A Trouble of Two on Drowsy Street

by Vocal Sonder

Chapter Two

~” A Trouble of Two on Drowsy Street Ch. 2 “~
Written by: Althyra-Nex

“Wow, you’re willing to take me on just like that?” Tesseract asked, bewildered.

“Sure! The other one was always a bit -- we’ll say eccentric.” Howard said, “He tended to be a little possessive and reclusive. He stopped coming here a long time ago.”

Tess’s expression changed from a combination of excitement and confusion to one of skepticism. He squinted slightly at Howard, he didn’t quite trust the old stallion. Nopony ever does something like this unless they have some sort of agenda. Tess had reluctantly agreed to be Howard’s apprentice however. After all, he did get his hooves on a genuine copy of thermatological dynamism.

Tess turned his gaze to Slumber, who was bouncing slightly and smiling. Trying to lift Tess’s spirits about the opportunity he found himself in. The smiling warmed him a little inside, usually Slumber’s antics don’t do that to him.

“Alright,” he said, looking back at Howard, “you wanted me back on Sunday?”

“Exactly. Sunday morning, 6 AM. I keep to a schedule, so don’t be late son.” Howard said, sauntering up and patting Tess on the leg. Howard then turned around and went back to his cannon, proceeding to overturn it and examine it. Tess looked at Slumber again, who stared back in excitement.

Tess pursed his lips and looked back at Howard for a second, then turned to walk out the door, Slumber in tow.

“Dude, this is the perfect opportunity! You’ve always wanted to be a scientist right?” Slumber asked.

“Yeah, but I’m not quite sure I trust him. Howard seems a little on the eccentric side himself. You saw how quickly he agreed to take me as an apprentice.” Tess said, stopping at a crosswalk.

“Come on, most science-y types are a bit crazy. I mean, we’ve seen how Princess Twilight can act sometimes.” Slumber said with a chuckle.

Tess let loose a small chuckle himself, he did find Princess Twilight in ‘science mode’ to be amusing sometimes. “You may just be right Slumber. I’ll give it a chance, but don’t say I didn’t warn us ok? I want this on the record, if Howard turns out to be even crazier than that daemon we encountered…”

Slumber rolled her eyes and sighed, “Fine. Party pooper.”

After a few days pouring over his copy of thermatological dynamism, Tesseract finally felt ready to approach the old stallion. Sunday was only a matter of hours away, and Tess felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach as he packed away the things he thought he’d might need. He’d studied at the best libraries accessible to ponies like him, but this felt like it would be on a whole other level to his studies.

Tess tried to let his mind wander as he attempted to fall asleep, thinking about the many intricate topics he might learn. He thought about how Howard’s cannon worked, remembering the clanking and hissing of pistons and cogs.

Eventually, after an indiscernible amount of time, Tess fell asleep. Cold dreams of nightmarish creatures flitted through his unconscious mind for what seemed like days but in an instant, Tess woke to a grandfather clock’s chiming. He counted the dings; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Six? Oh hay, it’s six!! Tess thought to himself. The grip of sleep was wrestled violently from his groggy mind as he threw his covers away, desperately searching for his favorite hoodie. He found it after a moment of blind fumbling hanging on a hook next to his bedroom door. Reaching his front hooves through the sleeves, he rammed his head through the neck hole, not bothering to adjust his bedraggled hair. He telekinetically grabbed his new book and burst out the front door, blasting down the road as fast as his legs could carry him.

He made it back into upper Manehattan, trotting in place trying to will the traffic to stop and let him through. After what felt like an eternity, the it finally did and allowing Tess to surge forward to find Drowsy Street. Turning onto it, he set his sights on Howard’s shop door, busting through and stopping. He wheezed and set his book on the shop desk, trying to get his breath back.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” an old, gravelly voice sounded.

Tess looked to his right to see Howard standing in the doorway to the back rooms. Tess sheepishly looked to the clock on the wall behind the desk, its hands pointing to a dismally late, 7:15.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Howard,” Tess started, he was about apologies before Howard raised a hoof to silence him.

“No need. You showed up at least. Where’s your friend?” Howard asked.

“Um, I dunno, I never let her know that I was on my way?”

“Hrmmph. That’s fine I suppose, I just thought she’d be eager to learn with you. Now then, shall we?” Howard said, gesturing to the room behind him.

Gulping, Tess followed him inside. The room was spartan, only containing a table with a few chairs, a podium with an itemized list in Howard’s hoofwriting, and in the far corner propped up on a stand the brass cannon.

“Have a seat.”

Tess pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning forwards on the table. The old stallion sat in a chair next to him.

“So, you’re here to learn a few things hmm?” Howard asked, “Well what do you want to learn first?”

Tess’s stomach dropped, he didn’t even have a clue as to what he wanted to learn from Howard first. He had just kind of agreed to be an apprentice the thought hadn’t really gone any farther than that if he was being honest with himself. In a scramble for words he let out a massive

“Uhhhhhh...”

Howard’s expression turned to one of slightly pained impatience. Tess could only imagine what the old stallion was thinking. He suddenly felt a little pang of guilt.

“Look, Howard, I-” Tess started.

“Tesseract was it, right?” Howard asked, Tess nodded, “ Tesseract, I gave you that book out of the goodness of my heart, you were the one that accepted the opportunity. I wasn’t even the one that opened it up to you. I have a lot more experience in the world than you do, I may be a little old and eccentric, but I know how to recognize a mistake made when I see one.”

Tess just turned his gaze away and pursed his lips.

“I’m not trying to put you down, but I saw your reaction when I agreed to teach you. You put yourself in this situation my friend.”

“...Yes. And, well,“ He rose up in his chair a bit. “I’ve arrived. And I don’t even know what I want to learn from you. I don’t even know what to feel right now.” Tess stated. “But I do know that I am still here for a reason, and that includes...” He trailed off, lost in thought.

Howard paused for a second, “Son, I said I’d be happy to teach you anything you’d like, so here’s my first lesson. Don’t let yourself get pushed around, even by your best friends.” His eyes took on a far away look for just a moment.

Tess studied the look in Howard’s eyes. He looked at the old grey locks of mane the draped in from of his furrowed brows. The deep set wrinkles near his eyes. His silver hair unkempt, yet deliberate. When Howard’s hoof landed on his shoulder Tess could feel his age, yet it felt like the grip of a powerful soul; conditioned from years upon years of harrowing labor. The wizened stallion released his grip and settled into his chair before continuing.

“I never expected to tell you this, but when I was young, I found my love for science. I wished to combine it with magic, at first to make ponies’ lives around me easier. I had many colleagues throughout my years at the best schools in the realm, but the one friend that struck me the most was there throughout the whole of my studies. Her name was Rosie, Rosie Rosenbridge.”

Tess could almost hear the stallions voice hitch at the mention of the name. Howard continued, “You may in fact know of her if you’ve ever studied astrological phenomena.”

“Yeah, yeah, I do know her. I’ve read a lot of her work, she’s probably the smartest pony I’ve ever read actually.” Tess said.

“Was.” Howard interjected, Tess stared at Howard, confused as he continued, “Rosie was my best friend throughout childhood and into my professional studies. Her theorems and hypotheses got her to wondrous places in the institute where we worked. We were always in a constant contest. Seeing who could come up with the most elaborate theories, most complicated machines, anything you could think of we tried it to see who could do it better. “

“But one day, the experimentation went somewhere we never thought it could go. Rosie called me out to a shop she owned one day, in the back she’d built this unimaginably complicated contraption. Even I had a hard time understanding how it worked. Suffice it to say, she had a theory she wanted me to help her with. I never wanted to help her that day, but she pushed me to do it anyway.”

Tess stayed silent, entrapped by the old stallion’s tale. He let him continue.

“If you’ve read any of the great tragedies, you probably know what happens next,” he looked at the unicorn with a mixture of pain and regret, “Rosie explained how her theory worked, the details of which have muddied over my many years, but what I can remember is that she wanted to create a bridge between this and another, more interesting world; just to see what was on the other side. “

“Her machine worked; wonderfully. However, something happened that pains me every time I care to recall. The bridge connected to a world that was not right. Not right at all. The only thing I can remember is seething darkness in the portal,” he sighed, “and that’s where the memory stops. The next thing I remember I was waking to see a formless creature standing where Rosie used to be. Ever since that day I’ve been wanting to find her and bring her back.”

Tess’s jaw was slacked, he could only stare at Howard, unable to find words. He turned his gaze toward the outside, watching the wind whip a bag down the deserted street. A thought instantly materialized in his mind; one he was afraid to let loose into the air.

“Howard, do you think that monster you saved us from, was… Rosie?”

Howard blinked, lowering his eyes to look at the table, “I… I have no doubt that may be, but I can never know for sure.”

Tess put a hoof on his forehead in thought.

“I know what I want to learn now.” Tess said. Howard looked up at his apprentice, waiting for an answer, “I want to learn how Rosie’s machine worked. So I can help bring her back.”

Howard’s face immediately fell to a dark expression. He lowered his gaze, and brought it back up, a twinkle shining in his wizened eyes.

“Well then. Let’s get to it.”

Tesseract now had a purpose. He’d conversed with Howard enough that he knew his next task, that being to study Rosie’s machine and acquaint himself with all of its minute workings. After a few more minutes of talking with Howard in his office, Tess withdrew himself, and set about visiting every library accessible to him. First on his list was the Great Manehattan Library, located downtown in the main metropolis.

At the same crosswalk he’d desperately been waiting at this morning, he took a look around, gauging his surroundings. To his left was the main street, occasionally filling up with traffic and waning into a drowsy bustle. On Tess’s right was a block street with a crosswalk and a traffic signal. The sidewalks all contained a few ponies milling about, minding their own business. Most of them looked to be either aging or just shady characters in general. The traffic slowed to a stop as the crosswalk panels lit up signaling his chance to cross.

Tess’s monotonous walk allowed him to ignore his surroundings and lose himself in thought. Why would Rosie want to open a portal to another world? What was her plan? No one wants to do something stupid just to see what happens. There’s usually some underlying plan to stuff like this. He thought as he passed store after store, ignoring the passerby’s.

While his mind aimlessly wandered, Tesseract failed to notice a pony running at him. She apparently was calling out to him, trying to pull him back to the here and now. The pony stopped, waving a hoof in front of Tess’s face. When that failed to get his attention, the pony just kicked him in the foreleg. Tess’s face went from blank contemplation to instant agony.

“OW!! Hey, what’s the big ide-” he shouted as he noticed who was standing there.

“Look grandpa, you tend to lose yourself in thought, I’m just here to make sure you don’t start levitating into space.” Slumber said with a sour expression.

Tess grumbled, “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

“Hey, how else am I supposed to get your attention, use my camera to blind you?” Slumber retorted, “Anyway, where were you? I’ve been looking for you all day, you just disappeared this morning and-”

“I was at Howard’s shop, the pony who saved us. Thanks to you I actually had to show up. But while I was there I was informed of some, let’s say interesting information.” said Tess.

“Oooh, what’ve we got here?” Slumber asked in anticipation.

As if on cue, Tess’s stomach rumbled so loudly both of them heard it. Tess’s cheeks grew bright red, he’d never been this hungry before. They both laughed it off and made their way into the inner sanctum of Manehattan, eventually finding a quick place to eat. They ordered their food and sat on a table outside near the street.

“You were saying,” Slumber said, leaning forward on the table resting her head on her hooves.

“Oh yeah, anyway, I was talking to Howard today. Initially I had no idea what I wanted to learn from him, but he told me this incredible story. The old geezer apparently had a good friend when he was younger, Rosie Rosenbridge. I’ve read her works, she was a really smart cookie, but maybe a little too smart for her own good. She built this machine that was meant to allow passage to other realms, just to see what happened.” Tess recounted.

Slumber’s face was plastered with a look of wonder and confusion, “Oh,” she said.

“Ok, long story short, I think that demon Howard saved us from was Rosie.” Tess said, exasperated.

Slumber’s expression then changed to pure confusion, “Seriously? That hideous, thing is Rosie?”

“Hey, it’s just an educated guess from Howard’s story. I have my doubts about it too, but I just have this gut feeling that Rosie is a victim of that Heriometh thing. I want to help Howard get her back and rid this world of that monster.”

“So you’re saying this mad scientist made a machine and got possessed by some horrible gooey monster thing, and you want to get her back.” said Slumber, raising her hooves in exaggeration, “Count me in.”

Tess was taken aback by Slumber’s willingness to help despite what seemed like the craziest thing she’d ever hear. “Seriously? Just like that you’re willing to help me?”

“Hey, we’re friends right?” Slumber replied as the two of them were handed their food.

Tess thanked the server pony and they both dug into their hay burgers and fries. Tess discussed the details of his plan to Slumber, who was taking all this crazy like a champ in Tess’s eyes. It was going to be quite a challenge, possibly the greatest challenge he’d ever accepted, but Tess was determined to bring Rosie back.

---

It had been a couple of weeks since Howard and Tess’s conversation which launched this investigation. The pair visited every morning to report on their progress. Howard had let Tess know that in order to properly study Rosie’s machine, he’d need to build a replica. Tess knew what he had to do, and that meant a lot of reading. So began Tess’s treasure hunt, using every single available library and book he knew about, bringing Slumber along to help speed his efforts. They tried the Great Manehattan Library, the School of Friendship’s library with Princess Twilight’s permission, and many others. The only one left was the Canterlot Library in the castle. After somehow managing to get permission from Celestia herself, Tess and Slumber started furiously searching through nearly every single book on every single shelf.

Tess flipped through multiple pages at blinding speed, soaking in all the information like a hungry sponge. Slumber was constantly stacking books near Tess so he’d have a steady stream of books to pour over. He decided to focus on Rosie’s books to hopefully get into her mindset. He found the topics he was reading to be absolutely fascinating. Her theories on what she called “Hairbrain-Rosie Bridges” were elaborate but made sense.

“So, how’s it going?” Slumber asked, dropping another book on top of a stack of six.

“Slow, but Rosie’s got some cool theories. She thinks these thi-”

“Don’t even try dude, I won’t even last a sentence before I fall asleep. Gimme the short version. Simple words only.”

“Rosie thinks these things called Hairbrain-Rosie Bridges exist, and she wants to use them for exploration and travel. How’s that?” Tess muttered, frustrated he didn’t get to fully express his fascination.

“Wow, didn’t think you could actually do it.” Slumber said, clearly impressed.

“Whatever, I’m getting close, I can feel it. I just have to-”

Tess stopped abruptly. He’d found something in his latest book. The scrawling’s of an old-timey mare were scribbled into the blank note pages in the back of a burgundy leather-bound tome. The loose scribbling mentioned the same interdimensional bridges and intense equations in other works by Rosie, going into much finer detail. Tess slowed to a snail’s pace to read this, as this was probably the only book to have this much information straight from the mare’s hoof.

He flipped another page, revealing even more writings and drawings. Slumber hovered behind Tess’s head to see what he was reading. The writings were musings on an idea Rosie had, a machine. This was it. Tess carefully read every single run-on paragraph and short sentence on the spread, then turned a final page.

“HOLY CRAP!” he exclaimed.

Slumber darted back, colliding with the shelves out of sheer terror. She rubbed her back and wings in pain.

“Ow. Dude! Not so loud, you scared the living hay out of me!” she shouted, dropping to the floor and sitting down next to Tess, whose wide-eyed face was fixated on the page in front of him.

“This- this is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” he said in a hushed tone.

Slumber leaned in and to her confusion, she saw an indecipherable drawing of what looked like a hub-less wheel.

“So? What is it?” she asked.

“This, my friend, is the key.” Tess said, failing to remember that Slumber wasn’t as smart or informed as he was. “I need to get this to Howard.”

“Oh-kay.” Slumber replied.

Tess shut the book and got up to run out of the library, Slumber in tow.

---

Howard grunted as he pulled a wrench down on the final nut and screw. Wiping his brow and lifting his goggles he stepped back to admire his work. Tess stood next to him, staring at the now complete structure.

It was a massively complicated build, the main aluminum and bronze ring was covered in nuts, bolts and rivets. The whole thing was secured to a base made of steel and other metals, the outer edges adorned with many readouts and wires. The inner edge contained a bowl with clamps that held the main ring in place, and the flat plane on the top of the base held a button panel with a few small buttons and a number pad.

“Wow, Rosie must’ve had a lot of time on her hooves eh?” Tess asked.

“You have no idea boy. You know that competition we always had? Yeah, she usually won it.” Howard said, trying and failing to hide his embarrassment.

Tess chuckled as he started to reexamine the machine.

“Howard, this was the thing Rosie built right? I mean, the equations in her notes and the plans for this thing were really hard to understand.”

“More or less. The only things that are missing here are two small spires and a power source. The spires, to my knowledge, are key components in portal projection. Other than that I have no idea.” Howard said as he paced around the machine.

“Well, according to her notes, the bridges she mentions are just folds in the fabric of space-time, the main ring appears to be the connection point between the folds.” Tesseract stated.

“Makes sense, and perhaps the spires were more than just projectors. Maybe they were electromagnetic containment units, meant to keep the two dimensions from splitting apart as soon as they touch inside the ring.” Howard hypothesized, raising a hoof to his chin.

“This is heavy stuff doc.” Tess said.

Howard turned and looked at Tess with an annoyed expression, barely masking underlying amusement.

“Well done son, we’re a heck of a lot closer than I ever was in getting Rosie back. The only thing left now is to activate the portal in her shop and separate her from that Heriometh that’s possessing her.”

“Well how do we do that? I don’t know how that monster works, and it might be trying to figure out a way to escape that shop.” Tess said.

“Oh it’s been doing that for many years. I’m not exactly sure what’s keeping it there, but my leading hypothesis is that the portal let in a little bit of the atmosphere of the dark realm and allowed the creature to survive. The creature’s many years of life inside that shop must have given it time to acclimate to our atmosphere, but not enough to fully expose itself.” Howard replied.

“I have an idea, if you’ll hear me out.” Tess said.

Howard nodded, letting Tess elaborate.

“So, my plan is that we somehow lure the Heriometh into the back of the shop, activate the portal and you shoot your cannon at the creature. My hope is that the dark realm on the other side will call back the monster and leave Rosie’s body.” Tess said.

Howard stared at Tess like he’d just grown a second head, “So let me get this straight, your plan is to shoot the devil out of Rosie?”

“Yeah,” Tess apprehensively replied.

Howard lowered his gaze, thinking about the plan. He looked back up at Tess and said, “Well, I suppose a plan is better than no plan at all. The only problem is I have no idea what codes she used to access the dark realm.”

Tess then walked over to a podium the book was sitting on and flipped through Rosie’s notes. He assumed if Rosie had a plan, it would be in there. Tess scanned every line to no avail, until he spotted something interesting, on the page that contained the plans for the portal’s construction, there was a little note he hadn’t seen before.

Above the number pad was a small note, which read, “NGC-15i8+1138”.

“Hey, Howard, come look at this.” Tess said, motioning for Howard to join him.

“Hm, wait. Oh my heavens.” Howard said, exasperation dripping from his tone. He put a hoof up to his brow and shook his head.

“What?” Tess asked.

“1138. You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Whatever. Rosie was a massive nerd, even by today’s standards, it makes too much sense that she’d choose that as her first coordinate.” Howard said, rolling his eyes.

“But hey, we have the coordinates right? That’s a plus at least.” Tess replied.

“How’s it going nerds?” Slumber said as she walked in.

“It’s going fine, thanks.” Tess said through gritted teeth, “Sorry about her Howard, she can be something of a pain sometimes.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just-” Howard said, drifting off mid sentence. His expression turned to one of longing, a mixture of excitement and pain.

“What’s wrong?” Slumber asked, walking up to Howard and putting a hoof on his shoulder.

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I’m just nervous about the plan. If something goes wrong then, I may never see my best friend again.”

A quiet feeling fell over the room, a deep, deafening silence that left Tess’s ears ringing. He never quite thought about what would happen if the plan failed. Howard then turned around and walked toward his cannon. The device was propped up on a shelf, alongside a coat rack which held his armor. He ran a hoof along his contraption, staring at his reflection in the cold steel before reaching up to retrieve his armor. Slipping on his breastplate he turned to the other two ponies in the room.

“What are you waiting for? Rosie isn’t gonna save herself.” Howard huffed as he slipped on more and more pieces.

The three of them set out, it was night time, as Tess and Howard had been working all day to complete and study the replica portal machine. They made it to the shop which started this whole debacle without trouble. Tess felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw the sign. Etched into the aged and deteriorating wood was the words, “Teas and Brews”.

Slumber crept forward, trying the door. To all of their surprise, the door was unlocked. There was no resistance as Slumber slowly pushed it open. To keep any noise from alerting the creature inside, Tess grabbed the greeting bell with his magic, levitating it above the door so it wouldn’t ring against the wooden frame.

Slumber and Tess stuck their heads in far enough to see inside the shop. The floor was still covered in liquid from broken phials and scorch marks from Howard’s cannon. The two of them then silently slinked back out, letting the door rest on the bell to prop it open. Tess then motioned for Howard to step forward. Tess stood directly behind him as he silently pushed the door open, letting all three of them through before closing the door as quietly as possible.

The threesome made it back behind the counter and into a pitch black room, there was a palpable feeling of dread when they entered. However, Tess also felt something else in the room. He started pawing around, his hoof landing on a thick piece rubber pipe. He dared to produce a small light on the tip of his horn to light up his surroundings. The pipe was in fact a power cable, snaking from a giant generator to the center of the room.

However what was at the center of the room made his heart stop. Standing directly in front of the machine was the old pony that tried to kill him and Slumber. He turned to Howard and Slumber, motioning for Howard to place his cannon. To their despair, Howard tripped on a smaller cable, crashing to the floor, sounding a cacophony of sound that reverberated through the room.

The creature turned its head 180 degrees as if on a swivel, spotting the three ponies. It grew an impossibly wide grin, its eyes two black orbs somehow staring at them.

“Crap, Howard, shoot now!” Tess screamed.

Howard then propped up his gun, and just as the creature let out an ethereal screech, Howard blasted it with his cannon. Violet magic surged from the cannon’s mouth, striking the unholy creature with all its force. The Heriometh was sent flying, colliding with the ring and making a sickening clang.

“Any time now son!” Howard said as he fired another beam at the creature.

Tess rushed the power generator, flipping levers and pushing buttons until he finally found the start button, he smacked it and instantly the shop’s lights came on, bathing the room in a fluorescent white. A robotic voice sounded from speakers surrounding the portal machine.

“Portal Engine Model 1.01, online. Please input destination coordinates.”

Tess then rushed the machine, trying to dodge the Heriometh’s attacks as Howard blasted it with his cannon. He made it to the button panel, furiously punching in the code, “NGC-15i8+1138”.

The portal started powering up, a high pitched whining sound permeated the room. Slowly the noise turned into a throbbing roar which increased in pitch until a bright flash exploded from the main ring, sending Tess flying from the base. He came to a second later, seeing the swirling vortex inside the projection ring. He turned his head to see the creature trying to get closer to Howard, who was still blasting it with his cannon. Slumber was doing all she could by buzzing and kicking the Heriometh to keep it distracted.

“HEY, UGLY!” Tess shouted. The creature hissed as it turned its attention toward him. It then bounded at him with unnatural speed before being shoved off toward the portal’s vortex by Howard’s cannon. The violet magic constantly enveloping it and keeping it at bay.

“Howard, now’s our chance!” Slumber shouted over the noise of the vortex and the cannon.

Howard then left the cannon trained on the creature, and as soon as he reached the creature he did the unthinkable. He removed his goggles and reached a hoof in to touch the creature. Tess ran back to the portal, intending to remove Howard from the creature, but as soon as he touched Howard’s leg he was instantly transported to a white void.

Tess looked around, only seeing white everywhere. He didn’t even have a shadow. He turned around one more time to see Howard standing a few yards away. He was near another pony, a mare. She looked exactly the same as the pony who greeted Tess and Slumber when they first arrived. She was laying on the ground unconscious. Tess walked over to Howard and the mare. The mare was many years older than he was, however she was quite spry. She had a mop of silver and red hair, unkempt but flowy. Her coat was goldish in color, and she had a crochet shawl around her neck and shoulders.

“Tesseract, meet Rosie Rosenbridge.” Howard said in a somber tone.

“That- That’s Rosie?” Tess asked.

“Indeed.”

Howard then touched Rosie on the shoulder, and she twitched her face, letting out a small breath. It sounded pained and labored. She’d been like this for who knows how many years.

“Come on Rosie, don’t quit on me now.” Howard said, tears welling up in his aged eyes. He continued, his emotions making his speech quiver and shake, “Rosie, I need to tell you something. Way back then, I never actually wanted to help you with your infernal project. I had a bad feeling about it from the start, and I let myself get caught up in this mess. I’ve had to do things that I’m not proud of at all. I built a cannon specifically to immobilize and contain you. That blasted Heriometh ruined our relationship, but I’m the one who sealed your fate to begin with. I should never have let you talk me into this. “

“I made mistakes that I’m sorely ashamed of, and so have you. But please, just this once, let me tell you something. I forgive you. I forgive you for putting me in this situation. But more than that, I must ask you, will you forgive me for what I’ve done? Will you forgive me for abandoning you to this fate?”

Rosie lied motionless. Only breathing to keep herself alive. But then, to Tess and Howard’s surprise, a tear formed and flowed down Rosie’s face. Her expression tightened, like she was trying to push something out. Cracks then started to form in the whiteness surrounding the three ponies. They grew faster with every second, spreading to near infinity.

Suddenly, with a loud CRASH, the white limbo gave way, snapping all of them back into reality. The beam of Howard’s cannon still enveloped Rosie. Howard acted fast, wrapping his hooves around Rosie and pulling her from the cannon’s beam. Tess then turned his head toward the portal. The Heriometh which possessed Rosie was gripping onto the ring, trying to keep itself from being sucked back into its realm.

“Oh no you don’t.” Tess said as he pried the creatures limbs off the ring. The creature then fell away, being obscured by darkness. Tess then rushed to the power generator, ripping the cord leading to the machine out of its socket. The portal machine shuddered, the vortex inside the ring evaporated with a throbbing rumble.

“Portal stability compromised, aborting coordinates, shutting down.” the automated voice said.

“And stay out!” Tess shouted, his hearing still ringing from the noise.Tess then rushed over to Howard, who was cradling Rosie.

---

Rosie had been rushed to a hospital in downtown Manehattan. She’d been stabilized and was making a hasty recovery. Tess, Slumber and Howard visited her as often as the hospital would allow, and every time Rosie would greet them with a warm smile.

“How you doing Rosie?” Howard asked.

“I’m doing absolutely fine, Howard.” Rosie replied in a spry yet aged voice.

“So any word on your release?” Tess asked.

“The doctors said I should be good to walk on my own within a week or so. I’m excited.” Rosie said with a beaming smile.

“Oh, Rosie. I don’t know if you heard me back there, but I’m so, so very sorry.” Howard said.

“Whatever are you on about Howard?” Rosie asked accusatorily.

“My behavior, I abandoned you for so long, I had no idea what to do once you were possessed, I built a cannon to keep you at bay!”

“You did what anypony else would have done in that situation dear.” Rosie said, putting a hoof on Howard’s shoulder, “If anything, I should be asking for your forgiveness. I’m the one who forced you to help me with my hairbrained theories. Pardon the pun. Look Howard, I can get extremely carried away sometimes, you know how I got called all over the schools we attended? Well once those ponies found out about my theories, they disregarded me, and sent me somewhere else. You were the only one who would even listen to me. I took advantage of you to further my own selfish gains. My behavior was inexcusable.”

Howard stared at Rosie with pure bewilderment, so did Tess.

“So, now that I’ve had some time to myself, I’ve thought about what I’ve done to you that day. And I ask you now, will you forgive me for taking advantage of your generosity?” Rosie asked.

Howard looked down, Rosie’s words hitting him like a ton of bricks. But in a second he looked back up into Rosie’s eyes, tears filling his own.

“Yes. I forgive you.” he said, leaning in to hug Rosie.

Slumber was struggling to contain herself, she could barely stop the tears from flowing. Tess was struggling himself, the moment was too beautiful.

After another week, Rosie was able to walk, and she and Howard couldn’t keep away from each other. Tess always visited Howard and Rosie, studying Rosie’s theories and developing new ones along the way. Over time, Howard and Rosie eventually married, citing the fact that they’ve had feelings for each other since childhood, but none of them had the guts to say anything.

Eventually, Tess, Howard and Rosie started work on a new project.

“There, that should be the last bolt. Hit it Rosie.” Tess said, stepping down from a platform.

A throbbing noise started filling the room, and a vortex swirled to life inside a ring, projecting a new scene. Sweeping grasslands filled the view, and the perspective turned to reveal a little town with a tree in the middle of it. A small violet unicorn walked out onto the porch and was joined by a slightly smaller purple and green dragon.

THE END