More amnesia and Darkness ( sarcastic monotone 'yay')... with a twist!
Things get awkward for Flash and Twilight after a sleepwalking incident, and Flash gets memories of being completely human at the same time as being a pony. investigation takes him to Canterlot high to return those memories, and repay that world's Flash for setting them up.
I was hoping that I would be the one visiting Base and family. But, nope, Base decided to come to Ponyville for a quick visit with the rest of us. Ironsparks decided to put his Apprenticeship on hold so that he could see what the Gaurdians were made of. I also caught him glimpsing at Applejack from time to time. Then I noticed him slamming into some obstacle he didn’t see. Applejack was a little more inconspicuous with the same thing, but I could still see a slight blush at the sight of Ironsparks. If I learned anything from playing matchmaker with Princess Cadence it was this; if you have the talent to play Matchmaker, leave the role to those who have the patience, and passion for it. To put it mildly, I was staying outta this.
Soarin looked at Rainbow Dash somberly as she ignored him sternly. I will admit I was curious, but I was not going to ask until I was sure I couldn’t take any more. Twilight was getting acquainted with Base. Did it annoy me that I couldn’t spend quality time with my marefriend alone? Yeah, but not as much as it made me happy that my life was coming completely together. The only thing missing was Sunny, but she had her own troubles to deal with as far as I knew. I suddenly had a head-rush out of nowhere, when it subsided I was human, in a place I never saw before wearing clothes that weren’t my combat attire, and holding a strange instrument. There were other guys there beside me, I didn’t recognize them from my normal life, but we must’ve been friends wherever we were. Then Twilight, Sunny, and the other girls came out of a double door marked “Gym.” Instead of feeling happy at seeing her, or wanting to talk to her, I scowled and looked away.
“We really need to stop bumping into each other like this,” she said, though it sounded hazy. I remember saying that to her about a month before actually meeting her I meant it as a joke on how we were literally bumping into each other every time we saw each other.
“You guys hear something?” I said. The haze was present but I also heard my real self saying it. Twilight tried to repeat the joke. “There it is again! So annoying!” next thing I knew I was on the floor of the train car looking up at Twilight and Base’s worried faces, there seemed to be a hint of pain mixed with rekindled sadness deep in Twilight’s eyes.
“Flash, are you okay?” Base asked. Normally I wouldn’t’ve paid any mind to it without answering the question. But for sanity’s sake I ignored the question.
“Tenebrae!” I called my Spirit of Chaos. A shadow passed to the right, I got up to look at the cat-dog creature of Black and Purple. “What did I just see!?” I asked through clenched teeth. “You told me you returned everything when I agreed to be your Guardian, so why did I just remember that!?”
“Let me see it,” He said. He put the hand on his tail over my face, and closed his eyes. “Oh my… this is… odd.”
“What is?” Twilight asked.
“His memories are jumbled with someone else’s, and that someone had contact… with you, Twilight Sparkle.”
“What did he remember!?” Twilight looked at me like she already had an answer.“The Flash Sentry you fell in love with… he remembers everything about him.” Just as he said it, I remembered a whole other existence, entirely human. Going to school, playing guitar, “bumping into” Twilight… everything up until I ran into a strange girl with a staff. She hit me in the head with the staff, and that’s the end of it.
“I… I need to make sure he’s okay!” I said. “Twilight! How do I find him!?”
“I have a portal in the castle… but it’s been on the frits, why?”
“It’s… in the most recent memory. I saw him get beat up by… a girl with a staff,” Tenebrae looked shocked at this.
“Did this girl resemble Twilight!?” He asked. I thought back on it… she did look a bit like twilight, her hair was the same color, though drastically shorter and without the pink streak, her eyes, though more serious, matched Twilight’s… everything else I couldn’t remember getting a good look at. “If she did in any way, it must’ve been my sister, Guardian Magic, Lorelei.” That was left to sink in for half the remainder of the trip. The other half was spent sleeping. I remember at one point that Base asked Ironsparks if he could sleep with him because of a nightmare. I couldn’t get what it was about, but it was all pretty nonsensical what I did get, which made me appreciate his youth a little more, all the nightmares I had nowadays were about Kayen. The fire, the fight… and that last moment of his life. And those are just the parts without the psychological stress increasing images. Shadowy skulls, fiery faces, and an eye shaped into a blood stain. Cheery, aint it?
I woke up the next day to see that we’d arrived in Ponyville… and there was somepony else in the cot with me, hitting my head on the ceiling and floor of the car when I realized it was my marefriend. Now, if I still had Amnesia, I probably would’ve been freaked out that Twilight was with me in my bed and trying to remember if I made it to third base on accident (Yes! I just put “Accident” after “Third Base”! Not Every guy is that shallow!)… but this time, I had all my memories, and thus knew that Twilight was a sleepwalker, but even then I was kinda concerned of what she did while sleepwalking last night. The last time she was caught sleepwalking; it rained for a week before Rainbow Dash could make physical contact with the clouds instead of passing right through them. Twilight woke up grogilly looked at me and greeted me nonchalantly.
“’Good Morning’!?” I yelledd, which woke up Base, Soarin and Ironsparks. “You wake up in my bed, in the colt’s sleeping car, and all you have to say is ‘Good Morning’!?” she started heavily blushing as realization dawned on her.
“What?” she said in a very small voice.
“Flash Sentry you lucky son of a-” Soarin said with a mischievous smile.
“That’s far ‘nough!” Ironsparks yelled. “You… didn’t… raht?” Twilight was silent. I was in denial. I would never do that to Twilight until it felt right! We (Including Soarin and Ironsparks) didn't say anything about it to the girls, or to Base when we got off the train, and we certainly wouldn’t unless we had to.
Getting off the train reminded me of a question I had to ask nopony in particular.
“Why does the train have an engine if it’s pulled by Earthlings?”
“Because Lauren Faust wrote it that way,” Pinkie answered leaving me too confused to respond.
We went on our way to Twilight’s castle, Applejack and Ironsparks trying not to embarrass each other during a conversation, Soarin trying to tell Rainbow Dash something to no avail, Fluttershy talking to the animals that popped up on the way to castle, Rarity admiring some gems she found in Appaloosa, and Pinkie… Being Pinkie, I don’t know how she managed to do any of what she did at that time. I took one step past the flower shop that just so happened to be my burned down home from when I was ten (Which reminded me that I had to talk to my sister Starlight about that incident) then the world around me got… darker, and everypony around me became a hazy image, though I could still make out who was who. I got a look around and noticed that things just started flying everywhere and remained in the air, just sitting there like it was suspended by some unseen force.
“What the Hay is this!?” I yelled. Everypony looked at me and seemed to see something wrong.
“Flash?” Base asked. “Why do you look… fuzzy?”
“I don’t know about me, but everypony around me looks like a hazy image, and things are suspended in the middle of the air,” I did the one thing I probably should stop doing as often as I do. “Tenebrae, you know what this is?” Tenebrae fazed into reality (?) next to me, took a look around and gave me one of a thousand plus answers I probably should’ve expected.
“Welcome to the Breaklands,” he turned to the others and told them that we’d meet them at the castle.
“What are the Breaklands?” I asked.
“To a visitor, the Breaklands are a compiltion of everybody else’s perception of reality. That fact that you found yourself here without the use of a portal means you must’ve been dragged here by a Breaklander other than me.”
“How do I get out of the Breaklands?” that was my main concern right now, there was a lot I had to do, and I couldn’t do that in a world made up of everyone’s perception of reality but my own.
“There are two possibilities, one; find an operable portal, but one hasn’t been set in this town.”
“And two?” he looked at a shadow passing in front of an ally way.
“Beat the Breaklander who dragged you here. I think I know where they are.” I followed him to Sweet Apple Acres. What I saw defied everything I accepted as real. My mother, a blue unicorn with white mane called Angel Watcher was hovering just above the trunk of an uprooted dead tree hanging suspended by this strange otherworldly logic.
“The Nether Mare,” Tenebrae said. “You’re not in danger… for now.”
“Hello, Flash,” the Nether Mare said. “Angel Watcher has a message for you, and a gift. She says; I’m sorry Flash, I have failed you as a mother, and I never got a chance to be a mother to Base. A few months after you were born, I was diagnosed with leukemia. I was already weak after Starlight, so I couldn’t be with you while you grew up, couldn’t comfort you while you were hurting, couldn’t praise you when you did well.” As she spoke, my mother’s face faded off her head, making her look like a ponyquinn. “When Base was born I couldn’t so much as get out of bed, and had to be spoon fed by doctors because I was too weak to use magic. The only reason I didn’t die of leukemia was because of the fire and Kayen. I just wanted to say this, at least once, before I crossed over, and you became your own colt. I love you, Flash Sentry. Tell First Base I love him too.” The Nether Mare lost her face completely and then disappeared into little flecks of light.
“I feel like I intruded into something personal,” I was very loosely aware of Tenebrae saying sympathetically. “I’m… sorry.”
“It’s alright…” I choked out. Bad time to cry. I heard a cracking sound as… something crawled out of the ground in front of me. The first feature about them that hit me was the smell. Now I can compare that scent to a combination of oil and burning gasoline, but at the time it was completely foreign to me. I then saw the bodies, they were thin all over, gelatinous at the joints, and spikey everywhere else. The three monsters had a human structure to them, with a huge left hand that had long claws that doubled as spiked knuckles.
“Ryfians,” Tenebrae said. “Not the most threatening Breaklanders, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly either. Time to Engage.” I nodded, though I was still a bit Hesitant about fighting after hearing a message from my six years dead mother.
“Tenebrae! Engage!” one shadowy transformation later, I was back in my Guardian form, blue shoulderless shirt, baggy pants, sword on my waist… yeah, I’m one of those guys, sue me, I plead guilty. I drew my sword, Sinhunter as Tenebrae called it, and waited for one of the Ryfians to charge at me. Two came at once; I grabbed one by the throat and stabbed one through the chest before swinging it like a bat into the third into one of the floating trees. Then I threw the one in my hand on the ground and drove Sinhunter through… where its face should be. They all disintegrated right then, and only then did I notice a small scratch on my forearm. I didn't think anything of it as I sheathed Sinhunter.
I was very worried about Flash and Twilight. I was proven wrong to doubt that the human everypony was terrified of at the Crystal Empire was Flash Sentry, the one Pony I trusted with my sister more than I trusted myself. I heard that Flash had been found and decided to pay him and Twilight a visit, and finally tell them that I’m an expecting father. I received another piece of news that any other brother would go insane upon hearing when Twily and her friends… and a couple ponies I didn’t recognize came back to the Castle.
The most obvious thing I noticed was that the colt next to Twilight wasn’t Flash Sentry, this one was significantly younger… and an Earthling, though I wouldn’t’ve been surprised if they were related. He was talking to my sister like a new friend… I guess she got that good at making friends.
The most concerning thing I noticed was that Flash was not in the group, there was one new pony who looked like that Apple Farmer in addition to this Mini-Flash, but Flash himself was not there, and I wouldn’t’ve asked where he was…
If it weren’t for the third thing. Unicorns have the ability to sense the magical presence of other ponies subconsciously. I found out that Cadence was pregnant because I felt a little of something different whenever I was near her with this sixth sense. Besides that she was complaining of Projectile vomiting and swollen ankles before I finally convinced myself to take her to the doctor. Twily had her usual presence to her, but there was something else about it, almost like… and here comes the tidal wave with which I would’ve beaten the snot out of Flash. Like something else was growing in it.
They reached the castle and greeted us, sharing some small talk and I was just stunned. I knew Flash as well as anypony, and he wouldn’t do… this.
“Honey?” Cadence said. “Isn’t there something you need to tell your sister?” I was snapped back to reality.
“Later,” I said. “Where’s Flash?”
“Somewhere called the Breaklands,” Rainbow Dash said like it was the most ridiculous thing she ever said. That was the last thing I ever expected. I’ve been to the Breaklands before, if I hadn’t I never would’ve asked Cadence out the first time… but was I greatful for that experience? NO! Nopony deserves to have every single fear stacked on them at once, especially if they have as many as Flash does!
“Shining!? Where are you going!?” I found a point on the west side of Twily’s castle where I could lay down a Portal to the Breaklands. I laid down the portal before saying anything.
“There’s a certain point in time where the Breaklands throw your fears on you, survive this and you can go back and forth any time without that problem. Flash has so many fears, I seriously doubt he’ll last twenty seconds at that point. I’m pulling him out!” before they could protest, I jumped in and true to my last experience my appearance changed… but this time, instead of an spirit, I was a human much like Flash could be.
“This’ll work,” I said out loud. I’ve been in a human body before, so I was used to how it works and moves… though I don’t remember having power over heat. I looked around for any sign of Flash… and got what I wanted when I heard him yelling in pain.
Flash POV
My mind wandered to the few memories I had of my mother. They weren’t good or bad most of the time, but whenever I saw her, I was scared of or sorry for her. I could never rationalize these emotions being associated with these memories until that encounter with the Nether Mare. All I was doing was fighting Breaklanders… on the surface, but in my head and my heart, I was beating myself up for not noticing that my mother was in medical and emotional turmoil. The real kicker was when we reached the Breaklander’s hiding place. We had somehow been dragged all over Ponyville, on a path that just wasn’t there in the real world. How could a piece of land that twisted like licorice and only had a path on one side actually have its own gravity that operates differently from the rest of the planet in reality? Well it worked in the Breaklands, and it took us to the lake where we found… Shining Armor.
“Shining! What are you doing here?” I asked.
“That’s ‘Commander Armor’ to you,” Shining said scornfully. “How did you ever get my trust?”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“You were worthless from the day you joined the guard, Twilight didn’t see somepony to love in you, she saw somepony who needed the pity.”
“No… That’s not true!”
“If I’m lying I’m crying,” the smugness on his face filled me with hopelessness, greif, fear… and hate. I wanted to pull Sinhunter out of my scabbard and run him through so many times he’d feel it in his past lives. I would’ve too… if another Shining Armor didn’t punch a force field I had no idea popped up around me.
“Flash! Don’t listen to him!” he said. “Don’t give in to the Fear!” the field closed up again, silencing him to my ears.
“Heh…” the Shining in the field scoffed. “That liar sees you as a means to an end. At least I would tell you what I think of you.” Don’t give in to the Fear… I was afraid of being nothing, of being nopony to everypony. I wanted somepony to acknowledge that I meant something… having my best friend say that I was worthless… I got it!
“If you think I’m worthless… what does that make you?” I asked. “You would lay down the lives of others to protect your own. They were worth more than you if you felt no remorse at their loss!” Shining’s eyes went dark
“You are but dirt beneath me!”
“You are not real!” I yelled. His eyes went wide and he got struck mercilessly by lightning, blinding me for three seconds. When that was over I just let myself collapse. When I came back around Shining was holding me up. “Was that true?” I asked him.
“About you being worthless… I guess if you’re thinking big enough to make Princess Celestia a tool at the most influential, then yes. But you and everyone else in the guard is more important to me than I am.”
“Why did you come here?” I asked.
“Remember that news I told you about when Twily went missing? Recent events say… you deserve to know.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“In seven months, I’ll be a father.” Laughter and congratulations were all I gave. “You’re not gonna feel as good with this… other news I’ve got.”
“What do you mean?” he put on a face like he did something his farther didn’t approve of… that I was here to yell at him for.
First thing I remembered was a cold concrete sidewalk under the left side of my face. There wasn’t anyone around, but I was near a building. It looked like it was still being used despite it being very late at night. I decided to go inside, see if the ones working there could help me. I staggered through the hallways until I found the room where kids were apparently in after school and the teacher… look almost as old as anyone else there.
“Did you forget something Mr. Sentry?” the Teacher asked. In response everyone looked up at me… so my name was “Sentry”? Right there, the bump on the side of my head throbbed, and a major migraine washed over me like a tidal wave. “Do you need Medical Attention?” the teacher asked. This time I didn’t bother staying quiet.
“Who… are you… again?”
“Flash?” one of the students spoke up. “Are you just pulling our leg here?”
“My name… is Flash Sentry?”
“Call the hospital!” the Teacher said. “He needs help!”
EQ Flash POV
Denial. That was my first reaction, to brush it off like he meant somepony on Cadence’s side of the family. So what’s the first thing I do? I ask about it.
“Does Cadence have a pregnant sister I don’t know about?” I asked.
“No, I do,” wide eyed shock for ten seconds. Next thing I did was go into the fetal position… which did nothing to help my emotional state. “I’m not gonna kill you,” he assured. “I just wanna know how it happened.” I answered it in as few words as possible, considering that made it sound like I was joking, bad idea.
“Another of Twilight’s sleepwalking escapades gone wrong,” I said.
“Is that your best excuse?” Shining scoffed.
“No… just my shortest explanation.” I told him the whole story that he needed to hear, only keeping the details about my shock at finding his baby sister in my bed when I woke up. What details I spared about that night, I didn’t have.
“How deep were you sleeping!?” Shining said. “On second thought, I don’t want to know, let’s just get outta here.”
It took me that long to realize that we were still in the Breaklands. He brought me to Twilight’s castle, where there were a lot of white markings on the ground forming some sort of magic circle.
“C’mon,” he said. “We need to talk to Twilight.” We jumped through and my friends were all waiting for me on the other side along with Cadence.
“Congratulations,” I told her. “Twilight, we need to go to the doctor before we start modifying that portal.”
“Uh… why?” Twilight asked.
“No unmarried colt wants to hear the news I just told him,” Shining explained leaving her to make it worse in her head. “In fact, tell me where the blueprints to the Portal are, and I’ll see if I can do anything with them.” Twilight told him about the Book my… Cousin, Sunny (Whose mention still makes me uncomfortable especially with the Other Flash’s memories) used to contact her, and that the blueprints were hidden under one of the covers. Twilight led me to the Doctor, asking why we were going there in the first place.
“I couldn’t’ve said it better than Shining did. He found out something that no Coltfriend wants to hear before Engagement at least.”
“What did he tell you!?” she asked like a skeptic.
“You’re… expecting… mifull…,” I was really quiet and somewhat fast on the last part.
“Pardon me, I’m expecting what now?” the next time I said it wasn’t much of an improvement on my pronunciation. So she quoted one of the novels she really liked reading. “ENGLISH BOY, DO YOU SPEAK IT!?” by this point we reached the doctor, and I was so annoyed that I wouldn’t spit it out for her… that I just spit it out the third time.
“YOU’RE EXPECTING MY FOAL!”… The only pony not shocked that I just shouted that out to the world for all to hear was Twilight, because, let’s face it ladies, your somepony special blurts out to the world that you’re pregnant when you didn’t know that? Your shocks gonna be 50/50, half on the blurting part, and half on the news. Me… I was just becoming aware of the crowd of ponies that just stopped in their tracks at what I yelled. “And that is why you wait for me to do what I’m doing when it’s difficult to say what I’m saying. Let’s get this over with.” We entered the doctor’s office and saw the crowd slowly disperse.
CH Flash POV
The doctors did everything they could to find a problem. CAT scans, “Were they real” tests, everything… but aside from common knowledge and stuff you’d learn by senior year of High School… I didn’t remember anything. And they didn’t find anything that could be the problem either. They even said that the part of my brain that was just under the bump on my head was completely fine. They kept me in the hospital for another week before they let me out, saying that it was beyond them, though they did tell me to try to re-familiarize myself with everything I knew.
First thing I did was pick up a guitar I found in my room back home. The girl there, calling herself my sister Starlight said that dinner for me and my Brother First Base would be in an hour. Outta nowhere, I just decided to play and sing a little song. “Don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me, I said you’re holding back, she said shut up and dance with me.” I don’t know what I saw; it looked like… that teacher’s face… sicko, why would you crush on a teacher at your age? Then again… was she really a teacher? She didn’t look old enough to teach, she was at the oldest my age… so… I decided to let it go, and didn’t think of it again through supper, the night, or the next day.
It took Shining four days to get the portal working, and another two to convince me to take him with me. After that we had to wait an extra day for a Zebra friend of his who apparently studied witchcraft, which Twilight was skeptical about… until Zore (Pronounced Zo-ruh) used a temporary perception spell to show her the Breaklands. Apparently that’s how witchcraft operates ninety percent of the time, who knew? Twilight wiped the runes away from her eye and made me promise something.
“If you ever have to go to the Breaklands again… don’t overdo it,” She said. “We can’t lose you.”
“I know,” I said. “I promise.” I hated it. The fact that in another world I could be severely hurt, and that was dragging me away from Twilight and my unborn child. Yes, by the way, it was confirmed that Twilight is… y’know, expecting my foul. I searched the small gathering of friends and found my big sister Starlight and Base. I made sure that Twilight would at least tell Starlight about Kayen and how he was responsible for the crimes Starlight thought she did. As for base, I had one more thing to ask from him.
“Kiddo?” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Can you take care of Twilight, and Starlight, and this place while I’m gone?” I said. “I’m sure they don’t need it, but I’d feel better if somepony available could watch them.”
“You sayin’ my mouth would make some promises my legs couldn’t keep?”… Well that came outta nowhere. And so did Pinkie blowing a kiss towards... something in a very cartoony fashion.
“Goodnight Everybody!” she said loudly… it was then that I realized why she did… that, and what she was doing for most of… whatever “this” was.
“Nah, I just… I just wanna be sure you’re fine.” Soarin stepped forward and put a hoof on Base’s head.
“Ironsparks and I… will be checking in every now and then, to make sure nothing blew up.”
“Thanks,” I told him. “By the way, Shining and I recently received a complaint from the Wonderbolts about you retiring, is it true?” he looked away awkwardly, but the remark seemed to get Rainbow Dash’s attention.
“I was at the height of my career, so I could only go down from there,” He said. “More importantly, two certain someponies need me even more than they do.” Again if you’ve got talent, you need patience and passion. I was one of the “Someponies,” but if you can’t figure out who the other one was, have someone lock you in your room for the rest of the day. That was enough distractions; Shining, Zore and I braced ourselves for a wild ride, and stepped through the mirror.
CH Flash POV
School. I wasn’t entirely thrilled about it, but at least I could get… something out of that Monday. It would’ve been better to work and listen to lectures than listen to doctors discuss and bicker over stuff you know is happening in your body, while making it sound overly complicated and having nowhere to go. Starlight made breakfast for the three of us, Base was getting ready for Third Grade, and I was eating my toaster waffles while wondering what happened to our parents.
I ate quickly, still having an hour before I had to leave when I heard the Doorbell ring. I heard Base answer it and yell back into the house “Flash, it’s your girlfriend!” I was intrigued to say the least. So I went to the door to see who this “Girlfriend” of mine would be, hopefully cute. When I got to the door… it was the teacher!
“Hello Flash,” she said. Violet skin, purple hair with a pink streak, purple eyes behind wide-rimmed glasses. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, we went on a couple dates before… you know.”
“Aren’t you a teacher?” I asked. Did I feel stupid? Wouldn’t you? But she just laughed a little bit, like I said something I didn’t know was ridiculous.
“No, I was tutoring then, I’m a student. You and I normally walk to school together since our houses are on the same route to school. I thought I should come get you and help you to school… in case you forgot where it was.” If I ever heard a herd of bull… no homophone intended, this would be it. She just wanted to spend time with me, though I had to wonder why. That was probably the amnesia talking because I still didn’t remember a lot about myself. I just took the offer. Bad idea, as I noticed things on the way to school that kinda gave me the creeps.
First thing I noticed, there was a guy in a grey coat with the hood up popping up along the road to School. Second, I heard a few voices saying the same thing in unison, “Sentry, Sentry, Sentry,” over and over. Finally, and Twilight noticed this too, but everything looked red and started randomly flying and remaining suspended in the air.
“Is this normal?” I asked.
“No…” Twilight said. “This never happened before!”
“SENTRY!!” a voice yelled from the school building. We turned around slowly and saw a decrepit winged hunchback with claws the length of his legs. He jumped down from the roof and landed in front of us, showing his deformed, incomplete face.
“Twilight, run,” I said.
“What!?” she said. “Why!?”
“He’s after me, just get out of here!”
“I’m not leaving you!” the thing raised its claws and got ready to bring it down on my neck, when someone had the nerve to Whistle, causing it to stop and look towards the Wondercolt statue, upon the mane of which stood the guy in the grey coat holding a sword on his shoulder and wearing the hood down. That face… how was it possible!?
“Target identified. Bloodripper. Mid-class Breaklander, Rank A. I can’t let you hurt him!”
“Two!?” the thing, probably Bloodripper said. “Two targets!?” the guy on the statue jumped into a shadow and popped up between us.
“You don’t leave now, you’re not gonna get the chance to regret your decision,” He said. In response, Bloodripper roared and tried to tear the stranger in two, but he got stabbed straight through the torso. “Dead.” Bloodripper disintegrated like sulfer.
“Who are you?” I asked. He turned around, put the sword away, and said something so unbelievable that I’m surprised I believed it.
“I’m you from another world… for sanity’s sake call me Master Chief.”
Me!? From another world!? How did that work!? And why was I taking it like I already accepted that it was true!? And other than that… Master Chief? Was he in the freaking military? He wasn’t any older than I was! I heard another voice, if I had memory it would’ve been tickled I’m sure.
“Chief!” it said. It sounded like it was coming through a tunnel, the guy saying it looked like a blue image on a static-y TV. “Finally found you!”
“Shining Armor?” Twilight said as she saw the image. He looked at her, sighed and looked in a downwards arc to Master Chief.
“You got this world’s Twily dragged there too?” he said… though He said it more like a statement than a question. Before Master Chief could get a chance to answer him, Twilight went further.
“Shining, what are you doing here!? You’re supposed to be stationed overseas for another month!”
“Your brother probably still is,” He said. “I’m with him,” he jabbed a thumb at Master Chief.
“Can anyone explain what the hell is going on here!?” I yelled.
“Gladly,” Master Chief said. “But first we need to get out of the Breaklands. Shining, where’s Zore?”
“Rooftop,” He pointed to the school. “He should have a portal ready for you when you get there.” We ran for the staircase that led to the roof, outright avoiding any of the monsters that got in our way. When we got through the portal Twilight collapsed. She wasn’t meant for this kind of activity by the look of things. I was panting, with my hands on my knees and the taste of blood in my lungs and throat, but I’d be fine in time. Master Chief got some water bottles out of a bag, tossed one to me and handed the other to Twilight.
“Now I can put this back where I found it,” he said as he took his jacket off and tied it around his waist. “Before I tell you how I’m here along with Shining and Zore, I need to ask you something Flash.” He looked at me seriously, like the last time he saw me was a life or death situation and he wasn’t sure I got out. “Are you okay?”
“You mean from that whole ordeal?” I said. “I’ll be fine, I’m just shaken a little.”
“Glad we got to him before the Fear did,” Shining said. “But I don’t think he’s gonna want to go back until he deals with it.”
“True, but that’s not what I meant.” Master Chief said. “I meant… a week ago you were attacked by someone holding a staff, all I could make out was she was a girl who had some features similar to Twilight,” How did he know that? “Are you hurt in any way from that attack?”
Master Cheif Flash Sentry POV
I probably should’ve seen his answer coming. I mean it happened to me, so why not him?
“No Chief, I’m not alright,” Flash said. “Sixteen years of life experience, and I don’t remember how I got any of it. I don’t even remember being attacked, just waking up on the sidewalk with a bump on the side of my head.”
“Good thing we came then, huh Chief?” Shining said.
“Wait,” Twilight said. “He doesn’t remember being attacked a week ago, and even if he was, there was no evidence left at the scene or on him that proves he was! So how did you know!?” I decided not to keep anything from them.
“I’m gonna tell you right now that what you’re about to hear may not make sense,” that didn’t seem to dissuade her or Flash in the slightest. “I remember. Everything about my very depressing life in Equestria; that was all I needed.”
“Equestria!?” Twilight said. “You can’t possibly mean that those stories everyone told me about a pony version of me coming here and becoming human are true!”
“Believe it, they’re true,” I said. “But then one day, I was heading back home from a visit with my brother and all of a sudden I remembered everything that happened to him-” pointing to Flash “-here. Growing up learning Guitar, basically becoming who he is today. I owe him for my relationship with my world’s Twilight Sparkle. I’m gonna pay him back.” Suddenly a black hand appeared on Flash’s head.
“Gah, What the Hell!?” Flash yelled.
“Sorry,” Tenebrae said. “I just needed to make sure of something.”
“What… is this thing?” Twilight asked.
“I am Tenebrae, Spirit of the Darkness Element of Chaos.”
“Yeah, I forgot to mention him,” I said. “He gave me amnesia once by taking my memories with the justification of ‘they would be tampered with otherwise.’” That last part was in a very… poor impression of him.
“Ha ha, you’re hilarious,” Tenebrae commented. “By the way, his memories aren’t in there.”
“What?” Flash asked. “What do you mean they aren’t in there?”
“In the case of normal amnesia, where you forget with impact to the head or some disease, you can still find the memories in the mind using any variety of magic, like mine,” Tenebrea explained. “But this form of Amnesia is… similar to the one I gave Chief, only instead of holding onto the memories, the taker hid them somewhere, I’ve already found a trace as to where… and I’ll give you three guesses.”
Me… Tenebrae meant that the memories were with me! I would’ve asked why, but then a bell went off, not like one for my old school, this one was monotonous and sounded electrical.
“Crap!” Twilight said. “Warning bell! We have to get to class in the next five minutes!” we headed for the stairs but Twilight stopped Shining on the stairs “Not… you Shining, You and Zore are twenty-one, you two got out of school a while ago.”
“Okay, but what about Chief?” oh yeah. Wouldn’t they notice one more student than normal? And more importantly, wouldn’t they notice two students who look exactly alike with the exception of clothes? “Somepon-er-body has to explain why he is here, or at least give a reason as to why he’s here.”
“Even Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna know about Equestria, explaining to them will be easy,” Twilight Explained. “I have some friends who might be willing to help with… everything else.”
“Okay…” I said. “You talk to them; I’ll go see the Principal.”
“I’m coming with you,” Flash said. “I need a new copy of my schedule.” We went to the office, following the map on the wall was easy, and Principal Celestia was sitting at her desk looking at paper. She looked… pink compared to Princess Celestia, but the eyes and hair were right. She looked up for what was supposed to be a few seconds it seemed like… but that turned into a full three minutes and she didn’t say anything.
“Mr. Sentry and… Mr. Sentry… what can I help you… two… with?”
“I’m here for a map and a new copy of my schedule,” Flash said. “Chief’s here to register as a Transfer Student.”
“Chief?” Principal Celestia asked.
“I’m temporarily going by Master Chief to avoid confusion,” I explained, then I lowered my voice. “I’m from Equestria.”
“Ahhh,” she said. “Didn’t expect you to dress in Punk fashion, but okay. Flash, go see Vice Principal Luna and tell her what you need, and that I’m working with a student from ‘out of town,’ if she asks why.” He nodded and went to the next room. It took at least twenty minutes but we got the information into the system that I was from Crystal City for two months. She even entered the Name “Master Chief” into the system to avoid confusing it with there already being a Flash Sentry in the system.
“There you go,” Principal Celestia said. She gave me a paper with teachers, subjects and room numbers from left to right. “I’ll get you a tour guide,” she pressed a button on… the box on her desk and held something to her ear. “Ms. Cheerily? Yeah, could you send Pinkie Pie to the main office? We’ve got an Independent transfer student… thank you.” She put the thing back where she picked it up from.
“Heh,” I said. “This’ll be fun, considering it’s Pinkie Pie.”
“Is that Gossip?” she asked with a menacing glare. When I shook my head she gave me a piece of advice I probably should’ve thought of before signing in. “If a Teacher or Staff Member is socializing with you, then it’s okay to socialize, otherwise don’t try, it’ll save you a lot of heat. Ah, here’s your escort.”
I looked back to… a silent Pinkie Pie. Her hair was shaped more like cotton candy than my Pinkie’s. Her clothes consisted of a blue short-sleeve vest, a white, heart-logo shirt, a ribbon belt over a pink skirt with a picture of what I recognized as her Cutie-mark. Her face… well, it was as close to Pinkie as a human can get, but slack jawed with her mouth open almost to the point of dislocation, and eyes as wide as saucers. The opportunity was too hard not to take…
“I don’t remember the Weather Forecast saying anything about airborne boars,” bad joke, but Pinkie did manage to smile a little. “I’m from… ‘Out of town?’” I looked at Principal Celestia for confirmation that that was the code for Equestria, which she gave.
“Oh! I see! I thought you were some sort of alien wearing a copy of Flash Sentry’s skin to fool us into thinking you were human and find out ways to take over the world!” she said with her hand behind her head. I looked at her very… unamused.
“Tsk… Definitely Pinkie Pie,” I said. I got out of the chair and told her to lead the way to my classes. “I’m, uh, going by Master Chief, just FYI.”
“Why?” Pinkie asked.
“The explanation would take too long. But before we get the tour underway, can I see a bathroom? I don’t mean to sound like Rarity, but I haven’t gotten a good look at myself since coming to the city.”
“Nearest bathrooms are right there, boys’ will always be on the right.” I went in, and looked in the mirror; they were pretty big in public places. I first checked my left eye to see if the make-up covering the tattoo Zore put around it was still hidden. It was, but the make-up was running, if I ran into Rarity, I’d have to talk to her about it later. Then I looked at my clothes. My shirt, which normally didn’t have shoulders, was now black and short-sleeved and designed like there were rips in it leading to more black background, rather than my torso. My pants were blue and… rough in texture, with holes in the knees and they covered the top of my feet halfway between the toes and the leg. My shoes were red on top with some sort of fabric, and white with strings or rubber. The coat I wore around my waist, which had my Cutie-mark on the back, was grey except for the previously mentioned Cutie-mark. I can see why Principal Celestia called my fashion sense “Punk.” I left the bathroom and took the tour with Pinkie… who for once in my life, I saw take something seriously.
After school I started hearing things About Chief. None of them were bad, though there was some speculation that he was either a cheater, or a genius (or had a supercomputer implanted into his brain, which I highly doubted, considering the nature of Equestria). All the friends I had who were in any classes with him said that he slept through ninety-eight percent of the class, and the other two percent was to answer a question… done faster than Rainbow Dash runs a mile according to Twilight. The only class he actually pays attention in would be our World History class.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“In Equestria, you learn all this stuff by ten,” He explained. “The only difference in the curriculum here I can find is in the History. Sure the names and events might be similar, but I’d still like to learn the differences in our two histories.” I could relate… except for the part about learning everything by age ten, humans don’t do that. History and Music were my strongest subjects by far, but I was always interested by what happened Years ago. Maybe turning it into music for younger generations, who knows? Okay that dream may be more than a little silly, but so is a world of wild roses and that’s a dream for the bravest and the most determined. I called Starlight to say that I was going to be at Twilight’s for a couple hours. I could tell she was not too happy with the idea, but she told me it was fine… she was not going to believe that I was bringing “me” with me, either that or take it the wrong way. I saw Twilight and her friends get up to get off at their stop (Wow, they even lived close to each other). So, Chief and I followed. They each had a class with him (Besides history… that was with me) and got a chance to meet him (and Tenebrae but that’s another story). We made it to Twilight’s place, and her sister-in-law, Cadance came out and hugged her, greeted me and stopped short at Chief.
“I’m from ‘outta town.’” he said. And it seemed that Cadance understood that this happened before. “Call me Master Chief.” They shook hands.
“Well, Twilight tells me you have two other friends coming,” she said. “Who could they be?”
“Um…” We were all a little hesitant. But we decided… to let Twilight tell her. And Cadance’s jaw wouldn’t come up for another ten minutes.
“Why Shining!?” She said.
“Because he knows a thing or two that will help Flash here get his memory back,” Chief said. “Or, more accurately, help me get his memory back in his head. Don’t ask, long story!” then Tenebrae appeared behind Chief and by the look of it, gave Cadance a heart attack… Twilight calmed her down, and Tenebrae said something… odd to her.
“Hello Cadence, your family’s future is looking bright as always.”
“You have a kid?” I asked.
“She’s pregnant,” Twilight corrected.
“Two months?” Chief guessed.
“How did you-?”
“You’re also two month’s pregnant in my world,” He said. That was left to sink in for a minute
“Anyway,” Tenebrae said. “I came here to deliver the locations of Flash’s Memory Keys, which we’ll need in order to restore his memory.”
“Why can’t we just find the person who did this and make her fix it?” I asked.
“Finding her would take quite a while and many tools, both of which we do not have,” that did answer that. “Here’s the list.” He handed Chief a piece of paper, which he handed to Cadence to see if she recognized anything on the list.
“Well this first one’s a problem,” she said.
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked.
“It’s the Cider Barryl,” She said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A night club, you guys aren’t getting in for five years.”
“The Portal set is in the club, so Master Chief is the one with that problem,” Tenebrae said. “The Key is just in the general vicinity. So Flash will just want to meet Shining and Zore there.”
“Another problem, it’s an exclusive club for high society and military.” Chief looked, um… how do I put it?... Ponderous? Yeah, ponderous at the thought of how he was going to get in.
“Can I at least look five years older?” He asked no one in particular.
“I can make you look twenty-one,” Tenebrae said. “But that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be military or high society.”
“I can get in without that,” he assured, though he didn’t seem to sure himself. “I just need to look older until I get into the Breaklands.” Cadance looked very confused, but Twilight assured that she could go her whole life without understanding, but if she still wanted to know she’d explain as best she could. A couple hours later, Chief was walking up to the doors of the Cider Barryl. We already told him a few rules to avoid trouble with these places.
1: Don’t drink anything. Every beverage in the club has an ingredient called alcohol and that would lead to impaired judgement, blurred vision, and a few other symptoms that I couldn’t remember off the top of my head. Besides, there are some people whose livers don’t clear out alcohol and he could die from alcohol poisoning, that’d be bad on more levels than convenience.
2: Don’t look at the dancers. He already had a girlfriend and the last thing we wanted was him getting in trouble with her for anything, especially what goes on in there.
3: Get in, reach the Breaklands, and get out of the building. The tattoo that Chief showed us would help convince people he’s twenty-one at least, but he didn’t want to blow it.
With all that Cadence reluctantly drove us to the Cider Barryl dropped us off, and waited in the nearby parking lot. We met up with Shining and Zore, whose mouth for some reason I can’t remember seeing move (among other things) and they handed Chief a small bottle.
“Only open it when you find the Portal set,” Shining said. “I have to warn you though, if you’re not dragged into the Breaklands, your entrance is gonna be a little… strange.”
Chief nodded and approached the Club with a cocky sway to his walk. Everyone else went up the fire escape to the roof of the nearest apartment building. I prayed this would go well.
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all. My face looking older and my hair looking longer getting Twilight’s attention for a little longer than Flash was willing to talk about was the best part about our plan to get in. her only defense for looking at me longer than necessary was “At least I know what I have to look forward to.” Yeah, I hope my Twilight loves me at least partly like that. Going on with the whole “Punk” theme, Tenebrae also changed the appearance of my clothes. Instead of a graphic T-shirt, I was now wearing a tank top, one that I saw other boys change out with in the locker room. I kept the jeans, but instead of the red topped sneakers, I had combat boots that practically blended into the road. Instead of a grey hoodie tied around my waist, I was wearing a full on trench coat (or was it a duster?) on my torso. I didn’t even like my pretentious walk that I put on until one of the guards stopped me.
“Whoa buddy,” he said with one hand on my chest pushing me back. “You’re not getting in. You’re not on the list.” I knew this would happen. So I… there’s no nice way to say this, I sucker punched him, grabbed the clipboard and caught the pen that was launched out of his hand as it fell. On the paper on the clipboard I wrote… um… “Buck you, you son of a Mule,” and threw the clipboard and pen down on his unconscious body.
“Am now, Sucka’,” I said… I promised myself that I would perform self-lobotomy if I ever used another one-liner as bad if not worse. During the whole ordeal I could feel Flash just flinching every two seconds. Easy for him to do, he wasn’t doing any of this. I walked in, Glared at the security with a look that said “Don’t mess with me,” and recounted the Rules Flash and Twilight told me to follow. Don’t drink anything, don’t look at anyone and don’t dawdle. I went into the main area and saw bright colorful lights that bounced off the mirror ceiling and mirror pillars, and that’s all I could register without hurting my eyes.
Tenebrae was leading from the Breaklands, which my tattoos helped me to see into (among other things) I followed him to the area close to the stage… seeing more of the women than I’m sure I was supposed to. I found the Portal set, pulled out the vial Shining gave me and uncorked it. And I saw what Shining meant by “strange” when the setting around me changed to the Breaklands theme, I felt some sort of shift in gravity. In other words, I fell head first towards the ceiling, which cracked and showed everything as it was on the ground when I went into the Breaklands. Landing on my feet I followed rule three, got out as soon as possible.
I was somewhat happy to see people helping the bouncer to his feet; that meant I didn’t hit him too hard. I only got enough of a look at myself to see that Tenebrae’s “Glamour” trick was expired in the Breaklands when I was halfway around the corner. I felt a lot better looking like this; it meant I didn’t have to act like… Rainbow Dash without the loyalty… or the honor… I swear she’d skin me alive if she found out I made that comparison, don’t ask which, they’d both do that and worse. I reached the roof of the building that Shining told me to meet him on. And Zore was using a spray-can to put the finishing touches on a portal to (I swear there are better things to name place) Breaklands Deep.
“Just give Zore another minute and you’ll be ready to go,” Shining assured. Zore nodded to assure that he was almost done… not like he could do much else, in fact because of a Changeling “attack” (It was more like an uprising, but with a goal completely different from what Chrysalis wanted) he lost his voice, and his sister, Zecora, took up medicine, forever giving up on Witchcraft. Shining was hesitant at this point to inform me of the whole story, so I wasn’t too sure of what one had to do with the other. I’m sure whoever he had in his family, they were proud he could do this.
Soarin POV
Twilight and Cadence were getting by alright, though I was worried they’d work Ironsparks to the bone, and then the marrow. At least that’s one reason I kept coming back daily. The other one was Rainbow Dash. She was at the castle a lot, mainly to help Ironsparks take care of Twilight, and make sure that he didn’t make a complete fool of himself around Applejack whenever they were in the same vicinity. Don’t get me wrong! It still felt too awkward just being near her to hold a conversation, but I just… I just… what? What kept me coming back for her? Was it the faint hope that she would understand why I didn’t tell her who I was when I was passing off as “Guardian Ventus?” Well that couldn’t be it, I was sure that wasn’t happening. Was it the idea that maybe, just maybe, what we had as foals was still there and I’d get a second chance? Again, after the way I treated her, she wasn’t my friend anymore, so I didn’t have a chance. Or was it because (like I said before) I was her friend whether or not she was mine? Was it because…? Heh, I’m hopeless. That last bit just occurred to me when I reached the door to the Castle of Friendship. I knocked, and Boss’ little brother, First Base opened the door. He welcomed me with that boyish charm even Spike had. He ushered me in and I ran into Ironsparks, which again confirmed that he was fine… but he was with Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Ironsparks,” I said. “I see you’re still fully flesh and blood.” “Yeah, s’not that bad, yet,” he said. “Hey… Soarin…” Rainbow said. “Hi,” I felt awkward and sad all at once. “Ironsparks, Base, can you give us a moment?” Really!? I’m the one who should be asking that! “Alrighty then,” Ironsparks said. He butted his head behind Base and pushed him down the hall, despite his protests. I wanted to run away, to hide from this shame… but even I’m better than that.
“Why are you avoiding me!?” she said. “We used to be friends! We used to get along! What happened!?” she started to tear up. I felt like an idiot, in fact if anypony called me an idiot right there, I’d offer no counter argument.
“I was scared…” I said. She looked up, surprised… then again, wouldn’t you be? “I didn’t want to lose you! I started living your dream, which is pretty big! And you got stuck living a life too simple for your liking! If my dream was that big, and you started living it instead, I’d be mad!” she stared at me, wide eyed and frightened. I felt like a jerk now. “I’m sorry, I didn’t… I didn’t want you of all ponies hating me…” I started to tear up myself. “Heh… what kinda colt am I? Crying over one pony hating me-” she touched my cheek, brushing away some of the tears.
“I never, NEVER for a moment hated you,” she said. “You’re too… heh, cool for me to forget about. I might’ve been mad that you were keeping secrets from me, but I’d never hate you,” was she going where I thought she was going? “I love you too much.” I doubled over, laughing. I never thought she’d feel that way, let alone admit it. “You think I’m trying to be funny!?” she looked hurt.
“No… I just… I never thought you’d say it, and I’d go on loving you without anything in return.” She smiled and I swear I’d never feel any happier than I did right there.
Being six years old and surrounded by older ponies all of whom had somepony they loved… it was grating. Don’t try to defend the feeling of love, I’m well aware of how important it is… now, but back then I was at the age where fillies were either annoying or scary… with a couple exceptions (I‘ll go into details later). I was starting to get a headache from how much lovey talk you could hear (or at least I interpreted) from Soarin and Rainbow Dash, and all the girl talk that Ironsparks somehow put up with every day between Princesses Twilight and Cadance, when all of a sudden I heard a knock at the door. I opened it up to see a colt, an earthling so high in politics that I could tell just standing here that he was important.
“Can I help you Mr.…?”
“Gateway, Councilor Inferno Gateway,” he studied me for a moment. “So this… Base… as a foal,” he said something in a whisper, but I couldn’t hear a lot of it.
“What was that, Mr. Gateway?”
“Inferno, please,” He corrected. “And it’s nothing important. May I come in?” he was being very polite and kind… but I could swear I heard him say “Uncle Base” in that whisper to himself. I let him in because he was obviously very important. The robes and rope belt gave that much away.
“So… what’s a Councilor?” I asked. Inferno looked at me with a smile.
“The Council of Seven is in charge of managing Religion and offering ideas for political actions to Princess Celestia,” he explained. “Any of the seven ponies on the Council is called a Councilor, with the Exception of High Councilor Mary Mjiolnir. Basically, I make up the laws and take care of Equestria’s religion.”
“Doesn't Princess Celestia make the Laws?” I asked. Inferno laughed.
“No, the Council does, whether or not they become actual laws, that’s up to Princess Celestia,” six year old me was having trouble understanding this. “You’ll learn about it in school soon enough. May I ask where Princess Twilight is?”
“I can take you to her if you want,” I said. He looked shocked for a moment, then smiled like he had a happy memory of someone he lost.
“I’d like that, thank you.” It took me that long to realize I hadn’t introduced myself.
“I’m, uh-”
“First Base… I am aware.” That was strange, he didn’t-couldn’t-even use magic. Along the trip through the hallway to Twilight’s room, I just thought about how convenient it was that he knew me. We reached Twilight’s room, where Ironsparks was just about to leave, but he looked back just to tell them that they had company. Cadance looked at Inferno and stood up.
“Councilor Gateway! I’m sorry, I forgot-“
“Princess Cadance, I forgot you were here,” he said.
“-To inform the council that I was here,” Cadance finished. Okay this was getting scary.
“Where are Flash Sentry and Shining Armor?” Inferno asked. “There’s something I need to tell you... five.” He said that last word looking at me.
“I’m afraid they aren’t in at the moment. Can you just tell the two of us and wait ‘til Flash and my brother get back to tell them, Councilor?” Twilight asked.
“Inferno, please,” he said. “And I’m afraid the only pony I trust with this kind of knowledge is… Base.” Trust? Did he just say he trusts me?
“But he’s six!” Cadance said. “No offense.”
“No, I’m with you,” I said, though I felt like I shouldn’t have said anything.
“I am well aware of his age,” Inferno said. “But my experience has taught me that if I can’t trust him, I can’t even trust my own father.” Without another word, he wrapped his hoof around my shoulder and guided me out of the room, asking to be taken somewhere we won’t be interrupted.
Inferno Gateway
I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I spent nine years to get where I am, six of which was spent just getting to Shining Armor’s current position, and nopony but Councilor Penblade knew where I came from nine years ago, and that’s because she came with me.
“Alright,” Base said. “Unless Pinkie pie decides to be… well, Pinkie Pie, I think we’ll be fine here.”
“You sure?”
“Positive, now what do you want me to know?” I let out a sigh that did little to help my stress.
“If you asked anypony about where I came from or what history has on me, they’ll only be able to tell you nine years’ worth, from the time I was eighteen to now when I’m twenty seven,” I started. “In those nine years I was able to accomplish more than Shining Armor.” Base’s look was priceless; no doubt he knew how much Shining did for the country. “I’m not lying. But what I have to tell you is… all the stuff that nopony knows about me. My parents didn’t expect to have me when they did, but they went along with it, and loved me like… your aunt and uncle do for you,” I almost forgot that he never knew his real parents. “But there were other ponies who loved me just as much among them was my Uncle… First Base.” realization dawned on Base’s eyes.
“Wait… you!?” he said. “You’re Twilight and my big brother’s baby!?”
“One of two,” I said. I remembered my sister Medica, she was Dad’s favorite for a lot of my life, and I didn’t mind, maybe because he already knew how I was gonna turn out now that I think about it. “There’s more to this story, but if you tell anypony what I just told you, all that trust I had in you for the first eighteen years of my life, you’ll have betrayed it. And we wouldn’t want that would we?”
“No sir,” He said. “Of course I wouldn’t want that for anypony.”
I was told that diving into Breaklands Deep would give me an experience of what my true outlook on reality was… I gotta admit… it was weird. Not Pinkie Pie weird, where everything would probably be balloons and cake and pranking supplies, it was digital techno meets steam punk. There were pipes running along the buildings (all of which I recognized as real world) that would let off a puff of steam or a drop of water every now and then. All of them ran into the buildings, which looked like they came from 1830’s Manehattan, or under the streets for the trollies and trains. The lights in the buildings, along the corners of the buildings and the streets, and on the people’s freaking clothes, along with the blue hue coming of the sky with no apparent stars, moon or clouds made the entire thing look off. The only things I didn’t recognize as a real world setting put into my perception were the two giant bronze statues in the middle of the east- and west-sides of the city. To the east… we had a Pegasus, dressed in battle armor that looked like it would fit in at a coliseum. There was a picture on the things flank… it looked like the logo that was on all my clothes, but I couldn’t really tell with this horrible lighting. The other statue, to the west, was supposed to be me, I could tell because of the guitar. But I couldn’t see my head from this distance (again, it was the light) and the clothes looked like they would fit on a video game character from overseas, a duster with the left side of the trail missing, baggy pants with combat boots, shoulder pads that ha screws coming out of them.
A door appeared next to me, and Chief walked through it… What the hell was he wearing!? He looked down at himself and didn’t even flinch at the shoulder-less shirt wrapped around his torso, or the baggy pants that covered his boots, or the sword obviously strapped to the back of his waist.
“Never thought I’d be seeing these duds any time soon,” He said.
“Those are normal for you!?” I exclaimed. He looked at my face, and then the rest of me.
“Yeah, but I have no memory of you getting an outfit like… that,” He said. I had to look down and… Why was I wearing what the statue had in black and steel that could stop a point blank sniper bullet!? Okay, the guitar strapped to my back was mine in the real world, at least I had that. Yeah, I thought it was kinda cool, but I still hoped this look was temporary, if not occasional.
“Well… okay, you got me beat,” I admitted. “When did we change clothes anyway?”
“That’s an… instantaneous occurrence,” A voice echoed from the distance. A black, shadowy figure rose out of the corner. The logo that Twilight wore on her skirt was hovering over his back, like it couldn’t make contact, but it had to stay near him.
“Who are you?” Chief asked.
“I’m Slothspawn, your guide through this endeavor,” he said. “You want to restore your memory, you need me.”
“Slothspawn?” I asked. “Like… Deadly Sin number five?”
“The same,” He said. “But we preferred to be called the ‘Seven Fatal Flaws’ if you don’t mind.”
“If you’re a Fatal Flaw, why do you have Twilight’s Cutie Mark on your back?” Chief asked… Cutie Mark? What!?
“I am her Fatal Flaw, I’ll Explain later.” He stepped towards the edge of the roof we were on, raised his hand and a diverging, translucent path appeared in the air. “Flash Sentry, you must go to the Pegasus Statue, Master Chief Flash Sentry, go to the Guitarist statue. I will meet each of you at the end of the road to teach you the skill needed to move on.”
Twilight Sparkle POV
It had been a little while since Flash yelled out to the World that we were expecting parents (Honestly if it weren’t for the shock of the news, I’d’ve been more embarrassed). Councilor Gateway, Or Inferno as he insisted we call him, tried to get us to stop treating him like a Councilor. If the news he told Base were something I knew, it’d probably make sense, but even Base was stone silent on the topic, only saying “You won’t be able to believe it,” whenever we asked him.
Cadance’s Pregnancy reached month three and she was starting to form a baby bump which she would proudly show off. And for some reason, she decided, I kid you not, to set Applejack up with Ironsparks… even this wasn’t like her, I mean yeah it’s clear that they like each other (Applejack more subtly than Ironsparks) but she would normally wait for a confidential confession! I decided that it was for their own good that I warned them.
“Princess Cadance’s gonna set me up wit… Ironsparks?” Applejack looked out the corner of her eyes, a light blush across her cheeks. “Well… that don’t sound too bad…”
“She decided out of nowhere… unless you told her something,” I suggested thinking it was ridiculous.
“I think she came up wit it on ‘er own,” she said. “I have to admire her eye for matchmaking.” Wait… What!? She actually liked him!? I didn’t see that coming! If there were any signs that she liked him I didn’t see it, but it couldn’t be more obvious if there were a neon sign hanging over Ironsparks’ head that said “I like Applejack!”
“You… What!?”
“Don’t ‘xpect me to outright say it unless I still feel it when it happens.” I raised up my hooves in surrender, deciding not to tell Ironsparks about Cadance’s little idea.
I saw Slothspawn teaching Flash how to fight with his guitar… not something I ever thought I’d say, but I kept going until I reached a dead end. Basically I jump off this building, I fall and I never stop falling. I did have a teleport thing, but if the two points weren’t connected physically it was pointless. The problem was, the statue that Slothspawn told me to go to was on the other side of this chasm, I could see that it wound here and there along the path I needed to take, but the path went over it.
This could be a problem. I mean I could sprout wings and fly across but that was with Tenebrae’s help, which I didn’t have here. Slothspawn teleported next to me, but I didn’t even turn to him.
“Why don’t you just fly across?” he asked.
“I don’t know how to do it on my own.”
“Easily Remedied,” Slothspawn said holding his hand straight up in front of me. “I’ll show you with the memories of the previous Guardians of Darkness.” I don’t know why, but I hesitated. I wasn’t sure what Slothspawn was going to show me, or even if the memory he head was indeed what I needed. But then again, why would he hurt me? What would he have against me? I couldn’t answer either of those questions, so I just touched his hand. I felt the darkness around me fill my heart, and come out through my back. I remembered jumping off the side of the building I was currently standing on, but there was something different about it. There was a forest setting, to a village setting, basically I saw twelve different styles for this one place. Right then I snapped back to reality.
“I know what I have to do.” I concentrated on the darkness, drew it into my heart, pushed it through my blood. I shot it out through my shoulder blades and it took the shape of raven’s wings. I turned to the chasm, closed my eyes and jumped. At first I just let myself fall then I took flight rising up the side of the next building. I landed on the roof and sprinted towards my goal, reaching it when I just about pushed past my limit. I could look at the statue of me and see Flash looking at something, like he was reading it. He looked up and pointed down towards the floor of the balcony he stood on, signaling that I should do the same. I looked at mine and saw a plaque with a pedestal for what looked like a sword in front of it.
To ye whosoever holds mine memories Thrust thine blade into the Pedestals of Heart And know the truth of how you got mine power
That was straight forward enough. I pulled Sinhunter out of the scabbard, (Who knew that’s what it was called?) Turned it so it would fit in the slot of the Pedestal and thrust downward into it. I could feel Flash’s memories leaving my mind. I still remembered them, but they weren’t in the full five senses, I didn’t even see the colors. I guess that made it easier to distinguish which were mine and which were his. I got a good look at the memories that were returned to him. They were between the ages of twelve to sixteen, last four years. I still had the grade skip for second and third grade, but that was when he was about eight.
There was a bright flash and I was on a couch looking up at Shining’s smiling face of relief. Though I had a bit of a migraine, so I was a little irritable.
“How’d it go?” he asked. I flinched, he sounded a lot louder and he wasn’t even yelling.
“Last four years are back in his head,” I sat up Zore offered me two of some sort of tablet and a glass of water. “Is that good for headaches?” I asked. He nodded. I took them and downed them with the water.
“The Keys need some time to cool down, about two days or so,” Shining said. “After what you went through in there, you need a bit of a break.” I agreed. But we didn’t know that someone was coming for us, someone Twilight and her friends on our side defeated a while ago.
Dragon Sky
Glacier Storm and I were alone for ten years now. Ever since we found out about Glacier’s position as Guardian Glacius, he’d been training in human martial arts to become strong enough to uphold the position of those chosen before him. One day, though, he got too strong. He was protecting a small town from a horde of timberwolves, by the time we returned the village was destroyed… by an attack he threw. Those who survived were scared, so we left that day, surviving off of nature for the past decade. And to think, he gave up his position of honors student at Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns for this! He said that I didn’t have to come with him. I could find somepony to take care of me and never have to worry about him again. But I couldn’t live with myself that way.
“We’re almost to Ponyville, Sky,” Glacier said. “We might find somepony who can take care of that bite for you.” The other day, I got bit by a wanderfly, which can cause hallucinations if not treated in three days. I had another full day before they started, but we still had to hurry, because I could feel myself slipping. I was so tired, I didn’t think I could make it without some sleep, what harm could a little nap do? Glacier already had me on his back… maybe if I just got a little more comfortable… the next thing I remembered was waking up in a room, the bite on my arm bandaged with some sort of salve spread on the bandages. I looked as far as I could see, which still wasn’t very far for a few minutes… and saw the last face I ever thought I’d see again, washing my face with a washcloth.
“Sp… Spike?” I said. But I couldn’t stay awake for too much longer. And fell unconscious again.
I might’ve been willing to help Rarity at the drop of a hat, but my crush on her had long since faded now. In fact the only reason I still help her is because she said herself that she’s come to need me as much as Twilight does. I don’t know why, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Sky recently. We were born around the same time, but she went to another Unicorn, a boy named Glacier Storm, from what I remember. Then one day they just left the academy, I’m sure there was an explanation, but I was too young to understand at the time. But finding out that Glacier Storm was a Guardian of Chaos… that was a bit of a shock. Strange thing is, when Soarin, Ironsparks and I ran into him he didn’t have a weapon, heck his hands were bound by a pair of Everiron Cuffs. If those things were on him, there was no way he was swinging his arm. Soarin and Ironsparks decided to help, but when I saw Sky unconscious, I just had to drag her back to Twilight, she would know what to do.
Helpless. Weak. Useless. Those three words describe how I felt perfectly until Sky woke up for those brief ten seconds. I washed her forehead, trying to keep her cool as Inferno’s medicine kicked in. Inferno came into the room and changed out the bandages, giving me long enough to ask a question or two.
“Councilor Gateway?” I said.
“How many times do I have to say it?” He said in exasperation. “Call me Inferno.”
“Right, Inferno, sorry,” I said. “How do you know how to treat this kind of thing?”
“My mother taught me,” He said. “She was constantly preparing me for the time loop.”
“Time loop?” I asked.
“There are some things that life where I’m from has taught me,” he said. “One; if I can’t trust my uncle I can’t trust myself. Two; if I’ve got a big secret I can’t tell a baby dragon until I’m ready for the reveal… you can go now, she’ll be fine in about ten minutes.” That was a relief to hear. I headed for the throne room, where Cadance, Twilight and the others would be to tell them the news. But that’s when Shining Came back through the mirror. He looked tired, scared and in a hurry all at once.
“Spike! Where’s Twilight!?” he yelled but then collapsed on his face clutching his side.
“Easy!” I said. “Why do you need Twilight!?”
“He’s back… He’s gonna kill Flash if we don’t help!”
“Who’s back!?” I said getting worried. He let out a soft whisper in my ear when everypony came to take him back to the infirmary.
“Tirek.”
Master Chief Flash Sentry
The weekend was peachy. Flash and I spent it hanging out with Twilight and her friends, or playing video games. I had to learn how to do that for Equestrians. Eventually, Monday rolled back around and I had trouble rolling out of bed. For some reason, they decided to have me stay at Twilight’s, probably so I didn’t cause a bit of panic between Flash and Starlight (this world). Lunch period rolled around and I was snoozing through a lecture about parabolic equations when I felt something. In the back of my mind something was wrong. It snapped me awake fast enough for Rarity, who was right next to me, to notice that I woke up for a lecture.
“Chief? Is everything alright?” she whispered. I didn’t have to answer; the collective screams from the cafeteria did that for her. Then the fire alarm went off and everyone who wasn’t near the cafeteria was walking calmly out of the building. Me? I had to get to the cafeteria. I found a shadow between the lockers near the exit and the wall of a branching hallway, which was at the end of the hall I was on. With my “shadowporting” ability, I found myself… in the service room for the food. I snuck out of the room, noticing that there wasn’t a fire anywhere in the area. I entered the cafeteria and saw a demonic centaur threatening a student in the corner.
“You aren’t Flash Sentry!” It said. “Your spirit and appearance might match, but your heart does not! Where is he!?” I realized that the student shivering in the corner was Flash.
“HEY!” I yelled. He turned around and I recognized him. I felt a little pang of fear. Tirek, Master of Darkness.
“Guardian Tenebrae!” he smiled. I thought about fighting him, the cafeteria wouldn’t do well, for me, it was too cramped, and too much fighting would crush all of us. I did the one thing that normally I wouldn’t… I ran.
“You dare flee from a fight, coward!?”
“Not fleeing!” I said. “Relocating!” I ran outside and used my shadowport to get to the roof. I waited for Tirek to bust through the Doorway, when he did…
“Sentry! Where are you!”
“Tenebrae! Engage!” I jumped around the rubble and cut off one of Tirek’s horns. I landed on my feet in the parking lot. “You looking for me?” I saw Shining in the crowd from my peripheral vision, but it didn’t register that he was getting closer. Tirek made a sword materialize in his hand, it looked very simple, leaf shaped without a guard. He raised it and brought it down, I would’ve blocked it (or tried to, that sword was bigger than I was!), but Shining jumped and pushed me out of the way. Unfortunately he took a hit, a large gash on the left side. Twilight picked him up and applied pressure to the wound.
“The Statue,” he said. “I need to get to Equestria!” Twilight took him to the portal and he passed through. All the while I was defending myself from that huge sword. I only know that that happened by watching it from peripheral vision. About five minutes after Shining was through the portal, Tirek stopped fighting.
“My work is done,” then he grabbed Twilight with some dark form of magic that was nothing like my own and pulled him to his hand. “Give me Sinhunter and I’ll let her go.”
“Wait!” I said. “Why do you need it!?” Tirek snapped his fingers and a guy about my age materialized out of his shadow. He was white skinned with black hair. Like me he was strangely dressed, a tunic and scarf with black work pants, boots and a headband.
“I will avenge my father!” he said. “And I will do it with my enemy’s own sword!” did I kill this guy’s father? He didn’t look Kayen so he couldn’t be his, he looked more like somepony else, though I couldn’t tell who.
“The sword, Flash!” Tirek said. “Give Dreamheart your sword, unless you want Princess Friendly to die!” I didn’t ask any more questions, I threw Sinhunter to the guy.
I remembered something about my father, as he tossed his naked sword to Dreamheart. Sinhunter took the shape of Guardian Tenebrae’s heart (The emotional one, not the physical one) but it was completely composed of… that escalated quickly.
“Now let her go!” Chief said. Tirek grinned evilly.
“No,” he said. “You’ve always been alone, so be ALONE!” something dark shocked Twilight and she went unconscious. Tirek dropped her to the ground and Vanished in a puff of smoke. Everyone stood in a circle around Twilight, Flash and Chief cradling her. I watched from the distance as someone stepped out of the crowd and knelt.
“Sunny,” Chief said.
“I don’t like it,” She said. “But there is someone else who may know a way to save her.” She lifted Twilight over one shoulder and had another girl, Rainbow Dash by the look of it take her other shoulder. They stepped through the circle with the other girls coming too, but I stopped them.
“Can we help you sir?” Rarity asked.
“You’re going to talk to the Sirens, right?” I said. They looked a little confused. “You call them the ‘Dazzlings.’” After that Sunny nodded her confirmation (which made the other girls and Flash a little uncomfortable). I put on my official military face and continued. “Master Chief Flash Sentry, I need you to step forward.” He reluctantly did. “As a member of the council of Seven, I technically don’t have to say this, but I still hope you can forgive me.”
“Huh?” Was all he could say before he got a mouthful of my… fist I think it was called? After a second or two of inaction he spung back and yelled; “What the buck was that for!?”
“Selling your soul,” I said plainly. Then I started to yell. “That sword you just handed over to Dreamheart, that was the shape of your spirit imprinted on the physical manifestation of ‘you,’ it was ‘you’! And you just gave it away without making sure you’d get what you were promised!” everyone was staring at either me or my father. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” He said. He got up and brushed the dirt off himself. “How do you know this?”
“My name is Inferno Gateway, third seat on the Council of Seven… I’m your son.”
Master Chief Flash Sentry POV
“You guys go ahead,” I said. “I need to talk to the Councilor.”
“Inferno, please,” Inferno said. “Take them to the Dazzlings, Zore will meet you there.” They went on their way. “You shocked to see your unborn child in a higher position than you?”
“Funny, I’m not,” I said. And I wasn’t, I didn’t feel anything. Not happiness, sadness, anger, none of it. “I don’t feel anything.”
“You probably do,” Inferno said. “Your body just doesn’t know how to react to it because the connection to your heart is gone.” I probably would’ve been confused if I still felt anything. But I definitely didn’t understand. “Let’s just catch up later. We need to help… her.”
“You mean Twilight?” I asked. “Why did you just call her… ‘her’?”
“I don’t know whether to call her mom, since she’s my mother’s other self, or Twilight since she’s not the one who… gave me life.” I understood his confusion. We found the girls and Flash at a burger joint (Remind me never to eat a real burger again) and joined them. There were three other girls there, each one looking beautiful in a dangerous way, like pop-stars with chainsaws. This is how I recall it, at the time I didn’t feel it (I’m sorry I’m hammering this in I’m just trying to explain how I’m accurately describing people without saying that I felt something at the time).
“I take it he’s the one who sold his soul?” the one with the big red hair asked Sunny.
“Yeah… he’s my, uh… Cousin.” Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that my emotions were out of reach, I didn’t feel the awkwardness at her saying that… but Flash certainly showed it.
“He’s… what!?”
“I was adopted!” she said.
My response; “I didn’t know that.” It was more monotonous and bland than you might‘ve read it, which caught everyone’s attention.
“Wow, he really did sell his soul!” the one with the blue ponytail said causing the one with the purple pigtails to slap her in the back of the head lightly.
“Thank you, Captain ‘Duh’.” She said.
“Not funny Aria!”
“Sonnata! Aria! Can we please get back to the situation at hand!” the big haired one said.
“Sorry, Adagio,” they said like little foals in forced apology. Adagio felt the air above Twilight, which I could see some sort of red and black mist coming through. Adagio’s eyes widened when she felt something apparently out of the Ordinary.
“Double heartbeat!” she whispered. She grabbed at her neck and pulled it away like she realized something wasn’t there. “Damn! I forgot, we’re powerless!”
“What’s a double heartbeat?” Pinkie asked with a clueless smile… that disappeared when Rarity whispered the answer in her ear, to be replaced with one of shock and disturbance. Flash could only stare in horror at his girlfriend, now unconscious before him… I didn’t sympathize with him, I didn’t feel my own way about the situation at all, but I just knew that I had to get Twilight to wake up, after all… For an expecting mother, wouldn’t you?
That guy who said he was Chief’s son, Inferno Gateway I think, he told me to go get Twilight (the one I fell in love with not the one I was in love with, there’s somehow a difference), and tell her that we needed her help. I was really not looking forward to the trip, I mean I didn’t know much about Equestria or how it worked, but what really scared me was the portal. Everyone went to their normal thing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still a little shaken from that Tirek guy… showing up. I took a deep breath, gathered my few shreds of courage and stepped into the statue of the Wondercolt. It felt like… getting flushed down a toilet with energy instead of water (no I don’t get flushed down a toilet often!).
“Flash!?” I heard a voice. I didn’t recognize it from recent memory. But it did sound familiar… like a little boy. I felt some sort of clawed hand shaking my back before anything else registered. Then I shot up and realized something, I was in a crystal structure. And there was a stained glass picture of a purple unicorn with wings… she looked like Twilight. I looked behind me and saw a lizard walking on its hind legs… it looked like Twilight’s dog.
“Spike?” I asked. “That you?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot me!”
“That was until Chief... Chief!” I ran down the hall looking for Twilight, and fell flat on my face.
“Wait! Where’re you going!” Spike said behind me.
“I need to find Twilight! My girlfreind and Chief are in trouble!”
“Girlfreind…? Wait! You’re not-!”
“No, I’m the Flash Sentry from Canterlot High. I- ugh-we need Twilight’s help! Where is she!?”
“You’re scaring a baby dragon,” it was then that I realized that I wasn’t helping.
“Just tell me where Twilight is. I need her, and it’s not just me!” I guess he figured arguing would be pointless, so he took me to what I assumed was a clinic, all the while reminding me that I had four legs, not two. Twilight was standing next to a bed occupied by Shining while a rag dabbed at his head with some glittering sparkles around it. When the door opened, she didn’t even look to see who it was.
“Did you find out who it was, Spike?” she asked. Shining opened his eyes for just long enough to see me, he would’ve got up too, if it weren’t for the injury to his ribcage. “Shining you have to stay still!”
“Flash…” that got Twilight’s attention. She turned around with shock on her face.
“At least we stopped bumping into each other,” I said.
“Wait… you’re-!”
“Yeah, Chief and Inferno sent me, we need your help.”
“Chief?”
“Master Chief,” Shining said. “It’s a nickname for our Flash so we wouldn’t confuse the two.” He cringed. “How’s Chief now?” he asked.
I looked away, trying to think up away to delicately put it… I found nothing and decided to save an explanation for another time.
“We just need help… and you might not like who we need it from, based on some of the memory I got back from Chief.” She raised an eyebrow.
“Who’s that?” I took a deep breath, exhaled and tensed up in preparation for a yelling.
“Adagio Dazzle…”
Twilight Sparkle “Adagio Dazzle!? The Siren who almost ruined our relationship!?” I screamed. “Why would I help her!?”
“Because Chief needs my Twilight’s help and she needs Adagio’s help!” Flash said. “And that Inferno guy said that if you don’t help, Chief may never feel love again!” he had to be kidding. Flash (my Flash) not loving me anymore if I don’t help the Dazzlings? That ultimatum… was hard for me to take. On the one hand Adagio almost ruined all the hard work my friends at Canterlot High put into fixing it. On the other hand… Flash was the father of my unborn child, and I loved him more than my own father… the idea that he could not love me anymore… that hurt.
“Fine… I’ll help.” Flash sighed and hugged me. It felt nice to get a hug from him again, but then I remembered I already had another coltfriend. I felt someone getting up from sitting position behind me.
“I’ll go with you,” Glacier Storm said. “I need to find the one I sacrificed so much for.”
“And he needs a new sword.” That was… disturbing.
“What happened to Sinhunter?” I asked.
“Long story. Any idea where I can get one for him?” I did have one… but I didn’t think he’d want to use it.
“Yeah,” I couldn’t lie. “but it doesn’t deserve to be used by him.” I felt Shining put his hoof on my shoulder.
I was finding it hard to understand everything I went through, and everything I felt about them was no longer a part of them. I waited for Flash and Twilight to come back as tears were constantly falling off my vacant eyed face. All the girls looked at me awkwardly or at Twilight with worry. I sat down folded my hand over my fist and prayed to whoever was listening that I would get everything back.
You’ll get a chance, I heard in my head. But I won’t fight you with an unfair advantage.
Dreamheart! I yelled in my head. Where are you!?
Nowhere of import, but isn’t there someone you’re waiting for? He reminded me. I looked up and saw Base in a small green jacket with a white t-shirt that was as blank as his… well flank. His jeans were long enough to cover his shoes except for the toes. There was another guy with a black leather vest and gloves. He looked cool… literally, with the light blue skin and creamy hair. Then I saw Twilight… her long violet hair cascading down her back, and the simple choice of clothes this world picked out for her… it made me feel like a black hole was ripping me apart from the inside.
“Flash!” she shouted as she wrapped her arms around me. I brought my arms up to wrap them around her too… but I couldn’t do it. “What’s wrong?” she pulled back but held onto my shoulders. The worry on her face had that ache worsening through my chest. I actually felt my hand grab at my chest when I finally looked away from her.
“I need to sit down,” I said. I tried to listen while Inferno explained what happened to me.
“Let’s… Let’s go see the Dazzlings.” He led them inside but I stayed at the door. I didn’t think Twilight would want to be anywhere near me a few seconds later Flash and Shining came carrying a sword… it looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Shining was looking a lot better than when I last saw him after getting injured by Tirek.
“Flash…” He huffed. “Run this through the area above your heart,” he tossed me the sword. I pulled it out of the silver scabbard and looked at it. It was a single edged katana with a blade that looked like it was made of amethyst. The hilt felt like it was wrapped in golden threaded string and the Tsuba looked like a gold amulet with emeralds and rubies studded into it.
“Why?” I asked apathetically.
“She needs a master,” Flash said. “And that’s the ceremony she goes with.”
“She?”
“You’ll see soon enough.” Shining said. I took their word for it and looked for a reflective surface. Using the tattoo on my eye, I found a red shiny spot on my chest in a mirror that Shining brought. I gripped the blade and thrust it through the spot it was glowing over, and I couldn’t even double over in pain. The sword pulled itself out of my chest, leaving not even a scar behind, and landed in my hands again… as the head of a girl popped out of the back of the blade.
“Thank goodness I found you, master!” she said cheerily… and then I freaked out and dropped it. “Jeez, that was uncalled for!” she said as she formed a body out of the rest of the sword. She was… weird just by looking at her. She had blond hair tied in a braid that was offset by her huge green eyes. She was wearing a black jumpsuit that hid her figure, though not how short she was, and cat-bell bracelets on each hand.
“What is that!?” I yelled.
“You mean ‘who,’ Master, my name is Tetsuya-no-Mura,” the girl said. “Call me Tsuya for short. I’m your uncle’s sword!”
“What?” I couldn’t feel my face going pale.
“Let me explain chief!” Flash said.
Flash Sentry
Shining had me drag him deep into a jungle-like area filled with thorns and dead brush until we reached a cave.
“This is the place!” Shining said with trouble. We went into the cave and found a few decorations and pieces of furniture in a shabby attempt to make the place look like a home. “It’s different from last time.”
“What’s different?” I asked.
“When Chief fought Kayen… it was a whole building on the inside.”
“Who’s Kayen?” Shining explained what happened between Chief and his uncle in this cave. “If that happened here, what are we looking for?” I asked, trying very hard to hide my horror.
“We left Kayen’s sword where it was when he died,” Shining said. “Flash need it, whether or not he’ll take it.”
“He probably won’t care,” I said before explaining what happened after he went to get help from Equestria.
“Councilor Gateway… how did he know this?”
“I can’t tell you.” I did find a sword, as I was searching the entire time and letting Shining rest and recover from the trip. I picked it up in my mouth and showed it to him.
“Yeah… that’s it alright.”
“Her!” we heard a voice say. “I’m a girl!” and a girl appeared out of the sword scaring me to the point where it took a full minute to learn I was airborne (I didn’t know I was a Pegasus, sue me!).
“Who are you!?” Shining said to flinch in pain.
“First let me help with that,” she offered. Despite his protests the girl touched the injury to Shining side and it came away healed. This convinced me to land.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am the Sacred Sword Spirit, Tetsuya-no-Mura!” she said. “You look like my Master, can you take me to him?” she got spunk, I’ll give her that.
I was doing what my sister told me, managing a few civil problems between citizens. Small matters as theft of food or misplacement of important articles of one nature or another. They still had trouble trusting me as a princess after a thousand years as Nightmare Moon, and after what she had done, after what I had done. I had just finished a case between two brothers who were having trouble splitting their inheritance evenly.
“What’s next?” I asked the attendant, Earl of Well.
“The Apple family is dealing with a disappearance,” he said. “They want someone to look into it.” I asked them in, and saw a pony named Ironsparks, if memory serves.
“Princess Luna,” he greeted.
“Care to explain why you’re here, um, Ironsparks, is it?” I asked. By the way, I was pretending to have trouble with his name so I didn’t appear… arrogantly omipotant, I guess that’s how you’d put it.
“I’m a witness, and all the neares’ family of Applejack don’t believe me.”
“Applejack!?” I yelled. “Applejack’s missing!?”
“I saw ‘er disappear raht infonna mah eyes!” he said. I asked him to tell me the whole story. “I was going to go to lunch with ‘er, as Princess Cadence asked me tuh, I was not five feet from our meetin’ spot when allovasudden somepony passed between us and she was gone!”
“Was there anything odd about her when you talked to her last?”
“No’me! She looked fit as a fiddle when…” He looked embaresed to tell that story. I would’ve aske many other questions regarding this incident… but I felt something dark. Something sinister… Something familiar.
“Ironsparks, I might have just solved this little mystery of yours,” I told him.
“Really!?”
“But you have to go back. Right Now!” I told him. The stern look on my face told him that he should probably do what I said. “Earl, Postpone all meetings until I return!” I told him. Without waiting for an answer, I hurried to Celestia’s room. What I saw looming over her… I knew it.
“Luna… Why!?” Celestia struggled to say. “I thought this was over!”
“It is!” she said. “Starting NOW!” I burst through the window and caught the magic blast on my horn.
“Nightmare Moon!” I yelled. “You will not hurt her!”
“Luna!?”
“Why do you fight me!?” Nightmare Moon stopped her attack and made her mane flow under my chin. “We were once one and the same, why deny me now?”
“Because you were me at my worst,” With that I blasted her through the wall.
Five little light descended from the ceiling. Each one turned into one of the Spirits of Harmony who befriended Twilight Sparkle.
“Where am I?” Rarity asked.
“I suppose I was right,” I said. They all looked at me standing with my back turned away from Celestia who was on the ground. “You were in trouble.”
“Princess Luna?” Applejack said with confusion. “If you’re here then who just-”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll enlighten you later,” I said. “But for now I have somepony to call back to finish my audience.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle
I was able to recreate the amulets that hung around the Dazzlings’ necks and gave them power whenever they sang. I still found it hard to trust them, but seeing… myself… on a cot with very few signs of breath intake and very weak vitals made me change my mind.
“This is temporary, right?” I asked Adagio.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ll have our fill for weeks singing for her alone.”
“And after that?” I pushed.
“I’ll have to see how powerful these amulets are, but under the right conditions we could stop conflicts and retain power without you having to worry.” I still trusted Sonata’s blabbermouth more than I trusted Adagio’s sultry convincing additude. I finished the amulets and Aria tested the song out herself. There seemed to be a commotion coming from the next room, where Flash and… Chief’s voices were coming from.
“Whoops, wrong key,” Aria said.
“We’ll fix it later!” Adagio insisted. “Right now we deal with her!” They sang a strange song. One that touched me in a way. But there were names and places mentioned that I didn’t recognize among the lyrics. It was very out of style for them to sing in a way that sounded like there should be an orchestral accompaniment as well. I listened to the lyrics and heard a story that made me feel like crying. There was a woman on an island weaving a tapestry while looking into a mirror every now and then to see the life going on outside her window. She was always told that she could only look through the mirror, or she’d die. Then a knight of grandeur and charm passed the window, and she had to see him with her own eyes. She died singing and the knight wished her a peaceful eternal rest.
Lancelot mused a little space He said she has a lovely face God in his mercy lend her grace The Lady of Shalott
As the final note was left to hang in the air, I, er, Twilight was left lying on the cot in the same comatose state. I would’ve asked what was taking so long when the note finally faded… but then she inhaled sharply and shot up. “CATNIP!?” She shouted. “What was I dreaming about?” she said reverting to a drowsy expression. “Apparently, catnip,” I joked. She looked at me… and I swear I never felt any more awkward in my life.
I was trying to get Tetsuya to stop calling me “Master,” (At least in her base form) when I heard the music.
“Why shouldn’t I call you ‘Master’?” she asked. “You are my Master aren’t you?”
“That’s one way to put it,” I said. “But I have a girlfriend! If you call me master she’ll beat me to a pulp, and I don’t think I can handle that!”
“Afraid of her are you? Not very noble Master.” She snickered. I growled to the ceiling with my hands on the side of my scalp.
“A-hem,” I heard Flash from the door. I turned to the door and those fears I had were confirmed.
“Don’t tell me you needed a slave,” Adagio joked. That just worsened the look of pain on Twilight’s face.
“What does she mean by that?” Tetsuya asked. Shining leaned in and whispered in her ear. “GROSS!”
“And illegal,” Flash added.
“I wouldn’t do that if my life depended on it!”
“And I wouldn’t take it!” I yelled. “That misunderstanding is why I wanted her to stop calling me her Master!”
“Then what the buck is she!?” Twilight yelled. I was going to explain in the most convincing way I could muster, but I heard a soft clatter on the ground where Tetsuya was supposed to be. “Isn’t that… Kayen’s Sword?”
“Wait, what!?” I looked at the sword that Tetsuya had become… and realized that Twilight was right, this was my uncle Kayen’s sword. The one who killed my father…
It took a while (to be precise, until spring break that year), but we managed to get my memory restored (though I’m still confused as to how Fluttershy’s fatal flaw is Lust). And I gotta say, Chief’s life was depressing. The insane uncle he never knew about killing his parents, breaking up his family, and practically destroying his wings before he went into the military to be endlessly tormented? How was he still sane!? It made me sick to think about, and when I got to the point where he killed said uncle in a nightmare inducing display of self-defense… in fact when Chief, Shining, their friend Glacier Storm, the girls and I were on our way to the beach to relax and hang out (and swim of course) I had one such nightmare on the bus.
When we got to the beach the guys took off our shirts and scouted a spot while we waited for the girls to come out of the changing tents. When they did… I couldn’t take my eyes of either Twilight. My Twilight was wearing a one piece that showed off her hips with the use of holes in the sides, collored white and indigo. Princess Twilight (who we started to just call ‘Princess’ whether she liked it or not) came out wearing a purple bikini with a bow of a darker shade in front of the top. She was awkwardly covering herself.
“Remind me why I’m doing this?” Princess said.
“Because, the fic needs a fanservice chapter! Duh!” Pinkie said. She was wearing a sky blue bikini with pink polkadots all over it and a skirt-like bottom.
“Pinkie, I like my fourth wall IN-TACT thank you very much!” Glacier scolded.
“Sorry…” she said smiling with her hand behind her head.
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked. She was wearing a red bikini top with matching daisy dukes that had the lightning bolt that was on all her shirts by now.
“It’ll cost you an arm and a leg to find out,” Glacier excused himself.
“Well, bubs, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got a beach to enjoy!” Applejack said. She was in a green one piece that looked like it would go very well at an athletic swimming event. Lucky for us it was a private beach owned by Fluttershy’s parents (Who knew she was so rich?) otherwise I think Princess wouldn’t have bothered going into the water.
I woke up on some sort of paved walkway with a consistent texture. This was after Dash and I jumped through the mirror with the others to find Boss and Twilight. Turns out Shining figured out who that guy that took Boss’ soul was. And he was going to attack in… a couple hours. I tried to stand up but something felt off about my hind legs… it felt like there was more to them… wait… I got a good look at myself and tried to adjust my posture to the… Human I’d become, which ultimately landed my back on the pavement again.
“Come, now Soarin,” Ven said. “You’ll have to try better than that!”
“Right, sorry,” I got up again, this time holding myself against the side of the statue that I apparently came through. I looked at Ventus, the Viridian falcon with light shaded tendrils rolling over his wings. His very presence had given me a sense of security as of late, ironic since he was a spirit of Chaos. “Let’s find Tenebrae and Boss!” I said as soon as everyone was up.
“I doubt we’ll find one with the other,” Ignus said. The Crimson Lizard with orange runes running around his scales and coming up in flames was always by Ironsparks’ side. “Our job is to follow the one with the soul of the Guardian of Chaos, if that’s the case, Tenebrae would be with Dreamheart.”
“So, Flash ain’t a guardian anymore!?” Ironsparks yelled.
“Buck me…” Applejack responded.
“What about Glacius, we find him we find Glacier Storm, and we find Glacier, we find Flash right?” Pinkie asked.
“That Logic is actually sound, Pinkie Pie,” Ven said. Everyone looked amazed at Pinkie. “Yes… I didn’t think I’d ever say that either. But allow me.” Ven collapsed his wings over the space in front of his body, what he usually did when contacting another Spirit of Chaos through Telepathy. We waited the better part of a minute before we were told to go five miles west… and Ven and Ignus turned out to be our best transport there.
“Ah didn’t know ya’ll could do that!” Ironsparks exclaimed when looking at his reptilian styled four wheeled vehicle with huge wheels, about up to my elbows when they’re at my sides. Ignus said he had room for five in him.
“What about you, Ven?” I asked.
“As long as Rainbow Dash holds on tight… I’m sure I can handle carrying the two of you.” We got on put on our helmets and rode off west.
Master Chief Flash Sentry
Everything was fine, I didn’t even notice Tenebrae was missing until I heard his voice… right as I was stabbed in the chest with Sinhunter. I managed to avoid every slash from that sword but Tetsuya was in the water, leading me to climb the cliffs and fight him on the edge of the one closest to the ocean.
Dreamheart pulled me in closer, looking me in the eye… “Be grateful…” he said. “You get your soul back.” He pushed me away and I felt Sinhunter slowly sink further and further into my torso… from both sides. It was agonizing, but bearable somehow.
“You’re not dying on me yet Flash Sentry.” I heard a familiar voice. I looked up to the Obsidian Hellhound that acted as my guide for leading the Guardians of Harmony. “You have too much to live for.”
“Where’ve you been Tenny?” I joked with a nickname I remembered one of my past lives calling him.
“Following Jetstream…” he pointed with his tail to Dreamheart. “At least we know that he’s Shining Armor’s Unborn son and that he’s mad because you ‘betrayed’ his father…”
“What are you talking about?” Dreamhe-Jetstream asked.
“I dug into your memories… I saw a look of pain of Flash’s face and the words ‘I’m sorry’ on his lips as he killed your father.”
“I’d never kill Shining!”
“You had to… he was being forced to fight you… by-“
“I’ve had enough of your lies!” one more slash and I was over the cliff or bleeding out on it. He drew his own sword wildly and out of desperation I jumped. Falling. Wind. Crashing waves. Falling. I regretted that choice to jump. I was now falling head first for the ocean… if I could only fly… Fly… FLY!
Just like that wings grew out of my back. I told myself to flap them and I flew over to the girls, stopping just overhead of them. They looked at me in shock, I wanted to calm them down, but I didn’t have the time.
“Tetsuya! I need you!” snapping out of the shock, Tetsuya jumped up and turned into her sword form. I grabbed the hilt and flew back for the cliff.
“JETSTREAM!” I yelled from the sky just beyond the cliff. He turned around in shock. “My sword is a tool to uphold justice, truth and idealism. Not used in anger, or for some petty grasps at vengeance… but this, Tetsuya-no-Mura isn’t my sword.”
“You’ve got some sort of beef with me?” Jetstream asked.
“You took my soul and used it as a weapon against me. Separated me from one of my closest friends. And for what!? Revenge!? I can’t accept that it was used for THAT!”
“You think this is personal!?... I’ll make it personal!”
“Alright…” I readied Tetsuya he held his sword backwards arm across the chest and point at me. “Let’s dance!”
Soarin
As soon as they redied their weapons, Pinkie messed around with something she found in the pocket of her skirt. She plugged it into the radio and a song blared through the speakers.
“What is that!?” I yelled over to the jeep.
“Metal Gears Rising! It Has To Be This Way!”
“WHY!?”
“IT FITS!” I listened to the lyrics and realized she was right.
Standing here I realize You were just like me, tried to make history! But who’s to judge the right from wrong!? When our guard is down I think we’ll both agree, Violence breeds violence but in the end It has to be this way!
Master Chief Flash Sentry I was slashing in time to the music, meeting Jetstream’s attacks blow for blow… I didn’t even know I could move that fast! Finally when the song switched to the lyrics we jumped off the cliff and ran along the ocean, holding our blades edge to edge. Half a mile out into the ocean we pushed each other back, and the next set of lyrics started.
I carved my own path, you followed your wrath, but maybe we’re both the same! The world has turned, so many have burned, but nobody is to blame! Yet staring across this barren wasted land I feel new life will be born Beneath the bloodstained sand! Beneath the bloodstained sand!
We traded blow for blow on the way back to the beach. I nicked his shoulder enough for him to just run to the beach, flailing it uselessly until he realized he had to switch hands. Right when he did, I knocked his sword out of his hand and turned Tetsuya around so the edge was facing away from him. Before she hit however, another blade stopped me from making contact. I wasn’t planning to, but when I got a good look at this sword… Sinhunter? It looked older, duller and more… worn. I followed the blade to my right and found… Dad!? No… this was me! From the future!
“I’m the one he wants,” He… I… said. “You have nothing to do with this.”
“Master!” Jetstream said. Master!? He gripped his shoulder again. “Please! Let him end it!”
“I wasn’t going to!” I said. “This is the dull end! It would’ve given you a massive headache at most!”
“Then why-!?”
“I didn’t want to disrespect you.” With that he turned to the older me and lowered his head with his arms on the ground.
“Master! Why did you leave us!?” he said. “Yes! You killed Father! But I know you wouldn’t do that unless you had to! I just want to know what happened!”
I was silent… both of me, that is. The me you’re listening to was waiting for the other me to say something, but he was looking at the ground nearly brought to tears.
“If you can’t tell them…” I heard Shining say. “At least tell me…” they looked at each other and a small crowd made up of all my friends the third Flash and both Twilights. When seeing all these faces the older me burst into tears.
“Shining! I… I COULDN’T SAVE YOU! And when I failed to save you from Chrysalis’ power…
General Flash Sentry
“Shining! We have to get out of here-!” I stopped on the balcony and saw Chysalis standing there, apparently making Shining do as she said.
“You Mule!” Shining yelled “You won’t get full control of me this time!”
“Oh really?” Chrysalis said. “Transform.” Shining turned into his Jouster Soul.
“Shining!” I yelled.
“Flash… GET BACK!” his two spears were held back behind him.
“This should be fun,” Chrysalis said. “Kill your friend!”
“Mercenary Soul!” I yelled turning into the swordsman.
“FLASH… if you won’t run… you have to kill me!” he swung one spear at my neck, which I blocked with Sinhunter.
“No! I WON’T KILL YOU!” I flicked the spear away from my neck, but had to parry the other spear out of his hand.
“If this is about Twily, tell her I forgave you!”
“This is about my Uncle, I KILLED him and couldn’t take the guilt… I won’t do that to someone I CARE about!”
“It’s you or me, and you have to go on!” we struggled for a bit… at any moment I knew that Zeros would be coming to tear us a new one… so I thrust through the heart.