The Symbiote

by Mike

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Random, Comedy
Length: 5354

A pet project I took up sometime in February 2011. I was in the heat of 11th grade with all honors and AP classes, and I still managed to have some free time, so I assumed that during the summer I would have plenty of time to write this. Turns out that some AP classes give out summer homework… LOTS of it. Then there are other reasons I'm sure the brony community would understand If I were to post them, but for now I'll keep those to myself. I'll get this done some time late in the summer when I may have more free time. In the meantime, have the intro parts. They're kind of cliffhanger-y, but that's what I was going for at the time.

TL:DR IF YOU DON'T LIKE UNCONCLUDED STORIES DON'T READ THIS YET. I'm just putting it up at the moment to help test the site.

…I really hope we can change these descriptions after the fact.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2011-07-30 17:33:48 UTC

Chapter 1

The Symbiote, Chapter 1; Beginning at the middle

by Mike

It was the same sort of day that Canterlot had seen for the last thousand years. As usual, there was not much wildlife to be found; the city protruded precariously from the sheer face of a mountain after all - generally only the ponies had any desire to reach it. Still, it was warm and sunny, and birds could be heard chirping off in the distance somewhere out of view. On most of the level ground left unoccupied by buildings there was a crowded, colorful open-air market where one could purchase anything from apple fritters to emu eggs, ornate cloth and earthenware to bee pollen and tambourines. The tent-draped market granted the city an appearance both rustic and regal; its sights, sounds and smells blended together into one continuous motion of experience which ebbed and flowed around the tall, decorated buildings just as it had for generations.

Into this scene stepped an unfamiliar figure cloaked in a dark robe.  Without stopping to rest, though the climb into the city was steep, the phantom mixed inconspicuously with the crowds of the market, and drifted cautiously towards Celestia’s palace, stopping here and there as if to take in the scenery. As the mysterious pony approached the large marble structure, the sun became tinged red, attracting the attention of many of Canterlot’s inhabitants… It was as their exclamations took on a worried tone that the robed figure snuck past the distracted guards at the palace entrance.

One of the guards along the palace wall took notice, and calmly stole after the invader, preparing to escort it out of the building. In a peaceful nation like Equestria, the guard had no need to think his target wouldn’t comply, but perhaps he should have: the vigilant sentry chased after the cloak-wearer one second, and the next he chased after nothing at all; the creature had vanished!

Celestia was discussing the logistics of providing goods to the frontier towns with somepony when it happened. “We should provide them with hay in exchange for apples so that…” suddenly; no sound!

Princess Celestia was jarred by the sudden change of pace: it looked as if the pony in front of her were frozen in place – in fact no one else in the room stirred except for herself, as far as she could tell. The sunlight had turned a dim red color, and held no warmth, as it usually did. Celestia pondered about this for a moment, then saw the strange robed intruder appear from the shadows. Needless to say, the princess was startled. Celestia rose and prepared to defend herself if need be, but something familiar about the pony in front of her kept her from being too frightened. She resolved to be ready for anything.

The strange pony stopped halfway up the stairs leading to the throne, and spoke unceremoniously:

“Huh, I guess I didn’t think I would get this far, but okay, here goes…”

“YOU?” Celestia shouted; more in surprise and recognition than in fear. She sank back to a more leisurely posture, and any ghost of doubt disappeared from her face. As she suspected, she did recognize the pony In front of her.

“Yes me. Anyways, I came to ask for a favor… I guess you could also count this as a warning, but anyways…” the cloaked creature trailed off into thought.

Celestia smirked; she wasn’t taking the not-so mysterious stranger too seriously. Frankly she was just glad that she could have a break from her repetitive schedule. “We have a deal: you’re not supposed to leave the Everfree Forest.”

“Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, and besides, you never backed that deal with any real force…” (Let’s just say the pony had a habit of trailing off)

‘Well, that much is true, I guess,’ Celestia thought to herself. “So: desperate measures, warnings? Just what exactly is on your mind?”

“We’re getting off this rock before it all goes to hell.”

This was a cryptic answer, even for Celestia, and she was peeved by the creature’s rudeness. “Well before I do a single thing for you, you’ve got to give me a better explanation than that.”

“Ok, ok: a few days ago the Symbiote sensed that a singularity was approaching this planet- on a collision course, actually- and that doesn’t happen too often. Once per planet I would imagine. Anyways we need a few unassuming ponies to help me gather energy and reset critical systems. Then we were… planning on leaving…” As the mysterious pony finished speaking this time, it shrugged as much as a pony could realistically shrug. (which is not much)

“This planet’s going to be WHAT!?!”

“Destroyed. You may want to start evacuating ponies to the moon. We’ve all got about a week.”

Celestia’s thoughts were jumbled. First, there was an imminent threat to the survival of every living thing she knew; that was shocking to say the least. But similarly shocking was the cloaked pony’s bluntness and apparent lack of interest in Equestria’s survival juxtaposed on its almost whimsical tone. She swore; she’d heard that voice a thousand years ago just as she heard it today; and she would never truly be used to it.

Seeing Celestia so distraught made the shady figure uneasy. “Well… I could power up the graviton manipulator and ride the wormhole rent in space by the destruction of this planet back into the past, then deflect the singularity off course…”

Celestia collected her thoughts and spoke. “I think we both know you don’t need anypony’s help to prepare for something like this. You’re planning on evaluating whether our civilization is worth protecting, aren’t you? “

“Well… pretty much, honestly… You know me, I’m all for protecting this planet, but the minds of the Symbiote are more focused on the goals… they’ll need some convincing.”

Celestia was relieved. She knew exactly who to send to make certain the Symbiote would choose to defend Equestria. “Well why didn’t you say so? Ok, you need ponies to ‘help you’ with something or other. Sure, I can do that. I think we both know how this will end, don’t you?”

“Not exactly sure… I have an idea, but we’ll see… Look Celestia, I’ve known you a long time, and I know you’re perfectly capable of surprising me, but you really need to bring your A-game for this. As I said, you may want to start evacuating to the moon…”

Celestia was caught off guard. “Where’s all this fear coming from? It’s not like you.”

“The Symbiote’s minds have resolved that it is our duty to do what we can to perpetuate our own species… It’s not looking good… Get me those ponies, ok?” The grim-cloaked quadruped promptly galloped out the door.

After a moment, the sunlight became warm and yellow and time began to flow normally again, and Celestia continued her daily routine; forcing the strange conversation and the excitement it had brought into the back of her mind for later, when she’d write a letter to Twilight Sparkle. The pony she’d been talking to before the intruder’s interruption became animated once more.

“… Hay is cheaper and more versatile than apples- they get some surplus cash and some starchy food to keep them in good physical condition; we get the apples for our growing population in Manehattan…”

A Surprised guard ran into the throne room, looked around for a moment, and then left with a dumbfounded expression.

________________________________________

“Tell me again how you managed to drag me into this ---” Rainbow dash was exasperated: it was a nice day and there were a thousand other places she would rather be than at the CMC’s tree house, watching a terrible stand-up routine and trying to explain to the fillies that they just hadn’t found their calling.

Rarity replied with an emphatic “Oh, I don’t even remember darling...”

This much was true: Rarity knew that she and Rainbow Dash had been tricked into this somehow, but she couldn’t recall the details. Any other day she would have welcomed the chance to instill confidence in the young fillies, but she had deadlines to meet at her boutique, so at the moment she was just quietly going along with the CMC’s antics and hoping they would be done soon. She looked longingly out the window for a minute, as Rainbow Dash had been doing for the last ten.

“Rainbow Dash, ain’t you goin’ to give us some constructive criticism?”

Applebloom looked up at her with manipulative puppy-eyes, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t moved. “No, this sucks. Comedy just doesn’t suit…”

Rarity cut her off, holding her hoof up between Dash and the crusaders. “Now now Rainbow Dash, they’re just fillies, don’t be too harsh to them.”

“What about you Rarity? What did you think of our act?”

“Well, I…” Given enough awkward silence she could have thought up an appropriate response but this time around she didn’t have to answer- Twilight knocked on the door. “I’ll get it!” said Scootaloo.

“Hello there, are Rarity and Rainbow Dash here? Pinkie Pie said they would be.”

“Um, no...” Scootaloo said quickly. Rainbow Dash gave her a harsh glance and she quickly decided to change her story; “I mean yes!” Sweetie Belle giggled at Scootaloo’s sudden trepidation.

“Well that’s good to hear, I have…”

Twilight was cut off by an ecstatic Rainbow Dash. “Ohmygosh Twilight thanks for saving us! LET’S GO!”

“To tell them something…” she narrowed her eyes at the smiling Rainbow Dash for a moment before turning to address the rest, smiling again. “Spike got a letter from Princess Celestia of the most urgent nature. Spiiike! Care to read?!” she yelled out the door in no particular direction.

“I told you already, It’s a long letter; I’ll read it when we’ve got everyone together!” Spike walked into view from behind some shrubs, looking mildly peeved. “And stop assuming I’m going to follow you everywhere: I was actually going to stay at the Sugarcube Corner until I found out…” he zoned out mid-sentence and stared at Rarity, who once again proceeded to ignore him. After snapping out of this brief daydream, Spike changed the subject: “Anyway, nice tree house Applebloom, I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the baby dragon and smiled.

Applebloom smiled humbly. “Aw, it wasn’t that tough, ya just gotta know a thing or two.”

Taking advantage of the few moments of distraction, Rainbow Dash slipped out the door, and waited impatiently at the base of the tree.  Seeing this, Rarity started to make her way to the door as well.

“Well, I guess my work will have to wait then, if it’s for a note from Celestia. Come on, Twilight, we really must be on our way. I don’t want to fall too far behind with Hoity Toity’s orders: he gives good business! Oh, and fillies, keep up the good work, practice makes perfect!”

“But we wanna come too!” The three members of the CMC said in unison, shuffling on over to the door as they did.

“And how do you expect to become great comedians without hard work? ... ”; Twilight stepped over to the doorway and tried to diffuse the situation: “Uh, we could use a favor though. Why don’t you three take a quick break and go tell AppleJack to meet us at Sugarcube Corner – oh, and tell her to some bring apples too.”

“Ok!” the three fillies said again in unison. They left in a hurry; reinvigorated, with a goal in mind.

And so Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Spike left in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.

________________________________________

Applejack busted through the swinging door of Sugarcube Corner with a powerful kick and ran in. “I came as soon as I heard, is everypony ok?” It was only after she said this that she noticed with some embarrassment that except for the candy coated walls, the startled salesclerk, Mr. Cake, and his wall-eyed customer, Derpy, there was no one else there.

“What in tar-nation... Uh, have you seen Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash an’ the rest?”

“No, can’t say I have…” A smirk appeared on Mr. Cake’s face for a moment, but Applejack missed it. She turned to leave and muttered “Oh, darn it Applebloom…” It was already late afternoon; Applejack wondered whether her little sister had taken too long to find her, and her friends had made their plans and left already.

Applejack was halfway out the door when she thought she heard giggling.

“SURPRISE” Pinkie Pie burst out from behind the counter with a corresponding explosion of streamers and anomalous sound of noisemakers. The other ponies followed her lead; walking out from behind the counter.

“GOT YOU”

“Ya sure did Pinkie.” Applejack said, face re-lit with a smile. Everyone was there; Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy.

Twilight Sparkle took the opportunity to explain “It was taking quite a while for you to get here, so we… used the extra time to get all our things ready.”

Rainbow Dash gave AppleJack an annoyed look and floated restlessly about. “We still had enough time left to hide behind the counter and do the whole ‘Pinkie Pie’ routine!”

“Yep, I figured… so are we goin’ somewhere then?”

“Yes we are. Celestia gave us some instructions” Twilight turned to address the group, and Derpy snuck out the door with her daily purchase of muffins. “Spike, everyone’s here now, go on; read that letter!”

“Ok. *ahem*

‘To my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends,’

‘It has come to my attention that, even as I write this letter, the clock ticks toward the end of Equestria as we know it. Despite this I know that we have little to fear, if you take it upon yourselves to go on a mission of dire importance in my stead. You must travel deep within the Everfree Forest, into relatively uncharted territory, and meet up with an old friend of mine.

Time is of the essence, but Knowledge will serve you just as well on this journey, so I will tell you all I know.

Soon after Luna and I created Equestria, a cacophonous fireball fell onto our planet. We assumed it was a meteorite, but something about it just wasn’t right. I left Luna’s side one day and went to see the impact crater I assumed the object would leave behind and found, much to my surprise, that there wasn’t one: there was no massive chunk of metal either, just a strange greenish object. It appeared plantlike, but it looked as if it were both designed and grown, in a way. I approached the object slowly at first, but then decided that it seemed inert. I looked it over, as a passing curiosity; tried using magic, brute force, anything to get a response from it, but all methods failed. It wasn’t buried deeply in the soil and overall it didn’t seem much larger than me, but I found I was unable to lift the object, so I left it there, and returned to my duties. In just under a week, while my attention was diverted, this object sprouted like a seed; creating what we know of today as the Everfree Forest. Luna and I were startled by the hostility and tenacity of this forest, so I again left Equestria to inspect the impact site.

While I was there, I met this ally of mine, the one I’ve asked you all to find, plus a strange pony with a ponderous blue box. I’ll focus on this misadventure of mine: it will be particularly useful to you…’

Twilight interrupted Spike, levitated him onto her saddlebags, and with a slightly anxious voice, said; “You know what everypony? We know which way to go; Spike can keep reading the letter as we walk.”

… The other ponies were quiet for a moment. Perhaps they feared what might lay before them. Most of what had been read seemed fairly benign, but ‘the end of Equestria as we know it’ hung over their heads like a dark cloud. Mr.Cake had closed shop for the day and left at some point while Spike had been reading, so Sugarcube corner seemed deathly quiet. Only the dust in the gleaming rays of sunset stirred…

“Aw yeah this is going to be just like old times!” Rainbow Dash flew about the room, kicking at the air as if confronting the anxiety in the room head-on.

Applejack caught hold of Dash’s tail and brought her back down to earth again, more by instinct than reason. “Don’t get too full-o-yahself now; we hardly know what we’re in for.”

At the thought of something terrible enough to destroy Equestria, Fluttershy had sunk behind the counter; in part to hide, in part to help Rarity organize and decorate the supplies. (A pursuit which merited all of Rarity’s attention, considering her perfectionist tendencies)

It took a few long, quiet minutes, but eventually the ponies gathered their material possessions and mental stamina, and were ready to go. They marched out of the shop, through the bustling, sweet-smelling town, and off in the direction of the Everfree Forest; accompanied by the setting sun, an evening breeze, and a story.

________________________________________

Chapter 2

The Symbiote, Chapter 2

by Mike

The path to the Everfree Forest, framed by tall grass, ran over an open meadow full of low rolling hills with swampy, cattail-filled areas in their dells and patches of farmland on their tops. The chorus of frogs and crickets rose louder here than the cacophony of the birds. Ponyville receded in the distance and the sun, now behind the Everfree Forest’s light-swallowing trees, reflected tiredly off the wispy clouds; lighting the sky ablaze with fast-fading orange. The late afternoon air did the ponies some good. They began to consider in the back of their minds the journey ahead and speculate about what they would find at it’s end, but for the most part they tried to enjoy the journey.

Rainbow Dash quickly won the race to the edge of the Everfree (which no one else had actually participated in), gotten bored (and a little creeped out by the dark forest, though she wouldn’t have admitted it), and wandered back to join the other ponies. “Come on guys, you can go faster!” Rainbow Dash crossed her front Hooves and floated lazily about with a frown on her face to exaggerate her boredom. “Not even Ditzy...”

Of course Ditzy was completely devoted to capturing every moment of her adventure in her memory- and was just as enthusiastic about chasing a firefly around as Dash was about Racing.

Twilight Sparkle and Applejack led the herd at a casual pace, taking little notice of Rainbow Dash because they were busy making plans. “Well, we got a late start, so we can’t make it very far, why not spend the night at Zecora’s. Then, tomorrow we can establish a base camp at the castle of the royal pony sisters, since we know the way there already. What do you think?”

“Sounds good… An’ maybe Pinkie will recognize some mountains along the way.”

“Exactly.”

“By the way, where’d Pinkie go?” Applejack looked around thoroughly, then added: “… An’ Fluttershy too!” At this, Twilight became slightly worried. “I don’t know.” After looking around with Applejack for a moment she yelled back towards Rarity. “Hey Rarity, have you seen Pinkie and Fluttershy?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t. I thought perhaps they were behind us?”

“HERE WE ARE!!!” Pinkie leapt down from one of the trees lining the edge of the forest, and Fluttershy descended more slowly, following the sudden drizzle of confetti. “And that’s how it’s done, Fluttershy”

“Oh, simply marvelous, I never would have imagined that you could do that…can, can you do that again?”

Pinkie Pie looked from side to side, buried her head in the ground, unburied it, looked carefully behind the tree they had jumped from, and cautiously back in the direction of Ponyville, then came up close to Fluttershy to whisper in her ear; “not while the reader’s watching…”Rainbow Dash almost spoke, but Spike beat him to it, muttering in his sleep from upon twilight’s back; “Pinkie Pie, you are so random…” Rainbow Dash remained undeterred: “Er… yeah, what he said!”

Applejack spoke to Twilight “Well, we found ‘em!” Then she gestured down the trail “An’ not a horseshoe-toss from the forest too soon.”

The Ponies stopped for a moment to stare at the immense trees that marked the threshold of the forest. The sound of frogs and crickets was even louder here than on the meadow-lined trail. Though it was approaching dusk and the thick canopy seemed to hungrily devour the light, the forest no longer felt harsh, unforgiving or threatening; as it had been when nightmare moon had forced the place to remain in its nighttime state. No, today it was calm; the type of deathly calm that plays tricks on the minds of little fillies, trying to make them think that it’s fear, but calm nonetheless. Small creatures scurried about in the gloom. Where Ditzy wandered forth and stepped on a colorful mushroom, an odd call emanated; “Papa Smurf, Papa Smurf!” The vines on the trees were thick and tufted with hanging mosses, making the forest look particularly overgrown, but at ground level, perhaps because the leaves of the trees were so good at catching the light, there were surprisingly few shrubs and bushes, except for the patch of poison Joke. That stuff seemed to derive its strength to live solely from blocking the ponies’ clearest path to Zecora’s abode.

“c’mon, Applebloom found a way around that poison joke field that’ll lead straight to Zecora’s place.” The path wound about for a while, but it got them to the hut all the same.

Zecora heard a knock at the door. She put down the bundle of herbs she had been making and let in her visitors with a greeting: “Ah, welcome, welcome my good friends. What brings you around the bend?” Twilight Sparkle spoke for the group “Hi Zecora, we were wondering if we could spend the night here. Tomorrow we’re going to explore the forest: we’re looking for some sort of… ‘enemy of Equestria’.”

“Sure; this home is a station for rest. I think that’s what it does best. If I recall, I may have seen this foe. It likes to be addressed by simple names like Joe.” Twilight stared smugly at Zecora. “You just had to rhyme that last line, didn’t you?”

“No; the pony you seek is quite eccentric: hyper, translucent, and a bit pedantic.”

Twilight was confident that, though it was unlike her, Zecora was just stringing words together. How else could you explain such random comments? “Well how could you even be certain that… oh, never mind.”  “Thanks Zecora. That information might prove, um… useful!” “Come on in guys!” the other ponies made themselves comfortable, thanking Zecora for the place to sleep and the warm welcome.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had so many guests, cooking tonight is going to be a quite a test.” Applejack didn’t want to be rude, so she intercepted Zecora before she left to get food. (Darn, now I’m doing it too) “Aw, that’s mighty kind of ya, but I brought some apples for that.” She gathered the other travelers, and they each took a single apple. Rainbow Dash almost went back for seconds, but Applejack stopped her. “Hold on there, partner! I know it’s not much to eat but we gotta conserve food. We don’t know how long we’ll be out here.” Eventually, after bouts of intermittent conversation the tired ponies finished their apples and settled down for sleep around the fire pit.

Twilight and Zecora, nearest to the window, were brought back from the brink of consciousness by a sound from the inky blackness of the forest: giggles at first, then a large tree branch fell, then some strange whistling and whirring noises, then footsteps. Aside from Zecora and herself, Twilight counted only four ponies at rest by the fire pit.

Twilight couldn’t take it anymore: she walked grumpily to the window to find the source of the noise. Upon ascertaining the source of the noise, She “whispered” rather noisily out the window; “What the? Pinkie, Ditzy, get back in here! What are you guys doing?” Of course, it shouldn’t have been all that surprising; Ditzy Doo and Pinkie Pie were the two most… unique ponies in all of Equestria.

The two ponies seemed bent on staying awake. “Aw, come on, we were just chasing after a blue light we saw!” Pinkie Pie flailed around, gesturing towards a specific direction in the undergrowth. “Blue light, eh?” Twilight looked around, unconvinced, into the deep dark. She felt like she was staring out the window of a bathysphere- that Pinkie and Dinky were adrift in the deep ocean, or floating through some sort dark void, illuminated just so by the embers of the fire pit. She couldn’t have seen through the trees, but above them it was cloudy. With the pegasi to clear the weather away, it would never be this dark in Equestria. Even the crickets and frogs had entered into a restful torpor. Receiving no audible or visual input, Twilight sparkle stared at the forest for a minute, considering Pinkie’s suggestion, and trying not to be rude, though she was tired. I don’t know pinkie… but I do know that we’ll need our rest for

Then Twilight saw it- a strange blue light accompanied by that whirring-whistling sound. “Huh, I guess you guys were right.” Twilight thought for a moment “Well, you two should sleep to be ready for tomorrow morning; if you wander off, you could get lost. Zecora and I will check it out.” Twilight turned to face Zecora, who hadn’t yet fallen asleep. “You don’t mind going for a little walk, do you?”

Zecora shook her head and began to gather some implements the uses of which Twilight could only guess.  Twilight opened the front door and let in the two ponies. “Do you two promise to stay here?” Pinkie Pie responded immediately “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Ditzy simply nodded in agreement.

Zecora and Twilight left the other ponies to find the source of the blue light. It didn’t take long before they heard rustling in the bushes; someone was clearly trying to get away. “Zecora, do you think it’s that pony you told me about earlier, the enemy we were looking for?” Zecora was focused on the chase, but still gave her input. “That’s not the pony - too easy to track. This pony’s likely to end up a snack.” She tossed one of the tools she had brought with her, and by the sound of things, it hit its mark.

The shady figure fell to the ground with a loud thud, but seemed undaunted. “ooh, a bolas, didn’t see that coming.”

The two victors ran over to their fallen captive, a brown horse with an hourglass cutie mark, barely visible in the gloom.

“Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Zecora, and we’d like to ask you some questions.” Twilight spoke first in a welcoming manner, then in a more serious tone.

“Oh, what a coincidence, me too! First question, have you detected any human telecommunications signatures coming from within this forest?”

“uh…”

“I’ll take that as a no, anyway, what do you call this place- and what are the names of some of the places around here. C’mon, names, names… no? what year is it?

Twilight was caught off guard: she would have been more forceful, but the pony talked too rapidly and she had become compliant in the process. “The 1001st year of the Equestrian calendar”

“Oh, not good, not good, never heard of it… Why is that not good?” he asked rhetorically

Twilight was no longer really taking note of the pony’s mad ramblings. “Well, we found a crazy pony, now what” she asked Zecora, with a hint of exasperation. She might have thought to provide aid to the strange creature, but she was too tired to really think it through.

“Because I ought to know just about every place and time, which leads me to a strange hypothesis…”

Zecora also seemed to think, wistfully and reluctantly, that the horse they had found was insane. Any instinct she had to help was overpowered by the memories of rabies epidemics back in the old country. At least it was not as much of a threat as she thought they might find; still, better safe than sorry. “Back away slowly, be careful of bites… let’s just go home now, and turn off the lights.”

“This universe is either different from mine, or so far in the future that no Time Lord has ever dared venture here!... Oh? Where are you guys going, I was just starting to enjoy the company!” It was too late, the ponies had already snuck away. The male pony thought to himself ‘What strange creatures this planet has… oh well, it’s probably for the best anyways.’ Then he wriggled out of the bolas, picked up his sonic screwdriver, and wandered off into the forest again. He felt as if during the entirety of that short conversation very few words had actually been passed from either group to the other.

Zecora and Twilight sparkle approached the cottage quietly so as not to draw the attention of anything else that might lurk in the darkness. Soon, they too were asleep.

That night Ditzy had dreams. They came in intermittent, short bursts which resembled memories in their consistency, but which Ditzy recognized as new.

…  Ditzy saw what looked like a pony, but couldn’t have been; it had the striking texture of a leaf! “Ah, yes, Hi, I’m I.P.∞, but you can call me… (Steve, Bob, Joe?) um, Steve, for our purposes… I’ve been expecting you all; welcome to the Symbiote! … … … Oh yeah… almost forgot, follow me please!”   …

…   There was a humming metallic sphere in front of Ditzy. A glow seemed to emanate from within it. The air was thick. She heard the leaf-pony’s voice “Ah, wonderful! I knew you’d be good with bubbles… I don’t know how I knew, of course.” Ditzy couldn’t tell if that last part was sarcastic, but she assumed so from the context. “Seriously though: cutie marks, magic: it still seems so surreal after a thousand years of living here… pass the D2O pod please!” for some reason Ditzy felt happy, felt at home.  …

…   Ditzy was back in the Everfree Forest, but not quite. There were broad, darkly colored leaves of various hues. Symbols danced across their surfaces. The air around Ditzy shimmered as it might in a desert, but it wasn’t any hotter than usual. The other ponies were with her, but they seemed angry at the leaf-pony, who was making a desperate plea. “No, no, no…! I am not your enemy, ambivalence is! There will come a point for your species, as it did for mine, when the very physical laws of the universe itself pale in comparison  the limits you set up for yourself in your own minds… I beg of you, open your minds!   …

…   Ditzy was scared. It was dark. It was cold. She couldn’t breathe. She felt weightless. It felt like her blood was boiling, no, it was! She looked in the direction she assumed was down. She saw a sphere, serene, bright blue and green, crumbling in on itself, the red glow of the powerful implosion which was also swallowed up. Ditzy no longer felt weightless: she felt very heavy, in fact! At this rate she felt that her hooves would tear out. So much pain! She didn’t have to endure for long. All the light there ever existed in the universe cascaded down upon her, and she was vaporized instantly.   …

Ditzy woke up. Her dreams faded, but the dread remained.