My brain has a habit of coming up with weird random, impossible scenarios sometimes.

I don't know why it happens, but I assume it's on the off chance that if that weird random impossible scenario were to ever actually occur, I'd be mentally prepared for it.

Just to give you an example, one of my earliest thoughts as a child was that some strange portal to another world would open up and some dude would step out saying they needed my help to save their world or some other equally stupid escapist bullshit like that.

Did I ever actually believe it would happen? Hell no—not even as a kid, but that wasn't the point. The point was that I would be mentally ready to face it in case something like that ever did happen—impossible as it may have been at the time.

Of course, that's not counting what had happened to me recently.

I mention this because for all my imagined scenarios, I wasn't even close to being ready for what Discord dumped me into.

Now, the point I was trying to make with all of this was that as I made my way up those steps, all sorts of scenarios had already ran through my mind almost completely unbidden.

By the time I reached the top of the steps and pushed the door the rest of the way open, I had already come up with... well... a lot of scenarios.

Unlike my previously imagined events, a lot of the scenarios I was imagining now were completely plausible in this situation.

So it actually didn't surprise me all that much when I saw Twilight's room completely trashed. Books were thrown everywhere, the bed was smashed, there was a small vanity tossed into a corner... completely crumpled up like a piece of paper.

That one made me a bit more nervous about my situation.

It was also dark, naturally, but not dark enough that I didn't see the lavender lump flopped over the one remaining piece of undamaged furniture that was the desk over by one of the walls.

I eyed the lump warily, not bothering to make any sudden noises or movements, though I did try to get a better look.

It wasn't until I leaned forward a bit that I finally noticed the head resting on a pair of hooves. The head facing in my direction—a single dull amethyst eye glaring at me from beneath a long messy indigo mane.

The realization that she'd probably been watching me look around the room this entire time made my heart skip a beat and my skin crawl unpleasantly.

"Uh... h-hey... um..."

That was it.

That was the most intelligent thing I could think to say in this situation. I was extremely creeped out at the moment and any others words I might've had failed me.

"I don't know who you are, I don't know what you are, and I don't know why you came here, yet you know who I am. How?"

The voice was as cold as a fucking blizzard and as biting as the wind in a goddamn snowstorm. It actually made me wince and when I did finally respond, it was with more than a little uncertainty.

"Well actually, I don't know you personally," I replied somewhat sheepishly, "I guess you could say I've... heard about you... a lot about you."

Twilight neither responded nor did she drop her icy glare one iota, so I continued.

"The details on how I got here are a little... well, I don't think you'd believe me if I—"

"Try me."

I blinked and frowned at the angry lavender mare before sucking in a breath and blowing it out in a resigned sigh.

"O-kaaayyy, well then," I replied with a small shrug, "name's Salvatore, but you can call me Sal if you want. I was basically sent here to try and fix whatever the hell happened here."

I made a point of turning to look out the closed window and the balcony just outside.

"So... what exactly happened here?" I asked, turning back to Twilight, "if you don't mind me asking that is. Oh, and thanks for saving me back there by the way. I don't really know what that was about but... yeah," I shivered involuntarily, "...thanks for that... seriously."

Twilight eyed me silently for a good minute before letting out a soft snort. She raised her head and slowly shifted herself and her chair so that she was fully facing me.

My eyebrows raised slightly in surprise at what I saw now that I was able to get a better look at the mare. Both her mane and tail were long and extremely unkempt.

Her eyes were dull and sunken with several bags beneath, and even in the darkness of the room I could tell her coat was ragged and dingy... and she didn't smell too nice either.

"So you came here to fix this mess, huh?" she snorted again, this time it was accompanied by a bitter chuckle, "well, Sal, you're welcome to try, but I can guarantee you won't get far. Not without my help... and you're out of luck on that front because I have no idea what the buck to do anymore."

"Uh... huh," I replied slowly, "so... you've pretty much given up then?"

"Yup."

"So... you saved me because...?"

"Curiosity mostly."

"Naturally," I replied flatly, "can you at least tell me what caused all of this?"

"I could," Twilight answered in a slow, thoughtful tone, staring at me all the while, "but I'd like to know more about you first."

I was wondering when the matter of me being me would come up.

"Well," I responded as I looked around the trashed room, "judging by the state you're in, and the fact that those things outside aren't tearing me to shreds, I assume we're safe in here?"

"As safe as we can be," Twilight replied easily, "I've warded the library against the Failure, so it won't be bothering us anytime soon."

Aaaand that's one theory almost confirmed right there, but Failure? As in, singular?

"The Failure?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "and you call them... it, a Failure because—"

"BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT IS!" Twilight shrieked—eyes that were dull and lifeless only a moment ago, now wild and enraged, "IT'S A FAILURE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD! I TRIED... SO HARD... I TRIED TO MAKE IT WORK, AND IT SHOULD'VE! IT SHOULD'VE WORKED!"

She had stood up so fast and suddenly that she knocked over the chair. For a long moment, she simply stood there, panting and fuming silently, then she suddenly slumped to the ground.

She looked... broken, and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to say something, and I was going to, but before I could open my mouth and probably say something stupid, she spoke again—her voice little more than a raspy whisper.

"It should've worked... I don't know why it didn't... I almost had it, but then... then I..." she sniffed and slowly raised her head to look straight at me, "Necromancy wasn't a viable option, so I... I tried something else, and.. a-and it was supposed to work."

She sniffed and started crawling over to where I was, never taking her eyes off of me. I simply stood there as she inched closer and grabbed my legs, pulling herself up even as she stared into my eyes with that hauntingly empty gaze.

"It was supposed to work," she repeated in a flat tone, "he told me it would work, promised me... but it didn't... and now he's gone... and my friends are gone... and the town is gone... and I'm all alone now... all alone."

I didn't say a damn thing.

I couldn't for fear of setting her off again. I just looked back at her as she stared at me. After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly backed away from me.

She lit up her horn and wrapped the turned over chair in a magenta glow before righting it and moving back over to the desk. I stood there and watched as she slowly and clumsily slipped back onto the seat and slumped back over onto the desk.

"All alone..." she continued to mutter, "he promised... but now I'm all alone..."

"...Twilight?"

No response, save for the muttering. I felt it was pointless to try again, as it looked like she had completely forgotten or ignored the fact that I was still here.

And after she was so curious to know more about me...

I sighed and shook my head. If her rant was anything to go by, she had far more to worry about than just me. Her explosion freaked me out a bit, but in the end, I was able to make at least a few more guesses as to what was going on.

Whatever happened had indeed been Twilight's doing, it was most likely some forbidden attempt to resurrect someone—most likely Spike, someone had put her up to... whatever she had done to make those things, and the town... was fucked.

"Perfect," I grumbled, "late to the party, as usual."

And what is it with these universes and Spike getting fucked over?

I put the thought out of my head and tried to focus on what I could do to salvage the situation. Then I stopped thinking about it because I still had nothing concrete to go off of.

Ignoring the muttering mare for the moment, I made my way over to one of the windows and peeked outside. I scanned the ground below, but didn't see any sign of the things anywhere.

"Well, that's a relief I guess," I said quietly before turning back to Twilight, who had gone silent, save for the soft snores I could hear, "but what the hell am I gonna do about Twilight?"

I couldn't help but wonder if she was really all alone. What about the areas outside of Ponyville? What about Canterlot? The Princesses?

These were all questions I had no answers to, and I sure as hell wasn't going back out there to find out. The only thing I could really do... was sleep on it.

Now that I had focused on it, I realized I was exhausted. I hadn't slept since being back on the boat... and I couldn't even remember the last time I slept before that.

Not only that... but I wasn't hungry either.

In fact, I hadn't eaten anything since my trip to McDonald's, and I hadn't been hungry since then. No grumbling stomach, no hunger pangs... nothing.

Wait... what the fuck?

A loud snort jerked me away from my thoughts and I turned to see Twilight moving about, trying to make herself more comfortable in her sleep.

I watched her for another moment before letting out another sigh.

Fuck it, I'll figure it all out in the morning.

With that decided, I quietly made my way back downstairs and into the main room. I thought I had seen a couch somewhere, so I went to look for that, and something I could use as a blanket.

I eventually found both and settled in for what I thought was going to be a fitful sleep. Surprisingly, I was out within minutes, hoping Twilight would be a lot less... insane with grief in the morning.

Knowing my luck, nothing would change for the better there.

This is going out a bit earlier because I have other things I want to focus on in the morning before I got to work... things involving quests and possibly a dragon... maybe.