The Hub

Chapters

Fresh meat
Meeting a few friends
I'm sorry what?
The Other side of things
Just Another Day
Dear Celestia.
Pacing
Chapter 8

Fresh meat

A purple unicorn, one of the many of equine races in the world she hails from, tumbles horn over rump into a white void that stretches on for miles and miles. The unicorn rolls and finds herself upside down on a stretched out couch, eyes rolling around comically as stars dance above her head. A groan escapes from her lips as she tries to regain her senses and remember what had led her to this point and more importantly figure out what this point is. She shuts her eyes and rapidly shakes her head causing the stars to fly off in various directions. When her eyes open again, she is greeted to a set of magenta eyes.

"Hi!" The owner of the eyes yells excitedly before she feels hooves pick her up, flip her around, and plop her right side up on the couch.

Confused and dazed, the unicorn known as Twilight stutters out a hello as she tries to take in the appearance of the creature before her. Hooves grip on to her own.

"That was a pretty awesome tumble you had going on, but I think you wanted to tuck your head in a liiiitle bit more in order to get that perfect roundness so you can have a more comfortable roll! Then again, you always got to take into account the whole issue of horn protocols which will make it almost impossible to get that perfect roll. The best option would probably to get rid of it if you ever decide you wanna go for another super awesome mega perfect tumble the likes of which nopony has ever seen before! We'll make it to the big leagues of tumble tumblers and rake in all sorts of dough! Bits? Cash? You know what I don't even know what our monetary value is... But! That is beside the point for I-!"

"No! Bad Pielight! Bad! Leave the new pony alone." A purple alicorn, a pony or horse that has both functional horn and wings, screams flying down spraying a water bottle at said other purple earth pony.

Pielight arches her back impossibly like a cat despite her equine form before hissing and skittering off into... nothingness? The purple unicorn has to blink for a moment before realizing that there is more to the nothingness. An expansive place of various rooms and doors. Furthermore, there seem to be hallways and walls leading all over the place with stairs seemingly placed around randomly leading off into who knows where. The current area that the unicorn finds herself in is, in fact, a lot more colored and filled then she first perceived. There's the couch she finds herself at, table, counters, fridges, a weird box with a screen attached to it and an impossible number of... herself?

The alicorn sighs and looks apologetically at the starting to panic unicorn.

"Heh... Sorry about that... She gets like that some of the time. You should see how some of the others would've reacted if they were the first to find you. At least she brought you further... in I guess. I was actually going to try to be the first to welcome you, buuuuut she beat me to the punch."

As the Alicorn speaks the unicorn looks over the form of herself in which she would've never imagined herself being. She is fully equipped with a longer horn, a pair of wide wings, and a blue crown that seems to float above and move with her head. The unicorn looks at her hooves as the Alicorn tries to get her attention, but she simply closes her eyes and ears to the world before striking a hoof against her face in an attempt to jolt herself awake. She is only awarded pain and the slow realization that this is far from a dream. Or she might attempt to delude herself into assume that this is in a coma induced state.

The alicorn summons a purple glowing hand and makes it perform snapping of the fingers in order to gain the unicorn's attention.

"Twilight! Twilight! Stay with me or I guess us girl."

Twilight shakes her head and gazes from the hand to the Alicorn.

"You need anything?" The alicorn asks sitting beside Twilight and draping a wing over her, "Water, milk, soda, booze? We've got it all here. Food as well."

Twilight shakes her head slowly as she tries to catch the breath she never realized she lost. Her mind is swimming with dizziness and questions, but she has no idea where to start.

"Ya sure? I promise it'll probably make things a bit easier to process. A lot of the... usses that are here right now have been in the same position as you. I'll answer a few of the basic questions they ask. One, I don't know how you got here, but I can teach you how to leave and come back whenever you wish. Two, yes they are all variations of us both good, evil, and in between. Three, the only danger you are in is getting hurt physically and emotionally because you can't die here. Be it as many have tried, you can't actually kill or be killed. You can come pretty close to it, but all wounds will eventually heal. Well, except for the emotional ones. Four, yes my name is Twilight but each Twilight has a variation they go by be it Pielight, Dusk Shine, or Dawn. There is something about each Twilight that makes them unique to their world, and almost all of them eventually find themselves here. Five, no I don't know if there is a version of something like this for our friends. But! If there is such a place, I'm pretty sure the Pinkamena version would have figured out how to get to all the other ones to throw a giant party. Then again, we do have some Pinkie versions of us on the work of doing something along that line..."

"No matter. You make call me Grand Twilight. You'll recognize me due to my blue crown, but I do occasionally patrol with Guardlight and spend my time at events with Queen Twilight. Those two you'll most likely be able to pick out in a crowd. I do recommend taking everything in at your own pace so you don't get overwhelmed by everything. I'll be with you for now and just tell me when you're ready to go on to the next stuff."

Twilight sits there quietly just digesting the information. She slowly proceeds to nod her head and looks towards Grand Twilight, "I'm ready."

"Good! Now, what would you like to learn first? How to travel around her effectively or how to leave and return?" Grand says smiling warmingly.

"I suppose how to leave and return first would be important."

"Right. It's pretty simple actually. Just think of home and will it to you. A door will appear before you to allow you and only you through. Each door is built that way as a sort of safety protocol to prevent the changing of worlds by various other Twilights."

"M-Makes sense. So I just." Twilight closes her eyes and proceeds to think of her world and where she was before. She feels something well inside of her and she forces it forward.

She opens her eyes to see a red door before her.

"It worked!" Twilight exclaims examing her crimson red door, "And all I have to do is just... is... is something wrong?"

Twilight shrinks back at Grand's glare at the door before the two. There seems to be a very bitter look mixed with something of pity.

"Tell me. What were you doing before you stumbled here." Grand asks.

"I... I uh... well I had just broken out of a trap that was laid out by our world's Sombra. Apparently, he was pretty malicious and had crystal like guards poised to kill anyone that tried to enter into his locked rooms under the Crystal Kingdom. Well, I was running to get away when I tripped over a trip wire, but instead of anything happened I wound up here."

Grand takes a very deep breath and looks deep into Twilight's eyes.

"You'll die if you go home. It might not be right away, but you will die. Whether a painful death or a clean death I don't know. But your door is marked for death. Twilights that come in here with red doors are Twilights that generally never return when they go home. That applies to you as well. Whether you take the chance is up to you, but stay here for a while. Your world will not continue while you are no there so you have no time limit for how long you want to stay away."

Twilight eyes go wide at this bit of news brought to her. She looks towards her door her chest tightening in fear.

Grand sighs and shakes her head, "I know what it must be like. There aren't many good worlds out there. So many Grimdark places, but there are quite a few good ponies and creatures here. You just gotta know where to look. I can take you to your own personal room if you like.

"Y-Yes please." Twilight barely whispers.

Meeting a few friends

A winged purple coated pony flutters down to the stool in front of the bar while another more masculine and male version of her stands behind it cleaning various glasses that the other various Twilights have drunken from. The newcomer known as Pegalight sighs and holds up a hoof for the first drink of a long night. The male unicorn version of her, known as Butchlight, uses his magic to pour a drink, a hard one after really looking at how sullen Pega looks, and makes his way down the bar.

"What's got you so down?" Butch asks placing a cleaned glass down.

"Well... I decided to go back home for a few days too, you know, get the ball moving again and try to figure out what I wanna do with myself that makes me all the more special and powerful. Well, I made a really bad mistake following the advice of Rarilight and decided to switch up my style for a few days, " Pega throws back her drink, "And guess what! It worked! It worked too well! Because now everyone wants fashion advice from me and not flying lessons or for me to teach them on how I was able to manipulate the thrumatic fields around me to create lightning in varying degrees of color and speed!"

Pega moves her hoof in a circle and causes a bottle of butterscotch to come flying off the shelf and into her hooves.

"Have you tried telling them you can't?"

"No! Why would I!? My Rarity is all like, 'Oh Twilight! It's destiny! I knew we were friends for just more than element bearers! Oh, we can just stay up all night sharing fashion ideas!' and I'm all like 'Yea sure! We can make a big ole party about it!' and she goes, 'Oh! What a wonderful idea! I'll go call up my contacts and let them know to come to view ALL of OUR wonderful ideas together!' and now I'm here because I need to DRINK before dealing with-"

"Pegalight! How are you darling? I haven't seen you around in quite a while!"

"Speak of the devil..." Pega mumbles and turns to embrace a pristine marshmallow version of herself dressed down in a flowing dress that accents together purple and her white coat perfectly, "Rari! Oh its so good to hear your voice again!"

"Oh how you flatter me, darling. Now spill. How was your new attire? Did it inspire the masses?"

Pega clenches her teeth before looking at the scotch bottle. Pega rips the top off and tosses it back drinking down half of it before slamming the bottle down, "Sure did! I just decided to come to celebrate!

"Celebrate all you like! In fact, I'll even join you and talk about even more designs we can add to your attire!"

Butch leans close to Pega's ear as Rari begins to talk about all sorts of material she can use for her flying friend, "This will only make the problem worse you know."

Pega whispers through grit teeth, "Not if I drink myself into a coma for a while!"

"Up up! You gotta go more up!" A frizzy-haired Twilight yells pointing at the screen before the group of Twilights.

The screen before them seems to be a flat screen television that is hooked up to a gaming console known as the Pbox. There are four cords leading out of the bulky pink machine and into the hooves and hands of four Twilights frantically playing a game up on the screen. Behind the four, cheering and screaming can be heard as "clutch" moves are made about the screen and betting takes place hosted by a top hat wearing Twilight equipped with cape and cane. Her blue mane and darker shade of purple coat really make her stand out against the crowd surrounding her.

"Hey! Quit the back seat gaming!" A purple skinned bipedal Twilight complains while not taking her eyes off of the screen, "Besides! Her ass is coming down hard!"

"You'll have to kiss it first asshole!" Another Twilight yells sat along the same couch wearing 3-D glasses and multiple wristbands of various bands along her forelegs all while magical hands grip the controller in front of her, "Not like you'll ever get the chance to!"

"You got that right! Especially when she's, " The screen flashes red as 3-D glasses wearing Twilight screams in horror, "OUT OF HEAR!" A deep shade of purple, almost black, Twilight yells after triumphantly defeating one of her counterparts on screen.

"Fuuuuuck!" 3-D yells throwing the controller on the ground and storming away.

Cheers, laughter, and groans erupt from the crowd as one of the contenders is eliminated from the race. Meanwhile, Gambellight seems to be erasing a name off of the board behind her and all the while collecting money from grumbling Twilights.

"Damn straight!" Human Twilight yells while laughing, "Talk shit get hit!"

"You better remember that when it comes around..." Another Twilight who seems to be a mix of human and pony.

She seems to have hooves for feet and covered entirely in fur except for hands and face. She had four fingers instead of the normal five associated with humans, but it does not seem to impede her gaming skills what-so-ever. She jerks and moves with her character on screen all while mumbling and groaning about various things happening around her and to her on screen.

"No way Satyr! I'm going for gold this time around!"

"Didn't you say that last time?" Darker Twilight says grinning trying to provoke her opponent.

Human Twilight growls and slouches more while glaring at the screen and her opponents' characters, "But this time is different..."

"She's going for it!"

"She'll never make it!"

"She's crazy!"

"Don't you dare! I put too much money on this match!"

Various words are slung around as Human Twilight begins to enact her plan. Her score climbs higher and higher all the while her character begins to do the unthinkable and unpredictable. Human Twilight can taste victory as she begins to spam the button on the screen near her character.

"What!" "No!" Darker and Satyr yell at once while trying to get their characters to catch up to where Human's was.

"It's too late! I! Have! The! POWER!" Human yells jumping to her feet and raising her controller as the screen flashes blood red before revealing the death of two opponents characters.

Darker slumps back and Satyr flops to the floor both groaning as cheers rise to their climax. They all proceed to chant out Human Twilight's name.

"Twiggles! Twiggles! Twiggles!"

Twiggles laughing manically as the various version of her proceed to pick her up and carry her around announcing her victory for all to know.

"Betting is closed everyone! Money front and center! And remember, we have ways of making you pay..." Gambellights says eyeing a few nervous version of her in the crowd.

A few good looking ones at that too, "And oh how you'll pay~."

I'm sorry what?

"So, what's your story?" A pierced and tattooed Twilight asks lounging back into the deep blue love seat she lays across.

But it is not just the piercings and tattoos that make her different, but the multicolored dyes in her hair can still be seen by the occasional streaks of light against her form from outside sources. The room she resides in holds no lights but several of herselves, each looking drastically different from the other, breathes in the smoke that slowly fills it from several sources. Held just centimeters from her lips is a still lit fag contributing to the choking hazard environment.

"Well... there's not much to say. Guess I kind of snapped that one day. I guess in hindsight, laughing at their chalk outlines because they laughed at my drawing wasn't as funny to their parents as it was to me." She chuckles at her own little joke her cut and frayed mane and tail flicking a bit as she recomposes herself, "After that, I and Celestia had a talk with mom and dad and everypony thought it would be better if I had time to look after my mental health before I got the full brunt of the punishment. But being the fine mares we are, I'm sure you already know that didn't fly by too well."

"Yeah? Gonna assume they locked you preeeeeety tiiiiight. So how'd you break out!?" A white-maned Twilight asks rolling over to her barrel and cocking her head causing several cough drop sized candies to fall out of her mouth, "If it was me I'd probably just use the reanimated dead to destroy the school. Oh oh oh! I would've even sent the little kiddy ones after their parents like rawr rawr munch much crack screams ahhhhhhh!~"

The newest Twilight gives the Necromancer a wary glance, "W-Well, I don't have control of that sort of magic. I decided to grab my only friend and make a run for it. From there we lived a pretty happy and murderous lifestyle. Every so often we have to deal with night guards, day guards, and the goons that various other races send out to take care of me, but it's nice. Spike has grown pretty well and has found out the wonders of pony meat that all the other carnivores talk about!"

"So you didn't even get to meet the crew huh?" A neon green spike-haired Twilight asks as she pulls the empty bottle of brandy from her lips.

Said Twilight seems to have something wrong about her as a green aura seems to radiate off of her as well. Every so often it seems that the green aura seems to form something or move in a sort of erratic way.

"Oh, you mean like Rainbowdash and all the others? Noooo not really... I've had a few run-ins with a few of them, but they're rather brief moments of words and physical actions." She says twitching a bit at that.

"Cool. What's you kill count?" The tattooed one asks after another drag.

"Oh jeez. I want to say at least in the three hundreds now. Of course, not all of those are ponies. Griffons, Dragons, the weird Spider race in the applelousian range, the diamond dogs. Anything is fair game to me. And Spike"

"Would you ever kill another Twilight?" The necromancer asks rolling back over and popping several candies into her mouth.

"I uh... O-Of course! Whose better to kill me than me?" New Twilight states chuckling.

"Than go ahead and prove it." The tattooed one says using a hook to kick something from underneath the table in front of her to the forelegs of the newest one, "Open it up and see what's inside."

Twilight does so nervously and finds inside the black box a knife crusted and flakey from use, "Y-You want me to go kill somepony? E-Easy! Not like it would be anything new! I'll just- "

"Let me just go ahead and stop you. I'll be the one to give you a target. She'll be easy to find too." The tattooed one says finishing her stick and flicking the butt off to somewhere, "All you gotta do is. Is. Look. In. A. Mirror."

"W-W-Wait wait wait wait! Wha-"

"After all, you said it yourself. Who better to kill a Twilight then yourself. So do it or get out I don't care. Either way, I'm sure you can tell I don't want you here with your sob story. Do YOU honestly think I give two shits about being bullied and now I'm a killer story? I've seen a dime a dozen walk through those doors and through these halls. I want something good. Original," She moves from the couch to stand on her hooves, "And you bring me the same half-assed shit that every other deranged and grimdark Twilight brings in her. Boo hoo, no one likes me so let's kill everypony! Puh-Lease!"

The speaking mare flips the table out of the way causing it to crash and shatter against the rightmost wall away from the other Twilights who all seem to be smiling and staring at the frightened newcomer. Tattooed pauses on her advancement to pull the knife out of the book with her hoof. She gives it a look over before lunging forward and pressing the knife against the other Twilight's throat, forcing her back, and slamming her back into the door she had entered leaving both on their hind hooves.

"Now listen up filly. You're gonna leave and never come back. If you do, it better be with one hell of a murderous story or with killing intent. Because if it's not, I'll show you why the other Twilights are here. I might even let Bloodlight have some fun with you. Hell, the worse that could happen is Hazmat Twilight gets a hold of you. But because I know you're smart, since you're technically me and all that, you'll remember this little fact too."

Tattooed leans in closer before licking the frightened mare's neck to ear while lightly rubbing the knife across her throat, "Though~ You are pretty cute~ Perhaps I'll keep you around like a toy if you decided to stay or come back~"

Tattooed pulls back and drops down on all fours before walking back over to the couch and laying back down on her back, "Fuck. Now I won't be able to get comfortable again. If you're done pissing yourself over there, come over here and help me get comfortable."

The newcomer is nothing but a smoke cloud that disappears as the door shuts with a slam.

Tattooed snorts, "Pussy."

"I can support!" A Twilight happily shouts raising a purple hoof into the air causing the sleeve of her gown to fall back toward her chest and the cross betwinx her breasts to flop about as she hops up and down in the air excitedly.

A white coif sits on her head and her silvery hair is tied into a single braid down her back. Her style of dressing resembles that of a nun or a cleric with the addition of a hole for the tail she sprouts. The gown she wears has the symbol of the sun embordered into it on the front and back. She is very much so a Satyr making her stand out further in the crowd of ponies around her.

Far above the herd seems to be a large screen displaying team names, player names, classes, and starting locations. The one who had just spoken is added under the available list below the rest of the more broad topics on the screen. Her name seems to be Clergy Sparkle which makes it very clear on what her class should be.

Some statements begin to stir up along the lines of missing one's chance to grab the best one or going after the team that gets the best-damned support. Of course, this goes over her head as she happily trots through the crowd apologizing when bumping into some creature and plops herself down in the waiting area below the screen.

An earth pony Twilight wearing a green beret and covered in various different green and black paint comes up and looks Clergy Sparkle up and down. She snorts and holds out a hoof.

"I've been told to come to collect you. My name is Fltecherlight. I'm assuming you're Clergy Sparkle?"

"Sure am!" She exclaims happily standing, dropping to her knees, and shaking the offered hoof with her own.

"You know, you're really unlike any of the other Satyrs..." Fletcher says looking over the form of Clergy.

"Well. Where I'm from its more like a blessing than a curse despite what others believe. For my religion tell me that-"

"Yea yea that's nice and all, but I don't need you to start giving me a sermon about all of this." Fletcher says taking her hoof away, "We've got a game to win and bits to earn. As long as you do your part it should be smooth sai-"

Fletcher screams as her bow is snapped in half as she tumbles backward from the force of the magic just cast at her.

"Fuck fuck fuck! Where did our tank go!"

"He's already down!" Another pony Twilight yells rushing over clutching a greatsword in one hoof while looking about her, "She took a fatal blow from the other team as soon as they found an opening!"

"Shit! What happened to our healer!?"

"W-Well... she kind of uh... sent me over here to check on you while she handled business.."

"What! And you just let her go! I formulated a plan to-"

"Yeaaaaah. About that plan... Clergy said that a plan is good and all, but you shouldn't just assume what people are entirely good at." Greatsword Twilight says putting the sword into the ground and leaning against it while pulling stuff out of her pouch on her waist.

"She's support! All she needs to do is-"

An explosion causes the two to jump and look behind them. Above the canopy of trees, a glowing white Alicorn appears burning bright like the sun. The Alicorn spreads out her wings causing feathers of light to slowly come off of her before they proceed to turn into beams of light flying into the directions all her summoner sees as unholy, just, and her enemy. Screams of pain and fear can be heard from everywhere as the two battered Twilight watches as Clergy Twilight laughs with her arms raised up a top of the Alicorn.

"Yes! YES! Be bathed in purifying light! And let your sins be burned away! Sinners shall receive no mercy and will all be killed in the holy light so that the All-Mother may sort you out! Amen."

The Other side of things

A deep purple claw soaked in black liquid yanks free from the chest of a black humanoid figure. The figure shudders before falling apart into shadows that scatter into the ground. The creature that the claw is attached to howls into the air throwing its purple and black head back. The creature covered in purple fur from head to three clawed toes is known as Werelight and in her current form only knows to kill. The creature's mouth hangs open showing black covered. Her eyes are almost vacant and have taken on a more primal animalistic presence about them as they shift and scout for her next enemy.

"There she goes again." A scythe-wielding satyr says sighing and leaning against the wall that separates the wild from the "haven", "Honestly I think she's a bad as any of the other things out here. She shows up every time there's going to be a hunt and she just goes full animal until there's nothing left or one of us knocks her out. She's a real pain in the ass if you ask me."

The satyr is dressed down in a black robe that opens in the front. Whether dyed from the blood of the fallen creatures or made like that is unknown. But the blackness of the robe is unreal and seems to shift if stared at too intently. Inside the robe, shes dressed in a red button up shirt that stop just above her waist. Her lower half is covered in light purple fur and ends in cloven hooves.

"It's a good thing nobody did Reaper." Another Twilight says closing the book in front of her and looking at Reaper with deep blue eyes, "Now, I believe you have a job to be doing."

Outside of the blue eyes, this Twilight is but an Earth pony that seems to have a book chained to her foreleg. The chain wraps around it tightly and disappears into her chest. The chain is silver and seems to have a faint glow on to itself. The text on the front of the book seems to change every minute or so and possibly never repeats itself. Even more is that her right flank had the cutie mark of almost every other Twilight and the other flank has the book.

"That's true. I do have a job, several, and one which seems to be denied here at every turn." Reaper says watching Werelight grab a figure and rip it in two.

"I figured you of all people would."

Blue-eyed Twilight flinches and jumps back at the same time Reaper does. An explosion flings the two further apart causing grunts of discomfort from the two. Reaper is the first to recover flipping in air and landing on her feet. She yanks her scythe out of the air in time catch the blade of another humanoid figure using the middle of it. The blade in question seems to extend from the body of the creature where it's left arm would be.

"Mother of Celestia you guys are persistent!"

Reaper shoves the figure back and slashes through it like butter causing it to sink back into the ground. She turns to check on the other Twilight to find her unscathed and walking away from a frozen figure that slowly crumbles into pieces. Reaper gives a relaxed sigh before nodding towards her.

"Alright. I'm off Reilight. Try to have Werelight's and my back. "

Reilight nods her head while opening her book causing it to flip through several pages and her eyes to glow the same brilliant light as her book. Beams of light fire from her form into the void as more creatures rise from the ground roaring in anger. Werelight growls and begins sprinting ripping through the dark forms with her claws while Reaper seems to ignore the basic ones scanning for the one that sent the attack against the two. She quickly spots out the spell caster accompanied by two knight-like figures that wield greatswords with one hand.

"Big boys aren't you!~" She says eyeing the creatures, "Let's see if you can keep up!"

She dashes towards them and brings her scythe down for the head of the first knight who manages to catch the blade with its own. The second knight reacts immediately throwing a punch only to get knocked off center and stopped by a beam of blue light against its chest. Reaper turns into a black mist and passes through the knight before reappearing and spinning with the blade poised to cut the two in half. A shield of darkness forms preventing the death of the two knights.

The creature in question who has prevented the timely death is taller and lankier than the knights and starts chuckling while holding a skull that emits darkness from its mouth and eyes like a rushing waterfall. The spellcaster shoves the skull towards Reaper causing a hand of darkness to form out of the shield and shove her away from the group of elites into the waiting clutches of some basic figures who proceed to disarm her and wrap their hands around various parts of her whilst clawing and grabbing.

Reaper releases a dark pulse from the ground and all the figures fall into the ground shredded apart.

"I'm gonna have fun cutting you apart..." Reaper says picking herself up from the ground while pulling her scythe back to her, "Oh how you'll regret that little trick of yours."

Spellcaster chuckles and raises the skull up forming more creatures from the darkness as if challenging Reaper to try.

"Ooooooh~ You just want me to reap each and every one of you don't you?~ You might turn me on at this rate~." Reaper states as her blade begin to glow and her robe extends turning into wisps of smoke that flow behind her.

"Crescent Strike!" She yells jumping into the air while her scythe forms a crescent moon.

She flies at her opponents while swiping her blade sending a line of blue energy through several figures and one knight who attempted to black the energy strike with its blade.

"Hehehehhhhh" Spellcaster cries squizzing the skull making it emit more darkness than before that quickly begin to cover two more of his knights.

"Oh no you don't!" Reilight yells, "Twin Drill!"

"Kehheh!" The Spellcaster cries out as two blue beams crash into his form disrupting his magic and sending him flying back a bit.

The Spellcaster quickly tries to scramble up to fine Werelight looking down at him growling.

"I see you have returned my friend." Grand says wrapping her wings and forelegs around a very visibly harmed Twilight, "Though events have not been well for you I would imagine."

"N-No... t-they r-r-really haven't." The one-eyed Twilight says hugging one of her few friends in this realm back, "I-I-I t-told y-you I would b-be- fine."

Grand pulls back with a smile that doesn't quite reach her saddened eyes. The version in front of her had been through so much and has shared so much with some many, yet that door from before marks her as a combatant against their fate. Or her supposed fate whether it comes now or later.

Yet here she is. A survivor, unlike any other Twilight. Or at least any other Twilight that has been documented with a red door. Even now she still has that constant reminder when going home of her fate. Then there are the whispers and theories wrapped around such an event as this.

"I see your speech has gotten better my friend. Shall we go and have a drink while you're here?"

"Y-Yes P-P=Please..." Survivor says perking up a bit her left remaining ear twitching a bit, "I-I-Is Pielight b-back?"

"Ah... Not today honey. Though between you and me." Grand leans in closer to Twilight's remaining ear, "She had said she was going to be planning something beyond your very imagination for your upcoming birthday."

"R-R-R-R"

Grand pats Survivor on the back in an attempt to calm her down, "Calm down now honey we can talk more about that over your favorite drink okay?"

"Y-Yeah! W-Wait... w-w-we have some th-th-things to ta-talk about still." Survivor says

"Ah... I'm pretty sure I know what is on your mind. Let me just say that you really should take it easier on yourself. You know there's not much I can say on the subject and even less knowing what lengths you would take to know more." Grand says turning away from her newest friend, "Plus such talks would only bring abo-"

"I've seen her," Survivor says softly her eyes growing fierce, "She's... shown me something... something I'm sure you wouldn't want others to see."

Grand says nothing for a moment. The open area they once were in had been replaced with an easy shift on Grand's part putting them inside of a steel room by themselves. The only light in the room comes from ever-present blue crown above her head.

Grand takes a deep breath before lowering her head towards the floor, "Does Queenie know?"

Survivor says nothing and stands there nervously staring down her friend.

"Why do you make these things so difficult?" Grand asks turning towards her, "Please don't tell me you believed her with what she said. Whatever she told you to do don't. She can't be trusted. None of them can. And don't play dumb. If you saw HER then you saw everyone else that's on that side as well. I am your friend. I want what's best for you. Just like Queenie wants what's best for this realm, but you'll wind up killing yourself if you take this route."

"S-S-So there is a w-way to -p-p-perma-a-a-"

"Yes. I'll stop you there and say yes. There is a way, but you don't have to worry about that. You'll never be on patrols. You'll never have to hunt. I promise you that. They will never hurt you." Grand says raising her body up and walking closer to Survivor, "This I swear."

"Is... is it b-because you c-ca-care? Or is i-it about yo-your fa-failure..." Survivor says her eyes going into a glare.

Grand looks offended and takes an aggressive step forward, "Don't you dare go further with that line of thinking. I care about you and all my friends so much! The past is the past! Nothing more! I accepted my failures which is why I am trying my best!"

"I... I'm s-s-sorry... There's s-so much h-h-happening in my li-life. I didn't wa-want to make you so upset..."

"Well, you failed." Grand says trying to regain her composure as she moves to stand face to face with her friend, "And I you haven't told me on where you managed to see her either."

Survivor says nothing and looks away to avoid Grand's eyes.

"Tell me."

"N-No..." Survivor whispers.

"You shouldn't protect her. You'll be lumped in with the rest of them." Grand says using her wing to bring Survivor's head to look at her.

"That would make it easier on you wou-wouldn't it..." Survivor says trying to look past Grand.

"No. It wouldn't. But if you're corrupted and have the thought that all the others get on what's best. I will be forced to raise my hoof against you. Despite my interest in not wanting to." Grand says letting Survivor's head go and looking at the barren wall behind her.

Grand moves past Survivor and places a hoof against the cold metal wall, "I wish you wouldn't do this."

Survivor says nothing and only looks towards the floor. Grand looks over her shoulder at the young unicorn and sighs heavily, "This makes me only want to drink more you know?"

Survivor walks slowly over to Grand as a door appears behind Grand's hoof.

Just Another Day

Two ponies move through the black and gray forest. There is no light yet sight is still obtainable and there is no sound except the breathing of one another. The only sign of life is the one Rainbow-colored Unicorn Twilight and the other more butter colored Pegasus Twilight. The coat of the first seems to shift with every moment through every color of the rainbow. Her mane and tail seem to do the same making the more static colored Pegasus more boring against the drab background. Though out of the two, the shifting spectrum would be more of an ease to hunt. They are equipped with rather large brown saddlebags that almost blend into the background.

The pair takes a moment to check out a flower growing beneath the mammoth variety of trees. This particular one seems to be growing underneath a palm tree. The flower in question is pure white and could easily be missed against its background if not careful. The petals all have different designs on them and the stem has a letter on it towards the bottom. There's nothing else remarkable about it other than that, yet the attention of both are grabbed as they carefully use their hooves to dig the plant out and place it within one of the many jars they've brought along with them hidden inside of their bags.

They move on from the spot after recovering the hole to erase their tracks in case of any prying eyes that comes through here. The buttered Pegasus shivers as she looks behind her. Her breathing becomes noticeably heavier as she looks to her rainbow-colored friend, "I... I really don't know about this..."

"I promise you it'll be fine. We'll farm up a bit in the wilderness and head back to the playground to meet up with our other friends." A rainbow-colored Twilight announces happily, "Than we'll get all the snow cones and candy we want!"

The butter colored Twilight nods her head timidly and paws at the soft earth below them. She chooses not to speak in fear that something might hear them if they haven't already Rainbowlight. She wants to be a big girl, but its hard to remind yourself that you need to be strong when you're out in some of the more... lively areas of the void. Which they shouldn't be in in the first place.

"A-Are you sure this is o-okay? I mean... we could get into a lot of trouble if we're caught..." Flutterlight says feeling something watching them from everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time.

The unending pressure of eyes upon the body and soul is starting to break her.

Rainbow snorts and flicks her multicolored tail before trotting off happily, "I'm sure we'll be fine. Nopony ever patrols over here anyway. I've checked enough times to know that. We'll just gather up some flowers and move on. Come on Flutterlight we're wasting time!"

"O-Okay..."

And of the two continue through the forest unknowing of a stalker just a bit behind the group. Said stalkers wears a Great Helm and chainmail down her barrel. She breathes heavily while clutching a cross in one hand while watching the two ponies go off in search of their items.

"Ohhhh yeaaaaaah~ That's some good Heresy right there~"

She lets go of her cross and quickly follows behind the two her mail making no noise at all in the silent voidwoods.

"And so I put these screw closer to the mechanism for releasing the spray in order to help out with faster reloads. The only problem is that sometimes the cartridge comes loose and it pops the bag making the entire thing malfunction." A grease soaked Twilight says to hold a fancy look squirt gun in her magic, "Of course this is only the first model of it that I've brought here. I wanted to get the opinion of the Engineering Guild before I actually go back with a full completed idea."

An Earth pony Twilight wields a giant wrench the size of her body across her back while lounging on a bronze steampunk chair. She leans forward taking the wrench off and placing it on the ground to observe the gun more. She hums and takes apart the contraption in her mind. To her right, A tiny mouse-like Twilight complete with mouse tail and ear circles around it practically drooling at the new invention placed in front of the guild.

"We can certainly make it better. But what' sit worth to us? What do you plan to do with it? I already have an idea, but I wanna know fully. I wanna hear what you plan to do. Remember, I will know if you lie to me." Elderlight says leaning back again her eyes zooming onto the inventer.

"Of course Elder." She says bowing, "I want to use it in order to fully make sure that those trapped in stone in my world know that second offenders will be dealt with accordingly. My Celestia known as Dawnbreaker has set me up with a limited amount of funds to help out with both the criminal problem as well as the war problem. I figured I could take care of two things at once with coming up with Acid Spitter, name in progress, as a way to deter off most creatures that can't withstand Acid. "

"I see." Elder states eye unfocusing, "Tell me. What do they call you here?"

"Setup. Ma'am."

"Setup huh... I can see why. You seem to really cherish what your Dawnbreak say, don't you. You don't seem nervous and your heart rate remains the same. You're not lying for sure, or you've gotten used to it." Elder waves a dismissive hoof, "Listen to this old mare ramble off. We'll see what we can do. No promises. I'll have Mouse start to reverse engineer it. We'll send one of the Runners if we come across any problems or it can't be done. Come back within a weeks time and we should have something for you."

"Thank you Elder." Setup says quickly turning away and heading out the automatic metalwork doors leaving the few members in the sweltering room be with her invention.

Dear Celestia.

"So do something about it," Grand says growing ever the more impatient with her current guest, "If she or any of the others try to stop you, take care of it."

Grand says nothing more as she continues looking through the ever-growing list of surveys and listings. Everything has to be regulated and reported to her or one of the other founders that are generally never around. So at the end of the day, everything falls on her. Whether she likes it or not...

Grand glances up and notes that Reaper had yet moved from her spot. Which explains why she can still see her breath in here.

"What?" Grand Growls putting the paper down, "You are dismissed. I have nothing more to say to you."

"There's something else isn't there."

This was no question. This is was an accusation. No, a statement. The envelope was being pushed and it would not be ignored. It would be opened and addressed the way it was meant to be.

There's always been this underlying feeling of incompleteness. Always something nagging in the back of the head of everyponies head. It needed to be addressed and it needed to be known. The only one available to answer such questions happens to be Grand. But grand doesn't want to answer such foolish questions. There are too many memories.

Grand takes a deep breath sets the papers grasped within her hooves to the side. This would take time and careful wording. She looks past Reaper and begins to speak automatically.

"No. Whatever rumors you may or may not of have heard are false and inaccurate with data. I am fully aware of the implications being thrown ate the currently moment are If there were anything else more relevant to report I would have informed your team due to being in the more active part of the field. Since no information was brought to you by a viable source, your information is wrong on many accounts. I also do not see a reason to change your thinking if you perceive this as nothing more as evading your questioning.

But what I WILL change is you. If you believe rumors and stories of whimsy are more important to your duties than orders and reports; you know where to turn in your notice of leave. Though you will be missed we do not and I repeat DO NOT need officers chasing after rumors. Have a made myself clear Reaper?"

Reaper only nods before turning silently to the door and leaving. Grand grumbles upon the disappearance of Reaper and the unnatural cold she brings with her. She lets out a mournful sigh as she turns away from the door wishing that things didn't come to this. Ponies have been asking questions since the dawn of time. A concept that didn't really exists in this plane, and it irks Twilights when their questions can not be answered conventional or otherwise.

Most thirst for knowledge. Many would see this world unraveled and brought to the barest of bones so they could absorb the knowledge within like parasites. Nothing but ticks and leeches.

Grand looks to her right to see her portrait along with five others. All the founders lined up side by side. The first surviving members that stumbled upon this realm so many hold dear. That so many call home. And that a few call a grave. There are those that never go home in fear of their fate for when they do. The census only grows more and more for each "year" that goes by.

"Why does it always come to this. No matter where we go. No matter what we do, it always seems to backfire." Grand lifts a hoof up to gently tap the floating crown above her head, "I never asked for any of this. Yet this is what I deserve."

She rises from her desk and makes her way to one specific portrait. The portrait shows off a Twilight with a blue blindfold covering her eyes and a biker helmet riddled with spikes covering her equish head. She seems to be an earth pony that wields a golf club at her side. Grand stares longingly at the portrait before tearing her eyes away and refocusing on her more menial tasks.

Clergy light watches carefully as Survivor disrobes herself. Survivor stands on her hind hooves as the last big of latex falls away from her skin revealing rows on rows of scares and impunities inflicted upon her. Clergy takes a deep breath at the sight.

"They really show no mercy do they?" Clergy asks moving closer, "They just continue to strike you down over and over again despite everything you've done for them. And for what? Why not stay here. Why not just stay away from such a toxic world?"

"I can't. There are too many memories. There are those that can be saved. I want to save them. I want to see them flourish."

Clergy grabs and spin Survivor around so they can lock eyes with one another. Clergy's eyes glow a dim light, "They can not be saved. I can see it in your eyes. You're disillusioned. You're going to kill yourself at any moment. You're reckless and cautious at the same time. There is no friendship in your world. Your magic is dead in that world. Do I have to remind you what happened between you and Applejack? Do I have to remind you of the sessions of healing I had to do for you?

"You're claiming to be a martyr, but all I'm seeing is a fool. You need to rethink your priorities. You have people here who want to see you here more often. And yet the only time any of us see you are after you get bruised and bloodied to almost the brink of death. Pielight sees it. And we all know how much you two care about one another."

Clergy sighs and allows Survivor to fall back down to all four of her hooves, "I know you want to do something more with your life. I know you wanna prove everyone wrong. But this isn't the way."

Clergy walks over to a wall filled with different spirits and brandy. She grabs one of the stronger ones as well as a nearby tome of healing spells, "Now take a swig of this and allow me to start the healing process on your daft ass."

With tear stained eyes Survivor nods and turns her back to Clergy once more.

Upon the walls hidden from sight from the public, another Twilight with a pristine white and yellow coat sit alone looking out into the desolate void. She quietly hums to herself while runes float lazily before her eyes. She twiddles her thumbs and kicks her feet as if there's not a care in the world.

"The sun will come out, Tomorrow! So you gotta hang on, till Tomorrow! Time will start up again, and bring about Tomorrow!"

Just out of eyesight red eyes from the void stare back bobbing along with the song.

Pacing

Hushed whispers get passed among the populace milling about in one of the numerous markets of The Hub. They're rapid-paced and passed around like the money they used. Haphazardly and without a single thought. But the rise of new rumors and secrets aren't the only thing rising within the hearts and minds of the citizens of The Hub. The secrets and rumors are nothing more than a means to get their fear up. They must be made aware of some of the truths.

Death would come for them all.

And it will not be denied.

But that was for later. The now is simply raising awareness and allowing those that wish to escape their fate have a chance. Of course, there are those here that can't escape anywhere knowing that their world is either dead or about to die. Many Twilights have passed through, many have stayed, and many have left and never returned. The one thing that has never happened is the destruction of a Twilight within this world.

Not until yesterday.

"Did you hear? An entire section was completely erased! It was like nothing was ever there in the first place!"

"They say the death toll is at least over 300 Twilights! That could've been one of us! What are they gonna do to protect us!?"

"I hear there wasn't even a fight. It was just taken and nobody did anything about it."

"Could Grand know something about it?"

"Maybe I should just go home..."

Reaper moves silently through the streets hearing all the rumors she can possibly hear. She keeps them locked away into the back of her mind to report into the right people later but first comes her duties. Behind her are Forestlight and Necron. Two fairly useful Twilights when it comes to a situation involving chaos and death.

Forestlight has a fairly small evergreen tree growing out of the top of her head with roots lacing in and out of her neck and back. Her ears have branches growing out of them and most of her mane and tail are laced with vines and leaves. Her irises are a mix of sickly neon green and the usual purple of most Twilights. She's full-on equine with the difference being the tree stumps for hooves.

Necron's features are mainly hidden away by the large enchanted robe she wears down to the bottom of her hooves. What's mainly known about her is that despite being equine, she walks on her hind hooves as if she's anthropomorphic or a human. She doesn't seem to be hindered by this and is thought to have been one of the two creatures before being turned into an equine. Or perhaps she died in another life and put her soul into the body of an equine. Her steely purple eyes can still be seen glowing despite the void like darkness emitted by the hood she constantly wears.

Everybody they pass by seems to go quiet and begin to shudder from the pure necrotic and chaos energy they put off. By no means, they are not the most powerful of their arts but they are one of the ones that are most cooperative with it. They come from vastly different worlds, but their bonds have grown strong over the years of working together and making headway after headway. Not that anybody would know outside of the Guards.

Which brings them to their current situation of having to deal with something that falls directly int heir district. The means of death in this world have always been unknown. Many have attempted to kill one another and nothing has ever happened. It's just one of the many truths of this world that Twilights can not kill Twilights.

Of course not without the proper means.

The problem with telling everybody you'll be safe is that that isn't always the truth. It's easy to tell a little lie in order to keep a populace calm and collected, but such a little lie becomes a big truth to them. And when the truth of something that's the very ground of all of them is broken, where do they stand? The carpet had been pulled and everyone is falling over.

"Hey!" A passerby yells stepping into the path of the three creatures, "Where the hell is our safety! I was told that nothing would happen to me as long as I was in here! That I couldn't die by any means!"

"And you haven't," Necron says staring past the random Twilight.

"Not today... but what about tomorrow! What about a couple of days from now! How the hell do you explain what happened yesterday! They just up and vanished! With everything else and nobody can explain anything to us! They're no eyewitnesses which, by the by, is even crazier than everything else! What sort of shit are you trying to cover up!"

"Yea! He's right!"

"Where's the truth! What have you lied about!"

"Where are my friends!"

"We want the truth! We want the truth! We want the truth!" They begin chanting with fevered repetition and growing numbers.

Forestlight takes a deep breath of air before the tree on top of her head begins to glow. Four large green foliage appears around the three before closing them off to the rest of the world. It sinks into the streets before appearing elsewhere.

The three begin walking away still hearing the chants a bit away.

"You know they won't like that, dodging the question, we'll just be adding fuel to the proverbial fire," Necron speaks out in whispers overlapping one another.

"That's why we have a PR team. They'll clean up our mess and we'll make sure they don't bite the dust too early." Reaper replies, "We have a mission and we can't let civilians stop us from completing it."

"I suppose so," Necron says a hoof sliding into themselves and producing a book from it holds.

Necron flips the book several pages before stopping and looking around, "We should prepare ourselves. We'll be getting close soon."

"The ground around us is tainted," Forest speaks out suddenly before stopping.

"It'll be coming back then. Whether soon or later, we'll have to wait and see." Necron says putting away the book back inside of the robes.

"Just don't die," Reaper says trying to keep a vigilant eye out for whatever caused the problem they're having to deal with.

"You say that like it was ever an option." Necron chuckles in many estranged voices.

"Survivor stop!" Clergy yells blocking said pony's way, "Will you just listen to me for o-"

"No! We can do something about this! We know ponies affected by this and I-"

"This goes far beyond just us we"

"Need to work together! But you won't do it! I-"

"It's suicidal! You'll never make it through something of that magnitude! Pinkielight wo-"

The crack of a hoof against face brings the rapid argument to an end.

"Don't you dare use her name to persuade me. Survivor says tears brimming at the edge of her vision her hoof pulling back to back at her side from silencing Clergy.

Clergy just stares off at the side the two of them not saying anything for a moment before Clergy steps out of the way of Survivor.

"Fine. But I'm coming with you. I've enjoyed my time with you too much to just let you die off without proper rites."

Survivor throws her body against Clergy and holds her tightly before pulling back with a cocky smile and misty eyes, "I'm called Survivor for a reason."

"Yea, well. They should've called you cockroach instead."

Grand slams her hooves against her desk snapping it in half as the pony before she shakes her head.

The pony in questionnever mattered and will never matter.

"Get.... out..." She growls at the creature before her.

My words are only meant for her

"I'll be damned if I let you do as you pleased."

This story was never meant for them.

Grand's horn lights up and her crown begins to glow a bright neon teal as power flows through her body. A beam of energy is fired into the creature sending it nowhere as is simply moves out of the way of the beam.

She always had such a bad temper.

"i'll kill you."

She couldn't. No one could. Maybe you, but you're not here.

The creature dissapates without another word leaving her with thoughts and questions. Grand tosses the destruction of her desk out the nearby window shattering it before yelling and proceeding to destroy the rest of her office space smashing pictures, rewards, and busts.

Chapter 8

The monolith tower of Ivory darkness holds the truth behind everything. Behind its ancient walls of obsidian lies treasures and knowledge beyond the imagination. Deep within the catacombs of lost, lies the secrets to time itself.

Yet the intrigue it contains has already been touched by another. The ancient knowledge imparted on others circulated with those close. The expanding power of darkness and oblivion sought out by those that crave it. There is only madness amongst its secrets.

Cloistered deep within its womb lies a being. An enigma. An idea. A fantasy. A truth.

Those that covet it know it not. Those that know it wants it all the more. The want will be the ending of everything. The undoing of the very base they built themselves upon.

And yet, none cared. Perhaps have yet to care. Some suggest otherwise, but natural curiosity makes it into an untruth. With the grasp of limitations so close and yet so far, the envelope is pushed only by the worthy. Yet the fruit that they bare from the labor and blood they yield is relished by everyone.

Such is progression. Tears and blood flow the same and mix just as well. Martyrs of truth and justice and Maniacs of progress and future. Titles placed on those who would rather have none.

If the monolith had eyes, it would've been able to see both together as if nothing was ever wrong for years. It would've seen every little thing shift and change the more Martyrs and Maniacs appeared. It would've seen the moment that the collapse was imminent.

But the monolith has no eyes. And even with no eyes, it holds no mouth to speak out with. No cords for voice, no mind for such concepts such as good and evil. It is a tower of ivory obsidian bleakness with no other purpose than the one assigned to it. To stand, hold, and never waiver.

The creatures of this bleak world refuse to let something as beautiful as it goes untouched. Even after the initial arrived and left, more commenced to come.

They endeavor to uncover what's within its catacombs. They wish to find the womb and break free whatever inside. This overdue birth does not need to be free, but they consider themselves heroes. Therefore, their actions are just in the eyes of those who amass together.

So the bleakness attempts to stop them. They send forth messengers, creatures of mass destruction, and even ideas. The only ones to gain purchase were the concepts implanted into the foresight of every creation. As they divided themselves into cliques, they had no idea seeds were being planted underneath them.

When the time came, the sprouts found their way into those that mattered. Those sprouts grew and planted their own. It remained unnoticed for so long until the outliers noticed. The ones who couldn't prosper from the fruits bared called the ideas spreading about heresy. They deemed them against the norm and should be cast out.

Thus many of the "artifacts" the creatures talked about became to be. Forests grew in a world where there weren't meant to be any. A war between creation and bleakness began when bleakness was all there was ever supposed to be. The world continues to spin outside of everything, so the plan first formulated was never cast aside. It was only changed to fit the theme.

Thus the heroes have come. They now stand before the mighty doors to the future. The truth they wish to find hidden deep within. The world they once knew is gone. Ravaged by fighting and cliques trying to lay a claim to the land.

What they find will be the end.