“What do you mean, kill herself again?” Twilight asked me.
“Oh yes, you don’t know, do you. I guess it’s time to reveal how Opare got here in the first place.” I sat down on the hard bed as the other ponies got closer to me. “Okay, to start off, did Blue tell you personally that she used to be a human?”
“Yeah, um, she did...” Fluttershy abruptly joined in.
“Alright then, that makes it easier for me. I’ll try my best to fill you all in on everything I know about this mysterious group of humans. They call themselves ‘The Authors’, and what they do is write books about the dead. But this isn’t a normal book, each book The Authors individually write in controls a person who has died recently. A few people were granted with the power to live again back on Earth, but only by getting hooked up to a machine. The machine is connected to a special book, and a particular Author writes a story about them, usually giving them a perfect life which they could never have in their real time existing. One of the people chosen was Blue, or Anne as she was known as a human. Now her guardian wrote her into this world, and she seemed to be having the best of times, because this world is far more exciting than my world after the apocalypse.” I started to wonder why Blue started to dislike this world, as she could never do such a thing as that. She was the kindest soul that I had ever known.
“Wow...that’s very interesting...” Twilight said quietly, waiting for me to continue my speech.
“You see all the ponies here in my cell, apart from Braeburn and I? They have all died before coming here. Heh, this world is pretty popular,” I chuckled and waited for everypony’s reactions.
“Seriously?!” They all shouted together.
“Yes, seriously. I didn’t die to get here though, because I was lucky enough to find a loophole in the system. I built my own machine, but didn’t include a book because I didn’t need to be written for. If I’m still alive, I can make my own story.” I laughed briefly again.
“Then, how do you know that we had all died?” Twisha asked.
“The Authors allowed me to see my sister. They’re a pretty nice bunch of people, like angels spawned from death, in a way. Anyway, when I saw Anne, I noticed about ten or more people laying on their machines, so I noted down their names and features before I went into the sleep-state in my homemade apparatus. And of course, when I looked at all of you, I could recognise who you all were, I just couldn’t reveal that.” I concluded my answer.
“Hey, why couldn’t you have told us that we had all passed away and that you knew us?” Cyan challenged me.
“Well, as The Authors explained to me, if I had told you about your past life or anything outside of this world too early, you would have all seized up from complete trauma, and recovery wouldn’t be possible. It would be like burning the book, erasing all of the data. Luckily, you had been in the systems for long enough, so the sensitive information wouldn’t have mattered enough anymore, meaning you are all fine,” I responded, looking up to the ceiling to think for a moment.
“So what about Blue, or Opare, or whatever she is now?” Twisha looked concerned at me as she asked.
“Think about it. She had been exposed to whom she originally was, but in her case, the trauma didn’t set in exactly, the data of the book just became corrupt. She must have had a pretty good writer in order to pull that off, even if it wasn’t perfect. I have no idea how the data can be fixed, but I just hope it can be, for all of our sakes.” My expression grew into an extremely worried look, with feelings that I had not felt for a while, due to my overly laid back nature. I just hope my sister will pull through. The purity is still inside her somewhere.
I glanced at Destiny, and noticed that all this time she had been looking away from us, as if she was trying to avoid the subject.
“What seems to be the matter, Destiny?” I requested.
“It’s just...nothing, don’t worry about it,” She said, scraping her hoof along the ground in nervous motions.
“Hmm, whenever somepony says there’s nothing the matter, there is always something wrong,” I replied, thinking back to the times that my sister said the same type of things.
“Ugh...” Destiny paused for a while. “I...I’m just worried for her, you know?”
“We’re all worried about her, but she’s strong. We all know she’s innocent now thanks to you, as those creatures didn’t come from her, they just came from the worlds outside of this one. We’ll get her back, she just needs to fight the darkness,” I added.
*Opare’s POV*
A week of good progress had passed quickly. My project was complete, and it was time for me to operate it. I left the castle to the site of the World Cannon, as I call it. It was finally time to rid those two entities that had plagued my life, Glais Pectus, and planet Earth. I walked down to Ponyville for one last time, as I knew this world was about to end as well. The cannon can only be fired if it drags some of the planet it’s on with it. I approached my godly weapon with a proud smile.
“Thank you, my friends. I hope you had put enough fuel in this machine to power it?” I called out to my obeying creatures as I stepped up to the seat on the side of the cannon. One of the Pugnasi nodded. The Pugnasi are my second favourite to control, they are the bear-looking creatures which are kind of like bodyguards. But my most favourite are the Ficipos, the wolf type animals, as they are the most evil seeming, much like me.
I could actually fire this weapon now, as I sat in the driver’s seat, screen in front of me displaying the target world. I locked in Glais’ planet, which made me laugh; I was going to kill Glais again. And then he will be gone from my life and my thoughts. I pressed the fire button hard. A green bar filled up to the top as I watched it, and then the cannon reacted. A giant, red laser shot into the sky at an extremely rapid pace. The on-screen map showed the laser’s location. It approached Glais’ world, and then it hit. The world blew up as it showed the animation. I laughed maniacally, because it was done! I had killed that damn ruiner of lives successfully! I just kept laughing until my lungs were fully emptied! It was so incredible how easy this whole process was.
The ground started to shake below me. That was expected, as Equestria is collapsing in on itself now. Oh well, when it’s all gone as well as me, I’ll be happy in knowing that my goal has been accomplished. Ha, I can actually be happy for once. And then I’ll get a well deserved rest.
I set my target once again; moving the crosshairs to Earth. I didn’t have much time left as I looked behind me, to see that most of the ground was missing and it was creeping up to me. I pressed the fire button, and the green bar filled up slowly again. The beautiful laser shot out of the cannon again, as it made it’s way up into space. The display showed the laser coming up to that good for nothing Earth. I suddenly felt myself falling downwards. I looked from under me, and noticed the huge, blackening sphere swallowing everything from this world. Chunks of the ground and buildings were flying in spirals as they descended into the growing ball. This was my last moment as I plunged into the sphere, but I caught a glimpse of the Earth blowing into pieces on the screen. I laughed again before everything turned silent.
*Anne Ultrice’s POV*
I awoke in a hot, sweating state, as my eyes adjusted from the blurriness. I was back on the life support machine. Wait...I’m on Earth again? But how?
“Quick, we gotta get you out of here!” A frantic voice shouted to me.
I turned my head to see my Author looking at me nervously, gesturing me to go with her.
“Wait, we should wake the rest of these people up first!” Another voice called out, still just as frantic. I shifted my eyes to see Caerula there as well.
“Okay, Anne, help us unplug our patients please, quickly now!” my Author commanded me.
I got up as fast as I could from where I rested, stretched a little, and went around stopping the machines from processing. I didn’t have time to question what would happen to these other people, but they awoke like they were all still alive. The ghosts of the specially chosen were definitely convincing enough to look real. They all got up after our telling them to get up and go, and we exited the building. My Author and Caerula were confronted by heavily armed soldiers. Before anyone could speak, the two caretakers of mine attacked them with amazing speed and skill, knocking them all to the ground.
“Wow, I didn’t know you two were capable of that,” I remarked.
“Well, we need all the training we can get as we’re still alive,” Caerula replied. “Now come on, lets keep going guys!”
We all ran and followed my carers as fast as we could. It’s strange how, even if I’ve passed away, I still felt all the fatigue and normal effects that someone who was still alive would have felt. The deserted wastelands stirred as the wind brushed the sand from the ground into little spirals, and then settling again. I wasn’t able to assess who I was anymore, as I’m now in another body again. I couldn’t remember if I was good or bad, but that didn’t matter now, as we were on the run, so it was no place for thought yet. Olive coloured helicopters flew from the horizon and over us swiftly, as they were chased by red choppers trying to shoot them down. In the distance were more soldiers fighting each other, with lasers shooting everywhere. What’s happened here? Has it escalated into a warzone again?
We came up to a building hidden past a forest of tall trees, with their leaves obviously stripped from the radiation effects. Caerula stuck his hand on an identification module, and the door to enter the building opened slowly. We were whisked inside by Cae’s signalling, and the door closed behind us before making a loud, metallic locking sound.
“Right, we’ve relocated here today because your old place was deemed unsafe. Those soldiers you saw were about to raid the place, and they could have destroyed the machines as well as all of us,” my Author explained to us.
“For now, we only have one machine in this place,” Caerula said with a pause. “But, I will be able to make more. Only one of you can use the machine at a time, so I suppose a rotation will be made.”
“And who exactly were those soldiers?” I asked, still dazed a little bit.
“Basically, the government. The politicians of today are bloodthirsty pirates, as this world has broken down so much. Well done nuclear warfare,” Cae explained to me.
“Wow...and they discovered the last place?” I questioned my Author.
“Yeah, unluckily. Although Caerula came to check on you, as well as warning me of the invasion that we almost had to face.” she thanked my brother.
“Phew, that was pretty miraculous then...” I ended the conversation, and we all dispersed around the building. Caerula disappeared to get his work on new machines done, and my Author walked up to me.
“Heh, you got pretty out of control there, didn’t you Anne?” She said to me.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“Think about it, you totally wiped out three worlds in one sitting!” She laughed.
“Oh yes, that...” I looked away to the floor, turning my body slightly.
“I guess, for a minute there, you lost yourself?” She tried to sympathise with me. “We all lose ourselves sometimes, but that was pretty intense for you, hey?”
“I’m sorry that I ruined everything, I didn’t want to do it, but I just...gave in too easily.” I looked back up at her with sad eyes.
“Aw, it’s alright Anne, it was out my management, as well as yours.” She put her hand on my shoulder in comfort.
I brushed her hand from me. “Tell me, what happened?”
“Oh yeah, I probably should tell you. You’ve probably forgotten all about my instructions, haven’t you?” She chuckled in her unchangeably happy demeanor. “Alright, well you sort of broke the book’s code, by finding out more than you were supposed to. Think back a sec. You know those creatures you took charge of? Yeah, all of them are bugs, like you’d find in a computer. Those bugs corrupted the book, and you gained access to forbidden knowledge of the outside world, which every person that goes in the machine forgets about. We’ve had a case before you, and he passed away for the second time after finding out about his past life. But the rest of the people who found out the same thing just went into comas, but survived. And for you, you are special because you refused the coma situation, so weird stuff happened the first time you came out of the machine, and the second time your mind became broken, essentially. And then you worked with the bugs and ripped up your story written for you,” She finished her speech.
“Whoa...I could fight off a coma?” I felt shocked. I had the power to evade going into a comatose state.
“Exactly. But even so, it had really bad side effects.” She had a worried look on her face, for once.
“I wish I could reverse my actions in that perfect world you made for me...” I turned away again.
“And that’s where you can! The machine has a one use only reverse mechanism, which would damage a part of the machine; that’s why it’s one use only. It would ruin the pages of the book attached to the system, so the whole thing would become pointless. It’s lucky that Caerula’s self-made machine doesn’t have a book, so it would probably work fine, but we wouldn’t want to try it any more than once, just to be sure.” Her returned smile caused me to light up as well, suddenly.
“But, if I reverse it back, what will happen?” Puzzled, I thought back to Glais and him being alive or not. “And, what about Glais?”
“Hmm, well, it’ll go back to before you blew up the planets, and your personality will return to normal hopefully. But you’ll have to help us exterminate the bugs to help us with that process of recovering your former self.” She glanced back and forth to the machine, with the look of deep thought.
I asked again. “Glais?”
“Oh yes, that guy. We can try to keep the time from reversing on his planet, and so it’ll stay blown up. I saw him in the corner of our old location, laying there, no heart rate as it showed on the monitor.” She felt just as pleased as I.
“Ha! So I did something good in the end?!” I celebrated.
“Yes, his terrible world is gone now, and so is he. It worked out in the end for you! It wasn’t the right way to go about it, but he’s gone now, and you can live freely.” She watched me jump in the air as we both laughed in victory and enthusiasm.
I stopped for a second. “Wait, I didn’t even get an introduction from you!”
“Ah...okay, the only information the people of the machine can know of the outside world is who their Author is. My name is Rose Vincol,” she told me.
“Alright, Rose, and where did you come from?” She really did look like someone I knew from before, so maybe I might remember who she is.
“Well, I came from you, basically,” Rose said.
“What?!” I bursted out, making a few heads turn to look at what just happened.
“I have some more explaining to do...listen closely. When a person who was secretly chosen to be a candidate for the ‘Second/Perfect Life’ project died, an Author was created, designed especially for the specific candidate. This may be a lot to take in, but you died, and I was created afterwards. When that was over with, you were connected to one of those machines, and seeing as I was the Author, I started writing a book where you are the main character, and you get the best life you could ever receive, personalised for you.” She was definitely a talker, I could tell that easily.
“I...died?” I asked, trying to remember how that happened.
“Yeah...you were killed by a bullet straight through your heart. There was also a guy next to you, he had died from multiple stab wounds; blood loss,” She made clear to me.
“Glais...now that I think about it, that’s what that flashback was all about. I and Glais were facing off against each other in some sort of final fight together, and I picked up a knife and charged, then he shot me. Everything’s making sense much more now.” I laughed the thought off, as my head became clearer.
“I just hope you don’t remember much else, because it could turn nasty if you recover anymore of your human life, understand?” She looked at me carefully, as if to study me.
“Of course, I’ll try not to get caught up in my past life.” I wiped my mind from reminiscing about Anne.
“Good, because you need to follow what I’m going to say next.” She paused and I stood closer to her. “Alright, I’m going to burn your book once you go back into the machine next. It’s too dangerous, so the only option I have is to let you become independent in your world.” She paused again.
“Wait wait wait, you’re going to burn my book?!” I cried out again, heads turning in the background.
She hushed me by putting her hand over my mouth. “Yes, otherwise you will get more bugs in your world, and it was affecting everyone else too. I mean, you had most of these people you see around here locked in a prison cell because of your new nature as Blue!”
Rose lowered her pale hand. “Oh...so I know these people!” I smiled again.
“Yes, but not outside. There is only a certain amount of information people can tolerate if they switch between two worlds, and introducing yourself outside of your main place wouldn’t be recommended.” She had to go and disappoint me...
“Aw...fine then.” I sulked for a while.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. Anyway, we’re going off in a tangent now. Once I get rid of your book, you will permanently forget all about your human past, so you can focus on one life. You had a few holes in your pony memory, so losing one life will fix the other.” Rose was explaining so much to me, that this huge jigsaw was falling into place, finally.
“Haha, will it fix my angst, too?” I joked to her, and we both laughed.
“Heh, no, but at least the darkness will be removed from you, bringing back your brilliant personality.” The black and red haired girl radiated her happiness for me, as I felt my feeling of morality coming back to me. I was really good, not bad like I was tricked into thinking.
It was getting dark already, so we had to prepare to sleep for the night. Everything was coming together nicely, and no soldiers would be able to find us. Caerula brought us all some blankets and such instead of using the hard floor to sleep on. I had a friend on Earth again, which was Rose. Anything could only get better for me now, as there wasn’t anything in my way anymore.
Rose seemed so familiar to me that it would have knocked me over if I could put my finger on it. Her black and red, short and spiky hair, her slightly pale skin and grey eyes, all looked the same as someone I had seen before. It frustrated me so much, but I couldn’t stay annoyed because tiredness took over. I formed a sleeping area with my provided blankets, and fell asleep in the corner of the large main room of the building, next to Rose on the left and Cae on the right of me.