“So both of you saw Princess Luna?” Hue asked, to which both Arusha and I nodded in agreement. “And this Teal character is the reason for you guys losing one of your sense?”
Both of us nodded once more, confirming each other’s story. Hue sighed and proceeded to pace as he rubbed his brow in frustration. He was now dealing with two mares with a mission instead of one, and the thought of being out numbered at four thirty in the morning wasn’t the best way to start the day.
“I don’t believe this,” Hue mumbled.
“Hue, why would I make this up?” I asked. “Why would either of us make this up?”
“I don’t know,” Hue said. “I mean, time skipping, things losing their color, the world coming undo? The Earth isn’t set up to die like that; granted humans have royally screwed up on a few things, but nothing that ridiculous.”
“We speak the truth, what do we have to do to convince you?” Arusha asked.
“…I can think of a few things,” Hue said, his frustration oozing out as he eyed both of us.
---
“And that’s how the sex scene would start,” I said as the sun rose to from the passenger side of Hue’s car.
“As entertaining as that sounds, I’m not sure I could handle two mares,” Hue said, sipping on a coffee Arusha had expertly crafted before we left. “I have trouble keeping up with you sometimes.”
“You’re taking this surprisingly well, Hue,” Arusha spoke up. “Are you still upset about my intrusion?”
“No, as weird as all of this is, I’ve never known Harmony to be a liar,” Hue replied. “You both described almost identical dreams. The real concern I have is how you can afford tickets to the United Kingdoms.”
“Oh, I just asked for it,” Arusha shrugged. “I mean, my designer was a bit curious, but I just told her I needed to see a friend.”
“And she just let you?” I asked, turning in my seat to look at Arusha.
“It’s better than staying there,” the mare sighed. “Day in and day out it’s as if she’s too busy to acknowledge me now. Before it was easy, being nothing more than a part of her subconscious; now it’s as if I don’t exist at all. I took up a job to be around others for a change.”
“I had no idea…” I mumbled.
“A big house doesn’t lead to happiness, you can have everything you want, but still have an empty spirit,” Arusha sighed.
“Have you told her that?” Hue asked. “I mean, surely she’d listen if you brought up your feelings.”
“She called me her “Guilty Pleasure” when I was nothing more than a dreamt up character, and I’m fairly certain she’s kept me around out of an obligation as my creator,” Arusha huffed. “I almost want to agree with Teal in some ways, how things shouldn’t end. Because if she had delayed her arrival until after our show was pulled, I probably wouldn’t be here now.”
“Arusha, you know what she’s doing isn’t right though, it’s going to hurt a lot of innocent ponies and people,” I said.
“I know, that’s why I tried to find you as quickly as I could,” Arusha replied. “Well, more like followed Luna’s guidance. I couldn’t remember where you lived.”
“Something’s bugging me,” Hue spoke up. “If she had the ability to throw both you and Arusha through time, what else does she have at her disposal?”
Neither of us could answer his question. Teal’s abilities seemed endless, and trying to imagine what else she could do or control was a terrifying thought. This was a mare that was trying to play the part of a hero, but spoke of ambitions that would only cause pain to others. Whether she was truly evil, or just misguided was irrelevant for now, however.
“I don’t suppose Luna gave you any tips for if and when you actually find this thing?” Hue asked.
“Nothing, she didn’t get to stay long, or what equates for long in regards to dreams,” I said. “What about you Arusha?”
“Nothing, just that we would know what to do, and that the Elements would be with us,” the mare shrugged.
“Typical pep-talk mumbo-jumbo,” Hue said. “Seriously, the Elements?”
“Hey, you can’t just dismiss what Luna said to Arusha as a pep-talk,” I poked my human in the arm making him chuckle. “It could be a clue, or a shortened set of instructions…in an annoyingly cryptic message.”
A loud thud from the roof of the car triggered Hue to slam on his breaks. Upon doing so, what looked like a pale pony rolled onto the street from the roof of the vehicle. Its coat, mane and tail were all grey and faded, having a drained look about it. Curiously, it lacked a cutie mark on either flank, and its caution tape yellow eyes glared ominously at us through the window. What appeared to be blue dust seemed to be slowly trickling down from the corner of its eyes, almost as if it was crying.
“Harmony, is that a crazy friend of yours?” Hue asked, his voice rising as he spoke.
“That’s a negative Ghost Rider,” I shook my head as two more thuds sounded on the roof.
Slowly, the pony caught in Hue’s headlights stumbled towards the car, dust continuing to sprinkle the ground. It opened its mouth only for a dry, raspy groan to escape. I couldn’t help but think of a zombie, even as the sounds of shuffling hooves on Hue’s car filled me with dread.
“That’s not a pony Mister Hue,” Arusha said, her voice far more calm and stable than either of ours. “Push the gas pedal.”
“It sure looks like a pony, and I’m not really wanting to get charged with murder first thing in the morning,” Hue replied.
“Hue it’s a fucking Zombie, just-“ I started to say, only to jump back in my seat as a dent was formed in the roof of the car.
“Stop talking and ram it!” Arusha shouted.
The hoof indention in the roof was all the encouragement Hue needed. He slammed his foot on the gas pedal, hitting the pale pony with the full force of his car. Much to our surprise, instead of rolling off the car, or getting turned into road kill, the pony simply evaporated into the same blue dust that had been seeping out of its eyes.
Two more hooves slammed into the roof of the car, which caused Hue to speed up significantly. It didn’t take long for the two ponies on the roof to slide off onto the road behind us, bouncing on the asphalt before rolling to a halt.
“I’m gonna be that guy that asks the obvious…what the fuck!?” Hue exclaimed.
“I don’t know…but that dust…” I mumbled.
“I hope this “wild goose chase” has your attention now,” Arusha said.
---
Teal slowly tapped her hoof against the desk in her solid white room as she tried and failed once more to get inside Harmony’s mind. The unicorn had been unusually resilient to her mental assault, almost to the point of her reactions being nonexistent. It would almost be impressive, if she wasn’t receiving help from the sliver of connection Luna had struggled to form. The mare’s distain for the princesses was only strengthened by their medaling in what was supposed to be her greatest moment, the moment she could finally be the hero.
Fortunately, Luna could only safe guard one pony at a time with her limited connection to this world, leaving Arusha exposed to Teal’s probing. While she had only been able to pull a small fraction of the information from the earth pony, it was enough to piece together what the alicorns were doing to conspire against her plans.
They wanted to reopen the portal to Equestria, after being sealed for countless centuries because of Celestia’s fillyhood misadventures. Starswirl had been very careful in concealing its location. The only glimmer of light that had ever been cast upon the once free flowing portal were two young human children who had somehow opened it, only to return to their world in Woolpit.
It had been deemed a mystery at the time, but the human’s “science” had explained it away. Science was such a laughable concept to Teal. An over complex view of the world, instead of accepting things as they are, that’s all science was to her. What was science to one who defied its laws?
“Teal?” a deep voice called out.
The unicorn turned around and smiled at her brother. He was a tall stallion, not uncommon for pegasi, though his dull grey and silver coat and mane were a bit off for his tribe. A stereotypical storm cloud adorned his flanks, which was a rather common cutie mark for an Equestrian pegasus.
“There’s my dopy brother,” Teal said playfully.
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that,” the stallion rolled his eyes as Teal leaned against him.
“Oh don’t be such a stick in the mud Bumble Wings,” the mare poked Bumble with her horn.
“Did you want something?” Bumble sighed. “And I told you to call me B.”
“Okay, B, I have a little job that needs doing before we can really start to make change for the better,” Teal said.
“What kind of job?” B asked.
“Well, it’s one I think you’d be comfortable with,” Teal smirked as she danced around a straight forward answer. “It’s kind of what landed you in jail in the first place before I got you out of that nasty hole Celestia threw you in.”
“Not interested,” B snorted. “And I already told you I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know, and you’re sticking to that story, but the rest of Equestria is going to believe a Princess’ words over a private. You remember how they treated you, how they scoffed at your side of the story?” Teal’s words seemed to coil around the stallion, pressing all the right buttons as she spoke.
“I’m not a killer,” B said. “I’m not going to go through with anything that involves that.”
“I didn’t say kill, I just need you to…stall some ponies for a bit,” Teal replied. “Nothing deadly or life ending at all, just a little roughing up, you know?”
“Teal, where is all of this coming from?” B asked. “This isn’t the sister I remember.”
“That sister is thinking of the entire world right now, two if you want to get technical,” Teal huffed. “I need your help for this to work, it’s too early for me to try and chase after these three without setting the rest of this world up first.”
“This just seems so radically different from the little sister I know,” B sighed.
“Look, if you’re going to drag your hooves through this I can find somepony else, and put you back in Equestria; we both know what will happen to you there,” Teal’s horn began to glow. “As mom used to say, I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it.”
“…fine,” B relented as he hung his head.
“Good, I can’t do this alone, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anypony else,” Teal said as her attitude shifted in the blink of an eye. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, I’m sorry if I got carried away.”
B tried his best to read his sister, to see if she was being honest with him. He had never known her to react so explosively, even if it involved the bizarre projects that she insisted working on into odd hours of the night. It was only after being brought to this bizarre world that this radical shift had taken place. Still, she was the only family he had, and Teal had freed him from the cell he had been left to rot in.
“So where am I going?” B asked.
“I need you to find some way to stop these ponies in a nice little place called New York,” Teal replied. “However you want to, and I promise I’ll give you what you want.”
B nodded before taking his leave of his sister. Teal watched him leave anxiously, hoping he wouldn’t notice the blue dust that fell from her eye. The mare knew those ponies she had sent wouldn’t be enough to stop Harmony or Arusha, but as long as she could slow them down that was all she needed. The strain it was putting on was almost not worth the delay.
“Time to recharge…” Teal said as she caught some of the dust that fell from her tear duct.
The mare slowly walked down a long, white hallway with no decorations to speak of, save for a large mirror. Three doors were there to greet Teal; one on the left, two on the right. She approached the first door on the right, and twisted the knob with her magic, smiling as the door slid back to reveal a bound and terrified mare.
“Hello there,” Teal smile, her breathing heavy as she felt her weakness creeping up on her.
The mare struggled against her bindings, the gag in her mouth muting any response or protest she might have had about her current circumstances. Teal simply stroked her cheek with a sly smile on her muzzle as she removed the gag.
“W-what do you want? Where am I?” the mare asked.
“Shh,” Teal gently pressed a hoof against the mare’s lips. “This is all just a dream, and I’m here to free you from it.”
“Who are you?” the mare asked once Teal had removed her hoof.
“I go by Teal now, I think it has a nice ring to it, don’t you?” Teal smiled.
“P-please, untie me…” the mare whimpered.
“Didn’t I say this was just a dream?” Teal asked rhetorically. “I won’t hurt you.”
Tears continued to flow from the captive mare’s eyes, even as Teal sat down in front of her, stroking her mane slowly. For a split second, she could have sworn that she saw the coat of the mare shift and dull before returning to its natural blue color. What had certainly changed were her eyes, which were now solid black, reflecting the mare’s own horrified expression back at her.
As she stared into Teal’s eyes, she found herself unable to move. The mare couldn’t find the energy to pull away even as her lips parted slightly before pressing against hers in a kiss. Teal slowly over powered her own will, teasing her tongue slightly. It wasn’t until the first fifteen seconds had passed that she noticed something was wrong.
Each time Teal shifted or tried to draw out the kiss, she felt weaker. Soon it was through Teal’s strength alone that their lips were able to remain connected. Teal opened her onyx black eyes, showing the mare her reflection once more.
Horror swept over the pony as she saw her own coat dull in color with each passing second. Stranger than the draining of her coat color, was the curious lack of a cutie mark where once a flower could easily be seen on her sides. Yet despite her fear, she lacked the energy to struggle free or move at all, and only groaned into the draining kiss.
As the seconds continued to tick by, Teal’s eyes slowly started to lose their black hue. Color swirled with white settled around the large iris pooled out from the darkness as if it had been there all along. The unsettling part was that the color was a brilliant green, just like hers; this was the last observation her mind registered before all of her sense came to a halt, but she wasn’t dead physically, caught in limbo.
Teal pulled away from the mare, a few strings of saliva mixed with blue dust. She smiled as she stroked the mare’s mane affectionately. She already felt better than she had a few moments ago, especially with such a young mare. Despite the pleasant feeling of energy coursing through her once more, she lamented the glaring flaw she had been cursed with.
While her creator had never meant for such a curse to truly exist, and simply remain a work of fiction, she was real and with her existence came the need for another being’s energy. She couldn’t sustain herself, and Teal’s magic alone was an inadequate source of energy.
“This is all just a dream…” Teal said before leaving the mare to her fate.
Teal stopped in front of the mirror in the hallway and stared at herself, admiring her new eyes. They matched her mane better than the previous set from a pony named Summer Breeze. The number of ponies whose energy she had stolen was well beyond her ability to remember. For a while, their memories would drift through her subconscious before settling down with the rest, just like their cutie marks would.
A blue line began to circle the mare’s hooves before working its way up and across her body, leaving yellow fur in its wake. The line passed over her barrel and left a pair of yellow wings behind, giving her the appearance of an alicorn. Teal smiled as the line reached her head, melting her horn away, until nothing was left but a small grey jewel which was quickly concealed by her mane.
“Hello, my name’s Summer Breeze,” the mare said to herself as a beautiful flower replaced the two chess pieces on her flank. “And I’m ready to start phase three.”
Her voice was different, her laugh was unique; to a normal pony there was no connection to her or Teal. Summer Breeze’s life would not go unlived, and the mare would be safe kept in the limbo Teal had left her in. She regretted trying to slow Harmony down with those drained ponies, but there was no helping it now. All she could do was keep going with her plan, and hope Harmony would remain predictable for a while longer.