Dimensional Chronicles

Chapter 13: Open Book
She had expected the afterlife to be disappointing, it couldn't possibly live up to all the hype, but this was downright boring. Twilight huffed in exasperation, the worst part wasn't that she was surrounded by a strange grey cloud that had lines of green flying through it every now and again, it wasn't that it had been creepy for the first few minutes, or the growling chuckle that would float through the air now and again, or even the fact that she couldn't move. It was that she was still stuck in a hominid form, she had been a unicorn but apparently what you were supposed to be had no bearing on the world beyond life.

She had been expecting heaven to at least be relaxing but that dark chuckle had her wound tighter than a spring. She had expected hell to be at least painful but she couldn't feel anything except the distant rumble of the thunder and that chuckle. If she hadn't known any better she would have said that she was just asleep and having a particularly vivid dream.

She started as that though passed through her. Maybe that's all the afterlife was. She tested briefly, willing herself the ability to move. A great weight seemed to be lifted off of her and she sat up. Well at least she seemed to be making some progress, she willed her environment to change into something a bit more defined; walls lined with books shot up out of the floor, the greyness faded, leaving that strange, dim, green light, it seemed almost toxic, cast sprawling shadows that seemed to morph into nightmare creatures and just made her all around uncomfortable. She willed it to change but she was met with another mind that swatted her away like a bothersome fly, or maybe one that had managed to really get on the other mind's nerves, considering that the mental blow was strong enough to send her flying down the endless corridors. She willed the air beneath her to cushion her fall and she impacted softly, brushing herself off she got up.

"Finally awake I see." The familiar silk soft voice of Arukana reached Twilight as a soft purple light enveloped her, depositing her near the center of the library next to the robed figure who regarded her bemusedly.
"Arukana? What are you doing here?" Twilight got to her feet carefully.
"Making sure you're up to speed on what's going on in your head," Arukana bent over and placed a hand on Twilight's head. "loving the new look by the way." She ruffled Twilight's hair.
"Hey, stop that." Twilight swatted her hand away, chuckling slightly. "So, what's going on then?"

"Oh nothing much, just an entity of evil controlling your body." Arukana stated this far too dismissively for it to really sink in, so instead of the proper reaction of anger or panic Twilight simply laughed. "I'm not joking." This on the other hand was said with such matter of fact grimness that it cut Twilight off as she simply stared at the source of sickly green light that Arukana gestured to and the open book directly beneath it.
"That's not good." Twilight gaped at the book for a few seconds before turning back to Arukana. "So I'm not dead yet?" She shook her head, "Well that's some good news, I should probably go close that." Twilight took a step forwards only to be blocked by a screen that popped out from the ground, showing the events going on outside.

Whatever was in Twilight's body was humming an unfamiliar, almost tuneless, song to itself, swinging a black blade on a chain and walking through a battlefield where everyone seemed to be fighting their own shadow. Her body stepped behind someone with white hair, wielding a pair of swords attached to each other by a length of red rope. As the song, which seemed to be some kind of march, reached a crescendo her body struck down with the black blade, opening a massive gash down his back, blood flew from the wound as he screamed, crumpling to the ground, the growling chuckle sounded from both the screen and the world around Twilight and Arukana.

"You woke up, good." A growling voice emanated from the screen. "As you can See," Whatever was controlling her body lashed the downed man again for good measure. "I'm dealing with your problem out here, so there is no need to attempt to wrest control from me." It drew the blade back in, idly swinging it on its chain. "So if you could back away from the book I won't have to eliminate you as well." It kicked the white haired man for emphasis.
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Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was seeing, Rainbow Dash had been changed into a hominid and was being chased around by her own shadow, which was attached to her back by a long rope, which Rainbow didn't seem to notice. Fluttershy simply stared for a while as the two Dash's vied for the high ground. The real Dash suddenly veered towards her and Fluttershy panicked, raising her sword to defend herself from the shadow trailing after Dash. As the real Rainbow Dash passed Fluttershy the sword cut into the black rope. The shadow Dash convulsed before fading into nonexistence.

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow swooped back down towards Fluttershy, wrapping her in a quick hug. "Glad to see you're safe," she let go, narrowly avoiding the blade in Fluttershy's hooves. "where's Pinkie?" Fluttershy dipped down a bit as her sword threatened to drag her down.
"Glad to see you're alright too. Pinkie went with captain Unohana to make sure Yachiru would be alright. Where are the others, are they okay?"
"Look down." Rainbow pointed down just as a gout of flame blasted between them, sending Fluttershy flipping over herself on the updraft. Once she managed to right herself she looked and saw a group of other people in similar predicaments to what Rainbow had been doing.

"Oh my, they got mixed up in that?" Fluttershy squeaked, Rainbow seemed to appear next to her and Fluttershy jumped, she was used to Pinkie doing that but not Dash.
"Yeah, and you won't believe who started it. Twilight." Dash reclined for a second, looking a bit winded.
"Rarity, Applejack and Lyra are in there too." Fluttershy cringed.
"Yep, I've gotta go get em out now, come on." Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy, who noted that her grip was much stronger in this form, dragging her down into the fray.

Fluttershy felt like she was going to have a heart attack as they swooped through the battlefield. Power was being thrown left and right, the shadow bindings constantly threatened to entangle them and there was a crushing pressure that emanated off all the combatants.
"What the hell, where did these ropes come from? Whatever, lets just get rid of them."

"I don't think so." A loop of black chain shot past before pulling tight around them. Fluttershy turned to look at their source.
"R-R-Rainbow. what is that?" Fluttershy strained against the chains that were pulling her closer to the masked figure.
"Twilight wake up, this isn't you!" Dash's wings blazed to life in an attempt to melt through the chains. The chains remained pristine, Fluttershy on the other hand.
"Stop, Dash!" Fluttershy batted at the flames caught in her feathers.
"I'll take that." Teridax reached down and grabbed the blades on Dash's back, the fire's immediately went out as the blades came tearing away from her body, Dash briefly screamed before passing out.

Twilight's body had seen better days. The arms had been ripped off of her robe, stray strands on hair hanging from under the mask were turning red from the scalp down as if her head was bleeding, the shadows of anything it came into contact with started bleed up onto her, slowly forming into plates of armor that seemed to weigh far more than her body was meant to carry if the growing bruises were anything to go by, her pinkie fingers had ripped away from her hands, realigning themselves into a grotesque, dripping, second set of thumbs, her chest was being crushed in by some unseen pressure, boils grew on every exposed part of her, popping to expel some kind of green gas which was being contained by the shadow armor.

"T-Twilight?" Teridax's head snapped around to look at her.
"Oh, it's you." Teridax's grip on the chains grew tighter. "You have no idea how much I would like to have these chains squeeze the life out of you. You are a manifestation of what I hate, a creature that relies on the weakness of others, their kindness, too frightened to even learn to defend itself." Teridax's voice seethed with rage and hate. "I will enjoy watching your eyes go dark." He reached out, making to grab her by the neck.

The purple blade started to spark wildly, Teridax straitened up, a hand flying to his chest. "I warned you Spark-"
"You won't touch them!" Twilight screamed. Teridax's power came crashing down into the realm of detectability, the shadow creatures shimmered for a moment before disappearing.
"The book! You little bitch! Lets see how you like-"
"Shut up, this is my body and you're not welcome here." The chains loosened around Fluttershy and Dash, the bladed wings fell from Twilight's grip, floating back to Dash. "Go back to the pit you crawled out of!" The shadow armor evaporated. Twilight smashed both fists into the mask, shattering it, the black blade squirmed for a moment before molding itself back into the chains it had come from.

Twilight stood for a moment, panting, before Yamamoto walked up to her, fire trailing him. "I'm sorry." Twilight braced herself for immolation. The captain raised the column of flames, his face set and grim. Fluttershy's mind raced, what could she do? Just standing near the head captain made it hard to breathe, but Twilight was about to die.

"Watashi no tate ni naru; Gādo!" [be my shield; Guardian] Fluttershy dug her sword into the dirt and a wall of steel erupted from the ground, forcing the Yamamoto away from Twilight. The wall curved around, separating Fluttershy and Yamamoto from the rest of the battlefield. "I won't let you hurt Twilight." She wrenched the sword from the ground, barely managing to keep her balance. Yamamoto looked at her bemusedly.
"You're going to stop me?" Fluttershy looked up at him, then down at her own sword. She sat down, placing the sword flat on the ground under her hoof.
"I-I'm not f-fighting you if that's what you mean."
"Than how are you stopping me youngster." He took a step forward, brandishing the flames.
"I'm not going to let you out." As if responding to their master's voice, panels of steel broke off the wall and formed a cieling, leaving holes every few feet so that the light could get in.

Yamamoto looked around for another way out of the massive metal box. He noticed Fluttershy eying the flames of his sword worriedly.
"What happens if I just kill you here." He took a step forwards.
"Then you'll have killed something that didn't even fight back." FLuttershy again faked confidence. "You might want to extinguish that before we both suffocate. If it's alright with you." I'm muttering again, confidence Shy confidence. She started pawing at the ground. To Fluttershy's surprise Yamamoto actually did revert him blade back to its sealed form.

"Are you really willing to die for that thing?" He kneeled down to be at eye level with her.
"Umm, y-yes. Twilight's my friend and I'm more than willing to die." Fluttershy hid behind her hair while Yamamoto regarded her as one might regard a particularly interesting bug.
"Fine." He relented. "I'll let them go, but you must promise to leave here and not come back."
"Really?" Fluttershy lifted her head, eyes wide.
"Yes just let me out of here." Yamamoto tapped one of the walls. It was then that Fluttershy realized the biggest flaw in her hastily put together plan. I have no idea how to do that! Her look of joy was quickly replaced by one of complete embarrassment and she drove a hoof directly into her forehead.

Yamamoto sheathed his sword, a gnarled wooden staff formed around the sheath as he placed it onto the ground. "This is your first time using a zanpakto isn't it?" Fluttershy squeaked an affirmation. "Damn rookies. Good thing I keep a tea set with me." He reached into his robe and pulled out a shattered wooden box. "Dammit!"
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Twilight stood shakily, unsure what to make of what just happened. Shocks of pain came from every inch of her body, driving her down to her knees.
"Twi' are ya' alright?" Applekack knelt down next to her. Twilight tried to brush her off but another jolt of pain kept her pinned.
"I'm -guuh- I'll be fine, where's Dash?" Her vision blurred as she felt Teridax throwing what could only be described as a temper tantrum inside her head.
"She's fine, just forgot those blades weren't her real wings. Are ya sure yer' alright?" The top of the wall crumpled in to make a domed roof.

"If I pass out -nng- do you promise to make sure he does too?" Twilight wobbled as her vision started to go black.
"Ah think he's taken care of fer now." Applejack put a hand on Twilight's shoulder, just as she slumped over, barely conscious. She was forcing herself to stay awake, waiting for Teridax to expel what little energy he had left to deal with. Her head suddenly went quiet and she permitted herself to faint, darkness claiming her once more.

"Twi'? Twi?" Applejack shook her and she started snoring. "Twilight's out everypony." A pair of panels formed themselves out of the metal wall before her, sliding apart to reveal Yamamoto and a triumphant looking Fluttershy.
"We have reached an agreement." Yamamoto declared, tapping the end of his staff on the ground.
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Pinkie Pie sat anxiously outside of the operation room, rocking back and forth on her butt, thinking about the color blue and wondering if the oven was still on in the palace kitchen. Thinking about anything and everything that could take her mind off the current situation. And it wasn't working.
"Come on Pinkie, hold it together, she'll be fine. Unohana said so." Her hair deflated with a sound like a popped balloon, her left eye bugged out.
"She could always be lying." Her hair puffed back up and her eye went back to normal.
"But there's no reason for that." Pinkie reasoned.
"To make you feel better." Pinkamena pressed.
"Why would she do that? I'm kinda the bad guy here." Pinkie rubbed the back of her head.
"She just would!" Pinkamena barked.
"You're trying awfully hard right now aren't you."
"Don't you change the subject on me!" Pinkamena stomped for emphasis.
"You've been there for a while havent you?"
"Well... yes."
"Then why haven't you ever tried this hard before?"
"I... don't know. That is a good question. I've been feeling a lot more aggressive, I guess."
"Really? When did these anger issues really get out of hand?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie had aquired a clipboard, a pencil, a pair of "sophisticated" glasses and a scrunchie to pull her hair back with.
"Well... since we got to this place I think."
"Really? And how does that make you feel?" Pinkie jotted down some notes.
"Angry, duh! And the teeniest bit scared." Pinkamena rubbed her front hooves together uncomfortably.
"Why?" Pinkie tapped her chin with the pencil, defying all logic by holding it in her hoof.
"I just don't know what I could do, I mean, look at what happened to Yachiru." A grin started creeping onto Pinkamena's lips. "What scares me most is that I like it."
"That's odd." Pinkie scribbled something.
"I know right." Pinkamena started pawing at the ground. "I miss the claws." She help up a hoof and waved it through the air, noting just how dull it was.
"Well I'm not getting them out, and as a volatile patient neither are you."
"Is that a challenge?" Pinkamena snarled.
"No, it is a statement of fact." Pinkie pointed at her vindictive "other" and waved the pencil.
"It sounded like a challenge." Pinkamena slapped the pencil away.
"Well it wasn't." Pinkie huffed, turning away from her counterpart.
"Wait, when did you get over there? When did I get over here?" Pinkamena pawed at her face.
"I-I don't know." Pinkie turned back around, pointed at Pinkamena and started shaking. "AAHHH!"
"AAAHHH!"
"AHHH!"

"Miss Pie..." Pinkie snapped to look over at the newcomer in the room, he was a short hominid with black hair, he slouched a little and had a pouch hanging from a sash over his shoulder, he gave off an aura of insecurity and near-constant failure. He jumped back a little when Pinkie looked at him. "I'm sorry to interrupt your... uhh... heated discussion-"
"She started it!" Pinkie looked back to where her doppelganger had been, only to face an empty wall. "Huh, I would have sworn there was more room there a second ago."
"Well, I'm sure she's sorry." He chuckled weakly, Pinkie could tell when she was being humored, it happened quite often, but this was the first time it had happened to her because someone was afraid. She didn't like it.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?" Pinkie put up her best face, trying to put the strange hominid at ease, this was counter productive as her exuberance sent him fleeing, screaming, across the room. "Hey get back here!" Pinkie took off after the fleeing figure.

At that moment Captain Unohana opened the operation room door.
"Pinkie- oh." She observed the spectacle with a humored smile and chuckled too herself. "Hanatarō, Pinkie." She called out, like a mother that had just walked in on her kids fighting over a toy. The beings in question stopped running in circles to face the captain, who somehow managed to put off an air of complete control while wearing what on anyone else would have been a gentle smile. "We've healed Yachiru well enough for her to get back on duty in a couple days." Pinkie's eyebrows furrowed with guilt. "She asked to see you Pinkie, which is why I sent Hanatarō but it seems you're a bit too much for him to handle." Unohana chuckled as she ushered Pinkie through the doors.

The room inside was rather plain, the walls were a beige color that wasn't fun to look at but it wasn't out of place, if one was in pain they didn't want a bright or dark color that would strain the eyes, the neutrality of beige made the room seem soft. There were three tables and a bed, the tables held all kinds of medical tools, a few bottles of painkillers, some salves, and a tray of now reddened water. Yachiru sat in the bed, bouncing slightly. You wouldn't have known she had been on the brink of death fifteen minutes ago, most of the bandages were gone, only the ones on her chest remained, they had removed the stitches in her face and no doubt the rest of her body and she was rolling her wrist to make sure it was working again. In one way she looked a lot worse, her entire left shoulder was one big scar, Pinkie doubted that she would ever be able to move it properly again. "Yachiru, we have your guest." Yachiru snapped her attention straight to Pinkie, a goofy grin split her face as she jumped out of the bed and ran over to her.

Pinkie braced herself, preparing for the worst, when Yachiru swept her up into a tight hug, lifting her off the floor for a moment as Yachiru giggled and bounced around. Once the embrace was broken she deposited the very confused pony back onto her hooves, Pinkie took a step back, bewilderment plain on her face.
"B-but I nearly killed you, what's going on?" Pinkie looked back to Unohana, hoping for some clue.
"Silly, that was the best fight ever! I haven't fought that hard since I last sparred with Kenny, but you were trying to kill me making it even more fun!" Yachiru hugged Pinkie again, a smile slowly creeping back onto her face. "And you know the best part, this!" She pointed to her bare left shoulder. "My first ever battle scar, and boy is it a doozy! Kenny has them everywhere but I never got a chance to fight someone long enough for them to really land a big hit like that. Thanks Pinkie!"

Throughout Yachiru's speech Pinkie just sat there, for the first time in her life, at a loss for words. Yachiru just smiled at her and kept talking, but Pinkie couldn't get herself to say anything, her smile just started working its way back onto her face. Pinkie reached out and wrapped Yachiru in another hug, crying into her shoulder. whether this was out of guilt of joyful relief even she couldn't say. Unohana and Hanatarō had already left the room, leaving the two dimensional counterparts to share in a quiet moment, Yachiru gently wrapped the sobbing mare in her arms, returning the hug.
"I'm sorry." Pinkie choked out between sobs.
"For what?" Yachiru cocked an eyebrow, pushing Pinkie's head in front of her own.
"I hurt you." Pinkie wiped her eyes, trying to reel her emotions back in. Yachiru sighed.
"Look, Pinkie," Yachiru spoke firmly. "over in Equestria fighting may be considered 'against the rules'; but here, we of the Eleventh division see it is the greatest thing ever. You 'hurting' me was some of the most fun I've ever had and in case you haven't noticed, I gave you a scar too." Yachiru tapped Pinkie's forehead, feeling the bump under her slightly discolored fur. "So please, don't beat yourself up over this, it would suck all the fun out of our battle."

Pinkie looked into Yachiru's smiling face for any trace of falsehood, she found none. Yachiru started to laugh, seemingly in recognition of Pinkie's relieved conscience. Pinkie's smile shot out to full force as she laughed along, neither one really knowing why they were laughing.
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Canterlot, Equestria.

The mask simply floated there, under the influence of both Celestia and Luna. The throne room had been sealed off to all but a select few, three of which were already in the room. six hours had passed with no word from Lyra, or the "away team" as spike liked to call them. Philomena sat on her perch next to Celestia's throne, ready to do her part if need be. Silence prevailed in the room, all three creatures trying their best to simply focus on the task at hand.

Suddenly Philomena squawked before releasing an owls hoo. Celestia Luna and Spike all crowded around the bird, who's beak hung open in preparation of her role.
"Hello, hello? Can you hear me? Is the spell working?" Lyra's voice came through Philomena.
"Yes we can hear you." Luna said, leaning in a bit closer to make sure her voice went through. "Is everypony else alright?"
"Yes they're fine, Twilight was a bit rattled but otherwise were all doing alright. In fact Twilight just woke up about an hour ago. We're getting ready to jump to the next dimension."
"Did you manage to convince your friend Urahara?" Celestia pressed, hoping to have some help as soon as possible.
"No, he's busy with a renegade soul reaper named Ginjō. Sorry, this world always seems to be in some kind of crisis, but the intended next stop is almost guaranteed to get us some results. Well right after we deal with some problems of our own anyway. Anditmighttakeusbothtendaystogetthere." Lyra spoke almost too fast to make out on the last sentence.

"Problems? What's happened?" Luna's brow furrowed.
"I wasn't duly informed of my companions mental states and it seems that two of our team had split personalities. And one had... something different."
"Split personalities?" Celestia cocked an eyebrow.
"Yes apparently they're changed into hollows in this world, unfortunately that's something we're going to have to bear with. we have to retain the powers of this world if coming here's going to have meant anything at all."
"And the 'other'?"
"It's Twilight, there's something weird about hers frankly." Lyra paused. "Hollows, you can differentiate them from the original being, there's a sort of taint to their energy that gets broadcasted. But Twilight... there's no change to the energy, it just leaps once this 'Teridax', as it calls itself, takes over. My best guess would be that it's her counterpart in this dimension that just so happened to be in need of a body. But..."
"But what?"

"That theory doesn't work!" Lyra shouted. "I'm sorry, I've spent hours trying to figure this out, it's why I didn't send a message sooner. We weren't here thirty seconds and all Thirteen of the stinking guard squads came down on us, we finally do manage to convince them we didn't come for a fight and by then we've already hospitalized half of the eleventh squad, so we're not getting any help. and on top of that Twilight's counterpart in this dimension happens to be the single most evil being in the place. What's more I have deduced that beings that have counterparts in the dimension they're landing in cannot change shape to suit the dimension. Which makes the fact that Twilight did impossible. Which means whatever it is inside Twilight's head is bad enough news to break the laws of trans-dimensional travel. Which means if we can't avoid the Guardian we're going to get our plots thoroughly kicked. This was supposed to be quick, but my intended next stop, and gateway to the rest of the places I intended to go, is on the other side of the Betweenspace, it could eat up all our time just getting there, not to mention that most of the area's between there and here are hostile and I'm going to eat my own horseshoes if we don't run into an obnoxious amount of trouble." Lyra trailed off into enraged panting.

"Feeling better?" Luna asked.
"Actually, yes, yes I am. Thanks for bearing with me. Anyway, the dimension I had planned on going to next is were I was planning on getting most of the forces needed so this shouldn't be a wasted trip but by my calculations if we want to avoid the Guardian we're going to have to take the long way and that should take us about eleven days by Equestrian time, luckily that dimension moves at twice the speed of Equestria, meaning once we get there we'll have eight days left to convince Senka to spare some troops. Knowing her she'll be more than willing to help us."
"Did you say the being in Twilight's head called itself Teridax?" Luna scratched her chin, her eyes glazed as she searched her mind for why that name was familiar.
"Yes, why?"
"Guard!" Luna called towards the door, one of the two guards flanking it stepped forward. "Fetch me the smith." The guard bowed and galloped fro the room.

"How long until the gate can be opened?" Celestia questioned.
"I was actually just putting the finishing touches on the runes when I remembered to check in. Oh, and according to some notes I found in Twilight's bag, Spike's first growth spurt should start tomorrow. Congratulations and condolences little guy you're getting your wings and about four feet of height." Spike visually paled at this, dragon growth spurts were notoriously painful as they took place over the course of about three months and involved major skeletal upheaval. "I'm going to be using the bird from now on so don't worry, we won't be adding to your suffering" Gavla came fluttering into the room as Lyra stopped talking.

"You wanted to see me 'princess'." She tapped a metal claw in impatience.
"Yes, was you who mentioned a being called Teridax to me?" Luna spoke calmly but Gavla's reaction was the exact opposite.
"Vamprah!" She yelled. "I know you're out there get in here, it didn't work!" Vamprah burst through the door, panic etched on every inch of his body.
"Explain." Celestia demanded darkly, Gavla cringed.
"Well, there was an incident just before they left. Twilight came down to the forge and asked Vamprah to help her get stronger by sucking the light out of her like he did for Luna." Celestia's glare became even harder but Gavla didn't seem to notice. "Vamprah and I both were against the idea but she made a very convincing argument and Vamprah tried. Unfortunately it appears that Teridax was hiding away inside of Vamprah and he tried to escape but we managed to stop him from fully taking control. We didn't tell Twilight or anyone else because we were pretty sure we had stopped him and because judging from what I've heard Twilight would have been a wreck if she caught wind of it." Gavla was now messing with her talons, while Vamprah had retreated into the rafters above Gavla, ready to swoop down if things got ugly.

"She has a point." Lyra's voice broke the mounting silence. "Twilight could hardly get herself to stand firm against Kenpachi, how do you think she would have reacted to knowing there was an evil being strong enough to take down that brute in seconds living in her head. She would have panicked, she would have refused to come along and, judging by the trek we have ahead of us, we need her on this. She's been able to repress him so far and I think I know a tactic to make it even easier." Philomena hoo'd again and the line was cut.

Gavla and Vamprah quickly excused themselves from Celestia's piercing glare.