It was a beautiful sunny day in Ponyville. Birds were singing, ponies were happily chattering away, and no rain was scheduled for the rest of the week.
I felt like shit.
The alfalfa sandwich in front of me sat with only a single bite taken, and I was instead staring into the middle distance, looking towards Canterlot Mountain without really seeing it.
I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d thrown away everything I’d ever known just to be with the love of my life again, but now I was in a brand new world where I was… nobody. No nation to save, no adoring fans, no wondering what new danger the day would bring.
I wished something would happen.
“Hello, Lightning Dust.”
I snapped back into focus in an instant. Sitting across from me was a pony I almost recognized. Lavender coat, dark mane, and both a horn and wings. But even though I’d met Vice President Sparkle many times, this wasn’t her. This Twilight Sparkle wore a black cloak, a thin steel crown, and a fake smile.
I had been distracted, but not that distracted. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and my instincts screamed danger before I even realized that several other ponies had appeared near the exits, trying to look like they weren’t watching.
“My name is Emerald Gem,” I said, not risking any sudden moves.
If anything, that made Twilight’s smile grow wider. “I think we can dispense with that, Lightning,” she said. “I already know who you are, and why you’re here. You have no secrets from me.” Her eyes flicked past me, following my gaze to one of the ponies by the exit, and her expression softened. “You don’t need to worry, Lightning. I only want to talk.”
“Sure have a funny way of showing it,” I spat.
“A mere precaution. I didn’t want you to run before you had at least heard me out.” She smiled again, and there was still no warmth in it. “You’re a military pony, Lightning. Do you really think I’d have shown my hoof if I wanted to hurt you?”
I didn’t bother to answer that. “What do you want, then?”
She wants Tavi. But I knew better than to say it. The first rule of negotiations was clear: never let your enemy know what you know.
“Your cooperation.” Twilight levitated a thin folder from somewhere within her cloak and set it on the table in front of me. “We’ve designated the target as Specimen Omega-Two-Seven. She is extremely dangerous, but with your help—”
“Save it,” I cut her off. “I’ve heard this all before. She’s a pony, and I’m not going to let you hurt her.”
So much for the first rule of negotiations.
“She isn’t,” Twilight said sadly, and for the first time it spread to her face. “I’m so sorry, Lightning, but your wife is gone. What you found… it’s not her. It’s just wearing her face. And if we don’t stop it, it will just kill more ponies—”
“Shut up! Shut up!” I shoved myself back from the table and stood up. To her credit, Twilight didn’t flinch. “I’m not going to lose her again.” I took a step towards the exit, and then spread my wings and launched myself straight up.
“Lightning, wait! We’re trying to help—”
To my surprise, no one followed me, even as Twilight’s plea petered out.
“Tavi, we gotta go!” I yelled before I had even fully barged into the tiny apartment I shared with Tavi. “The spooks are onto us!”
Octavia poked her head out of the kitchen, a frown on her face. “What kind of spooks?”
“The Twilight Sparkle kind! And… well, I don’t think she’s our Twilight Sparkle. But she knows way too much, and she’s at least as competent. We need to run. Find another world to hide in.”
Octavia’s face hardened. “Lightning, we can’t just run. We’ve barely arrived, and you were just getting settled…”
“Tavi, we don’t have any gear, I don’t have my Element, we can’t fight her—”
“I can,” Octavia said darkly. “I can deal with one measly Princess.” A flickering glow crackled between her hooves, energy gathering around them. “One example, and they’ll leave us alone.”
“Tavi, no,” I whispered, stepping forward to touch Octavia’s shoulder. “We agreed. No more killing.”
Octavia turned, and for a moment her face had such a scowl that I almost let go. But then it vanished, and the energy around her faded. “Okay,” she nodded. “Okay. Let me just… grab a few things.”
I watched her go, my legs weak. I’ve never seen her that angry before. Not even on the day we were reunited. I tried to shut out those memories—the screams of my squadmates, my friends—but as they turned over in my mind, I could see Octavia’s face perfectly. Scared, distraught, despairing, that I remembered. But not angry.
Had Twilight been right? I should have looked at the folder. I could have learned something valuable. Even if none of it was true.
None of it would have been true. I trust Octavia. They don’t know her.
Octavia stepped back into the hall. “Alright, I think that’s every—”
A flicker in the mirror. “Down!” I screamed, tackling Octavia to the ground.
A burst of magic shattered the front window, whizzing just above our heads. It went straight through the far wall of the hallway before detonating in the kitchen with a muffled BOOM.
“Go! Now!”
A yellow glow surrounded us, and the world exploded.
“So what’s this world’s deal?” I asked, just to break the silence. After arriving in the middle of a forest with no sign of civilization in sight, I needed something besides the constant low murmur of wildlife.
“I don’t know,” Octavia replied. “I didn’t have time to search for anything. I just picked a world at random.”
“So, what does that mean? There might not be ponies here at all and we’ll just be wandering through the woods forever?”
“No. I didn’t jump us far enough for that. This world will only be separated by one, maybe two major alternate events. Unless those events wiped out all of ponykind, they’ll be around somewhere.”
I didn’t have an answer to that, and the silence stretched between us once more.
“Tavi…” I ventured, when the chirping of the crickets grew too loud once more. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
Octavia glanced at me, frowning. “What’s this about?”
“Nothing!” I said, too quickly. “It’s just… you’ve never told me what happened when you were… I mean, before I…” I gulped, and decided against finishing the sentence. “I didn’t want to ask, because I wouldn’t want to talk about that either if it had been me. But now ponies are after us, and Twilight called you a ‘specimen’ and it feels like there’s some stuff I should know.”
Octavia stopped walking, but remained silent. It took her a long moment to collect her thoughts. “You’re right,” she finally said. “You deserve to know.”
I waited, but just as I was sure she wasn’t going to continue she spoke again. “I wish I could tell you. I don’t remember most of it. Just… flashes, snippets, all jumbled together. When I woke up, I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know what had happened, I was just… scared. And then everything was on fire.”
“I’m sorry, I…”
“I didn’t start to remember until I saw you,” Octavia continued. “Then it all started to come back, and I didn’t hurt as much, anymore. I just knew you were… safe.”
She stared off into the trees, her mane matted to her neck, only the frayed edges jittering in the wind, and somehow she was still the most beautiful mare I knew.
“Tavi, do you remember our first kiss?”
“Of course I do.”
“I was so afraid I was going to fuck it up. Not just our friendship, but the balance of the Elements on top of it. I risked everything that day, kissing you. But those three years we had together, they were worth so much more. I would have thrown everything away for just another day with you. So if this goes belly-up—if they find us again—”
“We’ll get through it together.”
“No, yeah, of course,” I said, perhaps a little too forcefully, not wanting my train of thought derailed. “But what I was gonna say was, it’s all been worth it. Even just the chance to have a lifetime with you. Even if it ends tomorrow.”
“Lightning…” She stepped towards me.
A purple glow shimmered into being around me.
“NO—”
“This is for your own good,” Twilight said, ignoring my yelling. “You’ll be safe here while we secure the target.”
“How did you find us so fast?” I growled. “There are infinite worlds we could have gone to—”
“Tracked you, obviously,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “You seriously thought I’d just let you go without a plan B?”
I struggled, but I already knew there was no way I’d be able to escape the telekinesis of someone as strong as Twilight. The only way I was getting out of this was talking. “You’re making a mistake. Octavia isn’t dangerous.”
“She killed thirty-two ponies in four hours,” Twilight said matter-of-factly. “Fourteen of them were your fellow Wonderbolts. But I can knock it down to thirteen if you’d prefer to take the fall for Daring Do.”
I sputtered. “That wasn’t her fault! She wasn’t herself, she couldn’t control any of it! She was just as horrified as anypony else!”
“On the contrary, that was when she was most purely herself.” Twilight shook her head. “You should have read her file, Lightning Dust.” She turned, looking back out into the darkened forest.
“That creature is a revenant. A spirit condensed from the negative emotions of a deceased pony. It is not the pony themself. It is their fear, anger, and grief given form. And this one is powerful enough to threaten every world, which is where I come in.”
“I don’t believe you,” I growled. “She loves me. How is that a negative emotion?”
“She only appears to love—”
There was a muffled explosion in the distance, and I saw a tree begin to topple slowly over before the shockwave hit us. Yellow light shone like a beacon into the sky, flickering apparently at random.
“Shit,” Twilight hissed. “Stay here. If you follow me, I’m not responsible for your safety.” With a pop, she vanished, and I fell roughly to the ground.
I flew towards the light immediately. Who do you think I am?
When I reached the light, I found an all-too familiar sight. A crater had formed around Octavia, encircled by a ring of stumps where trees had stood only a moment ago. Smoke was beginning to fill the air as the underbrush lit ablaze, and the smell of it was mixed with blood and char. A few ponies were groaning on the ground, but even more lay still.
Octavia floated just above the ground, a corona of energy around her. Sparks lanced out at random, but the majority of the blasts were directed upwards, where Twilight Sparkle flew, surrounded by a shield of semi-transparent violet.
“Stand down!” Twilight yelled. “I don’t want to hurt you!”
“But I want to hurt YOU!” Octavia screamed. “We were happy! We could have had peace, but you ruined it!” She released another barrage of energy at Twilight, but her shield held firm.
“Tavi!” I yelled. “Stop, please!”
I don’t know if she ignored me, or just couldn’t hear.
“Your powers are dangerous, to yourself and everypony around you,” Twilight said, her voice magically amplified to drown me out. “We can help you, if you let us. But we cannot let you harm anypony else.”
“I hate you! You did this to me! You and all the other Princesses made me! If I’m dangerous, it’s your fault!”
“I’m not a Princess,” Twilight said sadly. “And I’m not here to judge them. I am here to judge you.”
I rushed forward.
Her horn lit.
“Tavi!”
Octavia screamed.
And then, everything stopped.
I held Octavia in my wings, wrapped as tightly in my embrace as I could hold. Her crackling power encircled us, but the lightning washed over me without burning. And the energy blast that Twilight had fired just… washed around us.
"Impossible," Twilight gasped.
“I’m sorry,” Octavia whispered into my chest. "I know we agreed."
There was a hum, and my fur stood on end. It didn't take long to realize what she was doing. "Tavi, Tavi, wait!" I pleaded. "Please don't."
"I don't have a choice, Lightning! She's not going to stop! If you ever want us to have a life—"
"Please, Tavi. Let me try."
"She'll hurt you. She'll take you away again."
I took a deep breath, turning to look at Twilight. She was just watching us, a frown on her face. But I could see the calculations in her eyes, already trying to find a way around the problem. Whatever had happened, I didn't think it was going to work again.
"You have to trust me. Don't be afraid."
I could see the doubt in her eyes. But then, she nodded, and let go.
I spread my wings and flew up to meet Twilight, half expecting to be teleported to the other side of the forest before I got there. But Twilight was barely paying attention to me, eyes on Octavia, looking for a trick.
"Stand aside," she said, her voice like ice. "Now that you've seen what she is—"
"Fear and grief and rage, right?" I gestured to the crater below us. "You've certainly brought out the best in her."
"I told you—"
"Shut up! For once would you just listen? Yeah, she's afraid of you. She's terrified, and she's angry, and that's all she'll be if you take her away. Of course you'd think that's all there was. But then what just happened, huh? Explain that."
Twilight frowned. "Just because I cannot explain a phenomenon does not mean my previous hypothesis was incorrect."
"It does when you were so sure you knew everything five minutes ago! She just stopped raging and overcame her fear right in front of you! What more do you need?"
"I—" Twilight hesitated. "It could be a ruse," she offered halfheartedly. But even I could tell she didn't believe it.
I turned away and glided back down to Octavia. The anger had left her face, and now she was looking only at me. "I love you," I murmured, and she touched her forehead to mine. I felt the electricity in the air die down, and slowly, we lowered back to the earth.
Twilight landed next to us, her shield slowly fading. "We love each other," I said. "And that's more powerful than your revenant crap."
"I… have never seen anything like it," Twilight said grudgingly. "But you have to admit that you insisting on your version of events with absolutely zero evidence and being correct because of pure dumb luck—"
“Pure dumb love,” Octavia murmured, and I smirked.
“Uggggh,” Twilight groaned. “Fine. You win. I cannot, in good conscience, ignore something this unprecedented. But I will be checking in, you understand me? Do not make me change my mind.”
“Thank you, Princess,” I said, with as much sincerity as I could muster.
“Not a Princess. Judicator Twilight Sparkle, actually. Interdimensional Crimes division. You’re lucky that you’re below my pay grade.” She rounded on Octavia. “And you-!” She harumphed. “You and I will be having a long chat very soon.”
Her horn lit, and with a flash, she and every pony she’d brought with her vanished.
“Did we just win?” I asked, a little giddy.
Octavia pressed against me. “Love won,” she murmured, and kissed me.
I stepped through the door of our too-small-but-just-right apartment. Octavia was sitting at the kitchen table, and in the only other chair we owned was Judicator Twilight. She visits a lot these days.
In some ways, Twilight was right. The Octavia I knew isn’t all there, and there’s something else in the gaps. But we’re filling in the blanks one at a time, and making new memories even faster.
Twilight still insists that Tavi will have to face justice sooner or later, and that all our special situation has bought us is a little more time. But it’s clear to me at least that she enjoys her research project far too much to end it early for the sake of a little justice.
Besides, I’ll take every moment I can get.
