Jumping Blind

by Orthios

Chapters

Chapter 1: It Never Rains...
Chapter 2: ...But It Pours
Chapter 3: Lost and Found
Chapter 5: Hopeless
Chapter 6: Haunting Memories
Chapter 7: I Never Even Got Any Chocolate
Chapter 8: Tuesdays
Chapter 9: Decisions
Chapter 10: Reflections
Chapter 4: Hymns, Cookies, And An Awkward Meeting

Chapter 1: It Never Rains...

Disclaimer: I do not own MLP or the Nightside; they belong to Hasbro and Simon Green respectively.

Jumping Blind

Orthios

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Ch. 1: It Never Rains...

Before we can get to the story of my crazy times in Equestria, first I should tell you how I got there to begin with. Unlike most dimension drifters I actually had a reason for tumbling into that reality. In fact, I had never heard of the place or its inhabitants until on dropped into my life abruptly. From what I was told it started like this…

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(Twilight’s Library a few days after the return of Luna)

Twilight Sparkle was doing one of her favorite activities. Practicing magic. To this end she had enlisted the help of her assistant, foster brother, and oldest friend Spike. This afternoon, despite the invitingly warm and sunny weather, they were both in the library’s main room. They sat at the center of the room surrounded by a mound of unshelved books, the results from hours of intense study and failed spell attempts.

Spike was not a happy dragon.

“Spike! Would you please sit still?” The lavender unicorn growled, annoyed at the fidgeting baby dragon on the chair before her.

“But Twiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiight,” he whined, “We’ve been doing this for hours. Can’t we take a break?”

“No, I’m still practicing teleportation.” She said shaking her head. “I’ve been able to move inanimate objects and that one time with Nightmare Moon but I just can’t do it again. We might need it again.”

“I don’t see why I have to be the test subject”

“Because you’re my number one assistant, and I’m only letting you help Rarity at her boutique if you help me.”

Spike’s eyes glazed over while his tongue fell out of his mouth. “Rarity…” Twilight brought her hoof to her mouth to cover a few giggles. After a few moments he shook his head to bring his attention back to the matter at hand. “Well hurry up and try again!”

Twilight covered a few more giggles before setting herself into a ready position. Her horn flared brightly with her purple aura, a similar one surrounding Spike. “Ok in three…“ She funneled as much power as she could through her horn. “Two…” She began focusing on sending Spike to a different spot in the room. “One…” Just as she released the spell she felt another presence nudge her magic slightly, sending it off course. The aura around Spike glowed pink for a moment then the room was filled with blinding light.

After a few minutes, Twilight regained her senses. She looked around for a moment trying to locate Spike. “Spike? Spike, where are you?” She called, searching frantically for her companion. She couldn’t find him anywhere. The spell worked, but what interfered and where was Spike?

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(The Nightside)

It started out as a fairly normal day. I woke up at what passes for early afternoon in the Nightside, stumbled my way to the bathroom, managing to run into every piece of furniture I own, and showered off the sleepiness still clouding to my mind. After that and a cup of strong tea I made breakfast and was eating when a Mongol horde tried to beat down the door to my tiny apartment. I groaned in annoyance As it turns out it wasn’t a barbarian army on horseback, instead a very impatient Dead Boy stood in my doorway demanding that I follow him to Uptown for a case he was on.

One car ride a flask and a number of glowing pills for Dead Boy later, we were halfway there. We had to leave his car there, apparently he had annoyed someone in Uptown and they were looking for it. Of course that was when the multiverse conspired against me, as usual, and my day stopped and semblance of normality.

A sound from the alley next to us made me stop. Was that… whimpering? It could easily be a trap some scavengers put in place to catch an unaware passerby, but something about it seemed… off. It was emphatic to have been faked. Of course that didn’t mean it wasn’t still a trap. Nightsiders have been known to result to… extreme measures when pushed. I peered into the darkness but couldn’t see. I finally noticed Dead Boy looking at me with his head cocked to the side and an expression of curiosity plastered across his features.

“Why’d you stop Vigil?” For a dead guy, his voice and expressions are surprisingly lively.

I took a step into the alley cautiously. “I heard something.”

He watched amused as I melted into the shadows. It’s a trick I picked up from a man called the Reagent of Shadows. I can literally become a shadow in a dark enough area and use them as doorways to other darkened areas.

A small reptilian creature lay curled into a fetal ball in a lighter patch of the alleyway. I couldn’t make out its coloring in the near complete darkness. It shivered for a moment and let out a small sound of absolute despair. I listened closely and realized it was actually whispering to itself. I debated with myself for a moment on what to do with the creature. It was obviously abandoned and scared, should I leave it here in case someone tries to find it? No, I can’t do that; something would eat it.

I placed a hand on it uneasily, ready to snatch it away if necessary, and shook it gently. “Erm… Hello? Can you understand me? I’m going to help you but I need you to cooperate with me.”

It froze, then lifted its head and searched for the source of the voice. After a few moments it spoke, voice quivering in naked terror. “Who s-s-s-s-said that?”

I froze. It can talk? I was hoping it wasn’t sentient, that would have made this so much easier. As it was, things just got a hell of lot more interesting. I shrunk back further into the shadows not wanting to scare the little thing anymore than it was. “That was me. I’m over here, but I don’t think you want to see me. It might be too much of a shock at the moment. I swear to you I will not harm you. Just tell me what happened.”

It stared fearfully into the dark. "Pinkie Pie Promise?"

Uh... What? "I'm sorry but I have no idea what that is" I responded in a confused tone

Its expression morphed into one of unbelief. "It's only the strongest promise a pony, or dragon, can make. Duh."

...Pony? That threw me off for a few moments until I reigned my thoughts back in. Take can of the creature now, figure out ...ponies... later. "How do you make a um... what was it again?" Wierdest name I've heard in a long time.

It started reciting the words and gestures and I followed, even if it couldn't see me. It seemed to put its mind at ease just a little.

I finished the last gesture painfully. Ow. Since when is self mutilation a good thing? "Is that better?" I asked the creature.

It nodded, seeming to think over that idea before bursting out “Ok… Where the hay am I? The last thing I remember was Twilight practicing teleportation on me, and then I was in a dark alleyway. I walked out into the street and there were so many tall things walking around. They walk like I do! I didn’t know other things walk like me. They started shoving me and walking on me, not even looking where they were going. Then these other things started chasing me, they looked like the tall ones but they were crawling and their claws were sharper than the other ones. They were really pale and made the air around them so cold ice started forming on the ground...”

I tuned out what it was saying and observed its behavior. It was up and pacing in a circle, not as scared as before. So, bipedal, about two feet tall, and a child if its behavior and speech patterns were anything to go by, I wonder what it is. I kept looking as it continued its story, something about running through some crowds and lots of screaming. Its… claws had opposable thumbs and it was covered in scales with what appeared to be fins on its head. I started listening again once I realized the story was coming to an end.

“…so I ran in here and have been hiding ever since.” It finished and stared curiously about three feet to my left. “You know, I still haven’t seen you yet.”

I smiled at its inquisitiveness. Yep, it’s a child, but it acts so maturely though. I wonder why? “How about we get out of this alley so we can actually see each other?”

It froze then nodded and walked out of the alley with me following closely. It turned around as soon as it left the darkness and watched as the shadows dripped off of me like water. I tried not to appear threatening, which is a little difficult for me. I tower above most beings at eight and a half feet tall but a closer look usually dispels that fear. A scrawny, nineteen-year-old in a black tee shirt and jeans, wrapped in a charcoal grey trench coat with a worn messenger bag slung over a shoulder and a heavy pair of flight goggles perched on his head doesn't exactly scream I’m going to eat you.

“You’re one of those tall things.”

I grinned, doing my best not to show my teeth, and it smiled. “Yes, though the tall things prefer to be called humans. My name is Vigil, what’s yours?”

It stared at me for a few moments before shrugging and putting a claw under my arm, catching one of the drops before pulling it back in to study it. The shadow pooled in the center of its paw while slowing evaporating to nothing. It held out its claw again cautiously in a fairly universal greeting. “I’m Spike and I’m a dragon.”

I shook Spike’s claw carefully avoiding stabbing myself. “It’s nice to meet you Spike. You don’t look much like the dragons around here though.”

Spike looked at my hand around his claw. “I’m only about twelve so I am still a baby dragon. Your claws aren’t very sharp, they’re kind of squishy.”

I laughed. I actually let out a real, honest laugh and not a forced or fake one. I’ve known this kid for five minutes and he’s already made me do something I haven’t in the last fifteen years. I like him. Well, I like all kids this is just the first one I’ve seen in a couple of months.

“Those aren’t claws, they’re hands. They’re used to manipulate things rather than as weapons. It’s one of the reasons that as a species humans able to accomplish so much.”

Spike thought about that. It… He… She… I really need to find out what gender Spike is, if they have one.

“Hey Spike? In the interest of keeping my thoughts straight and not driving myself insane again, what gender are you?”

Spike looked at me like was the dumbest person in existence before deadpanning. “I’m a guy.”

Ah, so he then. I raised my hands in surrender. “Sorry, I’m not very good at determining genders of species from dimensions I’ve never been. Your voice should have been a clue for me though.”

He looked around ignoring me. At least he calmed down. “So where am I? This doesn’t look like anywhere in Equestria, even Canterlot doesn’t have this many crowds and I’ve never heard of hoomuns before.”

“It’s humans, h-u-m-a-n-s, and you aren’t in Equestria, wherever that is. I don’t think you’re in Kansas anymore, buddy. You said your friend was practicing teleport spells, right? She must have messed it up and now you’re here.”

He slumped to the ground as that hit him. “It wasn’t her fault though, just before she released the spell something happened. I saw something happen to her aura.” He started sobbing, I a small, broken voice he asked “How am I supposed to get home?”

This time I picked him up, surprised by how heavy he was. What did they feed him? Rocks? “Don’t worry about it. As luck would have it, and she’s usually nice to kids, I’m a kind of dimensional traveler and I can get you home.” Like I said, I like kids.

He perked up immediately. “Really? You can? Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou…” This went on for a few minutes and probably would have kept going if Dead Boy hadn’t chosen that moment to walk over and enter the conversation.

I turned to face him, trying to act like a baby purple and green dragon clinging to my chest happened every day. “I don’t think I’ll be coming with you on that case, sorry man.”

His eyes fell to the dragon still clinging and thanking me. “It’s no problem. I can handle this by myself anyway. I was just trying to get you out of that apartment. Have fun.” He began walking off.

“Wait!” I called after him.

He spun around and cocked his head to the side in a confused gesture.

“Do you know where Eddie is? I need to talk to him.”

Dead Boy considered this for a moment before responding in his usual cocky manner. “No idea. Probably the Street of Gods as usual.” He gave me a lecherous grin. “Call Cathy, I know she likes it when you do that, she still keeps track of major players for John. Have fun.” He finished the last two words in a singsong tone before turning on his heel and strolling off into the eternal night.

“Bah.” I called at his back. Cathy and I were merely friends, not only were neither of us interested in the other, but Alex would probably call the Coltranes on me if anything happened. I shuddered. Those two were even more terrifying than the descendant of Merlin Satanspawn.

Between the time spent with his girlfriend and Razor Eddie, Dead Boy had calmed down quite a bit in the last few months. Instead of his obnoxious, borderline suicidal behavior from a few months ago he was trying to behave. I was happy for him, but sometimes I worry that he was still running from something.

Spike had finally stopped thanking me and was currently watching Dead Boy walk off. “Who was that?”

“That was my friend Dead Boy.” I set him down. “He has somewhere to be.”

Spike nodded with an expression of confusion. “You guys don’t seem all that close.”

I shrugged. “We aren’t really. I’ve only known him for a few months.” I left out the part where I actually knew him far longer than that but my memories of it had been destroyed.

He waited a few moments for me to elaborate; I didn’t so he moved on. “Ok, can you take me home now?”

I sighed, contemplating what needed to be done before I could leave. “I can’t this exact instant. I need to take care of something before we leave. But I promise I will get you home.” I lightened up and added in a more joking tone, “You’re welcome to tag along if you like.”

He looked at me with annoyed expression and deadpanned “Like I have anywhere else to be.” He looked around. “Hey, where’d all the Humans go?”

I looked around too. He was right, the street was deserted. That’s never a good sign in the Nightside, everyone is trying to go somewhere all the time. If no one was here that meant something scared them off. It takes a lot to scare off Nightside residents. Not even a war against two armies of angels and another against a biblical myth stopped business for long.

“The plural is normally people and I have no idea where they went which is a really bad sign.”

Spike had frozen, still clinging to me I might add, with a look of terror on his face and one claw over my shoulder pointing behind me.

I turned around to face what appeared to be three frozen corpses crawling out of the alley that had hidden Spike. Their blank faces followed me with frozen and cataract filled eyes while the air around them froze leaving a trail of white frost on the ground and walls behind them.

I carefully pulled Spine off of me and set him on my back with his claws gripping my shoulders. “Spike, whatever you do, do NOT let go.”

His voice shook in fear but his grip tightened. “O-o-o-ok.”

The corpses crept forward, closing the distance between us. I lowered my posture and started preparing for what looked like a losing fight. I glanced around before forcefully reintroducing my hand with my face. I’m in the street and they’re in the alley. Conclusion: I’m an idiot.

“Hey Spike, do you know what the best plan is when outnumbered by an unknown enemy?”

He didn’t respond but I could feel him shake his head.

“RUN.”

Chapter 2: ...But It Pours

Ch. 2: …But It Pours

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I took off, sprinting down the street as quickly as my legs could carry me. Spike was clinging to the back of my coat, shuddering from the chill emanating from the creatures following us. I was trying to take the most direct route to the Underground but the things were somehow keeping pace, even with their shaking, uneven crawling.

I ducked into an alley after getting a comfortable distance ahead. After a near miss with a trash bin, I managed to run at full speed into a concrete wall. That did not feel good. In fact, it felt so not good that I lost track of the world for a little while.

My senses started to return when I felt someone shaking me, attempting to get my attention. “Vigil! Vigil, come on. We have to get out of here. They’re coming!” The voice was high-pitched and had a childish tone to it, under the desperation suffusing it. Where did I know that voice from? After a few more moments the memories and pain returned in full force.

I sat up suddenly, scanning the area for threats. Apparently it was a surprise for Spike because he tumbled back from my swift movement. Something warm and wet was dripping off of my chin. This, coupled with the abominable pain radiating from my nose led me to the conclusion that I had run it into the wall. I hoped it wasn’t broken, that would lead to an awkward conversation.

“Are you ok?” Spike’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. He was back on his feet and fiddling his claws worriedly. As I slowly rose to my feet, light from the street fell across my face. His expression turned from one of worry to one of horror nearly instantly. “Oh Celestia, that’s really not good.” Yep, it’s broken. I looked down my nose and saw the crookedness. Oh just lovely, broken and dislocated.

I closed my eyes in focus for a moment and slowly put up mental barriers to block the pain. I opened them again, the pain still present, but distant now. It would suffice, I still had work to do.

“I’ll be fine. We really need to get moving again before those things catch up to us. I don’t know what they are but they aren’t friendly.” My voice came out strained and nasal. Yep, it’s broken. This will be fun.

We collected ourselves and peeked out at the street. The creatures were shambling towards our alley. I pulled Spike back. “Ok, listen to me very carefully. Climb up on my back again, under the coat this time. Hold on tightly and keep your questions until we get away.” He complied and scaled my back with a surprising amount of dexterity. In case you were wondering, a baby dragon using you as a rock climbing wall tickles like hell.

“What the hay?” Spike’s muffled voice came from behind me as he finally got to my shoulders.

“I said no questions until we get away.” Spike remained silent this time.

I focused silently on another trick I had up my sleeve. I made an effort of will, activating the ability but was interrupted by a tapping on my shoulder. I spun around, shifting into a defensive stance, but relaxed at the sight behind me.

Two copies of myself stood in front of me, sharing the same smirk. The only difference between us was the slight change of color, most visibly to our eyes. The original was unchanged, with stormy grey eyes, brown hair, etc. while the other two had orange and purple tinges to their hair and clothes with their eyes vividly colored. And yes, the other two shared my broken nose. We nodded at each other before splitting apart and spreading out in different directions; we all knew the plan.

I gained this ability when I started moving between realities, most drifters find themselves altered during their wanderings. Each copy of me works independently thanks to their own consciousness. Of course, theirs are reflections of my own so we usually think the same way. The difference is in their personalities; in this case the orange personifies the more aggressive points of me while the purple is my creativeness. On top of that, they always have the same abilities and physiology as me.

Unfortunately, there’s a downside. After their job is done, our separate consciousnesses merge, so their experiences and strains are given to me. If too much happens, either mentally or physically, I can overstretch my limits causing a shut down from injuries or exhaustion. Possibly resulting in death from the strain. Luckily, death of the reflections doesn’t result in the death of me, only crippling pain and disorientation. Yeah lucky, totally describes me. Needless to say, I try to not do this often in combat situations, but needs must when the devil sends frost-covered monsters after you.

The three of us melted into the shadows and waited for the creatures. It took a few moments before they shambled in. At this distance I could make out far more detail than before. Their frost covered bodies were twisted into a spindly, clawed quadrupedal reflection of what they once were, meant for pouncing rather than sprinting. Their cataract-filled eyes held no spark of life or even intelligence. Puppets then, and from something that enjoyed ice and had a sincerely sadistic sense of humor. That doesn’t narrow it down much here. These were probably just scouts for whatever it was, meant to find targets rather than actually preforming any labor. That’s probably good news for me.

“Alright times up, let's do this. LEEEEROOOOY!” The orange version of me yelled, materializing a freaking battle-axe of the same color, into his hands before charging headlong towards the group. The upraised weapon came down swiftly, the arc going through at the lead creature’s neck. The momentum spun my doppelganger around before he brought the axe down in a vertical strike on the next. The axe imbedded itself in the victim's skull.

The purple version of me stayed behind, out of reach of the clash. His hands slowly rose, covered in a matching aura, while he muttered under his breath. The aura flickered when the lead creature’s beheaded corpse suddenly melted while the others’ claws and feet froze to the floor.

I took the moment of confusion from Orange’s reckless charge and subsequent immobilizing the things by Purple to armor up. Armoring is an interesting experience to say the least. During my wandering I met a family who took it upon themselves to be the shamans and protectors of humanity, the Droods. They protect the world from outside horrors that the rest of the world wouldn’t be able to face. A being from a higher dimension, Ethel as she likes to be called, decided to be their sponsor by providing them with armor made of strange matter, the physical manifestation of that entity. While in the armor they’re faster, stronger and nearly invulnerable. On top of that the strange matter reacts to the will of the person that it’s bonded to allowing it to be shaped by their will. When not in use the armor is stored in a torc around the Drood’s neck.

I spent a few months with the Droods, learning from their vast library and learning about higher and lower dimensions from Ethel just in case I ever found myself in one. During that time Ethel’s youngest “daughter” (it’s a long and very odd story) decided she wanted to go out and see the multiverse. Ethel could only be in that particular reality because of her strange matter and binding to the Droods, so she decided I’d be a good candidate for the child. Long story short, I have strange matter in every pore on my body and an extra dimensional being following me around.

The dark grey material poured out from my skin until I was completely covered and sealed off from the world. I grinned behind the faceless mask. This will be fun. I materialized a short sword in my right hand and charged while finishing the traditional battle cry with my orange twin. “J-J-J-JENKINS!”

The battle ended nearly as soon as it started. With the creatures unable to free themselves, Orange and I tore through them. Until the last one showed up.

It was gigantic, taller than the three of us by about two feet and looked more like a gorilla on steroids than anything that could ever have been human. It apparently recognized me because it spoke.

“Chimera.”

Its voice was a ridiculously deep bass, the gravelly tones making my chest vibrate even with the distance between us. It stared down at Orange and I menacingly before taking a step forward, ready to crush us both. Its claw rose far above our heads, begginging its decent...

And the golaith turned into a bowl of petunias.

Orange and I stared at each other, an expression of pure disbelief on his face and my expression unseen under my faceless mask. We slowly turned around at the sound of giggling and found Purple dancing in a circle around a sombrero, accompanied by Spike.

Orange just shook his head. “And I thought you were crazy.” I took the moment to release my armor, the grey material slowly being reabsorbed back into my skin.

I sighed. “You know if I could change one thing the armor would return as quickly as it’s released. Oh well.” I shrugged before addressing Orange, amused “You’re a piece of me so you’d be just as insane as I am.”

He grinned and answered in a mocking tone. “Technically you’d still be the insane one considering I’m just a manifestation of your aggressiveness, a figment of your imagination if you will.”

My gazed shifted between him and the still dancing Purple. Did I hear maracas? “If anything, he’s the reflection of my imagination, my creative side. You should take it up with him.” I looked at the bowl of petunias. “If we knew what that was thinking we would have a much better understanding of the universe.”

Orange rolled his eyes. “Ok, I’ve had enough. Put me back in your head if we’re done fighting.”

I nodded and and placed a hand on his forehead, with a slight effort of will he disappeared as if he’d never been there. I turned back to Purple and Spike, this time he was perched on my purple version’s shoulder. Purple was smiling but his eyes were focused on the alley behind me. He raised his hand, the aura of magic surrounding it again, and snapped his fingers. All of the remains of the creatures behind me disappeared, leaving the alley exactly as it was before we came in.

His gaze fell on me, all traces of humor gone. “No child should be subjected to this. You of all being should know that intimately.” He picked up Spike and gave him a hug before setting him down. “I’ll see you later champ. Be good for him and I’ll get you a treat later. Hmmm... What would I do for a Klondike bar?” He took two long steps and vanished just before impacting me.

I let out a long breath and sagged wearily against a nearby wall. Magic takes a lot out of me and while purple does have spectacular control and focus, those spells he threw were seriously heavy-duty. I slumped to the ground, closed my eyes and took a minute to collect myself. When I opened my eyes, Spike was examining me.

“Hey.” I said weakly, both exhausted and a little worried about his reaction. He did just get a face full of Purple, that’s enough to test anyone’s sanity.

He smiled when he noticed my open eyes and began excitedly asking me questions. “Who were those guys? Why did they look like you? Why were they different colors? What was that stuff that covered you? Where did it go? Why did that thing call you Chimera? Is that a type of food? Where did that sword come from? Where did that orange guy get that battle-axe? Can I hang out with that Purple guy again?” Don’t you just love kids?

He froze as a thought struck him, then looked me directly in the eyes and asked in a very serious tone.

“Why do you have wings?”

I sighed heavily then responded in a soft voice. “An… Incident.”

Spike looked surprised at the pain in my voice. “What happened?”

“I don’t talk about it.”

“Maybe you should. Sometimes it helps.”

“It won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve tried.”

“And?”

“It didn’t.”

“What happened?”

“Spike! I do not want to talk about it!” My voice echoed through the alley. I hadn’t noticed I was progressively raising my voice until I was shouting. The following silence was deafening. Spike had taken a few steps back and was glaring at me.

“You didn’t need to shout.” What is with this kid? He’s scared of those things but not of the one that tore thing to pieces. He’s angry at it.

A feminine voice broke the silence. “Little one, perhaps you should leave Vigil alone. Those are painful and dangerous memories you’re trying to bring up, he’s merely attempting to protect you from them."

I relaxed a little as a minty green, sourceless light gradually filled the alley. Spike on the other hand flipped out at the light and disembodied voice, dove for cover behind a nearby trash bin.

A smile broke across my face. “Hello Emma, I’m surprised you decided to make an appearance. You’re usually very shy around new people.”

The extra dimension being bonded to me laughed. “I wonder where I get it from, my host. Besides, it’s a child and I’ve always liked children. He’s adorable.”

I let out a long breath. “Emma, I told you to stop calling me that. I knew I shouldn’t have let you meet Lash. Dresden didn’t think it was a good idea either.

She teased back. “Dresden also has a distinct lack of common sense and survival instinct. He’s a horrible influence on you. Besides, I enjoyed her company. Mortals can grate on the nerves after a while. So impatient and annoying.”

I ignored that and glanced over at the bin Spike hid behind. His tail was sticking out. He’s not very good at that, I thought to myself before calling him over. “Relax Spike, it’s just Emma. She’s harmless.”

Spike peaked out from behind his hiding place. “Are you sure?”

“Have I lied to you yet?”

His head nodded in thought before he shook it. “Nope. Not that I know of.” He stepped out but didn’t come any closer.

“Spike, I Pinkie promised to get you home. Would I be able to keep that promise if I let something eat you?”

“Fine.” He said, exasperated, then walked cautiously over to me. He managed to make it to where I was sitting before Emma spoke up.

“I will not harm you, young one. I only wished to give you some advice you should heed.” She spoke softly, trying not to scare the dragon.

This time he seemed more curious than anything else, searching for the source of the voice. “Where are you? I can’t see anyone.”

“That’s because I don’t have a physical form here, besides Vigil. I’m from a different plane of existence. I’m bound to your guardian here.” She seemed amused by his antics.

I joined in at this point. “She’s the reason I have that armor you saw before.” I told him how I got the armor and was bound to Emma.

Spike nodded and absorbed every detail of my account, waiting until I finished to start asking questions. “What do you mean by bound to each other? You don’t seem that connected.”

I shrugged. “Neither of us is really sure what Ethel did. From what I can tell she’s able to follow me to any dimension I go to.” Emma made a small noise of agreement then completely changed the direction of the conversion. She’s worse than me at socializing.

“You both need to start moving again. The ice creatures could return at any time and the little one needs to get home.”

Is that a sense of foreboding I feel? I hate it when she does that, I visited one fantasy-type universe and now she thinks she’s a quest system. But she’s right. I rose to my feet, joints cracking and popping. “Unfortunately she’s right. We need to get to the train station and then to the Street of The Gods. Weird place.” I started walking out of the alley.

Spike gave me a look that clearly displayed his thoughts on my sanity but started following me anyway. “Why do we need to get on a train?”

I picked him up and placed him on my shoulders as the crowd began to return, his legs on both sides of my neck and his claws gripping my head. “Because the street is on the other side of town. I really don’t want to walk all the way there, it could take days.”

“How big is this place, and why is it nighttime? It was afternoon what I left.”

“Actually it is the afternoon, or what passes for it here at least. No one knows how big the Nightside really is, mostly it just seems to be a large as it needs to.”

Spike rested his head on the top of mine. There was a faint pop and my nose started feeling better. He reminds me of my brother when he was little. Nope. I shook my head, chasing away those thoughts. Nope. Not dealing with that now, I have to get this kid back home and with his family, then I can have an emotional breakdown. What about your family? Hey look! He has another question. “The Nightside?”

“That’s the name of this city. The secret, corrupt heart of London as they call it. It’s actually held in a separate dimension, just connected by various pathways. Reality isn’t as tightly nailed down here as a result. Timeslips pop up randomly and you should never walk into any fog here. It was created to be a place where the endless war of Good and Evil wouldn’t come. Neither side can touch this place directly, even their agents are diminished by this place. That’s probably why I feel so comfortable here. It’s always three o-clock, the time when the most babies are born and the most people die. Not everything can flourish in the sun, so they come here.”

Spike nodded. “How do you live here? I’ve only been here for a few hours and was attacked twice. You seem so much nicer than what seems to be normal here. Even if you’re crazy.”

I chuckled. “I prefer the phrase ‘chaotic good’ personally, but a lot of people have called me crazy. I actually did go insane a while back. I only recovered a few years ago. My mind still isn't exactly what you'd call 'stable'. To answer your question I’ll paraphrase a friend. ‘By being the biggest bastard.’”

He waited until I finished to ask yet another question. Does he ever run out? “Why do you stay here?”

I considered the question for a moment. “Well, after I recovered my sanity I was more or less dropped on the Droods. While I was there I heard about this place. And by heard I mean I was eavesdropping on a very hushed conversation. As for why I stay here… This is where all the monsters live.”

Spike took that in and was silent for a few moments. “I don’t think you’re a monster.”

“Trust me Spike, if you could see the things I’ve done and could do you’d think so too.”

He fell into silence again. The crowd parted around the two of us as I walked forward, they knew who I was and what I could do. “You said that you went insane years ago. How old are you? You don't look old.”

I smiled and replied in a teasing tone. "How would you know what an old human looks like? For all you know I could be a withered old man." My smile faded, replaced by a serious expression again. "Now, do you mean linearly or how old my body is?"

“Um… I’m not really sure what you mean, so both.”

“I was nineteen when the ‘incident’ happened I haven’t aged since the first week.”

“Wow. How long ago was that?”

“Two hundred and forty-four years.”

“Wow. Do all humans live that long? I know dragons can live forever, at least until something kills them.”

“No Spike, the average is about ninety. And I’m not human, at least not anymore.”

The resulting silence from that statement stayed until we got to the station

Spike lifted his head as we started down the stairs. “Why are we going down?”

I explained the concept of subway systems to him as was walked. We stopped before the ticket booths and one opened for me. I did a case last month involving a being from one of the dimensions the tracks pass though attacking the trains. An argument, and some liberal use of incendiaries, later it decided to hunt something else. I don’t pay for tickets anymore.

Spike was surprised by the train went we made it down to the platform. He couldn’t believe that someone could drive one of these.

I decided not to tell Spike about the trains being sentient, he was under enough stress.

We got on the train and everyone left the car we chose, despite the crowded platform no one else wanted to join us. I have that effect on people. It helps that I know the man who more or less runs the city too.

The doors closed and we were off. It’d be about an hour ride before we’d get to our stop but Spike didn’t seem to mind. He spent the time talking about his adopted older sister, their friends, and just generally about his world. I was intrigued by how diverse it sounded. After a while Spike’s eyes began to droop and he couldn’t finish a sentence without yawning.

I took off my coat and put it over him as he slumped over. “Take a nap Spike, you look like you need it. I’ll keep watch.”

He yawned and nodded before pulling the coat tighter around him. They really like to keep theses trains cold. I stretched my sore muscles and was rewarded with several joints popping. Spike started shivering so I extended an exposed wing and draped it over him. I looked thoughtfully at the unusual appendage. About seven feet long when fully extended, they were grey and speckled, with warm and soft feathers. Perfect for keeping the child warm. Remember how you got those? I ignored the thought. I guess I could keep reading to pass the time. I reached in my back and pulled out a beaten copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, definitely my favorite piece of classical literature. I started reading trying to pull my thoughts from the past.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike was faking slumber, he had a lot of practice doing that to get out of work when Twilight was up late studying. Meanwhile his mind was racing.

Spike wasn’t sure what to make of this person that had decided to help him. He wasn’t a pony, he wasn’t even a human. Not to mention how he acted. One minute he was laughing and smiling, showing the incredible and horrible sights. The next he was cold, dark and terrifying, ready to tear apart anything that stood in his way. It was like they were two different people. And he seemed so sad all of the time, like he was lonely or hiding something. Spike had too many questions and too few answers.

The dragon was pulled from his thoughts as a faint melody echoed through the train car. Vigil was singing?

“Wish I were with you

I couldn't stay

Every direction

Leads me away

Pray for tomorrow

But for today

All I want is to be home

Stand in the mirror

You look the same

Just lookin' for shelter

From cold and the pain

Someone to cover

Safe from the rain

All I want is to be home

Echoes and silence

Patience and grace

All of these moments

I'll never replace

No fear of my heart

Absence of faith

All I want is to be home

People I've loved

I have no regrets

Some I remember

Some I forget

Some of them living

Some of them dead

All I want is to be home”

I miss Twilight and the girls. Spike glanced at Vigil, who was leaning against the side of the car and staring into space. I wonder where his home is. Spike’s final thoughts echoed in his head as the gentle rocking from car sent him to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The train ride went without a hitch, surprisingly. Nothing tried to attack or get in, which was a first for me. The trains travel through different dimensions to get to their destinations. Spike had gotten hungry during the ride, so after the initial shock of him eating gemstones I started rooting through my bag. Luckily, one of the pockets still held crystals from my time with Spyro the dragon. That dragon definately knew how to party.

I picked up the small drake and placed him on my shoulders, both to get him out of the crowds’ way and to give him a better view of what lay before us. I stepped out of the station and Spike gasped, a few crystalline bits falling out of his mouth and onto me.

“Spike, welcome to the Street of The Gods. A carnival of belief and all it costs is your soul and faith.” I gestured grandly at the bright street in front of me

Spike looked around but seemed uninterested. Not surprising, from what he told me, he had spent a good portion of his life in the presence of an actual Goddess. These cheap hacks and con artists probably didn’t even come close. His only concern was getting home. “Ok, what do we need to do here?”

“We just need to find Eddie then we can get you home. How does that sound?” My voice and smile were very bright. Finally this mess was starting to look up.

Spike’s smile and tone reflected my own as he responded. “That sounds great, where is Eddie though?”

I thought about it for a few moments. “No idea. He should be here though. I’m just happy we haven’t seen any more of those creatures.”

The universe chose the exact moment I finished speaking to, yet again, make my life as painful as possible, in the form of the creatures shambling into the street. The street’s temperature dropped suddenly as they shambled toward us, stopping a few steps away from the pair of us.

I whispered as calmly as I could to Spike, trying to lend some support to the child. He was facing creatures from his nightmares in the flesh. No child should experience that. “Climb up my back, under the coat again. I’m going to get us out of here.” With that he hastily clambered up my back. I resisted the urge to start cracking up, it would mess up the intimidation I was working on.

I didn’t show any emotion to the creatures before me, even my voice was flat. “What do you want, ice spawn? Why are you tormenting this child?” If the creatures reacted I couldn’t see it. They just stood there, staring. I’m not really sure what would have happened if someone hadn’t made an appearance.

“But that, my dear angelic chimera, would be telling. And where is the fun in that?” The voice echoed eerily in the dark alley, seemingly emanating from everywhere at once. Spike shuddered from the lowering temperature and clung more tightly to my back. “Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter anyway. I want to follow the little drake’s dimensional signature. Think of it, a whole world filled with defenseless beings.” A tall fellow in a white tuxedo stepped out behind the creatures. I couldn’t tell who it was from that distance, just his features became clear as he strolled up to us. His skin was a glacial blue and his bright blue hair peeked out from under a white fedora. I finally recognized him.

The bringer of cold weather and the coloring of autumn leaves, whose element nipped at the extremities of those exposed to his element, the one who left patterns of frost. Playful, full of mischief, with a constantly shifting sense of morality that all spirits like him seem to have. It was Jack Frost, the avatar of winter.

“Sorry that I’m late, I had to finish a little… business transaction.” A small form stumbled out from behind him, I peered at it curiously. What I saw nearly made me reject everything I had eaten today. It was a child, still wearing her little yellow sundress. She couldn’t have been more than five. He made a child into one of those things. And he was going to do that to Spike. Silence filled the street. Then the child creature made a low moan of pain. He broke the first rule: Thou shalt not harm innocents.

I snapped.

One moment I was standing in the middle of the street, gods, their followers, and tourists watching us. Pictures were being taken and someone had begun taking bets on which side would win. The next Spike was on the ground and there were three armored versions of me tearing the creatures apart. I didn’t even bother to claw or slash I just pulled them apart, venting my rage in the most violent way possible. As I smashed through them I began screaming, my voice far louder than it should have been.

“THOU SHALL NOT HARM MY CHARGE”

I stood there, my voice still reverberating through every solid object on the street, armored wings flared to their full fourteen foot span behind me. The creatures lay in pieces around me, my copies disappeared. Ice cracked and shattered under my boots as I advanced on Jack.

He sighed dramatically. “Now I have to go and make more minions… I think you’d be a good start.” He smiled broadly at me.

I took another step forward, only to find an icicle spearing through my armor and into my chest. The impact tossed me several feet backwards and gravity, in its usual cold and heartless way, dropped me roughly on my back. Ow. That hurt. A lot. I looked weakly down at the spike of ice impaling me, the streetlights and neon from the nearby churches casting an orange tint to my body. Just below my ribs, of course he would miss the plating there and hit the squishy bits. Absolutely freaking brilliant.

I shifted painfully onto my side. Ok, that did a lot more damage to me than I hoped. That’s fine, right? I can still work with this. I have a plan.

Jack stood there, cackling madly as he watched my pain. He didn’t try to finish me, instead choosing to enjoy the suffering he had inflicted. He kept laughing up to the point where I unloaded six shots in rapid succession to his skull. Then he slumped to the ground lifelessly. My Smith and Wesson .38 Chief's Special revolver, recently pulled from a pocket dimension, was held in my upraised hand. The various runes and sigils carved carefully into the metal glowed eerily as the magic I had focused to make the bullets hit harder dissipated. The effect of that visual on the crowd was great, it takes a lot to render a Nightsider speechless. The effect was ruined, however, when Jack started standing back up looking like nothing had happened. I slumped to the ground again.

I felt a sense of pervading cold settling into my limbs, accompanying the dread that was settling in my mind. Oh great, as if an icicle slamming through my supposedly impenetrable armor and Jack just getting back up wasn’t enough, now I’m going into shock. My armor slipped back into my skin, trauma over riding my control. Jack’s smile was gone and he was taking slow, deliberate steps towards my prone form. Well, this is it. I survived horrible experimentation, my personality and sanity fracturing to pieces, as well as all of the other nightmares I’ve dealt with over the last two and a half centuries and this idiot’s going to kill me. Meh… Could have been worse.

Of course, that’s when Eddie made his appearance. He appeared behind Jack like a grey ghost, shining straight razor in hand, and removed Jack’s head with practiced ease. Jack’s body collapsed to the ground while his head, held by Eddie, was gasping in disbelief at this outcome. Eddie’s ghostly voice drifted over to me as he spoke to the rapidly fading Jack. “It isn’t like you couldn’t have seen this coming. You should have listened when I warned you, but you were too wrapped up in your own power. You don’t hurt children Jack.” With that, the head was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. There’s no recovering from that, Razor Eddie’s razor can sever the soul from a person’s body if he wishes it.

Eddie slowly walked over to me, examining my condition. I blearily returned his gaze before speaking up. “How ya…” I was interrupted by a coughing fit and subsequent spitting out the blood that had brought up.

Eddie knelt down, wrapped a skeletal hand around the impromptu spear, and ripped it out. Ow. Again. That hurt more than it going in. I phased out for a couple of seconds. Eddie waited till I came back from happyland to address me. “Quit being a drama king. You’ve had worse and you know you can’t die.”

I looked down. The edges of the ragged hole were already closing after that the internal injuries would be healed in a few minutes. And yes, my nose had been fixed since about the time Spike started resting his head on mine, what do you think that popping was? “Still hurt like hell though. Why did you wait so long?”

Eddie looked at me, unperturbed. “I can only move so quickly, that train ride almost made me lose you. How long have you known?”

I slowly raised myself to my feet. “Dead Boy. You know he can’t keep a secret. That smile when he told me he didn’t know and to check the street was a giveaway. On top of that, we aren't exactly friends. We're friendly, but not enough for him to show up at my apartment concerned for my well being. You always have a plan, so I went with it.” I kicked the headless body of Jack. “I guess this was it then.” He simply nodded. “Ok, then you know what I’m doing then. As my sponsor in this place I thought I should say farewell.”

He smiled this time. Razor Eddie smiled. I think that’s the first time anyone has ever seen Eddie show some other emotion than anger. A few individuals in the crowd fainted, some others ran away screaming about the judgement day finally arriving, the rest took it in stride and continued to watch the scene unfold. Free entertainment is always wanted in the Nightside. “It was nice to meet the person I invested so much in. I’m glad you’ve recovered. Before you ask, I’m not the one who brought the child here, but I think I know who did. Good luck.” He disappeared just as he arrived, with no trace at all.

I groaned. Who was he talking about? And why did he smile? I didn’t know that he could do that. Leave it to Eddie to explain while leaving more questions. I looked down at Spike who by this point and come over and was hiding in my coat, trying to get away from the crowd. He seemed to be handling the rapidly occurring events fairly well. He looked up at me and started asking questions again.

“Who was that? What did you mean by sponsor? What did he mean by invested so much in?”

I smiled. “I can answer that and your other questions just as soon as I get you home. Now do you want to do this the easy way of the fun way?”

He examined my face suspiciously. “What’s the difference?”

I kept smiling. “How we arrive. Do you want it big and noisy or quiet and subtle?”

Spike cracked an evil grin. “As big and noisy and you can make it. I want to get back at Twilight for landing me here in the first place.”

My smile widened. Oh this will be fun. I hope there isn’t any nearby glass when we get there. “That can be managed. Would you kindly step in front of me..” He complied and I wrapped my wings around the two of us, the warm feathers insulating us from the world outside. "Hey, Spike? Just so you know, I have no idea what I'm doing."

I nulled the hold the multiverse had on me flinging us into the void, cackling madly the entire way.

Chapter 3: Lost and Found

Chapter 3: Lost and Found

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(The Equestrian Wasteland)]

Vigil and Spike stood on a hill overlooking the wasteland as the sun began to set.

Spike appeared none the worse for wear despite the last few failed jumps. He watched the both familiar and unfamiliar landscape with unease, unsure of could have caused the ravaged landscape before the pair.

Vigil, on the other hand, looked much worse. His hair was greasy and unkempt, tufts spilling out in every direction only kept out of his eyes by his scratched and beaten flight goggles, still perched on his head. His eyes were sunken and unfocused, with dark bags under them, a steady funnel of blood ran out of his nose and over his chapped lips before dripping onto his torn and already stained shirt. His clothes were blood splattered and torn, revealing the scarred, pale, and hairless flesh beneath now bruised and beaten. His once pristine coat was now shredded and whipping in the wind behind him.

He refocused and examined their surroundings. “This place seems familiar.”

Spike didn’t respond, only pointed at the scene unfolding in front of them. They watched as a group of figures followed a lone one, rapidly heading their way.

Vigil peered at them. “Are those ghouls? Oh good they are! I love a good ghoul. They have a surprisingly good sense of humor once you get past their gruff exterior and the whole ‘they look like zombies’ thing. Unless they’re feral. You don’t want to mess with ferals.”

Spike just stared at his odd companion before shaking his head and ignoring the outburst. Though entertaining and lead to some interesting stories, they were common and rarely helped in a direct way. The group ran closer and he began to notice some details.

The lead figure appeared to be a barded female unicorn fleeing from the group behind her. She was tiring quickly but still kept moving in sheer panic. The group behind her was a different story.

They were earth ponies, that much was certain, but after that any resemblance to what Spike knew was gone. Their skin was rotting and falling off, revealing muscle in the same condition. Their eyes were cataract filled, it was a wonder they could even see! Whenever one would get in range of the fleeing unicorn it would snap at her, trying to drag her to her doom.

“Z-z-z-zombie ponies!” Spike cried out.

“Yep, those are ferals.” Vigil’s voice cut through Spike’s fear, before he reluctantly added “I guess we should help her.”

He scooped Spike up and placed him in his usual perch, on Vigil’s shoulders, before sprinting headlong into the group.

Vigil leapt towards the feral ghoul ponies, his wings springing out and extending the jump over the group. Their decayed minds noticed the larger target, immediately going after him instead allowing the unicorn to escape.

Spike noticed this redirection and urgently tapped on Vigil’s head. “What are you-”

His sentence was cut off as Vigil hit the ground running for all his life was worth. His longer legs easily outdistanced the ponies, but they had endurance while he was already exhausted.

Spike noticed this too and leaned down to speak in Vigil’s ear. “Now would be a good time to jump!”

“I’m trying.” Vigil responded, out of breath. His right hand was raised before him, odd energies coalescing around it.

The ravenous ghouls were steps behind them when a rift of searing white light sprung up in the air in front of them. The rift swallowed them as they dove through, then disappeared, leaving a hungry and confused pack of rotting ponies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Twilight’s Library, 5:40 pm)

A tiny mote of light floated in the air of the foyer, dancing in the air currents of the empty room while gradually brightening. The moat grew as its brightness increased, rotating until a nearly blinding orb stood a few feet above the floor. It froze in the air, remaining completely still despite the drafty area, then a low hum filled the library. The orb shuddered then detonated with a sound similar to thunder and a flash of blinding white light. The light faded after a few moments, the orb now replaced by two unconscious figures and a light coating of sand on the floor.

Oddly enough, no one in the tiny town thought twice about the flash of light or the sudden noise coming from their library. Ever since a young mare was sent by their princess to stay there a few days ago, odd occurrences seemed to happen with a nearly alarming frequency. Most of the town assumed that the mare was simply practicing a new spell or settling a particularly heavy piece of furniture into place.

Six young mares, however, did hear the noise and took an interest, running quickly to confront the source of the noise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The fairly new group of friends stood just inside the room, unsure of what they were seeing. A tiny dragon lay curled up against an odd stallion, partially laying on his chest and using one of his speckled, orange wings as a makeshift blanket. The stallion in response, had his forelegs wrapped protectively around the baby dragon. Both were on their backs, unconscious against a bookcase in clear view of the entrance.

“Who is that and why does he have Spike?” The cyan colored pegasus was the first, as always for everything, to shake off her confusion. She leapt into the air and floated closer to the unmoving pair, inspecting the large one. She dropped to the ground again within reach of the newcomer. “His wings are huge! But he’s really skinny. Looks like a wimp.” She judged before inspecting him further.

The next to recover was the pristine white unicorn. She carefully stepped next to the pegasus, eying the creature’s clothes. She scoffed “I don’t care who it is, but what is he wearing?! Trench coats went out of style three seasons ago.” She circled around the sleeping pair, stopping when she could see the stallion’s chest under Spike. “And why does it have a hole in the middle of… Oh dear, is that blood?” She was nearly knocked over by a blur of pale pink and yellow.

The blur turned out to be a pegasus that was now floating inches from the apparently wounded male, inspecting every inch of him and the now quietly snoring dragon for injuries. She first checked Spike, then the stallion. She carefully moved Spike fully off his chest, dodging flailed forelegs and making comforting noises until he settled back down with one foreleg still curled protectively around the young one. She examined his chest, the dark grey scales and surrounding fur were splattered with dried blood. Under that the scales were scarred and marked with odd lines of color swirling in no particular pattern. She leapt back from the odd male, a quiet “Eep” escaping while she fled back behind the others.

The lavender unicorn, the most knowledgeable and unofficial leader of the group, snapped out of shock. She rushed over to her brother and started a thorough examination of what held him. He looked like a pony. Mostly. He was above average height, nearly as tall as Big Macintosh who was a colossus among ponies, and very skinny compared to normal stallion. Grey, nearly black, coated with a greenish tint, and his mane was the same light brown with blonde and dark orange-ish highlights running through it. That’s where the non-pony traits started. Darker grey scales covered his furless stomach and chest, under the fur on the rest of his body more scales lay hidden.

She tried to use her magic to move him, but a sapphire field would appear where ever she applied force, disrupting the magic in contact with it before slowly fading. She was forced to physically examine him further. She gently opened his muzzle, his forked tongue lolled out from between a combination of sharp and flat teeth with slightly lengthened and very sharp fangs. She carefully pulled an eyelid up, noting the nearly imperceptible scales layered over those too, his eyes were unfocused and shaking, betraying his sleeping state. The eyes were a light grey, like an overcast sky, with slitted pupils similar to a reptile’s.

She tried to pry the dragon out of the stallion’s grip. The unicorn stopped when he raised a forelimb and waved her off in a protective manor. She let out a frustrated groan. “Girls, I could use some help.”

“Why don’t you try waking him up, silly?” The girls stared in horror as the pink bundle of pure energy stood carelessly on his head. “I wonder if he likes cake.” She jumped off of him and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Umm… Why did she just go to my kitchen?” The lavender one stared at the hallway, bewildered by her friend.

“’S just Pinkie bein’ Pinkie.” The orange mare answered sagely.

“I guess we could try, just be ready if he tries anything”

The rainbow and orange ponies stepped up to flank the odd stallion, lowering into aggressive stances.

The lavender unicorn prodded the creature with a hoof, leaning close to its face. “Excuse me. Excuse me mister.”

He yawned as he slowly raised his head and opened his eyes. His voice was a surprisingly quiet and dark baritone which rapidly shifted from tired to total confusion. “HelloooOOUNICORN!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you ever woken up to a face full of unicorn? If so, please check the dosage of whatever medicine you’re on and go see a psychiatrist. If not then let me tell you, it’s an incredibly disconcerting experience. While trying to recover from the sudden, sanity questioning shock, I had apparently forgotten to turn off the autopilot for my mouth. “I haven’t seen a unicorn in YEARS. I think the last time I did was the last time I visited Merlin. Now he was a fun guy to hang out with, putting the whole ‘god of magic’ thing aside. Taught me how to use magic, too. Terrible poker player though. I miss him and Arthur.” My rambling must have confused the poor thing, she had backed up and was now sitting with a perplexed look on her face. “You know, you are suprisingly gentle with those hooves.” I took a moment to look around.

I was in a library apparently, books and shelves lined every wall leading off into other rooms. That explains why sound is being muffled here. I’ve always liked libraries, quiet and full of knowledge. Not many people in a library. All in all, not the worst place I’ve woken up in. I felt something warm against my side and looked over. Spike lay curled up against my side, fast asleep. Good, he’s safe. Not sure if this is his home, though. I addressed the unicorn in front of me. Something about her seemed familiar, like I had met her or a family member who held a resemblance.

“Um, miss? Is your name, by any chance, ‘Twilight Sparkle’?”

That snapped her out of her confusion, which immediately switched to suspicion. I pulled Spike a little closer, moving my wing to cover him more, under her glare. “Yes it is. How do you know that?”

“He told me” I gestured at him. I finally noticed my lack of hands with the gesturing. “… I have hooves? What?” I jumped up, leaving Spike on the floor while I started freaking out. "What?!"

I immediately crashed back onto the floor, tripping over my suddenly doubled legs. "WHAT?!" Going from biped to quadruped is not easy or remotely fun. I gingerly got back up again on shaking legs."Ok, not the worst thing to ever happen to me. I guess there's no humans in this reality. Or at least not yet. Gah, divergent realities give me a headache. And why am I ORANGE of all colors? I don't remember ever being ginger." I flapped my wings to stabilize myself before gingerly taking a step forward. It took a few tries before I remembered the pattern for walking. Front right, back left. Front left, back right. I walked in a slow circle. keeping that pattern and trying to figure out my new balance and muscle movements. Every muscle and joint was stiff from the involuntary shapeshift. Then I looked up.

Six small horses stood in a line, staring at me. I blankly recognized them from Spike’s narrative of his life. The pale yellow one on the far left, hiding behind the orange one must be Fluttershy and the aforementioned orange one should be Applejack, the Stetson on her head giving away her occupation as a farmer. The middle left one had already been introduced as Twilight, why does she seem familiar? The middle right one was porcelain white with purple hair, or was that mane? She must be Rarity, judging by her apparent cleanliness and well-kept mane, Spike went on for hours about this one. The pink one bouncing in place with a smile that had no business fitting on her face would be Pinkie Pie. My sanity flinched a little when my gaze swept past her. And finally, hovering above the group, was a cyan colored pegasus with rainbow colored hair. I wonder if she dyes it. That one must be Rainbow Dash if the hair color gives any indication. Spike didn't mention the whole ‘they’re small horses’ thing. They all continued to stare at me while I examined them.

Their gaze started to get to me. I started shifting around uncomfortably as terror started to build in the back of my mind. “Um… Excuse me, but could you all look at something other than me? I don’t like being stared at…” They all realized what they were doing and quickly looked away. I relaxed once they did, the fear dying back down. Oh thank you whatever Gods are watching me, that could have ended badly.

Twilight looked back at me and noticed the sudden drop in tension. “Are you ok?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking someone that you've never met, who by all evidence available probably broke into your home, and appears to have kidnapped your adopted little brother, if they’re alright?” She nodded. I considered it before replying, “A little stiff and sore, but I've had much worse.”

She shrugged and asked, still clearly suspicious “How did you get here?”

I settled back down next to the dragon, draping a wing over his sleeping form again. “I found him in an alley, scared and confused. I offered to get him home and here we are. Though he forgot to mention this world being inhabited by small horses, I hope I got the right dimension this time.” I looked around again. “Where is here exactly?”

Her expression changed again, now somewhat offended and wondering about my sanity. “Equestria. Specifically my library in Ponyville. And we're ponies by the way, not horses. What do you mean ‘the right dimension’ and where did you find him? He’s been missing for hours after something interfered with a teleport spell.”

I frowned, that didn't sound good. “Alright, 'ponies' then. Actually from our perspective, it’s been about a day and a half since that happened. Dimensional travel is odd like that.”

“What do you mean dimen-?”

I lost track of what she was saying as pain lanced through my body. I let out a low groan as the pain continued, starting at my chest and spreading outward. I wheezed urgently through gritted teeth. “S-s-s-s-spike. Wake up. NOW.”

He sprung up at the sound of my strained voice. “Vigil! Are you ok? What’s wrong? Are we being attacked?” He stopped and stared at my new body. “What happened to you?”

I pushed him off of me. “Seven foot peri-” I gasped as the pain flared more intensely before returning to spreading down all four of my legs now. I strained against the pain “Perimeter. Mind the wings this time!”

He ran to the other side of the room, grabbing the cyan mare and Twilight as he went dragging them away from me. He turned back around and stared at me worriedly.

“I’ll be fine. I think.” I rasped. I shot him a weak smile that probably ended up looking more like a grimace “Welcome home hatchling.” I was forced into a ball as the pain increased, now reporting from every part of me. My wings flapped pitifully, beating against the floor as I tried to stay conscious.

Pain ripped through me, slamming aside all of my mental blocks. Darkness swallowed me once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls and Spike sat around the table in the kitchen, each sipping tea and munching on cookies that Pinkie had made. Twilight was still confused how she had accomplished this, considering that the kitchen currently had none of the ingredients stocked.

Spike sat close to his adoptive sister, hugging her and happy to be back home.

“So…” Spike broke the awkward silence that had settled in the room since leaving Vigil in the foyer. They really couldn’t do much else with the energies arcing off of his thrashing body.

“Who’s yer new friend?” Applejack asked, always trying to be friendly.

“His name is Vigil, or at least that’s the one he likes. He has a lot of different names.”

“What is he?” Rainbow this time, she was lazily flapping her wings to keep herself airborne above the table.

Spike scratched his head. “I don’t know. He called himself a chimera, but I don’t know what that is. He looked like a human before we got here though, those were what lived in the place I was teleported to. Just be careful when he wakes up. He’s weird, almost like Pinkie, but he doesn't handle new or groups of ponies very well and I'm not sure how he'll react. He's been looking worse each time we jumped worlds.”

They all agreed on his dislike of groups before quieting again as they thought about what the young dragon had to have gone through. Alone, scared, confused in a place utterly and completely alien to him with a weakening alien as the only one to help him.

“What was it like there?” Fluttershy asked, the shy and quiet pegasus thinking about the condition of the being in the next room. She was thoroughly scared of what could inflict that kind of scarring.

Spike stayed quiet for a few minutes, considering everything he had seen and heard about before giving his response. “Everything was... different. Parts of it were cool, fun even. Like the trains, they were actually living creatures. But some it was scary.” Spike shuddered at the thought of Jack and his monsters. “I know Vigil tried to keep those parts away from me, but he couldn't stop some of it spilling through.”

“Like what?” Twilight questioned while wrapping a foreleg around the shivering child.

Spike went into the story of everything that happened starting at when he was chased through the streets and ending with Vigil’s first jump into the void between realities. The story went on for hours, extended by questions here and there about various details. They all enjoyed the parts about the different technologies and magics. They smiled at the part on the train but were terrified of Jack and his monstrous creations. Twilight was particularly interested in the parts about Vigil and his abilities. As Spike’s story closed, a quadrupedal figure leaned against the doorway leading to the rest of the library.

“You missed the part where Jack took me out without any particular effort.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“But you captured how incredibly annoying and enigmatic Eddie is.” I finished, smirking and leaning heavily against the wall. Every muscle in my body was reporting pain in a loud, distracting manner. On top of that, my magical reserves were completely gone. “And you missed the part of where my aim isn't that great. How many alternate realities did we jump through before we got here?"

The effect was better than I expected, all of them had expressions of pure shock. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s how to make an entrance.

“What are you?” The lavender one asked, surprised.

I winked slyly at Spike. He stifled a laugh as he realized what I was doing. I kept smirking and answered her in the most boisterous tone I could manage while prancing in place, “I’m a stallion, baby.” I stopped and wiggled my eyebrows for effect.

Spike, Rainbow, and Pinkie burst out in laughter, apparently they caught on to the joke. The yellow one eeped and dove behind the orange one, who was blushing and looking everywhere but at me with Twilight. The white one, Spike told me that would be Rarity, held an affronted look. Which suited me just fine, I’d be back in the library hiding if they were all paying attention to me. I chuckled and shambled stiffly over to Spike. He watched me, evidently surprised I could stand, much less walk.

“How are you walking that well? I’d expect you to be tripping over yourself. And what happened back there?” Spike’s laughter cut off and a serious look replaced it.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been a quadruped, first time I’ve been equine before though. How did you know it was me earlier?”

“Only you sound like that.”

“Too true.” I regarded Spike seriously. “How bad’s the damage?”

We both examined my new features. My tongue flicked across my fangs, "Hmm... New teeth. That's weird." I muttered, absently while wondering if I’m venomous.

“It’s not that bad, you’re tall and probably too skinny. You look exhausted though, and weird too. How did that happen? You could probably pass for a lunar guard to most ponies.” He said, settling back against Twilight.

I nodded, having no idea what he was talking about. “First, why didn’t you tell me your friends were horses?”

“Ponies. They’re ponies.” Spike interrupted. “Calling them horses is a bad insult.”

“Ah, alright then. To answer your question though, dimensional travelers like me have to abide by certain rules. This world’s storyline apparently follows ponies, so I ended up one. The draconic influence probably has to do with my own draconic genetics and the fact that you were the closest being to me when we arrived. My innate magic is wild, chaotic, even unstable at times, it tried to turn me into whatever the closest sentient being was as a camouflage while the universe was trying to make me a pony. Usually a member of the dominant species is the closest to me so the magic eases the transformation. Obviously, the universe won.

“As for what just happened. That was this world’s magic trying to tap into and convert my own. It was partially successful, I’m connected, but my magic is still somewhat separate and completely drained.”

The girls had recovered from my entrance and were now all staring at me as I gave my explanation to Spike, most of it went far over his head though. I had the urge to dive under the table and hide there until they all left. I didn’t, instead I chose to slowly start backing towards the hall, body held close to the ground with my wings covering my head. I started shaking as I moved, terror and exhaustion finally catching up to me. I turned to Spike as I noticed a feeling that was becoming alarmingly familiar to me. “Spike, want to see something before I have a panic attack?”

The girls’ gaze intensified as the little dragon nodded rapidly, excited at the prospect of seeing something new from me. “Sure, what is it this time?”

I gestured grandly, “I will now show you how to pass out like a boss.”

I was out before I hit the floor

Chapter 5: Hopeless

Chapter 5: Hopeless

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Celestia and I stood in the library staring at each other, the silence in the room was nearly suffocating. I took a few minutes to calm down after I broke eye contact awkwardly and looked around the room. The girls just sat and stared with expressions somewhere between awe and wanting to ask questions. Except for the pink one. She was balancing the plate of cookies from earlier on one hoof while staring at me with a manic gleam in her eyes.

She worries me. A lot.

“So…” I began, trying to end the silence. After staying in a city that never stops moving I was used to there always being some kind of background noise, if that ever stopped it meant that something was about to happen. Here though there wasn’t any, just the faint whisper of wind blowing against the building. At that I noticed that I hadn’t been outside yet. I should correct that.

Shrugging and sitting up, I made for the door only to be stopped by a large white wing.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Celestia asked, her tone cursory rather than accusatory. The sorrow had left her eyes and was now replaced with curiosity again.

I gestured wordlessly at the door.

“Why do you wish to leave?” She seemed a little saddened by this.

I rolled my eyes before opting for a more polite tone. “I’m not going anywhere ma’am. I just haven’t been outside yet. I want to see what this version looks like.”

This made her seem more confused. “What do you mean you haven’t been outside?”

I shrugged. “I’ve only been in this reality for about…” I searched the room for a clock. “Twelve hours and I haven’t left Ms. Sparkle’s library yet.”

Celestia’s look of shock was priceless. “So you’re the source of the disturbance?”

I rubbed the back of my head with a hoof. “Yes. No. Maybe? Depends on what kind of disturbance it was. Normally my jumping is untraceable, if nothing else Tory does good work.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Tory?”

I met her gaze with a completely serious expression, my voice lacking any emotion. “You of all people should know that names have power, Celestia. By naming him by something else I choose to laugh rather than fear.”

Oddly enough this seemed to have a much more profound effect on her than my anger did. “True. Now which little Traveler are you? You aren’t Omnius, that much is certain. Your disdain for ‘Tory’ also shows that you aren’t him. Neutra?”

I actually had to laugh at that one, so much so that I ended up falling onto my back. At some point Pinkie got bored of the cookies and decided to join me, both of us wheezing and rolling back and forth. After a few minutes the laughter died down and I collected myself again, Pinkie just kept laughing. “Whew…” I wiped a tear from my eye, “I needed that.” I met the solar Goddesses’ gaze again “No. No I’m not. You can tell by the fact that I’m male and you can see me. You know she likes to work from behind the scenes, through several different associates.” I looked over at Pinkie. “Does she need help or something?” The girls just shook their heads and ignored it, it seems this happens a lot.

“So who and what are you?” I smiled at her growing curiosity. If there’s one thing immortal beings like, it’s learning about something new.

“Vigil, and I’m a chimera. At least that’s what I call what I am, it’s as close as I can get.”

She looked me in the eye dead seriously. “Now answer the questions.” A wide grin interrupted the vaguely threatening stare, “Please?” Oh Gods and Goddesses, she thinks she can troll me.

I sighed dramatically, eliciting a few giggles from the Princess and the girls. “You know, you’re the first Goddess that I’ve met who doesn’t like mental games.”

She just stood there, grinning and waiting.

My face fell as the memories from my past were brought to the front of my thoughts. “Wanderer, Subject Omega, Cursed Blade, The Angel Defiant, The Watchful Haunting, The Last Survivor, I have a lot of different names. As for what I am… I’m not really sure.”

She nodded. “That’s not much to go on.” I nodded in agreement and she took a step closer. “I need to make sure my subjects are safe…”

I realized where this was going and started backpedalling quickly away. “Nonononononono. You don’t need to do that! I’ll be good, I swear!” I held up a hoof. “Scout’s honor!”

She kept advancing on me. “No, I can’t be sure of what you say until I’ve finished looking.”

I kept going until she trapped me against a bookcase. I tried to reason with her. “No, you already got a look at it. It only gets worse.”

Her face was set grimly. “Exactly, I need to know what kind of danger you pose.”

I looked around, panicking. Great, I was caught and she had far too much power for me to struggle against. I really don’t want to spend the next fifty years in a dungeon.

I slumped to the floor in defeat, all the tension in my body leaving as I accepted my current fate. “Ok, but save your judgment until the end. You’ll need to see it all.” She backed off and I stood again. “I have something in my bag that will help.”

I walked over to my nearly forgotten bag and started searching through it. After about five minutes of pure frustration after I found it I turned around. “How in the multiverse do you pick anything up with these hooves?!”

Twilight, of course was the only one to answer. “Tactile telekinesis. All ponies have it, though earth ponies’ is the strongest followed by pegasi, then unicorns.” She explained.

I nodded. That made quite a bit of sense actually. From what Spike told me and what I’d seen, earth ponies were the strongest physically, then pegasi, then unicorns. Unicorns’ would be the weakest because of their innate ability to use magic to levitate objects. I shook my head. No, I’m getting sidetracked.

I tried again, this time directing some magic into the hoof. It came back up with a small burlap pouch attached. “Huh. That actually worked. Anyways…” I spilled the contents of the bag onto the floor in front of me.”

The bag had held small square tiles similar to Scrabble pieces, each with a rune carved into it instead of a letter. I shuffled them around until I found what I was after. I picked up three different tiles and put the rest back into the pouch before tossing it back into the bag. I held up the tiles. “These are runes. It’s a trick I picked up from some Nordic shaman types a while back. Each rune holds the framework for a spell and stores enough power to perform it, all you have to do is activate it.”

I held up a tile. “This one brings others into one being’s mind temporarily, it allows you to see what they have. I’ll give you a few minutes to prepare yourself, it’s not going to be pretty.”

Meanwhile, most of the girls had lost interest in what I was saying.

Applejack and Rainbow’s glares screamed suspicion, but a quick assurance from Celestia settled them down. Pinkie was doing whatever she does. Rarity had picked up my coat and was watching as the tears and slashes repaired themselves. Twilight and Celestia were studying the runes, which I had set down for them. Fluttershy however, was staring at me intently from a corner. I walked carefully over to her, she eeped as I reached her.

Smiling at her, I reassured her “Relax, I don’t bite. Or I didn’t, I’m not really sure anymore.” I flicked my tongue over my teeth, “These are new to me.”

She examined my fangs, and then mumbled something. I leaned closer and upped my audio sensors briefly, but I still couldn’t make out what she said.

I stayed there, leaning close to her for a few moments waiting for her to continue, not quite catching her question. A light tap from my other side snapped me out of it and I turned my head.

Rarity stood next to me, coat still in her telekinetic grip. “Sir, are you going to answer her question?”

“Huh?” There’s my rapier wit! I was wondering where it had gone off to.

She rolled her eyes and asked heatedly, “Fluttershy here asked you a question. Are you going to be so rude as to not answer it?”

I took a step back in surprise from her tone. I turned to the yellow pegasus, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your question. Could you run it by me again?”

She nodded before answering me quietly, but audibly. “Um… Yes. Are you hungry?”

“Huh?” My eyebrow rose.

She quieted further, nearly to the point of being inaudible. “You’re a little um… Thin…”

I looked again, this time comparing myself to the other ponies in the room. Now with it pointed out, I noticed I was a little on the skinny side of the weight scale. Being a foot taller than the other ponies, combined with this new fact, resulted in a gangly and awkward appearance, all arms and legs, instead of an intimidating draconic presence. So basically my normal body in pony form. And here I was thinking the multiverse had given me a break.

“She’s right dear.” Rarity’s voice came from right next to my ear.

I let out a small yell and dove for the nearest shadow, which happened to be between a shelf and the wall. Yes it was a yell, not a girlish squeal, I don’t know where you’d get that idea. I bounced off the wall, the shadows rejecting me. I rose again, clutching my now bruised skull. “Ow…”

Rarity ignored my antics with great dignity and continued, “You’re too tall for being that in that weight range. And those legs! It gives you a malnourished look.”

I shrugged, “Maybe a bit, but there’s not much I can do about it. I don’t need to eat or drink but when I do, my metabolism is ridiculously fast. Sure I could shape shift but it’s not worth the strain it would put on me, besides it would just revert back to this as soon as I stopped concentrating.”

Rarity scoffed and cantered off muttering about how unfair it is that others don’t need to watch their weight carefully.

Fluttershy decided to change the conversation. “Are you venomous? You look like you could be.”

I shrugged. “No idea. First time in this body, I’m just starting to figure it out. Honestly, I’m surprised that I can move my wings. Luckily the muscle structure is similar to my old one. I’m not sure if I can fly yet though, similar isn’t the same.” I stopped my babbling and shot her a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I babble when I’m nervous or freaked out. My social skills are… lacking. I’m so used to being alone most of the time and now I’m in an enclosed space with unfamiliar ponies and a Goddess who may or may not approve of me. I’m a little stressed.” I stopped again and looked around awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m doing it again…”

She simply nodded. “I know what it’s like to not be comfortable around other ponies. I live out near the Everfree forest, away from the town, with all of my animal friends.” My blank expression gave away the fact that I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. “Oh dear, you don’t know about the area around here do you?”

I shook my head in response. “No. I’ve been in the library since I got here, you found me where I arrived. Spike was asleep before that last jump and everything finally caught up to me when we got here.” I examined a hoof, trying to get a feel for it. “What did you say about animal friends?”

That brought her the rest of the way out of her shell. She spent the next ten minutes talking about the various animals she took care of, even the injured ones that came from the forest for treatment. As our conversation went on, I examined and experimented with my new form. Rolling, bending, and stretching each part of my anatomy to examine the interplay and control of my muscles. I had unfurled my wings and was in awe of the new flexibility and dexterity of them when the female next to me interrupted my exam.

“Um… What are you doing that for?” She looked at me in confusion as I held a wing between my two hooves.

I let go of my wing and looked back. “Examining the bone structure, or rather the ridiculous amount of what seems to be something similar to cartilage in these wings. Well, what that would be in a normal whatever I am. Speaking of which, I think the others are ready. What do you think?” I gestured to the other, now restless, ponies in the library.

“Oh… Um… Well… Maybe?” She squeaked out.

I chuckled. “Miss Fluttershy, there’s no reason to be nervous. I’m not going to harm you.”

Her answer floored me. “Oh, I already knew that.” She jumped as my face connected with the floor. “Are you ok?”

I got back up, holding a hoof to my considerably smarting face. “I’m fine. That just wasn’t the answer I was expecting…”

She giggled with a hoof over her mouth. Gods and Goddesses that’s cute. If they weaponized that, universal peace would be declared that day. “You’ve done your best to get Spike safely home, and you’ve offered to do something that’s uncomfortable and painful for you just to make somepony else feel better.”

I stared at her in shock. I closed open and closed my mouth a few times but sound wouldn’t come out. I shook my head in disbelief. “Wow. First Pinkie and now you. You ponies are perceptive.”

She smiled and trotted over to her friends, who were chatting merrily. I rolled my shoulders and stretched my back eliciting a number of creaks and cracks. I followed her lead, opting to stand outside of the group.

I cut in when their conversation reached a lull. “Ma’am, if you’re ready I believe now would be a good time to start.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. She followed me while I picked up the runes.

The Goddess examined my expression as I checked the preparations. “Why do you act this way?”

. “Damn, your excess power is going to short out the rune before it can activate properly. I can fix that, I think.” I turned my head from examining the rune “What way?”

“You laugh one moment but drop it the next, and why do you speak in that manner?”

I chuckled again. “It’s a game I play to keep my mind occupied. I try to use as much of my vocabulary in conversation as I can. It can lead to switching between formal and informal speech patterns in the middle of a sentence, but the more you use it the less likely you are to forget it, not that I can forget anything anymore. As for the sudden changes…” I stared deep into her eyes and she shuddered under the intensity. “Am I sane or still cracked? Which is truly the mask?”

We walked back over to the group. There wasn’t much to say after that, she’d have to decide after the spell.

I addressed the ponies before me. “Ok ladies, and the little one, the spell will basically make a temporary copy of my mind for Celestia to look at while leaving me conscious unlike normal viewing spells. So, what do you want to do while the princess is busy?”

The little one jumped up. “Mah name’s Applebloom, Mister Vigil.”

“Ok Applebloom, what do you want to do once I get the spell up and running?”

She sat down right in front of me as I started trying to make the rune compatible for the Princess. “Can yall tell a story?”

I frowned as I overloaded the capacitor in the rune, releasing a spray of blue sparks. “I’m not sure if I know any good ones.” Ah ha! I reworked the spell matrix to feed excess energy back to the source rather than release it harmlessly or store it. That should work.

She cranked her cuteness up to eleven as she stared at me with puppy dog eyes and her lower lip trembled. “Pweease mister?” The girls joined with their own begging.

My brain shut down from the cuteness induced aneurysm. My mouth however, got free reign without my mind to ask what to say, and apparently it had decided to bow down to the new adorable overlords. “I guess I could tell you how this all started.” I swear I could hear Celestia cracking up behind me. Thanks ‘Princess’, your subjects attempt to murder me with their D’awww powers and you laugh at my misfortune. So much for a ‘Goddess of Good’.

I broke the rune, starting the spell, and she fell silent. That tingling in the back of my head returned briefly while an orb of blue-green energy formed in front of the Goddess.

I settled back down and began the tale. “Ok, this is the story of the Travelers…”

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There are many Gods and Goddesses throughout the multiverse. Some are Good, some Evil, and some choose neither to keep their Neutrality, and they all are in constant conflict with each other. Each set watches over their respective reality, and sometimes lend a hand in others to keep everything intact. After a time they began to wonder how to keep these realities flowing smoothly and stay connected. They came up with a plan to have one person for each side to Travel the multiverse, sharing tales and past experiences from the other realities. The stories remained once the Travelers left and were spread, cementing that reality to the others. Each set chose their Traveler for different reasons.

The Gods and Goddesses of Evil chose a cold, dark, ruthless being known as Torrentican. He revels in his power, spreading his darkness wherever he goes because he can. He twists all the Good he finds to his own sick ideals, making what was once beautiful and whole into something sick and corrupt, perfect for spreading the darkness.

The Gods and Goddesses of Neutrality picked their Traveler to be an agent. She’s able to change her identity and essence to remain unknown and work from behind the scenes. In particular, she enjoys working indirectly through her vast network of followers, known as the Disciples of the Scales. They wish to maintain balance in the multiverse by tipping the scales one way or the other at a critical juncture. Trust me, pure unfiltered Good is just as disturbing and damaging as its Evil counterpart.

Finally, the Gods and Goddesses of Good, Claimed someone a bit odd. While the other two picked their Travelers from their lives, the beings from this side created and shaped theirs from birth to be the Traveler of Good. He goes by Omnius, or Sean if you’re his friend, unlike the other two he prefers to be a scholar rather than a fighter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“… and that about covers it.” I looked around. Everyone in the room had decided to lie down at some point except for one small female. Said child was sitting in front of me, staring up in awe.

“Do yall have any other stories, mister? That one only sounded like a beginning.”

I smiled down at her. “It is a beginning, it’s still being written and will continue to be for all of eternity. What’s a story to you is my reality. I’ve met all three of them before, though Omnius is the only one I get along with. I’ll tell you some other stories another time, alright? I think your princess is almost finished.”

It was true, the bright orb from earlier had dwindled down to a small ball of weakly flickering light. Celestia looked contemplative as she saw something none of the rest of us could.

Hope slowly grew in me at her gentle expression. I only stayed in the Nightside for so long because that was the only place I’d ever been able to live somewhat normally. Gods and Devils lived there and the tolerance for weird happenings was ridiculous. Maybe I could actually stay somewhere that I wasn’t nearly constantly fighting to stay alive. Maybe I won’t have to hide in the shadows here. Maybe I could finally be accepted instead of reviled.

The light faded as Celestia finished looking through the last of my memories. I watched her hopefully as her expression remained frozen. I listened excitedly as one word escaped her lips.

“Monster…”

My face fell as my thoughts and newfound hope shattered. I rocked back as if physically struck. Of course she would respond that way. I don’t know why she wouldn’t, I would have too in her place. It’s not like anywhere else has been different, why do I even get my hopes up anymore?

I collected myself again as the thoughts ran through my head and returned to a neutral expression as I gathered my belongings. I slipped my resized bag on then glared at the coat. It quivered a bit, then reshaped itself into a me-sized cloak, which I put over myself.

I walked over to the door and opened it. I stood there, just inside still refusing to look behind me at what would be revolted looks aimed at me.

My voice was quiet and flat, but filled the library eerily. “You’re right, I am a monster. I tend to forget that fact, thank you for reminding me.” I shook my head and chuckled, it sounded flat and dead. “I don’t belong anywhere anymore, so why do I keep trying?” I slid my goggles down off of my head and over my eyes, hiding the rapidly wetting fur under them from view. “Take care of Spike, I won’t be around to find him next time. I left the rest of the crystals that he likes on the table in the kitchen earlier. And I’m sorry you won’t get that story Applebloom.”

I stepped out the door and disappeared into the inky darkness before dawn.

Chapter 6: Haunting Memories

Chapter 6: Haunting Memories

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The library was silent again as its inhabitants sat frozen in shock. Their princess, one of the most kind and caring ponies to have ever lived, had just insulted a new pony to the point that he had left. He was admittedly strange, but he had tried to be pleasant to all of them. What had she seen with that spell to treat him that way?

The only pony that wasn’t affected by the events that had recently occurred was the princess herself. She still seemed to be dazed by whatever that orb had shown her.

Celestia shook herself as the effects of the spell began to fade away. She smiled fondly at the group of mares in front of her. “Hello my little ponies.” She looked around the interior but noticed that something, or rather, somepony was missing. “Where is Vigil?”

There was no verbal response but six hooves rose into the air, pointing at the slightly ajar door leading outside.

Finally one small, accented voice spoke up. “Why’d he leave like that?” The owner of the voice, a small yellow filly, was curled up next to her sister and staring beseechingly at the white alicorn.

Twilight snapped out of her shock first and looked at her mentor. “Princess? What did you see that could have made you say that?”

Celestia returned the look to her student in a confused fashion. “I haven’t said anything. I’ve been viewing memories until a few moments ago.”

Surprisingly, Fluttershy spoke up, the quiet yellow pegasus was gazing at the door worriedly. “You said ‘monster’ and he left. Will he be ok? He didn’t look very well.”

Pinkie’s hair had deflated and hung limply as she stood crying. “I never got to throw him a welcome-to-Ponyville party and now he’s gone FOREVERRRRR…” Her final word descended back into wailing.

Celestia looked at her distraught subjects. “There seems to have been a misunderstanding. Until the spell ended a few moments ago I haven’t been able to pay attention to anything else. Anything I might have said would have been repeating what had been said in the memory.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow and AJ had split off from the others and were discussing the situation themselves.

“I knew it and I told them he was trouble. I knew we shouldn’t trust him and now look.” Rainbow declared victoriously.

AJ took a more reasonable approach, her accented tone cutting off the cyan mare’s self-praise. “What did he do exactly? All he did was bring Spike home, help Applebloom find me, and fall asleep. He even answered our questions. What did he do wrong?”

The pegasus dropped to the ground. “I guess you’re right…” She paced back and forth thoughtfully, then stopped suddenly. “I can just catch him. There’s no way he can beat the fastest flyer in Equestria.” She leapt into the air and sped out the door, leaving a trail of rainbow colors in her wake.

Every pony in the room turned to the farmer. She shrugged. “She went ta go bring Vigil back.”

“Oh dear.” Celestia said as she hurried out the door followed by five mares. “I fear that may not have been the best choice in his current state.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A cloaked stallion flew above the sleeping Ponyville, seeking solace in the clear night sky. The coloring of his apparel made him nearly invisible apart from the flashes of color the moonlight would reveal occasionally as the wind pushed aside the cloak. His eyes could barely be seen beneath the slightly fogged flight goggles over them, but a close examination would reveal their bloodshot quality and the moisture collected on the lenses was on the inside.

He flew silently towards the overgrown forest not too far away. The Everfree, the kind yellow mare had called it. As the last houses of the small town were cleared, the solitude was interrupted by a streak of rainbow colors barreling into him.

Vigil turned with the impact, folding in his wings, and allowing whatever crashed into him to continue its path harmlessly. He rolled a few times while reorienting before catching himself with his wings and continuing his flight. He pondered the possibility of this world having fireworks, but shrugged it off and continued on.

The streak of color banked back around and dove at the draconic stallion again. This time he withdrew his wings and dropped under it before impact. As it flew past, his augmented eyes revealed the blur to be a cyan pegasus mare. He stopped and hovered in the air, confused. Why was she out here? Did she come to make fun of him? He shook his head, pulled in his wings, and dove for the forest, desperate to escape.

Rainbow followed her target easily enough, he was fast but he hadn’t quite figured out all she had to make herself faster. She matched his driving speed and called out, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

He abruptly spread his wings, effectively stopping in place while she sped past. She grumbled at being out-maneuvered, even if her thoughts had been elsewhere, and turned around again. He called ou to hert against the wind. “What do you want? To make fun of the freak?” His anger put an edge on the normally quiet and resonant baritone.

The flyer looked at his bared fangs and the smoke escaping his mouth, the fiery glare from his slitted eyes burning into her. There was no way she would ever want to fight the nearly feral being presented before her. Here was a creature that was had survived centuries of violence and reveled in it. Where was the shy, gangly and quirky young stallion she found in the library?

His eyes softened and lost their edge at the fear evident on her face. His voice took on a tired and truly defeated tone as the anger faded away. “Just… Go home Miss Dash. I was leaving anyway.” He turned and dropped the rest of the way into the forest, vanishing from view.

Rainbow was left hovering in confusion. Why was Vigil acting like that? What happend to him? She looked to the forest and found no trace of him. She shook her head and turned back to the town. Maybe she would have better luck with her friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I ran through the corrupt forest, hooves pounding into the soft earth. Honestly it was more like pushing through a thick jungle, but without the humidity and heat.

A memory of me steps out of my family home. He is quite a bit shorter, stockier, darker colored skin and hair, he has none of the scars my body is covered in. He walks over to a parked car and pulls out.

I kept running, not seeing or caring where I was going, I just needed out to get away.

Red and blue lights flash in the rearview mirror. The memory figure hands the officer a license and turns to pull the registration from the glove compartment. A sharp prick in the side of neck and everything fades to darkness.

I shuddered as the memory continued despite my attempts to drown it out. My legs gave out as I entered a small clearing, throwing me to the ground. I curled up as tightly as I could while shaking and whimpering as the images forever etched into my mind played out.

The view lightens and clears, revealing the figure from before strapped to an operating table in an unfamiliar room. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all white, uninterrupted by windows or doors, giving the impression of floating in a timeless space. An outline of a rectangle slowly forms at one side of the room, taking on details little by little until a door stands there. A new figure walks into the room, his face obscured by a surgical mask. All that can really be made out is his lab coat, hair, and eyes, all of them the same shade of soulless black.

“Hello there Omega. I’m sure you’re very confused at the moment.” His voice is warm and comforting, with a slight British accent. The figure relaxes slowly against the table. He looms over the restrained figure, raising something in his hand to just above the figure’s chest. “Your purpose will become clear in time.” The scalpel reveals itself as it comes down, the arc ending at the figure's chest. The image fades with the sound of the figure’s screams and thrashing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I jolted awake, yelling, to find that the sun has risen, just peaking over the mountains in the distance. I must have fallen asleep for a few hours. I shuddered at the images of the memories of what had happened the night before. That might explain why I felt even more tired.

I looked down at my battered body, my cloak had been discarded a few feet away leaving it bare. Cuts and tears from crashing into things covered it along with an oddly distorted leg. That explained why it gave out last night. As soon as I noticed it, my body started reporting the damage as loudly as possible. I brilliantly decided that getting up would be a bad idea just yet and ran a system diagnostic.

Thanks to Tory’s experiments, I’m not completely flesh and blood anymore. My skeleton was replaced with a set of extremely strong and ridiculously complex mechanics, capable of operating independently of the rest of my body if the need arises. Plates of whatever material those are made of also cover my ribs to protect the organs beneath. My organs, including my eyes, inner ears, and muscles have been augmented with a kind of biocircuitry, organic mechanics, enhancing their functionality. The superficial aspects of my body, my skin, facial features, outer ears, etc. are almost purely biological though.

While doing all of this work, Tory realized that it would all be useless if I died from the injuries he or someone else would inflict on me. So he added stolen plans and experiments to his own to increase my physical endurance.

Does it need to be said that he only ever worked when I was conscious?

I stared at the injuries, wondering why my healing factors hadn’t kicked in. I shrugged and shifted back to my regular, human, form to see the damage.

I looked down at myself again. I was back in my blood soaked jeans and t-shirt, hurray. The cuts and bruises still didn’t show any signs of rapidly healing and my arm remained just as broken as before. This did not bode well for my stay here, and I couldn’t go jumping with how tired and damaged I still was.

I slumped over. Is this what I've been reduced to? Running from abuse for the rest of my unnatural life? All I've ever done is try to help and look at where that's gotten me! I'm damaged and hurting in the middle of a corrupted forest because some BITCH decided that something outside of my control makes me a monster! Unfortunately she's an overpowered sun god worshiped as royalty by an entire kingdom. I sighed. What's the point anymore?

A rustle and snap from the far side of the clearing brought me out of my thoughts again. I dragged myself behind a bush and peaked out. A midnight blue unicorn trotted happily into the clearing, levitating a basket in the air next to her, she was a little shorter than I was in pony form, but still taller than what seemed to be average. She smiled as she left the tree line and bolted past me. She leapt into the air, revealing a set of wings matching her fur, and dove behind a small hill with a splash leaving the basket at the top.

I slowly crawled up the hill and peaked over. This angle allowed me to see a small lake, hidden from my original entry. The winged unicorn giggled as she used her wings to propel herself through the water. Huh, I’d never thought of doing that before. After a while she got tired of splashing about and swam back to shore. She got out and made her way to her basket, forcing me to duck back into the foliage. She pulled out a dark towel and dried off before spotting my cloak.

“Ooooh. That’s interesting. It will go perfectly in my collection.” She mused quietly to herself. She her speech indicated probable royalty, but why was she out here alone?

Here goes nothing. I stood up as she lifted the cloak and carefully stepped forward. “Sorry miss, but that’s mine.”

She stared at me for a few moments, examining me, then shrugged and moved it over to me.

I gingerly pulled it out of her telekinetic grasp and looked at her confused. “That’s it? No screaming and fleeing in terror? No insulting the abomination or trying to remove a threat?”

She shrugged again. “You are not the oddest thing that I have seen. And the creatures of this forest do not bother me.”

My jaw dropped. What was that? “Erm… Ok, not what I was expecting.” My brain finally made the connections between her and what Spike had told me about this world. “I’m going to guess that you’re Luna, the recently returned princess.”

She nodded and pulled a blanket out of the basket to lie on the grass. “That is correct.” She flopped on top of it, the grass underneath softening the fall.

I looked at the cloak at mentally kicked it. It warped and tied itself into a sling, which I slipped my arm into and put on. “There aren’t that many winged unicorns I’m guessing. Spike mentioned a yelling problem… and an extensive use of the ‘royal we’.”

She shook her head while pulling out a sandwich. “You know of Spike? The correct term is alicorn and no, there are not. The royal Canterlot voice and the royal language are reserved for addressing the subjects or ambassadors. Or, they were.” She took on a wistful expression momentarily before returning her gaze to me. “But you are not one of them.”

I nodded and studied her, watching the mood shift. “Yeah, he was part of a case I just finished. I know the feeling of being left behind by the world.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, really? And how would a creature such as you have any idea what I feel?”

I chuckled, surprising her. “A few different reasons, the primary one being personal experience.” I stared directly ahead as I thought back. “I told a little filly part of this story, but didn’t finish it for her. A long time ago, there was a… Incident and I was taken away from my life at home for many years.” My expression never faltered from a blank neutral state.

Luna listened without any reaction besides an occasional flick of her ears. I really should figure out pony body language.

“The world have moved on while I was away, twelve years to me was a century there. Everyone I had known was gone, my friends my family..." I sighed before continuing. “They probably had forgotten me by the end, not that I blame them. They thought I was dead and moved on like they should have. To this day, I only know where my father is buried.”

I looked over and found Luna looking up at me with tears dripping down her face. I scrambled closer as much as could with half-asleep legs and wrapped my arm around her. “Hey, don’t worry about it. You have a chance to be accepted again by your home.”

She sniffled and laughed at my antics before looking at my back. “You have wings?” she asked incredulously.

I craned my neck around and sure enough, my wings were showing. The speckled grey appendages were furled comfortable at my back. “Ah… That’s not a good sign. My glamour is failing.”

She shot me a flat look. “Sure you can use magic…”

“Spike didn’t mention you’re a cynic.” I chuckled.

She gave me a withering glare in response. “I will not be made fun of.”

“Oh really? You won’t?” My smirk widened to a grin. “Look up then.”

She rolled her eyes, freezing with a shocked expression as they looked above her. A blue aura held a sphere of water over her head. Her gaze slowly returned to me and I held out my free arm. My hand was coated in a matching aura while a variety of runes and shapes glowed out from under the skin of my forearm. Her eyes sharpened to a glare. “Don’t even think-” Whatever the rest of her sentence was supposed to be was drown out in a fit of sputtering as the aura snapped off, drenching her. She glared while pulling some water from the lake behind us while I was laughing and dropped the icy liquid down my back.

I spent the next few hours just hanging out with Luna. She seemed lonely and sad, so I did my best to cheer her up, she was a little reserved at first but she warmed up quickly. The combination of her hideaway and that I wasn’t a pony allowed her to relax to a degree that she couldn’t anywhere else. I told her stories from past jumps, my training from just after the incident, and listened when she talked about her current life in Canterlot. She seemed particularly entertained by my abilities.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my wanderings, it’s that the smallest gestures have the biggest impacts.

“… and that’s why you should never get into an arm wrestling competition with an ogre. It was not fun fixing that dislocated shoulder.” I rose to my feet. “Well this was fun and all but I really should be off.”

The princess looked up at me, sadness creeping into her teal eyes. “Do you have to leave so soon? Where are you going?”

“To see the wizard of course!” I placed a hand over my eyes and shook my head. “Ok, that was a bad one. But really, I’m going to find a place to hide out for a while. Until I can figure out why I’m not healing and why my jumping is off I can’t leave this reality.”

She considered that for a moment before offering “You could come to the castle, I’m sure that between my sister and I we could find out what is happening to you.”

I cringed at the mention of Celestia. “That might not be a good idea.”

Luna saw my reaction, apparently I’m not all that hard to read. “What happened?”

“Your sister and I had a… falling out of sorts.” I looked down at the ground morosely. “She called me a monster.”

She gasped at that. We had gotten to know each other pretty well this morning and she knew how much of a sore point that word is for me. “Why would she do that?”

I sighed and sat back down. “I don’t blame her really. She wanted to make sure all of her little ponies were safe, so she looked through my memories.”

I felt a wing settle on my shoulder, but I refused to look up. “I am certain that it was a misunderstanding.”

I shrugged her off. “There was no misunderstanding that. I've spent more than two centuries trying to help only to get pushed away, hurt, and hunted because of my differences. This is just more of the same.” I let out a sad laugh, speaking mostly to myself “How many times have I said and thought that someplace would be different?”

Luna settled down next to me, ignoring the fatalistic remark. “What exactly are you? Not your species, but how you are immortal."

I laid back, using my arm as a pillow and staring up into the clear blue sky. “I'm not immortal in the traditional sense. I can die, it just takes a lot of effort on their part. However even when I die, I can't remain dead. My body gets kicked into a regenerative state while my soul, or what passes as it now, is pulled away. I wake up sometime after depending on how extensive the damage was."

"How do you move through worlds then?

"That's actually fairly easy to explain. You know about the Travelers right? I’m a ways below them on the whole cosmic scale, but above the jumpers who just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. A group of gods claimed me, but they never gave me much of a mission. It’s really more of a ‘go out and do something’ kind of thing. Occasionally I get a specific job, but mostly it’s ‘bring this message to this person’ or ‘observe this event’. Mostly, I think they just wanted to see the multiverse through a different perspective.”

She nodded. “How are you different then?”

I shrugged. “I can control my jumping somewhat, but not nearly to the same degree as the Travelers. Ask Spike about it sometime. I’m also so much weaker than them, but I’m not bound by the same rules. My rules are much more flexible, which might explain why Nuetra dislikes me so much. Something about upsetting the balance.”

“I think we've waited in this disgusting forest for far too long. Let’s just talk some sense into him.” A familiar posh voice drifted from the forest behind me, interrupting my explanation. Great, of all the ponies to find me, it had to be little miss prissy.

Luna squeaked and dove behind me as I leapt up, my larger form shielding her from sight. My wings flared behind me as I couched defensively and formed a sparking blue dagger in my hand.

“There’s no need for that.” Celestia stepped out from behind a tree, followed by the six ponies from earlier. “I’d like to apologize. I didn't mean to say what I did before. It was a repetition of something that was said in your memories.”

I stayed in the stance watching the group wearily, particularly the rainbow haired one. She was watching me carefully, trying to judge how I would react. Good, she knows how dangerous I can be if they try anything. At her words I relaxed slowly and nodded at her apology. It didn't completely erase what had happened, but it was a start.

“Luna, you can come out now.”

The little lunar goddess’s hooves were set on the top of my wing as she peaked over it. It funny how adorable it looked. “Sister? Why have you come out to this place?” I noted the shift to the royal dialect, old habits die hard I guess.

“You can come out from behind Vigil.” Celestia’s smile shifted into a smirk as her voiced lowered into a conspiring tone. “I didn't know you were quite so attached to him already, dear sister.”

Luna suddenly noticed how tightly she was holding my wing and abruptly let go, sinking back behind it. I watched her slowly step out from behind me and over to her sister. “We are sorry. We wanted to get away from the palace for a time and remembered this place from before…”

I sighed and stood up, furling my wings. It didn't look like they were coming to attack me, but I kept my watch allowing my blade to fizzle out. I waited while the two rulers talked quietly.

“WHAT?! He was serious?!” Luna’s cry of surprise sent me back into a defensive stance, preparing for the worst. When it became obvious that nothing was about to go down I relaxed again.

“A-a-are you ok?” A timid voice behind me made me jump forward and bounce off of a tree. At this rate, I was going to break my nearly indestructible skull or at least dent it. I stood back up and turned around to find Fluttershy staring worriedly at me and Pinkie on her back, cracking up.

I rubbed my aching head. “My everything hurts.”

A multicolored blur sped up to me, leaving a cyan colored mare glaring into my eyes. “What was the big idea running away like that?”

I glared at her muzzle instead of meeting her eyes. "Several lifetimes of abuse from ignorant beings such as yourself."

She stared at me blankly.

I sighed and rubbed my hand across my face. “Did the princess tell you anything of what she saw?”

Twilight walked over and answered. “She didn't go into specifics, but she told us some of it.”

“Then you know my reaction to that word.”

Rainbow kept glaring at me. “I don’t see the big deal. I get that it’s insulting but why take it so personally. It’s not like it’s even that bad, being called a-” She never had a chance to finish her sentence as she suddenly found herself on the ground several feet away.

The ponies around me stared blankly, trying to process what had just happened.

“How did you move that quickly?” Twilight asked slowly. I just gave her a blank look.

I slowly walked over to the cyan mare, who was slowly getting up. “If you ever want to get on my bad side, try to call me that again.” I helped her back up and brushed her off.

“Ok, ok. I get it.” She got back up into the air. “You’re pretty fast for whatever you are.” She glanced up as my face. "And tall too."

Fluttershy spoke up. “What are you exactly? I've never seen anything like you.”

I smiled weakly. “Like I said before, I’m a chimera and a dimensional traveler. This form is from my home dimension, it’s my original one. The species is human or homo sapiens if you want to get specific.” I looked around me, noticing for the first time how I towered over these ponies, even Celestia only came up to my chest without her horn. "And no, they aren't this tall. Most are between five and six and a half feet tall, I'm eight and a half."

Twilight was absorbing this new information and jumped up. “A new species! I have to study this.” She started measuring and lifting my appendages in her aura, resulting in a hiss of pain when she tried moving the sling.

“You’re hurt!” Fluttershy rushed to me, gently unwrapping my arm. “Oh dear, this is broken.”

I gave her a ‘you don’t say?!’ look. “I hadn't noticed. Normally it would have been fixed a couple of minutes after it happened but something is messing up my systems.” I would have enjoyed the confused look on all six faces, but a sharp blow to the back of my head interrupted my victory.

“Ow! What was tha-” Every joint and muscle in my body abruptly locked in place, leaving me petrified. I tried to force myself to move but my vision flickered and blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like a few moments, my sight flickered back on with FULL SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETED overlaying my sight. “-t for?”

I shook my head. What just happened? I looked around, finding myself back in pony form and limply sprawled on an unfamiliar bed. Aw, I already missed my hands. The room was kind of familiar, or at least the walls were. I slowly rose to my hooves, stopped and stared at my left foreleg. Something was different. Oh, it wasn't broken. I checked for other changes, but couldn't find any. I experimentally shifted my weight onto the leg. No pain or any weakness, must have fixed itself. Satisfied, I walked out the single door.

I was in the library that I arrived in. Huh, small world after all. I looked over the balcony. Spying the group from before I jumped off, spreading my wings to slow my descent. Landing silently behind the cyan one I crept forward, winking at the rest of the group. I reared back on my hind legs, prepared to freak out the pegasus.

Pinkie appeared, just freaking appeared, next to me and started yelling in my ear, causing me to fall over and ruining my scare attempt. “YOU'RE AWAKE! I’msohappyyoufinallywokeupnowwecanfinallyhaveyourwelcometoponyvillepartywhatkindofcakedoyoulikedoyouevenhaveafavoritecakewhatsyourfavoritecolorcanyoubreathefirebecauseyoulooklikeadragonanddragonsbreathefireand…” It got kind of obscure from there.

Rainbow jumped into the air at Pinkie’s sonic assault and started laughing at my sprawled form on the ground. I returned to my hooves again, trying to ignore the pink dynamo who was still chattering quite rapidly in my ear. I’m just happy she ran out of cookies earlier. “I almost had you there Miss Dash.”

She rolled her eyes. “Would you stop the ‘Miss Dash’ stuff? It’s just Rainbow.”

I nodded, a grin forming on my face. “Ok, Miss Rainbow.”

She glared at me, but laughed when she saw the grin. “You’re kind of funny.”

I held a hoof to my chest and swayed dramatically. “Only kind of?” I scoffed, “My dear, I must try harder in the future then.” That got a few giggles from the rest of the group.

I smiled at them, then focused on the matter at hand… hoof. “So, what happened out there? I remember the clearing and then I got hit in the back of the head. After that, nothing.”

Applejack answered me. “Well, after the princess knock you in the back of the head you froze. Then you just fell over and started making funny noises. The princess said somethin’ about a many restarting or somethin’ like that.”

“That’s a manual reset Applejack.” Twilight spoke up. “She said he had to sleep off the effects of coming to a new world.”

I nodded slowly. “That’s close enough I guess. Really I had to go into a lockdown where all of my systems simultaneously shut down briefly while they copied the base code and reworked a new set of codes to work optimally in this reality. Then… No one’s listening anymore are they?”

It was true, they all had blank looks on their faces at the unfamiliar information overload. Twilight however was busily writing notes about what I said with a quill. I sighed and clapped my hooves together sharply, snapping them out of it. “Basically I fell asleep while my body adjusted, better?” They all nodded in agreement. I looked over at the still scribbling librarian. “Should I do something about that?” They all shook their heads.

“Ah wouldn’t worry too much about it sugarcube. She’s always going on about somethin’.”

I smiled at her. “Ok Miss Applejack, did your sister get home alright?”

She smiled and held out a hoof. “Shoot, just call me AJ. It’s a pleasure to meet ya’ Vigil and she got home just fine.”

I looked inquisitively at the offered appendage. “Er… What are you doing exactly?”

She gave me a look like I was an idiot. Which I am, but not for the reasons she’s thinking of. “It’s a hoofshake. Haven’t you had one before?” I gave her a flat look and she seemed to remember something. “Oh, right. You aren't from around here.”

I facehoofed, slowing before impact this time. “No, I’m not. I’m used to handshakes, but...” I held up my hooves. “The lack of hands makes it a bit difficult.”

Rarity walked over to me. “Oh you poor dear. You don’t know anything about our culture or customs do you?”

I shook my head. “No Miss Rarity, just what Spike told me and what I've picked up from being around you ponies.”

She scoffed. “No no no. That won’t do at all. You have such potential to be a true gentlestallion.” She walked around me, assessing my features more closely. “I've already told you about your weight…”

I sighed and put my head on my hoof. “I get it, I’m skinny. There isn't much I can do about that though.” A pink missile slammed into me, knocking me over.

Pinkie was sitting on my chest, pinning me to the floor. What is with this pony and knocking me to the ground? She held a plate of various sweets and baked goods in one hoof. “I can fix that! I got you a sampler of everything we have at the Sugarcube Corner.” She started shoveling the treats into my mouth as she told me what they were. “These are peanut butter chocolate covered cherries, tiramisu, carrot cake, banana muffin, caramel apple, red velvet cupcake with strawberry icing…”

I tried pushing her off but even with augmented strength, there’s not much you can do without leverage. I was forced to try and breathe around the sweets being shoved into my mouth until finally someone pulled her off of me.

“All right sugarcube, ah think he gets the point.” AJ, my hero! I coughed up some crumbs as I struggled to get back up again. AJ helped me up while Rarity cleaned up the mess on the floor.

“You have a little something.” Dash rubbed her hoof all over her face. “There.”

I glowered at her until Pinkie walked up. “She’s right. Let me help you with that.” Her tongue extended to a cartoonish degree and whirled across my frontal body, taking off everything. I froze in place, staring straight ahead while my brain tried to process what just happened. I’ve seen some odd things and done even worse, I've had tea with freaking Cthulhu, but come on. Nothing can ever prepare you for a Pinkie tongue bath.

“Um… Pinkie? I think you broke him.” Dash waved a hoof in front of me.

“Oh dear, I think he’s in shock.” Fluttershy poked me in the ribs with a hoof, I didn't even rock with it. “… oh...”

And of course, nothing would do except all of them touching my scarred ribs and the plating on them. Dash even punched me, resulting in a metallic thud and an injured hoof. Meanwhile, my mind have given up and was taking a vacation in the Bahamas from the weirdness that now makes up my life, so I was stuck in statue mode.

A splash of cold water brought me back to my senses. Twilight was hovering a bucket overhead, still dripping on me. “Thanks.” I dried off with an offered towel and mopped up the floor. I looked around, the rest of the group was nowhere to be found. “What happened to everyone?”

She was reorganizing the books on a shelf. “They all had to go home, it’s getting late. When they couldn't wake you up they left.”

“How did you know how to snap me out of it then?”

She shrugged. “I tried everything else.”

I nodded. “Ok, that explains nothing at all. What happened to the princesses? They weren't here earlier.”

She finished the shelf and moved to the next, never losing concentration. “They had to return to Canterlot and their royal duties. They left you a message.” A bound scroll floated over to me. I untied it and started reading.

Dear Wanderer,

I’m sure that you have awoken confused, allow me to clarify what transpired. After my sister informed me of how your abilities were not functioning properly, I consulted your memories for an answer. It appears that by jumping through so many different realities you put too much of a strain on yourself resulting in your body shutting off non-primary functions. As you know, your systems are reset when you fall asleep. It seems that with all of the events that have happened, you haven’t gone into a deep enough sleep for your body to do so. I activated a manual reset safety protocol in the back of your skull. You should find that all of your systems and abilities have been reactivated.

You really should re-read your user’s manual.

During your reset cycle and being known as “Emma” spoke to me. She wanted to let you know that she cannot stay with you any longer and wishes you luck until the next time you meet. She is also sorry that the strange matter didn't function properly in this dimension.

To further apologize for my actions I have instructed my student, Twilight, to offer you room and board until you find a residence. I would also like you to join my sister and I in Canterlot tomorrow at your convenience.

Princess Celestia

P.S. Princess “M” wishes you and Spike well and hopes for another visit from you soon.

P.S.S. My sister also wishes to thank you for an enjoyable day, she hasn’t been settling into the palace very well the last few days and this morning helped her considerably.

I shuddered after reading the first post script. That is NOT a reality I plan on visiting again soon. I walked over to Twilight and wrapped my forelegs around her awkwardly. “Thank you Miss Sparkle.”

She laughed a little at the awkward hug. “Please, it’s Twilight. Besides I couldn't kick you out on the street after you helped Spike.” She paused a few moments when I didn't let go. “Your scales are very warm.”

“Oh, right." I set her back down quickly and backed away. "Sorry, just a little happy.”

She shook her head. “Oh, it’s perfectly alright. Why are you so happy?”

I handed… hoofed her the letter. “My systems and abilities are back!” I twirled in a circle excitedly.

She shook her head as she read the letter. “You have a meeting with the princesses tomorrow?” She read the last part. “You have a manual?!”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s constantly being rewritten by The Editor. I've repaired, replaced, and upgraded myself so many times and I've rewritten all of my original coding which makes most of the safety and shutdown protocols useless. I was supposed to have been the generalist for my series, which when you have a team of specialists meant that I had to learn everything. Engineering was one of the few parts that I enjoyed.”

“Can I read it? Can I can I can I?” She started hopping up and down excitedly.

“Twilight. Calm down. I have one of the originals written by Tory in my bag. Crazy bastard made triplicates of everything and he didn't trust the computers. It’s a bit outdated but it has the basics.” I pulled a black book the size of an encyclopedia out of my bag. “Just a warning though, it’s a bit of a dry read.”

Twilight all but tore the book apart as she pulled it out of my grasp. “Thank you thank you thank you. All this new information, just think of all the things that could be done. I have to start this now!"

I chuckled and settled onto the couch, using my folded cloak as a pillow. There’s no way she could do anything from Tory’s notes, all of the materials and processes could only be made and performed by him or me and he "lost" all of his notes.

"Hey Twilight?"

She looked up from the book. "Yes Vigil?"

"Thanks really... for everything. You didn't have to be this nice, I mean you didn't have to let me stay. Heck you put me in your bed when I passed out. That's all unnecessary, I would have been fine on the ground." I listened to the silence. "Alright, I’m going to get some actual sleep now. I haven’t had a good rest since I picked up Spike.”

A young purple drake slowly came down the stairs, rubbing his eyes groggily. Spike’s sleepy eyes settled on Twilight and me. “Oh hey. What happened to her?”

I shrugged and glanced at the mare. She already had a stack of notes next to her. “I gave her one of my old manuals to keep her busy while I get some actual sleep.”

He nodded and turned around, heading back upstairs. “Good night then.”

“G’night Spike.” I closed my eyes and turned down my audio sensors. I drifted off quickly to the sound of a quill scratching on parchment and ruffling pages.

Chapter 7: I Never Even Got Any Chocolate

Chapter 7: I Never Even Got Any Chocolate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A firm tap to my knee made my leg kick out, dragging me back to the land of the living. I refused to open my eyes, hoping it was a figment of my imagination and I could return to my rest. The sound of something scribbling on paper followed by a familiar intelligent voice ended that line of thinking. “Subject Omega’s reflexes are normal, as are the rest of his vital signs.” The professional tone threw my mind into overdrive and made my eyes snap open. I saw three things:

I was in a laboratory.I was laying on a cot with wires trailing from a heart monitor to my chest.This is NOT where I went to sleep the night before. I reacted in what I think the most logical way possible for the situation. I screamed like a little girl.

My leap out off of the cot and high pitched sonic initiative was stopped when Twilight rushed over and put her hooves on my back. “Vigil, calm down.” I my position caused me to miss her when I awoke, I was on my side while she stood behind me.

The gesture had the desired effect, I froze. My head snapped to face my supposed host. “WHAT THE HELL TWILIGHT?!”

In her defense, she tried to appear as unthreatening as possible while she explained. “I finished the repair part of manual and wanted to make sure everything was functioning properly. It said that you are supposed to have a full inspection every three weeks. When was your last one?”

Ignoring the question, I shoved my face into hers. Our over-sized eyes were locked together as my wordless glare burned into her.

“Vigil?” Twilight’s voice sounded scared.

I didn’t care in the slightest. I was too busy trying to shove the thoughts of my time in Facility Six out of my head.

After an indeterminable amount of time, my internal struggle died down as a field of teal filled my vision. The comforting color washed all thoughts from my damaged mind, leaving a feeling of peaceful calm in their place. As my mind relaxed, I was able to pay attention again.

The sense of calm faded somewhat as she stepped back and looked down, hiding her face. I stepped forward and put a hoof on her shoulder, the sudden tension made me back off.

I shook my head, clearing out the last of whatever had a hold of me. Books lined the edges of my sight, I was in the library again. “W-what happened?” My voice sounded dry and rough. How long was I standing here?

Fluttershy lifted her head, still hiding half of her face behind her mane. “I don’t know. Twilight ran out to my cottage and told me that you were stuck again. We rushed back and you were standing and staring at the wall. We tried everything to make you wake up. I’m so sorry…” She sounded genuinely worried followed by being on the verge of tears.

I put a foreleg around her, surprised that she didn’t flinch or tense up again. “Why are you sorry? All you did was calm me down.”

“I-I-I used the Stare on you. A-aren’t you mad?” She sniffled, her mane hiding almost all of her face now.

I cracked a grin at her. “Honestly? No, I really can’t stay made at you ponies. You’re just too adorable. I don’t know what the ‘stare’ is, but it didn’t harm me in any way. If anything, it’s one of the few things that would have been able to help.”

She slipped out of my embrace, turning to face me directly. “Really?” I nodded. “Ok then… How did you get stuck like that again? I thought Pinkie was busy today.”

My shudder drew a concerned look from the pegasus. Pinkie scares me. And I’ve been to Hell. “I woke up in… unfavorable conditions.” She examined my expression carefully as I spoke.

“That’s not all, is it?”

“No.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking…”

A smile appeared on my face again. Gods and Goddesses, that’s still cute. “Bad things. But that was a long time ago. Why was Twilight examining me?”

“Like I said before, I finished the repair part of manual and wanted to make sure everything was functioning properly. It said that you are supposed to have a full inspection every three weeks. When was your last one?” Twilight came out of the door to the living area of the tree house.

“Two hundred and thirty-two…” I looked away as I trailed off.

Twilight shot a quizzical look at me. “Two hundred weeks? You’re long overdue then.”

I scratched the back of my head, acutely aware that the unicorn could easily turn me into a greasy spot on the floor. While that isn’t fatal to me, it certainly isn’t comfortable. “Years actually.”

She laughed at that. “That’s a good joke. Two hundred and thirty-two years…” My expression remained neutral.

“Um… Twilight? I don’t think it was a joke.” Fluttershy cut into the other mare’s giggles.

Spike chose that moment to make an entrance. That kid really sleeps a lot. Yawning, he stepped down the stairs still holding the battered green blanket I gave him some time ago. “Good morning.”

Twilight turned on Spike. “Spike, you know our guest here the most. How old is he?”

“Linearly or biologically?” A tear of pride came to my eye at the evasive question. He learned that one from me folks.

All he got for the effort besides an A+ from me was a scathing glare from the purple unicorn. “Just answer the question.”

“In total he’s two hundred and sixty-three but he’s immortally nineteen.” He shrugged and waddled off to the kitchen. “Do you know where my cereal is?”

The question fell on deaf ears. Twilight stood dumbstruck, staring blankly at me. “But… I’m just going to finish that manual.” She walked to her desk and opened the book.

Well… That was eventful.

Fluttershy was off to the side fidgeting and glancing repeatedly at the door, so I picked up my cloak and bag from the couch before opening it. I wanted to go out and see the town, but mostly I wanted out of the library ASAP before Twilight got the needles preferably. I HATE needles. “I believe Miss Fluttershy here wishes to get back to her animals. I’ll accompany her, if none of you mind.”

The other two were busy with whatever, Fluttershy simply nodded and stepped out the opened door. As soon as we left the building, I relaxed with a small groan.

“Are you ok?” My companion’s gentle voice inquired.

“I’ve been worse and I’ve been better. The last few days have been a little hard on me.” I admitted. “Do you need me to walk you back to your house?”

“Oh dear, I need to get back.” She took off, heading towards the edge of town. Before she disappeared, she called back “I hope you feel better.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then…” I stood there awkwardly. Turning and walking in a random direction I wondered if Applejack had a shovel I could borrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat on a bench in the marketplace a few hours later, watching the ponies pass by. It’s something I’ve always done to distract myself, find the most crowded place and observe the daily life of the locals. Here everyone seemed so pleasant, very courteous to each other. With nothing to do my mind started wandering over the last few days.

I went over my current situation. I’m in a completely foreign world where I only know one person who also happens to be a child of a feared species. I hurt everywhere, my magic is still mostly drained, my appearance is unusual to say the least, and for some reason this place keeps bringing back memories I thought that I locked away long ago. My head dropped as my ears flattened back. I’m just very, very tired. At least I got something productive today done, I mean I finished my-

Twilight and Spike settling in at a nearby café pulled my out of my thoughts. Deciding that I had spent enough time pony-watching, I walked over to see what they were up to.

“Hello Twilight.”

She jumped with a shriek and turned at my voice, at this distance she looked stressed. “Oh, hi Vigil. How are you?”

I peered at her expression. “Are you ok? You look a little off.”

She sighed and chewed on the flower centerpiece of the table. “Just hungry.”

The waiter walked over to the table. “Have you made your decision?”

“I CAN’T DECIDE!” Twilight screamed at poor guy.

“Twilight, he just wants to take your order.” Spike held up his menu.

“Oh,” She said with a sheepish grin. “I would love a daffodil and daisy sandwich.”

Spike asked the waiter, “Do you have any rubies?” The stallion raised an eyebrow. “No? Okay. I’ll have the hay fries. Extra crispy.” He tossed his menu over his back, hitting the head of mare of the couple behind us.

The waiter turned to me. “Nothing, thanks. Sorry about her, she’s had a rough couple of days.” He turned and walked back into the building. Once he was gone I addressed Twilight’s outburst. “Twilight really, what’s wrong? You don’t normally scream at innocent people… ponies. I really need to get used to that. At least I don’t think you do.”

She gave me the sanity doubting look, but explained the ticket situation. “How do I choose? And when I do choose, will the other four be mad at me? I mean, I could give up my ticket and give away two, but that would still leave three disappointed ponies! What if I-”

“Twilight. Chill. The food’s here.” I cut in.

The waiter set the food out in front of the other two and gave me an appreciative nod. I smiled back and he walked to the next table. I missed the next part of the conversation as the café’s patrons ran for cover. The waiter called out of the open door. “Uh, madam? Are you going to eat your food in the rain?”

“It’s not raining,” Twilight responded, confused. Looking around, we saw the enormous downpour occurring around us. Only our table was clear, sitting in a lone beam of sunlight. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking up.

“Hi there, best friend forever I’ve ever, ever had!” Rainbow was looking down at us from a hole in the clouds. “Enjoying the sunny weather?”

Twilight looked angry. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”

Spike and I wisely chose to stay out of this. We liked living with all appendages attached.

“What do you mean?” She asked innocently. “I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on. So, I thought I’d kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry so she can dine in peace. That’s all.”

“Rainbow, you’re not trying to get extra consideration for the extra ticket by doing me extra special favors, are you?”

“Me? No, no, no. Of course not!”

“Uh huh.”

“Seriously, I’d do it for anypony!”

We looked at the other ponies, scrambling for shelter from the rain.

Rainbow chuckled nervously while Twilight’s tone took on an annoyed edge. “Rainbow, I am not comfortable accepting unwanted favors, so I’d appreciate it if you closed up that raincloud right now.”

“Ugh, fine.” The hole was patched up after her head disappeared behind the clouds.

“That’s better.” Twilight levitated her sandwich to her mouth again but before she could take a bite, physics, the laws of nature, and maybe a little Murphy reasserted themselves. The unicorn and her sandwich were instantly soaked. Spike and I covered our mouths to stop from laughing while Twilight growled.

“Twilight!” Rarity’s voice carried over the falling rain. On her back rested a white saddle, attached to an umbrella. Is that really how they carry umbrellas? She’s a unicorn! She could just carry it with her magic. Gah, this reality is supplementing my memories with the basics of it. The memory bleed is getting really annoying. “It’s raining.”

“No,” Twilight growled. “Really?”

Rarity grabbed Twilight around the waist. “Come with me before you catch a cold!” She whisked her off.

“Should we follow her?” I asked Spike. A cursory glance revealed him already drifting that direction with hearts in his eyes. WTF physics? Is today your day off or something? “Come on lover boy. We’ll catch up with them.” I tossed him over my head and onto my back before tearing down the street after the unicorns.

We made it to the boutique just as Rarity was pulling Twilight out from behind a modesty screen. She was wearing a royal ensemble of brilliant blues and greens. “There! Oh, you’re simply darling!” Rarity proclaimed.

“Uh, yeah. It is kind of pretty, isn’t it?”

Rarity rushed over to the baby dragon standing next to me. “And you, Spike. A dandy little outfit for the dashing gent!”

“No!” Spike yelled and ran for the door, but his escape attempt was thwarted. Resistance is futile buddy.

A few minutes later, Spike was wearing a blue suit with white cuffs and gold trims while his head was decorated by ridiculous wig. He stared at himself in horror. Twilight and I laughed at the absurd scene.

“Now all you need is a hat,” Rarity declared, setting a black colonial hat on his head.

His frustration was evident. “Ugh, I told you. I don’t want any part of this girly Gala gunk. See you back at the library.” He tore off the clothes and dashed out. I thought about joining him, but Twilight looked like she needed the support. I met Rarity’s eyes in an baleful glare.

“Don’t even try it.”

Rarity chuckled. “Oh, who needs them anyway?” She pulled a mirror in front of Twilight. “This is all about you and how fabulous you’ll look at the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Wait. The Grand-”

She was cut off as Rarity went on a tangent about what she imagined would happen at this dance thingy. I tuned it out, instead draping my cloak over a pony-shaped mannequin and stitching up the remaining tears with a heavy black thread.

“I see what’s going on.” Twilight began venting. “You’re just buttering me up so I could give you the extra ticket. Well it’s not going to work! You’re going to have to wait for my decision just like everypony else!” She walked over to the door. “Vigil, we’re leaving!”

“I’ll be done in a minute.” She walked out the door as I continued stitching. Once it was repaired, I picked up my cloak and shrugged apologetically to Rarity. “Sorry, I think it’s her time.”

She gave me a confused look as I followed Twilight out the door. The rain had stopped but Twilight was nowhere to be found. Shrugging, I walked to the most likely place she’d be, the library.

I saw a crowd gathered around then tree and went to investigate. Pushing through, I found Twilight and Spike at the center. I joined them as the crowd moved closer, turning to the mare “Twilight, listen to me closely. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.” She galloped away, leaving me to face the unhappy looking crowd. “Hello everyone…”

“Well, it was nice meeting all of you, we should do this again. I’ll schedule you all in for coffee sometime. Well, maybe not. I can’t stand coffee. So long!” I turned and took off after my friend, leaving a very confused group of ponies behind. Moving up next to her to catch her attention, I whispered. “On the count of three run as far as you can, don’t look back.” I began focusing on my innate magic, channeling it into one of my abilities. Glancing over my shoulder showed the crowd to have reacted much faster than I thought they would. An aqua blue mare was inches from my tail, stretching forward to bite it. “THREE!”

Five copies of me suddenly ran off in different directions while I left Twilight to run another way. The mare got ahold of my tail and jerked me back into the horde where I was met by many hooves trampling me mindlessly as they ran after the copies. It took a bit, but eventually the last few elected to hop over me rather than continue my beating. I groaned on the ground for a moment then struggled back to my hooves and set after them at a much more subdued pace.

Wait… Is that Benny Hill? I watched the ensuing hilarity as all of the ponies seemed affected by the sourceless music. Red dove out of a cloud and into a stand selling pies, causing them to be flung into the crowd. Nearby Purple and Pinkie seemed to be having an all-out war against each other, various pastries, toys, and assorted junk sailed through the air as the duo pulled them out of hidden stashes. Yellow and Green were standing off to the side with instruments, Yellow playing a trombone while Green wailed away with a sax, playing with the music while being accompanied by a passing marching band. Blue was trying to reason with the group following him but wasn’t having much luck as he jumped over a trio of mares trying to hold him down. As he sailed through the air he yelled “I NEED AN ADULT!” He tripped and crashed to the ground, they closer the distance slowly and responded with a much quieter “We are adults.” I fell over laughing at the scene, narrowly dodging the brown blur that passed over me.

A whirring sound filled my hearing as something made me spasm and twitch uncontrollably. My vision was filled with static while the sound increased in pitch. It cut off with a click, releasing me from the excruciating experience. As my sight cleared somewhat, I could make out a brown stallion standing over me. In his mouth was a strangely familiar device.

“I don’t know who or what you are but know this. I will not let you hurt these ponies.” His voice was antagonizingly familiar too, British and commanding. I wracked my scrambled brains as he prepared to use the thingy again.

“Doctor?” I asked as the connection between the voice and the sound clicked. I looked into his eyes, the soft brown showed his age despite his body’s apparent youth. They were tired, sad almost, like he didn’t want to do what he was about to.

The Doctor did the same to me before responding in a hushed tone, “Vigil?”

I tried to get up, but found that I really couldn’t move anything. “Doc, what have I told you about using the sonic on me?” I glared at him half-heartedly.

“Don’t knock the sonic. And you said that it forcibly scrambles several key signals used in motor control. I don’t see why you never fixed that.” He ran the sonic screwdriver back over me, the static returned momentarily but no pain or seizing just a faint tickling sensation.

I got back up, feeling a little shaky but a little better. “Much better. I did fix it, you just changed it again.” I looked at it closely. “Huh. This model’s specifically for a pony. How long have you been here? Come to think of it, why are you outside of your universe? Or are you an analogue?”

He chuckled at me before wrapping his forelegs around my shoulders in a bone crushing hug. He had to get up on his hind legs to reach. “That’s the Vigil I remember. I’m the analogue here. After what happened the last time one of us saw you he sent out an alert through the TARDIS attached with memories of you. We were afraid you would need help.”

I closed my eyes, trying to remember that but came up with nothing. “Sorry, I can’t remember.”

“I was afraid of that. You lost several memories didn’t you?”

“Yeah, about fifty years’ worth and not all of it from what happened after, a fifth of my life just destroyed by her.” I looked down at him, still hugging me. “Um… Doc? You can let go now. We were never really that touchy.”

He laughed a little but released me. “In case you haven’t noticed, ponies are very contact-centric. It’s a huge part of their culture and life in general.”

“I guess that makes sense with the whole herd instinct and all. I’ve always been touch-shy though, even more so after the incident.”

“I know my friend, I know.” He seemed to wilt momentarily before springing back up. “Well, now that this has been taken care of I should get back to the TARDIS. Things to do, places to see, fair mares to dance with.”

I snorted and shot him a sly smirk. “Sure, mares… I still remember that time that you left me with a younger version of yourself. I swear anything with a pulse. And that was optional…” He turned to leave, chuckling at the shared memories. “Hey Doc? Does this TARDIS have that stuff I left in the other one? I know that they’re all connected but I‘m not sure how transfers work.” He nodded in affirmation. “Brilliant. I’ll stop by tomorrow then.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “What do you need so soon?”

“Building supplies.” With that I turned and leapt into the air, leaving the bewildered Time Lord behind. Hmm… a Horsey Time Lord? Or maybe a Timey Horse? How about a Lordy Time Horse? Nah, those sound too silly.

I searched for Twilight for a bit, before spotting her running down a street with the mob right on her heels… hooves? What would that expression be here? So many lame equine jokes, so little time… I dove straight at her ending in a tackle, I wrapped her and Spike in my wings as we crashed into an alleyway. Spike was under my wing while Twilight was sprawled on top of me. “I have got to start running again.” I panted. “Erm… Twilight?”

A groan emanated from her followed by a squeak as she opened her eyes and jumped off. I grunted in pain as her hooves impacted my stomach. “Sorrysorrysorry.”

“Relax.” I rose painfully to my feet while trying to recover my breath. “What happened? I left you alone for ten minutes!”

Spike wriggled out from my wing. “Pinkie.”

I rolled my eyes. “Brilliant. Luckily I set an anti-Pinkie distraction.” An evil grin crossed my features as I thought if the marketplace warzone.

Spike looked at me curiously. “Purple?”

“Purple.” I agreed.

Twilight looked absolutely lost. “Vigil, who were those stallions? And why did they all look like you?”

I rolled my neck, trying to get a knot out. “Well Twilight, they were-” I did a double take as my vision crossed the opening of the alley. The crowd was back, this time holding my fragmented personalities. “That’ll have to wait. Hold on.” I got ahold of the back of Spike’s neck with my mouth as I wrapped my forelegs around Twilight. My wings flared to their full seven foot span then threw us into the air with a powerful down stroke. Each flap was a heavy strain as I struggled to keep us airborne.

We got three flaps up, almost clearing the roofs of the buildings beside us, before a group of pegasi slammed into me with a sickening pop from my left wing. I turned as we fell, using my body as a cushion again as we skittered down the alley, coming to a rest at the dead end. The sudden crash made my copies dissolve themselves to bolster my failing energy, leaving empty hooves and ropes tumbling to the ground.

Twilight shot up off of me with Spike clinging to her neck. Her horn sparked a fizzed as they came closer menacingly, a bright flash filled my vision just as they were about to reach us.

When my vision cleared, we were in the library again with all of the lights off. Spike, looking a little singed, said dizzily “Warn me next time you’re going to do that.”

“You’re… Telling... Me…” I wheezed out from under him. Small flames were still burning at the end of my mane and tail.

“Sorry man.” Spike sprung off of my stomach and blew them out. I wordlessly dropped my head to the floor.

After catching my breath I addressed the unicorn. “What did we discuss about teleportation spells?

“I didn't even know it was going to happen.” Twilight rushed over to the windows. “Now quick, lock the doors.” I lost track for a few minutes as pretty colors flashed across my sight. Oh wait, my eyes are closed. I opened them again to find the lights on and all of the girls gathered around Twilight. Not good, not good at all.

“Enough.” I didn’t raise my voice, didn’t need to. The ghostly whisper echoed eerily, draining away the sound of their arguing and returning the library to blissful silence. With a grunt I heaved myself back up to my hooves and limped over to stand between them and the stressed mare. Their expressions spoke volumes about my condition. My fur and mane were messed and singed; the normally orange colors were singed and entirely missing in places with bruises and cuts to compliment the bare patches. I couldn’t put weight on my right foreleg, my left wing was dragging lifelessly on the ground beside me, my back and both wings were covered in cuts and scrapes with missing feathers and scales. Several scales on my chest were cracked or missing, my right eye was blackened and swollen shut along with a split lower lip, and to top it all off a constant runnel of blood ran down from my nose dripping onto the floor with soft patters. Still I stood, somewhat unsteadily, trying to shield my host and the child from more abuse.

“Vigil?” The shy yellow pegasus questioned. The high pitched ringing in my ears nearly drowned her out. Stupid reconfigured sonic…

“No, I’m bloody Martin Septim.” My voice was low and gravely, painful to even hear now that the power was drained from it. One of my copies must have been hit in the throat or something.

“What happened to yall?” Applejack examined our various conditions. While I had soaked up most of the physical punishment, but Spike was only a child and Twilight had been tearing herself apart all day. Either would leave a person vulnerable. My balance wavered for a moment, followed by a heavy thump as I crashed onto my right side. The world flared white momentarily as pain lanced up from my injured leg. After recovering somewhat, I tried to force myself back up to help my friends, but my injured leg wouldn’t allow me any leverage.

An orange hoof gently pressed against my shoulder, ending my squirming. “Stop. You’re going to hurt yourself further.” The hoof was attached to none other than Purple. He must have gotten away before the mob could catch him earlier. The hoof moved up to my forehead. “Relax my friend, everything is going to be ok.” My head made a softer thud as my neck gave out. My thoughts took on a drifting, dreamy characteristic as my eyes tried to close. Purple grimaced at my weakness followed by his form losing its integrity as he shifted into a light the color of his name and flowed back into me.

With the return of some of my strength, I forced my eyes open. My left leg planted close, I slowly dragged myself back up. My working eye fell on Spike and the rest of the girls holding a set of golden tickets. A wheezing laugh escaped from me, causing everyone to turn to me.

“What’s so funny?” Rainbow looked unsure of if she wanted to kick me or if that would break me.

“The tickets. That memory transfer worked both ways, to a degree. She only saw the memories instead of experiencing them, so I got a few of her memories as well but not her personality. Considering her penchant for sweets, she is either oblivious to other realities or she has a great sense of humor. And I know she can contact her alternates mentally. My teacher took me there once, almost had my feathers plucked for a ‘lighter-than-air’ chocolate line…”

The gasp from beside me must have belonged to Pinkie. “I never even thought of that! He’s always had the best ideas and they got even better with that little boy.” Wait…

I turned, slowly, to her. “You know what I’m talking about?”

She nodded excitedly. “Of course! Celly and Lulu aren’t the only ones, you know.”

“So, the fourth wall?”

“There’s still a fourth wall?!” Pinkie truly looked surprised at this. “I thought it was broken.”

I smiled weakly at her, breaking the scab on my lip again. “I’d hug you, but I’m leaking a bit. The red would clash with your coat.” I turned back to Twilight. “Everything taken care of? Everyone’s happy?” She nodded. “Alright, is there somewhere besides the couch I can crash? I don’t think you want to deal with bloodstains.”

Rarity disappeared into the back for a minute, and returned with several towels. I grabbed one and set it on the floor in a corner before gingerly laying down. The girls just stared in confusion the entire time.

“Do we need to take him to the hospital?” Fluttershy asked the group.

“No. They wouldn’t be able to help much anyway.” Twilight answered sadly.

Spike watched the entire exchange before walking over to his adoptive sister. “See? I told you. He’s not as indestructible as he tries to make everypony think.”

I looked over at them from my position of laying on my side. “I’m right here you know.” I rolled my eyes at their jumps of surprise. “Spike, in my bag there’s a bunch of bottles with red labels and caps on them, would you bring me one?” He waddled over to my discarded cloak and bag and rummaged through it. After a couple of seconds he moved over to me, a bottle of Coke with a familiar hourglass-infinity symbol stamped on it in his claw. I carefully twisted off the cap and took a gulp, the carbonated drink burning pleasantly. I offered Spike a drink, which he took.

“Soda?” He questioned while staring at the bottle in his claw. “I was expecting a healing potion or something.”

I chuckled. “Nope. Those only have a limited effect on me.” I held up the bottle. “And not just any soda, it’s Coke stolen from an addict.” I paused to take a gulp, letting out a happy breath when I finished. “Mmm… Stolen Coke... I’m more of a Dew fan though.”

Pinkie looked at the cap of the drink and gasped again. “Is this..?”

I grinned in response. “Yep.”

“Ooooh. Omny’s gonna be mad at you…”

I laughed and took another drink, eye twinkling. “If he can catch me. He may have his speed aura, but I’m sneaky. Everyone go ahead and take one out of the bag. It’s been an eventful day to say the least.”

They did as directed, then sat in a sort of circle. We talked for a while, and by ‘we’ I mean ‘they’ and by ‘talked’ I mean ranted endlessly about the Gala. I smiled and nodded at them until my injuries and exhaustion got the better of me and I fell asleep. As I slipped into unconsciousness a thought flitted though my mind before being consumed by darkness.

Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?

Chapter 8: Tuesdays

Chapter 8: Tuesdays

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(A week later)

“Miss Dash, are you sure about this?”

“Of course I am! Do you still want to do this?”

“It’s fine, but the crowd is a bit disconcerting though. Shouldn’t this be done a little more privately?”

“Of course not! I need an audience for anything athletic. Is someone a little shy?”

“No… Yes. I’m just not comfortable with an audience for this kind of activity.”

“You’re doing the word thing again.”

I sighed and took a deep breath in the chilly morning air. Scanning the surrounds, I twitched a little at the small crowd surrounding the library. My bag lay against the tree-building a ways away from me. I walked over and pulled out a pair of speakers and an iPod before slinging it over my neck and moving back to Pinkie. They sat in the road next to Pinkie’s motionless welcome wagon. A closer examination showed a shattered rear axle. How she managed that I’ll never know.

I stretched out my stiffened body, a series of satisfying snap and pops accompanying my movements. Pinkie and Rainbow had woken pretty much the entire town trying to get some help moving it before someone else needed the road. Somehow Rainbow had convinced Twilight to wake me up and move it. I turned to the iPod, “Start playlist: Training” I stated flatly to the device.

“Good morning to you too 7643, how was your rest cycle?” the iPod chirped cheerfully.

I rolled my eyes at it. “Hey Spark. I slept well, thank you. I didn’t expect you to be up and moving at this time though.”

“Always ready to serve 7643.”

“Spark, just call me Vigil. I’m not forerunner and you know it.”

“Technically…” He trailed off at my glare. “Never mind. I’m playing the music now.”

I grumbled to myself about never saving and fixing a malfunctioning AI ever again before slipping under the broken cart. I began lifting with all of my might, not even getting a creak out of the cart. I sighed again. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this.

“Pinkie, would you mind getting the crowd to back away to a safe distance?”

“Okie dokie lokie.” She moved off and got the crowd to back up.

The chords of a familiar song started.

“Aww yeah. That’s what I call motivational music.” I wiggled under the cart in a vaguely spastic dance before returning to the task at hoof. In a low voice I let out a string of numbers and designations ending in, “Override strength locks one through three.”

A series of metallic clicks ran through my body as I shuddered. I could feel the servos and hydraulics in my skeleton unlocking and the power running through the circuitry under my skin. With a low grunt I pushed upwards again, this time lifting the cart clear of the ground.

“Where… Do you… Want this…?” I wheezed out from under the obscenely heavy weight.

“Over here silly.” Pinkie began walking down the street while I struggled behind her with the cart on my back. We walked all the way from the library to the Sugarcube Corner, where I slowly set the cart down in the building’s backyard.

Rainbow hovered over the pair of us, smirking at my panting. “Thanks for the show big guy. How’s the wing?” She pointed a hoof at my left side.

I raised the appendage, wincing a bit at the snaps that came from the joints. “Better, thanks. I heal pretty quickly.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” She replied sarcastically before her expression shifted to a wistful one. “Sorry I can’t hang out; I have to get to work. See you guys later.” She looked over her shoulder as she flew off, smirking again at me.

“There works too. Thanks for your help Vigil!” Pinkie bounced happily beside me.

“No problem. Next time have a group move it instead of just me. That thing is heavier than some houses.”

“Eeyup” A crimson stallion remarked as he passed by the shop.

“See ya later Mac!” Pinkie called after him. I raised an eyebrow at her. “He likes to stop by on Tuesdays to talk to Mister Cake.”

“Not even going to touch that one. Ok, if that’s all I’m going back to the library. I promised Spike breakfast this morning before I left.” The crowd that had been following us dispersed with no small amount of grumbling.

A dejected sounding “Aww…” and a satisfied sigh made me look over my shoulder.

Two white unicorns stood watching me, one I recognized at Rarity but the other was an unfamiliar, sad looking filly. “Erm… Good morning?” I greeted awkwardly, unsure of why they were looked at me so interestedly. I really hate Tuesdays, all the weird things happen to me on them.

“Good morning Vigil.” Rarity eyed me for a few moments longer than comfortable. “Hmm… Interesting…”

“Um… What’s interesting?” I started inching backwards toward the street.

The filly rolled her eyes while saying “Oh not this again.” She ignored the larger pony and walked up to me to hold out a hoof, smiling brightly. “Hi! I’m Sweetie Belle. Are you new here?”

I smiled at the child. “Hello little one, I’m Vigil. Yes I am new here. I got here a few days ago.” I glanced at Rarity, who was standing perfectly still and staring with half-lidded eyes at me. “Er… What’s wrong with her?”

Sweetie waved a hoof in front of the older mare’s face. Getting no reaction, she shrugged. “She gets like this sometimes. She’ll be fine in a minute.”

I nodded slowly and decided to ignore the fashionista. “Uh huh… Ok then. What brings you here so early?”

“My sister,” she pointed a hoof at Rarity, “wanted to talk to Twilight but then we saw you carry Pinkie’s welcome wagon. And she might not want to leave me alone in the boutique...”

My eyebrow rose, “What’d you do?”

“…” She mumbled while scraping a hoof on the ground.

I grinned at her and stood up from my sitting position. “I’m not going to get mad, trust me I’ve done worse.”

Her eyes followed me and she seemed to realize the height difference. “You’re tall…”

My head lowered to her eye level. “Yes I am.” I bumped my forehead against her side. “Little one.”

She giggled and brightened up again. “Why are your eyes like that and why do you keep calling me that?”

I chuckled, she must be ticklish. “They’ve always been like this. And you’re so little compared to me.” I picked her up in my magic and raised her up to my eye level. “See?”

She looked around from her new perspective. “Wow, you always see like this? And why do have goggles?”

She floated onto the top of my head. “Yep, all day every day. They were a parting gift from a friend a long, long time ago in place far away from here. Let’s go back to the library then.”

On the way to the library Sweetie and I chatted a little more while I tried to keep her balanced on my head. Apparently a certain filly had taken a pair of scissors to several rolls of cloth in an attempt to emulate he sister. Now Rarity refused to let her out of sight. Entering the library, we were presented with a furiously writing Twilight. She had followed my display then rushed back to take notes on her observations; she didn’t even make it to her desk. She was writing on the floor before she sniffed the air and turned to me. “Why do you smell like cinnamon? You should reek of sweat after that.”

I slowly moved the conversation to the kitchen. Twilight followed, setting her notes on the table. I walked over and sat next to her, looking at them. “Not really sure. In some dimensions its peppermint though. I think it has something to do with the angelic blood in me. My magic smells like peppermint though.” I thought about it for a moment. "Usually." Twilight looked over my shoulder to write another note.

Sweetie sniffed at my hair… mane. “She’s right! I thought I knew that smell.”

The filly’s voice made the librarian perk up. She searched for the source, her gaze resting on the top of my head. “Hello Sweetie Belle. Is your parents’ vacation over then?”

The filly nodded a little sadly, “Yeah, they left yesterday. I’m staying with Rarity.”

“That’s nice of her. Speaking of your sister, where is she?”

“Right here, darling.” The porcelain unicorn entered the kitchen and took a seat next to Twilight. “I see you’re getting to know our guest very well.” She whispered coyly to the lavender unicorn. Twilight flinched away from my shoulder, nearly tumbling out of her chair in the process. Rarity covered her muzzle with her hoof to stifle a laugh.

I snorted and left the two to their conversation. “Hey Sweetie Belle? Would you like some breakfast?”

“Um… Just call me Sweetie, everypony else does. No than-” Her response was cut off by an animalist growl from her stomach that sent her vibrating on my head.

“That’d be a yes then. I take it you didn’t have time to eat earlier?”

“Yes, Rarity really wanted to leave.”

I pulled out eggs, milk, green onions, and some bell peppers. Salt, pepper, and a skillet floated out of nearby cabinets to join the ingredients on the counter. Twilight keeps her kitchen surprisingly well stocked, or maybe Spike does… “Ladies? I’m making omelets, would you like anything?”

Only Rarity declined, so I pulled out a bowl and whisk. I set the filly that was occupying my head down onto the counter to watch what I was doing. “Do you cook little one?” She shook her head as a negative. “I’ve always liked to, it’s a calm and meditative process. I’ve always been a better baker though. Each ingredient performs a different action and you only get what you want if you use the right amount of the correct things at a specific time. I guess that’s why I’m good at alchemy too. But when you cook you get to eat it at the end.” She giggled at that and stared as a knife and cutting board floated up from a lower cabinet.

“How do you do magic?” The filly asked while I diced the peppers.

The question struck me as very odd. How do I use magic? Why wouldn’t I be able to? “What do you mean?” Eggs were broken and their contents dropped into the bowl before the empty shells were discarded.

She pointed at my head. “You don’t have a horn.” She stated it like that was a universal rule to have one.

“No I don’t. There are other ponies don’t too. Is there anything else odd about me?” I smiled warmly, turning to face her so she could get a good look.

She examined my form from her counter perch. “What’s on your chest?”

“Scales.”

She nodded and kept moving her gaze up only to have them stop on my eyes. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

I chuckled, turning back to preparing the food. The eggs were whisked with the milk and their cartons were returned. The mixture was poured into the heated skillet. “There’s nothing wrong with them, like I said they’ve always been like that. It’s just more noticeable now.”

She gasped when I turned, making my chuckles shift into laughter. “You have wings?!”

“Yep, have those too.” I unfurled my right one thoughtfully. “I’m not used to them being visible though.” The salt, pepper, onions and peppers joined the mixture in the pan.

“What are you?” The innocent question made me sigh. Even after all these years that kind of question still cut deeply.

I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to cover up the original reaction to the question. “In this reality… I don’t know. Now watch this.” The omelet went flipping through the air, only to land softly back on the skillet. The topside held a few golden brown streaks and swirls while the underside cooked. Oh well, I guess were going with the rustic style omelet. I never was very good at the other styles.

Sweetie Belle gasped as it sailed into the air and cheered as it came back to the skillet. “Wow! How did you do that? Did you use magic?”

I started on the others, slipping into easy practiced movements. “I never use magic in the actual cooking, it changes the taste. Besides, where’s the fun in doing something if you just instantly make it with magic? I spent some time at a culinary school and subsequently at a restaurant. You should see what I can do with a cheesecake.”

“Did I hear CHEESECAKE?” A bubbly voice came from behind me causing me to jump in surprise. I turned to see the source of the disturbance, only to find my view blocked by a very pink face with baby blue eyes. All I heard next was “skinny pony” before I was sprawled on my back.

“Hello again, Miss Pinkie. I thought that we agreed that if I ate on a regular basis you would stop doing that.” She was lifted her off of me with my magic. I felt so much better having it back, even as weakened as it was. “Would you like some breakfast?” I gestured at the now finished omelets.

“Only if you stop calling me miss.” She pouted, crossing her forelegs as she floated above the other chattering mares.

“Ok Pinkie.” I set her down on a chair at the table. “It’ll just be a few moments.” I started clearing up the mess I made, levitating Sweetie over to her sister in the process. The filly was followed by six plates and sets of cutlery, each settling in front of a chair.

With a sharp pop of displaced air, an omelet appeared on each plate. “I’ll go get Spike up and moving again.”

I trotted out of the kitchen and briefly debated listening in on their conversation, but decided that I really don’t care that much about it and went over to the stairs. “Oi scales! Breakfast.” I called up to Spike.

A heavy thump was heard from above followed by a muted voice. “Thanks feathers!”

I smirked and took a place at the table. The rest had started eating and stopped noticing me a long time ago. The gnawing of forgetfulness was still bugging me

“Hey Twilight? I have this feeling that I’ve been forgetting something. Any ideas?” I tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

She thought it over a moment while chewing. “Ah, yes. You got a letter from the princesses a few minutes after you left. Spike wasn’t happy about that. They arranged for you to come to Canterlot in about…” She searched around for a clock, when Pinkie pulled out a giant pocket watch from behind her. It was bigger than her… “Thirty seconds.”

“Wha-?” I started only to feel the world shift ever so slightly around me. A golden glow enveloped me and with a sharp pop as air rushed to fill the space I had been I was gone. I swear I heard laughing as I left and I didn’t even get to eat my omelet!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Royal Palace)

With another burst of golden magic I was dropped onto a large soft surface. It was fluffy and warm leaving me with absolutely no desire to move. Forcing myself to raise my head, I took stock of my current surroundings.

I was in a darkly colored room, currently on the bed sprawled on a comforter with a starry print. The ceiling held an image of the night sky while every available surface was covered in star gazing and mapping equipment. My attention was pulled to the door at the side of the room when the almost unnoticed gurgling of the pipes in the wall stopped abruptly.

I was struggling to untangle myself from the fluffy comforter when a very wet, very surprised looking Luna stepped out of the bathroom. Steam crept behind her from the open door as we stared at each other.

“Oh hai there-” I was cut off by her shrieking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked up from my crater in the royal gardens to the hole in the side of the palace. Not only did I manage to get blasted through several walls but to add insult to injury, somehow I landed in a sea of rose bushes also. Thanks Murphy, if I ever see you again I’m going to punch you in the face. I don’t care if you’re the base of all of my powers.

Luna’s head appeared at the new window in the wall far above me, she waved sheepishly at me. My hoof rose and waved back weakly before sinking back into my thorny hole. I tried to free myself but couldn’t do much, any movement only pushed the thorns further into my skin. She ducked back inside, presumably to call the police or something like that.

I slowly crawled out of my thorn-filled hell. Just as I managed to free myself, six solid white ponies in golden armor positioned themselves in a circle around me. Huh, police must work fast here. Or maybe they do just for the Princesses. My expression of confusion was lost on them as they stood with unchanging expressions. Even in my damaged and pained state I couldn’t help but be a smartass, so I reached into my pocket dimension and pulled out a marker.

Five minutes of boredom with the unmovable ponies passed before I found something else to occupy myself. A short distance away stood a very strange statue that appeared to be made of stone. It had an equine-like head with a deer antler on the right, a goat horn on the left, a snaggletoothed fang, different-sized pupils that were filled with intelligence, a snake tongue, and a goat beard. Moving down, it had the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. On its back, it had a bat's right wing, a pegasus' left wing, a horse's mane and a snaky tail with a fluffy tuft at the end. What an odd creature. I felt some sympathy, wondering if somewhere there were other creatures like this. Sapient chimeras as strange as the two of us are hard to find in the multiverse. I finished my inspection just as another white pony showed up, this one a unicorn with a black mane. “Good morning!” I greeted cheerfully. He looked at the group surrounding me.

“What happened to these guards?” Each guard had a monocle and a mustache drawn on their face. I grinned but didn’t say a word. He facehooved. “Nevermind. This does wash off right?”

My grin grew even wider. “Sure it does.” I left out the part where it’s permanent marker and could take weeks to wash out.

He sighed tiredly. “Why did you break into Princess Luna’s room?”

“I didn’t. One minute I was sitting at Miss Sparkle’s table trying to eat breakfast the next I’m entrapped in a blanket. Then Luna walked out of the bathroom, screamed, and threw me through several walls.” I shrugged.

“That’s Princess Luna to you.” He glared, rising to his full height and stomping his hoof to emphasize his point. It was almost cute the way he was trying to intimidate me. Almost.

I raised an eyebrow in response. “Really?” I sighed and rose to my hooves, towering above the annoying stallion with absolutely no effort. “And we were getting on so well…”

The situation may have taken a turn for the worse, but another white stallion walked down the path to us, this one had an electric blue mane and tail. “The princesses will see you now.”

“Alrighty then.” I smiled at the other guards. “Have fun washing that out.”

“Sorry about how the lieutenant was acting, he’s been stuck in the office filling out paperwork all week.” The blue haired stallion explained.

I shrugged and followed him. We were accompanied by another pair of guards on our walk. The entire time I was staring at all of the detail put into this place, all of the decorations and art work. The princesses must be great patrons to the arts.

“So, I heard you mention a ‘Miss Sparkle’. Twilight by any chance?” He interrupted the echoes of our hooves on the marble floors.

I nodded at him. “Yeah. I’ve been staying with her the last few days until I can set up my own place. Shouldn’t be there much longer.”

“How’s Twily doing?” He asked, staring at me.

“Twily?”

He slapped a hoof to his forehead, chuckling at my confusion. “Oh, right. She probably hasn’t mentioned me yet. She usually doesn’t talk about family unless directly asked.” We stopped and a hoof was held out to me. “Shining Armor at your service, I’m Twilight’s older brother.”

I shook the offered hoof. “Nice to meet you Shining, Twilight’s doing pretty well. The entire town’s crazy though. Quick question, what’s the gender ratio in Equestria?”

“Yeah, we hear about some of the oddness up here. About four mares to one stallion, why?”

“Just checking to see if it was the entire country or just Ponyville.” I shrugged in response. As we walked I caught him up on the last few days for me and he told me about life as the captain of the guard. After a while the group loosened up and we just started swapping stories.

“Wait, let me get this straight. You know somepony who can control time?! That’s impossible.” Shining cut into my story.

“Not as impossible as you think just really, really tricky. And it's not so much control as twist to his will.”

He eyed me suspiciously. “Can you do anything like that?”

I raised a hoof to my chin, rubbing idly. “Kind of, I guess. I can manipulate probabilities.”

“What do you mean? The guard on my left, Solid Shield, asked. The earth pony was surprisingly intelligent for just a foot soldier. Given a few years he could easily be a captain or commander if he tried.

A thought struck me, followed by a grin. “Anyone have a bit I could use?”

“Here you go, mate.” Silver Blade, the unicorn behind me handed me a silver coin. Considering that he didn’t have a saddle bag on and that armor didn’t have any pockets, I thought that it was an extraordinary feat of magic.

“Huh, didn’t expect solid silver. Heads or tails?” I flipped the coin into the air.

“Heads” called Silver at the same time that Solid called tails. Shining just watched with an amused expression.

“Edge.” I called without looking at it. The coin flipped through the air and landed perfectly on its edge on the carpet, freezing in place without even wobbling.

The two stallions turned to me. “How did you do that?! Did you use magic?” Shining started cracking up at the two’s unbelieving faces.

“A low level probability field if we are not mistaken.” A quiet, feminine voice came from behind us. We all turned to see Luna peering at the motionless coin. She leaned closer almost touching her nose to it, before her breath unset the balance and the coin fell over.

The guards recovered and bowed before the lunar goddess. Shining spoke for the three of them. “Our apologies, Princess. We didn’t see you standing there or we would have shown proper respect.”

She laughed a little at their prone forms while I just stood there shaking my head. “It is fine Captain, return to your duties. We will escort this one the rest of the way.”

Shining looked like he wanted to argue, but let out a long breath and replied. “Alright your majesty, if that is your wish.” He turned to me. “I hope to see you again Vigil.”

I offered him a hoof, which he shook. “Of course, we should have a poker night some time. I got kicked out of the last poker group I was in because they accused me of cheating. They never could prove anything.” He ignored my babbling and walked back with the other two in tow.

I turned to find Luna looking up at me. Her dark eyes seemed to be searching for something. “Hello again Omega. We are… I am sorry about earlier.”

I flinched at the name. “Please don’t call me that. It’s no problem Princess; no one was hurt besides possibly a few rose bushes. I think they hurt me more than I hurt them though.”

She shrugged off my flinch and giggled at my joke and gestured for us to start walking. “How did you make the coin land like that?”

“Like you said a probability field. I unconsciously generate a low level Murphionic field. So less likely probabilities have a tendency to become more likely around me. You wouldn’t believe how much Murphy enjoyed it when I found out I could do that.”

“I can imagine.” She grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes back. “Great, so you know him. The next time you see him, tell him he owes me a drink”.

She laughed the rest of the way to the throne room. She stopped when she noticed my expression of awe aimed at the enormous door. “Impressive isn’t it?” She asked.

I nodded slowly. Another thought struck me and I turned to her with an evil grin. “Do you want to make an entrance?”

Twenty minutes later, we were ready. The sigils and runes I had painstakingly written on the door with my marker detonated, breaking the hinges and making it fall inward. I jumped onto it yelling “And I’m all out of bubble gum!”

The effect was ruined when the only pony in the room was Celestia. She did not look happy to see me.

“Hi! Sorry about forgetting our meeting. I was a little busy help Twilight outrun a mob. Then I got trampled by an entire town.” I waved at her from across the long room. That’s what I was forgetting…

A small smile at the randomness showed, but was quickly ground down before her mighty scowl. Ok, it really wasn’t that bad. She just looked unhappy, not murderous or anything. Yet.

“Hello Wanderer. How was your arrival?”

“It was fine. I was thrown out of a window though.”

She gasped at that. “Are you alright?” I nodded. “Wait, I was not aware that Luna’s room had any readily available windows to be thrown out of.”

I winced. “It and the next few rooms over do now.”

“Is that why Luna is hiding behind you again?” The smile reappeared momentarily.

I turned my head and sure enough, Luna was trying to use my height as a shield. It would have worked better if you couldn’t see her around me thanks to my skinniness. “No idea.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Sister, I am not angry. It was my fault for trying to play a trick on you.”

Luna peaked out of my left side. “Do you promise?” Celestia nodded and Luna walked over to stand next to her sister.

I looked at them. “Wait, so I missed my lunch, was thrown through several walls, and dragged myself out of a thorn bush just because you wanted to prank your sister?” Celestia nodded sheepishly. I glared at her for a few moments before the grin I was suppressing broke through. “That sounds like any prank I try.”

They relaxed and gestured for me to join them, so I walked across the room, noting the stained glass windows and the images presented. One looked surprisingly like the six ponies I knew. When I was a few feet away, they both addressed me.

“There was more of a reason that you were brought here than just a joke.” Celestia began.

“My sister and I found out what you are!” Luna interrupted happily. She shrunk back and let out a nervous chuckle as Celestia glared her down. “Eh heh heh. Continue sister.

“As Luna interrupted to say,” A glare was shot at the younger alicorn, “We have spent many hours in the palace library’s archives trying to find what your current form is.” She levitated an old, beaten book out from behind the throne. “We believe we have found the answer.” The book was opened to a page with an image similar to the statue out in the garden.

The title read one word: Draconequus.

I peered at the book, studying the statue’s colored image. My head turned to the sun goddess. “Wazzat?”

“This is Discord; he’s the spirit of disharmony.” I nodded at Celestia’s explanation. Probably a neutral chaos god then, most gods of chaos tended to be neutral. That and their personality usually follow their particular ruling along with just a little insanity. Having met Loki, I had to agree with those generalizations.

“Ok, what does this have to do with me then?” I questioned.

“Oh my little draconequus, it has everything to do with you.” A new voice echoed through the room.

“Discord?” Celestia looked around the room rapidly. If I didn’t know any better I would have said that the orderly goddess of the sun sounded… panicked?

“Not now Celly, the little one and I need to have a talk before you cause an imbalance.” Discord’s form on one of the windows began moving with a life of its own. He sprang out of the window, taking on a transparent form as he circled me. “Oh my… Another chimera and the Child of Murphy at that? Now this is just perfect, a chaotic streak a mile wide. Reminds of that Pinkie filly.”

“A close friend of mine once said ‘What’s the point of being an adult if you can’t act childish sometimes?’ I tend to agree. The phrase you’re looking for is chaotic good by the way.” I smirked at him.

“Sarcastic and snappy too, I like this one. Listen to me carefully, we don’t have much time. The connection between us that’s holding me here is fragile at best. Celly and Lulu here don’t have very much information about our kind; most of it was destroyed in the old library during the uprising of Nightmare Moon. All of us have a connection to chaos and the ability to use it, some more than others. He tapped my forehead, resulting in a flash of intense cold filling my body from the contact point. Images and ghostly sounds began to fill my head.“It’s a kind of magic, if you don’t use it-”

“It will build up and release uncontrollably.” I finished, ignoring the memory bleed and peering curiously at the dancing figure. “I know, I’ve used it before. That explains why my magic is so weak.”

He sunk back into the stained glass. “Good, then you know the dangers. If nothing else heed this warning Agent of Change, your services will be needed in the coming times.” The figure began walking back to its previous position before spinning back to face me. “I almost forgot, you aren’t the only of your kind here anymore, Omega. So long!” With that he snapped his lion’s paw returning everything, including his figure, back to normal. His presence retreated back to the garden where it went dormant again.

“That was… interesting.” I commented, turning back to the awestruck princesses.

“We have never heard Discord speak so plainly before. He always spoke in riddles and jokes.” Luna slipped into the olden dialect in her surprise, which Celestia was quick to pick up.

“Luna, your speech.” She said in a tone that showed how often it was repeated. Turning to me, she asked “Do you know what he was talking about?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes and before you ask, he wasn’t lying or playing any tricks.”

She looked at me suspiciously. “How do you know this? He could have been playing with your memories.”

“He can’t and in case you haven’t noticed, neither can you. Gods and Goddesses of any type can’t directly interfere with me. No, I have no idea what that means besides not being able to mess with my inner workings or memories without permission. As for how I know, the same reason I know about the cake you have waiting for you in your room. I didn’t take you for a chocolate and raspberry kind of mare.” I sat down, sorting through the new memories.

“How-?”

“Dimensional bleed, at least that’s what I call it; it’s one of my abilities. It acts like an information spell, unconsciously downloading basic facts and information directly to my mind. It’s how I can speak, read, and write your language so easily. When you used that memory spell it opened up a connection between the two of us allowing me to get information from you as well. You’ll find a few of my memories floating around after a while. The same thing happened between me and Discord when he tapped my head to show my connection to the chaos thingy.”

“So you could do this to any pony?”

“No, only Gods and Goddesses and nothing too personal, mostly basic information and a few memor-” I froze as I stumbled across a certain memory. My voice came out flat and lifeless as I forced out the words around the images playing out before me. “Celestia, Luna, do you know why there aren’t any draconequine anymore?”

They looked at each other in confusion at my sudden shift in mood then looked at me worriedly. “No, we only have this one book about them.”

I threw the book against the wall as I jumped to my feet. They took a step back under my glare. “He ate them.” My voice echoed angrily through the halls. “HE FREAKING ATE THEM. EVERY LAST STALLION, MARE, AND FOAL, HE CONSUMED THEM ALIVE!” My body began to shake along with the windows, chandeliers, and anything not held down. The carpets changed from red to green and the checkered tiled swapped colors. The flowers in the hanging gardens bloomed, withered, died, and bloomed again as pressure built in the room. Flashes of light flared around me with distinct snaps as the outrage I normally bottled inside found an outlet through my new magics. A soft pair of forelegs wrapped around my chest from behind, interrupting my ranting. My vision blurred and everything settled as I turned to face a dark alicorn hugging me. After a few moments of clinging to my only friend in the room, strangled sobs began to escape from me as Luna held on tighter. “… every… single… one…” I gasped between them.

Celestia wrapped her wings around us, joining the huddle. They couldn’t see the flashes of Discord rampaging through an empty village or feel the ripples through the chaotic medium as thousands of lives were snuffed out in an instant. Bu I could, those memories fed into my own bringing up old wounds and scars. Being unable to help as something more powerful than me did what it wanted to. A deep pain settled in my chest, beating in time with my heart. That moment, as I stared into the inky void that once held a thriving dimension, when I realized it was my fault that it had been lost. My thoughts began to blur and mesh together, the memories were killing me.

Another presence entered my mind, somewhat familiar. “Is this thing on? Testing, testing, one two three?” I got the impression of him looking around at my current mental state. “Ah, I was hoping this wouldn’t happen. I’ll check back later then.”

Before I could question the fading presence something hard was pressed against the side of my head. A comforting voice filled my mind, pushing aside all thoughts and leaving behind blissful silence. “Sleep now Vigil, everything will be fine.” The numbness spreading from my chest halted along with the pain in my chest. They both began fade as I felt warmth flow out of the thing touching my head. I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Freaking Tuesdays.

Chapter 9: Decisions

Chapter 9: Bad Omens

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Somewhere)

I drifted in the shifting darkness for a while, allowing the currents to carry me. It was a nice break from my usual dreams involving my memories, very relaxing. Eventually my mind congealed enough to notice two other presences in the void. Curiously, I floated over to them.

“How was I supposed to know he could do that?!” A male voice cried, frustrated. “I was just trying to give some advice.”

“We all know how your advice normally turns out.” A female voice stated flatly.

“Yes, well… There is that.” A long sigh could be heard accompanied by a thump of something heavy hitting the ground. “Is one not allowed to grieve for the loss of his species? Who doesn’t want their sins to be forgiven?”

“We all do, some more than others…” The voice seemed very sad. I tried to move closer, but there was some kind of a wall preventing movement forward.

“It wasn’t even on purpose. When I became a god, the chaos overwhelmed me. It reached out to every other source and pulled them into itself. Unfortunately, that chaos is what was keeping my kind alive.”

“And now you seek redemption. How are we supposed to know that you aren’t trying to trick us are wreak havoc on Equestria?”

“Were any ponies harmed during my reign? Were any killed? No, there were no casualties ever. It isn’t my fault that you ponies are to harmonious to appreciate my sense of humor. Why do we keep having this argument?” There was a pause. “Ok, I swear we’ve been in this room before. Do you remember how we unlocked it last time?”

I slammed against the barrier repeatedly, rearing back and pounding against it with all of my might. I had been trained in mental combat and nothing would keep me out of my own mind. Something cracked under my blows; giving way and making me tumble into a lit corridor. I flopped onto the floor and lay there for a few moments to recover before looking around. The walls were white and decorated with trinkets from my past jobs while the floor was covered in a red, plush carpet. A glance down revealed I was back in my human form, dressed in a set of red robes and a bit paler than usual though.

I followed the now bickering voices down the hall while music played in the background without a source. I glanced at the various decorations. A pair of worn dice, a charm for a keyblade, even a large war hammer with the word ‘Pwnhammer’ etched into the head among other things were placed on pedestals lining the walls. As I walked a faint recognition hit me. Wait, this is the Pendergasts’ mansion. But it was burned down before I even met the guy… Oh right, this was how he taught me mental defenses. The entire mansion was a fortress and every room held puzzles and traps. Anything that came in would either become trapped or die, leaving couldn’t be done without my help.

Reaching a set of monstrous oak doors brought me out of my mental rambling. The voices could be heard from just behind them, so I placed a hand on the lock and murmured “Nevermore.” Several clicks were heard as a series of increasingly complex locks were undone. As the last fell into place the door swung open.

Luna and Discord sat across from each other at the table. On wrought iron bases sat heavy slabs of wood from bowling alley lanes, forming four benches and the table. The two looked different from the last time I saw them, they were both human. Discord looked like an older gentleman, possibly a professor, with long grey hair and a goatee while wearing a checkered suit that brought out his mismatched eyes. Luna was a few inches shorter than Discord with long wavy hair that showed her night sky, a midnight blue dress accenting her pale skin, and a similar aura of power to Celestia radiating off of her. They both were slumped onto the table with similar looks of exhaustion but lifted their heads to face the door as I entered.

“Welcome to the gates of my mind.” I stated while gesturing grandly to the room around us.

“Do you have any idea how long we have been here trying to contact you?” Luna rose to her feet and began stalking angrily towards me.

“Three days! And while this place is delightfully chaotic, I had no desire to spend that long here!” He nearly screamed from his seat.

I waved a hand at the lunar princess, effortlessly closing her mouth and setting her back in her seat. “Actually, you’ve been here for about thirty minutes. There’s a minor time distortion once you enter the mansion. While I’m conscious my mind usually runs at an organic pace, but once I’m unconscious it can go at a synthetic pace without risk of an overlaod.” I shrugged at them. “Why are you here anyway?”

They glared at me before Luna began. “You were put to sleep in the throne room after a particular memory resulted in a magical outburst. It seems that the chaos built up in your body faster than expected.”

“I had no idea you were that powerful of a Source my boy.” Discord sounded… proud?

“We also didn’t know of your status as a Source. We would like to apologize for our part in the actions that lead to this.” She said sadly in the ancient dialect.

I patted her shoulder comfortingly. “It’s fine, no one could have known my reaction to that.” My gaze turned to Discord. “Quit fidgeting. There aren’t any eldritch abominations here to attack you. Ok, that’s not true. There’s a few acting as guard dogs in their rooms, including a wall that eats blood. But those aren’t anywhere near here.” I looked around at the room. “Speaking of here… How did you only make it this far if you’ve been here for three days? The entrance is through that door.” I pointed to the door opposite from where I entered.

They looked at each other before flinching a bit. “We may have… gotten a little lost.”

The God of chaos rolled his eyes in opposite directions. “We’ve been going in circles. None of the rooms stay the same.”

My chuckles filled the room. “Yeah they do that. You should see the Escher vault. Would you two like to get out of here?”

Discord crawled over to me on his knees while giving me his best puppy dog face. His face actually turned into a puppy. “Oh Celestia’s ever burning flank, let me out!”

Luna glared at him. “If you leave, you will return to your statue.”

“Yes, but I’ll still have my connection with him.” He gestured at me. “We’ll be able to talk a bit. Being a living stone statue beats being trapped here.”

I rolled my eyes. “Hey now, you wouldn’t believe how my things have been trapped in here. You get your own room in the maze and everything.” They both looked at me in horror. “No takers? Fine, we can go back.” With a snap, the two disappeared and the room began to fade.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ugh… Did anyone get the license plate of that train?” I groaned as sunlight seared my eyes. I closed them again momentarily to allow them to readjust before opening them again. I was in a hospital room currently on one of the beds.

“We told thou this of the possibilities of your actions. Now look at him.” Luna’s voice came from the open door. She sounded very unhappy.

“Luna, your speech. Yes you did tell me. Now would you stop reminding me? I believe that our friend should be waking soon.” Celestia practically growled back at her sister. So maybe that little episode was a dream after all.

They both walked through the door way into the room. Luna gasped and ran at me when she saw that I was awake, only to be stopped by a golden aura. Celestia greeted me first, “Hello Vigil, how are you feeling?”

“I’ve been worse.” I shrugged at her. “After being thrown into the heart of a star, there's not much that can phase me for long.”

Luna giggled at me, trying in vain to cover it with her hooves before explaining what had happened, Celestia noted that she liked the new colors of the flowers in the throne room. As I expected, being a Goddess of the night she could enter unconscious minds in her realm. Discord on the other hand seemed to be able to make limited contact with the chaos running through me. After some chatter about what should happen and Discord’s warning, we agreed to leave it for the time being. If anything came up we would react accordingly. They both had to return to their duties so twenty minutes, a saddlebag with some bits that one of the princesses had left, and a release slip later I found myself standing outside the entrance of the hospital wing.

I took my time winding my way out to the gardens. Once I reached there I was escorted onto a chariot and flown back to Ponyville. They had pegasi flying a cart that held a pony, no, draconequus that could fly by himself. I thought over that along with the princesses’ decision to ignore the warning and send me back despite the chaotic entity that could apparently contact me mentally at any time. I shook my head sourly as I hopped off and thanked the chariot drivers. It’ll take a better man… stallion than I to understand women much less immortal goddess princesses.

You got that right buddy.

I looked around for the source of the voice, but I was alone. Ignoring it, I began my trek to the Sugarcube Corner. The Cakes could have needed some help restocking after the lunch rush and with Pinkie there you never knew if any or all of the work would get done. She’s like a manic depressive except without the depressive part, sometimes she’ll have everything don before you even say anything and others she’s so distracted that she causes a bigger workload.

It was a nice day, sunny and warm with a pleasant breeze from time to time. I spotted Fluttershy weaving her way through the crowded marketplace as I flew above the craze. Gliding over to her, I greeted “Hiya miss Fluttershy. What brings you out here today?”

She let out a squeak as she leapt into the air, followed by landing on her back. I swear that I heard a fainting goat somewhere in the background. I tapped her gently with a hoof. “Um… Anypony home?”

Her eyes opened, followed by a small smile. “Oh, hello. I didn’t see you there Vigil.” She turned thoughtful before switching to confused. “Didn’t you have a meeting with the princesses today?”

I rolled my eyes and helped to her hooves while explaining my last couple of hours. She listened quietly without ever asking a question. “So I decided to go to the Sugarcube Corner to see if the Cakes needed some help. Would you like to join me?”

She nodded slowly before realizing that I had asked a question. “Oh, um, sure? I mean if it isn’t too much trouble. I was going there anyway.”

My face was reintroduced to my left hoof followed by a hiss as pain shot through the limb. Fluttershy’s gaze was somewhere between concerned and glaring as she grabbed and examined it. “Is your leg still hurting? Why didn't you tell anypony?”

“I think being trampled last week knocked a few wires loose or something. It can’t be too bad; anything broken would have been repaired. No one would be able to help without the proper tools anyway and those are in my workshop.” I gently tugged my foreleg back. “I really need to get that taken care of. I’ll talk to the Doc after this.”

The look on the pegasus’ face was saddening. She looked so lost and confused that it was nearly pitiful. I facehooved again, this time using my right. “Sorry, I forget that other ponies don’t know what I’m talking about. Let’s just go, I’ll be fine once I set up my house.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Sugarcube Corner)

Brownie batter coated everything in the dining room. The floor, the chairs, the tables, the people, even the corners of the ceiling had a thick layer on them. I stared dismally at the chocolaty carnage before me. “Pinkie, how did you do that? There was only enough in that bowl to made one tray.”

Pinkie approached Fluttershy and I with a manic grin even visible under the coating of batter. “Do what? Can we do it again?!”

“No dear, just help us clean this mess up before the lunch rush.” Cup Cake and her husband Carrot were already starting to mop the floor. The couple had been introduced after they pulled Pinkie off of me or the third time today. They were nice enough but I have no idea how they deal with her all day. I sighed and took the mops away from them. I had also been told that that needed to leave rather quickly for something, wasn’t sure what though.

“Pinkie and I can handle this. It was our fault anyway. Go get cleaned up.”

“Are you sure? We could-” Carrot spoke up. I liked him, mostly, he’s very pleasant under the slight intolerance for oddities.

“Nope” I interrupted him, using a wing to drag the bucket of soapy water over to me. “We’ve got it covered. It’ll be finished before you come back.”

They gave me a disbelieving look, but went upstairs to clean up before they had to leave. I turned around to address my accomplice to find her licking the last of the batter out of Fluttershy’s tail, the rest of the mare was spotless. I ignored the implications of that, deciding that Pinkie and Purple will NEVER meet. She turned to me with that same grin on her face, she was batterless too. What happened there? “Don’t even think about it Pinkie.” I closed my eyes and concentrated, tapping into the ambient magic around me. All of the batter slid off of me as I made it frictionless temporarily. “There.”

“You can do magic?” Fluttershy squeaked.

Pinkie answered, “Well duh… Of course he can!”

I nodded happily. “Yep, I like to think I’m good at it as well. I’m just happy that worked, I was a little worried that it would take longer to recover after this morning.”

The girls just nodded, having no idea what I just said. I rolled my eyes at them. “Fine, if neither of you are interested I guess you don’t want to see a few tricks I have then.”

Pinkie lit right up at that. “What kind of tricks? Please show us. PLEEEEEASE.”

I looked over at Fluttershy, she nodded in agreement with Pinkie. “Ok, but don’t freak out when you see it.” My closed my eyes again as I controlled my breathing. This time I started concentrating in a completely different direction. My magic is different than most in that I can pull energy in two ways. I can pull power from the world around me, which is the way that most do it. The second way is unique to me. Sometime back I learned that I was a Source, something that magic flows from, but that’s a story for a different day.

Magic is a byproduct of life, all living things generate it, but Sources are connected to non-physical places between realities where that magic collects and wells up from. Think of it this way, clouds rain onto the earth where the water collects and flows to different points creating rivers, lakes, underground basins. The water is magic, the clouds are life, the earth is as its name states, rivers are ley-lines, and the places where the water collects are Sources.

However, this connection is what makes all of my magic inherently unstable. Any slip or miscalculation while directing the flow can have disastrous consequences to me.

I concentrated on directing the strange energy though my body. I smirked a little as a translucent sapphire aura surrounded me, sparks jumping from my hooves to the floor as the excess grounded itself. Show time. I pushed the magic and ‘watched’ as it refracted into different colors like light going through a prism, I released it as the last of it poured through. I opened my eyes to see the five chromatic copies of myself. Same orange coat, same skinny stature, but their slitted eyes showed their color.

“You know what to do.” I commanded jokingly.

Orange and Blue immediately grabbed the mops and began mopping the floor. Green pulled a pair of brushes out of Yellow’s bag and began scrubbing the walls. Yellow was too busy to notice, he was being as much of a gentleman as he could to the girls. He kissed their offered hooves while his cloak was dropped to the floor to allow them passage over the mess. Once they were on a cleaned patch, he swept up the cloak and joined Green on the wall.

I counted heads, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple… PURPLE?! I tackled my fragmented creativity to the floor. “What are you doing out of my head?” I hissed while pinning him to the ground under me.

He chuckled, melting into my shadow and rising up to my side. “You know I’m always here right? Silly me, I’m a part of you.” While I was trying to figure out what just happened, Purple bounced over me and plopped in front of Pinkie. “Hello, I’m Purple. I’m the personification of his creativity. You must be Pinkie Pie.” ABORT, ABORT. MISSION IS IN DANGER.

“Purple, you’re here for a reason. Help clean up.” I glowered at him.

“Really? That’s all? Pfft.” He clapped his hooves together and all of the batter disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Canterlot Castle)

Luna had just laid down for a moment in her private chamber to rest. She had a stressful morning beginning with lowering the moon, an act that still left her exhausted after a millennium away, then was forced into speech lessons to catch up with the current vernacular, and that fiasco with Vigil.

She closed her eyes for a moment- “AAAAAAAHHHHHH” –before a scream forced her eyes open again in surprise. It sounded like it came from her sister’s room.

The Princess of the night sprang out bed and rushed there to find the entire room, including a very surprised looking Celestia, coated in a dark, sticky substance. Further examination revealed it to be brownie batter. Both sisters looked at each other before the normally white Alicorn queried.

“Do you smell peppermint?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Sugarcube Corner)

Purple grinned broadly at me. “Oooooh Celly’s going to be so mad at us.”

Green and Grey looked at each other. Green was the first to speak up, “Even if he’s a piece of me, I really wonder about his sanity.” The others nodded in agreement.

I sighed at myselves, but turned to address the two mares to my left. “Sorry about that. Purple… Well, he’s a bit odd.”

Pinkie, of course, only said “I like him!”

We finished cleaning and were shuffled out the door with Pinkie saying something about getting things ready for Applejack. Fluttershy left after softly explaining that she had to go get ready for AJ too. I was left sitting at the doorstep of the bakery alone. Deciding that now was a good time to go get the materials from the Doctor, I began my search.

It took a few hours to find it, but I entered the building with a timepiece hanging over the door after shaking off a few baby rabbits. “Doc? You here?”

The familiar British voice called from the back of the store. “One moment please, I’ll be right with you.” A metallic crash followed by some liberal swearing then the Doctor appeared from behind a door leading to what I assume would be a workshop. “Hello Vigil, here for the materials then?” I nodded and he led me to the backyard. Just behind the building stood the TARDIS in all of its glory. The worn, blue police box hadn’t changed despite the different dimension. He unlocked the door and held it open.

I took a step in and the entire ship began to make a deep, low-pitched sound. My raised eyebrow at Doc made him scratch the back of his head. “I think she’s purring…”

My hoof met my face yet again today. At this rate I'm going to have a horseshoe shaped bruise on my forehead. Speak of which, am I supposed to be wearing those? A few minutes of futile searching through wires and loose panels under the central platform, I gave up and asked for directions. “Doc, do you know where my toolbox would be?”

The Doctor pulled a toolbelt out of a corner of the console. “This one?”

I climbed back up to get a look. “Yeah, that’s it. It was a tool box when I put it in the other TARDIS though.” We both shrugged at that. I slipped the belt into my bag. I looked around idly for a moment. I didn’t have anywhere to go at the moment, all of the tasks for the day had been finished and it was only three in the afternoon. I had a rare moment of peace in my hectic life, no screaming, running, or fighting to be done. “Any idea why there’s a horde of baby rabbits stampeding through the town while the inhabitants panic or why said inhabitants are rushing to the hospital?”

Doc gave me a blank look. “I have no idea. Perhaps I’ll look into it later.” He returned to fiddling with various knobs and levers.

I let out a sigh then an idea struck me. A sly smile began creeping onto my face as I turned to ask the Doctor “Hey, Doc? Would you like a pear?”

The blue door clicked as the locks were set in place behind me. I slowly rose to my hooves, rubbing the spot where I had been dropped on my head. “You’d think he’d have a better sense of humor with someone who shares some of his DNA along with the whole ‘two hearts’ thing.” I shrugged and began walking to the library to gather up the girls. “He's just jealous that he can't get sexy to purr.” A soldering iron impacted the back of my head followed by the sound of the door slamming shut again. "Jerk" I muttered, rubbing the back of my head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found the girls giggling and working at Sweet Apple Acres. Each was using their talents to pick the apples from the trees. “Hey girls” I called as I stepped onto the property.

“Hey there partner.” Applejack greeted while walking over to me. “We were wondering where you had gone off to.”

A wide grin settled on my features. “I finished my house.” Several gasps came from our right making us turn.

The rest of the girls were standing there with the last of the apples. Pinkie spoke up first. “Means I get to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party and a house warming party!” She began bouncing around in circles, babbling about colors and party supplies.

Twilight seemed a little sad. “So… You’re leaving the library then?”

I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Yes, I really can’t impose any more. Besides, I think your couch will have a permanent dent if I sleep on it any longer.” I smiled at her. “Thank you for putting up with me though.” She smiled back and I turned to address the entire group. “Who want to see it?” They all agreed now that the work had been completed.

I lead them over to a clearing near Fluttershy’s cottage and the forest. Their blank stares showed that they were not impressed.

“Where is it then?” Rainbow asked from above.

I pulled a white cube covered in runes out of my bag. “Here it is.” It was tossed into the air and landed a fair distance away. I concentrated for a few moments and blasted the cube with a bolt of concentrated magic. The runes lit up as the spells laid into them activated making the cube split into a copy of itself. They watched in awe as the process repeated and the cubes built on each other until the last one set itself in place. A white, gothic style mansion stood in the clearing now, I knew the inside would match the one that stood as a guardian to my mind. I turned to the awestruck group behind me.

“Who wants a tour?”

Chapter 10: Reflections

Chapter 10: Reflections

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone passed through the door to the darkened hallway. I smiled a little as the group walked in front of me, oblivious to my change in appearance back to semi-human. “Welcome to my home everypony.”

“Why is it so dark?” Someone asked, I couldn’t make out the voice.

“I haven’t been here in a while. Why would I leave the lights on the entire time?” I stepped to the front, ignoring the confused looks. Rubbing my hands together I let a small stream of magic flow down to them, powering the increasing charge between them. I pulled them apart, grinning as static arced between them, and thrust them both upwards. Magic flooded through me and a bolt of electricity jumped from my hands to the hanging light above us.

With the lights back on, I could make out the surroundings. We were in a four-way intersection with halls leading off to the left, right, and front. I turned back to the group, shaking my head sadly when none of them looked impressed. Knew I should have done the ‘unlimited power’ thing…

“So…” I peered done each hall way realizing that I had no idea where I was. “Interesting, House must have changed the layout again.” I looked at the girls. “Pick a direction, any direction.”

“Up.” Pinkie said while throwing her forelegs up randomly.

“Ok then.” A voice similar to mine said, like the next note in a chord. The world spun momentarily and we were all on the ceiling looking at the floor above up. I glared at Purple as he walked down the left hallway to join us, hopping over a ceiling light on his way. He had decided to match my current form, five-eleven, tanned skin, unhealthily skinny, with naturally highlighted brown hair bringing out shades of orange and blonde. He also wore the same comfortable outfit of worn jeans while switching a black t-shirt for my white cotton one, grinning like a madman at us.

Spike jumped off of Twilight’s back and sprinted towards the second chimera, as much as his waddling gate would allow. “PURPLE!” He screamed midair.

Purple grabbed and swung the baby dragon up into the air to catch him on his shoulders. “Heya champ. You’re looking better than the last time I saw you.” He pulled an ice cream cone out of somewhere to hand to Spike. “I believe that I owe you this for behaving during our little jump.”

Spike took the offered treat and downed it in one bite. I gave up glaring and chuckled while stepping forward to shake his hand. “Purple, I see you’ve found the gravity controls. Again. I really need to hide those better.” He looked at the offered limb.

“What is this nonsense?” He glared at me. I gave him a clearly confused look and he grabbed my hand before pulling my into a tight hug. “Silly Grey.”

I rolled my eyes before turning to the group behind us. “Girls, Purple. Purple, girls, though you’ve met Pinkie and Fluttershy before.”

He shook each of their hooves, doing an insanely complicated hoofbump with Pinkie. “Hello everypony. I’m Purple.”

Spike rolled his eyes and Rainbow drifted forward to stare at his face. He stared right back, mimicking each of her movements in an exaggerated manner. He did so to the point where he had to open his wings and follow her into the air as she gained a little altitude.

“Whoa…” They gasped in awe, I just shrugged. It’s not like I hadn’t seen them before considering that they’re my wings.

“Wait just one second.” Twilight spoke while stepping past me to look at Purple, her eyebrows were creased together in concentration. We both had to stifle a chuckle. “I’ve seen that coloring before, and those eyes seem familiar too.”

I grinned from behind her, slowly opening my wings as well, much to the amusement of the others. Spike had to cover his mouth to stop his giggles. Purple landed in front of the librarian and counted down fingers. Three. Two. One.

Twilight spun around to face me, glaring at my outstretched wings. “You have the same coloring, your bodies and facial features are extremely similar if not the same too.”

Purple and I smiled at her before talking at the same time. “Of course Miss Sparkle.” We waved our hands in a circle while simultaneously scratching our chins. “Although such a phenomenon could be a coincidence, could it not?” We spoke in unison. We separated our movements and speech when Purple took a step to the left as I stepped back to allow Spike into the spotlight.

“He can make copies of himself. The copies are each a different color that matches what part of his personality they are.” The baby dragon explained to the group. Purple pulled out a professor’s pointing stick and a pair of glasses and gave them to the dragon.

Spike handed me the props. I put on the glasses and lightly hit Rainbow with the pointer to wake her up before picking up the explanation where he left off. “That isn’t to say that their characteristic is the only one that they can show. They each have their own quirks. It’s just their primary one.”

“Just like how Rainbow there normally acts off of her more brash personality quirks but she still can show nervousness and fear.” Purple finished tossing the items behind him, where they promptly detonated in a brilliant explosion of streamers and burning magnesium. We looked at each other.

“Chaos.” We said at the same time.

“It’s building again.” Purple warned. “We need to find a release.”

“Isn’t it just an addition to our normal magics? Or is it separate?” I asked. Don’t look at me like that. I may be talking to myself but he’s better at magical theory than I am.

“It’s neither. I’m not even sure it’s magic. Just be happy they aren’t reactive. We would have been chunks all over the throne room.”

I shot a smirk at him. “So, just like that time…” He shoved a hand firmly over my mouth.

“We aren’t talking about that, you know how Orange gets…”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get our aggressive side riled up, I know. Gods and Goddesses, I need a nap… It’s too early to be this tired and frustrated. Or late. I kind of lost track of time.” I rubbed my eyes before gesturing back at the group. “I’m taking the girls for a tour and I have no idea where anything is. Care to join us?”

He shook his head. “This layout is new to all of us too. House got bored is my guess. Besides, I have some more work to do. We have two new types of magic to study so I’m heading to the library then the lab. I think Orange is in the armory, Yellow is in wardrobe as usual, Green is either out on the grounds or in the library, he switches a lot, and Blue is in the reflection room. I think that’s everyone who’s active.”

I gave him a brief nod and sent him on his way, but not before he put us back on the ground. We watched as he walked away on the ceiling.

“Who was that?” Rainbow asked, rapidly followed by similar questions from everyone else. Surprisingly, Pinkie just waited patiently for them to calm down.

“He’s me, or rather I’m him.” I answered with a faked grin while getting the group to start moving, turning randomly at intersections.

“What the hay is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow growled angrily.

Pinkie appeared, just freaking appeared, on my head, though for some reason she didn’t seem to weigh anything. She gently patted Rainbow’s shoulder from her perch. “What he meant to say is that they are the same person, just different parts. Purple is his creativity and curiosity.” Pinkie hopped off and I nodded thankfully at her.

“A while back there was an incident that literally shattered my soul. Those are the shards from that incident.” I started walking, closed my eyes and pointed at a random mare. It was Rarity. “Your question?”

“So which one of you is the original?”

I thought that over for a bit while we walking in silence. Finally I spoke up, “None of us are. We were all changed after that incident. We were weakened and scattered across the multiverse, separated from each other. That’s why each of us has a separate personality and quirks; they were developed in different environments bringing out specific qualities. Purple was dropped in a magically intensive world, so he’s better at magic than the rest of us. Luckily the inhabitants were friendly. Some of us weren’t so lucky…” I shivered a bit at that.

“Which one are you then?” Fluttershy quietly asked from the back of the group.

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You said that each one is has a color and a specific characteristic, which one is yours?” She seemed a bit more confident when the rest of the group nodded to her.

“Our eye colors reflect which personality it is. We also differentiate each other by color which is why Purple is called Purple. What color does that make me?”

“Grey, but there aren’t any characteristics associated with that color, are there?” Twilight answered again.

“Not really. Grey is just a series of combinations, black and white, the mix and the absence of all colors. Just like how I’m the combination of the reflections but separate as well. Usually they’re all in my head unless they need to be out, but this place sustains them without draining me. They like to stretch out when we’re here. And before you ask, I have absolutely no idea if they’re here while I’m gone. I still haven’t found any evidence either way.”

“Where’d ya’ come from then?” Applejack asked.

“What?” I stopped at the question, hoping she wasn’t asking what I thought she was.

“Well, ya’ said that yall were made when those shards came together. Were ya’ made by that or were ya’ tossed somewhere else like the rest of them?”

“I was dropped.” I relaxed again, letting out the breath that I hadn’t noticed I was holding. Not the question.

“Where were you dropped then? You seem nice, so was it somewhere nice? OOOOOH did they have lots of parties?” Pinkie chattered while bouncing in place.

“No they didn’t and no it wasn’t. The library is the first stop on the list.” I shuddered as I continued to walk, ignoring the looks they gave me.

Twilight looked over at Spike who was keeping pace a few steps behind me. “Why don’t you seem very surprised by any of this?”

Spike shrugged at her. “You learn a lot if you spend a day with him and listen. He’s fairly open about everything. Just don’t ask too much about his past, he doesn’t like talking about a lot of it.” He stopped and stared at me for a few moments, looking like he was considering an important decision. “Look at him though, he’s tired and something is really bothering him.”

“And he can hear you.” I replied. He shut up and sat back down on Twilight’s back. I growled distinctly unkind things under my breath about particularly perceptive beings, but lead them on. Twilight had a field day in the first room we turned into. It was the size of a small house with two-story high ceilings with a marble spiral staircase in the middle leading up and down to the seven floors of books held on the shelves that lining the walls from floor to ceiling. I knew there were comfortable couches and living chairs dotted through the entire complex. After I pried her away from the index with a promise to allow her back I took them to the dining room where Discord and Luna had been in my mindscape earlier.

I left them at the bowling alley table to slip into the kitchen. Once I made it to the other room I began to make, and eat rapidly, one of my favorite meals in existence. Grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh, shut up, it’s a comfort food. And melted cheddar on toasted sourdough bread is delicious. The easy, practiced movements helped me to calm down a little from the onslaught of personal questions they kept asking. Five sandwiches cooked and consumed later, I decided that I had calmed enough to move on.

The girls somehow managed to turn on one of the screens built into the far wall and were conversing with the animated paperclip that appeared on it. I tried to take a seat without anyone noticing but of course, the one that would know that I was starving myself had to notice.

Twilight looked at me with a puzzled expression. “I thought you said you didn’t have to eat.”

I scratched at the back of my neck awkwardly, trying to subvert the irritation rising at the back of my thoughts. “Well… That’s sort of true. I can go for months without eating. My ability to absorb magic as well as the solar receptors in my skin and the energy cores that act as generators behind my hearts stop me from needing it for energy but I do need the nutrients and such. And those don’t help the hunger much”

I could see the war between curiosity and anger behind her eyes, she finally settled on vaguely annoyed. “So, you lied.” She glared into my eyes.

I quickly averted my glare to the end of her muzzle. “I didn’t lie. I just didn’t finish the explanation.” I spun to face the group. “Ok girls, most of my home is contained in the manor, you’ve probably noticed the ‘bigger on the inside’ bit, it holds a relatively small dimension in it. There are two places that are separate of it though, the Lab and the Vault. The Vault is held in a separate dimension, I might show you it some other day. The lab on the other hand is a ways under the rest of the mansion, cut into the bedrock below. Hopefully that will keep any mishaps from affecting anything above it. Again. I have got to stop letting Orange and Purple work on projects together.”

I lead them to an industrial style elevator, open except for the manually closed gates and hit the button to go down. There was a pleasant little ‘ding’ as we reached the bottom and I opened the gates again. The lab was much smaller in comparison to the library, only about eight feet tall but the room was much wider. The walls held various machines and the center was a maze of workbenches and technological innovations.

I tripped over Pinkie as I left the platform and tried to catch myself with my left arm. Big mistake. The limb collapsed under me and my face attempted to make friends with the floor. The floor did not want to be friends.

I rolled onto my side before curling up, holding my injured arm close to my chest while I rocked back and forth and waited for the pain from my face and arm to subside.

I heard a tsk from Spark as he hovered his orb over my head from some dark corner of the lab. “When was the last time you repaired yourself?” I groaned unhappily at him. He sighed, “Fine, you know where the kits are.” I mumbled a thank you while using my good arm to sit back up. The girls had formed a tight circle around me trying to see if I was ok. At one point I heard Pinkie call my coat if I was dying. After I assured them that I was fine and that I was about to go take care of it. That mare is crazy.

I tried blinking away the tears that sprung up in response to the pain and suddenly found myself back in the elevator. Everything and everyone were exactly the same as before, even the pain in my arm was gone. This time however, I had a splitting headache to accompanying my apparent déjà vu. I was distracted from trying to figure the phenomena out when Applejack stepped off of the platform, so I stepped around Pinkie this time only to get hit in the back by Rainbow as she flew forward without watching. It wasn’t a hard hit, but I was midstep so it made me overbalance and fall face first. Cue repeat of what happened before. The floor didn’t want to be friends this time either. I had to explain who and what 343-Guilty Spark was this time, along with how I had to basically rebuild him from the fried circuits that were left after Chief blasted him.

Pinkie opted to stay next to me as I sat at one of the workbenches while the others began to spread out under Spark’s supervision. The really dangerous stuff was either locked up or in the Vault and he’s more than a little OCD. As I began searching through the drawers of the workbench, I reached over and scratched behind her ear.

‘Are ponies supposed to be able to purr?’ Discord chose to do one of his random “check ins” on me at that particular moment.

‘It’s Pinkie. We don’t ask questions.’ I answered.

‘True, that one has been blessed by some form of chaos. I probably should look into that. Eventually.’

‘Hey Dis? Why is it that I look like a pony while you look all mismatched? It’s been bugging me since the castle.’

‘Oh, that’s simple. You’re the regular pony version draconequus while I’m the Alicorn version. Unlike ponies, draconequine don’t have only one characteristic they can all fly, do magic, etc. Some are more skilled in some areas than other though. What seems to be the problem at the moment?’ The history lesson must have bored him.

I briefly considered Luna’s offer then wordlessly connected physical sensation from my body to his consciousness. The result was an incredibly unmanly scream while his presence faded from my mind. Wimp. Pinkie cocked her head to the side as Discord screamed but melted again as I continued scratching.

Sure enough, a yellow toolbox was in one of the boxes under the table portion. I grabbed the box and began rummaging through it. To deflect the incoming stream of questions, I asked about the weird scene at the town earlier. Applejack explained how she had decided to be extraordinarily stubborn over the last few days when I had locked myself in the library to escape the world. Pinkie’s welcome party did not go well. Her exhaustion caused several accidents until she finally gave up and let her friends help. I was a little put out that she didn’t ask for my help but she thought that I had been busy in Canterlot at the time. Looking over at her critically, she looked exhausted but happy to be around her friends. That explains why she isn’t talking all that much. I thought with a wry grin.

Twilight asked about the meeting as the rest of the group came over after Spark left to go do whatever it is he does when he’s not writing about my experiences or bothering me. Probably bugs Ed, House would eat him alive. I told them about my arrival, which got a laugh from them and made me talk Fluttershy out of a check-up, and the meeting when I found out what my pony-ish form. Only Twilight recognized the word draconequus and had to explain the story of Discord to the rest of the girls.

Just as her lecture finished, I pulled out the first thing I needed. The tool in my hand looked like a syringe with three retracted nodes on one end and a button where the plunger should be on the other. Holding the tool and twisting to try and get it in place, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to line the tool up properly on my back with my injured arm. Slumping slightly against the wall I looked at the bored group. I would have to have to get one of their help. “Hey Spike, how squeamish is Rarity?”

She looked at me puzzled. “Why do you ask, darling?

I grimaced. “I need help. Twilight would ask too many questions, again, and Spike doesn’t want to touch any of the tools after what happened last time.” He glared at me menacingly. It would have worked better if I hadn’t seen him freak out when we met Princess Molly.

“I would not!” Twilight yelled, affronted, while stepping forward.

“Needle incident.” I deadpanned.

“Oh.” She sunk back.

I rolled my eyes and turned back. “So, the question?”

Rarity’s pale blue aura took the tool from my hand. “Anything to help a friend.” I explained the procedure and she stepped behind me, Spike accompanying her, as I scooted away from the wall. “I need you to move your wings Vigil.” The aura glowed around my torso as the bottom dropped out of my stomach at her next remark. “And that shirt needs to come off as well. No need to ruin a perfectly good piece of clothing, even if it is a little plain.”

The dragon looked between me and her with an expression matching his panicked gestures to stop the unicorn. “Oh hush.” She responded to Spike before turning to me while I struggled to keep the shirt on against her pulling. “This is nothing to get worked up over. I know you explained the nudity taboo but you said that going topless was acceptable for…” Her voice trailed off. Not a moment later a series of shrieks came from behind me. My wings made an audible snap as they shut rapidly to hide my back.

My chest and stomach only the wavy Y-shaped autopsy scar from my first day in the Facility thanks to my regenerative abilities. My back on the other hand… Well, Lloyd Slate could sympathize with me. There’s nearly nothing but scar tissue back there. Once the angelic part of me was… woken up for lack of a better explanation, I started to regain my identity and independence rather than being Tory’s puppet. He didn’t like his ‘pets’ showing any abnormal behavior. The punishment for any subjects disobeying was mental and physical torture. The physical aspect wasn’t needed, he could use the mental part to make you feel the pain without ever touching you, but I think he just really liked that bladed whip. And fire, he liked burning things.

I spun around to hide my back. All of their faces, once again excluding Spike, Twilight, and Rarity, were frozen in horror. Spike was holding a claw to his face in the same reaction that I had. Rarity looked angry while Twilight just looked sad.

“What happened to you?” Fluttershy’s quiet voice matched her concerned expression. Huh. She was the last one I expected to recover first.

“Drop it. Now.” My voice was flat, emotionless. Under any other circumstances I would feel bad for talking to Fluttershy like that. She’s just too innocent and harmless. Spike wordlessly waddled to me and wrapped his arms around my neck in a sad hug. After a moment I returned the gesture. The small gesture gave me something to hang onto to calm myself again.

“Sorry.” I began, “Those scars don’t hold the happiest of memories.”

“No dear, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have overreacted or taken your shirt without permission.” I allowed Rarity to join the hug briefly to show that I didn’t hold any grudge.

“It’s fine.” I said after taking a few moments to calm down some more and release the child. “Let’s just get this over with.” My wings opened again, leaving my back bare. Rarity quickly pressed the tool against the triangular tattoo on my left shoulder blade then tapped the button. Three needle shot out of their nodes and sunk into the ‘bone’. A low hum began to emanate from the tool as it began to push an electric current into the area, my forearm tingled slightly as the skin and muscle split and opened, revealing the structure beneath.

It wasn’t really much to look at, the bones looked the same at it would on any human it was just made of a gleaming, golden metal with runes and symbols etched into it. I located the problem; a tooth was stuck in my wrist. It seemed to have pulled a few of the golden wires slipping seamlessly into the metal loose as well. I pulled it out with a pair of pliers and put the disconnected wires back at their proper places again. The mechanisms repaired themselves followed by the metal closing around the wires as well. Rarity tapped the button again and the needles retracted making the flesh close around the bones again. The tingling returned as the muscles connected back to the bones and the cut disappeared after a few seconds. I flexed my fingers and arm, making sure that everything was working properly.

Twilight noted the flowing metal. “I thought that metal was supposed to be indestructible but now you’ve damaged it twice and I’ve seen it broken once.”

I snorted at that. “You’ve been reading Tory’s theories Twi, from before I was actually made. In reality my bones are usually less dense and softer than a normal human’s, much less yours. Those same properties let me repair it almost instantly though.”

The group, minus her, Rarity, and Spike, just stared at the arm. Pinkie and Rainbow looked like it was the most awesome thing they’ve ever seen. Fluttershy seemed to be in shock. Applejack looked like she was going to be sick.

I got them to calm down before Twilight and I explained that I wasn’t exactly entirely organic. I explained that I put a seal on either side of the cut to stop blood from spilling as well. They pretty much only had one question for me.

“How?”

“Short version: I died. Long version: Repeatedly. Ask me some other time.”

That was not the answer that they had been looking for apparently. The girls split into an argument about whether or not they should respect my privacy. Applejack and Rarity seemed to be winning against Twilight and Rainbow on the respecting my privacy side while Fluttershy and Pinkie stayed out of it. Pinkie just watched me expectantly with a grin plastered to her face. It also probably would have gone better if the chaotic power currently adjusting to my system hadn’t decided to flare up again.

Spike was the first to notice the strained expression on my face as I tried to hold back the building pressure. He dealt with one of my outbursts in one of the anthromorphic versions of this reality. Horrible, horrible place. He jerked urgently at Rarity’s leg to get her attention away from the squabbling group, babbling and pointing at me the entire time. I let out a strangled groan and clutched at my head while staggering against the table as the feeling of pressure switched to pain. It felt like every nerve in my body had ignited at once then all of the fire was pulled into my skull. I hastily put up a dam to hold back the flow, but I could already feel places were cracks were forming and tiny jets of power sprang out. The pained noise finally got the group’s attention. They all stared as probabilities around me were rewritten, minor details like the arrangement of tools changed as the chaos flooded my Murphionic field. If I held it any longer it could cause some serious damage. I looked up with unseeing eyes as the trapped energy played hell with my systems and forced out a stuttered. “D-d-duck.” The resistance I had put up was easily cast aside and crushed under the tide of chaotic magic. The world vanished in a swirl of indescribable colors and sound.

The pain faded after a moment, allowing me to think again. I immediately jerked up, only to fall over again thanks to my four legs tangling together. The outburst must have switched me back to draconequus again. I’m not even going to ask. I rose to my hooves, scanning for the girls. The entire room, except for a three foot circle around me, was absolutely buried in a pink substance. Neither the girls nor Spike was anywhere to be seen. Oh Gods and Goddesses please let them be ok. I thought while throwing myself at the nearest pile and began digging. The first hoof revealed the substance to be cotton candy. Not three scoops in, seven figures stood up several feet to my right.

An oversized tongue appeared at one of their mouths’ general area and swirled around the figure. The abrupt tongue bath revealed it to be Pinkie, of course. She squealed at the sight of the room, turned around and dove in with a swan dive that would have earned an Olympic diver a unanimous 10.0 and a gold medal on the spot. Impressive for someone who’s joints and skeletal structure shouldn’t allow that.

A flash of purple from the middle figure made the candy jump off of the remaining group. They all stared at the room with unamused expressions. Except Spike who seemed to be taking lessons from Pinkie and followed her with a 3.6 dive. I grinned at them nervously in response, hoping that they didn’t notice me digging in the wrong direction.

“What was that?” Twilight was trying to decide if she should be excited about something new or absolutely furious at me. Again.

“Um… Magical outburst?” I asked hopefully.

She glared with the rest of the group, her tone remained unamused. “Yes, I can see that. What caused it?”

I sighed and plopped down in my clear circle while switching to a wistful tone. “I guess I’m going to have to explain my ‘condition’ then. I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to…” I trailed off, sadly thinking about the upcoming change in their perspective of me. “But, I guess it’s inevitable when people spend time with me. Basically I have something similar to epilepsy.” I noted the comprehension as it dawned on them. Spike just looked bored, he’d heard it before. “I guess all of you know what that is then.” They nodded.

Rainbow cut in. “Yeah, there’s a mare in town that has that. Her eyes are messed up too.”

“She means well, but has her moments…” Rarity added.

“Huh. I think I’ve met her. Ditsy right? Wait, Nevermind. I’m off track again. “Instead of seizures, I have those outbursts.” I though over it for a moment before adding, “Omnius never could figure why though. Anyways, my guess is that my body is reacting badly to the new influx of chaotic magic. It must have made me switch back to this form because draconequine are made to handle chaos.”

I rubbed my temple with my hoof as the headache returned with a vengeance accompanied by a warmth spreading down my lips and chin. A quick check showed that my nose had started bleeding. Not good, that did more damage than I thought. Applejack passed me a handkerchief from Rarity to stem the blood. “This is the second outburst today, but it does seems to be a lot better than my first one.”

“SECOND?!” Twilight panicked. “Where did you have the first one? Did anypony get hurt?! Are you alright?”

I really didn’t want to have to use any complex magics against a Twilight freak out in my current state. Instead, I reached out with a tiny stream of tightly controlled magic, warping my telekinesis into a hand-like structure and gently using the fingers to rub the fur just above her horn. It’s a trick I picked up the first time I was in a form without hands; a lot of my tools need them. She let out a soft groan and basically melted in a manner similar to Pinkie earlier. “Everything is fine. The princesses stopped it before anything could really happen. The throne room got a new makeover though.” That got a small giggle from her. “And Celestia likes the new look.” She really started laughing as I described the new decorations. My voice took on a teasing tone, “But really, is my safety really the last thing on your list?” Everyone started laughing at that.

With everyone calmed again, Applejack made her way over to me while the others started making their way back to the elevator. “What’re ya’ gonna do now?”

I looked over the mess, noting Spike and Pinkie occasionally leaping out of the sugar like dolphins while leaving empty trails behind them. Pinkie squeezed a handful of it over her mouth before squealing “It has chocolate milk in it!” and going back in with renewed vigor.

“I’ll get everyone home after then next room then clean this place up.” I rubbed my temples with my hooves trying to stem the returning headache. “It’s been a long day and I get the feeling that it’s just going to keep dragging on.”

She looked up at me and placed a hoof on my thigh while giving me a wry grin. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help, sugarcube. Ah learned that tha’ hard way.”

My hoof gently touched her shoulder. “I know AJ. I know.”

“Are ya’ alright? Ya’ve seemed a little off all night.” Concerned emerald eyes stared into mine.

I sighed and leaned heavily against the bench. “That I’m not so sure of. Do you ever get the feeling that something big is coming? Like it’s just beyond the horizon and charging at us like a train. I have that feeling about several things and I don’t think any of us are going to like them.”

She nodded solemnly. “Things seem ta be happenin’ a lot in Ponyville these days.”

I straightened back up. “Enough of that. You all are going to love the last room, if the constant stream of questions you’ve been asking since we got here and that argument earlier is any indication.” Back up the elevator we went, this time with no incidents. We made our way through the winding halls to a redwood door with the image of a water drop carved into it. The sound of moving water drifted past it.

“This is my reflection room, usually used for meditation. However, that’s not the room we’re going to. The one we’re looking for is in it.” I opened the door and stepped into a small Japanese-style garden. Wooden bridges crossed over the irrigation streams that fed the irregular plants, samples from many realities, and led to the central pool surrounded by cushions. We silently walked around the circular pool and to the other side where we were presented with another door, this one made out of silvery strange matter. I opened the door and ushered them in.

This room was different than the others in the fact that there was no specific theme. The mismatched set of eight chairs arranged around the fireplace took up most of the room while the similarly unmatched shelves holding all kinds of trinkets and wonders along the walls took up the rest.

All of them, even Pinkie, reverently sat down in the chairs and waited silently for me to begin. The distinct feeling of importance that permeates the room has that effect if you aren’t used to it. I sat at the chair closest to the fire.

“This is my memory room, it holds things from important moments in my life.” The girls’ attention snapped to me as they realized what this meant. I hadn’t let any of them in on my past, so why did I bring them to this room? “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly open about my past. For good reason. But, all of you have earned my trust in your own ways and you may need to know this if you’re going to deal with what I think is coming. I’ve been thinking of doing this for the last few days and the princesses agree that it should be done. Though, for different reasons than mine.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself before continuing, “Now is your last chance to back out. I won’t hold any grudge against you if you choose to stay in the reflection room while this happens. It’s not going to be comfortable for anyone and some of the things you might see… Well, I’m not exactly proud of many of the things I’ve done.”

Not a single pony or dragon left. They just stayed in the same place with a determined expression, even Fluttershy lost her nervousness for the moment.”

“So be it. Close your eyes.” Each one did while I took a rune from one of the shelves. No use in trying to cast this spell by myself. I activated it, watching grey lines connect to each one’s head before they slumped into unconsciousness. The final strand, much darker and larger than the rest slithered to a stop before me I lowered my head and a sharp pain came from the back of it. I faded into darkness yet again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They say that you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain but I have to disagree. So, what about those of us who were never heroes in the first place? I know that Tory made me and those like me to give him an edge in this never ending war, I was created to be Evil and yet I try to fight for Good. What about the people who work behind the scenes so that others can have the spotlight? I’ve never liked the attention. For the others, I can only tell the same thing that Cole MacGrath said today that brought on this line of thinking. "Right or wrong, it's my life and I choose how to use it."

After he said that, he turned to me and asked “What would you chose to do?” At the time, I didn’t know. I don’t know how long I’ll live and I certainly don’t know what is going to come to pass before the end. I can still remember every detail about the beginning, the first moments outside of the Facility. It was tearing itself apart, all of the test subject running amuck, as I looked down from the hill where Omnius, or Nate as he prefers me to call him now, held out his hand. I wasn’t sure how I should have been feeling at the destruction of everything I had known or what I would do now that it was gone, but I charged headfirst into the great unknown when I took that hand. I have never regretted that decision. But now that I look back over the last century since that day, I finally have an answer for myself and my friend Cole. I chooseto live every day my way. I choosehow I will act and what I will do. That’s what I regained from Tory after he took it, my ability to make my own choices. In the end even if I’m regarded as a pariah, the important people will remember who I choseto be. Even if it’s only by a few friends over my grave.

-Excerpt from Vigil’s early journal.

Chapter 4: Hymns, Cookies, And An Awkward Meeting

Chapter 4: Hymns, Cookies, And An Awkward Meeting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to the sound of tapping. As if there was someone rapping at my chamber door. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in a darkened library. The memories came flooding back to my sleep-deprived brain, Spike stuck in the city of eternal night, getting him home, finding ourselves in this library and finally, passing out from overusing my abilities. The sound repeated itself and I scanned the room, trying to find the source.

My eyes slipped into night vision, what passed for retinas in my eyes changing their composition to meet the environment. I will never need those goggles again. I noted the six sleeping forms of the ponies from the night before sprawled randomly on the floor, each covered in blankets and resting on a pillow. I couldn’t see Spike anywhere. The noise repeated again, my new ears twitching and turning towards the disturbance. I followed them, and finally figured out the source. The front door. Someone was knocking at the front door. I facepalmed… hooved and let out a small yelp as the hard surface impacted my face. Yep, I’m still an idiot.

I gingerly rose to my hooves, every muscle and joint screaming in protest the entire way, before carefully picking my way over through the minefield of girls. I cleared the group and opened the door to find a tiny yellow pony. She appeared to be female, judging by her curved muzzle and the bow in her red hair… mane. She peered up at me in confusion.

“Erm… Excuse me mister, is mah sister in there?” Her voice had a heavy southern drawl, similar to Applejack’s. I guess that’d be her sister then.

I silently moved to the side and gestured for her to come in. She complied and immediately rushed over to her sister, laying down against the larger mare and nuzzling her gently. I smiled at the adorable scene. This is one of the few times I was happy that my heart had been augmented and replaced, I would probably have had a heart attack from the sheer amount of cute. The tiny pony, apparently a fairly young one, let out a happy sigh. “Thanks mister, ah’ve been lookin’ for her for hours.” She dragged the last word out childishly to accentuate her point. “She didn’t say she’d be stayin’ here tonight. I was worried somthin’ got her.”

I simply nodded and painfully made my way through the girls again to get back to my spot. She squirmed around for a few minutes before stopping and letting out an exasperated breath. My voice broke the silence, the low baritone carrying over to her. “Can’t sleep?”

She crawled over her sister to get to my side before moving back against her and replying, “Yeah, Big Mac or AJ sing a song to make me go to sleep but they didn’t tonight.”

“Hmm…” I mulled over what she said for a few moments, my hoof stroking my chin. “Do you want to hear a song? I sang it to my sister when she was little.”

She looked at me quizzically before nodding slowly. “Sure mister.”

I smiled at her. “Ok, but don’t make fun of my singing voice, I know I’m not very good.”

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now am found

Was blind but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer's ear

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds

And drives away his fear

Must Jesus bear the cross alone

And all the world go free?

No, there's a cross for ev'ryone

And there's a cross for me”

The final few notes echoed in the library’s silence. I looked over to see the little pony slipping in and out of consciousness. Her high pitched voice taking on a dreamy quality. “Mister? What’s that song?”

I smiled again, old memories replaying in my head. “It’s a very old song from where I’m from. It was very important to my family, my grandparents loved it and it was my dad’s favorite hymn. Both of my parents were religious." My smile faded and my eyes burned as my thoughts drifted further, my voice quieted. “I played it on a few different instruments at my grandparents’ funerals.”

She nodded absently, not quite catching the last part. “Where’s yer family? Why aren’t yall with them?”

The burning sensation increased but my voice remained steady. “A long time ago I was taken from them.”

Her eyes opened again, sadness evident in the large orbs. “That’s so sad. Do you think you’ll ever find them?”

I bowed my head and shook it sadly, tears escaping and dripping to the floor. My reply came broken between silent sobs, “No, I'll never see any of them again.”

She got up and moved close to me, leaning gently against my side. “Ah’m sorry mister. That’s terrible. Ah don’t know what ah’d do without my family.” She sadly sunk to the floor.

I laid a wing over her comfortingly, still wrestling with my emotions. After I recovered enough to be able to speak, “Cherish them while they’re still here. One day they might not be.” She laid her head down. “Get some sleep little one, tomorrow's going to be busy."

The library returned to silence, broken only by the sounds of sleepy breathing and the occasional soft snore. I looked down at the filly, she had slipped into unconsciousness in seconds. I chuckled to myself and started to settle in for what remained of the night with a smile, when a soft voice broke the silence again.

“Why do you laugh?”

I looked up again to find Pinkie sitting and staring at me seriously. Her hair was less crazed, hanging down rather than spring out into the air, but the insane curls remained. How did I not notice her before? She was completely out a minute ago, right?

“You’ve seen horrors that no one should have to. You’ve willingly been through even worse. You’ve had things done to you that by all means would have broken anypony else. But you’re still here. And laughing. Why?” She had gotten up and paced towards me, accenting the final question by shoving her face into mine. The serious expression didn’t seem right on her usually joyous face, but it stayed obviously waiting for an answer.

I got up, using my wings to lift the sleeping filly onto my back before covering her with them, then moved slowly to the kitchen. Pinkie followed closely. I searched the cupboards until I found a glass, then filled it at the sink and drank in slowly. Pinkie watched me closely the entire time. I set the cup down and faced her. “How do you know that?”

She rolled her eyes before meeting mine, sympathy emanated from the baby blues. “Your scars. And your eyes.”

I looked down quickly. I had ditched my trench coat back in the library and in the light of the kitchen I could see that she was right, my scars were showing. The scales on my chest and stomach showed healed cracks and cuts, including a circle just under my ribcage from the run in with Jack, that were several shades lighter than the rest of the scales. The old Y-shaped scar and several other cuts from my original incident were the lightest. “Honestly? Laughing makes those around me feel better. No reason that my pain should affect anyone but me.”

She tried to catch my eyes again, but I kept looking away. “I’m the element of laughter, I know what you mean. Most of the elements are fairly straight-forward, but laughter can be anything. It can uplift, but it can also be twisted to worsen another’s pain. All I can get from you is the first kind though.” She looked around before glancing at the plate of cookies still on the table. Her hair sprang up with a cartoonish twang. “Would you like a cookie? I made them for you because youlookedlikeyouwouldlikecookies.” She started speaking so quickly and animatedly that it took me a few moments to decipher what her words had blended into.

“Um… Sure? I don’t actually need to eat or drink anymore though.” Her gasp in response to that information would put Kirby to shame. I picked up a cookie anyway and nibbled on it. It was delicious. I ravenously devoured the rest of it, it never stood a chance. “I haven’t had anything like that in years.” I looked back up from the remains of the treat to find Pinkie with a smile that had no business fitting on her face. Something about that smile made me very nervous.

My fears were confirmed when she sprung at me, pinning my on my back. Pinkie started shoveling cookies into my mouth with no regard for my respiratory system as I tried to get out from under her. The entire time she kept me pinned to the floor, screaming something about how nopony should ever have to wait that long for baked goods. I managed to get the resting filly to the side, still bundled in my wing, before my back impacted the wooden floor. Said filly slept through the entire debacle.

Luckily I was saved from a cookie related asphyxiation by a light blue aura that surrounded Pinkie before lifting her up and leaving her dangling a few feet in the air. She squirmed and fought it, still trying to force feed me the entire time. I gathered myself again, wheezing and coughing, and rose to my hooves, only to be greeted with an unhappy looking Rarity and Applejack. I backed up slowly, crumbs and bits of cookie falling off of me, until I was pressed against the wall. This could end very badly.

“What are you two doing in here? I was having a marvelous dream before being so rudely interrupted. Oh, Prince Blueblood…” Rarity petered off, looking wistful.

Applejack just stared at Rarity before shaking her head and glaring at Pinkie and I. “What in tarnation were yall up to in here?”

A small voice came out of my left wing along with a squirming filly. “It wasn’t his fault sis. Pinkie was just bein' herself.” I gently unfurled my wing and set down the young pony.

I examined her, making sure she hadn’t been hurt in the collision, before brushing a few loose feathers and scales off of her from her makeshift bed. “Really? You slept through me getting tackled and choked, but woke up to you sister’s slightly raised voice?”

She looked up at me and nodded like it was completely normal. “Yep.”

I sighed and turned to Applejack, Rarity was still in dreamland. “This one woke me up earlier looking for her sister, which from the accent I’m guessing is you. Miss Pie started asking questions, so I picked up the little one and came in here for a glass of water when Miss Pie gave me a cookie. Finally Miss Pie attacked me and started shoving cookies down my throat which is when you came in.” I turned to look at the still struggling Pinkie. “Did I miss anything?”

She stopped and thought about it. “Nope. I think that covers everything. But just call me Pinkie.” She immediately went back to struggling and trying to assault me with baked goods.

I just stared at her, “She’s weird, even by my standards.”

“She’s not weird, just… random.” A scratchy, tomboyish voice came from the library. Pinkie just giggled.

I let out a long breath. “Can we go back to bed now? I’m still exhausted.”

They all nodded and we made our way back to the library. We all had just settled down when someone started hammering on the front door.

“Again?!” I groaned from my corner.

Twilight was the first up and opened the door, still half asleep. She jumped slightly, visibly startled by what she saw. “H-h-hello P-p-princess Celestia” She stuttered out.

A tall, alabaster winged unicorn stepped through the door. “Hello my student. I felt a disturbance from here.” She looked over the girls with a smile. Until her gaze fell on me.

On the upside, I recognized her. On the downside, she didn't recognize me. I knew her as a Goddess of Good, specifically of the sun and day. I walked slowly up to her and bowed as low as I could before her. “Greetings madam. Can I get you something?” Always be polite to a being that can turn you inside out.

She took a different approach. I was lifted off of my hooves and brought before her. I froze and remained perfectly still as she carefully examined me. She flipped me upside down and examined the scales covering my chest and stomach. “You aren’t one of my little ponies. What are you?”

I looked up at her. “I honestly have no idea what my species is. Don't you know?”

She turned me back right side up and set me on my hooves. “You appear to be something new. Now let’s see where you came from little one.” A tingling feeling at the back of my head began just as her horn lit up.

Processing.

Processing..

Processing…

NOPE. I jumped back, the sudden movement breaking her magic. Memory viewing spell, very useful, but not when the subject has been through what I have. No one should see what I have, not even gods. She stared blankly at me.

I glanced around awkwardly. The girls were staring between me and their Princess with expressions of confusion. Even Fluttershy was out from behind her friends with an expression of curiosity. “Sooo…. Did you just..?”

Celestia nodded her head “Yes.”

“Was it..?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“Just the beginning.”

I winced, that was the worst part. “How much of that did you see?”

She looked at me with pity in her eyes. “The first week.”

I shuddered at the memory and lowered my head. “That’s not even the worst part.”

Her expression changed to one of pure horror. “What happened to you?”

I looked up and met her eyes, my body trembling with barely contained rage.

“Torrentican.”