only type of magic I haven't tried yet, and the only one I didn't have access to—at least, until you came along."

"The problem with that being that I have no idea how to access it," I replied, "I tried once, but it didn't really work out. At all."

"Well, if there is a way to draw it out, I'll find it," Twilight answered with a resolute frown, "I have to. If I can't use your chaos magic to cure Spike, then at least I might be able to finally put him to rest."

Yeah... about that...

"Well, if you can help me unlock my hidden chaotic potential, then by all means, go for it," I replied, "it certainly beats being completely powerless like I am now."

Twilight nodded slowly before rapidly shaking her head.

"We'll worry about that later once I've come up with some ideas," she continued, "for now, just ask the question I know you're going to ask."

Well, if she's already expecting it...

"Alright, I'll just come out and ask it then," I leaned forward and looked the mare in the eye, "how do you know that thing was ever really Spike to begin with, and not some kind of construct created by Discord?"

"I brought him the body, Salvatore," Twilight replied in a low, grave tone, "I watched as he touched Spike's forehead with a talon, I saw Spike open his eyes, I... I heard him speak to me again... I heard him say my name."

Her voice began to waver.

"It was like he never... n-never died at all," she paused and closed her eyes, breathing deeply before continuing in a calmer tone, "it was... is really him, Salvatore. I know it is."

I watched her for another few seconds before giving a shrug.

"...Alright, Twilight," I replied, "if you say so."

I was far from convinced of the fact, but at the same time, I had no proof that it wasn't really Spike beneath all the abominable horror.

Still, I didn't push the issue, as it wouldn't have helped in any way. If anything it probably would've only gotten her pissed at me, and I didn't need that right now.

Instead I opted to think of ways I could help Twilight with her research. I couldn't help with the science of it all, but I could still probably throw a few ideas out there.

I thought back to the one idea I had earlier, and wondered if Twilight could help me find any other less deadly options.

Should I tell her about the crystal? Would she even be able to do anything with the knowledge?

It was a risk, but with the way things were looking...

No, not just yet. If we can't find anything else, then I'll mention it, but for now, I'll leave that little nugget of information as a last resort.

And aside from that, if she could help me find out how to control at least a little of the chaos power, then it just might be worth holding out for now.

"You barely touched any of your pancakes."

I blinked and refocused my attention on Twilight. She was eyeing me with an odd mix of concern and disapproval.

"Hm?" I replied, regaining my bearings, "oh, yeah... I guess I'm not all that hungry. Sorry."

"You should eat," Twilight emphasized, "I managed to stock about two months worth of food, but I still don't want it going to waste."

"Yeah, you're right about that," I replied, picking my fork back up and digging in, "just... not used to the situation like you are. Again, sorry about that."

"It's fine," she replied, taking up her own empty plate in her magic and heading over to the sink, "we'll talk more later. For now, I'm taking a few books and heading back down into the lab. I want to jot down a few thoughts and questions I have about your magic."

"Alright then," I replied, watching her dump the plate in the sink and trot out of the kitchen—way more than a few books trailing behind in her magic, "just... let me know if you need anything I guess."

"I will," she called back, "I might be awhile, so you might as well find something to do in the meantime. Read a book or something."

A beat of silence.

"You can read, right?"

"Yes, Twilight," I replied with a roll of my eyes, "I can read just fine. I'm actually something of a writer myself."

"Really?" I heard her reply curiously. The sound of hoofs against the wooden floor told me she was coming back, but then they stopped, "no... now's not the time, but you'll have to tell me about that later."

"Will do," I called back, fully intending to lie about what I actually wrote.

"Alright then," she said, moving away once more, "I'll come get you once I'm ready."

"Right," I replied, taking another bit of pancake into my mouth, "good luck."

With that, the hoofsteps got further away and a moment later, I heard the basement door open and close.

My chewing slowed to a stop and I looked at the breakfast in front of me with a frown. I hadn't mentioned it to Twilight, but something was very, very wrong here.

It turned out there was more to it than just not having to eat. I could smell how delicious the pancakes were, and they even made my mouth water a bit—I could certainly tell Twilight enjoyed them.

The problem was that they didn't taste like anything.

It was like I was eating plastic or something.

It could've just been that Equestrian food was fundamentally different than that of Earth in some way, but somehow I doubted that was the case.

It could've been that the food was far more bland than the smell would've suggested, but again, I didn't think that was it either.

Good or bad, there should've been some kind of taste, and yet there was nothing. I turned away from the food and looked back to where Twilight had left.

I was almost certain this had something to do with the chaos magic Discord pumped into me, and once Twilight was ready to start testing, I was going to figure out what exactly what that something was.

I should've asked Discord more about the power when he poofed me back to the Chaos Realm, but prior events had put it completely out of my mind.

Now, more than ever, I needed answers, and I didn't care which Discord I had to ask to get them.

Author's Note

I was gonna split this one into two chapters, but I figured eh, screw it.

Equus III – Cat's out of the Bag

I finished my literally tasteless breakfast and spent the next two hours or so perusing the books in the library.

The novelty of being able to read actual Equestrian literature had worn off surprisingly quickly. After skimming a few books I began to realize something.

Reading Equestrian books wasn't any different than reading any of the books from back home, really.

I mean sure, there were glaringly obvious differences where... well... everything was concerned, but when you got right down to it, it was more like reading literature from a foreign country.

The fairy—ponytales were strange, but most of them weren't any stranger than the ones we had back on Earth. The history, while fascinating and fantastical in some aspects, was just as dull and mundane as what you'd read in a high school history book for the most part.

Math, physics, the sciences, psychology, and everything else in a similar vein were all just that—no different than what you'd find on Earth more or less.

Even the textbooks Twight had on the subject of thaumatology, honest to god books on actual magic, were nothing more than tomes filled with page after page of formulae, complex terms, and diagrams I couldn't make heads or tails of.

This wasn't to say I didn't search through the books anyway.

While most of the literature here did nothing much for me, I still took some time to search the shelves for anything on Discord, chaos magic, and barriers.

I did all of this knowing full well that Twilight had most likely already tore through these shelves looking for a solution involving these subjects.

I figured it might've been good to maybe give Twilight a different perspective on things, but in the end, I couldn't come up with anything useful—not that I could make sense of at any rate.

Eventually I just decided to wait until I could toss ideas back and forth between myself and Twilight. That said though, I did find a few books to hold my interest.

Interestingly enough, Equestria had what was basically a ponified version of the Harry Potter series—at least, it had enough similarities to be considered as such.

What was even more surprising was that it was actually a fair bit darker than the series J.K. Rowling had written, and I found myself completely enthralled.

I was sitting at one of the reading desks, completely lost in the first book in the series when I heard the distant creak of the basement doors open.

Damn it, not now!

I frowned at the thought before turning to one of the clocks on the wall. It was late in the afternoon, which meant I had spent a good three or four hours waiting for Twilight to do what she needed to do.

With a sigh, I marked the page I was on with a stray piece of parchment I found earlier and rose from my seat just as Twilight entered the reading room.

She looked troubled, and when she saw me, her troubled look turned wary. I furrowed my brow and slowed my pace as I made my way over to where the mare was.

That's... not a good sign.

"How'd the research go?" I asked carefully, "I take it things went well?"

"Maybe," she replied evasively, "I may have a solution to your problem in controlling your... chaos magic. Though to be sure, I'd need to run a few tests on you if that's okay—nothing painful, I promise."

I really didn't like the way she finished that first sentence.

"That's... fine," I answered slowly, "just tell me what I need to do."

Twilight nodded before turning towards the doorway and looking back to me over her shoulder.

"Follow me back to the basement," she called back, "I already have everything set up. I'll explain once we're down there."

Without another word or look back, she quickly trotted out of the room. I stood there for another moment, trying to figure out the mare's intentions.

Her tone and expression raised a few red flags, and I found myself suddenly worried for my safety. I sighed heavily and dragged a hand down my face before following Twilight out.

This isn't going to end well.

The basement looked more or less the same as when I saw it last time, save for a few small additions.

One being the large blackboard pushed into one corner of the cavernous room, and another being the massive, complicated looking sigil.

Yeah, I may not have been any kind of mage, but I had seen and read enough fiction focusing magic to recognize a magic sigil when I saw one.

The board had all sorts of the same types of thaumatological formulas I'd seen in some of Twilight's books scrawled across it.

The circular sigil was painted white against the dark, flat stone floor and consisted of countless runes woven between a complex series of lines.

Looking over to where the desk was, I saw many of the books Twilight had brought down with her splayed open to one page or another, though the large machine she used to analyze my blood had been moved off to another corner of the room.

Twilight herself was slowly trotting around the sigil, scrutinizing her work with a thoughtful frown. She perked an ear and looked up when I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh good, you're here," she stepped away from the sigil and trotted over to the desk, "just sit there in the middle of that circle if you would."

I raised an eyebrow and looked back towards the sigil for a few seconds. After a moment I turned back to Twilight with a slight frown.

"Okay, before I do that," I said, staying where I was, "can you tell me what's up? You didn't look too happy to see me when you came in."

Twilight, who had sat down and was skimming through one of the open books, flicked an ear and frowned in annoyance. She remained silent for a time before letting out a quiet sigh and turning to me.

"Salvatore, I did a few more tests and, through a bit more research, came to a few conclusions about your magic," she explained, "those conclusions lead me to believe that you're either oblivious to the nature of your chaos magic—which is certainly possible given what you told me of your world—or you're not telling me everything."

Ah, so that's what is...

I could tell her it was the former, and honestly it wouldn't be a complete lie, but then I stopped to really think about it.

Not only did I had a very strong feeling honesty would be the best policy here, but depending on what she knew, and how I worded what I told her, I got the feeling things might actually turn out for the better.

But first...

"So what are these conclusions that you came to?" I asked, "what makes you think I'm either ignorant or holding out on you?"

Twilight tapped a hoof on the page of the book she was reading and stayed quiet for another few seconds before speaking again.

"I did some more research on dormant magic in the body," she explained, "and discovered that all dormant magic, no matter what type of magic it is, never stays dormant for long.

"Innate magic, as a fundamental force, must manifest itself in one way or another."

At this, Twilight turned her chair to fully face me, a serious frown adorning her features as she continued.

"If it doesn't, or if something stops that manifestation from occurring, it causes a buildup that could quickly turn catastrophic for the creature involved, as well as those around them more often than not."

"Oh... well, that's not good," I replied, thinking about the magic Discord had pumped into me, "does that really apply to me though? Like I said, I'm not exactly from around here."

"It does," Twilight replied without hesitation, "in fact, that's part of why I'm suddenly so suspicious. From what you've told me about your world, it shouldn't have any kind of thaumic field."

"Okay," I replied , "and that would mean..."

"That you shouldn't have any magic running through you, chaotic or otherwise," Twilight finished, her frown deepening, "it was something I overlooked in my excitement during our discussion of your world, and I was... too distraught during my own story to give it any thought."

"Ah... I see."

Welp... busted I guess.

But wait...

If my world didn't have any kind of thaumic field, and magic couldn't exist... then how did Discord yank me from Earth?

As I pondered that question, Twilight continued.

"And as for that buildup I mentioned earlier, I ran another test on the chaos magic in your bloodstream—one to determine thaumic activity," Twilight said, floating a few pieces of parchment over to her, "the activity only extends to a little under a week ago and there's absolutely no information before that."

Twilight scanned her notes silently for a minute before looking back up at me, her face still set in a suspicious frown.

"There's clear evidence that shows short, yet drastic, spikes in chaotic power," a pause, "drastic enough as to be... well... 'apocalyptic' wouldn't be anywhere near enough to describe it. I don't know what these insane fluctuations are all about, but there's definitely some rapid, almost instantaneous buildup going on before the sudden release of power."

"Uh-huh," I replied, rubbing one side of my neck awkwardly, "that's... definitely suspicious alright."

"I can't determine much more than that until I've done the next test," she said, narrowing her eyes, "but it's clear that you weren't born with this magic, Salvatore."

Yup, she's definitely got me there... dammit.

"Something happened, or somepony imbued you with it, and it's been utilized in some, most likely deadly fashion," Twilight surmised, her eyes hardening, "on top of that is the fact that it's chaos magic.

"If somepony did give you this magic, I could only think of one creature that could've done so. I think you and I both know who that creature would be."

"Alright, I'll concede that point," I replied, raising my hands placatingly, "I do know more than I'm letting on, and yes, it has something to do with Discord—a lot to do with Discord actually, but I'm not in league with the guy."

I paused.

"Okay, well I kind of am—but not by choice!" I amended, seeing the outraged look on Twilight's face, "seriously, there's a lot more to this than you think, but I wasn't lying when I said I was here to help."

"And how do I know that?" Twilight growled, "how can I trust that you're telling the truth?"

I stopped and thought for a moment.

"Do you have any kind of spells or potions that could reveal my memories?"

Twilight's glare faltered and her expression became wary, then thoughtful.

"I... don't have any potions that could do it, and I don't know any spells right off hoof that I could use either," she said slowly, "but I do have a tome around here that might have that kind of spell. I'll need time to find the book and learn the spell, though."

"Great," I replied, relieved that the problem could be resolved so easily, "having someone read my mind kind of really sucks, but if it helps prove I'm not against you, then... well..."

I shrugged.

Twilight considered me for a long minute before speaking again. Her tone was one of uncertainty and hesitation.

"If you're willing to subject yourself to mind magic to prove your innocence," she finally replied, "then either you're confident you can overcome it in some way, or you really have nothing to hide."

"Oh, I definitely have something to hide," I replied, walking over to the magic circle, "and I was hiding it for a good reason, but what I need now is trust, and hiding it isn't going to do us any more good here."

I stopped just short of the circle and turned to look Twilight in the eye. She merely gave me an expectant look in return.

"If you want, I can still just tell you and you can confirm it for yourself with the spell," I said after a short, contemplative pause, "but just... promise not to fly off the handle when you hear what I have to say."

"I think I would like to hear it from you," Twilight replied with a nod, "and I promise not to fly off the handle."

I raised an unconvinced brow at her. She looked at me blankly for a moment and rolled her eyes before doing a few familiar motions.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"What the hell was that?" I asked, feigning surprise and ignorance, "some kind of oath?"

"...Just something one of my friends used to do to... well... it doesn't matter anymore," she replied quietly as she lowered her hoof from one of her eyes, "just... I won't flip out, alright?"

"Alright, that's good enough for me then, I guess," I said, stepping into the circle and sitting cross legged in the middle, "just... do what you gotta do, then we'll talk more."

Twilight mulled that over a moment before nodding.

"Right, I'll... hold you to that," Twilight finally replied, scooting her chair back and standing up, "oh... and by the way," she lit up her horn and the large sigil began to glow with same soft magenta hue as her magic, "I need you to remain as still and quiet as possible, this is going to take some time."

"How much time?"

"I'm using this sigil to do a complete scan of the magic within you," she explained, "this spell is going to be pulling out a lot of information, so I also need time to process it and write it down."

"Okay," I replied getting comfortable, "so... how long is it going to take?"

"Once I cast the spell, it'll remain semi-passive, the sigil will be feeding the information directly into my mind, and I'll be jotting it down as it comes, so again, I'll need absolute silence so I can focus."

"Twilight," I pressed, now getting annoyed, "the time. How long is this going to take? How long do I have to sit here like this?"

Twilight frowned, her eyes closed as she prepared to fully activate the sigil.

"I... don't have an exact estimate," she replied hesitantly, "but it shouldn't be anymore than... four hours, give or take a few minutes depending on how much information I need to write down."

Four hours?! You've gotta be shitting me!

I sucked in a breath and exhaled explosively.

"Well, alright then," I sighed, "I'll just have to deal I guess."

"If it makes you feel any better," Twilight offered, still keeping her eyes shut in concentration, "with all the information I'm gathering, I should be able to devise a spell that will let you use your magic... assuming you can't use it already."

"I can't," I replied before a sudden thought hit me, "and if you're gonna be getting so much information about my magic, do you really... well, I guess you'd still need the actual story behind the magic."

"Exactly," Twilight replied, "now shut up and don't move, I need to focus."

Her horn flashed, the hue turning from that soft magenta to a blinding white for several seconds. The sigil glowed brighter with Twilight's magic and I began to feel warm, both inside and out.

It was a pleasant sort of warmth thankfully, and I suddenly found that I had no complaints—at least, until I began to feel that familiar itching sensation.

I didn't have any time to wonder what it meant, as the itching sensation soon erupted into a full blown tugging sensation.

Unlike the last time I activated the sense however, this was out of my control. The feeling didn't tug me in any one direction, but rather pulled at me from seemingly every direction at once.

It didn't hurt exactly, but it certainly wasn't pleasant, not like a moment ago. Thankfully I didn't have to wonder long about what was going on, as Twilight chose to speak one last time with the answer.

"Don't freak out, Salvatore," she muttered, her voice slightly strained with some kind of effort, "the chaos magic inside you is reacting to the spell, but that's normal. It's not doing anything, nor can you or I make it do anything, but... wait... what?"

I wanted to turn or say something at Twilight's unsure tone, but I kept my face neutral and didn't move a muscle. My patience was rewarded when Twilight spoke again.

"That... can't be right..." I saw another bright flash light up the room, and heard Twilight's chair shift, "the hard part is done, but now I need to figure out just what in Tartarus..."

Or maybe it wasn't.

She continued to mutter to herself as I sat as still as I could and stared at the far wall. I could hear her shuffling around parchment and flipping through books though the low, almost hypnotic hum of her magic never broke once.

After about ten minutes or so of listening to the quiet shifting of parchment, scribbling of a quill, and Twilight's own barely audible and often nonsensical muttering, I silently resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get an explanation.

It looked as though the unfinished explanation that Twilight gave would have to be enough for now. I'd also have to get used to the odd pulling sensation, but I was fairly sure I wouldn't have any problems with that.

With an inward sigh, I settled in for a long, long wait. I was already beginning to feel the tedium, and prayed that this would all be worth it in the end.

With nothing else to do, I sat there and decided to think about just how I was going to explain my completely insane situation to Twilight.

Complications

Luna didn't reveal who she'd plan to see about Twilight's unorthodox situation, but Twilight nevertheless agreed to meet the older Princess at Fluttershy's cottage the next day, something Twilight was initially confused about.

When Twilight had asked, Luna had told her it wasn't Fluttershy they were looking for. She tried to figure out just why the Lunar Princess would want to meet at friend's home, if they weren't there to talk to Fluttershy, but in her currently sleep deprived state, she couldn't make sense of it.

Twilight didn't want to sleep—she'd never sleep again if she could help it, but Luna eventually convinced the overly weary mare to rest. In actuality, it wasn't all that hard to do.

On top of being too tired to really argue, Twilight had also ended up convincing herself that if she did have another vision, it might hold some sort of clue, so she acquiesced to Luna's wishes and tried to fall asleep despite her fears.

Twilight was out like a light in seconds and, much to her immense relief, there were no visions this time around. She had woken up late the next day feeling much better than she had the night before, and as she ate lunch—having had to skip breakfast entirely due to sleeping in—her mind began to piece together the rather obvious answer to whom Luna was speaking of if they were going to Fluttershy.

Discord.

Once her mind latched on to that realization, she frowned. Of course he'd be the one Luna would go to for such an issue. Twilight knew for a fact that the Lord of Chaos wasn't tethered to just this reality like the rest of the world.

The draconequus was insane, but Twilight knew more than to underestimate Discord's intellect. He'd given her some more than helpful advice in the past, and somewhere beneath all the madness was a surprising amount of wisdom.

She hated to admit it, but Luna was right, if anypony could figure this out, it was Discord. Unfortunately, as much as Twilight had come to respect Discord, he was still Chaos incarnate, and as such, was still a hoofful to deal with.

She was just glad Fluttershy was there to keep both him and Tirek in line.

Once she'd finished her lunch, she had Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia, who in turn informed her sister. Spike, for his part, was hopeful—confident that things would finally start looking up and that life could go back to normal.

He and Discord had gotten along swimmingly over the last couple of years Discord had been released, and was certain he'd have the solution to Twilight's problem.

A short flight later, Twilight landed just outside the cottage and found that Luna was already there, a scowl on her face. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she trotted closer, but didn't comment on her expression.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna greeted with a nod, "I trust you are feeling better this day?"

"Yes, much," Twilight replied with a relieved smile, "I didn't have any visions last night, thankfully," she frowned slightly, "in fact, I don't think I dreamed at all now that I think about it. Was that your doing?"

"Neigh," Luna replied, her frown turning troubled, "that is another thing I wished to bring up during our discussion."

"With Discord, right?" Twilight surmised, "I was... more than a little out of it last night, so I didn't register who you were talking about, but it would make sense for it to be Discord."

"You are correct," Luna confirmed with another small nod, "last night I had taken some time to actively search for your presence in the dream realm, but I did not find you and feared the worst had come to pass," she smiled slightly, "I am glad that was not the case, but this still bodes ill."

"I think you might be right," Twilight agreed with a grave frown, "all the more reason we should hurry and meet with Discord. If I can't stop these visions, I at least want to know why they're happening."

"Yes, well," Luna's scowl returned and she cast an irritated glance in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage as she spoke, "I had intended to inquire of Discord's whereabouts with young Fluttershy, but alas, it seems she already has company."

Twilight furrowed her brow in bemusement before trotting over to one of the many windows. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when she saw both Fluttershy and the thin, wizened form of Tirek sitting around a small table in the living room.

They both sat chatting over tea, something Fluttershy was wont to do from time to time with Discord and her other friends. It had taken some time for the shy pegasus to warm up to the centaur once he'd reformed, but they eventually came to enjoy each other's company.

Twilight herself had spoken to Tirek more than once, and found that the centaur was well versed in both arcane magic and the ancient lore of countless cultures from around the world.

Their conversations had been rather intellectually stimulating—a pleasant and welcome surprise to the lavender alicorn. It seemed however, that Luna still had her misgivings about the reformed Lord, if her expression was anything to go by.

Twilight couldn't hear what was being said, but judging by Tirek's calm expression and Fluttershy's easy smile, it seemed to be an amicable conversation.

"I see what you mean," Twilight replied as she stepped away from the window and turned back to Luna. She bit her lip and glanced back at the window, "normally I'd suggest we come back later, but... this is important."

"Indeed," Luna replied, moving towards the front door of the cottage, "I hate to interrupt Fluttershy's... get-together, but this is something that cannot wait."

With that, Luna raised a hoof and gave a few firm knocks on the door.

"Fluttershy," she called out, "I hate to interrupt, but it is important that we—"

The door swung open, and before either Twilight or Luna could so much as blink, a large brown cane shot out of the doorway and wrapped around Luna's neck, yanking her inside.

"Wha—Luna!? What—"

Twilight's alarmed outburst became a wordless cry of panic as an arm ending in familiar yellow talons stretched out from beyond the doorway and grabbed the shocked mare, pulling her in along with Luna.

A few extremely confusing moments later, the two alicorns found themselves standing in a very different cottage—the larger alicorn rubbing her neck with an annoyed grimace.

A large, maroon couch nearby panted and barked like a dog, a coffee table constantly shifted colors from brown, to blue, to white, to orange, then back to brown.

A lamp stand, a grandfather clock, and a couple of small dressers bounced and swayed to a rhythm neither Twilight nor Luna could hear.

The large room was filled with all manner of ridiculous and mind boggling things like these, and as Twilight and Luna looked around, a sudden and almost violent sense of vertigo overtook them.

They now sat at a circular table, and though it didn't look like anything had changed in the insane room, they were certain something definitely had.

Twilight turned to a nearby window and glanced outside, her jaw dropping at what she saw. Outside it was almost completely dark save for the shifting violet hues that marked the sky.

She could see a grassy field outside, which wouldn't have bothered her, but the fact that the land was where the sky should be and vice versa put her on edge, and also explained the odd vertigo.

"Luna," she muttered in wide eyed disbelief, "I think the house is upside down."

Luna followed her gaze and her expression flattened into one of annoyance. Before she could reply however, a familiar voice caught their attention, making their ears swivel in its direction.

"Quite right you are, my dear."

Both mares turned their attention to the draconequus now sitting at the table across from them, calmly sipping tea from a teacup in an orthodox fashion—an action completely unorthodox for a being like Discord.

"You'll have to forgive me," he chuckled once he had their attention, "I wanted to try flipping my house, but I think I may have missed the mark a bit, wouldn't you say?"

He waggled his bushy white eyebrows at the two sitting across from him, but all he got in response was a small irritated groan from Luna and an eyeroll from Twilight.

"Discord, why did you bring us into the Chaos Realm?" Twilight asked, furrowing her brows, "not that I don't find this place fascinating, but... why?"

"Oh?" Discord replied, raising his own eyebrow, "I heard from a little birdie that you two were looking for little old me. Was that not the case?"

"No, we were," Twilight replied with a small nod, "but you could've just talked with us back in Ponyville. You didn't have to literally yank us into the Chaos Realm."

"Perhaps," Discord replied with a shrug, "but Fluttershy looked so content, I simply didn't want the two of you to bother her with your no doubt silly inquiries."

"They're not silly, Discord," Twilight replied with a slight frown, "and while I'm glad you're taking Fluttershy's feelings into consideration, I still find it rather... odd that you... er... invited us here."

"Why, Twilight!" Discord cried, placing a paw to his chest and giving the lavender alicorn a look of mock hurt, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were ill at ease in my humble abode!"

"That's—no! T-That's not what I meant at all!" Twilight stammered, waving her hooves defensively, "I just mean that it's weird. You're usually content to just... pop into Equestria unannounced. In fact, I was starting to get the impression you didn't like having anypony here."

"Nonsense," Discord scoffed, "I'll have you know, I've invited dear Fluttershy here for lunch more than once. While I do enjoy my privacy, I'm not as averse to having company within my home as you'd like to believe."

"Enough!" Luna cried, cutting off Twilight's reply, "Discord, we are here to discuss a very important and very grave matter."

"Oh fine then," Discord replied, rolling his eyes as he dropped his teacup onto the table, where it proceeded to sprout bunny-like feet and hop away, "enlighten me, Loony, what exactly is this grave matter?"

Luna watched the teacup for a moment before turning back to Discord with a serious frown.

"It has to do with Twilight," she began, "she's been having vivid visions of... well... I believe Twilight herself can explain it better than I," she turned to defer to the younger alicorn next to her, "...Twilight?"

Twilight nodded and turned to Discord.

"These visions... at first I thought they were just vivid nightmares," she explained, "but they're too... raw—too real. I feel like... like I'm actually there," she slowly lowered her gaze and stared at the table, "they feel more like... memories of a life—lives I've never lived... horrible, horrible lives."

Discord stiffened slightly, his eyes widening just a fraction in shock. He quickly regained his composure and put on an expression of mild curiosity just as Luna turned her attention back to him.

"Oh really?" the draconequus replied in an intrigued tone. He steepled his mismatched digits above the desk and leaned forward, "and what praytell, do these visions consist of?"

Both Luna and Twilight glanced at each other, Twilight wearing an apprehensive expression and Luna donning a reassuring smile.

"Go on," Luna encouraged with a nod, "it may be unpleasant, but it is necessary if you want to get anywhere, Twilight."

"Right, I get it... it's just... painful to think about," Twilight replied with a weary, resigned sigh. She looked back to Discord, who, to her surprise, looked back with a troubled frown of his own, "Discord? Are you okay?"

"Oh I'm fine," Discord replied airily, his frown vanishing in an instant, "just worried for my dear, dear friend is all."

Both Luna and Twilight looked dubious, but didn't comment as Discord spoke again.

"Now go on," Discord said impatiently, motioning for Twilight to continue, "what did you see in these visions of yours, Sparky?"

Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and as she did with Luna, she told him everything. Though Twilight was expecting Discord to interrupt with an insensitive quip, he surprised her once more by remaining completely silent throughout her explanation, his frown growing deeper and deeper as she went on.

Luna watched his face with growing curiosity, wondering just what the Lord of Chaos was thinking. After Twilight had finished her explanation—which she found to be a lot easier than it had been before—Discord leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Luna raised an eyebrow at his silence, a silence that continued to drag on for another few moments before Discord sighed, opened his eyes and stood up from the table.

It was all done in such a normal fashion that it caught the two mares off guard.

"I must say, Twilight," Discord finally replied, pacing across the room and ignoring the dancing furniture as it leapt out of his path, "this is most definitely a grave matter."

He stopped and turned back to Twilight, a grim frown on his normally smarmy face. If Twilight didn't know better, she would've said the draconequus looked almost... apologetic.

"These visions," he continued, "these aren't something you or any other pony should be seeing, and I'm sorry you've had to endure something like that."

"Yeah, I... well... uh..." Twilight blinked and turned to Luna, who was just as shocked by Discord's grim sincerity as she was. She shook her head and turned back to Discord, "it's... alright, I guess, but do you know what's going on? Can you do anything about it?"

"Discord didn't answer right away, and as Twilight and Luna watched, he seemed to be struggling with himself. His expression changed from worried, to contemplative, to frustrated in the span of a few moments.

Eventually he sighed and shook his head.

"I'm afraid I don't know what's causing this or why it's happening, Sparklebutt," he replied with a helpless shrug, "and until I figure it out, I won't be able to stop it."

"Oh," Twilight replied quietly, her ears flattening against her skull and her frame visibly sagging in her seat, "you... you really can't do anything?"

"Now I didn't say that," Discord answered with a chuckle, "there's actually a number of things I can do, but most—if not all of it would require me to do all sorts of nasty, unethical things to your mind, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want that after what happened last time, would you?"

"No," Twilight conceded slowly, "no, I wouldn't want that."

Discord's smile faltered and he sighed again.

"Look, Twilight," he began with an apologetic frown, "I want to help you... I really do, but until I find out what's going on, I'd only be doing more harm than good. Chaotic powers and all that, y'know?"

"Yeah... I suppose I can see your point," Twilight agreed unhappily, "still, there has to be a way to figure this out and stop it."

"I'm sure there is, Twilight," Luna said, placing a comforting wing on the smaller alicorn's back, "we'll keep looking for as long as it takes, and I'm sure Discord will do the same," she gave the creature in question a side glance, "isn't that right, Discord?"

"But of course," Discord replied easily, crossing his arms as he floated above the two of them, "as I said, this is quite upsetting, even for me, and as a friend, I'm duty bound to help in anyway I can."

He gave one last small frown before putting on his characteristic jovial, if slightly cocky grin.

"Now if you two ladies will excuse me," he began, raising a talon, "I'd like to get started resolving this little dilemma as soon as possible—"

"Wait!" Twilight suddenly cried, causing the draconequus to pause and raise an eyebrow, "Discord, wait a minute, there was one other thing I wanted to ask you."

Twilight stood up on her chair, her hooves planted firmly on the table as she looked up at Discord.

"The creature I saw from my first vision," she said with a solemn, curious frown, "the biped... do you know anything about it?"

DIscord was quiet for a long moment, his face unreadable. Twilight's frown deepened as she waited for an answer. Next to her, Luna narrowed her eyes slightly as the pause dragged on.

"...Discord?"

"No," he finally replied, "I have no idea who or what that creature may have been."

"But—"

"Goodbye, Sparklebutt, Loony," Discord said, dismissing any further comments or questions, "I'll let you know when I figure something out. Tata for now!"

With a snap of his talons, he sent them both away while simultaneously returning the animated furniture to its immobile state.

For a time he simply floated above the table, his face pensive and his mind working furiously. He knew something had obviously gone wrong, and now these universes were affecting his friends regardless, and in a way he hadn't expected.

The question now was how?

How was this happening? Why was it happening, and why Twilight? Where was the link, and did it have something to do with his own magic?

Or was it Salvatore himself that was the cause?

One thing was for certain, he'd have to step very carefully. He surmised that Luna already suspected him of something, and it wouldn't do to have his friends and the Princesses suspicious of him.

He was only doing what he had to to protect his world, but alas, it seemed chaos magic was ill suited to such a task. This is why true heroes never wielded the power of chaos.

It was too wild, too unpredictable. It was far too prone to messing things up at the worst possible time, and while he wouldn't trade his power for anything, even he had to admit to its occasional inconvenience.

Now he had to find a way to rectify this mistake, and fast. Perhaps Salvatore held the key, perhaps not, but either way, it was the chaos magic that was ultimately the root of the problem he was sure of it.

After what felt like hours, but was probably closer to a few minutes, Discord finally stirred, a wicked smile crossing his face as he rubbed his claw and paw together.

"Salvatore old buddy, I think it's time for a bit of experimentation..."

Author's Note

Y'know, contrary to how I feel about Chrysalis being reformed, I find the idea of a reformed Tirek to be an interesting one. This was basically my take on what Tirek reformed would be like, and I could totally see it happening like this (which is why I wrote it this way).

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I kind of do wonder what Chrysalis would be like reformed...

Equus III – The Chaos Within

Four hours.

Four... hours...

It took every ounce of self control I had not to move an inch, but in the end, I did it. I ignored the itchy nose, I ignored the restlessness in my legs, I ignored that crick in my neck, I even managed not to fall asleep. Apparently blinking didn't count... thankfully.

The real problem was keeping my mind occupied just enough so that I could focus on not moving. In the end I just did what I normally do to keep my mind busy during the slower hours of work when I couldn't use my phone or really do anything else due to company policy.

I brainstormed random ideas for stories, both the ones I was currently in the middle of writing and possible ideas for more in the future. I thought of ideas for both My Little Pony fics and original ideas for stories I could write outside the fandom.

It was a bit more difficult to do without the sweet, soothing, calming sound of heavy metal blasting away in my ears, but I managed. That kept me busy for a good few two or three of those hours... at least I think it was a few hours. It wasn't like I could tell given my current position.

Still, I really wish my phone and headphones had carried over with me. Maybe I could get them back if Twilight actually manages to unlock this chaos magic.

In any case, I actually didn't spend too much time thinking about how to explain my story to Twilight. I decided it wouldn't really do me any good because the conversation probably wouldn't have gone as planned anyway.

So I decided to just say 'fuck it' and give her the story straight. If she had any questions I could either answer them or I couldn't, there wasn't really much more to it than that, so I didn't bother fretting over it.

Besides, she'd be able to confirm for herself afterwards so it was kind of a moot point to begin with.

"It's done," came Twilight's slightly shaky voice, "y-you can move now, Salvatore."

I was just about to get excited about the fact, but Twilight's tone had given me some pause. The first thing I did was turn to the lavender mare, my neck cracking loudly in the process.

Ow...

I had managed to tune Twilight's constant muttering and grumbling out entirely at some point, but it seems as though I should've been paying a bit more attention.

She looked just as much of a mess as she did when I first saw her. She sat slumped over the desk facing away from me as she ran a hoof through her long mane, which was somehow even messier than it had been before.

"Oh, wow," I muttered before stretching my legs and speaking a bit louder, "hey, you okay over there?"

She turned just enough to give me a look out of the corner of one eye and I frowned. That was not a look of accomplishment, that was the look you gave to the guy who was about to cut the wrong wire on a ticking time bomb.

"No, Salvatore," Twilight replied, turning back around and shuddering visibly, "no, I am not okay. I am currently sitting in a room with an unstable abomination of chaos magic with the potential power to destroy... everything."

I winced at that.

Ouch... but she's not wrong though.

"Would it help if I said that potential power only manifests if I die?"

A loud, slightly crazed bark of laughter was the response I got. I took a wary step back as the wide eyed mare spun around in her chair to fully face me.

"Well I guess that makes it all okay then!" she practically shouted with a wide manic grin, a grin that quickly fell into a hard scowl, "except it doesn't because, unless you decide to never leave this library again, there's a high possibility of death. Not to mention... if I hadn't saved you when I did..."

She trailed off and looked away, shuddering again.

"I wanted to end it, Salvatore," she whispered, "I wanted to end everything... but that was because I had no hope of ever getting out of here. I'd lost any hope of ever getting Spike back, and my friends weren't there to help me."

She looked back at me with an odd mix of hope and fear.

"But then you came along and gave me something to hope for," she continued, "I can't bring my friends back, but I thought that if I could unlock your ability to use chaos magic, I could get Spike back, and maybe even get out of here. I wanted to end everything, but now that I have that hope... I don't want to lose it by dying pointlessly."

She sniffed, wiped her eyes and hardened her gaze as she continued.

"The chaos magic inside of you is incredibly volatile, Salvatore," she explained, "it's not a stretch to say that you're a walking... what did you call it before? A nuclear warhead?" she shook her head, "I don't know what Discord did to you, but the chaos magic he fed into you is in constant flux behind whatever lock he implemented."

"So I'm guessing you release that lock and all that magic gets released at once," I surmised, not liking the way this was turning out, "then what... I explode? Everything explodes?"

Wouldn't be the first time...

"I don't know what would happen, but I know it wouldn't be good for anypony," Twilight replied with a heavy sigh, "chaos magic, by it's very nature, isn't something that has a predictable outcome. Yes there are certain patterns if you know where and how to look, but even those are subject to change on a whim with even the slightest shift in thaumic energy."

I hummed to myself in thought, glancing back towards the now inert magic circle and then back to Twilight. I frowned contemplatively for a moment, then walked over to where Twilight was sitting.

"So this lock," I began, "do you understand how it works? Can you do anything about it?"

Twilight, who had lowered her head into her hooves, looked back up at me with a wary frown, then turned towards the many, many notes on her desk. She was silent for another minute or so before finally replying.

"...With a bit more time, and a lot more work, I think it would be possible for me to remove the lock, yes," she said slowly. Her frown deepened, then turned to a scowl of frustration, "but with everything I've uncovered, I'm not so sure it's a good idea anymore."

It looked like it physically hurt her to say it, and I couldn't blame her. Here I was, with the power to potentially put an end to this mess, only for the two of us to find out the solution is nothing more than another problem—an arguably bigger problem at that.

In hindsight, I really should've expected that to be the case all along, and maybe I did.

Thankfully, I had a suggestion.

"Does this magical 'lock' have, I dunno, layers or anything like that?" I asked, "is there anyway you can maybe, unlock the chaos magic piece by piece rather than all at once?"

Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, and put a hoof to her chin in thought. She remained that way for a good few minutes or so, and I was about to say something else when she suddenly spun her chair back around and began magically flipping through her notes.

"It might be possible," Twilight answered after a few moments, her tone growing excited, "the chaos magic in your body is 'locked' behind a series of... well, I guess you could call them magical 'commands'," she paused her search, a thoughtful look crossing her face, "a rather odd implementation for a being like Discord now that I think about it."

With that, she shook her head and moved on.

"Anyway, these 'commands' are what's keeping your chaos magic in check, and what's important to understand, is that there's a lot more chaos magic inside of you than I initially thought."

"Wait, seriously?" I asked, raising my brows in surprise, "Discord said he was only giving me a super small amount of his power."

"That may be the case," Twilight replied with a knowing nod, "but what you have to understand, Salvatore, is that Discord is a being with nearly limitless power—as far as we know, I mean.

"Obtaining even a small fraction of his power would still be enough to most likely put you above even Princess Celestia in terms of magical strength... in theory."

I blinked.

"Oh," I replied intelligently, "well... damn."

"Exactly, but that would only be if the chaos magic was fully unleashed," Twilight answered, returning her attention to her notes, "now, if I could reverse-engineer what Discord has done, I could remove some of these commands and replace them with new ones," she slowly placed the notes she held in her magic back down on the desk, "...this could work. This could actually work."

She slowly turned back to me with an awed expression, as though she didn't quite believe what she was seeing. I just scratched my neck and glanced to the side uncomfortably.

"Well, your talent is magic, right?" I finally replied with a shrug and a half smile, "if anyone can do it..."

That seemed to snap her out of whatever stupor she'd been and she closed her slightly open mouth before giving a sharp nod.

"It'll be difficult," she said, wearing the first genuinely hopeful smile I'd seen since I came here, "it'll most likely be the most challenging thing I've ever done when it comes to research and implementation, but I'll make it work somehow. I promise."

I wanted to be happy that she'd gotten her smile back. I wanted to be excited that I might get to actually use magic, but the only thing I felt was worry. I realized we hadn't actually accomplished anything yet, but I couldn't shake the feeling that things were already going too well.

It was a similar feeling to what I experienced back on the ship.

I had no doubt Twilight would find a solution, that wasn't what was worrying me. What worried me, was what would come after she did what she needed to do. Even if I was able to fix Spike and get all of us out of here, what actually awaited us outside this barrier?

Yeah, we'd be free and Spike would be okay, but this universe's Discord was still out there doing who knows what. If Twilight managed to unlock the chaos magic so that I could actually use it, what would happen next?

Would the Discord that gave me this power in the first place know?

Of course he would, but what would he do about it? Could he just take it away?

I decided to ask Twilight as much, but before I could open my mouth, she opened hers.

"Speaking of promises," she began, "I believe you have a few things to tell me."

She gave me a pointed look and I let out a deep breath and shrugged carelessly.

"I never promised to actually tell you, only that I would," I replied before backstepping at her look, "whoa, hey, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna tell you, I'm just pointing out that I didn't promise anything."

"Just tell me, already," Twilight answered irritably, "what's going on with you and Discord, and how did you really get here? What are you actually trying to do here?"

"Whoa, hang on, one question at a time, please," I replied before looking around, "um, is there another chair somew—"

One of the wooden chairs from the dining room table appeared behind me in a flash of magenta light. I blinked and stared at it for a moment.

"...That'll work, I guess," I muttered before taking a seat opposite Twilight. I got comfortable for a second before turning to face Twilight, "alright, so I went to get something to eat at this fast food place..."

I paused.

"...ponies have those here, right?"

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, guys. On top of working on some other things, I needed to work some things out in my head. Now that I have, I'm back on track with the story.

Equus III – The Burden of Knowledge

After the utter mindfuckery that was Twilight's memory spell, and the inevitable mental breakdown that ensued following the confirmation of all of Twilight's fears, things began to slow down a bit.

...Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Basically, the spell Twilight used, hurt... a lot. It wasn't nearly as bad as when I found out the hard way that Discord botched his transference of power, but it was still far from pleasant.

Twilight, the inquisitive little darling that she was, decided to look into not just my rather fantastical story, but more than a bit of my own comparatively mundane past from back when I was on Earth.

How do I know this?

As it turns out, I was more or less forced to relive almost my entire life in the blink of an eye, and it was some kind of experience. Everything I saw, she saw, and I don't know how, but I could feel her watching, like she was looking over my shoulder.

And yes, it was exactly as creepy as it sounds.

I know I said I'd agree to a memory scan via potion or spell or whatever, but this was pushing it by a wide margin. Having my mind read was definitely near the top of the list of things I never expected, nor wanted to happen to me, yet here we were.

I suppose it was partially my fault for not setting up some kind of line that shouldn't be crossed, but seriously, I'd assumed it was simple common courtesy not to go snooping around in someone else's brain looking for private info without consent.

Then again I had to consider who I was dealing with, and in what situation she was in.

I didn't have all that much to hide—like I said before, my life had been fairly mundane up to this point—but, like everyone else, there were some things I would've rather she not have seen. Unfortunately for me, she very much did see quite a few things that I had no doubt I'd be talking to her about later.

In any case, once everything was said and done and the spell ran its course, the two of us just kind of sat there. Well, Twilight just kind of sat there, I had to pick myself up from the ground, groaning and cursing from the throbbing pain in my head, back, and one of my elbows that had banged against the ground when I fell.

I picked the chair up and sat back down across from the unmoving mare, ready to demand just what the hell that was all about, but quickly changed my mind at the wide eyed expression on her face.

Rather than looking at me, Twilight's pupils were small pinpricks, shifting this way and that, as though she were going through REM sleep with her eyes open. It had a profoundly unnerving effect on me, and I reflexively turned away from the odd sight.

I could hear her mumbling a string of complete nonsense, and wondered if she'd entered some kind of actual waking sleep or trance or something. The whole thing was extremely creepy and I found my indignation snuffed out by the sheer shock of seeing Twilight in this state.

I looked back at her just in time to see her blink once and let out a sharp gasp, her eyes thankfully returning to normal. She rapidly shook her head a few times before blinking again and rubbing her eyes. I waited for her to collect herself for a few moments, only speaking again when she turned her stunned gaze towards me.

"You okay there?" I asked in genuine concern, "you need another minute, or are you good?"

"I..." she blinked stupidly before looking around the room and back to me a moment later. She visibly swallowed before giving me a guilty look, "Salvatore I... I didn't mean to go that far. That... that was actually the first time I've ever had to use that spell, and I think... I think I might've lost control of it... a bit."

"Mmhmmm," I replied with a slow nod, "so I don't have to tell you how completely uncalled for and immoral that was then. Good to know. Also, you definitely lost more than 'a bit' of control."

I leaned back in my chair and eyed the lavender mare critically. She was looking off to the side distractedly, no doubt trying to process everything she'd seen. She had a faraway look on her face that made it seem like she'd completely forgotten I was there or that she'd just apologized for the apparently unintended mind rape.

"Hey, Twilight," I replied, snapping my fingers, "I need you to focus here, and more importantly, not freak out suddenly. I don't know if either of us can handle that right now."

She snapped her eyes back to me, opened her mouth to say something, and froze. I looked back at her with a raised eyebrow and a wary frown, waiting to see what she'd do next. She slowly closed her mouth again, her face becoming unreadable. Before I could say anything else, she lit up her horn and popped out of existence.

Now it was my turn to blink.

"...Okay then, I guess she needs some time?" I muttered to myself, "maybe the whole thing broke her."

I sat there for another few minutes or so to see if she'd appear again, and when she didn't, I sighed and got up from the table. I made my way back into the actual library to pick where I'd left off in my book, not really having much else to do.

I'd only been reading for maybe five minutes when I heard the tell-tale pop of one of Twilight's teleportation spells from in the dining room. I didn't bother to get up or say anything, knowing she'd find me eventually, and I was proven right when she popped into the library a moment later.

I looked from my book and furrowed my brow at Twilight's strained smile and even more disheveled appearance. How she managed to always outdo herself when it came to looking distraught confounded me.

Did she leave so she could freak out in private?

"Did you leave so you could freak out in private?" I decided to ask aloud, "because if that's the case... thanks, and are you feeling better now?"

"Fine!" she replied a little too quickly and loudly, "I'm feeling... I'm..." she dropped the crazy smile and sighed before running a hoof through her mane, "no, Salvatore, I feel awful about what happened, and if it helps, I wiped my mind of anything that didn't have to do with what you'd told me before."

I raised an eyebrow and said nothing, not believing for a moment that was entirely true. She looked back at me, her hopeful expression turning sour, then defensive.

"...What?"

"Everything, huh?" I asked, keeping my skeptical gaze on her as I closed the book and set it down on the table next to me, "did you erase everything, or only the things you'd would've rather not known about me?"

She went to reply, probably with an indignant retort, but I cut her off.

"Before you go off on me, I feel I should remind you that I currently have no way of knowing whether or not what you say is true," I said, leaning forward and resting my arms on my legs, "you can say you removed the memories of my private life, and to be honest, given a few of the things you probably saw, I can believe you got rid of at least some of them, but all of them?"

I shook my head and leaned back again.

"With as studious and inquisitive as you are, I highly doubt you got rid of everything outside of the memories that have to do with our current situation," I shrugged, "in fact, I'd be kind of disappointed if you did, now that I think about it. Humanity has some pretty neat inventions. It'd be a shame to forget all about them."

Twilight stood there, mouth hanging open mid-retort for a good minute before letting out an explosive sigh and sitting back on her haunches. She turn away with an adorably petulant frown and mumbled out a response I couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," I asked, my professionally polite call center agent voice slipping through unintentionally, "can you say that again?"

Twilight huffed and glared at me, probably thinking I was mocking her.

"I might've held onto a few things here and there, alright?" she replied. Her frown turned thoughtful, "you're right though, some of the things I've seen really are amazing, and..." she fell silent suddenly, her expression becoming somber, "...and Discord pulled you away from all of that."

She winced and turned back to me with an uncomfortably sympathetic look.

"He dragged you away from a normal life and dropped you into such a cruel world," her eyes drifted and glazed over slightly, "I saw it all through your eyes, Salvatore... I saw Ponyville burning, ponies dying, my friends and I..." a shudder ran through her frame, "and there was more..."

She fell silent again and this time she didn't speak for a long while. She simply sat there, staring off into space as she probably remembered the horrible events I'd gone through. I suddenly felt like an asshole, not having realized just how traumatic some of these memories might've been for her.

I was frankly surprised she didn't erase those memories, and I wanted to ask her why, but decided against it. Feeling awkward and uncomfortable with the sudden turn the atmosphere had taken, I went to reach for the book, then stopped.

"Dammit," I muttered, before retracting my hand and turning back to the far-gone mare, "hey, Twilight I... look, don't..."

Don't what? Don't worry about it? Oh sure, don't worry about how you lost your friends once and are now having to relive their deaths through my memories.

What could I even say at this point?

This was the reason I was so terrible at comforting others. Nothing I could've said would've felt genuine enough, but I didn't want to just leave her like that. Something needed to be done, and as I looked at Twilight, I realized what that something may have been.

This is way, way outside my comfort zone, but if it helps...

I groaned inwardly as I rose from my seat and moved over to where Twilight sat. In what I felt was one of the most awkward moments of my life, I kneeled down to her level, reached over and wrapped my arms around her withers, pulling her into an uncomfortable, but ultimately necessary hug.

She tensed for a moment, a sharp intake of breath escaping her. Her fur was coarse and gritty, and she really needed a bath, something made all the more evident this close up, but I ignored that for now as the words I'd been looking for finally came to me.

"Look, I know things really suck right now, and I'm sorry about what happened to your friends," I said quietly, "but dwelling on what happened to them here and in my memories won't help us get out of this place or save Spike."

I winced at that last one, fully aware that saving the baby dragon turned eldritch abomination wasn't a sure thing. Nevertheless I pressed on in my attempts to comfort the mare, or at the very least bring her out of her borderline catatonic state.

"You know what will help though?" I asked, pulling back and staring Twilight in the eye, "magic, study, focusing on the here and now, kicking Discord in the dick, and restoring Equestria to the way it's supposed to be. Y'know... the important things we need to worry about now, as opposed to the depressing things we can dwell on later when we're out of here."

She looked back at me with an expression I didn't really know how to describe. I couldn't tell if it was hopeful, pleading, lost, or a combination of the three. Unfortunately that was all I had, I'd exhausted my supply of motivational dialogue, and I felt like forcing anymore would've been counter-intuitive, so I waited for her to respond.

After a moment of staring at each other, I saw her eyes tear up and braced myself for what I knew was coming. A second later she grabbed me around the middle and began sobbing into my chest. I grimaced and gently rubbed her back, no more comfortable than I was before, but willing to let her do what she needed to do.

Hopefully she'll feel better once she's cried it out.

Despite my normally boring life, there was still some bullshit in that life I'd had to deal with, especially when it came to family. I'd actually had to do something like this before with some of my own family back when family drama was a major issue in my life.

It was much less of an issue in recent years, as most of my family lived far apart from each other, but it wasn't like I was a stranger to this outpouring of emotion—far from it, actually.

I just wasn't an emotional type of guy normally, and whenever shit hit the fan, I was the middle man in all of it, choosing no one's side, but listening to both. I didn't like confrontation, mostly because I normally couldn't argue to save my life—quite literally now that I thought about it.

I'd figured out a long time ago that even though I was no sort of expert on getting people to feel better, people—in my family at least—still came to talk to me about the issues they were having as though I had the answers they needed.

They knew I wouldn't judge them, they knew I wouldn't argue against their point, and they knew I'd listen, even if I had nothing to say in response. This was something I accepted, but took no pride in, and seeing Twilight in this state, holding her like this as she cried...

If this helped her get past at least some of her issues, then I'd be happy, but seeing her like this, I couldn't help but be reminded of the stupid, petty, and sometimes violent confrontations I was forced into the middle of with my own family in the past.

This wasn't about me and my comparatively minor issues though, this was about someone who'd lost everything, and had to live with that loss completely alone for way longer than anyone should have. This was about making her feel like there were reasons worth fighting against the pain of those losses.

This was about getting the both of us the hell out of here and saving Equestria.

With that in mind, I pushed my own past to the back of my mind and just sat there, holding onto the weeping mare. I don't know how long we sat like that, but eventually the sobs died down and she pulled away, sniffing and wiping her eyes. I did my best to ignore the tears and snot on my shirt and focused on Twilight.

"So I know I've asked this like three times already," I said when she finally regained her composure, "but do you feel any better?"

"Not really," Twilight replied with a shaky smile, "but I'm getting there. Thanks for that, Salvatore, I... you have no idea how much I needed that. I had no idea how much I needed that."

"No, I think I have an idea," I replied, grunting as I straightened up, "that's why I did it. You were spiraling again, and I didn't wanna leave you like that, so... y'know."

She nodded, her smile becoming a bit more genuine.

"Well, I appreciate it all the same, and you're right," she frowned up at me, "we're not going to get anywhere like this. I asked for this," she grimaced, "and... and even if I don't like it, even if they're painful, I'll hold onto the memories."

"Well..." I rubbed the back of my neck before giving another small shrug, "if that's what you want. Just... I dunno, try not to dwell on the bad parts too much, alright?"

"I'll try," Twilight replied, "but I make no promises."

"I suppose that's the best I can hope for, given the circumstances," I responded with a sigh. I looked down at my shirt and grimaced in disgust, "by the way, can you, uh... do something about this? Magically, I mean?"

Twilight followed my gaze and blushed in embarrassment. Her horn flashed and a moment later the mess was gone, my shirt once again free of tears and snot.

"Thanks," I replied, idly glancing around the room before returning my attention back to Twilight, "so... what's next?"

Twilight didn't respond right away, her face downcast and her expression pensive. I frowned, wondering what the issue was this time, as I leaned down slightly and tried again.

"Twilight," I said a bit more loudly, "what are we doing here? What next on the list of things we have to do?"

"Huh?" she blinked before looking back up at me. A second later her eyes widened and she smiled sheepishly, "right, sorry. Um..." she gave a thoughtful hum before nodding to herself, "the Discord I saw in your memories seems careless, so I'm hoping there's a chance he slipped up somewhere in the spell he cast when he transferred his power to you."

"Possible," I replied, "he fucked up pretty bad the first time around."

Twilight winced at the memory.

"Right," she said slowly, "well, I'll need to do some more research and planning before we really get started, so I'll probably be spending most of my time in the lab."

"And me?" I asked, raising my brow, "what do I do in the meantime?"

"I don't know," she replied, turning around and trotting towards the library's entrance, "this is a library, read a book or something," she paused near the doorway and looked back at me over her shoulder, "oh, and let me know if any more odd changes occur. I want to make sure to document them."

"Will do," I replied, plopping back down into my seat and taking up the book I was reading, "have fun, purplesmart."

I watched in amusement as Twilight furrowed her brow and mouthed the word to herself. She shook her head in exasperation a moment later and trotted out of the room. I chuckled lightly before opening the book, then frowned a moment later.

God dammit, forgot to bookmark the page.

Author's Note

I didn't mean for the chapter to get as real as it did, but... here we are. :twilightoops:

Anywho, minor timeskip incoming, though not without explanations, so don't worry about that.

Equus III – The More Things Change...

Days turned to weeks and, despite the creepy little dragon spider thing lurking around outside somewhere, not much happened—at least, nothing ground breaking or explosive. More than anything I was getting a bit bored, and passed a lot of the time just reading.

I'd seen Spike lurking around outside a few times at night, and Twilight had even left the library once or twice, for some materials for whatever she was working on, but whatever plan she followed seemed to work, because she came back no worse for wear. She didn't even look worried or scared, just... sad and resigned. Although, I did notice there seemed to be a bit of resolve in her eyes whenever she left, so that was good.

I guess it made some sense, as she'd been dealing with this for years now. I suppose following the routine to get by safely for so long, and seeing what Spike had become so often would get old after a time. Thankfully Twilight never let her guard down, even if she was used to her routine.

She also drilled the routine into my head just in case I ever needed to go out there with her, not that I would be much help at the moment. Traveling outside involved quite a bit of teleporting around, and apparently, dragging my ass with her through the process would get tiring real quick, something neither of us were willing to risk, so I stayed in the library.

Didn't stop Twilight from lecturing me on how to avoid Spike every other day though.

With all the time I spent in the library, I did try to bone up on any kind of info regarding Discord, but, as I expected, I didn't find anything particularly useful or that I didn't already know. Giving up on that, I switched my focus to thaumatology. with mixed results.

Twilight had books on the basics, and had even taken some time to clarify a few things about how magic worked in general. Knowing what I knew about how fanfiction worked however, I couldn't help but feel this would all be pointless in the long run, as each world may have had its own rules regarding how magic worked.

Still, I made an honest effort to learn, as it might've helped me while I was still here, and again, I had nothing better to do for the moment while Twilight was still working on unlocking Discord's restriction. At the very least, I might be able to keep up with the smart purple pony whenever she got into those kinds of discussions while we were, or rather she was eating.

It was a dull and mind numbing process, and there were some things that wouldn't stick no matter how much I studied it, but eventually I began to make some headway in understanding how magic worked, at least in this Equestria. I wouldn't be holding any kind of discourse on magical theory with Twilight any time soon, but I'd learned enough to put two and two together whenever the mare would tell me about the progress she'd made.

Aside from that, there were a few oddities I'd noticed during my stay with Twilight, and in my opinion, not all of them were bad. For example, I apparently had no need to use the bathroom anymore. As far as I was concerned, that was a blessing, and I gladly welcomed the change with open arms.

Now I didn't have to worry about hitting the bathroom before bed every night. A small grievance, sure, but it's the little things that get you sometimes, and I hated having a full bladder to the point that I'd verbally complain about it every now and then.

It was an odd change, and I had no idea how it worked, but given the tiny ass bladder I seemed to have, it definitely wasn't an unwelcome change. I hadn't noticed the change until Twilight mentioned needing to go while we were talking during lunch one day, and when it was brought to my attention, I realized I hadn't once gone since I began this crazy trip.

I had mixed feelings about losing the ability to sleep. I hadn't yet, but with the way things were going, I was giving the possibility some serious thought on more than one occasion. I really had no idea how I'd feel about it if it were to happen, but in the end, I decided to just cross that bridge when or if I came to it.

Another, more worrying change was that I began to see things. It wasn't full on hallucinations or anything like that, it was more like looking at a clock whose hands were resting at one position, then seeing an image of that same clock imposed over the original with its hands in a different position.

Okay, so maybe they kind of were full on hallucinations, but they were minor and hard to notice... at first. The first few times it happened, I had just chalked it up to my imagination, then double vision. It was easier to miss because it didn't happen too often, and when it did, the images didn't last for very long and usually disappeared when I blinked.

I ruled out double vision because the images that were imposed over what was really there always had subtle changes, like a chair being a slightly darker shade, or curtains having a different design, or even my jacket being torn and tattered in different places when it really wasn't.

What made me really take notice and treat as a serious issue was when I visited Twilight in her lab one day. I'd gone down to check on how she was doing, and had tripped going down the stairs. I caught myself before I'd actually fallen down them, but when I looked back up to where Twilight was standing next to the table, it wasn't the Twilight I was expecting to see.

The white lab coat was there, but it was in tatters, and there were suspicious dark red stains, no doubt exactly what I thought they were. As for the mare herself, she looked far more emaciated. Her face was gaunt, her eyes a milky white, most of her teeth were missing, and those that remained were oddly serrated, and parts of her mane had fallen out in clumps.

Basically, for an instant, I was looking at Twilight the zombie scientist, and she was looking back at me. Up until this point, the odd visions had been fairly benign, but this was something else entirely. Yeah, I could sit here and say it was something out of one of those B-movie zombie flicks, but no, it wasn't.

It was terrifying because I wasn't expecting it, and the image had only appeared for an instant before I blinked and saw normal old Twilight looking back at me with both surprise and concern. It was terrifying because, rather than the superimposed images I'd been seeing up to that point, this nightmare was far more solid.

Needless to say, I cried out in alarm, and my heart nearly exploded out of my chest at the sight, but I managed to calm down pretty quickly once I realized it hadn't been real. Then a moment later, my mind began to follow a tangent in which the visions got more frequent and horrifying, until I was seeing nightmarish imagery all over the place all the time, and slowly going insane from it.

It wasn't a pleasant thought process, and I wasted no time in telling Twilight what I'd been seeing, praying that she could do something about the images before they got that bad. I'd already told her about my altered bodily functions, and, while I didn't mind if she didn't find a fix for that, I did ask her how things were coming along otherwise.

She'd made a bit of headway in hacking into the restrictions Discord had placed on me, and could now monitor the flow of mana without too much effort, but that was about it for the moment. That did mean I didn't have to sit around for hours while she did her magical scan, so there was that.

The way she explained it, she was able to use something called 'mage sight' to create a 'window' into the inner workings of Discord's transference spell. Now, I had a general idea of what mage sight was just based on the name and a bit of what i'd read, it being a spell that let you see how magic works in some way.

Twilight confirmed this, but evidently mage sight normally didn't work when it came to spells born of chaos magic. It was something to do with unraveling and breaking down a spell into an easily understandable form, and how chaos magic, by its very nature, tends to defy understanding.

Using the knowledge of chaos magic she'd gained from scanning my mana however, Twilight was able to create a new form of mage sight that relied on chaos magic to work, at the cost of being completely useless for any other type of magic. Using this spell, she checked me for any other magical anomalies that would caused the strange images, and lo and behold, she found something.

It wasn't good, and by that, I mean the mana inside me had suddenly become far more unstable for reasons Twilight couldn't explain. That probably explained why the weird double vision phenomena, was happening, but didn't explain what the actual visions meant.

To my dismay, Twilight didn't know enough to do anything about it at the moment. She was getting there, but for now, I'd just have to deal with it and hope she'd find a fix before it got worse. One advantage I hoped I had was that I was expecting it to get worse, and therefore could mentally prepare for it.

In reality though, there wasn't any way to prepare for the worse when it came to chaos magic. Sure, the images could become more frequent and gruesome, or they could stop altogether, and something even worse might happen. Or I could suddenly turn into a pony, or some hideous Lovecraftian monstrosity like Spike, or even another draconequus or something.

Hell, I could just straight up become a god of some kind.

Literally anything could happen if this got worse, and right now, there would be nothing Twilight or I could do about it. That, I think, was the most terrifying thing of all, for both of us. Even through all of this uncertainty, I made sure to keep an eye on Twilight herself.

After awhile I began to notice that this whole situation was having a strange, but not entirely unwelcome effect on the mare. With all these changes happening to me, and a limit to how much time she had left until some horrible thing happened, her stress levels were through the roof.

At the same time though, it was like the light had come back to her eyes, and there were even times where she was genuinely happy, usually when she was explaining some sort of breakthrough she'd made. It was like she was back in her element, and I had to admit, it was extremely refreshing to see.

Though she never said as much, I could tell that she relished the challenge the situation presented, and that alone was enough to keep me somewhat content despite my potentially imminent transformation into something horrible.

The melancholy was still there, but over the course of the few weeks I stayed in this library, Twilight had come a long way from how I'd first found her. I was pretty sure just me being there as someone else to talk to helped immensely, and the more we communicated, the stronger my desire to save Spike and get her the hell out of this place became.

And then she brought up that goddamned crystal.

I hadn't mentioned it at all since I first explained it to her, and even though I knew she knew more about it because of my memories, she hadn't said anything about it, but for some reason she decided it was finally time to talk about it.

I'd been finishing up the last book in another series that was oddly reminiscent of the Pendragon series, when Twilight popped into the library looking extremely uncomfortable. She looked almost apologetic, and I was wondering why, when she finally told me.

From what she told me, she'd been thinking about the crystal and how she could utilize its energy to help with her research. She theorized that, with my help, she could use it to power some sort of spell to cancel out the barrier and escape.

When I told her I had a similar idea, she told me, she already knew, and that was when I remembered she had looked into my head and probably already learned it that way.

She'd based her idea on the one I'd had, except hers would use more science and less sacrifice. I canned the idea because it was horribly stupid and even with her proposed precautions, I still thought it was a stupid idea. I asked her how she'd even use it when it was completely intangible to her, and her answer was, of course, her altered mage sight spell.

She claimed that it should let her see it, and the magic that it was made up of, and as long as I was the one that was handling it, we could find a viable way of controlling it. In this vast, infinite multiverse, there were not enough words to express how bad this idea was, and I told her as much.

She wanted me to find it, and I flat out refused. We argued back and forth for awhile, but I wasn't budging on my stance, and, realizing she was going to get nowhere, she ended up dropping the matter altogether. I still wasn't satisfied, because if she could really use her spell to see the crystal, she could just look for it herself.

It wasn't until after our argument that I realized I was stuck.

With the way she was acting, she most likely would try to find it herself, and knowing her, she'd find it sooner or later. I could try and find it myself and hide it, but assuming she could see it, it would only be a matter of time before she found it.

Sure, even if she could see it, she still couldn't interact with it, but if she was desperate enough, there was probably a spell she could use to force me to cooperate. I didn't want to believe she'd do that after we'd become as close as we had, but I wasn't willing to rule out the possibility.

The biggest question now was what I was going to do about it, or rather, what I could do about it.

Author's Note

Since I was doing a timeskip, I decided to forgo the dialogue this time around in favor of a more journalistic approach to what happened. Dialogue will be back in the next chapter.

Equus III – I Can See Clearly Now...

As it turned out, my fears of Twilight tirelessly searching for the universe destroying crystal were unfounded so far. Another week had passed by, and I'd been worried for the first few days, carefully watching the mare for any suspicious, searchy behavior, but nothing came of it.

After a week, it looked as though she'd really let the matter drop, so I did the same—albeit not completely. I'd decided to keep a bead on the crystal's general location within the library without Twilight knowing.

I didn't actively search for it, but from my weird chaotic senses, I'd managed to somewhat pinpoint its location as being somewhere in the kitchen oddly enough. I didn't quite understand how these crystals got to where they were, but that was one mystery I wasn't willing to chase after for now.

It didn't take very long to find out the crystal's general location, and once I had, that was good enough for me. I'd wait to see if Twilight started spending an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen, or if she made frequent trips there for seemingly no reason. If that pattern started, then I'd actively search for and move the crystal, but for now, I left the matter alone.

More pressing was the issue of the hallucinations I'd been having on and off. They'd gone from weird, superimposed images to full blown changes in the scenery. Some were horrifying like I'd predicted, things like blood and viscera plastered on the floors and walls and the like—though thankfully that wasn't often the case.

Some images were more mundane, like additions or changes to the furniture, and some of them were even hilariously out of place, like a massive toilet big enough for me to fall right in replacing the armchair I'd often sit in to read in the library. One thing all of these hallucinations had in common however, was that they'd all become horribly solid looking.

Thankfully they weren't getting any more frequent, just more powerful to the point that they seemed more like visions than hallucinations. I let it go on for the entirety of the week, seeing if I could find some sort of pattern or reasoning on my own, but there didn't seem to be any. It was all random and often times made no sense.

I thought about how and why this could've been happening—I mean, really thought about it. It was due to chaos magic obviously, but I thought about why the magic was manifesting as hallucinations and visions.

And that was when the answer hit me like a brick to the face, and boy did I feel stupid for not thinking of the possibility right from the get go. As soon as I realized what may have been going on, I set off to tell Twilight, dreading the conversation all the while.

I found her in the basement lab sitting at her overly cluttered desk and scanning a particularly thick tome. Even from behind, I could tell she was practically drinking in the words on the page. I sucked in a quiet breath and let it out in a soft, resigned sigh.

God dammit, I know she's gonna give me shit for this...

"So... Twilight," I began, moving over to, and placing my hands on one side of the desk. All I got in response was the annoyed flick of an ear and a slight frown from the mare, but I continued on anyway, "those hallucinations I've been having? They're getting worse... and I think I might know why they've been happening in the first place."

Twilight blinked at me silently for a moment before frowning in concern and closing the book she was pouring over at her desk. She carefully set it aside and turned her chair so that she was fully facing me.

"Hold on, back up a minute," Twilight replied, raising both hooves up, "you just... happened to find the answer? Just like that?"

"Well, actually," I replied, scratching the back of my head, "the thing is, the answer should've been extremely obvious—to me, I mean. You wouldn't have known because I never actually told you, but then again... wait..."

I paused and stared at Twilight for a minute before a smile crossed my face, much to Twilight's confusion. Her confusion turned to annoyance as I began chuckling at my sudden realization. After a moment Twilight groaned, rolled her eyes, pulled her book back open and began reading again.

"Look, Sal," she grumbled, "it's late, I'm busy, and I have to go out again tomorrow for more materials. If you don't have anything serious to say—"

"Nono, I'm sorry," I quickly replied, getting my laughter under control, "listen, I'm pretty sure it's my eyes that are causing the images."

"Your... eyes?" Twilight asked, turning back to me and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, my vision used to be complete garbage before all of this," I explained, waiting for the moment when it sank in for Twilight. I really shouldn't have been joking around like this given what I suspected, but I couldn't help it, "eventually I figured since Discord was an all powerful god, the least he could do was fix my vision. See where I'm going with this?"

"Wait... you..." Twilight sputtered for a moment in disbelief, "you had Discord fix your eyes? Discord? The Lord of Chaos?" she blinked again, then frowned, then blushed slightly, no doubt remembering that she already knew that, "that... was an incredibly stupid move on your part," she finished lamely, "I can't believe you'd trust Discord to fix your vision without any repercussions."

"Eh, seemed like a good idea at the time," I replied with a shrug, "but yeah, I only just remembered that little detail, and judging by that blush, I'm guessing the only reason you're not chewing my head off about it is because you yourself didn't realize that was what it could be either, even though you were in my head and saw the whole thing go down."

"T-That doesn't make your decision any less boneheaded!" she cried angrily before letting out an oddly petulant huff, "and besides, that seemed like a small hoofnote compared to everything else I saw, so I didn't really pay it any mind at the time."

"Fair enough," I replied with a shrug, "if it makes you feel any better, I'd gotten used to not having to wear glasses by the time the hallucinations started, so I didn't really give it any thought either."

"That doesn't make me feel any better!" she snapped before letting out a small groan, "geez, now I feel like an idiot."

"Tell me about it," I agreed with a nod, "probably could've saved us both a headache if I'd thought about it sooner. Sorry about that, by the way."

"Oh please, from what I've found out about you, you don't even get headaches," she shot back icily. She sighed a second later and took a calming breath before looking back up at me, her frown less severe, "anyway, now that we know the most likely cause for these hallucinations, we—or rather I—can take steps towards fixing the issue."

"Really?" I asked, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow in mild surprise, "you already have a solution in mind?"

"I do," she replied with a nod and a proud smile, "I've gained a much better understanding of the effects of chaos magic on and within the body, your body to be specific. I've also managed to gain enough general knowledge on the subject of chaos magic to try and work with it on my own."

That raised a red flag somewhere in the back of my mind.

"So... what," I guessed, eyeing the mare warily, "you're saying you're ready to start actually casting chaotic spells?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Twilight replied confidently, "it wasn't easy. I basically had to unlearn everything I knew about how to properly use magic, and there's still a few... kinks to work out," at that she grimaced slightly, but her confident smile came back a second later, "but I'm fairly sure I have the methodology down."

"Twilight this isn't a good idea," I said flat out as I raised two fingers and ticked points off on each one, "you'd be using chaos magic to fix chaos magic, which doesn't make any goddamn sense to me, and you yourself said you were only fairly sure," I lowered my hand and crossed my arms, "have you even tested the magic out yet?"

"Well, no, not yet," Twilight admitted, "but I was actually planning to once I got back from my errand," she shook her head and when she next spoke, it was in a tone like that of a mother trying to explain something difficult to their five year old child, "and aside from that, we need chaos magic in order to fix chaos magic.

"I know you've been doing some reading on the subject, so you should know that chaos magic is nothing like the magic we unicorns use normally," she rose from her chair and began pacing around the lab as she spoke, "chaos magic is in fact, as different as you and me, with everything that implies."

"Meaning, what?" I surmised, "that if regular magic and chaos magic were lifeforms, they'd come from completely different universes?"

"Yes and no," Twilight cried excitedly as she jabbed a hoof in my direction, "regular magic—pony magic, that is—is normally bound to this world, but chaos magic doesn't have that limitation. It works anywhere and everywhere if you can tap into it. I found out that you don't even necessarily need a thaumic field to use it."

Well, someone's getting worked up...

It was true.

Twilight was grinning ear-to-ear and practically dancing on her hooves as she explained her discoveries to me. I could see some kind of manic glint in her eye and chalked it up to that scholarly zeal she was known for. It reminded me of why I loved her as a character, but at the same time, seeing this side of her up close and personal really was creeping me out a bit.

I guess the term I'd use is adorably terrifying.

"So I guess that's how Discord managed to nab me from my own world when there was no thaumic field," I concluded, "that's kinda scary when you think about it. I thought Earth would be safe from threats like Discord since it apparently doesn't have a thaumic field, but based on what you're saying, if the bastard wanted to, he could just pop in and wipe us all out."

Come to think of it, if that was the case, why hasn't the Discord of this universe just bypassed the barrier and popped right into the library?

I went to consult Twilight on the matter, wondering if she'd already thought about that, but the words died in my throat at the despondent look on her face.

"...Yeah," Twilight replied quietly after a moment, "I guess he could."

My musings on Discord's theoretically unstoppable rampage put a damper on Twilight's enthusiasm real fast, and I mentally slapped myself for saying anything about it. She fell into a melancholic and contemplative silence, but I wasn't having any of that, not when she was on a roll.

"Well, it isn't worth thinking about right now," I said, taking her place in the seat at the desk, "like I said before, we worry about the here and now, and then everything else afterwords," I leaned forward in the seat, "now where were you going with this whole 'fight chaos magic with chaos magic' thing?"

"Um... right, well..." Twilight shook her head, trying to get herself back on track, "chaos magic is in a class of its own, with its own rules to follow, contrary to what you or I would think. In order to solve the problem with your eyes and with the restrictions in general, I'll have to try and bend these rules, and in order to do that, I have to play by them first."

"I don't like the sound of that," I replied carefully, "Discord taught me a very painful lesson about what happens when chaos magic isn't done properly."

"Yeah, I know," Twilight replied with a wince, "trust me, I won't make the same mistake."

I stared at the mare for a good minute, probably making her nervous from the look on her face. Honestly I was thinking about letting her just cast whatever spell she was going to cast to fix my eyes.

"How confident are you that you can fix my eyes?" I asked bluntly, "what do you think the chances are that you'll succeed if I let you cast that spell right now?"

"What, now?" Twilight asked, looking at me with a mix of disbelief and incredulity, "as in, right now, without any preparation?"

"Of course I'd give you time to prepare, I'm not that stupid," I replied, waving a hand, "but let's say I want to get this over and done with tonight, how well do you think it'd go?"

Her look of surprise melted into one of uncertainty and she shuffled her hooves uncomfortably for another moment. I waited patiently as she gathered her wits and thoughts, and another moment later, she looked back up at me with a small, but confident smile.

"If you give me about half an hour, I can guarantee with an eighty-five percent certainty that I can at least stop the hallucinations," at my raised eyebrow she elaborated further, her smile turning apologetic, "I'm sorry, Salvatore, but with the way chaos magic works, there's only a minuscule chance that your vision would return to the way it was before. At most I can minimize the effects of whatever happens down to something manageable and non-intrusive for the most part, but that's it."

I frowned at that, not particularly happy with that outcome, but still willing to give it a shot depending on the answer to my next question.

"Okay, so how much longer would it take for you to be completely sure you could do it without risk," I asked instead, "how much longer would the research take do you think?"

"Well, there's always going to be a risk when it comes to casting any kind of magic, Sal," Twilight explained in a lecturing tone, complete with pompously raised hoof, "and that goes double—no, triple for chaos magic," she put the raised hoof to her chin and gazed up at the ceiling in thought, "as for how long it would take... I'd say... about two more weeks or so before I was completely comfortable in my ability."

Nope, call me a fool, but I am not willing to wait that long.

"The hallucinations are already getting ridiculous," I said aloud, "god knows how far things are gonna progress in the time it takes for you to finish," I shook my head, "I'd rather risk fixing it now, than risk finding out what other horrible wonders these eyes have in store for me."

"Salvatore, are you sure about this?" Twilight asked worriedly, "I mean, I do understand what needs to be done, and I have the ability to do it, but there's still a few details I'd like to look over first. If you would just wait a week, I could—"

"Twilight, no matter what happened in the past or what happens now, you're still the Element of Magic," I interjected, "your talent is the study and application of magic in all its forms," I looked her dead in the eye with as much seriousness as I could muster, "I don't normally say this because its sounds cheesy as fuck, but I have faith in you."

Twilight matched my stare with another look of disbelief, and after a few seconds of tense silence, the tears came. I hadn't meant to make her cry, but there it was, my speech having way more emotional impact than I intended. Thankfully they were silent tears and they ended rather quickly.

Rather than sob or even speak, she gave me the brightest goddamn smile I'd ever seen as she sniffed and wiped her eyes. I sat there contemplating how things had reversed themselves in that I was the one that was all for the chaos magic cure and she was the reluctant one, at least until now from the look of conviction in her eyes.

"Alright, then," she was saying with a nod, "I won't let you down. Like I said, just give me half an hour, and I'll be ready."

"I can hardly wait," I muttered, having second thoughts but keeping them to myself as I rose from the chair and headed for the stairs, "well, I'll leave you to it then. In the meantime, I found a deck of cards, so I'm gonna go play some solitaire while I wait."

"You do that," Twilight mumbled, already back in her chair and flipping through more tomes, "I'll let you know when I'm ready."

And just like that, things were set into motion. I headed back upstairs, broke out the cards, and played some solitaire for awhile. I didn't win of course—I never win at solitaire, but I didn't particularly care this time around because there were far more important things on my mind.

After roughly half an hour had passed, Twilight popped into the library to let me know she was good to go, and we both headed back downstairs into the basement lab. This time there were no fancy magic circles or huge blackboard with super complex formulae written down.

It was just me and Twilight standing in the middle of the room, the lavender mare looking nervous, and me feeling nervous but looking impassive for the most part. I'm fairly sure both of us were having second thoughts, but we were already committed and we'd both had that moment, and neither of us wanted to ruin it by chickening out now.

"Alright, Salvatore," Twilight began hesitantly, "now before we begin, I feel there's something I should explain," she took a calming breath and spoke again, this time with more confidence than she probably felt, "I'm not a creature of chaos, and outside of my magesight spell, I haven't learned how to completely modify chaos magic for pony use.

"I have enough control to change a few things here and there—enough to mitigate any unwanted effects like I said before, but more or less, all I can really do right now is give the chaotic mana a suggestion and guide it to where it needs to go within you."

"And what it does afterwards is anyone's guess, I'm guessing," I replied with a small frown, "we just have to hope that it listens to your 'suggestion' and does what it needs to do, that about right?"

"Pretty much," Twilight replied with a nervous chuckle, "thankfully, you humans seem to have a natural affinity for chaos magic, and you in particular have already been exposed to it, so that should help things go a little smoother," her ears flattened and she shifted from one hoof to another, "...all the same, it's still not too late to back out now, y'know."

"Twilight, I am officially in full on 'fuck it' mode right now," I replied, before spreading my arms out in a show of acceptance, "just cast the spell already and whatever happens, happens."

Twilight grimaced at the language, but it was soon replaced with a worried frown as she lit her horn and prepared the spell. Her horn was bathed in the natural magenta glow of her magical aura, and she closed her eyes in concentration. I watched intently as the aura suddenly grew brighter before winking out completely.

I blinked, but didn't dare say anything in the ominous silence. My heartbeat picked up and I swallowed nervously as I watched Twilight's face for any sign that something had gone awry. Apparently it hadn't because she was still just as focused as she was before.

A moment later Twilight inhaled and exhaled deeply, dropped to her haunches, raised her front legs up, and gave a loud, sharp clop of her hooves. An instant later I felt something in the air shift and I slammed my eyes shut as they started to itch, then burn.

I rubbed at them out of reflex, but I might as well have left them alone for all the good it did. I'd never been sprayed in the face with mace or pepper spray before, but I got the feeling this is what it might've felt like. I grunted and cursed and fell to my knees as I continued to scratch at my eyes in agony.

From somewhere in front of me, I heard Twilight give a pained grunt of her own. Then I heard her let out a panicked shriek, and my heart skipped a beat. I tried to open my eyes to see what was happening, but the attempt was far too much, and exposing my retinas to the open air made them feel like they were boiling in my head.

"S-Salvatore!" came Twilight's horrified scream, "I... I'm so sorry! I think... I had it! I had it, but something went wrong! Salvatore, something's not right! I... I'm—"

Everything went quiet.

The pained stopped as abruptly as it had come, and I blinked a few times before slowly, tentatively opening my watery eyes. I wiped at my eyes before looking up and around the lab. My vision seemed to be the same as it was before the spell hit, but as Twilight said, something definitely wasn't right.

She was gone.

"Twilight?" I called out as I slowly stood back up, "Twilight? You there? Twilight?" I continued to look around the lab, not quite panicking, but extremely worried and unnerved, "Twilight, where the hell did you go?!"

The only answer I received was deafening silence.

I shook my head and made for the stairs, bolting up each step two at a time and throwing the door open at the top. I stumbled out onto the first floor and frantically scanned the area around me, only to find nothing out of place or disturbed. I searched the main room, I searched the kitchen, I searched the library, the bathroom, the closets, Twilight's room upstairs, everywhere.

Twilight was nowhere to be found.

I stood in the middle of Twilight's room, dumbfounded and shivering. I looked at my hands, felt them shake uncontrollably and realized I was scared shitless. Twilight was gone, I was alone, and practically sick with terror, and I didn't know why. Then I heard a small click followed by a slow creak somewhere above me and looked up at where Twilight's bed was—specifically towards the window just above her bed.

It was open.

I swore I felt my heart stop for a few seconds as I stared at that open window. I heard something skitter past me in the darkness, and I whipped around to face whatever it was, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't move an inch for several seconds as I waited for whatever it was to show itself.

I knew what it was, but I didn't want to believe it. In the dragging silence, I tried to fool myself into thinking it had left. As the silence continued to linger, I almost believed it, but the fear didn't wane, it only grew—building in the horribly quiet night. Then I heard it, and my heart shot into my throat.

"M... Mommy?"

"Really now, falling asleep during tea time? Quite a rude thing to do, don't you think, Miss Sparkle?"

Twilight flicked an ear at the sound of the voice and she gave a dazed groan. Her eyes twitched open and she blinked a few times before slowly raising her head. It felt impossibly heavy, and opening her eyes had only revealed a world of blurred shapes and colors.

"W-Wha...?"

"Come now, Twilight," came the increasingly familiar voice, "am I really so boring that you can't stay awake for a simple conversation? That simply won't do. Not at all."

The only warning Twilight received was a loud snap before she found herself drenched in freezing cold water. She started up with a sharp gasp, her eyes snapping open, her body shivering, and her mind kicking into overdrive as she looked about, her sopping wet mane slapping against her face as she whipped her head left and right.

"W-Where?! What's... Salvatore?! Sal..."

Twilight called out for him, but the human was nowhere to be seen.

What met her eyes instead was what appeared to be the living room of a cottage with pale yellow walls, a lazily spinning ceiling fan, and several pieces of furniture, including a sofa, two armchairs, a large grandfather clock and some small dressers here and there.

This would've been perfectly acceptable had they not been dancing about the room in a conga line to the wild beat of bongos, trumpets, and acoustic guitar oddly enough. The music didn't seem to be coming from any one place and permeated the entire room with its chaotic cacophony.

Chaotic...

Twilight stared at the spectacle uncomprehendingly for a few moments before slowly turning her attention to where she was. She herself sat at a small white, circular, and thankfully, stationary table off to one side near a window. Placed before her was a small plate with a miniature cucumber sandwich, and next to that was a steaming cup of what smelled like earl grey tea.

Celestia's favorite...

The thought was strange and random, but Twilight couldn't bring herself to care in the face of everything else that was going on around her. A look out the window showed a landscape just as ridiculous and nonsensical as the madness surrounding her inside this place.

Little islands with colorful rivers and waterfalls dropping down into a black abyss and swirling purple shapes filling the sky above, which itself was just as black as the void below.

"Like what you see?"

And then there was him.

Twilight slowly turned to face the being sitting opposite her, calmly and quietly sipping his tea like any normal pony would. He seemed completely unfazed by the insanity around him, but then that was to be expected given who and what he was. Twilight, dazed, soaking wet, and freezing, uttered that being's name with a softness that belied a horribly violent rage that threatened to spill over.

"D... D-Discord."

"In the flesh!" the draconequus replied cheerfully, not noticing, or more likely, ignoring Twilight's growing fury, "I'm terribly sorry to drag you away from our mutual friend, but I had a good reason, honest."

"D-Discord," Twilight growled through chattering teeth, barely able to think. Her horn crackled and sparked with barely restrained magic, "you—"

"Ah, none of that now," Discord interjected, snapping his talons, "I didn't bring you here so you could futilely attempt to slaughter me in cold blood, Miss Sparkle. My unfortunate other might deserve it, but I am not he, so let's shelf the violent rage for a moment, shall we?"

Twilight blinked, unsure of what had happened. One moment she was seeing red, and the next, the fury had simply vanished, as though it had never existed. Something else felt off and she reached a hoof up to her forehead to find that her horn was gone.

"M-My... my horn," she muttered numbly. She lowered her hoof and looked at Discord blankly, "you t... t-took my horn. I can't c-cast spells... w-without my horn, D-Discord."

"Indeed, you won't be needing it, so I confiscated it for now," he chuckled and waved a dismissive paw, "you shouldn't be able to use magic here anyway, but that's neither here nor there. Don't worry though, I'll give it back when we're done here. More importantly, Miss Sparkle..."

His smile fell away and he frowned at the mare, his gaze suddenly intense and more serious than Twilight thought possible of the Lord of Chaos.

"...we need to have a little chat, you and I."

Author's Note

I think this might be the longest chapter yet...

Machinations

For several moments, Twilight just sat there staring at the Changeling Queen and the draconequus, her mind trying to process what she was both seeing and hearing. Discord allowed her those few moments to let his words sink in before speaking again.

"Oh, you don't need to worry, this isn't the real deal, just an empty lifelike husk I whipped up, though I can make it talk," Discord said, spotting the wary, fearful look on Twilight's face. He waved a paw in the face of the changeling queen, who only stared ahead blankly with that same fanged smile, "the real Chrysalis is far too busy to deal with this and I'm sure her actual appearance would... complicate things."

Twilight suddenly felt very cold.

"Discord, what did she do?" she asked, her throat dry and her head feeling slightly too heavy, "how did this even happen? She can change her form... to anypony? Anything? That... that's..."

She wanted to say unfair—and it was, but just saying that wouldn't help anypony. Whatever the changeling queen's abilities, the damage, as Twilight understood it, had been done ages ago. Saying her abilities were unfair would do nothing more than make her seem like a petty foal. Hundreds of scenarios played out in Twilight's head; thousands of ways Chrysalis could've gone about manipulating events behind the scenes.

Twilight didn't know Chrysalis, but she didn't have to. Just from what she'd seen and heard alone she could tell how easy it would've been for the queen to worm her way into their lives and wait for the right moment to bring peace crashing down around her. Twilight knew she was a smart mare; smart enough to know exactly what she'd do if she had this ability and was so inclined to use for nefarious purposes.

"I could lay out Chrissy's brilliant master plan in some long winded villainous monologue," Discord replied, stroking his goatee thoughtfully. He shrugged and gave a wicked grin before snapping his talons a second later, "but, why hear it from me when we could hear it straight from the changeling's mouth, as it were?"

As he snapped his talons, Twilight saw Chrysalis give a sudden start, as though she'd jerked awake moments before falling asleep. She blinked and her eyes focused on Twilight. Her grin widened and she stepped forward with a deep chuckle that made the lavender mare shiver in her seat.

"Oh, Twilight," Chrysalis cooed, moving closer and seating herself in Discord's chair across from Twilight. She leaned forward over the table and smirked at the still stunned mare, "poor, desperate, innocent little Twilight. You have no idea how much joy it brings me to be able to lay out my victory and the utter failure of you and your friends."

Twilight looked at Chrysalis, then over to Discord who was lazily reclining in mid air, his arms folded behind his back. He saw Twilight was watching him and shrugged before pulling a bag of popcorn out from behind his back.

"Hey, this is her show from here," he said through a mouthful of popcorn, "right now I'm just here to watch said show."

"It was a painfully easy process you know," came the bug queen's voice once more. Twilight turned her attention back to Chrysalis, who continued to give her that haunting smirk as she spoke, "I thought about invading Equestria before certainly; I had the numbers to do it, but I figured the payoff would be all the sweeter if I took my time and made sure to do it right.

"We feed off of emotions, Twilight Sparkle—love in particular is our main nutrient, and Equestria has quite the abundance," at this, her smirk fell into a serious frown, "my children are capable, of that I have no doubt, but they were starving, and I had to make sure this plan went off perfectly without risk to the hive. We literally couldn't afford to fail."

Her arrogant smirk returned.

"For a plan as risky as this, I knew discretion and patience were the better part of valor, so I snuck into Equestria on my own, then into Canterlot itself as a tourist come to see the big city. I took the role of the scout myself and learned everything I could, and that's when I found out the Princess of Love herself was in town," she gave a giddy chuckle that sounded horribly out of place, "and getting married no less!"

"Cadence," Twilight croaked out, "if you feed off love, then—"

"Oh yes, Twilight Sparkle," Chrysalis interjected, "I've had my eye on that buffet for quite some time, but many a circumstance has never allowed me to get close, and I was far too cautious to try anything... overt, at least until that day.

"But the time for hesitation had long since passed, and I vowed to make her an endless source of food for my hive before this was all over," she leaned back in her seat and sighed wistfully, "it took time, Twilight. It took so much time before I got everything I wanted, but it was worth it."

"What did you do to them?" Twilight asked, dreading the answer but unable to keep from asking the question anyway, "what happened to Cadence and my brother?"

"I'm so glad you asked," Chrysalis replied, clopping her hooves in mock joy, "well, after a bit more reconnaissance, I managed to isolate one of the flower fillies, drain her to refill my own meager reserves of love, and take her place. The only flaw in my shapeshifting ability is that the color of my magic doesn't change with me, so little Sweetie Belle was a bit of a boon in that her magic was more or less the same color as mine. Happy coincidence, that."

"So that's why you went after Sweetie Belle," Twilight muttered numbly, "and when you say you drained her, did you... did that..."

"Did it what? Kill her?" Chrysalis finished with a hint of amusement, "no, you stupid mare. If I had, that would've blown my cover eventually, and I wasn't planning on posing as the little brat for the rest of her life. I had other plans to implement," she shook her head, "no, I drained her of most of her love, wiped and replaced her memory and sent her on her way. To you ponies it just seemed like she was tired from all the preparation for the marriage."

"Of course," Twilight muttered, embarrassed that she'd asked such a dumb question, but relieved all the same to hear the filly hadn't suffered a worse fate, "at least she wasn't hurt... not that it matters now I guess."

"It really doesn't, does it?" Chrysalis agreed with a small chuckle, "anyway, things got much easier from that point onward. A little mind control and memory tampering here, some shapeshifting and subtle deceit there, and before I knew it I had the blushing bride and strapping young groom wrapped around my hoof."

She laughed again and Twilight grit her teeth in anger, grounding her hooves into the table as she stared daggers at Chrysalis. Apparently whatever Discord had done earlier was still in effect, because a moment later the growing fury slid away like water off a duck's back.

"What about Princess Luna?" Twilight asked, knowing it was a pointless question but curious despite herself, "she's a cautious mare. Surely she would've known something was off?"

"The Moon Princess?" Chrysalis laughed, "she was the easiest problem to take care of! She was already asleep in her chambers. All I had to do was sneak into her room and cast a spell to keep her that way during the day. She could do whatever she wanted at night, because I didn't stay in the castle then."

"But... but I know for a fact that Luna kept spells—wards active to stop intruders from breaking into her room," Twilight argued, "she showed me the spellwork! Each spell was incredibly complex and precise! Are you saying you managed to bypass all of that?"

"Yes," Chrysalis replied with a smirk, "it wasn't easy, but I'm just as old, if not older than both Princesses and know a thing or two about complex magic myself," she tapped the side of her head with a hole riddled hoof, "we changelings are masters of infiltration as well as deception, so it's only natural that I went to great lengths to learn how to get around all kinds of wards and the like. It wasn't easy, but I did it in the end, and as far as I'm concerned, it was worth the trouble."

Twilight could only stare back, dumbstruck and horrified at how easily they'd all been fooled. From the way Chrysalis spoke, it was like she'd barely had to put in any effort at all. Were they all really so blind? Had so many years of peace really dulled their sense of danger so much as a nation?

Off to the side, Twilight could hear Discord's raucous laughter and it only dug the knife that much deeper into the wound. It was then, staring at Chrysalis that Twilight remembered where she'd heard about—or rather seen changelings before. She thought back to Salvatore's memories; specifically, she thought back to his memories of the 'show' that was My Little Pony and the 'canon' he'd seen.

The thought that her life and that of her friends were just some silly form of entertainment in his world had caused her some very real emotional distress. She and Salvatore had had to sit down and talk about that for hours before she started to come to terms with the notion, and even then it took a few more days after that to completely accept it.

Still, it did give her insight into at least one universe that wasn't horribly twisted like the ones he'd been to, not counting Discord's own Equestria. Now that she remembered that particular universe, three key differences between that universe and hers stood out in awful clarity in her mind.

The first was that in her own universe, she'd already known about Discord and the fact that he was imprisoned. The second was that he'd never been freed that first time, so she and her friends never had to deal with him. The third difference was just how inept Chrysalis had been in infiltrating the capital during her brother's wedding compared to what she'd accomplished in her own universe.

How had things changed so drastically? Based on what she'd seen in Salvatore's memories, Chrysalis should have been an idiot, and yet the divergence of her character from that 'canon' was so profound. Twilight found herself wondering just what had changed in the past to make such a difference in the outcome of what happened at the wedding.

Now, more than ever, Twilight was growing more and more curious about all the other universes she now knew were out there. She didn't get a chance to dwell on the matter for long as Chrysalis continued to gloat over her victory.

"Nothing much interesting happened after that really," Chrysalis was saying with a shrug, "the Princess of Love and your brother had their 'happily ever after' wedding with none the wiser to my meddling and I gained two very rich sources of food for my children and I," she hummed in thought, "I could've stopped there; taken all the power I'd gained and love I'd collected and left well enough alone.

"I could've gone back to the Badlands, fed my hive for months, and returned periodically to start the process all over again. It would've been easy now that I'd gotten to know the layout and ponies of Canterlot... but that wasn't enough for me," she grinned at Twilight, showing off her fangs, "why stop there when I could rule all of Equestria from the shadows?"

Twilight shuddered, took a deep breath and tried to calm herself before looking Chrysalis in the eye. She might have been devastated, but the mare had had just about enough of the queen's boasting. It was time to take control of the conversation; she figured she had enough information to guess the rest of Chrysalis's plan anyhow and the rest was more or less just common sense.

"And so you figured you'd stick around," Twilight continued, "since you had my brother and Cadence under control, there was no real threat from them."

Chrysalis's smile slowly faded into a frown, but Twilight ignored it and pressed on.

"I'm guessing you went after the other Princesses next," she tapped her chin in thought, "you probably disguised yourself as somepony close to Celestia. Somepony who saw her on a daily basis, nearly always by her side. Maybe... Raven Inkwell?" she watched the Queen's face for any sign of recognition and gave a small smile of her own at the slight twitch of one of her green eyes, "thought so. I'm also assuming there was some more subtle mind control and memory tampering at play as well, do I have it right so far?"

Chrysalis gave the lavender mare an appraising look and her smile slowly returned a moment later. She gave another small chuckle and shook her head.

"I know what this is, but very well, I'll play your game, Twilight Sparkle," she cleared her throat and leaned forward, her shiny black hooves resting on the table and that same self assured smirk on her face, "indeed you are correct. Over the course of several months, I bided my time, letting my power from all the love I'd collected grow and sending that love back to my hive every so often.

"I learned everything I could about Equestria's strengths and weaknesses. I got close to the Princesses and twisted their thoughts by degrees; slowly turning them against all possible threats to my plans... threats like the ones you, your friends, and the Elements of Harmony posed."

The bottom fell out of Twilight's stomach and her face grew pale.

Her mind ran through each and every memory she had of Princess Celestia after the wedding, and with a growing sense of horror she realized that something had been off. While she'd acted the same on the surface, Twilight remembered feeling like there was less depth to the emotion the Princess showed whenever they spoke.

She'd chalked it up to her own imagination in the end, but she couldn't deny that by the time the Crystal Empire incident had happened, Celestia had grown much more distant. Twilight hadn't believed it, she didn't want to believe it, and when she'd been sent off to the Crystal Empire—when she'd gone down those steps, when she'd activated that accursed door with dark magic...

Twilight blinked.

She couldn't remember how she'd gotten past that trap. One moment, she was standing before the door, casting dark magic in an attempt to bypass it, and the next, she and Spike were racing up the nearly endless stairway in order to get to the Crystal Heart. There was something there at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp onto it.

The more she thought about it, the worse her anxiety grew, making her think that whatever happened may have best been left in the dark, as much as she wanted to know. New suspicions began to surface then; suspicions involving Chrysalis and the Crystal Empire.

Suspicions that Chrysalis was all too eager to confirm.

"Originally I'd planned to just have Celestia and Luna dispose of you and the Elements of Harmony, but at the time I had no way of doing so discreetly without causing a panic," Chrysalis continued before glancing in Discord's direction, "that is... until a little voice whispered in my ear one day."

Twilight furrowed her brow and followed Chrysalis's gaze to Discord. The draconequus looked between the two for a moment before frowning in bemusement.

"I don't know what the two of you are looking at me for," he said, letting a large amount of popcorn spill from his bag as he crossed his arms and raised a brow, "I'll have you know I had no part to play in this little tragedy."

Chrysalis stared at him for a moment longer before returning her attention to Twilight. Twilight however, continued to watch Discord with a contemplative frown even as Chrysalis spoke again.

"One day, as I was passing through the Royal Gardens, a voice called out to me—"

"It was Discord's voice, from when he was still a statue in the Gardens," Twilight cut in, her tone low and thoughtful as she slowly put the pieces together, "together you two made some kind of plan that would end up with him freed from his prison and my friends and I out of the picture."

She turned back to Chrysalis, her face a mask of calm, but her hooves trembling with barely suppressed emotion.

"He was the one that told you about the Crystal Empire and Sombra, wasn't he?" she asked quietly, her eyes never leaving Chrysalis's own, "I wouldn't put it past Discord to have known about the Empire's return beforehoof, and I'm right, aren't I? He knew about it, he told you about it, and you two made a plan to set me up and... and... Spike..."

Twilight trailed off, unable to continue as her mind replayed that horrible event.

"I guess you're not quite that stupid after all," Chrysalis pouted, "but yes, It was Discord that spoke to me. He told me of the rise of the Crystal Empire and Sombra's return. At first I was wary of the creature, but he can be... quite a persuasive character," she smiled giddily, "with his insight and the knowledge I'd obtained of you and your friends, we made a plan, and oh what a brilliant plan it turned out to be!"

Twilight said nothing in response, letting Chrysalis talk while the events played out in her head.

"When the time came, I disguised myself, boarded the train, and followed you all into the Crystal Empire," she chuckled again in amusement, "none of you had any qualms about Fluttershy dragging her little white rodent along for the ride, and why would you? The rabbit is a little demon, but that sniveling coward loves it to death anyway," she shrugged, "not that I was complaining, more love for me to feed on is never a bad thing after all."

"You disguised yourself as Angel Bunny," Twilight said almost absently, "rabbits thrive in cold weather and we all trusted Fluttershy to keep him safe, so none of us were against it. And since you already had Shining and Cadence under control, there was no need to worry about them getting suspicious either."

"Exactly," Chrysalis confirmed, "it all worked out splendidly," she grimaced in displeasure, "well... until that little mental break of yours."

Twilight, whose gaze had idly wandered to a point in the distance, snapped her eyes back to Chrysalis.

"Mental break?" she asked, sitting up a bit straighter, "what do you mean 'mental break'? I don't remember that... happening..." she paused and slumped in her seat as the realization struck her like a hoof to the face, "...the door beneath the throne room. I... I don't remember, but... something happened with that door, and you made me forget."

"The door was a trap set by Sombra," Chrysalis explained, her expression oddly grim, "it was meant to show you your worst fears. While I was still disguised as the rabbit, I followed you down that staircase and to the door. I saw you activate it, and I don't know what you saw, but whatever it was broke you—perhaps more completely than I ever could."

The two stared silently at each other, both ignoring Discord's constant giggling in the background.

"You ponies are fragile things," Chrysalis said after a minute, "you're all weak willed when it counts and wear your emotions too openly, but you? You have some very powerful insecurities, Twilight Sparkle. Your despair made me physically ill. Me, the Queen of the Changelings," she eyed Twilight, looking almost impressed, "not even what happened next compared to the trauma that door put you through. I admit I'm honestly rather curious as to what you could've possibly seen."

Twilight didn't know what to say to that. She didn't remember what happened below the throne room, and if Chrysalis was to be believed, that was most certainly for the best. The dark implications alone made her heart beat a little faster and the skin crawl beneath her fur.

"There was no way I could leave you like that," Chrysalis continued, "not then at least, it wasn't time yet. For the sake of the plan, and my own health, I wiped the last few moments from your mind. The drakeling caught me in the act, but subduing him was simple enough, and with that, I sent the two of you on your way."

She sat back in her chair, closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction. She opened her eyes once more and grinned at Twilight—grinning wider still at the dull resigned look in her eyes as she stared back.

"I'll be completely honest with you, I had my doubts about this plan," Chrysalis mused, "it had by far the most risk of failing out of anything I'd done. There were too many variables, too many things that could have gone wrong if I'd acted too quickly or hesitated."

"Many times I thought of simply waiting until you all got back to Equestria and concocting another, safer scheme, but that was before I saw what a wreck you'd become in front of that doorway," she leaned forward again and tapped a hoof on the table, "this—"

With a loud poof, Chrysalis suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, her empty seat taken up instead by an impatient looking Discord. It all happened in an instant, leaving Twilight to fumble with her emotions for a moment. Eventually she settled on anger, as it was the least painful emotion to deal with at the moment.

"I love dramatic monologues as much as the next guy, but that was getting to be a bit much for me, so I cut it short," Discord said, ignoring Twilight's glare, "you don't mind if I summarize the rest, do you? Not that there's much left that you don't already know."

Without waiting for Twilight's reply, Discord snapped his talons and the two were once again back in his cottage. He snapped his talons again and an old fashioned slide projector appeared in the middle of the room, complete with a large screen placed on the wall.

"You see, Chrissy's role in the Crystal Empire was simple," he began as he slithered over to the projector, "being the cute and cuddly empath that she was, Chrysalis knew what made all of you tick, and was supposed to use that to render you emotionally vulnerable," his paw hovered teasingly over the projector and he turned to Twilight with a grin, "I'm sure you can guess how she accomplished that?"

Twilight didn't have to guess; now that everything had been laid out before her, a few things she found odd about that day began to make sense. She'd felt inexplicably weaker as she climbed the tower up to where the Crystal Heart lay—as though all the energy had been drained out of her.

She now realized that Chrysalis had most likely done more than erase her memory of whatever had happened with the door. She'd barely had enough magical strength to break free of Sombra's other trap around the Crystal Heart's pedestal. She had escaped just in time to see Spike slip off of one of the dark crystal spires, and though she tried to catch her assistant, her horn did nothing but spark uselessly.

The memory was all too clear—as clear the day it happened.

She was left with nothing; forced to watch helplessly as Spike fell with the Crystal Heart. All she could do was scream out his name before he was impaled on a dark magic crystal Sombra had conjured.

The shock of what she'd witnessed was enough to sap the last of her energy and she blacked out, but not before she caught a glimpse of Cadence and her brother, both as stoic and impassive as statues on the balcony far below her. Back then she wasn't sure if she'd imagined it, and they were just as distraught as you'd expect once everything was said and done.

But no, she hadn't imagined it at all. They'd watched Spike fall; they'd stood by and did nothing about it because they couldn't. They were in a perfect position to save Spike when Twilight herself couldn't but because of Chrysalis's meddling, they did nothing. Sure they were weakened, but they could've come up with something, some kind of plan to save Spike.

Twilight had blacked out, but the Crystal Heart had still been retrieved by her friends, Cadence and her brother. Sombra had still been defeated. If that had happened, why couldn't they save Spike?

Why did he have to die when everypony else got to survive to see the Crystal Empire free of Sombra's reign? Why was Twilight still alive when she couldn't do anything to help? When she didn't do anything to help? None of them did. They all could've done something and not a one of them. Not her friends, not her family, not the Princesses, not—

"No, it wasn't their fault... it wasn't my fault," Twilight muttered, desperately trying and failing to convince herself, "it was Chrysalis. She got to them first... twisted their minds... controlled them..."

"Ah, you're doing it again," came an inappropriately jovial voice. There was a loud snap and just like that, the dark fog over Twilight's mind vanished. She blinked in confusion before looking up to see a smiling draconequus standing over her, "you're spiraling again, and we can't have that, can we? Come on, try to pay attention now."

Twilight yelped in surprise as her chair slid away from the table of it's own volition and snapped to an abrupt stop before the large screen—the sudden stop nearly throwing her off the seat. As she regained her bearings, Discord poofed into existence behind the projector and flipped it on. There was a flash of light and a faded image of a despairing lavender mare and a lifeless bloody drakeling surrounded by five other equally despairing mares appeared on the blank white screen.

Twilight sucked in a sharp breath, snapped her eyes shut and shuddered violently her seat. She broke out in a cold sweat and it took every ounce of her will not to empty her stomach right then and there.

"Whoops, perhaps that wasn't the best one to start with," Discord muttered, quickly swapping out the picture for another, "ah, here we go!"

It took a long moment, but Twilight finally opened one eye, then both when she saw that the next picture was far less distressing. On the screen was an image of a pony shrouded in a dark cloak standing before a familiar statue in the Royal Gardens of Canterlot.

"I'm sure you remember this, don't you?" Discord commented from behind the projector, "now I wonder who this naughty little filly could be, hm?"

"Enough, Discord!" Twilight growled, rounding on the chaotic being in question, "I get it, alright? Chrysalis succeeded in breaking me down, and not too long after that, I started to get strange ideas I normally wouldn't have—not even..." her breath hitched slightly, "not even in the face of what happened to Spike."

Twilight took a few calming breaths and, with titanic effort on her part, pushed back the memories of the Crystal Empire. After a few more seconds she continued on in a more measured tone, completely ignoring the image behind her.

"I started getting ideas about bringing the dead back to life, and I ignored them at first, but they were persistent," she frowned deeply, "it started to sound more and more like a good idea, and I bet that's exactly what the Discord of my Equestria was trying to accomplish."

"Spoil all my fun, why don't you?" Discord huffed, poofing away the projector and screen and folding his arms in a childish pout, "very well then. When that whole debacle in the Crystal Empire took place, the positive and negative emotions mixed together in a mass of chaotic energy large enough to crack the seal holding that Discord.

"Some of his power leaked out and he was able to use that to influence your thoughts slightly," he smirked, "the bug queen isn't the only one with crazy mind control magic, and my spells are far more potent... well, when most of my magic isn't sealed with me in stone anyway."

"Get to the point, Discord," Twilight sighed, slouching in her chair. She wasn't sure if the Chrysalis she talked to had been real or not, but she wouldn't have been surprised if the changeling managed to suck away some of her emotions during their chat. She certainly felt drained emotionally, "I've had enough beating around the bush. Just tell me what you want to tell me so I can get back to Salvatore before it's too late."

Discord harrumphed, but shrugged all the same.

"It's probably already too late, or maybe not. Don't really know, time is weird here," he summoned a cozy looking armchair directly across from Twilight and flopped down into it with a heavy sigh, "so as I was saying, your Discord was the one that planted the idea in your head, and another idea that he could give you what you wanted.

"It was like a seed that grew the more you dwelled on Spike and how you could bring him back. Eventually you took a little midnight stroll into the Royal Gardens for a secret rendezvous with a certain handsome draconequus and the rest as they say, is history. Oh, and if you're wondering about what Queeny was up to during that time, she was hanging out with Sunbutt, plotting all sorts of delicious schemes and punishments just for you and the other Elements."

"So that's it then," Twilight replied after a long pause. She groaned and rubbed at her temples, "that was her grand plan to get rid of me and my friends, and she used Celestia and Luna to do it."

"Yup, pretty wacky plan if you ask me," Discord mused, "a bit convoluted sure... but what brilliant evil plan isn't? The important thing was that it worked, and it worked well. Your friends are gone, your family and the Princesses abandoned you, your Discord is free to war with Chrysalis over who gets to rule Equestria with countless ponies caught in the middle."

"Wait, what?!" Twilight cried, suddenly very awake and alert, "is that what's happening outside the barrier?"

"Oh you didn't know?" Discord replied in mock surprise, "it's just terrible! Equestria is an absolute mess right now, and the rest of that world isn't too far behind really. Lots of chaos," he frowned, "...and not the good clean fun kind either. Not anymore," he sighed again at Twilight's stricken look, "everyone's more or less forgotten you and your friends even existed, it's that bad. I told you it was too late to save your Equestria and I meant it. There's no one and nothing left to stop your Discord or Chrysalis now, so I'm only going to say this one more time..."

He leaned forward, his jaw set and his face grim. His mismatched red and yellow eyes pierced Twilight's own from beneath his bushy white brows. Not once breaking eye contact, he raised a talon and snapped it. In an instant the cottage fell away; the world spun and twisted and folded in on itself. Colors blurred together in a mess of blacks, purples, greens, blues and reds.

The only constant was Discord, Twilight, and the chairs they sat on—Twilight herself feeling more and more ill from terrible vertigo and general sensory overload. Then all at once, the world snapped back into focus and Twilight immediately wished it hadn't as she looked around her.

They'd forgone the madness of Discord's Chaos Realm for an entirely different madness altogether. Twilight didn't know where she was or what was going on, but the sights, the sounds, everything was wrong. The sky was bright green, clouds that were supposed to be white and fluffy were charred black with literal flames and the terrain never stayed the same for long.

Cottages, shops, and other buildings slid around on the ground and drifted lazily in the air, barely recognizable as they constantly stretched and molded into fantastical and nonsensical shapes. In some areas it was impossible to tell where the ground itself ended and the sky began.

Then there were the creatures.

Ponies galloped and flew every which way some of them with armor and weapons, some not but all of them terrified without a doubt. Their eyes bulged and rolled with fear. Endless panicked and agonized screaming assaulted Twilight's ears from every direction, and the sound of rending flesh made her stomach turn.

They had every reason to run as far as Twilight could see, because those that weren't running were being hunted down, torn to shreds and devoured alive by massive black beasts. They wore feral, snarling expressions across their vaguely equine faces. Most quickly shuffled along on long, oddly bent legs, easily catching up to their would be prey with only a few strides.

Some were the size of houses but couldn't fly with their tiny shriveled insectile wings, and others were smaller, bearing down on fleeing pegasi through the air with their thin sleek bodies and rapidly buzzing, perfectly working wings. All of them chittered and screeched mindlessly, their chitinous forms were riddled with holes, and they bit and tore into ponies with gaping mouths full of long, ugly, serrated knives that might've once been teeth.

There were hundreds of them—thousands, and the worst part was that Twilight recognized them vaguely. She remembered the black, hole ridden chitin, the gnarled bug like wings, and the filmy blue eyes. These things, whatever they were now, had once been changelings.

Had it not been for the ponies, Twilight wouldn't have recognized this place as Equestria... her Equestria. It had to be, or else why would Discord show her such a thing? Somewhere in the back of her mind, Twilight knew Discord had been right, and it seemed he'd wanted to hammer the point home.

This was nothing like what'd she'd seen past the barrier. It had been so calm, so quiet, so... empty. Was this all fake or had the quiet world beyond her bubble been an illusion this whole time? Twilight didn't know, but what she was certain of was that she didn't want to see anymore.

Discord snapped his talons and the scenery changed.

Suddenly they were floating above a poisonous looking bog full of ravenous changeling beasts, dying ponies, and even a few struggling griffons. Another snap and they were in a ruined city, large swathes of the streets broken up by pools of magma and the countless bodies of ponies and changelings.

Yet another snap and they were in a forest of whimsical looking trees that impaled unsuspecting victims with sharp branches, the victims in question ranging from changelings to ponies to griffons and even the elusive race of deers that lived in some of the forests around Equestria. One last snap and Twilight was floating over what remained of Canterlot.

The castle had crumbled at the bottom of Mount Canterhorn and the rest of the city was in shambles. Ponies and changelings alike tried to escape the slimy tentacles of titanic unseen horrors that snatched up any living creature that got too close and dragged them screaming into the black abyss of the many pits scattered about.

Just when Twilight thought she couldn't take anymore; just when she was about to scream and cry and beg Discord to stop, she heard another loud snap and all was quiet once again. With a start, she realized the horrible vision or whatever that had been, had only lasted a few moments, and she was once more back in Discord's cottage.

She sat safe and sound in her chair across from Discord, who held her gaze with a steely look. She sat visibly shaken and silently crying in that chair as Discord spoke with brutal finality.

"...give up on your world and let it die, Twilight Sparkle. In my opinion, the Princesses and Chrysalis did you a favor by sticking you and your friends in that bubble—monstrous assistant or no, but that's still no way to live," he leaned back in his armchair and gave Twilight a level look, "I actually brought you here to offer you a way out of that nightmare, so I suggest you forget about your Equestria and hear what I have to say."

Author's Note

I think this is the most exposition I've ever shoved into one chapter, for any of my stories. I'd rather not have to exposit that much all at once again if I can help it, this chapter was kind of draining. :ajbemused:

In any case, due to the length and my own mental exhaustion, the other half I meant to put in is being pushed back to the next chapter.

Decision

Madness is what Twilight saw, and she was hard pressed to dismiss any of what she'd seen outright. She wanted to deny everything, and sure it was still possible that Discord was leading her on, pushing her into the outcome that he wanted, but what Twilight saw had shaken her deeply—far more than she wanted to admit to the draconequus.

Sitting there before Discord's intense and expectant gaze, the mare didn't have the mental clarity to properly challenge his words. Her emotions were scrambled and scattered, and if that was indeed Discord's intent, he'd been completely successful in throwing Twilight off-kilter. Unable to form a proper response, Twilight simply settled for listening to what the mismatched creature had to say, just as he wanted and much to her own frustration.

Discord must've noticed her resignation because his eyes suddenly lit up and a satisfied smirk replaced his serious expression. Twilight frowned at that, but Discord only chuckled, crossed his arms and leaned forward, his smirk growing smug.

"Oh? Finally ready to listen to wise old Discord are we?" he teased, "or do you need more convincing?"

Twilight grimaced.

"You've made your point abundantly clear, Discord," she replied curtly. There was still something they hadn't discussed and with nothing else to fall back on, Twilight decided it was time to bring it up, "I'm still not sure I completely believe what you've shown me, but it's clear you're not going to let me go until you've said what you needed to say, so I suppose it doesn't matter whether or not what I saw was real—"

"Now you're getting it!" Discord laughed, "though I assure you that was a very real mess—"

"But there was no guarantee it was my mess," Twilight interjected, finally starting to find her stride once again, "for all I know that was something you conjured up from an alternate universe, or maybe several."

"Perhaps," Discord replied without missing a beat, "I could spend more time attempting to prove all that nonsense was real, but this has gone on long enough as it is and frankly I don't particularly care if you believe me or not. Like you guessed, I'm not sending you back regardless."

"Exactly," Twilight concluded, "we can both agree its pointless to discuss the situation any further, so I'd like to move onto Salvatore and how he fits into all of this," Twilight's frown deepened, "what are you planning on doing with him and what does it have to do with me?"

"Ah Salvatore," Discord sighed, "he was my next order of business anyway, so I guess I'll humor you," he raised his talon as if to snap and Twilight found herself tensing for what would happen next, only to be surprised when Discord gave a thoughtful frown and let the talon drop back down with a huff and mutter to himself, "no... best to just get this over with."

Twilight was about to ask Discord what he meant when he refocused his attention back on her, leaning over the table that had reappeared between them.

"I may not look it, but I'm a very busy draconequus—one who's already late for another little meeting, so I'll try to keep this short," he sat back up and cleared his throat, "the truth is, I've been watching the two of you while you've both been holed up in that overgrown tree trying to find a way to undo my magic."

Another smirk crossed his face and he gave Twilight a pointed look as he spoke.

"One of the real reasons I intervened when I did was because you actually weren't too far off from 'cracking the code' as it were," he chuckled at the mare's astonished expression, "oh yes, no matter the universe you never cease to amaze me with that wit and ingenuity of yours, Twilight Sparkle, whether you turn out a noble hero or a vicious tyrant."

Twilight had known she was onto something regarding the nature of chaos magic before she was whisked away by Discord, but to hear the draconequus himself admit as much filled her with a strange sense of pride and accomplishment. It was the same feeling she would've gotten from hearing the same sort of praise from Celestia back when she was just a filly under the alicorn's tutelage.

Twilight shuddered at the thought, though whether from the memory of what she'd been told about Celestia's fate or because it was Discord who'd made her feel this way, she wasn't sure. As she wrestled with her thoughts, Discord continued on, another frown crossing his face.

"Honestly I wouldn't have cared all that much if you had succeeded in circumventing the restrictions I placed on the magic I gave Salvatore," he explained, "in fact, I myself thought of doing that very thing not too long ago."

Twilight blinked in surprise.

"You... you were?" she asked, both dumbfounded and wary, "you were just... going to give Salvatore complete access to the chaos magic inside him?"

"Oh Faust no!" Discord guffawed, "not all of it! That'd be a nightmare!" he sighed and shook his head, "no, just enough to make things... interesting if you will."

"How do you mean?" Twilight asked, "what are you planning?"

"Oh never you mind that," Discord answered with a dismissive wave of his paw, "the important thing is that there are some aspects of the spell I put into place that I'd rather you not tamper with, for all our sakes; primarily the bits that keep his magical presence hidden from any other Discord wandering about."

"His... wait, so that's what that was!" Twilight exclaimed, her eyes wide with realization, "with such a massive concentration of chaos magic I was wondering why Discord—the Discord of my universe hadn't shown up to investigate."

"Yup," Discord nodded, "if I know me—and I'm fairly certain I do—I would've been all over that chaotic anomaly in a heartbeat, but thanks to this me, that me was none the wiser, and I'd like it to stay that way," his expression turned stern as he looked across the table at the unicorn, "you might've gained a bit of insight into how chaos magic works, but you're still an amateur—less than that even. I can't have you messing with something you don't fully understand because if something goes wrong, it might affect more than you could ever imagine. There are worse things out there than the complete annihilation of a universe y'know."

Twilight wanted to argue against the fact, and while she disagreed with Discord's last statement, she couldn't disagree with the rest of what he'd said. Despite her extensive research into the subject, there was only so much knowledge she could extract from studying Salvatore's case alone. Not to mention she lacked experience in actually using the unpredictable magic. The more she thought about it, the more Twilight realized just how dangerous her dive into the subject of chaos magic really was.

Sure she was desperate, and really saw no other way out of her situation, but for the consequences to not even cross her mind... that wasn't like her at all. Normally Twilight was far more careful when delving into new magic, but in her isolation and desperation, she'd let herself slip.

"...You're right," she admitted, her eyes falling to the table, "I guess... I just wanted to leave. I wanted Spike back, I wanted some semblance of my life back, even if I had to use chaos magic to get it."

"And I completely understand that believe it or not," Discord replied with a surprising amount of kindness in his voice, "when it comes to chaos magic, just about anything is possible. The problem is that chaos magic rarely gives you what you want," he leaned forward and smiled knowingly, "I'll let you in on another little secret you may not know about chaos magic..."

Twilight's ears perked up and she lifted her head to give Discord a curious frown, her interest piqued despite herself.

"Far more often than not, chaos magic will give you what you need rather than what you want," Discord explained, "you just have to be willing to think outside the box a bit and you can make chaos magic work for you rather than the other way around," at Twilight's bemusement he shrugged, "of course for most, chaos magic is just bad news all around, but eh, what are you gonna do?"

Twilight gave Discord's words some thought and found herself growing angry. While what he'd said could have been true, the unicorn failed to see how she'd needed Spike to transform into a massive vicious spider and attack her and her friends. What need was there for that?

No matter how she tried, Twilight couldn't see the sense in it.

"But I digress," Discord continued on, unheeded by Twilight's sudden bitterness, "the long and short of what I have planned for you is to keep our mutual friend company on his little vacation across the grimverse."

That snapped Twilight out of her darkening mood and she stared at Discord in bewilderment.

"You want me to... keep Salvatore company?" she asked, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing, "but how? Why? What would that—"

"Oh a few reasons," Discord interjected, "for one, it'll do wonders for both his sanity and yours, trust me. I trust Sal to take things in stride, but I'm starting to think that if this is going to work, he might need someone, or somepony to keep him on the right track. Don't want him going mad from the stress or falling to darker influences along the way now do we? That'd be rather counterproductive to my plan."

"Well... I mean that makes sense I suppose," Twilight conceded, "but still, I hardly think I'm qualified to—"

"As of right now, you're the only one qualified for the job," Discord cut in before frowning suddenly, "well, aside from that meddlesome Doctor, but this isn't about him," he disappeared and reappeared by Twilight's side. He pulled her into a one armed hug and poked her in the chest, "you're the only one so far who's formed a bond with Sal, and you of all ponies should know how important something like that is."

"I... but Salvatore, is he even..." Twilight sputtered, still caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, "w-what about my home? I need to find out what really happened, Discord!"

"I told you what really happened," Discord pointed out, "and I also told you there wasn't a snowball's chance in Tartarus that I was sending you back into that world to die needlessly. I have a use for you, and I'm sure Salvatore wouldn't mind you tagging along either. You are best pony, as far as he's concerned at least."

Twilight opened her mouth to ask what Discord was talking about, but stopped herself, remembering that Salvatore had been a fan of the 'show' and that she had indeed been his favorite 'character'. The thought made her frown and she forcefully pulled out of Discord's grip before turning back to him.

"What do you get out of this, Discord," she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly, "it's true that I might be able to help Salvatore, but I don't think for even a second that you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart, or even concern for Salvatore."

"How could you think that?" Discord replied in a mock tone of hurt, "of course I care about Salvatore! He's the centerpiece of this entire operation after all," he rolled his eyes at Twilight's growing scowl, "alright, so I do have another motive, but it's not something you or Sal need to concern yourselves with."

"I wonder," Twilight muttered.

"In any case, you'd be doing a lot more good helping Sal out than you would rotting away behind that barrier all alone," Discord continued, crossing his arms and giving Twilight a pointed frown, "I'm sure you could at least agree to that much?"

"I... guess," Twilight admitted begrudgingly. In all honesty, the more she thought about it, the more difficult a time she was having in arguing against the plan, but even so, there were still misgivings she needed to voice, "...but I still think there's some sort of catch you're not telling me about."

"I was just getting to that actually," Discord answered with a gleeful snap of his talons. Twilight gasped and shivered, feeling some fundamental shift in her being that she couldn't quite place at first. So focused on the odd sensation coursing through her body that she almost missed Discord's next words, "you see, the other reason I chose you out of anyone or anypony else is because thanks to that little stunt you pulled with the memory spell, you know Salvatore better than anyone or anypony else—that, and you also know about his task, something else I'd like to keep secret."

"D-Discord!" Twilight shrieked, staring at her hooves in horror as they gradually began to vanish, "what are you doing?! What's happening to me?!"

"Oh relax, you'll be fine, if a little less... corporeal than usual," the draconequus answered dismissively, "don't worry, I'll give you your magic back as promised, but I'm adding a few... chaotic touches. This is all just part of the process."

"But I never actually agreed to any of this!" Twilight shouted in a panic as her body grew more and more intangible, "Discord, stop! I don't—"

"I made the decision for you," Discord replied, "even if I hadn't, you would've eventually agreed on your own anyway, that's just who you are," he gave another shrug, "if you believe nothing else, believe that this is going to benefit both of you in the long run."

"Discord!" Twilight screamed in vain. Her body had almost completely vanished and a sudden drowsiness overcame her before she could say anymore, "Discord... what..."

"Sorry, Twilight, but things are going to be a bit different for you from here on out—both you and Salvatore," Discord replied, looking on with an oddly apologetic smile, "if all goes well in the end, I'll return you to how you were," through the growing haze of darkness, Twilight saw the draconequus give one last wave, "but hey, in the meantime I've thrown a few interesting perks into the mix for the two of you, so try to have a little fun, eh? Oh, and remember to think outside the box!"

And with that last bit of advice, Twilight's vision went dark and she vanished completely from Discord's sight. Discord meanwhile, stood where he was for another long moment, his smile dropping into a slight frown. He snapped his talons and vanished before reappearing outside his cottage, a violent burst of chaotic energy drawing his attention skyward to a sight only he could see.

"Well, that's three down," he muttered to himself, his frown replaced by a small smile as the flare of chaotic energy began to die down, "I wonder how many more it'll take?" he snorted, "here's hoping the gamble pays off. If he can save even one world with my 'gift' then good on him, but I doubt even that'll be enough."

With yet another snap he disappeared from the Realm of Chaos entirely, popping back into existence in the cloudless afternoon sky above Ponyville. He surveyed the peaceful scene of ponies going about their business with a contemplative expression. He turned to the large crystalline tree castle in the distance after a moment and gave a long weary sigh before cracking his neck a few times.

"I hope those two appreciate what I've had to go through to help them out," he grumbled irritably, "giving power is easy, but making sure someone doesn't break the fabric of all realities by accident isn't exactly a walk in the park, even for me. I'd rather take advanced courses on rocket science... and I depise science."

He yawned and gave a long languid stretch, before focusing his attention back on the distant castle. A wide smile crossed his face and he snapped his talons, poofing away to his next destination.

Now then, let's see if this fixes the issue, shall we?

Author's Note

Still working on the next chapter of Life is Magic, but I figure it's been long enough since the last chapter of this story so here it is. I'm probably gonna release another chapter of this once its actual turn in the story roster comes around.

??? – [323DAYS]

Several questions were raised in my mind the moment I opened my bleary eyes and saw where I was.

Memories I'd rather have forgotten about what I just went through raced through my mind, but they were quickly and violently shoved to the side as I looked around me. I'd opened my eyes to see the night sky sitting high above me, which wasn't strange, but the moment I opened my eyes, I did get a sense that something was horribly off, and it turned out I was right on the money because when I sat up to get a better look at my surroundings I found myself sitting in the middle of a road. It wasn't just any old fashioned road either, but an honest to goodness asphalt road—like the kind you drive vehicles on.

On either side of the road were concrete sidewalks, and next to those, illuminating the entire length of the street in their bright yellow-orange glow were rows of street lights. On one side past the sidewalk and behind a chain-link fence that also ran the length of the road was a long line of pale green palo verde trees and some open desert. On the other side of the street, past that sidewalk, was some neighborhood cut off from the road by a brick wall that stretched on and on until you couldn't see it anymore.

Now, maybe this could've been some modern Earth-like version of Equestria with technology equivalent to what we had nowadays, but there was a problem with that theory. The biggest problem was that I actually recognized this street. This wasn't some 'Earth-like' version of Equestria, this was Earth. Specifically, Arizona—even more specifically Tucson. Even more specifically, this was a road I used to walk up and down all the time whenever I needed to pick up a game I pre-ordered at Gamestop, back when I lived much closer to the store than I do now—or rather did before I was flung across time and space in the literal blink of an eye. Yes, I knew this road very well, but what I didn't know was why the hell I'd wound up back here of all places.

Seriously, if I was gonna get dropped back into Tucson, why not back at my house instead of this random-ass location?

I should've been ecstatic to not only be back on Earth but deposited right back in my hometown. Hell, I could just walk home if I was so inclined. It would take a few hours on foot, sure, but I walked everywhere I went anyway. My previously horrendous vision meant I wasn't getting a driver's license any time soon. Yeah, I should've been over the moon that I was back, but all I felt was confusion and that troubling sense that I was missing something that would knife me in the neck if I didn't figure out what it was. There were a couple of other factors that stifled the urge to jump for joy at this incredibly bizarre, but not unwelcome development. Namely, the weakly groaning woman laid out not too far from where I was still sitting dumbfounded.

I looked over to the woman splayed out on her back on the street like a murder victim at a crime scene and what I saw only made me further scrunch up my face even more in bewilderment. Even with the thin brown summer jacket, plain black blouse, hip-hugging denim jeans, and the fact that she was human, I would've recognized that uniformly cut, pink striped indigo hair anywhere. Could it have been some other woman I bumped into who just happened to be enough of a fan of Twilight Sparkle to dye her hair like her mane? Possibly. Was that likely to be the case? Hell no, not under these circumstances. No, it didn't take me long at all to put two and two together; that was, without a doubt, Twilight Sparkle, and I was willing to bet a shitload of money that I didn't have that it was the same Twilight Sparkle I spent roughly a month trapped in a dimensional bubble with.

And of course, she looks damn good as a human too, naturally.

It really was just what I would've expected from this kind of situation; flawless cream-colored skin, a beautiful visage with a slightly Asian bent, curves in all the right places but nothing really all that far removed from reality in terms of proportions—essentially the perfect isekai heroine waifu come to life. The sight was so ridiculously on point I had to bite back an incredulous chuckle. Instead, I settled for a roll of the eyes and another suspicious scan of my surroundings while I waited for Twilight to fully come around, which didn't take too much longer. She groaned and stirred for another few seconds before her violet eyes finally blinked themselves open.

"Buh... w-what..." she slowly sat up and raised a hand to her forehead before looking around in a daze, "where... what's going on?" her eyes found me and she blinked again, "...Sal?"

"Yo," I raised a casual hand in greeting, "so I'd ask you not to freak out, but—"

"Wait..." she patted her forehead a few times and with each head pat, her eyes widened with growing panic and bewilderment, "w-wait a minute, where's my horn? Salvatore, where's my—"

she paused as the realization continued to set in and lowered her delicate hand down to eye level. There were a few seconds of shocked silence, and then she made this kind of sharp high pitched half-squeak half-grunt that, combined with the look on her pale face, would've had me rolling in any other instance. The freak out happened about a second later and yes, it was just as you'd expect from someone like Twilight; lots of yelling, loads of arm-flailing, tons of incomprehensible babble, far too much grabbing me by my favorite black fur coat and shaking me like a dog.

I tried to interrupt a few times, but she just verbally rolled right over me, and honestly, I had a few things I needed to think about on my own anyway, so I just sighed in resignation and let her burn herself out. I knew she would eventually, and though I had just as many questions as she did, I could wait a minute or two. Nothing had happened yet, and it was starting to seem like nothing was going to, and after that thought hit me, I suddenly, finally realized what was off about our predicament—aside from the obvious I mean. Thankfully, this realization came around the time Twilight started doing that deep-breathing, hand-to-chest thing that meant she was about to calm down. Her breath was shaky, and I could tell she was still far from okay with her current... condition, but she wasn't panicking anymore and I figured now was as good a time as any to say something, so I took the opportunity to try and explain what little I did understand about the situation.

But before that...

"Hey," I began carefully, "you good now? Well enough to talk for a bit?"

"Well enough I think, yeah," she croaked after a minute. She swallowed and let out a quick sigh before looking over to me, "where are we, Salvatore? What happened?"

"I know exactly where we are, and... come to think of it, you should too if you give it some thought," I answered before getting to my feet, "but first let's get out of the street, then we can talk about the 'where' and the 'what'. Standing around in the middle of the road makes me kinda nervous. Here, c'mon."

I held out a hand to Twilight, who stared at it for a second, then gave me a bemused frown before reaching out and grabbing hold with a muttered word of thanks. I pulled her up and together we quickly made our way over to the sidewalk closest to the brick wall. As we walked, I watched Twilight out of the corner of my eye, checking to see if she'd figure out where we were on her own. To my slight disappointment, she was too busy pensively staring at her hands to pay anything else much attention. I couldn't blame her really; I probably would've freaked out myself if I actually got turned into a pony. Sure I'd toyed with the notion before myself, but ultimately I was glad I'd gotten HiE'd as a human at the very least.

Though that still might be subject to change. I mean, look what happened to Twilight the poor girl must be having an existential crisis or something.

But contrary to what I thought, that didn't seem to be the case if her expression was anything to go by. In fact, as I watched, the look on her face as she continued to stare at her hands grew somewhat stormy; she'd clenched her hands into fists by the time we reached the sidewalk and that beautiful visage was twisted into an ugly scowl. That wasn't a look of existential crisis, that was the look of somebody who realized exactly what was going and was pissed about it.

What the hell happened to her after she vanished?

I was going to ask her about it aloud, but then...

"...Discord."

The name came out in a near whisper, but the venom in her voice carried more than well enough for me to hear. It was so loud in fact, that I couldn't help but wince a little at her tone. It really was unpleasant, and the fact that I hated being around angry people didn't help matters. I got enough shit from pissed off customers when I was working call center jobs as a customer service agent, and I had no desire to deal with it face to face if I didn't have to... but I'm getting way off-topic.

Discord, though... yeah, of course it was Discord... Goddammit.

"So that's why you vanished back there then?" I decided to ask anyway, "Discord pulled you out and left me to die, is that about right?"

"Huh? Oh!" Twilight turned to me, looking as though she'd just remembered I was even there, "Oh, geez, I'm sorry, Salvatore! I was—I mean... I didn't mean to leave you there all alone, but Discord, he—"

"Yeah, I get it. It's not your fault Discord is an asshole," I assured the mare-turned-human, "just... relax and tell me what happened to you first, then we'll figure out the rest. I assume Discord is the reason you wound up here with me?"

It looked like she was about to start babbling again, but then she took a deep breath instead and thankfully managed to compose herself for the most part.

"Yes, yeah he is... okay... alright so," she paused a second to collect her thoughts, then, "when I... the moment I tried to fix your eyes I felt this weird... pull, like I was being yanked in every direction at once, and then... I blacked out I think, and when I woke up..."

From there she proceeded to tell me about what happened after Discord ripped her from her own Equestria. She told me about how Discord did very much leave me to die... again. She told me the truth about what—or rather who—had screwed her Equestria over so bad and how they'd done it; I hadn't expected it to be Chrysalis, but I wasn't surprised either. Twilight had to recompose herself a couple of times throughout her explanation, particularly when she talked about Spike's death and the supposedly horrifying things going on outside the dimensional barrier, things Discord had shown to her just to make a point. That last one made me slightly uncomfortable, if only because it sounded like something I would've put her through in one of my stories. I did have a tendency to put my protagonists through more trauma than they probably needed to, and since most, if not all of my stories put Twilight in that role... well...

Oof...

"...and now I'm here with you because that's what he wanted," Twilight finished, her eyes once again drawn to her own body and a look of... I wasn't really sure what on her face. Whatever the look was, it changed to something more thoughtful a minute later, "he said it would be better for both of us if I traveled along with you. He didn't really give me a choice in the matter, but..."

She trailed off and looked around her, probably giving some actual thought to where she was for the first time since she woke up. Once she was calm enough to actually think about her surroundings, it didn't take very long for the light of recognition to show in her eyes.

"Wait... I think I do know this place," she turned to me, eyes wide with disbelief, "Salvatore, isn't this... isn't this your world? This is Earth, right?"

"Yup," I replied readily, "well, maybe. There's something weird going on though, so I actually have my doubts as to whether that's the case, or if this is Tucson, then something strange definitely happened."

"Really?" Twilight asked worriedly, "what do you think happened?"

"I don't know, but it's too damn quiet," I tried to explain, "and there's no cars or people or... anything. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but everything feels... static. It's not a normal silence either, it's like... the kind of stifling silence in one of those, um... ah, shit what were they called..." I snapped my fingers a few times as I tried to remember, "those soundproof rooms—anechoic chambers! That was it."

"Huh, now that you mention it..."

Twilight furrowed her brow and took another look around. I had to raise an eyebrow when she reached up to grab one of her ears in confusion, then it dawned on me and I had to laugh a little.

"Twilight, human ears don't move when they're trying to listen for something like yours do—did," I paused, "well, that's not entirely true I guess; there are some rare instances where..." I paused again, "...you know what, nevermind. You get my point though, right? That something's definitely off?"

"Um... right, I think so," Twilight replied, trying to shake off my stupid tangent. She frowned in thought, "well thankfully, while I removed your more... personal memories from my mind, I actually did keep a lot of information about your hometown of... Tucson, right? Tucson, Arizona?"

"Yup, and do you know where we are specifically?" I asked.

"More or less," Twilight answered after another few seconds of thought, and some more scanning of the area, "I also know that there should be tons of cars going by, even at night... I'm pretty sure you're right, Salvatore. Something certainly feels off, and I think it might have something to do with magic."

"You can tell?"

Twilight's frown deepened and she closed her eyes.

"Sort of... this human body," she began, "it's... it feels weird, but not unnatural. I should feel like a complete stranger in my own skin... but I don't, and I think that's what disturbs me the most about it. I don't know what Discord did to me—to us, but as far as I can tell, I only have my connection to magic insofar as I can still feel it around me."

"Oh?" I asked curiously, "you already tried using magic? When did you—"

"While we were crossing the street," she explained, "I tried to focus the way I normally do at first, but since I don't have my horn anymore I didn't really know how," she shook her head and her expression turned somewhat pained, "I tried to use my hands as a catalyst because I remember from your memories that human mages in fantasy fiction sometimes cast magic from them, but that didn't work either, and now I don't know what to do," she looked at her hands again, "Discord... he said he'd give me my horn back, he was supposed to return my magic to me..."

"Hey, now c'mon," I tried, "look, there's still a lot we don't know about our situation. Let's just take it one step at a time and figure things out as we go," I gestured to her body, "If it helps, I highly doubt this is a permanent thing knowing Discord, so just bear with it for a bit until we can find out what the hell's actually going on, alright?"

She gave my words some thought, then gave them a bit more thought, then finally, after what felt like a couple of minutes of awkward silence, she gave a slow, hesitant nod.

"I guess you're right," she relented, "it wouldn't help either of us if I lost hope now, and... and I do want to help," she raised her head and looked me in the eye, "I'm still not fully convinced that I couldn't do anything to..." she trailed off again, her face growing pale and her expression frozen in horror. Her next words came out in a hoarse whisper, "to... save my world... oh sweet Celestia, it's gone, isn't it? It's really gone..."

Her words stabbed at both of us like a knife in the gut.

Whatever she was going to say was drowned beneath a sudden wave of despair at the realization that she no longer had a home to go back to. She was homeless in just about every sense of the word—a creature forced into the life of a multiversal drifter alongside me by one very fucked up draconequus. For my part, I'd completely glossed over the fact that her world was destroyed because it had happened three times now, and I hadn't given any thought at all to what that meant to Twilight. To be fair, the fact hadn't registered for her either until just now, but that didn't change the fact that I felt like garbage. If what Discord had shown Twilight was true, then her world probably really was fucked, but even if that were the case, it was still her home at the end of the day.

Her ashen expression was enough to remind me of the gravity of what I was doing—of what Discord was making me do. It reminded me that I couldn't just hop from universe to universe destroying worlds and not expect some kind of blowback for my actions, intended or not. The fact that Twilight was here and hurting was a living testament to that fact, and there were probably other consequences that I wasn't even aware of behind the scenes. In the end, all I could really do here and now was try my damndest to comfort Twilight, and that's what I tried to do.

"Hey... look, Twilight I—"

Something in my inner coat pocket vibrated twice in quick succession.

Knowing instantly what that sound meant, I reached into my pocket to find my Note9—a Note9 I distinctly remember not being there before. Horribly confused, I pulled it out just as it vibrated again and tried to unlock it. Sure enough, it was definitely my Note9 and it was at full charge to boot. Upon checking, I saw that I had two new text messages from... I had no idea. Where the contact name or phone number should've been there was just a blank space and the message preview only showed a bunch of garbled nonsense. Wary, but almost certain this was something I needed to see, I hit the blank contact and frowned at the two wordy messages in front of me.

[Welcome back, Salvatore. I'd imagine you must feel either incredibly refreshed or horribly delirious after sleeping for so long—323 days, in fact, quite a feat! Either way, you're finally awake, and that means we can meet face-to-face. We have a great many things to talk about, after all. You, Miss Sparkle, and I.]

[Also, forgive me for the inconvenience, but due to your unique condition I couldn't bring you any closer to your home than where you wound up. I imagine you'll want to return, so I'll be waiting to greet you and Miss Sparkle once you both arrive. You two must have a great many questions and you'll only have more as you travel, but I will be happy to explain everything, though try not to take too long. I believe I've spent enough time waiting for you to awaken as it is.]

And that was it, two messages sent by some anonymous dude that was apparently squatting at my place while I was away. Not only that, but apparently he'd known who the two of us were and had the answers we needed. I knew this scenario, and if it was anything like what I imagined, I could probably at least trust that whoever this was was probably telling the truth to some extent. Still, a text message? And he'd said I'd been asleep for how many days?

Just... what the actual fuck?

Author's Note

No, this isn't a one-off, I actually am moving the story forward along with all my other stories. So rejoice! :twilightsmile:

Or not, I don't mind either way.

Earth(?) – The Long Road Home

Who would've thought returning back home after what I'd been through would be an even more surreal experience than visiting—and dying in—the places I was forcefully whisked away to? Yeah, hopping from horrible Equestria to horrible Equestria was fantastical in a horrifying sort of way that I never wanted to experience again, but this was different.

I had returned to my hometown only to find everyone in it gone without a trace—like the Rapture had come and the Good Lord just decided that there was room in Heaven for all saints and sinners alike. I wasn't exactly a religious guy and even if I was, certain prior events caused by a certain chaotic being would've been more than enough to shake my faith to pieces. That being the case, I was skeptical of the Rapture theory for a number of reasons.

The first being that there were no clothes left behind which—okay so maybe God wanted everyone to keep their dignity intact—but then if that was the case, what about the missing vehicles? There were none to be seen anywhere; not on the streets, not in the parking lots I passed... nowhere. The other, more prominent reasons were, of course, what had happened prior to my awakening, how I'd gotten here, and the mare-turn-woman who'd been walking beside me for the last hour or so lost in a haze of mixed emotions.

And then there was that mysterious text message I received. That alone was more than enough to convince me that this was no biblical end-times event. Then again, who knows? Maybe this mysterious being was God. Hell, maybe I really had died and was being forced to play some kind of game to bring everyone back including myself. Maybe this guy was Discord's flunky, working with the bastard to fuck me over.

Return to the place you once called home. You have 240 minutes. Fail and face erasure.

"What's so funny?"

I turned to see Twilight eyeing me with a frown that was equal parts curious and surly. That'd more or less been her default look since we started our journey back to my house, or rather my one-room flat. It seemed me randomly chuckling out of nowhere wasn't helping her sour mood any. I couldn't blame her really; this wasn't exactly a laughing matter we found ourselves in and she had every right to be worried, especially given her own circumstances.

"No it's nothing, sorry," I replied somewhat sheepishly, "just... letting my mind wander somewhere stupid is all," after a brief pause I decided to change the subject, "so... how are you holding up?"

Once we started off Twilight had started in with the questions about anything and everything that had to do with the places we were passing by. I figured she was just trying to distract herself from more depressing thoughts and went along with it, but then she went silent maybe five or so minutes ago. She looked pensive so I didn't bug her about it, thinking she might be trying to process everything, but now that she was distracted I took the opportunity to find out what was up—as if I didn't already know.

"I... I don't know, Salvatore," Twilight answered quietly after a moment, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the possibility that my world is gone. I want to focus on helping you, but my thoughts always come back to that possibility," she turned to me with a forlorn expression, "even if I'm able to help you deal with... whatever this is, what am I supposed to do afterward? If my universe really was destroyed where am I supposed to go?"

After a few seconds of silence, I blew out a heavy breath. The guilt I felt for what my death had caused was still there, but I knew better than to blame myself for something I had no control over. We were both victims of Discord's stupid schemes but hearing Twilight lay out her issue like that, it really hit home that she'd lost a lot more than I had and a lot of that was even before I came along.

And so I found myself thrust into the role of emotional support once again. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't want to help, but I'm not exactly a social butterfly who can spit wisdom and words of encouragement at the drop of a hat. Granted my job for the last five or six years entailed talking to one person after another, but that was over the phone and in a professional setting. At the end of the day, I was still an introvert, but I had to say something, so...

"Honestly? I'm not too sure," I finally replied after another short stretch of silence, "there's still a lot we don't know, and I get the feeling this mess is far from over. I'm pretty sure we'll get some answers from whoever this guy is, but I'm also positive those answers are just gonna raise more questions," I shrugged, "in the end, all we can do right now is deal with things as they come. I'm sure it'll all work out in the end."

"...You really believe that?" Twilight asked, clearly unconvinced, "you think after everything that happened to us, things are going to be okay?"

"Hey, I may not look or act it, but I'm an optimist at heart," I answered with another small shrug, "my motto's always been 'it'll work out', and it always does eventually."

"Sounds to me like you've just been lucky," she muttered darkly, "not everypony has the luxury to be able to say that and mean it... and you do, don't you?"

"Well yeah," I replied easily, "I mean you might be right and I've just been lucky to have things work out all my life, but that kind of mindset I think can only help in situations like this. I understand the gravity of what we're going through, but I don't let it bother me so much that I become paralyzed because—"

"Because you honestly believe things will work out in the end," Twilight finished with a slow nod, "you just... forge on ahead with the assumption that everything will be fine once all is said and done," a small rueful smile crossed her face, "I think I get what Discord was talking about now."

"What's that?" I asked curiously, "what did Discord say? Was it something else about me?"

"It wasn't anything important," she said with a small shake of her head, "but I don't know if I could get behind that kind of mentality, letting things be as they are and waiting for things to get better on their own."

"Hey it's not like I've never had to work to make things better," I said raising my hands, "granted I've never had to work all that hard, but that's only because I generally try to find the easiest way out of a bad situation," I paused, "...and no, that doesn't include suicide. I don't consider trying to fight against your self-preservation instincts to be one of the easy routes to take."

"But what if there isn't an easy way, Sal?" Twilight pressed.

"Then you just hang in there until an opportunity presents itself," I replied, "it's not ideal, but it's worked for me."

"But that doesn't work for everypony!" Twilight argued, "there won't always be an opportunity or if there is, it might come too late. The mind and body can only take so much before one or both break and then you start thinking suicide isn't such a bad idea."

I opened my mouth to reply, but I didn't really have an answer to give to that. She was right, of course. I'd never had to experience the kind of emotional pain that made you want to off yourself but I knew well that there countless people that went through that kind of pain every day. I knew that—I could acknowledge that not everyone could live like I did given the myriad problems plaguing the world, but even so...

"There was a time when I thought everything would be okay as long as my friends were by my side," Twilight continued in a small voice, "then they all died and I was left to fend for myself for three years. Three years, Salvatore. I held out hope that somepony would come and pull me from that Tartarus."

"But—"

"I tried to send for help so many times, but I could never get through the barrier and nopony ever came," she interjected, "eventually I just... gave up. You have no idea how close I was to ending things on my own terms before you showed up, Sal."

"But I did show up, didn't I?" I countered, "despite losing hope, you still hung in there for those three years and it paid off... sort of. Yeah, it was pure luck on both our parts—at least I think it was—but in the end, someone did show up."

"And I'm so grateful that you did, Salvatore, really," Twilight replied earnestly, "I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to thank you enough for being there when I had nopony and no hope left, but even then we were still stuck there. If Discord hadn't interfered when he did... if I'd failed to—"

"If Discord hadn't interfered, then I'm sure you would've come up with another way to get us both out of there eventually," I continued, "and he did get you out of there, even if it wasn't exactly in the way either of us were expecting or hoping for. I know you're not sure if that was the best outcome, but in my honest opinion I think he ultimately did you a favor."

"But we were making progress!" Twilight shot back heatedly, "sure I might've failed to unlock the chaos magic within you, but if all went according to plan we could've—"

"We could've escaped the barrier to find exactly what Discord showed you," I finished, throwing my hands up, "or we could've blown ourselves up in the attempt or yeah, maybe things would've been just fine, who knows? I don't know for sure, but given the worlds that Discord's been sending me to and most likely plans to send me to in the near future, I'd bet all my chips on the worst possibility. These worlds are supposed to be part of the 'Grimverse' after all, remember?"

Twilight went to respond but froze partway through. I could practically see the gears turning in her head at my words. I know she knew that little nugget of information because she'd seen the entirety of that conversation I had with Discord in my mind. It took a moment but eventually, her shoulders slumped and a look of defeat crossed her face.

"You're right," she finally muttered, "I didn't want to believe it but even if it wasn't entirely true, everything before my friends and I were imprisoned in Ponyville didhappen exactly as that fake Chrysalis described," she looked at me with a humorless smile, "when I look at it that way, it isn't a stretch to think things might've escalated to what I saw with Discord."

Aw dammit...

Here I was trying to be supportive and in the end, I just laid out the facts and probably wound up making her feel worse. That was the look of someone who'd just completely given up on life... or so I thought.

"You know... I'm kind of relieved and a little embarrassed," she said, wiping her eyes of the tears that had finally started to fall, "if I had just thought about it for a minute, I would've realized Discord was probably telling the truth back then, but I was so overwhelmed that I... I guess in the end I just didn't want to accept it, that I probably couldn't do anything to save Equestria."

"Right..." I agreed uncertainly, "and given the circumstances, I think things wound up working out for the best," I gathered up my remaining positivity and continued, "yeah you lost your home, but remember that we're working with Discord and chaos magic here. Nothing is set in stone and anything can change for better or for worse. You're still here, alive, and now we have a chance to make things better, right?"

I found the last line a bit groan-worthy, but it was the best I could think of at the moment, and it seemed to work because Twilight nodded in agreement.

"Discord told me something else," she said in a shaky yet somewhat lighter tone than before, "he told me chaos magic, more often than not, provides you with what you need rather than what you want."

"Mmm... I'm not sure about that one," I replied skeptically, "he's probably just spouting more bullshit, but then again he's the expert so I suppose it might be true. It'd be nice if it was true, that's for sure."

I thought back to what Discord had done to my eyes and had to wonder just why I 'needed' all the crazy hallucinations. I guess without them, Twilight wouldn't have tried to fix my eyes and none of this would've happened, but no, that wasn't entirely true, was it? Discord could've yanked either of us out of that Equestria at any time whether Twilight tried to use chaos magic or no, so what the hell was the deal with the hallucinations?

And where the hell did my glasses go anyway?

It took some time for me to realize they'd gone missing due to everything that happened immediately after I arrived at the library, but once everything had calmed down I tried searching for them to no avail. They just... vanished into thin air. I guess it was fine given I could see just fine now. In fact, I wasn't sure if this was how it was for everyone with twenty-twenty vision, but I had no problems seeing anything in the dark. Like, at all.

I'm pretty sure I already mentioned it before, but it was... refreshing.

"I'm going to believe that it is true. It'll make things easier to accept I think," said Twilight, bringing me back to reality. "I still need a little more time to come to grips with... all of this, but I'll do what I can to try and move on."

"Glad to hear it, because I'll probably be relying on you a hell of a lot more than you will me," I replied truthfully, "I might not have crippling night blindness anymore, but as far as I know I'm still a klutz and between the two of us, I'm not gonna be the one winning the IQ Award here."

"Well, I'm glad you think so highly of me," she said with a roll of her eyes, "but lest you forget, I'm just as clueless and as powerless as you are right now. I hate to admit it, but I'm completely out of my depth here, Sal."

"Sure, but I highly doubt things are gonna stay that way for long," I countered, "in fact, if my hunch is right, things are gonna get a lot more interesting once we meet our mysterious intruder."

"How do you figure?" Twilight asked curiously, "from the... text message, it seemed like whoever it was just wanted to talk."

"Not really sure how it'll go exactly," I said with yet another shrug, "but I'm pretty sure it'll be a magical experience in the most literal sense of the word. Like I said though, it's just a hunch. For all I know he really does just want to talk."

"Hmm..." Twilight hummed thoughtfully before suddenly turning back to me with a weird twinkle in her eye, "speaking of which, can I see your phone again?"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Yeah, why not?" I sighed, pulling the device in question back out of my jacket pocket, "there's no service out here so I'm not really sure what you're getting out of it—especially considering you should already know all about phones—but knock yourself out."

Of course, I was only able to say that after carefully and discreetly uninstalling the Pornhub app. As well as removing the other more questionable things I had on my phone the first time she asked.

Not sure if she really did erase the more unsavory parts of my everyday life from her memory or not, but hey, better safe than sorry, right?

My little disclaimer did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm as she happily swiped the thing from my hand and went to town. Still, if it helped distract her from the darker thoughts she'd probably been harboring before then it was fine with me.

"Knowing about it and experiencing it for myself are two completely different things," Twilight replied distractedly, "you have to remember that we didn't have anything like this back in Equestria. Yes we had some rudimentary machines made for simple calculations and I think some of the ponies at Canterlot Tech were working on something more advanced, but it didn't come anywhere close to this."

"Canterlot Tech?" I asked, raising a brow, "you guys have—had an institute of technology?"

I winced at my choice of words, but thankfully Twilight didn't seem to notice, caught up in whatever it was she was doing on my phone as she was.

"Well, officially it's known as the Royal Institute of Technology," she explained casually, "but most just call it Canterlot Tech. I thought about going there a few times, but things didn't exactly work out that way."

"Yeah, I'll bet," I muttered, not wanting to bring too much attention to the fact that she was talking about the place like it still existed. Instead, I looked around and changed the subject, "but yeah, I think we still have about another hour and a half or so before we get to my place so you'll have plenty of time to... do whatever it is you're doing."

When I didn't hear a response I looked over to see Twilight absorbed in whatever she was looking at. Curious I moved a bit closer and took a peek. As it turned out, she'd found the .epub reader I used to read all the light novels and MLP fics I downloaded. I was a bit worried about her seeing the latter, but I decided not to say anything. If she said anything about it I figured I'd cross that bridge if I came to it.

For now, I just chose to focus on the road ahead, wishing I had my headphones and that she had her own phone so that I could listen to my music, or one of the many, many audiobooks I had.

Actually, wait a minute... did she not see that when she was messing around with my phone last time?

"Hey, Twilight, have you checked out the Audible app yet?"

Author's Note

That's right, I've fooled you all! It was all leading up to an ad for Audible all along! :trollestia:

Oh wait, this isn't Youtube... eh, you should download Audible if you haven't anyway. In all seriousness though, this was another chapter that wound up getting a bit more real than I would've liked but hopefully it still turned out okay.

??? – And thus I was Given a New Purpose

I mentioned this once before (maybe twice, I can't remember), but one thing I secretly pride myself on is my tendency to randomly picture myself in ridiculous scenarios that I once would've never thought possible. I kept the habit going so that if on the off chance the impossible ever actually did become reality, I'd be prepared for it—or at the very least I wouldn't be completely caught off guard.

Admittedly, while that kind of mentality has helped significantly in keeping me sane despite my rather harrowing situation, it hadn't really been doing much to keep the rug from being ripped out from under me so far. That was in part why I felt a small sense of relief somewhere in the back of my mind when the 'me' sitting before myself and a very confused and aggravated human Twilight introduced itself.

I felt that small sense of relief because when the initial surprise wore away, I realized that this situation right here was actually more or less a scenario I had already envisioned to some degree. It didn't really hit me until I heard the name 'Apparatus' and thought about what that could mean given what the doppelganger calling itself 'Apparatus' said.

A few different ideas about what Apparatus actually was and what was going on began floating around in my mind as I looked him up and down. A thoughtful grimace pulled at my features and seeing that—and no doubt reading my mind—Apparatus smiled a wry sort of smile.

"I'll give you points for one of your assumptions, as it is half correct," he said suddenly, amused, "but I can't go revealing the whole picture. Not yet anyway," he shrugged somewhat apologetically and returned his focus back to his ceaseless work, "I can assure that you don't need to worry about what I'm writing. It isn't your story, nor is it Twilight's or even DIscord's for that matter."

"But it is a story," I surmised, positing my response as a statement rather than a question.

I briefly saw Twilight look from me to Apparatus out of the corner of my eye, the strain of trying to make sense of the current circumstances clearly visible on her face. She looked liked she was literally ready to explode with the effort of holding back her questions and for an instant, I thought she was going to just let them fly and damn the consequences, but thankfully Apparatus spoke first.

"I guess you could technically call it a story, sure. Yeah... just a very long and tedious story," he replied casually. He cast Twilight a side glance, briefly locking eyes with the distraught mare-turned-woman, "hey, feel free to come and take a look if you're that curious. It's not like I'm transcribing some ancient forbidden eldritch text or anything."

"W-What? Me? But I..."

Twilight, obviously unprepared for the invitation, turned to give me an apprehensive look. Her demeanor shifted immediately from frustrated confusion to something more wary and indecisive. I could understand how she felt and could really only shrug my shoulders in much the same way as my furiously typing counterpart.

"There probably isn't any harm in just looking," I replied, answering Twilight's unspoken question, "call it a gut feeling, but I think you'll be okay."

It wasn't like I didn't have my own reservations—the guy was wearing my face after all, but something in the back of my mind was telling me that Apparatus was relatively benign. Of course, there was always the chance that his request (demand?) could land us in another pile of shit, but I didn't think Apparatus himself meant us any harm. I had no basis for that notion other than a hunch, just like I'd told Twilight, but... well... there it was.

Twilight took in my words silently and her frown turned pensive for a long moment. Then, evidently deciding my input wasn't good enough, she took a deep, calming breath, turned back to Apparatus, and replied with a healthy dose of skepticism in her tone.

"I think I'll just take your word for it and keep my distance if it's all the same," she said, shaking her head and fixing the still bespectacled me with a level stare, "more to the point, you said you needed us to do something, but I think it's only fair that you answer at least a few of our questions first."

I raised an eyebrow at the rather bold demand but didn't say anything, deciding to see how things played out. If this guy wanted to roleplay as me, I figured he'd most likely give the same answer I would've in this instance, and sure enough...

"Yeah I guess that is only fair," he conceded without any kind of hesitation, "I brought you here unannounced after all. Granted you both probably would've died immediately after Discord sent you on your way had I not intervened, but that's neither here nor there," he gave another shrug, this one dismissive, "alright, go on shoot, what do you wanna know first?"

Oh, don't act like you weren't gonna explain our situation all along, asshole.

A small smirk crossed Apparatus' face as he once again read my thoughts. The expression somehow went completely unnoticed by Twilight but I saw it, and I recognized it as the smirk of someone who knew they were making things more difficult than they had to be just for laughs. It gave off the same sort of vibe as when I'd tease my sister and her kid, my niece, just to get under their skin.

Watching him do that to Twilight, I felt a pang of... something in my stomach. It wasn't sadness or nostalgia or homesickness or anything like that. Yeah, it had been a while now since I was chaos spirited away by Discord, but I'd already been living apart from my family for some time before all this madness. I couldn't describe what I felt but I didn't think it was exactly a negative emotion, whatever it may have been.

I was still trying to mentally sort out those feelings when Twilight's response pulled me back to the conversation.

"This place," Twilight began, sweeping a hand over the room as if to indicate everything within, "this world... it's not real, right? It's something you created?"

"In a manner of speaking," Apparatus replied, "the pieces were already there, I just... y'know... put 'em together. Figured it might be better for Sal to have something familiar to wake up to," he glanced over to me for a second, "although I guess it kinda did come off as a bit creepy with no people around to greet you, huh?"

"Kind of, yeah," I answered before pulling out the phone I'd taken back from Twilight, "and what's the deal with this? Everything else here is clearly fake, but this?" I nodded towards the laptop and the other electronics, "all of this? It's all functional?"

"I mean, I wouldn't call it all fake exactly," Apparatus said, sounding somewhat offended for some reason, "the world outside is real, but it's all just... stripped down to its most basic framework so to speak."

"And what does that mean exactly?" Twilight asked.

Her expression and tone were still cautious but I could see her eyes light up with thinly disguised curiosity at his explanation.

"Sorry, you're gonna have to figure that one out on your own," Apparatus answered. He ignored Twilight's incensed response and nodded in my direction, "as for everything in here, I pulled it all directly from your room back in the Tucson you came from... well, minus the phone and headphones. Those I managed to swipe back from under Discord's snout."

"Ah... so the son of a bitch did take my shit," I frowned in irritation as I looked at the device, then I turned that frown back to Apparatus, "and I suppose you're not gonna tell me how you did all of that?"

"Got it in one," he replied a little too enthusiastically for my liking, "and let's be honest, you don't really care howI did it, you're just glad that I did it, right? Tell me I'm wrong."

"No, I suppose not," I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, "and you say that, but you're still wearing my headphones."

"Right, right," he replied lazily before using one hand to pull the headphones in question from his neck and toss them over to me. He continued speaking as if I hadn't been gracelessly fumbling to catch the bulky headphones, "and before you ask, no I can't send you back to your own world. It was enough of a hassle just setting all this up and getting your stuff back."

"Really?" Twilight suddenly pressed, "you can take all of this from his home but you can't bring him back?"

Hearing the obvious dubiety in her tone, Apparatus frowned in annoyance.

"Look, if I could, I'd send Salvatore back to where he came from in a heartbeat. I'd put your Equestria back together and I'd even go so far as to put you in a position to stop what already came to pass even before Salvatore showed up... but I can't," he groused, then sighed, "yes, I have the power to do all of that and more. I've got mystical godlike powers the likes of which neither of you or even Discord could possibly hope to comprehend, but those powers don't exactly belong to me."

Then, before either of us could reply, he stopped typing altogether and fully turned in his chair to face us. Just like that, the room suddenly filled with tension so palpable it literally made me sick to my stomach. My entire body started to shake and I could feel myself breaking out in a cold sweat. Next to me, I could hear Twilight let out a small whimper, but that was it. I couldn't turn to face her, I couldn't say anything, I couldn't do anything.

Twilight and I were both frozen like deer caught in the headlights, unable to take our eyes off the unfathomable being posing as a simple fanfiction writer. Though his expression was more serious than I'd seen it so far, it was still far from severe, and when he spoke his tone was only mildly annoyed, like someone having to explain a simple concept for the third or fourth time.

"As I told you before, I might as well be a slave, and I'm on a very tight leash," he began, speaking slowly and clearly, "I want to help you two, I really do, but my options—like yours—are extremely limited right now. Hell, the two of you aren't even supposed to be aware of my existence. If the Almighty Powers that Be catch wind of our little get-together... well... the consequences don't really bear thinking about."

There was a beat of silence in which Apparatus seemed to be expecting a reply of some sort. He must've realized the effect he was having on us because a moment later he rolled his eyes, gave an exasperated sigh, and returned his hands to the keyboard. The instant his fingers hit the keys the overwhelming pressure completely dissipated.

"Messing around with electrical devices and other inanimate, inorganic objects is one thing," Apparatus continued as I struggled to catch a breath I hadn't even known I'd been holding, "but there are a lot more rules when it comes to living creatures like you and Twilight."

What the hell is... no, you know what? I don't think I even wanna know what kind of thing this guy is anymore.

"I brought all this stuff here mostly due to boredom while I waited for you both to show up," he explained, sounding more nonchalant than I would've guessed given his own circumstances, "think of me returning the phone and headphones as a sort of gesture of goodwill."

"A-And..." I coughed once and started again, "and... the whole doppelganger bit? What's that all about?"

I decided not to dwell on the implications of what I'd heard and the potential scale of even meeting who or whatever Apparatus was. I didn't want to think about these 'Almighty Powers that Be', nor did I want to know what consequences Apparatus was talking about. All I wanted to do was take Twilight and get the hell out of here before Apparatus got in trouble and by extension, somehow screwed us over.

Unfortunately, I was pretty sure we were completely at his mercy and even if we could escape, I had no idea where we'd go or how we'd get there. So, in light of the situation, I did what I could to shove my unease down as far as it would go and trusted that Apparatus wasn't so incompetent as to get himself caught. There were still questions to be answered after all and Apparatus seemed to be all too happy to provide, well... some answers anyway.

"Ah, asking the important questions I see," Apparatus chuckled, "part of the reason I look like this is that I kind of need the disguise. The reason I chose this form specifically was to fuck with the two of you... but y'know..." his face suddenly turned thoughtful, "your body feels oddly comfortable... like slipping into a nice, warm, expensive bathrobe fresh out of the dryer."

I grimaced at the last bit and Apparatus laughed at my bemused and frankly disturbed expression.

"Just take it as a compliment, though I doubt you will," he said before shifting his focus over to Twilight, "and as for you..."

Twilight hadn't said anything since her last question, and now that I could actually turn to get a better look at her, she still looked pale and just overall visibly shaken by what had happened earlier. Though now that all attention was on her, she finally spoke again. I was thankful to hear that she sound more steady and confident than she looked.

"My magic," she blurted out before wincing and starting over, "what happened to me, and why isn't my magic working? Did you—"

"Your magic doesn't work here," Apparatus interjected, "not for either of you—and yes, Sal, Discord has deigned to bestow upon you a modicum of his own chaotic magic... magic that you can actually use."

"Holy shit, seriously?!" I asked, my eyes widening and my voice incredulous, "I can actually use it? Like I can snap my fingers and shit happens?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't go getting too excited," Apparatus warned, "I don't think I need to tell you this, but I will anyway just for emphasis: Chaos magic is unpredictable, and this particular boon comes at a price."

"A price," I grumbled with severely reduced enthusiasm, "of course it does."

"Naturally," Apparatus nodded, "ain't no free lunches here, my guy. Yeah, you can use chaos magic now, but by choosing to imbue you with his power, Discord essentially ripped out your humanity and turned you into what we in the business call a 'lesser chaos spirit'."

"A lesser chaos spirit," I repeated, rolling both the words and his implications about what Discord did to my humanity around for a moment before turning to Twilight, "any idea what he's talking about?"

Twilight, for her part, had sunken into a thoughtful silence, brow furrowed as her curious amethyst eyes moved from Apparatus to me, then to the carpeted floor. Both Apparatus and I watched on for a long moment as the gears in Twilight's head continued to turn. It didn't take more than a minute or two for her to give a response though, thankfully.

"Most of what I knew and what most ponies knew about chaos magic weren't much more than theories about how it could work," she explained, "up until now, I thought Discord was the only being who could actually use chaos magic," she shook her head and raised her head to meet my gaze, "I didn't know anything about these 'lesser chaos spirits', but it does make sense, and it might even explain a few things about what was happening to you."

"Yup," Apparatus chimed in, "normally, chaos spirits are born, not made. Even if a mortal like Sal has an affinity for chaos magic, it should've never been able to manifest in the way it did."

"And I suppose that explains the nasty side effects I've been suffering," I surmised, thinking back to what happened on the ship, Discord's excuses when he pulled me back into the Chaos Realm, and the warping of my senses. I gave Twilight a wry grin, "so I guess all those theories you were crafting about the effects of chaos magic on my body were pretty spot on."

"I don't know about that," Twilight replied, casting an uncertain glance in Apparatus' direction, "suddenly I feel like I missed a major step somewhere along the way."

"Eh, you were close enough," Apparatus said, waving a dismissive hand, "the fact of the matter is that Discord had already sealed Salvatore's fate from the moment he turned the poor bastard into a world-destroying nuke. Now you, on the other hand, Miss Sparkle, are a somewhat different story."

"Me?" Twilight's eyes widened and her grown deepened with apprehension, "w-what about me? What did Discord do?"

"I have no idea, to be honest with you," Apparatus said with a look I couldn't quite place. It was something close to interest or curiosity, but somehow not really either of those things, "I'm fairly sure he bound you to Salvatore in some way, but I'm not sure how, nor do I know what effect it'll have on you or Sal once you both arrive at whatever Equestria he's sending you to next."

"Wha—bonded?" Twilight repeated in clear confusion. She gave me a bemused frown—one I returned with a bemused shrug—then turned back to Apparatus, "what does that mean? And how can you tell?"

"I don't know, it's a magic thing," Apparatus shook his head, "you'd be able to tell if you could use magic here, but like I said, your magic is a no-go right now."

"Alright, fair enough, we'll figure that out when we can," I replied, cutting off Twilight's next response in an effort to move things along, "can I also assume Twilight's current form was your doing? Or was that also Discord?"

"That was probably me," Apparatus answered after a moment of thought, "I created this space to act in a very specific way, and her human form is most likely a side effect of the process."

"So once we leave, I'll be back to normal?" Twilight asked hopefully, "I'll be a pony again?"

"Unless Discord did something else to alter your appearance, then yeah, most likely."

Twilight let out a small sigh of relief, but I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. Twilight looked good as a human—damn good even. I didn't expect to fall in love or even lust with the former mare despite her looks, and I didn't mind her as a mare rather than a human. No, that wasn't the issue, it was more that I found it nice to have another human companion with me on this insane journey.

Maybe it was something like a kinship formed from being the same species in a multiverse gone mad? I don't know, but I couldn't help but be a little sad to see human Twilight go. Still, it was what it was, and I wasn't going to complain about it if Twilight preferred her equine form.

Then again, if Discord did do something...

"Now I think it's about time we move on to why I brought you both here in the first place," Apparatus announced, "I've given just about all the answers I can give right now, and thanks to how long it took you two to wake up, we don't have a lot of time left."

"And we'll be sent back to wherever Discord meant to send us when this is over?" Twilight guessed, to which Apparatus nodded without taking his eyes of the laptop's screen.

"This place is just a stopgap that exists outside the multiverse, kinda like the Chaos Realm only more temporary in nature. Once I dissolve it, you'll be back on your merry way to the next hell Discord has in store for you."

Something nagged at me regarding what Apparatus said about the Chaos Realm being outside the multiverse, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was before he spoke again. And what he mentioned pushed the budding thought from my mind entirely.

"So you know those volatile violet crystals you've been ignoring up until now? Yeah, I'm gonna need you to not ignore those anymore."

I blinked.

"O... kay?" I replied uncertainly, "why?"

"Alright, so long story short," Apparatus began, "each of those purple crystals is a shard of a much, much larger construct called the Multiversal Needle, or the Linchpin—whichever name you prefer.

"The Multiversal Needle was made by the Almighty Powers that Be to keep the multiverse from collapsing in on itself—a sort of 'linchpin' meant to hold it all together. Someone or something with not-so-nice intentions tried ages ago to destroy that construct but failed... for the most part. I'm pretty sure you see where I'm going with this?"

Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea.. unfortunately.

"From what I can gather, the asshole managed to break at least some of this Linchpin and the pieces were scattered across the multiverse," I guessed, "now you want me to get them back rather than destroy them?"

"Bingo," Apparatus replied, "and don't give me that look. I'm not expecting you to wander the multiverse for eternity looking for the crystals like a certain scheming draconequus. We already have others sent by the Almighty Powers scouring the cosmos for the pieces and they've already found most of them.

"No, I just need you—and Twilight I guess since she's here—to continue on as you have been for now. We won't see each other again, but you'll hear from me once all is said and done."

"Once all is said and done?" Twilight asked with a frown, "what does that mean?"

"Once all the crystals have been collected," Apparatus answered, "once you have one in your possession, just think of my name and I'll take it off your hands."

"Sounds simple enough," I admitted, "but that raises a couple of questions—namely, what happens to us once we send it? Do we still get shipped off to another Equestria? And for that matter, what's to stop Discord from catching on? If he has some ulterior motive like I think he does, I doubt he'll just sit back and let things be as they are."

"Was he the one that tried to destroy that Multiversal Needle?" Twilight added.

"The trigger for your teleportation from one Equestria to another is the removal of the crystal shard," Apparatus replied, "it doesn't matter if it's destroyed or removed by other means, so long as it doesn't exist in that world anymore so you'll be good to go... literally."

"Wait, now that I think about it, this all means Discord was lying about the universe being bound by those crystals," I surmised, wondering just how much of what Discord told me back then was complete bullshit, "he never expected me to hop from universe to universe forever, just until I destroyed the remaining shards."

But why not just tell me that in the first place? I probably would've been a bit more willing to cooperate if I'd known for sure that there was an end in sight.

Then again, I wasn't—and still am not—cool with the idea of casual universal obliteration...

"Well, you're right about the second part, but the first... not really, no," Apparatus corrected, "I mean, not the crystal shards individually no, but as a whole yeah, that's kind of what they're for. Sort of. Multiverse, not just universe, but that's splitting hairs at this point."

"And what about if Salvatore dies before he finds the shards? What about if I die?" Twilight asked, giving me a worried look, "would that still trigger—"

"Well, I've got good news and bad news where Salvatore is concerned," Apparatus replied with a sigh, "I'll give you the bad news first. The bad news is that yes, Salvatore is still a walking, talking universal nuke, and like I said, you two are bonded. Your fate is tied to his, so if he goes, you go."

"And if for some reason she dies before I do?" I asked.

Apparatus didn't speak for a moment. He kept his eyes on the laptop screen, typing away in silence long enough that started to wonder if he hadn't heard me, but just as I thought that—

"Well now that's an interesting question," he finally replied, "I can tell you she won't stay dead... but that's about I can tell you. And before you go complaining, I mean that's literally all I'm able to tell you. Again, Discord did something weird to Twilight and because of that, I don't know all the details. I'm powerful, but even I don't know and can't see everything."

Twilight and I looked at each other and I grimaced at how desperately she was trying to fight down her growing anxiety. I wished I could do something for her, but this situation was so far out of my hands that it was almost laughable. But then, as I thought that, the beginnings of an idea came to me.

Or maybe it isn't all that impossible...

"So what's the good news?" I decided to ask.

"The good news is that you're a lesser chaos spirit that now has access to the chaos magic within," Apparatus answered, "sure, you can't warp reality to the extent that Discord can—not by a long shot—but if you're clever, you should be able to at least find a workaround to the whole living nuke thing."

Then he turned to look me in the eye.

"And I really suggest finding an alternative ASAP," he warned, "because every time that trigger activates, it sends ripples across the multiverse and everything goes a little more out of whack," he turned back to his work, and continued in a surprisingly spot-on impression of Lumbergh, "so... if you could try a little harder not to die while you're still a walking bomb, that'd be great."

Well, at least there's some hope. Don't know if I could figure out how to get around that on my own, but hopefully Twilight and I could think of some kind of solution...

Oh, who the hell am I kidding? Hopefully, Twilight could think of some kind of solution.

"Getting back to the subject of Discord finding out, you can leave that issue to me," he chuckled, "I can't do much to help you two directly beyond what I'm already doing, but thankfully, that asshole somewhat falls within the limits of what I'm able to interfere with."

"And just how you'll be able to help is on a need-to-know basis, I assume?" I asked.

"You assume correctly, my friend," Apparatus confirmed before nodding to Twilight, "as for your question, no, it wasn't that or any other Discord, but I'm pretty sure the Discord who approached Salvatore is probably working with who or whatever messed with the Linchpin."

Thinking about it, that made sense assuming Discord lied about what he wanted me to do. I had my doubts that the draconequus really expected me to take care of every single Equestria in the 'Grimverse'. If what Apparatus said was true, that only confirmed my suspicions about Discord's motives. Well, only insomuch that I suspected he was lying. I had no earthly idea what he was trying to ultimately accomplish by helping 'Mystery Being X' destroy the Linchpin.

Hell, for all I know, Apparatus is that Mystery Being X.

"I heard that, from both of you."

I looked over to Twilight and raised a brow at the wincing woman. From her reaction, it was clear that I wasn't the only that forgot he could read minds. I was surprised not because I'd again forgotten that Apparatus could read my mind, but rather because Twilight and I were evidently on the same wavelength. Apparatus, for his part, simply gave another exasperated sigh.

"Look, I can't really do or say anything to convince you guys that I'm on the up and up right now—nothing that won't get me in trouble anyway," he said with a hint of an apology in his voice, "but just... if you give me some time and collect at least a few shards for me, I can prove I'm on the level."

There was a tense moment of silence that filled the air. Twilight stared at Apparatus, still looking unsure. I, on the other hand, gave a sigh that sounded very much the same as my inhuman counterpart.

"I don't know what kind of twelfth-dimensional being you are under that skin suit and I don't know how you're gonna pull all this off without getting caught by the 'Powers that Be'," I began, "but that shit's all way beyond me and I've evidently got my own shit to worry about, what with me not technically being human anymore apparently among other things."

And that wasn't even counting Twilight's situation. I mean, the current state of her existence was still up in the air. Once we left this place, who knew what she'd become? I wasn't sure, but I'd bet Twilight herself was scared out of her mind, even if she wasn't showing it outright. But still...

"You're right that I don't trust you after hearing all of this, and I still have a billion other questions that need answering about a lot of things, but I'll at least trust that you know what you're doing... for now."

"It doesn't really seem like we have a choice, Sal," Twilight murmured despondently before addressing Apparatus, "is there anything else you can tell me about.... well... me? Anything about what's going to happen to me once we leave?"

Apparatus continued to type away on the laptop and didn't answer right away. In fact, he took so long to answer that Twilight and I shared concerned glances. She was about to say something, likely to break the uncomfortable silence, but Apparatus finally spoke just then, his voice both serious and sincere.

"The most I can promise you is that you'll have access to your magic again once you leave this place. Whatever Discord did, it was really something else."

Well... that's not ominous or anything.

I gave Twilight a sympathetic look that did nothing to put any color back into her pale face. Before I could even think about giving any words of encouragement, Apparatus continued. This time there was a sense of finality to his words, and those words—somehow more than anything else he'd said so far—filled me with a sense of dread that shoved aside and drowned out the innumerable amount of questions I still wanted to ask.

"I know there's more that you both wanna ask, and truthfully there's more I want to tell you, but we're out of time so I'm sending you on your way," he said, then paused a second, turned to face us, and said almost as an afterthought, "oh, and you've been extremely lucky up until this point, where crystals are concerned, Sal. You might get lucky again, but don't expect those crystals to just be sitting in plain sight for you to nab every time."

I wanted desperately to press for more information. I wanted to ask if he had any idea about where we were going. I wanted to ask just how much he knew about what was going on. I wanted to know more about my evident transformation into a lesser chaos spirit. I wanted to know what the hell he'd been writing about all that time... but I missed my chance.

Before I could give voice to any of my burning questions, Apparatus hit one last key on the keyboard with particular intensity and my world went white for a brief moment. All sound vanished save for a distant, painful ringing, and then everything fell into absolute darkness another instant later.

Author's Note

Wanted to give more info, but I figured there was enough for the moment. Might spread a few more revelations over the course of the next few chapters.

White

Twilight awoke with a sharp gasp, her eyes and wings snapping open in surprise.

No, 'awoke' wasn't quite the right word for what had happened. It felt more as if she'd been shocked out of some sort of stupor she'd been in—like she'd been vaguely aware that she was supposed to be doing something but had lost focus until just now. She swept wide, bewildered eyes over the empty white space around her. Everywhere she looked, she saw nothing but blindingly white nothingness, a place completely devoid of sights or sound.

"H-Hello?" she called out nervously, her voice echoing strangely in her ears, "is anypony here? Where... where am I?"

Was this a dream? A nightmare? Another vision? Or was it something more sinister?

The last thing she remembered was lying down for the night, her mind wandering—as it usually did ever since hers and Luna's meeting with Discord—to her disturbing visions and the dark-skinned bipedal creature seemingly at the center of it all. Several weeks had passed since the aforementioned meeting and Twilight hadn't heard anything whatsoever from Discord during that time about the issue.

It was somewhat disconcerting, though, at the same time, Twilight hadn't actually had any unsettling visions since then either. It was something she was grateful for, and yet something about the lack of visions troubled her almost as much as the visions themselves. Discord hadn't found any kind of resolution as far she knew. Or if he had, he hadn't mentioned anything about it.

If he had found a solution, surely he would've mentioned something right? Twilight liked to think so, but then again, this was Discord she was talking about. As far as he had come in his reformation, he was still Discord and prone to acting in ways that only seemed to make sense to him and him alone. Still, Twilight couldn't shake the feeling that her troubles weren't over.

And now, despite the fear and uncertainty of her current predicament, she couldn't help but feel slightly vindicated in her assertion that something had been off. As much as she'd hoped this was all a dream, it didn't feel like one. She felt very much awake and aware. The space beneath her hooves felt solid though there was nothing there, and all of her senses were on high alert.

"H-Hello?" she called again. She took a single step forward as she spoke, though her hoof made no sound, "can anypony hear me? Is anypony there?!"

Still, there was no response.

After another long moment of silence, Twilight swallowed and took a deep breath before closing her eyes. She had no idea what was going on, but it didn't look like she was in any immediate danger for the time being. With that thought in mind, she tried to push down the fear and analyze the situation with a relatively cool head. Granted there wasn't much to analyze beyond the fact that she appeared to be unharmed.

Thinking back on it, the situation somewhat reminded her of when she had first ascended to alicornhood. The obvious differences, in this case, were the utter lack of warmth she'd felt and the comforting presence of the Princess by her side. Here she was completely alone and at loss for what to do. No matter how she wracked her mind for answers, there was nothing for her to grasp onto.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there in that empty white space pondering and worrying. Ultimately deciding she would get nowhere as she was now, she eventually chose to wander the void. Every so often she would call out in hopes that someone or something would answer, but nothing ever did. She continued to wander for what felt like an eternity and at some point began to despair of ever finding an answer or returning home.

It was as thoughts of never seeing her friends or family again began to cloud her mind that something finally happened. It was nothing visible, but rather a feeling. She felt something in the atmosphere change but had no notion of what that change might've been or even where it had come from. She stood up straighter and her ears perked up, listening for something. Anything.

"Hello?" she called out once more, her tone equal parts hopeful and desperate, "is somepony there?"

This time she did receive a response. A single, melodious chime rang out across the void in response to her desperate inquiry. At that same moment, the air around Twilight rippled with some unseen force, causing her hackles to rise and the skin beneath her fur to tingle oddly. The feeling passed quickly, but Twilight herself had hardly even noticed the sensation, as something else had taken up the entirety of her attention.

The baffled mare stumbled back and fell to her haunches as she tried to take in the sight of her very own cutie mark floating large and imposing before her widened eyes and hanging jaw. The image was undoubtedly the six-pointed magenta-colored star and surrounding white stars she knew so well. It remained static but glowed with a softly pulsing radiance that seemed to emanate from the core of the shape.

" This is..."

Twilight opened her mouth, but any further words failed her and she instead snapped it shut before scrambling back to her hooves. She never once took her eyes off of the massive image, her amethyst irides raking over every inch of it as she tried to comprehend a strange sense of... something. Familiarity? Well, she knew what it was of course.

That it was her own cutie mark was obvious—it wasn't that kind of familiarity. Perhaps 'familiarity' wasn't even the right word. It was a sensation she'd gotten so used to that it hadn't crossed her mind in years, despite how much she relied on the source of what she was feeling. It was a primal emotion of sorts—something between a deep bond and an immutable sense of purpose.

The very first time she'd felt it was when she'd gotten her cutie mark on that fateful day during that disastrous exam. It was the emotional, the thaumic, the spiritual connection to her cutie mark and the talent that came with it that she was feeling. Once Twilight grasped the root of that familiar sensation nagging at her mind it all began to fall into place... or it should've, but something was missing. A great many things, really.

She still had no idea where she was or why or how she'd gotten here. She didn't know why her cutie mark had appeared like this or what it was supposed to mean, but even aside from all of that, there was still something odd about the mark itself. Twilight felt that same familiar connection, but it was wrong in a way she couldn't quite explain.

If she needed something to compare the sentiment to, it would've been like finding out the perfectly perpendicular picture frame you mounted on the wall might actually be tilted ever so slightly to one side. Maybe. Unlike the frame in the analogy, though, Twilight couldn't use a measuring tool to pinpoint and fix the issue she was having. All she could do was frown at the thing, curiosity and frustration beginning to push past her initial bewilderment.

After a moment's thought, Twilight swallowed, her puzzled frown turning into a wary grimace as she took a hesitant step forward. Slowly, ever so slowly, she raised a hoof and reached out toward that familiar, ethereal image. She wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea—in fact, her every equine instinct was telling her she was making a mistake—but just standing there gaping at the thing like a fish wasn't getting her anywhere.

She had to do something.

Maybe, she thought, maybe... a more hooves-on approach is necessary? A-And besides, this is my cutie mark. Whatever's meant to happen, it can't be all that bad if—

Just before Twilight's hoof made contact there was a loud, electrical pop and the image flashed blindingly bright for an instant. The alicorn let out a startled shriek as a tiny arc of lavender lightning snapped out of the floating cutie mark and caught her outstretched hoof. She went rigid as the current of electricity entered and ran through her body. Somewhere in the back of her mind, beyond the pain, years of experience coupled with raw instinct allowed her to realize something.

This isn't electricity... this is... magic? What—

But the thought was cut off as the evidently magical current violently bouncing around her insides reached her brain. The moment that happened, she began to see things. She began to hear things. Sights and sounds flashed through her mind at a speed that made it almost impossible to glean any kind of meaning or context. What little of the unfamiliar scenes she could catch only fueled the confusion within her.

It was like witnessing those horrible visions all over again but fragmented and flashing by at incomprehensible speeds. Twilight felt trapped, locked within her own mind and forced to relive a disjointed past that was not her own. The horrifying experience seemed to go on for an age with no end in sight. Eventually, somewhere along the way, Twilight began to notice something she hadn't before. Amidst the terrifying images and confusing sounds, she started to feel.

Emotions began to well up within her chest—emotions that she somehow knew were not her own, at least not all of them. There was fear. Horror. Anger. Betrayal. Despair. Hatred. There was even a bit of madness mixed in, followed by hope and a growing sense of... relief? A nascent bond of some kind? Mutual understanding perhaps? Twilight couldn't quite tell what the last sensation was, but each emotion crashed into her like a vicious wave one after the other.

She felt like she was beginning to lose herself—like she was becoming somepony else entirely, and a different kind of dread overcame her. It was something raw and existential, and with an internal scream of terror, she tried with every fiber of her being to resist. She tried to push back against that oncoming tide of change, to fight back again the sudden existential invasion.

She wasn't sure how much time passed, but with one final mental push and one last desperate shriek into the void, Twilight felt something snap. The flashing images and cacophonous sounds ceased and she suddenly became entirely herself once more. The weary and shaken mare would've wept literal tears of relief at the outcome, had it not been for the sight that greeted her once she finally opened her eyes.

Where once there had been the monolithic image of her own cutie mark, there now stood the image of another pony. The pony in question was an alicorn—an alicorn that mirrored her own appearance in every way, right down to the expression of complete shock. For a brief moment, Twilight thought it actually was a reflection, but then the other mare blinked before opening her mouth to speak.

"What is this?" she uttered in a small, shaky voice, "you..."

The living reflection paused to look Twilight over briefly. Its eyes seemed to lose focus for a second as its gaze fell upon the wings at her sides. After a second she slowly shook her head in stunned disbelief.

"I don't understand," she muttered before turning to stare at her own wings. She stretched them out, flexing the individual feathers experimentally, "...is this what happens when I die? Or are these the 'chaotic touches' he was talking about?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to blink.

"Chaotic..." she whispered, the word catching in her overtaxed mind. She watched as the other Twilight took in the white void they were now both stuck in. Her thoughts were racing, her mind trying to connect dots she wasn't even sure were there. She was liking less and less where her ruminations were taking her, but as the other Twilight finally refocused her attention on her, she couldn't help them.

"Where's Salvatore?" the reflection suddenly asked. The uncertainty from before had vanished and her gaze had become more focused, her voice clear and firm as she spoke, "and what is this place?" she took a step forward, making Twilight back up in alarm, "I'm guessing you're me from another universe, right? Have you seen Salvatore? Did Discord bring us here? Where is he?"

"I... w-what?" was all Twilight could think to sputter after a moment, "no, I... I don't know what's going on! I just—I woke up here! I don't know any Salvatore and Discord is... he..." she looked around like she was almost expecting the draconequus to pop in any second at the mention of his name, "I don't know... I don't know..."

She fell back to her haunches again and shook her head, the frustration and confusion getting the better of her.

"I don't know! I don't know what's going!" she cried before, "Discord? Salvatore? Other universes?! And this place," she jabbed a hoof in the other mare's direction, "a-and you! You tried to... t-to..." she gave another violent shake of her head and glared at her reflection with unshed tears shining in her eyes, "what in Celestia's name are you?! What is this?!"

The doppelganger had initially reeled back in surprise at the outburst, but as the mare before her began to crack under the weight of this maddening situation, her expression changed. She cycled through a host of emotions ranging from pity to empathy to anger to worry and finally settling on an awkward mix of all of those and more. Before she could apologize or voice any hollow reassurances, her body stiffened.

There was a feeling, a sensation like something was tugging at her very being. It was something hard to describe, but even as she tried to comprehend the sensation it grew more and more insistent, more forceful. Twilight, who'd been waiting for a response to her desperate question, frowned as the reflection froze and its face lit up with some kind of realization. Another second of silence passed between them and before Twilight could ask anything else, the reflection spoke first.

"I'm sorry," the reflection said as its body began to fade. It looked to Twilight with a sad gaze and an apologetic smile, "I can't really give you the answers you're looking for, but if I were you—and I guess I am you—I'd try asking Dis—"

That was as much as she was able to get out before she vanished entirely, her fading remains blowing away like dust in an unseen wind. Twilight was left to stand there, staring at the spot where her reflection—no, her alternate self stood only seconds ago. Now she was alone, again, with far more questions than she had before and still no visible way to escape as the other mare evidently had.

"Somepony," she whispered weakly, "please... get me out of here... let me leave... let me—"

She gasped as something smashed into her awareness like a meteor. Her heart slammed against her ribs and a cold chill shot down her spine as she looked around in a panic. Everywhere she looked she saw the same white nothingness. There was no immediate danger as far as she could tell and yet every nerve in her body was telling her to run now and run fast.

She had sensed it before she heard it, but then the sound came—a slow, steady, rhythmic thrum that came from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was quiet at first, barely more than a distant pounding that she could've easily imagined. Twilight strained her ears, shifting them this and that as she tried and failed to zero in on where the noise was coming from. A minute or so passed and the steady thrum began to grow louder, and her dread grew right along with it.

Without really knowing where to go, she began to move, her hooves moving along the void tentatively at first. Then something somewhere growled. The reverberation from the sound shook the air and Twilight swore she could feel the empty space beneath her scrambling hooves rumble. She was being chased. She didn't know by what or from where it had come, but visible or no, something was hunting her down.

Terror was crushing her in its icy grip and raw equine instinct drove her to gallop as fast as her hooves would allow—all thoughts of flight completely abandoned. The only thing she could see now was the myriad horrific images of her death, all gruesome and inevitable. Her imagination ran as wildly as she herself did, but she didn't dare to look behind her.

She hadn't even been sure that the thing was behind her until she heard the deafening roar. It pushed her to move even faster, drowning out her own screams and swallowing her entire existence. The deep, rhythmic thrum was still there, but she could no longer tell the sound from her own pounding heart. So lost in her own terror was Twilight that she failed to notice the soft fabric of her own mattress beneath her.

So maddened with fear was she that she didn't feel the strong hooves of her stetson-wearing earth pony friend trying with every ounce of her strength to hold her down as she thrashed wildly about. She didn't hear the voices so full of concern or the many pairs of eyes so full of worry. She paid no heed to consolations or repeated certitudes that everything was alright now.

It would be some time yet until Twilight regained her sanity, but she would eventually come to her senses. As her friends and the other Princess' did all they could to calm the fear broken alicorn, Discord watched it all unfold from his humble abode within the Realm of Chaos with a deep frown. Though the experience would leave the mare scarred, Twilight Sparkle would recover, and when she did she would have questions.

Questions that Discord himself would not be able to answer, for no one knew just what had happened to that poor mare or where she had gone—not even Discord himself. As far as anypony had known, before she had released a horrid, drawn-out scream fit to wake the dead from their eternal slumber, she had been sound asleep in her bed.

The troubled draconequus had been monitoring Twilight's psyche since he'd brought her and Luna to his home for a chat. That was how he knew that something somewhere had gone terribly awry. There had been no visions, no dreams or nightmares, no signs that had pointed toward anything other than peaceful rest. There hadn't been anything until she woke up screaming, and for the first time since he'd first met that creature, the normally flippant and unflappable draconequus felt... uneasy.

Discord was a creature whose vision extended throughout all of time and space and across multiple dimensions and realities. He could see farther than any mortal and indeed many immortal deities... but he couldn't see everything. There were places where even his all-encompassing sight could not reach and though few in number, those places that lay beyond his view were—to put it very lightly—very dangerous.

If Twilight had somehow found her way into one of those places, even for just a brief moment, then that was cause for even a being like Discord to worry. With an annoyed huff that did nothing to mask the twinge of nervousness in his gut, he snapped his clawed fingers and vanished from the Realm of Chaos in a colorful puff of smoke. This was something he wouldn't be able to keep to himself.

No, that thing would find out eventually, and Discord knew it'd be in his best interest to spill the beans before that happened, because if he didn't...

Well, staying silent certainly wouldn't have been good for his health.

Author's Note

So yeah, this is a bit awkward.

Instead of going into a long spiel about why I haven't posted in ages... again, I'll just say that there were a lot of factors at play and I'm trying to push more chapters out for other stories at the moment. It's slow going but I'm getting there. I've decided to post based on where the wall that is my writer's block is weakest, which is why this chapter is going up before any others.

Btw, props to anyone who finds the place in this chapter familiar.

Equus IV – Paint it Black

The first thing I noticed when my senses returned to me was the musky, piney smell. It wasn't so overpowering that it trumped the sudden feeling of complete and utter wrongness in the air, but it was enough to make me wrinkle my nose. I opened my eyes to see a suspended ceiling made of dark hardwood and dimly lit by a soft amber glow from a light source somewhere nearby.

The floor beneath my back felt hard and cold like I'd been sleeping on cement. I could feel it even through the black faux fur coat I still wore, but that's not what made me shiver. No, what sent a chill down my spine was the absolute silence. The silence was so loud it was actually hurting my ears and after a few tense moments of nothing happening, I decided to sit up and take in my surroundings, if only to distract myself from the lack of noise and feeling of being watched by something inhuman... or inequine for that matter.

I immediately got the sense that I was in the basement or cellar of some avid antiquarian. The room, dimly illuminated by small amber crystals in the walls near the ceiling, was large with rows of bookshelves packed full of dusty-looking books and pedestals with glass cases full of things and old antique armoires and the like. I would've called the place strangely cozy if it weren't for the ominous atmosphere poking at my nerves.

I also found, with some slight surprise that my wireless headphones were resting comfortably around my neck as though they'd always been there. Thinking back to our encounter with Apparatus, I frowned and reached into the inner pocket of my coat to find that, yes, I still had my phone as well. I powered it on to find that it was still fully functional.

Fully charged but still no signal, naturally.

I looked up from my phone to continue my observations and my wandering eyes spotted a set of wooden steps leading up to what I thought might've been a closed-off entrance above and behind me. The 'door' in question wasn't exactly a door per se but looked more like a large black rectangle made of metal and cut partway into the ceiling. The way it was positioned convinced me more than ever that we were in some sort of basement or cellar below ground.

A low groan nearby nearly made me jump out of my skin and I whipped back around to see a familiar lavender equine shape sprawled on her side next to me. It was then that I remembered I wasn't alone in my absurd and horrific predicament anymore and that Twilight was probably with me for the long haul—however long it actually was.

But wait... wings? The hell?

I put my phone back in my pocket and took a closer look to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Sure enough, I could plainly see a wing weakly shifting and flexing on one side as the unconscious mare stirred slightly. As I puzzled over the change I heard her give another weary-sounding groan. A moment later she began blearily picking herself up off the ground and I got a look at the other wing as well.

She definitely hadn't been an alicorn before we wound up... wherever we were now. Try as I might, I couldn't wrap my head around the reason for that particular change of all things. I could think of a ton of possibilities, but nothing concrete came to mind. Then again, neither of us was sure what kind of form she'd take once we left my creepy doppelganger's pocket dimension, but this?

Well... all things considered this was a better outcome than I expected. Not sure why she got the alicorn upgrade, but hell, I'll take it.

It took a moment for her to steady herself, but after a few seconds she was up and looking around like I'd been earlier. She was facing away from me as she took everything in and apparently—like me—hadn't noticed me in her blind spot. She paused and shivered a bit, reflexively ruffling the feathers that made up her new wings. It wasn't particularly cold in here so I assumed it was because she could feel the foreboding in the air the same as me.

"Is this... a library?" she muttered after a moment. Her tone was hopeful but grew confused as she said her next words, "no wait, this must be... but then where's—"

"Over here," I called out, raising a hand in greeting as she jumped and whipped around to face where I was sitting by the stairs, "yo, welcome to your new life for the foreseeable future."

"Salvatore," she breathed out, her tense expression and posture both loosening in relief, "thank goodness. I thought... well, I don't know what I thought, but I'm glad you're okay."

"Same," I said before nodding to her new appendages, "and hey, congratulations on your ascension, princess."

"Princess?" she frowned, "what are you talking about? I'm—" she paused, then turned to look at the wings at her sides, splaying them out to get a better look, "oh... it appears that I am, in fact, a Princess."

The words were flat, but the disbelief was clear on her face.

"Well, you're an alicorn anyway," I concluded, "any idea how it happened?"

Twilight remained silent for a long moment before speaking, her eyes still roaming over her wings. When she finally did speak, the words came slowly, full of confusion and concern.

"I... don't know," she admitted, "the last thing I remember is talking to that... that 'other you' and he did something and then everything went white and... I woke up here."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened, I think," I replied, sighing as I ran a hand through my thick dreads. The place was still putting me on edge, but knowing I had Twilight here to back me up honestly did a lot to calm me down, "now we just have to find out what flavor of fucked up this Equestria is."

I waited for Twilight to say something in response, but nothing came. I returned my gaze to the mare to see her still fussing over her new wings, completely oblivious to fact that I was still here apparently.

"Uh... Twilight?"

"Hm?" she replied distractedly. She looked over to me, blinking stupidly before realization dawned and she shook her head, "sorry, Sal, I... I'm still not used to... this. What were you saying?"

I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth to tell her there were more important things to worry about but decided against it. To my eyes, the only thing that happened was that she grew wings, but for all I knew, the changes might've been more fundamental than that. I kind of wanted to ask about it, but again, there were more important things to worry about right now so I just moved on.

"I only woke up a little bit before you did so I'm not sure where we are or what the situation is right now," I said instead, "I've never actually been down in one before, but I'm pretty sure this is someone's cellar," I paused and turned to face the black wall-door thing at the top of the stairs, "...or maybe some kind of bunker?"

"No, I think you were right about it being a cellar," Twilight said as she turned to get a look at one of the bookshelves. She took a few hesitant steps towards the nearest bookshelf before she stopped and swept wary eyes over the rest of the knick-knacks on display, "just from a glance I can tell that this place is a veritable treasure trove of secret knowledge and ancient history," she shook her head and frowned, "normally I'd be ecstatic to stumble upon something like this, but this place... I don't like the feel of it. It's like... like..."

"Like someone's watching you?" I guessed.

"Well, yes there's that, but..." she shivered again and turned to give me a strange look, "do you get the sense that something horrible happened here?"

I looked around and shrugged.

"Honestly? I just kind of already assumed that was the case given the nature of the worlds we're being sent to," I replied, "but why ask me? I've never been one to frequent haunted places so I couldn't really tell you."

"I don't know, I just..." she scanned the room again, "I almost can't believe this is another Equestria. The atmosphere, the ambient magic... it all feels so alien... and yet, for some reason, I also feel like I've been here before."

Now it was my turn to frown as I thought about her words. I looked over to the bookshelf in front of me, then to the ceiling above. Now that she mentioned it... I was actually starting to get... not deja vu exactly, but a sense that I knew this place. Or that I should know this place. Something about it did seem familiar in a way, but I couldn't place my finger on how or why.

"I've definitely never been here before, but yeah," I finally replied, "I get what you mean."

"You feel it too?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I think so," I grunted as I rose to my feet, "so... should we check the place out? Maybe we can find some clues about what happened here," I jerked a thumb towards the apparently sealed-off exit behind me, "I mean it doesn't look like we're going anywhere anytime soon."

Twilight's brows furrowed and she moved over to where I was standing to get a better look at the wall-door. She tilted her head like she was listening for something and before I could comment, her horn sparked to life with a soft magenta glow and a quiet hum. I watched as the wall-door lit up with the same glow and wondered silently if she was doing some kind of magic scan to find a lock or something.

After about a minute or so the magic surrounding her horn and the wall-door dissipated. She took a step back, shook her head, and turned to me with a worried grimace.

"This is definitely the entrance, and it seems like there's some kind of magic seal blocking it off but that's about all I can tell you," she deduced, "the magic here is strange and I'm not sure if it's because of the way the seal was created or if it's just because magic in this Equestria doesn't work like it did in mine."

"So what you're saying is," I surmised, "we're stuck down here until someone decides to come and open that door?"

"Maybe," she answered uncertainly, "I could try analyzing the spellwork. Given enough time I might be able to find a backdoor and force the seal open but that would take time we might not have," she went silent a moment, then her ears perked up as though she remembered something, "but wait, maybe you can get it open?"

"Me?" I asked in bewilderment, "what the hell could I do? I don't have any—" I stopped mid-sentence as I remembered the same thing she'd probably remembered, "oooohhh... right. Chaos magic. Apparently, I can do that now."

Naturally, I was excited at the prospect of being able to use magic even if it was the more unpredictable kind. That said, the thought of our current situation made me hesitate before I got too invested in the idea of trying it out. After a moment's thought, I furrowed my own brows and switched my gaze from the sealed-off entrance to Twilight to address the issue.

Actually, now that I think about it...

Having just remembered why we were here in the first place I focused on that familiar itch I'd been ignoring since I last used the crystal sense thing back in Twilight's library. The itch became an awareness of what I'd been told was actually a shard of the Multiversal Needle. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if what Apparatus said about the crystals was true. I wanted to believe it, but I knew it'd be better to reserve judgment until I actually had some solid proof that he wasn't bullshitting me like Discord had been this whole time.

"Salvatore?" Twilight asked, confusing coloring her voice, "what are you doing?"

I opened my eyes, not having realized that I'd even closed them, and turned to see the mare staring at me with a bemused frown. I sighed, crossed my arms, and cast a grim frown of my own out over the cellar.

"I was trying to see if I could track down the location of that Linchpin crystal shard."

"Oh, right," Twilight replied, her eyes lighting up as she remembered the conversation with Apparatus, "the... what did he call it? The Multiversal Needle, right," her frown turned equal parts curious and hopeful, "did you find it?"

"It's, uh... not that simple," I sighed again, "the crystal-finding sense Discord forced on me only really points me in the right direction—literally. It doesn't tell me exactly where it is, but I do have a vague idea of distance."

"And?" she pressed, "is it close?"

"Nope, I can't even feel it from where we are," I quirked an eyebrow at her, "and have we not had the discussion about how that crystal sense works? I feel like we've talked about it already."

"No, we haven't," she said with a thoughtful scowl, "I know from your memories that you used it before, but I don't know how you did it, and with how focused I was on studying the Chaos magic inside you, I never got around to asking."

"Huh."

"Yeah... so... it's not here?"

"Nope, but I know there's one in this Equestria somewhere."

"Okay, so we need to actually go outside to look then," Twilight lowered her gaze to the floor and tapped one of her front hooves in thought for a second before raising her head again, "I suppose that brings us back to the issue of the door."

"I mean, I guess I can try busting us out of here with Chaos magic. It might be worth a shot, but do you think it's a good idea?" I asked, giving Twilight a skeptical look, "Sure, I could snap my fingers and pop the lock open maybe, but with Chaos magic being what it is, would it really be that easy?"

"No, I suppose not," Twilight conceded unhappily, "Chaos magic is only really straightforward when it wants to be and the result might not be worth the attempt," she eyed the sealed black door, "still, I'm not so sure about the alternative of being stuck down here either."

"I get that," I nodded before stepping past Twilight, "and I'm itching to put that magic to work myself, but I wanna get a better idea of what we'll be getting into before we go out there," I moved past the bookshelf and headed deeper into the cellar, "I'm not sure if we're being watched or not, but we haven't been attacked or confronted yet even with all the noise we've been making, so I figure we're good to look around at least for the moment."

I turned to see Twilight tentatively following behind me as I went. Her mouth was set in a thin line of wariness as she looked over the space around her, but I could see a hint of curiosity and longing in her eyes. It was clear she wanted to scour the whole place and consume every scrap of knowledge it contained and really, I couldn't blame her. If I was in her shoes (horseshoes?) and found some alternate Earth, I'd want to find out how it differed from my own.

Of course, not to the extent that she probably wanted to, but I got the general idea of how she felt. That was part of the reason for my suggestion. It wasn't just that I wanted us to simply head out blindly into the unknown without some kind of context. I also wanted to keep us focused on something other than the sinister presence permeating this place like an airborne poison.

"Why don't you see if we can get anything useful out of the books?" I said, nodding to the myriad bookshelves, "I'll check, uh... anything else that looks relevant I guess."

"Alright," came Twilight's reluctant reply after a moment, "just be careful, Sal. A lot of this looks really valuable and we don't know if there's been any wards or traps placed to protect it all from burglars and the like. In fact..."

She trailed off and closed her eyes. Her horn lit up once again and her face scrunched up in concentration as she cast another spell. The magic aura around her horn suddenly pulsed brighter and a shockwave of magenta light swept across the entire cellar. I took a step back in surprise but didn't really feel anything as the magic passed over me other than a slight tingling sensation.

The whole event lasted only a moment, the wave of light dissipating completely as it finally hit the far wall. The aura around Twilight's horn faded as well and she took another look around before letting out a relieved sigh.

"I'm so glad to have my magic back," she muttered before speaking a bit louder in my direction, "it doesn't seem like there's any magical traps or wards, at least none that I can detect. That doesn't mean we can be complacent though. Like I said, the magic here feels weird and my thaumic senses may not be working right."

"And can your magical detection spell sense physical traps?" I asked, "like if I opened up one of those cabinets and received a shotgun blast to the face?"

"Yes, it can detect physical traps," Twilight replied with a roll of her eyes, "and no, there are no traps like that hidden in any of the cabinets. Really, Salvatore? A shotgun?"

"Hey, you don't know if ponies in this Equestria use firearms," I shot back with a shrug, "for all we know, there could've been some terrible war and we might walk out of here to find the gruesome aftermath. Or worse, it could still be going on and we just can't hear it for some reason."

"Somehow I doubt that," she huffed, "but I guess we can go with your plan for now. It's not like we'll get anywhere by just standing around anyway."

"That's the spirit," I said with a teasing grin, "I knew you couldn't resist the allure of a good book."

She rolled her eyes again as she made her way back to the bookshelves and with that, our search began in earnest. While Twilight rummaged through one bookshelf after another, I took to searching old cabinets and looking over the weird and fantastical objects on display. I found all kinds of things from unlabeled bottles and cans full of strange-smelling (and suspicious-looking) powders, spices, and gelatinous goop to shiny treasures you'd see in an Indiana Jones film.

There were statues and statuettes made of gold and ivory and jade stone. I found crazy-looking instruments and old scrolls that revealed esoteric text written in languages I couldn't read. There were mystical talismans and opulent jewelry in glass cases. Hell, I even found an honest-to-god crystal pony skull just sitting on a shelf. I spotted a large map pinned to one of the walls and moved closer to take a look.

The parchment the map was inscribed on was old and yellowed, the many landmarks and their names faded with age. I could barely make anything out, but the general shape of the land seemed to be consistent with what I remembered from the map of Equestria I'd reference every so often when I'd written some of my stories. Unfortunately, I found the map was too old to be of any real help and, in the end, it only served to show that this was indeed some version of Equestria and the familiar lands surrounding the country.

So far I hadn't managed to find anything particularly useful. I'd found plenty of interesting odds and ends, but nothing that could help give context to our current predicament. Sifting through all the treasures on display, I did begin to get a sense of who might've owned this cellar. The sneaking suspicion only served to increase not only that odd sense that I knew this place but also a creeping dread—a feeling that I definitely shouldn't be here.

"Finding a lot of neat stuff over here, but nothing about the state of the world outside," I called out to Twilight as I tried to push the unnerving sensation down, "any luck on your end?"

"I don't think so," she replied, making her way over to where I was standing in front of a set of shelves. The mare held two books in a magic field as she trotted over, with her face shoved into one and another hovering close by, "whoever collected all of these has a taste for the obscure," she snapped the book shut and sent both of the large texts telekinetically zooming off presumably to where she'd found them, "there's a lot of esoterica and some tomes full of very... morally questionable spells and rituals."

"Yeah, based on what I've found so far, I can see that," I said as I craned my neck to see the objects at the top of a particularly large shelf, "I think I've got an idea of who owns this place at least."

I didn't recognize any of the stuff I saw but I figured Twilight might if this Equestria and hers were anything like the one I knew. Even if she didn't, just the fact that all of this was here in one place should've given it away, but to my surprise that wasn't the case.

"Really?" she asked, "who?"

I was about to answer when something on the top shelf near the back of the cellar suddenly caught my eye. Sitting inconspicuously between several other fantastical objects was a small stand covered by a glass case. The display mirrored many of the others I'd seen around but this one, in particular, stood out for the simple fact that the small stand in question was empty.

In a room packed to bursting with stuff to see, this singular display case held no item of interest. I'd been pretty thorough in checking around and I hadn't seen a single case that didn't have something to gawk at sitting inside. The longer I stared at the spot, the stronger that feeling of familiarity became. It was like a small tingle at the back of my mind—there was something there, but it was distant and hazy.

"Salvatore?"

I blinked.

"Huh?"

I looked down at Twilight and saw she was eyeing me with more than a bit of concern. It was only when I came back to my senses and took stock of myself that I realized I was shaking slightly. I hadn't noticed it before and I couldn't put my finger on why just then, but I was way more unnerved than I initially thought. Twilight looked from me to the empty display case I'd been staring at, then back to me with an ever-deepening grimace.

"Salvatore, are you okay?" she asked worriedly, "not to sound trite, but you look like you've seen a ghost."

Our eyes met and for a long, awkward second we just stared at each other. Twilight was watching me expectantly and I don't know what kind of look I had on my face. I wanted to explain, but the words wouldn't come for some reason. I swallowed and opened my mouth to say something, but before I could even get a breath out, a bunch of things happened at once.

The air shuddered and some unseen force suddenly rippled across the cellar. The sensation that hit me stole my breath away. I stumbled, feeling like I'd had the wind knocked out of me. At that same moment, the amber crystals giving off such a warm glow flickered like faulty lightbulbs before cutting out entirely. In an instant, my world was nothing but black.

What remained when those crystals winked out was a darkness so thick and heavy that it was almost a physical weight on my back. Just as the overbearing darkness fell, Twilight let out a sharp gasp of pain. I looked in her general direction just in time to see her horn emit purple sparks of magic for the briefest of moments before inky blackness snuffed it back out.

"Oh no," I heard her mutter in a small shaky voice, "no... nononono! Salvatore, my magic, it's—"

Her panicked whispers were cut off by the tell-tale high-pitched screech of a heavy metal door being slowly pried open somewhere in the distance. The sound, like Twilight's voice, was muted and tinny like something heard on an old-timey radio. Neither Twilight nor I said a word, both of us knowing exactly what that sound meant. There was someone or more likely something coming down the stairs.

I didn't know about Twilight, but I could feel a presence filling the room—something hungry and violent sniffing around in the dark. Other than to open the door the thing made no sound, but I knew it was on the move, searching for the two idiots that stumbled into its feeding grounds. I didn't dare to make a sound—I couldn't—but Twilight evidently had no such issue.

"Sal," she whispered shakily. The words sounded like they were spoken right next to my ear, "if you still have your chaos magic, use it... now."

Twilight's whispered words hadn't gone unnoticed.

In the time it took me to register what she was talking about through the haze of fear, the silent, hungry thing had picked up its pace. Again, I felt it more than heard it moving closer, picking up speed as it made a beeline straight for us. For Twilight. Its voracious appetite pressed down on us, trying to crush out rational thought and leav only the terror of the hunted prey.

"Salvatore!" Twilight shrieked.

"Shit!" I shouted back reflexively.

I raised a hand, poised to snap my fingers, but not knowing how to actually draw out the Chaos magic within. The only thing on my mind at that moment was that I needed to turn the lights back on. It wasn't even that complex a thought. My entire existence at that point in time could've boiled down to one word. One single concept.

Light.

With that desperate prayer in mind, I snapped my fingers, and as I did, I realized that using Chaos magic wasn't all that hard. I felt a strange, twisting, churning sensation that started in my gut before spreading throughout my entire body. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was far from pleasant. The magic was a paradox of sensations, feeling completely alien yet wholly natural at the same time like I'd always been able to use it.

It spread like a wildfire, building up a weird pressure that seemed to push against my flesh from the inside. Again, it didn't hurt, it was just very, very, very uncomfortable. The pressure kept expanding and growing until something intangible within me popped and the spell was unleashed. And the crazy part is that that had all happened in the time it took me to complete the snapping motion.

What I was hoping for was to turn the glowing crystals back on and banish that nightmarish thing back to wherever the hell it came from.

What I got... was a tiny keychain flashlight.

Author's Note

I had more to write after this, but as I finished that last sentence I realized this was a perfect stopping point.

Yeah, I know, but hey, the good news is that I know exactly where I'm going with this so the next chapter should be out a lot sooner.

Equus IV – Welcome to Lovecraft Country

No, I wasn't disappointed by the outcome—I didn't have time to be. I didn't even know what the thing was until I held it out and flipped it on. What happened next wasn't something I think any of us expected. Not me, not Twilight, and certainly not the hungry beast of darkness closing in for the kill.

The moment I hit the switch, the world exploded in a blinding flash of light. It was less like a flash bomb and more like a bolt of white lightning had just struck the ground right in front of me. I was only vaguely aware of screams both feminine and alien somewhere nearby as I was blasted off my feet and into something hard and most likely very expensive behind me.

The only other thing I was aware of as the impact came was a brief second of agony blossoming at the back of my head and then everything went black once again.

The first sensations to return to Twilight along with her consciousness were the throbbing pain in her left wing and right hind leg, and a strange burning itch behind her eyelids. She groaned and tried to raise a hoof to scratch at her eyes, but her hoof didn't move. The itch was fading even as she made the attempt, but as she came to her senses, the fading itch became the least of her worries.

The mare found that, while she could still look around, she couldn't move any of her limbs. She felt both somehow constricted and weightless at the same time, and when she finally snapped open her eyes, she realized why. She was, as far as she could tell, still within the cellar she and Salvatore had initially woken up in but evidently, a great many things had changed while she'd been knocked out.

The last thing she remembered was interminable darkness and the thing hunting her and Sal within it. Then Salvatore used his Chaos magic and there was a bright flash and a deafening boom and horrible pain and then... nothing. Just like when they'd first woken up here. Now the amber crystals upon the wall were once again lit with a warm radiance and the monster was gone, but that was about the only good thing Twilight could say about the situation.

Where the cellar was concerned, it was as though a tornado had gone off in the relatively large space. Dressers, cabinets, tables, and of course the many bookshelves around the room had all been tossed every which way. Precious tomes and expensive artifacts were strewn about the ground, tossed aside like trash in a grimy back alley. The sight would've torn at Twilight's heart if she weren't so preoccupied with the fact that she herself was suspended in midair in the center of it all.

Below her, slowly rotating upon the ground and radiating with the black aura of dark magic was a series of spell circles layered upon one another. Unrecognizable thaumic sigils wove together in complex patterns that boggled the mind. Twilight, even in her current state—even knowing it was clearly dark magic—couldn't help but find the spellwork beautiful to look at.

Figuratively and literally spellbound as she was though, she couldn't ignore the effect the magic was having on her thaumic senses. The air was choked with dark magic, but there was something else mixed in—something more insidious. Something... other. It reminded her of the otherworldly presence in the darkness and as she felt it, she began to panic.

She looked back down to the spell circles below and tried to funnel her own magic into spellwork in an attempt to disrupt the magic. It was a crude method, the thaumic equivalent of using brute force, but fear and desperation had robbed her of any of her more refined techniques. Not only did the spell completely rebuff her pitiful attempt, but the feedback shot through her horn like an electrical shock.

She managed to stop herself from crying out in pain, but only just barely. She didn't need to try channeling magic again to know that it had been sealed and that she'd been cut off from her magic again. She grit her teeth in frustration at the repeated loss of her magic and at these wretched series of events as a whole. It took a moment, but eventually, she was able to push the anger back behind the worry and caution.

Looking around the room, she almost sighed in relief as she spotted Salvatore but her breath caught in her throat when she saw his current state. Twilight had been suspended facing the stairs and she found the dark-skinned biped sitting slumped against the wall to her left, nestled between a fallen armoire and a smaller shelf that had somehow managed to remain upright.

There were no visible injuries she could see, but he was unmoving, his head lolled to one side and his mouth hanging slightly open. To Twilight he looked terribly still and terribly pale, but it could've just been a trick of the light. Trapped in a stasis spell, she could only pray that he was just unconscious rather than the horrible alternative.

Unable to do anything for him, Twilight instead forced herself to turn away and find the culprit of her imprisonment. After their encounter with the creature in the dark, she kept her mouth shut as she scanned the ruined cellar, not daring to call out lest some other horrifying beast show up and devour them both when they couldn't run or fight back.

Something shifted at the edge of her vision and she immediately snapped her head to the corner of the wall opposite of where Salvatore lay. There, in the shadow of a heavy bookshelf that had been shoved to one side, a dark shape rose with slow, lithesome movements. What Twilight thought was a simple dark spot in the low amber light was a soundless creature wrapped in black.

Twilight's heart beat faster in her chest as it suddenly shot toward her in one smooth and silent motion. It seemed to glide along the ground like some Tartarus-born wraith, but as it moved into the amber light of the crystals above, she could see that the shadows surrounding the creature weren't shadows at all but a tattered black cloak billowing about a tall and vaguely equine frame.

The cloaked figure pulled up a few inches short of the slowly revolving spell circle and Twilight could now clearly see that the figure in question was indeed a pony or one of the equine-related races at least. Her heartbeat slowed, but the wariness and anxiety didn't completely dissipate. The figure said nothing as it stared at Twilight and the hood draped over its face gave nothing away.

Hope began to fill Twilight's chest that her captor could be reasoned with, but something in the way the figure just stood there and watched her stopped her from opening her mouth. As she stared back into the featureless black maw that was the figure's hooded face she could feel something in its gaze. It wasn't exactly killing intent, but there was rage there.

She wasn't sure how she knew, but she did. She could feel a cold fury the likes of which she'd never encountered before, and all of that controlled rage was aimed directly at her. It would've been enough to make her shudder in terror if she could move the rest of her body. As it was, she just swallowed and finally mustered up the courage to open her mouth and hope for the best.

"Wh-What... who are you?" she croaked, "why did you trap me here like this?"

For a long uncomfortable moment, the cloaked figure said nothing. As the silence dragged on, Twilight grew more and more anxious. Her anxiety only grew when the figure slowly turned its faceless gaze to the still unconscious Salvatore.

"Don't hurt him!" she cried, dragging the creature's attention back to her, "I don't know what your issue is with me, but he hasn't done anything wrong!"

In response, the figure tilted its head before pointedly sweeping its unseen eyes over the demolished remains of the cellar. Twilight didn't miss its meaning and winced at the admittedly correct implications.

"Er, well... we might've... made a bit of a mess," she conceded, "b-but we didn't have a choice! We were being hunted! The lights went out and there was this terrible darkness and some... some beast got into the cellar and we... we had to..."

She trailed off, not actually knowing what to say given she wasn't exactly sure what Salvatore had done in the first place. She was under no illusions that her words were sufficient enough to stave off whatever horrible fate the figure had planned, but to her surprise, the cold rage she'd felt had begun to recede as she fumbled her way through a horrid explanation. As she fell silent, the figure gave a world-weary sigh and took a step back from the spell circle.

From beneath the hood Twilight suddenly heard a voice that sounded deep, feminine, slightly raspy—possibly from non-use, and oddly familiar. The language the mare—Twilight assumed it was a mare—spoke was unlike anything she'd ever heard before. It had the weight and intonation of a short incantation, but the words were wrong—profane in a way and on a level she couldn't quite grasp.

Twilight's suspicions about the words being an incantation proved right. As the mare finished incanting, the complex spell keeping her aloft dissipated and she fell to the ground in a heap. She quickly scrambled to her hooves and backed away several steps, still on guard for any tricks. But it looked like there were no tricks to be had. Instead, the mare gave Twilight one last silent look before raising a dirty, midnight blue hoof and pulling back her hood to reveal the last pony Twilight had expected to see.

"I... wh—Luna!?" she sputtered, "Princess Luna, you... is that you?"

At first glance, there was no mistaking the mare with her midnight blue coat, her height—smaller than Celestia but still towering above almost any other pony, and her regal bearing. Upon closer inspection though, Twilight began to see some startling differences. Her mane, once an ethereal vision of the night sky itself, was now a deep void as black and bottomless as the darkness that had swallowed her and Salvatore.

Where once her mane rippled softly on an unseen breeze, it now whipped about in a violent torrent, lashing out as though it had a mind of its own. It covered the entire top half of her face, obscuring her eyes beneath undulating stygian waves. Though her coat was the same gentle shade of midnight that Twilight remembered, the wicked fangs protruding from the Princess' muzzle brought forth a much darker memory.

"Indeed, Twilight Sparkle," she replied in a tone that sound to Twilight equal parts resigned and disappointed, "I am Luna, though 'Princess' is a title I have long since abandoned."

Twilight took another look at Luna and realized, now that the danger had evidently passed, that the mare looked just as worn and weary as she sounded. Her face was gaunt and her bearing wasn't nearly as regal as it had first appeared. Luna had the look of a pony who'd seen far too much and lost even more. Twilight supposed she should have expected as much given the grim nature of the worlds they were to visit, but still... it nearly broke her heart to see somepony so strong look so weak.

"Princess—er, Luna," she said, taking a step forward, "what happened to you? What happened to Equestria? What was that... thing that attacked us?"

"In a moment," Luna replied, raising a hoof to forestall any further questions. Using her magic, she pulled something from under her cloak and floated it over to Twilight as she spoke, "first, I believe it would be prudent to return this to the chaos-touched Traveler."

"Traveler? And wait, you know about Salvatore?" Twilight asked as Luna dropped the object into her upturned hoof, "and what's this? Wait..." she furrowed her brow in bemusement as she realized what she was looking at, "is this... a flashlight?"

It was indeed a black flashlight a little over half the size of her hoof and attached to a small keychain.

"Salvatore... so that is his name," Luna mused aloud before shaking her head and returning her focus to Twilight. Her expression turned grave, "trust not its unassuming form, for that is no mere illuminant. It reeks of Chaos magic and is likely what caused the shade to flee," she nodded to the rest of the cellar, "it also likely brought about the current state of Daring Do's treasury. Given the outcome, you and your human companion would do well to rid yourselves of such a dangerous tool posthaste."

There were several things about what Luna had just said that needed unpacking, but for the moment, Twilight chose to focus on one thing at a time.

"If this thing is so dangerous," she asked, "why didn't you get rid of it?"

"It is within my power to do so," Luna said with a slow shake of her head, "but my methods would bring harm to the creature that created it."

"In that case, I'm grateful that you didn't," Twilight said, giving an inward sigh of relief at the implication that Salvatore was okay, "but I have to ask... it's clear that you know a lot about the situation—far more than Sal and I do, but did know that Sal was... that he's no longer actually human?"

"I do."

"Do you know what he is now? How he became what he is?"

"This human—this... Salvatore," she began, "much of his humanity has been stolen away by Chaotic powers but there is yet some semblance of his race that yet resides inside him," she turned back to Salvatore as she spoke, her expression almost pitying, "I know that even now his recent use of Chaos magic burns away what little remains and it will not be long until he is a lesser Chaos spirit in full," she shook her head sadly and returned her attention to Twilight, "while I have my suspicions, I do not know for certain how he came to be that way."

"So you don't even know if he can be trusted and even then you refused to harm him, but kept me captive," Twilight narrowed her eyes, "why? Why was there so much hatred in your eyes when you first saw me? What did I..." a look of understanding crossed her face and her voice grew quiet, "...what did the 'me' of this universe do?"

"I think... I can answer that, actually."

Waking up was a much more confusing experience this time around to be sure, but less painful than I expected. As i came to, I expected to have a throbbing headache or a concussion or something, but nope. Granted I was one of those people that literally never got headaches, but in this case, there wasn't any residual pain whatsoever. I highly doubted that was because of my human constitution though.

More likely it's because I'm a proto-chaos spirit now. I still don't know how to feel about that, but wait... does this mean I'm immortal now?

Like, actually immortal?

Oh shit, I think it just might...

Setting aside that existential can of worms for the moment, I focused on the conversation happening somewhere in front of me. It was a very strange conversation between Twilight, whom I was glad made it out of my blunder okay—at least it sounded like she had—and someone I was surprised to discover was none other than this Equestria's Luna. The conversation in question was an interesting one and I felt no real need to interrupt it for the most part so I kept my eyes and mouth shut.

For one thing, I learned that I hadn't completely been turned into an abomination of Chaos yet. The knowledge didn't really do much to affect how I felt about the situation given that it was probably only a matter of time before that changed. I mean, in all honesty, I still wasn't sure how I felt about the situation. On one hand, I wasn't really all that attached to my humanity, but on the other, somewhere deep down I found the idea of becoming something fundamentally different disconcerting at the very least.

Something else I found rather interesting in particular was how Luna referred to me as a 'Traveler'. The way she said it made it seem less like the standard definition and more like what Bobby Pendragon was. It made a sort of sense, I guess. That said, she seemed to know or implied she knew way more about the situation than I was really comfortable with. I started to wonder if maybe she'd used some spell to read my mind while I was unconscious.

I did also find out that I wasn't crazy and that my supposedly useful Chaos magic gave me what amounted to an IED in the form of a goddamn flashlight on a fucking keychain. I was seriously beginning to reconsider how 'lucky' I was to be able to use Chaos magic. I was starting to wonder if possible immortality was worth it if that was the kind of shit I was gonna be dealing with.

...Yeah, it'd still probably be worth it.

It was also around the time Twilight mentioned Luna's name that something clicked into place in my mind. I don't if the blow to my head knocked something loose, but suddenly I had an idea of why this place felt so familiar. I still didn't really get the whole picture or why I knew what I did, but I knew what kind of trouble befell this Equestria, and I also knew exactly who was responsible.

And yeah, this is exactly the kind of scenario I would cook up... God damn it all.

"I think... I can answer that, actually," I cut in as Twilight asked her question. I cracked my neck and, with a groan, started to pick myself up from the ground, "not sure how I figured it out, but... yeah."

"Sal!" Twilight cried, rushing over to my side, "are you okay, does it hurt anywhere? How's your head?"

"Chill, Twilight, I'm good," I chuckled as she handed me back the flashlight. I looked it over and frowned, I got the sense that if I focused, I could probably will the thing away. I wanted to, but something—a gut feeling maybe—stopped me though, and I pocketed it instead before giving a nod to the Princess-no-longer, "Luna."

I took her freaky appearance in stride, figuring it didn't matter what she looked like so long as she was friendly.

"Salvatore," she replied, nodding in kind, "I take it you've heard our discussion then?"

"I heard enough," I replied, "but before I get into what I know, how do you know so much about me?"

Luna gave a shallow chuckle of her own at that.

"In truth, I know almost nothing about you in particular," she answered, "but I have been alive for some time and have seen and learned much during my overly long existence. I know of Chaos and its nature and I have walked among you humans and know of your ways."

"And Travelers?" Twilight asked curiously, "by your tone I take it you didn't mean somepony just traveling from one place to another?"

"Nah," I replied, fielding the question in Luna's place, "she's probably talking about the fact that we're hopping from one universe to another," I looked to Luna for confirmation, "am I right?"

"Just so," Luna nodded before rounding on Twilight, "I also know of those who walk planes that are not their own and it is for this reason that I have no quarrel with you, Twilight Sparkle. I can feel that you have come here from a variant Equestria."

"It didn't seem that way earlier," Twilight pointed out quietly, "before—"

"You have my sincerest apologies for my earlier actions and vehemence towards you," Luna bowed her head, her tone somehow both firm and contrite, "you must understand that the focus of my ire shares your face," neither Twilight or I could see her eyes through her pitch-black mane, but we could both feel a sudden wave of violent but thankfully controlled anger from the mare as she continued, "as long as it has been since her departure, the wounds are yet fresh in my mind. As for the spell... I wanted to take no chances."

"Yeah... i can see that," I said rubbing the back of my neck. I turned to Twilight, "so I don't really know how I know this and what I do know is pretty vague, but apparently, the Twilight of this universe woke something up that should've stayed asleep and just kind of... fucked off, leaving the rest of the world to deal with the aftermath," I turned to Luna, "that sound about right?"

"A crude explanation, but not inaccurate," she conceded with a slow nod and a dour expression, "it has been many years since then and the black veil that has fallen over our world only seems to grow stronger."

"That's... that's horrible," Twilight finally said after a moment, "and this black veil... judging from what we encountered earlier, I take it you don't just mean that figuratively?"

"I am afraid not," the mare replied with a weighty tone, "the Old Night has brought about the end of what we once knew as natural day and night. Neither myself nor my sister, nor any of the few creatures who still call this wretched land home has felt the blessed rays of the Sun or Moon in some time," she raised her head to the ceiling as though looking straight through it to the sky above, "the world's population has fallen to a mere fraction of what it was and wicked shades like the one you met ravaged the land making much of it all but inhospitable."

"And this place?" Twilight asked, "you said it was Daring Do's treasury. Is she here? Did she turn this cellar into some sort of sanctuary? And if that was the case, how did one of those shades manage to get in?"

At the mention of Daring Do's name, Luna lowered her head and looked away. For a moment she didn't say a word, but just as Twilight opened her mouth to speak again, the cloaked mare turned on her heel and started making her way to the stairs.

"Come," she commanded, "I wish to show you something."

She didn't wait for us to reply or even follow after her before heading up the steps. Twilight and I just kind of looked at each other. Twilight looked uncertain, and I wasn't really keen on the idea of going outside knowing what I did now. I recognized the moniker of the Old Night and with my history of night blindness and the knowledge of the kind of things wandering about out there, I was completely okay with staying in the relatively safe cellar.

"I really, really don't want to go out there, Twilight."

"I know, but I don't think we have a choice, Salvatore. We won't get anything done by holing up in here."

I took a deep, steadying breath and let it out in a resigned sigh.

"Yeah... I know."

And with that, Twilight and I followed Luna up the stairs and out of the cellar door she'd thrown open. Initially, I thought that taking our first steps outside the cellar would be like walking back into that void-black darkness. That was sort of the case, but where I expected to immediately walk headlong into the void, I actually found and more importantly saw solid ground beneath my feet. Looking up, I saw the pitch-black darkness I expected.

If I squinted, I thought I could see shapes swimming around the black sky above. I shuddered at the thought, hoping it was some kind of visual hallucination and knowing in the back of my mind it probably wasn't. Looking out across the grassy field I could see the same blackness beyond a certain point. Where the grass should've met the void beyond, there was a brightly glowing band of light.

What is that? Some kinda magical ward maybe?

Looking around, it was like someone had cut out a piece of Equestria as it should've been and put in the black nothingness. Within the boundary of the white circle, it looked like a perfectly peaceful night. Turning to look behind me, I saw that the cellar was connected to what looked like the back of a simple cabin. It was, of course, Twilight who thought to ask the obvious questions aloud as she moved to stand next to me.

"I don't really know all that much about Daring Do," she began, eyeing Luna who stood a short distance in front of us, "but I know she was a pegasus and that this is definitely the work of a unicorn... or maybe an alicorn?"

"Nay, Twilight Sparkle," Luna replied, her own gaze fixed on the darkness beyond the barrier of normalcy, "though I have done what I can to keep the remnants of our society safe from harm, this particular ward was erected courtesy of a powerful artifact Daring Do left behind."

Twilight and I gave each other another look, but Luna spoke again as if reading our minds.

"The artifact in question is not one of those placed within her vault of treasures," she elaborated, "it something she kept in her abode and remains there even now. It is what allows me to come and go as I please."

"And Daring Do?" I ventured, "I'm guessing she's uh... not with us anymore?"

"She was one of the first victims as far as I know," Luna replied, finally turning to face the two of us, "but her fate is none of your concern. What is of concern to you is the artifact she left behind. It is not something that can be so easily removed from this place and though it is powerful enough to keep the darkness at bay, it has its weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?" Twilight pressed.

"This artifact is powerful but was not meant to fight back against the kind of stygian corruption the Old Night brings," she explained, "its power has waned considerably over the years and every so often a shade is allowed to slip through. ergo your prior run-in with their kind."

"So what you're saying is, we're not safe here," I surmised with a frown, "that barrier is set to pop any time now and once it does, we're basically fucked."

"It is as you say," Luna confirmed with a grave nod, "I know not why you two have come to this world, but you would do well to leave it far behind. There is naught for you here but a swift and horrifying end at the claws of the Old Night and its demons."

"Oh we'd love nothing more than to do just that, believe me," I replied with a humorless chuckle, "but we're kinda stuck here and we can't really leave until we've found what we're looking for."

I couldn't see Luna's eyes, but I got the impression she was furrowing her brows in bemusement.

"What could you possibly hope to find in a place like this?" she asked, her tone suddenly suspicious and more than a bit dangerous, "seek you the Nameless Tome? Or the Book of Eibon perhaps? Ah, but then your intrusion into Daring Do's treasury would make sense," she stalked toward the two of us, making us both back up a step in alarm, "if you mean to bring such horrors to another realm then I shall strike you both down here and now."

"Whoa, hold on a minute!" I cried, raising my hands defensively, "I swear to god, we're not here for any dark forbidden tomes of eldritch knowledge!" Luna paused, but the dangerous air around her didn't abate, "look, our circumstances are kind of... fucked right now. We're not here because we wanna be."

"...Explain."

And so I did.

I laid out the situation, giving Luna the cliff notes version with Twilight filling in the events I'd forgotten or glossed over. I wasn't exactly sure how long it took to lay everything out, but as we talked, Luna's expression grew more and more incredulous. By the end of our exposition, she'd grown very quiet. Her face was entirely unreadable and she didn't even seem to be looking at us anymore.

I glanced down at Twilight and she returned the look, giving a helpless shrug of her wings. We'd told Luna everything we could and whatever happened next was kind of out of our hands. We couldn't exactly just waltz out into the darkness and hope for the best. Right now, Luna was our only real hope of getting anything done in this Equestria. If she chose not to help us then... well...

I have no goddamn clue. Maybe I could Chaos magic our way out, but I don't know how well that would go. I guess it worked out in the end last time, but...

I pressed a hand to the spot where the flashlight sat comfortably in my pocket and winced at the thought of having to use it again. I was snapped out of my thoughts as Luna turned away from us. Another uncomfortable moment passed before she finally spoke again.

"I've heard no such tales of this... Multiversal Needle," she began, "but if you do indeed speak the truth, then it seems it would be in all our best interests to find this shard," she turned to look at me over her shoulder, "I have much to think on regarding these revelations, but I will choose to trust and help you for now."

I heard Twilight give an audible sigh of relief next to me and my shoulders sagged a bit as the tension left me. We hadn't actually asked for her help, but I guess she'd come to the same conclusion I had about us treading dangerous waters here.

"You can sense the location of these crystal shards, yes?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was hoping it would be down in the cellar, but no dice," I replied with a shrug, "I know it's around here somewhere, but it's not here here."

"Very well," she said before looking back out into the darkness, "if I'm to understand you correctly, you will be pulled from this realm once you obtain this 'Linchpin shard'."

"Yup, that's the gist of it."

And assuming Apparatus was telling the truth, your world won't be wiped off the multiversal map in the process.

Neither Twilight nor I thought it a good idea to mention the particulars of what would happen if I died, so we'd left that little detail out of the explanation.

"In that case, I will help you navigate this world to the best of my ability," Luna continued, her horn sparking to life with an eerie-looking blue-black aura, "but first we go to the caverns beneath Canterlot Castle. Already I am late in my duties to our remaining citizens and Celestia likely grows worried for my safety."

She paused to give Twilight a pointed look.

"What?" Twilight asked, looking slightly self-conscious as Luna continued to stare.

"Do you know of any spells to disguise your appearance?"

At first, Twilight frowned in confusion, but it wasn't long before a look of realization crossed her face. She didn't look happy about it, but rather than answer verbally, she closed her eyes and her horn lit up. For roughly a minute she remained like that, then, in a brilliant flash of light, she was a completely different pony. Her wings were gone, her coat was a pale yellow color, and her mane and tail had shifted to a pleasant forest green color.

"Nice," I commented.

"I never really had much use for this spell so it took a bit longer than I would've liked," Twilight sighed, "but really I'm just glad to have my magic back. Again."

At that last statement, her expression basically told the world that heads would roll if she lost her magic again. I couldn't really blame her. That must've been a pain in the ass to deal with, but any mirth I felt was quickly sapped away by the no-nonsense tone in Luna's voice when she next addressed Twilight.

"How long can you maintain the spell?" she asked.

"It's a static spell," Twilight replied, sounding a bit proud, "I don't need to consume magic to maintain it so it'll stay active until I dispel it."

"Impressive," Luna remarked. A small and strangely sad smile crossed her face, but it vanished almost as soon as it had appeared and she was all business as she raised her head, "I'm sending us back. Prepare yourselves, for this will not be a pleasant experience."

With that said, Luna raised her head to the sky and began to chant. I winced at the words she spoke, almost certain she was speaking in the R'lyehian tongue. That wasn't what weirded me out though—I actually expected that on some level. What weirded me out was the fact that as I focused on her words, I could almost, almost make out what she was saying. It was more intuition than actual understanding, but it was there.

I was so caught up in wondering what the hell that was all about that I nearly missed the large blackened magical circle that surrounded us all. I barely had time to look down before we were all swallowed by shadows and whisked away to the Crystal Caverns below Canterlot.

Equus IV – A Colloquy in the Cramped Crystal Cave

When Luna said the trip wouldn't be pleasant I wasn't really sure what to expect, but aside from a moment of black nothingness, an icy chill, and a bit of vertigo, it wasn't really all that bad. The shift only lasted maybe a few seconds at most and before I knew it, the darkness had receded and we were all standing in a small cave lit by a ton of glowing crystals of every size and shape.

The crystals covered practically the entire rock wall and what little I did see of the rocky surface was made of dark blue, very unnatural-looking stone. It was more or less what I remembered from the wedding episode of the show if maybe a bit more organic in its appearance.

It was more or less like I remembered... other than the fact that every single crystal in the small cavern was just as black as the world outside. Each crystal, dark as they were, gave off a cool violet glow that was more than enough to light every nook and cranny. If I was being honest it felt more relaxing than eerie, like a room full of black lights.

A quick look around revealed that the cave was actually very small—small enough to fit maybe three or four more humans or may another pony or two. The singular exit I could see ahead of us lead out to a rocky pathway well lit by a series of smaller black crystals lining the walls.

Huh... just like Daring Do's place...

I pushed the errant thought aside when I looked over and saw that my disguised alicorn companion evidently hadn't faired nearly as well as I had. Twilight stood beside me, her posture rigid, her body shaking slightly, her eyes and mouth clamped shut and her face pale and a little green beneath the fur. She looked like someone who'd gone on a rollercoaster for the first time and not taken the experience well.

Not that I'd know, never having ridden a rollercoaster before...

Again, the rather bitter thought was pushed aside as I leaned down a bit and nudged the queasy-looking mare.

"Hey, the ride's over," I said, frowning as she slowly opened one eye, then both before looking around in surprise. Her face still looked a little pale and, seeing her discomfort, I raised a concerned eyebrow, "you, uh... you gonna be okay there?"

"Yeah," she breathed after a moment. She paused and finally turned to face me with a shaky smile, "y-yeah, I'll be fine. I just... gimme a second, okay?" her smile dropped as she turned her attention to Luna, who'd been watching us with a look I couldn't place, "what was that? That wasn't like any teleportation spell I'd ever seen," she shivered again, "...or felt."

Luna's smile was both sad and sardonic as she replied.

"There are ways to make the vile power of the Old Night work for you if you know the means," her smile dropped into a frown and she turned away from the two of us to look down the crystal lit tunnel ahead, "I must let my sister know of these new developments. I advise you two wait here until I return," she glanced back at us—or rather at me—over her shoulder, "you are not a familiar creature to the ponies of this world, Salvatore. I know not how they will react upon seeing you, but given no warning of your arrival or appearance, I am certain the reception will be... problematic."

"Hey, you'll hear no arguments from me," I replied, raising my hands in surrender, "I was honestly thinking the same thing."

I turned to give Twilight a pointed look and seeing that, she nodded along after a moment.

"Don't worry, Princess," she said with a rather shallow attempt at a reassuring smile, "we'll be here when you get back."

Luna eyed us a moment longer, as if unsure whether to take us at our word. I couldn't tell for sure because of her ridiculous mane, her eyes seemed to settle on Twilight. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and just shook her head instead. Another moment later she wordlessly vanished with the bright blue flash and magical pop of a regular teleportation spell. There were another few seconds of silence before it broken by Twilight who cast a worried look my way as she spoke.

"So... what now?" she asked, "do we have a plan of action here?"

"Nope," I sighed as I walked over and sat down against a part of the cave wall that wasn't covered in glowing crystals, "for now we just wait until she gets back and we'll see what happens from there I guess."

I leaned back to rest my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I heard the rather noisy clop of hooves on stone and a soft whump somewhere nearby as Twilight moved to sit next to me. I ignored her for a second as I stretched my still relatively new chaotic senses out to see if I could pinpoint the shard's location from here.

"Can you sense anything?" Twilight asked, evidently realizing what I was doing, "is the shard here?"

"Nah, I got nothin'," I replied opening my eyes and shaking my head, "which means it's probably somewhere unreasonably dangerous," I shrugged, "my money's on whatever's left of Ponyville."

"You think so?" Twilight asked, then mused sadly, "I wonder if any of the girls made it out okay... and Spike..."

I waited for her to finish the thought, but that was apparently all she was willing to say out loud. Still, I could see the unspoken worry in her eyes. I could see the fear and concern for the friends and family that weren't hers, or at least that's what I figured. I wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything useful to say so I just kept quiet and sat back against that wall again.

Twilight eventually gave a despondent sigh before lowering herself down onto her stomach, her legs tucked beneath her as she looked over the room. There was a strangely peaceful moment of silence as we both sat there absorbed in our thoughts. I wasn't sure what Twilight was thinking about just then, but my own thoughts had turned—not for the first time—toward my entire situation as a whole.

The more I thought about it, the more surreal it all felt. Sure, I could outwardly shrug it all off, but when I actually had time to really sit down and think about it I found myself staring down at shaky hands. I wasn't entirely sure what that was all about, but I think I might've been feeling something like existential dread right then and there.

For some reason, it was hard to tell and I really didn't want to dwell on it so I dropped my arms over my raised up knees and turned to Twilight instead. Looking at her, she really didn't look all that much better than I felt. Her face was pensive but there was a sadness there—a sense of loss and despair. Her eyes were distant and foggy and I'd bet all the money I didn't have that she was thinking about her own Equestria.

The fact that I could pick up on that at all was surprising to me. I was actually pretty good at reading how people felt—good at reading between the lines, I mean—but that was based more on what someone said and how they said it. I was absolutely terrible at reading facial cues as far I knew. I wondered then why it was so easy to do now.

Maybe it's because ponies are a lot more expressive than humans? Or maybe it's just that Twilight wears her emotions on her sleeve?

Whatever the case, I wasn't sure whether to break her out of her reverie or not. Normally I would've just pulled up my headphones and tuned out the heavy atmosphere with some music or an audiobook or a Youtube video or something back on Earth. That was, in fact, what I wanted desperately to do at that moment. Now that I had both my phone and headphones back, it was something I actually could do, but now it just seemed horribly inappropriate.

Well yeah, she's not exactly a stranger anymore and I don't wanna be an asshole.

...Ah, fuck it.

"So, the black crystals," I began, trying to catch Twilight's attention, "any idea what those are all about?"

"Huh?" she replied distractedly. She blinked a few times as if she'd just snapped out of a trance as she looked over at me, "what was that?"

"The crystals," I repeated, gesturing vaguely to the walls, "they're all black and ominous-looking but I'm not getting any evil dark magic vibes from any of them. You're the magic expert, do you know what the deal is?"

She gave me another slow blink and shook her head, probably trying to clear her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Salvatore, I just..." she swallowed and took another uncomfortable look around, "I've only ever seen these kinds of crystals once before a-and..."

I frowned, not quite getting her distress at first, but then it hit me a moment later and I hissed, slapping myself mentally for not figuring it out sooner.

"Right," I muttered, "that whole situation..."

So that's what she was thinking about. Well, I technically wasn't wrong, I guess. Doesn't make this any less awkward though...

"Ah, shit... sorry, Twilight. Just forget I said anything."

"No, it's fine. I'm fine," she shook her head again and took a calming breath before looking me in the eye, "these crystals are similar to the ones I saw back in... back in the Crystal Empire, but I don't think they're the exact same."

"Oh?"

I raised an eyebrow and she returned an inquisitive gaze to the surrounding crystals as she continued to elaborate. Her horn suddenly lit up as she spoke, the soft hum of magic filling the quiet space around us. Though her disguise was visibly flawless her magical aura still retained its signature magenta glow.

"There are trace amounts of dark magic coursing through these crystals, but nothing overt or dangerous," she narrowed her eyes as if concentrating on something only she could see, "it's really only just enough to affect their color and glow."

She seemed to relax a little as she continued her observations.

"This was definitely somepony's doing, but as far as I can tell, they really are just being used as a light source," her face scrunched up in bemusement as she let the magic in her horn die out, "though why they're using dark magic at all for such a thing when literally any other type of magic—save for maybe chaos—would've sufficed, I have no idea."

"Who knows," I replied, not really caring all that much as long as the things weren't dangerous. But then a thought hit me, "you think maybe it was Luna? She seems to be a big fan of dark magic, at least in this Equestria."

Twilight thought about it for a moment then shook her head, her expression turning grim and troubled.

"I don't know what it is she's using exactly," she finally said, "but it's not dark magic, not entirely anyway. If anything it feels more like chaos magic, but more... I don't really know how to describe it. More... primal. Otherworldly, maybe."

"More like those things crawling around in the darkness?"

"Yes, exactly!" Twilight exclaimed, then shivered, "it's almost as if she was channeling the power of that unnatural darkness through her horn."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," I replied, "remember how she was talking about making the 'power of the Old Night work for you' or whatever? I'll bet she's trying to fight fire with eldritch fire. I mean, look at the way she looks now."

Twilight gave a slow, thoughtful nod as she mulled over my words.

"That makes sense," she conceded, "but she also alluded to the crystals being part of that, which doesn't make sense. I don't feel any of that eerie power coming from those crystals."

"Eh, that probably just means there's more going on behind the scenes than we know about," I surmised, "I wouldn't worry about it too much. At the end of the day, this is all being done to keep what's left of Equestria safe. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that."

"Do you really believe that?" Twilight asked somewhat skeptically, "because I can't see anything good coming from the Princess using that kind of power."

I went to reply, but stopped myself, realizing the mare had a point. If I was the one writing this story, there definitely wouldn't have been a happy ending. And in realizing that, at that moment, something in my mind clicked. It was less another realization and more a vague idea about the nature of my entire situation. It wasn't quite something I could put into words just yet, but it was there hiding in the back of my mind.

"Maybe you're right," I replied, pushing the thought aside for the time being, "but even if some horrible fate awaits Luna and the rest of this place, it really isn't our issue to sort out in the end. We're just here for the shard so—hey, don't give me that look."

I sighed in equal parts exasperation and resignation at having to explain myself. Twilight was a good person—well, pony—and I liked to think I wasn't a bad guy myself, but one of the bigger differences between us was that I wasn't, nor had I ever been, a hero or some champion of justice. I was almost certain the disapproving look Twilight gave me was something ingrained and reactionary, but I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"Okay, listen," I began, "I did, at one point, think about trying to save each Equestria Discord dropped me into, but that was only because—based on what that asshat told me—the alternative was horrible for everyone involved.

"Now that I know there's another less destructive alternative, I'm not taking any unnecessary risks for a world already on the brink of collapse," I half groaned-half sighed as her disapproving frown turned to a full-on glare, "Twilight, I'm sorry but unlike you, I can't harness the literal power of friendship to bring down the enemies of peace and harmony. I'm just a dude who likes writing morbid stories."

"And I'm just a mare who lost her 'literal power of friendship' when all of her friends died," she bit back.

I winced at the bitter response and was now regretting having ever opened my damn mouth. This was why I avoided arguments like the plague. I wasn't very good at it and whenever I did try to argue I wound up putting my foot in my mouth more often than not. I was one of those guys who didn't say a word in my defense until the argument was over and only came up with a million things to say later when I was alone.

"You don't know for sure that the whole magic of friendship thing is gone," I tried lamely, "but yeah, that's not something I should've just thrown out there like that... sorry."

She eyed me for another second or two and I thought she was going to argue the point further, but then her shoulders slumped and her expression softened a bit.

"No... I'm sorry. That wasn't fair of me, and I get where you're coming from, Salvatore, really I do," she said, "you were thrown headfirst into a situation you couldn't have ever prepared for—ripped from your home and..." she shuddered, "yes, I have my own share of problems and traumas, but you've died. More than once. I can't even imagine what that's like."

"It ain't pleasant, I can tell you that much," I replied with a bitter chuckle, "honestly it isn't really the death that bothers me because I know I can come back. It's the pain that comes before more than anything but, uh... I try not to think about any of it at all if I can help it."

That just seemed to deepen the pained expression on her face. I scratched my head awkwardly and decided to change tack.

"Look, I'd like to help this Equestria, but I have no idea what I'm doing," I explained, "even if I had a grasp on my brand spanking new chaos magic, I wouldn't know what to do with it. I'd probably end up making the situation a hell of a lot worse than it already is."

"Setting aside my doubts that anypony could possibly make things worse than they already are, I still think there's something you can do if you tried," she insisted, "I'll agree that it might not have been possible before, but you're not the same person you were when I saved you that night. I wouldn't have believed I could save Equestria from Nightmare Moon before I came to Ponyville, but—"

"Oh, come on, you can't compare yourself to me. You were a genius long before you ever became an Element of Harmony. Not only that, but you've been using magic all your life—magic that, might I add, has a much lower chance of blowing up in your face. Hell, I should be the one asking you to do something."

"We can do something! Together!" Twilight pressed, undeterred by my bout of pessimism and self-doubt, "granted, chaos magic isn't exactly a stable branch of thaumaturgy but it's still something we can use. It got us out of that mess earlier, didn't it?"

"Sure, but I nearly blew us both up in the process," I shot back with a self-deprecating snort, "I'm willing to bet I would've died right then and there if my body wasn't changing in new and exciting ways."

Magical puberty... fucking fantastic.

"So your magic isn't completely reliable," Twilight continued, apparently taking a different approach, "even if that's the case there are other ways you can contribute."

"Such as?"

"It's not always about what you can or can't do, Salvatore. Sometimes—a lot of times—it's more about what you know," she gave me an encouraging smile, "you said you like to write morbid stories, right? I'd say this problem is right up your alley."

This time I did roll my eyes.

"Okay, I'll grant you that knowledge is important and that, yes, I do know a thing or two about how these kinds of scenarios play out," I conceded before crossing my arms and giving Twilight a pointed look, "but that won't help us in this particular situation."

"And why shouldn't it?" she argued back, looking almost petulant, "if you know the problem then you can always work toward finding a solution. Even if none presents itself outright, you could at least try—"

"It's because I know about these kinds of things that I'm telling you it's useless," I interjected, "in this kind of setting, things always go from bad to worse. Grimdark stories by their very nature are meant to be dark, dismal, miserable, depressing, nightmarish, heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, soul-shriveling—"

"Thank you, Salvatore, I get the point."

"My point is that grimdark stories aren't something that can be fixed just because I know how they work."

"But you've tried to save Equestria before and the only reason you didn't succeed the one time was that Discord botched his spell—"

"Doesn't matter whose fault it was," I countered, "in the end, I still failed, and I'll continue to fail and likely die every time because that's how grimdark works," I shrugged helplessly, "even if we did do something and succeed, it'd likely be a pyrrhic victory at best."

"You don't know that for certain. Who's to say you're not the outlier that'll break that cycle?" Twilight challenged, and then added in a voice just loud enough for me to hear, "and to be fair, from what I saw, your methods weren't exactly, um... optimal. You can't blame your failure entirely on the fact that those Equestrias were part of the grimverse."

"And I don't, that's what I'm saying!" I cried, raising my arms up in exasperation, "I know I'm incompetent. That's all the more reason why I want to stay out of whatever shitstorm we're dropped into."

I also knew how whiney I was being and I hated it, but pent up frustration and maybe a bit of fear about the future made me press on.

"I'm not exactly the confident and charismatic type, okay?" I said in a tone that was a little calmer, but more defensive than I would've liked as I thought back to my meeting with the Captain back on the ship, "I have my moments, but on the whole, I'm no strategist and I'm not too good at thinking on my feet. You put me on the spot and I'm gonna fumble more often than not. That's just the kind of guy I am, unfortunately."

That wasn't to say I didn't have any strengths. I did have a very particular set of skills... but just about all of them were artistic skills. They were things like writing and music and... well, I used to be good at drawing, but I hadn't actually drawn anything in literal years. I did have a very vivid imagination and that could be useful in some rare cases, but I doubt any of my 'skills' would help me now.

"It doesn't have to be though," Twilight replied, sounding somewhat exhausted by the conversation now, "you might have lived a sedentary lifestyle up until now but this is an opportunity to find the skills you never knew you had. Hasn't anypony ever told you that you fail one hundred percent of the tests you don't take?"

I'm pretty sure the saying is a bit different where I come from...

My only response this time was to raise a very skeptical eyebrow. Twilight groaned and raise her front hooves to her temples, rubbing at them softly as she spoke.

"Okay, look at it this way," she began, "if a blank flank never took any chances then nopony would ever get their cutie mark. Sometimes you need to go out on a limb to find your special talent, you know?"

"You don't need to talk to me like I'm an ignorant foal," I groused, "you can't win if you don't try, I get that. But trying, in this case, means that if I fail, it's not just my life that gets snuffed out, remember?"

Apparently, she hadn't because her mouth clicked shut and she grimaced at the unpleasant reminder. She looked like she had more to say, but it took her a second to get the words out, an opportunity I took to say my piece.

"Maybe I could help a few people—or ponies—here and there, and you know what? Sure, I'll try to do at least that much if they need immediate help and only if it won't get us killed or worse," I said, trying to compromise a bit, "but for the most part, I think it would be better for everyone involved if we stayed out of the way and focused on finding that shard."

"Okay, fine, I can accept that," Twilight finally said after a long, conflicted minute of silence, "all I'm asking is that we at least try to do something. I know the risks are... dire, but I can't get behind doing nothing to help when somepony is suffering right in front of me."

That wouldn't exactly sit well with me either, but I'm also not big on self-sacrifice—especially the kind where you actually give up your life.

Rather than say that aloud I just let out another resigned sigh. I stood up and raised my arms in a languid stretch then turned to address the disguised mare again.

"I feel you on that, but just remember that even the smallest act can have horrible consequences down the road," I warned, "the kinds of stories I read and write don't give a fuck about your intentions or how careful you are. It's the small shit you didn't think about that'll catch you off guard and get you in the end."

"I'll keep that in mind," Twilight replied without a hint of regret as she too stood up and stretched out like a cat, "in the meantime why don't you tell me about this Old Night that the Princess was talking about. You looked like you knew something about it earlier."

"Yeah, you could say that," I replied. I looked out towards the exit of the small cave and frowned, getting the weird feeling that someone was going to waltz in any second. When no one appeared I continued, though my eyes didn't leave the entrance, "if she's talking about what I think she's talking about then I doubt there's actually much we can do here."

"Why? What is this Old Night?"

"Well... you remember what I told you about Lovecraft and cosmic horror and the Cthulhu Mythos and all that?"

"Yes...?" Twilight replied slowly, clearly not liking where this was going.

Yeah, I don't blame you.

"So the Old Night is actually another name for one of the deities in that Mythos—one of the sleeping Great Old Ones," I explained, "he goes by a bunch of different names, but the cult of the Hidden Ones call him Zulchequon the Dark Silent One and worship him as a death god."

"And my counterpart decided to wake him from his slumber? Why?" Twilight asked, sounding both horrified and incredulous, "and for that matter what was something like that even doing in Equestria anyway? Wasn't that Mythos written by humans on Earth?"

"Curiosity probably got the best of her and she got herself in too deep. That's usually how it goes down in Lovecraft's stories, and as for why Zulchequon was here in Equestria?" I paused to think about it for a second, "well... Discord did say that every story ever written was real somewhere in the multiverse," I pointed out, "I can only assume this was the result of someone's twisted imagination."

I, of course, wasn't dumb enough to tell her that I wholly approved from the perspective of a writer who loved this kind of thing. It was one thing to like the concept as a story, but another entirely when that story wound up becoming your reality.

"That's rich, coming from you," Twilight scoffed, "you're not seriously going to stand there and tell me this isn't something you would've written if you had the opportunity, are you?"

Whoops, saw right through me.

"I mean, yeah, but..."

I paused suddenly as another thought hit me and Twilight spoke up after a second of silence.

"...But what?"

I ignored her expectant gaze as something unexpected began to creep up from the back of my mind. It was that same feeling from earlier but more concentrated, more focused on the here and now—a revelation of sorts just out of reach. I could tell loosely that it was some uncomfortable notion born from the fact that I somehow had a vague idea of what had happened here without having been told. I was just about to entertain the unnerving thought when—

'Well isn't this an interesting conversation?'

A masculine voice deep, velvety, ethereal, and full of unchecked curiosity resounded within the small cave and cut through the relative silence. I practically jumped out of my goddamn skin at the sound and so did Twilight, if the sharp feminine squeal of surprise beside me was anything to go by. The two of us looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but it was disembodied and sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once.

"Who's there?" Twilight called out in a confident, commanding tone that was almost believable, "show yourself!"

Really, Twilight?

I wanted to shake my head at the cliche line, but a flash of movement caught my eye and I turned to one of the many black crystals embedded in the dark blue stone of the cavern wall. As I watched, the violet light surrounding the crystal seemed to shift and warp in my vision. This went on for a few seconds before the light was sucked in like the crystal itself was a singularity.

Once the light was gone the crystal exploded into pitch-black smoke that shot into the air and made a beeline for where Twilight and I were standing. I had an inkling that we weren't being attacked, but the suddenness of the action still made me curse and stumble back a step. Twilight straight-up tried to blast the incoming smoke with a magenta-colored laser she panic-fired from her horn. The shot passed right through the smoke like it wasn't even there and hit another crystal on the wall behind with a sharp electrical crack.

The crystal shattered but neither of us paid that any mind as the smokey shape slowed and settled over the ground in front of us.

'Come now, there's no need for that kind of reaction, girl.'

Out of the amorphous black cloud came a pair of predatory eyes, their pupils an angry red, the sclera a sickly green, and the outer rims burning violet with barely restrained dark magic. Oh yeah, I knew those eyes, and so did Twilight.

"Y-You?" she barely managed to croak out. I looked over just in time to see her face light up in horrified recognition. I saw her eyes go glossy for a moment, then cursed again as her expression twisted into rage, "you... you!"

I called out to her, but she was already firing another laser and this time I could feel the heat of the beam from where I was standing. The first beam she'd fired had some power behind it, but this one was definitely meant to kill. It burned far brighter and hotter than the last and melted the cave wall behind the shifting smokey shadows into white-hot slag.

As impressive and terrifying as that was though, it still did nothing to harm the cloud of darkness lazily hovering in place. That didn't stop Twilight from firing again and again and once more before she seemingly ran out of juice and collapsed from what I assumed was magical exhaustion. Her horn sparked one more time but no more magical purple beams of death were forthcoming.

With her reserves evidently tapped for the moment and left panting as if she'd just run a marathon, Twilight settled for glaring up at the unamused blob of smoky darkness.

'...Are you quite finished?'

"Go... to hell... Sombra..."

I blinked and stared down at the furious mare.

The fuck? Where the hell did that come from?

Apparently, Sombra was just as surprised as I was because he didn't say anything for a good four or five seconds. A weird silence filled the air as the cloud of darkness and I stared at Twilight in bewilderment. I would've found the whole thing hilarious if I wasn't involved, but I was and I needed to keep the peace somehow. Thankfully I didn't have to say anything, as it was Sombra who broke the silence, his only response to chuckle... good-naturedly?

O... kay?

'Well now, that was certainly the last thing I expected to hear from the likes of you, Princess.'

His smokey form began to shift once again as he spoke, this time into something more equine in shape. Before long Twilight and I were looking at Sombra as I remembered him. He stood tall and imperious before us with his dark grey coat, black mane, armored neck and hooves, red cape, tacky silver crown, his evil glowing horn... the works. When he continued speaking his voice was a lot less eerie and ethereal, though no less deep and intimidating.

"A little unexpected, but I must say, this is a rather refreshing change of pace."

Equus IV – I Need a Hero

"Sombra," Twilight growled, probably wishing looks could kill, "what are you doing here?"

The mare was back up on her hooves but she still looked winded from her failed attempt to turn the tyrant into swiss cheese. Sombra, for his part, didn't seem offended in the least by her hostility. If anything he looked amused by the current state of affairs.

"Me? I've simply come to greet our newest arrivals to this Tartarus forsaken pit," Sombra replied with a grin I would've called insufferably facetious.

"And I suppose you waited until just now to show yourself for dramatic effect?" I questioned, meeting his fake grin with my flattest look as I jerked a thumb toward the surrounding cavern walls, "the fact that you just so happened to overhear our conversation through your crystals was mere happenstance, was it?"

"Ah, well... I'm afraid you'll have to forgive me a bit of curiosity," Sombra replied with a sad shake of his head, "such unfortunate violations of one's privacy come with the job I've been given, you see."

"The job you've been given?" Twilight asked with a bemused grimace. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "what are you talking about? You're a vicious, slave-mongering tyrant. What job could you..." her face paled, "unless... unless you—"

"Now there's no need to make that kind of face, Princess," Sombra chided with a mock frown, "your fears are misplaced, Twilight Sparkle," his frown turned bitter as he continued, "whatever acts of villainy you've clearly assumed I've committed, I assure you I have not—at least not since the Crystal Empire reappeared all those years ago."

"You're talking about when you came back as a barely sapient cloud of ominous black smoke?" I asked for clarification's sake, "you started spewing black crystals everywhere before getting banished back to whatever dark hole you crawled out of?"

That got an irritated eye twitch out of the stallion which probably meant I'd hit the nail on the head. Twilight, who'd also picked up on his annoyance, seemed mollified somewhat at his reaction.

"It wasn't quite so simple as that," the former tyrant answered in a forcefully measured tone, "but yes, that failure more or less sums up my last attempt to reclaim what was rightfully mine."

"Okay, I'll humor you then," said Twilight who, aside from a contemptuous scowl, had relaxed for the most part, "so you haven't attempted any more atrocities since then. If that's the case, how about explaining how you returned again and why you're here?"

"Oh, I'd love nothing more, Princess," the stallion replied, looking suddenly indignant and sounding like he couldn't wait to get what he was about to say off his chest, "believe it or not, it was the moon nag who summoned me back to this wretched world and it is that demented alicorn who now keeps my soul captive within these accursed tunnels."

Twilight's expression twisted into shocked disbelief at the revelation but all I could do was sigh as a few pieces of the puzzle came together in my mind.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," I replied with a helpless shrug, "not all that surprising, really."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, whipping around to face me with a look of incredulity, "I know things are bad, but to bring back Sombra? How would she have even done that?"

"Probably through the same eldritch magic she used to get us here," I surmised, "it's just a guess, but I'd put money on it for sure," I nodded toward the tunnel, "you heard what she said about making that power work for you and whatnot," I pointed a thumb in Sombra's direction, "I get the feeling this is what she was actually referring to."

Twilight looked from me to Sombra as if trying to decide whether or not to believe it. In the end, it looked like it pained her to admit it, but she didn't argue the matter.

"But why though?" she asked with no small amount of helpless frustration in her voice, "why would she bring you of all creatures back?"

"She brought me back to do what she couldn't," Sombra answered, his own voice dripping with derision, "that foolish mare thought to push back the eldritch tide using that same alien power, but she failed."

"Failed?" I asked, curious despite myself, "failed how? What was she trying to do?"

"She never divulged that much to me," Sombra replied with a shake of his head, "all I know is that whatever she did, she used otherworldly magic to do it, evidently to no avail."

"And so she summoned you because...?" I pressed.

"Again, I wasn't made privy to all the details," the stallion's frown deepened, "but it had something to do with the true nature of myself and my magic."

"You're true nature..." Twilight muttered with a thoughtful frown. Her eyes lit up with understanding a moment later, "you're talking about your Umbrum heritage, right?"

"Oh-ho! It seems our veiled guest is more knowledgeable than I expected," Sombra observed with mild interest.

Sombra wasn't the only one who was surprised. I hadn't expected Twilight to know about the Umbrum considering what happened in her Equestria. But then again, If I took the time to think about it for half a second, it was more likely that she'd held onto that bit of info from what she pulled out of my mind.

Just how many of my memories did she decide to keep?

My suspicions were only heightened when I saw Twilight cast a side glance my way and frowned. They were all but confirmed when she spoke her next words.

"I have my sources," she replied evasively before shaking her head and pressing forward, "but I'm right, aren't I? She used you because you were an Umbrum?"

"She did," Sombra confirmed, his amused smile falling into a dark grimace, "she summoned my Umbrum soul back from the abyss and used a combination of that foul power and crystal magic from my own empire to infuse my essence into every single crystal in these caves."

"And that somehow keeps those things outside at bay," I surmised, "how does that even work anyway? You'd think your magic would attract them to this place like flies to honey."

"You would think so, yes... but that is not the case," came a familiar voice from somewhere behind us. We all turned to see none other than Luna approaching from the cavern's entrance, her stride slow and unconcerned by the conversation taking place, "the presence of an Umbrum bears a similar aura to that of the shades above, and it is that similarity that keeps them blind to these caverns."

"Ah, if it isn't the mare of the hour," Sombra commented snidely, "come to drag our guests into another one of your ill-conceived schemes?"

"I am ashamed to admit that my grasp of the eldritch rites is feeble and they alone would not suffice to protect these caves," Luna continued on as if Sombra hadn't spoken or wasn't even there, to begin with, "but through much trial and error I have found a working if temporary resolution, one that required the use of Sombra's... unique origins."

"How'd you even get the idea to use Sombra in the first place?" I asked, also choosing to ignore the very stallion we were talking about, "hasn't he been banished or whatever since like... way before this Equestria's Twilight became an alicorn?"

"A chance encounter with a crystal pony if you can believe it," Luna answered with a mirthless smile, "the meeting itself was... rather unpleasant for all involved, but through that encounter, I learned of Sombra's nature and what he might be able to do for us."

"You say such things as if I had any choice in the matter," Sombra snarled in disdain, "you failed your precious subjects and thus I was summoned and bound by your hoof, forced to fix your mistakes. Forced to endure this... this humiliation!"

"This coming from the tyrant who enslaved his own subjects?" Twilight snarled back, "you know what, Sombra? I don't condone what Luna's done to you, but I can't say you didn't deserve it!"

Damn, Twilight...

I didn't know whether to be impressed or unnerved by the sheer amount of vindictiveness in Twilight's voice. Sombra looked just as surprised, but her words apparently struck a sore spot because he was about ready to start spitting venom a moment later.

"Regardless of what either of you might say, Sombra is right," Luna interjected before things could get really heated, "I failed, and in the end, I had to rely on less scrupulous methods to ensure our safety," she paused to look over the small, crystal-filled cavern, "even then, this is no lasting solution. I have only mitigated our dire situation at best."

"Wait," I jumped in, looking over to Sombra as an idea came to me, "you cursed the Crystal Empire to vanish from the world when you were first banished by the Princesses, right?" I turned to Luna, "why not just do that with Equestria? I don't know where the Empire went when it vanished and yeah, their memories were fucked, but everyone and everything still came back alive and intact."

"That was actually my fallback plan when I brought the tyrant forth from the abyss," Luna replied before finally turning her full attention to the stallion in question.

"It wouldn't have worked," Sombra said in grudging response to Luna's unspoken demand for him to explain, "even if I wanted to drag this doomed kingdom into the abyss with me, I was brought back without the magical strength to do so."

He stepped forward suddenly, rushing toward, and passing harmlessly through a startled Twilight. We turned to find the stallion standing just as he had before on the opposite side of the cave.

"This body is nothing more than a mere projection, one I can only just barely maintain in my current state," he continued with a scathing glare in Luna's direction, "with my soul spread across the entirety of these caverns I pose no real threat and have no real power as anything other than a glorified barrier spell with eyes."

I wouldn't say you're completely powerless, I thought as I cast a pointed glance at the surrounding crystals, Big Brother is always watching after all...

"Even if he could do something like that, would that really solve anything?" Twilight added, having evidently recovered from Sombra's surprise, "even if you sealed Equestria away for a thousand years what would you have to come back to? The world might be even worse off than it already is by then."

"It is as you say," Luna agreed, "as I said, it was a fallback plan, something I had considered if this—" she gestured to the black crystals, "—did not work. Had this plan fallen through, I would have had Sombra seal away Equestria while I remained behind to search for another solution, but I know now that such a thing is not possible."

"So if the Sombra barrier drops, then that's it," I surmised, "you all go extinct and the shades take over."

Luna didn't reply, but she didn't have to. As far as she knew, there were no other options. I thought about asking about the Elements of Harmony, but knew she would've already tried that if it were possible. The fact that Twilight hadn't brought it up probably meant she thought the same thing.

"I haven't given up just yet, and neither has my sister," Luna finally said after an uncomfortably long silence, "I have spent the last few years scouring the land for a way to bring the Old Night to heel," and then she turned her obscured gaze in my direction, "...and impossible as it may seem, I believe we may have found our answer."

Oh, I don't like that look at all.

"Uh, Luna?" I asked, taking a wary step back from the mare, "what are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, she turned away from us and back toward the tunnel.

"My sister wishes to speak with the two of you and I think we've kept her waiting long enough," she replied before making her way out of the small cavern, "all shall be explained once we meet with Celestia."

"Wait, hold up! Wait a damn minute!" I called out, "you're just gonna waltz right out there with the strange biped in tow? What happened to keeping a low profile?"

"That won't be necessary," Luna replied without missing a beat, "my sister takes care of that problem even as we speak."

"What?"

What the fuck is she on about? Seriously, I feel like we took a weird turn somewhere suddenly and I don't like where this is going.

Sombra's sudden laughter did nothing to help the sensation that something was very off. I looked over to the stallion to see him looking back at me with a toothy grin. He was still chuckling that knowing chuckle when he addressed me.

"I would've liked to get to know you a bit more, Salvatore," he said, "it's not every day that one sees a creature so unique as yourself after all. Perhaps we will meet again in the near future, assuming you survive what this world has to offer."

He then turned to Twilight, his smile dropping into something a little less mocking and a little more calculating and cold.

"And your presence here confounds me more than his does," he commented, "I lack much of the context needed to understand your motives, but I know you are not the same mare that defied me all those years ago.

"That said, you would do well to heed your bipedal friend and keep your head down if you know what's good for you."

"Is that a threat?" Twilight growled.

"It's a warning," Sombra replied evenly, "I don't know what it was like back in the Equestria you came from, but the legacy Twilight Sparkle left behind in this world is one of bloodshed and betrayal."

His voice was cold before, but now it was downright icy. His expression had grown so severe that Twilight actually took an unnerved step back from the stallion.

"I'm sure Luna has told as much already, but let me impress upon you the position you're in," he continued, "you can call me a tyrant. A slave monger, a villain. A monster. But for all my heinous deeds, I wasn't the one who awakened an apocalyptic nightmare and destroyed the world. That, Twilight Sparkle, is your legacy. That is what you left behind."

Maybe it was the intensity in Sombra's voice as he tore into her. Maybe it was something she saw in his eyes. Whatever it was though, it left Twilight speechless and shaken. She stood there for several long seconds staring back at Sombra with eyes wide and mouth flapping uselessly.

"But... but I didn't," she argued weakly. She gave a slow shake of her head, "that wasn't me... I didn't—"

"If they find out who you are under that disguise, do you think that's going to matter?" Sombra asked with a cruel bark of laughter, "some of your friends are still alive, you know. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie if I remember correctly."

"They survived?" Twilight whispered, some small semblance of hope rising in her tone. I grimaced at that look, knowing full well what Sombra was doing.

This motherfucker...

"Twilight, don't—"

"Oh, yes!" Sombra interrupted, grinning like a devil with a contract to sell, "no doubt you'd love to see them? Well, I know where they are. I'd even be willing to guide you to them if you—"

The tyrant let out a choked gasp and shuddered violently. He snapped a furious glare to something behind us and, following his gaze, we saw that Luna had returned. Her horn was aglow with that same blue-black aura and her own gaze was focused on Sombra.

"Luna!" Sombra ground out through clenched teeth, "you—"

That was all he was able to get out before his body completely dispersed into black smoke once more. The smoke then separated and shot off in every direction before sinking back into the surrounding crystals. The cavern was left in complete silence in a matter of seconds.

"Come," Luna commanded after a minute as she retreated back to the tunnel again, "let us be on our way."

"Luna..."

Luna stopped again, though this time she didn't bother turning around. She didn't reply, but her shoulders seemed to sag ever so slightly at the sound of Twilight's quiet voice. I didn't say anything either. I figured I had nothing to say on the matter. If she wanted to talk later that was fine, but right now this was something I felt Twilight and Luna had to sort out.

"What happened to Fluttershy and Pinkie?" Twilight fully turned to face Luna, her eyes glossy but her expression set, "are they... okay?"

There was another stretch of silence, and then...

"No, Twilight," Luna said in a tone just as quiet as Twilight's, "no they are not... and I would strongly advise against seeking them out were I you."

Twilight, didn't answer right away. Instead, she looked away with unfocused eyes and an expression twisted by grief. I thought she was going to break down right then and there, but to my surprise, it wasn't long before she was raising a hoof to wipe her unshed tears away and making her own way out of the cavern.

"Let's go, Sal," she called back, "it sounds like Luna and Celestia have a plan and I'm pretty sure it involves us somehow," she gave Luna a pointed look, "am I right?"

Luna hesitated a second before giving a tentative nod.

"I thought so," Twilight said with a scowl, "I don't know how to feel about that, but I'm willing to at least hear you out," she looked back to where I still stood with an expectant raise of her brow, "Salvatore?"

Sheesh, it's like we didn't just have a conversation about not getting too involved.

"...Gah, fine goddammit!" I groaned, throwing up my hands and raising an exasperated look to the heavens, "it's not like we have a choice, do we? We can't navigate this world on our own and I'm willing to bet you won't help us unless we help you, right?"

Luna frowned at that.

"I would like to think you would help us regardless," she said with some reluctance, "but yes, though I did oppose the arrangement, those are the terms my sister has set."

Saying you 'opposed the arrangement' doesn't mean shit if you end up agreeing in the end!

"Alright," I sighed, "let's just get this over with."

And with that, the three of us left the claustrophobic cave and entered the claustrophobic tunnels. I was glad to note that while the tunnels were twisty and branched off into a million different confusing pathways, they did get a bit roomier.

We continued through the tunnels for the next half hour or so without having seen another living soul. In that time, no one spoke and I didn't blame either Luna or Twilight. I wasn't sure what Luna's deal was, but Twilight looked like she still had a lot on her mind.

I just didn't feel like talking and had actually slipped on my wireless headphones to listen to some music. I kept the volume down low enough to hear if one of the mares was talking to me, but otherwise, tuned everything else out.

I was just getting comfortable when I heard Twilight speak for the first time since we left the cavern. Curious, I couldn't help but turn my headphones down just a bit more.

"Um... Luna?"

Luna didn't respond, but the tell-tale flick of an ear told Twilight she was listening.

"About the Crystal Empire... did Cadance and—" Twilight began, but Luna cut her off with a shake of her head.

"The Crystal Empire fell mere hours after the awakening of the Old Night," she explained, "I am sorry, Twilight, but neither our niece nor your counterpart's brother survived as far as I know. The only crystal ponies left are the ones who chose to migrate to Equestria proper before the calamity, and their numbers are very few."

"Oh... I see," Twilight replied, looking crestfallen, "I guess that was too much to hope for given the state of the world," she fell silent a second before her ears perked up with renewed hope, "wh-what about Spike? Did he survive? Is he here?"

The hopeful look in her eyes faded as Luna once again shook her head.

"Nay, 'twas young Spike's decision to follow after the perpetrator of this tragedy," she replied, "like the Twilight Sparkle of so long ago, he too has vanished from this world."

Twilight had no response for that one, at least nothing verbal anyway. Her expression shifted from shock to heartbreak to something like acceptance or maybe understanding?

"No, that... makes a lot of sense," she finally said after a moment, "if he was anything like the Spike of my Equestria, I can see him making that kind of decision without any kind of hesitation. Honestly, if I were in his position... I'm not really sure I wouldn't do the same for him."

"I wonder..." Luna muttered though she didn't bother elaborating.

"Well... what about those 'eldritch rites'?" Twilight asked, apparently wanting to change the subject, "that was what you used to teleport us to the Crystal Caverns, right? How did you even learn to cast spells like those?" she let a bit of wonder slip into her voice, "the spell matrix you used to trap me back in the cellar... I've never seen anything like it. It was... beautiful and horrifying."

"The eldritch rites are not spells but rather abominable rituals that act as spells," Luna explained as we all turned down yet another rocky corridor, "the stasis field is a rite of my own making—something I learned in my journey through the Dreamlands."

"Whoa, back up," I chimed in, slipping my headphones down to gawp at the alicorn, "you've actually been to the Dreamlands?!"

"I have," Luna confirmed with a nod, "I spent several long years there, in fact, and much of my knowledge regarding the eldritch and arcane come from my time there. It is also where I learned of you humans and the horrifying deities you worship."

"Hey, don't lump me in with those cultists," I replied with a raise of my hands, "I'll admit, those gods fascinate me, but I don't worship them. Most humans don't—at least those not living in the Dreamlands."

"I see," Luna said, "forgive me then. I have only ever seen those humans that reside within that mystifying place."

"It's cool," I reassured, "still, the fact that you've been to the Dreamlands makes a bit too much sense now that I think about it. In fact, I'd be more surprised if you'd never been."

"And those spells—er, rites," Twilight added, "you learned all that in these Dreamlands?"

"I did, but the rites I know I only learned after years and years of study," Luna admitted, "even after all this time, what I know amounts to little, such is the difficulty of this practice."

"So... this is just a guess," I began after thinking on it for a bit, "but did the Twilight of this Equestria happen to get her hooves on these 'edlritch rites' by any chance?"

Luna chuckled at that, but just like all of her other smiles and chuckles, it was a bitter, humorless thing.

"A good guess, Salvatore," she said, "the eldritch rites I use are adapted from the sacrificial rituals used by human cultists for use by a pony mage, specifically myself."

"Wait... you used sacrificial rituals as a base for your rites?" I asked incredulously, "sacrificial rituals?"

"Indeed," Luna affirmed, "but lest you judge me too harshly, know that I never once used these rites beyond the Dreamlands," she turned to face Twilight as we walked, "nay, it was not I that first brought these horrid rites to bear on Equestrian soil, but your counterpart in this world."

"The other Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight asked in shock, "how did she learn the rites? Has she also been to the Dreamlands?"

"Not during her time on this plane, no," the alicorn replied, "I know not how, but the traitorous mare managed not only to learn the invocation method on her own but was able to improve upon it."

"She did that...?" Twilight muttered in disbelief.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" I asked with a shrug, "I mean, her talent is magic, right?"

"I suppose you are right at that," Luna conceded, "the mare left a journal behind with detailed notes regarding her invocation method, among other things.

"It is through those notes that I learned just how deeply she understood the craft. In what had to be a matter of days, her mastery of the eldritch rites had far exceeded my own, and though I have pored over those notes, I still to this day struggle to comprehend much of what she wrote."

"I'm sorry, but can we go back to the whole 'sacrificial' part of all of this?" Twilight asked, eyeing Luna worriedly, "you said the rites were adapted from sacrificial rituals. Does this new method still require some kind of sacrifice?"

Silence was Luna's only response for a worryingly long time—a trend I was beginning to notice with the alicorn. Eventually, she stopped walking altogether and fully turned to address Twilight's question. I was expecting her to say yes and then give an explanation.

What I wasn't expecting was for her to lift up her thrashing mane and reveal two empty eyesockets as dark as the void-black mane she'd pushed aside.

"Well, shit," I muttered at the sight.

"Sweet Celestia," Twilight gasped in horror at the same time.

"The invocation method might have changed but the rites will not be denied their toll," she said, dropping the writhing mass that was her mane and continuing on as if she hadn't just shown us that sickening image, "this was the price I paid to protect our dear subjects, and I still failed them."

Twilight and I glanced at each other behind her back, neither of us really sure what to say to that. Ultimately it was Twilight that spoke first. She swallowed nervously before opening her mouth.

"So... you have to sacrifice something every time you use those rites?" she asked, "when you teleport us? When you summoned Sombra?"

"Every invocation requires a sacrifice," Luna confirmed, "but I have learned something of a workaround for most of the rites I use."

"A workaround?" I asked, "what kind of workaround?"

"I have found that shortening my own lifespan is sufficient enough for most rites," she said, dropping that bomb as if it was nothing, "Sombra... was a special case that required no sacrifice from me."

"You're slowly killing yourself and you call that a workaround?!" Twilight practically shouted, "Luna... how many years have you shaved off of your own life?"

Just gonna skip right over what she said about Sombra, huh? Not even going to try to read between the lines on that one? Alright, whatever.

To be honest, I didn't particularly care about this Sombra's fate—especially after what he tried to put Twilight through earlier. And I understood where Luna was coming from to an extent given how long-lived she was. Apparently, that didn't matter to Twilight though, which, yeah that figures.

"I am not entirely sure," Luna replied after thinking about it a bit, "I would imagine twelve hundred years at least."

All Twilight could do for a brief moment was blink, her shock rendering her temporarily speechless.

"Twelve—"

"It is fine, Twilight Sparkle," Luna tried to reassure the stupefied mare, "as alicorns we are not immortal, but the years we live number in the tens of thousands. Celestia and I have lived for well over a thousand years, but we are still as foals compared to the alicorns of the ancient past."

"And just how did you manage to find that out?" I asked.

"That... is something we can discuss at another time perhaps," Luna replied before stopping just short of a large set of ornate double doors I hadn't noticed until just now, "we have arrived at mine and my sister's chambers."

I frowned and took another look at my surroundings. I'd been so invested in the conversation that I hadn't really paid any attention to where we were. Looking around now, I saw that the rocky tunnels had given way to a dark blue polished stone hallway at some point.

Further back I could see that we'd actually already passed through one set of doors into this hallway and I had no idea what was past those doors. There were no other doors in the hallway either, just this long, ominous corridor leading to Celestia and Luna's chambers.

And while I'm thinking about it, where the hell are all the survivors? I don't think we saw a single creature on our way here. Then again, I wasn't paying attention so maybe I missed someone?

The strange thing was, I had the strongest feeling that I hadn't. It really did seem like there was no one around. I looked down to gauge Twilight's reaction and found that she looked just as suspicious as I felt.

Glad to see we're on the same page at least...

"Luna?" Twilight asked, turning to look the mare square in the face, "where is everypony?"

"Likely gathering within the audience chamber," Luna answered. She lit her horn and a dark blue glow surrounded the large oaken double doors before us, "no doubt awaiting my sister's announcement."

"Announcement?" Twilight asked, "what announcement?"

Luna turned to stare directly at me as the doors slowly creaked open. It was at that moment and with her next words that I realized my original plan to lay low wasn't going to happen.

"Those who remain are scared. They are tired and many creatures have lost all hope of a better future. They need what neither I nor Celestia can give them. They need somepony to place their faith in. They need a hero. They need a savior... and we're going to give them one."

I stood frozen like a deer in headlights at that response. My mind was racing but only one thought seemed to register fully in that instant.

Oh, hell fucking no!

Equus IV – (Reluctantly) Crossing the Threshold

I wasn't sure what to expect when Luna led Twilight and me through the massive double doors. I was honestly still too shocked by the bombshell Luna dropped on me to give the actual room any thought. But entering the room, I couldn't help but frown at the sight of a single queen-sized bed at one end of the room that looked... kind of comfortable. There a small nightstand by the bed upon which sat a dark brown journal or diary of some sort, a large oaken armoire off to one side, and... that was about it really.

The bed was incredibly simple. It was just a plain thing consisting of nothing more than a plain dark brown wooden frame, a thin but plush white mattress, a few feathery pillows, and a thick wool blanket. It looked like the kind of bed you might find in a cabin or something. The room itself was also pretty small but not overly so. Aside from the several dimly lit crystals embedded in a uniform pattern within walls being fashioned similarly to those just outside, it was a far cry from the ostentatiousness of the hallway we'd just come from. I took all of this in at a glance and turned to ask Luna the question sitting at the very top of my ever-increasing list.

"So... where's Celestia?"

In all honesty, I didn't really give a damn about the room itself or why there was practically nothing in it. Questions like 'why is there only one bed' or 'why make the hall so overbearingly gaudy if this is all you have to show' could wait until I found out what the hell this Equestria's Solar Princess was thinking. I kept my cool, naturally, but I wanted answers and Luna had led us into a room that was sans one Sunbutt. Twilight, for her part, looked far more curious about the room than I was, but if she had anything to say or ask on the matter, she kept it to herself as I turned to consult the larger alicorn.

"My sister is making some... last minute preparations," Luna replied after a moment, "but she should be returning shortly." She silently focused her unseeing gaze on me for a second and I was suddenly struck by how tall the mare was. I hadn't given it much thought with everything else going on, but the size of each pony I'd seen so far had been pretty consistent across each Equestria I'd been to. I was about 5'11"—roughly 180cm—and Twilight came up to just below waist height at the wither. Luna herself was almost at eye level with me, not counting the horn. Given her somewhat ghastly appearance it was actually kind of intimidating standing this close, but I didn't let it bother me too much.

"What?" I asked, returning Luna's continued silent stare with some discomfort, "Something wrong? You're looking at me like I'm some kind of weird puzzle." The mare tilted her head to one side at my words, but it took her another moment to answer. When she did, it was with a tone both thoughtful and bemused, like she really was trying to figure me out.

"I apologize, Salvatore," she began slowly, "I do not mean to stare, but something about you..." she paused and shook her head once before continued, "I know for a fact that we have never met, but I cannot help a queer sense of... familiarity the more I look upon you." Her frown deepened, "No, perhaps a more accurate description would be a sensation akin to a word or phrase almost but not quite remembered—something held eternally on the tip of the tongue if you will. That is what I feel when I look at you."

I gave a small frown of my own before casting Twilight a perplexed look. She mirrored the look for a brief second but then her expression grew contemplative. "You did know things about the situation that you should have no way of knowing," she mused, looking me over curiously, "are you sure you haven't been here before? Maybe Discord did something?"

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't," I answered with a helpless shrug, "if he did I have no memory of it, but if you ask me, I don't think that's it," I returned my attention to Luna, "I'm pretty sure—no, I know I've never been here before but I know exactly how you feel. I'm getting that same sort of feeling where it's like an unseen memory that's stuck in the back of my mind. It's like..." I paused as I tried to find the words, "...it's like the information is there, but there's no context and I have no idea where it came from."

"How strange," Luna replied quietly. She gave me that same intense stare as she spoke, "it is certainly something to ponder, but in truth, that conundrum is not what worries me." At mine and Twilight's confused and expectant looks, Luna nodded in my direction. "Looking at you, I also get the impression of something.... misaligned. A piece that doesn't fit. In you, I still feel the essence of a human despite the overwhelming taint of Chaos... but I also feel something entirely... other."

"Um... other?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow at the statement.

"I do not know," Luna said with a shake of her head. Somehow here sightless gaze intensified even more as she continued, "I haven't the words to explain it, but what I do know—what I feel in my heart of hearts, is that you do not belong here, Salvatore. More than even young Twilight Sparkle, you should not be here. Your presence in this world is... wrong on a fundamental level, I think." My brows furrowed at that and Luna gave me a rueful smile in response.

"Do not misunderstand me, child from another Plane," she chuckled, "I do not mean to imply that you are unwanted by myself or Celestia, merely that there may be forces at work that even I do not understand." Her rueful smile fell into a grimace and in a quieter tone she muttered, "Although I now find myself questioning the wisdom in my sister's plan."

"And you didn't before?" I asked incredulously. There was a lot to take in regarding what she'd said about me, but now that we were back on the subject, I couldn't help myself. I knew those last few words weren't really meant for me, but I had to respond anyway. "I'm sorry, but during that whole explanation about how we wound up here, did you miss the part where I was just some half-blind chucklefuck before I got dragged into all of this shit?" I threw my hands up in the air, more exasperated than anything else, "what the hell does Celestia expect me to do?"

"I expect a great deal from you, Salvatore."

All three of us snapped our heads toward the center of the nearly empty bedchamber at the sound of the vaguely familiar voice. At first there was nothing to see, but that quickly changed as the disembodied voice died away. The air began to warp and within the distorted haze a shape started to form. With what I could only describe as a 'sigh' of magic, the pale white, regal form of none other than Celestia shimmered into existence like some kind of ghost from the aether. She stood tall and refined in the center of the room, looking over each of us with a cerise colored gaze that could freeze magma.

Her eyes lingered on Twilight for a brief period, but if there was any anger or sadness related to the past she didn't show it. She didn't show much of anything really. Her face was an icy mask of regal impassivity. The look actually made me shiver a bit, but more than that, there was something else off about the mare that I couldn't put my finger on. Unfortunately, the imperious mare spoke again before I could put anything together. "If what my sister tells me is true," she began in a casual tone that did nothing to take away from her chilly aura, "you've come along way from the hapless human you once were before your... tragic circumstances arose."

"Trust me, Princess, I really haven't," I replied, trying for a wry grin that failed in the wake of Celesta's undivided attention, "I'm still that same hapless human in spirit if not entirely in body anymore." I held out my hands to my sides in a show of helpless resignation, "I can make my own decisions, sure, but they haven't exactly worked out for me—well, for the most part anyway..." I threw Twilight's still disguised form a side glance but she only had eyes for the Princess. She looked... confused? Worried? Angry? Suspicious? I couldn't really tell so I just continued on, "and for everything else—all the recent major changes in my life—my hands have kind of been tied here."

"That may have been true once," Celestia shot back, "but as I see it, you've been granted an opportunity to take back control of your own fate." She took several graceful steps forward until she was standing directly before me. The mare was a full head taller than me and peered down at me with that same impassive stare as she spoke. "You wish to know what I expect of you? I expect you to take advantage of the gift you've been given. I wish to you grow and learn and use the power you've been given to lift my little ponies out of this interminable darkness."

"Ah," I replied as the pieces finally clicked into place, "so you want me to use my brand spanking new Chaos magic to... to what? Defeat the Old Night? Are you serious?" I backed up a step and turned to Luna, "Is she serious?" The midnight blue alicorn frowned but said nothing. Apparently now that her sister was here this wasn't her show anymore. When she didn't respond, I looked back over to the taller sibling and shook my head. "You do realize that Zushakon is a primordial alien death god right? I'm pretty sure all the magic training montages in the world won't help me win against a creature whose power and presence is supposed to be literally impossible to comprehend."

Celestia went quiet for a second and her dispassionate frown deepened slightly. It looked like she was trying to parse my words, but it didn't take long before she started talking again. "Such comprehension may be impossible for the average human or pony," she replied in a slightly chiding tone, "but you misunderstand your situation, Salvatore." She glanced at Luna for an instant and some silent understanding I couldn't catch passed between the two. She raised her head and continued in a voice befitting her station as a ruler, "You speak and argue your case as though you are a human learning the ways of Chaos magic, but that is not so—or rather, that will not be the case for much longer as you've already been made aware."

"So that's your plan."

All eyes turned to the mare who'd had to yet to say her piece in the matter until now. A crack formed in Celestia's icy mask at the sound of Twilight's voice. Something that might've been fury or regret or despair or grief crossed her face for a fraction of a second. The look passed by and was gone behind that cold indifference so fast I could've imagined the whole thing. It could've been all those emotions. It could've been none of them. Either way, Celestia's regal impassivity was firmly back in place by the time her gaze settled on Twilight. If Twilight saw the same thing I did, she didn't acknowledge it. Instead, she squared her shoulders—withers—and met the Princess's cool stare with her own accusatory glare.

"I thought there'd be more to it than that, but no," Twilight said with barely concealed disgust and disappointment. She continued to look at Celestia but her next words were aimed at me, "Salvatore, you're turning into a lesser Chaos spirit, and while I'm not entirely sure what that entails, I'm almost certain that kind of transformation will have some major effects on how you perceive the world and reality in general." She threw me a side glance, her enmity shifting to worry. "We've already seen evidence of that back in my Equestria."

She was right on the money. Neither of us had realized it back then, but looking back on it, it was entirely possible that Discord wasn't to blame for the hallucinations. At least, not in the way I'd first thought. If what Luna and Apparatus had said was true and I was turning into some kind of proto-Chaos Lord, then that explained a lot. It also might've explained why I could suddenly almost make out the words of a certain eldritch alien language not meant for mortal ears. When it was spelled out like that, I began to more or less understand what Twilight and Celestia were getting at. Twilight's next words only confirmed my growing suspicions.

"With things as they are, it's only a matter of time before you become a Chaos spirit in full, and the Princess wants to use that power." She pressed on, returning her attention to Celestia, "I don't know how she plans to pull it off, but she essentially wants to mold you into another Discord and throw you at the problem," she raised her head and looked Celestia dead in the eye, "...am I wrong?"

After a very uncomfortable beat or two of silence, the taller Princess addressed Twilight for the first time since she appeared. She smiled at the magically veiled unicorn-turned-alicorn but it was fake, hollow thing that didn't even come close to reaching her eyes, "As astute as ever I see. I suppose some things are wont to remain the same even across the supposedly myriad universes," the smile fell away and something inscrutable crossed her face, "how... comforting." She let out a deep sigh, and I got the distinct impression that she was gearing up for a monologue. When she started pacing about the room, I was almost certain, and then she started talking and I had to resist rolling my eyes.

I want to write this whole thing off as insane, but honestly, if she can help me get this Chaos magic under control even a little, it might be worth hearing her out. Discord sure as hell isn't gonna help me sort this shit out... and speaking of which, what the hell happened to the Discord of this Equestria?

"You have the right of it insomuch that I intend to use Salvatore's chaos magic to free my subjects from this endless nightmare," Celestia said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She stopped pacing and shot Twilight a... well, it wasn't a glare exactly, but it certainly wasn't a friendly look. "As for your claims regarding an attempt to birth another Discord..." she shook her head and briefly allowed a look of disdain to cloud her face, "we would be better served by one who is not so tightly bound by the will of their progenitor. No, we do not need another Discord, but rather somepony—someone who has the means to do what must be done and will not abandon us in our darkest hour."

Ah, guess that answers that question...

"And who's to say I won't abandon you in your darkest hour?" I asked pointedly. At her sharp look I raised my hands in a placatory gesture, "Look, it's not like I want to leave you all in the lurch, but you're making a lot of assumptions here and I have my own thing I need to do." I grimaced in consternation, then gave a resigned sigh. I hadn't wanted to divulge this troublesome piece of information if I could help it, but with what Celestia was asking me to do, I figured I'd better lay some more cards on the table. If she had some method to help me learn to use my chaos magic that would be awesome, but thinking further on it, the risk was too great.

"I suppose I could try to help you with your eldritch nightmare world problem, but there's something you need to know if you're gonna force me into this." I gave Twilight a meaningful glance. If Celestia wanted to play me then I was going to make damn sure she was aware of the consequences. Thankfully, Twilight picked up what I was putting down and nodded her silent agreement, her expression grim. With that settled, I kept going, "When I told Luna about my situation I neglected to mention this little detail for all of our sakes, but since it's come to this, I should probably mention that if I die this whole world goes with me."

I quickly held up a hand to forestall any shocked or outraged replies from the Royal Sisters, "Before you go off on me, no, this isn't a threat, just simple cause and effect. The Discord who threw me into the middle of this shitstorm basically used his magic to tie my life to the fate of each Equestria I get dropped into," I gave the two sisters a rueful smile, "I don't really get how it all works, but my death causes some kind of magical reaction and once it goes off... well, that's all she wrote."

That brought the two up short, just as I expected. Celestia shot her sister a questioning look, but Luna was too busy watching me with an expression I couldn't parse, mostly because her monstrous mane was in the way. "Surely you don't expect me to take you at your word?" the alabaster mare finally replied after several tense seconds. Her eyes narrowed and her words turned skeptical, but I could practically see the gears spinning in her head, her mind trying to re-evaluate the situation, "that is... quite the claim, Salvatore—one I hesitate to entertain given your obvious reluctance to assist."

"I've done the research," Twilight cut in. She took a step forward, her serious gaze dancing between the other two alicorns as she tried to explain, "I've seen for myself what Discord did to Salvatore. Locked away somewhere within his body is enough chaos magic to obliterate not just Equestria, but this entire realm," her thin frown grew more sympathetic, "you could say that Salvatore himself is a walking apocalypse. Unless we can find a way to safely undo the chaotic spell matrix etched into Salvatore's being, his death will be the end of this universe... just as it was my own."

I sucked in a quiet breath at that last bit but there was no blame in Twilight's tone, only a sort of morose acceptance. I didn't feel guilty about the circumstances exactly. We both knew who the real culprit was, but that didn't stop me from feeling bad for the mare. Yeah, her situation was fucked beyond all reason, but that had still been her home and it was gone now. There was nothing left. Nothing to go back to. She was stuck traveling around with me, the catalyst for the complete destruction of everything she knew and loved. It was actually a wonder she didn't blame me, even if she knew it wasn't really my fault.

Okay, so maybe there is a bit of residual guilt.

"If what Twilight Sparkle says is true," Luna began slowly, her hidden eye sockets never once leaving my own eyes, "we can assume you perished in her realm... and yet you stand here before us alive and well." It was a question wrapped up in a statement, and I gave a noncommittal shrug in response knowing she had more to say. Sure enough, she gave a slow, thoughtful nod of her own and spoke again, "And I suppose your apparent resurrection is another facet of the story you kept hidden from me during our initial meeting?"

"Didn't see the point in bringing it up if I wasn't gonna talk about the consequences of my demise," I replied without a hint of shame. "Once one Equestria is wiped out, that same spell matrix Twilight was talking about brings me back to life in another Equestria. If I'd died here at any point, none of you would be in any position to ask questions about why I was alive, savvy?"

I wasn't sure why I decided to channel my inner Jack Sparrow then, but it felt right somehow. Luna just nodded again, evidently taking the new information in stride. That was something I could respect and was extremely grateful for. "A fair assessment, all things considered," she replied before addressing Celestia. "What say you, sister? I do not believe either of them speaks falsely, and we both know your plan carries with it a great deal of risk as it is. Would you truly wager all of existence against the small hope that Salvatore will succeed where we have failed time and time again?"

There was a worryingly long period where Celestia didn't say a word. She merely stood there in the center of the room, her eyes closed and silent as the grave. Any regal masks had long since fallen away and it was clear for all to see that she was fighting some internal battle against her better judgment. Strangely enough, as the silence dragged on, I grew more okay with the idea of trying to help, even with the risks involved. As soon as I realized what I was thinking, I mentally tried to stamped those thoughts into the figurative dirt... but I couldn't quite manage it. I meant it when I said I hadn't wanted to abandon this Equestria to its fate.

Deep down, I did want to help, but when it came right down to it, I knew my reluctance was rooted in my perceived powerlessness and unwillingness to take responsibility. I didn't think I could be relied upon to make any sort of difference. I was the reactive sort and even then only when I had to be. Otherwise, I was perfectly happy to laze about and let others take care of things when I could get away with it. If I'd been more proactive when I got locked up in the brig on that ship, I probably could've done something—probably not much, but maybe more than I actually wound up doing. And back in Golden Oaks, all I really did was sit around and read or play the passive role of a guinea pig while Twilight did all the work.

I'd always been the type to let life pass me by, and I was okay with that. Hell, I was still okay with that even now. I liked who I was despite my flaws and I didn't want to change... but circumstances were demanding more and more that I do so. I had to be more proactive. I had to start thinking. I had to take responsibility. Discord had all but forced me into the role of a protagonist and I needed to fulfill that role somehow. The stakes were too high to just sit back and let the cards fall where they may. At my core, I didn't think I could ever be the type of guy who could truly hate someone, no matter how much I changed on the surface.

With that said, in that moment—as I stood waiting for Celestia's decision while internally groaning at all these unwanted epiphanies—that draconequus son of a bitch officially became my least favorite thing in existence. I wasn't charismatic. I wasn't a complete idiot, but I wasn't exactly the sharpest tool either. I was an absolute klutz. I was way too lazy for my own good. I didn't have a single trait I could think of that would make me a good or even competent hero, but I had to make it work somehow. No, that wasn't entirely true. I had my budding chaos magic that I didn't know how to use properly, far too much patience in dealing with bullshit, and the capacity to not be a total dick. I also had Twilight.

And I guess that'll have to be enough for now...

Still, just because I'd finally accepted my role as the 'guy who needed to get shit done no matter how much he didn't want to', that didn't mean I was ready to just throw myself at a Lovecraftian horror from beyond the stars. I don't care how much my perception of reality changed, me pitting myself against the Old Night was a horrifying notion no matter how you sliced it. No, if I was going to do this—and the God Emperor strike me for a fool I was actually going to do this—then I needed some assurance. I didn't volunteer to do the job outright, but rather waited for Celestia to say something. I'd try to help one way or another, but how I contributed would depend on her response.

Wait, so is the Imperium of Man actually out there somewhere in the multiverse battling against the forces of Chaos? Does this mean the Warp is real? Does Discord know about the Warp, being a Lord of Chaos and all? Are all concepts of Chaos connected in some way? And if so, does that mean—

Before I could dive too deeply down that terrifying rabbit hole and into what the implications might mean for me personally, Celestia finally stirred. She gave a long weary sigh and when she opened her eyes, any semblance of decorum was gone. She suddenly looked just as old as she probably was. It was like she didn't have the strength to keep up her ice queen facade anymore and just wanted to get this over with and go to bed. Honestly? I could completely relate to the sentiment. It seemed we both had shit we didn't want to do but had no real say in the matter.

"I grow tired of this farce, dear sister," Celestia said with an exhausted shake of her head. She gave a sad little chuckle and met my gaze with a rueful smile, "forgive me for the wretched display, Salvatore, but in the face of this dilemma I find I no longer have the mental fortitude to keep up appearances. I'd rather talk plainly from here on out if that suits you."

"It suites me just fine," I replied, all too happy to do away with stiff formalities, "not really a big fan of being grilled like that. Builds a shaky foundation for a relationship, y'know?" My amiable grin fell a bit, "so... what's the verdict? You still want me to give you guys a hand, or—" I was suddenly cut off as Twilight raised a hoof and took a step forward, her eyes locked on the alabaster Princess and her expression wary.

"Before that," she said with more than a little accusation in her voice, "I have to ask... are you really Princess Celestia?" She shook her head and suddenly rounded on Luna with naked suspicion, "Or maybe I should ask you a different question. Was Celestia ever really here to begin with? Because, according to my mage sight, that—" she stabbed a hoof toward a shocked Celestia while keeping her eyes trained on Luna, "—is nothing more than a spell construct. A thaumic illusion. A magical mirage," she finally tore her gaze from the dark mare and turned to me, "I don't know how it was done or why, but I do know it was no teleportation spell that brought that simulacrum pretending to be the Princess here."

I blinked and look from Twilight to the apparently fake Princess with a thoughtful frown. "Huh," I muttered, "I thought something about her was weird, but I just chalked it up to her acting totally out of character." I turned back to Twilight, "Wait, when the hell did you use mage sight?" At that, the mare straightened up and puffed out her chest a bit as she replied. "I can be pretty subtle with my spells when the situation calls for it," she said with a hint of smug satisfaction, "it was a little after she showed up, and the reason I didn't say anything then was because I didn't want to spring any potential traps too soon," she once again directed her full attention to the darker alicorn, "but now that we've all decided to speak plainly, I think I'd like some answers."

For the first time since we met back in the abandoned cellar beneath the cabin, Luna actually looked... uncomfortable. Instead of responding to Twilight's accusations, she silently deferred to the 'simulacrum', as if waiting for it to explain itself in her stead. Twilight and I also turned our focus toward not-Celestia at the sound of her bitter laughter. Looking at her now that I knew she was a fake, it was sort of obvious. She was too... perfect. Her fur was too pristine. Her cerise eyes sparkled too brightly. Her variegated mane and tail were too vibrant and graceful. She looked entirely out of place in a world so dark and twisted. It was like she'd stepped right out of the idealized version of Equestria from the show—or it would've been, if not for her world-weary visage.

"I should have known better than to cast such a simple cantrip under your scrutiny," the Celestia look-alike conceded with a wan smile. "It's worked well enough to fool the masses, so I suppose I'd become a tad complacent about using it," her smile faded into a smaller grin full of melancholy, "and I don't believe my faithful student ever learned to use a spell quite like this 'mage sight' of yours. I'm curious to know how it works."

Judging by the complicated look on her face, it seemed Twilight hadn't expected that kind of response. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words fell short and she looked up at me like I had answers to give. I didn't know what to say to that so I just moved on. "So... it's not Luna casting some kind of projection spell or something," I surmised, "which means your real body is... hidden away somewhere?" I scanned the nearly empty room but didn't really expect to find anything that would give me an obvious answer. If this was going to play out how I predicted it would, then—

"Sister..." Luna began. She sounded... not quite worried, but definitely cautious, "should we—" Celestia cut her off with a stiff nod. "Yes, I think it best to let them know the truth of the matter," the magical construct said, her tone grave but determined, "no more secrets or subterfuge. If anything, I'm beginning to think we went about this all wrong." She looked into her younger sister's eyes—or lack thereof—and something deep and unknowable passed between them before she spoke again, "I want you to bring them to the Chamber of Déaþgedál, but before that..." her focus shifted to Twilight and for a long moment, she simply stared at the camouflaged mare.

Another moment went by and Twilight started to squirm uncomfortably under the intense gaze. "Wh-What?" she finally asked in a defensive tone, "if you have something to say, just tell me." She grimaced as the thaumic projection continued to stare, but before she could say anything else, Celestia blinked. Ever so slowly, her face smoothed into an expressionless mask. Unlike before though, this one felt more like fragile porcelain ready to shatter at the merest touch. When she finally opened her mouth, the words that came out were brittle and toneless. "Before we proceed, could you... allow me to see her face? If only briefly?" The mask cracked and her voice hitched, but she held it together, "...Please?"

"Sister!" Luna cried, making to rush to Celestia's side before evidently realizing she wasn't really there. She pulled back to where she'd been standing but even through the shroud of her thrashing mane I could tell she was straining to keep her composure, "Celestia, you don't have to—"

"Please!" the too-perfect alicorn all but begged, her carefully controlled facade breaking down. She completely ignored Luna and fixed her desperate gaze on Twlight, "Please... just let me see her one last time before—" she visibly swallowed and lowered her glossy eyes to the stone floor, "...just one more time is all I ask." The last words she croaked out in a shaky whisper that hit me way harder than I would've liked or expected. I grimaced and looked away, entirely uncomfortable with the outpouring of such raw emotion. I glanced over to see Twilight's reaction and was unsurprised to see one hoof over her mouth and unshed tears in her eyes as she stared back at the much taller mare.

Luna just stood there helplessly, looking like she wanted to do something but holding herself back. The ensuing silence grew so loud my ears started to ring. An eternity passed in the span of a dozen seconds or so before I heard the tell-tale hum of magic being used. Without a single word, Twilight dispelled her unicorn disguise and the pale yellow coat she wore shimmered and shifted to a more familiar lavender hue. Wings once hidden now faded back into view and her mane and tail regained their indigo color, the singular streak of pink shining bright against the low light of the bedchamber. Amethyst eyes met cerise and there was a short period where the world went still.

Nobody moved. Nobody so much as dared to breathe in that instant. Time was slow to resume, but eventually the projection of the Solar Princess moved. Her magically conjured frame trembled, her eyes slowly but then slammed shut as the tears fell. Her pale white face twisted with pain and longing so deep and intense that it slammed into me like a physical force. I was so caught off guard it took me a second to register a high-pitched keening sound. It took me another second to realize it was coming from the Princess. Before anyone could say or do anything, the thaumic spectre that was Celestia shimmered, warped, and vanished like dispersing mist.

The fading echo of a single, heart-wrenching sob rang out across the silent room like a gunshot.

Equus IV – Good Help is Hard to Find

Needless to say, it was Luna that led us to our next destination. Emotionally wrecked as she was, Celestia was clearly in no condition to act as as tour guide right now. Luna assured us that she'd have herself composed and ready to speak by the time we met again but both Twilight and I had our doubts. Twilight had also needed a moment to recover from the baggage the Princess had dropped on us all. For my part, I was just happy to move on to the next matter at hand. It had been a long, long time since I'd seen or experienced something with enough emotional impact to move me to tears, but I damn near broke right alongside Twilight.

No one really felt like chatting after that. Twilight and I didn't even bat an eye when Luna turned her armoire into a magical doorway like this was The Pony, the Man, and the Wardrobe. The gateway inside the armoire was oddly reminiscent of a certain infamous fog door—only the fog in question was a swirling mix of blue and black. It probably wasn't that weird for Twilight and while I thought the gateway was kind of ominous, I had the good sense not to make any quips about bosses or bonfires. Once the gate was up, we all stepped inside without a word. I went in last and it was a good thing too, because I had to stop to make sense of what I was looking at once I was on the other side.

"Well would you look at that..." I mumbled to myself, my brows rising in interest. Just past the gate was a set of crystalline steps leading down to a large circular platform. Both the steps and the platform glowed with some kind of ethereal blue light, making them the first thing to catch my eye. At first I thought the glowing platform and steps were floating in a black sea of nothingness, but once my eyes adjusted, I could see that wasn't the case. The surrounding walls were made of a stone whose shade was a blue so dark it was almost black. The stone itself almost seemed to absorb the light coming from the platform, leaving very little illumination for the rest of the small-ish room.

A closer look at the stone platform revealed an intricately woven set of runes and sigils inscribed in a circular pattern. Now that I was paying attention, I saw that the ethereal glow actually came from the runes and sigils themselves. A stupidly complex latticework of radiant lines brought the whole design together, making the entire stone platform one giant spell circle. Looking at it objectively, the thing practically screamed 'magical fantasy teleport circle'—either that or some fancy elevator. I looked up to see an uneven stone ceiling just a few meters or so overhead. Satisfied that I'd taken everything in, I made my way down the few steps it took to get to the glowing platform where both Luna and Twilight were already waiting.

Twilight was inspecting the complicated magic formation with some interest but, in an impressive show of restraint, chose not to comment on it. Once we were all situated in the center of the platform Luna's horn flashed a brilliant cobalt blue. The already radiant spell circle flared even brighter for a brief second before the whole platform shuddered and started descending at a steady pace. Okay, elevator it is then, I thought as I adjusted my footing slightly. The ride down was smooth and nearly silent save for the low warbling hum of active magic. Unfortunately, it was no longer the morose and respectful silence of earlier. Now it was the awkward silence of riding in an elevator with a stranger while you both try not to acknowledge one another's existence.

Yeah... no, I'm not doing this.

"So this complex magic circle you got going here," I began in my best casual tone, "seems like a lot of work just to move a giant slab of stone up and down." My innocuous observation was directed at Luna but it was Twilight that spoke.

"I'm not familiar with many of the runes or sigils used in this particular array," she answered, her eyes tracing the many lines and symbols on the moving platform, "but from what I can gather, it looks like most of the magic is being funneled into some kind of... security measure?" She turned to Luna for confirmation. The taller alicorn nodded in response and elaborated.

"A keen eye, just as expected,” she replied with the ghost of a smile, “this stone lift leads to what is essentially the innermost sanctum of our makeshift sanctuary from the Dark.” Her expression grew more serious, "Much of what you are about to see is restricted to all but a precious few, and this array ensures that, should a would-be trespasser somehow find their way onto this lift, they would proceed no further—not without my voluntary assistance."

I nodded as I tried to put the pieces together. "So no one gets into the depths of this place without your say-so?"

Luna nodded in the affirmative and replied, "That is correct. Beyond my personal gateway, there is only one other entrance, and it is effectively impossible to reach without my aid. I am also the only one who can activate the array that moves the lift."

"It sounds like you're putting all responsibility for the safety of whatever lies below in your own hooves," Twilight noted with some concern, "I don't mean any offense, but... is that wise? Wouldn't it be easier to gather at least a few ponies to watch over things in case something happens to you?"

I wasn't sure if Twilight noticed it, but I could see the small frown forming on Luna's face as the younger, newer alicorn spoke. Whatever the former Princess of the Night had to say in response, I doubted it would be anything comforting. Sure enough, when she did reply, it was with slumped shoulders and a weary sigh. "You are right, of course—and I do have some assistance, minor and troublesome though it may be," she said, her tone world-weary and bitter, "but few are the ponies I can trust to do what needs to be done," she fell into a pensive silence for a second, then huffed, "no, it's best to keep things as they are."

Twilight gave a small frown of her own.

"But, what about... I mean..." the smaller mare had opened her mouth to say... something. Maybe argue against the claim that Luna had no one to trust, but apparently she'd decided against the idea. Judging by the pained look on her face and her sudden interest in the dark walls surrounding the descending stone lift, it seemed she was about to bring up a sore subject. I had a few guesses as to what she was about to say, and evidently so did Luna, because she gave the despondent mare what I was pretty sure was a sad smile. It was kind of hard to tell sometimes, given how her eldritch mane still covered the top half of her face.

"Though my sister maintains her own kind of vigil over the Crystal Caverns and what remains of her subjects, there is little she can do as she is now," Luna explained without prompt, "and the Elements... what is left of your counterpart's friends are not... what they used to be," her sad smile gave way to a grim scowl, "Fluttershy and Pinkamena... they are not well, Twilight Sparkle. I did trust them and the other Elements with the task of protecting the remnants of our society for a time. I believed that, with everything you—the other you—and they had been through as the Elements of Harmony, they could handle such responsibility..."

She paused and hung her head. The majority of her face remained obscured but I could feel shame and guilt washing off the mare in waves. "Only after it was far too late did I realize my expectations were misplaced," she lamented, "The Twilight Sparkle native to this realm brought death and devastation on a scale seen only once in our long, long history. To think those girls would be prepared to handle something of such magnitude... my sister and I were fools."

Twilight didn't reply immediately. It looked like she was having some kind of internal struggle, some war between her desire to console Luna and her own boundless curiosity. I thought both outcomes were equally likely, but to her credit, she decided to go the reassurance route. "For what it's worth Prin—er, Luna, I don't think it's your fault, nor do I think your sister was to blame," she replied, placing a gentle hoof to the taller mare's front leg. "If the girls here were anything like the ones I knew back in my Equestria, I'm sure they would've volunteered to take up the role even if you hadn't asked."

A sad smile stretched across Twilight's face, a smile that was more than a match for Luna's. Her eyes grew glossy with unshed tears but her voice was steady and comforting as she spoke, "I bet they all jumped at the chance to do some good and... save some lives, right?" For long moment, Luna just stared back at Twilight, her expression inscrutable. Then she turned away with a quiet chuckle that somehow morphed into a gloomy sigh.

"It was just as you say," she finally answered, "even had I voiced any reservations, I doubt Celestia and I could have done anything to dissuade those poor souls from the path we set them upon." She sighed and looked away. I could've sworn the mare looked almost wistful as she continued. "It seemed like the clear choice at the time and for a time, they did perform their duty admirably... but in the end, it wasn't enough."

"Um... if you don't mind me asking," Twilight began with the tone of someone trying desperately not to step on any proverbial toes, "what exactly did the Twilight of this Equestria do? Or rather, how did she fall so far as to cause all of this?" The mare frowned at the ground, then looked Luna in the eye—sort of. "How did it come to this? How did things get so bad?" The questions came like a tsunami, Twilight apparently unable to hold back anymore. For her part, Luna didn't seem to mind the onslaught, but before she could reply, the magic elevator shuddered slightly and its descent slowed to a crawl.

It jerked to a stop a few seconds later, the stone platform coming to rest before a small set of crystalline steps and a doorway, both the same as what we saw above. This time though, the steps led down off the platform and there was an actual physical door in the doorway. The door in question looked like a smaller version of the double doors leading into Luna's room. More striking was the circular magic array that lit up in the center of the double doors as we reached the bottom. It looked like the circle on the elevator, but composition was different.

That was about all I could tell. I'd done some light reading on magic back in Golden Oaks, but most of the arcane arts were still way over my head. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was hoping that would change once I could properly manifest my chaos magic. For now, all I could do was take an educated guess on this being some kind of magical seal or something. Luna was the first to step off the stone platform and down the steps to the doors. There was a brief moment where I thought Twilight's questions were going to go unanswered.

Twilight seemed to think so too because she opened her mouth to say something. But just as the words were about to spill out, Luna finally spoke without turning to face either of us. " You will have your answers in painful detail soon enough, Twilight Sparkle. For now, let us say that innocent curiosity turned to twisted obsession, and I did not try hard enough to prevent the inevitable outcome." She paused for a brief period as if to collect herself, but she continued on before either of us could comment, her next words curt and businesslike. "Now come, our destination awaits just ahead."

And just like that, the discussion was over—at least for the time being. Twilight and I followed Luna down the steps and watched as she dispelled the shining seal attached to the doors. She pressed a hoof up against the center of the spell circle and it flashed once before vanishing with an ethereal hiss. The double doors swung open on their own and we wasted no time in stepping through the entrance and into the forbidden and oh-so-mysterious depths. I wasn't sure what to expect coming down here and somewhere deep down I was somewhat disappointed at what I saw.

The room we'd walked into a sort of circular antechamber, the size and shape of which wasn't dissimilar to Luna's bedroom. The vast majority of the floor was taken up by yet another massive and complex spell circle carved into the stone—though this one was unlit and seemed entirely inert. There were a total of four other doors—two on either side of the double doors we'd just come through—and a hallway leading to another set of double doors at the opposite end of the antechamber from where we all stood. Naturally, all the other doors also had magical seals in front of them. With all the circular arrays I was beginning to wonder exactly what kind of path magic had taken in this Equestria.

There was a time when I couldn't have cared less about something like that, but apparently, Twilight's enthusiasm for the arcane had rubbed off on me a bit over the month or so I'd lived alone with her. In any case, the additional seals didn't surprise me all that much. What did surprise me and Twilight as we entered the large chamber were the two cloaked equine figures standing before the three of us. The cloaks in questions were similar to the one Luna wore and the faces of the two ponies—assuming they were ponies—were completely hidden beneath heavy hoods.

What caught my attention in particular was the disparity between the two. One of the equine figures, the one on the left, seemed to be an average sized adult pony, but the pony on the right was diminutive to the point that they could have easily passed for a foal. Twilight looked just as baffled as I probably did and we both turned to give our own cloaked guide a questioning look. Luna ignored our bemusement and took a step forward towards the two silent figures before addressing them both. "I trust everything is in order?" she asked without preamble.

"Yes, my lady. The forbidden records have been prepared just as you asked," answered the average sized figure in a feminine monotone. I figured at that point it was safe to assume the speaker was a mare, though a chance glance in Twilight's direction gave me some pause. She was watching the mare who'd just spoke with a scrunched brow, like she was trying to puzzle something out. I briefly wondered if maybe she knew the pony, but before I could think too hard on the matter, Luna spoke again.

"Very good. In that casse, I shall leave the rest to you two," she replied with a satisfied nod. She finally turned to address Twilight and me directly, "I must attend to my sister alone and will be away for some time.” She held up a hoof to shut us up before we started in on the questions and continued. “I shall grant you access to the archives until my sister and I are ready for you.” Luna turned to the two hooded ponies and nodded. They silently returned the look for a brief second before raising their hooves and pulling back their hoods in unison to reveal—

“Wh—Moon Dancer?!”

Just as Twilight's shocked gasp stated, the taller of the two cloaked ponies was indeed the titular bespectacled egghead and foalhood friend of the stunned purple pony next to me. The mare looked... I want to say awful, but that wasn't quite true. I didn't know enough about pony anatomy to accurately assess biological growth, but to my eyes, it didn't look like Moon Dancer had aged at all.

Time hadn't brought any noticeable wrinkles to her equine face nor any streaks of grey to her red and purple mane. She even now wore those same thick black horn-rimmed glasses—tape and all. There was one difference though, and it was a big and rather unnerving one. Looking into her dark violet eyes, I couldn't see... anything. There was absolutely nothing behind that stolid gaze. Moon Dancer's eyes were bottomless in the worst kind of way—empty, like she'd peered too deeply into the void and came back with a piece of it hidden somewhere within her.

I saw Twilight shudder beside me out of the corner of my eye and I honestly couldn't blame her. That said, my own focus was fixed on the much smaller pony standing next to Moon Dancer. It hadn't been all that long since she was introduced in the show back when I was whisked away from Earth, but I would've recognized that, bright pink coat, those baby blue curls, and that disgustingly cute face anywhere. Huh, I thought with a grim sort of amusement, You know, for some reason I'm not all that surprised to find her here of all places.

Cozy Glow, like Moon Dancer, looked as though she hadn't aged a day and had absolutely no life in her ruby red eyes. It was like looking into a fathomless black pit. I was almost afraid I'd fall right into those horrifying eyes, never to be seen again. It was enough to give me literal chills and reminded me why I rarely, if ever, looked people directly in the eye. I wouldn't normally, but pony eyes (at least in the case of these cartoon horses) took up like half their face. It was hard not to look.

“I've informed these two of our situation,” Luna continued on, paying no heed to our reactions, “ they will act as guides in my stead, answering any lingering questions you may have should our records prove insufficient.” Her horn suddenly flared to life as she turned to face me specifically, “I will take my leave here, but once I return, my sister and I will teach you what it truly means to be a creature of chaos.”

Okay... so that wasn't super ominous at all...

Her words sounded foreboding but in truth I couldn't help a bit of skepticism. After all, they weren't creatures of chaos. Well, Luna was probably getting there given her appearance—but she was still a pony, mostly, yet she was standing there making that delcaration like she was Discord himself. Just how were she and Celestia going to help me exactly?
Still, I was a stranger in a strange land. I had no idea what kind of knowledge they would have picked up over the years so I kept these doubts to myself. Twilight definitely looked like she wanted to say something—she looked like she had quite a lot to say actually—but Luna vanished in a flash of dark blue light before she could get a word in edgewise. That just left us with our creepy guides and a very uncomfortable silence.

A few heartbeats passed without any kind of dialogue. Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow just continued watching us mutely, standing at attention like we were their COs. Twilight was the first to get her gears spinning again after a bit and rushed over to plant her forehooves on Moon Dancer's withers. “Moon Dancer!” she cried, shaking the other mare slightly, “Moon Dancer, what happened to you?! Why are you—h-how did you—”

“Twilight,” I called out in a calm attempt to get her attention. When she ignored me and continued fussing over her 'friend' I called out a bit louder. “Hey, Twilight!”

“Salvatore!” she snapped her head in my direction and I could see the near panic on her face, “Salvatore, we have to do something! Moon Dancer, she...” she shook her head and looked back at the mare in question, “...there's something wrong with her! I don't—” her eyes widened in horror, “Luna! She did something! She—”

“Twilight! Just... chill for a second!” Twilight opened her mouth again but I verbally steamrolled right over whatever she was going to say next. “Look, I don't know what's going on either. Maybe Luna did something, maybe she didn't. Either way, flipping the fuck out over it when we don't know the full story isn't going to get us anywhere. Also...” I hesitated for just a second, not really wanting to say my next words but knowing they had to be said. “...She's not your friend, Twilight. She doesn't know you and you don't know her.”

Twilight looked like she wanted to argue the fact. I could see the denial in her eyes and I knew the argument she wanted to make, but she couldn't hide the flinch. She knew it as well as I did. This was a different timeline—a different Equestria entirely. Even if her counterpart's and this Moon Dancer's pasts had been similar or even the exact same, life had clearly taken them down an entirely different path.

“...I get it, alright?” Twilight finally muttered after a tense moment. She lowered her head and sighed, then looked back up at me with a bit more fire in her eyes as she said, “I understand she's not the same Moon Dancer just like I know the Pinkie and Fluttershy of this Equestria aren't the ones I knew... but that doesn't mean we shouldn't help them.”

Oh boy...

“Well, we can ask Luna about helping them when she gets back,” I replied, trying to push past the issue, “for now, why don't we stop talking about these two like they're not standing right there and actually talk to them? Maybe get a few of those answers we're looking for?”

“Right,” Twilight agreed looking slightly abashed. She took a deep breath and faced the other two ponies. She went to speak but paused as her eyes fell on the smaller of the two. She frowned in confusion, looking as if she'd just noticed the filly for the first time. When she actually did speak, her tone was bemused and uncertain. “And... who are you?”

The filly quite literally seemed to come to life at Twilight's question. Up until now her face, like Moon Dancer's, had been completely devoid of emotion. Then the filly blinked once and her entire face lit up with the adorable smile of a healthy, happy foal. Her eyes, once horrifying portals into the infinite black, were now bursting at the seams with life and emotion as she answered.

“I'm Cozy Glow! I've heard so much about you from Lady Luna,” she stepped forward and a look of what I think was supposed to be sympathy crossed her face, “it sounds like you and your human friend have gone through quite a lot, huh?”
“I... I suppose we have, yeah,” Twilight began, taking a step back in surprise. It was clear Cozy Glow's sudden transformation had caught the mare off guard and judging by the look she shot me, she was just as disturbed by it as I was. Her expression was pleading me to help but I just shrugged back at her in response. That earned me a quick glare from the alicorn but she pushed through her frustration and forced a friendly grin as she returned her attention to the creepy little filly. “So, just... how much did Luna tell you? A-About us, I mean?”

And now that I'm thinking about it, when did she even have the time? I thought, but kept the question to myself.

“Oh she told us all kinds of things,” Cozy Glow replied with that same look of not-quite sympathy, “if all goes as Lady Luna hopes, then we may have a chance to retake our world, but yours...” she shook her head sadly, “no matter what happens, you'll never be able to return. Even given what we're going through I can't imagine how that must feel.”

Twilight's forced smile froze at that. Her whole body stiffened and for a moment, I was afraid I'd have to do some emotional damage control. From where I stood, Twilight had been doing an admirable job keeping it together after losing literally everything she ever knew and loved so far—and I knew it wasn't just surface level strength either. Neurotic as she could be, Twilight was a tough mare. The fact that she kept going after what happend to her friends was testament to that.

Still, I also knew there was only so much she could take before the weight of her circumstances broke her. If that happened, we'd both probably be up a creek without a paddle. I wasn't sure what Cozy Glow's deal was, whether or not she thought she was helping, but I didn't like the way things were going. Thankfully—and surprisingly—Moon Dancer chose that moment to jump in before the tension got too thick.

“Cozy Glow!” she hissed, “Do you have any idea how insincere you sound right now?” Apparently, the taller of our two guides had also come to her senses at some point. When she turned to address Twlight, her eyes also had a spark of life in them. She adjusted her perpetually broken glasses with a hoof and flashed Twilight an apologetic smile, “I'm... sorry about her, Even before all this madness started, Cozy Glow was a... troublesome character.”

“Aww, now that wasn't a very nice thing to say,” Cozy Glow replied with an adorable pout she'd clearly been practicing for years, “I was just expressing my sympathy for our guest's awful, awful plight.” She turned her big red eyes on Twilight and tilted her head slightly, “I'm sorry if I caused any offense. I didn't mean anything by what I said. Forgive me?”

Fake. So goddamn fake that it's hurting me physically.

Twilight gave Cozy Glow a look that said volumes about how little she was buying the filly's act. To her credit, she managed to push past Cozy's attitude and focus on the issue at hand. Shaking her head, she ignored the filly and spoke to Moon Dancer instead. “It's fine. More importantly, why are you here, Moony? Why are either of you here? What happened to you?”

“Moony?” Moon Dancer raised a bushy eyebrow over her thick spectacles, “Huh... I suppose you really aren't the Twilight I knew. She never called me anything like that, even when we were foals.”

Twilight looked confused for a moment. She made to speak but then frowned in thought. It only took a second for her to realize something and she gave the other mare a wry half smile before explaining, “Sorry, the Moon Dancer from my Equestria and I were... close. Even after I left Canterlot for Ponyville we still kept in touch through letters and the occasional visit back to the capital. At least until... well...”

She trailed off, leaving the rest understandably unsaid. Her expression had grown somewhat hollow—haunted even. After hearing her account I found myself wondering if there was something more than friendship there. She never once mentioned anything about Moon Dancer when we were living in the library. I didn't know enough to tell for sure and honestly it wasn't any of my business. If she wanted to talk about it, we'd talk but I wouldn't pry.

Moon Dancer—the one standing in front of us—seemed to understand Twilight's pain. She gave a sympathetic nod that was way more sincere than anything Cozy Glow could muster. “I see...” she replied after a moment, “the Moon Dancer of your Equestria was one lucky mare to have a friend like you.” She gave Twilight a hollow grin of her own. “My Equestria's Twilight and I didn't truly become friends until she had her own castle, and even then we didn't see each other much.”

I don't think Twilight was prepared for Moon Dancer's response. The alicorn looked at a loss for what to say, so I figured it was my turn to drop into the conversation. I took a step forward and asked, “So what's your story? How'd you two of all people—er, ponies, wind up working for Luna all the way down here?”

Rather than answer right away, the two would-be guides gave each other sideways glances. They looked uncertain and I was wondering if they were planning to dodge the question when Moon Dancer spoke up, her tone definitely anxious. “We don't mind telling you but...” she paused to adjust the frames that had slipped down her muzzle, “...it's a long story.”

Cozy Glow gave a hesitant nod, all fake sincerity and surface level cuteness gone from her face as she replied next. “I know Lady Luna told us to answer any questions you both might have, but wouldn't a look at all the stuff in the archives serve you better? I'm sure my Lady won't be all that long in taking care of her own business and you may not get another chance to browse through all the information.”

Now it was mine and Twilight's turn to look at each other. I personally didn't mind either way. Whether it was looking through dusty books or getting a firsthand account, we were likely to get a better grasp on the events that led up to this tragedy in either case. I told Twilight as much and she considered my words. After a few seconds of thought, a lightbulb seemed to flicker on in her mind and she turned to Moon Dancer.

“By any chance,” she said with a mix of trepidation and anticipation, “do you know if Luna would allow us access to the journal this Equestria's Twilight kept?”

Neither Moon Dancer nor Cozy Glow answered her question—at least not immediately. The two guides went stiff almost the moment Twilight finished uttering her question. Their expression had once again gone terrifying blank, all life draining from their eyes as if pulled into a singularity. I didn't react outwardly, but the abrupt shift made my heart skip a beat. A sudden and overwhelming feeling of being watched washed over me.

The fuck...?

I cast a quick look around the antechamber out of reflex, but no one was standing behind me or anything. With no one immediately present other than the four of us, I returned my attention to the creepy display in front of me. Twilight hadn't taken her eyes off of the other two so either she didn't feel the same weird sensation I did or she was too preoccupied to notice. Couldn't blame her for that or her startled outburst of “What the hell?!”

No, I couldn't blame her, but I could certainly question her very out-of-character turn of phrase. That's the second time I've heard her talk like that, I thought. I wondered if I should give this weird quirk a bit more consideration. Does she even realize she's doing it? I'll make a mental note to ask her about it later.

The sensation of someone or something watching me only lasted a few seconds and vanished at about the same time Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow snapped back to life. Again. Speaking as if she hadn't just powered down like a damn robot, Moon Dancer finally replied with another apologetic smile. “Sorry, Twilight, but it looks like the journal is still off-limits for now.”

“I... u-um... what?” Twilight blinked a few times as she tried and failed to comprehend their eerie reactions. Before she could go off on a panic fueled rant, I lightly kicked at one of her hind legs to get her attention. I ignored the look of confusion and irritation on her face and shook my head. My desire to move on from all the weirdness had spiked and I'd just gotten an idea—a hopefully better and more productive way to go about all of this.

“How about this?” I exclaimed to everyone present, “why don't we split up? I'll get the story from Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow can take Twilight to the archives to do some research of her own.”

“What? No!” Twilight was the first to shoot the idea down, “I want to hear this just as much as you do, Sal! More even! I need to know what happened. I need to know if I can—”

“I can tell you all about it once we're done,” I cut in, fully turning to face Twilight, “think about it for a minute. We can kill two birds with one stone and besides that, it makes more sense for you to do the reading,” I ticked off the points on my fingers, “you told me back at Golden Oaks that you were a speed reader, so there's that. And—” I glanced over to Moon Dancer to confirm my next point ”—I'm guessing you're the better storyteller of the two of you?”

Moon Dancer tilted her head and frowned for a second as she gave it some thought. She looked over to Cozy Glow and, in a surprising show of humility, Cozy Glow nodded, though she didn't exactly look happy to admit it. I nodded in turn and resumed my attempt to convince a still reluctant Twilight. I knew that she knew it was a decent idea, but her concern for Moon Dancer wouldn't allow her to admit it—or that was my guess anyway.

“There you have it,” I continued, “I can be a good listener when I want to be and Moon Dancer can probably spin a good enough yarn for me to follow. And we'll do the talking in a separate area because I know you by now. I know you don't like being distracted or interrupted when you're studying something. I learned that the hard way back at the library, or do you not remember when you—”

“Alright, alright already! I get it!” Twilight snapped, her face slightly red and a disgruntled scowl marring her expression, “I said I was sorry! Are you ever going to let that go?”

“Nope. So you good with the plan then?”

Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Sure, why not?” she groused, “I'll focus on doing what I'm good at and you two can just... just chat the night away like old pals.”

“Yup, that's the plan,” I replied without missing a beat. I ignored the incensed alicorn's indignant spluttering and clapped my hands once. “Alright then! Let's get this ball rolling, people! Moon Dancer, I assume you have a more comfortable place for us to chat? Y'know... like old pals?”

That one actually got a chuckle out of the bespectacled mare. With that, Cozy Glow led a very grumpy Twilight off to one of the sealed off doors and Moon Dancer and I headed to another. I wasn't too worried about Twilight's mood. She'd slip into research mode and forget all about her irritation soon enough. That said, I couldn't say the same when it came to my own worries about Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow.

I was acting like everything was fine now, but I knew there was some kind of fucked up something going on behind the scenes. Call it intuation or years of experience reading horror and dark fantasy stories. All the flags were here and I wasn't looking forward to discussing what we'd found when Twilight and I met back up... or that's what I wanted to tell myself anyway.

The reality was that if I dug deep enough, I could feel a sense of anticipation. I wanted to say it was weird, but I'd felt this kind of quiet excitement before. It was the lead up to the kind of grim fascination I felt whenever I got to the tragedy. It was what drew me to grimdark in the first place. Somewhere deep down, I was waiting for it with a reader's anticipation. Waiting for that moment when everything goes to shit and I could bask in that sweet, sweet catharsis.

As Moon Dancer used some sort of magic to unseal the door we'd stopped in front of, I took a moment to reflect. I recognized what I was feeling and frowned in confusion. The sensation didn't sicken me exactly, but it did cause some concern. I hadn't felt like that in the beginning and certainly not while I was living with Twilight. In fact, this was the first time I could remember feeling this way with regards to my situation.

Is it because I'm about to listen to a story? Maybe, but that'd still be fucked up given this actually happened to someone... right? Why do I suddenly feel so... disconnected?

I huffed out a quiet breath and followed Moon Dancer through the door she'd just unsealed. I couldn't help what I was feeling and didn't know where to begin trying to resolve it or even if the matter needed to be resolved. In the end, as long as my moral compass wasn't being fucked with, I'd just leave it be. I'd keep a mental eye on my emotions but in the meantime I had shit I needed to do and I'd already resolved to man up and do it.

If there were any consequences, I'd deal with them later.

Equus IV – An Eldritch Tragedy ~ Part I

As it turned out, the 'comfortable room' Moon Dancer had chosen for storytime was, in fact, a private study of some kind—or that's what it looked like to me. I'd never actually been in a private study before. The place wasn't too dissimilar from a private office space, just smaller, cozier, and a bit more old-timey in its aesthetic. You had your large bookshelf to one side, a desk topped with quills and an inkwell. some unrolled scrolls of parchment, a few stacked tomes, and a rudimentary desklamp. There was even a large chalkboard mounted to one of the walls.

On the other side of the room, opposite the desk and lit by the soft amber glow of a large crystal embedded in the ceiling, was a plush, midnight blue armchair. In front of that was what looked like a small circular coffee table about a third the height of the chair. Sitting on top of that coffee table was...

Bro, is that a wine bottle?

A closer look revealed that, yes that was, in fact, an unopened bottle of wine. Next to that was an empty crystalline wine glass and nothing else. Now, I wasn't much a of drinker back on Earth. That's not to say I hadn't gotten drunk a few times during parties, but I found alcohol didn't do much for me. I didn't get hangovers and that was great and all, but all the hard stuff did was make me feel uncomfortably thick-headed, nauseous, and worsen my already shit vision.

I'd never once felt that pleasant buzz everyone talked about, no matter what I tried. Beer, wine, rum, margaritas, vodka. Tried it all, had a horrible time every time. In the end, I just gave up drinking entirely and never looked back. Even now, with all the changes to my very existence, I still wasn't keen on taking up the bottle. That said, I was curious enough to find out what kind of wine I was looking at.

I made my way over to the small table and turned to Moon Dancer with a questioning look. The mare, who was just now entering the room, looked from me, to the wine on the table. She frowned a moment, then shook her head. “I'm sorry, Salvatore,” she said after a second, “but I think that was meant for my Lady to enjoy once she has the time. You can use the seat if you like, but the wine...”

“Nah, that's cool,” I replied with a wave of my hand, “I'm not a big drinker anyway. I am curious about the brand though. Mind if I take a look?”

Moon Dancer hesitated, but eventually gave a nod. With that, I snatched up the bottle of clear, sparkling alcohol and almost dropped the thing in surprise. It was cold. Like, really cold. It was as if it'd just been taken out of the freezer, yet the liquid inside wasn't frozen at all. Thinking about it for a second, I turned back to Moon Dancer. “How long has this been here?” I asked.

And where did it even come from? Do these caves have a winery somewhere?

Moon Dancer just shrugged in response. “I wasn't the one who brought it here so I can't say. Though if I had to guess I'd say it's likely been here for some time. I believe Lady Luna meant to relax here once she'd returned from her expedition to Daring Do's old cabin.”

“Ah, so it's probably magic keeping this thing cold then,” I surmised.

I scanned the white label on the bottle and saw Derodine Wudurose scrawled in fancy blood red font at the top and sparkling rosé wine just below that. I frowned, then shrugged and set the wine bottle back down on the table. I couldn't tell if the wine was high quality or not just by looking at the name, but given it was meant for a former Princess, it was probably safe to assume it was the good stuff.

Not that it matters to me. Alcohol is alcohol as far I'm concerned, no matter how fancy the bottle looks or how renowned the brand is.

My curiosity sated for now, I took up Moon Dancer's offer and plopped down into the comfy armchair. I paused, then frowned as I shifted my weight around. I tried to get comfortable, but after a moment, I realized I couldn't relax. The plush chair was too comfortable and for me, that somehow made it uncomfortable. Coming to that conclusion, I stood back up and made my way over to the much more modest chair at the desk.

The chair was made of dark wood with simple black cushions covering the seat and wooden armrests. That was good enough for me. That was much closer to the kind of chair I was used to. Satisfied, I settled into the chair and moved it around so that it faced the rest of the room. In doing so, I caught Moon Dancer watching me from near the other chair, a thick eyebrow raised in bemusement.

“What? I like this chair better,” I said, feeling the need to defend myself, “I don't tell you how to live your life or where to plant your butt down, do I?”

Moon Dancer thought about it for a second, then shrugged. “I suppose that's fine. We have more important things to discuss anyway.”

“That we do,” I agreed before giving the mare a bemused look of my own when she didn't take the other chair, “so, uh... you gonna take a seat, or...?”

“I'm fine with standing, thanks,” she replied a bit too quickly.

Okay... weird, but whatever.

“Alright then,” I replied aloud, “so let's get this show on the road. I'm guessing we don't have a ton of time here.”

“That we don't,” Moon Dancer confirmed with a serious nod, “but be warned, I don't have all the details about what happened back then where Twilight's journey was concerned. As far as I know, she travelled alone for the most part, but I wasn't told what she'd been up to before we finally met again.”

“Got it,” I replied, “I'll keep it in mind.”

Hopefully, Twilight can figure something out about this Equestria's Twilight.

I watched attentively as Moon Dancer closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and when she opened her eyes again, they were blank and distant—like she was looking directly into the past. It wasn't as unnerving as the empty pools of endless nothingness she and Cozy Glow had shown from before, but it was still a little unsettling. And then she began to speak. Her voice was hollow, but resonated powerfully throughout the small study.

“I'll speak as best I can of what I know regarding Twilight, but much of what I have to say is based upon my own experiences,” she began, “my role was a relatively small one, but crucial for what was to come.”

And so I settled myself in to hear the tale of how the world went to shit, as told from the perspective of a mare who played a role in its demise—albeit a minor one, apparently.

I received a knock at my door late one night from a stallion shrouded in a dark cloak. He was a unicorn—an unassuming sort, if a bit sallow around the face. I hadn't been expecting anypony, but this wasn't the first time I'd gotten an unexpected visitor in the night.

My home was little more than a small shanty built on the outskirts of Canterlot. Nopony likes to talk about it, but Canterlot does have its slums just like any large city—though it is a smaller shantytown than most. I lived just outside of that district, but still got the occasional bum or delinquent coming around thinking the place was abandoned. I'm no Twilight Sparkle, but I could throw out a few spells to protect myself and my home when I needed to, so the intruders weren't much of a problem.

At first, I thought this stallion was one of them, just another bum looking for a place to hole up for the night. He certainly looked the part, with his ratty cloak and sickly face, but something stopped me from driving him off like all the rest. It was something in his gaze—some strange gleam in his eyes that unnerved me. It caught me off guard and before I could do anything, the stallion pulled a small roll of parchment from his cloak and held it out to me.

I took the scroll without really thinking, still caught on the backhoof as I was by the unicorn's disturbing gaze. Once I had it, he just gave me a slow nod and walked away without saying a word. I tried to call after him and even followed him outside, but I lost sight of him after only a few paces. He was gone, vanished into the night somehow.

The only thing that proved he existed at all was the scroll I was holding in my magic. All I could do was wonder what this was all about as I headed back inside. I was suspicious of the stallion of course, but not so wary that I didn't check the scroll's contents—most would have had they been in my horseshoes, I think. Unfortunately, that was my first mistake.

I'd expected to read a letter of some sort when I unrolled the scroll, but that wasn't at all what I received. No, what greeted me wasn't a letter, but an array of magical sigils that took up the entire piece of parchment. It was a horribly complex inscription the likes of which I'd never seen before. Worse still, the array carried a familiar coppery scent that told me those dark red markings weren't written in ink.

I only had a moment to process what I was looking at before the array activated. A blinding flare of crimson light was the last thing I saw before everything went black. I'd passed out, and by the time I woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. It took a moment to remember what happened, but once it came back to me, I was almost convinced it had all been a dream. I checked for the parchment with the magic array, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Eventually I just chalked it up to a few too many alfalfa crisps before bed and tried to move on. Everything was normal for the next few days, but during that time, I couldn't get the memory of that spell scroll out of my head. I found my mind coming back to those blood red sigils whenever my thoughts wandered too far away from me. It got to the point where it was starting to interfere with my personal studies.

Ultimately I started searching for the scrolls again, all the while trying to tell myself it was all just a dream—that there'd been no stallion or mysterious spell scroll. I turned my little ramshackle hut upside down. I wandered the slums looking for the stallion. I even wrote Twilight a letter asking for help or guidance or something... but she never responded.

And then, just as I was finally starting to convince myself that I was acting ridiculous... the visions came.

It started as small flashes—brief images of things I couldn't comprehend and didn't recognize. Ponies I didn't know, places I'd never been to, creatures shrouded in shadow. The sudden mental intrusions would leave pounding headaches in their wake. At first they only lasted a brief moment, but as the visions got longer and more complex, the headaches grew stronger and lasted longer.

It happened without warning, both during the day and at night, interrupting whatever I happened to be doing at the time. I had no answers and found none, no matter how hard I looked. All the while the visions came more and more frequently. It wasn't long before they replaced my dreams, my own subsconscious mind showing me the worst of what these visions had to offer.

I heard things, things I couldn't understand. Voices in the dark speaking unfathomable words that scraped against the ears like icy knives. Those brief images stretched out into a nightmarish panorama of unspeakable horrors I hadn't know could exist in this world—that shouldn't have existed. Eldritch monstrosities, dark and twisted temples, gruesome rituals, the agonized wails of tortured innocents, the laughter of mad sadists.

All of this and more tore at my mind, driving me insane. I couldn't find a way to stop it. I had nopony to turn to. I tried again and again to ask for help—to seek answers, to make it stop, but in the end I was left to suffer these visions I couldn't understand. They were so vivid. So visceral. So... real. Each one was like diving headfirst into another time and place.

Were it not for the sheer horror of it all, I would've found these visions fascinating. As it was, I very nearly chose to slit my own throat just to end my suffering. Perhaps I would have... if he hadn't arrived at my doorstep when he did...

“He?” I couldn't help but ask, “Who's 'he'? That stallion in the cloak?”

I didn't mean to interrupt the mare, the question just kind of came out while I was thinking. I'd held my silence while Moon Dancer told her tale, but my own mind was racing as I listened, trying to put pieces together. From the outside looking in, it was clear someone was trying to break Moon Dancer and build her back up into a tool to be used for... something.

That's about all I'd been able to glean so far aside from my guess that there was someone behind that stallion pulling the strings. My guess on that front was essentially proven correct when Moon Dancer shook her head in response to my question.

“No, it wasn't the stallion from before,” she replied, “it was another unicorn stallion dressed in the same cloak as the other one. This one was a bit taller. Lankier. He had that same unnerving gleam in his eyes, but there was also... something else.”

I raised an eyebrow as the mare paused, “...Something else?”

“Purpose. Conviction.” She finally said. “A determination to do what needed to be done, no matter the cost. He had a goal, and he wanted—needed me to help him reach it. I didn't know it at the time, but it's clear to me now that, like that other stallion and Cozy Glow, it had to be me.”

“Weird,” I commented, “do you know why? Is it because you knew Twilight?”

“Maybe, but I doubt it,” she said with little enthusiasm, “all I know for sure is that I was part of his plan. Part of the prophecy. He told me I was crucial in what was to come—we all were.”

“Wait, hold up... prophecy?” I sat up straighter in my chair and eyed the mare warily, “you're gonna have to back up a bit on that one. No one said anything about a prophecy.”

“You're right,” Moon Dancer conceded with a small nod of apology, “I'm... getting ahead of myself. I'll return to where I left off...”

With that, she closed her eyes, which I only just now realized hadn't had that empty look when I interrupted. She opened them a moment later and spoke again, and I wasn't surprised to see that same look come over her once more. I groaned inwardly, but held my tongue as she continued her story.

The stallion gave me no name but instead introduced himself as a friend of a friend who'd come to help. The stallion promised not only to drive away these maddening visions, but to grant me knowledge. He promised to rip apart the veil of ignorance keeping me blind.

He promised me the answers to my visions, the truth of Harmony, the true history of our world and the cosmic secrets that lay beyond. All he asked for in return was a favor, to help him with a certain task that needed doing. I... was in no state to refuse. As I was, I would have rent the very sky asunder if it meant an end to my suffering.

And so, with no room in my addled mind to doubt the stallion, I agreed without question or hesitation. The stallion's eyes lit up like the sun with my promise of assistance. With a brilliant smile he produced a time-worn dagger from his cloak, both its wicked hilt and jagged blade as black as the void.

He held it out to me, instructing me to plunge the weapon into my chest to the hilt. The ludicrous demand was enough to cut through some of my madness and give me pause, but only for a moment. The stallion assured me that my life was in no danger and that the process would cleanse me of the scenes and images that haunted me.

I gave it a moment's thought, but decided that, whether I survived or not, my pain would likely end either way. And so I did as he asked and let the dagger pierce my chest. The physical pain was terrible, but beyond it, I could feel something pouring out of me.

My lifeblood was being spilled across the floor, yes, but there was something else that went with it—something vile and unnameable. Even as I fell to the ground, writhing in agony, I could feel that nameless vileness being sucked away, almost as if it was being drawn into the blade itself. All too soon my mind began to clear and I felt lighter than I had in weeks. Saner. More... whole.

After a time—I wasn't sure how long—the stallion approached me. Without warning or preamble, he grasped the hilt of the dagger and tore it out of me. For a horrifying moment I thought I would die right then and there. In my mind I could see my insides torn out and splayed across the floor.

I could almost feel it happen as my sight and consciousness slowly faded to nothing... but that didn't happen. To my horrified amazement, the pain vanished altogether. I watched as my horrific wound sealed itself in an instant. In the span of a few moments, I was physically whole and mentally unbroken.

I was overcome with shock and confusion, but my mind was a placid lake otherwise. I waited for the other horseshoe to drop, but I needn't have bothered. I could feel it. I'd been cursed by a malevolent force I hadn't even known was there, and I could sense now that it was completely gone.

I was finally free.

“And it never occurred to you that this guy was working with the other stallion?” I asked with a healthy amount of skepticism, “not even with how he fixed you up? None of that raised any red flags?”

Once more, the mare's eyes cleared as she took a moment to answer my questions. She shook her head sadly, “Of course I had my doubts and suspicions, but that was only after the fact, and by that point, I was already bound to serve his purposes.”

I blinked, then frowned, not liking that phrasing one bit. “Bound?” I repeated, “Are we talking some kind of verbal oath of service or, like, magically bound, like a slave to his will?”

“Not quite the latter... but close enough,” she replied with a bitter smile, “it was more of a subtle compulsion somewhere in the back of my mind, something I never noticed until it was far too late. We were all like that in the beginning.”

“You, Cozy Glow, and that stallion you mean?”

Moon Dancer nodded, “we all joined him for different reasons but he trapped us all the same way. I was desperate for an escape and the knowledge he could provide, Cozy Glow was looking for an easier path to power, and the other stallion...” she paused and gave a pensive frown,”I'm... not quite sure, actually. He never spoke unless it was required for a ritual.”

“Ah, so he recruited you all to join his cult,” I surmised, not in the least bit surprised given the blood magic and self-mutilation with what was obviously some kind of ritual dagger, “and he told you he was a 'friend of a friend'? I'm assuming he was talking about Twilight?”

“He was,” Moon Dancer confirmed with another contrite nod. A faraway look crossed her face as she said her next words, as if she was musing on a fond memory from the past, “I was the second to join his cause. Cozy Glow was the last. He promised us knowledge and power... and that's exactly what he gave us...”

I followed after the stallion, knowing nothing of what I was getting myself into at the time. I readily left my old life in Canterlot behind to join him on his mission, whatever it may have been. We spent the next few months wandering the lands of Equestria and beyond.

The lanky stallion took me to places both known and unknown to me. Hidden caves, dark and deadly forests, old mountain ruins, ancient desert temples buried beneath the sands. With each new location he would open my eyes to a new truth I hadn't known about the world. He would show me things, new visions—not to twist the mind but to lay bare the true history.

I learned of the Unbegotten Source, of how the ancient god arrived when the world was yet unbaked. I learned of how it brought life to our infant planet... and how it birthed its eventual death. I learned of the Old Night that slept beneath the earth for millions of years. I was told of Star Swirl and the past he tried to hide from the future.

And I was told of Twilight and her destiny as was written in the stallion's book of prophecy. It was a massive tome, three or four times the size of a normal book and thousands upon thousands of pages long. It was within an ancient ruin at the base of a mountain that the stallion revealed the book to us.

It was there that he finally informed us of what we were meant to do. It was in that place that we learned we were meant to help Twilight. We were meant to guide her toward her 'second ascension' . We were told that she would open the path to an existence beyond our comprehension. She would fall into darkness and, in doing so, find the light of ultimate truth—a truth that would raise us all from the bed of ignorance.

She would ascend once more and become a true Goddess, as was written long ago. Our role in that prophecy was to open a path to the Source, and we were given all the tools we needed and more to do so. He spoke to us of the eldritch arts—the power of the Dark. A forbidden power not meant for mortal use. We learned occult spells, rituals, incantations, inscriptions.

It was a new sort of magic, and it was everything we wanted and more. Yes, many of the rituals we learned were gruesome and inequine, but by this point we had all partaken of this forbidden fruit and were begging for more, no matter the cost. We were all fully committed, ready and willing to do our part.

And so we did...

“By the time the lanky stallion summoned Twilight to meet with us, she was already at the tail end of her journey,” Moon Dancer explained, “it was the first time I'd seen her in a long time, even before my life had taken this occult turn.”

Her face twisted, but I couldn't tell what expression she was trying to make. There was sorrow and longing there, but also something else I couldn't quite parse. She hesitated, but eventually got herself under control and continued.

“She was... changed. No longer equine,” she said with a strange and deliberate slowness. “When we finally saw her, she'd become a hideous thing of flesh and shadow. At the time, I didn't even bat an eye, none of us did. We simply accepted it as inevitable and moved on with the ritual.”

That... was a lot to unpack.

On one hand, I got my explanation as to how Zushakon wound up here. At least, Moon Dancer had implied the Old Night was born from the Unbegotten Source. I wasn't sure if that's actually how things went down in the mythos, but I also don't think Zushakon's birth was mentioned one way or another.

On the other hand, there was the Unbegotten Source itself, Ubbo-Sathla. I wanted to question how and why the outer god was here, but again, I had to remember this was just one world in a multiverse where anything could happen. There was no point in questioning it. I just had to accept it and move right along, something I was thankfully pretty good at.

What was strange was that none of what she was telling me was surprising. I mean, I could've guessed at a lot of what happened, but that wasn't it. Everything she told me, at least where Twilight was concerned, felt... weirdly familiar—like I'd already known all of this and was just being reminded.

I'd gotten the sensation a few times now ever since we arrived back in Daring Do's cellar. I couldn't shake the feeling. It was almost as if I'd already been here before... but not quite. It annoyed me that I couldn't place the feeling, but at the same, I kind of didn't want to. The more I thought about it, the more the sensation scared me.

I just got this weird, nameless dread I couldn't place that got stronger each time I felt it. In the end, I chose not to dwell on the matter and forcefully put it out of my mind. Instead, I returned my attention to Moon Dancer. She hadn't mentioned much about Twilight up until now, but that was fine. I was pretty sure I'd find out more soon enough, but in the meantime...

“And the ritual?” I asked, continuing from where Moon Dancer left off, “you mentioned you guys were trying to open a path of some sort? To Ubbo-Sathla? And while I'm at it, did you ever find out that stallion's name? Like, at all?”

“Ubbo... Sathla?” Moon Dancer replied, her massive eyebrows raising in surprise as she zeroed in on the name and ignored everything else, “So you know of the Demiurge's true name then? You've seen it with your own eyes? How?”

“Whoa, hold on a sec,” I said, raising my hands defensively and mentally kicking myself for complicating things, “I've never seen the thing myself, I just... come from a place where that kind of knowledge is a bit more, ah... easily accessible.”

“The Dreamlands then,” Moon Dancer guessed, “Lady Luna's made mention of it before, but to think you—”

“No, not the Dreamlands,” I interjected, doing my best not to groan in annoyance, “look, we can talk about me and what I know later. For now, let's just... get back to your story, alright? We don't have a lot of time, remember?”

She looked me over with newfound curiosity for a moment before nodding, “Fair enough,” she finally said before explaining, “to answer your question, no, he never once gave his name, but Twilight seemed to know him. As for the ritual meant to connect Twilight to the primordial god, it was a success intially,” her expression grew dark, “but things... did not go as I expected in the end.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown, “what happened?”

At this, Moon Dancer grimaced. There was a bitter anger tinged with guilt and betrayal in her eyes and a hint of it seeped into her next words.

“Perhaps I misunderstood what that unicorn's words meant or maybe I misinterpreted the prophecy somehow, but in the end, either way... none of us were granted the enlightenment we were promised."

Equus IV – An Eldritch Tragedy ~ Part II

“The lanky unicorn stallion used a complex summoning ritual to bring Twilight to us,” Moon Dancer explained, “it should have been completely untraceable, and yet, my Lady somehow managed to track down our location.”

“So, Luna jumped in and stopped the ritual?” I surmised. I expected the mare to look guilty or aggrieved or bitter or something, but no. She just nodded, as if the whole thing had happened to someone else entirely.

“I believed us all completely undone by my Lady's interference,” Moon Dancer replied, “the most we could do at that point was to make sure Twilight was safely extracted from the ritual. To that end, both our leader and the quiet stallion tried to hold off my Lady while Cozy Glow and I brought Twilight back. I was rendered unconscious in the process, so I'm not sure what transpired directly after that.”

Well, clearly Twilight came out of it just fine. Probably.

I gave a mental shake of my head before asking, “What about Cozy Glow? Does she know what happened?”

“No,” Moon Dancer said with an actual shake of her head, “we both woke up in a prison cell deep within Canterlot Castle's dungeon. Neither our leader nor the quiet stallion were anywhere to be seen. We were told by my Lady later that both stallions died in the confrontation.”

“Ah,” I replied, not sure what else to say. Then, something Moon Dancer said registered, and I asked, “Wait, you said you believed you were all undone. Was that not the case?”

The mare gave me a sardonic smile that didn't look quite right on her face. “Well, we weren't there to witness it with our own eyes, but we know that Twilight did complete her second ascension in the end. Given how things turned out, I'd say the ritual ended just as it was meant to.”

“Yeah, okay, that's fair,” I conceded with a grimace before switching gears, “so what happened after you woke up?”

Moon Dancer didn't answer right away. Instead, she sat back on her haunches and closed her eyes as if to collect her thoughts. After a minute, she opened her eyes, and it was like she was looking at something I couldn't see. When she spoke again, her expression was blank and her tone haunted.

Cozy Glow and I woke up in the castle dungeon, physically and magically bound. Confused and terrified, we tried asking the guards posted outside our cell what was going on, but got no response. They didn't even so much as glance in our direction. Left to our devices, we didn't know what to do. We didn't know if we succeeded in the ritual or what happened to the lanky stallion who taught us everything we knew about the eldritch arts.

Cozy Glow suspected everything from betrayal to carelessness on our leader's part, but I was just worried about Twilight. By this point, I had no regrets for what we'd done, I'd truly wanted to see Twilight ascend and bring us with her to new heights, but if I'd somehow inadvertently killed her in the process, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It's true that we weren't as close as I would've liked to be, but she was still my one and only foalhood friend at the end of the day.

But we didn't have much time to dwell on our fate or that of our accomplices before all fell to ruin. It all seemed to happen in a moment. The world suddenly went dark, like a universal candle was snuffed out. Outside, I heard the guards cry out in alarm. I heard Cozy Glow's horrified gasp. I felt myself do the same, but it was all muted. Far away. The air grew cold and still, and in that moment, both Cozy Glow and I understood.

This was the end.

We didn't know all the details, but we'd learned enough to know what this cold and unrelenting darkness meant. The Old Night had awakened, and while we weren't aware of the events that led up to its awakening, we both realized that Twilight had to be involved somehow—not that we had the time to worry about such things. There was no time for worry. No time for fear. No time to rally. No time to investigate.

They swept in like a ravenous tide, consuming the unsuspecting guards before slipping through the bars of our prison to prey upon us. Bound as we were, we had no choice but to succumb to the hungry shadows. We were devoured, our screams silenced, just like everything else within that cloying, void-black shroud. All we were left with at the end was the realization that we were merely pawns, destined to die a cruel death along with the rest of the world...

“...or so we thought, but we were saved from the cold embrace of nothingness.” Moon Dancer paused, her distant, hollow gaze seeming to snap back into focus as she spoke. Before I could chime in, she pressed on, this time with a hint of gratitude in her voice and a slightly zealous gleam in her eyes, “Using forbidden arcane arts both eldritch and necromantic, my Lady took it upon herself to rescue our departing souls from the very edge of existence. She gave us our bodies back and bound us to her service.”

Ah, that might explain the creepy... quirks. Maybe.

“Why'd Luna resurrect you two of all ponies?” I asked, taking the fact that Luna became a necromancer at some point in stride as best I could, “Was it information? But wait, if that was the case, why bind you to her service?”

“It's true that Lady Luna was seeking knowledge in an effort to undo what was done to the world,” Moon Dancer affirmed, “but Cozy Glow and I were simply one more resource for her to exhaust out of several. We were deeply involved with the events that led to the end of the world, after all.” Her expression suddenly turned grim, “Unfortunately, there wasn't much we could tell her that she didn't already know, so—presumably due to sunk costs—Lady Luna chose to bind us to her service instead.”

“She wanted to get some kind of use out of you, huh?”

I gave the mare a wry smile. In all honesty, Luna's actions didn't sit quite right with me, but at the same time, I liked necromancy as both an idea and a class in role playing games. Ultimately, my feelings on the matter were mixed, but it wasn't exactly my place to say anything about it, so I didn't. Instead—

“No need to make me sound like some callous dark mage, Salvatore. I had my reasons, and these two have helped me immensely these last few years.”

—I nearly jumped out of my seat at Luna's sudden and casual tone. Looking behind Moon Dancer, I spotted the ex-princess in question seated in her plush armchair next to the low table. The mare sat there as if she'd been here all along, curled up and comfy as you please. She poured herself a glass of the wine that'd been sitting on the table before taking a measured sip.

“Jesus H. Christ,” I muttered, holding a hand over my thumping heart, “when the hell did you get here?”

And how the hell did I miss her? The armchair is literally, right there. Magic probably, or I wasn't paying enough attention. Probably both. Mostly the latter, most likely.

I realized I probably should've been more respectful only after the fact, but Luna didn't seem to mind, nor did Moon Dancer. The apparently undead (reborn? Revived?) unicorn just quietly stepped aside as Luna and I spoke. Luna, for her part, downed her first crystalline glass in one go and poured herself another before she finally spoke.

“We've nearly finished all preparations for the ritual,” she said, entirely ignoring my question altogether, “I've already informed Cozy Glow. She and Twilight will need some more time, but that is just as well.”

“Wait, hold on,” I interjected, raising a hand, “what 'ritual'? Was this mentioned earlier? I don't think it was...” I paused, racking my brain for the memory, but there was none to be found, “...yeah, no it wasn't. No mention of any rituals that I can remember anyway. I'll need an explanation on that one.”

Luna tilted her head slightly as she looked at me, and though I couldn't see her eye sockets underneath her roiling black mane, I could've sworn she was raising an eyebrow.

“Did I not mention?” she asked before shaking her head, “No, I suppose I didn't. My apologies, Salvatore. We haven't the time or resources to properly teach you how to wield chaos magic or what it means to be a spirit of chaos, I'm afraid. In lieu of proper lessons, my sister and I have elected to simply impart the knowledge to you.”

“And... that's what the ritual is for,” I replied, feeling an odd mix of wariness and curiosity, “to impart the knowledge of how to use chaos magic and what it means to be a chaos spirit?”

“Correct,” Luna nodded, “should all go well, you needn't fear the Old Night or its foul shadow spawn.” She opened her mouth to continue, but hesitated.

Oh, that's not good. Here comes the other shoe.

And sure enough...

“That said, while effective, this ritual is not without risk. Great risk, in fact. I feel it only fair to warn you, Salvatore,” the mare sat up in her seat, her eyes hidden but her expression deadly serious, “should this ritual fail, your very existence will be washed away, lost and buried beneath the relentless tides of time.”

I opened my mouth.

“...huh.”

That was all I could say.

I had no words. I had no big, bombastic reactions to give. I bounced Luna's words around in my head, but they just wouldn't register. No, it wasn't that they wouldn't register, it wasn't shock either, or at least I didn't think so. It was more like the appropriate mental response wasn't there in the first place—like trying to play a game you just installed on your PC, only to get an error message saying the .dll file is missing.

I... should probably be concerned about that.

...Ah, well. Fuck it. Better than freaking out, I guess.

I was about to shelf the issue for later and ask for more details about the ritual, but apparently, I'd taken too long to answer and Luna spoke first.

“I know this is a daunting proposition, Salvatore,” she said with some sympathy, “that is why I wished to test you before we begin the ritual.”

“Test me?” I asked, dumbfounded, “Test me how? For what?”

“I wanted to see how far along your transition from man to spirit has come,” Luna replied, “the closer you are to the latter, the less strain the ritual will have on your mind and the easier the process will be.”

“And how does that work?” I asked, having an idea but wanting to hear it from Luna.

“The transition of a mortal creature into an immortal spirit is a topic I am not fully well-versed in, but I'm not entirely ignorant of the subject.” She explained, “One important detail I am aware of is that, oftentimes, the first changes are more mental and spiritual than physical.”

I blinked at that.

Ah... Aaah. That might actually explain a few things. Yeah, I should definitely be concerned about this.

“You mentioned some of your bodily functions have already been altered,” Luna continued, heedless of my thoughts, “but if you haven't already, you may start to notice some changes in the way you perceive the world and the creatures within it. Your horizons will broaden drastically, and the unfathomable and infinite cosmos will begin to make more sense. And with understanding comes further change.”

“So, let me get this straight,” I replied, trying to put the pieces together, “the closer I get to chaos, the more I'll understand, and the more I understand, the more I'll change both physically and mentally?”

“In a nutshell, yes,” Luna replied with a nod, “though, as you grow in power, you will have some control over your physical form. Some changes can't be hidden, but should you desire to remain human-shaped, you should be free to do so.”

I couldn't help but give a bitter inward chuckle at her turn of phrase and the meaning behind it. Feeling a little overwhelmed, I leaned back in my chair and pressed my palms into my eyes before giving a long, drawn out sigh. I finally got some answers for what was going on with my mind, but the answers were troubling to say the least.

My biggest concern—or what I wanted to be concerned about—was the effect these changes would have on my personality. I liked who I was as a person. Do I wish I were smarter? Sure. Do I wish I were more motivated? Sometimes. Do I have regrets about some of the decisions I've made throughout my life? Of course I do. Tons of them. Everyone does. Those who say they don't are spouting bullshit.

Still, would I give up who I am for power if I had a choice?

I can't say for sure, but I'd like to think I wouldn't. Now that I've been put in this position, I'm not sure what to think or feel. Maybe I'm just overthinking it. I'm not exactly a super emotional person to begin with. Maybe these changes really are just a perceived problem and don't actually exist. Yet.

I guess only time will tell.

“Alright... one last thing before we get to this test,” I said after a moment, “what's the deal with Twilight? The one that came with me to this Equestria, I mean.”

Luna gave me a bemused frown before asking, “What do you mean? What about Twilight?”

“I mean, we told you about how she wound up joining me, right?” I explained, “Discord did something to her, but neither of us know what. We haven't discussed the matter in any real detail, but I have this vague idea that she was... I dunno, bonded to me somehow. Beyond that...”

I trailed off with a shrug and an inquiring look in Luna's direction. Luna didn't reply right away, but cast her gaze to the ceiling above and hummed in thought. Eventually, she nodded to herself, as if coming to some kind of conclusion.

“I see... that might clear up a matter I've been wondering about since I stumbled upon the two of you in Daring Do's cellar,” she muttered, almost to herself. She returned her attention to me, “Twilight had yet to ascend to alicornhood before you both arrived, yes?”

“Yeah, she was still a unicorn. We were wondering about that, too.”

Luna nodded again at that, “One of the reasons I was wary of Twilight in the beginning was that the mare, like you, stank of chaos magic—though to a much lesser degree.”

I leaned forward and frowned, “So it was Discord, then?”

“I believe so,” the alicorn replied, though her tone was worryingly uncertain, "and yes, as you guessed, there is some nascent connection between the two of you—a faint, almost ephemeral bond forged of chaos and... something else.”

“Something else?” I pressed.

“I cannot say for certain what it means,” Luna replied with a shake of her head, “but when I captured Twilight, the sigils within my binding spell picked up traces of an energy I've never felt before. The moment I picked up on it, the remnants of that strange energy vanished from my thaumic sight, but not before I traced that energy back to you.”

“Okay,” I replied slowly, “and... this energy isn't chaos?”

“No,” Luna said, this time with absolute certainty, “let me put it this way, Salvatore. There are some who believe the universe is comprised of a multitude of concepts, and true chaos is among the highest of them. Whatever this energy is, it is comprised of a concept higher than even true chaos. Much higher.”

I frowned, as I thought about what that meant, then my eyes widened as an idea came to me.

Oh, shit...

“Salvatore?” Luna asked, seeing the realization dawning on my face, “what is it?”

I refocused on Luna and gave the mare a disgruntled grimace, “I might not know what the hell any of this means, but I'm starting to think Discord isn't the only one to blame here.”

Fucking Apparatus...

At Luna's questioning gaze, I shook my head.

“Don't worry about it,” I said, “so we know these changes are affecting me, and they could be affecting Twilight by extension through that weird link you mentioned. If that's the case, then my follow-up question is, how is this ritual of yours going to affect Twilight?”

“That... I am not certain,” Luna hesitated before straightening up, “I was able to determine that the bond between the two of you is growing stronger even as we speak, but it is a gradual process. Very gradual from what I can tell. The link is yet in its infancy, so the ritual should not affect Twilight Sparkle overmuch.”

I tried to keep the skepticism off my face, but I wasn't sure if I succeeded.

Should I take her word for it? As sinister as the mare looks, I don't think she's trying to screw me over here. Then again, self-serving goals and all that. Who knows what she and Celestia are willing to do? Not that I can really blame them given what's lurking outside.

In the end, I just shrugged, “Well, what happens, happens, I guess. As long as Twilight knows the risks and is willing to go along with the process, that'll be good enough for me.” I gave Luna a pointed look, “We are gonna tell her, right? Not just about the risks, but about everything else?”

“Of course,” Luna replied, sounding almost offended that I even asked, “in a way, she's just as important as you are in all of this.”

I frowned at that, reading something I didn't quite like in her tone.

“What do you mean by that?”

Again, Luna hesitated, but then let out a resigned sigh before taking another, slower sip of her wine. After a moment, she spoke, “My sister... Celestia was devastated by Twilight's betrayal. By what she'd done to the world. It was clear for anypony to see, but the pain was so much deeper than what she let show. You and your Twilight saw that for yourselves.”

I mean, she's not my Twilight, but yeah, that was... rough.

I winced at the memory of Celestia's reaction to Twilight, but didn't say anything about it, and Luna pressed on.

“By now, every single survivor is aware of what Twilight has done,” Luna continued, “to say that they despise her is an understatement of the highest order,” her expression turned sad, “even her friends came to accept the truth and gave in to that same black hatred.”

“That's why you didn't want Twilight to see Fluttershy or Pinkie,” I guessed.

“Among other reasons, yes,” Luna replied, “the encounter would destroy everypony involved, but Celestia... Celestia is different. She gave in to despair, but not hatred. Never hatred, even now.”

“And what about you?” I asked curiously, “Where do you stand in all this? You don't seem like you're frothing at the mouth with rage.”

“I...” Luna sighed, “I have far too much empathy for the mare to hate her for her actions—far more than is likely warranted, I fear. There is the obvious parallel between her and the villain that I became before I was sealed away, but even before I became Nightmare Moon—long before that—I was right where she'd been.”

“You're... talking about her descent into madness for the sake of knowledge,” I surmised, and Luna nodded in affirmation.

“I told you about my foray into the Dreamlands,” she said, “I spent many long years there, and learned a great many truths about the universe, but in pursuing that knowledge, I committed terrible acts. Things that, even now, I'm too ashamed to tell my sister. Things that, even as Nightmare Moon, I vowed never to do again.”

“But clearly you were able to pull yourself back,” I pointed out.

“Only because I had no choice,” Luna replied. She stared down into her half empty wine glass and gave a small shudder, “eventually, I was forced to acknowledge that some truths aren't worth pursuing, and I almost paid for that lesson with my very soul. But yes, I was fortunate enough to escape a fate worse than death and fled the Dreamlands, never to return.”

“Damn,” I replied after a moment of somber silence, “that sounds like some kind of story.”

“Indeed,” Luna agreed, “and perhaps I will have a chance to expand upon it in the near future, but I believe we've gotten away from the topic at hoof.” The mare polished off her third glass of wine before setting the empty glass back down on the table. “You wanted to know why Twilight was so important, correct?”

“I wanted to know why you thought she was so important,” I clarified, “from the sound of things, it has something to do with Celestia, right?”

Luna gave a slow nod of acknowledgement, “It is... because this Twilight represents an opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity,” I asked cautiously.

“An opportunity for closure,” Luna answered easily, “Celestia hasn't said as much, but I know my sister. I'm assuming Twilight will be right there with you when you go to confront the looming threat we face, yes?”

“I'm also assuming so, yes,” I replied, “the mare's got a bit of a hero complex going on, so her being there is pretty much a given.”

“And therein lies the crux of Celestia's desire,” Luna stabbed a hoof in my direction, “that complex is what my sister wants to see more than anything. Even should Twilight succeed in saving us from our inevitable fate, the survivors will continue to condemn her for what her counterpart has done, but succeed or fail, Celestia will finally find some peace, knowing that Twilight did everything she could to help this world.”

“...Even if it wasn't her Twilight doing the saving?” I questioned.

“Even then,” came Luna's calm and confident answer, “it is almost enough just knowing that somewhere in the wider universe—in the wider multiverse—there's still a Twilight willing to stand up to evil and protect harmony.”

A bit cheesy for my taste, but I can appreciate the sentiment for sure.

“Alright, I can respect that,” I said aloud, “and I'm sure Twilight would be happy to hear that too, but let's rewind a bit and talk about that test of yours. What does it entail? What do I have to do?”

“Ah, yes, the test,” a strange smile crossed Luna's lips, “well, in all honesty, Salvatore, the test has already been issued, and now I need only confirm the results.”

I blinked, then frowned, “What? When did you—”

I was cut off as Luna suddenly turned to speak to Moon Dancer. I'd almost forgotten the unicorn was here, she'd been so quiet until now.

“Well, Moon Dancer,” Luna asked lightly, “what say you? How did he fair?”

Moon Dancer nodded and turned to me with a knowing smile I wasn't entirely comfortable with before replying, “Well, my Lady, I believe his reaction speaks volumes, but from what I have observed, he appears to be coming along quite nicely. It will be difficult to say for sure if the ritual will go perfectly just from this, but at the very least, I'm confident he will come out of it with his mind intact.”

I opened my mouth, but snapped it shut before whipping back around to face Luna. “Okay, so I clearly missed something here, and I would very much like to know what, but I guess I passed the test, whatever it was?”

“Indeed,” Luna confirmed with a rare genuine smile, “I apologize for this bit of subterfuge on mine and Moon Dancer's part, but rest assured, we had our reasons,” at my unamused scowl, Luna cleared her throat, “as for the test, well...” she and Moon Dancer cast a brief glance at one another before she spoke again, “the story, Moon Dancer told you was not spoken in Ponish, and as Moon Dancer said that you evidently failed to notice such a fact speaks volumes.”

“Does it?” I asked, trying to parse the meaning behind her words, “I mean, I shouldn't be able to understand Ponish either. English is the only language I should know, and yet here we are, having a conversation.”

“True enough, and more of Discord's doing no doubt,” Luna replied, “but his meddling likely didn't account for the use or understanding of the Black Tongue.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, “The 'black tongue'?”

It was Moon Dancer that replied this time, adjusting her thick-rimmed glasses as she explained, “A forbidden language and integral in the use of the eldritch arts. It goes by many names, but that's what it's called in all the texts we know of. Prolonged use of the language will drive the average listener mad eventually, or at the very least, cause some discomfort. Not only did it not have an effect on you, you completely understood everything I said.”

“Ah, I get it,” I scratched at my chin and looked back and forth between the two mares, “so that whole story was a test I didn't even know I was taking, and that fact alone was enough to pass,” at Luna's nod of confirmation I grimaced, “Okay, that's all well and good, but what would you have done if Twilight spoke to Moon Dancer instead.”

“We would've had Cozy Glow do the same thing if you went with her instead,” Moon Dancer readily responded.

“And if we hadn't decided to split up at all?”

“I would have tested you myself, whether Twilight was there or not,” Luna answered, “no matter the turn of events, you would have been tested before the ritual.”

“Okay, I can accept that,” I replied before turning another question over in my head, “but what makes you so sure Discord didn't allow me to understand this Black Tongue?”

“I never said he didn't allow it, merely that he didn't account for it,” Luna corrected, “Discord wouldn't have given you access to the Black Tongue if he'd known what he was doing because the Black Tongue allows you the potential to manipulate true chaos in a way that could be detrimental or even deadly to Discord himself.”

“Right, right, but then why would he turn me into a lesser chaos spirit if that was the case?” I asked, doing my best to look at the situation from every angle.

“That is a good question to be sure,” Luna conceded before her frown turned thoughtful, “but then again, does he know? I cannot help but wonder if he is aware of your transformation.”

“What? I mean, he has to be, right? Shouldn't he be able to feel that sort of... thing...” I trailed off as yet another idea slammed into me.

Fucking Apparatus! Did he do something else?!

The face-stealing weirdo did mention something about blocking Discord in some way so that Twilight and I could take the multiversal needle shards. Did that extend to my chaotic changes?

Just what the hell is he? And what the hell did he actually do?

“Salvatore? Is something wrong?”

I snapped back to focus and looked over to see that both mares were watching me with some concern. I waved away Luna's inquiry with a dismissive gesture.

“Sorry, I'm fine. I just remembered that Twilight and I got a bit of help where Discord is concerned just before we came here,” I explained, “Apparatus is probably the reason Discord doesn't know I'm changing.”

I said that, but then something else occurred to me.

No, wait... the changes started happening long before I ever met Apparatus. So, was there another reason Discord overlooked the changes, or did Apparatus already know about me and did something beforehand?

Has he been watching me this whole time?

I shuddered inwardly at the thought and did my best to put it out of my mind.

“Apparatus?” Luna replied with some confusion. Then her face cleared up a moment later as she remembered, “Ah, yes... you did mention an encounter with a strange being that wore your appearance,” she tilted her head as though realizing something else, “could this creature be who you were referring to when you mention that Discord shares the blame for yours and Twilight strange bond?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “the guy is... well, he's about as unfathomable as you can get. If anyone was responsible for something even Discord couldn't handle, it would be him. Or it. Whatever he is.”

“I see...” Luna muttered, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. An odd silence fell over the small study for a bit. Not awkward, but not exactly comfortable either. Just one big pause while we all gathered our thoughts. The spell was broken as Luna suddenly perked up in her seat, then turned to me, “it appears young Twilight has finished her research. She and Cozy Glow are on their way here.”

“Huh, well, that was fast,” I commented, “knowing Twilight I expected her to take at least a day or two.”

“Nonsense,” Luna replied, though not without some amusement, “We haven't the time for that kind of extensive research and I wouldn't have allowed such a thing regardless.”

“Fair enough,” I replied, “so, what? We just sort through what we learned and then head off to wherever for the ritual?”

“The Chamber of Déaþgedál,” Luna replied, “it is where my sister resides, and where you will come into your fledgling power as a lesser chaos spirit. And yes, once we've brought Twilight Sparkle up to speed, we will be departing for the chamber.”

“Fantastic,” I sighed, ”I don't suppose you could fill me in on what I'm in for here?”

“I will leave the details of the ritual to my sister,” Luna replied before giving me an apologetic smile, “it was she who insisted on giving the explanation. She feels it is her responsibility.”

“Of course she does,” I muttered before settling back into my chair, “well, nothing to do but wait and see how things unfold.”

I wonder what Twilight managed to find out on her end...

Equus IV – Return of the Book Horse

It wasn't too long after our discussion that Twilight and Cozy Glow entered the room. Cozy Glow seemed fairly passive, but Twilight looked both frustrated and concerned as she stepped into the study. Given how little time she'd had to peruse the archives, I could see why. My heart went out to the mare, but I couldn't be bothered to dwell on her dissatisfaction when there was so much more to think and talk about.

"Yo," I greet with a lazy wave of my hand from my seat at the desk, "how'd it go? Not too well, judging by the expression, I'd wager."

Twilight's head, pointed at the ground with brows furrowed in consternation, jerked back up, and she seemed to realize she'd arrived at her destination. She looked at me, then to Moon Dancer standing to one side, then finally to Luna who was still seated on her comfy armchair delicately sipping yet another glass of wine she'd poured for herself during the lull in our conversation. Twilight, for her part, looked like she'd just woken up from a particularly deep sleep.

Just how deep into her own head was she?

Twilight seemed to collect her thoughts after a moment, blinking once, then letting out a frustrated sigh as she shook her head and turned back to me. "I learned a ton, but I don't understand most of what I found out," she finally said, her tone tinged with more than a little annoyance, "if I'd had some more time to study the information, maybe just another day or two—"

"Time we can ill afford," Luna cut in. Twilight shot her an irritated scowl, but quickly realized who she was scowling at and flinched, her scowl turned to an apologetic grimace. Luna just gave the other alicorn an understanding smile and continued, "I apologize, Twilight. I would give you all the time in the world if I could, but that is simply not an option in these circumstances."

"Yeah, I know," Twilight sighed again, this sounding more resigned than anything else, "it's not ideal, but I suppose I can consolidate all of my thoughts and note them down later."

"Note them down, huh?" I commented, "Do you have a way to note anything down?" I paused a second, then asked, "Actually, I've been wondering this for a while now, but... do you have an eidetic memory?"

Twilight raised her brows in interest at the question but nodded, "To a certain extent for certain things, yes, but I don't like to rely on it. I'd much rather have something tangible on hoof to reference, so I usually have parchment or a journal nearby whenever I'm doing any research."

"And there was nothing to write with or on in the archives?" I asked, turning to Cozy Glow who'd moved to stand by Moon Dancer.

"Nope, sorry," Cozy Glow replied with a helpless smile, "record keeping of the documents held within the archives is done through a thaumic memory imprinting process that only Lady Luna has access to. No parchment or scrolls required."

At that, Twilight and I turned to look over to Luna. Judging by the look Twilight was giving the older alicorn, I was fairly sure the younger alicorn was champing at the bit to find out more about that process. Luna, in response, simply took another sip of wine as if none of this had anything to do with her. Since Twilight wasn't saying anything, I assumed she'd already been told about the process and had also been told that she wasn't allowed to learn it.

I personally didn't care all that much so I just decided to move on. "Fair enough," I replied with a nod before returning my attention to Twilight, "So what did you learn? Anything immediately useful?"

"Immediately useful? No, I don't think so," Twilight replied with yet another sigh, "Plenty of fascinating and disturbing insights into the ancient history of this Equestria, but nothing that could help us with our current predicament—at least, not that I can see just yet." She looked frustrated again for a moment, but then her ears perked up, and she snapped a hopeful and expectant gaze in my direction, "What about you? Moon Dancer told you her story, right? You promised you'd tell me once I got back, and here I am, so spill it."

And so I told her.

I filled Twilight in on the whole story, paraphrasing where I couldn't remember the exact words, but leaving nothing important out. Neither Moon Dancer, Cozy Glow, nor Luna interrupted as I spoke, and Twilight sat on her haunches next to my seat to listen with an almost unsettling amount of focus. She reacted appropriately, when appropriate, and by the time I was done with the story, the mare was shifting her wings uncomfortably.

"I... honestly don't know what to say," Twilight admitted after a moment of hesitation. The pity was one thing, but the guilt in the look she gave Moon Dancer was so intense that I felt compelled to remind the mare that none of this had been her doing. Twilight just shook her head at that, saying, "I know that intellectually, but I can't help how I feel. What happened to Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow was terrible, and I can't help feeling like I played a part in it somehow."

"But you didn't," Moon Dancer herself pointed out gently, "you and your alternate became two very different ponies, Twilight. Maybe you two always were, but regardless, I don't blame you for what happened, and neither does Cozy Glow, I'm sure."

"No ma'am," Cozy Glow confirmed with her eerily child-like smile, "especially not me. I aided the Twilight of this Equestria out of my own greedy, megalomaniacal desires, so I'm pretty I'm the last pony who should be judging you anyway."

"And there you have it," Luna added, magically whisking her wine glass, along with what was left of the bottle, away to who-knows-where as she spoke, "Nopony blames you for the foolish actions taken in the past of an Equestria that is not even your own—nopony in this room at any rate."

"Thanks, I think," Twilight smiled gratefully, but the smile faltered somewhat as she registered Luna's final words, "I just... it just hurts me to think that there's a Twilight somewhere out there that can fall so far as to destroy everything she holds dear, even if it is for the sake of knowledge. No knowledge—no matter how much or how profound—should be worth such a horrific tragedy as what happened here."

Twilight looked resolute as she said those words, but I'd been hanging around her long enough to see that something was still bothering her. I had my suspicions about what it could be, but I didn't speak up, figuring I could talk to her about whatever it was later.

"Well said," Luna replied with an approving smile that vanished as quickly as it had come, "but if we are to speak of knowledge, I'd rather it be relevant to our current situation." At Twilight's curious frown, Luna nodded in her direction, "There is yet more Salvatore and I must speak to you about, Twilight Sparkle. Open your ears and listen well, for this concerns the connection shared between you two."

Luna and I proceed to tell Twilight our suspicions about what Discord had done to her, as well as my own concerns about Appartus' role in all of this madness. Twilight, as it turned out, had been thinking along the same lines as me. She'd already worked out that Discord might've done something to connect her to me in some intangible, magical way. She reasoned that this unfathomable connection is what allowed her to tag along whenever I died and wound up in another Equestria.

"I don't think such a thing would be possible unless I was magically tied to you in some way, Sal," Twilight explained once Luna and I finished telling her our thoughts, "even if the connection has its roots in chaos magic, all of this still wouldn't make sense otherwise," she shook her head and eyed me seriously, "That there's some kind of connection here doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is this mysterious energy Luna felt."

"The energy we believe originates from this 'Apparatus' creature?" Luna asked, to which Twilight nodded and flared out her wings in response."Now that you've brought up the idea that Apparatus might be involved, I'm starting to wonder if he—or perhaps it—is the one responsible for my transformation into an alicorn."

"Could be," I replied with a shrug, "we have no way to know unless we get a chance to talk to him again, and I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly eager to meet face-to-face with the guy again anytime soon, even if he is wearing my face," I paused, "...especially if he's still wearing my face."

"And that brings us to this ritual," Twilight said, changing the subject as she turned to face Luna, "whatever it is, you don't need to worry about me. Whatever Salvatore needs to do or go through, I get the feeling we'll both come out of it unharmed, if not entirely unscathed."

"So you're good with whatever crazy magic shit Celestia is cooking up for me?" I asked just to make sure. When Twilight nodded with a scowl of absolute certainty, I tried to breathe out all my misgivings about what would come next and stood up before looking over at Luna with another shrug, "Well... there you go," I said, "she's good with it, I'm good with it. Let's get this show on the road."

And thus, our discussion concluded—at least for the time being. I wanted to know more about what Twilight had found out, but it was clear Luna was getting impatient, and I could always ask Twilight about her discoveries later... assuming I survived whatever this ritual entailed. With no small amount of trepidation, Twilight and I followed Luna out of the cozy study and made our way to the large sealed double doors opposite the elevator room we'd originally come from. We'd left Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow behind, their role apparently having been fulfilled according to Luna.

Now it was just the three of us once again, and I wasn't going to complain about that in the least. The antechamber wasn't all that big, so it didn't take us long to reach our destination. Once we reached the doors, Luna stopped and turned to look me and Twilight in the eye—or that was the impression I got anyway. It was still hard to tell given the mane and no-eyes thing.

"Ahead lies the Chamber of Déaþgedál," she announced before turning slightly to face me directly with a solemn frown, "it is the location in which we will conduct the ritual that will awaken you to your potential as a lesser chaos spirit." She turned away from us both to face the double doors once more and her horn flared to life with a familiar dark blue aura as she continued in a quieter tone, "...And once we're finally free of this wretched nightmare, it will be the final resting place of my dear sister."

The seal etched upon the double doors flared in tandem with Luna's horn and vanished before Twilight or I could respond to the cloaked alicorn's words. Leaving us with that new bombshell to deal with, the former Princess of the Night pushed the doors open and stepped through. The doors themselves swung open not with the loud creak of wood or metal, but instead with the ear-grating sound of stone grinding on stone. Twilight and I exchanged looks as we parsed Luna's final words and the implications behind them.

I had an idea or two of what Luna meant, and if I was right, then frankly, I wasn't surprised. Judging by Twilight's expression, I don't think she was either. Once she realized what Luna was trying to imply, she just looked... sad. Resigned, almost. We both understood what we might find so there was nothing to say, really. Rather than waste any more time, I let out another resigned sigh of my own and followed after Luna. Twilight hesitated a moment but eventually followed after me.

As I entered the room behind Luna and looked around, my first thought was that I'd stepped into a chapel of some sort, but without any pews. The room was relatively small, like most of the places I'd seen thus far, but this one was more rectangular in shape. Its walls were made of the same dark blue stone as everything else in these caverns, but the walls were smoothed out as if sanded down or something.

There were no crystals jutting out of the walls that I could see. Instead, the only light that illuminated the room was six large floor candelabras made of some kind of black metal—three lining each wall along their length and all lit with a bright, golden flame. It gave a weird yellow-green tint to everything in the chamber. And speaking of things in the chamber, there wasn't much to see. What was here caught my attention, though. The Chamber of Something-or-Other was pretty small, so it wasn't hard to make out the stone podium with the cartoonishly massive open book atop it, nor did I have any trouble seeing yet another large spell circle carved into the ground in front of said podium.

Wait, no... not a spell circle, a ritual circle. And it's not carved. It's painted, and I don't think that's actual paint being used...

Doing my best to set that unsettling notion aside for the moment, I opted to focus on the large stone altar at the far end of the long-ish room. The altar was taller than it was wide, allowing me to see past the podium to what was resting atop it. And what did the altar hold?

A bleached skull.

A bleached pony skull.

More specifically, a bleach alicorn skull.

At first, I thought it was a unicorn skull, but that wouldn't have made sense given who was supposed to be waiting for us here. On top of that, the horn jutting out of the skull was too long to be the magical appendage of your average unicorn. The sight was enough to confirm my suspicions about Celestia's true condition, and the brilliant golden flames burning in the eye sockets only cemented my belief that we'd been talking to what pretty much amounted to a ghost this whole time.

"Welcome back, sister, and hello again Salvatore... Twilight."

The familiar voice of the Princess came from everywhere and nowhere at once, bouncing around my head like a catchy tune. It filled the entire chamber, but the origin of the sound was obvious. I winced involuntarily at the unexpected sound and I saw Twilight jump slightly, the sound seemingly snapping her out of her shock and horror at what she was seeing. I couldn't blame her for her reaction. More than the possessed skull itself, it was, once again, the implications of what could've happened to leave Celestia in this state that were the most disturbing to think about.

Well, at least the Princess sounds like she's actually got it together now. For the most part.

"Princess?" Twilight said in a near whisper as she took a tentative step forward, "I don't..." she shook her head in disbelief, her wide eyes glued to the talking skull on the altar, "i-is that... really you?"

When the skull next spoke, I could practically hear the sad smile in its voice as it replied, "I'm afraid so, Twilight. What you see before you is all that remains of me now. All that was left behind. My true self, I suppose..." There was a short pause, then a bitter chuckle. "...Or what little of my true self my sister could scrape together, rather."

"But... but I don't understand," Twilight replied, not finding any of this funny in the slightest, "how did you... what happened to you?"

"And where's that illusion of yours?" I threw in out of curiosity.

"Both very good questions," Celestia's skull replied with another wry chuckle, "to answer Salvatore's question... let's just say I'm putting my public face to good use elsewhere at the moment. As for your question, Twilight... well, that is a bit more complicated to answer and I would rather we focus on the task at hoof."

Twilight looked like she was about to press the issue, distressed as she was, but thankfully Luna stepped in to clear things up somewhat.

"It is not so complicated as my sister claims," she said, frowning at the skull in... admonishment? "We attempted to defend our subjects as they fled into the crystal caverns, fighting off the vile shades as best we could to give our little ponies time to escape, and Celestia sacrificed herself in the process—needlessly, I might add."

"You know full well what would have been at stake had I not acted when I did, sister—and I refuse to have this discussion yet again," Celestia replied, her weary but firm tone cutting off Luna's angry retort, "It does us no good to lament the past. What's done is done, and I would have us look to a better future for what little of our subjects remain."

"And how are our subjects meant to rebuild their future without their guiding light, sister?" Luna shot back with a bitter scowl, "Stars know I am not fit to lead the remnants of our society through the no-doubt turbulent times to come following our victory over this foul darkness. Not now... not like this," She gestured to herself, then shook her head and growled, "I had the means to stem the tide, if for but a few moments longer than you. If you had just let me stay behind—"

"Enough, Luna!" Celestia snapped, her patience clearly wearing thin, "I have faith that my little ponies will weather the storm and rebuild, with or without me. They are fewer—much fewer—but they are strong, even if it doesn't show now. Even if it takes time. Once the Old Night falls, they will overcome this tragedy... I have no doubt."

"I am not so sure, Celestia," Luna admitted softly, the fight in her voice replaced by weary sorrow and resignation, "perhaps, once, I would have agreed with you, but even what remains of the Elements have given in to madness and despair at this point." The alicorn stepped past me and Twilight to stand at the podium where the large open book lay, "But fine, I will speak no more of the matter. You are correct in that there are more important things to discuss right now."

There was a tense moment where Celestia's skull didn't reply and, given she was just a skull, I couldn't tell what she was thinking. I glanced over to Twilight to see the smaller mare eyeing Luna like she wanted to add to the conversation, but she kept her mouth shut. I was pretty sure she knew as well as I did that it wasn't exactly a good time to push things. Thankfully the moment passed quickly and Celestia refocused on what was to come next.

"Now then, Salvatore," she began, addressing me directly, "what we are about to attempt has only been done once before, and while I had my own doubts about this process given how the ritual was used in the past, my sister assures me this is the fastest method to provide you the knowledge necessary to awaken your potential as a lesser chaos spirit."

"The process is not ideal, and the method itself is rather extreme, but it is the best plan we could come up with on such short notice," Luna added as she magically flipped through the pages of that ridiculous tome, "Thankfully, Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow have already helped me make several modifications to the original ritual, so while there is still great risk involved, the ritual itself is much less likely to fail should something go awry."

"And what, pray tell, could go awry?" I couldn't help but ask as I eyed the dark red ritual circle, "And for that matter, how did you get all of this set up so quickly? We only arrived maybe two hours ago—at the most."

"An excellent point, Salvatore," Celestia replied, a wry smile hiding in her voice, "believe it or not, we—or rather, my dear sister—had already planned to do something similar to this long before you arrived."

"It was to be part of an ill-conceived plan to gain insight into Zushakon's weakness," Luna said with a grimace, "I had successfully managed to make the ritual safer, but I... ultimately could not bear the weight of what the ritual required of me."

Luna paused in her skimming of the large tome as she spoke, and I didn't miss the pain in the latter half of Luna's explanation. Like with most potentially uncomfortable topics, I chose not to pry. This time I knew I wouldn't have to because whatever she'd gone through, I'd probably have to go through the same thing. Twilight, on the other hand, heard that same pain and had no such hang-ups about poking her muzzle into Luna's business.

"What kind of weight did you have to bear?" the smaller alicorn asked with boundless sympathy and tactless innocence.

"A weight that I was not nearly prepared enough to take on," Luna replied grimly, "even with Moon Dancer and Cozy Glow's assistance, my mind could not handle the strain, but Salvatore should not have the same limitations."

As Luna spoke, something occurred to me, then, and as I followed my errant train of thought, it finally clicked.

"Wait..." I said slowly, "...this wouldn't happen to be—"

"This is the same ritual the other Twilight Sparkle went through, isn't it?"

Twilight and I figured it out at almost the exact same moment, but she was louder about it as she talked over me so I just let her have the floor. She looked from Luna to the altar where Celestia's skull lay to the bloody ritual circle between the two, her expression this strange mix of horror and fascination. Luna was the one who replied first, barking out a humorless laugh as she answered.

"Finally put the pieces together, did you?" she said with a grim smile, "the foundation of the ritual is the same, but the ritual itself is much changed from what it once was. I made certain of that."

"Changed in what way?" Twilight asked with narrowed eyes.

"With combined help from Moon Dancer, Cozy Glow, my own experiences in the Dreamlands, and the journal and tomes our Twilight left behind, I've cobbled together enough knowledge to modify the ritual," Luna explained, "The primary change is that we no longer require the needed artifact the ritual was originally based around, which reduces much of the risk."

Moon Dancer hadn't really gone into detail about the ritual her little group of cultists performed so I wasn't sure what artifact Luna was talking about. Evidently, she didn't feel like going into detail either because her explanation never mentioned what the artifact in question actually was. Before either Twilight or I could ask for more information, Celestia picked up the conversation from there.

"And on that note, I suppose it is as good a time as any to actually explain what the ritual is and what we require of you, Salvatore," the skull began, "Luna tells me you have a passing familiarity of eldritch lore. Is this true?"

"Uh, yeah you could... say that, I guess," I replied, wary of where the undead princess skull was going with this, "Why?"

"Then can I assume you know of the Unbegotten Source?"

"I know about Ubbo-Sathla, yes, and I'm not sure if I like where this is going," I replied.

And I didn't just mean that as a simple turn of phrase. The moment she mentioned the Unbegotten Source, Luna's warning about me losing myself in the river of time or whatever suddenly made a lot more sense. I was also pretty sure I knew what she was talking about when she mentioned an artifact. The thing was, if Luna and Celestia were attempting what I thought they were going to attempt, I was genuinely conflicted in how I felt about what was coming.

On one hand, I knew the story of Ubbo-Sathla and the fate of the protagonist in that story. Just like Luna's warning, the man essentially drowned himself in the river of time and his existence was pretty much washed away in the current. I honestly thought it was a fascinating way to go, but that didn't mean that's how I wanted to go.

On the other hand, if safety measures were put into place to prevent that from happening to me—and it was sounding like that was the case—then I had to admit a not insignificant part of me was actually kind of excited at the prospect of getting to see that primordial ooze and, more specifically, the eldritch knowledge inscribed on the massive stelae embedded in its gelatinous body.

All that said, I couldn't help but ask, "Are you planning to have me meet Ubbo-Sathla? And if so, what would that have to do with me learning what it means to be lesser chaos spirit? I know the Unbegotten Source is supposed to guard a bunch of ancient knowledge—" I studiously ignored the way Twilight's ears perked up at that "—but what are the odds it'll have the specific info we'll need?"

"Surprisingly in our favor," Luna answered before explaining, "Chaos spirits like Discord are born from, and represent fragments of, the power and influence of the Nuclear Chaos—the root of all true chaos. The nature of the Nuclear Chaos—and by extension, chaos spirits—is said to be unknown and unfathomable to all but a few select beings, and one of those beings—"

"Is this Ubbo-Sathla, I'm guessing," Twilight finished, looking both troubled and intrigued, "So you do plan on having Salvatore meet it somehow."

"And if that's the case, how are you planning to do that without the crystal?" I asked next, dropping any pretense that I might not know what they were planning to do at this point, "From what I understand, the whole process of sending my consciousness into the past depends on that thing—to the point that, originally, that was all you needed to get the job done. No fancy ritual required. Just stare into the oblate spheroid long enough and bam, one-way trip to the beginning of time basically."

"And as my sister mentioned before, the crystal was removed from the equation to minimize such risks as much as possible," Celestia replied, "All that's needed now is the modified ritual circle and Luna's modified incantation. You can think of the process as having paved a clear road you can travel as opposed to wandering aimless and lost in an endless desert."

"It is as Celestia says," Luna replied, her attention once more focused on the giant tome in front of her, "Now, Salvatore, if you will step into the ritual circle, we will begin."

"W-Wait, hold on," Twilight interjected, shifting a worried gaze between Luna and Celestia's luminescent skull, "I still have questions! What's Salvatore actually supposed to do? How does this ritual work? Wh-What am I supposed to do?"

"My sister and I will take care of maintaining the ritual and bringing Salvatore back when the time comes," Celestia replied reassuringly, "All Salvatore need do is sit within the center of the circle and, once the ritual begins, focus on maintaining his sense of self until he arrives at the intended destination. Once there, he will know what needs to be done."

Meaning you have no idea what I'm supposed to do when I get to Ubbo-Sathla, I didn't say but thought very loudly.

"You've no need to do anything, Twilight Sparkle," Luna added, "simply stand by and wait. We don't know if the ritual will affect you through the nascent bond you two share, but I'd rather minimize further risk all the same by having you keep your distance, at least for now."

Twilight looked anything but convinced that any of this was a good idea, and I couldn't blame her, to be honest. There was too much going unsaid here, and it almost seemed like Luna was trying to rush this whole thing along. That said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to get this over with, whatever "this" ended up being. Better to rip the band-aid off and all that, right?

"It's cool, Twilight. We're not gonna get anywhere waffling about unknowns," I said, trying to feign nonchalance as I made my way to the ominous, bloody ritual circle and sat down cross-legged in the empty space left in the middle of all the lines and runic script, "Whatever happens, happens. Best to get it over with, and besides, thanks to a certain someone, I'm used to sitting in ritual circles for ridiculous stretches of time by now. I'll manage."

"That's not the point nor the problem here, Sal!" Twilight snapped, "We're talking about the risk to your very existence! Possibly to my very existence by extension!"

I wanted to argue, but what she said suddenly got me thinking and I paused. What would actually happen to this Equestria if my consciousness got lost in the river of time? Would this universe still explode? I wouldn't technically be dead, I don't think. The protagonist in the Ubbo-Sathla story vanished from existence entirely at the end though, both his mind and body. So... yeah, I had no idea what would happen if this ritual went tits up.

Whatever happens, happens, remember?

I sighed.

"I'll be fine, Twilight," I finally replied with my best reassuring half-smile, "if there's one thing I have, it's a strong sense of self. Just sit tight and wait for me to get back, alright?"

Twilight glared at me for another moment, then at Luna, but seeing that the other mare was busy poring over her precious oversized book and paying her no mind, she eventually let out her own resigned sigh. She turned to look at me one last before moving over to the altar where Celestia's skull sat and planted her flank down with a huff before bitterly muttering, "I might not have to, you know," just loud enough for me to hear.

I know, Twilight. Believe me. I know.

Author's Note

Actually had to cut this one short and continue the rest in the next chapter. It'll take a bit of time, but the next chapter I post on the site will be the next chapter of this story, since I'm already about 1,000+ words in.

Equus IV – Fare Thee Well, O Placid Island of Ignorance...

I didn't have the heart to tell Twilight that I was kind of hoping she was right. I wouldn't have minded some company on this insane journey through time. Rather than dwell on that thought, I started to do what Celestia instructed and closed my eyes as I tried to focus on maintaining my self-awareness. I have no way to describe what that actually entailed, or even knew if I was doing it right, but the ritual commenced regardless.

I could tell because I heard Luna start to incant, and the words coming out of her mouth made me all kinds of uncomfortable. I didn't know how I knew, but I knew those words weren't English or Ponish. Maybe it was because there was this weird musical lilt to her voice as she spoke or maybe it was because I'd been expecting it, but, unlike when I was listening to Moon Dancer's story, I was fully aware that this was that same eldritch speak.

Then came the familiar hum of magic being cast—yet another musical sound that quickly ramped up in volume and turned into an eerie aethereal howl that drowned out Luna's arcane words. The sound grew louder and louder and it took every bit of self-control I had to concentrate on my sense of self and not open my eyes and look at what was going on. Somewhere in all the noise, I thought I could hear Twilight screaming something, but before I could really register what it was, there was a strange tugging sensation in my everything.

It happened once.

Then twice more.

And then I was quite literally and violently yanked into a kaleidoscopic nightmare of thoughts, memories, and experiences that were very much not my own. For a long, terrifying moment that seemed to stretch on for eons, Salvatore completely ceased to exist. There was no Salvatore. There was only a screaming alicorn, and then a horrifyingly familiar abomination of flesh and shadow, and then some pony cultist, and then a griffon geezer, and then—

Salvatore!

SALVATORE!!!

And then... Twilight?

And then, just like that, everything snapped back into place.

I was still caught in a nightmarish cosmic spiral of shifting existences, but now I was... detached from it all somehow. In actuality, it didn't feel all that different from when Twilight delved way too deep into my memories that one time. And speaking of Twilight...

That was her, right? That voice...?

I tried to speak—to call out to Twilight, or anyone, really—but I couldn't find the words. I had no voice with which to call out. I tried to move some part of my body, but that, too, was missing. I was pretty sure what I was seeing wasn't due to my own eyesight either. Everything was just.. one big roiling mass of thoughts, experiences, and emotions, and I was just along for the ride, unable to stop or even partially control any of what I was going through.

After trying to make sense of my current state of existence for what felt like a good minute or so, I eventually gave up. I was aware of the fact that I was aware, and that would have to be enough for now. I had the vague sense I was moving in a certain direction, so I focused on that. The moment I did, everything around me seemed to smooth out in a way I couldn't really describe. The swirling chaos of abstract sensations grew more... coherent? Stable? I don't know. It just felt like there was a clear path forward, just like Celestia had alluded to.

Now that the surrounding madness had been reduced to a dull roar I could focus on what was actually happening around me. I stretched my new abstract senses out, seemingly without even thinking about it, and what I felt and saw would've left me speechless even if I could talk. I could see it all—the entirety of this Equestria's timeline laid out before me like some kind of temporal map of events. Granted, it was a map that constantly shifted from one event to another, but I could still see it all.

Holyshitholyshitholyfuck... What the actual fuck am I looking at right now?!

If I still had a heart it would've been beating out of my chest right at that moment. I was detached from the madness of my surroundings, yet the shock was still visceral and overwhelming. I somehow understood how to navigate this... whatever the hell this place was, to the point that I could hop from one existence to another to live out some rando's entire life in a mere instant if I wanted to.

And yet, I couldn't make heads or tails of how I knew what I knew or even how to explain it. What's more, holding on to any one existence was impossible. The memories came and went like fleeting dreams lost within the subconscious mind. The idea of and attempts at remembering so many lives was so daunting anyway that I just stopped trying after the first few millennia. I was so overwhelmed that another thousand years or so passed me by before I realized that I was pretty much omniscient.

I was every single sentient and sapient creature that ever lived on this rock and yet I was also a distant observer watching from afar as history continued to reverse course all the way back to the beginning. I could see it all, but I couldn't control any of it. All I could do was watch, and watch I did. The experience should've been way too much for my simple human brain to handle—and in a way, it almost was—but my brain wasn't entirely human anymore.

I was freaking out, but not so much that I'd lost all reason. In fact, as more and more ages passed in mere moments, I started to get used to the sights and sensations of flying backward through this Equestria's time stream. As I gradually calmed down, I tried to reach out to Twilight again but got no response. If I focused all my attention inward, though, I could feel her presence somewhere nearby. I could almost feel her watching me, like her eyes were burning a hole through the back of my head.

It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling, but not unwelcome. The fact that Twilight was with me in spirit if not in body did wonders to ease most of the tension. There was still trepidation, but it started to take a backseat to the twisted mix of numb shock and utter fascination I felt as I continuously tried and failed to process the ludicrous situation I was in. I couldn't help but think back to when I was just a lowly customer service rep in a shitty call center.

No ambitions, little cash, failing eyesight, dead-end job... oh, and let's not forget the debt piled up from unpaid payday loans. That was me. Just some sap coasting through life, content with the status quo and his probably shitty lot in life, looking back. It was what it was... until Discord ripped all that away from me. Discord. A fictional character from a multimedia franchise meant to entertain and educate children.

Yeah, I know how things turned out, but that fanbase was entirely unintended. Point is, the fact that this was really happening should've been so far outside the realm of possibility that it didn't even warrant thinking about. Fanfiction was nice. Fun. HiE stories were fun to read from time to time, but that's all they were supposed to be. I wasn't supposed to be whisked away from Earth in the literal blink of an eye to die a pathetic death in a world that was supposed to be a fictional land of friendship and harmony and tolerance and whatever other happy horseshit Equestria was made of.

But Discord hadn't given a shit about what was and wasn't supposed to be. He'd just plucked me from my boring life and killed me by proxy. Intentionally. I hadn't really given it much thought since the incident in the ship—which already felt like ages ago by now—but Discord had intentionally killed me. It didn't matter if he knew I'd come back, that was still fucked up no matter how you looked at it.

I'd certainly gotten the short end of the stick, winding up in a nightmare made real, where I died. And then I died again... and again... and again. Knowing my luck and sheer incompetence, I'd probably continue to die many more times in the not-so-distant future, whether by bad luck or stupidity or both, only time would tell. And that brought me back to my current predicament—the latest in a growing list of unbelievable events I'm being dragged into.

From a half-blind desk jockey to an intangible mass of thought hurtling backward through the time stream of an alien world to steal knowledge from a primal eldritch deity. It wasn't how I saw my life going, but as horrifying as everything had been up to this point, and as much as I wanted to complain about it all, in this moment, I couldn't help the bit of child-like wonder that washed over me as I watched thousands of years pass in an instant.

Though I couldn't hold on to the memories of the lives I invaded, I was certain I'd never forget this experience as a whole. It freaked me out at first and for a good while after, but now I was captivated—enthralled even. Thousands of years quickly became tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions. I watched civilization grow more and more primitive as time rewound. I watched the intelligent races of the world devolve further and further into their mindless ancestors.

I watched the land change drastically. I witnessed the weather grow more savage, the terrain become more unstable, and the atmosphere itself grow more uninhabitable. Beasts that once roamed the land crawled back into the primordial oceans of a still-forming Equus.

And then I saw it.

It was only for a moment, but I saw a glimpse of what I knew in my currently non-existent bones was the Old Night. I caught sight of it just as it cursed the blazing sun above and burrowed its way into the still-cooling crust of the earth below to begin its long, death-like slumber deep below what would eventually become Equestria. It wasn't long after that horrifying sight that my journey through the annals of history came to an abrupt end, and the end of that journey wasn't anything like I was expecting.

I'd wondered how my meeting with Ubbo-Sathla would go. I'd thought about it more than once during my temporal road trip but hadn't come up with any concrete ideas of how it would go. Maybe it was because I'd had the privilege of lucidity during my experience. Maybe it was because I was too distracted by what was going on around me and I was simply caught off guard. Whatever the reason, I hadn't expected everything to suddenly go all dream-like and hazy.

I was still lucid, but my head felt heavy and it was like I was trying to think through a thick fog in my mind. I mean, I didn't have a head at that moment per se, but still, the feeling was there regardless. It truly was like I was in a lucid dream where I could still think and had some control over my actions, but I had to focus really, really hard to do either. If that wasn't bad enough, I had to deal with the bubbling mass of writhing ooze directly in front of me.

Ubbo-Sathla... was bigger than I expected.

Way, way bigger.

It was so big that I couldn't get a proper read on the scale of it and could only guess that its viscous, writhing bulk had to be a mile wide in diameter at least. The thing sat in a massive lake of its own vile primordial ooze and even without a nose I could just tell that the giant tub of cosmic jelly reeked like nothing else ever had or would again. The moment I regained most of my bearings and laid my metaphysical eyes on the disgusting deity all the child-like wonder I'd felt earlier went right out the window, replaced by horrified fascination and a weird sense of reverence.

I had come face to face with a literal god right out of the mythos. It was something I'd secretly always kind of hoped would happen despite knowing it never would. Now that it was happening, I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. It wasn't because I was terrified for my life or anything, but rather it was the sheer sense of wrongness I felt. The instinctual revulsion. I hadn't expected the feeling to be so strong considering what I was turning into, and yet I couldn't help it.

The strange urge I felt to venerate the thing didn't help matters. I wanted out as soon as possible and, remembering what I'd come here for in the first place, I pulled my gaze away from the Unbegotten Source as a whole and focused on looking for the giant inscribed stelae that were supposed to be lodged in its titanic glutinous form.

That was when I noticed what I initially thought was slime oozing off of the creature's body and splashing into the ooze. Upon closer inspection, I realized it wasn't slime. There were small, wriggling things being squeezed out of the larger writhing, wobbling mass at a constant rate, and as those things continued to drop into the lake of ooze, I could see them crawling out of the lake, only to burn and boil to death once they reached the still partially molten rock at the lake's edge.

The planet's crust was still forming, but that didn't stop Ubbo-Sathla's hideous spawn from making their way to shore. The whole thing was incredibly unsettling and I would've shuddered if I wasn't just a roaming ball of consciousness. Needless to say, I returned my attention back to the task at hand and kept searching for the monuments that promised hidden knowledge.

It didn't take long to find them as though the stone slabs weren't that big, that was only relative to the massive bulk of the amorphous blob that was Ubbo-Sathla. That, and despite Ubbo-Sathla's constant twisting, twitching, and squirming, the stelae didn't move all that much from where they stuck out. And once I'd found them... I couldn't look away. I looked from one to the other and somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that I couldn't tell how many slabs there were.

One moment, there seemed to be a countless number of them and I marveled at how I'd missed them at all to begin with but then I looked again and though I knew there were multiple stelae, it felt like I was looking at just one big stone slab. I noticed the unnerving shift in perspective. I acknowledged it, accepted that it was weird and off-putting, and I moved on. That wasn't what mattered to me at that moment. No, what mattered was what was engraved on the face of each stone slab.

Well fuck me... it actually makes sense... kind of...

And it did.

I didn't know how or why just yet, but I could, at least in part, understand the meaning behind the... well, it wasn't text exactly—not in the way I would've normally understood if I was still fully human. I'm not sure how to explain exactly what was inscribed on the stelae, but suffice it to say, I was able to derive meaning from what was there, even if only somewhat. A bunch of things suddenly clicked into place, cosmically speaking, just as was probably intended.

And, just as intended, I understood more about what I was becoming, among other unrelated secrets I didn't currently have the words to describe. Well, more like words weren't enough to describe the knowledge. I couldn't glean everything I needed to know, but it was a hell of a lot more than I had to go on before. Gaining the knowledge itself was a strange experience. It was sort of like I was being shown an image that triggered a memory or idea that I'd long since forgotten and once I remembered it, the memory stuck.

There was more to it than that, a lot more, but that was the gist of what it was like to read the giant stone slabs. I knew now that, though Ubbo-Sathla looked like a mindless mass of slime from outer space, it was intelligent to a degree that honestly frightened me. It had known full well I was there and that I would arrive even before Luna enacted the ritual, and apparently it was cool with the whole thing.

For an ancient eldritch god that can drive someone mad with a glance, Ubbo-Sathla's pretty chill... who knew?

...Still smells bad though.

It didn't speak, sure, but it didn't need to. It was less about words and more about concepts and meaning and intent and a bunch of other abstract things that didn't fully make sense to me even now. I caught something about aligned angles and a child of nuclear chaos returned to the fold, which was a bit worrying. The "nuclear chaos" bit was a stretch but, again, didn't have the proper words for a direct translation.

I'd been surprised when Ubbo-Sathla spoke to me, not having been prepared for a conversation with the Matriarch of All Monstrosities. I was even more surprised when Twilight's presence, which I'd completely forgotten about until now, suddenly vanished. I was confused at what was happening at first, but quickly realized she'd disappeared and how that couldn't possibly be a good thing. That sentiment was only strengthened when everything around me started to flicker and distort like I was in some glitched-out simulation.

Around that time I felt a familiar tugging sensation, but unlike when I was pulled into the time stream, this sensation was weak. It happened only once more before the tugging stopped altogether. Even worse, I was starting to rapidly lose my lucidity, and the fog in my mind was growing stronger by the second. That was when the panic really set in, but before I could get too worked up, the mass of squirming slime before me suddenly reached a giant, viscous tendril out and—

And then I was flying forward through time at a speed incomparable to my first trip through history. This time I had no control whatsoever. Whatever had happened, it was clear this was no leisurely stroll through the time steam. This was an evacuation. Something had happened, and Ubbo-Sathla, presumably realizing that, had done something to send me back to where my body was still hopefully sitting in the ritual circle.

I barely had any time to worry about what I'd find upon returning when my consciousness slammed back into my waiting body with the force of a bullet train. The shock of it sent me reeling and I felt my back hit the cold hard stone beneath me as I cursed out loud in surprise. Disoriented by the sudden shift from incorporeal mass of thought to physical body, it took me a few seconds to recover, but not much more than that.

Not sure if it was the panic or simply a matter of how my mind was altered by what I'd learned, but I was able to regain my footing far faster than I was probably meant to. I quickly sat up from where I lay and scanned the chamber, noticing several things very wrong with the situation in quick succession. The first thing I noticed was the altar where Celestia's skull was supposed to be. It was still there, but the bleached alicorn cranium had been entirely caved in, the golden flames in its eye sockets nowhere to be seen.

"What... the f—"

My shocked exclamation was cut off by a wet gurgling sound coming from somewhere behind me. I turned and saw the second thing I noticed. The comically large tome that had been sitting atop the podium was now lying open and face down on the ground, its cover splattered with blood so dark in hue it was almost black. The origin of the blood liberally painting the book, the podium, and the floor around both was obvious; it belonged to the midnight blue alicorn lying next to the book and had been spilled courtesy of the open gash in the mare's neck.

Luna was clearly still alive if the noises she was making were any indication. I stared at the mare, finding myself more dumbfounded than anything else. The fleeting question of how she was still alive flashed through my mind briefly, but then I noticed something else I hadn't before. The flesh around Luna's neck was gradually knitting itself together even as I watched. It was a slow process, but the bleeding had evidently already stopped. Still, Luna didn't rise to her hooves for whatever reason. Our eyes met then, and I was caught a bit off guard by what I saw.

Rather than the agony or desperation I expected, I only saw rage, resolution, and a hint of relief as she laid her eyes on me. Before I could gather my thoughts on just what the hell had happened here, Luna's horn lit up and a weak but furious voice rang through my mind.

"Salvatore... must hurry... treacherous madmare... caught by surprise... couldn't break the ritual... killed my sister... took Twilight... I... will be fine... be right behind you, but... you must go... hasn't gotten far... get her back... get... her back... Salvatore..."

The telepathic spell appeared to be all Luna had left in her, as the alicorn eyes rolled up and she passed out the moment the spell ended. A pit opened up in my stomach as I looked around the chamber and realized the stone double doors were wide open and Twilight was nowhere to be seen. She'd been with me when I was traveling through time, so it wasn't a stretch to imagine that she might've been in a similarly vulnerable state during the ritual.

The question of why I alone was spared lingered in the back of my mind. There was also the innate understanding that I'd changed physically in some way, though I wouldn't know how until I looked in a mirror or something. Still, all of that was shoved aside as I scrambled to my feet and made my way to the open doorway. I had no idea what was going on or who had taken Twilight or why, but I wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone else to do something about it. Not this time.

This time I had the knowledge to go with my newfound power, and I would make liberal use of that power if it meant getting Twilight back. I didn't what would happen if she died while I was still alive—assuming the ultimate goal of whoever kidnapped Twilight was to kill her—but I didn't plan on finding out. I was still just a fledgling chaos spirit with fledgling chaos spirit magic and I didn't know all the ins and outs, but I knew some stuff and that stuff would have to be enough for now.

Guess it's time to see what the Salvatore brand of chaos looks like...

Author's Note

Alright, in the interest of not having such a horrible cliffhanger linger for too long, I've decided to write one more chapter of this story before I move on to the next story down the line, so rejoice, I guess.

Equus IV – We Cannot Live in a World of Chaos... or Can We?

Alright, so important thing I learned from Ubbo-Sathla—or, Ubbo-Sathla's giant stone slabs anyway.

Turns out, chaos spirits aren't all that common in the multiverse, even the Lesser variants. Well, okay, that's not entirely true. Within the cosmic scale of the infinite multiverse, there's an infinite number of them, but they're a rare breed within most universes they reside in. In this universe alone, there are maybe six or seven, and most of them are hanging out at the center of the universe with Azathoth.

Hell, one of those was Discord, and he fucked off to another Equestria in another universe after sneaking out of the Daemon Sultan's domain. Again. That said, not all chaos spirits are the same type of entity, and not all are made equal. In fact, most are wildly different and come about through wildly different circumstances—though my particular circumstances are a surprisingly common occurrence, apparently. Humans and other humanoid races becoming chaos spirits, I mean.

If I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say about 30% of chaos spirits are born from other races rather than natural formation through coalescence of free-floating chaotic energy. The rest are formed through the coalescence of that chaotic energy, but some rare exceptions exist. Discord is one of those rare exceptions in that it was directly formed from the Nuclear Chaos that is Azathoth specifically to entertain the Daemon Sultan as part of its twisted court of dancing, flute-playing tentacular horrors.

Basically, the draconequus was a jester made to entertain an eternally sleeping god. At least, this Discord was. Not sure about those in other universes or the one that started me on this fucked up journey through the multiverse. Other than that, you don't see too many chaos spirits gathered in one place too often outside of Azathoth's court or places like the Immaterium, and for good reason. The 40k universe is a pretty good example of what happens when multiple powerful chaos spirits are allowed to exert their influence unchecked.

I'm kind of flexing some of the knowledge I gained during my little jaunt through time here, but there is a point to this explanation. That point being that each chaos spirit has its own unique brand of chaos magic based on a few different factors. Most of the time, the chaos magic that manifests depends on the concept the chaos spirit resonates with the most. There are a few other minor factors like intent and overall personality, but it's mostly about concept resonance.

Taking Discord as an example once more, he was purpose-built to be a big eldritch clown and thus, the nature of his chaos magic is "whimsy". It doesn't have to be just one concept, either. You could say that the nature of Kefka's chaos magic is "nihilism" and "madness" or it could be interpreted as "destruction" and "despair" (and yes, evidently Kefka's god form is that of a chaos spirit—specifically a chaos lord).

Or you could say the Tzeentch's chaos magic embodies the concepts of "manipulation" and "change", the latter of which could also be shared by Discord. By now, I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this and why I was so excited despite my worry for Twilight and confusion about what was happening. Now that I was a budding young chaos spirit, I, too, had a concept I would resonate with and a chaotic nature to discover. I wasn't sure what it would be yet, and the flashlight I'd conjured wasn't really an indication of anything.

That was more intent and desperation along with my human sensibilities and a lack of knowledge than anything else. Now my chaotic instincts had more or less awakened, and any chaos magic I did would display my chaotic nature prominently. I wouldn't know what it was exactly until I actually attempted to cast a spell, but I couldn't wait to find out. This excitement was, naturally, tempered by current circumstances.

I wanted to get Twilight back from whoever took her, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to using my own personal chaos magic to do it now that I knew what I was doing, for the most part. I was so eager that I almost attempted to try and teleport out of the ritual chamber rather than simply exit through the doorway. A few things stopped me from going for it. The main thing was that a gut feeling told me I wasn't powerful enough to do that just yet—at least not farther than maybe three meters or so.

The other thing was that I was fairly sure it wasn't a good idea to just teleport without knowing where you were going. The last factor was that, as I made it back to the antechamber, I found yet another familiar pony sprawled across the floor near the entrance to the elevator room. Having a gesture like snapping one's fingers wasn't strictly necessary to activate a chaos magic spell, but it did help a bit as a focus.

This was especially true when starting out as a lesser chaos spirit and I saw no reason to make things harder for myself at the moment. So, following along with what was easier for now, I clenched a fist and agitated a bit of my weirdly sluggish chaotic energy. It took a second, but the energy finally stirred and when it did, it was nothing like the balloon-popping sensation from when I first tried to cast a spell.

That was weird, but this sensation was just... hard to describe. Well, how I felt about it was hard to describe, anyway. When I channeled my chaos magic this time, it felt like thousands of tiny, ice-cold tendrils were stretching out of my body from some kind of central core within me and pulling at the world around me. No, not at the world, but rather the cosmic fabric that made up the world—the underpinnings of reality.

Definitely something I'd have to get used to going forward, but I couldn't say I was disappointed with the results. I'd wanted to try teleporting the short distance between the ritual chamber and the door to the elevator room, and teleport I did. When the spell activated, there was a brief sound like thousands of frantic whispering voices in my ear before the world ripped itself open around me, and I suddenly found myself at my intended destination near the elevator room.

For a moment I just stood there, staring blankly at the door before me as I tried to process what I'd just done. I wasn't a fan of the cold sensation that washed over me, but neither was it entirely unpleasant. The "aftertaste" of using the magic was a bit like taking a good long drink of ice-cold water after walking around outside under the Arizona sun in peak summer weather for three hours. Eventually, I turned to look at where I'd been standing before and saw... nothing. No sign that I'd just torn the world open only a few seconds ago.

Well, that's a relief. For a second I thought I broke something fundamental. Not gonna think too hard about the whispers. Pretty sure that's a normal chaos magic thing.

Probably.

Now that I'd successfully cast my first true chaos magic spell—not counting the flashlight incident—I found I was... not as ecstatic as I thought I'd be. I was satisfied with the outcome, sure, and I definitely recognized how awesome it was that I had the power of the cosmos in the palm of my hand, if to an extremely limited degree for now, but I wasn't exactly jumping for joy at the prospect either. Maybe it was another effect of how my mind worked now. Maybe my journey through time and the sight of Ubbo-Sathla had numbed me somewhat to the experience. Maybe, I was just getting used to the insanity that was my life now.

Maybe it was the fact that Twilight had been kidnapped, and I was more worried about that than anything else. In any case, I wasn't complaining. I had shit to do and couldn't afford to get all starry-eyed at my newfound power. What did bug me, though, was the fact that I couldn't get a proper read on the nature of my chaos magic—not with just that one spell, at any rate. I thought it would just click, but it didn't. Still, I had a few ideas about the nature and concept based on what happened, but nothing concrete yet.

There was also my sluggish chaos energy. What should have been instantaneous took about half a second which, granted isn't really slow but, now that I was much more in tune with my chaos energy it was extremely noticeable—like a minor itch in the back of my mind. That I could just chalk up to my still partially human body getting used to moving chaos energy around within it.

But then I thought about the re-deployable chaos nuke Discord had sealed inside me. It was still there, and I still had no way of dealing with it. Sure I knew more about what it was, but that didn't mean I knew everything about what the draconequus had done. Even if I did, Discord was a chaos lord. A good three or so spirit ranks above me, who wasn't even a proper lesser chaos spirit yet. Maybe Twilight could still do something, but I didn't have the finesse or power to just outright remove the thing right now.

I shook my head and decided not to worry too much about it for now. Instead, I looked down at the cloaked pony lying beside me, blinked, then frowned as I got a better look at who it was.

"Cozy Glow?"

It was indeed the filly who lay before me, looking very much like a broken doll. I knelt to get a better look and confirmed that she wasn't bleeding, but the cloak had shifted to reveal limbs bent in ways I didn't think they were supposed to bend. Her scarlet eyes were glazed and unseeing, and I was honestly ready to write the filly off as dead. That was until those eyes suddenly snapped over to look directly at me.

"Jesus fuck!" I cried, scrambling back a bit in shock, "You're alive?!"

In response, Cozy Glow's broken limbs started snapping back in place. It wasn't long before she was rising back to her hooves again as she replied in a familiar eerie monotone, "Debatable, but not important. I've received my orders from Lady Luna and there is no time to waste on lengthy explanations."

"But you'll give me some kind of explanation, right?" I asked as I watched the filly briskly make her way over to the massive dormant spell circle in the middle of the antechamber, "like maybe who took Twilight, and where they went? I don't know anything about the layout of this place. And where's Moon... Dancer... oh..." I paused as the realization hit me, "Oh shit... did she—"

"A traitor and an accomplice, but not the primary culprit," Cozy Glow replied mechanically as she stopped at the center of the spell circle and turned to face me, "Come, Salvatore, I have been granted the authority to move you as close as possible to where Twilight has likely been taken."

I frowned, but did as she said even as I asked, "Okay, sure, but why did Moon Dancer just up and decide to help nab Twilight? And who was the actual culprit if not her?"

"I'm unsure of how she was able to break into this place, but it was Pinkamena who was ultimately responsible for incapacitating me, assaulting my Lady, and dispersing the last remnants of the fallen Sun Princess."

My brows rose at the reveal, "Seriously? Pinkie? Well... that... actually makes a bit of sense I guess. If anyone was gonna make it down here and go psycho killer and kidnap Twilight, it would be her. A bit obvious actually, but at least I know who to look for."

Cozy Glow nodded once before speaking again, "As for the answer to your other question, I can't say for sure why Moon Dancer chose to aid Pinkamena rather than defend our Lady. My only guess for why either of them acted the way they did is due to their lingering feelings about how things ended with our Equestria's Twilight."

"Of course, it would be like that. Pinkie I could understand, but Moon Dancer?" I shook my head in disappointment, "Guess it doesn't matter. What's next? Where do I need to go?"

"This is an emergency exit of sorts that leads to most areas within the Crystal Caverns," Cozy Glow explained as she gestured to the inactive spell circle beneath us with a hoof, "I will use it to send you to the audience chamber. It's likely there that you will find Moon Dancer, Pinkamena, and Twilight Sparkle."

Ah... so that's Pinkie's game. A public execution of the mare that destroyed the world.

"Fuck, how did she even find out Twilight was here? Did Moon Dancer rat her out?" I asked before remembering something, "Or, no, wait, was it Sombra?"

"I'm not sure," Cozy Glow replied with a shake of her head, "but if I had to guess, I would say the latter. Sombra has eyes and ears all over the Crystal Cavern. It's what allows him to defend us so effectively but he is, at his core, still the villain he always was so it stands to reason that he would cause so much trouble when given the chance. An oversight on my Lady's part I'm afraid."

Yeah, no kidding. Also, you weren't exactly a saint yourself from what I remember.

Then again, Cozy Glow wasn't the one who betrayed Luna and helped kidnap Twilight so what did I know?

It was around that time that I felt... something. I stumbled slightly and clutched a hand to my chest as I was suddenly bombarded by the sensation of being yanked forward. It was kind of like when my consciousness was yanked into the time stream, but at the same time it was a completely different sensation. Rather than my mind being tugged at, the pulling sensation came from...

From that weird core of chaos energy inside me...? What the fuck was that all about?

"Is something wrong, Salvatore?"

I refocused my attention back on Cozy Glow to see her giving me a strange look. I grimaced, trying to decide whether or not I should say anything. The feeling had been strange and intense, but fleeting, lasting no more than half a heartbeat at most.

"Not sure," I eventually replied, "Just... felt something weird. Don't really know how to explain it, but the feeling's gone now."

Cozy Glow eyed me for another moment, her previously blank expression growing oddly pensive as she gave a noncommittal hum. For a second, I thought she might've known what I was talking about and was about to elaborate, but instead, she just shook her head and returned her attention to the large spell circle, her face once more a blank slate.

"Maybe something to look into later, but enough talk for now," Cozy Glow finally replied, "time is a luxury we don't have so I'm activating the array. Once you arrive, the path should be relatively straightforward and given how the ritual affected Twilight, I'm certain you'll have no issues tracking her down even if it turns out they aren't in the audience chamber."

"Wait what?" I couldn't help but bark out, "How did the ritual affect her? And for that matter how are you able to—"

I didn't get the chance to finish my hasty questions before Cozy Glow suddenly stomped a hoof down on the giant spell circle and sent me flashing away in a bright, pale blue beam of light as the circle sprang to life.

All of Twilight's senses flared back to life at once and her eyes snapped open as her body registered the pain blossoming from the sudden and vicious blow to her stomach.

She tried to gasp or cry out in pain, but the air to do either couldn't reach her lungs. Her mind was kicked into overdrive even as the bewildered and disoriented alicorn struggled desperately to catch her breath. The tumultuous thoughts and memories that came flooding into Twilight's mind upon her sudden wake-up call were enough to block out the pain of yet another blow, this one to the side of her face just below the temple. She didn't even register getting enough air to finally cry out as she mentally cataloged the events that had just transpired what felt like only moments ago.

One moment, she'd been watching from the sidelines with more than a little trepidation as Salvatore sat in the center of the ritual circle and Luna began her, frankly disturbing, incantation. Then the air—no, the ambient magic in the air—had started to howl, almost as if it were a sentient being crying out in pain or anger. The ritual circle began to glow a deep red, and the glow only got brighter and brighter as Luna's incantations grew in volume and intensity.

Twilight, who'd gotten a very, very bad feeling about the whole thing, saw that the golden flames in the eye sockets of Celestia's skull had shifted to the same deep red as the blinding light from the ritual circle. The newly minted alicorn hadn't known what to expect or what was going on, but she'd felt compelled to call out to Salvatore, maybe give some kind of warning. That's when she felt her consciousness tear itself from her own body to follow Salvatore's into the past.

She had no control. No time. No chance to prepare herself for what was to come. The process was almost instantaneous and before she could understand what was going on, she was nothing more than an unwilling passenger—an observer watching as Salvatore's consciousness was nearly swallowed up by the relentless river of time. Panicking and desperate once she realized what was happening, Twilight had tried to call out to Salvatore, to stop his existence from being washed away.

To her surprise and immense relief, it had worked. She watched as Salvatore's consciousness stabilized and could feel the moment he regained control of himself. She'd tried calling out to him again, to let him know she was here with him, and she could sense him trying to do the same, but now that Salvatore had come to his senses, it appeared he could no longer hear her voice—if he ever actually could to begin with.

For all Twilight knew, he could have coincidentally come to his senses on his own. She didn't know, but one thing was aware of was the turmoil Sal was feeling as their minds traveled the time stream. Twilight herself was reeling from the experience but kept most of her focus on Salvatore. After all, if his consciousness were to unravel again, they could both cease to exist. Thankfully, the trip had gotten easier to bear as it went on, and even if he couldn't hear her, Salvatore had eventually become aware of her presence.

Twilight wasn't entirely sure how her mind was able to handle the rapid influx of historical knowledge, but she'd chosen to chalk it up to a couple of factors. One was that she was simply a passenger clinging on to Salvatore's consciousness, who was likely taking the brunt of the mental strain. The other was that—much to her frustration—her mind didn't seem to allow her to retain most of the history she saw and experienced alongside her partially human companion. She'd managed to hold onto a bit of the knowledge, but not nearly enough to satisfy her.

And then, before either of them knew it, Twilight and Salvatore had arrived at their destination—at the very birth of the Equestria they'd landed in. It was here that Twilight saw a creature whose size, presence, and very nature defied common sense. The weight of its presence alone was enough to press down on Twilight's consciousness, making it much harder to think, but she fought the pressure regardless.

Twilight didn't have the burgeoning eldritch mentality of a chaotic spirit like Salvatore, but it appeared her enigmatic connection to him afforded some protection from the mental strain of being within Ubbo-Sathla's immediate presence. It was a struggle, but the mare persevered. She had to. She hadn't expected to follow Salvatore to the end—or beginning as it were—but Twilight would be damned if she let this opportunity slip through her hooves.

And so, mustering every bit of mental fortitude she could bring to bear in her metaphysical state, she looked upon the primordial deity. Her gaze scoured the towering amorphous horror until she found it, or rather, them. The stelae. The giant stone slabs upon which the forbidden and occult secrets of the cosmos were inscribed. Twilight saw them, read them, drank them in... and her mind nearly shattered in the process. Had it not been for her ties to Salvatore, Twilight knew she may very well have succumbed to true madness, but as things were, she managed to hold on, albeit just barely.

She absorbed as much eldritch knowledge as she could, willing herself to understand and taking advantage of her connection with Salvatore to compensate for her lacking mental strength. She leaned heavily on that bond, pulled on it for all she was worth just for a chance to comprehend. To know. She needed to know. Whatever she did manage to learn wasn't enough. It was never enough. She wanted more. More knowledge. More understanding. More. More. More. More. More. More—

And then her world went black.

And the next Twilight knew, she was being brutally pummeled from all sides by unknown assailants. The sudden attack drove long-discarded memories of her brother's barrier magic training drills to the forefront of Twilight's mind and she attempted to cast an expanding barrier to push her attackers away and gain some semblance of control over the painful and confusing situation... but the magic wouldn't come.

Try as she might to cast any kind of spell, the mana in her channels wouldn't budge an inch. After a few desperate attempts, all Twilight could do was curl up defensively and weather the endless blows to her limbs, ribs, and back as she tried to make sense of what was going on. Now that she was paying attention, she could hear the countless furious shouts and cries and jeers and curses of what she assumed were ponies all around her. She could hear them taunting her, cursing her name, crying out for her blood, and a cold realization washed over Twilight.

She'd been discovered.

She wasn't sure how or when or why, but somepony beyond the small circle who'd already known she was here had found out about her existence and had, while she'd been unconscious, dragged her before an angry mob to be beaten—likely to death. She was going to die for the sins of her alternate self, and she was helpless to do anything about it. Again. Again. Again she was a victim. Again she'd been dragged into a desperate situation she had no control over. Again her magic had been sealed. Again!

Panic and confusion had turned to horrified realization, but now that realization was quickly turning into anger. Anger at the helplessness. Anger at the injustice. Anger at having lost access to her magic yet again due to forces beyond her understanding or control. The pain of her assault grew more and more distant as Twilight sunk deeper into herself. Deeper into her rage. She didn't have to take this. Not anymore. Twilight had managed to glean much from her transcendental trip through time, and now she had options.

She need not solely rely on her own innate magic.

No, instead, she reached out and found it—that ethereal thread connecting her to Salvatore, binding her magic to his and his to hers. She felt how that paper-thin thread that tied their existences together had become as strong as arcane steel. Twilight wasn't sure if Salvatore himself knew or felt how strong their bond had become, but she certainly did, and with the knowledge she'd gained from enduring against true madness, Twilight grabbed hold of that thread and pulled.

"F-Fuck... off!"

A moment passed where the word seemed to hold its breath, then the earth shuddered. An instant later the ground around Twilight exploded in a mass of thick ethereal magenta tentacles that whipped around the brutalized alicorn in a wide and violent arc. Furious screams and curses turned to shocked, horrified, and agonized cries as Twilight's attackers were sent flying in all directions with enough force and speed that those who hit the surrounding walls didn't get back up.

Free of raining blows and bursting with rage and adrenaline, Twilight wasted no time. Bruised, battered, bleeding, and breathing like overworked bellows, the mare righted herself and, with a pained wince, slowly rose to her hooves. With one eye swollen shut, wings bent out of shape and missing feathers, and a glare that could melt ice, she mustered the strength to raise her head and scan her surroundings.

The cavern was large. Larger and emptier than what she'd seen so far—at least where the decor was concerned. All around the mare, keeping a good distance away with eyes full of fear and hate were ponies. Unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi—even a few crystal ponies here and there. Some were sprawled across or writhing on the ground, their pained moans and broken limbs a clear indication of what Twilight had done in her fit of anger.

Others, those further away near the dark blue cavern walls, simply lay broken and unmoving upon the cold stone beneath them. The rest, those who hadn't been close enough to get caught up in Twilight's counter-assault, were unharmed but gave Twilight a wide berth. The giant luminescent tentacles that had sprung out of the ground to protect the alicorn hadn't disappeared.

They lazily writhed about Twilight in a perfect circle, an obvious threat for anypony who hadn't had enough. Deciding she'd made her point, Twilight dismissed the tentacles with a thought and they sunk back into the ground, which closed up as if the monstrous things had never been. Save for Twilight's heavy breathing and the moans and groans of the injured, the large chamber was deathly silent. Normally, Twilight would've been horrified by what she'd done, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she was.

But bitter defiance, shock at what she'd actually managed to do, and satisfaction that she'd managed to defend herself all won out in the end. Ultimately, try as she might, Twilight couldn't find it in herself to regret what she'd done. Not when they'd left her in such a state and with little choice.

"What's... the matter?" Twilight hissed through gritted teeth as her one good eye scoured the crowd with its baleful gaze, "Thought I'd be... helpless? Thought... sealing my magic... would make me weak? Thought you all... could kill me? No..." she slowly shook her head, "Not... when I was the only one... Not when I was the only one... to survive... I survived... I'm not dying here... I'm not... I c-can't..."

Her last words were quiet, almost muttered as if to herself. Twilight's voice hitched and she lowered her head, not wanting to acknowledge the silent tears spilling down her face, but unable to stop them.

"Playing the victim, huh? Now that's funny!"

Twilight's head snapped back up and toward the large raised stage she'd somehow failed to notice in her anger. There, standing next to the podium atop the stage stood two individuals, both of whom Twilight recognized instantly. Shock and dismay mixed with betrayal to make a bitter cocktail Twilight had to swallow as she looked upon the stoic and manic faces of none other than Moon Dancer and Pinkie Pie.

The eyes behind the thick-rimmed frames of the former mare were cold and pitiless as she gazed down at Twilight. And Twilight, even if she didn't know exactly what she'd done or how she'd done it, needed no explanation for why Moon Dancer had done whatever she'd done. Her gaze was cold, but Twilight could see old, long-buried resentment and bitter regret for past mistakes in those eyes.

She hadn't noticed it before, but now the emotions came through clear as day. When she looked at Twilight, she didn't see the mare dropped into this Equestria without knowing what was happening—she'd never seen that Twilight to begin with. Despite everything she'd said, all Moon Dancer saw was the friend who'd abandoned her to die without even the courtesy of granting her the hidden knowledge or transcendence that had been promised.

And Pinkie...

Twilight wouldn't have recognized the mare if it hadn't been for her familiar pink coat and mulberry mane. She was malnourished—skeletal almost. She was dirty, like she'd been living in the tunnels of a well-used mine shaft for years. Somewhere along the way, the mare had gotten her hooves on some kind of shoddy-looking bandolier full of rusty knives, cleavers, and all other manner of sharp objects meant for butchery and slaughter. But the worst part about Pinkie was her face.

That smile. Those eyes.

And the fangs.

The curtain of her ratty red-pink mane did nothing to hide the madness evident in every facet of her gaunt face. It looked like the mare had filed her teeth into jagged, uneven points—like she was doing her best impression of a shark. Looking at the horrifying state of her friend from another universe, Twilight couldn't help but wonder how the twisted earth pony was allowed to wander so freely through these tunnels.

Her features were hideous, but it was the sheer, unbridled malice in Pinkie's dull cerulean eyes when she looked at Twilight and the glee in her voice when she addressed the alicorn that made Twilight shiver. Despite her wretched appearance, she still sounded just like the Pinkie Twilight had known all those years ago.

"Long time no see, Twilight!" Pinkie continued once she had Twilight's full attention, "It's been sooo~ long!" the mare's manic grin suddenly turned to a pout, "When Sombra told me he'd seen you hanging around I couldn't help but come and visit, y'know? I figured, 'Hey, if Twilight's back in town, why not throw her a welcome home party!', so... I did!"

Her smile returned, "But wowee! You brought your own party favors! I didn't see that coming! I'm actually pretty impressed—"

"Yeah, no, we're not doing this."

And it was around that time that a familiar human-chaos spirit hybrid appeared onstage. Before Twilight or anypony else could comprehend what was happening or who had spoken, Pinkie Pie had fallen to the floor, rolling about the stage and clutching at her head in apparent agony as her piercing screams echoed across the massive chamber.

Moon Dancer, who'd taken a step back in surprise, was simply hoisted into the air as space rippled around her and was flung across the chamber. She hit the far wall with an almost deafening crack, her broken body falling to the ground before she even had a chance to cry out. Twilight, who'd seen all of this happen from start to finish, slowly turned back to the stage where she saw Salvatore making his way to the front of the stage.

"Get them out! Make them stop!" Pinkie screeched as she continued to flail and writhe on the ground, "I don't wanna hear them anymore! Not again! They finally left me alone! Why?! Why did you come back?! Why?!"

Some watched Pinkie's mad ramblings with a mix of shock and horror, but most eyes were on the dark-skinned humanoid as he completely ignored the screaming mare behind him and surveyed the audience chamber. It didn't take long for him and Twilight to lock eyes, and Twilight saw that Salvatore had gone through some changes. He looked the same for the most part. Same dark skin. Same simple black cargo pants, t-shirt, and faux-fur coat.

His eyes and hair were where things had changed. His eyes, once a brown so dark they were practically black, were now a brilliant gold that shone with a subtle otherworldly glow. That, combined with the now silvery sheen of his messy, dreadlocks, made Twilight wonder if she too had been physically affected by what she'd experienced upon meeting the Unbegotten Source and gaining the knowledge it protected.

Salvatore, for his part, frowned upon seeing Twilight's sorry state. His brows furrowed and he hopped down from the stage before walking over to Twilight. Twilight didn't say a word as she watched her only remaining friend approach. She tried, but couldn't find any words to say. Not until he reached her and knelt down to look her in the eye.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, "Stupid question, I know, but I have to ask. Friendship etiquette and all that."

Twilight couldn't help but crack a small smile despite how much the act pained her. She could honestly say that, no, she was not okay in the slightest, but that was only physically. Now that she and Salvatore had met back up, she was sure she'd be just fine.

"I'm... I'll be alright, Sal," she replied, "Thanks for... showing up when you did."

"I'm just glad it worked out that way and I got here before things got bad," Salvatore replied before turning to the crowd around them. Twilight felt a twinge of chaos magic stir through their bond as he continued, "Well, before things got worse. If you're looking for some payback I could—"

"No, Salvatore," Twilight interjected with a painful shake of her head. She caught his eyes once again and forced a small smirk, "Thanks... but no. I already got some payback of my own. Let's... just get out of here, alright? There's a lot I need to talk to you about."

Salvatore's frown returned as he stood back up and looked over to where Pinkie Pie was still screaming and babbling nonsense on the stage. Watching the maddened mare continue to flail about, Salvatore gave a slow nod.

"Yeah... I got a few questions of my own that need answering."

Equus IV – Kill 'Em With Kindness

So, I think I've more or less figured out the nature of my chaos magic—at least in a broad sense. The realization of what it might've been first hit me the moment I laid eyes on Pinkie Pie.

When Cozy Glow teleported me to the audience chamber, I wound up at the very back of a fancy, stone-built stage with a large stone podium. And though I was expecting to see who I saw, I wasn't exactly prepared for what I saw when I arrived. Standing near the front of the stage with their backs turned to me and looking out over the rest of the audience chamber were none other than the robed Moon Dancer and a very dirty, bone-thin Pinkie Pie.

The latter of the two mares had adorned herself with this shitty, hand-made (hoof-made?) bandolier chock-full of all kinds of nasty-looking blades. Even without seeing her face, I could tell the mare was fucked in the head and way too far gone to be saved. Couldn't quite get a read on Moon Dancer, though. I only had time to make these observations because neither mare noticed my sudden appearance in the slightest.

Evidently, my entrance hadn't been flashy enough to warrant even a glance in my direction, but that was just fine with me. Because of that, I got to see exactly what kind of situation I'd dropped into, and what I saw threw me. Beyond Pinkie and Moon Dancer, standing bloody and bruised at the center of a large crowd of equine onlookers, was the alicorn I'd come to rescue.

Judging by her combative stance, the wounded ponies all over the place, and the giant magic tentacles I'd caught a glimpse of just before they sank into the ground, it was clear Twilight didn't need as much saving as Luna and I initially thought. I couldn't see Twilight's expression from where she was facing, but the battered mare seemed anything but scared. In fact, she looked downright pissed. As if to confirm my observation, she opened her mouth and started calling out the crowd for trying to beat her to death.

But then I practically heard the tears in her voice near the end of her tirade and realized that anger was coming from somewhere else entirely. I felt something in my gut lurch unpleasantly when her voice hitched, but before I could do anything to comfort the emotionally vulnerable alicorn, Pinkie took that as her cue to start fucking monologuing. Apparently, Twilight hadn't noticed Moon Dancer or Pinkie Pie standing there watching the whole thing if her shocked and betrayed expression was anything to go by.

But rather than talk about the 3 out of 10 (at best) villain rant Pinkie was gearing up to give, I want to bring attention to Pinkie herself—specifically, her state of mind. I mentioned before that I could tell the mare was insane without even looking at her face, but that wasn't because of body language or her trashy, malnourished appearance. Nope, it was because the moment I saw Pinkie Pie, some weird new sixth sense triggered, making me acutely aware of just how crazy the earth pony was.

I could literally feel her madness. I would even go so far as to say I could taste it. And the really fucked up thing? It didn't even taste that bad. It was like trying a Krispy Kreme cheeseburger for the first time and realizing that first bite you took was actually pretty good now that you thought about it. Not that I'd ever had the privilege to try wacky State Fair food, unfortunately.

Maybe one day...

Getting back on topic, not only could I taste Pinkie's madness, but I felt my creepy chaos magic tendrils reach out and... caress it. Yeah, I get how creepy that sounds, but there was no other way to describe what my magic was doing. It just happened, completely without my input. I could've reined it in, sure... but at that moment, I decided not to. As I focused my chaos-born senses on Pinkie, I discovered something interesting. When I reached those tendrils out to Pinkie's mind, I found I could tweak her madness like a setting if I wanted to.

I should probably take this moment to mention that these tendrils of chaos magic I've been talking about aren't actually visible to most creatures who aren't at least touched by chaos in some way. Even then, I can make them completely intangible and invisible to even other chaos spirits at my level if I choose to. Since I'm still pretty much a hybrid race right now, that doesn't amount to much where true lesser chaos spirits are concerned, but no one here could see my chaos magic at work, so it was fine. Pinkie certainly didn't notice anything amiss.

"Yeah, no, we're not doing this."

That was, until I chose to cut her stupid monologue short by cranking her insanity up to, and past, eleven. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't experimenting a little. Out of curiosity, I put a good amount of effort into what was essentially a mental attack. Demonic whispers, brutal migraine, horrifying hallucinations of eldritch abominations... the works. All it took was a flex of my magic to turn the mare's brain into a carnival of cosmic nightmares.

Watching the screaming madmare fall to the floor and flail about, I realized the attack had worked maybe a little too well—to the point that I kind of started to feel bad looking at her. Then I remembered that she'd kidnapped Twilight, killed what was left of Celestia, and slit Luna's throat, so I got over the sentiment pretty quickly. Theoretically, I probably could've completely cured Pinkie of her madness—and maybe I would at some point before leaving this Equestria behind—but I was content to ignore the mare for now.

I had more pressing matters to attend to in the meantime, like taking care of Moon Dancer. The mare had no insanity for me to latch on to, which surprised me a bit. Still, I wanted to keep the initiative while the mare was still caught off guard. I didn't know what she had up her sleeve, and I wasn't completely confident I could afford to find out. With that in mind, I went for a quick and easy solution: Just throw the bitch into a wall. Hard.

I was curious to see how simple telekinesis worked with my chaos magic. I expected my chaos tendrils to wrap themselves around Moon Dancer, but what happened instead was more similar in nature to when I tried a short-range teleportation earlier. The tendrils slipped under the fabric of reality and solidified space around the unicorn enough to lift her into the air. I just went with it and, with another, stronger flex of my magic, sent her careening into the opposite wall as fast and hard as I could.

The act took the wind out of me, magically speaking, but it did the trick. The mare broke like a toy against the wall and clearly wasn't getting back up anytime soon. And that was that. With both Pinkie Pie and Moon Dancer out of the way, I moved to the front of the stage and looked out over the crowd. None of the ponies who hadn't been laid out by Twilight had said a word since I arrived.

The majority of their attention was torn between the strange bipedal creature who'd popped up out of nowhere, the psychotic earth pony screaming about voices only she could hear, and the purple pariah who—in their eyes—destroyed the world. Now that Twilight had shown she could defend herself, they didn't seem to know what to do or how to react. Combine that with my admittedly ostentatious entrance onto the scene, and everyone was simply lost for words.

Well, that suits me just fine.

I eventually met Twilight's wide eyes—or rather eye,seeing as one of them was swollen shut—and saw a mix of shock, confusion, and relief. I also saw something else I hadn't noticed until now. The pink and purple streaks in Twilight's mane had changed color, the pink now a bright silver and the purple a darker gunmetal grey. I personally wasn't a fan as I thought it ruined the rest of her color scheme, but the change in her eyes kind of made up for it.

They were still the same violet color, but now, even from a distance, I could see little luminescent specks of gold in the amethyst irises—or, iris. Again, only had one eye to work with right now. I thought the eyes were a nice touch, even if I wasn't a fan of what was done to the mane. I didn't know exactly how the changes happened, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with our visit to Ubbo-Sathla's disgusting primordial mire, which meant my physical changes were probably similar if not more pronounced.

Making a mental note to check my own appearance at some point, I hopped off the stage and made my way over to where Twilight stood, just watching me with that same conflicted look. I ignored the other ponies as they scrambled to move out of my way, fear, confusion, and distrust clear on each of their faces. I think that was supposed to make me feel powerful, but in reality, the walk was a wholly awkward and uncomfortable experience.

Still, I pushed through the discomfort and reached Twilight, where I bent down to look the injured mare in the eye. I asked how she was doing, even though I knew she must've felt like shit, and she gave the expected answer, downplaying her pain. When I offered to help get some revenge, I got another expected answer. She pointed out that she'd already gotten her payback, and looking around, I couldn't really argue with that statement.

So, with that out of the way, we both decided it was time to leave. There were a lot of things that needed discussing and this wasn't exactly the best place to have a leisurely chat. Problem was, I had no idea where to go. Luna hadn't shown up yet, and somehow I got the feeling asking for directions wasn't going to get us very far. I was about to ask Twilight if she had any ideas when a sudden commotion in the crowd caught mine and Twilight's attention. Looking over to one side, I could see a mess of ponies shifting position, their heads turning as if distracted by something in their midst.

Looking closer, I saw the commotion had originated from somewhere near the wide cavern entrance. It took me a second to realize that the ponies in the crowd were making way for something, or someone as they approached. Twilight and I shared a half-bemused, half-concerned glance as the murmurs of surprise and confusion picked up from those nearest to the new arrival. Said arrival content to take their time wading through the crowd, but it quickly became clear they were headed in our direction.

Eventually, after what felt like hours of waiting, the ponies closest to us separated and the newcomer finally limped out of the herd of onlookers to reveal themself as a mostly furless mass of old bloodstained bandages and wicked scar tissue. Jagged cuts, from minor nicks to lengthy scars both fresh and old marred every inch of their body. The sight made Twilight's current look like she'd been in a light scuffle by comparison. The new arrival was a pony I was sure, but they were so heavily scarred and bandaged that it was difficult to tell their gender.

Even their eyes were bandaged over, the gauze stained the dark brown-red of long-dried blood. I didn't get much from what was left of their mane, as that was in such a wretched state that it was hard to tell what its true color was supposed to be. One of their hindlegs was withered and blackened like burnt wood. It was the obvious source of their limp and I found myself having to pull my eyes away from it as I looked for anything I could use to identify the poor equine. Then my searching gaze slid up from the withered leg to their bandaged flank where I could just make out—

"Holy shit that's Fluttershy," I couldn't help but mutter out loud in a single shocked breath.

It was mostly covered by more bloody gauze, but I would've recognized the butterfly motif on her flank anywhere. A lot of the mare's fur was gone, with most of the remaining patches here and there wrapped under the many, many bandages covering her entire frame. I couldn't even tell if she still had wings under all the dirty bloodstained cloth. It looked like Twilight recognized the pegasus about the same time as I did, and the realization left her speechless.

"Fluttershy...?"

The name slipped out Twilight's mouth in a hoarse whisper, the alicorn raising a hoof to her muzzle as tears started to spill down her bruised and swollen cheeks. She took a step toward Fluttershy and reached that same hoof out to touch the mare's face as if to confirm that what she was seeing was real, but seemed to think better of it and stepped back again. Fluttershy, for her part, just tilted her head in response, almost like she was questioning why Twilight had stopped.

"Wh-What..." Twilight started in a shaky voice, then paused before starting again, "Fluttershy, what... what happened to you? How did you..."

She trailed off and just stared at her friend from another universe in mute horror, unable to bring herself to continue. I'd taken a step back, feeling a bit like a third wheel in their reunion—well, it wasn't technically a reunion, but it felt like one and I felt out of place regardless. Fluttershy returned Twilight's stare evenly and, despite the bandages covering her eyes, I got the sense the pegasus was peering directly into Twilight's very soul. Like, literally.

Even for someone who'd gained a bunch of creepy chaos magic, it was creepy as fuck in a way I couldn't quite explain. Even more unnerving was the fact that I couldn't sense any madness from the mare. Her mind was as clear and placid as a tranquil lake—to the point that it was kind of unnatural. I couldn't read minds exactly, but I discovered with Pinkie and the ponies around me that could get a sense of their current emotional state. Fluttershy could've been the next bodhisattva for the sheer lack of emotional turmoil I felt from her.

The staring contest went on for a little too long to be comfortable, and Twilight eventually began to sense that something was amiss. She frowned and took another step back before opening her mouth to say something, but she froze when Fluttershy immediately took a step forward in response.

"Please... hold still for one more moment if you would."

Twilight held still, and I couldn't blame for it. Despite her horrendous appearance, Fluttershy's voice was just as soft and kind as I remembered. It didn't sound like it'd been warped by age or hardship in the slightest, but there was something different about it. There was a power there. Something immutable or inexorable. A pull. Like a priestess whose words carried the weight of a deity.

All Twilight and I could do was do as she said. For me, it was more that I didn't really have a reason to move, nor had I planned to. For Twilight, it was more that she couldn't help but obey. She looked like she was caught in some kind of thrall, but before I had time to wonder if I should intervene, the moment passed. Fluttershy stepped back and gave Twilight a small smile that lit up the whole cavern.

"I think Twilight has had enough," she said in a quiet tone, her words clearly meant for the crowd but her gaze never wavering from Twilight, "I can handle things from here, so please leave us alone for now."

Several of the ponies in the crowd glanced at each other uncertainly. Others continued to glower at Twilight, and even I got a few scathing looks. I did see a few turn and make their way out of the audience chamber without a word of protest, but most remained where they were, angry cries of discontent and calls for retribution on their lips. Before the growing clamor could coalesce into another bout of angry mob justice, Fluttershy turned to face the herd, giving them her full attention.

"Leave. Now."

Her voice was still quiet, but it carried like a goddamn shockwave. The mob was shut down in an instant, the mob rendered utterly silent by the command—and it was definitely a command. A second passed, then two. And then the crowd practically tripped over itself collectively as each and every pony scrambled for the exit. It was a sight to behold, and I would've found the whole thing amusing if I wasn't so preoccupied with how terrifying Fluttershy had become.

Within moments, the audience chamber was empty save for myself, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie, who was still on the stage and had taken to rhythmically slamming her head against the floor in an effort to "knock all the bad things out of her head". There was also Moon Dancer, but none of us paid her twisted body even a glance. Rather, I watched the demented mare with a frown, wondering if I should fix her, or at least tone down her insanity a bit before she bashed her own brains in.

"You can heal her, can't you?"

I snapped my eyes back to Fluttershy to see that she'd finally turned her veiled gaze on me. When she saw she had my attention she nodded toward the screaming earth pony on the stage and repeated her question.

"Pinkie Pie... you did this to her, and I won't blame you for it... but you can heal her, right?"

"Well, I mean... yeah, I think so," I replied, not sure what else to say. I didn't even bother to ask how she'd known I was the one who'd exacerbated her unstable mental state, "I'm pretty sure I can—"

"Then please do so," Fluttershy interjected in a calm but firm tone, "I know Pinkie has a lot to answer for, but even so... I can't stand to see her like this. So please..."

She trailed off and looked up at me imploringly. I grimaced and turned to look back to the earth pony in question, if only so that I didn't have to meet Fluttershy's expectant gaze. I couldn't help but suspect some emotional manipulation at play here, but it wasn't like I was wholly against helping Pinkie. I wasn't entirely blind to the fact that circumstances had twisted Pinkie into what she'd become, even if it could be argued that the madness had always been there, waiting for an opportunity. For weakness. For a crack in Pinkie's mental armor.

It was only a matter of time, really...

I sighed and, with a shrug, decided to indulge the blind and bloodied pegasus. All it took was another flex of chaos magic to tap into Pinkie's mind and—

What the fuck?!

I sunk my chaos magic tendrils into Pinkie's head with the intention of removing her madness entirely. What I wasn't expecting was for my magic to literally rip the insanity out of her mind and devour it. That's what it did. I felt it happen. I ate the concept of madness. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. Refreshing even. I hadn't mentioned too much about but tossing Moon Dancer as hard as I did left me feeling a little tired, but now?

Now I felt great.

I only had a vague idea of what the nature of my chaos magic might be, and that was still true for the most part, but now I was closing in on a more concrete answer. As for Pinkie Pie, the moment the madness left her mind she let out an exaggerated gasp and went rigid for a second. Then, worryingly, she started twitching like she was having a seizure, which was entirely possible given what I'd done to her brain.

Shit, did I fuck up?

Not knowing what to do and feeling a bit panicky, I started to move toward the spasming mare, but Fluttershy raised a hoof to stop me. I looked down at her, but she just shook her head as she kept her obscured eyes on Pinkie. My brows furrowed, but I didn't argue, nor did I continue to press on. If Fluttershy was implying it would be okay then who was I to say otherwise? The mare clearly had some kind of eerie preternatural insight, or that's what she projected anyway.

So we all watched, Twilight coming to stand next to me as the three of us waited for something to happen. Eventually, something did happen. Pinkie gasped again as the seizures finally subsided and a weak laugh escaped her throat. The earth pony, who was already well on her way to looking like a mummy, now looked thousands of years older. When she next spoke, her voice was raw and raspy as she lay limply on the ground.

"They're gone... all of them... all of them..." she chuckled again, that same fading rasp making her way into the sound, "I'm free... you hear that, Fluttershy? I'm finally... I'm..."

And then... Pinkie died.

Her breathing stopped and at that same moment, the roiling emotions of astonishment, disbelief, and relief so powerful it almost hurt me physically, all cut off abruptly. All I could do was stare at what was now just a withered corpse, unsure of how to feel about the situation. Had her insanity been the only thing keeping her alive all this time? Looking over to see Fluttershy's partially satisfied expression, I could only guess I was somewhere close to the mark.

Her mind was still eerily calm for the most part, but I sensed a brief burst of sorrow, relief, and resignation before it was all snuffed out in that bottomless ocean of placidity. Twilight looked just as lost as I felt. It was interesting to note that I couldn't sense anything from her mind. At all. I wasn't too worried about that, though, figuring it was part of that ethereal bond we shared.

And speaking of which, we definitely need to talk about that sooner rather than later.

I had some questions about it, but my thoughts were interrupted when Fluttershy finally spoke up, her calm voice subdued but grateful.

"Thank you," she said in a whisper, "I tried for so long to help that mare. I did everything I could to ease her suffering, but in the end, I couldn't banish her demons... I didn't have the strength," She paused a moment before finally looking over to me as she continued, "Make no mistake, Salvatore, what you've done here was the best outcome either of us could have hoped for. Take solace in that fact and know that you've done for Pinkie what I failed time and time and again to do."

"If that's how you wanna see it, then I was... glad to help?" I replied uncertainly.

Fluttershy smiled at that and, even if her smile wasn't at all mocking, I still got the distinct feeling I was being mocked regardless. I tried to smile, but I was pretty sure it came out as another grimace. I hadn't told her my name, nor had she been around to hear it, so either Sombra or Moon Dancer had spilled the beans at some point, or she just... knew. Occam's razor said it was the former, but my gut was convinced it was the latter. Still, I wasn't one to be comforted by kind words normally, but I had to admit, hers did the trick.

I wouldn't have been too broken up about Pinkie's death regardless, but it was nice to know Fluttershy didn't blame me for the whole thing. More importantly, and based on what I'd heard and seen so far, I was starting to think Pinkie and Fluttershy's relationship hadn't been... healthy, suffice to say. Not wanting to dwell on my suspicions, I cleared my throat and focused on Twilight.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked for the second time, "I know Pinkie was a certifiable psychopath, but still..."

Twilight didn't answer right away. Instead, she continued to stare out at Pinkie's still form, her expression conflicted. Eventually, her face scrunched up as more tears rolled down her cheeks, but this time she quickly wiped them away wincing as her hoof made contact with her bruises. With a sniff, then a sigh, she finally raised her one good eye to look me in the face.

"Like I said earlier, I'll be fine, Sal," she replied, her smile brittle but the look in her gold-flecked eye resolute, "That said, the sooner we leave this Equestria behind, the better."

This time I did manage to crack a lopsided smile, "Yeah, no kidding. Though, I feel the need to point out that the next Equestria we get dropped into probably won't be any better."

Her brittle smile broke at that and she sighed again, "Yeah... I know. I was hoping you wouldn't remind me."

I just shrugged at that before turning back to Fluttershy as I asked, "So... what now? You obviously seem to be in the know about our situation somehow, and I doubt you showed up just to save us from the angry pony mob."

"No, I didn't," Fluttershy confirmed with a kind smile that sent chills down my spine, "There's quite a lot I want to discuss with you and Twilight, but I think it's best we wait for Luna to recover before anything else."

With that, she turned—a painful-looking process to behold—and started to limp back toward the entrance to the audience chamber. She stopped a moment to look back at me and Twilight over her shoulder before speaking again.

"In the meantime, I have somewhere I'd like for us to visit. Oh, and I'd be ever so grateful if one of you could carry Pinkie Pie for me."

Agreement

Twilight stood staring up at the large monument before her, a sizeable yet simplistic statue of a horse rearing up on its hind legs—the Wondercolts statue, they'd called it. She took it in without really seeing it. No, her mind was elsewhere as her amethyst eyes traced the contours of the majestic marble-made equine specimen.

It was a truly beautiful creature, or so most would say. Twilight, however, couldn't help but frown at how hideous the animal was. When everything had settled and she and her new friends had gotten a moment of reprieve, Twilight had asked about the creature. Finding out this was what equines passed for in this world, Twilight did some further research, and if she was being honest, she hadn't liked what she found. Not in the slightest.

Still, she'd tactfully kept her opinions to herself so as not to cause any problems for those around her. This was a different world with different rules, after all. Who was she to make a ruckus about equine rights? Nopony, that's who. She was an outsider, a stranger in a strange world. What's more, it would've been pointless regardless. Horses in this world—all horses, ponies included, weren't sapient creatures. They were barely even sentient.

Disappointing as all this was, Twilight chose to set it all aside in favor of the other, more pressing thoughts on her mind. Namely, the bitter frustration of not having been able to find him anywhere. So much time wasted, so many opportunities to learn more about this place passed over for an ultimately pointless endeavor. She'd even roped the others into her search despite having only a vague notion of what or who she was even looking for.

It had all been fruitless in the end, and it wasn't like Twilight didn't know why. She'd gone about the search all wrong. She hadn't known anything about the world—and still didn't, really. Twilight didn't understand the resources she was trying to use, despite the assistance from her friends. She should've spent more time learning about how the world worked instead of diving straight into her search. She would have under normal circumstances.

But she was too blind. Too impatient. Too eager for answers to questions she wasn't even sure she should be asking. Twilight clenched her fists at her sides, the aggravation getting the best of her for a moment. She told herself it was aggravation, anyway. Just a bit of irritation at not having found what she'd been looking for and not the soul-crushing existential terror that still had her waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night every time she thought about—

Twilight took a slow, shuddering breath.

Slowly and deliberately, she unclenched her fists and brought her arms up to stare at her shaking hands.

Her... hands.

When she'd chased down the unicorn mare who'd nabbed her crown through that mirror portal, Twilight hadn't known what to expect. It certainly hadn't been the horrifically drastic change to her race, among many, many other factors. Setting aside having to adjust to her new form and the sheer modernity of everything around her, the most shocking revelation Twilight had to deal with was the initial lack of magic. That had changed somewhat in the time she'd spent here, but in the beginning, there was nothing of the sort.

The loss of her own magic, combined with the sight of what had happened to her body, had very nearly sent Twilight into a panic attack. And the anxiety of being lost in a new world without her magical prowess to rely on had left Twilight a mess for some time, but finding her friends, or their human equivalents, had done wonders to ease her mind, especially when all Tartarus broke loose and magic was finally unleashed on the school Twilight had spent almost all her time in.

And on the subject of school, the surrounding students within that school brought to light another detail Twilight found both fascinating and somewhat unsettling. Despite the world being so alien, everything was so... familiar. Names were the same if used in a different context on occasion. There were those Twilight recognized clearly, despite the fact that they weren't ponies. Even the overall atmosphere was similar to Equestria's, even if the world itself wasn't. In fact, Twilight could've argued that the only true difference was the human factor.

And once Twilight found the majority of her footing in this place, it didn't take long for her mind to wander back to him. He was like the rest of them—like what she'd become—wasn't he? A human. He looked the same, dressed the same, walked the same. It would only stand to reason that this was where he came from, right? But no, Twilight realized only too late. Her thinking was flawed from the beginning.

Even if she couldn't find him physically, Twilight had at least held out the hope that she'd be able to find out something about him, but that, too, proved a fruitless endeavor. It was only after the friends she'd made in this world had convinced her to give up her search that the alicorn-turned-human began to really think about what she'd been doing, or rather, attempting to do.

It wasn't until then that she stopped to think back to what she actually knew based on her dreams—dreams, Twilight silently conceded with a bitter grimace, that she hadn't had in well over a month now. It wasn't that her memory of the human was hazy. His dark skin and strange and wild-looking black mane—hair—still stood out starkly in Twilight's mind. It was everything else about her dreams that had turned fuzzy and indistinct over the last few weeks.

What Twilight did remember as she stood there before Canterlot High's strange and ugly horse statue, was that, in every dream she had, the dark-skinned human had been in a drastically different location every time she saw him. He could've been in another section of this world somewhere, sure, but Twilight was beginning to believe that wasn't the case. Why should it be? After all, if one world existed beyond her own, why couldn't there be more?

I'm such an idiot...

Twilight cursed herself, not for the first time since arriving in that strange place full of strange creatures. As she forced herself to stop and think, Twilight understood that she'd become obsessed, and looking deeper within, she understood that it wasn't the human she was truly obsessed with. Not really. No, it was the truth she'd been running herself ragged to find. Even before she'd passed through that mirror, Twilight hadn't stopped in her quest for answers.

Answers to her dreams about the human, answers about what those dreams meant, and why she of all ponies had been plagued with them. Answers as to whether or not they were even dreams to begin with. Answers to why they felt so real. Answers to what that place had been and why she'd been sent there. Answers nopony seemed to have aside from Discord. Twilight was sure the draconequus knew something, but as much as she'd asked—as persistent as she'd been—she hadn't been able to get so much as a snippet out of him.

And so, Twilight was forced to try and put the pieces together on her own.

While she hadn't been able to maintain each and every detail of her dreams about the human in her mind, she remembered that place and everything that happened there with horrifying clarity. How could she not? The experience had been so terrifying in the end that Twilight had all but retreated into herself to hide from the fear. The horror of that unfathomable, unseen presence that had chased her out of wherever she'd found herself.

Twilight had been in a state of catatonia for three days before her friends and loved ones had managed to pull her back to reality. Even then, the primal fear was there, lurking in the back of her mind and making itself known whenever she found herself with a quiet moment to spare. Just like now. Even now it took everything she had just to keep the shaking to her hands alone.

She couldn't go on like this.

Twilight knew she couldn't go on like this, and that was why she hadn't stopped. That was why she continued to push herself, to push her friends, to push Discord. She needed answers. Needed them. If she could just gain some kind of insight, some kind of understanding of whatever was going on behind the scenes... but what more could she do? She had run into an insurmountable wall. The only clue she had to go on, and assuming this was all connected, somehow, was a name—a name provided to Twilight by none other than Twilight herself.

Salvatore...

"Bit for your thoughts?"

Twilight's whole body jerked violently as a hand rested itself on her shoulder. Letting out a sharp yelp, she whipped around to see a wide-eyed Sunset Shimmer raising both hands as she backed up a step in surprise.

"Sunset!" Twilight breathed, putting a hand over her racing heart, "Sweet Celestia you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sheesh, tense much?" the amber-skinned girl muttered, shouldering the stylish black satchel that had slipped down one of her arms. She gave Twilight an apologetic smile as she continued, "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that, honest. I wanted to catch you before you headed back to Equestria, but then I saw you just kind of zoning out in front of the statue. Called your name a few times, but I didn't get a response, so..."

She trailed off with a shrug and her smile fell into a more serious frown, "But seriously, Twilight, you okay? You were pretty out of it there," she paused, then her frown deepened, "Actually, you've been acting all kinds of weird ever since... well... since we got my, ah, issues sorted out."

Sunset gave Twilight a strained smile that spoke volumes of how much was being left unsaid. Her tone was casual, but both girls knew it'd be a long while before anyone forgave Sunset for what she'd tried to do. Nevertheless, Twilight did her best to return Sunset's brittle smile with an earnest smile of her own. She took in Sunset Shimmer, with her clear, bright blue eyes and hair that fell down her back in a fashionable mess of alternating red and yellow streaks.

The change in Sunset's demeanor really had been as drastic as it was abrupt. Gone was the malice. Gone was the spite, the sneers, the cruel words, the vindictiveness, the anger. There'd been so much anger in the pony-turned-teenager. Twilight had seen it from the moment she laid eyes on Sunset. Celestia hadn't given her the full story of the relationship between her and her former protege and Twilight hadn't asked Sunset herself, but there'd clearly been some bad blood between the two.

There still was, if Sunset's refusal to return to Equestria was anything to go by. When Twilight had asked, Sunset had only said that she had no place there anymore after what she'd done. Twilight would've argued the point, and had good reason to given her track record of reformed villains, but she decided not to. Sunset was trying to find her place in this world, and who was Twilight to try and stop her?

Even if the other students of Canterlot High despised Sunset Shimmer now, that would change with time and effort on her part, and until then, she already had a group of friends to help her through the rough patches. Twilight had no qualms about leaving Sunset to the others and, frankly, she couldn't wait to return to Spike and the rest of her friends back in Equestria. It was an interesting experience to be sure, but the unsettling dichotomy of everything and everyone being so familiar yet so different left her with an unease she couldn't quite shake even now.

Never mind the fact that I feel like a stranger in my own skin...

"I'm okay, Sunset," Twilight finally replied with a grin she hoped looked reassuring, "Just... needed some time to myself is all—to think, y'know? Reflect on... everything that happened with you and the crown and all that Equestrian magic..."

"And the fact that you never found anything out about that guy you were looking for?" Sunset added with a concerned frown, "What'd you call him? Salvatore?"

Twilight's grin faltered, then fell, and she gave an awkward chuckle as she replied, "Yeah... there was that too, I guess," she hesitated a moment, then sighed, "Listen, I'm sorry about... pushing that on you, Sunset—all of you. This was my problem and I wound up sending all of us on a wild goose chase with nothing to show for our efforts."

It was only with hindsight that Twilight realized her search was likely doomed to fail from the beginning. She wasn't even sure the human's name was "Salvatore". She'd just been working off of a hunch—a gut feeling that the name and the human were connected despite having no real evidence to back up her suspicions. It hadn't been fair of her to drag the others into her hasty, ill-conceived manhunt.

"It's cool," Sunset replied, waving Twilight's apology away but maintaining her worried frown nonetheless, "I didn't mind, and I'm sure the other girls were happy to help either way, but, Twilight... what's your deal with this guy?" her brows furrowed then, "I mean, you didn't even know this world existed until you stepped through that mirror and I can't imagine you knew what humans were before all of this, and yet you seemed all but convinced this 'Salvatore' was here somewhere. Seriously, what's that all about?"

Twilight fidgeted nervously at Sunset's questions—just a little, but it was noticeable. Even more noticeable was the hesitation to answer. She imagined the silence wasn't doing her any favors, but, honestly, Twilight had no idea how to answer Sunset. Not when she knew so little herself. She hadn't even told the other girls why she'd wanted—needed to find that human. She could've at least made up some excuse, but she'd opted for keeping them in the dark, and now it was biting her in the flank.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, likely the excuse she'd failed to give earlier, but then sighed and gave a slow shake of her head as she finally replied, "Again, I'm sorry, Sunset, but it's... complicated. I'd like to explain—really, I would—but I... I think I've stumbled into something I'm not prepared to face. Not yet. I don't really have any answers for you or the others, and even if I did, I don't want to drag any of you into whatever it is I'm dealing with."

"Little too late for that, don't you think?" Sunset replied with a small smirk.

Twilight groaned, "I don't want to drag you all any further into this mess. This is my problem to deal with and I'll deal with it back in Equestria," she took in a deep breath and turned to look back at the statue over her shoulder, "And speaking of which, I should probably get going."

Twilight made to turn fully around but Sunset caught her by the shoulder once more to stop her. "Wait, hold up," she said as Twilight looked back at her with a bemused frown. Pulling her hand back, Sunset slipped the satchel she'd been carrying from her shoulder and set it down on the ground, "Before you go, I got something to give you. Call it a present if you want."

"A present?" Twilight asked, her bemused frown turning curious, "What kind of present?"

In response, Sunset untied the drawstrings and pulled open the satchel. Holding open the bag with one hand, she reached in with the other and pulled out a long cylindrical container about half again the size of a forearm. The container was made of a sturdy, translucent plastic material and was capped in silvery metal on both ends. As Sunset raised the container up for her to see, Twilight couldn't help the sudden lurch in her stomach or the shock that left her literally breathless.

"Sunset," Twilight breathed shakily, "Wh-What is that?"

"You like it?" Sunset replied, looking pleased with herself, "Found it in one of the labs back in school a while back. Seemed kind of out of place but I never found a use for it, so—"

"Sunset," Twilight interjected, her words coming out in more of a panicked hiss as she hurriedly stepped closer to examine the elongated luminescent violet crystal resting against the inner wall of the container, "What. Is. That?"

Crystals were a bountiful resource in Equestria, and Twilight had seen plenty of them in her lifetime. Twilight also knew certain crystals had magical properties and others could even be used to absorb and contain spells for later use. Yes, Twilight had seen her fair share of crystals both mundane and arcane, but she'd never seen a crystal like this—rather, she'd never felt a crystal like this, magically speaking.

No, this isn't magic... this is... what is this?!

Ominous, foreboding, dangerous, enticing, alluring. It was all of these things and more, but most horrifying of all, the violet crystal contained within that plastic cylindrical canister felt familiar. Starting at it, Twilight could feel her whole body tremble. She felt her spine grow cold, her heart slam against her chest. She felt like she was back in that place and she desperately fought to drag her mind back and away from that cold, empty, white nothingness.

"I'm... not sure what this is. I just saw that it was overtly magical and decided it was best if you take it back with you to Equestria," Sunset explained, taking a half-nervous, half-wary step back. She looked from her seemingly shell-shocked friend, to the container, then back to her friend, "Um... Twilight? You okay?"

When Twilight didn't answer, Sunset moved to crouch down and lower the cylinder back into her satchel, "Maybe this wasn't a good idea. If you want, I can just—"

"No!" Twilight snapped as she reached down and all but snatched the canister out of Sunset's hands. Twilight winced at her own outburst, a pang of regret and embarrassment welling up in her chest, but she didn't move to give the crystal back, "I-I'm sorry, Sunset. I just... I don't know what came over me, but I..."

She looked from Sunset to the container with a helpless mix of fear, confusion, and frustration as she tried to put her thoughts back in order. The crystal inside terrified in ways and for reasons she couldn't put words to, but at the same time... when Sunset had been about to put it away, something had come over her. An impulse. A need to take the crystal. A need so great that she'd been powerless to help herself in that moment.

"Hey, it's okay," Sunset replied, raising both hands in placation and reassurance as she slowly rose back up to her feet, "It's alright, Twilight, I get it. Well, I don't get it, but—look, don't sweat it, alright? Like I said, it was a present, so feel free to take it with you."

Twilight still looked pained as her eyes settled back on the crystal she was practically hugging to her chest. It took her another moment to answer, but eventually, she cast one final uncertain glance in Sunset's direction as she nearly whispered, "Are you sure? You don't mind if I take this with me? What if—"

"Just take the thing, Twilight," Sunset cut in with an exasperated roll of her eyes, "I don't have any use for it and I get the feeling something like that will only cause more problems in the future anyway."

Twilight went quiet yet again, but the silence didn't last long before she nodded, then smiled gratefully, if a bit nervously. "Alright then, thanks, Sunset. I, ah... I think I'm gonna go now. Back to Equestria. Could you... tell the girls I said goodbye and thanks for all the help?"

"Sure thing, Twilight," Sunset replied with a more genuine smile. She could tell Twilight was still completely off balance, but didn't bring any more attention to it as she nodded towards the statue behind both of them, "Now go on. I'm sure Celestia and your other friends are waiting for you."

Twilight nodded in response, her smile growing a little warmer, and, without another word, turned and headed to the statue. Reaching the statue's base, she stepped into, and through it as a glowing circle of pale blue lit up the stone and enveloped the alicorn-turned-human. Within seconds, Twilight Sparkle was gone, leaving Canterlot High School and the world around it behind. Sunset watched her go and continued to stand there even after the bright blue portal faded from view and left the stone smooth and unmarred.

The whole event had gotten a few stares from some of the surrounding students making their way across the school's front lawn. Sunset herself got more than a few glares as they passed by, but most went about their own business, likely wanting nothing to do with anything magical after what she'd put them through. That was fine with Sunset Shimmer. Did she feel bad about trying to brainwash the entire student body? A little, but she'd never really meant for that to last.

She wasn't looking for forgiveness or redemption. She didn't need either. If the students wanted to hate her that was fine. She'd only been playing a role anyway. It wasn't like she'd ever truly wanted to be a bully, and, frankly, Sunset knew she was bad at it. Really bad. But she'd play her part nonetheless, hating every minute of it, but pulling it off regardless. She had to...

...because the reward had been way too good to pass up.

"So... how'd it go?"

Sunset flinched at the causal tone but didn't bother to face the newcomer suddenly standing right behind her as she continued to watch the Wondercolts statue. Instead, she crossed her arms and decided to put on her own casual air.

"Went off without a hitch," Sunset replied easily, then paused before continuing in a more thoughtful tone, "Not sure what I was supposed to expect, but that freakout was..." she shook her head, "What in Celestia's name was in that thing?"

"Oh?" came the casual voice from behind, the tone tinged with a hint of playfulness, "Couldn't make heads or tails of it, eh? Or perhaps... you couldn't even see it?"

Sunset snorted and finally whipped around to face her visitor, her expression entirely unamused as she replied, "You know I couldn't see it. Do you realize how weird it was seeing Twilight spaz out over an empty container?"

The man before her cracked an amused smile at that.

"Ah, but the container wasn't empty," the man insisted, placing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he tilted his head at the fiery-haired girl, "Even if you couldn't see it, I'm sure you could feel it, yes?"

"No, I didn't feel a thing," Sunset ground out, her irritation starting to seep out, "Maybe if you'd provided some of those benefits you promised, then perhaps I would've, but as it stands... Nothing."

"Ah, well, a pity but not unexpected I suppose," the man sighed with a shrug, "It just means you have no innate talent for this sort of thing, but that's okay. Not many do."

"How unfortunate for me," Sunset groused.

She had to remind herself not to sock the guy in the face. She wanted to say he had a punchable face, but that would be a lie. He didn't have a punchable face. He didn't have a handsome face. His features weren't ugly either. In fact, it wasn't only his face, but everything about the man—from his simple blue jeans and plain grey hoodie to his short cut brown hair and dark blue eyes to even the tenor of his voice—was completely and utterly unremarkable.

Sunset had passed hundreds of people like him on the street every day and she knew that, had he walked by, she wouldn't have paid him a single glance. He didn't give off a weird vibe or have an intimidating presence or anything of the sort. He was just... there. A simple man like any other... except he was anything but. Sunset knew this now—had been made to realize it with every fiber of her being.

He'd come to her with an offer, arriving like a ghost in the night, right in the middle of her small apartment living room. She'd taken him for a creep, a burglar, a pervert, but the man had quickly disavowed Sunset of those notions when she tried to attack him in self-defense. Just remembering what had happened next still sent chills down her spine and had her head aching with a phantom migraine. But it had all worked out in the end.

He'd offered something Sunset wanted, something she'd desperately pined for ever since she fled from Equestria into the mirror all those years ago. Fled from her mentor. He made the offer and had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could and would deliver. All she'd had to do was play her part. Well, Sunset Shimmer had played her part, and now it was time to collect.

"So?" Sunset pressed, unfolding her arms to put both hands on her hips as she eyed the man expectantly, "I did it. I held up my end of the bargain. I played the villain and gave Twilight your stupid empty tube."

"That you did," the man nodded in agreement, his dark blue eyes twinkling with approval as he eyed Sunset in turn, "And a fine job it was. Such good work deserves a reward. A deal is a deal after all."

And with those words, the man removed one hand from the pocket of his hoodie and held it out as if looking for a handshake. Sunset stared at the proffered hand suspiciously. There didn't seem to be anything sinister in the gesture from what she could tell, but she knew that was all part of his too-ordinary presence. She knew what lay behind his unremarkable facade, or had gotten a glimpse at the very least. She knew there'd be more to this than a simple handshake... but what else could she do?

Then a thought struck Sunset and she raised her head to look at the man before asking, "Hey... do you know anyone by the name of Salvatore?"

The man frowned, his brows furrowing thoughtfully.

"Salvatore?" he hummed thoughtfully for a moment before slowly shaking his head, "Can't say I do. A friend of yours?"

Sunset watched the man's face carefully, looking for any hint that he was lying. Like always, she found nothing he hadn't wanted her to see. The only emotion she could see then was simple, mild curiosity. After a brief silence, Sunset shrugged.

"Nah, I don't know him," she finally replied, "Twilight was looking for someone with that name, but, honestly? I'm not even sure the guy actually exists or if that's even his name if he does. Twilight didn't seem too confident on that point when she told us and with the way she was acting after the whole magical demon transformation fiasco, I'm starting to wonder if she was right in the head."

"Well now," the man began with mock reproach, "that's not a very nice thing to say about your companion, now is it? Perhaps she was just tired from having to deal with your little tantrum?"

"And exactly who was it that had me throw such a tantrum?" Sunset hissed through gritted teeth.

The man didn't so much as flinch at her scathing glare.

"Fair enough, fair enough," he chuckled before holding out his hand once more, "Now, I believe it's time we sealed this deal. Come now, I'm a very busy man, you know."

Sunset held the man's placid gaze for another moment, allowing her glare to linger for just a bit longer before she lowered her eyes to the outstretched hand in front of her. She faltered then. It was only for an instant, but in that moment, doubt clouded her mind and she wavered. Thoughts came unbidden of the six girls who'd done their best to help her even as she tried to tear them all down.

A fledgling emotion tried to push its way into her chest, but before it could take root, Sunset viciously stomped it out. She didn't need friends. She didn't need companions. She didn't need forgiveness or redemption or closure or compassion. All she needed was power. All she needed was the strength to reach her full potential, and she couldn't do that with friendship weighing her down. No, she needed this. She needed the power this man could provide.

And she would take it, no matter the cost.

In for a bit, in for a bridle...

With a deep, calming breath, Sunset steeled herself and slapped her hand into his, clamping down as tightly as she could manage. For a second, nothing seemed to happen, but just as she was about to frown and voice her displeasure at having been duped, a shock of something ran up her arm and her entire body seized up. Pain unlike anything Sunset had ever experienced washed through her body in agonizing waves—pain so powerful and all-consuming that she couldn't even scream.

The pain seemed to last for an eternity, and all the while the man stood there with nary a care in the world, his hand clasped in Sunset's as she twitched and jerked in agony under his grip. Face alight with a pleasant, if somewhat vapid, smile, the man watched the girl's mouth fall open in a silent scream, watched her wide blue eyes blaze with an unfathomable light, and his smile widened just a touch.

"Well, Sunset Shimmer," the man said without a hint of malice or malevolence, "You did say you 'wanted in on this', and I'm all too happy to oblige. I just hope you won't come to regret your decision down the road."

And with that, the two vanished in a flash of distorted light, the surrounding students none the wiser as they continued to pass by with eyes and minds focused only on their destination.

Author's Note

Thought it was about time we found out what Twilight was up to.

The Prologue -- Or how I got Completely Screwed Over

A heartbeat.

Then two heartbeats.

Then three, and so on, and so forth.

I was alive.

Disoriented, groggy, and a little more than confused... but alive.

It took me a second to realize my eyes were closed and I was lying on my back. I slowly opened my eyes... and immediately wished I hadn't.

Upon sitting up and opening my eyes I was greeted with a blurry mix of I-don't-even-know-what. I grunted in annoyance and searched the ground around me for my glasses. I found them after a minute and planted them on my face before looking around again.

I beheld a bunch of swirling purple clouds in an otherwise black void. There were all sorts of weird landmasses floating all over the place and crazy looking trees of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Multi-colored waterfalls that dropped off into a bottomless nothing and suspended pathways that led to nowhere were also a thing. Not too far in the distance I could see what looked like an average looking house on a relatively normal looking patch of floating grassland.

"...Nope."

I laid back down and closed my eyes as I waited for this ridiculous dream to end.

"What, seriously? You wake up in a crazy dimension where nothing makes sense and the first thing you want to do is go back to sleep?"

My eyes snapped back open and I shot up.

I knew that voice.

"No way..."

"Well technically you weren't really asleep per se, but that's neither here nor there at the moment."

I whipped my head around to look back in the direction of the normal looking cottage a little ways away. To my disbelief I saw a very familiar looking draconequus sunning himself on the 'lawn' in front of the cottage.

No joke, he had a pair of sunglasses on, one of those foldable reflective silver cardboard things held in his mismatched paw and claw, and even his own little miniature sun hanging above him.

I furrowed my brow in bemusement as I stared at the reclining lord of chaos. After a moment, what he had just said finally registered and I thought back to what had happened before I woke up here.

"Wait... oh god dammit," I groaned, letting my head sink into my hands, "that wasn't a dream, was it?"

"Nope," the draconequus replied without looking in my direction, "and neither is this, my boy," he finally sat up and looked over to where I was sitting, peeking at me from over the rim of his sunglasses with a smirk, "welcome to the Realm of Chaos."

"You have got to be kidding me..." I muttered into my hands, "out of all the places I could've ended up, all the people I could've met--"

I yelped in surprise as I was pulled into a one armed hug.

"That's right, old buddy old pal! You get to meet the one and only Lord of Chaos, Discord himself!" he poked me in the nose, dislodging my glasses slightly, "now don't you feel honored?"

"Not... really?" I replied, trying to readjust my glasses, "I'm mostly just confused and... well yeah, just confused."

"Ah, but that's par for the course when you're dealing with me, so I'll take that as a yes," Discord replied with a chuckle, "now then..."

He snapped his talons and I suddenly found myself sitting in a small wooden chair... on the ceiling. I looked up above, or rather, down below me and saw Discord sitting in a plush maroon armchair next to a blazing fireplace and staring up at me with a stern, fatherly looking frown.

When I say fatherly looking, that didn't just apply to the frown.

He was wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, a dark grey vest over a white long sleeve shirt and tie, and pressed grey slacks with black dress shoes. He completed the standard fifties dad look with a pipe and and newspaper in hand.

I have to admit, even with my ridiculously confusing situation, that got a quiet chuckle out of me.

Classic Discord.

"I think it's time we had a talk about your... writing habits, young man," the draconequus began, removing the pipe from his mouth, "you see, I've taken a look at some of your work, and frankly... I find myself rather appalled."

I blinked and frowned at Discord.

"Are you serious?" I asked incredulously, "you're... what? Putting me on trial for writing fanfiction?" I raised an eyebrow, "I mean yeah, the things I write are pretty dark, but that's just what I'm into... and besides, there are much worse fics out there than mine, so why me?

"In fact, what even is all this? How did I even get here? What the hell was going on with that... that... hellscape that used to be Equestria? Why am I here? All I wanted was to get a freakin' burrito at McDonald's!"

Discord simply nodded patiently in response to all my questions, bubbles erupting from the pipe he was smoking.

"Now now, dear boy, no need to fret," he replied in a measured tone, "all will be explained in due time."

He grimaced and pulled the pipe from his mouth once more, eyeing it with distaste. With a shrug he threw the pipe over his shoulder and snapped his talons again. After a second of disorientation, I looked around to see I was no longer sitting in a chair on the ceiling of a cozy living room.

Now I was standing on a grassy hilltop with the sun shining overhead. I raised a hand to my forehead to block out the sunlight and blinked rapidly, trying to get the spots out of my eyes.

"What the hell?" I muttered looking around, "what's with the sudden change of scenery?"

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I looked to my left to see Discord floating next to me with an uncharacteristically solemn expression. He looked like he was staring off into the distance at something, so I followed his gaze and couldn't help but be impressed at what I saw.

The hilltop I stood on overlooked a large open field full of flowers, various trees, and the occasional critter darting in and out of the nearby bushes. Butterflies drifted lazily in the air, birds happily chirped and sang their little hearts out, and I could see a picturesque little village a little further in the distance.

A picturesque and rather familiar looking little village.

"Wait a minute... is that...?"

I shifted my gaze left and right for a moment until I spotted what I was looking for.

far to the right of the village, even further into the distance, was a tall mountain. On that mountain -- just barely visible to me -- was the silhouette of a castle.

"Well I'll be damned," I uttered with a small smile, "the capital city of Canterlot, and it's not on fire," I looked back to the village, "so that's obviously Ponyville then and it's also not on fire."

"Quite a relief, I'd imagine," Discord said with a nod, "it's definitely a far cry from the unfortunate universe you ended up arriving at."

"Wait, universe?" I asked, turning to Discord with a frown, "are you telling me this is gonna be one of those multiverse deals?"

"Oh ho, you do catch on quick, don't you?" Discord replied with a smirk, "but we're getting ahead of ourselves it seems," he turned to stare at the small village in the distance, "if I'm not mistaken, you wanted to know the reason for your pointless and tragic end in a not-so-unfamiliar land, did you not?"

"Yeah, I did," I responded, turning to fully face the draconequus, "apparently it had something to do with my preference in fiction."

"Ah, but it's so much more than that," Discord said with a shake of his head, "you see, when you and other fanfiction writers like you create a story about Equus, it creates another universe -- thereby adding to the already infinite My Little Pony multiverse."

"Okay..." I replied slowly, "this just took a sudden and uncomfortable turn into metaville."

"Oh, I've been to Metaville and this is nothing like that," Discord said, "I wouldn't recommend a trip there. Things can get... weird. Even for me."

I opened my mouth to answer, but ultimately decided against it and shut it again. I looked back to Ponyville in the distance as I tried to parse what Discord was implying.

"So... I imagine this is the same with every story that's created, not just My Little Pony?" I asked, "each story having their own multiverses?"

"Exactly," Discord replied with a nod, "and this is true not just for writers, but those who create stories within any type of media. Whether it be written word, animation, comics, even the fictional live action shows that exist in your world. Every story created becomes a reality somewhere, and each reality has it's own multiverse."

"So where do I fit in all this?" I asked, trying to push Discord to get to the point, "out of the infinite amount of multiverses you could've plucked anyone or anything from -- and yes, I'm assuming it's your fault I'm here -- why was I chosen to do... whatever you're having me do? I'm obviously here for something."

"Indeed you are, my boy!" Discord cried jovially, "I need you to do me a small favor, you see," he raised his paw and gestured to the land before him, "this is my Equestria. In this universe, I'm a Discord that's... mellowed out as it were. I've fully embraced peace and prosperity, and while I do still wreak chaos every now and then, it's all completely harmless and in good fun."

"And the Realm of Chaos?"

"Did you see anything dangerous or terrible there?"

I thought on it for a moment before giving a small shrug.

"Fair point," I conceded, "but you're still dancing around the issue of why I had to bleed to death. For someone who's fully embraced peace and prosperity, that was a pretty messed up thing to put me through -- again, I'm assuming that was your fault."

Discord sighed and snapped his talons.

In a flash I landed in what I thought was Ponyville itself, but then -- looking around -- I immediately noticed something was off. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but then two giant talons lowered themselves down next to me and placed something on the ground.

I scrambled back and fell over with a cry of surprise. As the talons rose back into the sky I couldn't help but gawk at what they had left. Placed next to me was what looked like a life size plastic figurine of Twilight Sparkle -- her wings spread and a look of determination on her face.

That was when it hit me.

Picking myself up and scanning my surroundings once more, I realized that every single object -- from the buildings to the too bright green grass below me -- had that same plastic look and feel to them.

Am I in some kind of... Ponyville playset? I looked back to the Twilight figurine, that thing's not life size...

I looked up and sure enough, there was a giant Discord looming over me and wearing an amused grin at my reaction. I furrow my brow and gave him a very unamused frown.

...I'm just small.

"IS THERE A POINT TO THIS?" I shouted, presuming Discord couldn't hear me otherwise.

"Not particularly," Discord replied nonchalantly as he placed a Pinkie Pie figurine frozen mid pronk next to Twilight, "I'm just keeping myself entertained while I explain a few things."

"SERIOUSLY?"

"There's no need to shout you know," the draconequus responded, placing a bucking Applejack figurine next to the other two, "I can hear you just fine."

"Okay, you know what? Fine, whatever," I said, throwing my hands up in surrender, "can you please just tell me what's going on?"

"Oh, very well then," Discord huffed, slamming a Rainbow Dash and Rarity figurine down onto the 'grass', "take all the fun out of beating around the bush why don't you."

I just crossed my arms and waited as I stared up at the titanic mishmash of creatures.

"Here's the deal," Discord began, "with my Equestria practically drowning in peace and prosperity I admit that I've... gotten rather bored."

"So much for embracing peace and prosperity..." I muttered.

"So rather than go back to my old ways, I've taken up traveling through the multiverse of My Little Pony."

"Alright, I think I know where this is going," I interjected with a roll of my eyes, "let me guess, you came across some 'unpleasant' versions of Equestria and they put a damper on your vacation?"

"Oh please," Discord scoffed, "I'm not so soft that I can't handle a doomed or corrupt Equestria," he then frowned, staring at a Fluttershy figurine between his talons with a troubled expression, "no... what bothered me was the rather alarming frequency with which I stumbled across these horrifying universes."

He sighed and gently placed the Fluttershy figurine with all the rest as he began speaking once more.

"I was indeed the one who plucked you from your cozy little world and dropped you into that Tartarus-on-Equus universe," he admitted, "I wanted you to get an idea of what I was seeing on an almost regular basis."

"But why me, though?" I asked angrily, gesturing to myself, "why did I have to die? That was not a pleasant experience, Discord!"

"That was to prepare you for that little 'favor' I mentioned earlier."

With another snap of his talons, Discord had teleported us in front of his cottage in the Realm of Chaos. I looked around for a moment before turning a questioning gaze to the draconequus.

"It's like this," Discord began, pacing back and forth, "I'm afraid if this keeps up, all these 'grimdark universes' are going to start encroaching upon my own universe, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to stop that," he whipped around to face me, "that's where you come in."

"You... want me... to do something about these grimdark universes?" I surmised, giving Discord an incredulous look, "you're kidding me, right?"

"Nope, you pretty much hit the nail on the head," Discord replied with a shrug, "fact of the matter is, I'm completely good now, I can't be seen going around destroying entire universes."

"So you send me to do the dirty work?!" I cried in indignation, "that's not being completely good, Discord! That's being a manipulative asshole!"

"Call me what you want," Discord replied, unshaken, "I told you I'd do whatever it takes to protect my universe."

"Except take responsibility and get this shit done yourself apparently."

Discord frowned and shook his head before leaning over and poking me in the forehead with his paw. I gasped and shivered as an unpleasant tingle shot down my spine.

The odd sensation traveled back up my spine and spread throughout my entire body as I continued to shake uncontrollably. I raised my hands and looked at them for a moment before clenching them shut, trying to get the shaking to stop.

"W-What the fuck?" I said through chattering teeth, "w-what the hell d-did you do t... t-to me?"

"Just hang on," Discord replied, stepping back and eyeing me critically, "it'll stop in a second."

Sure enough, the odd tingling sensation and violent shivering stopped all at once, leaving me feeling no different than I did before. Wary of any sudden changes, I began searching my body for anything that shouldn't have been there, or that should've been there, but wasn't.

"Oh stop it," Discord said with a roll of his eyes, "you're physically the same as you were before."

"Okay," I replied, giving Discord a suspicious look, "so what changed?"

"In order to carry out my plan, I've given you a small amount of my power -- albeit with some... heavy restrictions and caveats."

"Such as?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, admittedly curious as to what the draconequus had done.

Discord snapped his talons and an image of a planet -- presumably Equus -- appeared in mid air in front of me. The planet split apart into another planet, which then split into more and each planet began to slowly circle around me.

"You now have the ability to traverse the My Little Pony multiverse, but I've rigged it so that you're only sent to what we'll call the Grimverse worlds -- and you can only leave when one of three criteria are met... oh, and you can't control where you go by the way."

"What? Why?" I asked frowning bemusement.

"Because I'm Discord and being difficult and random is fun, that's why."

"That... is a completely bullshit and incredibly contrived reason for not at least giving me control over where I go."

"I know," Discord replied with a smirk, "deal with it. Now then..."

The planets disappeared and a small image of me appeared. A tiny black and violet crystal appeared and the little image of me reached out to it as Discord continued to speak.

"In my travels through the MLP multiverse, I've discovered that each universe holds a crystal that binds that universe together," Discord explained, "without that crystal, the universe itself comes apart at the seams and is completely wiped from the fabric of reality in short order."

The little me grabbed the crystal and looked at it for a moment before crushing it in its hand and vanishing in a blinding flash of light.

"So let me get this straight," I asked, turning back to Discord with a glare, "you want me to commit what is effectively omnicide on a universal scale by destroying that crystal? You do realize how fucked up that is, right?"

"You can do that, or you can meet the second criteria, which is to save Equus from whatever made it that way in the first place through your own power," Discord said with a shrug, "I'm just giving you the easy way out."

"Gee, thanks."

"The crystal is invisible and intangible to any creature other than myself as far as I know," the draconequus continued, ignoring my sarcastic remark, "but since I've given you some of my power, you should be able to sense where the crystal is and interact with it."

"Okay, so what would happen to me once this crystal explodes or whatever?" I asked, furrowing my brow, "I'd just die then too, wouldn't I?"

"Nope," Discord replied matter-of-factly, "the instant the crystal is destroyed, you're poofed off to the next universe no worse for wear. Same goes for if you, by some ridiculous miracle, manage to save a universe from itself."

"And how will I know when I've unfucked the universe?"

"Well first, you have to find the root of the problem and take care of it by whatever means necessary. The moment you do, you'll be poof out of that universe and into the next one."

"What, so I don't even get to enjoy my victory?" I crossed my arms and frowned at Discord, "seriously, what the actual fuck, man? You can't at least give me some kind of respite for accomplishing an impossible task?"

Discord just chuckled and shook his head.

"Trust me, pal... odds are you'd be sticking around for quite some time waiting for the victory celebration to take place."

"Meaning?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Discord gave no response other than to shrug innocently.

I removed my glasses and pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh.

There's no way out of this, is there?

"Alright, Discord, if I at least have the chance to save Equus rather than destroy it, I'll play along with your plan -- as bullshit as it is," I said wearily as I placed my glasses back onto my face, "What's the third option?"

"You die."

I raised my head and gave Discord an incredulous look.

"Come again?"

"I've... well I haven't made you immortal per se," Discord said cocking his head with a slight frown, "it's more like I've... oh, what's the word you kids use nowadays? I've made it so that you... respawn in a different universe when you die."

"What?!" I cried, "that's... why? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of sending me there in the first place? I'm not cut out for this shit, Discord! The only reason I'm even agreeing to this is because I have no choice!" I shook my head, "I'm bound to die at some point!"

"Oh, I'm aware," Discord replied matter-of-factly, "which is why I've prepared a failsafe."

"...A failsafe?"

Discord nodded with a mischievous smirk.

"In the event that you do die -- and only in that event -- your death will trigger a burst of chaotic energy powerful enough to destroy that universe."

I gaped at the draconequus in open mouthed shock.

"You can think of it as... extra incentive to not die," he said with a shrug, "I have enough power to destroy a universe without the crystals, but like I said--" he raised his arms and both his paw and claw popped off and scurried away "--I'm strictly hands off on this little endeavor, so I've given the power to you by way of a jury-rigged bomb."

"You... are a sick son of a bitch, you know that?" I muttered, slowly shaking my head as I stared at Discord in disbelief, "how in the fuck do the ponies in your Equestria trust you? How can you say you've embraced peace and prosperity when you go and do shit like this?"

"Because sometimes you have to do messed up things in order to protect the ones you love," Discord replied with a solemn frown, his claw and paw reappearing on the ends of his arms, "I'm doing all of this for the sake of my Equestria's peace and prosperity."

"But why?" I growled, my frustration boiling over, "why the fuck did you choose me to do this?! You still haven't answered that!"

Discord chuckled and snapped his talons, causing a sun chair to appear before making himself comfortable with his reflective cardboard thing and miniature sun.

"You want to know why I chose you, Salvatore?" Discord pulled a pair of sunglasses out from under the chair and flipped them open, "I chose you because I had no other choice."

He slid the sunglasses over his eyes and raised his claw.

"This story was written by you after all."

"Wha--"

*SNAP*

Author's Note

The story this spawned from was written for several reasons, but one of the main ones was as an HiE story prompt -- something that I could look at and say 'where could I go from here?' and 'what story could I write that has an interesting premise that I haven't seen done before?'

Well ladies and gentleman, this is what I came up with. Hopefully you all find the premise as interesting as I do, and if you don't, hey that's okay too. :twilightsmile:

I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm honestly kind of excited about this one because it'll give me a chance to flex my creative muscles to the limit so to speak.

That said, updates on this one might be a bit slower than my other stories, but we'll see.

Just in case I wasn't clear, all worlds will be of my own creation, though I may decide to have a few chapters take place in some more... familiar universes.

Equus II -- Some Things Happen, both Expected and Unexpected

This... was actually going better than I expected it to.

As it turned out, Rarity was alive -- unconscious, but alive. That was a huge load off my shoulders... at least it was until I remembered what she'd be finding out soon enough.

I thought about not telling her, but ultimately decided to if I got the chance. I figured it would've been better hearing the grim news from me than the Captain or Napoleon.

They probably would've been dicks about it.

Despite the whole 'evil grin and ominous statement' thing, the Captain -- whose name I still didn't know -- had apparently meant what he said in the most reasonable and nonthreatening way possible.

Go figure.

The fear that had built up waned when I realized he wasn't going to outright torture me for information. I still remained wary, mostly because I had the feeling the Captain was the type of guy to fly off the handle without warning -- all cordial smiles one second, then ripping your throat out the next.

He just gave off that kind of vibe.

In any case, I had been let out of the cell and was able to get my first look at Rarity. As I stepped out of my cell, I tentatively glanced at the Captain. When he made no move to stop me, I quickly walked over to Rarity's cell and peeked inside.

She was not in good shape.

Her coat was dirty, her mane and tail were ragged and unkempt, her forehead was bleeding just above the horn -- which was covered with what I assumed was an anti-magic horn ring -- and her face was stained with dried tears.

Where did they even get the horn ring? Did they expect unicorns to just show up in Abyssinia?

I thought about asking the Captain, and after a moment of deliberation, I did. Rather than chew my head off, he just chuckled his deep evil sounding chuckle and smirked at the unconscious unicorn still being held within the cell.

"While I know of them, I've never had the pleasure of seeing a pony in the flesh," he turned his gaze to Napoleon who had been cursing and spitting some rather racist sounding insults Rarity's way as he tended her head wound, "Napoleon here however, has had much experience in... ah... escorting ponies to our fair country to help in the betterment of our society."

So equine trafficking then... fantastic.

"Wait, how does he get... away... with..."

The Captain seemed to know where the conversation was headed and threw a vicious warning glare my way.

"ah... yeah, sorry," I muttered lamely before looking back over to Rarity, "so... what are you gonna do with her... and me for that matter?"

As if I didn't already know...

"It seems the white one has quite a way with words, and enough feminine charm to woo even the surliest vulture if what I've heard is true," the Captain replied, stroking his chin contemplatively as he eyed Rarity, "no, she has too much potential to be used as a mere slave to some fool noble..."

He hummed to himself thoughtfully for a minute before smiling wickedly, his dagger like teeth shining in the darkness of the prison.

"I think she'd do quite well as my own personal siren, wouldn't you?"

My brows furrowed in disapproval.

Of fucking course.

"So... what, you're gonna use her to lure poor idiots right into your clutches?" I replied, trying very hard not to sound disingenuous, "I don't think she'd go for it... but I also assume you'd have some kind of plan for that, right?"

"Indeed," the Captain answered with a light chuckle, "Naturally I wouldn't send her out without a bit of training first. Rather than give her up to some noble who'd only use her as some lowly handmaiden or personal whore, I plan to make her into something more than that."

I knew exactly where this was headed, and I was already trying to figure out a way to stop it.

"So..."

He crouched down in front of the cell and grinned at the mare, his tail eagerly flicking this way and that.

"I'm going to groom her to be my right hand... mare."

God. Dammit.

"What about the others?" I asked, furrowing my brow, and trying to ignore the dread welling up in my stomach "the other ponies who... what is that?"

I had just happened to glance back to where Rarity lay and just happened to see Napoleon stick Rarity with some kind of needle. He stood up and replaced the now empty syringe back into the pocket of his suit before looking at me over his shoulder.

"No business of yours, freak," he growled. He then fully turned to face the Captain, his voice all kinds of compliant, "she will be out for some time, but when she wakes she'll be ready to be molded into whatever you desire her to be, Captain."

Wait... what?!

"Excellent work, Napoleon," he replied before turning on his heel and walking back towards the door leading out of the room, "now come along, both of you. There's still some time yet before the rest of the slaves and crew get here, and we have much to discuss... especially about you, strange one."

I was about to open my mouth to state the obvious hole in their plan to capture and enslave the extremely well known and well connected saviors of Equestria, but thankfully caught myself at the last second.

Telling them wouldn't do anything but tip them off to a possible search and rescue operation, and probably make them do something... drastic.

So I kept my mouth shut and looked back at where Rarity was still imprisoned before following Napoleon and the captain outside the prison and up a stairwell. As I thought further on the possible consequences of their actions, more issues rose up in my mind.

Once word gets out that the Mane Six are missing, the Princesses aren't gonna just sit around and do nothing -- assuming they're the same in this universe.

I assumed Luna knew about their trip to Abyssinia, and if she were to decide to check in on them via their dreams, they'd know something was a little more than just off.

Even if Luna didn't patrol their dreams for whatever reason, there'd be some suspicion and investigation as to what happened to the girls after a certain amount of time had passed with no word, assuming Spike hadn't been able to get out one last letter before he died.

And if the Discord of this universe somehow got involved...

"Fucking Christ, man..."

"What are you on about, freak?"

My head snapped towards the wary pig further up the stairs, his beady little eyes looking back at me with clear disdain. In my ruminations, I hadn't even noticed I had spoken aloud.

"Huh?" I replied dismissively, "oh no, it's... nothing, don't worry about it."

Napoleon narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but thankfully just snorted and faced forward once more. I shook my head and went back to my thoughts as I followed the two up the stairs.

I don't know what they did to Rarity, but I need to find some way to get her and the rest of the girls out of here... somehow.

It was clear that whether I interfered or not, things were gonna go to hell in a handbasket real quick, especially if this Discord got involved -- again, assuming this Discord was around and anywhere near similar to the Discord of canon.

If I was lucky, things might even work themselves out without me getting too involved.

I really hoped I was lucky.

Either way, I figured there'd most likely be a war between Equestria and Abyssinia once the Princesses caught wind of this whole mess, unless Celestia opted to go straight for Abyssinia's slave trade issue rather than blame the entire country itself.

I mean, it seemed like something she'd do, but with the death of two of the Elements of Harmony and Spike...

And then there was the issue of the remaining Elements being on the other ship. I had to find out how the hell to get to the other ship, and fast. Once it set sail, I'd lose my opportunity to reach any of them.

I didn't want to do this -- hell, I highly doubted I even could -- but I was tossed into this mess and I did decide that I was going to try and save these worlds rather than destroy them if I could help it.

If I could help it...

Nope, not gonna think about it. Stay at least somewhat positive, Salva--

I yelped in both pain and surprise as a large furry hand grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my face upward. I found myself looking into the narrowed eyes of the Captain as he looked back at me, his expression showing a large amount of annoyance.

"Get your thrice damned head out of the clouds before I tear it from your scrawny little neck!"

I was too shocked at the sudden vehemence to give any sort of response, merely wincing in pain as his grip on my hair tightened. A second later he released me, forcing me backwards slightly and causing me to stumble a bit as he let go.

I heard the little pork rind chuckle in amusement from somewhere behind me.

"I loathe being ignored," the Captain growled, straightening up and turning back to the door we were all apparently standing in front of, "the reason you're not down there with the pony or dead by my claws is because I'm curious about you."

He turned and looked back at me over his shoulder, his glare enough to set me on edge.

"Once my interest wanes -- and it will -- you'll receive no more... favoritism from me, strange one," the Captain said in a low threatening voice, "if you cross me, I'll have no qualms about tossing your carcass overboard. Remember that."

I nodded mutely as I rubbed my head.

Do that and see how it works out for you, pal.

Despite my spiteful thought, the Captain's threat still made me a bit shaky, and I resolved to pay a bit more attention in the future. With that in mind, I took a second to look around me.

Apparently I had been so out of it, I completely missed how we had gotten down this hallway. The area was fairly well lit, with circular windows on one side of the hull bathing the hall in waning sunlight.

The floor was covered with red carpet and the hallway itself led to a pair of double doors that the Captain was even now pushing open. I managed to catch a glimpse of a chair, part of a long table, and a large window with several squared frames that took up a good chunk of the wall.

If I had to guess, I'd say this was the--

"Be grateful, strange one," the Captain exclaimed, stepping inside the large room, "you will most likely be the only one other than a select few of the crew and Napoleon here, to ever set foot in this place."

Napoleon pushed past me and headed into the room behind the Captain, leaving me to go in last. Looking around, I could see more of the interior, and contrary to what I was expecting, the place was rather spartan -- only a few chairs, the long table, some empty dresser and a drawer, and a single well made bed.

There were only a few knick-knacks here and there, some small lamps for lighting, and a candelabra on the long table. Another glance around and I suddenly remembered the ship was supposed to be brand new.

The Captain moved towards one of the many large windows and stared out at the horizon. The setting sun shone brightly in front of him, casting his back in a dark shadow.

After a moment he held out his arms and, without turning around, he spoke, his voice booming and dramatic.

"This is my sanctuary, my home away from home, my temple!" he lowered his arms and turned to face me with a smirk, his next words spoken at a regular volume, "welcome to the Captain's Quarters, strange one."

He made his way over to the long table and pulled out a chair before dropping himself down and gesturing for me to do the same. I looked from the offered chair and back to the Captain, who was wearing that wicked grin I had seen back in the prison area.

"Have a seat and let's get down to business, shall we?"

Equus III – They Never Said it Would be Easy...

I told her everything.

I began with the fact that I was not just from another world, but an entirely different universe altogether. I then moved on to explaining that every world, both 'real' and 'imagined', had an actual universe to go with it.

I thought Twilight would be a bit more skeptical than she was, but she surprised me in that, while she did look incredibly uncomfortable with the idea, she nevertheless accepted it. Apparently she'd already been doing some 'leisurely' reading on multiverse theory before things went to shit.

In any case, I moved on from there and explained more or less everything else about me and my situation, including the other Discords and my lack of a need to eat.

That one I figured would help somewhat given her current rationing situation, but again, she surprised me by being rather disturbed at this development. I could kind of understand the implications, but I asked her why anyway. She told she'd explain later, so I moved on, and asked a question of my own.

I asked her why she didn't just graze when she thought it was safe enough to do so. She rolled her eyes and explained that grazing had died out when the ancient ancestors of the pony race did, and that it wasn't a safe thing to do anyway, as grass carried all sorts of diseases that would've had to be painstakingly filtered out before consumption.

It was the same with flowers, but to a much lesser extent for some reason. A pony could eat flowers right out of the ground up to a point, but one too many times and one ran the risk of catching something particularly nasty.

In short, it apparently wasn't worth the effort, even in her situation.

Moving past that, the explanation went on for another hour or so, with the lavender mare stopping me occasionally to ask questions or clarify, and before I knew it, I had gotten to the point where I was explaining how I got here in this universe.

Out of everything I'd told her, the one thing she seemed to focus on—and I honestly didn't blame her—was the fact that something like the universe stabilizing crystals existed, and that Discord had access to them.

This was something I had dreaded talking about, and my fears were validated when Twilight started freaking out. It took a good half hour or so before I got her to calm down.

I rationalized that if these crystals had always existed, and the worlds were still intact, either the other Discord's had no idea and the Discord that displaced me had somehow stumbled upon them, or every Discord knew and chose not to completely destroy the universe they lived in.

Of course, I doubted the second conclusion applied to every Discord, given the infinite multiverse, but I didn't mention that, and I assumed Twilight could already figure as much.

That was about the best I could do. The latter idea was still horrifying but... well, there was nothing we could do if that was the case. Unless there was a way to protect the things from getting into the wrongs hands, or hooves, or talons or paws, she'd just have to live with the knowledge.

She settled down eventually, but I could tell the worry never really left her. I told her about my 'mission' of course, and was quick to point out that I refused to use the crystals whatsoever. I also left out the, in retrospect, terrible idea I had to somehow harness the power of the crystal to destroy the barrier.

That had been an excessively desperate idea looking back on it.

Once I'd finally finished my explanation, and had told her everything I knew about the situation, she fell silent and turned to stare at her desk for a good minute. I went to ask if she was okay, but she kicked me out of the basement, saying she needed some time to process everything.

Something in her voice told me she might've snapped if I'd decided to stay, so I left, heading back upstairs and picking up where I left off in the book I was reading. I figured it must've been a lot to take in, and while I probably would've taken it all in stride had I been a mere bystander in all of this, Twilight most certainly was not that kind of creature.

I didn't know how long I spent waiting for Twilight to sort things out, but by the time she finally came out of the basement, night had fallen and I'd finished about half the book I was reading. As I expected, Twilight looked even worse than before, and distracted.

As she trotted into the main wing of the library where I was, I looked up from my book and furrowed my brow in concern. Her eyes were glued to the floor and she was frowning in thought, that is, until she raised it and spotted me.

For a moment we stared at each other, and I went to ask how she was, but she spoke first.

"We need to talk," she stated simply, "come on."

Without waiting for an answer, she turned on her heel and trotted out of the library. I blinked, frowned, and put down my book before following her out, and into the dining room. She teleported the other chair back to the table and we both sat down.

"So what's up?" I asked, taking my seat and getting comfortable, "you doing okay?"

Clearly she wasn't, but asking was a reflex I couldn't shake. She did manage to give me a humorless chuckle at the very least before shaking her head and smiling wanly.

"I haven't been okay in a long time, Salvatore," her smile fell and was replaced with a serious frown, "but nevermind me, I'm... dealing with all of this as best I can. Right now though, I wanted to talk about you."

"Okay," I replied slowly, scratching my head, "that's more or less what we've been doing all day, but alright, shoot. What's going on?"

"It's about your lack of a need to eat," she explained, "I think that might be a precursor to something that could be... possibly problematic in the future."

"Such as?" I pushed, already not liking where this was going.

"I think the chaos magic within you is starting to affect you on a deeper level than I originally suspected," she surmised, "you see, magic can be passed onto another if you know how, but the simple transfer of mana doesn't really have much of an effect unless it's either a fundamentally different type of magic, or you happen to be a non-magical creature.

"The important thing for you to understand is that magic given freely, even chaos magic, becomes that of the one who received it. The giver effectively loses ownership of that magic. In other words, the chaos magic that Discord granted you is now your magic, not his... or at least, it should be."

"Alright," I replied, tilting my head slightly, "so what does that mean for me?"

"This is just a guess, but I think the 'commands' Discord put into place are preventing the chaos magic from fully and properly integrating with you," she frowned, "it could be that, it could also be an effect of magical build up, or it could just be that the human body isn't compatible with magic, chaos or otherwise."

"Well, here's hoping it's not that last one," I muttered with a small grimace, "if that were the case, I'm already screwed."

"Whatever the case," Twilight continued, "this may get a lot worse than just not being able to eat. I don't know how much time we have until something else changes, but we don't have any time to waste. I personally believe the issue is the commands put in place, but only time, and some more research, will tell."

"So basically, you have to find a way to change or remove these commands so that the magic can finish... ah..." I waved a hand in the air as I searched for the right word, "transferring to me, or else, something crazy is gonna happen to me. Does that sound about right?"

"For the most part," Twilight replied with a serious nod, "I don't know what'll happen if we take too long to resolve this, but I'd rather not take any more chances... although..."

She trailed off and frowned before staring down at the table.

"Although... what?" I asked, suddenly wary of any more bad news, "what is it this time?"

It took Twilight another moment to respond, but I didn't push this time. Instead I let her sort out her thoughts, and when she finally did speak, it was with a careful slowness as she looked back up at me.

"Accessing the commands, figuring out how to remove or change them safely, and now, trying to determine the nature of your change and how far it will go," Twilight shook her head and gave a grim frown, "with all the research and preparation I have to do, this is going to take time, Salvatore... a lot of time."

The look on her face and the tone of her voice said it all.

"...You're not talking just a few days, are you?" I guessed, grimacing as she shook her head, "how long do you think it's gonna take then?"

"Honestly?" Twilight paused and tapped a hoof on the table, "...I have most of what I need, barring a few tomes here and there, but I can't get those right now so I'll have to make due," she hummed in thought, "assuming everything goes smoothly, it could take up to about... a month and a half or so, maybe two."

I brought a hand to my face and exhaled heavily through my nose at the news. I'd possibly be stuck here for two months while Twilight did her work, and that was if everything went smoothly, which I was fairly sure neither of us believed would be the case.

After a moment I raised my head and swept my gaze around the room. It wasn't an ideal situation—far from it in fact—but really, what else could I do? I had no real power as of right now, and rushing things would probably only make the situation worse than it already was.

Guess Discord's just gonna have to wait, both this one, and the one that dropped me here...

Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if the Discord that was no doubt watching would just sit idly by while Twilight unlocked the power he gave me, a power that was apparently supposed to be mine now.

Then there were the changes that were happening because of this chaos magic. I was equal parts worried and curious to see just what the hell would end up happening in the long run. I assumed there'd be more changes to come while Twilight did her research.

In the meantime, all I could do was wait and see, though maybe I could take this opportunity to learn a few things...

"Alright, fuck it, I guess," I finally replied, leaning back in my chair, "so is there anything I need to do?"

"I'll need your help with a few things eventually," Twilight replied, lighting up her horn, "but before any of that, I still have one more thing I need to take care of..."

"Oh?" I asked, watching her horn warily, "and that is?"

"I have to verify your claims, remember?" Twilight replied with a wry smirk, "a lot of what you told me is frankly, incredibly difficult to believe, and even if I don't want to know if it's all true, I still need to know."

"Oh, right," I muttered, furrowing my brow, "so you do have a spell for that then."

"Yep," Twilight answered simply, her horn glowing to a brightness that was almost blinding, "sorry about this in advance, Salvatore, this is gonna be more than a bit invasive and... unpleasant."

Before I could make any kind of protest, what looked like magenta colored lightning shot from her horn and hit me square in the forehead. The memories rushed to the forefront of my mind with the force of a hurricane, and everything else was drowned out completely, save for the splitting pain in my head.

Somewhere in the distance I could hear a scream, and I was almost certain it was mine.

Blame

"You do realize I've essentially freed you from your dimensional prison, right? I think you could stand to be a little more grateful y'know."

But, much to his disappointment and slight annoyance, Discord's guest remained resolutely sour about her circumstances. Still, it was a step up from unwarranted homicidal rage, so Discord opted to let it go for the time being. Besides, there were other, far more pressing issues to discuss.

"I don't know what you did, Discord," Twilight replied in a measured, but bitter tone, "but I can think a bit more clearly, and I know, intellectually that what happened to me wasn't your fault," she paused, closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath before speaking again, "that said, I also know about you and what you're trying to do."

"Of course you do," came Discord's flippant reply, "that's part of why I decided to whisk you away from your plight and bring you here to my humble abode."

"And what about Salvatore?" Twilight asked, glaring at the draconequus as he took a dainty sip of tea, "where is he? Why isn't he here? Isn't he supposed to be your pawn?"

"And it all comes back to our good friend Sal," Discord chuckled, "he's the other reason you're here, and as for why he's not, well..." he shrugged and took another sip of tea, "I have no need to talk to him right at the moment, just you," he raised an eyebrow, "your tea's getting cold by the way."

"Discord, what happened to Salvatore?" Twilight demanded, "if you want this discussion to go anywhere, I need to know what happened to Salvatore."

"Oh very well," Discord groaned before putting his cup down and frowning irritably at the mare across from him, "if you must know, he's back where I left him in your Equestria," he leaned back in his chair and picked at one of his talons, "right about now he's probably freaking out about where you went."

"What? No!" Twilight cried, pushing herself out of the chair, her eyes wide and her face growing pale beneath her fur, "without me there to monitor them, the wards around the library can't sustain themselves!"

"Really?" Discord asked, raising a curious eyebrow, "if I remember correctly, it was Moonbutt who put up those wards wasn't it?"

"Yes, most of them, but they just... vanished one day," Twilight explained, close to hyperventilating, "I don't know what happened, but I managed to recreate the wards before any of my friends could be attacked, but I have to be there to make sure they stay active!"

"Then I suppose he'll be mauled to death by the thing that used to be your little assistant," Discord responded simply, "a shame, but what can you do?"

"You can send me back!" Twilight retorted angrily. Before she could get too worked up, another sudden calm overcame her and her tight, angry expression slackened into one of desperate pleading, "Discord please, I don't know what happened to him when I tried to fix his eyesight. He could be helpless, and I left him alone with that... with..."

Her voice hitched and she dropped back into her seat, her head hanging low and her ears folded back in dismay.

"If he dies, then I'll have lost not just the only friend I've had in what feels like ages, but my whole world," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. She looked back up at Discord with watery eyes, "send me back, Discord... I'm begging you."

Discord eyed the distraught mare for several long seconds, his face an unreadable mask. Then he gave a long, weary sigh, picked up his cup of tea, went to drink, thought better of it, and lowered it back to the table.

"You've managed to yank the information about my plans out of Sal's head," Discord began, his face hard, but his eyes oddly understanding, "but clearly there's still some things you're overlooking here."

"W-What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, trying to collect herself. She wiped her eyes and gave the draconequus another glare, "from what I understand, you're using Salvatore to try and wipe out every horrible universe for your own needs. I know why you're doing it, but that doesn't make it right," she shook her head, "and even aside from that, it's an impossible task. There's no way Salvatore can save, or even destroy all of these 'grimverse' worlds, not when more will just take their place."

"True," Discord conceded, "but I don't necessarily need all of them wiped out, just the ones that are influencing my own Equestria, the ones that pose a threat to the peace my friends have worked so hard to obtain. Once I've deemed my world safe, then Sal is free to do whatever he wants."

"And when will that be?" Twilight shot back, "how many universes are going to force him to try and save or destroy? How many times is he going to have to die until you're satisfied?"

"As many times as it takes!" Discord growled, leaning forward over the table, "despite what you might think, and despite whatever else I might say about the human or however I might act, I have full confidence in Salvatore. He might be weak in body, and he's no genius, but he has a few things going for him that make him perfect for the job."

"And what's that?" Twilight asked, still angry, still worried, but curious despite herself, "what could possibly prepare him for what you're putting him through?"

Discord folded his arms and smirked.

"His luck, his optimism, and probably the most important trait of all, his uncanny ability to simply take things in stride."

Twilight blinked and frowned, Discord's words having caught her off guard.

"What... that's not..." she shook her head and her frown deepened, "Salvatore isn't... he doesn't really strike me as the optimistic type. In fact, a lot of what he says seems to suggest otherwise, and luck?" Twilight would've laughed out loud if she didn't think it horribly inappropriate, "the only thing I can even remotely agree with is his relaxed attitude, and even then I'd say it's more lackadaisical than anything."

"Believe what you want, but I know better, Miss Sparkle," Discord replied with another careless shrug, "more to the point, I'm not sending you back. I need you here, so you're staying here."

And just like that, the anger, dread, and panic Twilight had been trying to suppress came rushing back with a vengeance. She made to rise again, her mouth open and ready to retort, but Discord spoke before she could even utter a word.

"Why go back at all?" Discord asked suddenly, his arms folded on the table and his mismatched yellow and red eyes half-lidded and patient, "what's left for you there really, Twilight Sparkle? A lonely life in a dimensional prison of your mentor's own making? Constantly living in fear and despair without your friends or loved ones to save you or keep you company? That twisted monstrosity that used to be Spike?"

Twilight made an odd choked noise and her mouth snapped shut. She fell back into her seat and lowered her gaze to the table, unable to look Discord in the eye.

"You're right... there isn't much for me to go back to anymore," she conceded quietly, "Celestia abandoned me, all my friends are gone, the Discord of my world is free and doing who knows what to Equestria... and Spike..."

She clenched her eyes shut and fell silent for a long moment before raising her head and looking Discord in the eye, her own eyes suddenly brimming with newfound determination.

"There's a lot of things wrong in my Equestria, and I have all kinds of questions," she continued, her voice growing a bit stronger as she went on, "but Salvatore is there. He's been there for me when I had nopony... no one else to turn to, and together, once I unlock the chaos magic you gave to him, I know we'll be able to fix—"

"Fix? Oh, that's rich!" Discord interjected, laughing uproariously, as though he'd just heard the funniest joke in existence, "Twilight, you can't fix anything! Not by yourself, not with Salvatore's help, and certainly not with chaos magic!"

"And why not?" Twilight snapped, "chaos magic—"

"As the Lord of Chaos, I'm going to let you in on a little something about chaos magic," Discord said, still chuckling as he wiped his eyes, "chaos magic will almost always betray your expectations. Not even I can fully control what'll happen when I use it. That's part of the reason why Salvatore is so unstable. What happened to him the last time I brought him here wasn't simply just incompetence on my part."

"But... I've done the research," Twilight argued, "I know there's a pattern, a formula, some set of rules chaos magic has to follow. Every type of magic does, no matter how obscure and nonsensical. I've seen the commands you've placed within Salvatore, and that alone tells me chaos magic is no exception."

"I suppose you've got me there," Discord admitted, hovering over the table with his arms behind his head, evidently bored of sitting in a chair, "but I'm somewhat of an exception to the rule, or lack thereof, being the Lord of Chaos and all," he jabbed a clawed digit down at Twilight, "magic users like you ponies though? There's no chance in Tartarus that you'd be able to control chaos magic like I do, you weren't meant to."

"But, Salvatore—"

"I'll get to Salvatore and chaos magic in due time," Discord cut in, his voice and expression once again serious as he looked down at the mare, "for now, let's return to the topic of your Equestria and why you shouldn't go back, shall we?"

He snapped his talons and the strange music and dancing furniture that Twilight had somehow managed to push to the back of her mind suddenly vanished, along with everything else. Twilight looked around and saw that they were in a blank white space completely devoid of anything save for the table and chairs they sat at, and Discord was indeed sitting in his chair once more, staring back at her with a grim look.

"When I said you couldn't fix anything, it wasn't simply because you lacked the means to do so, or because I was just being an antagonistic jerk—well, not completely anyway," he slowly shook his head, "no, it was because everything was rigged against you from the beginning."

Twilight's eyes narrowed, her growing dread hidden behind wariness.

"What are you saying, Discord?" she asked, "what do you mean everything was 'rigged against me'?"

"I mean that Discord—your Discord, was never the real threat," he smiled an amused smile, "would you like to guess what the real threat was? Go on, you'll never guess, I guarantee it."

Twilight didn't like the wicked grin on Discord's face, nor did she care for the implications that her suffering could've been caused by anything other than her Equestria's Discord... and Celestia.

Celestia, in all her fury and carelessness, had left her and her friends to die within that barrier. Luna had a hoof in it, she hadn't done anything to stop her sister, but it was ultimately Celestia's decision to abandon her. In a sense, Celestia was just as much to blame as Discord... but could she really have been behind everything from the start?

"No, that's... I..." Twilight swallowed and tried to speak again, her mouth feeling suddenly very dry, "Celestia, she... I knew something was wrong, that something was off about the way she handled things... but she couldn't have been against me from the very beginning before this... before Sombra and the Crystal Empire, she—"

"Wrong!" Discord shouted gleefully, "it wasn't Her Royal Foolishness or her sister. Try again, Twilight."

Twilight knew even before she opened her mouth that she had no other guesses to make. If this Discord was right, and the real culprit wasn't her Equestria's Discord or Celestia but someone or something else behind the scenes, then who else could it have been? It couldn't have been Sombra, she'd taken care of the shadowy stallion back in the Crystal Empire.

"Stumped aren't you?" Discord laughed, "well, that's not surprising, considering the two of you have never met... at least, in your universe," with a savage grin, Discord snapped his talons, "in your universe, she was a far more competent villain."

The white void vanished, replaced by another location that seemed to waver into existence around them. To Twilight's shock and confusion, she found herself and Discord seated right in the middle of the throne room of Canterlot Castle. Around her were what looked like dozens, maybe hundreds of ponies on either side of the room.

They all seemed to be dressed up for some kind of event, and as Twilight looked around at all the ponies in snappy black tuxedos and fancy white dresses, her heart began to race and her eyes began to water. Standing together near the two thrones and looking just as happy as they'd ever been were all of her friends.

On the thrones themselves sat Celestia and Luna, both looking just as regal and composed as ever, a small smile across their faces. What caught Twilight's attention the most however, was both her brother, dressed in his red military uniform, and Twilight herself, adorned in one of the most beautiful dresses she'd ever worn and a small open black box bearing a ring at her side.

Shining Armor stood straight, looking horribly nervous, and Twilight couldn't have been more excited or proud of him and what was happening. Twilight was struck nearly speechless, her own emotions rendering her almost silent. She was so focused on what she was witnessing, that she didn't even register the fact that she and Discord were still seated at the table right in the middle of the aisle.

"This is..." she croaked, "Discord... why did you bring me back here?"

"Just watch," Discord whispered, grinning like a foal on Hearth's Warming, "you're going to love this..."

His eyes weren't on the groom, or any of the other ponies, but rather the entrance to the throne room. Twilight, with a titanic amount of effort, tore her eyes away from her friends and her brother and followed his gaze. She didn't have to wait long to find out what Discord was waiting for as the tall doors creaked open and admitted a very familiar mare in an immaculate wedding dress.

Cadence strode into the throne room at a leisurely, yet refined pace. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo trailed some distance behind, enthusiastically showering the crowd with flower petals. Her head was slightly bowed, her face a mask of happiness and serenity as she made her way to the other end of the throne room. She looked every bit as beautiful now as she did then, Twilight thought, the perfect bride for a perfect groom.

"And there she is, the pony of the hour!" Discord shouted joyously. He turned to Twilight and gestured dramatically towards the pink alicorn, "Twilight Sparkle, may I present, the true mastermind behind your horrible, horrible fate!"

Twilight blinked and looked from Discord to Cadence, then back to Discord, horror and disbelief clearly written on her face.

Cadence?" she asked incredulously, "you're saying Cadance was behind all of this? That doesn't—"

"What? No, of course not!" Discord snorted, "she and your brother are just pawns—well, your brother is food, mostly," ignoring Twilight's growing confusion, he jabbed a thumb towards the fillies making a mess of the aisle, "I'm talking about the white unicorn runt, I believe she was Rarity's younger sister, oh what was her name?"

"Sweetie Belle?" Twilight cried, her sorrow completely pushed aside in favor of sheer shock, "you expect me to believe Sweetie Belle was... she's... that's..." Twilight watched the filly in question closely, but the only thing she saw was an innocent filly enjoying herself along with her closest friends. She rounded on the draconequus, her confusion turning to anger, "Discord what are you trying to pull? Your sick jokes are the last thing I—"

"Ah," Discord cut in, raising a talon in front of Twilight's face and causing her to lean back slightly, "look again."

And with that, he slowly dragged his talon, and Twilight's gaze, over to where the fillies were once more, only two of the fillies were gone. In fact, everything else aside from Sweetie Belle had disappeared, leaving the one filly, Discord, and Twilight once again in a white void.

Sweetie Belle sat a few hoof-lengths away from the table, eyeing Twilight and Discord with a curious, innocent smile. Twilight, for her part, sat frozen in horrible anticipation of what would come next.

"You see, our dear, sweet little Sweetie Belle isn't exactly what she seems," Discord explained, "in fact, if you were to pay close attention..."

Discord snapped his talons and Twilight gasped, nearly falling out of her chair as she tried to scramble back from the thing that had, in a sudden gout of emerald flame, taken Sweetie Belle's place.

"...you might think she was a completely different creature altogether."

Twilight stared in open mouthed horror at the sight before her. It was something akin to a pony, yet far from it at the same time, with it's black chitinous shell, bluish green carapace, and translucent bug-like wings it reminded Twilight more of an insect. It was as tall as Celestia, and its thin, almost emaciated looking frame made it look even taller.

Holes riddled the lower half of its legs and its long dark cerulean mop of a mane and tail. It seemed to stare straight through Twilight with its cold, predatory jade eyes and cruel fanged grin, making the lavender mare shudder in fear and disgust. It wore what Twilight assumed was some kind of black crown atop its head, though she couldn't tell whether it was actually part of her body or not.

"Who... w-what is that?!" Twilight cried, "I've never... Discord, what... what happened to Sweetie Belle?!"

"Who knows," Discord replied flippantly, "maybe she's trapped in some kind of prison made of icky green goop, maybe the poor filly was done in by the very thing standing before you. Whatever the case, that isn't Sweetie Belle standing there," he chuckled darkly, "that, my dear... is a changeling."

"A... changeling?" Twilight nearly whispered, something stirring in the back of her mind, "that's... a changeling?"

"Indeed, and not just any changeling either," Discord answered, poofing out of existence and reappearing next to the creature. He wrapped his leonine arm around its withers, and together they gave Twilight a toothy grin, "this here is the head honcho, the big boss, the mistress of disguise and deception, the ruler in every sense of the word."

Twilight stared back at the two of them, completely dumbfounded. Salvatore and whatever ordeal he was now facing alone had been shunted aside in light of this new and horrifying revelation. She didn't want to believe it, she wanted to tell Discord that she didn't believe a word of what he was showing and telling her, and yet something in her memory had begun to stir.

There was something about that creature—that changeling, that tugged at her mind, like she'd read about them somewhere before, but couldn't quite remember. She wanted to deny everything, and yet she knew—somehow she knew Discord was telling the truth, or part of it at the very least. She tried to wrack her brain for answers, clues, anything to help her put the pieces together, but was distracted as Discord spoke again, his sickly yellow and red eyes alight with mirth and his smile eerily wide.

"Twilight Sparkle, I'd like you to meet Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling Kingdom, the source of all of your pain and suffering, and the instrument of your Equestria's downfall."

Author's Note

This probably wasn't all that hard to figure out, and I'm sure some of you are probably thinking 'of course it was Chrysalis!', but I don't mind if my choice of villain get criticized, this is honestly where things get fun for me.

Up next, more exposition and a very special offer from our favorite draconequus. :pinkiesmile:

Earth(?) - My Apartment and what We Found There...

Twilight and I both learned a few things during our long, long trek back to my house, one of which was the fact that Twilight Sparkle was, in fact, not a fan of Lovecraft.

Being an avid fan of cosmic horror, naturally, a lot of the stories I'd downloaded from Audible were either written by Lovecraft or otherwise directly inspired by his works. In all honesty, I was secretly hoping we could bond over her newfound love of the genre, but given how she'd suffered and given the kind of person she was, I knew it was a long shot.

I fully acknowledge that there are tons of reasons not to like H.P. Lovecraft—whether it be his writing or just the author himself. He's definitely not for everyone that's for sure. I would even go so far as to say his works probably weren't for most people in general. That said, and given my own literary tastes, I can't help but be drawn to his works. In any case, Twilight's distaste for the author was disappointing, but not surprising in the least.

And hey, to her credit, she did listen to a couple of his shorter stories all the way through.

What was somewhat surprising to me was her interest in the dark fantasy stories I'd download. None of the audiobooks I owned couldn't really be classified as 'uplifting' nor could they claim to promote 'good morals' so I was skeptical that Twilight would enjoy any of them, but what I forgot to take into account was the fact that a lot of the dark fantasy stories I owned were centered around the use of magic.

I had stories whose worlds and characters revolved around both hard and soft magic systems. With so many different interpretations of magic, it was no wonder the former magic caster took an interest. She didn't listen to just one story but rather listened to a few chapters just to get an idea of what the story was about before moving on to the next.

I guess she was trying to take in as much as she could before we arrived at my place? I wasn't really sure and didn't really care enough to ask. For my part, I was busy trying to find out a little more about the kind of situation we were in. I decided to spend some extra time searching the various establishments for any evidence of... well, anything really. I didn't know what to expect other than that there probably wouldn't be anyone around.

What I found was interesting, to say the least.

The first place Twilight and I stopped into was an abandoned QuikTrip. I wasn't particularly hungry or thirsty, but I wanted to see if there was anything left on the shelves. As we approached we could see that the lights were still on as though someone was working there, but it was immediately apparent with just a quick search that there was nothing stocked.

Not a single bag of chips or bottle of soda to be found. There wasn't anything coming out of the tap in the soda fountain. A curious Twilight discovered that the doors leading to the normally off-limits areas were unlocked and we checked the back but didn't find anything there either. In conclusion, the entire store was devoid of any kind of staff or sustenance.

It was the same for every place we entered—shops, schools, homes... everything. We even checked a nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market and the place was just as dead and empty as every other place we visited. It was very surreal and a bit disturbing.

I also have to stress that a lot of these detours happened mostly because Twilight was curious. In fact, if it weren't for her insistence, I would've skipped a good portion of these places entirely. I wasn't exactly a fan of abandoned schools and supermarkets. After a while I started to feel a bit like Earl Holliman trying to find out where everyone went, but at least in his case, his isolation was all just a (frankly kind of twisted) simulation.

To be fair I did have Twilight with me and she was nothing if not a bottomless well of conversation when she wasn't absorbed in whatever story she was listening to on my phone, whether it be questions or comments. Most of her questions I didn't really have an answer to, given that I'd never set foot inside most of these places. Still, it was nice to have someone to talk to and to bounce thoughts and ideas off of in this situation.

Eventually, we concluded that there wasn't any more to be gleaned from searching random buildings and opted to just continue on to our destination. I more or less already had my suspicions cemented by what we discovered though there was still a lot I wasn't sure about. I wasn't going to bring up my suspicions at all and just wait until we got answers from whoever had decided to make themselves comfortable in my house, but—

"Given what we've seen so far, I'm inclined to believe that none of this is real," came Twilight's sudden deduction, "it all feels too... artificial, like this place—this whole town was crafted to simply exist as some kind of backdrop and nothing more."

"Like the whole world is literally a stage and we're the only actors," I replied, sweeping a thoughtful gaze across what was normally one of the busier crossroads, "more like the world is one big dollhouse and we're just walking, talking dolls."

Twilight threw me a bemused look and I just shrugged.

"This kind of reminds me of my first meeting with Discord actually," I explained, "back then he shrunk me down and dropped me into this creepy plastic Ponyville playset, complete with mane six figurines."

"Oh," she replied uncertainly, "that's..."

"Yeah, it was weird," I finished before motioning to our surroundings, "and all of this kind of feels like that did. I don't know exactly what the deal is but... yeah, I'll go out on a limb and say it's all probably fake somehow."

"Which brings up several more questions like how this was all made and why and how we got here in the first place," Twilight mused, "if I had to guess, I'd say it was all caused by whoever's waiting for us, but how did they do it? Who or what is this... being if not Discord?"

"No idea," I answered simply, "we'll just have to find out once we finally get to the apartment complex. I'm more interested in how my phone works the way it's supposed to if everything else is fake."

Twilight looked over the device with an appraising sort of eye for a moment. I wasn't sure what she was trying to glean given that she had no idea how smartphones worked, but I kept my mouth shut and let her do her thing.

"Well... maybe the phone itself is real," she guessed, "maybe it's being used as a catalyst for a massive illusion spell of some sort?"

I wanted to say that was ridiculous, and I certainly thought it, but really, who was I to say whether or not that was plausible? Maybe that guy did create this place and maybe he turned my phone into a catalyst before dropping it in my pocket.

"Who knows?" I sighed before changing the subject to something a bit more mundane, "speaking of the working phone though, how does human literature stack up to what you're used to?"

I personally didn't see much of a difference and it wasn't really fair to judge all of what humanity had to offer in terms of literature just based on the stories I had on my phone, but I was curious to know if Twilight felt the same. For me, it was just idle curiosity, but Twilight did seem to give the question some serious thought before answering.

"It's not exactly fair for me to answer based on just these few stories alone," she said, echoing my thoughts, "and I'm not exactly partial to the kinds of stories you have on here, but I can say that if we're talking about just these authors, they're certainly as imaginative as any author you'd find in Equestria."

"That's fair," I said, "I didn't think our stories were too different from most of what you had in your library myself," I paused in thought, "actually, I did notice that none of the fictional stories you had that involved magic really deviated from the type of magic that already existed in your world."

"I never really thought about it until now," Twilight replied, looking just as thoughtful, "but after listening to a few of these stories I can't disagree. Yes, the more fantastical stories in my world had mages that could use spells that seem frankly impossible for any real unicorn to cast, but pony magic, chaos magic, dark magic... all of those spells are still rooted in various branches of actual magic theory to some degree.

"That's kind of why I find these stories so fascinating even if I'm not so much a fan of the plot," she continued, "some of these authors really put some thought into how magic works within the context of the worlds they create."

"That's what happens when you have the concept of magic but no actual magic system for it to revolve around," I explained, "magic is pure fiction where I'm from so people are free to interpret the concept anyway they see fit. That's why if you read some My Little Pony fanfictions you'll see a million different interpretations of how magic works in Equestria."

I didn't miss the subtle shift in Twilight's expression as I broached the topic of My Little Pony as a franchise. I knew the topic would make her uncomfortable but I figured there was no point in dancing around the issue. I'd told her before that no matter how either of us felt about it, it was what it was and we couldn't change it. She told me she would try to accept it, but it was obvious that it still bugged her quite a bit.

"That makes sense, I suppose," she conceded hesitantly before casting a side glance in my direction, "and if I remember correctly, you were a contributor to some of those interpretations, weren't you?"

"Oh yeah... I guess I was, huh?" I answered. I took a second to ponder on whether I should say what I wanted to say next. Twilight expression had turned somewhat dubious, but I could see a small hint of curiosity in there somewhere so I decided to go for it, "what would you say if I told you the whole reason I gained a respect for magic was because of how you, in particular, were portrayed in those interpretations?"

Twilight blinked.

"I... honestly don't know what to say to that," she replied, her dubious expression turning dumbfounded, "should I feel flattered?"

"Not really," I shrugged, "it was less the real you and more an idealized version of you as some kind of prodigal mage capable of ridiculous feats of magic. Think those mages you were talking about earlier from your stories and you kind of have an idea."

"Oh," she frowned, "well I like to think I'm pretty proficient when it comes to magic, and I'm sure there is some alternate Twilight out there that really is the kind of powerful mage that only exists in ponytales, but me? I'm no Star Swirl the Bearded," her expression turned slightly pained, "yes, I'm the... I was... the Element of Magic, but any real power that title afforded me was only available when my friends and I worked together."

"You do realize that even if friendship is magic, magic isn't necessarily friendship?" I argued.

"No, but in my world, friendship was the strongest magic there was," Twilight countered sadly, "even moreso than chaos magic in most cases, but without friends... my status as the Element of Magic is useless."

There was a somber moment of silence at her words, one I was about to break to tell her that I thought that was complete bullshit. I could've gone—and was about to go—into a long rant about my complicated love/hate relationship with the 'killing god with the power of friendship' trope.

It would've been a rant that would've inevitably devolved into me grumbling about my not-so-complex hate/hate relationship with the 'you're only truly strong if you're fighting for someone else' trope. Instead of subjecting an already dejected Twilight to all of that, though, I ignored the somber silence in favor of a sudden thought.

"I wonder," I raised a curious eyebrow at Twilight, "so friendship as a source of magical power... would that only have applied in your Equestria, or is it like an internal thing that you can call on anywhere? Does it only work with the other Elements or could it work with anyone you make friends with?"

Evidently caught off guard by the onslaught of questions, all she could do for a second was give me a surprised look. It didn't take much time for her to collect herself though, and she fell into a pensive silence before long. Judging by how long she spent ruminating on it, I figured she had never actually given it any thought before. While she was contemplating her answer, I took another look around and found that we were almost to my place.

One more right turn and we were on the side road that led into the apartment complex where I lived. From a distance, I could make out the familiar buildings and sure enough, there wasn't a single parked vehicle in sight. The whole complex seemed just as eerie and abandoned as everywhere else we'd been to. I went to tell Twilight that we were just about here, but she chose that moment to finally respond, and I was proven right in my previous assumption.

"The magic of friendship is tied to Harmony," she explained, "and Harmony is a force that exists... that existed both within and all around not just every pony, but each and every creature in my world."

She let out a despondent sigh before shaking her head.

"When I... when my friends and I used our Elements we weren't just channeling all that magic from within, we were also borrowing what we could from the world and all its creatures. That said... I'm not sure if that kind of magic would work as things are now. Maybe in a different Equestria... but I don't know for certain."

"Hmmm..." I pondered on it for a few seconds longer, "...well, to me that just means there's still hope. Even if you can't use your Element to its fullest or at all anymore, I don't think the multiverse is just gonna leave you hanging. Don't know if I can say the same for me, but... we'll see, I guess. By the way, we're here."

In the time it took for Twilight to gather her thoughts and give an answer, we'd reached the stairs leading up to my apartment's front door—a fact Twilight had only just now realized. She scanned the empty complex with brows raised in mild interest.

"So these were the kind of homes you lived in," she muttered, "it's a lot more... open than the high rise apartments you would've seen in Manehattan or Fillydelphia. Less, er... cramped feeling, I guess."

"Yeah, that's an apartment complex for you, and Tucson is like that in general," I said as I began my ascent upstairs, "everything is super spread out and the only place you'll really see a bunch of high rise buildings smashed against one another is downtown."

When I didn't hear a response I looked down and saw that Twilight was still at the bottom of the stairs. Her expression had turned worried as she watched me make my way up. I paused midway to raise a questioning eyebrow, giving her a look that probably said 'you coming or what?' Picking up on that, she took a deep breath to calm herself then followed me up a moment later.

"Nervous?" I asked unnecessarily.

"Kind of, yeah," she nearly whispered as we both stood right outside the door, "I mean, we don't know who or what we're going to find inside. For all we know, this could be some kind of trap by Discord or some creature working with him."

"Mmm... call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case," I replied, "in fact, I'd be willing to bet a ton of money I don't have that Discord has no idea what's going on right now. I think who or whatever brought us here did so without his knowledge."

"You think so?"

"I wouldn't completely stake my life on it, but yeah," I finished before reaching for the doorknob, "whatever the case though, we're not gonna find anything out by just standing around, so..."

I turned the knob, pushed the door open, and was surprised to find... that my place was just as I'd left it. While I was certain this wasn't actually my real apartment, the resemblance was uncanny. Unlike everywhere else, the living and dining rooms weren't completely empty. Since I lived alone I didn't really have very much furniture; a small couch that was forced on me by a relative, a small dining room table complete with a basic nondescript uncomfortable wooden chair, and... that was about it as far as furniture outside of my room went.

I wasn't a complete slob, but I wasn't exactly a neat freak either and I was lazy on top of that. That said, there was the typical clutter you'd expect from someone with those traits: Mostly full trash bin, the few dishes I owned left unwashed in the sink, a hamper somewhere half full of clothes that needed to be washed, etc. From what I remembered, the fridge and freezer especially needed some taking care of.

That was how I'd left my apartment before I was whisked away by Discord, and at just a glance I could see that nothing had changed in that regard. As Twilight and I stepped through the door, however, it wasn't the sight of my familiar surroundings that caught my attention, but rather a familiar sound coming from deeper within—from the back where my room was.

The hell?

"Salvatore?" Twilight whispered behind me, her eyes warily scanning the living room, "what is that? It... it sounds like a—"

I motioned for Twilight to quiet down and follow after me. Together we made the short trip to where my room was, confusion overtaking any nervousness the two of us had felt initially. We reached the open doorway without any kind of fanfare, but what I saw within my room immediately brought to mind a certain scene from one of my favorite movies and I had to stop and stare for a moment.

Now, my bedroom wasn't anything special, but there was more going on in here than anywhere else in the house. I didn't have a traditional bed, but rather one of those cheap inflatable mattress deals shoved into one corner of the room. I didn't really care what I slept on so long as the pillow below me and blanket above me were warm and comfortable, so the mattress was enough.

That mattress was still there, as were my two separate desks and chairs. Above one desk was the large HDR flatscreen I spent a good portion of my free time staring into and the two consoles I used to play games on said flatscreen. My Switch and PS4 were still there where they'd always been and below that same desk was a mess of wires and plug extensions.

On the way here I had entertained myself with the idea that whoever was here might've been using one of consoles when we came in, but no. Instead, the person who'd been waiting for us—and yes, it was a person—was sitting at my other, smaller desk. It was the desk where my laptop was, the desk I used to write my stories, play what few games I'd bought off of Steam, or looked up certain videos and images purely for research purposes only.

Sitting at my laptop was none other than... me.

Twilight and I had stumbled upon someone who was very clearly me, furiously typing away like his life depended on it. Same dark skin, same wild dreads, same slightly frumpy look. He wasn't wearing the same black jeans, white tee, and black faux fur coat that I was and unlike the current me, he still wore glasses. He sat at the desk wearing exactly what I would've were I in his position—namely, a simple plain black tee and dark flannel pajama pants.

He was even blasting some super heavy, djenty metal out of the same wireless headphones I wore. Hell, I wouldn't have even been surprised if they were actually my headphones. That might've explained why I hadn't gotten them back with my phone, but didn't explain how he was listening to music without the actual phone.

Yeah... this is definitely some bizarro In the Mouth of Madness shit for sure, but you know what? I feel like I should've expected this.

I didn't... but I should've.

"S-Salvatore?!" Twilight exclaimed, looking between me and my double in obvious bewilderment, "what? But... how?! Who—"

"Oh hey, you both finally made it. About goddamn time."

Taking one hand off the keyboard while still typing with the other, the other me pulled his headphones down to rest around his neck. He turned to us as he spoke, but kept his hands on the keyboard, unwilling or—if my sudden suspicions were right—unable to stop his typing for even a second. He may have looked like me, but if there was ever any evidence that he wasn't, it was this.

I don't have nearly as much focus or multitasking skill as this guy does when I'm writing.

"Well, when you've been writing as long as I have, you tend to pick up a few skills," said the me-who-was-not-me, apparently reading my mind, "but never mind that, we have way more important things to talk about and I'd rather we get it done ASAP. Oh, and you're... mostly right about me not being you... technically speaking."

"What?" Twilight asked, still trying to catch up to the situation judging by her frustrated tone, "what does that mean? If you're not Salvatore then who... what are you?"

At that, he hummed as if to give the question some thought, then turned once again to face the computer screen.

"I guess you could call me a god, but that's not entirely accurate," he smiled wryly, "if anything I'm more a slave than a god... or maybe 'tool' would be a better word. Yeah... like a pen or a quill or something."

"So..." I began before trailing off expectantly.

The 'tool' gave it a bit more thought. He sat there in silence for at least a minute or two and I chose to let him have his space. I figured he'd tell us when he was ready. Twilight wasn't so patient and went to speak, probably to demand more of an answer, but quickly and quietly convinced her to shut up for a minute. Sure enough, he spoke again after a few moments, his tone calm and contemplative despite the manic typing.

"Hmmm... well, I suppose you can call me the Apparatus. That's as good a name as any I think. But enough about me for the moment, let's talk about the two of you and what I'd like you to do for me."