unWANTED : Walk with Acceptance

by travelingbard

Ch. 5- No place like it

The group looked on in shocked silence as the human went from crying to laughter, then back again. He went on like this until he finally collapsed to his knees and screamed at the sky for the final time. Twilight walked over and hugged him.

“I’m sorry,” Zero said, wiping his face and returned the hug. “I’m sorry you had to see all that.”

“No, it’s ok,” Twilight said, “It’s ok to cry. Do you feel better now?”

Zero let go of Twilight and stood up, taking a deep breath and stretching his arms out as far as they would go.

“Yeah. Yeah, I feel much better now that I am free of that box,” he said, gesturing towards the tent.

The rest of the group came up to him at this point and someone asked him what he meant by free. Zero took another deep breath so he wouldn’t start shaking again.

“Well, I can’t remember everything. It’s all just bits and pieces. The little that I do remember is THAT box!” He stretched his arms wide again and looked to the sky. “For the first time ever, I can see the world outside of THAT box.”

“But, sugar cube,” Applejack said, resting a hoof on his leg, “This aint YOUR world.”

Zero looked down at her with sad eyes. “I wish it was. It’s beautiful here.”

“It is indeed, human,” Luna said, “But my sister has ordered your return to your own world with as much of your belonging as you can carry with you.”

“But why?” Zero asked. “Cant I stay a little longer?”

“Princess Celestia says you don’t belong here, Zero,” Twilight chimed in. “She said you have to leave immediately.”

“How does she expect me to carry THAT with me?” Zero said, gesturing to his glass box. “And how AM I getting home , anyway?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Rarity piped up. The rest of the group nodded at this comment.

“We will worry about your box later,” Twilight said, her horn suddenly glowing. “As for how you’re getting home; let me worry about that.”

She closed her eyes and the glow of her horn intensified for a second. There was a small flash and a brown book with a sun on its cover appeared in midair, hovering in front of her. There were two more flashes as a bottle of ink and a quill appeared besides it. She sat down as she opened the book and began to write.

“I’m going to sent Sunset a message telling her your coming. Go and get your things, Zero.”

Zero wondered how writing in a book would let the sunset know he was coming, but he didn’t voice it. He was, after all, in a world of techno colored talking ponies with magic and could fly.

He walked into his shattered home and looked around for the first time again. Torn or burnt books and pages were scattered all over the place, along with broken pieces of various medical equipment. He saw in one corner a treadmill and book case broken beyond repair. Pieces and keys of a piano littered the floor of the opposite corner. Other workout equipment and musical instruments lay bent and broken everywhere. The only thing that didn’t seem to be broken was a wide metal table in the middle room. He walked to it and ran his fingers on its smooth surface. As he did this, he tilted his head sideways to look above the table and say the broken lights.

Lights…

Lights…

Lights…

Zero turned his head to find he was on the table, looking up at the lights.

“Hold him” a voice said from just beyond the light.

Zero tried to turn towards the voice but the lights from above blinded him.

Dark figures entered the light and fell over him, holding him down.

“Wait! Please don’t! NO!” he cried to the shadows

He struggled against the shadows, but they were too strong.

He woke with a start and found he was in his room on the table. He looked around to find no one there in the room but himself.

“A dream,” he said, catching his breath, “Just another dream.”

He took a couple more deep breaths to calm his nerves and laid back down and closed his eyes.

…zero…

His eyes snapped open and he whirled his head around.

…Zero…

There it was again.

Getting closer.

“...ZERO…"

“They’re coming for me!”

Zero closed his eyes tightly and curled up into a ball.

“GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!”

“ZERO!”

“GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!”

“ZERO!”

Zero opened his eyes to find the group over him, looking at him with concern and shock.

“Are you ok, Zero?”

“Wha…? What happened?”

“Well, one minute you were just standing next to that table looking thing-” Fluttershy said.

“-And the next, you were on the ground rolling all over the place screaming!” Rainbow Dash finished.

“I…I did?” Zero asked. He tried to get up, but immediately regretted the action. He fell back down and cradled his head. His whole body ached.

“Whoa there!” Applejack said. “Easy there. Don’t get up too fast. Just rest for a second.”

Zero nodded and waited for the world to stop spinning.

“What happened, Zero?” Spike asked.

“I… I don’t know. I was suddenly bound on the table, and I heard voices.”

“Voices?” Rarity asked. “Who’s? What did they say?”

“I don’t know. All it said was to ‘hold him down’. Then shadows tried to do just that. Then I woke up.”

“Is that why you were screaming?”

Zero nodded, than shook his head.

“No. No I was yelling because the voices were coming after me while I was sleeping.”

“What voices? What’s going on in here?”

Twilight came in and Applejack relayed everything that happened.

“I believe that Zero had another vision of his fragmented past,” Luna said.

“What triggered it?” Twilight said in a businesslike manner.

Luna tilted her head towards the table and Twilight walked up to it. She touched it and examined it. She walked around it and her horn glowed purple as she examined it with her magic.

Finally she walked over to Zero and said, “It looks like an ordinary examiner’s table. What happened, Zero?”

“I don’t know. I just touched it and… and…” Zero clutched his head again and felt a tear roll down his cheek.

“I’m sorry, Zero,” she said, “I didn’t mean to-“

“No no. It’s ok, Twilight,” Zero said, wiping his face with his arm. “I know you’re just trying to help.”

There was an awkward silence between them when Twilight suddenly said, “Oh yeah! Sunset Shimmer said she’ll be waiting for you by the school.”

“Sunset Shimmer? What school?” Zero had no idea what she was talking about.

“Canterlot High. You don’t remember?”

Zero had no idea what she was talking about and shook his head.

“Dang. I was hoping the name would jog your memory or something.”She sighed and held out her hoof to Zero. “Are you ready to go?”

Zero took the helping gustier and stood up. “I think so. Let me take one more look around before we go.”

He walked around a bit more without having a painful flashback memory thing. He grabbed what little that wasn’t burnt or broken and placed them inside a backpack he found. He moved a piece of the piano to find some clothing underneath.

“Huh…” Zero said.

A little orange filly Pegasus with a purplish mane came over and stared at the clothing in his hands.

“What is it? What’cha find?” she asked.

Zero brushed off the glass to find it was a pair of underwear and jeans.

His face suddenly felt hot for some reason and he said simply, “It’s just my clothes.”

He raised his voice a little so the others could hear. “Could I get a little bit of privacy here, please?”

The others nodded and began to walk out of the tent when Discord snapped his talons and a folding screen appeared in-between Zero and the others. Zero scooted the little filly out towards the entrance before untying the makeshift-rainbow-skirt-thing and the bandages around his midriff and legs.

Man, Twilight and the doctor were right. I do have a lot of cuts and holes all on me.

The cuts were recent, but the holes were all ready scabbed over. He counted the scabs and found that each leg had about 20 small and big holes in his skin, mostly around his joints. They didn’t hurt as he pulled the underwear on, but the roughness of the jeans slightly irritated him. He began to remove the wraps on his arms, but found them to be more prominent then his legs were and wrapped them back up.

When he was done, he stuffed the rainbow skirt into his backpack and swung his shoulders. He looked around one last time before finally gave up on the hope of finding a pair of shoes and began to walk toward the opening of the tent when something caught his eye. He walked over and knelt by the body of Adam. He saw a small lump in his front pocket that he hadn’t noticed before. He reached in to it and his fingers gripped the edges of something. He pulled out a small rectangular black thing with a shiny surface on one side.

He pressed one of the buttons on the side and the screen lit up with a beautiful picture of a golden field. The man called Adam was standing in the middle of the picture with a little girl in a white sun dress in his arms. Standing next to him was a beautiful woman in the same kind of sun dress as the little girl was wearing. She had green eyes and long, glossy black hair that was blowing in the breeze as the picture was taken. He noticed the little girl had the same color hair as the women did, but her eyes were the same as the man. Zero looked to Adams and realized what the picture meant. He raised Adam’s left hand to see a golden ring on his third finger.

Zero’s heart fell as he placed the phone and ring into his pocket and scooped the body up into his arms. He stood and carefully wiped a tear from his eye as he walked out of the tent.

Twilight was the first to see him and began to say something but stopped when she noticed what he was holding.

“I would like to bury him,” Zero announced.

“Zero, I don’t think-“

“No, Twilight. I have to do this,” he said a little angrily. “I’ve killed a married man. He deserves to be buried. “

Luna stepped up besides Twilight and said, “I believe what Twilight was going to say was she did not think there is a problem to that request.”

Twilight tuned to Luna with a questioning look. “What? No I wasn’t. I was going to say I don’t think that’s such a good idea, considering Princess Celestia said that Zero has to take everything with him back to his world and-“

Luna raised a hoof to silence Twilight and said, “I know what my sister said, Twilight Sparkle, but I do not believe that she is right.

“But-“

“I will speak with my sister when this is all done,” Luna continued, “But I do not think it is right, morally and lawfully, that Zero should take the body back to his world and parade him through the streets.”

Twilight looked stunned, than she lowered her head with her ears against her head.

“You’re right, Luna. I didn’t even think about that.” She looked up at zero and apologized for not thinking about him.

He just nodded and asked where the cemetery was.

Twilight lead the group to the outskirts of the town and found the grounds keeper. She asked where a vacant spot was and after he got over his shock at the sight of Zero, pointed to a piece of land at the end of the cemetery. They walked pasted head stone after head stone and Zero tried to read the name off the ones that were still readable.

Glitter Storm, Hacky Sack, Snow Drop, Windy Sky, Thunder Bread, Sunset Dream, Emerald, Violet Rain, Scarlet Jewel… what strange names, he thought to himself.

When they finally reached a spot, Zero placed Adam on the ground and looked around.

“Does anyone have a shovel?” he asked.

Twilight’s horn began to glow and the ground next to the body shook, than a perfectly rectangular hole appeared with the dirt in a neat little pile right next to it.

Discord snapped his talons and a wooden casket formed around Adam with a creaking sound.

“This casket will never degrade nor rot,” He said solemnly, bowing his head in respect. I know that’s a small comfort, but-“

“Thank you, Discord,” Zero interrupted. “It’s nice. Thank you.”

Discord nodded and stepped back as Twilight came up to Zero.

“You’ve been through a lot today,” she said. “I didn’t think you needed to add grave digging to the list.”

Zero knelt down and wrapped his arms around her neck and thanked her for her kindness.

Twilight stepped back a little after the hug and asked, “Would you like to say a few words be for we…”

Zero nodded before Twilight could finish.

He turned to the casket and placed a hand on top of it.

“I’m sorry,” he began.

“I’m sorry I don’t remember you. I’m sorry I took you from your home and family.” He pulled out the ring and held it in the palm of his hand, feeling the coldness of the metal.

“I promise to find your wife and give this to her. I promise to come back for you.”

He placed the ring back into his pocket and turned away from the casket. He turned his head slightly to say, “I’m sorry I don’t remember you, but I will find you somewhere up here,” he said, tapping his head. “I promise you that.”

He turned away from the casket and nodded to Twilight. She sniffed and lowered Adam into the grave. Luna levitated the pile of dirt over Adam. Discord snapped his fingers again and a tombstone the occupants name on it appeared at the head of the fresh grave, a wreath of roses laid on it.

“Ok, Twilight Sparkle,” Zero said, “I’m ready to go home.”

She nodded and began to walk in the duration of the town.

There wasn’t much side conversations as the group passed walked down the road. They passed a few Ponies on the way to town. They stared at Zero, but he just ignored them.

“Hey, Zero?”

Zero looked down to see the small Pegasus with a purplish pink mane looking up at him.

“I’m sorry for you loss,” the little one said.

“My too, kid. Me too.”

They walked in silence again as they reached the edge of town.

“OH MY GOODNES!”

The outburst startled Zero and he whirled around to find that Rarity was looking at him.

“What the heck, Rarity?” Spike said, grasping his chest. “You scared the heck out of me!”

“I just thought of something!” Rarity cried again. “You can’t go home in that!” She gestured towards his bandaged chest.

“What?”

Zero looked down to that Rarity was levitating a flexible measuring tape towards him and began to wrap it around his chest.

“Where did you get tape, Rarity?” Spike asked.

“A lady is always prepared. Please lift your arms, dear.”

Zero obliged and held his arms out. He noticed that Rarity wasn’t writing any of the measurements down.

After a minute, Rarity nodded her head and the tape floated into her purse. “All right, I have what I need.” She turned and headed down the street.

“Where are you going, Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“To my shop,” She called back. “I cannot have Zero walking in his home town half naked. I will meet you at your castle, Twilight. Don’t start without me.” She disappeared around the corner with Spike in toe.

Twilight sighed and started to walk again.

When they finally reached the Crystal Castle, the guards opened the big double doors for them. To Zero, the whole place looked as if it grew out of the ground, like some kind of crystal tree castle tree house thing. They walked up the spiral staircase and into a large hallway. The stone floor was cooled to his feet, but not uncomfortably. There were scenic pictures of mountains and lakes and such on the walls of the halls.

“Wow, Twilight,” Cadance said, “Your castle looks beautiful now.”

“Thanks, Cadence,” Twilight said. “The new decorator really did a number on this place.”

“I’d say,” chimed in Applejack. “Remember when we tried to decorate this place for ya, Twilight?”

Pinkie Pie bounced at up and clapped her hoofs together. “Ha ha! Yeah. That was so much fun!”

“Yeah, but next time Pinkie, lay off on the party cannons a bit.”Rainbow Dash said.

“Yes. Please, Pinkie Pie,” added Twilight, “The castle staff keeps finding more and more.”

“Really? I’d of thought you found them all by now.”

“How many did you hide?”

“I lost count at around 50.”

As they talked about the absurd amount of “party cannons”, they entered through a set of doors into a library. There were shelves and stacks of books everywhere, higher than Zero. Everyone wondered off to the shelves and piles and talked amongst themselves as the waited for Rarity to return. Zero went over to one of the piles and scanned a few titles.

THE HISTORY OF THE CUPCAKE: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT PASTRY CHEF

THE GROUND, JEWELS, AND YOU

EQUESTRIA: A HISTORY

TAKE IT BIT BY BIT: FINANCES FOR ALL AGES

CATastrophe: PUN INTENDED 2- THE SQUEAKWEL

MANE TODAY IS A MANE TOMORROW: SIMPLE HAIR STYLES FOR ANY DAY OF THE WEEK

DEAD TO REALLY DEAD: HOW TO NOT BUCK UP A RELATIONSHIP

MAGIC 101

IN THE SKY FOR THE-

“I’m back!”

Rarity came galloping in with Spike running in after her, puffing and puffing.

“Huff… huf… wow…Rar…that’s the…fastest…I’ve every… seen… you make…something…”

“Here you are, Zero.” Rarity said, levitating a neatly folded piece of clothing. He put down the history book and took the blue shirt in his hands. He took off his backpack and pulled the shirt on.

“Well, how do I look?” Zero asked the group.

Rarity tilted her head slightly and said, “Very nice, dear, but aren’t you going to take off your bandages?”

Zero was hopping she didn’t notice that. He took his shirt off and began to remove the wraps on his chest, but left the ones on is arms. He then put the small bundle into his backpack and pulled the shirt back on. It felt nice and it fit perfectly.

“Thank you, Rarity. I love it.”

“All right, ponies,” Twilight said. “Stand back.”

As the others gathered around her, Twilight levitate the book with a sun on the cover up to the top of some machine thing hooked up to a large mirror. The book lit up with a purple light and the energy from it worked its way across the contraption through tubes and rollers. Every one shielded their eyes as the purple light shot back to the book, then down to the mirror’s surface.

Zero lowered his arm to see the mirror’s reflective surface was replaced by a swirling vortex of pink.

“Ahhhhh,” Discord cooed, looking over his palm tree themed sunglasses, “So this is where you’ve been hiding that mirror.”

“Don’t you even think about it, Discord,” Luna said in a threatening voice.

Discord looked shocked. “What? Me? Go to another world and create all kinds of chaos and mayhem? Perish the thought!”

“Ok, Zero,” Twilight said, walking over to him. “Sunset Shimmer is waiting for you and she’ll do what she can to help to find out who you are.”

She led him to the mirror and stood up to look him in the eyes.

“Are you ready to go home?”

Zero felt nervous but nodded anyway. He took one last look at the group around him.

“Thank you for all you’ve done,” he said. The group answered back with your welcomes and good lucks.

“Oh! Rarity! I almost forgot!”

He swung the back pack off again and took out the rainbow dress and held it up to her.

“Thank you for letting me use this.”

“You are quite welcome, Zero.” she said, levitating it to Spike, who held it away at arms lengths.

Zero walked over to Applejack and knelt down to her eye level.

“And thank you for saving me, Applejack.”

She tipped her hat to hide her bushing face. “Ah shucks, you would’ve done the same for me.” She tipped her hat back and looked him deep into his eyes. “I hope you fine what you’re lookin’ for, Zero”

“I hope so, too.”

He stood up and walked back to the mirror and stood before it. He took a deep breath and smiled at the thought of home.

HOME.

He stepped forward to the mirror…

…And slammed his face against its surface.

Author's Note:

Man.
This is getting harder and harder to write. I'm not out material or anything. I have all my ideas for WALK. its just getting to the part of writing the dang story that's the problem.
I work 10 hours a day and i get 3 days off, not in a row. those 3 days i recuperate and work another 40 hours. I barley have time write.
But I'm managing.
I ain't gonna stop now! Not when thing are FINALLY gonna pick up for Zee!

Comments

[travelingbard]

6850177

As you wish.

[Orrm]

…And slammed his face against its surface.

I love this line