“Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.”
Galileo Galilei

“Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!” he said, and it became a proverb, though we now say ‘out of the frying-pan into the fire’ in the same sort of uncomfortable situations.
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit.

***

“About 40 years ago things changed,” Cameron began, “there was an event that had Earth be changed forever - different realities came together or something and mixed with our… or something, it still isn’t all too clear.” She shrugged. “Eventually things came together I guess, but you can imagine when, lo and behold, another world appeared off the shore of the pacific a few years later… and it had pastel colored ponies who, at first, all looked very friendly and nice and kind and wanted to be peaceful.”

“Sooo what happened?” George asked.

Cameron sighed. “Well, at first we thought - hey, it’s another world on top of ours so why not? Wouldn’t harm us… and then came the crazies, the ‘Humane’ Militia Defense Forces.” She shook her head. “Idiots were a pain in the ass that was just remnants of other crazy groups from the previous worlds, thought that the ponies were evil and no one could be trusted if they even knew a pony. After that, everything fell apart.”

Elliot said nothing, frowning as he heard the story. It sounded familiar. Too familiar.

“After they assaulted the Equestrian Embassy and killed them all, they took one of them captive - what was her name? It was Dusk Shine or something…” Cameron contemplated, trying to recall the specific name.

“Twilight Sparkle?” George supplemented. Elliot frowned slightly - the name had connotations for him, but he didn’t say anything: this wasn’t his world, and for all he knew, this Sparkle wasn’t the monster he had faced before…

‘Some hope,’ some part of him thought nastily.

“Yeah, that’s it - Celestia, their ruler, was furious and wanted the Militia to be destroyed… and that was what happened, every last one of them was captured, tried and carted off to the Raft.” Cameron stated. “Rumor has it that their leaders didn’t commit suicide and are still hiding. But, that was when after Twilight was recovered - barely alive - Celestia’s curveball that she had been working on for the past few months was unleashed. The ponification potion.” She frowned. “You see, for some strange reason their world wasn’t accessible due to this pink barrier around it and if anyone tried to touch it, they’d be reduced to dust or ash, depends sometimes I guess. The potion was made so that people could turn into a pony and go to the other side.”

“What happened then?” Elliot asked, already sort of suspecting the answer to the question but needing to be certain.

“Well, then more crazies came out - this time some… misanthropic woman that apparently thought ponies were better than humanity, took control of some group a guy started out of good intentions and formed the equivalent of the freaking PETA nutjobs," she explained. “They did all sorts of horrible stuff, poisoned a small town’s water supply so that they’d be converted… thank god that didn’t happen to my family," Cameron muttered. “Attacked a transport containing Militia members to convert them because they ‘needed to pay for what they did’... it was like a nightmare all over again.”

“Sooo, they were terrorists basically?” George asked.

“I guess,” Cameron replied.

“Alright,” Elliot said. “So. What happened here?”

“Well, the PER decided that this hotel off the tropical coast would be a fine place to set up a base," Cameron explained. “They, some Royal Guards, and some Glue-freaks planned out this whole thing with Jimmy as their inside man so that we’d stand no chance.”

“Sounds familiar,” Elliot muttered. “So. The Barrier - expanded? Not expanded?”

Cameron shoots Elliot a strange look. “What are you talking about? The barrier hasn’t moved an inch - hadn't grown or shrunk.”

“Right,” he said. “And the people who get converted. Anything up with them, like psychological differences?”

“Do they act weird? Not like themselves? Praise Celestia like she’s Jesus or something?” George added on.

“Well, for one thing they’re… inconsistent - sometimes one of them will be exactly like how they were before, sometimes one of them will be like an Alzheimer's patient… and then they’re the really, really freaky ones. The Glue-Freaks.” Cameron shuddered as if at some horrible memory.

“Glue-Freaks?” Elliot asked.

“They are really violent, they are really obsessed over Celestia and Equestria, really deadly, and… can have a tendency to crave meat,” she explained.

“...It’s like something out of a horror film.” George lampshaded.

“Fun,” Elliot said. He sighed. Too much added up in unpleasant ways. If he was being generous, he might have suggested that this Celestia was somehow provoked into her actions, and certainly the static Barrier was a sign that she was less… dangerous. At the same time, Royal Guard and these… Glue-Freaks that Cameron described, helping PER… it sounded too similar. Too damn similar.

“Well,” he said. “I just need to know one thing from you, Ma’am.”

“Uh sure… what is it?” Cameron asked, a tad warily

“This Celestia,” Elliot said. “I want to know what you think. Is she evil or is she not?”

“...I don’t know. She was very social, very kind and certainly well mannered I guess. She made every effort to be good - had you asked me this a year before the Militia showed up, I would say no she’s not evil in a heartbeat.” Cameron answered. "But, now… well, she hasn’t left Equestria ever since Twilight was recovered, she hasn’t responded to the Glue-Freaks or PER, and ultimately hasn’t said a single thing to anyone that is outside of the barrier. Though, there is this rumor that she may have been to an Earth before.”

“What do you mean?” George asked.

“Well, she always seemed aware of humanity - she didn’t react as bad as everyone thought when she learned of our history and insisted on creating the Embassy only three weeks after first contact with Equestria was made,” Cameron explained. “It left some people uneasy - we thought that maybe, just maybe… she may have been to an Earth before ours and converted it into a New Equestria or something.”

“I see,” Elliot said. He rolled his shoulders and sighed. “Looks like I’ve only got one choice then.”

“Kill her?” George guessed.

“If she makes me,” Elliot said quietly, not looking at him. “I’ll confront her with this. Demand she account. Confront her with her actions in my world. If she repents, she’s not evil. If not, then I can save this world from what happened to mine. Either way, my destination is clear. I have to go to Canterlot.”

However, there was then a tingling on the air - Elliot frowned: precognition wasn't exactly a standard feeling for him, but he was getting this feeling of foreboding… something was coming. Something bad.

Before anyone could react, a Pegasus flew in and tackled him to the ground, doing in a manner that made him lose his guns.

George took out his shotgun… only to get hit in the back of his head by a potted plant via magic. Cameron was grabbed by an Earth Pony, yelling slightly.

What Elliot could tell about his attacker was that the Pegasus that had him pinned had bloodshot eyes, horrible breath, teeth that looked more Omnivore than what a Convie - or any pony - would have, and bags under his eyes.

Oh, also it was also trying to bite his ear off.

With a snarl, Elliot unleashed a shockwave that blew the thing off of him, before leaping to his feet. In an instant, his daggers were in his hand. One of them flew into the eye of the Earth Pony grabbing Cameron, and he charged at the Unicorn who had attacked George, gripping the other dagger in a reverse grip and bringing it down in a move that impaled the creature’s skull.

“Take cover!” he yelled to the other two. “Now!”

Cameron did as she was told, George on the floor groaning with blood coming down the back of his head. The Pegasus simply looks at George and flies right at him, it looks like it wants some of the guy’s leg.

“Fuck,” Elliot swore. He held out a hand, and his hand cannon and the Hardballer flew to his hands. He grabbed them, and fired the hand-cannon at the Pegasus, clipping it’s wing and sending it flying into the ground head first. He aimed the semi-auto pistol and shot another pony in the head.

“Fuck you!” he yelled. “Fucking zombie bastards!”

The Pegasus refused to give up and galloped. right at Georgie. It was about to take a chomp out of his neck when -

*BANG!*

It fell over dead, a hole blasted in its skull. Cameron had managed to recover her rifle and save George, though she still looked shell shocked at having killed another creature.

“Anyone else?” Elliot called, throwing his arms wide in challenge.

Good news, there weren’t any more… bad news, Elliot had just seen something possibly worse than the Convies from back home. Those things were... insane.

Cameron dropped her rifle and hugged herself, tears welling in her eyes over having to shoot something that was once human… and possibly could've been someone she knew.

“You alright?” Elliot asked.

“I… I need a moment,” she whimpered. “I’ll be okay soon… just… give me a moment.”

“George?” Elliot asked.

“Ugggh," the man groaned. “David, did one of them hit me in the back of the head with a pot?”

“You know, I reckon they might have,” Elliot smirked.

“I really don’t like it here," George complained. “I’d rather settle for that occupied British Isles I was at some time ago.”

“This is pretty nice compared to my home,” Elliot said with a grin. “Usually the Convies are smarter.” His smile vanished. “Cameron, is there a way out of here? We need to get to a major population centre.”

She wiped a tear out of her eye. "There... there may be a way. Jimmy bragged that the hotel buses were disabled, I think he forgot about the promotional car though.” She picked up her rifle and swallowed, composing herself. "It’s in the west lounge.”

“Right then,” Elliot said with a smirk. “Time to go driving.”

***

After they had seen to their various injuries, and gathered some supplies for the journey, the three were off on the road in the promotional car - it was a rather garishly painted Camaro. Thankfully, Elliot was willing to let Cameron drive, seeing how he was the best shot of the group (and, though he wouldn’t have said it, he was probably the worst driver - Hell Blazer had once said he would have preferred “pulling a fucking cart myself to being in the backseat of anything you’re driving”. He missed Hell Blazer).

George was in the back, sleeping after getting his head wound treated. It hadn’t been serious looking, but Elliot knew from experience that “not serious looking” could turn to “coma” if one wasn’t careful. Fortunately, it didn’t look that bad from closer inspection, and George had taken one of his pills, claiming that “it’ll be fine after a nap”. Elliot didn’t know what to make of that, but he had seen weirder stuff before.

“You know… Elliot,” Cameron began, eyes focused on the road. “You didn’t show much concern when I talked about Twilight Sparkle back there.”

“Concern?” Elliot asked.

“Well, George had some of it - I mean come on; she was an innocent that was brutalized for no good reason. You… you just moved a hand to your coat,” she pointed out.

Elliot blinked. He hadn’t realised he had done that. It was something of a ‘tell’, he supposed. Still, no sense hiding the truth of it.

“Where I’m from,” he said, “Twilight Sparkle is… not an innocent.”

“Where you’re from?” Cameron repeated.

Elliot blinked, wondering how best to explain this.

“I’m… from another universe,” he said, smiling almost apologetically. To his surprise, however, Cameron simply nodded and shrugged.

“Okay,” she said. “That kinda makes sense.”

Elliot raised an eyebrow. “That… wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.”

She chuckled. “Elliot, it has been years since the event occurred and multiple worlds merged to make this one - Equestria itself is from another universe; it’s not very surprising a traveler would come one day.”

“It’s scary how much sense that makes,” Elliot said slowly, chuckling himself.

“So what is Sparkle in your world, then? Adolf Hitler?” Cameron joked lightly.

“More like Hermann Goering,” Elliot said, his smile fading. “Right hand - or hoof - to Astra Solamina Maxima, Empress of Equestria and one of the leaders of their genocidal war on humanity, along with her five friends, the Element Bearers.” His hand twitched on his coat again. “I… have had dealings with them.”

“What’d you do? Cut off their heads and put them on pikes or something as a warning?” Cameron guessed. “You act like you teabagged their corpses once you killed them.”

“Not quite,” Elliot said tiredly. He opened the jacket and showed off five manes, each of them somewhat bloodstained. “I just gave them all haircuts. Permanent haircuts.”

Cameron saw this out of the corner of her eye, and her face paled, her eyes widening in shock. She slowed the car down, pulling over to the side of the empty road.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of something,” she said quietly, exiting the car. A moment later, Elliot heard the sound of her throwing up.

Elliot sighed. “Better than some reactions I’ve had.”

“Whuh?” came George’s voice from the backseat. “What’s going on?”

“Travelsickness,” Elliot said. “Go back to sleep.”

“Oh… okay,” George yawned before dozing off again.

***

A few hours later, Elliot found himself staying by the car while Cameron went in to pay for gas. He had never been to America - the huge distances the place encompassed were breathtaking, he had to admit, but it did make driving around a headache. Still, there seemed to be enough petrol stations (gas stations, he reminded himself) to service their needs.

According to Cameron, they were approaching Los Perdidos - one of the key areas that came into existence due to the event from years ago; it was head within a quarantine and, according to Cameron, was best left avoided considering what might be there (if there was anything left there at all: Cameron hadn’t been sure, but she hadn’t sounded like she wanted to chance it). Unfortunately, their route would take them near the city before leading them to a more habitable place. This was the last gas station before the city.

Elliot sighed. He looked at the manes in his coat before buttoning the thing up, wondering when he had become so… blase about the fact that he carried these trophies. Cameron’s reaction only served as a reminder of how much his life - everyone’s life back home, really - had changed.

He had fought the war for a long time - it was strange being somewhere where such death and horror wasn’t the only way of life people knew, where what he had done was considered so… horrible. He wondered to himself whether he would ever be free of what the war had done to him.

Not, of course, that he expected to survive the war. Even as he thought it, he began another coughing fit, and looked at his hand with tired eyes as flecks of blood settled there. He wiped them off and hackled once more to clear his throat. Death was inevitable - he had known it for a long time, and yet he kept going. If he didn’t do something, no one would.

‘What about this Celestia?’ he wondered to himself. Would she be willing to repent, to change, to stop the evils she was letting pass? Might she even be willing to help his world, if travelling between worlds was possible so easily?

Or… would she be a Tyrant, a Tyrant who had slain one world and was here to… what? Fix her mistakes? Repent them? Repeat them? She had taken no action here, supposedly, but… but what did that mean? Did it mean anything? Was she merely biding her time, or was this her new leaf…?

He sighed. More likely than not, he would find another Tyrant Sun. If that was the case, he would fight her, and if fate was kind, he would kill her. If fate was not kind… then he would die. And this Earth and his Earth would die too, bereft of its champion so.

“Why do I have to bear the weight of the world on my shoulder?” he wondered aloud. “Why do I have to be Atlas?”

“Are you alright?” a voice asked. “You may want to see a doctor about the weight on your shoulders.”

Elliot turned to see a mare - she had a peachy colored coat, a blonde mane with a red streak through it, and green eyes, with a cutie mark of a starlight - standing before him, her eyes full of concern.

“You look like you could use somepony to talk to, sir,” she said softly, her tone not like a convie, with a sincerity to it that seemed natural for her for some unknown reason.

“Perhaps I do,” he said amiably. “But the things I have on my plate aren’t things I could burden just about anyone - or anypony - with.”

“Oh trust me,” She blows a piece of her mane out of her face. “I’m older than you think, and have done some things I’m not too proud of these days too. My name is… well, it’s Shining Starlight, but I like to be called Rebecca Morning Star these days - feels better for me I guess.”

She sat on her haunches, smiling up at him.

“You picked a human name?” Elliot asked with a smirk.

“What? If humans are able to take pony names, then why can’t I do it in reverse?” she said, taking a light hearted jab at him.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he said, holding up a hand. “I just can’t say I ever met a pony who’d take a human name. Unless… well, I knew one fella who preferred his human name, but he was a Convie with a little more to him than you’d think.”

“He must’ve been a lucky one or an unlucky one then.” She gave a small chuckle. “The Converted are always a risky gamble - never know if you’ll be yourself or you’ll turn into a monster.”

“He was a lucky sod, yeah,” Elliot said with a smile. “Though he wouldn’t have called himself that.”

“Probably liked his old face for, what’d you call it… poker is it? No one could take him seriously as a converted,” she said simply. “Though if he can play his cards right he could get himself a herd.”

“I think he probably liked having the ability to get plastered more,” Elliot said. “Still.” He smirked. “Yeah, there might be a lot I have to talk about, but I doubt you’d get most of it.”

“Could I guess at least?” Rebecca asked.

“Why not?” Elliot said.

“Well, you probably have trouble dealing with things - you're dying, the PER is running amuck, there is the fear that Celestia may turn out to be a Tyrant and of course there is the trouble back in Britain; there is a lot on your plate Major. A lot,” the mare stated very thoroughly.

Elliot blinked, before frowning. “Alright, I’ll bite. How do you know?”

“Like I said, I’ve done things I’m not proud of too these days,” Rebecca answered. “Every day I wake up with the question of - why do I have to hold the weight of so many on her shoulders, why me? Or, if today I’ll be able to have a break from it all. I guess it just takes someone who has a full plate to understand and get someone else who has to carry so many issues,” she said simply, with a sad smile full of hidden wisdom and understanding. “Also, you being a Major was just a blind guess on my half… sir. Military bearing and all. Plus, ‘Major’ is the coolest sounding rank.”

“Huh,” Elliot said, smirking. “Alright.” He paused, leaning backward. “The weight of the world. I hate the weight of the world.”

“Well, sometimes you need to just say that if you don’t hold the weight of the world… who else will? It’s a big responsibility that not many can have the strength to bear,” she commented. “I should know - I’m one of them… especially one of them.”

Rebecca wiped a tear out of her eye, looking half surprised to see it there, as though it had simply popped out of its own volition.

“The world needs people to keep it going, sometimes,” Elliot sighed. “Oh well. I guess we can get drunk at some point.”

Rebecca just snorted in response to Elliot’s suggestion. “I’d join you, but apparently I’m a mean type of drunk when I get too much in my system.”

“I just get morose,” he replied.

“Better than violent,” she said with a shrug.

“I’ve known violent drunks,” he said with a sigh. “I’m violent enough when I’m sober, some might say.”

“Ah, but are you violent for good reasons?” she asked, raising a knowing eyebrow at him.

Elliot whistled. “I like to think so. But sometimes…”

“Sometimes, it’s hard knowing when to step back and when to get involved,” she put in. “Sometimes it’s hard knowing what to do when all your choices seem wrong.”

“Sometimes,” Elliot agreed.

For a long moment, the two of them were silent, each lost in their own private contemplations.

“Well, I believe it’s time for me to go sir,” the mare stated after a moment more. “It was a pleasure meeting you.”

She bowed, almost old-fashionedly.

“See ya,” Elliot replied, smirking slightly. It had been an odd conversation, but… somehow, he felt better.

Rebecca trotted away, teleporting a few moments later. Almost immediately after that, Cameron returned.

“Hello,” Elliot said. “We set?”

“Just about, start filling the car up Elliot.” Cameron instructed, getting back into the drivers seat. “We have a long way to go.”

“So, this Los Perdidos place,” Elliot asked. “I get that it’s quarantined, but why is it so bad that we have to go near it?”

“You…” Cameron began, then she sighed. “You really don’t want to know.”

***

January 23rd, Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (Human Calendar 2030).

There was something wrong and she knew it. The world felt different, like a tingle in the air, the sense that there was something more going on than she had previously accounted for.

There were some who questioned why she had never herself gone forth to finish the little British Isles personally - and the reason was that she knew she didn’t need to. There was no reason to go there; her armies were performing their duties admirably without her personal intervention. Now, though…

She had ordered her forces to withdraw from the Isles, interrupting her campaigns. There was more to this tingle, more to this lingering bad feeling, than met the eye. She had ordered Commander Sparkle to have all forces on defensive standby while she prepared a new stratagem. Commander Sparkle thought that she intended to review her maps and her positions and make certain that her plans were either effective or at the very least competent. The truth of the matter was hardly so… mundane.

She stood before a large set of double doors, each one covered in a variety of strange runic symbols that nopony now living - save for her - knew the meaning of. Even she could only guess some of these symbols - they came from a time before recorded history, last remnants of the ancient magics of the Asyram Empire and the Draconissian Dominions, their power beyond reckoning. Only Starswirl had truly understood these runes (though Solamina knew others - herself, Luna, and many of her former students included - had tried over the years to divine their meaning), and the old mage was long since gone, lost to the annals of history and the vagaries of this thing’s twisted whims.

It was the Heart of the World, a device that would lay open space and time for Solamina’s perusal. Luna had used it once, and only once, and the device had driven her insane. Before that, it had been the creation of Starswirl, and he had himself only barely understood what he had created. Solamina, though, had spent years deciphering it, and had finally come to realise that, with willpower and focus, one could bend it to one’s will. IT was risky… but much had to be risked in war.

“So then,” she said softly to herself. “Soon, we shall find the source of this disturbance - and we shall crush it.”

Author's Notes:

Dun dun duuunnnn!

Solamina is onto Elliot!