Keeping the class interested was easier than I had thought. I had written down a few more exercises on the blackboard after I showed them how to solve them from one or two examples. If someone during my school time would have told me that one day I would be a teacher, a creature that seemed to come directly out of hell, they would have only gotten loud laughter as a response. Still, I somehow liked standing here in front of the children and watching them think. Some raised their hooves from time to time to ask me questions that I gladly answered. During a quiet minute, Cheerilee went outside and motioned for me to follow her.

“I’m going to have a quick talk with Miss Cheerilee…” I looked through the classroom to see who I could leave in charge while I was gone. “Dawn, please make sure that everyone stays quiet here.” He simply nodded as I left the classroom.

“Yes, Cheerilee?” I asked after closing the door behind me.

“I just wanted to tell you that you are doing well so far, and if you want to, you can have the job.” I tried to make a ‘strike’ gesture, which only led to a painful twist of my right foreleg. “Everything alright?” she asked at my peculiar performance.

“Yes, just an old habit that doesn’t really seem to work anymore.” She laughed.

“What kind of habit is hurting yourself?” My answer was drowned in a bright flash of light, followed by a loud bang. Luna entered my field of view, and Cheerilee immediately bowed next to me. In the background, I could see the children gathering at the window and watching the princess come over to us.

“Greetings, Light, greetings, Cheerilee.” I bowed quickly as well to show her the respect that was necessary in public, though I knew that it would make no difference to her.

“Your Highness, what brings you to us?” Cheerilee asked, her head still pointing at the ground.

“We are sorry to disappoint you, but we are merely here for our nephew.” Cheerilee nodded, and Luna turned towards me. I went through all kinds of scenarios in my head. Was it something serious with AJ? But then Big Mac would have showed up here. Was Canterlot in even bigger distress? I didn’t get any further. “Light, we have come in regards of your visit to your home, but we have to leave at once.” My mood lightened immediately as I understood what she meant with home. She didn’t mean the farm, but my world, my family, and my friends that I all had to leave behind.

“I’m sorry, Cheerilee, but this is very important.” She just waved it off with a hoof.

“When the princess herself comes here because of it, it must be very important. I just hope it won’t become a habit.” I went over to Luna and stood beside her so that she could teleport us both.

“Thanks, Cheerilee. I’m ready, Luna.” I was nervous. Not only would I see my world again, but this would also be my first teleportation. Luna gathered a bit of magic that was around us and casted the spell. My sight went blurry as I saw the world whoosh past us at an insane speed. A house here, Canterlot there, quickly through Maretropolis and Manehattan, and with a bang, we suddenly stood in the Ponyville library, surrounded by books, Celestia, and Twilight. My head was still spinning, and I would have fallen over if I wasn’t standing on four legs.

“Hello, Light, it is nice to see you again.” Celestia stepped closer to me and gave me a quick hug. I was no expert in sensing magical power, but even I felt that she was weaker than usual.

“Everything alright, Celestia? You aren’t looking too good…” I asked myself what could have worn down the avatar of the sun. She pointed out of the window next to the door, and I followed her hoof with my eyes. The town was heavily damaged; many houses were missing their roofs while others had completely collapsed. “Is everyone alright?” Celestia just nodded.

“Yes, so far we have had nothing more serious than some bruises or broken bones. Some are currently in the hospital.” I tried to push away the thought of the town for now even though it was selfish.

“Why is the thing about my world so urgent? I mean, out there…” But I failed. I could go back into my world another time too, right?

“As you may know, the worlds are always in motion. Yours is only in reach of our magic for a short while. So, if you want to visit it, it has to happen within the next hour,” Luna summarized.

“And how do I get back?” I wanted to see my family again, but I had found friends here as well.

“You won’t go,” Twilight reported in. “Since Princess Celestia is still exhausted from helping resolve the chaos, Trixie and I will take over her part of the spell. But since we can’t create enough magic, we can’t send you over completely, only a projection. Your body stays here, and as soon as the worlds have drifted out of range, the spell should break automatically.” She was clearly excited to use this much magic, but there was another thing that stuck in my head.

“Trixie…?” I asked around, and just like she was waiting for a cue, a wall of smoke built up from the kitchen door and the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped out.

“Exactly, you have heard right. The Great and Powerful Trixie will help you with this endeavour. You should feel honoured.” Twilight rolled her eyes while Celestia preferred to just quietly chuckle. “Trixie would never have the opportunity to help her brother taken away from her.” Luna coughed at those words and was clearly confused, but Celestia and Twilight stayed calm.

“Trixie, I am not…” Celestia held a hoof in front of my mouth.

“Trixie, I think we will wait for that until Light has returned. For now, we should prepare for his departure.” She threw a soft look over to the mare who still stood with raised snout in the room and let her cloak wave in a magical wind.

“As you wish, Princess,” she simply said and bowed quickly. “So, Changer… I mean Light. The spell that the princess has explained to us earlier is of rather complex nature. Trixie does not want to be disturbed.”

“For you maybe,” Twilight mumbled just loud enough for me to hear it.

“Trixie is right, Twilight,” Celestia lectured her. “You should not think that this spell is easy. If something goes wrong, it can have consequences.” Both nodded, and Twilight pushed the couch aside, on which Celestia then sat down. “I will guide you, but unfortunately nothing more.” Twilight drew a circle with a piece of chalk on the wooden floor of the library and told me to step inside of it.

“Light, it is important that you are at the exact same position where you arrived once the spell breaks. Otherwise I can’t guarantee that you can come back.” Her look grew darker, and I knew that she was dead serious.

“Understood. Same place in one hour.” Twilight nodded contently and stepped at the border of the circle together with Luna and Trixie. The three nodded quickly and then began to gather magic.

“Ready?” Luna asked.

“As ready as I can be on such a day.” A storm, a marefriend with bruises or broken bones in the hospital, and here I was, leaving early from the first day of a new job to visit my family in another world. That sounded like Ponyville’s standard. The three let their magic shoot out on the circle on the ground, letting it glow in a bright blue light. Celestia closed her eyes on the couch and seemed to guide the three telepathically. The blue glow turned brighter, and I could see a few drops of sweat running down Trixie’s forehead. At the same time, the spell started to emit a buzzing sound. Every single hair of me stood up simply from the mass of magical power that surrounded me, and I had to concentrate to not collapse. The light, which so far only came out of the chalk, slowly approached me and went through my body, only to gather in a thin beam in the middle. As the beam left the ground, I lost my consciousness and my body fell to the ground.

The spell had cost more power than Trixie had expected. Exhausted, she sank to the ground but was happy to see that her rival wasn’t doing any better. Luna’s outer expression hadn’t changed, but she had also felt the change in her aura.

“I thank you, Twilight, and you too, Trixie, for making the travel possible for my son. And of course, I thank you too, Luna. As always, your assistance has proven valuable.” Trixie just nodded at the princess, as did Twilight. Luna slowly went towards her sister and sat down beside her, taking up all the remaining space on the couch.

“Trixie would like to know now what has happened with her brother. Why isn’t he remembering Trixie? Why is he saying that he is not Trixie’s brother? He is all that I… what Trixie has left on this world!” Her exhaustion, paired with the fact that she had found her brother who was supposed to be dead, began nagging at her.

“Twilight, would you be so kind as to put Light upstairs in your guest bed?” She followed Celestia’s wish and lifted the lifeless body off the ground and made her way upstairs. Once she was out of earshot, Celestia began to speak.

“Blue Light, Timo, or also Tio, as he liked to call himself, is in fact a creature from another world. We do not know why, but he was transformed into a pony. Unfortunately, there is no permanent way back for him. He had to leave everything behind - friends and family and his old life. His world is no longer his. If Twilight had not found him by accident, he would have died sooner or later since ponies need magic to live, and his world is without any form of magic. Magic is a part of us all, no matter if earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn. It is part of our world and makes us who we are.” Celestia paused before Trixie nodded that she followed. “My student, Twilight Sparkle, has found a theory after you showed up that states how every soul exists in every world, only in a different form. Light appears to be another form of your brother or somehow randomly received his body. Whatever happened, in some way he is your brother, but in another way he is not.” Trixie gulped. So he was her brother; he had never met her, but he was still the same pony. This wasn’t easy for her stomach, but how had it been for him, not knowing who or what he was?

“May I ask why Blue Light?” Trixie wondered who gave him that name and what it meant. Celestia giggled again.

“I gave him that name during the adoption, as it is my right as a mother and a gift to welcome him in this new world. I named him after the colour of his soul.” His soul? Was Celestia so powerful that she could not just see a pony’s aura but also their soul? She was barely able to feel the aura.

“Tia, you must be exhausted. We think We will be able to answer some of her questions as well.” Luna snuggled against her sister.

“Thank you, Luna. I will only rest my eyes for a second.” Celestia let her head sink onto one of the cushions, and she immediately seemed to be in the land of the dreams. Trixie found it astonishing to see the two princesses act so in private. It was truly an honour and surely something to be proud of as a citizen of this country.

“What will happen next, Princess?” she asked Luna, who had covered her sister with her tail.

“That depends on Light. If he accepts you as part of his life here, then so will we. Should this not be the case, we must ask you to respect this. He is an independent living being.” As Luna finished, Twilight came back from her room.

“I brought him to bed; now we can only wait.” Luna agreed with her.

“We may only hope that he finds what he is looking for. The next visit will not be possible for another month, maybe even longer. The movement of the worlds cannot be predicted precisely. We can only say if it is close enough or not.” She sighed. “But nevertheless, this spell costs a lot of power, and so we cannot use it very often. Equestria might be peaceful, but the world harbours dangers that only wait for a moment of weakness. This spell needs at least one of us princesses, and we cannot always take this risk, if only for the sake of our subjects.” Twilight was about to say something when someone knocked at the door. With a swing of her magic, the door opened and revealed a little yellow earth pony with a red mane and a red bow tied into it.

“Twilight! Twilight! Where is Light?” She was completely out of breath, and panic was clear in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Apple Bloom?” Twilight asked worriedly and jumped back on her legs.

“Mah sister. Big Mac. Light. Big Mac will hurt Light!” Everypony looked confusedly at the little foal.

I opened my eyes again, having succumbed to the darkness for what only felt like a blink of an eye. I stood in a dense forest that I immediately recognized. This was the forest that I used to play in as a child, used for shortcuts as a teenager, and used to take my dogs for a walk during the summers for the last few years. However, something was strange. The entire world was behind a grey mist. A bit shakily, I leaned against the nearest tree and took a breather for a second. The magical pressure had faded rapidly, so much so that it was almost uncomfortable. I must have gotten used to the magic in Equestria. I took a deep breath, then I realized that could touch this tree, but I didn’t feel its bark against my coat. I rubbed my hoof against it, but I still felt nothing. It was then I realized what Twilight had meant. I was just a projection; my body here wasn’t my corporeal body, therefore no physical feelings. I looked around and found the same circle that had also been in the library. Luckily, I had landed on a footpath so that the circle wouldn’t be blown away by the first wind as it would have had it been drawn onto the leaves. I just wanted to get going before I realized that my hoof band was missing. Instead, a rune was drawn into my coat.

I didn’t know what it meant - I was still far away from knowing them all - but I soon realized that it must be some kind of watch and that I was wasting precious minutes just standing around here. I quickly got going and threw a glance through the treetops. The sun stood deep at the horizon, indicating that it would soon be night. At least I could be sure that my family would be home and not at work or anything similar.

Seeing the world only in grey didn’t make it easy for me to get my bearings, but after a few minutes, I came by the playground where I had met Twilight for the first time. From there, I could have found the way home even blind, but luckily that wasn’t necessary. Halfway there, I saw a cordon around a tree, but nothing indicated why it was blocked off. I suspected that this had been the tree that Trent had been using as he fended off the policemen. I gulped at the thought of what my family had to endure after that, so I galloped the rest of the way. Soon enough, I saw the roof of our house. Then came the rest of the house into sight, an image that made me catch my breath. The back had a huge chunk missing from it so that I could see directly into the destroyed room of my brother. The garden was dug over, and cracks could be seen in the ground. The garden door hung loose on its hinges, every window was shattered, and I saw what I didn’t want to believe were bullet holes in the walls.

“What the heck happened here?!” I almost shouted and ran towards the door and immediately went into the cellar. Water rose up to my hooves and flew out of the wash kitchen directly through the door into the sink that was before it. “Nils?” I shouted through the cellar and looked through every room: the storeroom, the two workshops, and then my brother’s room, which was rather a party cellar. The door was the only one that was closed, and when I tried to use my magic to open it, nothing happened. No body, no magic. I stood up on my hind legs and opened the door the old fashioned way. The large TV was smashed in, the beer pump behind the counter was ripped out, and the couch, on which my brother used to sleep, was torn to pieces. Much to my relief, there was no sign of blood or anything similar.

“Mum? Enno? Dirk?” I called for them as I took the stairs back to the ground floor. The door that separated the cellar had a large hole with a black outline in it as though fire had burned through it. I pushed the door open and saw multiple floor tiles shattered in the hallway. The wardrobe for the jackets was on the ground, and the large glass door that marked the entrance to the apartment was shattered. Carefully, I stepped over the shards and looked into every room again, but each was in a similar condition to my brother's room.

The sink in the bathroom had fallen off, and the shower cabin was smashed in, as was the mirror. Dirk’s bed was shredded, and feathers from his pillow were scattered everywhere. Nobody seemed to be here either, but neither was there blood or anything like that to be seen. In my mother’s bedroom, I immediately saw that the glassy wardrobe had been emptied. Some clothes were still lying in the room like they had been packed in a great hurry.

“What happened here?” Slowly, I went upstairs into my apartment where I was met with the same chaos again. My computer room was a mess, with parts lying around everywhere, some old monitors being smashed in, and my second laptop had lost its screen. If I weren’t so damn worried, I would have made a joke, but any laughter stuck in my throat. The rest of my apartment was in a similar state to my mother’s, aside from that fact that someone seemed to have searched it. Every drawer in my bedroom was empty, and every wardrobe in the living room had lost most of their contents as well, which were now lying on the floor before them.

I went over to my large living room window from which I could see the neighbour’s houses, only to see that our house wasn’t the only one that had been demolished. The old farm house had collapsed, and the one at the end of the road had multiple large holes in the wall, making it seem very unstable.

I turned on the TV, but every channel only ran a test card, something I hadn’t seen in years. On the public channels, however, I saw a list of camps running up and down: Aachen, Bielefeld, Berlin, Chemnitz, Hannover, Stuttgart, and Munich. However, it was the last sentence that caught my attention. Düsseldorf and Cologne were lost. I turned on the radio, but there was no sound. The next thing that came to my mind was the newspaper, and that would have to be somewhere down in the kitchen. I rushed downstairs and actually found a pile of old newspapers, but they all seemed to be a bit older.

“Seventh of August? Is this from last year?” I had only been gone for a month, so it must have just been around the end of May. I searched for the calendar that usually hung on the fridge and found it under the table. The date stood at the twenty-ninth of June. So there had to be a time shift between the worlds, but at least we were still in the same year. I turned back to the newspaper and flipped through the pages, which wasn’t easy with hooves on the thin paper. On one page I found an article that confirmed my thought about the cordon. It was about two policemen being assaulted in the tree after following kids in pony costumes into the forest. The police had no further clues, besides coming from our house, and that the denizens knew nothing about it. So my family hadn’t sold me out, which was probably for the better since they surely would have gotten a hug-me-jacket, or they really could no longer remember me. Maybe even Changer was here and they thought he was me, who he somehow was. Then the headache returned. I took another newspaper from the pile and found a newer edition, noticeable from the pages not having yellowed yet. A hundred thousand casualties worldwide, read the headline in thick red. Quickly, I skimmed over the article.

“Since the appearance of these creatures, over a hundred thousand people have lost their lives. NATO is still counselling on how to fight these shadows since their only weakness is sunlight. Every UV-lamp in the country had been sold out since weeks ago, and people are barricading their homes. The government is building camps in larger cities to protect refugees.”

Shadow creatures that kill humans? That sounded like a bad nightmare or something like vampires since daylight was their only weakness. A picture below the article showed a black cloud with two, red, glowing eyes. I recalled already reading something like that in a book during my stay in Canterlot. The creatures were called Nightmares, and they feasted on souls, but that was all I could remember. The horror stuck deep in my bones as I imagined what must have been going on here recently. People fearing for their lives, children watching their parents die, and much more. This wasn’t World War Three, but it was very close. I skimmed over the article again. The humans had no weapons they could use against them, but Equestria had something - magic. What was better against magical creatures than magic? If someone was able to help the humans, then it would be Luna or Celestia.

I glanced at the rune that had halfway vanished so far. I couldn’t do anything here. My family was god knows where, and without magic I wouldn’t get far. I had to go back and get help, but not without a souvenir.

Slowly, I went back upstairs into my living room and opened a drawer at the large table and pulled out a picture. In the picture was me when I was around sixteen, my brother Nils was five, and Dirk had just been born. My mother sat on the couch and held him in her arms, with my father next to her. My grandmother sat on a chair beside them, and my grandfather stood behind the couch and grinned from ear to ear. I stored the picture in my mane and was about to close the drawer when I saw an envelope that I hadn’t seen before. Carefully, I pulled it out and placed it on the desk. Much to my surprise, there was no address or anything else written on it, only a negative of my cutie mark. I tore it open and a blue powder came out of it.

“Fire!” the commander ordered. The soldiers that had pointed their guns at the black creatures pulled the trigger. The German G36c was not the M4 that James Tuna, simply called ‘Fish’ by his comrades, was used to, but it didn’t miss its target. The creature shrunk back as the bullets pierced through its body and left large holes behind. “Keep them at bay until the civilians are safe!” another order sounded while the creature’s wounds slowly closed. These things were immobile while moving, but in the end it was just a waste of bullets.

For three weeks they had been in Germany now to assist the Bundeswehr while the shit hit the fan back home, just like everywhere else on the world. Those things had just appeared from the ground one day and started to kill anyone they touched. In the first night alone, hundreds, even thousands, lost their lives, and the world had fallen into chaos faster than anyone could have imagined. Europe had only been the start. After being here for two days, they had gotten the news from home that cracks were forming in Washington and New York as well, and the shadows were killing people there. He would have preferred to be with his wife and kids, but they were safe on the base. Once they found out that these creatures couldn’t stand the sunlight, every base and camp was equipped with UV-lamps so that these creatures couldn’t come close to it. Some had tried but simply perished once they touched the light.

The shadow in front of him and his company stood up again and got joined by a second one. “Fire!” ordered Commander Shepard, and a hail of bullets flew through the night air again.

“New belt!” Mac barked. John Mc Gilvey, nicknamed Mac, was a tall redheaded hulk from a farm from Texas. His face was covered with freckles, which were joined by a few blisters since, from time to time, the hot bullets from his M214 flew into his face. He wore the light machine gun like it was a machine pistol.

Alfred, a young guy fresh from basic training, wore a backpack with ammunition for all of them and quickly pulled out a new belt and rushed over to Mac, who had readied his weapon for reloading. He and his two comrades, Bill and Leroy, twin brothers, kept on firing at the two creatures, turning them into Swiss cheese.

“Hold your fire! Reload!” the order came, and everyone followed.

“Check!” shouted Mac and slammed shut the cover of his weapon, now equipped with a new one hundred bullet belt.

“Check!” shouted the two brothers that were handling their G36c much better than Fish.

“Check!” shouted Pill, their medic. He got that name since he was a Star Trek fan and his first name was Leonard. He was the smallest one in their group and wore thick glasses on his nose. He was barely able to use a gun, but he was the best thing that could happen to you if you needed medical help.

“Okay, listen up, everyone!” The commander turned around and looked at the stream of people that were preparing their march from the town a few hundred meters behind them. “We cover the civilians as long as we can.” The group nodded. “Düsseldorf has fallen, so our next stop is Berlin. We have to get to the airport and hold it as long as we can. Understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” the group shouted and held their weapons ready. Fish heard a honk, the signal of the jeep from the back of the convoy. “You’ve heard it; we march in a few minutes. We have to get to the stadium if we want to sleep tonight.” Everyone got into position again. The two shadows hadn’t completely regenerated yet, but they were close

"Hua!"

The blue mist began to take a form that I knew very well - mine. It formed into my old self and stood right in front of me in my living room. It was creepy to watch an image of myself grin at me. It took a few seconds until I regained my composure and touched my image with a hoof, but it just turned back into dust before building up elsewhere again.

“Hello, Timo,” said the construct with a voice that I immediately recognized as my own. “I believe you have a few questions, and I hope that I can give you some answers.” My old self bowed. “May I introduce myself? My name is Changer.” I wanted to ask a question, but the construct was faster. “This is a recording, so it won’t be of any use to ask questions. Yes, I know how you think; we are the same thing after all.” I still stood with open mouth in front of the image. “I hope you got behind what happened, but in case you haven’t, I’ll gladly explain it all to you again. I have swapped our existences, which was fairly easy, seeing that we are the same being. The spell I used is ancient, and I stumbled upon it when I was lying in the hospital and trying to find a cure for my disease. Unfortunately, there was none, and I came to terms with destiny, but I didn’t want to leave my sister alone. With the help of a spirit from the Everfree, I searched for a world on the brink of doom and found yours. With the help of the same spirit, I quickly found my counterpart, and to my surprise, your spirit was willing to accept the deal.”

Unfortunately, I was too weak at that point, and the spell didn’t go through completely, which resulted in our memories not being swapped. You were not supposed to remember your world and I wasn’t supposed to remember mine so that it would all go as planed. I would have either died of the disease or the plague that is haunting this world while you would have been with my sister and could have had a normal life.” The image took a few steps and went through me, only to rebuilding itself behind me. “That you are here means that you know the evil that has fallen onto this world - the nightmares. They are like locusts that feast of souls and move from world to world to satisfy their never-ending hunger. Your family is preparing to flee to one of the camps while I’m recording this message. When you opened this envelope, a magical signal should have alerted me that you have entered this world. If in the next five minutes no other letter appears, then my disease has already killed me.” I gulped and looked around to see if another envelope had appeared. “If this is the case, I want you to take my essence that I left behind here with you. I don’t know which consequences that might have, but see it as a last wish of a dying soul. Greet my sister from Changer and tell her the following, ‘Arion was wrong; we will always have each other.’”

The construct collapsed and gathered in a glowing orange ball which somehow seemed to be empty. It reminded me of the blue ball that I found inside me when my magic was exhausted. I wanted to take it into my hoof, but it immediately shot through my body and disappeared. Panicked, I looked around, but nothing seemed to have changed. I thought for a moment about what Changer had told me and why this all had happened - the egoistic reasons from both of us. He didn’t want to leave his sister alone, and since he couldn’t keep that promise, he ripped a soul out of another world. Even though it was about to die, it wasn’t right. And I fled from our harsh reality into another world that I thought was easier. We both were egotistical bastards, each in our own way.

Author's Notes:

Yeah, well, thats how it is. Not zombies but nightmares.
Next time we will face some of those creatures.

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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