There is a certain myth about summoning powerful demons. That there needs to be a great sacrifice made in exchange for great power. That is a lie. There is no sacrifice required to summon a demon. But powerful demons are dangerous, so you best be on your guard if you are ever foolish enough to summon one. Maybe vigilance is your sacrifice.

There was something about the way shadows were cast in this room that gave me the heebie jeebies. Some would scoff at my behaviour and put it down to cowardice, but I liked to explain to those naysayers that it is a healthy amount of caution. After all, ‘cowardice’ is why I’m alive and why those who turned their noses up at me are not.

“Morpheus, why do you keep looking around?”

Explaining that to a foal is a little difficult, though.

“I get the feeling that something or someone is watching us.”

“Do you think something’s watching us?”

I looked around once more. “No, I don’t think so…” I shrugged. “Right, so, about these doors…”

Twilight glanced up at the doors, at a loss at how to proceed, for once. “I’ve never made it this far into the Library before.” She peered at the intricate designs on the door and bit her lip. “It might be a while before we can get in.” Her horn glowed softly as she studied the lock on the door. It seemed to be made of steel. I reached out to touch it—

“Oww!” I whipped my claw back. “What the—a demonic seal?!”

“Shh!” Twilight glanced at the door for a few tense moments. When she couldn’t hear any exclamations, she relaxed. “Demonic seal, what’s that?”

I sucked at my claw as I glared at the lock. “It’s a seal that keeps demons out. Hence, a demonic seal.”

“Uhm, wow, okay, I was just asking.”

I should dial back the sarcasm a bit.

“Sorry,” I muttered bitterly, “I’m in a lot of pain right now.” I considered the lock and studied the barrier. “This device is built to keep demons away. Wait, no, that’s not quite true. This barrier is also keeping demons in…” A shivering premonition swept through my mortal container as I considered the possible implications. “Are you sure you want to open this door?”

Twilight bit her lip. “This is the only way to get down into the lower levels, do you have a better idea?”

“But how’re you going to break open this lock? It looks complicated.”

The excited foal studied the lock with a keen eye. “Doesn’t look that bad, I’ve gotten through tougher loc—I mean, I think I might’ve seen this before. I mean, read it… before, I mean. Yep, before…”

I met Twilight’s watery glance as I slowly raised an eyebrow. “Twilight, you devious little devil, have you broken into sensitive areas before?”

Twilight found something interesting to look at on the bare stone wall. “N-No, of course not. The areas just weren’t…”

“I won’t pry.” I chuckled heartily at her bashful look. “But I get the feeling you’re not as straight-cut as I initially thought.”

“Oh fine! It was one time and those cookies were reeeeally good.”

“Your mother hid cookies?”

“…I didn’t say they were from my mother.”

“Your father?”

Twilight shook her head. “It was somepony a little more… royal.”

My eyes widened. “No, not Princess… Celestia?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “What other royal ponies are there?”

“That’s a lot of effort for cookies.”

“…They might not have been cookies.”

“Were they books?”

Twilight cleared her throat and flushed an interesting shade of red. “L-Let’s move onto something else.”

“Ha, silly me, no more prying.” I yawned, leaning against a wall for support. “I’ll let you do your thing, then. Just don’t blame me if you get eaten by a demon, or something.”

Twilight hesitated before replying. “Demons don’t eat ponies, do they?”

I shrugged. “We’ll try anything once, but let me tell you, it’s not my hobby to bite anything, I’ll use my claws if I can help it. Teeth is a last-resort. I don’t like the taste of mortals.”

Despite my explanation, Twilight didn’t look so assured. “Uhm… okay.” Though, true to her word, Twilight managed to deactivate the lock. With the lock, the demonic seal also dissipated.

“Mechanism must be tied to the lock,” I commented as I picked it up and tossed it to Twilight. “Here, take this.”

She took the lock gingerly in her magic. “Why? Wait! We’re not stealing this, are we?!”

“We’re not,” I shot back, “but we can’t leave it lying around. We’re just holding onto it for safekeeping.”

“Oh,” she muttered, placing the lock into her saddlebags. “You’re not lying, are you?”

“One: I don’t lie. Two: You’ve given me a command not to lie, so I literally cannot lie to you. Three: Have I ever lied to you before?”

Did she know I was lying to her? Actually, I didn’t lie to her; I just didn’t tell her the whole truth. The lock was for safekeeping and we were going to return it, so it technically wasn’t stealing, it was loosely borrowing. The real reason I wanted to keep it, however, was because I thought the demonic seal tied to the lock was going to be incredibly useful… but Twilight didn’t need to know that.

Twilight slowly shook her head, smiling at me. “No, you’re right, Morpheus, sorry I doubted you.” She hesitated, her smile coming down a couple of notches. “Hey Morpheus?”

I tilted my head at her. “What?”

“Is Amethyst your friend?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what it looks like.”

Twilight nudged me cheekily. “So you’ve made a friend, right?”

I scowled at the recalcitrant magus. “She’s not a friend, alright? Besides, aren’t you more upset that I’ve made friends with your enemy?”

Twilight shrugged. “I know now that you aren’t doing that to hurt me, and besides, we’re waaaay better friends than you and her.”

“You’re not afraid I’ll be better friends with her than you?”

Twilight stopped briefly, and shot me a look. “Erm… you’re not going to be better friends with her than me, right? We’ve known each other longer, right? We’re better friends, right?”

“Twilight… you’re panicking too much.”

Twilight bit her lip and took a deep breath. “Yeah. Okay. That’s true. Not best friends. I’m your best friend… I’m your best friend, aren’t I?”

“Why’re we talking about best friends? Do you think you’re my only friend?”

“No, but, you know, we can work on that!” Twilight didn’t look so sure of herself. “Okay, so, erm, here!” She thrusted something in my direction. I glanced at her hooves in confusion.

“What is it?”

“It’s the Astral Pendant.”

My eyes widened.

“Where did you get this?”

“I, erm, came by it.”

“Riiiiiiight. So why’re you giving this to me?”

“Because you’re my friend, Morpheus.”

What’s with this foal’s logic?

I stared at the Astral Pendant for a long time. It had a cord around made of simple brown-coloured string. I recognised the threading. It was the same one she used for her doll. Somewhat at a loss, I slowly put it on, staring at the foal that seemed oblivious to my rising confusion. She grinned at me and then headed off.

We weren’t really friends. This was for mutual benefit. I mean I could do everything a friend was required to do, but that doesn’t mean I’m attached. You can be a ‘friend’ and not care, right?

I didn’t lie to my mistress and I didn’t break any rules.

So why does my heart hurt?

—————————

There was a rustling and whispering sound beyond the hallway.

“What was that?” I said, thrusting a claw out to stop Twilight from approaching.

“Did you hear something?” Twilight murmured, coming up close to my side.

“Yeah, there’s something down there.”

Silence greeted us as tense moments passed whilst we held our collective breaths.

“Must have been my imagination,” I muttered more to myself than Twilight. “There’s nothing there.”

Then a shadow dropped down from the ceiling.

My mouth flopped open as the figure resolved itself.

“Oh, come on!” ‘Morpheus’ turned to Twilight. “I don’t look that stupid, do I?”

The unicorn beside him, erm, me, nodded her head. “Well, I guess so.” Twilight paused. “That’s weird, do you feel that?”

Morpheus chuckled. “That’s our memories rearranging. Anyway, hello, me, I guess you could say that I’m from the future.”

Instead of freaking out, I calmly replied. “How long?”

Morpheus ignored my own question to himself… and turned to Twilight. “See? I knew I would be reasonable!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and gestured impatiently for me, I mean him, to get going. By the Other, was I really that annoying?

“The answer to that question is yes,” Morpheus told me smugly, “and you wouldn’t change it anyway.”

I smirked. “Yeah, that’s right. So what’s going on?”

“Smartypants here activated Celestia’s trap a few doors down there.”

Twilight—my Twilight—frowned. “Smartypants? What kind of name is that?!”

“A good one!” the other Twilight grumbled. “I came up with it!”

“Told you so,” Morpheus interjected smugly as I groaned internally. I decided to improve my attitude in the future. I was insufferable. The other Morpheus immediately frowned and shook his head.

“Stop that,” he said.

“Stop what?”

“Stop altering the future based on this conversation, it’s making me change abruptly, soon we might not be able to tell you what’s up ahead. Don’t go, there’s a—”

Then they popped out of existence.

Twilight and I shared a glance in the ringing silence.

“What was that all about?” I blurted, unable to contain my incredulity any longer.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, “that was weird.”

“Still, there’s a trap ahead, thanks to, erm, future-us, we’ll have avoided it.”

“But what if the appearance of, uhm, future-us is actually a trap, too?”

I shrugged. “Well I guess in any case, we’ll just have to be extra-careful.”

—————————

Meanwhile, a lot more than five minutes into the future…

“Time loop! That… didn’t work.”

I smacked my head against the wall. Twilight winced, but didn’t say anything. If anything, she probably would have done the same if her head wasn’t made so fragile and mortal-like.

“Sorry Morpheus, I didn’t know.”

“Who would have thought Princess Celestia would go this far?”

I had suspicions of course, the first few minutes in. The hallways looked similar, the walls were uniform and straight, but the most telling part of it all…

“It all repeats,” Twilight muttered. “There’s the painting again.”

Princess Celestia’s cold visage peered through the oil layers, glancing down at us like she was mocking our very efforts.

I placed a weary claw on my face as I pondered the situation. “There must be some trick to this.”

Twilight bit her lip as her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Sorry, Morpheus, I’m supposed to be the one familiar with magic here, but I don’t remember reading anything remotely similar to this.”

I was about to reply when I heard the telltale sound of the stone grinding against stone. The door was opening yet again.

“There they are,” I whispered urgently, “hide!”

I grabbed Twilight and scaled the wall with some difficulty, as our doubles passed below us, oblivious that they were caught in a time loop. I now knew that interacting with our past selves wouldn’t bring about any change, so we just let them pass.

“What was that?” I heard myself say.

“Did you hear something?” Past-Twilight asked past-me.

“No…” Past-Morpheus replied, “must have been my imagination.”

The pair continued down the hallway until they disappeared.

“You’d think I’d get used to seeing myself after all this time, but I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

“There must be some way we can get past this hall.” Actually, getting out of this ‘trap’ was incredibly easy. The door that was the entrance was actually the exit. If we went back, we would end up in the antechamber to the hallway. Back where Amethyst had been.

Twilight glanced up. “Actually… wait, no, never mind.”

I tilted my head, ears twitching. “What is it, Twilight?”

“Never mind, it’s a dumb idea.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m ready to try anything, just say it.”

“Well… what if there’s something around the painting?”

I looked at the painting. “Uhm…”

“You’re right, it’s a stupid idea. Forget I said anything.”

“No, wait, come to think of it, the only real feature in this hallway is that painting.” I peered at the painting. A large golden frame with complex gold workings were relief-carved around the edges surrounding a simple background of muted blues and greens, whilst the severe profile of Celestia was portrayed.

Twilight joined me with a serious expression. “Hey… do those markings look familiar to you?”

They were, it looked just like a summoning spell, except…

“—except it’s a square,” Twilight finished the thought for me with a perplexed frown.

“I’ve never seen a square summoning circle,” I muttered. “This has to be some sort of mistake.”

“Erm, you don’t think that…?”

“That it’s a trap?” I scratched my head. “We’re already in a trap, so it’s unlikely. It could be the exit or…”

Twilight shot me a sidelong stare. “Or…?”

“Or it’s probably some sort of lethal diabolical trap. Somehow.”

Twilight didn’t find fault with my logic. I mean just because you’re caught in a trap, doesn’t mean there’s an escape. But it stood to reason that if Celestia was the one who made these traps, then she would have planned an eventuality for escaping one if it turned on her. She had that ‘master chess player’ sort of feel around her.

“What do the symbols say? Do you think it’s safe to keep staring at it?”

All valid questions to ask, because there were some tricky artefacts that trapped the unwary and wily magus, seeking to expand their fortune at the expense of others. A case in point was Elimere’s Silvered Stone, said to enhance the mental concentration, but featured a mental maze that would make those unwary of it trapped in a comatose state until they found the centre.

“This square circle is ingenious!” Twilight gasped. “Look at this, and the way the power traces the particulate control over the expanding set! I see…”

I poked her in the shoulder. “Can you do something about it?”

Twilight nodded. “This is actually a summoning circle, but in reverse!”

“What?”

“I know, right?” She pointed a hoof at the corner of the frame. “See look here, the junction actually causes a push in a particular direction. In effect, it transports somepony somewhere else.”

“Oh… like a gateway.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to look at me in surprise. “What’s a gateway?”

“A construction used by magi to bridge between worlds. Apparently. I don’t think that’s what’s being used here, because almost always these things are powered by something hefty.”

“Hefty?”

I flicked a claw. “Like a star or something. It’s not what a singular magi could probably achieve. Unless they’re exceptional.”

“So this could lead… somewhere else?”

“Not to a new world, although I have seen stranger things. I don’t think it would, but I haven’t known enough about magic to tell. I think it’s possible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean this is what it is, if you get what I mean.”

Twilight studied the relief edge once more with a ponderous expression.

“Well, I think I get what you mean, but there’s no other way forward other than this painting.”

“Let’s give it a shot?”

Twilight nodded with a deadset smile. “Let’s do it.”

Twilight reached out with her hoof, but I grabbed it in my claw and held her back. “Let me handle this.”

“But—”

“It’s not that I want to be a hero, but realistically speaking, I could probably survive something this could throw at me more than you could.”

Faced with that logic, Twilight did the logical thing and stepped—no wait, she totally dived forward!

“Hey—”

Before I could even react, the painting shone a dull red that steadily scaled the colour spectrum to orange, then yellow, then green… all the while a whining sound filled the air.

“Do you think I did something wrong?” Twilight asked with a stupefied look. “Is it supposed to do that?”

“Heck if I know!” I shot back angrily, grabbing her and running from the painting. “We both knew there was a chance that this would be a traaaaa—”

Grabbed by an invisible force partway through my sentence, I was dragged bodily towards the painting of Celestia that made her look too smugly arrogant. I cursed her expression in my heart and grabbed the foal with my claws, drawing her to my body instinctually.

“Morpheus!”

“I have you, Twilight, don’t let go!”

Desperate hooves clutched me as we were flung through the air and into the painting. I was expecting an impact, but instead a soft, gelatinous membrane met us. It resisted slightly before I felt something tear and we were thrown into the darkness.

I could still feel Twilight, but I couldn’t see anything.

“Twilight?!”

Twilight mumbled something into my fur.

“Oh,” I said, letting her go. “Sorry.”

“I couldn’t see a thing!” Twilight spluttered. I could hear her spitting out some of my fur. “Where are we?”

“I wish there was some lighting,” I mumbled.

Suddenly, the space we were in was flooded with bright diffuse light that lined the ceiling in even strips. Strange insets in the walls, in some weird language I couldn’t recognise, was backlit by countless points of shifting light. It felt like we were floating in some sort of dense star field.

“It’s beautiful…” Twilight whispered, gazing around with wide eyes.

“We can’t move,” I commented wryly, trying to ‘walk’ in any direction, but finding that I was unable to stray from my position next to Twilight. Though I let go of her, she was still floating near me.

“Visitors…”

Suddenly, the backdrop cut out and we were no longer floating. Falling, I heard an ‘oof’ as Twilight hit the ground, whilst I landed somewhat awkwardly on all fours.

“A demon and a… apprentice magus? Curious,” the voice continued.

A room was steadily constructed out of white panels that moulded into a roughly hexagonal room. A shadow coalesced in one of the corners and grew bigger and bigger until a roughly dog-like shape emerged. Draped in a coat, the dog morphed into a roughly anthropomorphic bipedal that considered us with sharp blue eyes and an amused smile.

“Welcome to the Between. Is this your first time?”

I glanced at Twilight who was sitting on the floor with her mouth open.

“How…?”

The being chuckled. “I take it that this is your first time.” The voice became distinctly feminine as ‘she’ turned towards me. “And you are a repeat guest.”

“Me? I don’t recall meeting you.”

“And that’s exactly what you say every time you’re here. Hmmm. I take it you won’t be comfortable with me calling you both by your True Names, so why don’t you introduce yourselves to me?”

It paused as I shot Twilight a look. She was still frozen, so I took the initiative.

“I’m Morpheus and this is Twilight Sparkle.”

I must admit, the Between being was very courteous.

“More tea?”

“Erm, yes, please,” Twilight replied, nervously taking a sip.

I threw the tea on the ground.

“Morpheus!” Twilight exclaimed.

“What? That thing is clearly taunting us!”

The being looked at me strangely and continued consuming the teacup and tea. As in erased it from existence. It took the teacup and tea and made it not. As in it was no longer it. Do you get it? It’s spine-chilling, you just can’t make something not be there when it was there already, that was just crazy! You can’t just… You can’t… You…

“Twilight,” I heard the Between being call out. “Slap your demon.”

“What?”

“Slap him!”

“Whaaaaat?”

“Do it!”

Smack.

I felt the hoof collide with my mortal container and the pain washed through me, instantly grounding me back to reality.

“Bwuah! Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight stared between her hoof and me. “Sorry—”

I placed a hoof on her shoulder. “No, no, not your fault. I fell into an existential crisis just then.”

“You’re worried about your existence?”

“No, I was worried about the existence of a teacup.”

“…”

“You’ll understand if you ever live a few thousand years.”

“Uhm, okay…”

“Alright,” I turned from Twilight to address the Between being. “What to do from here?”

“What else is there to do?” The Between being lounged on a sofa that materialised into existence with the abruptness of a window-smacking bird. “We just stay here. Forever.”

Twilight and I shared a look.

“Yeah not like we don’t want to—” I began.

“But we really need to go somewhere,” Twilight finished.

“I, uh…” Twilight trailed off as I shot her a concerned look.

“What did you do?” I demanded from the Between being.

The figure ‘shrugged’ or more like I ‘felt’ it shrug. It ‘considered’ me with those striking blue eyes. “I didn’t do anything. When you’re in the Between, you tend to lose things. Sometimes you gain them. It’s that kind of thing.”

“Why are you here?”

“Why are any of us here?” It replied, drifting towards me. The Between being curled a long sinuous appendage around me. “I guess you created me. You had enough time to.”

“Time?”

“Why yes, you were here for an awfully long time. I mean before this, there was no concept of time and then you existed and then made it so. Wishes, you see, are what powers the world around us. You want reality, so you get it. You’re not expecting it, so you don’t get it. You see?”

“No, not exactly, you’re not making any sense.”

“What use is sense if there’s nothing to sense? I’m not here. You’re not here. Are you really travelling?”

Twilight mumbled something.

“Ah, looks like your mistress is starting to come to the realisation that this place is not a place. Best be quick or she might be… hmm… broken.”

I glared at the Between being. “Let us out of here!”

“Or what? You’ll kill me? I don’t exist! In fact, I am you!”

“What so you’re a hallucination?”

“Mmmm, a manifestation of your wishes more like. You would know. You were here before.”

“I was never here before!”

“Dear me, my mistake. Forwards and backwards holds no meaning here.”

“Twilight,” I said, turning around to face her. Not good, she was growing pale. “Twilight, look at me.” Light-pink purple eyes found their way to me. “Good. I’m real, you’re real. Right now this place is real, so stay with me.”

“This is real?”

“Yes, you have to believe me.”

Her eyes grew a little clearer. “Yes, I believe you, Morpheus.”

I smiled. “That’s a good magus. Now, a magical problem. How do we get out of here?”

“Here?” Twilight’s eyes started clouding again. I almost smacked myself. “Don’t concentrate on here! Concentrate on where we need to go.”

“Go? Go where?”

“The library!”

“The library?” Twilight eyes flickered a little and then found themselves back here. “Yes, the library! Books!”

I almost rolled my eyes. “Yes, yes, books, books, books, well done.” I snapped my claws in front of her muzzle. “Can you get us out?”

“The interdimensional doorway.”

“Yes!”

The Between being served us cakes. I threw them off the table.

“That’s rude,” it said.

“What are you, anyway?”

“I’m you. You might not believe it, but that’s what I am. So asking me anything that you don’t know is going to be mighty difficult, if you ask me. Which is you. I’m you, that is.”

“Ugh, Twilight, did you find out anything?”

“This is real and I’m drawing on a floor. This is a floor.”

“Poor thing,” the Between being said. “She’s trying to cope.”

“Cope with what?”

“With being and not-being.”

“You can’t be both at the same time.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, you have a little experience of that, demon, so you’re a little better off than the mortal magus. Mmm, right now, you’re serving as an anchor. So do your job.”

“What job? What can I do?”

“Just be there and touch her. Make sure that you’re real to her.”

“She can hear you, you know.”

“Not really.” The Between being clicked her tongue at me. “I’m neither here nor there. My words right now are for you alone. She’s finding it very difficult to grip onto reality.” The Between being licked her lips. “Oh and by the way, if she loses grip on existence here, you’re free. You can go back to the Other. It is very close to here.”

Just as I was about to help Twilight, I paused.

“What did you say?”

“Oh, you know, you can be free if you just let go. That’s all I’m saying. Your mistress will be gone and you will have no more to worry about.”

“You’re very distracting, you know that?”

“Well, I’m supposed to make you forget it.”

“Forget what?”

“Exactly. Nothing to forget. It’s already forgotten.”

I glanced around. There was no one here.

“I… there was something with me.”

“You sure you’re not just here all on your own?”

“Of course I wasn’t I was with… I was with… who was I with?”

“Of course you weren’t with anything. You weren’t with anything at all. You were always here. Always alone.”

“Always alone.”

The Between being smiled. I could see all her teeth and faint wisps of her hair. She looked human. Someone I recognised. But who?

“Ah, I see you’re trying to remember me. Does my name strike a bell?”

“Selena…?”

“Bingo!” She clicked her fingers and then stuck her tongue out. “Actually, no, but close!”

“But you disappeared! You don’t exist anymore.”

“Of course, didn’t you hear me? I’m not her. Ah, but being here has its uses. Darkness needing the light and so on. After I was banished, it was so hard to get a hold of a new body.” She patted herself down with her newly-formed hands. “This form will take getting used to, but then again, demons.”

“I don’t believe it…”

‘Selena’ arched a delicate eyebrow. “You’re the one manifesting your own desires. If you wanted this ‘Selena’ back, then you’d have her back. Not all of her, mind you, that’s long gone. You can’t have everything.”

“I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something.”

“Oh you’re not missing anything. The more you’re here, in this moment, the more you define me and the more I’ll be… complete.”

I was going to do something.

I was going to do something.

I was going to—

I lurched forward instinctively.

Thump.

There was something, next to my heart, at my chest.

An Astral Pendant.

A device of slavery to entrap a demon for an indefinite period of time.

A gift from a friend.

A friend.

“Twilight!”

I whipped around. Twilight was barely there, her form was almost indistinguishable from the reality of what was in this place. I hurried over and placed a claw firmly into the mass and pulled it tight to me.

“Twilight, it’s me, Morpheus. I’m your friend!”

“Stop.” Selena drifted into my view. “You can be free if only you let her go. It’s so easy.”

“I’m not listening to you!”

“What do you need for this magus? You can go back to the Other with just the simple act of abandoning this despicable slave-driver. You long to be free. Just do it!”

“I won’t!”

“Why?!”

“Because!” I yelled back at the ‘thing’ I had created. “Because that’s not what I really want!”

“What do you really want, demon? Don’t you desire to be free?!”

“Yes, but—!”

“Then—”

“But I also want to be free of this loneliness!”

The Between being became more indistinct as I struck out at her. It shrunk slightly and then coiled into itself, judging me with calm blue eyes.

“You know she’ll betray you. They always do.”

I grinned savagely. “Then so be it. I faced my doubts. I know who I am. I chose to take that risk.”

The Between being laid a sinuous ‘arm’ on my shoulder. “You don’t have to suffer anymore. There is no pentacle to compel you in this place. You can speak freely here.”

I brushed off the appendage and stared right into the eyes of the Between being.

“Selena. You. Me. Whatever you are. My life has been over the minute it had begun. Suffering is no stranger to me. I say: bring it on.”

It looked at me with pity. “Is your madness that advanced? Then maybe I can’t help you.”

Then the Between being faded completely, vanishing without a trace.

Twilight came back with a shuddering breath in the same instant.

“Morpheus?” She coughed lightly and peered around in confusion. “W-Where are we?”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her to me.

“Morpheus, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I whispered back, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“What happened? We were in this place and then I couldn’t…”

“Don’t worry. We’re back.”

It was true. The familiar walls of shelves and books greeted us.

Ahead was a sign that read:

Author's Notes:

Guess who has the world's worst scheduled releases?

This guy.

Sorry.

Next Chapter: Something is amiss in the mortal realm. There's a lack of friendship and ice cream!

As always, my salivating readers, thanks for reading!