(Heads up, the names aren’t real. –Tag)

The hallway was difficult to traverse; vines littered the floor making the ground uneven and Tag couldn’t get proper footing. Lyra was not faring any better.

“I hope the entire ruin isn’t like this.” She muttered to herself.

“I don’t think so; I can feel the hallway going deeper meaning that roots might not even be able to reach further ahead.” Tag said over his shoulder. The strange female voice started speaking again.

“Welcome to the Phoenix Detention Centre! Here at the centre we have only one goal in mind, to keep our prisoner away from the outside world!” It said cheerfully.

“Who are you?” Tag called out but nopony answered.

“I don’t think they can hear us, must be a one-way communication system.” Lyra commented. They were getting towards the end of the hall.

“Hopefully we’ll find out some answers on the other side of this door.” Tag said and looked at the door in front of them warily. Lyra stood beside him staring at it curiously.

“I can see that but… how do we open it?” She asked. Tag noticed another square beside the door; this one had a large button on it.

“Push the button.” Tag said simply, he trotted over to the square and pushed the button with his hoof. A small piece of the wall disappeared and a strange device came out of the hole.

“Please submit for DNA testing.” Said the voice pleasantly. Tag didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?” Lyra whispered.

“Instructions.” Tag whispered back.

“Please place your hand on the scanner.” Came the voice again. Tag looked at the device closely; it seemed to be a flat surface with a hole in the middle, but Tag could not see through the hole. He cautiously placed his hoof on it. Before he could react a metallic sound was heard and a Tag felt a quick, small pain on the bottom of his hoof. Tag withdrew it quickly and examined it; there was a small hole on it that bled a little.

“Are you okay?” Lyra asked. Tag put his hoof down.

“I’m fine, but I want to know what they just did to me.” Tag said looking back at the device; he could hear strange noises coming from it.

“DNA accepted, welcome Mark Van Lierde.” Said the voice, the door shifted slightly, then fell away leading into a dimly lit room; two doors led in opposite directions on opposite sides of the room. Tag watched as the device retracted into its hole and the section of wall came back.

“Mark Van Lierde?” Lyra asked looking at Tag. “Who’s that?” Tag was silent for a moment.

“I don’t know, but it’s what got us in. The voice probably has me confused for somepony else.” Tag suggested. “Let’s use that and see how far it gets us.” He looked around the room. “Which way should we go?”

“I’m sure there’s something on the walls or the doors or something that would indicate which way goes where.” Lyra said and studied the walls, Tag shrugged and did the same. He stood beside one of the doors looking around when he noticed a strange discolouration on the wall.

“”Lyra, come here.” Tag called, Lyra trotted over to him.

“Did you find something?” She asked. Tag brushed away some mold and revealed red lettering.

“Perhaps this might tell us something… a-ar-armo-armoury. What’s that?” Tag wondered as he stared at the word. Lyra was thoughtful for a moment.

“I suppose we should check it out.” Lyra proposed. Tag nodded in agreement.

“I hope I don’t have to use another one of those scanner things…” Tag muttered to himself. There was another square with a button beside the door labeled the armoury, Tag looked at Lyra and pressed it quickly, nothing happened. Then Tag heard a small creaking noise followed by the screechy protest of rusty metal being torn apart, Tag put his head down and covered his ears. When it had stopped Tag looked up to see the door was gone, Lyra was massaging her forehead with a hoof.

“That was a lot louder than I though it would be.” She mumbled.

“At least it opened.” Tag sighed and motioned for Lyra to follow him as he trotted into another dimly lit corridor. This hallway was shorter than the last one and soon Tag and Lyra stood outside another door. “Your turn to push the button.” Tag decided. Lyra shrugged and trotted over to the button pressing it without apparent caution. The door opened with much less protest. The pair of explorers waited for lights to come on but none did.

“Maybe they’re broken?” Lyra suggested.

“I think that’s a safe assumption.” Tag agreed. “ It’s a good thing we’re both unicorns.” He closed his eyes and his horn lit up with a hauntingly pale light, Lyra’s did the same. Tag took the first steps into the pitch-dark room.

“Dear Celestia…” Lyra breathed. Tag just stared in muted fear; before him was a large rack of the weapons he had seen in his dream. “This is so… amazing.”

“I don’t think you realize what these are.” Tag warned her. “These can kill a pony instantly.” Lyra’s eyes widened.

“This must be what the humans referred to as ‘firearms’ then.” She explained. ”Although I can’t find any specific explanation on how they work my basic understanding is that they propel little pieces of metal at high speeds at targets.” Tag shivered.

“I can’t imagine anypony having that kind of power.” He sighed.

What are you talking about? Book asked, surprised. Tagia would kill anything in less then a second!

But these are from a distance, and at seemingly no cost unlike Torais. Tag explained.

True, but still. Lyra trotted over to one of the racks and examined one of the firearms, the light from her horn caused shadows to dance across the walls making Tag feel uncomfortable.

“Lyra, you don’t know how those things work, you might activate one!” He hissed silently, Lyra looked up quickly.

“I don’t think so, they appear to be missing a piece that allows them to work. It should be inserted here.” Lyra picked one up and showed Tag an empty slot on the bottom. Tag didn’t feel any safer.

“Still…”

“How are we supposed to learn anything from this trip if we don’t do anything dangerous?” She asked as she examined the firearm closely. Tag sighed to himself and trotted around the room, there were several tables set up to the right of the entrance it was covered in strange metal objects.

“Lyra.” Tag called out.

“Coming.” Lyra called back and soon she was beside him with the firearm floating near her head. She looked at the objects silently for a moment then brightened. “I believe that these are what is missing from the firearms!” She said. “If memory serves I have to take one.” She lifted up one with her magic. “And insert it into this slot.” She inserted the object and was rewarded with a metallic click. “Then I pull this back.” She pulled back a small lever on the side and heard another metallic click. Tag was slightly afraid of where this was going.

“Lyra perhaps-“ he was cut of as a large booming sound echoed around the room making Tag’s ears ring and causing him to throw his hooves on his head. When the echoing stopped Tag looked up at Lyra; she was standing with a terrified look on her face at a small hole in the wall in front of her. She put the firearm down slowly with her magic and stepped back. “Are you alright Lyra?” Tag asked worriedly.

“Y-yes, I’m fine.” Lyra replied shakily. Tag nudged her towards the door they had come in.

“Let’s leave.” Tag said soothingly as Lyra allowed herself to be herded out. They sat together in the hall just outside the armoury in total silence. The atmosphere felt heavy on Tag’s shoulders, his nightmare was slowly becoming a reality. Lyra shakily got to her hooves.

“I’m feeling al little better, we should get moving.” She sounded almost afraid to move but Tag stood up without a word, motioning for her to take the lead. Lyra led them back into the room with two doors and went straight towards the second one.

“Let’s look to see of there is any writing on the wall.” Tag suggested and started brushing plant life away until he found what he was looking for, Lyra stood beside him.

“Living quarters… briefing room… prison cell one…” She said slowly, her voice had stopped shaking. Tag stepped over to the door and pressed the button. The door slid open soundlessly. Tag watched the lights blink on lazily then brighten and reveal the hallway that led deep ahead. Tag took the lead down the hallway, he noted that there was noticeably less plant life on the walls but they still remained rusty. Halfway down the hallway there was a door on the right, Tag looked at it uncertainly.

“Should we go in this one?” He asked turning back to Lyra.

“Sure.” She said. Tag pushed the button beside the door and it opened slowly. He could see another room with a door on the left; the right side was covered in a large pile of boulders.

“I guess that there must have been another door on that side.” Tag said pointing to the right. “I don’t’ think we would be able to dig that out though, so let’s go left.” He trotted over to the door and pressed the button. The door didn’t move.

“Don’t tell me it’s broken.” Lyra said in exasperation. She bucked it hard with her hind legs out of frustration, it opened slightly; just enough for a pony to squeeze through.

“That works too.” Tag said to himself and squeezed through the new opening. Lyra followed slowly. The room they were was different from the rest of Phoenix; the walls were wooden, the floor was soft as opposed to the metal floors that pervaded the rest of the structure. There was a wooden desk in the middle of the room with a large wooden chair behind it; behind the chair was a large flat, black window like object. Lyra trotted over to the desk and examined it.

“There are a lot of files in here.” She remarked as she pulled open a drawer. She picked out a few with her magic and stuffed them into her saddlebag. Tag stood beside the chair and looked on the top of the desk, it was just below his chin and he put his fore hooves on top to get a better look. He felt something give and immediately stepped back down, then he saw an emissive green glow. He and Lyra turned around to look at the window like object behind the desk. “What did you do?” Lyra hissed in his ear.

“I don’t know! I was trying to get a better look at the top of the desk!” Tag whispered back. Slowly text began to appear on the front of the window and the female voice began to speak.

“Hello General Winston. How may I assist you?” It asked. Neither pony said anything. “General, is there anything I can do to help you? It has been 143,762 years since my last activation, perhaps you need a reminder of Phoenix’s purpose?” Tag drew in a quick breath and stepped forward.

“Yes, please remind me.” He said with a deep voice. More text began to appear on the screen.

“Project Phoenix was the plan to guarantee the future of Earth by changing the future. After much debate the American government decided that for Earth to survive the human race must end, the new future was to be one of a slightly lesser species sped up on the evolutional scale; ponies. The process of changing the future was long and arduous but was eventually accomplished. We made sure that the human race would end quickly, painlessly, and that nobody was when, not even me. The military base Phoenix is a detention centre that holds only one prisoner, a youth named Mark Van Lierde. Mark Van Lierde alias Tagshadow changed the future and inserted himself into it in the form of another pony. That is all that we know in regards to the changes Mark Van Lierde made to the future and we are currently researching other changes he might have made. Shall I pull up the file on Mark Van Lierde?” The voice explained. Tag was unsure of what to say.

“Yes, bring up the file on Mark Van Lierde.” He said finally. A picture of a human appeared in the corner of the screen and more text began rapidly appearing.

“Mark Van Lierde was born on April 1, 1996 in Toronto, Canada. His childhood much the same as we would expect; he had a full education. It was in his childhood that he adopted the name Tagshadow; his father suggested it when he was registering for an online game. The most life -changing event was the entire of his ninth-grade year. The school he attended was full of drug addicts and gamblers, the atmosphere affected Mark Van Lierde negatively and he passed barely into tenth grade. Mark Van Lierde became depressed afterwards and nearly committed suicide on several different occasions, but he was unable to follow through. It was in tenth grade that Mark Van Lierde discovered My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. My Little Pony was a show for younger girls and based on the future planned by the government. Strangely enough the show has attracted a large audience among older male men who call themselves ‘bronies’. Mark Van Lierde became a brony and apparently found new positivity in life, affecting him greatly. After he grad- ERROR ERROR <SYSTEM DATA CORRUPTED> ERROR ERROR <SYSTEM DATA CORRUPTED>.

Mark Van Lierde moved to America in 2021 and began work on his project to change the future. He succeeded and it was brought to the attention of the government, the local police arrested him and soon the government took over. Base Phoenix was erected quickly to hold him while scientists tried to find what he had changed.” The room was filled with complete silence. Lyra looked at Tag with wide eyes.

“Did you understand any of that?” She whispered to him. Tag shook his head slowly.

“Not a lot, but from what I understand the humans created us ponies to save this ‘Earth’. Then Mark Van Lierde changed that future. But what has me confused is his alias, Tagshadow.” Lyra looked at him strangely.

“Well it certainly is a strange name compared to the others I’ve heard.” She observed. Tag shook his head again.

“No, my full name is Tag Shadow.” He explained. Lyra’s expression became surprised.

“I see… strange… but it said that Mark Van Lierde inserted himself in the form of a pony. Perhaps that was you?” She asked herself. Tag was appalled.

“It can’t be. Wouldn’t I have some sort of memory or something if I was a human inserted into this world?” He asked looking at Lyra. The female voice spoke up.

“General?” It asked. Tag shook himself.

“What?” He asked angrily.

“Would you like me to shut down?” The voice asked.

“Please.” Tag mumbled. The window went black instantly. Lyra said nothing. “Let’s move on, perhaps we’ll find more answers up ahead.” He sighed and trotted quickly out of the room. He trotted to the only door they hadn’t opened, the door that must lead to holding cell one.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Lyra asked looking at Tag.

“No.” Tag said quietly and pushed the button. The door opened instantly and lights on the other side turned on; Tag looked into the tiny room. It was square in shape and a heavy door lay on the floor to the side, there was a plain chair in the corner. Tag look through the doorway on the other side of the room into another, smaller, room. Inside the smaller room, in the far corner, was what appeared to be a small device. Tag picked it up with his magic and brought it close to his face carefully; it was rectangular and had another black window on it, much smaller than the one that had talked before. Lyra stood beside him and looked at it curiously.

“What do you think it is?” She asked. Tag noticed a circular button on the base.

“I honestly don’t know what to expect, this has been strangely about me in almost every way. But if this is cell one, then this is where Mark Van Lierde was held and this might hold some answers.” He pressed the button with his hoof. The window lit up and showed several numbers. A male voice broke the deafening silence.

“Hello Tag.” Shivers went down Tag’s spine and to the tip of his tail. “I know for a fact that you’re confused right now and this will take a long time to explain, why don’t you and Lyra sit down?” Lyra inhaled quickly when the voice said her name. Tag sat down on the floor reluctantly followed by Lyra. “There are so many things that I want to tell you, so many things that would ruin the surprise of the future for Equestria. I guess I should start by saying that it is true; you are a pony representation of me. I wanted a part of me to live a life that doesn’t exist where I am, yes it’s true that you weren’t supposed to exist but that’s beside the point. There are a few things that I am required to tell you for this to work out. First and foremost: stop being sad, it doesn’t help anyone. The ponies taught me how to be a better person, I used to be like you; almost giving up or hopelessly obsessed with something. Second… beware old enemies I guess. Bad things from the past will come to revisit; might want to keep that in mind next time you’re dealing with Discord. And finally third, the thing I’m having the most trouble with: Rarity. While I have changed the future and inserted you into it I cannot dictate how you are supposed to act. If you keep acting like the way you are you’ll just drive her away, that would not be good. Just ask her out again, for crying out loud I know that Book said it and now I’m saying it so you might as well do it. Remember; if you’re feeling down because of that whole not supposed to exist thing remember that you exist now and for a reason. Remember what Rarity said back in the Everfree Forest. I think my time is coming to a close. There is a fairly good chance you won’t hear from me ever again but this is my last ditch attempt to get you back on the right track seeing as I didn’t think the Discord nightmare would drive you insane. Goodbye.” Silence rushed to fill in the new void. Tag dropped the device to the ground and looked at it with eyes void of almost anything. Lyra said nothing and slowly back away leaving Tag to his thoughts.

Am I a lie? He asked himself.

No, you’re right here. Book reassured him. Tag looked at his hoof.

I wasn’t supposed to be here. In this base… in Ponyville… even in Equestria. Tag trailed off.

But you are. Book said. You do exist, and you’ve made a mark in this universe.

But I wasn’t supposed to. The people who had originally designed this universe wanted it to be perfect but my existence has thrown things out of balance.

What do you want me to say? Yes, you’re not supposed to exist, but what can you do? You’ve already been here, already met ponies, you must remember what Rarity said in the forest way back, just like Mark Van Lierde said. Book said. Tag was silent still. She said that it would be hard to go on without you, obviously your being here has been good! You’ve changed those around you and made a place for yourself. Tag was still silent. He sat with a blank mind for a long time.

I’m not supposed to exist. He thought slowly. But I do. And my existence brought Discord back. I must finish what Mark started. I must be who he is because I am him, living the life he wanted. I must fight to protect that life. Tag stood up; he looked down at the device lying at his feet; the numbers on the window had changed.

“I realize now that you’ve come to your resolution and applaud you for it. You’ve done in three minutes what took me an entire year. Go home, it’s almost morning and I bet that Tor is waiting to go furniture shopping.” Came the male voice again. The window went black. Tag looked down at the device one last time and trotted out of the room. Lyra was waiting for him in the hallway. She stood up bit still didn’t say anything; Tag nodded to her and continued trotting. Soon they were in the first room.

“Are you going to be alright?” Lyra asked tentatively.

“I feel fine.” Tag said, Lyra gazed into his eyes and nodded.

“Right, I do believe that tonight’s trip went on for too long. I will return here later to do research, I’ll get somepony else to come with me though.” She said. “Let’s go home.”

Home. Tag thought happily.