//------------------------------// // 3 - Epiphany // Story: Remember, Always // by TheFullCrumb //------------------------------// Volt had barely enough time to gallop over to Twilight and knock her out of the path of the bolt of lightning before it struck, taking the full force of the lightning himself. Twilight watched as he contorted in the air, writhing in pain. Oh, the stupid things I do to keep others safe. This doesn't hurt as much as- Ow! Not cool, not cool! He slammed into the ground, smoke trailing off of him. He groaned weakly as he tried to get up. “That... really... hurt.” Pinkie Pie rushed over to help him out – how she had avoided being hit by the lightning bolt, Volt would never know – pulling as hard as she could. Applejack came rushing over to try and drag him out of the hole he was in. “Don't worry, sugarcube, ah'll have ya out of that there hole in no time at all!” As he watched them try and help him out, his vision started to blur, and he blacked out, falling unconscious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The nightmare... it did not feel like a nightmare. He could feel everything, from the rain, to the ground underneath his feet. He was on the roof, but this time, the doctor was replaced by his older brother, wielding a very sharp knife. “Come on, Erik. This time, you're going to die!” Erik ducked as his brother lunged, kicking out his brother's feet, sending him sailing over the edge. Looking over, he could see that his brother had landed in a nearby river. Spitting, he turned and walked back to the centre of the roof. The roof access door slammed open, and around eight policemen came on the roof, pointing their weapons at him. Erik chuckled and stepped back. “Well, this might be the end of the road for me.” The policemen screamed at him, but he could not hear them. He could not feel the rain anymore, nor the ground. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Then he woke up. He was sitting in his bed that Applejack had given him. Looking around, there was Applejack, Applebloom, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie, plus three others he had not met before. He looked down at his own body to see a large portion of his body bandaged up. “How long... was I out?” He glanced over at Applejack. “'Bout three days, sugarcube.” “That's good- wait, why is Twilight bandaged up? I thought I pushed her out of the way of the lightning.” He had not noticed it during his look at the room before, but Twilight was indeed injured, with what looked like a bruise on the right side of her face. “Uh, yeah. You were so peaceful, I thought I would try to change your bandages, but then you started thrashing around... and this happened.” Volt tried to get up, but was pushed down by one of the three he did not know, the cream-coloured Pegasus with a bubblegum-pink mane. “Please... please don't get up. You're really hurt... and I don't think it would be good if you moved any more.” “Fluttershy, he was out for three days. I don't think he needs any more time for 'not moving.'” Volt looked at the cream-coloured Pegasus, the one Twilight had called Fluttershy. “Thanks, Fluttershy. Concern for my well-being... that's something I've rarely seen.” He forced himself to get up, and started coughing. Looking up, he could see that Fluttershy looked really nervous when he got up. “Don't worry, just something that happens whenever I get hurt, and haven't moved in a while.” He managed a slight smile, while hiding how much pain he was in. Man alive, she was right! I shouldn't be moving, heck, I shouldn't even be alive! I feel like I've been hit by a freight train! He walked slowly to the door, holding himself up with various pieces of furniture along the way. As he stood by the door, he felt another pony help hold him up. He looked down to see Twilight help him along. “Thanks for saving me, by the way. I don't know what would have happened if I had gotten hit, Volt.” She smiled up at him as he weakly nodded. “Maybe you should help me back to bed.” As Twilight helped him back to bed, he began chuckling. “I just realized something. Pinkie Pie was on my back for a while, and she didn't get hit by the lightning. How does that work?” All eyes in the room fell on Pinkie Pie, who sat there with another one of her Cheshire Cat smiles, the kind of smile that scared Volt a little. “Silly! I jumped off before he ran at Twilight to knock her out of the way!” The cerulean Pegasus, the one Volt had zapped before, piped in. “That was super-cool the way you galloped in and pushed her out of the way! I wish I had been there to see it!” Volt shook his head in amazement. “Word travels fast in small towns.” He laid back again and stared up at the ceiling. As he stared, he noticed a spider making a web in one of the cracks. Almost as soon as it finished, a loud thump was heard from outside, and the spider fell on Volt's nose. “Could somepony please get this spider off my nose?” Twilight smiled and levitated it off of him. A voice calling out caught her attention. Looking out the window, she had a quizzical expression on her face. “Princess Celestia is standing outside, girls. Maybe she has something for us?” Almost as if on cue, a small purple-and-green dragon – at least Volt assumed it was a dragon. It reminded him of Barney – burst into the room. “Twilight! I've been looking everywhere for you! The Princess wants to meet Volt, who, according to her, 'is the stallion who saved her faithful student.'” Everypony's eyes turned on Volt. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea. The last time I ever met somepony in authority, it didn't end very well.” The mayor had gotten a restraining order on me. Not my fault I was trying to keep people from spraying her with paintballs. Well, heh, I guess it was. He felt himself float above the ground in a bubble of purple energy. Looking down at the rest, he noticed Twilight's horn glowing. “Ah, that makes more sense... I think.” Sitting comfortable in the bubble, he drifted along behind Twilight and her posse as they descended the stairs, only once getting stuck behind a door. Outside, a very tall pony stood. Wearing what appeared to be crown jewels – he could only guess, he had never seen anything like them before – she stood quite regally, waiting for them. “Hello, my little ponies. I trust you've all been doing well?” She looked up at Volt. “Well, mostly well, it would seem. How are you, Volt Ward?” Twilight let Volt slowly down on the ground. He swayed for a little bit before regaining his footing. “Fine, though, confused. The lightning bolt should have killed me, yet it didn't.” He glanced at Celestia for an answer. “I don't believe I can alleviate your confusion, Volt, but I can give you some understanding. I've been given some reports by townsponies that you zapped Rainbow Dash here with an electric bolt. That's available to only a few ponies, that kind of magic.” “Really?” So that's what I hit her with in my anger. “You must have been able to absorb some of the electricity from the lightning strike, which would explain why you were injured, but not outright killed.” “Well...” That... actually makes me feel kind of awesome. Not sure what to say. Volt nodded, smiling. “Thank you, Princess. That does alleviate my confusion.” Celestia nodded and charged her horn with energy, disappearing in a brilliant flash of light. “But that still doesn't explain how I got here, or anything about what's happening to me!” He glanced over at Twilight, who had a little bit of a giddy grin on her face, like a schoolgirl who has just gotten something she always wanted. “You've got some incredible magic! I can help you learn how to use it!” She levitated him into the air once more, albeit more rough. Fluttershy tried to get Twilight's attention, but to no avail. “If you experiment on me, Twilight, I swear, you won't know the end of it.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When they reached Twilight's library – Volt assumed it was hers, considering she lived there – the same dragon from before opened the door and ushered them in. “Spike, how has the cleanup been going since the storm three days ago?” “Fine, but it would be nice to have some help.” She opened another door, this one going down a bunch of stairs to a dark area, dimly lit. “So, that's Volt? I imagined he'd be-” “If you say 'bigger', I swear I'll fry you senseless.” Volt's threat seemed to make Spike shut up – the dragon's name apparently. Volt would have never guessed it at all – which was a welcome reprieve. “I wasn't going to say bigger, all right! I was going to say different.” Spike ran up another flight up of stairs nearby and sat on a small chair, watching Twilight and Volt as they descended the dimly lit stairs. “Hey, Twilight?” She looked up and stopped, a serious expression replacing a smile from earlier. “What is it, Volt?” “Well, where... exactly... are you taking me?” His question was answered when several overhead lights flickered to life above him, and brought into view several pieces of equipment that would make a comic-book super villain a happy camper at Christmas. “Forget I asked.” Setting him down, she had him don a helmet that reminded him of a combination of a colander, Christmas lights, and several AA batteries. “What's the point of all of this?” “To determine what allowed you to absorb the electricity! Something like that could revolutionize the way we think! Power from storms! It could be-” She took a breath, much to Volt's chagrin. “-amazingly wonderful.” “You done?” “Yeah.” One of the machines, which, to Volt, looked like an old reel-to-reel tape recorder – he knew someone who had owned one – except it printed out strips of data on paper, instead of output on a computer screen. A long strip of paper zipped out quickly, much faster than Volt would have expected. Twilight ripped it out of the machine and quickly scanned it. Her expression changed to one of fear, and Volt could only begin to guess what the data had said. “Uh, Volt? Something's... wrong with the equipment.” He pulled the helmet off and stared at her. “That's all?” “I've needed to replace these for a while. They're getting quite old, and they break down fairly often.” A machine across the room spewed smoke, blanketing the room in a dark fog. Volt dropped to the ground, making sure he could breathe. On his right, he heard a thump as Twilight fell over. “You have to be kidding me. Did she not ever get a lesson like this? 'If you see smoke, get low to the ground. There's clean air down there.'” Breathing deep, he held his breath as he moved forward and nudged himself under her, gritting his teeth. For crying out loud! Why is she so freaking heavy? It feels like I'm trying to lift a Hummer! He concentrated on putting one hoof in front of the other, getting to the stairs, and climbing. He could see a figure at the top of the stairs as he slowly, but surely, made it to the top. As his vision cleared and he could see the library, he collapsed into a coughing fit. As he passed out, the last thing he saw was Spike standing over him with what could be considered an angry expression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “I've been here before.” He looked around. He himself was in a hospital room, lying down in a bed. He reached up and felt his forehead. He was bandaged. Bringing his hand back into view, he saw it had blood on it. A nurse entered and locked the door. “I'm sorry, but we couldn't do anything for you. You will never walk again, or do anything again, for that matter.” Pounding at the door signaled another staff member was trying to get it. The “nurse” picked up a scalpel and held it to Erik's throat. “You let my son die, so now you die!” The door broke down to policemen armed with stun prods. The “nurse” faced them and held the scalpel to her own neck. “I'm going to do it! Don't think I won't!” As a police officer advanced to attempt to disarm her, she slit her jugular, blood spraying everywhere, all over everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Volt woke back up, putting his hoof to his head. Another nightmare, but this one had been different. It felt so... familiar, but yet it felt alien to him. Looking around, he saw he was sitting in a hospital bed. Twilight was in a bed beside him. Spike was sitting in a stool, angrily glaring at Volt. “What's your problem, dragon? I tried to save her, okay? The least you could do is say thanks.” Spike got off his stool and brought himself very close to Volt's face. “If you weren't here, Twilight wouldn't have gotten hurt.” “Why don't you just get out of my face? I took a bolt of lightning to save her. I'd do it for anypony.” Volt laid back, exhausted. Just that little bit of exertion had tired him out. A loud knock at the door startled Spike. When he opened it, a ball of happiness entered the room. Pinkie Pie bounced in with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and the sixth one. Volt still had to ask her name. Ignoring him, they all concentrated on Twilight. Volt pulled the covers off of himself and tried to get up. None of the others were paying attention. When he looked over by the window, a form all too familiar was sitting there. It was himself, but as a human. “You realize that you've acclimatized to another world, right? Volt Ward, the pony who refuses to die. Has a nice ring to it. They're ignoring you, mostly because, right now, all this is in-” Erik tapped Volt on the forehead. “Your mind. When I leave, it will all seem different. You will remember what I've said. There's one more thing before I go. Who you are, and what you do here, is entirely up to you. It's a parallel similar to our world. Remember that.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Volt woke up again. Well, he had been awake, just not fully aware. Shadow Wing, the strange black Pegasus filly, was sleeping in a chair near the window. Spike was staring at Twilight with a look of worry. Volt smiled at Spike. “Don't worry. She'll be okay. Just be glad I got her out of there before she breathed in any more smoke.” Glancing back at Shadow Wing, he could see she was starting to wake up. Her yawning was like watching a small kitten yawning... it was too cute. “Hey, Shadow. Glad you're here.” He smiled and laid back. She timidly approached, pulling a stepladder behind her. Clambering up it, she was at eye level with Volt. “You're a strange pony, you know that? First a bolt of lightning to the face, and that barely fazes you, then one of Twilight's gizmos catches fire, and you have enough willpower to force yourself to drag her out of the smoke.” She put her head on his leg and began falling asleep again. “But... you're... really... soft...” She began quietly snoring as Volt stared up at the ceiling. “Sheesh. This is an odd turn of events.” What am I going to do? That dragon doesn't like me, at least, I don't think he does. I've got a Pegasus who is unnaturally black – the rest seem all pastel colours – and I have withstood a lightning bolt to the face. What's going on here that I am not seeing? Volt wracked his brain for the clues, but none were presenting themselves. “Something here is going on, and it's affecting me, down to my own memories.” Why he had seen himself, his human form, why he had this feeling that the world itself was not as it seemed, these questions forced their way into his focus as he tried to concentrate. All of this. There's something they're not telling me. Do they know? Did that machine tell Twilight what I really am? Is there something about this world that's going wrong, and- No, I'm overthinking this. The answer has to be much simpler. Bringing his focus back to what was going on around him, he listened into the conversation a now conscious Twilight was having with her friends. “I don't understand it at all. The machine printed out a series of meaningless numbers and letters. It doesn't make any sense.” Volt flipped over to face them. “A cypher.” They all stared at him like he had suggested that they all go bathe in a vat of honey. “No, I'm serious. Cyphers are cryptic messages hidden within plain sight, often within books. Many authors I knew could disguise a message within a page of a book. Twilight, how did the numbers and letters come out?” “In a random sequence, a number beside every letter. Why?” “Because you've just been sent a cypher. Something in it was instructions for your machine to destroy itself, but only that one machine.” Spike handed him the thin sheet of paper. “There are twenty six letters in the alphabet, which corresponds to each number.” Reading it all, it started forming in his head. “An offset of 13. Each letter is off by 13 spaces. The letter A is M, and so on like that!” He handed it back to Spike, who started scribbling down the message. When he had finished, the message was short. “The message says, 'Kill them both.'” A loud gasp was heard throughout the room. “'Kill them both?' But who'd have a grudge against you two?” Volt stared out the window. “There's something going on that somepony isn't telling us.” Outside, in Ponyville, something bright flashed. Shielding his eyes, Volt was surprised to see that Ponyville... was now burning. “But that doesn't matter right now! Spike, did you put out the machine that had broken down?” “N-No?” “Then we've got a firestorm on our hooves.” Volt stood up, groaning. Even though some of the others in the room tried to push him down, he forced them away. “I won't let anypony get hurt because of me.” He slowly moved towards front doors of the hospital, trying to keep himself from focusing on the pain. Just keep moving. Get out the front doors, and out to the street. Organize an effective fire-fighting force. There has to be... somepony who can help. He fell over, trying to move. No, it can't end like this! I need to save them, save them all! Rainbow Dash stood over him, frowning. He reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down. “H-Hey! Let go-” “Listen to me! You have to get a group together to get water on those fires! Start with the source – Twilight's library, then move out from there! Hurry!” Rainbow Dash zipped away, to where, Volt did not know. Four others galloped by, going to Ponyville to help try and put it out. Twilight stopped by him, with Spike on her back. “You've done enough, Volt. Let us handle this-” “You don't understand!” He coughed while he spoke, forcing himself up off the ground. “I'm doing this so I can be a friend to those in need! Do you understand, or are we going to banter this while your library and the town are burning?!” He slowly trotted forward, each step full of pain, as he forced himself towards Ponyville. If I can get near some water, I can figure out a way to get it on the fire- rain barrels! They have to have rain barrels somewhere, right? Glancing around quickly, he noticed four barrels with pipes sticking out of them. Twilight stood beside him. “You've done all you can do! We can-” “Get... those rain barrels! Take them to the library, and put out the fire! Your friend, the cerulean Pegasus, she'll... meet you there! Go!” Twilight looked like she was about to argue her point, when she stared at Volt. His face was set, a look of determination and strength. She nodded and levitated the barrels, running towards the epicentre of the fire. He looked up at the sky. “Go on. I dare you.” He noticed several Pegasus ponies pushing clouds towards the fires. Rainbow Dash was leading them. “Come on team! Let's take out those fires!” Volt forced himself to gallop, making his way to her. “What good are clouds going to do?! We need water!” Volt backed up when Rainbow Dash glared at him. “These are rain clouds! We've got all the water you need right here!” To prove her point, she maneuvred her cloud over a fire, and hopped up and down on it. A torrential downpour rushed out, obliterating the fire. “All right, then! Get moving! I'll do what I can down here!” What can I do? I don't even know how to do anything! What good will I be? He kept trotting, blocking out as much pain as he could. He looked at the tree where Twilight's library had been. He saw her throw the rain-barrels at the fire, putting out most of it. Overhead, Pegasus ponies were bringing rain clouds in to tackle other fires that had sprung up. As he kept moving, a figure darted from one shadow to another. “Hey! Stop right there!” A dark Pegasus filly came out of the shadows. “Shadow Wing, what are you doing?! It's not safe here!” He backed up when she laughed, and grew to a larger size. There were holes in her hooves, and insect-like wings on her back. She started laughing in a strange voice. “You really think that you can stop us? My subjects will feast upon the love that is within Equestria, and become ever stronger!” Volt stared at her with fire in his eyes. “And you think I'll just stand by, and let you commit what my people would call genocide? Fat chance!” Volt was growing angrier by the minute. “You won't get away with that!” “I've already gotten away with starting fires in Ponyville! This will be nothing compared to my invasion of Canterlot! You ponies won't stand a chance!” Volt pawed the ground with his hoof. “And when you do, I will be there, waiting. And you'll wish you hadn't messed with Volt Ward!” He spat on the ground as the strange being flew away on her insect wings. He slumped to the ground, his adrenaline spent. “This won't be good. If this was just the precursor to something bigger, we might not be able to defend” This is just like when someone set fire to my science project in Grade Four, and told me it would be me later. I was able to defend against him by making myself ready, but can something like that be a parallel to this? How can that be even close! Twilight came rushing up as the light behind Volt died down. “They've put out most of the fires. Many portions of Ponyville will have to be rebuilt, but at least we got to it in time! Though... my books. Most of them caught on fire.” Twilight put her head down. “Twilight.” “Yes, Volt?” Volt could clearly see the tears in her eyes. “It wasn't your machine that caused this.” Twilight sniffed and looked straight at Volt. “What? What do you mean?” “Something... did this deliberately. She mentioned something about an invasion of Canterlot. That we could not hope to defend against her.” Volt watched as the sun began to cut through the smoke and shine on Ponyville. The shadow on Volt's face, however, remained. “What happened here, there's something coming." "And there might not be anything we can do to stop it."