• Published 6th May 2014
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After the End - Door Matt



Jason Wright, bitter after surviving his lowest point, will make a deal with the devil to get the answers he craves. Whether Ponyville is ready for him, or not.

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After Hour (Pt. 1)

Have you ever imagined your ideal world? Not just being able to picture it in your head though. Imagine you can live in your perfect utopia, where the world is beautiful - long lazy days drift over green fields and picturesque forests that stretch to the horizon. The only grey in the world is taken up by a solitary mountain, where this land’s ruler lives, and can watch over everything - ensuring a continued peace. It looks and sounds...perfect. I called it the Promised Land once.

Now imagine that everyone inhabiting that world seems to despise you, driving you to the very limit of despair, and you may understand why I was driven to what I did.


Against the backdrop of a smouldering but not-quite destroyed Ponyville, the two of us take a few moments to stare at the other. Carried by the light breeze is the distinct smell of burnt wood and smoke, not likely to dissipate any time soon. Already, it feels like this will either be a meeting of the minds...or our last stand.

“‘She’s coming’? Who’s she? Celestia?” It’s not the most important question I’m destined to ask but it’s the first I instinctively say out of curiosity.

Twilight nods so briefly and slightly that it’s nearly impossible to catch. I notice her eyes have quickly left mine to survey the devastation behind me.

“I’m not here to fight. I heard you wanted answers...so..so I w-wanted to talk,” she says as the first tears leak down her face. A yellow hoof rises up to rest on her back, and for the first time I notice Fluttershy standing alongside Twilight; the former also misty-eyed and dumbfounded. Did the pegasus disappear earlier to warn her?

“Oh really?” I say sarcastically. “Funny how different the situation is when your friends’ lives are on the line.”

“Twilight! You can take this guy right?” Rainbow Dash wails to my side. “Do something, or get me outta here at least!”

“Dash...just...just leave it to me, alright? I-I’ve got a plan to resolve everything.” Is it me or does she look exhausted?

“Twilight!” Applejack cranes her neck round, legs still caught in place. “Ah don’t know how much you've seen but ah highly suggest we let Jason here know what he needs to know. Enough damage’s been do-”

“MONSTER!”

A manic, vicious scream cuts Applejack off, and I turn back at the disturbance to see a charred lump of wood flying in my direction. My body reacts before my mind has time to think, stepping to the side in a flash, leaving the projectile to sail past my head and land with a clunk beyond. The source of the attack is an enraged Rarity, and I’m not too sure what’s glowing with hatred more: her horn or her eyes.

“That’s my sister you nearly killed!” she shrieks, whirling her head in a fluid three hundred and sixty degree motion. The boutique stirs behind her, but whatever the result is of her casting is too small to make out from my distance.

“No!” “Rarity, stop!” Applejack and Twilight both yell at her, but the unicorn either doesn’t hear them through her rage or deliberately ignores them. She dips her head, and suddenly from the boutique I can make out a fuzzy swarm. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous, and heading straight for me. Deciding sharpish not to bother to dodge again, I summon a wall of glass in front of me - wide enough to also protect my hostages. Within moments, the objects start crashing against the glass; pitter pattering against the material before falling to the ground where I can see them. They were needles. Needles!

Is she trying to frikken lacerate me!?

Two more improvised wood block missiles are sent flying uselessly at the wall, until her horn dims to the point of nothing, leaving her breathing heavily from the exertion. Deeming the situation safe once again, I wave the glass away.

“Are you done?” I say across the field.

“Never! Look..look what you’ve done to our homes! You are a brute and a miscreation of orders I can scarcely imagine! Somepony has to take a stand to protect our loved ones!”

“The Great Fire-Quencher Trixie agrees!” The blue unicorn trots over to Rarity’s side and nods a show of support. “I shall stand with the friends of Twilight Sparkle and defeat all who threaten us!”

“Me too!” cries another unicorn, of lemon-yellow fur, who I remember once threw a bunch of tomatoes at me when I asked why I wasn’t welcome anywhere in town.

“And me!”

“Yeah!”

“Make a stand, everypony!”

“We’ve seen worse than you! Remember the parasprites?”

A line forms at the head of the crowd, like the front of an army. And they’re all fixing me with death-glares.

“What is this, some kind of sorry excuse for a unicorn army?” I say unimpressed.

“Not just unicorns!”

I look up where the voice originated. It’s the two pegasi Rainbow sent off earlier - Fleetfloot and Cloud Chaser, along with other flying ponies they’ve apparently managed to track down. I guess the call inspires some more from the crowd, since more pegasi flap upwards and swell the numbers further. Among them I recognize Thunderlane, Flitter, Bluebell, and the majority of Ponyville’s weather team. Astonishing how easily their names still come to me.

Ha-ha, that’s cute. Now they have air support. Like that’ll help.

“What’s the matter?” I call over to the crowd behind the unicorns. “Earth ponies got nothing to contribute?”

Someone appears to force their way through the mass of ponies to the front, and there’s no mistaking who as she steps forward. The last of the Elements I’d meet today, and surprisingly the one I’d almost never seen. For some reason, for the entire time, she had been avoiding me entirely. Pinkie Pie.

It’s true what they say. Seeing her looking as sad as that - and in person - is truly unnatural. It’s almost as bad as what Discord showed me in that freakish place I’d been contained in.

“Why…” she says, eyes glazed over with liquid. “Why would you do this!? The bakery...”

“Why do you think?” is what I almost reply with, but her expression makes me hesitate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pony look so angry, confused and utterly dismayed all at once, but she manages it. And it’s enough to throw my train of thought completely off the rails.

Does she not know? Surely she must know! She must!

“Ah think ah can explain some o’ it Pinkie. Before any of you’s starts another dang fight, let me tell you, ah was with Jason here earlier, before he had any of this magic here. You didn’t see what ah saw-”

Applejack snaps my senses back to alertness; as I realise she’s been with me for practically the entire time since I sat on that tree branch. The information she’s telling them could be used against me, and I can’t let that happen.

“-ah found him just outside of Apple Acres and...woah...hey...nnng!” The vines around her legs extend and coil upwards around her body. One forces itself around the head via her mouth, binding it completely. She grunts in alarm.

“Applejack! What happened!?” Rainbow tries to crane her neck around but the earth pony is out of her cone of vision. Pinkie squeals and retreats a few steps back, astounded at the power.

“A mere showpony’s trick!” comes from the unicorn line. “Trixie has much experience in that magic, and it is no match for a force of our number! Do not panic friends of Twilight, for soon you will be free once more!”

“Everypony please!” Twilight appeals to the crowd. “Rarity, I know you’re angry and Pinkie, yes, you’re scared but...I don’t...I don’t want this to deteriorate any further! I was the one who warned you about Jason to begin with! So please, let me be the one to deal with him!”

That’s it. That is it. I turn around to face the Princess trying to hold my thoughts steady. The words I had been waiting to hear. I knew it! The picture had been dawning this entire day of Twilight being behind the whole thing.

Right from the...horse’s mouth! Ahahahaha!

“You?” I state grimly, taking a menacing step forward. My brain awashes with a hundred different ways of making her pay, but I force them back down lest they become active. I still need to hear why. The reason behind it all.

Twilight whispers in Fluttershy’s ear, and the pegasus flies away without question, circling a massive distance around me towards the ruined buildings. It’s a good thing she does because I’m about to make this very, very personal. Another step forward.

“When Princess Celestia told me you were coming, I knew you couldn’t stay here.” Her tears dry up as she stares right into me, utterly focused. “I’ve seen your kind before, humans...right? I know what you’re capable of, and I knew-”

“Wait, what!? Before? There’s been others here?” I splutter, wholly taken aback. Had I not been the first?

“No, not here. I went to your realm once, to retrieve a precious artifact. That’s where I met them.”

I wrack my brain in confusion. That happened? When? I don’t remember anything like tha...oh!

The mirror portal. The school. Sunset Shimmer!

Of course! She had seen humans before! But...they hadn’t treated her badly...right? The versions of her friends had been there for her. She couldn’t be basing her entire viewpoint from that… Sunset Shimmer had been the worst offender there, and she’s a pony!

“That makes no sense.” I tell her carefully, waring of revealing that I knew of their histories prior to my arrival. “No human would’ve treated you badly enough to warrant everything you’ve done to me!”

“You didn’t see what I saw!” she yells, voice quivering with bubbling anxiety. “Humans are petty, ignorant and damaging to those around them! Having any of you here would ruin Ponyville for good!”

“Yeah! You tell him Twilight!” Rainbow cheers.

Shut up! That pretty much describes griffons, and you made friends with one pretty easily!” I retort back to my hostage.

“Uhh...gee? It’s not like they can fly or anything? That automatically makes them awesome! What have you got? You need magic to fly!”

You...you annoying little pest-

“Ponies and griffons have been friendly for hundreds of years. As for you, nopony apart from me has seen your kind before, ever! It’s not the same!” Twilight says. Another step brings me closer to her, as I writhe with internal fury.

“Even if that were the case,” I say, staring her down. “You can’t compare me to them. How do you know I and them are even from the same places, cause I doubt it! In my world, the people I knew were great. Friends...family...you know,exactly the same as what you have here?”

“No, Jason. You’re wrong. I’m...I’m sorry for what happened to you, for turning you away at the library, but I couldn’t let you in. Spike was living with me there at the time, and I didn’t want you near him-”

“Huh? You thought I was going to corrupt him or something?” Another step. So close…

“It...doesn’t matter now.” She straightens up to her full height, and wipes away her pained look. Frowning, the tone in her voice changes. “If you hadn’t done any of...this, then maybe there was hope for you. But you changed everything by attacking my home like this. I am a Princess of Equestria, and a Princess protects her subjects, and her friends.”

“That’s cool. Two of your friends are mine though, and even if you had them back, I heard about you guys sealing the Elements away in the forest.” Obviously, no-one had told me this. I had eavesdropped on a conversation outside of a restaurant while scrounging for food. Most of my recent knowledge about Ponyville and the Elements had been gleaned this way. Not the prettiest of methods, but beggars can't be choosers. “The six of you together can’t do jack without them, and unless you want-”

Just as I’m closing the distance between us, she vanishes in a bright, instant sphere of purple light; the loud *shtap* of magic burst fades away to an empty patch of ground. It was so fast, I didn’t even see her horn light up.

Where…?

Too late do I realise what’s happening. More bursts of magic emit behind me, and I wheel around on the spot. The line of angry ponies still remain, but it’s the clump of vines and empty shell of earth that catches my attention first.

Gone? No! How did she....there’s no way she’s that fast…

Nowhere in sight, I can scan the horizon, urgently deliberating how to bring this back under my control.

“I don’t need the Elements.”

A small sensation on my back - the slightest of touches - is all I feel. As my brain just about settles on a perfect design, the world vanishes in a deafening *bam* and my body feels suddenly like rubber.

For a second, nothing responds the way I want it to. My eyes see nothing. My ears hear perfect silence. For all I know, I could have dropped beneath the fabric of worlds, so empty is the feeling.

Then the world appears again, but I’m no longer on Ponyville’s outskirts. I can’t even see anyone. The ground is hard beneath my feet, the wind is gone, and all I view at first is lavender. I blink and settle my feet, refocusing. This purple isn’t a solid feature -- it’s transparent. My eyes adjust to the layout past the barrier, and all at once I know where I am.

The library.

It’s a small miracle the wooden home didn’t burn down earlier from the fireflies. Curious, I place my hand on the purple surface. It’s firm but see-through, like my glass wall earlier, but warmer to the touch. There’s a faint energy that I swear I can feel running through it, and I notice the whole thing rises over me like a dome, granting me around six feet of free movement. I’ve seen this before, but much larger.

“That’s my anti-magic barrier spell.” Twilight says, suddenly standing above me on the stairs. A myriad of books and tomes lay strewn about, likely caused by the spell’s activation. Otherwise, it’s the same old space I remember seeing from back home. Three years ago, this had been one of the first places I’d come to for help. I needed it sure, but I’d always had a curious want to search through the bookcases to find more information about Equestria, learning more about the world and the history behind the ponies’ culture.

Now that I’m finally inside, it looks like I’m trapped.

“I saw you attacking Ponyville earlier, so I know that magic you’re using is ineffective against it. But this one is connected to the structure of the library, since the smaller scale allows for a greater degree of control. I tied the spell’s foundation to the tree’s roots, so the connection acts as one object. Trust me, there’s no easy way out of there.” She fixes me with an odd neutral stare, bizarre for someone apparently with the upper hand.

“I’m not stupid. Your barriers protect from the outside, not in.” I reply, enlarging my right hand into twice the normal size, and cover it with metal. Spreading my legs apart, I pull back, and slam my solid fist into the barrier, expecting it to shatter. Instead, the whole dome glows, repulsing my hand and my body backwards. Not even a crack marks the barrier. Concerned, I do the same thing to the floor, repeatedly striking it until the metal layers peel off and my arm grows tired. Grunting, I stare at the simple wooden floor.

No marks. No cracks. Nothing.

“They used to, but I’ve always been a student of magic. I’ve studied so much from unicorns and the changelings. Even some parts of Sombra’s dark magic. Ah, you probably don’t know who they are...or do you? You seem to know things that you weren’t around for.”

“No I don’t,” I lie. “You honestly think you’re going to keep me in here like this?”

“The shield prevents the passage of all magic from both sides. My brother helped me alot with the finer specifics but...there’s a very low chance that you can escape. If my calculations are correct, not even the power of the other Princesses can repress it.” She trots down the stairs and comes right up to the barrier. Confident...or arrogant? Either way, she’s placing all her faith into it holding up.

“Good thing I’m not a pretty little Princess then. All this, what you did just now...that was a mistake.”

“No, you coming here was a mistake.” Twilight replies sternly, ears flickering as the wind picks up outside. “As soon as Celestia warned me you were coming-”

“Warned you!?”

“- I told everyone in town not to associate with you. Humans don’t have a place here, our society is too finely-tuned to deal with such a radical new presence.”

“Newsflash, you pedantic asshead, I had nowhere else to go! Celestia told me as much that Canterlot was a no-go. Now you’re saying Ponyville was off-limits. So where then? Out in the woods with Zecora?”

“Z-zecora? Who?” She gives me a quizzical look.

“The...the zebra...out there in the forest…” I trail off, lost in my memory for a second. I could remember her but, despite all my time spent living on the borders of the Everfree, I’d never once seen her, nor come across her hut. It was like she…

Never existed.

“There are no zebras around here.” Twilight’s frown returns. Some loose papers become dislodged from the bookshelves as the wind blows in from the window, howling. “Their colonies are far to the south, away from here, thank Celestia. She might accept some in Canterlot now and again, but we’d never allow any to settle here with us.”

I feel like I’m losing my mind again. One minute everything is just about slotting into place, the next, the whole tower of logic comes crashing down. Whatever. Zecora isn’t a priority right now.

Time to get out of here.

“Alright...alright.” I say, holding my hands up. “Looks like you’ve got me. What do you plan to do with me now, exactly?”

“We both know those powers you have weren’t yours to begin with. I could leave you in there to starve until you tell me how you got them, but you could simply start re-paying for what you’ve done by telling me now. And even then, to even think of letting you out again, I’d have to place a suppressing seal on you.”

I lean up against the barrier, so her face is as close to mine as possible.

“Get bent Sparks.”

“Oh you are just the worst!” She scowls and pulls back, clearly disgusted. “As if ruining the lives of everypony in town isn’t enough for you…trying to harm the very elements that keep this world safe...just when will you be satisfied? Until you...wh...what in the hay is going on out there!?”

Twilight whips around as the wind rushing into the library becomes a gale. Paperwork tears around the room in currents, as the noise morphs from a rumble into a deafening roar. At the same time, the ground beneath creaks and groans like the dying pangs of a wrecked battleship. The whole tree sounds like it’s being ripped apart.

“Oh yeah! I forgot to mention! When you teleported me here earlier?” I have to shout to her to even be heard. And she looks back at me in shock.

“What!?”

“You weren’t fast enough!”

I point upwards just as the roof upwards us rips off, revealing a sickly greenish sky. The whole top half of the tree is gone within seconds, blasted away out of sight, and we both stare skyward at the cause. A huge tornado - already choked with debris from other buildings in Ponyville - is barrelling straight toward us. Looks like the barrier is protecting me from the worst of it, but Twilight doesn't have that luxury. Entire books come flying off the shelves and hurl around the barrier in a whirling cascade, as the tempest bears down on the library. She gasps, sidestepping one and another, before deciding that staying here to brave the aerial minefield is no longer safe. A flash of purple sorcery, and she’s gone entirely. The rest of the tree now shakes and thunders, tilting to each side with ever increasing severity. I take a deep breath, and wait for the moment, thanking my stars that I’d managed to create the twister at the very last second before Twilight caught me.

My lungs release. The sky turns black. And all I see is chaos.

Such chaos!

The reverberation begets flight; the entirety of the library is wrenched from the earth, taking all its contents with it. Spinning and tumbling, I lose all sense of balance. Completely powerless, until the right moment. My shoulder slams into the side of the barrier as the floor turns upright, the twister continuing on its path of devastation. I right myself, and see the lavender surface flicker dimly.

Now!

The wooden floor of the library is now above me. Focusing, I form a ball of energy in my palm. If this is going to work, I’m going to need both kinetic and heat energy. I stretch upwards, smashing my hand into the wood, propelling my feet higher as I feel the first cracks give way. A blast of air rushes back to greet me, but nothing stops my momentum as the once foundation explodes, propelling a torrent of shards outwards. Separate from the tree, the roots tear away into the tornado, and I launch myself free into the storm. Covering myself with a light shield, my first move is to immediately get the hell out of dodge, flying straight out of the whirlwind and making a beeline for the southern border again.

I look back just once, to see the what’s left of the tree, all the books and the knowledge that Twilight craved, disappear into the raging dark.

Pressing on and leaving the twister to clear up what’s left of the town, I drift back towards the mass of ponies at the town edge. I'm almost there, when a sudden blue streak at my height level catches these keen eyes. It whips upwards towards the cloud layer, leaving behind a faint trail of multi-colour.

Dammit, forgot Twilight freed her. What's she up to?

Dash reaches a grey cloud and grabs it, pulling it downwards. I change course, plowing instead towards her, eager to stop whatever she’s doing before she does. It’s a friggin good thing I do, because when the cloud rumbles and darkens, I twig to her play.

Either she’s worked it out, or someone told her.

I am committed not dealing with the lightning again. That stops now. I conjure a coiled vine from nothing, hurling one end directly at her. For my fortune, she faces away for the few seconds it takes to travel, and the vine grabs her body without giving her time to avoid it. I whip it back, yanking Dash away but keeping it close to her in case she right the spin.

This is for the thunder, bitch.

I turn and spin, giving myself the momentum needed to raise my foot, and Dash collides with it at full pelt; the underside of my boot crunches into the side of her body. Like the sweetest of penalty kicks, she shoots away for a few moments, and then dips, plunging a considerable distance downwards.

That. Felt. Epic!

Outgambiting Twilight Sparkle and sucker-punching Rainbow in the space of five minutes...they say revenge is a dish best served cold, but my insides are on fire! And I’m not even paying attention of the rest of the town going to waste behind me! No longer the slave, no more the downtrodden human. Everything this town represents will be sheared away, so only the memories remain. And even them, I might be able to wipe away with enough time and effort.

Rainbow Dash plummets helplessly; I guess the shock completely knocked all consciousness out of her! The trajectory takes her almost right towards the crowd of spectators below, and I faintly catch the gasps for what could very well be a fatal fall. Then a yellow spot hurls itself into the air, and grabs Dash’s body, taking it further away from me. The shock of pink hair gives her away.

For such a timid soul, she can sure fly when she needs to.

I latch onto a burst of air, and dive at an angle down towards my original spot, where Fluttershy is carefully touching down. Twilight teleports in from nowhere, bending down to look over her wounded friend. Pinkie and Applejack too break ranks, rushing over for support. Rarity’s right behind them, but she sees my approach. A piece of wood she threw at me earlier comes at my body again, but it’s laughably easy to avoid in the air. Until I notice she doesn't let go of her magic, recoiling the block backwards to catch me in the rear. A simple thought, and the piece disappears for good, denying her any more projectiles.

“Take a good look!” I yell at the six, grouped together. The noise from the twister is still considerable, so I hope the rest of the ponies present can hear me too. “Your homes are about to disintegrate, and nothing you can do is going to contain me! I reckon it's about time all of you gave up, eh?"

Twilight looks up at me, helping a groggy Rainbow Dash back to her feet, rubbing her side with her hoof.

“Maybe you are too strong for us with that magic you have," she replies, at first dejected, but then a certain light flashes across her eyes. "But I doubt you're stronger than her."

What?

A presence behind me. Powerful. A faint but familiar feeling. I whirl around to a flash of white. My twister rages, but a streak of light encircles it, wrapping faster and faster around the storm. The churning winds glow, and decrease, dumping debris and chunks of earth all over the environment. With little more than a whimper, the clouds clear and the wind calms. Before I even have a chance to work out what's happening, the white approaches, clearing the clouds as it goes, tearing a path of sunlight through the landscape. There's only one possible individual responsible.

Celestia.

The Princess soars into clear view, circling around all of us, and descends near the elements. Still hovering with majestic poise, she looks once at them, eyes glowing with an unbelievable amount of grace and restraint. And then she looks up. Right at me. The floating human, crackling with magic not of his own, right in front of the town he just destroyed. The town she loved, and would do anything to protect.

“Jason?”

Author's Note:

Quickly discovered that the ending was going to almost stretch to 10K-ish words, so split it into a two-parter.
Also, now patched up! Read-through again for minor changes.