A Glimmer of Hope: Reborn

Ivy woke up, tied and bound to what appeared to be an operating table, based on the cold, smooth silver surface, the blinding light shining above her, and what appeared to be operating tools on a metallic side table. She tried to struggle which made a deafening clanging sound, causing her to stop.

“Good, you’re awake,” Tempest cast her shadow on the hybrid, making the woman tremble a bit. With most of the mare’s facial features hidden by the obstruction of light, this made Tempest even more intimidating. “We’re going to find out who and what you are, and why you decided to destroy a national monument,” she stated with a voice of cold seriousness.

Tempest leaned in close to the woman’s face. She couldn’t see her eyes thanks to the metal that obstructed them. Tempest decided it would be best not to remove that… for either fear of seeing something unwanted or if it was some sort of magical protective device.

“We’ll start off easy,” Tempest circled around the prisoner, mindful of her muscular tail. Whatever creature this was, being from this Earth as Twilight put it, she looked dangerous. Who’d even name a planet after the ground? “What is your name?”

“I-Ivy…” she shivered at hearing the mare speak, instantly noticing the broken horn atop her head. This unicorn had been through a lot, appearing almost like a veteran of some war… it would be better not to hide anything from her. Not that she had anything to hide, she and Matt also knew about Nick, maybe they could help them. Wait! Where was her companion??

“Wise of you to cooperate… Ivy,” Tempest tried the name out for herself, not too far off from pony naming conventions, although there wasn’t any green on the snake hybrid. “Next question. What are you?”

“Have you ev-ever heard of a Lamia?” Ivy asked in return, glad that cooperating didn’t seem to have any adverse effects yet.

“Lah-mee-ya?” Tempest repeated with a quizzical look. “Surely you’re making that up. The only similar thing to what you look like is a snake pony… and those are pure myth.”

“Well I’m half human and half snake, which is a lamia,” Ivy sighed, losing a bit of hope at her interrogator’s doubts. “If you just let me speak to Twilight-”

At the mention of the princess’s name she was cut off.

“That then leads to my next question, what were you and your accomplice doing in the Everfree Forest? How do you know Princess Twilight? Why did you destroy the statue of the Hero of Equestria??” She became enraged, reminded of how Twilight was crushed emotionally and had asked her to deal with the interrogations while she composed herself.

The mare had gotten some information from “Matt” but he wouldn’t tell her anymore, her magic seeming to not having much of an effect on him. Mostly due to a mix of not having the precision she wanted over her magic and Twilight’s rules regarding prisoners.

“First, that was an-an accident!” Ivy tried to wave her hands, only to be reminded that she was still strapped to the table. “We didn’t mean to destroy it… but our gems, they were attracted to the one on Nick’s statue. I don’t know why they did that!”

“That’s another question! Why did you have such gems in your possession?? What do they do? What do they symbolize??”

“I-I just don’t know!!” Ivy cried tears of anguish. “I wish I did!”

“That’s enough, Tempest,” Twilight’s voice rang out through the cell, causing both females to look up at her. Her eyes were stained red from the amount of crying she had just finished, her cheeks matted by the tears that fell on them. This only made Tempest more angry at the creature, hating to see the alicorn like this.

“But-” she tried to explain her reasoning.

“It’s ok, Tempest,” she took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m- I’m ready to see what they have to say for themselves.” She looked at Ivy, with a rather tired expression. “Ivy, was it?”

The woman nodded slowly, not speaking a word. This definitely wasn’t the Twilight she knew. This Twilight had looked as if she matured more than aged, her naivety and curiosity replaced by wisdom and what seemed to be a loss of her innocence. It was as if the experiences in this universe had molded her that way.

“Now… would you mind telling me everything you know?” Twilight walked down the steps and towards her. She pulled up a chair and sat in it, waiting for her response. Tempest, seeing that Twilight had things under control took a break, shedded the role of interrogator and switched to supporter, standing by Twilight’s side while Ivy began to explain everything that she knew.

“Well… we were sent here by the Tree of Harmony,” Ivy recounted, feeling a bit more at ease in the situation. “Apparently, and this may sound crazy, but there are several universes coexisting side by side. So like how Nick was the hero in this universe, Matt and I were heroes in our own.”

“So you’re saying… that parallel universes exist?” Twilight’s eyes widened at the revelation. Of course she could be lying to her, but… if anyone would have told her about meeting and falling in love with someone like Nick, she’d call them crazy too.

Ivy nodded, however that was starting to cause a cramp in her neck from the limited movement. “Yes, at least that’s how Matt explained it. I was just more happy that someone actually succeeded in saving Equestria.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Twilight tilted her head. “If Nick was able to save all of us, didn’t you do the same in your own universe?”

Ivy went quiet, and while they couldn’t see her whole facial expression, the lone tear that slid past her mask was answer enough. “I tried… I really did,” Ivy’s voice started to shake. “But…” more tears followed. “I wasn’t strong enough…”

Twilight and Tempest bowed their heads, deciding that they’d discuss this later, but at least they had a better idea of what was going on. Twilight went over to Ivy and placed a hoof on her shoulder. While she couldn’t release the hybrid just yet, she could show her kindness. “It’s alright now Ivy… you’re safe here, thanks to Nick. And… if you really mean it when you said you were supposed to meet him here… that gives me so much hope of seeing him again,” she shed a few happy tears.

Matt continued to struggle after the freaky unicorn had left, not caring if they were observing him from a double sided window or whatever. He wasn’t about to spend the rest of his life rotting in this cell allowing that kooky princess to experiment on him. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance when not only had the hornless unicorn returned, but the maniacal Princess herself was behind her.

He would have hurled another wave of expletives and curses had Tempest not gagged him after being rather fed up with his non compliance.

“You’re right Tempest, this one is even rowdier than Ivy,” Twilight commented, looking curiously at Matt.

Matt seemed infuriated by that. “Mwrph wid wuw tu fy??” Translated: “What the hell did you do to Ivy??”

Both mares looked at him with confused expressions. Tempest, having experience with the degenerate being and the annoyance and crudeness that left his mouth, kept the gag in his mouth, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk to find out what he was saying was yet another insult about the whereabouts of her horn.

Twilight on the other hoof, never having seen another human aside from Nick and now Ivy, couldn’t help but wonder how varied human personalities could be. Nick was kind and gentle, Ivy seemed to be a bit more outgoing and fun loving once they got her more relaxed. “Matt”, however, seemed to have a temper as short as he was. It actually wasn’t too far off from how ponies could act sometimes, and with that knowledge in hoof, she knew how to approach him.

“Matt,” Twilight spoke in a calm and soothing voice, trying to not upset him anymore. “We both have what each other needs. You have the information I need on why you’re here and about Nick. I can provide you freedom from these restraints and protective custody in exchange. Now I’m going to remove the gag from your mouth and I ask you to please calmly tell us what you know, ok?”

She was now looking into his bluish grey eyes with her large magenta ones, sincerity and compassion radiating from them. “Please,” she softly pleaded with her expression. “I need to know if we can bring him back…”

Matt looked back at the alicorn. She definitely wasn’t the Twilight he had met in his universe, at least, this one didn’t show the signs of it. She also had a good point, they both needed each other’s help. The Tree wasn’t too clear on what they were supposed to do when they met Nick, nor that it mentioned how to bring him back from the dead, but they were all on the same side.

He let out a muffled sigh and nodded for her to proceed. She cautiously removed the gag and he breathed in sharply, reestablishing his normal breathing pattern. Taking in a few more deep breaths he steadied himself to look at Twilight. “I… I have your promise that Ivy is safe and well and that we both will stay that way?”

She nodded, smiling softly at his cooperation. “Yes, I promise that you and Ivy shall be granted asylum under my protection. I heard of a, disturbance, up in Canterlot. I’m sure that matter can be easily resolved. Now, the information please?”

He looked to her once more, as if deciding if he still trusted her. His gut told him yes,and so far it hadn’t failed him, so he complied. “Well, it started as my world, er, version of Equestria was crumbling around me,” he started, bitterly recounting the events.

“I was tasked with the same quest like Nick. Defeat the creatures, gain their powers and ultimately save Equestria. The same price was offered as well, sacrificing myself in order to save Equestria. I fought it, not accepting such a fate, but it seemed I didn’t have a choice in the matter… as I later found out,” he breathed in through his teeth, seemingly recalling a touchy memory. “I was given free will, not someone to just be told what I had to do. I thought that I could find a way around it, be the hero and still live. That’s where things turned for the worst....” he trailed off, looking down his torso in shame.

Twilight bowed her head in remorse. She thought she understood the gravity of the situation they were in when Nick came into her life, but hearing the pain and anguish in his voice about failing his own universe… it reminded her of how she felt losing Nick. “It’s not your fault Matt,” she spoke after a moment of silence. “You thought you were doing the right thing, and you were following basic self preservation. No one could really judge you for that.”

“But look at it this way,” she continued after a pause. “You got a second chance by being here. To work with Nick to perhaps right the wrongs, relieve the guilt you feel.”

He shook his head. “I doomed a whole world due to my selfishness… it’s going to take a lot more than a second chance to fix that,” he trailed off once more, his face becoming stoic.

Another pause between them and he continued. Now wasn’t the time to be pitying himself. “Anyway, I suppose you want to know more about Nick,” he looked back to her, his eyes appearing cloudy. “Well… more like what I know about him.”

She teared up a bit in relief. “Yes… I would greatly appreciate that.”

Tempest watched the exchange unfold and was rather, surprised at how quickly the human’s attitude had changed. It was apparent she still had a lot to learn about handling others from Twilight.

Thinking back as to why he was sent here in the first place, trying to recall the conversation the Tree and he had, he breathed out a sigh of exhaustion. “Nick, isn’t dead.”