I stepped into the command center where Ominus and the others stood around floating icons. Ominus turned to face me as I entered.

“Ah, there you are, is Lance with you?” He asked, going back to working on the icons around him.

“Yeah, he’s dealing with some inner turmoil at the moment,” I joked as I looked over my shoulder at Lance as he trudged along, staring at his hands.

“I didn’t actually eat a baby… Did I?” he asked in a desperate voice.

I roll my eyes and remove my helmet, shaking out my mane. I shouldn’t mess with him, for now. “Nah, I checked the food they provided us. You didn’t eat any human babies.”

He exhaled in relief, “Thank God.” It took him a second before his eyes widened, “Wait, why did you make a point of saying human babies?! Did I eat some kind of babies?!”

“So, you found one of the Bronies?” I asked as we stepped up with the others, ignoring Lance’s panicked question.

“Well, I actually found all of them,” Ominus replied, not sounding very pleased like I thought he would be at such a revelation.

“That’s awesome!” Lance exclaimed, not taking notice of Ominus’s displeased look.

I eyed him and the icons around him, “What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t this a good thing?” Lance asked as he looked between us.

A frown appeared on my face, as I didn’t like this at all. Ominus, from what I know of him, is usually very sure of himself and not worried about anything. But right now he looks like I did when I’d have to give bad news to families.

“Normally, yes, it would be a great thing, but,” he turns to the many icons around him and begins clicking through them. “The Watcher isn’t going to be playing the long game on this one. Right as I started to zone in on one of our friends, he suddenly pulled them all. It wasn’t hard to actually locate them after that, because he put them all in the same place.”

“So what’s the problem?” Greg asked, taking a puff of a blunt. “Let’s get in there and get ‘em.”

“The problem,” Ominus started as he opened a menu. “Is that he brought them to the one place I’m not able to travel to. The Eternal Plains.”

“Why can’t you go there?” I asked, watching him work through the icons with ease.

He chuckles nervously as he raises a hand with a shrug, “I’m banned for going against the Ultimate Authority Dimension.” At our questioning looks, he continues. “First off, the Ultimate Authority Dimension, UAD, is basically the ones in charge of all life.”

“You mean God?!” Lance asked, clapping his hands together excitedly.

“No,” Ominus deadpanned. “They definitely are not God, but they are ‘gods’ in the sense of the word. Like a step below the big man himself. But they live up to their name, that’s for sure. They have complete control of all reality and all life. Simply put, they created everything you see and all life in every reality.”

“That makes them God,” Lance retorted with a frown. “I’ve met God, many times, and he’s a pretty chill dude.”

Ominus couldn’t help but laugh, “They were created by the big man, and given some of his powers. They then used those powers to create their own life to control, and that’s just how its been since the beginning. As for me being banned, I’ve kinda meddled in their business one too many times, and I’m on a final strike basis with them.”

“So,” Calypso asked, leaning towards some of the icons. “What are the Eternal Plains?”

“An interesting place,” Ominus assured as he smiled a bit to himself. “The simplest way to explain it is that there are two halves of reality. The wild dimensions, and the civilized dimensions. The wild ones can be categorized as what you consider fictional universes, while the civilized ones are like the one you’re from.

“The Eternal Plains,” he continues, “are all of the civilized dimensions combined into one. Existing on a single endless expansion, hence why it's called the Eternal PLAINS. The UAD combined all of them a few thousand years ago, and have been watching over them while the wild dimensions have been left alone to continue as they please.”

“If all civilized dimensions were combined, and we are from one, then why weren’t we living in this Eternal Plains place?” Lance asked, a valid question.

“I don’t have an answer to that,” Ominus admitted. “It wasn’t just yours, there were a few others that weren’t integrated into them. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to why though.” He stops working on the icons, seeming to be pleased with whatever he was looking at. “You guys should have been there, to be honest, but for whatever reason your dimension was excluded. Calypso and Scamp, however, are from a wild dimension, so they’ve been exactly where they were supposed to be.”

“So, the Bronies are on this Eternal Plains place?” I asked, getting back to the original topic.

“Yes,” Ominus said with a nod, stroking his goatee. “The Watcher, unlike me, is allowed here. His domain is somewhere on the plains, but I’d never be able to find it. Unless,” he smiles at the group, “we play his game against him. We’re going to stick to the original plan, hunting for our friends while also watching for clues leading back to him. He’ll have to reveal himself somewhat each time he wants to check on his bait.

“So, while you guys are saving our friends, I’ll be here, watching for him to make a move. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I know I’ll be able to back track him to his domain where his true form lives.”

“Wait, his true form?” Lance asked, cocking his head. “Wasn’t the stone form I saw him?”

Ominus shook his head, “No, that’s his Judge of Life form. That’s the form he takes when he plays god, but in reality, he’s very similar to me. Just instead of helping others and fighting for good, he travels the dimensions stealing life and whatever else he wants. While also playing up his Judge of Life fantasy.”

“What’s his true form then?” I asked, surprised by this revelation.

“I actually do not know, he never leaves the Eternal Plains in his true form. But that doesn’t matter right now, because we need to go over a few key points of the plains if I’m going to send any of you there.”

I nod, running my hooves through my messy main. I need to get out of this gear and bathe, soon.

“First up, all life has a single soul that makes up their being, as you already know.” An image of a cyan colored blob appeared in front of them. “This is your soul. On the Eternal Plains, every single living thing uses their souls for everything. To fight, to buy things, and even to create things. Right now, you can’t access your soul, as I don’t have the ability to grant you those abilities.”

He pressed an icon and an assortment of weapons appeared on the screen. “I highly recommend you find a Soul Smith and get a Soul Weapon created. It’ll be a weapon that fits you completely and will even be a part of you.” The images disappeared and were replaced with an animation of a man holding a cyan blob. “You’ll also have to find someone to unlock your soul so you can gain your own Soul abilities. Like your own personal super powers in layman terms.”

“Oh that’s bad ass,” Greg said in awe, a smile on his face.

“The Soul abilities you’ll gain will be personal to you, so I can’t even imagine what you’ll get. But, I do have bad news,” he turns to Greg and Shadow Breeze. “You two aren’t going, it’ll be too dangerous for you.”

Shadow Breeze shook his head in disapprovement, “No, we need to go. We can handle ourselves.”

“Yeah, I was the reason we were able to kill the Queen,” Greg adde, very clearly unhappy with this turn of events.

Ominus didn’t react to their protest. “It’s not going to happen. Lance and Scamp will be the ones to go. Calypso will be staying here with me just in case there’s an emergency and I can send her in to help.”

I looked at Calypso, who seemed surprised at this, but she gave a nod in agreement.

“I’d prefer it this way, guys,” Lance interjected, patting Greg on the shoulder. “I don’t want you two to get hurt.”

“I can handle myself!” Greg snapped, his calm demeanor falling apart as he stared Lance down. The two squared up, but Lance shook his head.

“No, it’s final.”

Greg took a step back, “You can never see me as anyone other than the dumb stoner that just coasts through everything.” He crossed his arms, a disappointed look on his face. “I went to rehab, I got better, I got my shit together. But you always dismiss me when I try to offer help or suggestions.”

“You’re currently smoking a blunt,” Lance said coldly.

I personally think Greg and Shadow Breeze should come with us, they’ve proven they can handle themselves. But with the way Lance is acting, I’m not so sure about voicing that opinion right at this moment.

Greg facepalmed, seeming to give up. “I relapsed to save you, dumbass. Otherwise I wouldn’t have touched the shit. I want to stop right now, but I can’t. We have too much going on.”

“Excuses,” Lance shook his head. “Any reason to get high, huh?”

“You know what?” Greg said with a sigh as he turned to leave the room, waving over his shoulder at them. “I’m done. Good luck, guys.”

Lance watched him leave, then sighed. “Don’t mind him guys, he’s just high.”

I stared at Lance, realizing that despite him being a good man, he held certain biases against his friends. I don’t know how I feel about that.

“Greg was a great help in saving you,” Calypso said in a strict tone.

“I’m sure he was, but I can’t worry about saving our friends and also him at the same time.” Lance nods to Ominus, “Continue.”

Ominus sighed, shaking his head. “The Eternal Plains are endless, with no end in any direction. So there are teleport stations all over the plains. Those are what I’ll be using to get you in, and you’ll be using them to get to our friends when I can locate them.”

“So, our plan is to teleport to one of these stations that are near them, then just walk around till we find them?” I asked, focusing on the mission at hand.

“It’s the best I can do,” Ominus said with a shrug. “You can take your time. If we get into a hurry down there, we’ll make mistakes. We need to stay under the Watcher’s radar till we find one of our friends and reveal ourselves. If all goes according to plan, we’ll find him before he finds us. If he tracks me down first, then he’ll be able to take his time in dealing with us. We can not let that happen.

“Do not go down there and cause a big scene, do not mention the Watcher, and definitely do not follow any clues you see that could lead to him. They’ll more than likely be traps set up by him.”

He looked at me and Lance, eyes lingering on Lance before sighing again. “Go get some rest you two, I’m going to get everything ready.”

Lance only nodded in response as he turned and walked out of the room, followed by Calypso and Shadow Breeze. I started to follow, but Ominus reached out and held me back.

“Hold on, Scamp, I need to speak with you.”

I give him a strange look as I stop and turn to face him, “Everything okay?”

He looks me over and checks my right foreleg and wing, “How’s the new appendages holding up?”

My leg stretched out and flexed, “It’s doing pretty well. It’s still a bit weird having body parts made of living mechanical flesh, but ya know, I’m used to it now.”

“Good, good…” he frowns, getting serious. “I need you to look after Lance while you’re in the Eternal Plains. He’s a good guy, and despite what we just saw, he loves his friends and will do anything for them. He’ll even do anything to help or save random people. I need you to get him on track, and not get himself killed. You’ve been traveling with him for the past two months, so you already know how he can be”

I can’t help but chuckle at this, as I’d seen my fair share of how dumbly selfless he can be. “I’ll watch after him, don’t worry.”

Ominus smiles as he nods and walks back to the floating icons. “Get some rest, Scamp. You two will have a lot of work ahead of you over the coming months.”

I didn’t need to be told twice as I turned and left for my room. As I walked down the hallway, I passed Greg’s room, where I saw him staring at his hands while sitting on his bed.

“You good?” I ask, stopping to check on him.

He didn't look up at me as he replied. “I’m good. I just thought he’d finally see past my old self after all we’ve done.”

“Sometimes,” I say, leaning on the door frame. “The opinions we form of others aren’t easily changed. Lance may never be able to see past your past, but he still loves you and just wants you to be safe.”

“Yeah, I know,” he lays back on the bed, lifting a blunt to his lips, “Call me selfish, but I want to be taken seriously by my friends, not be looked at as the idiot stoner.”

A frown graced my face. I’m not even sure how to help him with this situation. This is more of a Calypso kind of problem, she knows just what to say in moments like this.

“I suggest talking this through with Calypso,” I suggested, slowly walking backwards out of the room.

“Okay,” was his only response.

With an awkward smile I backed all the way out the door and then continued down the hall to my room. I need to get out of this gear and shower, badly.

As I neared my room, I saw Lance enter his own room, looking just as tired as I felt.

My room, and bed, greeted me as I entered my room. I stripped my gear off as I headed for the shower, sighing loudly.

“This shit just gets better and better.”

Next Chapter: Welcome to the Plains Estimated time remaining: 38 Hours, 40 Minutes