Once upon a time, there was a prosperous land named Equestria. That land is now on the brink of survival, and it's only hope for redemption is about to be snuffed out like a candle. Will the colt named Alex live to save his homeland, or will he
There was once a land known as Equestria. That land fell in the year two thousand and thirteen, on the date of December twenty-first. The colt that was said to be the one to save the land by unknown message bearers is on the brink of death. The land will fall with his death if he doesn't do something soon, but is it too late for him as well?
Character List: Alex Diamond Tiara Silver Spoon Cherilee Doctor Whooves Vinyl Scratch Other Various Characters I've Made
I ran, gasping for breath as the dust storm raged over the wasteland once known as Equestria. The dust was clogging up my airways and I was just barely fast enough to grab the cloth hanging from the side of my tattered black saddle bags and use it to cover my mouth and nose, clearing the air signifigantly enough for me to breathe without getting deprived of oxygen. I continued to stumble along, finding a cave soon enough and falling into the shelter it provided from the dust storm. I started up a fire using the spare parts from old, run-down buildings in the last city I passed. There was supposedly only one city left standing in the aftermath of the rising of Queen Celestia, but I wasn't heading there, I was heading to the start of it all, Canterlot Castle.
Looking at the scars running up and down my body though, as well as the darkened veins which I knew meant blood poisoning, I doubted that I would reach the castle, but I could try. And that was better than doing nothing. I lay in the back of the cave, the fire to my left side, my belongings on my right as I thought up random things. The year was 2,013. The date, December twenty-third. I was now sixteen years old, and today was the day I would die. I laughed at this thought and my mind slowly began to drift from conciousness as my thoughts began to drift to my life a year ago. The one time I had allowed myself to be happy in almost half a year, and then things went to hell.
I fell asleep with those thoughts in my head, thinking of what could have happened. Thinking of the future I could have had. Thinking of how unfortunate I was. But also thinking of how fortunate I was to meet Spoon on that date that would forever be etched into my mind. December 2nd.
I was sitting in Ms. Cherilee's class, waiting impatiently for the recess bell to ring so the other kids would go outside so I could be left alone to work on my music. The kid next to me, Snails I think his name was, began trying to talk to me. I had developed a sort of natural reaction to avoid conversation by this time in my life. I just simply pulled out my notebook and began writing something. It didn't matter what, if they saw me writing, they left me alone, they were just that kind. I did like I always did when a conversation popped up and began writing, not really paying attention to what it was, just me writing things and ideas down.
Snails just kind of turned around and began talking to his best friend Snips again, completely ignoring that I had blown him off. I enjoyed it though. I never really did like conversation. The bell rang and all of the kids jumped out of their seats, eager to get outside, with the Cutie Mark Crusaders leading the pack. I smiled a little as I thought back to all the times they had tried to get me to join their little club, but I politely refused each time. I didn't need a club to find my special talent, I already knew what it was, I just hadn't done anything to prove it yet and earn it.
I leaned over my notebook and began writing musical notes down untill a dark pink hoof landed on my desk, blocking my view. My eyes followed the hoof to the face of it's owner to see Ms. Cherilee there.
"Hi, Ms. Cherilee," I said.
"Alex," she said sternly, "you really need to go outside, it's not healthy for a filly to stay inside all day. Now go." I got up and grabbed my notebook, but she grabbed it from me and said, "No, you go outside and play with the other students."
I sighed and gave up, heading out into the bright day. I looked at all of the bright, smiling faces, and felt so alone. I knew almost nopony out here and it made me feel empty inside. I just pushed the feeling aside and walked over to the tree in the schoolyard, sitting on my flank under cold, dead branches.
"I know how you feel," I said and patted the tree.
"So do you always talk to yourself," a voice to my right asked.
"No, I don't always...," my sentence trailed off as I turned and saw Silver Spoon sitting beside me. "What exactly are you here to torture me about this time," I asked.
She raised her hooved defensively and said, "Hey, hey calm down, don't accuse me of things before I do them Blank Flank."
I raised an eyebrow and asked, "So you're not over here to torture me about not having a Cutie Mark? That's a new one."
She sighed and turned away from me and I barely caught her next statement, "Well if you're going to be like that."
I felt guilt run through my body and it took me a few minutes to respond, "I'm sorry Silver Spoon, so what did you come over here for?"
She looked over at the swings where Diamond Tiara was sitting with a colt and smiling and I quickly picked up what had happened. I sighed and began to tap on the tree, creating a rythm that sounded a little slower than what I was used to making and listening to. I looked over at Spoon to see her giving me a curious look and I quickly stopped tapping the rythm and blushed, folding my hooves over my stomach.
"No, no keep on going, it was actually kind of nice," she said, giving me a tiny smile.
I returned her smile and said, "No, I'd rather not. I haven't performed in front of an audience in almost half a year now and it's nice. As a musician that performes at clubs, I didn't really get a lot of quiet, but out here, in a town almost nopony knows...I've been enjoying the quiet and seclusion."
She put on a smile that I could tell was forced and said, "Well, it must be nice for you to hide. I wish I could have been a big shot star."
Her face softened into a look of sadness and I put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and said, "Trust me on this, you don't want that. When you're big and famous, you don't have any time to yourself. Your whole life is one big plan moving from one performance to the other."
She hugged me and I froze up, not really expecting this from her. The one who had made fun of me since I moved to this town. The one who had seemed to have hated me the most. And she was hugging me.
I hesitantly returned the hug and I pulled away after a few seconds, revealing to her that I had a few tears falling down my cheeks.
"W-why are you crying," she asked.
"Because," I said, "I haven't actually had an actual conversation with another pony in a few months. And I never realized how alone I felt. I jsut kind of pushed everything away." I realized who I was talking to and I pulled my feelings back again, retreating into my hole pit of unawareness and said, "You probably don't want to hear my sob stories though." After a few seconds I said, "You'd best go find somepony else to talk to rather than me, I'm probably going to make your image look bad."
She snorted and said, "You're pretty clueless you know." I gave her a questioning look and she said, "I only kept up that image for Tiara. She was my only friend, well, the only one who actually cared for me. Everypony else only used me to get closer to her. But she's gone now, taken from me by that colt she's with. So now I'm alone again."
I realized then that she was sort of like me. Alone, afraid, and in need of a friend.
I hugged her and said, "Well I'll be your friend, you don't have to keep up and act or pretend to be anything around me, and I promise, you'll never be alone again."
I awoke to the sound of a pack of wolves howling to the night sky Celestia had made. It was nothing compared to what her sister had done, but she tried her hardest to make up for killing Luna.
It had started as another of their little fights, but escalated quickly and Celestias anger had flared, setting off the mental connection she had with her guards and making them rampage thorugh Equestria, killing everypony that moved. That had been the worst day of anyponies life. The day that the world fell silent as the survivors called it. After that, nopony dared to go outside. They didn't want to move, didn't want to work, but eventually lives went on in silence and secrecy, for nopony wanted the guards to find them.
Nopony except me that is. I was determined to take as many of them down as I could. They had destroyed everything I had. My hopes, my chances, my life. Everything dissapeared on that day.
I got up and walked to the entrance of the cave, making sure the dust storm had ended before I walked out of the relative safeness of the cave and into the searing heat of the wasteland. I swayed and saw a figure in the distance. An armored figure. I began to move for the figure, hoping I had enough energy to fight and kill one last enemy before I died.
Because of my broken mind, I never noticed the hole open right in front ofme and my body nor my mind never registered it when I simply fell into the darkness of the pit, landing into the hooves of a stallion I only faintly recognized before I passed out again from exaustion and disease.
The guard thorught he had seen something stumbling for him on the horizon so he bent and pulled his sword out of its sheath, turning back to see nothing. Only the dusty horizon of the once great kingdom that had fell. With difficulty yes, but it fell nonetheless.
He slipped the sword back into the sheath and continued his examination of this quadrant, before returning to his general and telling him that nothing had changed on the wasteland. The general saw something in the cadets eyes, but he ignored it and sent an update to the Queen.
Your Royal Queen Celestia,
There has been no change in the wilderness of section 243-5 of the Empire over the past week. We will keep monitoring and tell you if we find any new discoveries.
Your faithful servant,
Genral Fang
He didn't notice his cadet sneak out of the tent as he was writing this. None of the Admirals noticed the cadet move out of the camp and out to the wasteland. Nopony was there to see him take off his helmet, revealing a brown coat as well as an even darker brown mane.
He pulled out an object from the side of his armor and gave a satisfied sigh at the pocket that nopony would ever notice. "Ah perception fields, you gotta love them."
The object in his hooves began to give off a pulsating sound as he pushed a button on the side of it and began to scan it across the wasteland. Something in his pocket began to vibrate and he pulled the object out, flipping it open and putting it to his ear.
"Doctor, I can see the information, there are life forms under the wasteland, a whole city," a voice said.
I awoke to find sunlight streaming through the window, onto the floor of my mundane room at the orphanage. I sighed and stared blankly at the bland ceiling before getting up and getting myself prepared for the last day of school this week. Tomorrow oficially started Hearths Warming break and I didn't want to miss a single second of it.
I walked out of my bathroom, my black hair combed over my right eye, the white tip of the bang stopping just short of my chin. I marked the date off on my calendar, not quite believing it was the 17th. I gave a sigh of relief and hurried off to school, not even giving the slight creak of my closet door opening a single thought.
The white mare looked out the window at the fleeting figure of her oldest friend and gave him a sad gaze and sighed as tears came to her eyes while she used her blue mane to cover her face.
"Ma'am," a voice behind her said.
She turned around to see the owner of the orphanage sitting there staring at her and she gave him a smile, pretending that she was ok.
"Yes," she asked as nicely as she could.
"Are you alright," the bright green stallion asked her.
She shook her head and said, "Yeah, just fine."
"Was that your son," he asked as he looked out the window behind her.
"No, no. Just a...a really old friend," she managed.
She walked out the door after that, leaving the owner of the building alone with his thoughts as she walked out onto the street.
I smiled at the mare sitting next to me. Her grey coat and silver mane shining in the sunlight streaming in through the windows. She looked up and gave me a weird stare before writing something down on a piece of paper and passing the note to me.
I opened it and read, "What's up with the weird smile?"
I gave a small laugh and wrote, "Nothing, I'm just happy you decided to move up beside me," and passed the note to her.
She rolled her eyes and wrote onto the note, passing it to me once more and I read, "Well, you are the only colt in here that wants to be my friend."
"I'm sure that if you were to talk to a few of them and got to know them, then they would like you."
"No, they wouldn't. I don't deserve friendships with them after what I did to them."
"Alright, but I promise this, you'll always have me. Always, even if the worst possible thing were to happen."
We both got a little laugh out of that and she smiled at me once more before focusing on Ms. Cherilees lesson on how snow was made.
The mare gazed into the school again and sighed before speaking to the brown stallion beside her.
"Doctor, please, can't I just talk to him once,"she pleaded.
The Doctor looked at her and said, "I know you miss him Vinyl, but you can't just go up to him and talk to him, that could change his history and then what would we do? Huh? We wouldn't have a chance to save this world and it would be ruled by that tyrant. Now which do you want? Save Equestria, or talk to your friend?"
The electric headed mare looked at the colt talking to the filly beside him once more and smiled a little as she said, "I just miss him so much Doctor. I miss the days when we would do nothing but sit around and play music all day long, deciding on what songs to play next at a concert. Fighting over which bands were better. Arguing over who could create the best bass drop.
"You know, I never got to tell him that he was better than me. He was always better than me, at everything. But I would never admit it. I was too stubborn and I would always put him down and tell him that maybe he would be as good as me one day. And you know, he actually thought that he wasn't as good as me. Ever. And it's all my fault," tears were cascading down her cheeks as she talked, "he always felt that he needed to prove himself to earn my respect. And I went along with it. I kept letting him think that he wasn't any good."
She looked at the window and watched as Alex listened to his teacher talk through half lidded eyes. She waved one last time and turned, walking behind the tree her and the Doctor had been beside, but never coming across from the other side. The Doctor gave one last look at the colt sitting at the desk and noticed he was looking his way with tears on his cheeks. The Doctor gave him one last wave and turned to walk behind the tree.
I had seen her. My oldest friend. She had been there, sitting and watching me for Celestia knew how long. Tears began to pile up and spill over as I watched her walk behind the tree and not come out the other side. The stallion raised his hoof in a farewell and trotted behind it, dissapearing just like Vinyl, leaving me with a heart unsure what to do. The rest of the lesson continued on with me hardly paying any attention, with my gaze focused on the tree, wanting desperately for Vinyl to walk out so I could walk over to her and tell her how much I missed her. But she never came back out.
The bell rung and I flew out the door, rushing for the tree and arriving to see two sets of hoofprints and a set of prints I had only seen one other place besides a book. A Foals Guide to the World of Humans
It had detailed blueprints on the human body, the shape, the prints. But it was mythology, wasn't it? Something was nagging at the back of my mind, pushing and pushing against my mental barrier untill it broke and memories flooded back.
"No," I whispered. "I'm not letting her go...she's my friend."
"Alex," the mare beside me pleaded, "you have to let me go, for the love of Celestia, you have to live your life."
"What's the point in living if I don't have my best friend, even if I don't remember you," I snapped. "N-," I managed before the shadow in front of us spoke out, his voice barely a whisper.
"Garanth," was the only thing he said.
By now, the ground was splintered open and there was light spilling from under my hooves. Something in my head was turning, but it was taking a few seconds till it clicked in place, and in those seconds I began to ask, "What?"
Then the name clicked and I immediately remembered what would happen if I were to not give Anna up. I looked down at Anna and said, "Anna, I'm sorry," and looked up at the shadow with sorrow in my eyes and tears on the edge of my vision, "I remember. I know what I have to do. I'll let her go, but you have to hold true to your promise." Tears were still at the edge of my vision and I blinked them from my sight, clearing my eyes to see the shadow in a silent scream as light burst from where his eyes and nose should be, as well as his mouth. Anna also had the same thing happening to her, but she was smiling at me while tears fell down her muzzle. I raised a hoof to her cheek and kissed the top of her snout, crying as I realized that I was loosing my best friend. Cracks began to form along the shadows body and Annas, leaving them scarred with light spilling out of both of them in all directions. And then everything exploded and I was left floating in a haze of darkness.
The stallion I had seen only once before, in the medium, appeared in front of me muinutes later and I gazed at him, allowing my eyes to land on his own and I was allowed to see the world he inhabited.
There were tons of creatures that stood on two legs, I didn't know what they were, but I was determined to know what they were or where this place was by the time I was to go back.
"So what exactly are those creatures that live in your world," I asked Garanth.
He smiled, his grey coat shifting on his body a little as he moved to sit beside me on the invisible ground, and said, "I'll only tell you one thing, the rest after that is up to you. They're called humans."
I opened my mouth to ask more, but he put a hoof to my mouth, effectively making me shut up.
"Shhh, just listen for right now, ok," he said. I nodded and he continued, "I'm going to keep my promise, you are going back, but I'm going to give you a choice. Would you like to keep your memories, be able to remember your life up until this point?
I gazed at him with a look of confusion on my face as I said, "But that would mess up the time streams, wouldn't it?"
He gave me a smile and said, "Oh kid, if only you knew how screwed up they already are."
I nodded my head a little and said, "Y-yes, I'd like to remember it. I want to remember it all. Even if it hurts. Even if it makes me want to die. I don't want to forget her."
Garanth smiled and said, "Good, I'll ta-."
He stopped talking and his face twisted into a grimance of pain as he fall back onto his flank, practically gasping for breath as he struggled to get to his hooves. I rushed to his side and helped him up as he leaned forward and whispered into my ear.
"There is a man named the Doctor. When you meet him, trust him with your life Alex, for now, there is nothing I can do to help you," he said haltingly as he began to spasm.
"Wait, what do you mean," I asked, "What do you mean," I screamed at him.
Garanth turned to me with a sad smile on his lips and said, "I'm so-."
I woke up the next morning laying on the ground in the apple orchard. I hurried to the town and asked if anypony had seen Anna, with no luck. Nopony had seen her. It was as if she had...dissapeared.
It hit me like a blow to the side of the face and I fell to my knees, crying my eyes out in the middle of the courtyard, not even caring who had seen me. I had lost my best friend again.
A pony came up behind me and I swung at the stallion, not taking the time to see who it was. My hoof connected and I turned to look at who it was, only to see a flash of a white coat, then I was unconcious again.
I ended up getting the information on what had happened in my past from my records. I had left home at the age of eight and had been on the run for three years before my own mother called off the search, opting to let me run and not have to worry about me because I managed to get away every time. I felt tears well up at the information and I just simply walked to the orphanaged at the edge of town. Not even giving going home another thought.
I stood on trembling hooves as I looked at the human footprint. These creatures only lived in Garanths dimension, yet one had plainly been here. My eyes traveled to the box-like imprint in the ground and I wondered what in Tartarus that could be. I didn't know of anything that could make marks in the ground that big and there seemed to be something else on the tree.
Canterlot Castle, December Twenty-fifth, 2014.
I shook my head and looked at it again. Not quite believing what I was seeing. Had somepony given me coordiantes as well as a date, or was it for somepony else? I drove it from my mind and turned around to go home, ending up walking straight into Silver Spoon and making both of us tumble down the small incline, landing with her laying on my chest.
"O-oh uh sorry, I didn't see you there," I stammered, giving her a weak smile and hoping the blush on my cheeks wasn't as apparent as I thought it was.
"I-it's alright, I was just coming to ask you if you wanted to come with me and my dad to Phillydelphea for our Hearths Warming vacation for the week," she said.
I gave a shy smile and thought about what would await me there, not even hinting on the outside the torture I was putting myself through. I thought about all of the ponies that would be there. Ponies who knew me and most likely wanted me dead or worse.
But I simply smiled and said, "Yeah, I'd love to go."
Spoon gave a delighted little squeal that I had come to love over the past few days and said, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you," before quickly giving me a small kiss and rushing away before I had the chance to react.
I didn't want to react either way, I just layed there and watched her skip off into the sunset, stopping once to wave to me, before she headed into her house. Night fell and I gave a small sigh, staring at Lunas' sky with a little bit of contempt in my eyes as I watched little shapes dance across the surface of the night.
I smiled one last time before saying, "Goodnight Anna," and pushing myself up, heading to my dreary home and the lecture wating for me, the one thing standing between me and my bed. I half listened to the keeper as he explained the importance of me needing to be "home" before the night fell, hurrying up to my room and getting ready for bed when he was done.
I lay in my bed and thought about the day, wondering what I had seen. Why Vinyl and that other pony had been there. Why I agreed to go to Phillydelphea. I gave up my thoughts and surrendered to my dreams, knowing the Princess of the Night would protect me there. If only she could protect me during the day.
My eyes slowly opened and I moaned, feeling the scars across my body and the poisoned blood coursing through my veins return with a vengance, burning horribly all across my fur and under it as well, making me feel as if I was being burned alive. I struggled and tried to move but found that my hooves and torso were strapped to the table, restricting my movement. I also noticed as beeping sound that grew more frantic along with my movements and I stopped moving, looking around to see the room I was in.
My vision was hazy at best and I couldn't focus on much, butI saw a white stallion heading my way and I watched as his face grew clearer and clearer untill I could tell who it was.
"S-Shining Armor," I questioned.
He gave a little smile that I picked up on and said, "Shhh, just be calm, it's going to be ok now." I felt a small little prick in my arm. Looking down, I saw a needle in my arm. I began to get sleepy and when Shining Armors voice came again, it sounded distant. "You know, you never apologized for punching me all that time ago," he said.
I gave a tired smile and said, "I didn't know who to file an apology to," before the lull of sleep overtook me, leaving me worried and knowing that Luna couldn't save me from the night terrors anymore.
I had awoke on the 19th expecting a great day, such as the last had been. But what I heard immediately shattered that dream. Screams were coming from everywhere, in the streets, in the surrounding houses. I quickly got out of my bed and ran straight for Spoons room, trying to reach her before anything happened to her.
"Spoon," I yelled as I busted into her room, getting screams in response.
A pillow hit me in the face and I ignored it, diving straight for her. I pulled her onto my back and made for the door. I made it to the hallway before my entire plan went bad in an instant. There was a crashing downstairs and I heard someone shout before the voice was cut off and replaced by gurgled cries of pain. I recognized the voice as Duncan, Spoons dad.
I quickly set her down and pushed her into the closet as I said, "Look, just sit there, I'll be back. I promise. Like I said, you'll never be alone again."
She gave me a shaky smile and kissed my cheek before I shut the closet door and made for the hallway, waiting for whoever this was to reach me. What rounded the corner wasn't what I expected though. It was Celestias' royal guards on a rampage. A group of four guards stopped as they saw me and gave each other a small smile, knowing that I would be an easy kill. I gave them a smile and prayed to whatever was watching me that my death would be a swift one.
A shadow next to me shifted and I caught it out of the corner of my left eye. I breathed a small sigh of relief and tried to hold down the anger that began to boil up in me at the sight of Garanth. I stepped forward a few steps and the entire group launched themselves at me.
The shadow leapt at the same time and the pack collapsed on itself as the shadow grew, covering the entire group in its darkness, making it impossible to see the warriors.Their screams echoed through the air as the shadow shrunk, closing the warriors in an inescapable field. There were cracks and suddenly the screams stopped replaced only by the sound of muffled shouts and pleas for help; and, eventually, that stopped too, leaving only the screams from outside and the silent cries of Spoon.
I walked back to her and said, "Hey, look, we're going to be ok. There's some...pony here to help us."
She glanced up and gave me a smile, allowing me to wipe the tears off of her face and pick her up, putting her on my back as I began to take her out of this mess. I didn't know where, but anywhere was better than here.
"Whatever you do, don't take her to Canterlot," a voice whispered to me before the shadows retreated, waiting for somepony to get close enough to me before striking.
It had been a few days since the initial attack. Celestias' guards had gone rampant, killing anypony that moved and anything that breathed. Garanth dissapeared a while ago, not sure where to, but it must have been good. I'm currently heading to Canterlot Castle to see if Celestia will help us. We're nearly dead, but we're close to the castle now and I know we can reach it. We just need to keep going. I know we'll be ok.
We had traveled the wasteland for days, reaching the Castle on the edge of death. I pulled Spoon beside me, using her for support more than she using me for a crutch. We made it into the courtyard before things got horrible. They got horrible really fast needless to say.
I kicked a can out of my way, looking around for somepony, hoping that the guards in Canterlot had been able to resist whatever had caused the uproar. An arrow embeded itself in between my hooves, making me and Spoon both hop back, away from the archers line of sight.
I set her down and said, "You going to be ok while I take care of this guy?"
She gave me a weak smile and shook her head, letting me know that I could go.
I stepped out to see an entire pack of guards instead of just the archer now. another arrow embedded itself in between my legs, but I ignored how close it had gotten to hitting me and pulled it out of the ground determined to use it as a weapon. I counted four guards total. An easy fight after all I had leant over the past few days. I stepped forward, the archer letting another arrow fly, this one destined to hit between my eyes. The arrow came closer. Ten feet, five, one, six inches. I flipped the arrow in my mouth, twisting it skyward, the arrowhead colliding with the shaft of the other, cracking the shaft and sending it flying to my left side.
They all gave me small looks of disbelief before they charged, the first one falling prey to the arrow as I curved it upwards, the blade of it pulling across the rough patch of fur under his chin before striking the bottom of his mouth and breaking into his skull, stopping when it hit the roof of his mouth. I pulled it out swiftly, allowing him to fall back as he screamed. I looked to the others and knew I was going to be in for a hayload of a fight.
The second guard leapt at me, the blade of his sword coming down with speed rather than force, a new tactic for them, but not good enough to get me. I moved quickly, slipping under him as he went just over me and slipping the arrow in between his ribs, jamming the head into his heart, allowing his momentum to carry him further. He landed on the ground and I gave a slight grimance as he landed and a crack resounded when the arrow pushed through his body and stuck out of his back. His blade fell to the ground and the other two began to swing at me, one right behind the other, forcing me back just like I wanted.
I pretended to be scared untill I reached the sword, quickly swiping it up in the air and then watching as an arrow came by and hit the sword, throwing it out of my reach and blowing away all the hopes I had of winning this fight.
There was a pink flash and suddenly both of the guards swords were in their throats, dripping profously with blood as they stumbled around.
I looked around and saw Spoon half leaning out from her hiding place with a slight smile on her lips. Then everything began to slow down, Spoons eyes grew wide with fear and she shouted something, but I heard nothing. She grimanced as her horns aura appeared and I was thrown out of the way as and arrow flashed by close enough to shave off some of the bangs in my right eye. My head slowly followed the arrow and I watched as it began its descent, straight for where Spoon was.
Her horn lit up but it quickly faded away and I realized that she was powerless.
"NO," I shouted, time returning to normal as I leapt to her, knowing even then that it was too late.
It landed with a sickening thud and her skull caved in, spilling blood onto the cobblestones and onto my hooves as I landed beside her.
I stood unbelieving, looking at her corpse until I felt something smash into my shoulder. I had lost all sense of feeling by now and I slowly turned to see the archer stanuntill I spun and launched myself into a full-swing kick, connecting with his face and making his neck emit a crack. I landed on his right and he stood for a few seconds untill a gust of wind blew and pushed both me and him over onto our sides, one dead, the other as good as dead.
I woke to hear explosions and crashes before I fell back under again. I arose to see a white Unicorn with a blue and purple mane at the door shouting to ponies around me in lab coats as he fired energy at the door. The last thing I saw before slipping under again was a pony in armor enter the room only to be destroyed by the Unicorns magic. I crawled my way half out of the lull of sleep one last time to find myself on the Unicorns back again as the charged through a crowd of armored ponies with the scientist right behind us.
"V-Vinyl," I somehow managed to get out.
"Nope," Shining Armors voice rang out in my ears, "just your friendly neighborhood stallion Shining Armor saving the day." He struggled with his words as the assault on the shield around us continued, "Just go back to sleep, the rest of the poison isn't out of your system yet and you being awake is only going to aggravate the poison."
I gave a slight nod and drew in a shaky breath as my grip on conciousness was released and I fell into the pit of darkness again.
I awoke in a bed and for a few moments I thought that the past few weeks had just been a bad dream untill a filly's face popped into my vison.
"Gran'pa he's awake," the filly shouted, making me wince.
I took in his features, bright green eyes, yellow fur, and a green mane. Suddenly his face was replaced by an older stallion who had red eyes and a grey mane with brown fur.
"Well hello there sonny," he said softly.
I moved to sit up when a sudden pain flared in my left shoulder and my right hoof, forcing me to fall back onto the bed.
"Hello," I said through gritted teeth.
He smiled at me, revealing that he had a few teeth missing as he said, "Me and my grandson saw your fight. I didn't think you would win for a minute there, but your friend saved you."
I quickly shot up, ignoring the fire in my hooves, as I asked, "Did Spoon live?"
He gave me a sad look and said, "You know nopony could live that kid. I'm sorry, but if it's any consolation, me an' my grandson gave her a proper burial and gave you some medicine for the poison running through your system."
I gave a light smile at the comfort that they had treated her to a proper burial and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have some of that medicine for me to take with me, would you?"
"You're not going anywhere, not with those wounds," he said.
"Alright then," I said, "well, since I'm staying here, night I ask who you are?"
"My name is Martin Rodrigez and this is my grandson Eridan Rodrigez what's yours," he asked.
"I'm Alex Pearsons," I said, looking at Martins horn. It looked as though it had been haphazardly cut off. "What happened to your horn?"
He looked a bit hesitant as he answered, "The guards cut off the horns and wings of every Unicorn and Pegasi in Canterlot and is using us as hostages in case anypony tries to come kill Celestia."
I gave a slight nod, indicating that I understood and laid back down, opting to be silent. Martin began to look through a bunch of storage boxes, pulling out a needle filled with a clear fluid and coming over to me.
"I'm going to give you some mophene, ok," he said, "it's going to make you fall asleep, that way, the poison will get out of your system faster."
I nodded and he put the needle in my arm, the lull of sleep coming over me once more as I succumbed to it.
The rest of the week went like that, I was allowed up for a while, but was put to sleep again later so I could heal. The physical wounds cleared up quickly but I could still feel the poison burning slightly under my fur. Until I had a dream one night about Garanth, at least I think it was a dream.
"Alex," a voice whispered from the dark. "Alex," it called again and I felt myself slipping further into sleep to find the source.
My hooves touched the ground and things began to become clear. There was a fight going on inside some sort of machine. There were beasts made of gears and cogs fighting what seemed to be ten ponies and a human in a circular room with a controll center in the middle of it.
A stallion yelled out "Alex," and suddenly I was rushing from one of the doorways with a horn and blasting the beasts with a spell that made them seem to rust on the spot.
One of them pounced and I was sucked from the vison, leaving me standing in the dark again untill the shadows took a shape and there was a shadow in front of me.
And then I was beside myself as Garanth yelled at the other me, "You have to take the deal otherwise the filly will die Alex, now what do you say?"
"Fine," the other me said.
And that too was taken into the darkness. Garanth appeared in front of me again moments later and adressed me directly.
"Alex," he said, "I've shown you two crucial moments in your future, the moment where you choose who lives, and who dies."
"What was the first one about," I asked, "what choices do I make there that determines who lives?"
"You'll know when you get there kid, I'm sorry I can't be much help other than that," he said. He looked up as though he could see what was happening outside my conciousness, which I didn't doubt, and said, "Well, I'm afraid it's time for you to go, and Alex, take the pills, they'll save your life."
I snapped up and just barely dodged a sword that was headed right for me. It smashed into the bed and resounded with a crack as I jumped out and ran for my life. I ran to the living room to find Martin and his grandson lying on the ground in a pool of blood, making me turn around and face the guard.
"You killed these innocent people," I said, "and for that, I'll make sure you don't get out of this house alive."
Hours later I had given them a proper burial next to Spoon.
Days later I had caught wind that there was a resistance in the Northern Draconian Mountains.
Months later I was fighting my way out of those mountains, all the while basically killing myself in the process.
A year later I was resting in a cave barely outside of Canterlot with no way to live.
Or so I thought.
I awoke to find myself on Shining Armors back as him and two remaining scientist made their way through the abandoned city. I shuffled off of his back and stood unsteadily on my hooves much to Shinings suprise and he gaped at me as I smiled and opened my mouth.
"So what's the plan," I said, completely faking that I didn't feel like I was about to die.
He nodded his head and began to go over what we were going to do.
Sometimes in our darkest hour, help comes from the most unexpected places
I know this feeling, and I know that Alex knows it as well. We both have had this experience, myself a while ago in...I don't even remember the date, but I remember the scenario I was in. It was my first time being activated and I was slowly making my way along time, enjoying the fact that I was unable to be hurt, when I spotted something that I'd never seen before.
There was a crack in the...well nothing. There was just this crack sitting there in the air, hovering there. I made my way over to it and I began to make voices out in it.
"No! There's no way they're the different group," a stallion's voice exclaimed.
"Alex think about it, the monitor even says 'Session Diverged' right there," a mare said.
"I don't give a shit what the monitor says, I want to go see my friends...our friends when this is all over," 'Alex' said.
The mare was silent for a few moments before she spoke again, "Look, I know this is hard, but even so, we have to lead them and break the cycle. Even if it means never seeing ours again."
I slipped closer to the crack and tried to enter it, only finding my way barred by some unknown force, so I was forced to get as close to the thing and try to see. What I saw nearly made me stop and die. There was some lab with computer screens set up, a set of ten in all. They were set up into two collums, five on each and two in each row, one on top of the second.
The first screen in the upper left, showed some sort of feed, streaming live, but that wasn't what made me stop. There was me right there, talking to a colt and a filly, in the middle of a forest at night. The colt shouted something and suddenly everything began to become white. A paradox my mind said.
My eyes flitted to the monitor below that one, the fifth one of the set. It was simply a white screen covered in black text, set up in a sort of command sequence. It seemed like the stallion had typed in some commands, each of his commands beginning with a symbol composed of two equal marks, followed by a greater than symbol.
I had noticed that the two had stopped talking and were now looking at me. The stallion had black hair with the tips dyed white, his fur a dark blue, and his eyes a cyan color, topped off with no cutie mark. The mare was a different story though. She was like me, just a shadow whose form changed between different body types and genders, the only discerning feature, her voice.
"H-hey Garanth," 'Alex' said, with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Who are you," I asked, skipping straight to the important question, "and how do you know my name?"
He grimanced and said, "So you haven't met me yet then. I can't tell you anything, because that would cause another paradox, and to tell the truth, one was enough. It's good to see you though."
I gave him a glare before looking to the mare, "And I'm guessing the same goes for you?"
"That about sums it up," the mare said, "but I can show you my real form and hope you can realize who I am."
The shadows fell away, and I was left speechless...
I don't remember who that mare was, or what happened after that. All I know is that I woke up a few thousand years later to find everything coming apart at the seams, before blackness spread across the land, eventually catching me no matter how fast I ran and swallowing me.
That mare said something that helped me though, I just know it, but I don't remember what she said, and that's what gets me.
I woke up and found myself at the start of everything, with the two sisters being created out of the darkness. I then had all of time and space at the tip of my hooves. Such is the life of a subject in the Lazarus Project, we must live time once throughout its entirety without any powers but our mind, and then we are left to reap the souls of the dying and take them to the Overworld.
I found days later that when I closed my eyes, I was in another place entirely, cloaked in a hood with appendages on the end of my hoof which I found out were called fingers, and my hoof was now called a hand.
I got used to the new body quickly due to the fact that there was another mind in there that seemed to move to my own when I blinked. I assumed that it was every time I blinked, but I soon learned that I could controll it and only end up there when I wanted...
Heh, look at me. Gossiping about my life as though I were a mere filly and not a being older than time itself. I figure that it's the best thing to do while up here taking care of the Overworld while being forced to watch Alex in his trip to recover from the blood poisoning. I believe that he's been in this town for almost a year now, mainly passed out mind you, but there notheless. He's looking signifigantly better, but for a while there, I thought I'd have to take his soul.
It's never a good thing, reaping a friends soul. You'd think it would be better, knowing the fact that you're the one helping them to the next life...but to tell the truth, it only hurts worse.
And off I go again, I really need to stop doing that before Anna ends up finding this and taking it from me while she locks herself in her room and reads it. You wanna know something weird though...I can fully well simply walk through the door and take it from her...yet I don't. I can't bring myself to... Why is that? Why can't I do anything to her? Why can't I force myself to harm her?
I think I'm getting weak because of all of this war. There were so many good ponies that were killed that day who could have led good lives...I need to get off of this subject and away from this journal.
I get the feeling that the guards are getting ready to ambush the city, and I can't help but feel like I've got to go down there and help Alex, but I know I can't. I have to stay here and take care of the souls who aren't gone.
"Ok, we need to get out of this city alive, so Alex, you take the right and flank the group of guards over there while me and the scientists go this way and wait for your signal."
I moved around the group of buildings and disbatched one of the guards before the other two noticed me. The second one died before he could get his sword out of its scabbard and the final one pulled his sword out and offered a weak defense before I pushed past it and shoved my sword into his throat and out the back of his neck, severing his spine.
I whistled to Shining Armor and the group moved further along the path until we spotted some guards, about a group of ten. Shining took a blade out of his belt and offered it to the scientist before coming over to meet me.
"So how do we go about taking these guys out," I asked as I looked at the surrounding area and seeing no way around or above them.
Apparently he came to the same conclusion because he said, "That's an easy one kid, we take them head on."
"Now if I end up dying, Alex, you get these two out of here and find a safe place for them to live."
We bomb rushed the group and began swinging our swords, aiming for the Unicorns first, taking out three of the group before they even knew we were there. An alarm began to sound from a makeshift camp they had set up and we were suddenly surrounded by a ton of guards. I nodded at him and we began hacking our way through the sentries and forging a path to the exit up a head where we would face every single guard if we had to. There was a flash of silver and some sparks, and then Shining was down, leaving me stuck between dragging him away or fending for myself.
I decided to stick by his side as he rose and I kept on fighting and ignoring the lashes that I recieved from the amount of guards. By the time Shining was standing, I was covered in cuts and blood from my own wounds and the wounds I had inflicted on the soldiers. We faced hundreds at one time, and kept killing them, but they kept coming, even after the body count racked up nearly a thousand. There were too many and we were being overrun. Shining was doing his best to give us a defense but the thousands of guards all attacking at once made defense almost impossible.
"Look Alex, if I don't make it out of here then you keep your end of the deal," he said, "make sure those scientists live."
I smiled at him and asked, "What makes you so sure that I'm going to let you die on me? You're not going to get out that easy teach."
He smiled back and swung his sword in an arc, catching the necks of a few of the guards as he yelled, "YOU WANT ME, COME AND GET ME."
His magic grew brighter and the swords from our fallen opponents began to swing in unison with his own, providing both a better offense and defense for us.
"THIS IS FOR CADENCE YOU BASTARDS," he screamed.
"THIS IS FOR EVERYPONY I'VE LOST," I yelled as I dived striaght for the crowd.
My sword was cutting through their armor without any resistance and soon enough I was covered in blood and other bodily fluids, as well as panting from exaustion. The infinite number of guards finally stopped coming over the crest of the low point we were in and I eventually brought my blade in one final downward stroke, catching the guard's collar-bone and cutting a straight path to his heart, killing the last guard. I let my sword drop and I drew in a deep breath, stopping and releasing it in a scream as an arrow enveloped in a golden aura flashed past my face, just narrowly missing me, and lodging itself in Shining Armor's side. He went down, hard, and I heard something crack as he landed.
"No," I whispered as I moved to his side, "not again. No, no, nononoNONONO!"
There were tears in my eyes but his face held eyes that had a resillient spark in them, and a smile that said he didn't plan to give up. He tried to sit up and made it to his two front hooves before he collapsed on his knees, blood leaking in a thin trail from the corner of his mouth.
"Hey, Alex," he grunted, "make sure you keep your edge of the deal, okay kid?"
"D-damnit," I said, "you're not dying here! You're not leaving me alone!"
"You're never alone, there's always somepony watching...waiting for your next big move, even when it seems like nopony's there," he said.
"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT," I screamed as I choked back sobs, "you're going to live."
"Kid, the arrow hit my lung," he said, " but you know what, I'm feeling lucky after surviving a fight with several hundred guards, I think I'll just walk it off."
I realized that his horn was glowing slightly and my eyes teared up as the conclusion that he was trying to hold his lung closed to the best of his ability.
"No...shit...just," I whispered.
"Hey, Alex," he said, "you ever wonder why I chose you as my apprentice?" I nodded and he laughed, wincing a little at the action, "Well that punch you gave me in August two years ago nearly knocked me out, so my second instinct, the first being to retaliate, was to find out who you were." He laughed a little as I gave him a slight smile. "That's what I wanna see kid. I found out your past and soon enough I tracked you down and you know the rest."
Another tear escaped and slipped down my cheek before I nodded and said, "So one little punch saved my life a couple hundred times."
"The damndest things usually do," he said. "How about you sit with me and recall the good 'ol days with me, huh? A last wish if you will."
"You sure about that," I asked, "we're currently in a war you know."
"Then drag me somewhere safer," he replied with a stern look in his eye.
I obliged and in a few minutes of careful manuvering, I managed to get him into one of the surrounding houses. I propped him up against one of the chairs and made my way to the door before I heard him call my name softly.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Where you goin', the party jus' started," he said.
"I've gotta get the scientists," I replied, making my way to the door again. As one last afterthough I added, "You better not die while I'm gone."
He gave me a salute and I returned it, hurridly walking out the door and returning with the scientists minutes later.
"Alright," Shining said, "now that everypony's here, the party can start."
We all sat around the ex-guardsman, the two scientists quiet as me and him talked.
"You know," I said, "I want to know one thing...how come you weren't affected by whatever happened to the rest of the guards?"
"That, my friend," he replied, "is an excellent question, but not one I have an answer to. Sorry bud."
"It's alright," I said.
We were quiet for a few minutes until Shining spoke up once more.
"Hey Alex, you remember that time when we went and borrowed Pinkie's prank book and tried out every prank?"
I gave a loud laugh and said, "Yeah, that was great. If only we could go back to those times...the simple times when we didn't have to fight daily to survive."
He was quiet only for a minute before he spoke again, "You remember when we pranked the hell out of Rainbow Dash?"
My laugh was a bit quieter, but still audiable. I could tell he was just trying to get my mind off of the shaft protrouding from his side, but it was hard to do.
"We spent the entire day pranking her and she never even found out," I replied, my mind flashing back to that day.
Rainbow Dash sighed as she soared through the sky. It is too early for this she thought. The sun was just coming over the horizon and there were already reports of clouds being in the wrong spot. She spotted the one she was assigned to and made a slow descent towards it, taking care not to smash into it in her half-asleep state. Her hooves reached out and touched the cloud, preparing to take it to another sector. They made contact and stuck to it.
She tried to pull her hooves away but only succeeded in entangling herself even more in the decietful cloud. The sun rose enough for the light to land on the cloud and what she saw made all of the blood drain from her face faster than she could clear the sky.
"DISCORD," she practically screamed as she managed to break free of the cloud.
She flew back to the town as fast as she could and began to shout at the top of her lungs.
"DISCORD IS BACK EVERYPONY," she shouted as she flew over the town of Ponyville, waking up the residential ponies as she soared over the town.
"RAINBOW DASH," Rarity yelled at her, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA ARE YOU DOING? Don't you realize some ponies need their beauty sleep still," the tone of her voice lowering the closer Dash got to her.
"Sorry Rarity, but we got a major problem," Dash said, "Discord's back!"
"And what gives you this idea," Rarity asked.
"There was a cotton candy cloud this morning," Dash argued with the white mare. "I was trying to clear it and got stuck in it. I only noticed it was made of cotton candy when the sun came up," she added, almost as if she were trying to save her pride.
Rarity looked up in the sky, raising an eyebrow at the lack of cotton candy clouds in the sky.
"Well darling, I think you may have just had a rough night," Rarity said.
"Rarity," Dash yelled, "I'm not lying, there was a cloud and I'm going to prove it."
"She never did find that cloud," I finished my tale of the prank.
"Woah," one of the scientists, whose name I had learnt was Exavier, said. "And she never found out it was you two?"
"Never had a clue," Shining spoke up.
Exavier laughed, his green eyes sparkling with delight and his grey mane swishing around his horn and atop his black coat with a magnifying glass as his Cutie Mark. His companion, Deviree, a mare with a white coat and black mane, her eyes teal with her Cutie Mark being a stethescope, didn't share the same enthusiasm on the outside.
She had, in fact, been quiet the entire time, opting to let Exavier answer most of the questions I asked in the brief chat before I launched my tale.
"You two must be the Prank Masters then," Exavier said.
Me and Shining shared a look before I spoke up, "Nah if anypony gets that, it'd be Pinkie Pie."
Shining nodded and I gave him a little smile, happy that we were just sitting around and enjoying our time together rather than worrying about how much time we had left before he left us.
"I think it's about time we slept," Deviree spoke up.
"Well look who finally decided to talk," I said, "but why stop no-"
I was interrupted by Shining as he said, "You know Alex, I'm getting pretty tired too."
This was it, the end of the line for him. I smiled and gave in, searching the house for some blankets and offering the bed to Deviree and the couch to Exavier, while I slept next to Shining. I heard him shiver a few minutes after we had all settled down, and I took my blanket off, laying it on top of his own and laying back down, my back facing Shining and the window with the light from the lantern outside streaming in. The light outlined Shining's form on the floor perfectly and I watched as he drew in one last breath before shuddering, his chest falling and resting where it was.
I waited a minute for his chest to rise back up.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
A tear fell down my cheek and I closed my eyes before I began to silently sob into the night and darkness surrounding me, wondering what I had done to deserve this.
Shit, shit, shit, shit. COME ON ELI, WE'RE GONNA BE LATE MAN.
Those were the words that I awakened to, the volume of the last part making me bolt upright. I looked around and found nothing other than Exavier and Deviree still sleeping beside me, neither of them having apparently heard the voice. I was about to just blow it off and imagine that I hadn't heard it when another voice came.
Woah, dude, what the hell?
What is it?
I think you're affecting me, that's what. I'm having this really shoddy idea for the story.
Well don't be all high and mighty, lay it down on me...well as we walk that is, I don't need a friggin tardy on the first day of school.
Well I know this is going to sound stupid, but what if we broke the four-
The voices cut off for a few seconds, allowing me to gather my scrambling thoughts.
Alex, if you can hear me, nod your head.
What the hell are you goin' on abo-
I slowly nodded my head, the voice stopping abruptly as I did so.
You're shitting me right? This is some big pass joke, there is no damn way thi-
"Who are you," I asked quietly, surprising myself as I managed to keep my voice normal.
Well I'm Josh, and my friend is Eli. We're uhh, we're the writers of the story you're in.
I only had a little bit to do with this, just to add.
To tell the truth, I haven't controlled this since Garanth took Anna.
"Wait, what," I asked, not having any knowledge of what to do or how to cope with this. "Let me get this straight. Assuming I even believe you two, you're my authors therefore the ones I should blame for the death of my friend."
No, that would be the wrong thing to do, one because I had nothing to do with her death, seeming as how it was more of a gradual decline in my amount of control. My...Will, I guess you could call it will, started changing and it even broke through what I originally wanted.
"And that was," I asked, now intrigued.
For you and Anna to live together in Ponyville after killing Garanth.
"Wait, Garanth can die?"
"Who can die," a voice asked.
I turned my head to see Exavier sitting up, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Wait, speaking of death, isn't Shining Armour lying dead in that room you're in?
My eyes wandered over to where my mentor's body was, just lying there without a single sign of life in it. I felt tears well up in my eyes and my young age seemed to overshadow me, leaving me feeling scared and alone.
Jesus Eli, could you be any more of a dick?
Well excuuuse me. Your readers weren't the only ones who were kind of shut out of story updates white you were off shitting around the world. You didn't even mention anything in your texts or calls.
I chose to try and ignore the two arguing, apparently in my head, seeming as how Exavier wasn't reacting to their presence, and try to figure out what to do next. My mentor was dead, and if I could I would have torn whoever had killed him in two, but I had made a promise and I was going to stick to it.
"Nopony," I said, directing the statement towards Exavier, "just trying to wrap my head around the fact that Shining can die."
"I know what you mean kid, I felt the same way when my dad died. It was so hard to accept that he could just...end, like that, ha know, in a split second," Exavier said, mirroring my thoughts almost exactly.
"You left out one thing though," I said, giving him a small smile. "You left out the detail that it could happen to us as well at any moment."
He nodded and lapsed into silence, the both of us remaining where we were until Deviree finally got up, the three of us huddling together to determine what our next move would be.
Just give them something to defend themselves with and tell them to leave the city man, then go after Celestia, I mean, maybe if you were to take her down the-
Josh, I don't know how stupid you've become over the summer, but he's an EARTH PONY!
Dude, stop yelling, people are staring.
Sweet Luna, I wish the two of them would shut up, I thought to myself.
Okay, fine, all you had to do was ask.
I ignored his comment and tried to focus on the conversation that was real and not in my head but my thoughts kept straying to that topic even so.
Wait, you mean you haven't...dude, this story is about you, meaning that whoever's reading...or whatever the hell me and Josh are doing, can read/hear your thoughts.
"Wait, ponies actually read about my life," I said, only realizing that I had spoken out loud after the words were out of my mouth. Exavier and Deviree gave me confused stares and I shrank back a little, not wanting to have to explain my situation seeming as how I didn't even have a grip on it myself. "Okay, look, there are things going on right now that I don't fully understand, so don't ask me," I said.
Well, there goes your chance of brushing that off as nothing.
"Oh shut it you," I said, confronting Eli directly.
By now I was a mad mare in the eyes of the two scientists, who were now -
Wait a minute, maybe I can....hello, can you tw-
"Ahh, what the hell is that," Exavier exclaimed, scrambling backwards a few feet.
Congratulations Joshy ol' buddy.
Don't call me that.
"Okay, Alex, I'm going to suspend my surprise and my disbelief long enough for you to explain this to us," Deviree said, her eyes wide.
"Honestly, I don't have any damn clue, ask those two," I replied.
And you think we've got any clue? Hell, we're only two teenagers who aren't even out of grade school. Until about ten minutes ago, I thought this was just my brain going on overdrive. What about you Eli?
I don't even know if I'm ready to accept this is even real for starters. Doing so would basically be saying that I'm willing to believe that any cartoon or book or whatever is a living breathing being, if my theory is right that is. Either way, the two of us are about to enter school and I don't want to be caught talking to myself like a mad man.
Yeah, for some reason the whole mental connection thing only works one way.
"Meaning," I asked.
We can hear your thoughts but you can't hear ours.
Wait, did you really try that?
Maybe...
"Okay, how about we stop conversing with the creepy God voices and focus on getting out of here alive," Exavier said.
"Yeah, fine, sure," I said. "How about we just try and sneak past any patrols that we see and hey, if worst comes to worst, we'll have to fight."
Oh yes, bravo, bravo Alex. Congratulations on such an amazing plan.
"How about you make a plan then you ass," I said.
...
"Exactly, now, let's make a hasty exit before some lucky patrol finds us," I said.
We left the building and began to make our way through the rubble of what was once a town, only bunches of bricks and stone now. We snuck past the patrols of the guards and reached the exit to the city, following Exavier's directions. Once we arrived me ducked behind a fallen house, gazing at our only way out which was blocked by a handful of guards.
"Alex, you can take them, right," Deviree asked.
"I've got no clue," I admitted, "last night was...I don't know how to explain it other than that wasn't me out there fighting last night."
"What the hell does that mean," Exavier asked.
"It means that there was another pony in my head last night telling me what to do," I said, gazing grimly at the doorway.
"So, what, do we just sit here and rot," Exavier said, "no thanks, I'd rather go out fighting."
Before we could decide what to do we heard a voice behind us.
I had thought at first that we would have been executed on the spot, but I was surprised as they settled for taking the three of prisoners and marching us towards Canterlot. Perhaps Celestia had a grudge against me for killing hundreds upon hundreds of guards, may be she just wanted a personal audience with me to talk about why exactly I'd done what I did, either way, I never got the chance to find out.
We exited the city and we're herded into a carriage where we were each hand cuffed to the railing along the walls. It was comfortable enough but I didn't sit still long enough to judge the conditions. The minute the cart began its journey and I was sure that the noise wouldn't attract the attention of the driver I began to pull at the cuffs, giving a little sound of joy as the railing started to come off the wall. After a few more minutes the railing came free and I found myself with a makeshift crowbar.
I moved over to the door of the carriage and looked at Exavier and Deviree before saying, "You two stay here," and opened the door, leaning out and trying to get up on top of the carriage.
"Was that a joke," I heard Exavier ask Deviree, the rest of what they said becoming lost as I hoisted myself up behind the driver.
"HEY, ASSWIPE," I yelled at the stallion, gaining his attention and making him turn his head. He tried to grab his weapon but ultimately failed as I swung the bar, colliding with his snout and forcing him over the side of the seat, his grip on the reins the only thing keeping him with the carriage. "Damnit," I muttered, noticing that he wasn't going to let them go and was even trying to make his way back into the carriage. I did the only thing I could to keep him away, throwing the bar at him and giving a small smile as it connected with his head, colliding with a satisfying thwacking sound. He let go and rolled away into the dust cloud behind the carriage. I leaned my head over the edge, poking it into the interior and saying, "Hey guys, I got rid of the guard."
"Nice job," Exavier said, "now pass me the keys."
My eyes went wide and I said, "Yeah, uhh, about that."
"You forgot the keys," Deviree exclaimed.
Before I could reply somepony gripped the side of my head, lifting it up and slamming it into the roof of the carriage. Pain flashed through my snout and I felt blood dripping from my nose. Before I could react something was wrapped around my throat, blocking off my airway and preventing air from entering and exiting as it tightened.
"Next time you throw somepony off a carriage, make sure they're gone" my attacker whispered into my ear.
I slowly lost consciousness and before I fell into the darkness of unconsciousness one thought crossed my mind, The guards driving the cart didn't stop
Alex, you'd better not loose to this dick of a guard.
The voice seemed everywhere and nowhere at once and I felt the fabric around my neck loosen a bit as the guard looked around in surprise. I drew in a deep breath, ignoring my pounding headache and oxygen deprived muscles, I used the lower half of my body to throw the guard over my head, tossing him off my back and over the side of the carriage, defiantly out of reach of being able to get back on. I drew in a bunch of deep breaths and was dimly aware of the carriage slowing down as the guards somehow became aware that their comrade was actually gone this time.
"ALEX, ALEX WHAT HAPPENED," Deviree was yelling but I hardly took notice of it as I wiped the blood trailing from my nose and stood up, taking note that my weapon had fallen off the roof.
Apparently the harnesses on the front were designed so they could be taken off quickly because within only thirty seconds the two guards had stopped the carriage and were standing on the two sides of the carriage with their weapons drawn. I looked between the two of them and stopped for a second before I made a choice. I would go down fighting.
I leapt at one of the guards, who apparently wasn't expecting it, allowing me to easily disarm him. My hoof connected with the side of his face and the sword was thrown from his mouth, landing in the dirt a few feet away. I quickly backed up and picked it up, going into an offensive stance as the second guard came around the corner of the carriage. I knew that I was going to have a hard time fighting these two by myself and simply waited for one of them to attack.
YEAH! COME ON ALEX KICK THEIR SORRY ASSES.
The shout took them by surprise and they both looked around in fear. I took advantage of the distraction and attacked, aiming for the one with the sword first. He managed to dodge most of my attack, the sword I was using leaving a scar across his left cheek that began to drip a small amount of blood. Not wanting to give them a chance to attack I contributed running for a few more feet, doing a 180 when I was sure I was out of range of an attack from them. They were both facing me now and had sneers on their faces. I felt a lump of fear forming in my stomach as they looked at each other and nodded, almost as if-
"TAKE THIS YOU CRAZY BASTARDS!"
The shout came from inside the carriage and the attention of the one closest to the carriage was drawn to it. A second later one of the railings flew out, the first guard managing to dodge it, having seen it thrown. The second one, the one with the sword luckily, wasn't as gifted and was knocked unconscious by the whirling pipe. The sword he held fell to the ground and the remaining guard scrambled after it, reaching it a millisecond after I had buried my sword through his eye. The sword passed cleanly through the right socket, passing through his brain and stopping at the back of his skull. The stallion went slack almost instantly, his eyes growing dull and his muscles looking their tension. I moved to the other guard after pulling the sword out of the first one and made a clean stab into his heart, stopping it instantly. I dropped the sword as Exavier and Deviree came from the carriage and I looked to Canterlot, now only a mile or two away.
"So what now," Exavier asked.
I turned back to them and said, "You two go live a life. I've got a mission I have to complete."
"It's suicide you know," Deviree said, a pleading tone in her voice.
"Well maybe so, but somepony has to at least try," I replied, looking back up towards Canterlot.
"WELL LET IT BE SOMEPONY ELSE," Exavier shouted. "We could just flee the country, the three of us together. We could go to the Whitetail Woods and find a village, or maybe the Griffin Kingdom, just don't leave us."
"I'm going into that castle," I said, "and I'm killing Celestia, no matter what it takes."
"Damn you Alex, why are you so intent on this," Deviree asked.
"I made a promise," I said. "When my friend was killed in there I made a promise to end her reign, no matter what it took."
And with that I started walking towards Canterlot, stopping only once as Exavier said one last thing;
"Alex, if you live this, meet us at the edge of the Griffin Kingdom in three months. Three months from this date exactly, okay?"
I thought about answering but kept my mouth shut and continued onwards, not even knowing if I could agree to meet them, no matter if I lived or not.
Alex, I'm sorry for all of this, if I hadn't started writing about you then none of this would ha-
"No, just stop there," I replied. "Don't apologize."
But your life is shit and it's my fault.
"You've got a lot to learn, you know that right," I said. "If you hadn't started writing about me then where would I be?"
I don't know, living a normal life.
"No, I wouldn't even be alive in the first place. You created me in the first place and without you I would never have had a life in the first place. No matter how much shit gets thrown at me, living a life is better than never existing," I said as I continued wandering across the desert.
...Damn dude, I don't think I could continue on like you do, I probably would have broken down a while ago.
I gave a little laugh and continued my way to my final leg of the journey I had taken.
The only thing worse than living no life is dying pathetically. I walked into Canterlot and made my way towards the castle, thinking about every moment in my life that I had lost somepony, allowing that to fuel my rage as I tore through the guards, that mysterious force invading me again and allowing me to crush anypony who got in my way. I arrived at the gates to the castle and found them raised, archers set up at the top of the walls with their bows drawn.
"We'll give you one chance to leave, courtesy of Celestia herself," a stallion said, the one who I saw as the leader of this troop.
"Well I'm giving you one chance to let me in here and maybe after Celestia is dead then I'll let you keep your life," I replied. "How could you work for her still, after all that's happened, after all the innocents she had you kill?"
The guard didn't reply, only turning as his troops knocked their arrows and pulled them back. I didn't wait for them to release them, taking the two swords I had picked up along the way and running, leaping off the edge and across the gap, sinking the swords into the wood of the bridge, suddenly glad that the guards who had wielded them had added hoof-straps on the hilts, allowing me to keep a grip on them as I slowly made my way up the bridge, pulling one sword out and sinking it in the bridge a few inches up, pulling myself up like that. I made it about halfway up the bridge before they got the idea to use a rope to lean out an archer, leaving his hooves free as he was dangled in the harness. An arrow embedded itself a few inches to my right and I gave a curse, scuttling up faster than before as the sight of the arrow pumped a bit more adrenaline through my veins. I heard him loading another arrow into the bow, but the action was paused as the rope gave a groan and snapped.
There was a short shout before the sound of something wet hitting the concrete, then silence as the rest of the guards took in what had just happened. Using their pause I made my way up and over the bridge, dropping down into the receiving hall of the castle. Surprisingly there were no guards to receive my intrusion and I found out why after a few minutes of wandering down the hall, arriving at the throne room to find Celestia sitting at her throne with the doors wide open.
"Ahh, so you're the one killing all of my guards, are you, a bit younger than I'd have thought," she admitted as I walked in.
"CELESTIA, I'VE COME TO CHALLENGE YOU TO A ONE ON ONE DUEL, NO MAGIC, ONLY HOOF-TO-HOOF COMBAT," I shouted at her.
"And tell me, why should I oblige your request," she asked with an amused look on her face.
"That way I don't have to tell everybody you were completely horrible after you're dead," I said, waiting for an answer and knowing that if she wanted to, she could simply crush me right now.
"You know, it's funny," she said, "I still can't get my head around the fact that they sent a colt to kill me."
"Who," I asked, completely oblivious to who she was referring. She began laughing maniacally and I shouted out my question again.
Her laughter cut off and she got deadly serious, narrowing her eyes at me as she said, "You know who boy, don't patronize me."
I shook my head and said, "You're a lot further gone than I thought," before rushing at her. I noticed her horn start to glow and I threw my swords at her as my body froze up, giving a curse as she managed to stop both of them before they connected with her throat.
She paused for a second and took another look at me before saying, "Wait, you really weren't sent by the rebels?"
"How the hell could I be sent by them, you killed them all," I hissed at her. "You've killed every single pony who dared to go against your will. Those ponies were my friends and you took them away from me, and for that, I've made a pact that I would kill you."
"So, you're the last rebel, are you," she said. "Why not join my side," she cooed as she brought me closer, "we could be co-rulers, you could be my equal and have a say in the future of Equestria. Help me fix my errors."
Her voice was pleading by now and for a moment I actually considered joining her, perhaps helping Equestria rise again to its glory, but then the thought that I would only be replacing Luna crossed my mind and I felt my anger flare up again.
"How dare you...HOW DARE YOU TRY TO REPLACE LUNA," I shouted right into her face.
"You want to know what's the worst part of this entire ordeal? The fact that I was forced to kill my own sister who turned on me," she said, her eyes looking like she was about to cry. "I had to kill MY OWN SISTER. Do you think this was easy for me? The only reason that I'm doing this is to protect...nevermind, you wouldn't understand."
"Protect who," I asked. "Maybe if you told me who was worth killing an entire kingdom for then I would understand."
"It's not a who, it's a what," she said.
I wanted to ask what she was talking about but a noise caught both of our attention. The world took on a slightly blue tint that got darker for a second before fading again, along with a grinding noise.
WAIT, ELI, IT'S THE FUCKING DOCTOR.
"No, no, no, no, that's not possible, why would she choose to save you," Celestia said, directing the comment at nopony in particular.
WAIT, she knows about the TARDIS, what the hell's going on here?
I hardly understood what was happening anymore, just that Celestia's voice was growing fainter and walls were becoming more solid around me, as well as a catwalk under my feet.
"Alex, there's a button, tha-" Celestia began, the sound of her voice being cut off entirely, as well as her magical hold on me, as the walls became fully solid.
I found myself in what appeared to be a central control room, the walls gray with blonde highlights around the many lights sunk into the wall. There was a central control console in the middle of the room with the same color scheme as the wall and there was a dark blue doorway behind me.
"Alright who's messing with the bloody controls this time," a voice said from a doorway opposite the control panel.
I peered around it and spotted a light brown stallion with a dark brown mane standing in the doorway expectantly. He started to step into the room and stopped as he spotted me. We both stood where we were for a few minutes, neither of us moving because we weren't entirely sure what to do next. Luckily for us, a mare walked into the room and broke the silence.
"Doc, who the hell's messin with the..." she began, trailing off as she caught sight of me.
It took me a few seconds to recognize who the mare was because she had grown a few years older than since I'd last seen her, but there was no mistaking that white coat and electric blue mane.
"VINYL," I shouted, running over to her and tackling her in a hug.
"Woah-oh-oh, hey there kid," she said, wrapping her hooves around me.
"Vinyl, do you know him," the stallion asked.
"Well yeah, he's only my best friend," Vinyl replied.
"Wait, I recognize you," I said, gazing at the stallion once more. "Yeah, I saw you and Vinyl at my school before all of this happened!"
"You...saw us where," she asked.
"That was probably future us," the stallion said.
"But why would future us be at past him's school," Vinyl asked.
"I don't know," the stallion replied, "seems like we've got another mystery to figure out."
"I swear there are enough mysteries here to be able to play Jenga with," Vinyl replied.
Suddenly I remembered where we were and I took a nervous glance around as I said, "Umm, how exactly did I get here, I mean I was must in Celestia's throne room."
The stallion's eyes grew wide and he said, "We're WHERE?!"
Without another word he moved over to the control panel and began to flip some switches, the grinding noise starting up again and some pipes in the center of the console began moving. After a few moments the grinding stopped and the stallion released a sigh of relief.
"So, umm, Vinyl, who exactly is this stallion," I asked.
"This, is the Doctor," she replied.
"Doctor...what," I asked.
The Doctor gave a sigh and facehoofed as he said, "Just the Doctor."
Suddenly something somepony had said to me a year ago struck me and I found myself staring at the Doctor with a little more than curiosity. One could almost call it suspicion.
The words were-
When you meet a stallion named the Doctor, trust him with your life.