One Way

by jroddie

40: of Black Dust and Strong Hands

Chapter 40

The first part of my training with Alucard consisted mostly of sitting. We sat for what seemed to be ages, just sitting on the ground. I questioned it very early on.

“How is this supposed to teach me how to kill Angelics, Teacher?” I asked quietly. He grumbled impatiently.

“If you can ask that question, you are not ready for my answer.” He responded rather curtly. I sensed the world around me. I used my ears to hear things, which was not much. Alucard sighing next to me, making my teeth clatter. I felt things with my hooves. The slowly shifting sediment of Sigmus Five It didn’t reveal much even to my Numbered senses, which I prided on being somewhat in touch with nature. I expanded my awareness out. I felt the other side of Alucard, the barren land, and then the nothingness of the space outside of the air shield. I shivered. Space was a cold, cruel thing. There is no sound in space. There is no sensation, or if there is, it doesn’t survive for very long. There was only a very finicky piece of machinery between me and a very quick death. I shivered slightly, and retracted my consciousness to inside of the air shield. There was a long pause where nothing happened, and I continued to watch the world inside of the air shield. Other than Alucard and I, there was nothing else living.

“Nature abhors a vacuum, Edwin.” Alucard said quietly as a fully grown dragon could. I drew myself out of the Flow and looked up at him. He had an extremely pensive expression on his face. He kept that for a moment, and then looked back down at me. “Even now, even though we are perfectly safe, our minds recoil from the sensation of nothingness. We know that we are safe, but our minds flee from the lack of feeling.” Alucard concluded, and fell silent. I contemplated what he said. More hours passed with the sensation of everything around me. Alucard cleared his throat, and I nearly went deaf with the noise. I was rubbing the ear facing him when he started to speak again.

“One of the many ways to kill something is to make it think it is dying.” the enormous dragon said.

“I do not understand, Teacher.” I said quietly.

“Consciousness resides within the mind, hatchling. Everything that you experience is translated inside of your head into tiny electrical signals that look like the real world. It is a simple matter to control those signals to make a creature think that they are dying. To them, however, it is far too real.”

“It must be horrifying.” I concluded. Alucard nodded.

“I’ve made things die using that method. Creatures have actually broken their own bones trying to escape whatever it is that they think is killing them. It is a gruesome and lonely death. But it is effective and you should not hesitate to use it.” Alucard qualified. He sniffed. I felt slightly taken aback. There was another long pause, which the two of us were loathe to fill with empty conversation.

“I miss my family.” I whispered. Alucard made a surprised snort.

“I was unaware that Numbereds have family. They aren’t produced biologically, I understand.” He said. I chuckled dryly.

“You’re right in one regard. Numbered bodies are created by the Threads and our pony bodies have no relatives other than the ones we make for ourselves. Our minds, however, are a completely different story.” I said rather cryptically, not wishing to explain. Alucard had a completely different idea.

“What do you mean?”

“I would rather not say, Teacher.” I said coldly. Alucard harrumphed, which was quite a frightening noise from a dragon.

“It would help me to understand you better than I do now. It would also help to teach me about how to help you learn.” He said. I sighed, and stole myself against the memories.

“Teacher, if you insist, you must understand how truly alien my original world was. The closest organism to my original form in this world is the griffon, but then even that is a pale comparison. My species walked on their hind legs, and hand hands on our forelegs to grab things. There was no magic to speak of. We were mostly all the same color, but with many different shades.”

“How strange. How many people existed in your dimension?” Alucard asked.

“When I became a Numbered?” I qualified. Alucard nodded. “About seven billion.” Alucard’s eyes went wide.

“So many...” He made the equivalent of a whisper. I laughed.

“It is really hauntingly similar the two dimensions are. Many things are the same, and sometimes I forget what I am. But then I see something that reminds me. An article of clothing made for a pony. A tapestry depicting Equestrian history.” I said, and stopped quickly. I didn’t want to continue to remember my old life. It hurt to linger. Alucard gave me an out.

“Tell me, hatchling. How was it that you arrived in this dimension?” He asked innocently with his enormous rumbling voice. I sighed, and my head dipped down a little.

“I died.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I died a violent death. My human body was completely destroyed, mashed into a mushy pulp. By my death, the ceremony that summoned a new Numbered body was completed and my consciousness was transferred to this dimension. The body I currently inhabit was designed so that my consciousness would be the sole inhabitant, so I immediately found this body and possessed it. The rest is history.” I said quickly, trying to be as blunt and vague as possible.

“I am deeply sorry, Edwin.” Alucard said after a long pause, sounding very guilty.

“Don’t be. You didn’t know. You didn’t kill me.” I said quietly. I looked up at the stars. Septimus and Culaan tried their hardest to consume each other, but to no success. I watched for a few minutes, enough to see one revolution of the twin stars.

“Have you ever thought about how frivolous it is, Alucard? How... needless it is?” I wondered aloud.

“Explain.”

“We could simply transport all of the ponies that live in Equestria to a place in this universe so very far from the Equus system, where the Angelics simply cannot get to them. We could just keep them from being reached by the masses that would eat them. The Doctor could transport them all off of Equestria at the exact same time and transport them to the new planet.” I reasoned, feeling proud of myself for divining my little plan. Alucard smiled a little bit.

“How will you prevent Angelics from entering the various Tardii picking up mortal ponies all around Equestria? How will you keep the various Doctors from interacting with one another? It is too dangerous and large of a plan to be completed successfully.” Alucard said, dashing my hopes. I sighed, but an idea struck me and I brightened up considerably. I dashed twenty yards or so to Alucard’s nearest limb, and I got down on my belly to plead with him. Before I could even open my mouth, he had an answer ready.

“No, I will not.” He said softly.

“How can you read my mind? I thought it was only Sebastian that could do that.” I argued.

“And who do you think she learned it from?” He explained with a small smile. I was still grumpy.

“Pleeeeease!?” I whined. Alucard shook his head.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because Angelics are none of my business. I am a Ghost. I do as I please and nothing more. The affairs of the mortal populace are none of my concern. I only educate you because you are the only hope for the survival of my species.” He rumbled coldly. I felt suddenly alone.

“If the Angelics win, we all lose.” I volleyed back at Alucard. He frowned.

“You are correct, but not for the right reasons. I could destroy all of the Angelics in Equestria just by batting my eyelash at that little dot, right over there.” He said, pointing at a little wobbly yellow dot in the sky with one of his enormous talons. He lowered the limb as he continued. “But I won’t. This is your fight, Edwin. You need to save Equestria. You have earned that privilege. You need to finish what you started.”

“I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!” I shouted at the great white dragon. He recoiled from my words.

“Edwin, you don’t have to-

“I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS! I HAD A GOOD LIFE! I WAS GOING TO GET MARRIED! MARRIED, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!” I screamed at Alucard, making him shrink back a little. It was slightly funny, I remarked. I was the size of a bug compared to him, but I was making him afraid.

“Edwin, calm down.” He managed to squeeze in. I would have none of it. I started to sob. I couldn’t bear to have it all bottled up anymore.

“I’m just a kid. I was twenty! I’m not ready for any of this!” I screamed at him again, but not as loud as the last time. He started to come back to me. He leaned forward, and he touched me with one of his talons.

“Shh, Edwin...” He said, exhaling on me. It was warm.

“I want to go home.” I managed to choke out through the tears. I looked up at Alucard through bleary eyes to see him nodding his gigantic head.

“Okay.” He said softly. I sniffed.

“Okay?” I slurred.

“Okay.” He confirmed. He picked me up with his enormous hands. I never really appreciated their size until now. You could easily play a basketball game on one. I have no idea how Evangeline killed him. He picked me up into the air, and formed a pointed cage with hos other hand. He muttered something incomprehensible and low while streaks of color and light streaked through the prison that his fingers had made. Suddenly, there was a a black silhouette that appeared in the middle of the cage, and the lights immediately began to shoot through it. It was a big rectangle, with obvious fixtures that identified it as the Tardis. Suddenly, one of the colors flew through the tardis and exploded. It was as if a drop of watercolor paint landed in a glass of water, suffusing it with color. This happened many more times, adding substance to the Tardis until it finally was a whole piece. I smiled weakly. Alucard grasped the Tardis with his claws and lowered it gently down to his scaly palm. I got up shakily and wobbled over to it, with my only intent being sleep. Alucard stopped me as I had my hoof on the door.

“Edwin.” He ventured, trying to get my attention. I looked up to him, but I said nothing. He hesitates slightly, his large red eyes exuding wariness. “I’m very sorry that I brought up your death. It was a tragedy, I know. I shouldn’t have trivialized it and brushed it aside so easily.” He said, his voice heavy with guilt. I swallowed.

“It wasn’t your fault.” I said, and pushed open the door. A strong smell of liquor and vomit met my nostrils. I gagged and entered the Tardis. I looked around for the Doctor. A very very short search found him slumped over the arm of a couch in front of the Console, with two mares draped over him. He was wearing two cone shaped party hats over his eyes, and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. He was snoring loudly. The two mares seemed to be sisters, and had nearly the same color coat. One of them had a powder blue mane with a pink coat, while the other one had a pink mane with a powder blue coat. I smiled. A light noise sounded, and I perked my ears.

“Welcome back, Captain Shell.” The Tardis said in her light voice. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I bit back a colorful invective and calmly spoke back.

“Take me to the Equus system. I’ll navigate the rest of the way.” I said sternly as I walked back to the Console. The Tardis complied wordlessly, displaying the path that the Tardis would take, placing us smack in the middle of nothing in Equuan space. I pressed several buttons on the console, and the display showed me the plains in front of Canterlot. I pressed several more buttons, and a set of joysticks popped out of the Console, cleverly shaped for ponies. They were really more like short rubber cups than joysticks. I placed my hooves in them and slowly moved them around for the coordinates I needed. I smiled as they locked in on the Dining hall in the palace. I couldn’t go the whole hog and just pop right into Luna’s room. That takes practice. I fiddled with a dial that set the time to just after I left the Palace. About an hour. I fell backwards, popping a hoof out to click a lever. The wooshy noise started as I fell back onto the couch that the Doctor and his two mares occupied.

“Wubbfub” The Doctor mumbled, rather articulately for how drunk I thought he was. He made a big sniff, and he got up to look at me.

“Morning, Doctor.”

“I can’t see.” He said rather worriedly. I frowned and reached over to rip the party hats off of him. I pulled them off somewhat roughly, and he blinked rapidly.

“Much better.” The Doctor said, nodding off. I smiled and turned away from him to watch the piston in the middle of the tardis go up and down. The Doctor started to snore again. I felt extremely tired myself, and wanted to stay awake until I got to Luna’s room.

“Tardis.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Coffee, if you have it. Two sugars.” I said, and there was not a reply. I heard a strange gargling noise, and quite shortly after, a steaming blue mug of coffee appeared on the arm of the sofa that did not contain a sleeping Doctor. I smiled and crawled over to it, thinking of the bitter sweetness that awaited me. I picked it up with magic when I was close enough to the arm of the couch, and I sipped some. The coffee spewed out of my mouth faster than I could drink it, and I hurled the steaming mug across the Tardis. I stuck out my tongue and rubbed it with my hooves, trying to get the taste out.

“Oh god!” I shouted, my tongue still out of my mouth. I finally got it back into my mouth, and I prepared my question for the Tardis.

“Tardis, what would you call that?”

“Coffee.”

“I call it liquid salt. How much did you put in there, anyways?”

“Two tablespoons.” The Tardis said, and I planted my hoof on my face in embarassment. I forgot that the Tardis synthesised its own sugar. I grumbled and got up from my seat. I looked up at one of the screens. It showed that we were a minute or two from my destination. The Doctor started to grumble.

“Happy that you decided to join us, Doctor.” I said blandly, without looking back. There was a small ripple in the Slice that we were navigating that I had to navigate through.

“Edwin... What are you doing?”

“Taking me home. What about you?” I asked. The Doctor fell silent. I looked back at him, expecting a response. He had his head hung low, with his hats hanging from his neck. I pushed a few buttons to set the tardis to navigate itself and turned to face him fully.

“What’s wrong, Doctor?” I asked quietly.

“I miss my home.” He said morosely.

“Me too. But at least you can go back, if you really wanted to.” I reasoned, about to turn back to the console. The Doctor sniffed, looking up to me. His eyes were filled with tears.

“No. I can’t. It’s not even there anymore.” He said, his voice on the verge of crying. I walked up to him, and sat right in front of him.

“Tell me about home, Doctor.” I asked. He sniffled again.

“It was beautiful. They called it ‘The Shining World of the Seventh System’. For good reason. One of the suns would rise in the south, setting the silverleaf trees ablaze with color. Oh, Edwin... It was breathtaking. There was the brilliant mountains, with the red red grass and the perfectly white snow... The rocks were all the colors you could ever imagine, and then some more. When I was a child, I used to look out over the plains from my parents’ house in the mountains. I would see the Panopticon, and then there was the Citadel behind it. The Citadel... It was our greatest feat of engineering. If Time Lord society could be jewelry, the Citadel would be the crown jewel. It was amazing, Edwin. You should have seen it.” He remarked, his hoof resting on his chin in awe of the memories.

“Why don’t we? Let’s go and see it.” I said, turning back to the Console. The Doctor stopped me by placing his hoof on my shoulder.

“We can’t.”

“Why not? It’s not to hard, I’ll get the coordinates in the Tardis and we’ll-

“Stop, please, Edwin. It’s not as it once was. There are no more trees, no more binary sunrises. Lakes of lava, craters, and cities in ruin. Not to mention the Time Lords themselves. They want to destroy time itself to kill the Daleks. They’re old, desperate, and violent. I actually placed them in Time Lock to keep them at bay.” He finished, silencing me. I felt sobered.

“Check the feasibility matrix, she’s looking a bit wobbly in the probability spectrum.” He commented tonelessly, curling back up into a ball between the two mares. I did as he asked, turning to look at the Console. I made the proper adjustments and watched the Tardis on the monitors fall from the timestreams and land squarely in the Dining hall. I sighed, and stood back up. I walked around the couch and out of the doors.

“Edwin!” Antony shouted, looking up from his soup. He stood up, galloping over to me. He pulled up by my side and started to speak.

“Where have you been?! We really needed you and-” I cut Antony off with a statement of my own.

“There is going to have a meeting of the Guard companies in an hour. Spread the word.” I said coldly. Antony seemed extremely puzzled. His helm wobbled slightly.

“Why? What’s going on, Edwin? Why in an hour?”

“I need to take a bath. I’ll tell you what we’re doing at the meeting.” I said, and I walked past Antony.

“Edwin!” He shouted at me. I turned to him wordlessly. “As your peer, I demand to know what you are planning on doing!” He said loudly. All of the guards in the room were staring at the two of us. I scowled, and walked up to Antony. I got my mouth right next to his ear.

“I have been through way too much today to have you order me around. Be in the meeting room in one hour.” I said, and I stormed away to get some food.

Comments

[bacon96]

i really like this story so i have to say it two times on this page.

[jroddie]

299270 Stop it.

[bacon96]

299402
stop what?

[Skrillex]

wafflin?

[jroddie]

302518 Stop saying you're first. It adds nothing to the critique of the chapter and it's just plain silly.

[bacon96]

ok but this is one of the best fanfics that i have read so far. looking forward to the next chapter. is it just me or did you take this chapter down for a while?

[jroddie]

302697 I did. I was expecting a reviewer, and I was going to wait until she read it to publish it again. I accidentally published it too soon and took it down. Response was overwhelming *cough cough* and I had to put it back up again.

[DragonxFlutter]

Wow. Ed's become quite the badass. Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Northwest Brony]

I just found this story and I am quite sad that I found it when I did, six days after an update; it saddens me that I will need to wait longer for another installment, on the other hand, had I discovered it more than six days ago, I would be mislead about the update speed, however, had I not found it until the story is done, I wouldn't be typing up this comment right now, and take part in the crafting of such a wonderful story.

I do hope that the update rate is a good one, keep up the excellent work, and I hope that viewer count keeps ticking!

[Shadow-Dancer]

i like how Ed has changed and matured but at the same time has not lost what made him human.