I chuckled to myself in my strange ethereal room. "You know, I thought I did some fucked up shit, but rape? Sam, you sick fuck--"

"Shut up!" he snapped, stepping back through the door and pointing an angry finger at me. "I- it was a long time ago, and I was too young to reali--"

"Sixteen, half drunk and going along with the crowd? You knew full well what you were doing." I tapped a book on my knee, "I can see everything you remember, and wow is that memory vivid! The way you touched her body while the others were undressing her, the way you--"

"What about you, huh!?" Sam snapped around, glaring at me, "I can see your memories too, and you're no better! You've killed so many people!"

"I was in a war! It was fight or die, in every god damn circumstance it was fight or lose something! My life, my family, my friends, I killed for a reason, you raped a poor drugged girl for your own amusement!"

Sam stormed over, grabbing the book from me and throwing it into the void. "I'm not the monster here!"

"Yeah, you are." I stood up, standing face to face with my counterpart, "But so am I. I wasn't passing judgment, only reminding you we're both devils."

Sam opened his mouth, wordlessly swearing at me before turning away. "I didn't have a choice...I didn't even start it, I just--"

"Something you learn, you always have a choice. Granted some choices might be rather horrid, some might be worse. I mean you had a choice to kill her, to rape her, to leave, you had a lot of choices. Accept what you did, and move the fuck on."

Sam paced around, holding his head. "...Why are you even bringing this up!? I don't bring up--"

"Because you were thinking about it after you kissed Celestia...you prick." I walked over to him, stopping his pacing. "Move on. I mean for fucks sakes, it's obvious I'm going to die soon, least you can do is take care of yourself! I mean, not for you, but for me. Our body has a reputation to keep!"

"As what!? Some psycho, some murdering lunatic with PTSD!? What the hell--"

"As a guardian. As a friend, as a lover, maybe not a good one, but everyone's entitled to a little fuck up! You can read my memories, you know who Silver Spoon is!" I rubbed my face, tugging at my nose. "That day her parents came to pick her up, you know.... Seeing that little filly cry when her parents started fighting in our house, seeing ponies going through shit like that...this world is supposed to be peaceful, that princess infallible, but it's a fucking lie! It's a charade made out of tissue paper and lies!"

"And!?" Sam pushed me back a step, "Who the hell are we!? A fucking history teacher and a psychopath. You really think we belong here!? You think you belong here!?"

"No, I don't. But we're here, least we can do is make the best of it and try to make a difference!" I stared into my counterpart's eyes, his unscarred face still just as stubborn as mine. "I don't hate you."

I watched Sam flinch, "What?"

"I don't hate you. I really don't want to do this, but I don't really have many choices."

"Didn't you just--"

"I know." I stepped back, "And this is my choice. Maybe it's not the greatest, but this is what I've got to try, for me. But I don't hate you. You're me, we've both fucked up, we've both done terrible things, passing judgment isn't for me." I held my hand out, "...I don't know what's gonna happen if we do this, we might both die, I've been thinking about it for a while but I'm waiting on you."

Sam looked down at my hand, snapping up to me. "You made a choice, so am I. This is my life, I'm not about to--"

I retracted my hand. "Live as me for a while. Talk with Celestia, be the lover I couldn't be, be the father I couldn't be. Live my life, let me discover yours and then decide."

Sam looked up at me with an unconvinced expression. "I--"

"Look, I used to think they were just horses too. I used to think the world was tiny, that snow was food, I thought a lot of stupid shit and so did you, so I know we're open to changing our mind. But...I can't force you to do anything, I can only ask." I walked past him, towards the door. "I'll see if I can't find my little filly. You...think about what I said, and...feel. It's okay to cry, it's okay to feel regret. One of the few things I actually learned here."

I stepped through the door. Next Chapter: Stuck Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes