//------------------------------// // The truth is out there // Story: Equestrian reformation // by Vladilen_pro //------------------------------// "Ah, stop pretending to be innocent, my dear.... You absolutely know what's going on, you traitor." Ms. Claire looked at me with a smug look. "Traitor?! What the hell are you even talking about?" "We are going to have a very long talk my friend, and you are going to tell me everything, do you understand me? EVERYTHING. And we're going to start with how you got this nasty idea of betrayal in your head." Ms. Claire stepped closer to me. "You'd better cooperate with me, or else.... You're not gonna like what I've got in store for you." I let out a heavy sigh. "I repeat for the second time, I have no idea what you're talking about at all. You sent me to Equestria for reformation, and now you're calling me a traitor?! What the fuck is wrong with you?" "Somehow I knew you wouldn't make it easy for me..." Ms. Claire shook her head in disappointment. "All right, have it your way! Let's say that traveling between worlds has rewarded me with short-term amnesia..... Can you please remind me why you consider me a traitor?" "Now you're just messing with me! You're pretty stubborn, I'll give you that. But trust me, it won't do you any good." Ms. Claire nodded to one of the guards. "Take him away, boys." The guard began to move in my direction. (Not today, you bastard!) Turning sharply toward the guard holding me at gunpoint, I snatched the gun from his hands. Before the guy could react, I had him in my grip, leaning the gun against his head. "Nobody move or his brains will decorate the nearest wall!" Everyone froze and Ms. Claire did a facepalm. "Seriously, Zach? Are you serious now?" she sighed irritably. "You managed to screw up on your first day! I knew I shouldn't have let Owen retire and hire you to take his place!" "Zach, huh? I'm assuming you and Claire aren't just coworkers?" I was surprised. "He's my nephew, you asshole!" Claire took a step in my direction, but I reminded her that I was holding her nephew hostage by removing the safety lock from the gun. "Don't even doubt it bitch, I know how to use this thing, so stay where you are!" Ms. Claire stood in place, hatred blazing in her eyes. "That's better!" I corrected the position of the gun at Zach's head. "So Zach, if your aunt doesn't want to tell me what's going on here, why don't you do it?" "You sick bastard!" Claire shouted at me. "I'm a sick bastard?! You know, I don't accuse people who just got home of betrayal without explaining the situation!" "You know what? Do it. You can take someone's life without a problem, huh? I dare you." Claire looked at me confidently with a nervous grin. "Wow. And you call me sick?" Claire was really starting to win this psychological warfare. "Well? Give him a bullet! How long are we going to stare at each other?" The situation had reached a critical point, and I had to find a solution. Obviously, I didn't want to kill Zach. "I knew you wouldn't dare do that. Now end this bullshit and let him go." Claire took a step toward me again. I realized that the portal behind me was still working, and I got an idea. Meanwhile, Claire was another step closer. "I'm giving you one last chance before taking extreme measures." Claire nodded toward her guards, who pointed their assault rifles at me. (Come on bitch, one step closer...) "I'm counting to three. If you don't let Zach go by then, you're dead." Claire raised her hand, folding her fingers. "One, two..." (Now!) I suddenly shoved Zach toward Claire, and he flew straight at her. Taking advantage of the delay, I dived back into the portal. A second later, I could already feel the floor of Canterlot Castle with my face. (Why do I always land so badly?!) I could still feel the weapon in my hand, and when I was able to pull my face off the floor, I was completely certain of it. (Okay, that's probably something I'd better hide...) Hastily stuffing the weapon into my pocket, I heard the sound of the portal room doors opening. Looking over there, I found the same company that had accompanied me not more than ten minutes before. Celestia and Twilight were definitely not happy to see me again. "You're back already?! I can't believe it! Does time go faster in your world than it does in Equestria or something?" Pinkie was just being herself, as always. "Oh no..." Celestia was more upset than anyone. "Yeah..." I stepped closer to her. "Your Highness, could you please tell me.... WHAT THE HELL MS. CLAIRE IS DOING?! She almost shot me! That's definitely not a friendly greeting after a long time away!" Celestia let out a heavy sigh. "Looks like we can't hide it anymore... Twilight?" After hearing this, Twilight seemed to get even more nervous. "Princess, are you sure about this?" "He deserves to know the truth. It happened, and there's nothing more we can do." Celestia was very serious. "Sister? What's going on here, we thought that..." Luna noticed me. "Oh? Vlad, we thought you went home." "I have as many questions as you do right now, Luna..." I looked at Celestia and then at Twilight. "Well? I thought you wanted to tell me something?" "Okay. I'll do it." Twilight walked over to me. "You better sit down." "Sit down? I don't like it already..." "Listen... Me and Celestia really tried until the last minute to solve this problem, but unfortunately we couldn't, and I'm sorry... What you're about to hear, I'm sure you're not going to like..." "Go on..." I was wary. "We have not fully understood exactly how this unpleasant situation occurred, and perhaps my explanation will not be fully clear to you... You see, as soon as you arrived in Equestria, terrifying and incomprehensible things began to happen..." Twilight paused for a moment. The other ponies listened carefully to her story. "In particular... Ms. Claire started acting very strange, even aggressive. She suddenly demanded that all ponies leave Earth or they'd be arrested for trespassing... That's why you may have noticed so many ponies forced to go back to Equestria. She called us arrogant aliens, and that while she's in charge of portal travelling, she wouldn't let us stay on Earth. We couldn't figure out the reason for a long time, and we tried to negotiate with Ms. Claire, and one day, when we mentioned that you were here in Equestria..." (Has that bitch Claire lost her mind or something...?) "For some reason she thought you betrayed humanity by running away to Equestria and were up to no good. She demanded that we bring you to her so she could give you a fair trial... Of course, we didn't want to do that, and we still didn't understand her motive, but then I had a theory.... It was the most logical theory, and we've stuck to it ever since." Twilight paused again. "I'm sorry, this is hard for me to talk about..." "My theory is... Somehow, the fact that you went through the portal... Was the starting point for this incident. When you used the portal, it's like the universe just "forgot"... That you existed." I tried to comprehend what I was hearing, but I wasn't doing a good job. "And it's not just about you... It's affecting all of Equestria. All of humanity has suddenly forgotten that we existed and that we had previously made contact. According to Ms. Claire's story, one day Earth met another day, and all was well until the humans began to panic upon noticing the ponies. This was mistaken for an invasion of Earth... Luckily, that day Miss Claire agreed to make contact and we were able to make a deal to return all the ponies to Equestria. And it looks like that was the first and last time we were able to agree on anything..." "Starting from here, the situation became impossible. We tried many times to convince her that you weren't a traitor and didn't deserve to be punished, but she just wouldn't listen to us. Until one day... During our last negotiation, she admitted she was wrong. She listened to us and said that she had fully realized the current situation and no longer had any claims against you. You were free to go home. She said it so "sincerely" and we believed her. It was no longer a question of humanity and ponies having friendly ties again, we just wanted you to be able to return home safely... We hoped to the last minute that she was honest and wouldn't break her promise... But we were wrong to trust her." Twilight was looking straight into my soul. "Next... You know what was next..." I don't know how long me and Twilight looked at each other in silence. Maybe one minute, maybe five, maybe an hour. Suddenly it hit me and I laughed. "You actually find that... Funny...?" Twilight was stunned. "Okay, you fellas got me, haha! I really thought it was serious at first, but now I realize it was all just a big prank and Miss Claire agreed to participate! That's exactly how I'm going to remember my last minutes here in Equestria!" I hugged Twilight. "And you know how to rattle my nerves!" "But Vlad, that's all..." Celestia came over and I hugged her too. "Yes princess, thank you too! That was beautiful. But I really have to go now, I'll miss you all!" I was about ready to re-enter the portal, but ran into a solid wall. The portal was turned off. "Ah, looks like while we were talking, the portal shut down. Princess Celestia, could you please turn it back on?" "Oh no... It's even worse than I thought..." Celestia walked over to the portal and examined it closely. "They turned it off." "And what's the problem? Just turn it back on." "I can't... If the portal was turned off from the other side, I can't turn it back on from ours. I'm sorry Vlad, for what happened..." Celestia was completely powerless to do anything about it. "Oh come on, that's enough... The joke's starting to get old." I was a little nervous. Celestia's heavy gaze fell on me. And then the terrible realization came. THIS.IS.NOT.A.JOKE. "Ah..." was all I could say. "I'm really sorry..." Celestia was still looking at me. "I wish this was all a joke... But it isn't." I slowly turned my back to her, looking at the portal. "Vlad?" Celestia was worried. "Turn on the portal." I said in cold blood. "But I just said that..." "I don't care what you said ... Turn on the portal." "That's not possible, I'm sorry..." Celestia was getting visibly nervous. "I said... TURN ON THE FUCKING PORTAL!" I sharply grabbed the gun from my pocket and pointed it at Celestia. Celestia obviously knew what it was, as she began to back away. "What are you... What are you doing? We're not your enemies!" Celestia was desperate. I aimed for Celestia, then Twilight, and then Celestia again. "I DON'T CARE, DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?! I NEED TO GET HOME AND I'LL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!" I laughed nervously. "Calm down okay? Put the gun down, please!" Celestia stood in front of Twilight, shielding her with herself. "We don't need any casualties at all!" "There won't be any if you turn on the damn portal, you know!" I grinned nervously. Suddenly, Luna stood in front of Celestia. "Hmm, what's this? Sister, why are you scared of this little thing?" Luna was examining the gun in my hands. "Luna! You don't know how dangerous that 'little thing' is!" Celestia pulled Luna closer to her with magic. Tension was at its highest, everyone was looking at me and I was looking at Celestia, ready to pull the trigger at any moment. "I'm waiting, hahahahaaa!!! Just do it!!! Yeaaah!!!" my body started to shake and my smile got wider and wider. "Oh my God, he's having a mental breakdown!" Twilight was horrified. "No, no! I'm fine! Really! HAHAHAHA!" "That's enough, Vlad. Please put the weapon away!" Celestia glared menacingly at me. "If anything, you'll only hurt yourself. Put the weapon away, please. Don't make me take it away from you." "You will NOT tell me what to do!" "Please stop. This is your last warning." Celestia's horn glowed slightly. My hands were shaking and I was having trouble aiming. Meanwhile, Celestia's horn began to glow stronger. "Don't force me to do this." My senses were starting to come back a little bit. (She... She's right... I will only hurt myself...) I slowly lowered the weapon. "Yes. Yes, that's it! Now, give it to me, okay?" Celestia took a step forward. "Give the weapon to me." I was almost passing out at that moment, my head was a big lump of different incomprehensible thoughts and worries. I threw the gun on the floor, it took a few spins and went right to Celestia's hooves. "That's it... Good job." Celestia gently picked up the gun and it disappeared in a small flash. I felt so exhausted and destroyed that my legs couldn't hold me up. I fell to my knees. My gaze was blank and lifeless, my head was spinning with the same thoughts that were literally tearing me apart from the inside out. (This is... This is the end...) I felt hot tears of despair flowing from my eyes, but my expression didn't change. It was just as blank. My vision was blurred and I couldn't distinguish anything. Everything became one gray mess with some spots moving around me.