//------------------------------// // Chapter 59: 'Till Death Do Us Part // Story: How Did I Get Here? // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 59 Crossover with Nathan Traveler's "Omnius's Travels: Equestria" Omnius and I walked the streets with the the rest of The Elements, Twilight, Pinkie, Shy, Dashie, Rarity, and AJ. "All right. Now, here's what I think. I think that if you all harness the powers of The Elements, you might be able to muster enough strength to break the space-time barriers, and shut the rift. Now, if this doesn't work, everypony dies, and the world implodes. No pressure." I had my hands in my pockets and I was walking really quickly. "But you said crossing the streams was a bad idea!" Omnius said. "So... Where do we need to go?" Twilight asked. I looked at the map I had drawn on, and looked around to match up where I had marked. I pointed to a large mountain with a gaping cave in the side. "There. It's in there." Everypony but Omnius dropped their jaws. "There was a d-d-dragon in there once... We got it out though..." Fluttershy shrank and cowered on the ground. D'aww... "Maybe it's a jewel or something?" "Possibly. I've heard of that kind of thing before." Omnius shrugged. "So... Who wants to climb a mountain? We've got a rift to close." I marched on, my posse following suit. "Well... Ah' reckon we gotta save th' world..." AJ sounded nervous. "Didn't you all do that already? TWICE?" They all stared at me, and then smiled. "Yeah, I guess we did." Twilight admitted. "You all KNOW I've saved worlds before." "Yes, Omnius, we know. Now, get your plots in gear, we've got a mountain to scale!" I pointed in the air comically, and set off at a near run towards the path leading up to the cave. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We were almost halfway up the mountain after almost two hours. Fluttershy kept getting scared, and she was wasting time. After she was frightened by a bristling bush, I grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her my most intense, piercing stare. Her eyes shrank when I stared into hers. "Listen... I know you're scared, we all are. But we NEED to do this, or this world is gone. We're doing this to save everypony, so you need to be strong! You can be scared Shy, I'm not saying you can't, but don't let it overwhelm you." She gulped, but eventually nodded. "Alright. I'll try to be brave." I kept walking. Omnius trotted up next to me. "Dude, that was intense." "I know. I can't stand it when people let fear get the better of them. I've let that happen to me many times, and I regret all of them. When I see Shy get like that, I feel a twang of... I don't know. It's like some sort of 'big brother' instinct, like I need to help her be strong." Omnius just stared. I kept looking ahead, and I knew I had a determined look on. I then realized why I was here. It wasn't a mistake, it wasn't a coincidence. I was here to help those in need. It was like Omnius. Whatever world he gets dumped into, he has to help make things right. Wherever I go, I always try to make things right, no matter the danger to myself. I was in Equestria, but not due to a fluke. It was fate. I looked back at all of the ponies following me. They all smiled at me when my gaze met theirs. These were my friends, my family. I had to do what I could to protect them... Even if it killed me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After another hour of walking in almost utter silence (Aside from Rarity complaining about how dirty she was getting, which coined her a lecture from me) we made it to the peak. We stood at the entrance to the cave, which looked eerily similar to a mouth. "Creepy... Well, lets go in then." I began to march forwards. Omnius stopped me. "Do you even know what the heck we're looking for?" "Erm..." I thought for a moment, rubbing the area my beard would be, if I had one. "Look for anything that looks... Strange. Like, a really big jewel, don't get any ideas," I shot Rarity a look, "or maybe a glowing spot on the wall, a weird talisman... Stuff like that." "So almost anything that could be in there?" "Omnius, shut up. Now then... ONWARDS AND UPWARDS..!" We then all shouted at once. "ALLONS-Y!" We marched inside, me being the first, and I saw a concrete-gray pegasus, whos ribs show faintly, he is abnormally tall, with slick black hair, and his wings have flecks of red on them that look like blood. "Who the hay are you?" "Ah, Kyle! The little hero of Equestria! Such an HONOR to meet you." His voice was very suave, but I could sense some seriously bad mojo coming off of him. "Alright, so you know me. Now who are you?" "People call me Torrentican. The pleasure is all mine." I remembered what Omnius had said back when we were escaping the base. "Huh. Well, this guy named Torrentican got me with Poison Joke..." "You're the reason Omnius is stuck in pony form..." "Ah! So you know my friend! Quite the goody goody two-shoes he is, eh?" "Yeah yeah whatever... Have you seen anything here that looks... Powerful?" He grinned, and stared right at me. His eyes were normal, but his irises were pure black. It was as if he was staring into my very soul. "Why yes, I did. I'm the one who put it here. This world is just too... Happy. And cute. I loathe happy and cute. So, I must ask you to leave, before you get hurt... Or better yet, by all means! Stay, and you can watch me pluck the feathers off of your little Rainbow colored whore, as she screams in pain, calling out to you." I felt rage pumping through me. “She’ll beg for you to come and save her, but you won’t be able to do a thing but watch. You’ll fail her, and when I’m finished having fun, I’ll move on to the little chicken that is your adopted daughter. Oh, what fun we’ll have together!” "THAT'S IT! I'LL KILL HIM!" Omnius had just been standing there, listening. He saw me balling up my fists, and getting ready to go mental. "Kyle, wait!" Too late. I rushed Torrentican, and threw my hardest punch. He simply sidestepped me, and bucked me right in the back. "AGH!" I fell over. I rolled over to lay on my back, and looked up at the crazy pony. His Cutie Mark was of... The Reaper?" "Why is your Cutie Mark... That?" "It's what you think the embodiment of evil and fear is. Death. You know what's going to happen." "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Omnius finally lunged at Torrentican. They rolled around, hitting, kicking, and biting each other, until Omnius jumped off. "Hey... Why didn't you do that before?" I just stared at him. "I always let the villain finish his monologue before I kick some butt. It lures them into a false sense of security, you know?" "Ah. Makes sense." Torrentican lunged at Omnius, and the fight continued. Omnius glanced at me, and yelled. "Go! I’ve got the clichéd one handled!" I led The Elements around and we proceeded deeper into the cave, the last thing I heard from them was Torrentican yelling "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" After only a few minutes, we found it. It was a large, blue, crystal-like thing. It was glowing, and the air around it seemed to fluctuate. I could see faint images of millions of different dimensions and universes. "Wow... This is... COOL!" Dashie looked around, seeing all of these images. Pinkie was just laughing. "Pinkie, what are you doing?" I raised an eyebrow. "Giggling at the ghosties!" Facepalm. "All right. Everypony, get ready!" Twilight stood in front of the crystal, and they all gathered around her. I stood by and watched. The symbols on the necklaces they were wearing began to pulsate, and then a bright light flashed. Twilight's eyes became pure white, and began to glow. They all floated into the air. Another flash of light. "Woah..." They all fell to the ground. Nothing happened at first. "Did we do it?" Rarity stared at the gem. "Ah' reckon so..." Then, the entire cave began to shake. Omnius ran up to me. "What happened!?!?" "We did it..." The stalactites began to fall from the ceiling. "EVERYPONY OUT! NOW!" They all ran, but Omnius and Dashie stayed. "Wait, what're you gonna do?" Dashie looked at me, worried. "I'm going to make sure this thing STAYS broken." "I'm going to stay in case anything goes wrong and this thing doesn't even break in the first place." Omnius looked back at the crystal. Dashie lingered, not wanting to leave. I felt the worry radiating off of her, and Omnius apparently did as well. “Don’t worry Dash,” Omnius said, a grin breaking across his face. “I’ll make sure he makes it out of here.” She nodded, and left with the others. I walked up to the crystal, which now had a few cracks in it. I threw a punch, and it shattered. A large blast of energy threw me backwards, and I landed on my back. Omnius was knocked over. I saw a stalactite falling right at me. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and my breaths became short and strained. I looked down, and saw that I had been impaled. I knew not to remove it, or I would bleed out. I felt my heart beating faster and faster, and darkness began to creep up into my vision, which had a wash of red over it. I heard "KYLE!" As Omnius rushed to my side, knowing it was too late for me. I went limp, and the darkness took over... And then, the last thing I heard was the anguished cries of my Dashie. "What have I done?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I woke up in a familiar setting. Stars everywhere, even the ground I walked on. "Luna?" "Hello, Kyle. It has been a long time since we last spoke." "But wait... I thought I was dead..." "You are." I looked at my hands. They were white. "Oh no..." "I am afraid it is true." Luna levitated a slab of glass in front of me. I saw a large hole where the stalactite was, and my skin was pale. My eyes had a blank look in them. "But... I'm here..." "Well... We alicorns have a special power..." "Are you saying..." "Yes. We can give the gift of life." "But... Doesn't it always have a cost?" "Yes... I will give up one hundred years of my past, in exchange for your survival of the accident." "Luna... I can't let you do that. I'm not as important to these ponies as you are, and doing that could make you forget so many important things..." "What about Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo? What about all of your friends? Your fans?" I hung my head in guilt. She was right. I was important. It was selfish of me to think otherwise. "All right... If you're sure... Go ahead." I closed my eyes, half expecting it to hurt. Her horn began to glow, and she touched my forehead. I saw a white flash, and my ears were ringing. My vision was black, but I could just make out voices... The first I heard was that of a yellow pegasus. "...Wait, I feel a pulse!"