Upon the end of the ritual, I retreated.
It was night, so I went back to the old castle, going straight to my bed.
It was made out of wood, fabric, and flesh.
“Isn’t that disturbing to you?”
I got into the bed and covered myself with the flesh blanket.
“This is me not caring, Shade.”
I took a quick rest.
When I awoke, Shade was there with a map of Equestria.
“That lich you found, Trixie…”
“What about?”
“She has been alive for over a hundred and twenty years. Must’ve taken a lot of souls to keep her alive. I’m too weak to go after her. You, on the other hand, have ingenuity I don’t.”
I got out of the bed and walked about, looking at the ground.
“So you want me to track her down, kill her so you can capture her souls, and then?”
“We strike. We will have enough for our army to be unstoppable by one god alone.”
“And my killing of Celestia makes one god left.”
“Correct.”
“Then you’ll send me back?”
“Before the attacks begin.”
I smiled.
“Good, can’t wait to be back. Where is she?”
Shade placed a hoof on the map, right above a city.
“She managed to quickly make her way to Manehattan. I’ll give you the power of a location spell set to her. Kill her and your armor will do the rest.”
The world went dark around me, and I found myself on a rooftop.
I knew exactly where Trixie was.
I came to a stop in front of an apartment building, and entered.
I made my way to the fifth floor, door twenty.
I didn’t bother knocking, I just silently opened the door, went through, and closed it.
Trixie was asleep on the couch, so I approached, a large dagger in my hand.
Right as I was about to strike, her eyes opened, and a chair smashed over my head.
I was on the ground fast, being bashed from all over by various blunt projectiles.
When the assault ended, I remained still.
Her curiosity got the better of her, so I struck.
She had the dagger through her brain in a moment, her head then became cleaved in two, and royal guards bashed down the doors at the same time.
They all attacked at once, and I held them off while Trixie’s souls slowly made their hellish way into my armor.
As the souls left her body, she rotted and bled rapidly, until she was empty of all but bone and flesh.
None of the guards were injured the whole time, and the moment her souls were absorbed, I was no longer there.
I came to back at the old castle, my armor gone, being put on a very large and not made by me shell.
“I’ll hold to my end of the bargain. When you want to leave, just fall asleep.”
I immediately fell over onto to bed and rested.
I woke up in my bed, in my own world, everything normal.
Everything the way it should have been.
Everything dull.
Everything pointless.
I almost regretted it.
Almost.
I got up, got bathed, got dressed, had breakfast, checked the computer’s calendar.
It hadn’t changed.
Not for a single day.
I went out to town.
I first went to my usual place to go to, where an almost friend was in charge.
The café near the edge of town.
As per usual I walked, noticing how one old, dead tree was on the wrong side of the road.
Something pinged in my head, but I ignored it.
I went into the café, and placed an order for a coffee.
My almost friend was missing his normal scar.
Another ping, this time a scratch.
I sat in my usual corner, with my usual everything.
I heard a bunch of people talking about how excited they were that Celestia was dead.
Ping.
The price of the coffee was wrong, off by one cent.
Ping.
The cup was milky white, not white.
Ping.
The counter was an inch too short.
Ping.
Minor details added up.
Ping.
Ping.
Ping.
I remembered something.
My silverware set was gone.
I hadn’t picked it up.
That sent my head into a temporary flip out, and I couldn’t just ignore it.
Everyone else was though.
That made my mind flip out even more.
I left the café worried, then went straight home.
I checked the computer for emails, and found one from Shade.
Interested, I opened it.
“Hope you like your life back, I’ve got control now, nighttime forever and stuff. Your silverware is under your bed, K? Remember who to thank for this.”
I chuckled to myself and retrieved the case.
“So much happy.”
I began to forget about what happened, and due to the nature of this forgetting, I didn’t even know it.
My memories of the landscape were the first to go, then the words, then the appearance of everyone.
I finally forgot everything.
Seka was gone.
Fable was gone.
Celestia was gone.
Blondebolt was gone.
Knifer was gone.
The only things that remained, were my memories of normal.
I got to work at my job, hand making silverware.
I calmed and went into my absent minded meditation phase.
Night fell, and so I went outside before bed.
Everything was perfectly normal, nothing wrong, my porch was definitely not the wrong shade of green and defiantly not 5x4.9 instead of 5x4.8.
I looked to the sky which was defiantly not missing three stars, and reached out my hand.
Abnormally, my Sign did not shine and get its lines.
“Impossible. Arrdrea?”
Nothing.
Again impossible.
Arrdrea was the goddess that always came to me when I called her, in my times of worry.
She always calmed me and showed me that everything would be okay.
She was the closest I had to a mother.
“Impossible. ABSOLUTLY FORKING IMPOSSIBLE!”
I sprinted back to the computer, and typed a message while screaming it.
“IS THIS SOME SICK CRUEL JOKE OF YOUR’S YOU BITCH? YOU THINK I’M SO EASILY FOOLED? WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO FOOL SOMEONE EASIER NEXT TIME IF THERE IS ONE. I’M COMING FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOU DO NOT, FUCK, WITH, ME. NOBODY FUCKS WITH ME.”
My memories flooded back.
“CELESTIA FUCKED ME OVER. KNOW WHAT I DID? MURDER. YOU THINK YOU’RE ANY DIFFERENT? YOU ARE NOT YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF ROTTEN FLESH.”
I sent it.
Instantly the world began to melt, and so did my consciousness.
I hit the floor, falling numb.
My vision blurred.
Murmurs were heard.
“I’m coming back.”
All I could say.
All I could do.