2: Hey, I just wanted some help with my house!4,709 words
This I Believe: Just something small.614 words
Birthday Chapter: I thought that wasn't possible!2,616 words
Another really random thing I had to do for school.531 words
Clearing some things up, and probably more.864 words
Mobius pt. 4: Tea and an Enemy4,128 words
Update and... poems?318 words
Mobius pt. 5: To Hate or Lose?4,432 words
Mobius pt. 6: Who am I?2,874 words
ANNOUNCEMENTS136 words
A New Age for Mobius?498 words

CROSSOVER pt. 8: The End?

"A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies."
-Gustave Flaubert
In all seriousness, I feel slightly depressed today. And when I'm depressed, I get philosophical. So here's another quote fro me: (Also, credit to Nathan Traveler for writing the few simple words in his story that inspired something new... I'll put it into a story someday)
"Though the times may be tough, you will push through, but there's still an emptiness. Fill that emptiness with friends, as I have. Your life can change completely."
-Mobius of the Moon

The shaking continued. "Mobius!" The voice was calling. Was that... Mike?

I grunted, letting him know I was okay. I heard a collective gasp and realized that everyone must have been there, fretting and worrying over me.

Mike was still shaking, trying to get me up. Then I said, "Off my chest." but it sounded like another grunt. Mike leaned down to hear more clearly.

"Get. Off. My. Chest." I panted out. Mike pulled back in slight surprise.

“What did he say?” Twilight asked.

“He asked me to get my leg off his chest.” Mike said, removing his hoof. I waited another second, then tried to open my eyes. SUCCESS!

“Mobius, are you okay?” Twilight asked. “You weren’t breathing…we thought…”

“I’m fine,” I just barely managed to choke out. My voice was hoarse and low, and I barely heard myself. “Just…a little winded. I’ll be fine.”

I tried to struggle to my feet, and when I did, I swayed. Well, there's how it is when you come back from the dead. I stumbled, then straightened, only to be tackled by a rainbow maned pegasus.

"Mobius…don’t do that…ever again…” She squeezed me tight as tears poured freely from her eyes. It was in that moment that I couldn't refuse it anymore. Everyone else slowly moved in on the hug, and I was reminded of my second day in Equestria. I fought back tears as I thought of my version of these ponies... then I realized. I didn't have Mike. He was another friend that I wouldn't get to see after I left here. But as I thought these thoughts, I shook them away immediately. this was no time for that.

“I’m okay, everypony,” I tried to smile, but I guess it wasn't convincing.

“You almost died!” Rainbow's eyes were overflowing with tears, and it took all my willpower not to join her. “I was so scared…I thought you were gonna die…Mobius, please don’t do that again! I don’t want to lose you…”

I finally returned the hug, comforting Rainbow, and taking comfort in her. It was a great joy to have a warm body to feel after death. The gripping cold it gave you was hard to shake. But now I was feeling a warmth that I hadn't felt in a long time.

“You won’t, Rainbow. It’ll take more than that to kill me. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” I chuckled at the truth of that. Can't die, I live forever, I'm pretty much a loner.

I felt Rainbow shift, then she took a breath, "Mobius..." she began, "I... I love you."

And then, my heart swelled. I replied only as I felt truthfully. "I love you too, Rainbow."

“I know it doesn’t seem like me to break this kind of thing up,” Mike interrupted after what seemed like such a short time. “But we do kind of have a problem. Hunter tried to kill Mobius. That means he’s getting confident. We need to stop him before things get worse.” Yes... But not for killing me. For hurting my friends.

“He’s right.” I sighed, and gently pushed Rainbow away. “All of you, stay here. Hunter is my problem. I’m going to take care of him once and for all.”

I tried to leave, but Applejack barred my way suddenly. "Whoa, there, Mobius." She half glared, half-smiled at me, in a teasing but serious way. "We ain’t lettin’ ya go fight that guy on yer own.”

“He’s my problem. I’m not letting you all get hurt – or worse – for something that’s my problem,” True enough, I couldn't let any of them get hurt, or worse... die. If it came to that, I wouldn't have the will to live. This was my family, and families are supposed to protect each other.

“That meanie Hunter is gonna pay for what he did to you!” Pinkie suddenly piped in, bouncing up with a serious look on her face. I shuddered as I thought of a serious Pinkie Pie.

“I don’t think letting you go alone would be too wise,” Rarity joined in, swishing her mane.

“I’m not letting you go get yourself nearly killed a second time,” Rainbow hovered above us, looking at me with the Do as I say or die. stare.

“You’re forgetting that Hunter hasn’t just hurt you, pal.” Mike stepped forward. I felt my thoughts darken. If he had to go what I did...

“Even I think what he’s done is…well…pretty bad,” Fluttershy stated quietly as she joined us, too.

“And magic makes it all complete.” Twilight teleported into the middle of the group. Finally I looked around, wondering at this support. Where had it come from?

“I…I…” I stammered, searching for words. “…Thank you. All of you…alright.” I grinned in gritty determination. “Let’s go.”

We all cheered and headed for the door, but I stopped Mike with a paw.

“Not you.”

“What?” Mike turned to me, astonished.

“You’re not coming, Mike.”

“Why?”

“I’m not going to let you fight an old friend. Dreamer is still with Hunter, and I don’t want you there if we have to do anything to him.” I said plainly. The others gaped slightly at us, but said nothing.

“No. Mobius, I’m going.”

“You’re staying here. We’ll take care of this problem and you won’t have to take on an old friend.” I'm sure you actually slightly slightly know what it feels like, Mike, but if I let you actually try to kill him..

“I don’t care about that! I’m helping!”

“No! I won’t let-”

"Mobius. Stop.” the force in his voice shut me up. Mike looked down, his mane falling into his eyes.“Give it up. I'm coming with you, like it or not. You say you don't want to have me fight a former friend, but do you really think I'd rather stay behind and not lend a helping hoof in saving the world? I'm not going to just sit in the stands with a bucket of popcorn in one hoof and a glass of apple cider in the other, watching the chaos unfold.” Mike looked up, and his eyes were filled with moisture. “Hunter…and Dreamer…are a darkness that needs to be vanquished, and I want to be part of that rising light that vanquishes it. I'm coming with you, and I'm going to kill Hunter for what he's done. And…if the fate of Equestria rides on it…” He paused, and I knew what came next.

“…I'll do the same to Dreamer.”

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. It takes guts to actually vow to kill your friend. I could see Mike breaking down at the thoughts of this, and I decided quickly.

“…Alright. You can come.”

Mike nodded, and we all trotted, or padded, away to the Everfree. Mike followed me to the front of the group.

"... Ready?" I asked.

“More than ever. Let’s go!” This time, we all added our voices:

“PARTAMOS!”

And with that, we charged straight into the forest, and throughout all this the sense of something bad came with this thought. Something is going to go wrong.
@@@@@@

We arrived at the bridge leading to the ruins, and we saw strange lights coming from it. Quickly, we charged across the bridge and into the castle, taking a little longing than it took me to explain. Once we had entered, we saw something quite disturbing.

Hunter and Dreamer stood there, and Hunter was doing something more than a little bad. His wings were spread wide, and a light streamed and swirled around him. He turned when he saw us though, and the spell ended. With a jolt I realized that the energy was the color of what was left behind by Nightmare Moon when she had been defeated. What could Hunter have done with that energy? I asked myself.

Hunter spoke. "Mobius. Good to see you again.” Hunter said with a mocking bow. “And I see you’ve brought your ragtag bunch of so-called friends?”

“Watch it,” My anger was already high, and I was pawing at the ground like a bull.

“You can’t defeat me, Mobius,” Hunter went on, grinning madly as he came closer. Dreamer stayed behind, watching with lifeless eyes, caused by Hunter. “You never have. I’ve always gotten away. And I’ve always made life worse for you every time, because you just don’t give up.” He got close to my face and said slowly. “You know…like with Chryst?”

My anger burst and I pounced, snarling. Usually my fights weren't so... erratic, but when I'm angry as I was then I don't fight at the top of my game.

(Listen to this the entire fight.

We wrestled for a moment on the ground, kicking and punching and biting. Finally Hunter took to the air and I followed, charging in a blind rage. Hunter dodged, and I slammed in to the wall, dazed for a moment. Hunter clapped his greatly smaller wings and lightning shot towards me, but then someone shouted:

"DESVIAR!" We both turned to see Mike entering the fight with us. The lightning arced away as it had before. So that's what he did. I thought.

Before Mike reached us though, Dreamer tackled him to the ground. Distracted, Mike turned ruefully to his best friend and prepared for a horrible fight.

The six mares watching us tried to help, in of course any way they could.
@@@@@@

We both fought fiercely, kicking and punching, but I was still raging. Hunter, calmer than me, lazily fought back, knowing that I would exhaust myself before I could do real damage. When he or I tried to use magic, the other would doge or deflect. I felt myself tiring when a Rainbow blur crashed into Hunter, pushing him forward. Rainbow tried to follow, but was smacked aside and she crashed into the wall. I felt a burning rage and said what first came to mind.

"Hey!" I charged again, using the short distraction to deliver a strong punch, claws included. Hunter flew backwards but quickly regained balance.

“Keep it up, Mobius, and you might make me sweat,” He knew I wouldn't listen, and I didn't care. I was pouring out all my hate, like an idiot, and that's what can get you killed. KILL! My mind screamed. KILL HUNTER!

As the fight dragged on I really could feel my energy draining. It was only when a certain pink pony shot forward and did her crazy antics, snapping me out of a trance with her small giggles.

Pinkie Pie raced everywhere. Along the walls, on the ceiling, it didn't matter. She was bouncing everywhere, trying to get a strike in every now and then.

“This…does not…make sense!” Hunter cried as the pink pony bounced confusingly around him yet again. I chuckled at how Pinkie seemed to be one of the few things making Hunter lose control.

“Having fun, Hunter?” I taunted, flying in and delivering a punch. “She’s not running out of energy anytime soon.”

“It’s like she ate an entire bag of sugar before her morning fifty gallons of coffee!” Hunter was so intent on the pink earth pony he barely noticed me.

“…For once, we agree on something.” I slammed my paws into Hunter's left wing, and he fell momentarily. "ow back to kicking your ass." I was back in the game.
@@@@@@

Mike was struggling under Dreamer. He couldn't shake him of no matter what. Dreamer was twisting his wings in such a way that they should have broken, were they not so sturdy. Finally Mike got around and bucked Dreamer in the face, and his wing was released.

Applejack came up at that moment, and she knocked Dreamer to the floor. She turned to Mike.

“Ready?” she asked Mike with a grin.

“Ready.” While Dreamer struggled to his hooves, Mike and Applejack walked up to him. They both turned, reared back, and combined their strength into a powerful buck that sent the pony all the way across the room where he crashed into the brick wall and left a sizable dent in it before tumbling to the floor.

“All yers, pardner.” Applejack tipped her hat and Mike grinned before charging back into the fight.
@@@@@@

Hunter growled low at me while he advanced. A powerful strike had damaged a wing, causing me to fall to the ground. Now he advanced, preparing for the kill. I didn't have enough magic left to summon my Zodiac Ring, and I didn't have the usual speed of my human form. Hunter then drew up as he prepared for the kill. But his magic didn't work.

“What?!” he snarled, struggling to cast a spell. Finally a small spark fizzled up and popped in his face. Surprisingly the 'almighty' Seer of the Darks... facehoofed.

I looked over to find Twilight, "Thanks, Twi!" I called as her horn stopped glowing. She nodded and I charged. Seer's Word appeared as my Knuckles, and I pounded them into Hunters face, claws sheathed of course. When they came up bloody I just hit again. And again. I gave into the hatred once more, and I kept beating him.

Finally Hunter regained his magic. Lightning sparked into me, and I was blown back a few feet. Hunter stood, panting and bleeding, struggling to stand. I turned my attention to Mike, ready to help, but he had it under control.

(stop listening)

He had collapsed onto Dreamer, dropped by Fluttershy, and was now saying something to him. I turned most of my attention to Hunter, who was spitting curses at me, and strained my ears. I saw a desperate Mike thinking, and then heard him shout.

"Quattuor abhinc annos sexaginta septem eduxit patres nostros de hac nova gens continens, in libertate conceptam, et dedicatam ad propositum quod omnes homines aequales sunt creati!” Mike shouted.

"Four-sixty-seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal! " Well, that's quite familiar.

Hunter staggered and I turned my attention away from him. Dreamer was having a mental battle, his real self coming forth under what I assumed must have been a catch phrase he used. Funny how it's always something like that that brings people back from... THE DARK SIDE!

Finally the brown-green earth pony looked up and exchanged a word with Mike. I turned back to Hunter as he groaned.

Hunter looked up and saw Mike helping reamer stand. "No…no! Dreamer…you dare to defy me? Then I’ll show you what happens when you defy me.” I stood there, dumbfounded for a moment, too late in realizing what was coming. I gave chase, hoping for a chance, but knowing that it was a lost cause.

When he reached them he sent a burst of energy all too familiar to me at Dreamer. The energy engulfed Dreamer and lifted him up into the air.

“No!” Mike yelled at the red-eyed pegasus. “What’re you doing?!”

“The same thing I always do when my partner becomes an obstacle.” I watched the proceeding in slow motion, feeling a slow dread wash over me. I was frozen in place as those words, so filled with scorn, came back to me.
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(Listen to this, until the end)

"You really think that will help you?" Hunter said dubiously, raising an eyebrow at the branch I wielded. Seer's Word had been sucked into the Abyss beneath us, and I was finding it hard just to fly.

My hands tightened on the stick as I countered, "It's all I need to beat someone as weak as you!"

In all honesty, what Hunter said earlier was true. I hadn't defeated him in a long time, but I had defeated him plenty of times. He had died less than I had, of course, because he always ran away.

Hunter laughed. "Oh, please! You really think that that will phase me? Here. See something much more interesting." He used his magic to pull a human form out of the Abyss. I slowly recognized it as the young boy I had once played tag with, before we had been enlisted.

"Will!" I cried hoarsely. Will struggled to raise his head, and the fear in his eyes was all too familiar.

Hunter grinned. "Oh, Mobius, you are so weak sometimes." He added slight pressure to Will's restraining bubble, and WIll reached up for his throat.

"No! Stop!" Again I found myself frozen with a paralyzing fear.

You see, this was only about a hundred years after the incident with Chryst, and I still hadn't developed an immunity to that magic. Had I done that, another death wouldn't have been my fault.

Hunter cackled, "Look at you! Reduced to begging. I'll enjoy this. Watch as I crush the life slowly away from poor Will." and he did just that.

Memories got mixed with the present as the following happened:

“Wait, no! Please!” Mike's voice was filled with desperation.

“Begging won’t do you any good.” Hunter looked away for a split second to fix Mike with a glare. He had just lost a slave to this mere... animal. “Just be quiet and let this be over with quickly, okay?”

“No! NO!”

CRACK

Dreamer's neck twisted, followed by that sickening crunch. Dreamer's eyes bulged, and then his body went limp.

My jaw dropped, and Mike could only stare.

Then time restarted as Hunter easily tossed the body aside as if it were trash. Darks had no Code of Death. But Lunas and Solls did. Dreamer's body needed to be sanctified so as not to be reanimated by the Dark energy he was killed with.

“Dreamer!” Mike charged up to his friend and stared down at him.
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Will fell, into the Abyss. I dove after him, praying fervently that he would somehow be alive. I reached him in the deepest layer, crumpled.

I placed his head in my lap and sobbed. Another friend... dead because of my incompetence.

Will's eyes slowly reopened and he looked up at me. Still crying, I looked down at him in slight shock.

"Don't... cry." Will said softly, almost inaudibly. He was a forty(looking) year old man, giving long life by the Gods and Goddesses for his services. Because of our appearance difference, and my still slightly childish acts, he had become a second father, in a sense. It was obvious that he felt he should comfort me.

I shook my head. "No... This happened... because of me."

This time he shook his head. "No... It was... that devil's fault..." Here he coughed violently, then slowly drew a ragged breath. "You were already damaged by Chryst's death... no need... to cry over another..."

I stared. Where was he heading with this conversation? "What are you saying?"

He looked at me, fire in his eyes. "I'm saying... don't let it get to you this time... Turn all your fear... into determination. Always fight for those you love, and all things right. Though at times it may seem confusing, just remember this: There is always a chance to rebuild. There is always a chance to forgive; for others to forgive you."

What was he talking about? Then I remembered. I was on exile. And why? You all know why. I nodded my understanding.

Will smiled weakly, "Good. Live on, for those of us who have fallen. I give you... my skill." Here he placed his broadsword in my hands, after summoning it. Suddenly it glowed, signifying that Seer's Word had excepted the new form. Then I felt a new power. I felt Will's skill with a blade mix with my Seer powers, and I knew at that moment that I had inherited the Master of Blades' skills.

Will tried to continue, to say something else. He took another ragged breath after a long coughing fit. "You know... what toi do?"

I nodded, "I feel it." What I was saying was this: I felt the souls I was fighting for. Every sanctified soul... Wait!

I looked down just in time to see Will's features deform, then come back together slowly as he became a minion for the Darks.

Knowing- and hating- what I had to do, I pulled out a cross modified so that the longer end was a blade and the crossbar was hilt. A knife of Sanctuary.

Sobbing with renewed sadness, I plunged the knife into my old friend's... and my adoptive second father's... chest.
(okay, stop the music)

Tears welled in Mike's eyes, but rage and determination soon replaced sadness. (Music)

I jolted myself into motion. If Mike were to fight someone like Hunter... no, Hunter would just go all out, being annoyed as he was. Then Mike would die.

I charged towards the two of them, Hunter preparing for a killing blow. Time slowed down yet again...

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