//------------------------------// // The End Is Just The Beginning // Story: Life and Future // by AshuraZXexianGlitch //------------------------------// Section 5 The End Is Just The Beginning Twilight: I never thought anything like this would ever happen. How could things happen like this? It didn’t make sense. Why did my life get threatened? Why did all of this happen, was it fate? What caused all of this? Why did I meet Ashura, why him; who or what could have caused all of this? Stories and books, all just words; they were just words right? So why am I seeing them now, what Ash said. The words that weave reality together, why do I see words. I felt myself falling. I was falling, but it wasn’t a frightful fall. It was peaceful; is this what dying is like? If so, why am I falling? Am I going to hell, I thought I was good. I wanted everything to be good, I just wanted things to go right. I always though I did the right things, so why am I falling? Did my intentions pave my road to hell? But if I was falling into hell, why do I feel peaceful. I saw nothing above me or below me. I was just falling, falling and falling. My eyes started to burn, I was crying. Why was I crying? I didn’t understand, I felt so at peace. But why was I crying. I watched as my tears were left behind. Little droplets of tears, being left behind. I was sad, miserable and depressed. But I felt peaceful, how could I feel horrible and good at the same time? I closed my eyes and felt everything around me. This place was empty, there was nothing here. It was peaceful, but I felt sorrowful and angry. An entire world where nothing exists, only emotion, the only thing here is emotions. You feel nothing but emotions; sadness, anger, joy, bliss, etc. A blank and broken world. This wasn’t death, but if it wasn’t death. Where was I? How could I be inside of a world that doesn’t exist? A world that is the heart of everything, how could I be here? Does this mean I don’t exist anymore, maybe this is what death is? When you die, do you come to the center of it all; becoming nothing? If so, what is the point of life? I felt angry and hopeless. So lost, I didn’t feel cold, I didn’t feel anything really. I watched the darkness above me go nowhere. I was falling, but I wasn’t as well. I looked around, in hopes of seeing something, but all I saw was an eternal darkness. I felt myself stop, when I did I was afraid. I wasn’t sure what was happening. I looked around franticly. Oh Celestia, what the hell was going on? I felt my hooves lay on what felt like ground. I looked and I didn’t see anything below me. But it felt like I was standing on grass, it felt like I was standing on a grassy field in the middle of a clear night. “You really are stupid you know that Miss Sparkle.” I heard ZXex’s voice. I turned in his direction. He looked upset. He looked like Ashura, and I don’t mean like physically, he looked old. The same look Ashura had looked when I woke up. “What is this place?” I asked still feeling the same when I was falling. I looked around me again and the only thing that was here was ZXex and I. There were no buildings or anything, not even the words I saw before. “It’s where I was born, where Ash will go when his time is up.” He said looking at me. ZXex had a fedora on, not just any fedora, it was Ashura’s fedora. “I haven’t worn this in millennia.” “What are you talking about?” I asked feeling tired. “Ashura thinks he knows everything, but in fact he just guesses majority of the time. He is good at thinking quick on the spot and getting out of jams, but his luck won’t run forever. He will come here.” ZXex said taking off the hat. He looked at it like it was an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Could ZXex really be older then millennia? It didn’t seem possible, although. Compared to what has been happening this week, it didn’t come to much of a surprise. “Where is this going ZXex?” He looked at me; putting on the fedora he smiled at me. Walked up to me, staring me in the eyes the whole way of his short walk toward me. I didn’t move, was unsure of what he was going to do. But I trusted ZXex, he wouldn’t hurt me. “Ashura ZXexian Glitch, is me. He will become me when his number is up, I am his death and his hell. Living throughout the world, seeing everything live and die. Knowing what can, might, should, and will happen. Realities needle, it always needs to be replaced at some point. Doomed to repeat what has been given.” His eyes were haunting. “Repeating?” I heard myself say. “Ashura lives an infinite amount of lives. Only to become something that cannot die, that can only be renewed. I watch him, being born and living his life. Always trying to escape his fate. He doesn’t believe in it, even though he knows what will happen in the end, that no matter what he does his fate is me.” ZXex said backing up. “Why him?” I asked, it didn’t seem fare. Why would someone get this placed over their head? “Because he created the Siders. He made them a reality, in doing so he broke reality. He is the thread and I am the needle. Together we make reality as it is, sounds less bad than it actually is. Trust me on that Miss Sparkle.” He said turning away from me. He made a wide distance from me. Leaving a large gap. “So where am I exactly?” I asked looking around. When I looked back at him, he was standing just a few inches from me. It made me jump and fall on my butt. I was confused, especially when his lips and mine touched. I didn’t slap him, or push him away, or anything. I got swept up in the heat of it. It was true, this was Ashura. That kiss, only Ash could do that, and even now I wasn’t sure how he had that effect on me. “Go back home Miss Sparkle, it hurts to see you.” He said breaking the kiss. I almost didn’t hear him, I was still a little dazed from the bliss I was feeling. The next thing I knew I was standing in Canterlot, in the castle. When I came back to reality and realized where I was, I went out to find the princess. It was a bit difficult to find her. But when I did, I explained to her about everything that was going on. She believed me, which was a good sign. “Twily!” My big brother said as he entered the room. We were in my old courters in the castle. All the book shelves were empty, the place felt empty. It felt less empty when my brother and I embraced in a hug. When he tried to pull away, I didn’t let him go. “You okay Twilight?” I stopped hugging him and smiled at him. I started to chuckle, which soon turned into a laughter. Shining Armor was looking at me like I lost my mind. “I couldn’t be any better.” “What’s gotten into you Twilight?” Shining Armor asked confused. I looked at him with a smile. I felt so alive, I never felt this alive before. What else could I do but smile and laugh. I faced even more danger than I ever had in my whole life. I made new friends, I even kissed a boy. “Life Shining Armor, life has gotten into me.” Within a few hours Ash and Synith had arrived in Canterlot. Celestia had sent the pegasus’s carriage to get them. If I showed up in Canterlot, I was certain that Atom would be here too. When Ashura saw me, he ran up to me and hugged me tight. Tight enough to cut off my breathing. I didn’t mind, mostly because he let go after he realized what he was doing. “What happened?” Shining Armor asked looking at Ash suspiciously. “Easy bro, if it wasn’t for him I would have been dead. You’d probably do the exact same thing if you saw what he saw.” I said looking at my brother sternly. He was going all protective brother on me, and just the same leader of the royal guard. “My apologize sir. Been a rough week?” Ash said taking off his fedora and straightened his messed up mane. He was out of uniform and was probably walking on a fine line. But given the circumstances he let it slide. “What exactly has been going on?” Shining Armor asked. “Yes, please do explain.” The princess said walking into the room. Princess Luna following close by. “Well…I don’t…” Ash said trying to put the words together. “We have a very powerful Unicorn threating life as we know it. Not sure what his exact plan is, but we know for certain he is going to attack Canterlot.” I said for Ash. We didn’t need for anymore to know about Siders. Now I know why Ash tried to hide it all. A huge burden to bear, but he was strong, and so was I. “How do we handle him?” The Princess said. “Like any other threat to Canterlot, we take it out.” Shining Armor said getting into action. He walked out of the room, but he still could be heard from the other side of the door. He was barking orders for the guards to set up for an attack. “Ashura, please explain to me what is going on.” The princess said to Ash. Ashura looked at me with uncertainty. I smiled at him and nodded. He looked at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. “Siders are beings of pure emotion, they don’t truly exist inside of this plane of existence. They are copies of everything that gives us our feelings of pain, sorrow, happiness, joy, etc. We need them just as much as they need us. They are tortured elements of emotion, only knowing the torture of what we don’t feel. If you feel happy, your Sider is feeling bad. Same goes for negative emotions, they feel happy you feel miserable. But it’s a one way street, they cannot make you feel bad every second. They influence your mind, trying to make you feel the way they want you too.” Ash said stopping for a second for everyone to catch up. “How can one be here if it can’t exist here?” The princess asked, this was a first. The princess asking questions, usually she had all the answers. “It’s my Sider, I created them. I’m not sure how he got out, but for some reason he exist as of right now.” He said looking at me worried. “How can that be possible?” Celestia asked uncertain of what she was hearing. “He said something about thanking Rose. I don’t know what he meant by that, I don’t know anyone by the name of Rose or any object that could help a Sider live.” At that moment the look on Luna’s face worried me. She soon left hurriedly, saying she would check on the guards. “How can a unicorn like you, create an entire entity like this? I nor my sister could pull that off, even combining our power.” Princess Celestia said looking at Ash with uncertainty. “It’s because I’m not truly from this world. I wasn’t born here, I came here trying to escape from all of this. But it followed, Atom needs me to live. He would follow me to hell and back.” Ash said putting on is fedora. He looked different, he looked stronger than the last time I saw him. “For that I am sorry.” “Don’t blame yourself Ash. Everything is never at fault of what is given to us in life. We can only live and make the best choices we can. We will pull through this, because if what you say is true. Then this darkness will be vanquished.” The princess looked to me and smiled. She knew what to do, she knew what had to be done, and I think I knew as well. “What brings someone back to life?” I asked looking at Ashura. He looked at me with confusion. “Gods and death?” He asked really confused. I couldn’t help but laugh. The next thing we knew the whole place was shaking. Soon we were engulfed in a cloud of darkness. I could hear laughter, laughter from a maniac. Atom showed his ugly mug, along with my Sider. The guy didn’t stall, he attacked as soon as he appeared. The guy was using large tentacles made of black smoke to attack us. He wasn’t very good with them, had a hard time hitting us. “Die-die-die-die!” Atom said lashing his tentacles around. He had knocked the princess out cold. Ashura and I went to her side. Atom gave up with the tentacles, they retracted back into him. Disappearing completely, I was able to see Atom’s face, his eyes were pitch red with black dots. I ran to the princess’s side. Ashura stood his ground. A dark aura was surrounding Atom, and when I looked at Ash. He had an aura around him too, one that resonated black and red. “Stop this Atom! You’re going over the top, you will not come back from this! Your only helping him, please I beg of you stop, you know what will happen!” Ashura shouted to the deranged dark entity that was Atom. Atom seemed to ponder this, but he was soon laughing like a maniac. “I don’t care! I exist, and I have power over all; this reality will be mine Chase! This world is mine, all of them are mine!” Ashura’s eyes became the same as Atom’s. He bowed his head, he had tears in his eyes. “I left that life, I guess he will get what he wants this time. Next time it won’t come to this!” Ashura said running at Atom. The guy smiled and ran at him too. When they clashed everything became a blur. A huge explosion of power erupted in the room. I could have sworn a nuke had gone off. “Please, help me!” I looked up and saw my Sider begging for help. She was had been standing where Atom was, she couldn’t move and she looked quite afraid. “Please!” “Hold on!” I said before I left the Princess’s side. I quickly went over to her, wasn’t sure what to expect. Surly didn’t expect her to beg me to help her. “Please, help.” She was crying. Everything was confusing. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I looked at the fight that was going on. It looked still, like nothing was happening, but it was also like looking into a still explosion. “How?” I asked looking at her. She didn’t look like she did before, she looked like me. This wasn’t making sense. “Hug me, please!” She pleaded with thick tears. I was hesitant, but when I did, I felt warmth spread throughout my body. My eyes had been closed, I fell forward. She disappeared, I was slightly confused until I noticed there was an aura surrounding me. She didn’t disappear, she was inside of me. “Everything happens for a reason, I make it all happen because that is how it is supposed to be. He is the thread and I am the needle. I lead the thread to where it is supposed to go, I make reality and have everything happen because that is how it should be.” Everything was still. I looked around for the voice that I was hearing. It was ZXex, he was wearing a black trench coat with a different fedora. He had on a dress shirt and a tie. He looked like he was dressed for a funeral. “But you, you’re something new.” “What are you talking about ZXex?” I asked as he walked up to me. Everything had stopped, like time had stopped. I looked at Ashura and Atom, the two were butting heads, frozen in time. “How is this possible?” “Because of you, you stopped everything. You’re more of a part of this than you think Twilight.” He said turning away from me. “There are three things for the metaphor Ash and I use. He knows it very well, and why shouldn’t he, he made the metaphor. He has lived through it all time and time again. Funny really, yet also sad and tormenting.” “ZXex, please make some sense.” I pleaded to him. He turned and looked at me with a smile. “There is the thread, the needle, and the beautiful woman to hold them both. Twilight Sparkle, you are the one that weaves reality together. You make it all happen, this is your life and it is your future.” He said with a slight smile. The look he was giving me, was like a fathers look. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked feeling odd. “Because this is the end. To be true fully honest, I am sad and happy.” He said walking away. “Why?” I asked, he stopped and turned his head to look at me. “Because in ten years I will see a new born baby. But I will also see death. This is farewell Twilight, you may see me again. So for now, I bid thee adieu.” ZXex said before he vanished. After he was gone I looked at Ashura and Atom. Time started up again, I walked toward the two. The two of them stopped in their tracks. It was weird, but it felt right. I walked up to Ashura, his eyes were still red and black. “Twilight?” He was taken surprise when I hugged him. Atom was looking confused, but he didn’t do anything. I looked up at the idiot and kissed him. At first he was confused, but he soon gave into the kiss. Once we broke apart, his eyes were back to normal. “You’re brilliant you know that, I guess that means you just saw ZXex?” I shook my head and smiled at him. Atom was screaming, he soon feel to the ground and was turned into a black puddle. “No! This isn’t right, this can’t be happening! Please, no-no!” The guy’s dislocated voice screamed. “Everything is better this way, right?” I asked looking at Ash. He hugged me and we kissed again. Everything felt right, everything felt good. Ashura: A few days had passed since Atom went back to the Realm of Broken Reality. I had moved to Ponyville and was now living with my new Mare-friend Twilight. I couldn’t be happier. Synith was now part of the royal guard, she was content with her life now. It was a little hard getting used to having a schedule every day, but it soon was easy to keep up with Twilight. She was predictable, basically every morning I would look at her log book and see what she had planned for the day. “Things went as they should have Ash, why didn’t you change it?” ZXexian asked, I looked at him in the mirror. “Did you really expect me to leave Twilight? I will find another way to change things ZXex, I will not become what you are.” I said turning to look at him. “There is more than you know Ashura, trust me, everything is supposed to be as it should be. There is no changing it, not even for a writer of reality.” With that, the guy was gone. I sighed and looked back in the mirror. “Ready to go to lunch?” Twilight asked coming down from upstairs. She was wearing a dress Rarity and herself designed, well mostly Rarity. Twilight wasn’t very creative. She was skeptical of it at first, but once she showed it to me that was the end of that. She also talked me into wearing something nice looking too. Didn’t really object, sort of liked wearing dress outfits. Did take a little doing for her to let me wear my blood splattered tie. The thing was awesome, was made out of polyester and felt so nice. Looked nice too. “We have an hour or two to spare.” I said looking in the mirror. We were going to lunch with the Princesses, so we were in Twilight’s old place in Canterlot. She had her hair up in a ponytail and looked utterly beautiful if you asked me. “Why were you telling me to get ready to quick then?” She asked looking at me suspiciously. “Because I love seeing you in that dress, and with your hair up.” I said smiling at her. I walked over to her and she punched me. “Ouch, that hurts. That is also something I would do.” “Shush.” She said chuckling. I kissed her and the act was returned. Things got a little hot and soon the clothes were off. With that I will end this, don’t need to go into detail on what happened next. Just use your imagination.