//------------------------------// // Chapter X - This Isn't The End (part I) // Story: A Legend Returns // by 654_nosneb //------------------------------// I was stunned at what I just witnessed, "Was that Osvaldo?" was all I managed to say. "It-it seems so," Sasha replied with fear. Luna took a while longer to react, and when she did, she vanished from her bed with a sudden flash of her horn and left me and Sasha by ourselves. "So he's after the time-travel spell!" Sasha exclaimed. "He wants to do the same thing that Owlen almost managed to do!" Even though his plan wasn't too creative, it would be devastating if he managed to pull it off. I immediately ignited my blue sword and started to think. I've never been on my sisters' personal archive, otherwise I would be there already to protect the spell, maybe even destroy it, since the only thing that it did since its was created was making my life more difficult. "Where is it!?" I asked frantically to the green alicorn in front of me. "Where are the archives!?" "Calm down, William!" she hurried to reply. "I have no clue of where it could be. I didn't even know that it existed before tonight." "Tonight?" I asked in confusion. When I turned my head to the window I realized how much time has passed since I arrived at Canterlot. I don't know how Luna did to raise the moon without me noticing it, but she did. "Oh, yeah. Tonight." Then Luna reappeared in the room, but not alone; along side her was my sister Celestia, who had an angry expression on her muzzle. "Celestia!" I exclaimed as I saw her. I didn't know yet if she still thought that I was crazy, so I hurried to add: "Look, I..." "I know, William, I know," she quickly replied. "But there's no time now to give you an apology. We need to stop that maniac before it's too late!" As we quickly exited the bedroom, Luna was galloping at my left side while Tia and Sasha were doing the same thing at my right side. We quickly rushed to the castle's underground floors, in which the Celestial Archives rested. "But why doesn't he just teleport there and that's all?" I asked as we were running. "Because he was never there; therefore, he doesn't know how to do so," the white mare quickly answered. "And even if he did know, he wouldn't be able to do so because that place is protected by an anti-teleportation spell. Not even I can access it with a teleportation spell. The only way to get in is through the door." As we were heading downstairs, I could feel how fear was starting to take over me. It felt as if my new world, my new and fragile world was about to be destroyed by that monster once again. I tried to calm myself, though. I've kinda beaten him before, and surely I can do it again! At least that's what I wish; at least that's what I hope. We finally reached a giant golden door. Before reaching it we had to traverse a lot of magical locks and spiral stairs. It was decorated with Celestia's and Luna's faces sculpted on the gold. The door was more like a heavenly bank vault, since it was circular. On the right side was Celestia, alongside the sun symbol; and on the left side Luna, alongside the symbol of the moon. "So far it seems good," Sasha spoke. "Nopony... or in this case, nobody has entered through that door." "And how is it supposed to be opened?" I asked to Celestia. "See that hole in the middle of the door?" she responded. "Well, either me or Luna has to introduce his horn through it and it will open. It's that simple." "Hold on!" Luna exclaimed. "If he could use an invisibility spell at my bedroom, he could perfectly..." Then, out of a sudden, Osvaldo appeared in front of my white sister. In less than a second he grabbed her from the neck. He then stamped her skull against the nearest wall. In a second, Celestia fell unconscious. "Back away, Osvaldo!" Luna shouted as she ignited her horn with dark blue sparks, while the bald man still held the unconscious princess from her neck. "And leave my sister alone, NOW!" "It seems that you're not in the position to be asking, Luna," Osvaldo calmly, but firmly replied. "If any of you tries to anything, I'll have no problem with ending the miserable life of this horse." "YOU!" I said as I pointed my sword to where he was. "What the hay is your problem!? What are you trying to accomplish with this madness?" "Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to finish what the one you call 'Owlen' started. I'll travel back in time and fix once and for all what you did!" "What I did? WHAT I DID!?" I angrily shouted. "I wasn't the one that attacked you with powerful magic. Oh, and in case you've forgotten, that magical blast that transformed everyone into ponies was made with your magic as well as with my magic. As far as anyone can conclude, you are as responsible as me for humanity's 'extinction', because as far as I know humanity and ponies are practically the same by now, and always were." "But tons of lives were lost in the process. Our whole culture and identity is gone, and it's all thanks to you." "Thanks to both of us," I corrected him. "Either way, I'm the only one brave enough to do something about it! You're leaving the human race to DIE in the past, while I'm trying to save it." "Believe me, if there was a way for me to go back and save the human world without destroying the pony world, I totally would. But there isn't. And I don't want to be a murderer." He took a deep breath as I said this. "Did you think that it was easy for me?I knew from the very beginning that those fillies were sapient from the first time that I met them. But for humanity's sake, for the greater good, I suppressed that part of my humanity; I did it because two lives were nothing to pay in comparison to build a f4ck1ng utopia! There was just too much misery, hunger, war, and poverty in the world that could've been terminated if I just did what must be done. "Watching their cute, childish faces day after day, hearing their horrified screams as I applied each experimental chemical formula on them; all of it was deeply disturbing for me to do. But I had to remain strong; I had to remain tough and show no weakness to you or to anyone, not even to my own brother. I couldn't afford the luxury of showing empathy, of showing weakness. "I did the math, William. Not just me, but a lot of scientists throughout the world did it. The human race wouldn't have lasted fifty more years if they didn't find a solution to global warming soon," he then paused for a second and continued. "Look, you and I are very similar to each other in many ways, the only two differences are that I have the guts that you lack to do what must be done." "And what's the second thing?" I asked. "Well, that..." he vanished with a sudden flash and reappeared behind me. "I'M SUPERIOR THAN YOU, BY FAR!" He tackled me from my back. I felt how my recent injury ached in agony as my head crashed with the golden vault and my body fell to the floor. I tried to stand up quickly, but my senses were heavily disoriented. I heard a lot of magical blasts. When I managed to use my left hand to grab the hole of the vault and stand up, I found Luna and Sasha unconscious on the floor. "Well then, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Osvaldo shouted angrily. "GO AHEAD! ATTACK ME!" I wasted no time and did as he said. I opened a portal right below him and made him appear right above me. I had no mercy and I hit him with my sword. "Oh, oh. Whoa! It seems that you've practiced a lot," he said half laughing after he arose quickly from his fall. Then he blasted me with a red magical beam that appeared from his fist as he extended his arm towards me. "Too bad that I've practically practiced my whole life!" I tried to avoid that blast. Even though the majority of the beam didn't hit me, the border still did, burning one of my cheeks in the process. "AH!" I screamed in pain. That thing BURNED and almost hit my eye. He then rushed to tackle me. I extended my sword in order to get him while he was running, but he was smarter than me. Before my blue blade touched his head he vanished with a sudden flash, only to reappear behind me an give his final blow. Everything became very fuzzy at that point. I was too severely injured to focus anything with my eyes. I tried once again to stand up, but collapsed from pain as I did. The best thing I could do was to roll my body a bit in order to see what Osvaldo was doing. He held Celestia from her neck again. However, this time he had tears in his eyes. He introduced her horn into the magical door and... It opened.