Twilight and I both learned a few things during our long, long trek back to my house, one of which was the fact that Twilight Sparkle was, in fact, not a fan of Lovecraft.

Being an avid fan of cosmic horror, naturally, a lot of the stories I'd downloaded from Audible were either written by Lovecraft or otherwise directly inspired by his works. In all honesty, I was secretly hoping we could bond over her newfound love of the genre, but given how she'd suffered and given the kind of person she was, I knew it was a long shot.

I fully acknowledge that there are tons of reasons not to like H.P. Lovecraft—whether it be his writing or just the author himself. He's definitely not for everyone that's for sure. I would even go so far as to say his works probably weren't for most people in general. That said, and given my own literary tastes, I can't help but be drawn to his works. In any case, Twilight's distaste for the author was disappointing, but not surprising in the least.

And hey, to her credit, she did listen to a couple of his shorter stories all the way through.

What was somewhat surprising to me was her interest in the dark fantasy stories I'd download. None of the audiobooks I owned couldn't really be classified as 'uplifting' nor could they claim to promote 'good morals' so I was skeptical that Twilight would enjoy any of them, but what I forgot to take into account was the fact that a lot of the dark fantasy stories I owned were centered around the use of magic.

I had stories whose worlds and characters revolved around both hard and soft magic systems. With so many different interpretations of magic, it was no wonder the former magic caster took an interest. She didn't listen to just one story but rather listened to a few chapters just to get an idea of what the story was about before moving on to the next.

I guess she was trying to take in as much as she could before we arrived at my place? I wasn't really sure and didn't really care enough to ask. For my part, I was busy trying to find out a little more about the kind of situation we were in. I decided to spend some extra time searching the various establishments for any evidence of... well, anything really. I didn't know what to expect other than that there probably wouldn't be anyone around.

What I found was interesting, to say the least.

The first place Twilight and I stopped into was an abandoned QuikTrip. I wasn't particularly hungry or thirsty, but I wanted to see if there was anything left on the shelves. As we approached we could see that the lights were still on as though someone was working there, but it was immediately apparent with just a quick search that there was nothing stocked.

Not a single bag of chips or bottle of soda to be found. There wasn't anything coming out of the tap in the soda fountain. A curious Twilight discovered that the doors leading to the normally off-limits areas were unlocked and we checked the back but didn't find anything there either. In conclusion, the entire store was devoid of any kind of staff or sustenance.

It was the same for every place we entered—shops, schools, homes... everything. We even checked a nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market and the place was just as dead and empty as every other place we visited. It was very surreal and a bit disturbing.

I also have to stress that a lot of these detours happened mostly because Twilight was curious. In fact, if it weren't for her insistence, I would've skipped a good portion of these places entirely. I wasn't exactly a fan of abandoned schools and supermarkets. After a while I started to feel a bit like Earl Holliman trying to find out where everyone went, but at least in his case, his isolation was all just a (frankly kind of twisted) simulation.

To be fair I did have Twilight with me and she was nothing if not a bottomless well of conversation when she wasn't absorbed in whatever story she was listening to on my phone, whether it be questions or comments. Most of her questions I didn't really have an answer to, given that I'd never set foot inside most of these places. Still, it was nice to have someone to talk to and to bounce thoughts and ideas off of in this situation.

Eventually, we concluded that there wasn't any more to be gleaned from searching random buildings and opted to just continue on to our destination. I more or less already had my suspicions cemented by what we discovered though there was still a lot I wasn't sure about. I wasn't going to bring up my suspicions at all and just wait until we got answers from whoever had decided to make themselves comfortable in my house, but—

"Given what we've seen so far, I'm inclined to believe that none of this is real," came Twilight's sudden deduction, "it all feels too... artificial, like this place—this whole town was crafted to simply exist as some kind of backdrop and nothing more."

"Like the whole world is literally a stage and we're the only actors," I replied, sweeping a thoughtful gaze across what was normally one of the busier crossroads, "more like the world is one big dollhouse and we're just walking, talking dolls."

Twilight threw me a bemused look and I just shrugged.

"This kind of reminds me of my first meeting with Discord actually," I explained, "back then he shrunk me down and dropped me into this creepy plastic Ponyville playset, complete with mane six figurines."

"Oh," she replied uncertainly, "that's..."

"Yeah, it was weird," I finished before motioning to our surroundings, "and all of this kind of feels like that did. I don't know exactly what the deal is but... yeah, I'll go out on a limb and say it's all probably fake somehow."

"Which brings up several more questions like how this was all made and why and how we got here in the first place," Twilight mused, "if I had to guess, I'd say it was all caused by whoever's waiting for us, but how did they do it? Who or what is this... being if not Discord?"

"No idea," I answered simply, "we'll just have to find out once we finally get to the apartment complex. I'm more interested in how my phone works the way it's supposed to if everything else is fake."

Twilight looked over the device with an appraising sort of eye for a moment. I wasn't sure what she was trying to glean given that she had no idea how smartphones worked, but I kept my mouth shut and let her do her thing.

"Well... maybe the phone itself is real," she guessed, "maybe it's being used as a catalyst for a massive illusion spell of some sort?"

I wanted to say that was ridiculous, and I certainly thought it, but really, who was I to say whether or not that was plausible? Maybe that guy did create this place and maybe he turned my phone into a catalyst before dropping it in my pocket.

"Who knows?" I sighed before changing the subject to something a bit more mundane, "speaking of the working phone though, how does human literature stack up to what you're used to?"

I personally didn't see much of a difference and it wasn't really fair to judge all of what humanity had to offer in terms of literature just based on the stories I had on my phone, but I was curious to know if Twilight felt the same. For me, it was just idle curiosity, but Twilight did seem to give the question some serious thought before answering.

"It's not exactly fair for me to answer based on just these few stories alone," she said, echoing my thoughts, "and I'm not exactly partial to the kinds of stories you have on here, but I can say that if we're talking about just these authors, they're certainly as imaginative as any author you'd find in Equestria."

"That's fair," I said, "I didn't think our stories were too different from most of what you had in your library myself," I paused in thought, "actually, I did notice that none of the fictional stories you had that involved magic really deviated from the type of magic that already existed in your world."

"I never really thought about it until now," Twilight replied, looking just as thoughtful, "but after listening to a few of these stories I can't disagree. Yes, the more fantastical stories in my world had mages that could use spells that seem frankly impossible for any real unicorn to cast, but pony magic, chaos magic, dark magic... all of those spells are still rooted in various branches of actual magic theory to some degree.

"That's kind of why I find these stories so fascinating even if I'm not so much a fan of the plot," she continued, "some of these authors really put some thought into how magic works within the context of the worlds they create."

"That's what happens when you have the concept of magic but no actual magic system for it to revolve around," I explained, "magic is pure fiction where I'm from so people are free to interpret the concept anyway they see fit. That's why if you read some My Little Pony fanfictions you'll see a million different interpretations of how magic works in Equestria."

I didn't miss the subtle shift in Twilight's expression as I broached the topic of My Little Pony as a franchise. I knew the topic would make her uncomfortable but I figured there was no point in dancing around the issue. I'd told her before that no matter how either of us felt about it, it was what it was and we couldn't change it. She told me she would try to accept it, but it was obvious that it still bugged her quite a bit.

"That makes sense, I suppose," she conceded hesitantly before casting a side glance in my direction, "and if I remember correctly, you were a contributor to some of those interpretations, weren't you?"

"Oh yeah... I guess I was, huh?" I answered. I took a second to ponder on whether I should say what I wanted to say next. Twilight expression had turned somewhat dubious, but I could see a small hint of curiosity in there somewhere so I decided to go for it, "what would you say if I told you the whole reason I gained a respect for magic was because of how you, in particular, were portrayed in those interpretations?"

Twilight blinked.

"I... honestly don't know what to say to that," she replied, her dubious expression turning dumbfounded, "should I feel flattered?"

"Not really," I shrugged, "it was less the real you and more an idealized version of you as some kind of prodigal mage capable of ridiculous feats of magic. Think those mages you were talking about earlier from your stories and you kind of have an idea."

"Oh," she frowned, "well I like to think I'm pretty proficient when it comes to magic, and I'm sure there is some alternate Twilight out there that really is the kind of powerful mage that only exists in ponytales, but me? I'm no Star Swirl the Bearded," her expression turned slightly pained, "yes, I'm the... I was... the Element of Magic, but any real power that title afforded me was only available when my friends and I worked together."

"You do realize that even if friendship is magic, magic isn't necessarily friendship?" I argued.

"No, but in my world, friendship was the strongest magic there was," Twilight countered sadly, "even moreso than chaos magic in most cases, but without friends... my status as the Element of Magic is useless."

There was a somber moment of silence at her words, one I was about to break to tell her that I thought that was complete bullshit. I could've gone—and was about to go—into a long rant about my complicated love/hate relationship with the 'killing god with the power of friendship' trope.

It would've been a rant that would've inevitably devolved into me grumbling about my not-so-complex hate/hate relationship with the 'you're only truly strong if you're fighting for someone else' trope. Instead of subjecting an already dejected Twilight to all of that, though, I ignored the somber silence in favor of a sudden thought.

"I wonder," I raised a curious eyebrow at Twilight, "so friendship as a source of magical power... would that only have applied in your Equestria, or is it like an internal thing that you can call on anywhere? Does it only work with the other Elements or could it work with anyone you make friends with?"

Evidently caught off guard by the onslaught of questions, all she could do for a second was give me a surprised look. It didn't take much time for her to collect herself though, and she fell into a pensive silence before long. Judging by how long she spent ruminating on it, I figured she had never actually given it any thought before. While she was contemplating her answer, I took another look around and found that we were almost to my place.

One more right turn and we were on the side road that led into the apartment complex where I lived. From a distance, I could make out the familiar buildings and sure enough, there wasn't a single parked vehicle in sight. The whole complex seemed just as eerie and abandoned as everywhere else we'd been to. I went to tell Twilight that we were just about here, but she chose that moment to finally respond, and I was proven right in my previous assumption.

"The magic of friendship is tied to Harmony," she explained, "and Harmony is a force that exists... that existed both within and all around not just every pony, but each and every creature in my world."

She let out a despondent sigh before shaking her head.

"When I... when my friends and I used our Elements we weren't just channeling all that magic from within, we were also borrowing what we could from the world and all its creatures. That said... I'm not sure if that kind of magic would work as things are now. Maybe in a different Equestria... but I don't know for certain."

"Hmmm..." I pondered on it for a few seconds longer, "...well, to me that just means there's still hope. Even if you can't use your Element to its fullest or at all anymore, I don't think the multiverse is just gonna leave you hanging. Don't know if I can say the same for me, but... we'll see, I guess. By the way, we're here."

In the time it took for Twilight to gather her thoughts and give an answer, we'd reached the stairs leading up to my apartment's front door—a fact Twilight had only just now realized. She scanned the empty complex with brows raised in mild interest.

"So these were the kind of homes you lived in," she muttered, "it's a lot more... open than the high rise apartments you would've seen in Manehattan or Fillydelphia. Less, er... cramped feeling, I guess."

"Yeah, that's an apartment complex for you, and Tucson is like that in general," I said as I began my ascent upstairs, "everything is super spread out and the only place you'll really see a bunch of high rise buildings smashed against one another is downtown."

When I didn't hear a response I looked down and saw that Twilight was still at the bottom of the stairs. Her expression had turned worried as she watched me make my way up. I paused midway to raise a questioning eyebrow, giving her a look that probably said 'you coming or what?' Picking up on that, she took a deep breath to calm herself then followed me up a moment later.

"Nervous?" I asked unnecessarily.

"Kind of, yeah," she nearly whispered as we both stood right outside the door, "I mean, we don't know who or what we're going to find inside. For all we know, this could be some kind of trap by Discord or some creature working with him."

"Mmm... call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case," I replied, "in fact, I'd be willing to bet a ton of money I don't have that Discord has no idea what's going on right now. I think who or whatever brought us here did so without his knowledge."

"You think so?"

"I wouldn't completely stake my life on it, but yeah," I finished before reaching for the doorknob, "whatever the case though, we're not gonna find anything out by just standing around, so..."

I turned the knob, pushed the door open, and was surprised to find... that my place was just as I'd left it. While I was certain this wasn't actually my real apartment, the resemblance was uncanny. Unlike everywhere else, the living and dining rooms weren't completely empty. Since I lived alone I didn't really have very much furniture; a small couch that was forced on me by a relative, a small dining room table complete with a basic nondescript uncomfortable wooden chair, and... that was about it as far as furniture outside of my room went.

I wasn't a complete slob, but I wasn't exactly a neat freak either and I was lazy on top of that. That said, there was the typical clutter you'd expect from someone with those traits: Mostly full trash bin, the few dishes I owned left unwashed in the sink, a hamper somewhere half full of clothes that needed to be washed, etc. From what I remembered, the fridge and freezer especially needed some taking care of.

That was how I'd left my apartment before I was whisked away by Discord, and at just a glance I could see that nothing had changed in that regard. As Twilight and I stepped through the door, however, it wasn't the sight of my familiar surroundings that caught my attention, but rather a familiar sound coming from deeper within—from the back where my room was.

The hell?

"Salvatore?" Twilight whispered behind me, her eyes warily scanning the living room, "what is that? It... it sounds like a—"

I motioned for Twilight to quiet down and follow after me. Together we made the short trip to where my room was, confusion overtaking any nervousness the two of us had felt initially. We reached the open doorway without any kind of fanfare, but what I saw within my room immediately brought to mind a certain scene from one of my favorite movies and I had to stop and stare for a moment.

Now, my bedroom wasn't anything special, but there was more going on in here than anywhere else in the house. I didn't have a traditional bed, but rather one of those cheap inflatable mattress deals shoved into one corner of the room. I didn't really care what I slept on so long as the pillow below me and blanket above me were warm and comfortable, so the mattress was enough.

That mattress was still there, as were my two separate desks and chairs. Above one desk was the large HDR flatscreen I spent a good portion of my free time staring into and the two consoles I used to play games on said flatscreen. My Switch and PS4 were still there where they'd always been and below that same desk was a mess of wires and plug extensions.

On the way here I had entertained myself with the idea that whoever was here might've been using one of consoles when we came in, but no. Instead, the person who'd been waiting for us—and yes, it was a person—was sitting at my other, smaller desk. It was the desk where my laptop was, the desk I used to write my stories, play what few games I'd bought off of Steam, or looked up certain videos and images purely for research purposes only.

Sitting at my laptop was none other than... me.

Twilight and I had stumbled upon someone who was very clearly me, furiously typing away like his life depended on it. Same dark skin, same wild dreads, same slightly frumpy look. He wasn't wearing the same black jeans, white tee, and black faux fur coat that I was and unlike the current me, he still wore glasses. He sat at the desk wearing exactly what I would've were I in his position—namely, a simple plain black tee and dark flannel pajama pants.

He was even blasting some super heavy, djenty metal out of the same wireless headphones I wore. Hell, I wouldn't have even been surprised if they were actually my headphones. That might've explained why I hadn't gotten them back with my phone, but didn't explain how he was listening to music without the actual phone.

Yeah... this is definitely some bizarro In the Mouth of Madness shit for sure, but you know what? I feel like I should've expected this.

I didn't... but I should've.

"S-Salvatore?!" Twilight exclaimed, looking between me and my double in obvious bewilderment, "what? But... how?! Who—"

"Oh hey, you both finally made it. About goddamn time."

Taking one hand off the keyboard while still typing with the other, the other me pulled his headphones down to rest around his neck. He turned to us as he spoke, but kept his hands on the keyboard, unwilling or—if my sudden suspicions were right—unable to stop his typing for even a second. He may have looked like me, but if there was ever any evidence that he wasn't, it was this.

I don't have nearly as much focus or multitasking skill as this guy does when I'm writing.

"Well, when you've been writing as long as I have, you tend to pick up a few skills," said the me-who-was-not-me, apparently reading my mind, "but never mind that, we have way more important things to talk about and I'd rather we get it done ASAP. Oh, and you're... mostly right about me not being you... technically speaking."

"What?" Twilight asked, still trying to catch up to the situation judging by her frustrated tone, "what does that mean? If you're not Salvatore then who... what are you?"

At that, he hummed as if to give the question some thought, then turned once again to face the computer screen.

"I guess you could call me a god, but that's not entirely accurate," he smiled wryly, "if anything I'm more a slave than a god... or maybe 'tool' would be a better word. Yeah... like a pen or a quill or something."

"So..." I began before trailing off expectantly.

The 'tool' gave it a bit more thought. He sat there in silence for at least a minute or two and I chose to let him have his space. I figured he'd tell us when he was ready. Twilight wasn't so patient and went to speak, probably to demand more of an answer, but quickly and quietly convinced her to shut up for a minute. Sure enough, he spoke again after a few moments, his tone calm and contemplative despite the manic typing.

"Hmmm... well, I suppose you can call me the Apparatus. That's as good a name as any I think. But enough about me for the moment, let's talk about the two of you and what I'd like you to do for me."

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