Something was niggling at the back of my mind as I sat at the other end of the table across from the Captain.

It wasn't that constant, annoying itch that told me where the doom crystal was, this was something... different. I didn't know what it was, but it was incessant, nagging at me to remember something I had forgotten, or overlooked, or... something.

It was bugging me, but I managed to ignore it well enough, figuring if it was important, I'd remember it eventually. I had a much bigger problem to deal with at the moment, and it was sitting across the table eyeing me hungrily.

Hopefully the large, burly, sharp toothed, predatory feline was just hungry for information.

The Captain leaned forward in his chair and crossed his fingers on the table. For a moment he didn't say anything, his gaze shifting to something resembling... indecision?

After a moment he leaned back once more and crossed his arms, a frown making its way across his whiskered face.

"What are you?"

Blunt.

"Human, homo sapien if you wanna get scientific about it," I replied, "there's ah... not too many of us around, and we kind of live... pretty far out there."

I waved my hand in some random, vague direction, causing the Captain to raise a furry eyebrow.

"I... don't really know where I am or how I got here so, uh... yeah..." I paused awkwardly, "name's Salvatore by the way... just so you know."

The Captain grunted and worked his jaw silently before narrowing his eyes.

"Judging by your build, I'm assuming you're a male," he stated, his face scrunching up in disdain, "mostly hairless, fairly scrawny, but I'm sure the masculine features are there somewhere under all that clothing."

He gave an unimpressed snort before shaking his head.

"Everything about you just screams weak and useless," he nearly growled, "how did you even manage to make it aboard without our lookouts noticing? And for that matter why were you locked in one of the cells?"

Ignoring the jabs at my masculinity...

"Well, like I said, I don't know how I got here," I replied as patiently as I could, "I just kind of woke up in that cell."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Not really," I replied with a shrug, "I wouldn't believe it, but it's true nevertheless," I tried for a bit of logic, "I mean, if this really is a slave ship, then I'd have all the reason in the world not to be here."

I gauged his reaction, seeing if he would snap, but he just smirked and gave a small chuckle.

"I suppose that makes sense," his smirk fell away and was replaced with a scowl, "whether or not you end up as a slave however, remains to be seen."

I didn't really have much to say to that.

If he wanted to snap a metal collar on my neck and make me push a large heavy wooden wheel around with other slaves for no reason, I wasn't really in a position to stop him.

I felt that odd niggling sensation in the back of my mind again at the thought, but I still couldn't place it, so I went back to ignoring it.

"Let's talk about that, actually, shall we?" the Captain continued with an amused grin, leaning forward, he crossed his fingers on the table once again, "what can you offer me in exchange for your freedom from enslavement alongside the other slaves soon to board this ship?"

I locked up for a moment.

I wasn't particularly good at thinking on my feet when it came to these kinds of situations, and his question had caught me completely off guard. I quickly tried to search for something to say.

I wasn't particularly strong.

I couldn't see for shit.

I was somewhat clumsy due in part to me not being able to see for shit.

I wasn't a very strategic thinker -- at least not most of the time.

I was doing myself no favors by thinking about my negative qualities.

Come on, Sal, there's gotta be something you can do...

I could play the electric guitar, but unless I could literally knock the Captain out with my wicked solos, that wouldn't help me here, and I'm not that good -- not to mention the obvious lack of guitars.

"I'd like to think I'm a fairly decent writer," I tried, rubbing the back of my neck, "if you need something written, I could probably do that. Maybe like a memoir or something?"

The Captain frowned, clearly unamused by my suggestion, but otherwise made no other moves than to shake his head.

"Try again, Salvatore."

Shit.

I was a nice guy, but that would probably just be seen as weakness on my part, and the only person I really felt like being nice to was Rarity who was indisposed at the moment.

I had to face the fact that I really didn't have any sort of skills that would help me in this situation, or if I did, I couldn't dredge them up from my memory at that moment.

It was as I was about to lie my ass off about what I could do, that the sensation of forgetting something overwhelmed me, and I went silent for a second, choosing to let the thought come to the surface and hoping it would help.

Metaphysics.

It was something I tended to think about on occasion when my brain wasn't occupied with other thoughts. I found it helped me create somewhat of a detached view of the world and how it worked, thinking about why and how people and things in general were the way they were.

Applying those thoughts to my current predicament led me to the realization that I was actually spirited away by a character I thought was fictional and that I was in a world I thought was fictional.

That realization caused another to finally hit home -- specifically that there was actually an infinite multiverse. Multiverse theory was right, and I was smack dab in the middle of it all.

Apparently it hadn't really sunken in until now, but everything that had happened to me up to this point was actually insane, and something I really should've been freaking out about more than I was.

The universe didn't work the way I thought it did, not even in the slightest.

That was both scary and exciting on a level I couldn't even process properly. Desperately trying to ignore the minor existential crisis that was taking place inside my mind right now, I tried to bring myself back to my present situation and think about how I could make this work to my benefit.

And just like that, I remembered Discord.

An actual living breathing God of Chaos had whisked me away to another universe and, more importantly, had given me some of his power. Sure, he had placed a bunch of restrictions on his power, but what if there was something he overlooked?

He had basically just given me the power to sense doom crystals and the function of a walking nuclear warhead that would explode and wipe everything out when hit just right, and that's it.

But what if there was more?

Hell, maybe this was all just a complete non-issue to begin with.

"I'm still waiting, Salvatore," came the Captain's impatient voice from across the table, "and you'd best make your case a good one because I'm getting bored and am about two seconds from throwing you back in your cage."

That snapped me back to reality and I held up my hands in a 'hear me out' gesture.

"Okay wait, hang on, just... gimme a minute," I replied quickly, "I wanna try something real quick. If it works, well... let's just hope it works I guess."

The Captain raised his furry eyebrow again, an intrigued -- if slightly cautious -- look on his face as he motioned for me to continue. I breathed a sigh of relief and closed my eyes...

...realizing that I had absolutely no idea how this would even work.

I may have a small amount of Discord's power running through me, but I no idea how I'd go about tapping into it. Did I Just snap my fingers? I really doubted it would be that simple.

Nevertheless I threw all logic to the wind and snapped my fingers.

Nothing happened.

I was left sitting there looking like an idiot, as I tried once more to the same result. I opened my eyes to see a bemused and slightly irritated look on the Captain's face.

I closed my eyes again and tried to concentrate on that itching sensation that told me where the crystal was, hoping I could somehow channel that. I felt the sensation grow into something more substantial, and to my surprise, I felt the presence of the very object I was trying to avoid somewhere in this room.

I set that discovery aside and, holding onto that itching sensation, snapped my fingers again.

Nothing.

I wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy... god dammit, Discord...

My eyes may have been opened to things I never thought could be possible, and my reality may have been drastically changed from what I knew, but it seemed one thing remained a constant.

If something seemed to good to be true, it probably was.

Not that anything about this situation was good, but at the very least I'd think I would get some kind of benefit from all of this as opposed to just fumbling my way through this mess.

In the end, I'd just have to get good at not dying. Once I mastered that, I could start thinking about how to actually save these universes from themselves. I just had to take it one step at a time, like I always did.

And hey, who knows what'll happen in the future. Hell, I just might get my hands on some kind of awesome power later.

Unfortunately my positive attitude didn't last much longer, as the Captain -- who still hadn't introduced himself -- gave a heavy sigh and rubbed his temple before rising out of his seat.

"I think I've seen all I need to see."

"Wait, that's it?" I asked in a fit of desperation, "didn't you want to know more about humans, or where we came from, or what--"

"No, I've heard all I care to hear," the Captain replied, "you have absolutely nothing to offer me, and frankly, I doubt you'd even make a good slave."

Ouch.

He walked over to the entrance and threw open the doors before turning back to me with a dispassionate frown.

"On your feet, human," he intoned, "you're to be kept in the brig until I decide what to do with you."

I grimaced and stole a brief glance behind me, spotting a small dresser next to a lavish looking bed. I cast my doom crystal senses out and quickly saw what I was looking for.

Right there, just lying atop the dresser like it was some kind of forgotten plate of half eaten dinner, was a softly glowing dark purple crystal about half the size of my forearm.

It was just sitting there, waiting for me to grab it.

The damn thing was practically goading me to take it and destroy the universe.

Something deep inside of me wanted to, and, looking back to the frowning Captain, the thought crossed my mind briefly, but in the end, I thought about Rarity and the rest of the remaining Mane Six.

I wasn't about to destroy the universe if I could help it, and even if I were to consider it as a contingency plan, I couldn't just up and grab the thing with the Captain watching me from over by the doorway.

With a sigh, I cut off the crystal sense and got up to follow the bulky cat man.

Next Chapter: Equus II -- I Have a Plan, Hopefully it Works... Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 21 Minutes