With a push to my side, I awoke.

"Mnh... Whaaat?" I groaned loudly, turning over and opening my eye. I looked to my left, where Twilight and Starlight both happened to be standing. Starlight didn't seem to be smiling, but Twilight sure was. Yesterday sure was a roller coaster of topics. Too many to think about right now.

"It's time to get moving. We've already gathered up what we can, so we're ready!" Twilight said with her smile still persisting. I, for one, didn't like the idea of moving around. I mean, I knew it was necessary, but that didn't make it any more fun for me in the slightest. With a groan, I hopped off of the bed.

"First, I need to change clothes. It's been way too long since I've been wearing this shitty outfit." I said, immediately leaving the room for the storage room. Once I stepped inside, I forgot that a big chunk of it was set on fire, so some of the things we used to have were burnt.

"Fuck." I said with another groan, searching through the piles of shit we had piled up in the room. I wasn't one for organization, really. I picked up an old synthread black shirt. Actually, that was the shirt I landed here with. It was regulatory for the ship. I took a pair of beat up old dark blue jeans, and a brown duster to cover it all.

The outfit seemed good enough. Sure, it wasn't the best in the slightest, but it would do.

After I put the duster on, I searched for a hat. I don't know why, but I needed something to pull the outfit together. And, I found what I wanted. In the far corner, opposite of the burnt shit, laid a nice black leather cowboy hat. Now, I know, I'm not one that really looks the best with it, but it sure would help with the sun if we're travelling long distances.

I then began to search for a rifle. My trusty old one was nowhere to be found, sadly. I guess two years with a rifle is pretty good, but I still missed the old damn thing. I managed to find Twilight's revolver, which somehow was here and my rifle wasn't, and an old rusty auto-pistol. It'd do, and I had plenty enough magazines for it. There wasn't a gun here for Starlight, but something tells me that she wouldn't want to use one. She's been quiet as of recently.

Actually, now that I think about it, it's been mainly me and Twilight talking.

Alright, two more items and I'm good to go. I need to find a bag. Anything would do, but the biggest bag I could find was an old two-strap leather bag. It was one I bought off some traders during my first few months here, so It'd have to do. It seems all the actual valuable shit got burned up in the fire. My dumbass apparently thought putting all of that next to the batteries was a good idea.

Alright, now to find the luciferium.

It'd be unmistakable. It's a pure white bag with a singular pill inside of it. I searched around, growing a little worried with each minute that passed by. I could hear Twilight call for me in the other room, but I needed to find this thing. I pushed and pulled everything, trying to find it, before-

I stared at the burnt rubble, seeing a light tinge of red ash.

No. It couldn't be, could it? I shook my head, denying that it was true, flipping and throwing things around the room in a panic. It had to be somewhere here, right?! It couldn't have just conveniently burnt up in the goddamn fire! That can't be how this ends, right? It can't be..

"Rex!" I heard, this time in the room with me. "W-What is going on?!"

I turned to her, my face obviously panicked. "The luciferium- I-It bur-" I pointed to the burnt rubble with a shaky hand. That single fucking pill was my ticket. It was the only thing that would keep me alive for one more week. Now I had six days, since it kicked in the day before. Six days before I died a horrible, painful death. All because of a stupid fucking pill!

Twilight gave me a saddened look, seeing the burnt red dust. She didn't freak out, but instead came up beside me and put a hoof onto my leg. She looked up to me, shaking her head. "We'll find a way, alright? We will."

That seemed a little more confident than the Twilight I know, but it definitely helped calm my nerves. "You think..?"

"Yes. If we start moving now, it'll give us more time to find what you need. It isn't over yet, Rex. It isn't. You still have plenty of time. Don't think about it, alright?"

That's quite hard to do, considering my life was now on a timer. A timer, with a painful alarm clock.

I nodded my head, giving her a strained smile before following her into the main room. There sat Starlight, awaiting us.

"Alright." Twilight said with a nod. "Let's get moving. With most of my magic back, this'll make things a whole lot easier."

"Wait-" I interrupted. "Where do we head? We could accidentally move right towards Tarbo's base, and get caught up with them again."

"Nope." Twilight said with a shake of her head. "From the direction I teleported from, his kingdom is in the west. So, we head east. We constantly keep a day ahead of them, and they'll pause here, looking for us. We'll be way off their radar at that point."

As much as I wanted to kill the fucker, I knew that I wouldn't really be able to do that. So, this was the best plan we had. Keep moving in front of them, so they never catch up. I kind of wish that I never had to deal with any of this. I want to live my peaceful life, with two ponies, in the house I just built.

Damn.. I was so proud of this place, too.

Canterlot

"Are we ready?" Luna asked Celestia, who was currently overseeing the operation in the science laboratory. Many scientists that were pony, and even non-pony, were working around the clock to get everything underway. Celestia turned to her sister with a slightly angered look.

"We are almost ready. Why would you care, dear sister?"

"Just because my anger is towards you, doesn't mean I don't care about dear Twilight and Starlight."

"Mph." Celestia looked over at the scientists. "How long?"

"Well-" A Griffon walked up to the both of them. He was grey and black, with his wings having light blue tips. "We are thinking that it's going to be done within the hour. The safety feature was already put into place, so even if there isn't magic there, you'll still be able to use it freely. We've already made sure that each soldier that we're sending in has enchanted armor that has damage suppression, and oxygen that can be injected through the body. All safety precautions are good to go."

"What soldiers are we sending in?" Luna asked curiously.

"Well, we're planning to send in a mix of Night and Day. We've already supplied the few we're sending in with the appropriate armor. There's one big problem with this entire plan, though."

"And that would be?" Celestia asked, her brows furrowing.

"When we open the portal to go through, we don't know what on the other side. If it's toxic, it can leak through. If it's dangerous, it can come through. We have to remember that this is a two-way portal. We might have direct access there, but so does the other side. We'll need guards to watch this side of the portal while they're out there."

"That can be arranged." Luna said with a nod. "This is of dire nature, so expending a few guards from their regular posts to watch this won't be an issue. In fact, it'll most likely relieve the guards of their mundane tasks. Though, I can't imagine watching a portal is much fun either."

"You said within the hour, correct?" Celestia asked, practically ignoring her sister.

"Yes, that's correct."

"Has my armor been provided with the necessary enchantments?" Celestia asked.

"Wait-" Luna interrupted quickly. "What do you mean your armor?"

"I'm going with them." Celestia said, not daring to look at her sister. "Not only do I care much about Twilight, it will also prove to you that I care about her more than you might think. You don't think I'd be in danger, do you?"

"No. So that's why I'll be going with as well."

"Sister." Celestia said, now turning to her. "If one leaves, the other needs to stay. Who will rule over Equestria during our departure?"

"If it works out as good as you say, it won't even be a day." Luna said with a smirk. "Dear Scientist, could you please enchant my armor as well? You have full access to my living quarters to get it. And, please, don't scratch it. Although I don't intend to wear it often, I do like the look."

"Yes, Princess." The griffon went back to his group of scientists, telling them what the conversation was about. A moment later, two scientists left to retrieve Luna's armor. Celestia groaned, flicking her hair as she did so.

"Luna, I understand you want to be included on everything, really, I do. But this isn't your job."

"It isn't yours either. I don't recall taking in a student as part of being a Princess. In fact, that's not required. Therefore, you're putting all of Equestria into this operation because of her. Therefore, this may not be my job, but it isn't yours either. Twilight is a dear friend of mine, maybe not as close as a true friend, but still a friend nonetheless. I will do whatever I can to make sure she comes back alive."

"You just don't want to be the Princess that does nothing while the other risks her life, hm? Petty."

Luna grinned. "Your ego is getting to you, sister. I wonder which will prevail, your ego, or your image."

"Fuck-"

"What?"

"I stubbed my toe on that damn rock!" I groaned, looking back at the rock as if it tried to murder me. This earned me a giggle from Twilight and Starlight. Starlight was still quiet as usual, but she seemed to make little sounds here and there, or laugh alone with me and Twilight. She might've started to warm up to us once again. "How far have we been walking?"

"Only six or so hours. What, are you feeling tired already?" Twilight asked sassily, to which I flipped her off.

"Oh shut up. You guys and your magic. I'm just a regular human, with nothing special. Of course I'm tired- shit, my head was practically fried yesterday. I'm surprised I'm still alive after that shit."

"Maybe something was watching over you. But, yeah, I understand. There's a big rock formation over there with a cave, how about we sit out of the shade for a little while?"

"Pft. Like hell anything watched over me." I said with a smirk, heading in the direction she pointed in before-

"Oh really now?"

Fuck.

The red outline thing came back. And, currently, it was walking backwards in the direction I was walking towards. I knew I couldn't speak to it, or else Twilight and Starlight might look at me crazy. The best thing I could do was to try and ignore it. That's all I could do.

"Oh come on now, who's to say I wasn't looking out for my good buddy?" It asked. "I mean, we spent so long together. I wasn't about to let your head get turned into mush because some asshole decided that it was fun to watch. I mean, that's just dumb."

I groaned quietly, as to not cause any looks from the two.

"You're so rude, you know that? You could atleast talk to me. I've been nothing but friendly to you-" It said, now sitting in mid air, while floating backwards. "Or perhaps you're jealous that you can't do what I can? I mean, it's not exactly fun when you've been doing it for years and years on end, but I suppose to a new person it'd be the joy of the universe."

Jesus christ this thing won't stop talking!

"I can see you're getting angry. I'll get out of your head for now, but just remember, I'm always watching over you. Don't worry, I won't let anything bad happen to my good pal Rex. It'd be too bad if that happened." As soon as he stopped speaking, he disappeared in a red mist like before. I looked up to the sky, closing my eyes as I walked.

Thank go-

I tripped over a rock. This time, it successfully made me fall. I braced myself with my hands, before lifting myself back up quickly. "Jesus.."

"You okay there? That's the second one." Twilight asked.

"Your keeping score? Let's just get to the damn cave."

Twilight gave me a sassy look once again, before continuing the walk. It didn't take much longer until we were under the wondrous shade of the cave. It was shallow, too. It was only a good fifty or so feet deep. Didn't have to worry about anything like insectoids or some shit.

God, those big ass fucks really creep me out.

"God I'm tired.." I said, setting my bag to the side and laying on my back. Twilight and Starlight both sat down next to eachother before they started to whisper to one another. I looked at them with a strange look, sitting up slightly. "Hey, what the hell? What's so secretive right now that you two have to whisper about it?"

"Sh." Was the only response I got from Twilight while they continued.

Jeez, I suppose I'm left out on this one. I'll entertain myself with my own thoughts then. Not like I haven't been doing that for years on end. Now, I suppose the first thing I should probably think about is-

Well, how about we start with that red mist thing?

The weirdest part about it is that it talks and looks exactly like me, albeit in a red outline. It even wore the clothes I changed into this time. So, either it was mimicking whatever I am, or it's just my head making up shit. Could I really begin to believe that there's this cosmic being watching over me? I mean, I'm not that special. Hell, I'm not a good person, so why would it choose me?

That day that I killed my father. That yell I did right afterwards was one of the most memorable things from that day. And, funnily enough, I remember it fondly because it didn't feel like me at all. And, it explained that it was him instead. Could that even be true? If so, how? I don't really understand anything that's going on right now.

Everything has been moving too fast these past few days. I mean, I get raided, I get tortured, I get forced to eat a death-pill, and my brain gets shocked. Oh, and I have one eye. Not only that, but I also have some weird red mist outline doppelganger that runs around, and only I can see it.

Jesus christ, I want to just chill in my house, cooking up some muffalo meat and potatoes.

I guess before it was mundane because it was happening everday. Cooking, eating, going back to work or researching, building whatever, then to sleep. Sure, with Twilight coming into the picture things got spiced up, but the work was the same. Now, after all the shit that's happened, I want that sameness in my life. All this change has not been good so far.

"Not true!" I heard Twilight yell, before giving me a glance. She seemed a little embarrassed, before continuing to whisper with Starlight.

Now, what was I thinking again? Oh, yeah. I want my regular life back. It was boring, but it was livable. It was simple, and life went on as usual. I never got to use those hydroponic basins, I never got to use a lot of stuff that I planned on using. And those turrets I built didn't help when it counted.

All that time spent on bullshit, I suppose.

God, I don't know where you are or if you're real, but why?

I mean, why did you put all of this stuff on me? You bless me with a caring mother, and curse me with a destructive father. Then you take my mother away from me, and give me a fresh start. You give me the chance to become successful, and a decent friendship with a girl I loved, only to take all that away from me once again.

You then send me onto this desolate shithole, only for you to bless me with being able to survive it all. Then, you bless me with Twilight after awhile, and then Starlight, only to curse me with being tortured and having to watch them both be hurt. And, you turned the one friend I before them into a traitor.

Now Twilight has a giant scar that goes diagonal across her face, and Starlight had to endure something I never wish upon someone at all. If you're real, what the fuck was it all for? Was it all a test? Was it to hurt me, or to provide entertainment? I don't get it. So many people believe in you, yet all of this stuff still happens to us.

Maybe I'm not in the right to question you. But no one is in the right to do anything, really.

I honestly hope that you're real, that there's something else out there besides myself that is looking over me. Not that weird red mist fuck, but something else. I suppose I want to believe that God is good, and that he's here to help. But maybe he's not here to help at all.

Maybe he's here to hurt.

Author's Note

Not longer by much, but longer than the few chapters I've been doing!

Hope you guys like this.

Also, finger update: almost fully healed bois.