Mitch POV<<<<<<

"HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as the carts hung a lightning fast sharp right. Gripping the edges of the cart tightly, I looked down only to find Zephyr had weapped his hooves around my waist with his face pressed into my side.

"Hang on boys! It won't be too long until we reach the end of the tracks!" Piper notified us, causing Zephyr to pull his head from my side and stare down the captain and her brother, the latter busy trying to stop their minecarts engine.

"And what happens then, huh? We're going too fast to be able to stop safely!" Zephyr exclaimed just as we took a sharp left, causing the wheels to emit a loud screech that would have made bats jealous.

"DAMN!!!" Piper yelled, shaking off the sound as her ears stood straight up, turning to us as the carts seemed to stop speeding up, yet kept their already fast pace. "As for your question, Zephyr...Just pray the snow near the empire hasn't melted all the way." She answered, her voice wavering slightly as she turned away from us and hunkered in the car, bracing for inevitable impact.

Well that wasnt reassuring. I thought grimly as I noticed there were no longer any cavern walls surrounding us. Did we end up in a different part of the cave system?

Curiosity pushed me to look around more, first noticing how large this part of the cave was (At least the size of a couple football fields with the walls being far off from the rails.) before I found myself tilting my head over the side of the speeding minecart to see what was below...

...only to find a bottomless abyss staring back at me, with only the supporting beams of the railway jutting from the darkness below.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, pulling my head back, much to the concern of Zephyr.

"What do you see?" He asked before leaning his long pony neck across the cart and looking over for a split second before pulling back and returning to his previous state of fear. "Why the buck was this railway built over a ravine?"

POP!

...What the fuck was that?

"That didn't sound good." I whispered, noticing we had started to slow down greatly compared to the cart in front of us, causing Piper to turn around and pass us a questioning glance.

"What was that popp- Mitch! You guys need to get out of that cart!" She yelled at us while pointing at the front of the cart. "You just got disconnected from the engine!"

That would explain why Piper and Reks' cart hasn't slowed down yet. I thought as I heard another pop go off, this time causing the cart to slowly lean to the right.

Zephyr noticed it too, if on an account of him releasing his grip on me and panicking.

"Mitch, we're about to capsize! What do we do?!" He yelled as I looked between him and the retreating cart Piper was in, my mind kicking into overdrive.

I dont trust these rails enough to walk across them, and I doubt we'll be able to get far in the luggage cart without the main engine... I trailed off mentally as I glanced over Zephyr and his wings. Thats it!

I turned to Zephyr and picked him up by his waist, holding him over my head as he began to squirm in my grasp.

"Mitch, what the buck are you doing? Let me down!" He exclaimed in shock as I felt myself start to lean towards the right alongside the cart.

"You can fly, Zephyr! Follow the tracks and meet up with Piper and Reks. Then you guys can come fish me out of this ravine later!" I told him as I chunked him about maybe a yards length before what had to be his prey instincts kicked in, allowing his wings to shoot open and keep him in the air.

The throwing motion, however, caused my body to unbalance entirely, sending me over the edge and into the darkness below alongside the metal deathtrap we had been in.

"MITTTTTCH!!!" Was all I heard before a flash of light flashed from my crystal arm and the pitch black ravine engulfed me.

×××?×××<<<<<<

Deep below Canterlot, deeper still in the crystal mines that hadn't seen any action or activity since a certain kidnapping, a lone dog was running through the barely lit cavern.

Bearing a torch (For obvious reasons, as one does in dark places) in one paw and a letter in the other, the dog made his way through several twists and turns before he made it to a door that sealed off passageway into the epicenter of the crystal cave.

Placing the torch on the ground next to the door, the dog walked up and knocked on the door six times.

"Grandmaster...I bear news from the north." He spoke in that raspy voice all bulldogs had when they opened their dirty mouths. Only a moments notice passed before his sentence was answered by the doors in front of him opening inward in a grand motion, beckoning for him to enter.

And the dog did just that, though with slight hesitation as too not insult the one he served with his life.

Approaching the end of the room the dog noticed that his majesty, the one who he serves diligently, looked more...tired than usual. (Which was a feat since he could only see his head from the shadows that surrounded him). Now, considering what his majesty does for the kingdom, this comes as no surprise, but if its age rather than work that's causing the exhaustion, then the news he holds in his paw is all the more important to his majesty.

Reaching the end of the room, the dog faced the ground and knelt to one knee, extending the letter out to his majesty with an open paw.

A moments notice went by before the faintest brush of fur against fur alerted the messenger that his majesty had taken the letter, allowing him to stand up to his feet and stand at attention, awaiting a response.

After a much longer pause, his majesty spoke out from his spot in the room.

"All goes according to the prophecy." The Sire stated in a flat voice that echoed across the room with the power of an earthquake. A normal dog would've wet themselves at its sound, but not this dog!

He had been doing this for aaaaaages!

"Grandmaster, If I may?" The dog asked, and after awaiting a negative response and receiving none, he continued. "Should I find and bring the human here now?"

Even without seeing his majesty, the dog could feel the shake of his head.

"Not necessary, we will let him grow for now. And besides, we have dogs all across Equestria to keep track of his progress." His majesty answered in the same commanding voice, though now the messenger had to admit it was slightly affecting him now.

"Y-Yes sire! Of course Sire!" The dog said quickly before doing the traditional parting bow (A perfect 45 degree bow with both his ears splayed backwards to show his place beneath his majesty.) he turned and left his majesty to do...what he always does when he's alone.

Feed Equiis and its nature through his gift (however he managed to do so was beyond the mental power of this dog, but he didn't care. Just as long as he could serve his majesty).

After the messenger left, the dog hidden in the shadows sighed and levitated a large tomb up in front of him, the front cover bearing the mark of what looked like a five fingered paw with swirls in the middle.

"The prophesied agent of Blood has arrived...but why did he arrive in the north rather than here in Canterlot?" The Grandmaster mused as he stroked an non-existant chin with a non-existant paw. "Perhaps it's that chaos gods fault...looks like an intervention might happen much sooner than originally planned."

Mitch POV<<<<<<

"Ohhhh." I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes, aware of the throbbing headache I was sporting at the moment.

How the hell am I not dead?! That fall definitely should've been fatal. I thought to myself as I went to get up, only to find my lower half of my body pinned under the minecart that had fallen with me.

Maybe if I can shimmy my legs out form under it?

Any attempt to get my legs to move, however, just seemed to fail. It was as if they weren't responding to my body's commands at all.

"Shit...I'm stuck donw here too, ain't I?!" I cursed as I looked around, but the only thing I could see was myself and the area around me due to my glowing arm.

Wait...

"Why are you glowing right now?" I asked it quietly as I tapped its cool exterior twice before shaking my head with a laugh. "And why am I talking to a chunk of rock?!"

"Because it can talk back?"

Hearing that voice speak out in the darkness set my heart racing, especially since I couldn't move.

"W-Whos there?!" I called out as almost in an instant my own face dropped down in front of me and gave me a toothy grin.

"Remember me?" I-He stated as I recalled the time in the woods and the prision cavern when I had met myself in a dream...but how was he here now?

As if reading my thoughts, the replica of me chuckled, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Relax, Mitch. I told you our face to face was coming soon, I just didn't expect it to be the NEXT day after you almost received head trauma by slamming into that tree!" He exclaimed as I narrowed my eyes at the doppelganger.

"You say that like I'm looking to get hurt! I didn't know I'd be down in this pit when I woke up this morning!" I yelled at him, my voice echoing throughout the tunnel as I thought about the situation I was in in conparision to his last visit. "But...does that mean I'm out cold again?"

Not-Me just sighed, putting his face into his left palm.

"Yeah, and whats worse is your pretty much on the path to being a disabled Isekai character right now." He said, raising a finger to my lips to stop and protests from me before the started. "Chill out, your core is healing your legs...but it'll take time, and the spell can leave you exhausted as long as it's running, so you'll be spending that time in your head with me until you heal up."

Sighing in relief at not having to be in a wheelchair, I looked my clone over for a while before tilting my head slightly, resting my arms under my head in a crossed manner.

"So...do you have a name? I'd rather not call you by something stereotypical like Joe or Anon." I asked him, getting a laugh from the copycat as he scratched his chin in thought.

"Hmm...what was the name of that magma boss from that pocket monster game you played a while back..." He whispered to himself before snapping his fingers. "Ah! That's right! Call me Maxie."

"Really? You could've picked from any bad guy from the time of my gaming phase, and you pick the climate obsessed vampire?" I deadpanned before another thought came to mind. "And how do you know about that anyway?!"

Maxie shrugged and sat down across from me, going criss-cross-aaplesauce as he tapped his head.

"Well, duh. I'm a part of you, Mitch. Thanks to that core, I am you and you are me...I just don't have any memories for you to pick at, just the basis knowledge of core magic that is known by all nightmare beings and the same level of intellect you do." He informed me before looking at the minecart on my legs. "Lemme fix that."

With a snap of his fingers, the minecart disappeared in an instant, allowing me to sit up and sit like he was, much to my own suprise.

"If my legs were broken and are being healed, why am I able to use then now?" I asked Maxie, slowly poking my legs while he answered.

"Because this is all in your head, Mitch. Hell, you could have wings in here and fly out of this cave right now!" He exclaimed, spreading his arms wide while I crossed my arms and let out a sharp huff.

"Only to wake up and be under a minecart again? No thanks, I'm not giving myself false hope like that." I told him sharply, getting a scoff in return from the blonde.

"So, your just going to give up?" He asked me, causing me to throw my hands in the air in exasperation.

"What should I do?! As far as I know, any 'magic' I have is purely for healing, and that doesn't get a cart off of me, Maxie! And I doubt Zephyr and the others will be able to find me!" I exclaimed before crossing my arms and letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "I'm screwed, man."

We sat there in silence for a while after that, neither of us even looking each other in the eye...until Maxie spoke up once again.

"Your magic is for healing purposes...but mines not." Maxie stated aloud, causing me to glance at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What? How does that help?" I asked him as he stood up.

"Well, I am your nightmare. Let me take control for a bit, and I'll get you out of this cave." He stated with a grin as he held out his left hand. "C'mon, Mitch. Do ya trust me?"

Standing up, I looked at his hand before giving the blonde me a glare.

"No, I don't. But I don't have many options right now." I sighed and grabbed his hand with my crystal one. "Do it, but give me back control when we make it to the surface."

Maxie smiled and winked, apparently happy with the agreement. "You won't regret this, Amigo!" He stated with a laugh as everything started becoming wavy and distorted.

I'm already regretting it, Amigo.

Maxie POV<<<<<<

Awaking with a sharp gasp, I got a quick look of my surroundings before slamming Mitch's left hand into the ground, relishing in the pain I felt in doing so.

"YEEEEES! I'm in the real world!" I exclaimed happily before arching my back so I could see behind me, giving me a good view of the minecart that was pinning us down.

"Lemme just..." I trailed off as I reached forward and touched the minecart with the crystal arm, causing the arm to glow black and make the metal minecart rot away to nothing but ash in a couple seconds.

Rolling on my back, I looked down at our legs and noticed they were still covered in that white light.

"Huh. They must've been busted pretty bad if they're taking that long to heal." I said as I leaned back on the ground and looked up into the darkness of the void.

Well, this isn't so bad. All I have to do is wait for our legs to heal, then I can find a way out of-

BZZZZT!

"What is making that infernal buzzing sound?!" I yelled as I looked around for the source of the racket before I noticed a glowing object nearby on my left. "What is that?"

Rolling over to it, I picked it up in my left hand and looked it over.

"Wait...this is Mitch's phone!" I exclaimed as I noticed it was saying someone by the name D was calling him. "How did he answer this before...Oh!" I exclaimed, remembering something about swiping something right.

Taking a chance, I swiped the green circle (The red circle was giving off some serious "ignore them" vibes) to the right, I lifted the phone to my left ear.

"Hello?" I asked, making my voice slightly higher pitched to sound more like Mitch.

"Ah, Mitch! Great to hear from you! Tell me, have you made it to the Empire yet?" D asked in a weirdly snarky voice, earning him a groan from yours truly.

"I'm stuck in a pit underground with my legs broken, D. Can't really get there right now." I told him plainly, only to nearly snap the phone in half after hearing laughter come from the other side.

"OHOHOHOHO! That was a good one, Mitchy boy!" He exclaimed before realizing I wasn't laughing with him. "...Your not joking, are you?"

"Gee, I wonder if I'm joking about the fact I'm in a pitch black hole in a mountain where I can't get out of, OF COURSE IM NOT JOKING ABOUT MY BROKEN LEGS, MORON!"

Suprisingly enough, I was shushed repeatedly by this D guy for that outburst

"Hey, keep it down! I have a guest over for tea and the last thing I need is-" He was cut off as I heard some feminine voice talking to him on the other side. "Yes, Flutterbutter it's that friend from before...Yes he's hurt, but that does-Wait!"

A small scuffle could be heard on the other side of the phone before it finally stopped, allowing me to hear only what sounded like shallow breathing on the other side.

"Uh...hello?" I asked into the phone, getting a squeak in response.

"H-Hello?" A timid voice barely registered through the phone. Thank the gods I was in a quiet cave, or I'd never would've heard her.

"I...um...overheard you talking to my friend about your injuries...A-Are you ok?" The female voice, from who'd I'd assume is called Flutterbutter from D's conversation earlier, asked me.

As much as I wanted to react in the same snarky way I did with D, I couldn't bring myself to do so. It was as if every part of me was revolting at the thought of tearing into this female emotionally.

But why? She sounds like any other being, just a bit more shy is all.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've got healing magic working on my legs, I just need a way out of the cave I'm stuck in." I told her with a smile, regardless whether or not she could see it. Something about talking to her was just...calming.

"Your trapped in a cave! That's awful!" She exclaimed, her voice suddenly reaching normal volume. "Discord, you have to help him!"

Discord? Is that this D guys real name? I thought as I heard a sigh come from the phone.

"Alright, Flutters, I will." He stated with zero motivation in doing so.

He must like this FlutterButter girl.

"Mitch, my boy, tell me the name of one of your companions and I'll see about maybe teleporting you near them."

"Maybe?" I asked, not liking the sound of something that wasnt absolute.

"Chaos magic isn't straightforward, Mitch. Look where you ended up after the last teleportation spell I casted."

He had a point there.

"Fair enough." I replied as I tried to remember the names of his travel buddies.

Was it berna....Bertha! No, she left a while ago. I groaned slightly. Why was it so hard to remember their names?! What was the name of that pegasus thats been with Mitch since the beginning?

Zeppelin? Breezy? Noooooo....Oh, wait!

"How about Zephyr Breeze? Does he work?" I asked into the phone, getting a scoff from Discord and what had to be a gasp from Flutterbutter.

"Of course you'd pick that sleazy excuse of a pony, no offense." Discord said, to which I found myself frowning in confusion.

"How would I take offense to that?" I asked the chaos spellcaster.

"I was talking to my friend here, since she's a pony and all." Discord answered as I began to feel tingly all over my body. "Now, I've activated the spell, and thankfully I've met the pony you mentioned so I could link you to his magic core, but this won't be a certain thing so be ready to land on a rock or something like that."

"Anything is better than this cave." I told him as the phone suddenly shut off after flashing some sort of circular symbol with a lightning bolt in it three times. "Damn, must've died or something."

Oh well, at least I got my job done. Now I can return control back to Mitch until he gets himself hurt again...or he masters his powers, whichever comes first. I thought with a chuckle, relinquishing control of myself just as I felt our body teleport from our spot on the floor.

Zephyr Breeze POV<<<<<<

After Mitch had fell into the bottom of the ditch, I had two options.

1-Attempt to fly into a dark pit and try to pull him out, when I wasn't even sure I could carry the guy.

2-Follow his instructions and go get help from the dogs.

As much as I didn't like the dogs, I was a hundred percent sure I'd tear a muscle trying to heave Mitch out of that cave, so I decided to go with idea numero two

Which was was how I somehow ended up at the outside of the cave arguing with Piper about morals.

"YOU LEFT HIM DOWN THERE?!" She roared as she drove a paw into my chest fluff, ruining hours of hard work to make it align just right instantly with a single prod. "He called you a friend, and you LEFT HIM TO DIE?!"

"I DIDN'T LEAVE ANYONE!" I yelled back, starting to get seriously cross at the accusations of leaving Mitch behind. "He told me to come and get you two for help! And LOOK AT ME! How is someone of my stature going to pull a big guy like him out of a ditch?"

Reks snorted out a laugh at that, but ended up backing off when both Piper and I glared at him.

"Regardless, we don't leave dogs behind, even if they aren't dogs!" She yelled back at me. "And how do you expect to be able to save him anyway? All of our gear is still on the railway back in the cave!"

I pointed at the crystal empire that was maybe fifty hooves from us. "We can go there and get some equipment to pull him out, like rope and stuff!"

Piper sighed, rubbing her snout with her left paw as she shook her head. "I still can't believe you-Gah!"

A snowball hit her straight in the face from the left side, making her turn that way with a glare that could cook a hearthswarming feast in seconds.

"Who did-REKS! YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR DOING THAT, I AM NOT IN THE MOOD!" She yelled as she stomped after her brother, who pointed at the ground next to him with a grunt.

"Mitch?!" I exclaimed, shocked at seeing him just laying their in the snow. I glided over to where Reks was and landed right next to Mitch, noticing there was a faint glow on his legs that wasn't there before.

"Is he ok?" Piper asked as Reks put one of the fingers on his paw on Mitch's throat and resting it there.

After a moment Reks pulled the finger back and let out what sounded like a happy yip, much to the relief of me and Piper.

"Oh, thank the Grandmaster he's ok." Piper said with a sigh as Mitch began to stir.

"Man, who knew you could squeeze butter out of butterflies like that..." He said in a whoozy voice as he opened his eyes. "Whoa...why are you guys hovering around me like that?"

Noticing all three of us were a bit too close for comfort, Piper and I took a step back while Reks got up and walked over to a tree, looking it over due to its half frozen half spring like form.

"How'd you get out of that pit, dude?!" I asked him as he frowned and, after a moments hesitation, answered.

"Remember, Breeze. I got magic in my veins!" He answered dramatically, making me chuckle at his silliness, though Piper seemed less than enthused at his attitude.

"You could've died, you know. And your just joking like that?" She exclaimed, causing Mitch to give her a devious grin.

"Ya know, if you didn't have a 'totally real boyfriend' I'd assume you were worried about me out of affection. But since you do have one, I'm gonna play it safe and assume your just worried because its your job." He told her, getting a soft kick in the side from her in return.

"It's because we're friends, you dork." She said with her tongue sticking out before turning around and walking back towards the mouth of the cave alongside Reks, who had snagged a branch from the tree he was looking at before.

Mitch went to start to get up, so I wrapped my hooves under his arms and lifted him up with my wings, allowing him to get to his feet faster.

"Thanks, man!" He stated, but before he could walk off I flew in front of him.

"Mitch...was it really ok to leave you in the cave back there? I know what you told me, but I was just worried...you know?" I told him, feeling stupid talking about this to him.

Suprisingly, he didn't make fun of me for asking him that. Instead he out a hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"Relax, Breeze. I wouldn't had told you to go if I didn't want you to do so. And besides, if you didn't care you wouldn't be making this awkward scene right now, correct?"

"Yeah, your rig-Hey!" I exclaimed as he laughed and went on after the dogs, though I noticed he hobbled slightly with each step.

Is he really ok?

Author's Note

OK! So quick apologies are in order.

This was supposed to come out 2 weeks ago, but three things happened.

1-Family issues
2-I wrecked my car on the median of a highway
3-I got acute respiratory infection over break.

All of that kept me from writing, which is why this is sooooo late. Thankfully, I'm back in college and (mostly) better, so things should be good from here on out.

Enjoy the chapter! and p.s, as mentioned above I'm not at 100% so there may be a few errors I missed in my run through. Sorry in advance!

EDIT: I forgot to do this before, but I planned on putting in a link to a HiE story that's absolutely amazing! It's complete too, so it's definitely worth checking out! Here's the link to it: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/418881/crossing-the-trixie-bridge

Trust me, you'll want to read this! It's inspired most of my works!