“You can’t…what?” Twilight asked, with shock etched onto her face. Her concentration shattered, the magic glow around me disappeared, and I fell to the ground in a heap, taking a few books along with me. I picked myself up, and looked Twilight in the eyes.

I saw so much pain…I saw heartbreak, and sorrow.

“I can’t love you,” I repeated, forcing control over my voice and body in an attempt to prevent both from shaking.

Twilight fell to her haunches, and tears brimmed in her eyes.

“Why can’t you!?” Rainbow Dash asked hotly, taking an angry step forward.

“I can’t…” Taking a cautious step backwards, I swallowed nervously, and added, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry!?” Applejack shouted. “That ain’t good enough! Y’all need to tell us why you can’t!”

“No, it’s-”

“Is it because she’s not good enough for you? Hm? Is that it?” Rarity asked, glaring at me furiously.

“Of course not, if anything I’m n-”

“Oh, I get it!” Rarity continued, refusing to let me speak. “You just can’t love her because you’re not truly the same species!”

That comment. That comment right there. It made me snap. All of the stress, worry, and sorrow came pouring out, and I gave Rarity a quiet glare. She winced, and stumbled back a step, surprised by how many emotions she could see in my eyes.

“Do you really think that is the reason?” I whispered. “That I can’t see past her exterior? No, trust me, if that was the case, I would get over it in a heartbeat.”

“Then why?” Twilight asked, her voice cracking. “Why?”

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, and said, “Because…I’m The Traveler.”

This silenced everypony. You could feel the shock, and disbelief in the air. Shock, because they never thought I would say that as if it were a curse, and disbelief, because it didn’t make any sense…yet. I let out a small, rueful smile, and continued. “All because of that one, little fact, I can’t love anyone.”

“But…how?” Pinkie asked, extremely confused.

“I’ll get the obvious one out of the way first: I’m immortal. I can’t die, and I am literally one of the only beings that will live for all of eternity and beyond that,” I said. “But that’s not the main reason. No, if that were the only problem, it would be nothing. Heck, I know of, and have, ways to extend life. I might even have an immortality talisman lying around somewhere in my vault...”

I opened my eyes, and gazed at them all. I had prepared this rant a long while ago, just in case such an occasion would arise where I would have to do something like this…

Something that I would hate myself for doing.

“I am The Traveler. I Travel across all of time, space, matter, and all of the realities and dreams. All. Of them. Have you ever wondered what would happen if Twilight were, say, a Pegasus? Well out there, in another world, that’s true. In another world, she might be a human, or a dragon. In another world, she might be evil.”

“What does that have to-” Rainbow started, but my patience was already at the breaking point.

“IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THIS!” I roared. She flinched, and I kept going. “It’s not a matter of IF I’ll meet those alternate Twilight’s, it’s a matter of WHEN I’ll meet them! What will happen when I meet a Twilight that is evil, and bent on conquering Equestria?” I asked, pacing wildly around the room. “Would my love for her make me throw away all of my beliefs, and join her? Just to make sure she’s happy?

“And what would happen when I meet a Twilight who has fallen for another? Would I try to take her for myself?” I pointed out. “Do you remember that Pegasus who came here once, Purple Blaze? In his world, you were married and with child! How do you think I would take that if I loved you?”

Continuing my rant, I asked them all, in an angry voice, “And what would happen if I met a Twilight that was destined to die, and she did so right in front of me?”

I whirled around, and shouted, “IT WOULD BE THE SAME DISASTER THAT HAPPENED WITH JENNA, ALL OVER AGAIN! I would lose all control, and go into a Dark Aura of some kind, slaughtering all who were foolish enough to get in my way!”

“Then why did you fall in love with Jenna?” Rarity tried.

“Because, I didn’t think of these questions then! I didn’t think of these at all, until after she died! Now I have to suffer with the idea that I’ll someday meet a Jenna that is forced to be burned at the stake, or maybe be hanged for treason!” I cried. Stopping, and taking a calming breath to collect my thoughts, I said in a quieter voice, “I will not say that I regret the time I spent with her. I am not foolish enough to do such a thing.”

I wish I could have stopped right then and there. But I still had one more thing I needed to mention: “Twilight, even then, what would happen if both of us went to another world, and I ended up getting so badly hurt that I would have to return to a home world to recover. What about you though? You’d be stuck on that same world, without knowing if I’d be able to come back for you in just a few moments, or in just a few YEARS. I don’t want to have to put anypony, or anypony, through that.

“That also brings up just one more little detail…Twilight, I can’t ask you to give up this entire life that you have here, your friends, and your family, just so you would be able to come with me. You know I couldn’t stay, because I’m needed on other worlds! Not just this one!”

Tears were pouring down Twilight’s face, and my heart ached to see her cry. Right then, I wanted nothing more than to hug her close to me, and to tell her it would be alright. I wanted to hold her in my arms, and say how she meant the worlds to me.

But I couldn’t do that…not if I wanted her to stay safe.

I had to break her heart.

“Twilight, I’m sorry…” My voice faltered, but I then thought to myself, Think of her future…she still has a life to live. Steeling my resolve, I said in a low, but clear voice, “I don’t love you. And if you feel that way about me, it’s best if we never speak to each other again.”

The lavender unicorn, beautiful even in human standards…started sobbing. She shut her eyes, and turned away from me, tears rapidly speeding down her face. Every whimper she let out stabbed my heart like a knife, and it took every ounce of self-control that I had to not run to her. Instead, I turned around, and walked out the door.

As I unfurled my wings, I glanced over my shoulder, and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Just…get out, Omnius,” Applejack said in a low, bitter voice.

Uh-huh. I knew this was coming: If I broke their friend’s heart, then I pretty much forsook their friendship as well. It cut me even deeper, but if that’s what it took to keep Twilight safe…so be it. Flapping my wings, I took off into the night sky, with Luna’s moon watching me in an almost sympathetic gaze.

I was almost half-way to my house when I heard an angry, fury filled voice shout out, “GET BACK HERE! I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HURT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT!”

Rainbow Dash. Of course, the Element of Loyalty would want to break me for breaking her friend.

I flapped my wings, not daring to look behind me to see if she was catching up. Pushing myself as fast as I could go, I dived towards the forest, hoping that I could maneuver quickly enough through the trees to lose her. As I ducked, and rolled through the branches, I felt somepony’s hooves nearly grasp my tail, followed by the sound of, “Darn it!”

Finally, I pulled my wings into my body, and crashed into the ground, narrowly avoiding any trees and bushes, while Dash sped ahead, unknowingly getting farther and farther away from me.

I stayed on the ground for a few more minutes, barely even breathing, paranoid that Dash would turn around and spot me. However, luck was finally on my side, and she never once looked back.

Phew. Well, there’s one crisis averted.

As if that were luck’s cue to exit my life, it started to downpour, almost instantly drenching me in a torrent of rainwater. I sighed, and said to myself, “Yeah, I probably deserve that…”

A few minutes later, I was flying through the forest, trying to clear my head. I didn’t pay much attention to where I was going, and only a small part of me recognized that I was flying near the cliff where Applejack had proven that she was worthy of being the Element of Honesty. A small smile flickered across my lips, as I flew to the cliff face-

-and got struck by a massive bolt of lightning. I screamed in pain, and crashed into the huge rock wall, sending several boulders careening down the sides, while I plummeted to the ground, already unconscious before I hit the floor.

The feeling of running water going across the back of my head slowly brought me back to my senses, and I let out a groan of discomfort, as I tried to roll over onto my stomach, only to be met with a heavy resistance from my wings. Glancing at them, I saw that heavy black boulders were on top of them, pinning me to the ground. Not only that, but my lower back legs were also buried in rubble, and I got a fresh wave of pain sent through me every time I tried to move.

“…And of course, they’re obsidian boulders,” I muttered. “Great…”

Obsidian…I hate that stuff. You see, a long time ago, I had been taken prisoner by one of the evilest beings in all the multiverses, and he had known about my Traveling. So what he did, was he would torture me with weapons made out of obsidian, but only whenever I either tried to Travel, or summon one of my Auras. The torture would break my concentration, and…he psychologically trained me to think of obsidian as my kryptonite: I couldn’t use any Auras, Travel, or shift back into my normal form.

Luckily, I still managed to escape, and it only affected me if it was touching me, or if I knew that it was one hundred percent obsidian. Anything else, and I could brush it off like a bit of dust.

Then again, that didn’t help the fact that I was still trapped underneath a couple obsidian boulders, and that it felt like my legs were broken.

And the fact that there was now a small stream of water running underneath me, effectively stealing away my body heat. Oh, let’s not forget the fact that I can’t turn my head to even drink from the stream.

And while I might be immortal, that doesn’t mean that I can’t starve, or dehydrate, and be forced to return to another home world to recover.

Great…

But once again…I deserve it.

Preview of Chapter 5:

Isolation

“…Jenna?”

“Not exactly…just a figment of your imagination, really.”

“Oh great. I’ve officially gone crazy from the lack of water and food.”

*V*V*V*V

“…Ye Gods and Goddesses…what have I done?”

Next Chapter: 5) Isolation Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 25 Minutes