Smoke choked at the ivory earth pony's lungs as he fell from the bridge and his short light blue hair was singed as the flames licked at his body. The light from above him disappeared as the door closed, setting the facility into a complete lock-down. Lance Angelswift knew this was how it was all going to end. Once he hit the floor he prayed that his death would be instantaneous and he wouldn’t feel it. As Lance fell, he closed his eyes and thought about his sister, Cherry Blossom. She was safe along with his friends and he had faith that they’d look after her and help her get back home.
At that moment Lance felt himself hit something. At first he expected it to be the floor and his heart leapt in his chest thinking this was the end. Yet he felt no pain. In fact the landing felt more like what he imagined to be what landing on a cloud felt like. Yet he kept falling. Lance opened his eyes and only saw darkness. He could no longer feel the heat from the flames, nor the smoke choking at his lungs. Everything sounded like he was underwater and yet, he still kept falling.
Lance knew where he was. He had fallen into the portal. The gateway from one world to another. He felt his body being twisted around, as if gravity was changing direction. The portal had changed from being like a doorway, into a giant bubble. There was a rumbling from far above him and Lance could see a bright light. Then he felt an intense pressure from it, pushing him down faster. The portal broke apart, torn to pieces by the light. Lance was sent into a spin, falling faster then before. The light faded and it gave way to a new vision.
Before Lance could focus, he landed on something hard and fell down it. He couldn’t control his fall and bounced several times down the jagged surface before landing hard, face down on the ground. Pain shot through his entire body. Burns, cuts and bruises covered him from head to hoof, but these were the least of his worries. Lance knew where he was. In a world, dominated by the Clockwork Stallions, and he had to make sure wherever he was was safe. Lance tried to stand up but collapsed the moment he put weight onto his right foreleg. The ivory pony screamed out in pain but quickly silenced himself, gritting his teeth. The pain was unbearable. He couldn’t move his leg and his first thought was that it was broken. Lance looked around himself quickly, taking in his environment.
He was outside in a large wide open area. The entire place was covered in debris, like a building had been destroyed and only rubble remained. Lance then remembered the portal expanding and sucking everything into it. The gateway had torn walls apart from the facility, literally sucking in everything. There was a large hill right next to him, made up of chunks of walls, scrap metal, destroyed computers and all other kinds of stuff, all from the Clockwork facility. Lance looked up to where he fell from but there was no longer anything there. The only noticeable thing was that the clouds above had left a large circle in the clouds, revealing a bright red sky that made the clouds themselves look like they were on fire.
Lance sat up on his flank and then scooted backwards to a large chunk of wall that was embedded in the ground. The pain in his leg was pure agony since he now was paying attention to it. He wasn’t sure what the medical procedure was for a broken bone and really wished he had never lost the first aid guide he once had.
What am I going to do? Lance thought to himself.
Suddenly a crack from far on the other side of the wall made his ears perk up. There was something behind him. Slowly lifting his head up, Lance looked over the wall and there was a pony walking over the debris. It was hard for him to get a good look at the new arrival but he could make out that the pony had a dark yellow (almost brown) coat and was searching the area. The pony had their back to him and he couldn’t see their face. Lance stood up slowly, careful not to move his leg and called out to the pony.
“Hello?” Lance called out. The pony lifted its head up, knowing it heard something. “I need some help!”
The pony turned its head to face Lance and his heart froze cold. The pony’s eyes weren’t normal. It had two narrow eyes that were a solid deep blue. This pony didn’t have a mane either. Lance was getting a much better look at it now and noticed that its coat wasn’t a coat at all, but a bronze metal. Its tail was missing too. It had a sharp point where its tale should have been, much like Spark had. Spark was one of the Clockwork Stallions he had met that was friendly. Apparently Spark was one of the only ones.
Maybe this one is friendly too?
Lance dared to take a risk and called out to it again.
“Can you-“
At that moment, the machine leapt high into the air, almost fifteen feet up and came crashing down on the wall Lance was stood behind, crushing it into dust. Lance backed away quickly, still sitting on his hind quarters. The Clockwork Stallion began walking towards him with its eyes glowing menacingly.
“S-Stay back!” Lance shouted, but that wasn’t going to work.
The bronze robot came closer to Lance and he turned over, got up and tried to run away on three legs. The machine again leapt into the air. Lance looked back for a second and his eyes turned to small dots as the machine came down onto him, landing on his back. A agonizing scream escaped from Lance as his body was crushed into the ground. He’d never experienced such pain before and afterwards he instantly felt numb all over from his head down, like he no longer had a body. Lance could only watch as the killer robot walked over to his head, completely emotionless, and raised both its front legs, ready to deliver the final blow.
A bright purple light suddenly hit the robot in it's side, causing the machine to topple over to the ground. Lance couldn’t move but he could see a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane standing just off in the distance. He was wearing a brown scarf that covered his face, along with some type of body armour covering his chest. His horn was glowing purple and he seemed to be holding a spear in his telekinesis.
The white pony charged the downed machine but just as he got near it, it quickly got up and then leapt up into the air, dodging the attack. The pony seemed to be ready for this and threw the spear upwards at the robot. The Clockwork Stallion batted the weapon away easily, but as it fell to the floor the unicorn fired a blast of purple light into the robots face, causing it to flip backwards and land on its back as it fell. The unicorn then grabbed the spear again in his telekinetic energy and plunged it into the chest of the mechanised pony. Sparks shot upwards and the entire body of the machine had become electrified. The white stallion seemed ready for this and jumped away before it shocked him.
Lance’s vision started to fade as the unicorn turned their attention towards him.
“Hey!” The stallion shouted. “Don’t black out on me. You hear?”
The ivory pony couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. He couldn’t feel any part of his body. He couldn’t even feel the pain that he knew he was in. Lance didn’t want to die here, not now.
“Don’t worry pal,” The unicorn said from beside Lance and yet sounding so far away. “I’ll get you some help.”
Everything went dark.
* * *
“Wait... did he? ...He’s coming around!”
“Thank goodness. I thought he was lost to us.”
“Hello? Can you hear us?”
The two disembodied voices seemed to be talking from a faraway place, like from the back of a cave. Lance could barely open his eyes. He hadn’t slept since the previous day, after he’d been in the train wreck. He tried to look around the room but he couldn't move at all. All he could see from his position was a small flickering light. A flame from a candle, he guessed.
“Can you hear us?” The voice asked again.
Lance couldn’t see another pony in the room so he just closed his eyes again. The voice drifted away replaced by another.
“Big brother?” It was his sister Cherry Blossom. She was here. Somehow she had come through the portal and found him. Lance opened his eyes and she was stood in the doorway, smiling at him. At sight of her Lance jumped up and ran to her. She ran to him and then jumped into his waiting embrace.
He felt nothing. Just as Cherry had touched him, she had passed through him like smoke and disappeared. The dark loneliness of the room became apparent as he realised he was alone, surrounded by only broken rocks and jagged metal shards. He fell to the floor, his leg was gone and causing him intense pain. Looking around, the strange bronze Clockwork Stallion walked up to him. Lance couldn’t move. The robots cold blue eyes stared into his before raising its front legs and bringing them down onto Lance’s skull.
His eyes shot wide open. Sweat was running down the sides of his head as he lay perfectly flat on his back. Lance didn’t know where he was, or how he got there. He didn’t move, he just listened to everything around him. There was a filly crying close by, a crackle of wood from fires and the sound of ponies moving around. At least he hoped they were ponies, though at this point he’d settle for anything other than a psycho robot that wanted to destroy him. A creak of the door told him that somepony (He hoped) had just entered the room. Lance turned his head and instantly he felt pain. after a quick grunt of pain, he gritted his teeth and tried to stop himself making too much noise.
“Hey, don’t move.” Said the voice of a mare who had just walked in. She was quickly by his side, using a rag that she was levitating using her magic to wipe the sweat away. “Try not to move at all. You've taken a severe amount of trauma to multiple areas in your body.”
Lance recognised the voice but couldn’t put a name to it. The pain was a major distraction as well.
“What happened to me?” Lance asked. His voice had become dry and croaky in the last few hours he had been asleep.
“Well, from what we can tell, you broke your right foreleg, which has been healing well, and you’ve also had multiple fractures down your spinal cord which should have set by now and be beginning to heal aswell. So please don't move unless you'd like to injury yourself further.”
A lot of questions began to come to Lance's mind, but one very important one needed to be addressed first.
“Where am I?” Lance asked.
“You’re safe. That all that matters right now.” She responded. The rag floated away and Lance saw a drinking straw in a small cup being levitated towards him. “Here, don’t move your head and very slowly, drink some of this”
Lance felt the straw touch his lips and carefully he began to drink the water through it. There was very little in the cup and it tasted bad, like it had been sat out for several weeks.
“How did I get here?” Lance asked. He couldn’t quite remember, but after saying that he remembered the dream. The Clockwork Stallion that had attacked him, then the portal, the falling, his sister… Lance closed his eyes.
Cherry… He’d never see her again.
That one thought brought him down. He didn’t care where he was or the pain that he was in. He was trapped in another world, an alternate Equestria to the one he called home. He’d never see Cherry smile or laugh again, nor would he watch her grow up, get married or have foals of her own. Lance’s heart broke.
“Goodness. What’s wrong? Is the pain that bad?” The pony beside him asked.
“No.” Lance told her. “No I-”
At that point the door creaked open again.
“Ah, you’re awake.” Said a stallion who, like the nurse, sounded awfully familiar.
“W-who are you ponies?” Lance asked them.
The stallion answered first, walking into a position where Lance could see his face. Lance couldn’t believe it.
“My name is Shi-”
“Prince Shining Armour!?” Lance shouted out, a little louder than he had intended. Shining Armour looked at Lance and then to the nurse, looking a little confused.
“Well, I’m no prince but, how did you know my name?” Shining asked. Lance didn’t know how in Celestia’s name he was going to answer that question.
“Listen, I know this is going to sound completely insane, but I’m not from here.”
Shining Armour laughed a little at this.
“Clearly not. Otherwise we’d know who you are. Not many ponies get by my watch unnoticed.”
“No, I mean I’m not from your world.” Lance explained. Shining Armour exchanged a look with the nurse again.
“Did he experience any brain damage while he was out?“ Shining asked the nurse.
“None, sir.” The Nurse said. Lance then spoke up again.
“Please. I know this is crazy sounding, but I can explain.” Shining Armour looked at Lance.
“Go on.”
“I know you know about the Clockwork Stallions so I don’t need to go into details, but I came to your world because of a portal that they use to travel between worlds. I just managed I fall though it before the place I was in was destroyed. That was when I arrived in this world yesterday, but I was rescued after I was attacked.”
Shining Armour bit his lower lip for a moment.
“That explains the portal we saw in the sky and the debris scattering that area. But I think there's something you should know.” Shining Armour looked to the nurse then nodded to her before walking away from a moment.
“Tell us. What’s your name?” The mare asked.
“Lance… Lance Angelswift. What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Lance started to sound a little worried based on their expressions.
“Lance. That portal you came through? that wasn’t yesterday.” The nurse said. “It was over two months ago. You’ve been in a serious coma and we believed you weren’t going to wake up.”
Lance remained quiet. He couldn’t believe it.
“It was only a week ago that you started to respond to us, and it was a close call that you did. Though mostly they seemed to be through your dreams.”
Lance thought for a moment before asking a question that came to the forefront of his mind.
“Close call? What would have happened if I didn’t respond?” Lance already guessed the answer. The nurse didn’t reply. Instead, Shining Armour did.
“Keeping you alive hasn’t been easy Lance. Most of the equipment we’ve been using has been very difficult for us to acquire and, when necessary, to refill. You mentioned that you encountered one of these Clockworks. We’ve been fighting an army of them for centuries… and losing.”
An army of Clockwork Stallions was a terrifying thought. Just one could cause so much damage, yet an army…?
“And that’s not all. The medical supplies we've used to that have been keeping you alive have cost us. Not money, but lives.”
The ivory pony’s stomach plummeted. Other ponies has risked and lost their lives for him. It didn’t seem right. No, it wasn’t right.
“You should have just let me die.” Lance said closing his eyes. “My life isn’t worth it.”
Shining armour walked back to Lance and looked down at him.
“Lance Angelswift. Perhaps you don’t understand?” Lance opened his eyes to look at Shining Armour. “There are dozens of ponies, young and old who need these medical supplies. Not just you. Every day we form a search party and travel beyond the protection of our home, in the hopes of finding supplies to help us live to see tomorrow. Food, water, medical supplies, weapons. We’re running out of time and resources. The ponies of Equestria are all but wiped out.
“This base we’re in is the last stronghold for ponies everywhere. We didn’t just lose ponies because of you. We lost them because they were fighting to keep everypony safe and to make sure others survived to deliver these supplies. There are a few things I wanna show you. As soon as Moonlight says you-“
Moonlight!? Lance thought, turning over to look at the nurse.
He immediately regretted it as the pain shot through his body. The nurse gently pressed against him, while holding his entire body in her magic as she laid him down.
“Careful! You can’t move anywhere quite yet.” She said sternly.
Lance looked at the mare. It WAS Moonlight. A unicorn with a white coat, blue eyes and the same two tone blue mane. Only difference was she used to have her mane hanging down, where as this mare had her hair tied back into a ponytail with just a portion of her mane covering her forehead.
“Moonlight? No. It’s… it’s not the same you.” Lance had been excited to see her at first but remembered that this wasn’t the Moonlight he met in White Tail Woods.
“Oh… That’s okay. But just stay still.” Moonlight told him.
Shining Armour walked over to the door and opened it. Lance called out to him.
“Wait! Wh- what happens now?”
The unicorn stallion turned from the door and looked at Lance.
“You rest for now. Focus on getting better. Also I want you to know that if you want to stay here you’ll have to earn your keep. Judging from your cutie mark, I’d say you’re a guard of some kind, right?”
Lance had a cutie mark of a brown shield with a little blue diamond in the middle, something he’d gotten after protecting another pony at his school. While he’d never really been a guard or anything, he has thought of himself as a protector of his little sister. In the end, he’d sacrificed everything to safe her and his friends.
“I am nothing special. But I’m willing to do anything I can to repay you for your kindness. And I won't be forgetting about your sacrifices either.”
Shining Armour nodded before walking out the door.
“You should get some rest.” Moonlight said from beside him. “You’ve got a long way to go before you can even think about moving again.”
Lance couldn’t get over the weirdness of it all. This was a Moonlight that was from another reality. An alternate universe. How many other alternate versions of his friends would he see? Maybe a Pinkie Pie that was quiet like Fluttershy, or a Rainbow Dash that was like one of the Canterlot elite. A more important thought came to his mind though. What about his sister?
Moonlight went to blow out the candle.
“Moonlight.” Lance said to her. Moonlight looked at the ivory earth pony, wondering if he wanted something. “Is there… Have you heard of a filly named Cherry Blossom? She's got a pink coat with a blonde mane.”
Moonlight thought for a second before shaking her head.
“No, I've never seen a filly like that around here.” Moonlight said honestly. “Was she… is she a family member?”
“My sister.” Lance said. He couldn't tell if he was happy or sad knowing she wasn’t here. Things would have been awkward if she was here, especially if he saw himself with her too. Yet he desperately wanted to see her again. He knew this pain was going to be with him for a while. Not just the physical but the emotional as well.
“Listen.” Moonlight said. “A lot has been happening around these parts recently. However, while your story is quite a bizarre one, I also believe you. And I think Shining does as well. But I’m afraid that there isn’t anything we can do to help you get back to your home.”
Lance already knew that, but hearing it made it that much harder. He was trapped here, and he had nothing to live for anymore, except to repay a debt he owed those ponies who saved his life.
“Get some rest.” Moonlight said quietly to Lance. “If you need anything, just call, okay? I’ll be just outside.”
“Thank you, Moonlight. And I’m sorry to have been a burden.”
Moonlight smiled as she blew out the candle, making the room darker. The only light now was coming in through the door. As she left, she shut the door behind her with a soft click. With nothing left to do, Lance closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep. The image of his sister standing in front of him with a happy smile on her face flashed in his memory. His eyes began to burn. He’d get no sleep this night.
