//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Back to normal... If you can call it that. // Story: Le Retour // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 11 On our way out of the forest, we didn't really say anything. I was still feeling guilty for causing all of this trouble, and for bringing all of this down on Omnius. He looked... Different. I couldn't really put my finger on it. I wasn't thinking about all the blood and grime on his clothes either. He just looked... Off. I decided to just ignore it, thinking it was because I hadn't seen him for a while. Then, he stopped, and clenched his fist. Frost started covering up his hand, and spikes came out of it. I almost fell over I was so surprised. "You can actually use plasmids?!" I felt my mouth hanging open, and quickly shut it. "Yeah." His eyes darted back and forth a few times. "Does it feel like we're being watched?" I felt my face twist into an angry look. I started looking around, paranoid of the thought. "You know, now that you mention it-" Suddenly a HUGE Shadow Stalker flew out of nowhere... Straight at me. "HOLY FRIJOLES WHAT DO I DO?!" I was about to react when Omnius shoved me out of the way, and his right arm became an ice-drill, and he rushed the monster. He stabbed it and slammed it into a tree, and it disintegrated. His attack was surprisingly rage filled. I sat there for a moment, staring. "Nice save." "Thanks." He grunted, then cleared his throat. "Um... Kyle?" "What?" "I think I'm stuck." I facepalmed, and looked over his arm. I had a quick fix. I brought my elbow down on the ice, and it all shattered, leaving his arm intact thankfully. I didn't really think that through. The hole left by the drill was huge, so his arm was completely free. We headed back off towards town. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Right at the very edge of the forest, Omnius saw Ponyville, and cringed and stopped walking. "What's wrong?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He shook his head and took a few steps back. "I can't go back. Not yet..." I felt a frown break across my face. "Well why not? I've obviously forgiven you!" Then, his gaze turned into an angry glare. "Yeah, you have," The bitterness was dripping off of each of his words. "But what about the girls? I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t even thought about me while I was gone. Heck, you and Celestia were the only ones who apparently cared enough to try and get me to come back." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "That's a lie." I almost shouted, but I managed to control myself. I grabbed his arm and yanked him into the light. I noticed that everything about him had a grey tint to it. I THOUGHT he looked different. "Omnius... What's wrong with you?" "I dunno. I just feel like..." He let out a stressed sigh. I could tell he was really upset. "I dunno. If you need me, I'm gonna be at my house..." OK, something is definitely up. "Are you sure? Come on, the girl's will want to see you!" I put a fake smile on my face. "Kyle-" That's it. "NO! You're coming with me!" I yanked on his arm again. I could tell I just made him even angrier, because he snatched his hand away from me, "If you need me, I'm gonna be at my house." He repeated, but in a much more firm tone, with more finality. Then, he suddenly lightened up. “Hey…my friends call me Nate, or Sean. Or Omnius. Whichever floats your boat.” Where did that come from? I watched him walk off. I stood there, plotting, when an insane idea came to mind. And insane, evil smile broke across my face, just like when I thought of The Chicken Plan. "I'm gonna need a potato sack..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I stood outside Omnius' house, which looked like crap. The paint was chipped, and his flower patch was just a bunch of dead shrubs. I had my headphones around my neck, and my MP3 Player in my pocket. The potato sack was in my right hand, which I held behind my back. I knocked on the door, and heard footsteps. It opened, and Omnius just stood there, a nonchalant expression on his face. "Hey Ky-" I didn't give him a chance to finish. I threw the bag over him, and tightened the strap. He tried to escape, but I had Pinkie use her amazing I-dunno-how-the-heck-she-does-it skills to re-enforce it, making it especially useful for kidnapping. Or in this case, Travelernapping. "Just shut up, you're coming with me." I had a cheerful voice, mainly because it felt good to do something completely nuts. I put my headphones on, but before I could start a song, Omnius screamed. "LET ME OUTTA HERE!" The bag started flopping around and convulsing. "Nope." I turned on a song, and turned the volume up all the way. The feeling of sound waves assaulting my eardrums felt wonderful. Apparently, Omnius could hear my music. I heard small fragments of what he yelled, and even then, only barely. "...LISTENING... MP3... SOMETHING?!" "Sorry, can't hear you!" I had a mocking tone to my voice, but it was pretty much true. He finally calmed down, and I kept on dragging the bag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ About fifteen minutes later, Omnius decided to open his mouth again. He'd been asking me "Are we there yet?" repeatedly, and I was getting annoyed. "Are we there yet?" "No." Fourteenth time. FOURTEENTH TIME. So much stress... So much RAGE... "Can you open the bag yet? For that matter, how the hell are you dragging me?" "What do you mean?" "Well, I’m kind of heavy I think. And aren’t you a little scrawny?" Rage mode activated. I kicked the bag, aiming for his crotch. Sadly, I missed. He grunted. "Point taken." At this point, I arrived at the library, where I had the girls gather. I opened the door, and dumped Omnius out at everypony's hooves. He looks up at them. "Um... Hi?" Twilight stomped her hoof. "Where have you BEEN?" "Well... You see, I-" "I was so worried about you! Everypony was! Kyle, where'd you find him?" Twilight gave me an accusing stare, like I knew he was in the forest the whole time. "Divine Melody, Zeph's daughter, said she was rescued by a metal creature in the Everfree. I sorta deduced it was him." Twilight nodded in agreement. "I can see why you would come to that conclusion... Wait, why is he all grey like that?" I took off my hat and scratched my head. "I dunno. But he's sure acting differently." Then, a look of realization popped onto Twilight's face. "What is it, Twi?" "Grey... Has he been acting like he's lost all hope?" That statement hit me like a speeding buffalo. "Um..." I looked Omnius square in the eyes. It was as I feared. He seemed lost. Hopeless, even. "Yeah..." Twilight and everypony else gasped. Rarity stepped forward. "Darling... Something like this has happened to all of us before. We were changed by the evil creature known as "Discord." I believe you remember the story we told you about him?" I nodded, the story coming to memory. "Well, we turned grey and acted the opposite of our Elements. Omnius has lost all hope... I doubt it's Discord, but I believe the same facts apply." "Oh... My... This isn't good at all..." Shy stepped away from Omnius a bit. I doubt that helped any. "Well, what 'n tarnation could've happened t' make 'im like this?" I thought for a second... Then it hit me. "He must blame himself for all of the stuff that happened when he brought me back... Everypony being mad at me, my fall to rock bottom... And... Does he know?" I didn't need to think about it. Dashie brought the answer about for me. "Do you think it had anything to do with Kyle's... Suicide attempt?" She looked at me, a sad expression on her face. I gave her a reassuring hug, and took another look at Omnius. His expression hadn't changed. "Did you... Did you kno-" He cut me off. "Of course I did! How do you think Zephyr knew where to find you? While I was getting the girls together, I also told Spitfire to get Zephyr to patrol the skies just outside of Ponyville, where the best hangin' trees are, just in case something went wrong...Oh, and Lo and behold, but something did! What a surprise!" Well, that's a surprise. "You did WHAT?! But it was Spike who told me I should see the others again!" Apparently, Twilight was just as surprised as I was. Then, Pinkie hopped over to him. "And Pumpkin and Pound told me the same thing!" Omnius went from not caring, to being extremely mad. "And who do you think told them? Sorry if I decided that your friendship with each other, and Kyle, was more important than the fact that none of you could really stand the sight of me!" He'd stood up, and he was heading for the door. I slid in front of it, blocking his exit. "Kyle, I'd get out of the way if I were you." His teeth were clenched, and he was getting worse by the second. "Not until you talk to them!" I moved my hat a bit so I could get a better look at him, and crossed my arms. "You think that I can't-" I decided to finish his sentence for him. "Beat me to a pulp? No, you can't, and you won't." I stared right into his eyes again. "You're not in your right mind, you need help." I felt myself starting to choke up a bit. His tone dropped, and he was on the same vocal level as Fluttershy. "Help? Why would a bunch of ponies who think I'm a piece of shit want to help me?" I almost flinched when he said that. "He really has lost all hope..." "Because they-" He cut me off before I could reason with him. "I DON'T CARE!" I flinched that time. "I’ve had it with others always pitying me! I’ve had it with always trying to help others, and never receiving any type of thanks in return!" I couldn't believe that I heard that from the Eternal Traveler of Good. OF GOOD. "Do you want to know what I think?" Frankly, no, I didn't, but I let him continue anyways, so he could get it out of his system. Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, and her words came out shaky and dripping with fear and sadness. "Omnius, please stop!" Omnius shouted at the top of his lungs. "IT SUCKS TO BE THE TRAVELER!" Right there, I lost it. I socked him in the jaw, getting a gasp out of everypony. I then grabbed him by the throat, and pinned him to the wall. I threw my next punch... And it connected with the wall next to his head. I felt tears streaming down my face. (Listen to this.) "Dammit Omnius! What's wrong with you?! Can't you see we were all worried about you?! We're your friends, and we care about you! The only reason the girls weren't looking is because they've been a whole mess of hormones! You have to know about that!" A glimmer of realization flashed in his eyes, but he said nothing. "As soon as we realized you've been gone, we all started to worry! I even went into that goddesses forsaken forest for you! I don't understand... Why are you like this? You've lost all hope... But we still have hope in you, Omnius. We know this isn't you. You're just broken, and need some friends to fix you." I clasped a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a smile and a wink. "And we're just the friends you need. So get off your ass, and cheer up! I'll even buy you a drink." Suddenly, Omnius seemed under a lot of strain. He leaned against the wall, and he threw his hands up to his forehead, a look of pain breaking across his face. Tears were at the edges of his eyes. He started shaking his head madly, and after a few seconds, he slumped down to the floor, and he hung his head dejectedly, as if in shame. I had half a mind to make him stand up, but then he started talking. (Stop the music.) "You know something? I don’t think that anything is mad when they hear voices in their head, even if those voices tell us to do bad things." I smiled, and took a seat on the floor next to him. "Really?" He nodded. "We’re only mad when we choose to listen to those voices..." He started crying, and his voice started shaking. "I’m…I’m sorry...for yelling at you all, and for…for what I said." "Ah, it's nothing, you just weren't in your right mind." I knocked on the side of my head a few times for emphasis, but he didn't see. Oh well. Fluttershy walked up to him, and the sound of her hooves on the floor made him look up. She gave him a warm smile, and then a hug. "It's OK. We forgive you." Then Twi joined in the hug. "We really should have just listened when we had the chance." Twi started crying, but quickly stopped herself. I wanted to say, "Yeah, that goes for both him AND me." but I decided not to ruin the moment. Everypony else started giving him hugs and apologizing, and then there was a flash of light. When it dimmed, Omnius was back to his normal color scheme. I smiled again. "Well, it looks like you're back to your normal colors." He glanced at his arm, and then he chuckled. "You know what?" I raised an eyebrow. "What?" "That sounded incredibly racist." A stupid grin broke across his face... And I almost doubled over laughing, and that goes for everypony else. After we all calmed down, Omnius stood up and walked over to me. "I take back what I said earlier." I crossed my arms, and I felt a smug grin on me. "Oh?" "Yeah... It's good to be The Traveler." We fist-bumped, and he took his bandanna out of his back pocket and put it back on. We all headed into the kitchen, and Twi levitated a bottle to each of us. I looked my bottle over, and it was apple juice. "I was kinda hoping for apple cider... Whatever. I'll get a drink later." "So, does this mean you're gonna be in human form more often?" Pinkie asked Omnius. "I think so, at least in this Equestria. After all, I'm not the only human here now." He shrugged, and he popped the cap off of his bottle. Dashie nuzzled my side, and I scratched the top of her head. Omnius... No, I'm gonna call him Sean from now on. Sean lifted his bottle into the air. "I call a toast…To Friendship, and to the reunion of Harmony!" We all raised our bottles, and repeated the toast. I chugged the entire bottle, and threw it into the rubbish bin. Sean then lifted his bottle again. "And... FOR ASGARD!" He drained his bottle, and then smashed it over his head. We all just stared at him. Only one thought could run through my mind. "Well, that was stupid..." He looked down a the shards around his feet. "Ow. I'll clean that up." He knelt down to pick up the glass, but Twi's horn was already glowing and levitating them to the bin. "No need. I think we’ve all known you long enough to expect something like that." She grinned, and I nodded in agreement. Then, Sean frowned. "Ah. Hey, you know what I just realized?" By this time I'd snagged another drink without anybody noticing. I took a sip, then raised my eyebrow at him again. "What?" "We never properly celebrated." "Celebrated what?" I raised my eyebrow further. "Let’s see…Kyle, we never celebrated your return to life," He paused for a moment. "And if I’m not mistaken, we also never celebrated kicking Torrentican’s ass in the first place, and we also need to celebrate the fact that we’re all friends again, right?" Pinkie had a look of realization on her face, and then she bolted out of the library. I looked at Sean with an expression of mock horror. "Sean?" "Yeah?" "What have you done?"