Destiny of a Lover

He looks worn; I hope he's okay.

Justin's eyes were dark with exhaustion, and his face was wizened. His clothes were a dark green, and were ripped, and spattered with mud, blood, and excrement.

As he opened his eyes, his body tensed, and he put his arms forward immediately; expecting a fight that was obviously his last act of desperation.

Cynthia's perspective

Oh... my god...

"Justin? Justin?" I backed away quickly, using my time-proven method of falling to the ground, and skidding away on my palms. As Justin turned towards me, I saw scars on his face, and noted the harsh glare, with which he fixed me.

"Who are you?" he demanded abruptly, "Whatever you're looking for, I don't have it." He growled; he was obviously not cognisant of who he was looking at.

"Jus... Justin?" I asked, fearing what I heard. "Are you alright... baby?"

Immediately, I got caught in a vise-like grip, tight as death itself; it was as if there was absolutely nothing he had left to risk by hurting me.

"Who are you?" he growled again. Something was very, very wrong.

Justin's perspective

I'd been in combat; I'd lost the only people important to me. And now it was me who would finally leave this life. Perhaps now, I'll finally find the rest I've searched for.

The woman standing before me was a stunner, in terms of the world before everything just went to hell. Raven-haired, green metallic eyes, that pierced the very soul. She looked every bit the evil, seductive, domina, that had terrorized the deaths of the unlucky men sent to stop her. The only thing this woman seemed to not share with that one was her clothes; they looked tattered and torn.

Jumping forward, I grabbed the woman and spun her so that I would be able to snap her neck if I still needed to.

"Who are you?" I repeated. I only heard a frightened gasp in reply; clearly this was not nearly the same woman, and wouldn't put up a fight. Still, it paid to be watchful. And if I'd learned anything about the packs of wild women, it was that they were usually as good(if not better) negotiators than the ones the tribal lords kept around. No, I would let her know who's boss. And if I have to, it'll be the last mistake she makes.

Third-Person perspective

Cynthia's eyes watered, realizing her position. The man that held her barked incoherent bursts of rage, that seemed to have a familiar pattern.

"Justin? Please let me go," she croaked. "Just answer my fucking question! Who the hell are you!" he was sounding more and more coherent; perhaps she had sounded similar when she had first come here.

Calming herself, Cynthia stopped crying, and immediately sniffled, enough to draw breath; not so easy when you're held in a way that makes you feel like your neck will snap any second!

"My name... you asked my name. It's Cynthia." Almost at the point of choking on her own breath, Justin finally let her go.

"Cynthia who?" he demanded, "Last girl I knew named Cynthia, died a year ago. Who are you?"

Almost falling to the ground, Cynthia caught her balance a few feet away from her erstwhile captor. "I am Cynthia (redacted). I... can explain what happened to you. Please calm down."

Justin's jaw dropped ever so slightly. "So you're going to do some freaky-ass feminine act shit, and now you're my dead girlfriend? Again, who are you?" Justin wasn't reacting outwardly anymore, but was still poised like a predator. "And why... "

As his gaze shifted to the arrangement of runic stones and trinkets on the ground, the impossibility of his situation suddenly struck him.

"Please, Justin, sit down," Cynthia instructed. Now, let's see exactly which parallel universe this boy comes from; it definitely doesn't look like mine. Although, that's kind of moot, seeing as I never figured out how to send him back if he doesn't want to stay...

Behind the two humans, a mare watched, unseen in the shadows of a darkened cave-home. It had all come to this; perhaps now, Cynthia would see how futile summoning this man from her old home... As things stood, whatever(or whomever) the creature was that she had summoned was violent, and Derpy could see now why Cynthia feared bringing those mistakes from her old home, to this new one.

"It's just- I dunno; I just don't know anything, since DOOM became reality." Justin's face was crestfallen; a picture of a man who'd lost everything, and had no faith in anything but bare survival anymore.

"But that's just what I'm telling you," Cynthia continued. "Once I roughly figured out the mechanism to get to this place, I realized I would never be happy, wondering if you were okay. I just wanted to know... to know that I could be there for you. And look at this place! Birds, forest, nature... peace! Did that exist, on Earth?"

The man called Justin looked around; indeed, this place was the embodiment of peace, during the day. Still, that didn't mean he was alive in it; maybe this was the afterlife?

I'm starting to think he doesn't believe me. So I die, the world goes to hell in a handbasket, and he's now a rogue in his own back yard? Well, if I am only in his dream, I hope he never wakes up. "Justin," she intoned, "look, I know you don't believe any of this. I don't blame you; it's a pretty fantastic story. To believe that unknown feats of nature can be achieved by thought, and that I'm not gone... I don't blame you at all. Can we please make this a beautiful dream, even if it is just a dream? We can do that, right?"

"Look," he began, "if you are really Cynthia (redacted), then tell me again: what happened to you, that you came to this place? Did you know you'd come here?"

Adorable; he still doesn't believe me, and he'll let me be his guide to peace anyways. I guess he really did think he'd lost everything. "Okay. First question: I fell asleep in my room, after a long, grueling day of looking for work online. And finding nothing, I might add. Secondly, no. I didn't know this place was anything more than the cartoon world of some TV writer's dreams. That cover it?" "Almost, and I think I could learn to live here, if this place really is peaceful," he replied. Cynthia began again, "Alright, and when I came here, I learned to use this arcane force-like ability to change my form, and calm my mind. Are we good on that?"

"Sure," came the reply. This place was nothing but peace, according to what Cynthia had said.

Getting to meet for the first time, Cynthia and Justin eyed each other, head to toe. Indeed, they had waited all their lives for this; no time was wasted now.

Leaping on her old lover, Cynthia stroked his arms passionately, taking in his scent as she scanned his eyes. Truly, this wait had been worth it.

*SNAP*

It was a SpecOps guardspony. In the wake of Cynthia's appearance in Equestria, Princess Luna had taken the cadre of trained guards, and selected those most able to detect and wield magic. Pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony alike, they stood as a stark reminder of the fear humans were greeted with, though more and more had been sucked in recently. With few exceptions, they had been successfully assimilated into Equestrian society. Those that didn't... had exposed the need to toughen security in the larger cities, and patrol the countryside.

"This human; you're taking care of him?" The stern guard looked in Cynthia's direction, and fixated her with a gaze of boredom-turned-directed aggression.

"Yes, I am," Cynthia replied quickly; it was not good to keep them waiting for answers, rumour had it.

"Then by the authority of the Equestrian Royal Family, your influence will be considered, if this human proves to be a... nuisance."

The guaredspony's lips turned up, almost predatorily. Then he was gone.

*SNAP*

"What the hell was that?" asked Justin anxiously. "I thought this was all 'peaceful and happy.'"

In the months after my coming, this place has become more like what I've read of Communist Russia; I hope he doesn't do anything to upset the authorities here. "Since my coming, the authorities have tightened their grip on the people- er, ponies. Harmony is still prized above all, but the motto of the government here seems to be 'damage control'. I'm afraid they're too jittery, and may spark a civil war." Cynthia was now sporting a faraway look, and seemed to not see the glorious beauty of the forest anymore.

"So, just what happened, after I disappeared? Tell me, Justin?" [A/N: listen to this while you read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84aIX8UPklI] "Well," he began, "immediately after, I began to panic. Obviously, it was really only a big deal to me." Sighing, he started again, "About a month after you disappeared, more people started to go missing." Justin paused, and cleared his throat. Apparently, I missed more than a bit of fluctuation in the real estate sector... He began again, "Dead bodies would float on rivers, and there seemed to be no end to them. Eventually, it came out that contact with the dead, even breathing the spores their bodies left behind, would condemn a living person to the same fate. Winter came soon, though, and none too soon for the few people left. By this time, the governments had collapsed, infrastructure had eroded, and there were only a few people left behind. In the spring, people began to coalesce into organised groups again, and small 'banana republics' of a few thousand began to make their appearance; by the next winter, most people were forced to serve some kind of warlord or self-proclaimed deity, or go rogue. I went rogue."

Cynthia broke in, "What was happening to you, that you reacted so fiercely when I brought you here?"

"Well, that's one of the things that happened over the first summer of the 'new order', as some have called it. Many of the established clans formed pacts, and pledged to not use the tremendous destructive weapons they had inherited from the old world. But there were many who didn't make such agreements; they used the chemical and biological and nuclear weapons as a means of punishment, enforcing their control through complete destruction of their enemies."

"Wow, Resident Evil, meet Iron Sky."

"Pretty much; there wasn't much left, and I was in the process of being captured by a particularly bad gang. They're led by a woman who looks a little like you; painfully so, actually. She tortures males as a sport, and does things to females that we did to ants when we were children; unspeakable."

Cynthia recoiled a little at this information. You know... I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that I was capable of that stuff too. I guess I'm lucky I learned to respect people or leave... "I... don't know what to say to that."

"There is nothing to say."

"No, there is," Cynthia replied. "I love you, Justin. Pinch yourself; you're not in a dream. I brought you here, so you could be safe, with me."

Looking into her eyes, the still dazed man softened. "I know," he began, "I know... And I, you. I love you so much, Cynthia. I know you're real, and I'm just so happy to see you safe at last!"

Tears forming in Justin's eye's, he brought his strong, grizzled hands to Cynthia's arms. The soft skin was almost like a pillow, inviting him to pull it closer, and drink deeper from the Fount of Love. Tenderly watching her movements, Cynthia put her hands to his neck, caressing the scar she found there.

Their lips parted in harmony.

Behind them, Derpy Hooves looked on, and mindlessly chewed the lily flower she had bought Cynthia earlier.

The drums had begun to beat.