One Way

by jroddie

25: of Inertia and Histories

Chapter 25

“What do you mean, he doesn’t die?” I asked. Dying was a part of life. It shaped everything, including me. Especially me. Cleo shook her head, the soft feathers on her head swaying slightly.

“We never found out how he did it. One day, he would just come back and not say anything. But, those who conspired against him just... Disappeared. We would never see them again.”

“What?” I asked, completely confused. Cleo shifted slightly, and sighed.

“Looks like you need some back-story.” She said to herself. She continued;

“When it became evident that the Numbereds were hunting Ghosts, it was not unheard of for five or six Ghosts to band together for a common defense. We deluded ourselves as a species; we thought that the Numbereds were not a significant threat to us. We were right, for a time. Almost three thousand years ago, there were only two Numbereds in Equestria. A Ghost being killed by a Numbered was a very, very rare occurrence. For about five hundred years, there was a tense peace between the two races.” Cleo said. I struggled with my now-foggy mind to see the correlation between this and Columnus.

“Why only five hundred years?” I asked. Cleo opened her beak, but it was the Doctor who responded.

“Do you know how old Evangeline is, Edwin?” He asked. I shook my head, responding;

“I’ve never had cause to find out.” I replied. The Doctor smiled, reaching up with a hoof to adjust a monitor. It resisted, and he hit it with one of his hooves.

“She will be celebrating her two-thousand, five hundred and seventh birthday as of this May.” He replied. I sat dumbly, looking from the Doctor to Cleo, them back to the Doctor, and again to Cleo. I was staring at a feather on Cleo’s head when the gears of my mind slowly meshed together and formed an answer.

“Evangeline killed you.” I whispered. Cleo chucked.

“No, Edwin. I was lucky. But sadly, not every Ghost was as lucky as I. Not a single creature, maybe save for Evangeline herself, knows why she decided to kill every last Ghost she could find. Maybe she saw a rouge Ghost kill a pony. Maybe she just did not like the way our species looked. Maybe, maybe, maybe. All we can do is speculate as to the cause, but the result? It is more than evident. I am one of only four Ghosts that exist in Equestria as of today.” She said, her voice growing low and somber as she finished. The Doctor coughed. I looked to him, and saw him standing with his hooves resting on the lip of the console. His neck was hunched down, as if he were holding some incredible weight on his shoulders. He turned his neck to look at me, still hunched, and began to speak.

“Evangeline... She is a wonderful creature, one of the most powerful immortal beings in Equestria, if not the most powerful. She is caring, kind, and generous. But no facet of her character, no kind smiles or caring acts can atone for what she did. She systematically hunted and killed every single Ghost she could find. She led them to death like cows would be led to slaughter. Each and every Ghost she saw was just as good as dead. In her early years, however, she was too busy doing exactly the same thing to Angelics to kill Ghosts. Sadly, her rage and anger would not dissipate after she dispersed the Angelic horde. She directed her blinding xenophobia to the next best thing.

“Ghosts.” I whispered. The Doctor smiled grimly.

“Yes. It was genocide, plain and simple. She hunted them like you would hunt a wild animal. Surely, in her eyes, they were no better than any dangerous animal. She saw them all equally in her eyes. Scum. No matter the past deeds of a certain Ghost, however beneficiary they were to their community, she would kill them like they were beasts. Needless to say that there were Ghosts that deserved death, violent sociopaths that blindly murdered anything that they saw. But this was only a tiny fraction of the populace that was adeptly handled within their own ranks. The genocide of the Ghosts is one of the major crimes that the immortal populace of Equestria must one day atone for. If we were in your original dimension, Ed, I would not hesitate to abduct Evangeline and make her stand trial at the Shadow Proclamation.” The Doctor finished bleakly. I felt emotionally and intellectually drained. I slumped against a nearby Y-pillar, using its strength to hold me up. I shuddered.

“Columnus was one of the more successful leaders, in terms of keeping Ghosts alive. He thwarted Evangeline for this entire time, almost twenty-five hundred years so far. He did... No, he still does by restricting almost all individual action, controlling the lives of the Ghosts under him with an iron grip. Nothing was done in his collective that he did not know about.” The Doctor said, dropping off in the middle of his exposition, seemingly lost in thought.

“We need to go.” Cleo said. The Doctor nodded turning back to his console and raising his head.

“You’re right. Let’s go.” He said, reaching up with a hoof to push a yellow square. The wooshing noise sounded through the tardis, filling me with calm. The noise was a constant. No matter what happened in the outside world, this noise would remain. The noise assuaged my troubled mind.

“What’s this?” The Doctor said. There was a faint beeping on top of the noise of the moving tardis, seemingly in response to his query.

“That cannot possibly be right.” He said again, but the beeping continued. The tardis was still moving, which was odd. It was usually done by now. The beeping persisted as the Doctor bounded around the console.

“What is it?” Cleo asked. The Doctor shushed her angrily, and continued to poke and prod and occasionally strike the console with his hooves. The beeping did not cease, but the wooshing noise did. I was starting to grow worried.

“What does it mean, Doctor?” I asked, my worry evident in my voice.

“Be quiet!” The Doctor whispered angrily. The beeping continued, then stopped. He visibly relaxed, and all of the anger flowed out of his face.

“You see? It worked perfectl-” The Doctor was interrupted by a shoe. A brown, shiny leather penny loafer, cleverly shaped like a pony’s hoof, rolled down the grate, passing Cleo and I. It made a dull thunk as it stopped on the other side of the Tardis.

“Oh no.” The Doctor said quietly. I looked to him. The beeping started again.

“No, no no no no no no NO!” He shouted, running around to the other side of the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers. He paused on the side closest to us. He leaped up with his forelegs to the lip of the console, and reached out to hover, trembling, above a red button.

A red button.

A red button with a yellow exclamation point.

My mind slowly put the pieces together.

“Don’t do it! Please, for the love of Celestia, don’t do it!” I screamed. The Doctor did not answer me, but hovered above the button as if he were grappling with some internal struggle. He looked back to me, then turned to Cleo.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered. He turned back to face the console, and pressed the button. It made an audible click as it was depressed. I was crushed, obliterated. The Doctor doomed the whole of Equestria to face certain obliteration in less than two minutes. I sat there, leaning against one of the pillars ringing the console, slack-jawed.

“Why did you do it?” I whispered, feeling an overwhelming depression seep over me. The Doctor opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the all-too familiar wailing of the klaxon. The shrill alarm drove me from my stupor, and I flew from the pillar. I shot off to the Doctor, and leaning over him, grabbed him with my forelegs and shook him.

“Why would you do that to me?! I had a future out there! That was my home!” I shouted, shaking the Doctor. His head connected with the console while I was doing this, and his eyes rolled back into his head. I shook him harder.

“Edwin...” Cleo said, but I was too far lost in my misery and anger to stop shaking the Doctor. I felt something cold wrap its way around my waist. I was going to turn back to see it, but the cold thing squeezed around me and yanked me away from the Doctor. I flew backwards through the air, and crashed into the opposite wall with a loud bang. I hit the back of my head on the tardis wall, stunning me for a moment. I lost awareness of my loud, angry, and complicated surroundings. I my vision faded and blurred as my mind tried to keep a slippery grip on consciousness. The ringing in my ears was then overshadowed by the wailing of the siren. I opened my eyes.

I was in what seemed to be a long, glass vial, covered in metal on the outside. The tube was not exactly spacious, but it was not stifling either. It had a long space on the front of it where it was not covered in metal that allowed me to see outside of the tube and into the console room. There was really nothing much different, except for the complete absence of the Doctor and Cleo. On closer examination of the outside of my tube, I found about twenty coppery metal cylinders affixed to the wall of the tardis, with a long window down the front of them. My aching head took a moment to identify them as duplicates of my tube. On further examination, I saw the Doctor and Cleo occupying their own separate cylinders. I looked at them, but I could not draw either of their attentions. I raised a hoof to bang on the window. The Doctor’s eyes immediately shot to me.

“Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber.” a cool, female voice said.

“Doctor?! What’s happening?! Get me out of here!” I shouted. For a moment or two, there was no reply.

“This is not a drill.” the female voice said, and continued; “You are perfectly safe. Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber. You have been placed here for your own safety. This is not a drill.”

“Doctor! Help!” I shouted, getting scared. I tried to bang on the glass again, but the Voice interrupted me.

“This is not a drill. Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber. For best probability of survival, stay as still as possible for the duration of the attack. This is not a drill.” the Voice said, tormenting me with its blissfully calm voice. I felt my hooves pulled against the wall of the tube, and I began to hear a slight hissing noise.

“Prepare for compression. Aching joints, headaches, and bleeding ears are not uncommon occurrences and should not be cause for worry. Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber. This is not a drill.” the Voice said. the hissing grew into a gigantic torrent of air, blowing my mane over my eyes. From what I could see outside of the tube, the exact same thing was happening in the other tubes. My ears popped as the pressure increased, and my head began to throb.

“Ow.”

“Estimated pressure for survival today is 2.34 bars per cubic half-meter. Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber. This is not a drill.” The Voice said, and then was silent. There was no hissing. There was no noise. The Doctor and Cleo were not doing much in their chambers, just looking exactly as worried as I was. Then, it happened.

Everything, every single thing in the tardis not bolted down floated into the air. I gazed in wonder out of my tube, and suddenly everything floating crashed down to the ground. I had little time to contemplate this when everything that was floating suddenly started flying into the air randomly. Shoes flew this way, wrenches flew that way, and papers floated around everywhere.

“Oh, wow.” I whispered to myself. From my point of view, it looked like the inside of a snowglobe. It was beautiful in a strange, random way. I gazed in awe at my surroundings when a wrench suddenly collided with my tube. It cracked the glass, spreading a glistening spider web across the glass.

“Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber.” the Voice said, and I suddenly understood what was happening. The last traces of the ethyl bromoacetate must have expended themselves suddenly, because I saw everything in frightening clarity. The “snow” was actually meant to kill everything inside the tardis. The inertia chamber was keeping me from being killed. Flying wrenches did not take too kindly to things being in their way, and they liked to express their distaste through violence. I shrank to the back of my tube, suddenly afraid.

“Depressurization detected in chamber five, bay three.” the Voice said, aware of something that I was not. Through the flying shrapnel, I saw the Doctor banging his hooves on the glass, staring at me. He was mouthing something, but I could not tell what. I could hear the slight hiss in the chamber again, but it did not turn into a torrent of air.

“Pressure in chamber five dropping rapidly. Increasing pressure to 4.45 bars per cubic half-meter. Do not attempt to exit the inertia chamber.” the Voice said, and the hiss of air again turned into a gale-force wind. I looked at the Doctor’s tube again, and I could finally see what he was saying.

“Get out of there!” The Doctor was saying, blinking forcefully. “Get out! It’s not safe!”

I was extremely worried. I looked at the Doctor blinking, but my eyes drew me to the growing spider web of broken glass. It cracked, and then grew to a frightening size. It covered about a fourth of the window now. I looked back to the Doctor, who was still blinking. I understood.

I immersed myself in the Flow, feeling the life around me. I could not feel anything outside of the tardis, but both Cleo and the Doctor were extremely strong presences. I closed my eyes and thought of Luna. I felt a chilly breeze over the gusting of the chamber, and suddenly both were gone. I opened my eyes.

I was in some heavily wooded forest. I could hear wood snapping and trees falling falling over distantly, but I could not concentrate on that.

Luna was bound and gagged with glowing red ropes around her hooves and midsection. She was struggling and her own horn was glowing, but apparently it was futile. There was a smallish Angelic stirring next to her, sitting on his haunches. It’s horn was glowing. I stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend the scene in front of me. Luna opened her eyes and saw me. She started wiggling with renewed vigor, making all sorts of noises.

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmm!” Luna said, struggling against her magical bonds. This drew the attention of the Angelic next to her. He opened his eyes. I had no time to summon my sword before he noticed me, but I reached out with my mind and grabbed his horn. I could hear his thoughts.

His thoughts. He must have been severely intelligent, because I could hear no less than nine separate trains of thought going on. I was overwhelmed by the speed, clarity, and quantity of his thoughts. The Angelic noticed me by now, and then I snapped his horn off. The thoughts immediately stopped, and the red ropes surrounding Luna slowly faded from existence.

The Angelic screamed. It was loud and bloodcurdling, and it made me shiver. It wasn’t because of the intensity of the shout, but of the raw emotion behind it. He was sad. He screamed for his lost talent, a life that he would never live again. For a confusing moment, I felt sympathy for the creature. But the bout of empathy quickly passed.I tossed the horn aside, and I walked over to Luna. The Angelic stopped screaming, and he squinted at me. I paused, expecting something to happen. Nothing did, and the Angelic began to sob. I walked up to Luna, and knelt down. She spat out the gag.

“Edwin, quick, we need to leave!” She whispered intently.

"What do you mean? We’re all alone here.” I said normally, but the sobbing Angelic wailed and proved me wrong. She shusshed me angrily.

“Don’t say anything! They have ears everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was already here!” She whisprered again.

“Who?” I asked. I heard a faint rustling of leaves behind me, and Luna raised a shaking hoof to point. Her eyes widened in fear.

“Him.”

Comments

[jroddie]

With his chapter of One Way, this fanfic now meets the minimum prerequisite of 70,000 words and can truthfully be called a novel. I would like to thank every person who has been with me for this journey, and I can promise you that Edwin's story is far from complete.

[yusha]

could you mae like a prologue on what ahppened in the last chapter becosu everytime i read a new chapter im a little lost

[Ablesoap]

Lol

[Meta Knight]

interesting

[Ice]

Wow this is amazing i've read a lot of stories and fanfics but I love this one.I mean everything just fits together.I'm trying to write astory with another person right now and when I saw your story I was like wow this is what I want to be able to write.

[dafiltafish]

must. keep. reading.

[xXNinjafred]

84387
Same.