The lonely couple

   Another day passed, and the image of the red planet in the skies of Equestria became bigger, as it came closer. Actually, the astronomers of Canterlot were fearing that it had increased its speed. Both day and night were filled with that red light. Again, like something taken from a picture of the Apocalypse.

   There was a crowd reunited in the main square of Canterlot. Princess Celestia was about to announce something of great importance:

   “I have decided that it is time to act,” she said. “While we wait for Francisco, we’ll reunite as much information as we can about the red planet. I’ve created a spell that will teleport three ponies to the surface of that monster.”

   Everypony gasped. That totally sounded like a suicidal mission.

   “I have been thinking,” explained Celestia. “Probably the red planet won’t notice a few little ponies on its surface, in the same way we don’t notice bacterias in our face. A team will be sent to explore that world and reunite information. Hopefully, if we learn enough about the red planet, we’ll discover a way to stop it.”

   The crowd responded with a deadly silence. Nopony was sure if that was really a good idea.

   “The members of the expedition team have already been chosen,” continued Celestia. “My student, Twilight Sparkle; her friend, the loyal Rainbow Dash; and my sister Luna, whose powers will not only protect them, but will also make me easier to teleport them back to Equestria.”

   The three ponies stepped forward.

   “I would like to send more ponies, but I’m afraid that any major discharge of magic would alert the red planet of their presence, thus endangering their lives. Let’s hope that luck may be with them, and that they can return safely to our hooves. Expedition team, are you ready?”

   The three ponies nodded. Celestia gave them her blessing, and then made them disappear in a flash of light. The crowd looked up at the menacing planet, worried. A little dragon, a yellow pegasus, a pink earth pony, three fillies and an orange earth pony had a knot in their stomachs. They did not want to believe that their beloved friends had just gone to that dangerous red place.

   ‘Please, come back safely,’ thought Applejack. ‘What would we do without our brave and strong Rainbow Dash?’

   Spike ran towards Celestia, who embraced him under her wing. None of them said anything, but their desire was the same: to see Twilight again.

   Pinkie Pie was having a hard time to smile. She stared at the red planet, and mumbled:

   “Francisco, where are you?”

***

   When the teleportation was done, before none of them could open their eyes, the three ponies suddenly felt heavier. The gravity of the red planet was doing its work.

   They looked. The landscape was red, like fresh blood, and made of a material that was neither earth nor flesh, or maybe both at the same time. But, without a doubt, it was alive. There were gray stone formations scattered all over the place, like islands in a vast crimson sea. The air had a bitter taste, and the sky was of a darker tone of red.

   “Ugh...” groaned Rainbow Dash, flapping her wings. “It’s harder to fly in this planet.”

   “We must move quickly,” said Luna. “We have to gather the information, and...”

   But, suddenly, the ground under their hooves trembled. Twilight screamed when a red hand grasped one of her legs. Luna and Rainbow flew to the skies, the first using his alicorn magic to free the purple unicorn and lift her into the air. Under them, a small section of the red fleshy ground had turned into a swarm of tentacles, hands and claws which were stretching to the skies, trying to catch them. Rainbow picked Twilight, allowing Luna to concentrate and create a magic shield that protected them. Eventually, the tentacles and hands retreated, and the ground returned back to normality.

   “Well, we’ve learned something,” sighed Twilight. “That red ground is not safe.”

   They landed in one of the stone formations, the biggest they could find. It was a whole mountain chain, with maybe half a kilometre of length. And yet, compared with the immense red plains, it looked like something insignificant.

   “I think we should get a sample of those things,” said Twilight, approaching the edge of the stone. “Rainbow, do you think you could fly and tear one tentacle? With your speed, they won’t be able to catch you.”

   “In ten seconds flat.”

   The pegasus descended like a meteor, doing a low flying. The tentacles and the hands sprouted again, feeling her presence. Rainbow Dash caught one of them with her mouth and flew high. However, the tentacle divided in other several, and tried to catch the pegasus. Dash had no other choice but to leave it and return to the safety of the stone.

   “I couldn’t,” she groaned.

   “Let me try,” said Luna.

   The horn of the alicorn glowed. A tiny fraction of the red ground was sectioned and lifted in the air. However, the tentacles appeared again and retrieved the missing part. Also, the land trembled again, this time more violently than before.

   Twilight Sparkle, who was on the edge of the stone, fell, and a swarm of hands tried to catch her. Luna and Rainbow flew to help her, the first blasting the red arms with magic bolts, and the latter just kicking and biting them.

   Then, from the opposite direction, a new red hand grasped one of Twilight’s hooves, and lifted her. The unicorn returned to the gray stone, and moved away from the edge. Luna and Rainbow also landed in the rocky ground. The hands and tentacles calmed, and went away.

   The three ponies looked at the creature who had just saved Twilight. It was a strange bipedal entity, red as the planet, with two arms and no hair in its body. It had small black eyes, two little holes instead of a nose, triangular ears and a little mouth. Just like everything else red on that planet, it was made of that strange substance that looked like flesh, although it wasn’t. Immediately, Luna prepared her horn to attack again.

   “Wait,” said the creature, raising his three-fingered hands. “That won’t be necessary, I’m not like them,” he pointed at the red ground. “I’m defective.”

   “You can talk?” Twilight was surprised. “I wasn’t expecting to find any sentient species on this planet!”

   “Species? No, there aren’t species here. Just me and my wife. We are the only inhabitants, and we’re errors.”

   “So, must we assume that you’re not an enemy?” asked Luna.

   “I won’t harm you, if that is what worries you. I won’t try to assimilate you, either. I’m very excited to have visitors, we haven’t had any visitors since... never.” The creature stepped forward and extended a friendly hand. “I’ve named myself Adam. Nice to meet you.”

   “I am Twilight Sparkle,” said the unicorn. “These are my friends, Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash. We come from a world named Equestria, which your planet is about to eat.”

   Adam adopted a sad face when he heard that.

   “So, it’s doing it again...” he said. “I’m sorry.”

   “Can’t you do something?” asked Dash. “This is your planet, isn’t it?”

   “This planet is of itself. The Hivemind won’t listen to me, and it won’t listen to you,” Adam turned back and started to walk towards the mountain chain. “Come with me, to my house. My wife will be happy to meet you.”

   The three ponies decided to follow him. He didn’t seem dangerous, and they didn’t have much more options. Adam would give them the information they were searching for.

   “Could you tell us what is that?” asked Dash, pointing at the red ground.

   “The Hivemind,” said Adam. “It’s everywhere, it’s all the planet, except for these stones, which are reminders of the distant past.”

   “Why did it attack us?” asked Luna. “And why is it trying to eat Equestria?”

   “That is the Hivemind’s mission: to assimilate everything. Planets, stars, living beings... Everything.”

   “Why are you different?” inquired Twilight.

   “My wife and I are defective. One day, we started to think and to feel. The Hivemind detected us, because we weren’t supposed to do any of those things, and it tried to recycle us, but we escaped. Now we live alone in these mountains. We have each other, but we’re alone.”

   They reached a small cottage made with rocks and steel pieces. It didn’t have a door or windows, just holes in its structure. When they approached, another creature came to receive them. It was exactly identical to Adam, it was impossible to distinguish them. The two red beings held hands.

   “It has named itself Eve,” explained Adam. “It is my wife... or am I the wife?”

   “I’m not sure,” said Eve. “But we can both be the wife, if you want.”

   The three ponies looked at the red creatures, confused.

   “We are genderless,” said (presumably) Adam. “We’ve tried to adapt the roles of a marriage, but it’s difficult.”

   “Genders disappeared in the Great Assimilation,” explained (maybe) Eve. “As well as faces, skins, hair, feelings, religions, political ideologies; and any other thing that could make a unit different from another.”

   “Eventually, the units disappeared, too. Now, there’s only the Hivemind.” Adam, hit himself in the forehead. “Oh, I’ve forgot to make the introductions... Eve, these creatures are visitors from a near planet.”

   “Nice to meet you,” smiled Eve. “Please, come inside. Our house is small, but I’ll try to make it comfortable for you.”

   Twilight, Luna and Rainbow didn’t reject the invitation, of course, but they were starting to think that the horrible red planet was getting weirder and weirder.

***

   A white three-eyed angel was flying under a red sky, shooting energy beams at the stone monsters which were trying to take him to the ground. A giant snake tried to swallow him, but there was an explosion of shadows, and the angel was replaced by the Upgraded Dark Beast, who promptly destroyed the stone ophidian with his claws. Then, like Godzilla, he fired a blast of blue energy through his mouth, defeating the army of monsters.

   The Beast shrank and transformed into a black stallion. Exhausted, Francisco returned to the Hand Tower and asked if that was enough.

   “You have progressed,” said the drooling god. “However, you are not ready yet to fight the red planet.”

   “Oh, come on!” groaned Francisco, laying in the ground.

   “The training will continue, but later. Now, it is time for you to take your nutrients. What would you like to eat today?”

   “I don’t know...”

   “Are you sure you do not want meat? You are not in Equestria now, you can eat it.”

   “Mmh...” Francisco licked his lips. “I would love to eat a juicy steak... but no, that would be cheating. Now I am a citizen of Ponyville, and I must follow the same rules as everypony. Just give me something sweet, please.”

   The drooling god moved his tentacles, and a silver plate with cupcakes appeared in front of the black stallion. Francisco took one and bit it.

   “Delicious!” he exclaimed. “Just like the ones Pinkie Pie makes...”

   “You really like that creature, right?”

   “Yes...” Francisco blushed. “I like her... a lot...”

   The entity kept silence for a few seconds, and then he opened his multiple eyes, like if he was surprised by something.

   “I understand it now!” said the drooling god.

   “What?”

   “When I gave you your powers, I assumed you also wanted eternal life, but you rejected it and said you just wanted the lifespan of an average earth pony. It was due to her, right?”

   “Yes...” Francisco took another cupcake. “Yes, it was for her...”

   “Were you planning, since the beginning, to form a family with her?”

   “Well...” the black stallion blushed even more. “To be honest... I don’t know if a family, but I was hoping to be her friend and... and maybe something more, and I don’t want to outlive her, I want to live with her.”

   “Then, why do not you tell her your feelings?”

   “I tried, but I can’t! I’m too shy for that!” then, Francisco realized where he was, and what he was doing. “Why are we talking about this?!”

   “I thought that a conversation about an informal topic would help you to relax.”

   “Well, it doesn’t. I prefer to talk about the red planet. I still haven’t asked you from where it came, or what it really is.”

   However, the drooling god didn’t answered. All of his eyes looked elsewhere.

   “So?” insisted Francisco. “From where it came? Do you know it, right?”

   The entity sighed with his many mouths.

   “If you want to know it...”

***

   Somehow, the cottage of Adam and Eve was smaller on the inside. Or, at least, that was the impression it gave to the three ponies. It had just one room, with no beds, no furniture, no kitchen, no bathroom... only a table with two chairs, which hadn’t been designed for ponies, so Twilight, Luna and Rainbow sat on the ground.

   “I apologize for not offering you food,” said Eve. The ponies still were having difficulties to tell which was which. “Nothing grows on the planet, and we don’t need it.”

   “There’s nothing much to do here,” said Adam. “We don’t need to even sleep, so we just sit there and talk, while time passes slowly.”

   “And I thought your hobbies were boring...” whispered Rainbow Dash to Twilight.

   “It was a fortunate coincidence that you had decided to came here during my daily walk,” continued Adam. “If you had come sooner or later, I wouldn’t have seen you, and you would have been assimilated by the Hivemind.”

   “We have data about marriages,” explained Eve. “Apparently, even if they’re married, man and woman need some time alone sometimes, so Adam goes to walk for twenty minutes everyday at this hour, while I stay in the house.”

   “And normally, in three hours, we would do the inverse. But not today, since we have guests. Please, tell us a bit more about you.”

   The blue alicorn decided to speak first:

   “I am Luna, one of the two Princesses that rule over the kingdom of Equestria, in the planet of the same name. My job is to rise the moon every night, while my sisters rises the sun every morning.”

   Adam and Eve seemed very excited by that.

   “Do you have a moon?” asked (maybe) she. “And a sun, too?”

   “Tell us, what do they look like?” requested (probably) he. “Are they beautiful? Is the light of the sun warm? We have data about that, but we’ve never seen them.”

   Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other.

   “Uh...” said Luna, a bit confused. “Yes, they are pretty beautiful... I guess...”

   “Allow me to ask a different question,” said Eve. “Are you married?”

   “What? No, I’m not.”

   “Is anyone of you married?” asked Adam to Twilight and Rainbow.

   “Of course not,” said the unicorn. “We’re still a bit too young for that.”

   “But love exists in your world, does it?”

   “Yes.”

   “We would like to know what love is,” said Eve. “Adam and I have tried to love each other, but it is difficult. We have data about it, but that is not enough.”

   Suddenly, Twilight realized how sad Adam and Eve must feel on the inside, despite their smiles. They had been alone for maybe centuries, doing nothing, not even loving, although they sure had tried. Then, she realized:

   “Francisco!” she shouted. “Princess Luna, we have to return to Canterlot now! And we have to bring Adam and Eve with us!”

   “What are you talking about?” asked the alicorn.

   “If we don’t, Francisco will destroy the red planet with the two of them still in it! They’re innocent, we must save them!”

   “Excuse me...” interrupted Adam. “Did you just said that someone is going to destroy the Hivemind?”

   “Yes! A friend of ours!”

   “That is wonderful!”

   The three ponies were left speechless, as the two red creatures started to celebrate.

   “What a blessing!” exclaimed Eve. “Finally, the Hivemind will be stopped!”

   “For years, we could do nothing but sit down and see how this planet ate other celestial bodies,” explained Adam. “But now, if your words are true, such nightmarish events will never happen again! Thank you, thank you!”

   “But you have to come with us!” insisted Twilight. “Otherwise, you will die too!”

   Adam and Eve smiled, and hold their hands again.

   “Yes, we will die,” said she.

   “We cannot abandon this planet,” explained Adam. “You’ll see... sometimes, its preys defend themselves, and the Hivemind has to send troops to fight the enemy forces. Since the soldiers die if their connection with the planet is cut, the Hivemind extends a special energy field around itself, with allows its warriors to keep moving, even without a direct connection to the red ground of the planet.”

   “That same energy field is what keeps us alive, even though we are not part of the Hivemind anymore,” said Eve. “If we abandon this planet, if we go beyond that energy field, we’ll die.”

   “Actually, death seems to be our only destiny. If we abandon the planet, we will die.”

   “If we try to fight the Hivemind, it will recycle us, and we will die.”

   “We are such useless errors... We hate what we are, but nothing can be done to change our nature.”

   “The only reason why we didn’t kill ourselves is because... pride, I guess. The Hivemind wanted us dead, so we stay alive in order to defy its will.”

   “Obviously, it’s all symbolic. The Hivemind has totally forgotten about us, and we cannot harm it just by staying alive.”

   “But you have just brought great new to us! Finally, the Hivemind will die, and we will be there to see it. Thank you.”

   Those two last words gave shivers to Twilight. Adam and Eve were thanking them the fact that they were about to die soon, and by the hands of one of her friends. Their lives must have been really bad, if death looked so nice to them. The unicorn felt really sorry for the lonely couple, so much, that she almost cried.

   “Do you know what?” said Adam. “You three seem very familiar to me.”

   “That’s impossible,” said Rainbow Dash. “You had never seen us before.”

   “But I have the feeling that I know about you.”

   “Me too,” said Eve. “Somehow, I remember your names. I remember... I think we have data... about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”

***

   Francisco dropped the cupcake, and looked at the drooling god, with his eyes widely opened.

   “What did you say?!” he shouted.

   “The red planet is Earth. Your Earth”.

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