His Book of Gears

by Tower of 0

The Jouney's End.

"Wake up." A stern voice ordered Justin awake

It was Stranger again. Justin blinked at the masked unicorn, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He then gazed into the bright yellow irises that seemed to glow from beyond the eye hole of the mask. The human just shooed him of, which the Stranger did. Justin just nodded and noticed the second presence in his sleeping bag. Then noticed the bag was bigger.

"Oh great..." Justin mumbled.

The morning sun cascaded down on the tent. The two were sitting at the fire having breakfast, toast. It was a simple meal, not quite filing but it would have to do for the time being. They sat in silence, eating their toast. Then Justin threw his food to the ground and stood up.

"You know what?" He asked. "What's with this morning's tension?"

Twilight said nothing, her ears pinned back.

"Is it because the bags combining sometime last night?"

"No.. no." Twilight reassured, looking up at him. "I had a terrible dream last night where you turned against our Equestria."

Justin started to laugh at the absurd idea. "As if. There are way too many ponies I respect and love to do that."

"That didn't seem to stop the you here." Twilight pointed out.

It was now noon and the the two were well on the way to their destination. Justin took a sharp inhale of air as they walked. Twilight looked up at him and playfully nudged him with her flank. He just smiled and nudged her back with the side of his foot.

So the duo played and joked with one another, both lifting their spirits and relieving some stress along the way. And as most friends would, going slightly over board with the other. The two were laughing, giggling, and having a good ol' time just being playful.

Justin caught his foot on something and found his face meeting the ground. Twilight was quick to helping the human back up, his hand rubbing his nose. His eyes went to look at what he failed to to step over and noticed a large piece of metal jutting up out of the ground. It looked old and just slight rusted, but most of the pale alloy remained untouched.

"Is that a piece of metal?" Justin asked.

"Yeah... but most of Cloudsdale is.. well, supposed to be, clouds." Twilight said.

They started to climb up the hill, only to find a crated with destroyed buildings and factories. This was something both weren't used to. At the heart of the ruins was a dome that was mostly intact. Justin was feeling something towards the dome and motioned the alicorn to follow him.

The inside of the dome was derelict. Years of corrosion weren't nice to the structure. Yet, it also smelled of cotton candy and lemons for whatever reason. Further they delved into the funky smelling halls. The duo soon came into a large center room with a single figure standing at the other end.

"You came a long way to see an old man." His voice carried.

"Yeah, a long way to come see myself." Justin said back.

The other Justin turned around rather slowly and pulled his hood down, staring at his younger self. "I suppose that book does have a will of its own after all."

Twilight just stared.

"No matter, it was foolish of you to come here." The older suddenly brandished two swords.

"Now wait a sec." Justin said, putting his hands up. "Let's talk about this."

"What is there to talk about? I lost everything." The older retorted.

"Not everything." Justin smiled, starting to approach the center of the room. "You still have your daughter."

As soon as the younger mentioned of the mare, a specter of Derpy appeared in front of the elder. Not the Derpy the younger was used to, but the older. The specter said nothing as she stared up at him with a smile. The older human just stared back, eyes wide and an almost somber expression.

"She misses you, y'know? I met her and she grew up well." Justin smiled. "She's in Ponyville too."

"I abandoned her..." The older fell to his knees, looking at the specter in the eyes. "..After her mother died... I.. I just lost control.."

"What was her mother like?" Justin asked.

"She was a great mare, the most beautiful pegasus I had ever seen." The older human paused for a moment, wiping a tear with his sleeve. "I met her during my time in Canterlot, was there when she gave birth to Derpy."

Justin stood there in silence.

"I stood by her side, raising little Derpy like she was my own. I was proud to be her father, even if she wasn't really mine." The older started to break down.

Justin approached and the Spectre vanished, putting his hand on the other's shoulder. "It's what's in the heart that counts, not blood."

The other Justin just sat there on his hands and knees.

"It's not too late to go back to her. Be with her as she makes her own way here." Justin told him.

He started to get up, looking at his younger self, then nodded. "You're right.... I shouldn't let my shame and anger control me."

"Heh, well... if you don't mind. I have my own family to go back to." Justin said as he shook the other's hand and turned to see Twilight.

He smiled a bit warmly as he saw his own specters for Derpy, Vinyl, Fudge, Rarity, and the others from his home. Justin stepped slowly as he approached the alicorn, whom of which was caught up in her own tears. He just took her into a tight hug and pulled out the book with the gears on the cover.

"Ready to go home?"

The human closed the book and ran his fingers over the cover. He then set the book on the mantle of his fireplace and smiled a little. Another adventure down, how many more remain? Justin felt a sudden tug at his leg and looked down to see Fudge. Justin picked her up and held her in his arms, going over to the couch and sitting among the other mares. Derpy and Vinyl leaned in on him and Chrysalis lounged on the rest of the couch.

It felt good to be home once again.

~His Book of Gears~