Chapter 66
Wow
Really, there aren’t words.
When you touch the flow, you don’t exactly... enter it. You never really break the surface. You can’t get in it and swim, like you could for a normal river. When you touched it, you really... I guess you switched over. You actually left your physical body and entered the flow with your consciousness. The sensation is pretty freaky. It's like being upside-down underwater. But it's well worth the actuality of just being in the Flow. In the Flow! I couldn't get over how cool it was.
"Wow." I repeated, looking all around me. It was kind of like using the Tardis, but all at the same time. It really doesn't make sense, but the only way to understand it is to have done it. I saw the birth of the star Sol, emerging from its protective cloud of plasma and heavy gasses. I saw a young Doctor, prancing through the ruddy grasses of his childhood home. The silver trees swayed in the crisp wind. I really wanted to talk to him, and then I was actually there. The Doctor noticed me quickly, jumping down from the branches of one a silver tree. He was a think kid, with a bowl cut and dull grey eyes. His clothes were all made out of a brownish leather.
"Mommy, Mommy! Look at the horsey!" The little time-lord squealed. I smiled. He bounded over to me and, without a qualm, stuck his fingers up my nose. I snorted, pulling away.
"Hey, don't do that!" I complained. The Doctor's eyes widened and he backed off a few steps.
"You can talk?!" The little guy exclaimed. I nodded.
"My name's Edwin." I said, sticking out my hoof. The doctor shrunk away from me.
"Mommy said I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." He said coyly, rubbing his shoes together. I laughed.
"That's a good rule. Well, I suppose I'd better go, then." I said, feeling myself slip back into the flow.
"Am I ever gonna see you again, Mr. Horsey?"
"You can bet on it." I promised. The Doctor smiled and waved as I entered the flow again. I saw everything else. I saw myself in my second life, my first time around as a pony. The majority of the time I wasn't so bad, but sometimes I was such a dumbass. I popped in to watch myself fight the dragon. I suddenly found myself on a palace balustrade, looking down at an enormous Angelic dragon and a little white smudge. The dragon roared, shaking the stones under my hooves. My teeth rattled and I could feel it in my bones. The sky turned very, very dark for a moment, like something turned off the sun. A white-hot bolt of lightning connected the smudge to the monstrous dragon, making the dragon scream in pain. I watched as the scales were seared and fell off, revealing pink flesh and exposed muscle. It sure was magnificent to watch the second time around. The tines of lightning faded, leaving the white smudge and the dragon both there. There was a slight pause, and then the smudge started wiggling. I watched, enraptured, knowing what was going to happen. I watched the white smudge summon a yellow smudge. There was a moment, blissfully short, where nothing happened.
“Kill it Eve! kill the Dragon!” I shouted, struggling for my life, trying to fight the huge behemoth. My screams echoed through the air, amplified by magic, to finally reach the me standing in the Palace. Without a moment’s delay, there was a great flash of red. I wanted to see what was happening, so I didn’t allow myself to be blinded by the flash. I watched Evangeline’s blur sprout a enormous red pillar, which crawled through the air towards the dragon. Neither the white smudge or the dragon moved, or even noticed the pillar. It slowly but surely reached the Dragon without stopping. It tore through cleanly. It wasn’t like a hot knife through butter, because that implies some kind of resistance. It was more like concentrated sunlight through a dragon. I watched as the pillar bored the hole straight through the dragon, exiting through the backside. Perception assuemed it’s normal pace, and the dragon fell out of the sky with a fresh new hole for bodily functions. As the dragon fell out of the sky, I fell through every possible dimension. Millions upon millions of universes were explored in the blink of an eye. hundreds of universes without trains, meaning that I wouldn’t die and come to Equestria. Thousands of dimensions where Emily Lauren Banks, the woman who couldn’t drive stick or unlock a handbrake, didn’t exist. Three thousand and twenty five universes without a James Willcox, with no free tickets to Florida Comic Con 2008. Millions of Universes without Angelics or Numbereds, which made them slightly useless. The strange thing was, that every universe that had Angelics had Numbereds. There was no such thing as an Angelic-infested universe without some elite fighting squad to eradicate them. Magic, guns, telepathy, super soakers, you name it. The Numbereds had it. I was tempted to stop in and say hello, but I might have met something that didn’t like me. There were billions and billions of universes without an Equestria, with no bright sun and dull hamlets. Hundreds of universes without a Luna, without an Edwin, without an anything. Twelve universes where Luna hated Edwin. Twelve universes with an Edwin that loved Celestia. That one made me shiver. In one of those universes, Edwin had to kill Othello when he realized the affair. I watched the great battle distractedly, trying not to pay too much attention. In another one of those universes, Othello had to kill Edwin, but only after losing a leg that magic could not replace. I decided to stop in that one.
“This is the last time you cross me, Youngling!” Othello shouted, surrounded by a field that would give Hannibal nightmares. Pillars of fire shot up from the ground, and I could smell the brimstone in the air. A gravely wounded Edwin, panting heavily and clutching a hoof to his chest, layed on the ground under him and chuckled coldly.
“Pah!” other-Edwin spat. “You are too old and feeble. The Princess has seen the new model, and she wants to trade in.” the pony sneered. Othello’s face filled with indescribable rage. The great red pony swung a hoof back, filled it with fire, and swung it back. There was a sharp twang and a horrific scream. Other-Edwin was levitating a sword with magic. It was extremely similar to the sword that Celestia had in her collection. Othello held a hoof to his bleeding stump, howling.
“Dare you?! Dare you kill me with the mare I love?!” Othello screamed to nopony in particular. Edwin laughed the same cold, careless laugh. He kicked Othello onto the ground. He raised his sword high into the air, preparing to cut down the eldest Numbered. I edged closer, wondering if I was in the right universe. I realized in shock that I was surrounded by the corpses of hundreds of Angelics, and three Numbereds. Their bright, dead eyes stared at me. Each of them had their throats slit. I gulped and turned back to the scene. Othello turned away from the other-Edwin and looked right at the corpses. He grimaced and turned back to the murderer. “What did they ever do, Edwin? We were all friends once! The Covenant flowed through all of our veins! Why?!” Othello begged for the answer, almost distraught beyond words. Edwin grinned and leaned down to answer.
“They would deny me my Queen.” He snarled. Othello frowned in anger and I could feel the hate well in his gut. He spat out a torrent of fire at other-Edwin’s exposed face. other-Edwin yelped in pain, clutching his burning face with his hooves. The magical sword fell to the ground. Othello got up shakingly, only being supported by one forehoof. He limped over to other-Edwin, who was still writhing in pain. Othello stood on his hind legs and grasped other-Edwin with his only remaining foreleg, hoisting him above his head. An enormous furrow opened up in the ground, with tongues of flame reaching up to taste the air. He looked up at the other-Edwin.
“You have thrown Equestria into turmoil! A once prestigious family is now a house divided! You have killed how many in your ungodly pursuit? Hmm? I thought you would have enough sense to stop with Princess Luna! Her death wasn’t enough? She did nothing to you!” Othello shouted at the writhing ball of other-edwin. Othello shook his head, filled with more hate than he knew what to do with. “I have to kill you! You have stained Equestria with too much blood!” Othello shouted. other-Edwin didn’t say anything back. Othello simply tossed him into the crevice. other-Edwin simply fell. Othello stared into the gorge for a long while. He bellowed, shouting wordlessly into other-Edwin’s grave. I disappeared into the flow without him noticing, flitting through the dimensions like a firefly though the dark. Anything I wanted to know was not withheld from me. I finally resurfaced, breaching the flow and returning to my body. I inhaled deeply, smelling the dull musk of the forest. I got to my hooves and looked around me. I saw Columnus eating an apple, looking out at the Flow. I walked over and sat next to him.
“How was it?” He asked. I inhaled, trying to think of a way to describe how amazing it was.
“There aren’t words.” I said after a while of thought. Columnus took a bite out of his apple.
“There never are, foal.” Columnus agreed. We were both silent, watching the sun over the golden water.
“How did this happen?” I asked, watching the sun set.
“Hmm?
“The Flow. How did it happen? Where did it start?” I asked. Columnus took another bite out of his apple.
“The Flow is infinite. It has no beginning or end. It always was and always shall be.”
“Can’t we use the Flow to-”
“Figure out where the Flow came from? I just told you that is always has been. There is no point in going to the beginning of everything, because it was there too. Even before that, the Flow was there, everpresent.” Columnus explained. I nodded. The sun set over the hills, covering the valley in a slight darkness. I looked back at the Flow and pointed.
“Look! It’s glowing!” I exclaimed. Columnus smiled, throwing the apple core over his shoulder.
“Yes, it is. Are you surprised?” He asked. I nodded, not taking my eyes off of the mystical river.
“Yeah. It’s amazing.”
“You must try some.”
“What?”
“You must drink.” Columnus said, flicking the one ear not covered in a bandage. His big, black eye looked at me. He blinked, making a golden, ruby-encrusted goblet appear. It floated in the air with magic as Columnus stood and walked to the river. I got up, confused, and followed him.
“You can’t take any out, Columnus.”
“Correction- you can’t touch the flow. But you can certainly drink it. I have done it thousands of times.”
“How can you drink it if you can’t touch it?” I asked, befuddled by the contradiction. Columnus looked back and me and tried to roll his eyes. The gesture didn’t work as well when you didn’t have irises.
“Do not question the Flow. Only accept the blessings it gives us.” Columnus corrected me. I pouted. Columnus dipped the goblet into the Flow, and surprisingly it collected some of the amber liquid. He handed the glass to me, and I grasped it with magic. I could feel the warmth through the magical connection. As I moved the chalice to my face, I could smell the sickly sweetness of it. It was like hot, hot cider. I could almost taste the spice. I lifted it to my lips and sipped. It ran down my throat, almost unbearably warm. It was so sweet I could barely stand to taste it. But I was energized. The Flow filled me with so much energy that I was bouncing off of the walls. It was incredible. I couldn’t stand still. I had barely swallowed the first sip when I was sprinting back through the forest. I ran and ran and ran. I leaped through the trees, climbing higher when I was bored with the ground. I bounded through the branches, flying and laughing. I felt so incredibly happy that I couldn’t think of anything but how awesome this was. I flew and jumped and landed, and eventually I crashed.
After the fact, I learned that I collided with a tree at about a hundred miles per hour, snapping it in half and hitting another tree, which was considerably bigger than I was and stopped me. Columnus said that if it wasn’t for the Flow, I’d be dead. I think that if it wasn’t for the Flow, I’d probably be alive. But I didn’t say that to him. So we were sitting in a nice log cabin that Columnus blinked up for us in the middle of the forest. I was swaddled up in a blanket, drinking tea. There was a blazing fire in the nice fireplace. Columnus was working on dinner because, unlike the Nether, you really needed to eat in the Flow world. A lot. I floated my teacup and rubbed my forehead, which was still sore from my tree crash earlier in the day. I watched the logs pop in the hearth.
“So what happened to Alucard?” I asked after feeling the question stew for most of the day.
“The Dragon of the North?” Columnus asked, shocked that I knew the guy. He ducked his head out of the kitchen and looked at me incredulously.
“I didn’t know he was called that.”
“He was. You know him?”
“He teaches me magic.” I explained simply. Columnus grunted his approval.
“He was a master of the art.” He proclaimed, going back into the kitchen.
“Was?”
“Yes, he died. During the last Conclave, in the Third’s great Genocide. I’m not surprised that the Doctor has decided to spare him from the timeline. He is a great asset.” Columnus told me. I remembered my experience with Sebastian’s dream, my firsthand account of Alucard’s death. I stared into the fire, thinking about the conflicting realities that were forming in my mind. If Alucard was alive on Sigmus Five, that meant that the Doctor took him from his natural timeline and placed him there before his death. That means that the Alucard I know doesn’t know that Evangeline kills him and that there are only three Ghosts left in existence, not the four I thought there was. This also meant that Alucard didn’t know about Sebastian and her ‘flexibility’, or Columnus’ control of the existing Ghosts, and all the other crap that I knew about. This also mean that I couldn’t tell him about pretty much anything that I knew. This also meant that I was some mind-slave of the Doctor, involved in some kind of illicit pact. I sipped on my tea, feeling a sort of impotence that came with an unwilling obligation. I sighed in disgust.
Fucking time travel.